Judge Alpha stood before a gathering of representatives at the U.N. Beside her stood a woman with a stack of files in her arms.
“I understand your concerns and we are doing the best we can with what we have to work with. Bringing in everyone with morphonic powers for questioning is not a straightforward job, but necessary.”
A representative from Belgium was allowed to speak. “Judge, it seems difficult to justify taking children without proper cause. We have laws that forbid the detaining of minors without parental consent.”
The woman next to Alpha quickly pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her. Alpha read it. “Under the special laws written to oversee meta-human activity, any person of any age can be detained until said person has been determined to be without harm to themselves.”
Another woman rose to her feet. She had a BADGE emblem on her nation marker. “Those laws were enacted to protect people from themselves. In rare cases when the morphonic powers were so dangerous that even the user was at significant risk, we had to be careful.”
Alpha smiled at the BADGE rep. “Ah, I see. So, BADGE can have laws that allow them to take children, but we cannot. Yet, it is BADGE who harbors known villains and mass murderers.”
“BADGE is not in the business of kidnapping children!”
Alpha responded, “BADGE is in the business of attempted world domination.”
“World domination?” Another representative piped up. “Care to explain that accusation?”
“Of course. While BADGE is spinning our benevolent act as a violation of human rights, they hold a League Wars right now. Showcasing to the world the power their people have. League Wars is nothing but a display of weapons by a dictatorial organization that makes no pretense about feeling they are above the law. We gathering a few people for questioning and they throw accusations at us. They are worried that we are stopping them from doing the very act they blame us for. They capture meta humans and turn them into weapons of mass destruction. They set loose their own villains so their own heroes can look good, all the while crippling nations in the ensuing battle. BADGE is evil and we mean to make it clear to the world.”
The BADGE rep calmly answered this. “BADGE has always had the world’s best interest at heart. Before you make a decision about their supposed benevolence, let them return all the people they have captured. Ask to allow a third party to go into these detention facilities and see that the people are being treated fairly.”
The man in charge of this meeting said, “we will discuss this in further committee meetings. Thank you.”
The meeting concluded, and Judge Alpha left, answering none of the questions being brought to her personally. The committee members all began discussing the next orders of business as the wheels of bureaucracy slowly turned onward.
***
Nova walked through the twelve check-points to get into the high-security detention sector of the BADGE space station. There were only a few cells in this area, but they had the highest security known to mankind. In fact, at a moment’s notice, if a captive was at risk of escaping and causing catastrophic disaster for Earth, the entire wing could be ejected into space.
Nova punched in his security clearance at the last check-point and walked into the area where Arx was being held. EB hopped around, flipping channels on the two different screens. Each time, he would stop on yet another news broadcast of the current crisis on earth.
Nova paused, “EB, I didn’t clear you to come in here today?”
EB stopped and smiled, “yeah, so?”
“I didn’t put in my clearance, and I haven’t upgraded yours for this high of level.”
“Yeah, so?”
Nova’s eye twitched. “How did you get in here?”
EB grinned and winked. “I’m the Easter Bunny.”
Letting this go, for now, Nova turned his attention to Arx. “I see you accomplished a miracle.”
Arx looked up at Nova with a frown on his silver skinned face. “What?”
“EB isn’t chattering incessantly.”
Arx quietly said, “no, he’s just been catching me up on the news.”
Nova turned and watched the muted screen near him that had running footage of the fighting in down-town Detroit. “I see.”
EB said, “it’s gotten waaay worse out there. Parents and others are brawling in the street with the mercs. Those World Corps jerks aren’t using their guns on em, because they are normals, not super. The world’s gone nuts. Now the regular humans must protect the superheroes. And I’m missing League Wars! No one is watching League Wars, all the media is focused on this stupid...”
“Enough, EB.” Nova kept his eyes on Arx. “We are watching street wars where regular people are protecting their own friends and family. Most of the morphon people aren’t even able to use powers, they are so weak.”
“It’s gotta stop!” EB hollered.
“That’s why I’m here.” Nova coolly stated.
EB smiled and hopped around. “Now yer gonna get it, Arx. Whatcha gonna do, Nova? Bamboo under his toenails, a good poke in the eye. This one time, I got a confession outta a jerk by giving him a wasabi filled Easter egg. He just about...”
“I want to help.” Arx interrupted the bunny.
Nova frowned, “you want to help? What do you mean?”
Arx stood from his bench and walked over to the barrier. “Just what I said. I want to help in any way I can.”
“Why?” was the only word that could come to Nova’s mind right now.
Arx looked up at the screen with the people throwing objects at the World Corps military. “This is my fault. I helped these people start all this. They used me. I know what I did is unforgivable. I murdered people in spite and reckless ego. But I was wrapped up in my mind, my little world where Arx was so important to mankind that I could do whatever I wanted. Now, I see that I’m nothing. I’m worse than nothing. I helped create this disorder, this chaos. This world is crying over their children being taken and I’m to blame. I have to make amends somehow.”
EB had his mouth agape while Nova spent a moment rethinking his words he brought with him to this moment. “I want to believe you. My trust isn’t earned easily. Are you going to talk, to give us what we want to know?”
“I want to try. However, I have not been lying. I have told you all I know. They kept me in the dark about so much of this. Obviously, they intended to allow me to escape, knowing I would likely be captured. So, they made sure I knew as little as possible.”
EB frowned, “that was a really smart statement from you.”
“I’m not the idiot everyone thinks I am. I’m just not the smartest guy in the room most of the time.” He replied, in anger, to EB. Returning to his peaceful attitude, he spoke to Nova. “If there is any way I can help, I will. Please, believe me.”
Nova looked at Arx for a long, tense moment. “I can’t trust you, not after just a few good statements. However, Chase seems to think you can change. I will see if her feelings are correct. Just know, there is not an inch of this station I can’t see. You’ll be watched and at the first sign of betrayal, you will find yourself floating in space.” Nova reached over and pressed his thumb against a special sensor. The forcefield came down. Nova looked Arx in the eye. “Come with me. We will try to jog that memory of yours.”
He turned and led Arx out of his cell. EB bounced behind them, throwing a few threats toward Arx in case this was yet another scheme.
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