The First: EVO Uprising (51 page)

“
To do that I needed to find a team both heartless and lacking a conscience like I was,” she explained her master plan. “That I thought was going to take a while, until I tracked down the Zombie Nation. They really are a bunch of Satan worshippers who believe their powers came from the ‘Dark One,’ bunch of friggin idiots.”

She laughed at herself, shaking her head.

“
Wasn’t that hard to bring them to my side of the Force,” she shrugged, “especially when I tore their leader’s heart out and reduce him to ashes right in front of them. I think his name was Dybbuk. Anyway, I had my team, just needed to do some intelligence work to ensure that you and I were the only current heavy hitters on the planet. All the other superhuman units around the world, as impressive as they looked, proved no threat to me. Nor did any of the so-called independent ‘heroes.’ I thought I had all the intel until I learned that the US commissioned their own super hero squad. Yay! Attacking Times Square which was my idea. I wanted to see what this new team was capable of. The bonus was watching that A-Hole Captain Omega die, although I would have preferred to have been the one to pull the trigger myself. Got to stop underestimated the Draugr, he does some fine work. And the double bonus was watching you swoop down to save the day. I really thought you shied away from grandstanding, but you had me fooled there. I also didn’t factor the Egyptian, he really took me by surprise. A real mystery that one, you wouldn’t happen to know his name?”

Sophia looked up with an sneer telling her where to go and do with herself.

“
Bah!” Peace waved her off. “Doesn’t matter, he may seem formidable, but with you out the picture, easily dealt with. Now I must tell you, although Anchimayen can’t read your mind for some reason, his ‘astral signature’ range of detection is extremely friggin impressive. That mean once he gets within a proximity of you, like in Times Square, he catch track the energy your soul gives off almost anywhere. That’s how he explained it anyway. That’s how we were able to find the Regulators’ base. I mean this kid can both tap, detect, and pinpoint me from space!”

She sighed with some motherly pride.

“
Under that robe is the most beautiful little boy I’ve ever seen,” smiled Peace, “with an unfortunately nasty disposition. Did you know when he acquired his powers, he removed both his parents’ tongues by the root, and then made his mother watch as he broke every bone in his father’s body? He then tore each of her mother’s limbs off one by one leaving her head for last. All because they denied him dessert for not finishing his vegetables.”

Peace acted as if she had the jitters from telling the story,  while Sophia wore a face of disgust.

“
I believe we’ve now come to an understanding, right?” Peace asked. “That the life of your parents and everyone on that little fantasy island… including your daughter, depends on you not returning to Earth. In return, I will ensure that not a hair is harmed on any of their little heads. The rest of the planet is another story, I make no promises on that. And after fifty, maybe a hundred, years after you’ve roamed the universe and found yourself you can come back and see all the wonderful work that I have done. By then everyone you pretty much loved would have croaked. I won’t be able to use that trump card forever.”

She finished her carousel walk around Sophia standing face to face with her again.

“
Except for your little girl,” Peace beamed, “she’ll be a grown woman by then, but she’ll be here waiting for you. Now I know I said I’m not paternal material, but for you… I’ll do the best that I can. I can’t wait to have that girl talk about boys.”

Sophia sighed, letting out an unnerving laugh as she lowered her head. When her raised it again, a smile was plastered all over her face as her body trembled uncontrollably.

“
Somehow, some way, I will be back,” she promised, “and as God as my witness, I’m going to make you wish that nuke had killed us on that day.”

“
Yeah,” Peace coughed. “Your track record for keeping promises hasn’t been so good. Shall we?”

The two women slowly ascended into the air, neither one bothered to increase speed as they just stared at one another through the entire trip into space. Through no words they came to an understanding that their next encounter, even if was a thousand years from now, one of them would die by the other’s hand.

Sophia followed her past the moon where Peace slowed coming to a stop.  She signaled that where they floated was as far as Sophia was allowed to come near the planet. With a wave she turned, parting ways with her blasting off back to Earth signaling the beginning of Sophia’s exile.

Sound in space only exists in the form of electromagnetic vibrations inaudible by the human ear, but Sophia screamed anyway. Her eyes blazed brighter than any star. If sound did carry the entire universe would eventually hear her and tremble as her mind swam with sadistic thoughts of murdering Peace. Every method, extremely slow and painful.

In her mind, she would not be returning in fifty or hundred years. Before the end of the week she was going to see her daughter again and feel her hands around Peace’s throat choking the life from her. She roared that promise to whatever god or beings were listening.

CHAPTER 21

She hovered in the darkness of space. Her rage subsided, she now had to focus, think, and put plan into action.

If Peace’s warning was solid, Anchimayen’s ability to sense her even in space meant she had very few options. It was then that she remembered her bracers and personal A.I. She touched her ear realizing her earpiece was gone. It was either lost or destroyed during the battle. She slid open the compartment revealing a touch LCD screen. Bracing herself, she began to type, “Vincent, are you there?”

“
Yes, Ms. Dennison,” her A.I. responded by projecting words via the screen. “How may I help you?”

“
Can you call Earl’s number?” she typed.

She prayed the answer was ‘yes,’ desperately needing to know what the situation was at Sanctuary.

“
Negative,” he responded. “Even if I connected to local satellites, distance from the planet as well as the limited capability of his phone will not allow for a direct phone call. However you can send him an email or text message. It will take ten minutes for the message to reach his phone.”

“
Let’s do it!” she frantically typed.

“
Whenever you are ready,” he announced.

She quickly typed a message getting directly to the point.

“
Message sent,” Vincent confirmed.

She prayed it reached them in time.

“
Can you connect me with Lady Tech?” she typed.

“
Attempting to connect with local satellites to increase range in order to connect to her,” responded Vincent.

She patiently waited for a response.

“
No response,” he relayed, “shall I keep trying?”

“
Yes,” she typed.

“
Emitting encrypted beacon signal,” informed Vincent, “it will conserve power while sending a signal. Once she responds I shall connect you.”

Sophia sighed and prayed that everyone was still alive at the Ranch. Her finding a way to return home and stop Peace depended on it.

Until then she floated in the cold black void with no home to return to.  

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

Back in the buried central command, everyone, save for Adrian holding his sister, and Angie kneeling beside him, stood as the chaos outside settled.

“
Maxine rotate us to the entrance,” Erica commanded.

“
I already attempted to do so, Miss,” Maxine informed her. “A massive amount of debris has jammed the servos. We are unable to rotate.”

“
Why do we need to rotate?” asked a panicked Adrian. “Rotate to where?”

“
A mini base,” Erica answered, “and a way out, if we can’t rotate we’re good as buried down here. Rogers let Rosann touch you so that she can heal.”

Abe marched over to her as Lady Tech glided her hand over the digital touch screen pulling up multiple holographic screens. Rogers took Rosann’s hand into his own, but nothing happened.

“
Not responding,” he answered.

“
A rush of adrenaline will activate the barbs in her hand,” Erica responded. “Angie help her.”

“
What are you going to do?” Adrian asked nervously.

“
A slight push on her broken collarbone will activate her pain receptors,” Angie explained. “I can then ensure that it is properly aligned to rebind properly. She will feel some discomfort.”

Angie eyes lit up as she scanned the broken collar bone. She went to work positioning the bones together. It was painful enough to force a groan out of an unconscious Rosann. Her body stiffened as she clutched Abe’s hand. The microscopic barbs in her hand protruded out piercing his hand sucking in his blood. Her skin color changed to match his own, while her frame became denser duplicating his Titan abilities. Abe’s regenerative healing mended her collarbone, and other injuries.    

She awoke with a gasp attempting to sit up. Her brother and Abe subtly restrained and steadied her.

“
Easy, don’t try to get up yet,” Abe ordered.

“
Where am I, what happened?” She tried to focus.

“
We’re in the central command,” Rogers explained, “a couple miles down from the base, we were attacked.”

“
The Draugr.” She attempted to move. “I was fighting…”

“
Relax,” he calmly ordered, “don’t move, and don’t try to get up. Just stay here with your brother until we figure this out.”

 
Rogers rose back to his feet heading back to Erica’s side to help assess the situation.

“
How far down are we?” he asked.

“
Approximately three miles,” she indicated while feverishly working, “and no we can’t bust through the other side of the wall. It’s a ten inch thick wall of dark metal and behind that is sixty inch thick wall of mantle shielding us from a river of lava. That’s why I built this damn thing to rotate, I didn’t calculate on dealing with another version of the Source bringing parts of the shaft down on us while we were trying to escape her turning us to ash.”

“
Oliver,” Rosann said, “where’s Oliver?”

Silence fell over everyone as Adrian turned to Erica and Rogers for an answer to give his sister.

“
Adrian, where is he?” she asked.

“
Sis,” he swallowed, “he chose to stay behind to buy us sometime.”

“
Then we have to go back and get him.” She struggled to get up.

“
We can’t go back, sis.” His eyes became glassy.

“
Yes, we can!” she snapped at him. “Get off me. Adrian! We can’t leave him up there!”

Even with her Titan strength being less than Rogers, Rosann was a handful as she fought to break free from her brother’s grip. Angie aided him in trying to restrain her.

“
Get off me!” she screamed. “Get the fuck off me! How could you leave him up there? You know what they’ll do to him! You know what they’ll do to him!”

Rosann screamed and bawled as if she was dying. It made Adrian wail as he held onto his sister. The fight finally taken out of her, she clung onto her brother sobbing to the near point of hysteria.

A powerless Abe stood watching as his team fell apart. He turned to see a frantic Lady Tech punching away at her digital keyboard. She pulled up screens and then swiped them away with very little rhyme or reason.

“
Miss?” a concerned tone came from Maxine, “Miss can I…”

“
I got this Maxine!” she snapped at her. “I got this!”

Rogers stepped in pulling her away from the screen. She fought to get away from him throwing a fit as he held her close.

“
Let me go Rogers!” she screamed. “I got this! I got this!”

“
You have my permission to cry,” Rogers ordered.

“
I don’t have time for this!” She began banging her head against his chest. “I told you I got this! I got this!”

He continued to hold her, weathering through her useless barrages.

“
You have my permission to cry,” Rogers said again.

Erica went into a sobbing fit, collapsing into his arms. He held her as if she was his little girl and allowed her to go through it.

Angie wore a worried look on her face as she placed a gentle hand on Adrian’s back in an attempt to comfort him. She turned to her sisters for answers, but found the same confusion and concern in each their eyes as well.

Rogers remained the foundation of his team. He could not, and would not, afford himself the luxury of tears for their sake. He would allow them to fall and break down. He needed it out of their system so that he could build them up again. For vengeance to be theirs, he would need them stronger than ever.