“Are you talking to me or the computer?” Jackson asked.

“Whichever one is going to get us out of this alive,” the girl said, just as another missile slammed into the jet.

Bright red words appeared on the monitor. They read CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE. ABANDON SHIP.

“OK. You don’t have to tell me more than once,” Jackson said. He helped the Hyena unbuckle her seat belt and together they dashed into the cabin. A panel above their heads slid open and two parachute packs fell at their feet. They helped each other into the gear, then rushed to the door. The wind outside howled and pulled at them with invisible fingers.

“You ever jump out of a plane before?” the Hyena asked.

Jackson nodded his head. “It’s kind of become a regular thing these days.”

She leaped out of the open door and was gone.

Jackson saw her drop like a rock and a moment later her chute opened. Jackson followed, and after several seconds of freefalling he pulled the cord on his chute and jerked as the fabric opened above him. It was bitingly cold, even through his gear, and his fingers quickly grew numb. But he had little time to worry about them. He heard an explosion, and saw a massive fire erupt on the School Bus. A third missile had slammed into the jet, and it broke in half like a child’s toy. It plunged to the ice below.

When the ground rose up to meet Jackson, he fell over hard and rolled wildly, blinded by the snow in his goggles, until at last he came to a stop.

“Don’t move a muscle,” the Hyena said. He could hear her nearby but could not see her through his goggles.

“Can you believe it? We both survived,” he said happily. He pulled his goggles off and brushed off the snow. That’s when he saw what had triggered the Hyena’s warning. Standing over them was a mountain of fur and claws—a nine-foot-tall polar bear with glistening yellow fangs and coal-black claws.

“What part of ‘don’t move a muscle’ didn’t you understand?” the Hyena said.

“Uh, moving seems like a really good idea to me,” Jackson said. “I think you’re supposed to run from a polar bear.”

“No, I think we’re supposed to stare it in the eye,” the Hyena replied.

“I’m sure that’s a dog. What about jumping up and down and beating on our chests?”

“Gorillas.”

“Fudge,” Jackson said. “Well, I vote for running very fast!”

Jackson turned to the Hyena and grabbed her hand. The two took off at a sprint, but the icy terrain didn’t make it easy. The polar bear, however, navigated the ground rapidly and with ease.

“We’re not going to outrun this thing. It’s fast,” the Hyena said.

“Don’t you have some kind of weapon on you? You are an assassin,” Jackson said through gasps of the frosty air.

“Me? You’re the superspy. Use that disgusting mouth thing of yours and kill it,” the Hyena cried.

“I’m pretty sure polar bears are endangered,” Jackson said. “It’s illegal to kill them.”

“It’s trying to kill us!” the Hyena shouted.

But the polar bear wasn’t their only problem. In their mad dash to escape, they were running straight for the burning rocket. The explosive heat coming from the wreckage was rapidly warming the ice around it. When Jackson finally noticed where they were headed, he realized he had to choose between two horrible deaths. So he stopped.

“What are you doing?” the Hyena cried, trying to drag him along.

“It’s time to see what I’m capable of,” he said.

The braces swirled in his mouth and morphed into a huge shield just as the bear reached them. The shield blocked the beast’s deadly blows, and sparks flew off in all directions. The polar bear roared with anger and swung again—with similar results. The impact caused a little irritation to Jackson’s teeth, but for the most part he realized he could probably defend them from the hulking animal for the rest of the day. “Problem solved,” he bragged.

“Look!” the Hyena cried.

Jackson turned his head to see that the burning rocket had sent ribbons of cracks snaking through the ice they were standing upon. One of the cracks was fast approaching.

“This is just not cool,” the Hyena said as the crack zipped between her feet. She stepped to the left as the pieces of ice began to separate. Jackson did the same. However, the polar bear was not so clever. The crack widened beneath it, and a moment later the big animal splashed into the water and vanished.

The pair now found themselves on a chunk of ice that had broken off completely from the rest of the sheet. The once-solid ice sheet was beginning to resemble a jigsaw puzzle. Worse, the ice was taking them farther and farther from Dr. Jigsaw’s fortress.

Jackson’s braces started to swirl once more and out sprang the four familiar spiderlike legs. He grabbed the Hyena by the waist, and the two rose into the air. The legs stepped over to the next chunk of ice.

“You know, this little gizmo of yours is very cool,” the Hyena said. “But it’s not going to help you with girls.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and said nothing. He concentrated on the legs, willing them to step to the next block of ice. They were making steady progress, but unfortunately the chunks of ice were drifting farther apart. Soon they reached a gap that was just too far across for Jackson’s metal legs to carry them over. He remembered Ruby’s advice, about really focusing on his braces, and that he had control over what they did. He set the Hyena down on their chunk of ice and focused. His braces shot out of his mouth in all directions and wildly went to work assembling his vision. They morphed and twisted before his eyes, and when they were done he had built a small boat with an outboard motor around himself. The Hyena climbed aboard. No sooner was she seated than the boat started pushing through the waves toward the fortress. When they reached the solid chunk of ice near the fortress, their speed sent them skidding onshore.

“Tell me that wasn’t cool,” Jackson crowed as his braces slid back onto his teeth.

“Save the celebration for later,” the Hyena replied.

“How do we get into this place?”

“Let us show you the way,” a voice said behind them. When they spun around to see who it was, they were met with fists to the face. Jackson and the Hyena fell to the ground. Just as everything went black, Jackson heard his partner grumble two words.

“Dumb Vinci.”

Jackson awoke on a lumpy cot under a bright fluorescent lamp. His head felt full of gravy, and his nose was running. Every joint in his body ached. He pulled himself up and waited patiently for his eyes to adjust to the blinding light. Soon, he could see his surroundings more clearly, though there wasn’t much to see. He was in a windowless room with gray walls and a concrete floor. The Hyena was sitting cross-legged on the cot next to him.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she said.

“Where are we?”

“Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is we are inside Jigsaw’s fortress. The bad news is he has locked us in a back room and there’s no way out. At least, no way I could find. You, however, have the superbraces. Why don’t you use them to knock down the door?”

Jackson got to his feet but fell back on the bed with an awkward thump. He was still woozy.

“Easy, big shot,” the Hyena continued. She got up from her cot and helped him to his feet.

They stepped to the door and Jackson studied it. There wasn’t a doorknob—only a single metal panel. They opened it and found a tiny hole not even big enough for a key.

“OK, back up,” Jackson warned. “This might get violent.”

He focused his attention on the door, but nothing happened. His braces weren’t swirling—not even a little.

“That’s weird. My tech isn’t working.”

He scanned the room and spotted a bright orange device mounted on the wall. “What’s that?”