The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Just because it was important to Marcia, maybe at least, that didn’t mean she should get anyone else involved in her problems. In fact it was probably a horrible idea. Of course if it was a trap or trick, having some friends along for backup wouldn’t hurt. Unless it did. If it was about marring the image of the Infected or making the IPB specifically look bad, it would be a horrible idea for anyone to get involved, including her. If it was just about her old friends being in trouble, then having her current buddies along might make all the difference in the world. They had skills.

  “I… Let me talk to Christian about it. I’ll… Ten minutes?”

  He just waved at her, a contented look on his face, now that he had something to do again. Rob was good that way, once he knew what the plan was. It was why the man was in charge of Team One, really. That and, Marcia allowed, a lot of people thought he looked pretty good in a suit. Honestly he probably did, if you liked that kind of thing. She was always more of a fatigues and hunting jacket kind of girl herself, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t see the basic idea, did it?

  The trick to finding Christian at any given time wasn’t exactly something clever, it just meant a trip to floor nine where her office was, which meant going down in the elevator here, or taking the stairs. She opted for the later this time, since it was, in general, harder to trap someone in a stairwell than in a tiny box. She used the thing about half the time, so that her patterns varied a bit, but she always felt better using her own feet when she had the chance. They were a whole heck of a lot more reliable than any machine. The elevators had shut off twice during the last year, but her legs had worked the whole time.

  The steps were heavy concrete, covered with a light colored tile, giving the whole place a hospital type of feel to it. The main hallways on the living floors were nicer, more like a hotel, done in different colors meant to influence people’s minds. She didn’t know if it worked, but the light colors of the first floor looked pretty good and the ninth floor wasn’t too bad, with cream colored wallpaper and light gold floors that some people might think of as tan, if they weren’t paying attention. They’d gotten new carpet just a few weeks before, so it still had a crisp and clean look to it.

  Christian had her door open, which was a little odd, since the woman liked her privacy. The pure fact of the matter was that people in general annoyed the crap out of her, so she tended to not be around them very much when she could get away with it. She was rich, good looking, and even slightly famous after a fashion, but between the high level telepathy and her first mode, the woman was halfway to becoming a hermit. Marcia walked to the door anyway, wondering who was bugging her, slightly surprised to find it was Brian.

  Proxy.

  Possibly one of the biggest bad asses on the whole planet, though no one had really bothered to explain that to him yet. He still pretty much thought of himself as a normal person. A regular guy that got randomly switched out with other people to fight their battles for them. If you didn’t account for the extremely powerful precognition and combat oriented mapping skills he obviously had and didn’t really acknowledge as being real, that was very nearly true. He was only about as strong and fast as anyone would be if they worked out a lot. Really she thought he needed to work out less for a while, if anything. He’d been way overtraining for months.

  He could also kick her behind, if it came down to it. She didn’t know that for a fact, but she suspected it was the case. Oh, not in training, or anything like that. She was still a better fighter than he was, but when it came down to it, the vast majority of the time, he just… won. Against almost anyone. It should have been scary, except for the fact that looking at him tended to just make her so damned sad instead.

  They guy was tough, no doubt, and didn’t whine about anything, but his power was ripping him apart, physically and mentally. He was always hurt, even with the nano-armor they had him wearing almost all the time now, and he had a thousand meter stare that even combat vets would have found spooky. If he lasted the year Marcia was going to be surprised. That he hadn’t stuck a gun in his mouth already was mainly do the fact that his first mode was a strange type of self-sacrifice, no doubt. It had come way too close at least once already that she knew of for a fact and probably more times that she didn’t.

  He turned to look at her and smiled. It was a cold thing now, not the slightly sad grin he’d had months before. Hard and tight on his lean and scared face, lines at the corners of the eyes and around the mouth that didn’t belong there on someone only twenty-four.

  “Hey Marcia! Just the person I need to help convince Chris that I need to go to Florida for a vacation.” He sounded warm and friendly, as if trying to make the look on his face a lie.

  She blinked, wondering what the hell was going on for a moment.

  “Um… But, is that safe? If you trade out and get hurt, you should be near medical help, don’t you think?” It was the general rule for him. He stayed on the base or near it at least, unless his power made him go away and fight. He’d left before, but that was kind of extreme emotional stuff, not the desire for a vacation. He didn’t really trust everyone at the IPB and it had driven him away, but this…

  Brian sighed.

  “Dharma says that the schedule is clear for nearly ten whole days and that my subconscious mind is saying I need to go to Miami for some reason. Nothing too clear, but when the dead girl in your head tells you it’s time for a vacation, it’s probably a good idea to listen, isn’t it? Chris is reluctant though. I get the idea, but a change of scenery that doesn’t involve a fight to the death sound nice about now.” Shaking his head a little he included both women in a look that suddenly seemed a lot more tired than not.

  “We can grab someone from medical for it, so it should be safe enough. Or… I don’t think that will really be needed…” He looked half frustrated as Chris shook her head.

  “I don’t think…” She looked up at Marcia suddenly, reading her own intent it seemed.

  Grinning Marcia reached over and patted the guy in black military fatigues and running shoes on the back, leaving her hand there for a bit. He needed the contact to help prop him up psychologically, plus he was kind of cute. It wasn’t a hardship to be around him most of the time at all.

  “Good! There’s a thing in Miami anyway, for “Steinberg and Friends”. A conference. I was going to collect up a crew to head down and relive the spring break memories I never got to form in college. You two want to go with?” Pulling Brian to her Marcia grinned.

  “I get dibs on Brian, Chris. Well, if I can pry him away from Karen long enough. Mark is coming, obviously, and, well… you don’t get out much, so maybe we should all go? Besides, I want to beg a ride on your jet anyway, which means having you along will be so much less like I’m using you for your stuff, don’t you think?” She grinned, forced a happy tone to her voice, and then thought about the call she’d gotten, trying to explain, hoping it wouldn’t just be rejected as a bad idea.

  Half hoping that anyway. A big part of her knew it was foolish to involve everyone, even loosely, but if Brian’s power was bent on sending him, they probably shouldn’t get in the way. This was clearly something different for him after all. It might even have been as simple as getting the man a vacation too. He’d certainly earned one. No doubt about that at all. Marcia just didn’t think that Brian’s subconscious mind was that kind. Not toward him.

  Christian shook her head, worried, but knowing not to talk about the real issue out loud. They were all on camera after all. She looked past Proxy on the right and made a face.

  “Fine. We’ll all go then. Who else do you want to… Invite?” The words were loaded enough that Brian raised his eyebrows and watched them both closely, hand creeping slowly toward his knife. It was pure reflex for him now, to distrust anything odd or strange. That meant he should have people around him that were good at getting him to stay calm, if possible.

  She thought about who she wanted and held up a hand to count everyone off.
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  “Mark, Warren, Den and Kerry, Prime… Brian, Karen and…” The next few people would be the hard ones to sell, she knew, and they might not want to go at all, but it was close to really needed, possibly at least. “Um, Penny, Ink and Tobin.”

  Penny was invisible and had a tendency to get lost, since only one person in the world could see her, that being Brian, but that just meant she was about the perfect spy. No one could hear her, or they couldn’t before at least, until Brian and some lab boys had figured out an earpiece thing that let her talk to people now. It was like using a satellite phone, with a horrible time delay, but it worked pretty well compared to not being able to communicate at all. She didn’t even show up on camera, which could be useful.

  Ink was kind of a random choice really. He was on Team Two and had what looked like shifting tattoos under his skin that moved around slowly all the time. He was normal looking otherwise, if muscular, so not too scary to most people, but exotic enough to call attention off of the others if needed. It was a bit low to use the guy that way, but it would work, which meant she’d do it.

  That left Tobin, who looked like a black and green goblin, but was a little cutie for all that. Tiny, but he’d also call attention to himself pretty well. Since the man had a music album coming out in a few months, sending him to something that had cameras around just made sense. He was horribly shy, but Denis could help him out with that, using his power.

  Brian looked at her, then Christian and smiled.

  “What about Peggy and Lauren? Peg is going to be on the album and hasn’t left the area for years and Lauren can be her “guard” so that no one will think she’s a danger to the public. If they want to go, I mean.”

  It took a second for Marcia to understand what Brian was doing. At first she figured it was just a first mode thing, his willingness to share his vacation with others, or even just a feeling of friendship for the girls, both incredibly distinctive looking. Then she got the idea. He was trying to provide bodies to act as cover for them. Those two would catch a lot of attention in the media, but along with Prime and a couple of the others, the rest would be nearly ignored. It was brilliant. Then, anyone that thought Proxy wasn’t smart didn’t deserve to live. The guy was a genius. A real one. It was just hard to see behind the scars and constant fighting.

  Trying not to make too big a deal of the whole thing, she let her shoulders raise a bit.

  “Sounds good. Are we just taking them on vacation with us or do we have some kind of reason for it? Publicity thing for Tobin or something?” She didn’t think that sounded very real, but Christian laughed a little, catching attention.

  “Seriously? Keep them together and no one will even question why they’re with us. This is exactly the kind of thing that stars use to garner publicity. Now all we need to do is get one of them to make a sex tape… I vote for Tobin. People would pay to see what he has inside his shorts.” Her hand went over her mouth, but she didn’t look ashamed for having said it.

  It got Marcia to grin, knowing that the woman actually knew what she was talking about there. Before becoming Infected and deciding to work in secret most of the time, the billionaire heiress had become famous in her own right by accidently “leaking” a series of sex tapes to the media. Now she dressed like the mom from a fifties television show, even wearing pearls and poodle skirts to work at times, but back in the day the woman definitely had a way with that kind of thing. She was still pretty famous for it in certain circles.

  That was a real point to. The woman had skills they hadn’t even considered using before.

  “OK… Can you get with them and arrange something? With Charlot and you both working on it, we should have something worked up in a few days, don’t you think?” The words were vague, but the woman in front of her threw off a look that spoke of something different from what she’d normally expressed, which made Marcia’s skin crawl a bit.

  It was an expression that spoke of planning. Other people doing that always kind of creeped her out anymore, even when she was asking them to do it. Oh, she did it constantly, sure, but on someone else… Freaky.

  Patting her back gently with his left hand, Brian turned to leave the room suddenly, just walking away. Before he got three steps down the hall he blinked out of the air, vanishing. His power had kicked in.

  Also something she didn’t like to see.

  After all, she liked the guy. It wasn’t love or anything, but he was probably one of the best people she knew. Basically kind and gentle by nature, and he kept having to go and fight people. Often to the death. It was destroying him. Plus, odds were that one day he’d zig when he should zag or just run into someone he couldn’t beat and then he’d just never come back at all. She held her breath for a second and then turned back to the rather regal looking blond woman in front of her. Work couldn’t stop just because of that. Marcia just hoped Brian could get a real break like he’d said.

  Chris stood and put both hands on her desk, leaning in a bit, looking at the place where the man wasn’t anymore, through the door.

  “I hate it too. It’s worse for me, I think. Each time he leaves, I feel afraid he won’t be back… and relief at the same time, like maybe it would be a good thing if he just didn’t. He’s always in pain you know. Always. He hides it. Buries it and doesn’t talk about it, but everything constantly aches for him. Painkillers don’t do more than take the edge off anymore even. I don’t…” The woman shook her head, making the silver necklace she had on with its tiny silver oval locket shake just a bit.

  “Marcia… I don’t think he’s going to make it much longer if we can’t find some way to fix that for him. It’s already slowing him down. Enough that he knows it. He doesn’t think he’s going to be around long at all. I… just don’t know what to do.” The words were sad and nearly heartbreaking.

  They were, Marcia knew, also true. Proxy was on borrowed time and had been the whole time they’d known him. It was clear that he couldn’t keep going on as he was.

  “Well, maybe this break will help? Give him a chance to heal up a bit and recover? Is that real do you think? I know he said but…” But if it was needed to save lives, he’d lie. He wouldn’t even hesitate to do it, even with his friends. If he had to act happy and excited about it, to make it happen, he would. It wasn’t something she’d seen from him yet, that she knew of, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it.

  The other woman nodded though, happily enough, sighing a bit in relief.

  “That does seem real. Dharma seems to think that he might get as much of a break as three weeks for some reason. Possibly just to give him that chance to heal. His power works subconsciously for the most part, though he seems to be starting to learn a bit more about understanding it, if not actually controlling the process directly. He’s far too intelligent not to. I try not to read his mind directly, of course, but I get things anyway. He projects a lot.” She grimaced but didn’t explain the idea.

  That one was clear enough anyway. Plugging into the mind of someone in pain was like experiencing that pain herself. Christian was about as strong a telepath as the world had, so she got the whole mental package when she connected with a person. Everything about them came through. That meant that Brian was a never ending source of discomfort, almost like torture to be around. It probably also meant that Chris didn’t really like him much at all. It would be hard to really like someone that kept hurting you, even if it wasn’t their fault.

  The blonde kept looking at the door, her hair bobbing just a tiny bit, as short as it was, barely tickling her ears at the moment.

  “I… It’s not something I’m proud of. He’s a good person and deserves love and respect, but it… I have to work really hard to stay in the same room with him and worse, he knows it. He thinks it’s a rejection of him, personally, even though it’s just about the pain. I’ve told him, but on some level he just expects to be rejected by women, so he can’t believe that’s the only reason. Between him and Denis I’ve managed to alienate abo
ut half of my team. Penny is only a little better… I’m one of two people that can talk to her regularly, without mechanical assistance since I know what she’s thinking, but I can’t stand doing it for long. She’s so shy in her own way and with my own first mode…” There was a long sigh followed by about ten seconds of deep breaths.

  “God Marsh… I’m… I’m about the worst leader ever, aren’t I? Maybe someone else should take over? I don’t know…”

  “Right… We’d get who, exactly, to do that? Out of all the people we know, the only one that would be a good candidate right now would be Brian, and as you mentioned, that’s not a good long term investment of resources. Mark would be too nice to everyone and besides, he’s busy with his cooking show. Denis is in on that too and so fresh from prison that no one would trust him, even if he didn’t turn back into an asshat immediately once he had some power. Penny is only just getting into the swing of being part of a group at all. That new guy Hobbs… He’s not even from this world at all. Otherwise I’d say we should give him a shot at it. He lacks a lot of needed context though, right now. In two years? Maybe. Rachel?” Marcia hadn’t really considered that before, but she might not do a horrible job.

  The woman had the field experience needed, even though she’d just returned to the IPB a few months before, to watch her granddaughter. The woman was a class six though and still looked young and strong, even though she was pushing seventy or more. Odds were, unless something killed her, the woman just wouldn’t age. That or she’d do it so slowly it was nearly invisible. A lot of very rapid healers had that kind of thing going on. They just didn’t get old like other people. Marcia had that going on too, of course, since she looked the same now as when she’d turned, over twenty years before. She’d been twenty-eight when that had happened. If anything she looked a little younger than that to most people. About twenty-four or so.

  Still, Rachel had the knowhow, but that didn’t mean she’d do a better job than Chris did. Having a telepath in charge worked pretty well, in the main. Even if she wasn’t wild about people all the time. The job was about being the boss, not being everyone’s friend. Christian Poures was good at that.