The Secret War (Jack Blank Adventure) by Matt Myklusch Read Free Book Online

two of you.”
    “Nothing wrong with giving credit where credit’s due, Allegra,” Midknight said, joining the conversation. “And she wasn’t always a supercriminal, either. She used to be just like you. Her name is Lorem Ipsum, and she was a student in the School of Thought.”
    “She was in our program?” Jack asked. He could hardly believe it. “What happened?”
    “I wish I knew,” Midknight replied. “I’m not in the Inner Circle, so I never really got all the details. I
can
tell you she was slated to be my sidekick at the end of her first year, but she dropped out before she ever got that far.” Midknight frowned. “Had some issues with her father. A very controlling man. He wanted to handle her training himself.”
    “That obviously worked out great,” Allegra said.
    Midknight shrugged. “I like to think things could’ve been different, but who knows? The right influence isimportant, but in the end it’s up to the individual. Seeing her here now, running with Speedrazor’s gang … it’s a shame. Makes me wonder if we’re giving you three enough independence. The time is going to come when you have to make your own decisions about things. You won’t have any experience with that if we keep holding your hands all the time.” Midknight rubbed his chin, turning the matter over in his head. “No, I’m sure of it,” he said at last. “We need to have you each take on a solo mission this year.”
    Skerren’s head snapped around. “A solo mission?” he asked. “Really? What kind?”
    “Whatever kind of caper you can get yourself involved in,” Midknight replied. “There’s certainly enough supercrime to go around these days. It’ll be interesting to see how you kids go about taking the bad guys on by yourselves. And it’ll be good to have you out there. We’re practically outnumbered as it is.”
    Jack couldn’t argue with that. The Imagine Nation’s heroes had been so busy dealing with supervillains lately that they hardly had time to pay attention to the Rüstov anymore. Fear of a second invasion didn’t grip Empire City the way it used to. It had taken a backseat to moreimmediate concerns. That was partly a good thing because it meant less pressure on Jack and the Rüstov infection he carried. It was also a bad thing because of the Rüstov spyware virus that only he and Stendeval knew about. The biological virus that the Rüstov parasites used to infect living creatures and take them as host bodies was bad enough. Their
computer
virus posed a whole other threat to Empire City’s Mecha population and, by extension, the world at large. The spyware virus let the Rüstov see and hear everything an infected system came in contact with. They could even override an infected Mecha’s programming and use it like a puppet. Jack found out that that was how the Rüstov got past Empire City’s defenses back during the invasion. The virus was still out there, and no one was dealing with it except him.
    Blue and Ricochet discussed the matter of the solo projects with Midknight and agreed that the sidekicks should each take on a case of his or her own. Their fellow students, Trea and Zhi, would fill in as sidekicks in the meantime. Allegra raised her hand with a question. “Does that include Jack, or does the project he already has count toward this assignment?” she asked.
    Jack tried to wave Allegra off as she was talking, but it was too late. She’d already said it. Jack put his palm to his forehead and groaned.
    “Sorry, I figured they knew,” Allegra told Jack, realizing the three mentor heroes didn’t have any idea what she was talking about. They stared at her with inquisitive eyes, and she felt compelled to explain further. “There’s some secret project Stendeval has Jack working on,” she said reluctantly. “We don’t know what it is.”
    Blue looked at Jack. “Secret project?” he asked. “What’s that about?”
    “It’s nothing,” Jack lied. “Just stuff I work on