“Hmmm,” Mouse mused. “I think we can work with that.”
Chapter 83
Typically, Mouse’s plans are above reproach. His tactics are usually strokes of genius, his stratagems the best path to success. That said, I was not enamored with the plan he came up with pertaining to Jack. Frankly speaking, I hated it.
Not that the plan itself was bad. As with all of Mouse’s ideas, it was actually pretty good. The problem was what it required me to do: Mouse’s plan necessitated that I get the crown.
The crown was exactly what it sounded like: a bejeweled coronet that I had worn while on Caeles. Unlike its Terran equivalents, however, my Caelesian crown also had internal components that were designed to send minute electrical impulses into my brain in order to help me quickly learn the Caelesian language. However, the villainous Caelesian prince Vicra had rewired the crown to track the neural pathways used when I activated my powers, and then used the information to develop a neural blocker that stripped me of my abilities. Although I eventually regained my powers, I had treated the crown like a poisonous viper ever since, keeping it constantly under lock and key.
And now, despite my personal misgivings, I had retrieved my royal coronet and had it with me in Mouse’s lab.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked for about the umpteenth time as Mouse took my crown.
“Yes,” he answered, sounding exasperated. “But I’m happy to go over the plan again if it’ll make you more comfortable.”
“Sure,” I replied.
“Okay, once more,” Mouse muttered. “I’ll use the crown to develop a neural blocker. Since Jack is a replica of you to a large extent, the neural blocker should work on him, although I may tweak it to give it a broader range to account for any minor differences that might exist. We’ll use the neural blocker as an initial threat, which Jack will see through precognition and avoid. We’ll have a nullifier set up as a secondary threat, for lack of a better term, which he shouldn’t be able to see in his future, and we’ll use it to trap him. Got it?”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod, “but why do we have to use an actual neural blocker? Can’t we just use a placebo and pretend that’s what it is?”
Mouse shook his head. “From the way it’s been described, I think Jack’s ability homes in on legitimate threats, and a placebo wouldn’t fit into that category. So if we use a placebo…”
“It won’t be viewed as a real danger,” I concluded, finishing his thought as my mentor trailed off. “At that point, the only true threat will be the nullifier, and at that juncture it will represent a seminal event, which Jack would be able to see in his future.”
“Now you got it,” Mouse intoned. “And that’s why the neural blocker has to be real.”
“Well, why can’t we use a gun or something? Wouldn’t that work?”
“With his super strength, there’s no guarantee that bullets will hurt him. And if he can’t be hurt by it, his precognitive talents may not peg it as a threat.”
“Which brings us back to using the neural blocker,” I said in resignation. “Okay, so what can I do?”
“Nothing, in that regard,” Mouse confided. “But I have another task for you.”
“What?” I asked, eager to help.
“I need you to find your evil twin.”
Chapter 84
Mouse was right. It wasn’t going to do us any good to have a plan for stopping Jack if we didn’t know where to find him. Moreover, for obvious reasons, Mouse thought I was the best person to figure out where he was holed up.
Personally, I thought it was a tall order. Being a teleporter, Jack could be anywhere, and he’d already shown he was crafty. On those forensic shows on television, they always use things like dirt on someone’s shoes or fibers from their clothing to pinpoint an individual’s location or movements, but we didn’t have anything like that here. That being the case, I wasn’t even sure where to start. Still, I teleported to my quarters at HQ to noodle on the problem, flopping down on the sofa as I considered everything I knew about Jack.
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know all that much. Our interactions had been limited, to say the least, and had grown worse in terms of temperament with each encounter.
Moving on from when Jack and I had crossed paths, I thought about what I knew of the other places he’d been in hopes that they might offer a clue as to his whereabouts. However, there wasn’t much meat on the bone in that regard either. I could name a number of places he’d visited, but didn’t think they offered much in the way of insight: Vestibule’s park, my father’s mansion, League HQ, my grandmother’s embassy…
My thoughts suddenly shifted as I noticed a pattern in Jack’s behavior. He had seemingly teleported into three of the venues I’d been thinking of – the park, the mansion, and HQ – but had picked the lock to gain entry to the embassy. The reason for his different modus operandi at the embassy was obvious: he hadn’t been there before. With the park, however, he’d previously visited it with Vestibule prior to chatting with me there. Likewise, as to HQ – specifically the teen lounge – he had spoken to Smokey there prior to his run-in with the teen supers the previous day. But my father’s mansion…? When had he visited it prior to being gutshot?
The answer that immediately leaped out at me was my grandparents’ party. That was the best opportunity for Jack to have gotten inside Alpha Prime’s palatial home. Unfortunately, the security system was turned off that night (including the panic room monitors), so there was no video I could review for confirmation of his presence. However, there had been a photographer there – Matt Kroner.
Moreover, upon reflection,
