Vile Machinations

by P. S. Power

  “What about Ephraim and Mom?”

  He shrugged, waiting for her to get close enough to touch.

  “They won’t be back. Moved into a secure facility that… Honestly, I don’t know where they are, exactly. I hear it isn’t that nice. They’ll live though and won’t be abused. Not unless we put in special orders for that? We can, if you want… Say… Have Ephraim visited a few times a week by by a large man who doesn’t care if he says yes or not? There’s a certain symmetry to that, if you want it done. Who know, maybe it would help him learn something?”

  The girl didn’t stop, though she did nod as he reached out to take her hand.

  Then he sighed. She was a zombie, for the time being, after all. Uninteresting and not even a good slave. She’d follow exacting orders, but that was all. It wasn’t enough for him in life. If she’d been different, not a danger due to her brainwashing, then he might have done what Bertie seemed to want and kept her alive, even given that. After all, what he had going on with Doc could possibly work out, after a fashion. A casual relationship that wasn’t that close, most of the time, with sex thrown in whenever he wanted. It wouldn’t be that good with the girl, he didn’t think. Her Mother hadn’t been as good as Bertie and frankly, he’d had better head at school than that even, before his powers had kicked in.

  “Walk with me. Follow.” He had to keep saying it, talking to her the whole time they marched through the complex to the stairs. She moved down those smoothly enough, though he had to remind her of what to do the whole time.

  By the time he was leading her to the acid room, he felt a bit like George at the end of Of Mice and Men. Doc was still in the room, watching him as he arranged the girl, looking into her blue eyes as he pulled the gun and shot her in the head.

  “Tell me about the rabbits.” He muttered the words, which oddly enough got a nod from his pal.

  “No doubt. Still, it’s kinder this way than if she’d been brought in kicking and screaming to see her parents in the tub. I… Sort of thought you might keep her, or try to. She’s cute and you are a teen boy, last I heard. It isn’t like anyone would mind.”

  The words were, clearly, designed to leave him feeling bad about his sensible decision. The question he had, the one he didn't speak about, was why Doc Short would try to undermine him, given what needed to be done for the Order. If she’d wanted Faith left alive for certain, she could have simply said so. Even making up something about wanting an experimental subject would have worked. There had to be something the girl would have been useful for.

  Really, she could have ordered or asked him to do it, if that had been her plan. Instead, she kept moving back, out of range, then suggesting things in a way that seemed pointed and rather annoying.

  A clear manipulation, even if he didn't understand her real point. Shaking his head, he tried to seem blank, even if a picture was starting to form that he didn't really like.

  “That would be too dangerous. We can’t have liabilities like that sitting around. If you don’t want to have sex with me, that’s fine, though. I know you can’t be getting much out of it.” Part of him actually meant it.

  The rest was, suddenly, not feeling that trusting of the woman. Only the fact that she was going to have problems lying to him let him feel easier about it all. He moved toward her, stopping at about five feet away. A thing that should have left her feeling both chatty and unable to be less than perfectly truthful with him.

  Which got her to nod. He could see the wheels in her head working, figuring out what she needed to be acting like in the moment. It was almost like math being done out loud, right in front of him.

  “That’s no big deal. I’m just worried that you don’t have anyone your own age around. In a real way you’re being isolated from everyone in the world. That’s going to mess with your well-being eventually. The sex part is fine between us, really. It’s even fun, in a way. Not that I remember it, later.”

  Connor, nearly yelled at her at that moment.

  She seemed totally sincere, except that… The words didn’t make sense. She was lying to him. He could feel it. Not just by omission, either. Except, of course, that couldn’t be the case.

  Rather than let on that he understood what was happening, he simply smiled. After all, it might be that his powers had faded or gone away. Except that they hadn’t. Faith and her parents had stood there blankly and let him blow their brains out. If there had been anything near weakening going on, they wouldn’t have been able to do that kind of thing at all. They would have fought, possibly with lethal consequences for him. Teo of them at least were known super soldiers. At least their alternate personalities had that going on. That meant it was just Bertie who was resistant to him.

  So, he shrugged.

  “Later tonight? We can get together and… I don’t know, watch a movie or something?” If she was supposed to be concerned about his mental wellbeing, that kind of thing, just spending time with him, might be reasonable.

  She shook her head.

  “I can’t. I’m scheduled to head over to London later. Teleporting. You aren’t supposed to know about that, so don’t tell anyone.”

  He nodded, since that part at least was what he’d been told about before.

  “Agreed. Well, when you get back, then? We can try some of that anal that you don’t want.” He sounded nearly needy. Which wasn’t his point.

  Connor just wanted to know how long she was going to be gone. A plan occurred to him, since it was kind of clear that something was very wrong with the Doc. The one person that he’d thought might be a confederate as far as making certain things got done to save the world. There had been for a while, now that he thought about it. How animated she was during sex, for instance.

  How his powers had only flared once, right after she’d given him a specific shot. Or, rather had him give himself. Before that point, the woman had seemed to react identically to everyone else in regards to his powers. After that, almost instantly, little things had come into being. Small differences. It might be his imagination, of course.

  Only, it wasn’t.

  It didn’t take a super genius to work out that an ancient woman who was known to be involved in dozens of secret societies over the years, who was involved intimately with a lot of the plans that had failed over the years might just be part of causing that to happen.

  Bertie smiled up at him, looking geeky enough that he understood it to be an act. A thing that he hadn’t really managed to understand before that point. Not on a deep level.

  “I should be back in three weeks, give or take. I… Have that thing we talked about ready. The…” She leaned in a bit, even if there was no way they weren’t being watched by the security system. “The monkey pox? It’s in my fridge. We can get that into play as soon as I get back. We need some way to spread it. Think of a vector that way. A way to disperse it that no one is ready for.”

  He had an idea as to what to do, so nodded.

  “Are we really immune to it? I took that shot, but this is new.” If it had been about making her immune to him, by some means he didn't understand, then that part could have been a lie. Except that she’d told him about it when standing too close to him to lie, before that. He thought.

  The small woman blinked at him, several times, as if shocked by the idea of getting her hands dirty.

  “Yes. The viral hive will fight off almost anything that comes at us. At least until it fails, which will be in about twenty years. So this won’t touch either of us. You want us to take it in ourselves? How? Just get on a plane or bus? It won’t be airborne if we aren’t sick with it, so we’d have to do something else. Spray bottles or a misting system…”

  That was, more or less his plan that way. A thing that wouldn’t work if she was actively working against getting anything done. Still, the best way to preserve her current cover would be for the disease to be real, so that a few people got sick to start with. Then, almost magically, like had happened before, the whole thing would just s
top working. It meant that he couldn’t use what she provided to him for it. That was doomed to failure. At least not for the whole thing. If he did it himself, he might be able to steal from her in a way that could do the job.

  The trick then, would be finding what he needed in time, while she was gone, removing her from the loop totally. Acting alone, if at all possible. With no one else knowing that it was happening. Not even the woman who was supposed to be in it with him.

  He just shrugged.

  “Too stupid? A few trips could get the job done, if we do it right. I’ll need you to hold my hand though, since otherwise I’ll probably screw this up. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  There was a soft laugh, and after a moment a slight nod.

  “No, it could work. Most of the time people try to use an unsuspecting pawn for this kind of thing. That’s less controllable and a point of possible failure. We are immune though, so could spread things physically, if we had the right disease. Something that will last outside the host for a long time, and be transmissible by both air and touch… Which my monkey pox is specifically designed to do. Really, the natural kind is… Yes. We could really do it. The lethality is high enough. We should work on that when I get back, in a few weeks? I won’t make you do it alone.”

  Connor let himself agree. After all, the worst that happened was nothing. The most likely outcome would be that he tried to act first, on his own, and nothing of note happened at all. The disease was probably real, though it was clear that she could lie to him, so it might not be certain at all. There could be a shut-off worked into it or maybe a terminator gene that would cause them to die after reproducing a certain number of times. Except that doing that could be found out about. No one ever had before, in any of the files. Meaning what she had in her lab would have to be real enough to pass all the tests.

  “That works for me. Anyway, I need to go and look up how to cook. At least if I want to live to see you again.”

  There was a funny look from his pal, as he walked away. Connor ignored it, even as he noted it taking place with his peripheral vision. For the life of him it seemed like she was checking out his behind. That was pretty cute, he had to admit, though she’d never been all that interested in him that way before, from what he’d seen.

  After that, he did what he’d said he was going to, actually going to his room and watching several hours of cooking instructions. The man in the video started with how to use a stove, oven and microwave, which actually wasn’t that hard, it turned out. Then the slightly chubby man went over how to follow instructions from recipes, which meant that Connor managed to open a box of macaroni and cook it perfectly, with some canned vegetables added to the cheese sauce packets, so it would be healthier.

  It wasn’t an inspired meal, perhaps, but it was food and good enough for him to finish it all. After cleaning up, he went back to learning about making food, since there were, for normal people, three full meals per day. At eight he walked over to his Father’s room, unannounced, and tapped on the door.

  The man let him in himself, smiling when he saw him in the doorway, standing back.

  “Connor! Come in. I was just going over the new plans. They… aren’t going well. We’ve released massive amounts of chemicals using packaging plastics as planned and they’re in stores. For some reason, they go inert in the human body, though. Not totally, but the death toll from suicide is still too low.” The door was closed as Connor entered, his Dad walking away into the living space, about fifteen feet ahead of him.

  Walker was there, sitting on one of the sofas. The man waved at him as he approached.

  “Hey, kid. I reviewed your handling of the Ephraim situation. Efficient. Bennet had suggested it would be. Some of the higher ups had wondered if leaving the new kid in charge of it was the best plan, of course. Word is that they’re satisfied with the course you chose. Now, at least. After the fact. Half of them figured that you were going to keep the mother and the girl for sex.”

  That sounded like what an average teen boy would have done. As it was, he simply smiled.

  “Doctor Short… Bertie… She’s probably behind thwarting all of the plans. Not alone or anything, but… She’s worked out some way to lie to me. Which is fine in and of itself. I mean, if we could take my abilities away, I’d do it myself. It’s a curse. Only…” Connor expected the others to act like he was betraying them, saying what he was. She was their friend and coworker.

  Connor was, at best, a nuisance that had managed a few weeks of being slightly useful. Almost by accident and certainly not due to any great skill or knowledge on his part.

  Rather than shoot him, Stephen simply smiled at him, standing about ten feet away.

  “We know. It’s been suspected for a long time. What we don’t have is who all is working with her. There are seven people that we’re watching, in different organizations. We’ve been using you to keep her busy, for the last days while things are in the works. Do you think you can keep on top of that for us, for a while longer?”

  Connor thought about it for a while before answering. The two men didn’t speak while he did it, just waiting, patiently. Not speaking, even if both of them clearly wanted to. Being unable to fight off his ability totally. Showing, subtly that they were either the best actors in the world, or under the full effect of the ability he couldn’t control at all. A thing that Bertie hadn’t managed very well at all in similar circumstances.

  He wanted to feel betrayed, but the truth was that the woman didn't owe him anything. She’d clearly been a spy and saboteur well before he was even born. That sort of meant, no matter how he felt about being used in the moment, that he simply needed to get past it.

  “She told me that she’s going to be gone for a few weeks. To London. I also have something in the works. It probably won’t be effective, but it might force her to focus on cleaning up my mess. If I do it right, she might be annoyed with me. I won’t go into it, since solving the mystery of what I’m doing is really the point.”

  His Father gave him an intrigued look.

  “Interesting. We’ll do the same, if you don’t mind? We have things in the works that could actually do the trick, finally. Perhaps we can get to the bottom of the plot, if nothing else. Now, congratulations on not being too sentimental or driven by your hormones, son. Perhaps you should… Find something else to do for the time being? Not to be… It’s a bit hard to work, with you right here.”

  That made sense, even if it felt a little sad, being sent away like that. Not that he didn't get it.

  “I’ll… Go and exercise, I suppose. We should… Meet up in a few days. I’ll be breaking into places here in the meantime. Stealing and being creepy in general. Then coming and going at all hours. We’re about to leave here, right? I need to stay here and wait for Bertie. If we could be left alone for a while after that… If nothing else we can claim that it’s about sex.”

  It was part of his plan, after all.

  The words got a laugh, if nothing else.

  “Go to it then. Do you need help in what you have planned?” His Father seemed interested which felt off. The man hadn’t really been involved for most of the rest of his life.

  “Probably. Except that I can’t accept it. The point is that Bertie needs to find out about this after it’s too late. Hopefully that will make her scramble when the time comes. Still, try not to have me killed until after Doctor Short gets back? I’ll avoid killing myself, if I can, until after that.”

  Again, both men laughed, as if he was kidding about it. Connor didn’t know for certain that the Order wouldn’t be getting rid of him shortly. Even if he was working as a distraction for Doc for the time being.

  He left the room without saying anything else. After all, his plans were weak and not likely to work at all. Even as a distraction, he was probably doomed to failure. Not because he was an idiot. No, he honestly was smart enough. That didn't make up for him lacking certain, probably basic, information.

  Aft
er all, what were the odds that Doctor Short would have left her bio-agent in her refrigerator, properly marked in a way that he could both understand and in a form that was actually active and workable, without having been sabotaged already?

  Connor knew that it wasn’t likely, even though he still needed to try. It was that or learn how to run the lab equipment in two weeks, making his own versions of the same things. For some reason he had to think that it was probably a bit harder than making noodles with a cheese sauce.

  For that matter, he didn't know how to break into one of the rooms there, either. Except, well, Etain had used similar card keys, so he understood part of what would be needed. The front desk would have a machine that encoded the RFID chips. If he went there, getting a copy that let him into Bertie’s room should be easy enough for him to manage. Then he could simply walk in.

  That would be caught on camera though and too easy to figure out, even if he disguised himself somehow. Meaning that the whole system would need to be down while he took action.

  Again, it was a thing he might be able to pull off, he realized. Simply by finding the right person and touching them. Then asking the right questions. Not that he was going to pull it all off, in the end. Then, that wasn’t his real point. The goal was to be a pain in a certain tiny doctor’s firm and tight behind.

  Smiling, he decided to do it anyway. After all, there were other, real, plans in play already. His little adventure was all about stalling for time. That and making things a little harder for Doc Short, since the woman had, clearly, been playing with him, for some reason. That part didn't really make sense, directly.

  He had an interesting enough power, and the flaws inherent in it did make him easy enough to approach. Even to manipulate for a certain type of person. An abused boy who was socially isolated had to be an easy target. Doc wasn’t even that pretty and really, didn’t need to be. Just being willing to be around him would have probably worked. The sex was… Well, he understood her thoughts there, even if she could lie to him.

  Muttering to himself, he headed back to his room in the underground complex.