by P. S. Power
No one had ever mentioned it. Then, most people didn't talk to him a lot.
Probably because he kept to himself most of the time anymore. Working out, trying to be helpful and keep things going, that kind of thing. Even here, on a government base, where he was pretty clearly not supposed to be, given that everyone else was in military style uniforms now, he went largely unnoticed. That... Well, he could see it. Looking around he saw about twenty people, most of them being fit looking men and women with short haircuts. His hair was too, and while out of uniform, a fit Chinese man in sweats could just be a guy that had night duty, and who'd been off sleeping moments before.
Still, he tried to get himself oriented, and was planning to walk toward the white sided mobile unit, figuring it was the command center, since the whole place looked a bit rough and tent city like otherwise, only to find himself actually confronted by someone about a hundred feet into his trip.
The girl looked young. About seventeen, or maybe a few years older than that, and while she was in tan fatigues, they said IPB over the breast pocket, not Army. Under the dust colored top she had on a slightly darker tan shirt. Her hair was a nice light blonde, and was at least collar length. He noticed it as she smiled at him and walked over.
"Hi! Are you new here? I'm Sinclair. I can help you find things? If you want, I meant. It can be a bit confusing for the first day or two. The latrine is way over there." She pointed helpfully, and Brian turned, to mark the position, since it probably would be helpful. "Those tents on the other side? Those are where the food is. It's mainly packaged crap, but we can have as much as we want. We don't have cooks here, yet. I heard a rumor that some Marines were going to come in and do that for us soon. Reserves, I think." She pointed again, toward what Brian had always thought of as being the back of the place. There was a row of tents set up. Large ones that probably had room for ten to fifteen people at a time. All old looking, and green.
They actually looked like they were made of real canvas, of all things.
"Those are the tents. Where the new people sleep? Well, everyone. Are you, um, Infected? Or one of the government projects?"
Right. He'd gotten a report on that, from Marcia. Bridget and her had gotten super soldiers in. They were all spies of course, probably there to kill them if they screwed up. Except that so far the men and even a few women, had been working hard to actually do a good job. None of them were really above class four though, and most were just barely threes, with a lot of that being down to training. They all worked their butts off though, which could, he knew, make up for a lot. Especially outside a fight.
He relaxed, and glanced down at Penny, who was starting to try and get up. She was going to have a headache. Still, instead of sounding like he wanted to eat the young lady's soul, he managed to sound... Nearly like he used to. Before he'd become a killer maniac. A bit wry, maybe, but nearly pleasant. Not raspy at all.
"Infected. I'm Brian Yi. Nice to meet you, Sinclair. First mode self-sacrifice. Code name Proxy." Normally you were supposed to give your power too, but a lot of people knew his, so he'd gotten lazy that way. That was always a poor plan. "When people are about to die, I take their place. How about you?"
She lacked the hard core military air to be with the government all that formally, so he was betting she'd be Infected.
Rather than tell him, she nodded, then gave him a harder look.
"Wait... Really? Aren't you dead? Or, is this a joke?"
That kind of thing being the reason he was there, Brian kept to his new story.
"I was hiding. I'd pretty much teleported away when this... Thing happened, but I can't control my power, and was seen earlier today by a camera. I think Braid released it to a news outlet, so I figured it was time to come back. You're up on the Braid situation? It's been being talked about in stores, when I snuck in for supplies."
The girl nodded, then, strangely, hugged him.
"I'm so sorry! This whole thing must have been horrible for you! Is there anything I can do?"
"Well, I could talk to whoever is in charge here right now? I should report in, and maybe admit to my cowardly hiding scheme. Also, there's a girl with us. Penny Cooper. She's invisible. Come out now Penny, I don't think Sinclair is going to kick your butt, too."
The nice seeming young woman smiled at him, and didn't bother acting like she didn't believe him. That either meant she knew that Penny was real, or she was just getting used to the idea that strange things could happen at almost any time. That happened, eventually, if you lived the IPB lifestyle. At least he'd always found that to be true for himself. It took a bit, but Cellophane eventually managed to become visible, relaxing enough to be seen.
Sinclair jumped, but smiled at the same time. She'd been warned, and didn't scream or anything silly like that. Penny was cute, and had a heart shaped face, but Sinclair was actually a bit prettier, he realized. Her face was hard to place, but she was one of those women that was close to being actress level, without having had any plastic surgery. Not perfect, thanks to a deeply dimpled chin. That saved her from being totally unmemorable, without making her seem too odd.
"Hey." Penny had the good grace to sound shy and like herself at least.
"Penny Cooper, like I said. Invisible. Her first mode is... Well, I'd always thought it was shyness, but now I'm starting to think it's an extreme desire not to be seen. She's actually my prisoner. I found out about a laundry list of crimes she's committed recently. For now she's required to stay visible, except on missions. If she steals anything, or tries to rape anyone, we may have to kill her."
The blonde girl nodded, as if that all simply made sense.
"Got it. The headquarters is over here. Oh! I didn't mention. I teleport. I guess I'm not too bad at it. I have about a fifty mile range, if I'm alone, and can do about five or six, carrying someone. My first mode is pretty mild. I pretty much just try to get along with people? We don't have anyone to check that here, but that's what I'm telling everyone right now. My code name is Proxy Junior." She grinned and looked away, as if she were embarrassed by it. "Impulse gave it to me. I think she misses you."
"Bridget? Is she all right? I've seen her on television, once or twice. I've mainly been camping out."
They chatted about that while they walked, the girl feeling comfortable enough to simply go right into the command structure without knocking or anything. There was a tiny area in the front, manned, or perhaps girled, by a different young lady. Her name plate said Wendy on it. She had a bright yellow bird like beak, and huge, nearly black, eyes. Her hair was distinctive too, clearly having feathers mixed in with her human looking brown hair. They were blue and stood out.
On her wrist she had a silver thing that seemed to be from a science-fiction movie. It moved, and a pair of spider like eyes took him in. Otherwise it just held on to her wrist, like a bracelet.
She looked at them, and while there was no smile, her voice was lovely. The one that he'd heard earlier, when he'd been talking through Dev'an.
"Hey Sinclair. Out and about?"
There was a nod, and the tall girl waved at him.
"Yeppers. I found these two milling around, looking lost and lonely, so figured I'd collect them as pets. This is Proxy, and Cellophane. As in the real ones? They're alive. We need to get with Director Turner and collect our reward for locating them. I think it's up to a box of Pop-Tarts?" She was joking, so Brian grinned.
It wasn't great humor, but given the constant fighting lately, some of it pretty dire, and all the death, it showed a willingness to try. So he snorted and shook his head.
"They can do better than that. At least hold out for a pack of jumbo sausage links. We can have a camp fire and roast them later. Well, if we can find sticks. That might be some work out here."
Sinclair nodded, then reached out and touched him on the arm.
"Oohhh, now that sounds fun. I can get some wood. I found a nice little forest inside my range. Pine, but I can collect wood and all that. We can do that t
onight? As long as everyone isn't going to run off and abandon us to fight whatever is coming next. That's calmed down a bit, thanks to Team Four."
It probably would be fun, he realized.
"We can try for it."
Wren was actually good at her job, it seemed, so moved back to the door behind her, which was closed, and pounded on it with the side of her fist.
Her voice was very sweet and gentle when she spoke though.
"Ms. Turner? We have visitors."
It took a moment for Quartz to get to the door, and she froze when she saw him standing there. It looked just shocked enough that a person could claim she was surprised. She'd just seen him a few hours earlier, of course, it wasn't that big of a deal for her. Her acting ability kicked in though, and she stopped talking to whoever was on the cell phone that was pressed against the side of her face for a bit.
"Brian? I..." Then one hand still raised to the side of her head, she brushed past Wren, nearly sending the girl flying into the wall of the place, and came around the counter. "You're alive? How? I saw you die. The blast..." Now her voice was a bit less than believable, so he covered for her, practically throwing himself into her arms, hugging her to him bodily. That was always fun, and despite what everyone had been telling him about her, innocent enough that he didn't feel too bad about the contact.
She was firm and melted a bit as he pressed against her. Tight nipples misshaping against his chest, as he kept her from talking with a kiss. Nothing too romantic, since they'd never had that kind of relationship, but close enough that she did it back, before going wide eyed and noticing Penny.
He waved a hand at the other girl, hearing a voice from over the phone. It was a person saying hello, several times.
"You should get to that. We're not going anyplace."
She smiled and nodded, her eyes actually seeming a bit damp. Like she might cry. Her attention went to the cell in her hand though, and she started talking again.
"Jim? I... Proxy is here. He's alive. I..." There was excited murmuring and she started to turn away, to speak in confidence to whoever it was, but then didn't, since a normal person wouldn't, if someone had just come back from the dead as far as they knew. Still, she needed to treat him and Penny doubtfully for a bit, or else everyone would get she was acting. Her first mode was suspicion. If she didn't do that constantly, it would be like hanging a sign on the whole thing that read fake.
Instead she started to try and get off the phone, telling the man, who was clearly trying to get an interview with her, that she needed to go. A reporter of some kind then. Brian shrugged.
"Might as well have him come in. I was caught on camera earlier, and can't hide anymore. I have some choice things to say about Devorah Timberland built up, too. If he wants an exclusive? Especially if we can beat that footage going up. I think the hate channel has it, so it would be nice to beat them to the punch for once." Hopefully this Jim didn't work for them.
Not that it was called that by anyone who wasn't Infected, but half of their daily content was devoted to calling him and people like him evil. Or, to be more fair, the others mainly. They'd always been decently kind to him, personally. Mainly because he pretty much just went around killing Infected people, and murderers. That played well in conservative demographics, even if he was one of the filthy Infected himself. Kind of how they put up with gay people, as long as they were presented in small doses and didn't act too flamboyant, while making hate speeches at the same time. Log Cabin Republicans.
Now that he thought about it, it sounded a bit dirty.
That was enough to get the man headed his way, which wouldn't take more than an hour, he was assured, since the news van was just sitting in town, at one of the motels. That way they'd be ready to try and get Marcia's daily briefing. When she hung up, the little black phone went into a blouse pocket, since she was in tan fatigues too. She hugged him again, excitedly, then Penny.
He shared the cover story, which she pretended to buy, and he told her all about the criminal that was her former personal assistant. Real anger showed in his eyes, and Wendy looked scared for a moment. For a second he thought it might be due to not wanting to be raped or sodomized herself, which it still could have been, but when she spoke, her lovely voice trembling softly, she hit a different topic.
"So... Am I out of a job?"
Brian looked at the room. She was out front, and had her own desk, but seemed to be in charge of the office itself, not just fielding calls for Marcia. So he shook his head, as if he had a right to do that.
"No. You're Penny's boss. Sinclair here and I will be keeping an eye on her. Got that Penny? If you do anything..." He glared, but the girl rolled her eyes, and snorted at him, seeming upset, rather than just shy.
Pirate like, now that he got the idea.
"Fuck Brian, I'm not going to run off and start ass raping everyone I see. Chill on that, will you?"
He nodded, but didn't spare her, since Marcia needed to know.
"Not everyone... Just Warren? You're on the shit list now. If you ever want off it, you better turn yourself around. I can and will get a Death Warrant for you. For that matter..." He was mad, but didn't really think he could kill her, not unless she were really hurting someone else. Then he'd straight up murdered rapists before, just because he could tell that they'd do it again. The thing with Penny was that he couldn't get a sense of that. It might mean she wouldn't do it, or it could be her powers making it seem like that.
Sinclair clapped her on the arm. Not hard, but Penny looked down, ashamed, and started to try and fade out. The new girl spoke anyway. That was a rare thing, since even while touching Penny it was possible for people to forget she was there when she felt tense.
"She'll fix it. Don't worry. Wren and I will see to that. Right Wendy?" She needed to say something like, nudge-nudge, because her tone certainly did, but the bird girl nodded.
Seeming glad she was still employed? In charge too, if she noticed that. She had staff now. Minions. Well, one, but she had super powers, so it was a good start.
Brian smiled at her.
"So, as long as Director Turner agrees, you're in charge of her during business hours. Got that Pen? Do what she says, as if it's the word of God. Now... Can I get one of the fancy new uniforms? I stole these, and would rather not have them show up on television." It wasn't true, but he had to account for them somehow. Saying that he just picked them out of a pile of things that had been delivered to the new base wouldn't go over to well, he was willing to bet.
Marcia glanced at Wendy. "Set that up, Hun? Get some for Penny, too. I need to debrief Brian here, in my office. I... Sinclair, can you take notes?"
The girl nodded, and didn't even crack a smile over Brian being de-briefed. No, she just followed along with them. It was a bit strange, or might have been, if he didn't know the new IPB head as well as he did. This girl was the witness. The person put into place to tell everyone else at the base how Proxy was back, and spread the cover story. It didn't take long to go over, but Wendy managed to run and grab clothing for them and kept Penny with her the entire time, to watch her. Brian decided to like her. Sinclair too, since no matter what else, they were both trying really hard to be useful.
Not everyone at the old IPB did that. Not most of the time.
The rundown didn't take long, since he described what had happened a few weeks before, two months now, and how Penny had been off base. Probably stealing or molesting innocent people. Then he'd found her committing some crimes a few days before... and it wasn't just about stealing for food or clothing, which would have been given a pass by him. In dire situations, you did what you had to. Even killing was allowable, at times. Cellophane had been hurting people though, even if there would never be a witness to it.
The whole time he pretended it was just real, and that he'd been out living in the woods to survive, trading out like always, but managing not to get too hurt, somehow. That part was actually pretty close to true. In the last month or so, h
e'd been blessed, as far as being damaged went.
"Luck, mainly. Say, what's the medical situation like here? If I get hurt, I'd love to have someone with a band-aid standing by. Maybe a lollypop, too." He made a point of looking at Sinclair, who nodded, and then answered, thinking he was speaking directly to her.
"We have a healer. Phoebe. She's a friend of mine. She's pretty strong that way. We'll need to work on the candy part of things though. I'll introduce you later. Just don't get mad if she calls you names. She can't really help it, but she's sweet, other than that."
That got a nod from Marcia, who was smiling at him. Suddenly she stood up, came around her desk, and hugged him again.
"I can't believe this, Brian. We need you. With everyone gone... I've been trying to hold this mess together for weeks. Wendy is a dear, and doing great work, but she's so raw it's not even funny. Bridget tries, but we have her out in the field most of the time, doing the heavy lifting with Doug, and now the new team. Have you met any of them?" The words were leading.
Them. Not constructs, but a new team of separate people. Definitely not the power of one man. A single being so powerful that he might well be able to destroy the whole planet if he needed to. Got too mad. Just had a bad day sometime... What have you. Good reasons like that. Brian could see the point. Attacking him would be insane, but the only thing that would ensure Rigs could never slip up too much would be taking him out preemptively. Which would fail, most likely.
"Dev'an? I ran into him this morning. He was attacked by cat creatures? The class four ones that Braid was having made? How did that go? I take it that he lived, since people aren't wearing black and crying?"
The new Director shook her head a bit.
"He's fine. Tough as steel, that guy. Lariat, the new teleporter, took a team in, so they were able to put a stop to them and take out the enemy facility. No casualties on our side. We've lost some people though. Have you been catching the news lately?" It was a weird question, but he really hadn't. Not living off in the woods like he had been.
