Coping with power chap.5
by demented20
Lisa is introduced to a world of strength and power


It had almost been a year now since Lisa had gone to that gym and found out
about her ability. The memory was fresh, but only when she wanted to think
about it. Her strength had not become a part of her everyday life because she
couldn’t really find a way to use it, so it was just an ability she had in the
back of mind.

Lisa had been working day and night on her project. She still went to the gym,
but she had less and less time for other things. She had been dating a nice
guy, Henry, but there was no way to inform him about her little secret and on
top of that she didn’t have the time to put into a relationship. She could
always count on Ian thought to keep her grounded. He set up a lunch date
without asking her first. He called her at work just after she got in to her
office. He knew she wouldn’t say no.

Lisa met Ian at a café just down the street from her office. It made the best
sandwiches in the city. She loved their club and she ate one now as she and
Ian talked about things that had happened in the last few days. Lisa hadn’t
told Ian about her run in with Tom or his hired thugs. She didn’t want Ian
getting upset. Besides, she had taken care of that problem herself.

"Well, Lisa, I’ve been doing a little more analysis on those test I ran way
back when."

"And?"

"And I think you need to take a calcium supplement.", he said between bites.

Lisa stopped with the sandwich halfway to her mouth. "Do I have osteoporosis
or something?"

"No, the exact opposite. When you use your strength, it puts tremendous stress
on your bones, especially the smaller more delicate bones. Your body has been
compensating by making them denser and making your tendons and ligaments
incredibly strong. Calcium isn’t just used for bones. Its good to maintain a
healthy level in your blood stream. Just find yourself a good supplement, a
powder would be better."

"So", Lisa began, "if I go to the doctor, they’ll know that I have thick
bones."

"They aren’t getting thicker. That would actually be a problem if they were,
but it seems like they just got more dense. The thing is, that unlike your
muscles, your bones don’t go back to the way they used to be. I think your
bones are more dense permanently, kido. But don’t worry its not a problem
unless someone wants to do a bone density check on you. If they do, tell them
to contact me. I’ll tell them something or other."

"Ok" Lisa continued eating her sandwich. She got three refills of iced-tea.
This was the best little place in the city. She would have to come here more
often she thought as she took another bite of her club.

"Hey, what are you doing Friday night?"

"Sleeping if I can get around to it.", she answered.

"There’s someone I want you to meet."

"Come on, Ian. I mean you got me here when I had something else to do, now you
want me to do something on Friday. I just don’t have the time."

"That’s the problem. Come on. Its an art show. Thomas Benclo is showing off
his latest work."

"I didn’t know you were into art."

He laughed suddenly. "In my family, most of the men were either firemen or
police officers. Where I come from, those are the only honorable professions
for a good Irishman. When I became a doctor, my dad wanted to disown me. At
least Mom supported me, but if I had gotten into art, I don’t think even Mom
would have supported me then. No, Thomas and I went to college together. He
was pre-med like me, but he decided not to go to med school. He’s a great
guy."

"An art show, I don’t really want to -"

"Don’t say no", Ian interrupted her. "Just say yes, and I can pick you up at
7:30."

Lisa shook her head as she had to do often when Ian was involved. "Fine", she
said after a moment.

"Good. Dress to impress as they say."

"Yeah."

Lisa tried to get all the work done she could manage over the next few days.
Friday approached like some sort of oncoming doom. She didn’t even want to go
to an art showing, but she had to admit that it was better than working on pie
charts of cost estimates one minute and going over strategies for an
advertising campaign the next.

Ian was punctual as usual. Lisa met him at the front door of her complex. He
got out of the car to open the door for her. Ian usually dressed comfortably.
He didn’t dress poorly, by any means, but he hardly ever dressed for looks. He
did this night. Lisa could see at once that his black suit was tailor made and
his shoes hardly worn. He had gotten his usually thick brown hair cut and he
even trimmed his too long side burns.

Lisa didn’t disappoint either. Her long black gown hugged her curves and ended
in an elegant flare at her feet. The neck was square cut low showing just the
right amount of cleavage. Lisa was blessed with great natural breasts and she
didn’t have to work hard to get them to sit just right to make the dress look
perfect on her. Lisa wore a black shall across her shoulders draped perfectly
to allow her pearl necklace to show. Her long dark hair was in a long pony
tail behind her back.

"Beautiful", Ian said simply.

"Thank you. You’re looking pretty handsome yourself."

"Why, my lady", Ian held out his arm for Lisa to take, she did after she
realized what he was doing. "You are so kind. Get into my coach so we go to
the show."

Lisa smiled as Ian opened the door of his Jaguar and helped her in. He hurried
around the back of the car and at once they were off.

Lisa had no idea where they were going. They were in the old warehouse
district. Most of the buildings in this area of town were empty and most of
those were in various stages of collapse. As Ian turned another corner, Lisa
saw all sorts of activity. Portable spotlights illuminated the facade of a
large warehouse building. They parked in the building across the street, and
hurried to try to beat some of the crowd.

Ian and Lisa walked across the street arm in arm as they approached the steps
of the main building. Big men in dark suits stood guard at the street corners
and by the front door of the warehouse. Ian showed his invitation and the
guard handed him two programs and welcomed them inside.

Like all high quality art shows, this one had excellent wine and hors d’ovres.
Lisa grabbed two glasses of white wine off the servers tray. She handed one to
Ian.

"Not bad. I’ve never actually been to one of these. I guess we’ll learn as we
go along." Ian said as he sipped the wine.

Lisa flipped through the program. "All you have to do is walk from piece to
piece and look thoughtful and sophisticated. Sometimes the meaning of a piece
will jump out at you. Other times it’ll look like a four year olds finger
painting. Either way just keep that thoughtful look on your face. They’ll
mistake you for a serious art critic."

"You’ve been to one of these before?"

"Many. I’ll tell you later." Some of the samples in the program looked
interesting. Some people said hello, especially men. Some of their wives, or
more likely convenient dates gave Lisa a hard look. She didn’t care, she was
used to that.

Lisa walked into the maze-like gallery area and started looking at the art.
The theme of the exhibit was heroism. The first piece that made Lisa stop was
a large piece about ten feet by ten. It was black canvas she noticed at once,
but the artist had taken his time to paint the entire background white and
then the figures on top. The figures on the canvas were locked in a struggle
in a burning field. The background was the white smoke. Only the top of the
canvas was left black. There was great passion on the faces of the figures.
Lisa stood in front of the piece for several minutes before moving on to the
next piece. The next one was better than the first. A woman knelt at a spring
or a creek filling a jar of water. The scene looked normal until Lisa noticed
that the woman was crying and that her dress was torn. Three men on horseback
were riding away from her in the background. Only their shadows could be seen
reflecting on the water.

Lisa hardly noticed Ian standing behind her. He couldn’t understand what she
was looking at, but it was a nice painting. Ian tried to understand what was
so interesting about the art, but it was just not in him. He hadn’t known that
it was in Lisa, but obviously it was.

"Hey, Lisa, let me tear you away from that for a minute. I want you to meet
somebody."

Lisa turned away from the painting. Ian was part way down the gallery hall. A
figure came towards them. The lights in the gallery were directed at the
paintings themselves so the middle of the hall was in shadows. Ian smiled as
the man approached. Lisa stood still with the shall around her shoulders and a
glass of wine in her hand. She wanted to move on to the next piece, but Ian
looked so happy.

The figure came closer. He was taller than Ian and had broader shoulders. He
walked with an easy confidence. His long cut suit coat billowed behind him as
he came down the hall holding a glass of wine himself.

"Lisa, this is my friend Thomas", Ian said as the artist came close.

"Thomas this is my friend Lisa."

"Nice to meet you." Lisa held out her hand.

"A pleasure to meet you." He took her hand in his large hand and shook it. The
voice matched the man Lisa thought at once. Thomas was perhaps six two with an
obvious muscular build. He was a brown skinned man as her mother would say,
and his flowing dreadlocks were tied behind him with a simple white band. The
locks framed his strong face and strong features perfectly.

"Have you looked at any of the pieces?", he asked in his smooth baritone.

"Just these two really", Lisa answered at once.

"What did you think?"

"Passion, strength, courage come to mind."

Thomas smiled. "You sound like an art critic."

"I’m not really. I have been to a few of these. I studied art under Dr. van de
Veld for two years while in was college. He made me come to these every time
one opened. He said I had an eye for it."

"You studied under Max van de Veld? You must know your stuff then."

"I know just enough to fool most of the folks in this room."

He laughed. It was a rich laugh. Lisa loved it.

"You know, usually Dr. van de Veld would be at an opening like this. I don’t
think I saw him here."

"He sent me a letter. His mother is very sick in Austria. He left this
morning. He helped me a lot when I first got started in this crazy business. I
don’t know if Ian told you, but I wanted to be a doctor when I was in school."

"He told me. I think I’m glad you decided to become a artist."

"Yes, me too." He smiled. "So you like what you see?"

Lisa looked around at the paintings on the wall then slowly settled back to
Thomas’s face. "Yes, yes I do."

Thomas smiled again. "Come this way. I want to show you all something."

Thomas led them up an old flight of stairs that were obviously original to the
building. They came to the top of the stairs. Thomas opened two laches on the
huge sliding door and leaned against it to open it. The room beyond was pitch
black. Lisa and Ian walked in. Thomas reached over and flipped two switches.
The track lighting came on shining down on several canvases mostly unfinished.
Lisa walked towards them.

The first she came to was a painting of a woman in ancient armor standing
alone holding a sword standing in front of the gates of a castle. Her back was
facing the viewer, but it was not important to see the look on her face. The
looks on the faces of the men manning the wall told the story. Fear and
anticipation shone on their faces. While the woman stood proudly and
confidently in front of them. Her back was wide with muscles that almost
seemed to pulse with power. Her emotions leapt off the canvas. Lisa couldn’t
take her eyes off the painting.

"This is wonderful", Lisa said under her breath.

Ian looked at another work. His eyes caught the muscles of the female and male
figures in the painting. He didn’t care much about the pose of the figures or
their situation. "This isn’t bad, Thomas. All the muscles are anatomically
correct. The way they connect to the bone and the way one muscle flows to the
next.

"I was pre-med, Ian."

"Yeah, but you actually paid attention." Ian smiled. Thomas laughed.

Ian was about to say something else when the moment was ruined by a beep. "Oh,
damn", Ian muttered as he pulled his pager from his coat pocket. "I have to
go."

"You’re on call?", Thomas asked. "I didn’t know you had a practice going?"

"I’ve been volunteering at Central Medical. They were short staffed,
especially in pediatrics. So, I told them if they paid the insurance, I’d help
them out in pediatrics and in the ER."

"I’m proud of you, Ian", Thomas told his friend.

"Glad to hear it, but I have to be going now. I’ll call you both in the
morning." Ian hurried down the stairs and out of sight.

"Its just you and me I guess.", Lisa said to Thomas’ back.

Thomas turned. "Yes, I guess it is."

Lisa walked around some of the other works. All of them had muscled figures,
mostly women. All the works showed the power and strength of the female
figures. Some of the women were muscled like bodybuilders while others were
more lithe. It was beautiful Lisa thought.

"Are you going to show these one day?"

"Yeah, I have some work to do on a few of them, but hopefully next year I’ll
show them and try to make some money."

Lisa nodded.

"So you studied art at NYU. Ian told me that you’re a advertising executive."

"Yeah. Art comes in handy when working on advertising campaigns. Shapes that
were pleasing 500 years ago are still pleasing. I just have to dress them up
some."

"Interesting."

"I guess the theme of these works will be strength.", Lisa looked at the piece
in front of her as she asked.

"Maybe", Thomas answered guardedly. "I haven’t shown these to anybody, but you
and Ian. Basically to you because Ian doesn’t know art from a hole in the
wall. I’ve always wanted to do a strength based show."

"So, where do you get the inspiration for these? Movies? Magazines?"

Thomas smiled. "No, I get them from regular life."

"Bodybuilding shows?"

"Not really. Shows of a sort, but you would have to see them to believe."

"See them? I’ve never been to any bodybuilding or weightlifting show."

"Well, there’s one tonight as a matter of fact.", Thomas looked Lisa in the
eye. "Do want to go?"

Lisa thought about it. She had wanted to go home until the moment she saw the
first painting. Now after meeting Thomas, she would stay out with him as long
as he would have her. It was sad a distant part of her mind told her, but the
rest of her mind drowned that thought out.

"Yes, I’d love to go."

The art show ended just before midnight. Thomas shooed his agents out the door
before he and Lisa left the building. He drove her about three or four miles
from his art studio to another part of the warehouse district. This part of
town was even more rundown than the other part. Some of the buildings had
facades that were crumbling. Thomas pulled his car into an alley. Lisa frowned
and looked around wondering where exactly he was going. Thomas parked his car
behind another car and shut off the engine. The alley was dark, the only light
came from street lights from either end of the alley. Garbage cans were
knocked over here and there, and there was an underlying smell of rotting
food. Lisa tried not to touch anything as she got out of the car. The ground
was still wet from an overnight rain and Lisa was positive she was going to
ruin her shoes.

"This way." Thomas held out his hand. Lisa took his hand and walked with him
towards the opposite end of the alley. She saw people walking across the alley
opening, but they didn’t look down the alley. Lisa figured they wouldn’t have
been able to see much anyway.

After coming out of the alley, Thomas took a left turn and then another left
into a building. A man sat on a stool in front of a huge steel door. He barely
reacted when Thomas and Lisa walked up. He waited until they were a few feet
away from him to speak.

"What you here for?", he asked in a gruff voice. Lisa despite herself, was a
little nervous.

"I’m here for the show.", Thomas answered naturally.

"I know you, but I don’t know her."

"She’s with me."

"Tickets?"

Thomas reached into his pocket and pulled out money rolled up. He handed it
over. The man didn’t count it. He tucked it neatly into his shirt pocket. The
door opened up a moment later. It opened to a small dark room that lead to a
hall way. Lisa didn’t see who had opened the door, or who had closed it, but
she didn’t care.

Lisa waited until they were inside and the door shut to speak again. "How much
did you pay him?"

Thomas smiled. "I handed him $350. $250 for you and $100 for me."

"Why more for me?"

"Its your first time here. If you come again, you only have to pay $100."

"This better be worth that kind of money. That’s why I didn’t go see Luther.
Tickets were too high."

"Well, this will be worth it. I don’t know if its better than Luther Vandross,
but it is definitely different."

Lisa didn’t see any other people around, but she could hear something now. It
sounded like a cross between a crowd at a sporting event and a convention. She
wasn’t sure what Thomas had taken her to, but she had signed up for this trip.
She understood what the whole thing was as the hall opened up to a huge well
lit room.

The room was full of all sorts of things. There were tables like a convention
with people and displays set up, but in another part of the room there was a
boxing ring. There were actually three of them Lisa noticed as she came more
into the room. In another part of the room there were exercise apparatus and a
huge assortment of free weight equipment. People were scattered all over the
place.

"This is my inspiration", Thomas said as they walked down the long ramp
towards the actual floor of the room.

"It looks like a trade show."

"More like an exhibition", Thomas corrected.

When Lisa got to the bottom, she saw what Thomas was talking about. Mixed in
with the regular people were bodybuilders and powerlifters, but these men and
women were huge. Some of the women were bigger than the powerlifter Lisa had
seen on her first trip to that gym so many months ago. Their muscles flexed
with just the slightest movement. Lisa had to work at keeping the astonishment
from her face. Some of the people had pamphlets to hand out, but some were
just talking to people.

"Thomas!" Lisa heard a deep voice from behind them.

"Edgar!", Thomas yelled as he turned. The man, Edgar, Lisa saw, was a mountain
of a man. He was closer to seven feet than to six and his shoulders were at
least as wide. His upper arms were more than half again as big as Lisa’s
waist. He was the biggest human being Lisa had ever seen.

"I thought we might have missed the show", Thomas told the man he obviously
knew.

"No, we haven’t even started yet."

"Good, we’ll have a good seat", Thomas promised.

Thomas and Edgar shook hands. Thomas took Lisa and continued towards the
stands. There were more of these super-bodybuilders around. Some of them were
warming up in the area with the free weights. Thomas looked used to it, but
Lisa couldn’t take her eyes off the man warming up with 800 pounds on the
bench press. That was much more than the world record. Lisa watched as he
pressed the weight up smoothly. He didn’t even bounce it off his massive
chest. The woman spotting him looked like she could have benched the weight as
well. Lisa didn’t have to wonder long to find out, as she slid down on the
bench after the man was finished. She rook the weight off the rack and powered
it up and down as easily as the man had. This was going to be interesting.

The show started shortly after Thomas and Lisa found some seats in the stands.
The lights were lowered in the exhibition area. Some of the bodybuilders and
powerlifters came out in small groups. The show was not planned or even
organized. The lifters came out and did what they wanted to show.

The first to come out was a man who was big, but not as big as Ed. He went to
a bar sitting on the ground and got a good grip. Lisa had to do some quick
math to figure out that there was just over a ton and a half on the bar. With
a yell and shaking effort, he pulled the bar off the ground and stood up
straight with it. No sooner had he put the bar down than a female lifter
pushed him to the side and without taking much time, she bent down and pulled
against the bar. She was taller than Lisa at about 5’11". She had strawberry
blond hair and fiery blue eyes. Her face was beet red, but the bar moved at
once. Her quads thickened as she quickly pulled herself straight. With the bar
sagging in her arms, she bend down and cleaned the bar to her chest. The
weight moved up and down with each deep breath she took as she labored
slightly to keep the bar level. Then with a sudden burst of power, she pressed
the bar over her head and stood up straight. The first lifter, the man should
have looked defeated, but instead he was cheering as loudly as the rest of the
crowd. The woman lifter held the 3200 pound weight over her head long enough
for everybody to see then she calmly lowered the weight to the ground instead
of dropping it.

Lisa stood up with the rest of the group and clapped and cheered. "That was
great!", Lisa yelled to Thomas.

"That’s just for starters. It gets better!", he yelled back. He wasn’t lying.

The female lifter, Moira was her name, increased the weight on the bar and
repeated her lift several times.

Some more big lifers came out after a while, men and women. Some went into the
ring and challenged others. Some went to the weights. Lisa watched as men and
women lifted huge weights.

The first women to come out, Moira, was the strongest. After about fifteen
minutes, all the lifters started pulling vials out of their pockets. The vials
were attached to hypodermic sprayers and some of the lifters shot them into
the large arteries on the inside of their thighs. There was a noticeable
change in them after they shot the stuff into their bodies. It was like they
got a jolt of energy that didn’t die down. Thomas’ friend Ed had shot up and
was in the ring. He was wrestling another huge man who obviously couldn’t
challenge Ed’s strength eventhough he too had shot up.

Moira was now lifting more weight than she had at first. She lifted more than
only two of the men. Lisa could see a competition brewing. Some of the men
shot more vials into their legs and arms and tried to lift more than Moira,
but they failed. Moira went to the curl machine and put the peg at the bottom
of the stack. 2000 pounds started off the ground slowly, but as Moira brought
her enormous arms up, but weight had to obey. Her biceps grew thicker and
broader before the peak really started to show. Moira’s body was rock steady,
just her arms moved. Her face was a mass of concentration and confidence as
the weight came up higher and higher. Her peaks were unbelievable. The veins
on her arms only framed the massive peak of her biceps. She squeezed as she
brought the weight up as far as it would go. She lowered it slowly before
bringing her arms up again and again before finally stepping to the side and
raising her arms in triumph. She turned and looked back at the machine again,
a smile coming over her face. She put her right hand through the strap and
took hold of the handle and with only one arm attempted to curl the weight.
Her bicep was already thick, but now it took on a life of its own. Her peak
grew and defined itself into angular ridges of rock hard muscle. The weight
was moving. It moved slower than before, but its progress was undeniable.
Moira stared at her arm and willed it stronger it seemed. Her arm responded.
The bicep grew noticeably, and finally the weight was all the way up. Moira
frowned at the weight as she flexed her arm while holding the massive weight.
Her upper arm grew again to nearly 27 inches. The crowd cheered at the display
of power. Moira dropped the weight and repeated the process with her left arm.

That got Edgar’s attention. They were on a collision course. The rest of the
lifters led the two towards one another. They were obviously excited. They
looked like two prize fighters jacked up for a big fight. They spoke briefly
then hurried towards what could only be an arm-wrestling table.

Both shot up before the bought.

"What is that?", Lisa asked her escort.

"That’s what they call the "juice". Its a cocktail of drugs and chemicals that
put the body in hyper-drive. Its what make their bodies able to do all this."

"Isn’t that dangerous?"

"Yeah, and permanent. How else do you think Moira could lift a ton and half
without the juice? That’s the game. The juice works differently on different
people."

"It makes them act crazy."

"Yeah, its like roid rage times ten. Ed’s a good guy without the juice, but I
wouldn’t get within fifty feet of him right now.

The two were seated now at the table. One of the other male lifters made sure
their grip was fair before stepping back. The two arm wrestlers stared each
other eye to eye and the contest started at once.

Edgar’s arm flexed tight at once as he tried to overwhelm Moira at the start.
Her arm went down quickly. She couldn’t have anticipated the power in Edgar’s
arm. Her arm was already flexed. Lisa thought she was giving it all she had,
but she was wrong. She watched as Moira’s arm flexed even more and it started
back to the top. Ed grit his teeth as he tried to fight back her onslaught,
but she just kept on moving. Lisa frowned as Moira’s arm seemed to flex more
and more even more than it had on the curl machine. She wondered if Moira was
like her. Lisa wondered if she could do some of the things she had seen these
people do. It was really amazing.

Edgar stared at his arm wondering why his muscle was failing him. His hand was
past level when he seemed to get the answer. His arm flexed tighter now. Sweat
rolled down his tanned skin to the table, but his retreat was stopped now. He
flexed harder. Lisa saw his forearm swell and define itself more. Moira’s
forearm tightened to compensate, but Lisa could tell that his power was
greater than hers. After taking a few deep breaths, Edgar started pushing
Moira’s arm towards the table. She fought and strained to keep her arm up, but
it kept moving. She took a deep breath, holding it and for a moment stopping
Edgar’s arm. Her arm was shaking with strain and fatigue. Her proud bicep
tried to eak out more power, but there was no more in reserve. Edgar slammed
her arm to the table and held it there just long enough to show who was boss.
He then stood up. One of the other lifters raised his arm in victory, but
there was a good bit of attention to Moira who had put up a fight. After a few
moments to catch her breath, Moira congratulated Edgar. Lisa watched her mouth
that she would get him next time.

"How often do they have these shows?", Lisa asked.

"About once ever other month or so."

"Why don’t they have any information on the net or anything?"

"They do, but you have to know where to look. So you’re interested in this?"

"I have my reasons to be interested. Is this illegal or something?"

"The juice is, and I don’t think the state athletic commission would sanction
it. Do you?"

Lisa shook her head. There were some other displays of great strength, but the
show wound down after Moira’s challenge to Edgar. Thomas had to drive Lisa
home. Lisa was a little apprehensive about telling someone she hardly knew
where she lived, but what choice did she really have. Besides he was so cute
she didn’t really mind if he came up for a while. He didn’t ask though, and
neither did she. He was a perfect gentleman.

Lisa knew then that she would have to go to another one of those shows. She
didn’t look actively that much anymore, but one of those super lifters might
be like her. She would have to find out. Lisa fell asleep easily. She couldn’t
get the sight of Moira’s peaked biceps out of her mind. The strength and power
was amazing.

to be continued....

comments welcome ppng21@comcast.net