Finally, the Hyena removed the earplugs from his ears again. Jackson surveyed her attack. Everyone was on the floor holding their bellies—even Heathcliff and Dr. Jigsaw. Unfortunately, the green beam from the satellite dish was still blasting into space.

“If we’re going to save the world, we’d better do it now,” the Hyena said.

“But I don’t have my upgrades.” Jackson said. What could he do? He was just a kid with a broken pair of bionic braces. How did he get to such a point in his life? From star quarterback, to nerd with magnetized dental appliances, to secret agent in major trouble. And then it hit him.

“Help me get Flinch to his feet,” he shouted as the two raced to the tiny boy’s side. They helped him up and shook him until he stopped laughing and could concentrate on what they were saying. “Flinch, have you got enough juice in your harness to toss something at that machine?”

Flinch reached into his pocket and took out a box of chocolate-covered raisins. “I will! What do you have in mind?”

“Me,” Jackson said.

Agent Brand staggered to his feet, still giggling, and grabbed Jackson by the arm. “Absolutely not.”

“When you asked me to join the team, you said I reminded you of yourself, right? What would you do to save the world?” Jackson said as he turned back to Flinch. “Have you ever tossed a football?”

Flinch hoisted him off the ground with little effort. “Once. My older brother tried to show me.”

“Imagine I’m a football,” Jackson said.

“What are you doing?” Ruby cried.

“Ms. Holiday said the tip of this tractor beam is actually a giant magnet,” Jackson explained. “I just happen to have a set of braces that are highly magnetized.”

“You’re crazy,” Matilda said.

“You taught me that a good secret agent can use anything as a weapon,” Jackson said. “On three, Flinch. Hut, hut, hike!”

The boy tossed Jackson into the air. He soared high to the very center of the satellite dish, with a wide smile on his face. The magnet in the tip of the rod tugged at his braces. The tentacles swirled out, whipping around wildly. They smashed at the rod, and soon the machine began to show signs of failure. The green beam of energy began to sputter. Jackson’s obnoxious dental work was destroying Jigsaw’s doomsday device.

“No!” Dr. Jigsaw cried.

Jackson looked down and saw Flinch pushing at one of the girders that held the satellite dish in place. He gave it a good shove with his shoulder, and it started to tilt over.

Now Jackson and the machine were falling, and there was nothing he could do to stop from crashing into the ground and probably dying on impact. Matilda flew to his side and tried to pull him off the dish, but she wasn’t strong enough to break the hold of the magnet. So she used one of her inhalers to hover and the other to burn the rod holding Jackson in half. The magnet that held him fast came away, and Matilda flew Jackson to safety just as Jigsaw’s doomsday device tumbled over. The mad scientist leaped out of the way, but his goon, Dumb Vinci, was not so lucky. His arm was caught beneath a jagged piece of the crumbling device, and he screamed in agony.

Unfortunately, this was not an end to the problems at hand. The dish crashed through the lab’s ice floor and sank. The last ebb of the tractor beam hit the ocean floor deep beneath the fortress. As the beam exerted its pull, the icy ocean floor shot upward, forming an ice mountain that rose high into the air, taking Jigsaw’s fortress and its inhabitants with it. In the midst of the cataclysm, the Hyena slipped and tumbled over the side of a rapidly rising cliff. She held on with all her strength, but when Jackson rushed to her, she was already slipping. He reached out and snatched her by the arm.

“Don’t let me go,” she said, looking down at the long drop below.

“I’ve got you,” he promised.

“You!” a voice roared behind them. “You did this!”

Jackson turned his head just in time to see Heathcliff rush forward. “You, a complete moron, stopped my plan,” Heathcliff said. He stomped hard on Jackson’s leg, causing him to roll over the edge of the cliff. With his free hand Jackson snatched at the edge, holding on to the Hyena with his other hand. He felt like he was being ripped in two.

Heathcliff stomped down on Jackson’s fingers, but Jackson refused to let go. Still, he knew one more stomp from Choppers’s boot would be the end of him and the Hyena.

Then there was a blur of movement, and Jackson watched as Heathcliff came sailing over the edge of the cliff. He screamed all the way down until his cries could no longer be heard.

Standing over Jackson was Ruby. She was scratching her scalp. “I’m allergic to betrayal.”

Agent Brand and a team of scientists recovered the remains of Jigsaw’s satellite dish. With help from Dr. Badawi and the rest of the kidnapped scientists, they managed over the course of several weeks to move North America and Australia back where they belonged. Innocent people were killed in the chaos and the property damage was staggering, but all in all, things could have been worse for the world.

Dr. Jigsaw’s broken body was found on an icy cliff of the new mountain at the North Pole. Dumb Vinci’s body was never recovered. Neither was Heathcliff’s, though they did find his black skull mask floating in the icy waters.

“How will we explain it to his parents?” Jackson asked as the team assembled in the Playground.

“It’s drastic, but the parents have been given a medication that will cause them to forget him,” Agent Brand said. “It works much like Heathcliff’s own ability.”

Jackson was stunned. “So if I die on the job, my dad and brother will forget I was ever born?”

Ms. Holiday sighed. “I wish there was another way, but they would ask too many questions.”

Jackson hung his head. “This is my fault.”

Duncan shook his head. “No, Jackson, Heathcliff knew the world would change for him. As a grown man he could put all his days as an awkward kid behind him. He just didn’t want to wait.”

Agent Brand looked into the faces of his team. “You all did very well.”

“Is that all?” Ms. Holiday prompted.

“I’m very proud to be working with you.”

Before Brand could walk away, Ruby cleared her throat. “I think I can speak for the team—” Brand stopped in his tracks. “And say we feel the same way about you.”

Brand nodded then walked out of the Playground.

“He’s quite the chatty one,” the Hyena said.

“We’re working on him,” Ms. Holiday answered.

Jackson turned to the Hyena. “So, did you talk to him like I told you? I think you’d be great on our team. I can’t imagine what kind of upgrade Benjamin could give you for your laugh, but I bet it would be awesome.”

“I did talk to him,” she replied. “And he said no.”

“I can’t believe it. They wouldn’t even have to train you,” Jackson said.

“It’s fine, Jackson,” she assured him. “He offered me a job— doing something else.”

“Really? What?”

“Sorry, it’s classified, but—”

“But what?”

“But I’m not going to see you for a very long time,” she said. Jackson felt a crack in his heart.

“Don’t be sad, Nerdboy,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. “I’ll be back someday. Maybe then you’ll have those horrible braces off your teeth.”

She turned and walked away. Jackson watched her step through the secret locker exit and disappear.

“Did she just kiss you?” Matilda asked.

“Gross!” Flinch shouted, his mouth full of chocolate and coconut candy.

“So, quarterback, how did it feel to save the world?” Ruby asked.

“No big deal.” Jackson beamed. “I’m sure I’ll do it again by Friday.”

“Don’t get a big head yet,” Matilda replied. “You’ve got a lot more training ahead of you. I’ve got some great ideas about how to beat you up with a watermelon.”