The Stardust Six 
By Sydney
Summer 2004

Prologue

The NASA scientists could not have been more thrilled with the
success of the Stardust spacecraft, which flew into the tail of the
Wild -2 comet two years before. The pictures of the comet’s core
stunned scientists, and were the first of its kind ever taken. What
excited the scientists even more was the collection of comet
particles and fragments that the spacecraft collected while in the
comet’s tail that it was now bringing back to earth for study. 

However, after a nearly flawless mission trouble was developing
during the landing sequence. The spacecraft’s navigational computer
began malfunctioning, turning itself on and off and spitting out
digital gibberish to the engines and to mission control. The
spacecraft’s original trajectory was to have it land in the middle of
the Utah desert, but the computer malfunctions steered the craft off
course. Mission control projected that the craft would land somewhere
in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, but they could not
pinpoint the exact location. To make matters worse, they could not
reestablish radio contact with Stardust after it passed through the
atmosphere’s “dead zone” and thus they didn’t know if the spacecraft
had landed safely or even if it had landed at all. Mission control
was reluctant at first to send up planes to search for the craft,
fearing that one of the planes may inadvertently crash into it. After
a few tense hours, however, the order was given to!
 scramble planes to search for Stardust. Given the rough terrain that
the scientists believed the spacecraft landed in they knew it would
be sometime before they would be able to find it. 

They also hoped that it had landed somewhere far from human contact.

Chapter 1

Ever since the 5th grade, the five girls of San Diego’s Piedmont
Drive were as inseparable as a wet tongue on a frozen pole. They
studied together, partied together, got drunk for the first time
together; they even went on each other’s dates in high school. Since
all five were the same age and lived on the same street they all went
to the same schools and often shared the same classes. While they
separated for a time during their college years, they reunited every
summer and again after graduation as if they were in fact related.
Each of them had very few friends outside of the group, which for a
time concerned their parents, but they took comfort in knowing that
the bond that formed between the girls was stronger than most
marriages and showed no signs of disintegrating.

Janet Kennedy was the only one of the five who came home from the
hospital to a house on Piedmont Drive. The others moved in over the
years. Janet was the shy one of the group, usually the least
talkative. That’s why it was surprising to those that knew them that
Janet was the first one to date, the first one to lose her virginity,
and the first to have a steady boyfriend, a fellow named Mike who she
met when they both attended San Diego State University. Her mix of
Irish and German ancestry left her with red hair and blue eyes, a
unique combination that attracted lots of male attention even when
her words did not.

Linda Robinson was almost the exact opposite of Janet. Extroverted
and open, she would talk everyone’s ears off when given the chance.
Her father was in the Navy, and consequently he and his family,
including Linda, moved around a lot. They came to San Diego when
Linda was 6 years old when her father was stationed at the Navy base
there, and after bouncing around from apartment to apartment they
finally settled on Piedmont Drive when her dad was discharged and got
a high paying position with a computer company. Many thought that
because Linda moved around so much she would be self-conscious and
skittish about meeting others, but the reality was far from that
expectation. She was among the most popular kids at every school she
attended, and had gone on more dates than the other four had
combined. 

Robin Diaz’s parents came from even more destitute beginnings. Both
of them were born in the same village in Mexico and immigrated to the
United States illegally when they were only 17 years old. Both were
eventually granted amnesty and became U.S. citizens the same year
Robin was born, 1980. Her dad worked for many years in many
restaurants before finally becoming the head chef for a locally
famous chain of fish restaurants. He and his wife then started their
own restaurant that now was regarded as one of the best in the city.
Robin was pushed almost from the start to do well in school, but
despite her best efforts she still struggled just to qualify for
college. She started classes at San Diego State at the same time as
Janet, but 6 years later she was still a few credits short of a
degree. Nevertheless, she had a certain magnetism about her, as was
often the one the others looked to as the group’s leader.

A gift from her Italian heritage, Alicia Juliano had brown eyes so
dark that she was once told someone could drown in them. However,
that was about the only part of Alicia’s physical appearance that
stood out. She was the shortest of the five girls and among the
heaviest too. She would often wear oversized blouses, skirts, and
dresses, and rarely spoke to anyone outside of her friends. Instead,
she was often found with her head buried in a novel of almost any and
all genres, from Tom Clancy to Umberto Eco. She still had dreams of
being a teacher someday, but she was still several units short of
earning her credential and showed no strong inclination to finish her
studies. What she did feel strongly about, besides her passion for
reading, was the relationship she had with the other four girls. She
often served as the group’s psychologist; the first one the others
turned to after a breakup or a fight with the parents.

Denise Wong got the best grades of the five during their school
years, which earned her a scholarship from UC San Diego. She
graduated with honors in business administration, and was currently
attending night classes to earn an MBA while spending her days as an
executive secretary for an investment firm. She was also the last one
of the five to move to Piedmont Drive, coming at age 10 from San
Francisco where she was born to second generation Chinese-Americans.
She was the group’s moral compass, often acting as the voice of
reason when one of the others, usually Linda, wanted to do something
that would get them in trouble. It was no surprise to the others that
she was the only one of the five who had not lost her virginity.

For the sixth year in a row, Janet, Linda, Robin, Alicia, and Denise
were on a camping trip in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains within a few miles of Yosemite National Park. It was
Linda’s idea at first and was greeted initially with enthusiasm by
the others, enthusiasm that quickly faded after they got rained on
the first year and snowed on the next. However, they stuck it out and
this year they were rewarded with beautiful weather for their trip.
After a day of hiking and even a very quick swim, the 24-year old
women had set up camp in a vacation cabin owned by Janet’s parents
and loaned to them for the week.

“Look at that sky,” Denise said while lying on her back, “I’ve never
seen so many stars.”

“My dad used to talk about the night skies he saw on ship,” Linda
said. “He used to brag about all the stars he could see and how he
and his shipmates would stand on deck and point out the
constellations.”

“He was pretty much bullshitting you, wasn’t he?” Robin asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Linda replied, “but it was still a nice story. I
still think about it whenever I see a sky like this.”

“Anyone for smores?” Alicia asked as she pulled a burnt marshmallow
out of the campfire.

“Are you kidding?” Linda answered. “The way you cook them, I don’t
want any.”

“What are you talking about?” Alicia responded. “I like them burnt.
How about you, Janet?”

“I guess so, sure,” Janet said.

“You alright?” Alicia asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I guess. It’s just that, I don’t know, I’ve been
thinking about my relationship with Mike.”

“What about it?”

“I don’t think we’re going anywhere. I’m thinking about breaking up
with him.”

”Are you sure?” Denise asked.

“No, I’m not,” Janet replied. “I don’t know.”

”Yeah, I never thought he was good for you,” Robin said. “I think you
could do … What the hell?”

Suddenly something very large streaked across the sky only a thousand
feet or so above their heads. It was so loud that all five of them
had to cover their ears. A deafening sonic boom quickly followed.
Then about 10 seconds after that they could hear the sounds of
several trees falling, followed by a loud booming sound.

“What the hell was that?” Alicia asked.

“I don’t know, want to go see?” Linda asked.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Robin replied.

The five girls took off into the forest in the direction of the
booms, with Linda in the front and Alicia and Denise bringing up the
rear.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Denise said.

“Oh don’t worry about it,” Alicia responded, “it’ll be fun.”

“Well at least it beats eating one of your burnt marshmallows.”

Chapter 2 

The five girls entered into a clearing in the forest, one that was
not there less than an hour ago. All around them the trees had fallen
to the ground. The partial moon and Robin’s lantern were the only
sources of light for miles around, but still they could see something
at the far end of the clearing.

“Look, there, you see it?” Linda asked.

“See what?”

“There’s something shiny over there.”

”Yeah, I do see something,” Robin said. “I wonder what it is.”

The girls, at a much slower pace, walked over towards the shiny
object.

“I know what that is!” Denise shouted. “It’s that spaceship that flew
into the comet. It was supposed to land today.”

“Yeah, but wasn’t it supposed to land in the desert or something?”
Janet asked. “That’s what I heard on the news.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard too,” Denise answered, “but I’m sure
that’s it.”

The girls walked closer to the craft, but stopped about 100 feet away
from it. Janet looked down and noticed a group of small rocks on the
ground with a faint glow.

“Hey, look at this,” Janet said. She bent down and picked up one of
the rocks.

“Yeah, there’s some over here too,” Alicia said as she too picked one
up. The other three girls also picked up some of the glowing rocks.

“I think these are comet fragments,” Denise said.

“Do you think they’re radioactive or something?” Janet asked.

Denise then turned to say something to Janet, but instead yelled out
a loud scream. The other girls turned towards Janet and immediately
began screaming too.

“What? What’s wrong?” Janet asked.

“You, you, I can’t, can’t, see you!” Denise replied. “You’re
invisible!”

“What are you talking about?”

“No, look!” Denise answered as she pulled out her compact mirror and
held it in front of where Janet’s clothes were. The mirror then
floated up and levitated in front of Janet as if it had wings and a
motor of its own. Suddenly another scream was heard.

“Oh my God!” Janet yelled. “What’s happened to me? I am invisible!”

Indeed, while Janet’s shirt, shorts, and shoes were still visible,
the rest of Janet’s body had completely disappeared.

The rest of the girls all stood in silent shock and awe trying to
rationalize what they were seeing. The silence was broken when Alicia
began to start moaning.

“Now what?” 

“I…feel…like I…’bout to explode! AHHHHH!”

Alicia dropped to her knees and bent over backwards wincing in pain.
As she did her blouse popped out of her jeans and began riding up her
stomach. Underneath her blouse Alicia’s chest appeared to be
inflating like two balloons, while her now-exposed stomach began to
shrink. Her short black hair was growing longer and turning blonder
at the same time. Her legs began stretching out behind her and at the
same time pressed up tightly against her pants. Incredibly, the bones
on her face seemed to be moving, adjusting, and morphing into
something very different from before. All the while she continued to
shout in pain while her friends stood there both awed and shocked by
the turn of events.  With one final agonizing cry Alicia covered her
face in her hands and dropped to the ground.

“Are you alright?” Linda asked.

“I think so,” Alicia replied in a muffled tone. She slowly started to
rise up from the ground still unsure of what had happened and nervous
that whatever it was might happen again. Alicia finally made it fully
upright and uncovered her eyes to see that she grown at least 7 feet
tall, more than a foot and half taller than her friends.

“O my God Alicia,” said Janet, ‘you’re gorgeous!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, here,” replied Janet as she handed Alicia the compact mirror. 

Alicia watching in fascination as the pocket mirror seemed to float
towards her, trailed by a floating shirt and matching shorts. She
grasped the mirror, held it to her face, and gasped. What she saw was
a completely different woman from the one she saw in the mirror that
same morning. The mousey brunette had turned into a gorgeous blonde,
with once shortly cropped hair now draped over her shoulders. Her
dark brown eyes were still there, but her teeth had transformed into
an orthodontist’s dream, straight and white. She looked down and saw
that her A-cup bra was obliterated by newly expanded D-cup breasts
pushing hard up against her shirt. Her abs, now exposed to the world,
were rock solid and tight. While her pants were still tight up
against her thighs her belt was loose. The pant bottoms had ridden up
enough to show off well sculpted calves. Her shoes were still intact
but her toes were so tight at the ends that their forms could be seen
through the leather. Indeed, an au!
ra seemed to emanate from her body.

The other girls continued to just stare in awe at their friend. They
were in such shock that they failed to notice that Janet’s clothes
were now lying on the ground next to Alicia. Alicia began to feel
something slowly caressing her midsection, but she could not see what
it was. The caressing started to get more intense, causing Alicia to
hop to one side.

“What is that?” Alicia cried out.

“It’s just me, Ali,” Janet replied. “I just felt, like, you know,
touching you.”

“What? Where the hell are you?”

“I’m right here,” Janet replied as she began caressing Alicia again.

“Huh? I don’t see you. What are you doing?”

Just then Linda shouted out “I want to be just like you!” Then
suddenly she began to shake violently. In a matter of seconds she
began morphing into another shape like a Hollywood special effect.
Her clothes were not morphing with her, instead they were undergoing
the same stress that Alicia’s had just a minute before. In fact she
seemed to be undergoing the very same transformation, only much
faster. She was becoming a carbon copy of Alicia, complete with the
blonde hair and the rock hard abs.

“Oh my God!” Linda cried, “I am you!”

“What the fuck is going on here?” Robin asked. “This is just not
possible. The energy that would be required to do all of this would
be on the order of millions of mega joules.”

“Well look at me now!” Linda said. “Look at Alicia! It certainly
looks possible to me! And besides, didn’t you almost flunk physics?”

“Yeah, so?” Robin shot back.

“So when did you get to be so smart?”

“It’s not rocket science, Linda,” Robin said. “Everybody knows that
it takes a shitload of energy to transform a solid object.”

“So I’m just a solid object?”

“No I didn’t mean that,” Robin pleaded.

“I sure hope not.” Linda answered. “You’re just jealous that Ali and
I have become totally hot babes and you haven’t!”

“I am not jealous! You’re the one with the jealousy problem, Linda! 
How many times have I heard you wish that Janet’s boyfriend was
dating you instead of her? In fact, didn’t I see you crawling all
over him a couple weeks ago? You know, that reminds me. I heard a
rumor that you and Mike actually slept together a few days ago, is
this true?”

A loud cry of “Hey!” came from the proximity of Alicia’s back side.
Seconds later, Linda collapsed onto the ground and began violently
jolting back and forth. Her one free arm started flaying in the air
trying to hit an imaginary target. During all of this Janet could be
heard but not seen screaming obscenities.

“Come on, Janet, get off of her!” Robin shouted. Suddenly Linda’s
convulsions stopped. Janet was starting to become visible again,
standing nude in front of Linda but struggling to move as if she were
tied up in ropes.

“What is going on here?” Janet asked. 

Alicia walked over to Robin and put her hand on Robin’s shoulder.
“It’s all right,” she said, and right away Janet stopped struggling.
She started to dive down on top of Linda again but was stopped dead
in her tracks when she saw that Linda was changing again. This time
she seemed to be morphing into the shape of Robin’s boyfriend.

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!” Linda cried out in a deepening voice,
seemingly unaware of what was happening to her. “He came onto me. He
told me that you two were broken up.”

Janet was too stunned to reply. She just stood there in disbelief,
staring at what she thought was her friend Linda but instead looked
like her boyfriend Mike. She slowly backed away from Linda, dropped
to her knees, and starting fading from view. Alicia ran over to Janet
and tried to hug her, but by the time she got close enough Janet had
disappeared.

“This is just too fucking weird,” Robin said. “Janet’s invisible,
Linda’s Janet’s boyfriend, Alicia’s turned into a supermodel, and
Denise…” She looked to where she thought Denise was and saw only her
clothes on the ground. “Denise!” Robin yelled out, “Are you invisible
too?”

“No!” Denise replied as loud as she could, but neither Robin nor any
of her other friends could hear her. 

Robin ran over to where Denise’s clothes were, and started feeling
around like a bad mime act, hoping to touch what she thought was her
invisible friend. Denise saw her coming and scrambled to just barely
get out of Robin’s way. Then when Robin stopped Denise ran towards
her friend and started climbing up her right foot.

“I’m here! I’m here!” Denise kept shouting, hoping that Robin will
see her.

Robin sensed what felt like a spider crawling onto her right shoe,
and bent down to try and swat it away. She raised her hand up
slightly and then stopped. “Holy shit! Denise! Is that you?”

The other three girls looked over as Robin lowered her hand and laid
it flat up against her shoe. Denise crawled on top of her palm and
held on tightly as Robin raised her hand up towards her eyes.

“It is you,” Robin said softly. “You must be only two inches tall.
How did this happen?”

“I don’t know,” Denise replied, “I was watching Alicia’s
transformation when I started feeling really dizzy. Then I could feel
myself getting smaller and smaller. Next thing I knew I was
struggling to climb out of my own clothes. I hope I can get back to
normal somehow.”

Immediately after she finished her sentence Denise began expanding on
top of Robin’s palm. Seeing her getting larger and feeling her
getting heavier, Robin put her friend back down to the ground and
watched her slowly grow back to her normal 5 foot height. At the same
time, Linda began morphing again, this time returning to her original
body. Her clothes were in tatters after the two other
transformations. Alicia’s was in a similar condition, barely
containing her expanded form. The two of them walked over to join
Robin and Denise.

“Where’s Janet?”

“She was back over there last time I saw her,” Alicia replied, “just
before she disappeared again.”

“Janet!” Robin called out. “Can you reappear again?”

“I don’t want too,” Janet replied.

“Come on, Janet,” Alicia responded as she started walking towards
where Janet’s voice had come from. “You can trust me.”

Slowly Janet became visible again, crying with her head in her hands.
Alicia came up and wrapped her arms around her now shorter friend.
“It’s okay.”

Janet turned and buried her face in Alicia’s bosom. Linda went over
and picked up Janet’s clothes and brought them to her. Janet slowly
stopped crying but made no motion to take her clothes from Linda.
Instead she raised her arms and began to gradually caress Alicia’s
back and sides. This time Alicia did not try to back away. Linda
stood next to the two women staring down at the ground. Meanwhile,
Denise had started putting her clothes back on and she and Robin
walked over to the others.

“Those comet fragments must have done something to us,” Robin said.
“I mean, look, Janet can turn invisible. Denise can shrink down to
tiny size, Alicia’s become a supermodel, Linda can apparently become
anybody she wants, and I, uh, you know, I don’t seem to be affected
by it.”

“Well you’re smarter than you were before,” added Linda, “you knew
about the mega joule thing or whatever.”

“Maybe,” Robin replied, “but I don’t feel any smarter, and it’s
nothing compared to what you guys can do.”

“I disagree,” said Alicia. “I think you do have a power. I could feel
it earlier.”

“You could what?”

“I don’t know, but it seems like I can feel things more now. I feel
more, what’s the word…?”

“Empathic?” Denise answered.

“Yes, that’s it,” replied Alicia. “And I think you were controlling
Janet’s body there a minute ago when she attacked Linda. Sort of like
a, uh…”

“Telepath?”

“Yeah, Robin, that’s it. I think you’re a telepath now.”

“So you think I can move things with my mind?” Robin asked.

“Well give it a try,” Denise answered.

Robin closed her eyes and concentrated. Slowly she began to lift up
off of the ground, to the amazement of her friends. Even Janet
stopped caressing Alicia to look at what Robin was doing. Robin
slowly opened her eyes, looked down at her friends, and started
giggling. Then she closed her eyes hard and held out her hands. The
remaining four all developed curious looks on their faces, and then
looked down to their feet. All of them were being lifted off of the
ground. Robin opened her eyes again, let out another giggle, and then
slowly lowered her friends back down.

“This is so cool,” Robin announced, and with that she started
floating up higher and began circling around her friends, laughing
the entire time. Finally she landed back where she started, standing
next to Denise.

“We’ve become some sort of superwomen,” said Linda, “do you realize
what we can do now?”

“Yeah,” replied Denise, “we can get really cool costumes and stuff.
Well, maybe not Janet.”

“I don’t think you’ll need a costume either, Denise,” answered Janet,
“you’ll just shrink out of it.”

“Shut up you two,” snapped Robin. “Here we have all of these powers
and all you can think about is clothes!”

“I have an idea,” announced Linda, “how we can use our powers to make
millions.”

Chapter 3

A tall blonde woman and her male companion walked into the bank as if
they owned the place, and the way the woman was dressed it was easy
to assume that they did. She was wearing a short black dress that was
tight in all the right places, with a deep cut down the front went
almost to her belly button and showed off just enough of her breasts
to attract attention. The bottom of the dress just barely covered her
most private regions, exposing almost all of her 48 inch long legs.
Her tall stiletto pumps added to the height advantage that she
enjoyed over everyone else in the room, including the security guard
at the door. With a peck on the top of his head she separated from
her companion and sauntered over to the security guard, now sporting
a deer in the headlights look on his face. The woman got up very
close to the guard and began slowly running her finger across the
guard’s shoulder.

“Hi, Steve,” she said while reading the guard’s nametag. “You look
very stressed. Are you OK?”

“Uh…sure…I’m OK…uh…miss…miss.”

“Call me Pam if you like, Steve.”

“Sure…uh…Pam.”

Pam noticed that the guard was looking downward, either at her legs
or at his enlarging groin.

“Oh my, Steve, I can tell you’re really sweating bullets. No pun
intended. It is pretty warm in here, isn’t it?”

The passion play between the 7 foot Amazon and the security guard had
caught the attention of everyone in the bank, except for the man who
came into the bank with her and another woman writing out a deposit
slip at a nearby table. The act was so mesmerizing that the man was
allowed to cut to the front of the line.

“I would like to see the bank manager, please,” the man told the
teller. I have some very important business to discuss with him.”

“Uh sure,” the teller replied. With one eye on the customer and one
on the guard and his new playmate, the teller picked up the phone and
called the manager to the counter.

“Ah, Mr. Robinson,” the manager proclaimed as he approached the
counter. “It’s so good to see you again. What brings you here today?”

“I have some important business to discuss with you Sam, if you have
a minute.”

“Sure, come on back with me. You want some coffee or anything?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

Sam the bank manager opened the security door, and after a moment of
hesitation Mr. Robinson walked through and followed the manager back
to his office. Right after passing through the door a small piece of
something fell out of his coat pocket and onto the floor. Whatever it
was disappeared quickly enough such that no one paid any attention to
it.

The tellers watched Sam and Mr. Robinson go into the manager’s
office, and then turned their attention back to Pam and the guard. By
this time the guard’s shirt was coated with sweat. His hands were
positioned very close to Pam’s sides and were noticeably shaking.

“It’s OK, Steve,” Pam told him as she ran her fingers through his
hair. “My man and I have a very open relationship. You’re allowed to
touch the merchandise.”

Again everyone in the bank was watching the peep show at the door,
except for the one woman at the desk who instead was looking intently
at the bank safe. Small clicking sounds could be heard from the safe
door, but no one seemed to notice that. No one also seemed to notice
that the safe door had opened just a crack, or that a small insect or
something had scurried through the crack and into the safe.

Steve slowly started rubbing his hands against Pam’s sides while Pam
was still massaging Steve’s hair. She started cooing with pleasure
and slowly wrapped one of her legs around Steve’s and positioned her
bosoms to within inches of Steve’s face. The woman at the desk,
meantime, packed her things and headed out the door unnoticed. Slowly
the safe door opened wider, and a large bulging bag floated out of
the safe and towards the security door. One of the bank tellers
turned and saw the floating bag. “What the hell?” she said quietly,
and then rubbed her eyes as if she were dreaming. The bag, apparently
sensing that someone had seen it, started moving faster towards the
front door. Suddenly the teller screamed and hit the alarm. This
brought out Sam and Mr. Robinson from the manager’s office and also
distracted the guard from the babe in front of him, but by this time
the bag had flown out the door.

“What’s happening?” the manager asked.

“I think we’ve being robbed,” the teller replied, “I saw a bag come
out of the safe and fly out the door.”

“Did you get a good look at the robber?” The manager asked.

“Well…uh…no I didn’t,” the teller replied, “there was no robber.”

“What?”

“I saw the bag leave the safe and go out the door.”

“On its own?”

“On its own.”

“You’re insane. Bags don’t fly out of safes on their own.”

“That’s what I saw, check the safe.”

The manager turned away from a stunned Mr. Robinson and walked into
the safe. Meanwhile, Steve the security guard had pulled out his gun
and was frantically looking around.

“What’s the matter, Steve?” Pam asked.

“The…alarm…went…off,” Steve panted in reply. “Did you see anything?”

“No I didn’t,” answered Pam. “What do you think happened?”

Suddenly there was a loud shout from the safe. The manager emerged
from there with a frantic look on his face.

“The safe’s been robbed!” the manager proclaimed. “Call the police!”

“Maybe I should come back another time,” Mr. Robinson told the
manager.

“Yeah, I can’t think right now. Can you wait a day or two?”

“Sure, no problem. You have more important things to worry about
right now.”

Mr. Robinson shook hands with the manager and started towards the
door. “Come on, dear,” he addressed to Pam, “stop playing with the
guard. He has work to do.”

“Oh, and I was just starting to enjoy it.”

Pam gave the guard a kiss right on the lips and left with Mr.
Robinson. The couple got into their limo and drove off.

“So, how much did we get?” Robin asked from the driver’s seat.

“I counted nearly 25 thousand when I got it out of the safe,” Denise
replied.

The now visible Janet was inspecting the contents of the bag she
carried out the door. “It sure looks like a lot,” she said, “and damn
this thing was heavy.”

“Hey, I resent that!” Denise retorted. “I was lighter than a feather
in there.”

Linda was quickly changing back into her familiar form and removing
the layers of men’s clothing that she had to put on. “Talk about
heavy,” she said, “you should have seen Ali and that guard.”

“I know,” added Robin, “what were you doing to that guy?”

“Well you told me to distract him,” Alicia answered. “What better way
to do that than to use my womanly charms.”

“You definitely have that,” Linda told her. “You are definitely hot.”

Both Denise and Janet concurred, and began to inch their nude bodies
closer to Alicia. Linda, now down to just a pair of panties, began
rubbing her fingers up against Alicia’s dress.

“Where can I get a dress like that?” Linda asked.

“You can afford plenty of dresses like that now, Linda,” answered
Robin. “And the rest of you put some clothes on!”

The five women laughed as their rented limo cruised onto the freeway
and out of town.

Chapter 4 

Mike walked into his apartment to find his answering machine
blinking. “Probably Janet again,” as he walked over and hit the
delete button without listening to the message. She had called every
day for the past week, claiming that he was cheating on her and that
she wanted to talk. Mike had figured after the first message that
Linda had spilled the beans on their one night stand, and he did not
want to be confronted by Janet about it. He was going to break up
with her anyway, he thought, so why bother going through that
nonsense. He thought if he continued to ignore her then perhaps she
would just go away.

As he walked from the phone to the kitchen to grab a beer, he noticed
that the living room window was open. “That’s strange,” he thought as
he went to close it, “I thought that I had closed it this morning.”

He turned from the window and headed back towards the kitchen when he
suddenly tripped and fell to the floor with a loud “oomph.” He slowly
got back up to his feet and looked back to see what had tripped him,
but the floor was bare. He shook his head in confusion and started on
his way again when he suddenly lunged forward as if he were pushed.
He quickly turned around and again saw nothing out of the ordinary.
He stood in place for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what was
going on. Then suddenly he felt something push against his chest,
knocking him backwards slightly. He then heard what sounded like
footsteps quickly thumping against his floor and heading towards his
bedroom.

Mike stood there in stunned silence, wondering what was going on and
trying to figure out if he was just dreaming. His eyes then opened
wide as he saw what appeared to be his girlfriend emerging from the
bedroom with no clothes on.

“Oh Mikey,” Janet cooed, “What’s the matter? You look like you’ve
seen a ghost.”

“Uh, nothing,” was all that Mike could say in reply.

“Well then why don’t you come into the bedroom? I have a big surprise
for you.”

Mike slowly walked towards the bedroom as Janet disappeared from his
view. He turned into the room and didn’t see Janet at all.

“Jan, where are you?” Mike asked. “Are you trying to play games with
me?”

Nothing but silence in the room.

Mike walked over to the side of the bed. “Are you hiding from me?” he
asked. He bent down and lifted the bed covers, expecting to see Janet
hiding below the sheets, but she wasn’t there. Suddenly Mike felt a
sharp pain in his groin, causing him to bend over further and fall
onto the bed. Sharp pains began migrating throughout his midsection
as he continued to writhe around.  The pain slowly faded away, and
Mike stopped rolling around, lying back down on top of the bed. He
could feel pressure bearing down on his stomach, as if something was
sitting on top of it. 

His zipper began moving down his pants, and he could feel something
reaching in and massaging what was in there. Mike was gasping for air
as his mind was desperately trying to process what he was feeling.
Instinctively he reached out towards his midsection when it hit
something. The motion he felt before quickly stopped, and he heard
what sounded like a gasp, but still his mind and his hand were not
telling him the same thing, so he just held his hand up against
whatever it was. Slowly the massaging motion returned and Mike slowly
put his hand down by his side as another part of his body began
instinctively moving upward. Gradually his most private part emerged
from its cocoon, still being drawn out by some unknown force. Mike
just stared at it like it was a space alien. Then suddenly an intense
shot of pain shot out from his midsection and rapidly spread
throughout his body. Then come another pain shot, followed quickly by
a third. Blood spots began appearing on his exposed!
 private part as Mike let out a series of blood curdling screams.

The pressure on his stomach then quickly disappeared but the pain
from his groin was still pounding away. Mike could do nothing else at
this point except scream in pain and try to massage the damage. His
cries were so loud that he could not hear either his bathroom door
close or the water running from the bathroom sink. A couple minutes
later the bathroom door opened and a fully clothed Janet walked out
of the bathroom and stood at the bedroom door looking at her wailing
boyfriend.

“What’s the matter, Mike?”

“Uhh…uhh…uhh,” was all he could mutter in reply.

“Uh, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Uhh…uhh…uhh….hell….lp?”

“Well, I would,” Janet replied, “but I don’t know what’s wrong. Are
you OK?”

“No..o..o..o..o.”

“Well I’m sorry to hear that Mike, because I came over here to tell
you that I want to break up with you. We’re through.”

“Wh…wh…why?”

“I think you know why,” Janet coolly replied. “So I’m leaving. No,
don’t get up. I’ll see myself to the door.”

“Com..com…uhh?”

“You know, you might want to call a doctor. You look terrible.”

Janet walked out of Mike’s apartment with a huge smile on her face.

Chapter 5 

On a typical Friday night the Beach Hut was be packed in wall to wall
with the most beautiful people in San Diego. For many years it was
the place to be seen for the city’s social scene, and this Friday was
no exception. Short skirts and bare midriffs lurked around every
corner of the bar, usually huddling closely by a six-pack ab. The
dance floor was a sea of blonde hair bouncing up and down to the
rhythm of the evening. However, this Friday the club was unusually
crowded, as was the previous three Friday’s before that. In fact
every Friday was like that since the Blonde Amazon Twins first
appeared.

Nobody knew where they came from, what they did for a living, or even
their names, but ever since they came into the club they were the
center of attention. Word quickly spread around the area and ever
since more and more people came to the Beach Hut just to see them. 

The production, as usual, began out when the brand new red Corvette
drove up to the front door. The bar did not offer valet service but
for the Amazons they made an exception. The valets open the doors,
and the legs appeared, long, slender, toned, fully exposed, and
capped off at the base by stiletto heels. Each of the two valets then
reached into the car and took the well-manicured hand of one of the
occupants. Tonight the driver’s hand included a small sparkling ring,
while the passenger’s hand was accompanied by two glowing bracelets.

Then the valets acted as if they were helping the women out of the
car, and the Amazons appeared in their full glory. A couple
flashbulbs popped as the two women surveyed the scene from their 7
foot high perch.  The driver appeared with a short white skirt
tightly wrapped around her mid section and a sleeveless white blouse
with a generous cut down the middle and at the bottom just below the
chest, specifically designed to show off her well developed breasts
and pierced belly button. The passenger chose a one-piece red
sleeveless dress with long deep cuts on the front and back. The
bottom cut was up so high that it would have been within an inch of
exposing her panties if she had been wearing any. 

The passenger posed for the audience gathered at the door as the
driver briefly flirted with the valet before she came around and
stood next to her twin. Together the two women strolled into the
club, getting a free pass and a nod of approval from the burly
doorman. The room was jumping to the beat of the music, but there was
a noticeable pause in the motion when the Amazons entered. The club
owner, who had been an absentee owner until recently, greeted the two
women at the door and showed them to their booth that he had reserved
just for them. The driver ordered a vodka martini while the passenger
requested a rum and Coke. The owner bid his adieu and went to get the
drinks, on the house of course.

“How much longer do you think he’ll keep giving us free drinks?”
Linda asked.

“As long as he thinks he has a chance to fuck one of us,” Alicia
replied.

“Well that ain’t ever going to happen.”

“You’re telling me.”

Alicia then looked up and noticed a tall, dark, handsome man standing
at their table.

“Well hello there, mister. What can I do for you?” Linda asked.

“Quite a lot,” the man replied. “Mind if I sit down?”

“No, please do,” answered Linda.

Thus began what had become a ritual for the two women. A man would
come over and ask to sit down. Then Linda would engage the man in
small talk while Alicia sat there pretending to be interested in the
conversation. Actually she never heard a single word; she was instead
concentrating on getting a feeling of the man’s intentions. It was
obvious that sex was one of them, but she was searching for something
more. If he met with Alicia’s approval should would reach over and
touch the man’s shoulder. That was Linda’s signal to get up and go to
the powder room, leaving Alicia and the man alone to engage in one on
one conversation while Linda mingled with the dancers. If he was not
acceptable then Alicia would excuse herself and leave it up to Linda
to decide if she wanted the man or not. Usually Linda would also
reject the guy by giving him the silent treatment until he left.
After all, if it wasn’t good enough for Alicia, she thought, then he
wasn’t good enough for her either.

On this night the first two male visitors were not acceptable and
quietly wilted away back into the crowd. Then two news guys
approached the table.

“Hi,” one of them said, “how are you doing?”

“We’re fine,” Alicia replied, “how are you?”

“Good,” the other man answered as he motioned to the girls his desire
to sit with them. Alicia motioned approvingly and the two took their
seats on either side of Alicia and Linda. Linda started talking to
them about the weather while Alicia concentrated on the man sitting
next to her. After about a minute or so she touched his shoulder and
asked him about his occupation. He and his friend were both doctors,
he replied. Since there were two of them Linda did not get up and go
to the bathroom, instead she concentrated her attention on the man
sitting next to her.

After about twenty minutes of two one on one conversations, Alicia
and her new friend started moving towards the end of the table.
“We’re gonna go someplace quieter,” she said to Linda. “Wanna join
us?”

“No, go ahead, we’ll stick around here for a while longer, if that’s
OK with you.”

“Uh, sure,” was all the man next to Linda could say.

“We’re going to take his car,” Alicia said, “so why don’t you take
the Vette.”

Alicia tossed the car keys to Linda, then gave her a wink and a smile
as she and her friend walked out the door hand-in-hand.

“I hope your friend is honorable,” Linda said to the man.

“Trust me, he is,” he replied, “but what about your sister?”

“Oh don’t worry,” answered Linda, “she’ll give him a night he’ll
never forget.”

“Will I get a night like that too?”

“Well,” Linda said as she looked over the man, “we’ll see about that,
but I think that your chances are looking pretty good.” 

Chapter 6 

Robin had been practicing her takeoffs and landings for the last few
weeks and was finally able to land without falling over. She had also
been practicing her maneuvers late at night, and purchased a special
all-black body suit so that she could do so unnoticed. She was
wearing that same suit tonight for this special mission. She slowly
glided through the air and landed unnoticed on the roof of her old
high school gymnasium. After looking around to make sure that no one
had seen her, she walked over to the roof hatch.

“Damn, it’s locked,” she muttered to herself. “I should’ve known it
wouldn’t be that easy.”

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the lock. She could hear the
metal inside the lock straining until finally, “click.” The lock was
open. She removed the lock from the latch, lifted the roof hatch, and
climbed inside the gym.

It was prom night for the Class of 2004, and prom revenge night for
Robin, Class of 1998. Her prom was a teenager’s nightmare. Her date’s
car kept stalling on the way to the dance, causing them to miss
dinner. Then once they arrived he joined up with his friends at the
punch table, leaving her alone. She sat on the side of the gym
watching her classmates dance, wondering why she was even there. When
the band started a slow dance song she went looking for her date,
hoping to convince him to at least have one dance with her, but to
her horror she saw that he was already on the dance floor with his
arms around another girl. Robin ran out of the gym and walked home in
tears.

After the transformation she rented the movie Carrie, and watched the
final scene where Carrie used telekinesis to destroy the gym during
her senior prom after being humiliated by her classmates. This not
only brought back bad memories to Robin and but also gave her a
sinister idea for revenge that she was now in the process of carrying
out.

Robin stood on the catwalk overlooking the stage where the band was
playing. Sure enough, it was the same band that played there 6 years
ago. Robin smirked at the irony, and then laid herself down on the
catwalk and began to concentrate.

The lead singer was holding the microphone stand and swinging it
around aggressively while belting out an outdated eighties tune. He
then noticed that the stand felt a lot looser in his hands than it
did before, and looked down to see why. The base of the stand was
floating above the stage. He tried to move the stand down but it
wouldn’t budge. The singer stopped singing as he tried harder to push
the stand down while the band continued playing, oblivious to what
was happening. Then the stand started moving around like it had a
mind of its own, swinging around from side to side. By now the band
had stopped playing and the drummer shouted “what are you doing?” at
the singer. “I don’t know!” the singer shouted back. The kids had
stopped dancing and were watching the events on the stage, many with
annoyed looks on their faces thinking the singer was causing the
commotion. The singer started shouting “it’s not me! It’s not me!”
Someone in the audience shouted back “Yeah right!” !
and a hushed yet cynical laugh came from the students. Finally the
stand stopped moving and settled back into position. The singer
looked at the stand for a minute, and then signaled for the band to
start playing again.

The punch and water stand was set up close to the stage, close enough
to be viewed from the catwalk above. There was a group of girls
standing there gossiping with each other. They were so enthralled by
their conversation that they didn’t notice that 6 cups filled with
punch were starting to lift up from the table. Suddenly the cups
thrust forward, spilling their contents on the girls. The girls
shrieked and quickly started looking around to see who did it. One of
the chaperones came over to see what happened.

“Someone threw punch at us!” one of the girls said.

“Did you see who?” the chaperone responded.

“Uh, no.”

“But it must have been Britney Sanchez.”

“Yeah, she’s always been jealous of us. I’m sure she did it.”

“I’ll see if I can find her,” said the chaperone.

The chaperone disappeared into the crowd as the stained girls started
to clean their dresses with water and napkins. Above their heads, one
of the light bulbs lighting the gym began to unscrew itself from its
socket. The bulb flickered briefly and went out. The chaperone
stopped his search for Miss Sanchez when he saw the flicker and
looked up to see the missing light. He could not see that the bulb
had been unscrewed, and since there was a metal cage covering the
light it was still in the fixture. Thinking it was nothing more than
a burnt out bulb he went back to his search.  Then suddenly the sound
of shattered glass stopped the chaperone in his tracks, along with
the band and the dancers. Everyone this time looked up and saw that
the bulb had fallen down from the light.

“All right everyone,” the principal announced over the mike,
“everything’s fine. We’ll get that cleaned up. Let’s just keep going,
OK?”

All of the remaining gym lights then began flickering and turning
themselves off. In a matter of seconds the entire gym was pitch dark.
Some girls began screaming while others began searching for their
lighters. “Is this still on?” the principal asked, and then heard
over the speakers. “OK everybody, it looks like we’ve got a problem
here but no need to panic. We’ll get this fixed right awa…”

The principal’s speech was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass
and shouts of “ow” from a few places in the crowd, as the light bulbs
started raining down from the ceiling. Then one of the band’s
speakers tipped over and fell into the mixer board, created sparks
from the board that quickly turned into a small fire. There were more
screams and everyone started running for the exits, but the doors
slammed themselves shut before anyone could get out. Many of the
students began pulling on the doors trying to get them open, but they
were not budging. One of the suspended banners came down and landed
on top of the burning mixer board, and quickly was engulfed in
flames. Now almost everyone in the gym was screaming or yelling for
help. The tables with the water and punch tipped over, spilling their
contents on the floor and on anyone nearby. The folding bleachers
that had been pushed back for the dance started unfolding from the
wall, pushing the crowd ever closer together. T!
he fire at the board continued to grow and smoke began to accumulate
inside the gym. One of the band members managed to find the fire
alarm and pulled the lever, which set off the alarm and turned on the
sprinklers, dousing everyone in the gym in water. Finally the exit
door released and there was a mad scramble to get outside. Fire
engine sirens could be heard in the distance approaching the school
as the students tried desperately to clear the gym.

Up on the catwalk Robin slowly got to her feet and surveyed the
damage below. The mixing board was still burning but the banner no
longer was. The gym floor was covered in water and pink punch. The
band instruments laid abandoned on the stage. She closed her eyes one
more time, and in a flash all of the remaining speakers fell down to
the floor. The speaker wires all shorted out, setting them all on
fire as well. Robin opened her eyes and let out a look of
satisfaction at the damage her mind had caused. She then levitated
herself up through the hatch and off into the night.

Chapter 7

Unlike most of her friends, Denise chose to keep her job even after
the change and the financial benefits that it was starting to bring
in. Her only splurge was a new Toyota RAV4. As an executive secretary
for a large investment firm her new car did not stand out in the
parking lot, which to her was important since she was the most
concerned of the group that they might be caught. Her fear, along
with a healthy dose of fiscal responsibility, also led her to invest
her share of the earnings rather than spend it on clothes and sports
cars.

One morning one of other secretaries approached her desk as some of
the executives were entering the conference room for a meeting.

“What do you think they’re talking about in there?” the secretary
asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You noticed that they’ve been having a lot of meetings recently? It
must be something big.”

“Could be,” Denise said, “but I haven’t heard anything.”

“Aren’t you a little bit curious?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Well if you hear anything you’ll let me know?” the secretary asked.

“Sure,” Denise answered as she turned back towards her computer.

As the secretary walked away Denise’s mind began to wander. “What are
they talking about in there?” she thought. Then she realized that
there was a way that she could find out.

She got up and went to the bathroom. After making sure no one else
was there, she entered an empty stall and began to undress. “This is
crazy,” she thought to herself, but she continued on anyway. Once
fully undressed she stood upright, closed her eyes, and began to
concentrate. She quickly shrank down until she was only 1 inch tall
and started towards the door. She almost stumbled going over the
joints in the tile, but she still made it to the door before anyone
came in. The crack below the door was only one-quarter of an inch
wide, so Denise paused to shrink herself down further to fit under
the door.

Denise slowly made her way back into the office, walking along the
bottom wall trim to avoid being stepped on and so that she did not
have to navigate her way through the carpet fibers. As usual there
were lots of people walking about the hallways, which normally wasn’t
a problem but posed a big challenge to a quarter inch tall woman who
didn’t want to be seen or stepped on. At that moment Denise wished
that she had Janet’s power instead, and thought that next time she
would recruit her friend to do this. Shrinking still further down to
only one-eighth of an inch to lessen the chance of detection, Denise
started her journey to the boardroom.

Staying up against the base of the walls and dodging footsteps at
each doorway, she finally made to the boardroom door and walked
underneath into the room. She saw the CEO of the firm at the head of
the table and ten of the companies top executives seated around him.

“So when’s this merger going to be announced?” the CEO asked.

“They’re going public in three weeks I’m told.”

“And you’re certain that the value of Arcsoft’s stock will increase
because of this?”

“I’m sure of it. Their stock is highly undervalued right now, so any
news of a merger with Microsoft will send the value through the
roof.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“As sure as I’ve ever been.”

“OK, listen,” said the CEO, “I want to make this very, very clear.
What we’re talking about here is potentially insider trading, so we
need to do this quietly and discreetly. We need to get money into
Arcsoft stock in as many different ways as we can so that we don’t
get the SEC on our ass. We also need to monitor this very closely so
that we can get the money in, make our profits, and get out before
anyone important knows it. And I want to make it very clear that what
we discuss in this room does not go outside this door. I don’t want
you to talk about this with anybody, including your wives, your
husbands, your friends, your kids, your staff, nobody. Not even your
pastor. Understood?”

“Yes, John.”

“I don’t believe it,” Denise muttered to herself, “they’re actually
planning this? This is just so…” Denise stopped herself mid-sentence
and pondered the irony of a bank robber accusing an investment firm
of unethical behavior. Then she started thinking about how she and
her friends could profit from this. “After all,” she thought, “we do
have some disposable income.”

The meeting broke up at this point, and Denise quickly scrambled into
a corner. She then started the journey back to the bathroom, knowing
that she had to hurry before anyone noticed that she had been away
from her desk for a long time now. Dodging footsteps, plowing through
carpet fibers, and finally easing under the bathroom door, she made
it back to the stall.

“Oh shit!” she exclaimed, “my clothes are gone!”

Someone had used the toilet while she was gone, and apparently had
moved her clothes from where Denise had left them. She grew back up
to her full height and started looking around the bathroom for her
clothes when someone walked into the room. Denise let out a brief
screech and quickly covered up her breasts with her hands.

“Uh, are you OK?” the stranger asked. She worked in a different
office but on the same floor as Denise.

“Yeah, I’m, uh, fine,” Denise answered as she noticed her clothes
piled up in the corner below the sink. She quickly reached down and
grabbed the pile.

“I, uh, had an accident and needed, to, umm, wash up.”

“Okayyy,” said the stranger.

Denise quickly ran back into the stall and closed the door. She then
noticed that she was starting to shrink again, but this time she was
not consciously willing this to happen. She became nervous and wanted
to scream but didn’t for fear that the other woman in the room would
see her shrinking. By the time the other women washed up and left
Denise was only 4 inches tall, but the rate of her shrinking had
slowed by then and appeared to stop soon after she was left alone.
She quickly concentrated and grew back to her original size.

“How the hell did that happen?” Denise asked herself as she put her
clothes back on. “I gotta tell the others about this. About all of
this.”

Chapter 8

Robin had just walked into the apartment that Linda and Alicia shared
when the afternoon news came on.

“In the span of six weeks four banks and two armored trucks in the
San Diego area had been robbed,” the news report began, “and while
police think that they all might be connected they still have no
suspects or leads in the case. But what makes this story unique is
how the robberies are taking place. You can see in this surveillance
camera from one of the banks recently hit that the cash appears to be
floating out of the banks on their own. In every case, witnesses have
testified that they did not actually see anyone steal the money, and
police say that they have no sketches of what the robber or robbers
look like because no one could provide a description.”

“Police did bring one woman in for questioning. She was in two of the
banks at the time that they were robbed, so police thought that she
might be involved or somehow be connected to the robbers. However,
after about an hour of questioning the unidentified woman was
released and no charges were filed.”

“Yeah, how did you get out of that, Ali?” Robin shouted towards the
balcony.

“Do I need to tell you?” Alicia replied.

“If you have any information on the identity of the robbers,” the
report continued, “the San Diego police would like you to contact
them as soon as possible. Two banks are offering a $25,000 reward to
anyone who provides them with information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the thieves.”

“Only $25,000? I would think that we would be worth more than that,”
said Linda.

“Where’s Jan and Denise?” Alicia asked as she came in from the
balcony, ducking below the sliding door frame as she did so.

“Denise is still at work,” Robin replied, “and, as usual, I don’t
know where Janet is.”

“Yeah,” Alicia said, “I get the feeling that something’s bothering
her.”

“Well she did just break up with Mike, thanks to you Linda.”

“Hey!” responded Linda from the living room couch, “it’s not my
fault! Like I said, he came on to me!”

“Well, whatever the reason,” Alicia said, “she does seem depressed
about something. I’m getting a little worried about her.”

“Why don’t you invite her to go out with you guys,” Robin asked.

“I would,” Linda replied, “but she’s never around. She just
disappears every night.”

“Well I know she disappears, but that doesn’t mean she still isn’t in
the room,” answered Robin. “Have you tried talking to her?”

“I have tried,” Alicia responded, “and it get no answer. So she’s
either really quiet or she is really not there.”

Just then a gust of wind blew open the front door to the apartment.

“Janet, is that you?” Linda asked.

“No it’s me,” announced Denise as she walked through the open door.
“Were you expecting someone else?”

“Well no, not really. Did you see the news report?”

“No, why?”

“There’s a $25,000 reward for our heads,” said Robin.

“You’re kidding!” exclaimed Denise in disbelief.

“No, it was just on the news,” Linda answered.

“Well, I think it’s time we took a break from that,” Robin said, “at
least until everything dies down. The cops already think that Alicia
is a suspect.”

“I told you I took care of that,” responded Alicia.

“Nevertheless,” answered Robin, “they’re looking out for us now,
especially with a bounty on our heads. I’m just saying that maybe we
need to lay low for a while.”

“So how are we going to get any more money?” Linda asked. “I’m
enjoying the lifestyle I have now. I don’t want to give it up.”

“I have an idea,” said Denise. “I just found out something today that
could make us a lot more money.”

Chapter 9 

The special government Hazmat teams sealed off the site were the
comet had landed and taken the comet fragments to a special hanger
outside of Las Vegas for investigation. Early reports indicated that
there was a high concentration of radioactive particles in the
vicinity of the site and thus extra protection was used to remove
everything. Special Marine troops were brought in to guard the crash
site until every piece of radioactive material was taken away.

Three scientists from NASA were assigned to inspect the comet
fragments, two women and one man. Dr. Diane Shaw was the lead
scientist assigned to the case. She joined NASA straight out of MIT
where she graduated at the top of her class in astrophysics. A tall,
imposing woman, she had turned down basketball scholarships from Duke
and Tennessee to go to MIT instead. She had few friends at NASA,
which did not bother her in the slightest. She wasn’t there to make
friends. Instead, she was determined to become the foremost expert on
comets and other cosmic phenomena.

One of the few people that she was at least civil with was her
assistant, Dr. Jennifer Lee. Dr. Lee had just joined NASA straight
out of school, in her case Stanford University, where she double
majored in physics and geology. Originally from China, she immigrated
with her family to America as a young girl and quickly attained U.S.
citizenship. In many ways she was the opposite of her colleague. She
was barely over 5 feet tall, a full foot shorter than Dr. Shaw, and
unlike Dr. Shaw she had many friends at NASA with her friendly
personality.

The third scientist, and only male of the group, was Dr. Steven
Kowalski. He was a graduate from the University of California –
Berkeley, which lead to many discussions with Dr. Lee about the
prowess of their respective school’s athletic teams. Despite the fact
that they went to rival schools, the two doctors had developed a
strong friendship since joining NASA. So strong that some had
speculated that the two were dating on the side. If they were
attracted to each other or were in fact dating they managed to hide
their affections well, as no one had ever seen them kissing in the
halls or out together on a date.

The three gathered around the lab table where the remaining fragments
of the comet were placed, all wrapped in plastic bags plastered with
hazard stickers. “Okay,” Dr. Shaw began, “you know why we are here.
We’ve been asked to study these fragments and analyze their material
make up. Now you know this is radioactive material, so I assume that
you two have had your shots?”

“Yes.”

“Good, but nevertheless we must be very careful with this. Are the
doors locked and sealed?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then, let’s get started.”

The three scientists put on their masks and gloves. Dr. Shaw then cut
the hazard tape and began unwrapping the plastic.

“Do they know the comet’s origins?” Dr. Kowalski asked.

“No they don’t,” answered Dr. Shaw. “There’s speculation that it
originated in the Kuiper Belt but no knows for sure.”

“That’s why were here, I guess,” added Dr. Lee. She and Dr.
Kowalski’s flashed smiles to each other through their masks.

Dr. Shaw finished unwrapping the plastic, uncovering the comet
fragments. She then took a syringe filled with an acid material and
coated one of the fragments with it. The fragment instantly started
to dissolve. Dr. Kowalski reached for the spectrometer when suddenly
he stopped.

“What’s the matter?” asked Dr. Shaw. “I thought you said that you
took your shots.”

“I did,” Dr. Kowalski replied, “I just feel…uh…uhhhh.” With a thud
Dr. Kowalski fell to the floor and lost consciousness.

“Oh my God, are you alright?” Dr. Lee asked Dr. Kowalski. There was
no reply. “We’ve got to get him out of here!” she yelled back to Dr.
Shaw.

“I can’t leave the table now!” Dr. Shaw shot back. “We only have a
couple minutes before the fragment dissolves! Besides, you can’t open
the door. It’ll contaminate everything.”

Dr. Lee began dragging her colleague towards the door. Since he was
much larger Dr. Lee was struggling to lift Dr. Kowalski, wincing in
pain as she tried to move him. Suddenly she fell down next to her
unconscious colleague.

“What’s the matter with you now?” asked Dr. Shaw.

“I don’t know,” answered Dr. Lee, “I feel so…AHHH!”

Dr. Shaw turned to see what was going on and was astonished by what
she was witnessing. Something was happening to Dr. Lee, something
very odd. She was on her hands and knees hovering over the floor but
there was noticeable movement inside her lab coat. Her feet started
separating from the bottom of her pants. The lab coat was slowly
starting to lose its wrinkles, particularly around her upper arms and
back. The front of her lab coat, which had been buttoned up tight,
was now dangling down loose below Dr. Lee’s chest. Tears began to
form at the top of the coat sleeves and in the seams of her pants. A
large popping sound came from her feet, as the soles burst away from
the rest of her shoes. The coat sleeves finally tore completely away,
revealing bulging biceps that were inflating like a kid’s balloon.
Her legs appeared to be inflating as well, pressing up tightly
against her pants. The tears at the seams were expanding in both
directions.

Dr. Lee continued to howl in pain as her body continued to expand,
each scream louder and deeper than the last. She began bobbing her
head up and down, swinging her long black hair around. The top of her
lab coat began to tear in the middle, allowing Dr. Shaw to see that
her colleague’s shoulders were rapidly expanding. The tearing of her
pants seams started accelerating, and in only a few seconds both pant
legs had torn completely in two.

“This is fascinating,” Dr. Shaw muttered to herself. “What could be
causing this?” She looked down and noticed the comet fragments had a
faint glow to them, which gave her an idea.

Suddenly Dr. Lee shot upright, and let out a loud growl while doing
so. Almost instantaneously, her remaining clothes tore lose from her
body and fell to the ground. Dr. Shaw, startled by Dr. Lee’s sudden
movement, took a couple quick steps in reverse and could not believe
her eyes. Dr. Lee now towered over her by at least a foot and a half
and was still growing. All of her muscles were still expanding as
well. What was once a quiet, petite woman had turned into 8 feet of
pure muscle that did not have a friendly look on its face.

“Now Jennifer, just calm down,” said Dr. Shaw in her best relaxing
tone of voice, “I think I know why this is happening to you.
Everything is going to be o…”

Dr. Lee let out a growl, picked up the lab table, and threw it up
against the back wall. She started deliberately walking towards Dr.
Shaw, who responded by backing up. Both of them had totally forgotten
about Dr. Kowalski, who was still lying on the floor either
unconscious or dead. As she approached Dr. Shaw Dr. Lee began taking
swipes at the lab equipment sitting on the tables on either side of
her, shattering everything within arm distance. “It’s alright,” Dr.
Shaw continued to say with her hands extended out, as if trying to
will Dr. Lee back to her formally calm self.

Suddenly Dr. Lee lunged forward and grabbed a hold of Dr. Shaw. She
lifted her up off of the ground, and in one violent motion threw her
mentor across the lab and up against an electrical circuit board. Dr.
Shaw hit the board hard and collapsed to the ground, and was knocked
unconscious by the impact. Sparks flew out of the board and the
lights went off in the lab, setting off the emergency alarm. Dr. Lee
quickly looked around, clearly startled by this chain of events, and
then ran towards the exit. She burst threw the closed door without
breaking stride and ran away from the lab. Dr. Shaw, meanwhile,
continued to lie on the ground under the circuit board and next to
the comet fragments that Dr. Lee had first tossed aside. Electrical
sparks continued to flow out of the circuit board, most of them
landing onto the motionless body of Dr. Shaw.

Chapter 10

The FBI agents on the scene could not believe what they saw. The lab
was completely in ruins. Hazmat teams had already done a sweep of the
room, and safely removed the comet fragments. Dr. Kowalski was taken
to the morgue and the next of kin were notified. Dr. Shaw was taken
to the medical care facility on base. Outside of cuts and bruises she
seemed fine on the outside, and after she regained consciousness she
was assigned to a hospital bed for rest and recuperation. However,
the results of the neuroscan puzzled all of the doctors who review
them. The activity the scan detected in her brain was highly unusual,
something no one had seen before or could even explain.

Dr. Sam Simon, the hospital’s chief neurosurgeon, entered the room
along with FBI agent Jane McLaughlin. Dr. Shaw was sitting up in her
bed watching television and trying to stomach her lunch.

“Well I have good news and bad news for you, Diane.”

“Really. Well the bad news cannot be any worse than what I just ate.”

“Yes, hospital food humor,” Dr. Simon replied in a half-mocking tone,
“well the good news is that physically you seem to be fine. However,”

“What’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is that we need to keep you here for a couple more
days. We’re still reviewing the results of your neuroscan and we’d
like to keep you here as a precaution until we know more.”

“But you said I was alright, didn’t you?”

“Well, physically yes, but….”

“No buts, I want to get out of here. I’m fine. I don’t feel woozy or
anything. My head is very clear, as clear as it has ever been.”

“That may be true, but still we would like you to stay for another
couple days so we can do some more tests.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“Well, uh, no, probably not.”

“Well then let me go. Please!”

“Okay,” a tired Dr. Simon responded, “I’ll go ahead and authorize
your release, but we may need you to come back in later for some more
tests.”

“Fine,” Diane replied.

“In the meantime, Agent McLaughlin would like to ask you some
questions. You feel up for that?”

“Sure.”

Dr. Simon turned and left the room.

“Hi, Dr. Shaw, I’m Agent Jane McLaughlin, FBI. I’d like to ask you a
few questions about the incident in the lab.”

“I really don’t remember all that much,” Diane replied, “but I’ll do
the best that I can.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“No, not really. I was working on the comet fragments when Dr.
Kowalski passed out on the floor. My assistant, Dr. Lee, went over to
help him, and…uh…uh.”

“Yes?”

“That’s all I can remember. Next thing I knew I was in this hospital.”

“You mentioned your assistant, Dr. Lee,” Agent McLaughlin said, “was
she in the room with you?”

“Yes, of course, why?” Diane asked.

“Well nobody saw her either in the lab or leaving the lab.”

“Really? I know she was there.”

“Do you know where she could be?” the agent asked.

“I have no idea,” the patient replied in her best poker face. She
suspected she knew where Dr. Lee was, but Diane wanted to find her
before the FBI did.

Jennifer had spent the night on the run from the base. The guards at
the gate had ordered her to stop, and fired their rifles at her when
she didn’t. The bullets bounced off her skin as if they were rubber,
and she barreled past the guards and the gates like a running back
going for the first down. One of the guards jumped into his car and
set off in pursuit, but Jennifer outran him. She ran off the highway
and into the desert where the patrol car could not go. The guard
radioed in asking for backup, but by the time they arrived she had
disappeared into the night.

The following morning Jennifer woke up on the lawn behind Dr. Shaw’s
house. She was completely nude and back to her original height and
body structure. Instinctively she knew that the guards would search
her own house looking for her, so she had come here to hide out. She
also knew that Diane usually left the back door open, so she went in,
took a quick shower, pulled some oversized clothes out of the closet,
and sat on Diane’s bed trying to piece together the events of the
night before.

Slowly she started to remember everything that happened that night.
Dr. Kowalski’s collapse, throwing Diane and all of the lab equipment
around, the chase by the guards, and the transformation. Especially
the transformation. It was like an out-of-body experience, she
thought, as if her brain had somehow migrated into someone else’s
body, and what a body it was. Large and powerful, strong and fast,
towering over everything and everyone. She then remembered the
She-Hulk comic books that she read when she was a kid. Back then she
imagined herself as strong and powerful as Jennifer Walters. In fact
one of the reasons she had chosen Jennifer as her American name was
in honor of her cartoon hero. And now…now…could it be true?

Her daydream was broken up by the sound of a car pulling into the
driveway. Jennifer ran to the window in a panic, and was relieved to
see that Diane’s car was there. She ran down stairs and greeted Diane
at the door.

“I had a feeling that you would be here,” Diane said as she exchanged
a hug with Jennifer. “I see that you have returned back to normal.”

“Well, yes,” Jennifer replied sheepishly. “I’m back to my old regular
self.”

“Maybe not for long,” answered Diane as she headed up the bedroom.
“The FBI is looking for you, so we need to get out of here.”

“How come?”

“Because pretty soon they’ll be coming by here, and if what I think
happened to you is true then your other self will probably be here to
greet them.”

“My other self?” Jennifer asked. “You mean the she-hulk?”

Diane chuckled at that reference. “Yeah, if that’s what you want to
call it. And unless you are somehow able to control it there’s going
to be a lot of dead agents here really soon. Come on, help me pack.”

“Where are we going?”

“I have a vacation cabin up in the Sierras, far away from everything.
We need to go there and get away for a while, and figure out what
we’re going to do.”

“We?” Jennifer asked. “I’m the only one with the problem.”

“I don’t think so,” Diane replied, “I’ll explain in the car.”

The two women had finished packing and climbed into Diane’s Cherokee.
Diane reached over towards the ignition switch, and a tiny spark of
electricity shot out from her fingertips and into the steering
column. The engine suddenly ignited.

“How did you do that?” Jennifer asked.

“Like I said,” Diane answered, “you’re not the only one with a
problem.”

Chapter 11 

The timely investment in Arcsoft paid off handsomely for Alicia,
Denise, Janet, Linda, and Robin, to the tune of tens of thousands of
dollars. Combined with the money they had “earned” earlier with the
bank heists, each of them could now afford a much more comfortable
lifestyle. None of them were millionaires, and they still could not
afford to buy a nice home in California, but they now had enough to
buy new cars, new clothes, and afford the occasional weekend stay in
Las Vegas, where after years of camping out on sleeping bags and
mid-level casinos they were now staying in a top of the line suite at
the Bellagio Hotel.

Alicia and Linda put on their most flattering bikinis and headed down
to the pool for some sun and attention. The other three girls,
however, went to the craps table where Robin discovered a new way to
use her telekinetic ability.

“There’s a winner!” the dealer shouted out to the delight of the
gamblers at the table. Denise was on a hot streak and everyone but
the casino was profiting. The pit boss stared at her intently and
every once in a while inspected the dice. He suspected that she was
somehow cheating but he could not figure out how. Occasionally Denise
would turn to Robin and grin, leading the boss and the dealers to
watch Robin as well, but she too was not giving any indication that
she was manipulating the dice. Robin had by now perfected the ability
to move things in her mind without closing her eyes, so even if the
casino people believed in the supernatural there was no way of
knowing that Robin possessed this ability.

“Eleven, winner!” the dealer shouted again. This time even Janet let
out a squeal of delight. Her mood had noticeably lightened in the
last few weeks. She had even started developing a bit of a
mischievous streak, going out in public invisible and unbuttoning
women’s tops and giving mysterious kisses to unsuspecting men. Today,
however, she was fully visible and raking in winnings along with her
friends.

“Hot shooter strikes again!” and again the crowd at the table cheered
its approval. The joy was loud enough that it was starting to attract
the attention of everyone else in the casino. Consequently no one
noticed two women entering the casino carrying large empty bags.

“Are you ready?” Diane asked.

“Yes, I’m ready,” Jennifer replied.

“Remember, you need to stay in control. Don’t let the she-hulk
overpower you.”

“I know. I’ve been practicing.”

“Okay, the teller is on the left, over by the sports book.”

“Got it.”

Diane raised her hands up from her sides and held them palm outward.
Sparks of electricity began bouncing between her fingers as a faint
glow began to surround her entire body. Then suddenly large bolts of
electricity shot out from her hands and hit both an overhead light
and the security camera. The electrical surge quickly raced through
the entire electrical system of the casino, causing the lights,
cameras, and slot machines to blackout.

During the electrical surge Jennifer had begun growing and expanding
in all directions. In a matter of seconds her sandals had snapped
apart, her shorts burst from their seams, her blouse ripped into
shreds, and her height changed from 5’-1” to over 9 feet, just below
the ceiling. She made a beeline through the casino towards the
cashier, clearing everything and everyone in her path out of the way.
Diane followed closely behind, still sparking after emitting the
large burst of energy. The ruckus of Jennifer’s movement combined
with the power outage sent many of the people in the casino into
panic mode, rushing towards where they thought the doors to the
outside might be. This set off a similar panic in the security room,
as all of the hotel guards started running into the casino and
directly into the path of the panicking gamblers.

Jennifer had made it to the cashier and stood over the cage ready to
pounce. All of the cashiers got out of their stools and moved to the
back of the room, looking back in fear at the towering figure just
outside the cage bars. One of the cashiers managed to reach and press
the alarm button, but within two seconds after the alarm began to
sound a bolt of electricity shot out from behind Jennifer and hit the
alarm bell, shutting off the alarm and shorting out the emergency
electrical system. Jennifer then reached out and with one swift
motion ripped the cage bars off from the wall and threw them clear
across the casino. She then did the same to the security door,
allowing Diane to walk in untouched.

“Now, hand over the money, all of it,” Diane told the cashiers.

One of the cashiers reached for the alarm button again, only to get
hit with another bolt of electricity, sending him back a few feet.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Diane said, “now hand over the
money. Now! Or shall I have my friend here tear you all apart first?”

The cashiers nervously approached their cash drawers and began to
empty them out. Meanwhile, off in the other end of the casino three
interested observers were watching what was happening at the cashier
window.

“Did you see that?” Denise asked.

“I know. How can they do that?” Janet replied.

“I wonder,” Robin pondered, “I wonder if they were exposed to the
comet too, just like us?”

“You think so?”

”How else would you explain this, or for that matter us?”

“You think we should do something?” asked Denise.

“What can we do?” Robin replied.

“Well,” answered Janet, “if you can use your power to control
superwoman over there, I can try and get a hold of the electric lady
until the police show up.”

“What can I do?” inquired Denise.

“When I get a hold of her, you can take the money bags away and give
them back to the cashiers.”

“Why don’t we take the money ourselves?” asked Robin.

“And get the cops and those two bitches looking for us? I don’t think
so.”

”Besides,” added Denise, “it’s about time we use our powers for good.”

“Alright,” Robin said, “I’ll give it a try.”

Robin closed her eyes and concentrated on the giant woman standing
about 100 feet away from her. Meanwhile, Janet turned invisible and
began navigating towards the booth through the panicking crowd with
Denise trailing behind her.

Jennifer began to shake her head around and started to raise her
hands up to her face, only to find them hovering about half way up.
Her hands began shaking and she continued to try and move them.
Growls of anger began emanating from deep within Jennifer’s insides.
Diane started hearing these groans and turned around to her
colleague.

“What’s the matter?” Diane asked. “Remember what I said. Concentrate.
You gotta keep control.”   

“I…..DON’T…..KNOW…..I…..CAN’T…..ARRRRGH!”

Jennifer’s arms swiftly came down onto the counter, instantly
smashing it to pieces. At the same time, Robin passed out and
collapsed to the floor. The she-hulk then started throwing heavy
punches at everything within ten feet of her, reducing it all to
rubble. Screams filled the casino as the remaining gamblers and staff
watched as Jennifer started rampaging through the room.

“Oh shit!” shouted Diane. She quickly grabbed whatever bags and money
she could reach and started running for the door. However, she barely
managed to make it a few feet before being stopped in her tracks by
an invisible wall. Her body then began jerking about, as the
invisible Janet was punching as hard as she could at her taller
opponent. Denise approached Diane in a full sprint and grabbed the
bags while Diane bent over in pain.

“Hey!” Diane shouted as she turned around to see Denise hastily hand
the bags over to the nearest teller. “Give those back you bitch!”
Diane shouted as she shot a bolt of electricity out. However, at the
same time Janet hit Diane in the side, causing the bolt to miss its
intended target and strike the back wall instead. Diane stabilized
herself long enough to fire another shot, but before it got to Denise
she quickly shrank herself down, sending the blast over her head.

“What the hell?” Diane asked herself. “How did she OOOF.” Her
sentence was interrupted by another spear in the side by Janet,
knocking Diane down to the floor.

Meanwhile a group of armed guards had arrived on the casino floor and
ran towards Jennifer, guns drawn and loaded.

“Freeze!” shouted one of the guards, but Jennifer ignored the command
and continued to turn over game tables and bust down walls. The
guards began firing their guns, but while almost all of them hit the
target they all bounced off of her and fell to the floor. While the
bullets did not injure her, they did get Jennifer’s attention enough
to send her running towards them. Once expelling all of their
bullets, the guards dropped their guns and ran for the exit with
Jennifer closing in fast behind them.

Denise quickly grew back to normal size and ran out of the cashier
booth, followed by the cashiers. “Come on!” she shouted as she headed
towards Robin. Diane was still on the ground, but she sensed the
punches stopped coming right after the other woman ran past her.
Denise found Robin still lying on the floor unconscious. “Come on,”
she said to what she hoped was Janet, “let’s get her out of here.”

Denise reached down and grabbed a hold of Robin’s legs. She could see
that Robin’s upper body was also rising up from the ground and let
out a sigh of relief figuring it was Janet doing the raising. The two
women then carried Robin out of the casino. Diane was starting to get
back on her feet when she saw the woman who had taken the money
heading towards the door dragging another woman along with her. She
rubbed her eyes in disbelief as it appeared that the other woman was
levitating off of the ground. Then suddenly three police officers
appeared from the opposite side of the casino, guns drawn and at the
ready.

“Hold it right there lady,” one of the officers shouted. “Put your
hands up. Now!”

Diane turned towards the officers with a grin on her face.

“Let’s see your hands,” another officer shouted.

“You want to see my hands?” Diane asked mockingly. “Well okay.”

Diane raised her hands up and shot out electrical charges as the
three officers, knocking them down instantly.

Meanwhile the hulked up Jennifer had chased the guards into the pool
area, causing another round of panicking amongst the guests. Jennifer
had caught up with one of the guards, grabbed him from behind, lifted
him up, and tossed him a good 50 feet across the pool and into the
cabana next to where Alicia and Linda were laying.

“Oh my God!” Linda shouted, “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” Alicia replied, “but whatever it is it’s huge.”

Alicia stood up to get a better look at Jennifer, which immediately
got the she-hulk’s attention. She started running towards Alicia and
Linda, sending them into a panic trying to gather up their things and
flee, but it was too late. Before they could get their towels up they
were staring face to chest with the giant she-beast.

Alicia instinctively reached out to Jennifer and touched her
shoulder. The she-hulk did nothing but watch. “It’s okay,” Alicia
said as she started to slowly move her hand up and down Jennifer’s
upper arm. Again, all Jennifer did was stand there and watch as if
mesmerized by what Alicia was doing. Linda was standing next to the
two of them mesmerized as well. Jennifer’s breathing began to slow
down as Alicia slowly raised her other hand and started to massage
the other shoulder. “It’s alright,” she continued to say. Then to
both Alicia’s and Linda’s amazement the giant woman began to reduce
in size. First at eye level, then at chest level, finally stopping at
stomach level, Jennifer was back to her regular self again.

“Who are you?” Jennifer asked, “and how did you do that.”

“I was going to ask the same thing about you,” Linda replied.

“Come on,” Alicia urged the other two women, “we need to talk, and
not here.”

Chapter 12 

Jennifer borrowed one of the bathrobes the hotel had provided to
Linda and followed her and Alicia up to the suite. They found Denise,
Janet, and the still groggy Robin already there.

“Hey guys,” Linda announced as walked through the door, “did you see
what’s going on down there?”

“Are you kidding?” Denise replied, “We were right in the middle of
it. There was this woman who could shoot lightning bolts trying to
rob the casino, and there was this huge woman there with her that, oh
my God! It was you!”

“Yes,” answered Jennifer, “it was me.”

“But how come you’re so small now?” Janet asked.

“I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you.”

Janet quickly made herself invisible. “Well, how about now?”

Denise shrank herself down to about 3 feet in height. “Yeah, how
about now?”

Jennifer turned to Linda and saw that she was now an exact duplicate
of herself. “We’ll tell you our secret if you tell us yours,” she
told Jennifer.

Jennifer then turned to Alicia, who only nodded her head. “What about
her?” she asked, pointing towards Robin.

“I think she already knows your secret,” Denise replied, “and I’m
pretty sure you already know hers.”

“Yeah,” added Janet, “she was the one trying to stop you back at the
casino.”

“You mean…she was the one preventing me from moving my arms?”

“Yes.”

“Why’s she passed out?” Jennifer asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Janet replied, “but I think you were too
powerful for her.”

“But not powerful enough to stop Alicia,” Linda added. “It was a
regular beauty and the beast moment.”

“Okay,” Jennifer responded, “so how did you all get these powers?”

“Well,” Denise started, “it all started a few months ago when we were
camping up in the mountains….”

Denise proceeded to retell the story of how the five girls got their
powers, what their powers were, and what they initially did with
them. In turn, Jennifer described the incident in the lab when the
first became a she-hulk, the escape into the desert, the time spent
in the Sierra cabin with Dr. Shaw, and the planning for the casino
heist. The five women in the room started to bond, all realizing that
each of them came in contact with the same piece of comet fragments.
When Jennifer explained that she idolized the She-Hulk when she was a
kid and that she felt that might be the reason she became one after
being exposed to the comet fragments, a light dawn inside Alicia’s
mind.

“You know,” she said, “I always wanted to look like a supermodel and
be someone that guys would be attracted to.”

“And now you are one,” Jennifer told her.

“And I can think of plenty of times when I wanted to be invisible,”
added Janet.

“And, you know, I’ve always had a secret fantasy about being able to
change size,” Denise confessed.

“Really?” asked Janet. “You’ve never told me that.”

“Well you never mentioned anything about wanting to be invisible
either.”

“You know,” Linda said, “my ability to look like other people came
right after Alicia’s transformation.”

“Yeah,” Alicia told her, “I remember you said that you wanted to be
just like me.”

At this point a still groggy Robin slowly walked into the living
room. She saw Jennifer sitting there with her friends and jumped back
a few feet. “Holy shit!” she cried out, “it’s you!”

“It’s alright,” Alicia told her, “she’s normal now. Well, at least as
normal as the rest of us.”

“Yeah Robin, turns out she got her power the same way we did.”

“Huh?” Robin asked.

“Come on and sit down,” Denise told her, “we’ll tell you the whole
story.” Jennifer then retold the story of her transformation to
Robin, whose facial appearance changed from confusion to
understanding.

“So I guess you’re one of us now,” Robin told her.

“Yeah,” Linda added, “you could be part of our team. We could use
some muscle.”

“Sure,” Jennifer replied, “I would like that. What about Dr. Shaw?”

“Who?”

“My colleague. You know, the woman who shot out the electricity.”

“I don’t know, I got a bad feeling about her,” Janet answered.

“I would guess the feeling might be mutual,” added Denise, “given how
badly you beat on her.”

“Well you were the one that took the money.”

“Maybe we’ll worry about her later,” Jennifer said, “but do any of
you know what happened to her?”

“No,” Janet replied, “she was still in the casino when we left.”

Chapter 13 

Following her escape from the casino, Diane drove out to the base for
the first time since she was released from the hospital. Since she
was technically on staff her access pass was still valid, and she was
able to get into her old office. She was glad to see that very little
had be moved or changed since the last time she was there. She turned
on her desk radio and switched on her computer. The radio news was
talking about the incident at the Bellagio the day before, with wild
tales about a massive Asian woman and another who could shoot
lightning bolts out of her hands. The police said that they had
gotten descriptions of the two women from several eyewitnesses, but
that because the cameras in the casino were not working there were no
pictures of the event. The talk show host following the news started
making jokes about the police’s department’s inability to find a 9
foot tall woman that was strong enough to single-handedly dismantle a
casino.

Diane let out a little smirk as she turned towards her computer
screen. She saw all the e-mails from well-wishing co-workers as well
as lots of general office announcements that she skimmed through and
quickly deleted. She was not interested in any of those messages,
though she did stop to read the reports of the giant woman who
escaped the base the night the cosmic lab was destroyed, and that
they suspect that whoever that person was also abducted the still
missing Dr. Lee. “They don’t know how close they are to the truth,”
she thought. Instead, she was searching for any official memos or
notices that dealt with the comet fragments. Accessing the top secret
intranet, which she still had clearance for despite being away, she
scanned through the notices impatiently, hitting the enter key harder
each time. Small sparks started popping out of her fingers, causing
her to stop for a minute and catch a breath. She quickly realized
that her temper and her power could in an instant !
short circuit the computer, and then she’d be really screwed. Then
suddenly her eyes lit up as she saw the memo that she was searching
for.

She burst out of her office and ran down the hall and down two
flights of stairs. Down another long corridor she stopped at the
security checkpoint. She calmly gave the guard her pass key.

“Dr. Shaw,” the guard said, “I didn’t think that you were back
already. How ya’ feeling?”

“I’m fine Joe,” she replied, “but I’m in kind of a hurry.”

“No problem, you’re free to enter.”

“Thanks.”

With that Diane entered into the basement storage area and began
searching for the lead box that the memo said contained the comet
fragments. Her bosses at NASA didn’t seem to think that there was any
connection between the comet fragments and the lab accident, so they
did not file them away in one of the secure, sealed off locations.
She slowly walked down aisle 17J, reading the boxes as she went, when
suddenly she stopped and saw the box she was looking for, aptly
labeled “comet fragments.”

She took the box off of the shelf and stared at it for a minute as if
she just found buried treasure. She set the box down and dropped to
her knees to open it. She pushed around the piles of plastic inside
the box until she saw the fragments sitting on the bottom. They had
been sealed inside a tight plastic container, but the faint glow that
they had before in the lab was still there. She carefully unsealed
the container, gathered the fragments into her hands, and slowly
lifted them out of the box.

“Okay, my magic beans,” she said, “make me a goddess.”

Her entire body began to shake, but she continued to maintain a tight
hold on the fragments. A strong heat sensation began building up in
her hands, then swept up her arms and out over the rest of her body.
Her grip on the fragments tightened as the shaking and the heat
continued to intensify. Every muscle in her body tensed up, every
sweat gland began to activate. Barely able to keep her eyes open, she
could see that her chest was expanding outward, pushing hard against
her bra and blouse. She could feel her sleeves, her slacks, her shoes
and socks, even her panties, pressing hard up against her body. Still
she held on to the fragments.

Her shoelaces began unraveling, as each side of each shoe was pulling
further and further apart from each other.  Sounds of tearing cloth
started emanating from three different places around her body. She
felt a snap on her back when her bra clasp snapped in half. Out of
the corner of her eye she could see blonde strands of hair creeping
down from her shoulders. Then she felt a strange sensation that her
feet were slowly lifting out of her tearing shoes. She looked down
and was amazed to see that she was rising up off of the ground. She
could also see that her blouse and pants had pulled up high enough to
expose rock hard calf and stomach muscles. Still she held on to the
fragments.

Despite the fact that the room was sealed, a wind began to swirl
around Diane. Some of the other boxes began falling off the shelves
on their own. Small sparks of electricity began popping out from her
exposed toes and inside of her closed fists. Her entire body now felt
like a giant mold of clay being shaped by some unseen sculptor. Her
upper body and shoulders continued to enlarge and expand outward,
tearing her blouse into pieces. Her chest had now entered the double
letter range and showed no signs of slowing their inflation. Her
pants tore apart at the seams and fell to the floor that was now a
good two feet below her feet and nearly 10 feet from her head. Still
she held on to the fragments.

Everything in the room that was not bolted down was moving around,
some flying in all different directions. The air was swirling around
Diane at ever increasing speed. She was now nearly 6 feet off the
ground and close to 10 feet tall. What was left of her clothing now
laid on the ground beneath her feet. The sculpting sensations had
stopped, replaced by a bright light that began to envelop her nude
body. Diane closed her eyes and let out a smile of ecstasy as the
light now completely enclosed her. Still she held on to the
fragments.

Then suddenly the light, the wind, and all the swirling disappeared.
Diane opened her eyes and floated back down to the ground. She looked
down and saw that she had nearly doubled in height to nearly 12 feet
tall. She also saw what she thought was the most fantastic body that
she had ever seen. “I’ve got to get a good look at this,” she said,
and then with a snap of her fingers and a flash of light a full
length mirror appeared in front of her. “Oh yes, very impressive,”
she told herself, “but I need something to wear.” She snapped her
fingers again and a new Supergirl style outfit appeared on her body,
complete with calf-high boots, a very short pleaded skirt, and a
tight sleeveless mini-top that exposed her washboard stomach. The
only thing missing was the cape and the big “S”. “Oh yes, that will
do nicely,” she told herself.

Diane then looked around at the mess of boxes and papers all around
her. “What a mess,” she remarked. Suddenly everything started moving
again, but this time in a much more orderly fashion. Each of the
items on the floor flew into the box and shelf that they were in
before all the chaos. Diane then floated up above the shelves to get
a look at the entire room, and saw that everything was back in place.
The look on her face was not surprise but satisfaction, for she knew
that she had willed this to happen.

Diane floated back down to the ground, opened her hands, and stared
at the comet fragments. “It looks like you did your job,” she told
them, “and now I have to make sure that you never do that again.” She
then closed her fist and squeezed them tight, crushing all of the
fragments into dust. She reopened her hands to inspect her work and
let out a hearty laugh. “This world is now mine.” Then with another
snap of her fingers she vanished from the room.

Chapter 14

Robin and Linda were in line at the bank attempting to deposit their
winnings before leaving Las Vegas. The line was long and slow, but
for some reason today the line was even slower than usual.

“What is taking so long?” Linda asked impatiently.

“I don’t know,” Robin replied, “that guy at the counter has been
there for five minutes.”

“Yeah, that woman next to him too.”

“It’s too bad the others aren’t here,” Robin whispered, “we could
have robbed the place and been gone by now.” Linda chuckled.

The tellers and the bank managers appeared to be very frustrated
about something. One of the managers kept shrugging her shoulders
while looking at the computer screen. Finally one of them got up on a
chair.

“Attention everyone. We’re real sorry for the wait, but our computers
seem to be malfunctioning. We’re gonna have to close the bank until
we get this fixed.” Everyone in the bank let out a groan. “I know
this is an inconvenience, but there’s nothing we can do. So please
everyone exit the bank in an orderly fashion.”

“Maybe we can use the ATM instead,” Robin said as her and Linda
headed for the exit. However, when they got outside they saw a man
hitting the ATM hard and repeatedly.

“Come on, you damn thing. Give me back my card!” he shouted at the
ATM. The computer screen showed nothing but gibberish.

“Maybe we can use the bank across the street,” Linda proposed.

“Maybe not, look,” answered Robin pointing to the bank. Angry people
were leaving that building, and the ATMs there did not appear to be
working either. Unbeknownst to either woman, this scene was being
repeated in thousands of banks all across the country. The phone
lines in every bank were jammed with frustrated managers and tellers
relaying their problems to their corporate headquarters. The news
made it all the way to the Secretary of the Treasury in Washington
D.C., who quickly raced to the Oval Office to brief the President.

“We’ve got a problem, Mr. President,” the secretary announced as he
walked into the office.

“What is it, Bob?”

“We’re under what I believe is a terrorist attack. Someone or some
group has tapped into most of the nation’s banks and transferred
their assets into an offshore account.”

“Holy shit!” the President exclaimed. “How much are we talking about?”

“About 40 billion dollars!” announced a female voice from the other
side of the room. The President and the secretary suddenly turned a
saw that the source of the voice was a woman so tall that her head
almost touched the ceiling. The President hit the emergency button
and quickly 6 Secret Service agents burst into the room.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Mr. President,” the woman said in a
scolding manner. The agents opened fire, but the bullets just bounced
off of the woman’s body. With a wave of her hand all of the agents
were thrown off their feet and up against the wall behind them. She
then held out her hand and the agent’s gun flew out of their hands
and landed at the woman’s feet. She stepped over and crushed them
with her foot.

“I told you, you shouldn’t have done that. Now I have to get rough.”

The woman snapped her fingers, and instantly large metal plates
covered all of the doors and windows. She then made a sweeping motion
with her right hand, and all of the unconscious agents gathered up
into one pile. Another finger snap, and a large metal cage appeared
that enclosed the agents. She then held out her hand in the direction
of the Treasury Secretary, who began to gag and reach for this
throat.

“Stop this immediately!” The President ordered as he shot up from his
chair.

“But why, Mr. President? I’m having so much fun,” the woman replied.
“Now that I’ve completely sealed us off from any other uninvited
guests and I have your man here by the throat, do I have your
attention?”

“Yes,” The President demurred, and sat back down.

“Good,” the woman replied.  She put her hand down and released the
Secretary from the choke hold. He collapsed to the ground gasping for
air. She then snapped her fingers again, and a large chair appeared
in front of The President’s desk, dwarfing everything else in the
room except for the woman.

“Mind if I sit down?” she asked mockingly. She sat in the new chair
and crossed her long, sculpted legs in front of The President.

“Now as you can see, Mr. President, I have acquired a significant
amount of power and ability, which you have only seen a small
demonstration of. I have also in the last several minutes acquired a
significant amount of wealth as well.”

“But how…”

“Uhh, uhh, Mr. President,” the woman said as she held her hand up,
“no questions please. Let me do all of the talking. Now as I was
saying, I am a woman of great power and wealth, and there is only one
thing that I am missing, and that’s where you come in. You see, you
have a vast and powerful arsenal at your disposal; the strongest army
in the world is under your command. You also control the laws of the
land. Every police officer, every solider, every guard, is obligated
to follow your orders. That is what I am here for. I am here to take
that command from you.”

“How…”

“You will resign from the presidency, suspend the Constitution, and
transfer all of your powers to me.”

“Are…are you crazy?”

“No, Mr. President, or should I say Mr. ex-President, I am not
crazy.” She stood up and grabbed the presidential desk with one hand,
lifted it into the air, and tossed it aside. She then walked up and
stood over The President, who had to crane his neck far back to see
her face over her breasts. “I am a goddess, with powers and abilities
greater than you can possibly imagine. I will have what I want, and
there is nothing that you can do to stop me.”

The glass skylight over the Oval Office shattered, and two
paratroopers burst through and opened fire on the woman. Again, the
bullets only bounced off her skin. She quickly turned and fired a
blast of electricity from her hands, hitting both men and sending
them clear across the room, killing them instantly. She waved her
hand upward, and another steel plate appeared over the hole in the
skylight. She then turned to the Treasury Secretary and fired another
blast at him, electrocuting him instantly. 

“Dear God!” The President exclaimed.

“Hmmph, that’s very funny Mr. President, but unfortunately your God
can’t help you now. So, will you give me what I want, or do I have to
wait until you suffocate in this room and ask the Vice President
instead?”

“Yes,” was all The President could say in reply.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, madam.”

“Very good. You’re a smarter man than they give you credit for.”

She backed away from The President and stood in the middle of the
room. “I will return shortly. I expect you to start making
preparations for the transfer of power.”

“Who, who are you?”

“My human name was Diane, but from now on I would like to be called
Empress Diane.”

With a wave and a flash of light the Empress disappeared, along with
the steel plates and the cage around the still unconscious agents.
The President sat in the devastated Oval Office thinking he just made
a deal with the Devil herself.

Chapter 15 

“My fellow Americans,” The President began, “I come to you tonight to
announce something of great historical importance. Many of you may be
aware of the events of earlier today, where normal finance operations
at banks and brokerages across the country were disrupted, causing
the stock market and some banks to close prematurely. The resulting
chaos has led to panic in many cities and in some cases rioting,
stretching the limits of our police forces past the point that they
can effectively handle the situation.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Robin asked while watching the
TV from the hotel room. “I didn’t see any rioting in the streets.”

“Yeah, neither did I,” Janet added.

“Therefore, in order to control the situation and bring peace back to
our streets I am declaring martial law across the country. Army and
National Guard troops, under orders from their Commander-In-Chief,
have begun to deploy in several cities as needed. Furthermore, since
swift and decisive action from the Executive Branch is required, I am
hereby suspending Congress indefinitely until this crisis has been
resolved.”

“What! He can’t do that!” Denise shouted. “It’s unconstitutional!”

“Finally, I think that it is fair to say that this situation requires
a strong leader, one who has the power to enforce the rule of law and
protect the innocent. While I feel that I could perform this
difficult task, I have been made aware of another person who is far
more qualified for this task than I am. Therefore, I have made the
difficult decision to resign from this presidency effective
immediately, and to turn over all powers and privileges of this
office to this person. I have conferred with the Vice President and
the Cabinet, and they have all agreed to support this decision. My
fellow Americans, I would like to now introduce to you your new
Commander-In-Chief.”

The camera pulled back as far as it could go while the former
president got up from his chair and walked out of the picture.
Stepping into the picture was a huge, gorgeous woman wearing only a
pair off high and tight short pants and a short tank top that barely
draped over her enormous breasts. None of the viewers could see what
type of shoes she was wearing because the camera could not pull back
far enough to get them into the picture. She stood defiantly in front
of the Presidential desk with her hands on her hips and her over 6
foot long legs spread out down from either side of her torso.

“My God,” Linda said, “she’s almost as beautiful as you, Ali.”

“I think she’s even bigger than the she-hulk, Jennifer,” Alicia
replied.

“I know,” answered Jennifer, “she looks familiar though.”

“My subjects,” the woman began, “as the ex-President has just
described the situation on the streets is desperate, and he has asked
me to step in and put an end to the chaos.”

“That’s Dr. Shaw,” Jennifer said.

“Who?”

“The woman I was with in the casino. The one who could shoot out
electricity.”

“No way,” Janet argued, “it doesn’t look like the woman I beat up.
She looks more like you.”

“I’m sure it’s her,” Jennifer replied, “I recognize the voice, sort
of. But you’re right, that doesn’t look like her. She changed
somehow.”

“As you can see,” the woman continued, “I have evolved into the most
powerful person on this earth, man or woman. Rest assured that I am
even more powerful than this body would suggest.” She held out her
hand and instantly a large diamond appeared on her palm. “I hold in
my hand a diamond, the strongest substance in the natural world.” She
closed her hand around the diamond and squeezed it tight. She
reopened her hand and revealed that the diamond had been crushed into
tiny particles. “Or shall I say was the strongest substance in the
world. This is but a small demonstration of my power.”

The six girls sat staring at the TV screen in shock and disbelief, a
feeling shared by 260 million Americans all over the country watching
the same thing.

“Now, as the ex-president said there was a major disruption in the
financial markets today. Tonight I am proud to announce that we have
identified at least two suspects in this case, and I have notified
our armed forces and law enforcement officials to begin an extensive
search for these individuals.” Two photos suddenly appeared on the
screen. To the horror of the 6 girls in the hotel room two of them
were pictured.

“The one on the right is Dr. Jennifer Lee, once a noted scientist for
NASA but who has been missing for close to three weeks. She is also
suspected to be the mastermind behind an attack on a NASA research
facility a few weeks ago. We do not yet know the identity of the
woman on the right. However, she was last seen yesterday leaving the
Bellagio casino in Las Vegas immediately after an attempted robbery
of the casino. Numerous casino employees have described her as being
involved in the robbery attempt.”

“Is this true, Denise?” Linda asked.

“Of course not!” Denise replied. “I was trying to stop it!”

“We have reason to believe that at least one or perhaps two other
women were involved in today’s terrorist attack, but we have not yet
been able to identify them. A substantial financial award will be
given to anyone who provides me with the information leading to the
arrest and conviction of these two women. I should warn you, however,
not to confront them if you see them. They are both to be considered
armed and very dangerous.”

The woman walked around the desk and sat in the president’s old
chair. “In the coming weeks,” she continued, “I will be issuing a
series of edicts designed to bring peace to the streets and the
guilty to justice. From this day forward all of America, and indeed
the entire world, will come to respect and honor the power of the
Empress Diane. That is all.”

She snapped her fingers and all of the TV sets in America switched
off.

“We are fucked,” Denise said.

“What do you mean, we?” Linda replied, “I only saw your two pictures
there.”

“Yeah, but Denise is right,” Jennifer answered, “We are all fucked.
You know once she gets us she’ll be coming after you next.”

“She did say that she thought there were other accomplices,” Denise
added.

“That could only mean us,” said Janet. “But what I don’t understand
is how she could have changed so much.”

“You said that she was exposed to the comet radiation too, right?”
Robin asked Jennifer.

“Yes, she was,” Jennifer replied, “but as far as I know the only
power she got was the electrical one.”

“But apparently she’s acquired some more, and now she’s assumed
control of the whole country.”

“We need to get out of here,” Alicia added, “now.”

“But how are we going to do that with the police all over the place
looking for Denise and Jennifer?” Linda asked.

Denise shrank down to about 18 inches tall. “I don’t think you need
to worry about me,” she said.

“That’s true,” Robin said, “but what about you Jennifer?”

“I don’t know,” Jennifer answered, “but I don’t think turning into
the she-hulk again will work. I’ll be too conspicuous.”

“I know a way I can help get you out of here,” said Alicia, “I know a
few things about how to distract guards, especially male ones.”

Chapter 16 

The girls checked out of the hotel just after midnight, when the
hotel staff was at its lightest. Denise shrank herself down to just a
quarter-inch in height and rode out of the hotel in Linda’s blouse
pocket. True to her word, Alicia distracted the only bellman on duty
with an outfit that resembled a Vegas showgirl’s, allowing Jennifer
and the others to get through the lobby without attracting attention.
Everyone boarded the black Expedition rental and headed out of town.

Instead of risking detection at the airport, they decided to keep the
rental and drive home to San Diego. For most of them it was a chance
to sleep and get some rest after an eventful trip. For Robin,
however, who was elected to stay up and do the driving, it was a trip
filled with thoughts and ruminations. Janet, who sat in the front
passenger seat, woke up as the SUV approached Barstow.

“How you doing?” she asked Robin. “You want me to drive?”

“I’m fine,” Robin replied without turning her head from the road.

After a few minutes of silence Janet turned back to the driver. “You
look concerned,” she said.

“Well of course I am. Aren’t you?” Robin replied.

“Well sure.”

Another few minutes of silence passed by as they reached the
outskirts of Barstow. All this time the other passengers remained
sound asleep.

“What you are thinking about?” Janet asked.

Finally Robin turned and faced her co-pilot. “I’m trying to figure
out how we are going to get out of this.”

“Out of what? Linda’s right, it’s only Denise and Jennifer she’s
looking for.”

“I know, but I’m pretty sure she saw me back at the casino. And if
she does capture those two who knows what she’ll do to them. She may
be able to read minds now for all I know, and if she can then we’re
all screwed.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Janet conceded, “Besides, I’d rather die than
see Denise captured and tortured by that woman.”

The Expedition quietly cruised through Barstow and continued on
towards Victorville.

“There’s only one way we’re going to survive this, and that’s to take
that woman out,” Janet finally said.

Robin slowed down and again turned to her passenger, this time with a
surprised look on her face. “Are you crazy?” she asked.

“No, no, hear me out. With all the power this woman has she’ll
eventually find us, and until then we’ll be on the run hiding from
everyone. I don’t want to do that.”

“Neither do I.”

“But if we take her out then all of our problems go away.”

“That’s a big if. She’s way too powerful for us,” Robin said.

“She’s more powerful than each of us,” Janet retorted, “but is she
more powerful than all six of us?”

“You know,” Robin responded after a long delay, “you may have a
point.”

“Yeah, but I don’t have a plan.”

“Leave that to me.”

For the next several hours Robin and Janet bounced different ideas
off of each other, while the others continued to sleep behind them.
Finally around Temecula the two had agreed on battle plan. They also
agreed to wait until they got home before telling the others. The
sunrise finally greeted them as they drove through Escondido, just
under an hour from home. Slowly each of the others awoke, but no one
was in the mood to talk. Finally they pulled into Alicia’s and
Linda’s complex and slowly hiked up to their apartment.

“OK, now what do we do?” Linda asked.

“Well I can’t go back to my place again,” Denise replied, “the police
will be there for sure.”

“Neither can I,” Jennifer added.

“Well you guys can stay here as long as you need to,” Alicia said,
“but we’ve got to do something about this.”

“Janet has an idea, guys,” Robin said, “tell them Janet.”

“No, you tell them,” Janet replied. At the same time she started
fading out of sight.

“No, it was your idea Janet, and please don’t disappear.”

“Okay,” Janet replied as she phased back into view. Turning towards
the others she said, “I think the only way out of this is to
challenge this empress head on and take her out.”

The other four girls stared at Janet as if she just spoke in Swahili.
Linda was the first to speak up. “You know, you’ve been acting really
squirrelly recently,” she said. “I think you’ve finally lost your
mind.”

“No she hasn’t,” Robin answered. “She and I talked about it while you
guys were sleeping, and I think we can do it. We’ve come up with a
plan.”

“A plan?” Linda said. “Are you serious? Don’t you understand? She’s
the most powerful person on the planet! Right, Jennifer?”

“You know, to be honest, I like the idea,” Jennifer said. The
remaining girls now stared in disbelief at her too.

“No seriously,” Jennifer continued. “There’s one of her and six of
us. We’ve got brains, beauty, brawn, everything she’s got and more.”

“You know,” said Denise, “Maybe attacking Diane isn’t the smartest
thing to do, but I sure don’t want to spend the rest of my life in
hiding. Count me in.”

“Have you all lost your minds?!” Linda shouted at them. “This is
crazy! Don’t you think so Ali?”

“Actually,” Alicia answered, “I’m beginning to like the idea too.”

“That’s it, I’m out of here.”

“Wait Linda!” Robin shouted as Linda started for the door. “We need
you! We can’t pull this off without you.”

“But, it’s just crazy. You saw what she’s done. God only knows what
she’s capable of. It’s a death wish.”

“But Linda, do you want to spend the rest of your life running and
hiding from her?” Denise asked.

“Hey, you’re the ones she’s looking for, not me. Besides, I can
become anybody I want.” 

Linda stood erect in front of her friends and began to morph and
grow. Her frame expanded in all directions, straining her clothes to
the limit. Quickly her shirt ripped in half from the rear, her blouse
buttons popped off from the top down, the legs of her shorts rolled
up to her waist, and the covers of her shoes blew apart. The strands
of her hair changed from brown to blonde and doubled in length. Still
she continued to expand and grow upward and outward, even surpassing
the 7 foot tall Alicia. Her arms, legs, and stomach continued forming
into solid, muscular shapes while her breasts continued to inflate at
an alarming rate, finally ripping apart her blouse. Her shorts and
panties also surrendered to her expanding body and fell to the
ground. She started bending down as her head pushed up against the
ceiling. Finally, she stopped growing and at almost 12 feet tall
towered over the others in the room.

“As you can see,” Linda said, “I can even become her.”

“That’s why we need you, Linda,” Janet said. “Our plan cannot succeed
without you.”

Alicia walked over and put her hand inside Linda’s. “They’re right,
Linda,” she said. “We can’t do this without you.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, Ali, and it’s not going to work,”
Linda said. Still Alicia continued to caress Linda’s enormous hands.
“Please, stop,” Linda pleaded, but Alicia held her ground. “Yes, you
don’t need to do this for yourself,” she told Linda, “you’ve got
money and beauty and everything anyone could want, and the Empress
isn’t looking for you. But your friends are in trouble and need you.
I need you. Please don’t leave us.”

Slowly, the look of anger and frustration on Linda’s face began to
fade. She started morphing again, shrinking down from the nearly 12
foot height she achieved when assuming Diane’s form. The other parts
of her body were adjusting to, becoming more feminine as they were
getting smaller. She was once again turning into a carbon copy of
Alicia. The other girls stood behind in silence watching Alicia work
her magic on Linda.

“I know you want to do the right thing,” Alicia said while releasing
Linda’s hand. Without saying a word, Linda wrapped both arms around
Alicia's waist and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

“For you, I would do anything,” Linda said.

She then looked towards the others. “For all of you,” Linda said in a
soft tone, “I would do anything. Even attack the Empress. I’m sorry.”

The other girls approached Linda and Alicia. “I know you’re scared,
we all are,” Robin said, “but deep down I know we can do this.” The
others nodded their heads in approval.

“So, what’s the plan?” Denise asked.

Chapter 17

The effects of the new martial law were swift and immediate. Army and
National Guard troops took to the streets of several cities.
Newspapers, magazines, and TV stations were shut down, often by
force. Protests and demonstrations were quickly broken up by force
wherever they popped up. Concerts, sporting events, and anything else
that attracted large crowds were cancelled. Hardware stores reported
a run on sales of plywood, duct tape, and anything related to home
security. Grocers watched their shelves get cleaned out by anxious
shoppers preparing for the worst. Internet traffic came to a
standstill as the government closed servers and severed phone and
cable lines. The banking industry, still reeling from Diane’s initial
heist, saw their cash reserves dwindle to nothing as people were
pulling their money out as fast as they could. In fact, many of the
armed forces patrolling the cities concentrated their forces around
banks, and often would move in and close them as soon as!
 the crowds got too large.

As expected, Congress did not take kindly to the news that they were
being disbanded, and despite the Empress’ orders they convened a
special joint session three days after the regime change to address
the problem. Senators and representatives, Democrat and Republican
alike, took the podium and denounced the change of power, calling for
immediate impeachment. However, the session was interrupted about
half way in when the doors to the chambers blew out of their hinges
and flew into the room.

“So, you’ve chosen to defy me!” the Empress bellowed as she entered
the chambers. She stretched out her hand towards the podium. “Nobody
defies me!”

Suddenly the speaker, the distinguished senator from Colorado,
floated up from the floor and hovered a good 20 feet above the
members of Congress. The Empress waved her outstretched hand, and the
hovering senator flew across the chambers and crashed head first into
the balcony railing above. A security guard charged into the room and
tried to ram into the Diane’s back, but instead he fell to the floor
upon impact as if he had just ran into a brick wall. Diane did not
budge, instead she turned and looked down in contempt at her would be
attacker. She then flew up to about 15 feet above the crowd.

“I told you that Congress was disbanded, and that your services were
no longer needed,” she told them. “Did you think I was joking?”

Diane held out both of her hands, and every seat in the chamber began
to shake loose from their anchors to the floor. Every politician who
was still seated jumped up out of their seats and looked down in
disbelief in the moving chair. One by one the chair shot up from the
floor, knocking down or knocking out many of the people there. Under
the Empress’ orders the chairs flew out of the room, through the
Rotunda, and out on to the steps of the Capitol building. Meanwhile,
Diane continued to hover over the stunned members of Congress.
Electrical sparks began to form around her sharpened fingernails.

“Now get out!” Diane ordered. “Get out before I take you out!”

Every politician still standing ran for the doors. Those that were
unconscious were swept out by a wave of Diane’s hand. She floated
back down to the ground and stood alone in the middle of the chamber.
She held up her still sparking hands up to her face. “So much power
at my fingertips,” she said, “but I must have more. I must have
more!” With a snap and a flash, Diane disappeared.

A day later Diane was back in the White House, which she had
converted into a fortress, complete with stone walls and watchtowers
around the perimeter and tanks parked on the lawn. Inside the
presidential portraits and other memorabilia were all removed and
replaced with famous works of art that she had either purchased or
just taken out of museums around the globe. The large ballroom had
been converted into a throne room, complete with a special chair
tailor made to suit her larger dimensions and covered with embedded
diamonds and jewels. At the opposite end of the room were several
large screen television monitors, which Diane used to watch the
implementation of her new world order. She was watching these sets
when an aide meekly entered the room.

“My master,” the aide began, “may I have a word?”

“Yes, you may approach.”

“My master, there is a woman at the front gate who wants to see you.
She says that you’ll want to see her.”

“Oh, really?”

Diane pointed to one of the screens, which switched over to the
camera at the front gate. Standing there speaking with three guards
was a tall blonde woman wearing a short yellow sundress and matching
high heel shoes. “My goodness,” Diane murmured, “would you look at
her. She’s almost as beautiful as me.” She turned to the aide and
asked, “What does she want?”

“She says that she has the two women that you were looking for. The
two terrorists.”

“She does, does she? Well, we’ll see about that.”

Diane stared intently at the screen, and saw the doors of the woman’s
Expedition fly open, startling the blonde and the guards. The camera
then zoomed in on the SUV, and Diane could see that Dr. Jennifer Lee
was sitting in the front seat and another indistinguishable woman
sitting in the back seat.

“Hmmm, it looks like the blonde is telling the truth. I definitely
want to see her now. Tell the guards to let them through and escort
them here.”

“Yes, your Majesty.” The aide turned and left the room.

Chapter 18 

As Empress Diane continued to monitor the events at the front gate,
there was action at the rear gate as a shiny red Corvette pulled up
with a uniformed officer at the wheel.

“Good afternoon, General Shelley,” the guard announced as he saluted
the driver.

“Good afternoon, solider,” the driver replied. “Can you open the
gate; I’m in a hurry to see the Empress.”

“No problem, Sir, just show me your ID first and we’ll get you going.”

“My ID, hmmm, let me see where I put it,” the general muttered. As he
fumbled through his pockets the guard took a look at his young female
passenger.

“Who’s that?” the guard asked.

“That’s my new, umm, secretary, if you know what I mean,” the general
replied with a wink.

“Yes Sir, I do.”

“Well, I can’t seem to find my ID card. Can you let me through
anyway?”

“I don’t know, Sir, I’ll have to check.”

The guard turned away, but before he started back to the guard shack
the gate opened. The guard inside the shack gave a thumb up signal to
his partner.

“Well, Sir, I guess it’s okay. Please proceed.”

“Thank you, solider,” the general said as he revved up the engine and
drove into the compound.

“Wow,” Linda said, “that was a close one. How did you get the other
guard to open the gate?”

“It was easy,” Robin replied, “I’ve been practicing telepathy as well
as telekinesis.”

“You’re getting scary,” an invisible Janet said from the back seat.

“Well let’s hope the others were able to get in, or we’ll need a lot
more of that scary luck to get out of here,” Linda told the others.

----------

The Expedition pulled up to the front entrance to the White House and
was quickly surrounded by Secret Service agents. They opened the
doors and pulled Jennifer and Denise out. They were, however, much
more gentle with Alicia, merely offering her a hand to assist her out
of the SUV. The three women were then escorted into the White House.

“Where are you taking us?” Jennifer asked.

“To the Throne Room,” one of the agents replied. “The Empress wants
to greet you personally.”

----------

Meanwhile the Corvette parked on the driveway adjacent to the rear
entrance, and the general and her accomplices exited the car and
started towards the door. The two guards at the door give a salute to
the general and his aide, along with their unseen companion. The
three walked down the halls without drawing any suspicious looks from
the other staffers, and managed to make it to the general’s office
without incident. Robin opened the door for the general, then closed
and locked it.

“Okay,” Linda started, “what’s next?”

Robin pulled out the walkie-talkie from her purse. “Well, we stay
here and wait for Alicia’s signal, and then we initiate Phase 2. I
will search for the armory and destroy the guns there. Janet will
make her way down to the cells to free the others, and we’ll need you
to start ordering the troops on a fake search. Then with the guards
totally distracted and disoriented we’ll go to the Throne Room and
take out The Empress.”

“And how do we do that?” Linda asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t figured that out for sure yet, but I have a
few ideas,” Robin replied.

“I see,” Linda responded with a leery tone, “well, we are committed
now, aren’t we?”

----------

The other women had arrived in the Throne Room where Empress Diane
was awaiting them.

“Oh, look who’s here!” Diane announced as the three women entered.
With a flash Diane teleported from one end of the room to the other
and stood directly in front of Jennifer and Denise.

“So, my dear friend,” Diane asked Jennifer while towering over her,
“what made you decide to surrender without a fight? I would have
figured you would have destroyed a few rooms before letting this
woman take you in.”

“I volunteered to surrender,” Jennifer replied, “because I want to be
with you.” This drew a look from Denise.

“Oh you do, do you,” Diane replied, “well that very sweet of you. But
what makes you think I want you on my team anymore, Dr. Lee? As you
can see I’m much bigger and stronger than you now, and unlike you I
can control my rage.”

“I can too, with your help.”

“I see. Well, I’ll have to think about it.” Diane then turned to
Denise. “And here’s my little shrinking violet. Don’t think I haven’t
forgotten what you did to me at the casino. Tell me, did I see you
shrink in size or was that just an optical illusion?” Denise did not
reply.

“A silent type, huh? I don’t like silent types.” Diane reached back
and slapped Denise hard on the cheek, almost knocking her down. Out
of the Empress’ sight Alicia winced at the pain Denise was now
feeling. Slowly, Denise began to shrink in size, keeping her head
down in silence.

“Well would you look at this,” Diane said. “You are shrinking aren’t
you? I knew I wasn’t just seeing things. I’d sure like to know how
you learned to do that. But you’re not going to tell me, are you? No
matter, sooner or later I’ll find out. Guards! Take these two down to
the basement while I decide what to do with them. And you,” Diane
continued as she turned towards Alicia, “can you stay here? I would
love to hear how you convinced these two to surrender.”

As the guards took Jennifer and Denise away Diane took Alicia’s hand
and led her to a small sitting room adjacent to the Throne Room.
Before arriving there Alicia reached into her purse and pushed a
button on her cell phone. When they entered the room Diane snapped
her fingers, and a small table with two oversized chairs appeared,
along with a kettle of tea and some light crackers. Diane pulled out
one of the chairs and led Alicia into it. She then went around to the
other side and took a seat.

“I must say, miss…” Diane said.

“Pam, my name is Pam,” Alicia replied.

“I must say, Pam, that you are absolutely the most beautiful woman
that I have ever seen.”

“Thank you, I hear that a lot.”

“I bet you do,” Diane said as she poured some tea for both of them.
“So tell me, was it your beauty that got those two to surrender?”

“Well, in a way, yes.”

Chapter 19

Upon getting the signal from Alicia, Robin gave the phone to Linda
and left the office with Janet. Robin managed to find a spare visitor
pass in the general’s desk, which she now sported on her blouse.
Janet, as usual when in her invisible state, wasn’t wearing anything.
They came across a guard in the hallway.

“Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where the armory is?” Robin asked.

“I’m not sure that I can, madam,” the guard replied. Suddenly his
head jerked slightly downward as his belt began to unbuckle.

“Are you sure?” Robin asked with a coy smile. “I promise I’ll make it
worth your while.”

“What you are talking about?” the guard asked, “and what are you
doing?”

”I’m not doing anything, yet,” Robin replied. Meanwhile the guard’s
belt was unbuckled and he could feel something reach down into his
groin area. He also felt something similar to a breast nipple
pressing up against his stomach. His eyes started rolling back as he
felt caressing strokes inside his pants.

“Are you okay?” Robin asked.

“Oh yes,” the guard replied.

“So can you tell me where the armory is?”

“It’s, uhh, uhh, the fifth door on the right.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

The guard could feel the stroking stop. He looked down and could see
his belt re-buckling itself. Once her job was done Janet quickly ran
to catch up with Robin. She gave Robin a tap on the shoulder to let
her know that she was there.

“And you think I’m getting scary,” Robin told Janet.

----------

Jennifer was placed in her cell first, a small room in the basement
of the old White House, which Diane had reinforced with steel plates
and bars for use as a jail cell. The guards pushed Jennifer in and
slammed the solid steel door behind her. She heard the footsteps of
both the guards and Denise walk away, and listened for the sound of
the door to Denise’s cell being slammed shut. That sound never came
so “there was no telling where Denise was being incarcerated. That’ll
make things harder,” Jennifer thought. She then moved to the center
of the room, removed all of her clothes, and stood with both her head
and her hands pointing down.

“Okay, I need to focus, concentrate, stay in control,” she told
herself. “Stay in control, stay in control, stay in…” Her mantra cut
off when the transformation began. Quickly every muscle and bone in
her body expanded and hardened. Her soft skin stretched and toughened
to accommodate the changes within. Her sleek black hair filled out
and expanded as her body grew larger and larger. It only took her 30
seconds or so to assume the form of the monster that terrorized both
a top secret government lab and a high stakes Las Vegas casino.

Now in her she-hulk body Jennifer marched up to the door and grabbed
a hold of each side with her massive hands. Her arm, back, and leg
muscles rippled and pulsated as she strained to pull the door out.
The wall around the door began to crack and buckle as well. Finally
with a loud roar she ripped the door off and threw it across the
cell. This got the attention of the guards, who raced back to
Jennifer’s cell to see what the sound was. When they rounded the
corner they saw a 9 foot tall mass of muscle staring them down.

“Holy shit!” one of the guards shouted, and both of them pulled their
guns out. Jennifer lunged for them and they both opened fire, but she
was unfazed by the bullets. She managed to grab one of the guards,
while the other one fled the scene. Jennifer had a strong hold on the
guard’s belt and pants and lifted him up with just one hand. The two
stared at each other for a minute, before the guard was slammed back
down to the floor. She then ran after the other guard.

----------

Linda was still in the general’s office when the second guard radioed
in. “General, general, can you read me!” he cried over the radio.
Instinctively Linda picked it up. “Yes, go ahead,” she responded in
the general’s voice.

“We’re under attack in the jail cells!” the guard replied, “I need
backup now!”

“Okay, solider, calm down,” Linda replied. “What’s going on down
there?”

“One of the prison … no … uhhh.”

“Spit it out, private!”

“A gigantic woman has taken out my partner. I think she’s one of the
prisoners, but … I don’t know … I need help!”

Linda stood there and tried to think of what to say next. She knew
that the guard was talking about Jennifer, but the second signal had
not yet come from Alicia. “Why hasn’t she sent me the signal,” she
thought. She decided that it was time for an audible.

“Okay, solider,” Linda answered, “I’ll be down there with more troops
right away.” She put down the radio and took the pistol out of the
general’s desk. “I hope Robin dismantled the other guns,” she
thought.

----------

Robin and Janet entered the gun room and found enough weapons to
stage a Third World coup. “Okay,” Janet whispered to Robin, “I’ll go
get Jennifer and Denise. Good luck!”

“Yeah, good luck!” Robin whispered back.

Robin stared at all of the rifles and pistols in the room and felt
overwhelmed. “I did not expect this many guns,” she thought to
herself.  Still, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. For
what seemed like an eternity nothing was happening. Robin began to
breathe deeply, “concentrate harder,” she told herself. From the far
side of the room she could hear a faint creaking sound, then another,
and then another. Every few seconds another sound would add itself to
the chorus. Robin, still concentrating, kept her eyes closed, but a
faint smile began to appear on her face as she knew that the sounds
had to signify something good. After another minute the sounds slowly
faded out, finally ending with a single creak right in front of her.
Robin opened her eyes and broadened her smile. The barrels of every
gun and pistol in the room had been bent out of shape, making them
useless.

Her moment of triumph, however, was disrupted by the sound of heavy
footsteps running towards her. “Oh shit!” Robin said. “They’re
already here!” She quickly looked for a place to hide, and saw a desk
in the far corner that she quickly ducked under. While crawling
underneath, she moved the desk up against the wall so she could not
be seen. The guards burst into the room and started for the gun
racks. One of the guards quickly opened the first rack and let out a
loud “what the fuck!” The other guards turned and saw the first guard
holding one of the damaged rifles. Each of them turned back and
noticed that all of the other guns were damaged as well.

“How the hell did this happen?” one of them asked, drawing another
smile from Robin. “Hell if I know,” one of the others replied. Then
the leader of the group asked “well we still have our sidearms, just
grab some bullets from the desk.”

Robin gulped when she heard that. She could see the feet of two of
the guards standing in front of the desk, and then move to each side
apparently to try and move the desk out. Robin closed her eyes and
concentrated again, trying to hold the desk in place. She could hear
the guards groan as they tried to overcome her mental force field.

“What’s the matter?” the lead guard asked.

“The desk won’t budge,” one of the guards replied.

“Well come on, everybody grab a place.”

Robin could now see 6 pairs of feet around the desk and knew that
they were all trying to move the desk out. She briefly wished that
she had Janet’s invisibility right now, but then focused again on the
task at hand. Again the guards moaned and groaned, and while the desk
did move a few inches away from the wall, it was not enough to get
access to the desk drawers or to expose Robin. Finally the groaning
stopped as the guards released the desk.

“Okay, it’s obvious this desk ain’t moving,” said the leader, “we’ll
just have to make due with what we have. C’mon.”

All six guards left the room, and after the door slammed shut Robin
took a very deep breath.

Chapter 20

The guards had taken Denise down another floor from where Jennifer
was locked up, and were in the process of opening the cell door when
the call came in from the general about the riot upstairs. Quickly,
the guards opened the door of the closest cell, tossed Denise in,
slammed the door shut, and ran back upstairs. Denise lay sprawled on
the floor.

“Are you alright?” her new cellmate asked.

“Huh? Oh my God, Mr. President?”

“Yes, urr, Mr. ex-President actually. Are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m okay,” Denise said as she started to get up from the floor.
“I thought you were dead.”

“No,” the ex-President replied, “I’ve been here ever since she took
over. Why are you here?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Well it would appear that we have plenty of time for you to tell it
to me.”

”Actually, no, Mr. President. I need to get out of here. Could you
turn away for a minute?”

“Huh? Why?”

“Just please turn away,” Denise pleaded as she started to unbutton
her shirt and remove her shoes.

“What are you doing?” the ex-President asked.

“Like I said, getting out of here,” Denise replied as she removed her
shirt and jeans.

“How? By undressing?”

“Fine, if you have to watch,” Denise answered as she removed her bra
and panties and kicked them aside.

The ex-President sat in amazement as Denise began to shrink. She let
out an embarrassed smile as the ex-President’s jaw dropped. “Like I
said, it’s a long story,” she said to him. She continued to shrink
down as she walked over to the door. 6 inches, then 4, then 2, then
1, then under half an inch, Denise continued to reduce her size until
she was no taller than an ant. At this point the ex-President had to
squint to see her as a little black speck on the floor. Denise looked
around the base of the door, looking for a crack to go through but
finding none. “Oh shit!” she squealed, “the door’s sealed!”

Frustrated and angered, Denise began to grow again. When she reached
her regular 5 feet height she walked back over to her clothes and
started putting them back on.

“How did you do that?” the ex-President asked.

“Like I said, it’s a long story,” Denise replied, “I guess I have
time to tell it to you now. At least until Janet or Jennifer get
here.”

----------

Back upstairs, Diane and Alicia were still in the sitting room. Diane
had closed the door and left the radios in the other room, so she was
not aware of what was happening elsewhere. Instead she remained
focused on Alicia’s long, sexy legs that were delicately crossed in
front of her.

“So that’s how I convinced them to surrender,” Alicia said, “I
figured it would be better for the country if they did.”

“Uhh, yes, of course,” Diane replied. “So tell me, how do you keep
such a great figure?”

“I work out and watch what I eat. Nothing special. How about you?”

“Pretty much the same, though now that I’m running the country I
don’t have much time to work out.”

“I’d bet,” Alicia said, “So tell me, what’s it like to have so much
power?”

“Oh, it’s the greatest feeling ever,” Diane replied.

“Even better than sex?”

“Yes, though I must admit I don’t take much pleasure in sex.”

“Really?” Alicia asked.

“Well, it’s just that I’ve never had a partner that could satisfy me.
I’ve always been intimidating to guys, even before I…well…became
powerful.”

“What about women?”

“I’ve never really thought about that,” Diane replied, “I’ve never
found women to be attractive or sexually desirable, except maybe
now.” Diane slipped off her shoes and slowly moved one of her feet
towards Alicia’s.

“I’ve felt the same way,” Alicia said as she felt Diane’s feet
rubbing up against hers. “Most guys are intimidated around me also. 
I haven’t had good sex in a long time.”

“Perhaps I have the power to change that,” Diane said.

Suddenly the table and the tea kettle disappeared. Diane stood up and
removed her top. “I have the power to do anything,” she said in a low
sultry voice.

Alicia had not anticipated this. Her powers of seduction were working
too well on The Empress, who now towered before her apparently eager
to engage in some form of sexual activity. Conflicting thoughts ran
through her mind as she tried to decide what to do next. While she
was not attracted to Diane in any way, she knew her responsibility
was to keep The Empress occupied until all the others made it to the
Throne Room safely. If this meant engaging in some uncomfortable
activity, she concluded, so be it. While keeping an eye on Diane’s
heaving breasts, Alicia slowly reached down to unbuckle her shoes.

“No, allow me,” Diane said, and in a flash all of Alicia’s clothes
disappeared. “Now rise, my child,” she then said, and slowly Alicia
stood up. Through force of Diane’s will Alicia continued floating
upward until her feet were nearly a yard above the floor. Diane
inched closer to the point where only millimeters separated the two
women’s breasts. Diane reached over and slowly ran her fingers
through Alicia’s hair, causing Alicia to shutter slightly. “Have no
fear, my dear,” Diane whispered to her. “I mean you no harm.”

----------

Jennifer caught up with the other guard just before the stairs and
yanked him back towards her. Holding him with her left hand, she
grabbed his gun with her right hand and squashed it into pieces. She
then took the radio and squashed it too. She then looked down and saw
a bulge developing in his pants.

“Hmmm, do you like what you see?” Jennifer asked. The guard quickly
shook his head. “Well, I do,” she said. She reached down and ripped
his pants off with one hand, then did the same with his underpants.
The guard began squirming around, trying to escape. “What’s the
matter?” Jennifer asked, “I’m not attractive enough for you?”

“Stop right there and put your hands up!”

Jennifer dropped the guard and turned around to see six more guards
standing behind her with guns drawn. Standing behind them was General
Shelley. “Now place your hands above your head!” the General ordered.
Jennifer just stood there. “Put your hands above your head now, or
we’ll open fire!”

Jennifer let out a huge grin that quickly changed into a scowl as she
charged towards the platoon. The soldiers opened fire with their
pistols. The bullets just bounced off of Jennifer and did not slow
her progress down. She rammed into the guards, knocking all 6 of them
down. With swift, definitive motions, she smashed and kicked each of
them against the corridor walls, breaking bones and blood vessels as
she did so. In short time all 6 laid unconscious on the floor. She
then walked up to the general and stood within a few inches of him.

“You still with us?” Jennifer asked.

“You still in control?” Linda replied.

“Yes.”

”Then I’m still with you. Where’s Denise?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think she’s in any of these cells.”

“Hey guys,” shouted a breathless voice coming from the stairs to the
floor above, “have you found Denise yet?”

“No Janet, we haven’t.” Linda answered.

“I think they may have taken her to another floor,” Jennifer added.

“Well I’ll go find her,” Janet said while standing right in front of
the others, still invisible. “There’s more guards headed this way.”

“Don’t worry,” Jennifer said, “we can take them. Right Linda?”

Linda started morphing again, and in the process began to test the
limits of the general’s uniform. All of the jacket buttons quickly
popped off. Tears began appearing around the jacket sleeves, at the
shoulder seams, and down both legs of her slacks. Two large bulges
grew out of her chest, pushing the jacket aside and stretching the
shirt underneath past its limits. Bulges also appeared inside her
boots, as the boot laces began to unravel and snap apart. The
general’s thinning grey hair was rapidly filling out and darkening.
Then in rapid succession her feet blew out of the boots, both pant
legs tore in half at the seams, the leather belt snapped in two, her
jacket ripped apart at the shoulders and arms, and her shirt torn
into shreds. The whole time Linda was growing in size and developing
large, hardened muscles. She was becoming Jennifer. When done, not
even her underpants survived the transformation.

“You know, I think I like your form more than Alicia’s,” Linda said.

Jennifer just smiled at her twin. “Let’s go kick some ass,” she said.

Linda and Jennifer headed back upstairs while Janet went downstairs
looking for Denise.
  
Chapter 21

Once she felt it was safe, Robin moved the desk away from the wall
and climbed out. She started towards the door and then quickly
stopped. She turned and looked at the pistols in the rack. Like a dog
greeting its master, one of the pistols floated up out of the case
and into Robin’s hand. Of course it was unusable in its current
state, but Robin quickly remedied that problem. With just a thought
the gun shaft returned to its original position. She stuck the gun in
her purse and left the room.

Robin barely made it a few feet away from the armory when another
group of guards ran towards her. “Stop!” one of the guards ordered,
momentarily freezing Robin in her tracks. “What do I do now?” She
asked herself. She looked at the gun and thought about shooting it,
but she knew that she could not get them all before one of them got
her. She then looked past her purse and saw that she was standing on
a seam in the carpet. An idea popped into her head. She took one step
forwards off of the seam, then closed her eyes and concentrated.

The carpet behind her started pulling up from the floor and tearing
apart at the seam next to Robin’s feet. Once free, the carpet started
rolling itself up, heading in the direction of the approaching
guards. All of them quickly stopped running. One of them uttered an
expletive, and then all of them started running away from the carpet.
Sensing their fear, the carpet’s pace accelerated and quickly caught
up with the guards, tripping them up and devouring them inside the
roll.

Robin heard their screams for help, smiled, and continued on towards
the Throne Room.

----------

“Denise, Denise, where are you?” Janet shouted as she ran down the
stairs.

“In here!” Denise shouted in reply.

“Who’s that?” the ex-President asked.

“My friend Janet,” Denise replied. “We’re here!” she shouted again.

“Does she have special powers like you?” the ex-President asked.

“Yeah, she does,” Denise said, “but I don’t think one of them is
opening this door.”

“Are you alright?” Janet asked as she stood in front of the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Denise answered, “and so is the President.”

“The President, is he in there with you?”

“Yes I am,” the ex-President responded.

“Can you get us out of here?” Denise asked. “The door is sealed tight
so I can’t get out.”

“I…uh…don’t see a key anywhere,” Janet said, “and all the guards are
gone.” She tried pulling on the door handle but it would not budge.

“I tried that too,” Denise said. “It’s locked down tight.”

“Well how do we get you out of there?” Janet asked.

“I don’t think you can,” Denise replied. “Where are the others?”

“They’re headed for the Throne Room.”

“You should go there too,” Denise said, “they’ll need you up there to
get The Empress. You can come get us later.”

“But we need you too,” Janet pleaded.

“No, you don’t.” Denise answered, “My power is useless compared to
the rest of you. Just go!”

“Are you sure?” Janet asked.

“Yes! Go!”

Janet ran off towards the Throne Room, while Denise returned to her
chair.

“So the comet fragments gave you powers are based on what you wished
for?” the ex-President asked.

“Yeah, that’s what Jennifer thinks anyway.”

“And you wished that you could change size?”

“Yes.”

“Well, wouldn’t that mean that you could make yourself larger as well
as smaller?”

“I don’t know,” Denise said, “I’ve never tried that.”

Chapter 22

“Where’s Janet and Denise?” Robin asked Linda and Jennifer just
outside the Throne Room door.

“Janet went to get Denise,” Linda replied.

“Do you think we should wait for them?”

“No, we need to take Diane out now, while we still have the element
of surprise.” Jennifer said.

“And we don’t know how Alicia’s doing in there,” Linda added.

“Well, I guess they’ll be here soon,” Robin said. “Okay, are you
ready?”

“You bet,” Jennifer answered.

“You’re still in control?” Robin asked.

“Why does everybody keep asking me that question?” Jennifer replied.

“Don’t worry,” Linda said, “if she gets out of control I’ll take care
of it. I feel so strong in this form.”

“I know,” Jennifer added, “isn’t it great?”

“Alright you two,” Robin interrupted, “we’ve got a job to do.”

The two Amazons positioned themselves in front of the two doors, and
with one swift kick each one knocked a door down. The three women
charged in and found an empty Throne Room.

“Where is she?” Robin asked.

“Look over there!” Jennifer shouted. A man there was running across
the room towards one of the side doors.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” the aide shouted as he pounded on the
door. There was no immediate response.

Inside the sitting room the Empress and Alicia had taken positions on
a huge bed and were both covered in sweat instead of clothing. The
Empress was in the midst of climax when the aide pounded on the door
again.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” the aide shouted again.

“What the hell is it?” Diane shouted back.

“Three women are in the Throne Room, including one of the prisoners …
and I think her twin sister.”

“What the…?

Diane got up and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “What
is going on here?” she asked as she tried harder and harder to move
the door. 

“How you doing?” Linda asked Robin.

“She’s fine,” Jennifer answered, “Let her concentrate. She needs her
full power to keep that door closed until the others get here.”

Inside, Alicia got up from the bed and approached Diane, gently
placing her hands around Diane’s waist. “I’m sure it’s nothing,”
Alicia moaned into Diane’s ear, “come back to bed with me.”

“No!” Diane shouted, and suddenly Alicia flew across the room and
landed back and head first up against the wall. Paying no attention
to what just happened; Diane continued pulling on the door, then
stopped.

“What a minute, what the hell am I doing?” Diane asked. Then she
snapped her fingers and disappeared from the sitting room and
instanteously reappeared in the Throne Room back in her Supergirl
style clothes.

“So Jennifer, you decided to challenge me after all, and … what a
minute … why are there two of you?”

That second of hesitation was enough to convince Jennifer to make a
run at her former boss. Linda quickly followed behind. Diane
instinctively raised her hand, creating a force field that stopped
both women cold. Both women struggled to move, especially Linda, who
exerted so much energy trying to break free that she started losing
her form and reverting back to her original body.

Once Diane realized Jennifer and Linda were frozen in position she
broke out a wide smile. “Your friend has a very interesting ability
Jennifer,” Diane said. “Did she learn that from you? You didn’t sneak
out any comet fragments from the lab that night did you?”

“No,” Jennifer strained to reply.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Diane answered. “You
may be the strongest woman in the world, Jennifer, and your friend
here may be able to assume any size she wants, but neither one of you
is as powerful as I am. I’m afraid you two just don’t qualify as
goddesses.”

Electrical sparks began to flow around Diane’s right hand, while she
continued to hold her left hand out. She started to raise her
sparkling hand up, but it stopped right next to her waist. Diane
looked down and could see that her hand was shaking but still unable
to move, as if someone else had grabbed a hold of it. She looked up
and could see Robin behind Jennifer and Linda holding her hand out
the same way she was.

“I see, I was wondering why you were here,” Diane said towards Robin.
“Let me get a better look at you, young lady.” Robin slowly started
to slip forward, and instinctively raised her other hand to try and
hold the Empress back. Meanwhile both Jennifer and Linda continued to
try and fight their way through the force field. The standoff
continued for almost a minute before Diane felt something bounce off
her stomach. Diane was briefly startled, causing her to release the
force fields momentarily. However, the three women only managed a
couple steps before Diane reestablished it.

“What was that?” Diane asked. “Is there someone else is in the room
besides the three of you? If there is I demand that you show
yourself!” No response. “Show yourself, or I will destroy everyone in
this room!” Slowly Janet materialized on the floor beneath Diane’s
feet.

“Why it’s an invisible girl!” Diane proclaimed. “Of course, it all
makes sense now. You were with the shrinking woman back at the
casino, weren’t you? And, that’s right, you were there too,” Diane
said, looking towards Robin. “Come here,” Diane said, looking back at
Janet, “let me get a better look at you.”

Janet floated up into the air and hovered in front of The Empress.
Just then, Alicia slowly emerged from the sitting room, and when she
saw what was happening she ran towards The Empress, only to run into
the same force field as the others.

“Well it looks like we’re having a party here tonight,” The Empress
said, “complete with lots of naked women. Well, except for the little
witch back there,” nodding towards Robin. “Too bad you guys cannot
reproduce clothes like I can.” She turned back towards Janet, “So
let’s see, what shall I do with you, invisible girl?”

“Please don’t?” Alicia shouted.

“Don’t what?” Diane answered. “Do you actually care about this woman?”

“I care about every woman, including you.”

“You do, huh. Well you seem to care quite a lot for this one. Why is
that?” Alicia did not answer the question.

“Answer me” The Empress said, “or I will destroy her right before
your eyes!”

“Because she’s my friend!” Alicia admitted.

“Oh really? And are all these other women your friends too? How about
the shrinking girl? Is that how you got them to surrender to me?”

“No,” Alicia replied cautiously. “Like I said…”

“Silence!” The Empress ordered. “Enough of your lies!” Suddenly
Alicia grabbed her stomach and cried out in pain. “You lied to me!
You betrayed me!” The Empress shouted at Alicia. “For that, you and
your friends will all die!”

“No!” Robin shouted, and with every ounce of strength she projected a
force field at The Empress, knocking her back and causing her to
release the hold on Alicia and Janet. But before the others could
make a charge Diane got back to her feet and again reestablished the
force fields.

“Very good, little sorceress. I am impressed. Perhaps I should spare
your life while I dispense of the others. But, before I do that I
have to know, how did you get your powers?”

Again silence filled the room.

“Was it from the comet fragments like your friend Jennifer here?”
Diane asked while looking down at Janet. She then bent over a picked
up the fallen woman with one hand. “Will you tell me or do I have to
choke it out of you?”

“It was the comet fragments!” Robin yelled.

“The same ones you got your powers from,” Jennifer added.

“Well it’s a good thing I destroyed them, isn’t it? The Empress said.
“There’s already way too many super women in this world.” Both of
Diane’s hands began to electrify as she slowly started to raise them
up. “There’s only room for one goddess, and ….”

Suddenly loud cracking noises began emanating from below the Throne
Room floor. Steadily the noises got louder and louder, and a large
bulge began to form in the center of the floor. Then two large fists
burst through, sending wood and concrete scattering in all
directions. The shock was enough to cause Diane to drop the force
fields, and all the women fell backwards with the debris. Meanwhile,
the large hands were quickly followed by giant arms and an even
larger head.

“Oh my God,” Robin said, “It’s Denise!”

Diane stood in stunned silence as a growing Denise emerged from the
floor. She was nearly thirty feet tall and growing even larger.
Quickly Diane fired two electrical blasts at Denise, but they just
bounced off of her humongous chest. Just as quickly Denise’s hand
swooped down and smacked into the side of Diane, knocking her off of
her feet and through one of the side walls.

“Run! Get out of her now!” Denise commanded the others as her stomach
now emerged from the hole.

The others ran for the door and Denise started moving towards the
hole in the wall left by Diane, destroying everything in her path.
She punched through the wall, obliterating it in the process, and
found Diane unconscious against the opposite wall. “There you are,
you bitch!” Denise shouted. Her voice shock the entire White House.
Her head now started pushing up against the ceiling as the rest of
her body was now rapidly filling up two rooms.

Jennifer and Linda lead the way out, knocking down guards, debris,
and anything else in the way. Alicia and Robin were close behind
them. Janet, however, was lagging further back, as she kept cutting
her feet on the broken glass.

“Come on! Come on!” Robin shouted back to her.

“I can’t! My feet are bleeding!” Janet shouted in reply.

Robin ran back, picked up her friend, lifted both herself and Janet
into the air, and flew down the corridor and out the first open
window. Out on the lawn they saw the ex-President, who had evacuated
earlier when Denise punched a hole in the outside wall.

“Mr. President, you’re alive,” Robin said as she and Janet floated
down to the ground.

“And you’re flying, so I guess we’re both being surprised,” the
ex-President replied.

“How did you get out?” Janet asked.

“Your friend Denise busted me out when she started growing.”

“When did she learn to do that?”

“She always could, if I understand all this correctly. But I’m not
sure I understand anything right now. Is she still in there?”

Suddenly a large boom came from the White House roof, with glass and
concrete flying everywhere. Janet, Robin, and the ex-President turned
away to shield themselves from the debris. When they turned back they
could see Denise’s head emerging from the roof.

“Well I guess that answers that question,” the ex-President said. “My
God, look at the size of her. This is unreal.”

Denise, holding Diane in one hand, saw the three standing on the
lawn. “Is everyone out yet?” she asked. The three waved their arms
trying to signal that not everyone was. Nevertheless, Denise
continued to grow larger and larger, easily over 100 feet tall at
this point. Denise could now see the entire White House complex,
including the front door that Jennifer, Linda, and Alicia were now
running out of. Diane was still unconscious as she continued to
shrink in proportion to Denise’s expanding hand.

“I have a moral objection to killing people,” Denise said to Diane,
“but for you I will make an exception.”

Denise squeezed her hand tightly as Diane’s body disappeared inside
of it. She could feel bones crushing together as she continued to
squeeze her fist tighter and tighter. She opened her fist up and saw
that Diane’s body had turned to mush. She then pressed her hands
together and rubbed them tightly, turning what was left of Diane’s
body into dust.

She then turned her attention to the crumbling White House at her
feet. Now close to 500 feet tall, both of her feet now covered most
of the building.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President, but I feel I must destroy the building in
case anybody wants to use it for a fortress again.”

Denise stepped out of the White House, knocking down the full West
Wing in the process. She then turned around and planted her right
foot into what was left of the building, instantly blowing it to
pieces. Her left foot then did the same as the other. After a couple
more steps for good measure, the entire White House building was
demolished. The adrenaline rush fueled Denise’s growth that much
more, such that by the time the final part of the building came down
she was close to 1,500 feet tall.

“My goodness, look at me! I’m a giant!” Denise shouted. “I wonder how
big I can get.”

Alicia, Robin, Linda, Janet, Jennifer, and the ex-President all
looked at each other wearily. “Did she just say what I thought she
said?” Linda asked.

They all turned back towards Denise, who was now over 2,000 feet tall
and still expanding. She was clearly getting turned on by her growth,
as she started feeling herself up.

“I’ve never seen her do that before,” Robin said.

“Why do I feel like I just created a monster?” the ex-President asked.

“Why are we standing here?” Linda asked. “She’s going to crush us all
if we don’t RUN!”

Indeed Denise’s feet were growing closer to the group, while 2,500
feet above that Denise was in the midst of the most erotic experience
of her young life. Her hands were exploring unchartered territory
around her body, and her mind could only think of one thing. Her
immense eyes just happened to catch the one thing that could satisfy
her desires at this point, the 550-foot tall Washington Monument.

“Ooo, that’ll be perfect,” the giant woman cooed.

It only took a few steps for the 3,000 foot tall Denise to go from
the White House site to the Washington Monument. The ground shook
violently with each step, knocking down her friends, the
ex-President, and everyone else within a quarter mile radius. When
she got to the pointy obelisk she looked at it like a girl being
asked out on her first date. “I hope I’m not too big for you,” she
said.

Gradually she lowered herself down on top of the tower, swallowing it
up in the process. At nearly 3,500 feet tall she was almost able to
encapsulate the entire building. She started sliding up and down,
slowly at first but picking up the pace with each cycle. Her moans of
pleasure could be heard throughout the capitol, each one louder than
the last as she continued to grow larger. Then, with one final primal
scream that shattered windows as far away as Maryland, she came.
Finally Denise collapsed from exhaustion and fell to the ground,
squashing the monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and a third of the
Smithsonian Museum, covering almost a full mile of The Mall.

A couple hours later, Denise awoke from her sleep and saw all of her
friends standing over her inside of a large canyon. While she was out
she had shrunk back down to her original height.

“Man, did I have one hell of a dream,” Denise said.

“It was no dream,” Robin told her. “You saved us. You destroyed half
of Washington in the process, but you saved us.”

Epilogue

“My fellow Americans,” the President began, “it is with great honor
and joy that I once again accept the office of the Presidency. Our
country has suffered through very tragic times, and while we cannot
turn back the clock to what we were we can look ahead to what we can
be, a great and strong nation, a beacon for the world, and a true
defender of human rights and freedoms that are the cornerstones of
our society.

“To my right are six extraordinary women who are the true embodiment
of these ideals. They are extraordinary not only for the powers that
they possess, but also because they were willing to use those powers
and put their very lives on the line to save our nation, and indeed
the world, from one of the greatest threats we have ever known. On
behalf of a grateful nation, and a grateful president, it is my honor
to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ms. Robin Diaz, Ms.
Alicia Juliano, Ms. Janet Kennedy, Dr. Jennifer Lee, Ms. Linda
Robinson, and Ms. Denise Wong.”

Before the ceremony the six women struck a complex deal with the
President. Each one of them received a Presidential Pardon, which
included the bank robberies in San Diego and the insider trading of
Arcsoft stock. By agreement with most of the nation’s banks, they
were also allowed the keep a portion of the money seized by Empress
Diane as a reward for taking her out. They were also given their own
private plane and a small island in the Virgin Island chain that was
owned by the government that came complete with a mansion, a
sailboat, and a staff of servants to wait on them hand and foot. In
exchange, the women agreed to serve in a special Army reserve unit to
be called upon only as needed and would be under the direct control
of the Commander-in-Chief.

A couple weeks later on a beautiful white sand Caribbean beach Alicia
and Linda were posing for fashion photographers while modeling the
latest in bikini swimwear, while Janet, Denise, and Jennifer stood by
watching.

“Look at those two, preening like that,” Denise said.

“Yeah, I know,” Jennifer added, “I bet you that we could be even more
famous models than them.”

“No way,” Janet said.”

“Wanna bet,” Jennifer said, “I bet you that Denise and I can go over
there and get them to take pictures of us.”

“You’re on.”

“Alright, c’mon Denise, let’s show them what we’ve got.”

Jennifer and Denise walked down from the veranda and towards the
beach, when Jennifer suddenly stopped.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I need to change into something more
comfortable.”

Jennifer stood there for a second, and then started to grow. Her one
piece bathing suit quickly tore into a two piece thong bikini, but
even that didn’t last long. Her expanding breasts took out what was
left of her top, and her bottom piece rolled up into three tiny
strings before finally busting off. Taking the cue from Jennifer,
Denise began to grow as well. The small sundress that she was wearing
became nothing more than a sun top, as the bottom half ripped off
just below the waist. Her enlarged breasts quickly emerged from
underneath the dress remnants, pushing it up to little more than a
string around her neck. She quickly passed Jennifer’s 9-foot height,
finally stopping somewhere around 12 feet. The enhanced women then
took off running towards the photographers.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Janet yelled at them. Then she came up with
her own idea for mischief. Removing her bikini and making herself
invisible, she ran off after the others.

“Excuse me!” Jennifer said as she approached the photographers, “is
this the model shoot?”

“Yeah,” Denise added, “I heard you were looking for pictures of some
real women.”

“Hey, this is our shoot!” Alicia yelled back at them half seriously,
half jokingly.

“Yeah,” Linda said, “these guys aren’t from Playboy. Go somewhere
else if you want to pose nude.”

To the delight of the male photographers, the four large women
engaged in a mock catfight. “I must be dreaming,” one of them said.
Then suddenly both Alicia’s and Linda’s tops came off, followed by
their bottoms. A loud laugh could be heard behind them.

“Hey! Janet! Knock that off!” Alicia protested.

The sight of four nude women, 2 over 7 feet tall, one close to 9
feet, and one nearly 12 feet tall was too much for two of the
photographers, who fainted on the spot. The third one managed to
remain awake and snapped photos as fast as he could.

“Hey you guys!” Robin shouted from the veranda. “Knock that off. The
President just called! He wants us to go to Washington right away!”

“Well, time to go to work,” Linda said.

“I’ll race you back to the house,” Denise proposed. “Last one there
has to do laundry for all of us.”

“Hey, that’s not fair either!” Janet protested.

“Too late!” All five women streaked back to the house and off to
their next assignment.

THE END