by Kipjo Ewers
“I am not at liberty to confirm or deny that,” Rogers said flatly.
“Fair enough,” Shiro said while displaying a soft smile. “Well, I can confidently say that you can scratch us off your list. I am also not at liberty to give you any in-depth detail into the inner workings of project Rebirth, but I can say that we’re still some ways off from clinical trials. We’re running into the same snag that is afflicting everyone else. The Judgement Day virus is not adopting the human body enough for it to safely access many of the superhuman abilities it provides. Ours no longer end in fatalities, but the estimated physical damage done to the body is still quite extensive. People will have to wait longer to get their superpowers over the counter.”
Neither Eric nor Rogers found the humor in Shiro’s joke.
“I have to ask Mr. Shiro,” Erica shook her head. “Why would you make such a serum accessible to regular people?”
“I can answer that question by asking why someone like yourself who is the leader of this field with full knowledge and understanding of its benefits not leading the charge in research to make all humans globally capable of reaching their fullest potential Dr. Champion.” Shiro politely threw back at her.
“If I had not seen what I had seen, I probably would,” Erica exhaled. “But I have seen evil unstable people use their abilities in horrific ways up-close and personal. I don’t want to be responsible for arming these types of individuals with that type of power.”
Ken Shiro nodded while giving his beard a stroke. He straightened up some more to present his own case.
“First and foremost, allow me to say that we are not the NRA. I agree with you that not everyone should have abilities. We are currently creating a screening process that includes mental and psychological evaluations as well as background checks which will be enforced. Money and government contracts are not what drives this project, I as well as my company has an ample amount of that. I believe in progression, and I believe the human race has stuck itself in the proverbial mud for far too long and needs a jumpstart. By granting the right individuals the ability to unlock their dormant potential, I believe we can achieve that.”
“And what exactly are the parameters of this screening process?” Abe asked while leaning forward himself.
“As I said, it is currently still under development,” Ken Shiro said with a smile before continuing. “As you both are well aware, now more than ever regular humans will need access to their inner potentials in the years to come. The fact is in the past eight years after the events of the Big Bang Two incident, crime …more specifically crimes of a violent nature committed by regular humans have decreased worldwide in record numbers. Right here within the United States crime which included gun violence, rape, and child abduction has literally plummeted based on the FBI’s 2016 report.
Even police brutality and shootings are near nonexistent.”
Shiro made sure to make eye contact with Abe as he made his last statement.
“And the reason for this is because for once the criminal element that is out there is afraid. They are scared because it is almost impossible to determine who has abilities from who does not. A record number of criminals have been put down by either people with superhuman abilities or those who have taken up the mantle to become superheroes. Now you may argue that in their place there are those who use their powers for evil, but even that is less than one percent. And those that do are taken care of by heroes such as yourselves.
The last attempted mass school shooting was three years ago, with four fatalities. Two of them were students, and the other two were the assailants who were killed by a student and a teacher with superhuman abilities.
And right here in New York a gunman purposely opened fire targeting women and children at a rally, and there were zero fatalities.
And here’s an even more significant fact that you cannot refute, gun sales within the United States have taken a severe dive because what good is a weapon that is ineffective against an individual who is either impervious to it, can evade it with ease, or packing more firepower.
The motto is no longer ‘The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun,’ it’s ‘the only way to stop a bad guy period is to be a superhuman’...preferably a good one.”
The smile on Mr. Shiro’s face indicated that he meant his last statement as a joke.
The expression on both Abe and Erica’s face revealed his humor was not a hit with them.
“The world is changing faster than we could ever image,” Shiro got serious again. “There is a new generation of humans who are slowly becoming stronger while people like yourselves continue to multiply. Leaving regular humans like myself only two options right now. Wither and die, or find a way to evolve like the rest of you. I choose to evolve, then die, and I owe it to my fellow man to give them that chance as well.”
Rogers and Erica’s silence indicated that they were not one hundred percent in agreement with his ideas, but they also did not come to get into a debate with him about it.
“Well thank you for meeting with us,” Rogers smiled.” I’m sorry we could not elaborate more.”
Erica took the verbal hint that it was time for them to leave as they both stood up together.
“Not at all, it was a pleasure having you both here,” Ken Shiro said with a bright smile back on his face also standing up. “Dr. Champion when you have some time I would like to invite you back and give you a tour of our R&D lab in New Jersey. It would be nice to pick your brain.”
“I will consider that,” Erica answered with a subtle smile.
As they exited the conference room, Ms. Takahashi waited for them in his office to escort them back down to their vehicle.
“It was a pleasure seeing you again Rogers,” Shiro grinned while shaking his hand. “It was great to see someone from the ring days. Please also stop by anytime you’re in New York, we’ll get a drink together or something.”
“I will consider it.”
Shiro caught Abe’s eyes glancing at the trophy case again.
“Do you miss it?” Shiro asked.
“Sometimes,” Rogers admitted.
“If you had the chance to be superhuman or a wrestler, which would you pick.”
“A wrestler, any day of the week.”
A genuine sad smile came over Shiro’s face as he knew what Rogers meant by his answer. Rogers turned following Erica who walked side by side with Ms. Takahashi exiting Shiro’s office.
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Twenty minutes later they were back in their vehicle with dejected looks on their faces heading back to JFK airport.
“Well that was a waste of time,” Erica blurted out.
“I take it he wasn’t lying,” Rogers asked glancing at her.
“Nope, he was telling the truth the whole time, and I didn’t even need to read his mind.”
Her eyes glowed revealing the artificial contact lenses she was wearing during the meeting. Erica projected the data onto the passenger dashboard of the vehicle.
“Heart rate, other vitals, and involuntary movement where all that of a man telling the truth.”
As Rogers sat there waiting for the light to turn red, his ears picked up a tap on his driver side car door window.
“Jesus!” Erica jumped clutching her chest in fright.
Rogers looked up to see a woman with thin braided cornrow hair in a high tech multi-color kabuki mask wearing a form-fitting grey and white bodysuit with matching tabi shaped running shoes.
“Shintobe.”
“You got a minute to talk?” She asked using a voice changer which emitted from her mask.
“Well …”
“Meet me at the Chelsea Piers.”
Without a word, she sped off in that direction. Rogers turned to a rattled Erica still trying to catch her heartbeat.
“I can’t stand that woman,” Erica growled. “She does the same crap
when she shows up at the Ranch! None of my sensors or mental abilities can detect her once she starts moving! It’s either the outfit or that stupid mask she has on!”
“The fact that you can’t figure her out really irks you?” Rogers asked with a smirk.
“Yes!”
“Welcome to my world.”
Erica cut Rogers a dirty look as he turned the vehicle to the West Side Highway heading toward their impromptu meeting.
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Several minutes later Rogers parked their vehicle and walked out to the piers followed by an irritated Erica where a waiting Shintobe stood with her back turned looking out onto the Hudson River.
“Okay, we’re here,” Rogers announced. “Mind telling us what this is about?”
She casually turned around to face them.
“Hey, kid.”
Erica answered her with a sneer.
“Still don’t like being snuck up on.” Shintobe deduced.
“Come on Shintobe, why’d you ask us out here?” Rogers got back to the point.
“You tell me, Rogers. Why were you up in my brother’s office today?”
“Following a possible lead,” he answered. “Nothing more.”
“Your ‘leads’ usually end up with some form of mass destruction out of Michael Bay movie,” Shintobe pointed out. “So, you can see my concern.”
“It’s not like that,” Rogers flatly reassured her. “Your brother is not a suspect.”
“Glad to hear that,” Shintobe snorted. “Now do me a favor, and keep your distance from my family going forward. Anything you need to ask them, you can go through me, are we clear?”
Erica’s eyes widened stunned by the underlined hostility as Rogers stood with a stern unappreciative glare of her outright warning.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes.”
They were her last words as she turned and bolted running off the pier. She jetted on the water across the Hudson River over to New Jersey.
Erica quietly strolled up to him giving Rogers a genuine look of concern. He slowly turned looking back at her.
“So, uh …was there something more to you two …?”
Rogers walked off neither answering nor giving her a second look heading back to the car. Erica quickly followed behind believing he would drive off without her.
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Back at the corporate penthouse, Ken Shiro stood quietly in front of his trophy case as Ms. Takahashi walked up to him with a man in his late thirties with a face that had been hardened by a life ridden on the wild side. His hair was a deep spikey blue which was a contrast to his light blue eyes. His black faded leather jacket and a white t-shirt covered the tattoos that started on both sides of his neck down to his shoulders and upper biceps. His outfit was finished off with some dark designer jeans, and black polished leather boots.
“Mr. Shiro, your brother is here.”
“Thank you, Ms. Takahashi, could you and Ms. Hasegawa please take a coffee break. Thirty minutes should suffice.”
“Yes, Mr. Shiro.”
Ms. Takahashi respectfully bowed before taking her leave.
Ken Shiro’s younger brother nervously stood silent waiting as the assistants left getting onto the elevator.
“Hello Jagi, how are you doing today?” Ken Shiro asked still looking at the case. “Guess who you just missed?”
“Who?” His brother asked as he nervously fidgeted.
“The American Fighting Machine himself Abe Rogers, who as you know is now the leader of the United States government super soldier unit known as the Regulators. He and Dr. Erica Champion, who is also a member of the same unit stopped by to pay me a visit.”
“What the hell did they want?”
“They came to ask me without asking me about my bio-upgraders,” Ken Shiro sighed. “You know, the ones they took from ISIS terrorists during a military raid in Iraq. The group that Miguel Ángel Castillo sold to, the same drug lord who I told you was a bad idea to sell to, but you did anyway …you fucking idiot.”
A cold blank expression fell over the younger Shiro brother as he swallowed his spit.
“Brother …I swear …I didn’t …”
“I specifically outlined to you based on our first initial meeting with Castillo why it was a bad idea to sell to him,” Ken Shiro shook his head interrupting him. “That based on his attitude and demeanor, he was not one to follow the rules, that we could not trust him. That he would most likely take our product and do something stupid like selling it to some terrorist group or North Korea, which survey says is the fastest way to fall under the radar of a unit like Rogers that I have painstakingly and meticulously taken measures to avoid.”
“Brother, I know I screwed up,” Jagi nervously stepped back. “But I fixed it …I took care of ...”
Before another word was uttered from his mouth, Ken Shiro’s youngest brother was violently slammed face first into the floor of his older brother’s office by some unknown dominant force. He was brought to his knees and hammered three more times into the flooring before he was lifted into the air. Jagi Shiro clutched his throat gasping as his busted nose began to instantly heal while he was suspended in midair.
His older brother casually strolled up looking up at him with his eyes rolled back into his head.
“Did I ask you to speak you little shit?” Ken Shiro inquired. “You took care of nothing, you only did what you were told. Or else I would have been the one turning you into a friggin ball.”
Jagi gurgled as his eyes fluttered until the unknown force released him. He struck the floor hard gasping and choking as he took deep breaths forcing air back into his lungs.
“I swear on our sweet dear mother in heaven, I am getting so tired of cleaning up your messes. If you weren’t my little brother Jagi, I’d tear your limbs off like a cockroach. Get up.”
Jagi groaned as he obeyed his brother getting to his feet. Ken Shiro began to straighten out his jacket, so he did not have the appearance of being worked over.
“Now, I want you to pay close attention as I instruct you how to fix this other mess.”
CHAPTER 13
October 2015, The Grand Canyon National Park, early morning Colorado time,
Three days later after Horus’s takeover of the project EVOlution base, Dr. Alexander and his team labored around the clock to complete the project the Ancient tasked them to do. With only one meal break and two-hour sleep intervals, the fear of a painful, gruesome death was the principal motivation that kept them all functioning.
However, for Dr. Alexander, it was more than fear that kept him toiling away at the project assigned to him by the self-proclaimed superhuman god. It was the knowledge of the new technology he was creating dwarfing any other technological advancement Earth had ever made and its endless possibilities. The knowledge Horus implanted within him kept him driven to complete his task.
Before Horus took his life, which as an all high probability he wanted to see it completed, and how it worked.
He was so driven, that being stark naked along with his staff was no longer an issue to him as he stared with amazement at what they were creating.
In the middle of marveling at the reconstructed incubation chambers, a male technician walked up to him to give his report.
“Dr. Alexander, per your instructions we have completed work on the four incubation chambers.”
“Restructuring pods.” Dr. Alexander softly corrected him.
“Restructuring pods?” The technician asked with knitted brow.
“He told me their name,” Dr. Alexander swallowed. “When he gave me instruction on how to recreate them.”
“Oh,” the technician nodded accepting his answer.
The scientist within him wanted to ask the questions, “What, Why, Who, How, and Where?” The human within that feared for his life, kept hi
s tongue still and accepted the doctor’s answer.
“The construction of the fifth pod will be completed shortly,” the technician continued. “However, the artificial intelligence required to operate these pods …”
“He will create it,” Dr. Alexander answered with his eyes still on the pods. “Lord Horus will be the one programming these machines, not us.”
Once again, the lab technician gave a simple nod accepting the doctor’s answer while praying that his thoughts did not incur the wrath of a self-proclaimed god.
“Oh, dear god,” The technician gasped while taking a step back.
His words of fear brought Dr. Alexander out of his trance, as he turned to where his terrified eyes were staring along with some of his other colleagues.
The female lab technician who was left with the biochemist to see to the needs of Horus staggered in with a dazed look and tears that would not stop falling as her arms were wrapped tightly around her bare chest. In her right hand, she clutched a small clear plastic container with a thick white liquid inside.
Her body rattled as she made her way to Dr. Alexander, and extended the container to him.
“Dr. Henderson?”
“Here is Lord Horus’s sample for the rebirthing,” Dr. Henderson said with a shaky raspy voice.
“Dr. Henderson,” Dr. Alexander asked with a fearful lump in his throat. “What happened to Dr. Pierce?”
Dr. Henderson erupted into hysterical tears collapsing to her knees forcing two other female technicians to rush to her side.
Dr. Alexander painfully winced at the sound of Horus speaking within his mind.
“Come to my chambers slave. I have need of you.”
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Minutes later, Dr. Alexander made his way down the hallways of the individual sleeping quarters where his staff resided. Based on Dr. Henderson’s demeanor after she returned from Horus, he wanted to take his time getting there to mentally prepare himself for any possible horrors he would see. That wasn’t possible with a being monitoring his very thoughts and movements. Whatever he was about to see he would have to try his best to hide his emotions both mentally and visually.