Struggling Aftermath
Okay...I got a new review...so now I'm going to commence in putting on chapter 3 here...and the ones behind Joey's ambush will be shown here...and how would Joey cope with what just happened to him…
With that said…HEROMAN…ATTACK!
After walking Lina home and getting his first kiss following their date at a concert, Joey proceeded to walk home yet he didn't noticed that some men wearing ski masks are waiting for him and are armed with lead pipes and emerged from several parked cars and struck him, one blow hit him on the left side of his temple and the teen boy is down, having been taken by surprise. The ground that Joey is on is filled with blood as his left temple area is busted open. With no witnesses around, the masked attackers then proceeded to attack him with their weapons, hitting him on his torso and his wounded head.
After that, the leader of the attackers came and grabbed Joey by his head and gave him a warning.
"Joey Jones…you make me sick and look how pathetic you are…you're just a brat now with Heroman gone…see…? You couldn't do those amazing things you showed on TV several months ago…and that shows what a weakling you are…right? "
"Unnhhh…"
"Look at that…he couldn't even fight back…"
"It shows that he's only good with Heroman around…now he's nothing but a weak puppy…"
"Listen up…don't you dare show your face at school…or you'll be sorry…Center City Middle School is better off without you…we'll be the heroes and not a punk like you…"
"Nnnhhh…"
"And you stay away from Lina…she's better off with a real man like me…and if you get close to her…we'll bang more than just your freakin' head…"
As the leader pummels Joey's rib area with the pipe, the attackers' assault came to a halt when a car came and its headlights flashed which forces them to make a run for it, and there the driver of the car emerged, revealing to be Lina's father, who just arrived after a late-night meeting with some businessmen. With him is another businessman who promptly uses his cellphone and called the police while Mr. Davis checks on Joey, shocked to see his state and tries to rouse him from falling unconscious by speaking to the boy.
"Damn hooligans…attacking someone…"
"Hey…Davis, look…that's Joey Jones…whoa! He's bleeding and hurt!"
"Call for police and an ambulance!"
"Got it!"
"Joey…can you hear me? I'm Lina's dad! Try to stay awake!"
"Uhhhnnn…"
-x-
About 15 minutes later, at the Center city Hospital, Joey is taken to the emergency room with physicians and doctors attending to the boy while outside the emergency room, Mr. Davis and his business partner are trying to calm a shaken Lina as she insisted to come along yet her dad had to assure to her that Joey will push through, while police who were summoned are on the hunt for the attackers, baffled as to why someone would attack the 14-year old boy who just saved the world from the Skrugg invasion. Psy and Professor Danton arrived just now after getting word from Lina.
"Lina...calm down...!"
"But dad! What if...what if Joey is..."
"He will be alright, Miss Lina..."
"Lina!"
"Lina!"
"Psy! Professor Danton!"
"We came after we we got your text! Where's Joey?"
"He's inside the emergency room! Some punks beat him after he escorted me home after our date!"
"Joey..."
"Who would want to beat up someone who saved the United States of America? It doesn't make any sense..."
Psy wondered who would foster a grudge towards Joey, and Lina couldn't think of anyone who would be ticked off at her "love interest" while Danton wondered if there is someone who is envious at Joey thinking that he got the "fame" for saving Center City. Psy felt there might be outside parties involved since school won't start until Monday, and he could guess that street punks might be the culprits. Danton seemed to agree since Joey had no enemies at school, but then another of Joey's friends came.
"I think jealous punks are the culprits...Joey doesn't have any enemies..."
"I agree...even my fellow teachers adore and respect him..."
"Perhaps, gentlemen...I might interject on something that may help us pinpoint the culprit to Joey's ambush..."
A voice of someone spoke and then showed up. It was Axel Hughes, and he was somewhat aware of what happened to Joey, apparently from some of his "contacts" within Lina's neighborhood. He spoke with the others and seem to have some narrowed leads as to who would do something to Joey.
"Ah, Mr. Hughes."
"Hello, Mr. Davis...Lina...everyone..."
"You say you know who attacked Joey?"
"I believe I do...after I checked Joey's school records and having my men observe the school...I see no one who'd be interested in making Joey their enemy...apart from some...delinquents..."
"So school bullies are possible suspects..."
"Yes..."
"And..."
"Someone Joey encountered during the time after the Skrugg landed on Earth..."
"Who would be some outsider who would...wait...I rem,ember...you don't mean...HIM?"
"Yes...the one who escaped from jail..."
Hughes believed that the attack may be caused by not only apparent jealous delinquents who envied Joey's heroic deeds, but they also felt that he may pose a threat believing that he might summon Heroman, but he suspect that there are others who want to get revenge on the teen. It is there that Hughes mentioned the name of one person he suspect might have something to do with what Jeoy is now undergoing: Dr. Minami.
"That might make sense...since Joey saved the world...Minami is furious and wanted to make a name for himself..."
"But...why would he risk exposure by attacking Joey several minutes ago..."
"Unless...he hired some bullies to do the work for him..."
"That may be a possibility..."
"Yes...that's a possibility...but we are facing a blank wall since there are no witnesses...and Mr. Davis said the attackers are wearing ski masks...so identifying the culprits will be difficult..."
Since his escape, Minami has always wanted to prove that his scientific gadgets and experiments are far superior than Heroman, but it seems that he would settle for Joey as Hughes suspect that Minami has learned of Heroman's demise, and blaming the boy for his humiliation and interference, he decided to channel his anger on him. The Davis father and daughter, Danton and Psy nodded, seeing that it may make some sense, and yet, until the culprits are caught, they can't just relay on suspicion so they'll have to wait and see if they can get answers by apprehending the fugitive scientist, and or the culprits who attacked Joey.
By then the lead surgeon came and emerged from the emergency room, and there he tells the people waiting on Joey Jones' condition.
"Excuse me...who are the boy's relatives...?"
"We're all his friends...his elder sister is out at the moment..."
"Are you the doctor who checked on Joey?"
"Yes."
"How is he?"
"We managed to patch up his wounds...and luckily he is out of danger for now."
"Thank goodness..."
"But he'll remained confined here for at least eight weeks. We need to observe him thoroughly before discharging him given that his head had just bee patched and luckily no internal hemorrhage is formed near his brain tissues. and he'll be needing a lot of rest. As much as I hate saying this...his good deeds have some costs...such as what happened to him now, as there are some people who didn't appreciate his efforts to save Center City from the invaders. For now he'll be confined at the ICU for the time being...and if within the week if he shows some improvement he'll be transferred to a private room...excuse me..."
"Thank you, doctor..."
"Thank you..."
"Oh, Joey..."
"He'll miss school for the first two weeks..."
The physician, who is also a surgeon, informs the people that Joey is out of danger and all he needed right now is rest, and he will be confined for at least two weeks so that he would recover faster. While Lina and Psy are relieved to hear this, they are not pleased with the fact that Joey will be forced to miss the first month of the school and they hoped that Joey would be their classmate so that they could hand him their notes so he would catch up. By then Mr. Davis decided that he and his daughter should go home and rest as the time now is 1 am, Sunday.
Hughes and Danton talked with each other and agreed to stay in touch with each other as they are going to try to get some lead on who attacked Joey and to discern if Dr. Minami played a role in Joey's attack or not. They couldn't let anything else happen to the boy since with Heroman no more, he is vulnerable to attacks from anyone who fosters a grudge against him for "saving the world".
-x-
At an unidentified area within Center City, the scene shifts to a posh house and there you can see the masked hooligans who attacked Joey, and as they removed their ski masks, they are revealed to be jockeys from Joey's school and the ones who hired them. The persons who hired the jockeys to attack Joey turn out to be Dr, Minami and Senator Tramp, and Tramp paid them well after hearing how they beat up Joey.
"Well done, boys...well done."
"A very good job you pulled..."
"No problem...glad we accepted your offer...my buddies and I really want to beat that brat...he strutted too much..."
"...and he sure looked like a wuss without his precious Heroman..."
"And ONLY I have the right to woo that beauty bitch Lina Davis."
"Yes, yes...but that's just the beginning...I have a future job for you to pull...and this time we humiliate that Joey Jones and make him look bad at the eyes of the public."
"And for that your services will be needed...in the near future, that is. Of course Senator Tramp will pay you handsomely if you accepted..."
"Sure!"
"You can count on us!"
"Call us and we'll be there!"
"Ah...another extra income coming my towards hands..."
"Okay...we'll be seeing you!"
After the jockeys left, Minami then brought out a blueprint on how to put their plans in to motion as to cause trouble within Center City while revealing that he has acquired some remains of the Skrugg technology and use them to make the city helpless so that the US President will be forced into resigning, but Tramp advises him to wait until the elections, as he intend to run for Vice President, and there he tells Minami to do with plans so that whoever the president is, he will be forced to vacate it and he will be president.
"Eh? wait for a few more months? Why?"
"In three months the election is about to begin...and so far I'm leading the tally for vice-presidency."
"So?"
"So...once the election is over, and when I'm proclaimed VP of the US of A...I'll becoming the new president in the event that something happened to whoever is the president of the US of A...and that's where you can do whatever plans you have...so that you can make the new president look like an inept fool..."
"I see...very well..."
"And once I became president...I'll use that power to give you a pardon...so you can be a free man...and have you under my employ..."
"I accept!"
"Now then...what should we do about that Joey Jones..."
"Excuse me, sirs...perhaps I can offer some ideas on how to use that boy in the next three months and how it would add more to your advantages..."
By then, Minami's secretary, Veronica, came and offered a suggestion which seemed to gauge the men's interests, seeing that she has some good ideas on how useful Joey can be to their plans.
"You have a plan, miss?"
"This is Veronica...my secretary...so you have a plan on how to use that boy to our plans?"
"Yes, sir."
"Really? If so...I'll be willing to hear it."
"Although...to pull off that plan...we wait for two months...assuming that Joey Jones is discharged from the hospital...and that's where my suggestion would come in to play..."
"Two more months?"
"Hmm...we'll have to be patient...Veronica...tell us what you have in mind..."
"Yes, tell us..."
"Very well..."
The two men listened on as Veronica tells them the elaborate way of putting the coming events in their favor so that they would succeed as they intend to take advantage of Heroman's death in putting Joey away.
-x-
Almost two months after the incident, Center City High School has already started the school year and thanks to Danton and Vera Collins, a recovered Joey was able to catch up the missed lectures at school and he is no longer in danger of being "left behind" academically and by the end of the second month, Joey is discharged from the hospital and is almost recovered from his injuries, and began attending classes where he is classmates with Psy and Lina again and he is hanging out with the two, and despite the hero status the other students look up to him, Joey remained humble and tells them that they should move on.
Joey and Lina became closer and are on the verge of becoming a couple, while neither one of them are aware that the jockeys who conspired with Tramp and Minami are watching, biding their time as they received instructions not to assault him until the right time comes.
-x-
As the week ended, Joey and Psy are walking out of school and are discussing about the events that happened, as there has been no word on Joey's attackers yet and they wonder who would want to assault him after saving the world from Skrugg invaders. Psy suspected that there are some who got jealous at his friend for his "celebrity status" which Joey finds it "cheap" and "shallow".
"Some aftermath, huh?"
"Yeah...I had no idea someone wanted to hurt me for saving the world..."
"They're probably envious of your good deeds..."
"But...that's no excuse for attacking me for no reasons..."
"So be careful..."
"I will..."
"Got to go..."
"See you tomorrow!"
After a few blocks of traveling both friends parted ways as Joey heads home so that he would go on with his part-time job, but as he passes by a vacant parking lot, the jockeys were there and started to taunt Joey on being a "weakling" now that he doesn't have Heroman by his side, though he chose to ignore them as he knows that they are just trying to get him to lose his cool, and he went on his way pretending not to notice them.
"Hey...check it out! It's Heroman's sidekick...Baby Kangaroo!"
"Hey, pipsqueak...just got out of the hospital? I hope the adult diapers fit you well!"
"I bet he is being masturbated by slut nurses!"
"Hah! He's only tough when Heroman's with him...now he's just a wuss without his "giant toy"!"
"Having a nice bump, Heroboy?"
"I bet somebody's going to kidnap him..."
"So who's going to protect you now, chump?"
"I bet he's going to cry over his dead parents!"
As Joey walked on, the jockeys, seeing that the teen boy didn't notice them, put on their ski masks and boarded their van and stealthily approached the boy and grabbed him via a sack and pulled him onboard, and with no one else noticing, Joey is kidnapped and the incident went unnoticed.
To Be Continued...
Another bad time for Joey...hospitalized and then kidnapped...
At least it is revealed who attacked Joey...but now things are getting intense as this is just the tip of an iceberg...he'll encounter more trouble in the upcoming chapters.
Preview:
Joey gets into bigger trouble as new villains are introduced...who are in the employ of Senator Tramp and Dr. Minami...
