The First: EVO Uprising

by Kipjo Ewers

  “I’ll kill you!” he whimpered, clawing the air to get to her. “You bitch! I’ll kill you!”

  She increased her grip on his throat making his body stiffen up as he struggled to breathe. With a slight flex of her arm, her hand began to glow siphoning energy from him through the pores of her skin. Her eyes glowed brighter as she nourished enough energy to drain him down to his blue and white form.

  “No need to get uppity baby. You will be joining your team very soon.”

  She pulled him closer to whisper in his ear.

  “Do you know why energy wielders like you die when you drain them of all their power?” she softly asked.

  He groaned to break free of her iron grip knowing what was coming next.

  “It’s because the power within you is the same energy that allows you to function and live,” she smirked. “The electricity running through your nervous system and brain is all the same. So when that is drained… all brain function and vital organ slowly shut down. I understand it’s a very terrifying way for your type to die.”

  She flexed her arm a bit tighter, causing her hand to glow brighter. Oliver frantically yelled, struggling to break free as the power within him was painfully being ripped away from him and into her.

  She was right, he did not want to die. He did not want to leave this world, his family, his new family. Most importantly, he did not want to leave her. He had so much to say, so much to tell her, and this woman was taking it all away from him with a smile.

  His plasma form went from bluish-white to his regular white form before disappearing. As his breathing became difficult due to his lungs failing, his eyes began to flicker as he weakly struggled to break free. Even his falling tears did not sway her from taking his life as she looked him dead in the eyes.

  His eyes went cold, his body limp, as she squeezed every spark of power out of him until there was just a shell to release.

  No one even winced as his body hit the floor.

  Her eye shined brighter from the power she absorbed from a lifeless Oliver. She looked intoxicated as she glanced at her glowing hand crackling with a red electrical discharge before powering it down.

  “She’ll be here any minute, so I will go up first to distract her,” she commanded. “Asses back to the base, and wait there till I return. Understood?”

  They all nodded as she took off flying back up through the massive tunnel that she made to the top. The Draugr and Nachzehrer used their powerful legs to leap to the surface, while the Ghoul used his speed to run pass them all the way back to the top. They all waited inside what was left of the hanger as the mysterious blonde powerhouse was the first to exit as planned.

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

  Sophia’s heart quickened as she flew up to see the black smoke wafting from the obliterated hanger. She touched down throwing off the backpack her mother gave her as someone emerged from it.

  The blood in her veins began to burn as the woman got closer and closer. Her eyes and hair were indeed different, she looked much stronger, but there was no mistaking that obnoxious sadistic smile as she confidently swaggered over to her.

  “I know! I know!” #3 grinned throwing her hands up. “For a woman who was suppose to die screaming, I look damn good, right?”

  Her whole world became white as she detonated the air around her taking flight. An inaudible sound of blind rage emitted from her lips sent animals within earshot running for cover as she propelled herself toward the woman she knew as #3. Surprisingly, #3 stood her ground as she prepared to take a hit equivalent to ten thousand exajoules of force.

  The impact unleashed a sonic boom sound similar to a mini-nuke as Sophia struck #3 with a flying shoulder tackle taking both of them airborne. The speed she was moving at was beyond Mach 20. Blinded by rage, she lost track of direction. Her focus was set on putting #3 through the largest structure within her vicinity, which at her current speed took her halfway around the world and straight toward the Matterhorn.

  In one strike, the most renowned mountain bordering Switzerland and Italy was shattered. Massive chunks of mountain rained down while causing an avalanche obliterating everything in its path.

  The ride did not stop as a reckless Sophia sent them crashing into the heart of the Forest Fun Park bringing down trees with zip lines and other structures. Visitors and tourists ran and screamed searching for safety, while those within the aerial tramways, bawled and cried clinging onto whatever they could grab to hold onto including one another as it swayed back and forth.

  Sophia pulled herself off of a downed tree. Realizing what her unchecked emotions had done, she quickly pulled herself together. The first thing she had to do was save the male tourist falling from a snapped zip line and then stabilize the shaking structure attached to trees.

  Her hair stood on the back of her neck as she leaped through the sky catching the screaming zipliner in midfall setting him down. She could not stop to check if he was okay as she bolted to secure the massive metal tower. She pushed it downward into the ground to secure it.

  It was all for knot as an orange and red energy blast blew the top of the tower apart snapping the cables sending two suspended carts falling and crashing to the ground.

  “Noooooo!” Sophia screamed.

  #3 stood sneering in the center of the chaos. With a hand gesture, she beckoned Sophia to come at her. Drenched with fury, she obliged, propelling herself toward her. It sounded like a bomb detonating as she slammed into her again driving her through the dense forest woods.

  Trees shattered in half as Sophia drove her backwards through thick foliage to beat her to death in an isolated area. Ice chills ran throughout her body as she realized she was slowing down. #3 bared down, straightening her body into a slanting position, trenching the ground with her feet.

  Sophia stopped her forward thrust landing on her feet. Her plan was to grab #3 by her legs lifting her up, and then go airborne again going straight up. Before she should put her plan into motion, #3 revealed that she was not only disturbingly stronger but faster than Sophia.

  She leaped up before she could react and deliver a crushing elbow to the upper part of Sophia’s spine. She felt every bit of it.

  Pain, in the almost seven years since her reawakening, she had not felt—the type that #3 delivered to her. Not even the Draugr’s lucky shot to the nose hurt as much. The elbow to the back felt as if her spine was shattered. She followed up with a knee to the gut that felt as if she cracked several of her ribs. So much so that she could not prepare for the earthshaking uppercut knocking her into the upper stratosphere of the planet. Blood poured and froze as it left Sophia’s mouth while her eyes witnessed literal stars and planets. The cobwebs and pain rattling her body and mind was dispersing too slowly for her to defend herself. #3 now airborne had caught up with her in a matter of seconds. This time it was her turn to deliver a swooping shoulder tackle to the gut, which hurled both women back down to Earth. Their atmospheric reentry lit up the heavens.

  The material used to create Sophia’s new outfit, gifted to her by Lady Tech, held against the scorching heat of their downward angled plunge. #3’s leather ensemble held as well, though it took more damage and abuse from the god-like roughhousing. She did not care as she cackled insanely while strafing across the skies of England looking to pay Sophia back for the Matterhorn.

  The target of her aggression was innocent Big Ben.

  Sophia, realizing where she was heading, fought to break from her grip, but it was too late.

  The famed clock tower exploded similar to an egg in a microwave, those watching the scene in horror ran for their lives as debris from the Elizabeth Tower rained down crushing everything and everyone unfortunate to not have gotten out of the way. The rest of the tower’s now weakened structure gave way and came crashing down as well, while #3 and Sophia plowed into the Palace of Westminster.

  It went up like a lit M-80 stuffed inside of a birdhouse.
Smoke bellowed everywhere as pieces of the historical structure collapsed in on itself, some of it fell outward falling into the River Thames. The seismic hit also claimed the Westminster Bridge tearing it apart; sending it into the river. The destruction and loss of life was immeasurable.

  Sophia groaned as several tons of the Palace laid on top of her, while a high pitched ringing went off in her ear. She employed her eyebeams to slice a path through the rubble. With a couple of swipes and kicks she unburied herself.

  As quickly as it came, the ringing disappeared as she slowly staggered to her feet. Now filled with the sound of fire, structures crumbling, and the screams of the trapped and dying, she clutched her chest looking around at the destruction and mayhem. Black smoke blotted out the little sun that shined making it nearly impossible to see. It was hell on Earth that she was partially responsible for creating.

  “No… no… no,” Sophia coughed, close to tears.

  Her ears also picked up another sound through the madness. It was the insane laughter of joy.

  “Whooooo! That shit was hot!” howled #3. “Nothing like a bit of mass destruction to make you feel more alive!”

  Her bright-yellow glowing eyes, and ear-to-ear grin, made her look more monstrous as she stood basking amongst the ruin.

  “What did you do?” a male voice screamed. “What did you fucking cunts do?”

  Both women turned to see five mortified superhumans dressed in colorful British flag like attire and body armor; the UK’s superhuman military unit known as the Lions of Elizabeth.

  Their leader, who went by the name Knight Light, was a powerful Apollo class EVO and one of the few to channel and manipulate photon energy on a destructive level. He was the only one hovering above his team adorned in a bodysuit that was styled with a star on his chest and forearms, and the Union Jack flag over the entire bodysuit. Similar to Sophia and other energy wielders of the solar and electrical spectrum, his eyes glowed a yellowish-white. He was also the one who addressed them in a crude manner.

  “Look around “bright boy, what you think happened?” #3 callously gestured. “My girl and I happened to be roughhousing and did a little remodeling of this piece of shit country of yours. Fuck you very much. Now piss off, before you piss me off.”

  “Take them!” he howled at his team. “Dead or alive, take them both!”

  “No wait… I’m not with…” Sophia help a hand up.

  Her attempt to reason with them was cut short by a furious gust of water capable of punching a hole through a brick wall. She could have powered through it if she was not caught off guard. Instead, she was blasted a good thirty feet by the team’s water wielder codenamed the Lady of the Lake.

  She quickly recovered, rolling to her feet, only to be set upon by the water wielder and the team Mercurian speedster, Sir William Swift.

  His Union Jack bodysuit was styled with a flashy wind pattern design. He also wore a ballistics mask that carried the same pattern to hide his identity. Furiously he circled Sophia moving six times the speed of sound. He moved in and out of his circular running pattern to get close enough to strike her with a right cross that could remove a human head at the velocity he was running. The act was nothing but annoying to her, and she would have grabbed him had it not been for the Lady of the Lake slamming her repeatedly with typhoon salvos of water. An impressive technique they both mastered.

  Through the blur and the water pelting Sophia could see that Knight Light and the rest of his team consisting of Jack the Giant, a Titan class EVO, and Foundation, a female Elemental EVO with abilities similar to Adrian, attempting a triple team #3.

  It was going worse than she feared.

  Knight Light’s powerful photon blast capable of cutting an aircraft carrier in half did not even singe her skin. Sophia had a gut feeling it was also strengthening her. The woman known as Foundation placed her hand on a broken column of the Palace transforming her body into its properties. She then grasped the fifteen ton column breaking it off to use it as a blunt object.

  Jack the Giant attempted a Mixed Martial Art shoot on her to tackle her to the ground, but a far more powerful and skilled #3 stuffed his attempted and upended him with a knee that lifted him off his feet.

  Unlike Sophia, who only expelled a couple trickles of blood, Jack the Giant found himself on his knees clutching his gut. His body violently trembled from the devastating hit as he threw up blood and bile.

  Sophia had to remove her before she caused more senseless deaths. In one swift move she extended her arm clotheslining Sir William Swift out of his running pattern and into a painful tailspin. She made sure to strike him in the solid upper part of his chest as opposed to his neck to avoid beheading him. He hit the floor brutally hard but would recover in a matter of minutes.

  She then powered through the Lady of the Lakes powerful hydro stream blasts grabbing both of her arms. She applied enough pressure to stop her from channeling anymore water molecules.

  “Ow! Ow! Ow!” she screamed.

  Sophia could see both the anger and tears in her eyes mixed with fear.

  “I’m not the enemy, so stop hitting me with water,” Sophia said sternly, “You and your fast friend over there need to focus on putting out these fires and helping the wounded. I’ll deal with that mad woman before she hurts or kills anyone else. Understood?”

  The Lady of the Lake frantically nodded that she would comply. Sophia released her long enough to see #3 standing punt Jack the Giant through an already broken wall structure and smash the column Foundation attempted to used as a club into rubble with a swat of her forearm. With blinding speed she grabbed her by her throat lifting her off her feet forcing Knight Light to end his futile photon barrages in fear of hitting his teammate.

  #3 grinned as she prepared to crush her marble stone neck popping her head off.

  Sophia blindsiding her with another shoulder tackle, whisked her into the air, saving Foundation from the gruesome death. She hit the floor hard. Clutching her throat, she was visibly shaken, even in her transformed state. Knight Light landed running to her side to check on her. He briefly turned, looking up at the sky with rage and sadness in his eyes.

  Several thousand miles up the two women, cursed, screamed, clawed, punched, kneed, and kicked at each other at unimaginable speeds. Neither one of them paid attention to their flight pattern as they now flew over the Sahara.

  #3 executed a Judo Tomeo-nage or Circle throw in midair hurling her off. Before Sophia hit the sand she was able to grab a handful of #3’s blonde dreads. #3 screamed as she pulled slinging her downward by her hair. She tore through a sand dune and kept tumbling while Sophia impacted the sand, sliding across it at high speeds, spraying sand everywhere before stopping. She spat up a mouthful of sand that she ate as she slowly rose to her feet.

  As the blazing sun beat down on her, there was not an innocent soul in sight. Her ears propped up to the sound of foul language. Slowly she turned to see the person she had been trying to kill for the second time in the past forty-five minutes dusting herself off.

  “Asshole!” she screamed with a snarl on her face. “If you wanted to get me alone to talk all you had to do was ask! I swear if you pulled out one dread.”

  As #3 checked her hair to ensure none was ripped out, a blindly enraged Sophia attempted to rush her again. Two feet away from closing the gap, #3 extended her right hand charging an orange and red soccer ball size of energy stopping her in her tracks.

  “Careful!” she warned. “You know how one of these works once I let it fly. How many towns do you think I can destroy in a single blast before you get to me? Now are we going to talk like adults or make more bodies to bury?”

  “How are you still alive?!” screamed Sophia.

  “Search your thoughts Luke…” sneered #3. “After the trouncing you gave me, before you kamikazed me into that nuke, which let me go on record to say was way over the fucking line to anything I’ve ever done to you. I should have been dead. Blow to bits, atomized ashes, so
what did you do to ensure my survival?”

  Sophia began searching her memory, fast forwarding, freezing, and analyzing their one-sided battle before their supposed nuclear end almost seven years ago.

  “I’ll give you a hint,” said #3. “It was before you said… “That’s… for Charlie.”

  Sophia staggered backwards shaking her head as her memory fell on that one moment before her remark.

  “No.” She shook her head.

  “Oh yeah,” #3 grinned, “your knack for being a petty little bitch is what saved my ass. My already enhanced cells combined with your blood allowed me to heal and adapt faster than you. Mind you, it wasn’t enough juice to even the odds against you in our first scuffle, but it was enough to open my cells up and absorb the energies from the nuke that engulfed us both. Kind of makes you wish you had blown me to ashes like you did #1.”

  Her words took some of the fight out of Sophia, allowing her to ease up and power down the crackling pulsating ball of death she held.