The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  "Let's do this the wholesome and friendly IPB way then. Pixie, how about you start an orgy out back? They might have people on the sides, but they can't really see anything from there, and won't fit more than a couple in between the houses. Argos... Doug is going to make everyone in the front feel really heavy..." He looked at Doug and then Carl, who would have a better idea of what the guy could safely do most likely.

  The thin man just smiled a little and nodded.

  "About a thirty by thirty square meter area of affect. Should be plenty for what we have here." Turning to Doug the man nodded a bit as if trying to encourage the new guy.

  "Remember when I held that bucket of water and had you increase the force on it until I dropped it? Try that on the people out front, until they all drop. Slowly though. From the front window. Unless they have guns?"

  Brian nodded at that, not really knowing for certain. It felt like they didn't but that wasn't the same as it being certain.

  "We have to assume so. I'll set up a distract... No, Jan will be the distraction. She has the right power for it. Just go and stand on the porch with a shield on."

  They took about half a minute to get set, and called out what they were about to do first, since that was procedure. Everything except what Janice had going on. She just walked onto the porch, a nice green glow around her that was flecked with blue blobs on occasion. At the exact same time Doug started making his own move and Pixie started chuckling. She did that when her power was in action, because it tickled. In a very specific way, that was, like everything else about her, just a little naughty.

  Her area of affect hit the sides of the yard too, so after Argos got the weapons from the men in front, moving fast after Doug let them all go, he headed around the building and got the sides and back covered. Then they did it again several times, with everyone else moving out to try and tie the attackers up. They had to use a lot of duct tape for it, and some rope from the garage that Doug didn't even know they had. He might have parked in the place, but it was Brian that actually knew what was in there.

  Half an hour later, without a single shot fired or blow struck, they had some prisoners. The fun part there was that they had to actually do something with them.

  They were guilty of terrorism, having tried to attack as they had, which made the whole thing a DHS matter. It would have still been IPB if any of them where Infected, but Ellen checked and found that they hadn't even been influenced by anyone using more than words. They were just bad guys. Well, according to what the older looking woman told them some were honestly just scared and misguided, but it was close enough for the moment. The regular authorities had to deal with it.

  Of course that didn't stop them from calling them names. The most popular was "dirty Infected" as if they were any less clean as a group than anyone else. The Asian lady wrapped in the reeking rags from earlier came to mind though, so he didn't try to argue the point. It wasn't what they meant anyway. It was an allusion to the idea that the Infection could be spread. Like it was a real disease, instead of something unknown.

  It took hours for the DHS to get into place, and the police tried to come and take over, even going so far as to setting up a line of cars and trying to intimidate them into giving the people up, as if they were taking hostages, not catching criminals themselves. It started to get tense, then for some reason they actually backed off and let them do their job for once. Brian didn't know why that was, because, as always, no one bothered to communicate with him.

  After that, realizing that he might not have to fight the whole force yet, Brian started making some calls. It was a thing that probably should have been done earlier, but it wasn't exactly what he was used to. He used Argos's phone, which has Marcia's number right on top. It was handy he realized. The man just shrugged when he asked about it.

  "Riot team. It's why I have your girlfriend's number too. So you know, if you see it, don't kill me, all right?" He said it so seriously Brian had to shake his head.

  "Like I could catch you?"

  For some reason that got Jason to rub his solar plexus a little and grin.

  "Just letting you know it's all innocent, just in case."

  Marcia, being a normal person and holding to regular hours for the base, sounded sleepy when she picked up. A little cranky too.

  "What? If this is about changing my long distance carrier again, I will hunt you down and shove this phone up your ass." It sounded a little mean, but knowing her as he did Brian knew it was worse than most people would have thought. She'd really do it after all.

  "Luckily no. This is Brian Yi. We have an incident here and probably need some back up from there. Um, the paperwork kind?"

  She grumbled a little and then made a soft sound that he figured was her sitting up.

  "How many dead? Any of our people?" It was matter of fact sounding, but a little cold and hard, like she blamed him for it. Like he'd kill their people? Or let them be killed?

  "Nothing like that. The house here, Doug Tibs place where we're staying, came under attack by..." He looked at Argos who had an exact count for him, smiling and giving a humble looking shrug.

  "Twenty-three."

  "Got that? Twenty-three individuals. They were subdued with minimal use of force and no one is hurt, other than some bruises I don't think. That mainly came from falling down. The police tried to make an issue of us taking them, but then backed off. I don't know why. DHS is here and we're passing custody over to them. I... Sorry about calling so late, I don't really know how to handle this though. I'm not normally around for the cleanup part and almost never take prisoners."

  That earned a soft chuckle for some unknown reason, even though it wasn't that funny. It kind of sucked actually. He really did mainly just kill people after all.

  The woman on the other end of the phone heaved a sigh and sounded funny, probably standing up then and stretching, which she wouldn't be able to feel anyway. An old habit from when she was normal no doubt.

  "That's my fault. I didn't train you for anything else. Sounds like you all did pretty well, to tell the truth. Let me roust Moore and get on this, we need to get this to the press first, before anyone can spin it into you attacking unarmed school kids on a field trip to a petting zoo or whatever bull they'll try to claim this time. I have the number... Jay's phone? Keep it near." Then the line clicked off.

  The rest of the night they stood around for the most part, or sat, waiting for the DHS to secure the scene, ask them many, many questions and then held their tongues as they tried to accuse Georgia of rape, for using her power on the men out back. They were apparently traumatized. Brian managed to shut that one down decently quick. For once procedure was on their side and they'd followed it to the letter.

  "Nope. IPB operatives with powers that might be objectionable are required to warn people of their impending use, but if that warning takes place, which it did, the responsibility is on the individuals in the commission of a crime at the time. You might want to inform them of that, because if they bring it up, they'll have to be charged with the crime of rape, as well as resisting arrest, and I doubt they really want that on top of the other charges." Not that they didn't deserve them.

  Pixie was over in the corner looking away and gritting her teeth while he spoke. She didn't say anything until the DHS man shrugged, took some notes and walked away, talking into a hand held black thing that was small for a walkie-talky, but probably wasn't a cell phone. If he was smart they were checking the laws on that. Brian was right though. The Team One people knew that they were supposed to warn people first and give exact information as to what would happen if people didn't comply with them. The attackers, who were all men in this group, had gotten a chance to run too, nearly twenty seconds even. Easily enough time to get out of range. That they hadn't was their own fault. They even had been given a chance to escape, which was a lot more than the police would have given them.

  Once the men in their black jumpsuits left the room Georgia growled a bit, not seem
ing happy at all.

  "They think that's rape? Those assholes were planning to kill us all if they could! I have half a mind to have the whole lot of them strip down and do each other for the rest of the night."

  Which would be funny, but probably not deserved. The Department of Homeland security was about as close to a friendly organization as the IPB had. Burning bridges there wouldn't be a good idea. She was just venting though, so Brian nodded and gave her a cool smile.

  "Let's not though, unless they keep pushing the issue. We still have work to do in town here and don't really want everyone to know who's here yet. Not that this isn't going to be all over the news by morning. That probably means that we won't be able to figure anything out now." He really wanted to check on Shaw for some reason. Infected or not, if the man had actually been in a hate group when he'd beaten and tried to kill Brian, the guy was dead.

  It was probably why he'd run, knowing that had to be the case.

  Giving everyone a slow smile, he had them keep watch, since in the past there had often been more than one wave of attacks when things like this had taken place. Nothing happened, but that didn't mean it wouldn't as soon as everyone had cleared out.

  Marcia called back an hour after that, with news that didn't really make him happy at all when he heard it. She seemed to think it was fine though.

  "News briefing in the a.m., ten your time. Can you set something up in front of the house? We have a thing planned here too, but we need for this to go smoothly. Remember, if anyone asks you're mainly on vacation. The Death Warrant thing is under investigation, because you love freedom and bunnies, all that kind of thing, right?"

  "Of course. We should have Jason do it though. Georgia too. They're Team One after all and really, this is their arrest. I just stayed in the house with Ellen and Carl, looking out the windows while it all took place." Janice and Doug had a big role too, but he didn't want Doug in front of the cameras yet.

  Or did he? If they announced he was on Team One it might be harder for the Director to hide him away later. Besides, if he was that strong... A thirty meter square of affect was huge. Given what he could do that probably meant he was a class five, not four. They needed to hide that if they could. Being too powerful wasn't a good thing anymore. He could fight an army, maybe, but they could still just shoot him if they got too scared. He wasn't a threat to anyone and that idea needed to be made really clear.

  Marcia yawned.

  "OK, use your own discretion then, it might be for the best if you aren't on screen anyway, if possible. I don't know. Make sure not to mess it up though. We don't need pictures of you killing cops on the news tomorrow or anything." Then she laughed.

  "So if you have to do that, make sure no one sees it happening."

  "OK." It was a good idea, and more to the point, chuckling away or not, he knew that it was meant as real instruction. She didn't want the political fallout, so if he had to do it, it couldn't be public. They could have just said that in the first place, couldn't they? The whole Death Warrant thing was a formality anyway. He could have come to town, found the men and murdered them, then left and lived the rest of his life on the base, without anyone ever knowing he wasn't there the whole time.

  Marcia hung up again, abruptly, as if someone had walked in that she didn't want to have overhear what was being said. Probably the Director, but that wasn't certain at all. He might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but Brian knew for a fact that Marcia would call Moore on it if he was being a dick. Of course she also liked him and they had a very different relationship than Brian and the Director did.

  Friendly or something, as if they actually respected each other.

  It was a good thing, he guessed, even if he didn't see it for himself yet.

  At about three in the morning they got to sleep, the world going silent after all the people finally cleared out. He took the first watch, knowing that he wouldn't sleep easily after all that anyway. He didn't get a lot of good rest anymore, even on the best of days. Since he could wake up having to fight, or have to do it in his dreams, there didn't seem a lot of point to it. He generally rested when he had to, but otherwise didn't bother with it.

  At six he got to lie down though, when Doug got up and sent him to bed.

  "I can scream if I see anything. Like a loud little school girl. Then I'll do that thing Carl had me do and make everyone heavy enough they can't really fight. While yelling, because you know, I'm not a fighter. More of a mage, don't you think?" He didn't laugh or even grin, which told Brian he was really trying to figure out his place in the world.

  "Exactly. So stay back and use your spells and let the tanks run forward and take the hits. In this case that's Janice I think, if it comes up. At least hide behind her. Argos too, since he's tough and hard to hit. We'll do a recon of the area in a few hours, when I get up. Make sure you don't eat first. We're running." It was both a good technique for checking things out and an excuse to get some exercise. His muscles needed to heal, but it felt like he was being criminally lazy at the same time.

  Doug groaned but didn't voice his complaints, just looking out the window in the front, then moving to the sides and the back, making a circuit every few minutes. It was probably good enough, so Brian headed to bed and managed a whole hour without dreaming at all, then a solid hour of nightmares, complete with screaming. No one mentioned it when he got up. It was embarrassing, but almost everyone understood, he figured. They could explain it to the new people. Jan wouldn't ask and Doug just patted him on the back, already dressed in running shoes and a pair of gray sweats with an oversized hoodie that matched.

  They went slowly, barely over a walk, so that his friend could keep the pace up, with him pointing at every place a person or bomb could be hidden. There were a lot of them, but they didn't find anything, coming back to the house about forty minutes later. They'd probably covered about two miles, which really wasn't quick at all, but it was hard to run in the cold and burned more energy, sapping the will. Not that it was freezing or anything. The air was a damp fog instead.

  They all had to take turns showering, and get Jan and Carl off with Ellen to watch the hate group for the day, which made Brian uneasy. They weren't morons, but no one in that group knew how to run a stakeout, did they? When he mentioned it to Lancaster the man nodded.

  "I know, but you have a press conference here and we need to have all of them out of the way for it. Ellen should never be on the news and Carl is an asshole, so you know, we keep him out of the range of the press when possible." He deadpanned it, but then cracked a tired grin.

  Carl shrugged.

  "I'm sweetness and light. Not good with the press though. I get too nervous. What do we need to do, hide and let Montrose sleep in the back seat while we eat junk food and avoid coffee so we won't need to take a leak?"

  That it turned out, was very nearly correct. That and watch, while covertly taking pictures if anything moved. They had a good spot, a ways away from the house the hate group used, with some bushes in the way for added cover. They just needed to make sure no one noticed them, which was harder during the day. It was too bad that Penny couldn't have been there for it. Then they'd have gotten some good pictures. She could just walk up to, and even in to, the house and do recon. She had her own training to do now, so apparently couldn't be spared.

  They used the second rental car, which had amazingly not been vandalized the night before, and took it back to exchange it for a different one in case someone had taken time to write the plate number down. That was the plan at least. After they left, Lancaster stared at Brian for a while, just watching him for some unknown reason.

  "So, everyone was left alive? How did you manage that?"

  "Love the vote of confidence there Daryl. I managed it by letting Team One take care of it, thank you very much. They do know their job. Which is why I want Doug with them when we do the press thing here. Can you all help get him ready? He can stand in the back. Introduce him though. I'll let you two," He waved in
a general way at first Jay and then Georgia. "Decide who leads on this. Rock-paper-scissors or whatever. You're our experts on press issues here."

  Interestingly enough the news people were actually pretty nice about the whole thing, once they saw who was standing in front of them. The women were a little catty towards Pixie and made a point of going on about how she'd forced those poor men to sodomize each other, but Doug stood in the background of the shot the whole time, trying not to crack up. Finally one of the men pointed at him.

  "What's so funny about that?"

  Doug waved the question away, still smiling, but after a few seconds he relented and explained, leaning forward a bit.

  "Oh, it's just, I don't know, a group of people comes in the night to kill a woman and her friends, she handles it by making them feel a little randy... and you're all acting as if the crime here is that, instead of the attempted murder. It's funny, isn't it? I mean, it almost has to be a joke. Do you really think those men deserved to die for what they were trying to do? That was pretty much the only other option after all. I kind of thought everyone would get that though." Then, cleverly, he shut up and didn't say anything else.

  Not all the press was pleased, but Pixie beamed at him as if he were the best thing since sliced bread.

  Jason handled the rest of the questions, seeming humble and kind the whole time, pointing out that while horrible, the whole thing had been handled professionally and both the police and the DHS did a great job.

  For his part Brian thought the police had been a pain, but they'd figured it out eventually and hadn't made it into a big fight or anything, which for them was practically brilliant. Maybe they really had done as well as they could manage? It seemed like they needed some new rules though, to prevent the constant problems they had with the IPB. He'd try to mention it the next time they had a civil conversation with him.