The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Denis smiled.

  “Not to be a prick about this guys, but seriously, bomb? Brian, you get out too, and let's leave this to Marcia.” Fuck. It took a second but he got the idea. Prime wasn't staying with the bomb or the emergency, just the cameras. Brian... It seemed hard to tell, at a guess he stayed to try and protect Marcia of all things. From a bomb. Just brilliant.

  “Prime... You get with the cameraman there, um, Beardo. Use your body to keep them safe and then do commentary... outside. Go! They're, um, civilians. Brian... Shit man, unless you've developed invulnerability in the last six months, come with us and let Beatdown here handle this.” A bit of panic crept into his voice. Didn't these people have any common sense at all? No one did anything.

  “Move morons!” He finally blurted sounding exasperated.

  Hopefully that wouldn't get him sent back to lock-up or have Penny slitting his throat in the middle of the night. Really though, it was a fucking bomb and he was standing in the room with it. They needed...

  Mark really.

  No shit. The guy that could stop time.

  “Mark!” Denis yelled, a scream really. That it had taken that long to think of it... Denis did it several more times right in a row, as loud as he could.

  The man appeared next to him, calm and relaxed looking, it both reassured and scared Denis a little. That peaceful look in a situation like this. It didn't seem sane.

  “Yes?” Stasis said, looking at Marcia's back.

  Denis took a deep breath and tried for Zen himself. It almost worked, a little.

  “There's a bomb in that bag, manual detonator, but may be booby trapped or some other cock-smoking dick terrorist move like that. Could you take it past the perimeter fence for us and get away before it-”

  The bag blinked out, and Stasis stood in a slightly different position wearing the same gentle smile.

  “All done, I put it in the dirt off to the west side of the base, outside the fence, behind the hill there? Is that good do you think?”

  Brian chuckled. It didn't even sound nervous or anything, just a little harsh, raspy, “way better than in here. We just have to hope it isn't a dirty-nuke or something like that. Now we need to search the room for anything else while Christian finds out what the hell this is really about.”

  The bitchy director of the show, now out of danger, started barking orders. Loudly. It would have been cute except that she kept calling Denis “boy” as if they weren't the same age roughly. She wanted to get the whole thing down, which oddly enough Marcia agreed with. She pointed at Denis and smiled grimly.

  “All right Den, get these people into a good position with Scott and let him run commentary like you said before. You can set it up, since it's your plan. Inside the fence and back a ways though. We'll look bad if they get blown up. You can get them drinks, these things always take forever. Hours of waiting before a little noise and smoke, but newsworthy for some reason. Plus we aren't even the bad guys this time. Hardly even roughed up the terrorists. Scott, be sure to mention that a couple of times, right? People with weapons and bombs, subdued without use of force?”

  The large good looking man smiled.

  “Of course.”

  Whee, he thought while waving at everyone to follow him. Then, the deal was that he had to do what everyone told him for six months, wasn't it? That didn't mean he wanted to be called “boy” all day though. The trek had them taking the stairs for safety, which he explained twice while the bitch woman complained about having worn the wrong shoes for this. She had. On her feet were black high heels. With a freaking pant suit? Why bother? To add two inches to her height? The woman was already taller than most people. Five-nine or so. It made her look like a man in drag. A decent looking man in drag, but still, women weren't supposed to be nearly six foot. Not that he was being judgmental or anything, he thought, keeping the smart-alec comments safely inside.

  He needed names for people because his nicknames tended toward abusive Denis knew. Like “Bitch woman” or “Beardo”.

  “OK, just because we're all going to be working together and I don't want to go back to prison for torturing anyone today, how about we get some first names down here?” He said, walking out the front door, the lobby vastly improved over the last time he'd seen it. Way bigger and with a decorative fountain and modern looking glass front. From the outside it looked sweet. A slightly skewed but glimmering jewel of a building instead of the old ranger station looking thing they used to have. Much higher class. Like they were almost proud to be the IPB instead of just trying to hide in the middle of nowhere.

  Outside most of the teams had already collected, along with the non-Infected personnel, most of them standing around the would-be terrorists menacingly, with Proxy standing in the middle of the group. The angry, angry group of super-humans.

  “Back off!” The harsh voice worked and everyone stepped back a bit. One of the people, the bomb schmuck, had vanished. That meant Brian had taken his place? It seemed about right. Denis kind of wanted to put a hurting on the creep himself and he was far from the most volatile person in the area at the moment. Still, it seemed a good enough plan, didn't it? The prick had tried to kill him.

  But fuck it. He had to be all “good guy” now right, didn't he?

  “Hey!” He yelled, sending a wave of calm over the assembled teams. “Let's deal with this like adults here. Set up a group to backup the gate guards in case something else is about to happen and...” Nothing else came. This kind of thing wasn't his strength, giving orders. Especially polite ones. Proxy finished for him.

  “Right. You heard Denis. Team Two take over on the perimeter. Team One, half of you stay with me once I get here, the other half with the cameras. Team Three guard the Director, our Director, and make sure that the non-powered people don't get hurt.” Then he vanished leaving a shocked looking bomber in his place. Denis kept the calming field going while people spread out. It wouldn't last as soon as they got out of sight, but the longer he kept it going the greater the lingering effect would be. Emotional inertia he liked to call it. If you started happy, you tended to stay that way until something outside of yourself acted on you. It worked in the short term at least.

  “Sorry.” He said, starting to walk again. “So anyway, I'm Denis. This big guy here is Scott Chambers, Prime. Names for the rest of you?”

  The cameraman mumbled from behind the box on his shoulder, one with a strange arm sticking out to stabilize the whole thing.

  “Gary.” No last name, but that didn't seem important. He was just “Denis” after all.

  The sound woman took a deep breath. Just a bit plump, wearing work clothes and soft shoes, with short hair that made her look a bit like a dyke. That didn't matter either, Denis told himself firmly. Looks didn't make a person a certain way and even if she liked women, that was considered cool enough, outside of the religious community. Trendy even. The Prophet Darren had always gone on about it being a sin in the eyes of the lord, but if that fucker said it, the opposite almost had to be the truth. A real God wouldn't have made mistakes that way, would he?

  “I'm Rene.” Her voice seemed to be subdued and a bit in shock.

  It made sense. He'd have been in shock too if he'd remembered to be. Really it had to be the prolonged isolation and sensory deprivation that kept him out of it now. Steel gray walls tried to close in on his mind for a second, so he focused on letting that go. As an afterthought he started to hit the show crew with his power to help them out, then stopped. Did good guys force emotions on people? Even to help them? Gah. This was all too freaking complex. He sighed and shook his head just a bit.

  “Um, guys? I know that everyone is kind of in a state here, I can help with that, make you all feel calm and relaxed, if you want. My, um, power. If that's OK? I should have done it earlier, but you know, fucking bomb in the room. A tad distracting.” He chuckled a bit.

  “I know that you're a bit uneasy around Infected people Gary, but-”

  “Do it.” Beardo said
gruffly, a little sharply as if he expected it to hurt.

  Denis did it immediately, but just to him. The man visibly relaxed and nodded to the sound woman and the bitchy director.

  “Try it. It seems to work. I feel... fine.”

  They both agreed and once relaxed the harsh director smiled for the first time since Kerry nailed her lines.

  “I'm Darla Kennedy. Let's get a position and set up before we lose the light.” She looked at Denis and smiled.

  “Denny, would it be possible to get some kind of light out here do you think? We'll need a generator and backup power and to have some of the studio cams brought out...” Her voice had a soft tone now and she looked almost pretty when she wasn't in mega-boss mode. Older seeming, about late forties at a guess, lines a little deep and face a tad horsey, but nicer by far with the smile.

  Of course getting all of that done felt way out of his comfort zone. He didn't even know where to begin. Who did that kind of thing? Looking over at where the Director stood, make-up being applied by Clarice, Denis saw her. Charlot Chambers. Yep, that would be the one. Grand. He walked over, fighting to keep his displeasure off his face. The second he walked up she turned to him and growled.

  “What the fuck do you want?”

  Denis sighed.

  3

  “I love you too honey.” He said, his voice going sharp and halfway into pissed. Then he felt that way so who could blame him? Oh, right, the people that wanted him killed. Ah. Yeah, there was that, wasn't there? Denis fought for control.

  Charlot glared, then waved him into speech. It took a second for her to get the idea, that this had to do with her area. PR. They had a camera crew and needed to outfit them? That, it turned out, she could deal with. Who she went to in order to get that done baffled him a tiny bit, not that anyone else seemed any better for the task, but still, not the person he would have asked first.

  “Brian dear? A moment?” Her voice softened, a lot, when she called out. Denis nearly cracked that she didn't need to get all wet just because Yi walked toward them. The guy wasn't that hot.

  Then, as he watched, Denis saw it. She really felt something for the guy. Friendship maybe... or something more. Interesting. How the hell had that happened? Yi had only been around half a year and had managed to break through to hard-ass Chambers already? Damn.

  Denis had been there for three years and the woman still wanted to punt him through a wall as far as he could tell.

  It took a lot of running around and three pretty strong Team Two members as well as Clark and Kerry, both telekinetics, to get the gear and generator out and running in time, but just as dusk fell everything got into place. They had nice giant flood lights and equipment that looked like military surplus, but it all worked.

  Then Denis started getting everyone drinks from the restaurant on the first floor, and finally, after Mark assured him that they weren't needed for the show anymore, brought out the cakes and some plates. Might as well eat it, right?

  When the local police showed up with their bomb unit, lights flashing, Proxy kind of freaked and drew a pistol that he'd had on the whole time, under his left arm, one he hadn't even brought out for terrorists. He'd been helping to bring out coffee when he saw the lights, which started to fall to the ground, but got taken up suddenly by Mark, who just appeared with it in his hands. Brian actually aimed at the cops, and started to pull the trigger.

  “They're not taking me.” He muttered, sounding dead with just a hint of anger mixed in for good measure. It... didn't sound exactly sane.

  Denis blinked.

  “Um, damn straight they're not? If they try I'll drop them to the ground before they can yell that you're under arrest. Do you want me to do it now? I think they're here for the bomb, but if you know something I don't that's good enough for me.”

  Yeah, he'd tried to kill the guy several times, but that seemed to be his problem, not Yi's. And the guy had gotten him out of a death warrant, basically by threatening suicide if the IPB didn't do it. Apparently with enough intent that they actually believed him. The IPB didn't joke around with those things. Having one basically meant you were dead, no matter who you were.

  He'd never even heard of one being revoked before. Not if the person was actually guilty of what they were accused of.

  So if Yi wanted the police taken out, well, they were within sight and that could be arranged. Mark froze and gave him a really funny look, one that spoke of things that Denis didn't get. Brian took a deep breath and holstered the weapon.

  “Not yet. You're right, I know it. They're here for the bomb, not me. If they do come for me though, I'd appreciate the backup.” The Chinese man looked scared, ready to fight and a bit wild eyed.

  Denis nodded.

  “They won't even get halfway to you.” He promised. Denis meant it too. The police had never helped him in life, not even once, and being a dick, he recognized that most of them were too. Some of them could half fake being normal for a while, on camera or in front of the judge, maybe with their mothers, but that didn't fool him.

  It wouldn't be the first time he took out a few cops, if it came to that. Before he'd joined the IPB he'd had to live on the street for a while. Not that hard with his powers, but the cops liked to hassle street people. It made them feel big or something and no one really minded. Not the press, or the courts and certainly not John Q. Taxpayer. They'd learned to stop that after a few weeks, at least in the area he'd been staying in. They didn't know why, but finally stopped talking to the street people altogether. Every time they tried they ended up with horrible stomach cramps and feeling like they needed to run to the bathroom desperately.

  Brian didn't relax, not really, he looked sharp and ready to fight still. Tweaked and nearly vibrating with anger and fear. Marcia walked over when she noticed, her face looking stiff and a bit pissed. That she glared directly at Denis seemed a bit odd, and started to set him off too. Zen. Meditative. He couldn't do it, but the thought kept him from snapping at her first at least.

  “What the fuck is going on Denis? If you've been running your mouth at Brian I'll break both your legs right here and now.” She moved close to him, way closer than would have been sane if she wasn't nearly invulnerable to all harm. At this range Denis knew he wouldn't have time to react if she decided to take him out, probably her intention. Crap.

  Brian pointed gently, as if trying to not draw attention to himself his right hand held low and close to his body.

  “Police. Denis is running interference if they move on me, so don't break his legs. I don't want him distracted.” The man swallowed and beads of sweat started on his brow.

  What the fuck? No Federal agent should be having the sweats over a bunch of pigs. Especially not an IPB agent. What the fuck had they done to the guy?

  That got Marcia to back off a bit at least, and her look toward Denis softened considerably.

  “Oh? Good plan. If it comes to it try not to make it painful or too obvious though. We've had enough problems with this lot already. By rights we should have killed them all when they tried to invade with those protesters. They might be in with the terrorists here, so really, stay ready guys.”

  Um, what? Denis didn't say anything, but he hadn't heard about a protest or an attack on the base at all. Oh the joys of lock-up. Well, no big. If they came, he'd take out the cops too and not hesitate. Just be nice about it? Maybe that sleep paralysis thing again?

  Just in case something did happen, as unlikely as it sounded, Denis reviewed what had worked earlier and got ready. That and more calm and collected emotional stuff, some peace and love. He'd have tried it on Brian but the man seemed nearly immune to his powers anyway, and the last... every time really, that he'd tried to stop the guy that way he'd kept fighting through it without even hesitating hardly. So he was either immune or so crazy tough that... Denis didn't know. Could you be that tough and still be sane? It didn't matter. He decided that if Yi had his back then it was going to go both ways.

  The bomb squ
ad sent in a robot to detonate the thing after making sure it didn't have any secret toy surprises in the middle, like radioactive medical waste or germs. The prisoners confirmed that it didn't, not that they had a choice about helping, since Christian stripped their minds pretty hard.

  When Marcia and Proxy went to get an update Denis found his arms grabbed by both of them and got pulled along, bits of soft dirt kicking up under their feet. The place was a bit of a dust bowl, even in the winter.

  As they got to the main group, a bit of a meeting being held well away from the prisoners back by the building, the Director in the middle, Chris spoke softly.

  “They're Hooper people. A terrorist cell, though they think of themselves as a “hygiene squad”. There's no direct link back to Hooper of course, but they believe he's the man in charge. They were doing it for him and their own irrational hatred of Infected. I think the hope here was to do enough damage that we'd retaliate and start an actual war.” Her look had a bit of frost to it, more than a touch really, a whole blizzard of cold poured off her.

  “Holy fuck.” Den said, his voice taking on its old character for a moment. “These assholes really are terrorists? Attacking a government facility on the say so of a senator? Who is this guy, freaking Palpatine?”

  Proxy laughed, but no one else got it. After a few strange looks the younger man explained.

  “Star Wars reference. Palpatine was Darth Vader's boss, who controlled everything from behind the scenes. If I remember, he started out as a senator too and ended up taking over and becoming emperor.” Yi shrugged and looked at Denis. “But yeah, that's pretty much the picture so far. He may be run by someone else, so he may be Vader, not really sure yet. If he turns out to be either of our fathers, freaking off the guy.” Yi shrugged.

  It actually explained a lot, at least to Denis.

  Just then an explosion took place behind them and to the left, on the opposite side of the building that the bomb was on. Near the mainly empty parking lot. When he spun Denis saw something streaking toward them directly, coming from the police line just outside the fence. The dark showed the trail clearly, a line of smoke and light from the shouldered fired rocket. The police really were attacking. Denis froze for a second. Wonderfully stupid. Didn't they realize that about a hundred people with super-powers made a pretty poor target? It seemed insane. He had super-powers, and he wouldn't have attacked this group of people himself. Not even if he brought friends. Not even if Prime and Beatdown threw in with him.