"You know I don't understand how your family aren't all as big as houses the way you folks eat."

Moira laughed. "We're pretty hardy. When I was a kid, we used to play outside almost all the time. The only time we were inside was on days when it rained like this." Moira laughed again. "Rain like this didn't stop John and Ray Jr. from going out. They would come back covered in mud. Momma would chase them all over the house and that would only make it worse." Moira had to stop before she got emotional again. She looked over at Lisa. "Thank you so much."

Lisa frowned as she took a long drink from her bottled water. "For what?"

"Oh come on for what. For what you did. You didn't have to drive me out to my family. You're helping me, and Ian is helping me. I don't know what to do. All I ever did was mean cruel stuff to both of you, and you do all this for me. Do you realize how that makes me feel? Its like I've got a debt that I'll never be able to repay."

Lisa glanced over at Moira and grinned. "You can't repay something that's freely given", Lisa paused and sighed before she continued, "I'll be honest with you. I wanted to leave you to your fate, but Ian kept telling me that there was this good person under all that muscle and rage. I didn't believe him for months. When you woke up and tried to separate my head from my body that pretty much confirmed what I thought about you."

"But you took me into your home. Why?"

Lisa's face got serious. "Ian's my best friend. We don't keep things from each other. When I found out about my ability, the first person I told was Ian. He didn't freak out. He just tried to help me. When he called me about leaving town, he knew I would say yes. I trust him. I trust his judgment. He never gave up on you, and I wasn't going to give up on him. Turns out he was right and I was wrong. Once the chemicals wore off, there was a good person underneath."

Moira took Lisa's hand in hers. Moira hated it, but tears welled in her eyes again. "Thank you. You're the first friend I've had in a very very long time."

"What about Ian?", Lisa asked before she realized that it had come out the wrong way.

Moira thought before she answered. "Ian is different. He's like my savior. I'd be dead without him. He's more than my friend. I wouldn't be breathing if it wasn't for him. I owe him my life."

Lisa wanted so much to tell Moira how Ian felt about her, but she couldn't. She didn't know enough about how Moira felt. There was just too much emotion there. Lisa let the subject drop.

"What do you think I should do now?", Moira asked after about ten more miles.

Lisa sighed before she answered. Not because of the question but because of traffic. Out here in the middle of nowhere there was paving going on. They had cut it short when the rain came, but it was still backing up. "I don't know. Didn't you say you were working on your doctorate when you moved into the commune and stopped?"

Moira nodded. "Yeah, I had gotten pretty far. I don't even know where to start again."

Lisa smiled as the traffic cleared. People always slammed on the gas hard after a slowdown to make up for time. That would cause a problem four miles down the road. "Ian has lots of friends at U of Chicago. You should check into it. From what I hear you're just this side of a chemistry genius."

Moira held up her arms. "I'm living proof." Both women laughed, but their laughs turned to horror as a pickup truck cut in front of a passenger bus and caused a chain reaction that was aided by the rain soaked roads. The bus swerved into a car. The van behind slammed on the brakes, but slid in the rain. It hit the car and then both vehicles were hit by the bus which sideswiped a tow truck. Another car plowed into the back of the tow truck, and then they both slammed into a guard rail. The truck was teetering on the edge of a railroad overpass and an Amtrak train had already blown its horn. It was on the way. Soon two more cars hit the rail. Neither car had fallen yet, but both were barely on the overpass.

Lisa had always prided herself on being a good driver. Richard Petty had been her idol as a child. She thought she got the driver gene from her father though. Lisa didn't touch her brakes at first. She turned to the left and ended up in the grass median between the interstate roadways. Lisa saw the oncoming traffic getting closer, but she wasn't going to hit anything. She snatched the wheel further to the left and hit the gas. The rear wheels spun for an instant, but then gripped as Lisa spun the rear of the car 180 degrees so that she now faced west when she had been going east. Only then did Lisa hit the brakes, but she had already used the momentum to slow her down.

"Whoa!", Moira exclaimed as she tried to catch up to what had just happened.

Lisa was breathing heavily and her hands shook on the wheel. She looked around and saw that she had escaped the pile up. Most had not been so lucky. Lisa shut off her car and pulled out her cell phone. She called 911, but the number was busy. Everybody on the roads had to be doing the same thing. Lisa opened the door and all the sounds and smells hit her at once. She could smell burning rubber and burning gasoline. She could hear people screaming. That brought her out of her fog. "Come on, Moira. Let's see if we can help."

Only the headlights of cars illuminated the road. Some cars were turned on their sides their headlights shining like they were broken toys, but these were no toys. People crawled from the cars in various states of injury. Lisa pulled up her long sleeves and ran towards the tow truck.

The driver had blood on his head. He was moving, but Lisa could see that he was disoriented. He couldn't tell up from down or left from right. As Lisa got closer, the truck started to slide. She could hear the chassis scraping against the cement and asphalt. Lisa looked at the slick ground and hoped the truck wouldn't take her over with it. She lunged and reached her right hand under the front bumper. She bent her knees and tried to lean back and set her feet, but the 12,000 pound vehicle dragged her shoes. She didn't know that another car was tangled up in the back of truck adding another 4000 pounds of weight. Lisa did know that the train tracks were twenty feet below and the driver would have no chance. Lisa reached her other hand under the bumper and took a couple steps before she finally got her balance. The chassis creaked under the strain as Lisa Sanchez's super human muscles went into action. In the past, Lisa had to slowly build up her strength, but now she could use it much quicker. It was like a switch in her head. It was like putting her body in overdrive. That switch was flipped and Lisa's body reacted. Muscles popped and flexed all over her body as she leaned back against gravity and started pulling the truck and car back onto the road. She gritted her teeth as the back end of the truck came back on the road. Lisa stared straight ahead and took a few more steps back until she felt the truck stop pulling against her. She looked up into the cab of truck and her eyes met the eyes of the driver. He was still woozy, but there was recognition on his face. Lisa didn't linger. She was going to help these people, but she didn't want anyone to know who she was.

Moira had run onto the overpass. She could see the light of the train getting closer. Those two cars were full of people and they were both about to go over the edge. Moira set her feet apart and got a firm grip on the fronts of both cars. She felt them slide and then she felt their weight. Both cars were fully loaded and together they weighed more than three tons, but Moira was more than up to the task. She stood there and curled her arms. The cars started rising. Moira's biceps stretched then tore the rain soaked fabric of her blouse. Her mountainous peaks ripped through the sleeves like a rising behemoths. Moira's lats spread like unfurling wings and her legs were like pillars as she pulled the two cars to safety. She took a few steps back and then carefully set the two cars down. She didn't linger either. There were more people to save.

Lisa ran back onto the road between two cars that had hit, but then bounced off of each other. One car smoldered under the hood as fluids cooked off. The inside wasn't on fire, but the smoke was getting thick. Lisa leaned in through the broken window and looked inside. There was a little blood on the steering wheel and a clump of hair near the top of the door. The driver had been ejected. It might be a blessing in disguise. The front of the car was crushed so badly that no one could have survived. Lisa was about to pull her head out of the smoky car when she heard a small cough from the back seat. Lisa leaned further in the car and through the smoke and rain. In the back seat, Lisa saw the outline of a baby seat. The roof of the car was actually pressing against the top of the baby's head. Lisa gasped at the sight and tried to pull the baby out, but she couldn't reach it. Lisa pulled her head out of the car and worked her hands into the crumpled metal of the side and top of the car. She took a deep breath and with all the strength in her body she pulled her hands apart.

Lisa's super human body expanded with more of the most dense shredded muscle ever seen. Lisa shoulders thickened and her back broadened as her body once again transformed to do the impossible. Lisa's triceps were so dense and jagged. They tensed and bulged as Lisa's arms flew apart. The body and chassis of the car had only resisted Lisa for an instant. Lisa was going to save that baby and nothing could have stopped her. The car tore into two pieces like a piece of aluminum foil. Lisa held onto the rear of the car to keep it from moving, but the front of the car slid 20 feet away. Lisa smiled as she reached down and carefully pulled the baby to safety. She cradled the baby very gently. She wrapped the blanket around him to keep him dry. Lisa smiled down in the child's face. The baby looked up at her, but blinked against the rain. Lisa turned around and jumped from surprise. A woman had been standing behind her. For how long Lisa didn't know, but the look on the woman's face said that she had been there long enough to have seen something that her brain was telling her wasn't possible. Lisa looked at the woman. She bled from several scrapes and there was blood running down the side of her head where she had banged into the door as she had been ejected, but Lisa saw relief in her eyes too.

"My baby", the woman tried to say, but instead she just mouthed the words in the pouring rain. She shivered, but held out her arms. Lisa slowly passed the baby over to his mother. The mother looked down at the child and saw that he seemed to be fine. Then she looked over at the two halves of her once whole car. She looked up at Lisa with a blank face. The woman didn't know what to think.

"Shhh", Lisa said putting a finger to her own lips. She winked and ran further down the road.

Moira bent down and worked her fingers under the rear bumper of the bus. The bus was leaning. Only two cars trapped under the side of the bus kept it from being on its side. The bumper was almost to the ground, but Moira managed to bend enough metal with just her fingers to get her hands under it. She set her feet apart. With a loud grunt, Moira stood up. Moira felt the power surging through her as she lifted the rear of the 18 ton bus. She could feel the strength feeding each muscle fiber in her body. Moira looked down at the two young people in the car to her right. The weight of the bus had been slowly crushing them. They stared through their cracked windshield at the tall woman who had lifted the end of the bus. They were so glad to be alive, but had no idea what they were seeing.

Lisa ran to Moira. "Need some help?"

"Get the front of the bus so we can turn it upright", Moira said through clenched teeth.

Lisa ran towards the front of the bus trying not to slip in the puddles of oil and water. Lisa saw people trying to climb out of their cars. She pushed one guy back into his car as she got a good grip on the bus. He was in the way. She could see people moving inside the bus trying to get out, but they were going to have to wait. Lisa's eyes narrowed as she set her arm and leaned forward. The bus creaked and metal whined, but Lisa didn't care and her super human muscles didn't care. Lisa leaned close to the bus and felt a chill from the cold metal of the front of the bus. Her biceps were already under tension as she lifted the bus off the cars. Her diamond hard muscles dented the front of the bus as she lifted higher.

Moira felt the front of the bus rise. That actually increased the weight on her. She put one leg back to keep her balance as Lisa lifted the front of the bus. Lisa had to lift it high to get over the top of a car that had been trapped beneath. Moira bit her bottom lip as half the weight of the 18 ton bus and 6 tons of people baggage and fuel bore down on her. She hadn't lifted anything as heavy in a long time and when she had, she had been much bigger. Moira knew that if she dropped her end of the bus that people would die. She couldn't let those people down. She was here to save them. She bit her lip hard and her face turned bright red. She had to lift the bus higher to help Lisa. Her body shook and she closed her eyes tightly and threw her head back.

Lisa's biceps got even harder and more defined as she smoothly curled the front of the bus. Her forearms were unbelievable. Veins and muscles danced under her smooth copper skin. She knew she only needed to lift the bus a little higher.

Moira felt her confidence begin to waver as she leaned in to lift the bus higher. The strength that had been surging started to ebb and die. Moira opened her eyes and looked down at the people in the car to her right. Moira started to feel helpless again, but her body would not let her fail. The rear of the bus dropped a couple of inches, but almost without Moira knowing, her muscles flexed even harder. Her sweat mixed with the rain. The bus began to rise again. Moira's biceps surged with power and bulged again with renewed power. Finally the bus was high enough. The two super women took a couple steps over and then with mighty strength they leaned and set the bus back on the ground. Moira was more than happy to put the bus down. She put her hands on her knees and gulped in air as fast as her lungs could take it in. Then she heard Lisa yell. Moira ran to the other side of the bus.

They had missed a van. The van was teetering on the edge and the train was a 100 yards from the overpass and moving fast. Moira looked off to her left and saw Lisa running, but she wasn't going to make it. The van started to slide. Moira could see the family inside. The father looked injured and so did the mother, but at least two of the children were moving, but it was going to be too late.

Lisa was moving as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn't fast enough. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a man running too. He stopped short and reached out both his hands. Lisa was focused on the van and didn't see the man close his eyes and draw on his own power with the urgency of the situation. The van stopped sliding down and rose of the ground slightly and then came back onto the roadway.

Lisa's eyes went wide and she turned. The man holding out his arms was the tow truck driver she had saved. The blood still ran from cuts on his head, but he stood still in the chilly rain with both his arms extended towards the van. Only when the van was safe did he open his eyes. He smiled just before he collapsed. Lisa was quick enough to catch him before he hit the pavement.

"How did you--- How did you do that?"

The man tried to answer, but he was injured and whatever he had done had taken the rest of his strength. Lisa got a good look at the guy now. He was handsome even injured and wet, but it was time to go. Lisa lifted him up easily and put him out of the way of any emergency vehicles.

"We better get going", Moira said as more people started getting out of their vehicles and emergency vehicle lights could be seen in the distance.

"Yeah, I think we've done all we can." Lisa and Moira ran back to Lisa's waiting Mercedes-Benz. In a minute they were back on the way to Chicago glad to have helped, but hoping no one knew who they were. No one did, but one person was going to be determined to find out.

Moira and Lisa stopped after several miles and changed clothes. Each took turns changing in Lisa's back seat. Moira was first. Moira was back in the front seat as Lisa began to change. It was amazing that not quite an hour after Lisa's body had been an anatomy chart of pure ripped and shredded muscle, she looked normal again. Her body was toned and in shape, but there was not even the slightest hint that she was probably the strongest person on the planet.

Back in Chicago, Lisa and Moira continued to get closer. They laughed and told stories, and Lisa took Moira out to a movie. It was the first time Moira had been to a theater in nearly ten years. The next morning Moira was back on the internet. She still wasn't quite sure what she was going to do with herself, but for the first time in a long time Moira felt like herself. That lingering doubt that had clouded her mind was gone. Moira hoped it was gone for good. It wasn't.

Dr. Ian Brooster came home from Colorado after being gone for two weeks. In those two weeks Moira and Lisa had gotten close, but now that Ian was back, Moira didn't know how to feel. Lisa drove Ian's Jaguar to O'Hare to pick him up. Lisa had spent hours and hours at O'Hare and she was sure that she hated the place. There was more slightly organized chaos at that airport than at any other place on earth.

"Hey, Ian's flight is on time", Moira cheerfully informed Lisa.

"Must be an accident."

"You should be happy we don't have to wait here any longer."

"I am happy. Its just that no airline around here really cares about being on time. The schedule is more a list of their best guesses than anything else", Lisa deadpanned.

Moira chuckled. "You are so negative today."

Lisa took a sip of her coffee. She had no idea why she had bought the coffee. Spending $7.50 just seemed stupid for a woman who had no job. "I'm not negative, just jaded when it comes to airports."

Ian finally showed up and after a very short talk near baggage claim they were back on the way to his apartment. Moira was already packed and ready to move back in with Ian. She now had 2 bags worth of belongings instead of just one like 2 weeks ago. The three of them went up to the fifth floor and into Ian's apartment. Ian's neighbor Mrs. Jackson brought Ian's dog Rex back over not long after that. He went to Ian and then quickly went to Moira. Lisa was third on the dog's list, but she didn't mind.

Lisa decided to stay for dinner. Ian could most certainly cook. When Ian and Lisa had first met, she had thought he was a jerk. She was a broke college sophomore at NYU and Ian was a hot shot first year student at Weill Cornell Medical School. A mutual acquaintance invited Lisa to Ian's apartment for food. Free food got her to walk in the door, but the food had been so good that she didn't believe he had cooked it all. That conversation after dinner had led to nearly 10 years of friendship. Ian had gone to a market around the corner and then started cooking while Lisa and Moira shared some wine and some more stories. It took a while, but finally Ian was finished.

"Oh my!", Moira exclaimed. "Do you know how long its been since I've had real stobhach gaelach!"

Ian looked over at Moira's smiling face. He knew something had changed inside her. "Enjoy." Ian sat down at dipped himself a bowl.

Lisa just looked confused.

"Its Irish stew", Ian informed Lisa. "Its my family's recipe. Sometimes its good to get a taste of the old country."

"Well, it's certainly good."

"You two seem to be getting along better these days", Ian observed after eating two bowls of his stew.

Moira and Lisa looked up at each other and smiled. "We found some common ground after a few days."

Ian laughed and slapped his thigh. "Yeah! Both of you can rip an armored car in half with your bare hands. That sounds like common ground to me."

Lisa shook her head. "I mean as people. We have a lot in common." The three of them talked into the night. Moira and Lisa explained some of the things they had done while he was gone including Lisa waking Moira up in the middle of the night to drive her to Missouri. Ian spoke very little about what he had done in Colorado, but he did say that he had met a young lady with extraordinary abilities.

The group had talked late into the night, but finally Lisa left to go home and Ian was left alone with Moira. He had been secretly dreading that. Most of the time in Colorado had been taken up with work and he had been able to keep Moira off his mind, but not anymore. He was back. Just looking at her laughing and talking so comfortably and naturally with Lisa confirmed in his head that this was meant to be, but there was no hint from her side. Not the slightest signal from Moira that she felt anything for him romantically. That hurt more than anything else. Ian had never been in love with a woman who didn't love him before, but now that he was; it sucked.

Lisa was actually lonely in her apartment alone after Moira moved back in with Ian. That was weird because she had never felt lonely there before. It didn't matter. Lisa had three days to get her act together because she was going to Washington DC to meet with a big time guy in the defense industry. This was her chance to get her new business off the ground in a big way. This company did billion dollar deals over lunch. Lisa fired up her computer and went to work. At least the work took her mind off being lonely.

Across town Alonzo Reyes was recovering at his home. The doctors told him that he had a concussion and a couple of cracked ribs. He moved very carefully from room to room. Zo, as he was called, knew that he should be thinking about his business, but he couldn't. All his life, Alonzo had thought that his family's scrap metal business had at least been in the black. His parents had sent he and his two sisters through college without a complaint and they never complained after the three of them had graduated. They never seemed to lack for anything, but now Alonzo was the head of the company and knew that it was just a smidge under 2 million dollars in debt. All that wasn't from college tuition. U of Illinois was expensive, but not that expensive. His father had made some bad business deals over the years, and he had made some moves that were downright stupid. Alonzo stopped that train of thought. He shouldn't think ill of the dead. It was hard enough to believe that both his parents were dead. He didn't need to heap any more bad feelings on himself. He could get the company out of debt. At least he figured he could. He wanted to do it without laying off any of the company's 29 employees, but that was becoming harder and harder the more Alonzo looked at the books. Then there was the wreck on the interstate. He had gotten over the accident, but that woman he had seen, the one who had saved his life... She had pulled his entire truck back onto the road. He knew that had to have been his imagination, but the scrapes on the bottom of the truck told him that it was true. It wasn't too hard for Alonzo to believe that the gorgeous woman with the long dark hair was special. Alonzo came from a special family, a family that had secrets.

Alonzo put his plate in the sink in the cramped kitchen and shuffled back into the living room. He couldn't get that woman's face out of his mind. Her face was beautiful and her eyes had seemed so caring and so strong, like nothing was beyond her will to attain. He could stare into those eyes until his dying day and never once get tired. He decided right then that he was going to find that woman.

"So who are you going to see?", Ian asked Lisa as he dropped her off at O'Hare.

Lisa looked worried and harried. It was not something Ian was used to seeing. Lisa always seemed under control, but this trip was starting to wear on her. "Some guy, a COO or something like that. His name is Jack Caufield I think." Ian coughed in surprise. "What you know him?", Lisa asked.

Ian shook his head. "Never met him. Its just funny how things work out. Anyway, have a nice trip. I don't have to wish you good luck on the deal. You're the best there is." Lisa smiled. That was exactly what she had needed to hear. That's why she loved Ian.

Lisa rented a Lincoln Towncar at Dulles Airport and drove to her hotel. She knew her way around a little. This wasn't her first time in DC. Usually on a trip for a deal this big Lisa would have had a team of at least three people with her, but now she was flying solo. For an instant she wondered if going into business for herself had been a good idea.

The next day Lisa put all her materials into one bag complete with her laptop and drove to the offices. After a very short wait a man came around the corner and introduced himself. Jack Caufield was a big guy at least 6'4" and 230 pounds. He had strong broad shoulders and even through his suit coat and shirt, Lisa could see that his arms and chest were well muscled. This guy kept himself in shape. He wasn't ripped, but there wasn't much spare fat on him either. Jack looked to be in his late forties with just a hint of gray in his coal black hair. His cleft chin and clean shaven jaw added to the man's rugged charm. He seemed like the nicest guy in the world, but Lisa had looked straight into Jack's deep blue eyes. She knew what danger looked like, and deep down in this man there was the confidence that only a true warrior had. The confidence of not being afraid of anybody that walked on God's green earth. Lisa followed Jack back to his office after introductions.

She didn't know it, but Jack had already formed an opinion of her. As she had been looking into Jack's blue eyes, he had been looking back into her light brown ones. He liked what he saw there. He could tell that Miss Sanchez was nervous and that she was in new territory for her, but she was a strong willed person, a person who had worked hard for what she had, but there was something else there too. It was the look that Jack had seen back in his days as an officer in some of the Army's most elite special operations teams. It was a look not too different from the look in Jack's teenage daughter's eyes. The look that said 'Don't fuck with me or you'll be sorry'. Jack smiled where Lisa couldn't see. He always liked that look. He hoped he could do business with this woman.

Lisa went to the chair opposite Jack's big mahogany desk. The office was very nicely appointed, but not opulent or flashy. There were pictures on the wall, but there was only one picture on his desk.

"Your family is lovely", Lisa complemented Jack as she sat down. "They are both beautiful."

Jack picked the photo off his desk and looked down at it. That picture represented happier times in the Caufield household. "Thanks. I still wonder how I landed Carol."

Lisa chuckled. "Your daughter is a beautiful girl. Has she ever thought of modeling? She more than has the looks for it."

Jack grinned. "Her mother was a model when I met her, but my daughter isn't really the modeling type."

"I bet if I met her I could change her mind."

Jack sighed. "She's out at a boarding school in Colorado. You two would probably get along if you met. She's an interesting person to be as young as she is." Jack put the picture back on his desk and sat down. "Well, Miss Sanchez, lets get started."

Lisa was ready. She pulled everything she needed from her one bag. She was going to blow this guy away. After a couple minutes, she got started.

"In your background check it said that your father was a Marine", Jack said after Lisa's presentation.

"Yes, sir. Master Gunnery Sergeant Ricardo Sanchez."

Jack smiled. "You're proud of your father aren't you?"

"Oh yes sir. My father's my hero."

Jack leaned back in his overstuffed chair. "I think I met your father at an exercise in Italy back in the late 70's. You would have been a little girl back then. They called him Slick because he could sneak up on anybody. He got behind me a couple of times. I can see his face right now. I see a lot of him in you."

"Thank you. I miss him."

Jack nodded. "Yes, that's never easy. My father died when I was a senior in high school. Messed up my head for a while. But your father had his head screwed on straight. I bed the Marine Corps misses him too. I wasn't a Marine, but if you wanted to look up the definition of one, they would have started with your father and worked down." He paused then stood up from his chair. "Miss Sanchez you have the contract. I don't think the boys over at the Pentagon have ever seen a pitch from the angle you showed me. All the other companies are going to have to scramble to catch up, but it'll be too late. We have the best in the business already locked up." He extended his hand over the mahogany desk. "Congratulations."

Lisa couldn't help but smile. She was so happy she wanted to turn cartwheels, but she tried to keep her look professional. This wasn't the first seven figure deal she had closed, but it was the first one where the check was going to be made out in her name. Now she would have the money to actually hire a few employees away from her former boss. That was going to be fun. And she was going to need an office...

Moira sat in her bedroom at Ian's apartment staring at a computer screen. She had inquired about her doctorate study and had received encouraging news, but there was a problem. Now that Ian was back and Lisa was gone the good feelings seemed to have left. Moira was fighting hard to keep that depression away, but every once in a while she got that useless feeling again. Moira was living in a man's spare bedroom, and she had nothing of her own... nothing of her own. "Wait a minute!", Moira said out loud.

She looked up a phone number and dialed the 3rd National Bank of Chicago. "Hello, this is Moira Kelly. I need some information on an account I have there, but I lost all my records in a fire a few months ago."

"Yes, Ma'am. Hold on the line one minute. We can certainly help you."

Moira had stayed on the phone for over an hour, but at the end of the conversation Moira felt like she was flying. All those years Moira had been living in the commune, she had been selling a watered down version of the "juice" on the black market. Powerlifters, bodybuilders, and strength freaks had been taking her stuff for years. Moira had given over half of her profits to the commune, but the rest had automatically gone into an account that Moira had almost forgotten about. Except for taxes, money had never once been taken out of the account, and that was good for her. Moira wasn't rich by her definition, but she sure as heck wasn't hand to mouth either. At least she had something to show for all those years in the commune. It was time to tell Ian. She wouldn't get the reaction she had hoped for.

"Look, Moira, I'm happy for you. I really am", Ian was saying as he turned and walked back towards the kitchen. "I just don't think its the right time for you to move out just yet."

The argument had started not long after Moira had told Ian about her financial windfall. Moira decided quickly that she wanted to get a place of her own. She could even possibly afford to get a place in this neighborhood, but Ian had gotten angry almost at once.

"How can you say that?" Moira's voice was full of hurt. She followed him into the kitchen; her head cocked to one side.

"I'm just saying. You are doing much better, and its great that you have money of your own--"

"But what? You think I want to live off the charity of others the rest of my life?", Moira was starting to get angry. All this time she had thought Ian was such a good man, but maybe she had been wrong.

"No, of course not! I don't think you should leave--" Ian was trying to calm the situation, but failing badly.

"Because what!?!", Moira demanded. She could feel the blood rushing to her face, and her hands squeezing into fists. "Because what!"

"Because I think I love you!"

Moira felt her breath catch in her throat. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and she could feel the blood drain from her face. "What did you say?", she almost whispered.

"You heard what I said!" It was Ian's turn to get angry.

"You love me?" Moira pointed a finger to her chest. "But how?" She shook her head. Ian snorted and turned away from her again. "I don't know when it happened. And its not going away." Ian turned around and faced her again. "I love you Moira Kelly, and I don't want you to go. I don't know how you feel about me, but I know how I feel about you."

Moira felt blindsided. She felt weak. She sat down on a stool and leaned against the granite counter. "I've never done anything nice to you. I've only caused you problems since I kidnapped you."

Ian came around and sat next to her. He took her hand in his hand. "You do nice for me by just being around me, seeing you, hearing you, smelling your hair, that's all nice stuff to me."

Moira's mind ran in every direction at once. She couldn't pull a clearly formed idea from her head. This was more than she could take. This was happening so fast.

"But the things I did to myself, Ian... How can you want to be around me? What if I turn back into the person I was. What if I---"

Ian put a finger to Moira's lips. "Don't worry about that." Ian put his head down for a moment. He stood up and looked Moira in the eyes. "I love you. That's all that matters." Ian opened his mouth to say something else, but thought better of it. He had said enough. Ian walked past Moira and out of her sight. She heard his bedroom door close.

Moira didn't know how long she had been sitting on that stool, but it had been a long time. Thoughts and images floated into and out of her mind. It took a long time for her mind to clear, but when it did Moira felt relieved. She had to stretch and wiggle when she finally got up off the stool. Her left leg was totally asleep.

She knocked on Ian's door softly. Moira could see that Ian had shed at least a few tears. She didn't give him time to speak first. She had to speak first or her nerve would be gone. "Ian, you're a great guy. You might be the best guy I've ever met, and I'm attracted to you. We both already know that, but I don't know how I feel right now. I can't say that I don't love you, but I can't say honestly that I do. I don't even know who I am yet, what I want. I know who I was. I remember myself the way my family remembers me, but I also remember myself the way I was when you met me. I'm not either one of those people anymore. I can't go back to being who I was 12 or 13 years ago. Too much has happened. And right when I think I might be getting some direction in my life...", Moira paused and sighed. "I don't blame you for how you feel. I can't blame you for how you feel, but I need some time to sort my life out, and some space. You and Lisa have gotten me this far, but I have to go the rest of the way myself."

"But Moira I--"

Moira put her hand on the side of Ian's face and shook her head. "I'm going to find a place to live tomorrow morning, and I'll be gone by tomorrow evening even if I have to go to a hotel. If I come back then you'll have my answer. If I don't, then you have to let me go. Will you promise me that much?"

Ian's eyes were watery, but he nodded. He closed the door as he turned around. He couldn't look at her again, not that night.

Lisa's tour of the facility and meetings with some more top officials ended in the early afternoon. Some of the information Lisa would be working with was Secret and even Top Secret. She felt important just looking at that stuff, but to actually help with something as important as the stuff she was going to be marketing made her feel ten feet tall. She decided to treat herself to a dinner at Ruth Chris's Steakhouse that evening, but she was too excited to be hungry at the moment. Instead she drove down to central DC and walked around. She went by the National Mall. Men were still hard at work on the World War II memorial. She didn't stay there long. She walked all the way to the White House. She couldn't get too close, not like in the old days. She strolled down Pennsylvania Ave., but stopped and bought a cup of hot chocolate. She sat and finished the cup on a bench while looking up at the Capitol. There was something austere and grand about the buildings in Washington. For some reason they just made Lisa happy to be an American. Lisa had even traced her family history back on her mother's side to a man named Giles who had actually worked on the construction of the White House. Lisa felt good that her family had such deep roots in the country. Of course Giles hadn't been paid for working on the White House because he been property of a Virginia plantation owner, but the country had made progress in the last 200 years. Her people had made progress in the last 200 years. Lisa pulled out the check with all the zeros on it and smiled. She was pretty sure her ancestor Giles would have been proud

It was starting to get dark and Lisa was ready for her one woman party to celebrate. She was going to walk back the way she had come, but she judged that it would take too long so she decided to take a short cut. Ten minutes later she realized that had been a bad idea. She found herself in a neighborhood worse than the one she and her mother had lived in when she had been a young teenager. For a moment she gave serious thought to turning around, but no, she was only three or four blocks from her car. She kept walking. It had been a long time, but her 'hood' survival skills came back to her. Lisa's gait slowed and her head came up. She looked like she knew where she was even if she had no idea, and she looked like she belonged there even if she didn't.

Her footfalls seemed to echo in the chilly early evening air as she walked down the sidewalk. Some people glanced in her direction, but they left her alone. Lisa rolled her eyes at her stupidity, but she was almost there. She saw an empty city park off to her right and decided to cut through it even though it was barely lit. Once she got to the other side of the park, her car would be right around the corner. A little voice inside told her that she was a complete idiot, but she ignored the voice. She could almost taste the fillet at Ruth Chris'. Lisa made it a quarter of the way though the park, and just when she thought she was home free, a young boy jumped out from an alley pointing the barrel of his pistol right between her eyes. The boy held it sideways like in the movies.

"Turn em out, bitch!"

Lisa stopped quickly and her face betrayed her surprise, but that went away. Fear never once reared its ugly head. Lisa just felt disappointment.

"Silly bitch, you deaf? I said hand it over, 'fo you catch two and I still take yo shit!"

Lisa couldn't believe what she was hearing. She concentrated and felt her strength begin to flow out to all her limbs. It still took time and effort for Lisa to get to a lot of strength, but she had more than enough to deal with this kid. Faster than the boy could pull the trigger, Lisa's right arm arced upwards. She snatched the pistol from the boy's hand in one motion.

"What the fuck?" The boy didn't know whether to run or fight or what.

"You should be ashamed of yourself! Do you know how this stuff this make our people look? This gun doesn't make you a man. It makes you weak."

"You feel strong with it in yo hands don't you, bitch! Makes you feel strong. Go ahead and pull the mothafuckin trigger. I ain't scared to die!"

"This makes me strong?", Lisa chuckled. She pushed the release and let the mag slide to the ground. She racked the slide and a single bullet, the bullet meant to kill her, fell to the ground. Lisa put her hands on either side of the gun and started to squeeze. Her facial expression didn't change, but her muscles did. They went from relaxed to hard. When Lisa exerted herself, her muscle fibers fired faster and faster making her muscles impossibly hard to the touch, and it made them hot. Lisa's muscles flexed harder and harder as the steel of the pistol started to groan and bend. She held the pistol straight out so the boy could get a good look. After a couple of seconds Lisa's fingers could touch over the top of the shortened gun. Lisa laced her fingers and gave the ruined gun one more squeeze. Her pecs had been twin striated fans of pure muscle, but now they puffed out stretching her bra as she really poured strength into this squeeze. Her arms shook as the gun was compressed into a lopsided ball. She tossed it at the boy. He tried to run, but Lisa was too quick. She caught him by the back of his puffy jacket and lifted him off the ground with one arm. She carried him to the nearest tree and slammed him against it.

"Oh you don't get away that easily. You were going to kill me. What makes you think I might not want to kill you?"

"Go ahead you fuckin bitch! I don't know what trick you did, but I ain't scared to die and I ain't scared of no fuckin cunt like you!" The boy tried to spit on her, but Lisa moved her head out of the way at the last moment.

"Not afraid to die?" Lisa nodded. "Ok, I'll guess I'll kill you, but it won't be like you think. Its going to be slow and so very painful." Lisa held the boy against the tree with her left hand, and took his right hand inside her right hand. She started to squeeze. At first the boy tried to play it off and then he tried to pull his hand free, but Lisa barely noticed his struggling. She kept applying pressure increasing it bit by bit until tears started to drop from the boy's eyes. He tried not to cry out, but it felt like his hand was being crushed into nothing.

"Stop it! Stop it you fuckin, bitch!", he yelled, his mouth wet with saliva.

Lisa stopped increasing the pressure. "Hurts doesn't it. You said you weren't afraid to die. That's just your right hand. The hand you were going to kill me with. What's that compared to death?" Lisa started squeezing again.

"Please this is worse than fuckin dyin!", he cried.

Lisa leaned closer to him. "No, its not. Just imaging some helpless woman bleeding her last drops of life out onto the sidewalk. Try to image what that would feel like. This is just a hand." Lisa squeezed it again. She knew she was just at the point of breaking bones, tearing tendons, and rupturing ligaments. For some reason she didn't care. She increased the pressure.

"Oh my God stop! Please lady stop! It hurts! It hurts so fuckin bad! Please!"

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm sorry! I didn't want to kill nobody. I swear it! I swear it damn it! The crew told me that I had to rob some nobody and take all their shit. If I smoked 'em then I get in on the spot, if not then I have to rob the rest of the week."

Lisa just shook her head. She suddenly got angry, very angry. Lisa was really slow to anger, but to think that her life had hung on the whim of some street gang just made her mad. She let the boy's neck slip into her waiting left hand. She wrapped her fingers around his neck and squeezed. He tried to cough, but Lisa's hand let no air into his lungs or out of his lungs. "You were willing to take a life to join a street gang. You don't deserve the air you breathe", Lisa hissed. Her fingers cut deep into the boy's throat. Lisa's face was set and her hand slowly contracted.

He looked down at her with terror in his eyes. It was the rawest sort of emotion. That boy was looking death in the face and he was looking at blackness. He didn't see a light or friends as he felt his strength started to leave his body. He knew he didn't deserve a light. He looked up, and his mouth started moving, even though no sound came out.

"Praying are you?", Lisa chuckled She let up the pressure with her left hand just a little. "I'm going to ask you this just once. Do you want to live?" Fresh tears streamed down the boy's face as he nodded with all the strength left in his body.

Lisa exhaled through her nose. It steamed in the frigid air. She opened her hands and let the boy fall to the ground. He coughed and clutched at his nearly broken hand. "I didn't want to kill you. I didn't want to kill nobody." The boy cried as he held his hand, and tried to massage his neck at the same time. "I got nobody, but the crew. That's my only family."

"Where're your parents?"

"My momma's a crack head, and my daddy? I ain't seen that sonofabich since I was eight. He's probably dead."

Lisa suddenly felt sorry for the boy. She had never really intended to kill him, but she was angry with him. Now she just felt sorry for him. He was a young teenage boy stuck in the world with no direction. "What about the home that Pastor Morris runs? I saw him on tv."

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "That shit is for suckas. That ain't the real world. How the hell does all that book learnin help you on the mothafuckin streets?"

Lisa smiled at him. "Young man, I have several degrees, a couple from Ivy League schools. I was a senior executive at a big time ad firm; I have a check in my pocket for more money than you've ever seen, and I still managed to kick your ass. Just because you get educated doesn't mean you have to turn in your ghetto card."

"You don't understand. If I leave the crew they'll kill me."

"I could finish crushing you to death right now if you want. I'm not really giving you a choice."

The boy looked up and his eyes met Lisa's. She knew she had him. She couldn't save the whole world, but she had saved this one person. She was about to reach her hand out and help the boy to his feet. When she saw headlights shining past her. She heard the music coming from the cars before she could hear their engines. Three cars pulled within twenty feet before stopping. Eight gang members got out of the cars. All of them were dressed almost the same.

"Hey, Peanut. Is that you down there motherfucka? Don't tell me this bitch slammed you?", one of them yelled and laughed.

Lisa's eyes narrowed and she stood up and turned around. Peanut scrambled to his feet and moved away from her. He could sense the danger. He should warn his crew, but they wouldn't believe him anyway. Lisa unzipped her jacket and slipped it off tossing it to the dead grass next to the tree. She cracked her neck and shrugged her shoulders a couple of times.

"You know what, I've been called bitch about as much as I'm going to take for one day." Lisa looked out at the guys and knew they didn't take her seriously. They would soon. It had been a long time since Lisa had fought regular people, more than a year, but she had already decided that these guys were going to have to crawl home when she was finished with them. Lisa dialed back her strength a little. She didn't have complete control over her strength, but she had enough.

"Next guy who calls me a bitch is going to have to collect his teeth in a zip-lock after I knock em out."

The gang members looked at each other and laughed. The woman standing across from them was fine as hell and looked serious, but she didn't look dangerous. If they had seen the look on Peanut's face they would have known different. One of the members, called Crumb, stepped forward grabbed his crotch and leaned close to Lisa.

"Hey, baby, why don't drop to your knees and suck my dick, like a proper bitch shou--"

They didn't even see the punch, but they heard it and even felt it. The smack and crunch echoed, and it resonated in their chests. Lisa followed through and held her arm still. Crumb's teeth bounced across hard packed ground. His jaw dangled as he hit the ground twitching and spitting blood.

"DAMN! What the fuck did you do to Crumb?"

The gang fanned out and circled around Lisa who didn't back down. She stepped forward. Four guys pulled out their guns and pointed them at Lisa who still didn't back down. Instead she laughed like she had heard a joke. That made them more pissed off.

All faces turned towards the leader. "Kill the bitch!", he yelled.

Bullets flew as the men pressed the triggers as quickly as they could. Smoke and curses filled the air. Peanut recoiled from the bark and wood chips that flew in every direction from the bullets. One by one the slides clicked back on the pistols. The gang members except Peanut stepped forward as the haze cleared. They saw little bright circles from the muzzle flashes, but they could see well enough to tell that there was no bullet riddled body lying at the foot of the tree. "What the fuck?"

Lisa smiled and looked down at the men from a branch ten feet off the ground. She was just glad some of her strength remained. Normally she couldn't have jumped that high, but crushing that gun earlier had saved her life. "You boys finished?", Lisa quipped.

Lisa jumped down from the tree and landed between two guys with guns. She snatched the pistols from them and tossed them over her shoulder. She raised her right hand and closed her hand into a tight fist. It rocketed forward. The thug's head snapped back and his nose was broken flat. One came behind her. Lisa pulled her arm even more forward and then reversed elbowing him in the forehead. He staggered back. Another came at her from the right. She kicked him in the shin. He stumbled and reached for his leg. Lisa spun in the dirt and kicked him in the side of the head. He fell over and clawed away from her.

Lisa looked at the four guys down and the four guys still standing and she laughed. "You guys call yourself a gang? Back where I come from, you'd be suckas... Oh no wait. Chumps! That's what we would have called you"

"Motherfuckin bitch!", the thug with the broken nose yelled from the ground. Lisa rolled her eyes, raised her left leg and sent it down right in the center of his stomach. Vomit spewed from his mouth. He gagged for a few seconds since he couldn't breathe from his nose or his mouth.

"Looks like you're the bitches!"

The other four gang members didn't rush her. Instead they pulled their guns. The smile fell from her face again. It was time for a little more business. Lisa felt like she still had enough strength to jump high again, but it might not work twice, but they didn't fire. "Watch out!", she heard Peanut yell too late. One of the four guys Lisa had knocked down had gotten back up and hit her in the back of the head with the butt of his pistol. Her head swam and bright lights floated around in her clouded vision. The first blow didn't knock her down, but the second harder blow did. The angry gangbanger had broken the grip of his pistol against the back of Lisa's head. Lisa's eyes closed and she dropped to the ground.

Lisa's eyes were wet and red when she opened them. She could tell that she was lying on the ground with a guys holding her down. Her clothes weren't off, yet, that was a good sign. She looked off to her left and saw Peanut against the tree with a gun to his face. Her ears were still ringing and her head ached fiercely, but she had to block out the pain. She had to get her concentration back and finish this.

"You're dead! You go against your own crew and warn that fuckin bitch? And I vouched for your ass! Say goodnight!" Peanut begged for his life, the life he now wanted to live. The life that Lisa had just taught him was precious. The gang leader raised his gun with intent in his eyes. Lisa wasn't going to let that happen.

She closed her eyes and in her mind went past the pain to the place she needed to go, the place where her power was stored. She could feel the adrenaline start to saturate her body. Her lips curled back in a snarl and her body reacted as it always did when Lisa needed strength. Two men had their knees on her wrists and another two had both hands holding down her ankles. They looked down when they felt her pressing against their hold. They smiled thinking that this woman had no chance, but they were surprised at how hard it was to hold her down. Lisa's bare arms and legs became more and more defined. The thugs frowned and looked at each other. Suddenly her body exploded with power. Muscles split and burst with power as all four men flew off of her and into the air. Lisa jumped to her feet as the gang leader started to pull the trigger. Lisa lunged, her strong legs propelling her at super speed. She wrapped her hand around the front of the 9 mm pistol and with all the strength she could manage, squeezed. The hardened steel of the slide and super hardened steel of the barrel collapsed with a screeching groan. The bullet sped down the barrel and met the mangled steel of the barrel and was trapped. The expanding gasses had nowhere to go. The gun burst apart in the gang leader's hand. He cursed and jumped back, but was relatively uninjured. That was about to change. Lisa hurried towards him. He backed away, but she caught him. They looked each other in the eye and the gang leader knew that he had made a mistake. Lisa lifted him off the ground and with a fury and rage she had never felt threw him. He missed the tree by mere inches and sailed 40 feet past it. The rest of the gang rushed Lisa. She punched one of them, but they had all come at once. She felt a punch hit her jaw and another hit her in the chest and another in the stomach. Her super hard muscles absorbed the blows without a problem, but they threw more and more and got closer and close. Then they kicked her.

Lisa felt all the weight of the six men bearing down on her. She stretched out her arms and grabbed whatever she could. Her face twisted once again, and with a grunt her legs powered upwards. All six felt their feet leave the ground. They rose higher and higher as Lisa's legs straightened. All the men held on to one another which was worse for them. They should have tried to jump down. Lisa's arms were spread out, her shoulders taking all of their weight with no problem. Some of the men still tried to punch her, but she twisted her head out of their reach and they were forced to punch her shoulders, which was worse than punching a stone. One of them broke his hand punching the knotted cap of Lisa's shoulder. Lisa set her legs apart and slowly started bringing her arms up. The men rolled down against each other as the space between Lisa's arms shrank, but she held onto the ones at the top so they couldn't fall out. Men screamed from the pain and grunted from the pressure as Lisa crushed four of the men at the same time. The other two pried at Lisa's hands as her strong fingers compressed their flesh and threatened to snap their bones. Lisa was unmoving. Her arms got closer and closer until the men could no longer scream. She heard things start to crack and pop, but she also heard something behind her.

"Watch out!", Peanut warned again. Lisa threw the men off to her left and spun quickly. She caught the pipe the leader had been swinging with her right hand. She snatched it away, but the leader retreated before she had a chance to grab him. Lisa shook her head and casually bent the galvanized pipe into a U and tossed it on the ground. The entire gang ran back into the shadows. Only Peanut remained, but the rest of the gang wasn't gone for long. She heard their car engines start, but instead of the cars racing away they raced towards her. One of the cars circled to the other side and two cars sped at Lisa from opposite sides. The headlights bounced as the cars sped over the uneven ground. They were getting close and in a hurry. Lisa pushed Peanut out of the way as the cars bore down on her from two sides. Dust flew everywhere and the lights made it even harder to see.

Peanut couldn't see what happened as the two cars sped towards Lisa. Then he heard the terrible sound of crumpling metal, but it was different than the sound of two cars hitting each other because they hadn't. They had only hit Lisa's hands. Lisa had bent her knees and extended her arms, but instead of locking her elbows, she had let the cars slam into her. Each of her arms had absorbed the power from the charging cars and brought them to a gradual stop. Her hands shook as the dented bumpers of the two big body cars were only inches from her sides. The engines roared in her ears as the drivers put the pedals to the floor.

Lisa dropped her head and felt the power of the two V-8's pressing against her. It was a oddly exciting and erotic feeling. Lisa actually felt her body tingle and her legs quiver. This was actually fun. Lisa's already shredded arms expanded and grew with hot seething muscle as she extended her arms slowly inch by inch. The two big engines screamed and revved, but the cars went backwards. The spinning rear tires dug into the cold hard ground gaining even more traction, but the tires only dug reverse furrows as Lisa's two arms overpowered the mighty engines of both cars. Once her arms were fully extended, Lisa planned on showing these idiots what true power was. She bent her legs again and turned her hands over while still keeping the cars at arms length worked her hands under the bumpers and to the chassis. Her fingers dented the metal as she locked in her grip. Lisa closed her eyes for a moment and enjoyed the feeling of power. She locked her arms almost straight, and stood up. She twisted her wrist upwards just a little as she stood up straight. The two full size cars rose off the ground. The engines redlined as their rear tires left the ground. Lisa's body shook from the rumbling of the engines, but she had already proven that she was more powerful than both of them put together. Lisa rose the cars higher and higher until they were nearly vertical in the air. The drivers fell onto the windshield and fought to stay in the car as she shook them. Lisa's face bore an evil grin as she brought her arms up again. This time she smashed the two cars into each other over her head. Glass and other debris rained down, but she didn't care. She smashed them together again. One more time for good measure. The tops of the cars were flattened the drivers were pressed against the seats. Lisa was finished playing with the cars. She brought her arms down fast. The cars slammed into the ground rupturing all eight tires and exploding all the shocks and breaking all the axles. Steaming smoking wrecks was all that was left of two cars that had been the nicest on the block a few minutes earlier. Lisa peered into each car. The occupants tried to get away from her, but they were stuck. She could smell the urine in both cars.

Lisa looked up when she heard sirens getting closer. She pointed at Peanut. "You're going with me. Stay right there", she ordered. Lisa turned back to the car on her right and put one hand on the mangled roof. Without the slightest effort, Lisa pealed the top back freeing the gang leader, but also exposing him. She reached down and lifted him. Her biceps barely registered his weight as he hung there petrified. "I'm going to let you live because I'm too nice, but if you ever so much as look at Peanut crossways... I'll finish what I started. Do you understand me?"

The former gang leader nodded his head meekly. Lisa let him drop. She picked up her jacket as she hurried through the park with Peanut at her side. She could already see the blue and red lights at the scene. She wondered what the gang members were going to tell the cops, but she wasn't worried. No one knew who she was. Lisa put Peanut in the front seat then drove off.

Peanut had to show her the way to Pastor Morris' Home for Boys. She walked him into the office. It was past business hours, but Lisa persuaded them to see things her way. She knew that sometimes you only got once chance to save a boy like Peanut. This was the one shot and Pastor Morris agreed. They started the entrance process.

Peanut walked over to Lisa who was sitting on a chair rubbing the throbbing knot on the back of her head, and watching two people fill out paperwork. They were scrambling to find Peanut a room. He walked over and sat down next to her. "Thank you", he said in the most respectful tone she had heard so far. "I mean it. I mean, I don't want to be no fu-- I mean, I don't want to be no banger. I can make somthin of myself."

Lisa smile and nodded her head. "Good for you, Peanut. I'm glad you see the light."

Peanut put his head down and thought about the darkness he had seen when she had been choking him and he smiled. "I'm glad I see the light now too. My name is Damon."

"Lisa", she said and reached out her hand. Damon hesitated to take it. Lisa laughed. "I don't think I'll have to do that to you again, unless you don't follow the Pastor's program."

Damon took her hand and shook it, but let go quickly nonetheless. "I'll follow the program to the fu-- I man to the letter. How did you do all that stuff. That shi-- I mean that stuff was out of a movie."

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "Sometimes I wonder how I do it myself."

This is a chapter in the ongoing story "Coping with Power"!  Check out the earlier chapters here:

Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter  8 -- Chapter 9

More coming!! Be on the lookout!!!