Chapter 5: Responsibilities
Johnny rushed into his room, shoving the door closed behind him. He ran over and quickly opened his closet, revealing piles of clothes heaped on top of each other in the middle of the floor. Johnny started to dig a hole through his clothes, placing the Super Chip in the center of the hole. He then pushed everything back on top of it, burying the Chip under a mountain of dirty clothes.
“I just hope I’ll be able to find it after,” he said to himself as he closed the closet door.
He glanced at his watch; he had to be quick to get to school in time.
He walked over to the old computer on his desk and typed in the password. The panels in the ceiling and wall slid back and the holographic keyboard display materialized in the middle of the room.
He entered some commands on the holographic keyboard and then waited a moment while Ackers’ flustered face appears.
“Where have you been?” Ackers demanded as soon as the auditory connection was complete.
“Right where you’ve been expecting me to be: getting the Super Chip,” Johnny responded in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
Ackers wrung his hands in the air in frustration, looking very silly and clichéd.
“I know that! Where have you been since? Why aren’t you here? Where’s the Super Chip? What happened to Seventy-Seven?” Ackers practically tripped over himself trying to get all his questions out in one breath.
Johnny paused a moment, not sure which question to answer first.
“I don’t know,” he said at last as he took off his spy outfit and got changed into school clothes.
“You don’t know? How can you not know? Which part don’t you know?” Ackers demanded.
Johnny pulled a shirt on over his head and sighed when he could see Ackers’ angry face again.
“I didn’t know which question to answer first,” Johnny clarified.
Ackers looked like his head was going to explode.
“Just tell me you have the Super Chip!” he demanded.
“I do,” Johnny assured him.
Ackers let all the breath out of his lungs in one giant sigh. He reached over and grabbed a glass of water, drinking it all down in one large gulp and letting half of it spill out and run down his shirt. He slammed the glass down and wiped the remaining water off his chin.
“Now you have to get back to base,” Ackers noticed that Johnny wasn’t paying attention; he was still getting ready to go to school.
“This is important,” Ackers yelled at the top of his voice.
Johnny quickly darted over to his holographic keyboard and turned down the volume.
“Would you be quiet, my dad could hear you!” Johnny said angrily.
“I don’t care about your dad! This Chip is more important than your life and all the things that happen in it. You have a duty to Department X above all other duties!” Ackers said in a much quieter voice.
“Everything all right up there?” Henry called from downstairs.
“Fine dad, just getting ready for school,” Johnny called back, while giving Ackers an I Told You So look. Ackers just shrugged in response.
Johnny got his school backpack from under his bed and opened it up to make sure there were some books in it. Everything looked right, some of the textbooks even looked familiar.
“Are you listening to me?” Ackers said, breaking Johnny out of his focus.
“No,” Johnny said as he zipped up his backpack.
“What else is new?” Ackers replied in frustration.
Johnny slung the backpack on his shoulder and walked over to the three dimensional keyboard display, typing in some commands and getting ready to shut down.
“I contacted you to let you know what happened with the mission, and to tell you that you don’t have to worry. The Chip is safe and I will get it to you at the end of the day,” Johnny explained.
“I need the Chip now!” Ackers pressed.
Johnny sighed. Ackers was being more annoying than usual.
“You can’t have it now, I already told you,” Johnny explained for the millionth time.
“This is a life and death matter! How can you be so flippant and causal about this? I’m going to have to come over and get it,” Ackers threatened.
“Fine, whatever,” Johnny said as he shut down the connection. He knew that Ackers never left the base, and the chances of him actually coming to Johnny’s house were the same as the chances of the United Order knowing that Johnny Clunker was Johnny B. Fast.