by Kipjo Ewers
And his greatest pleasure is to project all of those deaths onto me, so I can see every last one of them, and know that I did not do what was necessary to stop him.
I am always monitoring his inhibitors and either boosting or upgrading them to suppress his abilities which are growing yearly at a monstrous rate.
I understand that this is a major sore spot for you, but my conscience will be clear once that little shit gets the needle the second he turns eighteen.”
Erica’s words brought the considerable tension between the two of them to a fever pitch, with Sophia shouldering most of the discomfort.
Sister Shareef walking over to see her friend felt the heat instantly.
“Uh, you two aight?” She asked shifting her eyes between the two of them.
“We’re fine,” Sophia cleared her throat. “Thank you for a clean bill of health Dr. Champion.”
“You’re welcome Dr. Dennison,” Erica said as her head lowered.
“We’ll talk later.”
Was Sophia’s final words as she walked off.
A bewildered Sister Shareef first glancing at Erica with a “What the hell?” expression on her face before following her. Erica cursed under her breath while stomping the floor of the hanger in frustration, morbidly regretted what she allowed to come out of her mouth.
“Soph, slow up,” Sister Shareef urged grabbing her arm. “Seriously, slow up! Stop! What happened?”
“Nothing,” Sophia said as she finally stopped. “We just had a touchy conversation that is a political sore spot for the both of us.”
“So, you’re officially in tip-top shape?” Sister Shareef asked taking the hint not to pry any further.
“Back to full optimal fighting capacity, and will apparently stay that way as long as I don’t overdo it.”
Sophia changed the questioning from herself with a coy look on her face.
“So how are you and the Sergeant these days?”
“We’re okay.”
Sister Shareef’s meek response took her back a bit.
“Ew, don’t tell me there’s trouble in paradise.”
“No, it’s nothing serious,” she waved Sophia off. “Both of us are just going through some things together.”
“Oh my god,” Sophia beamed cupping her mouth. “You really …”
“Child …” Sister Shareef held up a stern warning finger. “Don’t you dare say it …I’m not ready to admit that yet.”
“Well I’m happy for you anyway,” she quickly threw in.
“So, what about you?” Sister Shareef redirected the question.
“What about me?” Sophia gave her an authentic confused look.
“When are you going to pry those superhuman legs of yours apart and let someone in?” Sister Shareef sternly asked while folding her arms.
Her question caused Sophia to erupt into hysterical laughter. She abruptly stopped when she realized she wasn’t laughing with her.
“Oh, you were serious.”
Her serious demeanor brought an irritated scowl to Sophia’s face.
“First my mother, now you, why the hell is everyone up in my love life as of late?”
“Because you’re driving certain people a bit crazy,” Sister Shareef snorted. “And quite frankly I’m starting to see it.”
Irritation turned to anger as Sophia narrowed her eyes at Sister Shareef knowing who she was referring to.
“And when did she come to you with this revelation?”
Sister Shareef immediately held her hands up not wishing to start an argument.
“She called me a couple of days ago, I told her she should sit down and talk to you face to face.”
“Really?” Sophia asked as her right eye began to twitch.
“She said she feels a bit suffocated, and I told her all parents who care about their children are like that,” Shareef continued. “And she’s mad because it’s been months and you refuse to give back her suit and gear.”
“That little …she’s not getting any of it back because she tried to go to Mars!” Sophia snarled.
“I told her that, but she is right, she only tried to go to Mars, she didn’t try to blow up the planet.”
“She almost did that too, but that’s another story …”
“Look, that is your child, I am not nor would I ever tell you how to raise her,” Sister Shareef stopped her before she accused her of it. “I’m just saying that it’s not just with her, but you’ve been moody and borderline tyrannical, even with me.”
“When?” A bewildered Sophia asked.
“Two weeks ago, when I stayed over at your place, you almost tore my head off after you had said it was okay to raid your closet for bedclothes after I forgot mine.”
“You didn’t forget, ever since you got out of prison you refused to wear any!” Sophia corrected her. “And I thought you were going to put on one of my pajamas sets, not my favorite sky-blue Thistle and Spire cami and short set which you ended up stretching out because you’re two sizes bigger than me!”
“First of all, I don’t know how in tarnation you expected me to wear a pajama set on that hot ass tropical island of yours, and secondly, there was spandex in the lining, it was made to stretch!”
“For a regular woman, maybe, not for a Titan! And let’s not forget that you went commando when you put them on, and the only reason you did it was because Earl was at the door!”
“No! No …I did not!” Shareef answered back as her voice went up several octaves.
“Yeah, you did, because that was the week you came over because you and your man got into an argument,” Sophia reminded her. “So here you come, standing at the top of my steps with a doe-eyed look, half-naked in one of my favorite outfits looking like it’s painted on her, channeling Tina Turner 1985. Attempting to give one of my good friends a stroke, only for your man to show up three days later at my doorstep looking for you!”
Shareef visibly embarrassed looked everywhere but her friend’s face attempting to come up with an answer.
“We had a new mission to prepare for …”
“Don’t lie you damn flirt, and let me get this straight. Your solution for my, and let’s call it what you and everyone else is calling it, ‘bitchiness’ is to become like you, a textbook cliché from a friggin relationship movie.”
Sophia waited for her confirmation with sternly folded arms.
“First of all, even superheroes get laid so you wouldn’t be a cliché,” Shareef said while regaining her steel, “Secondly as a progressive Muslim; there is nothing wrong with a little sexual release. It is why Allah created sex, so we don’t kill each other. Maybe if you popped your cherry once in a while, you’d release all that tension and moodiness you got built up … Maybe you can ask a certain Egyptian god to ...”
“He’s not an Egyptian god!” Sophia let out an irritated groan. “He’s an alien from a highly advanced race! I’m pretty sure he’s the age of Moses.”
“Which means he probably has tons of experience,” Shareef retorted with her hands on her hips.
Sophia took a deep breath through her nose, and slowly released it through her lips.
“Agnes, seriously, my complicated life has no place for a relationship of any kind.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to be one of those moms,” Shareef coiled back with a disturbed look.
“No, you ass, I am not going to be another Norma Bates,” She glared at her. “It’s not like I haven’t thought about having a relationship. I just honestly don’t have the time for someone either feeling that they’re in my massive shadow, or I’m not spending enough time with them, or questioning if they’re adequate enough, or whatever other stupid insecurities they might bring to the table.
With great power comes great responsibility, and I don’t have any more room for additional responsibilities …especially if the reward is thirty minutes of possibly sub-par or lousy intimacy with an optional orgasm.”
“Dear Lord, who the hell have you be
en sleeping with?” Shareef asked with a sneer.
Sophia’s face telegraphed that she wanted to end the uncomfortable conversation about getting herself a love life. Sister Shareef compiled for now.
“So, are you going to the rally today?” Shareef innocently whistled.
“Yeah, I’m going to the rally Agnes,” Sophia sneered at her.
“Okay, uh …do you really need to go?”
“Did Rogers put you up to this?”
“Rogers didn’t put me up to anything,” Shareef answered back with bass in her voice. “With what’s been going on in the world and right here in our country, you being at the rally might not be the smart move.”
“It was the smart move in Houston,” Sophia retorted with her own bass filled voice.
“We had that covered in Houston. You diving down from the heavens turned it into a media circus with many believing you’re siding with Vitruvian Absolute.”
Sophia’s face displayed an “Are you serious look?” while Sister Shareef’s face answered back with an “I am dead serious look.”
“Well, look at you,” Sophia snorted, “an official dog of the military.”
“I don’t know what that means, and I ain’t anyone’s dog. You are the one who coaxed me to join this unit, ‘A perfect opportunity to once again make real change from the inside,’ remember? Well, you are right, it may be the military, but we are doing really good work here.”
“That might change if Trump wins,” Sophia muttered.
“You just want to make smart ass comments, or do you want to have an adult conversation?” Shareef snarled at her. “As your friend, I am advising you not to go to this rally. You will do more harm than good if you show up, trust me.”
Sophia shook her head and blew some air through her nose before she tactfully answered her friend.
“As your friend, I understand what you are saying, and respect where you are coming from. But you should know by now that I don’t care what anyone thinks of me, and there's no way in hell after London, that I am not going to be at that rally. I will do you the professional courtesy of staying out of sight and hanging back until things get out of your team’s control.”
“Define out of our control.”
“That is at my discretion.”
Agnes nodded while holding up her hands accepting the stalemate as Sophia stood her ground on the matter.
“For what it’s worth,” Sophia said while looking her up and down. “This does suit you. Tell your rude ass boyfriend I said hi.”
“Tell little Ms. Space Exploration I said hi, and don’t be too hard on her for talking to me.”
“Yeah …yeah …I won’t.”
Sophia entered the elevator and turned to her friend waving goodbye with a fake smile plastered on her face before it closed taking her back up to the surface. It was quickly removed the second the doors closed as her mind was filled with both the rally and the uncomfortable conversation her daughter, and she was going to have once she got home from school.
CHAPTER 6
September 2016, 3:00 AM Sanctuary time,
Sophia sat silently in her bedroom watching her wall mounted flat screen television as Vincent remotely patched in the televised coverage of the Vitruvian Absolute rally taking place in Union Square. She slowly turned to her Freedom uniform and gear within a cylinder glass casing Kimberly made for her in the corner of the room. Her chest expanded and then detracted as she turned back to the television while her thoughts had a quiet war within her mind as she contemplated what she should do.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
2:00 PM Eastern Standard time, Union Square, Manhattan, New York.
Rogers stood on a rooftop staring down at a sea of people that gathered by the thousands in a matter of minutes. It was a mixture of superhumans and humans, many who traveled from different parts of the globe. All unified with one chant.
“We are the future! Evolve or die! We are the future! Evolve or die!”
The Sarge tapped on his headset.
“Is everyone in position?”
“I’m in position,” Blitz answered while standing on the roof of a building on the opposite side of the square.
“I’m in position, Sir,” Cyclone also responded from a building roof on another side of the square.
“I’m in position,” Sister Sledge answered as she stood several yards from the main stage.
“Sir, in position,” Nitro answered several yards on the opposite side of the stage.
Heavy Element stood wearing regular civilian clothing in the middle of the chanting crowd.
“In position Sarge.”
“In position Sergeant.”
The final confirmation came from Merge also in civilian clothing standing inconspicuously amongst the crowd closer to the main stage.
“Alright people, ‘staying vigilante’ is the phrase of the day,” Rogers reinforced. “So, keep your eyes peeled and this channel open.”
Each team member acknowledged one by one with a clicking sound from their headset which Rogers counted. He then switched channels to converse with his eye in the sky.
“Maxine, what’s the view from up above?”
“Crowd capacity has reached an estimated ten thousand, forty percent being EVOs while the remainder is human.”
“What is the outcome of containment should this go sideways?” Rogers asked.
“With the Tornado at full capacity with neutralizing armament, forty-five percent outcome within the first three block radius, fifty-five percent within the first five-block radius.”
“Where is Dennison?”
“Energy scans show she is still on her island.”
“Keep me posted on her location,” Rogers commanded. “It looks like the shows about to start down below.”
The band known as Imaginary Dragon’s song “Radioactive” began to bellow from the audio speakers on the stage ending the vast crowd’s chant as they all erupted into a volcanic sea of cheers as the five founding members of Vitruvian Absolute took to the stage.
Standing side by side as they waved to the adulating crowd from right to left was an Asian male with evident Apollo class abilities which emitted through his eyes via green glowing energy. Next to him was a very tall, lean and muscular Latin woman with her long dark silky hair braided into a long ponytail which hung down the middle of her back. Next to her stood Deacon Absolute adorned in a black and gold fitted t-shirt with the Vitruvian Absolute symbol the right-left breast of the shirt which all five of them wore. Next to him stood a Middle Eastern woman whose physical features did not display her superhuman abilities. Finally, next to her, was a Caucasian man with a muscular physique which was the trademark of Titan class EVOs. As the music lowered, the Middle Eastern woman stepped forward taking the microphone in the middle of the stage to begin the rally.
“Welcome everyone to our NYC rally!” she screamed. “For those who are at our rally for the first time, allow me to introduce myself! I am one of the founding members of Vitruvian Absolute! My original human name used to be Aafreen Hannan, but now I go by my superhuman name, Saraswati Absolute! If you’re happy to be here, let me hear a cheer so loud, they can hear it all the way in Midtown!”
Saraswati Absolute took the microphone off of its stand extending it to the crowd as they detonated into a near deafening cheer that wiped out all the other sounds within the vicinity of Union Square. The other members of Vitruvian Absolute nodded and clapped with approval as Saraswati Absolute ran the length of the stage in an attempt to capture the vibrating sound of the crowd through the microphone.
“That is what I want to hear!” She screamed as the crowd died down. “Now allow me to introduce you to the other four founding members of Vitruvian Absolute! From right to left the devilishly handsome man, you see before you, who was our main speaker at our San Francisco rally, is called Ryu Absolute, the exotic beauty next to him, who was our main speaker at
our Texas rally, is called Diana Absolute! Standing next to her is the man who needs no introduction, you saw and heard him on our podcast and as a political commentator on CNN, you also saw him spar with Bill Maher, Deacon Absolute!”
The crowd roared with near white noise cheers as Deacon Absolute took a grinning bow.
“And finally, our speaker for today,” she turned pointing to the Caucasian male. “If you watch our YouTube show, and listen to our Podcast, this man also needs no introduction, the one, and only Maximus Absolute!”
Upon introduction, Maximus Absolute, a man in his early forties in a Vitruvian Absolute t-shirt, jeans, and boots with a brunette buzz cut stepped forward with a headset on his head. The crowd erupted with a fever pitch of cheers as he waved and bowed in appreciation.
“Thank you! Thank you all for coming to this glorious rally right here in Union Square,” He began. “For those who came out of curiosity and do not know my story, before I became Maximus Absolute, my human name was Brian Greene. I was once a firefighter and one of the many first responders on the day of 9/11. As many of you know on that day many like me went into those buildings looking for the trapped and buried, and the remains of those who were not so lucky so that their families could adequately bury them.
Let me first note before I continue that at that time I was a man in good health.”
An image appeared of Maximus Absolute as Brian Greene within his former New York Fireman’s uniform with fellow firefighters from his firehouse.
“And like so many I ended up developing several illnesses such as sleep apnea, sinusitis and gastroesophageal reflux disease, restrictive lung disease, post-traumatic stress, rhinitis, asthma, and swelling of the liver so severe it began to interfere with my blood platelets, esophagus, diaphragm, stomach and other digestive organs.
And like so many others, the United States government left me to die.”
The crowd erupted in a chorus of boos, as Maximus Absolute nodded as he paced the stage. The big screen split showing a picture of him in a wheelchair in a thin, sickly state with an oxygen mask covering the lower half of his face.