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