The Infected 1: Proxy

by P. S. Power

  "You get a new code name too. Rat girl's good, but lacks a little bit of promotional...whatever. You know what I mean?"

  Charlot agreed instantly, rats didn't exactly have a good public image, which means that guilt by association was a real possibility. Bridget didn't want to be blamed for the black plague, did she? The tone came out as playful, something that Brian had only just learned to associate with the woman in the last few days.

  Bridget stood, looking ready to fight suddenly. "No. Becky gave me that name before she died. I won't change it." Her fists went to hips, legs wide in "Power Stance" he associated with team one's promotional posters.

  Everyone else looked worried, but Brian stood and smiled slowly.

  "See, I knew you'd say that, but I have the one thing in the whole world that might change your mind right here..." He tapped his head. Dharma stepped out and took a close look at the tiny woman in front of her willing to hold on to the horrible name that she'd burdened the girl with years before.

  "Don't be a prick Brian, let her in on it already!"

  "All right, the ghost image of Becky in my head came up with a new name for you... Ready to hear it? It's pretty cool."

  The girl crossed her arms and made a disbelieving face. So distrusting he nearly laughed. He gave her a blank look in return, finally shrugging. "Don't take my word for it, ask Christian. She talks to Becky way more than I do. They hang out and stuff. So ready?"

  Reluctantly the girl nodded, but she quirked her mouth to make him laugh at the same time. He didn't, going for a dramatic unveiling.

  "Impulse."

  The name went over well with everyone, even Bridget, on the condition that Chris really told her that it came from Becky and this wasn't just some trick to make her change names. She hinted that she might bring Martin Joabs in on it just to be certain. Brian nodded and told her that was fine, if the man had time to spend on that kind of thing.

  The news that she'd be partnered with Quartz almost caused Prime to back out and refuse to come back, once he realized that was Marcia's new handle. Brian held his ground on the matter.

  "It's politics Prime, you're a master of this stuff, so tell me, do we not need as many hot chicks to compliment you on your team as possible or not? You're cool, but face it, straight guys just aren't attracted to you as much as they will be cute girls and Bridget's underage for years... Good for getting the young boys attention maybe and a good girl role model, but just creepy if some forty year old man has too many posters of her, right?"

  It still took a while for him to agree to the point, but he eventually did. After all, it wasn't like Marcia and him had to be friends or anything, he told everyone, as if they were going to argue the point. Marcia hadn't been really happy about it either, but she'd agreed to it when Brian told her the idea felt right to him for some reason. It wasn't like they wouldn't see each other for hours every day anyway, since he still had a lot to learn about fighting, as Hobbs had shown him pretty clearly, about a week before. Brian had been intrigued to find out that the man didn't have a discernible first mode at all and that his only real power was the ability to coax plants to grow faster. The rest was just all due to the incredible amount of practice the man had put in. If he could find time maybe Hobbs would help him plant a garden in the spring?

  Rachel smiled and winked at Bridget.

  "I wonder if I should get a new code name too, Foggy's a little out of date. I got it back when no one really cared what we called ourselves. Tess picked it for me, because I was always so fuzzy headed in the morning. I mean look at the names, Less, Braid, Foggy, Stillness, Know-it-all, Tesseract and Earthbitch. Not exactly inspired names."

  Brian looked at her and tilted his head on purpose, trying to be sociable.

  "Earthbitch?"

  "Yeah, that's what we all called her behind her back. Don't worry, she earned it. What's the current trend for naming on team three Brian? I know that this Quartz was called Beatdown... You just told me after all, but I don't know the rest..."

  Was there an actual naming convention for the team?

  "Well, I think it's just simple descriptive stuff. The team leader is Christian, kind of a super telepath and hers is Mind Reader. Penny, who's invisible and unnoticeable is Cellophane. Mark stops time for everyone but himself and goes by Stasis. For all I care you can go by Rachel if you want, or Foggy, or we can make up something nonsensical. I hear "rat girl" is going to be opening up as a name soon..."

  Everyone laughed, but no one had anything better than Foggy, not really. Almost every good animal based name had been taken already, usually by criminals, and her powers, while really high end were in the main set of what Infected people showed up with. Strength, speed, endurance and toughness. She may be a class six for those reasons, but the names left were a little thin on the ground.

  Rachel looked at him and shook her head gently. "Right, and that Proxy guy switches places with people, which kind of makes sense as a name. What's your code then Brian?"

  Everyone laughed, causing her to look perplexed. Before anyone else could say anything Brian answered, trying to keep his face straight.

  "Crash test dummy. Isn't it obvious?"

  Charlot and Scott had to cover their mouths and turn away, but Bridget just nodded seriously, eyes going wide.

  "Yeah, he's really famous for his work... Don't you read consumer reports? He's mentioned there, like, all the time..."

  Impulsively he stood up wanting to get another run in for the day, just a slow jog. It wasn't his normal habit, but he'd need to be in as good of shape as he could possibly be in the coming months. Leaning in he kissed all the girls on the cheek and patted Prime on the back telling them all how glad he was that they'd be staying with him. "I'd get lonely without you all. Well, back to the testing facility!" Brian got a chuckle and left then, on that relatively high note.

  The drive back to the base went quickly, the tinted windows hiding his face from any passing police, preventing unwarranted attacks from that quarter, at least for now. Some day it would happen, he knew, they'd try for him again or something else would happen. When it did, the next engagement would go differently, he hoped. Brian didn't go out unarmed any more for instance. Back at the base he changed into his team three work out sweats and started running the perimeter fence just as night fell. After half an hour he heard footsteps behind him, when he turned there was an unfamiliar but fit looking woman jogging up to him.

  "Hey, hold up Brian! I'd like a word, if that's all right? If you slow down a bit I think I can keep up and talk while we get a work out in..."

  No one had ever come to run with him before out here, so he slowed letting her catch up, when she fell in beside him, he nodded, welcoming her. Closer now the flood lights illuminated her face, high cheek bones, stately looking, her long black and gray hair held back in a single braid that kind of gave away where he'd seen her before. The picture that the director had shown him. She had really long hair, below her backside even.

  "Hello, Mrs. Moore. Have you come to try and seduce me to the dark side?" He lacked inflection, but it worked with the line.

  She busted up laughing.

  "God! They told me you were different, but meeting you is so... refreshing. To answer your question, I've actually come to tell you the truth and in doing so confuse you in the future, so that my plans might come to fruition."

  They ran for a bit, her breathing stayed even and gentle.

  "All right. Just know that the Director told me that if I ever met you I should probably try to kill you. Depending on what you say I might. I don't know if I can do it, but I'm not too happy with you and your little troop of evil villains right now." Turning his head a little Brian kept her in view, waiting for an attack to come, or for her to summon someone else to fight him.

  Still looking happy she shook her head. "Yes and no. Yes, you'll probably try to kill me some time in the future. About thirty percent of the time you even succeed. In a few I kill you and in about half we bump heads
but without direct violence. In one or two we even become lovers, but I'm not holding my breath on those, too many things can get in the way. But it's there regardless. That's the problem with the future... There's so much of it to pick from. Too much."

  They ran in silence for a while, a few minutes, feet hardly making a sound on the cold ground for either of them. The woman, Braid, wore sweats that looked nearly identical to the ones he wore, her t-shirt however was different, definitely a girl-cut, and instead of "Team Three" it had large block printed letters that said "Team Twee". Cute. Brian almost smiled when he saw it.

  "So, I couldn't help but notice that you and your group seem bent on starting a war. You know, having Infected kill government officials so that the Hooper act will go through? Do you know something I don't there, because that seems like a whole lot of people that don't need to, innocent people, will die if that happens." Brian cast a look toward her, trying to read her face when he said it. She smiled and shook her head slightly, a tiny movement and an expression that seemed slightly sour.

  "I'd guess that you've been behind most of the attacks against Hopper. On some level at least..."

  The older woman, gray and black hair bobbing, everything else holding tightly to her body, laughed. "Now you're just fishing. But I did say I was here to tell you the truth, didn't I. Yes. We're behind it. More precisely, I'm behind it. It has to happen for the world to come out right in the end. I'm not a bad person for all that I see the need for millions to die in the near future Brian. I'm just doing my part in the scheme of reality, just like you are."

  She stopped so Brian did too, sweat suddenly cooling on his body, causing him to shiver slightly. He ignored it after a few seconds. The cold annoyed him, but he'd live.

  "Right now in the world there are two forces squaring off, picking which future path we all go on to. A war is coming, regardless of who wins, but it can be a war between the Infected and the normals, or it can be a war between these two forces. Ultimately the choice is up to you and you alone. Will you stand aside and let my vision take place, a war now for a greater world in the future, a stronger thing that holds all as equal and right prevails, or do you choose to stand in my way and create a world less able to defend itself from outside threats in a hundred, or even a thousand years?"

  Brian shook his own head and asked her if she knew of any threats that were coming, but she didn't, not specifically. "But, there's always something, shouldn't we be ready for it?" She offered this with a blank face, her eyes calculating something.

  "Not at the cost of millions of innocent lives now. That's... not exactly sane thinking, is it? If you want me to get out of your way you'd need to do better than telling me that in a thousand years there might, maybe, possibly be a threat of some kind... sorta."

  She shrugged and smiled at him.

  "I didn't think you'd go along with my plan. Oh well. There are other ways to get you out of the way. You aren't immortal after all, not really. No one is in the end. First, though, let me tell you about yourself and see if that doesn't shake your world view a little bit?"

  He shrugged back at her. If she was delusional enough to think he even pretended to be immortal what harm could listening to her do? What could she possibly say that would change his mind on this? Especially about himself. Brian said it to her out loud, earning a smile and pat on the shoulder, one that came at him slowly and cautiously, like a person putting bait in a trap, not wanting to trigger it themselves.

  "Easy Brian. The girl you tried to save, Melany Miller? You didn't try to save her at all. Rather, your powers didn't. She was never who you protected." The woman suddenly looked sad.

  "No, you protected everyone else from her. If you'd lost her to those creatures, if they ate her flesh like their biology told them too, then each one of them that did would have become an infector as well. Worse, every day that passed, every week, they would have matured and become stronger, smarter."

  Her gaze shifted off into the distance.

  "Did you notice at some point a larger, stronger looking creature? That was the first one you know, her own father. He was already a class six and in a few more months would have reached seven, fully coming into his speed finally. Not even you would have been able to beat him then, especially if he carried with him an army of thousands of those things. They would have taken the whole of North America in a matter of months. Everyone else dead or converted.

  "In the end they would have been stopped, but only after nearly a billion died on several continents. I could have let that happen, but it would have been the wrong billion dead. No, a true war is the only thing that will do the trick now. My point here is that you were setting the little girl up to die on that island the whole time. You didn't kill her, but you, and only you, your power, chose the time and place of her death. Even the manner."

  That made sense to Brian, and left him feeling cold and alone. Had he killed the little girl? Had his power let Barbie Dorn die on purpose to control the rest of what he did too? How many had died because of him?

  Braid put a comforting hand on his back, pressing cold moisture into his flesh, making his skin crawl a little. He shrugged her off with a twist of his shoulder and stared at her, feeling all hope running out of him. She exhaled hard and shook herself, looking sad suddenly.

  "Understand Brian, in your own way you protected nearly a billion lives. That's all I'm saying. The girl was going to die no matter what. Your way hurt a lot less than what she would have faced otherwise. But your power, your real power, isn't just about saving a few people. It's about organizing the future. Haven't you ever wondered why you go and save some people and not others? Think about it.

  "One day you save a senator, the next a homeless man. One time you fight dozens of class fives to the death and the next you scare away dogs attacking a child? There's a pattern to it all, of course, but can you see it? You only save the ones that are important to a specific future Brian. Oh, you're as big of a hero as everyone says, more so, but haven't you wondered why you save the ones you do and not the others that are in trouble at the same time? Or why most of the people you save are in North America and Europe, instead of China and India where most of the people are?"

  The woman started jogging again. After a moment Brian followed, feeling like he might be going into shock. The truth was, he admitted, that he'd always just figured that the ones saved were the ones that he could save. Without super-human physical abilities, he couldn't win every fight, so on some level he'd learned this and didn't try to save the ones he just couldn't. It was the only way to explain how so many fights ended successfully for him.

  "Whatever gets you through the night, of course. But no. You're just like me. Oh, we have different powers, slightly at least, but no one here can really understand you any more than they understand me. That's fine for me, because I can understand you. So can Trivia. Eventually you'll have to come to us for comfort, and then my vision will become the one that wins. If we work together, if we come together, then no one will be able to stop us." Her face looked greedy and predatory as she said that last part.

  A snort escaped him involuntarily, making her eyes widen a bit.

  "You forgot to add "Mwa-ha-ha" at the end. Join me and we shall conquer the world? How about this, why don't you and your group pack it in and join me instead? I'll bet if we work together we can save a lot more people than either of us could ever do alone... Think about it. Join the light side. We have cookies... I'll get the IPB to throw in free ice-cream too."

  This earned him a small smile and a head shake.

  "That... sounds tempting Brian, more than you know, but the future can't take the stress of that, it would end up destroying everything. Our own powers wouldn't let it happen. One of us has to win this. I'm older and more skilled, you hold greater power. It isn't certain either way yet, who'll win in the end. I need to go soon. They finally noticed that I don't belong here and people are coming to sort things out. Let me leave you with this one thing though Bri
an, well two things, but the first one is for you alone." She stopped again and turned to him.

  "You're not a class two. I imagine a few of your compatriots have begun to suspect that by now themselves. Your powers just baffle them so much they can't understand what's really happening. Think about it... You've fought a class eight to a standstill and killed dozens of class fives in unarmed and hand to hand combat. No class two... or even class six in the world can do that. True, you can't bench press tens of thousands of pounds or outrun bullets, but you keep winning anyway, managing to do just the right thing at the right time, over and over again... You're a class seven at least, maybe... and it seems likely, maybe much more powerful than that and have a lot to learn about what you can really do. I imagine the ghost in your head can help there." Her grin became feral.

  "Also, tell my husband I think about him? We haven't talked in a long time, but I do still love him."

  Suddenly the world flipped and twisted next to him and the woman vanished, pulled away by Tesseract probably. Turning he headed back toward the new building front, a more modern looking facility, glass and shining chrome instead of the more humble ranger station look it had before. Most of it was still under ground, no new levels had been added, but the lobby had a big fountain in it now and an information desk off to the right hand side, manned today by a cute dark haired girl who looked about his own age. She smiled at him when he came in, so he waved.

  The half dozen people that boiled out of the elevator stopped when they saw him, so he explained the whole situation as carefully as he could and then made his way down to the third level, followed by Hobbs who came as a body guard of sorts without being asked. There they found the Director and Marcia already reviewing the security tapes on a monitor that took up about half the wall of his good sized office.

  The first one to speak turned out to be Hobbs, who moved closer to the screen and touched it gently with two fingers.

  "She has the look of a Timberland about her..." He murmured.