"Can I come in", Jean asked.

Benny nodded, and X-415 allowed him to pass. Against anyone else, Jean would have been protected by her, but Benny was the boss, and her ultimate responsibility even against other people in the Organization.

Jean walked in and could hardly contain his glee. He wanted to stay neutral, but there was no way he could. "I found Peteris", Jean informed his boss.

Benny's entire being perked up. "Did you now?" Benny slid to the edge of the sofa. At one time, he had thought that Peteris was a friend. While Benny had controlled computer security for Jason Mallster, Peteris had been one of the custodians of the strength serum used to make the super soldiers. Just before the Feds had raided the Texas lab, Benny had entrusted Peteris with the strength serum and the formula. After things had died down, Benny had called Peteris to tell him to come to Georgia, but Peteris had ignored him. Only recently they had found out that Peteris was selling Syndicate technology to the highest bidder. "So where's he hiding?"

Jean had to play his next hand carefully because he wasn't sure how Benny would take the news. "He's hiding in Chicago."

Benny's face turned red. "Bastard!", he exclaimed. Peteris knew that Benny had a history with Chicago police, and not a good one. He had been arrested by Chi-town police and tried in Federal Court in the Windy City. Peteris knew all of this, and Benny knew that he knew.

"The fucking nerve of him!", Benny yelled loudly enough to make X-415 look around for a threat. "Get our things together, Jean", Benny began and stood up. "Get the soldiers ready. We're going to Chicago!"

www

Nineteen year old Jan Caufield appeared to everyone to be a strikingly beautiful, talented, and extremely confident young woman. Her athletic and shapely body, her wonderfully beautiful face, her piercing and intense deep blue eyes, plus her unwavering confidence fueled envy, lust, jealousy, respect, or admiration in just about everyone she met. Jan was not a person who faded into anyone's background. She got noticed wherever she went. It wasn't everyday that a six foot beauty with a graceful walk and a self-assured demeanor came by. Her personality was even more powerful than her body, and it had to be, because Jan Caufield wasn't normal. Nothing about her was normal. It wasn't normal that she had been shot, stabbed, poisoned, burned, electrocuted, dissected, and yet didn't have a scar on her perfect body. It also wasn't normal that usually Jan could bench press a tractor for reps or uproot a tree if she wanted.

Jan's strength had always been a burden for her while growing up. She wasn't always extra strong though. Most of the time, she walked around with only her natural strength, but her power was always inside of her. She would feel her strength inside burning with a fury that she had to consciously work at keeping bottled. In her younger days, she had failed quite often. She had been prone to tantrums that could damage her home or cars or any people near by. At those times, Jan had felt so alone because no one could help her. She didn't want to damage anything or hurt anybody, but her power felt like a volcano, and every day Jan was trying to keep a lid on it, trying to keep her emotions under control. It didn't help that Jan was rather temperamental and prone to annoyance anyway, but she had fought to control her strength and had finally prevailed. It had been random and unpredictable before, but finally Jan had learned not only to keep her volcano of strength from erupting inside of her, she had learned how to control it and use it at her will. Only in the last year had Jan's opinion of her power changed. She felt comfortable with it. It was finally a part of her that she liked. Which was why she had been so down recently.

Jan had always thought of her strength as the active part of her power, and her ability to heal quickly and completely from injuries to be passive. She just waited for her body to do its thing, but in the last two weeks, she had learned that she had been wrong. She had the ability to control her body's healing. She could speed it up even faster than it had healed before, and she was trying to learn how to slow it down even slower than a normal person heals. It had been a fascinating internal project, until her strength started failing. She couldn't call on it at will, and it had gotten worse. Now she couldn't even feel that fury that had always been the core of her power. It had been replaced by the soothing calmness of her healing power, and sometimes that feeling of calmness would linger. It felt like her own natural Prozac.

"Now why are we way down here?", Jan asked her friend Sara Hewitt as she looked out over the parking lot.

"Because I want some fresh vegetables for supper tonight", Sara replied in her genteel Mississippi accent. She put her Hummer H3 in park and turned it off. It was Sara's turn to cook, and she wanted to do it right.

Jan threw up her hands and slapped them down in frustration. "We passed like ten grocery stores on the way down here. I think they all had vegetables", she exclaimed as she looked around with her better than perfect eyesight.

Sara smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Jan, you don't get fresh produce from a huge grocery store. You get fresh produce from a farm, which is why we're here at the Farmer's Market."

Jan narrowed her azure eyes and stared at Sara, who narrowed her eyes and glared back. The two powerful teens stared at each other allowing the tension to build until Jan could no longer take it. Her face broke into a wide grin, and she laughed.

"I win again", Sara chirped. "That's five in a row."

"Damn, I thought I had you this time."

Sara chuckled and engaged the parking brake. "You can only beat me when you're mad."

"And I'm having a hard enough time getting mad", Jan said and sighed.

Sara pulled her keys from the ignition. She knew that Jan didn't care about winning a stare down, she just wanted her strength back. "You'll figure it out, Jan. New powers after all these years is sort of tough, but you'll get it all together."

"I hope so, because I didn't realize how much I liked my strength until I don't have it. I mean, without it, I feel.... ordinary."

Sara laughed loudly. "Jan, you are a lot of things. Stubborn, obstinate, high strung, annoying, but you're not ordinary in the least."

Jan gasped. "Since when have I been annoying?"

Sara grinned and pushed some of her blond hair from her face. "Since forever, now let's get out, so I can buy some vegetables."

Jan pulled the handle and stepped out. Heads turned immediately and obviously when the two 19 year old's exited the Hummer. Ever since she was 14 or 15, Jan had gotten stares from boys and men alike. She was used to it, but it was still relatively new to Sara. Sara had worked hard for the body she now sported, and since she was now unattached, she didn't mind a few stares.

Sara started down the rows of vegetables and fruit while Jan went off to the side to buy herself some food. If there was anything that Jan loved on a level near family, friends, and music, it was food. She simply did not have the ability to walk past good smelling food. She rubbed her stomach unconsciously as she stood in line, idly tracing the tracks and grooves of the abdominal muscle that lurked just under her smooth skin and under her blouse. Those abs probably wouldn't be as defined for a while after she stuffed herself with funnel cake.

Sara walked past several booths until she found one with gourds that met her satisfaction. She walked up to a little counter and asked with a sweet smile on her pretty face, "Sir, could I have two pounds of squash?"

The man put down his paper and stood up straight. A grin spread across his weathered lips. "You most certainly can, young lady." A girl in her mid-teens started putting the squash on the scale. When they were weighed and bagged, the man put the squash on the counter. "Anything else, Miss?"

Sara had been looking at the peaches then she stood up straight. "Yes sir, I'd like to get some snap peas."

"How much?", the farmer asked quickly.

"Oh, umm, only one peck.", Sara replied in her naturally sweet tone of voice.

"Peck, I haven't heard that one in a while. Get that peck scoop over there", the farmer told his daughter. She started moving immediately. He turned back to Sara. "You must have grown up on a farm."

Sara smiled. "Yes sir, I did."

"There's not too many family farms around these days. I hope the farm's doin good and going to stay in your family."

"Oh yes sir, it is. My younger brother's grooming to take over after my father retires." Sara didn't want to tell the man that even though her family's Clover Bottom Farm sold a couple million dollars worth of both soybeans and cotton each year, it was really just a side business for the Hewitt's.

While Sara chatted with the farmer, Jan had started eating her piping hot funnel cake. She broke off several fingers full and started chewing. She had to open her mouth quickly and suck in some air to cool it, but she swallowed it anyway. It had been a while since she had indulged herself like this, and that much sugar felt great going down. She took her funnel cake towards the side of the market where she found an area with built in benches and a little stage for shows. It was empty at this time of day. There was an upright piano on the stage, but she was too busy stuffing her face to even think about playing music. She walked past the stage to a display case with little crafts locked behind glass. She stepped closer and looked at some of the miniatures, smiling after reading the label. They had been made by second graders at a local school. Little things like this always made Jan's heart flutter. She wondered distantly if she would ever get a chance to settle down and have children. Her thoughts of a future were interrupted when the breeze brought with it a scent that she remembered from a couple of weeks earlier. Jan had been leaning down to inspect a little fire engine. Her face twisted for an instant in recognition of what was about to happen before she sighed and stood up.

"Agent Miles", Jan called without turning around.

"There's no mirror back there, and I didn't approach on a line that gave you a reflection in the glass. That was impressive", the FBI agent said as he approached. Aaron Miles was wearing a dark sports coat and gray slacks, looking very official. He didn't need to have his badge showing. Everything about him screamed 'Fed'. He removed his sunglasses and tucked them into the pocket of his jacket.

Jan turned to face Agent Miles while holding her plate of half finished funnel cake. "So, to what do I owe this honor, or are you here shopping like everybody else?"

"As much as I'd like to say I'm just here for the food, I can't."

Jan shoved more cake in her mouth then licked her fingers glancing up at him the entire time. He looked official, but as a man there was no denying this young woman's beauty. It had helped her get through life without a doubt, but it wouldn't help with him.

"Too bad. This cake is pretty damned good."

"No", he began and patted his stomach. There was just the smallest layer of fat around his middle. "Can't afford the calories."

Jan patted her own stomach, letting him hear the solid smacks against the muscle. "I seem to manage" She flexed her arm that held the cake and caught him looking.

"I didn't notice before, Miss Caufield, but you keep yourself in pretty good shape." Jan wasn't wearing anything revealing or tight, but she couldn't hide the fact that her body was in top condition.

"I was draped in a blanket last time you saw me", Jan reminded him and ate some more cake.

There was a pause where Jan waited for him to make the next move, and he did. "First, there are some things that I would like you to clear up for me, Miss Caufield, about that armored car robbery."

"Attempted robbery", Jan corrected him.

"You're right. I'm sorry." He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and opened it to one of the several pages that had Jan Caufield written across the top. "I have read the official report several times, and there are some answers in the report that lead to other questions that Special Agent Wills did not ask. The evidence points towards an explosion equivalent to several pounds of TNT. Every eye witness says that at the time of the explosion you were within its blast radius, and yet you have no ill effects from that explosion. Also, forensics point out that the door to the armored truck was removed with force prior to the explosion, and it takes a hydraulic lift to get those doors on. Then there is the matter of how exactly you got from Parking Garage A on the seventh floor, across the street to Parking Garage B on the second floor quickly enough to intercept a speeding car?"

Jan looked at him blankly, blinking her deep blue eyes and eating more cake. "Are these rhetorical questions, or are you expecting answers different from the ones in the report?"

He studied Jan's face for a moment before he said, "I'm expecting the truth." His tone had taken a hard edge.

Usually Jan could match anybody's intensity with her own, but not right now. She had been toying with her healing power, and she was finding it hard to escape her inner serenity. "Agent Miles, everything in that report is true", she told him, stalling and hoping that her regular self would emerge and her Prozac self would go away for just a moment.

"Okay, let's say for the sake of argument that it is. I'm not calling you a liar, Miss Caufield, but I am saying that you are not telling me the whole truth."

"What would make you say that?"

Agent Miles tapped his pen to the notebook. "You see, I know that there's more to this story. I have unexplained impressions in steel, and the forensics guys can only guess at what made them. They look like they were made by human hands, but Miss Caufield we both know that no human can rip a 400 pound door off the back of an armored car, or toss an armored hatchway like a load of laundry." He looked at her face for a reaction.

Jan's brow gathered. "I don't know what you're talking about." Jan's guard went up and her mind started racing for solutions. She had no idea what hatchway he was talking about. She didn't remember ever throwing an armored hatch, but she did remember ripping the door off the armored truck. This FBI agent was pressuring her about things she couldn't talk about.

Agent Miles sighed in frustration. "Don't play with me, Miss Caufield. The gaps in your account are glaring when you look at the evidence, and that harms your credibility. If you are hiding one thing, then what else are you hiding."

"I don't have a thing to add, Agent Miles." Jan was mentally holding her ground, but emotionally she just wasn't up to a confrontation. She just wished that he would leave her alone.

Sara had bought squash, peas, and okra from the farmer, and she was carrying her bounty towards her H3 when she saw Jan standing talking to some man. Sara didn't have to use her power to tell that Jan was uncomfortable. Jan's body language told her that plainly and clearly. She headed towards the two of them.

"Why are you hounding me?", Jan demanded emotionally after another round of questions that she refused to answer.

"The courts that are to try these men must have the facts if the trial is to be upheld. The Bureau can not afford loose ends. You have to tell me the truth, Miss Caufield."

"I have told you all there is to tell." Jan's voice was raised just a little, and she didn't know what else to say.

"Miss Caufield, I am prepared to--"

"Oh, Jan, there you are", Sara drawled then shifted her load of bags so she could hold them in one hand. "I've been looking for you. Aren't you ready to go?", Sara asked without even looking in Agent Miles direction.

Agent Miles cleared his throat loudly and unnecessary. Both girls looked at him. "You must be Sara Hewitt", the agent said with a knowing grin.

"Hmm." Sara tapped her finger to her chin. "I don't like it when someone knows my name, and I don't know theirs."

"Aaron Miles, F.B.I."

Sara smiled at him cheerfully. "Well of course you are. Come on Jan let's go. I have lots of cooking to do."

"You're interrupting an investigation", Miles said in his most commanding tone.

"Oh, am I? I'm so sorry", Sara began innocently. "I thought you were finished", she lied.

"I am not finished at all. Miss Caufield hasn't answered one of my questions."

Sara turned and started towards her Hummer. Agent Miles took Sara by her arm and spun her quickly. "I said that I wasn't finished."

He was surprised when this young girl turned to face him. Annoyance and then anger flashed across her blue-gray eyes. He could feel her body tense at his touch. He was surprised at how solid this girl's body was. It was easy to see that Jan was a physical specimen. Sara's physique was quite solid too, but it wasn't her body he had to worry about. Sara was one of the world's most powerful telekinetics with more than enough power to easily fold Aaron Mile's body in half. He didn't know any of that, but somewhere deep down he knew that it was not a good idea to keep his hand on her arm. He was also skirting the edge of FBI policy.

"Agent Miles, you are finished", Sara informed him after gathering herself and letting her anger abate. Sara rarely got angry, because unlike Jan, Sara's power relied on her complete control. When she got angry, her power could become really dangerous and unpredictable.

"We're leaving", she said and put her groceries in the Hummer. Agent Miles could not hide his frustration. Sara knew that there was no way he could hold them, and he could tell that she knew, but Sara wouldn't let it rest at frustration. She started to climb into her suv, but turned to the neutered feeling FBI agent.

"Leave my friend alone. She did a good thing the other week. Don't you have some real bad guys to track?" She paused and watched his face turn a shade of red. She climbed into her vehicle then rolled down the window. "Oh, and Agent Miles. Don't ever touch me again." Sara could almost see the steam rising from under his collar.

"Thanks", Jan said after they were on the interstate heading north.

"No problem. I could tell you weren't at your best."

"He caught me at a bad time. And you want to knew the funny part?"

Sara smiled then changed lanes. "You were feeling normal by the time we left?"

"Yeah, exactly. Like right now, I'm perfectly fine. Well no strength, but no Prozac feeling either."

"That Miles guy is going to be back to talk to you again, you know."

Jan grinned and collected the rest of the powdered sugar on her finger. "Yeah, well next time he's going to get regular Jan, and he may not find me so easy to deal with."

Agent Miles did stay at the Farmer's Market long enough to buy some food, not because he was hungry, but because he was too angry to drive. He had a bad temper. It rarely came out these days. Showing the FBI shield was usually enough to get people to cooperate, but not Jan Caufield. He could tell that she was uncomfortable talking to him, but she hadn't been nervous in the least. There was something not quite right with Miss Caufield, and he had never noticed it before, and her friend Sara Hewitt gave him that same feeling. They had a confidence that wasn't simply rich girl snobbery, or ignorance of real life. Those two girls had the sort of earned confidence that very few 19 year olds in the world had. He wasn't sure where it came from, but he decided that he was going to have to do some more background on Jan Caufield. He was curious about Sara Hewitt too, but he couldn't seem to get Jan Caufield out of his mind. Something just wasn't adding up the way it should. He would do some digging, and stay vigilant. Something else strange was bound to happen. It would happen that very night, but in Illinois.

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Chicago looked much the same as it had when last he'd seen it, but Benny no longer looked at its women as his prey. He was here for bigger reasons, besides he had the confidence to pick up a woman if he wanted. Benny, Jean, and X-415 had been spying on the office building where Peteris had set up his little moneymaking operation. The rest of the super soldiers were waiting in a van about a mile away. There was no need to draw attention. Instead the three people sat in the car looking at the building. It was located just outside the loop and seemed to be completely legit. Peteris may be disloyal, but he was nobody's fool, which was why Benny was uneasy.

Benny and the group waited until the end of the business day to enter the building for the first time. The sun was setting as they made their way to the 18th floor. Six Femmes and three Series 4's followed Benny and Jean. Benny had them dressed like people going to a business meeting complete with briefcases and the laptop bags that held guns instead of computers.

The hall was empty as the group stood outside the door. Benny sighed and went over his plan in his mind. After he was sure that he had the best plan in mind, he looked at X-415. "Open it discreetly", Benny ordered.

The Asian stepped to the door and took the knob in her smallish hand. The steel commercial lock distorted and dented under her dainty looking fingers. Benny watched the muscles in her little forearms working. The strength of her body made his breathing quicken. A sound like the breaking of sticks brought Benny back to the moment. X-415 lifted up on the door using the knob. The wood fibers of the thick fire resistant door were being compressed by this Femme, and she was only barely using her strength. The knob popped and springs inside the heavy duty lock were strained beyond their limits. X-415's face never changed, but the tight muscles in her arm did. They solidified and then with a gentle push, the door was forced open. Benny and Jean rushed inside. Jean had his hand on his pistol, but he didn't have to pull it.

Peteris Stolow was sitting behind a desk at the far end of a large room. There were some tables and chairs in the room, but they were of the plainest sort. There was no decorations in this office. The people who had come to this room wanted one thing only, and Peteris was busy locking his remaining supplies of the strength serum in a chilled safe. He turned as the door had been forced open. He looked off to his left down a perpendicular corridor before he looked at the door.

"Benny!" He forced a smile and threw open his arms. Peteris' hands moved from the top of the desk to his lap.

Benny rushed into the room. X-415 would not allow herself to get more than 12 inches from her master's side no matter where he went.

"I'm disappointed in you Peteris." Benny stepped closer. "I trusted you!", Benny could feel himself getting upset. He motioned for the rest of the group to stay back while he approached his friend.

"I'm sorry, Benny. I know you trusted me, but I saw a chance, maybe my only chance. I couldn't let it slip by. You've made your way Benny. You're the boss now, but what about me?"

The super soldiers came a step closer as the tension in the room rose. X-415 stayed with him despite Benny's orders to stay back.

"Look, Peteris, I'll forget about whatever's happened. I don't care about it. I've been a screw up my entire adult life, but we have a chance to do something big. Join the team."

There was a moment of calm while Peteris weighed his future. Tension hung in the air, as he was faced with a fork in his life. He knew that no matter which choice he made, there was no going back. Benny had bared himself in a way that he hadn't to anyone, but it wasn't enough. Peteris never wanted to be told what to do ever again. He didn't have to serve the Syndicate. He could make a new future for himself, and Benny wasn't going to be in it. The change happened inside Peteris's head and it showed on his face before he wanted it to. Benny saw it as clear as the sunrise. He was about to order X-415 to attack, but Peteris made the first move. His fingers found the switch under his desk. He couldn't keep his smile from spreading. Sure Benny was smart, but he was about to be outsmarted. As soon as he flicked the switch, dust and drywall flew. Tons of steel clanged and whistled as it pivoted towards from the ceiling to the floor. Benny threw his hands up as the sides of the cage swung down from the ceiling. Jean had to jump back, but Benny's reflexes weren't as good. X-415's were. Four sides of the cage fell as one trapping everyone either inside or outside. Benny was in between, about to be crushed. X-415 took Benny around the waist, dove to the ground, and rolled out of the path of the cage. The four sides hit their marks on the floor tearing up the cheap commercial carpet exposing the solid concrete floor beneath. Twelve hardened steel locks clicked when the sides banged shut. The Femmes rushed towards the sides of the cage, but even with their enhanced strength, the sides barely wiggled. Benny looked up from the ground at Peteris.

Peteris howled in laugher after looking at Benny's face. He had done it. "Damn! I thought I'd get all of you, but its just as good." As Peteris walked from behind the desk, several men came around the corner. Some of them wore suits, while a couple of them wore exercise gear.

Benny looked over his shoulder at the rest of his group and at the cage that held them. The cage stretched from the ceiling to the floor, and had completely surrounded all of his super soldiers save one. The structure of the cage was made of a polished metal and covered by a a clear material that seemed as hard as the metal itself. The Femmes couldn't get their hands through the gaps between the bars. They were completely useless as they looked for a weakness. He turned to look at Peteris, and Benny could not help, but feel fear. He had X-415, who was more than a match for a group of regular men, and Peteris knew this, and yet he wasn't afraid. That made Benny nervous.

"Like my cage? I made it just for you. I thought you might come looking for me, and I wanted to be ready if you did. I had it installed just a couple of weeks ago. I never did get a chance to test it because... well, you see, I never had a key made for those locks." He laughed again, and Benny's face turned red. He could hear a few of the Femmes and Series 4's testing their strength against the metal, but they were making no headway.

"They're just tiring themselves. I had the cage made from the same stuff that nuclear reactor housings are built of. I'm not a metallurgist, but it must be some strong stuff. I know it'll keep your people in there for a while. I don't know what that plastic stuff is, but it the same stuff Mallster used to keep that Caufield girl in her box up in Oklahoma. If it held her, it'll hold your little girls. Oh, and if you think about sending that almond eyed beauty after me, I want you to know that these guys here have had a healthy dose of the strength serum." He paused and chuckled at something he found amusing. "More than a healthy dose. I think they've used as much of the stuff as I could give them. They're on a quest for ultimate strength. They worship strength, or something like that. Who's ever heard of such a thing? Come to find out, these guys will do whatever I say just as long as I keep them supplied with this serum. I have the formula. I can make as much of the serum as I need to make these guys even stronger and to keep them happy for the rest of their lives."

While Peteris gloated over Benny, Jean was looking for a way out. He had pulled his pistol, but he knew that the sides of the cage were bullet proof. He had seen the Femmes and Series 4's strain their super muscles to the limit so he knew that there was no way a bullet could damage that plastic. All of the super soldiers were using their enhanced muscles against the cage to save their leader and to escape, all except one. X-424 stood in the center of the cage looking at one particular spot near the ceiling, oblivious to the commotion around her.

In a fit of anger and frustration Jean rushed up to her. He took her by the shoulders to shake her, but even all of his strength could not make her move much. "What the hell are you doing!?! What are you looking at?!?", he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"A weakness", the Femme replied simply. Her eyes never left the spot near the ceiling. If Jean had been of a mind to notice, he would have seen the intelligence behind that gaze. It wasn't just the programing working inside X-424's brain, it was her mind. For the first time in a while, Kristen got to use her mind to solve a problem. Her programing didn't have a solution, so the programing had allowed some of Kristen's repressed skills come to the fore in order to complete the mission of saving Benny.

"A what?"

"This cage is low carbon maraging steel, and we can not bend it without more leverage than we have, but that hinge is simple tempered steel. I can break it."

She walked past him and stood in the corner of the cage for a moment before thrusting out her arms. She pressed her hands against the clear covering and pushed herself to where the cage met the ceiling. Because the hinge had been anchored into a flat concrete surface, there was a small gap between the top of the cage and the bottom of the concrete. X-424 used her legs to keep her body up while she worked her fingers into at gap. Her quads were hard, and her calves were sharp, but when she really started working against the hinge, her muscles swelled.

Jean looked up at what X-424 was attempting to do. His eyes wanted to leave her, but in the air like she was, he was taken in by her beauty, and somewhat overwhelmed by her power. He looked at X-424 until he heard laugher coming from behind him. He turned to see Peteris looking at Benny.

Peteris laughed. "Your little girls are hurting themselves trying to get out." he was looking at the Femmes nearest him. He would have been more curious had he noticed X-424, but he didn't.

"Its too bad", Peteris continued. "When your end comes, I'll make sure its not painful." Peteris looked around at the massive men who were flanking him.

Benny glared up. "When its your time, Peteris, one of my Femmes is going tear you to pieces."

Peteris' smile was filled with daggers. His eyes narrowed, and he looked down at Benny. "Kill him", he ordered his men. Then they attacked.

X-415 jumped to her feet, and charged. It looked comical for this one small woman, to be running with such abandon towards men who dwarfed her, but she had no fear or thoughts of her own. She only knew that she had to protect Benny. Peteris' goons ran towards their target with nearly a single minded focus. They saw the Femme coming towards them, but almost disregarded her as a mere nuisance, to be swept aside.

X-415 legs propelled her quickly, and with a might surge, she dove into the man in the lead. Her shoulder plowed into the gut of the lead man. He not only stopped, he was doubled over and driven back. The force threw him from her shoulder all they to the back wall of the office. The partition wall cracked and big chunks of wallboard fell on top of him. They caused no injuries. X-415 had caused plenty however. She didn't stand still thought. She pirouetted out of one man's reach while she saw her next target. She drew her fist back and like an adder's strike sent the punch a goons jaw. The sound of the punch was almost enough to rupture eardrums. The goon staggered, but didn't fall. X-415 turned to find another target, but there were arms wrapping around her very slim, but very hard midsection. Before she could counter, those arms tightened and flung her towards the back of the office. She flew in a blur, crashing through chairs, tables, and anything else in her path, but not the wall. She landed on the ground, planting her feet firmly. X-415's legs flexed to keep her stable, and she tore the carpet, but she kept her balance, and she was uninjured.

The goons thought they had a free path to kill Benny, but X-415 attacked them from behind. She ran to Peteris' desk, and was about to lift it when she noticed a better weapon sitting next to the still unconscious goon who had broken the wall. It had been hidden behind the wall, but she could see it now. Peteris saw her see it. They started for it at the same time. They touched the cool steel sides of the safe at the same time. Peteris yelled at her, but she didn't even notice. X-415 reached out with one arm and put her small hand in the center of Peteris's chest. With only the smallest of movements, she shoved him across the room. He flew without touching the ground only stopping when his back hit the exterior wall. The big glass pains in the windows rattled from the blow. Peteris clutched his chest and tried to breathe.

X-415 took the safe in both her hands. It weighted just under half a ton, but she lifted it over her head with ease. She took a step forward, and took careful aim. She pulled the safe behind her head like a soccer player making a throw-in. Her lats and triceps flared out as she threw the safe. Blood and bits of bone spattered against the clear plastic coating the cage. The goons had been about to dispatch Benny when they saw one of their own die. All the men stopped and looked at what was left of their friend. The safe had hit him where the neck and shoulders met. X-415's throw had been so hard, and the safe had been so heavy, that one corner of the safe had gone into his back, through his super hard bones and out his front, showering those around with pieces of him. They all turned, and started towards X-415. Benny could wait. They were all in a rage, as they came close.

X-415 baited them. It was a tactic that had been programed into her along with so many other things. She was ready to dance away from them. Her muscles were coiled, poised on that razors edge between calm and fury. The men came at her like a mob, but she was too quick for them, and too small to be much of a target. She didn't know how strong they were because they had yet to touch her, but she knew how strong she was, strong enough to kill them. As X-415 rose to the balls of her feet to get balance to leap out of the way, she felt fingers encircle her ankle. She looked down to see the man she had hit with her shoulder, holding her. He was only barely conscious, but his grip was strong. She tried to pull herself free, but it was too late. They were on her.

The first man landed a blow to X-415's stomach. She didn't feel pain, but all the air rushed from her lungs, taking her strength with it. The next blow was to her pretty face. It was every bit the equal to any punch she had ever thrown or received. She would have flown if not for the man still holding her ankle. That made the blow even worse since she absorbed it all. The next blow was even harder, delivered by a close friend of the man she had killed. His punch rattled her teeth and sent her down to the floor. X-415 tried to fight, but the men had her now.

She had regained her focus and used her tremendous strength against them. They held her, and were attempting to bend her body backwards so that she couldn't defend herself at all. She used all the strength she had, but it wasn't enough. They were stronger, and she could no longer protect her boss. One man could have gone and killed him in a second, but they were too focused on killing her.

Benny looked for a way out, but there was no way for him to get past those goons and make it to the back door. The front door was blocked by the cage. He saw Peteris' men overpowering X-415. He felt sorry for her even though he knew that she couldn't feel pain, and had no mind of her own. He had spent time with her, and didn't want to see her brutalized by these men. There was nothing he could do to help her though. He looked to his right, and saw someone who he could deal with. Peteris was just able to take a deep breath. He looked up in time to see the toe of Benny's shoe coming right at his face.

X-424 didn't look back to see what was happening behind her. It didn't matter. She could not effect anything happening outside the cage until she freed herself from it. There were small cuts on her hands as she pushed her fingers further into the gap. At first her fingers were compressing between the tough reinforced concrete and the steel, but after a few seconds the gap began to widen. X-424's muscles began to shake as the definition began to sharpen. Harder and harder she pulled once she found a sweet spot. She found an angle were she could apply maximum force against the cage and the ceiling at the same time. Her shoulder was pressed against the ceiling using it for leverage. She had worked her hands into the breach enough. It was time to see if her plan worked. X-424 took a deep breath, and then poured all of the strength of her upper body into that hinge. Muscles split and separated under her skin, and she applied tons of force onto a small spot. The hinge was distorted, but he held. X-424's eyes were the only part of her face that took on a look of strain. They looked past the hinge, lost in concentration, as her body summoned more strength. Tiny streams of blood squirted from her fingers because of the pressure. Then she heard the first crack. It was a welcomed sound. She kept up the pressure. Her muscles were taxed to their very limits. Veins stood out on her skin as she hunched over while still suspended in the air. Sweat dropped from her forehead, but there was another pop. She didn't know that by now X-415 was at the mercy of the goons. She didn't need any urging to move quickly. She knew that time was not on Benny's side.

A woman with emotions and feelings, even a strong one would have been screaming. The men had forced X-415 to the floor. It shook from her furious struggle, but they were strong enough to hold her down. Her black hair flew all over as she thrashed her head, trying to gain any advantage to get herself free. Her tight muscles were flexed to their utmost, hard and strong, but not strong enough. The men were punching her too, but her programing told her that they were just wasting their energy, and she was granting Benny more time to escape. Her plan was working until several of the goons turned when they heard the smack of Benny's boot hitting Peteris' face.

"Hey!", they yelled and started over to the side of the office. A group of men ran to save their boss from a beating, while the rest stayed to deal with X-415 who fought even harder now.

Benny saw the men coming, but he wanted to kill Peteris before he himself was killed. He kicked and stomped Peteris as many times as he could, hoping that he would be able to finish the job. In the instant that the men reached out for Benny, several things happened. X-424's efforts finally paid off, and the hinge broke. The tempered steel was finally bent beyond its ductile ability. That corner of the cage fell a couple of inches to the ground, which put an enormous strain on the other two hinges holding that side. The hinge in the middle bent from the strain. X-424 jumped to the ground, and yelled over her shoulder.

"This side! Push now!" Her voice carried over all the noise. Every single super soldier ran at full speed. They crashed into that side of the cage with more force than a big rig. The weakened hinges resisted for only a split second before they both snapped. That side of the cage fell against the outer wall, breaking several of the big windows, but also freeing everybody inside the cage.

X-417 was the first through the cage. Her body looked extra sensual in the tight pants that she wore with her impossible almost cartoonish curves, but she was dangerous and deadly. When she touched the first of Peteris' goons, she gripped him tightly with her fingers and yanked back. His strength kept him from yielding, but he wished he would have. His yell cut through everything as X-417 tore a jagged mass of flesh from the back of his arm. He went down to his knees grabbing at his arm. She held a chunk of his triceps in her hand. She threw it down, as the rest of the super soldiers rushed past her. She saw that Benny was not in much danger so she locked in on the man she had wounded. He looked up at her with a pleading for mercy in her eyes, but there was nothing in X-417's dark eyes. She reached down and lifted the man's 300 pounds off the floor. Blood poured from the wound in the man's arm. He would have died from loss of blood, but she didn't want to wait that long. She raised him high in the air, rotated him so that his head and shoulders were parallel to the floor before she drove him down with all the force her body could muster. He hit the floor so hard, that the cleaning crew in the office below thought the building was collapsing. The concrete itself didn't escape harm. It cracked beneath the super strong spine of the goon, but his spine broke completely. He lay there with his back broken and his eyes starring up. He wasn't dead yet. Not until X-417 raised her leg. Her muscles flexed in anticipation of what she was about to do. Her pants were tight and even a little stretch, but they couldn't contain her thighs and hamstrings as they flexed up. Her smooth ebony skin highlighted the shape and texture and cuts of the muscles in the instant before she brought her leg down on the man's neck. Her foot smashed into his neck, but kept going, through the enhanced muscles all the way down to the floor. Blood squirted around her shoe as she stomped the man's neck flat. His head mostly separated from his body. It was still attached by some skin and tissue, but it was nearly two feet from the rest of his broken body. With that one dead, X-417 went looking for another target, but these men were not going down that easily.

X-421 was the first Femme to reach the man who was about to kill Benny, and she was the first Femme to die. Two goons turned and squared on her. She attacked the one to the left. He blocked her kick and her first punch. He staggered, and her second punch got through, but it was one punch too many. The man to the right grabbed X-421 by her head. A few strands of her blond hair blocked his view of her face, but it didn't matter. He squeezed his hands together so hard that X-421's body instantly began to spasm, but as strong as he was, he couldn't cave her head in, so he extended his right arm at the same time he pulled his left arm back. His muscles swelled impressively as he twisted X-421's head completely round. He dropped her as a powerful kick impacted his ribs. He tried to turn to fight, but the fighting was so close that there was no room for real moves or skills, just strength against strength.

Benny rolled out of the way of the fight. He knew that even a slight blow from any of those people would kill him. He dragged a bleeding Peteris as far away from the fighting as he could. He propped him against the wall and stood up. Peteris put his fingers in his mouth to feel the bloody sockets where some of his teeth had once been.

"Do you like what you've done?", Benny demanded and shook Peteris then kicked him in the gut.

Peteris was near tears. "You told me that you weren't violent. You told me that you were always gentle." Peteris recalled Benny's words from the first time Benny had explained what had sent him to prison.

Benny's face turned purple with rage. He wished for super strength as he drew his leg back and kicked Peteris in the pit of his stomach. He turned and vomited from the blow. "I was gentle with the women, all of them, but I've spent 10 years in prison, what makes you think I'll be gentle with you. I'm going to cut you to little bitty pieces if you don't tell me where the strength serum and the formula is."

Peteris tried to sit up. "I have it here. If I tell you where it is, then will you let me live?"

Benny leaned forward and struck Peteris on the side of the jaw. "Tell me, and you'll die quickly. If you don't I'll make it last a long time."

"So no mercy?", Peteris said. When Benny didn't say anything, Peteris reached under his pants leg and pulled out a small single shot derringer. He had been planning to execute Benny with it, but instead he was going to use it to try and get away. He pulled the pistol and fired. Benny screamed as the bullet hit him in the upper arm. He fell back from the sudden stinging pain. Peteris scrambled to his feet. He was a little unsteady from the beating that Benny had given him, but he ran well enough. The super soldiers and his men were locked in combat so he had no resistance as he ran towards the back door. Instead of exiting right away, Peteris circled around the back and came back to where the fight had begun. He saw his man who had been killed by the safe. He bent down and quickly put in the combination. It was a struggle for him to open the door since he had to raise it because the safe was at an angle. He opened it enough for him to slip his hand inside and retrieve the formula. It was stored on a flash drive that was sealed inside of a hardened case. It was a good thing because the door slammed onto the hardened case as he tried to snatch it out. Benny looked at Peteris through the fight. He had no idea how he'd gotten over there, but he knew hadn't gone near the battling super humans. That was sure death. Benny looked up for Jean. He had to be somewhere. He was closer than he thought. Benny turned quickly when he felt a hand grab his arm to pull him up.

"Peteris has the formula!!! Why aren't you over there?"

"Because you're over here", he answered with the calm of a career soldier. "You can't do anything if you're dead. This way." Benny cradled his injured arm as he hurried away from the fighting.

"Let me see that." Jean stopped Benny and pulled up the sleeve. The bullet had gone through the fleshy part of Benny's arm. "No bullet in here. Good." He took the belt from around his pants and used it as a tourniquet.

"I'm fine?", Benny asked.

"For now."

"Then let's go!" Benny didn't wait for Jean. He left out the back door and followed the only route Peteris could have taken until he came to a corridor. Three different halls branched off from this one place, and there were at least a dozen doors within 20 feet. Benny didn't know what to do, until he saw a bloody hand print. Benny took off running. He wasn't the fastest man, but he ran for all that he was worth. He could hear and feel the fight going on inside the office, but might as well have been 1000 miles away. His only focus was Peteris.

The super soldiers and the strong men fight fiercely. In the middle, the fight was little more than clenching and gouging, but the action on the ends was fast and deadly. X-424 had saved X-415 from getting her body broken in two by the goons. They fought side by side, but X-415 was injured. Only one of her arms functioned at 100%. Her right eye was swollen shut, and her jaw hung at a strange angle, but she still fought. Two men attacked. X-424 took the one the right and X-415 the one on the left.

The man threw a punch that just missed the top of X-424's head. She felt the wind from it. She took the man around the waist. Normally a woman would never have attacked a man of this size by going in for his body, but X-424 was no ordinary woman. She set her feet wide apart and lifted. The muscles of her lower back flexed creating a valley between the two halves of her body as she lifted the man from the ground. She lifted him high, but kept her center of gravity low, bringing him up and over. When he started down, she drove him. His neck and head hit the hard floor at the end of her suplex. He was still conscious, but the move had surprised him. X-424 held him still, and she pulled his body up for another slam, but he put his leg out moving hers. She fell forward and he punched her in the side of the head. The punch had only moved a few inches, but had been hard enough to daze her. She fell back, and he attacked.

X-415 had absorbed several blows, and blood was beginning to drip from the corners of her mouth. She raised her one good arm and threw a punch, but his man was no longer afraid of her. He was simply looking for an opportunity to finish her. X-415 circled away from his right hand. Her legs still worked, but some of her ribs were broken, and the ends were digging into her ribs forcing her breaths to be shallow. Her opponent was fairly light on his feet. He faked to the left and instead charged to her right. X-415 was caught off guard. He drove a fist into her unprotected left side further caving in her ribs. Blood sprayed from her mouth as her internal organs were ruptured. He reached out with both hands and took the Femme by the neck.

X-424 was on her back as she saw all of this playing out. Her programing told her that X-415 was not a priority, and that her focus had to be on the man who was attacking her, but her programing had never been designed to struggle against the most base of human attributes, emotions. Deep inside of X-424, Kristen felt anger. Anger that a man was about to kill one of her comrades. That emotion forced the program to come up with another solution. Once it had, she sprang to her feet as the man charged towards her. He was at full speed as he readied to slam into her. X-424 sidestepped, grabbed him by the shoulder, stuck her foot out, and he flew from his own momentum. He flew through the inner wall of the office into the hall beyond. She turned and ran towards the man who held X-415.

By now X-415 was limp in the man's arms. Blood oozed from all the openings in her head. The man's hands had compacted X-415's already slim neck more than any neck could take. X-424 saw the dead Femme hanging from his hands, and her anger turned to a rage. She raised her leg and kicked the big man in the back. He dropped X-415 and turned. X-424 bounced away from his wildly swinging arms. He threw a kick of his own. It was a powerful kick that could have knocked a car completely off a road, but X-424 used her body to catch it. She wrapped her left arm around his leg, raised her right arm and brought her elbow down with great force. The point of her elbow struck the man's tibia, shattering it. He howled in pain, and she let go. The man hopped on one leg, but X-424 wasn't close to finished. She brought her right hand back before she took a long step forward. Her muscles once again flexed hard. All the cords, and striations, and veins of X-424's body showed as she threw the hardest punch of her life, but her biceps were beyond compare. Hard, round, and shredded, they flexed as she drove her fist into the man's stomach. His body was hard too, but she was fueled with anger. Her fist broke through the feeble resistance of his abs. Her punch was harder than his whole body. X-424 felt things give as her punch continued into the man's body. Organs and tissue and enhanced muscle was forced aside or pulverized by her punch. Only when her first emerged from the man's back was the force spent.

His eyes went wide in his head as he looked down at X-424's beautiful face and further down to the swollen muscles of her upper arm, because that was all of the arm that he could see. The rest of it was inside his body or sticking out the back. She quickly pulled her arm out. The blood and fluids coated her skin causing it to slip out easily. Bits of fat and skin and kidneys stuck to her skin. The man was on his feet for a moment. He started down, but X-424 caught him. She held him up. Blood poured for the wound. X-424 lifted the man and forced both her hands into the wound. When they were in, she did to him the same thing she had done to the hardened hinge.

Muscles swelled atop muscle as X-424's body unleashed its terrible strength once again. His body was strong, but not strong enough. He was being pulled apart and he was awake to feel most of it. Finally though, X-424's muscles and strength won out. His lower body separated from his upper body. X-424 was showered with his hot blood. She dropped the halves of the man's body and wiped blood from her eyes. She looked down at X-415's body. She wanted to feel sadness, but she could not. She hadn't come that far yet.

On the other side of the room, there was a trickle of blood at the corner of X-417's eye, but she still fought at full capacity. She had killed more of these strong men than any of the other Femmes or the Series 4's, and she was about to kill one more. She slipped a punch that she let fly over her shoulder. She gripped the arm with both hands and spun the man around. When his back was to her, she slammed his head against a support beam that ran between the windows on the outer wall. The steel dented a little, and a trickle of blood ran from the wound. The man tried to gain an advantage, but X-417 lifted him again. She pulled him back just enough to get an angle and then she threw him. He was in the air barely able to see the only thing standing between him and death. He had hoped that it would hold. He had wished that it would hold, but he knew that it wouldn't. Even the special glass that clad this skyscraper wasn't enough to keep him from falling to his death. He shattered the glass and screamed as he flew nearly twenty feet from the building before he noticed that he was falling. He looked down the entire way.

The Chicago Police Department had been called when the fight had first started, but they were nearly there now. A line of cars came down the street. That line would be broken when a body hit a patrol car. It landed just to the rear of the two police officers who drove the vehicle, and it was a good thing. The man had fallen from 200 feet in the air, and his body didn't give the way a normal man's would when it hit something hard like steel. His body crushed the rear of the car and broke the ankle and made the front end of the car pitch up into the air. The force of the crash did injure the police just like it cracked the asphalt below their car. What had started out as an urgent call, just became even more urgent, because SWAT was on the way.

Benny could see the police sirens, but they weren't looking for him or anybody else yet. He had Peteris in his sights now. He rushed to a car that was parked a block from the office building. Benny chased after him, but he wasn't fast enough to get to him before Peteris started the car. Benny stopped when he saw the car start to move in his direction. Benny had to dive to the top of a concrete planter to keep from getting crushed by the car. He saw Peteris smile as he sped away. Benny looked at the tail lights of the car as it went away. Benny felt that sinking feeling of all of his dreams and hopes going away, when he heard a horn blow. He looked up to see Jean in their Malibu.

"Come on!", Jean yelled.

Benny jumped down and went to the driver side because Jean was getting out of the car with a gas can in his hand. "What are you doing?"

Jean shoved a pistol into Benny's hand. "I have to get back inside before its too late! Go get Peteris. I'll take care of the rest, and get the Femmes!"

It was a good plan, and Benny didn't waste any time. He hopped in the car and pushed the pedal to the floor. Jean stood still for a second to let the car pass before he ran back into the building. His first stop was to the security office. He had to shoot one man, but if he was lucky he would survive. Once inside the security room, Jean poured the gasoline over the computers in the security office right before he set it on fire. He ran out hoping the sprinklers wouldn't come on until it was too late to save the data on the hard drives. With that done, Jean pulled out a cell phone. He dialed a number and hoped it would be answered.

The office where the fight had started was flooded in blood, most of it belonging to Peteris' men. They had been strong, but not skilled enough to defeat the super soldiers although they were as beaten as bloodied as they had been in a while. X-424 stood still to allow her body to rest, and to observe X-419 killing a man by caving in his chest. She and X-417 had already broken the man's ribs, but X-419 was going to kill the man. Cords of muscle slid past one another, tightening and constricting and crushing the life out of a man. He gurgled as things inside of his body ruptured and burst, but she kept squeezing until her programing told her to stop.

X-424 stood near the dead body of X-415, and it was she who heard the cell phone ring. Despite the fight it had survived. It was cracked and the viewer was destroyed, but X-424 answered it.

"Gather our dead, and all of you meet me at the back entrance. Now!" X-424 recognized Jean's voice, and she knew that she had to obey. She looked at the other super soldiers. They were all covered in blood. "We have to go", X-424 said in a voice absent emotion. She explained and the soldiers walked out. There was nothing behind them but death.

Benny knew his way around Chicago, having lived their for a time. Peteris knew the streets somewhat, but Benny was catching up to him. They had to weave in, out, and through traffic. They had both hit several cars on their route which eventually landed them on Lake shore Drive. The road wasn't packed, but traffic was heavy enough. Benny sped up. He was getting close. He had to dodge cars that were trying to dodge him. He didn't care if this car got destroyed. He had to have that formula. When he was close enough, Benny reached the gun through the window and fired. People inside other cars screamed and ducked. Peteris swore and tried to drive faster, but he was already driving beyond his skill, any faster and he would crash. He looked over his shoulder and saw Benny right on his tail.

Jean was waiting with the van as the soldiers exited the building just in advance of the first police arriving. Some of them were wounded. Jean counted the casualties at 5, 2 dead and 3 wounded fairly badly. They would fix them once they got back to Georgia, but right now Jean stepped on the gas. He had to find Benny. He realized that it wouldn't be hard. All he had to do was follow the trail of damage. They had wound their way through the streets, but Jean took a more direct route. He caught up to them in time to see Benny start shooting at Peteris.

Peteris ducked after a bullet shattered his back window. He looked over his shoulder and yelled futilely, "Leave me alone!" He knew Benny would not relent. He knew that either he would get away or he would die. He turned his eyes back to the road in time to see that he was missing a turn. He was nearly to concrete barrier and the only thing beyond that barrier was the cold water of Lake Michigan. Peteris slung his wheel to the left. Benny had been focused solely on the back of Peteris car, and didn't have time to correct. Benny slammed into the another car that sent him over the barrier. The collision bent the accelerator locking it to the floor. Even when he hit his brakes they did no good. He hit another barrier and then he was on a pier. People were forced to dive out of the way as the dented and scraped Malibu sped towards the end. Benny tried to get out of the car, but the door had been mangled in one of his dozen collisions. He screamed as the car drove off the pier and flew down to the waters below. The air bag deployed when the car hit the water, but it did little to help Benny as the car began sinking into the depths. He filled his lungs with air at the last moment, but almost knew that he shouldn't have. It would only prolong his death.

Jean saw the car go off the pier, and he drove the van to the edge of it. "Save him!", Benny ordered the four uninjured super soldiers. They jumped out the door and ran down the pier faster than any regular human could have. X-424 was the last to run because she had been at the rear of the van.

Jean saw them go. He looked up ahead then ordered a Series 4 to close the door before he drove off. Jean knew that there was nothing he could do there to help, but there was one thing he could do. He hit the gas and drove off.

X-417, X-419, and a Series 4 ran down to the end. The back of Benny's car had already disappeared below the water when the three super soldiers jumped and splashed into the water. They used their enhanced muscles to go after their master. X-424 never paused when she came to the end. She jumped up and clasped her hands above her head as her body arched towards the water like none of the others had done. They had made great splashes, but X-424 sliced into the water like a blade. When she touched water for the first time, she felt at home. The water was cold and it was dark, but it felt so wonderful against her skin. She started kicking immediately and using her arms to swim. For the first time in a long time, she swam.

The other super soldiers fought against the water trying to claw their way threw the water to Benny's car. They could see the tail light still shining as the car sank further and further below the surface. Benny had freed himself from the seat. He was against the rear window trying to get out, but losing hope.

While the other soldiers fought the water, X-424 glided through it using half as many strokes with her arms, but twice as many kicks. She caught up to them and swam past them as if they were walking and she was running. This was her element. The trim of her body and the angle of her decent was perfect. The others couldn't hope to keep up. She swam so far past them that they lost sight of her in the darkness. After fighting to get deeper, the super soldiers were running out of air, but none of them would stop until they got to Benny even if they drowned. X-424 was going to make sure no one drowned. She reached the back of Benny's car, and used her great strength to push some of her fingers into the gap between the trunk cover and the fender. That way she descended at the same rate as the car.

Benny could see X-424 outside of the window. He could barely make out her features, but he didn't have to be able to see everything to know that she was a stunningly beautiful sight. She moved like a mermaid under the water. Her hair floated like a halo about her head, and her brown eyes were locked on him, right as he began to panic from lack of air. He was fighting the urge to try to breathe.

X-424 motioned for Benny to get away from the window, but he was too panicked to follow her commands. She used her right hand to break the rear window of the Malibu. She tried to pull Benny out, but he had moved too far from her. His eyes were wide with terror. She had to go get him. She pulled her hand from under the trunk lid. She had to swim quickly to keep up with the car, but not for too long. She gripped the rear support column of the roof and twisted. Once again her muscles flexed and X-424's prodigious strength conquered mere steel. She pealed the roof back and swam inside the car. She took Benny by the shoulders and pulled him close to her. Their chests were touching when X-424 pressed her lips to Benny's and breathed air into his mouth. Benny exhaled through his nose while he accepted the air from X-424. To him it was the breath of life. He felt the panic go away. She put an arm around him and started towards the surface. The car kept falling as Benny and X-424 headed towards the surface. Benny' s legs kicked to help propel them, but her strokes were so strong that any force he generated was trivial. X-424 tapped X-417 as she headed to the surface. The ebony Femme saw Benny and made sure the other two super soldiers knew. They all turned for the surface because they were nearly out of air.

When the four of them broke the surface, all took deep breaths. X-424 had had enough air for a little longer which was impressive since she had given Benny some of hers. They had surfaced a goodly distance from where the car had gone in. It was a good thing because police and firemen were on the scene. They looked over their shoulders and then at the looming skyline of Chicago in front of them. Benny knew that they couldn't stay there for long. He was about to give the Femmes an order when he hear someone yell his name.

Jean pulled up in the white van. He slammed on the brakes and threw open the passenger door. "Need a ride, boss!"

Benny scrambled up and into the van. The super soldiers got in the back, and just that fast, they were gone. It took a while for all the shock to wear off of Benny's mind. He was shivering from the cold despite the heat blowing from the van. X-419 found a coat and gave it to their leader. The super soldiers didn't feel cold.

"Thanks, Jean", Benny managed through shivers.

Jean smiled coolly. "No problem. That's my job."

Benny put his head against the seat rest. They were out of Illinois before he noticed it. Heading south through Indiana.

"Its too bad.", Benny said mostly to himself.

"What is?", Jean asked. He glanced down at the speedometer. He couldn't afford any attention from the law.

"Its too bad that I didn't get the formula. At least I wish I could have settled things with Peteris."

Jean's smile returned. He reached under the seat. "You mean this formula?" He handed it to Benny.

Benny pushed his arms from beneath the coat. "How did you..."

"Look in the back."

Benny turned and looked through the curtains to the cargo area of the van. Benny laughed when he saw Peteris. The man was laying on his side hog tied with duct tape.

"How did you catch him?"

"Ah it wasn't too hard. He crashed his car not too long after you went into the lake. Me and that Series 4 over there caught him. I thought you might want to discuss some things with him later."

"We're going to have a good time, Peteris. Just as soon as we get back." Benny laid his head against the rest, and tortures danced in his head. After a while, Jean turned the driving over to X-419, and he got some well deserved sleep.

Back in Chicago, there were several men who wouldn't be able to sleep for a long time. The firemen and police officers were the first to reach the 20th floor office. The tried to enter the front door, but it was blocked, so they went to the back. They didn't have to go through the door. One wall of the office was completely breached. Two cops stepped in first, guns drawn, and three firemen came in right behind them. The scene they saw before them was complete carnage. Body parts and blood was mixed on the floor in pools. Human flesh looked like refuse from a slaughter house. Unidentifiable pieces of men lay in strange places, or stuck to the walls. They saw the bodies of men who had been torn apart and killed like none of them had ever seen a person die. Their minds refused to speculate as to what could have done this to human beings, because nothing human could have done this. One man puked and before long more of them vomited, only adding to the fluids littering the office. It was the worst sight that many of them had ever seen or ever would see.

Back in Georgia, Benny had ordered Peteris locked in a room at the fake poultry plant that served as the Syndicate's North American headquarters. He would take his time with Peteris, but for now it was a time for the organization to catch its breath from the operation in Chicago. Benny's arm still hurt from being shot. He was recovering, but his mind was unsettled. Which was why he was on the roof of the sprawling plant looking off at the sunset trying to gather himself, but he wasn't alone. X-424 stood to his right. He watched as the breeze blew through her light brown hair. He looked at the way her eyes narrowed against the rays of the sunset. She had a wonderful profile, and a wonderful body.

He had sampled all the Femmes and for some reason he kept coming back to this one, even before she had saved his life. He would miss the unique charm of X-415, but she hadn't been a real person anyway. Just like X-424 wasn't a person, just a number. She was some former whore who Jason Mallster's goons had picked up from the street. Benny told himself that over and over again, but he could not make himself believe it. Not before Chicago, and certainly not now that she had saved him.

He reached out and took X-424's hand. "You are so pretty", Benny whispered to her. She didn't react, but he knew she wouldn't.

He held her hand up and ran his fingertips slowly up her arm. He could feel the softness of her skin and the hardness of her musculature beneath. He let her hand go and took a step back. All the Femmes were beautiful to be sure, and their bodies were more than any man could hope for, but there was something else with this Femme. X-424 looked like a greyhound before a race. Even standing relaxed as she was now, her body looked capable of great explosiveness, power, precision, and control. The proportions of her legs, the taper of waist and chest, and the length and hardness of her arms showed that her body was built to do something, and do it very quickly. She had the body of an elite athlete. There was a special look to them. Even among people with great bodies, the shape and makeup of an elite athlete stood out. X-424 stood out. That was how she had saved him. She had out swam all the others to do something that they couldn't.

She didn't fit in with the other Femmes, and Benny wanted to know why. Why was this one different? Why was her body just that little bit better, and why did he get a feeling when he looked into her brown eyes? Why did he imagine that he could see a woman, a real woman in those eyes? He would never know because all the records of who these women had been was lost, destroyed when the lab in Texas had been compromised.

"Who are you?", Benny asked aloud. "Who were you?", he asked as he leaned in and kissed X-424 on the lips. There was no feeling and no warmth behind it. He hadn't ordered her to react to him. Benny just wanted her standing there with him while the sun set.

"What's your name?", Benny asked the wind.

"Kristen", the small voice inside X-424's mind screamed. "My name is Kristen and nobody knows, but one day they will", she vowed. She wasn't strong enough yet, but she would be.

Benny left X-424's when Malcolm came up to the roof. "I thought I would find you here my man." He glanced towards the setting sun, then back to Benny. "Welcome back. I have some good news. That cat burglar you hired did indeed switch the tissue samples. You are off the Most Wanted list because Bernard Wilson is dead. Congratulations! You're a free man!" Malcolm had expected Benny to be pleased but he wasn't. He forced a smile and thanked Malcolm for the information. Malcolm left the roof and Benny made his way back to X-424. He thought about his family. They would take his "remains" and bury them in the family plot on the farm. He had hoped one day to fix everything with them, but there was no chance of that now. He was a free man though, and he could hope for the future again. Things were working out the way he had planned, but he felt worse now than he had before.

He took X-424's hand again and resumed looking out at the horizon. "I think I'm miserable", Benny said to X-424. "I have a new face, a new name, and lots of power, but I am not happy at all. I'm smart, I have money, but I'm still not happy. Why should I think that things are going to get any easier or any better for me?" Benny sighed when X-424 continued to look off into the distance like she had been ordered.

"I'd had hope for the future once these things fell into place. The Feds aren't looking for me anymore. I have the strength serum back, but no hope. Hope! Hope ! Hope! I don't feel it, and I don't even know what it is.", Benny once again spoke to the wind.

"Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray...", X-424 recited tenderly in Kristen's voice.  She had said those words as much for herself as she had for Benny.

Benny turned with surprise. He was shocked that X-424 had spoken and with emotion. "What is that from?", Benny asked the super soldier trying to remember where he had heard the passage.

"The Captivity by Goldsmith, Act II", she said in her once again expressionless voice.

Benny shook his head and took her hand again. "So you were educated before they wiped out who you had been, or at least decently well read. Such a shame." X-424 didn't look at him. Her eyes watched the last rays of the sun, and after a short time Benny lead her to his bed. He wouldn't make love this night. He just didn't want to be alone.

more coming!!!

Recent Chapters:

Chapter 1      Chapter 2      Chapter 3       Chapter 4      Chapter  5      Chapter 6      Chapter 7

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

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