The Halo Effect

To Noel's immense shock, he's not eviscerated the moment he walks into Halo. His desk and cubicle are still intact and there are no notices of termination in his inbox. He braces for people to start grilling him about allegedly faking his class, but everything is business as usual.

And when he passes Beckett in the hallway, he ignores Noel as usual, no indication that Jade told him "the truth" yesterday.

Still, he can't help but peek around every corner and check over his shoulder the entire day, and the next, positive that any second now, a furious esper is going to descend upon him and—do something. In Noel's head, he usually ends up getting punched, but honestly that should be the least of his worries.

"Why are you so twitchy this week?" Tess asks, in between rolling herself up and down the walkway between cubicles in place of doing her work.

Noel sighs. "I'm always twitchy."

"More than usual now."

"Probably has to do with that guiding request he got the other day," Catherine pipes up. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"No," Noel mutters.

"Is it your family?" Elijah asks, peering over the cubicle wall.

"Kind of," Noel hedges, taking the opportunity to divert attention to something easier to explain.

Tess clicks her tongue. "Just ignore them, Noel. You don't need their approval to live your own life."

"Thanks, Tess."

"Yeah, elitist bastards, the whole group," Catherine agrees.

"If Beckett is giving you a hard time, let us know," Elijah says eagerly. "We'll—uh…report him."

"Thanks, guys, but Beckett is ignoring me as usual," Noel assures them. Blowing out another sigh, he leans back in his chair. "I just wish that—"

Whatever he was going to say dies as a high pitched trill sounds from all of their watches, echoing around the entire office suite, accompanied by gasps and shouts of surprise.

"It's an attack," Catherine says quickly, tapping her watch. "A five-red." The large screen on the wall switches from the usual time and weather display to a live feed of the Fray site

Noel cringes, scanning the report on his own tablet. Malform attacks are organized into categories by severity and level of predictability. The most severe incident ever reported was a category six, code red, meaning the attacking malforms were huge, numerous, and violent, and that the Fray wasn't detected in time to organize any defense. A five-red is almost as bad as it gets.

"Looks like it's nearby, too," Elijah adds. "Downtown."

On the screen, there are already toppled buildings, the amorphous shapes of multiple malforms moving through the wreckage, and the drone flies a little lower to capture the several human figures rushing onto the scene. After a moment, the shimmering dome of the perimeter shield expands across the image.

"They'll probably be organizing evac teams," Noel says, standing up and sticking his earpiece into his ear. "I'm gonna go downstairs."

"They'll call us if they need us," Catherine reminds him.

"It's not like I'm doing anything else." Noel glances over the preliminary report on his tablet. Unknown number of malforms, B-class espers already on site with a deployment of A-classes on the way and both S-classes enroute, civilians believed trapped in the rubble. Something tightens in the pit of his stomach. "I'll see you guys later."

"Noel, it's dangerous!" Elijah calls after him.

"I'll be careful," Noel shouts back over the rising din from the live feed, striding out of the office.

----------

It's late by the time he manages to catch a shuttle back to the agency, well after working hours, and he stares blankly at the dark sky outside the window. He would have just taken a taxi home if he hadn't left his bag with his keys at his desk.

Exhaustion slumps him in his seat. Every inch of exposed skin still feels gritty with dust from the Fray site, and his mouth tastes like dirt and smoke. He wasn't even that close to the action, relegated to patrolling the perimeter shield for civilians making their way out, but the carnage of such a massive attack was inescapable. It's a miracle no one died; the civilians inside the buildings were mostly able to make it to the underground escape corridors, and those that didn't were far enough from the epicenter not to run into any malforms before they could get to the perimeter shield.

Despite things going as well as they could be expected to, it was still a very long few hours, and all Noel wants is to take a shower and go to bed.

Most Halo personnel had either returned already or were still at the site sorting things out, so there are only two other people on the shuttle with him, two women sitting together. From their blue ID tags, Noel can tell they're both B-class guides.

"Were you close enough to see anything?" one of them asks her seatmate.

"Kind of," the other woman responds. "I was on standby inside the perimeter, and I heard Esper Tierney talking about those two S-classes fighting together. It sounded scary."

"I bet. I think I'm more scared of them than of the malforms. I heard that just being in the same room with one gives you a headache."

Noel snorts to himself. Being near Jade or Beckett definitely gives him a headache, but not for the reasons people think.

"But," the other woman continues. "After the fighting was over, I could have sworn I saw red lightning."

"What?"

"It was hazy through the dust, but I really thought I saw it."

Noel frowns. Red lightning is a symptom of corruption overload. The way a compromised power line spits off sparks, an esper that's reached their corruption threshold will often give off arcs of red electricity. It usually only happens with espers of B-class and above, and it's not universal, but such low wavelength lightning isn't seen outside of esper meltdowns. Noel has only seen it twice.

That woman was probably just mistaken, Noel tells himself, ignoring the little ember of worry burning in his stomach.

Nearly the second he steps through the doors of the Halo building, his watch buzzes with a call. Glancing down, he sees that it's coming from an internal classified number. Hesitant, he answers it.

"Arden!"

A loud, shrill voice instantly pierces through his earpiece and he winces, directing his steps into an empty side hallway. "What? Who is this?"

"This is Dr. Summers!"

Dread calcifies in Noel's body.

"Listen, this is important!" she continues, sounding harried. "I need you to come down to Containment Delta now!"

"Wha—" Halo is equipped with containment units for rampaging espers, like every esper agency is federally required to, and Delta is the deepest underground and most secure block. Noel has never even heard of anyone being detained down there. "Why?"

"I don't have time to explain! Do you want the entire city to blow up?!"

Noel's feet start moving before he's fully aware of it. "I don't have the access code," he says, already halfway to the elevator. 

"I've sent clearance to your watch—just scan it and the elevator will bring you straight here." A loud, muffled bang sounds through the line and Dr. Summers yelps. "I've gotta go! Get here now!"

The call disconnects just as Noel reaches the elevator. Holding his wrist up to the sensor, he feels his watch buzz instantly and then the elevator lights up. The doors swish open and Noel boards before he can think better of it.

In his heart, he knows what this is about, but his mind still races on the ride down, trying to come up with a different explanation. Maybe his brother just really wants to yell at him? Or maybe Dr. Summers needs help rounding up a bunch of escaped puppies?

As the elevator sinks lower, so does Noel's stomach, and by the time the screen reads sub3, he's practically tripping on it.

The hall he's let out in is deceptively quiet and deserted. Everything is sterile white tile and dull metal, a true underground bunker for emergencies. Noel follows the one-way corridor around a bend and comes to a set of double doors. Before he can open them, however, they crash open themselves and a frantic Dr. Summers spills out, lab coat flying behind her.

"There you are!" she cries, seizing him by the wrist. "Come on, hurry!"

"What's going on, doctor?" he demands even as she yanks him through the doors into another sterile white hall, this one with several doors lining each side.

She drags him to the closest door and flings it open. "Don't play dumb!" she snaps, pushing him inside. It looks like some kind of observation room, with a long bank of computer equipment beneath a wall of tall windows looking into another area. All of the screens and lights on the equipment are flashing madly and several shrill tones fill the air. "Jade is melting down!"

Noel had already guessed it, but the confirmation sweeps through him like ice. His heart stalls in his chest. Like a robot, he walks forward to peer through the windows.

The room on the other side is as stark and white as this one, and in other circumstances it might resemble a hospital room, but with the flickering lights and person-sized metal slab in the center, all Noel can see is a morgue. The body on the slab isn't pale and motionless, still writhing against the restraints across his limbs and torso, but it's obvious that it won't be long until they're all nothing but corpses.

"How—"

"His corruption has been mounting exponentially all week," Dr. Summers says, hurrying over to one of the fritzing computers. "Then the sudden attack today tipped him over. He barely managed to make it back here and contact me—he's always hovered close to the top, but he's never gone full nuclear like this!"

Noel turns to her in disbelief and his eye catches on something in the corner of the room. "Oh my god—"

"It's okay, she's not dead," Dr. Summers says briskly, not even glancing back at the figure slumped against the wall. "That's the A-class guide that Jade uses most often—I called her as soon as he came in, but it was stupid. With Jade in this state, the psychic backlash overwhelmed her."

Noel doesn't recognize her, but her ID card is A-class red, and when he looks closer, he can tell she's breathing, so she's probably okay for now.

"I should have known better," Dr. Summers mutters. "The guides who try to purify Jade usually end up passing out, but this was an emergency—" she rounds on Noel, who flinches. "You have to help," she says, eyes wide. "You're the only one who can."

"I can't—" Noel says feebly. "Even if I can guide him a bit, this is—this is apocalypse stuff, and I'm just a D-class—I'd never be able to purify enough—"

"Anything is better than nothing," she insists. "Jade is strong—if you can just get his corruption down below eighty percent, he can regain control."

"What is it now?"

Dr. Summers grimaces. "The readings are fuzzy, but somewhere between 97 and 99."

"Jesus fuck—"

"That's why you have to do it, Arden, you're the only one who can." She bites her lip, glancing out the window. "And if we wait much longer, either the entire building will explode, or—Jade could self-destruct."

Self-destruction is a rare phenomenon where a rampaging esper turns their energy inward and kills themselves rather than cause a cataclysm. It's unknown why it happens, as the espers in question always end up dead, so it's impossible to tell if it's a conscious act or a matter of chance, but regardless, Noel doesn't like either of those outcomes.

Still, he hesitates. He should tell her now, he thinks hysterically, looking between the doctor and the window. He should tell her about the transference, then maybe—

Maybe what? What exactly would that change? The fact remains that he's the only known guide who can bring Jade down, it doesn't matter how he does it. Dr. Summers knowing his secret right now would just complicate things. And his decision would remain the same.

"Okay," he says. The room sways slightly. "Okay. I'll do it."

She nods, looking relieved, and starts pressing buttons.

"It's just you here, right?" he asks, clasping his hand together. "No one else watching from anywhere?"

"It's just me. Camera feeds shorted right away, and he came directly to me from the Fray." She purses her lips. "So if you want this to stay a secret—"

"I do," Noel says quickly. "Please, don't—don't let this get out."

She looks baffled but nods anyway. "I'm opening the door for you."

Stomach flipping, Noel stands in front of the door connecting the observation room to the containment area. "Uh—if I die," he starts nervously, "please ask Elijah Walters from the D-suite to go get my cats from my apartment."

"You're not gonna die."

Noel laughs bitterly. "We'll see."

The door slides open and instantly a wall of energy crashes into him, raising goosebumps along his whole body. Nausea cramps in his stomach and his head swims slightly. 

"Good luck," Dr. Summers says.

Noel shoots her a thumbs up and steps into the containment chamber.