Jack Blank and the End of Infinity (24 page)

“Time’s up,” Jack told the Magus. “I need an answer. You going to do the smart thing and run away, or what?” Jack knew the Rüstov emperor wasn’t going anywhere. He was just pushing the Magus’s buttons.

“I’ll give you my answer,” the Magus told Jack. “I’ll
deliver it to you personally. I swear on my son’s heart, I’m going to make you pay.”

“It’s my heart now,” Jack said. “Bring it.” He waved at his neck, making a “cut off” motion, and the Magus’s holo-screen blinked out. Jack flew back down to Hero Square. The crowd stood in awe of him as he landed.

Noteworthy broke the silence. “Are you insane talking to him like that? Look what you’ve done!” He pointed up at the sky. The Rüstov Shardwings had begun to move.

“I’m not afraid of them,” Jack said, dismissing Noteworthy as the Rüstov fighters descended. “I’m not afraid of what they made me anymore either. I know what I am, and I know what they are—bullies. Overconfident, egotistical bullies. I’ve been dealing with people like that all my life. You know how you deal with a bully? It’s simple. You stand up.”

“But you lied to him,” Smart said. “Khalix isn’t gone. When that nullifier burns out . . .”

“I told you. We’re going to have to end this before that happens.” Waves of Shardwing fighters fell on the Imagine Nation. It was a huge number of ships, but the heroes all held their ground and prepared to fight. Prime and his
men moved forward to join Jack at the front of the crowd. Smart’s WarHawks flew to the frontline and armed their weapons. Jack held a hand out behind him, using his powers to freeze them in place. “Stand down,” he said.

“The devil we will!” Smart shot back. “Release my WarHawks this instant or I’ll—”

“What? What are you going to do?” Jack asked Smart. “You can’t hurt me anymore. You can’t kill me, so you’re just going to have to trust me. Save your bullets. These ships are taken care of.”

Jack flew out past the edge of the island to meet the Shardwings. The Rüstov ships passed through him. A mixture of bewilderment and euphoric relief filled Hero Square as the Rüstov fighters streaked across the city like ghosts, unable to attack anything.

“I don’t understand,” Smart said as Jack flew back and landed next to him. “How is this possible?”

“We made it happen,” Virtua said, appearing next to Smart. “In a way, you helped. We couldn’t have done it without your SmarterNet.”

Smart spun on Virtua. “What?”

Virtua smiled. “One of my tech teams made a few
alterations using the broken Ghost Box from Solomon Roka’s ship. It took some doing, but we were able to rebuild the damaged systems in time and modify the SmarterNet to broadcast a phase signal at the Rüstov.” She waved up at the harmless Shardwings. “These ships are useless now.”

Smart was speechless. As the Rüstov ghost ships continued their futile attempts to attack the city, a wave of confidence swept through the crowd.

“It was Jack’s idea,” Lorem Ipsum called out, flying in on an AirSkimmer. Jazen Knight was driving. “At the risk of stating the obvious, it was a good one.”

“Is that it, then?” Hovarth asked. “The armada isn’t a threat anymore?”

“No, that’s not it,” Prime said. “We just evened the odds. The Rüstov’s cannon fodder is gone, but the real firepower is waiting beyond those clouds.” He turned to Jack. “Why, Jack? Why did you destroy even half of the Calculan fleet? What possible good can come from that?”

Chi tapped Prime’s shoulder. “Perhaps we should direct that question to the other half.” Prime turned around and saw that the remaining Calculan ships had all
moved into a defensive position around the city. As the drones armed their weapons, the members of the Calculan Delegation joined the crowd in Hero Square. Ambassador Equa walked up to Prime and whispered in his ear.

Midknight held out a hand toward the alien diplomats. “I don’t want to speak for Ambassador Equa, but I have a hunch that right now he’s telling Prime that the variables in his decision matrix have changed.”

“Changed?” Noteworthy said. “Changed how?”

“By taking out just over half of his remote-controlled battleships, I swung the odds to the point where the Calculans can’t go it alone anymore. Now their best option is to fight with us.” Once Jack had finished explaining his actions, Prime nodded to the crowd, confirming everything he had just said.

“That’s brilliant,” Blue said. “How did you come up with that one?”

Jack shrugged.
That’s what a ticket to the Theater of War will get you,
he thought. It was an idea he never would have come up with if the Rüstov hadn’t paraded an endless loop of military campaigns before his eyes. They thought they could brainwash and break him. All they had done
was turn him into a master strategist. A veteran of a hundred wars he never actually fought in.

“What’s next?” Jazen asked Jack. “Any other crazy plans up your sleeve that we need to know about?”

Jack shook his head. “The rest of this is as simple as it gets.” He looked at Skerren. “If you want to kill a snake, you have to cut off the head. That’s not me. That’s the Magus.”

Skerren stepped cautiously toward Jack. “The Magus is Stendeval.”

Jack nodded. “I didn’t say it was going to be easy.”

“What about you?” Skerren asked. “What about when your hour is up? What then?”

“Stendeval said I’d only become Revile if I chose to be. This is as far as that goes. Look here.” Jack pointed out the mark Skerren had carved into his power core. “You did that. Standing right over there, you took a slice out of me. Nothing else has even scuffed this thing. If my time runs out before I can halt this infection or anyone else’s . . . if I’m about to turn into Revile for real? You’ll see to it that I don’t.” Jack offered Skerren his hand. “Are you with me?”

Skerren paused to look at Jack’s iron fingers.

“I don’t like this,” Jazen told Jack.

“I don’t like it either,” Skerren said. “But I promise you, I won’t hesitate.” He took Jack’s hand in his. “I’m with you.”

A new wave of Rüstov ships broke through the clouds and dove toward Empire City. There were fighter planes and troop transports bringing in leagues of Para-Soldiers. The massive dreadnoughts were off in the distance, and it was plain to see that they were not phased. “This is it,” Jack said. “Time to end this war once and for all.”

22

The Children’s Crusade

The fight was like nothing Jack had ever been involved in before. His greatest and most death-defying adventures had never approached anything even close to this scale—an entire city at war with an invading alien force. The Rüstov fighters, both on the ground and in the air, were too numerous to count. Not an inch of ground offered shelter from the storm.

Jack immediately went into attack mode. He flew around the square, using his powers to wreck Rüstov ships and disable enemy soldiers as they came in. Revile did the
same, blasting Shardwings and troop transports in every direction. The air was alive with gunfire, and the ground was filled with Para-Soldiers. The Rüstov attacked with overwhelming force, but the people of Empire City fought back at every turn. Smart’s WarHawks and the people of Varagog charged into battle together with Virtua and the androids of Machina. Unmanned Calculan drones streaked through the sky alongside brave Valorians, and heroes fought side by side with their archenemies. The time for politics and infighting was over. The time for sitting on the sidelines and weighing the options was over. It was time for action.

As Jack continued his assault on the Rüstov Armada, he scanned the enemy fleet for the Magus’s ship, the
Apocalypse
. “He’s not here.”

“What?” Revile asked.

“The Magus isn’t here. We’re gonna have to go to him.” Jack looked around. “Zhi, where are you?”

“Way ahead of you,” Zhi called out. He swooped down to Jack’s level, riding one of his dragons. It was the same dragon Jack thought he had gotten killed two days earlier. The creature gave an angry snort in his direction. Zhi
stroked the dragon’s mane. “Easy, girl, we’re all friends here.” He directed Jack’s attention to the other six dragons and their riders: Jazen, Skerren, Lorem Ipsum, and Trea’s three selves.

“Let’s take this fight to that metal monster’s door,” Jack said.

“I’m coming with you,” Revile said.

Jack shook off his future self. “No way. The city needs you here.” He motioned to the sky as Prime and the Valorians blasted away at Rüstov Shardwings. Down on the ground, Mechas, ninjas, WarHawks, heroes, and villains were all fighting for their home and their lives. “They’re outnumbered. They need your firepower.” He pointed up at Mount Nevertop. “Protect the SmarterNet and keep that ghost signal broadcasting. Protect the
people
. They need you more than we do.”

Revile raised his left hand and blew a Rüstov Shardwing out of the sky. “You can’t go up against the Magus with children. You need an army to take on that ship.”

“Actually, a small force like this has the best chance of slipping through the blockade,” one of the Treas said.

“And, hello? We’re not just children,” Lorem added.

“Thank you,” a second Trea said. “We’re in the School of Thought. We’re better than an army.” She held out her hand, and the third Trea slapped it.

Revile just shook his head and leaned in close to Jack. “You really think you can beat him? That you can break the bond between parasite and host?”

“It’s not impossible,” Jack said. “That’s just what they want us to think. That’s job one with them. Inspire fear. Think about it. All this time, they’ve been trying to make us give up. They’ve done everything they can to make sure we don’t put up a fight. They want us to make it easy for them. Stendeval told the Magus he wasn’t ready for us. I think he was right. That’s why he waited until dawn to invade. He was waiting for Stendeval to power up again. He wanted every advantage he could get, but the real advantage is us. Me and you, fighting together. Stay here. Save lives. It’s time for you to be a hero again, Revile.”

Revile thought a bit more, then finally nodded and reached out to the Rüstov ships in the air around him. Metal fragments flew off their exteriors and attached themselves to his body, bulking up his armor’s strength and size. Heavy artillery ripped off Shardwing hulls, drawn
to him as if pulled by an electromagnet. Revile’s armor came alive, integrating the additional weaponry into his systems. New plasma cannons, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and guns heaped themselves onto his shoulders and arms. He became a walking armory. When he was finished upgrading, he rested a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I was wrong about you. We’re not the same. I don’t remember ever being this strong.”

Jack went to touch Revile’s hand, but Revile broke away and flew off without another word. Jack watched his doppelgänger go. He hoped they would both still be alive when this was all over.

Jazen tapped his wrist. “The clock is ticking, Jack. Let’s go.”

Jack nodded. “Follow me.”

Jack led the way toward the
Apocalypse
. An string of explosions heated up the cool morning air as he ran interference for his friends on the dragons. The enemy invaders had brought out the heavy artillery to face Jack, and he was hit again and again by shots fired from large-caliber weapons. The Rüstov bombarded Jack with missile launchers and fusion cannons. The attacks came from
both the city below and the skies above. Some bombs blew up right next to Jack, sending him hurtling through the clouds. Others scored direct hits and tore off whole pieces of his body. That was all fine by him. As long as he continued to draw the Rüstov’s fire, his friends were able to advance untouched. It took only a few moments for Jack to recover from each hit, regain his bearings, and dive back into the fight. Try as they might, the Rüstov succeeded only in briefly disorienting Jack. He lost his focus on the battle each time he regenerated, which was an annoying side effect of his new healing abilities, but it was way better than the alternative.

Jack shook off the Rüstov’s latest assault and turned to find a trio of Shardwings closing in on his friends. He reached out his right hand and made a fist. As he tightened his grip, the ship in the middle crumpled up like a piece of scrap paper and dropped out of formation. Black smoke streaked across the sky as it fell crashing into the ocean. Jack swung his arm out in a dismissive wave, forcing the Shardwing on the left to ram into the one on the right. Stendeval had always said the Rüstov would rue the day they infected him. Jack’s powers were a silver bullet
aimed at the heart of the Rüstov Armada, and thanks to the Revile process, he was now all but invulnerable while he used them.

As Jack’s friends cleared Empire City’s airspace and left the Imagine Nation behind, Jack held back. He had spotted Prime attacking an armored transport filled with Para-Soldiers. The Circleman of Galaxis had at least six Valorian Guardsmen with him as he tried to stop the ship from reaching Empire City. It took Jack only a single glance to find out everything he needed to know about the Rüstov vessel. He held out his hand like a traffic cop and halted the ship in place. Taking control of the transport’s forward thrusters, Jack forced it to turn upward, exposing its weakest point. Prime’s men all keyed on the ship’s thinly armored underbelly and fired. White-hot energies poured out of their hands, and another Rüstov ship burned a hole in the sky. No handshakes or fist pumps followed the explosion. The ship was just one target in a field of thousands. Prime gave a cordial nod in Jack’s direction and moved on. Five seconds later, he and his men had knocked five more Shardwings out of the sky. The falling ships shot Jack’s body to pieces on their way down, but it
didn’t matter. Jack drew on them for spare parts as they fell and put himself back together at their expense. He turned back toward the clouds above and kept going up. There were still more Rüstov ships between Jack and the Magus, but he wasn’t worried. They couldn’t touch him. Everything they had was his for the taking. At least until Smart’s nullifier burned out.

“I wonder how the Rüstov like getting a taste of their own medicine,” Zhi said as the enemy ships that Jack had used to rebuild himself spiraled down into the sea.