Henry used the rest of his day to deep-clean the house, wanting to leave it as spotless as possible. It helped take his mind off the danger to come, but it also meant there would be less to clean when he came back.
If he came back.
'No. I can't think this way. I'm not going alone. We have to come back,' Henry thought, shaking his head free of the bad thoughts.
Once that was done, he grabbed the files off the table, which also contained the kid's military IDs, and opened them to verify their authenticity.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Joseph's men, but he was always a thorough man by nature. It was why he had built such a big company in his past life.
Once he was satisfied with them, he called out to him.
"Jhonny! Get over here."
"Coming!" came his voice from his room.
He came out of the room with a bit of dielectric grease on his face and hands, rubbing the latter with a towel so he didn't put some on everything he touched.
"Taking care of your new equipment? Good initiative. Here, take this," Henry said, tossing him two things.
Jhonny caught the objects, having to drop the towel to do so, and looked at them.
In his hands now rested a military tag wristband with his ID and a card with his new bank info.
Since he was now a member of the military and a special agent at that, he was allowed a salary, so Joseph had set up a bank account for him. When Jhonny tapped the card onto his new wristband, the bank's details popped up from the gadget.
The number he saw in the account made his jaw drop.
"I think there are a few too many zeroes in here, Henry… There is no way that is right…"
Henry looked over his shoulder and chuckled.
"Nope. That's just your first month of pay. I guess he felt generous enough to consider your training with me as part of your official formation and paid you for it. Thank him later, he'll be happy.
"But on to why I gave them to you now. Dress up in your new uniform. We are going into camp. I have things to buy for the mission."
Jhonny's face lit up at the prospect of seeing the camp with his own eyes. He had been stuck in this recluse cabin for weeks.
He needed to see something else before he went crazy.
He ran to the bathroom to clean up his face and hands before darting into his room to don his new uniform.
Aside from its colour, the special ops uniform was not unlike the rest of the military uniforms. The pitch-black material was made of special nano-fiber, that could resist small calibre ballistic fire, as well as low-end laser shots, and also came with a plethora of other functions.
It was made for wearing on base but also as an undergarment during missions. Henry also had his on, as he was already prepped to go into camp.
Once Jhonny had slipped into his uniform, it shrunk to fit his morphology, making him gasp in surprise.
"This is so cool…" Henry heard him say from the other room.
"Come on, kid. We don't have much daylight left. I don't want to walk back here in the dark."
Jhonny ran out of his room, looking sharp, even for his small stature, and stopped in front of Henry with a big dumb grin.
"Why? You scared of the woods at night?" he asked, giggling to himself.
"No, dumbass. The patrols fly over the woods at night, and being caught outside with our black uniforms can cause us to get taken for infiltrators. And I don't want to get in trouble with your little shit face shuffling behind me. Capice?"
Jhonny's face immediately went from a grin to an angry grimace.
"Hey! What does that mean?!" he asked, trying to punch Henry in the stomach.
But Henry was quicker than him and pushed back on his head, forcing him back.
"It means what I said it means. Those IDs might be foolproof to the standard eye, but if we get caught and interrogated, they'll do a deeper search, and who knows what they'll find? Do you want to get caught red-handed?"
Jhonny gulped, realizing the risk of that, and shook his head vigorously.
"Nope!" he exclaimed.
"Then let's get moving!" Henry said, walking out the door first.
They had a bit of ground to cover, given that the cabin was over a mile out from the rest of the camp, so they jogged almost the entire way there.
Although Jhonny's body wasn't entirely used to such physical exertion, he had improved over the last weeks.
His youthful body contained enough energy and stamina to hold the exertion. His only deficiency was actual cardio. But he was just a kid, so it wasn't that surprising.
In due time, Henry would make him into an agent whose physical capabilities rivalled the best of humanity's athletes. But until then, he still needed to be lenient with him.
"Alright!" Henry exclaimed as they reached camp.
"A mile and a half in thirteen minutes. Not bad, rookie. But we need to get you under ten minutes. You still have a long way to go," he added, looking at the panting kid.
Jhonny looked at him with dread as he gasped for air.
"Under *gasp* ten minutes?! *Gasp* Are you insane?! *gasp*" he asked, bewildered and out of breath.
Henry laughed it off, giving him a good slap on the back, and walked away.
"Come on, rookie. We still have things to do. The day ain't getting any younger, and neither are we!" he mocked, walking toward the food vendors.
Jhonny cursed him in his mind. The training inside the VCP was already taxing, and the physical training Henry had put him through was gruelling.
Hearing that it was to become worse eventually killed his motivation a bit.
'Should I have stayed home with Pa' and Ma'?' he thought, hesitating.
But his resolve kicked back in, and he shook the thought away.
'No. I'm doing this for humanity. I need to get stronger, anyway. Bring it, old man!' he mentally motivated himself.
Then he straightened up and ran after Henry, who was almost out of sight already.