The First: EVO Uprising (65 page)

Sophia pulled herself to her feet leaning up against the wrecked Cutlass. The ringing went away as her brain stopped swimming in her head allowing her vision to focus again. Enough for her to see Peace also staggering through the wall she got knocked through. She stopped to blow blood snot from her nose. It was clear they were both inflicting severe damage to one another. They’re regenerative healing worked overtime to keep up with the fatal injures they sustained.

“
You selfish bitch!” Peace howled. “You couldn’t do a hundred fucking years!”

Sophia felt her arm vibrating. She knew it was a message from Kimberly telling her she found the Eye of Ra.

“
If you’re going to start monologuing, you can choke on it,” she shot back, “because you’re done.”

“
Now who’s monologuing, bitch?” Peace returned fire. “Either that or you have somehow officially gotten brain damage from me bouncing your skull from country to country! Popping shit like you got a final form to pull out of your ass!”

Sophia answered her remark with a smug look.

“
Bullshit,” she scoffed.

Sophia’s face did not change. Peace’s face turned into a scowl building to finite rage.

“
Bullshit! I’m calling bullshit!” she screamed at her. “You’re a lying ass bitch!”

Peace stomped around throwing a clear fit while pacing back and forth.

 “
There’s no way! There’s no goddamn way you’re that powerful!” she pointed at her roaring. “You would have shown it already! Bullshit!”

“
You know I’m not a real fan of that anime.” She looked down at the ground. “The fight scenes and power increases are drawn out and ridiculous. I prefer the type of anime where power is defined by mere action.”

The Earth violently shook as Sophia began to sink into the solid concrete that could no longer hold her weight. She had to hover to keep from sinking further which made things worse as the sheer force of her thrust created a massive sink hole underneath her. The circumference of the hole was so large Peace had to hover as the ground and surrounding buildings disappeared from around her. The bottom of Sophia’s boots began to tear apart unable to contain the thrust she was discharging. Slowly her eyes began to blaze and pulsate along the veins and major arteries with her body glowing through her skin.

God-like power brought silence between the two for the first time since their battle began in Washington.

Peace’s disgusted glare said it all. “You always find a way to make me feel small, and I hate you for it.”

Sophia’s glare said, “I don’t care.”

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Back at Sanctuary, the Regulators mended their wounds surrounded by the liberated villagers. Lady Tech leaning up against her S.A.M armor stood up startled by the instruments on her bracer lighting up and screaming at her.

“
Oh shit.” Erica broke into a sweat as she deciphered the readings.

“
What is it? Rogers walked over to find out her reason for using profanity.

“
Remember that additional power I recorded from Dennison?” Erica nervously turned to him. “That I said she can only tap involuntarily?”

“
She can tap it at will.”

“
Uh, huh,” she quickly nodded.

“
How bad is it?” he asked.

“
Judging by this,” she tried to comprehend what she was reading, “she’s slowly building her own gravitational field.”

“
Like a planet?” he now began to pour sweat himself.

“
Like... the sun.” She shook her head in disbelief. “And if she doesn’t stop or get away from the Earth in the next five minutes, she’ll rip this planet out of its orbit and tear it apart.”

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Regret filled her heart with what she was doing, the destruction she was causing. All of this was on her, and somehow she would have to make amends. This was a last of last resorts she pulled out of her deck to put her plan into motion.

A fearless Peace was not intimidated seven years ago, and she would not be intimidated now as she closed the gap between the two of them with a flash step.

Her attempt to close the gap walked her into a right cross juddering half of the planet. It send Peace from the middle of Mexico City across the Atlantic Ocean heading to the Northern tip of Africa. The world came to a standstill as the entire planet quaked from Sophia’s sheer movement darting across the sky to catch up with her. Just as she expected Peace had not recovered from the first hit, leaving her open for the second one before she hit the Western Sahara.

 
An uppercut shook the planet again sending her upwards into the upper atmosphere. Sophia, like a bloodhound, hunted after her again. The farther she moved from the planet the less it vibrated. Once again she caught up with her in a matter of seconds slamming into her, taking her into space and away from the planet.

Her current speed took them past the moon in a matter of seconds. Anything in their path was obliterated upon impact, including an near Earth asteroid almost half the size of the moon. She kept going closing in on their destination. One of the Eye of Ra’s portals. This one was made massive so she could not miss.

She knew within the vacuum of space, and the short amount of distance to the portal, Peace would not have the time to power back. However, for it to be successful Sophia had to go through the portal with her. She closed her eyes as forming tears froze on her face, and broke off. Her heart was shattering because she would have to break her daughter’s heart again.

Her eyes opened as she felt something powerful slam into her right side breaking her grip from Peace and taking her out of the range of the portal. To her shock and dismay she realized it was Kimberly with her arms wrapped around her waist. She released her mother while reversing thrust. Sophia, stabilizing herself, finally realized that her daughter had changed her plan.

The Eye of Ra also floating in the dead of space powered up his staff shining brighter than any star in the known vicinity. He unleashed a powerful stream of cosmic energy that tore through space striking Peace. The force of the blast sent Kimberly into a near uncontrollable tailspin. Sophia also had difficulty stabilizing herself. It felt as if the entire universe shook from the raw unbridled power.

Evading the blast was unavoidable for a disoriented Peace. It was unclear how much physical damage his attack had caused. It was, however, strong enough to knock her through the portal. It closed and dispersed within seconds.  

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On the other side of the portal, a slow recovering Peace realized too late that she was in the middle of a part of the universe that was about to come to an end, and for all of her strength and power, she would not be able to escape.
 

Consumed by the crushing ancient force of a black hole wiping out a small patch of the universe light years away, Peace screamed and roared to her doom.  

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Back in Earth’s solar system, Kimberly finally regaining control ended her spiraling and flew back over to her mother. She slowed herself down using small bursts to float over to her. She noticed the major veins and arteries underneath her visible skin glowing a blue like color similar to her eyes which blazed like a newborn star. They slowly died down turning her skin back to normal. Sophia swayed a bit fighting to right herself, the taxing pressure of focusing so much power took an
unknown toll on her body.
 

“
Are you all right?” Kimberly used sign language to communicate with her.
 

It was then Sophia realized a new change within her daughter. Kimberly’s eyes had gone from a glowing white, to a bright golden hue similar the energy the Eye of Ra wielded.
 

“
Oh my god,” she frantically signed back, “what did you do?”
 

 “
First, I hitched a ride with him,” she smiled while signing. “Traveling through his portal is crazy! But before that, when I told him of my plan to save you. He told me I wouldn’t be able to catch you at my current levels. So he let me borrow a fraction of his power. It was the only way to pull this off.”
 

 “
No.” Sophia shook her head. “This is not what I wanted. I did not want this.”
 

“
I wanted this,” Kimberly sternly signed back, “nothing is taking you away from me again. So I did whatever it took so I could save my mother because I knew you’d do whatever it took to save the world. That’s the type of mom Mark told me I have.”
 

Ice formed again around her eyes which she knocked away as she pulled her daughter close to her. They held each other close as the universe melted away leaving just the two of them.
 

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They flew back to the Earth accompanied by the Eye of Ra, who did not pull another disappearing act. They first headed to Mount Vernon to find her parents very much safe and alive thanks to Sister Shareef. Although unplanned, it also proved to be a wonderful introduction to the granddaughter they never knew they had. They were encouraged by her parents to go and see to the
state of Sanctuary while Sister Shareef hung around to look after them. They decided to use one of the Eye of Ra’s portals to take a captured Nachzehrer with them.
 

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Arriving at the island in a matter of seconds, they found the Regulators along with their other extended family on the beach where the battle took place. After locking Nachzehrer in a stasis pod on the Warthog next to Jiang Shi, they found that the village was a lot worse for wear. Aside from some scrapes, bruises, and one still functioning android torn in two there were no lives lost, which made it an all around perfect victory. Mostly for Sophia and the villagers, the Regulators’ hearts became heavy remembering it was not a clean victory for them. None felt it more than Rosann who sat on the beach alone starring into the endless ocean.
 

Erica started to walk toward her, but her brother placed a hand on her shoulder halting her. With a headshake from him, she understood that Rosann needed some space, and that no amount of words would console how she felt.
 

Brave smaller children and some older adults crowded around the Eye of Ra enthralled by his appearance. He bowed greeting each of them with a humble smile, and picked up a couple of toddlers that wished to be held by him.
 

Sophia found a minute to personally thank him for his pivotal help in defeating the Zombie Nation, and especially Peace. With a child in one hand, and his staff in another, he respectfully bowed to her.
 

 “
It was an honor assisting you… Ms. Dennison,” was all his said.
 

Kimberly came up behind her to also thank him.

“
Thank you for helping me save my mom,” she smiled, “but if you don’t mind, I’d like to give your power back to
you, if it’s possible. I don’t need it anymore.”
 

A look of astonishment was plastered all over Sophia’s face as she turned to her daughter.
 

“
What?” Kimberly shrugged. “I’m a child. I’m not ready for this kind of responsibility.”
 

He closed his eyes in front of them. The eyes of the cobra head on his staff began to glow. He appeared to be communicating with it through some form of telepathy. He opened his eyes again with a smile on his face.
 

“
The energies of the Wakening will always be bonded to you,” he revealed, “but I can bleed off some of the energy so it will grow with you. In time, you will be ready for it.”
 

As she agreed with a nod, he extended his staff for her to grasp. It appeared to be burning her hand as it glowed. Kimberly, however, felt no pain as the golden pulsating energies revealed through her eyes slowly dimmed to a faint warm white glow. As the staff powered down, she swayed a bit.
 

“
Whoa!” a concern Sophia grabbed her.
 

“
I’m okay.” Kimberly steadied her. “I’m okay.”
 

 “
Very few beings in this universe would willing surrender such power,” the Eye of Ra smirked. “I had faith it would be in good hands before I gave it to you. I was correct.”
 

Erica walked over to the trio with broad smile on her face.

“
You and I really need to talk.” She pointed to the Eye of Ra before turning to Sophia. “And you Ms. Dennison are just full of surprises. The type that makes one want to wet their shorts, but surprises, nonetheless.
So a blackhole.”
 

“
Yep,” Sophia nodded. “It was the only force in the
universe that I knew that was more powerful than the energies she absorbed and that her RDH ability could not counter against. Hopefully she’ll be forever trapped within its crushing gravitational pull, and with no energy to draw from, she’ll eventually burn out in a century… maybe two.”
 

“
What about that energy projectile you hit her with?” Erica asked turning to the Eye of Ra. “It registered off the chart with my readings.”