“Save us, Sienna Nealon. Save us all, and you might just save yourself in the process.”
Chapter 11
The flight came in from England a little over a day later, a Gulfstream IV that had been modified for the seventeen of them who were left plus a hospital bed in the back for Janus. I watched them disembark as the cold winter wind of Minneapolis greeted them. It was beyond brisk, a late November kiss that I could tell from Karthik’s reaction as he stepped off the plane’s stairs was more than he was used to dealing with in London.
“Not exactly a balmy day now, is it?” Breandan said with a grin as he crossed the snowy tarmac to reach me. The Irishman’s mustache was still waxed in the oddest affectation I could remember seeing ... well, ever. He bent and gave me a hug that lifted me off the ground and I let him. He was wearing a fedora, and I patted him on the back as he set me down.
“Welcome to Minneapolis,” I said and was promptly picked up again by the next man in line. Reed’s embrace was firmer than Breandan’s and just as appreciated. He gave me a peck on the cheek as I gave him one in return, albeit brief. He pulled back from me and smiled. “It’s good to see you.”
“Yeah, it didn’t take as long as we thought it would,” Reed said, watching me cannily then looking past me to the waiting vans. “Looks like you made some new friends in the last couple days.”
I smiled. “I’m a friendly person. People are just drawn to me. They want to help me.”
“Which affirmation book did you get that out of?” Reed deadpanned.
“Sienna!” A blond streak cut through the crowd and hit me with a surprisingly firm hug.
“Kat,” I said, giving her a light squeeze in return. I would have asked her to stop, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t have done any good. No matter how many times I tried to bat her away, Kat Forrest ... or Klementina Gavrikov ... or whoever she was this week ... just couldn’t seem to stop being nice to me. It annoyed me for reasons I can’t even fully describe.
I finally pulled back from the skinny blond cheerleader. Karthik gave me a polite nod and I gave him the same in return. Karthik was my type of person: all business, no affection. This I understood. However, I was willing to make exceptions for people like Breandan and Reed who had saved my ass a few times. And Kat, because truthfully she was still like a little kitten that I couldn’t bring myself to strangle the life out of. Not that I would strangle a kitten.
I saw a few other familiar faces; the crew that was with me in the last attack on Omega’s headquarters and a girl named Athena that I’d helped recruit to Omega’s protection. She gave me a faint smile even as she looked desperately lost on the cold airport tarmac. “We’ve got hotel rooms booked for you,” I announced to the small crowd. “These vans will take you to there. We’ll all meet soon to talk over what the next step is, but first I have to speak with this lot,” I gestured toward Karthik, Reed and Breandan, “to figure a few things out. This way,” I said, leading them toward the vans.
I’d had Ariadne handle the arrangements. She still had access to all the Directorate accounts, and we were already up and running. Omega may have blown up the buildings, but they weren’t able to damage the banking apparatus. The Directorate still had millions on deposit, ready to be used by us. Which was fortunate because we needed it. Ariadne was looking for temporary office space for us even now. I hadn’t ever given much thought into exactly how convenient our setup was at the Directorate. Helicopters were available to shuttle us around, along with an extensive motor pool. Now we had nothing, and Li had to fight with the FBI as it was for use of the vans we were now sitting in.
I got into the lead van and Karthik, Breandan and Reed followed me. I watched Kat help load Janus into a converted ambulance at the rear of the motorcade. He was on a gurney, a stretcher designed just for transport, his figure looking even more shriveled than I remembered.
“So,” Karthik said, breaking the silence as the van started into motion, “would you care to bring us up to speed with what has happened since we parted?”
“Yeah,” I said, slowly nodding, “I probably should give you a heads up, shouldn’t I? Well, the good news is that our fight just got a little easier ...”
By the time we pulled into the rear loop of the FBI offices, I had them up to speed. There was some disbelief (Reed), some angst at my initial arrest (Breandan), and some minor excitement at the idea that we were no longer in this completely over our heads and by ourselves (Karthik).
“So we have your government’s blessing to do what needs to be done to fight Sovereign?” Karthik asked, listening attentively.
“Indeed we do,” I said with a smile as I opened the van door to step out. “I hope you’re prepared to be deputized.”
Breandan frowned. “Deputized? What the hell is that?”
“It’s where they make you a lawman,” Reed answered.
“I can’t join the law!” Breandan protested. “I have a reputation to uphold! What would my friends think?”
Reed shared a knowing look with me. “That you’re afraid you’re going to be wiped out like the rest of your kind if you don’t get on the side of the only people who are fighting against Century?”
Breandan looked ready to argue then shrugged. “Ah, who am I kidding? I can see which way the wind is blowing, and I do not like the present direction. I’m in.”
“Never doubted for a minute you would be,” I said as we entered the FBI offices. We filed down the hallway in silence until we hit the conference room where Scott was waiting with Li, Ariadne and my mother. Foreman was conspicuous by his absence; it felt like there was a power vacuum in the room. Part of me wondered who would be running this particular meeting, until I realized it was going to be me. I took my place at the head of the table opposite my mother, while Karthik, Reed and Breandan took seats all in a line. Reed exchanged a nod with Scott, a slightly less friendly one with Ariadne, and sent a glare at my mother, who gave him an “eff off” look right back.
“Um,” I said, “I call this meeting to order. Or whatever.” My mother rolled her eyes. Ariadne had moved halfway up the table and sat between Reed and Li. My mother was all the way down at the end by herself. She was quite content with that, I was sure. Breandan had his hand up before I got a chance to say another word. “Yes?”
“Introductions,” he said.
“Right,” I replied. “This is Scott Byerly, he’s a Poseidon-type and a damned good field agent,” I said, nodding at the blond-haired man to my immediate left, “Agent Li of the FBI is our government liaison, Ariadne Fraser, head of our administrative division, then there’s—” I skipped over my mother, “Karthik, head of Omega’s field operations, Reed Treston, my brother and head of Alpha’s field operations, and finally, Breandan Duffy.” I paused with my hand extended at the Irishman, who waited expectantly. I searched for something to say. “Um ... he’s Irish.”
Breandan frowned. “Is that all? I’ve saved your life.”
“So has everyone else at the table,” my mother said. “It’s like a big, giant ‘We’ve Saved Sienna’s Ass’ club. She’ll forget that at some point, though, mark my words, and probably forget you—”
“If you had my mother, you’d try to forget her, too,” I muttered under my breath. “That is Sierra Nealon.”
Breandan and Karthik looked down the table at my mother and Breandan looked back with a quizzical expression. “Is that your mum?”
“Tragically, yes,” I said before my mother could beat me to the punch. “She’ll be working with us on this.”
Breandan looked back at her again. “Wait, so your name is Sierra, and you named her Sienna? That’s a bit vain. Just a couple degrees off of naming her Sierra, Jr., isn’t it?”
My mother let out that hissing exhale that announced her patience was strained, and I took it as a cue to get us back on track. “We have a couple things to discuss now that we’re all gathered. First on the agenda—Karthik, can you help us locate the remnants of Omega in the United States so
we can try and pull their resources together, maybe help us make a better stand?”
“I can try,” Karthik replied. “I likely won’t be much help.”
Reed leaned forward. “Because I’ve been watching Omega operations here in the U.S. for a few years, I have a lot of knowledge about the suspected locations of their facilities. When Karthik and I started comparing notes, it didn’t add up at all.”
“Because you were really lousy at your job?” my mother offered helpfully.
“Ha ha,” Reed said, faking a laugh. “No. I’m actually really good at my job, thank you. It’s because Karthik’s security clearance with Omega is so low he doesn’t have access to anything more than a very basic list of some of their oldest safehouses and facilities.” He looked over at me. “For example, the safehouse in Eau Claire that we visited a few months ago wasn’t on the list. Neither was the Andromeda facility in Eagle River.”
“Site Epsilon,” my mother said. “That’s what they would have called it in their files. Like every super-secret organization, they had ridiculous code-names for everything.”
“I can search for Site Epsilon in the Omega database,” Karthik said. “We left the servers on and connected, so I can access them from here so long as they remain intact. I tried to copy everything we could, but there were so many files, stretching back such a long time ...”
“That should be fine,” I said. “Hopefully Century has better things to do than destroy Omega’s empty headquarters.”
“Even that wouldn’t necessarily put them offline,” Karthik said. “We moved the servers down into the basement before we left, and it has its own power supply and independent data connections. So long as that sub-basement isn’t destroyed, we have whatever limited access I can manage to Omega’s entire library.” A troubled look made it’s way over his swarthy face. “Unfortunately it isn’t much for now, but I can continue to try and work on it.”
“We may be able to help with that,” I said, glancing at Ariadne. “We’re looking to bring on some high-powered IT support, someone who might be able to help you break into Omega’s databases.”
“J.J.?” Reed asked, watching me. “Did you find him?”
“We never lost him,” Ariadne explained. “He was furloughed with the rest of the Directorate staff just before the destruction. I sent him an email last night and he responded. He’ll be in tomorrow.”
“Speaking of old Directorate problems,” Li said, “we need to talk about facilities. We’re running into the end of the FBI’s good graces, taking up all the space we currently are. Your new arrivals will probably push the special agent in charge of this field office over the edge.”
I looked over at Ariadne, who made a little noise as she placed a palm flat against the table. She was back in her normal work attire, looking much more like the Ariadne I knew, her hair straightened and her suit looking appropriately drab. “I’ve looked at a few spaces, but ...” she let her voice trail off, then looked over at me for just a second before shifting her gaze back to the table, “... we need something of suitable size, with a motor pool, preferably a helicopter landing pad—”
“Do you anticipate landing a helicopter on it?” Breandan said, a little glib.
“The Directorate’s Black Hawk is sitting at the airport in Bloomington,” Ariadne said, taking no note of Breandan’s sarcasm. “I’ve already spoken with the pilots; they’re ready to work for us.”
“Are there no facilities available that meet our criteria?” I asked. “Or are there none we can afford?”
Ariadne looked grudgingly at me before she chose her next words. “Money is not an issue. Foreman has assured me that we can make big moves with the trading unit in order to gin up cash and he’ll be able to keep the SEC from nailing us to the wall. We used to keep it small so it would glide under the radar, but he’s given us permission to do a few things that will quadruple our money in the next six months, which will give us enough to construct a facility that will meet our needs.” She grimaced. “But I don’t think you’re going to like the idea I have for it.”
I looked at her pained expression and felt my internal temperature drop. “You want to rebuild the Directorate campus.”
She was calm and cool when she answered. “We own the land outright, it’s well located. It does need some serious attention from a demolition company, but I have contacts in the construction industry that could get a primary building up in three months or less, assuming Senator Foreman could help with the permitting process. We’d be up and running in a facility that was designed for us in no time. The only downside—”
“Is that it was the scene of a rather spectacularly heinous murder,” I whispered, almost too low for the rest of the room to hear it. Almost.
“Who?” my mother asked. “Those four meta thugs you killed?”
“It makes sense to use what we’ve got,” I said, letting pragmatism drown out the screaming of my own voice in the back of my head. “Priority goes to a headquarters and a dorm—”
Ariadne nodded slowly. “I’ve got those marked down. A parking garage and training facility are secondary priorities. That will pretty much cover us for now, though, for what we need.”
“Do it,” I said. “Can you get us temporary office space while—”
“I signed a lease agreement this morning on eight thousand square feet in Eden Prairie,” Ariadne said. “Not far from the airport in case we need to land a chopper, and there’ll be enough space for admin with some room for your operations teams to at least plan and train in the place.”
I nodded. “And for housing—”
“There’s a motel across the parking lot,” she said. “Decent enough and convenient. We’ll be able to cover the expenses for your new charges without any trouble, though if you could hand me any who aren’t fighters, it’d certainly help us cover some of the jobs that aren’t presently filled—secretarial staff, all that.”
I nodded. “I think we have more than a few that can fulfill that function. Okay, so headquarters is covered for now. We’ll get Reed and Karthik working on Omega’s tattered remains here in the States. The next priority is expanding our footprint and recruiting new talent.” I looked at each of them. “If we’re going to fight the most powerful army in the world, we need an army of our own to do it with.”
“What’s your plan on that?” Breandan asked.
“I need to visit cloisters,” I said and turned to look at Scott. “I could use some help from someone who’s grown up in the meta culture.”
“Sure,” Scott said with a nod, his usual grin sadly missing. “I can help with that; my parents grew up in the North Shore cloister before the family decided to get out and move to the big city. Used to go back every summer for reunions.”
“What kind of army are you looking to build?” my mother asked, her fingers interlaced in front of her. “Are you just looking to throw together anyone with a meta power, regardless of how much they’ve got?”
I didn’t know exactly what to say to that. “I’m just looking for some fighters. Some people who are willing to stand between Century and the rest of our kind with me.”
“So, basically anybody with more guts than brains.” She leaned back in her chair and made that damned hissing sound again. “You know there’s a power scale for a reason. You put a bunch of level ones against Sovereign and he’s going to wipe them out in about five seconds, not sparing a thought as he walks over their corpses to get to you.”
“I’m just trying to find a way to fight him—”
Her voice rose. “Everything you’re talking about so far is just going to make it easier for him to kill us all.”
“That’s enough for now,” I said, controlling my voice. “You,” I said to mother, “I need to talk with. Outside.”
“I guess I’m in trouble now,” she quipped as she stood and started to follow me to the door.
“Not quite ‘Getting locked in a metal box’ trouble,” I said before leading her out the door, �
�but close.”
As I made my way down the hallway, I could hear her behind me, stalking along, keeping pace. The beige carpeting and white walls were uniform and boring with only a few wall-hung decorations to break the monotony. I took a left and opened the rear door where a suited agent nodded at me before I stepped outside into the cold. I wasn’t wearing my coat because I’d left it inside without thinking.
My mother followed behind me a few steps, sauntering into the chill air and taking a deep breath, which frosted in front of her as she exhaled. “Well, here we are.”
“Here we are,” I said. “Again.”
We stared at each other in tense silence for a minute until she spoke. “So ... are we going to fight?”
I nodded. “I think so. Unless you want to stop challenging my authority at every turn.”
“If your ideas weren’t the product of an eighteen-year-old’s idiotic idealistic notions, maybe I wouldn’t have to challenge them constantly.” She kept her hands out, evenly spaced. She didn’t look tense, but I knew she was wary, prepared for me to attack her. I wasn’t going to make it that easy on her, though, when the moment came.
“First of all, none of them are final, just brainstorms—”
“Your brainstorms aren’t exactly getting me wet, if you’ll pardon the—”
“Gross,” I said. “I have a job to do, one I’m taking seriously. I understand you don’t want to be here—”
“That’s an understatement,” she said, cutting me off. “If I weren’t presently being blackmailed by the U.S. government into helping you try and teach a pig how to fly, I’d be so deep underground that one poorly-placed shovel from a Chinese farmer would unearth me.”
“So go,” I said, throwing my arms wide. “I know Foreman says he’ll come after you, but I’m the one in charge of metahuman policing and you know what? I don’t have the manpower to waste on your old ass right now.” I threw the ‘old ass’ part in as a dig just to piss her off. It’s what I do.
Legacy: The Girl in the Box #8 Page 7