Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day (15 page)

Then, after explaining it all for a while, her father leaned across the blond colored wood of the table top, and looked curiously at her.

"What did she tell you, then? About yourself I mean? I can't think of anything that involves your mother or I. I mean, medical has assured me that we're both your biological parents, for instance. I checked, after that thing with Brian and I." Where the other man was Prime's father, and how much that had really thrown him to find out, went unsaid.

She understood it however. She'd been taken by surprise there, too.

Everyone involved
had
been, except for Mary and Rachel. Those two had known the whole time. Mary at least hadn't known her before about half a year back, so couldn't have mentioned to her that she
might
not want to fall in love with a certain government agent. Rachel had known however. Yeah, Bridget got that it would have been hard to explain, given the time travel, and all that junk, but she could have done something. Couldn't she?

Shaking her head so she wouldn't be too caught up in her thoughts, she just blurted out the answer.

"Oh. That I'm actually a class eight. I don't see how that can be, unless I get awesome time travel, or space bendy powers, on top of what I have now. That or predictive abilities, like Braid has? She kind of suggested that one, really, but that could be a ruse. Or... Maybe a lot better super speed? I don't think I'm getting a lot quicker though. I top out at about two hundred and sixty in a sprint now. So that could just be misinformation. Class
seven,
I could buy. Eight seems a bit farfetched." She shrugged, making her narrow shoulders nearly touch her ears, which was an old habit of hers. She'd noticed that she could do it one day when she was about nine, and had just taken to doing it when she wanted to show that she didn't know anything.

The problem there was that what worked for her back then made her into kind of a joke now. Even if she wanted to be taken seriously, and was talking about things that might impact the whole world someday. That meant paying attention and trying to break a habit, which would be pretty hard for her. For instance, without even thinking about it, she did it again, before she managed to take a few breaths and force herself not to again.

The room had gone silent, and everyone looked away, except Daryl, who shrugged back. His broad shoulders barely moved however.

"That's about right. Your energy blasts are coming online and you can fly now, if poorly. Part of that will be down to learning how to control them. Physically, I doubt that even getting stronger or faster would be enough to push you into class eight. So, she's either trying to get us to second guess you, or you have something we haven't seen, yet. That would probably be related to your current powers, but until something happens, we won't know, one way or the other."

She could see that, and screwed up her face a bit. Her mother was sitting directly next to her, and was trying to squeeze her arm, she thought. She could feel it, but it didn't hurt, so only by glancing down could she see that her mom's fingers were turning all white and red, like regular people's did when they were using a lot of force.

Ignoring that, she shrugged again, and sat up straight. This time she just let her shoulders move a little bit, like everyone else did.

"I can't see that it's a huge issue. My guess? She just needed something to say and went with that, since very little would really get me to do anything in particular. Not that would help her. So that's just what she had ready to go. That, or she wants me to get a big head and think that what I leave in the bathroom doesn't stink. That's stupid though. I mean, yes, I'm
awesome
, but so is almost everyone else I know." Except for her enemies, but that was just her being mean and surly, not due to them sucking in all they did. There was no sane way not to be a little impressed with Tesseract, for instance. Braid... She was about as dangerous as a person could get, but did her job of being a crazy loon nearly perfectly. Bridget would have to give props there, she decided. Right
after
she killed them.

Lancaster lifted his chin and looked away, grabbing his knee and leaning back. It was a strange move, meant to help him stretch and stay ready, not just be comfortable. That was
probably
due to the fact that her mom was glowing.

Not just her hands either. All over. It was a white nimbus of power, which she normally only manifested when she was about to blast someone. It was about as strong in effect as a good gun, normally. From the look of things she was getting ready to take out a good sized portion of the room they were in, however. That was impressive too, Bridget decided, since she hadn't know her mother was even capable of anything like that.

She spoke though, which explained it all, very nicely, Bridget thought.

"That...
Woman
... is trying to play with your mind? I will not allow that!" Then she growled, which was a lot more feral and angry than seemed fitting.

Bridget, who wasn't in any personal danger, decided to take that in stride.

Leaning forward, she locked eyes with Kevin again.

"
That
isn't a problem. I can control for that, I think. If she wasn't trying to do that, then she'd be foolish. That kind of thing is what she'll believe is my weakest area. That's wrong of course, my greatest weakness is... Cake." She tried to tell the story with her eyes and expression, but was a probably just making goofy faces at him. So she included Lancaster. Her parents
wouldn't
listen to her, it was possible that they couldn't, and Kevin wasn't likely to either.

The former IPB Agent however was different that way. He always listened. Normally before he told her that she was being a brat, or not thinking straight, but he paid attention first, and when she'd been right, he'd made sure it counted. The trick here was that she
couldn't
tell them all what she thought she'd figured out about Braid.

That would give it all away.

"Do you understand? She'd be,
missing
things, if she did that. It's not a good thing to do. Missing ideas and data, like that." Then, as hard as she could, she bit her own tongue. It didn't hurt, but it prevented talking, even as she made some noise in her throat. Her parents understood that one, and so did the others. It was her old trick for making certain she didn't say something that shouldn't be muttered out loud.

It was Lancaster who nodded, and then looked at the Director.

"Understood. We need to get you and Tibs back into place. If you can keep the IPB going, that would be good. Just because a faction in the government was going to try and take us down, that doesn't mean that our job is done. If an event takes place, someone is going to have to handle it. Right now you and Gravity are all that's left. You'll need to build things back up, if you can. Get new people in. Replace all the dead ones."

She nodded, "I know. Don't worry. We'll change the name though. I'm thinking we can call ourselves the Super-Duper Duo. That, or the Mongooses. That's a good team name. The IPB is just
confusing
. I mean, Infected Protection Bureau? Are we supposed to protect the Infected, or the norms? I think half the problems we've had come down to people not knowing which side we were supposed to be on. Now, the
Mongooses
, well, everyone would know we were anti-snake, right off the bat." She was deflecting, since her mother was still glowing a bit, but Kevin wrinkled his nose at her.

It was a good and commanding nose, if that was a thing. Centered on a face that people would instantly trust, and that a lot had, over the years. He was their main public speaker. That was probably going to be Doug now. He was a good guy, but too new for that kind of thing. They'd need someone else and she, while darling in the right outfit, wasn't going to be able to do the job believably either.

Kevin cleared his throat.

"You aren't totally wrong. Not about changing the name, since you need the continuity right now, but that people just didn't really understand what we were there for. You should clarify that, if you can? I never worked out how, but you might have a trick or two that I couldn't envision. Now, I think that Daryl here is correct. We need to get you and Mr. Tibs back into place. The others as well. You mentioned a Charity?"

That started a completely different conversation, which it occurred to her he probably already had rehearsed. He knew who Charity was, because Lancaster would have told him, so his words were meant to influence her, not be an indication that he was taken by surprise.

"As a class three, you're required by law to bring her into the IPB, as an Operative. That, or get a Death Warrant for her, if she refuses to comply. We don't normally speak about that kind of thing, but the fact is, if you and Mr. Tibs are going to be forced to take over, you have to understand the realities." There was no real suggestion that she
do
that, however. Get a Death Warrant for a schoolgirl. She could tell, by the subtle head shaking he was doing. If by subtle they were including things that could make most people sea-sick. It was the kind of thing she did, a lot of the time, which, after a moment, she realized was down to the fact that the Director knew that about her and was
trying
to communicate like she normally did, in order to influence her.

It was a good plan. One she decided to copy, if at all possible.

Bridget looked away and examined the wooden wall, not wanting to seem too easily led, at the moment. The whole place was big, but seemed like a log cabin almost. The work was new too, so it had been stylistically chosen, which was a bit strange. Why go rustic like that, if they could have had anything they wanted? It looked nice however, and different than where they had been. That could have been the reason why, she guessed. Less like a hotel, and more like a home.

Bridget grinned, not really being able to help it. That was one of the big downsides of being her. That lack of control over her emotions that everyone else seemed to find so much easier. It put her at a disadvantage in social situations, almost daily.

"She's
functionally
a class two, for now at least. Her power isn't great for direct conflict, and I don't have the resources to teach her how to integrate that kind of thing into a fight, for the time being. If we had someone like Hobbs or Carl left, that would be different, but... No. She'd just be a liability in the field. Plus, we don't really know if people are out to kill us. I mean, for
real
, real, not just our current game of hide and ghost seek. After the next few days we need to get her away from us as much as possible so that no one will think she makes a good target. She's too weak and small
not
to make a handy hostage." Which wouldn't work against her, but might
just
have Brian showing up to save her, making pretty good bait. That would give them away too easily. As it was, Brian needed to get some different clothing to wear, and a mask for his face, so that people wouldn't instantly know that he was still kicking. Not that it would take too long to figure that part out.

After all,
Braid
would know they weren't dead, sooner or later. In fact, given everything, that had probably happened a few months back. Or, if they'd done everything just right, at least a day ago. Her head was trying to buzz with the ideas she'd come up with. Ways to hide from Braid that no one had spoken of out loud.

Standing she leaned over and hugged her mother with one arm, then went to the other side of the table and did the same with her father, who stood. Lancaster didn't, but put a hand out toward her, which she took briefly, giving a single squeeze, not a shake. Kevin got nothing, being too far away.

"I need some people. Or maybe not. Is Cooper around? And Christian Pours?" She said it that way, like an Agent would have, trying to make it understood that she wasn't
just
planning to feel the poor invisible girl up. Again. She did that to her, on occasion. It was kind of fun, given that Penny was completely invisible most of the time, or used to be. That was the real reason she did it, because it felt cool, not seeing or smelling her, but knowing she was there.

Adding Chris into the mix would get at least her mother to understand she was up to something serious. After all, they weren't friendly. The telepath had ruined too many of her plans over the years for them to be on great terms. She was holding a bit of a grudge, and knew that a lot of it was silly of her. Mind Reader was one of the old team leaders, and sort of
had
to snitch on her if she thought Bridget was going to try something dangerous. That
used
to be the case at any rate. Now, with the IPB sort of missing in action, she wasn't really the leader of anything, and might just go along with this plan. Unless it was stupid. Then, no doubt, there would be scowling and recriminations from that direction.

Either way, she wasn't going to know if she didn't try.

"Becky too. I want to plan a slumber party for next week." The sad part there, was that everyone in the room suddenly relaxed when she said that part, as if her real reason was planning a camp out. Because she'd invite
Pours
to that sort of thing? The woman could just
barely
tolerate being around other people, most of the time.

Her mother patted her arm, like she was a child and her dad smiled. It was softer than what she was used to, and seemed pleased. Like he was proud of his child, instead of like he thought there might be a hidden camera over in the corner.

Lancaster stared directly into her eyes again, since
he
was able to figure things out without thinking of her as a little kid. For some reason. It wasn't like she hadn't known him for most of her life. Since she was a tiny ball of energy, he'd always been around. There was a slow, catlike, blink then. Normally he used that when he was trying to stay calm, and a fight was coming. She managed to do it back, since there
was
, most likely. One that they couldn't just chat about openly, yet.