by Kipjo Ewers
Sophia also looked the other way, blushing. Erica glanced at one and then the other. She cracked a smile at the uncomfortability taking over the room.
“I just remembered I have some work to do,” Rogers coughed, “we can continue our conversation later.”
He marched out of the room continuing not to make eye contact.
“Ms. Dennison,” he respectfully acknowledged with a head nod before exiting.
“Congratulations.” Lady Tech clapped with a smile. “That’s the first time I’ve seen the Sergeant uncomfortable about anything since I’ve gotten to know him.”
“Not as uncomfortable as I feel,” she stated while looking herself up and down again, while touching the fabric.
“You don’t like?” Erica’s face turned to disappointment.
“No I like it,” Sophia answered, “but it feels like I’m wearing nothing!”
“The plus side to being almost indestructible, is it is light weight with zero drag. You’re speed will increase without you even trying,” Erica returned with pride, “and here are some accessories.”
Erica pulled out a set of bracers comprised of metal and cloth material similar to the red color of Sophia’s new outfit.
“Wonder bands?” she sneered.
“Uh, no,” Erica said. “As you can see your outfit doesn’t have any room for pockets.”
She slid open one of the panels on the left bracer revealing a compartment.
“Left arm can hold cash, credit cards, etc, and the right… She slid back the panel on the right bracer. “…is basically a mini supercomputer with your own personal A.I. You can synchronize it to all of your devices. It has GPS, land, sea, aerial, orbital navigation, web browsing, you name it. Made of near indestructible materials, it is waterproof, can function in the lowest depths of the ocean, in extreme heats and subzero temperatures, basically can take a licking and keep on ticking… to a point.”
“To a point?” Sophia smirked.
“Yeah, it’s not going to survive planetary level rough housing or trips to the surface of the sun,” she shrugged.
She pulled out an ear piece within the brace positioned next to the mini computer.
“One push to activate and the earpiece expands and locks into your ear,” Erica instructed. “I put it through a wind tunnel test, and it’ll stay locked in up to speeds of Mach 30. It also operates in space, and underwater, however, you can only hear people. You’ll have to use the digital keyboard to text and send messages or emails in order to communicate in those environments. Enjoy.”
Sophia gratefully took them sliding one on at a time completing the look of her outfit.
“So what is this extremely expensive gift going to cost me?” she asked, looking them over.
“Eh, your money’s no good here,” Lady Tech dismissed. “But if you’ve got a couple more minutes to kill, I’d be happy if you tested out my new strength tester.”
“Strength tester?” she smiled.
“Yeah, I was going to have Rogers and Hard-On have a go at it tomorrow,” she shrugged again, “but since you’re here it would be nice if you would do the honors and break it in.”
“You’re also curious to get a baseline reading on me,” Sophia grinned, seeing through her innocent request.
“Well, we are women of science!”
“It’s okay. I’m a bit curious myself,” she nodded. “Just one thing. Someone has got to tell that boy that “Hard-On” is a horrible name.”
“Sounds like a name for a dirty looking crackhead porn star,” Lady Tech responded with a dull look on her face, “I mean like… Ron Jeremy dirty… in his elder years.”
“Young lady!” Sophia laughed.
“I’m just agreeing with you!” She smiled.
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Rosann walked the hallways in pink sweats and yellow flip flops heading back to her room. She turned the corner to see Oliver wearing a set of blue sweats with the Regulator’s symbol on the right breast coming from the opposite direction. She lowered her head pretending to be invisible. He turned looking at the wall to do the same as they passed each other.
“Hey.” Oliver turned finding the courage at the last second.
She froze in her tracks, took a big swallow, and then slowly turned to face him. He nervously strolled over to her taking a throat gulp himself.
“I… wanted to thank you,” he said, “for what you did in Times Square.”
“I… didn’t do anything.” She shook her head.
“Yeah, you did,” he nodded. “I was going to kill Jiang Shi, I really was, and I’m not just thanking you from stopping me from killing a lot of people. I know the Sergeant trained us to be soldiers, but I can’t lose sight of who I am, and why I got these powers… to be a hero.”
“Heroes don’t exist.” She rolled her eyes. “And people who pretend to be die, we saw that today. We lived because we’re soldiers.”
“We lived because of our training.” Oliver moved closer. “That shouldn’t define who we aspire to be. I joined this team because I wanted a better understanding of my abilities to help people. When I tried to hone my skills myself, I almost burnt down a neighborhood. Here I can learn control to both be and do better.”
“That’s all nice, Oliver.” Annoyance filled her voice. “But the truth is…”
“The truth is we all saw some really bad things today,” he cut her off. “Things that are going to haunt me for a long while. But I won’t let that shake my conviction, just like it didn’t shake Captain Omega’s, Seeker’s, or Lady Electrify’s. I’m not blind, I know that there may come a time where I may have to cross that line to protect people, I just hope that when that times comes. I used up every alternative option in my arsenal before that happens.”
She lowered her head. She didn’t agree with him, but she could not argue with him.
“Anyway,” he ran his hand through his white afro, “thank you.”
He turned heading in the direction of his room.
“Can you stay with me tonight,” she blurted out with eyes closed.
Her words froze him in his tracks. His face said he must be going deaf, and he was not sure if he should turn around to clarify what she said.
“I’m going to scream… in my sleep tonight,” she trembled. “I know it. I don’t want the embarrassment of people running into my room when I do. If someone is sleeping in my room tonight, I won’t scream. I’d ask Adrian… but I don’t want to worry him.”
“I’ll get one of the duffel bags and sleep on the floor.” He turned to her. “As long as I leave before five hundred hours, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Thank you,” she nodded
“Rosann, Adrian, Oliver, and Sergeant Rogers!” Erica’s voice boomed over the audio system, “can you please join me in the observation deck of the Hurt Locker. Thank you.”
“Now what?” Rosann looked at Oliver.
“Better go find out,” he shrugged.
They both walked side by side in the same direction.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
In the observation deck of the Hurt Locker, Adrian was the last to appear as everyone else stood looking through the window.
“What’s up?” He walked up, peering through the window. “What’d I miss?”
He, along with everyone else, looked into a transformed Hurt Locker where most of the ceiling and floor was removed. In its place was a large circular platform connected and held up by a massive piston attached to a huge energy generator at the bottom of the opening within the floor.
Standing on the platform was Sophia in her new outfit. Suspended over her head was another large circular disk attached to a piston connected to another generator within the ceiling.
“No fair!” Adrian whined and pouted turning to Erica. “You said I could test it first!”
“Stop bein
g a baby,” his sister cut her eyes at him, “you can play with it later.”
“Adrian I’ll make it up to you.” Erica gestured toward him before addressing everyone else. “But it’s not every chance you get to test the strength of EVO Zero.”
“So that’s the strength tester?” Roger’s confirmed.
“Oh yeah,” she gleefully nodded.
“How does it work?” Oliver asked.
“The strength tester works via a quantum gravitational field generator of my own design,” Erica explained. “The plate she is standing on continuously simulates baseline Earth gravity as if standing on normal solid ground, while the plate on the top when magnetically polarized simulates the weight of whatever structure I punch up.”
Bottom and top plates lowered and rose to meet each other. As they lock into position, Sophia placed her right hand up bracing the top plate.
“As you ready, Ms. Dennison?” Erica asked, projecting her voice through the Hurt Locker’s audio system.
With a nod Sophia stood ready.
“So the first test,” she punched up on her tablet, “the Empire State building.”
A holographic image of the iconic building projected on Lady Tech’s computer tablet. The plate that Sophia held up with one arm made a thunderous booming sound, while the hydraulic platform she stood on slightly lowered. She however did not budge an inch.
“She is now holding up 392,942.25 tons,” Erica smiled, “with one arm.”
“Ain’t that kind of easy?” Hard-On scoffed. “I could probably lift that in a transformed stated.”
“No you can’t.” Rosann rolled her eyes.
Hard-On sharp elbowed his sister in her arm; she retaliated with a smack to the back of his skull. Rogers ended it with a glare.
“Okay,” Erica bit her lower lip, “let’s make this a little harder. Let’s drop the total mass of Earth’s atmosphere on her.”
The plate made a loud earth shaking booming sound this time. With lightning quick speed Sophia had to adjust to holding the plate with two hands. Her arms buckled bringing the plate inches to the top of her head. She pushed back with an inhale and a slow exhale lifting the plate back up over her head. The hydraulic platform she stood on groaned as it lowered closer to the floor.
“She’s now holding 5.5 quadrillion tons, or roughly one millionth of Earth’s mass,” announced Lady Tech.
“You can do that in your transformed state?” Rosann smirked sarcastically.
Hard-On politely responded with an arm-folded middle finger.
“That’s a huge leap from a building.” Rogers turned to her. “How did you know she could take it?”
“Remember what we discussed earlier?” She glanced his way. “Trust me, she can take it.”
Rogers nodded, continuing to look on as everyone else wondered what they were talking about.
“Alright,” Lady Tech thumbed her nose. “Time to bring the rain. Maxine, let’s start with one hundred sextillion tons and increase it from there.”
“Polarizing platform with equal anti-gravity force to neutralize the effects of planetary weight,” Maxine informed everyone.
The platform she stood on elevated back out of the floor coming slightly back to the position it was before the first test.
“One hundred,” Maxine announced.
No sound could describe the sound that hit the plate, only that it made Sophia’s arms buckle while forcing a groan out of her.
“Two hundred,” informed Maxine.
Her legs almost went out underneath her as she fell to a crotched position. They shook violently as she struggled to hold up the weight.
“Three hundred,” informed Maxine.
She groaned again as the plate once again lowered near the top of her head, while her shivering left knee slowly neared the platform.
“I think she’s reached her limit,” observed Rogers.
“Tests ends when one of her knees hits the platform,” Lady Tech said to Rogers. “What do you say. Ms. Dennison? Want to stop?”
“Keep… it… coming,” growled Sophia.
Her body violently shook as she was hit with another hundred sextillion tons making the total four hundred that she held over her head. Her left knee was now an inch or so from the platform.
“She’ll be done after this next one hundred,” Lady Tech announced. “It’s still pretty impressive considering…”
“Subject’s bioenergy levels increasing,” Maxine informed. “By one percent…two percent.”
Sophia’s eyes blazed as she gritted her teeth emitting a groan. First, she began by straightening out her torso. She then got both of her legs underneath her in a squatting position. With another deep inhale and slow exhale she began pushing back again forcing the plate up as she got to a standing position. With another inhale and exhale, she pushed the plate back up over her head locking out.
“Current bioenergy levels are at one hundred and five percent,” Maxine informed the team of onlookers.
Everyone wore a thunderstruck look on his or her face except for Rogers.
“Five hundred,” announced Maxine.
Another near white noise like boom came. Sophia was once again unmoved as yellow lights flashed inside the strength-testing chamber.
“What the hell is happening.” Hard-On’s voice nervously stuttered.
“Systems reaching their limits,” sighed Lady Tech.
“Shall we initiate shutdown?” Maxine asked.
“Let’s take it to the fail safe,” Erica smirked. “What’s her output reading?”
“Current levels still at one hundred and five percent,” informed Maxine. “Administering another hundred sextillion tons.”
Another white noise booming sound hit the plate, this time the lights in the chamber turned orange. Sophia’s hands began to imprint into the near impenetrable plate, while her feet sunk imprinting into the platform beneath her. She remained the immovable object.
“Current levels still at one hundred and five percent,” informed Maxine. “Administering another hundred sextillion tons.”
Another white noise booming sound hit the plate. Sophia’s eyes blazed brighter as she remained immovable. Lights within the chamber became a fire red as a siren went off.
“Systems have reached their limits at seven hundred sextillion tons. Administering failsafe shut down,” informed Maxine. “Final bioenergy level readings are at one hundred and six percent.”
As the fields shut down, the platform lowered locking back into its piston base, while the plate above her head retracted back to the top of the cylinder chamber.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” exhaled Erica, “we’ve officially recorded our first planet mover.”
“Planet mover?” Hard-On looked at Lady Tech as if she was crazy. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope.” She projected the reading on her tablet into a holographic image for all to see.
“Ms. Dennison’s baseline strength while functioning at one hundred percent is about one hundred sextillion tons give or take,” explained Lady Tech. “She however has reserve energy that her body stores. She can tap into the reserves for additional strength involuntarily if her body is being over exerted the additional output that Maxine was detecting. A five percent increase from her reserves allowed her to lift five hundred sextillion tons. Her output increased one percent for every additional two hundred sextillion tons added before the strength tester gave out. The Earth’s mass is calculated at about 6.580 sextillion tons. If her reserves are equal to her base energy levels, I’d say she’d only need to exert a combined total of one hundred and sixty-eight percent of bio energy powered force to move the planet; if it was possible to move it without it breaking apart in the process.”
All eyes were on Sophia, as she stood tall; her eyes slowly reverted to their normal glowing hue indicating that her power levels were back to their regular state.
“Planet mover people,” Erica cackled to herself. “Planet mover.”
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Ten minutes later, Abe and Erica escorted Sophia topside.
“Sergeant Rogers,” she extended a hand apologetically, “Sorry for trying to choke you in New York.”
“Not the first time a woman’s attempted to strangle me,” he smirked, shaking her hand. “Thanks again for your help.”
