by P. S. Power
It was a bit strange, so he tried to focus on that. That sense of himself. It felt like a thin line, a gray thing, that reminded him of pencil lead. There was a texture to it that was smooth, like graphite, and not permanent, but it also had a thousand branches. Those were he realized, different roads that he could take into the future. It was vague though, and he had no real way to tell which one was the right thing to do. Worse, he didn't know what would change things for him.
That was probably because he just wasn't as good as Braid was that way. Not nearly as strong when it came to predicting the future or knowing what to do.
"Which is fine. She's so loony, cartoons envy her." He spoke this to himself, after he started to set up his bedroll, behind Marcia's office desk. He didn't know for certain, but kind of thought the old IPB hadn't worked that way. At least he'd never heard about Quartz living in her office, and knew for a fact that Kevin Moore had his own room.
They'd also had time to have multiple phone lines and things like that. It was still decently early, but he was exhausted, having not slept the night before. That didn't stop him from being plagued by thoughts of Penny escaping justice and going around doing whatever she pleased, because no one in the world could really stop her.
As if the ability to do things was the same as the right to?
It troubled him, but he finally managed to quiet his mind enough to rest, and didn't wake up until the phone rang in the dark. It took him two shrill bell soundings to orient himself, and another to get the nine put back away. He'd come to with it in his hand. Just before the fourth ring came, he grabbed the pale cream colored hand piece, the curly and very old fashioned cord trying to tangle as he put the thing to the side of his head.
"IPB, Brian Yi." He was going to go on, but nothing came out. It was too hard to think still. Being half asleep always did that to him, but the last year had taught him the virtue of waking up fast.
"What did you do?" The woman on the other end of the thing sounded upset. Not just a tiny bit either. "Tell me. I know it has to be you. No one else has ever... You don't understand, I know that, but you have no right to get in the way of my plans! If I don't do this, then we won't be strong enough, when the darkness comes. You have to help me. I know you can't see it yet, but if you don't..."
He blinked in the dark space, the lights from the computers, all glowing blue and yellow, being all that let him see the space he was in. It wasn't a great place, really. It looked run down already, not having been new to start with. The floor wasn't totally flat, and the thing had clearly been used. Before they'd gotten it.
Brian started nodding, his subconscious mind picking up on what was happening before his fog filled daytime self did.
"Hello, Mrs. Moore." There was no answer for a moment, just the sound of a shuddering inhalation. "I see you're picking up on the current plan to stop you? That, or you're trying to trick me, again. I'm not really worried this time however. As for getting in the way of your plans... What darkness? The last time we spoke you didn't have a good reason to do what you were saying. Are you changing that up now? I have it on pretty good authority, from the land of the dead, that if you get your way, then in a few thousand years humanity will be extinct, at least on this world."
"A few thousand years? If you don't stop this, now, and do what I say, then your people won't last even ten! I don't know what you did, but I had it right, until ten minutes ago. Then... The entire world is in danger, Brian! What did you do?" She didn't sound reasonable, but his head was clearing enough that he could make a guess or two.
"Well, I asked Zevros Wyrdcraft to get some of your people, including some relatives of yours to come here, so that you won't win. I don't know if they're coming or not, but..."
That got a hiss.
"Don't be stupid! Even if they got in my way, that wouldn't do this! Something has stolen the future from me! I can see a day or two ahead, but nothing more! What did you do! Tell me or so help me, I'll..."
He waited, actually interested in what she thought he could be threatened with. Killing Mary, or some of his friends came to mind, but he really didn't think even Braid could survive that. He'd just find her and kill her. He could do that now, he realized.
The future might not be certain, but he could use his powers to locate her, if he had a picture or anything like that to go on. She probably wouldn't be where he thought she should be though, except that she couldn't see him in time, from what he'd heard. Not that he was really willing to trust the fate of the world to that.
"Oh. I think I get it. I can kill you at any time now. No matter where you go. At least in this world, so... Would that do it do you think? It might take me a few days to get it done, but my power lets me find people, and you, Mrs. Moore, are very important to me. You should feel flattered really. I'd say you're right up there in my top ten, actually."
There was a bit of silence, and then a tired sounding chuckle.
"No, that isn't it either. Some factor in this world has changed. I won't let that happen, Brian. I can't. You think that you're right, but I know, beyond all doubt, that you're wrong. I can see now that I should have told you the whole thing before. If we meet, can I count on you to listen to me first? I know that even that might not be enough, but you need to know what's coming. If I can explain it. I'm not certain... Well. It's up to you. What do we do next?"
Brian yawned, but knew that he wasn't going to get any more sleep that night either.
"Fine. In daylight though. At seven in the morning here? Just outside the gate? That way I can have a small army of fighters ready for whatever trick you have in store."
She paused, then counter offered.
"In two hours, in Washington D.C. near the Lincoln Memorial? I need to talk, not worry about eighteen others coming to kill me at once. Come alone." She sounded a bit more certain of herself, suddenly.
Less like she was about to go full on mental.
"Like you won't have Tesseract with you? No deal. Oh, and by the way, I want my armor back. Tell him that, will you? My knife too."
That got a laugh, but no promise for it being returned. He got that one. Him without those things would be an easier target.
"Two hours, Lincoln Memorial. I'll come alone, if you will?"
"Like I can trust you?"
She laughed, going into a more manic state this time.
"Have I ever lied to you, Brian? Or broken my word? True, I didn't tell you all of my plan, but that was simply prudent. You have my word, that if you come, and listen to me, I'll be honest and not bring anyone else. Not that I won't have an escape plan, in case you aren't as trustworthy as I think."
That would just have to be the case, since he was planning to kill her, if he could.
"Deal then. Just so you know, I will have other people there. Ones you don't know. Just as backup, but I'll hold them back. I expect you to do the same?"
"Fine." She gasped a bit, then spoke clearly enough. "You know, Mr. Yi... You could afford to be a bit more trusting of others. We aren't on different sides here. Not the way you think."
Then she hung up.
Brian rolled his eyes, and forced a smile. Then called Marcia, who promptly growled at him over her cell phone.
"What the hell are you calling me for this late?" She was clearly pissed off, having lost out on her beauty sleep. "I swear, I'll find you and kill you, if this isn't good."
Brian smiled.
"It's pretty good. Possibly better than that. Braid just called and wants to meet with me. Alone. I told her that I'd have people with me, but hold them back. Would you like in on that, or should I just get Wren and Sinclair to handle that part?" Not that he wasn't getting Penny and Becky in on it too. Braid couldn't see them in space or time either, as far as anyone could tell.
That, or she was faking it with a will that very few sane people possessed. Which was, he thought, possible. She might even have been faking that with him. If that was the case then who knows what else she had going on behind th
e scenes? Plans within tricks, hiding her real goals behind mirrors and smoke, no doubt. It was complex and confusing to a level that he couldn't match, mentally.
For his part, he was just going to try and shoot her. Even if she had a sniper ready to put a bullet in his head, that should short circuit her plan well enough. Whatever it was.
Penny didn't have a phone, and when he found where she was sleeping, he was tackled by Phoebe, who kissed him soundly. He hadn't even been thinking about the swelling and discomfort from the beating the day before. When he'd taken Sara's place. The girl was there with the others, and woke up, seeming scared.
"Hey all. I have to go on a trip. Penny, I need you for that. Becky, too." That was enough to have the girl standing up and going invisible to everyone else.
Brian could still feel the touch of lips against his, and knew he was healing. It tingled, so he smiled at the girl, who laid back down, seeming sleepy.
"Thanks Phoebe. The rest of you should go back to sleep. Sorry about waking you." The tent they were in smelled a bit musty. A lot of them did, he noticed. Like they'd been put away damp at some point in their long lives, and the green things had held the mildew like an old friend. One too deep and solid, to ever get the stink of it all the way out.
It occurred to Brian that he really should have sought the girl out before then. Her, or Liz. What was the point of having healers around if you weren't going to let them do their thing? The truth was though that even beaten up and battered, he'd felt so much better than he used to that he'd simply forgotten to care about it. That wasn't perfect though, was it? Brian had people willing to keep him healthy, ones that didn't think of it as a huge bother even, and he needed to make use of them. Especially since his armor was gone.
It took about half an hour to get everyone ready to go.
Of course, each of them thought it was a trick. Since Brian did too, that information just got a nod. It pretty much had to be, didn't it? The thing there was that, with Braid, there was no way to know what was a trap that had been set up for decades, and what might be just her floundering a bit. So far they'd never seen her do that, but it could happen.
Brian got them all into place, taking in a team that was a bit different than he would have thought. Marcia was going because short of using a nuke on the country's capital, there was pretty much no way she was going to be taken out. Devorah could see her coming, but not really kill her, Brian didn't think. As super powers went, hers was a pretty good one.
Penny and Becky were the a-team on this one, since he was almost certain that there was no way for even their arch nemesis to see either of them in the future. Unless that was a trick? It really could be, he knew. It was a guess at any rate, and not one that he felt too certain of, suddenly.
The wildcard was actually Mark.
Stasis was going to come in from outside of D.C. on a bicycle, and make three passes of the area, checking for ambush points. Before they went in, once, and then two times while they spoke. Braid was getting ten minutes to say her thing, or try to kill them. Then Brian was out of there, along with all of his people. The woman was too dangerous to play around with.
For far too long she'd controlled a big portion of the game. The scary part there was that Brian had a strong suspicion that it was even more than any of the people on his side really thought it could be. They were blaming her for massive attacks, and even some smaller personal ones. What if it went even deeper than that? The woman had known to get Christian to let Tobin go for adoption, almost two decades before. What else could she have had her sticky precog fingers into?
First he took Mark, Penny and Marcia in. They were supposed to stay on the perimeter. Well away from the danger zone. Of course, if the city was nuked, then Penny was dead. Marcia might make it though, and Mark simply would. As long as he was safe when he came out of stasis time, he would be pretty much impossible to touch. That took awareness on his part, but would be safe enough. His first mode made it nearly impossible for him to even get out of that frozen place unless he was very certain all was well.
Brian set up at the white building itself, about fifteen minutes early.
To his shock, Devorah Timberland pulled up in a cab, three minutes before they were supposed to meet. She didn't seem surprised to see him. The place was empty, and closed to the public thanks to the attacks on the city the year before, so they where both actually standing out in the open. Not by the statue itself. Just on the sidewalk, with an iron barricade in front of the monument.
If they'd been framing a movie scene, they'd have to get special passes, so they could go inside. This really seemed a bit boring. Visually speaking.
The woman, who was pushing seventy, but seemed fit and almost hard, smiled at him. For all she'd sounded worked up on the phone, she didn't seem wild eyed or unkempt now. In fact, she looked pretty good. Her hair was a mix of black and gray, and she wore make-up, but it was well enough done that she seemed no older than fifty, and still vital. Strong and collected. Not like a person that was dealing with the one threat she feared most.
Her dark eyes looked black in the streetlight. His own probably weren't much different. Brian was dressed in tan fatigues, ones that said IPB. He noticed her glancing at his right breast pocket, and understood something instantly. It was a thing that suddenly clicked, inside his mind. A powerful and palpable sense that he knew was correct.
He didn't know how she was doing it, but it was clear she was using her power to influence him, somehow. Looking at his lapel for instance was meant to get him thinking about duty, and what he was there for. Trying to kill her.
Braid's body language was too specific and contrived for it to be otherwise. Even the slightly odd way she stood, off his center line, to his left about two feet, was meant to control him. Somehow. If that was really the case, then she could see the future with him in it, and the whole thing really was a trap. Not that it wasn't always going to be one, but he'd sort of been hoping that what she'd claimed to Mary in the past about not being able to see him was the truth. If it wasn't, then she'd seen everything he'd done for... Probably longer than he'd known she was alive.
The question then, was why hadn't she just killed him? Back when he was a kid, or even useless Brian the factory worker. It wasn't like he'd been expecting a person to just walk up and shoot him back then. It wouldn't have been hard, would it?
Part of him wanted to change what he was going to do, but he didn't, knowing that he might have one chance to take the woman out, but it would have to be done just right. Apparently with a lot of luck too, and some pre-planning. No matter what, if she could see him in time, he had to let the current portion of things play out. There wasn't enough time to really make up something that would work in the moment, he didn't think.
"So, Mr. Yi... I suppose we can cut out the charade now? You've worked out that I can see you, and always have been able to. The truth of the matter is that I needed you to do what you have been, in order for my plan to work. It's always been about you. Brian and Devorah, sitting in a tree... I can't do anything here without you. Your power is the key, and always has been. Even bringing in my family won't help you change anything now. There was a time that could have worked, but I'm too entrenched here now. We're both too closely linked. Everything about you and I is aligned, and it will stay that way, forever more. So, you're wondering why I've brought you here this evening?" She smiled, her face looking bland otherwise. It was a good trick really. She was just using her mouth, trying not to goad him by being smarmy about the whole thing?
Still influencing how the future was going to come out, with every little move and gesture.
So he made himself smile, not knowing what was really going on. Either she could see him in time, and the whole thing had always been a trick, meant to control him into helping her, or she couldn't, and this was, now. Or both. Or, neither? If it was meant to be confusing, it seemed to be working on him, he realized.
There were a few things that he could count on
however. First, she wouldn't have shown up if she knew that she were going to die. He didn't think so, at least. So for some reason she thought that she was safe enough.
Then, she'd let Bridget break both her legs once, from what he'd heard. Possibly just to set up something else, later. Either to make him hesitate now, or to warp Bridgie around, at some later time. Making her think she had a chance when she didn't?
Still, there was one thing to try, just in case Braid was faking being able to see him. He started out conversationally however, not wanting to give anything away with body language. This couldn't be his real shot at her, but it had to seem real enough that it would work if she were just playing with his head and lying to him.
Well, no matter how it came out, it was clear she was doing that.
"Well, Braid, you already know what I'm going to say, so why don't you just short hand it for me? Let me in on the secret here?"
She laughed.
"I do love your directness, Brian. Fine then. I came to let you know that I'll no longer be needing your services. At least not without your knowledge. My plan can't be stopped now. I've won. No matter what you do now, you can't undo my work. In fact, all you can do now, all your power will ever be able to do again, is my work. Holding the entire universe, or at least this part of it, in check, at every turn. That, controlling and influencing the world, is your true power, Brian. I did mention to you once that you weren't a class two, didn't I? Not just because you can take the place of another, or even teleport. I managed to stifle that ability long enough, thank goodness. No, this is all about the other part of yourself that you have very little ability to control, thanks to the training I've arranged for you."
He shrugged.
"That isn't really true though, is it? Even if your war takes place, which I admit, seems pretty likely, others can change things. It's the flaw that you've lived with your entire life. Short of destroying the world, there's no way to stop the future from being changed. I've been there, so I know that it will happen. At least out to a hundred years. So, that means there's hope. I know that I live too, so if you have something planned right now, you may as well call it off." Then, he knew that for some reason he hadn't killed her, didn't he? At least that he needed to kill her this time.
