Thanks for the reviews people. It's heartening to think I can raise a reaction from such discriminating tastes. ;) I've still got a few more bombshells to drop here, but I'm sure no-one will mind. (Actually, with all that I've revealed so far, I'm surprised you all haven't been desensitised!) Here's hoping you'll stay involved. Thanks again!
And one more thing: It'll be a while before Act III starts, mainly considering that I haven't even written the damn thing yet. Give it a week or so.
It was the next afternoon, and the group were sitting around The Underground's makeshift 'conference table'. Now, as Johnny risked a glance at the black haired she-demon sitting across from him, he looked upon the spite in her eyes in a new light. No wonder she hated him so. He-or at least his older counterpart-was responsible for taking her brother away from her.
So many broken families, so much misery, Johnny mused sadly. The story of the twins only served to feed his feelings of helplessness and shame at being the young Alecto.
"For what it's worth," he announced to the rest of the team weakly, "I'm sorry for everything Lord Alecto has done. I mean, I know I can't be held accountable just yet, but…"
Buttercup gave him a light, friendly punch in the shoulder. "Forget it," she answered him. "As far as I'm concerned, you're not the guy my dad's become. You're way too cool."
Sara walked over to Johnny's seat, placing a supportive hand on his other shoulder.
"She's right, you know. In fact, there is a very real way for you to regain control over your own future."
Sandy looked up from her mug of coffee. She stared at her red-haired companion, and the two shared a silent discussion with their eyes.
"Are you sure you should be giving him our proposal just now?" Sandy asked quietly.
Sara replied with a matter-of-fact look that said: "It's probably the only chance we'll have to defeat Alecto. We need to use him."
Johnny slightly perked up. "Control my future?" he parroted, perking up at the promise of hope. "How?"
"Well…" Sara began slowly, "the reason that Buttercup went into the past was that she heard us discussing the idea of retrieving you, or at least your older self."
Johnny's brow furrowed.
"You see, after racking our brains over how to beat Alecto, we came to the conclusion that the only person capable of defeating… or even outwitting… a genius like Professor John Utonium…"
"…Was Professor John Utonium." Sandy finished.
"What are you saying?" Johnny questioned.
"Are you stupid or something?" Sedusa butted in. "They're asking you to use that brain of yours and find a way to kill Alecto."
The bombshell that Sedusa dropped exploded like a nuclear shockwave of tense silence. All the team members gaped at her, appalled by her insensitive bluntness. Johnny's ice blue eyes froze over like a still, Arctic winter's night. Lips trembling, he gazed into thin air, what slender grip he still had on his peace-of-mind being knocked from its ledge.
"You…" he breathed, "…you're asking me to kill myself!?"
"Johnny… please, it's not quite as simple as that." Sandy attested, an apologetic look in her eyes.
"But that's what you want me to do, isn't it! When all is said and done I'm just a tool to be used in my own downfall!" A blasting avalanche of rage and resentment began to fall upon Team Eumenide.
"Johnny, if you'd just let us explain…" Sara cried.
"You don't have to sugar-coat it!" Johnny stormed. "I see now just how much I'm worth to this friggin' city!"
Rising from his seat, he angrily kicked his chair over. "I'm just a RESOURCE to be EXPLOITED!!"
Without another moment lost, the furious young man marched swiftly out of the room.
"Johnny!" Buttercup exclaimed in her distressed lion-cub voice, but even before the echo of her call died away, the startled Team Eumenide heard the booming slam of HQ's metal porthole door bang closed.
He raced through the tunnels of the sewer, not caring which turns he took. Fatigue eventually slowed him down, and now he wandered wherever the dark concrete path would take him. Eventually, after what was most probably hours, he happened upon a pipe that lead outside into the city's harbour. Clambering out of it onto the dirty rocks at the polluted water's edge, he sat down. Exhausted, traumatised and distressed beyond belief, the lost boy cried.
So this is what it felt like to be truly alone. To literally have nobody that you could trust or count on, just treacherous enemies on every road you took. And to think there had been times when he had whinged to his parents about 'loneliness', simply because some girl or another had refused to date him.
His thoughts drifted further back home, recalling for the first time everything he had as a blessing of freedom and happiness and love. He might not have been a star pupil at a top genius academy, but at least he had the liberty to make choices for himself. The possibility he had pondered of becoming an embittered old science teacher like Waldren had merely been a worst case scenario. He had had a chance at a happy future. But now-he had no such luxury. The evidence of the hardened monster he was to become was all around him. And there was no way to fight it. He doubted if even the suicide proposed by Team Eumenide would have any effect upon him.
Through his tears, he stared down at the murky water and yearned to go home.
There was a slight scuffling noise behind him. In his misery, he didn't notice it, and even if he had he would have dismissed it as something like a scavenging seagull. But a few seconds later, he felt something tighten around his neck.
Someone was restraining him. He tried weakly to fight back, but he was dead tired. With almost no difficulty, the unseen stranger hoisted the boy up and shoved a sponge soaked in chloroform into his face.
And everything went black.
To Be Continued. . .