Chapter 2—Welcome Home

The Enclave started with a tunnel almost stabbed into the dark veil of the city. Not a part of it. Not one of its errant buildings. A tunnel reaching into the dark like a palm breaking the surface of a pool. Despite a life surrounded by would-be angels and full-on demons, Micaela found that this tunnel alarmed her the most. There and alien, yet promising an escape. In all the stories she heard about the people on the outskirts, nothing told her this entrance would be welcoming. Nothing told her that these bloodthirsty heretics, these vile intruders, would prove to her with nothing but a tunnel that they weren’t the slightest part of this horrifying world. Even as the mobile lab slid inside and rumbled onward, there remained a sense that everything would be all right. Everything was going to be all right, as an elevator lifted them into a garage. Everything was going to be all right as Enclave guards surrounded them. Everything was going to be all right, and yet Micaela was scared despite that.

“Graduation party A13-5041?” A guard asked as they approached.

"Yes, that's us," Fang answered, and he looked at the lab.

“Where is your assigned vehicle?”

“Operative, but it became unreachable as our mission moved forward.”

The guard looked at another, who checked a screen. She nodded as she began to type.

“Position logged. After the city shifts we will be able to retrieve it.” The woman responded.

The first guard saluted as they disembarked. “Welcome home, Graduating Party A13-5041. Congratulations.” There might have been some cheer in his voice, but it was quickly drowned by a beep and then a buzz.

The garage let them out into a plaza, surrounded on one side by a wall and on the other, five monolithic buildings connecting into a crescent. Immediately her alarm seemed to find its justification, screaming that she was trapped and was being led to a prison all along. Except, people milled about, enjoying the soft light of false stars overhead. Normal people talked and strolled, laughed, and played as if hell wasn't outside. Some had even gathered into crowds, standing on either side of the path forward. They suddenly came alive with fanfare as they spotted the graduates. She was used to her companions being strange, but it was their lack of a reaction that seemed to send that home. There was no doubt the cheers were for them, no doubt cheers for their graduation, but all this joy seemed to disappear against them. They continued forward, and people followed with questions.

“What are your names?” A teen girl called out.

“Fang.”

“Ace.”

“King.”

“What was your test like?” A middle-aged man hollered.

“Mostly classified, but harrowing. Whatever you heard about New York doesn’t compare to how it truly is.” Fang answered without hesitation.

“Will you be going back out there soon?” Another man spoke and that gave them pause.

Pause not because of the question but the weight of the answer. Soon? After this night? Could they sleep first? Could they eat? Could they pretend the city wasn’t their problem? Micaela wanted to give them each a hug, but Fang answered without a hint of exhaustion.

“Yes and we likely won’t be the only ones.” She led them on continuing to a roundabout. There, a pole with a taxi button awaited. Before she could push it, however, a limo rolled up.

Silent awe fell over the crowd. It had a look of wealth Micaela could vaguely remember from when the city was normal. A clean stretch limousine, fit only for a starlet or maybe stuck-up heir. She wondered which until the door rose and a woman in a white dress stepped out. She had a smile that could cut through the night. Her skin was warm and dark, popping under the tight curls of silver-dyed hair. She screamed starlet, all young and beautiful, but just old enough to say she was a kid when the world ended.

“All right, people!” Her voice was melodic and had a presence to it. “I’ll be taking these folks off your hands, but I promise you’ll get your questions and answers later.”

A chauffeur urged them into the limo, sitting the graduates across from and Micaela beside her. The starlet wasted no time filling champagne flutes and passing them around. Micaela watched the others regard the drinks carefully, but with her buzzing nerves, she knocked it back with ease. The starlet laughed and did the same, placing her glass back atop a refrigerator.

“Introductions are in order!” She clapped. “You might already know me, but what the hell, I’m Keke Darling. Host of Time with my Darling. You can catch me every night at eight on Broadcast 2.” The graduates showed no sign of recognition, but Micaela’s eyes widened.

“I remember you!” It took her back to being a kid. “You were in this movie I liked. Your singing was amazing!” Micaela’s wasn’t, but that didn’t stop her from singing along. She tried to remember the lyrics, almost oblivious to Keke’s appraising look.

“Where’d y’all find this cutie?” She gave her a once over and smirked. Micaela sputtered.

Fang replied, “Before we answer any questions like that, why did you pick us up? Where are you taking us?”

“Better question is, where are you going? My driver will drop you off.”

“The Administrator’s Office.”

“Geoff, Unit 3 please.” Keke pressed a button.

Fang pulled her back, “And what about my other question?”

“Ceremony dear!” Keke poured another cup and sipped it this time. “Graduations are rare. All that training, climbing, testing. All that trial and tribulation. All that and then you have to go out into the city?” She sipped. “It’s hard to think about sometimes. There are many test but not many successes. It’s miserable, and the normal people don’t handle misery well.” Placing the glass down, she leaned in. “That’s where people like me come in. We give them the chance to pretend like everything is as it always was, even if they can’t go outside. Grays may be running around out there, but hey, you get to watch this new talk show and podcast host. You might have seen her in a few movies when she was small. Breathe in that nostalgia. Breathe in the normalcy, don’t worry about the monsters.”

“Lucky.” Micaela said it without thinking.

“Do you think so?” Keke gave her a smile that made her heart thunder.

“It’s kind of classified, but…” She hoped her voice didn’t quiver. “Where I’m from, nothing got to be normal. We all had to accept the world was over and do what the people at the top wanted.”

Keke laughed. “Some people would see the end of the world as a chance to seize power. But real talk. Do you really think ignorance is bliss in this place?” Not the Enclave, but even the world beyond New York.

Micaela sighed. “No, not really. I was just kinda trusting that the bosses would make everything all right, but if I didn’t know anything, bad stuff would happen and I’d be scared all the time.”

“Bingo, babe.”

Micaela flushed.

“So you’d need a constant normal like an IV drip, but not too normal. So, you get Keke every night to give you something to watch, and occasionally she brings in Graduates that can let you believe the city is getting safer every day. She’ll ask questions. She’ll banter. She’ll make them look like normal people and not the monsters the city makes them. You give them peace of mind.”

“And that keeps people calm and the riots down! Makes it easy to swallow that.” Micaela gestured at the wall shrinking behind them.

“That’s right, baby. You can’t have a sanctuary when everybody’s on edge.”

“You can’t have heaven on earth if the demons can get inside.” Micaela shuddered.

Keke smiled brightly again. “You’re a sharp one. I can’t wait to find out where they found you.”

Flushing, she replied. “Thanks. Some people say I have an illuminating mind.”

King’s luminance band flickered as a cough came from his direction. Keke didn’t seem to notice the light, but the cough got her attention. Seizing it, he spoke.

“How do you feel about being in this kind of position?”

Keke sat back and shrugged. “Not much different from what I remember as a kid. My mom got me into acting pretty early. I was the cute baby daughter on one show, and the spunky little sister on another. I remember that musical my girl here is talking about. It was my biggest role, and frankly, I loved singing a lot.” She took a quick sip. “With eyes on you like that, you kinda get used to being the center of attention. Sort of like how you get used to rain on rainy days.”

Micaela wondered if it was her or Adale’s memories that saw the calculation in King’s eyes. She’d have to check in with him later.

“What’s your names anyway?”

"Fang, Ace, and King." Fang pointed them out. Micaela wondered if her name was intentionally left out, but took the opportunity for what it was.

“And I’m Micaela.” She smiled, trying to summon the cool girl she was before she looked gods in the eyes.

“Micaela’s a fun name to say.” Keke replied and crushed her every attempt. “And Micaela’s fun to talk to too, but I got some homework for you guys. I need you to work on being people others can connect to. There’s something about your general vibe that’s just off, even for Graduates.”

They traded a look, King’s in particular holding a level of understanding. The limo came to a stop before they could reply, however, and Keke left them each with a card.

“Hold that up to a phone and call me when you’re ready to have your interview. We can do it separately or have your whole group together. One time use though, babes. Except you, Micaela. I’ll let you call me a few times.” She waved them off.

They had been driven into one of the monolithic buildings, a citadel of glass and metal, decorated in an open park sort of way. Levels climbed to its ceiling, lined with apartments and shops. People nearby took notice of Keke and their group, but before the crowd could form the woman was off, and the graduates led Micaela into a building built into its back wall. When the doors closed behind them, leaving them in a sparsely populated lobby, King’s band glowed as Khalaf’s voice rose from it.

“Darling wasn’t a name I heard when I was around.”

“A lot has changed in fifteen years though.” King replied, and the band hummed.

“Including the Enclave. You kids might not remember, but back then there was barely a unit two. Now we’re up to five?”

“So this place changes physically?” Micaela asked. “Is there someone here like the Priest King?” The words felt terrible in her mouth, but she knew it’d be a bit before she stopped using the title.

Khalaf answered, “Authority wise, there’s the administrator. Assuming the old bastard isn’t dead.”

King shook his head. “The administrator isn’t an old man anymore. The new one took over seven years ago.”

“Ah, but of course. I bet a lot about New York changed seven years ago.” The band dimmed as Khalaf went quiet. Micaela expected King to add something, with the way he looked at it, but Ace spoke up first.

“If we go on the show, can we go as a group?”

She looked from him to the others.

“I think that’d be best.” Fang nodded.

“Why though?” Micaela asked, sure that Fang’s intuition answered the question for her.

"Because we were a group when we fought the God Eternal. Even if we all talk about the same thing in separate interviews, none of it matters if we don't talk about it together." Adale's power buzzed in Micaela's veins. The others didn't have a response, having already intuited Ace's meaning, but that buzz told her there was another level to it.

It told her there was another level to the Enclave too. Not just in what Cerulean taught her, or what she had learned thus far, but in the way it made her feel and how it made the Graduates what they are. Talking to Keke helped to make it feel less like a trap, but she still felt like a deer that was suddenly relocated. They still had the woman in charge to speak to, but as they headed for the receptionist, Micaela thought she understood why her old home was afraid. Castle Cerulean had to respond to this world, but the Enclave felt like it was made for it…

[Chapter 2 ends…]