Underground

by P. S. Power

  She’d looked it up and there were cases of their members doing that, even in the media. The link to Proxy, the insane government killer, was an interesting one. They didn’t see the man that way. To these people, he was a hero who regularly risked everything for people he didn’t know at all. That wasn’t the way her friends in the Underground tended to think about him. If they were wrong it was impossible to know from where they were.

  Pam grunted, her face going hard, even if she seemed distracted.

  “I doubt that will help. No one stands up for the Infected. We have to do it ourselves. Still, at least you’re doing something. I don’t suppose you have anything else? Some plan that will save us all?”

  Again, it was a real, if sarcastic, question. Caroline narrowed her eyes and then, slowly, nodded. Then was simply honest. She didn’t have a choice in the matter.

  “Yes. Possibly. Gift’s powers. If he can teleport cash in, or give you the power to do that, then we should be able to arrange to use it to teleport people out. We just need to find a place for everyone to go.” She shrugged then, getting that there were real problems with the idea. “The thing there is that just moving to a different city won’t get the military off of our backs. Even moving outside of the country might not do it. Not forever.”

  She waited, then hit send on her message, since there didn’t seem to be any harm in it. Even if nothing came of it, they needed to do something.

  Since she wasn’t jumped instantly by Pam-Pam, which was odd for the girl, Carol went on.

  “We need to get the story out, given that. To use public opinion to help ourselves. I’ve… been searching for someone that can get the word out for us. Who will. I mean, we can put video up online, but if we do it ourselves, no one will see it in time. So far no handy famous people have made themselves available to me. That’s annoying of them.” She meant it, but grinned, even if the tension in the air could have been cut with a knife at the moment.

  Her roommate glared at her. Then, instead of slapping her down for overreaching, patted her on the shoulder. There was a soft squeeze from the slightly plush girl, her smooth, nearly porcelain-like skin going blank, instead of hard.

  “Keep working that angle? The thing with Gift is good. I’ll get with him and the others here. Nero and Complex. The current plan is stupid. We can’t stay and fight. I mean, the people planning to do that understand it won’t work. Even if we could win a battle, we can’t beat the army forever. This whole thing… Why won’t they leave us alone?” She meant the question again.

  Which made Carol kind of wish she could keep her mouth shut. After all, she wasn’t expected to know the answer. The problem was, she kind of did.

  “Because we scare them, Pam-Pam. There’s a certain kind of person, mainly men, who can’t stand the idea that there are others in the world who are stronger than they are. So they want us dead, to take our place as the most powerful.”

  It was the crux of the issue. Of course.

  There was a shifting on the screen, in front of her. A thing that got her to blink, then read the text, silently.

  “This is different. I didn’t think anyone would even bother answering me. Let’s see here…” She fully expected it to either be someone telling her that they didn’t allow that kind of thing there or for the message to be unrelated to what she’d posted a few moments before.

  Instead the text was different.

  She read it off.

  “You have vid on this? I might know a guy who can help get the word out.” That was all it said. The poster, Toby, was the board operator, which could mean something useful. Possibly.

  Pam snorted, and shrugged.

  “Freaking… Why not? We need a camera. I don’t know, get some interviews and see if we can get the military on camera? If ten people see it that’s… well, it won’t help us, will it?” She meant it, of course.

  Caroline simply had to nod.

  “No, that wouldn’t help us much. We either need something really big or…” That was a problem.

  A thing that C. C. knew on the deep level. There weren’t a lot of options. They needed to run, since fighting was just a way to die. The problem there was that they had to have a place to go. They might have the means to do it, if they could work that part out.

  A thing that, young or not, Pam seemed to understand instantly.

  “No doubt. Or. Keep working it. After all, my best plan so far is basically for us to just scatter. We can do that too, but… Well, we’re stronger together. It… I just don’t know if that’s enough.” She walked away then, which meant Carol was able to get back to work.

  Searching for a way to save them all. Then, after an hour of not managing much online, she went off to look for a video camera. A thing that she found in the main storeroom, still in the original box. That meant it needed to be charged first, before she could do anything with it.

  That was fine, since it allowed her to check the board again. The one that had actually bothered to do anything at all, so far. There was a single message there, from a user named Brian.

  “You are not alone. We’re coming. Hang on.” She spoke the words out loud, then rolled her eyes.

  After all, she’d only put that they were in Portland. It wasn’t as if they had directions to the Underground or something. Still, the thought was nice. Someone in the world was at least planning to try and do something. Maybe.

  She simply didn’t know if there was anything that could be done at all.

  She waited for a long time, just sitting and trying to think of how to fix things. Nothing came to her, but she was able to get a full charge for the camera battery and get out to talk to people. To get their stories and try to make something that might help get the word out about what they were facing.

  C. C. could only hope it would be enough.

  Chapter nine- Brian

  Brian Yi looked at the flat computer screen, then up at the woman behind him. She was dressed in her tan uniform, since it was a work day. So was he, since he could shift out at any moment, being forced to fight. It helped to smooth things over with the police if he was identifiable as IPB. Not that they loved him.

  The police were not, for some strange reason, his best friends in the world. Probably because he’d been forced to kill some of them, when they were about to murder others. They often felt they were above the law. Mainly because they were. He wasn’t the law, which confused them to no end. Brian just protected people, when he could. From anyone that was trying to murder them.

  He pointed at the screen.

  His boss shook her head, but he knew her well enough to get that Marcia Turner wasn’t saying they couldn’t help.

  “This could be a trap. Or a set up. Are you going in for recon? You should take someone else with you. Who do you want for your team?” It was clear that she was about to suggest some of team two, which wasn’t a bad idea, if they got the right ones.

  The issue there was that most of them had gotten work done, so they didn’t look like they were Infected any longer. That had required going to another reality, but he could do that, so it hadn’t been that hard to pull off for his friends. The people on the other side even did the incredible work for free. They couldn’t fix everything, but so far first modes had been able to be fixed one hundred percent of the time. Looks ran hot and cold, but most of their people had gotten pretty lucky that way.

  Which meant that he wasn’t forced to sacrifice himself for others any longer. Marcia wasn’t paranoid, either. They both still tended to be more like that than not, but it wasn’t something they couldn’t control, now.

  “I think… Lobo and I should work this one. I have to go, I think. Um…” He looked down at himself and then shook his head. “Dressed up differently. Most don’t know my face. A large group of Infected people might not love seeing me show up to help, suddenly.”

  It was just the truth. The press told everyone that he killed people all the time and got away with it. Normally Infected people, even if th
at wasn’t exclusive or anything. He went to where people were about to die, teleporting after a fashion, taking the place of the person in danger. Then he fought. He didn’t get to pick who that happened with.

  On the good side, even if his face had been on television a few hundred times, most people couldn’t see past the uniform. Slap on a Hawaiian shirt, a floppy hat and some cargo shorts and he suddenly turned invisible to most people. Just another skinny Asian guy. One with poor fashion sense.

  Keith Bayless, Lobo, could turn into a lavender lobster-like man. That made him look both distinctively different and like he might just understand the true plight of many Infected men and women. On the good side, he wasn’t famous at all. A lot of Team Two didn’t get in front of the cameras all that often. Brian thought they could go in that way.

  Marcia raised a rather pretty eyebrow. She looked good, he had to admit. Not that he would say so out loud. They were friends, but he had to admit he was more than a little attracted to her. A thing he was nearly certain was mutual. The issue there was that he had a girlfriend already. Messing that up, even by flirting, was a poor plan.

  So he didn’t do it. Ever.

  His boss looked at him, her face a study in contemplation. After half a minute, their eyes locked, and she rather artlessly shrugged.

  “Do it. Be careful and if you need other people, take them. We could send Bridget with you.”

  He nodded, getting the idea.

  “Except that she’s sort of the nightmare of most Infected people still. It’s bad enough we’re sending that Proxy douchebag. I need a disguise. Lobo and I can handle this.” He didn’t know that was the truth, but they weren’t going in to fight. You didn’t always get a choice with Infected people, of course.

  There was a pat on the back, which was warm and probably a bit dangerous. Marcia was simply too good looking for him to allow that kind of thing with. They’d known each other for too long to be that casual with one another. The problem with that was down to the fact that, if they changed that kind of thing, the hugs, patting and rubbing they did, after all that time, it would seem hostile. So they hung out in a limbo made of pretending that nothing was there, even when it obviously was.

  He stood up, then secured his work station with a few taps. It meant putting his code back in when he wanted to get back online, but that was how things had to work there. They were spied on almost constantly. Before he could stand back, Marcia took his arm. Gently.

  “Try not to start a war with the Army, if you can help it. I’ll send some feelers out from here in that direction. Keep me in the loop, every few hours. If you can even find them. Portland isn’t exactly a tiny place.”

  Brian snorted then, smiling a bit.

  “It isn’t, but I know it pretty well. I grew up in Vancouver, right next to there. There are only so many places that a group of Infected can hide in a place like that. Besides, I looked up where the no-go zones are there. They have three of them. The police don’t cover two of them much because of massive gang activity. The other one just doesn’t get covered. In the old part of the warehouse district, not far from the docks there. Guess where the Infected people are?” It had literally taken him about fifteen minutes to work that out.

  The people in the city knew where not to hang out, after all.

  His boss simply nodded.

  “Okay then, be like that. All prepared and with information. I see how you are. Still, if it gets too hot, pull out. On the other hand, if you need us, we’ll have people on standby. These are Infected men and women here. That makes them ours.” She grinned then, her face almost wicked. “Get me the names and I’ll put them all on the books. Then if the Army tries to take them, they’ll literally be attacking a federal agency.”

  It was the kind of thing that Brian wouldn’t have thought about doing, even if he’d seen it be done there before. Once. That had been for Jessica, from Team One. Spectrum. The woman was pretty enough, but was also the least well-known member of that team. That could mean she was a good person to have on backup for them. She didn’t have a first mode anymore, but she still kind of resisted conflict, when possible. Once upon a time she’d also been a social worker. Depending on the situation he walked into, that kind of thing might just be handy to have on call.

  He just nodded back.

  “I’ll get what I can that way, if possible, at all. They probably won’t want to work with us, but they sound kind of desperate, from what I can see. I’ll head out in… Well, as soon as I can get changed and find Lobo. He’ll need something, too. I’d suggest matching outfits, but that sounds a little… Precious.” He winked at the woman, who let him walk out.

  He was being playful, but the situation felt important to him. Foreboding.

  If they didn’t manage the whole situation just right, people were probably going to die. A whole lot of them.

  Brian didn’t feel like allowing that, for some reason. Probably because it was his job. Maybe just because the law abusing people was a particular hot button for him, personally. Either way, he wasn’t going to let a bunch of people go down. Not without him standing in front of them, at least.

  Chapter ten- King Rat

  Peeking around the corner of the cement pillar, Ryan felt afraid. That wasn’t exactly new to him. He was on watch because no one else there was willing to do it at the moment. Not other than Clover. The goat-man and the rat were the only two in the entire Underground willing to go outside at the moment. To watch for the military. Then, they’d tried to shoot people from across town, three times now.

  Clover had been hit first, but Grady had nearly been hit earlier and only Ryan’s precognition had let him sidestep the next attempt to kill one of them. That they didn’t have brains to clean up that day was, more or less, due to luck. Pure and simple.

  That and some super powers.

  His whiskers were twitching again in that moment, even if nothing visible was there to show him where the threat was coming from. Not until there was a blue flash in the air. It was on the street below him by three stories. To the north, about two blocks away.

  It took him a few seconds to get the idea. Someone had used an ability, which was going to get the attention of the sniper across town. The man, or possibly men, fired from a different location each time. That meant it was impossible for anyone to locate them exactly. Meaning they didn’t know where they needed to be in order to hide from them, properly speaking. The buildings were in the way, and being inside had worked pretty well, so far.

  The two men who had appeared below just stood there, with the normie looking one spinning in place. He had good taste in clothing, being in a cheery looking floral print shirt that has a lot of blue and pink in it. His shorts reminded Ryan a bit of the ones he was wearing at the moment. Only without a tail hanging out that back.

  Clearly the man needed to get on that one. Everyone needed a good tail.

  The other man was lacking that way as well, but he had a nice purple color to him. It was a soft thing, like flowers. His shell looked pretty hard, otherwise, which was good, since he was grazed by a bullet before Ryan could call out to him. To both the men.

  “Run! Get to the building to the right!” That was the best place to go, but his high and squeaky voice might not have carried well enough. Except that both men took off, instantly, heading across the street at a full run. The regular seeming guy was faster than the other. Really, Ryan had to figure that the man was quicker than he was, by a few times. That was impressive.

  Enough to mean that both men were Infected.

  That didn’t mean they were trustworthy. That ran hot and cold with Infected people. Some of them were good that way, some less so. Like everyone else. The problem was that the men didn’t have a way into the building they were next to. It was the first location, but hadn’t been left unlocked when he’d left it last. He should have been there, but the truth was he was too afraid to watch from there alone. The windows were too open and the sniper was too good to risk it.
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br />   Clover was across the street, so he whistled. Five short, two long. Followed by a wait of ten seconds and a single long tweet. Showing where he was going. First location. They all knew what that meant. Then he scurried, not knowing if it was the right thing to do. The fear he’d been feeling had faded though. He was apprehensive about meeting new people, but that was down to his appearance. It wasn’t until he was most of the way to the first building, having run through position three to get there, that he realized a man who looked like a purple sea creature might not be that worried about him looking like a two-legged rodent.

  His good-looking pal might not either, given who he hanged with.

  His run meant covering the distance to the ground floor door just as the second shot came in, aimed at the now trapped men. At least that sounded right. There was a slapping sound as the bullet hit the brick of the building and no screaming about being hit or gasps of pain. Feeling like it might be a bad idea, Ryan pulled the door open, standing back. The men both plunged through, almost instantly. That meant they were smart.

  They also both stopped when Ryan slammed the thing, using his entire body weight to make that happen. He was strong enough, but small and light. That meant both of the other men, neither of whom was a giant, still towered over him.

  He took a breath and nodded as the others stared at him. On his waist, the regular looking guy, who seemed Chinese, had a pistol of some sort. The handle was black. It also stayed in its holster.

  “Um, hey. I’m Ryan. Are you okay?” He looked at the purple man, who glanced at his own arm. It was bleeding, a pink fluid that already seemed to be repairing the shell-like armor.

  Instead of seeming worried, the fellow nodded.

  “I should be fine, thanks. I take it that this isn’t you and your people doing the shooting?” He pointed with a lobster-like claw toward the right direction to indicate the sniper’s nest.