Category: ALT, Humor

Rating: PG

Warnings: Netiquette violations: language and adult situations

Archivers' Permissions: Only if permission has been granted during 2001.

Disclaimer:  All characters relating to Jonny Quest are trademarks of and
copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera. Nick Carter belongs to himself.

This is a work of fiction. The character Wilhelmina Stoker Harkness belongs
to the author. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the
author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to
actual events or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. This
piece was not written with the intent of publication or distribution. Any
compensation that the author receives will be strictly in the form of
comments received by its readers.

PEGGY'S HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE
* must take place within one week of Halloween.
* must involve at least two members of the Quest Team (Benton, Race, Jonny,
Hadji, Jessie, Bandit)
* one of whom must use the phrase, "Wow... is that supposed to be a trick or
a treat?"
*must include at least four of the following:
-someone's candy stash
-a pikachu costume
-an alterniverse character
-a Backstreet Boy
-a punk with a giant red mohawk
-the Brazillian band j quest
-Energizer Batteries
 
 

OCTOBER 25

Race Bannon was amazed by how quiet the couple was in the backseat. It
hadn't taken him, or anyone else in the family long to realize that two
weeks was fourteen days to long for the Doctor and the Brat to be separated.
Benton Quest had been as impatient over Will's return as a kid waiting for
Christmas, it seemed like today would never get here and the Doctor had
asked him half a dozen times when they were leaving for the airport to
pick-up Will.

Race had been entertained ever since they left the airport by the murmured
voices and the rustle of clothes coming from the back seat. Ever once in
awhile he would hear a word. The most frequently used words were "no",
"quit", and "stop."

At the risk of getting an eyeful of something he didn't want to see, he
glanced at the backseat through the rearview mirror. Will Harkness was
curled tightly against Benton Quest, she lay in the shelter of his arms with
her head resting on his shoulder. Even in the near, complete darkness of the
car, Race could tell that Will was asleep. He could even make out a silly,
little grin on the Doctor's face.

Suddenly, the car engine coughed and sputtered. Race focused his full
attention on the dashboard gages. The car coughed, sputtered and died. Race
sat there glaring at the glowing panel. "SHIT!"

"Is there a problem, Race?" A melodious baritone voice asked from behind
him.

"Ugh . . . We . . . Ugh . . . We're out of gas." Bannon huffed out in
disgust.

"Out of gas?" Will Harkness yawned as she spoke. "Where are we?" She leaned
forward blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

"Ten miles from town and twenty miles from the compound." Race said as he
looked over his shoulder at the car's other occupants.

"GREAT! How did we manage to run out of gas?" Will asked as she opened her
door. It was clear by the tone of her voice that she wasn't happy. Race
couldn't blame her, he'd been on those kinds of missions before and he knew
all he had wanted to do when he got home was take a hot shower and sleep in
his own bed, and any delay was not tolerated.

Race got out of the car before answering her. "I didn't realize it was low
on gas. The last time I drove it, I filled up the tank."

Benton Quest coughed as he started to get out of the vehicle. "Ugh, I think
I was the last one who drove it. I went to Collinsport last week and I
didn't stop to fill it up on the way back home."

"Stay in the car, Benton. We can push it off of the road."

Race grumbled. "Thanks, Brat."

A few minutes later Race and Will both climbed back into the car, their
teeth were chattering. "Brrr, it's cold out there."

"It's not that warm in here either." Benton Quest pointed out as Will
snuggled against him.

"It's hard to believe that it's only the week before Halloween, it feels
cold enough to be January." Will shivered in Benton's embrace.

"Ok, Kids. We can't stay here. We're going to have to walk back to town."
Race Bannon said pulling a flashlight out of the glove compartment.

"Oh? Are you sure? Don't you think we should stay with the car?" Benton
Quest asked.

"Well, if we had a cell phone with us, we could just call for help but mine
is back at the house and Will told me that the battery was dead on hers when
we were pushing the car off the road." Race said as he checked the batteries
in the flashlight.

"It's to cold for us to stay here, Benton." Will smiled up at him.

"Hmm, I can think of something that would keep us warm." Benton whispered
against her temple.

"Maybe so but I'd rather not . . . Maybe if it were a little warmer, I would
agree with you but not tonight." Will whispered back and kissed him lightly
on the lips.

"If it's any consolation, we don't have to walk all the way back to town. I
remember seeing a store a couple of miles back. I'm sure they have a phone
we can use, or at least, a pay phone." Race Bannon opened the driver's side
door and got out.

Will Harkness climbed out of the car, tugging the reluctant Benton Quest
behind her. The trio started down the road back towards town. Race walked in
front with Benton and Will walking beside each other behind him.

"You know," Will began. "I'm surprised we haven't seen anyone, I mean it's
not even eight o'clock yet."

You could almost hear the shrug in Benton Quest's voice. "It's cold, it's
dark and it's the week before Halloween. I would imagine that everyone is
staying close to the hearth-fires tonight."

Will laughed. "Oh, that's right . . . I keep forgetting what a superstitious
lot you New Englanders are."

"We're no more superstitious than you Southern fried chickens," Benton
taunted. Race shook his head; he knew what was coming next.

"Them there is fighten' words, Yankee." Brat drawled in an exaggerated
Southern voice.

Benton's voice responded in a high-pitched, pick-a-ninny falsetto. "Bring it
on, Miz Scarlet."

Race sighed. "Ok, you two. That's enough out of both of you. You're worse
than the kids and I don't want to have to break up the two of you fighting
in the middle of the road." He kept walking towards the faint glow on the
horizon. Race knew that if he had stopped walking it would have given them
the opportunity to continue their little game. 'And that's exactly what it
is,' Race mused. 'Just a game.'

Doggedly, the trio trudged on towards the ever-brightening glow of sodium
arc lights that lit the stores parking lot.

Benton started bouncing around like Jonny. "We made it!" He crowed.
"Finally, a warm place . . . I hope they have coffee or even better, hot
tea." His sigh was wistful and full of longing.

Will gave a terrified little squeal. Race and Benton both looked at her. She
was still standing on the road.

"Come on, Will, it will be warm in the store. Hurry up!" Race prompted.

Will stubbornly shook her head no. "I'm not going in there and neither is
Benton." To prove her point she stomped one tennis shoe shod foot on the
pavement.

Race suddenly had the urge to kill her. "Why not?" He demanded about the
time Benton Quest gasped.

"OH! MY! Perhaps it would be better if we did keep walking, Race . . ."

Race Bannon whirled around in order to direct his attention on Benton Quest.
"What in the Sam Hill is wrong with you two? We've been walking for thirty
minutes and all three of us are halfway frozen. Now the two of you have
decided you're not cold enough and you want to keep walking. Have the two of
you lost your minds?"

"But, Race . . ." Will held her hands out in supplication.

"We're going IN that store, Brat, so get over whatever it is that's wrong
with you." Bannon snarled and stomped off across the parking lot towards the
doorway.

Race heard someone closing on him rapidly from behind. "ROGER THOMAS BANNON!
I want to SHARE a moment with you." Race Bannon stopped and turned to face
Will Harkness. He knew from the tone of her voice that she was clearly
unhappy about something and whatever it was, he was going to soon find out.

"Yes." He said looking at the petite woman staring up at him.

"Do you realize what type of place THAT is?" She pointed over his shoulder
at the building behind him.

He rolled his eyes. "No, and 'frankly, my dear Scarlet. I don't give a
damn.' I'm cold, it's open and hopefully it will have a phone we can use."

Race was surprised that he didn't catch on fire from the intensity of her
glare. "You know, Bannon, I don't care if you go in a place like that and I
really don't mind going in either, but it's not a proper, or fitting place
for Doctor Quest."

"What are you talking about, Harkness? You have lost your mind." Race spun
around on his heels and that's when he noticed the signs in the store's
windows. "OH! SHIT!"

"Yes, I figured you hadn't really noticed, or you wouldn't have been so
'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' about going in there." Will tried
hard to keep the amusement from creeping into her voice.

The lettering on the store's glass front momentarily stunned Race. "Great,
I'm getting ready to escort the world-renowned scientist, Doctor Benton
Quest into a porn shop." Bannon rubbed his eyes, hoping that when he got
through that the signs wouldn't read, 'XXXX rated films', 'Adult books',
'Adult toys', 'The biggest selection of adult entertainment on the East
coast', 'Make your own movies, here!', 'body piercings' and 'tattoos'.

Race almost cried. It was bad enough with just him going into some place
like this, but here he was dragging Harkness & Doctor Quest with him. The
good news was that the Doctor was still naïve about certain things so, maybe
it wouldn't be so bad.

Race Bannon pushed open the door and realized it was worse than he thought.
The young guy behind the counter looked barely old enough to be in the
place, much less running it. The kid had a giant red mohawk that looked like
a rooster's comb on top of his head. The punk also had a pierced nose, lip,
cheek, and eyebrow, with at least, six earrings in each ear. It was a real
test not to stare at the pierced nipple that winked out from the torn
T-shirt that the kid was wearing. Race didn't even want to think about the
other places on the boy's body that could be pierced.

Race glanced back over his shoulder. Benton Quest's face was as red as the
shirt that Race Bannon had on, Will was blushing too. Both of them had a
death grip on the other's hand and they looked like an adult version of
Hanzel and Gretal. Race turned back to the clerk. "We ran out of gas and
need to use a phone. You do have one we can use, I hope."

"Yeah. We got a payphone." The kid eyed them sullenly and jerked his head in
the direction of the back of the store. Race walked in the direction
indicated by the giant mohawk.

Will led Benton towards a wall of DVDs and VHS tapes proclaiming to be
Japanese Anime. 'It would be better to keep Benton with me, instead of
allowing him to roam all over the store. Besides, maybe I can find a new DVD
for my collection.' She thought as she began to look over the titles.

It wasn't until Will heard Benton ask, "What is this?" That she realized he
was no longer standing next to her. She had only let go of his hand for just
a moment while she reached up to remove one of the DVDs from the wall. He
must have wondered off while she was reading the jacket.

Race cleared his throat. "Well . . . Ugh . . . It's . . . Ugh . . . Well . .
. "

Will glanced over her shoulder at the two men. Race was whispering something
to the ginger-headed scientist. Benton's eyes were as large as saucers and
his mouth had dropped open in shock.

A few minutes later Benton Quest asked what was practical about having a
whip made out of braided silk when rhinoceros hide whips would last much
longer.

The punk behind the counter looked up at that remark and gave a knowing
smirk in Race and Benton's direction.

Eventually, the two men had worked their way over to the 'clothing section.'
There was a sign hanging over a group of outfits that read, 'Only 6 more
days until Halloween, get your costume now!'

Race pulled out a creation made out of strategically sewed together strips
of yellow, tan and black leather. "WOW . . . Is that supposed to be a trick
or a treat?"

"It certainly is the most shocking Pikachu costume I've ever seen." Benton
Quest chuckled.

Next, Race picked up a sheer red piece, trimmed in matching dyed marabou
feathers. "I'd give up my candy stash to see someone in this, wouldn't you?"

Benton Quest laughed. "Yes, I would."

Race whistled. Will Harkness turned around and looked at him. He held up the
outfit and grinned. The punk looked up from the counter and leered in the
direction of the little cutie over by the DVDs. She gave a phony laugh
before responding. "Ha. Ha. Ha. No." Will returned the punk's leer with a
stoic statement that made him quickly drop his eyes back to the open
magazine in front of him.

The bell over the door rang as a young, blonde headed man walked in. He
walked directly to the check out counter. "Nice tunes," he said.

"Yeah. It's a Brazilian band called j quest." The punk said nodding his head
in time to the music.

"Cool," replied the blonde. "You got any batteries, man?"

The clerk laughed. "Hey, man. Does this look like a *bleeping* Wal-Mart to
you? We don't carry no *bleeping* batteries."

"That's cool, man." The blonde said as he held up his hands. "It was just a
long shot, since I'm sure some of your---items require batteries and I
doubted that they would be included."

The mohawked wonder responded. "Yeah. Well. Actually. You know, because of
the nature of the items they are included but I doubt they're anything you
could use . . . battery wise that is."

Will Harkness had been silently watching the drama at the cash register as
it played out. It was either watch that, or watch Race Bannon give Benton
Quest an education in the grittier, darker side of sex. Oh, Will figured
that Benton had a pretty good idea what some of the items were, after all,
she was sure he had taken Human Sexuality at some point in time during his
education . . . But then again, maybe not. It was better that it was Bannon
than her because, she really didn't want to have to answer the question of
how she knew what the things were. Of course, there were a few things that
she wasn't exactly sure what they were either. Plus, there was something
about the blonde-headed youth that looked naggingly familiar. Will was sure
she had seen him somewhere before and quite recently.

The blonde turned away from the punk with a, "Thank you." And started
towards the door with a dejected slump to his shoulders.

"Wait. Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I
might be able to help you." Will suggested as she approached the blonde. "We
ran out of gas a couple of miles from here and we usually have a supply of
batteries in the trunk."

The blonde gave her a doubting look. 'After all, what respectable woman
would be in a place like this? But then again, his car was the only one in
the parking lot and she didn't appear to *work* here . . . If anything she
did seem uncomfortable being there, just as much as I am.' He mused to
himself. "Ok, that would be nice of you . . ." He said out loud, unsure of
what to say next.

"Great, I'm sure we have the size you need." The petite female said with a
smile as she started out the door. "Hey, Guys! I'll be back in a few
minutes. I'm going to the car but I'll be right back." The other two men in
the store glanced up only for a second, just long enough to wave to her
before resuming their conversation as the couple left.

The ride to the car was silent. After all, what did you say to a stranger
that you met in an 'adult' store? The blonde pulled his rental car off of
the road behind a dark colored BMW with 'Quest 1' license plates.

The woman got out and popped the beamer's trunk latch. The orderly fashion
and the extent of equipment arranged before him in the trunk's light
instantly impressed him. It looked like everything you could possibly need
in an emergency. "WOW! Is there anything that ISN'T in there?" He asked in
awe.

She laughed at his question. "Yes, a spare tank of gas. Oh, here they are."
She pulled what looked like a large fishing tackle box marked 'batteries'
towards her. As she opened the box she asked. "What size?"

"Triple As," he replied. "I need four, if you have them and if it's not to
much trouble."

"Energizer batteries or Duracell's?" She asked holding out a box of each.

"Energizers are fine," he said as he took the box and removed four from it.
"I get a kick out of those Energizer Bunny commercials."

"Everyone does." She said with a smile as she returned the rest of the
batteries to the utility box.

"Thank you, I like to use a tape recorder when I'm working on writing songs.
I was right in the middle of one when my batteries went dead." He said
pulling a small hand held recorder from his jacket pocket as she closed the
trunk lid. Once again, he noticed the 'Quest 1' license plate. "Quest one .
. . Do you know that Doctor Quest that is always on the magazine covers?"

"Yes," she said with a slight frown. "I'm surprised that you recognize the
name."

"Oh, sure. We read 'Time' and 'Newsweek' all the time. They're much more
interesting than 'Entertainment' or 'People'."

"I see," she said, suddenly on guard.

At once it hit him, one of the guys in the store was a redhead, just like
the world-renowned Doctor Quest. The woman didn't miss observing his
epiphany. "Oh, my! Do you work for the Doctor?"

"Yes, I'm one of his bodyguards." She said flatly.

The blonde laughed but cut it short when he noticed she wasn't laughing.
"Really?" He croaked.

"If you mean, do I know fifty ways to kill someone with a hair-pin, then,
yes."

"Oh . . . Well, I'll take you back to the store . . . " He shifted
uncomfortably from foot to foot before walking back towards his car.

As they slid into the car, the woman turned to him. "I'm Will Harkness and I
would appreciate it if you would not mention that you saw Doctor Quest in
such an establishment."

"It's not a problem, Ms. Harkness. It would be equally embarrassing to me if
the story ever got out that I was in there too." He said with a frown as he
pulled back onto the road.

"Really." She asked as she studied him in the glow of the dashboard. "I've
introduced myself. Now, how about returning the favor."

He laughed nervously under her scrutiny "I doubt you've ever heard of me,
I'm a member of what they call a 'boy band' these days."

"Try me," Will said with a smile.

"Ok," he sighed. He was still reluctant to tell her his name. Even though,
he knew the tabloids would pay big bucks to find out that he and Doctor
Benton Quest had both been seen in the same 'adult' bookstore. "I'm Nick
Carter of the Backstreet Boys."

Will laughed, it was a pleasant, relaxed sound. "So that's why you looked
familiar. Race's daughter is a big fan and I've seen your picture on some of
the CD inserts."

"Race was the guy with the white hair?" Nick asked.

"Yes, he's also one of the Doctor's bodyguards."

Nick nodded in understanding as he pulled into the parking lot. "Thank you
for the batteries but I never asked how much I owed you."

"Don't worry about it." Will said and started to get out of the car. "But if
you've got something you could autograph for Jessie, that would be nice."

Nick laughed. "Anything for a fan. Especially, since you were nice enough to
give me some batteries." He began searching through a bag on the front seat.

"Anything will do." Will supplied as she continued to watch him dig through
the bag.

"Here! This will do!" Nick held up a CD case. "It's our newest release, it
won't be coming out for another week. Our agent would probably kill me but
it is for the daughter of one of Benton Quest's bodyguards so what else
could I do . . . "

"A picture, maybe? That would have been fine, or just a sheet of paper."
Will suggested.

"Nope, not good enough." Nick Carter dug around in the bag some more and
this time he came up with a pen. "Jessie, right?" He asked as he opened the
jewel case.

"Yes, Jessie." Will responded watching him as he wrote across the CD, 'To
Jessie, With all my love, Nick.' As if that weren't enough he signed the CD
cover and the back of the jewel case. Will just shook her head at him.

"Thank you, this will mean a lot to her." Will said as she took the offered
item.

"No, thank you. I'll now be able to finish the song I was working on before
I rejoin the group in NYC." Nick said beaming at the female bodyguard
sitting in the passenger's seat.

A truck pulled into the parking lot. Nick had a moment of panic and Will
laughed. "It's only our gas," she said as she pointed to the stylized 'Q' on
the side of the truck.

"Oh, I was beginning to think that this place was starting to get busy and
that I'd better get out of here before someone recognizes me."

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

Now, it was Nick's turn to laugh. "And yours is safe with me as well.
Goodnight and it was nice to meet you. Even though, it wasn't under the best
of circumstances."

Will jointed him laughing. "You can say that again." She got out of the
rental car and waved as Nick Carter drove off into the night.

"Hi, David," she said as she opened the passenger door of the truck and got
in. Will couldn't help but notice the way he kept looking from the store
than at her and then back at the store again. "Shall we go put the gas in
the beamer?"

"Yes, ma'am." The driver said, practically saluting her but not daring to
ask the question that Will was sure was on his mind.

Once David and Will had put the gas in the car's tank, David drove off back
towards town as he drove away Will could have sworn she heard him laughing.
She shrugged her shoulders and got into the BMW, and drove back to the
'adult' entertainment store.

She entered the store in time to see the clerk handing a bag over to the
Doctor. The clerk gave Will a knowing look and Race Bannon snorted with
laughter. Benton Quest looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie
jar. Will rolled her eyes Heavenward before turning pale at the thought of
what could possibly be in the bag.

Benton Quest tried to resume looking innocent as Race continued to laugh.
Will shook her head, "Oh, well . . . Since we're here, I might as well buy a
couple of DVDs that interested me."

Benton and Race both patiently waited while she paid for the anime DVDs. The
punk bobbed his rooster's comb in pleasure over how profitable the night had
been.

The trio climbed into the car and started towards the compound. Race
couldn't help himself; he just had to ask. "Aren't you curious about what we
bought?"

Will glared at the back of his head. "No, I'm not and I hope I don't find
out either, or neither one of you may live long enough to see Halloween."

Benton chuckled. "That would be to bad because, then I'd never get to see
you in your Halloween costume." He held the bag up to emphasize the comment
much to Will's horror.

The end . . .