The Infected 2: Gabriel

by P. S. Power

  If nothing else it seemed more peaceful.

  It went so well for hours that when the shooting started Denis almost didn't get it. He thought firecrackers or a car backfiring, not a deadly rampage about to start. Argos headed toward the men instantly, his speed and reflexes such that he got the idea a full five seconds before Denis really understood what had happened. All the attackers were dressed a bit like Mormon missionaries for some reason. Or like Lancaster, though the men were younger looking from what he could tell at a distance. Smaller and less imposing too. Marcia took up the rear, moving at a crawling pace compared to Jay. A total illusion most likely, since Quartz could run at over sixty miles per hour. Argos was just that much faster than anyone else. Denis focused on them and made the men all drop, paralyzed.

  Except for one.

  That man just smiled up and pointed a finger at the window Denis had hidden behind. Not really knowing why exactly, Denis ducked, fear suddenly ripping through him. That saved his life. The glass window exploded inward, shards of razored death scattering like ice on the floor. The glass shouldn't have done that, he knew. Not at all being safety glass, which meant tempered. The most it should have done was make small pellets that weren't particularly sharp or dangerous. That was what the safety part meant after all.

  This of course, wasn't normal.

  The glass suddenly reformed into the loose shape of a man, probably the man pointing, but that didn't matter. Even if it turned out to be the guy's grandfather or second grade teacher the effect looked freaky and made his bowels tighten uncomfortably. Den ran. The crystal being didn't follow exactly, it just cast itself outward, a pattern like a paper fan held flat at waist height. A sheet of death hovering in the room. Denis saw it happening and dove to the floor, covering his head with the arms of his blue sweater. That ended the attack, for the moment. Popping up to look casually, he got the why of it. Marcia and Argos were handing the attackers their butts. The only problem being that it all took place in a crowd of anti-Infected bigots.

  They saw the whole thing as an attack by Infected agents on “the good God fearing folk” of America. Them. Probably why the men had dressed like they had, in order to get the crowd on their side. That or camouflage. Kind of brilliant really.

  Not waiting, he started again, peace and calm for the whole crowd wouldn't work. Marcia and Argos might not be able to react properly then, and the Mormon glass wielding guy seemed to be able to function even under paralysis. Marcia might survive the man, but Jay needed to be at least able to run if he was attacked. The trick then would be to create calm and peace, never letting the two agents be overly affected. No problem. All he needed would be another thousand years of dedicated practice or so and he could get right on that.

  It took more skill than he had in order to do that, so finally Denis opted for calming the back and front parts of the crowd, leaving the attackers and his squad free to fight as they may. The guys had to be Infected, since several of them showed powers, one fellow grappled with Quartz for a while, until she got a hand free and hit him so hard he didn't stand back up. Another cast lines of green into the surrounding people. If that did anything in particular Denis couldn't tell. Having an idea, Denis dropped his focus on the crowd and then hit all the black clad men. It took all the focus he had and sent a brief pain shooting through his forehead, right between the eyes.

  This dropped them all except the glass guy instantly. Then Denis skipped back and forth, first the attackers, then the crowd when they got worked up. In the end Marcia and Jay had the men subdued, the glass man probably needing a hospital stay after Quartz had finished, just in time for the police to come and try to take custody.

  Of super-powered Infected that had nearly held off two of the strongest IPB assets by themselves. No help from the experts needed at all. Not for the good officers of Chicago. Nope.

  Morons.

  That, of course, wouldn't work. The protocol said that the locals needed to let the IPB take care of such things and they even had agents on site, ready to go. They could hold them until IPB Chicago local there to take over. Kind of a no brainer. Their squad had the law on their side, but short of fighting it out what could they do? Denis listened on Lancaster's cell phone as Marcia filled them in, still standing half a mile away, hearing most of the conversation, since the man had taken up a position right behind him after the first glass man attack.

  “The dumbots here think they can handle these guys pretty easily, since we did. I tried to explain, but the guy in charge here, Captain Holst? Not budging a freaking bit. My guess is that they're planning on either killing the guys in custody, or want to help them escape. Since that's what's going to happen, these guys just walking away, I don't think we should let that happen without at least lodging a protest with whoever's in charge here. Lancaster?”

  “Fine, let them take them. We don't have time for this crap right now, and someone could be setting us up, distracting us with bureaucratic crap in order to start something bigger. Make the guy sign a release waiver that says we told them it's a bad idea first. We can't do our job here and fight with the locals about it, but when this comes down on us, we need the protection legally.”

  Marcia grunted over the phone and repeated what Lancaster had said to the police captain exactly. If Denis had been in charge he would have wanted to dump the whole thing on the IPB himself. Why borrow trouble? Plus, it really was the IPB's job. Still, if the police here thought they were capable, wouldn't it be rude to tell them otherwise? Denis shook his head. The hardest part of not being a complete ass all the time was the stupid people. Politeness said you couldn't just tell them when they were messing up. Not that letting people know that had ever helped in his experience, but it did make him feel better.

  Finally, after hours of nerve wracking waiting and not knowing what to do Denis had an idea. It felt so simple he didn't think it would really work at first. Could it even be worth trying? Shrugging he decided to give it a shot. Worst he could do would be fail.

  “OK Lancaster, I'm going to end this now. Maybe. Probably not really, but you have to admit “I'm going to end this now” sounds way cooler than “I hope no one gets hurt”. Though really that still sounds kind of tough, doesn't it? I think it's worth trying, so you know, cross your fingers or whatever you agents do for luck... shoot something or whatever... here we go.”

  Focusing on the feeling he wanted to project, a complex emotion, Denis made everyone in the whole crowd really want to go home. Bad. At first nothing happened, the chanters still chanted, the police still stood waiting for violence. Then, slowly, a bit at a time, it started to take hold, the crowd, all feeling suddenly home sick, left.

  Not all of them, but so many that the remainder just figured things to be over, following along after a few minutes.

  The whole thing took maybe half an hour, leaving a line of bored looking police to pack up as the very last of the stragglers wandered about seeming a bit lost. Maybe they were the ones too far from home to easily reach it? Or the homeless.

  Lancaster whistled a little.

  “Not bad. Not bad at all. Subtle. I kind of thought you were planning to make them all think they were on fire or something. This worked though. Can you do that first next time?” The man grinned, a dark thing that looked calculating and called Marcia at her forward position.

  Denis shrugged.

  “Well, yeah. Still, they came to exercise their free speech rights and they really got a chance this way, so no one should be too bothered about it. We didn't stop them from making their point right? I hope not at least. I don't want anyone thinking that the government stops crazy a-hole bigots from spreading their hate.” He knew that wasn't true. If he'd used his powers to save this crowd's life, they'd have complained about it if they knew. Bigots were like that. Idiots were too.

  Denis had a sneaking suspicion that a lot of the protesters fell into both categories pretty firmly.

  The orders were for everyone to stay put for the time being, then
, if nothing else happened for four hours, they were all getting the hell out of there. For one thing, they hadn't had enough in the budget for new clothes, so they were all starting to stink a little. Except Lancaster.

  Jerk.

  All better than them, with his clean shirts and ability to shave and crap. Denis grinned a little as he thought it again, but wisely kept his mouth shut. On the whole trip the only ones that Denis had really felt at ease with were Tobin and the non-Infected agent.

  Karen was sweet, but that got a little cloying after a while, especially since he both really wanted to have sex with her and also really didn't want to die. Marcia had just been a bit bitchy. Jay was so humble that it grated, which was hard to deal with, because how could he blame the guy for being nice and self-effacing? Especially since he couldn't help it at all? Denis spent a huge amount of energy not talking and resisting the urge to make everyone feel nice and happy the whole time.

  Once the operation finished and they got to the airport, a private jet waited for them, which got a smile from Denis and applause from Tobin and Karen. Happy clapping that spoke of pure joy, like the kind real little kids showed on television shows sometimes.

  You could say many things about Christian Poures, but selfish with her possessions wasn't one of them. The classy and expensive looking commuter jet sat gleaming on the tarmac, the stairs put down, folding out, so that everyone could just climb on board. They even had stewardesses, well one, a woman in military tan, short haircut and a glassy look to her eyes that spoke of drug use to Denis. Maybe nothing illegal.

  As long as she wasn't the pilot he didn't care. What adults did that didn't affect him wasn't his business, government agent or not.

  The law said that they couldn't use any special perks or private funds other than what came out of their own pocket, but Chris had found a loophole and this was just a return trip for the plane, coming back from taking someone else to New York. Some old friend of hers that was rich, but who didn't own her own plane. She simply offered a ride to anyone that was going the same way as the plane, they were just the only ones that knew about the idea. It worked for Denis. He just hoped the pilot wasn't going to jump out halfway there.

  When he mentioned it Lancaster just shrugged.

  “I can fly this, so not a problem.” He said calmly. Then he sat and paid close attention to the safety briefing the attendant gave. Denis did too, wondering if Lancaster knew something he didn't. No one else but Marcia paid any attention though. That was a little strange, since she was the only one that was guaranteed a safe landing, no matter what, but it could have been a first mode thing. Her suspicion making her extra careful maybe?

  They got sandwiches and chips, nacho corn chips for him with a turkey club, and soda, water or booze. No coffee, since the machine had broken on the trip over. Denis went for water since flying and drinking carbonation had never worked for him, making his stomach ache after just a bit, pressure changes he guessed, and if he wanted to dance around and make a fool of himself or insult everyone, he could do it without chemical help, so no alcohol either.

  That sucked in a way, since it helped him relax. Then, did he really want to go and hit on Karen or Marcia right now? They were actually getting along alright for the time being, after a fashion. All of them were, except Marsh and Clark. Nothing to be done there though. If Clark stepped out of line it seemed pretty clear to Den that the man just wouldn't survive. Quartz would kill him.

  Literally.

  And then Denis would help her hide the body. That's what teammates did after all.

  After the first half an hour of the whole trip a bit of loathing had started to build for everyone with him. Even the nice people. The trip out not just the plane trip back. Each day it had gotten worse too. Karen kept trying to touch him, knowing that putting out wouldn't be happening. She didn't mean it any particular way, but for him it seemed just like teasing. Yeah, the fucked up reading of signals was all him, nothing she could even really help probably given her first mode. It still sucked. He didn't mention it, but tried to limit contact without letting her know it was on purpose.

  Marcia had gotten bossy.

  More bossy.

  That most of this got taken out on Clark and oddly enough Jay, didn't make it that much better. The one time she'd gotten verbally rough with Tobin, Denis nearly got into a fight with her. The guy might have been in her way at the moment, but yelling at him to move as harshly as she'd done seemed a bit much in the small room they'd been in at the time. Denis told her to calm the fuck down, earning about half an hour of glaring and hard looks from the dark haired woman. It felt easier to take than normal, since she'd been wearing her Disney shirt and skin tight stretch shorts. Denis just pretended his girlfriend felt a bit bitchy and eventually started smiling at her, which got her to relent for some reason. She didn't snap at him or Tobin again at least. Just everyone else.

  Tobin had been cool. Silent nearly, trying to hide and speaking only when spoken to and then not doing that unless the question couldn't be answered with a gesture or nod.

  Lancaster held his shit together well enough too, this kind of thing being a lot closer to normal for him than the rest of them, Denis figured. The deal there came down to the fact that they were all supposed to be pros and after the first bit where they all nearly died, everyone had started to snipe at each other. Lancaster clearly expected better from them for some reason, but everyone else had issues.

  Especially Clark.

  It became clear that the guy didn't feel he'd been treated very well at all and that meant whining in his book. Denis remembered that. He'd whined in lock-up too. It never did him any good, yet for some reason that never stopped him from trying. Some deep and probably old pattern. Those could be hard to break, so Denis tried to let it all roll off of him and be Zen. Lancaster kept nodding at the stork sympathetically, though a bit of effort seemed to be needed to make that happen once or twice for him too. Clark was freaking annoying.

  The trip back took a fraction of the time, being a direct flight, free of unplanned sky-diving and not needing to wait with a crowd of angry mental midgets in an airport. They rode comfortably in large, giant really, seats that were so soft Denis felt like it had partly melted under him. The cushions were a cream or tan color, the floor a golden tan. The walls more truly gold. It looked rich. Smiling, he realized his mistake instantly. A personal mental error.

  It was rich.

  Vastly so. Even the first floor of the base, made to be really nice for public appearances and to keep the pretty and popular team one happy, didn't look like this. He wanted his own jet pretty badly for a bit. It took a lot to distract himself from it too. Even the cons, the fact that he didn't have money right now at all, or a place to keep it, those things didn't matter. Denis had to have one. Six. No seven, one for each day of the week. Laughing at himself he struggled to let that go. Stupid first mode.

  It took a while but he finally won, shutting out the greed. It was... simply amazing really. It took work, but even a few minutes without it was heaven.

  When they set down everyone felt exhausted, that kind of tired you got from too much travel and a lack of comfortable sleep, wondering if the rats in the walls would come out and try to eat your fingers while you couldn't see them.

  That happened in leper colonies, the dead digits disappearing in the night. When Denis had been told that by his slightly older sister Mindy, at Faithhome, she'd left off the part about the leprosy. Of course the fact that they were locked in small spaces with mice and rats didn't help a lot with how that memory turned out. Even now, years later he half expected to wake up without fingers or toes on occasion. Mindy had been cool that way. Denis grinned thinking about her. But only for a second. He didn't even know if she was still alive, or what had become of her at all. He couldn't exactly just call and check, could he?

  Dragging into the lobby they got hit with the Director instantly, the man looked uneasy, not nervous, just unhappy and a bit stern maybe. Denis d
idn't know the man well for all that he'd been around for years at the base. They'd never actually hung out for some reason. Probably because the Director was old and so busy that doing things like that weren't possible most days. Plus, really, no one had actually hung out with Denis much before at all.

  Standing with him were three military men, all looking angry or trying too. Denis felt like glaring back, almost at least, saving that for later. It wouldn't do to waste his best moves all up front. There were tricks to being a good asshole and these guys were whipping them out early, as if demanding they measure their penises right up front. A good opening move that kept a lot of people off kilter. It didn't work as well when you got the trick though. Denis could just stay chill and let them burn themselves out.

  “Turner, Lancaster, with me. The rest of you please stand by in meeting room two.” Thankfully the heavy older man, in a gray suit and black tie today, pointed the way for them. Denis didn't know meeting room two from the gym on fifteen to tell the truth. Team three members just got sent places or met in the main room outside of Christian's office.

  For that matter he hadn't even known that the first floor had a meeting place. All he'd ever used were the elevators. Not the first floor technically, he realized, but the lobby level. This had probably been added on when they expanded. It used to be tiny compared to now, looking like a slightly run down ranger station. The interior, temperature controlled and getting full southern sun most days, had trees and a wide variety of plants growing in it, including a nice fountain with fish. Something silver and tasty looking rather than brightly colored and useless.

  They'd probably frown on fishing in the little pond though. Kind of a waste. He used to like fishing as a kid. It was one of the few normal parts of his childhood. Or maybe not that normal, because almost no one fished anymore.