Chapter 10. Ascension    

The Potomac was barely able pto wet Kelly’s soles. The shallow river could not even get as high as her ankle. Kelly had expected her feet to get at least a little deeper when she had stepped into the river heading towards her destination, and the feeling had been a little weird. It felt like walking on a puddle rather than a river.

As a matter of fact, her feet sank deeper into the river bottom mud than the river’s actual depth.

At her size, it would have been easy enough for Kelly to step over the bridges on her way. However, a quick look at their number, their different widths and heights and how close together they were from her new perspective made her lazy. Thinking about the careful maneuvering that would be required was already tiring.

So, without further ceremony, Kelly just walked through the bridges, steel and concrete effortlessly breaking as her unimaginable strength pushed through them. Hundreds of cars fell onto the water below, adding to the ever-growing list of Kelly’s collateral victims. From high above, she fooled herself:

“They have had plenty of time to see me around. Hell, I’m easy to see! If anyone was stupid enough to still be at his car in the bridge, I can hardly be blamed for his stupidity, can I?”

Shortly after the bridges, she made a right and then got into the tidal basin, yet another puddle. As she was about to get to the northern riverbank, she realized about something. She was about to enter the country’s capital, its center of power, and there was not a trace of resistance to be seen.

“Have they finally realized that they are helpless against me?” she thought

The White House was a short stroll away, but Kelly made a stop first. It was a pretty obvious stop. Reaching a little above her knee, the Washington Monument was one of the only things around that was worth comparing to her new dimensions. Curious, Kelly bent and took a hold of its base. Then, she pulled upwards and smiled as she easily removed the iconic monument from the ground.

She straightened again and looked at the couple feet long obelisk in her hand.

“What should I do with it?” she thought

Then, a naughty idea came to mind.

“It’s about the right thickness, I’d say”

She had not realized how horny she was before her little game at the airport. But the truth was that every time she put her power to use and realized about its extent she got more aroused.

Taking a new look at the obelisk, she was really tempted to make good use of it. At that point, the truth that an entire city and quite probably an entire country were watching all her movements came to mind. However, what finally made her change her mind was not modesty but reminding herself that she still had work to do.

“Business first and pleasure later” she thought.

So, she just headed to the White House, obelisk in hand. Had it not been for her nudity, someone looking at a picture of Kelly’s upper body could have thought that they were watching a tourist getting out of a gift shop.

Calmly, she just crossed the park and got to her destination in no time. Crouching, Kelly sat on her knees and then carefully set the Washington Monument to her right. She did not want to damage it. She had plans for it later.

Then, bringing her head as close to the ground as possible, she looked through the back windows of the White House and said:

“Are you there, Mr. President?”

“For fuck’s sake, I still cannot believe how big she is” George Balotelli said through the news chopper internal channel.

“I cannot believe it either” the pilot replied

“The White House looks barely bigger than a matchbox to her now” George repeated

“What do you think she’ll do?” the pilot asked

“The hell I know. But we should better start reporting” George said

“I’m not getting any closer to her” the pilot warned

“I really don’t think that will be necessary. She is easy enough to see”

Moving her head up again, Kelly addressed everyone on the White House. For what mattered, the entire city of Washington could hear her.

“Are you there or not, Mr. President?” she asked

As obvious as it could seem now, Kelly had not really thought that the President might not be in his residence until she had actually got there. She was going to find out soon enough, though.

“Ok, everyone on the White House, listen to me” she said. “I don’t know if the President is there or not, but whoever is in charge should better get to the balcony. If I don’t see anyone there in thirty seconds, I’m going to turn the entire building into a fucking crater, do you understand? Don’t try me!”

She was not too sure of what she would do if no one came out. She may make her threat true, but she may not… In the end, she needed to learn where the President was. Bluffing was easier when one was her size, though. She was pretty sure that no matter what she ended up doing, no one would dare accuse her of anything.

While she waited for someone to react to her request, Kelly straightened and looked at the city of Washington. She could identify some of its most famous landmarks easily enough. The most visible one was probably the Congress, up in Capitol Hill. She would visit it soon enough. Beyond the official area, the rest of the city was not that remarkable. As a matter of fact, Washington D.C. did not feature any skyscraper or any especially tall building. It was pretty flat, a city that did not exist higher than Kelly’s mid-shin.

Her attention was grabbed by something other than the city itself, though. She had disregarded them at first but once she had realized they were there, they were easy enough to notice. There had to be at least a dozen of them and despite their ridiculous sizes, Kelly could still make the bright colors out pretty well. This, along with the fact that they were not trying to get away from her but were hovering at what they surely thought was a safe distance told Kelly that all of them were news choppers.

“Good” she thought. She wanted the attention. The more people realized about her power, the sooner they would accept it.

A movement she caught through the corner of her eye made her look down again at the White House. There was someone at the balcony!

She brought her head close to the ground again and took a look at the tiny figure of a man in his fifties that was holding to the railing of the balcony as if his life depended on it.

Stan could not believe that this was happing to him. He should be in Air Force One. For the hundredth time over the last hour, he cursed the unfortunate succession of events that had kept him on the White House.

The woman’s face was so massive that it was taking all of Stan’s field of vision. As a matter of fact, it was impossible for him to see it completely without having to move his neck.

The woman’s massive lips parted and she whispered: “Hello”

Despite the fact that he realized that she was trying to keep her volume down, the power of her voice made his bones rattle. The warm breeze coming from the woman’s mouth made his jacket wave and forced Stan to hold the railings once more not to lose his balance.

“Hello Miss Hanson” he said

“You know my name?” the woman asked, mocking. “I guess I’m getting popular” she added

Stan did not know what to reply. Her size was just too disconcerting. His mind was not able to grasp it. He felt overwhelmed. He remained silent for a few seconds. Then, the woman talked again:

“What is your name?” she asked in what he believed was still an attempt to whisper

“I’m Stanley Whitmore. I’m the President’s chief of staff” he said

“Well, nice to meet you Stan, but I’m here to see the President. I do not have an appointment, but I hope that he will be able to make some time for me” she said. She was clearly mocking him. It was easy enough to see. This made him panic even more.

“The President is not in the White House” Stan said

Kelly mentally cursed

She realized that she should have actually expected it. She was easy enough to see and her destination had been obvious enough for quite some time.

“I should have not wasted so much time on the way” she blamed herself. Maybe is she had gone there directly she would have caught him before he had had time to leave. Well, there was no point on thinking anymore about it now. In the end, dealing with the President in person was not so critical to her plans, even if she could not feel happy at the price of her overconfidence. It would make the entire situation somewhat less theatrical.

What was done was done, though. It was pointless to weep about it now. She needed to focus on the task at hand. Frowning, she looked at the miniscule chief of staff and asked:

“And where would he be?”

“I’m not authorized to tell you” the chief of staff said

For some reason, his answer made Kelly mad. She had already been upset at the President not being there, to start with.

“Authorized?” she asked. The man seemed to quickly realize that he had made some sort of mistake. “Let me teach you something about authority” Kelly added

Without further words, Kelly sat back up and immediately brought her right hand towards the White House. Then, cupping it like a spade, she dug her hand deep in the ground. Her fingers broke through some underground structures as they maneuvered under the President’s residence. When she was done, Kelly moved her hand back up, ripping the White House from its foundations.

She had been slow and careful enough not to destroy the building. At the same time, she had tried to keep it as balanced as possible. Soon, she was holding it right in front of her face. The chief of staff had dropped to the floor, but was still on the balcony.

Without further word, Kelly proceeded to stand up, keeping the White House secure in her palm. Once she was standing, she widened her stance a little and brought her left hand to her hip, while still holding the President’s house in her open right palm, as if she were offering it to an imaginary audience.

She was actually offering it to an audience. A quick look beyond her hand told her that, as expected, the news choppers were not losing any detail on what was happening. She even thought that their number had grown, over the last few minutes.

She addressed the chief of staff but she was actually addressing the entire country.

“There’s no other authority than me! Understood?” she said

Stanley Whitmore had barely managed to stand up. He nodded frantically.

“Now, tell me what I want to know” Kelly said, softening her voice

The President was in the Air Force 1. Coming to think about it, it had been predictable enough. Quite a lot of the cabinet was with him. Those that were not were being moved to the West Coast. Apparently, someone had decided that it was the safest spot in the country. Kelly wondered if she should prove them wrong.

Kelly’s original plan had been to get the President and have him surrender the country to her publicly. She now realized that it had been too much to ask for. Those things, apparently, only happened in Superman movies.

This didn’t mean that she did not feel a little frustrated, though. Still, the President’s absence was just an inconvenience. One that was not going to stop her. She thought for a couple of seconds, made her mind up and then looked at the choppers in the distance with determination.

“She is going to make a speech” George Balotelli said

“How do you know?” the cameraman asked him through the internal circuit

“Look at the way she is looking at us!” George said. “I’ve seen that expression hundreds of times before. Make sure you get a good shot” he said

The cameraman was about to reply when the giantess talked in a much louder voice than the one she had been using so far. George could clearly hear it even over the annoying sound of the rotor and while wearing the heavy headphones that they used to communicate internally.

“People of the United States of America” the massive woman said. “By now, you should all know who I am. I’ve come all the way to Washington, to the capital of this great country, to make official what should already be very obvious to you. I’m the new ruler of this country. From this point onwards there is no other authority than mine. You will do only as I say. I know you’ll have questions. Don’t worry, you’ll get your answers. But first, I need to finish the job” Kelly said

Then, looking at her extended palm, she said:

“Unfortunately, the President was not here to be relieved of his functions. If you are watching this, Mr. President, consider yourself relieved”

She made a small pause for dramatic effect.

“As for this” she added, showing the White House resting in her palm to the world “I think I’ll set my residence somewhere else. It was not as if I was going to fit in there, anyway”

Then, Kelly brought the mansion under her right breast and let it rest on top of its roof. The structure could do nothing to fight the thousands of tons of flesh that suddenly pushed it in every direction. Kelly let the one-sided fight go on for a while before she got bored and just moved her hand upwards, finishing the job.

Opening her fingers, she let the remainders of the Presidential mansion drop to the ground below and then proceeded to dust her chest off.

At the same time, there was a collective sigh in millions of living rooms all over the country.

Looking at the choppers in the distance, Kelly winked and said:

“Follow me”

Her next destination was clear enough: the Capitol. On the short way there, she thought about what she should do. Should she force the representatives and senators to accept her new authority? Should she use them to teach the country some other lesson? Soon, she was standing in front of the large building and realized that what she really wanted was to get the job done and get to the next stage of her plan.

Of course, that was not too fair for the people inside, but among the thousands of collateral victims of Kelly’s ascension to power, congressmen were probably the ones she was the least concerned about. She had never had a very high opinion of them.

So, no matter how large the building had been, it only took her a few well-placed steps to finish the legislative branch.

This left one last branch to take care of. The problem was that Kelly realized that she was not too sure which building was actually holding the Supreme Court…

Of course, she was not going to embarrass herself in front of the country by asking. The solution was simple enough, in any case. She knew that the Supreme Court was supposed to be close to the Capitol, so she just flattened every single official-looking building in the area, without even thinking on how many lives could have been spared if she had had a little more knowledge about her country’s institutions.

Turning, she saw that the news choppers had not missed a single detail, just as she had expected.

Hands on her hips again, she addressed the country through their cameras one more time.

“Now that I have dealt with your current form of government, it’s time for me to explain how I’m going to run things from now on” Kelly said.

“First, the obvious: I’m going to be an absolute ruler. From now on, I’m the executive, legislative and judicial branches. You may continue using your current laws as guidelines on what to do at a local level, but of course, my will is above any of them” she added

“I know you won’t probably be too keen on this, at first, but it doesn’t need to be bad for you. I intend to be a good ruler. And think about this: never before in History have people been ruled by someone with real absolute power. I have the power to do what’s right without having to trade anything off and the power to put an end to wars and violence. I have the power to protect you. And I just expect obedience in exchange” she said

Then, she realized that she had not thought much further than that. She had not needed to. Still, she understood that the people might be interested on knowing more. She tried to imagine which would be the first things that would require further clarification.

Then, looking at the choppers hovering in the distance, she remembered about earlier in the day, in Hollner, and had an idea.

“As for the rest… you’ll understand that it’s getting hard for me to try to think like you, so I’m having some trouble deciding what else you would be interested on knowing. Luckily, I don’t need to. That’s what journalists are for, is it not?” she said

“Oh fuck” George Balotelli said

“What does she mean?” the cameraman replied through the internal circuit

“Remember that ‘interview’ she did in the morning?” George said

“But… how?” the cameraman replied

Kelly extended the same palm that had held the White House not so long ago and addressed the choppers again. This time she was not talking to the audience on their homes, but to the pilots and reporters on them.

“You in the choppers. I’m offering you the first ever press conference with the country’s new ruler. You just need to land on my palm and I’ll take care of the rest. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you don’t get hurt while you try it. And I can promise you that there will be no retaliation, no matter how hard the questions are. I intend to be a transparent ruler, after all” she said

She could see what could only be described as erratic and nervous movements of the aircraft in the distance, but in the end, none of them seemed to be getting any closer.

Kelly did not like their attitude at all.

“Ok, let me repeat, since I believe that my choice of words was not good enough. When I told you that I was offering you a press conference, what I actually meant is that I’m commanding you to run a press conference. Just so that there are no misunderstandings: I expect you to land in my palm right away. Otherwise, I will destroy you. Is that clear, now?”

“What do we do?” the cameraman asked, scared

George was about to reply when the voice of the pilot got to their headphones:

“If you think I’m getting closer to her, you are nuts”

Kelly’s temper had become quite shorter with her size increase. The mix of challenge and stupidity of the press choppers was becoming very irritating.

The majority of them were still hovering on their initial positions but three of them had even broken from the main group and were now visibly flying to the east, trying to get even farther away from her.

She realized about something: they thought they were safe where they were. They thought that they were out of her reach. They did not feel threatened enough. This made her mad.

Kelly was starting to become tired of having to constantly show her power so that people would believe it. By now, it should not be necessary anymore! Anyway, if they refused to learn, she would make them learn.

She chose the three escaping choppers. If she set a strong enough example she may still be able to use the rest for her purposes.

They were probably half a city away. She had lost a little her grip on the world’s scale after her last growth, but she guessed that they must be four or five miles away. Turning her face so that her nose was well aligned with the fleeing helicopters, she pushed her lips out and, without warning, started blowing a narrow and strong gust of wind in their direction.

A loud howling sound was immediately heard in every corner of the city. The effects of her kiss were not felt on it, though. With a precision she had not known she possessed, Kelly had aimed her kiss right at the spot where her targets had been.

The effect was immediate. The helicopters started shaking in the air, like fallen leaves caught by a strong gust of autumn wind. Kelly realized that she was not getting out of breath, so she just kept on blowing with the same intensity as she kept her hands on her hips. The current force she was putting on her breath was enough to catch the helicopters in a whirlwind and to make their pilots lose control, but it was not bringing them down.

She played with them for a few seconds, slightly changing the direction of the stream of air from her lungs, pushing the choppers in different directions.

She was convinced that she could have kept on blowing for a much longer time, but she was beginning to get bored and she was sure that she had already made her point to the rest of the news crews.

Kelly closed her lips and the howling sound stopped as abruptly as it had started. The pilots of the three helicopters felt a moment of relax as the invisible force that had been pushing their aircraft stopped. They tried to get the control back.

Then, Kelly’s cheeks swelled and her lips opened again. There was no howling sound this time. Just some sort of shockwave as Kelly let the air she had accumulated in her mouth go with as much strength as she could.

The wave front caught the choppers before anyone could realize what had happened. They were not pushed around this time. They just disintegrated as an invisible but titanic force hit them. Hundreds of fuselage parts rained on the residential neighborhood below.

“Serves you right” she thought

She was tempted to do the same with the rest, but she still had a use for them. She needed the people to see the consequences of disregarding her power, just as she had done, but she also needed them to understand how things were going to work from now on. That was the difference between someone like her and someone like Casey, she reflected.

Looking at the main group of choppers, she said:

“I hope you’ve realized what happens to those that challenge me. My order stands. My conditions stay the same. Now, stop fucking around and land in my palm before I bring you down and I find myself some real journalists. Honestly, I cannot understand how you can be wasting the chance to have an exclusive angle on the biggest news this country has ever seen”

She could not prevent the outburst, but she was getting tired with some attitudes.

A few choppers timidly started to approach her. The majority were not. She was about to send them to hell when she decided to try something else first.

Apart from being at a distance, all the choppers were flying quite higher than her head. Pointing her face in their direction, she pushed her lips out again. Some of the pilots screamed, fearing that they were about to suffer the same fate as their colleagues. This is not what happened, though. Kelly did not blow. This time, she did inhale.

Kelly’s lungs began to take and compress the air in front and immediately below the target choppers, creating both a pull effect and a vacuum. Their rotors frantically tried to keep them airborne, but Kelly’s lungs were clearly winning the fight.

She tried to keep a balance between getting the helicopters within her reach soon enough and applying too much force and risking to break them down. Being as puny as they were, it required quite a lot of finesse. Luckily for her and especially for the choppers, she seemed to have become a master at using the power her new size had brought her. She seemed to be able to adjust her actions to the incredibly accurate delicacy the world around her required.

Kelly was feeling incredibly proud of her improvised “tractor beam”. She realized it was making her wet. She did not let herself be distracted, though.

When the helicopters were close enough to her, Kelly felt that it was not safe to keep on inhaling anymore. Instead, she changed the direction of the air and blew softly and steadily above the choppers, gently (at least to her) pushing them down.

When they were at the level of her navel, she just walked in their direction, covering the distance to them in four steps. By the time they were at her reach, they weren’t higher than her chest.

She was tempted to take yet another step and see what happened if any of the helicopters crashed against her tits, but in the last moment she decided against that. It was not as if she had too much faith of the ability of the choppers to survive that fight and after the considerable effort she had put on it, she wanted them all in one piece.

Realizing that they would not be getting anywhere, Kelly first teased the helicopters a little, herding them with her massive hands. When she got tired, she started plucking them by their tails and setting them on her waiting left palm. Of course, none of the rotors in the helicopters resisted the contact with her digits so by the time they were on her hand they were as good for flying as a refrigerator.

By the time she was done, Kelly was proudly looking at nine different helicopters of different colors, all of them sitting in just one of her hands.

“While I get ready you may want to report on what happens when people choose not to obey me. Let me give you the headline: people die, people end up doing what I wanted or both”

She took a look around, trying to find somewhere to set the reporters and get interviewed, just like she had done in Hollner, but as she had observed before, there were no tall buildings in Washington. The only thing that could compare to Kelly’s dimensions was Kelly herself. She realized that unless she wanted to lay down on the ground, this left her only with one option.

“Now, you have two minutes to get out of the helicopters, ready with any equipment you need to do the press conference. By the end of the two minutes, the helicopters will be a county away, so don’t try to play smart and hide on them”

The spaces between choppers started to quickly fill with ant-sized men. She entertained herself trying to guess who the journalists were and who the pilots. The cameramen were obvious enough.

When the time was over and it felt that everyone had managed to comply, she just picked each helicopter and tossed it unceremoniously over her shoulder. Then, extending her palm, she looked at the twenty something people on it.

They were so small! They were almost insignificant, but Kelly knew that she had to stay away from that thought. She intended to rule them, which meant that while there was nothing wrong on realizing about her vast superiority over them, she could not disregard them.

She saw that they were trying to organize themselves. She let them. After a while, most of the tiny people were looking in her direction and the cameras were pointed at her face. She moved her hand farther away from her body, to give them a better perspective. Then, she smiled at them.

“I’m glad that you’ve decided to play along” she started with an obviously mocking tone. “Even if you needed a nudge” she added.

“Now, some ground rules: even if you don’t deserve it, I will stick to my original commitment of getting all of you safe and sound out of this experience. You don’t have to be afraid of asking questions. You are doing your job. I will accept any question you ask and I promise I will reply to all of them as sincerely as I can. I cannot promise you’ll like the answers though. Your mission is simple enough: you need to get people to know me better. Ask what they would ask. Some housekeeping: I know you can hear me well. As surprising as it may sound, I can also hear you well; I just need you to raise your voice a little”

George could not believe the situation he had suddenly found himself at. There were twenty-three other people with him in what his mind still rejected to accept as a woman’s hand. Its landscape was uneven, small elevations and depressions filled its surface. George knew that the skin in the palm of a woman her age was supposed to be soft. Still, it did not give under his feet. He realized that he was too inconsequential for that.

He could tell that she was making an effort to keep her hand as steady as possible, trying to make their lives a little easier. She seemed to have a remarkably good pulse. George could still feel her heartbeat through her skin. It was a puzzling feeling.

She smiled at them. If one forgot that there actually were nine news crews in her palm and that there was plenty of space left, the truth was that the woman was very beautiful, he thought.

“Who wants to start?” she asked, her voice making his body shake

George saw someone raising his arm. He did not think that he knew her.

“How tall are you?” the blonde woman that had raised her hand asked

“Why is this always the first question I get?” Kelly thought, remembering the morning’s interview back in Hollner. She quickly understood. “Well, this is the most remarkable thing about me, I guess. And people are always hungry for data”

She had not been expecting this type of questions. She had incorrectly assumed that the time for that sort of trivia was over. Her main intention had been to clarify the working model from then onwards, now that she had declared herself their leader. She decided to play along, though. She needed them to ask whatever they wanted. She hoped that they would eventually get to the right questions.

It was not as if she did not enjoy bragging a little, in any case.

Looking at the reporter that had asked the question, Kelly twisted her lip and said:

“I don’t really know. Fucking huge, I guess. I used to count my height in floors before my last growth, but I have not yet come across anything that’s bigger than me since then. The building that got closer was the Millennium Tower, back at Hollner, but even then, it could not reach my higher than my boobs” she said

As soon as she ended the sentence she wondered if she had not been too informal, given the set up. But she disregarded that thought almost immediately.

“What’s the point on having unlimited power if I cannot say anything I fucking want?”

“I guess you can do the math” Kelly then added, still addressing the reporter. If you get any estimation, by all means, do let me know. It’s always curious to learn the figures behind one’s power” she said

“How do we look like, to you?” another reporter asked

“So, it’s going to be like this, for a while” she thought. It was barely the second question in her first ever press conference and she was already getting tired of it. She was beginning to realize that it would take her longer to get her message across than to actually take over the world.

“About the size of ants, I’d say” she responded carelessly

She could immediately feel the reaction of the twenty something people in her hand. They had obviously not liked her comment. She wondered once more if she had been too blunt, but once more she disregarded the thought.

“They need to know how things are like”

“What, you don’t like it?” she asked, almost mocking. “Look, I never said that you were ants. I know you are not. I would not waste my time trying to rule over some ants. But when it comes to size, that is how you look like” she said

Another journalist raised his hand.

“So, you think being bigger entitles you to be in charge?”

She was surprised by the blunt question. She did not dislike it, though. It was going in the right direction. Finally.

“Of course” she replied. “Look, there is a simple truth you cannot deny: I have the power to force you to do anything I want. And you are powerless to do anything about it. Never before in History this has been so evident as it is now”

The same journalist asked again. As a matter of fact, his words came out more like a statement.

“So, you think power alone is entitlement enough”

“Absolutely. And anyone who does not believe the same has not really had power before” she said

“What will you do if anyone refuses to acknowledge your authority?” someone else asked

“I will force them to do it” Kelly quickly replied

“And if they don’t?” the journalist asked again

Once more Kelly did not feel the need to lie.

“I will crush them” she said bluntly

Once again, her words had had an impact on the tiny reporters in her palm.

“You have been reported to kill many people already” a woman at the back of her palm said

“The reports are true enough, I guess” Kelly said. Seeing the reactions once more, she decided to explain a little more without the need of getting any additional question. She was still not getting to the type of questions she was expecting, the ones about her future intentions, but she understood that talking about the actions of her recent past might be important as well. “The majority of my victims were people that had attacked me or that had been behind the attacks on me. I know that there were also many collateral victims while I was punishing my attackers. And then, there have been some accidents. Sometimes I did not realize something was on the way… some others I just misjudged my new strength” she said. Then, she added: “If anyone is still stupid enough to try anything else against me, you can be sure that he or she will be crushed, along with anyone who happens to be on the way. As for the accidents… I’m getting better at that. It took me a while to get used to my new size, but I now think that I have it pretty much under control. You should not expect to see nearly as many accidents moving forward as in the last couple hours”

“You are kind of admitting that there will still be accidents” the journalist that had asked the first question asked again

“Guys, I’m just trying to be realistic here. Look at you and look at me… shit will happen”

“Do you feel sorry for any of your victims?” a woman asked

“No” Kelly replied, bluntly

“So, what do you intend on doing?” a journalist that had remained silent up until now suddenly asked

Kelly smiled. That was a good question. It deserved a good answer. And the best answers were typically short ones:

“Take over the world”

It was a predictable enough answer. And it was the first real headline she had given in the entire interview. George was happy that he had been able to get it from her. All his colleagues had been able to get so far was to have the woman describe what everyone had already see her do. It was true that her sincerity had been shocking at some points, but then George realized that she had no incentive to lie. In the end, it was not as if anyone was going to make her accountable for her actions.

He could tell that she was looking directly at him. And there was a trace of a smile in her lips. He felt that she wanted him to ask more in this direction. He felt happy to oblige.

“You just took over the US” he said

A smile finally formed on the woman’s lips as she said:

“I think that leaves about two hundred countries left”

He could not prevent thinking that that had actually been a good answer.

“And how do you intend on taking over them?” George asked

The woman frowned a little and thought for a few seconds. He realized that she was making it up as she went.

“Oh God, she improvising a world conquest plan right in front of me!” he thought.

“Well…” the woman started. “I guess that as the new head of state of the United States, I should pay a visit to the United Nations. I will take advantage of that to demand every nation to submit to my rule”

George realized that this was becoming a very interesting political interview. The woman might be making her answers up, but he could feel that she was trying to provide accurate and honest answers. She was kind of keeping her end of the deal she had forced them to make.

“Will you annex them to the USA, then?” George asked

The woman thought again. Then, she said:

“No, I don’t see anything wrong in them keeping their flag and institutions, as long as they submit to me”

“So, you will let their current leaders manage their countries as long as they accept you as their ruler” George said

“That sounds about right”

“Why didn’t you do the same in the US?” George asked

“To start with, the President did not show up. He doesn’t need to, anymore. He doesn’t need to give me what I already took by myself. It was not as if I was going to let him stay, in any case. The United States Military, under his command, attacked me several times. This was a declaration of war. A war I won. And let this be an example for those who might be having second thoughts, at this point: if I get attacked again, I will punish the leaders of any country that’s behind the attack. And I’m afraid that even if I try to be careful, which I may not, their populations will suffer”

“So, you will rule the United States directly? Or will you appoint someone?” George asked. He was amazed that he was having this conversation with the towering woman. His colleagues seemed to be amazed too, since none of them was interrupting his interview.

The woman seemed to think again:

“I guess I’ll appoint someone. I’m not interested in managing the day to day”

“Who? One of the smaller giant women?” George asked

The woman chuckled.

“Them? God, no!” she said. “Casey and Lisa could not even manage a reading club”

“What will you do with them?” George asked

“I have not decided yet” the woman simply said

He understood that asking about them would bring him nowhere, so he went back to real politics. He actually felt a little guilty that he had almost derailed from the topic.

“When will you appoint your… designee for the United States?” he asked

“Soon. The position is open. If anyone is interested, make yourselves known. It will be a stressful position. I have a lot of ideas”

“Which ones?” George asked, interested

“In time” the woman answered, smiling

“Any heads up?” George insisted

“I plan on making the world a fairer place” she said

“What’s fair usually depends on everyone’s opinion” George said

The woman smiled again and said:

“Well, right now the only opinion that counts is mine”

“Are you a socialist?” George asked, intrigued by what would be the answer

“No, I’m a Goddess” she simply said

Wow! That brought the conversation to a whole new level.

“Do you expect people to worship you?” he asked

The woman let a laugh out.

“No!” she said, chuckling again

He saw that she was going to complete her answer.

“Look, I used to be an atheist before… all this happened. Of course, it would be a little hypocritical saying that I’m still an atheist and proclaiming myself Goddess, so I guess that I will need to get a little deeper into my convictions. Let’s see: when I call myself a Goddess I’m not saying that I’m the creator or anything else. What I’m saying is that I’m the supreme ruler. The one that decides what’s right or wrong, if you will. As such, I don’t expect people to worship me. Please, don’t. I just expect people to obey me” she said

“So, your position about religion is…” George said

“I don’t believe there was a creator. But I don’t mind if people do. By all means, I encourage everyone to live according to their religious values. I won’t interfere with them with one exception: I will deal with any religious violence in the harshest terms” she said

George realized that he was getting clearer answers from this naked stripper than from all the politicians he had interviewed in the past combined.

“Can we go to the most immediate things, here in US?” he asked

“By all means” she said, smiling

“You destroyed the three branches of government” he said

“A government that unsuccessfully tried to kill me thrice” she added

“What do you intend on doing with the rest of government offices?” he asked

“What do you mean?” she asked

“State, local,…”

“I’ll keep them like they are” she said. “I may think of something better in the future, but I need to keep the country running” she said

“So, Governors and Mayors do not need to get worried?” he asked

“No. The just need to submit to my authority. They can continue working business as usual in the meantime, unless I give them any direct instructions. Once I re-establish the central government I will let them know what the working model will be” she said

“What about public services?”

“They should do their work”

“And taxes?” he asked

She seemed to think about it. Then, she said:

“I expect everyone to pay their taxes as usual. I may review them once I get a hold of things. I have ideas that will need money so I will consider not paying taxes as a lack of obedience, with all that implies”

George still thought that the woman was delusional. But she was clearly not stupid.

“Will you make any changes in spending?” he said

“Oh, I will make many changes in spending. Until I do, though, I expect money will keep flowing to its usual destinations. I want public services to run flawlessly”

Then, she seemed to think about something. She sneered.

“There is one change I want to enforce right now, though. I demand my subjects dealing with budget to cancel any spending related with defense or the military as of now. I hereby order the United States military to disband in the coming 6 hours. I intend on making similar demands to the rest of countries in the world. I am able to enforce peace in the world on my own. I will still allow current police forces to take care of local security, but anything bigger than a rifle is forbidden from this point onwards. In six hours from now I will consider any member of the military or any military asset as an enemy of peace and deal with it accordingly”

She then smiled and said:

“As of now, military budget will be temporarily reassigned to cooperation with third world countries”

“Wow… she might be a Goddess, but she is definitely not a capitalist goddess…” George said

It had all been an improvisation, but Kelly felt good. The tiny journalist had got the best of her. She had never been a political activist, but back in college she had even attended a couple of meetings and had had very clear ideas on what was wrong with the world. Her father had told her that she was too much of an idealist, that the world did not work like that. Of course, that had been when her father and her were still talking to each other.

She was not foolish enough to think that the world would not work without a structure. Part of what she had said, making sure that everyone understood that she expected public services and administrations to work had to do with that. But she was convinced that the world’s system was flawed in a way that prevented the weak from getting their head out of the mud while it made those with money richer every day.

She was going to change that, and no one was going to be able to do anything about it.

“The system only lets those that think like them get into positions of power. This has changed now. By the time I’m done with the world, they may even start to love me” she fooled herself.

“Where will you live?” the journalist told her

“What do you mean?” she asked him, intrigued. After all his interesting questions, she felt a little disappointed that he seemed to be going back to trivia

Then, he completed his question.

“As a world leader, where will you set your residence?” he asked

“I’m an American. I will stay here” she said. Then, she thought about something and added: “I plan on visiting the rest of the world often, in any case”

“But… how?” the journalist asked

“I’m a good swimmer” she said, smirking

The journalist then stopped for a while and changed his expression. It was amazing that she could detect it. In a grave voice, he asked:

“Have you thought on the possibility that no one will be keen on accepting your rule?”

“I have. It’s not as if they have any other option, though” she said

“You might get attacked again” he insisted

“And it will be just as unsuccessful as any of the previous attempts. It won’t make me happy at all, by the way” she said

“Are you not afraid that anyone could come up with some sort of attack that could actually defeat you?” he asked

She felt a momentary moment of rage. Then, she forced herself to calm down. It was a fair question. She had promised that she would not over react. He deserved an answer. The world deserved an answer. She wondered for a second about what she was going to say. Then she determined once more on being fully transparent. She put some thought on her words just before letting them out and concluded that there was no risk.

“Listen to this carefully. What I am going to say is very important. I cannot be defeated. It’s impossible. Some of you may think that these are just the words of a delusional giant woman that believes that her size alone makes her unstoppable. This would be a very bad mistake. The truth is that my size alone makes me nearly unstoppable. And while I know that this is by far my most remarkable ability, I hope that you’ll have seen by now that I have many others. But even that alone would not be enough. I know you have bigger bombs. If you get crazy enough you might even try to do something REALLY stupid. For your own sake, don’t!” she said

Then, she dropped the bomb:

“Know this: I can get bigger!”

She saw the reaction in her palm and thought on the reactions in the living rooms of every single house in the country.

“You already forced me to get like this when you tried to kill me before. I’m not complaining about it, but as you inquired before, it has become much harder not to destroy things around me.  I do not really want to get any bigger than this. This size is already good enough for everything I have in mind. But if you force me or if you try to kill me, I will. And then you may find that rather than a Goddess trying to make some changes to make the world a better place, I’m something else. So, think twice before you do something everyone will regret”      

She did not think she had anything else to add after this, so looking at the tiny journalists in her hand, she said:

“Press conference’s over”

Bringing her palm containing the journalists back to the ground, Kelly just pushed with its back until she felt the concrete breaking under it. She kept on pushing until the surface next to her hand was level with the surface of her palm.

“I promised you I would keep you safe” she said

Then, as the journalist hesitated on what to do, she added:

“You guys are good. You got me to announce my plans to take over the world and make it a better place. You should feel proud. Now, climb out. I have some things to do. I know this will sound weird, but I’d like to have some privacy. I’d rather have you not report on me for a while. Feel free to get back at it once I head towards the UN. I’ll make a good speech up on the way”

She winked at them as the observed the last of them getting out of her hand. Without warning, she turned her hand and picked one of the tiny men between two fingers.

George thought that he was out of the most amazing and at the same time terrifying experience in his entire life when he felt himself pushed between what could be nothing else than her fingers. He thought that she had cheated them, that she was going to crush him in the end. She did not. Amazingly enough, her fingertips applied only the necessary force to keep him in place.

Soon, he found himself in front of her enormous eyes. He felt some vertigo at the fast ascent, even if the woman had just been sitting and not at her full height

“I especially liked you” she whispered, her warm breath making him sweat

He remained motionless, without saying a word

“How would you like to be the new President?” the thundering voice suddenly asked

“What?” George asked, not believing what he was hearing

“I like the way you think. I think you would be good at doing some of the things I have in mind” she said

“Don’t you have anyone else in mind?” he asked, still not believing what he had just heard

“I’ve been a stripper for the last six months of my life. No, I don’t have anyone else in mind” the woman said. George was surprised that she still seemed to keep a sense of humor that allowed her to make some fun of herself, even if it was of her past

“You can find someone better” he said

“If I do, I will replace you” she said

His expression must have given away his thoughts, since she quickly added:

“Replacing you doesn’t mean killing you”

“What do you want me to do?” he asked

“Gather a cabinet, get the country running. Once things are running smoothly, I will dictate some policy” she said

“I may not agree with it” he said

“And I’ll be happy to discuss it with you. I’ll give you a chance to convince me” she said

“And if I don’t?” George asked

“You will do what I say” she said. Then, she quickly added: “This part is really important: I am fine with disagreement, but once I command something I expect it to be done, whether you agree with it or not. Stepping down when there is a decision you don’t want to implement is not an option. I would consider that treason, if you know what I mean” she said

Of course, he knew what she meant. This was the main reason he was very surprised with himself when he said:

“I accept”

Her smile widened.

“Good. This means you come with me” she said

“Where?” George asked

“To New York. As my new President, you will be my ambassador to the UN”

“Now?” George asked, surprised

“In a while” she answered, winking. He did not know what she was thinking about.

Kelly was happy with her choice. One thing she had quickly realized during the interview was that there was a lot of work involved in ruling. She had not even thought about that. The sooner she could let someone do the work while keeping herself free to make the transformations she had in mind, the better. And the guy seemed like a decent enough choice. She realized that she had not even asked him his name, she thought, as she let him drop to her waiting palm. Well, this was not important. She would ask him later. She had done all the work she had had in mind when heading to Washington and quite some more. She deserved a break.

Bringing a hand down, she realized that she was as wet as one could. Talking about her power and thinking about what she would do with it had made her even hornier, and she had already been aroused enough, to start with.

She might be all-powerful, but she still had needs. As she crouched down and grabbed the Washington Monument from a spot right next to the crater where the White House had been, she decided that it was time to indulge a little. Taking a quick look at the ant-size man on her palm a naughty thought run through her mind. She blocked it as she mentally screamed to herself:

“He is your new President, for God’s sake!”