Chapter 10
Bait
"So, what exactly is this power?" Johnny asked, staring intently at Reed's computer, while it automatically played a game of Pac-Man by itself. It was like someone was controlling the game from a remote source, but they all knew that it was Johnny that was doing it. And he wasn't touching the controls at all.
"Well, I don't really know." Reed admitted. "Apparently you've obtained some ability to control a computer with your mind. It'd be kinda like telekinesis, only limited to technology, I guess."
"So, he's like a techno-path, or something." Ben said.
Reed gave him a look. "I thought only Johnny came up with the weird names." he said, annoyed.
"Hey!" Johnny complained.
"So, he can control technology by thought." Sue stated. "But to what extent?"
"Well, I can't really know without further research." Reed explained, watching Johnny lose at Pac-Man, "But what gets me is the fact that there is no Pac-Man installed on that computer."
Johnny broke his stare at the computer screen to look at Reed. "Then how is it that it's here with me I playing it?" he asked, puzzled.
"Again, I can't know for sure without doing some research." Reed said. "But as I see it, there are two possibilities. One, you somehow managed to go online and download it from another system, or, you somehow put a clone of the game together from scratch. Almost instantly, I might add."
"I can do that?" Johnny asked. "Cool! I wonder if I could put together a copy of Halo..."
"But this makes sense." Sue said while Johnny attempted to create some other games, "This would explain how a teenage boy managed to get past our security systems so easily, and be able to hide his tracks so well."
"But where did the kid get this power?" Ben asked, his rocky lips pulling into a frown.
"We could speculate," Reed said, "but the only real way to find out would be to ask the kid."
"But the kid could be anywhere!" Ben said. "How would we find him?"
"Hey, I did it!" Johnny exclaimed, as Halo began to load on the computer. He turned and saw that all of the others were looking at him. "What?" he asked.
Reed grinned slyly before answering Ben's question. "We use a little bait." he said.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." Johnny complained.
"Trust me Johnny," Reed assured him via a concealed earpiece in Johnny's ear. "It's the only way I can think of to get the kid back here. And since he seems to be so bent on annoying you..."
"I make the perfect bait." Johnny finished, grudgingly. "Now I know how a worm on a hook feels."
"At least you're not stuck underwater." Ben pointed, his voice now coming through on the earpiece. "And, we're here to help you when the kid comes."
"Where are you guys anyway?" Johnny asked, staring at the sun as it set behind a range of mountains on the other side of a lake.
"We're hiding in the cabin, where we can't be seen until we act." Now it was Sue's voice that was being broadcasted.
Johnny groaned, staring out at the lake that sat out in front of him. "You sure this will work?" he asked, "I'm sure the kid isn't going to fall for our cover story that easily."
"What's wrong about it?" Reed asked. "We told the media that we determined your odd actions last night were do to stress, and that we were all going on a vacation to Ben's cabin to unwind. The only people who know the truth behind that is us and the police."
"And the kid." Johnny reminded Reed.
"Not so." Reed corrected. "He knows that it wasn't you that caused the terror last night, and rather it was himself, but that's as far it will go. Beyond that, he'll only know what the media knows."
"He's still going to suspect something, I know it." Johnny insisted. "He knows you guys now know he's out there in the world. Besides, if he was smart enough to..."
"Shush! Here he comes!" Sue suddenly called out a warning.
Johnny promptly shut up, and pretended to be reading a book. He was dressed in casual clothing, the kind you'd were to a cabin near a mountain range, but under it was Johnny's team uniform, ready for use should he need it. He saw a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, but ignored it, pretending that he was your average joe not suspecting any kind of attack from a kid who could walk around on fire unharmed.
It was when the roar of the flames grew to be too loud that Johnny looked up from his book, acting mildly surprised. There was the boy, hovering above the cabin's patio where Johnny sat, fully aflame. When the boy saw that he had Johnny's attention, he flamed off and landed, still wearing a the team uniform he had stolen.
"Not you again!" Johnny declared, standing up angrily, "When will you leave me alone? You're turning my life completely upside down!"
"That's the idea." the boy said. Johnny realized that the boy wasn't his usual, giddy, self. Instead he was acting very serious. Deadly serious. And he looked mad.
"What do you mean, that was the idea?" Johnny asked.
"In case you haven't figured it out," the boy said, starting to pace around Johnny, "We're actually more alike then you'd think. Like you, I have inhuman abilities, but unlike you, I have zero percent of the popularity that you have. People treat me like dirt. And I'm here to change that, to take your popularity away."
Johnny struggled to say something that wouldn't give away what he did know already, and it must of showed, for the boy groaned.
"You can cut the act." he said. "I can see that you do know more then you're letting on."
He was still pacing, and was almost in front of the open sliding glass doors leading into the cabin. Like according to plan.
"This whole trip that you fed the news guys about is fake, isn't it?" the boy asked, continuing on with his pacing, unaware of what was happening.
"Alright you caught us." Johnny said. "But you really have put a lot of stress on not only me, but them as well, which is exactly why they're here too."
The boy's eyes widened with surprise, and quickly took to the air just as Ben came charging out the open sliding glass doors to catch the boy. Missing, his momentum carried him onward past Johnny and off the patio, tumbling to the wooden boat dock that stood on the lake's edge. One of the boards on the dock broke, and Ben's arm slid into the gap, and became stuck, for Ben was struggling to pull it back out again.
The boy landed again. "Nice try." he said, tauntingly, "but not good enough. See, I know you no longer have your precious fire power." to prove the point, he alight on hand aflame, forming a ball of fire. "And as such, you're defenseless against it!"
He threw the ball of fire. Johnny jumped out of the way, and it impacted the chair he had been sitting in, flipping it over, and burning a hole through it. Sprawled out on the ground, he turned back to face the boy, who was gearing up to throw another ball of fire. Behind him, Reed was running forward to grab the boy and hopefully stop him.
Then Johnny realized something. "Reed, don't! Stop!" he shouted.
But it was too late, Reed touched the boy. A moment later the boy flexed his arm out like a rubber band and wrapped it around Johnny, while Reed suddenly burst into flames...