The Infected 1: Proxy (54 page)

A few moments later people poured into the room, looking confused and angry. Lauren came in first, her face plate shifting around the room, her huge hands in fists. "Brian! I... I just suddenly knew you needed me for some reason..."

Everyone tried to crowd in at once then, no one saying anything important, but everyone making just enough noise that the room got loud again.

"Yeah. Tesseract and a couple of his friends were just here with a message for me." Brian told them all what was said, mainly because secrets generally didn't help at all, and honestly, he didn't know what the message meant anyway. Drop it and leave her alone?

He wondered which woman in his life would say something like that to him first. Penny? That seemed likely, but Karen might too, even Marcia. Talk about vague statements. The only thing he could tell about it for certain was that it had something to do with a female. Provided it really was the truth and not just these people trying to screw with him. Of course, why would they even bother? Yeah, he'd gotten lucky with Tesseract, but that didn't mean that he could do it again. Even if he could, the best he could manage at the moment would be a draw, both of them dying. Hardly a major threat. After all, Tesseract could just avoid him, or better yet, just stop trying to kill people. Then, no person in peril, no Brian showing up. Easy.

Penny came to his side and hugged him, a full bodied hug that should have hurt, but didn't thanks to how the Docs and medical team had done the surgery. He still stood, so Penny slowly worked him back toward the bed gently trying to get him into it. Brian shook his head and smiled at the girl so she wouldn't think this was some kind of big deal or that she was doing something wrong. Brian just didn't want to lay down and feel vulnerable at the moment. He also didn't want to fight with Penny over it, so he sat on the edge of the bed instead, the plastic covering on the mattress, there to prevent blood and other things from ruining more than the sheets, crinkled under him as he settled. The room was crowded suddenly, The director went to the front staring at Brian the whole time. The move forced the man to walk backwards, bumping into people who scurried out of his way.

"Everyone leave. Now." The man's voice sounded dead when he spoke, he didn't turn to look at anyone, gaze locked on Brian alone. "Go please."

Everyone left, except Penny. After a few seconds the older man nodded, looking at Brian, not even bothering to try and figure out where the invisible girl was. "You too Penny. Some things have to be discussed here and... well, it may or may not concern you at some time in the future. So, for now, please leave." The older man held up a single hand about half way, it shook gently, either from age or fear, "And no, I don't know you're here for certain, I just know that I'd try to stay if I were you. Normally not a big issue, but right now... please?"

Looking more than a little shocked and muttering something about secrets Penny left the room.

"All clear Brian?" The Director asked, still sounding serious.

Telling him it was, Brian waited. The other man looked at him and asked if he could describe the people again, carefully. After going over the whole story twice, the director reached into his pocket and pulled out a faded and wrinkled photo. There were seven people in it, three men, four women. Brian nodded when he saw the familiar faces. One of them sat next to him, looking about forty years older than the man in the picture. It was him though, that was clear.

"Yeah, this one is Tesseract, which you already know, obviously," He pointed to the half Asian looking one in green military fatigues, a solid color, complete with combat boots, everyone in the picture wore the same thing. "This is the other man. I called him Jan-i-tor, because the first time I saw him he was cleaning my room on floor eight when I kept trying to kill myself. He told me stories about his grandkids... Seemed pretty nice really. Didn't say anything this time though."

Director Moore moved to sit next to him on the bed, not looking at him for a time, then looked back at the picture and pointed at one of the women.

"Was... the other one her?" His thick finger pointed at a woman that stood next to his own image in the photo, a much younger version of the man, still thick looking, but unwrinkled.

"No, it was this one, she called herself Trivia." He felt stupid saying it, since he'd already mentioned it six or seven times. There was only the one woman in the group that visited him. In the picture she smiled and looked younger, but not that much, maybe five years or so.

"Good." The Director actually sighed with relief.

The gray haired man looked around then asked again if Penny were there, finding she wasn't went to the door and locked it firmly, checking it twice. When he turned around to look at Brian, the director took a deep breath and then sighed.

"We were the original team one, Alpha squad. Back then that didn't mean the public face like it does now, it meant the best. We were... powerful. Too powerful to have the responsibilities we did. There was no one that could check us when we strayed and eventually, as all organizations do if they're strong enough, we did..."

He pointed to each in turn, the men first.

"Tesseract, master of space and time. To call him the only known class eight is ridiculous of course. That's just to help people sleep at night. One boogie man that, while hugely dangerous in potential, normally leaves everyone alone. If people, the same ones you've been saving over and over again, really knew what we face at times... well, the Hooper act would be the least of our problems."

He moved to the next face, the other man.

"Stillness. He could get anyone, anywhere, to do anything and keep doing it for as long as he wanted. I think that's how they cleared your room. He used to be a show boat, today's work was... subtle, refined. No one even guessed why we left your room like that, it just made perfect sense at the time. I'd say it made him even more dangerous, but the truth is, he was that dangerous already. He just didn't announce himself today. That... I don't know this for certain, but I think it might have been about you, not any of the rest of us. I think they probably didn't want to risk you moving to fight too soon." A small smile crept across his face. "You called him Jan-i-tor to his face? He probably got a kick out of that. He does have a sense of humor, at least he used to."

He pointed to a short woman in the front row, she looked cute, short red hair, big smile. She looked a bit like Bridget. Brian pointed out the resemblance.

"Yes, she does indeed, that's Foggy. Scott Chambers mother. Sweet girl, friendly. Kind of like Bridget, only back then we didn't have first modes categorized like we do now. Not as impulsive, but... well, more than once I woke up with her in my bed having gone to sleep alone... Prime thinks he's strong, but Foggy... I don't think there have been a dozen beings since I last saw her that could match her in a fight at all. Maybe Lauren, but I wouldn't want to waste her in the effort of trying to take Foggy down. At one point I thought I loved her." The old man's voice had gone soft for a moment, he stopped talking and sighed.

His finger moved to a dusty blond woman.

"Earthling. Stone cold bitch that would just as soon bury you alive as flip you off and her finger was always ready to send a message. Tended toward over kill. Why just bury one bad guy when you could bury the whole town with him, that kind of thing. We probably should have just killed her back then, but we really didn't get that some people had to be kept out of public service. She had an attitude problem, but everyone just thought she was angry at the world for her Infection. She killed more people than the rest of us combined... And we killed a lot of people back then. More than you do now and without a tenth of the sense behind it. Infected, enemy soldiers, you name it. We even fought other teams of Infected from around the world. Few could match us at all."

He pointed at Trivia and smiled.

"Know-it-all. She does too. Everything, about everyone, all the time. Any information a human being anywhere knows, she does too, more than that, she knows if it's real or not. She can't be fooled by imagination or wishful thinking. It sounds minor, but honestly, she can do anything. Brain surgery, fly a plane, infiltrate a compound without any problem at all. Deadly in a fight. She literally knows what you're going to do before you do. It's not telepathy, she just knows what you know and can guess what you'd be thinking at any moment. Sweet girl too. She and Foggy were great friends. Probably more than just friends, but back then that kind of thing didn't get talked about."

Moore pointed at the last woman and swallowed. The woman had plain brown hair, dusky skin that made her look a little Latino or possibly Native American and big brown eyes that looked innocent and like they held secrets that no one should ever have to know, all at the same time.

"Braid. My wife. I lived with her for nearly twenty years, made my whole life about helping and managing Infected and... really Brian, I don't have any clue what her powers actually are. Some kind of precognition, only more than that. She showed me ten thousand times and she was effective as all get out, but... It was too hard to see. No one got it, but we couldn't argue with the results. Even Katie, the one that called herself Trivia? Even she couldn't tell what Braid knew or how. I loved her then, Devorah. I still do really. But... If you ever face her... kill her Brian. I don't know if you can, or if anyone can, but... after what she did..." He shook his head and swallowed back tears. Just sitting for a while he finally pointed to the image of himself.

"Less. I made things vanish and never come back. People, Infected, soldiers, buildings, once a mountain. There didn't seem to be a limit to what I could do. It was thought that I could destroy the whole world by myself. Make it all simply not be any more. Luckily my temperament didn't allow for such things. Plus, you understand, I live here. Eventually I gave it up all together. Just destroying... It wears on a soul after a while and even if there are no bodies, killing people was never my thing."

Brian stared at the picture, memorizing it if he could, just in case he ever saw any of them again. After a while he handed the picture back.

"Tesseract, he killed Bravo squad?" Brian asked, hoping it wouldn't bring back too many bad memories for the man beside him, who suddenly looked a lot older and more tired than he'd seen him before.

"Yes. Braid had him do it, pulling strings none of the rest of us could see. At first I didn't get that she'd done it, but eventually even my mind managed to put it all together. She had, has, a plan. What it is I don't know. Tess slaughtered them all so fast... That's when I knew that we were too dangerous to hold the power we did. Back then the government was more than a little afraid of us. Oh, they didn't cow-tow and cower, but they didn't have anything that could stop us, not Alpha squad. After a while they tried to set Bravo on us. It didn't make sense, but I didn't know what Braid was up to at the time either."

"Foggy and I, we tried to talk the others into holding back, talk things out. Earthling just fought, of course, but Bravo could have taken her down if Tess hadn't stopped them. So fourteen seconds later, the only people left on the battle field were us. Alpha. The military started to try and fight, but they pulled back, thank god. I think Stillness made them do it, but he never said anything about it. Except for one man, a private, who set down his weapons and walked toward us, with his fists raised, as if he was going to box us into submission... it was ridiculous of course, except... the others just ran away. Then the boy, he couldn't have been twenty, I don't think, just nodded at us and walked away. No one ever saw him again, wasn't even a member of the unit he'd been with as far as anyone could tell. The others fled with Tesseract, except Foggy and me. We stayed and, in time, tried to rebuild things. I'd... kind of hoped that the others were dead, or at least retired. I don't know what they want with you, or if the message they gave you is real at all. I can tell you that them sending three like that means something... They see you as an equal at least." He dropped his hands, the right still holding the picture, into his lap.

Looking down Brian thought for a while, finally he stood and put out a hand to help the older man to his feet.

"Well, they didn't come to fight or kill today. Whatever they have planned will either happen or not. If it comes to it, we fight if we have to and don't give up, even if it means we all die. Simple as that. If they don't pose a threat, we leave them alone. They... they didn't seem to think the IPB was a threat to their plans. Not that anyone said. They want something from me and said that we, them and I, may come into conflict later. So, maybe this won't have to involve anyone else at all anyway?" The idea made Brian smile. After all, he'd gladly buy the lives of his friends with his own if needed. Who wouldn't?

That only made sense.

The Director grunted and looked troubled by the idea, but didn't say anything at all, just sitting for a long time. Eventually he stood, turned solemnly to Brian and stuck out his hand to shake.

"Brian... I don't know what's coming, but I want you to know that having you here has been the most amazing time of my life. The things you've done, no one should be able to have pulled off. No matter what happens, please remember that you've really helped a lot of people. More than any of us ever thought possible when you first came through the doors here. Not just the ones you saved directly either. Thank you."

Brian shook the hand, the speech sounding more than a little formal to him, like a person that wanted to say goodbye to someone who might die at any time. Brian smiled at that. For once he didn't feel like death was standing at his shoulder.