Taylor threw her head back and laughed at Dylan's latest question. "No, I don't have x-ray vision and I can't fly. I think Jan can tell you guys a couple of stories about not being able to fly", Taylor answered with a knowing grin. Jan wasn't in the room with the rest of the family yet. She was out talking to the bands as they packed away their gear while Kat was saying goodbye to the last of the guests from the Cook-Out.

"So how strong are you guys?", Dylan asked next, his enthusiasm growing with each word.

"Depends", Taylor answered after a sip of steaming hot chocolate.

"Depends on what!"

"On how mad I get", Taylor growled playfully as she leaned in and put on an angry face. Dylan and his brother jumped back then started giggling.

"Just like the Hulk or She-Hulk?"

"Maybe", Taylor allowed and took another drink of coco. "But I don't turn green", she stated emphatically. "Especially not that shade of green. It would clash with all of my wardrobe." She actually got a chill at the thought.

"Are you strong enough to pick our daddy up?", Dylan asked and Taylor looked up to her uncle who tried to shrink into the wall, but he was way too big to be inconspicuous.

"I don't think she wants to do that, not after all the food I ate tonight. I've got to weight ten pounds more than I normally do", he said with a wave of his hand. Andrew Caufield Sr. was six feet eight inches tall and was built like an NBA power forward.

"You can't pick him up?", Dylan asked, sounding like his little dreams had been crushed.

Taylor rubbed her chin. Heather wondered what she could be thinking about. Taylor could not only pick up their uncle, she could toss him into the jet stream if she wanted to, but she seemed to be contemplating something deeply. "I've got an idea. Hey, Uncle Drew could you sit here on the bench next to Dylan and Junior?" Uncle Drew seemed reluctant, but Amber his wife gave him a gentle push towards the center of the room where their sons sat on the rustic bench that was actually one of the last original pieces of furniture in the house. He stepped over the bench and sat down facing Taylor and wondering what in the world she had planned.

"Now I need some balance. Brice come here." Brice rolled his eyes and approached his sister like she was dragging him by the ear. He wanted to politely decline or even to say no outright, but he knew Taylor didn't like hearing no, so he sat down on the other end of the bench to Dylan's right.

"What's she going to do?", Dylan asked Brice.

"I don't know", he answered as Taylor walked behind them. Dylan followed his cousin's long lean form with his eyes before having to turn around completely to see her. Taylor bent down behind the bench and put her right hand under the seat, as close to midway as she could judge then let loose a trickle of power. To her it felt like shaking up a soda and opening the cap just enough to allow a few bubbles to escape. The rest of her maddeningly powerful gift wanted to burst through Taylor's control, but she'd mastered this little trick years ago. She only needed a little to what she planned. Dylan squealed and kicked his legs when he saw the muscles of Taylor's arm tighten and felt the legs of the bench rise off the floor. The tightening muscles rippled down Taylor's arm and then down her back finally to her legs as she kept lifting the bench higher and higher. Brice's shoes came off the ground and then Uncle Drew's. Taylor's muscles were only hinting at their true strength and shredded beauty as she pressed the bench higher and higher.

Every eye was on Taylor, but no two eyes looked on more intently than Brian's. He couldn't have torn his gaze away from Taylor's magnificent body flexing lightly as she lifted the weight into the air. Brian expertly saw her quads and hamstrings tightening. Her ass was gorgeous too, her tight globes flexed under the form fitting yoga pants. From his slightly profile angle, Brian could only shake his head at the perfection of Taylor's body. From the elegant sweep of her neck to her strong climber's shoulders, down the swell of her breasts to her flat stomach and gently curving hips to her long matchless legs, Taylor was a vision of unfiltered beauty, never mind the fact that she was also holding several hundred pounds of wood and flesh up with only one hand.

Her Uncle Drew was getting slightly nervous as Taylor finally stood to her full height. She kept the bottom of the bench at about her eye level, which meant that Dylan's feet dangled somewhere near six feet from the ground. Even Junior who'd been much quieter than his brother seemed to be enjoying this little ride.

"Isn't this cool!?", Dylan asked his brother and shook his shoulder. Junior smiled and looked down at the floor beneath them and at the top of Taylor's head. Taylor looked up at their young faces and without any real hint of effort she extended her arm all the way, holding them up like a platter at a restaurant. There were a few gasps from family members as they watched Taylor rotate the bench slowly and then she walked around the room a little giving several people a chance to see it up close. Taylor wasn't tiring and only once did it even seem like she was having to try at all to hold them up and that was when both Brice and her Uncle Drew moved at the same time in opposite directions, threatening the balance. Taylor's always rock hard deltoids flexed harder than steel for an instant to compensate then the bench was steady again.

Jan walked into the family room after changing into a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt from the YMCA in the family's hometown of Baltimore. She smiled when she saw Taylor holding the bench above her head. Nobody saw Jan ease into the room as all eyes were still on Taylor. Jan took a seat on the piano bench, but faced Taylor instead of the keys. Joyce leaned over to her grandchild and asked in an unnecessary whisper, "Could you do that, Jan?"

"Yes, Ma'am I'm pretty sure I could. But, with my luck I'd probably drop somebody on their head." Joyce chuckled and patted Jan's bare knee.

Taylor finally listened her uncle's gentle urging and lowered the bench to the floor. Dylan turned to face Taylor with a look of pure amazement on his face, of course Taylor was used that sort of attention as well. "Wow, so do you have a super hero costume?!?"

Taylor laughed again. "I don't have a brightly colored spandex costume. Didn't I just go over how bright clashing colors are a no no? A costume's something Heather would wear."

"I would not!", Heather spoke up. "I hardly ever wear tight clothes anyway. You're the one always seeing just how small you can get something."

"That's better than looking like a graffiti covered hippo." Dylan and Junior chuckled. "You dressed funny before you went to North Africa, but you were simply hopeless when you came back."

"You are so… so…", Heather began then didn't quite know how to finish. "Mom!", Heather complained and turned towards Kat who was standing near the door with Carol and Thomas.

Taylor laughed while Heather's face turned slightly crimson. "Taylor, stop making fun of your sister", Kat chided her daughter.

"I can't help it Mom. When she got home from Morocco she looked like hot air balloon with legs."

"I'd like you to know that those are time honored traditional clothes from the North Africans", Heather countered. It only made Taylor laugh the more.

"Well, like you told me once… on you they look ridiculous!" Heather glared at being hoisted by her own petard. Taylor rubbed her sister's shoulders then headed back towards her stool. She sat there chuckling at Heather before she looked around and frowned. "Where's Daddy?"

"He took Montez home", Kat answered because Heather refused to speak to her sister for at least another minute or two. "He should be home soon", she added, but nobody knew how far that was from the truth.

Martha Worthington was walking through a living nightmare. She'd gotten the call from Special Agent Kevin Bechet who'd arrived at a scene of chaos. Cops, firemen, and paramedics had been moving in all directions while a sea of hospital patients roamed around the parking lot until they'd been corralled. Martha had to cross through a line of rolling hospital beds on the way to waiting ambulances, as the hospital staff calmly got every patient out of the damaged building.

Martha saw Kevin in the distance talking to a group of cops who were maintaining their professionalism despite the confirmed loss of two of their own in this attack. Martha hoped that she could keep her own composure because she might have one of her own down. Each of her steps was filled with a growing dread. The thought of losing a member of her Special Programs team made her sad, but this was worse than that.

Martha had tasked young Angie James to protect a high value witness, but she was missing now. The medics said that they might have a woman in the parking lot that matched Angie's description, but they weren't sure yet. There was so much destruction that it was hard to know where it started and where it ended. All they did know was that there was a woman trapped in the twisted steel and wrecked body of a vehicle, and that the proper equipment to cut her free was on the way. Martha knew that didn't bode well, but she never let hope completely leave her until she saw the wreck that used to be a GMC Yukon. The four wheels of the big suv were bowed out and the bottom of the chassis sat on the ground. The roof was crashed in like an elephant had fallen from outer space and landed on it. Spots of bare metal showed under the lights where flecks of metal had been knocked off from the impact, and there were two more destroyed cars in front of this one. Martha tried to shrink her body to stay out of the way and to not be noticed. Martha looked past the diligently working firemen and cringed.

Martha saw a woman's hand lying across the concaved hood. The knuckles were busted and swollen like this young woman had given all she had until the very end. A few wisps of dirty blonde hair blew in the wind as Martha moved closer. An unbroken stream of blood poured from the young woman's body over the bumper like two forks of the same red river then down to the pavement where twin drips formed a spreading puddle. Martha was still couldn't see the face and her heart raced with both hope and impending dread. She threw her hand to her mouth and yelled a sob into her palm as a fireman handled the young woman's head and gently moved it. Martha saw Angie's face. It was nearly as swollen as her knuckles. Martha already knew that Angie would have fought until her last breath, and now this was her fate.

Martha hadn't intended to sink to her knees, but in the chilly wind the career CIA officer suddenly felt very old and very, very tired. Her mind filled with memories, as if Angie had been her own child. In some ways Angie James was Martha's child. She remembered recruiting Angie to join Special Programs. When they'd first met Angie had been the spoiled, purposeless, vindictive, insolent child of extreme wealth, but Martha had seen through that. Beneath her exterior there was a young girl who had a motor that never stopped, all she'd needed was a compass. Martha had prepared for a hard sale to get Angie to join, but it hadn't been hard at all. The then sixteen year old Angie had jumped at the chance to have some way to use her energy and drive. She'd been eager to be the best and to become a leader. During the training cycles Angie's only real rival had been Jan Caufield, but despite having good reasons Jan had quit. Angie hadn't. Martha had leaned on Angie and her team like she used to lean on Jan, but Angie wasn't Jan and now she lay in a heap of steel. Martha tried to get to her feet but was still too unsteady to stand. She thought about having to face Angie's family and the weakness came over her again. Martha wasn't sure she had the strength to look Angie's parents in the eye and tell them that their daughter was gone.

A ways away Special Agent Kevin Bechet stood with a clipboard checking off questions that the cops needed to know about the deceased witness in the hospital. They'd been brought in earlier, but with a suspect surviving, every investigator on the force wanted to make sure this case would be ironclad. Kevin looked down at the huge man laying face down on the pavement and still wondered what could have put him down and out for so long. He got a better look when the paramedics removed his body armor. It looked like his muscles had muscles. Some of his clothes were singed, but he was alive and relatively uninjured. The cops wanted this guy in the worst sort of way. He was surely going to answer for the deaths of two police officers. Of course Kevin knew that there was also the small matter of a dead Federal witness too. Kevin turned his back as cuffs were slapped on the huge man's wrists. He mumbled something and started to stir as they helped him to his feet. Kevin reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone to call Montez for the third time. Kevin knew Montez was at a party, but damn the man needed to check his messages once in a while.

"Are you bullet proof too!", Dylan shouted. He jumped up and pretended to shoot with his fingers. "I bet they don't even hurt!" He kept shooting and adding sound effects.

Taylor frowned and replied, "I'm sorry Dylan, but bullets don't bounce off of me and they most certainly hurt… but only for a little while."

The youngest boy seemed amazed, but his older brother suddenly asked, "What happens if you get shot in the head?"

"Junior!", Amber his mother exclaimed, but Heather just laughed.

"It's okay Auntie, several people have wanted to shoot Taylor in the head, and couple have even tried, but they were completely bummed out when their bullets couldn't penetrate her thick Neanderthal skull." Taylor glared while Heather smirked.

"Regular bullets just flatten out", Taylor explained.

"What about you Jan?", Junior asked despite his mother's stern look. Jan paused for a second, she'd been listening too but now every eye in the room was on her.

"Umm I guess I'm in the same boat as Taylor. I've been shot in the head unfortunately. It was a 44 magnum at point blank range, and it hurt like you wouldn't believe. Knocked me out cold. I felt like I'd played chicken with a rhino. And I probably looked like it too."

"Blood was gushing everywhere", Alisha added from her seat near to Sara and Brian. "Remember?", she asked and pushed Sara's shoulder. "Oh you weren't there. Well anyway, when Jan got up she looked like that last scene from Carrie. Kennedy wouldn't let Jan walk over her carpet until you washed the blood off your face."

"I remember", Jan said then paused and sighed. "I've always worried about getting domed with something heavy. A big .50 cal or an armor piercing round will probably go through my bones."

"Ahh don't worry about it", Heather began with a dismissive wave. "It's not that bad. I got shot in the head with a sniper rifle about eight months ago", she said as if explaining a stubbed toe. "My bones aren't as hard as yours or Taylor's and the shot went through my forehead here", she pointed at the spot and her family all gasped. "And came out here", she pointed at the spot on the back of her head where the exit wound had been. They gasped again. "I didn't even feel a thing. It was like somebody had turned off my light switch. But I woke up after a while and poof here I am", she said in her cheer filled way. "I did have one heck of a headache for a really long time though."

"It wasn't that simple", Taylor said, reliving the moment. Her cool demeanor hid the depth of her emotions, as usual, but the closest family members saw the remnants of the utter terror and fear creeping up Taylor's spine. She'd seen the flash of the muzzle and turned in time to see the spray of blood, bone and brains coming from the back of Heather's head. She'd rushed over, running so fast that she'd gotten to Heather before her body had finished collapsing. Heather's head never hit the ground in fact. Instead Taylor had cradled it gently while blood poured from the exit wound. Taylor had seen her sister mangled before, so broken that it boggled the mind, but this was different. To Taylor, Heather felt and looked truly dead. Just as Taylor's sorrow started morphing into a blinding blood thirsty rage, Heather opened her eyes and sucked in a breath. Her wounds started to heal, first the entrance wound and then the exit wound as bone grew to replace the parts that had been blown out and now littered the tarmac. Heather's eyes had been unfocused and jittering until she settled onto Taylor's grief stricken face. She had smiled that sweet disarming smile of hers and slowly raised up her hand to wipe the tears from her sister's face and softly asked, "Why are you crying?" Heather hadn't even known what had just happened to her. As usual, Taylor was more shaken from Heather's injuries than Heather herself.

"Okay okay, I did have some trouble remembering my name for a while. I couldn't spell it even when I did remember it", Heather admitted. "And the headaches weren't simple ones they were completely excruciating and rather debilitating for the first couple of days. Plus I couldn't say Poughkeepsie for like a week."

"More like ten days", Taylor corrected.

"Yeah, maybe it was ten days, but how often does anybody need to say Poughkeepsie anyway?"

"I've got a pulse!", a paramedic yelled. Martha's head snapped in his direction. He was working on Angie. Martha's heart wanted to believe what her ears had heard, but her head told her that there was no way Angie could have survived all of this. Martha's breath caught when she saw Angie's hand move. Then Angie turned her head. The look of tortured pain on her young face made Martha want to cry and rush over to comfort her, but she knew better. She had to let the rescuers do their work. Angie crushed her cramping fingers into a tight fist as men worked furiously to free her. Her eyes rolled in their sockets as she struggled to get her vision to focus. Everything around her looked blue and red, plus the hands all over her felt like cockroaches or maybe crabs because crabs bit. Their voices sounded like whispers, annoying distractions keeping her from gathering her thoughts. Angie just wanted them to shut up because she had to think. She had to concentrate and push the pain away.

While the firemen fired up the separator Angie's eyes finally focused. The men working on her were nothing more than blurry shapes in the foreground because in the distance she saw something that made her heart start to race in her compressed chest. A group of cops were struggling under the burden of helping the massive Ken to his feet.

Angie's muscles flexed again, as her body dumped a gallon of adrenaline into her blood. The steel near her trapped left arm began to bend outward as Angie's deltoid muscles flexed and swelled with her urgent need to free herself. Her body hurt like it never had before and her strength began to ebb. She opened her mouth to scream just as a fireman started the motor of the separator. The jaws moved with hydraulic smoothness forcing the sides of the Yukon apart, but it wasn't fast enough. Angie tried to scream, but only a gurgled hiss escaped her lips. She clawed at the bumper trying in vain to free herself, trying to get to Kevin. Her mind ached with need, but her body was unable. She had to get to Kevin. She had to do something before that dangerous man killed everybody around him. This was going to be her fault, just like it was her fault what had happened to Montez and Mr. Matthews. A fireman stopped in his tracks as he watched Angie's free arm grab and the crush the bumper and try to pull her body free with only that one arm. Deep muscle cuts flexed from her shoulders to her hands, tighter and harder with each passing second. She seemed to try harder and harder until she heard an unexpected voice popped into her head. During one of their many heated discussions senior year, Jan had once told Angie, "I can't do everything by myself."

Angie stopped pulling on the bumper and grabbed the fireman painfully by the arm. "He's a class two!", she labored. The firemen looked befuddled. "He's a class two!", she tried again.

"Guys I think she's going into shock", the fireman yelled and tried to pry her fingers away.

"Class two!", she said again, louder, loudly enough for Martha to hear her. She hurried over, her heels clicking against the pavement as she approached.

"Angie, what is it?", Martha asked as she came closer and knelt in front of the Yukon. "What are you trying to say?"

Angie felt a wave of relief at seeing Mrs. Worthington's face, but this wasn't a time for relief. "He's class two", she said again. Angie guided Martha's eyes with her own and they both looked at a huge man being lead to a squad car. Martha quickly looked back to Angie's pained face and the young woman repeated, "Class two", for the last time.

"Kevin!", Martha yelled the top of her lungs and the Special Agent quickly looked up from his clipboard towards the sound of Martha's urgent voice. "He's enhanced!", she screamed just as Ken roared to full consciousness.

He'd been in a fog before, but not now. He extended his arms as if the cuffs had been made of plastic. The two cops and a fireman who were standing nearest him flew outward like they'd been standing over a geyser. He rushed at another cop who'd reached for his gun and broke both the man's clavicles with only his grip before throwing him all the way across the parking lot. The parking lot was full of cops, but none of them had ever encountered anybody like him. People scattered like rats as Ken ran towards the street. A group of cops fled behind a car, the car they were going to put him in. Ken laughed and ran up to the car squatting down slightly to get his hands under the frame so he could power it up. He exhaled, sounding like an alpha male gorilla as he lifted the Ford police car off the ground. Ken's teeth set on edge as his muscles flexed to lift the car. He got all four wheels off the ground before he heard the unmistakable clack-clack of a racking 12 gauge.

"Put the car down slowly. Lay face down on the pavement or I'll blow your fucking head off your big Dumbo sized shoulders", Kevin threatened and warned at the same time. He saw Ken's muscles tighten and his weight shift slightly.

"How do you know that shotgun'll hurt me?"

Kevin smirked. "Because you were wearing body armor. Plus the indestructible girls I know wouldn't have even paused at sound of this racking slide. Now quit stalling. Get on the ground or you die. Last chance."

The suspension squeaked when it took the car's weight again and Ken lay on the pavement just as Martha ran up. Kevin never took his eyes off of Ken as he spoke, "I have a set of special restraints in the trunk of my car." Martha went off to get them. It took five minutes to lock Ken into the special restraints. He still looked dangerous even with the futuristic steel contraptions covering his hands and shackling his ankles together. Kevin sighed though and looked around at the cops. "I think we'll be taking him with us", he said to no objections from the local cops.

Not every member of the Caufield clan was taking the revelations about their family members smoothly. Matt, a more distant cousin had watched Taylor lift a seemingly impossible weight over her head and then he'd listened while Heather and Jan had talked about healing from what should have been mortal wounds. He'd been quiet, but he couldn't be quiet anymore. "There's something wrong here. You guys are just sitting around like this is just sort of weird. It's more than that. Taylor, Heather, and Jan aren't even humans and we're just having a freaking family moment. I'm blown away. I keep thinking that I need to call the cops or the Army or something! How can everybody be so cavalier about this!?!", he nearly yelled.

"Because it makes sense now", Joyce said from her seat next to Jan. "All the little pieces that I didn't understand about Jan's moodiness or her outbursts or why Taylor would withdraw within herself for days on end or why Heather was always so bold and fearless all fit together. These powers have helped shape their personalities and now I understand it. You should too Matt."

"Well I don't. These girls are dangerous and it throws everything out of balance. All the laws and rules in the world don't mean a thing to them. No police force on Earth could apprehend any one of you and no jail cell could hold you for long. You are a problem that society has no solution for. You're all a danger."

Taylor sat forward on her stool. "Matt, I know what I am and I know what I can do. Sure I can potentially be dangerous. Maybe slightly more dangerous than Uncle Jack." Several people chuckled and Taylor smiled then continued, "Truthfully, I wouldn't like a person's chances if they were really my enemy, but I am no more a threat to people in everyday life as anybody else."

"Taylor, you don't understand… You're a monster wrapped in a supermodel's body. You, Jan, and Heather are a more dangerous than a freaking atom bomb because at least the world knows that atom bombs exist!"

"You're completely wrong", Taylor insisted. "I care about people and I never look away when somebody's in trouble. I've stopped car-jackings, kidnappings, beatings, rapes, and murders because I'm not afraid. You think these powers are a curse or a blight on the world, but at least for me, Heather, Jan, and all the other people with powers that I know, we use our powers to help those around us. I'm far from perfect and I have indulged myself a time or two, but I'd rather die than become what you think I am."

"I don't know quite what you are."

Dylan let out a sob and pointed at Matt. "Why are you being so mean!?!", he yelled. "You leave Taylor alone!"

"I'm sorry little man, but I'm just telling the truth."

"No you're not!", Dylan yelled louder even though his dad was trying to get him to settle down. "Taylor wouldn't hurt anybody. She's already said so. Taylor, and Jan, and Heather are superheroes not super villains. You take back what you said!"

"Dylan, I think you're getting worked up and this is an adult conversation", Matt said in his most soothing voice.

"I think it's just stupid! You're supposed to love your family not talk mean about them!", Dylan said as angrily as his nine year old voice could sound.

"I do love my family, including Taylor, but…"

"But nothing… either you love us or you don't."

Matt blushed and looked at Amber and Drew hoping they'd reign in their middle son, but they didn't.

"Cause I love Taylor and Heather, and Jan as much now as I did before I knew that they were superheroes. Maybe even more. Even when Heather stood in line for like a day so me and Junior could go see Shrek 2. I love them more now because they try and help people! You're just jealous!"

"What!??", Matt yelled.

"Yeah, jealous because you don't have big strong muscles and super powers. You're being mean because you're jealous Cousin Matt."

Matt threw up his hands. "Drew or Amber would you please get your son? He doesn't understand he's just a kid for God's sake."

"I do understand", Dylan insisted. "I understand that's why God didn't give you powers in the first place. You wouldn't have used them for good", Dylan said regretfully and shook his head.

"Well, Dylan not everybody with special powers uses them for good", Taylor said in Matt's defense.

"That's why you guys have really strong powers so you can beat up the bad people with powers! Right!?!"

Jan, Taylor, and Heather shared a look then they laughed. "That's right Dylan. You're probably the smartest kid I know." Taylor mussed his hair and looked over at Matt.

"I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings. I'm just not comfortable with these powers. People shouldn't be able to do things like this. It must have been some sort of secret experiments or radiation that caused these unnatural powers", Matt put out and Sara couldn't keep from chuckling.

"People with gifts are born with them", Sara said in her aristocratic Southern accent, which had the effect of making Matt's statement seem dumb even if that hadn't been her intention.

He turned towards the petite blonde with venom in his eyes. "And who are you exactly?", he challenged. "I thought this was a family gathering. I don't even know what you're doing here."

"I invited my friends", Jan said sternly. "At this point we're more than friends. I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't for them. They can go anywhere I can go", she stated, but Matt just stared at them.

"That's fine and good, but I'm trying to understand how four members of my family have unnatural powers."

"A friend who knows a lot more about these abilities than I do said that powers run in families. The more powerful the gift, the deeper it runs in the family. And obviously the combination of the Caufield family and the Matthews family produces powerfully gifted children so the building blocks of these powers exists in both families. I'd bet that any combination of Caufields and Matthews would produce gifted offspring. So while you're so worried about the powers, I'd bet you have the same potential to have a gifted child yourself."

"Me? I don't believe you."

"Believe it", Alisha spoke up. "If our friend Cassie were here she could tell you and even link you together so you'd understand. I sort of feel sorry that she's not here. Then everybody could feel how awesome these gifts really are."

"So I guess you have powers then too?", Matt asked as he began to feel a bit overwhelmed.

"I do", Alisha stated proudly. "I didn't grow up knowing about my power. I only found out a couple of years ago, and now I embrace it completely. I love my abilities and I couldn't think of living a minute without them."

"Wow, you've got powers too!", Dylan interrupted Matt, but didn't seem to care. "Are you really strong too and can lift us all up with one hand!?"

"No, that's not my ability", Alisha said with an exaggerated frown.

"Oh but her power's way cool!", Thomas shouted. He'd always loved to see Alisha use her powers. "Show them. I bet they want to see."

"I do. I do!", Dylan shouted. He pushed his brother's shoulder to rouse Junior from his near sleep.

"Let me think…" Alisha formed the thoughts in her mind and slowly began to seed the world with the new reality. Everybody looked around as their vision became hazy and sounds became garbled. When it cleared, everything had changed.

"Oh my Goodness!", Dylan shouted. "Oh wow!", another person exclaimed as they looked around at Carnegie Hall's main room. The huge multileveled venue was empty except for the family and friends who were dressed in black tie finery and arrayed in the first two rows of seats. Jan was alone on the stage wearing gold and white gown that showed off her flawless figure while being completely elegant. A full concert Steinway sat in front of her and the spot lights shined down, maneuvered by invisible lighting techs.

"Are we really at Carnegie Hall?", Joyce asked in a wonder filled voice.

"Not exactly. We're technically still in the room in Palm Beach", Sara explained. "But for all intents and purposes we might as well actually be in New York."

"So she makes illusions?", Matt said and tried to find a flaw in the tuxedo he suddenly had on or on the seats or anything, but he couldn't.

Sara laughed. "Calling what Alisha does an illusion is like calling a tornado a gust of wind. She creates realities for anyone and anything near her. Don't believe me, pull out your cell phone and see where it says you are. Take a picture if you want."

Matt did just that. He reached into his pants pocket, but realized that his phone was in his jacket pocket now, the jacket that he really wasn't wearing. He snapped a picture of Jan on the stage. "This is absurd. I bet if I run around I can find the edge of this stupid illusion!" Matt got out of his seat and pushed past two people to get to the isle. Once there he took off running towards the doors, thinking that each step would break him back to reality. He was out on West 57^th freezing on the sidewalk before he realized that this young woman's illusion might not have an actual ending. He tried to get the door back open, but it was locked.

The rest of the family on the inside praised Alisha for her attention to detail. She stood up and smiled. "I try to make sure I don't forget anything, but I can't do it all. I think we need some music though, and Jan actually plays better than I come up with. Play something Jan."

She shrugged. "What do you want me to play?"

"Play Nocturne 6", Taylor called out. Jan frowned then turned to face the piano. She cracked her knuckles then stretched her fingers over the keys and began playing. She got about a measure in before Taylor shouted, "No not Chopin's, you show off. Play the one by Fauré."

"Oh", Jan said then immediately started in on the correct piece. Brian remembered what he'd heard from Taylor earlier that day and while Taylor was good, Jan was simply on another level. About a third of the way through Taylor leaned back to Brian and whispered, "See what I mean. She's way better than me. She's awesome isn't she?"

Brian grinned and leaned forward. "Yeah, you are the crazy sister." Taylor hit Brian on the shoulder after taking offense knowing that a day ago he wouldn't have the nerve to say that to her.

When the song was over the family burst into furious applauds. Jan curtsied then sat back down. "Does anybody have any more requests?"

"I do", Joyce began. Jan hoped she remembered whatever Classical song her grandmother would request but the matriarch called out, "What was that song you played in the talent show in your junior year?"

Jan giggled. "You mean the Four Hand Stomp?"

"Yes. I loved that. It really did sound like two people playing at once. You had those kids and the parents rockin and rollin. Play that one, Sweetheart. I'd love to hear it."

Jan's smile was ear to ear. She tickled the ivories at the high end of the piano before starting a chest thumping bassline at the lower end of the piano. It didn't take long for her Uncle Drew to grab his wife's hand and step out into the isle and start to dance. Jack got shamed by his younger brother and took Carol by the hand. Jan had barely warmed up on her boogie, but everybody was on their feet. Dylan and Junior were jumping around on the seats while Brian made his way towards Joyce and held out his hand. "Excuse me, but would you like to dance?" Joyce's face lit up brightly and she took Brian's hand. "I'd love to young man." Outside the Hall, Matt wrapped his arms tightly and leaned his ear near the frigid door and heard the faint sounds of a piano and then he thought he heard somebody start to sing.

Ken's grin was frightening to the men in the back of the van with him. The five federal officers wore full urban combat gear and each of them had a rifle trained on Ken's big brutish head yet still they were the ones afraid. His hulking mass loomed over them in the back of the van and each small movement from the giant man made the muscles bulge and flex under his black t-shirt. His hands and legs were bound by the special shackles and he was chained to a hook on the van, but it seemed that he was allowing himself to be taken in more than any of these restraints were keeping him in line. In truth it was the chance of a lucky shot killing him that kept Ken in the back of the van without trying to escape. He could wait for a while. Time was on his side, and he was resting up after doing battle with that strong bitch at the hospital. Carri must have finished the bitch off because these Fed's looked pretty damn somber. That was at least a small victory.

After about an hour's drive the van pulled into a garage. They waited for the door to close before they took Ken out of the van. They didn't bother to blind fold him as they lead him into a door and down a tight concrete hall. The floor had a slope to it and they were plainly underground now. Ken saw a control room of some sort in the distance, but he and his five man escort took a left to some stairs that then around another corner. Three cells were next to each other on a short corridor. Ken could see through the ballistic glass windows that each cell was about fifteen feet square with a stainless steel cot, table, and a toilet. They took Ken to the third and last cell. He hesitated and looked inside without walking in until an M-4 muzzle in the back prompted him to start walking. He didn't resist.

Once inside the Special Agent who'd arrested him came back inside. Unlike the others this guy was still wearing civilian clothes. Ken glared at Kevin, but the special agent didn't seem fazed. He just watched with his arms crossed as two officers did a thorough search of Ken for weapons before walking out of the cell without saying a word. Ken had been thinking of some witty comebacks for their questions and he was a little upset that he hadn't been able to use them. A thick metal door slid closed from his left to his right sealing him inside. Ken didn't take incarceration easily.  The door closed and the guns stopped being aimed at his head. It was time to break out.

He went to the back wall, his hands still bound, and ran full speed towards the door. The booming echo sounded through most of the complex and dust fell to the floor. Ken's massive shoulder absorbed the impact without pain. The door held firmly. "Impressive", he muttered and backed up to have another go at it. This blow was even harder than the last. Ken had really used his tree trunk sized legs to power him. He felt the door give in its tracks only slightly. Ken gave a little smile and turned his attention to the window. He knew it was probably shatterproof, but he had to try anyway. He pulled his hands back and clubbed the glass using the metal restraints like a battering ram. A deep hollow pulse made the guards woozy and the glass actually rippled. Ken hit it again, growling this time as he put more muscle behind it. The shockwave actually made men lose their balance in the corridor. Ken's smile widened.

"Will that hold him?", Kevin asked one of the officers as they both stood in the downstairs control room about a hundred feet from Ken's cell.

"I'm pretty sure it will. The guys from the Pentagon came down here and built it about a year ago, but this is the first class 2 enhanced person we've had in it to be honest. We've had some class 1's, but there's a big difference between a class 1 and a class 2."

"Yeah, I'm just glad those hand restraints are still holding." No sooner had the words left Kevin's mouth than a crack appeared in the side of the restraints. Ken roared and hit the window again. The entire wall shook under his might and another crack appeared on the restraints. The lead guard snatched a microphone and pushed the button.

"You must stop your activities or we'll be forced to administer further restraining devices!" Ken heard the officer's voice from the speakers in the ceiling, but it seemed to only fuel his efforts more. He hit the restraints against the walls and floors know over and over again. "Shit", the officer spat.

"We might need to call for back up."

"No. We've got this", the lead officer said confidently and ordered his men to assemble outside Ken's cell.

The officers got their riot shields and tear gas ready. The lead officer pushed the button next to the door for an emergency open. The door slid open so quickly it was as if it disappeared. Tear gas shot in next, as Ken finished pulling his right hand free from the restraints. Three officers came at him with their shields and fresh restraints ready, but Ken swatted them like flies. "You shouldn't have opened the door boys!", he taunted as if the tear gas wasn't even in the room.

He coughed once or twice, but he did attend to his burning eyes. Instead he picked up three officers, one in his meaty left hand and two in his right hand then threw them against the window. Their bodies weren't hard enough to make the glass ripple again. Instead the sound of breaking bones sounded even over the groans of suffering men. Three more officers rushed in trying to subdue Ken with non lethal force, but they were reaching their threshold, and Ken knew it too. He made his way towards the door knowing that this might be his last chance to get away. He made it to the door before a second team of officers could get to the cell. Two men hanged from his clothes trying to keep him inside, but he stepped out into the hall and saw the door they'd brought him in with. He made a run for it and got two steps before he heard a shotgun blast come from somewhere behind him. The next thing he knew he felt an intense pain in the back of his head.

Kevin's ears were ringing from the sound of his illegal shot. It had only been a rubber slug, but those were never intended to be used against someone's head. Of course the regulators hadn't counted on enhanced people like Ken. The rubber slug to the back of his head hadn't even knocked him out. Instead he staggered forward for several more steps before Kevin ran up behind him and took another shot, this one from only two feet away. Ken fell to his face. "I told him I'd shoot", Kevin said with a shake of his head. "I don't think he believed me." A moment later the lead officer came running into the hall wiping blood from a split lip. He was out of breath but relieved.

He looked over at his second in command and said, "Get some medical help for Alvarez and Stokes and bring in the chain."

Ken woke up twenty minutes after Kevin's shots to find himself lying on the concrete floor. He tried to rub the back of his still smarting head, but his hands were once again restrained. He pushed himself to sitting, feeling a little more weight on his hands than last time. He shook his big head to clear the haze and looked around. He was in the same room, and the lead officer and that fucking Special Agent were looking at him from the other side of the window. Ken spun to a kneeling position and stood up. He looked down when he heard the jangling and saw that they'd attached a chain to the restraints on his hands. The links were big and forged out of a metal that didn't quite look like steel. Ken didn't care what it was. He roared and charged towards the window. The chain quickly reached its length and Ken was snatched off his feet. He fell and looked through the window again. He jumped to his feet and took up all the slack from the chain and then used his tremendous strength against it. His muscles flexed to their full epic proportions. Several officers almost pissed their pants watching Ken use his strength against the chain.

"Relax", the lead officer told his men making sure the comm line was open for Ken to hear him inside the cell. "He can't get out there. He never could. He couldn't have broken the window, or busted through the door. He's trapped and he knows it."

And Ken did know it. He still pulled against the chain until he finally gave up. The chain didn't look damaged at all, and the shackle built into the floor looked no worse for the wear either. Ken huffed and sat down in the middle of the floor. The chain didn't even give him enough slack to reach the cot on the side wall. He could have complained, but he was sure his complaints would have fallen on deaf ears. They had him. He'd busted a few officers' bones and drawn a little blood, but he was trapped. Everything in here was built to hold a guy like him. He wasn't going to give in just yet, but there was no need wasting his strength on a useless attempt to escape either.

It was almost a shock, as the last sounds from Sara's awesome rendition of St. Louis Blues faded away that Carnegie Hall faded away too. The tears welling in people's eyes were real though as Sara and Jan had put such passion and soul into both of their performances. Jan had begged Sara to sing, and now everyone was glad she'd gone through the effort. Sara had a tremendous voice that only a relative few people ever got to hear. People looked around and saw that they'd all moved around from where they'd been. Sara was indeed standing next to Jan near the piano though not on a stage. Jack and Carol were in each other's embrace dancing close as were Drew and Amber, while Dylan and Junior were sitting near Thomas now. They looked around for Matt who sat in the far corner of the room with his fingers curled around a shot glass that had disappeared.

He looked up reluctantly at the rest of his family and they looked over at him. "I got locked out trying to find the end of the illusion", he admitted like a shaken man. "I was out in the cold and I knew I was in this room, but my body kept shaking and freezing to the bone. I figured that if I couldn't beat the illusion I'd go with it. I walked a few blocks… or I felt like I walked a few blocks and found an all night bar. I was working on my fourth shot. I figured I needed a drink after all this stuff tonight."

"Sorry, the scotch wasn't real", Alisha told him.

"But I felt it! I felt it running down my throat and I felt the buzz. I was working on a stupor."

"I know", Alisha told him.

"It's all gone now", Matt lamented. "I feel like I did before."

"I know."

"I wish it was real", Matt began then looked out at his family. "I've been acting like an ass haven't I?"

The family just looked back at him, nobody said a word. Not even Dylan, but only because Junior had put his hand over his brother's mouth. Matt stood up and walked towards the center of the room, still wishing that he had that last shot of liquor in his hand. Instead he stopped in the midst of the people and sighed. "I umm I'm still a little messed up with these super powers and stuff, but I'll have to accept them. They're a part of you guys, and they have been for years.", he said. He turned towards Taylor, never really managing to meet her gaze before he leaned and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm sorry for what I said… to all of you. I… I think I should go. I hope I get to see everybody again before we go home. Goodnight everybody." Matt walked out the door wishing that he could take the last hour of his life back.

"Well", Drew began then sighed with relief then looked down at his sons. "I think it's about time for Mommy to put you guys to bed." Amber let go of her husband's hand while Dylan and Junior complained. "Boys I think you've had enough excitement for one night."

While Amber was busy gathering her oldest and middle sons, Heather walked over towards Thomas. She was pretty sure Jack and Carol were about to send him to bed as well. Heather hadn't spent a lot of time with Thomas since her aunt and uncle had adopted him, but she really liked him. He seemed to fit into the family in a weird sort of way. "Sorry you had to listen to all that arguing. You always hope things will go well when you do something like this, but oh well. I guess it ended well enough."

"It did. I can't really blame him. Sometimes these powers make people freak out a little", Thomas said after a yawn.

"Well you seem to be handling it well, but I guess you already knew about powers from Jan."

Thomas grinned and looked up. "I knew about powers way before that", he said then looked back at his mother. Carol nodded and Thomas got a twinkle in his big brown eyes.

Half a dozen little conversations had struck up since Matt had left the room, but they ended when Thomas turned his palms up. The lights in the room dimmed to nearly off before two bright whirling balls of electricity formed above his hands. Heather's eyes widened and she leaned closer looking at the pure energy storming inside the spheres. They rose up higher and higher. Heather leaned away and the balls grew bigger until everyone in the room could see them. Thomas grinned and let them float away sending little eruptions of electricity out on their surfaces like solar flares.

Dylan and Junior watched with wonderment as the balls of electricity floated near them. Dylan reached out to touch one and Thomas promptly made both balls disappear. "I don't think you'd want a jolt from those little things. Not many amps, but they were really, really high voltage", Thomas explained.

"Wow, that was amazing", Taylor uncharacteristically gushed. "Jan why didn't you tell us what Thomas could do?"

"I was going to, but a demonstration was so much cooler. Don't you think?"

"Yeah. That was something for sure."

Thomas bowed and smiled broadly, showing all his teeth. "Is it true you've never been linked?", he asked.

"I've never even heard about this linking until yesterday when Jan and Alisha were talking about it. It seems to be something special."

"Oh it is", Jack told his niece. "For Carol and I to understand how Jan feels and how Thomas feels was spiritual. That's the best way I could describe it. Right honey?"

"Eye opening and one of the most beautiful experiences you could ever imagine", Carol said.

"Man, Dylan you think looking at this powers is cool, if Cassie was here you could feel them too. Everybody here could."

"One day I hope", Dylan said as Amber led her kids out.

"Oh speaking of Cassie", Jan said and snapped her fingers. "Heather you like traditional North African clothes, well her mother's side of the family are from Tunisia. I bet they could get you all the traditional dresses you could ever want."

"Really? I went to this market in Sousse and I saw some of most beautiful fabric, but I didn't have enough time to get a dress made and I wasn't planning on going back to the Tunisia on my way home. I would love to get a couple of dresses from Tunisia."

"Shh!! Jan stop encouraging her", Taylor quipped then chuckled.

Jan ignored her. "I don't know the phone number to the house where she's staying at it's in the middle of nowhere so Cassie's cell phone doesn't work. Usually I'd ask Sara to contact her, but even my overpowered friend here has limits."

Sara scrunched her nose. "I apologize for the inconvenience Jan. I'm so sorry that I can't reach all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and halfway across the world's biggest continent to reach Cassie."

"You're gifted too!", Kat asked louder than she would have liked.

"Yes, ma'am I am", Sara replied with a smile.

"Jan, are all of your friends gifted? What about you, Brian? Do you have some special power too?", Kat asked.

"I don't think so, unless you count hanging around with these freaks as a special power of its own."

"Hey", Sara protested and hit Brian in the shoulder.

"So what do you do, Sara?", Kat asked.

"I'm telekinetic and telepathic. One of the first things I learned how to do was to speak to people over distances using just my mind."

Junior jammed his heels into the ground and turned around to face Sara, who he thought was really cute. "I don't understand. How do you talk to people?", he asked with the enthusiasm his younger brother usually had.

Sara grinned and everyone in the room heard her say, "Like this." Only they didn't hear it with their ears, they heard it with their minds.

"That is so cool!", Dylan shouted. "You can do that to anybody!"

"No, like Jan said, I can only reach out so far. I can reach from Mississippi to Malibu to talk to Alisha or to Maryland to talk to Jan, so from here if I pushed hard enough I might be able to reach near the Azores, but Cassie is way, way farther away than…", Sara's voice trailed off and her face grew a frown.

"What's wrong", Alisha asked in a whisper. She didn't have to whisper, but both Jan and Alisha had a healthy respect for Sara and her power. If something was troubling to her, it should probably be troubling to everyone.

"This shouldn't be possible", Sara muttered and shut her eyes tightly. Her hands involuntarily balled into fists and her muscles tensed as she pushed her power to its limits. She'd thought about Cassie and she'd felt her briefly, touching Cassie with her mind. She reached out more until she felt the connection with her friend. "Cassie?", Sara asked with a thought.

"Yeah, who else would it be?", Cassidy Redwine thought back.

Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead as she worked to keep the connection. "How is this possible? I can reach out maybe 3000 miles but not twice that far." Sara felt Cassie's sigh.

"Sara, how many times have we linked in the last month?"

"Six or seven at least", Sara replied.

"Exactly! We're linked. It's not a temporary thing although you don't feel it all the time. You're using your power and mine to make this connection and to be honest you're seriously tiring me out. Hold on a second." Cassie's attention left the connection. It started to falter and Sara struggled to hold on. In Tunisia, Cassie quickly reached out and grabbed her cousin's hand and pulled her close. The slightly older girl wondered what was happening until she felt the familiar power of the linking flow from Cassie's body into hers. The young woman quickly reciprocated and instantly Cassie's power and her cousin's were joined.

Suddenly for Sara the strain of maintaining the connection with Cassie was gone. It was like Cassie was a city away instead of a continent away.

"What just happened?", Sara asked.

"I got us some help. Say hello to my cousin Shayma. She's adding her power to ours so we both don't feel like we're going to have an aneurysm."

"That's right. All the women in your family have the same power as you do."

"Yep and Shayma is really good at it. Better than I am."

"Well, thank you so much Shayma", Sara thought. "I couldn't have kept that up much longer."

"Me neither", Cassie agreed. "But Shayma doesn't speak a word of English. So unless you can think in Tunsi I'll have to translate."

Sara laughed out loud and opened her eyes to see that every single person was looking at her. "I can connect with Cassie in Tunisia", she said even if only Jan and Alisha knew the significance of that.

"So what's goin on?", Cassie thought.

"A lot really. I'm at Jan's family's place in Palm Beach and it turns out that three of Jan's cousins are gifted like her."

"Now that's special!", Cassie exclaimed.

"Yeah, they all just told the rest of the family their secret. Most of them took it pretty well, but not everybody unfortunately."

"There're always haters", Cassie said. "Damn I wish I was there. Tell Jan and Alisha I said hello. Oh and Thomas too… I think I feel him there too."

"You can feel Thomas?", Sara asked with her mind but the question was on her face too.

"Through you I can. Anyway, I would talk longer, but I'm baking khubuz and my hands are covered with flower… and so are Shayma's now." She laughed in her cousin's kitchen, but with Cassie's family nobody thought it was strange that she was talking to somebody who wasn't in the room.

"Okay, talk to you later." Sara broke off the connection. It wasn't as simple as hanging up a phone. She got a little light headed when she was finished. "You know what", she said out loud. "I am going to bed."

Taylor had observed Sara using her awesome abilities to have a conversation, but she had to do it the old fashioned way. She bounded up the stairs, her long legs taking three steps at once on her way to the landing. She pushed open her bedroom door and hoped to see the blinking light on her phone saying that she'd missed a message. It was blinking, but each missed call was from a friend wondering if she was coming out to party after the Cook-Out. Taylor dialed her father again and left a third voice message. Taylor wondered what was holding him. She walked across the hall and tapped her knuckles against the door. She didn't wait for an answer to open it.

"Mom. Have you heard from Dad?"

"I was just about to call him. He left me a message saying that he and Montez were about to leave the hospital."

"Hospital?"

"Yeah, he and Montez went to see Hugh Hastings. He got stabbed by Slater. Can you believe that? I always knew Slater was damaged, but not that damaged."

"He's pretty bad. I told you what happened with him. Maybe I should call Montez. Maybe he'll answer his phone?"

"I don't think so", Heather said with a sigh. "I just called him and it went straight to voicemail. I'm starting to worry. About both of them."

"Who was working protection on Hugh Hastings? The local cops?", Taylor asked.

"I don't know", Heather said and started out the room. "I'll call Mrs. Worthington and see if she knows."

Taylor didn't know exactly what to do. She started towards her room, but instead she lingered in the hall near the large rear window. "Something wrong?", Jan asked from down the hall. "Still can't get Uncle Ted on the phone?"

"No. And I'm starting to worry."

"Let me ask Sara. She'll find him."

Taylor sighed. "I should have thought about that."

"Don't beat yourself up. I take advantage… umm… I mean ask Sara to use her powers all the time." Sara was brushing her teeth when Jan came over and Sara already knew she wanted something. "Hey, we can't get a hold of Uncle Ted. Have you been around him long enough to find him?"

"Yeah, I have. Hold on a sec." While Sara was rinsing her mouth one last time, she reached out with her mind feeling hundreds of thousands of people as she searched until she found the one mind she was looking for. "Oh no", she breathed and both Jan and Taylor saw Sara's face change as she concentrated.

"He's hurt", she blurted out.

"What!", Jan and Taylor both yelled. "Hurt how?", Taylor continued.

"He's unconscious, and there're men around him."

"Where is he?"

Sara frowned as she pushed her gift further, holding her breath the entire time. "I can't tell exactly. He's too unaware for me to get a good read."

"Who are the men around him?", Taylor demanded.

"I don't know. To me they're just like faces in a crowd. They're the ones moving him though and someone else is with them too. Someone I've met. The guy from last night at the headquarters. Heather's friend."

"Montez?"

"Yeah. He's there and he's hurt too. I can't tell how badly."

Heather walked up and instantly felt the chilled panic in the air without anyone saying a word. She didn't get a chance to ask what the problem was. Her cell phone rang. It was Martha Worthington.

At the parking lot of the now empty hospital the police had been meticulously running every license plate and crosschecking it with visitor logs and hospital staff parking permits. Deputy Marcos a ten year veteran of the sheriff's office was the guy checking the VIN and plates of a brand new Bugatti. Even in a part of the country where super cars weren't uncommon, that Veryon was pretty damned sweet. He had about five cars to run so he went back to his squad car and used the computer. That beautiful Bugatti belonged to a Theodore and Katherine Matthews on South Ocean in Palm Beach. Neither of those names matched any name on the visitor's list, so it got sent to the chief deputy who was standing next to the chick from the Feds. Officer Marcos didn't quite know what to make of the Fed. She obviously knew what she was doing, but she was hiding something. Actually she was hiding a lot and Deputy Marcos had been a cop long enough to know, but they were supposed to be on the same side so he let his suspicions go. He handed his list of un-matching names to the chief.

Martha wasn't paying attention to the names being discussed. Her mind was on Angie. Somehow that young woman had survived this. An ambulance was rushing her to another hospital where hopefully the doctors would be able to save her life. Martha wasn't a big proponent of hope. One of her old trainers at the Farm used to tell her to hope in one hand and shit in the other and see which one filled up first. Martha was torn from her own thoughts when she heard the names Theodore and Katherine Matthews.

"What is it? Were they here?", Martha asked the chief deputy with an urgency that he hadn't heard from her.

"I don't know, but one of their cars is here. People who live on the island probably have several cars in their stables and sometimes they might let a staff member or friend drive one of them, but I seriously doubt even a loaded family like that would let some staff member roll off with a brand new Bugatti. So it's safe to say that some member of that family was with that car here at this hospital, but my guys have seen hide nor hare of them. They could have been in the stairwell collapse, but there's no way to know yet."

Martha felt her mouth suddenly go dry. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Taylor. Taylor didn't answer right away so she quickly dialed Heather. Heather answered on the first ring.

"Heather!", Martha began too loudly then calmed her voice considerably. "Heather, is your father home?"

"No ma'am, he's not. We were looking for him. Do you know where Daddy is?"

Taylor snatched the phone from Heather's hand. "Mrs. Worthington, Sara Hewitt just said our father's hurt and being moved and Montez is injured too. What's going on?"

Martha let out a long sigh and explained what had happened at the hospital. Taylor put the phone on speaker so everybody near could hear. Martha didn't know what happened, but she was good at piecing things together. "We'll get to the bottom of this and we'll get Ted and Montez back unharmed."

"It's too late!", Taylor yelled loudly enough for everybody on the second floor to hear. "They're already hurt!"

"Calm down Taylor."

"Don't tell me to calm down. This isn't supposed to happen!"

"Listen, we have a suspect in custody who was part of the team that carried out this attack. He's enhanced and he's being held in our secure holding. We're going to get him to talk", Martha tried to assure Ted's family, but Taylor didn't even listen to the last part. She slapped the phone back into Heather's hand and rushed from the room. She spent less than ten seconds in her bedroom before running down the hall and jumping down the stairs. She hurried out the back door without saying a word.

"What's going on?", Jack asked with a deep frown. Heather had run down after her sister, but Taylor was already gone. Heather sighed and threw up her hands. She looked at her uncle and quickly explained what they'd just found out. A moment later they heard Taylor's Porsche roar to life and leave a trail of rubber as she sped down the side driveway.

"What's wrong? Heather? Jack?", Kat asked getting more frantic by the word. "Somebody talk to me."

"There might be some trouble, Kat. Stay here", Jack urged his sister. "I'll call you when I know something. Heather, you come with me. You have to show me the way. We have to meet Taylor there."

Uncle and niece went running out the back door towards the garage. Jack saw the fluorescent orange Plymouth Superbird that Jan had picked out for him at the auction sitting there, and he grabbed the keys. He'd only wanted to admire it for a day before shipping it to Baltimore, but now he and Heather jumped in. He needed something fast if they hoped to catch Taylor, or at least stay close.

"So are you going to interrogate him?", the lead guard asked as they stood on the ground level of the secret detention facility.

"Honestly I'm not in too big a hurry to go in the cell with that big behemoth. I've already pissed him off twice. A third time might be tempting fate. Know what I mean?"

The guard laughed. "Yeah, when he started against those chains I sounded all sure of myself, but hell if I didn't think he'd snap 'em."

Kevin chuckled and slapped the guard on the back. "Me too. I was trying to remember how many bullets I had in my gun." Kevin took a bite of a bologna sandwich and glanced at his watch before looking down at the notes he'd written after Martha Worthington's call. Montez was possibly captured as was Ted Matthews, Taylor and Heather's father. Martha told Kevin to try and get information, but it was Kevin's expert opinion that anybody who went in the cell with that enhanced subject was needlessly risking their lives. He'd called Miami for a specialized team to come and take over the questioning, but they'd had to call Washington. It would take a few hours for the team to arrive and until then Kevin was content to wait, far away from Ken.

Kevin had a mouthful of sandwich when he looked at the security monitor and saw a Porsche drive into the parking lot like it was a speedway. The car whipped into a parking place and came to a tire screeching stop. The door flew open and both men saw a pair of legs before they saw anything else. They might have even drooled when Taylor finally stood up and came fully into view, if it hadn't been for the look on her face. Taylor's face was etched with a single minded, burgeoning anger that threatened to steamroll anything in her path. She marched to the simple door and placed her hand on the knob. Her prints were already encoded into the system and the door unlocked in a second. Kevin was sure that if it had taken any longer that she would have simply torn it off the hinges.

"Oh shit", Kevin breathed. "I didn't think she'd come here so fast!"

"What? You mean that hot chick? You know her?"

"We've worked together a couple times. That's Taylor Matthews, her father's the one who's been abducted! We have to keep her away from the suspect!" Kevin threw his sandwich down and rushed into the hall. The head guard followed him quickly.

"Taylor!", Kevin yelled from far down the hall as Taylor approached at a fast walk, her long long legs chewing up the distant quickly. "Just hold on a sec, Taylor. I've got a team coming to interrogate him."

"I'll take care of that myself", she said without slowing.

"Whoa, Taylor", Kevin said and put his hands up like she was oncoming train and he was stuck on the tracks. "Just hold on."

"Get out of my way", she ordered. Kevin took a look at Taylor's face and their eyes met. The look in her azure eyes made the trained Federal agent's palms sweat and his mouth dry out. He didn't tell his legs to do it, but he moved to one side. Taylor continued her march towards the end of the hall where the stairs to the underground holding cells were.

The lead guard looked at Kevin wilt and frowned. He was head of security here and he stepped into the middle of the hall. He stuck out his left hand while putting his right hand on his tazer.

"Miss Matthews, you can't go down there. I'm gonna have to ask you to stop", the guard said in his most commanding tone. Taylor exhaled a small sigh of annoyance and kept walking.

"Stop!", the guard ordered and unholstered his tazer. "I'll be forced to restrain you!", the guard warned before pulling the trigger.

Twin barbs flew out at Taylor. She swatted both towards the wall with a seeming casual wave of her hand. The guard was stunned as she took a quick step towards him and gripped his uniform shirt in her hand. She quickly wrapped a little material around her fingers and lifted the grown man off the ground like he was weightless. His mouth dropped open and his body twitched with shock as this stunningly beautiful woman walked by him. She came to the second to last door on the right and shoved it open. She practically jumped down the stairs and opened the door to the holding area where several guards were gathered to look after Ken in case he tried something else.

Taylor barged in and looked around at the cage like area. Everything was made of thick steel, rough concrete, and thick ballistic glass windows. She saw the guards off to her left and to her right she saw a single man standing in a cell. Taylor headed towards that cell's door. Several guards came out as she stood in front of the thick steel door. Men froze in their tracks when Taylor looked in their direction. "Open it."

"Umm… we can't."

"I said OPEN IT!!!!", Taylor screamed so loudly it hurt the men's ears. They shrank away from her. A guard in the control room took quick furtive glances at Taylor while he spoke into a phone. Men pulled out their clubs and inched towards the tall woman standing in front of the door.

"Go ahead and open the door", Ken taunted, his voice sounding over the speakers in the control room and out into the hall. "I want to have a bit of fun!" He threw his head back and laughed. "Let the bitch in." The guards ignored him.

"Ma'am we need you come with us", the bravest and closed guard cooed.

Taylor huffed in pure frustration. She'd been trying to keep her calm, but this was all too much for her. An image of her injured father came into her mind and the dam that she'd built years ago to hold back her power burst. Taylor's power spilled out, instantly flooding her body with mind boggling strength and uncontainable rage. Taylor pulled her leg back and aimed her ballet slipper covered foot at the side of the door and kicked it as hard as her super powered muscles could. The entire building shook.

The guards scrambled in retreat to the control room and saw that this woman's single kick had actually dented the damn door. It took c4 to damage those fucking doors. "Oh shit", a guard breathed as Taylor pulled back her perfect leg and kicked the door in the exact same spot.

Muscles appeared along the impressive length of Taylor's legs like a mirage in the desert. Muscles that defined and powerful couldn't really exist, but they did and Taylor's second kick was even harder than the first. The building rang like an oversized concrete gong as the prolonged sound from this impact took seconds to fully dissipate. Dust filled the hallway as pulverized concrete floated in the air so thick the cameras couldn't see through. A shaft a light from the brighter lit cell shined through the newly created gap between the door and wall. The top corner of the door was bent and the heavy door sat askew in its frame while the wall around the doorway had chunks of cement missing. Taylor stepped forward and thrust her hands into that small crack, working her fingers all the way inside. For a couple of ticks nothing happened as Taylor inhaled, filling her powerful lungs with more air than even a girl her size should have been able to hold. Her muscles needed oxygen for what she was about to do and her lungs could hold lots and lots of air. A slow grating sounded throughout the holding area as Taylor's hands started moving apart. The hydraulics of the door and its sheer weight and solid construction fought against her efforts, but Taylor's hands moved apart with an unstoppable certainly. A gasp and quick sharp exhale were all that showed that Taylor was having to work hard at all to destroy what engineers had designed to be nearly indestructible.

When the dust cleared enough for the cameras to send a picture to the monitors, the guards were nearly overcome by their own lust. Taylor's blend of beauty and strength was too much for them to handle. They couldn't take their eyes off her. Her back and shoulders flexed with muscle definition that the men had never seen. Delts and traps swelled bigger and harder as she pulled the doors apart, despite the machinery's best efforts. The more she compressed the hydraulic arms, the harder they could fight her, like an army gathering its forces against the awesome might of Taylor's thickening muscles. Taylor's eyes as narrowed she poured on the strength, forcing the doors back. Her teeth set on edge as she got her first look of the prisoner shackled in the room. He stood wide eyed like all the other men.

Taylor's anger exploded. She yelled and flexed all her muscles as if she hadn't been flexing before. Her entire body thickened as muscles flexed up from beneath her skin. Burgeoning, writhing muscles flexed along her arms and down her back like the squirming masses had minds of their own. A sustained effort moved the door back into the wall almost a foot, and induced a full body flex. Taylor's incredible body exploded in muscle from her neck to her calves. Those inhumanly hard muscles throbbed and pulse with still more power as she took her first step through the doorway. She was so pumped and had so utterly dominated the machinery of the door that she no longer felt its push against her, but it was still there. As soon as she took her right hand off the door frame and took another half step forward the door closing machine kicked in and slammed the door into her like a massive battering ram. Taylor's shoulder and hip took the brunt of the impact. Ken saw the woman's beautiful face turn crimson. He'd thought it was from pain, but he quickly realized that it was from anger instead.

For a moment Taylor's full focus left Ken and shifted to the annoying door. With a grunt of effort, she turned her body to face the door allowing it to close, covering the distance from where her shoulders had been wedged to now hitting her chest. Taylor's hands kept the impact from being as hard as before. Taylor had allowed her power to surge through her like a flood, but now she focused her strength channeling it and increasing her strength immensely. Everybody saw, and even felt the results. A deep chasm formed as Taylor's pecs swelled with oncoming might, thicker, harder, growing more and more defined by the heartbeat. The tight fibers of her chest were stretched like high tension steel as she bench pressed the door away from her despite the full power of the machinery. Her triceps billowed out like sails in the wind looking like thousands of razor blades laid side by side. Her always impressive deltoids split from three heads to a hundred pulsing ribbons of pure muscle. Her abs sucked in, making her already slim waist seem to disappear as her chest thickened and thickened with muscle. Her proportions were beyond human as she overpowered the machinery.

Veins fluttered the surface of her unblemished skin, surging and throbbing to feed blood to her still growing muscles. She let out a groan and demanded more, focusing more of her seemingly endless power and rage towards her task. Seals burst in the wall. The engines whined and screeched like scared animals, but Taylor wasn't done with the door. She had to get it out of her way so she could get to that bastard in the cell without any more delays. She spread her hands, gripping the door near the top and middle then she twisted. For a second the confines of the door's track stayed tight, but Taylor's muscles weren't to be denied. The wall bowed outward like a growing blister and the entire building began to resonate with the vibrations of Taylor's straining muscles. Something had to give. Fortunately it was the wall. Chunks of concrete shot across the hall covering the floor as the door and the attached machinery burst through.

Taylor stumbled sideways a step after taking the full weight of the ten inch thick door. It was the only sign that she possibly had limits at all, but now her legs got into the action. Her thighs tensed to match her upper body with lengths of ropey muscle flexing under her black yoga pants. Her beautiful rounded glutes tensed into concaved globes while her lower back feathered out like pines as she wrangled the weight of the door. She reset her grip and lifted the door off the ground, holding up much more weight than she had with her family over her head. She turned her body, giving both Ken and the guards in the booth another look at her barely there waist before casually throwing the door to the floor. It landed with a whooshing crash that rattled the guards' teeth in their heads, and rattled Ken in a way he'd never felt before.

He nearly whimpered when Taylor turned those ultra blue eyes back in his direction. She stood in the doorway, her body displaying its full glory before she spoke to him for the first time. "What do your people want with my father?", she demanded and stepped closer.

Ken swallowed a lump in his throat and found his courage. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!", Ken replied.

"LIAR!", Taylor yelled. She rushed forward, extended her hands and pushed Ken in the center of his chest. He flew back like he'd been hit by a bus. The chain uncoiled as he flew towards the back wall. It reached its maximum length, but Ken didn't stop. The chain snapped free of its shackle in the floor. Ken's shoulders burned from the pressure of the breaking chain. His back hit the wall hard enough to send a spider's web of cracks spreading out from the impact area, and suddenly the pain in his arms was eclipsed. Ken groaned and slid to the floor in a heap. Taylor reached down and lifted the huge man up with one hand under his chin.

"Tell me why you want my father!", she yelled.

"Fuck you bitch!", Ken shot back in defiance.

Taylor pulled her arm back before driving a punch into Ken's guts. He doubled over. She forced him straight. Ken's own enhanced muscles did little to protect him from that punch except perhaps to prevent his death. "Answer me!", she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Ken looked Taylor in the eye and grinned past the bile and slowly declared, "FUCK YOU!" He pulled his hands back and sent a clubbing blow towards Taylor's head. She dodged the basketball sized restraints on his hands, but not the chain. It hit her in the back of the head and knocked her off balance with its great density. Ken saw a chance. He twirled his arms to get the chain waving in a circle patter before he lifted his arms higher and let the chain wrap around Taylor. He grinned as two and then three loops covered her arms and torso.

Taylor regained her balance as Ken pulled back to tighten the chains and even to pull her off her feet, but one long step was enough to keep Taylor upright even with Ken still pulling. Her rage showed on every inch of her perfect body, Ken just wasn't smart enough to see it at first. A snarl curled in the corner of Taylor's mouth her body seemed to be shaking. Her eyes were steady though, and she kept her steely gaze on Ken's hopeful face. "You don't understand", she hissed as the sounds of straining metal started to fill the room. "My father is missing and you were at the hospital", she said as her arms started moving out from her body and the chain links started getting slightly thinner from her stretching them. Ken tried to tighten the chain as she moved her arms, but Taylor flexed her arms and curled them before trusting out her chest and flexing her upper body harder even than when she'd destroyed the door. This flex destroyed the chain. Ten links shattered like porcelain as she freed herself and started towards Ken who raised his hands and clubbed at her again. This time Taylor didn't try to dodge. She caught his powerful blow and absorbed all his force and strength. Her eyes threatened to burn a hole in the suddenly shaken Ken. "You are going to tell me what I want to know!", Taylor said as she began to crush the restraints. The specially hardened metal started to press in on Ken's hands trapped inside while Taylor's unyielding muscles compressed the basketball sized shackle into something approaching a volleyball. A continuous crunching sound filled the cell until Ken's moans started to drown out that sound. His moans became pleas as Taylor doubled her efforts, making her biceps jump another inch in height and girth as she slowly crushed the sphere and Ken's hands. "Tell me and I'll stop", she gave him a tiny bit of hope. Ken screamed like a man rarely screamed. It was only a matter of seconds before his bones surrendered like that shackle. He couldn't even look at Taylor anymore. He couldn't stand to see the power and beauty of her muscles, the individual fibers of her still growing double headed biceps, or the sinews of her straining pectorals, her amazing face, or those eyes. He squeezed his eyelids shut and tried to pull his hands free before she turned them into mush. In the end the shackle saved him. It finally surrendered to Taylor's power and split. Ken yanked his right hand free before using that grip to pull his left hand out too. Though he was on his knees he threw a punch. Taylor fumed because now she was back to square one.

Upstairs, Kevin was just getting his wits about him again while the lead guard was somewhat slower regain he senses. They stood in the main security office where they'd been when Taylor had entered looking at the same cameras as the guards downstairs in the detention area, but no one moved to get closer. She was breaking laws and protocol, but who would arrest her? Who would even get near her? They'd been afraid of Ken, but there wasn't a word for what they felt about Taylor.

Suddenly the door at the end of the hall opened and a big man with coal black hair came running towards them. Kevin had never seen him, but he knew Heather right away. She didn't follow the big man. She ran up the stairs to the operations office calling her sister's name while the big man ran to the security office and slid to a stop. "Where are the detention cells", he yelled. From this close it was easy for Kevin to see the resemblance to both Heather and Taylor. It was uncanny really. He pulled his head into the moment and pointed towards the stairs. He knew he shouldn't have told this man, but between nearly dying the night before and seeing Taylor wrapped up in her fury, Kevin was all out of nerve when it came to defying any member of that family.

Jack used the railings to jump down bunches of stairs at a time. Even in his hurry, he could hear and feel the impacts of blows happening down below. They felt like bass at a concert thumping in his chest. He burst through the door and looked to his left and right. A gaggle of facility guards were huddled in the control room making no effort to stop Taylor's dismantling of their prisoner. Jack took off towards holding cell number two, taking care to step over or around the debris left from Taylor's entrance.

Inside the cell Taylor hit Ken again and again. "Who wants my father and why?", Taylor demanded and punctuated her question with a punch. She'd already roughed Ken up but she slammed him against the wall again. "Tell me!", she screamed.

Ken smiled at her. "I hope they fuckin kill the bastard."

Taylor growled in frustration and drew her arm back. She'd hit him a dozen times, but this one was different. He saw her big fist squeeze tighter and muscles ripple up her forearms. He saw her biceps tighten to maddening definition in the instant before she slammed her punch into the side of Ken's face so hard the shatterproof glass rattled from the concussion wave. All the teeth on the left side of Ken's head flew out of his mouth and shattered when they hit the polished concrete floor. "Got anything else funny to say!", Taylor screamed as blood poured from Ken's mouth like an open faucet.

Jack entered the doorway and saw Taylor beating a really big guy mercilessly. "Tell me the truth!", she yelled and hit Ken with a right that might have taken the head off a buffalo. A couple of the bravest guards ran up behind Jack to stop him from going in, but he ran in before they could stop him. Jack hurried up to Taylor and put his hand on her arm before she delivered another punch. The guards gasped thinking that this guy had just signed his death warrant. Instead Taylor paused.

"Taylor", Jack called out just above a whisper. "You're killing him. You need to stop it", he said calmly.

"But his people have my father. And he's going to talk."

"Not if you keep choking him like that he won't." Ken's eyes had already rolled back in their sockets and his face had turned three shades of red and purple. "Just let him go."

Taylor hesitated for a moment, the rage was still coursing through her body unchecked, but she opened her fingers and let Ken fall to the floor. "He's going to talk!", Taylor yelled. Jack took her by the shoulders and spun her towards him so they faced each other. A thin sheen of sweat coated her angelic features and the rage was still there too, but Jack saw right past that to the root.

"Of course he's going to talk", he assured his niece.

"Then let me finish!", she screamed. A lesser man would have shrunk away, as the guards had done, but Jack had seen this before. He'd seen the power in his daughter's eyes and he'd felt her muscles' unreal hardness when she'd used her power.

"Taylor, do you trust me."

"Of course I do", she answered at once.

"Then come on. Let's handle this the right way." Jack wrapped one of his big long arms around Taylor's shoulders while using his other hand to turn her face away from Ken's unconscious body. All at once Taylor threw her arms around Jack and buried her face on his shoulder and began to cry.

"I just want Daddy back, Uncle Jack!" Her tears wet Jack's shirt as he rubbed the back of her head and gave her a tight reassuring squeeze.

"Oh, we're going to get Ted back alright. He had no business getting himself abducted in the first place", he told Taylor in her ear as he led her from the room. "Your dad always did think he was John Wayne… when he's really more like Smiley Burnette." Jack chuckled and Taylor looked at him with a frown.

"I don't even know who that is."

Jack rubbed her shoulder. "You can ask Ted when you see him. You'll see him soon."

"I hope so", Taylor allowed and sighed.

The guards in the hallway looked at Jack like a hero for even getting within ten feet of Taylor. He stopped as he got to the doorway and looked at a guard. "Get that prisoner cleaned up and his injuries attended to." The guards had no idea who this big guy was, but he seemed like a man who was used to his orders being followed so they got busy. "And when she gets here ask Miss Hewitt to see me."

"Sara?", Taylor asked as she still walked with her head on her uncle's shoulder. "What's she going to do?"

"Interrogate your big friend. Find out what he knows about Ted and Montez."

"Sara?", Taylor asked again and cocked an eyebrow. "Jan's friend Sara?"

Jack laughed and gave Taylor's impossibly hard body another squeeze. "Don't let her sweet little Goldie Locks southern belle thing fool you. Trust me, when Sara's done with that guy in there, he'll be more afraid of her than he was of you."

to be continued...

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