Volume II

Chapter 15

Jacob VS Gullivette

The wind was greater than usual, dust sweeping across the desert floor as the sky was clear and the mountains all around could be seen for miles and miles afar. The sand sank and shifted as the weight of Annie’s boot pressed into the ground below. Her usual goofy and silly demeanor was set aside, a more serious expression taking hold over her face as she looked ahead at the ruined debris and abandoned buildings in the distance. The only blockage in her way was a once enormous wall of concrete and stone, now aged to the elements as shattered remnants of the once great wall littered the ground, a breach allowing access to the other side only a few hundred feet away.

“Is this the place you mentioned?” Commander Ghywin asked, leader of the covert tactical force on the deepest government level.

O’Dias Karn, hands cuffed behind his back, turned to face his captors. Annie glared at him suspiciously, and the man gave a sly grin. Cracking his neck, a pop was heard before he took a few steps towards the shattered wall.

“Not what you expected?” O’Dias chanted. “Did you think such a facility would be a beacon of attention? Pitted in the lowest regions of Las Vegas or Washington D.C.? Hahaha! Of course this is the place, you fool! An abandoned structure in the middle of nowhere, what better place could exist for such a nefarious purpose other than this very location?”

Annie furrowed her brow, frowning to express that she was not amused by the slightest. Placing her hands at her hips, she lifted her head and eyed O’Dias from head to toe, reading his mannerisms.

“Something feels off here,” Annie blurted out loud, as Ghywin and her other cohorts turned to address her.

“What is it, Gullivette?” Ghywin asked her, keeping her true name hidden with the presence of O’Dias accompanying them.

Annie turned and stared at the wall, everything about this place screamed ambush. Despite the fact that O’Dias had seemingly spilled the location out of fear due to Annie’s terrifying interrogation tactics, she was beginning to wonder who was really in control of the situation now that they’d arrived at this place. Despite the odds, Annie couldn’t help but wonder if they were being played for fools.

“This is the primary operations facility for the organization you worked in tandem with?” Annie scoffed, crossing her arms and staring down O’Dias with a deadly gaze.

“You don’t believe me?” O’Dias appeared to be insulted. “You nearly fucking killed me to get this information. Are you calling me a liar?”

“What if I am?” Annie walked up to him, grabbing him by the throat and pulling him close to her face. “You have something to say, you piece of shit? Then say it.”

O’Dias began to sweat, forming a nervous smile and shrugging his shoulders upon realizing that he had angered this frightening and powerful woman.

“I meant no disrespect! But to put it simply, how am I supposed to prove anything to you? It seems you do not trust me, with good reason, so what exactly do you want me to say, Gullivette?”

“Sir, all monitoring systems are showing inactivity in the facility ahead,” said the voice of Erica, the lead technological specialist on the team. With flowing onyx hair that hung above her waist, and blue eyes that would give the sky a hard time at a beauty pageant, she turned the monitor on her wrist gear to show that there were no signs of thermal activity. “It appears this is a dead site, sir. Gullivette is right, this may be a trap. Could be rigged with explosives or some other form of weaponry.”

With this new information, Ghywin and Annie turned to scowl at O’Dias as the grip of Gullivette tightened around his throat. Feeling the pressure, O’Dias frowned and shook his head in disbelief.

“There is no way they knew we were coming! Not unless they suspected my betrayal…” O’Dias assured them. “Don’t blame me if you have a leak in the pipes!”

“Are you accusing us of having a traitor in our midst?” Ghywin scoffed. “Unlikely, but I won’t believe nor disbelieve you. Gullivette, I believe we should take the safety protocol as we have for all previous missions. Simply put, we are blind with thermal equipment. On the off chance that they are somehow blocking our monitoring equipment, you should proceed and get a layout of the facility’s surface.”

“Roger that, sir!” Annie nodded confidently, releasing her grip on O’Dias’ throat before then slapping him across the face harshly.

“Ouch!” O’Dias wished he could rub his sore cheek, but alas his hands were bound in cuffs behind his back. “What the hell was that for!?”

“For being born an ugly duckling and forcing me to look at you,” Annie mocked, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him along with her as she began to head towards the fallen and ruined wall ahead of them.

“Try not to kill him before actually learning anything,” Ghywin joked, chuckling along with Erica as the rest of the team smiled to themselves. They were always amused at Annie’s silly remarks, especially her insults which were always unusual and very random in nature, almost always eliciting a smile or a laugh from her team members.

“Erica, can you set up two drones to scour the perimeter of the wall?” Ghywin requested.

“On it,” Erica answered, as she trailed back to her equipment near the vehicles that were parked a quarter mile down the dirt path.

While Erica went to set up the drones, Ghywin turned and watched as Annie forced O’Dias to walk alongside her. Something about this situation didn’t sit well with him either, and he hoped that whatever it was, Annie would make swift work of whatever trap or other preparations might be awaiting them within the confines of this abandoned facility.

Approaching the wall, the sound of Annie’s team faded in the distance as she dragged the criminal in cuffs along with her. Making no attempts to be gentle with her grip, O’Dias became frustrated as he found the woman’s pace too much to keep up with. Growing annoyed at the mistreatment, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer.

“Will you loosen that damn grip? It’s like I’m being escorted by a damn gorilla!” O’Dias complained. “And for fuck’s sake will you slow down? I’m cuffed after all!”

“Shut your piehole,” Annie answered, ignoring his demands entirely as they began to approach an enormous breach in the wall. It appeared the foundation had crumbled due to the elements, and the wall caved in on itself making an enormous gap that anyone could easily climb through. “You first,” Annie ordered, placing O’Dias in front of her before pushing him forward.

“Alright, alright! You don’t have to be so aggressive! I’ve complied with every command you have given me! What have I done to deserve this!?”

“Aided and embedded the disgusting efforts of a trafficking organization that has swept the United States of ‘A’, which is responsible for the abduction, torture and death of thousands if not tens of thousands of innocent lives in the last decade alone,” Annie answered somberly. “So are you going to keep complaining? Because right now I’m contemplating whether I should just eat you or not.”

“Well if you do, I hope I give you indigestion!” O’Dias spat. “Such a barbarian, do you have any class at all?”

“I fail to see how an evil and disgusting man such as yourself has any ‘class’,” Annie chuckled at the idea. “Now go through the fucking gap in this wall already before I throw you over it like a football.”

“Fine,” O’Dias pouted, slowly stepping up the massive stone and rock that once made this great wall. Struggling a bit, he nearly fell backwards, but Annie was right behind him and held him by the back to give him more balance.

Making their way over the rubble and through the gap in the wall, they were soon out of sight of the task force. With the wall remnants blocking the view of the facility’s main court, and the thermal detectors failing to locate any warm bodies that might be hiding in wake of an ambush, Annie was officially on her own and on high alert with her surroundings.

“Thank you for the assistance,” O’Dias thanked, mentioning the fact she had helped him stay upright while climbing the rubble and through the gap in the wall.

“Quiet,” Annie hissed, listening carefully as the two continued through the facility and towards a multitude of several buildings and a warehouse in the distance. It was open ground, the entire court of this facility. There was no cover out in the open, only that of several structures surrounding the wall at the edges.

“Where is the entrance to the facility?” Annie asked, still scanning the perimeter cautiously. Something felt off, she couldn’t shake it. The further she ventured into the center of this massive place, the greater the feeling became.

“How should I know? I’ve never actually been here! I only ever made shipments,” O’Dias claimed, though Annie knew he was lying now.

Grabbing his arm and twirling him around, she grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and scowled.

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” Annie spat. “There were no records of any shipments ever made to this state at all! Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“The records were never recorded…” O’Dias lied.

“One more lie and I swear to fuck I’ll grow right now and swallow you alive! You think I haven’t eaten people? I have no remorse for devouring the wicked, O’Dias! In fact I take great pleasure in it, and you’ll be no different!”

“Yes I’m sure, but what would your bosses think of that?” O’Dias gave her a toothy grin.

“You fucking…” Annie paused, something in the corner of her eye catching her attention. It came out of nowhere, and it certainly hadn’t been there before. She had scanned her surroundings three times over, and suddenly something changed, there was now someone standing in the distance.

Turning her gaze towards this person in the distance, her gut began to twist as she let go of O’Dias. The man turned as well, then a wicked smile spread across his lips, as if he was relieved and also excited for something soon to come.

With wide eyes and an expression that reflected utter disbelief, Annie slowly took a few steps towards this young man that was close to her age. His hair floated in the wind, his blue and charming eyes piercing her from afar as a monotone expression was all he gave Gullivette in the distance.

“Jacob…” Annie murmured, as the young man stood still in the distance several tens of feet away.

“Long time no see, Annie,” Jacob then smiled, lifting his hands and spreading them apart to greet her. “You look exactly the same as when I last saw you.”

Speechless, Annie couldn’t respond. There was nothing that came to her mind, instead she was frozen in place. O’Dias slowly began to shuffle away from her, heading towards Jacob, but she was so distracted by the young man’s presence she couldn’t even come to understand the gravity of her situation.

Jacob could tell that Annie was surprised to see him, something he had expected. After all, it must have been similar to his reaction when he saw the video of her rampage at the last facility. After believing her to be dead since they were children in that horrible experimental laboratory, it was a revelation for him to learn that she had indeed survived. Yet this did not make him happy, instead filling him with resentment as he wondered where she was when he had needed her most. Yet he was not willing to admit that quite yet.

“My apologies, your undercover name is Gullivette, right?” Jacob shrugged and crossed his arms. “I can see that look on your face, Annie. You weren’t expecting me to be here, were you?”

“I thought… I thought you were dead…” Annie struggled to get her words out, her heart racing as she took a few more steps towards Jacob. Deep inside of her heart, it was a relief to find that Jacob had been alive this entire time. All they had back then was each other, to comfort and confide in one another. Then there was the explosion, and it was the last time she had seen Jacob, whom she believed to have died in that blast.

“Nope,” Jacob responded, his tone becoming less friendly as his eyes began to gleam with a hatred that was all too familiar to Annie. “Alive and well. Always have been, Annie. I guess you were also, huh?”

“What happened?” Annie finally asked, slowly regaining her composure and remembering that somehow Jacob was entangled with the enemy. Despite the young boy that Jacob used to be, now he was a young man, and it had been over a decade since they last saw one another.

“I used to think I knew the answer to that question,” Jacob answered as he began to stride slowly towards Annie. O’Dias was now between them a ways, looking back and forth between them, but ultimately keeping silent as he was quite interested to learn that they seemingly knew each other.

‘Interesting,’ O’Dias thought. ‘I wonder… Why did Jacob lie to Avaramix? He claimed he didn’t know who Gullivette was, but that was clearly a lie! Who the hell are these two? I dare not interrupt…’

“You see, Annie. The pain and agony I went through was unspeakable,” Jacob revealed, growing closer towards Annie. “It was especially worse after they had tested on you with the serum. I had thought it killed you, just like the rest of the children we were trapped with. I thought you were dead from the start, before the explosion. I remember my memories became fragmented, reality bending and churning as my blood curdled, childish screams filled the ears of every nefarious and sadistic asshole that was responsible for operating on me. Unlike you, Annie, they tore me apart to understand why I was the only successful subject that was able to retain the effects of the serum, before they finally figured out how to stabilize my abilities. Of course, it was at the cost of my sanity, after all… I was only a fucking child!”

“Jacob…” Annie began to tear up, she knew it was bad, but she never realized just how awful Jacob had the worst of the experience. After all, Annie didn’t even know the serum had worked until after the explosion, when her abilities saved her life and allowed her to escape unharmed and under the radar. The world believed that she was dead, and whomever her family was, they would never know of her existence.

“Why didn’t you come for me?” Jacob murmured, a tear forming in his left eye as he recalled his past. “I honestly cannot remember if I caused that explosion, but I know I was at the center of it all. I cannot remember, my memories are fragments and pieced erratically. I often suffer nightmares of the past, but also of the present, as if they are real and happening at the same time while I dream. Do you know how insufferable it is? To know that the only friend I ever had, was alive this entire time, and never once came back to try and save me?”

“I was a child too…” Annie defended herself. “I thought that explosion killed everyone! I barely made it out myself! How was I to know you were still alive!? If I had known, of course I would have come back for you! Do you actually blame me!?”

Jacob stopped in his tracks, now only a dozen feet away from her. O’Dias had crept closer, but remained a safe distance away. Jacob’s demeanor changed again, forcing a smile as he sighed and shook his head.

“You’re right,” Jacob admitted. “You were a kid too, I suppose I can’t blame you entirely for abandoning me. I just find it ironic, you know?”

“What?” Annie was confused.

“What is your purpose?” Jacob asked her. “You clearly joined some force of good, trying to fight what exactly? Evil incarnate? The bad guys? I must admit, watching that security footage and seeing you in action, you almost fooled me, but I see you for what you are. We are the same, Gullivette. Absolutely the same.”

“What are you talking about?” Annie could sense that Jacob was not at all who she thought he was, and was beginning to guard her mind and spirit. Learning that Jacob was alive, she wondered if she might be able to help him somehow, but clearly he was not in any danger at all. No, in fact, it appeared that perhaps she gravely mistook the true position that Jacob had found himself in.

“The way you crushed those people under your feet,” Jacob cooed. “The way you grabbed them, crushing them into a bloody mess between your fingers. I’ve heard you even devoured a lot of them during your raids. I must admit, though our powers are the antithesis of one another, I am truly jealous of your ability. Tell me, are you only able to grow yourself at will? Or are you able to grow others, like I am able to shrink others?”

Annie came to a horrific realization, finally snapping out of her childhood memories that had begun to fool and distract her. Sensing a presence surrounding her from all sides, and the words that spewed from Jacob’s mouth, it finally came to be known the true extent that this organization had gone through in order to profit off of the victims that were shrunk and sold off.

“Jesus fucking Christ…” Annie murmured as she trembled with disgust. “It was you… You shrunk all of those people and helped the organization sell them at a steep price… And you don’t even look like you regret it…”

“Why should I?” Jacob shrugged heartlessly. “They’re all fodder, just like those men and women you slaughtered barbarically were fodder to you. You think you’re the hero of this story? Annie?” Jacob chuckled maniacally, his true nature beginning to rear its ugly face. “You fool, you are just as sadistic and cruel as I am. The only difference is the side we choose, an outlet for our abilities to manifest and plague this world of absolute fodder. I hate every last man, woman and child on this pathetic planet. Why should I care? The world cursed me and took away my entire life. Because of them, I’m nothing more than a monster, and I intend to punish them for it.”

“When I saw those innocent people in that shipment container,” Annie began to grind her teeth as her blood began to boil. “I hoped and prayed that you were safe… I feared that evil had taken hold of you, and was abusing you and your power… But I see now, it was always you, nobody was ever forcing you to do a damn thing! The Jacob I knew was innocent and kind, caring and always concerned about my well being! But I was right after all, the Jacob I knew did die in that explosion… You definitely aren’t him.”

“Dear lord,” O’Dias grinned wickedly. “Jacob, you’ve kept quite the information from Avaramix! Oh how absolutely entertaining this is going to be! A battle of size infernal… Gullivette, the goddess of growth, and Jacob, the master of the diminutive style! This will be most interesting!”

“O’Dias,” Jacob interrupted, turning to face the man.

“Hm?” O’Dias snapped out of his own trance, realizing that Jacob was giving him a cold stare. “What is it…?”

“Thank you for your service,” Jacob frowned. “Avaramix sends his regards.”

In an instant, Jacob pulled a pistol out from his waistband. It had been tucked under his jacket, and Annie didn’t even realize or consider the idea that he would be armed at all. Before she nor O’Dias could even react, Jacob lifted the pistol and fired three shots into the chest of O’Dias Karn. Stumbling back several feet, the man clutched his chest, which bled profusely and stained his outfit a crimson red.

“Oh…” O’Dias gave a bloody grin, sputtering and coughing up blood as he fell to one knee, still clutching his chest as his vision became blurry. “Well that’s… That’s a shame… I was… Hoping to see you two… Fight each…”

Unable to finish his sentence, the man collapsed to the ground, dead and still as the sand blew with the wind and stuck to his bloodied outfit as a puddle of crimson began to form under him, staining the sand that surrounded his body.

Annie was shocked, standing back several feet as she watched Jacob toss the pistol onto the ground. Feeling threatened by his presence now, and unable to ascertain whether or not Jacob’s powers could rival her own or not, it was clear she needed to handle this situation immediately.

“Jacob!” Annie shouted, clenching her fists and waving them angrily in the air. “It’s over! This ends here and now! I thought I could save you… But I see now you were the enemy all along… I’m sorry Jacob, I cannot allow you to leave here! Either come with me in cuffs, otherwise…”

Growing before Jacob, her clothes began to tear and rip themselves apart. Always appearing to waste her brand new uniform with every show of her power, her massive size incinerated every inch of her tactical uniform as she rose to a staggering seventy-five feet in height and size. Her breasts bounced upwards, before crashing down and settling, jiggling as Annie lifted her massive foot and slammed it into the earth below.

The sands were shifted violently, a hurricane of sand and dust flying around in a whirlpool in the air as Jacob’s hair flew from left to right, standing unafflicted by her display of raw strength. His grin grew ever wider, as he gazed up at the now colossal and threatening Gullivette, a sight of which he’d been eager to behold for sometime now. Her massive size and expression of courage only added to his own excitement. Despite his anger with her, he wouldn’t deny it, this moment was beyond exhilarating.

“Incredible!” Jacob spread out his arms in awe at Annie’s beautiful power, his eyes gleaming with the rawest evil one could see in a human being. “This is even better than I imagined! You are truly a sight to behold! It’s a shame, Annie. In another lifetime, I wonder how our futures would have unfolded if we managed to escape that compound together. No matter, I have a duty to uphold now.”

Lowering his arms to his side, Jacob’s smile faded as he turned to a more somber expression. Lifting his hand slightly, Jacob sighed with a heavy heart.

“No hard feelings, Annie…” Jacob murmured, before snapping his fingers.

The sense that Annie had earlier came to be a reality that would quickly bring her to a sense of horror. Several buildings began to collapse and crumble, other structures becoming obliterated as multiple vehicles began to emerge from the debris that now surrounded Annie on all sides. It quickly became apparent why the thermal technology failed to detect anyone hiding in this compound, that’s because the vehicles had been equipped with special padding that disallowed thermal technology to penetrate. This entire time, Annie had been heading straight towards a trap just as suspected, only far worse than she had realized.

As the massive vehicles emerged, it was revealed they were all armed with special equipment and offensive weapons technology. Mounted at the top of each vehicle were oversized grappling guns that were designed to easily take down an elephant at the very least, if not a bloody whale itself. Coming to grips with the horrifying reality that now presented itself to Annie, she realized this entire setup was solely designed to take her down, and from the looks of it, alive at that.

‘Oh no…’ Annie looked around in horror, the grappling guns all aiming towards her now, as Jacob smiled down at her enormous feet with the most frustrating confidence imaginable. ‘O’Dias was lying after all… This entire thing was a setup to capture me! And my team isn’t even aware of what’s happening!?’

Realizing that even at her enormous height, she was just barely tall enough to meet the top of the wall. Her team had no way of seeing beyond it, and were awaiting her direct update, and that’s when Annie realized she made a grave mistake. In a moment of pure emotional action, she had grown and used her power, obliterating not only her uniform, but her walkie-talkie as well. Whatcom had been right about her, she was unpredictable, and her own foolishness led her straight into a trap that was quickly shown to be catered to her exact ability.

“Fire,” Jacob ordered, and four of the vehicles shot their grappling hooks in sequence.

The first one rushed by her elbow, as Annie turned to see it whip up through the air as it began to twirl around her lower arm. The teeth sinking into her flesh and locking it into place, Annie screamed in agony before attempting to reach towards it to pull it out of her flesh.

The other grapple locked around her wrist, the vehicle hitting the gas pedal and driving backwards, pulling her arm away from the other and effectively disarming her most powerful extremities. Feeling the resistance of each vehicle, Annie found that her strength was waning rapidly. Trying desperately to bring her hands together, the wheels of each vehicle began to spin in the sand as they struggled to contain her strength.

Just as Annie was about to free herself, the other two grappling hooks wrapped around her massive thighs, as the vehicles hit it in reverse and forced her to her knees. The earth shook with great ferocity, sand spraying across the ground as Annie became completely subdued.

‘Fuck!’ Annie began to panic, desperately trying to fight off these grappling hooks but finding they were designed specifically to withstand her power. ‘What the hell am I going to do? Should I return to normal size? If I do then Jacob would definitely get the upper hand, I have to maintain my size in order to increase my strength and density, fuck! This is bad, this is really bad!’

“Incredible,” Jacob declared with the utmost satisfaction. “All of that raw size and power, and all it took was four of these bad boys to take you down! I must say, Annie… I am rather disappointed in you.”

“You bastard!” Annie cried, her heart racing and eyes filling with tears of dread. “How could you do this to me!? You fucking coward!”

“Unfortunately, Avaramix needs you alive,” Jacob revealed. “I’m not sure what his plans are, but it seems he needs your DNA, and I’ll be damned if I get anywhere near you at this size! Ha!”

Another grappling hook fired from the fifth vehicle, wrapping around Annie’s neck as the vehicle began to pull away, effectively choking the giantess and completely rendering her at the will of her enemy. Feeling her muscles straining and the ropes around her neck cutting off her airway, she began to sputter and hack, unable to breathe as Jacob threatened to have her pass out from this ambush.

As it appeared that Jacob was overcoming this battle with ease due to his unfair tactics, his eyes caught something peculiar in the air. Turning his head, he frowned upon the realization that it was a drone, and it was equipped with a camera. Scowling, Jacob turned towards the breach in the wall, and found that Annie’s task force had finally learned the truth behind O’Dias bringing them here.

“We have company!” Jacob shouted, moments before a bullet came flying towards him.

With sharp senses, Jacob turned his head, the bullet coming straight for his eye. Reacting hastily, he shifted his head in the nick of time as it struck the ground behind him. A barrage of bullets began to litter the battlefield, the sand flying upwards with a frenzy as the machine gun was aimed at the defenseless Jacob. Thinking quickly, he shrunk himself to an indiscernible size, escaping the hail of gunfire as the bullets passed over the ground of which he once stood.

A missile then fired from a rocket launcher equipped by none other than commander Ghywin himself, as it struck the vehicle with the ropes tied around Gullivette’s throat. Exploding into a fiery blaze, the slack in the rope loosened, and Annie breathed and gasped for air as she turned and smiled to see that her family had come to save her.

“Ghywin! Erica! Thank God!” Annie cried, however she was not able to break free of the other ropes, her strength rapidly declining as every moment of resistance was greatly draining her energy.

“Fear not, Gullivette!” Ghywin declared, tossing aside the rocket launcher and pulling out his dual Berettas, “we came as soon as we could! Hang in there just a little bit longer!”

“It seems we’re the ones saving your giant ass, now!” Erica cooed, running alongside Ghywin as the two began to unload heavy firepower at the enemy forces.

One of the vehicles opened a panel in the door, the tips of rifles poking out and unleashing an ungodly amount of return fire. With hardly any cover at all, it was clear the enemy was far more prepared for a defensive position than Ghywin and his team. Realizing their position was indeed dire, they had to take immediate cover if they were going to survive.

“Use me for cover!” Annie shouted with courage and bravery, her spirit renewed with her team's arrival as she strained immensely against the power of these tanks that continued to pull her arms apart and keep her knees into the dirt.

“You heard the woman!” Ghywin shouted with valor. “Hide behind Gullivette! Her skin as this size is impenetrable! It’s the only cover we got!”

All of the task force members rushed to use Gullivette as cover, and despite the hellfire of bullets rushing by them incessantly, not a single operative was lost to the gunfire. Annie felt her biceps straining, her veins beginning to pop out of her flesh as she gritted her teeth to withstand the pain that shot through her body. Bullets began to strike her thighs, the enemy trying to kill her teammates but now her massive size provided the necessary cover.

“Erica! Where the fuck is that machine gun fire? We need to light up these damn tanks that are subduing Gullivette!” Ghywin commanded, peering around Annie’s massive leg and managing to strike an enemy combatant by shooting through the small window of which they fired from.

“On it, commander!” Erica turned to a teammate. “You heard the man! Light these motherfuckers up! We have to free Gullivette at all costs! Otherwise we’re all as good as dead!”

Acting quickly to get the offensive, their heavy weapons specialist, Bryan O’Donald, gave a hearty grin as he waved his frazzled and lengthy hair to the wind.

“Alright mother fuckers, eat this you sex trafficking fucks!” Bryan dashed around the massive thigh of Annie, lighting up the vehicle that held one of the two ropes tied around her legs.

The barrage of gunfire littered the side panels of the tank sized vehicle, killing multiple of the combatants inside as the vehicle stopped its reverse movement and died still. The driver had been shot by a ricochet bullet, effectively disarming one of the four other vehicles.

“Hahaha! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Bryan cheered, dashing for cover as the team and Ghywin continued the assault.

“Gullivette,” Ghywin shouted, “are you hanging in there?”

“I can’t… I’m not strong enough to…” Annie struggled to speak, feeling her stamina draining to dangerous levels. At this rate, even if they were to somehow free her, Jacob would easily outmatch her in endurance. It took a heavy toll on her stamina to resist such an offensive effort to subdue her, feeling her energy drain. 

Of all the training she’d ever done, resisting this level of power was not something that was ever considered. After all, who would have thought that the great and fearsome Gullivette would have been so easily captured? If not for Ghywin and Erica using the drones to see what had happened after Annie and O’Dias crossed through the gap in the wall, they never would have known that Annie was in such peril. This safety measure ultimately led to Annie’s rescue, or did it? They were still in the thick of battle, but they had no idea how much worse it was going to get for them.

“Bryan! Light up another vehicle!” Ghywin ordered.

“I wish we packed more missile ammunition!” Erica sighed as she felt the air rushing around them due to the bullets flying in each and every direction.

“A mistake that will not repeat itself I assure you,” Ghywin assured her, firing off more shots at the enemy and taking down another two combatants.

“Take this you fuckers!” Bryan used his heavy machine gun to light up another vehicle, managing to strike three more targets, however the driver was still reversing the tank and keeping Gullivette down on one knee as she shuffled the other one and repositioned her foot in front of her.

‘I can move my right foot now thanks to Bryan taking down that one grappling hook,’ Annie thought as she tried to process her situation. It made her sick to think she couldn’t do anything to protect her team, beyond being their shield. Never had she been the one out of the fight, but as she scanned the ground below it was clear that Jacob had not yet revealed himself. After shrinking and evading death by Ghywin’s gunfire, it was unclear where he had gone.

Then, just as Jacob had been on her mind, Bryan finished unloading his shots as he turned to take cover behind Annie’s shifted foot. However, as he turned, he was faced with an unnerving sight. Jacob was right there in front of him, having returned to normal size moments before Bryan turned around.

“Hello there,” Jacob greeted, before coiling his arm back and delivering a strike. With his fingers pressed together and outward, like a sharp blade refined by his abilities, Jacob increased the density of every muscle in his entire being. Akin to steroids times a million, every muscle in his entire body, chest, back, legs, arms and otherwise, allowed his hand to penetrate Bryan straight through the chest.

With the heart of Bryan in his grasp, his arm all the way through the man’s body, blood spilled everywhere. Splattering across his face, Jacob turned and grinned at the rest of Annie’s task force, before ripping the heart out of Bryan’s chest and allowing the now dead soldier to fall to the ground in a heap.

“O’Donald!?” Erica’s eyes grew wide in horror, a man of whom she had known for seven years now dead in an instant. The look in Jacob’s eyes sent chills down her spine, an expression of pure evil and demonic in nature.

“Look out!” Ghywin shouted to his team, as they turned to address this new problem that had regrown on the defensive side of which they took cover.

Another soldier turned his sights onto Jacob, but as the bullets rained the young man shrunk in an instant. Undetected by the team, and Annie herself, Jacob was falling in midair as the bullets flew past his insignificant size. A bullet sped by below him, as he performed a front flip and began to run along the surface of the flying bullet before jumping off of it and hurtling through the air like a torpedo.

“Where the fuck did he go-” The soldier was interrupted as his head exploded. Jacob had used the speed adjustment caused by his increased and exponential agility to match the speed of a torpedo. Striking the soldier straight through the eye socket, the weakest part of his flesh, Jacob effectively burst through his skull as his brains splattered and landed all over the teammates that surrounded this horrific display.

Hearing the cries of her team below, Annie felt petrified as she turned to see the carnage below her. Her heart breaking at the sight of Bryan’s dead body, and the now headless comrade several feet away, she realized that Jacob had no intention of standing on the sidelines. No, in fact, Jacob was using their huddled defensive position against them. They were all close to each other, the perfect playground for Jacob to take them down in one foul swoop.

“Don’t let him touch you!” Annie shouted in vain. “Jacob has the ability to shrink others, and objects! Stay the fuck away from him!!!”

“It’s no matter,” Jacob tormented them all, his voice appearing loud and clear despite the fact nobody could tell where he was.

“Commander!” Erica began to cry, this was beyond a horrifying predicament. The heat of gunfire was one thing, but watching this psychopath implode the skull of a comrade and rip out the heart of Bryan O’Donald had completely shattered any hope of survival in her eyes. “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to-”

“Erica! No!” Ghywin reached to grab her, but it was too late.

“Gotcha…” Jacob teased, having shrunk Erica as her clothes fell to the sandy ground and her now naked form was grasped tightly in his own hands.

“Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhh! What the fuck! Oh my God! Help me! Ghywin! Annie! Please help-”

Jacob squeezed his hand, and in an instant Erica’s body exploded. Her guts and intestines flew in every direction, small and meaningless to match her new and deadly size. Throwing her remains aside, Jacob watched as the remaining task force members began to run for their lives back towards the breach in the wall. Not wanting to share the same and gruesome fate that their team members had at the hands of Jacob, they instead chose to test fate in the hail of gunfire.

Watching helplessly as her team was slaughtered without mercy, Annie began to have a panic attack. As Jacob slowly began to approach a shocked and frozen Ghywin, the poor woman began to think back to the time she was imprisoned and experimented on. Realizing that Jacob now had similar plans for her, or at least this Avaramix person did, the crippling reality of her situation began to break her mind and soul.

‘No…’ Annie thought painfully as she froze entirely. ‘This can’t be happening… They were my family… We were supposed to protect each other… I don’t want to be a slave again, I don’t want to be tortured again… Why is this always happening to me!? What did I do to deserve this!?’

“Annie!” Ghywin shouted, backing away from Jacob as his evil grin burned an image into the commander’s brain. “Don’t worry, I’ve always believed in you! This isn’t over yet! We are counting on you, Gullivette!”

Annie’s eyes grew wide, and her vision brought her back to when she was a child.

“Annie!” Jacob whimpered, as two men entered the room and grabbed him aggressively by the arm. “Annie, I'm scared!”

“It’s okay!” Annie feigned a smile, but admittedly she was terrified also. She hadn’t been here very long, and her heart raced, but she knew that Jacob would ultimately overcome this next experiment. He always did, but that didn’t change the fear in their hearts.

“Not for me!” Jacob cried. “Annie, they're testing on you next! I heard them! I don’t want you to die like the others! Please! I’m counting on you Annie… Please don’t die! Please! I believe in you! You can do it!”

Annie felt her chest seize, the words of a then child Jacob weighing down heavily upon her heart. She was next, and he knew it. Every other subject before her had perished during the experiment, and she was the final subject aside from the already successful subject, Jacob himself. However, she was the strong one, or at least that’s what Jacob had believed. He always had faith in her, and found comfort in her, and she knew she had to keep strong in spirit because of the pain that Jacob had endured.

Clenching her fists, Annie nodded boldly and with courage.

“I promise!” Annie shouted. “See you soon! Jacob! Very soon… Don’t you worry about me!”

Tears filled her eyes, she didn’t even believe what she was saying, but she couldn’t let Jacob worry about her. He was weak and scared, always crying and in pain and distress. Annie had to keep strong, for Jacob, and her own sanity.

“I promise…” Annie mumbled, watching as they dragged Jacob out of the room and towards the laboratory.

“I won’t die… I won’t… Jacob, I won’t die!”

“We are counting on you, Annie! We always have!” Ghywin shouted, whipping his guns towards Jacob and unleashing a flurry of gunfire.

Jacob moved and evaded, shrinking and unshrinking, his speed and movements were far beyond anything Ghywin could fathom. As Jacob went to strike Ghywin in the jaw, the man dropped to his knees and rolled to the side to get away from him. Springing back to his feet, Ghywin pulled a grenade from his belt and pulled the pin before throwing it at Jacob.

Catching it midair, Jacob began to laugh. “Want to see something interesting?” Jacob then shrunk the grenade, holding it between his fingers. It was the size of a pebble now, then it exploded. The blast was diminutive, the shrapnel not even enough to travel more than a foot or two. Completely baffled at this young man’s powers, Ghywin realized there was little he could do other than delay him for as long as possible.

‘Ghywin…’ Annie snapped back to reality, realizing the gravity of their situation. This was no time to give up, no time to surrender to the evil of Jacob and his diabolical abilities. There was only one person who could stop Jacob, and that was Gullivette. Finding the will to go on, Annie began to scream a primal roar of pure rage. Expanding the mass of her muscles tenfold, she began to increase her strength to levels of which she never thought possible.

“I won’t… Give… UP!” Annie finally managed to give way to the vehicle holding her right arm, the tires starting to slide across the sand before lifting to the air as Annie used the rope tied around her arm to spin the vehicle around in the air.

“Get… The fuck… OFF OF ME!” Annie screamed, colliding the vehicle into another as they both exploded in a fiery blaze.

With her arm free and both legs now unbound, she turned to address the final vehicle. Sensing that his time was limited, Jacob knew he had underestimated the power that Annie possessed.

“Impressive,” Jacob cooed, “but it won’t save you, Ghywin, is it?”

“I don’t speak casually to scum like you,” Ghywin hissed, pulling out his knife and entering a combat stance. “I’m not afraid of you, Jacob.”

“Good,” Jacob retorted, starting to jog towards him. “I’m getting tired of all the screaming and pleading anyway!”

Jacob lunged forward, missing Ghywin’s head by an inch as the commander slashed his blade against Jacob’s wrist. The sound of scraping metal pierced his ears, the blade worthless as Jacob had increased the density of his skin which now resembled the hardiness of uncut diamond.

Sweeping his leg across the ground, Jacob tripped Ghywin as he fell to the floor. Jacob hovered above him, as Ghywin looked up and realized he was never a match for this villain. As Jacob reached down and grabbed Ghywin by the collar of his vest, he lifted him slightly off the ground and gave him scowl.

“I expected more from your team,” Jacob admitted. “I guess compared to me, you’re all nothing but fodder like the rest. Goodbye, commander.”

“NO!” Annie screamed, forcing her other hand to move as it lifted the last vehicle. Grabbing each bind and ripping them free, the last tank fell in the background in a fiery blaze, as Annie was now free and unbound.

Unable to let her commander die in such a brutal and dishonorable way, Annie gave a war cry as she lurched forward with her massive size and coiled her arm back to deliver a punch that could send a single man to the moon and back. Jacob turned to see the knuckles of Annie’s fist coming at him like a freight train. The wind rushed past her fist like a tornado, the air swirling in an uproar as Jacob watched her attack coming at him head on.

‘This is it!’ Annie thought desperately. ‘Every last ounce of strength, all set into this single blow! I’m sorry Jacob, but you aren’t the child I once knew, you left me no choice!!!’

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Annie screamed, her fist feet away from striking Jacob’s entire body as he released Ghywin to the floor.

Putting his left foot behind him and his right foot forward to offset the balance, Jacob gritted his teeth in vain as he too delivered a punch. Shooting his arm forward, his fist was directed to collide straight into Gullivette’s. Using every fiber of power he had amassed through density and mass manipulation, the nefarious, young man gave this attack everything he had.

‘No telling the result of this move,’ Jacob admitted as time appeared to slow down between the two of them. ‘Her size far outmatches me, and I have no idea if I’ve amassed enough density and strength to beat her at this size, but I have no other choice than to try. Even if I shrunk, I wouldn’t be able to slip through her closed fist. I wouldn’t be fast enough to evade her either, she’d strike me before then, so either I win or die, right now!’

“GULLIVETTE!” Jacob screamed, his fist rushing through the air.

“JACOB!” Annie cried, as her massive fist collided into Jacob’s

In perfect unison, simultaneously, their fists collided and came to an earthshaking stand still. Ghywin himself was flown across the ground as the burst of air exploded in all directions, flinging sand in all directions and forcing Ghywin to get swept along the ground and pushed several yards away. Finally grabbing a large rock sticking out of the earth, Ghywin managed to stop his momentum as the wind threatened to blow him away.

Annie felt the power of Jacob’s fist, but was completely blinded by rage alongside Jacob as the two punched one another causing an absolute explosion of energy. Many of the fleeing soldiers, and criminally armed men, were caught up in this shockwave as some struck the surrounding wall and broke every bone in their body. One man flew up in a tornado before plummeting to the ground, his head cracking on the remains of a vehicle as his remains continued to fly across the ground.

‘Unbelievable!’ Ghywin struggled to keep hold of the stone, which had begun to wobble. ‘Despite her size, Jacob still managed to deliver an equally powerful punch! How the hell is that even possible!? Who is this guy!?’

Feeling his arm beginning to tremble, his strength was depleting as Jacob found that Annie was beginning to overcome him. Feeling his feet slide against the sand, he gritted his teeth as his eyes had become bloodshot. More blood was oozing from his ears and nose, his veins turning from purple to black as he felt the odds oppressing him entirely.

‘Never forget what you are…’ Jacob reminded himself, remembering every nightmare and every man, woman and child he had ever been responsible for shrinking or killing. ‘You are… A monster… This world…Hates you… Everyone… Fucking… HATES YOU!’

“GAAAHHHHH!?” With a final scream of pure malice and hatred, Jacob felt the muscles in his back burst as he delivered every last ounce of power and transferred it into his fist.

Suddenly Annie felt the pressure, her knuckles cracking and her body suddenly descending. At first she was unable to understand what had happened, but it quickly became clear as Jacob’s fist began to grow bigger and bigger… No… Her fist was growing smaller and smaller…

‘No way!’ Annie came to a horrific realization, one she had never foreseen. ‘Could it be!? Is Jacob… Is he shrinking me!?’

“ANNNNNNNIIIIEEEE!” Jacob cried with rage, using his abilities on a primal scale as his contact with Annie allowed him to pull her from the massive size she had grown to.

In the blink of an eye, Annie was forced back down to her normal size, Jacob’s fist reaching forward now and grabbing her by the throat. With the last of his broken strength, Jacob lifted her high into the air before bringing her down painfully into the ground with a powerful smash. The sand burst sideways, the earth shaking yet again before the enraged Jacob straddled her and began to pummel her to death.

“Annie!?” Ghywin watched in horror as Jacob began to beat the snot out of Annie.

Punching her consecutively with each fist, Jacob began striking Annie in the face and jaw from left and right in sequence. His eyes blood red, face splattered with the remnants of her allies, her once childhood friend was now the one beating her to death. Feeling her jaw break and her skull fracture, Annie’s face became bloody and battered as she was relentlessly assaulted.

“YOU BETRAYED ME!” Jacob screamed, all of the pent up feelings from his childhood releasing all at once with this barbaric and brutal assault.

“I LOVED YOU! I TRUSTED YOU! AND YOU FUCKING LEFT ME TO DIE!” Jacob cried, then grabbing her by the face and beginning to bash the back of her head into the ground. Blood began to gush everywhere, her lips cut and eyes bruised. Her nose bled uncontrollably, and Annie couldn’t even think let alone fight now. It appeared it was over, yet Jacob refused to relent in his assault.

As he continued to violently put an end to the life of Annie, aka Gullivette, commander Ghywin could only watch in horror. Tears filled his eyes, the realization that his entire team had essentially been annihilated at the hands of this maniacal, psychotic and wicked, young man.

‘Annie…’ Ghywin choked at the thought of her death, could it be? Could the great Gullivette have met her match?

‘No…’ Ghywin answered for himself. ‘Annie… This cannot be the day you die… I can’t allow it… I know you would want me to run, and admittedly I’m tempted to… But I’d rather die alongside you, than watch this piece of shit take the light in your eyes away from me forever… I refuse… I refuse to let him take you from me! From this world, who needs you!’

“You bastard!” Ghywin shouted, slowly standing to his feet as he began to limp across the ground and towards Jacob. “You fucking coward! Do you hear me!? You are a fucking coward!”

At long last, Jacob halted his fury. Annie was making noises that were indistinguishable from a human being, her eyes swollen and face battered beyond recognition. Gasping for air as her throat collapsed from the inside out, Jacob had finally come to realize the extent of what he had done.

“Annie…” Jacob murmured, his rage starting to subside while he looked down at his old childhood friend.

“I… I… Uh… I…” Annie couldn’t speak, as Jacob turned to face Ghywin who was getting closer.

“Get off of her! Come fight me you bastard!” Ghywin was desperate, he just wanted to bide as much time for Annie to recover as possible. While she was in bad shape, he knew she had an impeccable recovery speed, he only hoped it was enough for her to survive this slaughter.

“You’re still alive…” Jacob couldn’t believe it, Ghywin was proving to be more resilient than anticipated.

“Don’t you hear me!?” Ghywin shouted. “I said get off of her!”

“Shut up…” Jacob started to lose it again. “Shut up! SHUT UP!”

Annie then reawakened, her mind coming back from the brutality of the beating she received. Hearing Ghywin still standing tall and proud, his courage never fading, it became clear that he was going to get himself killed. Feeling her heart shatter at the thought of losing one more ally, especially Ghywin, Annie began to address her condition as she lay beneath Jacob in a broken state.

‘Move…’ Annie thought desperately. ‘You worthless… Pathetic… Piece. Of. Shit! MOVE! GOD DAMMIT GULLIVETTE! I SAID FUCKING MOVE!’

As Ghywin approached Jacob, pulling out a spare pistol to try and delay him further, Jacob prepared to stand and kill the man. As he moved and shifted his weight, he felt the earth rumbling for the last and final time. As Ghywin watched while Jacob reached out for him, a smile forming on the commander's face at the thought of successfully saving Annie, neither of the men had any idea just how much mental fortitude that Gullivette still possessed.

Realizing this was her last and only chance to put an end to this, Annie put every last ounce of strength, which was quickly fading, into growing as tall as she could one last time. As Jacob nearly touched the chest of Ghywin, threatening to shrink and kill him, Gullivette rose once again. Feeling a grip tighten around his entire body, Jacob was lifted into the air as Annie grew to a size of which she had never obtained before.

Previously her known maximum height was seventy five feet, but in this state of primal intuition, Annie had somehow managed to break the barrier of her limitations and grew to a height that was over a hundred feet in size! Ghywin fell backwards as he watched Annie’s massive foot grow real time just above him. It passed over him, collapsing a few yards away and crushing the remains of several enemy combatants.

“Annie…” Ghywin was speechless, looking up to see the incredible display.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Annie screamed with all of her anger and rage, coiling her arm as far behind her as possible while holding Jacob tightly in her grasp.

Before Jacob could comprehend what she was doing, or use his power to shrink her back to normal size, it was too late. After getting caught off guard by Ghywin, Annie had made use of the distraction with the utmost perfection. As if she was the star pitcher in a baseball game, she hurled Jacob with the last of her strength as he was sent flying through the air at mach speed.

“Annie!?” Jacob screamed, his voice vanishing instantly as he was flung across the earth and out of sight almost instantly. Just like that, with quick thinking, Jacob was out of the battlefield.

“Gullivette!” Ghywin watched as Annie quickly shrank back down, collapsing into his arms with perfect timing as she returned to normal size. Her condition was still critical, and she couldn’t even walk as Ghywin held her tightly in his arms.

“H-hurry…” Annie sputtered, barely conscious. “B-before… He comes… Back…”

“God bless you Annie…” Ghywin put her arm over his shoulders, quickly vacating the battlefield as they headed back towards the wall to return to a vehicle and get the hell out of dodge.

“I’ll be damned, you actually did it!” Ghywin felt a relief unlike anything he’d ever experienced. “Annie! You saved us!”

“No…” Annie began sobbing, remembering the deaths of Bryan and Erica, and nearly all the rest of their tightly knit task force. “Not everyone…”

As they exited through the wall, Annie turned towards the sky where she had thrown Jacob as far as possible. She wondered if he was alive, but she thought better than to think he would die so easily. After all, she believed him to be dead once, and that was a mistake. That was a mistake she wouldn’t make again.

‘Jacob…’ Annie thought with sadness. ‘This isn’t… How I thought our reunion… Would go…’