by P. S. Power
Yi was just dressed like a ninja, head to toe, in about twenty seconds.
Then she turned to Howard.
“You don’t have as much on… I’m not really sure how to do that.”
Looking down at himself, he let his eyes close just a little. He had lighter shoes on his feet, instead of boots. The jeans were fine enough, being loose, so he could climb in them if he had to. The t-shirt was light weight, which was probably the issue there. It wouldn’t matter if his skinny, but young-looking arms were bare. No one could track that, as far as he knew. His face was the important part, since there were cameras. That and the finger prints.
“Can you use anything to make a mask? We have dirt all over the place. Grass…”
She had a lot of range, but how that could work, or not, he didn’t really know. Interestingly, she smiled then.
“Right! Let’s use the grass first. It’s more fibrous. Here.” She waved to the right, behind her, causing a large amount of grass to separate from the rather soggy and beaten up looking field in that direction. It wasn’t a well-manicured lawn, being an empty lot. One with poor drainage, which was a good thing to know, in case he ever wanted to purchase property in the area.
Then again, the idea that it had grass and that the stuff was green meant that the location had some kind of water most of the time. Given where they were, that was rare. Probably worth facing a flood every hundred years or so, really.
A clump of green that seemed to be about the size of his torso floated over. It was verdant and smelled like a mown lawn. That wasn’t unpleasant. The idea got him to smile, since he hadn’t really thought about it for a while. He could smell it. For years he’d barely been able to get only the very strongest of things like that. For a while, there had been almost nothing. Food had tasted like not much at all for long enough that he’d sort of forgotten it could be good.
Next to him, standing on the ground, Tabby looked up at the mass that floated toward them, and meowed. It was a bit worried sounding.
The black clad ninja impersonator that was Brian, spoke gently.
“Easy there. Kerry is doing this. She’s just going to help Richard cover up. He asked her to do it.”
Oddly, that seemed to work, the small cat sitting on the slightly damp ground. Still watching, but not getting ready to leap into action and kick the behind of the grass that moved on him.
When it wrapped around him, as long lines of green fibers at first, he nodded. It would work, he figured. Okay, he didn’t match the others, but hiding his face was the important part. The thing there was that, after twenty odd seconds, about the same amount of time that it had taken to get Yi hooked up with a new outfit, his own altered. The cloth of his jeans was softer, for instance. His shoes stayed the same, but were black when he looked down.
The grass around his head wasn’t that any longer, either. He couldn’t tell the color, but the feeling was of fine fabric. Like light cotton, which was decently easy to breathe through. His fingers felt funny at the tips, due to the cloth fixed over the ends. That was black as well, when he looked at it. Most of the grass still floated in the air, then moved to the right, settling into a pile on the ground.
He nodded.
“We need to plan this out, in the future. Work up some idea for what we’re wearing and let you practice first. This is… Better than good, though. Especially on the fly like this. Then, the planning here is on me and Brian, meaning the mess up is ours. Doing things without knowing enough like this is… About as foolish as possible. Now, I’ll go and scout first. Then come back here, when I know that I can get the door open. If I get caught… Abort the whole thing. I shouldn’t, but we don’t know what we’re facing inside.”
Looking around the world, he kind of wished that he had a mirror with him. Even a car would have worked for that. Instead he headed over to a shiny spot on the ground. It was a collection of water, which he didn’t know would work at all. Still, touching it, holding his intent pretty firm, the world flashed silver then went black. Kind of.
Around him there were tiny bits of glimmering, even though they were too small to really be used for much. They didn’t show him the world very clearly at all. Turning in place, he could see where the FEMA building was, off in the distance. They had lights inside after all. Lots of shiny things as well, it seemed. Since no place else had that going on in the moment, it was easy enough to find the right spot, if nothing else.
The walk in that direction was kind of slow, taking him about ten minutes to reach. The dark world felt like softened clay under his feet as he did it. There were, mainly above him, several large bright spots. Rows of them, which were probably restroom mirrors, given how things were balanced. Howard didn’t really want to sneak out of an upper floor like that though. The goodies were all on the ground floor, so that they could be loaded into trucks at need. You didn’t put large, heavy goods on multiple levels.
That meant he had to glance through small spots of silver light, to see what was on the other side. There was action on the main floor, with things moving around, if not that fast. The hard part was finding a spot of light that was actually clear enough to make out what was going on.
When he did, it required a bit of hurrying to get to in time on his part, since it was moving around. A bit over his head, being six feet above what he was using as the ground at the moment. Taking a step up was like climbing on a stool. One made out of a slowly melting block of something or other. It held him though, and was no worse than the ground there in the dark. It took two moves upward to get the job done, allowing him to pick up the view.
Which was a mirror on a fork lift. He could see the thing behind him. Also, the man who was driving the thing. Who wasn’t a fellow at all, being a heavy-set lady, instead. She looked right at him, but didn’t seem to notice an apparition in the glass. That was useful, since it meant he was going to be able to spy on people using his new trick, without being screamed about all the time.
That would have gotten annoying, fast.
Behind the driver, about ten or fifteen feet back, there were piles of goods on pallets. They made small mountains of things. Food and water packages seemed to be the main portion of it. No doubt one of them was the allocation for section seventeen. The school and the surrounding area that had too many Infected people in it to be worth helping.
Climbing down, he tried to find out which one that was, but the glittering spots on things were too faint to be useful that way. He could climb through them, he thought, but that didn't mean he’d know what was happening right around him. Going in blind wasn’t his idea of a great way not to get caught, but it seemed like he was going to have to go into the real world there, if he wanted to get the information they needed. That was the worst plan, but had to be done.
Part of him was thrilled to be there, ready to take things from these people. A small, deeper part was horrified at how clumsily he was acting. There were rules to theft, like there were to anything in life. He’d had a sixty-year long career taking other people’s things, without ever being caught. There were scant few close calls, even. That was all due to the fact that he planned first and was willing to let go of a prize if he had to. That and not getting drunk or high.
People thought they could handle a few drinks, but in the life of a second story man, that led to being caught a whole lot of the time. It made you irrational and impulsive.
The problem he was having at the moment was that he was feeling that way. Impulsive, thanks to the emotional thing he had going on. He didn't just want to take the targeted goods, either. He wanted to get all of it. Everything in the place. Just to take it. He didn’t have any need, or desire for loads of food. The idea of giving it all away seemed… Fine to him. It truly felt like a good idea, even.
So, he hadn’t turned into a monster, just an idiot.
One willing to do far too much, to take risks he shouldn’t, to make the grab happen.
The mirror he found that seemed like his best entry poi
nt wasn’t in a restroom at all. It was in a hallway for some reason. The thing was distorted, but good enough, clear enough to show that there was no one else in the dim back room space.
Touching it worked, releasing him from the darkness. The first thing he did was look both right and left, to make sure there really wasn’t anyone there. That was true, thankfully. The hallway wasn’t that long, and was near the stairs. He had that from the blueprints they’d gotten, meaning he could orient himself a bit better. It was surprisingly hard to do, using little bits of glimmering in the dark.
Looking at the silver mirror, he got why it had been a bit distorted. It was a poster on the wall, with a six by eight shining piece at about eye level. Above that it said only one person can prevent workplace accidents. Then there was a mirror, showing a movie ninja.
Moving quickly, he took the whole thing down, ripping the words off carefully, then folding the shiny bit in thirds, tucking it into his shirt. Kerry, while clearly a marvel in her own right, had removed all the pockets from his outfit. That kind of thing was why they needed to practice first, in the future, if they were going to be working together.
Then he tossed the paper into a covered waste basket. Being tidy was the better plan, after all. No one would freak about a poster going missing. Not in a work place. Even if they knew it was supposed to be there. They’d notice if torn paper was on the floor. Little things could get an alert going.
There was a sense of reward though, having taken the shiny paper. A warm glow that ran over his whole body. It was relaxing, if only for a few moments.
Inside his head, he had a basic plan of action. It was going to take some skill to pull off, naturally. The warehouse was his goal, but the truth was the thing was pretty open, at least when it came to sneaking around. Really, he’d have been better off dressing up like a worker there, but they didn't have enough people for that to work very well. You needed at least fifty for there to be enough bodies for that kind of thing. Less than that and people would keep asking you who you were. At a hundred, you could walk in and almost everyone would think you belonged there, if you dressed right.
Howard, however, was dressed like a ninja, so had to pretend to be one, for the time being. Luckily once through the door to the large space, the racks and lack of lights actually helped with that. Most of it was in shadow, except over by where the equipment was being used. The lights being off, except where essential, because they were on generator power. The storage structures were heavy and made of metal, meaning he could climb on them, if he was careful.
Doing that was incredibly easy. It honestly felt like he was nearly floating along, and making good time was simple, compared to how he recalled that sort of thing being when he was younger. It was the new strength, he was willing to bet. He could just grab a metal cross section and pull himself up now. With one hand and arm. Not that he did that more than twice. It was fun, but he had a job to do and being careful was important.
After all, only ninjas could make workplace safety happen.
It took longer than walking, moving through stacks of goods, in the shadows. Still, when he got into place, sitting back behind some water on a pallet, the small bottles mainly in the dark, he managed to learn a lot, after about half an hour.
That came when fork lift lady, who managed to look like a dock worker, compared to the thin man that came out with a clip board, growled a bit.
“I can’t believe those freaking jerks. Refusing to make the delivery? As if having a glowing guy on the scene is that big of a deal? I’d do it, but I don’t have a truck. Stupid shit.”
The man, who wasn’t old really, being under fifty from the sound of his voice, wasn’t best pleased either, it seemed.
“No shit, Cam. Worse, word came from DHS that Proxy is coming to kick our asses over it. Like we’re the ones being bigots? I swear, if I die… This is messed up. Not that I can blame the IPB. It’s their job, to make sure no one is abusing the law in regards to Infected people. I keep expecting him to pop in behind me and slit my throat. That still doesn’t get a truck out. Stupid private contractors.”
From the pointing, he got where the load was that they were concerned about.
It looked as big and healthy as the others, so it wasn’t set up to be stinted that way. What it meant… Well, that part got him to shake. It wasn’t fun, either. His breath started to feel tight in his chest as his throat closed, over the idea.
Sitting there, he had to wait, having something close to a panic attack. It was the first thing like that he’d ever had in his entire life. Not over the bigotry either. Some truck drivers being less than good that way wasn’t a huge shock to him. Even being one of the group being gone after wasn’t a surprise. It was that, clearly, they didn’t need to steal anything at all.
Nothing.
Brian could, it seemed, walk up to the door, maybe sign a few papers and just teleport the goods where they had to go. These people weren’t going to stop him. If anything, they seemed half freaked out that someone from that agency was planning to actually hurt them over it. That didn’t sound like what he’d heard from the folks he was with. Then, if you were used to everyone thinking you were a monster, being mistreated was probably where your mind went, first thing. It was happening, it just wasn’t the people there doing it.
Which meant…
He wasn’t going to get to steal the food and water.
Howard, shaking more than he had in a long time, pulled his bit of stolen shiny paper, and angled the thing to catch one of the ceiling lights. From the reflection, it fell after the bright flash, onto the rack he’d been on. It took a lot of climbing to get down, then, after walking in what he thought was the right direction, he ended up coming back in, about a half mile from his starting point, which meant walking in the daylight, while he felt slightly like he was going to pass out.
The others were still behind the shrubbery, where he’d left them. As soon as he got there, mask in hand, because nothing was as suspicious as covering your face in public, the others turned to face him. Kerry, being a love, moved in and grabbed him. Holding him up.
“Rick! Are you okay? Was using your power too much?”
He shook his head, but understood her idea. Using his new abilities was a new thing to him. It wasn’t hard though, so far. About like walking, really.
“It’s my thing. My… Um, first mode? The…” It was actually hard to say the words. “They’d contracted out the trucks and drivers. Those are the ones refusing to make the delivery to area seventeen. We need… God this is hard… We should change and walk up to the door to get the supplies…” He gasped then, shaking even harder.
Denis looked at him, his face unreadable, being covered like it was.
“What’s going on?”
It was the girl that bailed him out, since talking was sort of hard, at the moment.
“His first mode is a compulsion to steal. Only, he’s saying that isn’t the right thing to do right now.”
“Got it. I can help with that? Possibly. If you want? It’s emotional manipulation and won’t last forever. If we can break the cycle, it might help.” The strange thing was that the man didn't seem to be talking down to him over it. Really, he sounded like it was all fine, more or less.
Even if Howard was being a weak sister at the moment. It was embarrassing.
“That would be good, if you can? Please.” He waited, trying not to stiffen up if it hurt. That would be rude, after all. Clearly, even if pain was involved, it was worth trying.
Instead, as Denis stared at him, he just felt better. Calm again, after a few seconds.
“Okay, that works. Thank you, Denis. I felt like I couldn’t breathe for a bit. Anyway, they’re afraid someone named Proxy is coming to kill them all over insulting the Infected, I think? They seemed pretty worried about it. Since we were just coming to take the things they want to give us, that seems a bit much, doesn’t it?”
There was a nod, from Denis, as Kerry moved in and started c
hanging the clothing back. Into IPB uniforms. Including for him, which was different. He was going last, but near the end of the work she stopped and waved at him.
“We need a name for the tag. I can put Richard on it, but that’s not really a last name.”
Everyone else, faces bare and dressed in well pressed camouflage fatigues, if without hats, turned to look at him. They seemed curious.
He shrugged then.
“Whatever you like? It isn’t like Richard is my real name, after all.” He waited for them to freak on that bit of news, or at least insist that he come clean with them, but Brian laughed, instead.
“How about… Drake?”
Shrugging, he smiled. It was as good a name as any. Better than most, since he could spell it in a pinch. That was always a good plan in life, if you were using fake identities.
“Richard Drake? Sounds good. Thanks for the name.”
The girl looked at his chest, the last name appearing in a brown thread over the pocket near his heart. His shoes were still the same, but had turned tan, to match the others boots. He started walking, then stopped.
“Tabby, I should carry you. It’s all wet through here.” That got a small gray cat with spots dashing to him for the free trip. It was definitely weird, but no one spoke about him having a cat that was smarter than some people. They walked then, going the long way around instead of cutting through the woods. It took longer, but they were able to use the sidewalk. The front gate wasn’t locked or anything. There was a portion that slid out of the way, that trucks could drive through, which was closed. There was also a guard booth, that didn’t have anyone in it, for some reason. Even if it was kind of clear that this was the big show for FEMA.