Jack Blank and the End of Infinity (19 page)

“You only think you can win because you have no understanding of war,” the Magus told Stendeval. “My people spend their lives in a state of infinite war. No mercy. No peace. Just a never-ending game of strategy, planning, spycraft, battle, and conquest. Jack has seen it with his own eyes. He knows there’s no hope.” The Magus gave Jack a light tap on his cheek. “You remember what you learned in the Theater of War, don’t you?”

Jack winced as another memory hit him. He was strapped into a chair with his eyes taped open. Rüstov war movies played all around him on a dozen different holo-screens and Jack was unable to look away. Grisly images of death and destruction assaulted him in high-definition 3-D with audio that made him feel like he was living through each battle.

Jack felt the Magus pat his shoulder, and he was jolted out of his flashback and into the real world. “You’ve seen everything we’re capable of. Deep down, you know you can’t win. It’s only a matter of time before my son turns off your heart and Revile is born.”

“You’re wrong, Magus,” Stendeval said. “The heart of a hero never stops. We will fight you until our dying breaths.”

“Who is this
we
?” Glave asked. “I hope you’re not still holding out hope that the Calculans will join your cause. They can’t desert you right now because of our blockade, but they will soon, I assure you. Ambassador Equa will make every attempt to escape once the invasion begins.”

“Of course he will,” the Magus replied. “The Calculans understand that this battle has but one possible outcome. All of this is part of a grand design.” The Rüstov emperor nodded toward Jack. “Do you honestly believe that he
escaped
? That he was able to send out distress signals telling you where to find him?” The Magus stepped up to Roka. “Do you
really
believe you were able to steal my only son out from under my nose?” The Magus shook his head. “I wanted Jack here, sowing discord and confusion. My son’s host is more than just the perfect vessel for Revile. He is a seed of destruction planted in your hearts and minds. I always intended to complete his transformation here with all of you watching. This is how we break the Imagine Nation’s spirit. The true battle begins long before
the first shot is fired. It starts up here.” The Magus tapped his temple. “Once people start thinking about what to do when they lose, they have lost. We always believe we will win, which is why we always do.”

“Why me?” Jack croaked, fighting through the pain. “Why did you have to make me the one to do your dirty work?”

“You think you’re special?” Glave asked. “That you as a person somehow matter? What is happening here is much bigger than you.”

The Magus nodded. “When we invaded Earth fourteen years ago and Revile appeared, we didn’t know what he was. Who he was. We had yet to even imagine developing the technology to create him. It wasn’t until Glave discovered the truth about Revile in your memories . . .” The Magus swelled with pride and patted Jack’s shoulder. “My son . . . not only alive but destined to become something greater than I ever imagined. We know what the future holds. That’s why we’re here. You have already lost. The individual cannot stand against what is meant to be. You cannot stand against fate.”

Stendeval surprised Jack by laughing. “This isn’t fate.
It’s chance. You came into Jack’s life by accident. You may be partly responsible for making him what he is, but you’re not ready for what he’s going to become. And it isn’t just Jack you’ve underestimated . . . you’ve misjudged the strength of all my people. We’re not going to make it easy for you. If you want to win this war, you’re going to have to come down to our level. You’re going to have to get your hands dirty.”

The Magus leaned into Stendeval’s face with a look of death. “That sounds like an invitation. Consider it accepted.” The Magus raised up his arms and dropped to the floor in a heap. The guards thrust Stendeval forward at him.

“Stendeval!” Jack shouted. He knew what was coming next. The Magus’s hostless form crawled out from beneath his robes and snapped its claws. The rusty metal scorpion shot up Stendeval’s leg, climbed onto his back, and latched on. Just like the last time Jack saw this happen, there was nothing he could do to stop it. He could barely move. He was still in agony, still fighting off Khalix’s assault on his system.

“Your turn,” Glave said to Roka, and followed his emperor’s example.

Roka turned to Jack. He knew what was coming. “Fight them, Jack. Don’t ever stop, you hear me?”

Glave relinquished his hold on Obscuro’s body and traded up to Solomon Roka’s.

“No!” Jack shouted as Glave pounced. It was absolute torture. His friends were dying right in front of him and he couldn’t do anything but watch.

Roka was turned almost instantly, but as the Magus dug his way into Stendeval’s back, he was met with considerable resistance. Stendeval lit up with superpowered energies, fighting back against the Magus’s infection with everything he had. Red energy particles swirled around him, and he rose up into the air with his arms spread out. It took Jack a second to realize what was happening, but it soon became clear that the more the Magus labored to overcome Stendeval’s will, the less physical pain he felt. Jack heard a voice in his head, and for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t Khalix. It was Stendeval.

“I can’t keep this up forever,” Stendeval said to him. “I’ll buy you as much time as I can, but you have to run. There’s no time to argue.”

“Run where? I can’t leave you here like this.”

“There’s no time to argue!” Stendeval said again, shouting inside Jack’s head. “Your job is not to save me. You’re here to save the Imagine Nation. You can’t do that on board this ship. We need you, Jack. You have to make the difference in this war.”

“Stendeval, no! I can’t do this alone. The Magus was right. I can’t stop what’s happening to me. I don’t know what I’m going to become. I don’t even know what I am right now.”

“I
do
. You are what you are when you don’t have time to stop and think about it. When you simply act. That’s you, Jack, and you’re not alone! There are people down there who believe in you. Forget the future and believe in yourself! The only future that matters is the one you decide on. The one you create.
You
decide your future, Jack. You decide—”

Stendeval winced in pain and broke off his connection with Jack. Speaking telepathically required superpowered energy, and Stendeval clearly needed every ounce he had to fight the Magus. A dark line was forming around his eye. He was losing the battle. Jack had gotten used to Khalix speaking up at times like this, but with Stendeval
currently demanding the Magus’s complete attention, the Rüstov prince was silent. Jack’s head cleared. Khalix was drawing zero strength from his father, and that meant Jack could use his powers again—even on the Magus’s ship.

“Go, Jack! Go now!” Stendeval yelled out loud.

Jack got up onto his feet and backed away from Stendeval. He didn’t think. He just acted, going for the first exit he saw. Jack reached out with his powers and opened the window behind the Magus’s throne. The sudden change in air pressure created a powerful vacuum, pulling everything toward the window. Everyone grabbed hold of whatever they could to try and keep from getting sucked out. Everyone except Jack, who ran for the open window. Leaving his friends behind, he went flying out into the sky, running for his life and falling to his death at the exact same time.

17

The Eve of Destruction

For the second time in as many days, Jack found himself plummeting through the sky without a parachute. The wind roared in his ears, and air whipped into his face as he fell. With the Magus otherwise engaged trying to take over Stendeval’s body, Jack had his powers all the way back. He had to act fast because there was no telling how long that was going to last.

Jack commandeered a Shardwing from the Rüstov blockade surrounding the Imagine Nation and pulled it up toward him. Jack squinted, trying to make out the ship
as it approached from below. He had reached terminal velocity and he couldn’t just bring the ship up underneath him. He had to time things just right, or hitting the Shardwing would have been no better than hitting the ground. He made the ship fly up past him and then loop back around into a nosedive. Jack flattened out, spreading his arms and legs to control his descent as the ship came up behind him. He waited until the Shardwing had caught up and matched his speed before reaching out. The irregular shape of the ship’s exterior came in handy as Jack found two good handles to grab hold of. He climbed on board the Shardwing’s back and slowed it down, ready to ride the ship home.

The Shardwing pilot banged on the canopy from the inside, but Jack shut him up in the cockpit and cut off his radio. Jack still had to go through the Rüstov blockade, but it was set up to keep ships from getting out, not from getting in. Also, he was riding a Rüstov ship. Jack blew out one of the Shardwing’s twin engines and steered the damaged ship toward Empire City, leaving a trail of black smoke in its wake. Jack got through the blockade looking like a malfunctioning ship that was crashing to the Earth. He
flew past the city limits and brought the Shardwing down in the Outlands. He didn’t land so much as slow down, fly over an open field, and jump. Once he was finally back on the ground, Jack sent the ship high into the sky and then forced it to dive down and crash. It was the super-powered equivalent of slamming a door. A massive fireball shot out from the point of impact. Jack watched the ship burn, momentarily hypnotized by the dancing flames. Just like the Rüstov, the fire consumed everything.

Jack thought about what his enemies had taken from him. It was too much. Allegra, Stendeval, and Roka were all infected. Blue had been captured by the Rüstov, and Jazen was Jonas Smart’s prisoner. They would both soon be dead, if they weren’t already. Everyone close to Jack was gone. Skerren hated him and wanted him dead. So did his own father. Jack looked at the hunk of machinery in the center of his chest. He wanted to rip it out with his bare hands. His lungs felt tight and he couldn’t draw a full breath. Jack knew he didn’t have much time left. He had lost so much more than a year of his life. The Rüstov had taken everything that made today matter, all his tomorrows as well.

“Your friend Stendeval has fallen,” Khalix said, piping
up for the first time since he had shocked Jack by speaking through him. “He fought hard, but in the end he succumbed to my father’s will. You all do, eventually. I just thought you’d like to know.”

Jack coughed a painful cough. With Stendeval gone, Khalix was getting his power boost from the Magus again. His short vacation from the Rüstov prince was over.

Jack ignored Khalix and turned toward Empire City. He had a long walk ahead of him, made even longer by thoughts of Stendeval and Allegra. Their blood was on his hands. The same was true of Roka, who could have just left and saved himself if he’d wanted to. None of them had ever doubted Jack. The memory of each person was like a hundred-pound weight on Jack’s back. He started walking and stumbled immediately. He was getting weaker by the minute, but it wasn’t guilt that was sapping his strength. It was Khalix.

“Are you really still trying to keep going? Why do you do this to yourself?” Jack didn’t waste energy responding to Khalix’s taunts. It took all his concentration just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. “What could you possibly hope to accomplish at this point? Do you
really think you’re going to save the Imagine Nation like that fool Stendeval said? He’s gone, Jack. He’s my father’s host now, nothing more. What do you think you’re going to do, get your powers back? Crush our ships? Expel us from your bodies? Please.”

“Nothing’s impossible,” Jack grunted.

“It is for you. The only way for you to get rid of me is death, and you’re too scared . . . too selfish to fall on your sword. You’re mine, Jack, now and forever. I can let
you
go, but you can’t push me out. You don’t understand our connection well enough for that. You will when your transformation is complete, but by then it’s going to be too late. You’ve fought well, but enough is enough. Just give up and find yourself a quiet place to die. I’ll handle the rest.”

Jack winced as a sharp pain stabbed through his chest. He breathed out slowly and thought about everything Khalix was saying. Jack understood where Khalix was coming from. He understood the Rüstov prince’s point of view better and better with every step he took. But Jack didn’t lie down and die. He hiked for hours until he reached the city and the one place in it that he knew he’d always have a home.

Jack used his powers to open up the walls of Machina
from the outside. Once he was in the city, it was just a short walk to Virtua’s data center. Jack was on his last legs. He could barely stand by the time he reached the door. Virtua’s guards brought him in and took him straight to her war room. It was a hotbed of activity. Inside, Jack saw several images of Virtua projected around the room as she marshaled her troops. Midknight, Lorem Ipsum, and Trea were on hand, strategizing with one of her projections. At first Jack thought Virtua was getting her forces ready to face the Rüstov. Then he saw her talking to Jonas Smart on the room’s main holo-screen.

“This is your last warning,” Virtua told Smart as her soldiers reported in from checkpoints along the Hightown-Machina border. “Release Commander Knight or my men are coming in there to get him.”

Smart squinted at Virtua in disbelief. “You must be malfunctioning. The fact that you would even suggest invading Hightown while our city is surrounded by the Rüstov . . .” Smart shook his head. “You’re clearly still corrupted by that Rüstov spyware virus. Do your worst, collaborator. My war machines are prepared to fight you and your Rüstov masters.”

Jack felt Smart terminate the connection. Virtua cursed Smart as his screen blinked out. Jack couldn’t believe Virtua was really going to march on Hightown in the middle of a war with the Rüstov. Apparently, Chi, Prime, and Noteworthy couldn’t, either. Jack felt them dialing back in from their respective war rooms, where they had been monitoring her call with Smart. Jack used his powers to answer the calls and put them on-screen.