Daughter of Zeus ✔

18

Erma watched Ada through the dissipating wall. There wasn't much to watch because the girl was still out cold. Her nude body sprawled on a lit panel that continually scanned her exterior, while simultaneously scanning her internally. Every two minutes, the device updated the woman on Ada's state.

So far, she had learned little about the subject she'd stalked for eight weeks. Her superiors were expecting to know the full mechanics of Ada's abilities, but the computer had not found any palpable anomalies.

DNA, organ scans, blood work...every scan came up despairingly normal. She was beginning to think the Congressman had lied to save his own ass. He had been willing to sacrifice his daughter, therefore lying wouldn't really be a stretch.

"Zero anomalies were detected at the genetic level," the interface announced as part of its routine report.

Erma swore softly. 

However," the machine went on, and she held her breath, "the subject's body temperature is elevated far above the norm."

"What's above normal?"

"110 degrees Fahrenheit."

Things were getting interesting.

"How is the subject still alive?"

"I have not yet discerned how the subject is able to maintain a high body temperature without a failure of her internal organs. Her body seems accustomed and even engineered to sustain the high body temperature."

All of the information was fascinating, but impatience twitched within Erma. She wanted details, and answers, because soon she would be forced to supply her superiors with details and answers.

She took off her glasses to wipe a smudge. "How?"

"Unknown."

Erma let her breath out in an angry burst. The machine knew jack, and it definitely knew shit. There seemed no way to figure out the mystery behind the girl's spectacular powers. Time for a new approach. Tech was smart, but only because humans engineered that intelligence. The interface was limited in certain ways, but one could get around that limitation by asking more direct questions.

She rested her palms on the desk in front of her. Her hands were sweaty, and one of them slid on the polished surface, making her stumble forward and almost fall on her face.

"Is there any way to make it known?"

"Once the subject is conscious, different angles of study will become available."

A different kind of question had yielded a different kind of answer. Getting information was a presumably easy fix. "Wake her up then!"

"Subject is unresponsive."

Erma was convinced Ada was the super-freak Moretz promised, but the girl was like a treasure under heavy guard. She had been in the sterilized surveillance chamber for an hour with little result. All she had done was sleep. A peaceful sleep too, as if she planned to never wake up or couldn't wake up.

Erma dismissed her summations. Ada's tox-screens had come back clean, hence she had not been drugged into her comatose state. The shutdown could be a defensive mechanism...no, because when she'd taken Ada, she had already been unconscious.

"Moretz?" Erma wondered aloud.

He claimed his eldest daughter possessed power unimaginable, but that could have been yet another lie from the ever deceitful politician. If Ada's companions had been taking her away from Moretz, there had to be a reason. He had hurt her, or put her into this coma. Most likely, he was the one who knew how to wake her up.

Erma had experienced how uncooperative the Congressman was in the past. He would not come in willingly. Although, if her theory was correct, he was more valuable than the Snow White he tried to pawn off on the State.

She spoke into her wrist. "Bring me Moretz."

Another female voice replied, "We're supposed to leave the guy alone—he's a Congressman."

"I don't give a soaring fuck who he is," Erma cut in. "He gave us a defective subject, so he's liable for the damages. Bring him in."

Her glasses slid from her face and onto the floor. She picked them up, considering her mission as she did so. Eight weeks for an unyielding subject.

"Ms. Julane?"

Erma took a moment to right the underwear that had gone up her ass when she bent. When she was done, she answered the team member. "Yes?"

"Power in the southeast part of the building has failed."

The information was further verified when the lights around her went out.

"You don't say."

A power failure. Had to be Moretz. He had made Erma's job easier by coming to her, but why he had come was another issue.

"Ma'am?"

Her team member needed orders. In the pitch black room, she felt around for the emergency illumination sources or ELS. In the process, she hit her knee on the desk in front of her.

"Fuck."

"Ma'am?"

Sometimes she hated being in charge. "Rally to me. It's Moretz, numb-nuts. He's here."

"What does he want?"

The team member's question was on Erma's mind as well, but it didn't matter.

She found a pack of ELS in the desk drawer. "Turn on."

The six-inch tall cylinders lit up the room with a bright white glow. Out of the dark, she felt more in control and able to answer her team member's inquiries. "Whatever he wants, he's not getting it. We're taking him alive."

"Understood."

From a locker near the door, she removed a laser pistol. Small, but designed to burn a hole the size of a softball through its victims. Even if she had to use the weapon on Moretz, his wounds would be healed by the medical interface. She wasn't worried. She only hoped her aim was as good as she thought it was.