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Tahir awoke in his bed with a start. How did he get there? The last thing he remembered was appearing next to Kim, then he awoke here. Kim was laying next to him, she had been awake for a few hours watching over him. Reaching over he pulled her close to snuggle feeling her finally relax. Getting up after she was asleep, he had to report to the Captain.

Roberts was looking over reports from the last visit Tahir had made back east. Threre were snippets of information coming in about the raids that Tahir had made on at least 15 places throughout the city. Sighing, he wished that Tahir had given him some information before he passed out. Looking up as Tahir enetered his office, a wide smile spread across his face.
“You feeling better?” Roberts asked, “You’ve been out of it for a whole day, we were afraid that you might not wake up.”

Tahir was a little surprised that he’d been out that long.
“I came to report as soon as I could,” he said as the Captain waited, “The raids I did, I’m not sure that they did much good.”
“Don’t be too sure,” the Captain started, “from the reports I have gotten, they seem to have delayed their actions for the time being.”
“It’s all a deception, the 75 I took out were nothing, footsoldiers to something bigger,” Tahir sighed, running the information through his head sorting out the useless crap, “I feel almost everything I did, was part of a trap to get me there physically. They had another, that was far stronger than any I have faced before. The amount of energy we expended was huge. I am afraid the next time we face off, it may be more than just a building that is destroyed.”

The Captain’s eyes flew wide, he knew that a battle had taken place but he didn’t think that the other side had anyone nearly as strong as Tahir.
“I hope that you can defeat her, you are too valuable to us to lose in a senseless battle.” Tahir just nodded his head.
“The fight I had with her, drained me and her extremely low. I was surprised to find that I recharged as fast as I did. I have found that the more I use them, the stronger they get. They grew somewhat when I was not using them, for the first two months I was here. This last fight with her has caused an enormous surge in them.” Tahir sighed, his abilities might be stronger but being able to use all the power that entailed, was a different story.

Later that day, downtown, near the old east headquarters, the leader waited with his newest weapon. Looking over at Natasha, he wondered if the info was correct.
“You’re sure I can control her?” the leader asked the doctor. Handing a piece of paper to Natasha, she nodded.
“The doctor says that she was programed, to follow your orders and any that you tell her to listen to. He says that she, was exposed to a dose more than twice the amount that Tahir was. When he measured her abilities, he found them equal if not greater than his”
The leader smiled, “Finally we have that little punk where we want him!”
Breathing a sigh of relief, the doctor felt safer now with the leader happy again.

“I think that it’s time that we took this city. Gather everyone here and have them wait. I will issue an ultimatum, once we release her, Tahir should show up. Finally, I will get to see that son of a bitch, fucking die!” Laughing the leader began to issue orders that everyone was told to follow or they’d have to be punished by the leader.
Upon hearing this they all shivered and backed away waiting for the signal to attack.
Tahir was starting to grow restless when he felt a surge of energy from the east. Rushing out the Captain showed the message to Tahir. It was an ultimatum from the other group.

“Tahir before you rush off we need to think this over,” the Captain started.
“I have thought it over, I knew that this was coming, I am the only one that stands in his way, I am the reason he has put his plans on hold so far.” Tahir wasn’t anxious to die but if he didn’t go, he knew that many more would die.
“I have 2 hours I need to prepare,” with that he walked out, the Captain was on the phone immediately, calling Washington.
Walking up to Kim, Tahir felt, no, knew he needed to strengthen her at least one more time.
“I need to increase your defences again, I am getting bad feelings and the longer I wait to do this, the worse they get.” Kim nodded and sat before him, reaching in he again saw the work he had done to her the previous 2 times. Since his fight with the other strong one, he had been sensing more, feeling more. It had almost been too much for him, then as suddenly, it backed off and he felt almost normal again.

Reaching in, he found the way to her center faster than ever before. Feeling her again behind him he smiled, again explaining each path that he pointed to. Shaking his head, he was now seeing a few more things that he hadn’t before. Reaching her defences he saw her actual capabilities, they were far from what he wanted her to have. Drawing in energy he started to thicken them again, when he noticed that only certain ones actually absorbed the energy. Suddenly, he realised, that was why she could now feel him and track him. He had awakened an ability she had never had before! Careful not to disturb any other abilities, he touched only her defences, now they started to grow faster, soon much thicker than before.

Withdrawing he looked over Kim. “Ok I want you to block me this time when I go into your mind,” nodding she looked at Tahir.
Reaching out he felt her defences snap into place, this time they were much stronger. Still only about half, what his were but compared to how they were just a half an hour ago, he was very happy.
“I am setting out in a few minutes, I know you can follow me now, I am afraid I opened that power for you last time,” Tahir said as her eyes grew wide.
“I wondered why I could feel you, thank you so much Tahir!” throwing her arms around him, she kissed him deeply, with a passion she never knew she had.
Tahir smiled, he was sure she would have been upset but hey, with all the loving she and he had shared the last few days? Hell he wasn’t going to knock it!

Advising the Captain Tahir slipped. Arriving in a prearranged place, Tahir was surprised at what he saw. It almost reminded him of battle pictures he had seen from the days of knights. On one side was the U.S. army, tanks, troops, big guns. On the other was the other group lined up and ready, it appeared, to attack.
Curious Tahir walked to the commander.
“Have they made a move?” he asked keeping an eye on the group.
“No, noone has moved at all, it appears that they are waiting for something or someone,” the commander looked Tahir over, he wasn’t all that much to look at but the stories he had heard, said that the man packed a hell of a punch with his mental abilities.
“I am what they are waiting on,” Tahir said looking over the long line of people, “Have they made any demands?”

The commander reached into his vest and handed a sheet of paper to Tahir. He had been told what it held and wasn’t pleased at the audacity of the leader of the group. Basically, he had demanded the surrender of the entire city to his group. At least 5 women were to be supplied to him naked and bound. They were to deliver a Tahir to them unconscious, then they were told to leave before they all died.
Tahir laughed at all but one of the demands, like hell he was going to supply that son of a bitch with women, he could take the gray matter of!
“You have a bull horn commander?” Tahir asked, the commander thought this was strange but complied.

“Hey! Romotine! Yes you, you stupid son of a bitch! I know who and what you are, you pathetic ass! Here’s my answer!” lowering the bull horn Tahir whispered to the commander, “When I do this, open fire with everything you have, it might catch them off guard and eliminate at least half of them. I was told that there were about 2000 of them there” The commander gave the orders while Tahir stepped out alone.
“You ready, Romotine? With that, Tahir released the largest wave of searing heat that he could, as expected, it caught nearly all of them off guard. This was an ability that Tahir had never shown before, half of those all along the line died instantly. The other half back a few feet were only slightly burned, that is till they started to die faster from the bullets and shells.

Snapping shields up, almost 3/4 of them were dead or dying. Finally they started to fire energy waves back only to find that they were stopped or reflected back. Cursing the leader sent the woman out, to kill the little american prick, once he was gone, then all plans could proceed. Recharging as fast as he could, Tahir felt her approaching. The thing was, she felt different this time. Unable to hold the sheild any longer around the troops, Tahir warned the commander, who ordered the heavy stuff forward. Still recharging, he felt her start to probe toward him. His shields up, he also probed towars her. This time her wall wasn’t as bad, slipping in he saw the insanity in her, then she was there screaming at him that it was his fault!

Delving deeper, he saw why she was experiencing the madness. The energy had harmed part of her reasoning center, she was dazed and confused. She had been told over and over, that he was the reason she was being irradiated, he was the reason she was losing her mind. Though not as good a healer as Kim, he reached into her deeper and tried to restore what he could, there was a lot of damage. Finishing a small section Tahir looked at her moving closer, suddenly she stopped and shook her head. A new light seemed to come into her eyes. Reaching again, Tahir healed around the area more, it was slow going, he was glad she was slightly dazed. He’d have to thank Kim when he got back, for showing him how to do this.

The light in her eyes started to get a little brighter, when she looked at him again. A slight smile was the only indication that he had helped her at all. She nodded at him then withdrew while he tried to expand the area more. He estimated that he had about half her mind healed, when he felt the twinge and call for help. Not wanting to leave her only half healed, he boosted the section he had healed, hoping that it would hold, till he could come back and finish.
<Hide this as well as you can> he thought to her
<I will try> came a very tired and slurred reply.

Exiting to the battle field, she still stood before him, reaching he sent her to a safer place, that the other group didn’t know of. The battle wasn’t going all that well, only gone for 30 minutes almost 80% of the troops and equipment were dead and destroyed. Feeling angrier than he had felt in quite a while, his energy started to grow. Across the field the leader had felt the enormous build up of power and had departed as quickly as possible, the doctor and Natasha piling into the car as he sped away. Tahir was trying hard to hold his temper back, the power was almost suffocating him, unable to hold it any longer it erupted. Engulfing most of those left of the doctor’s group, it was a massacre, most were there one moment then almost all were gone. The few that survive the onslaught were severely burned and could hardly move.

The amount of energy that had released from Tahir had seriously drained him. He hadn’t been this drained ever since all this had started.
Kim had been following almost everything up to the point that Tahir had entered the woman’s mind. She had reached to Tahir trying to help the healing he was trying, when she felt a needle go into her arm. Crying out to Tahir, she looked at Helena smiling at her, as she started to lose consciousness. Putting her defences up like Tahir had told her, she tried to push the knockout drug from her body, it was fast working but she had managed to get half out before everything went black.
“I”m afraid the battle she was feeling was too much for her,” Helena lied , “I’ll take her to her room, so she can rest.”

Quickly, she took the woman’s limp body to the back door, there she carried her across the parking lot, out of the camera range. Loading her into a waiting car, they didn’t notice that Tina standing near by. Tina started to run inside screaming at the top of her lungs for her father, she ran straight into his legs.
“Daddy! Daddy! DADDY!!!!!! ” Tina picked herself off the floor having bounced off her father still screaming, “She’s gone! she’s gone! We have to help her!”
Roberts looked at his daughter trying to calm her down.
“Talk to me Tina, who’s gone?” he asked.
“Miss Kim, Miss Helena took her out the back door and put her in a car. I can feel her getting further away. We have to help her, she was asleep and Miss helena was carring her.” Tina said as she dragged her father to the door.

Helena thought she had gotten away home free, when she heard the alarms going off just as they exited the compound. Who the hell had seen them? Had they missed Kim that fast? Leaning forward she urged the driver to speed up and get them out of there. Tahir was exhausted, he felt the twinge more now and had tried to slip, still he didn’t have the energy to move yet.
“A call for you Mr. Tahir,” the Commander said as he handed the field phone to him.
“Mr. Tahir they have her!” he heard Tina yelling into the phone.
“I know Tina, I can feel her, I am trying to get there now, I don’t have the energy yet, I am trying to recharge now, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Tahir said trying to keep the worry from his voice.
“I am so sorry Mister Tahir, I saw Miss Helena take her but I was afraid to move till the left. Please don’t hate me” He heard her start to cry and assured her that he could never hate her.

His energy almost up, Tahir looked at the carnage. There were burned and charred bodies everywhere (what few that hadn’t been incinerated) of the 2000 that had been on the leader’s side there were maybe a hundred left. On the army side all the tanks were now slag metal almost all of the troops were dead or dying. The ground was scorched everywhere but a small area around where he was standing. There were no trees left, no insect life. Sighing he estimated that of the 4500 that had started out close to 4100 were now dead dying or just gone. Pulling in as much as he could he slipped next to Tina.
Grabbing his leg she started crying, “I tried to move, to stop them but I was so afraid.”

Reaching out he felt Kim getting further and further away, cursing he knew that as long as she was moving he couldn’t get to her (something to do with exact spot slipping he wasn’t sure). He had tried a few times and had fallen on his ass. Sighing, he sat and held Tina while she cried. An hour later he was still feeling Kim moving, she was moving east damnit! he should have known that the little bastard would try something like this. Reaching out he found the woman from the battle still sleeping in his family’s house. Reaching in he felt her stir and look straight at him.
<I am glad you did what you did. Though you didn’t finish you did manage to repair one of my main function areas for reason. I don’t have full control yet but I can keep the insanity at bay for now.> Reaching in he again went deeper than he had ever gone before. The area was indeed still healed but the damage had started to move back into the area again.

Gathering as much energy as he could, he began again to regenerate the damaged areas. The woman stood near by watching him, the light a little faded from her eyes. Passing over a higher function area he saw her smile, at last the light began to grow.
<Thank you, I believe I can take it from here,> Tahir watched as she began to heal herself 3 times faster than he had been able to heal her. He stood there watching trying to figure out how she was doing it. With a final push, her Brain was healed and the insanity was gone. Thanking him again Tahir asked if she would like to help. She immediately agreed, anything to thank him. Warning the Captain that he was bringing her there, he pulled and she was there with a blink, she was amazed that it had happened so fast.

Kim awoke while they were flying east Damnit! They were still moving, there was no way Tahir could get to her, till they stopped. She tried to talk to Tahir but the last of the drug in her system, was still suppressing her abilities. They still didn’t know that she was awake but with Helena there she wasn’t sure how long that would last. The Plane sped eastward for quite a few hours, looking out as they neared the city, she saw the huge area where the battle had taken place. The area was about 2 miles across, about a mile and a half wide. It appeared that there was still major clean up going on down there. Approaching the landing strip, Kim’s defences snapped into place, then she felt them increase to a point she had never felt before, pushing she felt it start to expand out. Helena tried to subdue her again, when she felt the Kim’s sheilds come up. Knocking Helena out, as soon as the plane landed and rolled to a stop she was out, running across the tarmac, she dived behind a stack of crates.

Slowly she made her way away from the plane. Looking back she was almost to the fence, when the men found Helena out cold and Kim gone. Slipping through a hole near a water drainage pipe, she moved as fast as she could away from the airport. With any luck, she could avoid being captured again. Unbeknownst to her, when she had entered the water her temperature had fallen, along with most of her other functions. For an hour or so she was practically invisible to anyone trying to find her. The problem was, she was even invisible to Tahir, who was frantic that she had vanished. Walking a mile from the airport she stayed close to the road when she saw the house. Night was falling when she curled into a ball, inside a shed in back of the house. As the cold set in, Kim was still to cold to be seen, shivering she fell asleep, hoping that soon Tahir would show up soon.

TO BE CONTINUED