Absolute (Discipline Book 1) Page 12

  Ben got that, but the rest were acting like it was a big deal.

  "Can we get one of them to come to us? Or... I don't know, you two have super strength, carry her? Help her walk? I'd do it, but I'm not much stronger than you are Lissa. They left me all wimpy that way, so that when it came time to toss me back into the dark room I couldn't fight very well."

  He was joking, but Glenda looked away, like she'd been caught at something. Ben noticed it, but Gene smiled then.

  "Good points. I'll get your chair. Some food too, if you can manage it?"

  That part didn't seem as welcome as it might, the woman making a face at the idea. Not the part about the chair, which was just a simple thing with wheels, like they used in hospitals. It wasn't really designed for rough outdoor work, but it would serve, apparently. At least if you had a very powerful person to push it. The thing had two big wheels and no motor on it. Probably because until a few minutes before, Lissa didn't really want to go anyplace.

  Now, from her expression, she was more than willing to follow along where ever Ben was for the moment.

  Glenda wanted to leave right then, but Micha rolled her eyes over that one.

  "We can wait five minutes for her to get dressed. Come on..." There was a slight expression of exasperation, even as she subconsciously reached out, to touch Ben again. That was going to get creepy, if she wasn't careful. No one else noticed it, but he'd spent most of his life not being touched by anyone, in particular. Getting too much of it now was going to make him feel weird.

  Gene helped Lissa change, which meant that Ben had to turn his back, since when he tried to leave the room, the poor woman started to panic. She didn't say anything, but was breathing very hard, until he stopped in the doorway.

  "I'll be right here. We can be apart, by a good bit, and it will still work." At least if it was the same for other people as it was with Micha. That might not be certain, but reassuring the woman made sense, not wanting her to have problems that weren't needed.

  About ten minutes later they were outside, heading toward the back of the compound. There was a wall in the way, which was a thing that Ben hadn't noticed on his runs on that side, since the thing was about two hundred feet away from the path he'd been on earlier. The whole thing through that area was made of dirt, and not that well cared for. If the muscular short guy had any trouble with it, he wasn't letting on in the slightest. Lissa was jostled a little, but was smiling happily enough about things. In fact, she chatted with them, as they approached a little cabin that was outside of the gate.

  It looked like the one he had, but was darker, and under a bunch of trees. There was moss growing on the roof of it as well. Outside of it was well cared for however, which a lot of elaborate landscaping having been done. There was a little pond with a waterfall that fed it and brightly colored fish inside of it. There was also a smooth stone path that led up to the place, which had been painted not too long before.

  Glenda got them to stop, about fifty feet away, and cupped her hands to her lips.

  "Hey! Clark! Get your butt out here. We have people for you."

  There was no immediate response, but about three minutes later a muscular man, who was at least six-six and maybe taller, who had the requisite gray outfit on pushed his head out, and glared at them.

  "You kids get off my lawn." The voice wasn't happy, but he was clearly trying to be funny. The man had a heavy brown goony beard.

  That was what his father had always called it. It just meant it wasn't well kept really. Big and kind of fuzzy looking. He was white, matching Ben's own color that way, and his face hardened a bit when he noticed who was there. Until he saw Lissa, which got a baffled expression.

  "Hey... I... Lissa?"

  She nodded, as if the man might not believe it was her. Ben understood why that might be.

  "Fresh from my bed, and feeling better. You need to come and shake Ben's hand though. He's new here." She smiled about it her silver hair shining as a bit of sunlight slipped through the trees, hitting her. It made it seem like she was an angel for a second.

  The large man didn't seem pleased with that idea.

  "Why?" He did relent, when he glanced over at Ben however. "No offense. I'm not wild about touching people. I pick up images from them if they're too close. Feelings. It can be a little unsettling, so I kind of live alone out here." The tone had shifted, from playfully gruff to a bit embarrassed.

  Ben made a face, twisting his lips to the left.

  "It might be nothing. It could also shut your psychic abilities down for a bit. A handshake, then not being too far away from me. We kind of came to see if it would work on you. It may not. We don't know the parameters yet." Ben waited then, since it was clear they were in for a bit of a discussion about the whole thing. They could have been anyway. It was Gene who solved the problem.

  "Do it. Do it now, or I'll come and sleep on your porch every night for a month." It wasn't said all that hostilely, but the giant man lumbered over, glaring at them all, a little.

  Except that he flowed, almost like he was on rollers, which didn't leave Ben feeling that great about himself for a moment. He was kind of clumsy, compared to a lot of people there. The man did it though, and even put his hand out, in a professional fashion. After ten seconds or so he let go, and looked at the others.

  "Not bad! Why, I don't even feel like tossing you all back over the fence. Much quieter. Let me..." He closed his eyes, for some reason.

  Ben didn't get it at first, but after five or ten seconds there was a noise from about a hundred feet away, near the woods. A log floated up into the air, then balanced on its end. When Clark looked over it fell with a thud. One that shook the ground they were standing on enough that he felt it in the soles of his feet.

  "So that's still there. Interesting. Just the telepathic stuff is shut off?"

  Micha shrugged.

  "I haven't gotten any precognitive flashes inside this field of effect. I can still read faces though, so it didn't turn off the empathy portion of things. Not the physical kind. Psychically that's quiet for me. That just leaves Mags. If... I don't know there."

  Glenda snorted and then gave a nod. She explained for Ben though, which was nice.

  "These three are peaceful and gentle compared to her. The big problem is that she really doesn't want anyone around her, and she's really strong and fast. If you get too close, she'll either fight, or run off. Especially from a psychic. Without you around these three couldn't be standing this close to each other, so I get it, but..."

  It really did sound like an issue. One that he doubted he could fix really. This new ability was kind of interesting, but wasn't going to fight the federal government for them, in particular. Though, apparently, Clark could drop logs on them, which was a start. That part had been incredibly cool. Like something in VR.

  Even better, he was supposed to get that kind of thing too, eventually. At least the changes had been made to allow it. What happened in the future, well, there had to be some wiggle room. After all, they all had slightly different abilities, as far as he could see so far. Similar, but also not the same totally.

  They all stood there for a bit, until Clark smiled and shrugged.

  "So, I guess I need to get a real job now? How does all this work?"

  It was Glenda who held her hand up for a bit, and then nodded.

  "We'll move Steve out of cabin three. Lissa you're going to be in there. Clark, can you hold out here for a while? We can send Lissa and Ben out for you during the day at times, so you can get around with other people. You're up for his training later anyway. Telekinesis. Micha is fine alone part of the time; I think?" She looked at the girl, who sighed.

  "It really was easier today. The rest at night helped, a lot. Just knowing that things can be turned off and on does too." She was watching Lissa as she spoke, which got the woman to move over and try to take Ben's hand. He let her, since she'd had to stand up and walk to do it, which was slow and awkward for her. Her powerfully b
uilt nurse moved in along side of her, but didn't help prop her up.

  "I'll try that, but... Can you stay with me, for a bit?" The words were nearly begging, and her silver eyes were locked on Ben's brown.

  It was heartrending, but he nodded.

  "I'm kind of on light training stuff for now. It's just starting to pick up for me. But a lot of it is physical, so I think we can do that?" He didn't know how in the world he'd get his running done, and had visions of Gene dashing along ahead of him carrying the woman in his arms while ridiculing his lack of speed. It wasn't a pleasant thought, for all that it was funny. It just felt a little too close to possible for him.

  "We'll figure that part out. Don't worry."

  Chapter nine

  The rest of Ben's day was spent with Lissa right there with him, which got Gene to come along. It was kind of embarrassing, since both of them obviously found his rather pitiful efforts at muscle contraction to be boring and more than a little sad. At the evening meal Ben ended up sitting in a small cluster of people, with half the room watching them constantly. That was just due to the fact that no one was screaming or running away.

  Most of the time that's what the high level psychics did with one another.

  Kent, the spy, watched him very closely as well. It was a bit frustrating for Ben, since having everyone else around, didn't just shut their abilities down, but did the same thing to his own. There was something there though. The man seemed to really be planning something.

  What that was, Ben didn't know, but he was nearly certain of it. That could be down to other factors however, he realized. Like the man staring at him like he wanted a date. That could have been due to Lissa being there too, since the woman was right next to him at the table, in her wheel chair, and kept touching him like they were dating. To reassure herself that it was all real, and that she wasn't going to be slammed with the thoughts and feelings of everyone else in the place, most likely.

  Carlos, was watching Kent nearly as closely as the man was doing to him, and Ali was starting to pick up on that fact. At least she started looking at everyone working out what the patterns were. Ben nodded then, realizing that he was, actually picking some things up from the people around him. Not Micha or Lissa, or even Glenda or Gene who were sitting at the table with him, but the further away people were the more he was able to get from them.

  The others didn't seem to be doing that however. Which was good. Lissa would probably freak out if she had that happening right then. Even if it wasn't that hard to handle. That meant he needed to get away from Kent, if he was going to tell what the man was thinking. Going for a walk with Lissa was out, given her infirmity of the moment.

  It started to bug him, until an idea came to him. There was more than one psychic in the room. So he leaned over, almost across Lissa, who smiled at him even if he were interfering with her eating. Not that she was doing that part well. She didn't seem to have much appetite. He was done with his strawberries, but she had a full plate of real food, which smelled good. It was rice with a light brown gravy over it, that had meat in it.

  "Micha, can you leave and come back. Read Kent." He whispered it, trying to act like he was hitting on the women. Both at once. Lissa put her arm around him, which was well timed, and got him to smile, even though it couldn't possibly make sense to her. Micha didn't say anything, just looking at Glenda, and speaking normally.

  "I need to go get something. Don't let these animals steal my dessert."

  "Got it. I have a fork; they won't get it." That there was nothing on the table that matched that didn't stop Gene from grinning. Glenda didn't really, but then she was in on the whole Kent thing. Gene might not be.

  It was hard to know. Ben was still the new guy, and these people could be the command team for all he knew. Glenda was kind of important he thought. Not the very highest, but she was trusted with important weapons things that others didn't seem to be. Micha was harder to know about, but Gene could be anything from the second in command to a really muscular nurse.

  Possibly all of the above, or none. It was tempting to ask, but that was kind of invasive given that they'd just met.

  Micha left the room, and there was a bit of a buzzing sense, as she did it, and got far enough away. It was different than the day before. The feeling from her was much softer, for him. He had a sense that she was out of the loop that he and Lissa were in however, and that the silver haired lady was getting nothing.

  Not that he could prove it, but it was... A thing that he kind of knew. He wasn't reading her mind, but he did get a bit off of Micha when she came back in, her face a little strained, as she settled at the table again, her eyes unfocused.

  They chatted as a group for a while, with Gene carrying it for them.

  "Well, I need a new job, or will soon. Maybe go back into pharmaceutical research? I've been out of it for a few years now, but Lissa isn't going to need me." He didn't seem displeased by the idea. Not at all.

  Lissa smiled at him in return.

  "That seems right. This is... I really thought I was going to die soon. I couldn't take the voices, all the feelings. The pain of it. Thank you, Gene. It wasn't lost on me that I've been a pain in the ass for the last year. Curled up in a ball for most of it, moaning." She seemed peaceful enough now, but there were still lines around her mouth from the expression she'd held for so long.

  It was the only thing that detracted from her looks at all.

  Micha didn't join them in their banter, though Glenda did, glancing over at the dark woman every now and then. She'd clearly heard what he'd said to the smaller woman, even though it had been soft. Hopefully Kent hadn't. He didn't seem worried from what little Ben was picking up from him. Nearly ten minutes in, Micha started to nod.

  "We should leave. Now. All of us." Her voice was cold sounding, and angry.

  In fact there were waves of something very close to rage coming off of her. Given everything, that had to mean that Kent the spy had something planned, and that it wasn't going to be friendly or nice to at least someone there. That being the case, Ben smiled, and tried to look happy about the hissing woman next to him.

  "I must have said the wrong thing? Well, I guess I have to go be yelled at. The perils of being so incredible, I guess." He tried acting like he was worried, and it came across sound just as weak and shaky as he could have hoped. Nearly perfectly so.

  Glenda smirked at him, and shook her head a bit.

  "I'm out too then, kids. Don't be too hard on him Micha. I'm sure he wasn't trying to be rude, flirting with Lissa all night instead of you." Her look was knowing, and Lissa took his hand, her silver hair shining, but her face looking more than youthful and pretty enough for that kind of thing to have been really happening.

  Gene nodded, standing up himself.

  "I noticed that. Though blaming Ben for it seems a little over the top." He was fighting a grin however, and came around the table to help Lissa move. She was in her chair, but didn't have the upper body strength left to propel herself. Not that she'd shown yet.

  Selling the role, Micha crossed her arms and glared at him, until they were all the way out of the dining hall. It took a while, since there was obviously more going on there than met the eye. Carlos and Ali both seemed to be getting that part, and even with a weak signal coming in, it was clear that several others were, too. It was still too hard for him to tell if they were correct or not, but the large fighting instructor stood up as well, and started cleaning his plate off the table, even with half the food still on it.

  Thankfully no one else did, since that would have been a real giveaway to anyone they were trying to move around at the moment. Kent wasn't the only spy, after all.

  Micha didn't wait, speaking as soon as they were outside, in the cool evening air.

  "That fuckhead called in a police squad on us! They're coming in at midnight. I... He doesn't have anything, I don't think. We haven't done anything wrong really, so he's making a false claim that we're making illegal drugs." />
  Ben didn't get it, but Glenda did, her face going hard in the slightly yellow solar powered light that shone from the top of the building behind her.

  "Damn. I get it, of course. He's been here for years and knows that everyone is trained to fight. Not how, or how effective we can really be, but if a sudden attack comes in, what are the odds that a lot of people aren't going to die? Half the people here can't even help themselves that way. Their reflexes are too fast not to respond to threats. God damn it."

  Ben wanted to have some kind of brilliant plan for them all, but the only thing that came to mind was running. Only that would make them look guilty, if the place was abandoned when the police got there to terrorize them. They could use that as a reason to hunt them, he bet. That wasn't the kind of thing he knew for certain, not being a lawyer, but there was probably something like that in the works.

  Though... He nodded to himself, not certain he had a good idea at all.

  "Could we move out the people that pretty much have to fight? We have what, six hours? We need to do it carefully, but this place does go dead at night, more or less, so we might be able to pull that off. Then, when they come we let them in to inspect the facilities and all that, as good peaceful citizens?" They could still end up with half their people arrested, but even the Feds had to follow the laws that way.

  Unless they decided they didn't.

  In that case they were screwed. Glenda nodded and then gave him a tight smile.

  "Not a horrible thought. Let me get with Kyle on this. It's his show, and he may have a different plan in mind. If so, I'd love to know it. In the mean time, we need to warn Clark, and to get Mags... That's going to be near impossible. I don't even have a clue there. We normally just leave her in her cabin and take food by for her." She looked at Ben, as if the newest person there would be the one to task with removing the crazy psychic lady.