FUTURITY

BATTLE

Jason shook her. "Rachel!"

"Did you get him?" Rachel said groggily.

Jason nodded, tears stung his eyes. Embarrassed, Jason cleared his throat. "Can you get up?"

"I think so." Rachel slowly got to her feet. She swayed a little but steadied herself against Jason's arm.

"We have to stop Force, Jason," Rachel said as she began to walk more on her own.
They hurried toward Force. The German still sent shockwave after shockwave into the UN building.

"Ready for this?" Jason said in Rachel's ear.

She nodded.

They began to sprint toward Force. Rachel raised her hands, and so did Jason. His mind and her fire rushed toward the man. Jason began to shout—

WHAM!

An unseen power swept Jason and Rachel up and away from Force. Something hard hit Jason's head. His thoughts grew sluggish.
They both rose helplessly into the air until they became level with a very much alive Ian Isaacs. Jason opened his mouth. No.

"Good-bye," Ian said, his voice cracking. Ian looked sad as Jason felt him mentally grip his neck and twist. Rachel began to scream, her eyes wide with terror.

Jason couldn't think. Couldn't breathe.

A beam of blinding red-yellow light hit Ian. Ian released their necks, and they fell. Jason landed on his hands and knees.

Ian landed in a heap with a dull thud. His blank eyes were as wide as the burned hole in his chest. Jason looked for the cause of the light.

Samuel Cage knelt beside Rachel and helped her up.

"Did you do that?" Jason asked awestruck.

Samuel walked over with Rachel. "Yes, that was me."

At a loss for words, Jason turned and checked Ian for life. Nothing. Relieved in a bittersweet way, Jason turned. The UN building shuddered. Force stepped closer to it and sent another wave. Popping sounds erupted from the structure.

With a grunt, Jason began to run. He heard Rachel and Samuel following him. Force turned, apparently hearing them, and formed a force-field around himself.

Jason grabbed the shimmering green ball with his mind and lifted. It felt light and somehow hot. If he had touched it with his skin, the force-field would have burned him.

Jason crashed the bubble into the asphalt, which made a small crater. Force glared at him through the watery surface, but the orb didn't burst. Jason squeezed and tried to make the ball give.

He staggered. The sphere felt like a brick wall to his mind; it dizzied him. Jason saw Force laugh, but he couldn't hear him. Jason's hope sank. There seemed no way to get him out.

"I wish he could remember," Rachel said as she stepped beside Jason. "That this is not him."

Samuel placed his hands forward, his wrists touching, and his palms and fingers out toward Force.

The world grew darker. Light began to swirl around Samuel and collected just in front of his palms. A golden orb of brightness.

With a surge, a line of light—bigger than the other laser beam Samuel had used to kill Ian—sliced against the force-field. The laser beam leaped off of the bubble and rocketed up toward the sky. Jason gaped. The laser hadn't harmed the orb at all.

Samuel stopped and looked at Jason and Rachel with wide eyes.

"Any ideas?"

"Is there any way we can help Force remember who he is?" Rachel asked, turning to Jason.

Jason frowned. He'd forced thoughts into Ian's mind. What if he could do it again?

Force, we are not your enemies, Jason mentally said to Force.

Jason, help me! Force's mind screamed. I can't stop fighting you. I want to, but I can't.

Force, you helped me once. Help me again.

But I can't!

Yes, you can. Stop the force-field.

But—

Just do it.

The bubble flickered, went out, and formed again. Force's face changed from determination to fear and back again.

The force-field winked out again, and Force staggered, shook, and convulsed. His face grew red and his hands balled into fists.

"Help me!" Force said. He slowly turned back toward the UN building. A green orb began to grow. It grew larger and larger.

Stop me, Force, mentally cried. Stop . . . me!"

The orb, now more massive than a house and humming, was about to explode and hit the building. Somehow, Jason knew that if this orb burst, it would knock down the UN building. And it would take many lives. Jason floundered in Force's thoughts. Images, guilt, anger, despair, and the all-pervading command on Force's subconscious bombarded Jason.

Jason wasn't sure what to do. He felt panic coming. Why couldn't Force just blackout or something?

Force abruptly collapsed. And the force-field dissolved.

Dizzy, Jason looked sidelong at Rachel and Samuel, who gaped and looked at him with wide eyes. He smirked at their shock. But he didn't have time to do anything else.

Vertigo took over, and Jason collapsed too. One more time, the world around him vanished into black.