All eyes turned back to Stendeval. He shrugged and said, “I simply explained Jack’s value in the war effort and proposed to the Calculans that it would be worth commuting your sentence if you could successfully retrieve him.”
“And they agreed, just like that?” Roka eyed Stendeval suspiciously. “Doesn’t sound very Calculan to me.”
Stendeval tilted his head. “I can be very convincing.”
“That’s it, then?” Roka asked. “I’m free to go?”
“Circleman Prime is meeting with the Calculan Delegation as we speak,” Stendeval assured Roka. “We’ll see to it your record is cleared.”
Roka rubbed his beard. “I’ll believe it when I see it. How’d you know the Calculans had me, anyway?”
Stendeval smiled again and shook a finger in admiration. “Very good. They asked me the same exact question.”
Before Stendeval could finish his answer, he was interrupted by the noise of someone banging against the energy barrier. It made a loud humming sound as fists pounded away at it from the other side. People were calling out to be let through in voices that were every bit as unfriendly as they were familiar: “Stendeval! Enough of this. Drop these shields and let us pass!”
Stendeval frowned at the energy barrier. “I’m afraid this oasis of civility in a sea of angst can’t last forever. I can put this off a short while longer, but—”
“No,” Jack said. “Let them in, all of them. I’ve got news they need to hear and none of it’s good.”
CHAPTER
5
The Harbinger of Doom
Stendeval waved his hands, and the red energy particles that made up the shields protecting Jack evaporated into thin air. Jazen and Blue stepped in front of Jack as an angry crowd came into view, with Smart and Hovarth at its head. The chairman and CEO of SmartCorp and the warrior king of Varagog Village walked toward the sphere with clear, angry purpose. Jack’s old School of Thought classmate and former friend Skerren was there too, just behind his king. None of them were smiling. Jack didn’t expect Hovarth or Smart to welcome him back, but the look on Skerren’s face hit him hard. The two boys had started out as enemies and became friends, only to have that friendship derailed by secrets and lies. Skerren had been one of Jack’s closest friends in the Imagine Nation, second only to Allegra. Jack had hoped that Skerren had forgiven him for hiding his connection to Revile, but as the young swordsman fell in behind Hovarth, it was clear that he had not.
“It’s about time,” Smart grunted as he crossed into the area directly below the Inner Circle’s sphere. “Outrageous behavior, this. It’s bad enough you fought to bring the boy back here, but to disrespect your fellow Circlemen this way . . .”
“He got elected Circleman again?” Jack asked Jazen.
“Not yet,” Smart said as he strode in confidently. “Don’t worry, that will come soon enou—” He stopped short when he saw Jack’s eye. He glared at Stendeval.
“Where is he?” Skerren asked. “Where are they hiding him?”
“Og’s blood!” Hovarth called out, pointing. “His eye!”
Smart shook his head like a man who knew better than everyone else. “Stendeval, you damnable fool.” He gave a slight smirk as he tapped away at his handheld holo-computer. Flying NewsBots swooped in to record Jack’s image for SmartNews as another figure fought his way through the crowd.
“Let me through!” the voice called out. “Step aside! I’m a Circleman, you disrespectful proles!” Clarkston Noteworthy broke through the mass of people just as a score of SmartNews holo-screens appeared throughout the square showing a close-up of Jack’s face. A collective gasp ran through the crowd at the sight of him. Frightened exclamations rang out through Hero Square.
“His eye!”
“It’s the mark of the Rüstov! He’s one of them now!”
“He’s going to turn into Revile!”
Jack felt like he was being stoned with words, but again, he couldn’t judge his critics too harshly. They weren’t saying anything he wasn’t worried about himself. Noteworthy inched forward toward Jack, moving with both extreme caution and intense curiosity. “I don’t believe it,” he said, reaching toward Jack’s marked eye. “I’d heard you were coming back, which was bad news all by itself, but I never expected . . .”
Jack pushed Noteworthy’s hand away, and Smart grinned like a creepy jack-o’-lantern. “Get used to that reaction, Jack. Things have changed since you left. I’m taking this city back.”
Jack sighed. “We don’t have time for your games, Smart. Not now. The Rüstov are coming for us.”
“Coming?” Virtua said. “They’re coming now?”
“Everybody!” Jack shouted, trying to get the attention of the crowd. “Listen to me, you need to hear this! The Rüstov are on their way right now. They’re ready, and they’ve only got one target: Empire City. We need to get ready. We need to . . .” Jack trailed off. It was no use. The crowd was too big. The people were too loud. Only the people closest to Jack on the plaza heard what he had to say. Jack threw up his hands and turned to Smart. “You have to listen for once in your life. We can’t afford to mess around here. War is coming. They’re finally coming back.”
“I understand,” Smart replied. “You can tell your Rüstov friends that this time we’ll be ready for them.”
Jack scrunched up his face. “Rüstov friends?”
Smart snapped his fingers, and a series of holographic circles projected out in front of his face. He cleared his throat, and the sound echoed across Hero Square. The holograms amplified his voice, and he addressed the crowd with booming authority.
“People of Empire City!” he shouted as his face flickered onto every screen in sight. “A dark day is dawning. . . . The Rüstov’s secret weapon has returned to the Imagine Nation. Or should I say, it has been returned to us by the shortsighted, overly Zen, and potentially treasonous contingent of the Inner Circle.”
“Treasonous!” Virtua spat out, literally turning red. “How dare you?”
Smart ignored Virtua and kept right on with his speech. “He comes bearing threats, promising that his Rüstov brethren are coming to save him!” Smart tapped away on his holo-computer and cued up a hastily edited broadcast of Jack’s warning:
“The Rüstov are coming,” Jack’s voice said. “They’re finally coming back!”
The audio file played over and over. Taken out of context and repeated in a loop as it was, Jack’s voice sounded happy on the recording. Gleeful, even.
“That’s not how I meant it and you know it!” Jack yelled at Smart, but the roar of the crowd drowned him out.
“Every second we let this boy live is time spent nurturing our future executioner!” Smart shouted. “We are all familiar with his history and how he covered up a deadly Rüstov virus that nearly destroyed our city. As for his future, he has already confessed the role he is bound to play in the enemy’s relentless campaign against us! He is the cornerstone of a future where the Rüstov have already won. Baffling as it may be, the Inner Circle continues to protect him. I want to protect you. We can defeat the Rüstov, but not if this boy is allowed to grow up and become Revile. Jack Blank cannot be allowed to fulfill his destiny!”
The people in Hero Square were nodding, agreeing with Smart. Many began to cheer him.
“Enough!” Stendeval shouted. He voice cut across the plaza like a thunderbolt, causing everyone, including Smart, to jump up and quiet down. Stendeval levitated above the crowd and took control of Smart’s holo-screens, replacing Smart’s voice and visage with his own on every one. “I have heard all I care to hear about destiny, Jonas. That is quite enough, thank you.”
Smart pounded away at his handheld, taking back his holo-screens one at a time, but it was slow going. Jack could see that Smart wasn’t going to stop Stendeval from having his say.
“Friends!” Stendeval called out to the crowd. “I implore you, now is not the time to give in to fear. Now is the time to stand together. If the enemy is inde
ed coming back, we need to be brave. Be strong! I believe in Jack Blank. I have long maintained that he is the key to our victory over the Rüstov, and I have fought to bring him back here for that purpose! Forget what you think you know about his future. Destiny is a choice we make, not a road we are forced down against our will.”
Jack had never seen the reserved and mysterious Circleman of Cognito speak with such passion. He wanted desperately to lend his voice to Stendeval’s and talk about getting ready to fight the Rüstov, but all of a sudden, he felt dizzy. His infection was spreading. Blue moved in to offer Jack his arm as subtly as he could, but his weakened state did not go unnoticed by Jonas Smart.
“Spare us your inspirational greeting card messages,” Smart told Stendeval. “Your faith in this boy proves nothing except your naïveté. By your own actions you force the people of this city down a road against their will . . . a road to ruin! I say let them choose what they want for their future. Let them decide whether or not they want Jack Blank to be a part of it. Look at his eye! He’s losing the fight with his infection, just as I always said he would. He’s the Rüstov’s hero, not ours. What will it take for you to understand the threat he represents, Stendeval? His boot heel on your neck?”
“Jonas is right,” Hovarth said. “The time for your assurances is past. Let the boy speak for himself. If he is truly going to save us from the Rüstov, I want to hear it from him. How is he going to avoid his future? How is he going to bring anything but death and destruction down on our heads?” All eyes turned to Jack. “Well?”
Jack steadied himself and found his voice. “I don’t know.”
Noteworthy joined the dissenters in interrogating Jack. “You say the Rüstov are coming,” he said, poking Jack in the chest. “How do they plan to find us? Are they tracking you?”
Jazen pushed Noteworthy back. “That doesn’t matter.”
“They’re tracking him!” Noteworthy shouted. “We have to get him out of here!”
“It doesn’t matter if they’re tracking Jack or not,” Jazen said. “They don’t need him here to find this place. They just have to believe in it, which they obviously do. Getting rid of Jack won’t stop them from coming. This fight is on its way here either way. It’s time to stop running . . . time to stop being afraid. We have to face them and finish it.”
“And he’ll help us do that, will he?” Skerren asked. “How? What are you going to do when the fighting starts, Jack? Can you use your powers to smash the Rüstov Armada?”
Jack cleared his throat and grimaced at the anger burning in Skerren’s eyes. “No. I can’t use my powers on any Rüstov tech. My parasite won’t let me.”
“There, you see?” Smart said. “His parasite, also known as Khalix, the Rüstov prince—soon to be known as Revile! He’s stronger now as a result of what they’ve done to you, isn’t he?”
“Much stronger,” Jack admitted. “I have to work hard to shut Khalix up. In fact, he’s trying to talk me right now.”
Roka leaned over Jack’s shoulder and spoke quietly in his ear. “Kid, I know I just got here, but you might want to play some of these cards a little closer to the vest.”
Jack shook his head. “I’m not sugarcoating things anymore. I’m telling it like it is, good or bad. I’m not hiding from anything or anyone.”
“Turned over a new leaf, have you, Jack?” Smart asked. “You may have won back your friends’ trust with your candid admissions and newfound openness, but I’m not fooled. You’re hiding something. . . .” Across the plaza, Oblivia’s ship was docking at the flying shipyards. Smart’s NewsBots were there to record its arrival as it set the Harbinger down on land. Jack felt them digging through the Harbinger’s flight recorder, searching for something . . . anything that Smart could use against him.
Smart snapped his fingers. “Your distress calls! If you can’t use your powers on Rüstov technology, how did you make them?”
Jack held out his arms. He knew it wouldn’t take the “world’s smartest man” long to arrive at the same conclusion he had. “I’m not sure I called anyone.”
“Exactly! It was a Rüstov plot to sneak you in past our defenses.” Smart turned to Stendeval. “I know you have affection for Jack, but my logic is not clouded by such emotions. Whatever you may think you know, I say you do not know this boy well enough to trust him. Not anymore.”
Smart’s handheld beeped loudly, like an alarm sounding. The NewsBots had found something. Smart punched the keys of his pocket holo-computer and turned toward the crowd. “Jack spent a year in Rüstov captivity. That kind of experience changes a person—apparently, in more ways than one!” He reclaimed his holo-screens and put the data from the Harbinger’s broken Ghost Box on display for all to see. Jack’s heart leaped into his throat when he saw the schematic of his new biology. According to the readout, there was something mechanical inside his chest. Something big. Frantic, Jack clawed at his collar and ripped his space suit open to get a look at it. The crowd gasped and Jack was just as shocked as anyone else. What he saw made him gag. There, implanted in his sternum, was a glowing red power core surrounded by Rüstov technology. It looked just like Revile’s.
Jack staggered back a step and started hyperventilating. His fingers shot up instinctively toward the glowing crimson circle in his chest. He pressed down hard against it and felt around the edges, investigating the foreign object in his body. He tried to slow down his breathing and get himself under control, but he couldn’t do it. This thing . . . this machine was real. It was in him. Khalix’s voice crept into Jack’s head, taunting him:
“Surprise, Jack. I was wondering when you were going to notice that.”
Frightened screeches ran through the crowd. Anyone who wasn’t worried about Jack’s loyalties before certainly was now. Jack heard the crowd wail and the accusations fly, but it was all just noise. He couldn’t focus on anything except the power core in his chest. It horrified him. What was this thing? How had he missed it? What had the Rüstov done to him?
“I’ve seen enough,” Smart said. He keyed in another command on his handheld, and a hundred man-size battle droids that were hidden in the crowd sprang forth. Smart raised his handheld to his lips:
“Jonas Smart to all points . . . attack.”
CHAPTER
6
War Machines
Smart’s robot fighters charged through the crowd and opened fire. Endless rounds of ammunition flew across the square, and people ran off screaming in every direction. Jack didn’t move. The revelation of the Rüstov technology implanted in his chest had him in a total state of shock. The only thing that kept him from being torn apart by laser blasts was Jazen and Blue. They covered Jack on both sides, using their bodies to shield him from the bullets. Gunshots and laser blasts careened off their backs and out into the crowd. Deadly ricochets rebounded away from Jack, following random, haphazard paths and very nearly claiming innocent lives. Luckily, Stendeval was able to generate several more force fields throughout the square. Without him, countless bystanders would have become casualties in Smart’s latest attempt on Jack’s life.
“Jack, I’d like you to meet SmartCorp’s latest development in homeland security—the WarHawks!” Smart yelled. “Don’t bother trying to stop them. Each one is fully equipped with its own power nullifier. I’m putting an end to your machinations here and now!”
Jack was barely listening. He was lost inside his own head, even as Smart’s armored soldiers rushed him on all sides. The WarHawks were not lumbering tank-men that marched forward like Frankenstein’s monster. They were fast, agile commandos, each one carrying the firepower of a full platoon. One of the WarHawks leaped over Stendeval’s protective barriers, landed on its shoulder, and rolled toward Jack. It sprang up and dove right at him, but Chi got there first. He came in hard on the WarHawk’s blind side with a fist that burned with blue flames. Once the WarHawk was down, he plunged his fist through its armored breast plate and pulled out a handful of circuits. The WarHawk stopped fightin
g, but it was just one of a great many.
Blue crouched over Jack as a fresh wave of bullets poured in and shredded his clothes. “No place like home, eh, partner?”
“What?” Jack asked. He looked around, beginning to take notice of the raging firefight.
“I don’t want to say I told you so, but I called it!” Blue said. He ripped off a WarHawk’s firearms and tossed them over to Jack. “I told ya your new look wasn’t going to win you any popularity contests.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jazen said. “You just hate being right, don’t you, Blue?”
Jack shook his head and looked at the weapons Blue had given him. He didn’t start shooting. He didn’t even prime them for use. He just watched the action unfold as if he were sitting in the stands at a football game.
“Jack, snap out of it!” Allegra said, thrusting a liquid metal hand into his face. Her mercury-like skin shot up his nose, jolting him out of the daze he was in. It was just the slap in the face Jack needed. “Are you with us or what?”
Jack grabbed the bridge of his nose and pressed down hard. He blew out a strong snort of air, and when he blinked his eyes back open, his head was clear. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Don’t mention it,” Allegra said, moving in to shore up the gaps in Jazen and Blue’s perimeter. She morphed her body into a wide, flat shield, offering Jack more bulletproof cover as he took aim at the WarHawks and started shooting. Together with Jazen and Blue, she formed a protective circle around Jack. He was lucky to have friends who cared enough to stand their ground and back him up like this in a fight. He was even luckier that they were all people who could take a bullet and keep on fighting. The trio stood up to a wall of WarHawk gunfire like it was nothing more than driving rain. Spent shells piled up at their feet, their energy wasted, but Jack knew they couldn’t stay there forever. They were vastly outnumbered, and the WarHawks were coming in hot. “Allegra, take my place!” Jazen shouted as he ran to meet them.