"Open the rear hatch!", Aaron Miles yelled and ran up to the hole in the bottom of the command vehicle to see who was alive in there. It was hard to see clearly but there was some movement. He took the time to load another grenade into the launcher attached to the bottom of the M4 carbine then headed towards the rear just as the driver pulled the door's emergency release. The lock disengaged but the door didn't open more than an inch because it was lying on its side. Miles held the rifle with one hand and reached with the other to force the door open when he heard a growl come from behind him. The armored Man was back on his feet and rushing towards Miles. The grenade had only caused minor damage to the armor. Miles ducked a high looping punch that hit against the command vehicle so hard that it shook. He turned the carbine and its grenade launcher towards the attacker but had no idea what would happen if he fired a grenade from this close. He never got a chance to find out. Glancing contact from a punch sent Miles sailing across the access road. He landed in some grass, moving but disoriented. The attacker could have finished him off, but he had bigger fish to fry. He put his hand on the door of the now unlocked the command vehicle and began to force it open.

The door scraped against the pavement as he opened it past the point where its hinges were designed to go. The armored Man made a point to push until the door itself bent under his relentless pressure. He could have stopped, but he enjoyed seeing and hearing the tortured metal yield to his arm. When he was finished, he stepped into the m113, looking around to see who he might kill first. His eyes zeroed on the guy in the suit. He had to be higher in the pecking order than the two guys looking on from the front. Special Agent Wills couldn't see the smile on this Man's face beneath his helmet as he turned sideways to fit his armored bulk into the space. He was about halfway into the command vehicle, his fingers only inches from Agent Wills' leg when the veteran agent raised his pistol. The Man laughed as Wills fired a defiant shot straight into the center of the armored mask. If a 40mm grenade barely damaged the armor then a tiny little bullet wouldn't do anything at all, but Wills didn't care. He fired again and just after impact, the Man flew backwards out of the vehicle like he'd been yanked by a speedboat.

Through the smoke and confusion, Wills saw the armored Man stumble to regain his balance after sliding along the road for several feet. He pulled his arm back to throw a punch, but a big fist slammed into that helmet knocking the attacker down to his knees. Then another blow rocked the attacker from top to bottom. This blow sounded like the boom of a bass drum. The Man threw a punch from his knees, but then that big fist opened up and his punch was stopped cold. Long tapered fingers closed around the armored fist and in a matter of moments, the armored plates cracked and shattered. Tendons stood out along that hand as the armored gauntlet shrunk with the attacker's hand inside. He cried out and tried to free himself, but it was too late. With one final surge from that big hand, the attacker's chemically enhanced bones shattered too.

The attacker threw a desperate punch from his knees which took him out of Wills' view. There was a short but spirited struggle, the impacts of the super humans shook the command vehicle, but in a few seconds the armored Man's dead body fell to the ground a few feet behind the door with his chest down and his eyes looking up towards the night sky. The same hand that had just crushed armored plates gripped the door and moved it slightly. "Friendly coming in", Jan announced just before sticking her head inside the cabin. She glimpsed the two soldiers looking at her from the front of the vehicle but got a big smile on her face when she saw Agent Wills.

Norma went up the left side of a road moving with the tactical precision she'd honed during dozens of missions with her team. The carbine was tucked in tightly to her shoulder and her entire body moved like an extension of that weapon. She saw an attacker dressed in black, looking almost like a ninja running towards a soldier reloading his weapon. Norma took careful aim and dropped the Man with two shots to the upper chest. That soldier looked up and Norma gave him a quick nod before continuing on her way.

Two soldiers from the fort's stripped down garrison had been caught out in the open during the attack and had taken cover beneath the low branches of a big magnolia tree. So far that tree had served their purposes well. Plenty of people had run past them, but not a single person had noticed them until Norma stopped and pointed. They were shocked, but didn't move. Norma motioned for them to follow her but still they didn't move. She frowned and leaned down to see if those soldiers were injured. When she saw that they weren't, her shock went to a new level. She realized that they weren't just taking cover, they were fucking hiding. She thought about all the other guys out there doing their best to defend their post against enhanced attackers, and it crossed her mind to shoot those two assholes herself. It was just a fleeting thought, but she did quickly leave them behind before she actually did something she'd regret.

Norma hadn't gotten far from the magnolia tree when three Men of the Revolution attacked her from different directions. She spun to her left and fired off a shot hitting a Man in the center of his forehead. Another Man got a bullet in the hip which put him down. She moved her muzzle to finish that guy off, but the other attacker was on her too quickly. He threw a wild blow that hit Norma at the base of her neck. She stumbled forward and the uninjured attacker took Norma down to the ground. The one with the gunshot to the hip wrested the gun out of her hands and the three of them rolled and tumbled along the ground trying to gain any advantage.

The two soldiers watched the attack from their relative safety both knowing that those two Men were too strong for a normal person to wrestle. Whoever that short woman was she had to be pretty strong to have survived for this long. One of the cowering soldiers had seen enough though. He put his rifle in a death grip before scrambling from beneath the tree.

Norma had managed to get to her feet and she used the opportunity to slam a punch against the uninjured attacker's jaw. He rolled to the ground while the other one landed a punch against her side. She stumbled but her low center of gravity kept her upright. The Man was stunned. A punch like that should have crashed its way through her ribs. Instead of punching her again, the Man tackled Norma taking her down to the ground hard. She ended up on her back. He grabbed Norma by the sides of her head, lifted it up towards his chest then slammed it down to the ground. She shock of the blow stunned the height challenged soldier, but not enough to save this guy's life. She wrapped her thick muscular legs around his back and hips as he pulled her head up for another bash, but he lost control of his limbs when Norma tightened her legs with stone bursting force. Norma's lower half swelled with massive muscle growth from her calves to her quads, hamstrings, adductors, hip flexors and glutes. Norma's muscles looked like they could have covered most of this Man's body with their expansion alone, but she didn't care about any of that. She poured on as much strength as her huge muscle bound body could produce. The Man's body arced from the pain and his face contorted into a look that was half shock half panic. His shaking hands went to Norma's knees, but he wasn't fast enough. A piece of his left hip bone snapped off allowing Norma's knees to move in just a little more adding to the pressure. Norma's quads impossibly added another inch to their already bodybuilder shaming size and the first vertebra shattered followed by two more in his lower back. A split second after that, the Man's spinal cord severed paralyzing him from the waist down, although he didn't suffer long. Norma stretched out her arm far enough to get a fingertip on her carbine. That was all she needed. She got a grip on the handle, spun it round and put a bullet through the paralyzed man's head, ending his suffering. The other attacker was incensed and ran towards Norma, but he caught 3 shots to the chest. She looked back to see that the shots had come from one of the soldiers who'd been hiding beneath the tree. She was on her feet by the time the other soldier came running up to join them. She gave them a quick once over then motioned for them to follow her.

Sara and Alisha made a bee line for the hospital building while the battle raged all around them although they weren't worried about getting hit by stray bullets or being seen. Sara took care of the former while Alisha took care of the latter. They crossed an intersection and stopped when they heard screams. Both young women whipped their heads to look down the street. Two soldiers and a deputy US Marshal were on the ground scrambling to get to their feet and run. Further down they saw the front of a 2001 Daewoo sedan jostle before its four wheels came off the ground. A Man lifted the car all the way over his head, reveling in feeling the strength coursing through his body. He had his aim set on the terrified defenders, hoping he could get the car to land on all of them, but suddenly as he corrected his aim, he turned towards an empty field and threw the car harmlessly onto the grass. He thought he'd killed his targets until Alisha allowed her illusion to drop. He lashed out in his confusion, kicking a car near him so hard that it rolled onto its side. Alisha ran towards the spared defenders without even wasting a glance at the armored Man. She knew Sara was going to take care of him, and she did. "Ready to go?", Alisha asked after Sara dropped the now dead Man to the ground. Sara nodded and they continued to the hospital.

Norma and her makeshift fire team had encountered and downed two more attackers as they headed for the security building. It turned out that the two soldiers with Norma worked in communications, which was nice since this fort had no connection with Army command at the moment. Norma took on the personal mission to deliver these soldiers to their post so they could help end this battle. Off on the other side of the road though, near the hospital two Federal Agents were locked in battle with three Men of the Revolution. The two soldiers followed Norma as she moved to cover behind a half wall. She was about to see if she had a clear shot when LaShaunta rushed in out of nowhere.

Norma ignored the danger and jumped out into the open to warn Jan's roommate that these attackers had enhanced strength, but LaShaunta attacked before Norma could finish. The track star twisted her body, building up tremendous torque inside her impressive muscles and unleashing that power with a kick that blasted against a Man's jaw so hard that he stumbled away from her. He righted himself only to absorb an even harder kick to the center of his chest. Even through the thick material of LaShaunta's black pants all four quadriceps heads showed with prominence while her hamstrings, calves, and glutes were flexed to utter perfection. That kick would have shattered a normal man's ribs. This man slammed back first into the wall sporting an angry scowl. He pushed off the wall and launched himself at LaShaunta, but with a move so imperceptibly quick that Norma hadn't even seen it, LaShaunta unsheathed her knife and stabbed the Man in the throat as he came forward. His anger turned to shock as LaShaunta drew the knife across his neck, opening it up wide. Blood and air gurgled from the massive wound, but a drop didn't even touch LaShaunta because she ran on.

A second attacker reacted to his friend's death and reached out for LaShaunta, but his movement had been mistimed and clumsy. She side stepped him with acrobatic ease and then exploded towards him and plunged the blade of her fighting knife into his left eye socket. His screams echoed off of buildings a quarter mile away, until she raised her left hand and put him out of his misery with a double tap to the forehead. The bullet holes were so close that only an autopsy would have revealed that there'd been two shots.

The last Man dropped the Fed that LaShaunta had come to save in the first place and turned towards the most dangerous person he'd ever seen. He was turning towards LaShaunta when she jumped high in the air and scythed a kick to the side of his face. The blow didn't hurt, but it made him hesitate just a fraction of a second and that was all LaShaunta needed. She ran up the man's body like a spider, using his thighs and shoulders like rungs on a ladder until finally somersaulting over his back landing almost directly behind him with her gun ready. "Put your hands up!", she yelled and the Man thought about it for a second before diving toward a gun on the ground near him. LaShaunta let out a breath before putting a slightly more lopsided hole in this Man's head. LaShaunta let out a sigh as the emotions of killing three people in a manner of seconds washed over her, but she quickly pushed all those emotions to the side and turned to Norma. "Did you say something?", she yelled across the road.

A still stunned Norma shook her head. She'd never seen three enhanced people killed with such ease in all her life. LaShaunta's words from earlier forced their way into Norma's thoughts because they were true. Back in Italy, if LaShaunta had wanted Norma dead, then she'd have ended up dead. "It was nothing", she finally responded.

"Oh ok", LaShaunta said as she helped the stunned federal agent to his feet and handed him back his gun. "I'm shadowing you guys. Just keep going." The soldiers behind Norma smiled broadly. They had no idea who that pretty Black girl was across the street was, but between her and the short hyper muscular soldier in front of them, they felt their chances of survival rising.

Agent Miles opened his eyes and his vision cleared up enough for him to see the short brutal fight between Jan Caufield and that bastard who'd knocked him across the road. How in the hell had she gotten here so fast?

"We have to get to a radio", Wills told Jan as she helped him from the command vehicle.

She sighed as she thought. "I saw an intact Bradley. Just stay close."

Agent Miles ran towards the group then saw the shadow move. He started to raise his grenade launcher, but the angle was wrong so he held up his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Behind you!!!", as loudly as he could.

This was the first time Miles ever got to see a taste of that tall girl's true power. A scowl made Jan's beautiful face unrecognizable as she spun with super human speed. She screamed as she unleashed the hardest spinning back kick any of them had ever seen. Its form was perfect in every way. The timing of it had been impeccable, and the power of it had literally been breathtaking. One of the armored Men was running in at full speed, but the power of Jan's leg was more than enough to counter all of that momentum. Her specially made boot hit the attacker's breastplate hard enough to crack the armor, and send him flying backwards as fast as a race car on a track. He hit a small hill and threw dirt high in the air as his armored body plowed through feet of soil. He bounced towards a hundred year old tree and he still had so much speed from that single kick that on impact the big old trunk split from the base to the top with a sound like an explosion. The top branches fell from eighty feet up and crashed down on top of the slumped Man sitting on top of the roots.

"The Bradley's up that way", Jan told the group as Miles came running over to join them. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. "Go ahead and get going. After I finish with that guy I'll catch up."

"You mean that kick didn't kill him!?!", the command vehicle driver asked with some shock. "That kick would have gone right through our vehicle's armor." Then they heard the sound of separating wood and saw the fallen top of the tree moving.

Jan smiled at him and his heart skipped a beat. "Get moving! This guy won't take me long." True to her word, she joined them in a minute. She had to wipe a little blood from her mouth, but other than that she seemed fine. She motioned for the group to stay behind as she looked around the vehicle. She tried the back door, but it didn't budge so she jumped on top. She didn't see any damage there either, but she also didn't see a way inside since the hatch seemed to be locked.

She rolled her sleeves up, gripped the sides of the hatch and pulled. Her muscles finally got a true test as the four sided hatch resisted this immense pressure. They saw her biceps flex and more importantly her traps, quads, hamstrings and glutes. Her muscles only got slightly bigger though, but even from the little they could see, she was flexing them harder than any normal person could ever hope to. Jan's flexing muscles were putting extreme pressure on her uniform top, but just a fraction of the pressure her hands were putting on the top of the Bradley. This aluminum armor was much stronger than the kind used on the m113s, but it wasn't nearly hard enough. One locking bolt failed with a deep chest thumping boom and then the one next to it pulled its way through the surrounding metal. The top of the Bradley screeched and deformed as Jan snatched the hatch and its assembly free. Jan moved the hatch to the side and looked down into the hull just in time to see the muzzle of a rifle.

"Fuck!", she exclaimed and managed to move the hatch back in front of head in time for it to reflect the shots. "Damn it soldier, same side!", she screamed.

"How do I know that?", a shaky voice from inside demanded.

"Because", Agent Wills began as he climbed to the top of the Bradley, "she didn't kill you for shooting at her. Now move to the side young man, and stop pointing that gun at her. Is your radio working?"

"Yes… yes sir", the soldier replied.

"Good."

SAC MacCallum left one more body in his wake as he ran from room to room. The other attackers, the ones who seemed to be in charge were trying to get their newly awoken soldiers out of the building and to some kind of exfiltration, but it had become apparent to everyone including MacCallum that these assholes weren't going to leave until they killed everybody they could. He was in a somewhat secure storage area with a couple of walls between him and the hallway. He had four bullets left in his gun and no more room to run. He hadn't heard any more soldiers in this hospital so he knew help wasn't coming. He wondered if he might just sacrifice himself so these jerks would leave before finding the doctors and nurses. A flood of thoughts entered his mind as he stood up and approached the door. Just then there was a crash in the room just to the other side of the door. Before he could attempt to identify it, the wall near him exploded inward. MacCallum ducked as a specimen freezer went tumbling over his head. He dropped down as plaster and wood covered him. His gun hit the floor and bounced away with him reaching for it, but another hand grabbed it first.

"There you are", a Man of the Revolution sneered. "I was gonna crush you to fuckin death, but this is poetic I think", he said and fired down into MacCallum's head, or what he thought was MacCallum's head. The bullet had really gone into the far wall. MacCallum was confused until the illusion melted away for him and he saw Alisha standing in the doorway.

"Are you okay?", she asked with breathy desperation.

"I'm fine now!", MacCallum replied, suddenly feeling giddy at this luck.

Alisha let out a long sigh of relief and started towards him. Almost absently and as an afterthought, she put two slugs into the chest of this Man who died not even knowing what had killed him. Sara ran into the room with sprinkles of blood on the side of her face. It wasn't hers. "Great! You got to him", she exclaimed and let out a sigh of her own.

"I'm fine Sara", MacCallum said as Alisha helped him from beneath the fallen wall.

Norma shot another Man of the Revolution, noting that her marksmanship really was getting better since her early days in the army and then from across the street and with an obstacle in the way, LaShaunta put down two Men with a shot apiece from three times the distance of any of Norma's own kills. It was as impressive a shooting display as Norma had seen in combat. She didn't have to say anything to LaShaunta. The look on her pretty face said that she already knew how awesome those shots were. Then LaShaunta disappeared into the shadows, seeking out any more targets that might get in their way.

"Ok that's the building", one of the soldiers said. "There're teams coming in from all over the place, but they'll be blind unless we can get in there and look at the cameras."

"Alright", Norma said and looked across the open expanse to the building. "Get in there and do what you have to do." Norma got up from behind cover and started towards the building. The soldiers behind her wanted to run, but Norma knew better. They had to be careful of ambushes. She didn't allow herself to relax as the group made it to the door. Norma was about to kick it open when LaShaunta appeared next to her.

"At least two enemies inside. Maybe more", she whispered to Norma. "They were too busy destroying everything they touch to notice me, but I didn't want to stay in there too long. I can get the two I saw, but if there are others then…"

"I'll get them", Norma assured her and LaShaunta nodded.

"When I disappear, kick that door open."

Norma squared up on the door and then LaShaunta was gone. She pulled her leg back and kicked that door as hard as she could, and it was a good thing. Attackers inside had barricaded it with furniture that went flying as soon as Norma hit it. The door itself broke into splinters. Usually after Norma had breached, her team would rush in, but these guys weren't Special Forces or infantry either. She gathered herself and went in first. She heard two shots as LaShaunta did exactly what she said she would do. Then an enemy flashed to her left, coming out of a ransacked office. Two shots to the head and he dropped. Norma released the magazine from the carbine and slammed in another. A shot came her way but missed over her head. The two soldiers behind her opened fire making the attacker take cover behind the wall. Norma made contact with LaShaunta and that was all it took. Norma ordered her men to cease fire and then LaShaunta was in the room. After two shots she walked out. "Clear!", she said after checking every room.

"Get to work guys", she told the two soldiers who went to their normal duty station and began getting the cameras back online. Norma ran her fingers through her hair then looked over at LaShaunta. "Have you ever thought about joining the Army?"

LaShaunta grinned. "Nope. As a smart man once said, it'd ruin my game."

Norma chuckled. "How did you get so good?"

"Same way you did", LaShaunta said then tapped Norma on the shoulder before heading towards the door. Norma got a lopsided grin on her face as she watched LaShaunta walk outside. She didn't know why, but that compliment felt damned good.

Alexandra Young had heard the emergency call for Special Programs personnel from the Captain himself. The Bunker was going on lockdown and some of the guards were going to join a fight that was going on somewhere in the city. Alex thought that since she was a probationary officer that she'd been one of the ones left behind, but after her display the other day during Peter Cooper's escape attempt, there was no way they were going to let her stay behind. "Leave your shit here and get up to the surface."

Alex's brain didn't have time to catch up to her legs as she rushed to the front of the prison with some other guards. A Blackhawk helicopter landed not far the prison's tall walls and a soldier slid open the door. Max leaned out for Alex to see him. "Come on in babe", he urged and she climbed aboard. "Here put these on." He handed her a black SWaT style helmet and body armor with Federal Agent on it.

"What's going on?", she asked with stress induced shakiness.

"A terrorist group's attacked Fort MacPhereson. We have to go in because the attackers are enhanced in some way or other."

"I haven't even started my field training yet!", Alex exclaimed as she put on the body armor.

Usually Max would have had a smart aleck quip, but he took a long look into Alex's dark brown eyes then kissed her. "Use what you know babe and stay safe down there. I heard its shit and fan." He had no idea that it was about to get even worse.

Malcolm didn't know why more of his Men hadn't come to the trucks. This was taking way too long. He looked at the guys around him and knew the truth. His people had to be winning and instead of leaving to fight another day, they'd decided to see if they could actually take over an entire military base. Malcolm was only half right. "Look outs say there're military choppers coming from the north", the assistant informed his leader.

Malcolm wanted to be gone by now, but he'd prepared for this contingency too. "You know what to do. And if my Men taste victory, give it to them. Order a full attack. We'll make this our statement! Right here! Right now!"

A group of soldiers ran for their lives as the engine of a captured m113 roared back to life. Two soldiers had tried to defend their vehicle from the Men, but had been overrun. Now an attacker sat behind the 50 caliber machinegun on top of the vehicle and trained its flashing muzzle on the fleeing soldiers. A sergeant looked back when a soldier behind him screamed as a bullet grazed his leg taking off a chunk of flesh. The rest of the soldiers continued, but the sergeant gritted his teeth, remembering the courage he'd displayed in Afghanistan and went back for the wounded soldier. The big half inch bullets kicked up dirt as the inexperienced attacker tried to put the tracers on his targets. The sergeant knew he probably wouldn't survive this rescue attempt. He turned towards the old apc and fired a salvo from his rifle at the guy behind the machinegun. One of his shots sent up a shower of sparks that at least made the Man cover his face for a moment. The sergeant slung his rifle and leaned down to drape the wounded man over his shoulder when a bullet sailed right between his arms. The round was so damned big that he could actually make out the contrail in the air. He knew the next shot was going to be the last sensation he ever felt. There was a crash behind him and the next shot from the machinegun flew far over his head. He lifted the wounded soldier up and looked back to see a tall young woman standing next to the apc. She didn't have a rocket launcher or a bomb. She stood to the side of the still rocking APC and drew her fist back.

Jan's vision was so narrowed that she could only see a single spot on the forest camo painted hull of this apc. She bared her teeth and let out a fury filled scream as she unleashed the hardest punch of her young life against that hull. Muscles flexed from her calves to her traps, but her pecs, shoulders, and biceps were flexed beyond all reason. The sound of this impact made the earlier one seem tame. People far away had to cover their ears from the pressure. The skin tore off of Jan's knuckles until the red smeared white of her bare bones showed though. Her fist ripped right through the thickest armor of this old personnel carrier, sending shards of metal across the inside so hard that pieces embedded themselves into the instruments on the far side. The near side tracks raised off the ground, the suspension creaking from the force. The vehicle was still rocking as Jan's arm went in all the way to her elbow.

The impact dazed the Man sitting behind the machinegun but he managed to swing the gun around and lower the muzzle as far as it would go. He pulled the trigger, but Jan was too close and the bullets kicked up sparks and dirt just behind her. He stopped shooting and was working to remove the pin the pull the detach the gun from the mount when the driver got his own ideas. He pushed the throttle forward and the diesel engine roared to life. Jan's right arm was still stuck through the hole she'd created when the tracks began to turn. She pressed her chest against the cold hull and pushed against the vehicle. The engine sang a deeper note and the tracks chewed through the pavement, and the vehicle kept moving.

In frustration, Jan curled her right arm pressing her palm against the inside wall of the apc, while she bent down and took a firm grip just above the vehicle's tracks. She threw her head back, where it nestled between her rising traps and screamed into the night as she unleashed her power. She pushed her body so hard that the muscular expansion actually hurt. Her tendons and ligaments ripped and frayed and repaired themselves as her muscles surged. Jan's body was always flawless, but as her muscle flexed bigger than ever, she reached yet another level. Her right bicep flexed so fiercely that the armored metal around it was bent by its expansion alone. The far track came off the ground first and as Jan leaned back, making the entire armored bulkhead buckle, the near side tracks came off the ground too. Jan's primal scream echoed throughout the quadrangle as she lifted the entire armored personnel carrier off the ground, only to slam it down as hard as she possibly could a moment later.

The sergeant, straining a bit under the weight of the soldier draped across his shoulders, watched in awe as this unknown woman lifted a fucking armored vehicle off the ground and then bashed it down hard enough to shatter the axles and break the overloaded suspension system. The engine sputtered and finally died and the drive sprockets stopped turning. She pulled her arm part way out of the now larger hole in the armor, but gripped it with long fingers while pressing her other hand against the bulkhead. She gave a sustained pull and the armor plate instantly buckled. The triceps muscle on her plant arm bulged obscenely as her hand sank into the armor like it was wet cement while the biceps on her right arm peaked madly. The frame creaked and warped as Jan peeled back the personnel carrier's armor. Welds that had survived battle failed. Now she was able to see inside. It was only a matter of time before the armor was defeated completely.

The Man looking out of the top of the vehicle saw her progress and finally managed to free the machine gun free. He easily dealt with the weight and fired several shots down at Jan. One of the big half inch bullets must have hit her somewhere because blood and tissue rained down behind her, and her face turned bright red with anger. While before that she'd been peeling back the armor, now her muscle flexed in a single instant into pure super human perfection. Her every muscle fiber burst and surged forward with unbelievable definition as she ripped the side of the m113 off with one pull. She jumped into the cabin and must have snatched that machine gunner down with all of her might because he disappeared down from the top hatch in a blur. The vehicle shook once and then there was a scream from the driver. The young woman stepped out of the broken vehicle and looked right at the sergeant. "You got him?", she asked, not even sounding overly winded after her super human display. "Good to go ma'am", the sergeant yelled back and she gave him a thumps up before running further up the road.

"Helos coming in", Norma heard one of the soldiers announce from the security office.

"Oh shit", the other one said. "They're enemies at the northeastern gate in big rigs and it looks like they're deploying some type of anti-air weapon."

"Fuck", Norma breathed. "Is there any way to get this info to the pilots?"

The soldiers both shook their heads. "Those assholes broke every radio in the building. I'm just glad they didn't know about the extra monitors."

Norma thought for a moment then ran outside. She went on for about a hundred feet before stopping and looking around. There wasn't a single person in sight. Norma ran on a bit further, hoping that she didn't have to go too far. She was pretty fast, but there was no way she'd get across this fort in time to do anything about those anti-air missiles. She needed to either find someone with a radio or preferable LaShaunta. She saw a shadow off to her right and like an answered prayer, Norma saw LaShaunta stalking her way through some bushes. Norma didn't want to scream and endanger them both so she moved closer. Just as she got within easy vocal range a brutal impact sent Norma to the ground and took her breath away.

Norma got to her feet but her spinning vision made balancing impossible. She caught a glimpse of the armored figure coming towards her. She reached for her rifle but realized too late that it had gone flying at impact, not that it would have done any good. The big armored Man kicked Norma so hard that she went flying again. He pulled his leg back and kicked at Norma again, only she moved and he kicked nothing at all. It took a second for him to regain his balance. Norma jumped up and punched this Man in his ugly armored face. Her knuckles practically bounced off. She forced his head back slightly, but his counterattack was vicious. Norma had to fight for her life. With a burst of strength Norma got the Man onto his back. She pounced but her advantage evaporated as quickly as it had appeared. The Man flipped them over and now Norma was on her back.

She'd only felt a portion of this Man's strength until now. He used his longer arms to wrap his fingers around her throat without her being able to reach his neck. Norma's head looked like a firecracker about to explode as he crushed her throat. She put her hands on the breastplate and pushed with all of her might. Her triceps blasted through her sleeves and her core expanded by inches. Thick brawny muscle poured out of Norma's flex, but she still couldn't get this Man off of her. Her chest expanded, pushing out her uniform top until inches of hot steel bending pec muscle showed. Norma was plenty strong, but just to prove that he was in another league, he began to overcome her strength with his arms alone. He used her neck like a lever as he curled his upper body towards her monumental, heaving chest. The sleeves of Norma's borrowed uniform went from black to a shade of gray as her muscles expanded inside of them. Her mouth opened into a silent scream as this Man bent her arms, making her massive pecs spasm and conquering her bulging abdominal wall.

Norma finally gave up pushing. Her vision was growing dim as she pounded the armor with futile blows. She searched for something to grab, something that she could pull free. Instead she found the seam at the back of the helmet. Her biceps thickened and grew like fresh mountain ranges as she poured everything she had into the seam at the back of that helmet. The Man didn't notice Norma's surging muscles actually starting to make progress. She strained with everything inside her, fighting just like Jan's gift had done earlier that day. The pain of being choked to death mixed with the pain of the effort to save her own life, turning her girl-next-door face into a tortured mask. The attacker figured that he was getting close to finishing this bitch off although she had a neck like a bull. Then without a bit of warning, he felt cool air on the back of his head. The Man couldn't believe that this government bitch had managed to damage his armor. His eyes narrowed behind the faceless mask and he really bore down. Norma kept pulling for a moment, but now her hands just trembled as her consciousness faded.

"Move your hands!", LaShaunta yelled as she ran up from Norma's right. The Man turned his head towards the sound of LaShaunta's voice, but she wasn't there anymore. She appeared behind him and quickly put the muzzle of her pistol directly over the tiny hole Norma had created and fired two shots. Blood squirted out of the eye socket as the Man's exploded head began to ooze. Norma pushed the dead body off and had a coughing fit.

"Damn it, Norma!", LaShaunta exclaimed. "Why didn't you say something?!? I almost didn't see you in time!"

Norma just coughed and pointed. "Anti-air. Northeast gate. Army helicopters.", she managed between the gagging and hacking.

"Radio contact?", she asked and Norma shook her head. LaShaunta vanished.

Miles wrecked a Humvee into a burning m113 and the engine wouldn't restart, so he grabbed the rifle and jumped out, heading towards the hospital. He saw it looming up ahead and ran as fast as he could. He heard an accelerating Humvee behind him, and knew this one wasn't being driven by anybody friendly to him. He tried to load a grenade into the launcher as he ran, but even if he did manage to destroy that Hummer, it wouldn't stop the horde coming behind it. Miles dropped the grenade, but didn't even lose a stride to retrieving it. He pulled the last 40mm grenade from his pocket. This time it slid into the launcher. He turned and fired while still running. The grenade flew right through the windshield and exploded inside the Hummer sending the ruined vehicle off to the side where it rolled to a stop. Miles grinned even though the recoil from the launch had twisted the gun from his hand. He kept running, even as he heard the engine of another Humvee gaining on him.

Sara and Alisha walked outside of the hospital with MacCallum. There were still battles going on in pockets, but according to the radio Jan was helping to snuff them out one by one. The roommates were just about to choose where to go next when Sara got a frown on her face.

"Drop to the ground", a voice told Miles from inside his own head. It was the weirdest sensation he could remember, but he didn't ignore the advice, dropping immediately and eating dirt. The Humvee's 6.5l engine roared as the driver accelerated to run Miles over. The air above him got incredibly thick just before the Humvee hit what seemed like a solid wall in mid-air. The front caved in and the two Men in the front seat flew through the already cracked windshield. Their necks broke when they too hit that wall.

Alisha steadied Sara when she swayed on her feet. "I can't tell you how much I hate doing that", she uttered.

"At least it wasn't a bus", Alisha replied as Miles scrambled towards them breathing heavily.

"They're attacking!", Miles exclaimed once he'd gotten close enough for MacCallum to hear. "That bastard Boreman has unleashed his people on us!"

"Wait", MacCallum said with a wave of his hand. "This seemed like a rescue mission. He was trying to break his people out."

Miles nodded. "It might have started out that way, but there's a wave of them coming this way."

"I feel them", Sara said, losing the faraway look on her face. "There's lots coming."

"We'll have to make a stand here", Alisha said. "We get the soldiers together and the two of us figure out a way to thin the herd."

"Alright, might work", MacCallum said before nearly losing his footing when LaShaunta appeared right next to him. "Damn who is this!"

"Our roommate", Sara replied.

"Thank God I found y'all", LaShaunta began. "Army helicopters are coming from the north."

"Yeah, that's Special Projects and our relief force", MacCallum explained.

"The bad guys are setting up anti-air right in their path!"

MacCallum cursed under his breath. "We have to protect that relief force or we're going to lose a lot of good people."

"But there's an horde heading right for us!", Miles needlessly reminded the group.

"Shaunie let's go to the anti-air", Sara decided for everybody. "Alisha can you stay here? I'll send Norma your way to help."

"Yeah sure", Alisha agreed with a dismissive shrug. "Send the terrorist army this way. We don't mind do we guys?"

"Ok, let's go", Sara said just before she put her hand on LaShaunta's shoulder and the two of them were gone. Both MacCallum and Miles were stunned all over again, but Alisha reserved her comments for one Fed alone.

"Hey Miles, get your shit together! Gather some soldiers and make a firing line back here!"

"How are we going to get set up? They're bearing down on us!", Miles asked.

"Let me worry about that asshat! Just do it!"

Jan heard Sara in her head and started running towards the northeastern gate. She jumped over broken vehicles and the occasional dead body as she moved towards the big rigs. The sounds of battle rang in Jan's ears as Sara and LaShaunta engaged the enemy. She stopped behind a line of parked vehicles and looked out over the scene, getting the lay of the land before engaging herself. That was when she heard the helicopters getting closer. She put her pedal to the metal and sprinted towards the action.

LaShaunta went in search of the missiles while Sara stood off to the side near some short evergreens. Her body was relaxed but her face showed concentration as her gift flowed out touching all the minds near her determining friend from foe. Three Men of the Revolution, part of the ring of security around the rigs saw a single Fed standing off looking like she was half sleep on her feet. They had no idea what that agent was doing but decided to put her out of her misery regardless. Sara got a grin on her face when she found the missiles, but then she felt a Man's finger curl around the trigger of a gun aimed at her. Of course he never got to finish that trigger pull. Sara lifted the three Men, letting them float a couple of feet off the ground. She could have probed their bodies to find their hearts or other important organs to disable, but it was hard enough holding these three strong men plus probing them would have further would have locked Sara further into her own mind than she already was. She'd do this the old fashioned way.

A few dozen yards away LaShaunta ducked beneath one of the Revolution's trailers and laid eyes on a missile battery. An old Soviet era 9m31 quad missile system had been mounted on a crude but effective homemade stand. Those missiles couldn't knock down an F-15 but they'd do just fine against a bunch of Blackhawks. LaShaunta worked her way closer, avoiding all the Men near her. They were preparing to advance and kill whoever survived the helicopter crashes, but there weren't going to be any crashes if LaShaunta had anything at all to say about it.

One Man guarded the control box for the missile launch system and unfortunately for him, he had to die. LaShaunta drew her knife then appeared right behind him, stabbing upward to pierce his heart. He slumped to the ground fighting for his life, but leaking blood with each ragged breath. LaShaunta turned the screws on the side of the control box and cut two wires. She shocked herself in the process but it was worth it. She put the box together again and pushed the button to launch all four missiles at once, then disappeared.

Normally it wouldn't have been a problem to launch all the missiles at the same time, but she'd disabled the unlocking mechanism. The rocket motors fired, trying to lift the missile and the anchored stand into the air. Men ran in all directions screaming about a malfunction as the missiles toppled over sending plumes of fire shooting out behind them. LaShaunta looked on from many yards away hopping the missiles would explode, but they didn't. At least she'd managed to make the surface-to-air missiles useless. That would have to do.

Malcolm was extremely pissed that someone had breached the security enough to get all the way to the missiles, but that was only a distant problem. As a row of helicopters came into view he looked to his right and saw the second battery being loaded. There were only three missiles set up, but Malcolm gave the order to fire anyway. The nearly six foot long missiles locked onto the heat signatures of the helicopters as they blasted into the air. The fins unfurled and the missiles corrected their trajectory, heading right for the unsuspecting Blackhawks. Malcolm was almost giddy as he watched the missiles speed towards their targets, but then, almost miraculously, the missiles stopped in mid air.

Dots of sweat beaded on Sara's forehead as she poured an enormous amount of power into holding the missiles firmly. She'd just dropped the dead Men and was in the middle of stashing their bodies where the others couldn't see when the launches happened. She had to drop the bodies and grab the missiles quickly, and in her haste she'd only managed to make a half dozen points of contact with one missile and four points of contact on the other two. Normally Sara would have made hundreds of mental contact points on the surface of something as powerful as a missile, so she was holding those powerful rocket motors back with mental fingernails. Slowly, but surely the missiles began slipping away. The thin skin of the missiles creased and dented as Sara attempted to hold on. She could have risked adding more points of contact but was worried that she'd lose control completely and not be able to grab them again, or that they'd explode and kill friendlies.

A couple of armored Men came looking for their three missing comrades and found their crushed bodies and began looking around quickly for who or what could have done that to these enhanced people. They saw a single Fed standing off by herself.

Sara's blue gray eyes darted back and forth between the two armored brutes wandering closer to her and to the suspended missiles while she tried to make up her mind what to do. The two Men didn't know for sure that Sara was the one who'd done the killing or the one who was making two missiles glow in the sky like inverted Roman candles, but it didn't take fancy calculations for them to put these things together. They said something to each other, and now Sara had their full attention. The early stages of panic crept onto Sara's face as they started jogging towards her. When they saw the expression on Sara's face they picked up speed, breaking into a sprint. The missiles started slipping from Sara's grasp as her mental control waned. Self preservation crept in, but Sara beat it back. She had to protect that relief force. Then her lips turned up in a little grin.

Jan came from high in the air pulling her fist back and yelling as she descended like a bird of prey. The nearer armored Man tried to get his hands up in time but couldn't. Jan's punch was fueled by anger and desperation. The special armor shattered beneath the still tender skin of Jan's knuckles, bits of it floating in the air like baby powder. The Man crumpled to the ground, his neck nearly broken from the power of Jan's blow. The other one came at her, but the fight was short and one sided. Jan was too skilled and too worried about saving her friend to allow this Man any opportunity. She wrapped her arms around the Man's armored middle and lifted him up as high as she could then slammed him down to hard enough to shatter the pavement. Jan mounted the dazed Man and pounded his face with ground shaking punches until the helmet broke and there was the crunch of a skull cracking open.

"Are you okay?", Jan asked after there was another crunch of breaking bones when she finished snapping the first Man's neck. Sara nodded, shaking sweat all over the ground around her. "Why don't you send those missiles back where they came from", Jan suggested and Sara could have slapped herself.

She concentrated and with some effort turned the missiles 180⁰. The engines were running out of fuel, but Sara lessened her control, letting them move down a bit at a time. When she was sure they wouldn't fly towards the choppers, she let them go.

"What the hell's happening? Fire another one damn it!", Malcolm yelled just before the missiles slammed into the battery, destroying it. He ducked fire and shrapnel, but one of his people wasn't so lucky. "Get in the truck up there!", Malcolm yelled. "We have to go!"

"What about the others?", the assistant asked his leader.

Malcolm looked torn but admitted, "If we don't get out of here our revolution dies", with regret. The assistant didn't question him again. He hopped into the rig and twin plumes of exhaust shot from the stacks as the driver started them moving. Gun fire was all around them and they had to duck when bullets went through the passenger window.

Jan saw the truck leaving, but before she could even give chase, three of the armored Men jumped her and three non-armored ones came to help. LaShaunta took careful aim from about 300 yards away and squeezed off a shot that hit one of Jan's unarmored attackers in the back, dropping the enemy count to five. LaShaunta aimed to take another shot after realizing that even if she missed, a 5.56mm bullet wouldn't kill her friend, just piss her off. LaShaunta didn't get a chance to take that shot. She spun to her right when she saw a truck trying to make a run for it. She shot at it instead and several of her bullets went through the passenger side window, but she wasn't sure if she hit anybody. She had another idea.

Hands ripped and pulled at Jan, tugging on her hair, gouging at her eyes, and attempting to fish hook her mouth. The weight of five men pressing down on her wasn't much of a challenge for Jan, but the strain of trying to fight off five very strong people was a bit of one. Then that guy tried to fish hook her again. This time she let him stick his dirty finger in her mouth and then bit down. The man screamed above the sound of battle around him as Jan's teeth chomped through his flesh and bone. Blood filled her mouth and spilled out over her chin as the finger came all the way off. She spit out the useless digit and gripped a Man in each hand. She bent her legs beneath her and leapt high into the air bring each man up with her. While they were surprised and before they could mount any defense, Jan pulled them in close to her then threw her arms outward, flinging the two men as far away from her as her arms could throw them. Jan landed in the midst of the now three attackers and went to work. She kicked the nine fingered Man in the head and sent him flying into a truck while she hit another Man with a hook. He went down, but Jan was attacked from behind.

LaShaunta paralleled the accelerating truck for a time, keeping up quite well as she gauged some distances and managed to teleport herself onto the hood of the still accelerating truck, stunning the three people inside. LaShaunta didn't have time to enjoy their expressions. She raised her pistol and fired five shots through the windshield and into the driver's chest. The truck veered left and ran over an embankment before coming to a stop. By that time, LaShaunta wasn't there.

The nine fingered Man attacked Jan from the front throwing some decent punches while his uninjured buddy sneaked up from behind and bashed her in the side of the head with a with a cast iron lap post that sent her sprawling to the ground. The blow opened up a gash along Jan's check all the way from the outside to the inside. Once again she tasted blood as it filled her mouth. The taste put her over the edge and Jan surrendered to that deep dark place within herself. She gave in to the lust for blood and death. She looked up at the nine fingered Man as he pulled back for another smash with the lamp post, but before he could swing, Jan attacked him like a feral beast. He fought with everything he had and it still wasn't enough. He managed to hit Jan in the head with the lamp post, but she just absorbed the pain, reveled in it and hit him with a single punch that made his world go dark. Before his unconscious body had even hit the ground, Jan had already ripped into the other Man.

He charged at Jan as she tried to jump to her feet, aiming to smash his fist against the center of his beautiful face, but she deflected his blow and used her free hand to snatch him off of his feet. She didn't toy with this one like before. Jan scrambled on top of him quickly gaining control. She smothered his struggles with ease then slipped onto her side and used one of LaShaunta's favorite mat moves to choke the life out this Man. Jan had just stood up when one of the two armored Men that she'd thrown came back to resume his attack. He grabbed Jan by the head with one hand, palming her head like a basketball before lifting her up as high as he could and smashing her head into the pavement hard enough to send cracks speeding away from the impact.  Then he lifted his other hand and drove a punch down into Jan's head hearing a satisfying gasp escape her busted lips, but he wasn't making nearly as much headway as he believed.  Jan's head was completely obscured by chunks of rock and pavement, but she didn't have to see to fight.  Jan's abs tensed beneath her uniform as she drew her right leg back, using her insane flexibility to pull her knee all the way to the ground so she had enough room to kick this Man right in his armored chest.  He flew back, giving her time to pull herself from the hole he'd created. Jan was on her feet so quickly that it almost seemed instant. They traded a few blows but hers were harder and more accurate. A barrage of blows left the Man dazed and teetering at the edge of consciousness. While he staggered like a drunk, Jan scooped him up in her arms, with one arm behind his knees and one behind his shoulders. She started squeezing before she'd even stood all the way up. The Man used his legs and back muscles to attempt to break himself free. It was only her upper body against his whole body. He thought he could escape, but this was just the challenge that Jan wanted and needed. She burned to feel her muscles really flex again and to feel life collapsing beneath her strength.

The pressure ratcheted up to mind blowing levels, Jan's upper body sharpening with rippling vein chocked definition. Her muscles took on the look of well weathered stone with the striations and tiny capillaries adding to the rugged texture. The Man put his hands on his knees in an attempt to stop the crushing squeeze, but merely managed to slow it down.  Jan's muscles went to another level of pulsing perfection as she ramped up her efforts. The Man's body shook with the utmost effort, but Jan's body was steady as she continued to contract her arms, forcing his body into a smaller and smaller space.

There was a devious smile on Jan's slightly stretched back lips as she flexed her arms, chest, back, and shoulders just to feel them expand beneath her stretching skin. She was so pumped, much more than she'd been in months, and the feeling was tremendous. Muscle fibers pulled outward from center of Jan's chest, thousands of seething strands fanning out only to insert perfectly beneath her equally ripped delts. Jan's shoulders looked as ripped to shreds as a flag that had been left in the elements too long, but it was Jan's always impressive biceps that were the stars of her muscle show.  Jan's arms were thick was dense super human muscles and her peaks were so sharp they looked like sword points about to piece her skin, but she had more inside them.  She gritted her teeth and flexed her arms harder.  Her triceps reacted first, spouting fresh striations along the katana sharp mass of horseshoe shaped muscle.  Her already pumped biceps took more effort, but when her mighty biceps did grow Jan almost got weak in the knees as she shredded her own sleeves with her hot hard muscles rising by inches as she crushed the Man in her arms.

Malcolm and his assistant jumped out of the truck and headed towards the gate on foot when they saw a scene that they couldn't have even imagined. They watched as some tall female Fed killed one of their friends and longest serving Men, crushing his body into pulp inside one of the armored suits. That woman looked like some kind of blood covered monster. It made even the hardcore Malcolm feel like vomiting. If Malcolm and his assistant had stood still for another moment or two Jan might not have seen them, but they took off running as fast as they could, and Jan attacked like a lioness on the Serengeti. She covered the distance between herself and her prey in a few long super human strides.

The assistant pulled his pistol and hit Jan in the chest with a shot that didn't even slow her down. It was like she didn't feel it. A second shot hit Jan in the face, and even as the bullet ripped through her flesh from one side to the other, she leapt in the air and landed on top of the assistant. She smiled down at him, showing the holes in her face, but as she sneered, the wounds began to heal. Jan sat on the Man's chest and crushed her legs together, snapping ribs almost instantly. This man was obviously not very enhanced. Jan grabbed his head with one big hand and simply twisted his neck. His spine broke with a satisfying snap. The other guy looked horrified but kept running. He didn't make it far. Jan leapt at Malcolm and took him down. He fought and was stronger than the first guy, but not nearly strong enough to satisfy her.

He tried every dirty trick he'd learned over his life of crime, he even bit a chunk of flesh from Jan's forearm. She just looked down and laughed, her mouth crimson with blood. She forced Malcolm to watch her arm heal itself. First skin covered the jagged opening and then the muscle beneath began to fill the depression. It would have taken that wound about a minute to heal normally, but with concentrating on it, it took less than half that. The entire time Malcolm had tried to free himself, but Jan had held him firmly with just her legs and one hand on his head. Now she put two hands on his head and squeezed with her fingertips. Malcolm screamed a blood curdling sound as each of Jan's fingers pressed on his skull with thousands of pounds of pressure. Blood squirted from the instant tears in his skin. His chemically enhanced bones lasted long enough for the pain to increase to inhuman levels. Blood filled his mouth as his scream continued. It sounded like he was gargling before Jan's forearms bulged and she stopped playing around. The cracks were muffled by the skin, muscle, and tissue surrounding Malcolm's skull, but to Jan they sounded like symphonies. The pressure forced his eyes out of their sockets, flopping onto the broken cheeks, but still attached by the optic nerve. The tips of Jan's fingers entered Malcolm's collapsing skull, but instead of crushing it inward, Jan pulled it apart now like opening a big egg. The already damaged skin ripped open and any bits of skull still holding shape crumpled.

Malcolm's body twitched in its death throes. The head, or what was left of it, looked just as inhuman as the person who'd destroyed it. Jan stood coated in blood and surrounded by death. Her face was completely covered in blood with two blue gems peeking out from behind the mask of red. Those eyes darted from side to side looking for more people to kill, but Jan forced herself to stand there, to look at what she'd just done. Even in the middle of a fight to the death, Jan had to remind herself that she wasn't a monster. She wasn't an animal or a villain. Part of her wanted to attack so badly that she could almost feel her hands breaking bodies, but she was stronger than her lust for blood. She'd fallen into that pit before, but as she stood next to her latest kill, she pulled herself back from the brink.

"Jan!", she heard her name called but didn't turn to respond. "Jan!", LaShaunta called again. "Are you okay?", she asked as she came skidding to a stop.

"What? Yeah", Jan replied after pulling herself back from the edge. She always felt a little crazy after going through an episode like that. She was just glad it didn't happen more often. "We need to head back to the hospital."

"Okay", LaShaunta agreed then reached out to touch Jan's hand, but stopped short because it was dripping with blood and tissue. She aimed higher but Jan's shoulders were covered too. LaShaunta huffed before bending down and touching the inside of Jan's thigh. Then they were gone.

Morgen Stern pulled his eyes away from his binoculars when he saw LaShaunta in the middle of this battle. He had no idea why she'd be there at all until put his eyes back to the lenses and saw Jan Caufield and realized the whole crew must be there. Even with those girls there Morgen had been a little worried that he might have had to go in and take care of Malcolm himself, but then he'd seen Jan pounce. The leader of the Men of the Revolution's death had been justifiably brutal.

"Rest well", Morgen uttered sarcastically in German as he started the borrowed Chevy and headed back to his hotel room. There was nothing else for him to see here.

Sara backed up as one of the Blackhawks landed near her while the others kept flying. She shielded her face from flying debris, and got a smile on her face when she finally parted her hands. "Oh Miss Hewitt", Lonnie called as he jumped out of a Blackhawk along with others from Special Programs. He paused just a little when he saw the blood dotting one side of her face.

"It's not mine", she told the telepath.

"That's great to know", he said with a smile and attempted to make his stomach stop turning flips, but this was the first time he'd ever been in an honest to goodness battlezone. He and Sara's introduction had been a bit rocky a few months earlier, but true telepaths were so rare that that they didn't stay cross with each other for long. Sara was catching Lonnie up on the situation near the gate when suddenly a Man of the Revolution ran at them from behind a bush. Sara turned, her power already gathering around him, but she never attacked. Lonnie thrust out his hand and the charging man stopped suddenly and began to shake. His face was blank and strained all at the same time, like his head was boiling on the inside and there was nothing he could do about it because there wasn't. Lonnie's face set in concentration as the once charging attacker dropped to the ground convulsing. Lonnie finally exhaled, and Sara playfully slapped him on the chest with the back of her hand. "Look at you!"

"You inspired me to practice… a lot", Lonnie admitted but couldn't keep the smile off his face at the compliment from his idol.

"Stay here and help clean this area up", Sara said as she started towards the helicopter. "Then head to the hospital. That's where the battle is!"

The Men of the Revolution gathered together and formed battle lines as they approached the hospital. They reloaded and handed out guns so every attacker had at least one full magazine worth of ammo. The soldiers and Feds had formed a battle line across the north side of the hospital preparing themselves for this decisive battle. They spread out and moved forward. Some of the better sharpshooters amongst them took shots at the soldiers and Feds but there wasn't a single shot of reply. When they were almost close enough to make out faces, the world around them changed. Images stretched and distorted. The sounds changed and even the previously flat ground became impossibly steep. Men dropped to the ground to keep from sliding down the cliff beneath their feet. Just as quickly as the ground began to tilt one way, it tilted the other. And then the Men found themselves upside down. During the confusion all the guns just disappeared. Night became bright day and the grassy approaches to the hospital became desert sands even as the hospital itself disappeared.

Alisha's plan was working to perfection. The attackers were so confused they couldn't mount any resistance at all. The soldiers and Feds didn't fire since for the moment these men were no threat. They wondered how long the dark haired girl could keep this up. MacCallum knew that Alisha could hold her illusion until each one of those guys was arrested. He looked to his left and saw that this certainly wasn't easy for her, but she actually seemed to be enjoying herself. She heard the approaching helicopters and with deft skill excluded the people in those choppers from her all consuming illusion. They'd probably never know the hell that she was sparing them from.

"What's happening down there?", Alex asked Max from the helicopter as they flew over the Men heading towards the hospital. Instead of attacking, the terrorists were in chaos. People climbed over one another and fought things that the people in the choppers couldn't even see.

"No idea, but there's our location over there", Max said and pointed to the clearing west of the main attacking body. The pilot set down the chopper and the Men didn't even react to its presence. Max jumped out and held Alexandra's hand as her boots touched the grass. A group of non-gifted agents formed up behind both of them, but the idea of leading men into combat was making her tremble. "You're going to be fine", he said because it hurt his heart to leave Alex standing there, and if he'd looked at her any longer he probably wouldn't have left her at all. But that would have cost people their lives, so with a tear in his eye Max lead his team to the hospital.

Alex bit down and turned to face the team that she was supposed to be leading. "Those buildings back there are our responsibility. Let's clear them. Look out for each other, and for me too." The soldiers nodded and Alex headed away from the hospital.

Beads of sweat ran down Alisha's regal neck wetting her uniform as she pushed her gift to expand the illusion even more. There was a line pretty far to the north where actual reality and Alisha's created one met. The Men who stepped through that line were affected, but a couple of smart ones immediately jumped back out of Alisha's illusion. She felt them come and go so she stretched her gift further, expanding her illusion to the ragged edge of her power. No matter how much bigger she made her illusion, the smart Men kept backing up to stay out of it. Some Men even endured the risk of being trapped inside the illusion to save the comrades closest to them. Then a few of them got a bright idea, and started climbing some trees.

The world slowed down for him as Max pushed himself into what was a leisurely trot for him. He ran ahead of his team, easily dodging a couple of bullets and getting to the rise near the hospital. A few strands of Alisha's hair fluttered in the slight breeze as Max came to a sudden stop. Agent MacCallum nearly fell over again, but at least this time he knew who this gifted person was. "Great you're here!", MacCallum told Max.

"Yes sir", the speedster exclaimed. "My team's coming up, but I ran ahead to get orders. I was supposed to report to you, Wills, or if you weren't available we were supposed to meet some women, Caulfield, Hewlett, or Vanderedden or something like that."

"Von --- Edder", Alisha corrected and Max turned.

"Holy fuck! You're my damned neighbors!" His face showed his surprise. "You guys are fucking gifted too?!? He squinted and looked at Alisha again. "You're the one with the awesome… umm", he stammered after his brain caught up to his mouth.

"Tits", Alisha finished for him. "Nice to be reduced to a body part." She looked out to the chaos she was creating then looked to Max. "Can you maintain that speed for longer than a few seconds?"

Max frowned. "Of course I can!", he boasted.

"Good", Alisha began. "You and your team go out in the crowd to disarm and arrest the terrorists while I've got them confused." MacCallum gave the okay, and Max gave the order to his team over the radio.

Alisha had another problem though. The Men in the trees could look down on the fighting and more importantly they saw through Alisha's illusion. One Man raised his rifle and fired off shots at the defenders near the hospital. When that worked, other Men climbed the trees and started shooting.

A bullet kicked up concrete chips inches from Alisha, but she bore down and extended her illusion to the closest trees. Men screamed and fell from the trees including the original shooter. Only his chemically enhanced body kept him from breaking his neck. The Men still in the trees didn't let up though and Alisha couldn't extend her illusion forever sending shot after shot into the defenders' general direction. MacCallum ducked for cover, but Alisha still maintained her illusion. Max and his team worked quickly, especially Max himself. He darted from Man to Man like a blur, disarming them if necessary and applying either robot restraints or Mark 1 restraints. When he ran out of restraints, he got more from his team members. Alisha was willing to keep up the illusion as long as it took, but an agent to her left was shot in the chest. MacCallum hurried over to render aid but the shots kept coming. A bullet cracked its way past Alisha's head close enough to make her flinch, but her illusion didn't waver a bit. MacCallum though had seen enough. "Let it drop!", he ordered while applying pressure to the wounded agent's chest. "Those guys don't know up from down. Tell Max what I told you to do and then we counter attack!"

Alisha nodded and for the first time in her life made an illusion inside of an illusion when she created an image of herself in front of a speeding Max. He was stunned and impressed. He listened while Alisha explained MacCallum's orders. Max put on one last pair of restraints before rounding up his men, all in the twenty seconds before Alisha's grand illusion melted away. Some of the Men of the Revolution were so scrambled that it would have taken hours for them to regain their full sense of reality while others instantly began to fight. Alisha gripped her carbine while looking out over the melee, knowing that there was little she could do to stop it now, so she took a deep breath, made herself invisible and charged into the midst of the enemy.

LaShaunta and Jan appeared on the hospital roof then went to the edge to get a look at the battle beneath them. "Nice idea coming up here", Jan told her friend.

"Its chaos down there", LaShaunta remarked as she looked down to see soldiers, federal agents, and all the different types of Men locked in close quarters combat.

"Yeah", Jan agreed as she looked the situation over. "Time to bring some order to it I guess", she remarked then leapt off the five story building, landing some distance away in the middle of a knot of attackers.

"Show off", LaShaunta breathed then brought the carbine to her shoulder. She looked down the sights, exhaled and squeezed off a single shot. One Man died and LaShaunta patiently searched for another exposed target before squeezing off another shot. As the third target died LaShaunta marveled that while she was pretty darn good with a gun in her hands, she still wasn't as good a shot as Amaris who pregnant or not had proven that fact a couple of weeks ago. LaShaunta was lining up for another shot, but turned left when the side an old building basically started coming to pieces. She looked around that area seeing several black clad federals in combat with a group of Men. There were too many trees in the way for clear shots, but she thought that area might need her attention.

Alex wanted to duck behind the thick brick walls but knew she couldn't. Men of the Revolution poured fire onto their location. The more experienced soldiers and agents on the team had already dropped several targets, but Alex had only fired her weapon four times. She wasn't even sure if she'd hit anyone. Targets in the real world flashed for just a moment and then were gone. Her reflexes were supposed to be quicker than her teammates and yet they would fire on a target before Alex could even train her weapon on it. It was as if everybody had Max's speed. Alexandra saw a Man taking cover behind a car and decided that this was her chance. He raised his weapon to fire but she shot first. She couldn't help but smile when the Man dropped. Alex had just 'made her bones' in this battle and she hoped things would get easier for her from then on.

She and her team were forcing the Men back, funneling them. This couldn't have been going better, and then out of the corner of her eye, Alex thought she saw two shapes head towards the building behind them. Somewhere in her training she remembered hearing something about flanking. "You", she began and tapped the soldier to her right on the arm. "We have to go clear this building. Two attackers went inside." The soldier whispered something to the person next to him and then fell in behind Alex. She knew that she didn't have the skills to take point, but at the same time, if something bad was going to happen to somebody, she wanted it to happen to her first.

The door was locked so Alex put her palm against it and pushed forward as if the lock didn't exist. The door splintered and swung open. Alex took the lead as they methodically made their way down the corridor opening every door to clear every vacated office and break room. When they got to the end of the hall, they walked into a larger office and felt wind blowing against them. They couldn't see that there was a hole in the wall around the next corner.

Alex's heart pounded in her chest and her breathing was shallow as leaned forward to push open a door. She felt a sudden rush of air from behind her and looked over her shoulder. She gasped and tried to bring her gun around but a punch caught her first, and she went flying through the wall.

Her teammate opened fire, but the Man dove behind a wall. The soldier moved forward to follow him when the floor beneath him opened up as armor clad hands ripped the old floor joist from where they'd been for nearly a century. The soldier tried to leap to the other side, but the other side got further and further away as he fell. Alex scrambled to her feet as the armored Man jumped up from the basement to the first floor. She got a good look at the armored attacker but hesitated because she'd never seen anything like this. She'd made up her mind to shoot when a tremendous blow landed against her cheek. The fire extinguisher actually burst open from impact causing the Man holding it to laugh. He raised the metal canister over his head and rained down blow after blow onto Alex as she attempted to block them. The floors shook from the impacts. The armored Man came over and started sending powerful kicks to her ribs, but Alex was too dazed by the repeated blows to her head to feel them at the moment.

"She's a tough one", the armored Man told his comrade. The unarmored Man had pounded Alex with the fire extinguisher until it was a shapeless lump of metal and was slightly winded from the effort, but he wasn't too tired to pick up her carbine.

"Empty the clip into the bitch. If she lives I'll finish her off with my bare hands."

"Sounds good to me", the unarmored Man said and trained his gun on Alex's head. Just as the hammer fell, a hand moved his barrel up and the bullets zipped over Alex. Before the Man could even compensate, a knife blade pierced his right lung. He screamed a bloody yell as his lung began to fill up with his own bodily fluids. He turned his body away from the stab, but almost as soon as he'd moved, the blade slipped into his other lung. This time he let out a high pitch scream as the armored Man came to his defense, only too late. The shadowy figure moved into darkness. The armored Man roared, swinging his arms towards the shape, bringing down big parts of the second floor. He thought he'd taken care of it, but the figure attacked him. His attacker caught a shaft of light through one of the broken windows and he made out the sublime outline of a woman just before LaShaunta jumped high into the air.

The Man tried to punch her out of the air, but she twirled, letting his punch pass beneath her. She reached out over his outstretched arm and stretching her fingers towards him. He started to turn around and move away from this woman, but the tips of LaShaunta's fingers just barely brushed against the Man's breastplate and the armor around his torso teleported to the floor behind her. He thought he was so impervious, but he got a big shock when he realized that his midsection was completely bare. LaShaunta's carbine was ready when her feet hit the floor and she emptied her magazine into him. "How do you like it?", she yelled to the dying Man.

"Thank you", Alex uttered as she struggled to get to her feet.

"Use your fucking instincts!", LaShaunta yelled and grabbed Alex by the front of her uniform, pulling the rookie officer up all the way. "Your weapon goes where your eyes go! If your eyes see it then your weapon should be able to shoot it! And use all your senses! If you hear something then it's there. If the air tastes funny then it is! I probably won't be there to help you if this happens again." Only after LaShaunta had disappeared did Alex realize that the woman who'd just saved her life was the same track star who lived one building over from her. Alex picked up her rifle as the soldier who'd fallen through the floor rushed into the room after climbing out of the basement. "What happened in here?", he asked after looking at the two dead bodies.

"A second chance", Alex replied and headed out the door.

Alisha stepped on the back of a dead Revolutionary who'd fallen atop a dead soldier and fired three shots from her carbine. Two bullets struck home, killing one Man and wounding another. The wounded one saw her and charged, but he barely took a step before the ground disappeared beneath him and he had the sensation of falling. Alisha dispatched him easily enough and continued on her way and stopped suddenly when she saw an ATF agent about to die. She raised her gun, but didn't have a shot so she reached out with her gift and made the agent completely disappear. The Man knew that the agent was still there. He'd been inside of Alisha's illusion before, but she had him so turned around that even when he tried to smash the agent his hands his several feet away, and then Max was there with a restraint. "I was coming for that other one but you're pretty quick."

"Do you have any more of those things?", Alisha asked and Max shook his head.

"I'd have to run and get some more."

"Then get some. Aren't you fast?", Alisha quipped then hurried towards another pocket of resistance. The tide of this battle was turning, slowly. Alisha had been in some fights before, but nothing approaching the all out carnage of this one. Choices that could cost lives had to be made on the fly, and it was seriously stressing Alisha, but one of her friends seemed to thrive on it. Jan would undoubtedly reflect on all of this later, but for right now, she was the goddess of battle.

After wrapping up a formerly comatose Man with one of those new restraints, a powerful blow sent Jan flying fast until she broke through the side of a wrecked Humvee. The impact was so hard that it toppled the military vehicle onto its side. The vehicle shook as Jan pulled herself from its wreckage and then the Humvee began to bend in the center. The chassis and the body folded like a sheet of cardboard rather than a 3 ton vehicle. A tear started high on the overturned military vehicle and Jan's face showed through the crack as she ripped it in half. A few months earlier Jan had temporarily lost her super strength, but as her muscles rippled and ripped solid steel in half, she'd never felt stronger, and her gore covered muscles had never looked harder or better. Full triceps gave an arm its size and Jan's were wonderfully thick and shredded as she pushed the two halves of vehicle away. Her eyes shined as she zeroed in on this armor wearing Man of the Revolution. He looked around at the carnage and knew that his people were losing now. Their cause was hopeless. All they could do was deal out as much damage and death as possible before the last of them perished. To that end, this Man was going to dedicate the last few minutes of his life to felling this tall blood thirsty bitch who had killed so many of his comrades. They started towards each other at a jog, but the two super humans were at a full sprint before they met. The combined power of their blows created a concussion wave that nearly knocked a hovering helicopter from the air.

"What the fuck was that?", the co-pilot asked and the pilot shrugged. Sara had to hold onto a grip hanging from the ceiling to keep from falling out of the open door when the chopper had rocked. By the time the pilots righted the craft, she'd made up her mind. She leaned to the cockpit. "Guys, I'll just get out here", she drawled then jumped out of the door. She didn't fall for more than a couple of feet before catching herself and using her gift to lower herself to the ground. The worse thing about her trip was the wash from the propellers. Sara landed about fifty feet from Jan, who was locked in combat. Sara's first thought was to help her friend, but she looked around at all the battles within the battle and knew what she had to do. Jan could take care of herself. Sara saw two Men ganging up and trying to kill an FBI agent who was putting up the fight of his life. She lifted both Men off the ground and began to squeeze. The power over life and death was intoxicating, but Sara refused to drink it in. She dropped the Men when the deed was done and ran closer to the hospital where the worst of the fighting was taking place.

Jan had fought several armored Men but this guy was bigger, a lot stronger, and much better trained than all the others. Jan gave ground as he attacked with berserker like fury. She actually smiled as she blocked his blows, feeling his strength despite that. Several armor plates had broken from the power of his own blows, but he kept at it, growling like a beast as he poured every bit of strength he had into this woman. Jan absorbed blows to her ribs and to her head plus kicks to her legs during his onslaught, but she didn't waver. Then she saw an opening. Her jab almost seemed instant. Her knuckles slammed into the helmet with enough force to knock out a charging rhino. The Man lost balance and Jan loaded up a right hand sent a cross to the side of the helmet twice as hard as her punch a moment before. Spit mixed with the blood coming from cuts in her mouth as she delivered another punch to the side of this Man's face. The boom from this punch sounded like it had been made by a huge bass drum. The man staggered and now it was Jan's turn to attack. Everything he'd given Jan, she gave him back in spades. She punched and kicked with rage fueled fury, a fury that this man just couldn't match. After a flurry that lasted a full minute, Jan jumped back. The just grown back skin on her knuckles was ragged again. It seemed this time that Jan's body had decided to wait to heal the skin until she stopped beating on really hard things. Her hands ached, but the pain was so far in the background that she didn't even realize how much pain she was in. She caught her breath and looked at her opponent.

The Man was on his knees as he reached up and took off his helmet. He was a rather handsome guy despite the welts and cuts on his face. Jan's fury had closed his left eye and he spit out several teeth from his bloody mouth. She didn't attack him as he took a deep breath. "You've fought really well. Made me work up a little sweat, but it's over."

"Over?!? There's no time clock! No referee. This is no damned game!!!"

"Neither is life", she responded. "I don't have to kill you. Surrender now, let me take you in, or you'll just be another body stacked up with all of these others. That's your real fate. No glory. No stories being told. You'll just be a misspelled name in a forgotten casualty report."

The Man's lip snarled and he stood up. "Our cause will triumph in the end!", he declared and raised his helmet to put it back on his head. He only made it part way. Jan pretended to reach for her pistol which made the Man hurry to put on his helmet, but she used that little bit of extra time to pull out the last mark 3 restraint that she had left. She pushed the activation button with her thumb and threw the sphere at him, hoping it would make contact. The Man's hands were up near his head so he couldn't fend off the robot restraint and by the time he began to struggle it was too late. "Kill me!", he moaned as Jan stood over him, but she didn't. She turned away and ran towards the hospital.

Agent Wills began to wonder if leaving the relative safety of the Bradley had been a good idea. He figured he'd go in to check on the hospital staff, but he and a couple of soldiers found themselves trading bullets with two Men. One of the other agents ran out of bullets a couple of trigger pulls before Agent Wills too ran out. They looked over to the senior agent and he grinned. "Now we have to get creative", he told the guys. Some noises from the far back of the room made the nearly unarmed defenders frown. There was a gunshot, a scream and then grunts followed by a gasp. Agent Wills looked over the top of his overturned chair and wondered why he'd never seen this girl before.

LaShaunta was on automatic as she jumped high, spinning in the air, her chest parallel to the ground, but her head looking slightly upwards. She jumped and spun in the air before kicking one Man in the teeth while aiming a pistol at another Man's chest. She wasn't strong enough to really hurt these guys, but she was plenty strong enough to annoy them. That was all she needed. She pulled the trigger and bullet through the first Man's heart, but her gun snapped open after firing that shot. LaShaunta was still in the air when her fingers wrapped around the grip of her knife. The combat knife was halfway out of its scabbard when the toe of her boot touched the floor. LaShaunta spun towards the Man and with a movement both graceful and efficient she plunged the blade into his neck. The cold carbon steel pierced veins and arteries. The Man dropped to his knees as blood drained from his brain and sprayed out with each beat of his heart. LaShaunta didn't get any satisfaction out of watching this Man's agonizing death. She actually hated every moment of it, but suddenly Taylor's words came back to her. It wasn't LaShaunta's fault that these guys had chosen to pick this fight.

"All clear out here", she told the three men peeking through a doorway. She was cleaning blood off of her knife when Agent Wills stood up. She'd just put the knife away when he extended his hand.

"You saved our asses", he said as they shook. "Harry Wills."

"LaShaunta", she said with a smile and picked up her pistol. "We're all in the same fight", she replied and handed her last two full rifle magazines to the soldiers.

"You have any bullets for me?", Agent Wills asked with a little smirk.

"Nope", LaShaunta began as she started back towards the hallway. "But you can take that guy's gun. He's not going to need it", she suggested and pointed to one of the Men that she'd just killed.

The team of soldiers pressed forward giving the Men nowhere to run. Somewhere in the backs of their minds they wondered what had become of the enhanced newbie they'd been assigned or the unlucky soldier she'd taken with them, but they were winning without her. They had the Men on the run. A couple of them had even made suicide runs. If those terrorists wanted to die then these soldiers would certainly take care of that for them. Then, as they pressed forward, the wheel of a burned out Humvee came off the ground. Two big armored hands had gripped the undercarriage and hoisted the 3 ton vehicle up and over his head. Soldiers shot everything they had but the armor shrugged it off. The armored behemoth took two steps as the soldiers turned to run. They couldn't get far enough. With a shout and a heave, the Humvee sailed through the air, its shadow covering three soon to be dead soldiers as it came down.

A desperate Alexandra lunged forward, managing to get her arms and shoulders beneath the 6000 pound vehicle as it crashed down on her and the soldiers around her, but her slim body flexed and she stopped it cold. Her fingers punched holes in the body and fame as she controlled the uneven weight across her shoulders and back. Her body didn't shake at all as she got her balance and stood up with ease all while holding 3 tons on her back. She could have thrown the Humvee back where it had come from but she wasn't going to play catch with a 3 ton vehicle while the soldiers so near. They watched in awe as she set the big vehicle down like it was a toy all while staring at the Man who'd thrown it. The soldiers opened fire on him but their bullets just bounced off. "Save your ammo", Alex said and held up her hand. "I'll take care of this one, you guys get the others."

The battle outside the hospital's rear door wasn't nearly over as a band of Men fought hard even with so many of their comrades dead while others were wrapped up in robot restraints. Some Men tried to free them, but even the strongest of them weren't able to break the metal legs of the Mark 3 restraints. Agent Miles shot a Man dead to save a fellow agent as they both fought on the hill, but many Feds and soldiers were running out of ammo. Max did what he could to replenish them, but even as he sped from man to man, he couldn't be everywhere at once.

More soldiers joined the fighting and gunshots rang out. Miles looked over his shoulder at the short stocky soldier at the head of the group. Two Men ran at her and she shot one, but the other took her down to the ground. Miles knew firsthand how strong these people were, but then he saw the biggest muscles he'd ever seen flex up all along that woman's upper body. Her biceps were bigger than both of his combined and the cleavage created by her pectorals was inches deep. She forced the Man's arms back behind his back and then she began to squeeze. Miles heard bones pop and saw a silent scream as Norma poured on the pressure. Blood sprayed out of the now unconscious Man's mouth before Norma pushed him off and jumped to her feet. He sucked in a breath just before Max sped by and dropped a robot restraint on his back. Norma watched Max speed away until in a second she couldn't even see him. Then she picked up her rifle and joined the rest on the firing line. "We've got 'em split!", MacCallum yelled. "Attack!", he ordered and the ragged group of fighters charged down the hill.

A spray of asphalt and dirt shot into the air like a meteor had impacted the earth. A deep furrow was cut into the ground as the Man slid through the parking lot before finally coming to a smoldering stop. The armored suit had survived that bitch's blow without too much damage, but the friction made it smoke like it had been put in a furnace. The Man rolled over quickly and looked across the parking lot to find that bitch, but he saw her had knuckles coming right at his masked face instead. She hit him like a train's impact. In the instant before impact he saw her formerly skinny looking arm bulge inside its sleeve, the ridges of a split bicep clear, along with the crazy definition in her shoulder. Her deltoid was pure muscle, like a thousand bundles of muscle fibers all tensing in an undulating wave. The impact was even harder than the first time. He heard an armored plate crack and once again he went sailing across the lot. He smashed into a government sedan.

The Man grabbed the car and slid it towards him with one hand, realizing that his strength hadn't failed him. He jumped up to his feet as that bitch started towards him, walking this time with her sexy strut instead of using her super strong muscles for speed. He wondered just how fast she was because he knew he was strong enough to do what he planned.

Alex had slowed down because she thought this Man might make a run for it so she wanted to be ready for whatever he had planned, but when he hesitated for a moment she got a really bad feeling and that feeling proved true.

A group of soldiers from Alex's team were doing battle with some of the less enhanced Men and winning. They'd already killed some and restrained others. The armored Man lifted that sedan over his head, aimed at them, and threw it with all of his considerable might. Alex's stomach dropped as she looked up at the car flying towards her unsuspecting team. That Man had a smile on his face as he plotted his escape, but he watched Alex long enough to see pure anger crease her pretty features. She bent her knees and spread her feet apart as the car sailed over her head, then she jumped straight up like a rocket, flying like a interceptor towards that car. She put her hands up above her head at the moment of impact. There was a car crash in midair as Alex used her body and her strength to knock that flying sedan off course. It landed harmlessly just after she came back down to the ground with her eyes locked on that Man. She figured that he had no idea how much he'd just pissed her off, but actually he did.

He took off running, but only to another car. This one was slightly heavier. He picked it up as Alex came towards him and he threw it right at her, hoping to buy himself some time with a direct assault. The car flew towards Alex bumper first. She set one leg back behind her crossed her arms across her chest. She could have moved out of the way, but she let that car slam into her nearly immovable body. The steel body and much stiffer steel frame bent and fractured as the front end bent against Alex's crossed arms. The engine block cracked into three pieces as it took its turn to send its energy into the slim muscle woman. For a few fractions of a second Alex's body flexed into the hardest most super dense and super ripped knot of female muscle anybody had ever seen. Her boots cracked and dug into the asphalt, but the ruined car dropped to the ground in front of her in a veritable heap.

The Man turned to run again having lost his nerve completely, but Alex attacked him anyway. A serious of punches sent Man flying first left then right then up and then down almost faster than the eye could accurately track as Alex unleashed her full frustrations. Bits of armor and bone broke as she continued for several seconds until allowing the nearly broken Man fall to the ground. One leg was broken so were some of his ribs and his jaw. His vision was clear enough though as Alex stepped up to him. Her hands were clenched into fists with thick throbbing veins snaking along the backs of her hands up her forearms, but it wasn't right just to call them forearms. Alex's lower arms looked like lengths of rugged ropes had been coiled around her impervious bones and stuffed beneath smooth skin that was pulled so tight that it was practically invisible. When she flexed her fingers those thick ropes of muscle came alive sliding and coiling. Just that alone was the most powerful display of muscle this Man had ever seen.

"Surrender", he wheezed and put up his hands in feeble defense as Alex lunged towards him and snatched him to his feet.

"Are you fucking with me?", he heard her ask and managed to fight off the pain enough to shake his head. Alex snatched the helmet off of his head revealing the true state of him, but she didn't feel an ounce of pity. She let go of him, leaving him to stand on his one good leg while she gripped the front of the breastplate with both hands and then he saw her muscles truly flex. Once again it only lasted for a moment, but Alex's muscles flexed so hard and so densely that they were forced to grow bigger. Her arms went from skinny to the size of a figure competitor's, but so much denser and more ripped. There was a sound like an explosion when Alex's hands tore the big armored plate across this man's chest in two. This plate that had shrugged off bullets and grenades shattered beneath Alex's tug. Her triceps bloomed as she ripped the entire breastplate in two right down the middle all the way to his waist. She looked to see if he had any weapons on him as some of her team came running up. "Bring me a restraint", she ordered.

Jan moved through the hospital seeing soldiers running back and forth up and down the stairs looking for pockets of attackers. They gave a wide berth to the blood soaked battle queen as she looked for a fight. Jan got her wish when she saw a wall explode into the hallway. She ran towards the commotion and jumped through the hole to see four soldiers being physically broken down by three previously hidden Men. LaShaunta got there before Jan, leaping into the air, bringing her body around and scything a sharp kick to the farthest Man's head. He dropped the soldier he'd been choking and turned towards LaShaunta only to catch another kick right in the teeth. He almost caught her leg though. She wouldn't chance another blow. She jumped back as the man charged toward her. He didn't even see her reach for her knife, but she brought it up and stabbed him right in the chest. He fell back, pulling himself off the blade. LaShaunta knew a non-fatal wound when she saw one, and stepped forward to finish him confident that Jan had control of the others.

Jan caught a Man's arm after an undisciplined punch and casually twisted it until the elbow dislocated with a wet plop. She threw him against the wall and grabbed the last Man by the throat, wrapping her long fingers around his neck and lifting him off the ground. The tendons in Jan's hands stood out like bridge cables and her forearms defined just a little more as she squeezed slightly. The Man gagged and was unconscious in only a few seconds. Jan actually seemed disappointed. These guys weren't nearly as strong as many of the others she'd fought. She opened her hand and let the Man fall to the floor. LaShaunta had the other one at gunpoint. It wasn't long before two soldiers came over with some restraints and wrapped those two up.

Jan and LaShaunta walked the halls, looking in each room thoroughly making sure there were no more surprises. They were on the third floor when Agent Wills came down from the fourth floor. A tired smile spread across his sweaty face. "All clear upstairs, and the roof."

"All clear down below us", Jan informed the agent.

"So that means we're done", Wills said then turned to LaShaunta. "Young lady, I know you don't want a job in government service, but we've got contract work too. Jan, convince your friend to give me a call. Please."

Jan chuckled. "We'll see." Her reply was skeptical though.

"I'll call you", LaShaunta agreed. "Doesn't mean we'll make a deal." She smiled as Agent Wills continued on his way.

"I'm a great closer", Wills yelled as he entered a room down the hallway.

The two roommates were standing there when LaShaunta suddenly poked Jan in the back with her carbine. "The battle's over", she exclaimed. "Now you can go wash off all that blood. There's a bathroom at the end of the hall, and the water's still running. I already checked." Jan had a good laugh as she headed to the bathroom. The blood was drying and getting smelly anyway.

LaShaunta was on the first floor when the doctors and nurses started coming out of their hiding place. She got a little satisfaction when she saw that not a single one of them had been injured. They got to work though as wounded soldiers and federal agents were being brought in. LaShaunta slung her rifle and helped move gurneys. Some people had pretty serious wounds while others had relatively minor injuries. Sara came in with Lonnie and Norma. "Where's Jan?", she asked.

"Upstairs washing off all that blood", LaShaunta replied. "She looked like a Jackson Pollock painting." The group laughed, although Lonnie hadn't seen Jan in months. Despite the destruction the hospital staff was doing their best to get things back to a semblance of normal. Suddenly the door burst open and a frantic group entered the hospital.

"We need help NOW!", MacCallum yelled loudly as he rushed in holding an injured agent's leg. Alisha was across from him too holding up another leg while a soldier and agent had the injured guy's upper body.

"Trauma room 1", a doctor ordered. A couple of nurses brought over a gurney, but the group just continued their shuffling run to the trauma room not even pausing to consider placing the guy on the gurney. Sara and Lonnie had already checked to see who the wounded man was, but LaShaunta was a little shocked when she saw Aaron Miles get carried past her. He had a jagged wound in the abdomen. She couldn't see how deep it was, but he was already turning pale.

"Prep for emergency surgery!", a doctor commanded.

"Save this man", MacCallum urged strongly after laying Miles on the table. "He saved my life."

"Mine too", Alisha added and looked at the fresh blood on her hands before looking up to Miles and then walking away. The situation didn't look good at all.

"What happened?", Agent Wills asked for the group as he joined them outside the trauma room door.

MacCallum grabbed a towel to wipe the blood off of his hands then tossed one to Alisha. "We thought it was over, but a couple of desperate guys came at us with long poles they'd bent into spears or lances or something. Miles yelled to warn us, but by the time we looked, they were on us. He shot one, but his gun jammed before the second shot so that silly bastard stepped in front of the pole that was coming right at my chest. He took the fucking blow that was meant for me." The group looked through the window for a moment then moved away at the request of the staff. All of them ended up outside, deciding at the same time that they needed some air.

Jan half expected her roommates plus Norma to be standing out in the hallway to applaud her when she came out of the bathroom mostly blood free. There was a little in her hair, but she'd take care of that later. She was still using some of those brown paper towels to dry her face as she came down the stairs. She saw wounded agents and some soldiers stashed in debris strewn hallways, while other soldiers were cleaning the mess up as best they could. Jan made it to the first floor and saw the commotion near a room that had Trauma written across the top of it.

"We've stopped the bleeding", one doctor said.

"But he's already lost so much blood", the other doctor chimed in. "And our blood fridge was completely destroyed. There're shot up blood bags all over the floor downstairs."

"I put a call in to the Red Cross. They say they can get us some A positive in about half an hour on a helicopter as soon as it gets there, but they can't drive it here because the roads are a mess."

"This guy doesn't have half an hour."

Jan looked through the window and saw Aaron Miles on the table with the bright lights washing out his already pale face. He had an oxygen mask on and tubes in his arm, but none of those tubes contained blood. She didn't even really think about doing anything else as she pushed open the door. "Did you say he needs A positive?"

"Yeah."

"Can you do person to person transfusions?"

The two doctors looked at each other before one said, "We don't usually. There's no way to verify the safety of the blood."

Jan sighed and tore off the few remaining ribbons left of her sleeve. "My blood's not contaminated. I can promise you that."

"Ok, best chance this guy's got." While the nurses were setting up the proper equipment Jan sat in a chair next to an unconscious Miles. The two doctors whispered to each other in the far corner of the room.

"That guy needs way too much blood. That girl can give us a pint, maybe two if we want to turn her into a zombie. That's putting her at risk and it won't save him anyway."

"I can give you all the blood you need!", Jan yelled across the room to them. "Just bring me some water."

The doctors looked at each other. "She could hear us?", one asked the other. When everything was ready they shoved a needle into Miles' arm and another into hers. There was a big bottle where the blood was collected before it was sent to a bag on the poll which had a tube that dripped the blood into Miles' arm. Jan sat there looking at Miles, the expressions on her face ranging from contempt to pity. She had no idea what had happened to put Miles in this position, but she guessed it didn't matter. The hospital staff could only guess at what that tall young woman was thinking as the blood practically sped from her arm into the collection vessel.

Jan had already guzzled three bottles of water, and was working on a fourth. She should have passed out long ago or her blood should have become diluted and thin, but good thick bright red blood kept flowing. It was like her body was manufacturing the stuff just for this purpose, and in many ways it was. The staff monitored her blood pressure, oxygen level, respiration, and everything about her seemed completely normal and within a healthy range. Her heart rate hadn't even gone much above 70 beats a minute the entire time. That was remarkable, but they didn't know that Jan was keeping herself artificially excited so her heart rate wouldn't go down to its usual resting rate of 41 beats a minute. She had to make herself pump enough blood quickly enough for it to matter in the end. In less than half an hour a full gallon of blood had cycled through the system.

The nurses came and disconnected Miles' hanging bag from the collection vessel. She'd given him 8 units. That would do him for a while, and although no one asked Jan's opinion on the matter, the nurses used Jan to fill up more empty blood bags for the other wounded soldiers with her blood type. She didn't complain though, just sitting there letting the blood flow from her arm, while preventing her body from clotting the tiny wound in her arm. The nurses made sure to indicate that they were finished when they came to disconnect the last bag. With how fast blood had been flowing from this young woman's arm the nurse half expected blood to shoot across the room when she removed the needle, but barely a drop came out. She put a little cotton ball over the wound and told Jan to hold it in place and bend her arm, just like she would have told any normal blood donor, but what this young woman had just done was impossible. They'd pumped nearly two gallons of rich oxygenated blood from her arm and she didn't even seem woozy.

Jan stood up and looked down at Miles who was regaining some color to his skin, but he was still covered in a cold sweat. She was about to walk out when his eyes opened and darted around. He saw everything chaotically, the hospital room, the nurses, the tubes in his arm, he saw the bloody gauze covering up the expertly stitched up hole in his body, but his eyes focused when he saw her. He noticed the blood collection bottle and the blood going into his arm, and the ball of cotton on Jan's left arm. "Wait! You saved my life", he uttered.

"Yes I did", Jan confirmed then walked out of the room.

More soldiers were coming into the old fort by the minute, and a detachment showed up from the medical corps. Soldiers from Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell had arrived too along with Special Programs personnel from all over the Southeastern US. For the first time that night there were more Federal forces inside Fort MacPhereson than there had been Men of the Revolution.

The battlefield had been large so in the aftermath it was broken up into sectors to be swept thoroughly. Max and Alex took one zone with their teams while Lonnie, LaShaunta and a group of Rangers took another zone. Sara and Alisha actually knew the Rangers who were assigned to accompany them in their zone. Both Sara and Lonnie were vulnerable as they searched for more Men with their telepathy, but with the backup around, neither worried about much.

Sara found three Men in various places during her sweep. One hid under a body, another in the burned out hulk of a Humvee, and the third had gotten himself stuck in the chimney of a former residence. Sara and Alisha were sharing a laugh about that when suddenly the blood drained from Sara's face and her expression became one of shock and dread. "Behind you!", she yelled out loud and sent with a thought at the same. Sara reached out to LaShaunta then lifted she and Alisha's feet off the ground. They flew as fast as Sara's power could take them.

Special Agent Harry Wills had walked about as far as his middle aged legs could carry him before he took a seat on the wall about a hundred feet from the southwestern side of the hospital. He pulled out a borrowed cigarette and struck a match while looking around. There'd been no fighting down in this direction so there weren't any bodies lying all over the place. He'd seen enough of those to last him the rest of his life.

He took a long drag on the cigarette and looked back towards the hospital, wondering if MacCallum was spying on him. It was his current boss who'd convinced him to quit all those years before, along with his wife. He let out a cloud of smoke just before he heard Sara in his head. Wills jumped up from the wall, reaching for his gun. He had spun most of the way around when a formerly hospitalized Man of the Revolution named Roderik shouted his war cry and fired a single shot from point blank range into the side of Agent Wills' head.

"NO!!!!", Sara screamed as she and Alisha crested a hill and looked down at the scene. Smoke from the gunshot and smoke from Wills' last puff on the fallen cigarette mixed in the cool air. Roderik turned towards Sara and raised his gun. Her mind exploded with rage and every limit that she'd ever put on herself fell away. She focused on a single spot right in the center of Roderik's body. His expression became one of extreme shock as Sara released all of her immense power into his body at once.

Roderik instantly exploded into near nothingness. Tens of thousands of droplets of him fell down all over the old fort, while still more of him flew high enough to get swept up by the wind. Drops of human rain fell onto lawns, roofs, windshields, and sidewalks for miles around. One or two even fell onto the lawn of Edina Paine, the woman who had done her best to raise her wayward grandson only for it to end like this.

Jan heard the shot and bolted out of the hospital pistol in hand. She ran down from the hill and with her better than perfect vision saw LaShaunta standing off in the semi darkness holding her rifle down by her side with Alisha and Sara on their knees next to a third person on the ground. Jan couldn't run as she closed in on that low wall. Her steps became labored and wooden. The gun slipped from her fingers as she looked down at Agent Wills' body. Alisha held his wounded head in her lap and her tears wetted his shirt while Sara's dropped onto the cold pavement. Jan took Sara's hand in hers as she too dropped to her knees.

The funeral was held in Harry Wills' hometown of Charleston, West Virginia. The old church was going to be packed when the assembled began filing in. Almost every FBI agent who had ever worked with Agent Wills was there. Special Agent MacCallum had escorted in the FBI Director and the US Attorney General who had canceled a day's worth of meetings to attend the service. So had the Commandant of the Marine Corps who came to the funeral with several members from Wills' old Vietnam era unit.

Special Programs was well represented too with a very somber Martha Worthington leading the contingent that included Lonnie, Byron Livingston, and many others. Jack and Carol Caufield were there too since Jack had known Agent Wills for many years and had worked with him back in the late 80s. Jan though had broken away and stood off to the side with her roommates. They had spoken to lots of Agent Wills' old friends and few of his cousins, and then LaShaunta noticed an unexpected but familiar face in the crowd.

"Amaris?", LaShaunta called and former assassin came over. She wore a long black dress, and her slim toned figure was starting to show her pregnancy. She and LaShaunta embraced warmly before Amaris greeted the others. "Did you know Agent Wills?", Alisha asked.

Amaris nodded. "Mr. Wills' oldest daughter Judy was my art teacher in high school and we've stayed pretty close since I graduated. I was only around Mr. Wills a few times but he was always so nice to me. When I found out he'd died I just had to come. I try to support Judy any way I can", she explained then turned to LaShaunta. "Did you know Mr. Wills from before?"

"No. We met briefly during the battle. He seemed like a really cool guy, plus he fought like hell." Amaris gave a knowing nod. "Wait here", she said and walked towards a group then came back with a woman in a black dress.

"I'm Judy Wills Bray", the woman introduced herself unnecessarily. The resemblance to her late father was quite noticeable. She stood for a moment trying to put on a brave smile. "You must be Jan. And Alisha, and Sara", she said and shook each one of their hands in turn. "Dad talked about you so much." She gave a little laugh. "I heard that you were with him when he died." A tear dropped from Sara's eyes and she quickly tried to wipe out the rest. "If he had to go now, I know he would have wanted you there. Dad used to call you his other daughters."

Jan wiped her tears but couldn't hold back her sob as she wrapped her arms around Judy's shoulders. "We loved your Dad", she cried and Judy pulled her to arms length and smiled.

"He knows."

to be continued...

Recent Chapters

There are plenty of others where this story came from.  Please check out the bookshelf for all the past chapters of Power and Fury and my other series.

comments and criticisms welcome: dem2@hotmail.com