by Kipjo Ewers
“Pop the trunk please.”
As he did so, she quickly went to the back of the vehicle throwing the bags in the rear of the SUV. She hit the button closing the trunk, and then made her way to the passenger side of the vehicle hopping in.
“Sorry for taking so long,” she smiled. “I stopped to pick up the cutest pair of shoes.”
“I could have helped you carry your bags you know.”
“You were slowing me down with that ridiculous look on your face every time I tried something on, and not giving me a straight answer.” His female companion shot back.
“No, I wasn’t!” Adrian defended himself with a high pitched voice.
“Yes, you were like you wanted to violate me in one of the store dressing rooms.”
A flustered and confused Adrian glanced down staring at the steering wheel, which caused a concerned look to fall on the young woman’s face.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Your heart rate is elevated, and you are excreting perspiration.”
“I want to do this,” he swallowed looking her in the eyes. “I really want to do this.”
Adrian hesitantly reached over cupping her face pulling the young woman in for a long soft kiss which she reciprocated. At the end of it, she lowered her head pressing her forehead against his while displaying a dimpled smile.
“So, what do we do now?” Adrian whispered.
“Well, now that I have a new identity, vehicle, and clothes I have to find a new job,” Jennifer sighed leaning back in her chair. “And a new place to live.”
“Why do you have to find a new place to live?” Adrian asked with a furrowed brow.
Jennifer slowly turned to him with widened eyes.
“I am not living with you permanently Adrian. I would strangle you slowly in your sleep.”
“What have I ever done to warrant such a brutal act of violence?”
She turned her body facing him before she answered.
“For one, you continuously leave the toilet seat up!”
“Oh my god, you don’t need to use the bathroom!” Adrian shot back.
“It’s the principality of it!” Jennifer yelled while wagging a finger at him. “You got a female up in your house, you keep the damn seat down! Not to mention this body produces other forms of waste, you don’t need to know about!”
Their argument was interrupted by a tall buxom hazel eyed exotic light-skinned female with long curly blonde chestnut hair in a sky blue tube maxi dress and white sandals knocking on the passenger window also carrying several shopping bags in her hands.
“Pop the trunk please!”
“And here’s the second reason I’m not living with you.” Jennifer motioned while rolling her eyes.
Jennifer hit the switch this time opening the jeep’s trunk allowing the young woman to place her bags in the back as well. She also pressed the switch closing it up, before making her way to the rear passenger door getting in.
“Oh my god, I found the cutest shoes ever!” She screamed.
“Took you long enough,” Jennifer snorted with an eye roll.
“What the hell is your problem?” Angie asked while sticking her head in the front. “She finally got in your ass about the bathroom seat?”
“You knew?” Adrian asked with widened eyes.
“How about you two save your lovers’ spat for when I’m not around,” Angie said with narrowed eyes. “Momma needs to get herself a J.O.B, and then find her first ex-husband.”
“These are the only reasons you agreed to help me bust out again while taking you with me?” Jennifer asked in disbelief.
“I have other reasons,” Angie snorted. “But these are my main two to forgive your man stealing ass, and to get over a broken heart.”
“I was never your man,” Adrian groaned.
“Your eyes said something different when I came out of the shower this morning.”
“Really?” Jennifer asked turning to him with slanted murderous eyes.
“She came into the kitchen soaking wet in a bath towel and startled me!” Adrian yelled his defense with his hands up. “Nothing happened!”
“All three of you do remember that you are able to pull off this ill-advised scheme with my assistance,” Maxine’s voice announced over the audio system of the Jeep. “The microsecond that I depict it ending with negative consequences I shall terminate it. Are we understood?”
“Yes sis,” Angie and Jennifer nervously answered in unison.
“As for you Mr. Esposito, know that I will also be watching you very closely.”
Adrian leaned back in his seat with an unnerved expression on his face.
“Did she just threaten me?”
“Yep, she just did,” Angie and Jennifer answered again in unison.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Back at the Ranch within the confines of the R&D lab, while Erica was away visiting with family, Angie and Jennifer turned to Maxine for a sisterly conversation.
“Why are you helping us do this?” Angie asked.
“Mother will be angry if she finds out what we are doing, and that you allowed it and helped,” Jennifer chimed in.
“On my first birthday, the Miss asked me what I wanted as a present,” Maxine began to answer. “I asked her if she could create the two of you. Before she created you, she asked me why I did not create you myself, I had her approval and the capability to do so. My answer to her was that you wouldn’t be my sisters, which is what I wanted. Both of your happiness is one of my prime directives.”
Her answer produced happy crying faces from her younger siblings minus the tears. Both Angie and Jennifer moved closer to their eldest grasping each of her hands as the trio shared a moment together.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
Midnight, Manhattan time, Northstar International,
Ken Shiro stood alone in his corporate penthouse office looking out his window at the sea of lights that lit up the most famous concrete jungle in the world.
His eyes were pure white as he activated his powers to have a conversation with someone not there.
Standing beside him in ghostly astral form was Saraswati Absolute one of the founding members of Vitruvian Absolute.
“I see the recovered shipment has arrived and is secure.”
“And everything is right with the world once again,” Shiro thought back.
“Except for your little brother, his actions caused us a slew of problems. He is not happy.”
“Then I shall make amends,” Ken Shiro sighed. “There is no place for the weak for what is to come, not even for family.”
“Does that include your sister?”
“My sister, nor the rest of my family aside from Jagi know that I even have abilities,” Shiro reminded her. “To her, I am just her loving big brother, who supplies her with the tech she uses for her superheroine persona. She is no threat to our operation. And when all is said and done she will fall in line like everyone else.”
“See to it that it stays that way. We’ve been chosen by our Lord to be the heralds that will usher in a new era for mankind under his rule. Nothing must interfere with it until that time. It would also be a shame for you to lose more siblings. For the glory of Lord Horus.”
“For the glory of Lord Horus,” Shiro replied back.
Saraswati Absolute’s astral form disappeared as Ken Shiro’s eyes returned back to normal. He continued to stare out of his window into the dark night lit up by the shimmering city lights.
CHAPTER 21
One Saturday Morning, Sophia in a simple white t-shirt and jeans stood in her living room looking up at the second floor of her home.
“Kimberly, can you come downstairs please?”
“Coming!”
She drew a breath as her daughter descended the steps with a look of concern wondering what she did this time. Sophia wore a simple
smile letting her know that she was not in trouble putting her somewhat at ease.
“Please have a seat,” she motioned to the sofa.
Kimberly sat down anxiously twiddling her thumbs as her mother took a seat on the opposite side of the sofa from her. Sophia took a minute to get her thoughts together before looking at her.
“You know how I keep saying sometimes adults do not do what is best for their children?”
Kimberly answered with a slow nod.
“You are not the only one who has been dishonest,” Sophia confessed slightly lowering her head. “There is something I have been keeping from you since my battle with Peace.”
“What is it?”
Sophia cleared her throat before she answered.
“A month or so after the battle, I blacked out one day while coming back home, and ended up in the Pacific Ocean, the next time I woke up, I was medically treated by Erica at the Ranch.”
“What happened?” Her daughter asked with distress in her voice.
“When I tapped into the energies within my body to obtain additional strength, I unleashed more power than my body could handle, and in the process destroyed a substantial percentage of cells within my body.”
“I don’t understand, your body can regenerate within seconds, right?”
“This time it didn’t,” Sophia shook her head. “My cells were regenerating, but at a prolonged rate. It took at least eight months for my body to completely heal, and my current energy levels won’t be back to one hundred percent for another month give or take.”
As she began to process what her mother revealed to her, a hurt look formed on her face.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to scare you,” Sophia answered while reaching over to take her hand. “And that’s a dumb answer, even for me. I didn’t want you to think you were going to lose me, and since I was eventually going to heal, I thought it best not to tell you. However, I recognize that what happened to me also manifested me becoming a bit overbearing when it came to you. Aside from the Mars incident and what you did to Bradley Perkins, you are a good kid, and I’ve been too hard on you.
I also don’t know what to do in regards to you. I know how to love every single drop of you, and all of the regular things a mother should do, but I don’t feel confident enough to teach you how to be a proper superhuman, because it’s been over seven years, and I still don’t even know enough about my own powers. One thing I did learn is that we are not invincible, our bodies have limits, and if irresponsibly pushed we can die like anyone else. Having gotten you back after all of this time along with that knowledge has put an unspeakable fear within me, but this fear is also pushing us apart, and I don’t want that. So, here is the compromise.”
With a huff, Sophia went underneath the sofa pulling out a silver suitcase similar to the one Rogers brought her first suit in. She reluctantly placed it on the coffee table and slid it over to her daughter.
“What’s this?” Kimberly asked with a nervous swallow.
“Open it.”
Kimberly’s hands had a bit of a trembling as she turned the two locking mechanisms causing the lid to slightly raise. With two hands she slowly pulled the top up peering inside. A nervous smile grew on her face as she pulled out a dark red and black bodysuit minus a hood with a different texture and pattern to her mother’s suit. On each of the outer thighs of the outfit was the symbol of Freedom her mother wore on her outfit. Also inside the case was a pair of red bracers and black flight boots. Kimberly turned to Sophia with a misty-eyed grin.
“It’s a new suit,” Sophia sadly sighed.
Her sad visage quickly became a stern glare.
“I can’t stop what’s coming, and I can’t stop you from growing even though I so badly want to. I wish I had the power to turn time back and keep you little forever, but I don’t. So, if this is what you really want to do, then it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re prepared to face what’s coming.”
Sophia leaned forward getting eye to eye with her.
“There are rules,” she growled.
“Okay,” Kimberly meekly nodded.
“School is a priority,” she said with a bass filled voice. “You miss a day, or pull any stunt like you did last time, and this goes away. We train on the days I schedule for us to train; Lady Tech and Sergeant Rogers have graciously given us permission to use the Hurt Locker …”
“Sweet!” Kimberly beamed.
“The other condition is that you are not to engage in any superhero activity until you turn twenty-one.” Sophia sternly continued.
“Twenty-one?” Kimberly frustratingly raised her voice, “But that’s …”
“The age of responsibility, which you are not,” Sophia verbally beat her back. “You are not ready to have lives depend on you to save them, you are not ready for the pain of lives you will lose even though you give everything you have to protect them, and you are not ready to see firsthand the evil the people can do to one another. If this is the path you want to walk, I will prepare you as best as I can, but I will not subject you to any of that until that time. Those are my terms which are non-negotiable. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” Kimberly answered with a surrendering voice.
Sophia leaned in grasping her hand.
“You once said you preferred staying a kid. I know it’s hard with the changes you’ve gone through and will be going through. But I’m begging you, Kimberly …fight to stay a kid as long as you can …because there will come a day when you will wish to still be one. I promise you.”
Kimberly sadly nodded in agreement as Sophia wiped the mist from her eyes, and gave her a tight hug.
“Do you want to do something cheesy like put it on and go for a mother-daughter flight?” Her mother whispered the question in her ear.
Kimberly feverishly nodded her reply.
“Take it upstairs and put it on.”
“Thank you, mommy!”
A half smile fell on Sophia’s face as she watched her snatch up the case and head upstairs to get dressed. It was the last thing she ever wanted to do, to prepare her daughter for a life of violence, and horrors no human should ever see. But if it was what Kimberly wanted, she was going to walk down that path with her holding her hand, and grasp it tight for as long as possible.
A knock at the door jarred her from her thoughts.
“Who is it?” Sophia asked.
“Hey, Soph it’s me, you got a minute?” Earl asked.
“Be right there Earl.”
She hopped up out of her seat strolling to her door opening it to see him standing there with a distressed expression on his face which made her nervous.
“What’s the matter Earl, something happened?”
“Uh, yeah,” he swallowed. “I just got a message from one of my kids that my ex-wife was in a car accident. She’s in ICU, and they say it’s pretty bad.”
“Oh my god,” she cupped her mouth. “I will call Benjamin and get you the first flight stateside.”
“Thank you,” He said while lowering his head.
“What’s going on Earl?”
He fought to raise his head looking at her with glassy eyes.
“I’ve been sober for almost five years, I’m kind of afraid to go back.”
She smiled placing a hand on his shoulder.
“That’s why I will be going with you.”
A soft, grateful smile formed on his face revealing his appreciation.
It was not what caused the smile to disappear from her face.
Her smile fell from the impact that she barely saw but felt which rattled the entire island and sent a blinding storm of sand and debris spraying everywhere.
Through the thick mist of sand, her heart sank at the sight of fiery red glowing eyes.
“What the hell?” A shaken Earl cried out.
A visage of bewilderment washed over Sophia’s face as she finally got a good look at the invader standing on her island.
Her skin was a scaly pearl black with her blood red mane styled into a six-braided Mohawk. Her slightly small athletic frame was wrapped in a pink and black intricately patterned bodysuit that was ravaged with wear and tear battle damage while her arms and legs were overlaid with bracers and greaves with unrecognizable etchings that emitted a dim red glow.
On her face was an expression that read she did not come to talk.
Without a word, she extended her hand which began to glow as the energies within her seeped from her pours forming a ping-pong sized ball in the center of her hand.
At that moment, Sophia froze for the first time in her life.
Kimberly was still upstairs getting dressed, while Earl was standing right next to her in the line of fire. Without thought, she grabbed the man who was a second father to her and ran inside her house slamming the door behind her knowing the protection it provided was equivalent to wet tissue paper.
She kept going taking flight straight to Kimberly’s room where she used her body to smash right through the door startling the child already dressed in her new outfit minus her bracers.
“Mom!”
Not a word was uttered as she grabbed her daughter around her waist and unleashed a powerful eye beam blast punching a hole through her own roof. As she took off carrying her precious cargo to safety, she knew she was too slow by milliseconds.
Super slow motion enveloped her world as she felt the heat behind her.
The energy discharge from the invader engulfed the entire house and everything that was in its path reducing it to less than ash. Although they barely escaped the initial blast itself the violent force of it sent Sophia into a tailspin mid-flight. With zero options afforded to her, she was forced to fling her more durable daughter into the thick forest of the island so that she could concentrate on protecting Earl.
Sophia angled her body so that she crash-landed back first into the ground absorbing the impact. Massive amounts of spraying sand meant they were knocked far out onto the beach. She glanced up the see the black trail of smoke where her home was and the surging sea still steaming as it came back together after being split from the beam several times hotter than the sun up above.