“Go on, then,” my mother said, “we’ll see you in the morning.”
“Or possibly afternoon,” I said and started toward the door. I barely noticed that Ariadne and my mother remained behind. I wondered if I should worry about what they were discussing and decided it ultimately didn’t matter.
I dragged myself across the campus toward the dormitory. Off in the distance, a new building was being constructed, nominally at my behest. It was a research and development lab, to be populated with the best and the brightest minds that we could muster. Right now it was just steel girders sticking out of a hole in the ground. I hadn’t paid it much attention other than to sign off on the basic layout. As far as I was concerned, by the time it bore fruit—assuming we lived that long—my tenure at the new Agency would probably be just about over and Century would be toast. Every heavy step I took was lightened by the though of that prospect. It was all that was keeping me going right now.
That was a long day, Zack said as I let him out of the box in my mind.
“Tell me about it,” I said.
I’m glad Scott was there to save you.
“Me, too,” I said, letting the heaviness of my feet trudging across the soft, grassy lawn keep my brain from tumbling into unconsciousness.
You didn’t just let me out to ask about your day.
“No,” I agreed. “I wanted some company while I walked. Needed to think.”
You’re not in much shape for thinking.
“This is true.”
But you’re still mulling over Sovereign? Dreading him?
“Always.”
Maybe you should take a break for a little bit. Come back fresh.
I almost smiled, but it was bittersweet. “Head for an island, sandy beaches?”
It would be nice.
“It would be ...” I thought about it, “... irresponsible.”
You’re nineteen. You’re allowed some irresponsibility.
My smile faded. “Not now. Not with the stakes like this.”
What was that line from that movie? “If we can’t save the earth, you can be damned well sure we’ll avenge it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But I don’t think Sovereign’s going to respond to that threat any better than Loki did.” I sighed as I reached the heavy doors of the dormitory, which had emergency shutters secured in a large, rectangular casing over every window in the place. It increased the weight of the door as I opened it, and in my exhausted state, I actually felt it. “If I could even find him to threaten him.” I placed my hands over my face as I walked into the lobby area at the front of the dorms. Two security guards stared at me impassively, and I slid my key card through the little reader at the stall that buzzed and opened a gate for me to enter. It wouldn’t keep out a meta, but much like the shutters, it wasn’t designed to. It was only meant to stall for time.
You think he’d give up this plan if it meant he was going to die along with it if he failed?
I laughed, and the security guards looked at me funny. “Sorry,” I said. “I just had a thought.” They looked at me as though I was crazy. “A funny thought. A joke, more like. Yeah.” I doubt he thinks he’s going to fail, I thought to Zack, so I didn’t appear like I was talking to myself, since he’s currently winning.
So he’s overconfident.
I almost laughed again as I pushed the button for the elevator. I don’t think he’s overconfident since, again, he’s winning, and winning big. He’s wiped out something like five-sixths of our population, so ... he probably thinks he’s got this in the bag. The elevator dinged and I stepped in, forcing a weak smile at the security guards, who were still watching me. I placed my hand on the biometric reader for the elevator and it scanned my hand. More security measures. The idea that Sovereign would come here and try and wipe out our metas was not exactly laughable. I certainly wasn’t laughing about it. It gave me nightmares.
Everyone has a weakness.
“The man is a ghost,” I said as the elevator doors closed. “I have one person who’s seen him in the last twenty years, otherwise he’s all hearsay and superstition.” I rubbed my eyes as the elevator dinged, heralding our arrival at the top floor. “He’d be a better candidate for the meta bogeyman than I am, given how little he shows up and how scared shitless some really powerful people have been of him.”
So he’s earned his legend.
“That’s the rumor,” I said. “But what’s he really left behind for us?” I walked to my door, just down the hall, and let my thumbprint get scanned even as I used my badge to unlock it. It was a tandem lock; the hope was that it would at least warn me if something was seriously awry—like someone forcing their way into my quarters to ambush me. Both functioned as they were supposed to, and I heard a beep and a click as the door unlocked and I opened it. “A trail of frightened people.”