The Infected 3: Cast Iron

by P. S. Power

  Brian was a soft touch that way.

  Scott shook his head and spoke calmly, almost as if he hadn’t noticed what had just happened at all.

  “Bridgie, you promised to behave. This is supposed to be a fun trip, so don’t ruin it for anyone.”

  The girl nodded and plunked down on the floor to the right side of the craft, after about a minute of shifting around and trying to balance the various bodies so the plane wouldn’t list to one side or the other, Peggy worked her way back toward them. Her face was long, giving her a reptilian look, though she had good hair, kept in a long golden braid and a muscular body.

  Noticing the look Marcia gave her, the women motioned for the others to scoot a bit.

  “Hard to hurt, so I probably don’t need a seat belt. Plus, you know, convicted murderer, so I don’t get all the same perks as everyone else. Right?” She didn’t seem abashed by the idea, though the words weren’t glib by any means. The woman genuinely felt bad for having killed the man she did. He’d deserved it, for running his mouth as far as Marcia was concerned, but the woman had bitten his throat out on national television. That didn’t play well for some reason.

  They were probably going to hear about it in the news in the coming days, but that was part of the reason to have the woman along, as mean as it was to subject her to that kind of thing. It made a great smoke screen.

  It meant that a few people had to move forward and sit in the extra staff seats, not the plush comfy ones, but everyone that needed one had a seat belt. She’d been worried about that. It was weird, but since she pretty much couldn’t be hurt, it meant her biggest fears had all changed over time. Marcia worried a lot more about the safety of others than she used to for instance.

  Peggy settled smoothly, next to Bridget.

  “So. Vacation. I think I vaguely remember that kind of thing.” The voice was smooth and warm, so Marcia smiled and rested her head against the bulkhead behind her.

  “Yeah. Really nice beaches I hear. Looking forward to it.”

  The chatter was polite after that, though Bridget kept staring at the back of Laurens head and included a few others in the mix, including Kerry from the cooking show, but not Denis, even though they sat side by side. Then, Denis hadn’t been involved in trying to kill anyone that day. Except Brian, and he’d forgiven him for it, even though it hadn’t been a first mode thing at all.

  It occurred to her that their lives were a bit like some kind of soap opera. Now they just needed a few love quadrangles or the like and they’d be all set.

  The flight was long and they didn’t have movies on board, but Tobin and Peggy sang, with Lauren doing back-up at times and oddly enough Charlot as well occasionally. They weren’t bad. Well, Tobin was incredible, and Peggy was better than most pro’s, but the other two were pretty good too. It worked well. Marcia felt a bit envious for a bit, since she couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, not that it had ever really come up in her life. Singing hadn’t ever been even a pastime for her. She’d always had other things to work on. Most of them pretty deadly.

  The problem with travel, at least for her, was a simple enough thing. People started to get on her nerves after a few hours. It took an act of will to not snap at people in close quarters, because, try as she might, it was almost impossible for her not to start noticing the lies and exaggerations that normal people used when chatting. It triggered her suspicion in a big way, which in turn meant her attention to what people did went way up. Incredibly so. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but people in general hid things, and being too close for too long kind of meant she’d try to find out what those were.

  Most of it was garbage. Just loads of things she didn’t even want to care about.

  For instance, Prime was being very good with her, taking pains to be polite, even though they didn’t really get along. She thought he was a narcissist and not nearly as good at anything as he imagined himself to be, and he didn’t like the fact that she had no problem when it came to telling him all about it. That plus the fact that she’d sort of led the charge against him in claiming he was a child abuser and had once kicked his behind for letting other men sleep with his minor daughter. They were legitimate enough grievances on his part, things she could understand him not liking her over. Still, he was making a real effort not to be a self-centered jerk to her for some reason, and she just couldn’t bring herself to trust it.

  It felt like he had an agenda, like there was political lobbying going on, rather than him just trying to smooth over the wrinkles of a bad situation. His voice was smooth and pleasant when he turned to speak to her directly, about halfway through the long flight.

  “Quartz… is something going on? I mean…” The large, muscular and incredibly good looking golden colored man in a suit way too nice for floor sitting nearly whispered the words to her. It was so furtive that Bridget instantly perked up and moved closer too.

  “I couldn’t help but notice that this trip came up out of the blue. I’d suggested we go originally, since conferences are a good place to make industry contacts, but no one else seemed to see the value. Then yesterday evening we get a phone call saying it’s on? I’m not trying to be suspicious, but that isn’t the way things normally get done at the IPB. The regular format involves weeks or months of planning unless there’s an emergency involved.” He waved his large hands a little, as if trying to grab something out of the air that he couldn’t put into words, but that was pretty clear to him.

  It wasn’t like him to bother with insight into anything that didn’t have to do with himself. On that topic he was warped and skewed, but perceptive as to changes. He really couldn’t help it after all, it was a part of him as much as his bullet proof skin. His questioning her triggered her own first mode, which made her want to clam up, since he really didn’t need to know about the actual mission at all, not yet. Still, he had to be given something… didn’t he? Otherwise it would make him a lot more wary, which would be harder to deal with later.

  Bridget changed Marcia’s mind about what to say before she could even formulate a reply, her head ducking close, mouth pressed nearly to ear. Not that half the people on the plane couldn’t hear them anyway, one way or the other.

  “Is it Braid?” The words came out serious and dry, though too high pitched for her to lend a lot of weight to at first.

  For about three seconds. Then her stomach dropped and she had to fight against sitting up straight and barking out a denial that would have the girl asking even more questions. She wasn’t supposed to know about that issue at all. The fact that they were in a secret war with the original first team of the IPB, from back before they were even called that was known to only a few people and the hyper-impulsive blabber mouthed teenage girl wasn’t one of them. At least she wasn’t supposed to be.

  Her grandmother was though, along with the elder Chambers boyfriend, who was the Director of the whole mess. They were in on it because their enemies were their old teammates. When Braid, who’d led the team back in the day, nearly forty years before, set up the old version of Team two to die, Rachel Chambers and Kevin Moore had gone against her and the others. Even though Braid was the Director’s wife. They were still married even, though they hadn’t seen each other in decades as far as Marcia knew.

  So the leak was probably from one of them. That or Hobbs, who was from a different reality, which seemed to be the same one Braid herself was from. He was tough and friendly at the same time, but also had close contact with the girl, almost daily, since he was working with her on impulse control techniques.

  Marcia needed to find the leak, and make sure it didn’t keep spewing out information. Fast. She also needed to make certain Bridget wasn’t going to be a problem. Since that didn’t seem possible she winced, working about fifteen steps down the line inside her head, to where she had to kill the girl to keep her quiet. That wince got the girls attention and Prime’s too. He reached out and took the girls small shoulder gently and whispered a single word, looking right as his
daughter.

  “What?”

  Marcia was about to slap a hand over the girl’s mouth to shut her up, even though it was about as obvious as possible, but the plane was probably bugged and they didn’t want the whole world knowing about the problem yet, since that wouldn’t help and could help start the war their enemies wanted anyway.

  Surprisingly the girl just sat back and shook her head, a playful smile on her face.

  “Nothing, it’s… just the code name for…” She looked at Brian in the distance and leaned in toward both the others, her short read hair brushing Marcia’s short and slightly curly brown mop.

  “Brian’s birthday party. It’s sort of a surprise. I know there was a plan for it back in September, but, since he didn’t get a party last time being in the hospital and we don’t know what will happen next time, well, we should do something, don’t you think?” The girl blinked, lying and fighting her own natural desire to spit out the truth.

  Marcia could see it clearly for what it was, but the girls dad just nodded, looked and Proxy as he sat next to Karen, reading a magazine and holding hands.

  “I see. I can help with that. We’re friends after all and I think a party for him is a great idea. I can get with Denis and Mark on that? Warren too. Actually… Yes, Warren should be the one. He may not have any powers, but the man is a genius with food and organization. Plus Brian sort of keeps tabs on Mark, being on the same team and all that. Unless he’s already in on it?” The furtive looks were getting some attention from the others, especially Brian, who was staring already.

  Marcia smiled, a fake thing, because she didn’t buy for a second that Bridget really thought this was about a party for Brian at all, but nodded at her and Scott anyway. It really wasn’t a bad idea, given that this whole thing was supposed to be about getting him a vacation too. Why not a party? It would help cloud the real mission and the more involved it was, the less the others would suspect she was up to something. Possibly at least.

  “Would you please Scott? We need to be careful though, since Brian will pick up on it if we aren’t careful. He’s getting nearly as cautious as I am.” She looked at Bridget and shook her head. They still had to talk about what she knew and that couldn’t wait, not for long. After the plane flight though, since grilling the girl right there would cause a scene and nothing let secrets out faster than screaming about them in public.

  “Bridget, perhaps we can talk about some ideas for that, later?” Saying too much never helped in cases like this. If the girl was sent to spy, or being controlled by someone else for information gathering purposes she might not actually know anything more than a few key words to ask about.

  If she had more information…

  Well, that would be a real problem. Impulse wasn’t called that because of her ability to shoot beams of energy. She didn’t even know she could yet, though it was coming. No, the girl was a natural security risk. That she hadn’t blurted out more already was close to amazing. Marcia tried to stay ready for damage control, but the girl just patted her arm lightly and nodded.

  “Sure. We can share a room, if you want? I mean, since Karen and Brian are going to and you normally bunk with her, right? Unless, you know, the three of you want to share? I hear we actually get real rooms, but no one’s going to let me be alone. I could be in with Penny. She doesn’t get in the way or anything. She’s cool really. Plus if I sit on her lap long enough I get to be kind of invisible too. Who doesn’t love an invisible me running around?” The girl looked entirely too pleased by the idea of sneaking off on her own using that effect, it seemed to Marcia.

  She’d never tried it herself, but Brian had told her about it. It was more of a mental thing, making people just not notice you, which Penny passed to objects she was carrying all the time, but it could come in handy if they ever had to infiltrate a base or compound with a small group of people. That or spy work. Penny needed some training still, but her powers made her about the best spy in the world already as far as covert ops went. She just needed to learn how to uncover things and she’d be set. Really, if she could learn to shoot and a few killing techniques with a knife, possibly how to make and plant bombs, she’d be a great assassin too. The hard part so far had been coordinating that kind of thing and communicating with her.

  Now they could, thanks to the new ear buds.

  Marcia shrugged.

  “Why don’t we all share? Penny, you and I? We’re partners anyway and Penny tends to get forgotten too often. We should make sure that doesn’t happen this time, don’t you think?” It would be a pain having the security risk directly underfoot, but if they tried to exclude her too much, she’d probably catch on anyway. Possibly by cuddling with Penny for a while and then…

  Oh.

  Well, that made sense. The girl had likely been coming to their meetings about the problem with Alpha Squad, hadn’t she? Marcia and the others hadn’t seen her…

  Except for Brian if that was the case. He wasn’t fooled by that kind of thing. Penny wasn’t either.

  Marcia wanted to scream and hit someone, but she just sighed instead. None of them were trained for security work. It was hard to remember that, since Penny wasn’t a problem that way personally and Proxy seemed so military and disciplined most of the time. More than most of the special forces guys she’d worked with on the old team. It threw her off a bit.

  Of course that didn’t mean they really were in on it, but it was a possibility they needed to discuss. She wanted to grab her forehead, but didn’t, smiling instead. The girl danced a little in place, a happy wiggling that got some attention, and then she hugged Marcia with both arms.

  “Great! I was afraid I’d be locked in with my parents the whole time. Watching them kiss and all that… Ugh. Not something I want to see and vacations bring out the worst in them that way.” There was a giggle with it and a tolerant smile from Scott.

  “Alright, but only if you do what Quartz… Marcia, tells you too. No sex and no running off on your own. If you’re going somewhere you need to be with at least one person at all times and to clear it with your mom first. Got it?”

  Marcia had to fight a surprised look. It was nearly the most concentrated parenting from Scott Chambers that she’d ever witnessed. True, telling the girl not to do something wasn’t enough, but that he was bothering to try at all… It was an improvement. A vast one she’d never thought would happen.

  Bridget took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. She repeated the whole thing about ten times before speaking, her voice calm, relaxed and adult sounding.

  “Of course. I can do that.” Then, atypically, Impulse stopped talking.

  It was, it seemed a day for surprises altogether. The girl wasn’t even fidgeting or fighting her desire to blurt out whatever it was she was thinking. That was showing a lot more control than Marcia had thought she’d ever posses. If she could keep that up, it would be… Wonderful. She waited for the girl to fail and let go of her control, but it didn’t happen. Not on the topics she was clearly not talking about.

  She did whisper about a list of things to do in Florida, but that was just happy conversation, not giving away secrets.

  That lasted for hours, until food was passed out by Warren, the skinny head chef from the bases restaurant along with the cabin crew guy. Even eating on the floor, the food was the best she’d ever had on a plane. That meant it looked good to her instead of pale and a bit soggy. The portions were about right even. Scott and Peggy had heaping plates of food, but Bridget got the most, and ate with a ferocity that showed the girl must have been starving, though she hadn’t mentioned it at all. Marcia had less. Not because she shouldn’t have eaten more, but because to her food was something to look at mainly. A texture in the mouth that was needed, but nearly tasteless at the best of times. She didn’t have a sense of smell or taste. It was a side effect of her powers.

  It made life a little difficult at meal times, because the amount of food she needed to eat was a lot more than she could manage to
be interested in most of the time. She ate, but it was an exercise in will power, boring and too easy for her to just forget about. On the good side she didn’t get hungry either, so that part wasn’t a burden. On the bad side she could drop weight without even thinking about it. She didn’t look all that thin she didn’t think, about like any fit woman did really, but her actual body fat level was nearly non-existent. The sheer thickening fluid pockets under her skin helped there, but it wasn’t fat and didn’t keep her body running. If she failed to eat she’d eventually get weak and die, like anyone else. There was just no immediate payoff for doing it day to day. Other people had gourmet food on their plates, and it really did look good, but to her it might as well been a bowl of unseasoned oatmeal. Only the textures changed with each bite.

  No one making food for her bothered to give her too much anymore since part of it would go to waste. There was a drink this time, with a little note, from Mark, that just said “Drink me”. Because that wouldn’t set off her natural suspicion at all. It had a pale golden color and was in a cool bottle about the size of an old fashioned eight ounce Coke. The texture was thick, but she didn’t know what it was really. She downed it all at once, since Mark was watching her and nodded as she picked it up. Bridget saw the whole interaction and took the bottle from the edge of her plate, sniffing the thing and then nodding as if it all made perfect sense.

  “Oil. Vegetable oil I think. Straight. I can’t drink it myself, but I kind of wish I could. Maybe if I practice I could learn? A fast way to build up the daily calorie count. It’s a pain eating all the time.” She went back to the task easily enough though, Marcia noticed.