The First: EVO Uprising (26 page)

Back on 42nd Street, Sophia stood waiting as the Regulator team watched from a distance. They began to move in to rally around her, but she held a hand out motioning for them to stay back.

“
It’s not over yet,” she narrowed her eyes.
 

As she predicted from the thundering footsteps getting louder, an enraged Draugr with his pride wounded torn through the BBQ creating a much larger exit. In his eyes, were the intention to murder Sophia in front of a live audience with his bare hands.

Standing her ground as the immovable object, Sophia timed and tanked the unstoppable force with a devastating gut shot halting him in his tracks. Staggering backwards, he clutched his abdomen spitting up blood and bile. He roared in defiance frothing at the mouth. He forced himself to stand tall despite possible torn muscle and shattered ribs. She doubled him over again using her weak left hand for another body blow causing more internal injury.

As he hobbled around on butter legs unable to suck air into his lungs. Sophia got into a boxing stance stalking him.

She was quick and vicious hammering both sides of his skull with a furious left followed by a right. It was a set up for a ground shaking near head removing jumping uppercut seen in a popular video game minus the trademark yell.

The devastating punch launched the Draugr into the air pass many of Manhattan’s major skyscrapers. Sophia wasted no time going airborne after him. She purposely passed him on the way up to set up for the kill. As he came within range she unleashed a right cross that sent a shockwave shattering glass within her vicinity.
 

The Regulators watched as the one-man wrecking machine that gave them hell almost an hour ago flew lifeless across New York City via a single devastating blow.

His point of impact was somewhere in the middle of Central Park.

Not giving the Regulators a second look, she flew to where the Draugr crash-landed. Rogers broke into a run heading for Central Park on foot followed by Adrian in his metal form keeping up. Rosann still wielding the Ghouls’ abilities sped ahead of them, while Blitz took flight followed by Erica in battle riddled armor.
 

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

Eight minutes later Rogers and Adrian were the last to stand by their teammates at the edge of a massive trench within Central Park.

At the end of it, Sophia stood over a downed, defeated, and unconscious Draugr.
 

   
Rogers ran and slid down to where Sophia now stood over the fallen behemoth. Nonchalantly he strolled over standing next to her looking down at the monstrous beast of a man that nearly demolished all of Times Square if not for her. He appeared to be shaken from mortal coil if not for the shallow breathes and slight rising of his wall for a chest.
 

“
Don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t…” Abe began his thank you speech.
 

Choking and gurgling replaced it, as Sophia grabbed him by his throat with slide of the hand speed lifting him into the air.

“
What the?” Hard-On slapped his right metal bracer transforming again into his metal form, to square off against the strongest of all EVOs this time.
 

Rosann and a powered up Blitz prepared to attack as well. Rogers’ hand held high signaled for them to stay back, preventing another battle.
 

“
You know, after you left my island,” Sophia bared her teeth at Rogers as her eyes glowed brighter, “I came to have a sliver of respect for you, Sergeant. Until I realized you were just another bureaucratic lying sack of shit.”
 

“
Mind filling me in,” Rogers got in between gasps. “What the hell, are you talking about?”
 

“
Don’t play dumb with me, Sergeant. You’re not smart enough to do that, especially with me.” She tightened her grip on his throat.
 

Rogers was witnessing firsthand a sliver of the power
the Draugr felt, and it was staggering. The old iron forged Marine, however, showed no fear and refused to back down despite his predicament.
 

“
No one’s playing dumb with you, you psycho,” Abe bared his own teeth fighting to breath. “And you can choke me till my head pops off. I still don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”
 

“
You think because seven years have passed I won’t remember that?” Sophia pointed to Erica’s still functioning battle ravaged S.A.M armor. “And put two and two together that you’re working for them?”
 

Erica wore a look as if EVO Zero was not addressing her. She contemplated opening her mouth, or leaving Rogers to hang, not wishing to have Dennison’s incurred wrath directed toward her.
 

“
Again you crazy bitch,” Rogers bit back. “I don’t have the slightest idea what the hell you’re talking about.”
 

“
Liar!” she roared. “You can throw whatever fancy new name you have on it, you’re still D.E.A.D, scum! And I will bury you like I did them!”
 

“
Sergeant Rogers is not a part of, nor does he have any prior knowledge of, the Disavowed Extermination Assault Division!” yelled Erica from her cockpit. “He also does not know anything about the Biological Assault Mechs you fought seven years ago. I do.”
 

Everyone, including a wide-eyed Rogers, turned to Erica, whose stomach was now in a knot as all eyes locked on her.
 

“
We are not the D.E.A.D. I can and will tell you everything you want to know about them, Project Evolution, and Director Rosen to prove that,” she said.
 

Sophia lowered Rogers back down to the ground, releasing him. He breathed in much needed air before hacking a spit as he glared at her. Erica’s confession did
not dissipate the newly-formed tension that an axe could cut.
 

“
Excuse me!” Adrian yelled raising a hand. “Might I suggest we begin this much needed Q&A session later, and get that big ugly son of a bitch to lock-up before he finally wakes up and realizes he got knocked the F out by a chick?”
 

Adrian’s crude, yet logical, statement forged a temporary truce between Sophia and Rogers. A dire matter at hand had to attended to first, before questions could be answered.
 

CHAPTER 12

Four hours after the battle that turned Times Square and other parts of Manhattan into a warzone came to an end, the Regulators stood in the central command of the Ranch with their guest being debriefed by Lady Tech about the first three permanent residents of the Purgatory prison facility.

After the battle, the Draugr with the aid of Sophia was locked into gravity field restraints. For extra insurance Lady Tech attached every single ion body damper she had within the ship to keep him subdued during the flight home with the captured Ghoul and Nachzehrer.

Rogers sent her by herself to process them into their proper cells.

It was tactical as the team stayed behind along with Dennison to help search for the missing, assist the injured and dying, and collect the bodies of the dead.

Dennison and Rogers each hardened by past experiences were use to the sight.

The young Regulator team officially baptized in battle on that day were not. The aftermath horrors did not halt them from doing their duty, it just made it harder, especially when the age of the victims became younger and younger.

 
Sophia remained off to the side leaning up against a vacant wall with her arms folded under her chest, while the rest of the team still in their gear that reeked of combat and blood stood together as Lady Tech updated them on what information she could gather from the three new inmates now confined in individuals cells in the Purgatory complex  in order to hunt down the four that escaped. She began with the Draugr, now pacing in his new highly reinforced cell.

“
His name is Thomas Brennan, born March 19, 1973 in Providence, Massachusetts,” Erica checked her tablet. “No prior criminal record that we know of. Both parents currently deceased; he’s the eldest of two younger brothers. He’s had no place of residence or job since the age of twenty, which is the reason he’s been off the grid. The name Draugr comes from an old Norse mythology and stands for ‘one who walks after death,’ they’re said to be the walking dead possessing superhuman strength, capable of increasing their size at will, and carrying the unmistakable stench of decay. They exist to guard their treasure, wreak havoc on living beings, or torment those who had wronged them in life.”

“
So he’s officially bat shit crazy,” Blitz blurted out.

“
Clinically yes,” Erica answered. “He’s a text book sociopath in stereo, and one of the most powerful Titans I’ve ever seen. His skin and bones are denser than the hardest metals on the planet; carried by his muscle fibers that are just as dense and packed like steel coils, which also explains his freakish size of eight foot four inches. Add his extremely high regenerative capability all you need to do is paint him green. I had to get inventive with his cell, and in a hurry. It’s a twenty-by-twenty foot box with the walls twenty inches thick of pure dark metal coated with anti-friction film to prevent him from gripping and tearing at the walls. Micro cameras within the cell monitor his every move. I then dropped it into this tank of Zero-G gelatin. It’s similar to water only a bit thicker. If he attempts to charge the wall, the cell will just spin and float negating his momentum.”

“
What if he has to take a dump?” asked Hard-On.

Rosann shot her brother a dirty look.

“
What?” he snapped defensively. “It’s an honest question!”

“
No worries,” said Erica. “The cell descends and docks with the port at the bottom when he has to use the facilities, and ascends docking with the port at the top when he has to shower. Air blowers and heat dry out the inside of the cell. They also detach automatically if he steps out of line. The cell also dry docks to the port to the right so he can get fresh clothes, food, and water via a small security lock box in the cell. The whole thing is powered by solar energy by day and our reactor by night. The cell also charges up every time it docks with one of the ports.”

“
What about our other residents?” Roger’s asked.

“
Our second fellow resident with the career killer tattoo on his face is Edmond Wallace a.k.a Ghoul,” Erica elucidated, “from Liverpool, England. Mr. Wallace is from Jamaican and Scottish descent and one of England’s most wanted with a rap sheet taller than me. Seven charges of sexual offenses, five charges of assault, four of the assault charges have a weapons offense tacked to them, and two charges for murder. Who wants to bet his activities tripled the second he gained his abilities.”

“
And what about… uh,” Oliver fumbled with his words.

His reason for stumbling over his words was due to the imprisoned  Nachzehrer sitting in the buff on the bed of her prison cell. She had torn apart the orange prison jumpsuit given to her to wear leaving it on the floor. Realizing that she had an audience she leaned back, and slowly began to spread her legs, putting on a show.

Oliver lowered his head pretending not to look, while Adrian tilted his, unsure how he should feel about the situation until his disgusted sister popped him in the arm. Lady Tech sighed shaking her head as she shut off the video feed to her cell before her show turned from R to X-Rated.

“
Lurleen Magnilda Schlesinger a.k.a Nachzehrer the name for German vampire although it’s more associated to zombies,” Erica indicated.

“
So what part of Germany is her nasty ass from?” Rosann sneered.

“
Actually, she’s a United States Citizen.” Erica turned to her. “Born and raised in Chicago, and from a very prominent family of socialites. She’s the second youngest of four children. Her father is a well known exporter and importer of extremely rare diamonds and artwork.”

“
So she’s a Kardashian on steroids,” Adrian confirmed.

“
More like a Hilton,” she corrected, “but instead of sex tapes this one decided to join her local Nazi skinhead Chapter, she’s wanted in connection to multiple hate crimes in the US and Europe, assault and battery, possession of drugs with the intent to sell, and four DUIs. She’s got several bench warrants in four different states. Some of these charges were dropped due to her daddy’s connections.”

“
Well he ain’t bailing her out of this,” Abe growled. “What about the other four that escaped?”

“
Revenant, Wendigo, Jiang Shi, and Anchimayen.” She threw their images on the screen. “Fredrick Stockholm a.k.a Revenant surprisingly has no criminal record until today.”

“
You’re joking, right?” Oliver asked in disbelief.

“
I wish I was,” she answered him. “He’s also a United States, but he lived majority of his time between England and South Africa. He graduated at the top of his class from the University of Cambridge majoring in Criminology and Biochemistry while minoring in art history.”