Naomi's Revenge

Naomi stood at the control panel in her lab's testing room, standing between her subordinates Boyd and Ryosuke. Wires and other such cords protruded from the console and extended throughout the entire room, connecting with several devices further inside of the room that were arranged in a large circle. On the opposite side of the room, where most of the wires traveled to, was a large device that resembled what one would call a "ray gun"; it was pointed towards the center of the circle created by the devices.

The three watched the fourth member of their team, David, carry a small plastic lawn chair to the exact center of the circle, where a relatively smaller circle was drawn on the floor with white paint. He placed the chair onto the floor, and quickly ran back to join his team at the console.

"Are you all ready?" Naomi asked as she moved her protective goggles from her brown hair to her eyes.

"Yeah," Boyd answered, also pulling his goggles over his eyes. "Hopefully we'll get it right this time."

"Don't get your hopes up," David said. "We've been at this for months, and we still haven't been able to get it just right."

"Hey, there's no success without trial-and-error, right?" Naomi said in a somewhat optimistic tone.

"...But we've been in the trial-and-error process for-"

"Okay, goggles on, you two!" Naomi interrupted David, while addressing both him and Ryosuke. "You don't want to blind yourselves, do you?"

After they too pulled on their goggles, Naomi pressed several buttons on the console in front of her, ending with a press of a large blue button on the right side of the control. After which, the massive machine came online with a rather loud noise. A growing ball of white light appeared at the tip of the large ray gun across from them, before the ball transformed into a large radioactive laser that fired down into the smaller circle; at the chair. It was soon completely engulfed by the light, one so bright that it almost rendered the room completely white; had the team not had their protective goggles on, they would have indeed gone blind.

As the light faded in the room, the team looked expectantly at the plastic chair that stood some distance away. It vibrated momentarily, before it suddenly began to grow in size. The team craned their necks upward as shining chair expanded upward, nearly but not quite into the domed ceiling.

Seconds after the growth stalled--leaving the chair at an estimated height of around 20 or 25 feet--the light coating the chair faded, revealing the green material used to meld it and the violet cushion that sat upon it.

"Hm." Boyd looked to have a slight smile of satisfaction on his face, and prepared to remove his goggles.

"What are you doing?" Naomi asked. "We're not done yet; you know that. Keep your goggles on."

"...Right..." Boyd let out a sigh, and moved his hand away from his face.

Naomi pressed the large blue button again, causing the ray gun to fire a different kind of radioactive light; this one being lime green. The chair was once again coated with the light, before it started to shrink back down to its original size, after which its green glow faded.

"You have the tomato, right?" Naomi asked David.

David nodded. "It's on the table over there." He pointed to his right, towards a wooden table with a small basket set upon it.

"Replace the chair with it," Naomi ordered.

"I know..." David moved away from the group, and headed for the lawn chair in the circle. After reaching it, he grabbed it with both hands and carried it out of the circle and placed it against the wall near the aforementioned table. Then, he approached the table and dug inside of the basket on its surface, before pulling out a ripe red tomato.

With the fruit in hand, David carried it back to the center of the room, within the circle that the lawn chair had just been placed in. Once there, he placed it onto the floor, and then once again ran to rejoin his team at the control panel.

"This is where we see if we did it right..." Ryosuke said, with a bit of a doubtful tone in his voice.

"We worked for weeks on this," Boyd said. "It better work."

"...Alright," said Naomi. "Ready? I'm about to initiate the growth process again."

"I'm ready," Boyd said.

"Yep," David added.

Ryosuke nodded.

Naomi nodded as well, before pressing the same combination of buttons on the console as before. With the roar of the machine came the light emanating from the large ray gun that soon fired towards the floor, at the tomato. It was bathed in the radioactive energy for several seconds before it faded. Like the chair before it, it vibrated violently, before it started to grow in size.

The team watched as the fruit expanded before their eyes. However, just as it reached an estimated size of around 4 feet tall, tears in the tomato's skin began to spontaneous split open, with steam seeping out of each opening.

"Dammit!" An upset Naomi blurted, before she began to frantically hit the large blue button over and over again.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Before the shrinking ray of light even left the ray gun, the tomato had collapsed into an oozing red radioactive liquid. After the ray of light made contact with this liquid, the entire mass was shrunken back down to a much more manageable size; after all, it would be a problem if any of the liquid made its way inside of the machine's parts.

The team stared at the now small red ooze in the center of the room. Naomi removed her goggles from her eyes, and rubbed her forehead while letting out a bit of a frustrated sigh.

"...Okay, guys," she said as she turned to face them. "Go take it easy for the weekend. We'll resume on Monday."

~~~

David sat on one of the two couches inside of Naomi's office. Ryosuke sat on the other couch, and Boyd stood nearby. Boyd was brushing his hand through his short reddish hair, while Ryosuke merely gazed at Naomi's white lab coat, which hung off of the chair behind her desk.

"I can't believe we failed again..." Boyd said, gripping a handful of his hair in hand before releasing it.

"I don't know why," David started, "but for some reason, the growth ray still doesn't seem to work on organic matter. The radiation causes the cells to break down."

"I thought we had it, too."

"...At this rate," Ryosuke said as he turned towards David, "we won't be able to fulfill Prof. Hsiao's dream of ending world hunger."

"I wouldn't say that," David said. "This is just a set-back, is all. I'm sure we'll figure out what's wrong sooner or later. After all, who said that scientific breakthroughs happened overnight?"

"Yeah, but we've been having a lot of set-backs lately..." Boyd sighed.

Nearly four months have passed since the team had started working with the growth ray, and beforehand were about two years of planning, building, and practically begging the higher-ups for more funding so that they could continue. The heads of the lab have been making periodic check-ups on their progress because of how much money was being poured into their project, and while they were impressed, they have become disappointed at the fact that they had been unable to prevent organic test subjects from melting into a pool of ooze. Naomi feared that if their team did not solve the problem soon, they would put a stop to the whole thing and reassign everyone to other projects.

"We're getting closer, though," David said. "At least the tomato didn't break down immediately."

"True, but I hope that Dr. Hanks and his cronies don't end all the hard work that we've been doing," Boyd said.

"Yeah," Ryosuke added. "I really like this project, and this team. Plus, Prof. Hsiao is amazing. She's unlike anyone else that I've worked under here. She's so young--at least compared to the other project managers--and so beautiful..."

"Sounds like someone has a crush," David teased.

"N-no!" The young Japanese American man quickly retorted, obviously flustered. "I can't state the facts?"

"That's opinion, not fact," Boyd said. "...But she is pretty cute. For an Asian chick."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ryosuke asked, taking a bit of offense to his remark.

"I just prefer White women, that's all." Boyd shrugged.

"Yeah, and it's a shame that they don't prefer you," David said. "Or any woman for that matter." He snickered.

"...Quiet, you."

"But anyway," Ryosuke said, trying to get back on track. "I don't want to be split up from this team before we figure out what's wrong."

"I can agree with that," said Boyd.

"...And I hope to work with Prof. Hsiao on her next project."

"I feel the same way," said Naomi's voice as the door to her office's personal bathroom opened; after which, she stepped out from within. Her work attire had been entirely swapped out for something much more elegant: a white backless dress, silver diamond earrings and matching silver heeled pumps. Her brownish hair was tied up in a ponytail, with her bangs brushed toward the right side of her face. She looked to have also applied a bit of make-up to her face: not much, just a smidge of eye shadow and blush, and her lips had been glossed over.

David, Ryosuke, and even Boyd found themselves staring at her in awe; this was the first time that they had seen her in such clothes, let alone anything other than her white lab coat and work shirt and slacks underneath.

"You all are wonderful to work with," she continued. "Once we are finally able to finish the growth ray, I'll make sure to bring you back for my next project. ...Whatever that will be."

"Prof. Hsiao..." Ryosuke said in an infatuated state. "You look... wonderful..."

Naomi giggled. "Thanks, Ryosuke. I have a big event to attend tonight. ...In fact, I'm kinda late right now, so I'll be seeing you all on Monday, okay?"

"Sure, Prof. Hsiao," David said. "Have fun."

"Bye, Prof. Hsiao," Boyd added.

Naomi walked to the closet nearby and pulled out a red jacket from within. After closing its door, she headed for her office's exit.

"Have a nice weekend, you all," she said, with a smile. "Make sure to lock up when you leave."

"We will," Boyd said.

"Good." With that, Naomi departed from the office, the sound of her heels clopping against the floor fading ever more away as she made her way down the hall.

David and Boyd briefly looked at each other, and then turned towards Ryosuke, who was still staring towards the hallway, even as Naomi was practically out of sight at that point.

"...Hello? Earth to Ryo!" Boyd said, waving his hand in front of Ryosuke's face.

Ryosuke jumped as if he had been snapped back to reality. "Sorry... I guess I lost myself there..."

"Still thinking about Prof. Hsiao?" David asked. "She really is something, eh?"

"Yeah." Ryosuke was blushing slightly.

"...It's a shame that she's already engaged, right?"

"...Yeah..." Ryosuke sighed forlornly.

~~~

Sitting at her round table towards the back of the ballroom that she was inside, Naomi watched as her fiancé--state senator Eric McBlake--stepped onto the stage having been called up by the gala's MC. As the nearly hundred people in the room clapped, he took the microphone from the MC and began to speak into it.

"Good evening, everyone!" Eric cheerfully greeted. "Thank you all for coming out here tonight. I'm sure that you all could have thought of a million other places to be then here, but I'm glad that you decided to come celebrate my election into our city council."

"It was a hard race," he continued. "Filled with lies, slander, and just about everything bad that you could imagine. My opponent, Glenn Monroe, was determined to kick me out of office, but you all were smart enough to see though this blatant lies. Thank you all for your support. I wouldn't have retained my seat if it weren't for you all. Give yourself a round of applause."

The patrons in the ball room once again broke out in applause. Once it died down, Eric started to speak once again.

"But there's someone in here who's been there with me since the very beginning, who supported me from behind the scenes." Then, Eric looked in Naomi's direction, and stretched his arm out towards her. "That is my beautiful fiancée Naomi. You all may not know her, because her job keeps her very busy. Why don't you stand up, honey, and show everyone who you are?"

All eyes in the ballroom were on her at that moment. Blushing, Naomi waved her hand and shook her head.

"...She's a bit shy." Her sandy-haired beau jokingly-remarked. "But like I said she's been there for me since the beginning, since before I even had it in mind to run for state senate. ...I want to thank you most of all, Naomi. I'm very happy to have met you. You're a beautiful, wonderful, intelligent, and... did I say beautiful already?"

"Three times now!" Naomi yelled out.

The room was filled with light laughter at her response.

Eric laughed as well. "True, true. Anyway, my beautifulfiancée is all those things and more. Thank you, Naomi."

Naomi smiled and mouthed the words "You're welcome."

Eric smiled back at her, before turning his attention back to the entire room.

"The night is still young," he said, "and we have lots of food thanks to our caterers. I'll get off this stage now so you all can enjoy the rest of the night here. ...Oh, and thank you all again." With that, he handed the microphone back to the MC, and stepped off of the stage.



A while later, nearly everyone were out of their seats, mingling and talking among each other. Near the stage, Eric was being greeted by several of his supporters; so many that they had kept him away from Naomi until then.

With a glass of wine in hand and her purse hanging from her elbow, Naomi walked through the crowd, talking to no one in particular. It seemed that the people were more interested in Eric and each other instead of her. She did not mind, though; she just wanted this event to end so that she could go home and rest--it had been a long day for her.

"Hey, Naomi!" an almost-familiar male voice called.

She stopped, and looked around her for the source of the voice. It did not take long for her to notice that two of the attendees were approaching her; a Black male wearing a black suit, and a Black female wearing a pink dress. Naomi stared at the male, however; there was something about him that seemed so familiar.

"Naomi!" The man said as he reached her. "It's been a long time."

Naomi gazed at him for a few more seconds, before she finally figured out why she felt like she had seen him before; because she actually did.

"Calvin!" Naomi greeted with a smile. "It really has been a long time!"

The two then wrapped their arms around each other and hugged for a few seconds, before releasing each other.

"It's been how long? Seven years since college?" Naomi asked.

"Yep!" Calvin responded with a smile. "Man... You look like you haven't aged a day!"

Naomi giggled. "Thanks! You look pretty nice yourself. ...You said that you were going on to law school after you graduated. How did that go?"

"Perfect! I passed the Bar Exam three years ago!"

"Well, good for you!" Naomi turned her attention to the woman besides Calvin. "And who's this?"

Calvin looked towards his companion as well. "Oops! Where are my manners? This is my lovely wife Alice. She was one of Senator McBlake's campaign managers. That's why I'm here, actually; she dragged me."

"Pleased to meet you finally," Alice said with a smile and nod. "Eric talked about you alot, but all we saw were pictures. You never came around."

"Like he said," Naomi said, "my job keeps me busy for most of the time."

"Yeah. He said that you work at a research facility on the outskirts of town. ...What was it called again?"

"Bright Horizons," Naomi answered.

"Yeah, that's it. Anyway, I never imagined that the fiancée of the guy I worked with was an old friend of my husband."

"Small world," Calvin said. "I wish we had stayed in contact after college, though. We hadn't spoken in so long... Part of me thought that your parents took you back to Taiwan or something."

"Nooo..." Naomi shook her head. "I was born here in America, so I'd be miserable if they took me there. I can't even speak the language anymore, remember?"

"That's right. You said that your parents were trying to instill their customs and stuff in you, but you were too Americanized for that."

"And that still stands!" Naomi laughed. "...Though they've been supportive of my relationship with Eric. I guess they've finally given in."

"Well, that's good. He seems like a decent guy. A nice girl like you deserves the best, right?"

Naomi blushed. "Oh, stop it, Calvin!" She giggled.

"Yeah, stop," Alice agreed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were flirting with her. In front of your wife!"

Calvin chuckled nervously. "Sorry, Babe..."

"...I'll let it slide this time, though," Alice said with a sly smile.

"Thanks, Babe."

"You two are a cute couple," Naomi said. "I wonder if Eric and I will be as cute as you two are..."

Calvin looked to his right. "...Oh! Speak of the devil."

Both Naomi and Alice looked in the direction that took Calvin's notice, and saw that Eric approaching them. Either he managed to break away from the dozens of people who wanted to greet him, or he had greeted them all; Naomi was not sure.

"So this is where you are," Eric said to Naomi. "I see that you met one of my campaign managers."

"Uh-huh!" Naomi cheerfully said. "And guess what? She's married to my old college friend." She looked towards Calvin. "This is Calvin. Calvin... Well, you already know Eric."

Both Eric and Calvin reached out towards one another and gave each other a quick handshake.

"Always nice to meet a friend of my fiancée," Eric said with a smile. "...And a supporter of my campaign, I suppose?"

"Yep," Calvin responded. "My wife made sure that I voted for you."

Eric looked towards Alice. "Good work," he said. "I'm glad that you were able to make it, too."

"Of course," Alice said. "This is my party as much as it is yours."

"True. Well, I hope that you and your husband enjoy yourselves." He then looked towards Naomi. "Hey, sweetie, can you come with me?"

"Umm... Sure, but why?" Naomi asked.

"They want to take some pictures of us for tomorrow's paper," Eric answered. "...It might take a while."

"Oh..." Naomi turned her attention back to Calvin and Alice. "I'm very happy to have met you again, Calvin. I hope you and Alice have a good time here tonight."

"Thank you, Naomi," Alice said.

"Yeah," said Calvin. "Maybe we'll run into each other again if we don't see each other tonight."

"I hope so," Naomi said with a smile.

Afterwards, Eric took Naomi by her free hand, and led her through the ball room, and eventually into the hallway. Once there, Eric released her from his grip, and stood in the center of the hall.

"Calvin, eh?" Eric said. "You said that you went to college with him?"

"Yeah," Naomi answered, before taking a sip of her glass of wine. "...This has gotten a bit warm..."

"...Were you two... You know?"

"You mean if he and I used to be in a relationship?"

"Yeah."

"...No. I mean, he's a very nice guy, and I could tell that he was in love with me. But I couldn't go through with dating him."

"Why not?"

"You met my parents. It shames me to say it, but they aren't too fond of Black people, so if I did date him, they would have disowned me; and I needed their support for college back then." She sighed.

Eric folded his arms. "Ah... That's too bad."

"Yeah..." She looked back towards the ballroom. "But I'm glad that he was able to find such a lovely lady who would be able to reciprocate his feelings. Alice really struck it gold when she married him..."

"I see..."

Naomi then searched around the hall around her. "Hey, where are these photographers, anyway?"

"They're in the other room." Eric stepped towards a door right across from the ballroom's. "Right through here."

"Oh. Okay, then." Naomi took another sip of her wine, before walking to join Eric at the slightly-opened door, which he then completely pushed opened for her to enter inside.

~~~

Several hours later that night, Naomi stepped out of the bathroom of the downtown apartment that she and Eric shared, and walked into their bedroom. She was happy to finally be in the comfort of her own home, and out of her shoes. Her elegant dress had been shed for a much more comfortable silk pink nightgown.

Eric laid on the bed while watching a sitcom on the television. Like her, he had also shed his clothes, though just his suit's jacket and his shoes; he had also untucked his white shirt from inside of his slacks.

"What a day..." Naomi said, letting out a tired sigh afterwards. "I had to work for nearly twelve hours at the lab, and then go to that thing for you. I can't wait to get some sleep..."

Eric looked towards her. "It wasn't all bad, was it, though?"

"I never said that any of it was bad. ...Well, except that we're still having trouble with our current project at the lab."

"Are you ever going to tell me what it is?"

Naomi shook her head. "It's top secret. Plus, I don't want to get your hopes up in case they can the project. ...But yeah. I met an old friend tonight, so it was worth it."

"You and Calvin must have been really close back then..." Eric said in a slightly somber tone.

"Yeah. ...What's wrong? Don't tell me you're jealous."

"...No." He said rather unconvincingly.

"Eric..." Naomi stepped closer to the bed, before sitting on it and besides Eric. "Listen. Calvin is just a friend. Nothing more. I only have eyes for you. You're the man that I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"Really?"

Naomi smiled. "Hell yeah." She then leaned in and kissed him on the lips. After a few seconds, she tried to pull away, but his arms wrapped around her before she was able to, and his kissing became more forceful as he started to caress her thighs.

She had wanted to go to sleep after such a long day, but it seemed that Eric still had other plans for her that night.

~~~

Nearly a week had passed since Eric's victory party; it was now Thursday afternoon. Having returned to their testing room, Naomi pulled her goggles onto her face as David returned from placing the usual tomato in the center of the room. As usual, the lawn chair test was a success, and now it was time to see if the modifications that they made to the growth ray would allow the tomato to remain stable.

"Are you all ready?" Naomi asked as she looked at each of her teammates.

All three nodded.

"I hope we did it this time..." Boyd said, pulling his goggles down to his face.

"Yesterday we were close, I think," David said. "Who knows? Maybe today, the damn thing will stay stable."

"...Haven't we had this same conversation for the last two or three days?" Ryosuke asked.

"How else can we remain optimistic?" David responded.

"Yeah, but there has to be a point where-"

"Okay, that's enough chit-chat!" Naomi said, cutting Ryosuke off. "Goggles on, and let's put this show on the road!"

After she was certain that everyone had protected their eyes, Naomi activated the machine. That familiar loud roar of the machine powering on filled the room, before the white laser was fired from the ray gun and at the tomato. It was coated in the same bright light for several seconds, before the glow faded away.

The fruit stood idle for a short time, before it vibrated and began to grow. One foot... Two feet... Three feet... Four feet... Five feet... It had already surpassed the point at which it broke down the week before. The team looked upward as the tomato reached about 8 feet tall, before its growth stalled to a stop.

"No problems yet..." David said.

The team closely watched the condition of the tomato, specifically searching for any opening crack or any other sign that it would be collapsing any time soon.

After observing for several minutes, Naomi moved her goggles from her eyes and onto her hair. "Did we... Did we do it?" she said somewhat excitedly.

"It's not breaking down, it doesn't look like," David said, also removing his goggles.

Naomi stared at the giant tomato for a bit longer, before a large, accomplished smile appeared on her face.

"I can't believe it..." Naomi said, excitement welling within. "All of that hard work finally paid off." She turned towards the rest of her team. "We finally did it!"

"Alright!!" Boyd said cheerfully. "It's about time!!"

"Congratulations, Prof. Hsiao!" Ryosuke said.

"Oh, Ryosuke," Naomi admonished. "Don't just congratulate me. You all did your part. This would not have been possible without each of you pitching in."

"But you deserve most of the praise," David said. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have any direction."

Naomi laughed. "I guess that's true."

"I'm going to go get Dr. Hanks!" Boyd said, before starting to dash towards the pair of doors leading into the testing room.

"I'll go with you," David yelled towards him. "Seeing the both of us might give us some credibility." He then started to run after Boyd.

As Naomi watched the both of them depart from the room, deep inside she was fighting to contain her glee. Two years of planning and building, and then testing out the growth ray... All of her hard work had finally paid off. No, not just her hard work, but everyone's. Boyd's, David's, and Ryosuke's. All three of them had supported her from the very beginning, and for that, she was very thankful.

"Prof. Hsiao!" A suddenly apprehensive Ryosuke yelled.

Naomi jumped as if she had been brought out of her own thoughts. "What is it, Ryosuke?"

"Look!!" He pointed past Naomi, towards the tomato behind her.

She turned around, and her heart sank at what she saw next: The tomato had indeed begun to split open, with steam rising from each crack in its skin.

"Shit!!" Naomi rushed to the control panel--shifting her goggles onto her eyes in the process--and began to repeatedly press the large blue button.

The ray gun fired its laser at the large melting tomato and coated it with its radioactive light, and none too soon, either. The oozing liquid that was now spilling out of the tomato started to shrink with the rest of the mass. Within a minute, the now-red puddle of ooze was now just a small splatter on the floor. Easy to clean up, but still a reminder of what could have been.

Naomi let out a loud, frustrated sigh while pounding the control panel with both of her fists.

"Dammit!" she said. "We were so close, too..."

"Prof. Hsiao..." Ryosuke called out to her in a comforting tone.

Naomi stood at the control panel for about a minute, before turning around. Upon doing so, she saw that, at the testing room's door were David and Boyd, who had returned with the Facility Director Dr. Hanks in toy. Dr. Hanks was a rather shrewd old man, what was left of his hair grey from a combination of both age and stress.

"What happened?" David asked.

"...It broke down..." Ryosuke answered.

"What?!" Boyd took a step forward, a look of disbelief on his face. "You mean we failed yet AGAIN?!?!"

"...You all have wasted my time," Dr. Hanks said. "Again." He shook his head in disapproval, before walking out of the room.

David, Boyd, and Ryosuke watched Dr. Hanks leave the room, before they then turned to look towards Naomi. She let out a disappointed, frustrated sigh, and lowered her face into her palm.

~~~

That night, just past 9pm, Naomi walked into a bar near the apartment she shared with Eric, one that she frequented quite often, especially after a hard day. She felt the need to let out some of the steam that she had gained after that day's big disappointment. That, and the fact that Dr. Hank's patience with her team is running dry, as he made her quite clear of soon after she had dismissed the team for the night. His angry rant still resonated within her skull.

It was a stressful day, so perhaps a drink or two would lighten her spirits.

As she made her way through the bar, past the many people inside talking amongst themselves and some even dancing to the music on the dance floor, she noticed someone sitting on a stool at the counter, the same stool that she usually sat on. Upon closer inspection, she saw that that person was none other than Calvin.

"Calvin?" she called as she approached him.

He glanced towards her, and a look of surprise appeared on his face as he caught sight of his old college friend.

"Naomi!" he greeted. "I didn't think I'd see you again so soon, and here of all places!"

"I live nearby, and I come here all the time, actually," Naomi responded as she took the empty seat beside him.

"Oh really? That's cool." Calvin then motioned his hand for the bartender. "Hey, can I get something for my friend here?"

The male bartender walked to where the two were. He took quick notice to Naomi's presence. "Will it be the usual, Naomi?" he asked.

"Yep," Naomi responded.

The bartender nodded, before going off to prepare her drink.

"It's on me," Calvin said with a smile.

"Thanks." Naomi responded back. "...So what brings you here? You live around here, too? I don't think I've seen you here before..."

"No. I live in Greenfield Heights."

"That's practically out of town."

"Yep."

"What made you come all the way here, then?"

"Well, Alice and I got into it a while ago."

"You did?" Naomi almost could not believe that the two had gotten into a fight.

"Yeah. Maybe it's because of all the hormonal changes going on in her body. She is pregnant after all."

"Oh, really?" Naomi was pleasantly surprised to learn this. "How far along is she?"

"Four months. She's a really nice lady--that's why I married her. But when she gets mad, there's no stopping her. So I left to take a drive, and I eventually ended up here. ...But now I'm fucked, because I can't drive back. I drunk too much already."

"I'm sorry..." Naomi placed her hand on Calvin's shoulder. "I could drive you and your car home, and then your wife can drop me off at my place."

"Nah, that's fine. I'll just sleep in my car until I'm sober enough."

"You sure?" She asked.

Calvin nodded. "Yeah..."

"Well, be careful," Naomi cautioned. "I don't want to call this a bad neighborhood, but someone could still do something..."

Calvin let out a short, perhaps arrogant laugh. "Don't worry about me! I can handle myself!"

"I hope so." Naomi withdrew her hand from his shoulder as the bartender brought her her drink: a lime martini. "Thank you." She said with a smile as she took the glass in hand.

The bartender nodded, before leaving to tend to other customers.

"You said you work at Bright Horizons?" Calvin asked. "It must be really hard work."

"Yeah, it is," Naomi responded. "In fact, the project that I'm working on right now just had yet another setback."

"I'm sorry to hear that..."

"It's okay." Naomi took a sip of her beverage. "I didn't exactly go into it thinking that it'd be a walk in the park, y'know. But at times, I think that it's going to put me in an early grave."

"You'll figure it out. You always had a knack for problem-solving. You're a pretty smart girl."

Naomi smiled. "Thanks. My team is very close to pulling it off, though; I can feel it in my gut. I just hope we can completely perfect it before our Facility Director pulls the project from us."

"...And I guess you can't say what it is you're working on?"

"No. Especially not here, with all these people around."

"Oh. Well, forget I asked, then."

"Don't worry about it."

Calvin finished off what was left in his glass. "...And another thing."

"Mm?"

"I never did congratulate you on your engagement. Eric took you away before I had the chance. ...But congrats. I hope you and Eric stay strong together forever. He got himself a real treasure in you."

Naomi blushed slightly. "You mean that?"

"Of course. You know me. I can never lie to you." Calvin gave her a smile.

Naomi smiled as well. "Thank you, Calvin." She then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

~~~

Sitting at the desk in his office, Eric flipped through each of the large photographs that he had just been given by the private investigator that he had hired. In each picture was Naomi; one taken as she walked into the bar near their apartment, another of her taking a seat next to her college friend Calvin inside, and a last one of her giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"...Afterwards," the PI concluded, "she and Calvin talked for a few hours, before they both walked out at the same time. They said a few more things to each other, before they hugged, and he got in his car and Naomi walked home."

"I see..." Eric said as his gaze lingered on the picture of Naomi kissing Calvin.

"I think your suspicions are unfounded," the PI stated. "You said that she said that they are old friends. All I saw here was two friends talking."

Eric turned the picture of the kiss towards the PI. "Does this look like 'friends talking' to you?"

"It was just a kiss on the cheek. Lots of people do that, with no romantic inclinations behind it at all."

"No, no, no," Eric said while shaking his head. "I don't believe it. I mean, those two haven't seen each other in years before last week, and they happen to meet again at the same bar? I know from his wife that they live in Greenfield Heights, so how the hell did they both end up at that one bar in the middle of the city, with all the other bars in the area?" He slammed the portraits onto his desk. "She must have called him or something."

"...But didn't you say that she didn't have his number?"

"They must have met up again sometime between last Friday and last night, and exchanged information there."

"Um... With all due respect, Senator McBlake," the PI spoke up. "Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid? Why are you obsessing over this?"

"I don't want to be with a cheater," Eric answered. "She said that she only had eyes for me, but this!" He motioned his hand towards the pictures on his desk. "This contradicts what she told me!"

"Senator-"

"I'm not paying you to ask me questions!" Eric barked. "I want you to keep watching her until I'm convinced that she's cheating on me!"

"That you're convinced that she..." The PI sighed. "...Fine. I'll keep watch over her."

"See that you do," Eric sternly said.

The PI gathered his photos from Eric's desk and placed them back in the large manila envelope that he had initially pulled them out of. After placing the envelope in his briefcase, he exited the office.

Eric looked towards a framed photo that stood at the corner of his desk, depicting both himself and Naomi, taken during their vacation to Hawaii two-and-a-half years ago. The both of them were embracing each other with the happiest smiles on their faces.

He swiped at the picture, sending it flying into the wall. It then fell onto the floor, its glass shattered into pieces.

~~~

Two weeks had passed since the deceptively-successful tomato enlargement; and those weeks were very hectic for Naomi. In that time, Dr. Hanks had limited her team's use of the growth ray to only once a week. Between test runs, her team was reviewing and revising the specs of the growth ray from every angle they could think of. Unfortunately, both times that the team was able to use the growth ray ended in failure.

Earlier that day, Dr. Hanks gave the team the ultimatum that Naomi was dreading: they had to get it right the next time, or the growth ray project would be officially cancelled. Furthermore, Naomi would have her privileged downgraded, and would have to work under one of the other Project Managers on their own project. Her team--David, Boyd, and Ryosuke--would also be split up and separated to other teams.

With a towel wrapped around her body and slippers on her feet, Naomi stepped out of her bathroom after having taken a long bath. Not only to help relieve the stress that she was under, but also because Eric had made plans for the two of them to dine at a fancy restaurant. To be honest, she was not up for their date, but he had been looking forward to it for a while, and she did not want to disappoint him.

Suddenly, her smartphone that laid on her nightstand began to ring and vibrate. She looked at the caller ID on the screen, and saw that it was Eric who was calling. She grabbed the phone, flicked the screen to accept the call, and brought it to her ear.

"Yes?" Naomi greeted.

"Hey, it's me," Eric said.

"I know."

"Listen... I know that we had a dinner reservation tonight, but I don't think that I'll be able to make it."

"Really? Why?"

"The senate here is in a big disagreement over a whole bunch of issues. I can tell that it's going to keep me here for a while."

"Oh... I see..."

"Yeah. So, rain check on the dinner, and I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

"Sure. Good-bye, sweetie."

"Bye, honey." With that, Eric hung up on his end.

Naomi closed her phone, and then placed it back on the nightstand. She then looked towards the window on the other side of the room. The red light of the setting sun was shining into the room through the curtains.

"...I guess I'll go for a walk or something," she said to herself. "Maybe even visit the bar." Perhaps that would help her mind relax a bit.



After pulling on a black sleeveless top, tight blue jeans, and fastening the ankle straps of her black thong sandals onto her feet, she tied her hair into a ponytail and brushed her bangs to the side; her hair looked similar to when she had attended Eric's gala. Once she was certain that she looked good enough to go out, she grabbed her purse and cell phone, and headed for the living room, and then the front door.

She opened the door, but was taken by surprise by a man standing outside of it. He was rather tall--though at Naomi's height of 5' 6", it was not hard for most men to be taller than her--and wore a tan longcoat that covered most of his body. He looked well into middle age, and his mustache had grown into his beard. In his right hand was a black briefcase.

"...Can I... help you?" Naomi asked, a bit suspicious.

"Naomi," the man said. "I'm glad you're here, and what perfect timing, too."

"...How do you know my name?" she asked. Though upon second though, her face and name HAD been published in the papers weeks before along with Eric's. This only made the man even more shady in her mind.

"...I have something to show you. ...You're not going to like it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Can I come in? You're not in a rush, are you?"

"...No, but... I've never seen you in my life. I'm not comfortable just letting you inside."

"But what I need to show you, I can't show you in the hall. It concerns your fiancé Eric."

Naomi's eyes widened. "What?!"

"So... Do you mind?"

Naomi stared at the man for several seconds, before looking both ways down the hallway. She sighed, before she stepped aside to let this strange man into her apartment. He stepped inside, and she closed the door as he took a seat on the couch in the living room. Naomi followed him, and then sat down in a nearby chair.

"Naomi," the man said, placing his briefcase onto the glass coffee table in front of him, "My name is Gordon Howard. I'm a private investigator that Eric hired to follow you."

"What?!" Naomi could not believe what she had heard. Why would Eric hire someone to watch her? "For what?!"

"He was--is--convinced that there's something going on between you and a man named Calvin."

Naomi slapped her palm on her forehead and let out a frustrated sigh. "Goddammit, Eric. I told him that Calvin and I are just friends. Is he that insecure? ...This is added stress that I didn't need today."

"...But that's not even the worst news I have, unfortunately."

Naomi anxiously watched as Gordon opened his briefcase.

"The way he behaved..." Gordon said. "He seemed so fanatical about trying to catch you cheating. Almost like he himself had something to hide, something to justify what he was doing." He began to dig into his briefcase. "So I launched a second investigation behind his back, and..."

He pulled out two large photographs and handed them to her. Naomi took them in hand, and looked at the first picture. Immediately, she let out a shocked gasp at what it displayed; Eric taking another woman--a well-figured blond woman--in hand.

"No..." She frantically flipped to the second picture, which was of Eric sharing an intimate kiss with this other woman. His arms were wrapped around her curvy waist, while hers were placed around his neck. "No... No..." Her eyes began to water. "How could he do this to me?"

"I don't know how long this has been going on, though," Gordon said. "He could have been having this affair for a long time now, and wanted to out you and Calvin so you could not hold his promiscuity against him. Or he was so convinced that you were cheating that he felt that him finding another woman was fair game."

Naomi wiped her eyes with her hands. "...Where is he now?"

"At the town hall, but I found out that he's supposed to be meeting this woman tonight at around ten."

"Where?"

"At the Twilight Hotel, Room 622."

"I see..."

"You can hold onto those photos," Gordon said. "I'm sure that you'll need them for evidence. Now..." He closed his briefcase and took its handle in hand as he stood up. "I'm sorry to ruin your day like this and just leave, but I felt that you needed to know what kind of man that Eric is."

"...Thanks for the information..." Naomi said, her voice weary and shaky.

"I'll see myself out, then."

Gordon walked towards the door, before opening it. He gave Naomi a single wave of the hand before walking out of the apartment and shutting the door behind him.

Naomi stared forlornly at the door for several seconds, before she buried her face in her hands and began to weep.


An hour or so passed, almost the entire of which Naomi had spent crying. She was completely heartbroken. She could not understand how a man whom she had spent the last four years with, whom she lived with, and whom she loved, could betray her in such a fashion. Not only that, but try to find some kind of leverage against her to excuse his own behavior.

Between this news and the future of her project at the lab hanging on by a thread, this day had gone beyond just being stressful for her and had become flat-out horrible.

She looked towards the analog clock that hung on the wall. It displayed a time of 9:38.

She stood to her feet, took her purse and the photos in hand, and walked out of the apartment. From there, she made her way to the nearest stair case--not wanting to wait for the elevator--and hurried down the stairs until she reached the main lobby. She then walked out of the apartment building and headed for the parking lot, and her blue Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Once she stepped inside, she placed her keys in ignition and started up the car. After pulling out of the lot, her sandaled foot practically stomped on the gas as the vehicle accelerated onto the road.

As she headed for the Twilight Hotel, many thoughts raced through her mind. Mainly thoughts that pertained to how she would punish Eric for his infidelity. She wanted to make him pay for the pain that he caused her. She wanted to make him pay for even thinking about seeing another woman behind her back, and trying to shift the blame onto her.

Suddenly, she had an idea.

Her car made a complete U-turn on the road--causing the other cars to screech to a halt and blow their horns at her--before she began to drive down the opposite way; towards Bright Horizons.

~~~

After arriving at the Twilight Hotel and making his way up to the sixth floor, Eric opened the door of Room 622. A delightful smile appeared on his face when he saw that his special guest was already there; a blond-haired, blue-eyed buxom woman named Mary. She laid upon the bed, wearing a revealing red dress that showed off her ample figure.

"Why hello there," Eric greeted as he closed the door behind him. "How long have you been waiting?"

"Not long after I called you," Mary responded as she stepped off the bed and walked towards him. "You took longer than I thought."

"You know those monkeys at the Senate like to fling their shit at each other. ...Figuratively, of course."

"Ahh."

Upon reaching him, Mary wrapped her hands around Eric's neck, and the two began to share a sensual kiss.

"I wish I could see more of you," Eric said. "But, you know..."

"Your 'fiancée'?" Mary said, a subtle disdain in her tone. "She doesn't deserve you, especially since you said that she's cheating on you. She's not even that cute, either. I'm much better for you."

Eric laughed. "We'll see about that."

Eric led her to the bed, where he pulled her down with him onto it. With Mary lying on top of him, the two started to become more intimate with each other.

~~~

After clearing his bowels, Ryosuke walked out of the bathroom to join Boyd and David, who both stood in the hallway conversing with one another.

Boyd turned towards him. "You were in there for a while, Ryo."

Ryosuke rubbed the back of his head. "It must have been the lunch I ate. I guess it was a bit spoiled or something."

"Anyway, David was telling me about some story that he found on the Internet. It sounds stupid."

"Stupid?!" David exclaimed. "For a story written for and posted on the Internet, it's pretty good."

"What's it called?" Ryosuke asked.

"'Bugman Games'," David answered. "It's about this guy who asks out a popular girl at his college, but she then shrinks him with a shrink ray. Then, she, well, tortures him a bit before she puts him up in her closet, where he is rescued by other captives."

"...Yeah, that does sound stupid." Ryosuke said. "What kind of sites do you visit, anyway?"

"...I'm not telling," David responded, his face a bit red. "Google it yourselves when you get home."

"No way," Boyd said. "...But that shrink ray that you said the girl uses... It sounds kinda like the growth ray that we're working on."

"Yeah, that's why I brought the story up in the first place. Except hers is small and portable, like a gun."

David's last statement perked the interest of Ryosuke.

"...I wonder if we can get the growth ray to work like that..." Boyd said. "...But we'd be lucky to even get ours to work right next week..." He sighed.

"Well, actually-" Ryosuke's attention then shifted past David and Boyd, further down the hallway. Approaching them was none other than Naomi. "Prof. Hsiao!"

Both David and Boyd turned around and saw that Naomi was indeed approaching them. Her pace was rather fast; furthermore, her attire was much more casual than what the lab's dress code allowed. In addition, as she drew closer, there was something about the very serious, perhaps even angry, look on her face that suggested that she was in a very bad mood.

"Prof. Hsiao!" Boyd called. "What are you doing back here? I thought you went home for the night."

"I have to run another test on the growth ray," Naomi answered as she walked past the group, not glancing at them for even a second in the process.

"What?!" David said in disbelief. "But we already used up our time in the lab for this week!"

Naomi did not say anything in response; she merely continued on her way down the hall.

The three men exchanged confused glances with each other.

"What was that all about?" David asked.

"She looked really pissed off for some reason," Boyd noted. "And she said that she had to use the growth ray. Did Dr. Hanks call her or something."

"...We should follow her," Ryosuke said. "She might need us."

David and Boyd nodded in agreement, before they all started down the hallway towards the testing room.

As they reached the closed doors, they noticed the familiar white light shining out from underneath the doors; a sign that the enlargement process had already been initiated. They grabbed their protective goggles from the hook outside of the doorway where they hung them from after finishing with the lab room; at that point, they noticed that there was one extra pair of goggles remaining.

It seemed that Naomi had gone inside without taking a pair with her, which was out of character for her; she always made it a point for the team to protect their eyes before she started the growth process. They wondered what was going on inside of the mind of their Project Manager.

After placing their goggles onto their eyes, they opened the doors into the testing room, and then entered.

All three were shocked at what they saw next.

~~~

Naomi had a headache.

That was the first immediate thing that she thought of once she felt that the tingling sensation that emanated all over her body ceased.

She opened her eyes, and saw the night sky. She looked downward, and saw roads and small trees. She looked lower, and saw the research facility Horizons, with a large hole in the roof surrounding her legs. She could hear an alarm ringing from inside the facility.

The growth ray had worked. She had grown into a giant; one she estimated to be at around 90 feet tall.

"Prof. Hsiao!!" she heard Ryosuke's frantic voice call out from below.

She looked downward, and saw her teammates Ryosuke, David, and Boyd standing among the debris at her feet, looking right back up at her face.

"What are you doing?!" Boyd shouted up, his voice too full of vexation. "Dr. Hanks is going to get us for sure now!!"

"...I don't care," Naomi coldly responded.

"What?!" Boyd said in disbelief.

"What's going on with you?!" David asked. "Why are you doing this?!"

Naomi did not answer his question. Instead, she lifted both of her legs out from the facility's hole and stepped onto the pavement. Then, she began to walk towards the town.

~~~

The team watched Naomi walk away from the facility, her giant footsteps creating a quake with each step. The facility's alarm was sounding throughout as they stared up at the night sky through the hole that had been created in the domed ceiling.

"What the hell happened here?!" said an old, cranky voice from behind.

They turned around, and came face-to-face with Dr. Hanks. He was clearly extremely furious.

"Did Hsiao do this?!" he angrily asked.

"...I'm sorry, sir," Ryosuke meekly responded. "We had no idea-"

"That's it!" Dr. Hanks angrily exclaimed. "Not only is this project finished, but she's fired! She better not show her face around here no more!!" With that, he stormed out of the room.

The team looked at one another with a worried expression on their faces, each trying to figure out what was going on with Project Manager and beloved leader.

This was completely unlike her.

~~~

A homeless man sleeping in a dark alley was awakened to the sound of loud booms, as well as the violent vibrations that came with them. He glanced towards the street, and saw something pass by. Something huge. It almost looked like a giant pair of legs.

He looked down at his empty beer bottle in his hand.

Perhaps it was finally time for him to put his habit to rest.

~~~

Lying on her bed in her room, a teenaged girl held her cell phone to her ear as she engaged in a conversation with her friend on the other line.

"...And then," she said, "he said that he wanted me to go all the way with him, but I totally turned him down. I'm not that kind of girl."

"You could've fooled me," said the female voice on the other end.

"Shut up! ...Anyway, then he got all pissy and said-"

Suddenly, she felt her entire room shake with a roar. Again. And again. Each vibration stronger than the last, and he could even hear glass outside break with each quake.

"I think there's an earthquake," she said as she stood from her bed and headed for her window. "You feel anything?"

"No," her friend responded.

"You don't?" She was trying to keep her balance as she pulled open her curtains. "Weird..."

She looked out the window for a few second, before she saw a large figure pass by. A figure that looked somewhat like a giant head.

She immediately jumped back in shock and fear. "Oh my god!!"

"W-What?!" Her friend said, perturbed

"There's a monster outside!!"

"...Yeah, right," her friend uttered in a dismissive tone.

~~~

The dark road was illuminated by the lights lining both sides of the street, as a red-headed woman and her husband drove back towards their suburban house.

"We should go out more often," she said to her husband. "It was a nice dinner."

"Yeah," he responded. "But I just don't have the money to spend like that right now. Too many bills, and the economy is bad now."

"I know." She sighed, and rested her elbow on the armrest between their seats, and then placed her head on her hand.

"Hm?" Her husband then moved his head forward slightly. "What's that?"

"Huh?"

She looked further down the road. There appeared to be a large figure approaching them. She could barely make it out against the darkness of the night, but it almost looked like a human, an Asian female to be specific. But she appeared to be gigantic. She was walking right for them, her feet creating tremors with each step.

As the monster drew closer, with no signs of stopping, her husband then stomped on the brake, bringing the car to a quick stop.

"Get out! Now!" He frantically ordered.

Wasting no time, both of them unbuckled their seat belts, opened their respective doors, and leapt out of the car. And none too soon, as the monster of a woman had reached their car seconds after and crushed it completely flat underneath its titanic foot, the sound of metal and aluminum breaking beneath her weight. Not breaking any stride at all--as if she had not noticed what it had done--she continued on, leaving behind the pulverized vehicle in its wake.

The frightened woman watched at the monster leave, before a scream from her husband shifted her attention towards him.

"Oh my god!!" he exclaimed.

Her heart racing, she turned towards her husband, whose attention was not where she had expected it to be; his hands had grasped two fistfuls of his hair as he looked in anguish towards their destroyed car.

"All that money I paid...!" he said. "Gone! Gone!! Oh my god... Why didn't I get insurance?!"

The woman turned back towards the direction that that monster had departed in. She wondered what was going on, and where that thing had come from.

~~~

Both Eric and Mary had felt them; the ever-more increasingly violent tremors that had just started moments before. Each tremor brought with it a loud crashing noise, and they could hear people screaming outside and cars honking their horns and screeching their tires.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Eric asked. "Is it an earthquake?"

"Go see," Mary ordered, covering her nude self with the bed sheet.

Eric stood to his feet, and walked towards the window. Once there, he pulled aside the curtains and looked out into the outside city.

What he saw next made his heart drop deep into his chest. His mouth opened in sheer shock, and his eyes widened in disbelief. The cause of all of that commotion outside was his fiancée Naomi. Except that she had grown to a monstrous height. Furthermore, she looked to be headed right towards the hotel, this room specifically; her eyes were locked right onto the room's window. The cold gaze in her eyes sent chills down Eric's spine.

He backed away from the window. "Oh... shit..."

"What is it?" Mary asked, a worried look on her face.

"...It's Naomi..."

"What?" She asked, as if she understandably didn't believe him.

"It's Naomi..."

Eric then turned around and began to run towards the door, before he heard a loud shatter behind him.

~~~

Naomi saw him. She saw Eric look through the hotel window, and immediately disappear from sight. Beforehand, she already knew exactly where that room was located; Eric had brought her to that very room soon after they started seeing each other. Actually seeing him there practically confirmed what the PI Gordon had told her.

Upon reaching the hotel wall, she thrust her right hand through the window and into the room. She began to feel around until her hand felt a moving creature. As she did this, she heard screams from within the room: one male--most likely belonging to Eric--and the other female. She wrapped her fingers around it and pulled out her hand.

Once her hand was completely free of the wreckage in the hotel wall, she looked down at her captive in her hand. It was none other than Eric, whose eyes full of surprised fear were locked onto her face above him. The only article of clothing that he had on his body was his pants.

Naomi's eyes scanned the room, and saw a naked blond woman inside on the bed looking right back at her. She looked to be the same woman that was in the photos that Gordon had given her. Wasting no time, she reached inside with her left hand and pulled out the screaming woman.

Afterwards, she examined the blond woman in her hand. She was stark naked; further proof as to what Eric had done--or perhaps was about to do--with her.

"Eric..." Naomi spoke in a cold tone. "How could you do this to me? How could you see this whore behind my back?"

"Honey, listen," Eric pleaded. "I can explain-"

"'Whore'?!" The blond woman was insulted by Naomi's remark. "You're one to talk, seeing some guy behind Eric's back!!"

"Excuse me, but I was not talking to you," Naomi sternly said.

"You don't deserve Eric!! He's too good for you, you ugly bitch!!"

Her words had set her off; Naomi gritted her teeth in rage, and then with all of her might she threw the woman through the sky. She watched as the woman very soon crashed through the upper windows of a tall building some distance away. Around her, the tiny people witnessing the events unfold let out loud gasps and even some screams.

She then shifted her attention back down towards the frightened man that she held in her hand.

"Let's go for a walk," Naomi said to him, before venturing away from the hotel.

~~~

"Calvin!!" Alice suddenly called from the living room.

"What?" Calvin replied back from the kitchen, while eating the double patty cheeseburger that he had bought from the nearby Wendy's restaurant.

"Look! Look at this!!" Her tone was a bit frantic, almost fearful.

Calvin stood from the chair that he was sitting in, and made his way into the living room. Alice was watching a program on television; of a giant woman walking through a city. At least, that was what he thought until he noticed the Channel 8 News logo in the corner, and the headline at the bottom of the screen that read "Live Breaking News: Giant woman rampaging through Sunnydale."

Calvin's mouth dropped in surprise. "What the fuck...?"

He then looked closer at the woman, at her face, until he realized just who this giantess was.

"N-Naomi?!" He said in shock.

"They say that she just threw a woman through a building!" Alice said. "I... I don't know what's going on! How did she get so big?!"

Calvin anxiously stared at the television for a moment, watching the helicopter camera flying through the area focus on the man that she had in hand. That man resembled the Senator Eric McBlake. No... According to the voice of the anchorman, it WAS Eric. He was half-dressed, as well.

Then, Calvin made a conclusion. "She works at Bright Horizons! They work on new inventions and stuff there! Maybe she did something to herself there!"

"But why is she destroying half the town?!" Alice asked. "If she doesn't stop, the Army's going to come in and blast her to high heavens!!"

"I know..." Calvin knew that Alice was right; he did not want to see his friend gunned down by the military. She was already in enough trouble as it was.

It was a long shot, but he felt that he at least had to see what he could do to stop her.

"I'm going," Calvin said as he headed for the back door.

"WHAT!?" Alice said in complete disbelief. "Why?!"

"I don't know, but I'm her friend," Calvin anxiously answered. "Maybe seeing a friendly face might calm her down! If there's a chance I can stop this from getting any worse than it is for her, then I'm going to take it!"

"But..." Alice stood up and approached him, her eyes full of worry. "What if she goes completely crazy and-"

"Don't think like that," he interrupted as he comforted her with his embrace. "I'll be fine. Trust me, I'm your husband."

Her brown eyes stared right into his for several seconds, before she let out an uneasy sigh. "Okay, but be careful. Be. Careful."

"I will, Babe," he said, before kissing her on the lips. "I won't leave you or our kid behind."

Alice gave him a worried nod, before Calvin broke away from her and--after glancing at the television one last time--made a beeline for the back door.

After exiting the house that they shared, he headed for his black Ford Focus, stepped inside, and turned on the ignition. Then, he pulled out of the driveway, and sped down the road, towards the greater town.

He was nervous, though. He still had no idea as to how to put a stop to Naomi's rampage. He committed himself to figuring out a plan of action on the way there.

He just hoped that--in her madness--she did not kill him.

~~~

Many of the employees who were still at Bright Horizons--David, Boyd, and Ryosuke included--were watching the events in town unfold on a large television screen in the lounge. No one there, especially her team members, could believe what they were seeing on the TV. That Naomi, the kind, friendly, intelligent, and gentle spirit that they had known her best for, was capable of all of this was beyond comprehension.

"Prof. Hsiao..." Ryosuke said somberly. "This is..."

"She's tearing up the town," Boyd stated. "I hope she didn't kill anyone yet..."

"She threw a woman through a building," Ryosuke noted. "I don't think anyone can survive that..."

"Yeah," David said. "I usually like my women bigger, but this is taking it too far."

"There has to be something we can do," Boyd said. "If only we could get the growth ray out there..."

"Are you serious?" David said. "That thing is way too big for us to lug out there. Plus, even if we did, in her current state, she'd probably stomp us flat before we got a chance to use it."

Boyd shuttered. "I don't want to be treated like a bug on the ground..."

"...You guys," Ryosuke said. "I've been thinking..."

"About what?" David asked.

"If we just take the main components of the growth ray--the ray gun itself and the control panel--we could probably fit it in a truck and take it out there. That's the best way we could make it portable aside from making a ray gun or something."

"...That COULD work, but like I said, she probably wouldn't let us use it."

"We'd have to calm her down first. Then, once she realizes what she's done, we can zap her back down to normal."

"You think that could work?" Boyd asked.

"It's worth a shot," Ryosuke replied. "Besides that, I got nothing."

David folded his arms and bowed his head slightly, as if he was pondering Ryosuke's suggestion in his mind.

Then, he spoke up rather loudly. "Listen up, everyone!!" he said, addressing everyone in the room.

Everyone else in the room turned their attention towards David.

"What's happening with Prof. Hsiao is a travesty; a real shame," he spoke. "Therefore, we, as the people who perhaps know her best, need to stop her before things get worse than they already are! We need your help in dismantling the growth ray that caused all of this as fast as we can!"

"You're kidding," said a male researcher nearby. "There's no way I'm going out there."

A few others voiced their agreement with the man.

"Plus," the same male said, "Dr. Hanks told us not to go anywhere near that testing room, and I'm not about to get fired over something that might not even work."

"...Is anyone going to help us?" Ryosuke asked.

The people looked around each other, before a young woman stepped forward.

"I'll help you take that growth ray apart," she said.

"So will I," said a man on the far side of the room.

"Me too," said another man nearby.

"Okay!" David said. "Everyone who's going to help us, follow me!"

David, with Boyd and Ryosuke in tow, walked out of the lounge, followed by most of the employees inside. The large group made their way towards the testing room that contained the growth ray. The risk of getting reprimanded by Dr. Hanks was irrelevant to the bigger issue at hand, and putting a stop to Naomi's rampage would be well worth any punishment that he could deal out to them.

Once inside, and after gaining the proper equipment, they worked at a fast pace to dismantle the machine, specifically just the control panel and the ray gun, as Ryosuke had suggested. Once those two large pieces were separated from the machine, they carried them out of the room, and through the halls; several people were needed to carry each piece, as they were quite large.

They made their way into the large garage, where they then loaded the pieces onto the back of a pick-up truck that belonged to one of the other employees that was helping them. David, Boyd, and Ryosuke then connected the wires of the control panel directly into the ray gun. The control panel itself was powered by a combination of plutonium and uranium; such dangerous chemicals were found to be necessary to defy the laws of physics in such a fashion, and there was no need for the device to be plugged in somewhere.

Once it was strapped in, with the gun was pointed upward at a 45 degree angle, the three stepped into the truck, with David in the driver's seat.

Using the keys that he had borrowed from the owner, he started up the truck, before driving out of the garage and heading for the town.

~~~

Eric still could not believe that this was happening. That his fiancée had grown to an unimaginable height, and even possibly killed Mary. Furthermore, he wanted to know how she even knew to come to the Twilight Hotel where he had been that night.

From her gigantic hand, he watched as Naomi stepped into the center of town, stopping right in front of the prism fountain that was one of the city's landmarks. He looked around, and saw many frightened people both on the streets and from the surrounding building watching the two of them. Naomi turned her attention back onto him, her fingers wrapping tighter around his body. Her giant dark eyes were still as cold as ice as they looked down onto him.

"Explain," Naomi ordered. "Why did you hire Gordon Howard to snoop on me?"

How did she know of Gordon? Had he betrayed him? Though, Eric did not know how to answer her question. Or rather, he was too afraid to do so.

The pressure being exerted from her giant hand onto his body intensified, bringing out a scream from his mouth.

"ANSWER!!" She yelled, her voice like a loud crash of thunder that even rattled windows.

"You know already, then!" Eric yelled back.

"Is that why you started seeing that woman behind my back? You were so convinced that I was cheating on you with Calvin? Is that what it was?!"

Eric did not answer. Inside of him was a mix of emotion; fear being the most prominent, but another one was welling up: anger. Anger that he had been caught, and was being embarrassed in such a fashion in public.

"You foolish, stupid man..." Naomi angrily uttered. "There is nothing going on between me and Calvin. Nothing! Why can't you get that through you damn head? You were so insecure about me and Calvin, when it was YOU who was not in our relationship 100%."

She squeezed his body even tighter; the pressure had become unbearable.

"Why, Eric?" Naomi asked. "Tell me... Why?!"

"I-" Eric started.

"'You' what?! Tell me now or I will kill you!!" This threat garnered several gasps from the many onlookers below.

"I couldn't help myself!" Eric yelled out.

"What?!"

"You saw her!" Eric shouted in a frenzy. "She was blonde and had such a beautiful figure and then she started coming onto me! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Turn her down!" Naomi answered for him.

"I'm a man! It's not easy for us to 'turn down' such an invitation! It's hardwired into our brains!" That may have been an extremely foolish thing to say in any situation, but the literal pressure he was feeling at the moment must have released his inhibitions.

Her angry eyes squinted as they kept focus on him. "You honestly think that?"

"Yes! I'm sorry, honey!"

"How long have you been seeing her?"

Eric was truly afraid to answer this question. He turned away to try to avoid her chilling gaze.

He was quickly and violently shaken by Naomi's large hand.

"Tell me!!" she barked.

"Since before I started my campaign!" Eric answered. "I'm sorry, honey! I'm very, very sorry!! Please, let me go!!"

Naomi's furious eyes stared at him for a few seconds, before the grasp that her hand held on his body relented. So much so that he soon found himself falling from a terrifying height and onto the hard pavement below.

Upon hitting the ground, he felt a sharp pain in his right elbow; perhaps the impact had shattered it. His right leg was unresponsive as well.

Eric tried to nurse the pain in his right arm, but then he noticed a large shadow appear on the ground around him. He looked upward, and saw the large black sole of Naomi's sandal descending onto him.

"No!!" Eric pleaded in intense fear. "Honey, please!! Don't-"

The next thing he saw was complete darkness.

~~~

After letting her now ex-fiancé fall to the ground, Naomi lifted her foot over the man, and then dropped it onto his body. As her foot pushed onto the pavement, she could hear--and feel--Eric bones being crushed underneath her sole. As she was snuffing out the life of the man she once loved, the shocked, horrified screams from the people around the area became louder.

She then removed her foot from the spot to examine what was left behind. His remains--torn and ruptured flesh and shattered bones in a large splatter of blood and viscera--were pressed flat into the ground, leaving behind a gruesome scene for any onlooker.

She could not believe that she had wasted so much time on such a man, four years to be exact. That was time she could have used to better herself, to become a better researcher, to indulge more into her own hobbies and interests. To find a better man.

She then turned her attention towards the diamond ring on her left ring finger, the ring that Eric had proposed to her with. She pulled it off of her finger, and let it drop onto the ground, it leaving a small crater in its wake as it hit the concrete pavement with a loud metallic thud.

Then, she sighed, and looked towards the night sky, as she listened to the sirens that were quickly approaching the area.

~~~

Calvin could not believe what he had just witnessed. As soon as he arrived at the town square, he saw Naomi stomp the life out her fiancé Eric. He had no idea that his old college friend--that sweet and kind girl whom he knew best for her bright smile--was capable of such a heinous act.

His car screeched to a halt, before he jumped out of it and ran towards the fountain. At that point, he had a sudden thought and came to a complete stop, just as she dropped her gigantic ring onto the ground, which created a huge thud on impact.

He did not know the reasons behind Eric's murder, but if she could do such a horrific thing to her own fiancé, would she bat an eye at doing the same to him? Approaching her, at least from the ground, was not the way to go. He had to go someplace higher.

He heard sirens from behind, and, after he turned around, saw red and blue flashing lights approaching the area. It was not the Army, but he did not want to underestimate the ability of the Sunnydale Police Department. He was running out of time.

He looked at each of the buildings in the area, before choosing an apartment building nearby and dashing towards it. He ran past the many people who were standing outside--even shoving some out of his way--as he entered into the building and made his way up the stairs.

~~~

Naomi looked downward as cars and van from the Sunnydale Police Department surrounded the area. In addition to the usual police officers, the SWAT team also appeared to be among their ranks. The uniformed officers were taking positions around the town square and readying their weapons.

"Stop what you are doing!" said one officer with a bull horn. "Stop, or we will be forced to shoot you down!"

Naomi glanced through each of the small officers below her, before letting out a laugh.

"Yeah, right!" She scoffed. "Your guns can't harm me! Plus, the second one of you opens fire on me, I'll kill every one of you! Just like I did this son-of-a-bitch here!" She pointed towards the remains of Eric pressed onto the ground below her.

"If we can't stop you, the tanks that we called in will!" The officer said.

Tanks? Naomi figured that they would have called in such heavy artillery to attempt to stop her. After all, in the eyes of the public, she was now a threat to the safety of the entire city.

She did not want to stick around for those tanks to arrive. At that point, she felt that fleeing the area--nay, the city itself--was her only option, even if she had to kill a few of the police officers in the process.

She was prepared. She was ready to make a run for it, to run as fast as she could. Where she would go afterwards, she'd work out later.

Just as she was about to make her sprint, a familiar male voice called out to her.

~~~

After a tiring run, Calvin had finally reached the rooftop of the nearby apartment building. He looked around briefly, before he immediately caught sight of Naomi's head, and ran towards the edge of the roof in that direction.

"Naomiiiiii!!" he called out.

The giant woman's head turned in his direction, and an expression of slight surprise appeared on her face, though for the most part, her cold demeanor had been unbroken.

"C-Calvin?" she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to stop you!" Calvin responded as he reached as close as he could get to her on the roof.

"...Leave."

"Naomi-"

"You can't stop me right now. No one can."

"Naomi, listen to me!" Calvin pleaded. "Don't you realize what you're doing?! You've killed a man, and maybe a woman, too! The police are about to gun you down, and if you get away, where are you going to go?! The Army is going to blast you to bits once they find you, and as big as you are, that's going to be pretty-fuckin'-easy!"

"Calvin-"

"Please, Naomi! Just end this while you can! Don't make this any worse than it already is! I... I've lost enough of my friends already for stupid reasons! Don't become one of them!!"

"Cal-"

"NAOMI!!!" Calvin yelled, trying his hardest for his words the crack the shell formed around her heart.

"You think I wanted to do this?!" Naomi said, her voice cracking. That icy demeanor also seemed to be melting away. "I didn't want things to end up like this! The news that Eric had been cheating on me was so devastating, and-" She then let out a gasp, as if she had indeed just realized what she had done. A look of genuine horror then appeared on her face. "Oh my god... Eric... I can't... I actually killed him..."

"Naomi..." Calvin called.

"Oh my god..." Naomi began to shudder. "Oh my god... Oh my god!!" She then fell to her knees, buried her face into her hands, and began to weep. Her wails echoed throughout that entire part of town. "How could I? How could I kill him?! I'm a monster!!"

"Naomi..." Calvin said in a comforting tone. "It's over now. Please, just give this up."

She lifted her head from her hands and looked at him. Her face was wet with her tears.

"I'm sorry, Calvin," she apologized. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry for all the harm I caused this city. I'm sorry that I killed someone."

Calvin sighed in great relief. "It's okay, Naomi. Let's put an end to this already."

Naomi nodded, before she reached onto the roof and grabbed Calvin off from it. He flinched as she took him in hand, and watched as she lowered him onto the ground. As her hand withdrew, he looked around and saw the police and SWAT team surrounding the area. Though they were still watching the titaness, they had lowered their weapons, a sign that they had chosen not to fire on her.

He then noticed a truck speeding towards the area. It looked to be carrying something heavy behind it. As it drew closer, Calvin could make out what looked like a large gun, which resembled something not unlike a ray gun seen in various science-fiction.

"Is that...?" Naomi wondered, also watching the approaching truck.

The truck drove into the square, driving around the barricade created by the police officers until it found a gap and drove through. It stopped several feet away, before the doors opened and three men in white lab coats exited from within.

"Prof. Hsiao!" the Asian man said as he approached her.

"Guys," Naomi said. "Is that the growth ray?"

"Yeah."

"...Make me small again," she ordered with a somber tone. "I can't do this anymore."

The Asian man nodded, before turning towards the two other men, who had climbed onto the back on the truck. They fidgeted with the machine on the truck's back, before a bright light appeared from the tip of the gun.

Calvin covered his eyes as the light fired towards Naomi, and coated her with that very same light. Afterwards, as the light faded, Calvin watched--and the surrounding crowd awed--as Naomi shrunk back down to her original stature, still on her knees on the ground. Calvin approached her and extended his hand towards her. She took his hand in hers, as he pulled her to her feet.

They watched--though averted their eyes--as the gun fired towards the ring that she had dropped, shrinking it back down to size as well.

"Calvin..." Naomi called. "Ryosuke, Boyd, David..."

The other two men had come to join her as well.

"...I'm very, very sorry," she said with obvious remorse. "I hope you can forgive me...."

"Of course, Prof. Hsiao," said the Asian man.

"Yep," said the red-haired man. "Tonight doesn't count. You're still our amazing Project Manager."

"Whatever happens, we'll stick by you," said the man with the dark brown hair. "After all, we're a team."

Naomi gave a weak smile. "Thank you."

Calvin stared at the troubled woman as she turned towards him.

"You too, Calvin," she said. "Thanks for making me come to my senses."

"Anytime," Calvin responded with a reassuring smile.

The two then wrapped their arms around each other and hugged for several seconds. Once the two released each other, two police officers approached them. They pulled Naomi's arms behind her back and placed handcuffs on her wrists.

"Naomi Hsiao," spoke one of the officers. "You're under arrest for destruction of property, public endangerment, and murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law." The officer continued to read her her rights as he pulled her away and led her to a waiting police cruiser.

Calvin and Naomi's team watched as she was loaded into the car. All the while, Naomi kept her distressed gaze full of obvious regret and shame downward. After closing the door, the police cruiser soon drove off, and they saw Naomi raise her head to look at them one last time as the vehicle disappeared into the darkness down the road and taking her with it.

"...So, what now?" the red-haired man asked.

"...I'm going to visit her tomorrow," Calvin responded. "She might need a lawyer, and I'm going to see if I can represent her. Unfortunately, since she committed murder in front of everybody here, there's no way she won't be looking at some kind of conviction. But maybe I can at least get an insanity defense based on her emotional trauma."

"I hope that works..." said the Asian man. "An asylum is better than being locked up in prison."

"No arguments there, brotha," Calvin said to him.

Suddenly, Calvin felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, and saw that he had received a text message from Alice. Upon opening it, he read the text: "Good job."

~~~

Naomi looked back at her friends as she was driven away from the scene of her crime. Her attention was focused mainly on Calvin, however. Her old college friend with whom she had recently reconnected with, and who snapped her out of her trance before she possibly made things way worse for her.

She wondered what her life would have been like if she had ignored her parents' prejudices and had actually gone through with dating him. Calvin was such a nice guy--a stark contrast to what Eric turned out to be. At that point, she envied Alice for having married him instead. Perhaps in some other universe, she and Calvin actually were happily married to each other.



Some time later, Naomi sat on the bench inside of the jail cell that she had been confined in. With nothing else to do, she reflected on the events of that day; a horrible day all throughout.

Her project being in limbo, finding out about Eric's infidelity, going as far as killing him, and finally being arrested on several charges. Her career, the one that she had worked so hard for all of her life, was over. There was no turning back: her life was ruined.

...And yet, despite all of that, she took proud satisfaction with one thing.

At long last, her growth ray project was finally a success.



[THE END]