See this chapter's accompanying illustrations at the following link: https://tapas.io/episode/799229

Everything was completely dark. Try as she might, Marjorie couldn’t see a thing. She couldn’t feel a thing either. Where was she? Where had the metallic men taken her? Was Quinnie still alive? Maybe her parents were taken there as well. Marjorie tried to call out for them. Not a sound came out of her mouth.

All she could remember now was her missing parents, the metallic men hitting Quinnie in the nothingness of the collapsing world and the intense light of the portal that she reached to. The light…

Marjorie instinctively tried to reach up. This time, her arm timidly responded to her command gradually extending from her. This sensation, this weakness, Marjorie had never felt it before. Her super-strength always saw her through any obstacle.

“Come on, arm,” thought Marjorie.

The arm moved forward with more aplomb until it hit a hard surface. A wall? Marjorie placed her palm on the surface which seemed to curve. Was she inside an egg? Marjorie kept feeling the wall with both her hands now. Yes, the shape was concave.

Normally, Marjorie would be able to smash through. But what if her super-strength had been taken away? What if her gift was gone? Maybe she had angered God. That must’ve been it! She completely ignored him even in her greatest time of need.

Quickly, Marjorie prayed: “God almighty, please see me through this!” As soon as she extended this short prayer, a blinding light engulfed the receptacle in which she was held. A crack had appeared. Unable to move her hands to protect her eyes, Marjorie could only close them as hard as she could.

Then, the crack got bigger and bigger, to the point that Marjorie’s body fell down from her receptacle.

All her senses were instantly overwhelmed by a million stimuli at the same time! The brightness, the smell, the sounds, the taste, the touch, everything was even more tangible than she had ever known before. Unable to move still, Marjorie was on the ground, frantically looking around her, trying to figure out where she was.

“The pod is cracked!” shouted a woman.

“We really have to go, now! Bless’s machines have broken through the barricade! Our men won’t hold them very long!” shouted a man.

“I need to stabilize her first before I extract it from her!” replied the woman.

The woman put a gas mask on Marjorie face which put her to sleep. She then applied sensors all over her body and activated a small device to which they were connected.

“Jumping in was a horrible idea,” complained the woman.

“Well, just plugging her out wasn’t all that inspired either, now was it? Who knows how much damage that did to her body?” replied the man.

“Forget the body, we only need her seed core,” said the woman.

The machines had broken in and were killing the men holding the barricade.

“Hurry, hurry!” admonished the man.

“I can’t make this thing go any faster! You will have to hold them off. That’s why you’re here after all, to play the martyr hero, right?”

“Sure…but I can only give you five minutes, tops. After they are done with me, you will be next!”

“I know that.”

The woman turned her attention to Marjorie and activated a bubble shield around her. Her acolyte defiantly stood in front of the incoming machines.

“I always wanted to go out as a hero…Come at me you filthy machines!” shouted the man as he started shooting his weapon. One after the other, the machines were collapsing. But their number made it impossible for the man to overcome them. Before he got shot himself, the man opened his trench coat; he was strapped with explosives!

“Didn’t see that one comin’, robot shits!” shouted the man.

The man ran at the machines and pressed the detonator’s button.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The machine swarm had been seriously reduced. The man, vaporized instantly in the explosion.

While the strange device kept Marjorie in a state of sleep, the woman took out a sort of scalpel and incised Marjorie’s chest. It opened to solid innards; Marjorie’s body was a solid amalgamation of matter… The woman kept digging deeper and deeper, looking for Marjorie’s core.

She couldn’t find it.

The Machines were cutting through the bubble shield. She looked at her watch; his partner had given her 5 minutes and fifty seconds. The woman pulled off the sensors and the gas mask from Marjorie as the incision she performed instantly healed itself.

“I got no choice but to take her with me…Wake up!” said the woman.

Marjorie slowly opened her eyes.

“You have to stop the machines!” said the woman as she pointed to the bubble shield who had given way to the assailing machines.

“I…don’t understand…where am I? Who are you? Where are my parents? Where is Quinnie?” asked Marjorie even more confused.

“We are in an American Champion facility called ScienceTech. I am your friend. And your parents never existed. It was a virtual simulation…” said the woman.

Marjorie noticed the machines coming through the hole they made in the bubble.

“I want to go home! I want my mommy!” bawled Marjorie.

“Listen to me, Miss Clayton. You have to be a big girl now. Use your gift for good. Otherwise, it would be a sin,” replied the woman.

Marjorie froze as she heard these words her father often told her. Marjorie difficultly got on her feet and slowly walked back.

“Leave me alone, you monsters! Leave me ALONE!” shouted Marjorie.

The machines were approaching; Marjorie had closed her eyes, expecting to be vaporized as well.

“Hopeless! Kid, don’t just stand there!” said the woman as she blasted a hole through the floor underneath the machines making them fall down.

Astonished by the destructive power displayed in front of her, Marjorie remained silent.

“Well? Are you going to stay here for more of these machines to come and kill us? Let’s get a move on, kid!” ordered the woman.

“…But, I am indecent… “bashfully said Marjorie.

She had been nude the whole time and had just realized this. The woman quickly raided a nearby closet and found lab coats. They were all many sizes too big for her.

“Here, put this lab coat on and follow me!” said the woman as she shot down a few machines that were climbing back up.

“Thank you, Mrs?…” said Marjorie.

“Call me Ms. Esquire. Now bash us an exit through that wall!” ordered Ms. Esquire.

Still weak, Marjorie clumsily took a swing at the wall. Nothing happened. Her gift hadn’t come back yet.

“Oh, for the love of…I’ll do it!” said the woman, exasperated.

Ms. Esquire blasted a hole through the wall and rushed through it with Marjorie. She then detonated a bomb she had left behind her.

“This should slow them down for a few seconds. Say, feel free to use your gift any time to help us get the heck out of here!” sarcastically remarked Ms. Esquire.

“I…I…can’t…I sinned...” said Marjorie, tears still rolling on her cheeks.

Ms. Esquire grabbed Marjorie's hand and the two ran through the Champion facility. Ms. Esquire shoot as much of the automated defenses system as she could, keeping them both alive long enough to reach an exit.

“Good thing we got out of there, I am almost all out of ammo, Miss Clayton…Sigh, I whole lotta good you were to us in the end kid. Who ever heard of a Champion who couldn’t use her gift?” said Ms. Esquire.

Ms. Esquire and Marjorie walked out of the ScienceTech front gate. After a few steps, they noticed a sole silhouette up ahead. It was standing against the full moon which made it hard to identify who was in their way.

“Darn, she is back already? I don’t like the looks of this. We should make a run for the forest and lose her,” said Ms. Esquire.

But Marjorie wasn’t listening. She knew who was standing there in their way.

“Quinnie?” shouted Marjorie.

“Margie?!” replied the silhouette.

The two sisters ran to each other. After a huge hug, Marjorie looked at Quinnie closely. She was wearing some sort of jumpsuit emblazoned in the Unites States flag.

“What’s with the queer getup, Quinnie? Are you a wrestler or something?” asked Marjorie.

“Even better, Margie: I am a United States Champion!” proudly replied Quinnie.

“What does that mean? Never mind this; I am so happy to see you! Have you found mother and father yet?” asked Marjorie, overjoyed.

Quinnie’s face got a bit somber at the mention of the family she knew never existed. Quinnie then looked at Ms. Esquire.

“So, she’s with the people who kidnapped you?” asked Quinnie.

“Ms. Esquire? No, she saved me from…huh…I have no idea what was going on. I was sent to Mr. Hilton’s home to help with cleaning up his attic because I broke one of mother’s flower pots, then I broke into Mr. Hilton when nobody came to open the door, then saw him all mangled and tortured but he kept talking at me as if nothing had happened. Then I ran back home and no one was there! Then the world collapsed all around me! And then there were two metallic men telling me to touch the light. But you came in…You said you had a gift too…” spurted out Marjorie.

“Slow down, champ. You mean you remember everything?” asked Quinnie.

“Of course, I do!”

Quinnie examined Marjorie.

“Look at you…they pulled you out of your pod way too soon…” concluded Quinnie.

“Too soon? What do you mean?” asked Marjorie.

“Listen to me Margie; these people are terrorists. They are trying to steal you away from the US government and deliver you to our enemies!” explained Quinnie.

“What?”

“They are working for the Eastern Bloc! They are commies!”

Marjorie turned to Ms. Esquire, seeking some sort of justification on her part; at least a denial. None was forthcoming as everyone remained silent for a minute. Then, Ms. Esquire pulled her weapon and aimed at Quinnie.

“She is lying to you, Miss Clayton. We are fighting for freedom! We need your help!” implored Ms. Esquire.

“You leave my little sister out of your traitorous schemes, commie fiend!” angrily shouted Quinnie.

Quinnie outstretched her arm and a round shield adorned by the stars and stripes appeared in her hand. It was just like before the world collapsed, thought Marjorie.

“I will not allow you to hurt anyone anymore! I am the protector of the United States of America! The defender of the downtrodden! The shield of Justice! I am Liberty!” bombastically declared Quinnie.

Quinnie then rushed towards Ms. Esquire as her body was engulfed by red, white and blue flames. Ms. Esquire never had the shadow of a chance as she instantly pulverized from being hit by Quinnie’s rush; the red white and blue flames had instantly burned her down to a pile of ash.

“Quinnie…no…what have you done?” said Marjorie, horrified.

“I have fulfilled my duty. And you will soon learn to do the same, Margie. Remember what father used to say about your gift?” calmly said Quinnie.

“Remaining idle in the face of misery and injustice is a sin…But, I lost my gift! And you KILLED someone!” said Marjorie.

“I am sorry you had to go through all of this in one day. But let’s get back to the facility. Everything will be much clearer soon, I promise,”

“Ok…”

“That’s the spirit!”

End of Chapter 2

See this chapter's accompanying illustrations at the following link: https://tapas.io/episode/799229