by P. S. Power
When they got into the front office, Penny was still behind the front desk, her arm touching Wendy's, since there wasn't a lot of space there. It was pretty clear that the other girl, who was busily talking on the phone, wasn't aware that she was doing that. Otherwise he didn't think that Cellophane would have been comfortable with it. She was still visible however, which meant she wasn't taking advantage of the situation using her powers. He... Could let that go. A lot of people were touchy-feely, and as long as it wasn't bothering the bird girl, it was fine.
So instead of being a prick and scolding her for being a human being, Brian just handed her one of the food packs. Then he gave Wendy one too.
"I didn't know if you'd had a chance to eat. I'll take over on the phones? Sinclair can help me with that, right?" He looked at the blonde, who nodded, but walked to Marcia's door and knocked.
"Come!" The boss did not sound happy. Stressed, and a bit upset, to tell the truth.
Probably over what he'd done earlier too. Telling the world the truth. If anyone would believe him. Since he wouldn't have, that probably meant no one else would either.
When the door opened, and Sinclair tentatively tried to go in, the woman pushed her aside. Not roughly, but well enough that the door cleared.
"Yi! Where the hell have you been?" She glared, but he just shrugged, and waved an MRE.
"Getting dinner. It looks like Sinclair and I are the relief crew for now. You three eat, we'll try to handle that, if we can. Oh, I'm also setting up a daily workout schedule. For everyone. If you want in, meet out front at seven. I'm thinking three hours. Running, calisthenics and fighting practice. It's less than I'm used to, but I'll be in here doing paperwork or whatever is needed most of the day." It was his plan, but he was surprised at what Marcia did, which was grin at him.
"About freaking time someone stepped up. Oh, I want you to stick close to Phoebe too. That way if you get hurt she can make out with you."
Because that made sense?
"Um, I have a girlfriend? Otherwise it sounds cool enough."
Marcia nodded, her face a bit more serious.
"I know. Don't let that stop you. Phoebe is our new healer. She does it by kissing people. I don't know if she has to do it that way or not, but if that's her thing, then let her do it. She's better than most at it, so..."
That was a relief. Elizabeth, the Carlie healer from Hobbs' world lived at the new base, with her boyfriend. Brian been a bit worried about how he was going to stay healthy. He could go for a while with just regular medical healthcare, but it was really nice to not feel beaten up all the time.
"I'll do that then. Can she work the phones too? I could use an assistant."
That got a head shake from the new Director.
"Nope. She's a good kid, but has a mouth like a sailor on speed and rum, and can't help it. Worse than that actually. It's her first mode, so she's not much good with the public. Not unless they need to be told off. Then she's actually not too bad."
"Ah. Well, we'll figure something out." Errands or something. He didn't really need to have the girl next to him all the time after all, as long as she wasn't in a different state half the time.
He tossed one of the brown plastic packages to Marcia, who took it, and actually managed not to glare at him over it. She did make a face about it, but then sighed, turned around and got a gallon jug of vegetable oil from a row of them along the back wall. Then, amazingly, she opened it and tilted the thing back, drinking it like water.
When the half gallon that had been in the partial container was gone, she set the thing back down and got moving, pointing at her desk as the phone rang.
"Take over. I'll eat this crap and get back to it. Sinclair, can you take the front?"
That got things going, and Brian discovered, about ten seconds later, that Marcia was actually a saint in disguise. She had to be, or else she wouldn't have just seemed stressed, she would have been screaming at the top of her lungs at the morons that were calling her.
Over the next hour, he kept at it, since that let Marcia get on her cell and start making connections she needed to get real things done. In that time he spoke to three politicians, eight news people, and one woman that informed him, quite frankly, that she didn't think aliens were real, and that he was a liar. Thank you very much. That one was almost fun, compared to the others, truth be told.
"I've met them, and gone to that alternate reality. It's real, and while I'm not perfect, I'm honestly not lying. I can't prove that to you over the phone, but it's real. I guess all I can ask for is that you give me the benefit of the doubt? I know that's going to be hard, but I don't know what else to do." His voice stayed normal for the whole thing, never dropping into his more subdued, dead inside sounding tone.
"Hmm." The sound was short and terse, but then the woman, who was totally nailing prim and proper sounding, snorted. "I guess I can try that. If you're lying to me though... Well, I'll send you a mean letter. Don't think I won't!"
"That sounds fair." He gave her the address, in case she felt the need for that. It was basically just to the base, because he didn't know if they had anyone to handle the mail coming in yet.
Most of the people wanted to speak to him though, even if they were calling the Director personally. After the sixth press person, he figured out that doing it all at once would work a lot better, so looked at Marcia, who was busily trying to get some kind of supply shipment in.
Grabbing a pen and blank bit of paper that didn't seem to be too important he wrote a note.
Press conference tomorrow? Three in the P.M.?
She didn't stop talking, but nodded, then pointed to both of them, with her going first. Then she mouthed a single word. Ken.
The PR kid. That made sense. Brian had no clue how to set that one up, and knew he wasn't going to get the chance, so stood up and walked toward the front. If the feeling he had was right, there was a real fight coming. From the feeling it was going to be a good one too.
He was already starting to tingle a bit, but had the layout of the coming fight in his head. There were six people where he was going, all of them angry and armed. Guns though, which either meant they weren't Infected, or that their powers weren't instantly that useful in a fight.
The entry would be tricky though, he thought. Hard to pull off, physically speaking. The sense was that it would be worth it though, if he could get it done.
He jogged past the front desk to find Penny was back to work already, sitting a much more respectful distance from Sinclair than she had been from Wendy. That girl was gone, for some reason. Probably because she'd been working all day. Hopefully people were remembering to take real breaks and all that.
"Pen, I'm trading out in about a minute. Out front?"
"Crap! We'll get medical or whatever they have here. Um..." Then she went silent, and stood up to follow him. Sinclair was on the phone, but didn't seem to get the problem, not knowing him that well.
There was a bit of time, so he started breathing hard, to build up extra oxygen in his system. It wouldn't hurt, and gave him something to do while the seconds ticked away. When there was five seconds left, trying to relax as well as he could considering what was about to happen, he started running full speed, building up what momentum he could get. Then at the last second, he jumped straight up, laying back so the he was nearly flat, and whipped his right hand out, to catch the gunman next to him by the head.
Several bullets passed under him as his momentum changed, taking the guy with the gun next to him down. They twisted in the air, or he did, landing on top of the guy. Brian used a bit of residual energy to elbow him in the head, not paying attention to who he was, then removing the gun from his hand so that he'd have a weapon too.
The firing kept up, and he finally got that the people around him, a ways away, hiding behind car doors in the main, all wore uniforms. They were police. A feeling or pure terror ran through him, as he geared up to kill them all. It was about to happen, when one of the men yell
ed something unexpected.
"Fuck. It's a government agent. Cease fire!"
Before Brian could even shoot one of them, the others actually did it. He kept the gun ready though, not trusting them. Even though they seemed to just be afraid, not like they were trying to be evil.
It was work to keep the sneer from his lips, and his voice came out low and angry sounding.
"What's the situation here? You were about to kill a man. Why?"
The officer that had called out to the others still looked freaked, but lowered his weapon. They didn't all do that, but as a gesture of good faith, or that least weapons safety, he pointed his own down and waited for an explanation.
"The guy was glowing, so we ordered him to stop and he didn't." As if that was enough of a reason to kill someone?
He sighed. "Right, was he doing anything, or just glowing? I mean, had he committed a crime or hurt anyone?"
There was silence for a bit, and the man finally shook his head.
"No. We got a report of Infected activity, so..."
Brian got that one. They'd come at the guy like Nazis, and were going to kill him. Probably for trying to get to the store and get some food. Closing his eyes, trying to not feel like he was going to die himself, Brian tried to get a sense of the person in his head. It was scared, but not to a level that would bring powers to the front lethally. After a bit, he got it.
"Ah... Okay. He just glows. It was green?"
"Yeah?" Officer Don't Shoot was doing all the talking it seemed.
"So, knowing that now, you can all back off a bit? He can't help it, but isn't a hostile person. Put the guns away and act like people. Plus, you know, get some ice for this guy's face? I kind of did a number on him. Sorry there." He didn't mean it, but the men, and they were all male, seemed to believe him and got their weapons put away. Brian felt himself start to tingle, and moved to the slightly injured man who'd acted as his pivot point, and ducked down to holster the weapon for him.
"Just a misunderstanding. Maybe, next time, you should try not to yell and shoot first? If you can. Don't be stupid about it either, but most Infected people are pretty harmless, power wise." He took a deep breath and tried not to sound like an insane killer again. "And now you know!"
No one laughed, but he went back to the base, to find three people standing there waiting for him. Sinclair, Doug and a rather nice looking girl that also had light colored hair and a good sized nose, as well as sharpish features.
She yelled at him.
"Cock smoking underwear eater!" Then she jumped back, startled by him suddenly being there, it seemed.
"Hi! Are you Phoebe? I'm Brian. Director Turner wants us to hang out. As in be partners, I think, not just play video games. Thanks for coming though. I didn't have to fight this time though, not really." He shrugged. "Cops, that were about to make a mistake and kill some guy for glowing too much. I hope he's all right. I didn't even get the department or city from them. I need to make a point of that, when I can. No deaths. That makes four today."
Only Doug seemed to get it, but he smiled big enough for all of them.
Four.
Chapter four
Then, ten minutes later he had to go and kill a nun that was trying to eat the face off her sisters in a convent. The language seemed to be Spanish, and they were all white, except for one, very old, darker woman near the back. That probably meant he was actually in Spain then, not Mexico. They were in black and white, so the classic penguin outfit that got shown on television.
He didn't try to talk to the rather aged woman that simply wanted the others dead. Her mouth had rows of sharp looking teeth and they were pushed to the front, making her jaw extend three or four inches further out than was normal. There was no sense of reason in her eyes, and she didn't even try to stop when he showed up, just lunging for his throat. It was a move he took to mean that she wasn't in control of herself, and probably wouldn't be that day.
Luckily she had no clue how to fight, even if she was wicked fast and strong. It took him about three seconds to knock her back, two more to get her to trip over her robe, or whatever it was called, and another few to grab his little knife and slit her thin neck. It nearly came off.
Then he was back again, frowning as Phoebe came over to him, not jumping away this time.
"Are you all right?" She seemed pretty normal now, which was interesting. Maybe she only cursed uncontrollably when startled or scared? He was wondering when she looked at him with a tilted head and went on, very conversationally. "Pig lips, and assholes?"
"I'm good. The blood isn't mine. A nun, I think. Infected. In Spain? It was hard to tell. I should... Get cleaned up, then learn to write my own incident reports, I guess. You can help me with that?"
She nodded, looking at his hand, then pointed off toward the back of the compound, on the other side of the blackened glass crater that used to be an underground complex.
"The showers are over there. I'll show you."
The girl really did spout off insults every second line or so, or even lines of random seeming profanities, but other than that she seemed pretty nice. She got him a towel and even ran to get a clean uniform for him from the tent that held their supplies. He'd need to do his own laundry, but they had a wash tub for that, and a clothes line.
It was pretty high tech, he understood instantly.
That took fifteen minutes or so, and Phoebe waited for him, since they were buddies now. It was getting late, but he walked to the trailer, because making Marcia do all the work didn't seem fair. She was still there, talking on the phone, but the number of calls seemed to be slowing down a lot. Real people slept at night, after all. The rude ones would still call you, but there were limits to that kind of thing.
Finally she yawned, and patted at her mouth.
"I need to get to bed soon. We need a night crew here, or at least a way to forward calls to my cell. We can't on the current system. The land lines are all secured, so, you know, that won't work, by definition. No one should call now, but..." She shrugged.
Brian thought for a second and did that himself.
"I'll sleep in here. If anyone calls, I can answer it. I need a bed roll or something. This floor doesn't look that soft. Are there any in the supply tent?"
"Fuck nozzle?" The healer looked at him then shook her head a little. "I don't know. I wasn't looking for that kind of thing earlier. We keep bedding in there though, so we should have blankets and pillows. Do you want me to go get you some?"
He shook his head, since being that lazy wasn't good for anyone.
"I'll collect it, thanks. Anyway, everyone needs to meet out front in the morning for exercise. Seven sharp. If I'm not here, get with Simpson."
This time Phoebe looked at him, and glared.
"Fuck. I hate exercise. I don't suppose you'd buy that I have cramps? Or will at least, by then."
Marcia shook her head, clearly getting something that Brian was missing.
"Screw that. This isn't high school gym class. Run through the pain. It won't hurt you. We all need to be sharp and ready for anything, so no trying to get out of it." There was a gentle look though, instead of a commanding stare. She didn't even seem like she was being all that suspicious of the girl.
Marcia was more than her first mode after all. Yes, it colored all she did, but that was pretty much any Infected person. It was harder for him to see it in himself, but... Well, he was going to get his own bedroll set up, instead of having Phoebe run do it, wasn't he? Sleeping on the floor, instead of finding a bed, so that his buddy could get to sleep and not worry all night. Sacrificing his own comfort for other people.
It wasn't a bad thing, but so natural to him that he normally wouldn't have even noticed it, he didn't think. On the good side that meant he was able to set up a nice bundle of things to lay on for the night and get more than one pillow. By the time Marcia left, he had a pretty sweet little pad made up.
Of course he'd be up six times with the phone, but as long as he
could get a message, that wouldn't be too big of a deal.
Only, of course, it was hell.
Only three calls, and no emergencies, just people trying to do fact checking on his story, but waking up that many times ruined the quality of his sleep. Worse, it meant he remembered most of his nightmares. Lots of fights, and a couple where he was locked in a dark space, his hands and feet behind his back. That one was a classic, of course, but so were the others. Populated, when they had other people, with familiar faces. Most of them ones that he'd never had to fight with at all. The last dream he had involved fighting a sentient teddy bear, for instance. Killing him without warning or trying to help him calm himself down at all.
When he woke up, it was because someone else was in the room with him. Sitting on top of him. For a second he nearly panicked, but the girl was only on his chest, looking into his eyes. Bridget wasn't that heavy, and more importantly wasn't busy trying to get his pants down. Not that it would be that easy to rape him that day. He had his armor on. It made going to the bathroom a hassle, but would make it too hard to get at his goodies to be worth it.
"Morning. You just get back?"
The girl stood up, instead of bouncing on him.
"Yep! I came in to get some breakfast. We keep the oil in here to remind Marcia to get enough calories. I slept on the plane, so we can hang out all day. If I don't have to go and fight again. Oh, I have that list for you? Everyone just went away after I got their names. It beats killing them all. They were mainly just freaked out. People that had gotten too scared not to try and protect themselves. I missed you by the way." She moved in and hugged him, but didn't go for a kiss.
Showing more control than she used to have, by far.
She did give him a hand up though. A thing with enough power behind it that they both ended up in the air, if only a few feet. Then, moving fast enough that he got how hungry she had to be, she dove for an unopened jug of golden oil and drank it while making disgusted faces.
