“ Did you really have to destroy them?” Zoltan sighed as he looked at the remains of the three buildings, an administrative building plus an armoury split into two different buildings. Made of steel and concrete and standing proud, but all of them failed to hold up against Jessica’s kneecaps, plowing through them in mere seconds.

 Right now it was contained chaos, military personnel swarming the place to account for casualties( thankfully zero at this point) and property damages. Anyone caught in Jessica’s one woman rescue attempt were being tended to by a small army of medics at Zoltan’s seven o’clock, coincidentally also the time on his watch, the sky now various shades of blue and red as the sun peeked over the horizon.

 Then there was Jessica, no one really knew what to do with her at this point so she set her butt down on an empty area, a thousand tonnes of human flesh and bone cracking the exact point her glutes touched down.

 Jessica was exactly  what Zoltan found himself looking at, Jessica’s bus sized feet planted into the ground, legs spread open but not exposing her unmentionables while she watched the military clean up the aftermath of the fight.

 “ Hey!” She protested, one eye on Zoltan but also keeping an eye on Lauren, now being led away by military police to what she presumed was jail. Anywhere would do, Jessica thought to herself, that woman had used her and she would not stand for that. Lauren could count herself lucky she didn’t encounter a less merciful giantess, Jessica thought.

 “ That..” Zoltan pointed at the buildings she demolished, “ cost us millions. I’ll have to write the equivalent of a novella explaining everything that happened. Why? Because you’re my responsibility but-”

 He held up his hand to stop Jessica, who was about to speak.

 “ But it is much better than writing a novel explaining why Lauren managed to sell our secrets to North Korea,” He broke out  the thinnest of smiles, Jessica surprised to even see it from a man rumoured to be incapable of smiling; or at least that is what she heard.

 “ Oh thank goodness, I thought I was in trouble,” Jessica wiped her forehead with her hand.

  Zoltan smirked, “ No , far from it. Now lets get you to the coast, you’re heading back to the island.”

  Jessica was somewhat shocked to hear it, she thought she wouldn’t have to go back. As far as she knew, keeping her there was redundant thanks to recent events.

 “Why? The world knows I exist. Isn’t that why you kept me there? So the world wouldn’t have to know I existed,” She growled.

 “ Where else would you go? The world was never made to handle someone of your scale. You should have noticed it back in Miami, at least in your house you can feel normal,” Zoltan countered, remaining calm. He hadn’t expected this from Jessica, he was going for a more accepted response to returning. He hadn’t heard of a single complaint from her about island life so why now?

“ And what is left for me back there? My house is wrecked. You can’t expect me to go back in these rags and live there like King Kong,” Jessica gestured at her clothes, right now just large pieces of tarpaulin wrapped around to cover her modesty; a job it barely fulfilled with her rather generous cleavage and curve of her butt clearly revealed to the world.

 “ And you can’t keep raiding Walmarts for food. Lets face it, you need us as much as we need you. Your family can’t afford you and your friends are non-existent,” Zoltan expertly countered, Jessica quickly running out of arguments.

Jessica stared at the hard concrete floor, mulling what he had just said. He was right, she thought. She had no friends and Wallace could not afford her expenses for even a day.

********

“You seem to be okay,” Jack listened to the medic, a squat Hispanic man as he finished a very thorough examination, the whole time failing to notice who Jack was.

 Jack had been shaken when Jessica’s palm fell on to him hours earlier, trapping him, Lauren and everyone else on the plane she snatched out of the sky like a shark leaping out of the water for its kill.

 The feeling of tons of soft flesh, a twitch away from breaking his frail body was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Only the fact that he knew Jessica had perfect control of her body kept him from panicking.

“That arm should be fine,” he was about to dismiss Jack when he recognised Jack.

“You!” He pointed at Jack, shocked he hadn’t even recognised Jack at all, all smiles.

 “You’re Jack Erikson, the missing billionaire!”

Jack nodded tepidly, he didn’t want this to turn into a feeding frenzy where everyone mobbed him for his autograph or something.

“ Shush,” Jack pressed his fingers against his lips.

“I don’t want people to know who I am but yes, I was missing.Just happy I can finally go home,” he replied.

 The medic chuckled, “ Yep, finally away from that freak over there.”

He pointed at Jessica, Jack noticing her animated argument with Zoltan. After this, no more Jessica. Just him, Caitlin and the normal sized people he ought to be with.

“ She’s not too bad,” Jack pitched in a defence.

“Once you get past her whale sized body and propensity for a tease,” He said, his gut welling up with a sense of wanting.

“ Whatever it is, you shouldn’t be near it,” the medic replied, Jack recoiling from the way he addressed Jessica. It? Freak? She was no monster.

 “ Look mate, how do I address you?” Jack readied himself for a verbal joust.

 “Jose and frankly I don’t care what you think about Frankenstein over there. If the rumours are right and it is some experiment cooked up in a government lab then it should be far away. Man should not be messing with life that way,” He waved away Jack who walked off, incensed by Jose’s put down of Jessica.

 Jack walked some distance as the line of injured men and women chugged along, standing and watching Jessica’s conversation with Zoltan.

 He picked out talk of moving back, how Jessica was homeless but the most striking feature was Zoltan actually having the guts to argue with Jessica. Here was a man, imposing as he was actually arguing with a woman whose thumb could squish him.

 And it felt more like home than hanging with medic. Which was all he needed to walk over and join them. Plus he had some ideas to unload on to them.

*******

 “ I don’t care if no one will take me in,I am not moving back in. I’ll live in the swamps, the forests if I have to! Besides, you can’t force me!” Jessica threw her hands up as if to dare Zoltan. She thought he’d lose the cool as a cucumber demeanour by now but nothing, he still hadn’t betrayed any cracks in his facade.

 “ I could spend all week listing why that plan wouldn’t work and we wouldn’t even be halfway there,” Zoltan replied.

“ You might not have to live in the swamps,” Jack announced himself. Both Jessica and Zoltan looked over to him, Jack offering a small awkward wave and smile.

 “ Erikson, this is not a discussion for you to butt in,” Zoltan waved him hand away.

 Jack smirked, “ I think it is General. Just hear me out.”

Jack walked closer, positioning himself perpendicular to both of their gazes before commencing his proposal.

 “ You, you giant hobo have no place to stay,” He pointed at Jessica, her eyebrow shooting upwards at his rather apt but odd description of her.

 “While you,” He directed his other hand towards Zoltan, “ Want her to go back to wherever she came from. I eavesdropped a lot of it.”

 “Your point being?” Now Zoltan’s cool as cucumber look was starting to break, Jack’s snake oil sales pitch doing the trick. Jessica on the other hand, was curious to see what he had to say but folded her arms across her generous bust.

 “ I can give both of you a compromise. Jessica gets a place to stay , with me,” He pressed his fingers against his chest.

 “And she doesn’t have to go back.”

“I-I um…” Jessica searched for the words. Should she even accept? This man, the one she described as an annoying douchebag offering her lodgings when she had nothing left? Why the hell would he even put that on the table?

 “ Bullshit,” Zoltan called it as he saw it.

  “Do you know how much she eats? My dear boy, the cost of feeding her and clothing her would eat through your bank account faster than termites in a woodshop,” Zoltan chuckled. Now that he thought of it, Jack’s offer was laughable at best.

 Jack clapped slowly, “ Good point but at last count, my family’s personal assets tallied up to twenty billion pounds, most of it cash. I can afford to feed a village of giants if I need. Clothing her will not be an issue. So…”

Jack turned to face Jessica, now very aware that the ball was in her court.

“ I-I accept,” Jessica answered, swallowing hard as she wondered where she would go from here.

Zoltan sighed, “ Think again. You’re not meant for civilian life.”

“This is my decision,” Jessica said, finding a stronger voice within as the repulsive idea of living on that island came back.

 “And it is final.”

 “ Fine, I can’t force you to come but you’ll see; you will find out the hard way neither you nor the world is equipped for someone like you. You’re a weapon Jessica, it’s what you are since Wallace made that fateful decision. When your little game of play pretend is up, you’ll come back crying . And I’ll be waiting,” He said, disappointed with her choice but his hands were tied. He walked away from them, boots scraping against the little chunks of gravel from the scuffle.

“ Jack, you sure about this? I don’t even know if I can fit into your high life,” Jessica’s heart pumped faster, she extended her fingers and gently scooped up Jack, bringing up to her face.

 “ You’ll be fine. You saved my life thrice, it is the least I could do for you. Also my way of saying sorry.”

“For what?” Jessica’s pearly white teeth revealed themselves as she smiled down at him.

“ For being a total arse , a real berk,” He said softly but Jessica heard him, her enhanced ears able to capture the sound clearly.

“ You’re forgiven but are your parents okay? Is Caitlin fine with me staying there? I assume you’ll tell them,” Jessica said with caution.

Jack shrugged his shoulders, “ I haven’t had a chance to make a call in days. Doesn’t matter, I’ll talk them into letting you stay. I promise, you’ll get a proper Erikson welcome, nothing less for a guest.”

 “ I hope it isn’t running and screaming like a what was that you called yourself? Berk? A total berk,” Jessica giggled, her humid rocketing past Jack.

 “ No,” Jack covered his face briefly with his palm.

“ That was me being a berk. You’ll get a better one,” He chuckled.

“Where exactly do you stay? Am I going to be staying in a castle?” Jessica asked, half serious. She wouldn’t be surprised if Jack actually owned one.

 “That’s back in the old country, you’re getting a place called Palm Creek. Not too far from here, a rather exclusive community.”

Jessica’s mouth curled into an O shape, she had heard that name come up once, in her briefing to rescue Jack.

 “Oh we’re not far from it, I could get us there within the hour.”

Jessica stood up and placed Jack on her shoulder, legs dangling over her shoulder blade.

 “ Just point the way and I’ll do the rest.”