by P. S. Power
The freaky thing was that it could affect adopted children too. So it wasn't genetic, but if a child was taken from their parents at birth, it could happen the same way. So it wasn't just proximity either. First modes were always all over the place, that seemed random as far as anyone could tell.
“Alright. Let's say we want to help you take these men down and decide to go along with you. What do you plan to do with them? Kill them?” Denis could get behind that, but the whole situation just seemed... Wrong. Backwards or sideways suddenly.
“Yes. We aren't married to that for Hooper, but Jones has to die. Too many of us have suffered at his hands. We... may be able to have Hooper arrested by the IPB, we have a person on the inside, one of us.” The woman took a deep breath, slightly shuddering. “Look, we can't stop you from leaving, or even going to the government with this, so... I beg you not to. This isn't about hate groups or even the Infected at all. This is about so much more. Wrongs so great that I can barely speak of them. I... please, don't stop us. It was wrong of us to try and use you and your friend through force, using our powers, I can see that now. But... We've earned the right to kill this man, the Prophet Darren. He... raped us. All of us. Well, us women. He's... our father.” She said the words as if it should come as a huge revelation.
Denis blinked as it all fell into place for certain. Of course. Who else would hate the man that much?
“Holy fuck.” He said lightly. “Holy mother fucking shitfest.”
That kind of confirmed his earlier thoughts, didn't it? How likely was this? The words “not very” came to mind. Then, Proxy was involved wasn't he? A lot of weird stuff happened around him.
Denis started laughing, which made the room hold still and stare. Hobbs moved in front of him then, as if to protect him from the powers or attacks of the women, all the daughters of their enemy after all and Infected, which meant at the best of times unpredictable until you learned what their first modes were. No one went for him.
That was good. It would have made things awkward later, wouldn't it? Then again, they might go for him later anyway. Once they learned who he was.
Den straightened and made himself focus on his breathing, which got the laughter to stop abruptly.
“Alright then, off with the masks. If we know that much, you might as well get comfy. Hobbs, don't hurt any of them please. I think... we can work together here. We really would love to take down Darren Jones after all. Hooper too of course. The guy is a terrorist, so if they have anything that can help with that, we need to hear it.” He nodded toward the woman in the lead, wondering which one it was.
The reveal was slow, the ones on the outside going first. He recognized Bethy but not the other girl, who looked young, one of the babies? If she was twenty he'd be surprised. They were both kind of homely, but in that cute, button nosed way that all the daughters of the Prophet Darren had. Bethy projected calm at them again, which he waved away with a smile.
“No need for that. We're all friends here after all.”
The feeling stopped and the girl blushed. Woman. She hadn't been a girl for a long time he realized. She was what, six years older than he was? Near forty now. Next to her came another face he didn't recognize. This girl was another new one. Really new. Just a kid really, maybe seventeen. So born about the time he'd left Faithhome? Holy fuck.
The last one, the compeller he recognized pretty easily.
She didn't seem to get who he was at all though for some reason. Go figure. Did he look that different? Well, he'd lost weight after he left, about seventy pounds. First living on the street, then hustling to make a living would do that to a guy. The IPB didn't hurt there either. Talk about a culture that focused on fitness. On top of that, well he'd probably have ended up thin anyway. His power just ate up energy when he used it. Most high level abilities did.
Denis walked to each and held out his hand, shaking in turn, Mindy, his full sister, obviously their leader, looked both perplexed and like she wanted to hit him. He smiled at her and held his hand out to her last.
“We're both from the IPB.” He said gently, as the girls all stiffened in fear.
Right. As far as the Infected went, it seemed like the IPB just showed up and started kicking their asses all the time. Pretty much true. They only bothered with violent types and mainly went after those that were class threes or better, leaving the rest to the police, but feelings like that could be understood. All that made the news was about them taking out bad guys, and Prime kissing babies. Denis used to be afraid of them too. He still was on alternating Wednesdays or if Scott wanted to shake hands.
“I think we can work together though. We came to stop any anti-Infected violence by infiltrating your group. If you can work with us on that end, I believe the Director will be more than willing to help take down Darren Jones. Hooper too if we can manage it. If not I'll throw in with you anyway myself.” He let go of her hand and waited, hoping no one would decide that it was all a trick.
Bethy held out her hand, a wash of calm coming from it, then she pulled back as if slapped down. Shy then? Not too bad, she spoke easily enough.
“Um, sorry, I think I missed something. The IPB is willing to back us? But we're Infected, well, some of us are. Shouldn't you be arresting us for, I don't know, being Infected or something? I guess I find this a bit hard to swallow. Since when is the IPB our friend?” She looked down, not really making eye contact now that the masks were off.
Denis shrugged.
“Since always? We're the Infected Protection Bureau. The IPB doesn't go around killing Infected without reason, just taking out real dangers. You all seem nice enough, you just want to take out a man that tortured and...” It took a lot to say the next words. It hurt. He had to say it anyway.
“Raped you all. Took you as his “wives” as little children and forced you to do things in front of the others...”
He couldn't hold still and started to pace a bit. It was fucking hard to face these girls. These women. He'd run away, which was understandable, but he never went back to help them, which wasn't. Denis hadn't even tried. After a few seconds the youngest looking one held up her own hand, he waited for a power to flow over him, but it turned out to be a simple gesture.
Nice to know that she was sane at least.
“How do you know all that? Mindy didn't...” The older woman gave her a sharp look.
“Silence! Now he knows my name!”
He nearly smiled at her, but didn't want to trigger whatever her first mode was. Probably anger from what he'd seen, maybe something else.
“Well... Um, I kind of already knew it didn't I?” Denis looked at each of the women in turn, his stomach flip-flopping around a bit.
She glared at him, her face hard and ice like daggers.
“What? Why would you already know my name? How?”
“Um... I'm your brother. Denis.” He smiled when he spoke the words, hoping she wasn't too mad at him for having left her all those years ago.
Mindy punched him in the nose.
10
The second blow got avoided when Denis danced back holding his hands over his face. Not exactly high level martial arts, but enough to get Mindy to stop slapping at him. After about ten seconds the small brown haired woman stopped and glared at him menacingly. Right hand open she pointed it and narrowed her eyes, allowing a wave of confidence and feeling of trust to overtake him.
“Who are you really?” She said, voice so blistering it would have curdled milk if any had been nearby.
“Denis Tompkins. IPB... Your younger brother? What are you looking for here? Um, I ran away from Faithhome seventeen years ago? My mother's name is Jennifer, just like yours? Um, when I was nine you told me that rats come and eat people's fingers and toes at night? I still hate rats because of that. That and being locked in closets.” He shuddered a tiny bit for affect.
“Denis? Denny?” She moved on him again and he cowered a bit. It wasn't like he could just smack her down. He probably deserved to
be beaten for leaving them all.
The hug that came was sudden and nearly as violent as the hitting had been. She started crying and then, after about five minutes of it, everyone watching a bit amazed, Hobbs cleared his throat.
“I think I have enough to understand the basics here. I take it that our secret attempt at infiltration is no longer in play? That or the method to be used has gone beyond my humble abilities to ken. If it's the first, I may have to relate that we aren't very good at it yet. We should add such to our regular practice. Don't you agree?” He asked this with his normal accent, and sounded a little like a pirate from an old movie rather than a newscaster from the mid-west.
“Yeah. Um, Hobbs, these are my sisters. A few of them at any rate. Bethy, I recognize, and Mindy, who's my full sister. The other two have the right look, but I don't remember names, if I ever knew them.” He nodded to the others who smiled at him.
The youngest one went flat and stared for a bit before saying anything, “I'm Ginger. This is Felicia.”
Nodding Denis tried to memorize that. God, how many of them were there now? Fifty? More? The whole thing left him feeling sick and more than a little weak. So, yeah, he'd help them take down their father.
Fucking freak.
Hobbs examined each blankly, staring and memorizing so powerfully they all started to get uneasy and the two men in the back finally asked if it was safe for them to leave.
“If we aren't going to be arrested or killed out of hand, we have some work to get to. The bigots won't recruit themselves you know.” The thicker man said this with a slightly happy, amused tone. Mindy sighed and then grunted testily.
“Go. Denis won't hurt us and I doubt all of us together would stop two IPB agents if they wanted to take us out anyway. How the heck did that happen Denny? You must have figured out that Prophet Darren was Infected way back then... But to get yourself into place as an IPB agent must have taken a lot of work. Especially starting as a short fat kid.”
It occurred to him that she didn't know that he was Infected too. She thought he was a non-Infected agent. He explained carefully. Denis really didn't want to scare them. Normally the only time the Infected operatives were sent was when something really bad had to be taken down. He didn't want them to panic, thinking that the IPB had come to kill them all.
“So... I'm actually here because of my bible knowledge of all things. We thought this was a big bigot group, “The Pure”, so we were sent to infiltrate and stop you if need be. Um, Mindy, I'm Infected... Team three with the IPB? I don't know if that means anything to you at all, it's kind of secret...”
The younger girl, Ginger, chimed in, her voice fairly cheery now that no one seemed ready to kill or even arrest anyone.
“Oh, sure, we were told how that works. The first team does publicity and gets in trouble, mainly small scandals that have to be covered up, like Prime raping his daughter, only he didn't, if the story is right, but everyone thought that he did and kicked his behind over it. Second team goes and kills Infected people most of the time. Team three...” The girl hesitated and finally tilted her head at Denis.
“That is kind of a mystery. No one talks much about them, except Proxy. He kills people too. Like a mass murderer. But I guess he's too scary for anyone to do anything about? It's on the news a lot though, almost every day people are found dead because of him. He just shows up at random and no one can stop him at all.” The girl shivered a little at the name and it wasn't fake.
The others all nodded as if this was their understanding too. Denis thought it sounded about right, but Hobbs shook his head and smiled.
“Do not be misunderstanding Advocate Yi, the one you call Proxy. He kills, aye, but he saves as many, often more. He is a good man, and one you can trust without question. When the darkness seeks your heart you may trust that he, if it be within his power to heed your call, will stand there in your stead to face it true. That's what an advocate does and his calling to it is the most honest I've seen.”
Denis tilted his head and smiled.
“Thus ends the first meeting of the Brian Yi fan club. Hobbs is right though. Proxy is a good guy. Saved my life more than once and really, if anyone in the world has a reason to wish me dead... Well, neither here nor there for now. But if anything happens to Hobbs or I, go to him and tell him... everything. He'll help. We need to leave soon and then figure out what the plan is. What...” This part of things made him feel low and a part of him didn't want to even say the words.
“What... evidence do you have?”
No one spoke for a while, until finally Ginger tightened her face and stepped forward.
“Genetic data. Some video of the monster torturing some of the younger kids that we couldn't get free. Mindy went back in once. It's enough to ruin him if the press would notice it, but when we tried to go to them no one would even listen to us past the first few sentences. Everyone is too afraid of Hooper and...”
Right.
“Genetic data? What kind?” It didn't really make sense to him. Having a lot of kids wasn't illegal. Then he got it when Ginger smirked at him darkly.
“Well, Uncle-brother-Denny, it's like this...” She didn't get to finish.
“Fuck... I see. Well, if you're willing to talk to the press, I know a woman that can help us out. She hates me, but then a lot of people do, so that's no surprise really. She also hates Hooper so much I think she'd off the man herself if she could. Also, some of the IPB have already suggested killing Prophet Darren, because of what he did to you. Illegally murder him, before we knew he was Infected. You have more supporters than you think. So... I know it's asking a lot, but, um, road trip anyone? We have to get back to the main base if we're really going to do this.”
He had to explain the whole thing, several times and in the end Ginger decided to be the one to go public first.
“Not much happened to me, I was too little for more than beatings and electroshock when we all left. It would be harder for the others. I can talk about it. I'm not afraid and it's not my shame, but his.”
Mindy laughed darkly, “alright. Just don't mess it up. We can all go public if we have to. We've lived in fear and disgrace before, doing it again won't stop us.”
Bethy had to go, since she was Ginger's mom. Mindy wanted to, if only to catch up with her brother, but Hobbs thought she'd be better off spending her time on the upcoming “protest” in San Francisco. Having an organization with strong ties to the hate community would be an incredible asset he assured her. Probably worth as much or more than taking down Jones, or even Hooper. After a few moments she just agreed.
“As long as he dies, I don't care what else you do.” There was no doubt which he was meant.
The bitterness fairly sang in her words. Who could blame her though? The monster deserved to die as much, or more, than anyone else in the world. That didn't even bear arguing. For a second Denis wondered if Hobbs would, but the man didn't bat an eyelash at the idea, just bowing to her and then walking toward the front of the warehouse slowly, waiting for everyone else to catch up near the door. To let the little family reunion play out without his interference?
It didn't take that long.
Really Denis should have expected that, he realized as soon as Mindy walked away from him about five minutes later. What were they going to do, go over all the good times at Faithhome? Talk about the “wonderful” time he had living on the streets when he'd run away? No, instead the woman just hugged him again and told him to make sure they took the monster down. She said it several times and then left, her shoulders set with anger and a harshness that left Denis more than a little sad. His memory of her was different than this. Gentler. Sweeter.
In the end he realized something. As messed up as the IPB was, they were more his family than his blood relations were. At least some of them. The special riot team was, except maybe Clark and even then he didn't want the man dead. Mark, Brian, Warren and Kerry. Even, of all people, Scott and little Bridget. Peggy and Rachel...
<
br /> To a small extent the Director and Jan from the restaurant. Lancaster... Hobbs and as freakish as it sounded, even Carl.
They were his people. His friends. It shocked him to realize how many of them there were.
It was too deep for the moment, so he decided to not think about it and work on the problem at hand. Getting back. He could call in for emergency transport, or even just funds, but the lower key they kept the whole thing, the better, right? He didn't exactly have training in this area, but it made sense in the moment.
They ended up taking Ginger's car, a very humble jalopy that looked barely road legal, which she assured them would get them there if anyone could help pay for gas.
“I'm even insured! Have my license and everything, mom insisted. I plan to fix her up when I get some more money coming in. Might as well. No way I'm getting a boyfriend now.” She sounded bitter about it too.
“Oh? Why not?” Hobbs said serenely.
“Oh, let's see... My father is also my grandfather and my mother is my sister? Add to that announcing it to the public and looking like this and I doubt a lot of men will be fighting to date me.”
The girl snorted at the strange man and gestured down her body. It wasn't something out of a centerfold, but Denis realized that the girl looked cute enough once he got passed the highly related part of things. Not great through the face, but at least as good looking as say Kerry from the base. Same nose, cheekbones and everything... Ah.
Oh. “Ah ha” for certain.
The looks were just too close by far, now that he knew to think about it. No wonder the girl had always reminded him of his sisters. Well... fudge, how had he missed that?
“Kerry from team two and Mark's show...” Denis looked at Hobbs who understood even without a preamble. Ginger blinked, froze and then shook her head.