He’s Back!
Howie the evil clown was out of jail. The police had released him after a year, and he had one thing on his mind:
He was out to get Juni, in any way possible. In fact, Howie was more intent on capturing Juni more than her boyfriend John. Once he captured her, he would hypnotize her and she would be his hypno-slave. Juni would never be able to get out of it.
However, the evil clown had gotten a taste of the mutant’s power-as she had frozen him twice, the second time stealing the mind-control device from his hand, not to mention stepping on his foot. Oh, how that hurt! Now it was time for revenge.
The clown had been planning his revenge for a year, from the night that John Thomas had police go to the SWC to the day he got out of prison. Juni would suffer at his hands. She just didn’t know it yet.
Meanwhile, at the SWC one afternoon:
John, Juni and some of their Jewish friends, both mutants and non-mutants, were eating pizza and drinking Pepsi in the break room-laughing and talking. One of them asked John, “So that camel spit on you in Israel?”
“Yeah,” he laughed, “and it was really embarrassing. I had to go back to my hotel, take off my clothes, shower and change.”
“I’ll bet!", Juni said laughing.
Then it happened:
Juni had a vision. John knew it was a vision because she sat up straight and had a blank look in her eyes.
“Juni, are you okay?", her friend Zelda asked.
She came back to normal and said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Something just came over me, but I’m fine now.”
“Uh, don’t worry about her,” John said, “sometimes, she gets a little sick”.
“Oh, well maybe she should get some rest,” Anna said.
“Actually, Juni gets over it fast, but if anyone’s concerned, don’t be. I’ll stay with her and make sure she’s alright.”
“Okay,” Cole said, “in the meantime, the girls and I have to get back to work.”
“See you later,” John said.
After they left, he closed the door to the break room and asked Juni, “What did you see?”
“Remember that evil clown that was put away?”
“Yeah, why?” he asked-concerned.
“I saw him in my vision. He managed to kidnap me.”
No, that can’t be right!”
“John, my visions are never wrong. This puts my life in danger. I’m scared.”
He held his girlfriend and said, “No, don’t be. I’m going to protect you. That creep isn’t going to touch you.”
“I hope not,” Juni said-a bit shaken,” but you only have one power. I have several.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that you’re strong enough to do this alone. For all we know, this creep could catch you by surprise.”
“Very true,” Juni said, “but you can’t be with me 24 hours a day.”
“But I’ll be here everyday with you, and I’ll give you rides to and from home, and to and from work.”
“Thanks John. That makes me feel very safe.”
“Sure sweetie,” he said-and they kissed.
Then they got back to work.
John managed to protect Juni for the time being, giving her rides to and from work, and accompanying her when they went out to lunch. The mutant felt safe and began to wonder if her vision was wrong. Possibly, Howie wasn’t going to kidnap her after all.
What the two didn’t know was that the clown had been watching the two go to and from the SWC, and he figured that if he could catch the mutant alone, he would have a better chance of nabbing her. Howie had also been trailing them by car and found out where Juni lived and that they always came back at 9 p.m. at night, because sometimes the two would stop off and have dinner somewhere. Knowing this, he would go to her home before 9, when it was growing dark, and wait for the two to come into the driveway while hiding at Juni’s doorstep. Not being able to be seen, the clown would wait until John drove off and when Juni came to the door, he would grab her.
At 9 p.m., Juni and John were pulling into the driveway of her home, unaware that the clown was standing on her doorstep-ready to carry his evil plan into action. She got out of the car and said goodnight to him. He drove away, unaware of the danger that his girlfriend was about to be in.
Juni walked to the doorstep and reached into her purse for her house keys. No sooner did she get them, when she felt someone grab her.
“Let go of me!", she exclaimed.
“Not a chance, little girl!", an evil voice said.
The mutant froze, turned and saw the clown in the darkness. Then she said, “You...you’re the one I saw in my vision!”
“You mean the one who’s kidnapping you? You got that right. This time, you’re helpless. Your boyfriend isn’t here to rescue you.”
“No, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you kidnap me!”
“Shut up before I hurt you!”
Juni became frightened and remained quiet. There was an awkward silence and Howie said, “We’re going to take a ride. Try anything stupid and I’ll kill you! No one will ever find your body!”
“You can do anything you want to me. I can whip you on my own. You’ll be sorry that you ever kidnapped me!”
The clown said nothing, but pulled her to his car. Opening the backseat door, he forced Juni inside and closed it. Then he got into the car and drove to his apartment. When they got to his apartment, Howie said, “Call your boyfriend and tell him that you’ve been captured!”
“No, I won’t!”
“Do it or else!”
Not wanting to risk any more physical harm, Juni went to the telephone and dialed John’s number. He picked up the phone and asked, “Hello?”
“John, it’s me,” Juni said-her voice trembling.
“Juni! Are you okay? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, there is. That evil clown managed to kidnap me! I’ve been captured.”
“But how? I drove you home and—”
“He was hiding on my doorstep when I got to the door, and he grabbed me when I reached into my purse to get my keys. He even threatened to kill me!”
“Juni, I’m so sorry. If only I would’ve gotten out of the car and saw you to the door—”
At this point, Howie took the phone from her and said to John, “You can’t save her now; she’ll be my hypno-slave soon enough! Ha, Ha, Ha!” Then he hung up.
Juni was very frightened.
John was absolutely infuriated. Obviously, that bastard had been tracking their every move and they didn’t know it. The mutant knew that he couldn’t waste any time. Quickly he picked up the phone and called the operator. When she answered, John gave her the phone number that he had gotten off his caller ID and said, “Please give me the address of this number.”
Within a few minutes of giving her the number, the operator provided him with the address of an apartment, which he promptly wrote down. John thanked the operator and hung up the phone.
This time Howie was going to get what was coming to him.
Meanwhile at the apartment:
Howie (still in his clown attire) tied Juni to a chair and said, “Now I’m going to hypnotize you.”
He began swinging a watch in front of her eyes and said in a slow, monotonous voice, “Watch the watch swing back and forth, back and forth. Relax.”
She managed to resist the hypnosis, and the clown asked, “Why aren’t you going under?”
“Because I can resist hypnosis, like I did last time.”
“Really. Well, let’s see how well you can resist this time,” Howie said and continued, “As you watch the watch, you are getting sleepy, very sleepy.”
Juni resisted again, infuriating him, and in the process, used her mind to unlock a window. The window unlocked and opened. The clown exclaimed, “Hey, what are you doing?”
“Just having some fun,” she said-grinning. “I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am.”
“Well I’m not!", Howie said, “and I told you that if you tried anything stupid, I’d kill you!”
“Oh, not yet!", Juni said, “I still have more surprises for you, such as how I managed to loosen the ropes while you were distracted by my magic trick.”
“That means you’re—,”
“Free? Oh yes, and I can do this as well.”
With that, she threw her hands at the clown and knocked him across the room to the wall. He wasn’t unconscious but still wasn’t amused.
Despite the fact that she could open the window, Juni still didn’t leave because the area was unfamiliar to her, but knew that the clown would wake up soon. A few minutes later, he did wake up and said, “You..you little brat..you’re not going to win.”
“Try me,” she said and froze him. Howie froze in his tracks.
Juni was worried now. She knew that she couldn’t fight him forever and even she was getting tired, and scared. She tried to figure out what to do next, with her tired mind racing. Auuggge! The mutant couldn’t think clearly or think of anything.
Howie got up and saw how tired Juni was. He grabbed her and set her back down on the chair. Not needing the pocket watch, he said, “Yes, you’re so tired..so tired. You want to sleep. Your eyelids are getting heavy, very heavy.”
Juni’s eyelids started to flutter and she was becoming more tired. The hypnosis was adding on to the fatigue that she was already feeling.
“Sleepy..sleepy,” he said, “you’re getting even more sleepy.”
Just as she was about to go under, there was a rush of footsteps running up the stairs. The footsteps got louder and louder but when they came to his door, they stopped. A male voice outside exclaimed, “On the count of three, we’re going to bust this door down and rescue Juni!”
“Right on!", the others said.
“Okay, one, two, three!”
The crowd started pounding against the door until it broke off of its hinges, and the pounding caused people to open their own doors and complain about the noise.
“Sorry,” John said-slightly embarrassed, “but we have to save a friend. She’s in great danger right now.”
“Oh, okay,” a tenant said, “now we won’t have to call the police.”
“Thanks for understanding,” the mutant said, “and have a good night.”
“You too,” the tenant said.
When the door broke down, Howie and Juni, who had awakened from her near-trance, saw John and an army of Jewish mutants standing in the doorway.
“John!", Juni exclaimed.
“Yes Juni, it’s us..we’re here but don’t have time to explain. Okay soldiers, on my signal-we’ll attack!”
“Okay!", the mutants said.
“NOOOO!", the clown said.
“Attack!", John said.
On his signal, the mutants attacked the clown with their powers, causing him to scream in immense pain but not kill him. While Juni sat in the chair and delightfully watched as the clown, unable to fight the army, managed to retreat into the bedroom and lock the door. He exclaimed, “No! No more! Leave me alone!” With that, all of the mutants cheered, especially Juni.
“Well soldiers, I think we’ve done our job-not to mention save my girl,” John said.
“Thanks guys,” Juni said.
“Of course,” Zelda and Cole said.
“But how did you find me?”
“That’s a long story. We’ll tell it tomorrow at the SWC,” John said, “but for now let’s get you out of here. It’s already one a.m. so I’m taking you home with me.”
“Okay,” Juni said, “but aren’t you going to call the police?”
“Of course,” John said, “but that will wait until later tonight.”
Within minutes everyone was gone, piled up in the rented van that John drove to take them there. Juni and John once again spent the night together at his home, and after he called the police, the two mainly stayed up drinking hot cocoa and watching late-night TV before going to bed. The next day at the SWC, they were with their friends in the break room again and Juni asked, “So John, how did you manage to find me and round up that army last night.”
“The phone number was on my caller ID. I simply called the operator and got the address to go along with it. As for the army, let’s just say that there are more mutants around this place than you or I knew about. I guess we weren’t the only ones! Anyway, I have their names in my address and phone book, and when I heard that you were in trouble I called them to help me rescue you.”
“Zelda, Cole-why didn’t you tell me that you were mutants?” Juni asked.
“We didn’t think you’d understand. We’d thought you’d freak out, but after John told us you were one, well we knew that we had to rescue you,” Zelda said.
“Well, I’m sure glad you did. I thought I was a goner. That clown almost had me under, and he could’ve succeeded had you not all shown up and stopped him.”
“Anytime, Juni,” Cole said.
Once again, Juni was out of evil’s clutches and everything was back to normal.