Chapter 19. Duty or Fun

“Oh fuck!” Lisa said aloud as she looked at the chaos in the highway.

Then she thought: “I should have seen this coming”

Accidents had happened all along the highway right after she had become visible. The sound of tires screeching, metal colliding and glass shattering had become frequent for a while. And then, it had been replaced by the sound of screams.

She had just got out of the FSD and walked through the small road that led to the highway. She knew she had to follow its path to the south and that sooner or later she would find Hollner. Her destination was about 60 miles away. Just before leaving, Ron had told her that at her size it would take her about half an hour if she just walked. While this had sounded impressive, Lisa then realized that it meant leaving the city at Casey’s mercy for 30 long minutes and got nervous.

Ron had asked her not to run. He told her that her impact on the surroundings would be much higher if she did. She ended up promising that she would try to stick to walking.

She was stopped now, looking at the situation in the highway with despair. She felt guilty.

“People, people please… you don’t have to be afraid! I’m on your side!” she tried offering.

There were no more accidents, since the highway was now completely collapsed; groups of people had formed into mobs and were trying to get away from her, screaming very loudly.

She also saw some smaller groups of people that were not moving. She soon realized why: they were the ones that were injured and the few that had stayed to look after them.

“Maybe I can help” Lisa thought

She took two steps in the direction of the closest group of injured people and knelt to have a closer look. Almost immediately, the people that were there just to help got too scared and got away.

“Damn!” Lisa said aloud.

She immediately stood up and stepped back.

“Please, don’t leave. You have to help that people” she said. “I’m not going to do anything to you. I just wanted to help”

A few did as she told them. Others were already lost… they were just trying to catch some of the groups of people that were fleeing.

“Stupid little people” Lisa thought. “All I’ve done is show up and look at the mess they just made!”

She realized that the closer she was to the people, the bigger the mess they would make. Quite frustrated at the situation, she decided that she would need to keep her distance with the highway. Still, she needed to follow its path south, to find Hollner. She tried to strike the right balance by walking next to the highway but far away enough not to be an immediate threat for the people on it. She thought that about five hundred yards should do. Of course, she could still be seen but she hoped that she looked far away enough to minimize the people’s fear.

A few minutes later, she met the next obstacle. A small two-lane road that met the highway and that she would need to cross if she wanted to keep on her path. She really had no option, so she approached it carefully, trying to look as little threatening as possible. It was of no use. As soon as she became visible, accidents started all along the road, a minute later it became impassable as the cars on it formed a massive pile up.

“Fuck” Lisa muttered again, between her teeth

There was nothing she could do other than keep on her path and step over the piled up cars. She looked down as she straddled the road and felt guilty as she saw the panic she caused in the little people. She felt gloomy as she completed her step and went on.

She could then advance uninterrupted for a while. On one hand she had a feeling of urgency to get to Hollner. But she was also feeling increasingly disheartened by the reaction of everyone to her presence.

What would happen once she got to Hollner and stopped Casey? She sure hoped that Ron would find a way of making her normal again. It was clear that at her current size she did not fit in. And no matter how much Joe had tried to reassure her, she knew that she would not be able to have anything close to a normal life with him and with her daughter unless she was reduced again.

She saw the next access road in the distance. She knew that her presence was causing trouble even now. A couple of seconds later she heard the first cars crashing into each other and started feeling depressed.

Then, some strength surged from within her and she straightened as she walked.

“You need to help these people even if they fear you. You are their only hope, even if most of them don’t know yet. So, cut the crap, stop complaining and do what you need to do. You’ll have time to pity yourself when all this is over”

Sykes had been observing the antics of the two giant women in the large screen of the status room. They had kept a lower profile for a while, but he knew it was just a matter of time before they started escalating their level of violence again, especially Casey Morgan.

He was called to the conference room General Archer was using for more private meetings once more. He knew he was still not expected to talk unless he had something really important to say, so he just sat in the chair that was farther away from the screen and waited for someone to start the briefing.

No one in the room said anything. Then, the large screen came to life and the old face of Doctor Mendel came up.

“The old bastard again?” Sykes thought

Then, Mendel touched something on his side, the plane opened and he saw a much younger man sitting next to him. Someone he hated quite more than Mendel.

“Fuck him! I thought that they would have already kicked his ass into the next state, by now”

Doctor Mendel cleared his throat and said:

“As I mentioned in the previous meeting, we have been making good progress in the analysis of the data we got from Miss Cooper. I’m happy to report that we think that we have found the clue behind the three women’s new growth spurts”

General Archer was taken by surprise. For the first time in a long while, Sykes thought he could see a trace of hope in his look.

“Are you sure?” the General asked

“I’ll let Doctor Howard tell you more about it. He has led the team that has got to the conclusions that I was introducing”

Sykes wanted to tell everyone that listening to the nerd on the other side of the screen was a total waste of time, but he knew that he should better keep his mouth shut.

Doctor Howard cleared his throat and started:

“We have been making a lot of progress over the last hour. We combined the results of our initial investigation line with the analysis we got from Lisa after we forced her growth and we could finally find a trail to follow. We will prepare a full report, but I understand that you are interested on the main conclusions. The summary would be as follows: whatever happened to the three girls 6 years ago changed their genetics. The formula unlocked some unknown potential twice, making them grow to a hundred feet tall. The counter that made them small did not make them “normal” again. The changes were irreversible. What the counter did was to lock a higher-level door that cancelled the effects of what had been unlocked downstream. The immediate effect was that the girls got back to normal size and were apparently unaffected by any changes that had happened to them when they grew. Now we know that the change had not been reversed, just locked, hidden. This lock made them stay normal size and hid the changes in their bodies. A few weeks ago we started getting some strange readings from the analyses of the three subjects, though. Our preliminary assessment is that the second lock has actually been wearing out ever since it was implemented, and we could now start seeing some of what was inside it leaking out. Judging from the very slow effects of this wear out, we believe that the subjects could have gone on with their normal lives for a very long time before there would have been any noticeable effects. We would have had enough warning, in any case.

Unfortunately, the attempt to end their lives acted as a catalyst. The stress of their bodies as they were dying removed the second lock I was referring to and it resulted on the subjects growing. The results of the continued analysis on Lisa are quite conclusive in this respect”

General Archer was trying to follow. Sykes, on the other hand, was trying to control himself. No one else had noticed yet, but it would not take too long for General Archer to realize that he had been the one giving the order to kill Casey Morgan and Kelly Hanson, and so, the one to blame for what was going on, according to the nerd’s theory.

“But the women are bigger than the last time” General Archer mentioned

Ron Howard looked down for a second and then looked back at the screen. He looked a little troubled. He started speaking, though:

“We… the FSD has tried to replicate the effects of the original formula ever since the events in Henford. Quite unsuccessfully, I should say. We thought we understood why the three subjects had grown originally, but we were not able to replicate the process on anyone else. Then, we focused on trying to replicate it with them. We tried a… uh… wide variety of agents that we thought would produce similar effects to the original one. We believe we have understood why we were not successful now. We had not yet formulated the theory of the layers of locks that I just tried to explain. All our working assumptions were based on unlocking the necessary changes in the “core”, in the same spot that was changed when the girls grew for the first time. And apparently, we did make some changes. We could just not see them because they were blocked by a higher level lock”

Ron Howard cleared his throat and went on:

“Try to imagine this as a safe box: the content is inside, but there are a series of security layers around it. We have unknowingly been messing with the content, but we have not been able to see it because the door of the safe was closed. We closed it back in Henford. When we tried to kill them, we opened the door again, and what was inside came out. We have also understood the reason why we were not able to have any success in any of our previous tests: every person in the world has all the security layers on at all times. They had them all open when they took the formula in Henford. Why them and why on three girls roughly the same age that lived in the same area is something that we will need to investigate in the future. Now, of course, we have some more pressing matters”

“Do you know how to make them small again?” General Archer asked, getting a little impatient

“We believe we do” Ron Howard said. “Our plan would be to activate an even higher level lock, quite higher than the one we activated in Henford and that has now been broken. We believe we know how to do it” Ron said

“Can you test it?” General Archer said

Ron produced a somewhat depressed smile and said:

“Unfortunately not. With Lisa Callaghan away, we have no means to test this internally. I’m afraid that the only option will be a direct field test”

“How confident are you on getting results?” General Archer asked

“The theory all checks out. As far as I know, it should work” Ron said

“This does not sound like you are guaranteeing any results” General Archer said, a little cynically

“I’m a scientist. I cannot guarantee something I have not tested. But to the best of the knowledge of everyone here, we believe that the method we’ve developed will work”

General Archer remained silent for a couple of seconds. He seemed to be evaluating options. Then, finally, he came back to life.

“How soon can you test it?” the General asked. He sounded a little anxious.

“We can have a helicopter airborne with a weaponized version of the necessary chemicals in 45 minutes”

Sykes could see General Archer mentally counting the times. If a chopper took off in 45 minutes it would not get into Hollner until at least 15 minutes later. This meant a whole hour of letting the two giant women roam freely in the city.

He looked at an aide and asked:

“How long for the reinforcements to be ready?”

“They’ll be ready to engage in 30 minutes, sir”

Sykes managed not to grin. He knew what was going through the General’s mind. He would have the necessary forces to attack the women in half an hour, but the nerd was offering him a less violent path forward if he gave him 30 more minutes. After the fiasco of the previous operation, that did probably sound very tempting to General Archer. If he tried attacking and failed again though… he would have a very hard time answering why he disregarded the advice of the scientists that were trying to address the situation.

Ron Howard addressed the General from the other side of the screen:

“General, sir… I would advise against any other military action against the women”

“What happens, nerd, do you want to protect your big-boobed girlfriend?” Sykes thought

“Why?” General Archer said

“My theory about the layers… I have explained it in just one dimension, but that was just a simplification. You need to consider that there is more than one core and more than one set of layers. Higher-level locks affect several lower level layers at once. We… we don’t understand the extent of the changes we might have caused in the core, or to be more precise, in the different cores, with the chemicals we’ve administered the subjects over the last years. It is possible that some of those changes have not yet been realized. Further military action could either be ineffective, like in the first attempt or, in case it was effective, it could have even worse consequences”

“Are you telling me that they could grow more if we manage to hurt or even kill them?” General Archer said

“We don’t know. It’s just a possibility” Ron said

“We cannot just let them do whatever they please in the city!” General Archer complained

“I’m just asking you to give us enough time to try our solution. This is the safest solution for the city, General”

Sykes saw Archer thinking hard. Then, he turned to the screen and said:

“I’ll take your advice into consideration. My staff is going to come back to you in a few minutes with our final decision on the course of action. Keep us informed on your progress”

It was clear that Casey was getting restless. They had got out of the river a few minutes ago, not before Casey had had some fun trying to blow some people off their feet. They were now wandering through the streets of the East bank of the river, where Downtown got even busier and where buildings were even taller.

Kelly had managed to choose streets and avenues that were as empty of temptations for Casey as possible. The trade-off was that she was not having any fun either.

“Why did she have to show up?” Kelly thought, still not having accepted the turn of events. “Everything was perfect just before. I would have dealt with the military myself and sooner or later people would have learned to respect me and to obey me. I still had some work to do, but I could have handled it. Sooner or later, people would have realized it was in everyone’s best interest to accept everyone’s new status. But now… now she’s fucking everything up. If she just listened! I don’t have a problem with sharing… I mean, having someone else my size even has advantages. But she’s just fucking everything I was trying to do. Now I’m just wasting my time trying to keep her under control and not enjoying myself, and I know that sooner or later she’ll just go wild again. And while she does, and she’ll just keep on doing it, the little people won’t yield. Why should they, if all they see is that we are using our size to kill them just for fun?”

Kelly’s train of thought was interrupted by Casey. She was very obviously getting nervous.

“Where the hell are we going? There are no tinies around!” she protested

Kelly rolled her eyes but then made an effort to soften her voice as she replied:

“I want to do some sightseeing, ok?”

“What are we, tourists or something?” Casey went on in an annoyed tone

“If you want to say so… I prefer to think that I’m getting to know my new city” Kelly replied in a flat voice

“Anything in particular?” Casey asked

“I want to see the Millennium Tower” Kelly said, pointing forward

Neither Kelly nor Casey had visited Hollner before, even if it was one of the most well known cities in the country. It was both a rich and culturally thriving city, and over the last twenty-five years it had seen a boom of architecture that had defined its current skyline. The jewel of the crown was, of course, the Millennium Tower, with its 1,200 feet and its famous spike on top. It stood out from every other building, even in Downtown.

Kelly really wanted to see it. At the same time, the path to it seemed to be among the emptiest areas of the city, which allowed her to be a little more relaxed with Casey.

“Ok. Let’s go see it. But once we’re done, I’m looking forward to some action”

“Sure girl” Kelly said in a not particular excited tone

Casey made a point of crushing every single abandoned car she found in her way. Kelly did not know if she was just trying to get distracted or if, in a way, she was also doing it as a way to bother her. Kelly did not say anything to her. She just looked for the next car and flattened it just the same, to prove Casey that she was not the only one that could enjoy it. And the truth was that she enjoyed it. She wondered when she would be able to enjoy her size again without having to worry about what Casey would do. She did not feel very optimistic about it.

Her fears were confirmed when a group of people got out of a building lobby a couple of blocks later. From what Kelly could see, they had not realized about their presence until they were in the middle of the street. When they did, they just screamed and started to run away. A quick look through the corner of her eye to Casey told Kelly that the men were doomed. She recognized the grin in her colleague’s face.

“Stupid little people. You almost deserve to die” Kelly thought

They did, two blocks later, when Casey caught them and made sure that they would all end up under her next step.

“Do you want the one that’s left?” Casey asked

Kelly realized that one of the little people, a woman in a flowered dress, had actually survived and was now trying to stand up right in front of Casey’s toes. For a second, Kelly admired the difference in size. Of course, the woman was as good as dead. Kelly was not interested on pure sadism, though. So, shrugging, she just said:

“All yours”

Casey chuckled and said:

“Look, she’s trying to get away. Maybe I should help her”

Kelly then saw her giant companion draw her leg back and then gracefully move it forward. The distinctive figure of the woman was sent flying for several blocks, landing quite further ahead. The lack of screams told Kelly that she was probably dead the moment Casey’s toes hit her.

Casey seemed happy. Kelly managed to suppress any reaction to what she had done. She knew she should not be surprised anymore. Without saying anything else, she resumed her walk.

The rest of the trek to the Millennium Tower was pretty uneventful. Casey did not say anything and Kelly was thankful for that. Then, they reached the large plaza where the building stood; she just walked to it and stood by its side.

She looked up and found the famous spike. It was very high, even by her new standards. Casey was soon standing next to her; placing a hand on her shoulder, she said:

“This is a pretty impressive building”

Her tone was flat, not especially emotional.

“It even makes me feel a little small” Kelly acknowledged

“Can you imagine how the tinies must feel when they look up at it, then?” Casey replied in a joking tone

“No, I can’t. I’m not tiny anymore” Kelly replied flatly

“Have you ever wanted to be taller?” Casey asked

“I don’t know. Back when the army hit me the idea came to me for a moment, but I have not really thought about it. Have you?”

“I have” Casey acknowledged

“And so?” Kelly asked

“I don’t know. I like it like this. But I have to admit that I did not like it the first time I saw that buildings started getting taller than me. I wanted to become taller than them, to look at them from above. The idea seemed interesting” Casey said

“Don’t you think it would be too big?” Kelly asked

“Why?” Casey replied. “Back in Henford I was about a hundred feet tall and I had a lot of fun. Now I’m quite bigger than that and I can’t say it’s worse. I definitely feel more powerful and there is nothing I have stopped being able to do. It’s just a matter of adapting. So, why not get even bigger? Hell, once I get tired of this size it would actually be fun to try another one!”

“I guess you have a point” Kelly said without too much passion

“I do” Casey said, standing behind Kelly and placing a hand on her chin. Tilting her head upwards again, she whispered to her ear: “Can you imagine you were as tall as the Millennium Tower? Who would then challenge that you were a goddess?”

Kelly felt her nipples harden. She tried to keep a poker face, but knew that it was hard to fool Casey.

“Too bad we don’t know how to make ourselves grow again” Casey said

“Yeah” Kelly said looking away. “That’s a pity” she added in a low tone

“We still have twenty-five stories or so within our reach, though” Casey said, her tone more exited, as she started walking toward the building.

“What are you going to do?” Kelly asked

“What do you think I’m going to do?” Casey replied as she got next to it.

Kelly followed Casey as she got next to the building and stood in front of it for a few seconds, as if pondering what to do. Then, she extended her arms, palms flat and looking downwards, and brought them through the building’s façade. Glass broke noisily as Casey easily pierced the windows and rested her fingers on what had to be the twenty-second or twenty-third floor. Then, without warning, Casey pushed downwards, her fingers easily breaking through glass and concrete and ripping a large chunk of the façade open. When she was done, a large portion of what looked like ten floors of the building were exposed to the world.

Casey was looking at the hundreds of screaming people inside like a girl in a candy store. Of course Kelly knew that she was not going to merely play with them, like she had done when she was alone and happy. Unfortunately, there was not too much she could do for the unlucky tinies. She could try to give them a hand, though.

Casey was reaching out towards the building when a whooshing sound caught her by surprise. She did not need to turn to know what had happened. Dozens of terrified little people were caught by the hurricane wind and were roughly blown deeper inside the building, together with chairs, desks and cabinets. When she turned she found Kelly slightly stooping and with her lips pushed out, blowing a kiss in the direction of the building.

“What are you doing?” she asked, surprised

Kelly then chuckled and said:

“I felt like sending them a welcoming kiss”

She hoped that Casey would not anything beyond her just having some fun. When she smiled and said: “You like to play”, Kelly relaxed.

Shrugging, she replied:

“You too”

Casey’s smile was evil when she said:

“Of course”

Then, turning towards the building, she brought her hand in and took it out with a few little people trapped in her fingers.