by P. S. Power
It was a dangerous combination.
"I know. I kind of want to do something too, but we have to be careful right now, or else he'll just walk away from this unharmed." It almost seemed like that would be what happened, until Charlot walked in, a clip board in her hand, smiling.
"Are you two kidding me? That prick is dead. Politically I mean. Oh, he might escape without prison time if we don't find bodies, but hiding his daughter, not letting the police see that she's all right, that makes him look so guilty he can't recover from it. The Anti-Infected bigots aren't wonderful people, but most of them at least claim to be Christians and have some rather strong feelings about people openly abusing children. Especially sexual abuse. If he'd just been beating her, that might have been covered up, but that tape... I wonder if it's real?" That got her to make a sour face though, thinking about that possible snag.
"It's hard. On the one hand I know what it's like to be accused based on video evidence that was faked, but on the other I really want to take Hooper out of the picture. The man wants to kill me and my family, my friends..." That she glanced at both of them when she said the word friends was a big deal. She'd had a few issues with Denis in the past and it was really hard for her to just let things go. That she was making that much effort was amazing in fact.
Brian nodded.
"Right. But you think that his hiding the girl will make a difference? Won't people just think it's about him trying to protect her? From whoever framed him, if nothing else." He almost added in the police, just by rote, but that was probably unfair. They were creeps, and often crooked, but that didn't mean they'd hurt a little girl. Especially if she wasn't Infected.
"Oh, hell no. He's a Senator. Real or not, the perception is that he has enough power to stop most legal procedures from happening, if the mood strikes him. He can even have heroes locked up, and their freedom threatened to stop them from outing him as a possible murderer and child molester." She handed the clip board to Brian and grinned. It was a vicious thing that held very little warmth at all until her eyes locked with his.
Then it softened a bit.
"That's our line for the day. He or his people somehow found out that you were going to make a move to try and protect his daughter and he used a trumped up bit of procedure to try and strip you of your freedoms to allow him to escape justice. People hate it when others cheat, at least if they're seen to gain an unfair advantage from it. If we can hit this message hard enough he'll have to resign at the very least. Illinois may be the home of the largest bigot population in the world, but they won't stand by him with all this coming down.
For right now we aren't planning to put you on the air for a while, but it may be needed. The word is that we're holding you back due to the political problems Hooper created. The truth is we don't need you yet."
He read the sheet, but it basically just had the information on it that had already been given on the news. It was a simple summary.
Then Brian stood, gave her a hug and waved to Denis.
"We should go and get lunch. Or make it. Denis is turning into quite the chef you know." He didn't sound teasing, even though he totally was. Charlot just grunted a little as she turned and walked out the door, her skirt hugging her backside nicely as she did.
Brian tried not to notice that though, since she was family now.
"I know. That reminds me you two need to get with Mark, Warren and Kerry, along the Food Network people and see about that holiday show. It's a good idea and none of this political disaster really stops it from happening. The public doesn't associate the event with you Brian, so even if they try to keep you locked up it has a green light. We need all the good press we can get."
On that note she left, her eyes glinting a little bit, as if the whole thing wasn't a massive tragedy, but a huge and interesting challenge.
Denis led him to the dining room, to find Mark was back to his normal position as lunch guy. They were technically late for it, by an hour, but the calm man didn't seem bothered by that, making their food for them anyway. He was a professional after all, and little things like timing issues didn't throw him much at all. Then, his power made his entire life about getting the timing of things right, didn't it?
No one else was around he noticed. Not Penny or Rachel.
Cellophane had an excuse, her little brother being around still, plus whatever was in the package that Trivia had sent for her. He'd nearly forgotten about that part, but understood enough not to ask about it at the base. It was just too easy to spy on them there. Slipping and saying the wrong thing was a real danger too. He knew that he'd done it already, more than once. If someone clipped the tapes together correctly they'd all probably look like they had it out for the government as a whole.
It wasn't that far from the truth after all. Some of the people on Team Two couldn't really help but be angry about the way they'd been treated in life for instance, and the government really did a lot to keep Infected people down. Like they were doing to him at that moment. No one seemed all that bothered, on the news at least, that he'd been put on lockdown for saving the life of an Ambassador's child. Most people didn't even know about it, and the Liberians were actually happy with him, having sent a letter to the President, thanking the U.S. for their timely assistance. They wanted to give him a medal for it.
But it was OK with most people to lock him up, or even punish him for leaving when he couldn't help it, because he was Infected. It was stupid. Nearly insane, and a regular person couldn't understand it, he didn't think.
It wasn't his freedom being gone that was the big deal. Well, to him it was, sure, but to the rest of the Infected population that wasn't the issue at all. If the grumbling from Team Two was any indication it was a lot worse than that. After all, if he, America's darling new hero and savior, could be arrested and locked away with rules that were that unfair, just for doing his job, then what chance did the rest of them have?
He didn't feel all that special and certainly wasn't treated like it, but he knew that didn't matter, not in the end. The damage being done was deep and invisible to most people. Infected people everywhere were looking at this as a sign that there was only one real option. Fighting.
Worse, even the slow people got that they couldn't just throw down with some cops or even the military, make their point, and fix things. They'd have to kill enough people so that no one would be able to challenge them when they took over. It was what had happened in France.
Their government sucked, because power had never been a good thing to lead with. It tended to corrupt after all, Brian had heard. They didn't have social services anymore and the regular people were virtual slaves to anyone with a powerful Infected ability. No one could stop them, so the other countries of the world didn't even put up too much of a fuss. Even sanctions wouldn't work, because it would almost instantly start a war as they invaded the surrounding countries for enough food and fuel to survive.
The Infected had power, but most of them had first modes that made life a chore. Anger, hatred, fear, jealousy, greed... the negative emotions outweighed the positive by about sixty percent. There were people that had love as a focus, but even that tended to get people into trouble from time to time. Look at Karen, with her compassion. It made her a natural victim. Even he had problems that way, always being willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others. He felt that way all the time and didn't even think about it most days anymore, but the fact was, in any job other than the one he had it would have made his life really challenging.
He'd missed his early work out, but did manage to grab Penny after he ate, and get her to the gym for their first practice session together. She was eager enough to learn, but wasn't that great in a fight. Not against him at least. He just showed her how to strike though. Punches, kicks and where to hit a person that would damage them, even kill them. Almost no one else in the world could block something she threw, and her best defense was already built in. She couldn't be seen, heard, or felt by most people.
Her prime unarmed techniques really should involve her hitting someone in the back of the head or poking them carefully in the eye. They'd simply go down and never even know she'd done anything. With a stick and a gun she could already take out hundreds of people in a fight. Add in some body armor for safety and she was potentially one of the most dangerous people in the world.
She smiled at him, her body looking a bit ghost-like and transparent to him, but certainly not something that couldn't be seen. He didn't know why that was, but it meant, in terms of practice, that she was just another person to him, her power barely working at all. The rest of the room probably thought he was shadow boxing if they bothered to pay attention to him at all. He was fine with that. It used to bother him, that other people might think he was strange, but now he'd learned to embrace it. Brian was the guy that did weird stuff. Everyone knew that and didn't seem to care much anymore. If they ever really had.
They were an hour in or so when Doug came in, looking around for a while before walking over, almost trying to look casual. He was wearing a large IPB shirt and loose sweat pants, his stomach still pushing against the front, but not poking out at the bottom. He'd lost some weight already, but it wasn't anywhere near enough. Not for one of the pretty people on Team One.
"Hey Brian. Um, got a minute?" The sound of his voice was a little sad, but not upset or anything. Hopefully nothing too major was wrong.
"Sure, Penny, we probably covered enough for today. This is Doug, my old roommate? He's on Team One now. I don't know if you two have met?"
She nodded, but Doug looked at him as if the insanity had kicked back in. It made him laugh.
"Sorry Doug, this person you can't see in front of you is an attractive blonde that's invisible. Nineteen I think, so legal and everything. Single too... I think."
That got both of his friends to look a little uncomfortable, but Penny, as shy as she was, recovered first.
"I'll get him an ear bud, so he can hear me, if he wants one? Not everyone does, so it's OK if he doesn't."
Brian relayed that, but didn't know if Doug wanted him for a private meeting or not. The general rule was that you didn't talk about anything important on the base if you could help it. Not now. Normally it meant taking a walk past the wire, but Brian was actually forbidden from doing that and for some reason he didn't think Doug would feel comfortable taking a shower with him. Especially since it would have to be in the dark and... yeah. That would be awkward.
His friend didn't make him wait to find out what was up though, just talking as they walked to the edge of the workout mat.
"So, the Deputy Director, Ms. Turner? She told me that it looks like the IPB local in Vancouver is about to pick up Carla. They... I think the plan is to bring her here. I don't know if that's a great idea. For me, I mean. Is that being too selfish?" The guy took a deep breath but didn't sigh, he just let it out slowly, almost as if trying to let go of the problem.
Brian shook his head a little.
"I don't think... Look, I don't know what they plan to do with her at all. She might be Infecting people and if that's the case we can't just let her walk around doing it. It probably means constant quarantine." Before he could mention that it might be worse than that Penny spoke, her voice a little harsh.
"Who the heck is Carla? She can Infect people? On purpose? That's messed up. Yeah, the IPB can't just let her go around doing that. The government would probably nuke the base again if they thought we even had someone like that here."
Brian ignored her. If it became important he could tell her later, but it made conversations harder when he had to explain what she said too. Normally he would have done it anyway, but Doug was troubled and didn't need that kind of distraction.
They walked towards his room, taking the stairs and going slowly, so that Doug could think.
When he spoke his voice was firm enough to sound like he'd made up his mind.
"Well, she wasn't the best girlfriend ever, but I don't want her to be locked away either. Is there anything we can do about it?"
That got Brian to shrug. There had been a case where he tried really hard to find a way out for a little girl that was in a similar situation. It hadn't worked at all. They didn't know the extent of the damage Carla had done yet, but it could end up being nearly as bad. There was no information on that, but he felt it. The woman was dangerous and not even for something she intended to be doing. She hated the Infected with a passion after all. She wouldn't want to make more of them.
"Probably not. In the end we'll have to do what's best for the world, even if that's not going to be easy. If that turns out to mean we have to keep her in the basement here, then we'll just have to deal. If it means something else... Well, it could." He was being vague on purpose, but Doug nodded, getting the idea, at least in theory.
It was a lot harder to put that kind of thing into practice with a person you knew. At least Carla was unpleasant. If she'd been kind and gentle Brian didn't think he'd survive the situation. As it was he really wanted to be in on the take down, if only to make sure no one hurt her overly. The IPB Agents weren't people with powers after all and that meant they tended to be trigger happy. If they fought an Infected person they tended to just shoot them and hope that was enough. If it wasn't, they'd pull back and bring in the heavy hitters, but that shouldn't be needed for someone like Carla. She was kind of a wimp, except for her skills at running her mouth.
That and, apparently, turning people into Infected. It was an interesting ability, one that could be useful to study, if that information wouldn't be misused. It would be though, if the government got a hold of her.
That was a thing that burned itself into his mind suddenly and without warning. Giving the Federal government the power to turn other people into Infected wasn't something he wanted to see. It was too dangerous to even try, because they could never be certain what they were going to get, first mode wise.
Sure he and Doug were OK that way, but they'd both started out that way. Doug had never been a hot head at all and seldom got annoyed, even before he'd popped. Brian had lived a lot of his life for other people, first his parents and then his boss at work, always willing to do overtime or even work off the books to make sure everything stayed running smoothly. Those traits had become expanded, but they were both kind of powerful too. Doug more overtly so, but Brian kind of knew that he wasn't exactly a class two like his file said. Especially with the new time travel aspect to things.
That did explain how Moore had known what team to put him on, didn't it? Because they'd met before and that first meeting involved a group of very powerful people running from him, in fear.
If everyone that Carla Infected was that powerful and sixty percent of them had issues that were hard to control...
Dharma stepped past him and turned to look at him, appearing, as she normally did, from the side, so that it was less like she just came out of nowhere. He still occasionally tried to hit her, startled. This time though he managed not to flinch at all. She glanced at Doug and then Penny, clearly seeing them both. Of course he did, so that made sense.
"Well Bri... If that's the case, if she's that dangerous, we can't let the powers that be get her. Could you imagine what would happen if the government tried to make an army of Infected, already brainwashed and controlled? It would be a disaster. I can see them giving it a go, just so they could field a team to fight us, or at least the Infected that don't work for them. The IPB is hard core, but we aren't a military force. Give the wrong orders and most of us will tell you to go fuck yourself sideways. Soldiers don't get that choice. Or they won't think they have it anyway."
He didn't answer, just finishing the trip up the stairs at a brisk pace.
They were going to need more data, but he had a sickening feeling that the future was already selected and that he wasn't going to like it at all. Neither would anyone else.
He got the others to wait while he changed into his work clothes, leaving his armor on, just in case he left fo
r some reason. It might currently be against the rules, but that didn't mean it wouldn't happen. He'd have to change again when it was time for dinner. Mary deserved better than black military fatigues after thirty or more years of waiting.
Not that he expected her to have actually waited of course. She might even be married or seeing someone, so it made sense for him not to invest too much hope in the situation. It was too early to change into his nice clothes still. He'd have to wear his other dark suit, which was a deep charcoal instead of black. For some reason Charlot and whoever picked his clothing had decided that was his color. Given his own choice he kind of liked red, but no one had asked his opinion on the idea.
When he found his two buddies, they were busily chatting in the common area, sitting on the sofa there, close to each other, but not touching. It was Penny that was leaning into Doug, which was interesting, but not that unexpected. She wasn't stand offish for the most part, just shy in groups.
"So yeah, it was a bit hard, especially at first, since I couldn't talk to anyone like this. How about you?" She sounded playful, since her story of coming to the IPB was years old and Doug's was still basically happening.
He acted as if the question wasn't meant as a joke and tried to look happy.
"It's a lot different than I thought it would be. I don't know, I kind of figured that I'd have to go and fight someone the first day, but apparently Team One barely ever does that kind of thing?" He leaned forward a bit, nearly touching the girl with his head. She didn't move back. It looked cozy.
"I'm kind of glad on that score. I mean I guess I could fight if I had to, but I don't want to kill anyone."
"I hear that. I... had to, a little over a week ago. Two people. I have nightmares about it still."