The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  “Well, as to that, it turned out that our friend the general and his assistants were not tasked to run such an investigation by congress and had been working only under the aegis of Senators Hooper and Naismith. Given everything it seems that something is turning out in our favor for once as far as the military is concerned. I have to admit, the whole thing felt a bit suspicious at the time, but given the climate I wasn't about to directly challenge them first. Having you do it worked well though, glad you figured out the plan in time.”

  It had been a plan? News to Denis. He'd really just been cranky and taking it out on the ass-munches. Half of looking cool was not telling people when you'd won by mistake though, so he just nodded and kept running.

  That turned into a bit of a trap. The Director didn't go fast, but did run five miles without stopping. Pacing the seventy-plus year old, Denis couldn't really give up first, could he? Not without looking like a wimp. Thankfully the man finished his run and headed out after eleven laps around the red rubber track that went around the perimeter of the gym. Denis would be a bit sore the next day from it, that was clear. Grinning he got some water and then headed back to his room for a shower and change of clothes.

  On the bed, freshly made up, probably by the maid service, a group of nearly perfect ninja women, he guessed, since he never saw any of them, was laid a nice suit. Denis liked black if he didn't get to have bright colors or garish plaids, if anyone wanted his opinion. This one however was a lightly shining blue gray. After showering, shaving again and making sure no errant hair showed from his nose or ears, he put it on. It fit perfectly, tailored without him even being there somehow? Kind of amazing. That or creepy.

  The very light blue shirt and darker blue tie worked well together. It did look a little soft, especially on his fairly slight frame.

  Trustworthy though. Looking in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door he realized that whoever had delivered it meant for that effect to happen. It neared lunch time, but Denis didn't feel hungry really. Breakfast had been big enough to last for a while. Good, but filling. Still, if he didn't want to be known as the stand-offish guy he should make a point of showing up at meals and socializing.

  Denis had gone without people long enough to want to have some around anyway. The dining room door was just off of being directly across from Christian's office, and she poked her head out just in time to see him walking up. Perfect timing, but then she'd known he was coming, right? He nodded to her.

  “Good. A word please Denis?” She spoke softly and politely, so it probably wouldn't be a chewing out. He nodded and went to her without hesitation. One thing the bastards on thirteen had taught him, follow orders fast or it hurt. Even moving quickly he half expected a shock to rip through the floor. The flashback took him by surprise and Chris gasped suddenly.

  “Oh...” She managed to say, her eyes going wide.

  Den locked it down. Fight for Zen, pay attention only to the moment, he told himself. After nearly a minute he relaxed and then she did too. They didn't talk about the memories, since that would have likely triggered them again. Chris knew all those kinds of tricks, Denis was sure. Simple self-defense on her part. You didn't want to trigger people's bad memories if you had to live the flashbacks too.

  Going into her office, she led him wordlessly, using hand gestures, obviously collecting herself, nervously smoothing her emerald nineteen-fifties style dress. Her hair looked different than the last time he'd seen her, shorter and more blond. A lot shorter, around her ears instead of mid back. After a second he smiled.

  “I like your hair.” He said honestly. Lying to her would have been stupid, even if just trying to be polite. Luckily it looked cute on her.

  Smoothing it with a hand she smiled gratefully and gave him a contented look.

  “It's easier to care for too. Anyway, I wanted to remind you of your meeting with Charlot this afternoon. Two o'clock. She mentioned it to me twice already. If you don't go I think she's planning on stapling a memo to your forehead. Given her personality, that may be literal.”

  She'd settled behind her desk and leaned toward him a bit, not bothering to ask him to sit.

  “Also, I couldn't help notice that you and Peggy seem to be getting... friendly. That's fine, good even, but hurt her and we will have an issue.” Her delicate right hand flew up, the gesture a bit haughty, preventing him from speaking.

  “Not that you haven't done very well so far. Impressive really, better than anyone else has, but just remember I can make your life difficult if you damage my friend. Understand?”

  For about five seconds he had to bite back the comments that wanted to come. He'd been doing fine, he thought, only assholes threatened people doing what they wanted them to already anyway. After a second he closed his eyes and forced himself to relax.

  “All right. Sorry, I need to take it in the context meant, not assume the worst about what you're trying to do. Still...” He tried for a meaningful look. At this range she couldn't block people out much at all, that much he knew from past experience.

  Looking a bit angry she nodded herself. A carry-over from his own feelings? It couldn't be helped, not yet. He hadn't mastered that kind of control. Little rosy patches appeared on her cheeks, either a very cute rage had started or she felt just a little embarrassed. Neither made that much sense to Denis and she didn't mention why, or even what she was feeling.

  “As long as we're on the same page. I guess that really did seem a bit heavy handed. Sorry. I'm... working on old information. About you I mean. I really keep expecting the worst.”

  Right. Well, she probably should. It would take a while, years maybe, to really change himself and constant application of will. She knew his thoughts well enough to get how hard it had all been for him. Expecting him to become what he used to be again... Yeah, Denis could see it. People could change, they just normally didn't without a lot of incentive.

  Then, not dying or being locked up again kind of had to count that way, didn't it? As a reason to make himself into a better man? Or at least one that didn't annoy the crap out of everyone all the time?

  She nodded at him, responding to his thoughts directly, which felt a little eerie, and then made a shewing motion with her right hand, getting him to move along, though she didn't look displeased for once.

  He crossed the hall on a slight diagonal and went in to see if anyone else was around for lunch. Peggy was there, so after going to the silver serving counter that looked into the kitchen in back and collecting a sandwich and salad from Mark, who made their lunch meals for them for some reason, Denis started to slide into the chair next to her, which had been out about a foot already.

  Halfway down he froze and stood back up, plate still in hand.

  “Oh! I guess I better check... Um, Penny, are you there? Maybe give my arm a tug first so I don't sit on your lap here?” Denis held his jacketed arm out and waited, a few seconds later it started shaking as if on its own. Hard and a bit frantically.

  “Oops! Sorry there. Well, other side of Peg for me then. Oh, um, hi Penny. Hi Peggy.” He made his voice happy enough and moved over setting the plate of food down. Denis hadn't intended to eat, but it smelled good enough that his stomach growled at him a bit. He took the jacket off to protect it, like he'd been taught as a child and placed a linen napkin, this one done red and gold striped, on his lap. Now if he didn't have salad dressing and ate very carefully, leaning forward the whole time, it should be fine.

  When Proxy came in he was dressed in an all black outfit, a real suit, not his normal fake military gear, also nicely tailored, all of it in almost light sucking black. Shirt, tie and jacket. Not a single piece of color in the whole get up. Add the scars on his face, a row of three lines that had a pale silver color to them on the right cheek and he looked like a badass. A real one. Like someone you'd hire to take out your enemies or that a major company would procure for “protection”. Next to him, Denis realized, he looked like a pussy.

  Of course,
as it turned out, compared to Yi, Denis might as well have been a little girl, so that kind of worked, didn't it?

  Getting a few sandwiches on a plate and a small salad with a double helping of ranch dressing Brian sat down and started to eat as if he might be starving. Really, looking at him, Denis could see it. The guy had come in a chubster, but now, not half a year later, he wasn't just lean, he nearly looked reptilian. That look that some men get if their body fat fell below eight percent or so. It would have worked on a body builder pretty well, or someone like Prime that had enough mass. On Brian it looked... Scary.

  Insane.

  As he thought about this, Denis realized that no one had been speaking much. Kind of an eerie silence, one of those hard to handle things normally, though he had practice now. After half a minute Brian laughed.

  “Well, at least he's trying, right? And I know how much you hate being sat on. Seems like a good trade to tell the truth.” Brian looked over at Denis with a huge grin. “Um, well...”

  That there might be a joke coming seemed likely so Denis tried to prepare himself. As a rule he didn't like it when he had to be the butt of the joke. Proxy looked down and cleared his throat.

  “So. When you came in just a bit ago and realized that Penny might be in the chair, which she thanks you for by the way... You, um, stuck your hand out to see if she was there? Well, um...” Laughing he had to stop, sandwich fixings threatening to run down his fingers to his lap. Yi dropped it and wiped his hand on the napkin that still sat on the table.

  “You kind of felt her up. You had your hand on her breast for like ten seconds without even knowing it.” Laughing still, Brian Yi, Proxy, famous super-hero, got pushed out of his chair by an invisible girl.

  He didn't stop chuckling though.

  “Stop Penny, I have a meeting after this and Charlot will kick my behind if I ruin the new clothes she got me again. I'll stop laughing, I promise.” He didn't for a bit though, even as he clearly fought for control the mirth kept bubbling out.

  Denis had to fight a smile too. He started to apologize when Pegging turned on him, her face unreadable but her voice sounding hurt. Overdone though, so “fake hurt”.

  “I can't believe it. I finally get a cute guy into bed and the very next day, not even twenty-four hours later, he throws me over for someone new...” She shook her head, given the structure of her face, which stuck out about fifteen inches further than normal, it probably took work to make it look right.

  Denis sighed.

  “Well, you know, it's my first mode really. Greed. I want to collect everything and everyone all the time, I can't really help it. Still, I'm deeply sorry Penny. Openly groping a woman is a little crass an opening move even for me. Next time I'll try to aim more accurately.” Then, thankfully, Denis stopped speaking. The next line that nearly came out involved sex and really, it was too crass for an opening line, or any line at all, if he didn't want to have his butt kicked. Penny may still hate his guts, but he'd totally bang her if he could. Even if he didn't know he was doing it. She could just tell him they'd done it.

  That would leave Peg out though. In his new, kinder and gentler wisdom he decided that he'd do them both at the same time. That would work. Denis laughed at the idea, which had everyone looking at him with strange expressions. Finally, after a few more bites of sandwich, on whole wheat bread that somehow didn't taste like hippies had mixed it with their feet, meaning Mark had probably made it himself, he spoke softly.

  “Thoughts that I shouldn't have been having probably. Not at the table. Let's leave it at that?”

  That got a couple chuckles at least. Better than the crippling pain of having his rib cage kicked in by an invisible girl at least, so Denis decided to feel good about his restraint for now.

  Before he went off to the meeting, apparently with Brian, the other man waved him aside and spoke in low tones.

  “So, this news event thing we're going to? It's supposed to be about the terrorist action that the local police were involved in and the attack on the show. Um, some national brotherhood of police guys are going to be there too, supposedly to defend the honor of police everywhere and show that they aren't all terrorists I think. If it comes down to a fight, I just wanted to make sure...”

  That one Denis got. Why Yi hated the cops so much was harder to understand, but he did and the pigs seemed to feel close to the same way about him. Fuck it.

  “Then I drop them before they can twitch.” Den said, letting his voice stay soft and almost gentle. They had attacked already, apparently more than once. That was enough of a reason to be wary. “Non-violently of course, since I don't want to be locked up for it. Still, they won't do anything at all if I can help it. I'll stay alert. Maybe we should get with Mark on it too? His power is crazy, but I wouldn't want to take him on if I could ever help it.” A year prior Denis had worked out how he'd have to do it, which involved making Mark stay calm and relaxed while sneaking up on him with a gun. If the man saw him coming at all his power would trigger instantly, so he'd have to hit him first to prevent that.

  It had only been a mental exercise, one to keep himself busy. Even then he'd mainly gotten along with the guy. Always calm and peaceful, didn't make fun of anyone and made lunch each day, even for the guy no one else on the team liked. They were almost BFFs or something. Best friends forever. Denis wouldn't have even heard the term if he hadn't seen it on a television show.

  It turned out that Brian already had checked in with Mark. Marcia and Prime too. He wanted to make sure that Kerry got a heads up before they got into place with cameras going, so they stopped on the fifth floor to look for her. The Team Two residence had been done up in an efficient but slightly tacky blue carpet with walls of a lighter blue. If the wall paper hadn't come from Wal-Mart it was only because the IPB didn't want to bother with the middle man and had gotten it cheaper from the wholesaler directly. Nothing wrong with frugal of course. It just seemed kind of low for a government organization that spent millions on Team One and a lesser, but still decent, amount on Team Three, to cheap out on the actual work horse of the organization. Team Two wasn't popular, but when the badies started throwing down, they were the ones that were sent to deal with it most often. They got the job done too.

  Yeah, Den got it, they were the ones the public didn't like, the scary or ugly people. He just didn't like what it meant, now that he'd bothered even trying not to be a selfish prick about everything under the sun part of the time.

  The Federal government didn't want to spend money on the uglies. That name wasn't one that got used a lot at the base. After all, some of those “uglies” could pop your head like a zit without even trying. Plus a lot of them were actually good people, like Tobin. Still, the whole place had more of a hospital feeling than anything else. Just lock the inmates in at night and it would probably match a privately run psych ward pretty well. Some of them probably would have been in places like that before joining the IPB. Messed up first modes that wouldn't work in the real world for instance could easily get you locked up. It worked here, mainly because everyone had some kind of support system. In real life, what would someone like Tobin, shy and retiring, end up doing though, out in a world that attacked him daily? Either kill himself or end up killing someone else to prevent being beaten, most likely.

  Next to him Brian didn't really seem to notice that in passing a few floors they'd gone from tasteful to half thrown together, which made no sense. Well, it did make some... For Denis personally. He wanted, desperately, to have the best for himself no matter what. Really, living at the base he wanted to have a room on the first floor with Team One. Yi though, was all about self-sacrifice. For him to ignore the difference while getting something better seemed... Harsh. Off, and disjointed.

  They found the woman herself walking toward the elevator looking like a business person in a tweed suit that had a tidy but unflattering skirt with it. She looked OK, but not much had been done by way of making her look good particularly. Her hair was pulled back
, brown and plain in its ponytail. Her face looked fresh, but had no make-up. Almost all women looked better with make-up. It's why it had been invented.

  “Denis? Come to pick me up then? Nice of you. Almost like we're teammates or something.” She smiled when she said it but seemed a little sad at the same time for some reason.

  “Team baking show?” Den nodded as he said it, “yeah, that's valid. If there's ever a baking emergency I totally have your back. Especially since I'll probably need you a lot more than the other way around, so remember how willing I am to support you... Anyway, Brian here has a problem with the police and wants to make sure that if they attack we've got his back. I already said yes myself...”

  The girl looked at Brian and chewed her lips a little, then blushed a bit and nodded, it was a little bit of a shy thing for some reason. The girl had been pretty forward with all the other guys. Then Brian was supposed to be really popular now, however that had worked out.

  “All right. Anyone attacking you today should be expecting a small hail of stones. It takes me a few seconds to get that into play, about twenty, so if you fight stay ready to move back. If they're still alive that is.”

  Surprisingly Brian just nodded and thanked her profusely.

  “That's great, thanks. So you do the stone rain thing? I'll be careful then, I don't want to get hit with a bouncing ten pound rock again. That was really effective by the way.”

  The girl blushed more brightly and grinned. Whatever the hell that all was about. He'd have to pin someone down soon and just ask about what all the hell he'd missed.

  That done all they had to do was get to the second floor, where two rooms had been opened up and a large group of people, reporters, had already started to set up. They looked bored already. Denis could sympathize. Sitting in a room wasn't his favorite thing anymore either. Yi led them all into a small section around back, which caused Charlot Chambers to meet them at the door, scowling hard.