“This will take forever.” Jackson groaned. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
“We better get started, bro,” Flinch said. He tried to open a drawer but it was locked. He gave the knob on his chest a slight turn and then yanked at the drawer handle so that its lock busted. Then he did the same for Jackson’s drawer. They sorted through files filled with bizarre mathematical equations and strange schematics, but none of them had Dr. Jigsaw’s name on them or seemed to have anything to do with continents.
From downstairs Jackson could hear his teammates replaying a song they had already performed. In his head, Ruby’s angry voice demanded they hurry.
“This is hopeless,” Flinch said.
“Shouldn’t you two be on stage?” a voice said behind them. The boys spun around and found Dr. Munoz standing in the doorway.
“We’re not with the band. We’re with NERDS,” Flinch said.
“You’re nerds?”
“Not nerds. NERDS. The National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society.”
“But you’re kids. You can’t be older than ten!” Dr. Munoz cried.
“Actually, we’re eleven.”
“The government sends eleven-year-olds for this kind of work now?” Munoz said, shaking his head.
“Sir, we know you contacted the FBI about Dr. Jigsaw. We also know you have schematics for his invention,” Flinch said. “It would be a great help to us—and to the world—to have them.”
Jackson watched the man’s face turn cold. “You’re putting my family in danger.”
“We’re trying to help you,” Jackson said. “If we can’t stop that wacko, who knows where Los Angeles will be on the map tomorrow. Give us the schematics. You will be saving millions of innocent people.”
Munoz shuddered. “Jigsaw will have me killed. The guy is certifiable! I worked with him for a decade. He was always odd, but as time went by he got worse. When he proposed his continent project to the board of directors, they laughed at him. He threatened the head of the program with a letter opener and was arrested. Scientists really need to stop laughing at one another—we’re all very sensitive. Long story short, Jigsaw was fired the next day. I had to pack up his things, which I took over to his apartment. The entire floor was covered in this massive jigsaw puzzle. I don’t think he knew I was there. He kept muttering to himself that he would never give up.”
“Give up what?” Flinch asked.
“The reunification of the continents,” Munoz said. “There’s this theory that all of the seven continents—North and South America, Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica— were once one giant continent. Scientists call it Pangaea. They think that shifts in tectonic plates caused it to break apart and drift to where the continents are now—but it’s not my field. Jigsaw, however, was obsessed with it. He believed that all the world’s problems could be solved if we just put all the pieces back together. He thought we should all be living next to each other again. I tried to explain what a nightmare putting them back together would be. Nearly every coastal city would be destroyed when the continental shelves slammed into one another. Millions of people would die. Moving land masses that large would create a tidal wave that would kill millions more. The natural paths of sea and wildlife would be devastated and wipe out a great deal of our food supply. Not to mention that his fundamental theory was flawed. Even if you could slide them together all nice and neat, people wouldn’t get along any better. There are plenty of countries that neighbor one another now that have been at war for a thousand years. Jigsaw wouldn’t hear it. He said the world needed to be put back the way it was meant to be.”
Jackson glanced out the window. The doctor’s daughter was in the yard. She was blindfolded and carrying a long stick. She swung it wildly at a piñata hanging directly above her.
“If he’s so dangerous, you have to give us the schematics,” Flinch begged. “If Jigsaw intends to use his invention, we need to know everything we can about it.”
Munoz nodded in surrender. “Let me get them for you.”
As Munoz rifled through a file cabinet, Jackson watched the party. The little girl had still not hit the piñata, though she had nailed quite a number of her friends. Finally, she was nudged as close to the piñata as humanly possible. She swung like a maniac and smacked two children, a caterer, a piñata deliveryman, and her own grandmother before she managed to bludgeon open the side of the piñata. A wave of wounded children rushed forward in hopes of snatching the candy in its belly, but something odd happened. The piñata, which was shaped like a horse, righted itself. Its two white eyes suddenly glowed red, and rockets popped out of its side. It took to the air and circled the crowd.
“Uh, my job is to observe and I’m clearly observing something very messed up,” Jackson said.
Flinch stepped to the window and let out a gasp. “Pufferfish. Are you seeing what we’re seeing?”
Jackson heard Ruby’s voice crackle in his head. “Robot piñatas.”
“Piñatas as in plural?” the hyper boy asked.
“Yes, there’s a dozen or so flying all over the house. Something’s coming out of them. OK, that’s a missile launcher. Get everyone to safety!”
There was a terrible explosion, and the window Jackson and Flinch were standing in front of shattered.
“I’ve got to help the others,” Flinch said as he reached into his pocket, took out a candy bar, and devoured it. “Braceface, your only job is to stay here and keep the doctor safe. No matter what happens, stay with the doctor.”
“What if we’re attacked by killer piñatas?”
Jackson never got his answer. The sugar was coursing through Flinch, and a smile spread across his face. He shouted, “I am mighty!” and a moment later he leaped out the broken window.
“My daughter!” Dr. Munoz said.
“She’ll be safe,” Jackson said. “There are six of us here. Just stay with me. The team will handle this.”
“I’m going to get my daughter.” Dr. Munoz raced out of the room, his files clutched in his hand.
“Dude, come back here!” Jackson cried out, but it was clear that the doctor wasn’t listening. He scooped up the nervous guinea pig and shoved it in his pocket. Then he focused on Ruby’s face. “Hello?”
Ruby’s voice rang in his ears. “What is it, Braceface? We’re kind of busy fighting evil candy containers.”
“You told me to observe, so I thought I would tell you I’m observing Dr. Munoz running in your direction,” Jackson said.
Ruby groaned. “Stop him!”
“So, you’re giving me permission to get involved?”
Ruby roared.
“Good. By the way, he’s worried about his daughter. If you see a girl carrying a stick, keep her safe. And do yourself a favor. Take the stick away from her. Jackson out.”
“Code names only, Braceface.”
“Stop calling me that,” Jackson said as he raced after Dr. Munoz. He turned a corner and found the scientist cowering on the floor, files scattered at his feet, with a flying piñata hovering overhead. The machine’s red eyes turned the dark hallway a creepy crimson, and its missile launchers hummed eagerly by its side.
Jackson stopped in his tracks. “Doctor, everything is going to be OK. I want you to get behind me. Whoa. Not so fast, just very calmly.”
The piñata followed the doctor’s every movement.
“OK, now, let’s back around this corner,” Jackson said.
Before they could take a single step, the piñata’s red eyes blinked, something inside it started to whir, and smoke billowed out of its back. Before Jackson could react, it launched a missile straight for his head.
His braces swirled in his mouth, and in a flash they were morphing and twisting to create a large, round shield. The missile hit the shield, which deflected the blast and sent it back toward the robot. A moment later the robot, and most of the wall behind it, was on fire. Unfortunately, the files with the schematics inside went up in flames as well.