"I've gone over all the accounts from the eye witnesses from the explosion and the rescue. There seems to be very little difference", Ms. Worthington, began. "I personally witnessed Miss Caufield break her way through steel doors. So since we are all here, the question is how do we proceed forward."

The army general spoke first, "These young ladies need to be tested and protected. They can be huge potential assets for the nation." There were nods.

The CIA rep spoke next. "Yes, we should send the girls to different secret locations and work from there." The arguments broke out then. There was no order and structure.

"I think it would be a bad idea to split these girls up", Rick said quietly, but everyone stopped talking and started looking in his direction. "I was in my room last night and felt Miss Hewitt do something that very few people in the world have even claimed to be able to do. I did not know what she was doing, but I could feel the strength of it. I spoke to her this morning and asked what she had been doing last night. She told me that she had reached out with her mind and spoke to her father and brother in Mississippi. I don't know a lot about how the government works, but if you want these girls to work for Uncle Sam then you don't need to treat them like lab rats or machines. They are teenage girls with abilities the rest of us don't have in our best dreams. Alienate them and none of us know what might happen."

"Do we know how indestructible Miss Caufield is?"

"Her burns healed in a matter of hours and she has told us some of the things that she has done to herself over the years. She gave us a demonstration. She took a scalpel and sliced into her forearm, deep. She said come back in twenty minutes. We did. There was a barely discernible red line on her skin. It was quite impressive."

"If we decide to leave them here, what do we do to find out their abilities?"

"I can work with Miss Hewitt", Rick spoke up.

"Very good, but what about Miss Caufield?"

Byron Livingston spoke for the first time. "There is only one person in the country I know of who can even begin to help us with this. He's worked on some programs for the army. He already has the proper clearances."

"Ok, people what we said in this room stays in this room. We proceed and attempt to keep the routine for these two girls as normal as possible and don't separate them from the other girls in the program at this time."

Byron Livingston waited at the enormous new Denver Airport. He had sent for a specialist in the field. They had flown him out first class. Byron had read some of his more secret documents and knew that no one else would even know where to begin with Miss Caufield. The doctor had flown first class and didn't look rattled at all when Byron and three security men escorted him to a waiting limo. The ride was more than two hours in the limo with blacked out windows. He occupied his time reading the thick file on his new patient.

Jan Caufield sat alone in the largest room in the infirmary. She looked around the room, but there was nothing there to occupy her mind for even a few minutes. She felt nervous for some reason. Her stomach was a bit jumpy and her mouth was dry. She just sat there. Finally the door opened. A man walked in quickly. He carried a large briefcase in one hand with a stack of folders under his arm. He was tall, slightly taller than Jan. He had curly brownish red hair that seemed a bit too wild on his head. His sideburns were woolly too, but it all seemed to fit him perfectly. He looked athletic and strong. Jan could tell from the way he moved. His face was handsome, serious and boyish at the same time. His deep gray eyes sparkled even though he seemed preoccupied.

Jan stood up as he made his way towards the front of the room.

He dropped his burden on the desk and looked up and extended his hand. "Good morning. You're Miss Caufield, I suppose."

"Yes, sir, I'm Jan Caufield."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Doctor Ian Brooster."

Jan nodded. "Nice to meet you." She sat down. "I guess you're here to study me, poke and prod me like a specimen."

"I'll try to keep the poking and prodding to a minimum, but I am here to see what you-"

"Are?", Jan finished his statement shaking her head.

"No, I can see that you are a quite lovely young woman. You look healthy and seem to have a good disposition generally speaking. I was going to say that I am going to see what you can do. They have quite a bit in your file, but looking at words on a page and seeing the genuine article are two different things. I need to know the things about you that aren't on this file."

"I told them most of the major things I've done to myself. I even gave them a demonstration."

Ian came from around the desk. "Look, Ms. Caufield, there is no need for you to be nervous. There is absolutely nothing I can do to you that you haven't already done to yourself."

"I don't hurt myself anymore and I never wanted to be in a little room while hundreds of people study me."

"You have an over active imagination. Besides, I'd think that you wouldn't be afraid of anything."

"Well, Sir, I'm smart enough to know that I can't take on the whole world. Just because I haven't been able to kill myself doesn't mean that I can't be killed. And to be honest with you, I really don't want to know what will kill me, cause chances are I wouldn't survive the search."

Ian sat down beside her. "I don't want to know what will kill you. That's not my job. I'm not a mad scientist, I'm a doctor. The government wants to know what you are capable of. You aren't a guinea pig to me. You are Jan Caufield." Ian smiled.

Jan smiled back. "You're good at this."

Ian leaned in close to Jan's ear. "This isn't my first rodeo." Ian stood up and walked back around the desk. "Have you noticed anything different in your abilities say in the last six months to a year?"

Jan shifted in her seat. "I heal quicker. I mean that cut I did this morning, a couple of years ago that cut might have taken two hours or a little more to heal, now half an hour. And certain things don't even injure me anymore. I mean I can hit my fingers with a hammer hard enough to split a 2x4, but they don't even swell anymore."

"Interesting. What about the strength?"

"I can't use it all the time. I mean back when I had a bad temper, it would just come out. My parents were afraid, but 99% of the time I wasn't any stronger than anyone else."

"You used your strength to get out after the explosions."

"Yes, well I was amped up, you know. I mean I wanted to save my friend and the others. I had to and my body cooperated."

"If I told you to lift something heavy, do you think you could do it?"

"Maybe, but the gym was destroyed."

"I know, I have one machine I had brought along just to get us started."

It took Ian nearly an hour to set up the weird looking machine he had in his oversized trunk. It looked like a vending machine with a caulking gun handle on it.

"This is one of my favorite little machines. This tests grip, Miss Caufield..."

"Call me Jan, please. Miss Caufield is just a little too proper for me."

Ian smiled. "Anyhow, this test will give me a good idea to work with."

"So I just squeeze?

"Yep. Give it one quick squeeze so I can get an idea of where you start."

"What if I can't use my strength?"

"I'm betting you can."

Jan had always had a good grip. She wrapped a huge hand around the chrome handle of the machine and took a breath before giving the handle a quick squeeze as hard as she could.

"139 pounds. You have a hell of a grip. Ok, bear down."

Jan shrugged he shoulders and started squeezing, but nothing happened. Her strength was always so random. She tried for nearly a minute before letting go and kicking the machine.

"I told you it doesn't always work!"

"Well what the hell am I here testing then? If you can't do what these people say you can, then I'm wasting my time!"

"Yeah, well maybe you should go back to where ever the hell you came from!", Jan yelled. Her face had gotten red and her hands flexed in and out of fists.

Ian leaned in closer. "Maybe you should stop fooling these people and tell them the truth!"

"Truth? What this little machine? Fuck this thing!" Jan reached out with both her hands and grabbed the handle. Her face contorted with effort. For an instant her hands and arms vibrated in place, but her shoulders defined, muscles fired under the strain. Her shoulders turned red as they filled with blood to feed the muscle. Then with a boom and the sound of ripping metal Jan tore the entire grip testing assembly from the machine it was attached too. She threw the ruined hunk of metal down then glared at the doctor. She expected his glare to meet her own, but instead she only saw the top of his head.

"Excellent!", he exclaimed as if neither of them had been yelling only a moment before.

"What?", Jan asked with heat still in her voice.

"Nearly 2000 pounds of pressure. That is quite impressive indeed." He looked down at the handle on the ground near his feet. "The stronger alloy worked."

Jan started to yell at him, but she laughed instead. "I can't believe you got me like that."

"Your jacket said that you had a temper, and you said you needed some good stimuli to get you going."

"You weren't afraid that I would come after you?"

"Afraid, no, not at all. Concerned, yeah, maybe a bit. But like I said, this isn't my first rodeo" Ian's smile was so warm, charming, and innocent Jan couldn't help but smile back.

"You know that probably won't work on me again."

"It probably will. I mean I can't say the same thing to get a rise out of you, but we can't change who we are." Ian saw the look on Jan's face and spoke before she did. "Besides, I don't plan on having to do that again. We're going to have to figure out a way to get you better control over your active abilities." Ian fell silent again and went over his numbers and charts. He looked up. "They tell me that you have a good pain threshold. Is that true?"

Jan moved closer. "Yeah", she answered cautiously.

"I have some ideas on how to test you, but there is going to be some pain involved. I'm going to check you out inside and out. By the time I'm done, we'll know everything we can about your abilities."

Jan nodded and sighed.

"Don't be worried. Just make sure you get some rest. You're going to need it. Its going to take some time to get some things together."

Jan did what the doctor ordered. She talked to Sara and some of her instructors, but did little else for several days. She wanted to talk to Alisha, but she hadn't told anyone that she knew Alisha was in the program. Jan sat in her room eating lunch when she heard a knock. "Come in!"

Dr. Booster walked in slowly. "Good afternoon. No don't stand up. I just wanted to tell you in person that tomorrow morning at seven we're going to get started."

"Ok, I'll be ready."

"You don't look that excited."

Jan tried to smile. "No really, I'll be fine. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous."

Ian put his hand on Jan's shoulder. "Don't worry. You're going to have some of the best staff on hand. I can't tell you its going to be easy, I need to know some of what you're capable of. Jan, I don't see you as some sort of science experiment. I'll take good care of you. Just be ready to work."

Jan woke up early the next morning. She was surprised how ready she felt for the tests. She got dressed in a new workout outfit, tied her hair back and headed towards the infirmary. She saw two guards in white coming to meet her. They said nothing, but turned to escort Jan where she was already going. Dr. Brooster wore a white lab coat and had seven computer screens arrayed in a semicircle around a table in the back of the large room. There were at least three dozen people standing near him. They all seemed busy moving back and forth doing one thing or another. Then Jan turned and looked off to her left. A huge box sat on a platform. The box was black and had rounded corners and the sides were not perfectly flat she saw. The box itself was more than 10'X10' and with an eight foot platform under it, it looked huge. The guards motioned for Jan to go sit next to the black box. Jan started to get nervous. The box looked enormous sitting next to it. It seemed to suck the light out of the room and to suck the courage right from her body. Jan sat there meekly wondering what that monstrously simple looking thing had to do with her. She would know soon enough.

Ian looked in her direction after a few moments and his mask of concentration went to one of his boyish smiles instantly. Jan couldn't help, but smile back and wave. Ian waved back and held up a finger saying that he would be with her shortly. Finally he came from behind the table and hurried to Jan. He sat down next to her. She opened her mouth to talk, but he held up his hand.

"This is big thing is my box. I've been designing it for the last several months. I was going to use it to test some of my more extraordinary patients. You certainly fit that bill. I've added a few things to its capabilities in the last few days that apply to you. I'm quite pleased with it so far."

Jan looked up at it. "What is it going to do?", she asked in a small voice.

Ian's smile fell away. "Its going to test you. This machine is built to test your limits if they exist and to take you near enough to the edge to where we can find it. I won't lie to you. This is more than anything going to be the most intense situation you've ever been through." He leaned in then. "I'll take it down a notch or two if you want. I don't know what you can do, but I know what this machine can do. Like I said you aren't a science experiment. If you don't want to go through this just let me know right now. None of these other people will know the difference. All you have to do is say the word."

Ian's gray eyes bored directly into Jan's azure eyes and seemed almost to look into her. Jan didn't look away. Some part of her mind wanted him to take it easy, but this in someway was something Jan had always wanted someone to do. Besides, she wasn't a wimp. A smile crept onto her face after thinking for a few moments. "Do your worst, Doc. I can take it."

Ian smiled and stood up. "That's test two passed."

"What?"

Ian leaned down. "I was hoping you would say that. The person inside that body has to be as tough as the body itself. You just proved it. Now take your shoes and socks off. Everything else can stay as it is."

Jan started untying her shoes shaking her head. Ian was a complex and extraordinary man. He came back to her after nurses and technicians had covered her body with sensor pads and stuck her with iv's in three different places.

"Ok lets go in."

The black box looked to have no openings. The outside was almost as smooth as glass to the touch. Jan had run her hand on it. She felt the harness of it. It was so hard to the touch it made the steel of it compound doors seem soft. One of the assistants pushed a button at the computer console. A horn sounded and then there was a terrible rolling sound as the locks of the box began to open. The door was small, just big enough for one person to squeeze through. It opened in. Jan looked inside. It was blacker than the outside walls of the machine. She walked up the steps to the door. It felt like walking into her own tomb. She bent down and made it inside. Then the interior lights came on. Soft white light illuminated the inside of the box. Jan could feel the coolness of the steel against her bare soles. She looked around the space. It looked oddly bare. Jan could see where she was going to be though. There was a harness system near the middle of the box above Jan's head. Without warning, the harness started lowing towards the floor. The technicians came in then. They turned Jan around so that she faced the door and began strapping her to the hard backed harness slab. She felt a chill from the cold steel of the slab. It felt as hard as the rest of the box. The straps were thick. They were black and woven like seat belts on steroids. It took two male technicians to thread the thick straps through the harnesses because they were so thick. Jan watched intently as people worked around her at such a pace. The nurses came in after most of the straps were in place and connected each sensor pad to attachments on the back of the harness slab. Then they hooked up her iv tubes. She saw some of her blood start to run red up the through the previously empty tubes. Finally Ian came into the machine.

He took a quick look at the straps all around Jan's body. They ran from her shoulders down both arms individually then across her stomach, hips, and then down each leg. Any slack had been taken out and Jan hang suspended from those straps. She had never felt so helpless in all her life, except she felt better now that the doctor had come in. He didn't smile now though. He was serious. He check every strap connection and then looked up at Jan.

"Let's get this started", he said almost grimly. He turned and walked out of the box. The door shut. The rumbling noise of the locks closing was louder inside the machine. Jan was alone. She suddenly wanted to cry, but she would not allow herself. Something inside her told her that she would need all her emotions, especially the negative ones.

Ian started his test program as soon as he came around the table. People sat on tall stools all around him, but he refused to sit. Something seemed wrong about him being comfortable when he was about to inflict so much pain and discomfort on someone else.

Jan felt the straps tighten against her. They cut into her compressing her flesh around themselves. She stayed relaxed though. She had commanded herself to relax. Her breathing had slowed and she could feel that her pulse had too. The straps continued to tighten. Jan's body began to flex against the pressure. Her face scrunched in effort as every muscle in her body began to fight against the pressure of the straps. Her quads won first. Her thighs flexed hard and pushed against the straps. She forced the straps back to the surface of her skin. They no longer dented her muscle in the least. Her stomach was next. Jan had felt as if the strap around her midsection was trying to cut her in half, but her abs resisted. They flexed proud against the bands. Jan felt that she had won the first round against the machine, but this was just the beginning.

"How much pressure are those straps putting on her?", one of the general's asked.

"A lot", Ian answered without looking up. He started the next sequence.

There was a grating sound as the edges of the steel slab behind Jan released locks that held them in place. Then she felt the tension on the straps around her arms and legs. The machine was pulling Jan in four ways. 'It's trying to pull me apart!" Jan's mind yelled. She fought against the pressure, but it grew more each moment. It pulled her in several directions at once. Jan could almost hear her own tendons and ligaments stretch against the pressure. The bands tightened again. There was only the slightest hum as the machine applied more pressure to all of Jan's joints and against her body. Her breath came in gasps as she tried to struggle against the bands. Her back wanted to arch against the pressure, but the bands around her middle kept her flat against the slab. Sweat rolled down Jan's forehead as the pressure continued to increase. She could see one of the many cameras inside the box staring back at her. She looked at that camera with a false hope. She realized that this machine was not going to back down. Doctor Brooster was not going to back down. She had told him not to. She understood that the machine wasn't going to stop until she made it stop. Jan set her mind for a fight. She bowed her head and let the machine continue to pull at her harder and harder. She worked at getting air into her lungs while the pain on every point of her body increased with each second.

"What's she doing?", someone asked. "Did she pass out?"

Ian stared at the screen with a frown, but said nothing.

"How much pressure on the bands now, Doctor?"

"Enough to pressure to pulverize bone and enough tension to snap the chassis of a car in an instant", he answered absently.

Jan's chin still touched her slowly rising and falling chest, but she was ready. She opened her eyes and threw her head back against the slab and with the mightiest of roars pulled against the machine with everything she had. Sharp jagged muscle erupted from her body in an instant. Striated pecs and shoulders exploded with power as Jan pulled. Her abs were diamond hard as her entire body pulled. With another burst of raw muscle power, Jan pulled with her entire upper body. She reversed every inch the machine had pulled her. The metal plates slammed back against the slab. The machine continued to pull, but Jan pulled harder. Veins crisscrossed Jan's body from her hands down to her feet. Sweat poured off her body down to the floor below. The machine became a bit louder as it pulled against Jan. Only after it seemed to change gears twice more did it began to stretch Jan again. Thick cords stood out on Jan's neck as she tried to pull harder. Her body vibrated with strength and power. She thrashed her head as she refused to be beat. The machine changed gears again. The box itself vibrated with the struggle. Jan yelled from deep within herself with power she never knew she had. She pulled harder. The straps cut deep into her, but she pulled all the harder. She was yelling as loud as he could as she pulled harder still. Then they were deadlocked. Jan pulled as hard as she could, and wasn't sure if the machine had anymore gears, but she didn't care.

"My God", someone behind Ian exclaimed.

Ian didn't take his eyes off the screens. He looked at the gauges and nodded. A red button blinked on his control pad. The machine had reached the end of its programmed course. It was not supposed to go any further, but Ian realized that he had underestimated Jan's strength. He pushed the button without much reflection. He wanted to see what she could do. He wondered if this girl's strength was like his best friend's strength.

The machine changed gears again. She was happy to hear it. She wanted more. The pain alone would have killed a regular person let alone the strain. Jan powered up again. Her muscles bulged and flexed with power. The machine pulled her and squeezed tighter. Jan's body responded. Jan could feel the strain in every one of her joints, but her body was up to it. She stared at a spot on the wall now and pulled. She reversed the machine again. Bulging striated pecs resisted the bands as they tried to crush her. Thick pulsing veins ran along Jan's arms as she pulled harder. A low growl that started in her chest filled the space as the machine's hum changed again. Jan fought the pain and the pull and didn't notice, but things had begun to fail. The one and half inch bolts that anchored the bands to the steel pulleys had bent out of shape. The one on her right side had all but broke. The machine changed gears one last time. This was the last gear. When it maxed out on this gear, the machine could pull no harder

Ian noticed the broken bolts on his instruments, but he had built the machine with quadruple redundancies. He also noticed the tension and pull force. He smiled looking at the results. He watched the machine slowly getting towards the end of its power curve. He looked back at the cameras inside the box.

Jan's body was giving all the strength it could. She flexed and flexed. The bands began to creak and some of the super strong fibers that made up the strap had actually snapped under the pressure from Jan's super hard body. The machine kept pulling harder and harder. Jan continued her pull, but slowly the machine began to win. Her body fought proudly, but she had no more strength left.

The machine whined and hissed as it reached its maximum pull. Jan had actually made Ian put the machine to 115% power. The gears that powered the hydraulic system were tearing themselves apart. The machine was winning, but it could not last much longer. Ian backed it off and released the power slowly. The machine backed down.

Jan could feel the tension begin to lessen. As she unflexed somewhat the pain hit her all at once. Pain from every inch of her body flooded into her brain. Her eyes rolled back in her head as it threatened to overwhelm her. Pride saved her. She would not let anything defeat her. She was going to win, even if winning just meant surviving.

Ian wanted to use the comm system to ask Jan if she was all right, but no he wanted to test her. The whole operation was a test, and she was on her own. Ian started the next sequence.

Jan took deep breaths as the pain began to recede into the back of her mind. It took her awhile to get her focus back. The struggle and the pain had been the hardest ten minutes of her life. There was still tension and she was still flexed to counteract the bands and the pull, but it was almost an annoyance rather than a struggle. Then her ears popped. The air was getting heavy and harder to breath. It was all she could do get a breath. The pressure on the inside of her body increased. In a way it was more painful than the bands had been. She blinked against the tears of pain as she fought for a breath.

"What are you doing now, Doctor?"

"Increasing the atmospheric pressure. We have some internal tests to run."

The pressure leveled out and Jan was finally able to inflate her lungs. The bands tightened again. Jan readied herself to resist the machine again, but there was no need. She heard a hum in the corner. Then there was a release. A visible pressure wave filled the box like the concussion wave from a bomb. One after another hit Jan. They ripped through her body. The concussion waves rocked the entire box. People on the outside could hear the thuds of the waves hitting her.

Jan hung her head as the blasts of air hit her. It was already hard to breath and only getting harder. Jan spit blood out onto the floor. She could feel blood running down her neck from her ears. She couldn't tell, but blood trickled from ruptured vessels around her eyes too. Blood streamed down from her nose. She tried to wipe it off against her shoulder. She could no longer resist the constant pull of the bands, but they were not her trouble. She felt another and another wave hit her with as much force as a 500 pound bomb going off less than twenty feet away. It was enough air to tear a car to pieces. The force of the air was actually ripping hair from her head. Jan could hardly see now. Blood dripped from nearly every opening in her body. She spit out blood again and tried hard to breath. The pain was so sharp and so overwhelming her mind couldn't categorize it all. She wanted to try to escape, but realized she didn't even have the strength to do that. She watched helplessly as another concussion wave hit her.

"Doctor, what are you doing now?"

Ian sighed before he spoke. "I've tested her strength and her bones, now I'm testing her internal organs." He pointed at a screen. "This is an ultrasound of her internal organs. They are being ruptured more and more each time she is hit with a blast." He stopped talking. One of those waves would have ripped the arms and legs off a normal human and liquefied their insides. Most people didn't know that bombs killed by causing massive internal bleeding aside from the shrapnel. Ian looked at the real time ultrasound. It was amazing. Her organs repaired while he watched. If it wasn't for that, her insides would be soup. He had hit her twenty blasts so far. He hit her with another.

Jan coughed violently. Pieces of lung came out with her blood and spit. She looked at it through the haze of her blood red eyes. She chuckled. This must be what dying feels like she thought. She had no idea how far Ian would take this, but she wasn't going to give up. She raised her head to look at the camera again. She could hardly focus, but she knew it was there.

"Is that the best you got?", she yelled with all the strength she could muster.

Ian smiled and nodded. "Test three, Miss Caufield. I'd hate to be your enemy", he whispered under his breath. He readied for the next test. "No one within twenty feet of the box!", he yelled.

A few technicians backed away. There was a buzz and people's hair began to pull towards the box. The people could feel the charge building. Ian watched the amp and volt meter. He was going to hit her hard at first. He wanted this test over as soon as possible. Jan was tough, but he wasn't a sadist. These next few tests would test him too.

Jan's hair stood on end as the charge built. Her mind was only vaguely aware of what was going on. She was just happy to be able to breathe. It seemed that the pressure had dropped and she could breath almost normally. There was the most horrible buzz, and then her mind exploded in pain and her sight went white. Every nerve in her body sent the same signal to her brain at the same time. It was too much. Her muscles flexed hard. The bands held tight, but more fibers burst under Jan's uncontrolled flex. Jan felt one hurt above all the others. Her heart felt like a stone in her chest. She wanted the pain to stop. The jolt lasted for more than fifteen seconds then it stopped. Jan went limp.

Ian looked at the readouts. Her vitals were flat.

"What the hell! Doctor, what did you do?", one of the generals asked with alarm and concern.

Ian answered calmly, "Miss Caufield was just hit with enough electricity to kill a regular man ten times."

"You did what!"

Ian ignored the general and waited. It seemed like forever. Her body hung limp. She took no breath and her heart didn't beat. He wondered distantly if he had given her more than she could take. He didn't let it show, but worry was starting to creep into his mind for the first time. Perhaps ten times what a condemned man received in the electric chair had been too much.

Jan swam in her own thoughts as her mind tried to understand what had just happened to her. The pain of the shock joined with all the other pain. Jan knew she could take pain, but where was her limit she wondered. This wasn't her limit though. She wasn't beat. Her body was the best in the world and it could take more than this machine could give out. Her mind had the will it needed. She threw her head back and took a deep breath. She felt her heart beat again. She felt strength returning to her limbs. She blinked back tears and looked at the camera.

"Hit me again! You hear me! Hit me again, or you'd better hope I never get out of this fucking box!"

People behind the doctor actually cheered and clapped as Jan tugged against the straps.

"What are you going to do, Doctor?"

He took a deep breath and changed the setting on the dial. "I'm going to hit her again... harder." The charge built up on the outside of the box. People were scared to be near that much power, but they seemed to understand that the girl inside the box was more powerful than the electric charge building up on the outside of the box.

Jan waited. She could feel the charge building. It hit her with no warning. Her glorious body flexed again. The pain shot again into Jan's mind. She could smell her own flesh getting hot against the metal slab behind her. The pain was worse than before, but Jan let it wash through her. She didn't try to fight it. The shock lasted longer. Her body jerked and muscles writhed with uncontrolled strength against the bands. Finally it stopped. Her body went limp again. Her heart didn't stop this time, neither did her breathing. Her head came up slowly, but defiantly. She looked into the camera and smiled sticking her tongue out at the end.

Ian couldn't help but smile. He had one last test and he started it now.

Jan took deep breaths. Sweat poured off of her to the floor mixing with her blood. Part of Jan wondered what the next test was going to be, and another part wondered how much more she could take. She didn't have to wait long. The air seemed to get thinner inside the box. Jan realized what was going on and took a deep breath and then another before holding it. In less than thirty seconds there was no air inside the box.

Ian watched the oxygen levels in Jan's blood closely. The timing of this had to be perfect.

Jan wanted to smile, but didn't want to waste the air to move her facial muscles. She could hold her breath a long time. She was just happy she had realized what was going on. Jan knew she could hold her breath at least ten minutes. That was longer than any world record. She let her mind go blank as she tried not to move. Her body was worn out and moving any muscle hurt. It was actually a small relief not to be breathing.

Ian watched the timer. It was getting past eight minutes. This was remarkable. Her body was slowing its own metabolic rate to keep from using more oxygen than absolutely necessary. Ian watched her and the admiration hit him all at once. This young woman was not the strongest he had ever tested, but he was sure was the most remarkable. He shook his head trying to take in all his instruments were telling him.

Jan felt so very relaxed, though she had to suppress a cough, and swallow some blood. She could look at the ground and see blood pooled on the ground. She knew her body had taken more damage in the last couple of hours than it had in her life. She knew her insides were damaged. She could feel it. She didn't know all the details, but she was in bad shape. Her movements were slow, but she was not going to loose.

The timer passed fifteen minutes and twenty then twenty-five minutes. "How long are you going to wait? What are you waiting for?", someone behind Ian asked.

Ian looked at the screen and he saw it start. Jan's eyes bulged and she was forcing her mouth closed. Then it really started. She began pulling against the straps. "I was waiting on this... panic."

Jan's lungs burned and her mind had only one thought. Air! Her muscles came to life again. She flexed and pulled harder than before. Jan's heart pumped at nearly 250 beats a minute to get enough oxygen to her flexing muscles. Jan bore down. She was going to get out. She concentrated all her strength on her right arm. She needed to get free. Her biceps swelled with jagged muscle. The veins throbbed in time with her heart They almost seemed to pulsate. Her arm turned red with heat and power. Her muscles flexed hard and harder. Then her pecs began to fire. She braced with her left arm for leverage to pull harder with the right. Deep striations radiated on her hard thick pecs. The muscles fired faster and faster. Muscle bunched up into angles and grew harder and more powerful, bursting with strength. Jan knew she was getting near the limit of her strength and her air. The straps were strong. Fibers tore and there was an audible sound as the tension on the straps took them to their limits. They were up to the task though. The bolts were another story. The hardened inch and a half bolts began to fail. They broke with sounds like pistol shots. One by one Jan's power snapped the thick steel bolts. Finally her arm came free.

Ian's smile was broad now. He pushed buttons quickly. The first thing he did was let air back into the box slowly so Jan wouldn't hear the pumps.

Jan brought her right arm over and pulled on the straps. They were pressed tight against her bulging muscles. She relaxed her flex and let her fingers slip in. Then while pulling as hard as she could with her right arm she flexed her left arm. The bolts here had no chance. Jan sheared the bolt right through the nut. She did it again and again until her left arm was free. She flexed her chest and her pecs got even harder then she crunched her abs. Her six pack had gone beyond. Striated muscle blocks writhed and flexed with power as she broke herself free. Her head came up slowly. She looked down herself and willed her abs to do what she wanted. She heard the bolt break. Her upper chest was free. She flexed more and another bolt broke. Finally she was able to lean forward. Her abs were like living rock hot to the touch from the power that ran through them at this moment, but Jan had nothing left now.

Her mind ached from air and her vision was going dark. She struggled for a few more seconds, but all at once her strength ebbed then faded. Her head hung down and after nearly thirty minutes without a breath Jan passed out. Her mind did what everyone's mind would do at that moment. It opened her mouth and took a deep whooshing breath. Jan opened her bleary eyes confused. Her body still ached

Ian pushed the stop button on his panel. He rushed around the table towards the door. He wanted his face to be first Jan saw when the door opened. The nurses and technicians crowded waiting for the huge locks of the box to retreat and the door to open.

Jan felt all the pressure from the bands stop. More pain shot up her arms and legs. She didn't realize how much those bands had been hurting until the pressure had stopped. She saw the door open and light pour into the box. Ian stood in the doorway. He pushed the door open quickly and rushed in. Ten people rushed in behind him. Ian reached out and took Jan's hand in his and squeezed it gently. Jan returned the squeeze and tried to smile down at him. Someone went behind the slab and pushed a button releasing the straps. Jan fell to the floor in a heap in her own blood and sweat.

Ian went to a knee cradling her. "Get some help over here!", he yelled.

Jan tried to look around, but couldn't. She was in so much pain her mind was numb. She saw a stretcher being brought into the door.

"No!", she yelled and pulled her head out of Ian's arms. She struggled to sit up and pull her legs under her. The crowd look at her through the door and some through the cameras. They saw her struggle and get to her feet. She slipped on the blood and sweat, but finally struggled without help to her feet. Her legs were unsteady and it took all her concentration just to make them move. "I walked in here and I'm going to walk out!", Jan yelled. She steadied herself against the wall. It took nearly ten seconds to get her legs to lift high enough to make out the door, but she did walk out. She looked terrible, but everyone cheered. The government people, the generals, and the staff at the complex clapped and cheered as Jan stepped out of the box. Ian was right behind her. He leaned forward. "Test number four. You pass."

Jan turned with great effort and met Ian's smiling face. She smiled back. Her body got too heavy then. The lights dimmed. She knew she was falling, but only for an instant. After that there was just the blackness and rest.

Jan opened her eyes slowly. The harsh florescent lights were off and only two indirect lights shown in the room. Jan felt so very tired. Her body ached in places where she had never felt anything before.

"Hey, she's awake!"

Jan wanted to turn to where she had heard the voice, but she was having a hard time moving. The voice sounded like Alisha.

"Jan!" Jan recognized Sara's voice.

"Can you hear us?", Alisha asked.

"Yeah", Jan croaked. Her throat was so dry.

"Good. They told us your ear drums had burst. I guess they healed."

"Really?", Jan asked. She tried to turn her head again. She managed to move it a little. Her entire body seemed to weigh a million pounds. She braced and managed to push herself up a few inches.

"No here." Alisha pushed the button on the hospital bed. It sat her up.

"Thanks. Is there any water in here?"

Sara jumped up and poured her friend a cup of water. Jan managed to raise her hand and take the cup. It felt so heavy in her hand. She sipped at it. It felt so good going down her throat. "How long was I out?"

"Almost two days", Sara answered. "Your fever was so high yesterday everyone was worried. Well, everyone except Dr. Brooster. He told everyone that you would be fine."

"I don't feel fine. I feel terrible." Jan, Alisha, and Sara talked for a while. Jan felt some strength returning. She as able to sit up on her own, but she still felt bad. She drank an entire pitcher of water. Her throat at least felt better.

"So, Alisha, how did you get down here?"

Alisha smiled her impish grin. "I did a bit of hacking and research. I didn't believe the lie they told me after you disappeared, so I broke into the school's computer and followed the money trail. Seems some of the operating budget doesn't come from who the school says it comes from. And some of the money it spends doesn't go where they say it goes. I went back decades looking at final expense reports. Anyway, I saw that a bunch of payments had gone to a contracting company that specialized in mining and subterranean construction. They actually helped build NORAD. Then I found the maps showing where the old mines were around here. Between that and a few more computer break-ins, and they showed up at the room and told me to come with them."

"You are resourceful." Jan laughed. It hurt, but she didn't care. Her friends were with her.

They talked into the evening. It was getting near dinner time. No sooner had Sara thought it than there was knock at the door. Instead of a nurse, Ian walked in.

"Jan, I see you're awake. Having these two around must have helped some."

Jan felt anger at Ian when she first saw him walk in. He held a covered platter in his hand. Jan could smell it, but had lost her appetite suddenly. He set the platter down on the rolling serving table and took the top off. Jan leaned over to see the food. It smelled wonderful.

"Stuffed crab in alfredo sauce with steamed broccoli. I cooked it myself. Something told me you'd be awake this evening." He smiled at Jan again. That smile seemed to be able to disarm a tank. It disarmed Jan again. She felt any lingering anger melt away.

Alisha and Sara looked at each other. They had the same thought. "We'll see you later, Jan. We'd better get some dinner of our own." They stepped out.

Ian pushed the table up to Jan who started eating at once. "How do you feel?"

"Like crap. I thought I wasn't going to make it. What all did you do to me?", Jan asked as she filled her mouth full of food. She couldn't remember being as hungry as she was at this moment.

Ian looked down. "I did some things to you that would have killed a dozen, hell two dozen people at once. When you came to the infirmary after you collapsed, I counted 37 separate injuries that would have been fatal to even the most athletic and hardy person. Lucky for you the more injured you are, the faster you heal."

"I guess I did pretty good."

Ian shook his head and poured her another cup of water. "You did better than good. You are truly the most extraordinary person I've seen."

"Now, you're just trying to flatter me."

"Not at all. I do flatter, but you're too young so you take what I say as gospel."

Jan laughed. "So what else did you find out about me?"

"Quite a lot. I thought you might want to know what the tests said so I brought you a copy of my conclusions. They're under the platter. That should keep you occupied." Ian turned to leave. "I'll be here until tomorrow if you have any questions."

"I'm not supposed to see this am I?"

"No", Ian answered at once. "I trust government types only so much. I don't want them to know what you can do and you don't. Read up. I'm going to deliver the same conclusions to them in an hour." Ian opened the door again.

"Dr. Brooster!" Ian turned. "Thanks for the food. This is the best I've had in a while. I haven't had good seafood since I left home."

"My pleasure."

"Oh, and I'll get rid of this after I finish if you want me to."

Ian smiled. "Yeah it'd probably be best for you and for me if you would."

Jan smiled and nodded before digging back into her food. She was so hungry it hurt.

to be continued...

Be on the lookout for more....