Author's Note: A "" mark signifies either a small time skip, or the internal thoughts switching between characters. For anyone that didn't read the previous chapter Lightspeed = John. In case you're curious, the style of the super-hero story that John's from is kind of like "Invincible", the fighting between Villain and Hero when they're equally matched is often fairly brutal (mind you, nowhere near as brutal as Invincible, but you get the point.)
Chapter 8-A Late Night "Rendezvous"
John went to bed within a few seconds of Mrs. Wakeman leaving the room, much like a prisoner stuck in solitary; there wasn't much to do but sleep.
Off came the shirt, pants, and socks, and within seconds of their removal, they were tossed rather lazily to a random corner of his newfound cell.
Seconds later, John practically leapt upon the bed and covered himself in its blankets, seemingly ready to start the inevitable bout with the insomnia that usually plagued him so much back home.
…
As if by some miracle, John was out like a light within what felt like 30 minutes of closing his eyes, with an unusually deep and incredibly restful sleep consuming him and his subconscious.
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The faint sound of a distinct "knocking" coupled with the sound of various servomechanisms in action began to faintly "call out" to John from beyond the void of his sleep-addled subconscious without warning.
It was almost… pleasant in a way, faint, yet audible to the point where it felt like it was practically caressing the non existent ears of his sleep-addled subconscious, much like someone whispering in his ear.
That was, until it started to get louder, what once was mildly pleasant quickly turned into an annoyance, what made matters "worse" was the fact that a feminine voice that his sleep-addled subconscious didn't recognize joined the cacophony of increasingly loud noise that was starting to "pierce" his sleep-addled subconscious with the intensity of a siege-howitzer going off.
The noise that once felt eons, no, literal light years away was quickly loud enough to the point where it felt like whatever was making it was inside his own head, and try as John's subconscious might, it had no choice but to heed its call.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jenny dreaded the thought of waking John up like this because he looked so peaceful, but the last thing she needed was him waking from his sleep in a panicked state upon her starting her attempt to bust him out of his cell.
It would seem that her continuous knocking against the glass with her right hand was finally starting to have the effect she needed it to, because it looked like John was starting to stir from his slumber.
John's eyes looked like they were slowly opening, and within milliseconds of them opening came what looked to Jenny like a huge surge of panic as they were darting all around him, surveying his surroundings with a rapidity similar to that of a grand mal seizure, he mustn't have remembered where he was or how he got here.
Hopefully the metaphorical "fog" that the sleep had blanketed his mind with would dissipate quickly, for Jenny could feel her mechanical heart breaking out of sympathy for every second she had to witness the boy's panicked state.
She was unsure on what to do, trying to console him could have disastrous consequences as it had a greater likelihood of making John panic even more than he already was than actually working as intended.
….
Without warning, John's eyes ceased their panicked "surveying" upon seeing what Jenny could only assume was herself.
Jenny could hardly believe what followed, instead of the "who are you" or "what are you doing here" that she expected, a rather thick line of hair starting at the forehead and ending at the back of John's scalp stood on end to form what looked like a rather flaccid looking "mohawk" of hair.
The odd spectacle was oddly similar to some kind of canine raising it's hackles out of excitement or agitation, and only served to re-ignite the metaphorical fire that was Jenny's insatiable curiosity over who or possibly even what John was, as well as his origins.
What followed next took that metaphorical fire, and doused it with gasoline, as brief as it was, Jenny could swear that she saw John's eyes quite literally "light up", as if some invisible force had turned "on" two flashlights with light blue colored lenses that were placed behind his eye sockets.
For just a few milliseconds, Jenny thought she saw John's eyes engulfed in a blue light of such intensity that his pupils were nowhere to be seen, the light was so intense in fact, that in the darkness of the room, two clearly visible cones of blue light were emanating from John's eyes, as if his eyeballs had turned into flashlights.
Unfortunately, the "lights" in John's eyes dimmed to the point of non-existence just as quickly as they appeared, the "hackles" remained for a few milliseconds longer before eventually relaxing to the point of being un-noticeable, whether he did this intentionally or it was some primal defense mechanism/ fear response… only Jobs knows.
It would seem that the sleep induced fog that had clouded his mind was now starting to dissipate.
Jenny's suspicions about the "fog" were immediately proven true when the boy opened his mouth and said the following:
"Jenny…." john said with a tone practically wrapped in a metaphorical layer of confusion.
John sits up in the bed, momentarily clutches at his face with his palms before getting out of it, and casually stands in plain view of her with nothing on but his underwear whilst rubbing the sleep from his eyes like it was no big deal whatsoever.
For a few agonizingly slow seconds, Jenny wasn't quite sure on how to respond, John's blood-shot eyes, coupled with his half-stare that practically oozed confusion (and most importantly his state of undress), wasn't exactly what she expected to receive in response to her coming to rescue him.
…
Jenny felt a tidal wave of embarrassment washing over her, with nothing but the all too familiar "feeling" of warm oil rushing to her cheeks, coupled with a "heat" that had an intensity that rivaled a volcano's magma chamber welling up within her chest to accompany its arrival.
Jenny was unsure as to why John was still casually standing there in his underwear, with his arms folded no less, as if he was impatiently waiting for her to explain why she was there.
…
Had the roles been reversed…. just the mere thought….it had Jenny feeling like she could die of embarrassment.
From what little Jenny saw before instinctively shifting her gaze towards the floor (and then later turning around out of embarrassment), John's torso had quite the abundance of scars going in all directions, how he got them would have to be another question to add to Jenny's rapidly growing list of things to ask (assuming he didn't mind disclosing that information of course).
Jenny's growing anxiety over her "visual violation" of her new acquaintance's privacy (and the acquaintance himself, despite it not being intentional in nature ) boiled over so quickly that she blurted out the first thing that came to mind in an attempt to proactively make amends:
"I am so sorry John, I didn't know you were undressed." jenny rather sheepishly blurted out.
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Why was Jenny acting so bashful all of a sudden, he was just in his underwear, it was the equivalent of seeing a shirtless boxer in the ring who had nothing but shorts on, what was the big deal?
…..
After a few seconds of further absentmindedness, the reality of the situation that Lightspeed was in finally "clicked" enough for him to realize (despite still being half asleep) why Jenny was embarrassed… boy and girl that barely knew each other….and the boy (him) was in his underwear.
Like a metaphorical strike of lightning caused by a storm of neurons, "it" came to him within the blink of an eye, and just like the storm of neurons that came before it, came a new storm of panicked movement from him trying to find his pants and shirt.
Thankfully, it didn't take John very long to find what he was looking for, the pants and shirt were exactly where he left them, in the corner he tossed them in.
After a few seconds of fumbling about, on went the pants, and on went the shirt, and John didn't give a damn if they were on backwards or not, all that mattered was that they were on.
"You can turn around now, I'm dressed." john said rather flatly, trying his best to hide the miniscule amount of embarrassment he was feeling.
The mechanical girl follows his "command" and turns around, diverting her gaze towards the floor, and (despite the seemingly impossible nature of its existence considering the fact that she was mechanical) a deep cyan blue "blush" of what seemed like embarrassment could be seen on her cheeks.
….
It wasn't really a big deal… well not to him at least, it clearly was to Jenny, but not to John.
…..
Attempting to find the right words to say in order to metaphorically "pave over" this awkward situation the two teens now found themselves in was proving to be an absolute Herculean effort for John's groggy mind, but after a few seconds he came up with something, while it was lazy, it was fairly solid:
"No need to be so bashful, it was a mistake, and truth be told it's not a big deal." lightspeed said rather plainly.
Upon noticing that his "reassurance" had no noticeable effect on the mechanical girl who was still glancing down at the floor, Lightspeed decided to "throw in the towel" so to speak.
John didn't have the energy, or the patience left to try and mend the metaphorical "Hiroshima of embarrassment" between the two of them.
"Why are you bothering me at this time of night?" john asked rather coldly.
For the first time in what seemed like minutes, Jenny diverted her gaze to Lightspeed, looking at him directly instead of bashfully gazing at the floor.
The mechanical girl's rather embarrassed facial expression seems to "wither" in the blink of an eye, turning into something more "solemn" as if Lightspeed's words had "wounded" her.
"That's not how someone should talk to someone who's come to save them." jenny replied rather solemnly.
Despite Lightspeed's growing doubts over his gut instinct involving the girl and her "manipulative nature", he still had his heart "steeled" against her, yet…he felt a need to explain the reasoning for his rather callous response.
She wouldn't get an apology, as heartless as it sounded, Jenny didn't deserve one, she was the one who had torn him from the best sleep he had had in months.
The mechanical girl standing before him behind a 2 foot thick wall of glass clad polycarbonate would need to be incredibly gauche or naïve to expect him not to act like a malice-filled dragon whose millennia long sleep she had just ruined.
"I didn't mean to sound so callous when I asked that." john said whilst pinching the bridge of his nose and responding with the following:
"But come on, I just woke up from a rather deep and pleasant sleep, you can't expect me to not be at least a little irritable." john added.
The posture of the mechanical girl withers even further in response to Lightspeed's "explanation", it seemed that his "explanation" didn't work and had actually backfired and made her even sadder.
"Look, I'm sorry, ok, I'm not mad at you, I'm just mad at the situation." john said.
So much for Jenny not getting an apology, the damn thing just tumbled out of his mouth before John could even catch himself saying it.
For a machine, (and more impressively considering John had metaphorically "steeled" his heart) Jenny was pretty good at tugging at his heart-strings, as to whether or not she was doing it intentionally, Lightspeed was growing increasingly uncertain of the answer.
Thankfully, it would seem that one of Lightspeed's metaphorical "shots in the dark" had finally hit it's mark with intended effect, the mechanical girl's facial expression was looking a lot less somber now, but John couldn't help but feel that she still felt "wounded" by the rather harsh tone in his voice.
John had his doubts about the "reason" Jenny gave for being here, she was probably just here for some gab and was too embarrassed to admit it.
Against his better judgment, Lightspeed once again let what was on his mind come to the surface and exit his mouth:
"Why are you really here, Jenny?" john asked before adding:
"Not that I don't believe you, it's just that, doing this seems like it would get you in some seriously hot water with your creator if she found out." john added.
The mechanical girl's face contorted in what looked like mild anger mixed with irritation, it would seem that Lightspeed couldn't talk worth a damn to this girl, for every single sentence he let loose from his mouth, he either metaphorically stomped or stepped on the mechanical girl's non-existent toes.
John wasn't even going to bother and try and patch things up… again…for the second or third or was it the fourth or… oh it didn't matter, he wasn't keeping count.
"I'm here to break you out and set you free, and I don't care what mom will do to me if she finds out." jenny said with as calm a tone as she could muster.
Immediately after finishing her sentence, Jenny transforms the finger-tips on her right hand into drill bits, which start to spin rapidly with an audible but overall quiet "whir".
As tempted as Lightspeed was to take Jenny up on her offer (assuming she could get him out), at the end of the day, he knew that he couldn't, it would make the deal he struck with Mrs. Wakeman null and void, an agreement which he didn't intend on being very loose lipped about.
Not to mention, what if his initial fears of his mere presence being harmful to this plane of existence due to his interdimensional nature were based in fact and not paranoia?
Hopefully Jenny would be willing to accept the latter if, lord forbid, he had to explain to her why he refused her offer for help.
"No offense Jenny, but no thanks, it's for the best this way." john said rather flatly.
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Jenny practically couldn't believe her auditory sensors, did John actually say "it's for the best this way" in reference to his imprisonment?
No… she wouldn't believe it, she must have misheard him.
"Wanna run that by me again, I swear I heard you say…" jenny said before being interrupted mid-sentence with the following:
"It's for the best this way, you didn't mis-hear me, I know it sounds crazy but just trust me on this." john blurted out.
So Jenny's auditory sensors had not deceived her, Jenny was at an absolute loss of what to say, how could the boy before her have possibly defeated Smytus in hand to hand combat if he was such a… defeatist?
"I just don't understand, if you have doubts about my ability to get you out, trust me, I can do it." jenny said whilst taking a seat on the floor.
"It's not that I doubt you Jenny, I'm only still in here because I'm choosing to be, I can break out at any time for any reason." john replied rather calmly.
The "logic" of John's statement made Jenny's positronic head hurt, and she couldn't help but blurt out the first thing that came to mind in response to it:
"Why, why are you going to just… tolerate this, and voluntarily for that matter?" jenny asked with a tone of absolute disbelief in her voice.
"Mom could be wrong, her fears about you could be completely unwarranted, she's just being paranoid, nothing more, you shouldn't have to put up with this." jenny stated.
Lightspeed lets out a mild sigh in response to this, Jenny could tell that he was getting irritated, whether or not it was at her, or at the situation like he had previously stated, was impossible for her to determine, either way she no longer cared, she needed to know if this answer was coming from a sound mind (albeit a defeatist one), or one that was starting to develop Stockholm syndrome.
"But what if you're mother's right, for all we know, I could've unknowingly infected Brad and Tuck with some completely foreign bacteria that was on me that their immune systems have no hope of getting rid of." john stated.
The idea of such a thing made Jenny's oil run cold, the mere thought of losing either of the boys next door to anything was almost unbearable for her to even comprehend.
Yet, both of the boys were in good health the last time she talked to them on the phone a few hours ago, John's point, while valid, was moot at this point of time.
"Both Brad and Tuck are in good health, I talked to both on the phone a few hours ago." jenny replied.
"Only time will tell, for all we know I might've started a runaway process that will bring about the end of all organic life in your dimension by unforming the helmet to my suit of armor at Brad and Tuck's house." john stated.
The boy before her was being over-dramatic, Mom must've fed him lies of a worst case hypothetical scenario…his point, while possible, was still invalid because Jenny didn't do hypotheticals.
"If you're worried about being some carrier to some disease, I could put you through Mom's decontamination chamber after I let you out, it should wipe any trace of viruses or bacteria from you. " jenny said with as persuasive a tone as she could muster.
"I'm not just talking about diseases either, I could be causing damage on some unseen level by simply being here." john said with a mounting level of irritation to his tone of voice.
John motions to the walls of his cell with his right hand before saying the following:
"This is for my protection as well, who knows what your dimension might be doing, or already has done to me." john said.
"Don't be ridiculous, just trust me on this, I don't know what lies Mom fed you, but she's wrong." jenny replied.
"Don't let your anger towards her cloud your judgment to the point of you fabricating imaginary scenarios, she told me nothing that I didn't already know." john firmly stated.
Jenny felt an intense twinge of anger rising up within her in response to this statement, and like black powder in a pan, it felt like it would reach a metaphorical "flash-point" at any second.
What did he know about her anger, who was he to make such a comment, did he not know how betrayed mom had made her feel?
….
Yet, the "flash-point" didn't come, and within seconds, the twinge of anger went from a violent but small inferno to nothing more than a simmer, getting upset and yelling at John wouldn't solve anything.
From what little insight into John's logic for staying that Jenny could glean, it most likely wasn't the result of a mind that was starting to develop Stockholm syndrome and was "sound", albeit completely irrational.
Jenny would have to try a different approach:
"You have no ill intent, and you're just as human as everyone else here, just because you're a bit… anomalous doesn't mean you'll bring about our end, this is real life, not some science-fiction novel." jenny said with a tone practically overflowing with assurance.
John looked away from her and directed his gaze towards the concrete floor of his cell, this was a good sign, he was at least listening to and more importantly, considering what she said.
"There's plenty of real life examples of diseases that people unknowingly brought with them causing untold devastation, at least in the dimension I come from.
It was across continents instead of dimensions, mind you, but the concept is the same." lightspeed said before adding:
"Assuming the history of our two dimensions are similar, and assuming that you've been taught about this kind of thing, you know exactly what I'm talking about." john was quick to add.
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The confident and assuring demeanor of the mechanical girl in front of him was gone, it seemed like the real life parallel (that was similar to the situation and it's potential severity) that he had made in response to the girl's rather naïve "science-fiction novel" comment, had worked, or at least, had its intended effect.
Even though Jenny's heart was in the right place, John felt that he was nearing the limits of his patience, and try as he might, his temper was starting to get the better of him, he wouldn't be able to contain it for much longer if she couldn't take the hint and accept that he didn't want to be saved.
Any other time, he'd have all the patience in the world for someone to take "the hint", but not tonight, all John wanted to to do was put the exhausting events of the previous day behind him and go back to sleep, he didn't have the patience, nor the energy left to talk further for he had practically done nothing but talk, and he was sick of it.
….
Unfortunately, John's hopes of having finally gotten through the mechanical girl's thick metal head were dashed immediately upon her responding with:
"You don't have to put up with this, just trust me on this, please." jenny said.
John was now, rapidly approaching the limit of his patience with the mechanical girl, the metaphorical dam holding back the molten miasma that was his temper was rapidly deteriorating.
Whether Jenny was simply unable to see that he was getting angry due to the darkness, was that clueless about social cues, or John was hiding it better than he thought, it was impossible to determine, nor did it matter at this point.
"I don't need rescuing, go back to doing whatever you do at night, Jenny." john said with a rather assertive tone.
"I can't leave you here to rot, you haven't done anything wrong, it's not right." jenny replied rather pensively.
The dam was now breaking, the metaphorical molten miasma of contained anger and irritation that the dam had held back valiantly was now flowing unabated with unrelenting fury into John's mind, setting his neurons alight in a flaming tempestuous hurricane of anger, the hurricane quickly began to spread and metastasize with an aggression and speed that put the most lethal of cancers to shame, rapidly spreading to all parts of John's body where it manifested itself in different ways.
John's heart began to race, his body began to tense and heat up, jaw slightly clenched, he verbally erupted with the following:
"God Damnit, this isn't about right or wrong, this is about the greater good, and what must be done!" john snapped.
The Mechanical girl's posture withering, coupled with the fact that her facial expression looked similar to the one she had when Mrs. Wakeman had "betrayed her" was all it took for John to know that he had gotten the message through, and try as he might to stop, the words kept flowing out of his mouth with a level of molten fury and intensity that rivaled even his most angry outbursts back home.
"I just wanna get some sleep and you just won't take no for an answer, I can't stand it anymore!" john barked.
"I just…." john said before cutting himself off mid-sentence with a sigh.
Surprisingly, John was able to reign in his temper before anything more was said, as much as he wanted to just go back to bed that very moment, he couldn't bear to see the heartbroken expression on the mechanical girl's face any longer, nor could he bear the thought of her leaving the room with such a foul mood.
"Look….I'm sorry for yelling at you like that, I shouldn't have done that, but I'm exhausted, and want… no, I need to sleep, and I don't need saving, understand?" john said with a fairly calm tone.
The mechanical girl's expression brightened slightly in response to John's apology, before immediately nodding in response with a frown still on her face.
"I understand." jenny replied rather sadly.
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Jenny felt a need to do something, sure, he didn't want her help, but she could still help John indirectly by keeping him company, being isolated in a cell like this with no-one to keep him company but mom could drive him crazy.
It wouldn't hurt to offer, and if John declined, she'd feel a little more sad than she already was but it wouldn't be the end of the world.
….
A few seconds of silence pass, with neither party saying a thing until Jenny breaks it with the following:
"Would you at least like to talk?" jenny asked.
"I'll answer any questions you have tomorrow after Mrs. Wakeman's tests are done for the day, ok?" john replied.
"I think you misunderstood, I just wanna talk, not ask questions." jenny stated with as friendly a facial expression as she could muster.
Jenny could see the boy pause for a moment, as if considering her offer before shaking his head and replying with:
"I'm too tired, we'll talk later, I promise, besides, it's not like you're gonna miss the opportunity to do so." john stated before adding:
"It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon." john added with a small smirk forming on his face.
"Good-night Jenny." john said before crawling back into bed.
For a few seconds, Jenny was at a complete loss of what to do, this had not gone at all how she expected, yet, there wasn't much for her to do besides go back to bed, he didn't want rescue, nor did he want to talk.
As she stood up, walked out of the room, down the hall, up the stairs and back into her room, she couldn't help but feel conflicted about the boy.
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As Jenny's sleep mode began to set in, there was nothing to accompany her but thoughts of apprehension and curiosity involving the boy.
Whatever fate had in store for the two of them, let alone everyone in Tremorton now that he was here, only time would tell.
Authors Note Continued: I apologize for the 2 week delay, but I'm average about 1 page a day, I write best if I do one page a day, anything more than that and I tend to burn myself out. (Mind you, I don't write on Saturdays or Sundays, but still. )