The Infected 1: Proxy (56 page)

"I'll kill them all. I'll prove I'm innocent of this, then one by one... They. Will. Die." He muttered softly. Brian could hear him, but he doubted anyone else could.

"Yeah, well, hold that for now, all right? We need to get some people here as soon as possible to help out, and we have to secure the people in the building at the same time. It's kind of like bombs, plural, went off in there. I don't see a lot of people that should be here by now..."

Waving he signaled to the director, who stayed where he was but sent Lancaster over to talk to him.

"Brian." The agent looked at him, sunglasses covering his eyes, a red welt on his face where Bridget had slapped him earlier. The sunglasses were mirror shades, the kind that looked dorky on most people, but on a man with a gun in his hand looked a little intimidating. It was the whole not being able to see the eyes thing. Freaky.

"I've got Dave and Kel from team two heading search and rescue. That has to be first, then I want, if they're able to function after this, Christian from my team and... the older black man that can tell if people are lying or not. I can't remember his name right now. Also, if you can spare some agents to come stand over here and look intimidating? I mean, when things are safe enough for the Director. I don't expect any more trouble, for now, but I'm really worried about the people inside..."

Not saying anything, Lancaster turned and ambled over to Moore who looked over at Brian and nodded, whatever that meant. Two of the black suited agents walked over, looking around efficiently for trouble and asked what the plan was.

"Would you watch Prime for me while I get Charlot and bring her over. Right now, if anyone tries anything violent, um, stand in the way and try not to shoot them? I'll be back as soon as I can. Thanks... this is a big help."

Taking a deep breath, Brian walked over to where Tobin sang softly to the press agent, his bald slightly over-sized head bobbing back and forth gently as he hunched down next to her. Charlot lay on the ground, slack jawed and drugged looking, shifting slightly now and then when the singing man altered his rhythm just slightly or changed songs completely. Right now he sang an old show tune, something upbeat from Oklahoma, which Brian recognized, but didn't know all the words to. Brian marveled a little at how good he was again. If people were a bit less prejudiced, Tobin would have been famous already, just for his voice.

Maybe even with the bigotry. He was that good.

"Tobin," Brian spoke softly, trying not to startle the man. "I'd like to move Charlot over by Scott, if that's all right with you? Then we need to help save people if they're trapped inside. I think the fighting is done, for now at least."

Tobin finished the song, which made it easier on the person being effected than if he just stopped, as Brian had learned the hard way the third time they'd spared, when he'd gotten a choke hold on Goblin and suddenly cut his air off enough to prevent singing. It felt a bit like getting an electric shock, stronger than a taser by a good bit. Charlot came out of it over about two minutes time, and promptly started trying to fight, so Brian hugged her and told her the plan, to have everything checked out by Christian and the truth guy.

"You mean Martin Joabs? If only they would have thought about that first instead of ambushing us like they did. How did they think we'd react to such... I don't even have words to describe it! Why? Who'd do this to us? I mean, we aren't perfect, but to accuse of this... Who gains from it?"

Taking her arm he walked her slowly over to where her husband sat on the ground, carefully not moving, but still muttering under his breath. This, Brian knew, would be a problem, even if the couple could be cleared. Prime really meant it when he said he planned to hunt them all down one at a time and kill them. There was almost no other way for him to save face and dignity here, not to his mind at least.

Normally Charlot was the person that talked him down when things like this happened, but right now her advice would probably be about how to best sneak up on them or get them alone to make the executions easier. They wanted to see their daughter and make certain she wasn't hurt, but Brian didn't see that as possible until they were cleared of the accusations.

"I'm not trying to be mean, but that could set everyone off again and really, I can only pull out the "You'll have to beat me to death to do it" card so many times before someone realizes that one of them could just hold me out of the way without sweating, you know?"

Prime didn't really buy that, telling Brian flat out that he doubted that anyone would even dare try it, but they both let it go on the assurance that Bridget seemed fine and that he'd go and talk to her in a few minutes, as soon as the people started coming out of the ruined building, sooner if he could. When the agents felt it was safe, meaning no one seemed to be paying attention to them anymore, Brian hurried over to the girl, who left Soar's winged embrace, the webbing having stretched around the girl in the cool air, to tackle him, taking him to the ground in her exuberance. The armor took most of the impact, meaning the girl had hit him faster than she'd probably meant to. Mark asked if he should check the building, now that the others had gotten the doors and upper stairwells clear.

Brian nodded, noting that Mark didn't need his permission. "But yeah, that sounds like the best use of your time right now. I'll be here waiting."

Mark suddenly gave a deep sigh, his image having jumped just a tiny bit to the left.

"We have injured in the gym, fourteen, the ceiling collapsed near the right side, away from the elevators. Carl and the trainers from fifteen are working that, but they could use some muscle down there. Warren, one of the cooks that lives on eleven had the bookcase in their room fall on them, but he should be fine, I got him to seven, which is untouched, however the physics of that worked. Everyone else is working their way up now."

It boggled Brian's mind a little when he realized that other than the slight jog of position, he couldn't tell how long Mark had been gone. Hours at least, maybe days. Possibly longer. Standing up he waved to Lauren, who just stood, not wanting to leave the surface, afraid that Prime would escape. She came over quickly enough and stood in front of Brian silently, Bridget refusing to even look at her, which took turning her back on the woman, because standing close she took up a large portion of the field of vision.

He explained what Mark had found and that they needed some strong people to head to fourteen. She volunteered, but realized almost instantly that with everyone coming up the stairs, they couldn't use anyone too big. "Ideally we'd get some of the little strong people to do it. Tobin's OK, Lis would be good, the woman over there," She pointed at a blond with long hair, and a face that looked like a mummies, the skin brown, dry looking and cupping the bone underneath. "Well, and Bridget, but..."

Bridget just stood and started walking toward the building, Mark following her. After about ten steps she turned and spoke, her voice low and deadly sounding.

"Fine, I'll go and fix the mess you made. But... don't talk to me again. If you don't trust me enough to believe me on something like this, we can't be friends." Then the girl walked away, not stomping, not running, not looking back. A hiss came from Lauren, a sigh, Brian understood after a few seconds, followed by a soft sob. After a minute the giant woman that looked more like a beetle than a kindergarten teacher turned and walked away herself.

Headed directly toward Prime and Charlot, clenching her fists again. Brian scrambled to get in front of her, only to see her teammate Hobbs move into place first. He smiled and held out his right hand about half way, speaking loudly enough to be heard some distance away.

"Lauren... I understand your grief and anger, but Advocate Yi has spoken for these people. He believes in their innocence enough to put his own life on the scale. I ask you to give him time to prove them innocent or show their guilt. If you attack now he'll be forced to fight you, and you know he'll do it... There's no way for you to win that battle girl. Either you kill him in your rage or he kills you to uphold his beliefs. Don't let your anger lead you to things that can't be taken back. Please."

Generous of Hobbs to not simply assume that a fight between the two of them, Lauren and Brian, would just end in a Brian colored splotch of wetness on the ground after a half second. Brian considered what he'd said and realized the strange man with his odd accent and slightly wild hair was right. Brian didn't know if he could make himself fight Lauren, a friend, but he wouldn't let her kill people that might be innocent if he could do anything about it either. Where that left him, he didn't really know.

The armored giant froze in place, regarding the red bearded man in front of her carefully, as if weighing his words against her own rage. Finally she turned and walked away, stomping a bit, which made the ground shake and shudder around her and left deep footprints in the hard soil, almost an inch deep in places, the tracks uneven and rough.

Hobbs saw Brian walking up and dropped to one knee, head bowed, palms held up toward the sky, hands spread wide, eyes closed. He said nothing for a few moments, finally speaking softly, his voice humble.

"Advocate... I know I've overstepped my role here and stand ready for your judgment upon me. The girl Lauren is of good heart and caring of soul. She... misstepped, but I offer myself in her place, if a price of blood or life is needed." Then still kneeling the man went silent, eyes still closed, waiting, apparently for Brian to do something.

Brian shrugged, then realized that Hobbs had his eyes closed.

"No problem. Thanks for your help. I don't know if we can stop this from going out of control, but any violence we can head off is a good thing in my book."

The man stood, his clothing looked heavy and rough, part hand sewn, much of it repaired that way too, other things looking like stuff the Goodwill would reject. Stained in places, but clean, or as clean as anyone else around him looked given the mess that had been made. He bowed low to Brian and then stood, a large smile on his face.

"Were we in my world, I'd invite you to join my own order. Your gift is a true one, none could doubt. With your permission I will attempt to calm things as I can with those here that I know?" His voice went soft and humble again.

Chuckling softly Brian spread his own hands and bowed to the man, not even thinking about how odd the gesture would look. Hobbs may be crazy, but he seemed gentle enough about it. They could use more crazy like that around the place today. "Permission? Heck, more than that, I beg you to do it, please do what you can. We need to work together here, I think..."

Bowing again the funny seeming man left without another word and began talking to those team two members not actively helping to remove rubble. The agents looking on had heard the whole exchange and gave him funny looks as he walked up, to update Scott and Charlot. One of the agents, the taller one standing on the right, cleared his throat.

"This thing's balanced on a thread Proxy. Emotions are running high, way too raw. I've seen this kind of thing before, right now everyone's listening to you, but we haven't even gotten the situation settled down and everyone is still right here. We... could use some reinforcements. Level comes after us all we can do is die. Same with half the people out here right now... Just a heads up, because you and that team two guy seem to be the only ones willing to do anything constructive right now to stop this cluster from going fubar."

Brian nodded and told the man he'd see what he could do. More fighters and intimidation didn't feel right to him, not in this situation. Team two almost always faced off against threatening people, they wouldn't back down because of that, especially if they got worked up as a group again. They almost needed the exact opposite, a line of kittens in the way backed by puppies maybe. He'd have to come up with something.

A sound rose up, a soft cheer, as people from inside finally started to make their way out. Karen was in the first wave, and ran over to him, limping a little. He didn't move, not wanting to leave Prime and Charlot alone for too long, even with the agents guarding them. The guys were tough, but they couldn't handle team two if they decided to move. Not that he could either, but he'd be darned if he was going to ask the agents to face them all alone.

"Brian! I'm so glad you're safe..." She jogged over, face smudged and clothing torn on her right leg, a spot of blood showing, but the bleeding looked like it had stopped on its own, so just a scratch most likely. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close for a long time, then kissed him hard, for long enough that the agents started watching them instead of the dangerous people all around. Laughing a little, Brian gently moved her back, then winked.

"Sorry, but things could go south here pretty quick and while hugging you is more fun than watching everyone, I don't think I should let my guard down that much yet. I don't know how much you know about what's going on but..."

She rushed to fill him in.

She and Penny along with a few others had found the amount of attention Scott and Charlot were suddenly giving their daughter suspicious, and Bridget was acting more than a little odd, reminding some of them of when she'd tried to hide clandestine relationships before, so they started following her, and eventually got Director Moore to liberate the video feed of Scott and Charlot's living quarters.

"I couldn't stand to watch much of it, but Brian, the feed's real... they did it. No one could have faked that, not here..."