After sitting for some time, she went over to the window pulling back the curtain and squinting at the bright early afternoon sun. It was such a beautiful day with the colorful flowers on the terraced gardens behind the apartments and the lush green grass of the fields beyond that, all of it bordered by tall pines that stretched towards the sky. A young family was out there, the mother with the youngest child while the father taught the older one how to throw a baseball. To Alex that was as beautiful as the flowers even if it touched an empty part in her own heart.

"How ya holding up, Babe", a drowsy Max asked while leaning over to take Alex's hand.

"I'll be alright. Last night was crazy. That's all."

Max swung to a sitting position and looked up at his girlfriend. "It's mostly downhill from there I've been told. People who've been in this business for decades say they hadn't been part of anything like that before."

"I have a feeling it won't be the last time, not for me anyway. I've got to get trained because nobody gets as lucky as I did two times in a row", Alex said as much for herself as for Max. "The people from SP kept telling me how well I did, but I should be dead! By all rights I shouldn't be here."

"But you are here and life doesn't have to make sense, Babe. If there's a next time, you'll be ready for it."

"You're damned right I will!", Alex exclaimed, getting upset at her near failure all over again.

Max stood up and pressed his chest into her back and circled her body with his arms. "You've got to focus on the good things", he said into her ear.

"Like what?", she asked.

"Like… all this time you could have punched our neighbor as hard as you wanted and her head would have exploded."

Max gave Alex a squeeze after coaxing a small smile out of her and Alex put her hand on his arm. "She'd hit me back I guess."

"You two could get in a real fight and clear the air. You'd like that, and wouldn't have to worry about getting charged with murder." Max expected at least a chuckle, but Alex just let out a long sigh.

"Special Agent Wills was a cool guy. She's probably hurting pretty bad right now, so punching her as hard as I could wouldn't even be fun… not today."

Robert Joelstine took a sip of coffee and pushed the Post to the side to read the document that had just been hand delivered to his Falls Church home. People from his division within the National Security Council had been on the scene at the Battle of the Old Fort as the media was now calling it, since just after the last shots had been fired. Joelstine had thought about heading down to Atlanta himself but thought better of it. He had plenty of questions, but he trusted his people to get answers for him. He opened the report and got his first bit of news. He scanned the list of the dead and saw a name that made him pause. He hadn't known Harry Wills well, but he knew his reputation. He'd been Nick MacCallum's right hand man, and had a reputation as a fixer within Special Programs. It would be hard, but Nick was going to have to find a replacement. Joelstine wasn't so callus as to ignore Wills' death, but the opportunity was smacking him in the face. Martha Worthington had done a great job walling Special Programs off behind an impenetrable wall, but if Joelstine could convince one of his people to become a double agent, then he could get his first peak into its inner workings. He started thinking of his personnel, wondering which one to pick. Each had pluses and minuses, but he didn't have to make up his mind this morning. He'd wait until Wills was in the ground at least before setting things in motion. He didn't want to seem overeager, even if he was.

Morgen Stern sat on the very edge of his seat, unable to relax even inside the suite at the posh hotel. He had planned out his next several steps in great detail, but there were always variables that no one could account for. The Walker brothers were alive and captured, which was terrific, but there were twenty-four other Men of the Revolution captured along with them. Some were mortally wounded and wouldn't last a week, while others were in fine condition. Morgen had expected the dyed in the wool Men to go down with their cause, especially after LaShaunta and her friends had shown up. Morgen had personally witness Jan Caufield rampage her way through men like a vengeful demon. He thought she might single handedly mow all the Men down, but she hadn't, neither had Sara Hewitt would was just as capable of bringing down Old Testament fire and brimstone. LaShaunta didn't talk much about her friends, but she did say that they were good people; obviously they were better people than Morgen had figured. He'd manage though. These numbers were at the high end of his estimates, but doable.

He tossed down his legal pad after going over everything again then sat back in the seat. When he looked up he saw X-411 in the bedroom sitting black faced like a computer on standby. She certainly wasn't the most classically beautiful of Benny's Femmes, but she had more sex appeal than most, with a pretty face and tomboy swagger. Even sitting there she got him aroused, only he never let himself forget that X-411, like her sister Femmes, was a deadly weapon and not a woman… not anymore. Morgen was pretty sure that X-411's past wasn't nearly as interesting as any story that he could have made up, but whatever it had been, it had been hers. X-411 had been killed in all the ways that truly matter to a person. Just then a grin turned up the corner of Morgen's mouth. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

"X-411, become Carri until I otherwise instruct."

Instantly the emotionless expression left her face. The witty and snarky character Carri returned. She stood up and sauntered into the main room swinging her arms and looking around. "These are nice digs, Mr. Stern, but what have you brought me here for", she asked as Morgen watched the tear drop cuts of her thick quads sharpen with each step.

Morgen looked at her a smiled. "How do you feel?"

Carri frowned with puzzlement. "Fine. Why do you ask? Did you give me something while I was sleep or something!"

This time Morgen laughed. "No, it's that I'm going to need your strength today if we're going to complete our task."

Carri scoffed and held up her arms, flexing her biceps, making the sinews bulge with super human strength and power. Well after a normal person's muscles would have stopped growing, hers just kept getting larger and harder until the veins and arteries throbbed beneath the surface of her skin. She looked over at her right arm first and then straightened her left arm and flexed it again looking at the muscle fibers bunch up and swell. Carri grinned as she admired her own muscles and felt the strength coursing through them. Her grin grew into a full smile as she shifted her shoulders and cranked out a slow, muscle popping shirt straining crab flex. Her tits were large, but her pecs flexed up like twin flanks of beef, creating cleavage as deep as any bikini model, only with jagged striations. She wasn't wearing a bra and as she continued to inflate her chest, her nipples looked ready to poke right through her blouse like ice picks. "I could rip a whale in half", she declared and relaxed her prodigious muscles. "I've never felt stronger actually."

X-411 and all the other Femmes were indeed stronger after getting regular doses of the new strength serum Dr. Long had synthesized from Moira Kelly's old strength building formula.

Morgen pointed at Carri's stems and asked, "What about your legs? You didn't demonstrate them at all."

She chuckled. "I thought I'd spare you. Can you handle these legs, Mr. Stern?", she teased and slapped her unflexed thighs so the solid smack sounded throughout the room. She grinned when she saw Morgen's expression. Her upper body was nice, but her legs were magnificent. She stuck her left leg out and shook it so both of them could admire the big quads sway back and forth. Then in a flash, she tensed up hard. All four heads of her powerful quadriceps bulged along with adductors that could pinch through steel beams. The sweep of those seething muscles was breathtaking. "I guess you've got nothing to say", she joked after Morgen studied her legs for a time.

Finally he looked up to Carri's face and asked, "Would you have sex with me right now?"

Carri didn't quite look shocked, but she did frown. "That was really direct. Don't know if I've had any guy ask me like that before."

"I'm not like any guy", Morgen said back.

Carri seemed to contemplate for half a minute then grinned again. "What the hell. Hopefully you can curl my toes", she said and reached behind her head to unfasten the top of her blouse. Morgen stood up and walked over to her, running his hands gently across her shoulders to her arms. Carri gave a shudder. "You're doing pretty good so far", she remarked with some nervous laughter.

Morgen smiled. "Wait till I get going."

Nicholas MacCallum hadn't slept at all since the night before the Battle of the Old Fort. After the battle there'd been orders to give, agents to coordinate, and notifications to make to the loved ones of fallen agents. All of it was hard, but walking up the steps to tell Sally Wills that her husband of 39 years was never coming home again was the hardest thing Nick had done in his whole life. He was home alone now with his thoughts and fatigue because his wife was doing her best to comfort Sally. Nick just felt over the hill, although he'd never considered himself that way before. He needed to rest, and there was time for that now, and yet he couldn't close his eyes. He had preparations to make, and then he had to pack for the trip to DC and on to West Virginia so he could bury his friend.

With a few moments to clear his head though, he began thinking about how events would unfold after the funeral. He'd never be able to fully replace Wills, but he had to find someone to fill his job. The news of Harry's death had spread and the buzzards were already circling even if Nick couldn't see them yet. Many people within the government had their own little fiefdoms, and those people wanted a toehold within Special Programs. A day or two after the funeral Nick knew that he'd start fielding calls from these people. They'd offer him condolences and words of solidarity and support. Somewhere during the short conversation they'd suggest someone he could replace Wills with. They'd give a glowing recommendation, but MacCallum knew that any person he accepted would have split loyalties, and once a person was fully read into Special Programs they were never fully out of it. That's why Wills had kept such a close eye on 'his girls' as he called Jan, Sara, and Alisha. Even they knew that while they were on the inactive list, they'd never be completely out of Special Programs.

MacCallum needed some advice. Martha Worthington was the obvious choice, but she'd suggest he hire from within the Special Programs family. He was uneasy with that. Ideas get stale and internal group think was dangerous. He picked up the phone and called a read-in outsider who he hoped could at least point him in a direction.

The phone on Jack's tiny desk at the Pentagon rang so rarely that he was eager to answer when it did. "Hello. Oh Nick, it's good to hear from you. How ya holding up?"

"About as good as expected. How's Jan?"

"Devastated", Jack replied with a sigh. "All of them are. They really liked and respected Harry. I did too."

Nick was quiet for a moment. "I'm going to call those girls today", he declared then let out a sigh. "Jack, I don't want to be a heartless bastard, but there's another reason I called. You see, I'm going to have wolves at my door soon trying to get one of their people put in Wills' old job. I know you don't work for the Bureau, but you know a lot of people. Do you have any names?"

"There's Randy Cullen. He's a solid guy, but he's not Harry Wills", Jack replied.

"I was thinking the same thing about Randy. Solid guy, and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty to get the job done, but he's a plugger not a leader."

Jack leaned back in the chair and smiled. "What about Jose Fiero? He was on the mission in Florida with me. He works for Robert Joelstine, but we had lunch the other day after bumping into each other and he can't stand his boss. Fiero's smart; he's got investigative experience, paramilitary training, and already has an idea what it is you do."

"I hadn't thought about Fiero. I met him once a while back, right before he got transferred to Joelstine's joint task force. So you said he hates his boss?", MacCallum asked and rubbed his chin.

"He never came out and said it, but that's what I picked up during our conversation. I'm not telepathic, but he seemed pretty frustrated. Besides, this conversation happened last week… before anybody would have known that there'd be an opening in your office."

Nick let out a nearly silent laugh. Jack knew exactly what he was thinking. "I'm going to get his file and then contact him. If he hates Joelstine then he can't be all bad. Thanks Jack. I owe you one."

"Anytime, Nick", Jack said then let out a sigh of his own. "I'll see you in Charleston."

Sweat rolled down Morgen's forehead as he lay in the bed catching his breath while Carri lay next to him. "You probably won't believe me, but I don't normally sleep with my bosses while I'm on a job. Thank you though."

Morgen chuckled before sitting up. "So did I curl your toes?", he asked.

Carri kicked her little feet from beneath the covers and laughed. "They're still curled. See?"

Morgen leaned over and moved some of Carri's hair to the side and stared into her eyes. "Are you saying that to soothe my male ego?"

She smiled slowly and propped herself up on her elbows, letting the covers roll down revealing her perky little tits. "If I thought you could do that stuff to me again so soon I'd snatch your ass down here and not let you leave."

Morgen seemed amused. "Get up and get showered. Time to go to work. The other shower's down that way and the clothes I got for you are in that bedroom", Morgen explained and went into the master bathroom. He set the shower hot, just as he liked it and stepped in. He didn't hear the room door open, but he noticed when the shower door opened and Carri stood there as naked as the day she was born. Her hair was pulled to one side, resting on one athletically muscular shoulder, and she crossed one thick leg in front of the other as she looked up at Morgen through her lashes. He stared at her body instead of sending her away and that was victory number one. Morgen had been with lots of women in his life and he'd seen even more without their clothes on, but there was something about her body that drove him wild. She grinned with fake innocence and casually flexed her thigh, watching Morgen's manhood respond as her muscles defined themselves beneath her flushing skin.

"I got lonely in the other shower", she complained and rose up onto her toes just to make her calves bulge and create the beautiful sweeping shapes that got Morgen heart pounding and his manhood hard. He looked her up and down through the steam, marveling at the sleek power of her body.

"There's room in here", he said and held out his hand. Carri took it and joined him, instantly rubbing her body against his as the water poured over them. Morgen ran his hands down Carri's back and gripped her bulbous ass with both hands, feeling its hardness while ground her hips into him slightly, but then she pulled away and looked up at him again. "This time how about I curl your toes?", she asked and sank down to her knees.

Alex wasn't supposed to, but she showed up for her normal shift at the Bunker, only she hadn't been given an assignment. She'd been sent to the waiting room outside of Captain Vickers' office instead. She thumbed through some magazines, but wasn't paying much attention to anything on the pages. She was too busy trying to wrap her mind around how ironic it was that for the last few months she'd been living one building over from the very Special Programs agents that she and Max were replacing. There were plenty of signs out there that those girls weren't normal, if Alex had ever been able to get past her dislike of them long enough to notice. After the battle lots of people had become real talkative, and Alex found out just how important her neighbors had been within the program.

Special Programs had been pretty obscure for years after it had been set up to test the feasibility of using unconventional operatives for sensitive missions. There'd been gifted people in the program from the beginning, but no one in the government knew that people as powerful as Sara or Jan even existed. After that, the government began scouring the country for more extremely powerful people. Somehow Martha Worthington had fixed it so that almost all of those gifted people found their way into Special Programs. She loaned agents out to the FBI, Homeland Security, ATF, DEA, and even the CIA, but the gifted people themselves worked for her.

Alex also found out that before Jan, Sara, and Alisha came into her life, Martha had been relegated to rural Colorado training girls recruited from an exclusive boarding school. Now she had a corner office just down the street from the White House and a personal staff of her own. It was amazing what finding three extremely gifted people could do to help out a stalled out career. Martha had ridden the backs of those three up the clandestine government ladder. Although for her first few months in the program, Alisha hadn't manifested any powers at all. She'd been admitted because she'd hacked into Special Programs' servers. Anybody with the skills to do that so quickly needed to be a part of the program, and then it was found out that she had a super genius level IQ with language and other skills to go along with her intellect. When it was discovered that she was gifted, that was just icing on an already amazing cake.

Alex still wasn't even sure what Alisha's abilities were. She could understand the others' powers, but all Max could tell her was that Alisha's ability might be the most fearsome of the four. He tried to tell her that he wasn't sure it was even possible to really fight Alisha, while as powerful as Jan and Sara were, at least you could fight them. He said that even LaShaunta was easier to fight, assuming she stayed put for any length of time. Alex had cut him off then, telling him that she'd never fight LaShaunta no matter what happened. Any breath Alexandra drew from last night on would because of that young track star, but just because Alex had a soft spot for LaShaunta didn't mean she felt any differently about the other three.

"Officer Young", the secretary said. "The Captain will see you now." Alex jumped up and entered the office only to be disappointed. The administration wanted to give her mandatory time off again, and it was more than Alex could stand. She needed to work, to keep her mind off of what had happened during that battle, so she used a little of the clout beating up Peter Cooper had given her. Alex had no standing to demand or insist anything, but Captain Vickers got her drift. The slim guard sitting opposite his desk was perhaps the most powerful person he'd ever personally met. She could crush his specially made steel desk into a cigar box, with him rolled up inside it if she chose to, and there wasn't a person in the Bunker who could stop her… guard, inmate, or captain. Alex didn't lose her temper or threaten anybody in anyway, but Vickers relented just the same.

He still wouldn't let her guard prisoners, but he gave her a desk to ride and some important paperwork to complete. That would do for now. The administration offices were near the upper locker rooms and while on her way there, Alex passed the activity room where some of the more trusted inmates could enjoy some television, games, and conversation. The officers who pulled duty in that room took it as a chance to relax a bit themselves, but criminals were unfortunately criminals.

Surgeons had implanted a plastic rod to inhibit Denise's ability, but 40 years of experience using her power trumped the scientists' experiments to limit it. After nearly an hour of nagging, she turned towards Vic and screamed, "Leave me ALONE!!!!" Above a certain volume, sound wasn't just heard, it was felt. Vic Hoyle's hands went to his ears even as the pressure built up and he was lifted out of his chair. Denise's scream increased and Vic went flying across the room with the chair rolling right behind him. Denise looked around in instant panic, knowing that she shouldn't have done that. The guards were coming towards her, pulling their batons. She looked around like a trapped animal searching for a way out. Her better thoughts screamed for surrender. She should have put her hands above her head and taken the minor punishment. Instead she turned towards the advancing officers and released her voice. The sound stopped the officers in their tracks, building by the moment until the waves of Denise's voice showed in the air itself. The officers slid backwards along the floor until finally flying towards the back of the activity room.

The other inmates covered their ears and moved towards the end of the room away from the commotion. Some of them got the idea to join in and to use their own gifts to finish off the two guards, but they hadn't got to trustee status within the prison by being stupid. None of them wanted any part of this fight.

Vic rolled to his knees as the guards slammed against the wall. He wasn't a violent man, but he hadn't done anything to this stupid bitch to make her attack him. Now he was going to show why it was a bad idea to house women with men, regardless of what their power might be. He raised his hand and Denise turned towards him, but he didn't give her a chance to shout again. Vic's eyes glowed before he unleashed twin blasts of dazzlingly light right at Denise's face. She turned away and cried out in pain, vigorously rubbing her overloaded eyes. Vic took off like a sprinter on a track, running towards Denise intending to do her some real harm, but Denise was really mad now. Despite the pain and temporarily blindness, she sucked in a big breath, filling her lungs. Through blurry half vision she saw Vic running towards her. He was almost in striking distance, but then the door opened and a single officer stepped in between them.

Vic slammed on his brakes and stumbled to a stop rather than risk slamming into Alexandra, but Denise's eyes were too blurry to make out who was standing near her and she unleashed her scream. The sound hit Alex like a massive punch stretching from the top of her head to her knees, but even through the uniform people saw her slim body harden like diamond to resist the force of Denise's voice. Her hair blew around though like she was caught in a hurricane until her left hand shot out and killed the sound at its source. Alex's eyes narrowed and her arm flexed a tiny bit harder as she squeezed Denise's throat. The room went completely silent now except for the gurgling sounds coming from Denise's quivering lips. Now that she knew what she'd done and saw who she'd done it to, Denise nearly fainted.

Alex stared directly at Denise and brought an index finger to her lips. "Shhhh", she breathed before releasing the inmate's neck. She turned then and Vic was already pleading his case.

"She started it!", he yelled and pointed at Denise who didn't utter a sound fearing that Officer Young might silence her permanently. The two officers assigned to guard the room rushed up and began restraining Denise by first putting on a special gag before cuffing her hands. Vic was quite satisfied with how things had turned out until a pair of cuffs and special hood came out for him. "Come on! I didn't do nothing", he protested.

"You instigated the altercation. I'll let it slide that you discharged your power if you stop giving me lip", an officer replied, but Vic was still upset. He might have protested some more if he hadn't looked past the assigned officers to Alex who stood there glaring at him. Vic dropped his head and put his hands behind his back.

"Call for a relief while we take these two down", the senior officer ordered.

"You don't have to, I'll watch the room while you're gone", Alex spoke up quickly although she didn't have any of the normal guard equipment.

"You sure Officer Young?"

Alex smiled and looked at the inmates. "We won't have any problems will we?", she asked them with a hint of danger in her tone. The inmates fell over each other to show just how good they were going to be. "See. You guys go ahead. We'll be fine." The officers led Denise and Vic towards the punishment cells while Alex slowly walked towards the middle of the room. "You've got what, 45 more minutes in here. Get back to what you were doing", Alex told the inmates then continued to the chairs in the back of the room. She made a show of taking a seat and crossing her shapely legs, while the inmates tried hard not to stare. Alex couldn't help but soak in their fear and their respect. It was almost as if she was back at the Pit and she was the queen of it all. The way she felt now almost made up for how awful she'd felt earlier that morning, almost.

"So there's a literal army in our way", Carri remarked with a sigh as she looked through the binoculars. "Please tell me you have a plan that doesn't involve us bull rushing in there. I'm not that bullet proof." Morgen reached into his pocket and held out an ID card. Carri studied the card carefully and frowned. "So now I'm German?"

"You are for this operation", Morgen said in his native language then explained his plans.

Carri huffed and looked at the card again. "Agnes Roth huh? So how's my German?"

Morgen smiled because it was perfect, but he told her, "It'll fool an American. Now let's go to work."

"Wait here sir", a corporal told Morgen after looking at his ID. A moment later a sergeant came out. "You are with the Foreign Office out of the consulate, Herr Schmidt?" The sergeant's German was quite good.

Morgen nodded. He'd used this cover before in years past and his backstop in Berlin was still in place, so he thought he might as well use it again. Pretending to be a German official came naturally to Morgen anyway. "My government is quite upset and saddened that this attack took place, but it came to our attention this morning that at least two of the alleged terrorists were born in Germany. Mark and Marcus Walker."

"But they were fathered by a US serviceman", the sergeant explained switching back to English.

"Yes of course, but to a German mother, and the brothers maintain dual citizenship although they haven't been to German in at least a decade. We are simply here to check on the brothers' welfare. If all is satisfactory, I will report that to my government and this matter will be closed."

The sergeant nodded and cued his radio. A major on the other side of the base gave the okay for them to enter. Morgen started forward, but the sergeant didn't open the gate. "I'm sorry, miss. I need to see your credentials as well."

Carri gave an embarrassed smile as she handed over her id badge. "My mistake, soldier", she told him and he nodded before scanning her id. The corporal had no idea what they were saying, but the chick was really cute so he had no problems looking at her for another minute. He'd turned down a posting to German to remain with his current unit, but next time he got the opportunity he'd go see if he might be able to find himself a pretty little fraulëin of his own.

"We'll be right outside, sir", a US soldier told Morgen before delivering the handcuffed and shackled Walker brothers into a makeshift conference room.

"Soldier, please", Morgen called. "Remove their restraints, they won't be necessary, will they gentlemen?"

"We're cool", Marcus, the older brother said. The soldier reluctantly removed the thick handcuffs, but not the shackles. Those were mandatory for all prisoners. Morgen thanked the soldier and then the four of them were alone in the room. "Have you come to break us out?", Mark asked, looking like holding his tongue had nearly killed him. "When I saw your face, I was like I knew they wouldn't let us stay here and rot! And you brought that Femme with you, she's strong as fuck. We were with her in Cali and Texas. Come on break these chains so we can fight our way out. I know you can break 'em!"

Morgen sighed. "Hold on, boys. She could probably chew through your chains", he said and Carri chuckled. "But first I need some info. How much have you told the Feds?"

"Not much. Just enough to get us out of that damned hole they had us in. They turned an old gunpowder storage room into a big cell. There's one fucking toilet for 19 goddamned men!", Marcus exclaimed and Morgen turned to Carri.

"We should certainly put that in our report to Germany", he said with a laugh that the brothers echoed. "What about names and locations?"

"We confirmed Malcolm's name", Mark admitted and lowered his head. "But that's the only name we've given up so far."

"That's great to hear. What about the others. Have they talked?"

"No, they called us traitors and pussies for talkin, but we knew we weren't gonna tell the Feds nothing. We just wanted to stall em for a while", Marcus explained.

Morgen nodded and motioned to Carri. "That's the best news I've heard all day. It makes what I have to do next, much easier." Carri lunged forward knocking Mark to the floor.

"What the hell!", he tried to yell but she covered his mouth with her hand, while straddling his chest. He squirmed and used his somewhat enhanced strength, but those thick legs flexed and his shouts became pained groans. Her triceps swelled to fill the sleeve of her businesslike blouse, her muscles flexing just enough to keep Mark's head still. Marcus saw his brother on the floor and wanted to help him, but he couldn't turn away from Morgen's gaze as the German's power seeped in. Marcus' will couldn't counter it.

"Keep him quiet", Morgen told Carri. This won't take long." When he was finished, Marcus stood like one of Benny's super soldiers, emotionless and blank. Mark cried for his brother and for what was about to happen to him too.

Morgen bent down beside the terrified young man and rubbed the sweat off his forehead, almost tenderly. "Your brother won't stay like that. I just need him to be quiet for a while longer. He'll go back to normal soon enough. I know you're wondering why I'm doing this, but there're things in your head that I can't allow you remember. I know you think you won't talk, but there're people who can burrow into your mind and pick out information whether you want them to or not. Those people haven't come for you yet, but they will. When they do, they can't get information that's not there. This is your last act of loyalty to your cause. It doesn't have to hurt. Just let me into your head, and it'll all be over soon."

A few minutes after going into the room, Carri came out after making sure her skirt was straight as she went to retrieve the soldiers. A group of six came back to the conference room and heard the laughter before even walking in. Morgen and the brothers were joking with each other. There wasn't a trace of tension in the room. It had vanished along with any memory of Morgen's true identity, of Benny, the Femmes, or the location where they'd lived for the last several months. Morgen used his power to input a false story into their mind. He didn't have to give them false memories, but it was less suspicious than leaving a gaping hole there. A skilled telepath could find the gaps in Morgen's handy work, but they still wouldn't be able to find out the truth and that was good enough for him.

"Did you get everything you needed sir?", the lieutenant supervising the detail asked.

"The prisoners need more lavatory facilities than are being offered. That is a topic I will take up with the detention manager", Morgen replied .

"Well, sir we'll take you to him", the lieutenant said and started leading Morgen and Carri towards the front of the building with a private. The other four soldiers escorted Mark and Marcus the opposite way through a set of thick metal doors that lead to their private cell. The door had just slammed shut when Morgen looked towards Carri. The second act of his plan was about to begin. All they had to do was follow the lieutenant to the detention manager and then they Morgen would take hold of that soldier's will to gain access to the prisoners. It would be that simple.  The private was a moment from opening the door to take them to old powder storage area, when a loud boom made everybody except Carri flinch. Sounds of staccato bursts and screams sounded through the door and everybody knew what happening. The Men of the Revolution were attempting to escape. The lieutenant stepped forward and snatched his pistol from the holster while the private lifted his rifle into a ready position. Just then the wall behind the lieutenant blasted inward and a Man rushed in. The lieutenant raised his gun, but the Man grabbed his arm and squeezed with his enhanced strength. The lieutenant let out an agonized grunt as his humerus bone shattered. Carri looked horrified and Morgen jumped backwards to give himself some distance. The private moved to the side to get a clear shot, but the Man was on him in an instant. The private managed to fire a shot, but it hit harmlessly against the floor. The private yelled as the Man broke his left arm in two places.

Carri turned towards Morgen, asking to break cover without saying a word and Morgen gave her a small nod. His head had barely stopped moving when Carri's fist struck the Man's jaw. He flew against the far side of the hallway. The wall cracked when Carri followed her first punch with a second harder one. Blood and bits of broken teeth skittered along the concrete floor when Carri's fist landed. The Man staggered before falling to the floor. Carri was about to reach for the unconscious escapee when another Man rushed into the hallway and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her side.

She thrashed as he lifted her off the floor, but then she pulled her head forward, pressing her chin into her chest just to throw it backward hard enough to break this Man's nose. He dropped her and she sent an elbow his midsection. The Man threw a punch of his own and knocked Carri to the back of the hallway. He took one step towards the blonde before Morgen reached out with his gift and took control of this Man's will. Carri saw the Man freeze and bit down hard before launching herself at him. She pulled her leg back and kicked the Man in the chest so hard that he flew through the wall. The wall blasted inward again and two strong hands grabbed Carri by her neck. Now it was her turn to fly through the wall. She landed twenty feet away and a Man came towards her, but stopped short when several bullets entered his back. The Man fell down dying. "Danke", Carri told the lieutenant and the private when she stood up and saw both of their smoking barrels.

Morgen stepped forward and looked through the holes in the wall towards the large holding area and saw one of the massive blast doors lying flat on the ground. No one knew that one of the hinges on the multi-ton doors was corroded. After being swung open and closed more times one day than it had opened in thirty years, the hinge weakened and finally, with no help at all broke. Only the Men inside the old powder dump saw the damage. They'd used their combined strength to lift the door off of its one remaining hinge to free themselves. Morgen looked outside and saw Men scattering into the fort. Soldiers were trying to hold a perimeter, but these soldiers were learning quickly the same lessons that the soldiers from the night before had learned the hard way. The Men closed the distance, getting into hand to hand range with the soldiers where guns became less effective than enhanced strength.

Morgen stepped to Carri. "Go help the soldiers because I know you want to", he told her. "If any of them recognize you just send them to me. I'll be over there", he said and pointed in the direction of a truck that he'd commandeer soon. Carri nodded and took off running. Morgen went back to check on the soldiers in the hallway.

"What's going on?", the lieutenant asked, as shock began attacking the corners of his consciousness. "Who is that woman?"

"We have gifted people of our own in Germany", Morgen said with a smile then knelt beside the two wounded soldiers. "She's pretty, but also my protection against the monsters that were locked up in here. I made a good choice did I not?" The soldiers agreed, and neither man noticed Morgen's power as it took over their will. Their memories of this event were going to be very fuzzy.

The Special Holding Unit at the Atlanta Federal Prison had sent two of their top secret exosuits to help guard the Men and they were quickly put to use. The people at the Warrmer Institute had put the machines through lots of tests, but now they were going to get some real live action. While a few Men were strong enough to fight the exosuited guards one on one, they couldn't deal with the array of non lethal weapons on the suits. Electric shocks, chemical stun agents, and multiple restraint types were just a few of the items the guards deployed against the Men, and all of them seemed to be working in one fashion or another, only two exosuits couldn't be everywhere at one. The Men just dispersed to avoid them.

Lou took cover behind a tree while gathering his thoughts. He'd used his extreme strength to help lift the old blast door off of the hinge, but the Men had rushed out so fast that none of them had taken a moment to think. Lou was going to do that now. His first thought was perhaps going to find the suit of armor he'd been wearing during the battle. It had protected him from almost every weapon, but it was probably on the way to some lab by now, besides it hadn't protected him from her.

Lou had fought a female Fed during the battle. She had the bluest eyes he'd ever seen and was beautiful to him despite the gore covering her face, or maybe because of it. She hadn't used a gun on him, instead she'd defeated that armor with just her fists. She'd been stronger than him and more skilled. Lou thought that he might have been able to beat her with his passion for the cause and his shear effort. It hadn't worked. After his capture he'd been disheartened, but fate was giving Lou and his brethren a chance to die properly. He was sure some Men of the Revolution were going to try and escape, some to save their own skins and others to reconstitute the group. That was a fool's goal. Malcolm had been a great leader, but a short sighted one. He hadn't known who or what he was up against, and it had been the downfall of their brotherhood. Lou knew that there was no future for the Men of the Revolution past this day. All he wanted was one more win before the chucked his dead body in the clay.

The soldiers near the front had been forced back, but the new perimeter was mostly holding. Some Men died while others were recaptured. Morgen stood near an idling truck, looking like was attempting to hide the Men and help them escape. In just a couple of minutes several Men showed up after Carri sent them Morgen's way. Morgen did hide the Men in the back of the truck, but only to give himself some privacy while he went to work on their memories. This day had turned out to be much more exciting and dangerous than the one he'd planned for he and for X-411, but not a bad one… so long as no Men actually managed to escape.

Two Men had escape on their minds and pushed their way into an evidence collection van. One got behind the wheel and hotwired the engine using skills from his past, while his buddy got in the other seat. The driver barely waited for his buddy to close the door before starting towards the nearest gate. He pushed the pedal down, not caring that there were at least five soldiers in his path. The tires threw dirt and gravel back as the van started forward. The driver saw a streak of yellow come from his left and suddenly the van banged to a stop. The engine note deepened and the rear tires spun. The driver tried to see what he had hit, but couldn't see anything over the hood. He pressed the gas and the tires spun faster, but the van didn't move an inch. He pressed the gas down to the floor, and all he did was make Carri's thighs bulge even bigger. Her face set in effort as she kept the V8 engine at bay. Her shoes were forced into the ground as the van's rear tires spun. A crease formed in both fenders as the front of the van bent itself against Carri's hard body.

Her legs were behind her, absorbing all the power of the engine while her chest broke through the grill to rest against a cross brace above the rapidly heating radiator. The Man in the passenger seat bumped his head against the van's ceiling standing up to change his angle so he could see what was in their way. He frowned and pressed his face against the windshield when he saw a shock of blonde hair and shoulders semi-bowed with tensed, muscle chocked arms pressing against yielding steel. "Back up!", the passenger yelled.

The driver let off the gas just long enough to throw the van into reverse like his partner had urged. Carri nearly fell over when the van started pulling away from her. She lunged forward and reached for anything, managing to get the fingers of her right hand behind the bumper. The plastic crumbed, but the metal behind it held. The van slowed as Carri's right biceps exploded upward. The fully bloated muscle burst through her sleeve, as her right foot dug a furrow in the uneven surface. The driver pushed the pedal all the way down, and Carri's lats unfurled like the growth of extra limbs, easily ripping open the front of her blouse with the muscle expansion and almost as easily stopping the van. The thickening, deeply etched muscles along her back set like cooling lava flows as she mastered the hundreds of horses beneath the van's hood, and then like the moving of the earth's crust she pulled the van back towards her. The tires bounced and skidded along the ground as it moved forward nearly a foot even though it wanted to be going backwards at nearly 50 miles an hour.

Her leg trailed behind, but finally her right foot found purchase and her quad and calf flexed to match her arms as the van came to a bouncing halt. The veins snaking across Carri's trembling biceps matched the ones shooting up and down her neck as she dragged the front of the van back towards her a little more. She took step forward to square her body so now she had two feet firmly beneath her. She reached through the already shattered grill and grabbed some of the frame with her left hand. Now no matter how loud the engine screamed or how fast the wheels spun, that van wasn't going anywhere she didn't want it to. Now she had to make sure the Men inside didn't ditch the van and get away. Her right arm flexed harder and striations showed on her pecs through her billowing white blouse as she turned the van onto its side. The Men inside felt it going over, and tried to escape, but it was too late. The van banged over onto the passenger side, sending the two men tumbling.

One back wheel was still turning as Carri jumped to the driver's door and yanked it completely off the vehicle before dropping inside. She knocked the Men out with one punch a piece then kicked out the windshield and dragged them to the group of soldiers that she'd just saved.

"That was amazing", a private said as Carri dropped the Men at his feet. She winked at the young soldier as he reached for his restraints then she ran off to see if there were any more Men to capture.

Lou lurked around the edges of the fighting, observing everything until he saw his chance. A federal agent stood by himself in a clear area. Lou got onto the ground and slipped beneath a parked car, inching his way towards the Fed before he struck.

"Just stop resisting!", Carri yelled in a German accent as she forced a Man's arms behind his back. The Man was already flat on his stomach, on the pavement with this woman on his back, but he gave a sustained effort to free himself, despite the fact that even if he did manage to get free himself, the soldiers would have shot him full of holes. He didn't free himself though. That blonde woman's face set, and her upper body swelled and the Man's arms began to shake, but hers didn't. She just pulled his arms back behind his back and held them there for a soldier to put some mark 1 restraints on the Man's wrists. That same soldier had just applied some restraints to the Man's legs when suddenly Carri sat up straight and cocked her head to one side like a watch dog, and just like a dog, Carri's scientifically enhanced ears heard something that the soldier's ears couldn't. She jumped off of the recaptured Man's back and took off running at superhuman sprint.

The ATF agent screamed as Lou shattered his ankle with a squeeze. The man's eyes watered as he fell to the ground, dropping the radio while reaching for his pistol. The car bounced away as Lou shrugged the car from his back and stood up over the wounded agent. Lou waited for the agent to get out his gun, only to push his arm to the side with his foot then pin the arm to the ground. Lou's face took on a look of grim fantasy as he pressed down onto the agent's arm, forcing the arm against the pavement until more bones shattered and until the skin and muscle ruptured. The hand severed several inches above the wrist, and Lou was just getting started.

Another agent ran up with his gun drawn, firing shots, managing to hit Lou in the leg. Lou didn't even flinch at the impact. He turned, almost casually, looking at the shaking, desperate agent trying to save his friend and smiled. A second man ran up from behind the agent and gave him a forearm to the back of the head, putting the other agent down. Lou grinned when his fellow Man ended that threat, then got down on his knees to finish off the ATF agent.

The agent screamed again as Lou started squeezing him again, but Carri came flying in as if from the sky and kicked Lou in the side of the head putting him down. The other Man brought up the agent's pistol and shot Carri, but she didn't even slow down as she rushed towards him. His second shot missed and by then she was at him. She took the gun from him and slammed the butt of the pistol into his forehead, again and again and again, until the steel frame of the gun bent and broke under the pressure. Even when the gun fell to pieces at her feet, Carri pounded this man until he dropped to the ground in a heap.

Lou got back up, running his already swollen face as a short blonde turned to look at him. A trickle of blood ran from a wound on her forehead, but still Lou recognized her. This was one of Benny's Femmes. Her face was familiar, but he'd never forget those thick muscular legs, not in a million years. He smiled. So Benny had sent one of his creatures to help finish off the Men of the Revolution. Lou had warned Malcolm about trusting his old prison cellmate so much. Lou wouldn't be surprised if somehow Benny had orchestrated the group's downfall in the first place. Carri saw the anger on Lou's face and readied herself for an attack that didn't come. Lou remembered his capture from the night before. Sure that blue eyed fed had been strong, but she'd beaten him with guile. It was time for him to use some of that too. He turned and ran. Carri chased him for a few strides before turning to help the wounded ATF agents instead.

Carri carried the gravely wounded ATF agent all the way to the hospital because she knew that he didn't have time to wait for help. She didn't know whether he was going to live or die because she didn't stay behind. She went to find more Men. She found three almost immediately. One of them recognized her, and told the others who she really was. For a moment, she dropped all pretense and characters and became a Femme soldier. She instructed the three Men to go to Morgen in that flat emotionless tone that all Femmes used. She smiled as they ran towards the truck where Morgen would be waiting. If only all of her encounters were that easy.

Lou knew he was running out of time. This second Battle of the Old Fort was almost over. He'd seen dead comrades scattered about the grounds and others who'd been recaptured. This was truly the end. If he wanted that one win, it was now or never. He'd gathered a couple of his fellow long time Men and convinced them that his way of thinking was the only way of thinking. They were behind him as he made his move. He came from behind a low wall and picked up an already damaged humvee just as the exosuit wearing guard came into view. Lou roared and used all of his strength serum enhanced strength to slam the vehicle into the suit, knocking the guard across the road. Lou looked around to see if the other exosuit wearing guard was nearby. When he didn't see it, he dropped the humvee and attacked the guard.

The gyros stabilized the suit so it landed on its feet even though the guard inside was a little dazed. An alarm sounded as Lou charged. Several systems were damaged, but he took aim through the heads up display and fired the last robot restraint he had, hoping to end this fight before it really got started, but his spirits sank when Lou caught the sphere and pressed on it with every ounce of his strength, trying to keep it from coming apart like designed. That Fed bitch had used one of these devices on him, and he wasn't going to let himself get trapped like this again. Lou's big hands held the ball firmly, his big muscles expanding to counter the restraint's efforts to open. The exosuit wearing guard took a step back as two Men rushed at him, but the suit wouldn't move quickly. There was a hydraulic leak somewhere. He had to operate with electric motors alone and the batteries wouldn't last long like that.

Lou roared as the restraint's onboard systems ramped up the power. The metal legs began extending and Lou bore down. He managed to create a stalemate for a few seconds, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He stepped forward and with the last bit of control he had over the restraint pressed against his comrade's back. The Man turned towards Lou as the restraint began wrapping around him. "Why?", he asked as the metal legs forced his arms to his side.

"Because I'm stronger", Lou replied then roared and slammed a punch to the front of the exosuit making it slide back several yards.

The two weaker men had barely been able to annoy the guard inside the exosuit. That changed to worry now that Lou was back in the fight. The weakened suit shocked Lou and pepper sprayed his eyes, but didn't slow him down. Their arms met, power to power, strength to strength and Lou started to smile as white smoke started coming from the exosuit's motors. The lights inside dimmed as the circuits overloaded. The guard knew he needed his hydraulics, but they weren't coming back on line. Lou's roar shook glass in the windows of nearby buildings as he forced the motors backwards against their every effort until a shower of sparks signed a motor's fiery death. Half the suit was useless now. The guard fought with his right arm for a moment before Lou concentrated on it and burned it out too. The guard sent a distress call over the radio, but the initial hit from the humvee had damaged his communications. He was all alone.

Lou knocked the exosuit to the ground and started smashing punch after punch against the hardened plexiglass shroud that covered the guard inside the suit. The guard was doing everything he could inside of his mostly disabled suit, but nothing would stop Lou as he pounded the suit relentlessly with ground shaking blows. He had to be cracking bones in his hands, but the glass was cracking faster. He went after that glass like a shark with blood in the water, but it wouldn't open up, not fast enough for him. He stood up and snatched the exosuit wearing guard up with him. It was a stretch, even for his long arms, but Lou managed to wrap his arms around the suit's waist and squeezed.

The suit resisted Lou's squeeze for a while, but not for long. Smoke started filling the cabin when more of the suit's functions failed. Lou grinned through his effort as the sounds of guard's screams made it through the cracks to fill his ears. Lou's entire body shook as he poured on the pressure. Finally the guard's lungs ran out of air and he pleaded with his eyes. "Please", he mouthed as blood frothed to his lips. All of it only fueled Lou. The guard struggled until his arms crushed the suit and the plexiglass turned red when blood and guts shot of the now dead guard's wide open mouth. Lou dropped the suit and staggered backward looking at his fresh kill, at his victory. He reveled in it for several seconds until a roar to match his own sounded before Carri's leg kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over and bringing him to his knees.

She glanced over at the dead guard inside the exosuit as the blood dripped back down from the glass to reveal the horror that was inside. "I should have killed you!", Carri screamed and blasted a punch to the side of Lou's still heavily bruised and battered face. Lou landed on the grass, but jumped to his feet, ready as Carri came at him. Her leg flashed up as she sent a punch at him, but Lou was good. He dodged her kick and hit her with a punch of his own, sending her tumbling back to the parking lot.

Lou pressed his attack, moving quickly despite the bullet wound to his leg. He punched Carri with his right hand while grabbing her by the back of her head and lifted the short Carri up off of the ground, only to slam her face first into the asphalt. He slammed her face again this time drawing some blood as the rough aggregate scratched her skin a little, but he thought he was doing more damage than he was doing. Carri reached back behind her head and gripped his wrist with both hands. Lou bit down hard as the pain made him hesitate. Carri spun while still suspended by his hand, and sent a reverse kick to Lou's stomach. Even with no build up and no leverage, Carri's legs were strong enough to hurt. He dropped her and she attacked. The sound of one chemically enhanced person hitting another was like an explosion as Carri's muscles burst with power. She had never wanted to pound someone so mercilessly, but as she pulled back for another blow, a robot restraint came flying in and hit Lou in the center of his back. Carri turned towards the soldier who'd thrown it before looking back towards Lou as the restraint did its job. She wanted to reach down and separate Lou's head from his shoulders, instead she looked down with impotent frustration, as the soldiers moved in.

The sergeant who had let Morgen onto the base an hour earlier had no idea how this German had managed to capture ten Men all by himself, but he didn't ask. He just took custody of the shackled Men and led a detail to put them back into the powder magazine. This time they were going to weld that damned door shut and drop food and water in through the gun ports. Morgen didn't care how they kept those Men from trying to escape again. He'd already gone into their heads. With the confusion of the escape attempt, he'd had plenty of time with each man to get him to forget everything that needed to be forgotten. He started helping with the wounded after a while, actually assisting a group of guys putting a wounded soldier on a gurney. Some of this was for show, but the rest of it was genuine. Morgen bore these soldiers no ill will. In fact they'd fought bravely, and he was willing to help him so long as it didn't interfere with his mission. He actually helped the mission because after seeing Morgen's aid, an agent came over, slapped a gun into his hand and asked him to help guard the Men who were still wrapped up inside robot restraints. It took everything he had to keep from smiling at his good fortune. Robot restraints rendered people unconscious, and unconscious people were much easier for him to deal with. He'd have these guys' memories wiped in no time. "Is this all the captured?", Morgen asked as the agent started walking away.

"No, there're a few more up at the hospital."

Morgen added those hospital bound Men to his to do list. Hopefully at least one of them would die before he had to deal with their memories. "Have you seen my associate Agnes by chance?", Morgen asked, remembering to put on a thicker accent.

"The blonde woman?", the agent asked and Morgen nodded.

"I can't find her anywhere."

"She's in the hospital too. One of those escapees hit her with something. The medical people don't think it's too serious though."

"That's good to know", Morgen replied and the agent stepped closer.

"She saved a lot of lives today. You both did", he said and held out his hand. "Thank you Mr. Schmidt and thank her for me", the agent said as he shook Morgen's hand, but Morgen didn't let go of the agent's hand in a normal time. He kept his grip on the agent's hand and gripped the agent's will with his power. He didn't have to wipe any memories from this man's mind. He just clouded them. It only took a moment to affect fresh memories, and then he ended the shake as if nothing at all had happened. When the agent walked away, Morgen turned his attention to the Men on the ground in front of him. He didn't waste time wondering what X-411 was doing because whatever it was, she probably didn't need his help anyway.

Soldiers in the hospital did their best to separate the wounded Men from everybody else, but with wounded still in the hospital from the night before with the new wounded on top of all of that, everything was a bit chaotic. Carri used the confusion to gain access to the area where the wounded Men were being held. She climbed onto a gurney and covered herself. Unless someone looked closely, all they'd see was a person with some somewhat bloody gauze on their forehead surrounded by others in various states of injury.

Lou was near her with his gunshot wound patched up. He looked around the room, eying the soldiers guarding him, but most of them seemed more interested in the conditions of their mates than a bunch of injured bad guys. That gunshot wound was child's play to Lou, and he was planning on using the guard's apathy against them, only Carri used it first. She pushed off of another gurney, inching closer to Lou. He saw the movement. "You!", he growled before Carri kicked him solidly in the jaw then hooked her legs around his head, making sure to cross her ankles and squeeze before he could mount a defense. For the first time this day, Carri's quads really flexed. Deep striations marched their way across her bulging quad heads, but they had to compete for space on her flushing skin with the network of arteries and veins pumping blood to her oxygen hungry muscles.

Lou rolled off his gurney as Carri's legs tightened around his head. He reached out for her throat, but she straightened her body keeping his fingers just out of reach. He ended up forcing his fingers into the shrinking gap between her legs because if he didn't, it felt like she'd crush his head flat. He powered up his own enhanced muscles pressing outward against Carri's squeeze with all of his considerable might. Carri's body arched and she grunted as Lou's arms pulled with tons of force, but her dense fibrous quads rippled in response. Carri had uprooted oak trees, overpowered powerful motors, and toppled a massive concrete wall with her legs, but they'd never flexed like they flexed right then. Her glutes bulged and imploded at the same time. Finger deep striations sliced across the rim of her ass with its crater like hollow in the middle. Her hamstrings were just as ripped to shreds as her quads and glutes, looking like the cables on some powerful crane rather than the muscles inside of a young woman's legs. Her toes were pointed too, spiking out the insides of her dense calf muscles like medieval maces. Her entire body was flexed harder than steel, and Lou felt every bit of Carri's strength. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips quivered in effort. Her face flushed for a few moments until she pushed her muscles so hard that her complexion turned deathly pale, as surging muscles took more and more of the oxygen.

Lou's arms began to cramp beneath her onslaught. He was still pushing out with all of his strength, but he was losing ground to her surging thighs. His vision turned red as blood filled his eyeballs. Carri was relentless and the pain felt like a herd of elephants were jumping on his skull every second, and Carri's adductors were slicing into his hands now like the blades on a metal shearing machine. He'd long since lost feeling in his fingers, but he pressed out still. Half an hour ago he thought he was ready to die, but now Lou fought for life with everything he had inside of him. Carri was relentless though, pushing her muscles even harder, pushing her muscles to their breaking point. Lou though, broke first.

A muffled crack signaled the first bone breaking inside of Lou's hand, followed quickly by another couple of bones in the other hand. Not that those bones mattered much anyway. Lou convulsed as the pressure in his head increased even more. Carri bit her bottom lip and eked out a little more strength from her unholy thighs, making them bulge just a bit more, making the already inhuman definition tighten just a bit more. Veins thicker than a kid's pencil throbbed as the muscles crushed inward and she hit her first milestone. He screamed into her bloated thighs as his right eye was forced out of its socket millimeter by millimeter. He thrashed as the pressure built up because the eye pressed against the inside of Carri's still growing thigh, flattening until it ruptured with a splash of hot optic fluid. Carri felt the juices rolling down her skin and it only made her muscles flex harder still. She stared at her legs like she was trying to shoot lasers from her eyes, but she wanted to to flex harder. She needed more strength, and her muscles pulsed bigger. Lou's other eye exploded.

Blinded and panicked, Lou pulled with every ounce of strength in his upper body. Carri's body shook too as she fought against his best, desperate efforts. His muscles gave away before hers. Several muscles tore away from the bones, tendons ripped, and Lou's arms lost all strength. Death came quickly then. Without the tons of force keeping her legs apart, Carri's thighs compressed and shattered Lou's skull. Boiling hot fluids burst out from every opening in his head as she crushed the scientifically enhanced bones like bits of plastic. Carri could have kept crushing that skull even after Lou was dead, but there was no point. He couldn't feel anything else, so she opened her thighs and looked at what was left. She pushed Lou's mangled body onto a gurney and covered it with a sheet before heading to a sink to clean the gore off of her massively pumped thighs. When she was finished with that, she simply walked out of the hospital.

A few minutes later a sergeant came in to do a check on the wounded and found Lou's body on the gurney with its oddly shrunken head. The dead Man's head looked more like a Halloween mask than a real human head with his empty eye sockets and misshapen facial features. Protocol told him that he should have reported this incident, but this Man had killed a soldier who had been in the sergeant's unit for nearly two years, a good kid with a young family. The sergeant put an X next to Lou's name on his prisoner roll sheet then motioned for a private to come over. "Take this body downstairs to the crematory for disposal."

"I take it you're finished", Morgen said to Carri when she came strolling up to him with her cocky tomboy swagger.

"You didn't have to hear those soldiers scream", she replied then exhaled. "Besides, there's one less mind you have to manipulate now." Her tone was confident, but he saw the apprehension on her face, fearing a rebuke from Morgen. Instead he smiled.

"Let's get back to work. We have a few more left."

After the relative excitement of watching the activity room for a little more than half an hour until the other guards returned, Alex actually got busy at the desk Captain Vickers  had sent her to. The office staff kept glancing towards her as she typed or read documents that crossed the desk. Usually they'd have poked a bit of fun at the temp's expense, but this was no ordinary temporary worker. One office staffer was very weakly gifted, but he could feel the power coming off of Alex, radiating outward like a nuclear reactor, and she was just reading stuff on the computer screen. He hadn't been near her when she'd been fighting Peter Cooper, another frighteningly powerful person, and he certainly not been near her during the Battle at the Old Fort, but he was sure that there weren't many who threw off any more power than her.

Alex stood up and rolled her head around her shoulders while checking the clock. She couldn't believe how much time had flown. She was actually late for lunch. Normally she'd have eaten an hour earlier, but the emails just kept coming and coming. She had no idea how the office people kept their sanity, but it was better for her than sitting at home stewing with all the mental baggage from the battle. She stepped away from the desk, pushed her chair in and was three steps closer to door when an officer came in. "Oh, Officer Young", he said. "I'm glad I caught you. I've got an internal memo for you. Just sign here that you received it."

Alex almost told the courier to wait until after she'd stuffed her face, but she signed for the envelope and hurried towards the elevator with the unopened envelope in her pocket. She made a beeline for the cafeteria and got in line. She was so hungry that she didn't give another thought to the envelope in her pocket until she was halfway through her lunch of chopped steak and mashed potatoes before she bothered opening the envelope.

The first thing she noticed was that it had been hand written by Agent Wills. She let out a long sigh then read the message. Alex ate faster than she normally would have and headed up to the Captain's office before swallowing the last bite of mashed potatoes.

"I thought I might see you again soon, Officer Young", a grim faced Captain Vickers said.

"Yes sir. I just got this letter from the late Agent Wills and it says that I'm to proceed with my Special Programs training, as soon as I'm certified here. The letter instructed me to make you aware of the change in my status."

"Yes, Agent Wills and I spoke about this the day before yesterday. We were going to inform you next week, but after your performance in the battle yesterday, I think we can say that your trainee status is over. Congratulations", he said managing a smile.

"Thank you sir, but is there something wrong?"

The Captain wasn't going to say anything, but he wanted to tell her the truth. "Several of the captured terrorists from yesterday's attack tried to escape."

"No", Alex breathed then opened her eyes wide. "Do they need help? I can get there quickly if they send a helicopter… or I could run there faster maybe!"

"No need", Captain Vickers said with a wave of his hand. "I wish they had communicated the situation to us earlier, but it's been contained. Every prisoner is accounted for, but more people were injured and killed… including one of our own."

"Who?", Alex asked with real interest and concern.

"Sean Billingsly. I don't know if you knew him."

Alex searched her brain then nodded. "We only met once", she said then smiled. "He tried to hit on me. He was funny… really funny."

The Captain leaned towards Alex as he said, "This is what we're up against out there! This is the work that you and the rest of the agents from Special Programs have to do. Special Agent Wills saw something exemplary in you, Alexandra. I know you're going to live up to his expectations. Maybe even exceed them."

"I'm going to do my best sir. That battle yesterday opened my eyes. The threat from chemically enhanced people is one thing, but the threat from people like us is… is terrifying. To be honest I've never thought about it, but everybody who can do what we can do isn't going to be a good guy, or even a decent guy. Last night I stayed up thinking about what if I was fighting on the other side."

"But you're not", Vickers declared with a smile. "You're one of the good guys and you're going to do us all proud in Special Programs. Of course I'm losing one of my most capable officers. You should come back sometime in the future, and work a shift or two down here in the bunker for old times sake. Besides, you said that you don't like down time."

"I hate it", Alex declared. "Don't be surprised if I take you up on that offer sir. Believe it or not, I actually like working down here. It's out of the spotlight, but the work we do is important."

"You get it, Officer Young. You get it more than I realized before. The work we do is important, not just to safeguard the public from dangerous people, but to show the government that we can police our own. That we can guard other gifted people without some sort of conflict of interest. We help keep the mistrust level from rising too high within the government."

Alex had never thought about that either. "Yes sir, it's nice that the government works with us instead of against us."

"We both have a responsibility to keep it that way. You'll have a lot of people keeping tabs on you future special agent Young", he said and extended his hand across the desk. Alex shook the Captain's hand and stood up when he did. "So Officer Young, would you like to say anything to your father before you go?"

Alex shook her head. "We've said all we need to say to each other for a while. Besides sir, if I want to talk to him in the future, I'll know exactly where to find him." Captain Vickers chuckled and shook Alexandra's hand one more time before dismissing her. She chose to finish out the day working at the desk, then she took some time to say goodbye to some of her fellow officers. After that she rushed home to tell Max that he was right. She really was moving on within Special Programs.

A week had passed since the Battle at the Old Fort and Joelstine had gone back to his offices in Florida for some solitude far from the rat race inside Washington. He'd narrowed his choice down to four. All of them were capable of doing Harry Wills' old job, and all of them were slavishly loyal to Joelstine himself. Now all he had to do was pick the one he thought Nick MacCallum would actually hire. Joelstine didn't see this just as a power play or a way for him to gain points with his benefactor Alphonse DeBraya. To Joelstine it was important that someone from the outside be able to influence Special Programs.

It hadn't shown it on his face, but what he'd witnessed in Florida a few months earlier had frightened him. People with powers like the ones he'd seen should be kept on a short leash if they were going to be kept at all. Instead so called leaders like Martha and MacCallum let them make up their own rules and police themselves. How long before one of them went rouge and caused untold amounts of death and destruction? Just recently Joelstine had heard reports that Martha's latest golden girl had assaulted five FBI agents, putting one of them in the hospital, but Alexandra Young had received no punishment whatsoever for the incident. Decisions like those from Special Programs sent a chill up Joelstine's spine.

He took another look at the four folders on his desk and was moments away from making his final choice when there was a knock at his door. "Damn it! I said I didn't want to be disturbed", Joelstine called just before his assistant opened the door. The slightly overweight man was flushed and perspiring as he stood in front of his boss' desk holding an envelope.

"This is very important sir", he said and handed the envelope over to Joelstine. "I thought you should know right away."

Joelstine pulled out Jose Fiero's letter of resignation from the National Security council and read it twice before looking up to his assistant. "Why would I need to know this? I've wanted that asshole FIero gone for months. He leaves on his own. How's that a reason to disturb me."

"Because", the assistant began then paused to ready himself, "Fiero's been hired by Nick MacCallum to replace Harry Wills."

It looked like real flames were going to shoot out of the side of Joelstine's head at this news. "That fucking cunt!", he growled. This was a worse case scenario for Joelstine. Not only did he fail to get his hooks into Special Programs, but now MacCallum and Martha had a guy with inside knowledge of how Joelstine's own organization ran. "I'll fucking destroy Fiero! That little bastard thinks he can do this behind my back!!! I want him taken down. I don't care how!"

Jan's mind was mercifully empty this morning as she ran through the apartment complex's gates. Her emotions had ranged from sadness, grief to guilt to debilitating horror over the last several days, but she'd expected that. As much as Jan enjoyed combat while in the middle of it, she didn't enjoy the aftermath at all, but she couldn't let herself run away from the bad emotions either. She bathed herself in them, because they helped keep her sane.

She accelerated up the gentle incline towards her building and almost out of habit looked towards the other building half expecting to see Alex standing on the balcony in a bikini smoking a cigarette. She knew though that she wouldn't have to worry about smelling that horrible cigarette for a while since her neighbor was about to enter the meat of her training. After the battle, Jan had reconnected with some people from Special Programs who had given her all the gossip she could ever want about Alexandra Young. Jan was pretty sure Alex was getting some gossip about her too, but that was a price. Jan's eyes zeroed in on her front door and she girded herself for the sprint upstairs when she saw movement off to the right.

Alex stepped towards the stairs, but she wasn't wearing a swimsuit. Instead, she'd wrapped her slim busty body in a very smart looking business suit. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail accentuating her nice lips and dramatic cheekbones. "I think we should talk", she said as Jan came to a stop.

"Ok", Jan replied coolly, not knowing exactly what to expect from this encounter but preparing herself for anything. "We're talking." Jan stood near the hood of her car several feet from Alex and crossed her arms across her chest. She wasn't flexing, but pressed together like this, the shapes and dense bellies of Jan's muscles cut sweeping figures along her arms, shoulders, and chest. She looked even more like a goddess as she gazed down at her neighbor even though Alex was standing on the sidewalk and Jan wasn't.

Her tall neighbor's beauty wasn't lost on Alex as she looked up at Jan's face while glancing a couple of times at that impossibly symmetrical body of hers. If anything it slapped Alex in the face every time she laid eyes on her, but she wouldn't let the little green monster bite her again, not this morning. She was here for a purpose. She'd thought about offering to take Jan for some breakfast so they could talk, but her neighbor's facial expression said that was a no go. Instead Alexandra just stood near the railing.

"I don't like you", Alex stated plainly. "And to be honest I'm not really sure why, but I guess the feeling's mutual."

"Not really", Jan said with a shrug. "You've annoyed me, but that's about it. I didn't like you picking fights with me though."

Alex let out a sigh. "That's why I came over here. Look, you were here first but I'm not moving. I like this place too. It's grown on me. I just want to say as far as I'm concerned we can coexist."

Jan sat back against the hood of her car with her arms still crossed and looked at Alex for several seconds before asking, "Did your boyfriend put you up to this? He seems sensible." Jan got some perverse satisfaction out of watching a cloud pass across her neighbor's face when she brought up Max.

"I have a mind of my own believe it or not, and I thought I pushed things too far with you even before I knew what you were, back when I thought I could beat you with my pinky finger. I'd probably be having this conversation regardless. I don't usually go around picking fights with random people."

"You don't have to pick fights when you're pretty sure you can kick everybody's ass", Jan said and Alex nodded.

"In this case I thought that maybe I should dial back the heat before somebody got hurt… not either of us, but people live here, and I don't actually want to hurt anybody… not unless they have it coming", she added.

Jan smiled and leaned forward. "So that means you'd like to pick our fight up right where we left it off wouldn't you, just without the kid gloves?"

Alex's smile matched Jan's. "You're damned right I would. I'm pretty sure I could kick your amazon ass, although I found out the other day that it was you who kicked the shit out of my father so maybe not."

"He was pretty tough, but judging by what you did at Fort MacPhereson I'd say that you could have beaten him too, assuming you wanted to."

"You think so?", Alex asked genuinely.

"Gary was strong as hell but he had no nuance when he fought. He was straight ahead brute force all the time and when that didn't work he didn't have a backup plan… well I take that back. His backup plan was to try and kills us."

Alex laughed. "That sounds like my father alright. Aeneas is his name though. Gary was an alias. It makes a lot more sense for a guy named Aeneas to have a daughter named Alexandra than for a guy named Gary."

"That's probably true", Jan allowed then looked at her new runner's watch. "I've got to get going, but yeah, I guess we can coexist, of course I never had a problem with you being here in the first place."

"That's because you don't get jealous… you don't have to."

"I choose not to", Jan said after considering Alex's words for a couple of seconds.

Alex got a little smile and didn't fire back. She stood up and held out her hand. "Not friends, but not enemies either", she declared and Jan seemed to agree as they shook. Jan went up a couple of steps before Alex turned back quickly and asked, "I'm just wondering, why do you do the jogging and the working out and stuff? Do you make dumbbells out of crushed up cars or something? Do you like jog to the state line and back every morning? For it to do any good I mean."

Jan chuckled and Alex realized that just she'd witnessed her neighbor with her emotional guard down for the first time. "I guess you're on godmode all the time as my brother would say."

Alex smiled. "Godmode… first time I heard that."

"For me it's kind of hard to explain, but I'm not strong all the time. It used to come and go randomly, but I've learned to control it over the last few years. Makes things a little easier for me."

"So you can workout with regular weights and train with regular people when you want to?"

Jan nodded. "I can, but it hasn't always been so easy. Before I could really control my abilities I was always afraid of screwing something up for myself or for somebody else. I'm sure everybody like us has those types of stories."

Alex chuckled thinking back. "I always had trouble figuring out how hard to do something when I was a kid. Handshakes were easy because I'd just squeeze almost as hard as the other person squeezed, but I probably crushed a hundred doorknobs. They always looked so solid to me, but they'd always crumple with the least amount of pressure."

This time Jan laughed. "I got into an elevator once and the guy told me that I had to push the buttons hard to get them to work and of course my strength chose that moment to kick in and I pushed my finger completely through the panel." Alex had a good laugh too. "But I still rather be this way than not", Jan added.

"You're right about that! I've got nothing against regular people, but to hell with being normal."

Jan's smile broadened. "I think we've found something we agree on." Jan glanced down at her watch before saying, "Well, good luck with training. SP's going to love having you."

"Thank you. I really mean it. You're legendary over there apparently."

Jan chuckled. "More like mythic. Time makes every story bigger than it really was, just remember that when you're hearing war stories about me, Sara, and Alisha."

"They really seem to respect you guys over there", Alex replied.

Jan stopped and turned. "I don't know you well, but from what I saw yesterday I think they'll respect you too. Just don't go around beating up FBI agents and you'll probably get along fine."

Alex grinned and looked down at the sidewalk. "You heard about that?"

Jan grinned. "Yeah, I did", she said and started up the steps.

Alex watched Jan head into apartment wanting to knock on the door and ask more questions about Special Programs training. She had questions for Alisha and Sara too, but she'd probably gotten all of the free advice she was going to get today.

Jan nearly had a fit of laughter as she closed the door and kicked off her running shoes. Jan really didn't dislike Alex, but during their little talk she hadn't let on just how much her neighbor had managed to annoy her. Jan thought a little payback was fair, although Alex probably wouldn't appreciate the joke.

Alex had gotten really excited after finding out that Special Programs training took place in Colorado, outside of Boulder. She absolutely loved that part of the country, only she hadn't known that she'd spend 99% of her time underground in what had been an old mine. She also hadn't expected quite so much classroom work, but eventually they'd gone on to weapon's training and to tactics. It had taken nearly a month, but now it was time for hand to hand training. The instructors lead the group of trainees to a room big enough for a three story building to fit inside, and had them sit on the floor in a loose circle. Alex wondered how many of these trainers had trained Jan a few years earlier. They probably thought that training Alex would be similar, but she was going to wipe that idea from their minds as soon as she could. Jan had been a teenaged girl, just coming to grips with the power she had. Alex was a grown woman who knew exactly what her body was capable of.

The group of trainees didn't have to sit long before everyone turned to see a massive shadow marching towards them. Every trainee was sure that the shadow had to be a trick of light, but then the biggest human any of them had ever seen walked towards them. He was so huge that they were surprised the floor was shaking beneath his feet. Jaws literally dropped as he came closer. His arms were the size of sides of beef and his chest bigger around than a whiskey barrel. Each like could have been an adolescent child and his hands were easy as big as baseball gloves. Every student in the class was instantly intimidated, except for Alex. She was intrigued. While she'd never fought anybody this big, Alex had fought plenty of big guys before, and they were usually the ones who ran away crying after getting their asses kicked by a thin little woman.

"Hello everyone", the guest instructor bellowed in a voice deep enough to make people's chests rattle. He didn't seem at all unpleasant despite his massive size though. "My name is Melvin Johnson, but you guys can call me Mel. Now I can explain what we're going to be working on today, but a demonstration might be better. Can I get a volunteer?" Mel smirked when the class sat on their hands. Alex took a look around the room to see if anybody less powerful than her, which was the rest of the class, was going to stand up, but they weren't. She would have sat there and let the teacher choose one on his own, but that smirk of his was pissing her off. All at once, she stood up and joined Mel in the center of the room. Mel's smirk grew into a grin. He'd been told that he could count on Alex to volunteer.

Neither of them put on any safety gear as they stepped away from semicircle of students. "Alright, Trainee Young, attack me."

"How", Alex asked confidently, almost arrogantly.

"Anyway you want", Mel rumbled in his deep voice. Alex looked at Mel, as if to ask if he was sure, and when he didn't say anything she gave a shrug and sent a somewhat serious punch towards his chest, since she couldn't reach his head without jumping. She hadn't telegraphed her punch, but Mel sidestepped it with ballerina like grace. She was amazed that a man his size could move like that. "You gotta do better than that Young. Come at me for real or I'll have to pick someone else!"

Mel's words were like an arrow show through Alex's pride. If this guy wanted a real attack, then fine. The students watched Alex's body go from its normal understated hardness, to cut diamond hardness in an instant. Her forearms rippled as she tightened her fists and cross striations showed on her jaw muscles as she bit down hard enough to have crushed ball bearings between her teeth. Alex thought about feigning to the left and coming right, but she too pissed off to do that. Instead she came right at Mel and pulled her fist back, and the class got to see Alex's muscles really flex as she drew her fist forward. Her stretched out biceps peaked as her first came forward, dragging so much air that a mini shockwave formed in front of Alex's fist. In her mind she pictured knocking Mel into the next room, even as he raised his arms to block her. She grinned cruelly. This asshole had no idea what was about to happen, but then everything went wrong.

Mel sidestepped an inch. Instead of Alex's punch slamming into his chest with enough force to shatter a whale's spine, it glanced off of his forearm. Even that contact was so loud that people in other parts of the underground complex thought that there had been an explosion. Mel's massive body had to flex had to resist Alex's power, but he managed, and she was so overextended that she had no chance to defend his counter attack. Mel hit Alex with a spectacular uppercut that launched the thin trainee up to the ceiling thirty feet above her head. Mel could have hit Alex on the way back down, but he allowed her to land with a loud THUD. She was more angry than hurt and despite the power of that blow, she jumped to her feet only to see Mel nearly doubled over with laughter. Alex's face turned a shade of red when the other instructors started chuckling too. Alex wasn't used to being the butt of jokes. Mel straightened up and come over towards her. "Jan's sorry she couldn't be here in person, but she wanted me to send you her warmest regards."

to be continued...

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