"I can do almost anything in this world of toys made of tissue paper" -Violet Parr

"What did I tell you! Best in the county and definitely better than your 'big city' ice-cream, am I right?"  James wasn't right, Violet had of course had better but this moment was perfect and trivial things like the truth shouldn't get in the way.  They had sat outside at a picnic table next to a diner two blocks from the hospital.  The night air was warm and sweet. Cleaning up they began their slow walk back to the hospital.  She was of course breaking the rules being off hospital grounds.  James had insisted on ice-cream this evening. Violet had learned that James had a bit of a bad-boy streak and she liked it.  

Walking together and holding hands Violet watched as a truck roared by.  In the bed of the truck rode three men. They were older than both Violet and James, perhaps in their mid 20s. "Oh shit!" Violet glanced at James, she had never heard him swear. She was about to ask who they were when, as if on cue, the truck made a screeching turn and was now heading back towards the diner.  "We need to go now," James's voice was calm but Violet knew that he was worried, even scared.  The pickup pulled into the parking lot blocking both the street and sidewalk exit.  The three men climbed from the truck as the driver exited the cab.  All four men began walking towards the teens. 

"Now listen guys," James began. "We are not looking for any problems...we were just walking back to County Memorial," James spoke with an even, deliberate tone, attempting to hide his obvious fear.  The driver spoke next. 

"Nice night for a date?" The other three laughed at what must have passed for their leader's humor. Every small town has its bad apples, in this town the worst of the lot had collected these three and formed a gang.  Mark and his posse would terrorize any and everyone they thought they could muscle.  They were regulars at the county lock-up and it was just a matter of time before they graduated to the state prison three counties over. 

When Mark saw the two kids at the diner he knew he and his crew would have their entertainment for the evening.

"You need to get to the hospital? We can help!"  Mark looked at the others and winked.  One of the men behind James rushed forward shoving him to the ground.  

"Stop!" Violet cried.  Mark turned toward her, locking his eyes onto hers.  He began to walk towards her.  

"Why hang with this loser?" Mark motioned toward James on the ground.  "Come party with us tonight, we all know how to treat a lady!"   The other three men began making catcalls and whistling.  As Mark drew closer, he was suddenly tackled from behind.  James, hearing the comment and knowing exactly what Mark had in mind, had thrown himself at the gang's leader.  Mark recovered first.  As James stood up Mark gave him a quick jab to the abdomen causing him to fall once more. The others moved forward. They began to beat James, he was no longer moving.

"This isn't happening!" Violet whispered to herself. Her mind was being pulled in a thousand directions at once.  She became hysterical, once again pleading for them to stop.  She saw their leader hold up his hand and the beating stopped.  He turned and looked at her again.

"Don't worry sweetie, when we have finished with your boyfriend we will get to you." Shaking her head and sobbing Violet slowly backed away, stopping only when her back met the streetlight in the center of the parking lot.

 Watching this unfold felt like a nightmare.  The leader, his eyes still locked onto hers, smiled. He lifted his foot and brought it down slowly onto James's neck and began to add pressure. James began to squirm as he was being slowly suffocated by the pressing boot.

The gang looked on laughing as Mark slowly stepped down on the boy's neck.  Out of nowhere an impossibly large hand swatted Mark away, throwing him against his truck. The other three men looked at each other in confusion as they watched Mark slowly get to his feet.  Then, as one, Mark and his gang followed the enormous shadow now being cast onto them back to its source.  

Violet still stood against the street light but now its top touched the small of her back. She didn't remember it happening but here she stood, looking down at the toy-sized figures.  She was scared, she was angry, she felt every emotion amplified a thousand-fold. She didn't even think when she hit their leader, she had to stop him from killing James. She could see James's crumpled, tiny form, he wasn't moving.  What should she do? She needs to get him to the hospital! Her mind raced. At that very moment she was snapped back to the world as the truck with those terribly cruel men tore out of the parking lot.  "No!" she screamed, and the storm in her mind went silent.

"Fucking drive! Fuck!" Colton screamed from the bed of the truck. Mark didn't know what was happening. Did they really see that? God it was dark but it was that girl! She was huge! His body felt as if it had been hit by a car. He knew he had broken ribs, maybe he hit his head and he was seeing things.  "Fucking drive" Colton screamed again.  After exiting town Mark had made a series of wild, hairpin turns down unmarked roads.  They were speeding down County Road 17, farmland and woods for miles but all Mark could see was total blackness beyond the pool of his headlights.  The road was dead straight and Mark was pushing his old truck as fast as it would go.  The truck suddenly hit a bump almost tossing everyone out of the truck bed.  Then another bump, worse than the first! Mark knew this road, it was as smooth as a mill pond in June.  Another bump and Mark almost lost control. "God fucking no!" It was Colton in the back again. Mark looked in the rearview mirror and froze.

Violet had no trouble catching up with the truck. In fact she never had to move any faster than an unhurried walk. It was all so surreal.  She was chasing after one of Dash's tiny matchbox cars. No, she knew that this was different. The small figure still unconscious cradled in her blouse's pocket was proof enough. What was she doing? What would she do when she caught them? There was no doubt how this chase would end...a voice in her head told her she was drawing this out, those men had to be punished for what they did to James.  As each step brought her closer to the truck she watched how her footsteps cause the truck to bounce. She remembered the screaming woman on Oak St. back home. That woman was terrified of a giant...terrified of what that giant might do!  She allowed herself a smile thinking of how terrified those men in the truck must be right now.  Her next step was directly behind the truck sending it almost off the road with the impact.  The truck screeched to a halt.  Violet looked down on the scene trying to decide what to do next.  She had been steadily growing during the pursuit and she had allowed it to continue.  She was now truly enormous, bigger than she had ever been.  She imagined how easily the truck and its bug-sized occupants could have fit in the palm of her hand with room to spare. She thought how the truck would crumple like foil if she were to make a fist.  She was beyond powerful.  "I can do almost anything in this world of toys made of tissue paper." She considered the weight of that thought.  She was no villain.  She thought of her parents and what they would think about what she was doing.  But that terrible memory of that cruel man slowly stepping down on James' neck suppressed all other thoughts.  She knew what she would do.

The truck had come to a stop. Mark was shaking. He didn't want to believe what he saw. This was a nightmare he reasoned. Through his rearview mirror he had seen a gargantuan foot crash down on the road right behind them.  It was a canvas tennis shoe, and out of it a leg that stretched up impossibly high beyond his mirror's view.  It was that girl!  Mark felt himself urinating, his fear now total.  His window was down and the air was almost electric.  He could hear the sound of her slow measured breathing, the sound of the fabric of her clothing as it moved, and of course his own heartbeat.  He could also hear his crew in the back, some of them, maybe all of them, were crying or whimpering with fear.  The truck jumped once more as her other shoe came crashing down in the field next to the road.  All he wanted was this all to be over one way or another.  Mark watched as an immense shadow moved over the hood and continued onto the road ahead.  At that moment the air above him cracked with thunder.  It was a voice.

Violet brought her left foot over the truck. "Get out," she ordered.  Her voice rolled out in all directions.  She watched as the men scattered like ants from under her hovering shoe.  "Watch!"  Her command petrified them in place, they turned and obeyed.  She lowered her foot, placing the heel of her shoe on the road while keeping the ball of her foot above the truck.  Seeing she had their attention, she began to lower her foot.  She was amazed but also disappointed at what little effort it took. She simply stepped down.  The truck provided no resistance as if it wasn't even there. The sound of the crunching metal and glass was surprisingly brief and by the time her foot came to rest there was silence. "Leave us alone or else" her god-like voice boomed once more. There was no reply.  The men stood, rooted to the spot, staring up at her in terrified silence.  She turned and started walking back toward town.

"Or else" she pondered. What else would she do? She thought about what she had done already. Wrecked a truck, scared some bullies.  A voice, her voice, began a dialogue in her mind. "They did so much worse to James.  They would have done so much worse to you!"  The voice was right.  She had crushed someone's truck under her shoe as if it were a cockroach.  Crushing a roach was still snuffing out a life; what if she crushed the truck with the men still inside? The voice spoke again, "They were vermin." 

"They were still human beings like me," she answered.  

"Like you?...Is there really anyone like you?" That question hung in Violet's head without an answer.

She felt movement in her blouse pocket, that voice in her head immediately fell silent. Stopping she carefully peeked inside. James was awake! He was sitting up cradled against her body and the blouse's fabric like a hammock, he looked up into violet's face and smiled. The warmth of that smile washed all those questions away. She smiled back.  With that James laid back against the warmth of Violet's chest, rocked to sleep as she walked them back towards town.  She would keep him safe, no one would ever hurt either of them again.  That voice spoke once more, correcting her.

"No one could hurt either of them again."

Violet, still a colossus striding across a miniature landscape, took in the night air. It was warm and sweet.