Meta 2: The Second Wave

by Tom Reynolds

  "I'm sorry, Connor," Sarah says, and I can tell it's sincere. Her eyes are almost welling up with tears.

  What do I do? I can't tell her who I really am. Even if I could, how would that even change the situation? I can't sit here and argue her back into wanting to be with me.

  "I am too, Sarah," I say, finding myself choking up a bit too.

  This sucks. This really sucks. What is the damn point to having these powers if I can't even have a girlfriend? I knew that my life wasn't going to be the same with these things, but I was hoping to at least have this. Just my luck that the first time in my life I have a real girlfriend, I lose her, and it's all because of these bands.

  "We can still be friends though, right?" she asks.

  "Yeah, of course," I reply, knowing full well that if she's not going to school here any more and working at Silver Island, it's very possible I'll never even see her again. Or at least, I won't ever see her again as Connor, only as Omni.

  "Okay, well I should probably go," Sarah says. "I have to go down to the office to fill out a bunch of paperwork."

  "Yeah. Of course," I say.

  "See you around?" she says more than asks.

  "See you around," I reply, defeated.

  I watch as she walks away, desperately trying to think of something else to say. Something that can save this relationship. Sure, it hasn't been very long, but I've cared about Sarah since the first time I saw her. Back when I was just the weird new kid in school that no one else seemed to bother with except her. It just doesn't feel right for things to end this way.

  Down the hallway, I see Jim for the first time since I saw him in that alleyway with the Blanks. I really need a friend right now, and something tells me that Midnight's shoulder isn't the most comfortable to cry on. I also feel extreme guilt over what's happening with Jim. He shouldn't be involved with the Blanks. They might mean well on paper, but their methods are no different than some of the worst metas out there. I understand Jim's rage, his hatred. I felt a lot of the same things growing up as a kid whose parents were killed as the result of metas fighting without any regard for the human beings around them. If anyone can understand how Jim's feeling right now, it's certainly me. And if anyone can get through to him, I hope that would also be me.

  He's down the hall from me, transferring texts and notebooks from his locker to his backpack. He looks tired, almost like a zombie. I'm not surprised, considering that I now know how he spends his nights. That's something else I understand better than most, even if it's a part of my life that I can't exactly let Jim in on. At least not yet. Maybe, hopefully, one day, though.

  As I approach a few doors down from Jim's locker, I see him begin to zip up his backpack and close the locker door. He hasn't seen me yet, likely because he's barely awake, when he turns and head down the hallway in the opposite direction from where I am approaching.

  "Hey, Jim!" I shout down the hallway, hoping to get his attention.

  He stops and turns, obviously hearing me, when suddenly a loud cracking sound steals the attention of everyone in the hallway all at once. It's coming from outside, almost like lightning in the sky, even though it's a cloudless, beautiful morning. Just as everyone decides it was nothing and turns to continue on with their mornings, it happens.

  The explosion is deafening and blinding. My ears are ringing, but through the ringing I can hear screams and chaos. Everything is rubble. My first thought is that a bomb has gone off somewhere. The early autumn sun shines down from where the roof used to be and through the cement dust hanging in the air. Where there aren't screams, there's coughing as students try to make their way back to their feet through the gray cloud.

  I yell Jim's name, but I can barely hear my own voice over the ringing in my ears. It sounds distant and far away, like it belongs to someone else. The world is just beginning to come back into focus when I see part of the rubble in front of me moving. The pieces of concrete are at least a foot thick and heavy. Whatever is moving under there, under that type of weight, is not human. Before I have a chance to give it any further thought, my questions about what could have caused this, and what's happening in general, are answered.

  Through the haze a figure appears. A hulking, gigantic figure. Some type of Brute, shirtless with a chest so hairy it looks like he's wearing a sweater. Two black, curved horns protrude out of his forehead and wrap around the back of his oversized skull. He's picking himself up and brushing off large pieces of concrete as if they're nothing.

  Above me the sky darkens. The sunlight shining in through the newly ripped hole in the ceiling is blocked out by a silhouette. Another meta, this one wearing a green and orange suit, descends slowly from the sky. His face is entirely obscured by a mask, without even an opening for his mouth. Only two white dots are where his eyes should be. It's hard to tell where he's focusing his attention without real eyes, but it's a safe bet that it's on the meta who just came crashing through the roof.

  "Stop!" a voice yells through the chaos. It's come from Marcus, a guy I recognize from homeroom, but I've barely spoken to since coming to Bay View High School last year.

  Marcus is running toward the horned Brute, attempting to get in front of him in the hopes of at least getting him out of the school. The Brute doesn't even look in Marcus's direction before throwing one of his huge fists out to the side as he continues down the hallway without breaking his stride. Marcus is embedded into the nearby lockers, killed instantly.

  The green and orange suited meta reaches the ground and lands gently. I've never seen him before, but I hope he can put an end to this quickly. That hope is dashed when he picks up the nearest student by his head, a guy named Russ that was in my chemistry class last year, and hurls him directly at the horned Brute. Russ bounces off the meta's chest and falls to the ground with a sickening thump. If he's not dead, he's gravely injured.

  My bearings are back, and I need to do something. There's screaming everywhere as students rush past me and head into the nearest classrooms. Some are pounding on the doors, the students and teachers inside apprehensive about unlocking their doors and risking the horror that's happening in the hallways getting inside.

  The two metas rush toward each other down the hallway. I barely have time to turn my head before they collide and send even more wreckage hurtling in all directions, no doubt causing even more injuries. I look around for Sarah in desperation. Wherever she is, I need to get her out of here. That's my first priority. These two can wait to have their heads bashed in until Sarah is safe.

  But Sarah's nowhere to be found. Seeing anything is extremely difficult with the dust and falling debris in the air, though. I scream out her name, but the sound doesn't seem to make it very far with all the noise bouncing off the walls around me. Where is she?

  There's another cracking sound as the two metas collide again. Whatever their powers are, they seem to be equally matched. This is bad. Very bad. Two metas who match each other in strength usually means a prolonged battle. In a metropolitan area, this can mean massive destruction and death. If the damage and casualties I've seen already are anything to go by, this is going to be bad.

  The thought of transforming keeps overwhelming all the other thoughts in my brain. There's a line where I need to put the lives of those around me in front of keeping my true identity a secret. I’ve never known exactly where that line is since it always meant endangering the people around me who I care about most, but right now, two of those people, Sarah and Jim, are somewhere in this building, and I'm quickly finding out exactly where that line is.

  I'm about to yell Sarah's name again when through the haze of cement dust in the air, I hear coughing. Coughing so loud and hard that it sounds as though whoever is behind it is about to cough their lungs right out of their chest. Impulsively, I rush toward the sound, unable to ignore someone who sounds like they are in the throes of death. Making my way through the haze, I find myself behind a figure doubled over in a coughing fit. It's the green and orange meta. He's surr
ounded by the bodies of my fellow classmates. Some of them are dead, and the rest barely cling to life. Before I can think, my training kicks in and I'm at the meta's throat.

  My subconscious has put the pieces together faster than my brain: if this meta is coughing due to the cement dust in the air, that means they are not impervious to a lack of oxygen. He might possess super strength and a level of invulnerability, but he still needs to breathe. I've already figured out what I need to do, metabands activated or not, and that's to stop this meta from breathing until he submits and relinquishes his metabands, ending this bloodshed.

  In an instant, my forearm is wrapped around the meta's windpipe from behind. My other arm is perpendicular, acting as leverage to pull my forearm harder into his throat. He takes a desperate, wheezing gasp, but no air enters his lungs.

  "Stop this, stop this right now!" I scream as loud as I can manage directly into his right ear from only an inch or two away. Blowing out his eardrums should be the least of my, or his, concerns right now.

  "Power down! Now! Power down, or I swear to God, I will—" Before I can finish my threat, the meta reaches over his head with both arms, grabs me by the collar of my shirt, and hurls me in front of him as hard as he can manage in his weakened state. Unfortunately, that's still hard enough to send me flying at least twenty feet and directly into a concrete brick wall.

  That's it. I have to put a stop to this, even if it means exposing my identity. There's no time to find a more secluded area to transform. I've already wasted enough time and let enough people get hurt or worse. As I lie on the linoleum tile floor, I concentrate on my metabands and they appear on my wrists, ready to activate. Except my arms won't move. I can see my right arm, laid out to the side of me, but no matter how hard I try it won't move. I can't even feel it. A wave of horror washes over me as I realize I can't feel my left arm either. My entire body is numb.

  I'm paralyzed.

  When that monster threw me into the brick wall, he broke my back. There's no pain, just the complete lack of any sensation whatsoever, which is even more terrifying. And right now, the worst part is that I have a front row seat to these metas battling it out without any regard of whom they hurt, and there's nothing I can do to stop them. Even breathing is a struggle, and I'm lucky to have at least summoned my metabands quickly enough that they can begin repairing my broken body. They’re not active, but at least they’ll start to heal me, even if it’s brutally slow. Another few seconds and I would have started losing consciousness for sure.

  Still, it's enough to ensure that I can't activate my metabands. If only I could bring my wrists together. I'd be healed instantly and have absolutely no problem taking these two out. It was stupid of me to worry about risking my identity instead of just activating my bands right away. Midnight trained me to fight without the bands active in the hopes that I'd never have to fall back on it, but instead, I foolishly and arrogantly thought I no longer needed them.

  There's a slight sensation in my toes, almost like the pins and needles feeling you get when you fall asleep on your arm. I can't move my foot, but it's there. It's something. It's hope.

  The two metas continue beating on each other, throwing each other through walls and into what I at least hope are now abandoned classrooms. Small electrical fires have broken out and smoke is now filling the halls, making it even harder to tell what's happening, or to see if there's any hope that Sarah's safe.

  "That's enough!" a voice bellows from above.

  I can't make out the face of the meta descending from the sky as the morning sun backlights her. The two metas stop their fight for a moment and turn their attention to the new challenger. Just then, her face comes into focus.

  It's Iris.

  And she's pissed.

  She rushes toward the Brute, the closer of the two metas, and slides into his feet, taking them out from under him and landing him directly on his ass. In the same movement, she comes back up to her feet and roundhouse kicks the other meta, sending him spinning into the nearest wall.

  "You want a fight? You've got it, but let's take it outside like gentlemen," Iris says to the two metas, lying on opposite sides of what used to be the cafeteria.

  Each slowly rises to his feet, shakes the dizziness out of his head, and reassesses the situation. Unfortunately for them, their assessment doesn't conclude in them deciding to listen to Iris, and they instead decide it's best to keep the fight right where it is.

  The Brute charges at Iris, taking no consideration for the path in front of him, littered with injured and dead students. He tramples many of their bodies, others are merely kicked aside as he gains speed and momentum. Iris is screaming for him to stop, but it's no use. He just keeps coming, lowering his head as he prepares to ram her. Iris's white eyes glow brightly as she thrusts out her hands and releases pure, white energy toward the Brute.

  He stops and falls to his knees. His head is now missing entirely, vaporized off his shoulders in an instant. Iris screams out in frustration as she pulls her hands back in. She couldn't control what she just did, but she didn't see an alternative. She's mad at herself for it. I know because I've been there before. Her shoulders sink as she bows her head, ashamed of what she's just done. Just then, the other meta flies into the air, looking to bring both his fists down on Iris's back.

  I struggle to pull air into my lungs and scream out her name to warn her, but instead of “Iris,” a different name comes out. “Sarah.”

  For a split second, I think it's just because I'm worried about Sarah, more worried than I've ever been, and her name is on my mind. But then I realize what I think must be the truth.

  That Iris is Sarah.

  Somewhere deep down, I knew it all along. How else could Iris have gotten here so fast? Where else could Sarah have gone moments ago? She's not leaving school because her dad is worried; she's leaving school because her dad knows the truth. He probably knew the truth all along, and it's only now, when the world is full of metas and he can no longer help keep her safe, that he's demanding she be closer to him.

  There's a loud crack and a pop, followed by a scream of my own. My vertebrae are realigning themselves thanks to the metabands on my wrists, but the bands aren't doing anything for the pain. My eyes are watering uncontrollably, and I feel like I can’t breathe, that’s how badly everything hurts as sensation begins to return. The sound attracts Iris's attention as she turns to me and quickly glances at the metabands on my wrists. She might not realize that I'm Omni, but she now knows that I'm a meta too. The distraction has opened her up to an attack from the other meta who is still alive and apparently hasn't learned his lesson from what just happened to his former enemy.

  Iris hears him coming, though, and swiftly moves to the side, wrapping her right arms around the meta's neck as he passes, and then pulls him backward so that he's pinned backward over her knee.

  "Yield!" she screams in his face, but it does nothing.

  He continues to try to fight, clawing at her arms and head, and trying desperately to break free. His hands keep grasping around him until he finds something to grab onto: Lucy Friedman, another classmate of mine from homeroom, who’s already pinned under a cafeteria table and barely alive when the meta pulls her up by the throat.

  "Let her go. This is your only warning!" Iris yells into his face.

  His eyes look right through her and his expression doesn't change as the barely conscious Lucy begins making a faint gurgling sound. He's squeezing her throat, choking her to death.

  "Let her go!" Iris screams one last time.

  Lucy's face is turning a deep shade of purple. I try to yell to stop them, but I can only grunt. My motor skills are beginning to return as I try to use my legs to push me along the waxed floor, hoping to stop her in time.

  "Damn you for making me do this," Iris says before she exhales, and twists her shoulder, snapping the meta's neck over her knee.

  An instant later, she's gone.

  Chapter 27

  There were
five dead and over three dozen injured when all was said and done. Seven dead, if you include the two metas who Iris killed.

  By the time the police arrive, my metabands have fully healed me, and I go back to hiding them. Explaining that I'm a meta is something I never want to have to do. Explaining that I'm a meta, and I let something like this happen while I could have done something ... I can't even think about it right now.

  Between the police, medics, news crews, and opportunistic metas looking to “help” now that the danger is over, it's nearly impossible to find anyone. That's why I'm so happy when I finally find Jim and see that he's okay. Or at least, not physically hurt.

  "How could they do that, Connor?" he asks me.

  "I don't know, Jim. It's horrible," I say.

  "I was there. I was right there when a piece of the wall landed on a guy. Killed him instantly. Blood everywhere. And the most horrible sound I've ever heard."

  "I'm sorry, Jim."

  "Do they even know why they did all of this?" Jim asks me, but I don't have the answer. "I don't know how much longer I can take this, Connor."

  "Have you seen Sarah?" I ask Jim.

  "Yeah. Her dad came to pick her up. She was pretty shaken up. I don't know where they went."

  "I do."

  I'm above Silver Island now; Omni suit fully in place. In the past few hours, I've reassured Derrick that everything's fine and he doesn't need to worry about me. I've also called Sarah's phone about a million times, give or take a few hundred thousand. She hasn't answered, which has me worried. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she isn't Iris after all. They're still digging through the rubble that was my former high school, and the idea that she's somewhere underneath all of that has me terrified to the point that I can't even think about it right now. Jim said she's okay, though. I have to keep reminding myself of that.

  I radio in to Silver Island, requesting teleportation coordinates. It takes three requests before I get a call back.