Chapter 9: Overhead

October 18, 2023 5:04 PM

They arrived back at the Rangers' equipment room to find it, thankfully, empty. Isabella stayed back as Flonne carried Aviel and Sanders down to their lockers. Flonne intently watched them as they put up their equipment before kneeling down to get a better look. Even knelt down, she towered over the two scouts by at least a good six inches. It didn't sound like much, but to the 3/4th inch tall scouts it was like a six story building leaning down to watch them.

Aviel didn't seem to pay the fairy any mind as she finished putting her equipment away. Sanders, though, looked to be talking to her about various things and causing the fairy to ohh and ahh a few times. Isabella, however, couldn't hear anything thanks to them no longer having their radios on. Isabella couldn't help but feel left out, a feeling she was all too accustomed too.

Finally, Sanders and Aviel finished and they turned back to Flonne. The fairy gently picked them up and flew them back toward Isabella. Isabella held out her hand for them and took them the rest of the way to the platform. No one said anything as they traveled making the trip rather morbid and awkward. Then again, no one wanted to talk about what had happened.

The platform was rather bare of people. It was late now and most of the day workers had left and the night workers taken over. She sat them down on the platform as Flonne flew down to look at the station in utter wonder, like a child at a new toy shop. She made sure not to actually land on it though. Both Sanders and Aviel turned toward Isabella waiting to be dismissed.

"I..." Isabella started before reconsidering, "Just get some rest and try to forget about today. Take tomorrow off to do something nice for yourselves. And that isn't an order, just a request, alright?"

Isabella's eye-patch HUD zoomed in to let her see their faces, despite the size difference. Sanders' tiny form gave a smile and nodded as Aviel simply stared at Isabella. Isabella could tell she was angry at not being promoted and still being small. She was turning to leave when Isabella called out to her, "Aviel, wait." Aviel's shoulders dropped as she turned around to face Isabella.

"I am sorry that they did not promote you. But I stand by my decision that you are still not ready, even after today. I know you have the skill and drive to be a wonderful member, but I... I don't want you to rush into this.I just don't want you to have to suffer through what I do," Isabella said as she felt her tears welling up again. She fought them back as she tried to push the memories of Jeremy away.

"I do understand, Isabella. But that doesn't mean I have to like it or accept it. Just because YOU messed up doesn't meant I will," Aviel's tiny voice said as she turned away. Isabella sighed to herself as Aviel retreated back to the gate. Sanders was waiting for her there and proceeded through the checkpoint after her.

"Bye!" Flonne said to them when she noticed they were leaving and gave them a big happy wave. Sanders returned it before elbowing Aviel and making her give a half-hearted one. They then boarded the tram and headed back into the tiny city that was just barely glowing off in the distance.

Isabella sighed as she watched them go. She hoped Aviel would come to accept her reasons soon, but knew that the chances of such were low. She really did have the makings of a great Society member, but Isabella feared she would travel down a path she knew all too well. A path that would only lead Aviel to forgetting what was really important. A path Isabella wanted to desperately steer her away from...

With the scouts gone, Isabella turned back to leave the area, checking her feet first, and headed for the barracks. While she wanted to continue to think of how to save Aviel, she still had a clue to look into and a mystery she did not want her scouts involved in. She had only gotten a few steps before the familiar fluttering reminded her she still had one person with her. Isabella turned to Flonne and saw her let out a long yawn.

"Maybe you should go get some rest too," Isabella suggested as the fairy landed on her shoulder.

"No, I'm fine. I'm not sleepy," Flonne obviously lied as she yawned again.

"Flonne, you need to get some sleep. It has been a long day," Isabella softly chided the sleepy fairy.

"I don't wanna, I don't like going back to the cages," Flonne whined. She huffed, crossed her arms, and turned away from Isabella. Isabella felt a bit of sadness hit here gut as she remembered seeing the cages the fairies were usually put in. She still didn't understand why they were locked up like that. The catgirls at least needed to be because of their danger to tinies, but the fairies were no threat to anyone. But Flonne didn't have to sleep there now that she was in Isabella's care.

"Flonne, you won't have to sleep in the cages ever again. You will be sleeping with me in my room from now on," she said to the back of the fairy. Flonne wheeled around to look at Isabella, studying her face for any sign she was kidding.

"Do...do you mean it? No more c-cages?" she asked her voice trembling a bit.

"Yes, no more cages," Isabella said giving the fairy a warm smile. Flonne got a giant smile as she leap into the air. She cheered and laughed as she circled around the area making loops and barrel rolls through the air. Isabella was glad no one else was around to see her little performance as she felt her face blush.

Suddenly, Flonne zoomed toward Isabella and wrapped her arms about halfway around Isabella's face. She pulled herself into Isabella's cheek and started to blurt out, "Thankyouthankyouthankyou," faster than Isabella could easily hear. Isabella returned the hug as gently and as best as she could, only really able to get her fingers around Flonne's much smaller frame.

"You're we- calm down now," she said as she finally got Flonne to stop talking, "you're welcome. Now why don't you go see your new home?"

"OKAY!" Flonne cheered before almost taking off.

"Wait! Its in the barracks. Room 136, alright?"

"OK! Room 136, 136, 136," she repeated to herself before taking off like a rocket toward the barracks. Isabella smiled after her retreating form. Something as simple as a room had made her so happy...

She pushed those thoughts away as her smile melted off. It was back to the business of finding out what Manchent had been trying to tell her and she had no time for distractions while it was left unsolved. Her instincts told her there was something she was missing, something important, but she couldn't see what it was. For now, she would just have to go on the clue she had and find Lindale.

Isabella waited for Flonne to get a bit of a head start before heading for the barracks herself. Hopefully, Alice would be in her room and wouldn't mind letting Isabella borrow her maps.  Alice was a bit...reclusive and nearly everyone found her discomforting, but Isabella had been partnered with her back when they were both normal-sized. Isabella considered Alice a friend and Alice seemed to as well, though it was kinda hard to tell with her. If nothing else, she didn't seem to find Isabella's company disagreeable.

The barracks was a new structure built by the Society to house a hundred of the thousand plus full-sized Society members that worked around New Atlanta. It had been built where an old parking deck had been before it was torn down. It was rather bland as far as building went as it had been built with utility in mind, rather than aesthetics. It was just a basic square that rose two stories into the air. Windows lined its outside and a door on either side lead into it.

Isabella heading inside and saw a few other members chatting in the small entrance lobby. They waved at her and she waved back before continuing toward Alice's room. She arrived at Alice's door after a few minutes of walking and knocked on it. There was a few seconds of silence before the door opened. Alice appeared at the door wearing a pair of sleeping shorts and a tube-top. Her shoulder-length black hair was a bit messy, looking to have been uncombed. Her brown eyes looked up at the slightly taller Isabella with all the emotion of a dull rock.

"Isabella," she said in her nearly mechanical voice. The corner of her mouth ever so slightly moved up in the closet thing she ever came to a smile. Isabella returned the "smile, though in the more traditional way.

"Alice, sorry to bother you so late. I am not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No," Alice said simply before moving to the side to let Isabella in. Isabella headed in and was still stuck by how spartan Alice lived. All she had was a bed, a single dresser, a small desk, a padlocked trunk, and a blacked out window. A door off to the left lead to her bathroom and...that was it. There were no decorations of any kind anywhere to be seen and the only form of entertainment Isabella could see was a pair of books lying on the floor next to the bed. Even cosmetic supplies were absent save a brush Gabby had given Alice for her birthday as a gag gift, Isabella was fairly sure it still hadn't been used. Isabella wasn't surprised by the state of the room in the least, however. Alice had always been very utilitarian with everything, especially her own belongings.

Alice closed the door as she asked, "Do you need something?" Straight to the point as always...

"Yes, actually. I need your help to find someplace or something," Isabella said, still debating on telling her the whole story.

"What?"

"Lindale," Isabella said.

Alice's eyes narrowed a bit as she asked, "Why?" Isabella was torn on whether to tell Alice about Gregor or not. Lying to Alice wouldn't be easy, but getting her involved in this was just too dangerous.

"Personal reasons," Isabella lied keeping her face emotionless. One of Alice's eyebrows raised as she stared at Isabella. She didn't say anything, but her look made it obvious she found that explanation, unsatisfactory.

"Reasons I do not want to say because I do not want you involved," Isabella said going with the truth rather than another lie. Alice's eyes narrowed again as she stared at Isabella. Alice waited for a few heartbeats before sighing and going to her trunk. She unlocked it and dug through it before finding and old, heavily battered and slightly torn map.

Alice unfolded it and looked over it for a few seconds before placing it on her desk, still only half unfolded. Little notes in short hand that Isabella didn't fully understand covered it all over along with markings and other designs. The outline of Old Atlanta was clearly marked on it, though, along with most of the still intact highways and new tiny cities. Alice pointed out the old 75 highway and showed it going north-east to the town of Rome, a well known Resistance hot spot. Isabella was about to tell Alice that she was looking for Lindale, not Rome, when Alice pointed to a small town just on the edge of Rome's southern tip. The name next to the town was right by Alice's finger, Lindale.

"Do you know anything about it?" Isabella asked as she took out a notepad and began to write the directions to it down.

"Old mill town. Mill closed, town suffered," she said before shrugging, "Never went that far. Rome dangerous now."

Rome was indeed dangerous. So dangerous even the Swords seemed to be happy just to ignore them, despite being a known Resistance hideout and black market. It having a National Guard Armory plus two fully stocked and well run hospitals before the shrink had given the Resistance there access to some nasty weapons. Syringes full of medical cocktails shoot out of jury-rigged assault rifle-turned gun emplacements all behind massive rivers made for an intimidating prospect for assault. Not to mention whatever traps they had rigged up in the actual town proper. The town was a veritable fortress that had been left alone mostly due to its distance from Atlanta.

Thankfully, Lindale was outside the city limits so there was a chance it would not be so well fortified. Hopefully, she could get in and out without much trouble. Of course, going straight there and back would be too obvious a clue to anyone who might be watching her thinking Gregor might have said something. She would have to go to a few places off the beaten path to throw them off the trail.

She wrote down a few other places that was on the map and were well outside the usual patrol range before nodding to Alice. Alice watched her mark the other places and gave her a worried look.

"Don't worry, Alice. I will be careful," Isabella reassured her as she put away her notepad.

"Overhead."

"I am not over my head," Isabella snapped back. Alice stared at her before shaking her head and folding back up her map. Isabella ignored her as she stood up and moved toward the door.

"Thank you for the help, Alice," Isabella said as Alice gave a grunt in acknowledgment. She was angry, and Isabella couldn't blame her. She had left her out of the loop and refused to accept her help to protect her. If Alice had done it to Isabella she would have been angry too. But it was for her own good, at least until Isabella stopped getting this feeling she had...

Isabella left and headed for her room on the second floor. She opened the door and found her room to be a bit messier than she remembered. A few of her clothes had been scattered about along with some of her make-up. A bottle of water had been knocked over and one of her clean pants had been used to sorta clean it up. Isabella felt anger rise up in her as she looked around for Flonne.

Her anger faded, however, when she noticed the small fairy. She was laying on Isabella's pillow curled up in one of Isabella's clean towels as a blanket. Flonne gave a soft yawn as the lights disturbed her, but she simply rolled over and went back to sleep. Rather than yelling at her, Isabella let her rest as she cleaned up the worst of the mess.

With that done, she looked for a place to put the fairy for the night so that she wouldn't accidentally hurt her. Isabella looked at her nightstand and felt her heart sink. The picture of Jeremy, her husband, rested there still smiling in his usual carefree way. She looked back over to Flonne and smiled as she got an idea. She picked up the pillow as gently as she could and laid it on her night stand, next to the picture of Jeremy.

Flonne didn't budge an inch as she sleep through her move until she was placed back down. She mumbled under her breath before rolling over to face Jeremy's picture.

"It is not the same, Jeremy, but it is the best I could do," she whispered to the picture before heading over and turning off the lights. The light coming in through the window let her see her way back to her bed and the nightstand. She looked down and gave Flonne's tiny head a soft kiss goodnight. Flonne mumbled again under her breath.

"-ood night, Mommy," she said with a soft yawn. Isabella's eyes shoot open and she recoiled from Flonne. Isabella didn't try to hold the tears back as she sat back down on her bed. She let them flow freely as her thoughts turned back to that day. Looking under her foot to see...

She had to cover her mouth to not wake Flonne as she cried out in pain and loss. Everything she ever wanted, everything she dreamed off, crushed under her own foot, turned into nothing but a smear. She cried as she begged forgiveness from whoever was listening and longed to her the one voice she would never hear again.

    Excerpt of Doctor Gregor Manchent's biography

While Doctor Manchent  was best known for the tram line built in Atlanta, it was far from his only contribution to the city. In fact, his genius level skill in engineering and design saw him assisting in nearly every major infrastructure work done in the city and many done outside the city.

During the first few years after the Shrink Disaster, Gregor spent nearly all his time designing and planning construction projects nearly everywhere, including areas far outside the city limits. Back during those early years, the Resistance had not appeared allowing him to travel nearly completely freely, save for a single giantess that acted as a bodyguard. He spent two years moving from project to project both inside and outside Atlanta leaving behind great works to rival that of any done today.

In 2018, Gregor began his largest and most ambitions project, the Atlanta Tram line. Creating a tram small enough for shrunken people, but fast enough to allow travel all over the city proved a great challenge. However, with the help of Society scientists, Doctor Manchent managed to create a tram that could do just that. Once that challenge was meet, it took only a year to build thanks to the Society's assistance and Atlanta exploded in size and prosperity.

Despite the extensive wealth he gained because of these accomplishments, Doctor Manchent never lived lavishly. He owned a small flat that all described as simple, but cozy, and gave much of his wealth to charities, scholarships, and even to just random people. His kind heart, welcoming smile, and willingness to help nearly anyone no matter what made him a much beloved citizen of Atlanta. It was no surprise that his funeral drew in thousands of mourners including a number of Society members, including both Matriarchs. He will be sorely missed by all those in Atlanta.