The Infected 1: Proxy (25 page)

"Well, of course I'm the best one for the job. I almost always am. Unless the job isn't fun, then lesser people can take over. It's what we keep them around for." He smiled, a genuine thing that made Brian wonder if the man had actually been joking rather than just being that into himself. Everyone else looked a little uneasy around him, but that didn't stop Charlot from laying in to him.

Apparently in her mind it all came down to the fact that he knew better and that trying to kill that woman would make him look bad, plus half the complex expected him to go insane and kill them now. The other half were betting on him waiting a week and doing it then, which would make them all look bad if word got out.

"And word will get out! A reporter? What were you thinking?" Her hands went up. "Never mind, I know what you were thinking, that you could handle it... Well, this time it's not looking so good is it?.The woman already wants to press charges. Luckily Brian here stepped in for her, so you didn't actually do more than scare her a bit. It was all too close though, Scott. Half a second later and this whole thing would be a murder investigation now and we can't afford to let anyone get away with murder, not even you. Especially not you." Her glare could have warped paint off a wall.

Brian just felt lucky it wasn't directed his way. In fact, the look was so intense that he wondered if she were Infected. That persistent anger had the right tenor. If she didn't mention it, he wouldn't either. Maybe she had a really lame ability or something, making light bulbs explode on command or seeing into the infra-red spectrum, which wasn't so much lame as just not that useful to her day to day life.

Brian suddenly couldn't keep his eyes open and had to beg off on the discussions.

"Sorry, it's all the pain meds I think. Or the muscle things. Either way, I need to get to bed. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. But, like, in the morning... if possible."

He got up late - about eight - so hurried into the shower again, hoping that some warm water would help him loosen up, having showered before bed too, just to get the blood off. He looked in the mirror and winced. It looked like he'd gotten into a fight with a giant magic marker... and lost.

Twice.

His throat was a bruise, a single line that wrapped around half of it, purple-red blood blisters made lines throughout, breaking up the otherwise boring pattern. His face looked worse, except a small patch about the size of his hand near the chin on the right side. Oddly, his mouth felt fine, he hadn't even bitten his tongue for once. Small favors.

Angling the cabinet mirror above the sink, he could see part of his back. It looked like his throat, bruised with lines of red shot through. His chest looked better, but had a distinct shoulder imprint where Prime had flown into him. His legs ached, but not so bad he wanted to skip walking. He couldn't afford to. His left shoulder still hurt, but he could move it again. Whatever had popped in it the night before didn't seem to have damaged him overly yet.

Brian walked around the track, waiting for Karen to come and chat with him, but she didn't show. Probably busy with the Prime thing. For that matter, no one came to the gym at all until nearly ten, and that was one of the people from team two that he didn't know. She had Team two written on her t-shirt at least.

A tough looking woman that kept staring at him like she wanted to fight, but thought it would be rude to do it while he was so hurt. If so that was kind of her. She was kind of cute, in an utterly pissed, gothy way.

Just to break things up he decided to try riding one of the exercise bikes for a while. It hurt his crotch for some reason, but he managed to stay on for an hour and keep going even when his legs burned from the unaccustomed stress.

The team two woman kept staring at him, black hair with bright red tips on the left side, very dramatic make-up that would have looked quite pretty if she hadn't kept scowling at him. She stopped to lift some weights, one of the special machines that started at over a thousand pounds and went up in one hundred pound increments. He started walking again, trying to do what he could, knowing he'd probably always be hurt from now on. That meant it wasn't a good excuse to slack off. There probably wouldn't be a better time later.

After a while she followed him onto the track. She walked a little faster than he did, finally ending up alongside him, making him feel uneasy.

"Hi!" He tried to make his voice light and airy, rather than betray the shaking he really thought should be there.

"You're Brian, right?" Her voice sounded bored, that fake kind though, that girls used when they didn't want you to know they were focused on you totally.

"That's right, I don't think we've gotten to meet yet..."

"Right. Dharma. You know, like, instant retribution?" She walked beside him, easily keeping his pace. Looking at him sidelong she smiled, a little, wicked looking thing, that felt sinister for some reason. Probably the black make-up, Brian thought. He certainly didn't want to be the one to tell her that her name didn't have anything to do with retribution at all. The concept was more one of learning your lessons quickly really. But then karma just was as badly misunderstood. Brian decided not to mention it if she didn't.

"So... You kicked Prime's ass last night? It's all anyone is talking about."

Brian laughed, her face falling suddenly. He winked at her - or tried to - which turned the anger that had started to bafflement instead.

"I kicked his ass? I got him to stop... but look at me! Then, when you get a chance, go look at him... not a mark on him! I should know, he was naked through the whole thing. Even at that, well you're on team two, you know they protected that woman so I could go and finish things, but not even counting them it took four of us. If their team leader hadn't showed up and put him on the ground, I'd be dead right now. Of course, if Lady Glory had focused on Prime and not tried to make me feel all warm and fuzzy as I ran away, it probably would have stopped about a third of the way through. I don't know why, but she really hates me for some reason. Every time we meet she tries to use her power on me like I'm a psycho or something. Sorry, venting and I don't even know you..." He grinned and shook his head.

The girl gave him a hooded eye look and that little smile again.

"Heard you bitched her out about it the other day. I can see it, both sides. You're trying to do what you do, save people, right? And she keeps seeing you win fights you probably shouldn't have even survived and keep coming back, even beat to shit. Bridget said that no one here has ever seen you healthy or uninjured. Speaking of which, she totally has the hots for you, Bridgie. If you were a perv you'd totally be getting some tonight. She also said that you're one of the good ones that won't do her. Which is good, since that way I won't have to kick your ass myself." All of this came out almost without inflection, the last bit with a hint of laugh under it.

"Not that I could..." she said, staring at him.

That made him chuckle. Anger flashed in Dharma's eyes so Brian explained before she hit him.

"You totally could! Ask anyone here, I suck at fighting. I've been lucky and managed to hold on long enough a few times, but that's not the same as good. You were benching what over there, three thousand?" He looked at her and watched her shoulders come up smoothly.

"Fifteen thousand, but who's counting."

"So that's... seventy-five times what I can lift once on a good day. Yeah, I doubt I'd win in a fight with you. Now if you want to try me at video games..."

The girl, who looked younger close up, about nineteen or so, finally laughed and seemed to mean it. After another lap she started running, and lapped him so many times in about ten minutes that he couldn't keep a count up, she stopped, panting and waved him over.

"You seem cool and all, so some advice from a pro in the field of messing things up? Don't burn your bridges with Lady Glory. She'll forgive just about anything, but if she keeps going after you, there's a reason. You may not see it, and it may not be a good one, but I don't think she can actually dislike anyone, I've seen her look sad over monsters, so a good guy like you should be all right in her book. Go talk to her and see if discussion can't solve things there. I can't do crap like that, too much angst inside, but you're better than me that way. Maybe you can do it. Anyway, later."

Watching her leave, he considered Dharma's words. OK, so the woman had messed up a few times, from his perspective, but did that mean Brian shouldn't hear her out? The worst that happened would be that she really did just hate him or something and shut him down. No big there, and at least then he'd know. If he just kept going the way he was with her, they'd eventually run into trouble again, if he lasted long enough.

Which he wouldn't.

He'd run the numbers and knew that the initial estimate of how long he'd last both with and without training didn't work anymore. Everything had increased in speed and he'd already begun to run into highly-powered people and in greater numbers than originally expected. Even the medical staff here, pros that they were, could only do so much.

But, he reminded himself, no projection, no matter how accurate, could really account for all variables in a real world situation. Each day he lived, he changed the equation, just a little. Maybe he could make it a while longer? Months even. Did he really want to go around holding a grudge against someone who was supposed to be one of the nicest people in the world? It seemed like Dharma might be right.

He showered and went to lunch. Penny was alone at the table, eating a sandwich when he got there. He got Mark to make him one and thanked him, then ate it a little sullenly, along with the salad provided, sitting on the far side of the table, looking at his food. He felt tired for some reason suddenly, drained and... sad. He knew that it wouldn't be fair to blame Penny for her decision, but it had hurt his feelings anyway. Girls, he knew, generally claimed to care about other people's feelings, but they really only cared about their own.

Brian stopped himself and shook his head slightly. That had been his experience, but it didn't make it true for all of them. He couldn't read minds. Maybe his own stored up pain and loneliness was showing here, and he should try not to label everyone, lumping them into huge groups? Not that any of that mattered. Life, no matter how long, was too short to waste on people that didn't want him around. That went for Penny just as much as Lady Glory.

He cleaned up his plate and left it in the drain board by the sink. Full modern kitchen with a cook, but no dishwasher. Brian didn't understand it, but then again, maybe the other floors had them, given as perks that this misfit squad didn't rate yet? The furniture on level one had certainly been a lot nicer than what they got down here. He shook himself. Again, that didn't matter. No time to worry about stuff or things.

Not really liking it as a plan, he decided to see if he could find Lady Glory and work things out, if she even wanted to. Brian sighed, it wasn't fair to anyone, but seeing Penny had soured his mood. He tried to shake it off and make himself walk to the elevator. Feet dragging a little, he had to roll his eyes. He couldn't afford to get all depressed because a girl didn't think he was boyfriend material. She was right after all.

Walking corpses didn't rate.

Unless you were a vampire, girls seemed to like the walking dead then, according to the books at least. Maybe he should invest in some of those fake fangs? The real looking kind? Brian smiled a little, knowing that looking even more ridiculous wouldn't really help him there.

On level one a flurry of activity took place, people working away steadily, fixing the walls and spots on the floor that had been damaged the night before. The dust and debris was already gone. New furniture already sat wrapped in cardboard and plastic, ready to replace what had been trashed. Fast work. He'd been here over a month and still didn't have a TV or computer. Not even access to one. Maybe those were special rewards he just hadn't earned yet? Kind of like frequent flier miles, only for duties here?

Not knowing where to even look, Brian walked to the office he knew that Robert - the team leader - used. At least he'd come from there the day before, so he peeked in. The man sat at a desk, talking on the phone when he got to the door, looking down at some papers on his desk at the same time. He seemed all right. A few bruises on his face, but nothing major. After all, who didn't have at least a little damage.

"Right, at three in the press room. We'll be there. I don't know, do you want me to get with Christian on it? He may have a problem with some of the team given everything..." Glancing up, the man looked shocked and half-stood.

"Wait, he's here. In my office. Let me see what's up first and I'll get back with you? Great, yes, at three, regardless." Hanging up, the man stared at Brian, looking baffled.

Brian decided to go first, the man not talking for some reason. "Um, is Lady Glory around?"

Robert leaned forward and asked what this might be in regards to, so Brian shrugged and explained that he'd come to see if they could work out the communications difficulty between them.

Shrugging again, trying not to wince as his back hurt, he tried to sound fair. "Several times now she's, perhaps attacked is too harsh a term, but hit me with her power, instead of addressing the real issue at hand. Everyone keeps telling me how wonderful she is, so maybe it's my fault, but regardless we need to get together and stop working at cross purposes before someone gets hurt." Damn. He'd tried to be smooth, but it came out angry and sullen, the last bit about someone getting hurt seemed like a threat, rather than a proposal to protect others. Brilliant.

"By someone getting hurt, I meant me, or whoever I'm trying to protect by the way..." He sounded lame when the words came out, like he didn't really mean them. Sarcastic and flat.

This suddenly seemed like a mistake to him. Brian got up to leave just as the blue glow filled the room, her posture tense, like she wanted to lash out at him. He had kind of spoken harshly to her, but it seemed a little out of step with reality. He tried to smile at her, everything aching now, making it hard to keep his humor up. Not a great excuse, he always hurt anymore.

"Hi?" He spoke to her, trying to sound friendly. After all, this was a peace mission of sorts.

She nodded at him, not speaking, which came across as haughty and superior to him, not very compassionate at all. He tried to let it go, hoping he just couldn't read her well, because of her glow. It wasn't like he could see her facial expressions. Mainly just glowing, with blue skin and darker blue for the eyes. Robert asked her to sit, as Brian had come to work things out, a very nice gesture on his part. It sounded pretty solid when he said it at least.

She picked the chair farthest from Brian, making it clear that she didn't want to be in the room for some reason. Like he smelled bad or something. The glowing woman barely rested on the edge of her gray fabric covered seat, ready to leap up or, just possibly, fight. The tension coming off of her grated at Brian, even as he sat five feet away.

He inhaled, breath shaking in frustration already. This was the height of human compassion? After all he'd been through, this was how he got treated? Taking a breath Brian tried for calm, peaceful and polite.

"I came to see if we couldn't work this... whatever it is, out, or at least make a plan that will keep us out of each other's way. So far things haven't gone very smoothly between us, I don't know why. Maybe we just don't mesh or something, that happens right? So, if it's something I can change or explain, then tell me what it is and I'll do my best. If not, well, can we at least not attack each other and get other people hurt in the process?"