Chapter 8. Power

Kelly left the wasteland where the Pentagon had been behind and faced the city of Washington, which lay just on the other side of the river.

She wasn’t sure that none of the tiny ants that had once worked in the largest office building in the world had managed to get away, but she felt that she had been thorough enough. And she was not in the mood to search for individual mites, anyway. She had more important things to do than that. In any case, she had no doubts that everyone had got the message loud and clear.

Washington was the center of the country’s political power. At least, until she made some of the changes she had in mind. Her first stop was going to be no other than the White House, of course. It was close enough. All it would take her would be a quick dip in the river and then a short walk in the park.

A loud noise to her right momentarily caught her attention, though. She did not have too much trouble to find the source. She let a laugh out when she saw the jetliner clumsily trying to gain altitude. It was out of her reach, but it was not higher than her. Her eyes soon found its source.

A second jetliner soon joined the first one in the air. Kelly thought that it had probably been less than a minute since the previous one had taken off. One of the things she hated the most about flying was wasting time at the plane as it was queuing for a slot in the runway. She smirked slightly as she realized that she would not need to wait into a plane anymore.

“Now I can walk faster than those things can fly” she thought, her smirk widening.

When she saw a third plane starting the acceleration before getting airborne, she realized that planes were waiting much less than usual. And of course, the only possible explanation was her.

“Everyone seems to be doing their absolute best to get away from me” Kelly thought, half bothered and half amused.

The airport started to look compelling enough. Taking a quick look at the White House, her former objective, she hesitated for a second. Then, her arrogance won the argument.

“The White House can wait. It’s not as if they are going to be able to get away from me, is it?”

Her mind was made up. After all, a large and packed airport looked like a massive source of potential fun for a woman her size.

She took her hands from her hips, where she had unconsciously placed them as she stood on a powerful stance, and started to calmly walk towards her new objective.

She easily stepped over the highway and along the riverbank. Taking a quick look at the city on the other side of the Potomac, she smiled naughtily as she thought:

“I’ll be there soon enough. You can take a good look at me in the meantime and see what a goddess can do”

She chose the “less busy” path to her destination, in order to minimize her impact. As usual, though, once she did, she ignored the mayhem at her feet. Back when she had been a “mere” 25-stories tall she had been able to recognize what was going on at her feet just by the feeling in her soles. Losing this had been one of the minuses of her new dimensions. With very few exceptions, all she could feel now was the landscape reshaping to her. It was not a bad feeling at all… but she missed some of the detail she had enjoyed.

Kelly easily stepped over the outer fences of the airport and headed to the runway. Everything came to a stop when she set her feet on it. Everything but the plane that had already been accelerating and that was less than half a mile away.

She had expected the pilot to abort the operation, like the rest of his colleagues, which was the reason she needed a couple of seconds to react when she saw the plane getting even faster and pulling its “nose” up. It was taking off!

Curiously enough, to Kelly the plane did not look that fast as it got into the air and started to climb. It was heading in her direction. It did not take Kelly too long to realize that the plane was at her complete mercy.

Not having yet reached the right speed or altitude, the plane had to keep flying in a straight line. And it was obvious enough that it would not get higher than Kelly was tall by the time it reached her. So, it was basically helpless in front of anything Kelly wanted to do to it.

The question was: what did she want to do to it? She realized she did not know. For a second, she was tempted to just swat it out of the sky, to show everyone what happened to those that challenged her. By that time, Kelly had already reached a point where she considered that trying to get away from her was a challenge.

Then, she had second thoughts. She had a very good view of the plane as it got closer. It looked pretty big. Well, to be more precise, she thought that it must have looked like a big enough plane to regular people. The two different rows of windows told her that it had two decks and the four engines looked large enough.

“This is one of those really big inter-continental planes. There must be five or six hundred people in there. I cannot just kill them because I feel like it” she thought, ignoring the fact that she had killed many more than that just because she had decided not to look where she was stepping at.

Still, she did not feel like letting them go either. Which basically left her with one option.

She waited until the plane was close enough and then she stepped to the side and turned 90 degrees to the left. This brought her parallel to the runway and brought the plane right in front of her chest, as it was desperately trying to get higher.

The plane did not yet look as fast as it was supposed to be. Kelly was quickly getting used to that, though. Apart from looking tiny, everything in her “new” world looked much slower than it had looked before.

She lifted a palm upwards and did not have any problems to grab the front of the plane with it. She tried to be careful enough not to damage it too much. It was the first time since she had got to her current size that she could actually feel something in the real world offer some resistance. Powered by its four engines, the plane’s force was actually noticeable. Of course, it was not nearly strong enough to break from her grip.

This was not what concerned Kelly, though. She was afraid that the supposedly mighty aircraft may break if she just let it fight against her. In order to prevent that, she brought her free hand to the tail of the plane and tried to counter the effect of the force it was making, while still trying to be gentle enough not to damage it.

She was quite impressed with herself when she instinctively managed to apply the right amount of strength and the right direction to it to finally stop the plane in mid air. Then, releasing the tail, her free hand made short work of the two wings and the four engines.

By the time she was done, she was holding a tube in her right hand. A tube that was about half as long as her forearm. And a tube that had more than five hundred people inside.

“Mmmmm” she moaned as she felt incredibly good at what she had accomplished.

Bringing the main body of the plane upwards, she looked through the cockpit’s windshield.

Jacques Remi was one of the most experienced pilots in Air France. That had been the reason he had been one of the first to get an Airbus A380 when the deliveries of the superjumbos had started. In his over thirty years of experience he had lived almost all the situations a captain can live. And he was fond on explaining anecdotes to his new co-pilots.

But nothing he had lived in his long career could even compare to what he was living now. Part of his mind still rejected to believe it.

Of course, they had seen the titanic woman soon enough. With her size, it was easy to see her even from several miles away. After a few initial moments when he thought about how incredibly good-looking she was, Jacques realized about what was truly important. With her size and looking as happy as she did, be knew that the woman was incredibly dangerous.

Jacques flight wasn’t scheduled for another two hours, but when the director of the airport decided to proceed with an emergency evacuation of everyone that was there, he was ready.

He lost sight of the woman while he was getting his plane ready, but he heard several rumors and reports of what was going on at the Pentagon, which was basically right around the corner from the airport.

When he started heading towards the runway he heard the latest update: 37 flights had taken off. Almost 10,000 people had been evacuated. Those were encouraging news. According to the latest count, Jacques had 543 on board, so he would improve the average. The plan was flying to L.A. There, he would get further instructions.

At first he did not understand why they made him fly so far away and not to some closer airport like New York… then he realized that New York wasn’t far away neither for them nor for the woman. The thought made him feel a little uneasy.

A United flight took off right in front of him. Then, he got in the runway, started accelerating and… he saw her right in front of him.

Claude, his co-pilot, started screaming. Jacques knew he had to make a decision. He pushed the throttle further down, trying to take off in as short a distance as the superjumbo’s heavy mass would allow. He did it.

And then, he realized that he was in the air, but that by no means he was out of the giant woman’s reach.

What happened next happened fast and was very rough. If he had not been safely buckled, his body would have crashed with every single wall in the cockpit. Claude screamed all the time. Jacques managed to stay silent, but this did not mean that he was not scared like hell. For a while, it looked as if they had been trapped in the middle of a tsunami.

Then, suddenly, everything came to a stop. And her smiling face filled his vision through the windshield.

His control panel showed red lights in practically all the indicators. The plane was reporting fatal failures in all the engines, navigation system, undercarriage… and yet, the analog indicators told him that he was 1,500 feet above sea level and that their speed was exactly zero. This was a combination that should have theoretically been impossible in a jetliner like the one he was flying. Planes needed speed to keep themselves in the air.

He understood the only possible explanation: they were resting in the woman’s hands. Finally, Jacques screamed.

Kelly wore a very wide smile on her face as she looked through the windshield of the aircraft. What she had achieved was impressive, she thought. Catching a jetliner as if it were a football was something that no one else in the world could even remotely thing on doing. It made her feel… like a Goddess. She realized that she was somewhat wet… down there.

She moaned again as the tried to focus on the two tiny figures behind the glass. Then, realizing about the size and shape of the plane in her hand, and thinking on how excited she felt, she carelessly said:

“You look almost like the perfect dildo”. Her tone had been mocking; and she had intended it to be ironic, even though she realized that she could not count on the rest of the world to share her sense of humor.

It was amazing how she could see the change in expression of the pilots, considering how minuscule they were. They had been scared all the time, but her comment had made their panic raise exponentially.

She chuckled loudly.

“Don’t worry!” she said. “I’m not going to do that. I’m not Casey” she added, not knowing if they would understand the reference. Probably not, she thought.

The truth was that a part of her had really wanted to do it, but she had managed to keep her impulses at bay easily enough. She felt proud, once again, at her self-control, at the fact that she could decide what was right and what was wrong.

There was nothing wrong with mocking or scaring the tiny people, though, so she went on with that.

“It would have been a hell of an orgy, though” she said, mocking. “How many of you are there? Five hundred?” she asked. “I guess it would have been a new world record” she went on, laughing at her own joke.

“Luckily for you, I’m all for consensual sex” she said. With her looks, she had never had a problem to get plenty. Remembering about Daphne, she thought that even at her previous size she had been able to find willing enough lovers. She was not so sure this would be the case anymore. As a matter of fact, she was not so sure anyone in the world would be able to survive a sex session with her, anymore.

As she realized about this, the idea of using the plane briefly rushed through her mind again. She blocked it one more time.

“It’s not as if I’m not feeling horny, right now” she said aloud, not concerned at all to share her sexual urges with the population around her. Just at that moment, her stomach groaned again, as if trying to get its fair share of attention. She realized once more that it was a little empty, but the hunger was still very bearable.

“I may have the power of a Goddess, but it seems that I still have the needs of a woman” she reflected, aloud. “Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be able to find a creative enough way to satiate them”

Then, as a final pun, she added:

“Of course, I will be more than willing to take any volunteers”

Then, without further warning, she moved her free hand towards the windshield.

Jacques barely had time to react as what seemed to be the nail of her index finger made the glass shatter, tore through the cabin and finally peeled the roof away. An instant later, he was looking at the bright blue sky through a spot that had previously been filled with levers and indicators. His view of the sky was brief enough. Soon, all he could see was the massive and smiling face of the woman.

Her lips parted. He realized she was whispering, but still, her words made the air vibrate with such a force that he could feel his body shaking.

“I guess you are the captain” she said, looking at him and seeming to ignore Claude

He nodded.

“What’s your name?” she asked

He yelled his name back. She smiled. How had she been able to understand it?

“French! How nice! I studied French for a couple of years in High School, but I’m afraid I never got very good at it. In any case, enchanté Jacques. Je m’appelle Kelly”

He did not say anything.

“I’m not going to hurt you” she added, moving back to English.

Jacques felt compelled to address her. He hesitated, but her smile, which was kind at the moment, convinced him to move on:

“Why did you… intercept us?” he asked

She chuckled. His body shook even more. Then, her lips parted again:

“Because I felt like it”

He became aware of the implications of her words: she felt entitled to do anything she pleased, without concern for anyone else that was not her. And Jacques realized that, at her size, she was probably right.

“How many people are on board?” she asked

“Five hundred and forty-two” Jacques answered, after a couple of seconds.

She chuckled again.

“Do you realize what this means, tiny?” she asked, sounding happy.

He did not. She explained it for him quickly enough.

“I’m holding five hundred and forty-two of you in just one hand. Isn’t that impressive?”

Jacques nodded

“Of course it is” the giant woman added

He remained silent for a while.

“Now, the question is: what to do with you?” she stated

Jacques blood froze. Her smile stopped being kind and turned somewhere between naughty and evil instead.

“Don’t worry, I said I would not hurt you”

“Then, what are you going to do?” Jacques yelled, still surprised that the woman could understand his words, considering the difference in size.

“If you behave, I’ll let you go” she said

He felt relaxed.

“Where were you going? Back to Paris?” she asked

He was about to confirm, when he had second thoughts. He was almost sure that there was no way the giant woman knew what was going on… but then again, he was very afraid of the consequences if he lied and she found out. And he had over five hundred people whose lives depended on him…

He shook his head.

“Where were you going to, then?” the giant woman asked

“Los Angeles” he finally said

“That is in the wrong direction” she said

“Everyone is going there” Jacques finally said

“What do you mean everyone?” she asked, surprised

“Every plane in the country is going to L.A., San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. They are evacuating the East Coast” Jacques said

The woman’s face changed and she remained expressionless for a while.

“Evacuating the East Coast?” Kelly thought. Wow! Of course, she knew she was the cause for that. But… the entire East Coast?

“Well, it seems that they are finally starting to take me seriously” she said, a smirk forming in her lips.

Of course, it made sense. She was quite sure that she could walk all the way up to Boston in less than a hour. Once one thought about that, it was clear that the entire east coast was at her mercy.

“It’s still stupid, though. They cannot evacuate tens of millions of people in a couple hours. And it’s not as if I’ve set myself into destroying cities” she thought, her mind not registering her short interaction with Cranston as destruction. “Besides, it would not take me that long to get to L.A., in any case”

Evacuating the cities would only make things worse, Kelly thought. The truth was that she did not have any experience at all with emergency management, but if anything, her current status had made her opinions about everything quite stronger.

She linked the attempts at evacuation to the very unsuccessful attempts at bringing her down.

“The ones that are calling the shots do not seem to be able to make the right decisions anymore. It is time to force a change in management”

Time to move, then. Her stomach then groaned again.

She chuckled as she saw the sort of reaction this caused in the two pilots.

“You won’t have any pretzels or peanuts, by any chance?” she asked, joking

Then, an idea came to mind:

“Where is all the crappy plane food stored?”

The pilot needed some time to understand her question. She did not push him. Finally, he said:

“In a warehouse, in the cargo area”

She smiled at them and then, without further words, she crouched and set the plane as gently as she could in what remained of the runway. Looking at the craters her feet had created on the tarmac just by being on it, she was pretty sure that no other plane would take off on that airport anytime soon.

She headed for her new destination.

From Kelly’s new height, one warehouse looked very much like another. So, she needed to pick a volunteer to help her identify the right one. She thanked once more her newfound ability to interact with the tiny people despite the massive size difference.

Luckily for her, Kelly’s new height also meant that she could remove the roof of the warehouse with a single hand. Soon, she was picking what had to be large metallic containers and resting them on her palm. When she had taken enough, she started the tedious job of ripping them open and emptying their contents on her waiting hand. Each of the small plastic boxes looked ridiculously small, but there were quite a few of them.

Soon, she realized that her technique was not the optimal one. Picking what looked like a construction truck, she started emptying food containers in its box.

“How am I going to get the food out of them, though?” she thought. Looking at the tiny size of what she thought were meals for adults, she realized that she would need food for thousands of people just to quench her hunger a little.

She thought on maybe picking a few dozen volunteers and “asking” them to get the food out of their plastic cases, but she realized that this would take forever and she did not want to waste so much time. Then, she understood the only possible course of action. She would need to swallow everything and let her stomach make the selection. At least, she did not have to be afraid… nothing was big enough to make a plug anywhere, anymore.

Once she had made her decision, she was quick enough. She emptied the first “truck load” in her mouth and swallowed. Soon, she was working on the second. By the time she was done, and unknown to her, she had swallowed almost half a million menus. It barely felt like a snack. Her stomach was not groaning or did not feel empty, anymore, so she thought it would be good enough for a while.

Her snack made her realize, as well, that the time for nice food was probably over for her. It should not have been important, but it felt like a major downside of her new size.

“The power of a Goddess and I need to stick to eating crap. Doesn’t sound right” she thought. Then, she realized about something else: “What the hell! When I’m in charge, I can force the people to do anything I want. If I want to eat well, I may as well have a thousand cooks prepare something good and that fits my appetite!”

How had she not thought about this before? She realized that she had been too focused on proclaiming her power. And right now she was busy trying to make sure that she obtained it. But she had not really put that much thought on what she would do once she got it. And she was sure she would get it.

She would need to rule. This would imply making decisions. And once people submitted to her, this would also involve her using her amazing power to help them with things they could not even imagine. She was quite sure they would not like it at first, but it would eventually end up being good for them. She could help them. And she could protect them. But of course, being in charge would also come with privileges. She planned on being a good ruler, but that did not mean that she intended being stupid.

She could ask for anything, and they would have no option other than obeying. She would need food… of course. And a place to live. And clothes… maybe. Well, she was not so sure about that. She was starting to get used to being naked. It was not so hard for a stripper and it made her feel freer.

She shook her head and stopped daydreaming. There was nothing wrong on thinking about what she would do once she ruled. But first, she needed to seize the power. She took a quick look across the river. The power she sought was waiting for her at the opposite riverbank.