by P. S. Power
“Mom? Ginger? Um...” She said cleverly, disguising her pure bafflement with raw confusion. Finally she just stared at them and went very still. As strange as it seemed she focused on Brian and looked more than a little scared. A slight sense of energy came from her as she readied to fight her way free.
Their way free.
The Director got it first and tensed but Proxy just grinned at her and spoke quickly, waving his right hand a little, a relaxed and friendly gesture.
“Not anything like that, I don't think so at least. We can't talk about it here though? So we need to move outside as soon as the agents have a place set up for us.”
It was all accurate, concise and meant nearly nothing to someone just walking up on the scene. For that matter the people here, Brian and Director Moore, Karen... they had no clue about it all either. They were just acting on what Hobbs and he had told them. It was important, but showed a lot more trust than Denis would have expected from anyone there except maybe Karen. She trusted everyone anyway and he had kind of gotten her the only parachute on a crashing plane once, so that might sway her opinion.
Blinking slightly it occurred to him that it might be swaying everyone's. After that had happened everyone had kind of started acting like he was really a part of the team, hadn't they? Almost everyone.
The agents made it back before Charlot Chambers got there but only by a minute or two. When she got out of the elevator she wore a heavy winter jacket and a snow suit that would have looked at home on a mountain, near a ski resort. Possibly with a mug of hot chocolate in hand. A soft pink and white combination of puffy, well-padded clothing. She looked cute. The outfit even had a little pink fuzzy hat to go with it.
Not one, but two agent driven snow vehicles, Sno-Cats, if the name on the side meant anything, pulled up on their large tracks, the big machines a dark brownish green sitting in the light that came off the front of the building. One of the agents ran in and loaded them all on carefully, calling out brisk instructions about where to step and helping them all on.
Denis rode with Hobbs, Kerry and the other spawn of Prophet Darren, while Moore got Chambers, Karen and Brian. Safety issues no doubt. This was an odd situation to say the very least, and the agents weren't going to trust Denis to bring wholesome and friendly guests. So far no one had even asked him directly if they were friendly.
A bit of an oversight no doubt.
The ride took four times as long as it would have on foot. The tracked vehicles were much faster, but the tent had been set up a good ways away, near where the bomb had been put after the television show attack. That meant driving in the vibrating and lurching machine all the way to the main gate. Then around the exterior a good ways, avoiding low hills that didn't look like much in the daylight, but could, according to the driver, be a real hassle in the snow. The world narrowed as they drove, the only thing that could be seen being the lights from the base in the distance and a glow of headlights in the falling and blowing white fluff that surrounded them.
“Well, less than fun for a family reunion maybe, but I really doubt anyone will be listening outside the tent in this.” He smiled trying to look happy enough, but Kerry kept swallowing and held on to her sister's hand tightly as they rode.
What, did she expect a death squad or something? OK, she had kind of infiltrated the IPB, but as far as he knew, she'd always done her job well enough and hadn't done more than tell some very non-secret things to her family. That she had family to talk to was a little odd here, but that didn't make it illegal to tell them about her day job. If anything, having family that cared for you and even visited would have been encouraged if anyone had thought about it. Whatever the reason, she looked freaked when they got them all out of the snow-vehicle and into the fairly cramped, but decently warm tent. It must have been fifty degrees inside already. About the same as in the tracked monstrosities they'd rode in on. Good enough, considering how cold it was outside already.
Hobbs, surprisingly, did the speaking, his words carefully chosen and not half as flowery as normal. Not exactly his flat mid-west voice either, but very clear, so no mistakes would be made. He looked at Director Moore without so much as glancing at anyone else at first.
“We've infiltrated “The Pure” as directed, but the situation is very different than we were led to believe. It's run by a group of women who are all the daughters and wives of one Darren Jones, the religious leader of Senator Hooper's forces. Most are Infected, mainly class twos if I judged things correctly, a few class ones, yet with abilities true. Kerry Yoder and Denis Tompkins are both related by birth to the same man and we bring proof of great criminal wrong doing on the part of the villain.”
OK, Denis thought, looking at Hobbs, it might be a little flowery. His words were correct though.
Charlot Chambers nodded at the women and then, as if having to draw on some deep internal reservoir of personal strength, did the same to Den. Hobbs didn't stop, outlining the proof, the videos and genetic testing done.
“All we really need then is a new sample of Jones' DNA.” Brian said quietly. This got a funny look from Bethy who held out a light blue folder to him.
“We already have the DNA... It's real and everything.” Beth sounded worried and looked at Denis a bit desperately.
Brian smiled and nodded a bit.
“Yeah, you do and well done. Having this information means that the IPB can just skip about seventeen hoops in this investigation all at once, but if we're going to prove anything we need to do it in a way that the public will believe. Clearly nothing we do will have much play in court. If he were Infected we could use it as a reason to arrest him, at least if he used his powers to-”
Four voices spoke at once, Kerry's loudest. She took a deep breath, almost a half sob and spoke quickly as if trying to make sure she didn't lose her nerve.
“He is. Probably a class two, coercion, using words as a focusing medium. If he has time to talk to you for a while, most people will just do what he says. It... The boys almost all left or, well vanished. I don't think he could just order a person to commit suicide, not if they were mentally healthy, but he had their whole lives to beat them down first. None of them lasted at Faithhome past twenty. None of them. I think he did it on purpose, beat them down and broke their spirits so that they'd leave when he told them to, or, you know, kill themselves. I think most of them did that. I can't prove it.”
They couldn't watch the video at first, but the agents were sent to get a machine, a portable DVD player, and set that up for them. What it showed was bad. Enough so that Lady Glory started glowing blue and then vomited loudly after throwing herself outside.
Denis nearly followed her.
He'd gotten abuse, torture, electric shocks, beatings and all that growing up and had thought it was about as bad as what could happen. What was on the screen in front of them was so much worse... It took all the new meditative skill he had not to break down crying. Moore turned the screen off and stood in the light of the single camp lantern they had in the tent.
“I see. Well, once we prove it hasn't been tampered with, that footage will no doubt be very useful in proving our case. As it is right now, we have more than enough to pick up Reverend Jones as a hostile Infected. If he were less high profile and less attached to the anti-Infected movement it would simplify matters. As it stands we may have to destroy him publicly first, then move in, otherwise the hate groups will use him as a rallying point, no matter the evidence we provide after the fact.”
The man began to direct things then, organizing and setting them all in motion. He was good at it. Masterful in a way that made everything suddenly flow somehow, without major ripples at all.
Things moved, though to Denis it all took place in an odd half speed time. Dr. Burrows came out, bundled up in a blue coat and big mittens on over gloves. The cute Japanese woman took the skin and hair samples herself, from all of the people related, meaning Denis too. Food from the restaurant got brought to them and beds arranged on t
he first floor. So nice rooms, but ones protected by a team of super-heroes all the time. Not as scary as being on the fifth floor with Kerry. A few of her teammates might be a little off-putting to the new women at first.
Plus, nicer digs all around.
They'd handled Level easily enough though, so maybe that wouldn't have been an issue? Denis wondered if he should send Tobin over to watch them? If there was anyone Den trusted to do that, it was him. Well, and Lancaster, but an agent standing around would be conspicuous. He made the suggestion to the Director, which oddly enough the man simply agreed to almost instantly. It didn't hurt that everyone else had started nodding almost instantly.
“Yeah,” Brian added softly. “I don't think anyone would be able to get past him very easily at all. He's solid.”
From the back of the tent where a small clutch of un-Infected agents stood one of them let out a dark sounding half chuckle.
“Damned straight he is. Mild mannered, polite and willing to do almost anything to help out. Want me to set it up?”
The Director nodded.
“Do it. Set up a full schedule in fact. Low key however. See if Mr. Peterson would perhaps consider entertaining the ladies? That might...”
“Right. He's a friend of mine anyway, so that would be pretty normal. A bit shy, but I can just set him up with Ginger.” Kerry smirked a bit when she said it.
Denis raised an eyebrow.
“Um, not to be a prick, but if you're making fun of Tobin, we're going to have words Kerry.” Denis tried not to growl the words, but they came out kind of flat anyway.
“Nope, he's great. Ginger just has the social skills of a sixth grader, that's all.”
Ginger proved the concept by sticking out her tongue and then laughing a bit.
“Do not. That would require at least getting to hold hands with a boy, wouldn't it? What's wrong with this guy. If he'd be willing to date me I mean. Maybe.”
“Wrong?” Denis tilted his head, then shrugged. “Nothing really. He's short, big head, black and green and code named Goblin, but really, if you can't see past that, it's your problem, not his. He's...”
“Perfect.” Karen added softly, smiling a little as she said it, but clearly meaning it.
“Yeah, see? Perfect.”
Ginger laughed, but tilted her own head a little.
“Sounds good then, love to meet him.”
Then they waited, no one telling them why at all.
A mere three hours later they were all loaded back into the Sno-Cats and driven to the front door of the main building. It looked weird right now, like looking out of a snow globe into a large well lit room. One with trees in it. As they approached the building Kerry leaned over to him and whispered.
“So... We're related? How strange is that?”
She already knew that from the discussion, so it was clear she really just wanted to talk about something else and knew that, for a time, mentioning it inside would be a poor plan.
“Yep.” Freaking bizarre really, but given the nature of their first modes and powers, not all that odd that they both worked in the same place. There were only so many places an Infected person could go, unless they stayed in hiding. One really, if they wanted to make a decent living. Here.
The girl shuddered slightly and then grinned, “thank God I didn't manage to get you into bed then. Peggy mentioned that I should go for it you know. She told me how gentle you were as a lover. Sounded pretty tempting to tell the truth. So glad I failed now.”
Denis laughed.
“You and me both. We definitely don't need a Star Wars moment here.” He shuddered a bit which got a grin and a slightly baffled look.
Sadly, she didn't get the reference at all. No one had any appreciation for the classics anymore, did they? Well, he could run a screening sometime, maybe. If they ever got time again. This was about to mess everything up a lot.
Not just that fuck Prophet Darren, who deserved what he got and more, but the rest of them as well. At least Denis was already just some Infected man as far as the world was concerned. If his dad was a creepy Infected too, no one would really care. Kerry and Ginger though, they were outing themselves as the product of incest and worse, the monster had already taken Kerry as his “wife” for years by the time she managed to escape. The only saving grace there was that she had escaped. About half the women did all at once. The other half were too deeply sucked in to even try walking away, much less run. Mind control could do that to a person. The ones that had gotten out were mostly Infected, which probably related to how they'd managed the whole thing, though no one explained it to him. Not yet at least.
The whole media thing took nearly a week to set up, because they had to send an agent into the field to get the DNA they needed. It was all super-secret stuff, but both Lancaster and Penny were gone the whole time. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they sent. Hobbs made a point of keeping him busy, with meditation and daily running, with first Lauren and then about eighteen other people who all wanted a bit of first mode relief. Oddly Tobin came too, even though running while getting his shyness set aside for a while didn't really help him all that much.
Or maybe it did? He always seemed a lot happier afterwards at least. Then, there were other emotions, even for the Infected. Maybe it was about dealing with something else for the guy? Denis didn't ask, but decided to keep that in mind. Life was bigger than first modes.
After all, Tobin had to take a lot of crap from the world, that eventually could wear a person down. Some of the others probably got similar treatment.
His Prime thrashed arm was taking its sweet time to heal, which Dr. Kern assured him was normal, if annoying. He could start physiotherapy in about two weeks, he'd been told. It would hurt pretty intensely if the doctor was being honest. Grand, but better than being crippled forever he figured.
The days didn't drag so much as seem endlessly busy with things not on the target he wanted to hit. That being the Prophet Darren. He worked the show still, the schedule getting more advanced with two episodes being filmed per week now. When they had the first twelve done they'd air. How the whole Reverend Jones thing would play with that he didn't know. Denis just hoped that his part in the show wouldn't ruin it. He'd seen the first episode, the chocolate one, not the bomb thing, and it was funny. Awkward as all get out when he had to see his own face on the screen or hear his voice, but comedic anyway.
Little words balloons appeared over people's heads and little factoids in boxes off to the side. Some about baking, but a lot of them just information about the person or what had been happening off screen. Denis had one while making hot chocolate about how Gary the cameraman wanted some more water, and urged him to hurry up and get it for him. That was one of the running gags, him being ordered around by an increasingly exasperated text box. It made fun of him too, every time he messed up, which was artfully left in he noticed, but... oh well. They made it really clear that Kerry had exploded the wax paper bag of whipped cream too, adding in sound effects. It was hilarious.
There was a “Prime count” too, which dinged lightly and drew a circle around Scott's face every time he got into a shot he wasn't supposed to be in. The guy was in a lot more than Denis would have imagined. Forty-three by the end of the hour long program. He also learned a bit of trivia that he just hadn't known at all.
For instance he'd had no clue that Christian Poures, heiress and team leader, proper and prim in her pearls and fifties clothing, had done several rather famous sex videos about ten years prior. Amateur stuff, not pro, but all over the net. Denis kind of wished he didn't know now, as far as that went. He felt both incredibly curious and at the same time didn't want to go around fantasizing about his boss where she could hear it... which was most of the planet. That had to be a little off putting for her, right? More than a little.
Hobbs helped there by increasing the amount of meditation and the difficulty of the “minor distractions” he threw in to aid in his focus. Carl didn't help, or rather, h
e did, but the whole thing sucked way too much for Denis to like it. To a level that Denis really thought might be criminal. As in they could be arrested for it, if they weren't doing it to some Infected guy.
The level fifteen trainer was insane in what he thought was acceptable when it came to training. That was kind of his job after all. Hobbs was at least as bad.
They put him on a board and ran water up his nose to simulate drowning for instance. For hours. He had to try and meditate through that? God it sucked. He really thought he was going to die part of the time. That it was considered acceptable questioning technique by the U.S. government in terrorism cases was... the term evil came to mind. Not as much as doing it to him, but still, by the end he would have been willing to claim he was a terrorist just to get them to stop. Then without a break they hit him in the face with pepper spray and made him try and influence a small group of people while running an obstacle course on the advanced level. It took half an hour to even do anything at all to anyone, since all he could see were blurry shapes and large colorful splotches in front of him. That and pain. For a brief moment he could see pain and it was not something he wanted to see again. Both were torturous in their own way, but it really did improve his ability to concentrate the rest of the time.
If you learned to even half focus when you felt like you were dying, the rest came pretty easily. That seemed to be the Hobbs method. It worked, but the whole thing was solidly screwed up. Who needed to be able to focus that much anyway? More crazy, just like always, Hobbs did it all with him at the same time. Except that he didn't sputter, moan or cry when it happened and kind of kicked butt on the obstacle course.