by P. S. Power
“So far that seems right. If it’s in the dark, not being shown in a reflection, then it isn’t there at all. If it is, I can kind of push through it, but it takes a bit longer.”
The girl tossed her head a bit, side to side. Her hair wasn’t long or anything, being just past her collar. That was tan, with digital looking printing in darker brown all over it.
“Yeah. Probably a class one, then. Even if you’re kind of strong and fast. Guns are hard to beat, for most people. You can get one if you need to anyway, right? That, and being able to sneak in places might make you a class two, functionally. It would still only count as a one though, really. Not that it makes a big difference. The team one leader, the old one, Torque? He’s only a class two and he can take on almost anyone in the world in a fight. Just, it has to be one on one, which isn’t how the class system works. Most people don’t really need to fight, day to day, so it isn’t that big of a deal.”
She was clearly trying to be nonchalant about it. As if it really were a big thing, or she figured that it might hurt his pride, knowing that he was only as tough as a regular man would be. It didn't bother him at all. Being able to get out of bed on his own to pee would have been enough, to be honest. Not that this wasn’t better.
“I don’t need to be the strongest. Just strong enough to do what’s needed.”
She blinked, then smiled at him, holding it for a long time.
“That sounds right to me. I’ve never really thought about it that way. Yeah. Strong enough to do what’s needed. Wait.” She waved toward the front, past the first vehicle. He just applied the brake, if under control. After all, while there was no water across the road, it was clear that about half of the top surface was gone. Just eaten away. There was a small pond next to it, which probably wasn’t supposed to be there.
He turned the thing off, since they were likely going to need to chat about what to do. If it wasn’t Sam having a mini-illusion storm again. If so… Well, that could be taken care of easily enough. The man could control it, if he tried, after all.
It wasn’t that, of course. Just storm damage.
Howard moved in and assessed the situation carefully, then glanced around. The other lane was fine, but there was a large concrete barrier between the two, which they weren’t just going to be able to drive past.
“We need to head back. There was an off-ramp. We can hit that, then head up the other lane, going the wrong way? There isn’t a lot of traffic so far.” There had been some, but it really had been pretty light. They could put the bigger vehicle in front for that, slap on the hazard lights and go slow. It should work, anyway.
Brian tilted his head, as Sam, Tank and Denis all nodded. Kerry pushed his arm.
“Or I can just lift the vehicles over this? It will take me about… Call it a minute?”
Howard didn’t let himself blink at the idea.
“Let’s do that then? I know I always wanted a flying car.” Which was true. Ever since that movie in the seventies. Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.
The whole thing was a lot more interesting than he would have figured it being. Kerry did them all one at a time, with Tank and Brian going first, their truck floating about ten feet from the ground the whole time. Denis and Sam went next, settling down right behind the lead vehicle. They hadn’t gone that high either. Lower even for the second one.
“Um… Den had to jump out of a plane, a few years back. Without a parachute. Brian did that too, not long ago. I was there to catch Brian, but Denis… He was about to die when Brian switched out for him. I don’t know if he’s afraid of heights or not. Really, I don’t know for either of them. They wouldn’t say anything, even if they were. Are you afraid of high places, Richard?”
“I’m not, amazingly enough. Shall we then?” Cat burglars couldn’t do their work if they were.
There was a grin from the girl. It was a bit tense though, since it took work to lift a truck with two people and a cat in it. About twice as much as what the others had taken, at a guess. The thing still lifted up, going about fifty feet in the air, settling a little further down the road, floating along as the others started to drive.
It was tempting to start singing, but he didn’t in case that would distract Kerry. When she finally set them down, having kept up pretty well, it was nearly five minutes later.
“If you can do that, with a truck like this, then you can fly, can’t you?”
That got a shrug.
“Yes. It’s fun, but not that useful, most days. I can go pretty fast though. Over a hundred miles per hour. It’s a little flashy. I…” She stopped then, not talking for several minutes.
The silence was nice enough. Howard just drove, working to pay attention as they did it. In case of ambush. After all, it wasn’t lost on him that when they’d thought there was an attack before, Kerry had instantly figured that it was people going after Brian. Why that was, he didn’t know, but that probably meant it was a real issue. A thing to be aware of, if nothing else.
The biggest obstacles were water hazards, which were either driven around or floated over. That really sped things up. They still had to stop on occasion, to go to the bathroom. At noon, when they pulled over, Brian waved at them from the road side.
“We should be almost there. Off to the right. We need the large depot. It should look like a warehouse.”
Then, as if that had been needed for him to say, he climbed back in with Tank and they started driving again. It got him to feel a bit off, since they could have just pulled into the parking lot but Kerry sat up, as soon as they were moving. She was a bit tense.
“This is the part we need to be careful at, then. We need the supplies, but they haven’t been released yet, by FEMA. So, we sort of need to steal them.”
“Ah. Okay. I get it now. We need to pull over, then. Get the others to stop?”
He moved to the side of the road, but Kerry had to pick up the lead truck and cause it to float backwards toward them. When Tank and Brian got out, Sam and Den just backing up a bit to get to the right spot, the Chinese man had a frown on his face.
“Is there a problem, Kerry?”
Howard nodded.
“There really is. A bunch of noodle heads were about to drive up to a government warehouse and start stealing things. They’re going to have cameras and alarms. Possibly guards. We need to recon the place first at the very least. I don’t suppose you have the floor plans?” He sounded a bit sharp about it, which wasn’t as kind as he wanted to be in life.
Brian didn't bother getting pissed off at him over it.
“I can get that. I was thinking we’d just take a door down, then teleport what we need out. Once I have a location inside, that will be easy enough. I might have made it coming in, but if there’s flooding…” That part had been explained already, so Howard waved it away.
“Get that, if it’s possible? We need to go in from far enough away that we won’t be seen. How close are we, on the map?” That required looking at a little pad device. It was handy seeming and in color. Denis was able to draw a line on it with his finger, which gave them a very exact measurement. They were, if they walked through some bushes, about nine hundred feet away. Nine-hundred and thirty-seven.
“Okay. Sam, you and Tank need to… actually, Brian, can you safely get them back? The trucks… I don’t know what to do about that. We should get the innocent well away and with an alibi first.” They seemed like nice gents, making it worth doing.
That got a single nod.
“Got it. All three trucks or just theirs?”
“All three, if it’s an option? Just the team going in should be with us. Then we need to make an approach. I’ll go in first. Through the woods over there.”
Brian got the men into the trucks, then hopped into the passenger’s seat of the one with Tank in it. They were simply gone, a moment later. Then, in the same place, Brian came back. Just being there, suddenly. The Range Rover moved just as quickly, though the empty truck that Howard had been driving le
ft easily enough, with Brian taking a few minutes to show up again.
“Okay, that thing is heavy. I had to throw up for a bit before I could get back. Now, shouldn’t I go in first, Richard? You have a cat with you.”
Which was true and out of place. Making that a good point.
“Two things with that. First, she can stay with Kerry. Second, one of us is dressed like a regular kid and the other looks like part of a military invasion force. If I get seen, it’s a problem. If you get seen, alarms get pulled. I need that floor plan, if I can get it. Do you need to… Teleport off to get that?”
He was thinking it would be in the government archives or something, but the man shook his head.
“I don’t think so. I’m getting a signal here. Let me…” He tapped on his pad screen for a bit. Finally, after a minute, he nodded. “Got it. This is the place. Just the blueprints. I can kind of understand it.”
Howard was used to things like that, or had been, once upon a time. Looking at it for a while, the pad being handed to him, he nodded.
“It looks pretty standard. A warehouse, like you said. I’m betting there will be cameras. They aren’t shown on this. I should be gone… about an hour. Can you get out of the way for a bit? Hide? Standing out in the road like this is a smidge obvious.” Really, he should have mentioned that about half an hour before. As soon as he’d learned they were pulling a heist.
Not telling him until just before it happened was foolish of them. Then, they probably hadn’t known they were supposed to get with him on that. That was Katie’s fault, then. Of course, there might be a good reason for it. One that he just didn't know about.
It was still idiocy on a grand scale. He thought about that as he handed the pad thing back to Brian. The man in charge.
“I’m out. Tabby, you stay with Kerry, all right? I’ll be right back. In an hour or so.” As long as he didn't get caught. That wasn’t likely, but he had to be careful to make sure that didn’t happen.
That meant going slower than it seemed like a reasonable person would as soon as he was into the woods. The things weren’t dense, being new growth. They had leaves though, since it was late summer. That would help a bit, if there were cameras. If they were smart, the place would have everything cut back about two hundred meters away or more from the fence line. They didn’t though. That was apparent about five minutes into his walk.
Really, it was almost as if they didn't care who walked up to their fence like he was doing. Most days it probably didn’t matter at all. They were there to steal water and blankets. Food, not diamonds. Unless he was being lied to and that was the real goal. Again, if that was the case, then they needed to tell him first. There would be totally different levels of security for things like that.
The cameras, at least the ones on the outside, were easy enough to see. It was a standard set up, really. On the corners of the building, with cams on poles at a distance that showed the facilities from another angle, meaning they were pointed in several directions at one time. They were FEMA as well, which meant they had power. There were lights on inside the building even, which was probably thanks to a nice big generator and a lot of fuel. Inside, there were people. If they were guards, then the uniform standards were really lax.
The lady in the window was in jeans and a loose t-shirt. It was blue and did say FEMA on the front in big white letters. She had a cup in her hand. More than that, he couldn’t tell from as far back as he was. Really, he couldn’t be certain she was a woman. It could be a long-haired man. One who wasn’t that tall.
Counting, he worked out that there were about five people there in all. At least that he could see from the windows. That probably meant there were more than that, in the facility. There was a truck bay on the far side, but nothing there to be loaded.
It took longer to watch the place than he wanted, and he had to move further away from the front side, since there were no woods there. In order to see anything at all, he had to move behind the buildings across the road on that side. It was a gas station with a small automotive garage attached to it. The place wasn’t exactly rural, but it had a real small-town feel to it. No one was manning the shop, so they didn't see him lurking there, watching the building across the way.
When he moved back to the right spot, everyone was gone. Even Tabby. For half a moment he wondered if the IPB had stolen his cat. She was a good one, so that would make a bit of sense. Brian called out thankfully, from the far side of the road, behind some shrubbery that was there.
“This way.”
It was enough to get him into place. He didn't dash over, walking as if he had a reason to be there. Alone, since no one else could be easily seen. Running got noticed. Walking less so.
Once he was behind the greenery, he smiled.
“We have five people in the building. That I was able to verify. Probably more. Nothing is being taken in or out. They have power, so the alarms will be working. In our favor, they have people all over the place, so they won’t be turned on. No one was being slowed down by pass keys or locked doors. Not that I could tell from the little I could see. There are cameras, so you need to ditch the uniforms for this. We should have masks and gloves as well. Latex, if we can get it. I didn’t see anyone with guns, but we have to assume it’s there. Can you take things out, if I get the door open? I don’t really want to risk hurting anyone.” There were other places to steal supplies from, if they just needed the goods. Even other FEMA facilities. The ones out of the emergency zone would probably be less on guard.
Denis nodded then, smiling.
“I’ll go in first and put everyone to sleep? How are we getting to the doors though? Walking up and knocking?”
It was a real option, though it could lead to violence.
“We should try to not hurt anyone, so… No. I’ll go in and unlock the door. Then… How are you putting them to sleep?” It probably wasn’t his business if that was code for killing people, but it was, if he were helping them do it.
Denis actually seemed chipper then.
“My powers. I can make anyone feel pretty close to anything. Including so tired they just fall asleep. It doesn’t hurt them. They’ll even lay down first, if I do it right, so they don’t have to fall. I have to have line of sight on them though. I can’t just do the whole building or anything.”
Brian looked at the curly headed man in uniform.
“Then I zip in, find what we need and teleport it to the right place. I should get all of you out first. I need you here Denis. Really, we should be able to set up a distraction, so you don’t have to go in, Rick. I don’t want to get you involved in committing crimes or anything.” His face went hard then. “We shouldn’t have to do this at all, but as soon as FEMA found out that there were a collection of Infected at one of the locations, they stopped helping them. That’s illegal, but we don’t have six months to argue it in court. That’s why we were there in the first place. Agent Galley called us in.”
That made a bit more sense at least.
“Thanks. For not getting me involved in your mess. My first mode is going to insist though, so we need to do this right. Because going to prison always sounds so boring, doesn’t it?”
He thought so, but it was, interestingly enough Denis who nodded.
“You have no idea how boring it can really be. Avoiding that is a great idea, really. Trust me on that. Let’s set this up then. What do we need?”
It was a lot, but oddly enough, they were able to make it all happen, rather nicely.
Chapter five
His clever plan had been finding a local store and looting it, using a bit of smash and grab philosophy for the whole thing. The cameras weren’t going to be working in places that didn’t have cameras, after all. That meant they had to avoid the FEMA depot and hospitals. Possibly government buildings. Before he could suggest his clever idea, one that his soul sang about being a great plan, even if there were flaws to it logically, Kerry stepped up.
“You want masks and
black outfits? I can do that. Let me see here…” She looked at Denis first for some reason. It was staring, in an intense fashion that spoke of wanting him to spark into being on fire.
Except, after about ten seconds, his clothing just… Changed. It was like a giant hand swiped over the curly headed guy, altering everything about him. Well, not his face, which was good looking in a manly fashion. Not over done that way, thankfully. Howard had always felt a bit sorry for men who were too pretty. It kind of ruined them for real work.
The tan clothing with its blocky, digital print, turned black. More than that, the design of the cloth shifted around, making it into something very different. Even the boots changed, becoming deeper in color, like a pool of shadow. The whole thing made him look like a television ninja from the eighties. There was even cloth that wrapped around his face, covering his hair and curling over his mouth. It left his eyes, and there were no gloves for his hands.
Howard waved at that part.
“We need to cover his fingertips, at the very least. Can you do that, Sweetie?” His voice was a bit patronizing. It was an age thing though, not a sex one. The girl was obviously competent. He faked a wince then, cringing as Brian gave him a look that spoke of a dressing down coming.
“Sorry there, Doll. The tone was off. Of course you can do that.” He shook his head a bit, since it never paid to alienate your crew.
The Asian fellow didn’t seem all that pleased with his correction, but Kerry didn’t let it phase her at all. Bits of cloth moved over the tips of Denis’s fingers almost instantly, after that.
The woman looked at him then, seeming focused still.
“Is that enough? I’ll need more to work with, if we have to do full gloves. Those will stay on. I grew them into the skin.”
That got a respectful nod then.
“Perfect, really. We just don’t want to leave signs of us being here all over the place. Can you do Brian next?” He didn’t know what kind of energy it took, shifting that kind of thing around.
The kid wasn’t breathing hard or anything, but that might not mean much. That was a problem with being Infected. One that he’d noticed back in the seventies, when he’d first worked with a few people that had powers. It was different for each of them. Even people that seemed to have the same abilities, like greater than normal strength, could be pretty different in how it worked. It looked the same, maybe, but that didn't mean one person might not pick up a car and carry it around without showing signs of getting tired, where another might not try to do the same thing and seem like they were going to die the whole time. Gasping and being covered with sweat.