The Metawars, Chapter 13: Negotiations

Chapter 13: Negotiations

“Are we ready?” Nucleon glanced at his watch again, confirming what he already knew. They were right on schedule.

“Yes,” Professor Portal said. “Still ready.” He bobbed up and down on the balls of his feet, twiddling his fingers. Nucleon ignored him. Behind them, Brainwave lounged against the concrete walls of the small room and stifled a yawn behind his long hands. They were in a cell in the depths of Professor Portal's base. The room had no windows, just bare grey walls and a blank door. The only thing in the room was a metal chair.

“Well, then let's get on with it. We only have a small window.”

“Patience,” Nucleon said. “We must be precise.” This, of course, assumed that the schedule Charles had leaked to them was accurate. If not, they would have to improvise, and fast. “Now.”

 

Professor Portal reached out in front of him and tore the air apart. Distant light warmed the room, and Nucleon caught a glimpse of a backstage somewhere, dark curtains and narrow spaces illuminated by the light beyond. Blocking the light was the dark silhouette of a man. Professor Portal reached through space, grabbed onto the man's shoulders, and pulled him through the opening. The portal snapped shut as Senator Alan sprawled out on the cell floor. He looked around wildly, his broad face filled with confusion and panic. Then he laid eyes on Nucleon, and hissed, “You!”

“Good evening, senator,” Nucleon said.

 

Alan scrambled to his feet, which took a few seconds, and tried to retreat away from Nucleon, but the room was small and there was nowhere to go. He looked around and saw the other Metahumans.

“Sit,” Brainwave said, gesturing to the chair.

 

Senator Alan thrust his jaw out, scowling. “I will not,” he said.

“Sit,” Brainwave said, eyes flashing, and he pushed Alan back into the chair. Alan sat. “Your phone, please. Can't have anyone find out where you are.” Alan handed over his cell phone without question, and Brainwave pocketed it. The telepath closed his eyes for a moment. “He's clean. And he's due onstage in ten minutes.” Brainwave released his mental hold on Alan and leaned back against the wall.

“How the hell did you find me?” Alan asked. “My location was secret. The entire event was.”

“Please,” Brainwave said. “Do you think the comings and goings of so many politicians and Metahumans could be kept completely secret? We had certain ways of finding out.” He smiled cryptically.

 

Alan swallowed. “So. What are you loonies going to do to me now, eh?” He gripped the arms of the chair and glanced around the room.

“There's no way out,” Professor Portal informed him. “I've made sure of that.”

“I thought, senator,” Nucleon said, hunkering down to Alan's level, “that we could have a little chat.”

“Not with you, I won't,” Alan said. “Not with any of you.”

“Your other option is to sit here for several boring minutes. Eventually I'll have Brainwave program you the way I want or tear the information out of your head, but neither of us want that. I'd rather we reach a compromise together.” Nucleon shrugged. “It's up to you.”

 

Alan's small eyes looked between the three gathered Metahumans. Then he said, “Say what you want.”

“You recently spoke before congress about rolling back Metahuman rights. Specifically, about undoing the changes I made.”

 

Alan laughed, a single humorless bark. “So you want me to take that back. You want me to say that I've changed my mind and that you're no threat at all.”

“My God, he's good,” Brainwave mused.

“I'll never do it. You people are threats. You're weapons, and you're meant to be used by those that can control you.” He pointed a finger at Nucleon. “You're dangerous, and you can't be controlled.”

 

Nucleon felt a twinge in his chest. He knew what he was. He knew what he was capable of. The memories of Rushmore's cancer came back to the surface. The fate of all his allies, in the end. What sick joke of nature had decided that a man should wield one of the most destructive powers on earth? Nucleon thought, or liked to think, that he'd never been irresponsible with his powers, but it was a thin line he walked.

 

Then again, as the twisted children of the atom bomb, perhaps his powers made the most sense of all.

“I think that decision should be made by those with the power to make it,” Nucleon said, ignoring Senator Alan's piercing remark. “An I intend to make them see that my point of view is correct.”

“You'll force your views on them?” Alan said.

“No more than you would. But in this case, you'll do the persuading for me.”

 

Alan laughed again, longer this time. Professor Portal rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers against his folded arms. When Alan spoke, he said, “You're not serious.”

“Why not? It's perfect. Who in Washington is more in support of the war than you? You're the biggest proponent of the MPA. Always have been.” Knowing what Alan had seen, Nucleon found it a little hard to blame him. Majesticus and Nucleon had been sent in to take down the Mentalist themselves. They'd both been rookies then, only a year or two out of training. Looking back, Nucleon still found it hard to believe that they'd managed to take down a psychic as powerful as the Mentalist. “If you were to change your opinions and begin speaking out against it, then people would fall in line behind you.”

“First,” Alan said, “I'm not going along with you. Second, people won't support me. They'll think I've gone nuts. Someone else will take my place and nothing will be different. So no dice.”

“They will follow you,” Nucleon said. He stood, grunting as his bones protested. “I'll tell you why.” He began to pace around the small room, keeping his eyes on Senator Alan the whole time. The man had settled into his chair, almost as if it were a throne, following Nucleon's movements across the cell. “You're the head of the Subcommittee of Superhero Logistics. You work directly with Secretary Chapman, a pushover if I ever saw one.” Alan made a noise, which Nucleon chose to interpret as agreement. “You have the president's ear.” Not that Lynch would be an easy sell on this, but it could be useful. “You work with countless lobbyists. Your radical change of opinion will be talked about, by congressmen and Washington insiders and people everywhere. I'm sure you'll be interviewed extensively about it. And you're a very persuasive man. Your new opinions will spread around Washington and the country and people will fall in line. So when it becomes time to propose these changes to the Senate and President Lynch, they'll all be ready to repeal the Metahuman Police Act and grant us our freedom.” Brainwave started a slow clap. “What do you say, senator?”

 

Alan unbuttoned his jacket and adjusted himself in his seat. “You still haven't given me a reason to do all this. Nothing you say will persuade me. Nothing.”

“We could just kill him,” Brainwave suggested.

“You know we can't do that,” Nucleon said. It would be the Thunderman situation all over again. Likely worse. Granted, the thought of Alan's corpse tumbling from a portal onto the podium in front of a giant crowd did have massive appeal, but that happy moment would have to wait. He turned to face Alan. The world would benefit from the man's death. Greedy, intolerant, intolerable. Pockets lined with money from corrupt fat cats and anti-Metahuman lobbyists. It would be simple to kill him. But he could be used alive. “You are aware of what we can do, senator. The three of us in this room could destroy any location in America in no time at all. But we haven't. We haven't because I do not crave the destruction of this country. I want to improve it.

“You will agree to what I have proposed to you. Because if you don't, I won't hold back.” Nucleon allowed himself a smile. “You recall the Metahuman who called herself the Mentalist. You remember what she did to Miami and your home state. That was one Metahuman. Imagine what all of my supporters could do if we were to descend on Florida together.”

 

Time for drama. Nucleon spread his hands and let his eyes glow, green in the dim light of the room. He let low levels of energy pour off of him, microwaves and a narrow spectrum of visible light.

“Now you make idle threats to the entire country,” Alan said, but he looked pale. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, prominent in the cold light pouring off of Nucleon. “You expect me to surrender now?”

 

Nucleon let the light fade. “Do what you want. But if you deviate from what I've proposed, or if you let slip what happened here, we will attack. We will descend on your state and reduce it to nothing. It will be easy. And all that death and destruction will be on your shoulders, Spencer Alan. We will make sure the world knows it. They will know that this is because you stood in the way of progress and Metahuman rights.” He leaned down close to Alan. The senator inched backwards in his chair. “Do we have a deal?”

 

He prayed that Alan wouldn't call his bluff. The last thing Nucleon wanted was wanton destruction. He would be proving exactly what people thought about him. But it was an effective bargaining chip to use against the man.

 

Alan adjusted himself in his chair. He patted his forehead with a handkerchief, unbuttoned his jacket. He looked at his watch. “Tick tock,” said Brainwave, tapping his wrist.

“There's really only one decision you can make here,” Professor Portal said. “Be pragmatic, senator.”

 

Nucleon folded his arms and tried to not to look anxious. Alan could decide on nothing. He could refuse them everything and what could they do about it?

 

Alan looked up at Nucleon and finally spoke. “You'll give me protection,” he said in a clear voice. “No matter what you do or plan, I'll be safe. Me, and my family.” Nucleon nodded. “You'll leave my state alone. I hold up my end, and you don't touch Florida.”

“Yes, yes,” Brainwave said, all but rolling his eyes.

“You will give me time to prepare my answers to the public. You'll leave me the hell alone after this. And him.” He pointed at Brainwave. “You'll keep him out of my head.”

 

Brainwave's lips pulled back. “You're not in position to make terms,” he snarled.

“He'll stay out,” Nucleon said. “But we'll be keeping a close eye on you.” He paused, waiting for Alan to say more. “So. Are we agreed?” He held out his hand. Alan glanced at it, and Nucleon knew what the man was thinking. The same thing everyone had thought since the Rushmore incident. But Alan shook, briefly. “Nice doing business with you, senator.”

 

Alan stood and buttoned his jacket with one hand. “Get me out of here.”

“Of course,” said Brainwave. “You're due to speak any minute now. Brainwave, the senator's phone?”

 

Brainwave handed Alan back his phone, Professor Portal did his thing, and Senator Alan stepped through the wormhole back into Washington. “Will he do it?” Professor Portal asked the moment space had restored itself.

“At least for now,” Brainwave said. “He's intimidated. Time will tell if it holds, but for now, we've got him.” The three of them walked out of the cell and took the stairs up into the secret base. “You should have let me get into his head,” Brainwave said to Nucleon as they entered the control room. “It's the easiest way to keep track of him.”

“I won't risk Majesticus finding out,” Nucleon said. “He'd notice if you were poking around in Senator Alan's mind, trust me. Eliot could always tell.” How much easier things would be if Majesticus had joined their cause. At least then there would be someone Nucleon could trust entirely on his damn team.

 

Professor Portal switched on the monitors and communicators. Charles Ramanujan's eager face appeared on the screen. “Did it work?” he asked.

“Indeed,” Nucleon said. “Alan will back off. We've got him on a short leash.”

“Wonderful news.” Charles clasped his hands together and smiled. “Let's keep it that way.”

“He'll be speaking now,” Brainwave said. “Professor Portal, if you'd be so kind...?”

 

Professor Portal opened a small crack in space and they all crowded around it. It offered an overhead view of an opulent club, men and women in fine clothing all facing a podium at the front of the room where Senator Alan was beginning a speech.

“My friends,” he began, “humans and Metahumans. Thank you for coming.” Even at this distance Nucleon could see that Alan was unnerved. “We are gathered here tonight to show our solidarity and unity in this war. Our resolve is strong, our cause is right, and we will prevail.”

“Get to it,” Brainwave muttered as the crowd clapped.

“That said, I have done some...soul searching. And I have determined that the proposals I made earlier were made in haste.” A brief pause. “Together we can find another way to win. A better way. But make no mistake, we will win,” he said loudly over the sounds of shock and surprise from the crowd.

“Close it,” Nucleon said. “I've seen enough. So,” he said, turning to Charles. “What is our next move?”

“We'll lay low for a bit,” Charles said. “We'll let Alan play his part and let the politicians and media swarm all over him. Then we'll make a strike and make sure Alan says nothing against us.”

 

Nucleon nodded. Despite the uncertainties in this war, despite all his reservations, he knew this was right. This would work. It had to.