I was having a bad day to say the least and I didn't dare move to a more favorable spot because of the pain it sent throughout my body. All eyes were on Maddison making sure she wouldn't try any sudden moves. Maddison though had a familiar faraway gaze that I've had the displeasure of seeing before, which can only mean her demeanor is about to get very volatile.
" Franky needs help, we gotta call 911 ! " Louise said waving her arms to get her companions attention.
" I'm sorry . . .it was an accident . .I didn't mean to. ." Maddison kept muttering to herself, she was barely audible at first but she gradually got louder until we heard her.
I never know what's going on in her mind, if she's trying to lull our guards down, if she really does care about me, if she only views me as her amusing toy until she sees no further value in me. One moment she wants to kill me, another she wants me to worship her, another she wants to love and be loved. . .Could it be I almost pity her? It's certain though, she needs mental help as much as I need physical help.
" Maddison . ." I groaned out, the mere act of talking now took a great effort for me the fact that I even managed that was met with surprised looks from everyone.
" Y-yes?" Maddison timidly asked. " Just give me . .a minute everything will be fi-"
" It's over Maddison. . .this madness can't go on anymore. You need help . . I need help. Don't make this any harder than it has to be. You've only caused pain and misery to those around you. You're no happier now than you were when you tormented me or anyone else. That won't change no matter how many people you kidnap, shrink, and control."
For a moment it seemed like Maddison was in intense debate with herself and soaking every last word in, it was like a scene in a cartoon where an angel and devil were hovering over your shoulders to represent your conscience, one telling you the right thing to do, the other trying to make you give in to temptation.
" This isn't a matter of discussion." Liza said growing tired of the suspense. " Franky needs help now." She reached into her pocket and began to dial 911. It seemed like an unanimous decision that wouldn't be met with protest from anyone. . .except Maddison.
Cunning as ever Maddison's eyes quickly shifted over to Louise who was ripe for the taking. Maddison couldn't catch her before, but after my inconvenient fall Louise temporarily let her guard down and stood in motionless in the open and Maddison capitalized snatching Louise into her hands then stood up.
" Why you fucking bitch ! " Liza snapped.
" Not one step forward or I'll squeeze her into paste." Maddison bluntly said. Liza looked prepared to sell her soul for a chance to deck Maddison in the face. The only thing that stopped her was Elise and Jenna holding her by the shoulders, knowing that once again Maddison held the upperhand.
" Drop your phone now! " Maddison demanded. With a scowl on her face and with no choice Liza simply opened her hand and let it fall to the floor.
Maddison's eyes inspected everyone standing across from her, judging their faces and body language, all of them having similar expressions of a mixture of scorn towards her, concern for me, and frustration for having their hands figuratively tied.
" THIS IS ALL OF YOUR FAULTS! " Maddison raised her voice in a complete 180 which is simultaneously shocking and not shocking at this point, being accustomed to her erratic mood changes.
" All you idiots had to do was stay out of my way! I gave you all a chance! I could've been happy! But you couldn't let me have that! WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU!? DO YOU ENJOY DOING THIS TO ME, DO YOU ENJOY ME BEING MISERABLE!?" Maddison was practically heaving in between words and subconsciously clenched her fist during her tirade causing Louise to grimace in pain.
Maddison took some very deep breaths, her eyes were wide and devoid of any semblance of sanity. Appealing with rationale and reason was out of the question now.
" I'm a person who likes to keep her word . . ." Maddison set her sights on her signature device on the floor and casually walked over knowing no one would challenge her with Louise's safety hanging on the line.
" I believe I said something along the lines of making you all my slaves if I saw your faces again." Maddison venomously said, picking up her device. " But, since I'm a far kinder person than all of you, I won't let you guys suffer that. So I will only shrink and put you out of your misery under my foot like the trash you all are."
Maddison's lips curled once again into a devilish smile seeing as she was about to get her way. " Who would like to volunteer to be first ? " Maddison gradually pointed the device at each Jenna, Elise, and Liza at some point to intimidate them, and not one of them were sure what to do as they were presented with an ultimatum similar to the one where Louise was shrunk.
" Heheheheheheh, lets make it interesting if no one comes up in the next 10 seconds I'll choose personally or maybe I'll even crush this little brat in my hand. " Maddison kept snickering to herself and began counting down.
" 10 . . 9 . .8 . . .7 " Maddison began, expecting some sort of deliberation among the three, but was equally astonished as everyone else when Liza stepped forward.
" Fine do me." She said.
" Young lady what do you think you're doing !? " Elise said disapproving completely of this act of suicide.
" Hehehehe" Maddison giggled. " Is this supposed to be your act of redemption? You think Franky will forgive you if you offer up your life? HUH!? "
" I don't care what you want to call it, I admit what I did was wrong and no matter what I say or do will change what I did to Franky and I can only offer my apology. Unlike you who always makes excuses and blames everyone else for what you've done, and you don't care." Liza boldly declared, and silenced Maddison who was partly shocked Liza wasn't cowering in fear and in reflection of her words.
That reflection though was the equivalent of distraction and hesitation, that did not go unnoticed by Liza. ." Another thing . . .FUCK YOU." Taking advantage of her long legs, Liza quickly took a step and kicked the device straight out of Maddison's hands.
" Aah! Why yo-" Maddison stumbled backwards, but Liza quickly ran forward and grabbed the outside of the hand that held Louise and rammed Maddison onto the ground. Fortunately Louise didn't suffer the impact of the fall, and Maddison's grip became un-done enough for Louise to slip out of her grasp.
" YOU FREAKING BITCH!!" Maddison snarled, flailing to get out from under Liza. She managed to partly escape with Liza now just having Maddison by her kneecaps. With a crisis averted, Elise and Jenna joined in the chaos, Elise dog piling on Maddison and Jenna making sure Louise was out of harms way.
" Quick, Jenna grab it!" Louise urgently shouted as, Elise and Liza tried to keep Maddison down who was thrashing underneath them like a savage beast.
Picking up the device and with Louise in Jenna's opposite hand, both inspected it trying to figure out how it worked. Liza seeing the two struggle spoke up.
" The lever has decimals on it, that represent how much of the targets original size will be remaining! Switch it to 1 to turn Louise back to normal!" She instructed.
Setting Louise down, Jenna followed the orders set it to 1 to restore Louise to 100% of her original height.
" FUCK." Maddison didn't relent and finally got a leg free and managed to kick Liza until she lost her grip, with control over her torso she then managed to drive her fingers into Elise's eyes which forced the latter to also relinquish enough for Maddison to get upright and rush over to Jenna in to attempt to regain control of the situation.
" Here goes ! " Jenna without a second to spare fired the trigger as Maddison made her way over and a brief camera-like flash illuminated the room, right after that instance, Maddison attempted to grab her device from Jenna's hands and shove her away.
Jenna though saw her coming, braced herself and tightened her hold on the device leading to a tug-o-war of sorts to ensue between the two. All the while, Louise found herself increasing to her original height. She took a brief look over herself in disbelief, but couldn't revel in it long knowing that Jenna needed her help.
Joining in on Jenna' side, Louise grabbed hold of the device for double the manpower then Elise and Liza wasted no time recovering and entering the fray. They both grabbed Maddison by the waist and forcibly tried to pull her off. Maddison gritted her teeth and was shouting all sorts of expletives as the situation fell further out of her control, something had to give and nobody was letting up, but SOMETHING was. The device being tugged on by forces in opposite directions. Adrenaline pumping and the sense of panic didn't allow them to notice, but I can hear it cracking and subtle sparks of electricity.
Maddison's hands were only clutched on the barrel of the device , nearly being pried off completely, but kept tugging. " YOU STUPID BITCHES, BEFORE THIS IS OVER I'M GONNA SHRINK YOU TO THE SIZE OF AN INFANT, THEN I'LL BREAK YOUR LEGS SO YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY, THEN I'LL SHRINK YOU AGAIN LEAVING YOU NO BIGGER THAN MY FINGER, THEN I'LL FORCE YOU TO GROVEL, THEN I'LL SHRINK YOU AGAIN LEAVING YOU NO BIGGER THAN A TERMITE, AT THAT POINT I WON'T EVEN HEAR YOUR LITTLE CRIES OF ANGUISH, THEN I'LL SHRINK YOU AGAIN AND YOU'LL BE MICROSCOPIC AND NO ONE WILL EVER BE ABLE TO FIND YOU, I'LL LOOK LIKE GOD TO YOU, AND YOU KNOW WHAT, THEN FOR GOOD MEASURE I'LL SHR-" Maddison kept going on, but right before she went back to the cornerstone that was the foundation of her maniacal verbal onslaught, a flash of light went off again and the device was pulled apart and all parties holding on fell to the floor as the pieces of Maddison's signature weapon laid there with black smoke rising from it.
Everyone sat up from the ground with dumbfounded expressions as the battle reached an impasse. Then all eyes fell on enemy #1 Maddison who bore the expression of someone whose whole world collapsed before her very eyes. A world that was growing larger around her by the second.