Just Cause Universe 2: The Archmage (23 page)

Goodwin opened her mouth to argue, but then apparently thought better of it and sat down again. “Well,” she said at last. “I can’t fault your logic, at any rate. I won’t deny that your friend Jack has been a real thorn in our side since his conversion. But what’s to stop the Archmage from just converting someone else to lead his armies? What if the next general is
you
, Juice? Or
her
?” she pointed at Sally. “Or
anyone
in this room or elsewhere?” Her jaw tightened, bones standing out in sharp relief beneath her fair skin. “Show me how your proposal will hurt him as much as you anticipate.”

“I can’t do that, and you know it.” Juice’s voice stayed even, but Sally saw a vein throb in his temple and realized he was furious. “But all the evidence I’ve reviewed points to him thinking in a very linear fashion, instead of having numerous contingency plans. If something doesn’t go as he predicts, he panics and loses control of himself.”

“Yes, and Juice was right about another thing… there is a
lot
of the Archmage’s magical energy tied up in Jack,” said Will. “That’s energy he will
lose
temporarily if we can recapture Jack and break the hold on him. He’ll regain that energy eventually, of course, but it’ll take
time
. And during that time, he will be weaker.”

“It’s the thermal exhaust port in his Death Star,” murmured Sally.

Everyone stared at her.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to remember that not everyone on the team had her geeky sci-fi fan tendencies. “Every great fortress has its weakness; that’s why every great fortress eventually falls.”

“Sun Tzu?” asked Switchboard.

Sally shrugged. “I don’t think so. It’s something Lady Athena said to me once.” She smiled at Minerva. The slight young girl raised the corners of her mouth slightly from under the shadow of her helmet. Sally had liked Lady Athena the few times she’d met the stately older woman who’d been one of the founding heroes of Just Cause along with her grandmother. She resolved to make some time to get to know Minerva better. For that matter, she thought, she
really
ought to get to know
all
the new members. They seemed so young to her, more from the lack of experience than an actual age difference. Someday soon, she would be fighting shoulder to shoulder with these young strangers, and she wanted very much for them to be her friends. She would never again let selfish feelings prevent her from forming friendships with her teammates.

“Sally, you’re absolutely right, and Will, I can’t argue with your logic either. I’m committed to rescuing Jack. I believe that will be the key to our success in this conflict,” Juice said.

“Not that I believe for the slightest moment this is anything resembling a democratic organization, but I believe I’d like to put this matter to a vote.” Goodwin frowned.

“Of course.” Juice folded his arms. “All those in favor of rescuing Jack?”

In unison, every person in the conference room except Goodwin raised their hands. “I see how it’s going to be. However… Don’t forget for a moment that you are all representatives of the United States Government and as such you are beholden to follow the chain of command.”

“Believe me, Ms. Goodwin, I haven’t forgotten that. In fact, I took the liberty of phoning the President earlier this morning to discuss our strategy, as I
certainly
didn’t want to go against the
chain of command.
”

“You
didn’t
!” Goodwin was aghast.

Juice allowed himself a smug smile. “He’s quite a pleasant man. Great sense of humor. And he has granted me
full authority
in resolving his
parahuman problem
. In fact, he seemed quite pleased that I was willing to accept the full responsibility for solving it. I’m certain you’ll receive a memo from Homeland Security shortly.” His smile faded as quickly as it had come. “Your services are no longer required here.”

“This isn’t the end! You haven’t heard the last of me!”

Sally and several others burst into muffled giggles at the grade-Z movie villain language.

Juice glared at them all sternly. “I don’t appreciate your Gestapo tactics among my own people, Ms. Goodwin, and I think even less of your willingness to resort to mass-destruction weaponry to solve this problem. You’ll want to take care that never comes out publicly if you want a future in civil service.”

“Just what are you saying, Forsythe? You’d leak that to the press?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be me. There is a room full of people here and every one of us heard your statement. Trust me, it would be best for you to go back to your home office and play with your threat scenario simulations and terror assessments
and let me do my job.
”

Goodwin’s face was nearly purple, and throbbing veins stood out on her neck and forehead. She looked like she was going to speak once more, but instead just grabbed her briefcase, snapped the latches shut, and marched out of the room.

Applause broke out around the room. Juice tried to look angry at it but eventually he gave in and grinned at the adulation.

“
You haven’t heard the last of me!
” said Stratocaster. Laughter erupted.

“In all seriousness, though,” said Doublecharge, “she could really come back to bite us in the ass. She’s got the Director’s ear, and she’s pretty influential. You’ve taken a huge risk making yourself responsible for this situation, old friend.”

Juice ran a hand over his freshly-shaved scalp. “I’m not blind about how I’ve set myself up here, Stacey. But in doing so, I’m insulating the rest of you if we fail. I get to be the sacrificial lamb and the rest of you can continue with whatever Plan B you come up with. If we succeed, it only makes Just Cause appear that much better in the eyes of the public. Success is credited to the organization, failure is blamed on the individual.”

“Boss, I don’t know how you
sleep
at night,” said Sondra.

Juice smiled back at her. “Usually because I’m exhausted. Now, let’s see if we can’t get a workable plan to recapture Jack. Will, you’ve been researching that. What’s it going to take?”

Stratocaster stood up and paced around the room, making random colorful motes of energy float away from his guitar as he noodled on the strings while he walked. “As I see it, there are going to be five major obstacles to overcome in recovering him. First is his own natural invulnerability. We can’t hurt him, or even knock him out conventionally.”

“What about non-conventional means? Knockout gas, or psionics, or even more magic?” asked Switchboard.

“I expect that brings me right to the second obstacle, which would be his armor. I’m sure that
Frazier
has anticipated Jack’s few weaknesses. The armor he wears likely protects him from such things as mental powers or inhalants. To be able to affect him at all, we’d have to somehow get him out of it.”

Octane’s body shifted into a fair approximation of a man-sized can opener. An oily, chemical scent exuded from him, like hot plastic. “All you need for that is the right tool.”

“I hope it’s that easy,” said Stratocaster, “but I seriously doubt it will be.”

“Go on, Will,” said Juice. “Let’s get everything else laid out on the table before we open the gallery to comments.”

Stratocaster nodded and continued. “Third is Jack’s sword, which is a magical weapon that has so far been able to cut anything put in front of him. It’s a highly dangerous device, and I’m not sure I
can
contain it. As long as he’s swinging it, it’s a lethal threat to any of us. Somehow we have to get it away from him.

“Fourth is the horse on which he rides. This infernal beast has powers all its own, from striking up flames with its hooves to causing fear and loss of morale to those looking upon it. He hasn’t ever been unseated from it. I believe that it has the capability to carry him to safety as long as it can reach him. All pursuit of this horse has failed. We have to get him away from this horse and
keep
him away from it, or it away from him as the case may be.” Will reached for the water pitcher in the center of the table.

“What’s the last thing?” asked Sondra.

Will sighed, looking for all the world like a lost little boy. “The biggest problem of all is that Jack appears to have some innate magical ability.”

“
What
?” cried Sondra in shock.

“I’m afraid it’s true,” said Juice. “Those of us who went back in time did so because of a spell which Jack cast, whether it was intentional or not.”

“Well, you learn something new every day,” grumbled Doublecharge. “So how does this change things?”

Will fingered a trill high on the guitar’s neck, conjuring a miniature thunderstorm that wandered across the conference room tabletop, leaving behind a trail of fine mist that evaporated within a few seconds. “Being slightly magical himself makes Jack an excellent conduit for the Archmage’s power. You could think of Jack like a solar battery.
Frazier
charges him up with magic and then turns him loose. Without Jack’s innate power,
Frazier
would have to keep a steady stream of magical energy flowing toward him in order for his armor, horse, and sword to function as they do. He may
still
have to keep the charge going when Jack is out and about, but certainly at a diminished capacity.”

“Assuming you’re right, and I know that’s a big assumption on our part,” asked Juice, “Can we interrupt this flow, and what happens if we do?”

“No reason we couldn’t. Jack could probably still function for quite awhile with the magic he’s absorbed, but eventually that power would drain away and we could deal with him.”

“The problem has been that we couldn’t ever stop or hold him long enough,” said Sondra. “It must be because of this magical
transmission
.”

Will fixed all of them with a steady gaze. “I can block the transmission, but not for very long. When I do, it will be like a flash of lightning on a dark night. The Archmage will know
exactly
where I am and will make every attempt to capture me so he can absorb
my
magic, and as near as I can tell, I’m the only other mage left in the world. He takes me out, he’ll have absolute power, and I don’t think you can stop him.”

Juice toyed with a pen in his thick fingers. “Then we’ll have to work quickly, and in two groups. One will be charged with protecting you from whatever the Archmage can throw at you and the other will deal with Jack. Icebreaker, I think the Second Team would be best-suited for defending Will. You have the heavy hitters and the experience to fight against overwhelming odds.”

“Thanks, I
think
,” said the second-in-command of Just Cause’s east coast team as her blue-tinged skin radiated waves of cold across the room.

“The interns will remain here on standby. We have a lot of resources pooled in the Dakotas, and I wouldn’t put it past some of our old foes to try something while we’re so distracted. Juliet, do you suppose The Spark would consent to return here as a temporary commander?”

The slight woman nodded. “I’m sure he would. With the Seven down to four these days, we’re spread pretty thin. I’ll ask him.” She closed her eyes to contact the Lucky Seven’s leader telepathically. A moment later she smiled. “He’ll be on his way shortly. He suggests that the rest of the Seven be part of the team defending Will.”

“I concur,” said Juice. “We should keep those who know each other the best together. And Will is unquestionably the lynch pin for our success. If we lose him, we lose this war. The more help we have protecting him, the better off we’ll be.”

“That leaves us.” Sondra gestured to the core Just Cause team. “We’re on Jack detail?”

“No reason to risk anyone else. He’s our teammate,” said Juice.

“Good point,” said Doublecharge. “We should review our various training sessions to determine how best to overcome Jack.”

For the next two hours, the team went over the various tactics that had been used against Jack, both successful and unsuccessful, in Bunker training. Everyone brought up theories on how to exploit various weaknesses of his. Many of these were dismissed by Juice as impractical or impossible to implement given Jack’s current magical powers.

Eventually, they began to develop what they believed was a workable plan. After checking his watch, Juice ordered everyone to take an hour for dinner and mental health break. Everyone moved to the cafeteria and the discussion ended up continuing over huge platters of burgers, salad, and home-baked cookies.

After Jason had eaten his fill of six burgers with all the trimmings and a dozen peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookies, he and Sally went for a walk around the compound in order to get some fresh air after being cooped up in the conference room for four hours. They’d only been out for a few minutes before they happened upon Will and Ace, who were doing a lot less walking and a lot more kissing on a bench by the path.

“Uh, we’re sorry,” said Jason, embarrassed. “We didn’t know you were out here.”

“No, that’s okay,” said Will. “We don’t really have anything to hide here. We’re just not quite past the high-school make-out stage yet.”

Ace chuckled and stroked Will’s arm. “Aren’t we a couple, though? The punk rocker and the pilot.”

“I
thought
something was going on between the two of you. I’m glad. You make a cute couple.” Sally smiled.

“So I bet you’re glad to have the new jet, huh?” said Jason.

There was a long pause.

“
What
new jet?” said Ace in a strangled voice.

“You didn’t know? Juice didn’t tell you?” Jason’s eyes widened. “I hope I didn’t just blow his surprise or something. We got a new jet delivered this morning. I figured you would have known about it.”

“I was… not on the base this morning,” said Ace. “Please, show me.”

Jason led them all to the hangar. Ace seemed nervous and jumpy and kept inching ahead, as if she wanted to cut loose and run all the way. She tugged at Will’s hand insistently like an impatient toddler.