Meta (Book 3): Rise of The Circle (20 page)

"I don't mean to seem rude, but I don't know how much longer this guy's going to stay out," I say, worrying that Keane is going to wake up any second and instantly take control over me.

"Come in through the south entrance," a different voice finally says.

I fly over the top of the facility to the south side, but all I see is a featureless wall—no windows and certainly no doors. There's a click as the PA system comes back on again.

"No, your other south," the voice says flatly.

If I wasn't so scared of Keane waking up, I'd be embarrassed.

I travel back to the other side of the building where I see multiple armed guards waiting with their guns drawn. Looks like this is the place.

I land and place Keane on the ground. The guards immediately swarm both of us, demanding that I keep my hands in the air. One of the guards takes a small electronic device out from his pocket and uses a needle attached to the top of it to pierce Keane's skin. A small droplet of blood is sucked into the needle as the guard stares at the device's screen, waiting. The other guards don’t move their position or lower their guns.

"It's him," the guard says after a confirmation beep is emitted from the device.

The others move quickly to secure Keane onto a gurney and roll him into the facility.

"You're welcome," I say in response to a thank you that was never given as the guards all abandon me to rush back into the facility.

"We do honestly appreciate it, Omni." Halpern emerges from behind the open doors and walks over to me. He offers his hand for me to shake, and I take it.

"So this is where they moved you out to," I say to him.

"Yup. It's no Bay View City. Hell, it's not even Duluth. It's the freakin' desert. But at least it's not being held hostage by a bunch of lunatics right now either."

"Always looking on the bright side."

"We've been looking for Keane day and night since Silver Island, never finding even a sliver of a lead on him, so thank you. I heard your friend Midnight had a hand in this, so thank him for me too. Of course, if you'd brought Iris in, we'd really be throwing a party for you."

"She had nothing to do with this. Keane was controlling her against her will."

"I believe that, I truly do, but that doesn't mean we don't have to speak with her and get her side of the story. She's still a wanted criminal. Why don't you come inside and we'll catch up?"

A
s I walk
through the halls with Halpern, I'm in awe of the size of this new detention center. The Agency was already deep into the process of building it when the escape happened at Silver Island. Once that center was destroyed, additional funds were immediately freed up in order to upgrade this new prison and open it as soon as possible. It's incredible how quickly something can happen when you have the money to hire metahumans to build it for you.

It's not done yet, as evidenced by the exposed scaffolding at the far end of the main building, but it's in good enough shape to start holding metahumans. Each cell has been built as it's own self-contained unit. This makes escape more difficult since the cells are physically independent from one another. It also allows the various electronic systems to run independently of each other. In the case of a hacker breach, the person doing the breaching would need to work on each cell individually to open them. Of course, they don't expect anyone to get through the safeguards they have in place, but it helps make a worst-case scenario slightly less worse.

The separate self-contained units also mean that transportation doesn't require the prisoner to even leave their cell. The cell simply goes with the inmate to whatever off-the-books black ops site The Agency has hidden somewhere even more secretive than this place.

"We can even bring a containment unit right to an ally in the field now. There's no need to transport a suspect on your own out in the open. Just radio ahead to us and we bring the containment unit to you," Halpern tells me.

"It's a pretty long flight from Albuquerque to Skyville. I think I'll stick to bringing them in the old-fashioned way," I say.

"You're thinking small time, Omni. We don't fly the containment units out from here. We have containment units in storage in every major city in the United States. We can deploy almost anywhere in the country within thirty minutes, usually faster if it's going to a populated area where we likely have a containment unit closer."

"And then what happens to them?"

"Come, I'll show you."

Halpern leads me to his office. Compared to the rest of the facility, his office feels surprisingly homey. There's wood paneling covering the walls, carpeting, even a nice leather lounge chair. All that's missing is a fireplace, although if I mentioned that, he'd probably reach under his desk and press a button to make one spin out from behind a wall somewhere.

On his desk there's a framed photograph of himself and Sarah, which he catches me looking at.

"Don't worry. Sarah's fine. She's taking the rest of the semester off from her internship after our little incident on Silver Island. We both decided it would be better for her to focus on her education right now. She's up at a private school far from Bay View City. She seems to like it. I think she might even have herself a new boyfriend."

I wasn't expecting to hear that, and it takes an extra second or two to process. I would have rather gotten clocked in the head by a bus again than think about Sarah with someone else. There's too much going on to worry about silly things like my personal life, the little bit of it that's left. Iris is alive, Midnight is alive, and I'm probably going to have to find a new place to live now that I've directly violated one of the most important rules of the school: no outside metahuman action without approval.

"Have a seat," Halpern says to me, gesturing to the empty chair opposite his large wooden desk.

I sit and think about how I always feel slightly ridiculous doing something normal like sitting in an office while I'm wearing this uniform. It definitely cuts a more striking visual image when I'm flying over a city than sitting at a desk. Halpern taps a few keys on the laptop sitting on his desk and the painting of sailboats behind his chair changes to a three-by-three grid of security monitors.

The monitor in the center of the display shows the inside of a small, empty cell. The others show various angles of what appears to be the main lockup area. There are maybe two hundred cells, although less than a quarter of them seem to be occupied at the moment.

The front of the cell displayed in the center monitor is frosted glass, which turns transparent right before it retracts into the wall. A group of five security guards enter once the cell is open. Four of them are each holding one of Keane's limbs as they carry him into the cell. He's still unconscious. The fifth guard holds an assault rifle trained on Keane's head. Keane is placed face down on the floor, and the men retreat from the cell. The instant the last is out, the frosted glass door closes in front of them.

Halpern and I watch as Keane slowly regains consciousness and starts looking around at his environment to try to piece together where he is.

"Welcome back, Mr. Keane," Halpern says while holding down a key on his keyboard.

His voice echoes through speakers that seem to be piped directly into Keane's cell. Keane looks directly at the camera and remains silent.

"I think you'll find that this facility is a little cozier than the previous one. However, you're a wealthy man, Mr. Keane. If you were willing to surrender your metabands, I'm sure you would have no problem finding legal representation that could get you transferred to one of those nice country club prisons. I hear there's one in Empire City that has bocce ball now."

There's still no response from Keane other than his dead-eyed stare into the camera in the upper corner of his tiny cell.

"I'm taking that as a no from you, then?" Halpern asks.

Keane slowly closes his eyes. It looks as though he's concentrating on something, and a second later, we learn what it is.

Simultaneously, every prisoner in the facility begins pounding on the walls of their cell in unison. Keane's using his powers to control all of them at the same time. I'm not sure if Keane's powers have grown stronger or if he was just bluffing about how strong he really was all along. He continues to stare into the camera as the rhythm of the pounding prisoners intensifies, becoming louder and faster.

It's a show of power, a small demonstration that while the walls of this cell might be able to contain him for now, they can't ever fully contain his powers.

"I really wish you had reconsidered doing that, Mr. Keane," Halpern says before pressing another button on his laptop.

From the perspective of the camera in his cell, I can see some type of gas being released into the room. Keane stands his ground, even as the gas begins affecting him and his legs begin to wobble.

"What are you doing? You can't just execute him!" I yell at Halpern.

"No, we're not executing him. The gas is simply to incapacitate him. If he wants to show off his powers, we can show ours off too."

The pounding begins to lose its rhythm before it stops altogether, and Keane slumps to the floor of his cell, passed out cold. Halpern taps another key, and the valve releasing the gas closes.

"The outer walls of the containment floor are lead-lined. He can't use his abilities outside of his cell. If it were up to me, we'd line all the containment units with it too, but apparently it's a 'health hazard' to live in such close proximity to it. Plus, it wreaks havoc with our own wireless systems, so it's what we have to settle for. He doesn't realize it, but we're studying his abilities remotely even as he sleeps. If he's not going to take those bracelets off, then we'll figure out how to break him psychologically. Eventually he'll be begging us to take his metabands from him."

"Is that the right thing to do?" I ask.

"It's the safe thing to do. We'll keep him sedated most of the time, occasionally reviving him to offer the chance to forfeit the metabands. If he refuses, back to La-La Land he goes. The amount of time we'll keep him under will increase over time until it becomes obvious to him that he can either give up or spend the rest of his life asleep."

"Doesn't that seem kind of cruel?"

"It's all in his hands. We'll stop the second he asks us to by giving up his metabands. I wouldn't lose any sleep worrying about him. That's not why I asked you to join me here, though."

"No?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Bay View City."

"Oh. What about it? Do you have a plan for taking it back?"

"No, we don't. What I wanted to tell you about Bay View City is this: stay away from it."

"I don't understand."

"I know it's your home. It was my home too, and I'd give almost anything to be back there with my family. But the simple truth is that it's too dangerous for you to return there. Not just for you, for everyone. The Alphas blame you for what happened at Silver Island. If you go back there, they'll make sure you don't make it back out alive, and they won't care about what happens to anyone who's in their way."

"So that's it? We just give them the city? It's just theirs because they said so?"

"Omni, it's not that simple. We need to take into account the lives of everyone in that city. I don't like the idea of a city under a dictatorship, but you can't argue with the results. Homicides are down to virtually zero. Property values are rising. The people of Bay View City feel safe. People around the country are moving there
because
there aren't any metas."

"Except there aren't 'no metas.' There are four, four extremely powerful metahumans that everyone in that city is just trusting to make all their decisions for them."

"It's what they want, though. Even if it's not right, you can't force an entire population to change what they've become accustomed to just because you don't agree with it."

"You're right, I don't agree with it, and I'm not making any kind of promise about staying out of there," I say as I rise to my feet, preparing to make my exit.

"Omni," Halpern says to my back as I head toward the door, "if you're not going to play ball, then I'm afraid this is going to have to be the last visit you're going to make to one of our facilities. You've been a powerful ally and a good friend even. But I can't put the lives of everyone who works for The Agency at risk by continuing to work with someone who has a target on his back."

"A target that was put there by a bunch of egomaniacs who want to rule the entire country one day like kings."

Halpern looks at me for what seems like a long time, considering what to say. Finally he settles on the simplest option.

"Goodbye, Omni."

My anger doesn't allow me to respond, and instead I walk out without saying another word.

I
take
the long way home, except there's really not a “long way” when you can fly as fast as I can, and I'm also not going home. I've just been told by one of the last people I know from home that I can't go back there. I've spent most of my life feeling like I didn’t have a home. For the first year I lived there, Bay View City felt the same way: just another city in the seemingly endless list.

We had left Empire City all those years ago because everyone did. There was hardly anything left by the time Governor and Jones were done. Even though that was the day the first wave of metas ended, no one knew that yet at the time. It took about a week before the city was able to breathe again, after having previously lived in terror that the Governor and Jones were going to come crashing back down to Earth any minute, leaving a crater where the city once stood.

Derrick hadn't traveled much before and had no idea what to look for in a home, so we just kept moving, never really feeling comfortable anywhere. At the time, Derrick told me we had to move to find work or to save money, but looking back, I know he felt the same thing I did: no place felt like home anymore.

Bay View City was different, even before the second wave started. Derrick was working from home and starting to actually make money blogging about metas. Not a lot of money, not at all actually, but it was enough to supplement the government paycheck that was supposed to make up for our parents not being here anymore. We never really talked about it, maybe because we both felt like if we did, it would jinx it or something, but Bay View City had begun to feel like home.

When I found that first pair of metabands, that clinched it for me. I'd never felt more like a part of something than when I was flying over that city. Even now, when I'm supposed to feel more like I'm part of a group than ever at the academy, I still feel alone. It's not going to help that I'm almost certainly not going to be allowed back in after I directly ignored direct orders. On top of all the other rules at the academy, the rule about following the rules seems to be the one that they're the strictest about. For all of these reasons, I'm not in a rush to get back at the moment, but even when I take my time, I'm still back more quickly than I’d like.

It hasn't really occurred to me before I arrived that I'm not sure how I should re-enter the campus. There are very strict rules about wearing active metabands above ground when you're on campus, especially when, like me, you're hundreds of feet above campus.

For a moment I consider powering down off campus and trying to catch a bus or cab to avoid breaking any more rules. Ultimately, though, I decide that I've already broken more than enough rules to get myself expelled ten times over, so why delay the inevitable? At this point I just hope whatever cover story they give me to explain why Connor Connolly was expelled from the academy isn't too embarrassing. I've already heard a rumor that the last metahuman who was expelled was given “public nudity” as the official reason he was kicked out.

I'm hoping that's just something they tell new kids to scare them into following the rules. Hopefully they just tell me something nice and ordinary to say, like insubordination, if my roommate asks why I'm leaving tonight.

B
efore I arrive
at the campus, I briefly consider the idea of just pretending none of this happened tonight and just heading back to my room. Even with my asshat of a roommate there all the time, it'd still be nice to at least get some sleep and deal with all of this in the morning. That's wishful thinking, though. They'll know that I'm back on campus. They'll know that I'm back in my room. I'm not sure if it's surveillance or if they've just got something on my door that tracks whether I'm there or not, but I know that they'll know. I might as well just deal with the inevitable.

When I arrive at the derelict building that contains the elevators to the underground facility and find that all the doors are locked, I think they might have already revoked all of my security clearances. The entrance to the building uses a series of elaborate but invisible security measures.

There's a hidden palm scanner built into the door handle, since having it as a plate up on the wall of the building might be a little bit too conspicuous. There's also a series of infrared cameras monitoring the building's exterior. These cameras are specifically looking for movement and eyeballs. The same physics that cause redeye in photographs are being used here to make sure there aren't any prying eyeballs looking in the direction of the building before it lets one of us in after hours. They don't want too many people noticing groups of certain students coming here night after night when the rest of the building looks more or less empty.

I take in my surroundings, hoping to find a couple taking a midnight stroll or a student heading back from a late night, something that indicates to me that the building is locking me out because someone's watching, not because my access has been revoked. There's no one nearby that I can see, though, and my prospects aren't looking good.

As a last ditch effort, I tell myself I'll try the library entrance before I give up for the night to wake up early and pack my bags in the morning instead. The library entrance is one I haven't used yet myself. Michelle told me about it on my third day here, but it was only to be used if there were no other options. None of these secret entrances are worth much if they don't stay secret, after all. It was part of the original facility, and due to its relatively public location, there hasn't been an opportunity to update many of the security features. On the plus side, that means if any entrance is still going to work for me, it's going to be that one.

The library is close by and open twenty-four hours a day, which is why it was originally suitable for an after-hours entrance. I enter the building through the main entrance and notice that it's very quiet in here, even for a library. Glancing down at the time, I see that it's past midnight and I no longer wonder why it's so empty in here. There's a student manning the librarian’s desk, busily reading a textbook and taking notes.

The overnight shifts are likely to be staffed by students. I'd imagine that's because I can't think of few more thankless jobs than “overnight librarian.” She doesn't even glance up from her textbook as I walk by, too engrossed in her own thoughts as I head for the stairs. The elevator would be easier, of course, but the elevators have security cameras. Specifically, these elevators have security cameras that the facility has no control over, so it's better to stay off them. There probably isn't someone watching the feed live who would notice someone who enters the library but never leaves, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

During the initial wave, one of the first big metahumans to have their civilian identity publicly outed was the victim of an accident. A man had been robbed at gunpoint at an ATM. When the security footage was reviewed later, they found footage from just a few minutes earlier when a metahuman had used the same ATM vestibule as what they thought would be a good place to activate their metabands in secret.

The security guard sold the closed-circuit videotape to a celebrity gossip show and cashed out big time. Ever since then, people have been anxious to try to catch a metahuman activating their bands on video, even though the tabloids don't pay nearly as much for that type of video anymore thanks to all the potential legal trouble as well as the lack of mainstream public interest these days.

The entrance I'm looking for is on the sixth floor, in the periodicals section. Even before the Internet, when the only way to look up old newspapers and magazines was to use these weird rolls of microfilm, I have to imagine this area was still deserted pretty frequently. There's nothing to “browse” here, just shelves full of rolls and rolls of film labeled with just the newspaper name, month, and year. If you're looking for something, you'd already know where it was before you ever came to this corner of the library. As I hoped, I find the locked door I'm looking for in the corner past the last shelf.

I almost forget as I approach that there isn't a hand scanner here, just a regular old-fashioned key. Michelle made me put the key on my keychain in front of her so she'd know I'd always have it on me. I carefully glance around to make sure I'm not being watched, even though I haven't seen a single person in here other than the girl watching the first desk, and put the key into the keyhole.

The door opens and reveals ... nothing. Just a small, closet-sized space that looks like it hasn't been dusted in a very long time. I step inside and close the door behind me. I never thought I was claustrophobic, but being inside the pitch-black closet that I'm essentially locked inside changes things a little. A pair of red emergency lights click on, and the ground beneath me starts moving. The elevator is slow, part of the reason being that it needs to remain completely silent until it’s past the six floors of the library. Even subtle noise could arouse the suspicion of library employees over time. The other reason it's slow is because it's so damn old.

A
fter what feels
like a two-hour ride, the elevator slowly comes to a stop. The elevator door slides open, and I step out. A series of motion-activated lights flicker on, and I realize that I'm in a portion of the facility that I've never seen before.

The walls and floors are different, older looking. This must be where the original facility was built, before Michelle's expansions. I don't know why I didn't realize it earlier, since the library elevator is quite a long distance from the Blair Building. It's going to be a long walk, and at this point, I just want to get this all over with so I can go to bed.

When I reach the intersection of the hallway where old meets new, I'm not surprised to find Michelle waiting for me with her arms crossed. She has the bored expression of someone who's been waiting for a long time.

"Well that took you long enough. Did you walk here from New Mexico?" she asks.

"How did you know that's where I took him?" I respond.

"Connor. After all of this time, you still have to ask how I know these things? We don't like to intrude on personal lives-"

"You mean like the time you started dating my older brother just to get close to me so you could find out who I was?" I shoot back before I have much chance to stop myself.

I guess that had been boiling just under the surface for a while.

"You know that's not true," she says, her voice filled with disappointment that I could even make that type of accusation still.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. It's just been a long night, and I don't want to delay this anymore. If you're going to kick me out, just do it so at least I can get back to my regular life."

"You can't go back to your regular life. None of us can. Our regular lives disappeared forever the night you woke up with those bracelets around your wrists, Connor. You still don't seem to understand that."

"Well, you won't have to worry about what I do and don't understand anymore after tonight," I say.

"You really don't understand how we work at all, do you?"

"You told me that if I did what I did tonight, then I wouldn't be allowed back here. It's pretty cut and dried to me. I don't know why you're drawing this out more than you have to."

"You're missing the point. Do you really think you would have been granted access to that elevator if we were kicking you out tonight? You think we would have let you just come in here and wander the hallways alone? You're really not giving us the credit I thought you would have by now."

"So I'm not kicked out?"

"Follow me," Michelle says as she turns to walk down the hallway, back in the direction of her office.

"Connor, I've been thinking a lot about what you said to me. I'll admit that I've been overly concerned with the secrecy of this place. That's still crucially important, but it shouldn't be the be all and end all when it comes to our policies. The world is no more ready for metahumans today than it was when they first started showing up all those years ago. They may never be ready for you. But the one thing that may help is offering the idea that at least some of you are beacons. You may not always be able to save the day or rescue the hostage, but you can still be the idealized versions of yourself that many of us never can. It won't be enough for everyone, but nothing ever will."

"You can't please all of the people, all of the time? Is that essentially what you're saying?"

Michelle stops talking to think for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess it is. My point, Connor, is that what you did tonight was brave. It was the harder of two choices."

"It wasn't harder for me."

"I understand that now, and I understand that that's what makes you different, and it's ultimately why I wanted someone like you here in the first place. I thought our rules and guidelines would make it easier for all of you to deal with the situations you're faced with. Despite the fact that most people think they would love being a metahuman, I'm not so naive as to think that it doesn't take its toll.

"You have the ability to help almost anyone in almost any situation, but even you can't be everywhere all the time. How do you deal with that type of pressure and that type of guilt? We'd hoped that by imposing the kinds of rules we do that it would help alleviate some of that pressure. We'd hoped that when there were people you couldn't help that at least you could place that burden on us, rather than on yourself. But I underestimated you. And if I underestimated you, I can be pretty sure that there are others here that I've underestimated as well."

We arrive at the door to Michelle's office and stop. She glances at me before pressing her palm up against the security scanner and twisting the doorknob.

I almost don't notice him at first when Michelle opens the door. I'm not expecting anyone to be in her office, and even when he's not trying, he's still pretty good at not being seen.

"Midnight?"

He turns toward me and away from the wall of Michelle's books that he's been looking through. His cowl is off and his face is covered in bruises and abrasions, but they all look as though they've been tended to.