by Kipjo Ewers
“No, I’m ready.”
“Good answer.”
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Adrian met Barbara Moretti during one of his shopping trips to Beverly Hills. His eyes fell upon her as she walked into Barneys New York picking up clothes for her employer.
He strolled up to her with all the confidence in the world asking her opinion about a long sleeve two-tone shirt he picked out and how it would look on him.
She answered with one word and a straight face.
“Ridiculous.”
She was about to go about her business when he asked her for a little bit more of her time to elaborate and help him with alternatives.
“Why don’t you ask a salesperson, that’s what they’re getting paid for?” She asked flatly.
“That’s why I’m asking you,” he smiled. “I prefer to get my feeling hurt, then waste my money.”
She glanced at her watch to make sure she had time before brutally breaking down why the shirt and the other clothes he picked out made him look like a greasy gigolo. She then went about picking out clothes that she thought were both stylish and would attract a woman with class.
In the middle of her wardrobe remake, Adrian found the words to make her smile. Barbara eventually took his phone number and waited three full days before calling him.
As they spent more time together, he learned that she said what was on her mind, but was never nasty about it. She liked picnics, long walks, and loved places where she could pet small animals. She was annoyed when he was late, but never dwelled on things, which made him work at being on time. She kissed him after their second date, which made his legs tremble. For the first time in his life, he was okay with not going all the way and taking it slow, wishing to learn all he could about her.
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That night, as they had dinner, she dropped subtle hints that after their date, she didn’t want him to go home.
It made him want to skip the club and go straight to her place.
She sensually rebuffed his plan, craving the need to dance and unwind to hard thumping music after a long grueling week of jumping through hoops.
She also wanted him to wait a bit longer making him feel like Mr. Binks salivating over a doggy treat.
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After dinner, Adrian and Barbara went to the Sound Nightclub, where they danced, laughed, and teased one another building the sexual tension and heat they intended to unleash upon one another once they left the club and got to her place.
As they nuzzled against each other near a crowded bar wondering if they should call it a night, their mating ritual was interrupted by yelling, screaming, and profanity.
Adrian held Barbara close to him protecting her as his eyes zeroed in on two male bulls getting into a grunting and cursing debate on whether the offense that occurred was accidental or not.
Usually, he would not think of intervening leaving it to the bouncers to handle.
Except what he observed and heard from the hostile child unfriendly dialogue, this was no ordinary altercation.
Adrian’s concerns began as he listened to the rant of a Rottweiler barking bruiser with dark tanned skin, pencil goatee with spike gelled brown hair, wearing a similar two-tone shirt he was going to buy when he met Barbara.
“For the final time, I didn’t bounce your bitch ass! And even if I did, whatever fell on your shirt improved that piece of shit you got on. So just say thank you, and walk your inferior pussy normy ass back to where you came from before I punch a hole through your chest!”
To which the other testosterone pumped dirty blonde-haired male protecting his pride in blue jeans, white t-shirt covered by a checkered shirt on top with an alcohol stain on it asked.
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“You picking a fight with one of your betters bitch, your genetic superior!” The bruiser announced while pointing a threating finger in the dirty blonde’s face. “So, do yourself a favor and fuck off before I ‘Fist of the Northstar’ your fucking head off your body for everyone to see!”
The Titan’s threat should have been the end of the argument until Adrian’s eyes caught the young man pulling out from his jeans pocket a familiar red vile with an injection syringe attached to it.
“No …it can’t be,” Adrian shook his head in disbelief.
“What you got there, one of those bitchass boosters?” the male Titan snorted. “How long I gotta wait before that shit kicks in giving you a fraction of power to fight me?”
Adrian’s human instincts told him to step in immediately. The soldier ordered him to wait and confirm if the dirty blonde haired clubgoer had the evidence his team had been hunting for.
Sure enough, the second the young man injected himself in the leg with the syringe sending the booster serum into his bloodstream, a savage grin formed on his face as his eyes emitted a red glow.
“Oh shit,” Adrian choked.
“Baby what’s wrong?”
He looked down at Barbara who heard what he said over the booming noise and chaos in the club. His heart sank as he saw fear and concern on her face. Expressions he never wanted to see for a few more years.
Barbara had full knowledge of who he was and what he did. However, Adrian desperately fought to keep his life as a Regulator far away from her for many reasons including her safety.
Adrian looked her dead in the eyes as he gave her stern commands.
“I need you to go outside right now. Don’t stop for anything, don’t turn around. Leave right now. Is that understood?”
She meekly nodded promising to obey. Adrian waited for her to start walking and get a reasonable distance to the entrance way before walking over to attempt to diffuse a situation that was about to become nuclear.
He arrived in time as the dirty blonde-haired booster displayed his own power. Crimson red energy began to seep out of his pores generating all over his hands pissing off the Titan standing before him.
The display of power also stopped the music from playing.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Guys! Guys!” Adrian yelled running up to them with his hands in a calming position. “Let’s take this down a notch! There are a lot of innocent people here, and you both don’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt.”
“Mind your fucking business normy!” The riled-up Titan spat, “This is between me and the wanna-be boosting bitch! I want to see what he’s gonna do with those red sparklers on his hands!”
“I’m actually not a normal,” Adrian announced.
With a touch of the dark metal bracelet he wore on his right hand, Adrian transformed his body into the metal properties catching everyone including the two combatants’ attention.
“I’m also a part of the super soldier unit known as the Regulators,” He announced while displaying the emblem badge within his wallet. “Which means I have the authority to throw both your ignorant asses into a cell in the middle of nowhere if you don’t shut this down right now. Decide!”
The Titan’s murderous glare bounced off Adrian’s hardened skin as he dared him to test him. With a smirk, he threw up his hands backing off, which made the dirty blonde power down. Adrian sighed in relief while formulating a plan how to get the boosted clubgoer outside to interrogate him about the serum he just took.
It all went to hell when the following took place.
“Your pathetic wanna-be ass just got saved by one of my own …boy.”
The Titan followed up his remark by hocking a thick wad of spit hitting the young man right in the center of his shirt already stained with liquor.
Knowing what was coming next, Adrian dropped his head to massage his nose.
“Come on man, why you gotta …”
The dirty blonde roared charging up again and unleashed a “fraction�
�� of his power which burnt off the Titan’s ugly shirt and several layers of his upper skin while taking him off his feet and sending him crashing back first into the DJ booth both destroying and bringing it down on top of him.
A good portion of intelligent people had already left the dance floor and the club altogether when the dirty blonde powered up. Everyone who chose to stay and see what happened next scattered creating chaos after the first hit.
Through the erupting mayhem, Adrian prayed that Barbara made it safely out of the club and as far away as he instinctively grabbed the young man’s hands. He groaned a bit as he felt the heat he generated even through his hardened metal skin.
“Power down now!” Adrian ordered threatening to break both his wrists if he didn’t.
Before the boosted Apollo could comply, Adrian’s command was interrupted once again when he was struck on the right side of his face by a blue ion powered energy blast at close range.
It was not enough to knock him over, but it rattled his skull and made him release his target.
Adrian turned to face the culprit which happened to be another booster. The dead giveaway was his glowing blue veins. The deadly side effect of activating the dormant EVO virus for those with inactive Apollo powers. Undoubtedly the sucker blaster boosted before the actual fighting took place. Adrian knew that depending on the quality of the booster, powers in Dormants usually activated between the ranges of five minutes to a half hour. The potency of the drug also determined the power level which was generally pretty weak with what was on the black market.
His night got worse as his ears were struck with the last battle cry he wanted to hear.
“You see that! Fucking wanna-be normals! Let’s fuck em up!”
Before Adrian could react, the booster that sucker blasted him took a devastating king hit from a Mercurian coming out of nowhere. This ignited a genetic race brawl in the club between three real EVOs, and seven boosted humans with Adrian in the middle of it.
It became a four on seven battle as the recovered Titan fully regenerated burst out of his DJ equipment grave and went after the red-boosting Apollo that blasted him. The dirty blonde haired clubgoer having a clear handle on his dormant abilities focused creating thrusters with his hands propelling him away from the bruiser looking to tear him apart.
As he unleashed another red energy blast, the Titan this time stood his ground digging in using his powerful forearms to block the attack which roasted several layers of skin and muscle tissue from his arms. The boosted Apollo not backing down decide to turn up the heat intensifying the stream.
Adrian not wanting to see his favorite hot spot go up in flames charged laying out whatever EVO or boosted human was within his path heading straight for the red booster.
“Stay away!” The young man screamed.
He said it as he increased his enormous power again keeping one hand on the Titan while aiming his other hand at Adrian engulfing the top part of his body with the red plasma energy.
As the shirt was blasted from his body, Adrian closed his eyes and mouth holding his breath while using his arms to cover his face fearing his eyes would be roasted out of his skull, even though they too were metal. Adrian groaned as his world became fuzzy due to the intense heat that was suffocating him while slowly roasting his insides.
The act came to an end as the boosted Apollo was clocked in the face and chest by a flying metal chair sending him painfully crashing to the dance floor.
As the Titan dropped to one knee waiting for his arms to regenerate a shirtless smoldering Adrian stumbled around and turned slightly opening his eyes to his name being called.
It came from a terrified Barbara standing in the middle of the dance floor looking at him.
“Bar …Barbara …how?” Adrian got out.
She took a step in his direction when a blood-curdling scream forced everyone to turn their heads.
It came from the Apollo booster who side blinded Adrian earlier and was knocked unconscious by the Mercurian.
The excruciating pain that awoke him from his unconsciousness along with his veins blazing to the point of becoming blinding was the ominous sign that something horrible was about to happen.
“He’s going to pop!” The Mercurian screamed before using his superhuman speed to bolt out of the club.
“Barbara! Run!”
They were the last words Adrian screamed as he forced his legs to run toward her. He didn’t know if it was out of fear, but she began to run toward him. Neither was fast enough as the dying booster’s scream became a fever pitch before he detonated. The force of the blast tore through the club obliterating everything in its path while sending everyone within the blast zone flying. The explosion was so powerful it erupted to the outside of the nightclub sending projectile debris shooting everywhere, knocking those nearby down from its force and igniting a nearby parked car.
Adrian did not know how long he was down and unconscious. All he knew was he could barely hear, his brain was swimming in his skull, and he was suffering from severe smoke inhalation. Saved by his metal form, he rolled to his hands and knees as he violently shook. His body wanted his to stay down, but his heart commanded him to get up. A billion simultaneous nukes could not keep him down as he rose to his feet.
“Bar …Barbara …Barbara!”
He waded through the thick black smoke screaming her name with his hoarse voice which had taken in too much smoke.
He refused to stop moving, refused to stop hollering her name until he found her. Adrian turned running into the last person he wanted to see in the middle of the madness and destruction that fell upon him.
The Titan that started the entire brawl staggered over to him still regenerating from the injuries he took from the blast.
“You alright brother?” He asked with genuine concern, “Fucking norms, this is what happens …”
Adrian shut him up with a swift dark metal enforced kick between the legs doubling him over, before putting all his strength into a savage uppercut that he was sure broke the bruiser's jaw before it took him off his feet.
A still weaken Adrian fell face first onto the floor again from the move but commanded his exhausted body to get up and keep searching.
“Stupid son of bitch …” He groaned close to tears. “Barbara! Barbara!”
“Adrian …I’m over here.”
“Barbara! Barbara!”
Adrian felt no more pain as he scrambled over to her via the sound of her voice. He almost lost his legs as his heart plummeted into his gut. Images of his grandmother lying dead face up in her bed invade his mind as Barbara lay on the floor of the club with the right side of her body partially burnt in a pool of her own blood.
“Oh my god Barbara!” Adrian cried out running to her. “Barbara!”
He slid to where she laid. His entire frame quaked from the trauma about to set in. The massive blood loss was caused by a thick piece of metal shrapnel embedded in her stomach. He was amazed that she was still moving chalking it up to shock that she was suffering from at that moment. Adrian willed himself to clamp his hand over the wound applying pressure in an attempt to reduce the bleeding as he raised his other hand to voice activate his comlink watch.
“Erica …this is Adrian.”
“Adrian, what the matter?” Erica asked with a voice drenched with concern.
“I need a bus stat at Sound Nightclub now! We’ve got several dead and injured including my girl…”
“Adrian …no.”
Barbara grasped his hand attempting to stop him.
“Don’t move,” he gingerly instructed her. “You’re in shock; it’s going to be okay. Help is on …”
“Adrian …I …I do not need medical attention.”
For that split second, her voice made time freeze around him. It was because it had both changed and was familiar to him.
“Jennifer?”
“Yes …it is me.” she meekly answered.
Adrian’s face wore a new kind of shock, as
he removed his hand from her on instinct.
“Adrian! Adrian! What the hell is going on?” Erica screamed through his watch. “Adrian!”
He ignored her to deal with the matter at hand before him.
“Jennifer? You’re Barbara? You … are … Barbara?”
“Yes,” she sadly nodded. “I can explain myself…”
“You uploaded yourself to a Replicator body,” he said with a voice filled with steel bass. “This has been you the whole time.”
“Yes … but I can explain.”
An emotionless Adrian rose back to his feet and took several steps back from her. A nervous Jennifer sat up in a kneeling position while bracing herself for what he was about to say next.
“I have to secure the area, and check on the injured,” he said coldly no longer able to make eye contact with her.
“I can help …” she gestured to him.
“No … you are to remain right here until your owner comes for you. Do not move. Do you understand my command?”
The sharpness of his voice, in the end, made her jolt as she nodded her head.
“Vocally answer me if you understand my command!”
“Yes …I understand your command.”
Adrian walked away refueled by rage and with a new mission.
“Where are you ya little shit …where you at?”
As he walked through the destruction the only ones to survive the blast was another Titan EVO, an Apollo EVO who was suffering from shrapnel to the arm and chest, a boosted Titan, and a boosted Mercurian not fast enough to get out.
Adrian was looking for the boosted red Apollo, who from the looks of it not only survived but managed to escape after the explosion. He did not know if God was throwing him a bone, but through the smoke and dust, he found something half as good.
Something that almost put a smile back on his face.
He walked toward its dull glimmer. Adrian groaned a bit as he stooped down to pick up the syringe.
“Bingo,” Adrian whispered while giving it a look over.
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