Infinity Crisis

Chapter 3

25 years ago.

At just 23 years old Vincent Aliaga had made quite a name for himself in the scientific community. Regarded as one of the brightest up and coming physicist of his generation, Vincent had a natural ability understanding complex mathematics, and already at such a young age had published several of his theories.

It wasn’t a surprise to him that the military offered him a job less than a year after his graduation, but what did surprise him was what the military wanted him to do: kill Infinity Man.

Infinity Man was always an enigma to Vincent, or for that matter, any self-respecting physicist. A man who could fly without propulsion, who could emit untold energies from his eyes, blow hurricane force winds from his mouth. The list was practically endless. He, like all his colleagues, accepted that Infinity Man an enigma, that his body was a technological marvel far ahead of its time, or perhaps born from something or somewhere unheard of. Killing Infinity Man seemed impossible, Vincent already knew this. He would never agree to such a fool’s errand, if it weren’t for one man who convinced him otherwise: Infinity Man himself.

Infinity Man had his reasons. For one, he was not oblivious to the pentagons secret departments. Even in the depths of the pentagon, he could hear them plot and scheme. One department was tasked to secretly do the impossible. Defeat Infinity Man. He ignored this task force for some time, their intention was more hypothetical than reality, until one day a scientist claimed a cobalt-neutrino bomb could kill Infinity Man, and they actively worked on making such a bomb. Infinity man now knew he needed to intervene. Not because he believed that this task force and their experiment would be effective on him, but rather because their little experiment would create an environmental disaster. Such a bomb would be immensely dirty, and the residue from it would be lethally radioactive for generations to come.

So, Infinity Man advised the pentagon of his cooperation, and he let the scientist do as they wish, be their guinea pig. Shoot him, smash him, nuke him. All under his careful supervision, and permission. But one test had an unexpected result. Using extremely high voltage, and a combination of theoretical lasers, Infinity Man ever so briefly saw the future. Or did he see his past? He wasn’t sure. Nor could he replicate the experience. The memory was fleeting, like a dream. One thing was certain, he had died, and humanity faced his awesome power, but within someone else. The result would be catastrophic. Now he saw the necessity of finding a way to defeat himself, and so Infinity Man searched the globe to find the brightest minds capable of pulling off the impossible. Vincent Aliaga was top on the list.

So, Vincent got to watch nuclear tests, with Infinity Man literally standing underneath the bomb. Theoretical weapons of all variety were used against him, all to no avail. Vincent worked tirelessly, sometimes with Infinity Man’s direct guidance as to how to create something, anything, to prove that he was susceptible to something.

But he wasn’t. Vincent became envious of Infinity mans awesome power, who wouldn’t be. All his work was pointless. “Infinity Man was pure energy, and you cannot destroy energy” He once said to a colleague. Vincent thought about what he had said, and repeated the thought in his mind, ‘you can’t destroy energy… he thought with a mischievous grin… but you can transfer it’.

Eventually the team was dissolved, but Vincent had a new purpose; he would make it his life’s work. It wouldn’t matter if it took him his lifetime. Somehow, someway he would transfer Infinity Mans powers into himself. He couldn’t help but be gratified by the thought that one day in the future, he would become Infinity Man.

1.

How does a God sleep?

While Natasha may not have believed herself to be a God, yet, she found it impossible to sleep. Did she even need to sleep? It was 1 AM and she amused herself by looking through the walls of homes in her neighbourhood, watching people sleep, listening to conversations miles away. The experience should have overwhelmed her. Hearing the entire city in unison would drive anyone to madness. Natasha’s mind, like her body, adapted quite well to her newfound abilities. She could choose to ignore the noise or listen intently to it. One conversation piqued her interest, Jason Brinks had met with his supplier and had received a kilogram of cocaine. Natasha bit her lower lip as she watched from her bedroom window from so many miles away, Jason Brinks now driving home. She smiled at the thought of showing herself to Jason as Infinity girl. Afterall, who would believe him? And what would he say to people? That she was Infinity Girl and that she stole all of his drugs? Natasha laughed at the thought of it.

Jason didn’t park in the driveway of his parent’s mansion; he parked out on the street for fear that his parents would question why he was out so late on a school night. He went to his trunk to grab the drugs.

“Hey Jason”

Jason immediately closed the trunk and looked at the person who called his name. It was Natasha, but her outfit, her body, he had to allow a few second delay so he could take her in. “Natasha?” he asked incredulously as he looked her up and down.

Natasha couldn’t help but giggle. She already loved the way the other people had gawked at her in her costume, it was so tight, her breasts so impressively large, body so incredibly tight. “I’m just coming back from a costume party” Natasha said with a smile, showing off her perfectly white teeth. “How do you like my costume?”

“You look, you look… ” Jason was stumped for words, but his desire was obvious and his eyes were fixed on her chest.

“I was thinking of shortening the cape, you know, the next time I wear it.” Natasha turned her body and moved the cape out of the way so that Jason could get a glimpse of her perfect round ass.

“God! It looks like you’re wearing glass.” Jason couldn’t help comment.

“Well, I mean it is pretty tight! Anywho… I was in the neighbourhood. Thought I’d come by, for, well, you know.”

“I don’t have any right now. But I will tomorrow. Do you want to maybe, I don’t know, pay me in advance?” He asked with an implying grin as his eyes looked at her chest, and then back at her eyes.

“Do you know how many guys wanted to touch me tonight? If you’re going to get my costume all dirty with your greasy little hands, I think you’ll find my payment quite steep.”

Jason closed the gap between Natasha, placed his hands on her sides, just above her hips and then firmly moved his hands upwards on her body. “Name your price babe.”

Natasha looked down as Jason’s hand ultimately went to her chest and he squeezed her firm breasts. “Ooo! Now, that’s really going to cost you.”

“God, you’re so fucking hot” Jason said as he began to breathe heavier. He fondled her breasts while his other hand moved down Natasha sleek arm then to her hand where he guided it to his cock.

Natasha allowed him to guide her hand right onto his desire. She unzipped him and played gently with him and looked at him with all seriousness. “I want payment, tonight, three scores.”

“For three scores, my dick has to get wet.”

Natasha let go of him, “forget it then.”

“Hold on hold on, wait” Jason guided Natasha’s hand back onto him. “Three scores, fine, you got it.”

Natasha smirked as she grabbed his shaft. She began stroking it up and down, but her hand began moving faster and faster. Unbeknownst to Jason her hand was practically a blur, all he new was that she made him come in mere seconds.

“Holy fuck!” Jason said among exasperated breaths.

“Three scores, lets do it.” Natasha demanded.

Jason regrouped from the experience, having to catch his breath. “I told you, tomorrow.”

“And I told you, today.”

“And I told you, I don’t have it today.”

“You don’t?” Natasha asked as she walked to back side of Jason’s car and simply popped the trunk open. “Then what’s this?”

Jason was shocked to see the trunk pop open, he could of sworn he closed it. “Natasha that’s pure shit, I gotta dilute it before I distribute it.”

“I thought you said all your stuff was pure?”

“I said my stuff is made from pure shit… look, point is, you can’t have that?”

“I can’t? Wanna try stopping me” Natasha’s fingernail began slicing into the wrapped package.

“Natasha! I’m not fucking around. Leave that alone” Jason engaged Natasha, but she simply extended her arm and kept him at a distance. He tried removing her arm, but it was like a steel beam. He watched her carefully lift a finger of white powder. “Natasha! You take that hit, I’ll have to take you to the hospital?”

“Is that a threat?”

“You’ll fucking OD and die, you dumb bitch!”

Natasha took a hard sniff, and the drugs blasted into her system. But something was wrong, she didn’t feel any different. She put her finger in the package again.

“STOP! What the fuck Natasha!”

“What’s wrong with your shit!” Natasha exclaimed after taking another hit.

“That’s fucking pure coke, I don’t know why you aren’t fucking convulsing right now. But you need to get to the hospital!”

Natasha picked up the package, examined it, and then began breathing deeply through her nose.

Jason’s mouth practically dropped as white powder from the package began to stream directly into Natasha’s nostril. In a short time, all of it was sucked into Natasha. Too many emotions and thoughts conflicted in Jasons mind, he began making incoherent sounds. He just watched 20 thousand dollars sucked away like a vacuum, all of it into Natasha. She should be dead, but what he witnessed wasn’t possible. “Ahh bah yo… You!.Ahhh.”

Natasha briefly looked into the air as she tried to understand if she was feeling anything. She didn’t feel a thing. She had felt like getting a bit of a high, but now she realized, that might be impossible. Her attention refocused on Jason as he continued to babble, “Are you broken?”

“You… you… what did you do?” Jason looked at the empty package, picked it up to confirm all the drugs were gone. Then he looked back at Natasha. But she was nowhere in sight.

2.

Alex entered an elevator from the basement floor of the office building. He had stopped caring about his appearance for some time, often coming to work with his clothes not ironed and his white hair disheveled. Today he looked particularly bad. Having received a tip from Thomas that Infinity Man might be missing, it triggered his paranoia. So, at 2 AM he returned to the office and went to the basement floor and entered the janitor’s closet. Of course, it wasn’t a janitor’s closet, it was just referred to as a closet because based on the blueprints of the building, nothing much bigger than a closet could fit in that space. Nobody, other than Infinity man and Morgan Gillespi, who had died several years prior, had ever entered the room. It was protected by a thick Iron door. If it was ever accessed, it would send a discretionary alert to Infinity Man warning him that someone was trying to access the room. But despite the alarm Infinity Man never came, and Alex entered the closet. Seven hours later, he exited the closet with a lot of questions but a far better understanding of the situation, and the situation was dire.

When he had entered the building at 2 AM there were some cleaning staff and security walking about, now at 9 Am it was business as usual. Alex first took the elevator to the 19^th floor, on that floor was an IT department. He entered and saw a group of people sitting at a table having a laugh over coffee.

They all looked at him with surprise, they knew who Alex Swoon was, but he had never visited their department before.

“I’m looking for Tony” Alex simply asked.

“My name is Tony” A man replied somewhat nervously.

“You know who I am?” Alex asked the man.

“yes sir.”

“Report to my office at 11:00.”

Tony desperately wanted to ask Alex what was the issue? Why would Alex Swoon want to meet with him?

Next Alex went to the top floor and into Salina’s office, he was happy to see that Thomas was already in the office with her. The door was open when he entered, he closed it behind him getting Salina’s and Thomas’ attention.

“We have a situation. Thomas, have you told anybody, inside or outside the office about your findings?”

“Nobody.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Salina asked.

“At 11:30 report to the 13^th floor. We’ll discuss the situation there.”

Salina and Thomas exchanged a look of concern. Wedged between floor 12 and 14 was a smaller floor. On that floor was an airtight perfectly sealed room with a conference table and 8 chairs. The room was soundproof and designed by Infinity Man so that even his keen hearing couldn’t hear what was being discussed in that room.

Alex left Salina’s office and went to his own. He dreaded his next step as he looked at the phone on his office desk. He picked it up and dialed his secretary.

“Mr. Swoons office”

“Tania. I need you to get Arseno Bigsby on the phone.”

“Who?”

“Arseno Bigsby. You’ll have to call our contacts in law enforcement to get his number.” Alex hung up, and let the anxieties wash over him. He thought to himself for a long moment before his eyes closed and he finally went to sleep.

The phone rang.

“Yeah?” Alex answered his phone.

“I have Mr. Bigsby on two.”

“Thank you.” Alex clicked on line 2. “Mr. Bigsby?”

“Who is this? How did you get this number?”

“My name is Alex Swoon, I’m an associate of Infinity Man. I’m told you owe the man a debt. I’m calling to collect.”

There was a brief pause, “How do I know that you know Infinity Man?”

“Because I expect to see you in my office, at Infinity headquarters, at 11 AM. Tell security you have an appointment with Mr. Swoon they’ll be expecting you.”

3.

Natasha may not have been able to get high, but she certainly was high on life. She entered her high school oozing with confidence. Her fashion somewhat contrary to the times. Frumpy girls wearing voluminous and exaggerated balloon sleeves, sometimes even shoulder pads… ugh, she thought. Natasha was wearing white high waisted bell bottom pants that hugged the upper part of her legs tightly. Her top was a black sleeveless turtleneck fitted to her body as if it were tailor made, and squeezing the ensemble together was the red belt with the infinity symbol buckle. Everyone looked at her, everyone commented, and Natasha heard every one of those comments. Sure, there were some jealous bitches. They were envious of her body, who wouldn’t be? She couldn’t help but smile at the slut comments some girls were making. But amidst those comments were a plethora of compliments.

“Fuck she’s hot”

“What is she wearing?”

“Only Natasha Beland could pull that off.”

“Have you seen Natasha?”

“Is she not wearing a bra? How could tits that big look like that, without a bra?”

“Let’s face it, she’s a model.”

“Porn star I’d say.”

“Look at you!” Jean said as she approached Natasha at her locker. “Where did you even get these clothes?”

Natasha smiled at Jean. “Like it? I made them myself.”

“What?”

“Come. I’ll show you something.” Natasha grabbed a magazine from her locker and guided jean to the ladies room. “I didn’t sleep a wink last night, and like, I was bored so I kept turning the buckle, you know, switching to Infinity girl and then back again… and I was like, where does my old clothes go, when I turn into infinity girl? So, I was wearing my PJ’s but then I thought about what I wore during the day, and when I turned the buckle, I was wearing the clothes I thought about. Even though, those exact clothes were lying on my bedroom floor”.

“You can just think of the clothes you want? And you’ll be wearing them?”

“Check it out.” Natasha passed Jean the magazine, pick anything.”

Jean opened the magazine and turned a few pages to a model wearing a pink bikini. “Fine, her.”

“Easy.” Natasha looked at the image and committed it to memory. She turned the buckle on her belt and her body briefly flashed as she turned 360 degrees.

“How!” Jean said amazed as she took in Natasha’s sleek body in the two-piece bikini as she posed with one hand on her hip and the other on her head.

Natasha smiled as she looked at mirror, “How much money would you give me if I went to class like this?”

Jean didn’t reply, she was too shocked. Not by Natasha’s incredible ability, but by the body she was now displaying. She wanted to feel Natasha’s breasts, she wanted to touch her flat tummy. She wanted to get down on her knees, feel her ass, while she licked and pleasured her. She snapped out of it fearing Natasha would catch her staring.

“Okay okay, try again! Pick something hard this time.”

Jean looked through the magazine and saw a promotion for Canon ball run. An actress by the name of Adrienne Barbeau, a dark haired beauty know for her large bust was wearing a spandex jumpsuit. “Okay… this”

“Oooo I like it” Natasha said as she committed the costume to memory. She turned the Infinity symbol and, and spun 360 degrees, but unlike last time, it took her several of turns before she stopped. Now she was wearing the low-cut spandex jumpsuit, it not only looked identical to the costume in the magazine, it looked better, so tight, so shiny.

Jean couldn’t help but stare, desperately wanting to put her hand on friends body, and run them up her sleek curves.

The bell rang signalling the start of class.

“Gotta go! Don’t wanna be late for class.” Natasha practically sang.

“You’re going to go… in that?”

“Sure, why not!?”

Natasha had made her way down the hallway, now nearly empty, as many students had already made it to class. The students that did pass her turned their heads 180 degrees and then shamelessly walked backwards to get a view of Natasha’s back side.

Jason was waiting for her at her classroom door. “Jason” she greeted. “You look tired, you should get some sleep.”

“I need it back” Jason opened, doing his best not to stare at Natasha’s alluring curves in her new body suit.

“What back?”

“The fucking drugs”

“Why would you think I have them?”

“Natasha. I have to pay for that shit, with the profits I make from selling it. I’m going to owe 20 fucking grand!”

“And… this is my problem?”

Jason grabbed her arm firmly, “It’s going to be! Don’t fuck with me Nat! I swear to god, don’t fuck with me! You have no idea who you are fucking with!”

Natasha looked at his hand, gripping her arm and smiled at him knowing he was squeezing as hard as he could. “We agreed on 3 scores, remember? A score being a hit… right? I had one hit, and then I had another, and then I had one more. A deals a deal.”

“No way you took that hit, no fucking way. You stole it. I don’t know how you did it, someone snapped my trunks lock, and you stole it! And I want it back!”

“You don’t believe your own eyes?”

“Natasha, I swear to God!?”

“Do you remember what I was wearing last night?”

“You were wearing some cheap infinity man costume?”

“Cheap?” Natasha giggled and brushed off his comment. “I managed to pop your trunk open, broke the lock, with one finger. Then I took in all of your drugs in one sniff. Which I think you’d agree, would kill anybody. So, I think you have two options. Either you imagined the whole thing… or, I’m infinity Girl.”

Jason scoffed at the options.

Mister Clover opened the classroom door. “Miss Beland, are you going to bless us with your presence today?”

“Of course!” Natasha sang and practically skipped by him.

Mister Clover closed the door on Jason as he looked at Natasha’s attire. “You’re aware that Halloween is in October Miss Beland?” The classroom laughed, and Natasha looked at the teacher with a death stare.

4.

Jarrett finally woke up, having not being able to fall asleep until the late hours of the morning. Instead of getting out of bed, he simply stared at the ceiling. His mind remembering what had gone down the previous night. Natasha Beland was now Infinity girl, of all people, his wicked stepsister was literally the most powerful being on earth. Worst yet, she told him that Infinity man chose her to be his replacement. CHOSE HER!? He practically shouted in his head.

The phone rang, Jarrett let it ring several times before grabbing the phone next to his bed.

“Hello.”

“Bud! You still sleeping?”

“No, I’m up.”

“Party’s on for tomorrow night, and get a costume, and I need you to pick up some kegs.”

“I don’t know if this weekend is a great time to have a party.”

“What? Shut the fuck up.”

“It’s just that Natasha is going through some stuff. Was thinking maybe I’d spend the weekend with her.”

“What are you talking about? Natasha called me last night, practically spear headed the whole thing. Said she would bring her girls. She picked the theme, and everything. Even gave me a list of girls she wanted me to invite.”

Jarrett sighed, “She said that?”

“Yeah, called me at 4AM. I’m guessing she didn’t make it school this morning, she sounded high as fuck. So either you’re grabbing the booze, or I will.”

Jarrett hung up without responding as he reflected on all the grievances Natasha had with so many, and now had the means and the power to unleash God knows what on some poor fool who treated her badly God know how long ago. He felt like screaming, What the hell was Infinity Man thinking!?

5.

Alex stepped out of his office and looked at the two men who waited just outside it. Tony Spinelli and Arseno Bigsby were the complete opposite of one another. Tony was a thin man in his late twenties, well groomed, hair combed to one side, typical nerd. Arseno was dishevelled, looked as though he was working through a hang over. He was in his mid 40’s, and hadn’t shaved in the past week. Alex remembered seeing some mug shots of him back in the day. He’d clearly put on a few pounds. “Follow me” Alex said and walked the men to the elevator.

“I need you both to pay attention to what I have to say. As you can see, there is no 13^th floor. To access the room we’re going, hold down 12 and 14 until the elevator reaches it destination.” The elevator began going down and opened onto a floor that looked as if it were still under construction.

They didn’t have to walk far before they entered the only room on that floor. Alex nodded at Salina and Thomas who were already in that room.

He waited for everybody to be seated and quiet before he began. “So, here’s the deal” Alex opened “Infinity Man is dead. Any discussion of Infinity Man’s demise or plans on how to deal with it must be discussed here, and here alone.”

“You’ve confirmed it?” Thomas asked.

“That’s impossible. Infinity Man can’t die!” Salina argued.

“If Infinity man is dead, then what the fuck am I doing here?” Arseno asked.

Tony remained silent, having no idea why he was there to begin with.

Alex patiently waited for the questions to come before he answered “I went down to the janitor’s closet. It opened for me. While I was there, I spoke to Morgan Gillespi… ”

“Morgan Gillespi is dead.” Salina interrupted.

“You don’t think I know that?”

Salina tried to dismiss the idea that Alex was speaking to ghosts and moved on to the bigger concern. “Ok, back up a bit, if Infinity Man is dead, we have protocols we have to follow. Certain people within the government need to be notified.” Salina looked at Arseno and Tony, who she had never seen in her life. “I doubt these are them. I mean look at this guy?” Salina gestured toward Arseno.

Arseno casually looked over at Salina, smiled and winked at her.

Alex shook his head in disagreement “Nobody is going to be informing anybody. It’s business as per usual. We’ll think of a cover story for Infinity Mans absence. Arseno, Tony, there are weapons downstairs, made by infinity man to hurt Infinity Man and other contraptions that you might find useful.”

“Wait, wait, wait” Salina interrupted. “There are advanced weapons technologies and other equipment in that room, and you’re choosing to send these two down there? Didn’t you fix my printer last week?” Salina asked Tony.

“Uhhh – yeah, I think so” Tony replied.

“Did he do a good job?” Arseno asked.

“What?” Salina asked incredulously.

“Did he do a good job fixing your printer?”

Salina looked at Arseno for a long moment, “That’s not the point, you fucking bozo! The point is we have technologies of untold potential and we have the maytag repair man – and Mr. Magoo in the lab”.

“Can I be the Maytag repair man?” Arseno asked, and then looked at Tony who had a dumbfound expression on his face. “That guy doesn’t have to do anything.”

Salina turned to Alex, “These two? You chose these two?”

“I didn’t choose anybody. Gillespie did.”

Salina rolled her eyes, “I’d really like to have a chat with this Gillespie you keep referring to.”

“I wish that was possible.” Alex reached into his pocket and handed Arseno a check for 250k, “I’ve been advised that, that amount would cover any misgivings you might have about coming out of retirement.”

Arseno looked at the watermarked infinity corp. check, “I’d say that’s about right.”.

“Tony, your wage will also be substantially bumped, now if you can take Arseno to B3. You will see an iron plated door etched into the concrete wall. It’ll let you in. Go inside and acquaint yourself with the surroundings. I’ll be down shortly.”

“Ummm… sure.” Tony said as he and Arseno left.

Salina watched the two leave. “Alex? With all due respect. Are you losing your mind?”

Alex massaged his tired eyes and conceded “I might be.”

Thomas had no explanation as to why Alex was making the moves he was making. But he did have some information that Salina wasn’t aware of, he began to explain. “I was at Kent’s house yesterday, heard a message that he hadn’t attended class. Decided to go to the school, see if anything was up. Janitor showed me what looked like the outline of a dead body etched into the ground. Then he had taken me to the girl’s washroom and showed me damage that, I would describe, as caused by Infinity Man’s laser vision.

“So, you’re saying you think that Infinity Man fought something in the girl’s washroom? Ended up dying in the classroom?”

“No. From the washroom to the classroom, there’s no sign of struggle. And there would be, if InfinityMan was fighting for his life.”

Alex agreed “More than likely. Kent was somehow killed in the classroom, and the powers were again used in the washroom by someone who didn’t know how to use them.”

“Then a girl has infinity mans powers?”

“Here’s why I thought you brought me here to discuss”. Thomas opened a notebook. “This is Infintyman’s journal. Considering he had a photographic memory, I can only speculate that he was writing this for us. In case the worst case scenario occurred. But his last entry, is about the bank robbery. The robbers used paint pellets on him, he notes that the paint is interacting with his DNA in a peculiar way, and he believed Aliaga was behind it.

Alex nodded with a look of concern.

“Alex. If Aliaga somehow got a hold of Infinity Mans power… we can’t just… ”

“Can’t just what?” Alex asked now annoyed. “What’s the move? InfinityMan is so grossly overpowered that a military conflict is pointless. Informing the Government, is pointless.”

“Then what’s the point of sending those two downstairs then?”

“Infinity Man saw the future for a brief moment, and in that future, those two… win.” Alex answered.

There was a moment of silence.

Thomas broke the silence “If Aliaga had Infinitymans powers, we’d know about it.”

Alex agreed, “Yes. But then someone else from that school has Infinity mans powers.”

“Is it possible that it was an accident?”

“How could it be an accident?”

“According to Infinityman’s notes, the paint had interacted with his DNA. We know Aliaga has been trying to steal Infinity Man’s powers for over a decade. What if Aliaga’s plan worked, but… accidently, maybe even randomly, on someone else.”

“We’ll have some people surveillance Aliaga. If he has InfinityMans powers we’ll find out really quick.” Salina suggested.

“And if that power found it’s way to some random, they’ll be confused. Not capable of truly understanding the power they control.”

Alex agreed with Thomas, “And extremely naïve, and susceptible to suggestions.”

Thomas looked at Alex and nodded as if they were on the same page, “We recruit them.”

Salina rolled her eyes, “And what? Pray to God that tweedle dee and tweedle dum downstairs find a solution to our problem before they figure it out? That we intend on killing them.”

Thomas ignored Salina’s question. “But who would we send to recruit them?” Thomas looked at Alex and Alex’s eyes remained firmly on him. “Not me!?”

“Who else?”

“Alex, I don’t have a death wish.”

“I can’t make you do it. But I need you to do it. This is problem has existential consequences, and the only people who know about it, are in this room. The damage to the bathroom was in the girl’s washroom. So, I think we can assume we’ll be dealing with a girl. You’re a handsome, charming man. I’ve seen you talk yourself out of any corner. Who better to send?”

“If you guys are right, Where would you even find her?” Salina asked, “I mean, its not as if she’s going to be showing up for class the next day.”

“There’s our first lead. We go to the school, get the attendance list.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say yes to this”.

6.

Natasha couldn’t believe she actually showed up for class. Her super senses, and the speed of ideas ricocheting in her now superior brain were literally slowing down time. She perused through the mathematical textbook a page at a time, until she went faster and faster, until she was riffling through all the pages. She understood verbatim every mathematical concept in the book. ‘Wonderful’ she thought, a whole encyclopedia of useless knowledge was now in her head. Worst yet, she had to watch Mister Clover demonstrate in spectacularly boring fashion the problems on the caulk board. Was it any wonder Nathan Anderson was fast asleep? She thought as she looked at the kid across from her drooling on his desk as he slept.

‘Oh Jesus… even Nathan’s dream was boring. Wait … what?’ Now that caught Natasha’s attention. She looked back at Nathan, and yes, she could in fact see what he was dreaming, but it was better than that, as she realized she could take control of the dream. She bit her lower lip with anticipation as she honed in on his mind.

Nathan was walking through his kitchen when he heard something “Hey fatty! Why don’t you go eat another pop tart you fucking lard ass!”

Nathan looked down in shock as a McDonald’s cheeseburger seemed to be berating him. “Why would I eat another pop tart, when I can just eat you?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you! You would upset our Goddess. You know, Natasha… The hottest girl in school.”

“I’ll take my chances.” Nathan reached down and grabbed the burger, and despite the burgers protests he bit into it while it screamed. Nathan only momentarily enjoyed eating the burger when the world began to rumble. The house was collapsing and he ran outside where the landscape cracked open, and through that crack a 1000 ft Natasha arose.

“Who dares eat my disciples!” Natasha spoke, and the world shook.

Nathan watched as a giant-sized version of Natasha briefly looked around before spotting him.

“Oh-no-no-oh-no no no” Nathan ran for his life as he could hear the booming sounds of footsteps getting closer. Natasha simply reached down and grabbed his leg using her forefinger and thumb. She raised him into the air, all the way into the clouds, and then dropped him into her mouth.

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

The entire class started laughing as Nathan looked around partially confused, everybody’s attention directly on him as his scream disrupted the class.

Mr. Clover casually turned around and looked at the student, Nathan’s face was red and had imprints on it as if he was sleeping on his sleeve. Mr. Clover waited for the class to stop laughing. “Nathan? Do you have a strong objection to how I found the degrees of this right angle?”

“No Mr. Clover”

Mr. Clover turned back to the caulk board while Nathan looked at the girl to the right of him. Natasha squinted her eyes at him menacingly. Nathan fearfully turned from her, and she let out a slight giggle.

Now Natasha settled into her seat, eager to test her mental powers of manipulation. Who should she target next? Nobody else was sleeping, and Mr. Clover had left a series of problems on the board for students to solve and was now marking papers at his desk. She wondered, could she do the same to somebody who wasn’t sleeping? She was eager to try. Mr. Clover had humiliated her more times than she could remember. Payback is a bitch, she thought as she focused in on him.

Mr. Clover was marking some exams when suddenly he winced as he felt onset of a massive headache. When he looked up, there wasn’t anyone in his class, other than Natasha. She was dressed in a pink silk harem two piece outfit, specifically the I dream of Jeannie costume. Complete with a pink bra top, pink crop top with a halter neckline showing off her full cleavage and tight stomach.

“Where is everyone? Why are you dressed like that?”

“This?” She said as she seductively bit her lower lip and looked down at her body. “Why do you think?… Master!” There was an alluring, almost hypnotic look in Natasha’s eyes, but despite her perfect face and captivating eyes, her body drew all the attention. Her perfectly flat stomach, coupled with the most symmetrical perfectly rounded breasts, cherry on top, firm nipples tenting out her super tight halter top. All Mr. Clover could do was dumbfoundedly stare.

“How? This can’t be real… ”

“Guess there’s only one way to find out, why don’t you make a wish.”

“I wish for a million dollars.”

Natasha crossed her arms in front of her body and nodded as a whimsical otherworldly sound filled the air.

Mr. Clover began laughing hysterically as 100 dollar bills seemed to rain from the air.

“Would there be anything else master?”

Mr. Clover inspected one of the 100 dollar bills. Instead of Benjamin Franklin on the note, it was Natasha. “I’m dreaming.”

“Maybe you are. Maybe you’re not. Either way, why don’t you have fun with it?”

“Fine. I wish you were naked.”

“Ohh Mr. Clover, you’re so naughty.” Natasha said before crossing her arms in front of her chest and nodding, and with another whimsical sound, Natasha was entirely naked,

Mr. Clover stared at the impossible goddess like body that stood before him. He was immediately turned on.

“Oh master! You look so excited to see me!’ Natasha teased.

“I wish that… ”

“Nuh uh uh, my turn to make a wish.” Natasha interrupted. “And I wish that you do something for me… ”

“Anything!”

“Stand up, stand in front of the chalk board, and pleasure yourself.”

“What?”

Natasha’s eye brow perked up, “Do you not like what you see?” she asked as she grabbed her full breast.

“Oh my god, of course I Do!”

“Then do as I command!”

A combination of screams and laughter snapped Mr. Clover out of his trance. He looked down as he was holding his erect penis in front of the chalk board showing everyone in class, he quickly hid his shame and looked on in shock as the girls in the class hurried out the door.

“That’s fucked up dude!” one student commented.

7.

Tony Spinelli looked at Arseno trying to size up the man. He didn’t look like much. He looked like a man who was past his prime, yet the CEO of the company gave him a quarter million dollars. They both remained quiet as the elevator opened on the bottom floor.

“This is it” Tony said as they walked out of the elevator of what appeared to be an abandoned parking garage. Fifty paces in front of them lay the iron door, or otherwise known as the janitor’s closet. The door itself didn’t appear to have any hinges, but rather looked bolted in with large screws across the entirety of its diameter.

Tony hardly expected the door to open as he put his hand on a crudely made iron handle. A red light appeared atop of the door and surprisingly the door did open.

Arseno stepped into the Alien like environment. It was if he was stepping into a 1950’s science fiction novel. There were contraptions, gizmos and weapons everywhere. Even a firing range. The place was massive, the ceiling alone must have been 30 feet high.

“Arseno Bigsby, Tony Spinelli… Welcome.” A voice which sounded much like Infinity Man’s greeted them.

“Who are you?” Tony asked, seemingly to nobody as he looked up aimlessly.

“I am an artificial intelligence intended on assisting you on all materials in this room.

Arseno went straight to the firing range and picked up a rifle, inspected it. There didn’t appear to be a loading apparatus, simply an indicator light with the 5 green bars. He’d never seen anything like it.

“Where are we?” Tony asked as he continued looking around.

“It would be impossible to surmise that question in a context that you might comprehend, Instead I will simply say, you are between worlds, but not so far gone that the physics in this reality is any different to the physics in your reality.”

Tony turned on the biggest contraption in the room. It looked like some sort of gateway, as it was a giant ring with steps leading into it. He walked up those steps and looked at what appeared to be an Alien world on the other side. “What is this, what am I looking at?”

“Earth. 6.7 million years ago” The AI answered.

“We have a time machine?”

“Not as you understand it.” The AI replied. “Infinity man had developed the machine, but realized that he could only change his own perception of time. As such, the time machine as you call it, is only effective for the time traveller.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“To put it in layman’s terms, any attempt to visit the past would create a timeline in which you are the sole proprietor. If you were to enter a time, whether it be 1 second in the past, or 1 year, you would exist in that timeline. However, any observer watching you enter the time machine would effectively have witnessed your demise, and you could never return to the original timeline”.

Arseno overheard the conversation and walked over, “Suits me just fine, April 27, 1966 please.”

“Arseno” The AI replied, “do you believe you would return to your previous physical form of 1966, or do you think you’d still be the overweight, depressed, pathetic alcoholic you’ve come to be? But now, in 1966.”

Arseno looked around, first looking for where the voice was coming from “Well… Don’t have to be fucking mean about it.” He said as he walked over to the window and removed one of its boards, letting in the light from the outside world. Outside was an entirely different time, and directly across the street was a bar. “I can go for a drink.”

“It is unadvisable to step out of this facility, as time dilation would most certainly result.”

Arseno looked around for the exit and finally found it, “I’ll take that under advisement.” He stepped outside on what was a particularly hot day, he looked at the building he had exited, it looked like an old abandoned warehouse. He then made his way across the street and entered the bar. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the girls were. There was a strange feeling of perfection, seemingly everywhere. The girls looked perfect, the men dressed to impress, everything seemed perfect.

“What can I get you?” an attractive woman at the bar asked.

Arseno looked at her form, her button up blouse seemingly on the verge of bursting. “What are you offering?”

The bartender smiled at him, poured a glass of Irish whiskey and added ice.

Arseno smiled, “It’s like you read my mind.”

“You can’t be here.” Alex said discreetly as he sat next to Arseno.

Arseno looked at Alex, surprised that he was found so quickly after leaving. “You found me quick.”

“You left over 90 minutes ago.”

“Fuck off… Really… Well, I’m just going have a few drinks.”

“See that table over there?” Alex asked.

Arseno turned his head and looked at the table to which Alex was referring. It was somewhat boisterous as the people at that table were all young, laughing, and having a good time.

“Sitting at that table, is Morgan Gillespie beside him is his future wife. Next to him, looks like Joel… forgot his last name. Next to him is Angela Bishop, which all of us dated at one point. And next to her, is me.”

“We in the past?”

“I’ve never stepped foot in this bar in my life.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Morgan was dying and agreed to experimentations upon his flat lining. Infinity Man believed that heaven and hell existed, within the confines of our own minds, but that didn’t necessarily make it less of a reality. And while that afterlife may only last seconds, for the person that died, it would feel like an eternity.”

Arseno smiled as the bartender handed him his drink. He once again looked her up and down. “So, this is Morgan’s afterlife. Well fuck, colour me jealous.”

“Here’s the thing, Morgan knew exactly who you were. He wasn’t exactly your biggest fan. If Morgan recognizes me, we’ll have a conversation. We had one not that long ago. He asked that I don’t come here anymore. But if he recognizes you, well… ” Alex was reluctant to finish his thought. “Finish your drink and lets quietly leave. You don’t know how much danger you are in.”

“What is he gonna do? Beat me up?” Arseno smiled as he took a sip of his drink and looked back at Morgan.

Morgan was staring at him now.

The sound of thunder began to sound in the distance, becoming louder.

“We need to leave.” Alex said nervously. “Now.”

Arseno felt something he hadn’t felt for a long time as he looked into Morgan’s eyes. Fear. And it wasn’t from the idea of being beaten up, but something far worst. Arseno took down the drink and stood up and followed Alex out the door. The sound of thunder began to drum louder and louder as the two casually crossed the street and toward the warehouse from which they came.

Morgan Gillespie followed the pair out the door and watched the two men with curiosity as they approached the warehouse across the street.

They entered the warehouse, and as Alex closing the door behind them, Morgan stood there. Alex closed the door and stared at the closed door seemingly anticipating something would happen. Nothing did. He looked at Arseno, “Don’t go out that door. Never go out that door.”

“While you guys been gone… Check it out!” Tony said excitedly as he introduced the men to the Ai.

An overweight man in a tight cat suit walked into view.

Arseno simply stared, too dumbfounded to speak.

“I’m leaving” Alex said walking over to a cabinet, he opened it and looked at several of pill bottles. “I have no idea why Infinity Man chose you two to be here. But he did. He thought that you two would figure it out. So, figure it out.” Alex grabbed a bottle of pills from the cabinet, and put in his pocket and then asked the Ai. “Is there something in here that helps with addictions?”

The fat man walked over to Alex, Tralexathone, third shelf on the right. It will immediately cease all addictive cravings.

Alex grabbed the bottle and tossed them over to Arseno. “Do yourself a favour and sober up.”

Tony waited for Alex to leave before he asked, “So… What was outside?”

Arseno ignored Tony’s question and asked his own. “Who‘s this guy?”

“Oh, so while you were gone. I had the artificial intelligence manifest itself to something we can interact with directly, instead of some random voice in the air. I got it to take a random template, someone from the office, obviously not the actual person but a replicant and wallah! Meet Earl from accounting!”

“You made the artificial intelligence manifest as this guy?”

“It’s not as if I have the skills to program this thing to look a certain way. It can only use models within few hundred meters from its source. So, basically just people within this building. I just told the AI to choose someone at random.”

“And it chose this guy… and you were good with that?”

“Yeah… so? … What?”

Arseno scratched his head “What’s the name of the brown girl we met upstairs?”

“You mean Salina Bhatti?”

“Earl from accounting, make yourself look and sound like Salina Bhatti.”

“Is this more to your liking?” The AI asked as it shape shifted into Salina’s form.

“Better” Arseno said as he looked at the artificial representation of Salina. “But, make your legs 4 inches longer.” As soon as the AI complied Arseno walked around it, “Make your ass a little rounder, bigger… Oh very nice. Make you breasts 20% bigger”. Arseno looked at the result, and then reconsidered, “Make them 30% bigger… Not bad at all.”

Tony looked at the porn star version of Salina Bhatti, “Is this ethical?”

Arseno looked at Tony with annoyance, “Tiny… You fucking with me right now?”

Tony remained quiet as he watched Arseno feel the Artificial intelligences body and advised adjustments accordingly.

8.

Mrs. Lewis watched as Natasha performed a flip for her classmates that ended in the splits. Mrs. Lewis never saw Natasha work out or put much effort into anything. Yet here she was performing veteran acrobatic moves as if she had been training her entire life. The girls were complimenting her, and Natasha was soaking up the attention.

“Natasha, come see me.” Mrs. Lewis requested while the girls in her phys ed class were encroaching on her, clearly eager to talk to her. Natasha came and Mrs. Lewis couldn’t help but stare at what she was wearing. All the girls were wearing the same gym uniform, which consisted of grey shorts and black shirt with the school’s emblem on the chest. Natasha was wearing that exact outfit, but a version far too tight to ever be called appropriate. The shorts were far too short, and the top was so tight that you could clearly see the imprints of her nipples, even though the shirt was black.

“Girls start doing laps.” Mrs. Lewis directed the girls before addressing Natasha. “What are you wearing?”

Natasha looked down at her body, and then back at Mrs. Lewis. “My gym clothes?”

“I didn’t realize that our phys-ed uniform had a red belt?”

Natasha looked down at the red belt holding her ensemble together, “Oh well, I put it on because if I didn’t, I was pretty sure my shirt was going to ride up my waist”.

“Your clothes are tight… really tight.”

Natasha looked down at her body “I washed my gym clothes and I guess they must have shrunk, and well, I think my boobs might have gotten a little bigger.”

“We’re going to have to get you new gym clothes. It’s fine for today, no matter, that’s not why I wanted to talk to you. I know you were in Mr. Clover’s class today, you know, everyone in that class was sent home today.”

“I know. But, I mean … It’s not as if I’ve never seen that before.”

“I’m just letting you know, that if you want to go home, or talk with someone we can accommodate that.”

“I’m good. Thanks.”

“So the next thing I wanted to talk to you about seems somewhat counter-intuitive given that I told you about going home, but Natasha, do you know how you fail Physical education?”

Natasha scrunched her shoulders.

“You fail physical education, by not showing up. You’ve attended maybe 6 classes, and you’ve claimed some injury every time you have shown up. I don’t know if your goal is to graduate, but phys-ed is an easy 5 credits, and all you have to do is show up and participate. We have maybe a dozen classes left in the year, and honestly I don’t know how I can pass you. So lets make a deal, If you skip another class, one more class, you might as well not show up to the others. Show up and participate for the remaining twelve, and you’ll pass… Is that fair?”

“Sure.”

“One more thing. Some of the girls, not necessarily in this class, but some girls have mentioned that you might be bullying them.”

Natasha smiled dubiously “Do I look like I have the physique to bully anybody?”

“There are different forms of bullying Natasha. Look, let me just tell you this, and you didn’t hear it from me, but I want you to think about it. Do you know what privilege is?”

“I think so… ”

“A lot of people will tell you what they think privilege is. I’ll tell you what it really is. If you are beautiful, you have privilege. If you are ugly, you don’t. It’s a bit of a sliding scale, but where do you think you find yourself on that scale?”

“I think I do alright.”

“I think you know, you do more than alright. And I think that sometimes you make comments and remarks on how some girls dress, or how they look, that are hurtful. For all the studying and effort some girls put in, to being smart, to being successful. You’ll always have a leg up, based on your looks alone. So, show some compassion.”

“Whatever. Are we, like, done here?”

The teacher rolled her eyes, and told Natasha to run with the girls and watched as Natasha practically floated over to them, running at a pace that should have winded her after a few minutes but she seemed entirely unfazed, as if she was holding back.

9.

Alex had given Thomas a bottle of pills. Told him that the pills would prevent Infinity Man’s powers from reading, or manipulating his thoughts. While Thomas was sure that whomever had Infinity mans powers couldn’t possibly be in the school, it was better to be safe than sorry. He looked at the pill briefly, questioning his judgement once more before swallowing the pill.

Thomas entered the school and went straight to the front desk. He showed his badge, a perfect FBI replica, and asked to speak to the principal.

He was let into the office and introduced himself to the principle who was an elderly woman with poofy hair and thick glasses.

“What can I do for you, officer?” the principal asked after shaking his hand.

“Just Thomas will do.”

“How can I help you, Thomas?”

Thomas took a seat and made sure she was listening before he began. “I’d like to first stress the importance of discretion. I have a note, on that note is everything I require. If you could just provide that information to me, it’d be much appreciated. What am I’m trying to say is, lets not speak of anything outloud.”

The principal looked at the note. It indicated that the agent was looking into Kent Small’s disappearance. That he was looking for an attendance list for the day in question.

“Kent Small huh? You might want to talk with a student by the name of Natasha Beland, she was seen entering the chemistry class with Kent the other day… all by themselves.”

Thomas was speechless, he tried to rest assure himself, that despite Infinity Man’s ability, its not as if he was listening in 24/7. It’s not as if this Natasha was even going to be in class today.

“And surprise, surprise” The principle continued, “Natasha has actually attended all of her classes today. I know because we had an unfortunate incident with a teacher in one of her classes. I instructed all those students to go home for the day. She insisted on going to her next class.”

‘I’m fucked’ Thomas thought. “And ummm, what class would she be in now?”

“I believe she’s in physical education. Would you like me to intercom her down?”

Thomas sighed, “That’s alright, just point the way to the gymnasium.”

“From when you entered, down the hall to the right.”

Thomas left the office and made his way down the hallway toward the gymnasium. The feeling of being watched was overwhelming. This time, it wasn’t paranoia.

Thomas stopped walking through the hallway. Thought for a moment and looked around. He was entirely by himself, but he spoke anyways. “I’m not actually with the FBI. I’m with a company called Infinity corp, as you might know, that company works extensively with Infinity Man. I understand that Kent Small is dead, and you may have killed him. What you may not know, is that a similar situation occurred with Kent Small, and I had to introduce myself to him, similar, to how I’m introducing myself to you now.” Thomas looked around, as his head turned back Natasha stood before him. “Jesus.” He said startled.

“So, if I got this straight, Kent stole the powers from the actual Infinity Man, and then I stole the powers from him. So I guesssss… sucks to be you guys?”

Thomas looked at her outfit, grey shirts and black t-shirt, but her gym clothes were extremely tight and fit to perfection her voluptuous body. This was no standard outfit, the red belt which held her ensemble together all but proved that. “Well, that depends” Thomas answered “Infinity corporation has invested interest in the power you possess. You see, a long time ago they created that power. It went into the original Infinity man, and with that power Infinity Man went on to do some pretty wonderful things, including making Infinity corporation a lot of money. Now, full confession, we can’t take the power that’s inside of you, and give it to someone else. We have no idea how to do that. But what we can do, is shut down that power. If we do that, it’s gone forever. It’s the last thing Infinity corporation would ever consider doing. Unless of course we felt that the power is a liability, rather than an asset.”

Natasha smiled as she looked at Thomas, “You’re cute. You’re also a liar. You see I’ve become an impressive student since acquiring these gifts. I can already tell when someone is lying just by listening to their heart. And your heart is about to beat out of its chest.”

“What you are detecting, is how scared I am. I fully understand how powerful you are. I have no idea if I survive this interaction. My only hope is that a rational person would listen to reason. I’m telling you the truth.”

Natasha and Thomas unflinchingly stared at one another.

Thomas broke the silence “You have the power to enter someone’s mind and get all the information you need. So, enter mine, and then ask yourself again if I’m full of shit.” Thomas winced as he could feel a headache emerge, the headache got worst and it felt as if his head was being crushed, and then it subsided. Thomas put his finger to his nose as a slight nosebleed occurred. “Get everything you need?”

There was a slight twitch to Natasha’s demeanour, she got no information from Thomas but then again she hadn’t even realized she had the ability to read minds until he had indicated. She wasn’t willing to confess her lack of understanding of the powers she wielded, and so she went along with Thomas’ bluff.

Thomas looked at the small trace of blood he had wiped from his nose, “You should probably know. It’s dangerous to fuck with people’s minds.”

“What exactly do you want from me?” Natasha said assertively.

“To congratulate you, you should be thrilled. Everything you ever dreamed of, is going to be yours. Penthouse suite in the city’s most luxurious apartment building. Cars, jewellery, I’d say clothes, but I think you already got that part worked out. The company is going to treat you as their most important asset. You want to meet your favorite celebrity tomorrow? Infinity corp. will make it a reality. You don’t ever want to face questions about a certain student’s disappearance, it’s handled.”

“I didn’t kill anybody.”

“It doesn’t matter. Everything you ever want, you ever need, is all yours.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch.”

“But you want something from me, stop playing games, and tell me what it is.”

“You have powers and abilities that no technologies on earth can compete with. Say a valuable item sunk to the bottom of the ocean, its retrieval would be very expensive. You can just get it. Say France wants to put a satellite into space, they could build their own rocket or pay NASA to use theirs, or you could just put it up there yourself.”

“So, I’m just going to be a slave and playing fetch for the company all the time?”

“Not at all. The company doesn’t want you to do anything until you’re comfortable with your powers. Like I said, they want an asset, not a liability. They’re going pamper you, make sure you are perpetually happy. They know, the company doesn’t exist without you. That said, you won’t exist without them. I’d like to call it an equal partnership, but at the end of the day, you’re the boss. You and you alone decide how this goes down. To be honest, In a way, the company is yours. So, do we have an agreement?”

“What about school?”

“Good question. Kent Small wanted to finish his schooling, he insisted upon it. But we both know, if you really put your mind to it, you’d be qualified to teach the entire curriculum tomorrow. So, maybe you’d prefer to just enjoy life. Throw crazy parties. Be young, be free.”

Natasha showed a slight smile. “My dad would never allow that.”

“At Infinity Corp, our job is to handle those situations. Kent Small isn’t even an American, didn’t speak a lick of English. He wanted to go to school, so we gave his parents some bullshit scholarship for him to come to America, of course they agreed. Kent learned English in less than a day. We bought Kent a house, and the rest is history. You happen to be an extremely beautiful young lady. It wouldn’t be far fetched that you’d receive a modelling contract. So, we contact your parents pretending to be some big modelling firm who’s offering you the opportunity of a lifetime, and that the firm would take care of home schooling.”

“But, would I actually be a model?”

“You can be on any cover of whatever magazine you wish.”

Natasha bit her lip for a moment, and then showed her white teeth with a big bright smile. “Thank you!” She said sweetly as she excitedly hugged Thomas.

Thomas could feel all the nervous energy drain from his body in a collected sigh of relief as Natasha hugged him tightly, but by any other means extremely gently.

“And to think, I was considering frying you with my eyes just before you spoke” Natasha said as she embraced him.

“I’m glad you restrained yourself.”

“So what now?” Natasha asked.

“Go home, tell your parents the good news. That a modelling agency has offered you a contract. Try to refrain from using your powers. I’ll come over tomorrow, and explain to your parents everything.”

“I have a party tomorrow… I can’t miss it. It’s like, going to be my going away party.”

Thomas nodded, “Okay… then the day after.”

“Do you want my address? Phone number?”

“No need. I’ll stop by at 6.” Thomas turned from her and began walking down the hallway from which he came.

“Oh Thomas?”

Thomas turned to her.

“If I find out you lied to me… in any way… I’ll find yoooou” She sang.