stripped-down Mecha skull as he walked around, checking the place out. “What’s going on, Jack?” he asked. “What is all this?”
“This is what I’ve been working on all year,” Jack said, motioning to the different models of android hands,heads, and more that hung from his ceiling like pots and pans over a kitchen island countertop. Half-assembled Mecha body parts seemed to cover every inch of his lab. “This is my
real
secret project. But before I tell you about it, I have to tell you how it all started. It’s a long story, but just bear with me. This is going to be kind of hard for me to say.” Jack took another deep breath as Skerren and Allegra leaned in to listen.
Here we go
, Jack thought, and he opened his mouth to speak.
“You guys already know that last year Jazen Knight and I broke into SmartTower to find out the truth about who I am. What you don’t know is that we didn’t go in there on a hunch,” Jack told his friends. “We had proof. I had proof that Smart knew all about my family
and
my name. He’d been lying to me from day one. He’d been lying to everyone, all so he could use me to stir up fear about the Rüstov. As long as I was a mystery, I was a potential threat to this city, so that’s what he made me out to be. For a while there it worked pretty well.”
“Hang on, I don’t get it,” Allegra cut in. “Why didn’t you tell anyone about this? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“We didn’t have time,” Jack replied.
“You didn’t have time?” Skerren repeated. He sat down, and Allegra sat next to him. “You had a whole year.”
“I mean back then,” Jack explained. “I convinced Jazen we didn’t have time. It’s complicated. I had proof that Smart knew all about me, but I didn’t know what he knew. I wanted to hack his files before he realized we were on to him. I didn’t want to give him the chance to delete that info before I found out who I was.”
Allegra and Skerren nodded. So far Jack was making sense, it seemed.
“Also, we thought Smart might have been the real Great Collaborator,” Jack added.
Skerren and Allegra sat up in their chairs. Any ideas they’d had about Jack making sense just went out the window.
“Jonas Smart?” Skerren asked, nearly breaking into a laugh at the very idea. “You thought
Jonas Smart
was the Great Collaborator? Really?”
“How did you figure that?” Allegra asked, dumbfounded.
“Jazen put that part together,” Jack said. “He didn’t have to sell me too hard on the idea, though. It made sense at the time. We thought about how Smart consolidatedpower after the invasion, and how much he’d gained from getting everyone so riled up about me,” Jack explained. “He was the only one benefiting from any of that. Also, the Rüstov were after me, and we knew that someone on the inside was tipping them off. Smart was one of the only people in Empire City who always knew where I was and when. We figured maybe he was playing both sides against the middle for his own gain.”
“And was he?” Skerren asked.
“No,” Allegra answered for Jack before he even had a chance to speak. “If he was, Jack would have said something about it before now, proof or no proof. Right, Jack?”
Jack nodded grimly. “You’re right,” he said. He was now at the hardest part of the morning’s ugly confession. “It wasn’t Smart tipping off the Rüstov. It was Jazen.”
“What?”
Skerren and Allegra blurted out again. This time their outburst was even louder than before.
“It’s not what you think,” Jack said. “There’s a reason it’s taken me up until now to say that sentence out loud. It wasn’t Jazen’s fault. He was infected.”
“Infected?” Skerren asked. “What do you mean? He was a Mecha.”
“The Rüstov have another virus,” Jack said. “A spyware sleeper virus that affects Mechas. It’s undetectable, but it’s real, and Jazen had it. The Rüstov saw everything he saw. They heard everything he heard.
“This is what I’ve been working on all year,” Jack said, motioning to the different models of android hands,heads, and more that hung from his ceiling like pots and pans over a kitchen island countertop. Half-assembled Mecha body parts seemed to cover every inch of his lab. “This is my
real
secret project. But before I tell you about it, I have to tell you how it all started. It’s a long story, but just bear with me. This is going to be kind of hard for me to say.” Jack took another deep breath as Skerren and Allegra leaned in to listen.
Here we go
, Jack thought, and he opened his mouth to speak.
“You guys already know that last year Jazen Knight and I broke into SmartTower to find out the truth about who I am. What you don’t know is that we didn’t go in there on a hunch,” Jack told his friends. “We had proof. I had proof that Smart knew all about my family
and
my name. He’d been lying to me from day one. He’d been lying to everyone, all so he could use me to stir up fear about the Rüstov. As long as I was a mystery, I was a potential threat to this city, so that’s what he made me out to be. For a while there it worked pretty well.”
“Hang on, I don’t get it,” Allegra cut in. “Why didn’t you tell anyone about this? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“We didn’t have time,” Jack replied.
“You didn’t have time?” Skerren repeated. He sat down, and Allegra sat next to him. “You had a whole year.”
“I mean back then,” Jack explained. “I convinced Jazen we didn’t have time. It’s complicated. I had proof that Smart knew all about me, but I didn’t know what he knew. I wanted to hack his files before he realized we were on to him. I didn’t want to give him the chance to delete that info before I found out who I was.”
Allegra and Skerren nodded. So far Jack was making sense, it seemed.
“Also, we thought Smart might have been the real Great Collaborator,” Jack added.
Skerren and Allegra sat up in their chairs. Any ideas they’d had about Jack making sense just went out the window.
“Jonas Smart?” Skerren asked, nearly breaking into a laugh at the very idea. “You thought
Jonas Smart
was the Great Collaborator? Really?”
“How did you figure that?” Allegra asked, dumbfounded.
“Jazen put that part together,” Jack said. “He didn’t have to sell me too hard on the idea, though. It made sense at the time. We thought about how Smart consolidatedpower after the invasion, and how much he’d gained from getting everyone so riled up about me,” Jack explained. “He was the only one benefiting from any of that. Also, the Rüstov were after me, and we knew that someone on the inside was tipping them off. Smart was one of the only people in Empire City who always knew where I was and when. We figured maybe he was playing both sides against the middle for his own gain.”
“And was he?” Skerren asked.
“No,” Allegra answered for Jack before he even had a chance to speak. “If he was, Jack would have said something about it before now, proof or no proof. Right, Jack?”
Jack nodded grimly. “You’re right,” he said. He was now at the hardest part of the morning’s ugly confession. “It wasn’t Smart tipping off the Rüstov. It was Jazen.”
“What?”
Skerren and Allegra blurted out again. This time their outburst was even louder than before.
“It’s not what you think,” Jack said. “There’s a reason it’s taken me up until now to say that sentence out loud. It wasn’t Jazen’s fault. He was infected.”
“Infected?” Skerren asked. “What do you mean? He was a Mecha.”
“The Rüstov have another virus,” Jack said. “A spyware sleeper virus that affects Mechas. It’s undetectable, but it’s real, and Jazen had it. The Rüstov saw everything he saw. They heard everything he heard.
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