Kellie Ross paused on her way out the door for school.  Mom was watching a morning TV newscast, and the footage it showed was of Elevator Girl, the area’s newest -- and currently only active -- superhero.

Gemma Ross saw Kellie out of the corner of her eye.  “There’s Elevator Girl again,” Gemma said.  “She stopped another armed robbery in progress.”

“Cool,” said Kellie.

“She looks so familiar to me,” Gemma said to her daughter.  “Does she look familiar to you, Kellie?”

Kellie shook her head, even though her mom wasn’t looking at her.  “Nope,” she lied.

In fact, Kellie knew exactly who Elevator Girl was, because Kellie was Elevator Girl.  But, unlike her grandfather, whose heroic legacy she was continuing, Kellie was maintaining a secret identity, so she was keeping that secret from everybody -- even her mom.

“I don’t know,” Gemma said.  “That leather dominatrix outfit she wears just looks … wrong on her somehow.  She’s clearly young, and that’s part of it.  But I just have the feeling I ought to know who she is.”

“Mom, I gotta go.  I’m gonna miss the bus,” Kellie said.  As a freshman in high school, the teen was too young to drive.

“Oh, right, Kel.  Have a good day,” Gemma said.

“You, too,” Kellie said.

As Kellie waited at the bus stop, Mom called out to her.  “Kellie, your bus doesn’t go by the financial district, does it?”

“No,” Kellie said.  “Why?”

“Some crazy supervillainess is there, holding some folks hostage for money.  I don’t want you anywhere near there.”

“It’ll be OK, Mom,” Kellie said.

“OK, Kel.  Love you.”

“Love you, Mom,” Kellie said as Gemma shut the door.

Kellie looked around.  Instead of standing at the corner for the bus, Kellie ran to the area behind the house.  There, with trees screening her from view, Kellie took off her outer clothes, revealing the pink and white tights underneath.  She grabbed the simple black mask she had tucked in a pocket, buckled a thin black leather belt around the outfit’s waist, and activated the elevator wrist controls to turn herself into a huge giantess.

Kellie wished she could wear her leather outfit.  She used it primarily as armor, and this was going to be her first time going up against a supervillain, as opposed to some ordinary, but armed, crooks.  But Kellie also knew she needed to make a quick change here, since lives were in danger, and the leather outfit was a more laborious change -- plus she’d have to go back into the house, which she couldn’t explain to Mom.

Before she left, Kellie picked up her street clothes, which were now smaller to her than doll clothes.  She dropped them into the cleavage of her scoop-necked tights.  She hoped she got everything; she’d need them later when she went to school.

As she strode across blocks of territory, Kellie chuckled.  Her mom had unknowingly confirmed the other reason Kellie wore the leather outfit in action.  It wasn’t something Kellie would wear, making it an extra layer of protection for her secret identity.

Kellie could see the area cordoned off by police within two minutes’ walk.  She hit the bracelet controls and dropped down to 20 feet tall.  “What’s going on, officers?”  she asked.

The cop did a double-take; it was Kellie’s first public appearance in her quick-change outfit, which was quite a different look for her -- more girly, less kinky.  “Elevator Girl?” he said.

“Who else?  What can I do  to help?”

“This super-strong woman called Betty the Brick is inside, holding a half-dozen financial executives hostage,” the officer said.  “Her powers make her immune to any kind of sniper fire, and one of the executives has a heart condition, so tear gas is out.  Can you help?”

“I think so,” Elevator Girl said.  “What floor are they on?”

“The top floor,” the officer said.

“Good.  I’ll come in from below,” Kellie said.  “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck,” said a half-dozen officers all at once.

As she ran, Kellie lowered herself to 6-foot-6 so she could run through the door.  Once inside, she quickly located the ventilation system.

Kellie’s late grandfather had left her an instruction manual for use and care of the size-changing device, but he had also included a how-to guide for some tactical maneuvers.  What Kellie was about to do was one of those maneuvers.

Elevator Girl opened the old, large vent, then put her upper body inside. Next, she hit the elevator device’s down button, dropping to the size of a speck.  Since the system’s air conditioning was running, she simply road the air up to the top floor.  She got blown out on several earlier floors before she got there, but she just kept getting back in and riding.  Fortunately, she had so little mass at speck size that she wasn’t injured by any of the falls.

Within two minutes of entering the building, Kellie was on the top floor, and caught a break; she came out in the room where Betty the Brick was holding the hostages.  Taking advantage of the element of surprise, she snapped up to 22 feet -- and hit her head hard on the room’s 20-foot ceiling.

Betty turned around at the noise.  So much for the element of surprise, Kellie thought.

“Elevator Girl!  I’ve been expecting you,” said Betty the Brick.  “I’ve wanted to test my strength against yours.”

“Then let’s go outside, where you can really do it,” Elevator Girl said.

Betty laughed.  “ Not a chance,” she said.  “My powers ramp up against a stronger foe to make me even stronger, but with your strength at skyscraper-size, I might get so muscle-bound I couldn’t move.  No, I like my odds in here, especially with these folks around.”

Kellie grew a bit and, on her knees, tried taking a swing at Betty.  The Brick grabbed her arms and pulled the giantess toward her, then slugged Elevator Girl hard enough to send her into the room’s back wall, sprawled out.

Betty guffawed.  “Face it, kid.  You can’t outmuscle me!” she said.  “Looks like I’ve just gotten me another hostage!”

Kellie smiled.  “We’ll see about that,” she said.  She pushed off the ground with her left hand and legs while manipulating the bracelet with her right.  Then she seemed to vanish.

“What?”  said Betty.  “Where is she?”

In fact, Kellie had become the smallest she’d ever been, making her giant-sized push-off incredibly forceful.  Using a technique her grandfather described, she guided her glide through the air to land her microscopic form inside Betty the Brick’s ear.

Kellie was grossed out by what was inb the ear besides herself.  The earwax was a completely gross muck, but she slogged through it to get to the inner ear.  There she started messing with the fluid that controls balance.

Betty roared.  The bone conduction in her head made that feel like an earthquake to Kellie, but she kept at her task.  Soon the villainess was toppling over, to dizzy to stand.

Then Kellie got out of Betty’s, grew to 15 feet tall and took advantage of something she’d learned in martial arts class.  Brute strength couldn’t overpower Betty, but she was still basically human.

Kellie delivers a quick finger-zap of pressure to Betty’s temple, hard.  Striking the nerve bundle knocked the villainess out.

Elevator Girl breathed hard for a moment.  “Guess she forgot even bricks can be broken,” she said.

The people in the room began to cheer.

“Not yet,” Elevator Girl said.  “This won’t hold her long.  Is there a line she was using to talk outside?”

“My phone, there, on my desk,” a well-dressed woman said.

Kellie picked up the phone, which was off its hook.  “Officer, it’s Elevator Girl,” she said.  “I’ve got Betty the Brick, and the hostages are safe, but have you got a means of holding her?  Good.  Bring that up here.  Under the circumstances, I need to hold her here until you do.”

Kellie looked at the clock and tightened her jaw.  She would be late for school, and didn’t know what kind of trouble she’d wind up in, but she it was worth it.  She’d saved some lives.

At home, Gemma was watching live TV news.  This was her day off from the nursing home this week, so she had the time to watch.

Then she saw the police exiting the building on live footage from the hostage scene.  Behind them came Elevator Girl, who was wearing a different outfit that showed her physique and manner of movement more clearly than the leather outfit she’d worn before.  With the leather get-up, the heroine’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail.  Now she wore it loose.

Gemma gasped as she saw Elevator Girl move.  “Oh, my God!” she said aloud.  “That’s Kellie!”