The First: EVO Uprising

by Kipjo Ewers

  Within the recreational room, Adrian and Oliver were going through another form of training as they squared off against one another. Feverishly clicking their controllers, they did battle as Marshall Law and Paul Phoenix in the video game realm of Tekken 6. The current score was two to one in Oliver’s favor.

  Oliver began his offensive unleashing one of Paul’s combo attacks, which Adrian weathered and then sidestepped.

  “I saw you coming out of my sister’s room the day before at 0500,” Adrian blurted out.

  His remark caused Oliver to fumble with his controller opening him up for combo attack from Marshall Law, which Adrian controlled. Oliver quickly put the game on pause, before turning to face him.

  “Look man…” he nervously began to explain.

  “My sister found our grandmother the day she passed away.” Adrian stared off into space as he spoke. “My folks didn’t believe in those old folks home crap because of all the evil shit they heard were done to the elderly while they were there. So when my dad’s mom got too old to take care of herself, she came to live with us. She was awesome and energetic for her old age, and we had a blast with her, especially Rosann.”

  Oliver leaned back a bit while continuing to listen to his teammate’s tale.

  “She was always the last to show up for breakfast,” he shrugged. “She was older and had a bad hip, but she always showed up in time to have breakfast with us and see us off to school. One day she seemed to take longer than usual and Dad sent Rosann to check on her. Five minutes later Rosann let out this blood-curdling scream. When we all ran in to see what was the matter, Rosann was curled in the corner of the room crying hysterically, and my grandma was laid out on the bed with her eyes wide open, and a painful contorted look on her face. Doctors said it was a stroke. Every night for about a year, she’d wake up crying and screaming from night terrors. The only time it didn’t happen was when I or my folks slept in the same room as her.”

  Adrian turned placing a firm grip on Oliver’s shoulder looking him in the eyes.

  “Thanks for looking out for her,” he said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Anytime.” Oliver smiled with a nod.

  With no more words needed to be said, Oliver unpaused the game restarting the battle.

  “So when are you really going to start dating my sister?” he blurted out again.

  Oliver fumbled again with his controller opening Paul Phoenix up again for a vicious sidekick from Marshall Law.

  “Dude!” Oliver fired back.

  Adrian, with his question, was either being nosey or using psychological warfare to get into his head in order to win the game.

  “I’m just saying man,” he shrugged while tapping the buttons, “it’s clear as day that you two had the Jones for one another since you met. Stop all the games, and make something happen already. Like my old man would say, ‘Life is short and so is Happy Hour.’”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Oliver asked while desperately attempting to recover from the beating he was taking.

  “I don’t know,” he shrugged again. “My old man’s always saying some crazy shit.”

  Another vicious combo attack secured Adrian the win.

  “Son of a…” Oliver yelled in frustration.

  “Oh yeah,” he grinned. “That’s tied at two, ready for the tie breaker?”

  “Hard-On’s a really stupid name,” Oliver blurted out turning to him, “and doesn’t do you justice.”

  Adrian wore a look as if he was hurt and offended, which made him almost regret saying it.

  “It really is a stupid name,” he nodded in agreement.

  “It is man,” Oliver broke down laughing, “It really is.”

  “It sounds like a bad washed up gonzo porn name,” Adrian screwed his face up.

  “It sounds like a low budget porn name, where it’s like done in a dirty motel room with a camcorder,” Oliver added. “So you see like every imperfection in both the girl and the guy while they’re doing it.”

  “Like a Hunts Point motel,” Adrian shivered.

  “I don’t know where that is,” Oliver smirked, “but by the look on your face, if it’s one of those places where you can catch an STD just by walking into the room, then yeah.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking when I came up with that name,” Adrian shook his head, “all the good ones were really taken!”

  “How about this one,” Oliver proposed, “Heavy Element.”

  He sat for a minute thinking about the name and then cracked a smile.

  “Heavy… Element,” he let it roll out of his mouth, “that sounds hot, it’s not stupid, sounds really badass, and covers all the basis regarding my abilities. Thanks!”

  “No problem.” Oliver cracked a smile. “Now let’s do this time breaker.”

  Oliver selected Brian Fury as his character, while Adrian picked Kazuya Mishima as they prepared to square off again.

  “Seriously,” Adrian asked throwing the first punch, “did you at least kiss her after you left her room?”

  Oliver fumbled again allowing him to open up with Mishima’s Electric Wind Godfist attack knocking his Brian Fury character off its’ feet. He gave Adrian a dirty look while getting back into the game.

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  Within the central command, Rogers sat alone in his old Marine military fatigues at one of the consoles watching CSPAN where various news anchors, reporters, and experts weighed in on the battle at Times Square. Though people mourned the loss of Captain Omega and the other heroes that fell on that day fighting to protect the city, the death toll on the human side tipped the scale as an example of what kind of threat superhumans posed to regular humans if left uncheck. This matter did not just divide the country but the world.

  Areas like the Midwest and the Middle East saw them as abominations and demons, while New York, California, and Japan to name a few viewed them as celebrities.

  Abe did not care about the politics, his mind was on making sure Times Square never happened in any part of the country under his watch again.

  He briefly glanced at the surveillance monitors housing the three captured members of the Zombie Nation within Purgatory.

  “Rogers, you there?” Erica came over the audio system.

  “Yeah, I’m here,” he answered.

  “Need you in my lab ASAP,” she shot back. “We have a problem.”

  “Will be there in two minutes.” He narrowed his eyes.

  He sucked in some air and then blew it back out. He had hoped the day would have ended as it started. Peaceful.

  Two minutes later, Rogers walked into Erica’s lab. The expression on her face said it all.

  “We’ve got a huge problem.” She flailed her arms. “I just finished watching the Draugr beheading Captain Omega…”

  “Why are you looking at something that gruesome?” Abe sneered, cutting her off.

  “Because that whole incident has been stuck in my mind!” she shot back. “Captain Omega was a class 10 Titan who tanked armor piercing rounds! The Draugr cut his head off with two strikes! Even if he got ahold of tank armor to forge his weapons there’s no way he should have been able to pierce his skin, especially in two strikes.”

  “But you said he’s above a class 10 Titan,” Rogers pointed out.

  “Based on the density of the Captain’s skin, the Draugr’s weapons should have hit him like a Porsche hitting a brick wall doing eighty! Nicked him at best!” she said. “I just finished doing an analysis on his weapons and armor. They’re not forged from ordinary commercial or military steel.”

  “What are they forged from?” Rogers furrowed his brows.

  She turned pulling up the scans and data from the weapons and armor.

  “The only type of metals that when properly forged can pierce dense EVO skin, Iridium blended with Maraging steel,” she explained. “The first is near impossible to find because it comes from
space, and the second is extreme difficult to forge. Combined, it comes an extremely close second in strength to my dark metal formula. There’s no way that lumbering mental midget down below had the brain cells to find and combine these two materials to create these weapons.”

  “How were they made?” Rogers’ asked.

  “My guess,” she swallowed, “a machine similar to my fabricator. The sword was also folded, two hundred times.”

  “Folded… like… samurai sword folded?” Abe narrowed his eyes.

  “Uhuh,” she nodded. “Yoshida Yasutaka could not forge this type of metal. The edges weren’t hand or machine sharpened either. They appear to have been heat treated… like by a laser. The same process was done to the Ghoul’s blades as well. It doesn’t end there.”

  Erica quickly punched up scans of the Ghoul’s outfit.

  “The Ghoul’s outfit is constructed from an experimental polyurethane material called Zero Drag and coated with hydrophobic nanoparticles. The combination creates a frictionless surface, the military has been testing it for new suits for Halo Jumpers,” Erica explained. “Once again none of those idiots downstairs would know how to properly use this stuff to construct this type of outfit.”

  “So you’re saying, this stuff was created in a lab,” Abe swallowed.

  “An R&D military lab,” she nervously nodded.

  A sick feeling went from Rogers’ stomach and onto his face.

  “Maxine, give me a visual of all the inmates in Purgatory,” Rogers ordered.

  Holographic displays appeared within the cells of the Ghoul, Nachzehrer, and the Draugr. All of them sat calm and quiet in their cells with devious grins on their faces as if they knew they would not be there long.

  “Do the other members of the Zombie Nation possess abilities to locate us or break through our defenses?” Abe turned to Erica.

  “The kid in the robe may have the ability to create a mental tether to the ones downstairs,” Erica answered, “in order to pinpoint our location. But there’s no way they could blast their way down to our level before we responded with heavy retaliation. On our turf we could bring them down in a matter of minutes.”

  The sick feeling was still with Rogers like a parasite, and Erica saw it all over his face. It said something, or someone, worse was coming.

  “Tell everyone to suit up. Put the base on high alert and lock everything down,” Rogers ordered.

  “Yes, sir,” Erica complied.

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  Five minutes after Rogers gave the order, something fast and powerful struck the main hanger entrance of the Ranch popping it like a balloon. Shrapnel rained down everywhere as whatever demolished the hanger in under a second tore through two and a half miles of rock and steel down to the base with no sign of being stopped until it hit the hanger section where the Tornado rested severing the ship in half, bringing down structures and destroying any Doozer within the vicinity of the impact.

  The entire base violently shook as explosions erupted. Black smoke bellowed, and debris rained and sprayed everywhere.

  Within Erica’s lab Rogers held her tight covering her as heavy ceiling tile rained down striking his dense frame.

  “Maxine!” Rogers barked, “Have we been breached?”

  “Confirmed,” Maxine reported, “intruder has breached the base. Defense system unable to detect approach before impact due to immense speed and velocity. Attempting to bring up visuals.”

  A holographic image of the destroyed hanger appeared. The smoke within the hanger was still thick as molasses. Yellow sinister glowing eyes sliced through it like butter. The owner stepped through the smoke with a grin that said she conquered hell and was ready to bring down heaven.

  She wore long, filthy, matted blonde dreadlocks, her red and brown leather outfit was that of a biker consisting of a red tank top, leather halter top, leathers pants, and high heel boots. A red three-ring choker wrapped around her neck, while tan leather wrist bands and a matching belt tightly encircled her arms and hips.

  “Fee. Fie. Foe. Fum,” were the first words audio picked up from her.

  “Maxine,” Rogers squinted his eyes, “what are we dealing with?”

  “Energy readings are on a bio-nuclear level,” Maxine confirmed. “Base readings are off the chart and unreadable.”

  “Oh god,” Erica quivered.

  She went limp in his arm. He lifted her up like an infant, holding her close.

  “Going into full defense mode,” Maxine began to initiate.

  All Doozers both large and small went into combat defense mode. The lights on their body went from blue to red as their backs opened up unloading two shoulder mounted ion plasma cannons. They all moved converging on the location of the mysteries female EVO.

  With no warning they all powered up and laid down a salvo of firepower striking her from all directions. Some of the smaller Doozers hung from walls and ceiling structures unleashing their plasma rounds to bring her down.

  Neither Abe nor Erica were surprised as the mystery woman tanked the murderous assault with very little discomfort. Having her fill of being pelted, her eerie yellow eyes blazed as she returned fire with powerful eyebeam blasts cutting down Doozers big and small.

  “Maxine,” Erica found her nerves again, “where is the rest of the team?”

  “Rosann is in the Hurt Locker suited up,” Maxine answered. “Oliver and Adrian were enroute to their rooms before the attack.”

  “Tell Rosann to get to the central command, send Jennifer enroute to back her up,” she commanded. “Send Angie to the guys and tell them to forget about suiting up and get there as well! Patch me into Dennison ASAP! Rogers put me down.”

  “What are you doing?” Rogers asked, setting her down.

  “You know who she came for.” She grabbed her earpiece putting it on. “She could be down there in less than a minute. We are currently outmatched in every way possible, and once she breaks those lunatics out, they will overrun us. We need to fall back to the central command.”

  “Massive energy buildup coming from the female EVO,” Maxine reported.

  Rogers and Erica turned back to the screen to view the mysterious female still taking fire from the surviving Doozers power up her right fist.

  “All communications are officially down,” she grinned.

  She slammed her fist into the ground unleashing a shockwave type energy discharge that swept through the entire underground facility shutting down everything electrical. The bigger Doozer’s collapsed while some of the smaller ones fell from their perches or the rafters they clung to crashing to the floor below. Maxine’s android form also collapsed hitting the floor with a hard thud as the power and lights went out in Erica’s lab. Red lights from the backup generator booted up within the lab and the base providing light and power to the facility.

  “That was an EMP,” Abe swallowed.

  “And a powerful one.” Erica shivered with a nod. “Maxine and the girls along with the Doozers are all built with anti-EMP shielding to defend against such an attack. She’ll reboot in five minutes, the Doozers in ten, and the entire base within twenty. Until then, everything including communication, is down.”

  “Enough time for her to get down to Purgatory.” Abe gritted his teeth.

  “The security Doozers down there are still operational due to distance between them and the blast,” Erica informed him, “but they won’t be able to slow her down, much less stop her.”

  ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

  Just as Erica had predicted, the extremely powerful blonde dynamo extended her right hand focusing. Her veins glowed an orange red as a red electrical discharge poured from the pores in her skin, dancing around her hand, forming a baseball size ball of energy in her palm. As she unleashed it, it expanded to twice the size of a manhole cover in circumference burning through the floor all the way down to t
he Purgatory prison unit. With no fear she walked right into the hole dropping a half mile down hitting the ground floor of the prison where she was met by two large and heavily armored Doozers with midnight blue and black color schemes opening fire on her. The powerful volleys from their shoulder cannons and four finger mitts where ten times more powerful than their counterparts upstairs as Lady Tech equipped them with a quadruple Ion core system. They were able to knock her backwards taking her off her feet. She rolled to her hand and one knee still brandishing the evil grin she wore upstairs.

  She answered the security Doozers’ attack was another powerful eyebeam blast burning a huge gaping hole through one of them igniting the ion cells within it. The explosion tore through the hallway of prison sending shrapnel flying everywhere. Its brother standing behind it for back up, took the brunt of its detonation, displaying superficial damage. It opened fire standing as a last line of defense between her and the prisoners.

  Employing superhuman speed she darted toward it. Now ready for it, she tanked its powerful shots slamming right into it. The Doozer fought to stop her forward motion by using its back legs to put on the breaks, but she proved to be far too powerful.

  She continued to push the behemoth of a machine backwards. The back rear legs of the four it had gave out simultaneously as she drilled it into the steel wall at the end of the hallway crushing its upper torso on impact.