The Infected (Book 9): Proxy: War Day

by P. S. Power

  That seemed like a good plan to him, armor or not. Karen was worried, about his safety, but Lancaster just shrugged.

  "Hit hard and take the freaks out fast. You know the drill. Use your environment to your advantage and don't hesitate. You worked for months without armor before. You can do it again."

  There was no indication he shouldn't do it, just warnings to be careful. Because the man knew him too well. Brian kind of had to go, didn't he? Leaving a person in trouble simply wasn't his way. Not that he was certain he could do it on purpose. Except, even if it wasn't possible, he already knew he would.

  "Right. I need to get on that then."

  There was no way he was going to try and take her place, even if it was easier on him pain and energy wise. It was too uncertain that he'd get it right, so he wanted to practice that on people he didn't like first. That way if he messed up and left them in a void or whatever, or pocket universe, it wouldn't matter that much to him.

  That meant doing it the hard way. He closed his eyes, but just as he was about to make the connection, Lancaster did something strange, and put a nine millimeter in his right hand.

  "If you're doing it on purpose, then take a weapon with you. You can do that." There was confidence in his voice, but Brian knew that might not work. Except... Why not? He just had to surround the weapon with energy, right? It wasn't easy to do, but when he had it, he stepped sideways, using the movement to carry him into place, into his second dark cell of the day.

  Right beside the man that was about to rape the blonde girl in front of him as she screamed. He ached, and his skin burned, but he also held a weapon. A good one, not just a tiny knife, so managed to aim and get the trigger pulled before doing anything else. Like falling to his knees in agony.

  Luckily the bullet distracted the man as the little girl screamed in terror.

  Crawling over to the fallen man, Brian hit him, with the back of the gun, six times. He was about to kill him, when he realized something.

  He didn't have to.

  This time Brian Yi, Proxy the killer, was physically with the person that he'd just taken down, and would stay that way. What he needed, he realized, was to get the girl out of there and... Well, first aid for the man he'd shot?

  "Cindy? I'm going to untie you. I'm Brian Yi. I work-" He nearly said for the IPB, but realized that they had kind of a bad reputation with some people. "For the government. We need to save this guy, in case he's done this to any other girls. So when I let you go, try not to kill him."

  That made sense to him, anyway. Still, he really was a government agent, and taking revenge wasn't his job. Stopping monsters was.

  For a moment, as he freed her from the tight ropes, the slightly bloody girl sobbed, but she managed to control herself after less time than Brian would have if he'd been the one being repeatedly raped.

  Her voice was soft, and still scared, but she didn't scream at him, or call him a dirty Infected.

  "You're here to help me?"

  "Yes. A lot of people are looking for you. I just got here first. Here... " He got her free and then moved to the man who was on the floor. Bleeding and moaning, but the wound was far enough to the side that he'd live. Most likely.

  "Oh, just shut up, you little baby. It's just a bullet wound. You're lucky Cindy and I don't take turns beating you. Actually, Cindy, do you want to hit him a few times? It might make you feel better, later?" He didn't know that, but if it were him, he'd have wanted the option.

  "No..." This came from the man on the floor, as Brian tore the man's own shirt off and stuffed it into the wound.

  Cindy looked scared, but still moved in and kicked the man, in the side. The other side, which made him groan a bit.

  "Try the head. Not too hard, since we want him alive for trial, but there's no reason he shouldn't remember you later." Her feet were bare, but she did it anyway, and managed to knock the man out, eventually. When that happened, Brian stopped her with a wave. There was a partially open door, which gave them some light. He pointed at it, with the gun. "Hey, I need to go and check the house, to make sure we're actually alone. We also need to keep pressure on this wound and get an ambulance in... Police too." He was dreading that part, since they might just try to kill him for saving the girl, but she had to come first. Her safety was the point, after all.

  Not until after they tied the man up though.

  "Okay, let's use those ropes, then you can push on the wound here while I do that. I know that saving his life isn't going to be your favorite thing, but I'm sure we can arrange for him to get a large cellmate that will make his life less than fun, if we try." He didn't suggest they have the man raped, but the girl nodded. It was clearly what was on her mind.

  Then she got the ropes, and when he started to stir, panicked and kicked him again.

  "Exactly like that. Good job." The house wasn't empty, there being a woman in the front room.

  She was terrified seeming, but laid on the floor when he told her to, with her hands out. She was about the same age as the man bleeding in the room toward the back of the house. About forty. He had a bit of a gut on him, but this woman was nearly skinny. Not all that good looking, but not so bad that she deserved to live with the kind of scum that kidnapped and raped little girls either. No one was. Still, the woman probably had helped with that, hadn't she? If not directly, then at least with her silence.

  Brian took a deep breath, and went to the phone, shaking now. Fighting monsters was no problem, but calling the cops for help? That terrified him. This wasn't about him though. Not yet.

  He was tempted to call Marcia first, but the situation wasn't controlled yet. He needed backup. That or to kill the two people there before running off himself. Leaving the girl was a bit rough though, if he didn't have to. It was still tempting.

  He dialed the number, his hands shaking.

  "Nine-one-one, please state the nature of your emergency." The woman sounded professional, and a bit detached.

  "This is Brian Yi, I'm an IPB Operative. I've located Cindy Gibson, she's a kidnap victim. I need backup, at this location. Can you locate the address?" He hoped so, or else they were going to have to walk out. There was a bit of a scream from the other room, but he didn't worry about it, since it was the man.

  "Sir, that isn't funny. Calling in a hoax report like this is a crime."

  That was a new one, but then he'd never called for help before, so maybe it was what they normally said? At least if he was the one doing it?

  "Um... This is really Brian Yi... I need the police, to come and take the kidnapper into custody, there's also a woman here. She's cooperating so far. The little girl is guarding the kidnapper right now, so... What do you want me to do here? It makes sense to send the cops, doesn't it? Can you find us?"

  "Yes... Officers are being dispatched to your location. Please stay on the line, sir."

  He left the line open, but jogged back to make sure Cindy was doing all right. The man was unconscious, but her hand was bloody, and so was his face. She'd gone back to keeping pressure on the wound though. Even while she cried. That was freaking tough.

  Looking around Brian noticed that her clothing was still there, in a pile. Some of it had been torn off, but the jeans and shirt were good. He traded places with her so she could get dressed, as he realized that he should have done that sooner. Well, at least it was dark enough in there.

  Hopefully he hadn't added to her trauma.

  After that he had to go back and forth, making sure that neither prisoner escaped. When he saw the flashing lights, through the window, he opened the door, and set the gun down on the floor. Most of the time when he was around with cops, the police came at him, and he fully expected it this time too. The one running up to him had his gun drawn at least, even as Brian held his hands up at about shoulder height, waiting for the man to start screaming and trying to beat him.

  That was what the cops did, most of the time.

  For once the man was reasonable though, and when his p
artner got there, he paused.

  "Is the scene secured?" He sounded scared, rather than anything else.

  Brian nodded. Then waved them in, picking up Lancaster's weapon, slowly.

  "Back this way. Two prisoners. This woman, and the kidnapper."

  To his amazement, they followed him, letting him lead the way.

  Chapter five

  The man lived, though the FBI did ask if he'd had to beat him quite as much as he had. It was a bit accusing, actually. That got the medium sized blonde girl to get up from the back of her ambulance, limp over, and stand in front of him. Protecting him.

  "I did it. I kicked him in the head, and punched him, when Brian was out of the room, getting help." She showed her bruised knuckles as proof, which got the agent speaking to look away for a few seconds. When he looked back, he didn't call her a liar though.

  Brian smiled, not caring if it looked sane or not.

  "She had a right to keep him subdued. It was a minimal use of force considering what had been going on." The thin man had a little gray at the temple, and a blue windbreaker with his company logo on it. FBI.

  Looking around he started to nod.

  "Fine. Let's go over the whole thing?" It took a while and every single agency that came asked him questions. The FBI was in charge though, it appeared. No one whined about him calling the wrong people first however. It wasn't until about an hour later that he was allowed to make a report to Marcia, or rather Sinclair and Phoebe, since they were sleeping in the front office, waiting for him to come back.

  "Thanks for that. I'm fine. This is different. I'll report in later? Right now, I kind of need to let Marcia know what's going on. We need a press conference put together, first thing in the morning. Can you find Ken too, and set that up? Help him with it?"

  Marcia was on the phone, ten minutes later, and promised to get him a plane ticket back, after he explained where he was and that he'd teleported there. After a bit, trying to check his internal energy reserve, he grinned, if only to himself.

  "Nope. I've got this one. Maybe. Hold on?" He hung up and handed the phone back to the FBI Agent that had lent it to him.

  Then, taking a few minutes to get it set up, he stepped into the front office, grunting loudly enough that Marcia ran out to see what was going on. It still sucked, pain wise, and didn't seem to be getting any better with practice so far. Looking up at her, he managed a wave, from his knees, but still, better than nothing.

  "That really isn't fun. I've done it three times now. Oh, uh, Tesseract kidnapped me before that, but I learned to teleport on purpose. Kind of. Then I found that girl, Cindy Gibson. I saw her on television and went to get her." Neither of the other girls were there, but there were beds laid out for sleeping on, just to his left.

  "What the hell, Brian? Tesseract kidnapped you?"

  He explained the whole thing, going over it all until he escaped. He didn't know if the place was bugged or not, but she didn't press him on that part, understanding without the words being needed. It was about four in the morning by that time, and it didn't seem like he was going to be allowed to sleep, since there was a press conference at nine. He wouldn't have to speak, but would need to be there anyway. It was a thing, he knew.

  That way they could prove he was still alive.

  It made for a long morning, but before seven he changed, and went out to lead people in running. An hour of exercise was better than none, and he milked that, going until eight-thirty, then hurrying to get a shower and change. He was tired and hadn't eaten in a long time, he realized. Too long, most likely.

  He'd been busy, but a part of him wondered if it was about him being afraid that he'd get fat again. Avoiding the idea wasn't going to help him, not if in doing so he kept managing not to eat. It was really strange though. Honestly if anyone had asked him two years before what kind of eating problem he was likely to develop, he would have figured on massive weight gain.

  The press still tried to ask him questions, even after Marcia telling them not to, but he managed to dodge most of them. Mainly by stating that it was pretty much all in what Marcia had told them. She'd left out how brave Cindy Gibson had been though, when given just little help.

  That he filled them in on. It was important.

  "Understand this, she helped subdue her captor, and held him for the police, herself. She's a very brave woman. I'm glad I was able to lend a hand." After all, he wasn't the important one in that case. If people wanted to imagine he needed little girls to help him out... Well, that's what had happened, in the end. Marcia gave him a funny look, but the press didn't.

  They just seemed quietly impressed, and then tried to ask him about people from other realities. That phrase seemed to be going over better than aliens. He could work with that too. It wasn't like he had some kind of stake in the matter.

  He went to find food, as badly as he wanted to sleep, only to find the dining area had changed. There were two more green tents, and people actually making food. Hot stuff that held some kind of passing resemblance to eggs and waffles. They even got trays and real silverware now. Taking that and some skim milk, Brian dug in, making himself finish it all, even though it felt like too much. It wasn't really. Especially since he ate it without anything like syrup. Or butter.

  It was fine, and better than the MREs from the day before. Seeing the set up he got the idea, he was supposed to scrape off his tray, then sanitize it in a sink of hot water, that had bleach in it, then scrub it up and put it on a drying rack. It was a good plan.

  Efficient.

  They even had written instructions explaining it all, put up right next to each station, making it harder to screw up.

  After that... Well, he needed a place to sleep for a bit. It was tempting just to find a tent to lay down in for a while, but he mustered up his willpower, and forced himself to go to Mary's. Into the store, but in the back, so no customers would see him. She got there just in time to see him kneeling on the floor, in agony.

  "My love! Are you well? You're warping of space was different." She was a bit hesitant, but moved to him, and helped him up. He turned that into a hug.

  "Yeah. New trick. I was wondering if I could sleep here? We can go over things later, but I've been up for a while." He had the energy to kiss her though, which she did back. It was nice, how she always did that. Like they were a real couple and everything. The idea made him smile, even if he was still recovering from the pain.

  "Certainly! I can close the shop and minister to you. Let me-" She turned, to do just that, but he took her arm gently. She was a bit smaller than he was, being about five-six, and while not hard, she managed to remain on the thin side. Her eyes were a soft brown, and her curly hair looked wonderful. Well kept and just the right length to be both attractive and practical.

  "No need. I'll be up in a few hours? Wake me if I'm not. Four?"

  She looked at him, worried, but nodded.

  "At that time I shall wake you, my heart. You can use my bed?"

  He knew where it was and got himself into it, falling asleep a lot more easily than he would have thought possible. He dreamed, of course, but it was just about dark places and beatings, like always. Even in the dream he barely felt any panic now. He'd just seen too much of that kind of thing for it to really influence him now.

  When Mary came for him, several hours later, he woke up instantly, and stood at the first word. Being slow and lingering had never helped make his life better that way.

  He looked at her though, and smiled. She really was wonderful. Then, quickly, he explained what had happened. To his surprise she simply nodded, and instead of lamenting the loss of his armor, scolded him.

  "It is natural for you to feel such pain, since you're doing it wrong. Even in the first year of schooling children learn to do better than that! You don't shove yourself through space. You're lucky to be alive after all that. Foolish man, you need to bend the location you wish to be in around yourself, slowly. Here, do it now. Don't exit this room however. Ju
st pick a distant location, and reverse the bend in space until it is certain around you." There was no pity in her gaze, but he tried it anyway.

  "No! Don't grasp it like a wench to take by force! Ease it over you, like a lover. Be gentle, and move slowly. You manage that in other tasks, so I know you can do it in this one as well." She kept after him, making him try it over and over, until finally, she smiled, nodding. "Aye, that is the way of it. Go there now, and then come back here. You must needs do it many times, until you have the basic skill." It was just going back to the base, but it didn't take too long for him to realize that doing it Mary's way really was better. It didn't hurt, for one thing, and there was almost no tingling at all when it happened. That probably meant he was using a lot less power to get it done. No one noticed him, so he reversed things, and went back to her.

  "Better, my love. Now, practice thusly, until I come to tell you otherwise. I shall watch my store and prepare the mid-day meal for you, as is proper. Go! Come back as well. I did not think you would be able to do such, afore now, but that is the way of it! This is most exciting."

  It was the right idea, he could tell by the way his mind wanted to not do the extra work, so he made a point of doing what she'd said, going to several different places, over and again.

  Finally Marcia saw him in the head office, and furrowed her brow, so he explained.

  "My girlfriend is teaching me how to do it right. It's harder mentally, but easier in other ways. I should get back to the training, I guess? I don't want to be that soft and lazy teleporting wimp that I was before, do I?"

  That got her to nod, and look at him, suspicious, of something. Then she almost always was. He left anyway, and picked a different location for the next trip. About an hour later, Mary came to find him, appearing in her bedroom again.

  "Very good! Come, let us eat, afore the food grows over cold." She smiled at him, and clapped twice. "We should plot the way of finding you armor, since that villain has stolen your rightful property. If things were different, I would thrash the man. I fear that is not to be, for he is most strong, and in love with our granddaughter. I hear that is a true enough thing? Bridget reported such to me, so that I would consider it in the future, ere it comes to battle. I cannot see, but that we must end his days however, if we may, regardless."