Difference between revisions of "Summary:Lux"

The narrator describes the world of the Reckoners, including how Epics came to be and how the Reckoners rose to fight them. They tell us that 12twelve of the 17seventeen Reckoners fighting in Texas have died.

Jax and Hershel are gambling over a snickers bar in [[Galveston]]. Jax wins, but then cuts the bar in half and splits it with Hershel. Jax claims entry #97 from thetheir [[Bucket Book]], saying that he’s slain a bear without bullet or blade. The Fathom Radar alerts the two of [[Lux (city)|Lux]]'s arrival, and they go to the roof where their gear is waiting.

Jax and Hershel prepare to execute the plan, marveling at the sheer size of the city of Lux. The five reckonersReckoners are waiting in small groups around the city. Hershal and Briggen launch groups of drones designed to burrow into the underside of Lux and lay explosives in the tunnels there. Wingflare descends, alongside hundreds of Ravens. Because Lifeforce does not descend alongside his army, Abigail calls for the group to stand down and retreat. Jax protests, unsuccessfully, then launches Hershel's missiles against orders. The missiles bury the Ravens in rubble, but Wingflare lifts the rubble off them easily. Jax gets on his motorcycle - equipped with a motivator that will let it drive inacross thinempty air - and takes off towards Wingflare. Jax convinces the gangothers to send the second volley of rockets to distract Wingflare. The reckonersReckoners detonate the drones buried in the underside of Lux, makingcracking tonsthe ofcity rockin fallhalf and breakingmaking thehundreds cityof inlarge halfrocks fall. Jax is almost crushed by a massive rock, but it is caught by Wingflare, who attempts to put Lux back together. Jax jumps onto a drone and flies towards Wingflare. He tries to attack her with his sword, but fails and is grabbed by Wingflare telekinetically. Abigail shoots Wingflare and Jax manages to get away while she is distracted. Jax reveals that he managed to cut some hair off of Wingflare. The team regroups at the rendezvous point, though Briggen has been gravely injured.

A young Jax is visiting his older brother Dan atfor hisspring schoolbreak, and they go out to breakfast. In the middle of their meal, Lovestruck appears, an Epic whose kisses reverse the blood flow of her target. Jax runs totowards Lovestruck, not sensing the danger and Dan follows. Lovestruck blows a kiss towards Dan, killing him. The police appear and drive off Lovestruck. A team of paramedics show up and attempt to help Dan, but are powerless to help. Jax stays by Dan's body for hours before Prof arrives. Prof offers to drive Jax back to his family in Houston. When Jax says that all of his family lives in Houston, thenProf revealssadly tells him that itHouston has been destroyed by Obliteration, and all of Jax's family with it. Prof lets Jax stay the night, then offers to take Jax to stay with some friends in New York. Jax accepts. They visit Dan's apartment once before departing, and Jax recovers Dan's sword. In the car, Prof tells Jax about the Reckoners, and Jax revealstells him that he wants to help others.

* [[Jax (Reckoners)|Jax]] (point of view)

* [[Prof]]

Jax wakes up in Prof's car. Prof reveals that instead of going to New York, they are going to the Coop because Prof has decided that Jax is a perfect candidate for Reckoner training. Prof trieswarns toJax dissuadethat Jaxthe fromgoing beingwill abe herolong and difficult, but Jax is determined.

Jax and Prof arrive in Newcastle and meet Zeff. Prof convinces him to take Jax to the Coop despite his young age, saying that a younger recruit could be more loyal, and that kids learn more easily. Prof leaves, and Jax goes with Zeff to the Coop. Zeff explains the rules of the Coop, and when Jax fails to comply, Zeff sentences him to two hours on the post. Jax falls off continuously, which only extends his sentence on the post. Zeff lets Jax off at sunset, then they enter the Coop. Zeff shows Jax to his room, and takes Shiloh, saying that Jax won't get it back until he knows how to use it.

Two years pass, and Zeff has taught Jax and Paige stealth, acrobatics, observation, and firearms. Paige is revealed to be a much better shot than Jax, and her confidence grows as a result of her success. Zeff starts having Jax and Paige train in close quarters combat with older Reckoners. Jax does horribly against the older kids, and Zeff often has him outnumbered or otherwise disadvantaged. He let Jax and Paige fight side by side together, though they sometimes had to fight up to seven enemies at once. Over the course of several nights, Jax and Paige invent what they called a coiler, which reverses the effects of motivators. They test it out on a water magnet motivator, and the water is forced away from the device instead of being drawn towards it. Jax uses this to fix a motivator made from the DNA of an Epic called Slingshot, who had teleportation powers. Before, teleporting an object would cause the object's molecules to disassemble because of the instability. With the coilers however, Jax is able to teleport andan object, then reverse the motivator and teleport it back, without the object disintegrating.

Jax wakes up to find Prof outside his door, who remarks on how Jax has changed. Zeff reveals that he has known about Jax's work with the motivators, as well as Jax's stealing of supplies for his work. Reckoners gather at the coop, and Prof tells them about Lux. He says that many Epics and groups of Epics have stood against Lux, but all have been defeated, but they don't know why. While everyone else was tasked with going to Arlington with Abigail, but Prof asks Jax and Zeff to go to El Paso to meet with Knighthawk. Knighthawk had set up a mobile lab there, since El Paso was where a large Epic battle against Lux had occurred. Afterwards, Jax talked to Paige, who was packing to go to Arlington. Jax wishes he could tell her about his true feelings for her, but doesn't.

*[[PerrickParik|The Californian]]

The team works on different aspects of their plan, then head out when the time comes. They board the Alyssa after crossing the pond in paddle boats. Wade secures an antenna to the outside of the ship, then they all head inside. The team proceeds via a series of air ducts, activating the sound envelope to cover their progress. They break through a locked door using a hand buzzsaw, still unheard by Ravens thanks to the reversed sonic snare, proceeding into a the supply room from which they will teleport. Hershel blows dozens of holes in the wall using explosive charges. Wade hacks the security camera to mask their movements and provide information, and Jax goes in to eliminate the single security guard with Briggen. Jax attemps to tranquilize the man, but when he misses, Briggen's dart flies true and knocks the guard unconscious. Jax and Briggen return to the supply closet before the boomerang watch kills them, and they return to the power grid room with tools. They run into an issue when the wires are laid out differently than expected, leading to tensions between Jax and Briggen. They endedend up having to jump back and forth hundreds of times over the next few hours, making only slow progress on the system. The slow progress and several errors make tensions mount even higher. Eventually, Jax and Briggen gotget into an argument about which wires to cut. Briggen wins the argument, but they cut the wrong ones, causing an error. An alarm suddenly begins blaring. They complete the sabotage work just as the Ravens arrive, and Briggen's boomerang watch is destroyed in the ensuing chaos. Jax tries to bring Briggen back with him using his own boomerang watch, but Raven bullets and the boomerang time limit prevent him from doing so. They are forced to abandon Briggen to the Ravens as they make their escape.

*[[PerrickParik]]

Lifeforce enters Perrick’sParik’s lab, which holds several Epic tissue samples and other research. PerrickParik greets Lifeforce, and they discuss the broken remnants of Jax’s sword, which Lifeforce shattered using the stolen Epic powers of Shiversting. They discuss Jax, and PerrickParik praises his intelligence and explains the reversed Mitosis motivator to Lifeforce. It is revealed that Lifeforce and PerrickParik have been experimenting to give Lifeforce powers from other Epics. Lifeforce cuts off his hand, replacing it with the severed hand of the dead Epic Liquidyne. PerrickParik injects Lifeforce with a serum, and Lifeforce fuses the new hand to his arm. Lifeforce uses Liquidyne’s power, and melts a book using the power. Then the hand itself melts, leaving Lifeforce unable to use the power. Lifeforce attempts to heal his hand, and the healing stops halfway through. Lifeforce tries using a different prisoner to heal, and this time his hand heals successfully. Lifeforce, worried, cuts himself on the arm, and it heals normally. Troubled, Lifeforce leaves the lab.

*[[PerrickParik]]

As Wade works on planning their route, the others discuss what to do with the prisoners in the tubes. They set out through the tunnels under the palace, following Wade’s route. They enter Perrick’sParik’s lab where their equipment is. There are several drawers, each one labeled with an Epic’s name. With Wade’s help, they retrieve their items and scorchnotes from a compartment. Wade opens one of the Epic drawers for Jax, and inside are blood samples, files, and a severed finger. Jax takes one of the samples, then has Wade open Languish’s drawer, which is packed with DNA samples and files. His file says his weakness is “knowledge”. Wade reports that the Ravens have damaged the Wingflare motivator’s antenna, and that they’ll have to be on Lux to control its movements. They realize that they’ll have to go down with the city. They hear a noise, and they discover Dr. PerrickParik hiding in one of the cabinets. Hershel punches PerrickParik in the face, and Paige reminds Hershel that he’s harming the prisoners in the tubes. They grab the files on both Wingflare and Cloudbreaker, then hurry towards the ladder station, carrying PerrickParik with them.

*[[PerrickParik]]

They arrive at the ladder drop point, and Jax demands that PerrickParik explain Languish’s weakness. He threatens to drop PerrickParik off the edge of Lux, saying that Lifeforce’s healing range can only extend so far. PerrickParik reveals that Languish thinks he can’t dampen Lifeforce, and that this is why Languish has never revolted against him. PerrickParik says that their efforts are futile, and that Languish will never help them. Angry because PerrickParik caused Zeff’s death, Jax drops PerrickParik over the edge. Paige grabs PerrickParik just in time, hauling him back up. Paige says that they aren’t murderers, and shouldn’t kill him. At Hershel’s suggestion, they end up lowering PerrickParik three-quarters of the way down on the ladder, saying that if he’s strong, he can climb back up.

The Reckoners decide to kidnap Languish. While Wade works on analyzing Languish’s security detail, Hershel gives Jax Perrick’sParik’s files on Wingflare, which is largely made up of journal entries from Wingflare’s childhood. He finds out that Wingflare has a disease that makes her bones brittle and breakable, and was very sheltered from anything that could be dangerous to her. Hershel and Jake deduce that her weakness is her brittle bones, and that breaking her bones would enable them to kill her. Using the fathom motivator, they survey Languish’s compound, which is a heavily guarded hotel. After a lot of discussion, Jax decides that the only way to get in is to drive a motorcycle off a ramp in a nearby building and through one of the hotel windows.

Jax says she’s lying about her weakness, saying that it’s actually brokebroken bones. Wingflare is initially shocked, and her grip on Jax loosens, allowing him to free his arms and fire the shockwave through her. It breaks her bones, but she heals, her powers still working. She takes back control of Jax, then demands that he picks a platter. She reveals that she has found the Wingflare motivator, and she destroys it. Jax realizes that Wingflare is hiding something, and figures out her weakness, which is people not playing games with her. Jax doesn’t pick a platter, refusing to play her game. Wingflare becomes enraged, and her weakness activates. Jax shoots Wingflare in the head, and Wingflare is unable to stop the bullet.

Lifeforce enters his lab, and discovers that the Reckoners have kidnapped PerrickParik. The city shakes again, and Lifeforce opens Wingflare’s drawer. For two hours, Lifeforce experiments with the DNA, desperately working. Lux starts to fall in earnest. Lifeforce grabs three syringes with Wingflare’s modified DNA, then injects all three into himself. The injections work, and Lifeforce uses Wingflare’s power, grabbing hold of Lux as it falls.

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