The Finale

The facility was in an uproar, as the technicians and security personnel rushed all over the place. The former were gathering up as many notes and equipment as they could carry, either in hand or on carts or inside other containments, while the guards assisted their escape. They had been given the order to evacuate, even if the present crisis was occurring far away from where they were, in the heart of downtown.

The various men were so busy with their own tasks that they were all but ignoring the large group of female stock standing around in the lobby. Donned in nothing but white robes and slippers, some of the women watched the constant shuffle of the workers, but most of the women's eyes were glued on the television screen hanging on the wall, displaying a live feed of downtown Mascopolis and the events transpiring there. On the screen was one of them: a woman. However, this young blond woman was a stark contrast from each and every woman in the room; the blond woman was clean and pretty, not disheveled and plain like the women there; the blond woman's clearly had her own sense of fashion, as opposed to them who were forced into rags; the blond woman was lively and confident, unlike the forlorn and empty outlook the women possessed. Even more, this woman was massive, defying natural law by growing into a giant and lobbing all sorts of ethereal weaponry all over the place.

After she had defeated the Air Force, the news choppers trailing her caught the conversation that she had with the near-indiscernible young man riding on her shoulder. According to her, she arrived from an entirely different Universe.

Unfortunately, the true significance of outside Universes was beyond the understanding that the women there were allowed to maintain. But perhaps it explained so many things about the blond woman's being.

"Hey..." Ling-G0323 called to Tracey-G1129, who kept watch on the screen. "What do you think is going to happen to the city?"

Tracey-G1129's head turned to meet that of the young Asian woman's. Her dark brown eyes were dull and listless, her skin pale and marred with a number of blemishes, though she was hardly alone in this regard. That said, Ling-G0323, being one of the younger and prettier women of the Green Division, found herself the target of constant use--and abuse--at the hands of the men in this facility. To think that someone who had not even turned 20 yet had already given birth four times.

"Tracey..." She called again as Tracey-G1129 was lost in her somber thoughts.

"I don't know," she answered.

"Will she destroy us as well?" Ling-G0323 asked, a hint of worry in her tone.

Ling-G0323's concern was not unfounded, as the blond giant did mention a love for destroying cities, and did not appear to have emancipation on her agenda. It seemed that she only had one goal in mind: destruction. Perhaps seeing a woman--someone deemed by the men of the city to be lower than the scum on the bottom of their shoes--tearing down everything the men proudly held dear would instill a sense of pride and optimism in the stock women's hearts, but it would do them no good if they wounded up dead as well.

"If she does kill us, at least we'll be free," spoke up Emma-G0916, a brown-haired woman older than the both of them; so old, in fact, that she had perhaps only a few years--maybe even less--before she would be considered "barren" and then euthanized. "It's about time something was done about this city. If we all have to die to make sure it goes down, then that's how it is. It's not like we're good for anything else."

"Emma..." Tracey-G1129 chided with a sigh. Emma-G0916 had grown very bitter and numb over the years, and seemed to welcome death at that point. However, her blunt words seemed to frighten Ling-G0323.

"I don't want to die..." Ling-G0323 was on the verge of tears.

Tracey-G1129 shot a brief, scolding glare at Emma-G0916, and then turned back to Ling-G0323 and tried her best to give her a reassuring smile; a tall order, if there ever was one.

"We won't die," she said. "We'll be fine."

Ling-G0323 stared at her for a few seconds, before nodding slightly and wiping her eye with her finger. "Okay..."

Before Tracey-G1129 could say anything else to her, a loud male voice interrupted whatever thought process that was going through her head.

"You women!!" shouted a security guard standing at the double-doorway, holding a rifle in his hands; he was accompanied by another guard as well as a lab technician. "You all're goin' downstairs!! Move yer asses, let's go!!"

He was clearly on-edge. The women had long since known better than to debate even the most trivial demand from the men running the facility, and so they all began to file out of the room. The guard continued to yell orders at them and rush them as they all exited the room.

"And don't y'all get any ideas watchin' that monster wreck the town!" the guard barked. "You try something, you gettin' a shell through your skull!!" He cocked his rifle.

Tracey-G1129 took one last look at the television screen before the technician went and turned it off; before the screen went black, it displayed a gigantic machine rising from the earth and then immediately starting its own assault upon the blond giant.

As she along with the other women left the room and entered into the hallway, she placed her hands on her slightly-bulging belly. According to a technician during a previous routine check-up, she was four months along...

~~~

Samuel held onto Iris' shoulder with as much strength as he could muster, even as the wind threatened to blow him away. All around him were the sounds of speeding jets, explosions, and crashing. He could hardly look behind himself to see what was behind, but he already had a good idea as to what he would see.

For the first time that day, Iris was on the defense.

Just minutes before, Iris had attempted a preemptive strike of her own, tossing a large fireball at the Gungnir. The flame exploded upon contact with its body, but as the smoke cleared, both she and Samuel saw little damage upon the machine's frame. Meanwhile, the jets that had launched from the Gungnir had started firing upon her. The Gungnir's fighter jets were in a class above what the Air Force had used; they were larger, more nimble, and fire off blasts of plasma as opposed to standard missiles and bullets.

That was before getting into the Gungnir itself. From the barrels on its body, it fired off dozens of rounds towards Iris. She covered herself with her arms to block their barrage, but eventually the hot plasma burned through her jacket and started hitting her skin. Eventually, she simply turned around and started to run.

She ran through the city, as the four jets chased and fired after her. Some struck her back, while others hit the various building and other structures. Iris made a right turn on a wide street, though the jets were undeterred and made a very sharp turn to continue their own assault. Iris stretched her arm back and unleashed several bolts of lightning. It nicked the wing of one of the jets, but aside from some slight turbulence it was otherwise unharmed.

"Shit," Iris muttered.

The jets retaliated with more fire, as Iris made a sharp left turn through a partially-demolished city block. However, from her right side came the other set of jets, all of which were charging a sphere of plasma on a barrel beneath each of their noses. Then, they all launched the stream of plasma in her direction. Stopping in place, Iris stretched both of her arms to her side, and the air around her took on the same purplish hue as before. The plasma from both groups of jets hit the surrounding force field, their energies completely neutralized.

"I don't get why you didn't just do that before," Samuel remarked, as he tried to relax and catch his own breath.

"I didn't think they'd come at me with such ferocity," Iris responded as she too panted slightly. "Man, they burned through the sleeves of my jacket, too." She examined both sleeves; indeed, the white fabric was littered with burnt holes throughout its length. "And those blasts actually stung."

"So, what are you going to do?" Samuel asked.

Before Iris could answer, the gigantic war machine known as the Gungnir appeared before them. It charged plasma on its central barrel, before firing off a large stream at Iris' barrier. The blast struck the force field, but the barrier held. However, as the Gungnir kept pouring on the energy, both Samuel and Iris noticed white cracks forming at the site of impact. Cracks that were rapidly expanding.

Iris gasped. "...Okay, that's bullshi-"

Before her expletive could complete, the plasma stream completely breached the barrier, taking both the blond giant and Samuel by shock. The impact of its piercing knocked Iris back several city blocks as her barrier quickly dissipated, and she wounded up falling backwards onto the ground, taking several building down with her as well. Despite the force, Samuel still managed to maintain his grip on her shoulder and held on for dear life, as it was still a long way down for him.

The Gungnir did not waste any time. Unfolding its back wings--revealing boosters underneath--it flew after her and charged another beam of plasma on its central barrel. She quickly got up and fled just as the Gungnir fired, the ray striking the earth right on her heel. Meanwhile, the jets flew around and fired a barrage of plasma bullets and beams. Iris ran between buildings so that most of their fire struck and immediately destroyed them, but some still managed to hit her body. She flung more lightning towards them, most of the jets dodging the blast. She sent another powerful stream of electricity out towards the swarm, this time striking a bull's-eye on one of the Gungnir's jets; the pilot appeared to lose control of the jet, which soon crashed headfirst into the Jethro Building, a general office building made up of various suites. Its powerful explosion caused the structure to immediately collapse.

"That's one down," Iris said, but as she turned around, she found the Gungnir itself bearing down on her.

With its right arm, it swung at her, which she parried with her own arm. However, it immediately rebounded and swatted her with its other arm. She was sent flying onto another collection of buildings, all of which gave away under her might. As the Gungnir pounced on her, prepping another plasma charge, she stretched out her arms, put both of her hands together, and unleashed a massive jolt of lightning at the machine. The bolt struck right in the center, above the central barrel, and the force of her blast pushed it several city blocks away, plowing through multiple buildings in the process.

"God, this is actually a bit more challenging than I thought it'd be," Iris muttered to herself.

"Yeah, I told you that that thing was powerful," Samuel added, once again hanging on for his life.

"...You're still alive?" Iris seemed genuinely surprised to discover that he had survived both of her violent knockdowns. "You're pretty tenacious, like a little roach."

"Ha ha... So, what now? The Gungnir seems to have an edge-up on you. It even broke your force field"

"Yeah, and that's a problem," Iris said as she begun to pick herself up. "That's the first time I've ever had the force field get destroyed. It's going to need time to repair itself." She regained her footing. "Which means that I can't use it until then."

"What!?" Samuel was shocked to hear this. "So how will you block their attacks?!"

Iris sighed. "I can't. Not completely."

"But... What if one of them shoots at me?"

"Then you'll be dead," she nonchalantly answered.

Samuel nervously watched as the Gungnir--having recovered from Iris' attack upon it--proceeded to fire upon her again, this time with various lasers. She guarded herself by crossing her arms in front of her face, but the lasers still did a considerable damage upon her, with more of her clothing getting damaged and burnt, and her skin getting singed with each blast. The jets soon joined in and rained plasma down upon her. Samuel ducked as low as he could to make himself less of a target, but even a few of the bolts struck way too close to comfort.

"Damn, this might be it..." Samuel lamented.

~~~

The air inside of Mayor Adam's bunker was thick with anticipation, as all eyes were intently upon the television. On the screen, they watched as the Gungnir laid on its assault upon the blond monster, or invader, as Mayor Adams had begun to refer to her as.

The news choppers had caught practically all of her conversation with her companion Samuel, and it revealed a number of things, ground-breaking information. Information so ground-breaking that Mayor Adams was almost disappointed that it came from the mouth of a woman. This blond woman had arrived from a completely different Universe, one that--from the looks of things--had men and women in equal standing; the thought of such a world disgusted him, especially after Mascopolis' efforts to spread its own masculinist influence on a global scale. It did explain why she was an exact doppelgänger of the blond woman that his aide had shown him earlier; he would not have been surprised if there were more copies of her, as well as countless doubles of himself, across the vastness of the Multiverse, as she called it.

Furthermore, the people of her Universe could purchase powers to use in the same manner that she had. He wished that he could travel to her world and acquired the knowledge used in manufacturing those powers; he would distribute them among his men, as well as use them himself. Not only would they make controlling--or disposing of--their women easier, but they would also be able to very easily rule the entire world. Perhaps even the Multiverse if they so desired.

Though the one thing he perhaps took a bit of solace in about her being was that her attack on Mascopolis was nothing personal; it was just another toy box to her, just one of many that she had "played" in across Universes. Mascopolis just happened to be the card that she drew for this excursion.

However, Mayor Adams mind was going off on a tangent. At present, the Gungnir and its jets were pouring pounds of hot plasma upon the blond invader, and it seemed that she could do nothing but defend against it or run. He was very delighted when the Gungnir broke through her force field; in fact, the entire room cheered. She mentioned that it would take a while for her barrier to repair itself, so he knew--and he knew that General Kilmark inside of the Gungnir's mainframe felt the same--that now was the time to go for the decisive blow.

"Yeah, take that bitch down," Mayor Adams said as he kept watch.

"Wow, this is like a total 180 from how she was before," spoke the soldier behind him. "She’s struggling to even get a shot in."

"She did shoot down one of the jets, though," stated another.

"A noble sacrifice necessary for ridding our city of that monster," Mayor Adams said.

The giant, seemingly tiring of the barrage upon her, finally took off running, all while unleashing her powers upon the Gungnir and trailing jets. A spear of ice managed to pierce into the cockpit of one of the aircraft, netting her her second kill as the plane spun out midair and then crashed onto the ground with an explosion. Considering where that ice shard had struck, it was likely that the pilot was dead or at least mortally wounded before the craft hit the ground.

She created a large slab of ice behind her, perhaps in an effort to block the fire from the Gungnir chasing her. However, it simply broke through the ice, its metal frame shattering it with ease. The Gungnir quickly ascended higher into the air and unleashed a blast from its central barrel upon the city towards the giant. The stream marked a trail along the earth as it rushed towards her; unfortunately, she leapt out of the way, and as the beam died off, massive explosions along the beam's trail erupted from the ground below. Many buildings and roads crumbled from the blast; they could even feel the tremors resulting from the impact.

"That thing's doing more damage to the city than to her," an aide besides Mayor Adams remarked.

"I never expected the city to come out of this completely unscathed, especially not after what that monster has done to it already," Mayor Adams said, as the giant launched large fireballs up in the air towards the looming Gungnir. "...But it'll be a small price to pay compared to having that monster have her way with the city... With the world, even!"

"True..."

Even so, Mayor Adams still hated how much destruction was being brought upon the city. It would take years and cost hundreds of billions to fully recover from that day's events. The survivors could find themselves displaced or without means to take care of themselves, meaning more funds devoted to feeding and sheltering them. The U.S. Government could step in and help foot the bill, but it would still cost a fortune.

But like he told the aide, the hefty price would be worth it to rout that giant monster once and for all.

His attention went back to the television, where the Gungnir was still engaged in combat.

~~~

Iris' five fireballs each struck the body of the Gungnir in the air above with powerful explosions. Each one caused the war machine to stagger, and the blasts managed to destroy two of the minor barrels, which broke off and fell onto the city with metallic clangs. Still hang in the air, the Gungnir moved its arms outward, aiming the guns attached to their tips at the blond giant. Iris turned and bolted right before they fired upon her, leaving the plasma bullets to strike the ruins in her wake.

Samuel himself was in a fight of his own, to maintain his grip on the increasingly-frantic blond giant's shoulder, the jacket which covered it littered with charred holes.

He noticed the Gungnir's assault jets flying in from his left. "Hey, the jets are coming!" he warned.

"I see them, Sam," Iris said as she turned her body and sprayed a stream of fire in their direction.

The jets all evaded the flame by splitting in different directions, though Iris adjusted her aim to target one of them, trailing it with repeated blasts of fire until one of them finally hit its mark, the resulting explosion upon impact destroying its right wing. The pilot inside ejected from the cockpit as the jet went down in a trail of smoke and flame, until it crashed into the ground. The pilot floating down on his parachute was annihilated by another blast of fire.

Running into another group of untouched buildings, Iris stomped through and on the city block, either crushing smaller enclosures beneath her heels or pushing taller ones aside with her legs and torso. The Gungnir itself kept firing at her, though its bullets did a better job at finishing Iris' destruction of the surrounding buildings than hitting her. Iris launched a large icicle towards the flying machine; it sharp tip managed to pierce the upper cockpit of the device, which made the Gungnir recoil from the impact and lag behind.

"Heh, gotcha," Iris said with a short laugh.

The five remaining fighter jets, however, were undeterred and began to shot plasma beams down towards her. She quickly dodged the rays, before tearing off the roof of a nearby office tower and lobbing it at them. The jets easily maneuvered around the projectile, though Iris caught two more of them off guard by unleashing a large blast of ice crystals at them. The ice shards pummeled and eventually broke into their cockpits and tore through their frames, resulting in significant damage to both; one of the pilots ejected while the other--perhaps too wounded to do anything--went down with his jet.

"You got over half of them down now," Samuel remarked. "If you hurry up and take out the rest of them, you can focus on the Gungnir itself without any distractions."

"Yeah, I know that, Sam," Iris responded to his analysis.

As if on cue, the Gungnir fired off a bevy of plasma rounds at Iris. They struck the side of her torso, burning holes in her jacket and even into her pink tank top. She let out a slight gasp of agony as she staggered a bit. The machine then charged full speed towards her and went for a melee attack with a swing of its arm. It struck her in the upper chest and knocked her backwards, though she was able to keep her footing. However, the Gungnir went at her again and attempted another strike as she was recovering from the last one.

"Watch out!!" Samuel warned.

"I see it, Sam," Iris responded, clearly frustrated.

She parried its second attack, and then its third after it turned and tried to hit her with its other arm. Iris lifted her leg up and delivered a heavy kick upon its frame, pushing it back through several buildings that tore from its might. She threw several powerful fireballs and lightning bolts at the Gungnir, each ethereal projectile exploding with a magnificent display that also dealt more damage to the surroundings and obscured the machine itself behind a cloud of smoke.

As she prepared another fireball, the three remaining jets dove in from the sky and each fired a beam towards her.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Iris barked as she sidestepped their plasma rays, causing them to burn streaks into the concrete as they flew.

Iris threw the flame that she was holding in their direction, but they split up in three days and rebounded and went for her again. She lifted both of her arms up--causing Samuel to almost roll off towards her neck--and charged a large rotating fireball within her hands, the flame quickly growing in size. Once the planes came within a close distance of her, she thrust her arms forward, and from the fireball a massive vortex of flames was sent forth. It sped at the jets at a speed that they did not anticipate, and two of them were caught within the tunnel and sent hurling backwards to the distance, where the flame impacted the earth with an explosion.

"Whoa!!" Samuel said as he marveled at the crimson spiral. "Why didn't you do that sooner?!"

"It's something my boyfriend does," Iris answered as the flame petered out. "I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off so well." She smiled, as if proud of herself.

"Maybe you can do that on the Gungnir?" Samuel suggested.

"...I don't know. That thing is-" She turned her attention towards where the smoke that had been concealing the gigantic war machine had been. It had since faded away, but she looked just in time to see it charging another round on its central barrel. "Shit!"

She leapt out of the way of its blast right in the nick of time, the intense plasma ray cutting it very close and searing a tear in her jacket. Still firing the beam, the Gungnir then began to turn in her direction, and she took off running as the beam kept trailing her, its might burning through each building it passed through. Eventually, the plasma gave away, and the Gungnir slowly floated after her.

"The jet!" Samuel announced, as the last jet came rushing towards her from the sky ahead.

It fire off artillery at her, but rather than block it, Iris kept running in its direction, her legs picking up speed.

"What are you doing?!" Samuel asked.

She did not answer. Instead, once the jet was within twenty feet of her, she bent her knees and jumped into the air towards the jet. As it drew near, she stretched her right arm out towards it just as it flew overhead.

She caught the plane in her right hand.

Landing back on the ground with a huge thus that sent shockwaves around her, she tore the jet in half and poured the pilot inside onto her left hand, afterwards dropping the torn aircraft onto the ground below. She looked behind her at the slowly-approaching Gungnir, perhaps trying to regenerate the energy it spent with its last attack.

"I don't have time to toy with you," she told the shivering pilot in her hand, his very being minuscule compared to her massive palm. She took the tiny man in between her right index finger and thumb, and pinched them together, crushing the hapless man into a red paste.

With all of the jets routed, Iris could freely focus on the main machine, the behemoth of a weapon that stalked after her. Even with its busted barrels and shattered upper visor, it still appeared to have much more fight inside of it. The dozens of men operating the machine inside of it seemed determined to see this fight out to the end.

"Alright, Mr. Gungnir," Iris said to the machine as she walked towards it. "It's just you and me now. No more distractions. I'm going to turn you into a bunch of scrap metal."

As if in response to her words, the Gungnir instantly picked up speed with the rockets on its unfolded wings and charged at her. Iris herself fired a powerful stream of lightning at the machine, which struck inside of the broken cockpit on its "head" and completely blasted it from the body. However, despite the loss, the Gungnir still kept up its momentum and rammed fullspeed into Iris, sending her flying several city blocks backwards and knocking her down onto the earth once more. Samuel had braced himself for impact right before it happened, so he once again managed to avoid being thrown off from her, though he wondered how long his luck--and stamina--would last.

The Gungnir flew higher into the air and loomed high above Iris, and went to building up plasma energy upon its central cannon once again. Then, it unleashed it downward, right towards the fallen giant. Iris quickly rolled out of the way and picked herself up right before impact. The beam struck the road, causing a massive explosion that created a deep, wide crater in the earth, with the rubble of surrounding structures pouring into the hole.

Still hanging high above, the machine charged another beam and fired it at the running giant. It missed again, this time completely destroying the remains of the city block that it had struck.

Iris skidded to a stop and turned around. She stretched her arms above and went to charging her flame again, the fire spiraling into a rotating sphere with ferocity. Then, she unleashed it upward, the massive vortex of fire flying right in the direction of the Gungnir as it too charged a third round. Iris' flame moved at high speeds, so fast that the Gungnir appeared to underestimate its quickness and attempted an evasive maneuver.

Iris' flame managed to strike its right arm, completely blasting it away from the main body. The metallic limb and its debris from its joint went flying backwards and landed onto the ground some distance away, its fall taking down more buildings with it. The strike caused an upward jerk as soon as it fired its plasma beam, sending the powerful blast up into the atmosphere.

Smoke billowing from the point of impact, the Gungnir floated back onto the ground, as Iris ran towards it, her footsteps rocking the earth around her with each footfall. Using its remaining limb, the Gungnir fired rounds from its gun, but the approaching giantess shrugged off each bullet as she drew closer. The machine then used the arm in an attempt to strike her, but she caught the limb in one arm and placed her other upon its side. Then, with all of her might, she picked up the machine and slammed it onto the ground with a heavy thud that echoed across the city and broke into the road.

"Whoa..." Samuel marveled at this display of strength from Iris.

As the Gungnir struggled as it was embedded in the cracked pavement, Iris held her arms high above again, but instead of creating flames, this time a large, cone-shaped iceberg formed above her hands. Then, she thrust the sharp end of the iceberg into the central windshield. The first blow did nothing but create large cracks upon its reflective glass, but the second strike broke through. Leaving the iceberg in place, she lifted her sandaled foot and then stomped down onto the flat top of the ice, lifted her foot again, and then delivered a second stomp, each blow pressing the ice deeper inside of the cockpit.

She held out her arms towards the protruding ice, and then launched a continuous, intense stream of lightning from both of her hands. The lightning was channeled though the iceberg and infiltrated the inside of the Gungnir via the hole. Iris kept it up, constantly pumping volt after dangerous volt into the machine, so much so that the ice eventually shattered from the force. Still, Iris kept up, even as Samuel swore that he heard loud screams emanating from within its frame.

After a minute had passed, Iris' lightning assault stalled to a standstill, and soon after the Gungnir started to vibrate violently. Cracks formed throughout its body, smoke seeping out from within, and electricity began to ripple all over its body. Taking several steps backwards, Iris and Samuel watched as the crackling became more magnificent, as did the ferocity of the machine's shaking, until the inevitable happened.

The Gungnir exploded.

~~~

"NOOOO!!!" Mayor Adams screamed at the top of his lungs.

The entire bunker was filled with shock and fear as they had witnessed the blond invader do what was thought impossible: destroy their prized Gungnir. Even when it seemed like they had her cornered, she somehow managed to turn things around and not only wipe out the accompanying jets, but prevail against the Gungnir as well.

"NO, NO NO NO NO!!!" Mayor Adams flew into a rage, flipping over the table and throwing chairs, pots, and anything else light enough to pick up. "GOD-DAMMIT!!!"

The soldiers rushed to restrain him, but he fought off their attempts. "Calm down, Mayor!" one of them shouted.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!!" he yelled back. "How can I remain calm when that bitch has destroyed everything!?"

Mayor Adams picked up a glass vase and threw it towards the flat television. It shattered its screen, leaving behind a large black spot at the point of impact with black cracks forming away from it. The rest of the screen constantly shifted from the view of the city above, and white static.

"Ugh!" Mayor Adams broke away from the soldiers' grasp and fell to his knees. Suddenly, while still furious, he was hit with a feeling of despair. "I can't believe this... Everything that we have worked for, it's gone... It's all gone."

"Mayor..." A younger aide called, apprehension in his tone. He anxiously glanced at his peers, who all wore the same uncertain, forlorn looks upon their faces. Even the normally-brave soldiers were trepidatious.

"What do we do now?" Another aide asked.

"There's nothing we can do," Mayor Adams solemnly answered.

The men in the room all turned their attention on Mayor Adams again.

"It's over... Mascopolis is finished."

~~~

It was quite a spectacular display. The explosion was extremely loud and violent; Samuel had to cover his ears to protect them from the soundwave, which shattered windows, or what were left of the windows in the immediate area. Metallic debris was sent flying everywhere, as were dozens of lifeless and near-lifeless bodies and limbs of the men who had been operating the machine inside. They all rained down on the surroundings and upon Iris' legs and feet, and at the ground zero, nothing remained but black smoke rising from the sparking husk of what had once been considered the most fearsome war machine in the world.

Iris smiled in triumph. "I win."

Samuel, however, was stunned almost beyond words. "I can't believe it! You did it! You actually beat the Gungnir!"

"You doubted me, Sam?" Iris asked.

"To be honest, there was a period where I thought you were going to bite it. ...Please don't eat me."

Iris chuckled. "Don't worry. Besides, if things had gotten way too hairy, I would have cut my losses and bolted."

"Wow, really? You would have just run away?"

Iris nodded. "I do value my life. I have too much to live for to die far away from home like that."

"I see..."

"So... There are no more machines? Is that all?" Iris asked.

"Yeah, I believe so," Samuel answered. "I did read that they were trying to secure funding to build a second Gungnir, but it hadn't happened yet. ...And I guess it never will."

"Too bad." Iris stepped closer to the remains of the Gungnir, debris and human remains crunching beneath her sandals. She pulled out her smartphone and took a couple of photos of the wreckage, which contained more bodies, all charred and bloodied. "Well, since there's nothing left here to challenge me, I guess it's time for the grand finale."

"'Grand finale'?" Samuel repeated.

Iris returned her cell phone into her jacket pocket. "You're gonna love this, Sam! ...Brace yourself."

"Wha-"

Before Samuel could comprehend anything else, there was a bright light from Iris' body, and he completely whited out.



Samuel could hear the wind blowing all around him as he regained consciousness. His eyes slowly opened, and saw the white of Iris' jacketed shoulder. ...However, it seemed to stretch out further than it did before, extremely further, like it covered the distance of several city blocks. Above him was the vast blue sky, which appeared to have a bit of a deeper azure shade than before; he noticed that he could not see a single cloud around him. He turned to his right, and saw Iris' head, which appeared to have grown at an alarming rate. He could not even take it all in, and even beginning to do so overwhelming his senses.

He also felt something around his head, and when he brought up his hand to feel it, he found that they were protective headphones, with a small microphone attached.

"Wha... Where'd this come from?" Samuel asked.

"I gave it to you," Iris answered, her extremely loud voice booming all over. "Now, you're so small that I couldn't hear you at all, so that's what the mic is for, and the headphones is to protect your ears from my voice."

"Whoa... How big are you now?"

"About five miles," she answered.

"Shit..." The knowledge of being so high up from the earth made him lightheaded. ...Though it could have also been due to how thin the air was.

"Take out your smartphone," Iris ordered, to which Samuel complied.

"Done," Samuel said. He then noticed that on the screen, there was an additional icon upon his home screen that was not there before. It resembled a caricature of Iris' head, and underneath had the text "Live Feed". He clicked on it, and the screen instantly started displaying Iris standing seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Turning the phone sideways to orient the screen properly, and upon closer inspection of the ground at her feet revealed the city of Mascopolis, which resembled a model city more than it did an actual, real-life metropolis. A few clouds could be seen around her, while smoke and fire rose in certain spots in the city that had been destroyed by the combined might of Iris and the Gungnir. The sun behind her was casting her shadow over a significant portion of the city, and Samuel could just barely see all the way to the outskirts, as well as the surrounding badlands; these more than anything drove home how insignificant the city--and its people, himself included--was to her.

Samuel was astonished. "Your powers let you do all of this? ...Wait, why didn't you just grow like this when you were fighting the Gungnir?"

"I could have but they didn't really give me room to pull it off," Iris answered.

Samuel did not completely buy her answer, but he decided to not debate it. "So, what is your grand finale?"

Iris giggled. "Do you even need to ask? Just hang tight and watch the screen."

Samuel did as he told, just as Iris lifted her foot high over a certain part of the tiny city and then, with as much might, brought it down, the ped hitting with an intense roar. The foot crushed whole blocks underneath its might, which all sunk into the earth and left behind a sandal-shaped footprint filled with ruin and rubble.

With the prelude over, she moved on to the main event: stomping and trampling upon Mascopolis. Entire buildings buckled and broke beneath her feet, being crushed flat into the earth, as the sheer might from the force of her stomps creating shockwaves that flattened the surrounding areas. Iris laughed as she repeatedly trod upon the city, devastating not only areas that had already been ruined, but moving around to flatten parts of the city that had been relatively untouched by her earlier assaults. Massive, dust-filled footprints were being left all over the city, and Iris slid her foot from one side to the other to sweep a path of destruction with her sandal, taking buildings and such off their foundations and either moving or shattering them across the city.

She began launching fireballs down upon the city as well, though these also were sent to the further parts of Mascopolis, which until then had been spared from the combat. The fireballs exploded upon impact, bringing the devastation that the city had experienced to the outskirts as well.

The news choppers that had until then filmed the entirely of Iris' assault upon the city were caught in one such fire blast, and were completely destroyed in the flames, their metal melting in the intense heat.

"I think I still see some little guys running around," she said, right before she stomped down and twisted her foot from side-to-side. "Not anymore!"

She laughed manically as she kept trampling the city, doing her absolute best to bulldoze and burn every corner of the defeated metropolis. More and more of the once-proud city was replaced with footsteps as her sandaled feet demolished everything they fell upon, or they were burnt to ash by her flames.

~~~

The bunker was shaking extremely violently, while the lights flickered continuously. The live feed on the television had since been interrupted even with the damage that had been previously done to the screen. Wood and debris continuously rained down from the ceiling as Mayor Adam's men frantically tried to get the Mayor to move from his spot on the floor.

"Mayor, we need to get out of here!" one of the aides tugging on his jacket warned.

"There's nowhere to go..." he responded. Before the feed had been cut off, they were able to see the blond invader's size multiply at an alarming rate, so much so that all the news choppers could really see were her lower legs once she had finished growing. And now, she was treating his city as if it was a literal doormat, or a child's toy city.

"Mayor, we can't stay here!!" the aide retorted. "We'll be buried alive if we don't escape!!"

"He's right!" one of the soldiers added. "At least if we get out, there's a chance of our survival!"

"Mayor, please!" said the aide. "The city needs you... WE need you!!"

Mayor Adams did not want to move from his spot, for he knew that there'd be no point. The only thing that awaited him above ground was devastation as far as the eye could see. The city that had elected him--three times, even, the third unopposed--the city that he worked to build to even greater heights, the city that the rest of the world strived to be like, it was gone. Completely gone. As was his reason for living; without Mascopolis, he had nothing- he was nothing.

...No, that was not true. Mascopolis may be gone, but as long as he was alive, the spirit of the city would live on. But where would he go? Would the blond invader stop at Mascopolis? Would she take her bloodlust across the country? After they had failed to slay her with the Gungnir, no other city had any way of stopping her. Especially now that she stood higher than some of the clouds, and who was to say that she could not grow even bigger? There was no weapon on Earth that could take her down, and nothing could stop her from destroying the world if she wanted to.

Perhaps his men were right in that he could not remain where they were. Even without a city, he was not ready to die yet. He had to escape, at least grab onto the minute chance of survival.

Mayor Adams slowly stood to his feet, and let out a sigh. "Let's get out of here. Fast."

The aides and soldiers all shared delighted looks upon their faces, and the entire group rushed out of the room and entered into the hallway, which was almost pitch black from the now-inactive lights.

"We need to hurry," Mayor Adams said. "The sooner we get out, the-"

However, he was interrupted by a loud roaring sound. He and his companions all turned to their left, and were horrified to see the ceiling collapsing. Wood, steel, debris, and other material rained down rapidly, and the downfall fastly approached their position. They all screamed and bolted in the opposite direction, but to no avail; the collapse outsped them, rendering them unable to escape its dark grasp in time.

Mayor Adams and his men were buried alive underneath five stories worth of rubble...

~~~

Samuel watched as Iris gleefully kept trampling the city flat, her feet kicking up massive clouds of dust that also mixed with the smoke of the flames that billowed from the various fires throughout the city. In fact, by now, Mascopolis was being covered by a haze of both smoke and dust, and the haze would only grow thicker as the destruction continued.

Several city blocks disappeared beneath her sandal, replaced by a foot-shaped depression in the ground.

Another neighborhood was completely set upon by flames, the powerful blaze consuming everything in its path.

Bridges, overpasses, and full highways were totally obliterated by both explosions and brute force.

With each footstep, a quake rippled from the epicenter and shook the foundations of everything, some buildings unable to withstand the tremors and collapsing on their own.

The Town Hall soon found itself below Iris, and she lifted her foot high in the air and brought it down. "Don't think I forgot about you," she said right before her foot hit the ground and pressed the complex and its surrounding land deep into the earth.

With just another step, she had reached the nearby runway from where the Gungnir had risen from. Its hatch was still open, but it too was much smaller than Iris' foot. The runway and the facility underneath all were destroyed as she jumped upon it with both feet, and afterwards she moved on while stomping on everything that she could.

The city was already completely torn as is, but Iris kept going, whether it was by her feet or by her flames, she kept up her destructive ways, her laughs filling the air. Cheerful laughs that sounded as if she was having fun, that she was taking great delight and joy in flattening a city that--despite its ideals--housed over four million people. Four million people, who all had their homes and livelihoods destroyed by a young woman who was only on a fun trip.

"Not so great now, are you, Mascopolis?!" she taunted as she blasted a crater into the land with her fireball, the explosion searing everything within off of the face of the earth. "To think, this all happened at the hands of a woman! So ironic!" She blasted more fire at the city below.

"Don't you think that's enough?" Samuel said, his mind a roller-coaster of emotions, not helped by the dizziness he was feeling from the thinner air from being do high up.

"Mm? Sam, what do you mean?" Iris asked as her foot easily crushed one of the few standing structures flat. "You're not trying to stop me, are you?"

"No- Well, I mean-"

Iris chuckled. "Well, even if you aren't, I'm pretty much done here anyway. Take a look."

Samuel looked closely at the city on his screen, though there was not much of a city left. What was left was nothing more than dozens of deep footprints with flames mixed in between them, and walls of fire covering the outskirts. The layer smoke and dust that was constantly building up in the air was working to obscure Samuel's view of the city, but there was no denying the amount of devastation that had been wreaked upon this once great city.

There was no denying it: Mascopolis was completely and utterly destroyed.

"Maybe now they'll think twice about treating women like slaves," Iris said. "...Not that I care anyway, but still. It'll be a big lesson to them."

"Most of them are dead," Samuel commented.

"The survivors, then."

"Also, you likely killed a bunch of women, too," Samuel added.

"Whatever." Iris pulled out her smartphone again, and took a selfie of herself from above. On Samuel's phone, she smiled proudly, as all around her, the ruins of Mascopolis painted a far more gruesome backdrop.

~~~

Samuel almost felt relieved to have solid ground back under his feet, but the sensation was spoilt by his surroundings. All around him was ruin, complete and utter devastation. The blue sky was completely blocked out by the layer of smoke and dust, some of which even floated freely below and made it into his lungs. He checked his smartphone; the "live feed" icon that Iris had given it was gone, as were the signal bars at the top of his screen, signifying a total loss of network connectivity.

Once proud and tall buildings lay wasted in the distance, while his immediate surroundings were marred by the burning manors of what was once an affluent neighborhood. The road--littered with busted and broken cars and vans--was torn beyond the point of which any vehicle could make use of, most of the streetlights had been knocked off their bases and were lying on the pavement, and various trees, bushes, and other greenery were also on fire.

There was no immediate sign of life that he could see.

"So, what do you think?" Iris asked, having since restored herself back to her normal height of approximately 5-foot-6; her skin had also been cleansed of its earlier burns and blemishes, and her clothing had been completely repaired. "About your city, I mean."

"I... don't know what to think," Samuel responded as he returned his phone into his pocket. "You said you'd destroy it, and you really delivered, but... I don't know. Everything I knew- everything I owned, and it's all thanks to you."

Iris smiled. "Don't be like that. Material goods can be replaced, and you can always pick up and restart your life somewhere else."

"Easy for you to say. You're a billionaire. I worked a crappy helpdesk job earning just enough to get by."

"Still, as long as you're alive, you can start over."

"Err..." Samuel found it hard to dispute this, as much as he hated having to start his life from square one in another city. Though due to Mascopolis' worldwide influence, no matter where he went, they would be feeling the effects of that day's events for years to come.

"Now, come here," Iris said as she once again retrieved her smartphone from her jacket and opened her camera app with her thumb. "Let's get a picture together."

With one arm around Samuel's waist, she held her phone out in front of both herself and Samuel, and then pressed a round white circle on the screen with her thumb, the clicking sound confirming the photograph being saved. She looked at the screen, and smiled, before turning the camera towards Samuel and showing him the photo. Iris wore a happy grin on her unblemished, bright face, while Samuel's weak smile did nothing to hide his solemness.

"Every pic I took today is going right on Facebook," Iris declared as she returned the phone into her pocket and broke away from Samuel. "I have a whole album of my cross-Universal exploits."

"Even that pic just now? What will your boyfriend say?"

Iris waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, he won't care. Besides, you're no threat to him at all."

"Okay..." Samuel felt insulted by her remark.

Suddenly, a male voice called out to them, taking them both by surprise. "Hey, hey!!"

They turned towards the source of the voice, and saw an older man in a suit rushing out towards the two of them from the collapsed ruins of a nearby manor. This handsome, sharply-dressed black-haired man could not have been any younger than forty, and possessed a cleanly-trimmed mustache and beard on his face. Behind him were two younger men, both donning black tuxedos running behind him, one blond-haired while the other possessing sandy brown hair. Considering the older male's appearance and the neighborhood, perhaps these two were his butlers.

"You!!" He said as he reached the duo, while Iris braced herself for what was perhaps an attempt on her life.

"What do you want?" Iris asked, hostility in her voice.

"Please, don't get the wrong idea," the man said as the two younger gentlemen also caught up. "I'm not going to attack you or anything."

"Sir, that woman is dangerous!" the brown-haired butler spoke.

"Not now," he chided, before turning his attention back to Iris. "My name is Clark Henderson. I sit on the board of directors of Heichman Bank. Err, I used to, before you tore it up."

"Okay...?" Iris was clearly already annoyed by Mr. Henderson.

"Anyway, I must say, I'm impressed at how you demolished this city, and you even took down that dreaded Gungnir. That thing was a waste of money from the outset."

"I didn't destroy Mascopolis to impress you," Iris said as she folded her arms.

"No, of course not. But anyway, as for why I'm here, I have a proposal."

"A proposal?"

Mr. Henderson nodded with a smile. "Yes. With Mascopolis gone, the survivors will need a new place to call home. But due to our city's reputation, we have found ourselves with few allies we can depend on. Our influence may have been worldwide, but that was only because we were in the position to call the shots, mainly due to the threat of the Gungnir. We say 'jump', and they say 'how high?', but now, they can go back to the way things were."

"Get to the point," Iris said.

"I want to create a new city where the survivors can live, but we will need help," Mr. Henderson continued. And since the other cities will be unwilling to pitch in or help a bunch of outcasts, they will need to be... coerced. That's where you come in. I want you to be my enforcer."

Iris raised an eyebrow. "Your enforcer?"

"I'll pay you handsomely, of course. All you have to do is go in, grow giant, and threaten them with extinction if they don't pony up the cash."

"You're rich, right? Why don't you just pay for your city yourself?" Iris asked.

"Even my money can only stretch so far," he said. "Besides, I need to keep up my own way of living if I am to properly run my city."

"I see..." Iris said, before unfurling her arms and taking a step closer to the older man. "You see me as a tool to fulfill your selfish ambitions."

Mr. Henderson took a step backwards. "N-no!"

"Yes you do. This isn't about you wanting to make a city for the survivors. That's just a cover so you can amass a fortune by using me as your own superweapon."

Mr. Henderson shivered and took another step back. "No, you're all wrong, young lady! Listen, how about I do this: I'll allow the women complete freedom in my city. They can do and live freely just as we men could. I'm sure that would do your heart good, seeing your fellow womenfolk able to choose how they live their own lives. What do you say?"

Iris lowered her head briefly and let out a short, rather sinister laugh. Then, after bringing her head back up, she shot a glare at Mr. Henderson.

"Go fuck yourself," she coldly responded.

Iris shot a bolt of white lightning from her index finger at Mr. Henderson. Before he could react, the ray struck him, and as his body took on a similar white glow, he began to rapidly diminish in stature. Samuel instantly got déjà vu vibes witnessing this, his mind bringing back the very first time he had seen her use her powers in the park earlier that day. Just like the athletic man who struck her, Mr. Henderson found himself being reduced to the size of a lowly insect.

"Mr. Henderson!" The blond-haired butler called out in worry.

"Stop it! Turn him back, now!!" The brown-haired one pleaded to Iris.

Iris simply turned her dark gaze upon the two of them. "You two can join him."

Once her shrinking of Mr. Henderson was completed--leaving him at only two inches high--she turned the shrinking ray upon the two butlers, using both of her hands to shrink the two of them at the same time before they could flee from her. They too lost their size, being shrunken down to a mere two inches tall just like Mr. Henderson.

They all looked up at her and yelped as her shadow--what little of it could be discerned due to the lack of atmospheric light--fell upon them. Then, they took off running in the opposite direction, screaming in terror all the while.

"By the way, Clark," Iris said as she slowly stalked after the trio of scrambling men. "I'm already rich, so your money meant nothing to me. Now, eat dirt."

She stepped down on Mr. Henderson, his tiny form crunching instantly beneath her sandal. Her pink-polished toes flexed as they worked to twist and grind the man into a bloody pulp on the pavement. Satisfied with his death, she then lifted the same foot--revealing the flattened, shredded remains of the proudly-rich and overly-ambitious man--and brought it down upon both of the butlers, their yelling and pleading extinguished as they were both crushed like bugs. Her foot did the same to them, twisting to further pulverize the two young men against the pavement.

"Did you really have to..." Samuel started to speak, but simply shook his head in defeat and gave up the thought. "Nevermind."

She slid her foot back, her sandal scrapping against the pavement as it smeared their blood and bits of flesh and cloth along with it. Both men had been melded into a singular, flattened, grotesque mass, so much so that one could forget that they were once living, human beings.

"Well, that's the end of them," Iris said in a satisfied tone as she turned back towards Samuel. "Who did he think he was, trying to use me like that? Can you believe that?"

Samuel shook his head, but then something else caught his eye. Off in the distance, from where Mr. Henderson and his men had come from, was another group of people cautiously approaching, this one far more ragged. However, from their long hair and more curly figures despite their loose clothing, it was easy to tell that this group was all women.

As the group drew near, once woman in particular caught Samuel's attention. A blond-haired, blue-eyed young woman with a very familiar face. A face that looked very similar to Iris' own. ...In fact, upon closer inspection, it was her face, an exact replica. Samuel had to wipe his eyes to be sure that he was not seeing double, but sure enough, she was indeed Iris' twin. The double's face was far more pale and ragged and had some blemishes and bruises upon it, but the resemblance was unmistakable.

Iris herself had noticed as well. "Well, well... What do we have here?" She said inquisitively as the group had reached them, Iris' double standing ahead of the pack.

"It's you!" Samuel said, still stunned. "An exact copy of you!"

"I'm not surprised," Iris said. "You have to expect stuff like this when dealing with the Multiverse."

"Err... There won't be a paradox with the two of you in the same spot, will there?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Iris dismissed, before focusing upon her twin. "Anyway, what can I do for you, err... Name?"

"Mr. Henderson called me Rose," the double said.

"Huh, nice theme we have going," Iris mused. "Anyway, what do you want?"

"We saw what you did," Rose said. "To both the city and to Mr. Henderson just now. And on behalf of all of us here, I have to say, thank you."

"You're welcome, but I didn't do this for you all," Iris said. "I did this to have fun. Nothing more. nothing less."

"Still, the fact that you did it at all is all that matters," Rose said. "That young man there probably told you what kind of city Mascopolis was, and for years, we had to sit by and let the men do whatever they wanted with us. But now, we're free."

"Not quite," spoke up another woman, a caramel-skinned woman with curly black hair. "You see, we may be free, but there are still many women locked away in facilities and in other places across the city. We need to free them as well."

Rose nodded. "That's right. We can't do anything on our own; we don't have the power or knowledge. But with your amazing powers, you'll be able to free them easily. So, I'm asking you? Will you please help us save our fellow women?"

By that point, Iris was already wearing an annoyed expression on her face. "What is this: 'Beg Iris for Help Hour'? I refuse."

The women's own expressions became a mix of disappointment and anguish.

"But you're also a woman!" Rose said. "You're me! How can you be so heartless to our plight?!"

"Listen, Rose," Iris said. "I couldn't give two shits about your 'plight'. Like I said, I only came here to have fun wrecking the place, and that's it. I couldn't care less about the politics that goes on here, and I especially hate you all trying to use me for your own agendas."

"But..." Rose hung her head in sadness.

"Iris," Samuel called. "Are you really that heartless? I know you don't care about anyone outside of your Universe, but these women are begging you for help. There has to be something you can do to help them out."

"Sam, I already said-"

"Imagine if it was your world," he continued. "Imagine if some big hairy giant came in and stomped your town with his big hairy feet. Wouldn't you want someone to help you and your family and friends once it was all over?"

"You're forgetting that in this case, I am that giant," Iris remarked. "It wouldn't make sense for me to help the people that I just terrorized."

"Maybe if you had completely shut yourself away from them. But now they're here, right in front of you, asking you for a little help to make their lives easier." At that point, part of Samuel feared that she would turn her powers upon him and the women, and then slaughter them all as well.

"And what are you expecting me to do, Sam?" Iris said. "Go in, all guns blazing into some secret facility and kill every single man inside? ...Actually, that does sound fun, but I'm not doing it. At least, if I do, it'll be on my terms."

"Miss Iris," Rose said. "If there's anything you can do for us, please find it in your heart to do so."

"Iris," Samuel said. "She's you. Can you really deny yourself of help?"

"Ugh!" She sighed in exasperation, before folding her arms and beginning to mull something over in her head; Samuel could see the gears turning, so to speak. "...Fine."

The women all became excited. "So you'll come with us!" Rose said.

"No, but here's what I'll do," Iris said. "How many of you are there?" She started counting each of the women with her finger. "...Six, seven, eight. Am I right?"

"Yes," Rose confirmed.

"Alright."

Iris stretched out her hand and held its palm up. Then, white orbs started to form on her hand, coming into existence one-by-one until their numbers totaled eight. They all danced in her palm, before they were sent flying towards the group of women. Each orb hit a different woman, and their bodies glowed with a white tint as the orb was absorbed inside. Once the last orb had found its mark, Iris' arm receded.

"Okay, I've given you all powers," Iris said.

The women shared surprised gasps, as did Samuel.

"You can do that!?" he exclaimed.

"Yep," Iris replied. "It's part of the deluxe set I mentioned earlier. You all have most of the same powers as me. You can shoot fire, ice, lightning, you can create forcefields, you can shrink and unshrink matter, and you can grow yourselves into giants, though only up to like a hundred feet. In fact, since these are shared powers, all of your abilities are much weaker than what I'm capable of. But it should be more than enough to do what you need to do."

"Oh, Miss Iris!" Rose said, tears of happiness welling up in her eyes. "Thank you!!"

"Don't thank me just yet," Iris said. "You still need to rescue your friends, right? You all are the only ones who can do that; you cannot share your powers with anyone else, so if you fuck up and get yourselves killed, then that'll be it. Oh, and you can't leave this Universe, either. Whatever happens, you're all sticking things out here for better or for worse."

Some of the women were already testing out their powers, sending flame, ice, and lightning flying into the air or onto the ground, or making forcefields around themselves.

"You know, I'm surprised that super speed and flight are not part of that package," Samuel quipped.

"They're still working out the bugs on those," Iris responded as she turned away from the group of women. "Once they're out, I'll get a free shipment." She smiled.

"Oh, and Iris?" Samuel called. "Thank you."

"For what, Sam? Like I said, hold the thanks until after they finish their mission." Iris put on a mask of appearing too proud of accepting their appreciation, but Samuel had a feeling that, deep down, she was happy to assist. At least, he wanted to believe that. "...And what about you?" she asked him. "What will you do?"

Samuel had not thought about his own goals. "I'll figure it out."

"Alright. ...Well, if nothing else needs to be said, I'm getting out of here," Iris said, before turning to Samuel. "You know, I have to admit, it was nice having you around with me, Sam. You're a good guy, even if you did work my nerves sometimes."

Samuel blushed. "T-Thank you, Iris."

She smiled. Then, she pulled in and planted a kiss upon his right cheek, which became even redder in response.

"A little something to remember me by. ...Even though you probably won't need it." She glanced towards Rose, who was chatting--perhaps planning--with her companions.

"Are you off to destroy another city?" Samuel asked.

"Maybe later," Iris answered. "But first, I'm gonna go home and soak in a nice, hot bath." She walked away from Samuel. "Anyway, goodbye Samuel. And good luck. Same to the rest of you."

She smiled and waved, before the air around her began to distort. Samuel and the women watched as her body glowed while the dimensions surrounding her twisted around and around, until there was a bright flash. An instant later, Iris was gone, having completely exited from the bounds of this Universe.

Such a strange, marvelous woman, Samuel thought. Who would have thought that a woman--a being that he had had no interaction with beforehand--would completely and utterly change his life in such a raw and brutal display? Still, she was a very beautiful person, and while her ethics were screwed, she had demonstrated that she was still a good person at heart. Samuel found himself afflicted with a strange feeling, something he had not felt since pining after Lewis Vance in high school. Was it love? Perhaps, but it did him no good. She was already involved with another man, and even if she was not, she was gone, very likely forever, never to step foot in this Universe again.

No, that was not completely true. After all, there was always her doppelgänger, Rose.

Samuel glanced towards the group of women, who had returned to their battle plan. However, Rose noticed him, and motioned him over.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Samuel," Samuel answered as he approached the group.

"Samuel, we're going to need your help."

"Wait, you're going to entrust me with this, even though I'm a man?"

"Yes," Rose answered. "Iris spared you, so she must have had a reason. Furthermore, you stood up for us and made her give us these powers. I can tell you're a good man, nothing like Mr. Henderson or his butlers."

"Oh. Okay, what do you need me to do?" Samuel asked.

"We need your help breaking into the facility," a black-haired, tan-skinned woman spoke. "None of us can read or work computers, so we'll need someone who could cover those bases."

"Don't worry, we'll protect you from harm," said the curly-haired woman.

"Wait, how do you know if the facility is still standing?" Samuel asked.

"...I guess we won't know until we get there," the tan-skinned woman said. "But we need to take the chance."

"What do you say, Samuel? Will you help us?" Rose asked.

Samuel mulled this decision over, though all things considered, it was a rather easy decision. It was not as if he had anything else going for himself right then, but at least he could give these women a chance at true freedom and true happiness. "Yes, I'll help you."

The women smiled and rejoiced. "Thank you, Samuel!" Rose happily cheered.

"When do we leave?" Samuel asked.

"Might as well head out now," the tan skinned woman said. "And we'll also rescue others along the way."

"Alright, let's go free our sisters!" Rose announced, to which the other women let out a cheering war cry.

Samuel was rather amazed at the bravery and leadership that Rose was displaying, but for all he knew, perhaps she was always like that. She just had little opportunity to show it off while being under Mr. Henderson's thumb, but now, she could freely express herself.

Though with her powers, he wondered if having them would go to her head. Along with the other women, as well. He wanted to stick by them not only to help them, but to also keep them from straying off the beaten path, lest they become just like Iris or the men of the city, replacing one tyranny with another. This was an opportunity to bring about true equality, though he admitted that he did not know much about it firsthand.

As the group marched along, Samuel's thoughts went back to Iris. He wondered if she would one day find her match and--god forbid--meet her untimely demise. He would hate for that to happen to her, especially being so far away from her home and her loved ones. He hoped that one day, she would see the error of her ways and learn to appreciate and embrace the lives of those in the Multiverse. ...Perhaps his interactions with her would prove to be the catalyst of this breakthrough. Not just him, but the women as well, all of whom broke through her exterior and managed to get her to assist them in her own way.

These thoughts caused Samuel to lag behind the group.

"Samuel, are you alright?" Rose's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

He looked up at her, and for a split second saw Iris' own face in hers, though Rose's more pale face soon dominated the imagery. That said, he did not mind either, as they were both very beautiful blond women, even with Rose's pale skin and blemishes.

Rose's deep blue eyes stared into his own. "Samuel?"

"I'm fine," Samuel answered. "Sorry, I was thinking about something. I didn't mean to hold you up."

Rose smiled. "Good." She took him by the hand, and the two of them rejoined the group, as they continued marching towards their destination.

Samuel's life would certainly change from this day forth. Before, he was just another man living his life in the chauvinist metropolis Mascopolis; now, said metropolis had been completely demolished, and he along with Rose and her companions had a chance at changing the world--his part of it, at least--for the better. His heart raced in uncertainly; no doubt that they would see fierce resistance from the guards of the facility, determined to keep them out at best or murder them all at worst. However, whether their mission was a rousing success or an utter failure, he was determined to see it out to the bitter end.

In a way, he was thankful for Iris for providing him with this opportunity to do something truly meaningful with his life.

And to think, it had only been less than two hours since Samuel and Iris first met in the park.




[THE END]