"Snap out of it!".
That was the last thing he heard. He felt a light tug on his shoulder and his body responded accordingly. His muscles tensed and his eyes burst open to glare at his attacker, but when he saw who woke him, he quickly stopped himself from continuing with his aggression.
"We're nearly there, Jonny" Jessie said, looking much perkier and excited than she had earlier that day. It was something about finally getting to see her father and Dr. Quest that caused her entire system to jerk itself awake; not to mention, jerk Jonny awake too.
Jonny rubbed his eyes. He had only been asleep for a few minutes, but this was a first. Normally he was too restless to sleep on planes, but it seemed as if time had changed the man.
He looked out of the window of the small Quest Enterprises jet, before turning to his friend next to him and smiled. She suddenly seemed so packed with energy and full of life. It was almost like the good old days…
Well, not entirely like them. For one thing, Race would normally have picked them up in the Dragonfly, but with the plane in for repairs and Dr. Quest's frenzied attempt to finish off as much work as possible before the holidays started, both men were too busy to make their way to pick up the kids themselves.
Soon, the plane touched down and Jonny and Jessie disembarked with their stuff. They had barely made their way out of the airport when a pair of strong hands wrapped themselves around Jessie in a death grip.
"Dad!" she laughed, as Race Bannon hoisted his daughter off the ground with barely any effort at all. Jonny smiled as the man released his daughter and pulled him into a massive hug as well. Race Bannon was the fittest man Jonny had ever seen, but the years had taken a bit of a toll.
The last few years had been especially quiet, with Rage, Surd and Zin finally leaving the Quests at peace and as a result, Race had been a lot calmer and more relaxed for a while. His waist had expanded a little bit since Jonny last saw him, not to mention some slightly noticeable hair and muscle loss, but Race was still a physical specimen to behold.
The three of them started walking to the car, already lost in conversation, when they were stopped abruptly.
"Ahem" someone said loudly, behind them. "Aren't you guys forgetting something"?
Jonny turned around and saw something emerge from behind a wall that made his mouth drop open into the widest smile he'd ever given. "Dad!" he said loudly, running to the old man and embracing him.
Race laughed out loud, as Jessie ran to Doctor Benton Quest. "We were wondering how long it'd take you guys to notice something was up".
Jonny took note of how much his father had aged. Considering how little field work he did nowadays, Benton didn't bother maintaining his fitness to its previous level. He was thinner and had some deep lines on his forehead. Much of the red hair had been replace with specks of grey, but the gentle expression on his face and his calm, confident manner were much the same as they always were. The happy family got into the vehicle and drove back home.
After a fabulous dinner that Mrs. Hudson has stayed over to prepare and a long family conversation about the past few months, with Hadji taking the time to join in courtesy of Skype, the house eventually went quiet and everyone went to sleep.
That conversation Jessie had with Emily was almost forgotten, until a certain someone paid them a surprise visit the next day…
11 a.m, the next day
It was a fine winter day at the compound. The air was crisp and clear and everything was calm. Dr. Quest lounged comfortably in a large sofa in the living room, going through a large stack of newspapers. "Everything might be online now, but old habits die hard" he thought to himself, as he sat there quite happy, with a hot mug of coffee on the table next to him.
His rush to complete all required work before the holidays was successful and he could finally relax.
"I wouldn't mind doing something a bit more physical, but I guess my days of running around, saving the world are done". Meanwhile, Race Bannon lay inside the garage, underneath a giant lump of metal, as he carried out repair work on his much beloved car. Normally it'd just be easier to take it to the repair shop, but he decided that putting it back together himself would be a nice way to relax after a hard week's work.
"I wonder where the kids are?" he thought to himself.
His question was soon answered. All he heard was Bandit's bark, someone shout "Jonny, no!" and a loud crash, along with the sound of glass breaking.
Race took a deep breath and pulled himself out from under the car and saw a sight that left him somewhat annoyed, and yet, mildly impressed. There was a large, man sized dent in the garage door, along with a hover board sized hole underneath it. What he saw next caused him to sigh deeply, before muttering continuously under his breath.
The hover board had gone straight into the back of his car, bounced off the trunk after breaking a taillight, shattered the rear window and had decapitated the driver's seat before embedding itself in the wind shield.
Race heard movement coming from outside and peered through the new hole in the garage door. He saw a young blond man, rubbing his head and sheepishly looking back.
"Sorry Race!" he said earnestly.
Race sighed again. It's a wonder that kid's still alive, he thought to himself. He opened the door and went outside, to find Jessie catching up to Jonny on her own hover board, laughing her head off.
"I told you, you need more practice on that thing Hotshot!" she said, stopping next to him. She was laughing so hard, she was having trouble keeping her balance.
Jessie enjoyed herself quite a bit, laughing at Jonny. She was having so much fun in fact, that she accidentally started her own board. It flew out of her hands, knocking her down onto her back and went straight towards the manor.
Race glared at her. Jonny smirked. They turned back to the building to see a window shattering and heard some of the filthiest swear words they had ever heard in their lives.
"I've never heard Dr. Quest talk like that" Jessie said, her voice barely a whisper.
"That's because what you hear isn't Dr. Quest" Race replied, knowingly.
Just then, the front door burst open and the source of the colourful language emerged. Mrs. Evans half walked, half jogged towards Race, to complain about a nefarious board shaped machine that tried to assault her in the dining room.
She then described how, after getting over her initial hysteria, she beat the beast to death with a vacuum cleaner and immediately reported outside.
Jessie frowned upon hearing that her beloved board was destroyed, while Jonny was still busy trying to pry his out of the windshield of the car. Race gave Mrs. Evans the rest of the week off to recuperate and sighed.
This was going to be a long holiday…
New characters will be introduced in the next chapter. Sorry about the long time till this update. I've just been very busy with work for quite a while now.
As for my other story that's unfinished, I hope to continue it someday, but I can't guarantee that that will be soon.
Thanks for following!