Without a doubt Dawn’s sudden appearance raised a lot of attention all around the city. It had been many a year since the city had ever experienced terror like that. These fighters although powerful were most likely not an attack force but instead were there observe the situation at hand and send all data back to their H.Q. They did not know whether Dawn was a threat or some kind of visitor but either way they could not allow her to walk around wherever she liked. Unlike Jessica she hadn’t been certified by Park Incorporated so to them she was a super powered being whose abilities were from an unknown source. Their first thought was not to destroy her but try and contact her. They thought that a full force of strength would not send the best message. Instead these two fighters were probably the best and they could protect themselves if things began to go south.
The fighters slowly approached Dawn as she stood up to her full height and turned her entire body towards the approaching fighters. She kept Tucker and Lucky safe in her hand but when Tucker looked up to her he could see that she was trying to think. She seemed to be very concerned about the appearance of these two fighters and there was something that struck him as being odd. If she really wanted to warn people about this alien invasion wouldn’t it have been best to go to the authorities first before finding him. Although from what she had told him he would be an important key to fighting these aliens it probably would have been best to alert the military and all government forces first.
Within less than a minute the fighters were close enough so that they could be seen and heard clearly. They stopped dead in the sky as they hovered maintaining a safe distance between themselves and Dawn. They weren’t sure what she was going to do and from her sheer size they knew that she was probably much stronger than Jessica so they didn’t want to take any chances. They had their weapons online and ready to fire if she decided to attack them. They were ordered to only attack Dawn in self-defence since they wanted to show that they weren’t a threat to her. The pilot in the fighter that was closest to her pressed a couple of buttons in his cockpit that allowed his voice to be heard outside his fighter. He had to think of his words carefully but he had some experience in negotiation in the past and he hoped that he would use them to good effect here.
“Ma’am identify yourself,” said the Pilot, his voice was being carried outside his jet and it could easily be heard by Dawn. She took a step back and Tucker could feel a faint pulse in her hand and he could feel it increasing. “We are not here to harm you but you are a super powered being with no links to Park Incorporated. That is an offence on Home and I must ask you to come with us for evaluation. Any residence will not be tolerated now please unhand the civilian and follow us. We will direct you to a safe route back to headquarters so that we can help you anyway we can.”
Tucker thought that Dawn would be more than willing to give herself up to the authorities since she would be able to explain everything to them and therefore better prepare them for the incoming invasion. He thought that everything was going to be fine but he was very surprised with what happened next. He felt Dawn’s fingers grasp around both himself and Lucky and he felt her turn around. His confusion was beginning to grow as he felt her turn her body one hundred and eighty degrees and she began to move her colossal body forward in a sprint. He felt her hand move up and down as she ran and it made him feel sick and the fact that he was now in close proximity of Lucky and the lizard was not happy to be close to Tucker. In his eyes Tucker was a competition for Dawn’s attention and affections and for he hated him almost instantly. Tucker could hear the pilot continue to speak but with everything that was happening it was hard for him to make out what the pilot was saying. He could hear the fighters’ engines begin to rev again and he realised that they were going to give chase. He didn’t have time to fully realise what was happening but either way he knew that things weren’t going as he had expected.
Due to her extremely long legs Dawn was able to run a great distance in a very short amount of time. The fighters behind her were more than up to the task to keep up with her and they also had one advantage over her. They had more than enough fuel to keep up with her but due to her size Dawn was beginning to tire relatively fast. Unlike Jessica she didn’t seem to be able to retain energy as well as she could or it was possible that her energy was being diverted somewhere else. Either way it meant that it wouldn’t be long before Dawn exhausted herself.
A few times Tucker heard the fighters fire at Dawn but their weapons were only set to stun. They did not want to kill her but simply stop her. So far their shots had not hit their target even though Dawn was a very large target. Thankfully for her since they were in a rural area she did not have to worry about accidentally stepping on anyone while she ran but all she could think about was getting away from the fighters but that would be extremely difficult for someone of her size. She could literally be seen for miles and there almost seemed to be no escape from the fighters.
Everything that was happening was being beamed back to headquarters and this time it was not the Park Incorporated headquarters but instead to a military facility just outside the city. They were witnessing everything that was happening during the chase and a tall man with grey hair was commanding the fighters as they gave chase. He was the commanding officer of the facility and he was becoming very suspicious of Dawn’s actions. He knew nothing about her and he did not know why she was running but he still wanted her to be captured and questioned. He wanted to make the capture as painless as possible and he wanted there to be no serious injury to Tucker although at this point he didn’t even know who Dawn was carrying. He was seeing everything that was happening through a small camera mounted on one of the fighters and there were several other soldiers all around him communicating with other fighters to assist in the situation.
“Where are those other fighters?” asked the Commander. He had been in the armed forces for practically his entire adult life and his abilities had allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks. He was known as a man of caution who did not take any unnecessary risks. He was also somewhat compassionate and he would normally not order the death of another person unless there was no other choice in the matter. He was not happy with what was happening as he viewed everything on a large screen. There were people sitting down at various large communicators and scanners. He looked towards one young woman who was sitting at a communicator trying to patch herself through to an unknown person. “Dane get me through to Park Incorporated and tell them to get their own giant to stop this girl before she does anything stupid.”
“I have done,” replied the Woman. “They’re sending a few agents now but they can’t seem to get in touch with Agent Snape. I don’t exactly know what they meant but they said that Agent Snape has fallen off the radar so to speak.”
“What in the blue blazes is that supposed to mean Dane?” At first he thought that he might have misheard her but he knew that she wasn’t the kind of solider who would joke around and especially at this time. “How can a woman the size of a building just fall under the radar?”
“That’s what they’re not sure of either sir. They say that her bio-signature has simply disappeared. They don’t know where she’s gotten to but wherever it is they say that she’s not on Home at all.”
“Crap this is all I need.” He grabbed a small microphone like device that was on a desk just in front of him and he held it to his mouth. The device would allow him to contact the fighters directly. “Units this is Commander Croft take her down before she endangers anymore lives. Use non-lethal weapons only and remember your training. Park Incorporated has given you Intel on how to take down a giant. Use it and for the sake of your families get out of there in on piece.”
As with each of the agents as soon as their powers were realised counter-measures would be developed to combat them if they ever went rogue or fell under the influence of a mind control. In most people’s mind the easiest way to combat a giant person would simply to use a lot of firepower but the people of Home still preferred not to kill an enemy. Instead all counter-measures were non-lethal although the option was always there if need be. Due to Jessica’s lifespan the armed forces had plenty of training on how to take down someone like her but Dawn was different to her. The most obvious fact was that she was much larger than Jessica and her exact strengths and weaknesses had yet to be determined. They didn’t know if she had any additional abilities along with her size or even if she could make herself even bigger. The training that the pilots received only went so far but they just hoped that it would be enough to capture Dawn.
As Dawn was running away she felt a couple of the energy bullets fired by the fighters strike her back and it caused her some pain. They had been powerful enough possibly take down Jessica but for her they were a minor inconvenience although she was quickly running out of energy. If she didn’t end the chase soon she would collapse from exhaustion and Tucker and Lucky would most likely not survive the fall. She looked at the device on her wrist and she was beginning to think about which button was the right one to push. There were so many different buttons and she couldn’t remember what all of them did but there was one in particular that she was looking for. In all the excitement she had not thought about using her wrist device. Eventually she discovered the button that she needed but before she pressed it she looked down at Tucker who was in her hand and she tried to prepare him for what was about to happen.
“Hang on guys this might be a bumpy ride,” said Dawn as she moved her right hand towards the device. Her right hand was the hand that she was using to grasp Tucker and Lucky but she was still able extend her index finger without compromising her grip.
Immediately after pressing the button on her wrist device a large vortex appeared almost instantly in front of them and Dawn ran straight through it. As soon as she was through it closed behind her leaving her pursuers completely clueless to where she had gone. As soon as she was out of sight they tried to scan for her whereabouts with their scanners but they picked up nothing. They knew the potential of Vortex technology so they knew that she could literally be millions of miles away although they doubted she would have gotten that far. To travel across space the computer controlling the vortex would need time to work out all the calculations. Since this had only just popped up they were most likely still on Home. For now however Dawn had escaped taking both Tucker and Lucky with them. It might take them some time for them to find them again but finding someone of Dawn’s size would be relatively easy to find
At the military headquarters near the city Commander Croft had seen Dawn disappear on the screen and he was not happy with what he had seen. He didn’t think it would be all that difficult to capture her but the fact that she had escaped made his blood boil. Her sudden disappearance had taken him completely by surprise and he was beginning to lose his temper. The normally placid commander hated failure and he even disliked it how she was offered an opportunity to surrender but she had chosen to run instead. He was almost ready to snap at the next person who made only the slightest error. There were numerous other personnel were also looking at the screen and they were afraid with how Commander Croft would react. He was notoriously hot tempered when it came to failure.
“WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GO!” shouted Commander Croft so loud it made a couple of the personnel jump out of their skins. “I WANT HER TRACKED DOWN AND APPREHENDED WITHIN THE NEXT SIX HOURS OR ELSE HEADS WILL ROLL!” He turned around and walked away from the screen as the other personnel ran around like headless chickens trying to fulfil his last order. Although Dawn had disappeared it would probably not take them long to track her down.
Several hundred miles away near a mountainous area a large vortex opened suddenly and seconds later Dawn came through still clutching Tucker and Lucky. She knew now that they were safe but the chase had taken a lot out of her. She was close to collapsing and as soon as she was through the vortex it closed immediately behind her. She only had enough energy left to place Tucker and Lucky on the ground before she sat down herself to catch her breath. She was panting as if she had run a marathon nut in truth she had not even run that far of a distance, even for someone of her size.
Tucker did not recognise where he was, he could see a mountain range that rivalled the Himalayas in size but once again he could not see anyone around. From where Dawn was sitting she could see a couple of buildings in the distance but they were all very small and looked like housing rather than a facility or government building. There weren’t any trees around and there were large fields almost as far as the eye could see. They were some distance from any city and for now it seemed that they had escaped their pursuers.
The sudden trip through the vortex had made Tucker vomit his lunch, although he was beginning to get use to travelling through a vortex the addition trauma of being held while Dawn ran and the fact that he had eaten a lot of Jessica’s food had taken its toll on him. It was an uncomfortable experience and he was glad that it was over.
Tucker could see Lucky running towards Dawn’s feet and he cooed at her. He attempted to climb onto her shoe but she moved it slightly so that he couldn’t get a grasp. She loved her little lizard dearly but she was in no mood to be climbed on. She was still panting and large drops of sweat ran down her cheek and onto the ground. Each one left a small puddle and the smell from the puddles was unpleasant. Tucker waved for a moment so that he could get Dawn’s attention and much to his relief the young giantess looked down at him although he could see just how tired she was. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought that she had just completed an Iron Man Challenge. He carefully approached her and he was concerned for her health. He didn’t want her collapsing any time soon and he wasn’t sure if she had just saved his life.
“Dawn are you alright?” asked Tucker looking up to Dawn. The sweat was still dripping from her chin but she still looked down at him. She wanted to pick him up but she was too tired at that moment in time.
“Yeah I’m fine,” replied Dawn trying to break into a smile. “I just need a minute or two to catch my breath.” She was still breathing heavily and if he had been close enough to her mouth she would have easily been able to suck him in or even blow him away. “But at least we’re safe for now; I might have gotten away from them for now but it won’t take them long to find us again.”
“Wait a minute Dawn why did we run?” He was feeling even more confused than he was before. “If I’m not mistaken those guys weren’t alien. If you’re supposed to be here to prevent an invasion shouldn’t you just have told them about it? Surely they could have done something to help.”
“Those guys weren’t the air force.” Her words were sharp and it caught Tucker by surprise. “It’s how it starts, the Tengi mimicked the vehicles of Home so that they could attack us without warning. Everything’s happening faster than it should, we need to move fast if we’re going to prevent Home from being successfully invaded. If that happens then all of my efforts have been for nothing.”
This had answered Tucker’s question but there was still something that he found off. There was something in Dawn’s face that he found familiar but once again he couldn’t put his finger on it. He felt like he already knew her but they had only known each other for a few minutes and she had already told him a lot of information that he was still processing. He could see Lucky running around now and he seemed to be full of energy. He was still staying close to Dawn and she just watched him and she was even able to break a smile as she watched him. She loved her little lizard more than she could say in words, to her he was more than a pet, he was her friend.
Tucker’s thoughts were broken when he heard a relatively loud creaking sound. It only lasted a second or two before subside. Tucker looked around to see where the sound had come from but there was only Dawn, Lucky and himself in the immediate area and he looked up at Dawn again. He wasn’t sure whether she had heard it too but right now she was concentrating on Lucky. It looked like the little lizard was performing for her amusement.
“Did you just hear that?” asked Tucker with some confusion. He was beginning to think that he had just imagined the sound.
“Hear what?” replied Dawn not taking her eyes off Lucky. He was jumping around and a couple of times he purposely fell to the ground and it made the young giantess giggle.
“I swear I heard a creaking noise a sec ago but maybe I’m going barmy.”
“Oh no you did hear it.” She finally took her eyes of Lucky and looked at Tucker. “That was me you just heard.” She gave out a sigh and she looked down for a moment. “What you just heard was me grow by another foot, it happens every once in a while but I’m so used to it I barely notice anymore.” She could see Tucker look at her with some astonishment. “Unlike Agent Snape I’m still growing and as far as I’ve been told I’m never going to stop. I might be this height for now but in a few years time I’ll be maybe double in height and I’ll just keep going.” She gave out another sigh. “All my body is good at doing is growing and even though I’m eighteen I haven’t been slowing down. If anything I’m growing faster than ever.” She had a disappointed look on her face. “All my life I’ve been taller than everyone else but to know that I’m never going to stop really makes me feel low.” There was another sound but this time it was a loud growling sound and Tucker thought that she was growing again but he saw no change in her size. The other growth spurt had been so small it was hardly noticeable but if she was having a bigger spurt it would be recognisable instantly. Instead Dawn just placed her hand on her stomach as the growling continued. Even Lucky stopped upon hearing the sound but he was not afraid. He was never scared when he was Dawn. “As you can see growing burns a lot of my energy and my stomach’s telling me that I need food and now.” She placed her hand inside one of the pouches on her belt and picked out some food that Tucker didn’t recognise but it looked to be some kind of processed bar. In her hand they looked tiny and there was no way that they would be able to feed someone of her size but he watched in amazement as the food began to grow in her hand. He could only watch as the fruit grew until it was up to her proportions. As soon as the bar was large enough Dawn took a bite out of it, she needed fruits to help her body and she had more food in the pouches that would give her the extra energy she needed.
Tucker was amazed with what he had seen. He guessed that her power was somewhat similar to Jessica’s when she first received her abilities. Jessica had been able to change her size but Dawn seemed to be able to change the size of other things as well through touch. It still raised a few questions but it seemed to make some sense to him.
“How did you do that?” asked Tucker already half knowing the answer but he wanted to hear it from Dawn.
“Oh that?” replied Dawn still biting into the bar. She allowed herself to swallow what was in her mouth before she spoke again. “I can change items as big as I want; it’s useful when it comes to lunchtime. I can feed myself on a mere scrap of food.”
“If you can change the size of anything why can’t you just make yourself smaller or make everyone on Home bigger so that they can stop the invasion themselves?”
“My powers don’t work like that. I can’t change size of anything living so I can’t make people or animals grow. I can’t even make any fruits or meat grow. If I want any of that I have to have a supersized portion. Also if I were to break contact with anything I’ve grown they instantly shrink back to their original size, the only reason that the food doesn’t shrink after I’ve eaten it is because I’m still in contact with it so it’ll stay that size until my body fully digests it.”
“Oh I see.”
Tucker had to wait for a moment to eat the bar, at one point it was almost finished and she was still feeling hungry so she made the last part even bigger so that her hunger would be satisfied. She had offered him some of the bar but he was still feeling sick after the sudden trip through the vortex. Lucky on the other hand was hungry and Dawn was able to give him another bar that was in her pouch. This time she didn’t bother increasing its size since it would only shrink again when she broke her contact with it. It was still more than enough to satisfy the little lizard but when everything was done Dawn prepared herself for another long walk. She needed to make sure that they weren’t in one place for too long and it would take time before she could use the vortex again. It needed time to recharge and after carrying someone as large as Dawn it would need quite a bit of time. Tucker could also see the way that she was looking at him; he could see her gentle smile every now and again and her look of happiness. He thought that she was simply meeting her hero and that she was just happy to be around him but it looked to be deeper than that.
“Ok let’s get moving again,” said Dawn as she gently picked up Lucky and Tucker. Since she had more freedom this time she kept them in separate hands. She also knew that Lucky would still be jealous of him. Only seconds after having a firm grip on the pair she stood up to her full height which had increased by a foot within the time she had sat down. “I know a place not too far from here where we’ll be safe for a while. It might be a little while before we’re truly safe but at least the Tengi won’t be able to find us for a short while at least. I just hope that there’s nothing there right now.”
Dawn turned ninety degrees to her right and began to walk fairly quickly straight in front of her. Each step she took caused a small tremor and it almost disastrous if she were any bigger. If she was causing small tremors like this at her size she didn’t want to imagine how large they would be when she grew larger. Since she had Tucker in her hand right now it made her feel happy. She had been waiting all her life to finally meet him and now that she had she didn’t want their union to end. With everything that had happened to her recently in her life it made it all worthwhile. There was even a part of her that never wanted to go back to her own time. She wanted to stay with Tucker forever and she didn’t care if she caused some kind of time paradox. All she wanted to do was to keep him close and she was doing everything she could to stop herself hugging and kissing him. For the first time for as long as she could remember she thought that her life was perfect.
She didn’t realise just what damage she was doing. Thousands of miles away on the other side of Home a group of strange looking animals were having a drink by a stream. The area was a nature reserve so there was no one around for miles and miles and the land belonged to the animals. Here there was a thriving ecosystem that was completely detached from the meddling of the people of Home. The animals were free to do practically whatever they wanted and it had been this way for countless years. Unlike humans the people of Home were much more respectful to nature and only built where absolutely necessary and there was plenty of room for everyone since Home itself was larger than Earth. A fair few places on the planet had great cities but everywhere else was left to nature. People would sometimes come to admire the beauty of nature but they would always travel through some kind of hover vehicle so that they did not disturb the ground itself.
While the small group of animals were drinking the water a flash of yellow light appeared behind them and they turned around to look at where it had come from. They saw what looked to be a yellow tear roughly five feet across. It was not on the ground but directly in front of them six feet in the air and it wasn’t floating. The tear was there right in front of them and it was slowly growing a few inches every minute. An animal that looked similar to a moose but taller and with a single unicorn like horn stepped towards the tear curious to what it was. When it got within a couple of feet of it the tear glowed bright yellow and the light engulfed the animal before it had a chance to run. The light lasted for a few moments and when it finally subsided the tear remained but the animal was gone. It had simply disappeared into thin air and there was absolutely nothing left of it. This was the time when the other animals fled for their lives but the worst thing about it all was that the tear had not gone away and it was still growing.