Jonny Quest in:

Conquest

"Come on Jonny! We need to hurry if we are going to see your father off at the airport," Mrs. Quest called up to her son as she brushed her blonde hair and gave herself another quick check in the mirror.

"Mom, I still don't understand why we can't go with him this time," the teenager sighed as he ran down the stairs and stood in front of his mother.

"We've discussed this Jonathon," she reminded him as she fixed his messy blonde hair, "you can't miss anymore of your lessons. Besides, he'll only be gone for a week this time. Let's go now sweetheart."

They got into the car and drove to the airport. After they drove around the crowded parking lot a few times, Mrs. Quest had to find an alternative place to park. She finally found a vacant spot a few blocks away from their destination. As they got out of the car and began the walk to the airport, Mrs. Quest noticed that the disappointed look on her son's face was still clearly visible.

"I know that you wanted to go Jonny," his mother smiled at him cheerfully, "It just didn't work out this time. How about we go by the computer store you like so much on the way home? I may even let you buy a few things, what do you say?"

"Alright!" Jonny smiled excitedly, "I only need a few more parts for the project I'm working on!" As they continued their walk, Jonny noticed a group of men with questionable appearances following them. He didn't want to alarm his mother, so he took hold of her hand and quickened the pace. Jonny looked behind them to see how close the men were as they turned the corner. As looked in front of him, his gaze was met by another group of men with the same questionable appearance as the ones behind them- except these looked much worse. There were five of them, each with chains, pipes, and knives. Jonny instinctively stepped in front of his mother keeping a tight hold of her hand.

"Well, well, well, look what we've got ourselves here boys," one of the men said mockingly, "A couple of Quest's in the wrong place at the right time. Before we get started with our orders, let's have a little bit of fun with them- shall we?" The men all laughed and began showing their weapons off as they crept closer to them. Jonny turned to pull his mother back the way they had come, but ran into the group of men that had been following them. There were six of them. They smiled as they saw the Quest's panic look and pulled out weapons of their own.

"Take the boy," a voice from behind them ordered.

"NO!" Mrs. Quest yelled as she stepped in front of her son, "Leave him alone!"

"Ya' here that boys? She's wants us to leave him alone!" the men all sneered at her, "And just what are you going to do to stop us, lady?" Jonny again stepped in front of his mother and moved her back. They were against the wall with eleven men crowed around them, leaving no openings to escape through.

Well, Jonny thought to himself, If there isn't an opening, I guess I'll have to make one! He let go of his mother's hand and slugged the closest thug to his right. It set off a chain reaction. Men were piling around him from every angle trying to get a hit in. Jonny managed to keep them back for a time, but there were too many of them. The thugs finally managed to nail him with one of their pipes across his gut. Jonny felt himself fall to his knees even though his mind was telling him to get up. As soon as his knees hit the cold wet concert, a chain whipped him across the back sending him down face first.

"Please stop!" his mother sobbed, "Don't hurt him!"

"Don't worry lady, we ain't gonna kill him," one of the men smiled as he turned and faced her, "We're just gonna keep him from trying to save you!" Two men then grabbed her by her arms and dragged her down into the alley with three men following them.

"MOM!" Jonny yelled as he suddenly jumped up and tried to follow after his mother. However, the six remaining men had other plans for him. They all circled around him and began beating him until he could no longer move. Even after he fell back down they continued the beating. The last thing Jonny heard before he lost consciousness, he'd never forget. It was the horrified scream of his mother.

Jonny woke up a few days later in a hospital bed. His whole body ached and he felt like he couldn't move anything if he wanted to. The prior events suddenly flooded back into his mind.

"MOM!" He yelled. He tried to get up; however, a firm hand held him back down. Jonny looked up to see his father. He looked horrible. He was completely pale and appeared to be sleep depraved.

"Dad-they took Mom- there were these guys- they took Mom- I tried to, but couldn't- they took Mom- where is she- they took her- where is she? Where's Mom?" Jonny tried to explain what happened, but he was still in shock and the only thing that kept racing back to him was his mother. He had to know where she was. He tried to get up yet again, but his father stopped him again.

"You need to rest, son," Dr. Quest's voice was shaky and he couldn't cover the sound of distress in his tone even though he tried.

"What's wrong?" Jonny fought against his father's hold and managed to sit straight up. Everything in his body felt like it was being ripped apart and burned when he sat up, but he didn't care about the pain. "Where's Mom?" He asked again. This time however, there was no trace of panic in his tone, he was cool and level headed. His father avoided his intense gaze and shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Dad! Where is she, you have to tell me what happened!" He tried to keep his voice steady best he could, however his mind was beginning to race through the only reasons why his father would be acting the way he was and they all involved his mother being terribly hurt.

"Jonny..." his father turned and faced him. His voice was quiet and he sounded like he was holding back his emotions best he could, "I don't know the best way to tell you this."

"No," Jonny was beginning to think what his father was about to tell him- but it couldn't be true, it just couldn't. His mother was just hurt, she was in the hospital somewhere- but she'd be fine. She might have to stay a few days- but everything would be fine, that's what she always told him, so it had to be true.

"Jonny, this won't be easy to hear, but I have to tell you-" he stopped as his son pushed his hand off of his. He watched with a painful heart as his one and only son moved his broken body to try and get out of the bed. He swallowed hard, he didn't want to tell him, but he had to. He knew that his son didn't want him to tell him, but he had to.

"Where are you going?" Dr. Quest asked as his son somehow managed to stand and head for the door, "You're in no condition to get out of bed, son."

"I'm going to find Mom," Jonny informed his father, "she's probably worried about me..she was scared, Dad... I heard her scream..." It was too much for Dr. Quest to hear, he couldn't handle this, not now, not by himself. He fell into the chair by his son's bed and held his head in his hands. Jonny took his hand off of the door knob. He looked at his father and knew what had happened.

"She's not in the hospital anymore, is she?" he slowly asked his father. All his father could do was shake his head. "I couldn't- I should have- I was there and I couldn't stop them-"

"It's not your fault!" Dr. Quest's senses took a hold of him as he went over and held his son gently by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes, "It was not your fault, do you hear me? It was not your fault, I don't want you talking like that." Jonny vaguely heard his father's words, his mother's scream echoing in his mind was slowly drowning out everything else.

End of Chapter 1. Please let me know what you think, and don't worry, Chapter 2 will be up very soon)