"This way! Around the bend!"

Carl sprinted like crazy, following his friend as the latter almost stumbled over his own feet when he took a sharp turn to duck into a back alley. The sound of wailing sirens echoed faintly in the distance of the moonlit night.

"You know the way here, Dough?" Carl stopped in his tracks, heaving, hesitant to follow. "This here is Crow territory."

"I know a bloke here who can help us. Now quit your nagging and come along!"

After meandering through some shady streets, Carl followed the example of his friend and slowed his pace to a stride. He checked over his shoulder. "You think we lost them?" he squeezed in between bursts of heavy panting.

"Keep walking," Dough said curtly.

Carl darted a nervous glance to the sky when it seemed like a glimpse of a shadow flashed right over their heads.

He caught up with Dough as the latter paced into a straight line towards an open doorway of an apartment building. A woman came sauntering out. She ceased her step the moment her eyes fell on them.

"Is Ace inside?" Dough called out to the woman.

The woman spun on her heels and scurried off into the darkness, saying nothing.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, bitch! Damn!" Dough said.

"L-lets get out of here, Dough. This place gives me the creeps." Carl said as his head darted every which way, scanning his surroundings.

Dough pulled out his 9mm, cocked it and aimed it at Carl's head. "Nagging is all I hear, Carl." Dough said while eyeing his friend. "and nagging is the proper currency for this bullet. So tell me, what are your next words?"

"I…" Carl stammered before something flashed over their heads – too swiftly to perceive. A girlish giggle echoed behind them. Then, in front of them.

"Who goes there?" Dough said. Carl gave a sigh of relief when his friend removed the gun from his head and started flashing it in various directions. "It better not be you, bitch!" Dough screeched in the dark silent night.

A girlish giggle doomed up right above them. There was nothing to see. Then below them – and right and left, until it seemed to come from every possible direction at the same time.

"Aaaargh!!!" Dough screeched in frustration. Carl looked to the side and saw his friend throwing his gun on the ground. It clattered on the ground, glowing intensely red. Dough was screaming in agony, blowing all frantically at his red-blistered hands. Carl pulled out his own piece and pointed it every way – frustrated that he could not see anyone.

"Over here." A feminine voice called out.

Both Carl and Dough turned around and saw a youthful girl balancing seamlessly over a strained washing line roughly five meters above them.

"You know, as a kid," Violet said while placing one foot carefully in front of the other with her arms stretched out like a plane. "I always envied those talented tightrope walkers as they defied gravity with their masterful balance and steel nerves. Their catlike performance and poise were unmatched and ignited–"

"What are you doing!" Dough's raspy voice interrupted Violet's speech.

"Shoot the wench!" he screeched at Carl.

Violet's perfect, pretty face frowned. She snapped her fingers and suddenly, Carl's scarf came to life, floated in the air and wrapped itself around Dough's head like a constrictor – silencing him. Only muffled groans were heard. Carl kept standing there, apathetic.

"As I was saying." Violet continued. "Their catlike performance and poise were unmatched and ignited a wave of awe by many. I always wanted to be like them. I tried hard, though – to be like them. But I lacked the talent. I was too clumsy. It made me sad. Then, on one day – due to some inexplicable miracle – my body received these amazing powers." Violet flexed her petite biceps. "And I thought, to hell with even the most potent of these acrobats. Let them try to do something like this."

With that, Violet's feet lost contact with the washing line as she took off, soaring airborne. She landed gracefully in front of Carl. Violet looked from Dough – who was squirming on the ground in frustration as he fought with Carl's animated scarf – back to Carl. "Why do you follow him anyway? He's an idiot." Violet said.

Carl could not help then to admire the girl's body. His eyes drooled shamelessly – from bottom to top. His glare took a long stop at her left, bare thigh – where he thought he saw something unusual. Violet followed his stare and chuckled. Her hand reached out and grabbed a tiny figure who was dangling on for dear life on a piece of fabric of her skirt.

"His name's Ace." Violet's fist brought the shrunken guy closer to her eyes. "Yes, the guy your friend here was looking for." Violet nodded in the direction of Dough. "He's even lewder than that sleazebag. Ace is very fond of pretty young girls, aren't you Ace?" Violet's radiant blue eyes looked down on the shrunken figure with profound disgust.

Carl looked down when he felt a hand groping about at his ankle. He saw Dough looking up at him with an angry glare – muffling incomprehensible words through the scarf gagging his mouth. His meaning was clear, though.

"Oh, for godsakes! That guy really wants you to shoot me, doesn't he?" Violet said. "Well, why don't you just do it then. Go on. Go ahead." Violet prodded Carl to shoot her in the face.

"I-I don't want to," Carl said.

Violet smiled mischievously. "I know." She gave him a wink. "You rather fuck me, don't you? They all do. Ain't that right, sleazy mister?" Violet dangled shrunken Ace right above her luscious lips. "How about I bite your tiny legs off, huh"

Violet opened her mouth. Her front teeth were about to make contact with Ace's wildly flailing and screaming body when a sudden clamor was heard not far from them. Voices were shouting and coming closer.

Violet rolled with her eyes. The girl was clearly annoyed by this interruption.

Violet looked around and smiled when her eyes fell on a couple of dumpsters. Like lightning, her body flashed over to them. Carl's bulged eyes witnessed how this frail-looking youth with scrawny arms launched one dumpster after the other in the air like they weighed nothing. Four heavy crashes were heard – and a few pitching shrieks – a couple of alleys away.

Before Carl realized it, Violet materialized right in front of him – clapping her hands clean. "That ought to keep them busy for a while."

"The police?" Carl asked.

Violet nodded, satisfied.

"Why?"

"Am I doing this?" Violet asked, while at the same time shrinking Ace even smaller and dropping him in her cleavage. "Well, isn't that self-evident? Because its fun of course."

"I'm… confused," Carl said.

"Why? Because I normally act as the ideal daughter-in-law? Well, get used to it. All of you should. This is the new me. What do I get for endangering my life by saving others anyway, huh?"

"But… you're invulnerable," Carl said.

"That's not the point!" Violet fumed. Carl flinched by the girl's sudden surge of anger. "People are taking my aid for granted. Hell, I even receive a public tongue-lashing when things do not turn out the way people are hoping for. I'm sick of it!"

Both Violet and Carl looked up when those voices from earlier came closer. It sounded like they were only one alley away from where they stood. This time, they came from another direction as they were forced to take a detour due to Violet's intervention.

"Isn't that a pity?" Violet feigned sadness. "now we've wasted all this time we had together by talking about me. Well, back to business it is then."

A surreal sensation welled up in the core of Carl's bowels, feeling cold and contracting at the same time – like flimsy long strings of ice meandered about there, wanting to pull everything to some inner point in his body.

Violet's sly smirk smiled down upon him as Carl's body started to dwindle down in size rapidly. His friend Dough joined his fate too, as his body shrunk down along with him. The already present strong fragrance of sour and old urine gluing on this back-alley's soil became only more piercing when both gentlemen shrunk down further – bringing them closer to the ground.

Carl swallowed deeply as his eyes drowned in the sight of a rising Violet – becoming more monumental by the second.

"Since these powers, I have always stood above everyone else," Violet said while placing her hands on her hips and glaring down upon the two shivering young men. "But actually, shrinking down people and witnessing this contrast in size and power? NOTHING compares with that."

Violet scowled as she looked over her shoulder, seeing a crew of officers dashing their way to them.

"These lads are no fun, I'm telling ya. Well, I'm off, guys. Oh, here is your friend." Violet crouched down, fished Ace from her cleavage and placed him next to Carl and Dough on the ground.

A tiny spark shot down from Violet's index finger, landing close to the shrunken guys. It left a small but radiant candle crackling on the ground.

"A beacon," Violet explained her act. "or some of those cops will probably crush you to a bloody pulp before they can arrest you."

With that, Violet propelled herself in the air – shattering multiple windows in close vicinity as her canon-like launch created a powerful shockwave.