The End Again, page 4
The President spoke again, his voice clear, since she was, obviously on speaker as well.
“I’m here with Boris Laranov, the Ambassador from Russia, several other people as well.” That, if there ever had been one, was a warning to her.
She cheated and read the man’s mind, wondering what she was being warned about. Hoping that it was an invitation to check things out, even as she did it. That was done using Cindy’s power to read people like literal books. It meant words popped up in front of her as she focused, bringing the President in front of her. The man was, at the moment, freaking out, just a bit. Clearly assuming that Sara was planning to be demanding, pushy or threatening. As if she’d ever been any of those things with him.
She hadn’t, but got that the timing was very off for her to have suddenly called him up. At the same time, him having the world’s only class ten on tap, or even on friendly terms, wouldn’t hurt his position on the world stage at all. That was in the text in front of her. He just doubted that Sara was actually going to back him up that much.
Which, again, was odd. He’d been a bit grumpy with her, occasionally, but when he was, it hadn’t really been him being in the wrong or anything.
She spoke in fluent Russian then.
“Oh, hello, Mr. Ambassador. I’m Sara Chambers. I can call back, later? I don’t want to disturb your talks. It’s just that we’re planning out some holiday things here, in another reality and want to make certain that the President knows about it.” She repeated herself, word for word, in English as well, since clearly not everyone in the other room spoke Russian.
The President felt a bit shocked, at her use of another language like that, but picked up smoothly enough.
“Holidays?”
“Thanksgiving and Christmas.” She gave him a brief rundown of the tentative plans so far, and the man made a considering sound back.
“Just make certain you have the actual days themselves marked off to come here? At least for a few hours. We need to do some photo-ops and all that.”
She nodded, since it wasn’t a horrible idea for her image. A lot of people had felt better, on hearing that the class ten worked for the President, directly. Even if it wasn’t actually true.
“I’ll make time for that. Oh, while I have you, do you have anything you need done? I’m not leaving here for an hour, so I could pop over and wash your car or whatever you need?”
It would be annoying for the staff there, but she honestly could pull it off, if that would help the man look good. Instead of saying yes to that, there was a considering sound.
“Not at the moment, but we might need to take some people, for diplomatic purposes, to other realities... Can you arrange that for us? We can pay for it, of course, and it might be best if you didn’t do the work yourself, even though you can, of course.”
The man actually went very flat, as if he was afraid she was going to feel insulted by the obvious meaning of his words. Some people were freaked out about her still. The words she was reading told her his real plan, however, which was for her to ask Lydia to do it, since the cute Korean girl was much less threatening than she was. Director Turner could have done it as well, as could the President, but this way he could show off that the class ten actually did things for him.
Not that simply being able to arrange for that kind of travel wasn’t a sign of a certain level of power and connection in and of itself.
“I can do that. Let me know when they need to travel and where? Now, I promised to only take a minute, so will get off the line.” She shifted back to Russian. “Nice to meet you, Ambassador. I hope we can talk again, soon?”
The man simply spoke to her, directly then.
“Ah? That would be wonderful, Miss. I just put in with your President here for that?”
She laughed, since the man wasn’t her secretary.
“No, that would be annoying for him, let me give you my number? This will reach me directly.”
She gave that out, noticing that almost everyone in the room was writing it down. None of them intended to actually use it, but even the guards that were with the Ambassador figured that having it could be useful, in the future.
Then she spoke to the President again for some seconds and got off the line, sighing.
Fox and Parker were both staring at her, their mouths slightly open, as if dumbfounded.
Parker finally shook her head.
“Okay, your life is actually as weird as you keep telling us. I should have never doubted you. What are we doing now?” She honestly seemed worried about that part.
Which was about correct, if she didn’t know how boring Sara actually was. Which Parker kind of did. They were close, after all.
“I need to check in with some people. The head of the FBI, Director Gareg, Connie Wu and Dirk Winson. That should be it for now.”
Not of course, that it wasn’t more than enough. She decided to do the easy and pleasant one first, the FBI Director. He actually picked up for her, was polite and happy enough to hear from her that day. They spoke for three minutes with her sitting in the conference room, where Brian was off to the side, using it as his unofficial office space.
He was working on a laptop, putting together a proposal for an Infected outreach program. A new one. Fox noticed who was there, and clearly got the idea, but Parker just as noticeably didn’t. She did find Brian passably attractive though, even if he was too old for her.
Connie Wu was surprised to hear from her, but also polite, and got her number, since she understood the value of networking. When she called Dirk though, the man screamed into the phone, before she could even give her name.
“Damn it, get it done! We’re on a deadline here and I don’t have time for this.”
He didn't slam the phone down or click off, so she nodded.
“Hey Dirk. Is everything all right?”
The man half growled at her then.
“No, it really isn’t. I’m going on the air in two hours, with a story about a massive criminal banking scandal, with millions of dollars being stolen from hard working people and my main whistleblower just pulled out, due to threats. Unless you can find me someone to replace them, get the fuck off my line!”
She made a face, paused, then nodded.
“Give me a minute?”
The man didn’t seemed thrilled about the idea of waiting, and figured that she was actually going to pitch a story idea to him, but she just set up the correct powers, found the one person in the world who could and would do what was needed, at least with the correct prodding, and then spoke the numbers and name out to him.
“Write that down. It’s your replacement whistleblower. Also... tell him that you know what’s buried under the porch of his grandmother’s house, in Maine. That will get him in with you. It’s blackmail of course, so don’t used it if you don’t have to. That...” She nearly didn’t tell him about it, then realized it might be needed. “It’s his illegitimate sister’s body. His mother killed and buried her there to hide the pregnancy, when she was seventeen. The mother is still alive. It’s their dark family secret.”
The man gasped.
“And there’s no statute of limitation on murder. That really won’t hold for infanticide, of course, but he might not know that, if this pans out. Brutal, using that kind of thing against someone. I like it, but also hate the idea. Who is this?”
She shrugged.
“Your seventh best pal in the whole world, Sara Chambers? Just calling to check in with you. To make sure the other reporters aren’t picking on you and that you’re eating well? You should get to that now, of course. Banks stealing millions of dollars from good people can’t be allowed. Talk later?”
The man from the Hate Network went silent for ten seconds.
“Sure? Good to hear from you, Sara. Great, actually, as weird as that sounds. We’ll talk soon!”
Then they both hung up. A sense of relief crawling over her as she did it.
Chapter three
When Christian Pours walked into the room, Brian sat up and nodded.
“I’m supposed to get you all over to the Noram world, then to Od Cerra for the latest show? I think I get a few hours without having to do anything right now, so it’s a good time for me. Is everyone here? I don’t see Peter or Fiona.” Brian was lean, and tended to seem a bit harsh, as far as his expressions went.
That didn't mean he hadn’t noticed who the new people were, or that he didn’t care about what was going on with them. Fox grimaced a bit, but looked at the Chinese American man and nodded a few times, getting Brian Yi to lock eyes with him, understanding where the information was about to come from.
Fox didn’t sound pleased, but not upset, either.
“Pete had to get himself over to Noram, since there was a school riot and he’s the school police over there for the entire Kingdom. That’s really weird, but kind of important. They have some strange rules that way. Fiona... Her parents are starting to melt down over her learning magic. It isn’t just that, of course. This whole thing, going to other realities, her getting an upgrade in powers, even her knowing Sara, all of it is probably adding up for them. She’s sort of grounded from traveling over there right now.” He frowned, glanced at the door to the room, then turned back to Brian, who was dressed in brown and tan fatigues that day. Ones that said both Yi and IPB on them.
It was the daily work uniform there, but most of the people in the room didn’t have that on.
Not even Christian, who worked there as a team leader.
Fox went on, explaining to the people who hadn’t been there earlier.
“We’re holding back that way for now. The thought is that, if we push them, Fiona’s parents are going to actually freak out about everything. Like Sara said earlier, if it comes to it, she can wait until she’s eighteen and pick everything back up.”
Brian Yi, known to most of the world as one of the most feared killers to have ever lived, who had to fight to the death almost every single day, grimaced and ducked his head over the news.
“Darn. That’s rough. Well, we can only try to be there for her, inside what’s allowed. We can’t go against her parents’ wishes like that. I mean, we could, but it would be short sighted. Assuming that a couple of regular parents have no power over us, just because they’re normal people would be a mistake. A few well-placed news stories could really screw with all of us.” He glanced around, and nodded. “Especially Parker.”
The girl, formerly pocked marked and now smooth skinned, thin and cute, without it being more than would have been there normally for her with the use of a healing amulet, nodded sharply.
“I get the joke, but that isn’t wrong, is it? I mean for all of us. If the press claimed that I’m an evil witch, corrupted by aliens, I couldn’t actually defend myself, could I? Plus, people could claim that Brian is secretly gay, which would do the same thing, really. How do you prove you aren’t?”
That got a smirk from the hard looking man and a nod.
“No doubt. Worse, I couldn’t even say it wasn’t true, because I won’t let anyone use that kind of thing as a slur or way to control others.”
Thinking about it for a moment, Sara nodded. That kind of thing, all of it, had actually happened before to people at the base, really. In slightly different ways, but close enough to count.
“We should go... Are Mark and Jimson coming with us?”
That was expected and normal, but asking was polite. Especially since Christian, the super telepath, was walking around with her power dampening amulet on that day. Sara could tell, because her weaker version of the woman’s powers weren’t being pushed up against an invisible wall of force, like it would be if the woman was being her regular self. That honestly felt kind of like a hot wind blowing on her head from all directions when it took place. It was even worse if Sara was running a full copy of her ability, too.
In the moment, there was more psychic pressure coming from Parker than there was from Chris.
Which was a good thing, meaning that her school friend was finally trying to read the room and the woman from the base was resting before her adventure. It also meant that, while the woman was up on who was going with them, the words had to be spoken out loud for her for the moment. Like a normal person.
“Both will be here in a moment. I told them to meet us at four, out front?” She sounded cultured, without making a large production of it. Around her neck, showing, was the amulet that Sara had made for her, as well as a string of pearls with a silver medallion which, of course, didn’t have any magic attached to it at all. She also had on a soft looking fuzzy sweater and a skirt that covered her knees, with white stockings.
It worked for the woman, Sara had to admit. Better than jeans and a t-shirt would have. Which reminded her to change. She had the new clothing amulet, on her even, but needed to dump her clothing off before they left. Meaning she had about fifteen minutes to see to that.
“I need to run to my room. Be right back.”
It was a little strange, but both Fox and Parker moved with her when she headed for the door. She walked with good speed, needing to hurry, since her room was across the common area, but the others kept up pretty well. Given they were jogging a bit, at about twenty miles per hour, that was kind of impressive, given neither of the others was even Infected. Enhanced, however, which counted.
Before they got inside the apartments, which was what the vertical barracks were called, even if they were more like dorm rooms, Fox spoke, his voice low.
“So... We’re going to figure out how to help Fiona with her parents? You could... Whammy them, right? Make them think it’s their idea for her to learn magic?”
Parker, on her other side, glanced over and then nodded.
“Everyone thinks that’s the plan. I picked that up from them in the conference room, just now. How are we doing that? Mind tricking them like that?”
For a moment, Sara simply didn't say anything. The other class tens, the gods, only had three rules. The first was to never let anyone know you were that powerful. Sara had already botched that one. With a bit of help from some others, of course. She, from the sound of it, should have been killed for that, but the others didn’t care enough to bother, it seemed.
The next rule was that you didn’t strip away free will. She could do it, and only be scolded for it, not killed, but the idea behind that rule was a good one. Getting your own way by not allowing others to live their own lives on a level they couldn’t even resist was, fundamentally, wrong.
The last rule was not messing with time, which was probably linked to the second one, actually. Taking infinite chances at something, so that the free will of others didn’t matter, was as bad as brainwashing.
Finally, as they hit the door, she shrugged.
“We aren’t doing anything. We could change their minds like that. Even you two could pull it off, inside a day. Fiona and Morgan could do it as well, if they thought of it. It might even feel good, at first, since it’s a bit annoying for us all right now, but in the end, you’d be taking away free will on a very basic level from good people who are scared and only trying to protect their daughter from harm. We can’t take their minds from them like that. I won’t and I don’t think anyone should.”
Fox looked pissed for a moment, and tensed, as if they were about to have a fight over the idea.
“You’ve never taken anyone over like that?” The words were a bit telling, and he was thinking about how everyone at a specific event had magically bowed in unison, at the right time. He was about to pull that out, when Sara shrugged, and opened the door to her building.
“I have. Then someone told me that I shouldn’t do that, like I’m mentioning to you now and I thought about it. They were right and I was wrong, so I changed how I do things. You should, too. This isn’t a small thing, either, since both of you could really do that to a lot of people. Only, that level of theft, taking part of their very will from them, is wrong.”
Parker followed her into the building, with Fox coming in behind them, his face, and mind, going hard. The girl was simply coming up with ways to do what she wanted without stealing free will, pretty much agreeing with Sara, once the words were spoken aloud on the topic.
“So... We can blackmail, cajole, trick... Ask, use logic and convince? Just not take over and force people to do our bidding?”
Hitting the stairs, still moving quickly, she nodded.
“About like that. Plus, really, if we do this right, Fiona will be back to doing stuff with us by summer. It would be faster to force things along, but her parents aren’t making up new rules to be jerks. They’re honestly trying to raise their child as best they can. So, we don’t mess with them over it too much and do what Director Turner told us to. She’s the boss, after all.”
Fox twitched, his face actually making a move to the side, in an uncontrolled fashion. It showed that he was powerful, when it came to shape shifting, even if he wasn’t showing that off, most days. In fact, he’d slowly gone from about a fit six to a washboard abs having eight over the last two months. It was so subtle that almost no one had noticed it happening, even.
Losing control like that was noticeable and Parker did, blinking at it and putting together what had just happened at a mental speed that Sara had to admit was impressive. She wasn’t walking around as intelligent as either of the others, day to day, working from her normal girl baseline for that. Which wasn’t really needed for her, of course. Most of the time it was enough, but she could be more intelligent on command, inside five seconds or so, if it came up.
The boy, after a moment, nodded and sighed. Still clearly upset about the whole thing. With Sara, even, for not doing things his way. On the good side he also understood her debate points and more or less could get behind them. A thing he thought, but didn’t speak of.
