Coping with power chap.3
by demented20
Lisa comes to terms with her strength.


Lisa joined a gym the day after speaking with Father Brennin and signed up for
Judo classes. She understood that this ability she had was predicated on will
and determination. The one thing Ian could not understand was how hard it was
for her to do these things he had witnessed. Lisa was not the type of person
who gave up. When she started something, she saw it out to the end. Lisa was
used to testing her will. Getting through NYU and Columbia Summa Cum Laude was
hard enough to test anybody's will, but she wanted more control. She wanted to
make her normal body stronger and more responsive. The stronger she became
normally, the less she would have to use her "other" strength as she had come
to call it. Her other strength was behind a veil or a curtain in her mind. It
was always there and she could use it whenever she wanted to, but she prefered
to keep the curtain closed.

Lisa hired a personal trainer at the gym, a woman who had competed in several
fitness events locally and nationally. She wasn't cheap, but she seemed like
she knew what she was doing. After a couple weeks, Lisa could actually see and
feel the differences the exercises had made. The judo was going well also. The
instructor had won an Olympic medal although he didn't tell anyone. It just
wasn't his style. Lisa found out, because true to her nature, she had searched
for information on the man before she signed up for the class. Lisa was happy
now. As happy as she had been years really. On a Friday she hurried up the
steps to the gym to do her workout. In an hour and a half she would be heading
home. She was getting good at this working out thing.

Benny was getting good too. He had been a Rhodes Scholar candidate coming out
of school. He was probably the smartest person to ever come out of his rural
county, but then he had seen her and she had ruined everything for him. It had
been nearly fifteen years, but he could remember her face. She was so pretty.
If he had seen her only once, or possibly twice, nothing would have happened,
but he had seen her again. He knew he shouldn't have, but she was so pretty.
He had been gentle, as gentle as possible. He knew after finishing that he
should have killed her, but she had been so pretty that he had to let her go.
She had told and then they had sent him to that place... that horrible place.
Benny shuddered thinking about it. He would not go back. He was more careful
now... more selective. The one who had gone into the gym was pretty... so very
pretty.

Lisa had a good workout and after a shower she was more than ready to head
home. She had some work to do once she got there though. She frowned. There
was a quarterly report due at the first of the week and she had to get it
done. She was about to walk out the door, but decided she needed another
bottled water.

Benny waited patiently. There was no hurry. The sun had gone down and the
street lights only made shadows. He watched from behind the hood of a car. He
had a clear line of sight to the front door of the gym, but only a keen
observer would have seen him in the shadows.

Lisa did not see him. She came down the steps and almost skipped towards the
parking lot. She pulled her keychain out of her bag and waited until she was
close to push the button.

Benny pulled a small bottle of ether from his pocket and pulled a soft cotton
towel from his other pocket. He looked at her... she was so pretty... and
tried to calculate her weight. Most people no longer used ether because of the
danger, but Benny was still the smartest person to ever come out of his
county. He never made a mistake. He poured some ether on his cloth and put the
jar back in his pocket. Then he waited.

Lisa pushed the button unlocking the doors. Just as she reached out to open
the door, Benny rushed from behind the next car. He never stopped running. He
pushed his shoulder into her back slamming her against the car violently. Lisa
had no time to even try to reason what was happening before Benny bent her
backwards and put the cloth over her mouth. There was no struggle. When she
took a deep breath to scream she only inhaled the ether. Her eyes went black
nearly at once and her arms only flailed twice. Benny supported her before
opening the back door and carefully sliding her in. He picked the keys up
tossed her bag in the passenger seat and took off. He was nearly 3 miles away
before he stopped. He pulled his police issue plastic handcuffs from his cargo
pocket and bound her hands. It was only temporary. He would put something more
perminate on later. He did gag her. That was very very important he had
learned over time. After wrapping the gag around her head he laid her head
back down on the seat carefully, almost gently. He was about to start going
again when he turned around. He reached back over the seat and pulled back the
loose locks of hair that had fallen in front of her face. Her face was far too
pretty to cover. Satisfied, he started on his way again. Lisa was unconcious
the entire time.

Lisa woke up slowly. The effects of the ether were still there. Her head hurt,
or throbbed more accurately. She opened her eyes a little, but was afraid to
open them fully. She wasn't sure what she would see. Her mouth was gagged,
which made it more difficult to breathe. Her hands were tied above her head to
a poll or girder of some sort, and her ankles were tied individually and
secured to the floor. Her shoulder hurt where she had slammed into her car,
but other than that and her head, she seemed to be unhurt. Lisa opened her
eyes then. She might as well not have bothered. The room was pitch dark. Her
eyes tried to adjust to the dark, but there was so little light. After several
minutes, it could have been an hour for all Lisa knew, but she realized that
there were other people in the room, probably other women, and probably all
chained like she was.

She started hearing noises then. Strange noises almost like the sounds that
would come out of the wood shop in high school. She also knew who that would
be. Lisa pulled against the ropes that bound her hands, but gave up after a
few tries. The ether was still clouding her mind. She hadn't appreciated the
level of concentration necessary to do the things she had done. With her mind
as clouded as it was it was impossible. She would have to wait until her head
cleared. She would have liked to have talked some of the women, or to scream
or something, but the gag was quite effective. She could make some small
noises, but not much else.

After a long time, the door opened. Light from the outside flooded the room,
and to the women it seemed as if the sun itself was shining right in their
faces. Lisa tried to shield her eyes with her arm, but she kept one eye open.
A figure stood in the door way. It was a man, a slim man not much taller than
she. He wore plain clothes, the sort that could be bought at a five and dime
store. Lisa looked away from the figure for a moment and took a quick glance
around the room. There were five other women in the room. All of them tried to
ball themselves up when he came in the room, but they had nothing to fear. He
headed right for Lisa.

His movements were efficient. He pulled up on a rope that drew Lisa's legs
together. Once they were secured together, he unclipped her from the chain
around the girder, but her wrists were still bound. He very quickly then
attached a rope binding her hands to her ankles. He did all of this in less
than ten seconds. Lisa barely had time to realize what was going on let alone
fight it. He pulled her towards the door and once out of the cell, he slammed
the door. The five women jumped with fright when it slammed. They all felt
sorry for the poor woman he was about to deal with next. They had already gone
through it. As bad as they felt for the new one, they were all relieved that
it wasn't them.

Lisa realized once he stopped dragging her that the room she was in was itself
not well lit. Oil lamps hung in strategic places, but there were no electric
lights. The only furniture in the large concrete room was a large wooden table
and a simple wooden chair. The man had his back to her and so far she hadn't
seen his face. He seemed to forget that she was there after a while. He went
back to working at his table. Lisa strained against her bonds again, but
eventhough her head was clearing, it just wasn't quite right.

Instead of working with her hands and feet, she worked on the gag. She made
slow progress, and after ten minutes of trying, she finally had it out. Her
first thought was to scream, but another look around the room told her that it
would be useless. Instead she was going to try something different. She
figured she had nothing to loose.

"Hey, mister, please"

"Shh", the man warned without turning.

"Come on, please. You don't want to do this"

The man turned then; Lisa saw him for the first time. He was not old, perhaps
in his mid or late 30's. Although he wouldn't be mistaken for a handsome man,
he wasn't altogether ugly either. His eyes were... strange. If Lisa had not
made eye contact with the man, he would have looked totally harmless.

"I'm not sure how you got your gag loose, but I'll have to put it back on."

"No, don't please. I just want to talk", Lisa pleaded. The man was a manic.
She could see it.

"I would put it back on, but your face is so pretty I'll leave it down.
Providing you don't bother me. I have some serious work to do."

"Why are you doing this?"

He frowned. "Because you are so pretty", he answered as if she should have
known the answer the entire time.

"Please let me go"

"Don't ask that."

"Please, mister, please let me go", Lisa was crying in fear now. She couldn't
break the bonds. Her head was clearing, but not enough.

"Don't ask me that, again", there was a tone of finality.

"Why not?"

"You are so pretty that I would almost do it for you. If it were not for that
place, I would do it for you", he answered absently. "I let the first one go,
and she told what I had done. I had been gentle. I had been so very very
gentle. I always am, but she told on me just the same. The judge sent me to
that place. You are pretty, miss. So very very pretty, but no one is pretty
enough for me to go back. So please don't ask again."

"What are you going to do to me?" He didn't answer. "Are you going to kill
me?"

He turned around again. He looked pained. "Kill you!?! You are so pretty. I
couldn't bring myself to kill you. It hurt me to harm you in the parking lot.
Are you ok from the hit against the car? I have some motrin around here
somewhere... or some aspirin." He looked around his table.

"You said you can't let me go, and you said you aren't going to kill me. Are
you going to keep me here forever?"

He didn't answer for a time, but when he did his voice was softer. "No, I am
not going to keep you here. You see, I can't let you go. I can't let any more
go. They must never be allowed to speak to anyone about the time they spend
with me. It must be a secret always."

"I won't tell anyone."

He spoke as if she hadn't said anything. "I must not be here when the end
comes. It would hurt me too much. You are all so pretty. I could not stand
here and watch anything happen to you. I can't be there when it happens. I
must go."

"Go for what?"

"We are all in a basement... a sub-basement really. The building above us is
being demolished. They are building shopping center. The roof of this place is
a solid slab of reinforced concrete. The girders must be sliced before the
blasting will drop the rest of the building. When they blast, the slab of this
roof will crash down on the floor."

Lisa looked horrified.

"Do not worry. I will be painless. It will be very very quick. None of you
should feel anything."

It was the way he said it that scared Lisa. It was like describing what he had
eaten for breakfast, or what he planed to do for the weekend.

"You've done this to other women? How can you..."

"Don't try to judge me. There are people who do all sorts of terrible things.
I am gentle. You are all so pretty." Benny stood up and came towards her.
Lisa's heart seemed to stop as he approached. He knelt in front of her and
wiped the tears and the smudges of dirt from her face. "You are so pretty. The
prettiest of the group I think." He wiped her face again and pushed back her
hair. "You will enjoy our time together. You will enjoy it so very much" He
smiled. Lisa could feel his breath on her face. He reached down and separated
her hands from her feet although they were still individually bound.

Lisa pulled her arms in close to her body and squeezed them against her chest.
She pulled against the ropes making sure there was no slack at all. Benny
leaned closer to her and rubbed his hand down her stomach towards her hips.
Lisa closed her eyes and at once trust her hands out away from her body. The
ropes didn't stand a chance. Thick braids burst throwing hemp powder into the
air. Benny had been looking the other way and was shocked when he felt a hand
grab him forcefully by the collar.

Lisa pulled him down towards the floor hard. Benny tried to resist out of
instinct, but he couldn't stop himself. His head hit the concrete floor making
a hollow thump. Lisa quickly worked to undo her feet and pull the loose
strands from her hands. She was up in an instant. She looked around. The room
was dark outside of his work area. She had no idea which way to go. She looked
down. She had to do something. She took the ropes that had bound her ankles
and used them to tie Benny's hands. She had just enough left over to tie him
to one of the girders. She took the gag off of her neck and stuffed it in
Benny's mouth.

Lisa ran. She had no idea which way to go, but getting away was better than
staying. She had to get to the police. There were at least 5 other women down
there and there could possibly be more. She thought about freeing them first,
but she was already running now. She ran with her hands out in front of her.
She didn't know what was in front of her. She found a wall after a short
while. There had to be a door on the wall somewhere. She kept searching and
searching. After several minutes she started to hear sounds. Busses were going
by. She couldn't tell the direction, but she could hear the busses. She kept
feeling on the wall hoping to find a door somewhere. The construction noises
started all at once. She could hear jack hammering and the sound of those huge
trucks. Her fear grew. She really had to get out from under the slab.

She felt the wall texture change... a door frame... then a door. She pushed
the door open and found herself in a stairwell. There was a little light here.
She couldn't tell where it was coming from. She looked at the stairs and knew
at once that they went no where. The metal had been sliced and what had once
been an opening was now a slab of cold cement. She searched for the light and
found it. A door. A door to the outside. Pale rays of early morning sun came
in through the cracks in the door. Lisa ran to the door and slammed into it.
She pushed and pushed, but it wouldn't open. She felt around the door. She
found a pad lock and hasp. She needed to get out of there. She took the lock
in her hands squeezing it tight then pulled the entire hook and hasp off the
door. She pushed again, but it still wouldn't open. There was something
blocking the door.

Lisa took her fingers and worked them in between the door and the frame. She
dug her fingers in and started pulling. She pulled chunks of wood off the door
and frame until she could reach both her hands through the hole she had made.
Once her hands were through, she pulled. The door jam was supposed to prevent
the door from opening inward, but Lisa didn't care about that. She pulled and
pulled. The worn brittle wood of the door chipped as she pulled it against the
frame. Finally it gave and Lisa pulled the door open. Instead of being elated,
she felt worse.

A bus blocked the way out. It had been blocking the door. Lisa turned and
looked over her shoulder. She couldn't go back that way. She stuck her head
out the door hoping that she could slide by the bus. Her hopes were dashed at
once. On her left, the wall of the building ran the length of the alley and on
her right a concrete pillar ran nearly six feet from the door out into the
alley. The bus was parked only inches from the door. Lisa didn't have a
problem getting between the wall of the building and the back of the bus, but
there was no way she could get by that pillar. There was only inches between
the side of the bus and the pillar.

If she could move the bus far enough she could get by that pillar. It wasn't
crazy she thought as she tried to figure out the best way to push the huge
vehicle. She had seen it on tv. Those strong men had managed and if they could
then she could too. This alley had a slight incline, but she would just have
to get over that. Lisa turned her back to the bus and braced her feet against
the concrete wall of the building under demolition. She took a deep breath and
started pushing. She pushed with all she had from the start, but the 27,000
pound bus only move up as the slack in her brakes and drive shaft allowed.
Lisa thought she had something going as the bus moved about six inches, but
that was when her progress stopped. Lisa growled and redoubled her efforts.
Her muscles reacted then. Muscles bulged with power as they pushed harder and
harder against the bus.

The driveshaft of the bus was locked in position by the parking brake and was
designed to hold the 13 and a half ton bus in place even while on a hill in
San Francisco. The brake was holding now, as it had been designed to do. Lisa
pressed harder and harder. She bit her lip and pressed her palms down on her
knees trying to add all the power she could. She felt the bus move again
slightly. Encouraged, she pushed against the wall with one huge burst hoping
that would do the trick. It did several things. The rear of the bus indented
slightly under strain it was not designed to take, and so did the drive shaft.
The 'u' joint is always the weak link in any drive shaft and all four bolts on
the heavy duty shaft sheared off from the power of Lisa's thighs. The popped
and half the shaft fell loose. The bus was moving now. Lisa legs straightened
an few more inches. She had opened her eyes now. She was about to smile when
the bus stopped moving again.

Lisa could not have known that the alley she was trying to use to escape was
used to park transit buses not needed on weekend routes. There were two other
busses in front of the one she could see. Lisa couldn't see the other busses
and wouldn't have cared if she could have seen them. She had to get away.

Harder and harder she pressed. Lisa's muscles bulged and flexed as if they had
a mind of their own. A map of veins snaked across her thighs and ever growing
calves. Lisa pushed harder and harder. Her muscles seemed to pulsate with
power now. Her legs were shaking now, but not from fatigue, but from growth.
The fibers in her thighs fired faster and faster. They were more than 28
inches around now and growning bigger by the instant. The shafts of the other
two buses had no chance against Lisa's inexhaustible power. The more the
shafts tried to hold the busses firm, the more power her thighs produced. At
the same time, both shafts broke and the busses surged forward. Lisa was ready
and used the forward momentum to allow her to get her feet to the ground. With
her feet on the ground now, she pushed the 81,000 pounds busses up the slight
hill. Tired of pushing backwards, she braced herself and started to turn
around. The sole of a sneaker was not made to push 20 tons of busses and part
of the sole of her shoe broke off. Lisa lost her balance. The busses, now
right in front of her started to roll back. Lisa didn't have the leverage to
stop them. She back peddled trying to get some leverage to stop the bussed,
but they now had the upper hand against her. Her back slammed against the
concrete wall of the building. She trust out her arms against them and turned
her head fully expecting to be crushed as the busses crashed back on her.

Her arms bent as the massive busses came back on her. Only a dip in the
concrete of the alley stopped the bus. The rear of the bus was only inches
from Lisa's nose. Lisa opened her eyes determined to not be defeated by some
busses after she had just escaped from being raped and murdered.

Lisa put her palms flat against the rear of the bus. Anger and frustration
fueled her as she pushed against the rear of the bus. Muscles jumped to
attention as the bus started moving at once. Her chest expanded so quickly the
neck of her shirt ripped lightly and the sleeves had no chance agaist her ever
expanding triceps. After pressing the bus a foot away, Lisa leaned forward to
come off the wall. Her normally flat stomach hardened into tight knots of
muscle as she pushed her hips off the wall. She started walking the busses up
the incline again. A snarl on her face, she refused to stop until she could
escape into the street. Her calves hardened and defined themselves as the
busses moved step by step up the alley.

Lisa glanced to her right and saw that she had just about cleared the barrier.
The wall to her left was a mixture of flat concrete and concrete columns. She
knew she would have to wedge the rear of the bus she was pussing againt that
column in order for her to get by. She pushed the busses past the column. The
rear of the bus was mere inches from the column, but she had to move the rear
laterally in order for it to rest agains the column. Lisa pressed her shoulder
against the bus and locked her legs in place to hold the massive weight still
while she worked her hands under the bumper. Once there, she started lifting.
The huge shocks and struts creaked a bit as their load was lightened by Lisa.
Still fueled with anger and fear, Lisa legs overpowered the massive weight of
the bus. She didn't care that the engine, transmission, and air conditioning
system was located in the rear of the bus. She lifted them all. Her legs
straighten, but the tires still touched the ground. Her biceps and shoulders
vibrated as they not only strained to hold up the weight, but now to curl it.
Lisa threw her head back and bit down on her lip hard trying with all she
could muster to lift more than she ever had before. Her biceps grew to match
her triceps now. The muscles thickened and became more defined with each inch
the bus moved. Lisa's whole body shook as the bus's wheels finally came off
the asphalt. Her swollen biceps were red and swollen with muscle and blood as
Lisa inched the bus towards the column. When the metal of the bumper touched
the wall, Lisa slowly and carefully put the bus down and let it rest against
the column.

She turned and looked at the blackness of the doorway and ran up the alley to
the right side of the busses to the nearest phone. The 911 dispatcher took the
call seriously and in minutes the entire neighborhood was blanketed by police.
Lisa was downtown she realized after the initial shock of the situation wore
off. She was by the city bus terminal not that far from her office really.

The paramedics covered her with a blanket the moment they came on the scene
and fed her before they would allow the police to talk to her. Lisa was
grateful. It also allowed her muscles to go back to normal.

The police found Benny still tied up inside the building, but he had almost
freed himself. Police freed the women and paramedics and firemen came in at
once to tend to them. It was nearly an hour before the first detective came to
talk to Lisa for any length. She told them the truth, mostly. She left out the
strength parts. She told them that she had pulled the rear door open and that
the busses were already like that. She would let them figure that out.

Detective Long walked down the alley after talking to Lisa. He wanted to
smile, but couldn't... not yet. He had been looking for that piece of shit
rapist for going on six months now. He wished they still had capital
punishment for rapists, but they did have it for murder and Benny had done
plenty of that also. The detective had a metro transit offical with him as he
walked down the alley. He had just this one piece of the puzzle to wrap up
before he could go back to the station and have some fun with Benny. Lisa
watched the detective and transit man go down the alley. The paramedics
wondered why her heart rate had jumped suddenly, but they figured it was just
the stress of the situation.

"So, how the hell did these busses get like this?", Detecive Long asked.

The transit official looked around quickly and said, "Damn kids. This is the
third or fourth time they've done this."

"Done what?", the detective frowned.

"They break in the last bus and hot wire it, or hell some of them seem like
they have a kid. I reported this to the police the last time it happened. You
ought to have some sort of record of it."

"I'll check on that, but go ahead."

"At any rate, when they get it started, they push it against the other busses
until they break everything. One time a kid pushed all the busses out of the
way and ended up taking the bus for a joy ride. It doesn't matter. We won't be
able to park our busses here anymore after they build that shopping center
there."

"Right", Dective Long agreed absently. "What about these right here?" The
detective pointed at two indention in the rear of the bumper of the rear bus.

"Aw, those... they look like strap marks from a tow truck. Dimes to dollars
that's what they are. They do that sometimes."

"Yep" Detective Long walked out of the alley satisfied that there were no
holes in his star witnesses story. He could put Benny away now, and the little
bastard would never get out.

Ian rushed to the police station after the police had called him. Lisa needed
someone to come pick her up, and Ian was the only person she could think of.
Ian rushed into the station looking side to side until he saw Lisa sitting
next to a desk. He hurried past the desk sergeant not even hearing her
objections. He rushed right over to Lisa and wrapped his arm around her.

"Are you ok?"

Lisa started crying again. She hadn't cried since firemen had put a blanket on
her, but looking at Ian and the concern in his eyes and his voice she couldn't
help it.

"I'm fine." she managed in a weak voice. "They said I can go home now."

Ian took her home and refused to leave once they were safely in her apartment.
She thought he was quite gallant. He slept on the couch in the living room,
but he woke up every time he heard a noise coming from Lisa's bed room. He was
so angry he wished he had someone to hurt, but didn't. Instead he just sat in
her living room and brooded silently.

Lisa slept the rest of the day and most of the next morning. She didn't wake
up until after 10 the next morning. Ian was still there and still upset
although he had calmed down a bit. Lisa was still thankful for him staying.
She slept better knowing that she was not alone.

"They found your car."

"Oh really?", Lisa perked up.

"Yeah, they found it under and interstate bride about a half mile from the bus
station. They did a light search of the car. They said the bastard had gloves
on so they wouldn't have found any finger prints. They say you're car's fine
though. He even left the keys on the floor board. They said."

Lisa smiled for the first time in more than a day. Ian took her back to the
police station. A sergeant was waiting for her and handed her the keys. Lisa
told Ian that she was ok. Ian relutantly went back to his own house still
worried about his friend. Lisa went home and later that afternoon headed to a
car wash. She wanted to remove all traces of Benny from her beautiful car.
Lisa played her music while she wiped down the dashboard and doors and cleaned
the leather seats. She put her dollar in the vacuum and started taking care of
the floor rugs.

Lisa hummed along with the song on the radio as she pulled the hose back and
forth over the rug. Lisa heard the sound of the vacuum change as she poked it
under her seat. She pulled the hose and saw the problem. A piece of silver
stuck out from the narrow slit of nozzle. Lisa pulled the piece of silver out
of the nozzle. She knew at once that it wasn't hers. It was a locket. She
opened the locket and saw two pictures. She closed the locket and noticed a
name on the back. Mary Larwence. Her spirits sank again. Mary had been in the
room with her. Mary had been raped by Benny. Lisa hurriedly finished cleaning
her car and hurried home.

Lisa did not go to work Monday. She got dressed to go, but instead looked up
Mary's name in the phone book. Mary lived in a working class part of town.
Lisa drove through a neighborhood not much different from the one she grew up
in. The mixed minority community looked at Lisa's big Mercedes going down the
street wondering what she was doing there. They looked until Lisa stopped and
got out of the car. Once they saw that she was a minority, all except the
young men started looking elsewhere. Lisa's hands sweated around the locket,
but she walked up to the door all the same. She rang the bell.

"No interviews!" a male voice boomed from behind the closed door.

"I'm not a reporter. I was in the room with her. I need to talk to Mary."

The door opened quickly and a very large man stood in the doorway. He had a
frown on his face and was very hesitent to let her past him. Lisa stood there
on the steps of the house until she heard a voice come from the other room.
"Its ok. You can let her in."

Lisa came in then and saw Mary sitting on a couch in the living room. Lisa
hadn't had a chance to speak to her really, but they had been through a
similar thing. Lisa sat down on the couch next to her.

"I just wanted to give you this." Lisa opened her hand. Mary took the locket
out slowly almost in disbelief. "I found it in my car. He must have dropped
it."

Mary started crying again. Lisa could tell that she had been doing that quite
often. Lisa leaned in and wrapped her arms around the shaking sobbing woman.
Lisa tried not to, but soon she teared up as well. Mary looked at the locket
again. "Thank you. Oh, thank you." She said with all the strength she could
manage. Lisa realized then that what Father Brennin had said was true. That
revelation caused more tears to flow. She also realized that a simple act of
kindness could do more to impact a person's life than all the strength in the
world.

comments welcome ppng21@comcast.net