'...Uuu...' *splash* 'HUWAA!' The red-haired cyborg felt a cold splash hit his face, him waking up immediately and trying to move frantically from the cold shock, but the first thing that registered to his mind was the fact he was tied up. 'What the...' Looking up and down, it then occurred to him that he was in fact dangling with his wrists tied up tightly hanging above him with a hook suspending him slightly above the ground, and his ankles also tied together preventing him from moving his legs. Spotting a goon with a bucket grinning at him, Jet tried to ignite his boosters. 'Grr...why won't it work?!"

'Heh, don't bother, freak. We disabled those jets of yours while you were out cold.' He responded, the steel door then opening up to reveal a group entering, the elderly man smoking a cigar approaching him as the rest just hung back, though Jet noticed the area behind the door they entered from, it being the docks close to where he remembered having that brawl and then being captured by Black Ghost operatives long ago.

'So...you're Jet according to my friend here?' The man briefly nudged to George, Jet gritting his teeth at the assumption of George having double-crossed him, while he just stood there, not saying anything. 'Peh, what does it mean to you? I don't recall having a run-in with you or your gang, old-timer-*thud* Urgh!' Feeling a punch to his chest from the man, he stepped closer, his face more in clear view now, showing he had an arched nose and grinned, revealing that he had some teeth missing.

'Wrong, you arrogant little shit, I have a beef with you! First off, for sticking yer pointy nose in that heist last night, and second...well, take a close look at me, you filthy punk, and tell me if this face rings any bells inside that cocky little machine head of yours!'

The man grabbed Jet by his neck forcing him to take a closer look at him, Jet gasping as he did recognize the face from long ago despite the wrinkles and the aged body, it being one of the thugs that surrounded him 40 years ago on the docks outside who he delivered a hard hit to, both to the stomach and to his jaw.

'Impossible...' Jet whispered, coughing as the man released his grip, grinning maliciously. 'Good, you still remember...as do I...all too well.' He grabbed something one of his goons handed over to him, putting it on his left hand. 'You did a good number on my teeth there, Jet boy...' He turned around, showing he put brass knuckles on. 'And now, time for some good ol'-fashioned payback!'

*thud* Nrrgh!' 'What, that not inflicting enough pain on ya? How about this?!' *BIFF* URGH! Jet felt the the impact on his stomach from that one blow, and coughed, panting from the pain. 'Haa..urk!'

'And then I just returned from the grocery store that was still open a while ago, and I saw the door was busted open!' Jimmy explained to Joe and Francoise who inspected the area, deeming that Jet was indeed abducted. 'Please Joe, can you find some way to track down where Jet is?' Joe nodded, patting the frightened boy on his shoulder. 'Calm down, Jimmy. Of course we have a way to track him down. Right, Francoise?'

'Alright, there are alot of voices outside but if I focus, I should be able to pick up his voice and his location...' She focused looking out of the window trying to detect Jet amongst the many voices and sounds, but she picked up a faint noise near the docks to the west, hearing a painful amount of blows being delivered inside one of the warehouses and Jet being bruised up in the stomach and cheeks, much to her horror. 'Ah!'

'Francoise!' Joe ran over to comfort her. 'Did you find anything?' She nodded. 'Yes...I sense Jet, near the docks to the west side of town. He's being beaten up by someone!'
'At the docks? Right then.' Joe turned his attention to Jimmy. 'Jimmy, we think we got a lead on where Jet might be. You go back to your mother's place immedia—'

'No! I wanna help Jet!' Jimmy adamantly refused, insisting on going along, but Francoise tried to reason with him. 'Jimmy, this is serious. This isn't like one of Jet's tales of bravado and heroism. Those men who have captured Jet, they might most likely be armed with guns!'

Jimmy grew somewhat nervous hearing that, but he stood firm. 'Doesn't matter! I still wanna help him because he's my friend!' Joe thought about it, and nodded to Francoise to let Jimmy come along, the three running downstairs back to the car and Joe starting up the engine. 'Alright then Jimmy, but you have to promise you'll stay at the car and not do anything rash.' 'Right, I swear I won't pull anything stupid.' They speeded off towards the docks, praying for Jet's safety...

'Hrrgh..*coughcough* Having taken quite a beating, Jet was on the brink of losing consciousness once more from the hits he took from the man, him removing the brass knuckles as he made Jet look at him once more before he fainted. 'Oh don't worry. I don't want you dead. Yet. I have some connections with some former Black Ghost affiliates who'd love to take care of you and they're gonna pay me handsomely for leaving the dismantling up to them.' Jet grew alarmed and vicious upon hearing him utter that organization's name. 'Black Ghost?!'
'Heheh, of course. How else did I figure out that you're a machine and have those rocket jets of yours disabled?'

Jet gritted his teeth in disgust, working up the strength to spit him in the face in response, the man knocking him out without the brass knuckles in retaliation. 'Detestable punk...' He turned his attention to George. 'George, I've got a speedboat ready to transport this junk of scrap with to our clients waiting in Staten Island. Deliver him there, and I'll pay you enough so you'll never have to worry about your finances ever again.'

'Understood.' George took the unconscious Jet off the hook and carried him to the speedboat outside docked not far away from where they walked out, the boss lighting a cigar. 'Heh, beautiful night for an iron cold revenge...'

'Alright, you know what we agreed on?' Joe remarked to Jimmy, who nodded as he patiently waited inside the car, wishing Joe and Francoise to be careful as well. 'We will, don't worry.' They ran off towards the docks cautiously, leaving Jimmy to his own as he kept his eyes fixated on the docks nearby. 'Jet...huh?' He then felt that he still had Jet's cellphone in his pocket, and without any further hesitation dialed the police. 'Hello?!'

'It was around here, right?' Joe whispered to Francoise, her nodding in return, though she warned Joe about something up ahead, and they both took cover behind a crate, poking their head out slightly. 'Lots of gang members there...'

'Ah! Jet, he's being put in that speedboat over there.' Francoise pointed to the east of them, though her arm got noticed by one of the goons and he readied his pistol. 'Hey! We got someone poking around here!' They instinctively started firing at the crates, Joe immediately acting on the lethal situation and activated his acceleration mode, quickly speeding by and using his gun to fire rapid bursts of small plasma energy towards the pistols being fired by the thugs, that upon switching it off, all the thugs had their pistols knocked out of their hands simultaneously, and Francoise took advantage of their disarray to set her gun to sleep ray mode, firing a pulse wave towards the group that knocked them out unconscious instantly.

'Phew...' *WHIRRR!* 'Huh? Jet!" Francoise shouted as they noticed the sole thug speeding off with the boat across the water, Joe turning on his acceleration mode again and ran across the dock, jumping on the back of the speedboat before switching it off, shooting the chains off Jet's arms carefully, though George noticed something going on behind him, and he drew his gun quickly, firing a shot at Joe who got pushed off the boat from the impact of the shot just as he was about to shoot the chains restraining his legs, and fell in the water, resurfacing. 'Dang it! Gotta get to shore...'

'Whew...stupid cyborg freaks...' George sighed from relief as he continued steering his boat through the dockside, though he didn't notice that Jet regained his consciousness from the boat's rocking on the water, nor that his chains were removed around his arms, him quietly trying to remove the chains around his ankles carefully until he succeeded, and stepped over quietly towards George, though a thud on the boat alerted him, and Jet wrapped his arms around the criminal's neck, trying to struggle over the control of the boat. 'Argh! You damned—let go of me!'

'Like hell I will, you filthy criminal!-UURGH!' George responded by bobbing his head backwards against Jet's chin making him fall over on the boat, though George then brandished his pistol one more time, taking aim at Jet. 'Bah, I've had it with you!'

'Ah! WATCH OUT!' Jet screamed suddenly, George realizing too late that he was steering to the right while holding the gun, and the boat crashed against the dock's, making a rough landing against the pavement and sending the two flying, landing on the street. 'WAAAAH!"

'Ah!' Hearing a loud crash to the east of where Jimmy was inside the car, he couldn't sit still anymore and opened the door, jumping out to run towards where he heard the crash occur, wondering what it was.

'D-Damnit...' Jet whispered out, getting up slowly from the pavement, trying to cope with the pain from the bruises and the crash just now, but he felt himself being kicked to the side by George who got up before him now steaming mad and Jet's painful response sounded like music to his ears. 'Hah! Serves you right, you criminal trash! You've got some nerve to not only hang out with MY son, but also ruining my job! Hrraaa!' He dashed towards Jet insisting to deliver another kick to his side, but Jet now being really angry that he ignored the pain, rolled away making him miss his kick, and swiftly countered with him sweeping George off his leg, making him fall to the ground. 'Gurgh! D-Damn you!'

Jet got up, his eyes burning with anger as he tackled the floored George, delivering a blow to his cheek. 'You're one to talk, filthy hypocrite. Would you really think Jimmy would approve of his dad being involved with criminals?!'

Oof! Graah!' Raising his legs he made Jet flip over him, falling on his back as George grabbed a nearby steel bar from whatever he saw lying close by, and walked closer towards Jet who tried to get up. 'He doesn't need to know that! I had no other choice but to get myself involved with the Shadow Sharks after I got fired from my job, it was the only way for me to survive! But it's all over now...at the very least I'll make sure you're never messing around with my son ever again!' He raised his arm in preparation to smack Jet right in the face.

'HRRNNGH!" Just in the nick of time, Jimmy dashed towards his dad and tackled him from the side making him fall over and dropping the steel bar on the ground. 'ARGH! J-Jimmy?!' George yelled out in bewilderment as Jimmy immediately got up, kicking the weapon away and tried to help Jet off the ground, using his shoulders for Jet to lean on and stand up steadily. 'You get away from Jet!' He screamed towards his dad, who desperately tried to reason with him. 'J-Jimmy...rrgh...that Jet guy...he didn't tell you the truth. He's a thug as well, some ordinary street punk who got himself in trouble constantly and did some bad stuff too...is that really the kind of person you look up to?!'

'What...' Jimmy turned his face to Jet's, whose face clearly expressed remorse now that Jimmy seemed to be told the truth to him. 'Jet, is that really true? Were you a street thug?'

'Yes...I'm not gonna beat around the bush, Jim. I really was a punk who just looked out for himself in the past, and I got myself into a nasty situation that I ended up with Black Ghost that turned me into a cyborg.' Jimmy was bewildered at Jet's confirmation, though Jet then bolded his fist, and he yelled towards George: 'But at the very least I didn't abandon my family willingly! And I regret what I did in the past! Hrngh!' He stood in front of Jimmy, glaring at George. 'I'll say it again, George. Over my dead body before you'll lay a finger on my best friend!'

George now desperate and utterly losing it, shouted out to his son: 'Jimmy! Do you really side with this supposedly former thug stranger instead of your real father?!'

'At least he acts like a real father to me!' Jimmy shouted to George angrily, Jet feeling warm inside hearing him say that. 'Like a father...?'

They were cut short by the appearance of Joe who dashed onto the scene with Francoise coming into view as well. 'Hold it!' Joe pointed his gun towards George, who raised his hands in the air, now breaking down in tears and kneeling down. 'Hrrgh...GWAAAAAHAHAHAAAAARGH!'

They were then alarmed by the sound of police sirens arriving at the docks, noticing the cops spreading out amongst the buildings. 'Hold on...did you call the police, Francoise?'
'No, I didn't.' She shrugged.

'I did! I told you I'd take safe measures to help you guys out, didn't I?' Jimmy responded with a proud face, Jet laughing as he actually was proud of what Jimmy did, for once not being afraid of the cops showing up.

As the police members rolled up the majority of the Shadow Shark members along with their leader, the cyborgs handed over George to them as well, Jimmy remaining silent as he didn't say a word towards his father as he tried to protest against his arrest desperately trying to get Jimmy's attention but he was placed in the car and transported off, Jimmy then bursting out into tears burying his face in Jet's coat, him rubbing his hand gently through his hair, holding him close with the other arm as he kneeled down. 'It's okay Jimmy...you did the right thing...'
'Ha...uwaaa...' Joe and Francoise just stood by, not saying anything in order to let Jimmy cry out first, before they would have to bring Jet to professor Gilmore in order to have him fixed up...

The next day, Cathy heard the door open just as she was wondering when Jimmy would get home from school before she'd have to leave for her 2nd job, and turned around. 'Good afternoon, Ji—Oh my god!' She was greeted by the sight of Jimmy who looked alright but also by Jet who was covered slightly in wraps and bandages even when wearing clothing, and rushed over to them. 'What in the world happened?!'

'Cathy, this might be a tough story to hear...' Jet sat down on the couch next to Cathy and Jimmy, telling her all about what happened last night. The abduction, Jimmy's father being involved with them and how Jimmy bravely backed him up when George was about to lethally injure him, Cathy understandably widening her eyes in shock. 'W...Wha...Jimmy, is this all really true?'

'Yes mom...' but he smiled slightly optimistic. 'But...I got to travel to professor Gilmore's place as well and Jet's friends were really nice to me as well. It was so exciting to meet them.' He then realized the gravity of what they were telling once more. 'Oh...but the circumstances around it wasn't so nice, I know...but Jet insisted on bringing me back to school first thing in the morning when I woke up, and I arrived at school in time as well, and arrived a hour early before school was out so he could walk with me back home.'

'Jimmy...' Cathy sniffed, tears starting to form from the corners of her eyelids as she hugged her son close to her. 'I'm just happy you're okay!' Jimmy hugged her tightly, being glad to be home safe and sound as well. 'Mom...'

Cathy then let go of Jimmy and looked at Jet, before embracing him as well. 'Argh! My ribs!' He grunted out. 'Jet... thank you for being such a responsible man...' she whispered to him, making him blush. 'C-Cathy...' She let go of him, realizing he was in pain, and thought of his blushing as his face starting to turn red from the pain. 'Ah, I'm sorry! I let myself get carried away.'

'Don't worry, alright? I'm a cyborg, I can take some stuff, heheh...oh!' Before I go, I wanted to give ya this.' Jet grabbed the ring he got from the jewelry woman 2 days ago from his pocket, and handed it over to her. 'Here, take this as a means of me saying sorry for putting you two through all that stuff.'

Cathy was flustered at the sight of the ring, and she accepted it, gazing at him. 'Jet...thanks.' He immediately followed up on that. 'Oh, and don't worry. I bought this, nothing fishy behind it hehehe...well I gotta get home now to rest up, so if you'll excuse me—'

'Wait up, Jet.' She grabbed his hand gently, him turning around. 'What is it now?'
'I got free this upcoming sunday...would you mind going along with us to the movies if you're feeling better by then?' Jimmy's face was beaming when she said that. 'Mom, you mean that?!'
She nodded. 'Mm-hm! What do you say, Jet?'

He grinned, accepting her on that offer. 'Sure, sounds great! I'll let you two know how I feel this sunday then. Take it easy Cathy, and keep doing your best at school, Jimmy!' He closed the door, Cathy and Jimmy feeling at ease now, the latter running off to his room to do his homework, but not before he took a moment to think back on what he said last night, his face beaming with happiness.

"Jet...you're the best father figure I could ever ask for!"

END