by P. S. Power
Rachel pointed with her half finished bottle of water. “Scott do all that?” Her voice was interested rather than concerned. Property damage was a big enough deal, but since no one had been killed everything else could be handled, or at least that's how Brian read her body language, not a skill he excelled at all the time.
“Well... in a manner of speaking. He had a lot of help though, and this time I don't think it would be fair to blame him for it at all. We're just lucky no one was killed. That's my catch phrase for the day, but so far so good. We're waiting for some engineers to get here and examine the place to make sure it's safe. It almost certainly is, being underground like that means it's well supported on four sides – so way stronger than a regular building – but I don't want to be the one to tell everyone to go back in just to have a floor collapse or something. Not that it's my decision or anything.” Brian looked over her shoulder to see Moore walking over to them quickly.
The two old teammates hugged and kissed each other on the cheek, the small woman going up on tiptoe to do it. Brian realized that, as small as she looked, she must have nearly a half foot on her granddaughter. They spoke for a few minutes about what had happened with her family, then he filled her in on the Canadian issue. It surprised Brian a little at first, not that he cared, but that the Director did it so naturally, as if “Foggy” was in the loop. Then, maybe she was? The man had mentioned that they'd restarted the IPB together after all.
“The RCMP and Canadian military are rushing the girl to an isolated island in a small lake, these things can't swim and so far won't risk the water. What they do then I don't know. Apparently satellite imagery from earlier is showing more than a few hundred as originally thought. If this hoard moves into a populated area... We have to find the infector and eliminate them or this could kill millions. Not that we needed something like this today, but that's how it always is, eh Foggy?” His hand went out toward her as if by reflex, then he pulled back a little. Rachel took his hand in hers and held it.
“So... you really think it's them?” She didn't clarify, but even Brian got who she meant. Alpha squad.
Moore looked around as if someone might be listening.
“Yes. Three of them breached security a few days ago, Tess, Knowie and Stillness. We checked the video archives and found that Stillness has been here about twenty times over the last six months, posing as a janitor in most cases, and a relief waiter in the restaurant at least twice. It's them. The computer system wouldn't challenge Katie at all, not with her skills. What I don't get is why bother with all this when Stillness could just put the idea to attack each other in everyone's head and get the same end result?” He gestured at the hole in the ground where a building had been before.
“Well, that's obvious,” Brian spoke without considering that it might not be to people that didn't have all the information he did or who's minds were trying to cover ten thousand different things at once. He stopped himself and rubbed his face, earning a tinge of pain from the action.
“Sorry, it may not be that obvious, I'm a bit out of it. What I meant to say is that if everyone had been mind fucked by this guy and kicked Prime's butt let's say, then Scott would forgive them and want to go after the real attacker. After a while at least. I mean, the man may be into himself as a rule, but he doesn't hold grudges against people forever, almost no one here does. I mean, people get that Infected sometimes mess up. But this way... Well, the attack itself really was just everyone over reacting. It wasn't forced at all, it was just set up so that most people would want to react that way. Add that to highly trained super-powered people and someone's going to start something. Heck, regular people would have been fighting over the scenario. But now? People can't even really apologize, can they? I mean “Sorry I thought you were a child raping sicko and tried to kill you” doesn't seem like it would work too well to me and that's about all anyone really has to say for themselves right now.”
Moore blanched, looked at Rachel with wide eyes and then back at Brian with a frown. Right, Rachel was Scott's mother. She might not like the idea of her son having even been thought of that way even by mistake. Instead of getting mad at him or looking hurt she stared at the damage.
“It's them then. That kind of thing has Braid written all over it. Crap. Well, no need for secrecy if that crew's on us. I don't suppose you have anyone that can counter them do you Less? I mean, you could take them out if you could get the drop on them, and I could do it too... It's the same old problem isn't it? Braid almost can't be touched and no one understands why. Katie knows what we know and Tess can't be touched at all, literally. Well he couldn't, I heard about that thing with your new talent, Proxy, on the radio. Bet that threw a wrinkle into things. Stillness... I was always just glad he wasn't a sex fiend. He'd have had us all locked into a room doing nothing else for years. Then again... it might have solved a lot of problems in the long run if he had.”
They discussed it and came to the conclusion that secrecy wouldn't help them at all. After that no one had any ideas and everyone went quiet. How did you plan to beat a group that would know everything you knew and could think not just a dozen, but hundreds, maybe thousands of moves ahead?
Looking at them, Brian wondered out loud how they were supposed to get to the hotel, since he didn't know the way. Rachel, of course, could run it, like she had coming from Arizona, probably faster than they could go by car, but she also didn't know the location. When she'd visited before she'd always just crashed in one of the empty first floor rooms, she confided to Brian. Cheaper, and that way she didn't have to commute to visit Bridget each day.
Moore had a car ready for them and asked Brian if he planned to come back that night.
“Yeah, if I can get a ride. Oh, wait!” He left them standing for a bit and ran to the armory, where he grabbed a nine millimeter and a shoulder holster, which he quickly put on under his fatigue top, leaving it unbuttoned and putting a few extra clips in the big pocket on his right leg. Then he jogged back.
He looked at Rachel and explained. “Sorry... I've had some small disagreements with the local police in the past.” The woman looked at Moore with raised eyebrows, but he didn't give her any clues as to what this was all about.
Two agents sat in the front of the black sedan, leaving the back seat to them. After about two minutes Rachel started talking, probably bored, or even more likely he realized, just trying to understand what was going on.
“So, Brian are you on Team Two with Bridget? She didn't really mention that when we spoke of you.” This got a laugh from the agent in the passenger's seat, not a derisive one, just a chuckle. The man didn't say anything to Brian, just handed back a small mirror slipped out of the passenger side sun visor. He hadn't seen himself before, but he was a brilliant purple red all over his face, bright red splotches had blossomed in his eyes, and even his eyelids looked that way.
After looking for a second he handed the mirror back to the man in the front. “Oh, well... Probably a good enough disguise for the local police then. They're not smart enough to see through it most likely.” He made his voice light. “To answer your question, no, I'm on Team Three. I don't normally have this much color. I fell down earlier. This will heal eventually, I hope so at least. So, you really ran here from Arizona in six hours? That's what, about four hundred miles? Impressive. The best I can do in six hours is about forty miles. Even that's theoretical. I normally don't do over thirty or so.”
The small woman preened a little, pulled her hair back, held back in a single tight braid at the moment and winked at him. “I ran it in three hours. The rest of the time I needed to arrange a house sitter for my cats and to let my... friends know I had to go out of town for a while, so they wouldn't worry about me. And from where I live to here is closer to seven hundred miles. I would have made it sooner, but I stopped at a Taco Bell along the way. I get hungry if I run over seventy or eighty miles. I could use a bit to eat now to tell the truth. I should have grabbed a couple MREs from the stack. God
awful things, but better than starving.”
As if to accentuate her point a low grumble came from her mid section. She gave him a look that said something like, “see, told you” but didn't complain. Maybe the hotel would have a late room service? The Ridgemont was supposed to be an older place, but the highest end accommodations the town had, being where government officials and dignitaries stayed when they had to overnight in the area. At least the ones that refused to sleep at the base.
The outside of the building looked nice, mainly made of brick, but enough natural stone work to give it some charm compared to the surrounding buildings, all newer and mostly ugly. They walked in as a group, the agents not bothering to stop at the front desk, since they seemed to already know where to go. They all climbed into a slow elevator, a normal enough looking thing, except that it had real classical music rather than watered down pop tunes or seventies hits. Brian pointed at the small speaker.
“Concerto for two mandolins, Vivaldi. I always liked this one. A lot of his stuff sounds like it should be in a horror movie from the fifties, but this one always seemed so... cheerful to me. Hopeful. Of course the guy was a loon, severe manic depressive I think, but he did some good work, you know, when they let him out of the funny farm I mean.”
No one turned to look at him, but after a few seconds Rachel spoke, her voice holding a chuckle. “Sure, but what everyone wants to know is; can you dance to it?”
“In general, no... but me specifically? Hell no. Might as well shave a chimp and paint them... Well, today that paint would have to be redish-purple, but... No honestly, the chimp would still probably dance better than I could.” The door opened that way and the agents, both with straight faces, led them down a lavish hallway to the right. The red carpet looked new and the walls were paneled in marble, which should have looked cold, but managed to work with the dark wood trim around it. The room number on the door was the same one Brian had called earlier. He moved to the front of the group and knocked gently, a soft sobbing coming from inside.
Scott opened the door, dressed in a pair of black sweat pants and a blue t-shirt that strained across his chest and hugged his stomach, showing the abs underneath clearly. His obvious wounds were totally gone already. He stared at Brian for a second.
“Are you all right? We got a call from the Mounties, so we've all been worried.”
The other two, a swollen faced Charlot and a tear streaked Bridget moved past the large man and tackled him. After a second Rachel started laughing, which got her suddenly picked up by Scott.
“Mom! You came. We didn't know if they'd really let you after everything...”
“You think they could have stopped me? Besides, I had Brian here with me, they wouldn't have stood a chance.” She smiled, obviously including Brian as a joke, she faltered a little when the other two adults simply nodded somberly at what she said.
Bridget started crying again and grabbed Brian hard and fast enough for his armor to react and harden under her hands.
“Brian... it's gone!”
That's all she said, then she devolved into tears, holding him close.
Chapter fifteen
“What's gone?” He asked the sobbing girl softly, picking her up and moving her back a few feet into the room so that they wouldn't be standing out in the hall. As he walked she wrapped her tiny legs around his hips like a baby monkey and pulled closer to him. After they got the door closed, the agents both staying outside like body guards, probably so they didn't have to deal with all the emotional stuff about to rain down in the room itself. He could see that.
It sounded like a good plan to him in fact.
Brian just stood, holding her for a while. Rachel seemed concerned, but spoke to Scott and Charlot while watching Bridget and, he realized, him, closely. Brian wondered if she thought Bridget and him were too close?
After a minute of this, Charlot came over and patted the crying girl on the shoulder lightly.
“Bridgie? I know you're upset, but Brian's obviously been hurt... Maybe you should find out how badly before climbing him like a tree?”
The girl dropped instantly and stepped back, really looking at him finally.
“God! Was it more of those things?” She looked at him with a bit of horror in her eyes.
“Yeah. I got knocked over a cliff. Saved my life. That situation has blown up... vastly. The Canadians are on it though, so maybe it won't get out of hand. Anyway... What's gone?”
She held out her wrist, thin and bare, wearing a child's t-shirt, adult and even teen girl sizes being way to big. It had a picture of Big Bird on it.
“My bracelet! I had it on when everything happened and now it's gone! They probably stole it.” Her voice went low and petulant sounding at the end, like a little kid. Of course she wasn't a little kid, she was a dangerous person that had more years training in fighting than he'd had months. He gave her a quick hug.
“Well, I don't think so, and it will probably turn up eventually. True, it might be in eighteen different pieces, but if it is we'll just get it fixed. If it's gone, we just get you a new one. This isn't like a puppy or something, it's just a thing and it can be replaced with something just as good. And, if someone did really steal it... we'll get Chris to hunt them down and take it back.” He patted her on the back a few times and stepped back, his skin burning where even the tiny weight of her body had been pushing against him.
Bridget calmed down and realized finally that her grandmother was in the room, so everything was interrupted for a few minutes while they caught up, including a very quick version of what had happened from her perspective. She glossed over the early stuff in a few lines, the accusations, the video, which none of them had seen, how everyone refused to believe them, how Prime had grabbed Lauren when she tried to pull Bridget away from them and the fight that started.
Then how it kept getting worse, more people joining in, trying to hurt Prime and how she'd jumped in, only to be dragged away by Tobin after a few minutes and she made him promise to protect her mom, since Charlot didn't have any extra healing or toughness like she did.
“Then things got really bad and... I think they were going to kill them Gran. I really do. Dad's tough, but there were so many of them and they weren't holding back. Then Brian got there and made everyone stop...”
Charlot and Scott both nodded. The big man gestured at Brian carefully with his right hand.
“Without him – I think Bridget's right mom – They would have killed us. I don't know how much more I could have taken. It was close.”
That admission surprised Brian. Rachel as well from the look on her face. For Scott to even say something like that he must have been a lot closer to the edge than it had seemed at the time. Rachel's red-brown eyes got big and finally looked a little frightened, as if it hadn't been real before.
Then they talked about everything for about an hour, finally hitting on Alpha Squad and what plans they, the Chambers family, had for the future. Charlot touched her face and looked at Brian, her normal fire back in her eyes. “This would look lovely on the news tomorrow, don't you think?”
He did actually. Reaching out gently he let his fingers come close to her cheek, but didn't touch her, nodding.
“Yeah. If your goal is to hurt the people that hurt you, that would work. The down side is that with this Hooper act vote coming up it could end up doing damage to a lot of people that just happen to be Infected and haven't ever even done anything wrong at all. The other downside is that all the IPB has to do is come out with the allegations that started the whole thing. They could even announce what happened in a totally honest way, saying that you were innocent of all wrong doing and the whole thing is their fault, and it would hit home here anyway. That kind of accusation... it could kill any career or real world prospects you might have. I suppose...” Brian moved to sit down, picking a soft looking cushioned chair, softer than the one in his room, a little too soft for him normally, but it helped spread the force of his weigh better right
now, which helped a bit. Armored when it happened or not, he'd started feeling really sore finally. Thank god for the pain meds.
“If it comes down to it, I can come forward and tell everyone that you suspected I was having an affair with your underage daughter and you beat me up, which started the bigger fight that everyone else saw, people trying to save me. It would at least muddy the waters enough that people wouldn't blame you guys. I look bad enough to sell that right now, I think.” Brian looked at his left hand. Yeah, that would probably work.
Rachel gave him a strange look. “But you're not seeing Bridget, are you?” She continued when Bridget shook her head. “And that would hurt you too. Not as bad – I get that – a young man sleeping with a fifteen year old girl wouldn't hit as hard, but you have a whole career ahead of you. This kind of thing can really derail a person. I've seen it before. You're what, twenty-five?”
“Twenty-three.” That she'd gotten that close kind of amazed him, given the strange color he'd taken, so he smiled. She raised her right hand, gesturing at him with it.
“It may not feel like it to you at the moment, but that's young. Something like this now could follow you for decades. Don't get me wrong,” She hopped to her feet and paced at a speed just under what he could run in a sprint, stopping after a few circuits of the room.
“This is way better for my family than the actual story, but we need to try and find something else first. Maybe a fight over an insult or something?” She glanced at Brian but quickly focused her full attention on Charlot. Working it through she finally shook her head.
“Not a big enough situation. The common man might want to protect his honor, but this kind of fight scares people. There would have to be a big reason, like what happened, or what Brian suggested, before anyone would believe it, and find it, if not reasonable, at least understandable.” She looked down, obviously thinking, the worry relieved by having actual planning to do. A bit at least.
