Meta (Book 5): New Empire

by Reynolds, Tom

  Midnight is quiet.

  “You know something you’re not telling me, don’t you?” I ask.

  He thinks for another few seconds before swiveling his chair around to face his computer terminal. He enters commands into the keyboard, and a fuzzy blue circle appears on the monitor.

  “That’s Volaris,” he says. “It’s still there. April is lying.”

  “Whoa, so you found it?”

  “I did, but that’s the clearest image I can get. Even this has been dramatically upscaled.”

  Only a handful of pixels comprise the image, and they’ve been blown up to take over the screen. There are no discernible details. I can’t tell if there’s even a landmass.

  “Okay, so the planet is still there. Maybe she was being hyperbolic when she said it was obliterated. Why would she lie?”

  “Why would she tell the truth?” Midnight asks.

  “But they could easily take over the planet. They don’t need our compliance.”

  “And nothing precludes that scenario from taking place in the future, especially if they meet resistance from Earth.”

  April lying about such a huge detail is an incredibly disconcerting red flag, but they expected to face hostilities when they arrived here. If she told Earth the truth, we would probably tell them to turn around and go back to where they came from.

  “How can we know what the true story is, then?” I ask Midnight.

  The rooftop hatch opens, and Iris plummets through it, landing right in front of us as the hatch closes.

  “We go to Volaris,” she says.

  “We what? And how the heck did you know what I asked?”

  Iris taps her ear. Right, super hearing.

  “We go to Volaris and see for ourselves why the Volarians are lying, and if we’re smart about it, we can do it without them knowing.”

  “Cool, okay. We’ll just go to another planet that’s light-years away. No problem.”

  “Great, so you’re on board,” Iris says.

  “No, I’m not on board! I was being sarcastic! How the hell are we going to get to another planet? And don’t tell me that Midnight has a spaceship he’s been keeping secret this whole time.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Connor. We’re going to get to Volaris the same way April Allard did—by teleporting there.”

  “In case you forgot, I haven’t been able to do that for a while now. And even if I could teleport, there’s the teeny-weeny detail of having to know exactly where you’re teleporting to. Without that, we’d wind up somewhere in outer space, and I don’t know about you, but I need to air to live.”

  “Neither of us needs to be able to teleport ourselves. We just need someone who can get us there and, more crucially, back.”

  “And you have someone in mind that you would trust to bring us all the way to another planet and back without leaving us stranded in the cold darkness of space?”

  “I do.”

  “Robin Clay,” Midnight pipes in.

  “Robin Clay? Robin Clay! You mean Vanish? As in the person you and I personally apprehended after she went on a murderous rampage through the city?”

  Robin Clay, aka Vanish. One of the most talented teleporters the world had ever known. She had never been a problem—until she went on a killing spree. The mob killed her brother, and she was determined to make them pay. Midnight and I didn’t catch her until her work was done. I still wonder if we only caught her because she let us.

  “It wasn’t a rampage. She went after specific people who wronged her,” Iris says.

  “And then she murdered them. This is the person we should trust to teleport us halfway across the galaxy and back?”

  “She’s the only person suited for the job. Her spatial reasoning abilities are off the charts. It wouldn’t take long to get her up to speed on the position of Volaris relative to Earth. We can show her all the relevant telemetry data and spatial coordinates, and she could get herself, as well as the two of you, inside the Volarian atmosphere. From there, you can make your way down to the planet’s surface.”

  “Are you forgetting another little detail? Robin Clay is incarcerated in a maximum-security metahuman prison. Even you can’t pull the kinds of strings we’d need to get her out of there.”

  “We wouldn’t be pulling strings. We’d be breaking her out,” Iris says.

  “This plan keeps getting better and better. So, you’re telling me that we’re going to break a murderer out of a maximum-security prison, then we’re going to have her teleport us to another planet, and then immediately teleport us back after we figure out why the aliens are lying to us? Will we be wearing blindfolds while we do all this too? Because I don’t think it’ll be hard enough as is.”

  “She won’t be able to immediately teleport you back,” Midnight says.

  “Beg your pardon?” I ask.

  “Robin Clay won’t be able to teleport you back immediately. She’ll only have enough strength to bring herself back. She’ll need time to recharge after teleporting that distance with two extra people along for the ride.”

  “Awesome. And how long will that take?”

  “An estimated twelve hours.”

  “So, for twelve hours, we’ll be on our own?”

  “That’s why it’s necessary to send both of you. You’re two of the most powerful humans on the planet. Either one of you could pull this off, but sending you both ensures we’ll have a backup plan.”

  “Why not send a drone or something like that?”

  Midnight shakes his head. “The distance is too great. We couldn’t control it remotely and an autonomous drone couldn’t effectively evade detection. We may only have one chance to learn what’s going on there without them seeing us coming. A drone is too risky in light of the timetable we’re facing.”

  I sit back down and put my head in my hands, groaning in frustration. I don’t like anything about this plan, but I also don’t have a better idea.

  “I don’t need to tell either of you that this plan is dangerous,” Midnight says, “but the only thing more dangerous is inaction. We’re potentially facing a threat bigger than any other we’ve seen before. It’s not just our city that’s on the line here, but all of humanity.”

  This plan sounds insane and scary and something that’ll wind up getting me and Iris killed, but what’s the alternative? Trusting our new alien overlords and hoping they aren’t planning on grinding us into hamburgers once the rest of them get here? There’s only one choice, even if it sucks.

  “You’re right,” I say. “You know that I know you’re right. I don’t like it, but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt, so I’m in.”

  “Great, I didn’t want to have to teleport you there without you being cool with it,” Iris says with a smile.

  “You were going to do that?”

  “We’re talking about the fate of the world here, Connor. Sorry.”

  “Glad I said yes, then. So, how do we break Robin Clay out of jail?”

  Nineteen

  “As you know, Robin Clay is incarcerated at the Silver Island Metahuman Detention Facility. Despite ongoing repairs, she’s remained housed with others who’ve forfeited their metabands.”

  I wasn’t aware that Robin Clay had given up her metabands, but I’m not surprised. She was only interested in revenge. After she got it, she had no use for metabands. She would know that it’s useless to hold on to metabands in a facility like Silver Island. The hopes of breaking out are slim to none with the recent advances they’ve made in detainment facilities. Refusing to forfeit your metabands ensures you’ll be sent to the highest-security areas and locked up with the worst of the worst. Give up your metabands, though, and you get to serve your time in a much cozier area of the prison, at least as far as prisons are concerned.

  Don’t get me wrong, it still sucks, but it sucks slightly less.

  “Due to the recent damage the facility sustained, Silver Island is behind schedule in transferring seized metabands to outside facilities.”
Thanks for not calling me out on that again, Midnight. “The Kaldonian government has attempted to hijack several metaband shipments around the country in recent months, as you are both aware. This will work in our favor. It means Robin Clay’s metabands are still stored at Silver Island.”

  Breakout attempts are more uncommon than you’d expect for a prison holding superhumans, but they still happen. When they do, it’s a good idea to make sure the bracelets that give those prisoners their superhuman abilities aren’t stored in a closet down the hall. That’s why they’re normally transported offsite.

  Fortunately, Robin Clay was imprisoned at the wrong time. Or right time, I guess. It’s confusing to be the ones trying to break someone out of prison.

  “Clay is no use to us without those metabands, so we’ll need help retrieving them,” Midnight says.

  “And that’s where my buddy Julio comes in,” Iris says.

  “Who?”

  “Julio. You met him at the mansion, remember?”

  I shake my head.

  She holds her hand low to the ground to jog my memory.

  “Oh, the Shrinker!” I say.

  “He doesn’t like that term.”

  “How can he help?”

  “You’re going to like this plan, Connor. You don’t have to do any of the hard parts.”

  “I like it already.”

  “Later today, you’ll be transporting a new prisoner to Silver Island,” Midnight says. “That prisoner will be Iris disguised as a recently activated metahuman. You’ll tell the authorities at Silver Island that she’s a teleporter, ensuring she’s brought to the same wing where Robin is being kept.”

  This is a security precaution at Silver Island: metahumans with similar powers are kept together. Years ago, there was an incident where two metahumans with different abilities broke out of the detention center by combining their fire and ice abilities to compromise the roof’s integrity. Ever since, they’ve kept metahumans with different abilities apart.

  “Julio will be hiding inside a pair of deactivated metabands that you’ll say belong to her. Those metabands, along with a miniaturized Julio, will be brought to the on-site vault, where they’ll be stored alongside Robin’s. Once Iris can speak with Robin alone and get her buy-in, she’ll signal Julio, who’ll bring Robin’s metabands to her. From there, it’ll be easy for Robin to teleport herself, Iris, and Julio out of the facility.”

  “And here I thought teleporting to another planet would be the hard part,” I say.

  “Attention, potential aerial threat detected,” the hideout’s computerized voice announces.

  Midnight wheels around in his chair and brings up an outside view on his monitor. The camera zooms in on a small quadcopter drone.

  “Looks like Julio’s here,” Iris says.

  On the screen, the drone slows and hovers over the rooftop. A small transparent canopy opens, and a tiny figure leaps out. The figure falls a foot or two before rapidly growing into a roughly ten-foot-tall man.

  “Uh, is that his default size?” I ask.

  On the silent security camera feed, Julio mouths a curse word and then squeezes his eyes shut. His face scrunches up, and his body shrinks to the size of an average human being.

  “He’s still working on getting his size adjustments right,” Iris says. “He’s made a lot of progress.”

  “Glad to hear that lynchpin in our plan to break a criminal out of prison has made a lot of progress. That’s immensely reassuring.”

  Iris ignores my comment.

  The rooftop hatch opens, and Julio descends the ladder to join us. The small drone follows him, and when he reaches the bottom rung, it hovers in midair. Julio extends his hand, giving it a place to land, then folds the blades inward until the entire thing is small enough to stuff into his back pocket.

  “So, are we doing this or what?” he asks.

  Twenty

  “You must be loving this,” Iris says as we descend toward Silver Island.

  Iris’s hands are bound by a pair of Midnight’s handcuffs, and I’m carrying her by her waist. In my other hand is a small piece of nylon rope strung through a pair of dead metabands, also courtesy of Midnight.

  “I can tell you at least one person who is not loving this,” Julio says through my earpiece. Currently, he’s a centimeter tall and tethered, via a very tiny rock-climbing harness, to the rope holding the metabands together.

  “This isn’t a picnic for me either. You realize that after we do this, they’ll never let me back in again, right? The only silver lining is that Halpern isn’t working today, so at least I won’t have to lie to his face.”

  “It might not matter if the Volarians turn us into BBQ,” Iris replies.

  “You think they’re planning on making us into food too?” Julio chimes in. “Everyone back at the house was telling me I was crazy for thinking that, but it all makes sense if you think about it—”

  “All right, everyone,” I interrupt, “let’s get our game faces on. We’re almost close enough for them to hear us.”

  Iris rolls her eyes. The moment our feet touch the ground, she me to put distance between us. I’m not sure if the shove is part of the act or not.

  We approach the intake door, and a camera whirls around to scan us. Additional cameras and sensors activate, projecting a grid of red lasers onto us to take a closer look. If all goes according to plan, they won’t detect Julio thanks to his minuscule size. The scans stop, and the camera returns to its default position. Satisfied that it’s safe, the exterior door slides into the adjoining wall with a loud hiss, and Halpern emerges.

  “Omni, long time no see!” he shouts.

  Oh, come on. He was supposed to be off today!

  “I didn’t think you’d be here,” I say.

  He gives me a quizzical look, either wondering why I care or hurt that I’m disappointed to see him.

  “We’re a little short-staffed. A few guards decided to head for the hills when they saw what’s going on up there, so here I am, helping out with prisoner intake. So, what have you got for us today? I didn’t hear about any recent incidents.”

  “Um, oh, right. This one. Caught her trying to teleport into Midnight’s hideout. Fortunately, she missed, but she was pretty close. Caught her red-handed.”

  Halpern’s eyes narrow. He doesn’t believe my story.

  “I’m not sure that’s a metahuman crime,” Halpern says. “Sounds to me like attempted breaking and entering.”

  Crap. We should have come up with a better cover story to make Iris sound more dangerous.

  I open my mouth to speak, even though I’m not sure what I’m going to say, when I’m hit in the face. Like hit really hard. I stagger backward, confused and trying to shake the stars from my eyes. As I step back, I’m hit again and fall to the ground. Fists pummel the sides of my rib cage.

  It’s Iris. She’s on top of me and unleashing a barrage of punches. I grab her fists and rise to my feet. She’s fighting to free herself but not hard enough for it to work. Iris yells and screams like a madwoman while she feigns straining against my grip.

  Halpern wasn’t convinced she’s dangerous enough to be housed in Silver Island, so Iris gave him a demonstration to help change his mind. I pull her hands behind her back and pick up her handcuffs from the ground. The lock’s been picked. Midnight must have shown her a thing or two about breaking out of handcuffs.

  Halpern laughs. “You weren’t kidding. She is dangerous. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone get the drop on you, Omni. I guess you’re still getting used to the new suit, huh?”

  Iris did a great job selling the act. Even I didn’t know what the heck was going on. Halpern takes hold of Iris’s handcuffs. Another guard emerges from the intake entrance and takes the metabands from me.

  “We’ll take it from here, Omni. Hope to see you again soon,” Halpern says.

  I cringe behind my mask.

  If this all goes to plan, he won’t want to see me again for a long time.<
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  Twenty-One

  I arrive back at Midnight’s hideout and take a seat next to him at the computer terminal.

  “Did you know she was going to do that?” I ask.

  “I knew she would improvise if the situation required it.”

  The mask portion of my suit retracts to expose my face. I reach up and feel my nose, which still really hurts.

  “You know, the magtonium doesn’t do as fast a job of healing me after injuries. I don’t think Iris realized that.”

  Midnight says nothing. He doesn’t care. All that matters is this mission succeeding.

  “Status check,” Midnight says into the comms system being shared between us, Iris, and Julio.

  A few seconds later, Julio says, “I’m in position and searching for Clay’s metabands. As soon as I’ve got ’em, I’ll let you know.”

  “The metabands should be categorized by ability and arranged alphabetically by inmate name.”

  “Got it, Big Guy. Leafin’ through ’em now.”

  The distinctive metallic clang of metabands banging into each other echoes through Julio’s microphone. It’s a familiar sound to anyone who’s ever activated a pair. Based on the amount of clanging, Julio’s method of sorting through them must involve dumping them onto the floor first.

  “Confirm if you can hear this and speak, Iris,” Midnight says.

  “I hear you,” Iris whispers.

  “Excellent,” Midnight replies. “I’ve infiltrated their internal network. Robin Clay is about to find out she has a new roommate.”

  “4592, eyes forward,” a guard barks over Iris’s microphone.

  Iris falls quiet. We listen to her footsteps as she makes her way down one of Silver Island’s many long hallways. The footsteps stop, and the sound of a steel gate sliding open fills the silence.

  “What the hell is this?” says a voice I recognize as Robin Clay’s.

  “New roomie. She’s a ’porter, just like you. You’ll get along famously,” the guard says.