WARNING: THIS IS WHERE THE CHEMICAL BURNS OCCUR AND AN ATTEMPTED SCALPING. Let me reinforce that the villain's opinions do not reflect my own opinions. My apologies for procedural and/or medical inaccuracies.
While the phone was ringing, Johnny noticed an envelope on the counter and picked it up. His vision was going blurry again. He was overjoyed when he was greeted with Roy's voice. He spoke rapidly and eventually glanced at what he now realized to be a bill of some sort. His eyes were burning and his head was pounding worse by the time he got done reciting the address to Roy along with his kidnapper's name. He was terrified as he heard a door opening somewhere close.
He knew that he was stuttering, but he told Roy to hurry, and then Jason was upon him again, and the call was forced to end after Johnny let out a pained scream while Jason cursed.
Jason was furious as he dragged a struggling Johnny back to the metal table in the basement.
He spoke with anger "You know, I was trying to be nice when I attached you to that IV. You were starting to get dehydrated, and I wasn't finished with my masterpiece yet! I should have left you restrained! You have a stronger will to live than I anticipated. This just speeds up what I'm going to do! Now I don't have the time to fully break your will and make you BELIEVE that you're a lower being! Stupid redskin!"
Johnny struggled weakly against Jason. His wounds were greatly aggravated and he was still hurting everywhere, and he had hit his head again. He hadn't lost consciousness at the time, but he could tell that he was quickly on his way to losing consciousness.
Johnny groaned as his head hit the metal table hard as Jason threw him back on it and pushed him down. He finally lost consciousness. Jason continued to rant to himself as he secured restraints around Johnny. The only part left unrestrained was the head.
Jason was furious as he ranted to himself "I wanted to keep you for so much longer, but you've proven that you'd be a problem if I kept you longer. I don't know how you found the strength to get out of those restraints the first time! It must be that Indian blood in you!"
He then moved over to a shelving unit on the other side of the basement. He kept all of his bleaching supplies there. He gathered his supplies and grumbled about how Johnny 'ruined the process' by forcing him to do the bleaching early.
Jason grimaced as he pulled Johnny's head up. John's hair was medium length. It had grown quite a bit since he had first been taken even though it had been less than a week. Jason hated how some people's hair grew so much faster than others. If he'd had the time, it would have been much nicer to bleach the hair after it grew to Johnny's shoulders.
He started the process of bleaching Johnny's hair. He started at the ends of the hair and went towards the roots. He watched with satisfaction as the hair turned white-blonde everywhere except the roots. Jason never could get the roots to color right. He would switch to hair dye, but he didn't want to be seen buying that stuff, so he stuck with bleaching.
Jason then retrieved a special mix of chemicals that he usually used in dissolving organic matter that he no longer needed to use in his side studies of samples taken from his victims.
He smirked as he spilled some of the chemical on Johnny's legs and watched the skin blister and burn. He knew that if given time, it would dissolve through the leg. He wasn't worried too much though, as John Gage was destined to perish soon anyway. This was better than cutting more words into the skin anyway.
He was slightly dismayed as Johnny didn't wake or even moan in pain. He loved hearing his victims scream before the final act that would cause their death. He rolled his eyes at the non-reaction as he retrieved a new scalpel.
He hummed in joy as he secured Johnny's head to the table with leather straps. He had bleached the hair, but now it was time for he and John Roderick Gage's time together to come to a close, and what better way to do that than the Indian way of scalping.
Jason hummed as he started an incision close to the ear. He smiled and let some of the blood pool on the tips of his fingers. He then dragged his fingers across both of Johnny's cheeks in a mockery of supposed 'war paint', and then everything went wrong for him.
Jason heard sirens coming from outside and now knew that the Indian had called someone for help. Jason had held out hope that the Indian hadn't been able to get any identifying information out, but that hope was now gone.
Jason cursed as he speedily cut the skin of John's forehead. His cuts became sloppy as he heard yelling come from above him, and before he knew it, his basement door was knocked down and police flooded into the room along with members of the fire department.
Jason wouldn't let them have his masterpiece back alive. In a move of desperation, he lifted his scalpel and aimed it towards Johnny's neck for a killing blow. Before he could move the scalpel an inch, he was shot in the chest. It had been a direct hit to the heart.
Police swarmed the room and an ambulance from the local hospital was soon on the scene. The county coroner also came to collect the criminal's body. Jason's body was eventually bagged, and Johnny was carefully moved onto a gurney and loaded into the ambulance and on his way to the nearest hospital.
Police and KCFD stayed behind at the scene.
Roy had quickly scrawled a note for when the crew came back, and he quickly jumped into his vehicle and high-tailed it to the Sheriff's department. He parked and ran inside. He quickly made his way to the investigation room.
Before anyone else could speak he said "Johnny called me from Kern county! He's alive! I know the address and I've already called KCFD through dispatch! Can you guys call KCSO?!"
Everyone's eyes went wide as Roy gave them an address and name. The Sheriff stuttered as he immediately went to contact KCSO with the address that Roy had detailed. He came back when he had confirmation that someone had been dispatched to the address.
Roy then said "Vince, can you take me over there in your squad car? I've got to get to Johnny! I know that neither of us have jurisdiction there, but I need to get there!"
Vince nodded and said "Yeah, I'll take you. Have you told the rest of the station?"
Roy nodded and said that he left them a note.
Crockett was filling out a report and readying a press release as he ordered someone to look into the history of someone named Jason Smith who lived in Kern County at a particular address.
They arrived at the scene after a couple of hours, and police were still around. Roy was nervous as he stood by Vince's squad while Vince spoke with one of the guys.
Vince soon came back over and motioned for Roy to get back in the vehicle.
Roy quickly got back in and Vince spoke "Johnny was transported to a local hospital about an hour ago after police neutralized the threat. Jason Smith is dead. I know how to get to the hospital, but we're getting an escort."
Roy nodded. The sooner he could see Johnny, the better.
Crockett's eyes widened as he read Jason Smith's records. The guy had flunked out of medical school and had many conduct issues. He'd been arrested once before for disorderly conduct. The guy had gone back to school and become a nurse that was employed at the local hospital close to where he had lived. It explained how the guy was so easily able to use and access the surgical tools that would be required to suture John's chest like it had been in the photos.
Roy and Vince were at the hospital in record time. Roy ran ahead of Vince as they entered the ER. Roy immediately asked for John Gage's whereabouts.
The nurse frowned slightly and responded "He's in the Intensive Care Unit right now and he's scheduled for transfer to a hospital that can perform the surgery he needs. You won't be able to visit him right now. Are you related to him or do you have power over his medical issues?"
Roy bit his lip and shook his head. He had no idea who actually had medical power over Johnny.
He answered "No to both, but we're best friends and he's my partner at work. I need to see him. Where's he being transferred?"
The nurse shook her head and said "We've been trying to see if we can find relatives for Mr. Gage, so we haven't had confirmation on where to send him. I'm sorry, but you can't see him or authorize a transport location unless you're related."
Roy cursed and shook his head as Vince and the nurse shot him a sympathetic look.
Roy quickly said "Fine, he's my brother! You need to transport him to Rampart in Los Angeles!"
Vince bit his tongue at Roy's small bending of the truth, because the two really are like brothers, and saw the nurse shoot him a skeptical look.
Vince saw that the nurse was about to refute Roy's claim and he quickly said "John and Roy are brothers."
The nurse still looked skeptical, but sighed and replied "Fine. You are the only two present who appear to have connections to Mr. Gage at the moment. I'm calling the Doctor now, and I have the transport location authorized. You may need to sign some papers."
Roy nodded as the nurse wrote down a few details.
Roy grimaced and questioned the nurse "Did you know Johnny's name from the state news?"
The nurse smiled and said "Yes. Everyone knows about Mr. Gage. I identified him by the picture they showed of him on the news. I should have labeled him as a John Doe, but I was pretty sure that it was him considering the situation. Do you know if the killer was taken in?"
Vince spoke "The guy's dead. It should be on the news later. If John's going to be transported soon, we should really hit the road. Will the doctor be here soon?"
Not even a minute later, the doctor who had first seen John within the hospital greeted Roy and Vince.
He nodded as he skeptically said "Mr. DeSoto, I'm assuming that you're the one that my nurse was telling me claimed to be Mr. Gage's brother."
Roy nodded and said "Yeah, I am. Do I need to sign anything?"
The doctor nodded and said "Normally, I'd be more skeptical, but I saw you two at Rampart when I visited with Dr. Brackett once concerning a certain case. I know that you and John Gage are a really close paramedic team. You won't be able to ride with him during the air transfer, but I am authorizing the transfer. Do you want the details, or are you going to get them at Rampart."
Roy sighed in relief and said "I want to know now, but I'll get them at Rampart. I don't want to stay here for very long since Johnny'll be transferred soon. Thank you, Doctor."
The doctor nodded and took the signed forms. All that was left for him to do was get John on the helicopter.
Vince quickly said "We need to get back to my squad now, and we'll get to Rampart. I know that you'll be able to see Johnny there."
Roy nodded and said "You're right, Vince. Dix'll keep me updated for sure as well. Let's go."
Roy and Vince soon left. The ER nurse smiled as she watched them leave. She was glad that the poor young man who'd recently brought in had friends who were truly dedicated to seeing him.
The doctors continued looking over Johnny as they prepared him for air transport. They had stabilized him to the best of their ability, and they had to get him to Rampart as soon as they could.