Coping with Power Chap. 9 By demented20 Lisa starts her rescue and clashes with Moira for the first time. Please check out the other chapters. Http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc15/lisa1.txt http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc15/lisa2.txt Http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc15/lisa3.txt Http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc16/lisa4.txt Http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc16/lisa5.txt Http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc17/lisa6.txt http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc17/lisa7.txt Lisa Sanchez decided not to park too close to her destination. She thought it better to go there on foot rather than announce her presence by getting close. She parked in a 24 hour lot on the second floor three quarters of a mile from where she was going. It was just after midnight and the only people out were the street hustlers, prostitutes, and gang bangers. Lisa knew about all three of the groups. She'd grown up in a poor neighborhood and knew how to handle herself. She looked down the wet dimly lit streets and saw what she expected. She turned north and started walking. Lisa wore black denim pants and a matching jacket. Beneath those jeans were some lycra pants that were loose at the moment, but that Lisa was sure would be skin tight before the night was out. Her jacket was zipped, hiding a lycra top that was also loose at the moment. It was still drizzling and Lisa pulled her collar up to keep the rain from getting inside her jacket. She put her hands in her pockets and walked down the street making sure to look like she knew where she was going. She passed several people as she walked with purpose down the street. Most were prostitutes thinking that she was trying to get some of their action. Lisa almost laughed at the thought. She had only seen three cars go down the street since she started walking and one of them had been a police car. These girls needed to find a street with a little more action. They needed to advertise better. That brought a private chuckle as she got closer to the place where Thomas had taken her not long ago. Before she got to the alley, she had to pass a group of boys. She thought about going around, but she'd have to go all around the block and she was ready to get there boys or no boys. The cat calls started before she was even within a hundred feet. She got closer and saw that they were indeed boys and a couple girls who looked jealous as Lisa walked by. She glanced at them while she walked, but didn't stop. None of them tried to mess with her. If she was a working girl then she probably had a razor. No one wants to get cut. Lisa thought that they should be home, but it was Friday night and their parents probably weren't even home. All the idle thoughts left Lisa's mind when she turned the corner into the alley. Everything was as she remembered it. She slowly approached the steps. She had to avoid the puddles, but she made it. There was no one there. Must not be a show tonight. She saw the sliding door. She started to look around for another way in and eventually climbed on the low roof. She was able to look into the second floor windows. She didn't see anybody and slowly pushed the window up. Its squeaks sounded like shotgun blast to Lisa as she pushed it up. She waited for two minutes before climbing into the window. She hit the wooden floor hard. The windows were higher up than she had thought, but still no one came. The room was dark, but now she was in. She found the door and pushed it open a hair. She looked out. The door led to a well lit hall. If that's where she had to go then so be it. She started to open the door and felt her left arm rub against her right arm. They were still normal. She was in good shape for regular people, but the people in this building were anything but regular. She would have to find a way to get her strength up and do it in a quiet way. Or maybe if she was lucky, she could find Ian and get out before anyone knew. That was the best shot. Dr. Ian Brooster was tied to the chair with twine and duct tape. It was crude, but quite effective. Ian strained against the bounds for a few minutes, but he knew he wasn't getting out of the chair. Ian snorted a laugh at the thought that Moira Kelly, the woman who abducted him, was the person he was waiting on to save him. Ian finally sat still in the chair and looked around the dimly lit room. It looked like an old office from when the building still functioned as a factory. It would be nice if there was a letter opener in the desk or something. Better yet, some scissors. In the movies there would be an old dusty pair of scissors in a desk drawer and he would cut the tape and twine and escape. Too bad this wasn't a movie; he wasn't a movie star, and he couldn't reach the desk drawer anyway. He was facing the wrong way and there wasn't enough room for him and the chair to fit near the drawer. Moira Kelly stood triumphant over every piece of equipment in the vast work out area in the commune. Her now larger muscles radiated with power as she stood over the tandem lift bar that they used during their strength shows. The twenty foot long bar was made of a steel and titanium alloy the same kind the Russians used to make their deep diving nuclear submarines. The bar itself weighted exactly 5000 pounds and could hold 25,000 pounds on either end with just a few degrees bend. Moira had just fully loaded the bar and lifted it above her head. Moira's new super muscled body had just lifted 55,000 pounds over her head twice. The moment of triumph lasted for only a moment. Moira had defeated Edgar and all of his lackeys. She had lifted, twisted, or moved every piece of equipment in the area. There was nothing that could test her strength. She was now stronger than even any of the commune residents had every dreamed of. She was more than 8 times stronger than she was only a few short hours ago and she could feel herself getting stronger. As she breathed, her power grew. Moira had put on some new shorts to replace the ones she had shredded back on the deck. These shorts had belonged to Edgar because Moira's own clothes would not fit anymore. She didn't put on a shirt or bra. Her glorious body was too perfect to cover. She knew that she was power now. There was not a person in the world stronger than her. She was the strongest. Moira looked around the room and knew that she would have to leave this commune. It had grown too small for her. There was nothing to test her. She threw the tandem bar off its reinforced concrete stand onto the floor below making an earth shaking noise. The weights flew off on one side and the bar rolled to a stop about twenty feet away. Lisa heard a noise that almost made her leap out of her skin. Lisa had been walking down the hall straining all her senses to hear the slightest noise and then there was this big boom. She stopped and took a moment to catch her breath. Then continued. She came to a staircase. Lisa paused and peered down. Lisa saw then what had made the noise. She saw the largest workout bar roll and come to a halt. Lisa saw the massive five thousand pound plates on the end the bar and she took a deep breath. No one could lift anything that heavy. Something must have broken. Lisa stood up straight and walked down the steps trying to keep quiet, but the old wooden steps had other ideas. They squeaked with each step she took. Moira glared in the direction of the steps. Most of the members of the commune had run away from her. After a while their eyes looking around corners and behind stacks of equipment had made her angry and she had ordered them from the area. Now one of them was defying her. Moira moved off behind a short wall. Moira wanted to have some fun with whoever had defied her order. She was the strongest now and she ruled. Moira had decided to leave, but until she did, she was in charge. Lisa came to the bottom of the steps and remembered the exercise room from the show she had attended with Thomas. All the lights had been on then, and now only a few lights were on and shadows covered a large part of the area. Lisa cautiously walked forward and noticed that the area was bigger than she had first seen. There were some rooms about a hundred feet off to her right and then she noticed three bank vaults off to her left. Lisa walked carefully into the room the stopped when she came to a thousand pound dumbbell. This seemed like just the thing to pump up with. Lisa bent down and carefully began to lift the massive dead weight. It took only a second for Lisa to power up her own super muscles to easily pick up a half a ton. Lisa held the weight in her right hand and curled it several times just to get her blood pumping. She knew that she could possibly encounter some of the juiced up folks from the commune. Lisa could feel her muscles begin to tighten up and firm up with her lazy curls. Lisa then switch the weight to her left hand as easily as a normal person would switch a ten pound dumbbell. A thousand pounds used to a massive weight for Lisa, but now lifting a thousand pounds didn't even require her to concentrate. Moira could see the top of the intruder's head as she walked around. Anger welled inside Moira and she charged out of her hiding place. Three long strides covered the distance and she seized the intruder by the throat. Lisa dropped the weight as soon as her throat was seized and then the pain set in as she was slowly lifted off the ground. Whoever had her by the throat did not have large enough hands to reach all around her neck so the fingers really dug into her neck. She was finding it hard to draw a breath. Lisa began to panic. Then the person spoke and it brought her back to reality. "Who are you?", the person sounded like a woman, Lisa thought as her eyes slightly bulged from her head. "I'm looking for my friend", Lisa croaked weakly. "I don't know you!", the Moira yelled and punctuated her mood by squeezing harder. Lisa tried to cough, but it stuck in her throat. Lisa tried to turn her head to see who was holding her, but trying to turn her head only caused the woman's fingers to dig deeper into her flesh. Lisa took her hands away from the woman's hands and put them around the woman's wrist. Lisa then took her body and swung upward twisting the woman's wrist at the same time. It was not enough to make the woman fall, but it was enough to make the woman loose her grip. Lisa fell to the ground and rolled away then sprang to her feet. Lisa looked at the woman standing just a few feet away from her. She looked at the face and recognized it. It was the woman from the strength show, but she was bigger now. She was huge. The biggest most muscled woman, no person, she had ever seen. And she looked mad. Lisa quickly took off her denim jacket and readied for the fight. Moira looked at the regular sized woman standing across from her and almost laughed. The woman was quite defined and she did have nice muscles for a regular person. Moira took a step forward and instead of attacking she took a deep breath and Lisa watched as the glorious naked upper body began to flex. Lisa did not move as Moira's muscles began to expand and striate. Striations deeper than an inch appeared on her thighs as Moira's flex continued. Moira grunted as she poured more power into her flex. Just like her display with Edgar, Moira's opponent was awed by the display of power. Moira's muscles seemed to pulse with power itself. Unlike Edgar though, Lisa knew that the limit to her power had never been reached. She had never found something too heavy to lift or too strong to move. She looked at the half nude woman across from her and knew that she would be no different no matter how strong she looked. Lisa was determined to find Ian and that's all there was to it. Moira finished her most muscular flex and to her surprise the other woman had not run away. Moira slowly and deliberately move her right arm and then like a shot punched towards Lisa. Lisa's reflexes were cat quick after more than a year of training in ju-jitsu and judo. She let Moira's punch sail by her head before grasping the wrist and attempting an easy throw, but the woman did not move. She barely lost balance. Instead of being thrown, Moira pulled Lisa to her and put her hands near Lisa's throat. Lisa's hands came up to protect her still sore throat so Moira's hands ended up on her shoulders. Moira then pressed down. Moira's triceps flexed tight and bulged with steel bending power. Moira pressed with a portion of her power to the woman across from her expecting her to collapse to the ground in a heap, but instead the woman only bent a few inches before stopping the decent and actually pushing Moira back up. Moira was confused, but too angry to think about it for long. All she knew was that she had just defeated Edgar, the strongest man in the world by a factor of ten, in a test of strength and she was stronger now than then. Moira had never killed, but this woman had pushed her too far. She would literally break her in half and crush her into the hard stone floor of the workout area. Lisa's head was down and did not see the look of concentration come over Moira's face as she powered up her muscles. Hot, sweet sweat dripped from Moira's body to Lisa's own perspiring body. Lisa began to look up then she heard a growl. Lisa's didn't have time to look up when she felt intense pain. It was the most intense pain of her life. It was as if every joint in her back and legs had been compressed to nothing. It felt as if her bones were trying to grind into each other. Her muscles were rock hard and powerful, but this was the greatest pressure she had ever experienced and heavier than any weight she had tried to lift. Her usually unstoppable muscles failed. With great force, Lisa's knee slammed into the stone floor chipping pieces of the floor and making an impression in the floor. The pain shot up from her knee up her back and up her spine. Moira was more confused than ever, but snarled even more. Moira was not nearly to the limit of her strength, but even through her anger, rage, and lust she knew that the force she used could have crushed a hundred men. This one woman was a surprise, but at least she was some sort of challenge. Moira wasn't sure for how long, but she loved a challenge. She pressed down harder and harder, but the woman would not go down. The increasing pressure caused the pain to increase in Lisa's joints, but she was able to block out the pain and concentrate. Lisa quickly began to fight back. Her muscles flexed harder and harder and quickly began to expand. In only a matter of seconds her thighs had burst the legs of her jeans and her pecs, shoulders, and back had filled the lycra top she wore. Moira could not see all this, but she did feel pressure coming through her arms. Lisa's body burned with strength. She felt as if she had a high fever from the burn in her muscles. Her mind just kept screaming MORE MORE from her body and it responded as it always had. Thick cords of super shredded vascular muscles shown through the lycra bottoms as her the power in her thighs increased by the moment. Finally Lisa was able to lift her throbbing knee. She didn't stop until her knee was nearly a foot off the ground. Moira was nearly screaming now as this woman was competing with her. She poured more strength down and it stopped the assent. Moira smiled at regaining control, but she hadn't completely. Lisa felt the surge of power in her shoulders and braced herself against it. Her body shook with the effort. She was having to concentrate more than ever. Lisa took her hands away from her own shoulders and put them on the woman's forearms. Then with a quick burst of power lifted the woman off the ground and threw her back twenty feet to the tandem lift stand. The impact stunned Moira for a moment. She looked and the woman had not moved. She rubbed her knee and had trouble moving quickly. Moira didn't know that her joints were slowly trying to return to their normal state and the woman who looked to be about 5'6 was actually 5'9 when her joints repaired themselves. Moira did not give them woman time. She pushed herself to her feet and charged. Lisa tried to dodge, but the joints in her knees, hips, and ankles were not working well, and her back felt too stiff to move. Moira caught her square in the chest sending her sprawling. Only the tandem bar stopped her slide. Moira then walked over to Lisa and casually picked her up. "I thought you would be a challenge", Moira spat. She looked around then smiled. Lisa could barely resist as Moira carried her a few feet then with just a flick of the wrist, Lisa went flying backwards. She hit the ground and bounced several times banging her head before she slid to a stop. There was darkness all around her. Lisa looked through misty eyes and the haze of her fatigue at Moira's immense muscled body darkening the doorway. She slowly reached out and began to shut the door. "I'll deal with you later", she said before bursting into laugher. Lisa could hardly move towards the front as Moira closed the vault door. The door was three or four feet thick. Lisa had seen it when she came in. She began to tear up as the last few inches of light was cut into nothing. The door clanged shut. Then there was a slight grinding sound as the locking wheel was spun. Lisa heard another clank as the two feet thick bars closed, locking the door. Lisa tried to stand, but instead twisted her knee and collapsed. Exhausted from the fight, she passed out. Lisa could hear herself breathe. Her body ached in a distant dull sort of way. She opened her eyes, but could have kept them closed for all the good it did. The vault was more than dark, it was the darkest place Lisa had ever been. Lisa slowly stood up still favoring her right knee. She made her way to the wall. In the confusion she could not remember where the door was. She couldn't tell left from right or front from back. She felt along the walls all the way around the vault. Only a few boxes got in her way. Lisa could not find the seam between the door and the wall. Lisa leaned against the wall and pushed against it. She grunted as she poured more and more power into the wall. Her fingers made impressions into the steel as her diamond hard muscles flexed harder and harder, but it was no use. The steel was thicker than her arm was long. Even if she had an aneurysm trying, it was no use. She slumped down to the floor again and hit the ground in frustration. Lisa heard the unusual smack of flesh hitting steel. Then she smiled. The thinnest sides of a vault were probably the ceiling and the floor. Since she couldn't reach the ceiling... Lisa found the a corner and moved back about two steps and started punching the floor. The first punch sent a wave of pain up her arm and shoulder all the way to her neck, but she punch again. This time harder. Her knuckles slammed into the steel floor. Two punches had made an impression about three quarters of an inch deep. The steel was old, but it had been forged well and it resisted Lisa well, but she kept at it. She punched with both arms now, left then right pounding the steel floor. Lisa's punches got harder each time. Her shoulders and arms were thicker, full of shredded super strong muscle. The ground shook with each blow. Moira sat in the workout area resting from her short, but spirited fight. She wasn't hurt, but for a few moments, Moira had released all her new strength into something that was able to resist it for a time. Moira won that battle and took some of the sting from her partial failure. She looked at the old bank vault still unable to figure out what she would do with the woman, but she had time to figure out. Then she heard noises coming from the vault. She smiled. The woman was trying to get out. That was funny. It would take an armor piercing shell to make a hole in that vault. Moira left the area and went looking for some people from the commune. She had other scores to settle besides the one with Ed. The stronger 'juice' and her lust of power affected Moira's brain, if they had not then she would have known that she shouldn't have been hearing anything coming from that vault. Lisa's punches came one after the other moving like a piston. She didn't rest. Her hands were numb and her body seemed to be in automatic. The steel was bending to her every punch now. Her own super muscles powered every punch harder that the toughest jackhammer. Left then right, left then right, the punches continued until she felt something change. The dimpled steel gave way to the rough concrete and stone floor. Lisa finally stopped, but only long enough to take a breath or two. She then took her hands and worked her fingers into the hole. She had punched a hole three inches wide and about a foot long in the five inches of steel that made up the floor of the vault. She was able to widen the whole and then got to her feet with her hands still in the crack. Lisa took two deep breaths the pulled upwards. Lisa's leg muscles immediately reacted. The oversized lycra pants which she had worn before could not contain the explosion of the thick cords of muscles that created a jagged mountain range of muscle on her thighs. Her calves first hardened into twin diamonds of jagged muscles then bulged outward to increase the power being applied to the ground. Lisa's back expanded and shoulders and lats, and bulged with power. Lisa's gaze was of the most intense concentration and pain. Her body ached with its transformation. She was asking for more power from her body than ever before. With all her efforts the steel did not move. Her muscles continued to flex and expand with awesome power. The steel hard already lost. The steel on either end of the hole began to crack deep within the floor. Suddenly and with a ear splitting shriek, the steel started to peel. Lisa peeled the flap of ruined steel back three feet before going to the other side of her expanding hole and putting her hands under the floor again. She took the same position and applied her muscles against the steel. With her muscles already swollen with pure earth shaking power, the steel had no chance. In less than a second the steel began to peel. She pulled it back to the wall. Lisa could feel the fatigue deep within herself, but her determination drove her on. She settled into the now large hole and again put her hands under the floor. This time she pulled straight up. Lisa felt a wave of pain as her body grew and her muscles expanded. The floor actually began to move upwards. Her body shook with the weight, but she held it steady about three inches from the ground. She took a deep breath and with more strength than any thousand people shot upright. The floor buckled under the weight on the corner of the vault, but Lisa's super body did not wiggle. Her lycra pants shredded as thick vein covered muscle burst the fabric to shreds. The momentum of her assent enabled her to keep the vault moving upwards and with a yell, she locked her elbows with the vault above her head. Her arms and shoulders were a lattice work of writhing slabs of muscles covered with thick throbbing veins. Her triceps jutted out from her arm like a collection of razors laid side by side. Lisa then slowly and carefully walked with her hands one over the other until she came to the corner. She looked around the room for Moira, but did not see her. She couldn't look in all directions, but she felt safe enough to take a shallow breath or two. Lisa then bent her knees slightly before thrusting up with her arms and legs. The vault only rose a couple of inches, but it was enough. Lisa ran from beneath the tons of steel and had time to turn to watch it hit the ground. The blast of air from the falling vault nearly knocked her over and the sound made her cover her ears. Lisa took her hands down and looked at them. They were smeared with blood up to her wrist and forearm, and the skin was ripped and cut all across her knuckles. She pulled off a few loose pieces of skin before continuing her search. Lisa looked down at her arms and legs then back at the vault. If anyone else got in her way they would regret it now. Ian heard the noise off behind him, or more accurately, he felt the noise. It sounded like some sort of construction accident. He tried to spin his body, but he was still tied down to the chair. He had been alone in the room for at least four hours. It was one thing to tie a man up, but it was another thing to leave him alone in the room. So far his bladder was cooperating, but sooner or later that would change, and he was getting a little hungry. He thought about Moira in a distant sort of way. He wondered what was going on, but really he had to worry about himself first. If he had been able to stay in the lab for just another minute everything would have been different. Maybe the cops would find him. Lisa was trying to stay in the shadows of the cavernous building as she searched without knowing where she was or where she was going. She hadn't seen anyone since breaking out of the vault. She didn't know where the living quarters were, but she did know that if she didn't find someone that she would never find Ian. Lisa turned a corner and got lucky. She bumped into a man carrying three large duffle bags. They must have been heavy because the shift in his load made him lose his balance. Lisa didn't wait for him to regain it. She reached out and grabbed him by his sweatshirt and jacked him and his three bags off the floor. She held him in her left hand about a foot above her own head. She could tell that this man was one of the members of commune, but Lisa was sure that Moira, the half naked woman, was probably the best they had to offer. The rest of the people didn't concern her. "Where is Ian?" The man looked down at two things that got him excited despite his fear. First he saw a beautiful face looking up at him and attached to that gorgeous face was an equally gorgeous vascular and shredded arm. It didn't even shake with his 270 pounds and his bags which weighed 125 pounds a piece. "I don't know who you're talking about!", he yelled after regaining his composure. "A doctor. About your height, and about 190 pounds." "Oh... last time I saw him, Edgar and his people had him." "Where's this Edgar?" "On the deck. Moira trapped him there. He'll know where the guy is you're looking for. I don't run with him. I'm just trying to get the hell outta here!" "Which way to the deck?" "That way." He motioned with his head. "All the way in the corner." Lisa lowered her arm and let his feet hit the ground. "Thanks" "Yeah, I got no beef. Like I said, I'm outta here. I hope you find your friend. This place has gone crazy." "Anything else I should know before I get to the deck?", Lisa asked already looking off in the direction she had to go. The man smiled. "Yeah, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Lisa just shook her head and started towards the deck. She saw shadows, but no one came to meet her. The lights were low in most of the building, but the part of the building the man had showed her was brightly lit. Lisa stayed close to the wall as she approached. She poked her head around the corner and saw a large group of people. All of them looked to be part of the commune. Some men and some women. They were all huddled around one spot on the floor. Lisa just stood there and watched, being careful to look around once in a while. Edgar looked up as three people bent over him and tried to pry the spanners off him. He would have helped, but is arms were pinned at his side. It may not have helped either way. That bitch Moira had wrapped the anchor through the tie downs set into the concrete floor. Edgar could hardly move and barely breath. He could look off at the hole that bitch had made in the floor when she burst out like some sort of Greek goddess. Humiliation was a very quick sensation. It didn't have a real beginning. It was just there. There was no need to try and discern the feeling in the pit of one's stomach. Humiliation spoke a language of its own and every person understood it. Edgar understood it now. He knew that he should have been angry, and vow to get even, but those feelings just weren't there. The only thing Edgar could feel was need. The need to get out of the hole. Edgar turned his head to the right to watch four of the stronger guys in the commune attempt to pry the construction spanners off of him. With all of them working together they actually began to lift them, but then they all fell forward. A chunk of the old concrete gave way under the pressure of the spanners and chains pressing down and the thick prybar pressing up. The entire load shifted and started to sink on one corner just above the right side of Edgar's chest. The four guys jumped back to take their weight off the load, but the damage had already been done. The load began to sink. Edgar did not realize what was happening until he felt the cold steel press against his flesh. His eyes went wide and panic set in. "Hey, Hey, help me!! Get this shit off of me!! Get this SHIT OFF OF ME!!" Lisa watch from the corner as all the people started working furiously on the stack, but they seemed to be making things worse. Lisa didn't move as the man's deep bellows became shrieks. Lisa was horrified, but in shock at the same time. Finally another yell brought her back to reality. She heard his yells become moans. Lisa ran from her corner and jumped up onto the raised deck and pushed her way to the front. The group looked at this woman they had never seen and didn't want to move, but with all their strength, she still pushed them aside. Three people were furiously trying to push back on the weight, but still it sank. Lisa reached out with both arms and took two of them by the waistband and tossed them over her head. She pushed the third man all the way to the floor and then straddled the trapped man's head. Lisa hadn't even bothered to look down. She bent her knees and slipped her fingers under the pressing steel. She could feel the man's chest on the side of her hands she wasn't sure how much more his ribs could take before they broke. It had been a while since Lisa had lifted the vault, but her powerful muscles were still charged with superhuman strength. She grunted as she powered up her thighs. The muscles tightened harder and the veins that had started to recede back into her skin burst forth to feed the muscles that got harder and harder as she started to lift the weight. Lisa barely strained as her muscles flexed to lift the 17 tons of steel. The on lookers started in towards her, but when they saw the weight start upwards they stopped and stood in awe of the display of perfect muscle power. She had the weight up a few inches, but then the anchor chains went taunt. The onlookers thought those chains would hold her, but they had no idea what real power was. Lisa's muscles kept pressing. Her quads flexed harder and harder. Then they began to grow again. Slowly they flexed bigger and harder. The already ruined lycra split almost completely. Then there was a sound like a rifle shot, then another and another. The on lookers saw the tie downs that had been set deep into the concrete shatter like glass. The old anchor chain was not even dented, but it slipped harmlessly to floor after the tie downs shattered. Lisa barely noticed. She was lifting steel, and there was no steel stronger than she was. She knew that. Some of the onlookers shook their heads in disbelief. Men and women who had dedicated their lives to strength and seen what real strength was. First they saw her thighs, but then her back flexed in proud reliefs as she pushed on the weight to keep it from slipping down on the man's legs. Finally her arms came into play as she brought the weight up to her chest. Lisa paused just long enough to get her hands all the way beneath the weight. People had already ran forward to pull Edgar out. Lisa saw them from the corner of her eye. Lisa was in an awkward position and didn't want the weight to fall on her so with one more deep breath and with another grunt Lisa push the tons of construction spanners over backwards. Lisa took a couple of seconds to catch her breath then turned around. She turned to see about twenty-five people standing around staring at her as if she was the second coming. Lisa looked down and recognized the man she had just helped. It was the man Thomas had spoken to at the show. He was Edgar. His chest was bruised and his hands looked injured. Lisa took a step closer and many people took a step back. Lisa knelt down in front of Edgar. "Thank you", Edgar managed through wheezes. "Who are you?" "I'm looking for my friend. Ian" "Who?" Edgar looked confused. "He's a doctor..." "The guy in the office?", one of the others on the deck blurted out. "Where's the office?", Lisa asked as she stood up "I'll show you." The young woman who had spoken said, and started down the steps. Lisa started after her. "Wait!", one of the group called from behind. "What are you going to do?" Lisa turned slowly. "I'd suggest all you get the hell out of here. 'Cause first I'm going to get my friend and then I'm going to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again." "If you're going to fight Moira, you're going to have to do that alone. None of us are going to help you." Lisa smiled. "Wouldn't expect you to. Besides, I doubt you'd be of any use anyway." She tapped the other woman on the shoulder and off they went. Lisa hadn't told them on the deck, but one way or another she was going to destroy this commune. to be continued....