Where the Heck has Johnny Been? (Closed Thread)
Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:03 am
((NOTE: The following is not common knowledge. It is the backstory explanation for why Johnny hasn't been around much lately. There are, of course, real world reasons why I haven't been able to play much, and those should end somewhere between mid-October and November. I can't wait to get back into the full swing of things with all of you!))
A couple of months ago...
"Hello, Mr. Dangerous, we've been expecting you."
The non-descript man in the black business suit stereotypical of government agents simply smiles at Johnny.
"I hope that we're not interrupting anything important." He turns to the second agent who nods back at him.
Number two, a powerfully-built black man simply continues to stare at Johnny as if he were looking straight through him.
Number one smiles that fake, toothy grin again. "Don't let Agent Towers intimidate you. I can assure you he's as docile as a trained pitbull." This only makes Towers smile wider.
"Who the hell are you guys? Longbow? Freedom Corp? Wyvern? Arachnos?" Johnny tries to sound brave, but his sixteen year old voice comes out with a crack. Fuck, he thinks, so much for tough.
The agent laughs out loud at Johnny's choices and shakes his head. "Oh, I think you know who we are. We've been watching you for some time now, and may I say, we're quite impressed. Perhaps not with the crudeness of your running all of the place in a vain attempt to allude us, but still, very impressive."
The agent winks as if to say, "You're a fuckwit.", but Johnny doesn't let that get to him. No, it's what he says next that raises the hairs on the back of his neck.
"We've recently been to visit your sister. I must say, she's not doing so well. I'm told that it's not good when the comatose show no sign of improvement after such a long period of time."
Towers smiles again at this, showing perfect teeth... teeth one could imagine biting into one's neck.
Johnny grits his teeth, barely containing his rage and fear, and really not liking where this conversation is going.
"Tell me, Johnathan, - if I may call you that - how was your trip to mom's a couple of weeks ago? Or, maybe you'd like to show us the pictures you took at Disneyland when you went on that little cross-country trip with subjects codenamed Palilla and Amethyst Shade? That Amy's quite the looker. Does mommy know what the two of you have been doi..."
"You fucking leave her out of this! I'll fucking lobotomize the two of you and keep you as wall decorations for the..." Johnny blows off a great deal of energy and then focuses on their minds, only to be blocked by something. In his rage it seems to bend slightly, but he knows he can't break through.
"You're not going to do anything of the sort, JD." Number one taps at his temple. "We have someone stronger protecting us from your particularly nasty thoughts. And if you don't reign in that radiation, we'll have her make you into, what was that you were saying? A decoration? Maybe you would look nice in my office as a fountain?"
Johnny's eyes narrow as he struggles to regain control of himself.
"Now, we know that you could simply blow us all to kingdom come, and we're taking a chance here that Agent Cerebella will be able to shut you down before that happens. Personally, I don't think that any of us want that. So, what do you say, Johnny, ready to play ball?"
Towers just continues to stare at Johnny as if he wants to break his neck.
"What do you want?" It's all Johnny can do not to lash out again at the two.
"That's better. What do we want? I like the sound of that. I think this is going to be the beginning of a wonderful partnership."
Number one begins to pace back and forth as he continues, "Johnathan William Ipswich the Fourth," he smirks. "Aka, Johnny Dangerous... also known as JD, Jonboy, Juanito, Billy, oh, and my personal favorite, Babydoll."
Johnny winces as the agent says the last one.
"Known accomplices: Amethyst Shade, Palilla, Kris O'Sullivan -interesting-, and, of course, the Sapphire Angel. That's quite a harem you have there Johnny Boy. Impressive for a scrawny little pencil dick like you."
The agent clears his throat before going on. "Enrolled at Saint Joseph School, subject is a straight A student, with attendance problems and a penchant for afterschool vigilante activities. Recently he was involved in an attempt to help some classmates, the aforementioned Sapphire Angel, and one other, to recover from what is commonly known as vampirism. Oh, Johnny, if I didn't know better - and I do - I'd say you were a boyscout."
"Eventually helping Sapphire Angel, he lost control of his powers and exploded, causing a good deal of structural damage and quite a few serious injuries in what is being referred to as the Founders' Falls Medical Center Incident. That was some fun, wasn't it Johnny Boy?"
Johnny looks down, ashamed.
"Just wanted to thank you for that one, by the way. We learned a lot about you girlfriend, Sapphire Angel that night."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"Ooh, a little touchy on that one aren't you, Johnny? You're right, she's not. Seems your little cure for her with that vampire countess had some unexpected side effects, hmm?"
Wincing, tears begin to stream down Johnny's face.
"What? You don't like what you ended up with? She seems like a perfectly nice girl now, doesn't she? Well, a little memory loss and, of course, she's back with her old boyfriend, the demon. It was worth it though, right? Meddling in things you didn't fully understand; partnering with 'villains'? All that sort of badboy thing? Were you trying to impress Amy? Oh, that's right, the two of them don't like each other, do they? You really shouldn't keep things from your girlfriend, John. Maybe you'll understand that when you grow up."
"I did what I had to do!"
"Does Sapphire even know?"
"No, I don't think so - not yet anyway. We didn't know that was going to happen. Fuck you!"
"Tsk, tsk, such language. Your generation doesn't know proper manners. You should really learn to show some respect." At this, Number One nods to Agent Towers who eagerly steps forward and doubles Johnny over with a hard punch to his stomach.
"You really must forgive Agent Towers. He doesn't quite like any of you 'powered' people. Something about losing his entire family in one of your unsanctioned activities."
"Now, where were we? Oh, yes, Sapphire Angel. I wouldn't worry about her, Johnny. I have a feeling she's going to be just fine. But enough about the others. As long as you cooperate with us we don't have to talk about any of them ever again."
"What do you want?" Johnny says this a second time, with more trepidation and some resignation creeping into his voice.
"Why we want you, of course, Mr. Dangerous. You're going to come to work for us. We're even going to let you continue going to school, and let you out to play with your friends every now and then. As long as you behave. But all of your free time is ours from now on."
"No," Johnny says, more in disbelief than in opposition.
"Wrong answer. The correct answer is, yes. The next time you say no to me, someone that is dear to you is going to be accidentally hurt. Do we understand each other?"
Johnny closes his eyes and nods, his tears beginning to dry.
"Excellent. We have some plans for you. The good news is you're going to get a lot of special training, Johnny. You're going to be quite an asset to your country, I can assure you. With your combination of powers, your ability to teleport and sneak invisibly anywhere - and those wonderfully untraceable mental powers of yours - well... let's just say that we can't wait until your first overseas assignment."
He can't believe that he's hearing this. They're going to make him into a fucking assassin. He thinks to himself that he's got to get out of here now! He can warn the others, move his sister and mom to safety somewhere, maybe even...
The agent cocks his head as if listening to someone, and then backhands Johnny hard in the face, knocking him down. Johnny puts a hand to his mouth, tasting his own blood.
"Did I fail to mention that Agent Cerebella, or someone else, will be constantly monitoring your thoughts from now on? How forgetfull of me. No, Mr. Dangerous, you won't be running away. In fact, I have it on good authority from one of our precogs that you're going to turn out to be quite an asset."
"Now, let's get down to it, shall we? We'll start with rule number one: you will not let anyone know what you're doing. If you do, there will be consequences, which you will not like. We've devised a method whereby you'll be able to teleport to our local offices every day after school without others being able to follow you, and without you being able to tell where you're going. Each day..."
As the agent continues to divulge the changes to his life, Johnny can only think about how sorry he is. I'm sorry, mom.. I'm sorry, sis... I'm sorry, Amy.
A couple of months ago...
"Hello, Mr. Dangerous, we've been expecting you."
The non-descript man in the black business suit stereotypical of government agents simply smiles at Johnny.
"I hope that we're not interrupting anything important." He turns to the second agent who nods back at him.
Number two, a powerfully-built black man simply continues to stare at Johnny as if he were looking straight through him.
Number one smiles that fake, toothy grin again. "Don't let Agent Towers intimidate you. I can assure you he's as docile as a trained pitbull." This only makes Towers smile wider.
"Who the hell are you guys? Longbow? Freedom Corp? Wyvern? Arachnos?" Johnny tries to sound brave, but his sixteen year old voice comes out with a crack. Fuck, he thinks, so much for tough.
The agent laughs out loud at Johnny's choices and shakes his head. "Oh, I think you know who we are. We've been watching you for some time now, and may I say, we're quite impressed. Perhaps not with the crudeness of your running all of the place in a vain attempt to allude us, but still, very impressive."
The agent winks as if to say, "You're a fuckwit.", but Johnny doesn't let that get to him. No, it's what he says next that raises the hairs on the back of his neck.
"We've recently been to visit your sister. I must say, she's not doing so well. I'm told that it's not good when the comatose show no sign of improvement after such a long period of time."
Towers smiles again at this, showing perfect teeth... teeth one could imagine biting into one's neck.
Johnny grits his teeth, barely containing his rage and fear, and really not liking where this conversation is going.
"Tell me, Johnathan, - if I may call you that - how was your trip to mom's a couple of weeks ago? Or, maybe you'd like to show us the pictures you took at Disneyland when you went on that little cross-country trip with subjects codenamed Palilla and Amethyst Shade? That Amy's quite the looker. Does mommy know what the two of you have been doi..."
"You fucking leave her out of this! I'll fucking lobotomize the two of you and keep you as wall decorations for the..." Johnny blows off a great deal of energy and then focuses on their minds, only to be blocked by something. In his rage it seems to bend slightly, but he knows he can't break through.
"You're not going to do anything of the sort, JD." Number one taps at his temple. "We have someone stronger protecting us from your particularly nasty thoughts. And if you don't reign in that radiation, we'll have her make you into, what was that you were saying? A decoration? Maybe you would look nice in my office as a fountain?"
Johnny's eyes narrow as he struggles to regain control of himself.
"Now, we know that you could simply blow us all to kingdom come, and we're taking a chance here that Agent Cerebella will be able to shut you down before that happens. Personally, I don't think that any of us want that. So, what do you say, Johnny, ready to play ball?"
Towers just continues to stare at Johnny as if he wants to break his neck.
"What do you want?" It's all Johnny can do not to lash out again at the two.
"That's better. What do we want? I like the sound of that. I think this is going to be the beginning of a wonderful partnership."
Number one begins to pace back and forth as he continues, "Johnathan William Ipswich the Fourth," he smirks. "Aka, Johnny Dangerous... also known as JD, Jonboy, Juanito, Billy, oh, and my personal favorite, Babydoll."
Johnny winces as the agent says the last one.
"Known accomplices: Amethyst Shade, Palilla, Kris O'Sullivan -interesting-, and, of course, the Sapphire Angel. That's quite a harem you have there Johnny Boy. Impressive for a scrawny little pencil dick like you."
The agent clears his throat before going on. "Enrolled at Saint Joseph School, subject is a straight A student, with attendance problems and a penchant for afterschool vigilante activities. Recently he was involved in an attempt to help some classmates, the aforementioned Sapphire Angel, and one other, to recover from what is commonly known as vampirism. Oh, Johnny, if I didn't know better - and I do - I'd say you were a boyscout."
"Eventually helping Sapphire Angel, he lost control of his powers and exploded, causing a good deal of structural damage and quite a few serious injuries in what is being referred to as the Founders' Falls Medical Center Incident. That was some fun, wasn't it Johnny Boy?"
Johnny looks down, ashamed.
"Just wanted to thank you for that one, by the way. We learned a lot about you girlfriend, Sapphire Angel that night."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"Ooh, a little touchy on that one aren't you, Johnny? You're right, she's not. Seems your little cure for her with that vampire countess had some unexpected side effects, hmm?"
Wincing, tears begin to stream down Johnny's face.
"What? You don't like what you ended up with? She seems like a perfectly nice girl now, doesn't she? Well, a little memory loss and, of course, she's back with her old boyfriend, the demon. It was worth it though, right? Meddling in things you didn't fully understand; partnering with 'villains'? All that sort of badboy thing? Were you trying to impress Amy? Oh, that's right, the two of them don't like each other, do they? You really shouldn't keep things from your girlfriend, John. Maybe you'll understand that when you grow up."
"I did what I had to do!"
"Does Sapphire even know?"
"No, I don't think so - not yet anyway. We didn't know that was going to happen. Fuck you!"
"Tsk, tsk, such language. Your generation doesn't know proper manners. You should really learn to show some respect." At this, Number One nods to Agent Towers who eagerly steps forward and doubles Johnny over with a hard punch to his stomach.
"You really must forgive Agent Towers. He doesn't quite like any of you 'powered' people. Something about losing his entire family in one of your unsanctioned activities."
"Now, where were we? Oh, yes, Sapphire Angel. I wouldn't worry about her, Johnny. I have a feeling she's going to be just fine. But enough about the others. As long as you cooperate with us we don't have to talk about any of them ever again."
"What do you want?" Johnny says this a second time, with more trepidation and some resignation creeping into his voice.
"Why we want you, of course, Mr. Dangerous. You're going to come to work for us. We're even going to let you continue going to school, and let you out to play with your friends every now and then. As long as you behave. But all of your free time is ours from now on."
"No," Johnny says, more in disbelief than in opposition.
"Wrong answer. The correct answer is, yes. The next time you say no to me, someone that is dear to you is going to be accidentally hurt. Do we understand each other?"
Johnny closes his eyes and nods, his tears beginning to dry.
"Excellent. We have some plans for you. The good news is you're going to get a lot of special training, Johnny. You're going to be quite an asset to your country, I can assure you. With your combination of powers, your ability to teleport and sneak invisibly anywhere - and those wonderfully untraceable mental powers of yours - well... let's just say that we can't wait until your first overseas assignment."
He can't believe that he's hearing this. They're going to make him into a fucking assassin. He thinks to himself that he's got to get out of here now! He can warn the others, move his sister and mom to safety somewhere, maybe even...
The agent cocks his head as if listening to someone, and then backhands Johnny hard in the face, knocking him down. Johnny puts a hand to his mouth, tasting his own blood.
"Did I fail to mention that Agent Cerebella, or someone else, will be constantly monitoring your thoughts from now on? How forgetfull of me. No, Mr. Dangerous, you won't be running away. In fact, I have it on good authority from one of our precogs that you're going to turn out to be quite an asset."
"Now, let's get down to it, shall we? We'll start with rule number one: you will not let anyone know what you're doing. If you do, there will be consequences, which you will not like. We've devised a method whereby you'll be able to teleport to our local offices every day after school without others being able to follow you, and without you being able to tell where you're going. Each day..."
As the agent continues to divulge the changes to his life, Johnny can only think about how sorry he is. I'm sorry, mom.. I'm sorry, sis... I'm sorry, Amy.