"You mean my Men are in comas now!", he yelled.
Benny didn't shrink away. "When I gave you the strength serum to use on your men, I had Dr. Long add a few things to it. I guess you can call it a poison. It starts to shut down brain functions in the first hour after a missed dose, and it only gets worse after that."
Malcolm threw his chair and paced the room. He maintained at just below rage.
"It's better for me and you. They can't tell where we are. Without that poison, we'd have the Army swooping down on our heads right now. Instead we still have a haven."
"My Men could never get broken! Never!", Malcolm yelled.
"A man can only take so much. Eventually everybody can be broken no matter how tough they are", Benny tried to reason with his old buddy. "Besides, were you willing to take the chance that even one of them would break?"
"I trust them with my life!"
"Well, I don't", Benny said quickly, ending the discussion. "Look, you accepted my strength serum with open arms. I had to protect myself even if you didn't want the protection." Benny stood up to leave.
"How long do they have to live?", Malcolm asked in a quieter tone. His anger was surrendering to actual thoughts.
"About three months before the symptoms become irreversible. All they need is a dose of the serum and it'll take three to five minutes for them to come around."
"Fine. Now all I have to do is find them."
Benny stood up to leave. "Let me know if I can help."
Malcolm took Benny by the shoulder. "Thanks buddy. I knew I could count on you."
Benny nodded. "I've got your back. Just like you used to have mine in Joliet." Benny walked out leaving Malcolm to his own thoughts. X-424 was on Benny's mind, and he couldn't get her out.
As he walked, he realized that number was inadequate for her. She needed a real name. Back in Chicago he had given her the name Erin. He had hoped to continue calling her that, but she didn't like it. She didn't say so, but Benny could tell. He would continue to call her X-424 until something more fitting came along. She was in a separate room off the main laboratory. Dr. Jeff Long had put her in an oxygen rich isolation chamber to speed her healing. She was strapped up and monitored in every way imaginable. Benny couldn't see her beautiful face because of the mask she wore to monitor and gauge her respiration. Benny walked up close and glanced at her until Dr. Long walked beside him.
"How's she doing?", Benny asked.
Jeff put a hand on Benny's shoulder. "She'll be find in no time. She's got a remarkable physique, but we've been over that already." Jeff turned headed for the door to the main lab to check on some of the other Femmes, when he stopped. "I didn't debrief her. Who did this to her?"
Benny sat down near the door. Dr. Long sat next to him. "Moira Kelly."
Jeff nodded slowly.
"You don't seem surprised."
"I'm not really. She's working on mainstream research now, but I've heard rumors through backdoor channels that she's the one who invented the 'juice' about fifteen years ago or so. It would make sense that she would have been on it too. Probably for years."
"Why don't we use that juice if it makes someone that strong?"
"It's different from plain old steroids, but it has similar affects. Imagine 'roid rage times ten. Mallster didn't believe the programing for the super soldiers could handle that much pure aggression and rage. Plus the juice causes muscle growth, lots of it. Mallster wanted the soldiers to be able to fit in without being noticeable. So, we came up with the chemical cocktail that we use. It doesn't give the same level of strength, but it doesn't have the side effects."
Benny listened and quietly contemplated for a few moments. "We need an edge, Jeff. We can't have our soldiers outclassed like that."
"It was a one on one fight. Our mission as always been mass production of soldiers not one off production of gladiators. The Femmes are designed to work and fight in groups. Had there been a Series 4 or a Femme in that fight, Moira Kelly wouldn't have won."
"I understand that, but we need to try to improve out soldiers if we can. We need to make some juice of our own and experiment."
"It takes years for the juice to work. Our serum works much more quickly. Besides the programing can't handle it."
"What about the new program X-424 obtained?"
"It might be able keep them under control. Its a damn good program, but its going to takes months or longer to implement that new mind controlling system."
"Can you try the juice on a Femme? Their programming is more advanced than the Series 4's."
Dr. Long hesitated. "We could, but I doubt their programming could take the strain either."
"Do it, Jeff. Make it work. Blend the two. I'm not chemist, but you guys are. Make it happen."
It took Dr. Long a couple of days to synthesize enough juice to use on one of the Femmes. It was a potent mixture, and Jeff wasn't sure how it would react with the strength serum and other chemicals coursing through a Femme's veins. Benny didn't want to hear anything about it. He just wanted it done. Dr. Long was working with a couple of assistants who had been with him for a couple of years.
"Which Femme do you want us to use?", one of the assistants asked their boss.
Jeff took a look at the Femmes lined up in the room. "All I can say for sure is that one is off limits." They both knew he meant X-424. Everyone believed that Benny was too wrapped up in that Femme. To them she was just like all the rest. She wasn't in the room anyway. The assistants looked down the line to X-416. Like all the rest of the Femmes, she was pretty, but with no emotions. It made her exotic amber eyes and luscious chestnut hair seem somewhat of a waste. She stood at attention with the rest of the Femmes. "Make that one ready", Dr. Long ordered the assistants.
They moved X-416 next door to the same room where X-424 was in her isolation chamber. In less than an hour, they had X-416 strapped securely to a reinforced table; they didn't want to take any chances should the experiment go wrong. Dr. Long inserted the iv needle into her arm then pushed the syringe with the juice into the saline solution.
"Damn shame", one the assistants off to the side told his buddy.
"What?"
"X-416. She's hotter than any chick who's ever paid attention to me, but all these Femmes have personalities like dead eels."
"They're designed that way."
The first assistant sighed. "I know that, but its still a shame."
"No, what will be a shame is if we don't do this right, and the experiment fails. You can go tell Benny about that yourself."
"Nah, I have a feeling its going to work. I've been reading the journals. If Moira Kelly came up with this stuff, then it'll work. She just this side of a chemical genius."
Both men watched the green dyed juice dilute in the saline then run down the tube into X-416's arm. Dr. Long had deactivated her for safety, but after a while, it wouldn't matter.
www
A few feet away, X-424 could hear everything being said, but right now she wasn't a nameless Femme. She was herself, Kristen Washington. She knew her name and she could see the faces of her family. She knew their names, but there was something missing. Whatever it was that was missing had been gone even before she had been turned into a Femme. It had been gone so long that Kristen no longer remember what it was. She just knew that it should be inside her somewhere, and yet it wasn't. She felt a glimmer of something when Benny had been standing outside the isolation chamber. She could hear him talking about her in tender terms, that stirred some long dormant part of her soul, but it was fleeting just like everything else in her partial life.
She had believed that getting her memories back would bring her back. She was wrong. She could remember even small details about her life now. It wasn't nearly enough. Without this missing piece of herself, she was doomed to be X-424 forever. It was almost enough to make her give up, but Kristen had never been a quitter. She had been a champion, even if she no longer felt like one.
www
Jeff Long left the compound to eat dinner with his family. He only came back to check on the progress. He hadn't wanted to leave his wife and young children, but he had to make sure this worked. He wasn't wearing work clothes as he stood at the foot of X-416's bed. The juice was still going into her arm, but the rate had been reduced. So far they hadn't noticed any change in her vitals or outward appearance. It was as if the chemicals were having no effect, but they were, on the cellular level.
"How's it going?", Benny asked Dr. Long.
"I think time will have to tell, Benny. I don't know how quickly this stuff works. I mean, Dr. Kelly probably took the stuff for years. I condensed it to maximize its potency, but we still may be talking about weeks or months, and I don't know how it will react to the strength serum that's already in her body." Both men turned to leave.
"I think we're getting something", an assistant said. They had been watching over X-416 all day and night, noting any change. Benny and Jeff went back over. All the eyes in the room were glued to X-416.
Her head moved and low sounds came from her lips, but that was all. Both men wondered if it was anything, or not. It was. Jeff noticed X-416's body temperature rising. It went from a perfect 98.6 past 100 degrees in only a few seconds. Sweat rolled down the smooth skin of her forehead.
"Something's happening", one of the assistants called out unnecessarily. Everyone could see that. X-416 began to pant as if a great weight was sitting on her chest. Jeff rushed to his instrument panel, but didn't see anything that he could do. Her blood pressure was spiking. He feared the mixture had been too much for her system. There was a low creak, but X-416 was still. There was another creak, this one louder. They all looked closer to see the special woven bands around her wrists starting to fray, but not from her movements, from growth. X-416's muscles were getting larger. The hospital type gown she wore covered most of her body, but her legs and arms were bare. X-411 had always been the most muscular of the Femmes, but in a few minutes X-416 had passed her by and was gaining size that would have taken years to attain. The straps dug into her flesh as her muscles kept growing.
The sounds of strain were unmistakable. The steel and woven straps that held X-416 had taken up all the slack they had to give. Her muscles pulsed and grew thicker with each breath. The growth was subtle and undeniable. Benny swept his eyes up her legs stopping at her thickening calf muscles. They didn't flex or harden, just continued to grow. "Is this what you expected?", Benny asked Dr. Long.
"I didn't know what to expect. I told you that", Jeff replied without looking away from X-416. A low sound came from the Femme's lips, but her body was perfectly still, her breathing remained shallow. A few beads of sweat gathered on her forehead and some began to soak the gown. Her head moved first. It just went to the side a little, but it got everyone's attention. There was more creaking as her muscle growth began to strain the straps. They had put them on when X-416 had been smaller. Her joints were the same size, but muscle was beginning to intrude. Her moans got louder. Her face showed pain, but Femmes weren't supposed to feel pain. Her fingers clenched and loosened and her legs began to wiggle. The reinforced straps and chains held her tightly, but each movement from X-416's new body put stress on them. Her moans became whimpers as the chemical cocktail made its way through her system. It touched every vein and artery. It was doing its work on the cellular level. Her muscles began to contract now. She had no control over them since her programing was off. Her biceps flexed as she tried to draw her arm up. She was held firm, but the restraints were in a battle with this supercharged Femme. Her movements became more violent and the men stepped back.
"What the hell?", Benny asked. "We better do something."
"This was your idea", Dr. Long reminded his boss.
Benny was about to activate X-416, but before he could form the words with his lips, her amber eyes shot open and she let out a bestial yell that turned heads on the other side of the building. Sudden blinding rage came over her face and her wild eyes looked off at nothing. Her hands clenched into tight fists as the strength overwhelmed this Femme. It was pure and unrefined. Her new muscles flexed in their full glory as she yelled again. Veins shot up her neck and crossed down her chest to her delts and down her arms and down her chest. Pulsing arteries feeding precious blood thickened near her ankles and went up her legs.
Her face was that of a trapped beast, but she didn't have to be trapped. The raw power fed her muscles, and it would free her. Her yell drowned the sound of rending steel her right arm began to come away from the table. She jerked it and snatched it with all her power, but the chains and straps held. Her skin was turning red as she yelled and strained. There was a moment when the men in the room thought that she would settle down, but with another sustained yell, the Femme pulled again. This time she didn't yank or jerk, she just poured more and more of her new strength into the action. Her voice became even louder. People covered their eyes as she yelled and pulled. Her hair flew all over her face as she thrashed her head from side to side, needing more power and strength. Her entire body flexed hard. The straps held firm. Benny and the others gained a little hope that this crazed Femme would be contained. Their hopes were dashed.
Her sustained yell continued and her muscles pumped to another unreal level. They didn't get bigger yet, they got more defined with impossible cuts. More and more power coursed through her body until her legs won. She bent her left knee. The woven restraint burst into a cloud of tiny fragment dust. She flexed her glutes and hams and her right knee bent. Her feet hit the floor. She took no time to find the balance. She spread her legs out right and forced her body forward. Then with the loudest yell yet, she pulled. Her face looked like she was trying to lift the entire world. Not the world, but perhaps the building. The table she was strapped to was anchored beneath the foot thick concrete floor and she needed to be free. With her feet firmly on the ground, X-416 pulled. As soon as her shredded quads flexed to the fullest, things began to fail. The entire floor shook. Books and bottles fell off the wall. Dust fell from the ceiling, and the light fixtures shook. After only a few seconds of pulling, there was an explosion of sound and dust as she pulled the entire bed from its anchor points. She was still strapped to it with chunks of concrete hanging off the back. She stood up as straight as she could then began to drawn her arms together. The steel bed bowed and folded around her massive shoulders and back. Her arms continued to get closer. A tear started in the steel. Finally the entire apparatus failed. Her hands met in front. She was still strapped to parts of the bed, but when her hands met, she drew a deep breath to power her unreal body and flexed her upper body and pulled. The straps had no chance. They burst from her body. The floor shook again as the pieces of bed fell off her back. She was free.
She stretch up her arms and growled in triumph. She look at the two men in white lab coats and attacked. All the men ran, but she didn't pay any attention to Benny and Jeff Long. She went right for the techs. Benny saw that and stopped. "X-416 come to action stage 1!", he yelled, but it was too late for that. The programing came on, but it was too far behind to catch up. X-416 was operating on the rage of the juice and the last emotion she had felt before the scientists had destroyed her mind and turned her into a Femme, hatred for the men in white coats.
She reached the first tech. Her hands had barely clamped around his arm before he screamed a long pained yell. X-416 didn't have to yank. She smoothly pulled this man's arm from his socket. That wasn't enough. She tore the tendons and ligaments and skin. She took his arm off and held it in her hand. She turned to the other tech who was trying to get out the door. She drew back his buddy's arm and swung it like a bat. She used the gory club to hit the second tech in the head. He fell against the wall. She dropped the limb and pulled this tech up by the coat. Her face was barely human as she looked at him with the amber eyes he had admired earlier. She looked at his mouth. When the white light had shined into her eyes to make her a Femme, all she had seen of the scientist who had done it was his mouth. She had wanted to put her hand over his mouth so he couldn't ask her anymore questions and take anymore of her memories. She put her hand over this man's mouth. Her mind didn't care that he hadn't been the one to hurt her in the beginning. He had a lab coat on, and that was enough. She spread her fingers over his mouth and pushed. Blood squirted from his busted lips immediately. The pressure on his neck was too much right away and the back of his head touched the concrete wall. She kept pushing, breaking his jaw, then crushing it, and pulverizing it. Her hand kept moving until she had pushed it all the way through the bottom of his skull. Only then did she let his body fall. She turned to the one armed tech who had slipped in his own blood. He was barely conscious. She remembered the feeling of their programing getting into her brain like fingers and picking out her memories. She spun this man over. She put one hand on his chest to hold him down while she spread her other fingers out the top of his head. She began to press in. He yelled, but he was too weak to do much else, not that it would have mattered. X-416's fingers broke though the resistance of his skull in a second. His body spasmed as her fingers entered the grey matter of his brain. The man was dead long before she ripped the top of his head off and tossed his brains around the room with a yell of satisfaction. She searched the room for more men in lab coats. The last two men in the room weren't wearing coats and they weren't showing themselves, but that wasn't enough for her. With her last human fantasy fulfilled, X-416 searched her wiped mind for an idea. It was blank. There was nothing else, just the last human thought that had been trapped. It would take something from the outside to make her have another thought. It wasn't until after her roar of triumph that she finally heard the voice. The programing asserted itself while her emotions ebbed, and it hit her like a train.
X-416 stumbled, nearly slipping on the blood on the floor. She put her hands to her head as the pain increased. "It must stop!", she roared.
Benny gave her the order to stand down, yelling it as loudly as he could. It to be working. The programing was slowly taking control. Benny got a glimmer of hope, but Dr. Long wasn't quite so sure. He didn't get a glimmer of hope until the roving security passed the room. The Series 4 heard the shouting and rushing into the room. The only door was right next to X-416. He came into the room and took a quick look around. Benny and Dr. Long took as much cover as they could behind stacks of unused equipment. They were unhurt. There were two dead bodies on the floor in pools of their own blood. X-424 was in the isolation chamber, and X-416 was in some sort of distress.
"Get her restrained!", Benny ordered the Series 4. He went into action at once.
X-416 leaned against the concrete wall, fighting a losing battle against the programming until the moment the Series 4 touched her shoulder. The anger exploded within her, and the programing disintegrated. She spun a vicious arc hitting the 4 in the side of the head. His scientifically enhanced muscles couldn't keep him upright. She knocked him into the wall, but he got up quickly and attacked throwing a blistering left that hit X-416 squarely in the face. Her body spun, but she didn't fall. The Series 4 moved in to get his hands on her. He hooked one arm under her shoulder. He used his enhanced strength to gain leverage, but he wasn't strong enough. Despite his best efforts, X-416 straightened her arm, breaking his grip. When her arm was free, she pushed him. He hit against the wall, but came at her again. He wouldn't stop until she was restrained, or he was unable to move.
X-416 was ready for his next attack. He threw a punch and she caught it. He struggled, but to no avail. She stepped in close to him, and started pushing down. He used all his strength against her. Her arm shook. Her forearms flexed and the bones in the Series 4's hands ground against one another until a couple of the enhanced bones snapped from the power of this Femme. When his knee touched the ground, X-416 reached out with her other hand and took him by the chin. With out any strain and while still holding his fist, she lifted the Series 4 off the ground. He dangled from her hand like a child's toy.
"This isn't good", Benny told Dr. Long.
"Damn it Benny we better come up with something!"
The two men watched as X-416's biceps begin to flex, gaining more power from the chemicals running through her body. The Series 4 fought to get loose, but her muscles held him firm. He had never experienced strength like this. Benny was awed by X-416's muscles getting larger again without her moving an inch. Her muscles gained power and strength and girth while the Series 4 hung helpless. Her eyelids fluttered as the strength washed over her. It's anger was all consuming, but it mixed in the bliss of pure power as well. Finally she tired of holding the 4 so she raised her arm towards the ceiling. The Series 4's head hit the concrete ceiling hard enough to knock over furniture in the room above. He fell to the floor completely limp. Neither of the men knew if he was alive or dead. Didn't matter anyway. He had no chance of stopping this monster Femme.
"No!", Dr. Long yelled and started calling out commands to X-416 hoping one of them would work. They didn't. All they did was add him to her list.
Benny yelled for help, but with the heavy door closed to the main lab, there was no way anyone could hear him, not even the other Femmes. Benny and Dr. Long panicked and looked for any place to hide or anything to defend themselves with. There was nothing that would have been more than a nuisance. The two men continued to scream for help, but their pleas seemed to empower X-416. She flexed her muscles as she approached. Her muscles were from a dream, the look on her face from a nightmare. There was nothing, but blind rage on her face, and her target was Benny. He scrambled, trying to feint one way to get to the door, but she wasn't so easily fooled. She closed in. Benny's heart raced in his chest, and his breathing was only pants. He was scared for his life with nowhere to go, and no one to help him. Jeff Long was even worse. He cried thinking of the faces of his wife and children, and how they would be fatherless. He didn't want to die like this; killed by a monster of his own creation.
A new and familiar sound filled the space, the sound of tortured, defeated metal. The oxygen rich solution in the chamber spilled out as X-424's fingers pried open the steel doors from the inside. Her long hard muscles were flexed to their maximum. Her arms spread apart like the parting of a mountain range. Finally there was enough room and she stepped out. Her body was wet from the solution, causing her skin to glisten in the light. She ripped the tubes and mask off her face. She wasn't near Benny or Dr. Long, but X-416 took notice when she stepped out of the chamber. X-416 took a long look at X-424 before turning back to Benny. Benny shrank away as this crazed Femme reached out for him.
X-424 didn't waste time. She ran full speed towards X-416 and lowered her shoulder. The impact was loud and brutal. X-416 flew halfway across the room, and X-424 fell like she'd hit a solid wall, but it worked. X-424 was dazed as she got to her feet. "Please leave the room now and lock the door behind you", she said to both of them in that emotionless voice.
She didn't have to tell the men twice. They made a run for the door. X-416 roared to her feet. She was much faster that both the men. X-424 had to do something. She looked to her right and snatched up a length of chain. It had been part of the bed restraint system. X-424 looped one end around her left hand and held the other end with her right. She raced behind X-416 just before she reached Benny and Dr. Long. X-424 threw the closed end of the loop up and over X-416's head. The crazed Femme's own momentum took her neck to the crook. When X-424 felt the tension, she lower body, and pulled back with all the strength she had. X-416 flew off her feet and sailed across the room hitting the wall opposite the door.
Benny's eyes didn't leave X-424 for a moment as the door closed. She stood profile to him, her wonderful shape preserved in his mind. She turned her head towards him in the instant before the door closed. The heavy steel door closed with a muffled bang and Benny nearly cried. She had saved him again, but he didn't think she was going to be able to save herself.
X-416 pulled herself free from the jumble of equipment she had knocked over. She saw X-424 standing to her left, and the Series 4 getting back to his feet. It was two on one, but hardly a contest. X-416 was stronger than both of them put together. Her anger returned in full fury when she saw the door closed and locked. She sprinted towards it. The Series 4 met her. She lowered her arm and swatted him like a fly. X-424 came from behind, delivering a blistering kick to her lower back. X-416 turned swinging her arm wildly. X-424 ducked and maneuvered close. She rose up in one motion with her right fist leading the way. She drove her uppercut into X-416's jaw. It stunned her. X-424 cocked her right arm and threw a punch as hard as her enhanced muscles could manage. It rocked the side of X-416's face. She stumbled back. X-416 reached out for X-424, but she wouldn't let her touch her. She jumped back several feet, forcing X-416 to chase her.
The Series 4 was up now, and he attacked X-416 from her right side. At first his punches and kicks were having an affect, but he stayed in one place too long. X-416 took him by the arm. He struggled to get free just as before, but she was much too strong. She took him by both shoulders. At first it looked like she was simply holding him, but X-424 saw the blood oozing from his mouth, X-416's pecs flexing so hard they looked like they would crush diamonds, instead she was crushing this Series 4. X-424 looked for a way to help, but X-416 dropped him. He just twitched on the ground. Then X-416 turned her amber eyes to X-424 who stood her ground.
"What do you want?", X-424 asked.
X-416 said nothing, just attacked. X-424 blocked the punches and kicks, but each one was so hard it nearly knocked her off her feet. Air shot from her lungs in short loud wisps each time any blow struck home. X-424 was running out of room. She finally slipped a punch and took X-416 by the waist. She lifted the super Femme off her feet and slammed her to the ground. X-416's head hit first.
"What do you want?", X-424 asked again. There was no reply. They struggled on the ground.
Benny could hardly make himself look at the security monitor. She had been doing well avoiding X-416's strength, but now she was within reach. It was only a matter of time before X-424 was crushed just like that Series 4. Benny wanted to open the door and let all the other Femme's attack, but he knew the risks. The best chance they had was to keep X-416 locked in that room. The walls were extra thick and the door armored like a vault. It was the best chance they had at holding her. Benny's heart sank when he saw the two Femmes lock hands.
X-424 was on top, but it didn't matter. X-416's muscles cut like razors as they flexed to push X-424 off of her. She was sitting up, and X-424 was stretched in an awkward position. Then X-424 butted the out of control Femme in the nose. The pain was enough to make X-416 lose her grip. "What do you really want?", X-424 asked.
"TO BE FREE!", X-416 yelled at the top of her lungs. She took X-424 by the shoulder and slung her like a doll. She bounced through equipment and stacks of files until she hit her head hard against the floor. X-416 jumped up and went to the big steel door and banged on it in frustration. "Let me out!", X-416 yelled in a human voice, tinged with fear and anger. "Let me out!", she yelled again. She pounded the door over and over again her yells adding to the din, the anger once again taking over.
Finally she stepped away and spread her arms. She grunted and strained as she felt for places to hold. Then with another louder grunt her muscles popped to full attention. Shrieks of frustration and exertion echoed in the room. X-416's muscles bulged and strained and flexed. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, then dust fell from high on the wall and there was a cracking coming from somewhere deep in the wall. Her muscles wouldn't be denied. She redoubled her efforts, and her muscles flexed even harder. Her face was completely beyond human in its intensity. Never had her body and mind been more focused on doing one thing. Blood dripped from her nose and ears as the anger and need pushed her enhanced, super powered body beyond its limits. Tons of steel set deeply into tons of concrete wasn't made to move... ever. Move it did, just a little. Enough to flake off some cement near the edge. The landscape of muscle on her back change as she shifted her thick right leg forward to add more torque. It worked. She pressed ball of her foot hard to the floor causing her already swollen calf muscle to explode. The muscle explosion went up her leg to her thighs, causing them to balloon as well.
X-424 was on her feet now. Her vision was blurry, but her mind was working clearly enough to see what was happening. She stood a few feet behind X-416 as she struggled and labored to rip off a chunk of wall along with a steel door. X-424 knew better than to attempt to stop her. The Series 4 wasn't as smart. He was back on his feet, injured, but able to fight. He took a step towards the hulking Femme. X-424 moved more quickly and took him by the arm. He struggled for a moment, but relaxed when she shook her head slowly. He obeyed her and stepped back.
It was a good thing because big chunks of concrete fell from the wall. The door was losing. Finally with a last scream. The huge door broke free taking six feet of concrete with it on either side. Even X-416 couldn't hold that much weight. She stumbled. She put a leg behind her to steady the massive load. It had happened much like X-424 had planned. She saw her chance and ran up behind the super Femme. Using all her strength, X-424 kicked X-416 in the back of the knee. The crazed super Femme lost her tenuous balance and fell. Her back hit the ground first, then all the massive weight of the steel door and it's attached concrete landed on top of her. Only her massively pumped muscles kept her from getting crushed. Her eyes slowly closed as the weight pressed down on her.
Benny stepped forward through falling dust, but X-424 met him in the now larger doorway. "Don't get too close", she warned her boss, putting a hand gently to her chest. "She has been restrained, but X-416 is still extremely dangerous."
Benny kissed X-424 on the lips passionately. "You were wonderful. I thought.... I", Benny stopped himself. This could wait until later.
"What should we do?", Jean asked his boss. Benny second in command had been in Atlanta when the situation with X-416 had begun.
"Leave her there for now, and have some soldiers guard her 24/7 with weapons enough to kill her should she get loose. We'll figure out something." Benny lead X-424 to his... to their room.
X-424 sat across from Benny for a long time after they finished eating a meal. Food had no taste for her, but she ate it because Benny expected her to. He hadn't ordered her to act like a normal person, because he wanted X-424 to act like herself. He was beginning to be able to tell where the programing ended and the real person began. He wanted more than anything to know who this woman had been before she had been turned into a Femme. Their desires were similar because X-424 wanted to be the woman she had been before she had been turned into a Femme, but she couldn't. There wasn't enough of her left. Just scattered remnants.
Benny couldn't stop staring at her. He had seen other women as pretty or maybe even a little prettier if he was honest with himself, but no one more perfect or more special. To everyone else she was just another nameless Series 4.7F, but to him she was so much more. She had saved his life again, and he was sure that none of the other Femmes could have done what she had done. She had tricked a fellow Femme and trapped her using not strength, but guile. Femmes weren't supposed to have guile. She was more than a Femme. Benny knew it.
"I've been holding out on you", Benny blurted. X-424's programing noted the changes in Benny's normal behavior. He was transfixed as X-424 looked at him with those bottomless brown eyes. "I wanted to wait until it was perfect, but tonight is perfect because you deserve your gift." He held out his hand. "Come with me." He lead her to the door, stopping to get a clothing box from the closet before they started down the hall.
He ordered the Series 4 to follow them. Benny was nervous and jumpy as they walked down the long halls of the converted poultry plant that was his headquarters. Benny had been planning and dreaming of this moment for weeks ever since he'd found the out building one day.
There were parts of the old plant that people hadn't been to in decades. There were also several unattached building dotting the site. Benny had walked into one of those buildings one day, and been surprised in a good way. As he had looked around that dusty neglected space, his first thought had gone to X-424. This building was going to be for her.
"I've been wanting to give this gift to you since you saved me in Chicago", Benny told X-424 as they continued down the dusty halls towards a set of stairs. Benny remembered sinking into the cold dark waters of Lake Michigan. X-424 had saved him. "I didn't think you'd save me again like that, but today you risked your life for me."
'What life?', that small part of Kristen asked inside her head.
Now Benny, the Series 4, and X-424 walked through the door of an
unattached building. There was no visual indication of what lay beyond
the tile wall in front of them, but the smell and humidity gave it away
at once. They came further into the building and were greeted by bright
state of the art overhead lights illuminating an old fashioned swimming
pool full of fresh sparkling water. Benny had completely modernized it
with the best equipment.
He looked at X-424's face in the instant that she saw the pool for the first time. There was no response there. That was disappointing at first, but Benny scolded himself for expecting something that this Femme could not give him. She was not a woman that he could please. Despite the strangeness of this Femme, she was not a woman. He could not please her or upset her, but then he looked in those eyes. He saw the reflection of the pool in her eyes. Femmes usually scanned the area constantly to look for threats. He looked over at the Series 4 who had similar programing and he was looking left and right making sure there were no threats, but X-424's eyes hadn't left the pool once since they had walked in. That made Benny smile.
"Here. This is for you." Benny handed X-424 the box that he had been holding. She opened it and pulled out a one piece competition swim suit complete with a cap. "Put it on, and swim", Benny ordered her. He couldn't seem to get the smile off his face. He swept his hand across X-424's smooth face, and then took a seat near the pool.
Benny looked around at the old fashioned pool. It wasn't quite olympic sized, but close. It had been built by the company who had built this plant. It was put here for the families of the workers who used to live in the village around the plant. Gone were the days when a company provided everything for its workers from education to recreation. The village was long gone, as was the company that had built it, but the pool was still there. It had been in ruins when Benny had first seen it, but now it was fixed and updated.
Benny was admiring the mosaic tile, until he looked up and saw X-424 standing naked in front of him. She stood there with complete innocence, undressing as if there were no eyes on her, but her body was anything but innocent. It challenged Benny with every move it made. He was a man of large appetites. She had taken off her clothes and was about to put her bathing suit. Benny drooled as he watched her. He wanted her. He wanted to suck on her pert nipples, to run his hands over her body, and to feel her strength against him. He wanted to do so many things to her, but he wouldn't. This was the moment that he had promised her.
The suit fit perfectly, and X-424 turned and walked towards the pool. Benny watched her ass move as she walked away from him. He was getting erect in his pants, but he made no move to cover it or to pleasure himself. For once in his life, Benny was content to watch. X-424 walked to the edge of the pool and checked the water with her toes before jumping in. She stayed down for a while before coming up, and starting her first lap. This lap was slow, but Benny watched as she stretched her muscles.
It was a revelation to watch X-424 swim. It was like finding out the true nature of something. She belonged in the water as much or more as she belonged on the land. Benny didn't read or do anything else except watch her swim. He watched her swim lap after lap using different strokes. He looked down to check the time. He'd been watching her for more than an hour. She was in no hurry to stop, but it was getting late and both of them had had a full day.
"It's time to go. It's getting late", he called out to X-424. Benny wanted to lie in the bed next to her. He wanted to feel her skin against his. He couldn't wait any longer.
X-424 stepped out of the pool allowing the water to fall from her flawless body. Her muscles were pumped and her body sleek. Her hips swayed with attitude Benny hadn't seen before as she retrieved her towel. She ran it over her face and through her hair before running it quickly over her body. Benny enjoyed the show, but he didn't know that she had changed while in that pool. She'd found that missing piece. She would never know how many laps it had taken for her regain it, but she had it again. Benny hadn't meant for it to happen, because it was beginning of the end of the Femme that he thought he knew.
Benny came over and wrapped his arm around hers. "We'll come back tomorrow", he promised X-424. He studied her face and thought he saw a smile. He shook his head, figuring that he was seeing things. There had been a smile at the corners of her mouth, but not because of his promise. She smiled because she felt. She felt alive, not fully yet, but more than she had in a long time. The programing was still in her head, but X-424 had feelings to go along with the memories she had gathered. It wasn't enough to see her family and know their names or favorite foods, she loved them again. It hadn't been enough to remember the trophies on the wall or the cheering voices of her teammates. She could remember what it felt like to be a champion. That's what she was, and when Benny put her in the pool he gave her back the last thing the scientists had taken from her. There was no turning back now because X-424 remembered what it felt like to be Kristen.
A few hours later, and across the building a man in a sharp tailored suit stepped carefully through the dusty halls. He had to stop a couple of times to get his bearings, but more light meant that he was getting closer. When he saw the armed guards, he knew he was where he needed to be. A Series 4 turned towards him, but made no other action after his eyes met the man in the nice suit. The man passed another Series 4 and then a Femme before he came to the mess of a wall that X-416 had made earlier that day. He stepped past the guards to look on her face. She was awake now, but the time under the mass of steel and concrete had taken its toll. The juice hadn't let her down yet though. It was still running through her veins.
"Very impressive", the man said and stepped closer. He bent down to brush some hair from her face. "You are beauty and the beast wrapped in one. They shouldn't have left you down here trapped like this." X-416 heard this man's voice in her ears and in her head. She had tried to free herself a dozen times, but she was still stuck, until this man spoke to her.
"Free yourself", he whispered to her. "Do it. I want to see it."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than X-416's face changed. The animal came out again. She put her palms flat against the bottom of the door and pushed up just enough to take a breath. Then her muscles burst with fresh anger fueled power. The entire massive jumble of steel and concrete moved. It shook the walls and floors as it grated and slid a little with just the power of X-416's arms and pecs. Her muscle expansion alone could have moved it. At first she had seemed unable to make much progress, but she wouldn't stop. This man's words fueled her fury and her strength, pushing her past her former limits. Her yell alerted everyone, but none of the soldiers moved to stop her or raised a weapon to shoot her. This man wouldn't let them. His piecing eyes fixed on her bulging muscles, bursting to the max to press this weight that she had tried over and over to move.
"Come on. Push harder", he gently coaxed, unleashing a wave of new strength.
"AHHHH!!!", she yelled and pressed her arms up. The steel bent and buckled under this new onslaught. The man reveled in the spectacle as the muscles of her chest and arms swelled and hardened yet again. The steel and concrete left her chest and she was able to take deep full breath for the first time in hours. It felt good, but she wasn't finished. While holding the weight, she flexed her abs, hundreds of muscle fibers moved and bulged in a ballet of power while she forced her body up. The steel scraped against the floor as she pushed it away from her. When she had sat up most of the way, X-416 pulled her arms back and unleashed a mighty shove that sent the tons and tons of material away from her. It toppled to the floor. She was free.
"Well done", the man said. "Your new strength will fade as the chemicals fade, but I wanted to see it before you lost it." Jean ran up while the man was using a $100 handkerchief to wipe sweat from X-416's brow.
"Get away from her, that woman is dangerous!", Jean yelled and rushed to a stop.
"Not to me and not to you." The man looked at Jean coolly before turning back to X-416. "Obey your masters' commands", he told X-416.
Jean looked on skeptically.
"Give her a command, and you'll see. I fixed your broken soldier", the man said with a chuckle.
"Stand down, X-416 and fall in for evaluation", Jean ordered. X-416 turned and went to the laboratory without a word.
"Violà. It's that simple."
Jean put his hand on the butt of his pistol when the man came closer. "Who are you, and how did you get down here?"
"My name is Morgen Stern. I've come to see your boss, Benny. We're associates, and I have some good news to tell him."
"You still didn't tell me how you got down here."
Morgen smiled slowly as if Jean had asked a dumb question. "I asked the soldiers not to attack me, and they obeyed."
Jean was more confused now than before, but he couldn't knock the explanation. It was the only one that made sense. "Benny has asked not to be disturbed."
Morgen nodded. "It is very important, but I don't want you to get in trouble, so tell him that I used my ability on you."
"What?"
"He'll know. Just take me to Benny."
X-424 opened her eyes when she heard the knocking. She sat up in the bed, but Benny put a hand to her naked chest. "I'll get it." A penitent Jean was standing on the other side of the door when Benny opened it.
"Sorry to disturb you."
"This better be good", Benny's voice cut Jean with its edge.
"A man named Morgen Stern is asking to see you."
Benny's manner changed instantly. "He's here?"
Jean swallowed a lump. "Yes sir. Right here."
Morgen stepped into view. "May I have a word, Mr. Harris?"
"Of course, come right in." Benny didn't want to be bothered with Morgen's bullshit, but what choice did he have. The two men took seats.
"How's X-424?", Morgen asked right away.
"Better. She saved my life again today."
Morgen started to tell him how his power had fixed X-416, but that would wait. "The reason I have disturbed your sleep is because I have news that could not wait. We have a man on the inside."
"We? And on the inside of what?"
Morgen put his arm around Benny's shoulder. "We are working together on this, and I think we can do great things for each other. You need a friend, and I need allies. Its a partnership made in heaven."
"I have enough partners."
Morgen nodded slowly. "I know. I'll address Malcolm Borman and the Revolution later, but for now this news can not wait. Like I said before, we now have a man on the inside."
Benny could tell that Morgen was tickled with himself. "Inside of what?"
Morgen's smile spread slowly. "The FBI."
"Ohhhh", Benny breathed. "How'd you manage that?"
"With a little help from Jan Caufield."
Benny frowned. "I don't imagine she's in the business of helping guys like you or me."
"I'd say not, but there is a law of unintended consequences. This falls under that."
"Tell me all about it."
Morgen grinned at his own cleverness. "For me it started this
afternoon when I heard of a fight at a Mexican restaurant..."
next part coming in a few days....
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comments and critisisms welcome: dem2@hotmail.com