by Kipjo Ewers
Sophia’s vision finally returned to normal to see them descend from the skies above and hover several feet off the city streets kicking up dirt and trash while vibrating the store windows around them.
They were massive, at least thirteen to sixteen feet tall; two legged with a hind leg style like that of a cat or a dog. That along with their three finger appendages that gripped the rifle-like cannons aimed at her made their appearance look alien in origin. The glowing white eyes did not make them appear any less inhuman either.
However, the black urban military style color on their hulking metallic hides was a dead giveaway that this was not any close encounter, and there were just four of them. All the motivation Dennison needed to rise to her feet.
“Wow…she looks pissed…wonder why?” #2 asked casually.
“Could be she remembered us from a party way back,” said #3 brandishing a sadistic smile within her cockpit, “And we weren’t nice to her…”
“Thought I said to cut the shit…,” ordered #1 before switching to external audio to address their target, “Sophia Dennison…you have five seconds to surrender and comply before…”
An enraged Sophia leaped into the air ignoring #1’s request looking for blood, only for #4 to shoot her out of mid-air.
This time it was a shot to the gut sending her through the 10th floor of the building her just crashed into. #2 and #3 joined in concentrating firepower into the tunnel #4 made with Sophia. Screams of terror emitted from inside the building as poor souls ducked for cover, while crowds on the street scrambled trampling over each other to get to safety. Those foolish enough to stay and try to record the events where frustrated over the fact that neither their cameras nor cellphones where working to record what they believe to be an invasion from another planet.
“Cease-fire! Cease goddamn fire!!” yelled #1 at his trigger-happy team, “You want to dead level the entire building?!”
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Several blocks away, on the outside of the military blockade now set up at New York Avenue, Armitage’s car pulled into a screeching halt as both him and Mercer spilled out trying to find out what in God’s name was going on running up to an equally clueless King.
“What the hell is going on Doug?” demanded Mark looking at the smoke rising from echoing gunfire he had never heard in his entire life.
“Apparently there’s a massive fire fight going on between your girl, and something huge!” reported King gritting his teeth, “Four of them!”
A cold sweat washed over Mark at the sound of the word “four,” “So the what hell are we doing?!”
“We” are waiting for back up to show up!” ordered King not wanting to get in the middle of a superhuman fight that could cost human lives, namely him and his agents.
Mark however did not want to wait, “This shit will be over by the time “backup” shows up!”
“Weren’t you the one saying we weren’t equipped to deal with something like this?!” King willingly fired Mark’s own words back at him, “I’m not risking one agent’s life on this madness; not even yours…we’re waiting for military back up! You try and cross that barricade and I will shoot you myself.”
King revealed his sidearm to Mark daring him to test him.
“Can’t we at least get some eyes in the air to tell us what the hell is happening?” a frustrated Mark pleaded.
“We have eyes in the air…but they can’t relay a signal back…something is interfering with communication on a large radius,” informed an Agent coordinating communication between the teams in the vicinity, “Radios, cellphones, cameras, everything is acting screwy, even radar! That’s why the military isn’t coming in yet. They can’t tell what they’re attacking!”
Mark cursed in frustration as he looked at the black smoke rising to the heavens coming from the direction where the chaos was; powerless to do anything, and bothered by the fact he was genuinely scared for a woman he had just met a couple of minutes ago face to face.
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Back at McPherson Square which had officially become a battleground, black smoke and flames now bellowed out from the side of the building that was all but obliterated, while people inside either injured or terrified spilled out from the building running for cover, searching for help, or both.
“Intel coming in from command, government, military, and local police both evacuating and blocking off this area within an eight mile radius,” reported #2, “We’ve got a window of less than twenty minutes to wrap this shit up before we see some heavy guns coming here soon…”
“Fine then let’s secure the target or what’s left…,” #1’s words were cut short again.
This time by the sound of a sonic boom, that shattered almost all of the windows within a five-block radius. Actually what cut #1’s words short was a vicious hit from what can only be described as a flying tackle propelling him through the building behind him by a very small and powerful unidentified object; an object moving so fast not even his own teammates saw when he got hit leaving their presence. All they were left with was the near deafening pop of the sonic boom, shards of glass raining down on them from above, and the now muffled hollers (or screams) of #1.
The other side of the building that Sophia drilled #1 through exploded with the sight of a massive machine coming out back first with a small-enraged woman gripping its chest plate with both hands.
The force of her initial charge ended as they sailed across the street crashing into another office building before falling to the streets below taking out whatever was unlucky to be under them on the way down. #1 sat rattled within the cockpit of his mech trying to get himself together.
Sophia already up sprang on top of his machine raining down trip hammer blows as she screamed, “Son of a bitch! I’ll kill ya! I’ll kill all of ya!!”
She concentrated her punches on what appeared to be the head of the mech caving the side of its skull in which shorted out the visual camera on the left side of the machine. #1 in a fit of desperation managed to swat her off landing her on a parked car, and then struggled to right his mech and find his weapon.
“Got to get up! Got to get up, I could use some F (STATIC) help…,” #1’s distress call was sheered in half.
While he was attempting to right his machine Sophia who had already shrugged off his backhand had rolled off the car she landed on, decided to take that very same car, and swing it like a bat taking out #1’s legs from behind landing him on his back again. She then leaped into the air violently clobbering #1’s mech with the 3,565 lb. vehicle as he desperately tried to cover up.
“Goddammit! Somebody get this crazy bitch off of me!!” #1 hollered.
Sophia growled as she took what was left of the Nissan Maxima slamming it again into #1’s downed mech before coming under heavy fire from his teammates finally arriving on the scene.
“Light this bitch up!” howled #4.
This time Sophia stood defiantly against the barrage of firepower reigning down on her, using just her forearm as a shield for her eyes. Vehicles hit nearby exploded sending shrapnel flying all over the place. The trio in the air decided to spread out making it hard for her to pick a target as they concentrated their firepower on her from different angles. Only her clothes became the worst for wear from the vicious volleys that now ricocheted off her impervious form.
“We’re not making a fucking dent in her!” #2 gritted his teeth.
“Switch to plasma heat rounds!” screamed #3, “Remember the ten second capacity recharging delay between shots!”
On command of their operators, the B.A.Ms quickly switched out the magazines to their rifles; the guns automatically locked and loaded by themselves emitting a high humming sound along with a bright orange light. #3 is the first to fire a volley of heated energy, which Sophia took head on with her forearm, except she felt this one down to her spinal column, along with the smell of burning leather and flesh.
“Ow…,”she managed to get out staggerin
g.
Two more volleys from #2 and #4 hitting her in the side and shoulder sending her flying into the Honda Accord behind her. She screamed and gasped at the excruciating pain of her flesh being chard down to the muscle.
“We got her! We fucking got her!” squealed #3
“Getting her doesn’t mean stopping her! Look!” gestured #4 that the fight was in no way over.
True to #4’s word Sophia rose again due to her initial wounds healing in the order she was hit, confidence filled her once again as she knew that once she was fully healed she would be impervious to their energy volleys. She started to advance in the direction of #4 when #2 not engaging in the banter fires another round, which Sophia deflects with her forearm.
To her horror, she felt the same excruciating pain again of her arm scorched for the second time. Instinctively she dived out of the way as #3 and #4 fired rounds of their own one of them hitting her in the meat of her thigh. As she clutched her burnt leg, out of the corner of her eye she saw #1 finally up with his rifle locked on her.
In her head she screamed, “Move, dammit move!!” forcing her body to do what her mind commanded diving through the store front window of a Chinese restaurant as #1 lit up the sidewalk she was on.
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Far off from the battlefield in the safety of his black Sikorsky private helicopter, which also doubled as a command center.
The Director observed the action with a smile on his face, “So….you do have a weakness.”
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Back at the now war torn McPherson Square, #2 dropped out of the sky impacting the street and opening fire on the Chinese restaurant forcing Sophia to scramble to her feet and dive over the counter; she covered up now gripped with fear.
What was happening, why was her defensive invulnerability not kicking in? Clearly, her regenerative capability was still working, but the pain was far too much for her.
This was not a comic book and she was not a hero, or a soldier. She was a wife, a neurosurgeon, a girl from a regular family out of little Mount Vernon that just wanted a nice normal life.
This was crazy, colossal machines shooting at her, trying to kill her. She wanted to go home; she just wanted to go home.
It was just then that she remembered she no longer had a home because of the individuals outside. That she pushed this; she was the one who called them out, and why. Images of how defenseless and terrified Robert was just before they murdered him filled her head.
The final image of his face looking at her with tears in his eyes, the four years of agonizing hell she went through before they stuck the needle in her arm. The image of her dying for a crime she did not commit was what stoked the fire back in her.
“Get over yourself,” she thought, “You wanted this!”; “You called them out on live TV!” “You wanted to fight! You wanted this! You wanted this!”
Her defensive invulnerability may not work, but her other abilities did, as she willed herself to her feet and charged to the back of the store. She needed to get a bit of distance between herself and them so she smashed through the back door taking her to the alley.
Out of the way of gunfire for a few seconds, she took the time to reaffirm herself, “You’re not human anymore…you’re more…so start acting like it…”
The sound of thrusters and heavy metallic footsteps meant the hounds would be on her soon, she needed more distance, but not before snatching up a three hundred pound old cast iron manhole cover. She then quickly smashed through the steel door of the building in front of her. Sure enough, #2 hovered overhead, while #1 stood in front of one of the entrances of the alley hunting her.
“She’s in the next building! Move into position!” barked #1 scrambling.
Sophia ran from the back where she crashed through into a beauty parlor where the patrons and employees all huddled together hiding. They screamed as she walked into the middle of the floor.
“Sorry! Sorry!” she tried to calm them, she then quickly noticed a woman with a bright orange and red hairstyle, “Love the colors…”
She quickly crouched down and shot through the ceiling going four floors up into a dance studio where little ballerinas, their teacher, and parents huddled together screaming and crying.
Sophia rolled her eyes looking up not amused at another cosmic joke, “Really? Really?”
Before she could give her Creator the finger for constantly jamming her up, #2 hovered with guns armed ready to blow where she was standing to pieces, and she could not allow that happen. With a thought, she remembered Allen Dempsey from college who had a talent for throwing a Frisbee with such insane accuracy that he could hit a football in midflight as she hurled the manhole cover with the velocity of a patriot missile. An unsuspecting #2 took a manhole cover smack to the face of his B.A.M spinning it in mid-air. This gave Sophia the advantage she needed to charge and crash through the front window jumping on #2’s machine’s back getting a good grip and ripping off the back thrusters keeping it propelled in the air; she remembered seeing the move done in some super hero cartoon as a kid, thought it was a good idea and executed it flawlessly.
“Oh shit!” #2 screamed as he dropped into the street below like a stone.
#1 took aim to blast Dennison out of the sky but not before she threw the thruster still in her hand at him as he opened fired.
The plasma charge from his rifle blew the thruster up in his face blinding him. She remembered that from a movie she saw as a teenager, thought it was a good idea and executed it flawlessly. Sophia landed in front of a burning #1 attempting to swat the flames out, and charged right at him. As #3 and #4 rushed into position to take her down, Sophia already underneath him coiled up once again and leaped exploding off the concrete slamming into the upper chest of the B.A.M taking it into the air drilling it into the side of a building rattling #1 inside once again.
Because of her close proximity to #1, #3 and #4 were forced to watch as Sophia somehow managed to perform a one-arm shoulder judo throw in mid-air on the B.A.M weighing several tons dropping it back first on top of a parked SUV before landing herself.
“Screw the order…kill the bitch...now!” growled #3.
#3 and #4 took aim-opening fire, as Sophia continued her offense. She remembered the Flash live action TV series on CBS, forced to watch with her younger brother because of the one television in the living room, surprisingly she thought it was somewhat cool although she acted bored when she watched it. On the first try, she was able to mirror Barry Allen’s superhuman speed though not as fast as the special effects used to give John Wesley Shipp the ability on the television.
Using her newly learned Barry Allen moves, she combined her speed with memories of known football and basketball players using fancy footwork in order to evade barrages coming at her. It was like going for a touchdown or layup as she easily ducked, spun, and dipped through the hail of firepower destroying the block she was on in an attempt to kill her. The duo’s targeting system was no longer able to lock on her due to the speed she was moving. Sophia decided to make a mad dash for #3.
“She’s coming this way,” shuddered #3, “I can’t get a lock on her!”
#4 gave chase trying to line up a shot before Sophia reached his teammate, as #3 backed up as far as she could; her mech’s back thrusters scorched the building behind her.
She fired volley after volley which Sophia dodged, juked, and jived until she was out of her range; #3 cursed as she hit the thrusters taking her upward, but Sophia once again used her powerful legs to become airborne getting face to chest with #3’s machine.
“Shit…” said a frustrated and outmatched #3.
While this was going on #4 lined up a kill shot to the back of Sophia’s neck ignoring the bring back alive order, and knowing full well he could blow away his teammate in the process.
“Mine…bitch…,” he said licking his lips.