The First: EVO Uprising (27 page)

“
So he’s a brain,” interjected Abe.

“
A very big brain,” she nodded, “which is why he probably has not been caught until now.”

“
What was that weird power he was wielding?” Adrian asked.

“
Believe it or not,” she threw up video footage of him wielding the purple and black energy, “that really is dark matter energy he is producing. It appears he has the ability to absorb regular matter and convert it into dark matter. Readings show he can absorb the very air around him making his abilities finite. His dark matter constructs are also attributed to him controlling the energy on a molecular level. Not only is he extremely dangerous, he’s rare. There is no other EVO currently on the planet that has his abilities.”

“
What about Sinéad O’Connor dark?” Abe asked.

Erica pulled up a missing children’s profile flooring everyone within the room except for Rogers and a silent Sophia listening from the corner she stood in.

“
Facial recognition matched her to Angela Waters,” Erica said, “reported missing in 2008 at the age of fourteen by her parents John and Alannah from Boston, Massachusetts. She was last seen waiting for her parents at the Boston Higashi School.”

“
She’s autistic?” Rosann shook her head.

“
Yes she is.” Erica’s visage revealed it to be a touchy subject with her. “Her entire body is similar to tuning fork or audio speaker allowing her to manipulate sound waves. I don’t believe she has the same ability as other energy manipulators to store it, which means if you destroy either the headset or her iPod Touch you can render her powerless. The problem is the sonic field she generates to protect herself is so powerful, even if I wanted to shut off her iPod remotely I can’t get a signal through to do it. Next we have Meiying Kwan, age twenty-five, from Hunan providence of China. She use to work at one of K-Marts’ many sweatshop factories.”

“
What turned her into a fire breathing Kabuki Dragon Lady?” asked Oliver.

“
Kabuki is Japanese not Chinese,” sternly corrected Sophia.

Her tone of irritation forced everyone to turn her way.

“
Sorry,” swallowed an apologetic Oliver.

“
Not sure,” sighed Erica continuing her report.” Her name Jiang Shi, stands for a “hopping” vampire or zombie from Chinese legends and folklore.  It’s depicted as a stiff corpse dressed in official garments from the Qing Dynasty, and it moves around by hopping, with its arms outstretched. It kills living creatures to absorb their qi, or “life force,” usually at night, while in the day resting in a coffin or hiding in dark places such as caves.”

“
Well she’s got her folklores all mixed up,” Adrian scoffed.

“
I believe their names were selected more so to fit the theme of their group,” Erica responded, “as for our mysterious little Jawa.”

Erica brought up a still of Anchimayen whose entire face and body was cloaked in a long brown monk like robe.

“
I was unable to get any facial recognition concerning him,” she reported. “It could be because of the massive amount psionic energy emitting from him.  What I can tell from mentally communicating with him, is that he is between five to six years old, which means he’s under the classification of a True EVO.”

“
Which means he’s extremely powerful for his age,” Abe clarified.

“
Extremely,” Erica nodded, “someone twisted this poor kid’s mind to the dark side. And I mean Pinhead dark. Inexperience is probably his only weakness. Maxine is currently searching missing and exploited children’s databases to find a match to his profile. As for the name Anchimayen, it’s the name of a mythical creature in Mapuche mythology. Anchimayens are described as little creatures that take the form of small children, and can transform into fireball flying spheres that emit bright light. They are the servants of a kalku, a type of Mapuche sorcerer, and are created using the corpses of children.”

“
We have to find these four,” Rogers folded his arms, “by any means necessary.”

“
Miss,” Maxine politely interrupted. “Secretary of Defense Robert Graves’ helicopter is hailing for permission to land.”

Both Rogers and Erica looked at one another with mirrored looks of disgust.

“
Grant permission, and then head upstairs to escort them down,” commanded Erica.

“
Yes Miss,” Maxine obeyed.

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Eleven minutes later Graves stormed into the central command escorted by Maxine’s android form along with Mendes and Dr. Alexander in tow. He spied the room reading the expressions on everyone’s face. Erica and Abe’s faces both wanted to know what the hell he was doing there. The twins, along with Oliver’s faces, wanted to know why he walked in with an attitude. Sophia’s face dared him to say one word to her.

“
What the hell is she doing here?” He pointed in Sophia’s direction.

“
She’s a guest who saved our asses in Times Square.” Abe stepped forward. “Is there a problem?”

“
She is an escape fugitive on government property.” He took a step forward correcting Rogers.  

“
Last I checked, the crime she was “accused of” happened in Texas and occurred when she was a human and alive.” Rogers took another step, standing down Graves. “Lady Tech, Ms. Dennison was reported dead at the time of her execution, correct?”

“
That is correct,” she smirked.

“
And how many times has Ms. Dennison been in the state of Texas since then?” he asked.

“
Since I’ve been tracking her movement,” she pretended to guess. “Ninety-one times, eighty of those times she visited the Gatesville prison for women.”

“
See,” Abe shrugged, “if the state of Texas ain’t looking to bring her in, then why should I break my neck doing it?”

Graves glanced over at Sophia narrowing her eyes at him. He turned his attention to Rogers brandishing a toothy grin.

“
May I speak with you in private, Sergeant?” Graves whispered.

“
As long as the kid can come,” Rogers motioned. “I need her to translate big words for me.”

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Two minutes later by the platform that housed the Tornado, Abe stood once again with Erica at his side staring down Secretary Graves flanked by Dr. Alexander and Mendes.

“
You disappoint me, Sergeant.” Grave shook his head mirroring his words.

“
How so?” Rogers folded his arms.

“
I breathe life back into you by giving you this opportunity.” Graves glared at him. “You promised me you would have this team ready in six months…”

“
First of all, it’s been only three months,” Rogers cut him off.

“
Well, if your team wasn’t ready,” his voice elevated a bit to show his displeasure, “then why the hell were they in Times Square creating a PR nightmare?”

“
Because the only three other individuals who had the balls to do what we did down there are
dead
,” Rogers fired back. “My team handled themselves exceptionally well considering that they only had three months training and were out gunned. And I am exceptionally gratefully for Ms. Dennison and our mystery golden boy for showing up to give us some backup. So excuse me if I don’t give a shit about PR, especially when they’re still counting bodies.”

“
Language,” Lady Tech interjected.

“
Sorry,” Abe responded with eyes still locked on Graves.

“
What is the status on the search for four EVOs also responsible for the destruction in New York?” Graves temporarily changed the subject.

“
Currently, they’re off the grid,” Lady Tech stepped in to answer. “I suspect using the same tactics they’ve used to remain hidden until now. However, I’m employing every form of tracking I can find or invent to hunt them down. We’ll find them eventually.”

“
Since you both decided to throw yourselves prematurely into this game,” Graves glanced at them both, “I expect them to be found, captured, or otherwise.”

“
Any other orders you’d like to give us?” Abe dryly asked.

“
Only for you to kindly remember that all of this is not yours,” Graves displayed a false smile, “this belongs to the United States Government, and you are all its employees. And if I continue to see a lack of productivity or a growth of insubordination, I will shut you down, take all of your cute little toys, throw you out on your ear, and stretch the budget to pay someone a lot more to replace you. Do we have an understanding?”

Both Rogers and Champion wore mirrored looks of displeasure toward Grave’s polite and professional threat.

“
Oh!” He snapped his fingers, “you do know divulging information of national security to a civilian is treasonous, and punishable by a very long federal prison sentence.”

Erica smacked her lips knowing the comment was aimed toward her.

“
I really hate him,”
Erica mentally whispered to Abe.

“
Me too,”
he thought back,
“and stay out of my head.”
 

“
No need to see us out,” he smirked, “we know the way. You need to get back to your ‘guest.’”

He turned, strolling off not even giving them a second look as he, Mendes, and Dr. Alexander followed him back to the lift. Rogers noticed Lady Tech narrowing her eyes further as she locked onto Graves.

“
What is it?” he asked.

“
I don’t trust Graves,” she sneered.

“
You didn’t go…” he began with a disapproving tone.

“
Of course I did,” she snapped back, “but I didn’t pick anything up… his thoughts mirrored his words, which means he has a device on him that can block me.”

“
How do you know?” He raised an eyebrow.

“
Usually when we talk, we’re sometimes subconsciously thinking about something else,” she explained, “taking out the trash… the movie we saw the other night… all I picked up from what he was thinking is what he was actually saying. Also, even though they said nada, I couldn’t read Mendes or Dr. Alexander’s thoughts either.”

“
All three?” Abe narrowed his eyes.

“
Somehow they were shielding their thoughts from me.” Her nose twitched. “Which means there’s something they all know that they don’t want me to know.”

“
Let’s keep that between ourselves for now,” he furrowed his brow, “till we know what’s up.”

“
Mums the word,” she nodded.

“
And Dr. Champion,” Rogers watched as the lift took the trio back up to the surface, “real solid work out there today.”

“
I had a tough teacher,” she smirked. “That’s why I’m still alive.”

The two briefly glanced at each other before heading back to the central command to deal with more pressing matters.

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Several thousand miles away, Graves sat in his government-issued private helicopter across from Mendes and Dr. Alexander.

“
We’re clear now,” indicated Dr. Alexander.

“
Finally I can take this damn thing off,” Graves sighed.

He pulled off a patch of “skin” from the side of his head; underneath it was a small silver disk that he laid down on the table in front of him.

“
I do hope this device of yours did its job, Dr. Alexander.” He glanced at him.

“
As I said it would,” indicated the doctor, “it only emits thoughts of what you are saying at the time, all of your other thoughts were cloaked from her via a psionic jamming frequency.”

“
Can’t take the chance of that nosey little brat digging into any of our skulls,” Graves huffed. “They’re not the figure heads I want, but they will have to do for now.”

“
Sir, is it really a good idea to start this over again?” asked Mendes. “Considering what happened last time, and if Ms. Dennison finds…”

“
That overpowered wench will never find out,” interrupted Graves dismissively. “My predecessor failed by making it personal and forgetting about his first duty which was to his country. I won’t make that same mistake. There will be no paper trail to follow because as usual none will be created. The only good that came out of the disaster in 2008 is now we have ample raw material to work with to do it better.”

“
But sir,” Mendes hesitantly asked, “is this really necessary now that the Regulators are online, even if premature?”

Graves leaned forward to look Mendes in the eyes.