If her putative niece had pointed to that place for a secret encounter, Betty pondered, at least it was highly likely that she had not been kidnapped or anything like that. Why would anyone but them know and worse choose such a place to exchange hostages. Betty couldn’t believe herself. She was reasoning of kidnappers and hostage exchanges. But Selena not arriving at the scheduled time had already made her uncomfortable. Now that very strange call had strengthened her worries. Even if her niece was not in immediate danger, she may still be somehow under some form of threat. Otherwise why all of that would be happening. Such secrecy and emergency in her voice. Betty really didn’t know what to think. She considered her options one last time.

Cassie was far less meditative and had already stepped in action. She was wearing her jacket and was keeping her aunt’s one on her lap. Betty understood that for her niece the decision had already been taken. She put on her jacket grabbed the keys of the van and escorted her niece outside. She didn’t even take the time to turn off the TV. A special service of the news was being announced right in that moment but the women were already both outside and when the speaker started talking they shut the door behind them.

It took a bit for the van to perform all the maneuvers to allow Cassie in her place. The vehicle was old and so was its owner. Betty considered that when in the movies people get geared up for a special mission it all seems so glamorous with fast cut of the scenes and an engaging soundtrack. For aging people like her, plus in the company of a disabled person, the only soundtrack available were the small noises of the car which signaled ongoing mechanical problem there was never enough money to really fix. She sighed, closed the door on Cassie’s side and rushed to the driver’s seat. Then they remained silent while she started driving through their neighborhood.

She turned on the radio, which made the whole range of buzzing noises. The antenna was clearly broken. She gave up and put on a CD out of her collection. Cassie didn’t flinch neither for the radio nor for the old music. She was too focused on reaching her sister as fast as possible. Betty admired her determination and started off the car. In the streets it was very quite. She lived in the suburbia and it was close to midnight now, so it wasn’t very strange. Still Betty had a vague impression of some static electricity in the air, like something was about to happen. She set that sensation apart. It was most probably she herself that was projecting her own preoccupation on the banality of a sleepy suburban area.

At a traffic light, she got the time to look around and even got a glimpse inside the living room of a large house. There were several people, probably more than on single family. And they were all mesmerized by the television screen. Betty had no chance of knowing what they were looking at, but she envied those people which were in the serenity of each other presence while she had just been ejected from a similar serenity by the strange and worrying phone call of Selena. She kept hoping for the better and holding everything within in order not to weigh on Cassie which was already showing clear signs of distress.

The light got green, both women sighed. The van started moving and ventured in the outskirt of the city, following the signs for the natural reserve. It took them more than fifteen minutes to find the entrance of the park and they could go on only for another ten before arriving at the last available parking lot. It was formally forbidden to enter the reserve during the night, and there was some surveillance, but Betty didn’t let that discourage her. She was ready to pay the fine in order to reach the place her niece had indicated and finally rejoin. The problem was that she was not alone, and a natural reserve, despite the ongoing works of improvement to grant higher accessibility, was still the worst place to roam around at night, with a wheelchair.

And yet, Cassie kept holding the big flashlight they always kept in the trunk for emergencies pointing forward. No bumps or screech from the chair made her lose a bit of resolution. Betty admired her niece’s determination and kept pushing, hiding how demanding it was becoming with each step. They reached the wooden gate which signaled the beginning of the area under surveillance. There was a very large and threatening sign on it to keep people out. And yet, there was nothing more than a loosely tied rope to keep said wooden gate closed. Betty and Cassie overcame this last obstacles on their rout and left the last feeble lights behind to venture into the complete darkness of the reserve.

A good miles down that same road there stood the small wood where the infamous bench awaited Betty and Cassie. Just behind the little patch of vegetation, Selena and Todd were sitting and waiting. After they finished the interview with the small crew, they had left the half-emptied landfill. One last glance at how much they had devoured gave Selena a strange tickle low on her spine. She couldn’t make any precise estimate but she could clearly see that they had modified a landscape through a single episode of binge-eating.

How powerful had they really become? She asked to herself. They had grown so much and had proved capable of such things to make everything she could think of pale in comparison. Every human feat was a joke in front of their might. She thought about the trio of journalists. They were so puny. And so were the people left at the gas station. And by extension every other person on the planet. Well, almost everyone else. There were still those two. To whom at least a third party should be added according to Todd’s resume of the events while she was unconscious. There were titans in the world. And there were going to be even more. Just like she had grown Todd, she was going to grow aunt Betty and Cassie. All what was left of her family would become a trio of gigantic beings capable of incredible tasks.

The first of which, was her sister’s healing. She was focusing all her hopes on that. To finally see Cassie walk again on her own legs. To become once again the girl she used to look up to. Well, after the transformation, she would become the girl everyone on Earth shall get used to look up to. She dwelt in this image. Her sister taller than a mountain towering over cities. And on her side, she herself and their aunt. The three of them standing high in the sky and all those minuscule people below them. She liked that image.

She felt it was the rightful payback after so many years of suffering. After the loss of her mother. The social exclusion to which aunt Betty had already been subjected due to her sexual orientation and which extended to her nieces whose custody came as a further sign of a too unusual life for the standard of the very strict and bigot community they used to live. And then, the accident and the consequences on herself and especially on Cassie. The impossibility to find a good job in the city and the necessity to move and part from the only two people she loved in the world. Really a lot to bear. But that night was going to be the so much deserved and yet completely unpredictable turntable. She thought about it a bit more. For as strange as it may seem, to make her family grow to an incredibly large size was a way to put some balance back into the world. A train of thoughts that poured pretty naturally into the conversation which Todd began.

“So, it seems we did it!” “What?” Selena was a bit startled by the interruption but the sheer sound of Todd’s voice had something of very reassuring and comforting as an effect on her.
“Well, we are here. We avoided the city, contacted your aunt. They are hopefully going to arrive soon, and then we’ll … well, we’ll make them grow. If everything goes according to plan, just as it went for us … this will heal your sister. I mean, that’s great!”

Selena could distinguish the expression of genuine happiness on Todd’s face. For him it really was all about doing the right thing and helping someone he didn’t even had ever met. Selena felt confirmed in her choice. Of all the pricks in the world, she had grown such a kind man. She had shared with him the inconceivable power she was thinking about a minute ago, and she felt it was absolutely deserved. The world should’ve looked up to Todd a long while ago, and now they all could. All of this was really sort of forming a certain conviction into Selena’s heart, that becoming enormous was a sort of re-installment of justice in the world. That the world deserved, or even needed for good people to be given such power for the better. At the very least, to keep it off worse agents or those usually in charge.

She hesitated a little but then she felt the urge to taunt Todd a little on this. Even just to get a more comprehensive idea of what he really thought about all of that. Of how he thought about things in general. Maybe it was the intellectual part in her pushing on that side, but she felt like she needed to inquire also on the worldview of someone she liked and not just on his character. She felt a bit of remorse for being like that, but she also recognized she couldn’t really help it. She kissed him softly. And then she spoke looking down in search of signs of her aunt or anyone else on the ground.

“Yeah, that’s great. I’m so glad for this is happening. - she made a dramatic pause – And you? What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah … I mean, your life changed a bit since this morning, and it doesn’t seem it will go back to normal anytime soon. How … how do you feel? What do you think?”
Todd hesitated and then he just mumbled a “Mh-mh …”
“What?” Selena asked laughing.
“When a woman asks you what do you think, there’s problems right ahead!”
“Oh come on! You can’t think that!” Selena protested and hit him jokingly on the left arm.
“Oh yes I can. I’m not a genius but I can see that grins has nothing positive on hold for me.” He joked back.
Selena smiled. “Ok … but seriously. Aren’t you thinking about this whole thing?”
Todd saw the situation was inescapable and an answer was due, so she did what he did better. He was sincere.

“Of course! Of course I’m thinking about it. It’s just … It’s just it is very confusing to me.”
“What? What is confusing?” “Well! Up to this moment, to the moment we finally do what we intend to do … I mean, we grow your family … well, up to that moment everything is crystal clear. I have a clear mission. We execute it, we accomplish it. It’s fine. And it’s for the good. I really mean it.” Selena knew he really meant it.
“But then … well, then what? I mean, it’s kind of like right after my mom died. I didn’t know what to do of myself, I had nowhere to bang my head on. No direction. Luckily my mom had already set a path for me. Some old friends of her which I met the day of the funeral kept in touch with me and helped me find a new, better job. And I was going baby-steps from there. But now, I feel like I’m back to square one. And I am a bit anxious about it.”
“Oww Todd! But you’re not alone on this. There’s me. There’ll be my family as well. You are not alone.” Todd looked back at Selena with intensity and gratitude.
“I know ... And I know it’s a bit childish to say to someone I just met, but that’s like my only light in the darkness.” Selena smiled and kissed him again. This time more thoroughly.
And then he started again “What do you think we should do next?”

Selena was a bit struck by the fact that completely involuntarily Todd had reversed her own mind game on herself.
“Eh, well … eh-ehm, I mean … I don’t know! Go to sleep! It really is getting very late.” They both laughed at that.
“Well … that’s not very long term as a program!” Todd replied. Selena looked back on the ground and still not seeing signs of light she thought she could just disclose a bit of her new ideas right now.
“Well, I mean … if you think about it well, this may be a great opportunity!”
Todd was listening but still not following.
She kept going “I mean, if you think about it, we will not just heal my sister, but also make her grow, and make my aunt grow as well. There will be four of us, at this size.”
Todd felt like this was going somewhere but to this point Selena had just listed the things that gave him that certain anxiety. Selena was now completely on her own train of thoughts.
“Four of us, this big and … well, this powerful! I mean, did you see what we did back there at the landfill? It was incredible!”
“Oh really? Well thank you! I was a bit rusty but I’m happy you appreciated!” Todd interrupted her.
Selena smiled at that “A-ha! Very funny, I was not talking about that, you little smart ass! I was talking about the fact that we can do incredible stuff at this size. It’s really sort of a gift. And maybe also a responsibility.” Todd surely didn’t like the word responsibility in general. But this one time it also sounded a bit sinister.
“What do you mean? Responsibility?” Selena didn’t loose momentum now that the conversation went on that track.
“Well … Yes, responsibility! I mean, we’re in charge now! Kind of …” Todd was getting even more confused
“In … charge?”
“Well, not directly in charge … not yet.” Selena just whispered that last part to herself. “But, well … I mean, think about it! We were worried of entering into the city.”
Todd nodded, not knowing what was the connection with the conversation. Selena took the nod as a signal to go on. “We were worried because at our size, even the streets in the suburbia may result too narrow for us to pass. And … and we could cause a lot of damage if we were to just walk on those.” Todd was clearly making a lot of mental calculation to make that all stick together and form any possible idea.
“And of course we don’t want to cause damage to anything and … anyone. But we have to acknowledge that we … are capable of that.” Selena concluded as if she had made her point completely clear. The puzzlement on Todd’s face was so visible she immediately understood that wasn’t the case. She could've just as much explained to him what she was hoping in terms of cell-to-cell peptide communication from the third round of tests on yeast she was conducting in that period at the lab as an answer to him asking about dinner. The expression on his face would've been the same.

“I mean … we have to acknowledge that, right now, at this size, with these powers, we are capable of much more than normal people can. So … we can’t just live our life as normal people! I mean, the entire facility I work at would hardly qualify as an afternoon snack to me now.” Selena regretted a little having used exactly that metaphor, but she also considered the possible efficacy of that at conveying her new position on things. Todd had to think it a bit more, but he felt like that could've been a reasonable conclusion. If not for the fact of not being a conclusion at all.

“Well, that’s for sure. If we stay this big I can’t get back to my security job again. I mean, also because … well, you ate my workplace earlier.” He smiled embarrassed.
Selena smiled back finding that thing funnier than it probably was. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying as well. We can’t go back to our old life. And I think that’s a positive thing!" Todd looked at her doubtful.
“I mean, I liked my job, but I was far away from my family, and consider what an improvement it will be to Cassie! But also to my aunt Betty. She really did her best to raise us after our mother died. And she was a bit struggling both for the age and the medical bills to cover up for my sister. I mean, those were the main reason I accepted my current job. Anyway, when we will all be big, all of this will disappear. We won’t have to worry because my sister will be healed, my aunt will probably feel far better as well, and money won’t be a problem anymore. I mean, that is an improvement.”

Todd couldn’t argue with that all. It was true. It wasn’t just about the disability, it was a whole form of life that was going to be changed. He also had some hardship in the last year of his mother’s life. Her pension covered for the medical expenses but left hardly anything left for more than basic survival. He recalled spending most of his free time trying to repair stuff around the house since they couldn’t afford a technician to come. And it was true that all of that really seemed insignificant from that new perspective. Since he got the new job money weren’t a problem anymore, his smaller but far newer apartment was pretty well-functioning so the economic side had kind of retreated from his main consideration. But Selena’s history had made it clear that it was a concern. A concern from which titans were exempted. Especially, knowing that said titans didn’t have to go far for food.

“Ok, I see. We will have some less troubles. So you think we should just like … relax?” He tried to argue.
“Well, of course we can. But … - Selena knew it was a dangerous path from that point on, but it was better to have this conversation once and for all – we could do so much more! I mean, we can focus on what we like of course, and enjoy each other. I really look forward at enjoying you and your body a lot!” Todd’s cheeks reddened.
Selena kept going “But I feel like I want more. I feel like it would be such a waste not to take this opportunity.”
Todd squinted his eyes and asked “Opportunity for what?”
“Well to get what we want. What we … deserve, at this point!”
Todd was confused. He thought about the life depicted a moment ago by Selena and he couldn’t think of wanting anything more than the lack of troubles or the company of a beautiful woman. But apparently that’s what Selena had just defined as a wasted opportunity. She didn’t let him think much because she started talking again.
“As I said, we are incredibly powerful and in charge now. I mean, people will have to listen to us. And follow our instructions, or orders …”
“… orders?” Todd interrupted her.
That last sentence had made it all far more clear. When Selena talked about “what they wanted” she was not thinking of what they may want from life, like food, sex, relax. She was thinking of what they, or at this point more probably she, may want from people.
“Well … if you put it like that. It’s not like people have a say on that. I mean, they’re small now. To us they’re nothing …”
“Yeah, but they’re not nothing! They’re people!” Todd protested. Selena put her hands on his cheeks and started caressing him gently. She understood Todd was not with her on that, but she was also inexplicably convinced it was just a matter of time. She felt like it was just a natural conclusion he would’ve eventually reached by himself and he now required just a little encouragement to reach it faster.
“Of course, they are. Of course. I’m just saying. They’re too small to bother us. We can do what we want and people will have to accept it.”

Todd still didn’t like how all of this sounded but he decided to give Selena the time to fully explain herself because he still trusted her completely and also because he was a bit hypnotized by her gentle touch on his shoulders.
“Let’s make an example. You wanted to be a policeman. And you couldn’t because of some physical limitations. Well, now all those limitations have gone.” Todd tried to figure out what all of that could mean.
“Ehm, are you saying I could be in the police now. I mean, it does sounds a bit difficult, just as much as you getting back to your lab.” Selena laughed at the image of agent Colossus patrolling a neighborhood which was smaller than him. “No, of course! But you could still make a difference. I mean, if you were just in perfect health and a normal cop, what would you have done during a robbery or a hostage situation. Nothing more than any of your colleagues. But now, now you can do so much more. There’s a robbery, just go there and pick up the bank from the ground. What criminal could stand to you now?”

Todd was still confused for the most part, but he also felt something at the thought of becoming a hero by saving people thanks to his new size and power. It didn’t coalesce into a precise idea or image in his mind, it was more of a general feeling of enormous possibilities of being helpful which were just disclosing to him. Plus, it was exactly a robbery that had ripped his family of a loving husband and kind father. All of his life, Todd had always felt powerless against that. Not just the fact that it had happened, but also the more abstract fact that there seemed to be no way to prevent that. Robberies happens, police arrives, there’s shootings, there’s bad luck, or destiny, and then there’s a whole life to spend without a guide, in constant fear of losing what’s left to you, in constant struggle to prove worthy of such a role model. Todd had tried all his life just not to think too much about what could’ve been done. He didn’t want to find out his father could’ve not died, it was too painful. But what Selena was saying was true. Todd didn’t know why he felt like he wanted to object, but the moment he gave himself the time to just think about it, a robbery with him around wouldn’t necessarily go the way all robberies went. He even wondered if guns may have any effect on him at that size. If it mattered anything whether the criminals were eager to shoot or not. No bank robber is really a threat if you can just pick up the whole place with your bare hands.
“Aye … I hadn’t thought about it, actually.” He confessed.

Selena smiled, she felt like she had found a rupture in his wall of rebuttal.
“But it is a nice thought, isn’t it? I mean. Why being a cop when you can be much more. I mean, think about it. With such power, it would indeed be a waste to not use for the better.”
“So, not a policeman but like … a super policeman?”
“I think that’s still too limiting. Think about it! We are now on a whole different level. We’re too big for small issues. Yes, of course if there’s some troublemakers we can deal with that. We can save the day. But why stop there. I mean, think even just of the city right there!” From their position a clear patch of light in the darkness of the night. “We could make that place so much better.”
“What? How?”
Todd was confused again. Every time he felt like he had catched up with Selena she moved a step further, he wondered if that woman could ever be satisfied.
“Well, we can of course just limit to give this or that criminal what they deserve, or we can make life better for everyone. We could show people what’s really better for them.”

Todd didn’t like the sound of that last sentence. It was dangerously close to what all kind of smartasses would’ve said now or then in his life. People that he himself was able to recognize were smarter, more educated, cultured and probably incredibly more competent on this or that sector of life. But people anyway, which he felt, despite lacking every solid argument to prove it, hadn’t any bigger say on anything else but their field of competence. He had always been pretty pragmatic about anything and his general idea was that people didn’t require someone to tell them what to do. First of all because the ‘people’ that the big brains wanted to “help” used to look a lot like him, his mother, his friends and neighbors, those on the lower steps of the social ladder. Second, because his idea, widely shared by his peers, was that they didn’t need “direction”, they needed just for life, or the system, or whatever to ease off a bit of pressure on them, to give them five goddamn minutes to breath between the necessity to put some bread on the table and the difficulty to keep up with everything new in the world.

When it came to crime, he made no subtle distinction. To him there was a red line and whoever crossed that was in the wrong no matter what. His mother had raised him being strict on this sole point, and given the place she had raised him, this may have been the reason he had resisted every temptation to ever give up and join all of those that saw in a life of crime an occasion to break free from the aforementioned pressure. But despite his very black-and-white idea of crime and punishment, he felt like the government, the media or whoever was in charge of things, wasn’t doing a very good job in making everyone’s life better. All of this never became a distinct vision in his mind, it sedimented in a sort of reactive instinct every time someone offered an easy solution for “people like him” implying that they had just been too dumb so far to implement it.

And now Selena, to his major disappointment, was really talking like the people he had learned to distrust. He knew since the first moment that, despite having a similar origin to his own, she had a college degree, a well payed and socially recognized job in a laboratory, and apparently ideas as well to how “people” could do better. And yet, Selena was also the woman that had changed his life, first by having dragged him into this mad adventure, second by having made him fall in love with her so easily. He felt like he had to be cautious and give her the benefit of doubt for a while. He could see that even if she was faking calm and patience, she couldn’t wait for the moment she would’ve finally rejoined with her family. And up to that part of the becoming giants plan, Todd was one hundred percent with her. He was about to argue a bit more, but he was interrupted.

“Oh my goodness! I think they’re here!” Selena exclaimed and pointed in front of them in the dark patch which was the wood they were sitting behind. A feeble light was flickering and slowly proceeding between the trees. Todd assumed it was a torch of some kind the two women were using to reach their destination. And then, just like that the light disappeared.