So, Johnny's powerless...right?
RIGHT? ;)
Chapter 9
Solving the Puzzle
"Johnny, I don't think I can say just how sorry I am." Sue said, dismayed with herself.
"Well, I dunno." Johnny answered, "You've been telling me that you're sorry every two minutes for the past two hours, so you must be getting close."
Sue grinned, and continued bandaging the ankle Johnny had twisted.
"Tell you what, I'll say 'apology accepted,' and we'll call it good, okay?" Johnny said.
Sue nodded in agreement, and continued bandaging Johnny's ankle.
Ben stomped in. "I've talked to the police, told them the situation." he reported, "They're dropping the changes against Johnny."
"Well, there's another problem down." Johnny said, glad that his week was starting to look up finally. "How are things going on your end Reed?"
Reed turned around in his seat at the computer console he was facing. "Well, I've figured out a few things as to why this mess happened in the first place." he said. "Johnny was right when he suggested that the boy has the transfer ability. I think the reason that the boy got your power while you also kept it, is that the transfer wasn't complete. Perhaps the boy didn't touch you long enough, or the transfer ability isn't as strong as your's was Johnny."
Sue finished with the bandage, so Johnny limped over. "Okay, but where did he get the ability?" he asked.
"That's just it, I don't know." Reed admitted. "I also don't know how it's even possible that he could have it. From what I learned when you had the ability Johnny, it only worked on those with powers. So far as we know, he doesn't have any such abilities other than your fire power."
"So, I'm powerless right now." Johnny stated.
"Pretty much." Reed said.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Sue asked, coming over to join them. "Have we determined who this boy is?"
"No, I have nothing to use to figure that out." Reed said.
"I'm not interested in who he is, I'm more interested in getting back from him what's rightfully mine." Johnny said.
"Johnny, think." Reed said. "If we knew who this kid is, we would have a better chance of tracking him down than by not knowing who he is."
Ben was standing nearby, his rocky brow furrowed in thought. "Reed, could this kid have gotten that transfer ability from the Silver Surfer when he was here, like Johnny did?" he asked.
Reed thought that through. "I suppose it's possible." he admitted. "Norin was going all over the world and there was several times when we couldn't track his position. The two might have met up with one another long enough for the boy to get the transfer ability. But we have no proof."
"And that's not even the tip of the ice burg." Johnny added, staring at Reed's computer. "We still don't know how this kid managed to get past our security systems to get to me in the first place. And, he knew about the transfer ability and how to use it. He had planned this from the start, and considering his age, he planned it very well."
"My guess is that he managed to program our security system to ignore his presence in some discreet manner." Reed stated. "But that in itself is quite a feat, and I have yet to figure out what that teenage boy did."
"I wish we could just see what he did." Johnny murmured aloud, still staring at the computer screen.
Then, to his surprise, a small window popped up on the computer's screen filled with lines upon lines of codes. "Um, Reed, what's your computer doing?" he asked, puzzled.
Reed turned around in his seat to face the screen. His eyes widened in surprise. "These are codes imbedded into the security systems to tell the infrared sensors to not record a certain scale of temperature!" he exclaimed, shocked. "The codes the boy must have used to sneak in here unnoticed!"
"Whoa, convenient that just popped up out of the blue." Ben said.
Reed turned to Johnny. "How did you do that?" he asked.
"I dunno, I just was thinking how much I wish it'd just pop up, and it did!" Johnny exclaimed, just as surprised as the others. "Maybe it's just a coincidence! Maybe your computer just happened to chose that moment to find those codes!"
"No, it couldn't have!" Reed said. "The boy knew what he was doing. He had the codes set so that they could only be brought up unless the right command was given to the computer!"
"So you're saying that I did it?" Johnny asked, bewildered. "I don't know a thing about that techno-mumbo-jumbo! I didn't even touch the controls for your stupid computer!"
"But you did state you wished it bring up those codes." Sue pointed out, innocently.
"So, you're saying I can just think and make the computer do stuff?" Johnny asked. "How likely is that? It's not like I can just tell the computer to bring up Pac-Man just by thinking."
At that moment, Pac-Man loaded automatically on Reed's computer without receiving any conventual commands to do so. The four stared at it, dumbfounded.
"You know," Reed said slowly, looked at Johnny, "I'm starting to think that boy did have a real power after all."
Johnny looked at Reed, shocked. "Which means that I must have it." he concluded.