"Honey, these people are going to put me in my grave!", Jiji exclaimed adding his own unique hand motions to his statement.

"You're as healthy as a horse." Lisa looked up at him standing next to her chair. "A very brightly colored horse", she added with a grin.

Jiji's real name was Jerald, but he hadn't been called that by anybody other than his mother since he was 20 years old. He had started out as a hair dresser off of Maxwell St., but he had built himself into one of the most sought after event coordinators in the country. He and Lisa had been friends for years, and if anyone else had asked him to coordinate 12 different photo and video shoots at the same time, he would have laughed. Instead, Lisa had called, and here he was.

"I think we're about to wrap up a couple of shoots in the next hour. And Lisa, Darlin, if you get any more ideas to do one of these huge things, don't call me."

"Aw", Lisa leaned over and gave Jiji a quick hug around his waist. "I couldn't have done this without you."

Jiji was about to say something when he looked up. "Ooo girl, look at this one coming in."

Lisa turned in her chair and looked towards the door. She frown up at her friend. "Eyes off, Jiji. He's mine. You have to get your own."

"Some girls have all the luck!", Jiji sighed and went back to work.

"Hey, Alonzo", Lisa greeted her boyfriend.

"You look busy", Alonzo Reyes said after he kissed her quickly.

Lisa rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "I am beat, but when this is over, we'll have twelve satisfied clients who can use this stuff for years."

"And a little money in your pocket."

Lisa laughed. "Yeah, just a little bit."

"Hey, Baby, I have to go back to the office, but come over to my place when you finish up."

"Might be late."

"I'll be there", Alonzo told her.

Lisa leaned up and kissed Alonzo again, and waved to him as he worked his way to the door. Lisa wanted nothing more than to be holding his hand and leaving with him, but this massive shoot had been her idea. There had been problems, but she and her staff had taken care of them one by one, but there would be a few problems that only Lisa could take care of. Lisa was heading back to her command center when one of the young costume assistants grabbed her arm from behind.

"I'm so glad I found you!', the young lady exclaimed in one long breath. "We're getting started in like five minutes and somebody locked the door to the damn... the damn closet that has our costumes in it."

"Show me." The young woman lead Lisa through the organized jumble towards a hall. The drab hall was in contrast to the brightly colored props of the shoots. A bunch of people were standing in front of a door set at an angle in the hall. Lisa gently pushed her way to the front and her shoulders sank. She reached out and lifted up the huge Master Lock. "Who locked the door!"

"We think one of the maintenance guys did it over night, but we haven't needed anything in this room until now, but now we really need it."

Lisa knew how to get into the room, but she wouldn't do it with all these eyes around. She took a deep breath and made a show of getting herself together. "Ok, find the maintenance people and see if they have the key or a set of bolt cutters." The group dispersed in all directions, except for Lisa herself. She let the lock rest in her hand until the group was far enough down the hall. She turned her body to block sight from the main room before she closed her fingers around the body of the lock. This lock wasn't going to mess up her schedule. Lisa had to be careful not to damage the door because she didn't want to have to explain it, so her first thought wasn't going to work. Her second choice was going to be a little bit slower, but just as effective.

Lisa's fingers closed around the body of the steel pad lock. It started creaking as she tightened her grip. Lisa bit down hard and her jaw flexed as she concentrated. Lisa's fingers couldn't reach all the way around the body of the padlock, but after a few short moments that had changed. Lisa looked down at her arm as the first vein appeared. Then the muscles in her forearms became more and more defined. They slid into position as Lisa squeezed the lock harder. Then more veins appeared under her beautiful copper toned skin. Lisa felt that small bit of satisfaction as she looked at her muscles in action. Lisa kept herself in shape, but normally there was very little visible muscle, just enough to let someone know that she worked at keeping herself looking the way she did. Lisa's body held a secret, a very powerful secret, and when Lisa used her secret, her muscles made themselves known.

Lisa continued to squeeze and her fingers could now easily wrap around the smaller lock body. With the lock crushed like from a machine press, Lisa put her index finger on the shackle and squeezed again. Lisa's lip curled into a snarl as she concentrated on applying pressure with just her index finger. She was quickly rewarded with an audible, but not terribly loud pop. The thick shackle had broken under the pressure. Lisa pulled the lock from the hooks and turned the knob.

"Hey, come back!", Lisa yelled to the group who hadn't gotten far. "I got it open!"

The group was surprised, but they turned immediately and ran back. All of them ran straight into the closet to retrieve what they needed. Lisa held the ruins of the lock behind her back. Once everybody had left the closet, Lisa entered. She took the lock in both hands this time and squeezed her hands together. Lisa was in a hurry, so she only crushed the shackle into the body of the lock so that it didn't really look like a padlock anymore. It had only been a very quick squeeze, but Lisa had to admit that she sort of enjoyed the feeling of using her strength. As she crushed the lock, all the muscles in her upper body flexed hard. There wasn't really a feeling equal to the rush of feeling that much strength coursing through her body. She didn't have time to enjoy it though. She had to get back to running her shoot. Lisa took a look at the oblong ball of steel in her hand and carried it to a trash bin. She tossed it inside, safe in the knowledge that anybody who saw it wouldn't have known what it was. With that problem out of the way, everything looked to be back to a normal state of chaos and bedlam.

She took a seat again at her command center. She wanted to sit still for a while to let her muscles go back to 'normal'. When Lisa used her strength, her muscles stayed pumped for a while. She wasn't too worried about it though because her muscles hadn't been forced to work too hard back there. Lisa had done much harder things before so her muscles didn't get too big this time.

She had just barely gotten into her chair when another aid came up. "Ms. Sanchez, we have a problem with one of the models."

Lisa inhaled then motioned for him to show her the way. He explained the situation as they walked. It didn't take much explaining. Lisa witnessed the tantrum herself as she got closer.

A statuesque Brazilian model was holding a canary yellow outfit in front of her like it was soiled. Her face was set in defiance and her mannerisms clearly displayed that her mind was already made up. "I am not wearing this!", she declared in her accented English. "I would look like a fool."

Lisa smiled and stepped in. "Ivonna, this outfit would look perfect on you. That's why we want you to wear it. This was chosen by the company board itself to represent its product. The pictures are going to be everywhere. You can't get better exposure here in the States or in Europe."

"Eu sou pesaroso, Senhorita Sanchez", Ivonna began in her native Portuguese. "I have to know that I am not going to look foolish."

Lisa hung her head and stepped closer to the model. They were about the same height. She whispered in her ear. "Do you see all the young women here? How many of them would jump at this contract? It wouldn't bother me in the least to hand you a first class ticket back to São Paulo, and give that dress to one of these other lovely girls. So either you put it on, or you go home."

Ivonna leaned back and looked Lisa in the eyes. Lisa crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. She was half a second away from sending the petulant model home, but Ivonna gave in. She hurumphed and stomped off towards the changing area.

Lisa had given up on taking a break. She started towards another shoot after this little problem was solved. She stopped and took the aide by the shoulder. "Let me know if she gives you any more trouble." She didn't.

An hour later, Lisa was watching a crew film an after shave commercial. Fake snow was blowing all over the place. Lisa got a kick out of that since a couple of weeks earlier they could have used real snow. While she was watching, she had one of the staff bring her some water with lemon. She squeezed the lemon into the glass and tried to relax as best she could. Things had settled down a little and seemed be going smoothly. There was the occasional problem, but quick action solved them as they popped up. Lisa hoped that she would be able to make it to Alonzo's place at a decent hour and with her sanity intact. She turned to her left in time to see Jiji approaching. He didn't look happy.

"Lisa, girl, we have a problem."

"What is it, now?"

Jiji shook his head. "I'll explain as we go." They headed towards the back of the huge building where all the big supplies and equipment was being held. "Okay", Jiji began, "you know how the last shoot is supposed to use all the fancy lasers and graphics right?"

Lisa had water in her mouth so she just nodded.

"The stuff is going to go up on the catwalks with special lighting and the whole thing. We have all the old lighting down, and we're ready to go up with the equipment, but here's the problem." He thrust out his arms as they entered the cavernous space at the back of the building. It served as storage and also as a mechanical space. The room was three stories tall and rather dusty. Lisa saw the problem at once.

The equipment for the last shoot was on a pallet wrapped in plastic to keep it safe. They had rented a heavy duty telescoping forklift to put the equipment on the third floor. That forklift had done all that had been required of it all day, including lowing the old light rigs from the third floor catwalk. The equipment for the last shoot was on a pallet that was being lifted by the forklift, until it had died. Wisps of black smoke came from the engine compartment. The operator had the engine hatch open, but he didn't look like he knew much about diesel engines.

"What happened?", Lisa yelled as she got closer.

"I'm sorry ma'am. I heard a pop, and I shut the machine down. By the time I climbed from the cab there was smoke coming out. I'm really sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough. I need this stuff on the third floor so it can get set up for the last shoot. I need this damn forklift working!"

The man wiped his suddenly sweaty forehead before speaking. "I called the boss, but he doesn't know how long its going to take to get a mechanic out." The man wisely took a step back when he saw Lisa's light brown eyes narrow into slits and her jaw tighten.

"I want you to get in your truck and high tail your ass back to the rental yard and bring a mechanic. Go right now, and call me when you're on your way back." Her tone was menacing, and left no room for argument or discussion. The man hurried out the back door to the semi and was gone in less than a minute. Lisa had to take several calming breaths. Her situation wouldn't have been so bad if the pallet had been on the floor, but instead its was twenty feet over head.

She hoped that this problem would work itself out. She told her staff to get back to work, and she walked out to the main area. It wasn't until a half an hour later that her phone rang and the driver gave her the bad news. He said that the only mechanic around was in Cicero, and it would take him a while to get there from the rental yard. Lisa had wanted to call the guy every name in the book, but the man was trying. She could hear it in his voice, and it wasn't his fault in the first place. She made her way towards the back of the building and found herself alone in the big room staring up at the forklift. She got angry as she stood there. She walked up to the big machine and kicked one of its foam filled tires.

She looked up at the boom arm. It was frozen ten feet from the catwalk and ten feet below the catwalk. Lisa knew that there was no way that guy was going to get back in time for the last shoot. Once again she was going to have do something about it. She locked the doors, went and climbed to the top of the forklift cab. She figured that she could raise the boom arm far enough to bring the load above the level of the catwalk.

Lisa pulled up the loose fitting sleeves of dress, because she was fairly certain that those sleeves wouldn't be loose much longer. She then put her left hand flat against the back side of the boom arm and her right hand flat against the front side. She got a good base then leaned backwards. Once again that feeling of power came. The harder she tried to do something; the stronger she became. Lisa's right arm was doing most of the work against this boom arm and it shook a little under the strain. Her biceps and shoulders were already firing super humanly fast, and they were super humanly hard. They just got harder by the heart beat. Lisa started to hear a hissing sound. She was pulling the piston back and the pressure was getting too strong on one side. Lisa didn't want to break the boom arm, but her first priority was to get the equipment on the top floor. She was pulling against the pressure in the pistons and against the weight of the equipment.

The load was almost high enough. Lisa took a deep breath and then pulled up with her right arm one last time. She couldn't help but look as the muscles in her arm bunched and flexed. She could see the muscle fibers tightening under her skin. She kept going making her bicep harder and harder. She was a little lost in the moment, until she felt more resistance from the boom. She looked up. "Oops." She had raised the boom too much, but it didn't really matter. She jumped down from the top of the lift and looked in the cab again. She found the transmission controls and put the vehicle in neutral. The lift started rolling backwards. Lisa didn't let it roll far. She put her hands on the sides of the cab and leaned against it. The wheels stopped rolling and she gave a little grunt as she pushed the big lift up the slight incline. Lisa's calves flexed, but this wasn't enough of a workout to make them really come alive. She looked up as she pushed. When the pallet of equipment was over the catwalk, Lisa stopped. She kept the lift in place with out hand while she reached into the cab and put it in park with her other hand. With that done, Lisa debated in her mind whether to get the prop guys in there now. She finally decided that she had gone this far. She hurried up the stairs taking three at a time until she was on the top floor. She didn't have enough leverage to pull down the forks, so she took the pallet from the bottom and slid it towards her. She had to keep the weight mostly level as she pulled it off the forks. Finally though she had it. She went down stairs and let the forklift roll back a little. With that done, Lisa unlocked the doors and told the prop guys to get busy.

"How'd you get that thing workin?", one of the aids asked.

Lisa was a little tired when she patted the young college student on the shoulder. "Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do." That was the last big problem of the day although there were several smaller ones that crept up. Lisa was completely beat by the time the last shoot wrapped up.

It was fifteen to nine when Lisa pulled down the gravel drive towards the small brick building that served as the office for South Side Metals. All the cars were gone except one. Alonzo's Range Rover was parked out front, but at this hour he wasn't going to be in the office. Lisa continued down the drive to the back side of the office building. Further down the road there was a single-wide trailer. Alonzo's father Gustavo had used that trailer as a place to sleep when he was building his business, but Alonzo called it home. He and his two sisters had been forced to sell their childhood home in order to pay off debts, and Alonzo had sold his own condo to keep the business afloat.

At the end of the last year, Alonzo had been worried about staying in business, but business had picked up so much in the last few months that he had actually increased employees instead of letting them go. He gave a lot of credit to Lisa for the turn around. She had started marketing his business to small time operators. Small time scrappers and junk yards all started coming to South Side Metals. Alonzo had been forced to open a truck scale that hadn't been used in six years. Then he had been forced to buy another scale, then he had hired more employees, and then finally he had purchased the land next to South Side Metals, but he hadn't moved out of the trailer. At first he had been embarrassed to let Lisa come to his place, but the better he got to know her, the more he realized that these days status symbols were pretty far down her list of important things.

Lisa pulled her car in front of the trailer and got out. She was very tired, but she dragged herself up the stairs and knocked on the door to let Alonzo know that she was there more than to ask permission to enter. When Lisa walked in the door, she had to put her hand over her mouth. She was shocked and surprised, in a good way.

"Evening, Miss Sanchez", Alonzo said as he lit the last candle. The trailer was full of them. The candles were the only light in the place. There was cool jazz on the stereo, a bottle of wine chilling, and two settings on the table.

"Zo, you did all this? I don't know what to say."

"You're a hard working woman, and you deserve it."

Lisa Sanchez was a reserved person who rarely put her emotions out for public consumption. She was strong willed and hard headed. One of her old professors had called Lisa calmly intense. Instead of histrionics, Lisa used her emotions to fuel her drive to better herself and her situation, but as Lisa stood there the emotions came rushing out. A sob escaped and then another. She wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek. Alonzo came over and tenderly took Lisa's hand.

"I feel so stupid right now."

Alonzo just looked down at her. "No, it just confirms how much you needed this." He lead her to the chair.

After a few more minutes, Lisa had gathered herself and was enjoying the meal and the wine. "So how long have you been planning all this?"

Alonzo poured more wine into Lisa's glass. "Since this afternoon when I saw you so busy at that photo shoot."

"You're kiddin."

"I can be quick on my feet. Like I said, Lisa, I wanted to do something for you."

Lisa hated mushy, but she realized that she could gaze into Alonzo's eyes all day long. She had gone further faster in this relationship than ever in her past. Alonzo knew that he had done something right because she didn't say anything. She didn't have to say anything. Alonzo didn't have any ulterior motives in mind. He just wanted to show her some appreciation, and she knew that.

He reached across the table. "Excuse me, señorita, care to dance?"

"Of course." Lisa took her glass of white wine and put her hand in his. He lead her to the living room, and they danced for what seemed like hours. The scent of the candles and of scent of Lisa's skin made Alonzo lose all track of time. They danced in the middle of the floor until she pulled Alonzo towards the back.

Alonzo didn't resist. She pulled him, and he held her as they stood at the foot of the bed. She smiled at him and pushed him on the bed. Alonzo looked up in the low light at the most beautiful site he would ever see. Lisa pulled her arms from the sleeves of her dress and let it slip to the floor. Alonzo's eyes took in Lisa's sensational body from head to toe. Her every curve and every line was so perfect. She ran her hands up and threw her long dark hair and let it flow over her shoulders. She kept her eyes on Alonzo and unhooked her bra. Lisa slid the straps over her shoulders and finally let the bra drop to the floor atop her dress. She tugged at her lacy black panties, but she would leave them on for now. She'd let Zo have that pleasure. She leaned forward and Alonzo watched her breasts sway as she climbed onto the bed. He waited until she was closer to reach his arms around her and grab two handfuls of her perfect round sexy ass. She pressed her body against his, and he rubbed his hands up her back and shoulders before he stretched his fingers out around her breasts. Her skin was so soft and so smooth. Lisa worked with women who's pictures sold millions of magazines, but Alonzo was sure that there wasn't a better looking woman in all the world. Lisa was the epitome of female beauty. Alonzo slid his hands down and under Lisa's panties. Her body quivered at his touch, and she pulled his head tighter to her as he let his fingers roam. She arched her back and moaned.

"You're too much for words", he whispered in her ear.

"Then don't talk."

Lisa woke up the next morning and stretched her arms high over head. The light peaked in through the gaps in the curtains. She yawned and looked at Alonzo's sleeping form next to her in the bed. He was still snoring softly. Lisa slipped from under the covers, and stretched some more before grabbing a towel and hurrying into the shower. She made the water a little hotter than usual, and stayed in the shower with her own thoughts. This was usually the point at which she felt that little bit of guilt, but not this time. She kept waiting for it to come, but it never did. She laughed to herself when the guilt didn't come, because the night before she most certainly had. The look on Zo's face had been priceless. He had looked like she was going to dismember him during a fit of passion. In some sort of twisted way that had made it all the better. This wasn't the first time they had made love, but this was the first time they had been comfortable enough to let the passion go unchecked. She couldn't get rid of the grin on her face as she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

Lucky enough, Lisa had left enough clothes behind at Alonzo's that she had something clean to wear. Nothing matched, but it didn't matter. She went to the kitchen and brewed herself a cup of coffee. She was sitting there with her legs crossed listening to the radio when Alonzo shuffled in.

"Good morning, sleepy head."

He muttered some sort of greeting that Lisa couldn't understand. He made his way to the coffee pot and didn't attempt to speak again until after he had taken a couple of sips.

"You act like last night took a lot out of you."

"It did", Zo responded. "I don't have unlimited stamina."

"Neither do I", Lisa replied demurely. "Its just that I don't get sex as often as I'd like and good sex is even more rare. So I take my sex seriously."

Alonzo came over to the small table. He kissed her before sitting down. "Yeah, seriously for sure. I thought I was going to die."

Lisa threw her head back and laughed. She put both hands on Alonzo's face and scrunched his features together. "You should have seen your face! I almost burst out laughing."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't."

Lisa took another sip of coffee. "Even I know the fastest way to end a relationship with a guy is to laugh during sex, even if you aren't laughing at anything he's doing... or not doing."

"It shouldn't have been funny anyway. I saw my life flashing in front of my eyes. I thought I was going to die right there, with a big smile on my face."

"Oh come off it. Do you really think I would do that to you? I was celibate for a long lo-o-ng time after I discovered my strength. Then one day I got fed up and called an ex-boyfriend. He was always ready and he knew what he was doing."

"So you picked an old flame."

"I picked somebody I didn't like. This guy is a first class jerk, so if he got hurt I wouldn't have cared much. But in the end, he was still in one piece."

Zo hurumphed. "Probably a very sore piece."

"You didn't like it?"

Zo grinned and raised up in his chair. "Yeah, I liked it. So much so, that despite the fact I feel like I lost a fight with a steam roller, I'm ready right now."

Lisa had to spit some coffee back in her mug. "Whoa there big boy." She put her hand to his chest. "I have to go. Gather your strength." She pulled his robe open a little. "Yeah, the mind might be willing, but the body ain't able." She kissed him. "I'll see you later. By then I'll be my normal less hormonal self so don't get too frisky... until I get frisky."

Zo gave a mock salute. "Yes ma'am." They laughed together, and he walked her out to her car. He watched her go down the drive before going back inside. He hoped he had some epson salt, because he was going to need a soak.

Lisa drove across town to her office. Some of her employees were already there. That was a good feeling even if there were other things that she would rather be doing. It wasn't easy running her own business, no matter how rewarding it was. She stepped into her all glass office and closed the door behind her. Her cell phone rang the instant she shut the door. "Hello."

"I got the job!", Moira yelled into her phone.

"Congratulations, Professor Kelly. I know you like the sound of that."

Moira Kelly had to keep her glee in check. She wanted to jump around like a cheerleader, but she was in the hall outside the office of the Dean of Sciences at Emory University. "Considering where I've been, this is the top of the mountain."

"No, Moira, its just the beginning of lots of great things to come."

"I hope so. You're always so optimistic" Moira sighed then, and her tone got more serious. "They told me that I was in competition with another applicant, but that I had gotten a glowing recommendation from Ian. You must have told him that I was applying."

Lisa sat down in her contoured chair. "Yeah, I told him. The only thing I remember about chemistry is covalent and ionic bonds, but I know that Ian's name carries some weight in those circles. We both wanted to see you succeed, so he wrote the letter."

"I'm glad he did. Its just that I should thank him. He's the reason I beat out that other guy."

Lisa sighed. "You already know what I think, but you have to do what you feel you should."

Lisa was right, as usual, Moira realized. "Ok. I'll see you when I get back from Atlanta."

"Just give me a call."

Lisa put her phone down and took a long look at the stack of papers sitting in her box. She leaned back in her chair, and spun around in a slow circle. Sometimes things could get overwhelming even to someone as strong as she.

Lisa spent the next few days working ten or twelve hour days in her office. Alonzo's schedule wasn't much better. He had just completed the purchase of a parcel of land that nearly doubled the size of South Side Metals. It had taken a small loan from his uncle Jeremy Redwine, but Jeremy knew a good investment when he saw it. Now that South Side Metals was on the rebound, Jeremy was ready to help more. Alonzo had given some of his employees the task of demolishing an old warehouse on the new property. The building was mostly steel so, it should have been no problem.

Lisa had more work to do, but she put it off on a Saturday morning to go over to Alonzo's. They had seen each other and they talked often, but they were both so busy that they had to make time for each other. It was Lisa's turn to sacrifice. The tires of her Mercedes crunched down the drive towards the trailer. She got out and went inside. She called Zo's name a couple of times, but no answer. which was more than a little disappointing. Her first thought was that he had gone to run some errands, but then she heard the sounds of heavy equipment. Maybe he was at the demolition. Lisa held a freshly brewed cup of coffee in her hands as she followed the sounds of cranes, front end loaders, and trucks to the new land that the company had just purchased.

She came through a section of fence that had been removed and saw about 10 guys standing around. Some were working at grading dirt, but the rest were milling about near the skeleton of the old warehouse building. The manager in Lisa came out.

"Hey, what's going on here?", she asked the foreman.

"We're at a stand still. We're supposed to get the cross pieces and rafters down today, but the torch guys didn't show up. We can't even get up there anyways." He pointed up. "See the safety harnesses are all the way on the top. So I've got the guys cleaning up, but once that's done I'm sending them home."

Lisa frowned and looked at him. "You mean none of you guys are cutters?"

The man got a little insulted. "That's not our department. Once we get this little bit cleared up, I'm going to send the guys home." Who did this woman think she was anyway? Sure she was hot, and she's the boss' girlfriend, but she sure as hell couldn't tell him what to do.

Lisa saw the look on his face and ignored it. "I'll be right back. You guys stay busy until then, and get those tanks ready." Lisa turned and headed towards her car. She came back in ten minutes dressed in her blue jumpsuit with her thick gloves hanging out of her back pocket. She was tying up her hair when the guys saw her going towards the old warehouse. The building had been massive and the thick riveted girders looked even bigger up close. Lisa glanced up at them, and then at the guys who had brought the oxy cutting rig.

"Just put it there, and make sure I have enough line." Lisa checked the cutting torch head before she hooked it to the side of her jumpsuit.

"Excuse me, umm Lisa right? What the hell are you doing?", the foreman asked like she was a little child dressing in a fireman's suit.

"I'm making sure you don't waste Zo's money." Lisa hooked her mask to her left hip with the torch on her right. She pulled on her welding gloves before she took a good grip on the girder. There was a ladder built in, but the bottom rung of the ladder was fifteen feet off the ground. "Get the crane ready."

She turned towards the girder and took in a deep breath. She held her hands firm and pressed the soles of her brand new boots onto the opposite side of the 'I' of the beam. Then she started climbing. The worker's mouths dropped as Lisa climbed the girder like a tree surgeon climbed an elm. It had been a long time since she had climbed a girder like this, but she skipped the ladder all together and climbed all the way to the horizontal member. She pulled herself up to the girder and stepped up like it was nothing, even though she was 4 stories off the ground. She walked the beam without any hesitation then stretched up over her head and pulled down one of the safety harnesses. She put it around her torso before she went to the area of her first cut. She motioned for them to turn on the gas.

To the amazement of everybody on the ground, Lisa lit the torch and started cutting. Sparks flew all over the place. The blue collar men had to watch. They couldn't believe that this extremely gorgeous woman, who drove a car that cost more than many of them made in a year had just scaled a girder and was now using a oxycetaline torch to cut a massive piece of structural steel.

They were jarred from their trance when Lisa lifted her mask a little and yelled, "Coming down!" With that she made the last cut and 50 feet of steel fell to the ground. The boom echoed throughout the neighborhood, and the building swayed from the sudden loss of weight and of support, but Lisa rode the undulating girder without a bead of sweat. She just patiently waited until they had cleared the piece she had just cut, and then they moved the crane in closer. She tied the next one off, so when she cut it, the crane could simply lower it without it having to let it crash to the ground. After cutting a couple more horizontal beams, Lisa climbed up even higher. She had to climb the angled girders that made up the rafters, but she still did this with practiced ease. She had to rig the girder before she cut it, and that was slow going. As she sat there about to light her torch again, she wondered if she could tear the girders loose by hand. It was an idle thought, and she wasn't going to try it. Cutting steel was so much fun.

While Lisa was imagining using her strength against the girders, a pickup truck pulled in and some members of the cutting team got out. They quickly found out what was happening and they got into their gear and started up to the roof. They were all welding apprentices, so Lisa took command, and started issuing orders. It was strange to get orders from the boss' girlfriend, but in the space of an hour and half, that girlfriend had cut and dropped five thick girders all by herself. Not a single member of the cutting team could have done that, so they listened and didn't argue.

Lisa liked working in advertising, but there was nothing like working with her hands and seeing the fruits of her labor immediately. She could stare at the bright light of the torch and see her progress. It was a good feeling. It was a liberating feeling.

Alonzo had left early in the morning to meet with a potential client in Gary, IN. This guy owned the largest wrecker service in the city, and he had been taking his cars to a local Gary scrap yard, but Alonzo had convinced him that it was worth the extra trip to Chicago to do business with South Side Metals. He had tried to call Lisa to tell her the good news, but her phone had gone unanswered. That was unlike her, but she probably had a good reason not to answer.

Zo was confused when he pulled up and saw Lisa's car in his drive. He went into his home and saw her phone on the table. He heard the sounds of machinery then. He knew that his guys were working and wondered if Lisa might be over there. He drove over there in his Range Rover and was pretty pleased to see that the roof was more than halfway gone. He hopped out and took a closer look at the building, then his eyes bucked wide.

He ran up past the men and machinery. He cupped his hands to his mouth and called out, "Lisa, what the hell are you doing up there?!? Come down here!"

Lisa had to stop a cut and turn around. "What does it look like I'm doing. I'm getting your job done."

"You're like 100 feet in the air. You're going to hurt yourself!"

Lisa laughed. "Sweetie, I was walking high steel when I was 19 years old. This is nothing. It's not tall, and its not windy today. Now sit down and keep quiet before I charge you union wages for what I'm doing!"

Alonzo started to say something, but there was nothing he could say. He stood next to the foreman and watched his girlfriend chop steel. Lisa and the short crew of cutters who had showed up finished the job by early afternoon. They all rode down on the last piece of steel like workers had done in the old days. It was Lisa's treat to the guys for a job well done. The O.S.H.A. people would have birthed a brick if they had seen that, but they hadn't. Alonzo was waiting for Lisa when she stepped off the girder. Her face was smudged, and she was sweaty, but to Zo her smiling face had never looked better. He pulled her close and kissed right there in the midst of all the guys. They whooped and hollered. Lisa pulled back, looked up at Zo and laughed. She pulled away and looked at the foreman. "Now you can clear the site." Lisa didn't give him a chance to respond. She took Zo's hand and they walked back to his trailer. She didn't stay long. She had to go back and get cleaned up. She was out of spare clothes at his place.

Lisa was back later that day. She treated Alonzo to a dinner, but this time after eating they took a walk on the steel yard at dusk. It had its own strange charm. It was a fairly warm evening, but the weather man was promising a cold front to come through by the middle of the next day so they had to enjoy the weather while they could. The sun was setting between the mounds of shredded scrap.

"I really appreciate what you did today. I'm bringing in the special stuff to take out the vertical girders next week, but if you hadn't taken charge, we wouldn't have gotten that stuff done until the middle of next week", Alonzo said as they strolled hand in hand through his family's rejuvenated empire.

"Its no problem. I had forgotten how much I liked to do metal working."

"So how much do I owe you?"

Lisa laughed. It was rich and playful at the same time. She did some quick calculations in her head. "At least $2400. I'll have to charge you extra for running your crew, for the rigging, and for it being Saturday."

"Do you take checks?", he asked with a smile.

"Not from most people, but I'll take one from you", she teased.

Zo was quiet for a few steps. Their arms swung a little between them as they walked with the sun at their backs. "So you really are a master welder, and worked on skyscrapers with the Mohawks?"

Lisa frowned up at him. "I said I did, didn't I. Why do you ask? Do hear a little green eyed monster in your voice?"

"Umm, no. I was just wondering how you had the time to get to be a certified master welder along with getting your degrees and all that."

Lisa laughed and squeezed his hand playfully. "You and Moira really have no concept of being broke. When you're broke, you do what you have to do. Masters get paid more than journeymen, so I went for it, and I got certified. My mom was doing all she could to stay afloat, so when I was in college I had to fend for myself. If I didn't keep my scholarship then I didn't get to go to school, and if I didn't work then I didn't eat. Welding was a means to an end. It could have easily been brick laying if I knew how to do that."

"You've come a long way", he told her. He had seen it today, but had a hard time picturing this beautiful woman working high above the streets of Manhattan with a crew building buildings, but she had. Behind that face and beneath the brains, there was tenacious fighter inside Lisa Sanchez. He understood in that moment what she had tried to explain to him about how her power worked. There was no quit inside her. She didn't know how.

They talked about their respective days, but mostly they just held hands and walked. The sun was starting to cast bright orange light and the shadows were becoming longer as they found themselves at the edge of what had been the boundary of South Side Metals. The vertical girders of the old warehouse loomed behind them, but they turned the other way down a row of unprocessed scrap.

"You really love this place, don't you?", Lisa asked after a time.

Zo looked down at the hard packed dirt before he answered. "It makes me think of my parents, my father in particular. I practically grew up here. I learned how to run a crane before I was tall enough to see over the steering wheel in a car. And this is where he taught me and my sisters how to use our abilities."

Lisa shrugged. "It must have been nice to grow up with your powers and to have someone to teach you how to use them."

"Yeah, we used to have lots of fun out here Teresa, Carmen, Dad, and me. We used to take the steel and do all sorts of things with it." He stopped and looked around then several small pieces of steel rose from the ground and floated out in front of them. "We used to see who could make the best designs and stuff with the scrap on the yard." He used the different colored scrap to make a bird and a whale and even an airplane before he put the pieces back in the huge pile.

"You're a closet artist", Lisa told Zo and they kept walking.

"I've only seen you use your strength once", Alonzo began. "And that was the first time we met."

Lisa shrugged her shapely shoulders. "I don't know. Being stronger than other people is cool in theory and sort of weird in real life. I'll admit that it comes in handy every now and then, but I got by most of my life without super strength... well without the knowledge that I had super strength. I'm just used to living with out it."

Alonzo had a little grin on his face and stopped walking. "But Lisa, if you don't use your strength, then how are you ever going get better at it."

"I do use it", Lisa protested. "I just don't use it to show off."

"So you're telling me that you don't even get curious?"

"Of course I do, but I usually don't worry about it."

Zo had taken a few steps away from Lisa. All of the sudden two lengths of heavy towing chain uncoiled from behind a work shed and snaked quickly towards an unsuspecting Lisa. Two ends wrapped around her wrists and then around her ankles. The lengths pulled tight enough to pull her arms and legs apart. The other ends wrapped around the thick concrete post at the base of a hopper stand.

"What are you doing?", Lisa demanded with alarm in her voice as the links tightened around her wrists.

Alonzo laughed. "Now who has a funny look on her face? I'm trying to help you out."

Lisa tugged against the taunt chains. "By holding me with chains?"

"Yeah, you said you were curious as to how strong you are. And these are 5/8 inch chains"

Lisa bit her lower lip and gazed at Zo with her smiling light brown eyes. "You don't really understand how strong I am do you?" Lisa flexed her arms, but didn't pull against the chains. With her arms outstretched, Lisa biceps flexed razor sharp. A vein appeared over the heads of both biceps, her shoulders and pecs seemed to swell a little too. Then without the slightest hint of strain, Lisa pulled her arms together. The chains snapped like toys and pieces of broken links fell to the ground. Zo stared as Lisa used her right hand to tear the chain wrapped around her left wrist. She repeated the process on her other wrist before she simply pulled her left leg forward. The chain held strong for a split second before it too broke.

"That was amazing", Zo exclaimed, his mouth agape.

Lisa brushed the dust off her and stepped closer to him. "Zo, I think you're seriously underestimating me."

"I guess so. But when you pulled my tow truck back onto the road it looked hard and that chain was strong enough to pull my truck." Zo was getting more amazed the more he thought about what she had just done.

"I've tried to explain how my power works. It sometimes takes a while to get my strength up to peak."

"Well what is your peak?"

She took Alonzo by the hand and they started walking again. "I don't know how strong I am. I know I can lift a lot. I'm sure there's a limit, but I'd have to break something or break myself to find out. Like I said, I'm not crazy about breaking things."

"I might have a way for you to test your strength without breaking anything at all."

Lisa was sort of tired of the subject, but she could sense that Alonzo was really interested so she didn't say anything. She just followed him between two tall mounds of metal.

"Okay, Lisa, pick up those two 'I' beam pieces" She looked down and saw the three foot long pieces of 2" wide steel. Each piece weighed about 150 pounds. It was hardly a challenge for her. She held a piece in each hand. "Ok hold them out in front of you." She shook her head and then held them out. Once she had them in front of her, she felt them pulling against each other until they clanged together.

"You've made them magnets."

"Yeah, now see if you can pull them apart. If you want to use your strength without breaking anything, here's your chance."

"So you're going to test my power by using yours?"

"Yep, and I can make pretty strong magnets so you better get ready." He smiled at her. Zo knew how strong he was. His power was stronger than either of his sisters and even his father, so he had no doubts that he was at least as strong as Lisa, in his own way.

Lisa bore down a little and tried to pull her arms apart. The two pieces of steel didn't budge. A smile spread across her face. This was going to be fun. She set her legs apart slightly, took a deep breath, then every muscle in Lisa's wonderful body flexed hard. The changes in her beautiful body were awesome. Ripped muscles seemed to magically appear under her smooth skin complete with a lattice of veins and arteries to fuel her strength. Then she started pulling and her already impressive lats and upper back began to swell with pure muscle. Her face was turning red as she began to really start to strain, but the two pieces of steel would not come apart. She hadn't used this much strength in a while, but she loved a challenge. Lisa kept up pressure, but she took a few quick breaths. Her body shook a little under the strain, but Lisa wasn't close to her limit yet. She closed her eyes and threw her head back. This time, she really pulled.

The steel warped under her fingers while her muscles swelled even more. Her shoulders and pecs and arms and especially her back made her look like a champion body builder. Every surface of her body was covered in super humanly hard muscle, and those muscles were firing super humanly fast. The first line of sweat ran down Lisa's forehead as she continued to pull. Lisa's breath became labored a little as she tried to pull the steel apart.

With her eyes closed, she couldn't see her boyfriend. Alonzo also had his eyes closed in concentration. Sweat had begun pouring down his head and neck a while ago. He had already increased the strength of the magnet five times since she had started pulling, and she was getting stronger by the moment. He sat down on the ground, so he didn't have to use any strength to stand. He was pretty sure that he was going to need every ounce of strength against Lisa.

Lisa was beginning to get a little discouraged. She was pulling plenty hard, but the magnets hadn't separated at all. Maybe she wasn't as strong as she thought. Sure this test was using less powerful muscles than she usually used, but that was no excuse. Her back and shoulder muscles were burning terribly, but then she thought back to the first time she had learned of her strength. She had just wanted to feel what using 100% felt like. She realized right then that she still didn't know what it felt like. She was pulling hard, really really hard, but she wasn't at her max.

Lisa's already powerful chest expanded as she sucked in a deep whooshing breath before she let out a yell. Her body exploded with muscles. Her traps, and shoulders, and pecs, and lats, and even her thighs ballooned with fresh muscle. The expansion was so massive and so quick that the lycra top she was wearing couldn't expand enough and it tore. Splits started on both sides from her expanding back. Her muscles were getting even more defined too. Single muscle fibers could been seen and the network of veins feeding her muscles was an anatomist dream. Her forearms were beyond compare was cords and tendons flexed and strained. Her body shook with power and with muscle growth. Her muscles fired faster and faster as she pulled harder harder and harder until they had to grow. She needed more strength, and then she needed more strength so her muscles grew bigger.

Then, like she was prying apart a canyon, the two super magnets separated. It was only an inch and only for an instant, but she had pulled them apart. That gave her renewed energy. She pulled against them even harder. Her fingers had pierced the steel. She had made handles for herself. Her yell of complete strength and power continued as did her growth.

Alonzo had never felt anything like this in his life. He was using his power to the utmost. He had never tried this hard when he had gone up against his sisters or his father. Lisa was pushing him into uncharted territory. His breathing was coming in short pants and his face was a mask of agony as he used every bit of his power to keep those two pieces of steel together. He didn't know why he was trying so hard, but he wouldn't stop now.

A smile of mastery had spread across Lisa's beautiful lips as she felt more and more strength coming from deep within her. The more strength she called for, the more came until it was becoming difficult for her to use it all. She was pulling at the steel with her upper body, but the strength was coursing all over. Within her mind, Lisa figured out how to channel all that awesome power. It was a personal triumph, but Lisa had never faced this challenge before. She had used this much strength before, but never at a single task using so little of her body and with no danger around. There was no emergency, and there were no lives to be saved because no one was in danger of dying.

The look on Zo's face told another story. Alonzo was hanging on by a thread now. He was giving it all he had. It was fun for him in strange sort of way, but also painful. He hadn't felt Lisa pull the magnets apart again, so he guessed that she had already reached her peak strength. He couldn't have been more wrong. Once she figured out how to channel her strength where she needed it, Lisa unleashed it all at once, and her muscles burst and split into perfect hard curves. Her muscles were massive and were harder than they had ever been.

The pieces came apart, and this time they stayed apart. Lisa growled and pulled even harder. Her body was hot, and sweat ran down the endless channels and separations created by her muscles and the lattice of veins. She was pulling her arms apart with such tremendous force that every second, her muscles had to work more and more. The strain and tension could be felt in the air. The magnetic field was so strong it slightly distorted the light that passed between the two pieces of steel, but it wasn't strong enough. The magnets were getting farther apart. Lisa's growl became louder, and her muscles got even larger. She reveled in the feeling of power and strength. She was preparing herself for another burst of strength when suddenly the little game stopped.

"All right, I can't hold it anymore!", Alonzo managed through very labored breaths, he slowly let the magnetic field he had built around the two pieces of steel go away. When he did, steel fell to the ground in shreds like they had been processed by one of the machines. The forces that the steel had been subjected to by the two super humans was more than the hardened metal could take.

"That was fun", Lisa said through deep breaths of her own before she opened her eyes. She saw Alonzo on his knees about six feet in front of her when she looked forward. "Alonzo, are you ok?!?" She rushed up to him, paying no attention to the fact that her top was flapping behind her as she moved, and her bra straps here hanging by only a couple of stitches. She went to a knee and took her boyfriend around his shoulders.

"I'm a little dizzy", Zo began. "My God you're powerful."

"Aw, Zo, I should have backed off. I didn't want to do all this, but it was your idea."

Alonzo managed a weary smile. "True, it was my idea, but don't feel bad. I'm sorry though that I didn't get to let you get to your peak." He laid his head against her chest. Her very nice breast were still there, but her pectorals were now overshadowing her breast. His head was lying against her solid muscle, but Zo didn't seem to mind.

"I told you I'm strong", Lisa said almost apologetically. She rubbed her sore hands across his sweaty forehead.

Alonzo turned his head to look up at her. She was tired, but she had put that aside because of concern for him. "You are more than just simple gifted."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there is strength and there is strength. I'm strong too. I share a the same ability with both of my sisters, but I'm stronger than both of them at it. My mother used to be able to tell how powerful a person was. Just because a person is gifted doesn't mean that person is particularly strong. I know a telekinetic who can lift a person maybe, but nothing heavier. His gift isn't too strong, but you... you're powerful."

"So I'm gifted even for a gifted person?"

"Yeah. There are some extraordinarily gifted people out there. I fall into that category, but you have me beat in the raw power department. You've got a gear that I don't have." Lisa didn't know what to say. She just held his head and wondered how soon her muscles would go away because she was pretty pumped. "Don't look like that. Its wonderful. Your gift is really really strong."

"I don't know much about this. I thought you might be upset."

"I'm not upset. Haven't I told you before that you're too much for words?"

Lisa's grin was one of relief. After they both rested for a while, they continued walking, this time though, towards the trailer. By now Lisa had noticed her ruined clothes. Her top looked like a miniature poncho, and her denim shorts looked like they had accidentally been washed in a paper shredder. After a while, her muscles started to get less pumped, but she was still bigger than normal.

They had made their way near one of the yard offices spread around the property. This one was near the new land and the torn down building. They were standing in the glow of a 1000 watt lamp when Alonzo slowed and timidly asked, "Do your muscles always flex up like that when you use your strength?"

"Yep", Lisa answered quickly. "That's another reason I don't use my strength often. Its kind of hard to explain how I go from looking like I normally do to having such defined muscles. I mean when I really do something hard, I can get pretty big. Back there I was pretty big, maybe as big as I've ever been."

"So... So you only get big when you exert yourself?"

Lisa slowed and looked at Alonzo for a long second before answering. "Usually, but I can, sort of, umm... I don't know how to put this. I can expand my muscles without actually using my strength on anything. I figured that out a couple of months ago."

"Let me understand this. You can just flex your muscles and make them get bigger."

Lisa shrugged again and hooked some of her hair behind her ear. "Not really... well I guess so. I use it to build quick strength, but I suppose I could just keep flexing if I wanted to. Why do you ask?"

Zo sighed and stopped walking. "What if I was to tell you that I've always liked athletic women, and especially female bodybuilders and the like? Not exclusively mind you... its just that while most guys don't like it, I've always liked a woman with muscles."

Lisa stopped walking and chewed the inside of her jaw. "I thought you said you liked the way I look normally."

"I do. Me and every other straight guy in the world, but seeing you like this is... I think you're beautiful."

Lisa let go of his hand and put hers on her hips. "Alonzo, I don't know what the hell you're saying."

Zo tried to swallow the lump in his throat. He knew that perhaps for the first time in their relationship he was on shaky ground. Maybe he had revealed too much too soon. He had to calm his racing thoughts and say the right thing. "Do you like jelly beans?", he asked.

Lisa's angry sigh made him think that perhaps he had chosen poorly, but she replied, "Yeah, I like jelly beans."

"Do you like the red ones, and the yellow ones, and the green ones, and--"

"Yeah, Zo", Lisa cut him off. "I like the red ones, and the yellow ones, and the green ones."

"But do you like the ones that taste like licorice?"

"No", she answered.

"Well I do. I like them all." He walked up and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't respond in kind. He looked down at her. "I think you are the most beautiful woman on the planet both ways. I love you when you're all smokin' hot Nubian Latina goddess, and I like you when you're all, 'I can rip a bank vault in half'."

Lisa didn't want to, but the smile seemed to spread by itself. She hooked her arms behind Zo's back; he leaned down, and they kissed. His hands roamed down her arms feeling the shape of her triceps and then down to her hard and still vascular forearms. His hands didn't stop there. Lisa's ass was always beautiful, but this time he could hardly compress the globes of her behind even when he squeezed as hard as he could.

"Hey", she protested.

"I just wanted to feel a little bit before they're gone", Zo defended himself.

Lisa pushed him back at arms length. "They don't have to go away so quickly", she told him with the slightest bit of mischief in her grin. Lisa was a natural tease, and she loved to do it. She loved to take guys for a ride, and now that Alonzo had revealed his love of muscles on a woman, Lisa had even more ammunition in her already stacked arsenal. This was a relief too on so many levels for her. At first it had worried her, but over time she had grown to love the way her body changed when she used her strength. She had even had the idle thought of putting more muscle on her normal frame, but in the end she had decided against it. She had been worried too that men would find her muscles off putting, and she wasn't delusional enough to think that most men would like big muscles on a woman. There were some to be sure, but she didn't care how many there were, because she had found one who did. She had found a man who loved the way her body changed as much as she did. For that he would be rewarded.

Lisa raised her right arm and flexed it where he could see the rear peak on her very nice bicep. The vein that throbbed on top of the peak made Zo's heart race. The shape of her arm was so perfect. The triceps were perfect and the transition into her shoulder was perfect. He reached and squeezed it. His fingers could only compress her soft skin. The muscle beneath was beyond denting. Alonzo started to pull Lisa towards him, but she pushed him back. "You want some muscle or not?", she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh yes, please." He looked around for a chair or a bench, but none was near. With this power, he pulled two large chunks of steel from a pile. Two lumps merged together and then changed shape into a chair. He sat down quickly.

Lisa's eyes were locked on her boyfriend as she raised her arm and flexed again. He looked at her arm and at her beautiful face, but soon his eyes were glued to her arm. She pumped her arm a couple of times. The heads of Lisa's biceps tightened and the definition became even more unreal, but as Alonzo stared in amazement, Lisa's eyes narrowed and her peak rose and thickened. She bared her teeth a little as she really turned on the power. Lisa biceps grew, and not a little, but a lot. Her biceps and triceps seemed to throb with her heart beat pulsing and then gaining in size before his eyes. Her arm flex had started out big, but it had just passed really big. Her arm was now as big as the biggest female bodybuilder in the world. She paused and admired the massiveness and shape of her muscle.

She looked at Alonzo's vacant stare for an instant, before she turned her eyes onto her own arm. This was big, but not quite big enough. She wanted more. She felt that power from within her again, and she focused it. Her muscle fibers split and spread and strained to make her arm bigger. Her power had to obey her commands. The peak of her arm was sharp, and it seemed to be reaching towards the sky because it rose and thickened by the moment. Alonzo's mind could barely comprehend this. This was beyond what he had ever dreamt was possible, but this woman was beyond dreaming.

Lisa kept flexing until her arm was bigger than anyone would have thought possible. She could have gone bigger too. She had power to spare, but there were so many other muscles on the body. She released her flex and shook out her arm. "What do you think?" Lisa voice was hot with the passion of the moment.

Zo literally had to wipe the drool from his mouth. "The most amazing thing. You are so wonderful."

Lisa giggled. "Ok, what next? Your wish is my command."

In Alonzo's mind he could imagine every muscle group expanding. He couldn't pick just one. He stood up from his chair and came over to her. He placed his hands on her arms and shoulders and then he rubbed down her chest to her stomach. He let his fingers trace the hard blocks of her abs. Her skin was so soft, yet the muscles beneath were so hard and hot. He didn't want to ever take his hands off, but then their eyes met. His hands stopped. His breathing was shallow as he felt her shoulders again. He raised up the ruins of her top and her bra was still hanging on then he ran his hands down to her denims. "I want to see all of you, Baby. Every impossible inch."

Lisa bobbed her head like Barbara Eden. "As you wish." She took a deep breath and then stopped. "You better back up a little."

"Oh yeah." Alonzo started back to his chair. He sat down. "Wait", he told her. "This is for you and me only." Several large pieces of steel rose into the air before they lost their shape. The blob of steel began to lengthen and wrap all around them and under them until it had gone in a large circle like a dome with the top open to let the light in. "Now, its just me and you baby."

Lisa looked around her. They were surrounded by what looked like a shiny wall of foil, but it was much thicker, warm to the touch, and not as hard as she would have imagined. "Okay, Alonzo, here I go."

Lisa closed her eyes and once again gathered her strength. She imagined that she was flexing in front of her mirror, but she had never flexed this big before. With her eyes still closed, Lisa raise both her arms and curled them. She set her legs apart. Lisa took a few breaths as she built up strength deep within her, because she had no idea what was about to happen. When she felt like she could no longer contain the power, she flexed, and she flexed hard.

Her body grew in an instant. Thick cords of muscle emerged and swelled all over her body. Her thighs were inflating with muscles. Bigger and bigger they grew until she tough denim had no chance. The rips were audible in the bubble Zo had created. The speed of the tears increased as Lisa poured out more of her power. She shook her legs causing the swollen muscle to quiver and shake before she flexed them tightly. The heads of her quads jutted nearly a foot. Then she squeezed her eyes shut, and they grew even more. The tears in her shorts had been vertical, but this expansion ripped them across the tops of her thighs and the legs of the shorts fell to the ground in shreds. Lisa kicked off her shoes, and her bare soles touched the steel for the first time. It seemed to caress her foot, and it felt great. Her face took on a look of profound concentration, and she pointed her toe and flexed her calf muscle. The muscle flexed up big and then paused as if it wasn't prepared for the power that Lisa was pouring into it. Then with a quick surge of growth, it grew bigger than any calf ever. It grew larger and larger until the heads protruded like sharp living rocks. She repeated the same thing with her left leg.

Alonzo had gone down to the ground. He was in a state of pure lust. There were no other thoughts in his head besides Lisa. Nothing else existed in his mind. Lisa relaxed her flexing, and Alonzo looked like he was going to melt.

Lisa put her finger to her chin and looked down at Alonzo. "Well so much for my shorts", she began. "Now for the top. Its already torn and I was pretty big before, so I guess I'm going to have to get even bigger to make this damn thing come off. Here I go. Get ready."

Lisa had to draw even more strength. Her muscles were impossibly huge now. She was amazed that she was this big, but if things worked out, she was about to get even bigger. Her gorgeous face twisted in complete concentration as she slowly brought her arms together in front of her body. As she brought her arms down, her muscles grew. Her muscles pushed out and separated and expanded all at the same time. Deep striations and thick veins appeared. As her arms came down more, the striations went beyond until the individual fibers could be seen flexing under her skin. And still she grew. Once her hands met, Lisa poured everything she had into the flex. Her traps were already thick, but they bulged with new power and size. Her shoulders and arms were impressive, but her pecs had taken on growth that blew the others away. Lisa's pecs were so large that the space between the twin vascular striated blocks had become a dark void and still her chest grew larger. The remnants of her top were now simply draped over the ever expanding muscles of her chest. Then they stopped growing. They were already so far from her body that the top was lost.

Lisa opened her eyes. "Wow", she said to herself. This was impressive even to her, but she was caught in the moment. She closed her eyes tightly and let her muscles expand more. They grew and became harder and harder until the lycra began to stretch. Then the seams began to strain, and then with one loud tear, the top tore in two. It fell to the ground at her feet with the bra right behind it. Lisa flexed her naked pecs more. She wanted to feel them grow just a little more. She poured more power into her chest, and it made her want more size and more strength. Her entire body was swelling while she held her flex, but her pecs were otherworldly. They grew thicker and harder, pushing out from her with unstoppable power. She pressed her eyes closed and drew more power. She could no longer channel it to just her chest. Her biceps swelled again and her triceps and her lats, and once again her thighs gained size. Alonzo had felt Lisa's strength, but now he was seeing it in all its majesty.

Lisa's mind was so overwhelmed with power that she just wanted to use it. This much strength couldn't just evaporate. She couldn't absorb it back into her being. It had to be used. She turned around to find something, anything then she looked up. Just outside the sphere of steel was the old warehouse. One of the vertical beams was just on the other side of Alonzo's wall. She looked at Zo, and then she started towards it.

Alonzo could see where she was heading, and he opened a gap in his sphere. Lisa was dwarfed by the massive beam, but she didn't waste time thinking about what she was going to do. She had to release this power. She felt like she was going to explode if she didn't.

Her muscles seemed to explode when she crouched down and put her hands on the beam. Her forearm muscles flexed as she crushed her fingers into the thick steel. Lisa took a few deep breaths, expanding her naked chest against the steel. Her nipples brushed against the cold metal. That was exciting, but not exciting enough. She set her teeth on edge, then powered up her legs. She pressed her feet against the concrete floor of the old warehouse as she tried to pull this huge girder from deep within the ground. She knew that as tall as this girder was, much of it was underground buried in the thick reinforced concrete of the building's foundation. Lisa didn't care about that. She had to use this strength.

Her thick quads and ultra shredded hamstrings and glutes jutted out and writhed under her skin as she used more and more strength against the girder. She had wrapped her arms around the girder now, and she crushed it against her body as she continued to lift with her legs. The girder had stood straight for decades against storms and blizzards, but it was bending now from the power of one woman. It bent more and more as her arms crushed their way towards each other. Then a rumble came from deep in the ground. Sounds like muffled thunder filled the air. Cracks spread like a web all around them. Alonzo looked at the ground and then back to Lisa. Her soft grunts of effort had turned into guttural growls as her legs began to straighten.

The concrete was turning to powder under her feet as she pressed down with such tremendous force. The girder had moved a little, but with one finally squeeze of Lisa titanic muscles, the girder broke loose from the foundation and shot up into the air. Lisa dug a trench as she wrenched the massive steel beam from the ground. Fifteen feet of concrete was stuck around the base of the girder as Lisa held it up. It made the load unbalanced, but Lisa was more powerful than Alonzo's crane. Her mighty muscles just flexed and split and bulged to keep the load over her head. She loved the feeling of that much weight pressing down on her body, and her body not giving at all. She turned away from her boyfriend then threw the girder onto the ground. It made a huge noise and bounced along the fractured cement until it slammed into another girder. It hit that second girder so hard that it knocked it loose underground. Lisa slowly turned towards Alonzo. She was tired now, and her need to use her strength had been satisfied, but a woman had other needs too.

Alonzo pressed his body against hers. "I can't wait anymore", he whispered to her.

"Me neither." Lisa reached out with her hands and tore the clothes from Alonzo's body before she tore off the last bits of her shorts. Alonzo once again surrounded them with his wall of shiny steel. They faced each other, and Alonzo slowly reached out to touch Lisa's body again. She let him feel every one of her muscles, because she wasn't sure if she was ever going to do this again. When he was no longer satisfied with feeling her body, they got close to each other and Lisa lay her back down on the supple floor that Zo had made.

Alonzo traced down her torso with his tongue slowly, making sure that he did not miss any chance to pleasure her. He made his way between her legs. Lisa's massive body shook, and Zo was nearly thrown into the air. He didn't say a word. He went right back to work. After a minute he looked up. "Are you ready?"

"What?", Lisa asked breathlessly.

"My turn to make you pant."

The color of the steel around them changed from shiny silver to blue, and Lisa felt tingles all through her body. She didn't know what Zo was doing, but whatever it was she didn't want it to stop because she was nearing an orgasm. Then she came and again and again. They made love that night until both of them were covered in each other's sweat. They held hands as they lay next to each other. They had neither the strength, nor the inclination to move.

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!!!