Going Super chapter 4
By Happiest_in_shadows@yahoo.com
The story of a woman and her ever-growing abilities.


This story contains adult content, though no outright sex...yeah I know, 
don't worry...it's coming in later chapters.  Anyway, if you dislike general 
fondling and bath scenes go read something else.  If you want to give some 
feedback, which is welcome, you may get in contact with me at 
happiest_in_shadows@yahoo.com.  Done with input from Animike and Anterion.

******************************************************************************

Kate sat in the chief's office watching as Mark paced the room, clearly deep 
in thought.  Her little incident with Copperhead hadn't gotten to the press 
just yet, and Mark was determined to think of a way to handle the situation. 
  Kate lowered her eyes, feeling more than a little upset with herself.  She 
had let herself get out of hand.  She had systematically destroyed another 
person's life.  Even if Copperhead did live despite the blood loss and 
damage she had dealt out, she doubted he would ever return to normal.  Her 
guilt was very moderate however, as she recalled what he had done to the 
security guards and to several other people during previous escapes from 
prison.  The bastard deserved to die as far as she was concerned, and this 
knowledge did a great deal to relieve her guilt.

In truth she was mostly concerned with what kind of trouble the department 
might be in, as well as whether this would hold any consequences for her.  
She had, after all, taken a life when not required to and that could get her 
in a lot of trouble.  As she looked up, she was at least relieved to see 
that Mark didn't show the least bit of anger on his face.  Rather, he seemed 
determined to put as good of a spin on this as possible.  It seemed he 
wanted to plan things out, as he had sent Eddie to retrieve Jack for a group 
session.  "All right, you acted in self defense; after all, he attacked you 
first.  While you did kill him, it was not cruel and indeed it was an 
accident."  A curious looked appeared on Kate's face as she looked over at 
Mark."

"Umm Mark, I sort of tore his hands off."

"No you didn't, he did that while trying to escape from the bonds you placed 
him in.  Though if possible that won't be mentioned in the report.  I'll go 
down and have a word with the coroner.  I don't think it'll be too difficult 
to smooth things over.  Of course the big thing is, do we really wanted to 
tell them about you or not?"  Kate seemed to think on this for a moment.  
They did have some options, after all.  They could say that the blood had 
accidently been thrown on Kate and no one had actually seen who mangled 
Copperhead.  The crooks that had been apprehended at the scene were so 
scared, Mark doubted it would be hard to get them to cooperate.

Mark took his seat and fished out a pack of cigarettes.  As he took a draw 
from one, he seemed to relax visibly and leaned back into his chair.  "If we 
tell them you did it, we can just say you were acting in self defense and 
announce that the city has a new protector.  It would be good for some PR, I 
imagine, and you could put your abilities to better use.  However, that will 
bring some extra attention to your friends and family as well, so it's up to 
you.  There is of course the option of just telling them that you didn't see 
who did it."

Kate gave a slight nod of her head.  "I suppose the big issue is if 
Copperhead lives to tell his side of the story."  Mark almost immediately 
burst into laughter as the words left Kate's lips; curiously she looked up 
at him.  "What's so funny?"

"Oh trust me, I doubt that is going to happen.  You mangled him pretty bad, 
from what Eddie told me.  Anyway, I took some extra steps myself.  The 
hospital he was sent to, well you remember that plague he a few of his 
buddies and that damn amazon helped to release a while back?"  Kate gave a 
slight nod.  "Well, the doctor there lost a family member to it.  No, I 
doubt Copperhead is going to live."  A worried look appeared on Kate's face; 
while she was grateful for Mark's help, she couldn't help but worry.

"Sir, don't you think that's going a little too far?"  Mark immediately 
turned a hard look on Kate.

"Kate, listen.  You killed a murdering bastard; there is no reason for you 
to feel bad.  Now if you're worrying about my methods..."  A long sigh came 
from Mark.  "We have to watch out for our own every once in a while.  Now 
believe me, if you had beaten some graffiti artist, shoplifter or even a 
repeat felon to death you would be on your way to jail, but you didn't.  You 
seriously mangled someone who had not only killed several people but several 
good officers, and I'll be damned if I see my precinct or any of my officers 
get a bad name or a trial for that."  Kate felt a little better; she was 
glad that Mark was on her side and she was pretty sure Jack and Eddie would 
be as well.  The sound of rushed footsteps got her attention.  Jack came in 
a few moments later, Eddie following shortly behind.

Jack didn't even look towards Mark as he rushed to Kate and threw his arms 
around her.  "Kate, are you alright, did you get hurt any?"  At first Kate 
was a bit shocked.  After all, Jack knew that bullets would bounce off her 
skin.  But as she listened to his voice and heard the concern in it she 
imagined why he would be worried.  Eddie had probably told him that she had 
a fight with Copperhead, and for all her power it was her first fight with 
another super powered being.  Her arms closed around Jack a few moments 
later.

"Don't worry I'm just fine, you don't need to worry about me."  Jack leaned 
up a bit and was quite relieved to see Kate smiling at him.

"Sure I do, you're just plain reckless."

"I'll second that."  The two turned towards Eddie, who had moved to stand 
beside Mark's desk.  Kate immediately stuck her tongue out at him, which 
gained a collective chuckle from the group and seemed to lighten the mood.  
Jack pulled up a seat next to Kate and took her hand.

"Alright, now that most everyone is here I think we should get down to just 
what should be done.  Now we're going to treat this as a case of self 
defense, where Kate responded with lethal force to a lethal threat, same as 
when someone draws a gun on an officer.  That is, if we want to let it be 
known that it was Kate at all.  That's why I brought Jack here actually; I 
figured you two would want to consult one another since he is serving as 
your doctor."  Jack looked around the room for a few moments, unsure of just 
what to say.

"Well, I'm just going to leave that up to Kate.  I mean, it's her life."  
Kate leaned over her seat and gave Jack a quick kiss on the cheek.

"That is sweet, but you know this is going to bring attention to the people 
I care about as well.  So you need to have a say."  Jack leaned back in his 
seat, seeming to concentrate on the question.  He knew that Kate would 
eventually end up going public; they had decided on that a while back.  
However he wasn't sure if she was powerful enough to ensure her own safety 
just yet.  His line of thought was disrupted for a moment as Mark spoke up.

"Now I have to say first of all that I am for Kate coming out.  She would be 
a lot more useful if she didn't have to always hide her abilities.  Also, 
people are already beginning to ask questions and I tend to feel it's best 
to announce something before some nosy reporter comes out and announces it 
first.  After all, it's always best to put your own spin on a situation 
rather than allow someone to put theirs on it."  There was a nod of 
agreement from everyone within the room.

"I have to agree with you there.  Really, the only thing that keeps me from 
saying she should come out now is I worry she isn't powerful enough just 
yet."  Eddie, Mark and Kate all gave Jack a look of disbelief.  She had 
taken apart, had mangled an extremely dangerous villain like he was nothingn 
and here Jack was wondering if she was powerful enough.  Jack quickly took 
steps to defend his position.  "Well, while Copperhead is, err, was 
dangerous, he was still considered a fairly low level villain overall.  
There are a lot of things out there that are more powerful."  Kate decided 
to speak up at last.

"That's true, but if we go with that logic it could be said there may always 
be something more powerful out there.  It's been over a year now and I've 
come a long way.  I'm beginning to think that is time to come out.  Hey 
Eddie, you haven't said anything yet.  What are your feelings on this?"  
Eddie rocked on his feet for a moment.

"Well, it would be nice to get rid of that darn back seat driver, she can be 
kind of annoying always wanting me to speed up."  The men couldn't suppress 
their laughter at the annoyed look on Kate's face.

"Is this a planning session or are you all just going to sit around and 
point out my faults?"  Mark and Eddie continued to laugh while Jack at least 
made a visible effort to suppress his own amusement, but Kate endured the 
joke with good humor at least.

"Anyway yeah, I think it would be good if she came out.  Then she would be 
able to put herself to some real good use instead of always hiding."  Mark 
took another long drag from his cigarette, the cancer stick nearing the end 
of its length.

"Well then, I suppose I am for it as well.  To be honest I think it will be 
kind of nice to see you on the news every once in a while.  Perhaps you 
could show what those muscles can really do."  Jack turned his head, smiling 
fondly at Kate who grinned and flexed her right arm, showing off her 
impressive biceps.

"Well then, I guess we have all weighed in with our opinions, but only one 
matters.  Kate, just what do you want to do?"  Kate actually felt a little 
timid as every eye in the room came to rest upon her.  Looking around at the 
men, she bit down on her lower lip.  She would be increasing the danger that 
her parents and friends lived in; however, she could do a lot more good if 
she came out.  She wasn't about to put on a mask and run around never 
letting anyone know who she was.  That was behavior she disapproved of.  Of 
course her parents could take care of themselves; her father might have not 
been the wealthiest man of all time but he could certainly hire a few 
bodyguards.

Then there was Jack to worry about, but she didn't know how much of a 
concern that was either.  Just put him in a safe area with a computer 
connection and she doubted he would want to leave, let alone rush off to put 
himself in danger.  Mark and Eddie, as well as the rest of the force, 
weren't really concerns either since they were already the target of such 
threats.  "Yeah, I think I would like to let them know who took him down.  
Anyway, I don't think he's going to be recovering and trying to get 
revenge."  This got a nod from everyone in the room.  Even if Copperhead did 
manage to pull through, which was unlikely considering the care he was 
getting, his injuries and the memory of what had happened would seem enough 
to ensure he didn't make such a move again.

"Anyway, with this change perhaps we can get you some better equipment.  The 
stuff we've been using simply isn't going to hold up for much longer."  Mark 
and Eddie both gave Jack a shocked look before turning their attention to 
Kate who just let out a slight giggle.  Raising her arms above her head, she 
flexed both of her arms as well as her abs, making her muscles stand out.

"Well it was bound to happen eventually."  Mark was the first one to find 
his voice.

"Yes, I suppose it would.  Well then yeah, perhaps we can actually help with 
that.  I imagine your training equipment must be growing somewhat costly."  
Kate gave a slight nod.  So far her father had paid the bill, but she knew 
if her strength continued to increase her training equipment would 
eventually become a notable drain upon his company.  "Anyway, I imagine you 
two want to go get some rest, I know I sure do.  It isn't exactly pleasant 
being woken up in the middle of the night, though I admit the news took most 
of the stress out of it."

"Hey, you're the one that gave us the late shift."  Mark's attention turned 
to Eddie.

"Watch it, Kate isn't your partner anymore so I could give you an even later 
one."  Eddie shut up immediately.  Kate let out a slight giggle but was cut 
short when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.  She looked up to see Jack 
smiling down at her.

"Well lovely lady, you ready to head home?"  Kate smiled and stood up, 
allowing Jack to place his arm around her.

"Oh, one thing, about how long do we have?"  Mark looked up.

"I think I can keep the press content for a few days; you should take the 
time to inform your family and make any arrangements.  You know things are 
going to get pretty hectic once you go public."  Kate gave a slight nod and 
leaned on Jack.

"Yeah I know.  So we'll make good use of these next few days."

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Kate turned over in her bed, her eyes wide open.  She had been smiling when 
she left the police station, but that wasn't truly how she felt.  She had 
wanted to explain her situation to Mark earlier, but she hadn't gotten the 
chance.  He had done most of the talking.  Even though she'd had a smile on 
her face she was still feeling down, though she was glad to see the guys 
were going to help look out for her.  That got a giggle from her, the 
thought that despite all her power her friends still tried to look out for 
her.  Still, the main thing that was really worrying her was the fact that 
she had enjoyed what she'd done.  Slowly mutilating that bastard had been 
such a thrill to her, the realization of just how powerful she had become.

As she lay there a sound got her attention.  She got up and slipped into the 
living room.  Looking over at the sofa, she was surprised to find Jack 
sitting there, seemingly waiting for her.  "Couldn't sleep?"  Kate was more 
than a little shocked that Jack seemed to know she was there.  Curiously she 
stepped forward.

"No, how about you?"  Jack grinned.

"Yeah, I could sleep, after all sleeping pills still work on me.  I noticed 
you took some from the bottle; more than the recommended dose by oh, say 
half the bottle."  Kate blushed for a moment.  "I was going to take a few 
myself to help myself rest, but then I noticed...something is wrong isn't 
it?"  Kate smiled and shook her head in the negative, about to reply, but 
Jack beat her to it, the tone of his voice somewhat scolding.  "Now Kate, 
don't you going lying to me.  You killed someone today, or just about did, 
and you just took half a bottle of sleeping pills.  Now I realize your body 
can handle far more than normal but that is still a clear sign that 
something is up."  As the stunned look left Kate's face a new one appeared, 
one that was both sad and much like a child who had been caught lying to a 
parent.

Walking over to Jack, she climbed into the chair with him.  As Kate got 
closer Jack placed his arm around her and pulled her down so that she was 
leaning on him.  "Now come on Kate, what is wrong?"  At first Kate didn't 
answer, but as a few tears began to fall from her eyes she looked up.

"Jack, I killed another person.  I killed another human being."  He had 
guessed this was what was wrong with Kate; still, at least she had the words 
out.

"Kate, it was self defense, you had no choice in the matter."  A loud sob 
and a few more tears told Jack that wasn't the case.

"Yes I did.  I had a choice if I killed him or not.  Jack, he couldn't even 
hurt me.  I could have simply restrained him and it would had been no harder 
than holding a child.  It would have been even easier than a child, at least 
if I was still normal.  I killed him not because I had to but because I was 
angry and because I could, and now I'm going to be putting you and my 
parents in danger."  Jack sighed and continued to stroke Kate's hair.

"Kate, why where you angry?"

"Because he killed those people, he tried to kill me and he has killed 
people before, some good cops and more than a few civilians.  It used to 
make me scared, but when I realized that he couldn't hurt me, that I was so 
much powerful than him, all the fear I had turned to anger.  No, my anger 
started building before that."

"I suppose you were tired of hiding then.  Kate, I can't imagine how tough 
it must be to be a cop with those monsters running around.  You must have 
spent a lot of time feeling quite helpless despite all your physical 
training."  Kate gave a slight nod of her head.

"But I let that fear turn to anger, and then murder.  I abused my 
abilities."

"Funny, that isn't how I see it.  It isn't like you killed a innocent.  Just 
think, if you hadn't mangled him he would have just been arrested.  He 
probably would have broken out again before he even came around to trial, or 
if he did make it through and even got the death penalty he would break out 
again long before it would have been carried out.  You saved quite a few 
lives today."  Kate smiled a bit.  Of course, what Jack had told her was the 
very thing she had been telling herself, but it made her feel much better to 
hear it coming from someone else's mouth and know that she wasn't just lying 
to herself in order to feel better.

"Now, you said that you were worried about the danger you're putting me and 
your family in by going public."  Kate nodded.

"Think about it.  Think how hard it would be to really keep who you are a 
secret.  I don't know how some of those yahoos do it, running around all the 
time, but I can't imagine it is easy, and you don't want to be like them.  
Kate, the only way to truly keep us entirely safe from being discovered 
would be if you never used your power at all, and that would be such a 
waste.  You can do so much good."  Jack opted to leave out 'and have so much 
fun.'  "At least with you going public your family will already know and can 
take steps to protect themselves."  Kate gave a slight nod of agreement, 
leaning closer to Jack.

"Still, I can't help but be worried.  I mean, if I can kill one person 
couldn't I kill another?"

"You're just going to have to do your best and do what you think is right.  
I trust you, and I'm sure your parents do as well."  Kate proceeded to wrap 
her arms around Jack, pressing her face against his chest.  She sighed 
softly.

"Someone's been doing their exercises."  Jack just grinned and continued to 
run his fingers through Kate's hair.  He would simply stay there and let 
Kate fall asleep; he could get his Z's later on.  Absently he wished he was 
as relaxed about all this as he made himself out to be.  He didn't like the 
idea that he might be the target of some superpowered madman's attempt to 
get at Kate.  Still, he didn't want her to live her life behind a mask 
either.  And if she handled most situations the way she had handled this 
one, he wasn't sure he would have anything to worry about.

******************************************************************************

As Kate's eyes slowly drifted open, she was somewhat surprised at what she 
saw.  Jack, slumped over on the side of the chair, was sleeping, though not 
soundly.  Sitting up, she realized what had happened.  Jack had sat up 
petting her until she had fallen asleep, then stayed awake after that until 
he couldn't anymore.  Smiling, she noted how uncomfortable it must be to 
sleep in an only slightly reclined position.  Slipping her arms under him, 
she easily lifted him from the chair and carried him to his bedroom.  She 
set him down and sat next to his sleeping form as once again she considered 
her options.  She could still get a hold of Mark and let him know she didn't 
want to go through with it, that she wanted to keep her powers a secret.

That would only be a temporary solution to her problems though.  The media 
already knew that there was a superpowered red-headed police officer going 
around, or at least they had an idea, and she doubted the medics would 
forget a red headed police officer leaving the building covered in blood.  
No, not only would backing out of things be a temporary solution, it would 
be an extremely short-lived one.  She needed to think of something that 
would last longer.  At least she hadn't made any enemies as of yet, unless 
she counted Copperhead which she doubted she needed to.  Absently she made 
her way over to Jack's computer.  Turning the machine on, she waited for a 
few moments and logged onto the local paper.

What she saw confirmed that she didn't have to consider Copperhead an enemy. 
  Right in the headlines his death was announced.  Curiously Kate began to 
read the article.  As she did she felt a weight being lifted from her 
shoulders.  She didn't know how Mark had done it, but he had managed to keep 
the fact that Copperhead's hands and feet had been severed out of the story. 
  But what truly surprised her was that he was also able to keep out that 
his jaw had been torn off.  The picture they used of the bloody and lifeless 
body had the jaw back in place.  She imagined they had simply put it back in 
place, though she wondered how they had gotten it to stay.

While the report did make mention of a severely beaten body, the image 
didn't show the actual damage and there was no mention of the more extreme 
details.  As she read on, she found that no mention of her or of how 
Copperhead had died was made; simply that the police were going to hold a 
press conference in a few days where they would announce their findings.  At 
least this meant she had a few days.  Standing up and making her way out of 
the room, she ran through her options.  She could call her parents and tell 
them the news.  Perhaps her father would even have some ideas on just how 
she could keep herself from drawing too much attention.  Looking at the 
clock, she decided to let him sleep in considering their difference in time 
zones, not to mention how much stress she would soon be bringing him.

Instead Kate opted for walking into the kitchen.  She flipped on the hot 
water.  Running her hands under it, she waited for it to heat up to scalding 
hot before actually putting some soap on her hands and washing them off.  A 
frustrated look appeared on Kate's face as she waited for the water to warm 
up to a sufficient level.  This of course didn't happen, as even standing in 
pure steam didn't really get to Kate.  At last she withdrew her hands and 
figured if there had been any microbes living on them they were burned off 
by now.  Flipping off the water, she began to rummage through the fridge.  
She would call her parents after she and Jack ate breakfast.

Even though no one had mentioned it, she doubted the chief expected her to 
be coming in to work today, so she had some time to burn.  She wanted to 
make Jack a nice meal after he had sat up with her so late into the night 
even when he hadn't really needed to.  Waking up and seeing a friendly face, 
even if it had been asleep, had helped to settle her down.  As Kate worked 
with the food, she found her way over to the medicine cabinet and located 
the sleeping pills.  Looking at them for a moment, she snorted.  "That's 
more like a third of the bottle than half.  And I bet they didn't completely 
fill it either."  Chuckling to herself and replacing the bottle, Kate didn't 
bother rushing the breakfast preparations.  She would let Jack sleep for a 
while before waking him up.  After all, she didn't know how long he had been 
up and she needed far less sleep than he.

Jack would actually wake up around two hours later.  Slowly sitting up, he 
still felt sleepy.  However, his internal clock kept telling his body to 
wake up.  As the scent of bacon and eggs hit his nose, thoughts of sleep 
were pushed aside; although he didn't mind his meal getting cold he truly 
liked it hot.  As he walked into the kitchen he couldn't help but grin as he 
watched Kate preparing breakfast.  Two large pots were cooking, one of 
oatmeal and the other of chocolate.  A large pan full of several slices of 
bacon and eggs was also laid out; all in all enough to feed quite a few 
people, or in the current case one male and a super femme.  Jack let out a 
bit of a sigh as he watched Kate reach down and use her fingers to turn over 
the bacon.  She didn't perform this task with the eggs as she wanted them 
runny.

"I swear, I better not get to use to seeing you do that or I might think I 
can do it one day."  This got a chuckle from Kate, who looked up at him.

"Well, it's about time you woke up.  I've been cooking for a while now."  
Jack gave his head a slight nod.

"Yeah, looks like about an hour's worth."  Kate gave her head a slight 
shake.

"Look at the table."  Turning his head, Jack's mouth nearly hit the floor as 
he saw several large plates already holding pretty decent stacks of various 
items.

"Don't you think you overdid it a little bit?"  Kate gave a shrug.

"Well, I couldn't think of anything else to do and I figured the smell of 
warm food would get you up.  It was just when it started to get cold that I 
decided to make some extra.  Don't worry, I'll eat anything that you can't 
finish." Jack nodded.

"You know, there are countries where you would cause a national food 
shortage."  This got a giggle from Kate, who actually agreed that she had 
overdone it a little bit.  Still, she wanted to eat well for the upcoming 
days.

"Well, enjoy a big meal while you can.  Who knows what will happen when it 
comes time to talk to the media?"  Jack took a moment to think, walking over 
to the table and snacking on a few bits of bacon.

"Hey Kate, I was wondering, just what are you going to tell them?"  Kate 
looked up as she began to get the last of the items off the stove.  "You 
know, about your powers.  Just how much information are you going to give?"

"Only what I think they need to know.  Don't worry, I won't mention that it 
was your serum that gave me my abilities; I'm not that dense.  I suppose 
they will ask just how I got my abilities, but I have a suitable answer."  
Jack grinned a bit.

"And that is?"

"None of their darn business, of course.  If they want powers like mine they 
can just go out and find their own secret."  Jack couldn't help but chuckle 
as he wondered just how the press would respond to that one.  "And if they 
begin to imply that I'm being selfish by not sharing my secret, I can just 
tell them they're being lazy by not developing their own powers."  A 
lopsided grin appeared on Jack's face.

"True, but neither did you."  Kate grinned as she walked over to Jack and 
planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah, but I made friends with the person that did.  I suppose if they want 
to they can go and try to make friends with a mad scientist.  Who knows, 
maybe they won't end up a pile of goo."  Jack just rolled his eyes as he 
took a seat beside Kate.  He took a rather generous amount of food, but 
hardly dented the huge volumes of bacon and eggs that Kate had prepared.  
Kate, for her part, didn't bother nitpicking but simply started eating, 
knowing very well that Jack couldn't eat everything or even come close to 
it.  As Jack watched Kate eat, he couldn't help but wonder if all the food 
was really necessary.  With Kate's current strength level he wasn't sure if 
even that much was enough to meet the energy needs of her body.  Which meant 
she had to be getting it from somewhere else.  He decided to push these 
thoughts out of his mind when Kate's hand shot across and stole some of his 
bacon.

"Hey, that's mine."  Kate grinned, taking a moment to swallow.

"Then stop looking at me and eat."  Jack started to return to his food, but 
looked up a moment later.

"But you're so much more pleasant to look at."  This got a giggle from Kate 
as well as a rather large grin.  It also helped to ensure the safety of 
Jack's food for the remainder of the meal, even if he did take his time 
looking at Kate.

******************************************************************************

Nathan was just getting settled in when his phone began to ring.  Grumbling 
as he made his way to his desk, he made sure to change his tone as he picked 
up the receiver.  As much as he didn't like phone calls when he'd just got 
in, he couldn't risk offending a client.  Perhaps if the company was bigger 
it would be a different story...  "Hello, Stonecutter speaking."

"Hi Daddy, I was just calling to tell you some news."  All desire to grumble 
and gripe quickly left Nathan as he sat down at his desk.

"Sure Sweety, what is it?"  Nathan grew a little nervous when his daughter 
took a few moments to answer.  Absently he began to tap one of his pens 
against his desk.  "Kate, is everything alright?  There hasn't been a turn 
for the worse, has there?  You didn't accidently snap Jack in two while 
hugging him?"

"Ah nope, that isn't it; he's still in one piece.  I was just calling you to 
let you know that I plan on announcing my abilities to the world.  Sort of 
need to after yesterday."  Nathan didn't bother asking why she would need to 
do that; it had been all over the news.  He hadn't been sure it was his 
daughter's handywork at the time, but between the phone call and the reports 
of Copperhead's death he decided it was a reasonable assumption that Kate 
had a hand in it.

"So you're calling to let me and your mother know that we need to take some 
extra steps to protect ourselves in case a crazed monkey shows up at our 
house?"  Nathan's tone had more than a little humor in it.  He didn't want 
to get too serious.  After all, even if it meant some extra danger for him, 
he didn't like the idea of forcing his daughter to hide what she could do 
for the rest of her life.

"Yeah, I suppose so.  But it isn't too late.  I mean, if you want I could 
back out of it.

"Oh no no, no need to do that sweety.  Who knows, maybe you can get the 
company some extra publicity.  Hmm, I hope no one assumes that it was any of 
our creations that gave you your abilities though.  At least I don't think I 
do.  I wonder what kind of government contracts that assumption might get 
us."  Kate couldn't help but roll her eyes as her father suddenly seemed 
more interested in making money than he did about his own life.  "Tell me 
though, is Jack alright with this?"

"Oh yeah, he's fine.  In fact I think he's eager to see me start making 
appearances in the news."  Nathan laughed slightly at the idea.

"So is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well yeah actually, even though I'm going to admit to being the one that 
took down Copperhead, I was wondering if you knew of anything that might 
keep people's attention away from me for a while longer.  You know, buy me 
some extra time.  Got any suggestions?"  Nathan took a few moments to think 
about this one.  It didn't take him very long.

"Perhaps you could try downplaying the fight.  I mean, was it a hard fight?"

"No, it was actually pretty darn easy."  Kate didn't bother telling her 
father that Copperhead hadn't stood the slightest chance against her.

"Alright, that isn't what you tell the media.  You need to let on that it 
was an extremely close fight, one that you barely walked away from."  Kate 
took a moment to consider this, remembering the medical personnel.  Even 
though they had largely cleaned her off, she had still come out a bloody 
mess.  Perhaps some who had got a glimpse would even confirm how messed up 
she had seemed.

"Hey, thanks for the advice, that just might work.  I'll need to talk it 
over with the others.  And you're sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah, just fine.  We can talk about this later on, I kind of need to get to 
work.."

"Alright, bye and take care."  Kate hung up shortly after giving her father 
time to say his goodbye.  As she did this she tapped her chin a few times.  
Her father's idea seemed like a pretty reasonable one as far as she was 
concerned.  She would need to talk about it with Mark and Eddie of course, 
but she would wait until later to do that.  Mark wasn't supposed to give out 
any more information today, and she would prefer to speak to them face to 
face.  Absently she made her way into the exercise room.  Walking over to 
the benchpress, she sighed as she brought the device up to near its absolute 
max.  Her current exercise equipment was pretty darn oversized, but it 
wouldn't last her much longer.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me you were going to work out?  You know I like to 
watch," Jack grinned as he entered the room.  Walking over to Kate, he took 
a look at the side panel.  Reading the amount of tonnage the machine was 
currently putting out, he bent down and took a look at the floor.  "How the 
hell did your father make sure this concrete wouldn't simply shatter?  As he 
looked closer, he noticed several bolts.  He had noticed them before, of 
course, but assumed they were there to keep the thing from falling over.  
Now he wasn't so sure.  "Do you suppose these bolts might actually be 
supports as well and be reaching down to some steel reinforcement?"  Jack 
was a bit surprised as he turned his head to Kate and noticed the faked 
irritation on her face.

"Now just who is the scientist here?"  Kate face immediately returned to a 
smile as Jack chuckled.

"Alright, point taken.  I guess I'll just have to ask him later on.  Still, 
these things aren't going to last you much longer."

"Well I know that silly, that's why you should get to work trying to improve 
them."  Tapping his hand on the side of the machine, Jack seemed to dwell on 
the problem for a moment.

"Yeah, I suppose I'm going to have to.  Actually, I have a few ideas, though 
they would mean it couldn't be used by a human, at least not with current 
technology.  I suppose that was inevitable though."  Kate's curiosity was 
brought up for a moment.

"Just what do you have in mind?"  Jack grinned a bit.

"You'll just have to wait and find out.  I want to talk it over with your 
father first.  We would need to move you out of this building to provide 
enough power, though that might not be such an issue once you go public.  
Until then, this thing is just going to have to hold you."  Kate stuck her 
tongue out at Jack as he took a seat and simply watched her work out.

******************************************************************************

Kate tapped her finger against the wall lightly as she looked herself over 
in the mirror.  While she was in her police uniform, she was more dolled up 
than usual since she would be appearing on TV.  She had talked it over with 
Mark, Eddie and Jack and resolved that the fight with Copperhead would be 
considered a close one, not an absolute slaughter.  Furthermore, if the 
media asked she would lie about just how capable she truly was.  They had 
resolved that she would be the one to decide on the final details of just 
how capable she would claim to be.  This was one of the major things she was 
having trouble deciding upon at the moment.

She had decided on telling them she could lift 300 pounds in one arm and run 
at 120 miles per hour, though both of these figures were actually far below 
what she was capable of doing.  After all, she could support several tons in 
a single arm provided the weight wasn't too oddly displaced.  And there was 
the little matter of having her feet driven into the ground if she lifted a 
certain amount overhead.  She figured these would be believable numbers, 
considering such strength would allow her to easily lift most men and outrun 
quite a few vehicles.  This would also be good if she was to be actively 
using her powers in the city.

Even if she couldn't use her true speed, being able to run around at 120mph 
would be far better than having to drive around.  Of course, she still 
couldn't use the sidewalks considering what would happen if she accidently 
bumped into anyone.  Kate gave her head a furious shake, realizing that she 
was allowing her mind to wander too far into the future.  First she had to 
get through the press conference, then she could think of all the fun things 
she would be able to do.  There was also the little matter of what Jack and 
Nathan had been talking about.  It surprised her, but Jack had actually 
managed to keep her in the dark, though this meant no phone calls or at 
least not many; she could overhear them too easily.

Instead he had stuck to talking to him over the computer, and the few times 
they did talk on the phone they were both careful to use discrete terms.  It 
was clear that this was all meant to be a surprise.  Kate pouted for a 
moment and finally forced herself away from the sink.  "All right, all you 
have to do is go in there, answer a few questions and make it through two or 
three hours."  Kate groaned at the idea.  "Then the news will be out and we 
can deal with what comes."  This thought brought Kate back to her family and 
wondering just how her father was going to deal with the situation.  As of 
yet he hadn't told her what steps he was going to take to protect himself.  
She hoped he wasn't just going to depend on dumb luck.

At last Kate managed to leave the bathroom and enter the halls.  Making her 
way down them, she found Mark standing next to the door where the press 
would question them.  As she looked at him she realized she wasn't the only 
one who was nervous.  "Hey, what's the matter?"  Mark gave a slight start 
and turned in her direction.

"Oh, nothing much.  I was just thinking how I'm about to tell a few 
reporters that I have someone with superhuman abilities working in my 
department.  I just hope they give me time to prove it before somebody shows 
up to take me away in a straightjacket, or I get fired."  This got a slight 
giggle from Kate.

"Well don't worry, if they try to take you away in a jacket I can prove it 
by tearing it apart.  By the way, just what are we going to do to 
demonstrate my abilities?"  Mark grinned a little bit.

"Well, I figured you would just pick up a few of the reporters for starters. 
  After that if you don't mind, we can take things down to the driving 
course.  I have a few things you could lift to show off."  Kate gave Mark a 
concerned look.  "Don't worry they're all within your supposed lifting 
ability.  Though I would appreciate it if you went there on foot while 
everyone else drove."  This got a chuckle from Kate, who nodded.

"It'll be a heck of a lot better than having to ride there with you 
slowpokes.  I swear, everyone drives so slow it about drives me up the 
wall."  Mark nodded and glanced at his watch again, tapping his finger 
against it.  It was only two minutes before they were to go in and begin 
speaking on the matter.  It was somewhat amusing to Kate that Mark seemed to 
be even more nervous than she was.  Then again, as the one speaking first he 
would look a little crazy, especially if she decided not to play along.  
That wasn't an issue though; she was quite willing to show off.  She only 
regretted that Jack couldn't be around to see it, at least not at the police 
station.  They wanted to keep any knowledge of him a secret.  He was just 
going to have to stay at home and watch the video feed, which he was already 
working on.

The moment the final minute ticked around, Mark opened the door and made his 
way into the room, all hints of how nervous he was quite well hidden.  As he 
made his way to the podium in the center of the room, Kate followed close 
behind, her nervousness not as well hidden.  Taking her seat a little too 
quickly, she was glad that all the cameras were focused on Mark for the 
moment.  She knew that wasn't going to last, but at least then she could 
show off.  Maybe being in her element and actually getting to reveal her 
strength would help her relax; she hoped so.  Kate's eyes focused on Mark as 
he began to speak.

"Gentlemen, ladies and members of the press, as you are all aware, four days 
ago the criminal known as Copperhead was apprehended.  During this process 
he sustained injuries that led to his death approximately two days ago.  We 
have since concluded that these injuries were a direct result of one of our 
officers acting in self defense."  Mark went quiet for a few moments as a 
few pictures were taken, but refrained from answering questions.  As Mark 
confirmed that a police officer had delivered the damage, Kate noticed a few 
eyes fall on her for just a moment.

"We have up until this point kept this officer's identity a secret, though 
some have speculated about whom it was.  I would like to introduce you to 
that officer now, and she will answer any further questions you have."  Kate 
could have strangled Mark at that moment, shooting him a rather aggravated 
glance as he took her by the hand and practically pulled her from her seat.  
Several of the cameras snapped pictures of Kate as Mark retreated back to 
the safety of the seat Kate had just been forced to give up.  Looking 
around, Kate took a few moments to clear her throat.

"Excuse me miss, just who are you and did you really apprehend Copperhead as 
we have just been told?"

"Umm yeah, my name is Kate Stonecutter and yes I did apprehend the criminal, 
err, former criminal known as Copperhead."  Kate's voice showed that she was 
more than a little nervous.  Despite her impressive build, she wasn't doing 
a good job of projecting an aura of strength, especially the strength she 
had at her disposal.

"Pardon me miss, but you don't exactly seem the type that could take down 
such a dangerous criminal.  Normally such events have required the League to 
be called in.  Perhaps you could tell us by what means you apprehended him." 
  Kate instantly decided she didn't like the tone of the reporter at all.

"I used my fist." The look on the reporter's face told Kate that her answer 
had been smart enough to at least give him a smack to his ego.

"Well, while I see that you are a fit woman, I don't see how..."  Kate 
didn't bother waiting for the question to be asked as she turned around and 
took hold of Mark's belt, easily lifting him out of his seat and holding him 
at arm's length.

"I can support roughly 300 pounds with a single arm, so I am pretty darn 
strong.  On top of that I have a remarkable ability to heal and can move at 
extremely fast speeds.  Does that answer your question?"  A few of the 
reporters fell silent, but it was clear that some didn't believe that Kate 
was doing what they saw.  It may have been a trick.  Kate wasn't about to 
give them a chance to ask.  Her actions had given her the floor and she was 
going to run with it.  Setting Mark down, she turned to the reporters.  "Of 
course I would be happy to prove that this wasn't just a trick.  If any of 
you have a suggestion I would be happy to hear it."

"I'll take you up on that."  Kate gave one of the reporters an odd glance as 
he made his way over to her.  She didn't recognize the man, but he had a 
healthy enough build, probably weighing around two hundred pounds or so.  
Good, that meant she could lift him without having to fake any strain.  
Looking him over for a moment, she bent down and placed her hand on the 
floor.

"Step on."  After the reporter took a moment to find his balance, Kate 
proceeded to stand up, being careful to keep her arm steady.  The crowd 
seemed shocked enough as Kate easily raised him into the air.  She didn't 
fully stand up; had she done so she would have slammed his head against the 
ceiling.  Despite all the windows and lights, the room seemed many times 
brighter as several cameras flashed at this display of strength.  Though 
they had seen better from those more powerful than her, it was still a very 
nice shot.  Especially since Kate was more or less posing for it.

Kate set the man back down.  He didn't say anything but simply grinned as he 
made his way back to his seat.  It was kind of strange though; Kate had 
expected him to at least look surprised.  But she couldn't let this distract 
her too much as she had some power flaunting to do.  "So, does anyone else 
need some proof?"

Several more reporters approached Kate and took turns being lifted into the 
air.  Kate had to remember to pretend to strain when a particularly large 
fellow came up, even taking the time to comment on how he needed to diet.  
At last the crowd seemed to be content with just how strong she said she 
was.

"Okay Miss Stonecutte,r you also mentioned that you could move at extremely 
high speeds.  Would you mind giving us a demonstration?"  There was a rush 
of air throughout the entire room as Kate quickly moved along the wall from 
one side to the other.  A few papers flew into the air.  It took a moment 
before everyone turned their heads to see her leaning against the wall at 
the back.

"Sure thing."

"Actually," the reporters turned their heads back to Mark, who had taken the 
podium, "we had planned a better demonstration later on today.  If no one 
objects, I would like to move everything to the police academy training 
grounds a few miles out of town, where Officer Stonecutter may give us a 
better demonstration in a larger area.  And she will be traveling there on 
foot."  Kate simply grinned and gave her head a nod, starting for the door.  
"Not yet Kate, please allow us a head start."

"Oh, sure thing."  Opening the door, Kate moved to the back of the room and 
allowed everyone else to file out, being sure to ignore any questions that 
came her way.  After everyone had left, Kate made her way outside and took a 
look at her clothing.  She would have to be sure to keep things under 120mph 
or she might end up damaging her clothing.  Slipping off her shoes, she 
opted to hold onto them while running.  The force of her feet impacting the 
ground would probably tear them to shreds.  Letting the vehicles get a head 
start on her, Kate finally fell in with the rest of the flow of traffic, and 
it was almost immediately clear that people had been watching the news.

The traffic was even heavier than usual, and she noted a few cameras already 
snapping pictures.  Kate rolled her eyes in response as she made her way 
along, moving slowly so the reporters could see her, then speeding up and 
easily passing them.  After all, as a pedestrian she didn't have to worry 
about the speed limit.  It was only a short while later when she caught up 
with Mark.  Tapping on the window, she slowed to match the car's speed.  
"Traffic slowing you down?"  Mark sighed and gave a slight nod.  "Well, see 
you later."  Kate didn't wait for an answer before accelerating to roughly 
100mph, easily passing him.  As Kate ran ahead of the media vehicles she 
began to play around.

She could easily pass anyone, and unlike those driving she didn't have any 
trouble finding enough room to pass.  As she moved along a pickup caught her 
eye, not the truck itself but the rather large dog riding in the back of it 
barking loudly.  "Ah, you're a big boy aren't you?"  The dog gave a visible 
start as Kate suddenly appeared in his line of vision.  The moment the shock 
wore off, the large beast began barking even louder, getting a giggle from 
Kate who reached up to pet it.  The animal jerked back, clearly not used to 
people running alongside its master's vehicle.

Kate was forced to move rather quickly when the driver noticed her and 
swerved a bit.  Luckily he quickly regained control.  At first Kate was a 
little shocked, but she kept pace.  Running alongside the vehicle, she 
smiled at the driver and mouthed, "Sorry," before speeding off again.

While Kate had her fun, Jack sat at home watching the news feed and wishing 
that he could have been there.  He didn't see why he had to stay home; it 
wasn't like it would take anyone very long to identify who her friends were. 
  Grumbling for a moment, he comforted himself in the fact that he had some 
time to make plans for Kate's next generation of exercise equipment.  That 
is, provided it would be a worthwhile investment.  The next series of 
equipment she would be working with was going to cost too much for Nathan to 
simply pay for without getting something in return.

Taking his mind off Kate's current antics, he turned his thoughts to just 
how they could go about acquiring some extra funding.  Kate could make use 
of her abilities to start earning some extra money now, of course.  After 
all, while she wasn't the most powerful person in the world yet, and 
downplayed what power she did have, she could probably still do well for 
herself.  A few media ads maybe, who knew, it could get her some equipment.  
He doubted the city could spring for the bill; while she was capable, she 
wasn't revealing how capable she was, and at her current levels it probably 
wouldn't be considered worth it.  Anyway, it would also run the risk of 
someone finding out how strong she truly was too easily.

The phone rang a few moments later.  Dashing into the kitchen and retrieving 
it from the wall, he was surprised to hear Kate's voice on the other end.  
"Hi sweety, and how are you doing?"

"Kate, where are you calling from?  I saw you running around on TV just a 
few moments ago."

"Yup, well I already made it to the training center.  It doesn't take me 
nearly as long as anyone else.  That and, well to be honest, I sort of took 
a short cut once I got away from the main road and began to use some of my 
real speed.  Kind of wish I hadn't though."

"Huh, what happened?"

"Tore my clothes a little bit, but that wasn't too much of a issue.  I just 
slipped into one of the uniforms that they keep here.  Hey Jack, about how 
long do you think it will take everyone else to arrive?"

"Oh, a little while.  Traffic has them slowed down."

"Rats, I was hoping they would get here sooner.  Oh well, I'm going to try 
and find something to amuse myself.  Maybe I'll take a look at the course 
I'll be running.  Talk to you later."

"Sure thing."  Hanging up, Jack once again returned to the TV.  Absently he 
began to wonder just what steps would need to be taken after this.  There 
was no way that Kate was going to be able to continue working as a regular 
officer.  Thinking for a moment, Jack forced himself away from the TV and 
back into his room.  Picking up the phone he dialed Nathan's number.

"Hello Jack, surprised to hear you calling.  I figured you would be watching 
my little girl on TV."

"Well I was, but I wanted to talk to you about that new training equipment 
we had planned for Kate.  As I recall, you mentioned the price would still 
be too steep for your company to cut even if you didn't have to maintain the 
equipment.  Well, I think we might have something that we could sell to 
cover the cost of construction and perhaps even maintainance for a while."  
Nathan turned down the TV so that he could hear Jack better.

"Oh, and just what is that?"  Nathan's voice was more than a little curious.

"We would have to talk it over with Kate first, but what about the data I 
gathered while studying Kate in her early stages of development?  Back when 
I could still get a darn blood sample from her.  I mean, do you suppose 
there might be some branch of the military interested in it?"  Nathan didn't 
respond right away, but took his time running it through his mind.  Kate 
would most assuredly be getting the military's attention, even if her 
abilities were limited compared to some of the other beings out there with 
the way she was downplaying them.  She was still far more than human.

"You know, you might have something there, though we'd have to play our 
cards right.  Listen, talk it over with Kate and we can decide what to do 
later.  Whatever you do, don't try to get ahold of any military or 
government personnel.  We need to let them contact us if we're going to get 
any real money."  Jack was quite pleased that Nathan seemed to think his 
idea had some merit.  He didn't mind leaving it in Nathan's hands either; he 
didn't have any real skill with business himself and negotiations were not 
his strong point.

"Alright, well I'm going to get back to the TV then, I don't want to miss a 
minute of Kate showing off."  This got a chuckle from Nathan.

"Yeah, my daughter is quite a wondrous sight, most assuredly her mother's 
daughter."  Jack didn't bother asking about that one, knowing so little 
about Kate's mother.  He waited a moment for Nathan to hang up before 
hanging up himself.  Dashing into the living room, he turned the TV back on 
and watched as the news vans began to pull up.  Kate was already waiting 
outside, lookng as if she'd been waiting for a very long time.  He couldn't 
help but wonder if fifteen minutes was beginning to seem like a long time to 
someone that could move so quickly.  He knew if Kate remained in her 
accelerated state for too long she could about drive herself insane just 
trying to microwave some food.

"Well, I'm glad you all could make it."  Mark grinned at Kate as he climbed 
out of his car.  It was obvious that she had relaxed quite a bit once she 
got to flaunting her power.  That seemed to be her element; so long as she 
remained in the physical realm she was extremely confident.  She rose to her 
feet as reporters began to get out of their cars.  A few shots were taken.

"This way please.  After this last demonstration you may ask any questions 
you want."  Mark led the way through the building and out back to a rather 
large parking lot.  This would normally be covered with cones and be used 
for new recruits to practice various driving maneuvers.  As Mark led the 
way, Kate noticed he was carrying a radar gun.  Her smile faded a bit, but 
returned quickly.  She would have to be careful not to go over 120mph, but 
she figured she could do it.  "Hey Kate, what happened to your shoes?"

"Took them off; they would get shredded at the speeds I'm going to be moving 
at."  Mark gave a slight nod as they finally reached the training area.  
Indeed, quite a few cones covered the parking lot, but they were too close 
together and the turns far too tight for a vehicle to take.  Taking his 
position, Mark set the radar gun up before turning to Kate.

"Ready when you are."  Kate gave a slight nod and took her time walking to 
her starting point.  Looking at the reporters, she gave them time to ready 
their equipment.  The moment the last camera was ready, Kate seemed to 
vanish from the spot.  Her powerful legs easily accelerated her from 0 to 
120mph in less then a second.  It was clear from the reaction of the 
reporters that they weren't prepared for such a sharp jump in speed.  While 
to the reporters Kate seemed to be nothing but a blur, to Kate the world 
seemed to move in slow motion.  Her body had only accelerated to a small 
amount of her true speed, but her senses were at full ability.

This had the effect of making her run seem like an extremely slow walk.  She 
found herself absently looking around as she approached each curve in the 
course, easily holding herself to the center of the cones.  Absently she 
began to play around, hopping every once in a while to help keep her boredom 
down.  She could afford to goof off a bit, as only a very small amount of 
the reporters had proven they had the reaction time to keep up with her.  
The only major issue Kate had was that, while the entire course only took 
her a few minutes to run, it seemed to take a great deal longer to her.

Mark, for his part, was stunned.  He had planned on tracking her with the 
radar gun as she increased in speed, but had moved too slowly and only had 
the starting speed of 111mph.  A few cameras had managed to follow Kate 
though, at least after a few moments.  Some only caught her near the start, 
a few brief glimpses, or focused on her at the end.  "Ta da," was the only 
think Kate could think of saying as all eyes finally focused on her.  She 
proceeded to flex some of her upper body as well as her legs.

Kate enjoyed the shocked look on a few of the reporter's faces, though some 
were clearly handling it better than others.  Kate tilted her head to the 
side for a moment as she instantly felt quite silly, realizing why some of 
the reporters didn't react at all.  They had probably been around one or 
more battle between enhanced or altered life forms and thus were used to 
such displays.  Still, at least she was able to put on a good show for a few 
of them.  "Would you mind doing that again?  We weren't able to follow you 
too well."  Kate turned her attention in the direction of the reporter who 
had asked and gave a nod.

"Sure thing, but this is going to be the last time."  The man nodded and 
once again Kate was shooting through the course.  To Kate the five minute 
walk felt like it took an hour.  In truth she could move nearly ten times as 
fast as she was currently going.  At least it gave her time to think about 
other things.  She dwelt on past memories.  The situation reminded her of 
the time she had decided to see how it felt to heat up some popcorn while in 
her enhanced state.  At the time, her senses and thoughts were reacting 
twenty times faster than a normal human.  That turned the three minutes it 
normally took into an hour's wait.  She most assuredly would never be doing 
that again.

As Kate made her way through the cones she found herself weaving in and out 
around them.  Looking over at the cameras for a moment, she wasn't sure if 
she should be acting up at the moment, but she couldn't help herself; she 
was bored.  She wasn't moving fast enough for this to be really considered 
an exercise.  For a moment she wondered what it must be like for the people 
trying to videotape her.  While to her she was moving at a remarkably slow 
speed, to them she was moving fast, incredibly fast.  It made her want to 
speed up even more to really show them what she was capable of doing.  
However, she had talked it over with Jack and they'd resolved it would be 
best if no one knew how capable she truly was.

A visible sigh of relief came from Kate's lips as she made it to the other 
end of the corse and turned her attention back towards the cameras.  The 
world began to speed up, or seemed too, as Kate relaxed and forced herself 
to keep her movements down to a human level.  "So, any questions?"

"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?"  Kate snapped her head in the direction 
of the voice.  Looking down at her feet, she couldn't help herself and began 
to chuckle.  Out of all the questions he could have asked...

"Because Nike doesn't make a pair that could withstand that speed, 
especially taking corners like I did."

"So you haven't been able to afford equipment suited to your abilities?"  
Kate considered mentioning the special training equipment and other things 
they'd had made, or the fact that she had to wear clothing meant for 
motorcycle racers to avoid running naked.  Of course running on a treadmill 
wasn't a issue; the only thing that would be destroyed was her pants, which 
was easily solved by not wearing them.  But at the speeds she was keeping 
herself down to, normal clothing such as her uniform didn't get torn apart.

"Not yet."  Kate made her way over to the rest of the reporters and stood 
next to Mark, who was keeping silent for now.

"And how long have you had these abilities?"  Kate considered this question. 
  Just how far back did she really want to go?

"They manifested roughly a year ago.  I was so surprised and worried about 
my health that I even took a bit of a vacation to try and figure out what 
was going on."  A few more notes were scribbled down.

"Any idea of just what caused these abilities to form?"  Kate couldn't help 
but grin.

"Sorry, but that is one question I am not going to answer."  Immediately 
Kate was assaulted by the exact same question.

"But miss, the public has a right to know, just think of what good it could 
do if scientists could figure out what caused this change in you."  Kate's 
face turned stern the moment the words left the reporter's mouth.

"Not as far as I'm concerned.  Are you already trying to get me to turn 
myself into a lab rat?"  Kate rebuffed several more questions as to the 
origins of her abilities, refusing to tell the smallest detail.  She even 
opted to keep the information of where she had been vacationing a secret.  
Curiously she wondered if the hospital would release her visitors list, or 
just what she had been in the hospital for.  At last, after several 
refusals, they got into other subjects.

"Now miss, from what you told us earlier you killed Copperhead with your 
fist.  Now I can't help but wonder, if people as powerful as Superman have 
avoided killing him in the past, what happened with you?  You're clearly 
quite strong and fast, but not nearly as much so as him."  Kate snorted for 
a moment, wishing that she could show her true power.  As much as she wanted 
to keep herself out of the spotlight for a while longer, she didn't like her 
abilities being looked down upon.

"Well, it was my first encounter with someone on his level, at least since 
getting my abilities.  I reacted in much the same way I had with previous 
encounters, responding with everything I had.  In previous cases that was my 
sidearm, but in the case my fists proved far more powerful.  When the fight 
really got going I was mostly interested in keeping myself alive."  A few of 
the reporters seemed content with this answer; most knew there wouldn't be 
any sympathy for a convict with a criminal history as long as Copperhead's.

"You said you were worried about staying alive.  Does that mean you were 
injured during the fight as well?"  Kate gave her head a slight nod.

"Yes, that is actually why I didn't appear until today.  We were giving my 
enhanced healing ability time to work its magic."  Kate didn't like the fact 
that she had to lie; Copperhead's best attacks hadn't even injured her in 
the slightest.  But if they were going to make it a case of self defense 
rather than Kate losing her temper and giving in to the desire to really use 
her power, she had to lie about that one.  As Kate looked around she was 
grateful her abilities weren't commonly known, though she could have sworn 
she saw a few skeptical looks from the crowd.

"Miss Stonecutter, are you related to Nathan Stonecutter, the owner of InCon 
Ltd?"  Kate was instantly grateful that Mark had kept who she was a secret 
up until now so that they had to ask such questions.  Had they known who she 
was beforehand, she imagined they would have been much more organized.

"Yes, he is actually my father."

"Did he have anything to do with the development of your abilities?"  Kate 
gave the reporter an annoyed look.

"I thought I had established earlier on that I wasn't going to answer 
anything about how my abilities came to be."

"Yes, but..."

"No."

"Surely you can tell us if he had anything to..."

"No."  Kate soon found herself forced to give the one word answer several 
more times.  No matter how much they asked, she wasn't going to tell anyone 
how her abilities had come into existence.  She wasn't even going to lie 
about that one; they could beg and whine as much as they wanted but they 
weren't going to get an answer.

"Well then, could you at least tell us if you plan on remaining in the 
police force or will you go solo?"

"Do I look like some costumed vigilante?"  The tone of Kate's voice was more 
than a little cold.  It was quite clear she didn't like the question in the 
least.  "I will remain with the police force for as long as I can.  Besides, 
if I go solo I won't get a paycheck."

"And just how long would that be?"  This question was actually addressed to 
Mark, who responded rather quickly as if expecting the question.

"Well we'd be glad to keep Kate here for as long as we can.  Though she had 
better not expect her new talents alone to warrant a pay raise or an 
increase in rank."  Kate just rolled her eyes; as if she had been asking for 
any such special treatment.  Besides, any pay raise the police could offer 
couldn't really put a dent in the amount of money she would be needing later 
on.

The questioning continued for some time.  Several more times Kate had to 
refuse to reveal how she had gained her abilities.  By the time it was over 
she was very happy to be able to run home instead of ride.

******************************************************************************

Jack turned his attention towards the clock for the seventh time in the last 
fifteen minutes, wondering just when Kate was going to wake up.  He hadn't 
mentioned his conversation with Nathan the previous day while she was at the 
press conference.  He wanted to speak to her after she'd had some time to 
sleep and eat something.  To that effect he had gone to bed shortly after 
she'd gotten home, a good three hours before she would, to ensure that he 
would wake up before her.  Granted, he'd had to take a sleeping pill, but he 
really wanted to prepare breakfast for Kate, and with her body's 
enhancements she was waking up sooner and sooner.  Waking up before Kate 
these days was getting to be a real challenge, especially when you had 
reporters calling.

Jack gave the telephone an evil glare.  He had finally taken it off the 
hook, figuring that Nathan would know to email him if he wasn't having 
trouble of his own.  They had expected Kate's little show to get some 
attention, but not this much.  While Kate was nowhere near as powerful as 
some of the other beings out there and had yet to make a serious name for 
herself, it seemed as if the fact that she was a enhanced being and they 
actually knew how to get in touch with her easily made her a prime target, 
especially since she didn't hide behind a mask.

Shrugging, he wondered if this would help them with their financial plans in 
the future.  He didn't want to risk cursing it at the moment, just in case 
they had to make use of it.  Still, for the moment he just wanted peace and 
quiet.  He took another pancake off the pan and poured some more batter on.  
There was already a pretty large stack of them resting on the table.  For 
the eighth time he found himself looking at the clock, wondering if he had 
enough time to get another pancake done.  He knew that Kate would be waking 
up any time.  He was quite right about that; Kate stirred, wakened by the 
smell of the cooking flapjacks.  Opening her eyes, she looked around the 
room, her inhuman senses detecting the smell and sound of the cooking food.  
Rising from the bed, she grinned.

The previous day she had worried when Jack went to bed so early.  Now she 
had a idea why.  Walking into the kitchen, she smiled at him.  "Did you go 
to bed early so you could get up in time to fix me breakfast?"  Jack smiled 
and nodded.

"Yeah, I wanted to feed you before I risked stressing you out."  This got a 
chuckle from Kate, who walked over to him.  Looking down at his hand, she 
noted he was wearing an oven mitt for to hold the pan's handle.  While it 
didn't conduct heat well, he had been cooking for a rather long time now and 
it had had time to warm up.

"Damn, that is a strange sight; I've gotten so used to not needing to 
protect myself from such low heat.  It's kind of strange to see someone 
actually having to use a mitten."

"Well yeah, some of us still need them.  I imagine a lot of things are 
beginning to seem strange to you."  Kate gave her head a slight nod and 
walked over to the table.  Sitting down, she simply took the serving plate 
Jack had been placing the pancakes on, poured some syrup and began eating.  
Jack didn't bother saying anything, though the act did surprise him.  It 
just meant he was going to get the ones he was currently fixing.  So at 
least his food would be warm, not that Kate seemed to mind the condition of 
her food.

"So what do you want to talk to me about that is going to stress me out?"  
Kate had to wait a few moments for a response as Jack got the last of the 
pancakes out of the pan, putting them on his own plate, and took a seat next 
to her.

"Well, Nathan and I were talking about what will be needed to build you some 
new training equipment.  Though to be honest, what we have planned is more 
like a facility, which yes, is required if you are going to continue 
developing your strength by making use of any training equipment we can 
provide you with."  Kate gave a slight nod.

"Alright, so I take it the means by which you plan on paying for this may 
stress me out.  You want me to start making TV appearances?"  Kate was of 
course joking; she knew she hadn't reached that level of fame yet.

"No, actually we were wondering if you would mind us selling the data that I 
gathered during your first year of development.  We have a feeling that it 
might be possible to get the required funding that way."  Kate didn't 
respond right away, simply staring at Jack.  Putting her fork down, she 
leaned closer to him.

"Now just how is that supposed to stress me out?"  Jack looked confused for 
a moment.

"Well, it's personal information, at least I figured it was."  Kate simply 
rolled her eyes in response to this.

"Please, it isn't like I'm hiding anything.  Though I am curious; just who 
are you planning on selling it to?  Some genetic engineering company, or 
perhaps the media?  They are always itching for a story after all."

"The military actually."  Kate slowed down for a moment, taking a few more 
mouthfuls of pancake.  Then she simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't have any problem with that."  Jack was somewhat surprised by Kate's 
reaction.  He had expected to have to do some convincing, or at least give 
her some time to weigh the pros and cons.

"Err Kate, are you sure you don't want some time to think about this?  I 
mean, you're volunteering, well basically your medical chart."

"Jack, I spent a good deal of time in the hospital when I was ill and I've 
never had issues with giving away my medical information.  I don't have an 
illness after all, so I don't see the big deal.  Anyway, wouldn't that 
information be outdated by now?"  Jack gave his head a nod; indeed, any 
information about Kate that was even a month old was probably outdated.  Her 
body was worse than computer developers for making previous forms obsolete.  
"Well, you see right there.  I don't have any reason to be worried.  I'm 
actually proud of my body.  Besides, I wasn't all that strong back then, so 
it shouldn't jeopardize what I told the media."

"Actually, we were also wondering if you might be willing to reveal a bit 
more of your abilities to the military.  It could mean more money."  Now 
Kate seemed to think seriously.  It was true, she wanted some new exercise 
equipment; what she was using wasn't offering much of a challenge anymore.  
However, she wasn't sure she wanted anyone but a select few people knowing 
more about her.

"Hmm, I suppose this would be a discreet showing?

"Well, most likely, but if it isn't we can just decline that part of the 
deal."  Kate gave Jack a curious look.

"So just when is this meeting suppose to happen?"  Jack just shrugged his 
shoulders.

"I have no idea, that's Nathan's department and he's waiting for the army to 
call."  Kate couldn't help but give Jack a blank look as she realized they 
hadn't actually been in contact with the army yet.  Realizing what the look 
meant, Jack chuckled a bit.  "Trust me Kate, if they have any interest in 
superhuman beings, even ones that downplay their powers, and make the 
assumptions Nathan and I are hoping for, they will be calling.  Which 
reminds me, I suppose I should call him and tell him the news."  Kate 
watched as Jack left the table, but as he walked out of the room everything 
seemed to slow down.  This was intentional of course, as Kate got a playful 
grin on her face.  She would have to be careful to remember how fast she was 
really moving so she wouldn't damage anything.

Nathan was surprised by a slight roar as he picked up the phone.  "What the 
heck was that?"  He had just lifted the phone and begun to say hello when 
Kate had begun to play around.

"Err, I think your daughter is up to something.  Anyway, I was calling to 
let you know that Kate say it is okay to sell the data.  Let's just keep it 
to the first year of research.  And umm, I think I'm going to go.  I'm 
worried about what Kate got into her head to try out."

"Yeah sure, take care."  Nathan felt a little strange as he hung up the 
phone.  It had been one of the shortest conversations he'd ever had.  He 
wondered just what Kate was up to at the moment.  Looking at the clock, he 
didn't fell back into bed, wondering if Jack had stopped to consider how 
early it was before calling.

Jack was visibly relieved to see his plate untouched as he reentered the 
kitchen.  However, Kate's was completely clean, and she was taking a few 
moments to look herself over.  "Seeing what it's like to eat at superhuman 
speeds?"  Kate grinned and nodded.

"I figured that would bring you rushing back in here."  Jack was slow in 
taking his seat next to Kate.  "I couldn't use my full speed; I found that 
out quickly enough when the fork started to bend and tear through the 
pancake."  Jack looked around the room, trying to see if Kate had made a 
mess of anything.  He was relieved to see she hadn't; at least nothing 
caught his eye.  Still, he sat down rather slowly.

"Well, I see you avoided destroying anything."

"Yup, though it's a good thing I didn't use my full speed.  I swear it is so 
funny how different things behave when I'm using anything near my full 
speed.  It's kind of obvious when things seem to be moving slowly, but when 
everything is stationary it is just so strange.  When I try to move my fork 
it bends because of the speed I'm moving it at.  I have to be careful not to 
even bump into anything or I would end up destroying it.  It's just such a 
strange feeling."  Jack could only nod in agreement, though he didn't really 
know what it was like.

"I suppose you even have to be careful to slow down your footsteps when 
you're not on pavement."

"You better believe it.  I mean, I bet if I stepped down on a hardwood floor 
in my accelerated state, I could cause a friction fire or even destroy the 
floor.  Heck, I couldn't even risk throwing anything.  Jumping is another 
issue; I found that out while running around.  Actually I never mentioned it 
to you, but I had to learn to control my jumps while we were away in the 
woods."

"What happened?"

"Well, I was out running one day, going about 80mph, pretty darn slow 
compared to what I can do now.  Anyway, I thought I would just hop over a 
tree limb, just a three foot jump.  I ended up going well over twenty feet, 
and since I wasn't touching the ground I smashed straight through a tree."  
Jack couldn't help but chuckle as he imagined what Kate must have felt like. 
  Kate simply stuck her tongue out at him.

"I didn't realize that even though I felt like I was moving at a normal 
speed, I was actually moving far more quickly.  Thank goodness I found that 
out and learned how to control my jumps before the press conference, 
otherwise I might have regretted my hopping around."  Jack just grinned, 
sitting down and eating his meal.

******************************************************************************

"Damn him," Nathan grumbled as he made his way into his office, somewhat 
annoyed.  He'd had a very hard time getting back to sleep after Jack had 
called and woke him a full two hours before he was used to.  Now he was 
going to feel sleepy the entire day, no matter how much coffee he drank.  It 
was something he was just going to have to deal with.  He sat down and began 
to look through the company's current standings.  They were doing good, not 
great but they were making money and he wasn't going to have to fire anyone, 
which was about all he ever asked for.  They had several decent contracts 
that would last them for a while, though he always had to be on the lookout 
for new ones.

Nathan felt a good deal more relaxed as he looked over the numbers.  He was 
glad everything was going well with the company, as it gave him some time to 
focus on his little girl and try to help her out.  Things had calmed down in 
the year since she was in the hospital.  He still felt sick to his stomach 
remembering that time.  He should have been there by her bedside instead of 
working, but he couldn't bring himself to see his daughter sick and dying 
for too long.  He never mentioned it to anyone else, but it made him more 
than a little upset with himself from time to time.  The phone ringing took 
his mind off this.  He picked up the phone, knowing it had to be somewhat 
important to come through to him.

"Hello, Stonecutter speaking.  Who's calling?"  The voice that came over the 
line was relaxed and unthreatening, but it clearly belonged to someone in a 
decent possession of authority.

"Hello.  My name is General Matthews, and I'm calling on behalf of the 
United States Army.  I must say that is quite a exceptional daughter you 
have there Mr. Stonecutter."  Nathan took a moment to take in a breath of 
air, wondering if this might be the phone call they had been hoping for.  He 
knew it wouldn't take them long to decide on a course of action.

"Yeah, though she is a bit of a show off."

"Yes, but that is a wonderful way of getting people's attention.  Which she 
did quite well I might add, not only showing off her abilities but 
announcing her name.  I must say it is rare that someone would come out so 
boldly; most seem more apt to hide when they realize they have such talents. 
  At least hide behind a disguise of some type."

"True enough, but she has never liked the type of person who thinks just 
because they have a few special abilities they have the right to run around 
playing vigilante."

"Something that we are quite thankful for as well.  Anyway, as you might 
have supposed I am not calling just to congratulate you.  We are interested 
in your daughter's current condition.  Our files tell us that you deal in 
military supplies, and perhaps this demonstration was intended to get our 
attention.  Though if it was, we wish you had just given us a private 
demonstration.  If our speculations are accurate and you have developed some 
new procedure, we would be willing to deal."  Nathan took a moment to figure 
out just how he was going to word his response.

"Well, Kate's condition is a unique case.  We haven't been able to replicate 
the results we got with her.  Kate wasn't even supposed to be a test 
subject, but after her medical condition seemed about to take her life, we 
opted to try it out on her."  Nathan had to be careful to keep his cool as 
Matthews took his time responding.

"Then have you gathered data on your daughter, perhaps tried to research her 
current condition and find out why it hasn't worked?"

"Well, we have gathered a massive amount of data.  We had her closely 
studied for a year.  However, it is rather hard to sift through all the 
information with our limited funding.  As things are now, the only thing we 
can afford to do is try to ensure her treatment doesn't have any adverse 
effects.  We had to cancel further development of the treatment."  Nathan 
didn't want to risk them thinking they continued with the experiments; he 
wanted to sell the research data, not get a contract he couldn't keep.  
After all, he had talked to Jack and knew just how difficult that would 
truly be.

"Well then perhaps you would be willing to make a profit on what data you 
have been able to gather.  Tell me Mr. Stonecutter, are you willing to sell 
the research data you have gathered on your daughter?"

"Well, that depends on the price."  Nathan settled back into his seat as he 
prepared for the real negotiations to begin.

******************************************************************************

Jack sat at his computer musing over the data he had begun to compile.  He 
had started sifting through the information shortly after breakfast.  While 
he did have all the data saved to his computer, he hadn't bothered to 
organize it.  Now he took his time making sure everything was nice and tidy, 
including the video files he had created while looking at her DNA.  He also 
took the time to look at the month to month results, and couldn't help but 
be impressed.  Her cells changed rapidly enough that even a week brought 
about quite a few changes.  It was truly something else to see what a 
month's difference could make, especially the final three months.  Kate's 
cells hardly even resembled one another, the changes were so drastic.

The fact that her body had maintained a human form throughout all these 
changes was perhaps the most interesting fact of all, as he knew she was not 
human.  She looked it, that was true, but at the cellular level she wasn't.  
Even the parts of her cells that could be recognized such as the nucleus and 
mitochondria had clearly been altered to an extreme.  Then there was that 
blasted glow, whatever it was; he hadn't been able to figure it out and all 
attempts to study it had proved futile.  Still, he hadn't really had time to 
examine it and indeed had recorded a massive amount of information.  He had 
spent his time taking down every little detail that he could get his hands 
on.

The information also included the basics on the treatment, though not every 
single detail.  Jack himself didn't know all the details, being only one 
member of the team, and he wasn't about to go back to LexCorp and ask for 
the data.  Fat chance of getting that information even if it hadn't already 
been destroyed, and he was determined to keep secret where the treatment had 
actually been developed.  If they hadn't destroyed the data they might be 
apt to start the project up again.  That was something he didn't want to 
happen; after all, he didn't want to risk someone having the same abilities 
as Kate without knowing how powerful she was going to get.  Also there was 
the little matter that he could go to prison for what he had done.  He had 
stolen company property and didn't exactly have the legal right to apply the 
treatment to Kate.

The phone rang, taking his attention away from his work and musing.  
Wondering why he hadn't gotten a phone in his room, he made his way into the 
kitchen and answered.  "Hello?"

"Hey Jack, I got some good news."  Jack was quite happy to hear Nathan 
calling him.

"Yeah, what's that?  Did the army call?"

"Yeah, I just got through speaking to one of their officers and it looks 
like we'll be able to get the funding we need.  However, we may need Kate to 
put on one more show.  The press conference was good, but if we want to get 
any real money we need to show that she is actually more powerful than that. 
  So would you mind getting her so that I can talk to her?"

"Hey Daddy!  So, just how do they want me to show how capable I am?"  Nathan 
didn't respond right away.  Jack, realizing what was going on, decided to 
clear things up for Nathan.

"Kate can hear everything you say no matter where she is in the house.  I 
assume she just picked up the living room phone after hearing you mention 
her name."

"Whoops, I almost forgot.  Perhaps we can get that into the demonstration as 
well.  Anyway, they want you give a demonstration at Fort Borrows."

"Okay, but how many people will be there?  I mean, we are trying to keep a 
secret.  And just where is that anyway?"  Kate's voice only seemed a little 
worried.  She trusted her father to have covered most of the little details; 
she simply felt a slight need to remind him of them.

"Don't worry, only a few higher up military officials should be there and 
they are pretty good at keeping secrets, at least from my experience.  I'll 
take you down there myself, though it might be a good idea to keep Jack out 
of the picture again."  An annoyed snort came from Jack, who didn't much 
care for this being singled out.  It also meant he was going to miss a 
really good show.

"Hmm, sorry Jack, looks like you're laying low for a while longer.  Alright, 
that sounds good, just when do they want me to be there to put on my little 
demonstration?"

"Today if at all possible.  They're pretty eager to get the negotiations for 
the data over with, though the price they are willing to pay depends on just 
how capable you show yourself to be."  Kate gave a rather large grin, though 
Nathan couldn't appreciate it.  Jack knew the army was going to be getting 
one heck of a demonstration, which only made it worse that he couldn't 
watch.

"Alright then, I suppose you best get on your way here.  I'll go ahead and 
start getting prepared.  Bye Dad."

"Bye Kate."  Kate was sure to beat Nathan to hanging up the phone, though 
she remembered to slow down lest she slam it down too hard.  She could break 
such things so easily.  Turning her head, she noticed the disappointment on 
Jack's face.  Unable to suppress a giggle, she walked over to him and gave 
him a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry; once we get my new equipment I promise I'll show off just for 
you.  A few private shows, and maybe some fun afterwards?"

Jack quickly perked up at this.  "Alright, but I'm going to hold you to that 
promise."  Kate just chuckled and made her way into her room to change 
clothes.  While her normal clothing could handle speeds at around 120mph, 
what she was going to be running at today was going to require something a 
bit more sturdy.  As she came out of her room again she saw Jack had already 
made his way into his room.  Thinking for a moment, she giggled softly.

Jack gave a slight start as he felt Kate's arms wrapping around him, and 
remembered just how sneaky she could be when she wanted to.  "You know, it's 
going to be a while before my father arrives.  How about we do some 
snuggling to pass the time?"  Kate didn't let Jack respond to this; she 
simply lifted him from his chair.  He was a bit disappointed when she 
carried him out of his room and placed him on the couch, but he didn't get a 
chance to voice this before Kate's lips locked onto his.  He would just have 
to be patient and wait a little longer for Kate to ready to take him to bed.

******************************************************************************

Kate looked around as she and her father were led through the military 
installation.  It wasn't an overly impressive site, but it would do.  The 
place had proven to be quite a bit further out of the way then she'd 
expected, that was for sure.  She also felt a little silly in her motorcycle 
racing gear while her father was wearing a nice suit, and she would probably 
be around quite a few people in uniform before long.  It was a necessary 
evil; the outfit had been designed to help racers prevent their skin from 
being torn off during wrecks.  This made it adequate for holding up against 
more of Kate's speed, though not nearly her max.  Currently the only way for 
her to run at her max speed was to be stationary on a treadmill without 
wearing anything on her legs, or to run naked.

"Mr. Stonecutter, glad you could make it on such short notice."  Kate turned 
her head in the direction of the voice more quickly then her father.  As the 
man approached, she noticed the various medals he was wearing though she 
didn't really have any idea exactly what they meant.

"General Williams?"

"The very same, and this must be Kate.  I'm glad we could have this meeting, 
and if I may be so bold I must say it is quite a delight to see young people 
granted with such gifts as yourself willing to show the world who they are 
and not hide behind a mask."  Kate smiled and gave her head a nod, though 
looking at the man she wondered if he really had the right to be calling her 
young.  Sure, he was a decent amount older than her, but either he aged 
quite well or he wasn't as old as her father.

"Umm, likewise, nice to meet you.  So, my father tells me you want me to 
show you what I can really do."

"That is affirmative; as you know, the armed services have never really been 
able to deal with certain threats and lately those threats have been showing 
up more often.  We would like to find a way to rectify this situation so 
that we no longer need to depend on a small group of individuals whom we can 
never be quite sure of."  Kate nodded; it wasn't like she was going to 
argue.  She never liked knowing if help was on its way or if the police 
would have to hold off some monster even longer.  "Oh, and I almost forgot, 
though this isn't really my area I must thank you for ridding of us that 
scaly nuisance."  Kate felt a little nervous as the tone of Williams's voice 
seemed to tell her he knew more than they had meant them to find out.  He 
didn't seem to be displeased with the event, though she opted not to ask.

They made it to the rear of the facility and took a jeep ride before they 
finally came to rather large area.  Looking around, Kate noticed a few other 
vehicles and a few officers standing around.  A couple of them looked in 
their direction, though unlike Williams they didn't make any motions to 
greet them.  Clearly they were waiting to be impressed before they 
applauded.  "I hope you don't mind, but your father informed us that you 
were holding back for the media.  He wouldn't tell us how much though, so we 
took the liberty of bringing a few things out here.  If you would just lift 
whichever one you think you can handle."  With that, Williams indicated a 
group of steel beams that had been laid out.  Kate sighed a bit, hoping she 
would get to lift something a bit flashier.  Then something at the end 
caught her eye.

"So does that mean I can get started?"  Williams took a moment to look 
around before giving a slight nod.

"Everyone seems to be ready."  Kate grinned and took off in a light sprint.  
The weights had been set a bit away from the main crowd.  As she made her 
way over to them, Kate noticed the area seemed even quieter as the few that 
had been speaking went silent and began to do what they had come to do: 
observe.  Walking over to the steel beams, Kate recognized them as the type 
used in building construction.  A brief recollection of some TV shows on 
modern marvels reminded her they weighed about two tons.  Reaching down, she 
looked towards the crowd.  "Is it alright if I damage them a bit?  Otherwise 
it might be hard to get a good enough grip."

"Go ahead."  Kate noticed that a few of the people seemed to take note of 
this.  Grinning, Kate proceeded to take hold of the steel beam, her fingers 
easily sinking into the metal.  Getting a good grip, she proceeded to hoist 
the metal bar slowly, wanting to make sure they saw this was not straining 
her.  The grin remained on her face until she finally held the bar aloft 
with one hand.  Considering that she was now holding two tons above her head 
with ease, it was obvious she could lift more.  Setting the bar down, she 
hopped over to another set.  These two were actually joined together.  
Finding the center once again, Kate proceeded to lift the heavy beams over 
her head.  While Williams probably wanted her to go straight to whatever was 
the heaviest she could lift, Kate couldn't help herself.  She went through 
each of the sets.

All together she figured she had lifted 2, 4, 6 and 8 tons, all with one arm 
and showing no strain.  Curiously she caught sight of something else.  "Am I 
supposed to stop with the bars, or is the Abrams okay?"  Kate took a moment 
to look at the crowd, which had gone from cool and unconcerned to cool and 
interested.  The fact that she was boasting that she could lift a 32 ton 
tank seemed to pique their interest.

"Well we'd meant it for other purposes, but sure." Kate grinned, not 
bothering to ask just what those other purposes were.  Walking over to the 
heavy machine, she began to size it up, trying to figure out just where 
would be the best place to get a grip.  Running her hands along the tank's 
armor, she knew it was strong but couldn't really find a spot that she felt 
could support the vehicle's entire weight.  At last an idea came to her when 
she rounded the back.  The audience seemed even more curious as Kate began 
to crawl under the tank.  Although she couldn't see them, she should hear a 
bit of shuffling.  As she came to the center of the tank she pushed up 
against the armor for a moment.  Feeling it was thick enough, she finally 
began to push up with more of her considerable strength.

Slowly the heavily armored vehicle began rise.  A grin formed on Kate's face 
as she realized this was the first time she had really felt weight in a 
while.  Her muscles expanded as more blood rushed to them.  It wasn't really 
clear to everyone watching what was going on until the tank was a few inches 
above the ground.  Some had thought Kate might be using her legs, 
considering that they are normally stronger than the arms.  However, as she 
stood up to her full height it became apparent that while her legs were 
indeed holding up the weight, her arms were also holding the machine above 
her head.  There was some clapping from the crowd, though not stunned shock. 
  Kate was glad the treads hid the disappointed look on her face, but she 
had to keep in mind whom she was dealing with.

Still, it wasn't going to stop her from at least attempting to get more of a 
reaction.  Looking up, Kate made sure the metal wasn't bending around her 
fingers just yet, then she began to lower her left arm.  Instantly she could 
feel the increase in tension; this truly was enough to give her a workout.  
The muscles in her remaining arm were strong enough to support the weight, 
but it did require her to exert some real effort.  Taking in a deep breath, 
Kate lowered the tank until she felt it touch the top of her head, then once 
again she pressed the vehicle back over her head, fully extending her arm.  
As she did this she watched her bicep swell.  Though it was no larger than 
previously, the power she possessed in her arms was still quite impressive.  
She was holding a 32 ton tank with one arm and actually able to press it 
over her head.

Kate might have been more careful about demonstrating this if she had 
realized that the tank actually weighed more than that.  Had she actually 
been taught to recognize certain types of tanks she would have realized the 
machine she was lifting was not actually an Abrams tank, though it did look 
similar.  Williams, on the other hand, had full knowledge of this little 
detail.  "My, that is quite impressive.  I think your daughter has just 
taken a very large step in making your sale."  Nathan didn't respond right 
away.  Unlike the military personnel, he was somewhat stunned by what his 
daughter was doing.  A slight wobbling of the vehicle seemed to signify 
Kate's arm was giving out.  However, that wasn't entirely the case.

Williams' comment had reached her ears, which caused her to lose focus for a 
moment, and on top of that the ground was beginning to give way.  While the 
treads of such vehicles normally tore up the ground fairly easily, its 
weight was now entirely focused on Kate's two feet and was driving them into 
the ground.  Realizing this, Kate finally began to lower herself down to her 
knees, then her hands, using one arm to support the vehicle until its treads 
finally rested on the ground.

A few moments later Kate made her way out from under the heavy vehicle and 
looked around at her audience.  At least they mostly had large grins on 
their faces now.  She found herself at a lost for exactly what to do next.  
Turning her attention in her father's direction, she made her way back over 
to Williams and Nathan.  "So, what's next?"

"Well, we were hoping you could give us a demonstration of just how quickly 
you are able to run, if you wouldn't mind."

"Err, well I'll gladly prove that I can run more quickly than what I showed 
the media, but my clothing couldn't take it if I ran at full speed.  So I 
hope you don't mind if I hold back a little bit on that account."  Williams 
gave a slight nod.

"That is understandable, though I wish we had thought to bring you something 
that could withstand the force.  One of these days you will have to show us 
how quickly you can really move.  Anyway, if you don't mind would you take 
your position out there?"  Kate turned her attention in the direction of 
Williams' finger towards a rather lengthy straightaway she had noticed 
earlier.  Between the seclusion and the amount of ground she would be able 
to cover, it was a perfect spot.  "It's normally used as a targeting range.  
Just put some nice fake tanks out there and let the recruits have at it."

"Gee thanks; I'm not sure that's what I wanted to hear."  Williams just 
chuckled as Kate took a moment to remove her shoes.  Running out to the 
range, she looked around.  At least they had taken the time to clean the 
area up.  She turned back towards the crowd.

"Everyone ready for me to start?"

"Go right ahead."  Kate gave a slight nod.  A moment later a huge jet of 
debris shot up from the ground as Kate's feet pushed off.  While she'd kept 
her speed down to 120mph earlier, now she forced herself up to 400mph, still 
not even half of her max speed.  It felt like a brisk walk, or perhaps even 
a jog.  As Kate reached these speeds the world seemed to alter slightly.  
While she wasn't moving as quickly as sound waves, she was nearing their 
speeds.  This caused something of a distortion which she'd noticed earlier.  
It was strange listening to those that were speaking; the distortion that 
such rapid movement caused in their voices.

Of course she knew things would be even stranger if she broke the sound 
barrier.  It wasn't like flying in a plane, after all.  While a jet fighter 
pilot could handle the same speeds as Kate, his brain didn't think or react 
at the same rate hers did.  To a human, moving at 400mph was an almost 
overwhelming experience and required great distances for them to react.  To 
Kate it was nothing more than a light jog.  This brought about a change of 
perspective as even the air seemed to grow thicker as it moved more slowly.  
Wherever her feet happened to strike she could feel the extra force she 
exerted and had to be more careful to keep her balance.

It was a very strange experience to her even after having her abilities for 
so long.  Of course, she also had to keep in mind just how long she had been 
moving.  What felt like ten minutes to her was an extremely short time for 
the spectators.  She began to wonder just where she should run.  Opting to 
remain in the clear areas, Kate proceeded to make her way up several hills, 
even running around them a few times.  Her feet were leaving deep 
impressions in the dirt, though she only noticed them when she happened to 
look back.  The amount of sheer force with which she struck the ground was 
bound to tear up something.  No tire would have done so much damage; the act 
of taking a step was very different from the revolving of a wheel.

When at last Kate finished her run she felt as if a hour had passed, though 
it had been only a few minutes.  The entire area was covered with marks, 
making it look very much like a war zone.  Looking back, Kate was amazed by 
the damage that moving a few extra hundred miles per hour could actually 
cause.  Turning her direction back towards the crowd, she returned to Nathan 
and Williams.  "So General Williams, anything else?"  As Kate approached, 
she noticed a rather large grin on the General's face.  "Or does that grin 
mean we made the sale?"

"Oh, you made the sale, believe me.  Actually you just made it worth a whole 
lot more.  Though there is one more thing we'd like to try.  Would you mind 
if we conducted some weapons tests?"

"Depends on the weapons."

"Oh, just some anti-personnel weapons, and if you don't mind, some more 
powerful ones as well if the former doesn't hurt you."  Kate seemed to think 
about this for a few moments.

"Alright.  Hey, does the fact that you're buying the data mean you're going 
to try and clone or duplicate the results?"  Williams gave Kate a somewhat 
amused look.

"We will try to duplicate the results, yes.  That is what makes the data so 
valuable, the possibility that we may be able to figure out how you got your 
abilities and use it to enhance others."  Kate had been expecting this, 
though she refrained from mentioning how confident she was that they 
wouldn't be able to duplicate the results.  Quite a few factors had resulted 
in the development of her abilities, after all.  Of course, the fact that 
the money would probably pay for her new equipment was her main reason for 
selling the data, and on top of that, with as much faith as Kate had in the 
government, she felt it would be better to sell them what they wanted rather 
than risk them trying to acquire it through other means.

"Ah, then Daddy, be sure to charge them a lot."  Williams' confident grin 
instantly turned to a rather amused one as he glanced at Nathan.

"Hmm, I suppose I should have been expecting that one.  That's what I get 
for saying too much."  Kate simply chuckled and began to remove her 
clothing, keeping only her bra and panties on.

"Kate, what are you doing?"  Nathan's voice showed more than a little 
surprise at his daughter's actions.

"Well, they're going to be testing some weapons on me and I don't want my 
clothes getting torn to shreds."  Kate just grinned and continued stripping 
down.  "If you don't mind, would you avoid these?  I don't mind showing off 
a bit but I don't want to be in the nude."  Williams gave his head a slight 
nod, though even with all his years of training and discipline he wished he 
hadn't agreed so quickly.  Still, it wasn't the time for pleasure; he had 
business to conduct.  "So just where am I going to be standing for this 
test?"  Williams proceeded to indicate an area a little ways out from the 
stands.  Kate hadn't noticed it before, but it seemed set up for target 
practice.

"Right over there."  Kate nodded.  Looking around for a few moments, she 
wondered who was going to do the honors.  As she made her way over to the 
stand and took her position, she resolved not to tell Jack about this; he 
would be jealous.  She found herself waiting for a few moments as one of the 
humvee's doors opened up and a few soldiers stepped out.  Looking at them 
for a moment, she figured they were actually weapons instructors rather than 
soldiers.  Kate suppressed a giggle as she noticed the nervous look on her 
father's face.

"All right miss, we're going to be starting with our sidearms, is that 
alright?"  Kate turned her attention towards the two men who would be 
gunning her down shortly.

"Sure, but I can say that won't hurt me.  We've already with quite a few 
sidearms.  You probably want to jump straight to assault rifles."  Kate 
could see the grin on the soldier's face; apparently he was amused by her 
recommendation.

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves.  You might have already tested, but 
we don't want to risk seriously injuring you.  You're still a civilian after 
all, no matter how strong you are."  Kate just nodded her head.  A moment 
later she felt an impact upon her chest, right above her breast.  Had she 
been human the bullet would have gone straight through to her heart.  A 
slight snort came from her at the soldier's choice of target spots.  So much 
for being concerned about her well being.  A moment later she felt a few 
more impacts, all of them very well aimed at one lethal part of her body or 
another.  Quite a few of them actually struck her throat.  Kate didn't even 
flinch.

"Well, it seems you were right about that one.  Tell me, did you feel any 
pain at all?"

"Not a bit."

"We're going to switch to a light machine gun in that case."  Kate gave a 
slight nod as she watched the second soldier retrieve the weapon.  Looking 
at it for a moment, she figured it was probably used in urban combat rather 
than on a battlefield.  A few moments later Kate was quite sure of this as 
she felt the bullets striking her in the abs.  As they struck her rapidly 
Kate dug her toes into the ground.  Even with all her strength, she was 
still under 200 pounds and with the rate at which the bullets were hitting 
her she could actually feel her feet sliding.  A grin formed on her face as 
an amusing idea came to mind.  The world began to slow down.

It had been a while since Kate had watched bullets come at her in her 
accelerated state.  She could now see them very easily.  On a whim she found 
herself catching the ones that would have missed out of the air, until the 
weapons fire quit.  Turning towards the stand she waited for a response, 
then realized that in her accelerated state she would be waiting for a 
response for quite some time.  Lapsing back into her normal rate of 
movement, she finally heard what the soldier was saying.  "Are you all right 
miss?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine.  I got bored and decided to catch the bullets that were 
missing."  With that Kate opened her hand, allowing the rounds to slip from 
her fingers.  The soldier simply put his M249 away and turned to his 
partner.

"I know we were going to the M16 after this, but I think we might as well 
switch to the sniper rifle.  It's clear that bullets of this caliber don't 
have any effect on her."  His partner simply nodded and made his way back to 
the humvee.  A few moments later her returned carrying a rather large rifle, 
which actually got a whistle from Kate.  "Ready for this one?"  Kate grinned 
and nodded her head as they got the weapon set up.  She was a bit surprised 
when they actually took the time to measure the wind, making sure the shot 
was nearly perfect.  Kate felt the impact right between her eyes.  A sudden 
gasp came from the stand as Kate was knocked on her back.

Everything was silent for a few moments, most of the observers too stunned 
to react, until they heard Kate laughing.  Sitting up, she held out the 
bullet for a moment.  "Caught me off balance."  Nathan felt a wave of relief 
as he watched his little girl get up, entirely unharmed.  "Okay, let's try 
that one again and see if I can keep from getting knocked down."  Neither 
gunman replied, but they fired off another shot as well aimed as the first.  
As Kate felt the bullet strike her in the forehead her body remained 
entirely straight, though she felt her feet slide back a bit.  She would 
have to be careful when bracing herself for such impacts to avoid getting 
knocked down.  It didn't hurt her in the least, but a superhuman 180lbs was 
still 180lbs.

Kate didn't have to worry about her balance for very long; only one more 
shot was fired before the rifle was tucked away.  If the first three shots 
hadn't hurt her in the least, the others sure weren't going to do it.  "So, 
going to shoot me with that?"  Kate indicated the tank.  That got the 
soldiers' attention.  They had been preparing to hit her with something more 
powerful, but jumping to the final extreme seemed a bit much.  In truth, 
they didn't think she could actually withstand a shot from such a powerful 
weapon, but the grin on Kate's face told them she was quite confident that 
she could.  Nathan was about to speak up when Williams beat him to it.

"We're quite impressed with what you have shown us, but don't you think that 
would be going a little far?"  Kate grinned for a moment.

"Well let's see, I lifted the entire tank with one arm and even pressed it, 
which means I can deliver several tons of force with one arm.  Furthermore, 
I can move nearly as fast as a bullet, fast enough to catch them from this 
range.  Now unless that tank shell weighs several times more than the tank 
does and travels much faster than these bullets, I bet I can take it."  
Nathan was more than a little stunned to hear his daughter behaving in such 
a reckless manner.  It was true that she had taken down Copperhead with 
ease, but she was volunteering to allow herself to be shot by a tank.  Very 
few would do that, even those with enhancements.  Still, he could also see 
her logic.  He imagined the power that one of Kate's punches must be 
packing.  The fact that her punch would probably be like being hit by a tank 
moving at 1,000mph made him wonder if he was just being paranoid.

Nathan wasn't the only one thinking about this, as Williams grew silent.  
His mindset was similar to Nathan's at this point.  Finally he spoke up.  
"Are you sure you want to try going that far so soon?  I will say right now, 
it isn't necessary; we are already quite impressed."

"Come on, let me see if your little gun is enough for me."  Quite a few of 
the spectators turned in Williams' direction.

"Alright."  Kate's grin was more than a little smug as she watched one of 
the gunman walk to the vehicle that she had been holding over head only a 
few moments earlier.  She had quite a shock, however, when he climbed into 
the vehicle and it started up and moved into position.  She felt herself 
suddenly unnerved as she realized that what she had assumed to be an Abrams 
tank was being driven by a single person, which simply didn't happen.  Most 
tanks required at least three crewmen.  She was about to take a slug from a 
new model.  Once this realization sunk in, the world seemed to slow down as 
Kate pushed her senses to their max.  If the shot came out too quickly there 
was no way she was going to stay in one spot.

She didn't bother telling anyone this as the machine took aim and fired.  
Kate watched as the shot came out of the barrel, moving at roughly three 
times her max running speed.  Still, she had time to think about it, one of 
the perks of moving and reacting at such rapid speeds.  The shell was pretty 
large and she imagined that whatever it was made of was pretty darn heavy, 
though nowhere near as much as a tank.  So while it might be moving even 
faster than her punches, it didn't have the same force behind it.  Then 
there was the matter of the rough point at the end of it.  It would focus 
more of the force in a single area than her fist would.  Even considering 
all this, Kate couldn't bring herself to move.  Instead she chose to tighten 
her abs, making sure the rocket slammed right into them.

Nathan didn't know what to think as he saw and heard the explosion.  He had 
just let his little girl take a shot from a tank.  Immediately he felt a 
great amount of concern well up inside of him as he realized what might have 
happened.  Kate had seemed so certain that he hadn't though to question her. 
  Now he found himself nearly panicked as he scanned the area for his little 
girl.

Kate lay on the ground, letting out a light groan of pain.  She tried to 
stand up and fell back almost immediately.  The impact reminded her of a 
horrifically stout punch, having knocked the breath out of her.  As she lay 
there gasping for air, she tried to relax and figure out just how far she 
had been knocked back.  Already she could hear her father crying out to her. 
  Groaning and realizing how worried he was, Kate finally found the will to 
force herself to stand up so that her father could see her.  The look on 
Nathan's face told her just how worried he'd been, and that she was going to 
get a lecture on the way home.  Ah well, it had been worth it.  She remained 
standing, bent over trying to catch her breath.  It would only be later that 
she would notice that the explosion had burned her clothes off, not to 
mention how far she had been thrown.  At least one good thing came of the 
event; everyone watching was quite impressed.

She did feel kind of silly though.  After all her police training and 
knowledge of knives, she should have figured how much more effective 
focusing all that force into a single point would be.

******************************************************************************

Kate grumbled to herself as she lay on her benchpress machine.  It had been 
a few weeks since she had put on the little show for the military, and she 
had a major problem.  Her exercise equipment hadn't been able to provide her 
with a decent workout for a while now, but ever since showing off with the 
tank, it hadn't had any effect on her whatsoever.  Sighing and sitting up, 
Kate walked out of the room and into Jack's, once again finding him at his 
computer.  Ever since the little show for the army, he and Nathan had been 
working on getting her new exercise equipment ready.  She was grateful for 
all their efforts, but it meant Jack spent less time with her.  She was able 
to temper herself with the knowledge that one reason he was working so hard 
was was that he wanted to see her show off for him that badly.

She had resolved to let him work unless she had something important to talk 
to him about, and now she did.  "Jack, mind giving me a moment?"  Kate was 
quite pleased by how quickly he turned his attention from his computer after 
a quick Control-S.

"Yeah sure, what's wrong Kate?"

"Well, it's just that ever since my exercise equipment quit giving me a 
workout...well, not ever since, but a few weeks ago, I began to feel 
different.  I didn't bother mentioning it to you, figuring it would pass, 
but every day...err, I don't know how to put this."  Jack gave Kate a 
curious look, realizing she actually wanted to talk to him about something 
that might involve her health.

"Have you began feeling weaker?"  Kate seemed to think for a moment, then 
shook her head.

"No, that wouldn't be the word for it, which is kind of a surprise.  After 
all, if you don't use your muscles you tend to lose them, yet mine seem to 
be doing just fine.  Though I...hmm...I feel like I'm standing still."

"Umm, would you mind elaborating on that a little bit?"

"It's like I've found a speed and am staying at it.  Sort of like I was 
accelerating before, always moving faster, my body growing more powerful 
more and more quickly.  Since I haven't been able to do any of my exercises 
I've just felt stuck in one spot, or at least slowing down."  Kate glanced 
over at Jack who seemed to be thinking about this.

"Do you think it could be because your body was always changing and growing 
so quickly?  I mean, at first you were gaining the ability to lift a few 
more pounds per week, but lately it has been a few more tons."  Kate turned 
her attention towards her arm.  She slowly formed a bicep before applying 
some pressure with her free hand.

"You think that I can actually feel my body strengthening?  Then wouldn't I 
have noticed it starting up?"

"Not necessarily.  If it was like you put it earlier, an acceleration 
process, you might have simply slid into it thanks to your slow start.  You 
may only be noticing it now because it was such a sudden change.  Well, 
that's one theory.  I don't think it's harmful though.  After all, your 
cells have been doing nothing but improving for over a year and a half now."

"I don't like it.  I don't feel bad or anything, but this feeling of being 
stationary again, even if it isn't painful, I can't help but feel it's 
annoying."  Kate was a bit perplexed when a chuckle came from Jack.

"Well who likes having to slow down?  Of course that's just a theory.  We 
may be able to test it though, when your new equipment is ready."  A long 
sigh came from Kate as she proceeded to roll her eyes.

"And just how much longer is that going to take?"

"Err, don't you have patrol in a little while?"  An annoyed snort issued 
from Kate.  She knew that meant he had no idea.  She wasn't sure exactly 
what the two of them were working on, but she hoped it would be worth the 
wait.  Of course even if it wasn't, there wasn't really anything she could 
do about it.  This was one thing that her strength wasn't going to help her 
with.  Shrugging her shoulders, Kate proceeded to lean forward and give Jack 
a kiss on the neck.

"Yeah, I suppose it's about time for me to get to work.  I might as well 
leave a little early since I'm not going to be getting anything else done.  
Kind of makes me wish we'd been more honest with the public though, so I 
could get some exercise while running around."  Jack simply continued to 
grin as he watched Kate head out.  Kate had had her work shift moved shortly 
after the press conference to make better use of her abilities.  She now 
worked from seven at night until three in the morning.  She would then come 
home, sleep for four hours and wake up fully refreshed.

While this meant Jack missed out on nighttime cuddling, it also meant that 
he got to wake up each morning with Kate around.  He valued this over going 
to bed with her nearby; after all, that was like saying goodbye and he much 
preferred to be saying hello to her.  Turning back to his computer monitor, 
he was grateful that he and Nathan had begun the plans for Kate's new 
equipment before they had even acquired the money.  The complexity of what 
they were working on was a bit more than he was used to.  He hadn't 
mentioned it to Kate, but he was no longer designing anything; rather he 
spent his time looking over current progress.

Still, he and Nathan intended Kate's next generation of exercise equipment 
to last her for several years, an extremely ambitious goal considering how 
rapidly Kate's strength was increasing.  This meant that her new equipment 
had to be extremely adaptable and apply far more force than any hydraulic 
press could.  After all, even if it could give her the needed tonnage, 
finding an alloy that wouldn't simply mold around her hands was another 
issue.  A grin formed on Jack's face as he looked over the plans, grateful 
that he had been zoomed on a specific section when Kate entered the room.  
He hadn't had to shut down the file and seem suspicious.  Clicking "zoom 
all," he looked at the plans for Kate's new training equipment in its 
entirety.

He and Nathan had finished designing it some time ago; simply getting the 
thing built was the major issue now.  They had broken ground shortly after 
Kate's dealings with the military and the money had been transferred.  It 
had surprised him how readily the military had paid for the information; 
he'd figured they would want to check it to make sure it was what they 
wanted.  It made him wonder if they knew more than they'd let on, or if 
perhaps Nathan's reputation had helped things out.  It also made him a 
little nervous that they would either end up disappointed or make better use 
of it than he realized they could.  Then again, perhaps it was their way of 
helping Kate out.  They did seem pleased to have a new super being who they 
actually knew.

He was even more nervous about having no idea whether they were happy with 
the data or not.  "Ah well, at least the reporters quit pestering us," Jack 
thought to himself as he looked at his computer screen once again.  While 
the media had been excited about Kate's appearance, it had only lasted about 
a week.  It only took one incident involving the Justice League to once 
again claim the spotlight.  He didn't mind that; after all, Kate was trying 
to keep a low profile despite the fact that she now regularly ran through 
the city at 100mph.  She had to be careful not to tear apart the equipment 
she had with her.  Even if she could take down an entire gang herself she 
had no way of transporting them; she relied on calling in other officers for 
that task.  Still, Kate had been able to make good use of her powers, 
especially when it came to emergency situations.  Unlike a normal police 
officer, she wasn't slowed down by traffic but could easily weave around the 
slowest moving of vehicles.

This meant she didn't have to depend on people recognizing the sirens and 
pulling over but could easily shoot past them.  Jack soon found himself 
unable to focus on his work; he would rather focus his mind on Kate.  He 
wondered just what she was up to at the moment; if she was already rushing 
towards a crime scene or if her night was as slow as usual.  Thoughts of 
Kate also reminded him of the feeling she'd mentioned.  He wondered what the 
cause could be. With the difficulty of getting a blood sample from Kate 
these days, it was so very hard to know exactly what was going on with her.

******************************************************************************

"I bet you're not even going over one hundred."  Kate sat in the passenger 
side seat of the humvee, blindfolded so that she couldn't see where they 
were going.  Jack had worried about this early on, unsure if Kate had 
developed some ability to sense her surroundings.  Luckily, at least for the 
moment, Kate had no such extra sense.  While her eyes were insanely sharp, 
they couldn't see through solid matter.  This was a good thing as far as 
Jack was concerned; he and Nathan had been working on this surprise for Kate 
for quite some time now.  Kate wasn't actually sure just where they were 
taking her, only that Jack insisted on going there and that she should wear 
a blindfold since it was a surprise.

Now a few hours into the drive, Kate wished he had waited until the last 
hour to show her the way there.  "Don't worry Kate, we're getting there.  
Sorry it's so far out of the way, but we figured you would want privacy for 
this."  A long sigh came from Kate, who slumped back into her seat realizing 
that had she been able to fall asleep she would have finished a rather 
lengthy nap by now.

"Well, you didn't need to blindfold me right away."  Jack simply chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I guess I got a bit overexcited.  It isn't like 
you've ever been here before either.  Ah well, you just keep yourself 
handicapped for a while longer."  Kate just rolled her eyes and leaned her 
head against her window.

******************************************************************************

"Alright, we're here."  A relieved sigh came from Kate, who was finally 
allowed to take off her blindfold.  As she did so, she was somewhat shocked 
by what she saw.  A rather nice two story building stood in front of he,r 
not extremely massive but big enough.

"Jack, this had better not be a bank or I'm going to disconnect you from the 
internet when we get home."  Jack grinned, expecting as much from Kate after 
keeping her blindfolded and no doubt quite bored for over three hours.  
Still, he felt that she would forgive him and even enjoy the suspense once 
she got to look around.  Climbing out of the vehicle, he made his way over 
to Kate's side and opened the door for her.

"Now don't go making any plans for revenge until you see what's inside.  I 
think you're going to be spending quite a bit of time here."

"A three hour drive?  Hmm, well I suppose if I could run the distance myself 
I could come back here and visit it more often.  That way I wouldn't have to 
deal with your slow driving.  Though I don't exactly see why I would do 
that."

"Don't judge a book by its cover."  Kate turned her attention towards the 
front door where she saw Nathan exiting.  A grin formed on her face as she 
finally realized that perhaps Jack had indeed taken her out this far to show 
her something worthwhile.  At least if her father was there she had reason 
to hope.  Kate was a bit surprised when she felt Jack's arm wrap around her. 
  Kate didn't bother resisting, as easy as it would have been, but allowed 
Jack to lead her up to the door and even open it for her.  As she walked 
into the building the two men followed shortly behind.

"Alright, so what is all of this?"  Kate was getting more than a little 
curious.  While she now felt assured that it was something Nathan and Jack 
felt she would enjoy, she wasn't quire sure about it.

"This is what the lion's share of the sales money for your data went into.  
I think you'll be quite pleased with your new exercise equipment once we 
show it to you."  Kate couldn't help but stare at her father, more than a 
little shocked.

"You mean you built a entire facility for me to exercise in?  What, did you 
get more than you expected and decide to go overboard?"  Nathan once again 
took the question as Jack continued to lead Kate along.

"This facility was actually planned from the start, though we did get more 
than expected.  This allowed us to take things a little further and to rush 
construction without sacrificing quality.  It also helped a lot that Jack 
and I had already planned out the facility from top to bottom."  Kate wore a 
thoughtful look as she began to wonder just what they had done.  Looking 
around, she noticed several rooms.

"So where is the exercise equipment?"

"Well there is a lot of minor equipment, but we wanted to show you the main 
things."  The group came to a set of stairs that led downward.  As she 
followed the men, Kate found the basement was far more sparse than the 
upstairs.  She couldn't help but notice a rather odd sound as a strange 
feeling went through her.  She opted not to tell Nathan or Jack; she was 
probably just getting excited.  It didn't take them long to come to a solid 
grey door.  Looking at it for a moment, Kate realized that it was some kind 
of alloy.  Nathan opened the door and ushered them in.  Kate found herself 
in a room lined with the same type of alloy that had been on the door, 
except for a few lockers that stood close to the entrance and some windows.  
"Kate, welcome to your main exercise room."

Kate took a moment to look around, and saw no massive machines, not really 
much of anything actually.  Simply a few seats and areas for her to lay 
down.  They looked quite solid.  "Umm guys, where is the equipment?"  Nathan 
grinned, having expected his daughter's reaction.

"Lay down over there."  Kate followed Nathan's finger to an area that seemed 
set up for a benchpress.  Sighing, she made her way over to it and laid 
down.  She watched as he then retrieved two small objects.  After handing 
them to her he and Jack proceeded to put some distances between themselves 
and her.  Kate found herself holding two light metal spheres.  Sitting up, 
she gave the men a rather annoyed look, wondering if they were just funning 
her.

"Alright guys, get serious."

"Oh trust me, we are serious, and we'll prove it in just a second.  
Computer, activate sphere one, 40 tons free weight style.  Kate, you might 
want to get a better grip on it."  Kate gave Jack an odd look but decided to 
humor him.  She was grateful she did too, as a moment later she felt a rush 
of energy.  She quickly realized that the energy flow into the area must 
have increased, and what she'd felt earlier wasn't simply nervousness.  
Whatever was in the basement required a great deal of energy to function.  
Kate felt an incredibly strong jerk on her arm only moments later as the 
weight of the tiny object rapidly increased.  In roughly a minute, Kate felt 
like she was trying to hold up the tank once again.  She even found it 
difficult; although her strength had increased since the event, it hadn't 
grown enough to make it overly easy.

"Whaa, what?"  Kate was more than a little surprised as she felt the tiny 
sphere's weight jump so rapidly.  Curiously she began to do a few curls with 
the sphere.  Jack and Nathan simply looked on as Kate's look of shock turned 
into an amused smile, then a rather wide grin as she began to get her first 
decent exercise in a long while.

"We realized that standard machines had their limits, so we designed this 
room for you.  It takes a lot of energy, but it can exert a pretty darn 
strong pull on those spheres.  It can also control their movement, so you 
should be able to simulate just about any exercise you want."  Kate took a 
few moments to look up at her father.  Falling on her back, she held both 
the spheres above her as if doing a benchpress.

"So do I just tell it what I want and it simulates it?"  Nathan and Jack 
gave a nod.  "Computer, activate sphere two as well, increase weight to 50 
tons on each."  A few moments later Kate felt the force being applied to her 
hands.  Though she wished she had a bar to help ensure her arms stayed even, 
she was still quite happy with the situation as she began to press the 
spheres.  The extra tonnage was needed to make sure she used all her muscles 
to full effect.  A low whistle came from Jack as he considered that Kate was 
now benching 100 tons.  Kate couldn't help but smile, though it wavered a 
little as she had to focus to lift the massive weight.  "Does the computer 
listen to anyone's voice?"

"Just a few.  We didn't want to risk you getting injured.  It will respond 
to Nathan or me as well as yourself.  Though to go beyond 100 tons for each 
sphere you would have to go to the main control room over there and reset 
the limits."  Jack pointed towards the adjoining room whose windows Kate had 
noted earlier on.  Kate grinned broadly, realizing that the energy she'd 
felt earlier on had been caused by the amount of power it took to produce 
such effects.  Considering the technology that had probably been used, Kate 
wasn't surprised it had sucked up all the money from the sale.

"Are you two sure it's safe for you to be in here with everything running?"  
Nathan and Jack looked at each other for a moment.

"Yeah, pretty sure.  The walls may look like metal but they are actually an 
extremely good insulator.  There shouldn't be any risk of getting shocked or 
anything."

"Then I wonder what this feeling is.  I noticed it when I came down here and 
it seemed to get even stronger once you had everything powered up."

"Well I don't feel anything; think your senses might be causing it?"  Kate 
thought about this for a moment then took in a deep breath.

"Probably.  Hey would you two mind turning on the cooling?  I'm beginning to 
get kind of warmed up."  Kate was a bit perplexed when Nathan walked out of 
the room and came back a few moments later, cool air beginning to circulate. 
  "You programmed the computers to work by voice to turn on these insanely 
expensive weights, but didn't take the time to make the air-conditioning 
voice activated?"  Jack and Nathan blushed a bit.

"Oh sure, make us sound like idiots."  Kate found herself shaking with 
laughter as the two men seem quite embarrassed.  It was a pretty silly 
oversight.  At least they had gotten all the important details down though; 
Kate was more than pleased with her new workout equipment.

"Hey, just what was in all those other rooms, and what was upstairs?"

"The majority of the other rooms have different types of equipment for you, 
as well as for testing other aspects.  There are rooms made for running, 
biking and the likes; we even got a swimming pool put in for you.  Then 
there's a snack room and a break room in case you want to rest."

"Now that doesn't sound like you spent all the money on this room."

"Well, they're all important details of an exercise routine, after all.  We 
doubted you would want to run home every time you want to take a drink of 
water or watch some TV."  Kate simply chuckled as she nodded her head in 
agreement.

"Well I hope you fellas don't mind, but I'm going to take some time to get 
back into my regular exercise routine."  Nathan nodded and started to leave 
the room.  Jack walked to one of the areas Kate wasn't using and sat down.

"Aren't you coming?" Nathan asked.  Jack got a rather large grin on his 
face.

"Heck no, I'm going to stay here and watch."  Nathan was a little stunned, 
but this soon turned to laughter as he left the room.  Kate simply smiled, 
turned her head and winked at Jack before focusing on her workout again.  
She figured there was another reason for them lining the room with the 
alloy.  Considering how much weight was currently being exerted upon Kate, 
she imagined the room had been built incredibly strong.  As she considered 
this she wondered if that meant it was strong enough to actually keep her 
trapped in it.  Turning her attention towards the control room, she felt 
safer with it there.

This was soon pushed to the back of Kate's mind as she finished her 
benchpress, curls and leg extensions.  As she went through her exercises, 
she began to notice a feeling other than her body simply warming up.  While 
it could be defined as a form of warmth, it wasn't quite as intense, though 
far more pleasant.  Curiously she found herself working even faster, 
throwing a few more reps into each set she did.  Jacknoticed this change in 
pace, and began to wonder what Kate was doing.  She normally pushed herself, 
that was true, but she had a nice steady routine that she seemed to prefer.  
The fact that she was putting extra reps into it now seemed somewhat 
strange.  "Jack, I think I can feel it."

"Feel what?"

"My body changing.  Remember how I mentioned I felt as if I was missing 
something a few weeks back?  I think it's coming back.  I mean, my body 
feels so warm all of a sudden, like energy is coursing through it once 
again.  I think I can feel my body changing.  It feels like a warm light is 
growing within me."  Jack at first didn't know what to say to the idea that 
Kate might indeed be able to feel her body strengthening.  Surely it would 
require at least a few days for her muscles to rebuild after she had 
finished her exercises.  He shook his head at this thought; Kate's strength 
was building so rapidly that he couldn't really begin to understand just how 
her body was working.  Indeed, her strength may be growing so quickly that 
she may very well be able to feel the changes happening within her.

"Are you alright?  I mean, does it feel like you're going to be okay?"  Jack 
rose up from his seat, unsure of just what to do.  He had thoughts of 
running to get some medical equipment, but knew that wouldn't work.  Kate's 
body didn't function like a normal human's anymore, so even if he did check 
her vital signs he couldn't be sure of anything.  Even with all the time he 
had spent analyzing her he couldn't be sure.  The only thing he'd learned 
for sure during those studies was that Kate's body was becoming infinitely 
more complex than a normal human being's.

"Actually, it feels really good.  Though I am beginning to feel a little 
worn out.  I suppose my exercising still exhausts my body more rapidly than 
it can build its strength."

"I suppose so but still...able to feel the changes going on inside of your 
body?"  Large smiles soon adorned Kate's and Jack's mouths as she continued 
to exercise.  He had concluded early on that any changes Kate's body made to 
itself were advantageous, and now with it so hard to test her, neither saw 
any reason for worrying about it.  So far the results had proven positive 
and she hadn't shown any signs that she was going to be turned into some 
type of monster.  It wasn't like Kate was doing anything different from what 
she had been then either.  Despite the greater complexity of her equipment, 
she was still simply pushing her body to grow even stronger, just as she had 
been doing the entire time.  As Jack looked on, he found himself imagining 
that every time Kate lifted a weight or exerted herself her body was indeed 
growing a little stronger; that the second time her wonderful biceps lifted 
those weights they were a little stronger than the first.

Jack continued to observe as Kate gave attention to each part of her body.  
It had been several weeks, well over a month, since she had given her 
muscles any challenge, and it seemed she was ready to make up for lost time. 
  By the time she was finished with her exercises, every last bit of her 
body was fully pumped.  "Now that is a sight to behold," he breathed.

Kate grinned and took a moment to flex one of her fully pumped arms.  
"Thanks.  Now I suppose with all the money you men put into this place you 
at least had sense enough to set me up with a shower."  Jack grinned and 
gave a nod.

"Yeah, I'll show you the way."  Kate smiled and began to follow behind Jack, 
almost forgetting to have the computer shut off her weights and put them 
away.  As Jack led her through the hallways, he had to be careful to 
suppress a chuckle as he decided to tease her a bit.

"Oh, and don't worry about privacy here; we installed a pretty nice security 
system.  We have cameras all over the place."  Kate simply nodded her head 
when a flash of recognition hit her.  Where Jack was taking her?  She 
wondered if he was just teasing her or if he was serious.  Well, she could 
play at that game as well.

"Yeah, too bad you can't take a shower with me.  The showers I take would 
scald the flesh from your bones."  Jack's grin vanished almost instantly.

"I swear, you just have to ruin my fun."  This did get a giggle from Kate, 
which was at least worth a grin from him.

"Well that's what you get for trying to tease me.  I know my daddy well 
enough to know he wouldn't let you spy on his little girl in the shower, at 
least not without my knowing it."  Jack nodded in agreement.

"Once you get out of the tub Nathan and I will have another surprise for 
you."

"Really, what is it?"  Jack gave a knowing grin, turning as if he was going 
to tell her.

"It's a surprise."  Now it was Kate's turned to pout as they finally made it 
to the room that held Kate's bath/pressure cooker.  Opening the door for 
her, Jack ushered her into the room, then closed the door.  Proceeding on 
down the hallway, he figured he would find Nathan on the upper floor, 
probably in the recreation room.

Kate looked around for a few moments.  As she did she couldn't help but 
notice the radio set into the walls, as well as a television.  A grin formed 
on her face as she wondered how she was going to watch TV once the glass 
fogged up.  She would talk to them about that later on.  For the moment, she 
made her way over to the shower, stripping away her clothing and revealing 
her toned body.  She took a moment to admire her fully pumped muscles before 
climbing in.  As she reached out to shut the door she noticeed it didn't 
feel like glass.  Running her fingers along it, she couldn't help but wonder 
if it was some specially made plastic or polymer.  She couldn't really be 
sure.

Shrugging her shoulders, she slid the door shut and heard the latch click 
into place.  The entire chamber sealed air tight.  "I hope they didn't 
forget to make the radio voice activated.  Computer, turn on the radio and 
start going through the stations until I tell you to stop."  A moment later 
Kate heard the radio switch on.  As the computer began to switch through 
various stations, Kate looked around for just how to turn on the shower.  A 
few moments later she came across what she was looking for.  There were two 
colored tiles on the floor, one blue and one red, as well as a silver one.  
She tapped the silver one and it lit up.  Then she pressed down on the red 
one.  She found herself doused in hot water, though not as hot as she 
desired.

Holding the switch down, she noticed several numbers appear above it and 
realized that it was showing her the temperature in Celsius.  She snorted; 
she didn't have much experience with the temperature scale.  It didn't take 
her long to find out that at 100 degrees the water vaporized and she found 
herself engulfed in steam.  Continuing to keep the pad pressed down, Kate 
brought the temperature steadily higher until it finally reached what she 
was hoping for.  She gave a long sigh as she breathed in the air and for the 
first time in a long time felt what she considered to be real warmth.  Just 
how long could she hope for this feeling?  As her body grew more powerful, 
temperature extremes were beginning to mean less and less to it.

This had proven an issue with her home shower as she had grown more 
powerful; even it couldn't provide her with the kind of heat she desired.  
The ability to walk through fire will do that to a person, she thought.  
"Hmm, I wonder if I could try cleaning myself off in raw flames?"  A slight 
chuckle came from Kate as she imagined herself standing in a white-hot jet 
stream enjoying the heat.  "Well, perhaps later."  At this time she didn't 
think even she could enjoy such heat extremes.  For the moment she was 
content to enjoy her bath.  It didn't take her long to find her soaps tucked 
away in another floor compartment.  Apparently they had focused on 
strengthening the walls and didn't want to risk any open or inconsistent 
spaces in them.  The radio ended up simply cycling through stations as Kate 
enjoyed her shower.

Jack looked at the outfit in the mirror.  The specially made suit was meant 
to be Kate's uniform of sorts.  As he looked at it though, he couldn't help 
but be amazed by how small it was.  "I swear, I would hate to try to wear 
this.  The darn thing would crush me."  Nathan simply chuckled, holding one 
as well.  They'd had a couple made for Kate.  The two men knew it wasn't an 
exaggeration on Jack's part.  The material, while rather stretchy, was also 
very strong, meant to hold onto Kate very snugly.  The idea was to keep the 
material tight to her skin so that it would have to deal with a minimum of 
friction and no loose ends would risk catching.  Since the garment had been 
made with Kate in mind, it was horrifically tight and indeed would have 
crushed the life out of a normal person.

Jack's smile wavered a bit as he got off on a serious subject.  "I worry 
that Kate is leaving me behind."  He walked over to one of the seats and sat 
down.  "It didn't really bother me at first, but something she said a few 
moments ago, and now this, sort of brings it home.  She mentioned that if I 
were to try to bathe with her I'd end up being cooked.  And if I was to try 
on her new clothing I'd get the life crushed out of me.  I wonder what's 
going to happen next.  It seems that everything about Kate's world is 
growing out of my reach."

"You're not alone there; I have to admit I'm beginning to worry about my 
little girl as well.  People normally think of power as something that frees 
you, but Kate's power is also going to separate her from the rest of the 
world.  At least if she wants to enjoy things like she did while she was 
normal.  I mean, look at the weights we had to make her.  How many people 
have to use such extreme tools to build their strength?  Heck, just like you 
mentioned, the pressure cooker she calls a shower would steam a human down 
to the bone in just a few moments.  I can't help but worry that all these 
changes aren't good for my little girl."

Nathan walked over to Jack.  "Have you noticed that I haven't really given 
her a hug in a while?"  Jack looked up from his seated position, thinking 
about this.

"Yeah, I suppose so.  Why is that?"  A long sigh came from Nathan.

"Because I can't give her the type of hug I used to.  Kate and I developed a 
habit of giving one another bear hugs after she began to put on some real 
muscle.  I was so proud of her, one day I squeezed the wind right out of 
her.  A few moments later, she caught me with my muscles relaxed and did the 
same.  Since then it's been something of a contest.  One that I can't win 
now.  But that isn't the real problem.  If I did hug her, I doubt she would 
feel the same, really.  Hmm, well I suppose since you might be my future son 
in law..."

Jack let out a slight yelp as he felt Nathan pull him from his seat and wrap 
him in a bear hug.  He gave a long grunt as he felt the air squeezed right 
out of him before he was dropped to his seat.  "Do you think I could give my 
little girl a hug like that anymore?"  Jack didn't respond right away, 
sucking in some much needed air.

"No.....I suppose she....wouldn't..."  Jack's words were a bit delayed.  He 
would have to find a way to get Nathan back for that one.  He wasn't really 
mad, but he would still try to get some revenge later on.  Though 
considering the difference in their strength, he might have to wait until 
Nathan was old enough to need an oxygen tank so that he could play with the 
valves.  He pushed this thought to the back of his mind for a moment.  
"Well, at least we can help to protect her in some ways."  Jack proceeded to 
look around the room.

"Yes, by helping her to increase her power.  I suppose it's the only way 
that I can really offer my little girl any protection anymore.  And even 
that is getting difficult."  As Jack finally recovered from the bearhug he 
had received a few moments earlier, he drug himself up from his seat.

"Well, I suppose we should go check up on Kate."  Nathan gave a nod and 
followed Jack out of the room, leaving the outfit he had been holding.  As 
they walked, Jack attempted to stretch the clothing he was carrying.  Using 
both hands and holding onto the neck area, he put as much of his strength 
into it as he could.  The material hardly even yielded a quarter of an inch. 
  As he continued this game, they proceeded to the outside the room where 
Kate was bathing.  Neither man attempted to open the door, in case Kate 
opened up her shower.  Even if it wouldn't be fatal, the idea of standing in 
a room filled with scalding hot steam didn't appeal to either one of them.

They had actually taken this into account when constructing the room.  A 
light on the door warned if Kate was showering or if the room's temperature 
jumped to over 100 degrees Celsius.  "Hey, let me see that."  Jack gave 
Nathan a curious look when he realized he was talking about Kate's clothing. 
  He handed it to him.  Taking hold of the outfit, Nathan tried his hand at 
stretching the collar area.  Grunting with effort, he actually managed to 
get it around 1/3 of a inch expanded, though that was his best.  It would 
still have choked anyone to death; they were relying on the strength of 
Kate's neck muscles to avoid her being strangled.  They doubted she would 
feel the slightest discomfort.  After all, it would require hands that could 
lift a tank to strangle her.

"Let's try this together."  Nathan looked at Jack, who took hold of one end 
of the collar while Nathan held onto his.  Nodding, both men began to back 
up, putting all their strength into opening it up.  While Jack wasn't as 
strong as Nathan, he was fairly fit, and Nathan was able to get a good deal 
of his strength into it.  Using their weight and the majority of their 
body's strength including their legs, both men attempted to stretch the 
collar.  A few moments later it was opened up an inch and both men were 
exhausted.  The moment they let up, the material snapped back into place.  
Taking a few deep breaths, both men simply grinned and shook their heads.  
No human would be wearing Kate's new clothing, that was for sure.

At last the light flipped off signaling that Kate had finished her shower.  
As she left the chamber she was suddenly hit by a rush of cold air as the 
environmental controls sought to lower the temperature in the room.  Looking 
around curiously, she considered how hot her bath steam had been and 
realized the reason for this.  She found a towel in an airtight compartment, 
no doubt meant to keep the moisture from her steam baths from getting to 
them.  Wrapping it around herself, she was somewhat surprised to find Nathan 
and Jack waiting outside for her.  "Hey fellas, decided to greet me?"

"Well actually, we thought you might want this."  Jack handed Kate the 
outfit.  As she took it in her hand, she noticed the odd texture of the 
material.  "Hmm, I figured you would have some spare clothes for me here but 
I wasn't expecting this."  Looking at the full body outfit, Kate noticed how 
small it seemed.  The mixture of blue and red that covered the outside of 
the outfit brought a grin to her face.

"Don't worry about it fitting, it's made to stretch."  Kate's look of 
concern vanished and she gave a slight nod.

"Well then, let me try it on."  Stepping back into the bathroom and shutting 
the door, she continued her examination of the material.  The red covered 
mostly the interior of the outfit including her inner thighs, arms and the 
palm of her hands.  There wasn't any material that covered her fingers; Kate 
figured this was for two reasons.  One, to show she wasn't hiding who she 
was by trying to cover up fingerprints, and also so she wouldn't tear the 
material if she grabbed something.  After a few moments, she found the seam 
that would open the garment up along the back.  Letting her towel drop, Kate 
proceeded to open it up and climb into the outfit.

The material stretched quite easily as far as she was concerned, though she 
noticed she was using more than 8 times what most humans would have been 
able to put out.  As the garment covered her figure, she wasn't too 
surprised at how tightly it hugged her form, figuring this was meant to be 
her workout clothing and she should really be able to use her abilities in 
it.  As she finished getting dressed, Kate took a few moments to look 
herself over in the mirror.  Even though the clothing was hugging her as 
tightly as a second skin, it felt quite comfortable to her.  The pressure it 
provided still felt like less than what her normal clothes did while she was 
still human.  Taking her time, Kate proceeded to stretch her arms and legs, 
making sure the material wasn't going to rip.  After satisfying her 
curiosity, she once again opened the door.

"I don't think this is something I would want to wear on patrol, but still 
it's kind of nice."  Jack couldn't help but look Kate over.  While the 
outfit did cover her entire body except for her fingers, it hugged her so 
tightly that it was a joy to behold.  There were only a few areas that had 
been especially fitted to ensure they weren't too blatant, most notably the 
crotch and breast regions.  Still, Jack enjoyed the view.

"So how much of my speed should this let me use?"  Jack was too busy 
admiring the view to answer, leaving Nathan the job.

"It should at least let you break the sound barrier without tearing it to 
shreds.  It can handle quite a bit of heat and friction provided you don't 
get a tear in it.  The moment that happens you might as well say goodbye to 
a section of your outfit."

"Hmm, so I take it that means it's pretty hard to tear?"  Nathan gave a nod.

"Yeah, you don't have much to worry about.  Just don't go taking any more 
shots from a tank."  The look Jack gave Nathan told him right away that Kate 
had neglected to mention that little detail to him.  "Yes, your crazy 
girlfriend allowed a tank to shoot her, and not an ordinary one either.  No, 
she had to stand in the way of a Cyclops."

"Oh, so that was that bastard's name."  Nathan gave a slight nod.

"Just as mean as the Greek myth.  Though it got its name from the fact that 
it only requires one pilot to handle all of its operations."  Kate gave a 
slight nod; she had realized it wasn't a normal tank when she saw that only 
one person was going to be driving it.  She had simply been a little 
overconfident in her abilities.  As Kate noticed the worry on Jack's face, 
she couldn't help herself.

"Don't worry sweety, a few weeks of working out and those shells won't even 
faze me."  Jack grinned a bit, though it was clear he was still nervous.

"Well, I would prefer it if you would avoid getting shot by shells that 
weigh more than you do, but I guess that's good enough."  Kate simply gave 
Nathan and Jack both a kiss on the cheek.

******************************************************************************

Kate felt more than a little strange as she made her way through the city 
streets, checking out various vehicles as she passed.  At least by keeping 
her speed down to 120mph she had plenty of time to look into people's 
vehicles as she passed them.  Still, she couldn't shake how silly she felt 
as she considered how slowly she was moving compared to what she was capable 
of, and now that she had some clothes that could withstand the force it 
seemed even stranger.  Not that she was wearing them at the moment; she 
currently wore a modified police uniform.  The uniform was actually the main 
reason she felt silly.  She had given up certain bits of equipment.  Her 
baton and firearms had been left at home since she had revealed to the media 
that she didn't need them.

Instead she found herself carrying small bits of electronic equipment, some 
of which had been provided by her father.  She no longer had access to the 
computer she would normally keep in her car; a small computer on her side 
now took care of that task.  Her baton had been replaced by another small 
device that linked her directly to the station.  It felt strange, and she 
couldn't help but think she looked silly.  Luckily no one else seemed to 
think that.  She'd left Jack only an hour ago, so there was still a decent 
amount of daylight remaining, not that it would really matter.  Her eyes 
could see through the pitch black of night just as well as anyone else's 
could seeing during the day.  Rather bored, Kate considered ticketing a few 
people whom it seemed to take her a little longer to pass than it should.

She pushed the thoughts aside.  She hadn't seen any major violations, 
nothing worth giving a ticket for.  What she wanted was some real fun, 
perhaps a gang fight or something where she could put her abilities to some 
real use.  Yeah, that would have done her, though she would like it to 
involve at least ten people.  They wouldn't last her very long as she had 
given a strength level to the media high enough to explain her ability to 
knock someone out cold with a single punch.  But it would still provide a 
bit more excitement than a lone mugger.  Kate took a moment to scold herself 
mentally, realizing that she was out seeking excitement again, not a good 
thing for a police officer.  It was just that ever since Copperhead, she had 
felt a slight decline of the rush she once felt.

This was to be expected though, as ever since her abilities had really come 
into play she hadn't had to worry about any normal criminals.  They had no 
more chance of defeating her than an infant had of defeating its parent.  
Kate giggled, taking a moment to actually do the math.  In all truth, unless 
the parent was over 4,000 times stronger than the infant, a normal criminal 
had even less chance of defeating her as far as physical strength went.  The 
fact that certain disturbances were better suited to other officers was 
another matter.  While Kate could deal with armed robbery and help in high 
speed chases, she wasn't sent to domestic disturbances too often, 
considering she would have to wait for someone else to arrive to actually 
retrieve the offender.

Kate felt a rush of excitement as her radio went off, though she was a bit 
disappointed as she was informed of the situation.  "Well, at least it has 
some promise," came from her lips as she deviated from her current path and 
headed toward the residential areas, taking alleyways to reach her 
destination as quickly as possible.  There had been a break-in, and officers 
were currently searching the area in hopes of finding the perpetrator.  
While this wasn't exactly the type of case Kate would have preferred, she 
understood why they would want her to help out.  She could search the area 
far more quickly than a human could.

Kate was more than a little pleased with herself as she arrived on scene and 
realized she had made it in under five minutes.  It would have taken 
significantly longer in a car, considering that despite their sirens people 
didn't always get out of the way.  Also, she could handle curves at 120mph 
far better than any car possibly could, and could take short cuts that 
vehicles couldn't.  She didn't bother talking to any of the other officers 
around the area, having gotten the information she needed over the radio.

As Kate began to search, she had to be careful to keep in mind that she was 
searching for a human on foot.  This was actually a major issue as she 
didn't want to overestimate the distance a human could travel and risk 
searching a wider area than she had to.  However, it was just as important 
not to underestimate the area either.  She found the task somewhat 
difficult, since as her powers grew her perception began to change.  A few 
miles weren't a decent jog or walk anymore; it seem only a short distance 
away.  Still, her heightened senses proved themselves to be extremely useful 
as Kate began to listen for anyone that sounded winded.  It didn't take her 
long to find to find three likely targets, two of whom were coming from the 
direction of the police officers, most likely the two that had given chase 
first.

It didn't take Kate long to close the distance that the suspect had managed 
to put between himself and the police officers.  The man gave an audible 
shout when he suddenly found Kate standing directly in front of him.  He fit 
the description of the person they were after, and Kate noticed another 
thing.  Her nose caught something that she could have sworn she'd smelled 
before.  At first she wasn't sure; as her senses had become more active she 
hadn't give much thought to her sense of smell.  It seemed less important 
than her sight or sense of touch.  Now it seemed that sense might have 
improved along with her others.  "Are we stealing so we can support a drug 
habit?"

The look on Kate's face was more than a little patronizing as she took a few 
steps towards the crook.  When he pulled out a firearm a few moments later, 
she groaned inwardly.  When she had shown off for the cameras, she hadn't 
shown herself to be powerful enough to explain simply standing there and 
letting herself get shot.  Anyway, she wasn't sure how much she really 
wanted to torment the poor fellow.  From the way he looked she doubted he 
was exactly enjoying his current lifestyle.  He just had a problem he wasn't 
quite able to fix himself.  Her tone switched from patronizing to a more 
friendly one.  "Do you watch the news?"  The man gave her a curious look, 
then a nod.  "Then you probably know that isn't going to work on me.  Now 
why don't you just put the gun down and give up?  You can't outrun me, and 
whatever weapons you may have on you aren't going to work."

Considering that the guy didn't start shooting right away, and how nervous 
he looked, Kate couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.  It was 
probably his first offense, or at least his first time getting caught.  She 
resolved not to let him do something that he would regret, and quickly moved 
to his side.  Between his own nervousness and the fact that he was trying to 
keep his weapon trained on a target that could move 120mph, it was easy for 
Kate to get out of the weapon's line of fire and to his side.  Taking the 
gun's barrel between her fingers, Kate debated her next action, but went 
ahead.  She easily compressed the metal until it was ½ its original 
diameter, far too small to let a bullet travel through.

The shocked youth gave a jump and stumbled backwards, only to be caught by 
Kate's hand.  "Now we've already established that I'm faster than you.  So 
why don't you just settle down and come with me.  What is your name?"  Kate 
was a bit disappointed in the fellow's choice of actions a moment later as 
he began to struggle in a vain attempt to escape her grip.  Shrugging her 
shoulders, Kate gave the fellow's legs a slight kick.  Catching him before 
he could fall to the ground, Kate supported him with one arm around his 
waist while she used her free hand to handcuff him.  "Let's just forget that 
you pulled a firearm on me, shall we?  You're in enough trouble as it is, 
and I feel kind of sorry for you."

Kate couldn't help but feel a little strange as she made this comment.  The 
guy had pulled a weapon on her; normally she wouldn't have cared how nervous 
or scared he was.  She would have been willing to beat him to a bloody mess 
for threatening her with a dangerous weapon, and probably a little upset as 
he struggled against her.  After all, it was his choice to break the law, 
problems or not.  Still, she couldn't bring herself to take weapons as 
seriously as she once had.  Looking back, she debated on retrieving the 
weapon but at last resolved not to.  She would with the next person who 
pulled a weapon on her, though she would probably avoid crushing the barrel. 
  This time she would cut the fellow a break and avoid having to deal with 
questions that she didn't really want to answer.  A short while later they 
came upon the other police officers, the man tired from struggling against 
her but still not talking.

******************************************************************************

Kate ran swiftly down the highway, far more quickly than what she had 
revealed to the media, easily topping 300mph as she made her way towards 
what was now considered her gym.  It had grown to be more than that over the 
last few weeks.  Jack tended to spend a lot of his time there, and indeed 
the facilities had been designed with such things in mind.  Kate had learned 
a few of the rooms weren't actually for exercise but were bedrooms.  This 
made sense, as unlike a normal gym she was really the only person that would 
be using most of the facilities there, and the equipment was more advanced 
than what Jack had at home.  This was quite helpful for keeping better tabs 
on her progress.  They had even managed to get a new blood sample.

Well, the blood sample she could have done without; she wasn't sure if it 
was such a good thing.  Jack had attempted to analyze it, but had broken 
into a storm of swearing, gone to the indoor pool and spent a few hours just 
floating and waiting for his head to quit hurting.  Kate learned later on 
that he'd finally given up on trying to understand just how Kate's cells 
were working and was simply recording data.  The fact that her cells were 
getting so complex didn't bother Kate, though it did surprise her.  But 
considering how much stronger and faster she had become, there was simply no 
way that she could be that powerful and still resemble a human too closely.  
One thing that did concern her a bit was that Jack had mentioned a slight 
glow from her blood, and even shown it to her.

It seemed that if the room was made completely dark and Kate's blood was 
still fresh, it would glow an odd pink.  It wasn't bright enough to become a 
light source, but after Jack had informed her that it was previously 
noticeable only through a microscope she had gotten a little worried.  The 
idea that she might turn into an oversized flashlight didn't appeal to her 
at all.  Her fears had been put to rest though when Jack informed her that 
she didn't herself glow, and that her skin seemed to contain whatever it 
was.  Still, Jack decided to use radiation shielding when working with 
Kate's blood until he found out what that glow was.  He didn't want to make 
the same mistake as scientists in the past and give himself radiation 
poisoning or some new form of cancer.

Kate had agreed with this sentiment; she didn't like the idea of Jack's 
attempts to help her sending him to his grave.  Gradually Kate fell back to 
her 120mph as she began to approach a few more vehicles.  As she passed the 
cars she waved to some of the passengers, holding herself at 120mph until 
she was out of their sight, then once again accelerating to 300mph.  Despite 
these delays, she had learned that she could easily turn a three hour trip 
out of the city into a 40 minute one by alternating between her speeds.  
This made it practical for her to travel back and forth between the city and 
the facilities in order to exercise.  It wasn't as practical for Jack, who 
still had to rely on motorized transportation and obey the speed limits, 
which Kate didn't have to do.  She also had the advantage of being able to 
run along the shoulder easily and not get slowed down by slower moving 
traffic.

As Kate turned onto the road that led up to the facility, she was glad they 
had managed to find a location hidden by trees for the most part.  She 
quickly jumped from 300 to 550mph, just holding herself back from breaking 
the sound barrier.  A grin formed on her face as she was again grateful for 
the outfit Jack and Nathan had made for her.  She kept her uniform at the 
station and would switch into her specially-made clothing after work.  She 
wore it on her way to work as well.  While this was somewhat risky, she was 
normally moving too fast for people to really notice just what she was 
wearing.  That, and the odd hours she worked meant there wasn't a whole lot 
of traffic, at least relatively speaking.

As the facility came into view, Kate slowed her pace down to a trot, taking 
the time to look it over.  The building was an odd size as far as she was 
concerned.  Far too large to be a home or a simple gym, but it wasn't large 
enough to host any major organization that she could really think of.  The 
thought that perhaps a well to do hunting club or a group of religious nuts 
might be able to use a building of its size crossed her mind.  Once again 
though, not an extremely large group.  "Just the right size to seem out of 
place."  She chuckled as she pronounced her final opinion of the structure.

It was also so far out of the way that it couldn't help but be suspicious, 
but that was a necessary trait to give Kate the privacy she needed.  
Snapping her fingers, Kate finally settled on the notion that the facility 
looked just the right size for a mad scientist to house his research 
project.  The thought that she was the research project only seemed more 
humorous.  Finished with her musing, Kate finally went up to the door and 
looked at the overly sophisticated lock.  "Most assuredly a mad scientist's 
place."  With that she typed in her 15 digit password and placed her finger 
against a pad.  The moment it read Kate's fingerprint and opened up, she 
stepped in.  At least her fingerprint hadn't changed as a result of the 
alterations going on inside her body.  She focused on her hearing.  She 
could hear the sound of the machinery, though that wasn't her goal.

The regular breathing of someone sleeping told her that Jack was still in 
bed.  Reaching back, Kate proceeded to pull her outfit off.  She watched the 
material contract in upon itself, not having her muscles to spread it apart. 
  Entirely nude, she made her way back to her room.  At first she considered 
taking a bath, but resolved to take care of that later on.  At the moment 
she wanted to get her few hours of sleep so she could be fully awake when 
Jack was.  Currently she needed only three to four hours to be fully rested. 
  This allowed her to be at work for four of the hours that Jack slept.

Not all of their waking hours were spent together, however, as Jack was 
still a natural computer addict and required what they now referred to as 
internet time.  Kate wasn't entirely guiltless on this matter herself, as 
even she needed her alone time.  She simply chose to spend the greater 
amount of her alone time relaxing in the swimming pool, jogging, watching TV 
or any number of other things.  The TV time was the biggest issue and the 
best way she had learned to get Jack to leave without actually asking him.  
They had very different ideas of what was a good show.  While Kate tended to 
enjoy legal proceedings, Jack found them to be horrifically boring.  He had 
never said anything, but they both knew it.  Every time he would find her 
watching anything involving law enforcement he would simply make his way to 
one of the computer terminals and partake in his own hobbies.

Kate headed to bed after slipping into some undergarments and a t-shirt.  
Another oddity Kate had begun to adapt to was that she no longer covered up 
as she lay in bed.  The cold didn't bother her anymore, at least nothing 
like she had felt in quite some time.  Thus she had no need of covers.  The 
only time she did cover up was when cuddling with Jack, or when some impulse 
moved her to.  The impulse was most often brought on by the thought of how 
much more of her human life was going to slip away from her because of her 
powers.  It was something she was coming to fear, though she never mentioned 
it to Jack.  She also made no mention of the fact that her training sessions 
had become almost an addiction for her.  After she'd had to quite exercising 
for a while, the feeling of strengthening her body again was like a drug.  
These thoughts didn't bother Kate for long, as even in her enhanced state 
sleep found her quickly when she sought it, though it could never hold her 
for long.

******************************************************************************

Jack moved quietly down the halls, feeling somewhat strange thanks to the 
size of the facility.  It was a feeling he hadn't been able to shake ever 
since moving in; there was simply too much space for two people.  It was 
even stranger than living in a mansion by himself, as far as he was 
concerned.  The entire structure was something of a lab and gym combined 
into one, with a living section.  He had actually begun to wonder if this 
setting was good for a person's mental health.  As he made his way past 
Kate's room he took a moment to ease the door open, thankful that she never 
locked her door.  Looking in on Kate's sleeping form, he noticed she lay 
uncovered.

He knew that it felt nice enough not to need covers when you were a human, 
and that Kate had even less need of such things.  Still, as he looked upon 
her he couldn't help himself from making his way into her room and taking a 
moment to find a sheet.  He laid it over Kate's form, giving her a curious 
look as he sat down beside her bed.  "So do you trust me this much?"  Jack 
kept his voice down to a whisper, though he knew if Kate was awake she could 
hear him even then.  He found himself admiring her sleeping form and how she 
remained asleep despite the noise he made.  He wondered if Kate's body and 
mind had simply become so accustomed to his presence that it felt no trigger 
to wake up, no threat.  Curiously, he wondered if it would upset Kate if he 
conducted a little test.

Wrapping his own hands around his neck, Jack restricted his breathing, 
unpleasant as it was.  He wanted to make sure his voice came out correctly.  
"Kate...help."  Jack felt a rush of wind and found himself looking straight 
into Kate's eyes.  Her face showed more than a little anger at first.  For a 
moment Jack thought he was about to lose his head.  Her gaze quickly scanned 
the room.  When her eyes only found him, her face changed to a curious look, 
then she fell back onto her pillow.  The entire event took less than a 
minute, but it was at least three before Jack found the will power to sit up 
again.  That look had scared the daylights out of him, especially 
considering how powerful Kate was.  The fact that she had fallen back to 
sleep so quickly after finding only him in the room was somewhat perplexing 
though.

He could feel his heart pounding inside his chest, but his curious nature 
got the better of him.  Standing up, he approached Kate's bed, reached down 
and placed his hand against her throat.  Nothing happened.  Kate remained 
entirely still and continued sleeping.  So she responded to his cry for help 
and went straight back to sleep, yet she didn't respond to his hand on her 
throat.  A moment later his fingers returned to her neck, this time 
attempting to tickle her.  Now she did respond in that her right hand came 
up and brushed his away while her body convulsed in a giggle for a moment.  
A playful grin appeared on Jack's face as he continued to harass her with 
tickles.

Several times Kate brushed his hand away until at last her hand siezed his 
and Jack found himself pulled across her body.  A slight yelp came from his 
lips as Kate's arms wrapped around him; he fear that his experiment might 
have just cost him his life.  Instead he found himself wrapped in Kate's 
embrace, quite similar to the ones he had enjoyed while cuddling with her, 
though this time his arms were entirely bound.  He struggled to free himself 
until his strength was exhausted.  "Umm Kate, would you let me up?"  No 
response.  "Kate, please let me up?"  Once again no response.  "Kate, are 
you awake?"  No response.  Jack was soon to be grateful that Kate had 
already had three hours of sleep and he only had to spend a short while 
unable to move.

******************************************************************************

Kate didn't feel entirely rested as she began to wake up, though she felt 
good enough.  As her eyes drifted open, it didn't take her long to notice 
that a couple of things were amiss.  One, she had some covers on, and two, 
she had ahold of Jack.  Unsure of just what had happened, she looked at 
Jack, who had a sheepish grin on his face.  "Alright, which one of us has 
some explaining to do?"  Jack blushed a bit.

"I do."  Kate grinned and tightened her grip on Jack enough to cause him a 
bit of pain, though nothing serious.

"Well then you best be getting to it."  Jack considered his options, 
wondering if he should leave out a few details.  He decided to give Kate the 
entire truth.

"Well, I noticed you were uncovered and decided to cover you up.  But on 
entering your room it struck me that with your senses having been enhanced 
so much, it was kind of odd that I didn't wake you up.  I assumed that it 
was simply because you didn't consider me a threat because of your strength 
or because you were comfortable around me.  To test this theory I restricted 
my breathing a bit and called out for help.  I didn't expect it to work, 
considering how obvious it was, but you did respond, quite rapidly I must 
say.  I guess your subconscious told you that I was in trouble and your body 
reacted without you really becoming aware.  I imagine that had I actually 
been in trouble you might have become entirely aware, but as it was you fell 
back to sleep rather quickly."

Kate gave her head a slight nod.  "Go on."

"Well, after that I decided to see if you would respond to a threat in a 
similar manner, so I put my hands around your throat.  I didn't try to 
strangle you; I knew my strength couldn't hurt you anyway.  I suppose it was 
a bit dangerous, but you didn't even respond at all.  I suppose your body 
can recognize when you're in danger, and it felt something with the strength 
of a fly wasn't worth moving over."  Kate gave a slight giggle.  Considering 
that she was more than 4,000 times Jack's strength, that was a fairly 
accurate comparison.

"Okay, so you were testing me without my permission, hmm.  Now tell me, how 
did you end up in my arms?"  Kate tightened her grip a bit more, reminding 
Jack of an overly snug seatbelt.

"Well I decided to try one more thing, so I tickled you.  At first you just 
brushed my hand away, until suddenly you reached up and, well I ended up 
like this."  Kate loosened her grip on Jack, though she didn't allow him to 
get up yet.

"So did you discover anything through these tests of yours?"  Jack gave a 
nod.

"It seems that whatever alterations your body and brain went through to 
allow you to move and respond more quickly also made your body and mind 
respond more closely together.  Though I haven't done enough tests to be 
sure, I assume your body responds more readily to emotions then a normal 
person's.  I think your body may be capable of acting upon your emotions 
without the full consent of the conscious part of your brain.  Your body is 
its own animal, as it were, at least more so than what a human's is."  Kate 
gave Jack a serious look.

"Is this something I should be concerned about?"

"Well, this is all speculation on my part from a few amusing tests.  It 
could be that you're simply more prone to sleepwalking, of course.  The only 
reason I'm willing to go this far is that you seemed to search the room when 
I called for help, and your emotions clearly changed.  That said, if it is 
true I don't think it's something you need to be overly concerned about.  
After all, you were able to recognize me."  Kate took this in.  As Jack 
watched the expression on her face, he was a little surprised at how well 
she was taking it.  At last Kate released her grip and rolled him over onto 
his back.  Sitting up, she looked down at him.

"Then if there isn't anything to worry about, I suppose I should make you 
pay for tickling me."  A moment later Jack found himself unable to move and 
hardly able to breath as Kate seemed able to find every ticklish part on his 
body.

******************************************************************************

"So how did your work go last night?"  Jack looked up from the pan of 
scrambled eggs.  Kate had finished giving him the tickle torture a few 
minutes ago and he now found himself preparing breakfast.  Not that Kate was 
actually forcing him to; he had actually volunteered for the task.  He had 
wanted to make breakfast for them in the first place; his playing around had 
simply delayed his efforts.  Kate, for her part, was sitting at the dining 
table absently bending and unbending a metal bar.  "Where the heck did she 
get that?" ran through Jack's mind for a moment, and he began to search the 
area for signs that Kate had broken something.

"Well enough, made a few arrests, caught someone trying to outrun the 
police."  Kate went silent for a moment as if thinking on something.  "Hey 
Jack, what is the difference between your everyday crook who's willing to 
kill and those with abilities beyond human?"  Jack considered the question 
for a moment.

"Well, I would say it's pretty obvious: one is a lot more dangerous than the 
other.  Why do you ask?"  Kate stuck her tongue out at Jack.

"I know that.  I mean, well you know that I killed Copperhead, and even 
though the official report is that it was self defense we both know I am far 
too powerful to have really been threatened by him.  Well, last night I 
caught someone on the run who pointed a gun at me.  But he never fired; I 
didn't really give him the chance to pull the trigger.  Now, everyone seems 
to feel that Copperhead deserved to die because he was a murderer, but 
wasn't that guy willing to kill to?"

"Oh, I see where this is going.  There's a difference between willing to 
kill and enjoying it, you know.  After all, how many people did Copperhead 
kill and how many did the guy you arrested last night kill?"  Kate turned 
her head, seeming to mull this over in her mind a bit.  "Kate, even if they 
had the same mentality, there is the danger factor as well.  Even if that 
guy had the same desires as Copperhead, he simply wasn't as powerful."  Kate 
gave a slight nod.

"I suppose the more dangerous something is to oneself and others, the more 
seriously one needs to take the situation."  Jack gave a nod of agreement 
and was about to give his opinion when Kate snapped her fingers.

"Oh, that reminded me, there's something I wanted to talk to you about.  I 
think my sense of smell has been improving."  Jack gave Kate an amused look. 
  Here she was getting him worried that she was going to start doubting her 
actions, and now she wanted to talk about what she could smell.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, last night when I caught that guy I could smell drugs on him, and I 
don't mean a little bit.  Either he had spent the last 24 hours in a 
smoke-filled room or my sense of smell has gotten stronger.  Do you think we 
could do some tests to see if I have improved any in that area?"

"I suppose so, but I'm not sure if we really have the equipment to test that 
one.  Why don't you get ahold of Mark and see if he could help out?"

"All right, but could we do some testing here first?  I don't want to bother 
him only to find out my nose is only slightly better than a human's.  I 
really don't want to seem like a nut."  Jack chuckled at this.

"Yeah, I suppose I see your point.  I'll see what I can dig up after 
breakfast.  Just how should we go about testing you though?  Mix two 
substances together and see if you can pick them out, or perhaps try for 
small amounts?"  Kate seemed to think about this for a few moments.

"Well, I think being able to locate something would require both talents, to 
be honest with you.  Why don't you try to hide something and I'll see if I 
can find it."  Jack was a bit surprised when Kate brushed him aside and took 
over the cooking.  "You go ahead and get started while the smell of the food 
can help mask things."  Nodding, Jack dashed out of the room and towards his 
lab.  Once there, he looked around trying to figure out what would be good 
for their little test.  A short while later he was filling a few small 
containers with very small amounts of ethyl alcohol, deciding it was the 
best substance for the purpose.  It wasn't exactly the type of alcohol one 
would drink, considering it was meant for lab use.

"Kate, do you want me to go ahead and hide them while you're still cooking?"

"Yeah, go ahead, and thanks for the heads up."  Jack wondered what Kate had 
meant by that, then considered how sharp her other senses were.  She would 
probably be taking steps to ensure she didn't get any idea of where he put 
the containers.  As Jack worked his way through the facility, he was 
reminded of just how large it truly was as he hid each of the containers.  
He didn't worry too much about concealing them; Kate seemed to want to use 
only her nose and he trusted her not to cheat.  A short while later he 
returned to the kitchen to find the plates ready.  "All set."  Kate grinned 
and took a bite of her eggs.

"After we eat I'm going to blindfold myself, then I'll need you to make sure 
I don't bump into anything."  Jack was a bit surprised; he had expected Kate 
not to cheat, but he hadn't expected her to go that far.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?  You might end up breaking something."  
Kate giggled a bit, amused that for once that something most certainly 
wouldn't be her.

"Don't worry, I'll take it easy."

******************************************************************************

Jack watched curiously as Kate wrapped some medical tape around her head 
several times, putting quite a few layers over her eyes.  She didn't seem to 
think that closing them would be good enough and insisted on ensuring she 
couldn't see.  Curiously he called out to her, "Hey Kate, why don't you try 
seeing through that?"  There was a moment's pause.

"Nope, that's a no go."  Jack snapped his fingers with a slight chuckle.

"Dang.  Ah well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  So far you've only 
enhanced what you naturally have, after all."  Kate nodded her head in 
agreement as she finally stopped bandaging herself, though it was only 
because she had run out of tape.

"All right now, just what am I trying to find?"  Jack fished in his pocket 
and pulled out a vial.  As he held it up under Kate's nose, she sniffed and 
a curious looked appeared on her face.  "Since when do you keep alcohol 
around, and why does it smell funny?"

"It's for experiments in the lab, and the reason it smells funny are some 
handy chemicals that are mixed in with it.  It doesn't interfere with its 
use so long as you know how they react, and ensures no one drinks it."  
Jack's mouth nearly hit the floor a moment later as Kate simply inhaled 
through her lips and the liquid was gone.

"Tastes kind of funny."  Jack snorted a moment later.

"Well, I suppose we don't have to worry about you going blind."  Kate simply 
giggled and took a moment to get a whiff of the air.  A few moments later 
Jack was following her through the facility, only giving her directions when 
it looked as if she was going to hit something.  He found himself more than 
a little impressed by how easily she was finding her way around.  Recalling 
her sense of touch, he wondered if she was giving new meaning to feeling 
your way through.  Jack wasn't the only one noticing this either, as Kate 
found herself seemingly able to feel any large structure that she was about 
to encounter.  This was handy as she didn't much feel like leaving dents in 
the wall considering how much it might cost to fix.  She wondered if her 
exercise room might be the one place where she didn't have to worry about 
damaging the walls too much.

The entire process took some time, and Jack was grateful he had left the 
containers out in the open, not requiring Kate to feel around.  Still, as he 
followed her he noted how easily she located each one of the containers, 
never entering the wrong room and always going in at least the right general 
direction.  It took her a while to distinguish the direction the scent was 
coming from a few times.  Still, it was more than a little impressive; Jack 
couldn't smell a thing.  A thought hit him a few moments later.  "Hey, 
you're not cheating and going by my reactions or something are you?"

"Nope."  Jack gave Kate a scrutinizing look.  The tone of her voice didn't 
seem to be hiding anything, and she really did want to find this out for 
herself, so it didn't seem likely she was pulling his chain.

"Alright, just checking."  Kate felt Jack's lips press against her neck a 
moment later.  Smiling, she reached back and pulled his head around to her 
face.  Pressing her lips firmly against his, she gave his rear a few good 
pats before moving on.

"We can do that later, searching now."

"Dang, now you got me wishing I hadn't hid so many."  Kate simply giggled at 
Jack's comment as she continued her search.  Jack, in the meantime, grew 
ever more grateful for how sharp her senses were.  It only required her a 
short while to find each one of the containers.  The fact that she didn't 
seem to notice the different in volumes each held was quite a bit more 
astounding.  Kate would only realize the difference later, after setting the 
containers down and removing her blindfold.  As she did so, she couldn't 
help but grin.

"Well, I think it's time to call Mark and set up some other tests."

******************************************************************************

Mark felt more than a little odd as he led Kate towards the training center. 
  He had been shocked enough when he got the phone call which informed him 
that Kate wanted to test her sense of smell.  Now here he was leading what 
had become his prized officer towards the same area they used to test police 
dogs.  Jack had come along for this one, though it had meant they had to 
leave three hours early.  This of course meant he wouldn't be going back 
home until Kate was ready for work.  Kate felt as strange as Mark did, and 
hoped that no one would see her doing this.  Back at home it had seemed like 
fun.  It was different when there was someone else there other than Jack.

"Alright now Kate, are you sure you want to go through with this?  I mean, 
it does seem a little strange."  Kate couldn't help but blush a bit.

"Well, I admit I feel silly, but if I can do the same things as the dogs 
then I can start relying on my nose more.  Who knows, perhaps we can make it 
official and have it count as probable cause when I smell drugs."  Mark gave 
a nod; it would be handy to have an officer that could not only travel 
around the city quite swiftly but could work as if they had a canine unit 
with them as well.  He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to get the 
paperwork put through, but figured that would come after the testing.  
Kate's anxiety jumped a level as they reached the testing area and she found 
Eddie waiting for them.

"Well, I got everything set up for you Fido."  Kate stuck her tongue out at 
Eddie.

"You're just jealous that I may not have to work with a stinky dog."  Eddie 
just rolled his eyes at the comment.

"Hey, she's a much better partner than you.  Doesn't complain nearly as 
much."  Kate gave Eddie a curious look that turned into realization a moment 
later.

"Well I hope you two are happy together."  Mark and Jack simply rolled their 
eyes as the two swapped insults.

"All right then, how about we get started?"  A moment later Mark set a few 
containers in front of Kate, each of which held a white powder.  Taking a 
seat, Jack watched as Kate sniffed the air lightly and proceeded to indicate 
which ones were drugs and which were other substances.  She requiring only a 
little more time than in the test at home, as with her enhanced senses of 
smell she still had to know something's scent to tell what it was properly.  
Jack couldn't help but find the entire process quite amusing as he watched 
Kate put her nose to work.

******************************************************************************

"What?  What?"  Kate looked over at Jack, who was still shaking with 
laughter.  Having just watched Kate finish her test, he couldn't help 
himself.  She had passed as easily as any canine unit, though that wasn't 
the most amusing thing about it.  Eddie had handed her a dog collar with 
"Kate" written on the tag once she was finished.  Though she refused to wear 
it, she was holding it in her hand.  Kate finally allowed herself a grin.  
While she had passed the test, she wasn't sure if her nose would count as a 
dog's just yet.  Mark would have to do quite a bit of paperwork, and most 
likely a lot of explaining, before he could get that one passed.  Still, he 
was going to try.

******************************************************************************

Kate couldn't help but grin as she stood within the locker room getting 
dressed for her patrol.  She was wearing not her altered police uniform, but 
a civilian outfit.  Her dog license, as it were, had gone through.  She 
could now legally search and arrest someone based on her sense of smell.  
This was made even more remarkable by the fact that Mark had managed to get 
the paperwork through in bit under a week, and now they were ready to use 
her.  Her job was a simply one; she would patrol the rougher neighborhoods 
and see whom she could track down.  Today she would be spending a lot of her 
time searching for dealers.

Unlike previous times though, she didn't need to actually buy any illegal 
substances, she just had to smell it on them.  The fact that she was 
effectively walking around with a canine unit was going to make this an 
extremely easy task.  Of course, one couldn't actually perform such an act 
with a dog considering how much attention it would draw.  And unlike a 
normal officer, she didn't need any backup to protect her.  Those officers 
who would be helping her out were there solely to pick up anyone that she 
arrested.  After all, even though she would be unarmed she was far from 
defenseless, and anyone who made the mistake of shooting her would simply be 
charged with assaulting an officer with a lethal weapon.

Taking a last glance at herself, Kate nearly skipped out of the locker room. 
  As she made her way outside and found Eddie waiting for her, she quickly 
took the passenger seat.  "Well, guess I'm going to have to deal with your 
slow driving once again."

"Just until we get to the drop point, then I just have to shadow you."  Kate 
nodded in agreement as they drove off in the unmarked police car.  There 
would be other officers close by, but just for pickups.  This meant 
shadowing Kate was going to be extremely easy; they just had to remain 
within five minutes of her position.  Indeed, the fact that Kate was pretty 
much invulnerable to any weapon she was likely to find on the street was 
going to make this an extremely easy task.

******************************************************************************

As Eddie drove off, leaving Kate to walk the rest of the distance, she had 
to hide her smile.  Taking in a deep breath of air, she could already pick 
up several substances.  Although the majority weren't illegal, they were 
quite unpleasant.  Oddly, she found this didn't bother her as much as she 
expected.  A giggle escaped her lips as she figured this was probably to 
avoid her getting overwhelmed.  The realization that, had her senses simply 
enhanced without being able to handle certain extremes, it would be possible 
for a stink bomb to take her down seemed quite amusing.

Her mood hardly changed at all as she began to make her way through the 
buildings, simply letting her nose lead her.  This was extremely useful as 
it took all the guess work out of the situation.  As she began to approach a 
man dressed in a rather oversized coat, she grinned.  She was sure of what 
that jacket hid.  He gave Kate a rather distrustful look.  The lack of 
caution she had taken preparing for this showed.  It was quite clear to him 
that she was either a rookie cop or someone who didn't have a damn idea what 
they were doing.  Either way, he wasn't about to risk selling her anything.  
A grin formed on his face as he prepared to simply tell her that he wasn't 
selling anything.  His grin faded the moment Kate opened her mouth.  "You're 
under arrest for possession of illegal substances.  Please lay down flat on 
the ground and put your hands behind your back."

"WHAT THE FUCK BITCH, YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"  Kate couldn't help but 
giggle at the man's reaction.  Of course it served to gain the attention of 
nearly everyone in the area almost immediately.

"Now no need for that.  Either you comply right now and get on the ground or 
I will make you."  The guy was visibly upset.  Apparently he hadn't expected 
Kate to come out in such a direct fashion.  Of course, what Kate was doing 
would have normally been illegal; she would need a reason to make an arrest. 
  However, with the paperwork now official she could, based simply on her 
sense of smell.  A moment later she fished her license and badge out from a 
side pocket.

"Fuck this."  Realizing the man wasn't going to comply, Kate simply reached 
out and took hold of his right arm, which he tried to jerk away, only to 
find he couldn't budge Kate in the least.  A second later he was on the 
ground and she was cuffing him.  "What the fuck?  Get off me!"  The man was 
clearly upset at Kate's actions; after all, she normally couldn't treat a 
civilian in such a manner, even with her enhanced strength.  A grin formed 
on her face as she thought about how much she loved her new abilities.  She 
was so caught up in this that she didn't notice a few people coming up 
behind her.

"You heard the man."  Kate only noticed the fellow behind her when he spoke 
up.  As she finished cuffing her suspect, she stood up to notice a group of 
people around her.  One of them flashed a weapon; this got a giggle from 
her.

"I guess my backup is late in coming."

"Girl, you just made a big mistake."  The fact that Kate only grinned, as if 
she found his threat amusing, seemed to anger the fellow.  As Kate took a 
moment to look around, she noticed that her backup wasn't actually late but 
instead were holding back.  She would have to compliment them later on their 
good judgment.

"What, you want to join your friend here?"  Apparently the group hadn't 
heard of the red-headed super femme police officer, or didn't think it was 
her.  This was fine with Kate.  The look upon the man's face was quite 
priceless; Kate's attitude seemed more than a little unnerving.  Of course 
she doubted he was going to back down considering how many people were 
around.  No, he wouldn't dare lose face in front of so many people, and she 
doubted the others would either.  A moment later Kate's hunch was proven 
correct when the man struck out with his right hand.  The impact landed 
solidly on her face.  She even felt the rough edges of a few of his rings, 
not that they hurt in the least.

The cry of pain that came from his lips, on the other hand, showed how much 
force he had put into the impact.  "Oh, that was assault you realize."  A 
moment later Kate drove her fist into the man's stomach.  As she did so, she 
found herself actually able to detect what she was hitting.  There was a 
rather solid layer of muscle underneath his clothing, quite a surprise to 
her.  It mattered little though, as no human being stood a chance against 
Kate's strength.  She felt the wall of muscle give way.  The force of the 
punch lifted the guy a few inches off the ground, suspended by her fist.  As 
the man gasped for air Kate removed her hand, allowing him to fall to the 
ground.  "So, who else wants to try?"

At this point Kate fully expected everyone else to catch on to just what was 
going on.  The fact that she had easily downed one of their number with a 
single punch should have been proof enough that they were outmatched, at 
least in her opinion.  This proved to be a false assumption though, as a 
moment later Kate found herself engulfed.

Eddie watched in amused silence as Kate had her fun with the first of the 
group.  However, as the crowd seemed to fall in on her he had to resist the 
urge to rush out and help.  Calling to mind just who was under that mass of 
humanity, he was glad a second later when he saw another person downed.  
Leaning back into his seat, he watched as each of Kate's punches easily took 
down another of her assailants.

Now this wasn't fun as far as Kate was concerned.  She had expected the 
people to turn tail and run the moment she downed their apparent leader.  As 
this had proven not to be the case, she was actually getting annoyed.  The 
idea of downing a few thugs had seemed fun at first, but now as she fought 
them she was bored.  They simply didn't give her enough of a challenge to 
really be worthwhile.  She was thus a bit surprised when she felt a knife 
slash her back.  The blade didn't damage her skin in the least, but it did 
cut through her shirt.  Looking over her shoulder as she held out two of the 
gang members by their throats, waiting for them to black out, she grinned at 
the person who had drawn the knife.  "You might want to try something else." 
  A moment later she let the two men drop to the ground as several people 
backed away.

It was a pretty good-sized group, Kate realized.  There were eleven people 
at her feet, and a few more were still standing.  As they surrounded her, 
realization finally seemed to set in.  "Shit, it's the bitch from the news." 
  Kate gave the source of the words a stern look, not appreciating them.

"What, are you going to try and run away now?  It won't work.  The best 
thing you can do now is surrender."

"Yeah, let's see if you're faster than this."  Kate could have dodged 
easily, or moved to subdue the man as she watched him draw a firearm from 
his side.  But as she looked at the sawed off shotgun she couldn't help 
herself from showing off, and chose to remain motionless.  A few moments 
later she felt a spray of small beads cover her upper torso, shredding a 
good deal of her clothing.  The man's smug look faded the moment he saw Kate 
still standing.

"I don't have to dodge."  Kate's smile had by now turned into a smirk.  The 
entire event had actually ceased to be amusing, thanks in part to her 
inability to have any fun.  She would have liked to tease these fellows a 
bit and to really put them in some pain, but that would have gotten her into 
some trouble.  Even now she imagined she might hear some complaints about 
internal injuries perhaps, or the fact that she had simply knocked some of 
them out.  That she had to work within the confines of the law and avoid 
things that were likely to get the police prosecuted was a big 
disappointment.  As a few people looked on in stunned awe, Kate heard 
someone else cry out and a moment later she felt herself covered in bullets.

Of course quite a few missed, though she made sure none hit the people 
around her.  Kate's arms became a blur as she snatched several bullets out 
of the air while she allowed others to strike her skin, further tearing away 
her clothing.  As the bullets struck her, Kate couldn't really get the same 
amusement out of the situation as she had several before it.  This was 
thanks in part to her having to worry about bystanders and about how badly 
she would hurt those that were currently assaulting her.  When at last the 
hail of bullets stopped, even her smug grin was gone.  "You do realize that 
you just used what is considered a lethal weapon on me.  I could snap each 
one of your heads off for that and call it self defense.  I recommend you 
get on the ground now."

Of course Kate knew this wasn't the truth.  Yes, they had used what would be 
considered lethal force on her; however she hadn't been injured.  Thus she 
had no reason to claim she had feared for her life, and while she might get 
away with killing the occasional person based on such grounds, five people 
were out of the question.  Mark probably wouldn't be able to cover up such a 
slaughter and in all truth she didn't really want to conduct one.  She had 
come into this expecting to be shot at, after all; she just hadn't expected 
it to be so boring.  As those still standing complied, Kate took her time 
binding them up.  Looking around, she tried to figure out if they all 
belonged to the same group.

None of them wore the same colors, so to speak.  The fact that they attacked 
her probably had more to do with her taking down the dealer and the fact 
that she was in a neighborhood that just hated police.  That wasn't a really 
big deal to her though; in fact she figured she would have to come back more 
often.  Perhaps when she had a sturdier outfit.  She looked at her tattered 
clothing, then glanced over at Eddie, who just waved to her.  Eddie had of 
course realized that his police car wouldn't be enough to load up all these 
people and had already called in some extra cars.  Things hadn't gone quite 
the way they had expected.

It had been assumed that Kate would just catch suspects individually, 
letting her nose lead her.  That simply wasn't going to happen it seemed, as 
one of the major problems was that she appeared to be alone.  This tended to 
make her attackers bolder than they would have otherwise been.  The fact 
that she had acted so boldly didn't seem to help matters either.  As she 
looked around though, she wondered if that would change the next time she 
came to visit.  Surely they would learn to simply stand down.  She heard the 
sound of sirens.  Soon there were several more police in the area and two 
ambulances.  A moment later she felt Eddie's hand on her shoulder and was 
surprised to see him holding something...her uniform.

"You've got to be kidding me.  We probably alerted every dealer in the 
neighborhood."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that.  I'm not sure they would give up an entire night's 
business just because of one incident.  Though let's see if we can avoid 
incidents like this.  Besides, it isn't your clock out time yet, and even if 
we just roam the area I think we can achieve some good results."  Kate gave 
a slight nod and was ushered into one of the ambulances for a moment.  A few 
minutes later she stepped out fully clothed in her uniform.

"Alright, let's see how this goes."  Taking in a deep breath of air, Kate 
was surprised to smell some other chemical substances in the area.  She 
began to look around, then her eyes fell on the ambulance.  She chuckled at 
her own quick assumption and headed out.  Eddie stayed back for a while, 
sitting in his car.  He decided he would have to talk to Mark about letting 
Kate simply walk through here on a regular basis letting her nose lead her.  
Even if she didn't get to make any more arrests, he couldn't help but think 
it would make for a good deterrent.

As Kate scanned the area, she noticed the streets had emptied out a bit but 
not as much as she'd expected.  Perhaps the time she'd spent in the woods 
had caused her to forget just how used to sirens these neighborhoods really 
were.  As things calmed down, the amount of people on the streets began to 
swell once again.  Kate soon learned word traveled quickly as she found 
herself being yelled at.  Apparently she wasn't welcome in such areas, but 
that was to be expected.  She didn't let this bother her.  After all, she 
wasn't out there to be a heroine; she was out to protect people by enforcing 
the law.  This meant she was naturally unwelcome in certain environments.  
As the term 'pig' was shouted at her repeatedly, she turned towards a group 
of teens.  She couldn't arrest or injure them for being brats.  "That's 
Super Pig to you little punks."

As Kate continued to follow her nose, she didn't make a point of pursuing 
anyone.  With so many people watching her, everyone who had something to 
hide seemed to know to duck out before she came around.  She wondered if 
anyone would be dumb enough to try and take a shot at her.  To their credit, 
despite the insults and comments she endured, no one was that foolish.  She 
didn't consciously realize it, but as Kate walked along her sense of 
pleasure began to return as her demeanor became less that of a protector and 
more of a predator.

******************************************************************************

Mark looked through a few of his files, heaving a long sigh.  It had been 
two weeks since Kate had begun patrolling the less pleasant neighborhoods, 
and she had done a good job.  That said, he was also beginning to get a few 
complaints.  At times she had gone a little further than he would have 
liked; well, actually a lot further.  She hadn't killed anyone or broken any 
bones, but her tendency to deal a punch that sent most people to the ground 
was something of an issue.  Especially when she could so easily restrain 
them.  Still, the fact that her new abilities made it so easy for her to 
find people made him reluctant to take her off the beat.  "You wanted to see 
me?"

Mark looked up from the stack of papers as Kate walked into the room.  
"Yeah, take a seat."  Kate sat down in front of Mark, noting the large stack 
of papers between them.  "Kate, do you know what these are?"  As she looked 
them over, Kate didn't look angry, smug, defiant or pleased with what she 
saw.  She looked a little down, but still herself.

"Misconduct reports, I assume about me."  Mark gave his head a slight nod.

"It seems some people don't appreciate the way you've been handling these 
situations.  Now to be honest, I really don't care.  I would care if you 
beat those people to a bloody heap, but you didn't.  However, I can't ignore 
all of these.  So I'm calling you in here to ask you to tone it down a bit.  
No more knocking them out with a punch to the gut, alright?"  Kate gave a 
pout and lowered her head.

"Yes sir, but...well it's just so boring."  Mark gave Kate a curious glance, 
quite pleased to see her complying so quickly.  Of course this was in part 
thanks to Kate realizing the truth of the matter.  She had realized early on 
that she should have simply restrained her suspects' arms and cuffed them, 
but it was just so boring.  It felt good to at least be able to cause them a 
little pain and vent some of her frustration.  Mark found himself pondering 
the problem of her boredom.  It wasn't a situation that he had really dealt 
with very often, or indeed ever.  While he'd had to calm down thrill seekers 
before, he couldn't really put Kate into their lot.  She was simply too 
powerful to be considered a regular thrill seeker.  He could see why she 
would consider the job boring when he took into account just how capable she 
was.  "I guess I need to be more careful though, when I consider my hands 
can deliver an impact far greater than any human with a club, or gun for 
that matter."

"True, I can't argue with you there.  I really don't know how to handle this 
situation though.  Unless, hmm...I wonder if I should move you to SWAT.  I 
bet you wouldn't have any problems meeting the physical requirements, and 
when they are called out violence is normally already involved.  Perhaps it 
is time we took you off the streets and put you to use where you're better 
suited."  Kate seemed to think about this for a moment.

"Well it does sound good, but I worry I wouldn't be making the best use of 
my abilities.  I mean, even if I find what I'm doing boring, at least I'm 
protecting people."

"Tell you what, I'll have you moved over to SWAT but also make you available 
for some other assignments.  You won't be a patrol officer anymore, but I 
think I can get you some assignments that better suit your abilities.  Who 
knows, considering the diversity of the situations you could be useful in, I 
might be able to get you on with the fire department and other rescue groups 
as well."  Kate now had a worried expression on her face.

"I said I wanted to help people, not give up my social life."

"Don't worry about that, you would still work just regular hours."  Kate's 
look of concern vanished.

"May I get a pay raise as well?"  Now Mark looked worried.

"We'll see how well this works out.  Then we'll go from there."

"Ah shucks."  Kate let out a slight giggle and Mark leaned forward, looking 
over the papers and shaking his head.  "I guess this means you have more 
paperwork to get done."

"Yeah, that goes without saying.  Listen, I guess that will do for your 
reprimand.  I'll get to work on this."  Kate nodded.

"Thanks Mark, see you later."  Making her way out of Mark's office, she 
sighed as she looked around the station.  She was still on duty, so she 
wasn't just going to go home.  That would also throw off her sleeping 
habits, which she didn't want to do either.  Instead she opted to roam the 
halls for a little while and try to find something to amuse herself with.  
As Kate let her mind wander she didn't notice the figure sneaking up behind 
her.  It was too late when she felt something slip around her neck and 
buckle on the back.  Snapping around, Kate found herself staring straight 
into the eyes of her assailant.

"Very funny." she snapped as she looked at the chuckling Eddie.  She ran her 
fingers over the dog collar.

"So what did the chief want to talk to you about?"  Kate took a moment to 
remove the collar before responding.

"It seems some think I've been getting a little too rough with my chew toys, 
tearing them up a little too much.  So I'm going to be moved to SWAT and 
perhaps even get some special assignments."  Eddie nodded his head.

"Well, we knew you wouldn't be working as a normal cop for too long.  To be 
honest, I'm surprised they even let us keep you around."  Kate gave Eddie an 
annoyed look.

"Keep me around?  Hmm, I think I'm going to have to beat you with a rolled 
up newspaper to get you to drop the K-9 deal."  Eddie grinned, walking over 
to Kate and putting his arm around her.

"Well while you're here, how about we go down to the firing range and I can 
shoot at you some?"  Kate rolled her eyes but didn't resist as Eddie led her 
away.

End Chapter 4.