The Labyrinth

Chapter 4: One Bird, Two Stones

Heavy footsteps echoed through the hall, passing Meta containment units on the left, not even glancing through the glass walls to the trapped Metas inside. The white-coated man had his eye on one goal, a single prison jutted out from the rest, designed to contain the most powerful Meta on earth. It contained a human.

When he got within rage he started speaking loudly, catching the attention of the awake Metas, some lifting their heads to watch him pass. "I run a facility designed to contain the growing metahuman threat, you and your colleagues were the bulk of the public threats. I'm very happy to announce we caught every last one of you..." His tapping feet slowed to a stop in front of the special cell, turning in front of it with his hands neatly behind his back. He glared into the cage with a twisted smile. "Except one of you doesn't belong. Imagine my surprise that the head of this Metahuman uprising is none other than a non-Meta."

"Which means you're harboring me illegally," Batman negotiated from his very non-negotiable position inside his prison cell. It was a simple room with a single platform for a bed and an attempt of a toilet next to a sorry excuse for a sink. Three walls were thick and white, the ground and ceiling concrete, one wall was thick plaster glass. There was no entry or exit larger than .2 inches except from the ceiling, where a platform would retract and lower when food was brought in.

Bruce was chained to the floor, his gloveless wrists spread in different directions and with chains that could give out and retract so he could actually use the room. Currently he had no slack, forcing the man to his knees in the middle of his room. He was staring at the man who was obviously in charge of this whole operation,"You need to release me or else a lot of lawmen are going to get angry."

The smiling man was quiet for two solid seconds before busting out laughing. "You think-" he started between huffing laughter, "you think society will side with you? You?!" He laughed once more before growing quiet. "No, you're worse than a Meta, you're a traitor to your own race." Before Batman could argue, the scientist (he assumed) turned to the left, addressing the armored man with the M.A.Z.E. stamp on his shoulder stationed at the cell. "In any case, Agent, would you like to demonstrate to our friend here what we think of the law?"

The firm line of the agent's mouth smirked before leaning forward to spit onto the ground proudly.

"I'll admit, things get..." the man drawled, expressing with a rolling motion of his hand with a deep nod, "messy... when non-Metas are involved, but I'm much more interested in your identity Mr. Bat."

Bruce stayed silent, locking his jaw as his glare dialed up. He was capeless, beltless, gauntless, and bootless. He was as de-weaponized as possible, but his cowl remained stuck in place by his technology. All of their attempts to take it off ended in electrocuted agents and burned fingers.

"We will get it off Batman. One way or another." The man snarled before composing himself with a frown. "From the others we've learned that none of you really knew each other outside of 'business' hours, would you like to know who your minions are Batman? Or have you always known? Being their leader must come with pirks."

Again Bruce stayed silent, he wasn't actually leader and he had no intentions of selling Wonder Woman out. He could be the scapegoat, a small victory, he didn't mind. But yes, he did keep tabs on his teammates. Nothing too intrusive, just enough to know if they were in any danger. Bruce had given out communicators to each league member when they started, it's purpose was self explanatory, but they doubled as sensors and trackers. He assured them only League members could access that information via a DNA code, it was enough for the groups' tentative trust in the non-Meta. And, ya know, Wonder Woman's vouch via her truth-inducting lasso.

Bruce always knew where his teammates were, they had distress signals they could put out if in danger, even if it was destroyed. But no, Bruce did not know who his Meta friends were, he had respected their request for secrecy and he completely understood. He didn't like to admit it but he would be the last person anyone on the team would trust with their identity, purely because he was human.