Meta 2: The Second Wave

by Tom Reynolds

  "I said I needed to show you something," Midnight says.

  He taps a few keys into a nearby computer terminal. Once that's done, a glass plate slides out from the console. He takes the black glove off his right hand and presses it into the plate. The plate lights up briefly, reading his palm print. Once it’s done, another piece of machinery emerges from the console that was previously hidden behind a seamless metal slab. Midnight removes his cowl and the long cylindrical piece slides out and runs a blue laser over his eyes.

  "Final voice approval," a computerized voice says over a speaker somewhere in the room.

  "Midnight. Voice approval granted," he says.

  As soon as the last syllable leaves his mouth, a series of pistons and hydraulics hiss all around me. The ground trembles slowly as the wall farthest from both of us recedes into the floor below. Even for Midnight, this is some pretty serious stuff going on.

  From the area behind where the wall previously stood, the outline of a huge bipedal, human-esque figure emerges. As the figure is pushed out farther and farther into the abandoned subway station by machinery hidden within the walls, it becomes more and more obvious what exactly I'm looking at. It's some kind of robot, maybe about eight feet in height. The outside is painted matte black, making it hard to pick out its details even now that it’s more or less in direct light.

  "Holy ... you made a robot?" I ask, my jaw hanging halfway to the ground in amazement at this ... thing standing in front of me.

  "It's not a robot," Midnight says.

  Right on cue, the various sections of the robot begin to move and shift. Within no more than a few seconds, it has reconfigured itself. The front of the machine is now completely open. Every surface has peeled back to reveal the inside, to reveal space for a person.

  It's not a robot at all; it's a suit.

  "Okay, now I have about twenty more questions," I say to Midnight.

  Again, as if on cue, although not nearly as cool this time, a series of alarms begin sounding throughout the subway station. White lights change to red.

  "What is it? What's going on?" I ask.

  "Dammit. I thought we'd have more time," Midnight says. "It's Silver Island. It's under attack."

  "What are we going to do about it?" I ask.

  "You’re going to get inside. You need to evacuate everyone you can to safety. You're no good to me or anyone else if one of those Alphas destroys your metabands the second they get the chance."

  "You can't take those things on by yourself. I don't care how impressive this armor is. They're metas, hell, they're more than metas. What on Earth could possibly make this thing able to beat them?" I ask.

  Midnight confidently strides across the room to another section of the wall. This one appears to be simple, exposed brick. Of course, nothing is simple when Midnight's behind it, I think as he begins typing a passkey into the brick itself. The keys emit a blue light behind the brick facade with each tap. When he’s done, one of the bricks slides out toward him, revealing a small drawer. Midnight reaches inside and pulls out a single, pristine metaband.

  "What’s that for?" I ask.

  "It's for powering this thing," he says as he walks back to the armored suit and inserts the metaband into a previously unseen slot on what would be the front of the suit when it’s closed back up.

  The metaband clicks into place, and two small metal arms clamp over the top of it, keeping it in place. It’s inserted vertically, making an O-shaped cutout in the armor not too dissimilar from the circle on my chest.

  "You've figured out how to draw power from a metaband? Are you serious? No one has ever figured out how to do that! This is insane. Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Whose metaband is that?" I ask.

  "It's mine," Midnight says.

  Before I can respond, he props himself up into the armored suit. A series of braces and restraints lock into place, securing him. Once they’ve all clicked into where they are supposed to be, two long needles come out of the left and right sides of the armor and insert themselves into Midnight's arms. He winces slightly as they go in. The tubes leading up to them fill with his blood. From the guts of this machine, I can see his blood being drawn through various tubes toward the front, where it loops through the metaband via two small metal arms holding it in place.

  The metaband emits a faint glow, and with a sudden burst of energy, the mechanized armor reconfigures and slams itself shut with Midnight inside. Suddenly, the eyes light up and the entire suit springs to life. It moves less like a robot and more like Midnight himself, albeit a much, much larger version of him.

  "How the hell did you—" I begin before Midnight cuts me off.

  "Get to Silver Island. Teleport inside, and get those people out. I'll do my best to hold off the Alphas," Midnight says.

  There's more rumbling inside the station, and in a moment of confusion, it almost feels like a train is coming through the decommissioned tunnel. I look up and realize that the source of the rumbling is from the ceiling, which is opening to reveal the sky above. Before it’s even fully open, two jets of fire roar out from the back of Midnight's armor, and he takes to the air, disappearing into the night sky in the blink of an eye.

  I have to get to Silver Island.

  Chapter 32

  "This is Omni, requesting teleportation coordinates for arrival," I yell into my communicator.

  I'm high above Bay View City, looking at Silver Island off in the distance. Even without using my enhanced vision, I can see flashes of light and explosions from miles away. Midnight is already there, doing whatever he can to keep the Alphas out of the detention facility. My mind is still reeling at the fact that he’s had a metaband all along. He knows more about how they work than anyone else I've ever heard of because he’s been working with one all along. Somehow, that metaband was tied to his DNA; that’s the only way to explain the need for his blood to be filtered through the band itself in order for it to provide power.

  That's the easiest part to understand, though. It still doesn’t explain how on Earth he was able to turn it on, let alone draw enough power from it in order to make whatever the hell he calls that thing he built work. It also explains at least some of the secrecy. If the wrong people knew what he had discovered and built, or knew that it was possible to tap the energy inside these bands like that, it would be World War III in no time. Imagine a bomb powered by that technology? As dangerous as some people think metas are, that would be a lot worse. That type of energy could destroy half the world.

  Careful to keep a safe distance, I radio into Silver Island again requesting coordinates. This is the third time now, and still no response. On my way over, I called Sarah's phone only to be sent immediately to voicemail. I'm terrified that she's in there and not getting a response from inside the facility isn't putting my mind at ease.

  I decide that I’ve waited long enough. I can’t just hover miles away from the facility while Midnight fights alone and Sarah’s possibly in danger. It’s time to go in whether I can teleport or not.

  A few hundred feet from the facility, I have to quickly roll to my side to avoid a body flying through the air at high speed. I turn to look as it passes; it’s Delta. I’m confused for a moment before I look back and see what it was that sent him flying: Midnight.

  Midnight is a blur of motion, leaping back and forth hundreds of feet through the air from one side of the island to the other. He lands just long enough to smash a fist into a member of Alpha Team before turning to dropkick another behind him. Even with the bulky armor, he’s moving with speed and fluidity, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.

  Delta flies back and smashes into Midnight’s abdomen, sending him reeling backward into a steel wall of the detention center. Midnight leaves a sizable dent, but isn’t phased as he grabs Charlie, who is barreling toward him with a follow up attack, without even looking. In a blur, Midnight moves toward Delta and grabs him by the head, still holding Charlie. He takes both of them and smashes them into each oth
er before winding up and throwing them as high into the sky as he can. Midnight realizes that he doesn’t have a chance of beating all of them, but he can at least slow them down long enough to hopefully figure out another plan, or at the very least, get everyone else out of here.

  Finally, there's a crackle over the radio inside my earpiece and a voice comes through.

  "Request acknowledged, Omni. Teleportation coordinates are B-7," the voice says.

  I immediately envision that place on the grid and concentrate on teleporting in.

  "Wait! C-7!" I hear through the radio just as I jump.

  It's too late; I've already landed in B-7 and can feel the ground moving swiftly beneath my feet. I'm high in the air and realize that the pillar is already moving into place to block out this coordinate. Within an instant, I'm already twenty feet higher, which means I'm just a few feet away from being crushed against the solid steel ceiling. There's no time to think, only to throw myself forward into the space now being vacated for C-7.

  I hit the ground face first, but I'm alive, and most importantly, not a pancake. A moment later, a line of columns in front of me lowers, creating a pathway to the Receiving Area. A technician who I don't recognize comes running up to me, apologizing profusely. I tell him that it's okay and wave him off. There are much bigger problems to contend with right now, first and foremost being that the entire facility seems to have devolved into complete and utter chaos. There are Agency employees running everywhere as steel beams from the ceiling come crashing down to the concrete floor. Alarms and warning lights are everywhere, making it impossible to tell what specific problems they’re meant to be warning anyone about.

  But the worst part is in front of me. I can see through the bulletproof glass leading to the main detention center that the prisoners are out of their cells. A small group of guards fight against them, trying to keep them contained to the detention center part of the facility, but without help from any of the metas who routinely help out with guard duty, they're losing ground fast.

  It's a full out sprint toward the glass wall, conserving my energy and only teleporting through it when I'm a stride away. I'm not sure yet what the rest of today is going to hold for me, or even for this city, but if I don't make it, I want to at least be sure it's not because I used up all the energy in my metabands before I needed it.

  I launch into the air as I run toward the crowd of former metas attempting to fight their way past the woefully outnumbered guards. Besides conserving strength, I also need to be careful since these aren't metas; they're just humans. I need to make sure I don't accidentally kill anyone, so I quickly swipe my left band to bring it down to its lowest power setting.

  Midnight's combat training comes in handy here. I have half the prisoners incapacitated and on the ground before the rest even realize what's happening. Unfortunately, I miss the one prisoner who does realize what's happening and manages to clock me in the back of the head with a fire extinguisher. This knocks my vision out of focus for a moment and the prisoners in front of me take advantage of the fact that I'm temporarily stunned to get a few more free shots in. Maybe I shouldn’t have turned the bands down so far after all.

  A fourth fist is just about to land a shot square on my face when I catch it with my hand, much to the surprise of the person behind it. A quick twist snaps his wrist, making sure he won't be trying that again any time soon. A front kick followed immediately by a back kick takes out two more. It was a lucky guess that someone had to be standing behind me.

  Three more seconds and it's over. The prisoners are all lying on the ground, moaning and holding whatever part of their body happened to get in the way of my fist, foot, or head.

  "Thanks for that," one of the guards says to me.

  "No problem. We've still got to worry about getting everyone out of here, though," I say.

  "There's an emergency access tunnel that goes under the bay and lets out in downtown. Most of the staff is in there already. The ones with half a brain anyway."

  "Good. You four need to get down there too. There isn't much more you're going to be able to do here."

  "Don't have to tell us twice. We'll get everyone out of here."

  Most of the guards take off running, ushering all of the employees they can find toward the once-secret escape tunnel. A few grab the now incapacitated prisoners and drag them along. There isn't going to be very much time for them to get out of here before the Alphas bore through this place to get in. As it is, I can already hear them slamming into the roof above, shaking the entire building every time one of them makes an impact.

  "Omni to Midnight. How's it going out there?" I ask.

  There's a brief pause before I get my answer. "How the hell do you think it's going out here? I'm getting my ass kicked, but the suit's holding up. I'm able to distract these guys, but there's no way I'm going to be able to put them all down before they make their way inside. You gotta get everyone you can out of there, kid."

  "What about the high security metas? How the hell am I supposed to get them out of here?"

  "One thing at a time. We can't worry about them yet. They're a mile underground. Even if the Alphas get into the main facility, they're going to have a hell of a time getting down there as long as you and I are still here. You're going to need to ..." Midnight says, right before his transmission cuts out.

  "Midnight? Midnight!" I yell into my receiver, but I don't hear an answer back.

  My mind immediately jumps to thinking that the worst has happened before I'm jarred back into the present by a steel beam falling from the ceiling. It comes within feet of landing on evacuating staff before I just barely catch it above their heads. They quickly thank me before moving on their way toward the emergency exit, still in shock from what's happening.

  If Sarah and her dad are here, I need to find them. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that anything happened to them if there was even the slightest chance I could have prevented it. The first employee that I stop, a scientist of some sort, judging by her white lab coat, doesn't know who I'm talking about. While frustrated, I'm not entirely surprised.

  Silver Island is a huge facility, and from what I've seen of it, they tend to keep departments as separate as possible. If it's not part of your job, you don't need to know about it or talk to anyone involved in it seems to be their motto.

  The Receiving Area is the first place I think to look when I can't find either one of them. It's where Sarah works and where I've seen Halpern most often. So if they're anywhere inside the facility, that place would make the most sense. The Receiving Area is completely empty by the time I get back there, though. It's eerily quiet and the first time I've seen the place not bustling with some type of activity. Even when I've brought a bad guy or two in here at three a.m., there's always someone here.

  It dawns on me that I should check underneath the desks up in the elevated computer den above the main Receiving Area to make sure that there's no one hiding under there or injured, especially since it looks like I might be the last one to check up here before the entire building is evacuated and sealed.

  There's no relief in finding the area completely empty since that means I still don't know where Halpern and Sarah are. For all I know, they're not even here, and I'm risking my life and the lives of everyone here running around trying to find them. I'm about to leap off the tower and return to my search when one of the computer monitors catches my attention. The monitor is showing a camera that seems to be trained on an empty hallway somewhere in the facility. A hallway I've never seen before.

  There is someone that I've seen before on the feed though: Iris.

  It takes a moment of watching the grainy black and white footage before I'm sure it's her, and another moment to figure out what the hell she's doing. She's hunched over the floor, punching and clawing at it. The progress she's making looks to be slow, but she is managing to get through whatever this floor is made out of. It isn't until I look at the nameplate under the monitor that I p
ut together exactly what she's doing. She's in the restricted high security section of Silver Island, and she's trying to dig down to where the high-risk prisoners are. The prisoners who refused to remove their depleted metabands. The prisoners’ metabands have undoubtedly regained their charges and are just waiting for someone to come along to remove their restraints so they can reactivate their metabands and exact revenge on the people who put them down there in the first place.

  Midnight put me in charge of clearing out this facility and getting everyone to safety, but if those metas get out, the entire city is in danger. I’m conflicted about what to do. I need to stop Iris, but I need to make sure Halpern and Sarah are safe.

  After figuring this out, I'm off running again. The only problem is that I have no idea where I'm running. That part of the facility is beyond restricted, and the way down there is a closely guarded secret. I doubt many, if any, of the employees left here know how to get to it. I'm now moving at hypersonic speeds around the facility, careful not to run into anyone but ambivalent about using up my energy. If Sarah and Halpern are here, I need to find them now to get them out.

  Three seconds into my run, I've covered the majority of the facility that isn't behind locked doors. The damage to the facility is deeply concerning. If anyone is going to make it out of here alive, they’re going to have to do it soon. It's on the second pass through the facility that I finally find Halpern exiting one of the locked rooms that is inaccessible to me.

  "Where's Sarah?" I yell at him. He's surprised and momentarily flustered.

  "How do you know Sarah?" he asks.

  "It doesn't matter. Where is she? Everyone needs to get out of here immediately. Iris is in the high security vault attempting to break out the prisoners located there."

  "My God. I don't know where Sarah is. That's why I'm still here. We have to stop Iris or else there isn't going to be a city for anyone to go back to."