by Kipjo Ewers
Adrian identified himself to the fire department backed by the Los Angelis SWAT team as they both came in to investigate what happened. He allowed the fire department to ensure that the rest of the building did not go up in flames, but requested for the police to secure the outer perimeter of the club until his team arrived considering the damage was done by superhumans.
“We got a woman here badly injured!” a firefighter yelled.
“Don’t touch it, it’s not a woman!” Adrian forcefully hollered. “It’s a machine!”
“He’s right, I am not a real woman.” Jennifer sadly told the firefighter.
She caused her eyes to glow bright blue, which creeped the firefighter out and sent him the other way quickly searching for injured people elsewhere. She lowered her head and wrapped her arms around herself for some unknown reason as she waited.
Adrian did not go back to check on Jennifer, he told Rogers and the team comprised of Merge, Blitz, and Cyclone about her when they showed up. It was so they could take her out discreetly before the paramedics came in and also mistaken her for a real injured woman.
They wrapped up arresting the Titan that instigated the fight, and the other two EVOs who jumped in the middle of the battle afterward. They also took the boosted humans to hold them until they cooled down and then turn them over to the proper authorities.
Adrian wanted to debrief Rogers right at the location, but the Sergeant ordered him to calm down, and wait until they got back to the base to be interviewed. During the ride home, Adrian requested one thing.
“Tell it to shut down, I don’t want to hear it on the way back.”
Everyone except for a semi-spaced out Adrian slowly turned to Jennifer.
“I will comply,” she softly said with her head down.
As the Replicator powered down becoming lifeless, Adrian got up from his seat to sit somewhere else by himself alone from everyone. It was a quiet flight home with not a word said.
The second the Tornado descended into the hanger Adrian was the first at the main door waiting for it to open. Waiting for them was Erica, Sister Shareef, Aashif, and the android sisters. Jennifer stood with a distressed look on her face with her arms wrapped around herself like within the club as she watched him walk down the steps.
“You alright man?” a concerned Aashif asked.
“I need to be debriefed, right now.”
“Adrian, what’s going on?” Erica asked stepping in. “You said …”
“Your machine malfunctioned,” Adrian coldly snapped at Erica. “It’s been posing as a real live woman that I have been dating these past nine months. The Replicator body it’s been using is inside the Tornado.”
“Angie?” Erica turned to her with a furious glare.
“I didn’t …” Angie meekly stepped back with her hands up.
“It wasn’t Angie,” Jennifer blurted out. “It was me.”
A shocked Erica’s head snapped to her second born as if she got hit with a right hook.
“Say what?”
“Adrian, I … I can explain …”
“An EVO and a human got into an altercation in the club. The human boosted using the same red booster serum from Iraq,” Adrian cut her off not wishing to hear her explanation. “Several other guys boosted with some illegal black-market shit, and an all-out brawl started. In the middle of the fight, one of them became unstable and detonated.”
Adrian tossed Erica the syringe he pulled out from his pocket which she caught with her telekinesis.
“Your machine also saw the guy who boosted, so we can ID him.”
“Adrian …,” Jennifer timidly extended a hand. “I just wanted …”
“I’m not going to repeat it, Erica,” Adrian dropped a stern tone. “Get your machines fixed, and keep them away from me. Sir, permission to be dismissed and get cleaned up.”
Adrian glanced at Rogers who gave him a nod that it was okay.
He turned walking off not giving Jennifer a second look.
Rosann and the majority of the team followed him at a safe distance minus Sister Shareef and Rogers.
Rogers was about to say something to Erica, but Sister Shareef stopped him with a headshake. He followed her leaving Erica with her three creations.
“Jennifer …is this true?” Angie asked with a soft, sad voice.
Jennifer turned to her youngest sister, whose head was lowered as her hair shielded the building heartbreak on her face.
“Angie, yes …but I didn’t mean for it to happen …I.”
“Liar! You’re a fucking liar! I hate you!”
Angie stormed off to get as far away from her sister as possible.
Erica sternly turned to Jennifer to begin admonishing her. It disappeared as she gazed upon Jennifer shaking like a leaf with her head down, and her arms wrapped even tighter around her torso. It was enough to spark a concerned expression on Maxine’s countenance which was usually blank. She placed a hand on her distressed sister’s shoulder.
Erica did the same placing a hand on her forearm that would not stop shaking with the rest of her frame.
“Jennifer, what’s wrong?”
“I seem …to be …malfunctioning Miss,” she got out. “Something is … wrong, but I cannot … diagnose what it is. I need assistance … to locate … the error.”
“I don’t think you’re malfunctioning honey,” Erica observed in disbelief.
“Then …what is happening… to me Miss?” Jennifer asked meekly, “What …is happening to me?”
She stood there wrapping her brain around how she was going to explain to an advanced machine that somehow, they were suffering from a broken heart.
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A half hour later,
Erica stood within her lab with a visage of disbelief and confusion on her face as she stared at the severely damaged female Replicator body Jennifer used to pose as Adrian’s girlfriend. Jennifer stood by herself with her head lowered wearing a face of sadness and shame.
Angie who was called back so that they could deal with the situation as a family stood off to the side with her arms folded and her head down brooding, while Maxine was back to her regular monotone self.
“I don’t understand,” Erica shook her head. “This is a brand-new fabrication; how did you perform one without Maxine or Angie knowing?”
She turned to her first and youngest with a look of suspicion.
“Do I look like I had a clue, mom?” Angie snapped while glaring at Jennifer.
“You watch your tone young lady!” Erica warned her.
“I’m not the lying man stealing …!”
“Last warning Angie!”
“Neither one of them knew mom,” Jennifer spoke up in her sisters’ defense. “I created algorithms and codes to bypass both of their detections, and did the fabrication the day you went to visit your father on his birthday.”
All three turned to look at Jennifer, while Angie’s face mirrored Erica’s in shock. Jennifer took a step back becoming meeker from the stares.
“I take it you also used similar algorithms and codes to bypass security and get it off the base,” Erica said with a motherly tone. “So where has it been this whole time?”
“433 West Seventh Street, Los Angeles, California 90014.”
“The Atelier located in downtown Los Angeles,” Maxine confirmed. “It is a luxury high rise building. There is a rental of a two-bedroom apartment for four thousand five hundred and thirty-six dollars per month under her false name. She also has created all of the necessary documentation to simulate as an American citizen: Birth certificate, driver’s license, social security number, high school diploma, and college degree …”
“What college?”
“Manhattan College, 4513 Manhattan College Parkway, Bronx, New York 10471, she claimed to have a bachelor’s degree in both Business and Liberal Arts, Business Management as a major and Film Studies as a minor.”
“Well …at least you’re modest,” Erica turned to her second eldest with a sardonic irritated glare.
Jennifer became smaller as Erica decided to walk around to both calm down and put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“So, you pretended to be a Manhattan College graduate from …”
“Yonkers, New York,” Jennifer timidly whispered.
Erica paused fluttering her eyes in disgust.
“Who now lives in San Francisco, in a luxury apartment …?”
“With an automobile,” Maxine interjected.
“There’s a car now?” Erica snapped her neck, “What car?”
“She currently has a lease for a 2016 S5 Coupe in color white from the Audi of Downtown L.A. dealership located at 1900 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California 90007.”
“Dry snitch,” Jennifer muttered while pouting.
“Don’t call your sister a dry snitch Ms. Ultimate Catfish!” Erica admonished her. “Do tell me from your own mouth how you paid for all of this! You either allocated funds from the base or from somewhere else into a bank account under your name correct!”
“No,” She shook her head. “I got a job.”
Her answer almost took Erica’s legs out from underneath her as a cold shock washed over her.
“You got …a job?”
“Records show that she is employed, Miss …”
Erica held a hand up ordering Maxine to stop as she walked closer to Jennifer wanting to hear the answer from her.
“A job, working where Jennifer?”
“A job as a personal assistant,” she answered raising her head to look her creator in the eyes, “Working for Mr. Matt Damon.”
Erica braced herself with one hand against one of the lab tables as she took another jarring revelation.
“You are the personal assistant for Jason Bourne?”
“His original assistant resigned to become a full-time mother,” she began to explain. “He was impressed by my professionalism, and work ethic.”
“Maxine?” Erica asked for confirmation while still looking at Jennifer.
“Her employment with Mr. Damon is confirmed,” Maxine answered. “She has been his designated personal assistant for the past year and three months with a starting salary of one hundred and fifty thousand per year. She received a pay increase of an additional fifty thousand in her first four months of employment.”
A sliver of pride washed over Erica for a split second, she shook it off as quickly as it came.
“So, you got a job, car, and an apartment …”
“And a dog,” Jennifer nervously added.
“You … you also own a dog?” Erica asked with a nervy chuckle.
“Everyone had one at my apartment building,” She answered with shrugged shoulders. “He is a Shih Tzu puppy named Mr. Binks; it is almost time for his feeding and walk.”
Erica fell against the same lab table she grasped for the first time dumbfounded by everything she heard. She began to massage her forehead to get her brain working again.
“Angie, upload yourself into a Replicator,” Erica began her commands for damage control. “Get the keys out of your sister’s Birkin for the apartment and the Audi, find yourself down to her apartment and collect Mr. Binks and her car. Return the car back to the dealership and bring the dog back here. Maxine, pay off the remaining rental fee for the apartment from my account and then sublet it with whatever furniture is there to someone so I can make my damn money back.”
“Yes Miss,” they both answered.
“What about Mr. Damon?” Jennifer timidly asked.
“Since you’ve become so good at lying, you’re going to figure out a way to tell him you can no longer be his assistant.”
“He will be so disappointed,” She lowered her head again.
“Does this look like the face that cares?” Erica pushed off the table in a rage flying in her face.
Her actions actually startled Jennifer and Angie making them both shudder where they stood.
“I don’t understand Jennifer …why would you do all of this?” Erica asked throwing her hands up in frustration. “Lie and deceive your sisters and me for all people …Adrian? You came off like you couldn’t stand him!”
“I did not become Barbara for Adrian,” she fretfully answered. “I became Barbara for me …I wanted …a secret for myself. I didn’t plan on …falling in love with Adrian …it just happened.”
“You fell in love with him?” Angie asked with a growl and a twitch in her left eyebrow.
The room became white hot with sisterly aggression as a wide-eyed Erica stood in the middle of a possible powder keg situation.
“Yes, I did.”
Her answer surprising brought a smirk to Angie’s face, which Erica read as sarcastic.
“Tell me, Jen, how can you love someone when you don’t have a fucking heart?”
“Alright! ¿Qué te dije acerca de usar esa lengua señorita? ¡Elimina esa mierda!” Erica gave Angie a final warning. “I’ll be damned if I’ll see you two fighting over a damn man! Least of all, Adrian!”
Angie folded her arms giving everyone her back going into pout mode, while Erica turned back to Jennifer searching for more clarification on what she just said.
“Jen, what did you mean by you wanted a secret?”
She forced her head to rise as she answered Erica.
“You know everything about me. Every single part made to build me, my mind and intelligence which were mapped to mirror your own, even my sisters have this knowledge. I wanted something that was …mine …that no one knew about …a little life that was mine off of this base …a secret.”
Erica’s shoulders slumped as she released a sigh of semi-defeat and frustration. A part of her wanted to rejoice in the fact that her semi-sentient machine was evolving. It was clouded by the mess that was caused by her evolution.
“Why didn’t you just come and talk to me, Jennifer?” Erica asked in a soft whisper.
“I was afraid …that you’d think I was malfunctioning …and take it away from me.”
“Why would I ever take something like that away from you?” Erica asked with a hurt tone. “You’re my creation, my child. None of you have been programmed with the laws of robotics or any safety parameters to keep you in check. I don’t monitor your processers, your whereabouts or whatever you do unless I ask for you because I see you all as more than the parts that I fabricated, or the coding I used to create you. I mapped your brains from mine because you are my daughters, which means I have to give you all complete and total trust. Where was mine?”
Jennifer lowered her head and answered with a cracked distressed voice.
“I’m sorry mom, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry too, but you can’t work for Matt Damon,” Erica shook her head with gentle sternness. “Last thing I need is for you to be on some TMZ report.”
“Mr. Damon is both a professional and a happily married man.”
“I’m not worried about Matt Damon, it’s the people he hangs out with! And you are also grounded young lady …you are so grounded. You will be confined to this lab doing lab work indefinitely until I deem that the punishment fits your crimes. Is that understood?”
“Yes Miss,” Jennifer sadly nodded.
"Ve a tu estación de carga y cierra la noche, no quiero verte ahora mismo."
“Yes, Miss.”
Jennifer turned walking away with a wounded posture to her charging station, as Erica turned with an evil glare to her two sisters.
“You two care to divulge anything before I find it out, like dating Justin Bieber or the Rock?”
Both Maxine and Angie quickly shook their heads as Erica ran her fingers through her hair while vomiting a slew of curse words in Spanish.
CHAPTER 15
Four days into Kimberly’s suspension she had fallen into the routine her mother set for her of rising in the morning, completing her chores and then heading off to the new medical facility to
help tend to its latest patients.
She did not have to ask her mother the details of her secret mission, it was all over the news and social media for days.
Due to the ongoing Civil War in Syria, many of its medical facilities had been decimated due to the repeated bombings. After getting in contact with various doctors in Syria and the Médecins Sans Frontières, Sophia coordinated a plan to move those injured by the civil war which included people affected and recovering from the Ghouta and Khan Shaykhun chemical attacks.
With two Antonov AN-225 planes, Sophia was able to get almost fifteen hundred Syrians in need of urgent medical attention including their families out of Syria without getting shot down.
The only casualties in the mission were two Syrian fighter planes, an anti-aircraft vehicle, and a section of Bashar al-Assad's presidential palace, which many debated was an act of war.
Kimberly was shocked that her mother could hide a mission that massive from her. She also felt silly that she didn’t know this was something her mother would do.
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Day one was the hardest day for her. She was scared for two reasons. The first was the fear of incurring the wrath of Head Nurse Bayinika Adetokunbo who was both dedicated and had a no-nonsense attitude. Bayinika with over nine years of nursing experience from Nigeria answered Sophia’s online advertisement to become the Head Nurse of a medical facility for a large and fast-growing diverse community on a remote island.
Kimberly’s second fear were the patients themselves, especially those in critical condition. She timidly walked around the ward a fish out of water unsure what to do. It was the children on ventilators to help them breathe with catheters attached to them that bothered her the most. She had problems getting past the blank non-coherent expression on their faces as their bodies involuntarily twitched and jerked; the trademark aftereffects of sarin.
Head Nurse Bayinika cured her extremely fast of her ailment by grabbing her by the arm and pulling a child a million times stronger than her over to one child that could barely move.