Underground

by P. S. Power

  Ryan shrugged.

  “We aren’t the ones shooting, no, we think, it’s the Army. You… We should get you out of here. If we go back through the buildings and wait, you might be able to run to the east. Hug the buildings and use them as cover. So far we’ve only taken fire from the north. That could change. It, I don’t know guns or anything, really. Clover said he thought it was a fifty caliber, if that means anything to you?”

  The good-looking man nodded.

  “Crud. So, yeah, probably the Fifth Armored, like C. C. said. I’m Brian. We’re here to help. We didn’t know that you were actively taking fire like this. I need to get with my friends on this.” He didn’t pull a cell phone or anything though, just standing there.

  The other man snorted.

  “Yeah, that sounds right. Can we get a meeting with that person? C. C.? She asked for help, so we’ve arranged for some. Oh, I’m Keith.” He had on a tight t-shirt, in black, with black trousers. Both things showed that he had armor underneath. A claw came out, as if to test him, to see if he were friendly.

  As if that kind of thing wasn’t his own trick.

  Of interest, the normie man, Brian, did the same, shaking with him like it wasn’t a thing at all. Most of his attention was being paid to the doors and windows, his focus going toward the north. Which Ryan was doing as well.

  He thought for a moment, then shrugged.

  “C. C.? She’s just a kid. I don’t know that we should let you meet with her. No offense, but you get me, strange men wanting to meet with a cute teen girl, having met her online… That just sounds creepy.”

  Brian turned to him, and smiled suddenly, his brown eyes meeting his own pink ones.

  “No doubt, right? We can meet with whoever is in charge, or whoever meets with people that just show up like this. I can leave from here, or… Wherever, really. I can teleport. It’s a thing.” There was a shrug, as if that wasn’t a really high-end power.

  Especially if he could take another person with him. That was probably how he planned to help. Getting people out like that. Maybe even the strange looking ones who couldn’t blend into the world on their own. Ryan tried to think, not really knowing what to do. Finally, he just sighed. He wasn’t afraid of either of these men. They were new, so he was a bit nervous that way, but even at that, he felt pretty easy with them. Like they were actually good guys or something.

  Like they could be friends, which was strange. Most people seemed uneasy with him, even if they liked him. Clover and Grady were good that way. Really, C. C. was as well. Nero managed to fake it pretty well, but he was acting. That was clear. Still, these men were just… Fine with him being what he was. Even if he looked like a giant rat.

  “I need to get with Clover. This could take a while, since he can’t just run across the street right now. Let me… I need a window.” That and to be careful even if it should be almost impossible to hit him from the direction the shooting seemed to be coming from.

  It took a minute, and he waved the other men back, so they wouldn’t be shot. They both did it, as if following his directions made sense. Then he whistled again. The simple pattern indicating he needed the other guards to come to him, if possible. That they had recruits. That wasn’t exactly the case, but they didn’t have a code pattern for visitors. That was just a thing that never happened, after all.

  After ten seconds a whistle came back. It was deeper than the one he’d used. Looking at the two new fellows, he moved away from the broken-out window.

  “That just means incoming. It’s Clover. He’s a good guy. A bit like a goat, so you aren’t shocked.” It was normal to add things like that. Then, it was kind of clear that both of these men were used to that kind of thing. “Um, I get hit with waves of fear. It’s precognition linked. Like a danger sense.”

  Brian nodded.

  “Self-sacrifice for me. I had that removed about a year ago, so it isn’t too bad now. What’s yours, Keith?” The man seemed like he knew, but was letting his pal speak for himself.

  “Jealousy. I had that taken out as well. I know a guy who can do things like that. He won’t even charge for it, if you’re ever interested. Not that we can get him in here today. We should, if he’s around.”

  Ryan could see that. No one sane would be out there, with some asshat shooting at them like was going on. Still, the whole thing, removing first modes, sounded amazing.

  “An Infected who can remove first modes? That’s… I haven’t even thought about that being possible. Yeah. We have people here who can… I don’t know how much you know about the situation here.” Or how much he should say. Normally they just told people about the whole thing, but there was a small chance that these guys were working for the people shooting at them. One of them had a military style haircut, so could be in the military. The other guy… Not so much.

  The normie seeming guy shrugged, his pretty and brightly colored shirt shifting over his lean body. Under that the man seemed hard, but his face was polite.

  “Not much, really. The post on the message board, it was on the Proxy Union board, said that there was a group of Infected people here and that the Army was coming after them. We’ve bumped up against the Fifth Armored before, and won, so figured we might be able to help. We have people working to get them to back off already, but that might not work directly. Political stuff, you know?”

  There was a clomping sound behind them, as Clover moved up. He wasn’t trying to be loud, but both of the other men turned in his direction with the large guard a good way off. Brian, cleverly, waved.

  A bit sheepishly, Clover did it back. When he got closer, he looked at both of the new men, but didn’t seem worked up in particular.

  “Sorry I took so long, I had to move through the basement level. We dug a tunnel, about four months back. It’s small though, so I can’t move through it that quickly.”

  That got a nod, from the lavender man.

  “Neat. I always love a nice tunnel, myself. I’m Keith, this is Brian. Don’t be confused by our good looks, we’re both Infected. You’re Clover?”

  If the man thought the name was odd, it didn’t show through his chitinous face. There were no feelers there or anything, but it wasn’t smooth either. There was a nod from Clover, a single thing, as he reached up and brushed at one of the horns on his head.

  “Right. What brings you gentlemen our way today? Do you need help? Food or… We have some money we can spare. It might not be the best time to move to the Underground, if you don’t have to. Do you have anyplace else to go?” There was a glance at Brian, but the main focus went to the other guy. Keith.

  It didn’t take a lot for all of them to get the idea. It was possible that the purple guy wouldn’t have a better option than being there, with them. Even as the military tried to hunt them all down. Ryan could commiserate, if that was the case. Even staying there and dying was very nearly his own best option. Before the new men could speak, he blurted out what he’d been thinking earlier.

  “Brian here can teleport. With other people, I think?” Ryan looked at the regular seeming guy, and got a nod in return. “I don’t know the range on that, but… We can, if he’ll help, get almost everyone away from here. Even if we all have to run then, doing that starting in, I don’t know, Canada, will be easier than trying it from here.”

  Clover looked annoyed for a second, then a smile came to his thick lips.

  “We don’t normally ask the new people for favors. You know, the whole thing where we try to prove that we’re worth helping, first. Not that I have a better idea. Still, do you need to eat or anything?”

  They both shook their heads then.

  Keith bobbed a bit, in place.

  “We came to help. We have friends. Resources. Even some politicians that might be willing to get the military to back off, if you can buy that one. Pro-Infected ones. The problem there is that this attack has to be off the books. We were thinking that we’d meet with people here and make arrangements. See what you want and need
and all that. Is… Are you in charge here? There are three of you?”

  Ryan got the idea. Only that many names had been mentioned. Clover shook his head.

  “A bit over a hundred and twenty right now. I… Don’t know if we can let you inside. Things…” He seemed embarrassed by the words. Ryan got that, but agreed with him.

  They had to protect the others, if they could. They were guards after all.

  Brian seemed to get that as well.

  “That works. We can send things through one of you? Or… Find someplace a bit safer and meet there. It’s easy to come in and make claims. You don’t know us from Adam. I can see not trusting us first thing. Even if we are both incredibly cool. Just in case you missed that, with all the shooting going on.”

  Ryan actually laughed. It was a bit out of place, but the others, including Clover, smiled over it.

  The big goat sounded almost brooding when he spoke, but his smile was huge.

  “That, having a sense of humor, either means you’re on our side or very, very good at hiding that you aren’t. Let me go in and see if I can find someone to meet with you? It might be a bit of a wait.”

  Everyone seemed fine with that, meaning that Clover jogged off, a moment later. Leaving them all standing there, with Ryan needing to watch outside. It was his job, after all. Brian got the idea, and looked at him for a second before speaking.

  “I can go across the street and set up a position there? I can see inside the building enough to teleport over, I think.”

  The words had Ryan nodding, since it was kind of needed. They should have had a minimum of three people out that day, if not six. As it was they were leaving three sides open to attack or infiltration. He was about to point that out when the man vanished in a flash, leaving his buddy there alone, with Ryan.

  Rather than take the opportunity to make out, the purple shelled man waved a claw at the far side of the building.

  “I’ll watch to the east?”

  He didn’t wait to see if that was the best plan. It probably was, if they weren’t going to be leaving the building. Thankfully nothing happened. Not for a long while. When something did take place, it wasn’t anything too bad. Clover just came back, along with Pam-Pam, C. C. and Nero. Behind them was a different woman. One that Ryan recognized, without having really talked to her a whole lot.

  Mindy, who was the leader there.

  Pam was the one that waved to him, as if they were old friends.

  “Hey. We were told that there were people who wanted to meet with us? Did they take off?” She looked around, but went still when Keith walked into view, having heard the commotion of people coming in, apparently.

  He waved, then moved to the window and simply yelled.

  “Brian!” He didn’t say anything else.

  Twenty seconds later there was a blue flash from the window across the way, with an identical one about twenty feet from them, at the same time. Then there was a man standing there, his bright shirt seeming pleasantly happy. Nero stepped forward, his black face, like coal, seeming regal and commanding.

  Brian didn’t run over, moving cautiously, since you did that around people with first modes, if you had the choice. When he got there, he put his hand out, making the rounds of shaking with everyone.

  “I’m Brian. This other gentleman is Keith. We came to help, if we can?”

  C. C. moved forward, her own hand going out. It looked out of place, her being so youthful.

  “Caroline Connor. Pleased to meet you. Both of you. This is Pamela Stern, Nero and Mindy Thompkins. Mindy is in charge here.” Her voice was different this time.

  Ryan looked at her funny, but didn’t say anything about it. She sounded very adult. It was cute, but also just about the right thing to do, in the moment.

  Mindy moved forward then, her face going just a little dark for some reason. Then she sighed.

  “Holy fuck.” She grinned then, and shook her head. “You get that, don’t you Brian? I wasn’t expecting to run into you again. Sorry about last time. It wasn’t my best day.”

  After a moment, the man smiled back and tilted his head side to side.

  “Well, you know, people vouched for you, so it wasn’t a problem. I wouldn’t have figured to see you here if anyone had bothered to ask about it. A happy coincidence? You can confirm that we’re the good guys, at least?”

  Everyone looked at the two people, as if it was baffling that two Infected people might have met before. They were even both good looking, so they’d probably dated or something, in the past.

  Pam-Pam growled a bit.

  “What the fuck are you two going on about?” Then she glanced at C. C. and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I mean what the fudge. You know each other? From where? School?”

  It was Mindy that shrugged then.

  “I was part of an Infected rebellion group a few years back. We were running an operation on a shopping mall, just trying to make a stir, when one of our members started killing people. Just slaughtering them, using his power. He created this giant demon energy creature. Anyway, Proxy showed up and killed about half of us. Then he stopped and let me and Rainbow just run off. It turns out he knows my brother.”

  Ryan got it instantly, but shook his head.

  “I thought that you can teleport.”

  Brian nodded then.

  “I can. I also take the place of other people, when they’re about to die. I have some other abilities as well. Denis works with me, at the IPB.” He glanced around, then heaved a sigh. “Good! No one is actually going to freak out about me being me, then? That’s a first. The betting pool at work had it down as everyone I meet in the next three years half panicking. Even though I’m really nice. Keith and Mindy can vouch for me on that part, right?”

  Everyone froze for a bit, the dust and rodents in the area being the only scents Ryan could pick up. Nero was about to move, it seemed. Pam seemed ready to try and tackle Brian as well. Mindy got it, and a sense of persuasiveness came from her.

  “Stay calm, everyone. He’s actually not that big of a tool.”

  Ryan started laughing, just a bit.

  “Obviously. Here, Brian, why don’t you come and stand behind me. I’ll protect you from the silly fears of these others.”

  Cutely, the man actually did it. C. C. moved in front of him as well, as if the two smallest people there were going to fight the others, if they tried to kill Proxy. A person that most of them had probably had nightmares about. Clover wasn’t worked up for some reason, even if he was, or had been, afraid of Proxy. At least before having met Brian.

  Instead he just stood there, with the others. Nero, finally, spoke, his voice sounding deep and resonant.

  “I gather we should invite you both in then? Who are you, Keith? Other than Keith, I mean, of course?”

  The purple man put his claw out, to shake.

  “Lobo. Team Two, IPB. We’re here to help you folks out of the bind the Army is putting you in. We have people working the other side of this already. We told Ryan about that. We’re from the government and we’re here to help.” The words got Proxy, Brian, to chuckle from behind them.

  The other man didn’t stop for about ten seconds.

  “We really are, too. Anyway, Mindy, we can get you all out, if you want. Or… Really, we should deal with this in a different fashion. You shouldn’t have to move and the Army shouldn’t be coming after you. If you aren’t a threat… Well, even if you were, they don’t have jurisdiction. We do. I need to get the lay of the land here and then… Would it be all right if I brought some friends in for a bit? Someone made a mistake, firing on federal agents. They hit one, too. That isn’t going to go over well, I bet.”

  Keith pulled his left arm around, so everyone could look at his boo-boo. Ryan nodded, having witnessed the whole thing.

  “I can swear to that being true. What do we do now?”

  That, it turned out, was for him and Clover to stay on guard duty, and for the others to take the new people to the
Underground. As if that made sense. Letting the IPB inside like that. Then again, they didn’t want them to be killed, either. That would be worse than the military coming for them, he had to figure.

  After all, everyone knew that the IPB murdered Infected people. That was their entire job.

  Except, here they were, claiming they wanted to help.

  It seemed real, even.

  Pam-Pam grimaced.

  “Is that the best plan? What if this is all a trick? We let Proxy in and then, boom, everyone dies. That’s your thing, isn’t it? You murder people and no one can go after you for it?”

  Instead of killing the girl for being sassy, Brian simply shook his head. It seemed a little sad.

  “It isn’t like that. Not really. I know that the press used to say things like that a lot. They’ve been a bit nicer to me lately. It’s like you people don’t watch the hate network or something. They’ve practically decided that the Infected are human and everything, lately.”

  C. C. rolled her eyes, and looked back at the man behind them.

  “We don’t really watch anything. We only got halfway decent internet yesterday. I haven’t even watched the news in about a year and a half. You can’t really expect us to know much, given that.”

  The man behind them, Proxy, the killer, shifted a bit.

  “Ah. Okay, things have actually changed a lot in that time. You heard about the thing with all the politicians going down for pedophilia and child sacrifice? After that, a lot of the hate for Infected people has calmed down. I would have thought that you’d notice that. You know, when you go out for coffee and the barista doesn’t call the cops on you?” He glanced at Nero, then put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. That got him to jump and make a soft squeak.

  Pamela looked ready to hit the guy.

  “We don’t do that. A few of us, ones who can pass, go out and get things. The rest of the time we stay in the Underground. It isn’t safe above.”

  It was Keith who moved then, standing off to the side like he was. Letting C. C. and Ryan protect Proxy from the others. As if the man needed it.