The First: EVO Uprising

by Kipjo Ewers

  Erica and Kimberly looked at each other, and then burst into laughter as the Eye of Ra brandished a huge smirk on his face comprehending the joke.

  “Don’t laugh!” Sophia pouted with a stomp. “I was out there for like two days figuring out how to power down, which was almost impossible because I kept absorbing vacuum and electromagnetic energy! It also takes a massive toll on my body!”

  Her plea and explanation did not end the laughter.

  “I’m sorry!” Erica choked. “I’m just picturing you out there screaming and waiting for your hair to turn yellow!”

  In the midst of the laughter and celebration, Rogers communicator went off. Checking the caller I.D. on his bracer, he patched in via his headset.

  “So how long am I suppose to babysit David Draiman’s illegitimate offspring?” Shintobe’s voice came through. “She’s just laying here drooling all over the pavement of DC. It’s like mad depressing.”

  “I can ask the big man in gold to open up one of those portals so you can bring her to us,” Abe smirked. “I’d like to thank you personally for a job well done.”

  “Now, you damn well I retired from the spotlight,” she scoffed. “You want to thank me. Buy me dinner sometime.”

  “You got a deal.” He grinned. “We’ll be there in a couple of minutes to collect her. Thanks for everything… champ.”

  “You too… champ,” Shintobe returned.

  Abe cut off his communicator turning to see Lady Tech looking at him from afar with a sly smirk on her face.

  He made a gesture wondering what was her problem.

  “Oh nothing,” she smirked whispering in his mind, “just wondering when you were going to tell me that you had the Queen of Queens on speed dial.”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he shot back, “and get out of my head.”

  “Sure you don’t,” she snorted.

  After checking to see that every last one was alive, not badly injured, and counted for, Sophia made her way to the Sergeant to extend her gratitude for saving her island and people.

  “I’m in your debt, Sergeant,” she held out a hand.

  “This isn’t all our doing,” he shook her hand, “that little girl of yours takes after her mother. She’s the one who took down the Draugr.”

  A wide-eyed Sophia slowly turned to Kimberly a few feet off talking to Kyle, Akram, and the rest of the kids about how she had helped her mother save the world.

  “She did.” She pointed in disbelief.

  “She sent that son a bitch to an ice cold hell where he belongs.” He pointed upward. “That’s one hell of a kid you got there.”

  “I’m finding that out every day.” She smiled, looking at her.

  “Miss, I am detecting an EVO inbound,” Maxine announced out of nowhere. “Energy signature is similar to…”

  Before she could make confirmation, the intruder landed sending sand spraying everywhere. Villagers scurried away screaming behind Sophia and the battle ready team curious to know who would attempt to attack them when they were at their strongest. As the mini sand storm rested, the beach became dead silent in disbelief.

  “What did I miss?” an exhausted Oliver asked with his left arm in a sling.

  The uneasy silence remained as Erica covered her mouth while her eyes poured like a fountain. Her body trembled as if she was about to collapse.

  Adrian stood there as well, running his hand through his hair shaking his head. His eyes could not keep dry either as he shook his head in disbelief.

  Rogers was the first to move as he holstered his sidearm and walked up to Oliver. He stood toe to toe with him giving him a slow look over.

  “Sir I…” Oliver began to formerly report in.

  He was stopped as Abe grabbed him by the back of his neck pulling him in for a hug that took everyone aback, especially Oliver. He held him tight as if he was his son, making it impossible for Oliver to keep his own emotions contained.

  Abe finally released him still holding the back of his head as he looked him in the eye still in disbelief that it was actually him.

  “Thought we lost you, son,” Rogers voice cracked.

  “I thought I lost you all,” Oliver smiled.

  “How?” a wide-eyed Erica stepped forward. “You were gone… for almost two hours… you weren’t breathing, there was no heart beat, no brainwaves… how?”

  Oliver pulled out Adrian’s platinum crucifix from his sling holding it up.

  “You?” Erica close to falling out turned to him. “You did this?”

  “I couldn’t let my best gaming buddy go without a fight,” he shrugged, wiping his eyes.

  “But how?” she began to press.

  “It’s from your lessons,” he reminded her. “You stressed how the virus genetically transformed our bodies making us different from regular humans. When I went to go see him off, I touched his hand, it was still warm even after all that time. It was a gamble, but I figured brain functions took longer to die in people like us. Something you probably missed because you were upset. So before I left, I took a chance and hooked up the defibrillator to him. I set it to its highest level, hitting him with a jolt every two minutes for thirty minutes. Everything else I left at the Big Man’s feet upstairs. Hoping He understood that we needed him more than He did.”

  Erica smiled realizing how truly awesome Adrian was when he was not acting like an adolescent, and how she in some ways was still one.

  The awkward silence returned as a doe eyed Rosann slowly approached. Everyone on the beach, and the world disappeared in that moment leaving just her and him. Inches away from him, she seemed as if she was about to back away and run as he smiled at her. Slowly she reached out touching his chest. Her eyes widened as if it was the first time touching it. The more she touched it, the less she was able to contain her tears.

  She began using both hands on both sides of his chest, she gave it a hard tap, before running her right hand up his neck to his face touching his cheek. He grabbed and held her with his good arm as her legs went out from underneath her. Her uncontrollable sobs of joy delivered tears to everyone watching.

  “You heard me,” she cried in his arms. “You heard me and came back to me.”

  “No I didn’t,” he whispered with a smile, “but you can tell me again.”

  She told him again with a deep kiss. He answered her back kissing her deeper.

  It triggered cheers and applauds from everyone, even those who were not privy to the full story. To them it was as memorable as “The Kiss” photo. The battle was over; Sanctuary and the world was safe once again.

  Amidst the celebration, Lady Tech saw Rogers with a sour look on his face. She indiscreetly sauntered over to him to see what troubled him in the midst of their monumental victory.

  “There’s still more work for us to do.” She looked at him. “Isn’t there?”

  “Yeah,” he nodded, “we have a lot of work to do.”

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

  1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC:

  Abe marched through the halls of the Pentagon with Erica in tow making a beeline for Secretary Graves’ office. Anyone who attempted to stand in his way, he violently threw out of it. Those who bore witness to his act of violence wisely moved out of his way. He pushed through Graves’ double Oakwood doors to find him sitting behind his desk as if waiting for them.

  “By all means, do come in and have a seat,” Graves greeted them with sarcasm.

  Rogers walking up, pulled out one of the visitor seats. He removed his sidearm placing it on the desk facing Graves then took a seat.

  “Now what may that be for?” He motioned to the gun.

  “It’s to shoot you in the face with, if I find out you’ve been lying to me,” Abe flatly answered.

  He turned to Erica doing a scan on her tablet.

  “Found it,” she confirmed.

  She extended her hand employing telekinesi
s to rip the metallic disk from his forehead along with the fake patch of skin.

  Rogers finally turned to Graves giving him a dull look.

  “My team and I just got back from the North Pole,” Abe began, “where we tracked down and captured the last member of the Zombie Nation held up in a barge partially stuck in an iceberg. We confirmed that all of the original occupants except for one, were all dead. They apparently kept this poor bastard alive to fabricate the weapons and gear they used against us. The rest were killed and tossed overboard to be chow for fish or polar bears. What was interesting about this barge, was the top to bottom R&D we found from body armor, weapons, and a butt load of other tech that only my friend here to tell me about. All of this shit fell into the hands of a murderous psychopathic bitch, and her equally psychopathic goon squad. And what gets my goat, is that barge and everything on it, is related to a project that was supposed to be completely shut down seven years ago. This is where you determine whether I ask Ms. Champion to please wait outside while I shoot you in the face.”

  Graves inhaled and exhaled as he leaned forward in his chair to look Abe in the eyes.

  “The genetic side of Project Evolution was shut down,” he dryly answered, “however, that was only a small fraction of the project. As you are both well aware not all of us are blessed with your “attributes.” We still employee several hundred thousand non-superhuman troops who defend this country. The latest tech and weaponry under development there and our other facilities was meant to equip them in the near future. Back then, as you probably already figured out, we shuffled D.E.A.D members to the facilities when they needed to familiarize themselves with weapons or equipment for their missions. Not the other way around. Which is why she knew the location of that facility, and possibly others.”

  “How many others are out there?” Abe scowled.

  “That information is classified,” Graves huffed, “and you will have to shoot me before I divulge that to you. However, I will say ninety percent were closed near the ending and beginning of 2008 and 09. And before you chew my head off about irresponsibility, Sergeant, the report after the destruction at Mount McLoughlin was that all four members of the D.E.A.D were D.E.A.D.”

  “You knew she had possession of that barge,” Erica snarled, “didn’t you? How long?”

  “Does it really matter?” he smirked, “it’s over. The members of the Zombie Nation are either dead or captured, #3 finally eliminated, the world and its leaders all safe because of your efforts.”

  “You’re not making an argumentative case for me putting a slug in your brainpan.” Abe leaned forward.

  “For what Sergeant?” Graves scoffed, “a couple hundred casualties? You’re a soldier, you know battles are never clean. And majority of that blood is on the hands of #3 and your new best friend. You want to kill me because of our government’s methodology of warfare? I hope you brought enough bullets because you’ll have to shoot everyone in this building, the Senate, the House, and then make your way to the White House.”

  Both Abe and Erica glared at Graves in hopes of burning a hole through him. His Teflon demeanor made him impervious to their death stares.

  “You superhumans think you know what real power is because you can lift heavy objects, fly, or move things with your mind,” he smirked. “Real power is about progression and building a network of likeminded individuals to ensure that progression continues to move forward. That network would happen to be the United States Government, and our progression is greater than any known force in the universe. The world believes that Asia is now the leaders in technological advancement, and that is what we want them to believe. Because the final key to real power is being a better poker player than everyone else, and them never ever seeing your hand… until it is too late.”

  His words unsettled Erica.

  “No need for the disturbed looks.” He rolled his eyes. “This is how we’ve done business since the founding of this nation. And in my opinion it’s far more honorable than using religion to brainwash simpletons into suicide bombings.”

  If there was humor in Graves’ last statement, neither Abe nor Lady Tech found it, and Graves did not care as he picked up his own tablet.

  “Now that we’ve established that we’re still on the same team,” he started to scroll through his email, “you will excuse me as I have more pressing business to attend to. Consider you saving the world a free pass on intending to assassinate me in my own office.”

  Rogers sat there for a minute more as Erica looked at him wondering what else he had planned. He slowly rose from his chair taking his pistol from table holstering it. He then about-faced without a word leaving Graves’ office. Erica cut the Secretary of Defense one final dirty look before following him out.

  “Why did we just walk out?” She got to the point.

  “Was he lying about anything?” Rogers flatly asked.

  “Don’t answer a question with a question,” she shot back, “and no, shockingly he was telling the truth.”

  “He was telling the truth about some things,” he answered. “He’s still a lying son of a bitch and hiding something.”

  “Language,” she reminded him.

  “Sorry,” he said flatly. “We still don’t have any grounds to blow his brains out.”

  “So what’s the plan?” she pressed.

  “The plan is to keep doing what we’re going,” he answered, “while working to find the answers while on the inside.”

  “Which means remaining dogs of the military,” she sighed.

  “Say what?” he glanced at her.

  “An anime thing,” she dismissed, “explain to me why we didn’t bring up the Holy Grail?”

  “Because he would both deny it and know that we know about this Holy Grail,” Abe responded, “as long as he doesn’t know, we’re free to search and find out what the hell it is.”

  “I like that plan,” she nodded.

  “Me too,” he grunted.

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

  Back in the Secretary of Defense’s office Graves continued to nonchalantly sit and read his tablet as Mendes walked in.

  “Are we clear?” Graves asked.

  “Yes sir,” Mendes nodded, “we’ve also swept the office, there are no traces of a bug of any kind.”

  “Well that was interesting.” He cleared his throat.

  “I don’t understand how you were able to hide the truth from her sir,” a baffled Mendes said.

  “Ms. Champion should have taken the time to focus on her natural abilities,” Graves smirked, “then maybe she would have been able to pick up what her devices could not detect.”

  Mendes still wore a face that said he did not have a clue what Graves was talking about, until a woman with light brown hair, and gray eyes in a black two piece power suit walked into the Secretary’s office standing at attention before him.

  “This is agent Lockwood.” He gave a gestured introduction. “One of our top C.I.A field agents and also a Promethean Class Ten EVO. She’s been monitoring the Regulator team and informed me that the good Sergeant was enroute to this office, which is why I ordered you to tell security to stand down when he arrived. She was a couple of offices down monitoring the conversation. She’s capable of cloaking herself from Ms. Champion’s scanners while feeding me ‘mental whispers.’”

  “Subliminal suggestions that helped him believe whatever he spoke at the time was the truth,” she clarified. “I was also able to hide confidential information about Project Evolution within his mind from Ms. Champion. She was doing quite a bit of browsing.”

  “While she was snooping in my skull did you find anything in Rogers?” he asked.

  “Unable to sir,” she answered. “She had a mental tether on him, sort of like a security system. If I attempted to enter the Sergeant’s mind she would have known I was there. Even at her level. She also employed some form of field to shield their conversation as they
left the building.”

  “The little minx does cover her bases,” Graves smirked.

  “By the way sir,” Agent Lockwood smiled, “Dr. Alexander wanted me to relay to you that the crops have been fertilized, and that we shall have a very good harvest.”

  “Thank you, Agent Lockwood.” He smiled while flipping through another screen.

  With a nod Lockwood exited the office leaving Mendes and Graves.

  “Sir, what should we really do about Sergeant Rogers?” Mendes asked.

  “He and his team saved the world, which includes our current Commander in Chief,” he smirked, “there’s not much we can really ‘do’ about him for now.”

  “With what we now know of Dennison?” Mendes hesitated, “is it wise for us to continue?”

  “Now more so then ever,” Graves sighed, “if this incident has taught us anything, we must bolster our efforts to create a response to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. I have just been informed that after my term of office is over, I will be directly appointed the official new head of Project Evolution, and I will need a second in command.”

  Mendes swallowed deep as he positioned himself to stand as straight as an arrow.

  “I would be honored if you consider me for your possible second, sir.” He threw his bid in without hesitation.

  Graves gave a dry smile without answering him.

  “Oh look,” he sighed, still reading his tablet, “it appears we may have a possible chocolate shortage… and I love chocolate.”

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

  The Grand Canyon National Park, 2,245 miles away from the nation’s capitol, at an undisclosed location at the bottom of the ancient riverbed, housed a government research facility located one mile down underneath the canyon itself. Doctor Alexander strolled around the facility with tablet in hand, viewing readings on it from four very large metallic vats.

  On a table, his assistants handled DNA samples labeled with the name Doctor Senji Kumamoto, FBI Houston Forensics office September 3, 2008. The name S. Dennison was printed at the very bottom. Positioned next to them were refrigerated samples labeled male reproductive cells. One batch of samples was labeled “R. Matheson – April 2002,” the other sample was labeled “B. Matheson – October 2012.”