Infected 8: Impulse: A Whole New Day (9 page)

Marching feet should have set her off as well. Alerting her instantly. She was surprised then when the sound of a bell came, and she turned toward it, and pointed.

"Someone's here. They didn't come by car. We might want to check on things." No one had spoken yet, but there was movement.

Finally, as she moved in that direction, Doug spoke, his voice sounding professional and like he was pretty comfortable in the position he held now. Like he really had done it all before.

"Hello! How are you folks doing today?"

"Very well, thank you. And yourself?"

She wasn't running toward that location, and didn't recognize the woman answering. Not exactly. She'd heard her before, she thought, but where didn't come to mind right away. Mary stopped her at the door, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"This is my place, I'll go see to our custom. I'm certain that Douglas will have it fairly in hand."

The lady spoke again, her tone pleasant. Like she was really just there to shop.

"I was hoping that you'd have a cold case. Which I see you do! Ah, there we go, chilled water. It was a long trip, getting here. I haven't been by this way in a long time."

They both walked into the store, moving around the donut display counter in the back, after clearing the kitchen. There was a little store in the front, since people this far out were normally traveling, but it was the kind of thing that only carried one or two of a lot of things, and then jacked the prices up, because there was nothing else available for a long time.

Mary walked firmly, like the proud owner of a store, and Bridget followed along behind her, feeling... Funny. Odd, and like something was very off suddenly. Not bad, perhaps, but not right. There was a tension to the air that wasn't coming from her or the other people. It was...

She didn't have a word for it.

She was preoccupied with that idea however, when Mary stopped dead in her tracks. She managed to do it too and not walk into the taller woman, but still nearly rushed the woman and the rather Japanese looking man that was beside her. He looked a bit young to be with the other woman, but she had a nice face, with very high cheekbones and evenly tanned skin. She was about fifty, or possibly sixty, at a glance. The man looked like a well preserved forty or so.

Really, she looked like she could have been Charity's grandmother. Which was, no doubt, possible. They were in the right area and really, Braid was
known
for pulling shit like that.

Without even pausing to be totally certain who she was facing, Bridget sped up. No one even got a word out before she hit the man. That was important she thought. She had to do it and make it stick. He was Tesseract after all. The world's only known class nine.

The world slowed down around her and turned a brilliant purple, in a hundred shades. All of them made things glow a bit, as her fist hit home along the side of the man's jaw. He wore a suit, and it hung well on him, but it wasn't tailored. Her dad only wore the best, and so did her buddy Jason, from Team One, so she could tell the difference. This man, whoever he was, or had been, didn't seem to care about that.

Her tiny fist was moving at hundreds of miles per hour when it crashed into his face. There was a crunching sound, and about a third of a moan, as he tried to do something to her. What that was, she didn't know, except that when she struck out again, kicking him between the legs hard enough to break his pelvis in several places, she felt it too. In fact, everyone in the room seemed to. About half of them gasped and started to go down, except for Doug, who seemed to be forcing himself to keep his feet. Even after being nailed in the balls like that. Hopefully not full force. She didn't think it could have been from what she felt herself.

The glow cut out after that, as they all fell down, as if dropped. That didn't matter. If she had to kill all of them to stop Tesseract and Braid, then it was a good price for it.

Tesseract had once faced one of the most powerful super teams in the world, some forty-plus people strong, all high powered Infected, and killed them all, inside
fourteen seconds
. She couldn't give him any kind of leverage. Doing that would probably have them all dead, she knew.

If she could ensure that it would take out Devorah Timberland too, she'd have let that happen.

A hand struck her, from behind, but it was too soft to do much, not even distract her. Timberland was trying to fight her, to save her friend, and her own life. That was a good plan, really. She was dead otherwise. Impulse didn't stop, just pummeling the man, until he didn't seem to be breathing anymore.

Just as she was about to make it really pay off, and take out his throat, another glow entered the space, as the walls warped and something strange happened.

Looking elongated and so purple he was nearly black, his body and face left without feature or identifying mark, Tesseract walked into the room. One that, she was pretty certain, he was already in. Nearly dead, on the floor.

She moved to finish the action anyway, but found that she couldn't. A long, almost taloned looking finger was held up, the black creature in front of the case that held frozen ice cream treats.

"Aaaahhhh. Not this time, sweetling. Braid had warned me back then, but I foolishly thought that I was your match, and came unprepared. I shall not make that error again, my love." Then, without explaining what the hell he meant by
that
, he waved a hand at the version of himself on the floor. The body seemed to grow both smaller and farther away, without ever really moving. Then as if holding them all in place, physically, he bowed toward Devorah, who smiled at him.

"Very good. I was uncertain of the outcome here. Now, shall we discuss what I came for? Other than the water, I mean. We don't have a lot of time. Brian Yi will be here soon. Perhaps not, but that has been the pattern when I've tried to speak to any of his friends or family over the last months." Her voice was distorted, seeming like she, or all of them, were under water. "Mary, I have information for you, that I think you might be willing to trade for handsomely. Would you hold to a bargain, if what I tell you is of value to you?"

There was no answer from Mary, at first. Bridget figured it would be due to her being held in place too, but a sudden flare of blue light cut through the room, allowing Bridget, and she had to figure the others, to move freely.

It took her brain a bit to work out what had just taken place. Tesseract may have been the world's only officially known class nine, but Mary Wyrdcraft, hippie donut shop, and coffee place, owner, had just handed him his space and time warping
ass
. It showed too, since the man turned back into the same man that had just been removed from the floor, and staggered, like he'd been hit with a fist. Not her fist, since he was still standing, but a pretty tough one.

Then he smacked into the floor, as Doug pointed at him. It was good to see that everyone was back on their feet. Well, not Braid, but the others had all managed it, which meant that whatever connection Tesseract had been causing hadn't really been all that powerful.

Gravity. It was probably pretty dense over in that part of the store, at the moment, Bridget guessed. The cold case behind him exploded with a pop, as the glass shattered under its own weight. That had to be intense, to make that happen. Glass was both light and strong.

Mary took a few steps forward, her face holding a grim smile.

"Perhaps, Devorah. What do you have to share, and what do you want for it, in return? The Keys to the secret wonders, no doubt?" There was a raised eyebrow and foolishly crossed arms to go with the phrase, whatever it meant.

Bridget wouldn't have taken that pose in a fight, not even with someone as slow as Braid was. It was too closed and tied up to retaliate when she struck. No, she stood with open hands, raised and balanced in front of her, ready to strike or grapple without notice. The witch in front of her didn't even glance in her direction, probably knowing when the attack was going to come and that it wasn't yet.

The other woman looked at her friend, Tess, who seemed to be having trouble getting a full breath of air for some reason, and then back at the shopkeeper.

"If you will leave Brian Yi, for one year, only holding yourself away, not breaking his heart, or acting in secret, I will tell you of the Wester plot to retake your Elcampayn wards, and how to thwart it. If you ignore my advice, they will be taken within the month, and not treated well or kindly in the land we come from, as you may well imagine. What their fate will be is even worse than you fear. It would lead to the end of both our kinds, if it takes place. None there can stop it. Only you, and your friends here, can."

Bridget didn't know what Mary was going to say, but she took a deep breath, and then stepped toward Braid. Not fast, but the woman was smart and well informed, so she moved back several steps, staying out of instant reach. Like a few extra inches would stop a rush at nearly two hundred miles an hour? It was still the smart thing to do, so Bridget didn't scold her for it. Telling your opponents how to fight was a waste of time anyway.

"How about this, instead. You
give
us the information, help us get around this Wester thing, and don't ask any payment at all. If you're a good person, then using that information to help your plotting here is low. You'd be honor bound to try and help your friends and family back home anyway, even if you don't live there anymore, right? So, do it or not, and don't try to make a deal using other people's lives as leverage.
Innocent
lives."

She waited for the woman to come back with either a few choice curse words, or perhaps a counter offer, but she just winced. Then, looking at the far wall, she seemed... Embarrassed.

It was visible to everyone, but didn't seem fake.

"I hate this line of things. I end up looking so... Petty. Fine then, Impulse. I will deal with
you
. In exchange for my aid, you must listen to one fact about yourself. It will be true, and not impact the coming conflict at all, if you don't allow it to. It may even be of aid to you. Is that sufficient? You will protect all your people here from harm, and at no cost,
if
you choose to allow it to take place that way."

Bridget wanted to tell her to go fuck herself and nearly
did
, but managed to fight that long enough to give a choppy assent, nodding her head enough to be seen.

The other woman smiled, but clearly didn't mean it. The time for that had passed, it looked like. Now they were going to be into the thick of things.

Which would be entertaining, no doubt.

Chapter three

There was a moment, just about six seconds, when Bridget really almost killed the woman. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that Braid might just be telling the truth about what would happen to Ed and Deidre. Really, Bridgie needed more time to work it all out. Some space to consider everything. A few months to study the situation, get to know the players, and maybe work up a flow chart. A few diagrams so that she wouldn't get lost too easily.

Would letting those two die be worth it, for instance? If she let Devorah go, still alive, then there was a chance that they could fail, and the whole world might be thrown into war. One where millions, maybe even nearly a billion, innocent people would die. Was the value of two kids that she'd met ten times or so worth all those lives?

That answer had to be no. The issue however was bigger than that still. Braid wouldn't have come that day if she didn't know exactly what would happen. Even her making an offer to Mary like she had was meant to set up her greater plan. Letting her partner, Tesseract, take a nearly lethal beating was part of that too. Bridgie was willing to bet that he hadn't really known about what was coming as far as that went. If he had, things might have been different. Like him refusing to come. That meant...

She didn't know.

The smart people at the base had never managed to outguess what Braid had planned either. She was just too good at that kind of thing. So it meant that something
else
had to be done. The problem there was that the woman in front of her would already have seen it coming and made plans for it. Absolutely
anything
that Bridget did at the moment would be exactly what Devorah Timberland had in mind.

The safest bet was to kill her. Trying and failing could be a disaster for them all, however. At least if she moved before getting the data they wanted.

So she shrugged and looked at the woman, who really did wear her hair long. A single braid moved down her back, and her clothing was casual, matching what the rest of them had on, more or less. A nice pullover shirt, in a salmon color, and blue jeans. Those looked new, however. Which meant that she was playing a part for them? Doing something to control their mood, or cause them to jump left, instead of right? After all, salmon was a calming color. The psych people had tried to have her room painted that shade when she was little, to keep her calm. She'd responded to that brilliant plan by stealing a paint sprayer and redoing it in a nice sunny yellow. Poorly, of course. She'd only been six at the time, so how was she supposed to know that you were supposed to remove things first, or at least cover the carpet.

It was annoying, she decided. So much so that she had to force her own smile, and fight for control, still wanting, nearly desperately, to end this all with a few deaths.

Finally she spoke. Her words were a bit tight, but didn't promise the violence she felt like delivering.

"This is a part of one of your traps. A set up to make us do what you want. So, what's the trick? You tell me some secret truth about something that will mind fuck me, then let us know that the Westers are sending in one of Mary's relatives and that the kids have to flee this world, which will mean Mary taking them all away. Elizabeth will want to go with them, which will leave Proxy without a healer, and that means he might die before you do, letting you win?" She grinned, wondering where that line of BS had come from, but figured it would be her grandpa's powers at work. That, or she was getting pretty good at making crap up. It really was a thing that she'd done pretty well before, so it could be down to that. "The problem there is that you
can't
know it will work that way. You can see it making the others leave, but Brian... You don't have a handle on him. Not even things that happen too close to him, or you'd know what to do for certain, and would have already won."