Kyle stretched, yawning as he woke up with the first rays of light drifting through the curtains. With a smile he leaned over and pulled Samantha close to him, causing her to mumble as she slowly blinked sleep out of her own eyes.

“Morning beautiful,” he said with a grin, leaning over and planting a kiss on her lips.

“Morning,” she muttered, joining him in stretching across the massive king-sized bed.

“Another day in paradise?” he asked with a smile.

“We’ve got to meet with Richard again,” she muttered, closing her eyes.

“He just wants us to sell, since we’re not going to it won’t be a long one,” Kyle said, stepping out of bed.

He took a moment to look around his room, lingering on the window and admiring the long and forested view below the mansion the pair lived in. He was still struck sometimes by how lucky he was, years ago in college Samantha and he had programmed a silly social app together, Goblin, meant to link up people with hobbies like theirs. What had started as a way to fill Dungeons and Dragons sessions had quickly ballooned into a massive juggernaut, jumping from a mere hobby meetup app into something that was bringing people together all over the country. Advertising revenue alone had made them rich and had brought plenty of investors in, though he, Samantha, and their old college friend Richard maintained a controlling share.

He smiled as he turned back around to the real prize of his life, his wife, finally managing to haul herself out of bed. Samantha was still the geeky girl she’d been in high school, and he smirked as he saw she was wearing an obnoxious pair of Dragonball themed panties he’d gotten her for her birthday.

“Like what you see?” she giggled, swaying her hips slightly.

“Always,” he said, embracing her, “did you ever think our lives would end up like this?”

“Nope,” she said, throwing her arms around him and looking out the same window that had captivated him a moment before, “and to think, it all started with getting shoved in a locker…”

“You ever wonder what happened to her?” Samantha said wistfully.

“I like to think she stayed stuck at that fast food joint forever,” Kyle said with a grimace, “but she probably moved on, got a real job… Wherever Carmen is, she probably doesn’t even think about us anymore.”

“No, she probably cries herself to sleep every night, thinking about how I stole her man,” Samantha said, walking to their closet.

“Stole her man?” Kyle laughed, “I was never-“

“Please, she wanted you so bad, she asked you to prom Kyle!” Samantha said, rolling her eyes.

“She asked you to prom too, kind of…” Kyle retorted.

“Yeah,” Samantha muttered, “she spends the whole year implying I’m into girls, and then she asks me out, fucking lunatic…”

“Well, you are kind of…” Kyle smirked.

Samantha just rolled her eyes, “yeah, maybe, sometimes, whatever!”

“You left your hentai site open a few nights ago,” Kyle teased, “what were those tags I saw? Yuri, forced kiss, handholding?”

Samantha blushed a deep red, but smiled, more amused than actually embarrassed, “Oh, we’re spying on each other’s porn now?” She whirled around, poking him hard in the chest, “if you’re going to give me crap for my tags, we’ll talk about who was searching femdom, mind break, and pegging.”

Now it was Kyle’s turn to blush, “I uh… was just curious about what all’s out there.”

“You’ve got a cute butt Kyle,” Samantha giggled, “maybe I should-“

“JUST CURIOUS!” Kyle repeated, a little more forcefully than he intended.

Samantha just laughed, throwing her arms around him and pulling him back down into the bed, “fuck me you dork,” she giggled, reaching to pull her panties down.

…

Richard Stevens, their business partner, had booked them a private room in an upscale restaurant downtown, and Kyle sighed as he saw that there was a man in a suit and tie, obviously an attorney, with him.

Richard himself smiled, standing up and looming over Kyle slightly as he reached out to shake his hand. The three had met in a statistics class in college, and where he and Samantha had come up with the idea for the Goblin app, Richard, a business major from a wealthy family, had immediately seen the potential. With their ideas and his connections, they’d turned Goblin into the nationwide phenomena it was now.

“Kyle,” he said with that salesman smile he’d used so often in pitch meetings, “Sammy! You’re both looking great!”

“Funny how everyone you meet with always looks great,” Kyle joked, sitting down.

“I only meet with handsome people,” Richard replied without skipping a beat, “Now let’s cut right to it, I want you guys to think about selling Goblin again, pretty much all the big tech companies want it, we could be looking at a bidding war netting us all-“

“Richard,” Kyle said with a sigh, “is there really anything I can’t do with a hundred million dollars that I could do with a billion?”

“He’s got a point Richard, we’ve got more money than we can spend,” Samantha laughed as the waiter arrived with wine glasses.

“No such thing,” Richard said, “I mean come on, you guys won’t even let us optimize the app for-“

“We’ve got ads on it already,” Kyle said, rolling his eyes.

“Ads are chump change compared to what we could make with user information!” Richard said in exasperation, “to say nothing of sponsored content-“

“We’re not exactly having trouble keeping the lights on,” Samantha said dismissively, “I know you see this as the next Apple or whatever Rich, but to us it’s still the silly little app we made to help schedule DND games.”

“And Amazon used to be a bookstore,” Richard said angrily, “humble roots, yada yadda, it’s very cute that you guys still act like you’re part of some community of people using this damn thing, but it’s time to grow up, move on, sell.”

Kyle sighed, “how do the other shareholders feel?” he said, it wasn’t a gauntlet he’d wanted to throw down, but he was also growing tired of Richard’s sales pitches.

“They want to do whatever the two of you want to do,” Richard admitted bitterly.

“That settles it,” Kyle said with a smile as their food arrived, “Goblin stays with us.”

Richard glowered at them a minute, then it was gone, replaced by a cheery façade as he changed topics to the local sports team.

…

Juliet quietly sipped champagne as she looked out of the hotel window at the Chicago skyline, the long red cocktail dress she wore reflecting in the window as she waited for her appointment. She took another moment to admire her face, when she’d first been administered the Valkyrie treatment the first hints of crow’s feet had been creeping into the corner of her eyes, now though? She could pass for being in her twenties again… along with the other benefits that being a Valkyrie carried.

There was a knock at her door, and she turned, her long blonde hair swaying behind her as she walked to admit her guest.

“Uh… hi,” Richard stammered, looking up at the amazon, “are you the person from Jormungand? The uh… the Valkyrie”

“I am, you may call me Juliet,” she said with an amused smile. You could always tell who had never met an enhanced individual in real life before, and she ushered him into her room, enjoying his nervous air. “For future reference Mr. Stevens, those of us who are in the Jormungand group prefer to refer to ourselves as Serpents.”

“Serpents, right… Is it safe to talk here?” Richard asked quietly, looking around as if he expected to see an electronic bug sticking out of the wall.

“It is,” she said, sitting down on the suite’s couch.

Richard blinked, trying not to stare at her cleavage, visible through the low cut dress. He swallowed nervously, summoning the will to look her in the eye.

“The pheromone effect already getting to you?” Juliet asked with a smirk, “I’ll try not to be offended if your eyes wander… the only thing that seems to help is atrocious amounts of perfume or cigarettes, and personally I find smoking to be a filthy habit.”

“Right,” he said, sighing and steadying himself, “I didn’t expect it to be so strong…”

“Everything about us is strong,” Juliet said dismissively, pushing an empty glass towards him. “Try a little of this, alcohol can dull them somewhat.” He nodded, taking the already opened bottle and pouring himself a glass and taking a sip while she studied him.

His eyes traced across a small black jewelry box set in the middle of the table between them, and he frowned. It wasn’t part of the hotel’s décor, he was sure of it.

A gun? He wondered, no, just looking at the amazon across from him, he could tell that she wouldn’t need a firearm if she wanted to subdue him…

“Let’s cut right to it,” Juliet said, “you want to eliminate your business partners?”

“Not really,” he said with a sigh, “or… not right away, I have a very specific set of needs you might say.”

“Interesting,” Juliet said, raising an eyebrow, “go on…”

“Well, I need them under control,” Richard explained, “ideally I’d like to have them in a place where I could use them for public statements, get any info about the app’s code out of them, then maybe…”

“Throw them out when you’re done,” Juliet guessed.

“Yeah,” Richard said with a smile, “I mean it’s a shame that’s how the relationship’s got to end, but business is business, am I right?”

“Indeed,” Juliet said coolly, “though I must admit, even in matters such as this it is rather bold to simply state something like that out loud.”

Richard grinned, seemingly happy he’d unnerved her, “hey, dog eat dog world baby.”

“Right,” she chuckled without a trace of warmth. It was an odd sound, and it sent Richard’s confidence fleeing as quickly as it had come. “I can make arrangements to have your associates injured in such a way that will require the services of a Valkyrie,” she said, staring idly into her champagne glass, “the paramedics will naturally ask for any Valkyries in the area to respond, and this is where my agent will come in. It will all appear official at the outset, we’ll fabricate an acceptance from a clinic in the area before any others have a chance to respond.” She sipped her champagne and continued, “I’ll be sending one of my… off the books girls to shrink your friends and bring them to us. By the time anyone realizes she’s not official, this entire affair will be over.”

“And you can keep them tiny forever?” Richard asked hopefully.

“The receptor serum can be mixed in a fashion that renders them unable to be regrown, highly illegal of course,” Juliet said, “it’s most often used when those who hire us want to make sure a body is never found, or when they want a particularly strong message to be sent.” She set her glass down, reaching for the black box in the middle of the table. Slowly she opened it, and Richard’s ears perked up as he heard a mix of begging and sobbing from inside.

“This man here didn’t feel like paying his gambling debts,” Juliet commented idly, pulling out a flailing and naked one inch man, easily pinched between her fingers, “now he’s a bug…” she grinned at a stunned Richard, “sends quite the statement, wouldn’t you say? I charge more for the smaller sizes, as you can see by this one, he angered the wrong bookie.”

“W-What are you going to do with him?” Richard rasped, suddenly nervous.

“Who can say?” Juliet laughed, “he’s a product now, there are plenty of people who would love to get their hands on him, the only stipulation is that he doesn’t come back.” She sighed, squeezing the screaming man like a ripe grape, “sometimes I miss the days before that whole secondary market… I used to just step on them myself, and isn’t that a rush Mister Stevens… but with people willing to pay so much to do it themselves… well it’s hard to justify it.”

“P-People pay to step on-“ Richard stammered.

“Among other things,” Juliet said with a shrug, “One of my regular customers is an heiress from an oil rich nation who has developed a taste for American food.”

Richard gulped; eyes wide as Juliet lifted her tiny prisoner to her mouth. He watched, his heart pounding as her tongue came up, sweeping over the tiny man in a lick that coated him with a shining layer of saliva.

“Mmm… you taste good,” Juliet giggled, “what do you think my little bug? Would you like to meet her? If you want, I can see when she’s next going to be in the country…”

“PLEASE LET ME GO!” the man sobbed.

Juliet just sighed, stuffing the flailing one-inch man between her immense breasts, “Quiet down,” she ordered sternly, using her fingertip to push him down further into the fleshy prison, “just relax in there, you deserve one last nice thing before I find you a buyer, so enjoy it!”

She looked up to Richard, smiling at his discomfort, “is there a problem Mr. Stevens? Business is business, as you said, and I want you to be very aware of what sort of business you are entering into by working with me, what the stakes are if anyone should fail to uphold their end of the bargain.”

Richard stared a moment, the tiny man had completely disappeared between Juliet’s breasts, any movements or attempts to escape didn’t even register anymore, and whatever pitiful sounds he was making had been silenced.

He sighed, Sorry, he thought, giving a halfhearted apology to his absent business partners, but this is how the world works. He downed the rest of his champagne in a single gulp, then extended his hand. With a grim smile Juliet too, it, shaking and sealing the deal.

…

“Which car do you want to take to dinner?” Samantha called.

“The Lexus is parked out front,” Kyle replied, walking down the stairs in a casual pair of sweatpants and a Marvel Comics T-shirt. Samantha joined him as they walked to the door, similarly dressed in baggy sweats and shirt advertising one of the Batman movies. Kyle smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek as they got in the car together, even after all these years he still loved seeing her in what he jokingly called “lazy clothes.”

Tonight, the pair was going to drive to their favorite pizza place, get takeout, and return to binge an anime series that had been recommended and advertised on their own app. Kyle smiled at Samantha as she got in the car with him, and for a moment he reflected that his favorite nights with his wife, the cozy ones indoors, weren’t all that much different as a rich man from when he was a broke student.

He turned the key, and then screamed as pain rocked his body and the world flashed white.

…

Kyle heard muffled voices talking, “localized radiation bomb,” someone said, “massive cellular damage, organ failure.”

“Samantha,” he croaked, his vision slowly coming back into focus. He was in his own home, that much he was sure of, there were red and blue lights flashing outside… police? Ambulances? He glanced to his side, then started as he saw Samantha’s unconscious form. He grunted with exhaustion and felt pain split every joint in his body as he cried out as knifepoints flashed across every part of him.

“Easy,” a paramedic said, pushing him down gently, “she’s alive.”

“W-What happened?” Kyle whispered, licking his lips, “I’m so thirsty…”

“We’re still trying to figure it out,” a police officer said, walking up to them, “sir, do you remember anything prior to the explosion?”

“No,” Kyle groaned, “are we… are we going to make it?”

“Whatever that thing was, it bathed you and the area within a five foot radius of your car with an insane amount of radiation,” the EMT said, “it’s like you and your wife took a vacation in the Chernobyl reactor.”

“Detectives say it’s something out of Eastern Europe, some kind of old east bloc assassination weapon,” the police officer muttered, “I guess it wasn’t working properly, because you two made it. We’re trying to get a Valkyrie up here.”

“A Valkyrie?” Kyle rasped, “you mean we’re going to-“

“You need shrinking therapy now,” the EMT said forcefully, “you’ll be lucky to live until tomorrow morning without it.”

Kyle just groaned, leaning back onto his pillow, white hot knives of agony rocking his body until unconsciousness took him again.

…

“Elaine from the Clinic downtown will be in to take my care of patients,” Carmen said with a sigh, walking with Judy through the clinic. While she always had staff in to take care of the patients, she usually didn’t stay this late herself. Today though… she’d be leaving for a while, she wanted to make sure everything was in order.

“Everything’s going to be fine!” Judy said cheerfully, “the other nurses and I can handle things, we don’t have anyone staying with us under three inches right now, it’s all pretty standard stuff.” The two of them paused near the front door and Carmen sighed, twirling her keys in her hand. “If you don’t mind me asking, what prompted the sudden vacation, Carmen?”

Carmen stared at her a moment, not sure what to say. I’m a fucking idiot who can’t get over some dumb shit from high school? She thought, those fucking twerps are out there never got what was coming to them?

“Just needed some time off,” she said noncommittally.

Their conversation was interrupted by an alert on both of their phones, “huh, Valkyrie alert?” Judy said, “odd to see one this late…”

“Two radiation victims, severe?” Carmen muttered, reading the message on her phone, “how the hell did they get radiation burns around here? That’s going to take a couple months of shrinking cycles to even-“ she read the patient names and froze.

“Carmen?” Judy asked, but her voice was somewhere else, far away.

She read the patient names once, twice, a third time.

Kyle and Samantha Westwood

Kyle. And. Samantha. Westwood.

KYLE AND SAMANTHA WESTWOOD.

“I’m going,” Carmen said in a dreamy voice, “is the emergency response van still stocked?”

“Yeah,” Judy said curiously, “it always is, you uh… don’t really use it much, Carmen, what about your vacation?”

“I’ll postpone it,” she said, pushing her way out the glass doors and into the parking lot.

Judy watched her go, a little confused. Her phone buzzed again, and as she read the message her brow furrowed.

“Another Valkyrie clinic is already responding? That’s fast… Hey Carmen!” she shouted, but Carmen was already pulling out of the parking lot in the clinic’s van. Judy sighed and tried calling her, but the number went straight to voicemail.

…

Carmen arrived at the lavish mansion outside of town, marveling at the massive drive up to the house and the large, forested, grounds. She’d known Kyle and Samantha had done well for themselves in life, but this was beyond anything she expected. The large circle drive in front of their house was swarming with police cars and an ambulance, and she pulled her own vehicle up next to it.

Valkyries rarely responded to injuries “in the field,” preferring to let EMTs make the call on whether the injured needed a hospital or to be brought one of their clinics. Overall the Valkyrie program had a strange relationship with the rest of the medical community, the limited number of potential Valkyries meant that most injuries and illness still were, and always would be, treated via normal medicine, and Melinda had insisted on a certain independence for the program from the very beginning.

Still the paramedics smiled and nodded when she arrived, “Are you the Valkyrie?” a police officer asked, stepping between her and the mansion’s double doors.

“I am,” she replied, pulling out her wallet and quickly showing him her ID card, a silly gesture in her opinion given her stature, but she wasn’t going to slip up now. She could hear her heartbeat, looking up at those doors, and it almost felt like her brain was on autopilot.

“Well, the two victims are in there,” the cop said, nodding towards the door, the light glow through the windows seeming to almost invite Carmen in. “Also, your kit arrived early, so we had it brought in for you.”

Carmen frowned, my kit? She glanced back at her van, where the various supplies were stored, I guess someone from another clinic must have had their stuff sent ahead of time while they get out here? A field kit for a Valkyrie was mostly just diagnostic equipment and maybe a receptor serum mixer. She pushed the thought out of her head, I was here first, she thought, they’re mine.

The door to the house opened, and for a brief moment time seemed to stop.

There, in the center of the room on two folding roller cots, were Kyle and Samantha. They were unconscious, with IV bags, and red splotches already appearing on their skin. She walked towards them, like in a dream, a dozen emotions fighting within her.

“Okay, everyone out,” the EMT called, “Valkyrie’s here!”

Carmen listened to hear own heartbeat as the police and medical personnel filed out of the room. She took a deep breath, listening to the door close behind her.

Of course they’d all leave, she thought somewhat madly, almost wishing they’d come back and prevent her from… from doing what exactly? She asked herself.

She felt like she was watching someone else as she stepped up to the unconscious pair, more like Carmen was a character in a movie, not her… the paramedics had cut the clothing off of the two, but had draped blankets over them for modesty. Casually she reached down, pulling the IV needles out, Samantha first, then Kyle.

Mild shrinking first, shave maybe one foot off to stabilize their condition, she thought, as if she were treating any other patient, then check vitals, determine appropriate size and duration for long term healing.

Kyle coughed, startling her. His eyes blinked open, and she felt an odd tinge of pity for him when she saw they were slightly clouded over. The pair were pale, clammy…

“You look like a Walking Dead extra Kyle,” she said without thinking.

Kyle started, blinking and trying to clear his vision, that voice, he thought, gritting his teeth, no… I’ve got to be hallucinating, they gave us drugs or something-

“You don’t look much better Sammy,” Carmen said, running a hand through her red hair idly.

“C-Carmen?” Kyle managed. He felt a nervous void opening in his throat as he saw her circling Samantha.

“You two really got fucked up huh?” Carmen said casually. It was… hard, seeing them like this. She’d always imagined some kind of dramatic confrontation, a true revenge with a cinematic speech outlining all they’d ever done wrong to her. Walking in on them in this state though? It was… “Pathetic,” Carmen muttered. She sighed, a little of her long simmering anger fading as she looked down at Samantha’s unconscious form. “Hold tight Sammy,” she muttered, “I’m going to fix you up…”

Carmen took a deep breath, focusing and drawing the energy into herself, then channeling it down into Samantha as she laid a hand on her forehead. Kyle watched through blurry vision as his wife dwindled in her cot, her chin sinking towards the blanket on her chest. A second later his wife, now maybe a little under four feet tall, sat up and gasped.

“KYLE!” she shouted.

“I’ll get to him next,” Carmen laughed, forcefully shoving a shocked Samantha back down onto the cot.

“CARMEN!?” Samantha squeaked, her eyes going wide. “W-Wha-“

“And here I thought you two forgot my name,” Carmen chuckled, walking around to where Kyle was.

She laid her hand on his head, and a moment later he grunted as his vision cleared, the soreness in his arms and legs vanished, and… He gulped, looking down, realizing he had a powerful erection, easily visible through the thin blanket the paramedics had laid on him. The cot itself was wider now, more like a queen sized mattress. His head swam slightly as he looked around, it was surreal seeing his own home’s entryway so much… bigger.

“Oh god,” Samantha moaned, realization setting in, “that thing in our car, was there a bomb?”

“So the cops say,” Carmen said with a shrug, “they’re still poking around in it outside on the lawn, I guess you two pissed off the wrong person, but that does seem to be a habit, huh?”

Kyle swallowed nervously, “It’s uh… good to see you again-“

“Cut the crap!” Carmen snapped, “you two ruined my fucking life, and now?” she grinned a wicked toothy smile, “you two are fucking mine for the next two months, and we’re going to relive the good old days.”

“Oh god,” Samantha squeaked, pulling the now oversized blanket up to her chest.

“We’ll get someone else to do the shrinking therapy,” Kyle said, summoning more fire for his voice than he really felt, “We-“

“Ha, no such luck squirt,” Carmen chuckled, “I’ve already taken a foot and a half off each of you, I’ll bet it feels great after almost dying, but in another hour or so? I’m sending you the rest of the way down, you’re going to be bugs in my hands.” She smirked, “I’ll toss you in my little carry case and just walk right out of here with you, then we’re back to my clinic for two months of treatment… and what a shame, I forgot your phones and the internet for your container just isn’t working.”

“How the hell did someone like you become a Valkyrie?” Kyle asked angrily.

“When two little shits tanked my future, and I didn’t have any other options!” Carmen snapped, “if I’d been off playing soccer in college, I’d have never given these people the time of day, but thanks to the two of you I was slaving away in front of a deep fryer when they came for me.” She gave a faux happy sigh, “funny how life works out though, huh?”

She walked around the bed, casually letting her hand drift over the thin blanket barely covering Kyle’s erection, “oops,” she teased, watching him grunt and try to keep himself from orgasm, “sorry, I guess I have a sort of effect on people now…” She looked over at Samantha, still gaping at her, “then again, I’m pretty sure I always did on the two of you…”

“G-Go fuck yourself!” Samantha managed.

“Ooh, squeaky Sammy got braver!” Carmen laughed, “don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of time to play with you too.”

There was a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye, and she jerked her head back to Kyle’s cot. The reduced man had slipped down to the floor and was now bolting, naked, towards the front door.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better,” she laughed, starting after him, “but seriously Kyle,” she said, easily scooping him up like a fleeing puppy, “you couldn’t outrun me back in high school, you’re not getting away now.”

Kyle shivered as she lifted him up, too scared and shocked to hide his nakedness as she lifted him up. She’d caught him so easily; at this size he really hadn’t had a chance of escape against an amazon like this… He blushed red as she licked her lips, letting her eyes trace down his body.

“I was lying back in school Sammy,” She laughed, forcibly hauling Kyle back into the living room, “I never got to see Kyle with his pants off.” She smirked, enjoying Samantha’s rage and Kyle’s embarrassment, “I can’t say I’m surprised though, cute little guy, cute little…” she smirked, “well, you know…”

Samantha had slid off her cot too, the aches and pains of her injuries fading as Carmen’s shrinking ability healed her. She nervously grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around herself like a robe as Carmen sat down with Kyle on the couch.

“Carmen,” Samantha said pleadingly, “look, let’s just calm down, you did some stuff you regret, we did some stuff we regret-“

“I had fun with you guys!” Carmen sneered, “I played some pranks, you fucked up my entire life!”

“Pranks!?” Kyle exclaimed angrily, forgetting their situation for a minute, “you made our lives- AH!” he yelped as a slap rang out, Carmen giggled, she’d just lightly slapped his bottom, but at his size it had to be a fairly intense spanking, one good enough to shut up him up again.

“Ah hell,” she laughed, standing up and letting Kyle slip out of her grip, “you guys look healthy enough, let’s just get to the next part and box you two up.” She jokingly made a sign like she was pulling on an imaginary train horn, “ding ding, two dweebs to go!”

Kyle and Samantha looked up at her, terrified, they only came up to her bellybutton at best, and the towering amazon enjoyed their fearful embrace as she turned to retrieve her supplies. She shot them one last glance, making sure they weren’t going to try to run again, then frowned.

Fuck, I forgot my bag in the van… Without the receptor serum she wasn’t confident she was strong enough to shrink both of them down as far as she wanted… and if she opened the door to go for it, those cops are still out on the lawn… these two could yell or run for help.

She thought a moment, then realized there was an obvious solution. The Valkyrie supply bag for the other clinic had been placed against the wall, and with the other Valkyrie still not there, nobody had claimed it or moved it. Carmen grinned, picking it up and carrying it into the living room.

“Now who wants to be first?” she asked wickedly, watching the trembling pair as she laid the bag on the table and withdrew the serum mixer.

It was a small silver case, with a handful of electronic components built in to allow the serum strength to be customized. Slowly she opened the top, letting the display flicker to life and revealing a needle full of the swirling green liquid. Casually she began the pre-injection check.

Carmen laughed at the hopelessness in their eyes, “you two are so fuck-“

*Beep* *Beep* *BEEEP*

An alarm from the serum mixer sounded, startling Carmen. With a frown she looked back to the box, blinked, and then repeated the safety test.

*Beep* *Beep* *BEEEP*

A red “WARNING” lit up at the top of the box’s electronic display.

“That’s not possible,” Carmen muttered, a pit forming in her stomach.

“W-What?” Samantha asked hesitantly, “why’s it saying warning?” She blinked away a tear, “what are you going to do with that stuff!?”

“This isn’t mine!” Carmen snapped, “someone… someone mixed this to shrink you permanently!”

“Permanently!?” Kyle asked, horrified, “Carmen, you can’t-“

“IT’S NOT MINE!” she almost shouted, “I wouldn’t, I mean there’s no way I’d-“ she gulped, forcing herself to calm down. She felt a mix of rage and despair as the implication dawned on her, someone else was after the pair, and with far worse intentions than hers.

“Guys,” she said slowly, hating herself for what she was about to do, “go get dressed, throw those blankets on or something, we’re going outside to the police.”

Kyle scowled, the absurdity of the situation overriding his fear, “what the fuck is going on Carmen? You were about to kidnap us, now you want us to go out to the cops with you?”

Carmen crossed the space between them in a split second, before he could blink or think how impossible it was for a woman that large to move so fast. She’d knelt on the floor, bringing her closer to his level, and gripped his shoulders. Kyle had a sudden realization that he’d seen Carmen angry, happy, even sad once when her dog had died, but he’d never seen Carmen… scared.

“Listen to me!” she hissed, looking back and forth between the stunned pair, “there is only one group in the world that makes serum to permanently shrink people, and they also kill shrunken people in the most fucked up ways you can imagine!” She sighed, “whatever you two pieces of shit deserve, it’s not that.”

“Y-You think the people who bombed our car are sending a Valkyrie after us too?” Samantha asked, her eyes wide with fear.

“That’s why the call was only up for a few minutes,” Carmen realized, “it was a cover… they wanted to hurt you in a specific way so that you’d call for one of us, one of them rather…” and I just came here anyways… because I wanted revenge on you. She looked down at them, the full weight of everything she’d said and done starting to mentally rain down on her.

“Okay,” Carmen said finally, “here’s the deal, I shrank you guys to four feet, we had a friendly chat when we realized we knew each other, and that’s it.”

“Just like old times,” Kyle spat, “threaten anyone who might tell on you…”

“And it always worked,” Carmen said with a smug smirk, “now come on, let’s get you two somewhere safe-“

She was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. The three of them turned together to see another woman entering through the front door, a brunette with short cropped hair, clearly a Valkyrie by her six-foot stature and immaculate skin.

“Good evening,” she said, looking around, “I’m the Valkyrie you called for-“ she stopped, looking at Samantha and Kyle, already reduced to four feet tall, and then to Carmen. Her look of confusion became a frown as she saw the box with the still flashing “WARNING” light on it, revealing the defect in the serum.

The entire room was silent, as she stared the three of them down, then finally she reached behind her, locking the front door with a loud click that echoed through the entryway.

“Sammy, Kyle,” Carmen whispered, standing up, “get behind me…”