Accidental Hero (Jack Blank Adventure) (25 page)

While he was in C-Space, Jack got a break from the same four walls of Jazen’s apartment. He literally devoured new information about any and all kinds of science and engineering, be it alien, Mecha-based, or otherwise. He was picking up things much faster with the help of the
machines. He started talking to every machine he met and absorbing data like it was being uploaded straight into his brain. Jack found that as long as the machine in question was friendly, it was happy to do as he asked and also teach him all it could. Actually speaking with a bi-org was just as novel and exciting for the machine in question as it was for Jack. Well, most of the time, anyway. It all depended on a given machine’s attitude and personality. Jack still had to hit the books if he wanted to learn how to control every kind of machine that was out there.

Unfortunately, there was only one machine out there that Jack was interested in: the fugitive Left-Behind. Jack was in his room reading with the holo-screen TV running in the background when there was finally a break in the case. It was late at night, and he was just starting to nod off when the TV volume kicked up to its highest level all on its own. A special newsbreak was interrupting the broadcast.

“Jazen, you better get up here!” Jack called out.

Jazen raced upstairs. “What’s going on?” he asked. Jack only pointed to his holo-screen. There wasn’t much to see yet, just a “Breaking News” graphic over a crowd of people and a crime scene. The footage showed yellow
holo-tape, flashing police lights, and a lot of concerned faces. The news anchor was describing the scene as the cameras rolled:

“All right, this is live footage we’re taking directly from SmartCams on the scene in Karateka, where early reports indicate that a fugitive Left-Behind engaged one or more heroes in a deadly superfight this very evening. We’re being told that the superfight claimed the life of at least one of the combatants involved.”

Jack and Jazen traded uneasy looks. They quickly turned back to the screen as the SmartCam floated up over the crowd to get a bird’s-eye view of the situation. “Empire City Police aren’t releasing any details yet, but we’re trying to get a better angle for you here,” the anchor continued. “Let’s see if we can’t figure out what’s going on….”

Jack leaned forward, waiting for the SmartCam to draw focus on the crime scene from above. If anyone had to get hurt, he really hoped it was the Left-Behind.

“I can’t look,” the anchor’s cohost said as the camera moved into position. “I can’t!”

Jack knew just how she felt. He held his breath, waiting for the news to come.

“Oh no,” Jazen said once the SmartCam finally panned down to reveal the aftermath of the battle. Jack’s heart sank as the camera zoomed in on a dead body sprawled out on the street. The telltale black supersuit and Smart-Corp logo identified the body as a Peacemaker.

The SmartNews anchorman continued his report as the SmartCam footage rolled on. “I’m afraid this looks like Cyberai, the bionic ninja Peacemaker who was based in Karateka,” he said solemnly. “This is terrible, just terrible.”

Jack couldn’t argue with that. He could see Cyberai was beaten up pretty bad. His supersuit was cut up and torn, and sparks were flying out of his hip and from one of his state-of-the-art robotic arms.

“I’m not sure, it’s hard to tell from this angle, but it
looks like…” The news anchor paused. “Is he missing one of his cybernetic legs?”

Jazen turned to Jack. “Your Left-Behind was missing a leg,” he said.

“Looks like he found a new one,” Jack replied.

The anchor kept talking while Empire City police officers closed off the scene and pushed the SmartCams away. “One has to wonder,” the anchor’s polished voice began, “just how much of this increased Rüstov activity has to do with the infected child that Circleman Smart has been warning us about? And how much longer does the Inner Circle plan to ignore those warnings? It’s certainly a fair question at this point. Is this boy involved? Is this the work of young Jack Bla—”

Jazen shut off the screen, but it was too late. Jack heard all he needed to hear. He was running his hands through his hair with a worried look. “This isn’t good,” he told Jazen. “This isn’t just more bad press, Jazen, this is serious. Smart’s really going to start calling for my head now, and people are getting tired of waiting.”

“No one’s coming anywhere near your head,” Jazen said. “They’d have to come through me and Blue first.”

Before Jack could say anything more, a call came in on the apartment videophone. Jack looked around as a computerized voice announced the caller’s identity: “
INCOMING CALL FROM… BLUE. INCOMING CALL FROM… BLUE.”

“Speak of the devil,” Jazen said. He answered the call, and a holographic image of Blue driving in his HoverCar appeared in the room.

“You guys watching the news?” Blue asked.

“We just shut it off,” Jazen replied.

“Just now?” Blue asked. “Then you didn’t see me take Cyberai’s body, I guess.”

“What?” Jack and Jazen exclaimed together. They leaned forward, looking at the holo-image of Blue driving in his car. The figure of someone or something in the passenger seat was just out of the frame.

“Blue, what did you do?” Jazen said. “Is that—”

“You heard me,” Blue said. “I’ve got Cyberai’s body. I’m taking it back to police headquarters. I need you to meet me there.”

“Wait a minute, slow down,” Jazen said. “What do you mean you’ve got Cyberai’s body? Isn’t that contaminating the crime scene?”

“Hey,” Blue said. “Do I tell you how to do your job? The right way to sneak somebody into the Imagine Nation, or how to—”

“Yes,” Jazen cut in. “Yes, actually you do! Now, what do you need me for?”

Blue’s holo-image swerved through traffic as he thought about how to explain himself. “This is the first real lead we’ve had on the escaped Left-Behind in days, Jazen. I’m not gonna let the Peacemakers pull rank on me and just take it away. I need you to come down here, plug into Cyberai’s systems, and tell me the last thing he saw. We don’t have a lotta time here. You gotta meet me at the station, and I mean now.”

Jazen grimaced. “Won’t the Peacemakers be coming for the body?”

“That’s why you gotta leave now,” Blue said. “Look, if we catch the Rüstov because of this, no one’s going to care how we did it.”

Jazen started nodding, and Jack answered for the both of them. “We’ll be there, Blue,” he said excitedly.

“Whoa,” Jazen replied, spinning around to look at Jack. “
We’re
not going anywhere. I can’t risk anything
happening to you, Jack. You’re staying here.”

Jack glared at Jazen. “No way,” he said.

Jazen returned Jack’s determined gaze. “Jack, work with me here,” he said. “You know it’s not safe for you out there right now. You just said so yourself.”

“That’s why I need to go with you!” Jack argued. “That way, people can see I helped recapture the Left-Behind.”

“Are you kidding?” Jazen said. “I don’t want you going anywhere near any Left-Behinds!”

“I have powers,” Jack protested. “I’ll be fine.”

“You’re just learning your powers.”

“That’s not fair,” Jack said.

“Hey!” Blue chimed in. “I’m a cop in a city where corporate mercs outrank me. That’s unfair! C’mon, Jack, we all gotta deal with stuff we don’t like.”

“Not you,” Jack said. “You’re breaking the rules right now.”

Blue looked flustered for a second. “I’m bending the rules,” he said.

“Like Jazen bent the rules to bring me here in the first place?” Jack asked.

Jazen let out an exasperated sigh. “Jack, sometimes
you
have
to bend the rules,” he said. “I’m the first to admit that. But only at certain times, and this isn’t one of those times.”

“How do you know the difference?” Jack asked.

“You just know,” Jazen replied.

Jack shook his head. “Jazen, I can’t stay cooped up in this apartment another night!”

“I know this is tough to swallow, partner,” Blue said. “Jazen and I both know it’s hard on you. Especially since the Inner Circle lets that Skerren kid hunt the Rüstov with them, but it’s not the same thing with him. I mean, there are people out there who think you’re responsible for all this Rüstov business! We gotta be more careful when it comes to…” Blue looked up to see Jazen motioning to him to stop talking. “What? What’d I say?”

Jazen was just shaking his head in frustration. “Nothing. Forget it. I’ll see you in twenty minutes,” Jazen said, and ended the call. Blue’s image blinked out. “You big blue knucklehead,” Jazen muttered to himself. He looked back over to Jack, who was justifiably upset.

“Skerren gets to go hunting for the Left-Behind with the Inner Circle?” Jack asked. “And you knew about it?”

“We’ll talk about this later, Jack,” Jazen said, fishing around in his pockets for his HoverCar keys. “I promise, we’ll talk about it. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Skerren. But right now I have to go. You heard Blue; he needs my help. With any luck, we’ll sort this all out tonight. The best thing you can do is just stay here, and try to get some rest. Okay? Jack?”

Jack stared back at Jazen with hard eyes. “Whatever,” he said. Jack climbed onto his bed and lay down on top of the covers, facing the window. In the reflection he saw Jazen take a step toward him but stop halfway. Instead, he turned around with a sad look and left.

As soon as Jack heard the door click, he sprang out of bed. There was no way he could sleep knowing that Skerren was out there tracking down the Rüstov and he was stuck indoors. Despite the lateness of the hour, the only thing Jack was tired of was waiting for someone else to catch the Left-Behind without him. He was going to get his answers from that Left-Behind, one way or the other.

Jack quickly struck up a conversation with the Empire City VideoPhone network and asked for Allegra’s line in Galaxis. The VideoPhone network was a friendly program,
happy to connect him and keep the line private and secure. Allegra was fast asleep when Jack called, and pretty surprised to hear from him so late at night. She was even more surprised when he asked her to meet him out somewhere that night. Allegra might not have agreed if she hadn’t been half asleep, but she told Jack she’d meet him halfway between Galaxis and Hightown, in SeasonStill Park. Two minutes later, Jack was riding the elevator down to the lobby.

Jack was feeling pretty good about himself, having managed to ditch the SmartCams for the first time on his way out of the apartment. They weren’t friendly contraptions that would do whatever Jack wanted, but he understood their video functions well enough to
make
them record and play back a loop of him watching TV for the next few hours. His studying was definitely paying off. Like Stendeval had said, knowledge was power. Jack got to the park ahead of Allegra and strolled in under no video surveillance whatsoever. He waited by the lagoon in Summershore Stretch, where the weather would be warmest, even in the middle of the night. A short while later, Allegra flew into the park
on an open AirSkimmer, a vehicle that looked something like a flying metal raft. Jack called out to her, and she spotted him down on the boardwalk. She brought the AirSkimmer down and parked it in hover mode, tying it off on a nearby bench.

“Hey,” Allegra said, taking a seat.

“Hey,” Jack replied, joining her on the bench. “Thanks for coming. I knew I could count on you.”

“Really?” Allegra asked. “I guess that makes one of us,” she said, settling into a nook where two branches met above her. She looked around the park fretfully. “I wasn’t so sure about this.”

“Did you have trouble sneaking out?” Jack asked.

Allegra shook her head. “I live at the Valorian garrison— I didn’t have to sneak out. They love that I’m not afraid to go to the park at two a.m., with an escaped Left-Behind running around the city.”

“Right,” Jack said, noting the sarcasm in Allegra’s voice when she said the “not afraid” part. He remembered the Valorian credo she had recited back on Wrekzaw Isle, that a true daughter of Valor knows no fear. “I’m sorry to bring you into this with the Left-Behind still out there,”
he said. “But the truth is, I wouldn’t have called if they’d already caught it.”

“What’s going on, Jack? You said you needed help. What is this? What are we doing here?”

Jack took a deep breath. He was about to ask for a lot more than what Allegra had had in mind when she had gotten out of bed. He might as well just spit it out. “I need you to help me go after the Rüstov Left-Behind,” he said. “The one from Wrekzaw Isle. The one that got away.”

Allegra’s face rippled, but she kept herself together. “Why…why would you want to do that?”

“It’s complicated,” Jack replied. “The short version is, I think it knows me. Or at least knows something about me. I have to find out what that is. It’s the only way to end all this. We can bring it in together. We did it once already, didn’t we?”

“No, we only
sort of
did,” Allegra said. “Skerren did most of the fighting, and the Left-Behind just got confused about what to do with you. I mean, really, Jack—” Allegra exhaled heavily, not at all comfortable with the idea of joining this caper. “I dealt with this thing on Wrekzaw Isle once already. That was enough for me.”

Jack put up a finger. “Hold that thought,” he said. Jack reached into his pocket and took out the distress beacon Allegra had lost back on Wrekzaw Isle. He held it out by its chain. “I think this belongs to you.”

Allegra stared at the beacon, caught completely by surprise.

“
You
had it?”

Jack nodded. “It kind of got stuck on my neck when I fell through you,” he explained with a shrug. “I think that ended up being a good thing, though, right?” Allegra didn’t answer. She was transfixed by the beacon as she took it from Jack’s hands. “You need to do this, Allegra,” he told her.

Allegra tensed up and stared at Jack with apprehensive eyes. “You’re not going to say anything about this to Prime, are you?” she asked.

Jack scrunched up his eyebrows. “No, I’m giving this back to you,” he explained. “I would have given it back even sooner, but I didn’t want anyone to see.”