Thomas sat on the couch in the living room, right next to Sayuko, who sat between him and Taro. Shawn stood off in the corner, with his arms folded, and Robbie and Kim have joined Dawson and the others in the kitchen. Carlos was nowhere to be seen; according to Dawson, he was in the backyard, still riled over the confrontation earlier. A still angry Melissa quietly sat inside of her jar, which had been placed on the coffee table in the center of the room.

Sitting in the chair to the right was Bruce, who was now back to his normal height of 6' 4". Not more than ten minutes ago, he, along with Claudia and Rebecca, had been restored to their normal sizes. Rebecca immediately went upstairs, but not before Claudia asked her to take the Shrink Ray and hide it somewhere.

"Hey," Bruce said, "I was wrong about you. I never thought you of all people would end up saving all of us. I guess you're not a coward after all."

"Yeah," Thomas replied. "Thanks." To be honest, he did not want Bruce's gratitude. Bruce was not entirely innocent in this months-long ordeal.

"I'm glad to be outta that dollhouse finally! I don't have to deal with plastic crap anymore."

"Wasn't it a super-advanced dollhouse?"

"Yeah, but the floors and walls were all made out of plastic. So was some of the furniture."

"Oh."

Thomas heard footsteps coming from the stairs in the hallway, and soon after, Claudia entered into the room. She walked to the chair directly across from the couch that Thomas was sitting on, and sat down on it. She had a bit of a weary, yet relieved look on her face. She looked towards Melissa on the coffee table in front of her, and shook her head.

"My own daughter..." she muttered.

"Mrs. Cruz, Bruce," Thomas said. "Now that you're both here, I have a few things I want to ask you both."

"First, Mrs. Cruz," Thomas said. "What now? Now that we're all free, what are you going to do?"

Claudia looked from Thomas, to Bruce, and to Melissa on the table, before giving her answer. "First of all, I'm going to call Edgar, tell him what happened here. Then, when he arrives, I'm going to give back that horrendous weapon. It has no place in this house anymore."

"...I tried calling Mr. Cruz all last week," Sayuko interjected. "He neither answered, or called me back."

"How did you get his phone number?" Claudia asked.

"From Melissa's phone. She left it on my bed when she went to use my bathroom."

Thomas looked towards the jar, expecting some kind of reaction out of Melissa. Surprisingly, she remained calm.

"I see..." Claudia said. "Anyway, I can tell you why you didn't get a response from him. He rarely calls back people that he do not know."

"...So, you're saying that he ignored my calls for help?" Sayuko said.

"...I'm sorry, Sayuko."

Sayuko exhaled. "Thank goodness that Thomas and I chose today to do this."

"Yeah," Thomas said. "If we waited any later, who knows how bad things were going to turn out? Melissa could have even turned on you."

Claudia winced at the thought. "That would have been horrible."

"Wait," Shawn suddenly said. "You said that you were giving the Shrink Ray back to your husband-"

"Ex-husband," Bruce quickly corrected.

"Anyway," Shawn continued. "What are you going to do with Melissa?"

Claudia silently looked at Melissa in the jar for a few seconds. "...I'm going to make her big again."

Her answer did not surprise Thomas, or even Sayuko. However, both Taro and Bruce were taken aback by her response, as were the people in the kitchen who were listening in on the conversation.

"Woman, are you naive?!" Bruce blurted out.

"Bruce, please," Claudia said.

"She got you with the Shrink Ray last time! What's stopping her from using something else on you? Like a knife?!"

"...Being shrunken and forced to live like pets is not something I would wish on my worse enemy, let alone my own daughter. I'm sure that Melissa will see the error of her ways, and we can both come to an understanding." Claudia sighed. "I would love to have our mother-daughter bond back."

Melissa scoffed.

"That's interesting," Dawson said from the kitchen. "But what if that doesn't happen?"

Claudia turned to face Dawson behind her. "...I'll still provide a roof over her head, and food in her belly. When she eventually moves out on her own, I'll wish her the best as only a mother can."

"Wow..." Dawson seemed stunned at how much Claudia still loved Melissa, despite what she did to her. "You're probably the most forgiving person I have ever met. We have a word for people like you."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Doormat."

"...Maybe I am." Claudia seemed unphased by Dawson's insult as she turned back towards Thomas. "People have said that I am too trusting. But how can I not put my faith in my own flesh and blood?"

"...What about Bruce?" Thomas asked.

This latest question got Bruce's attention, as he began to watch him expectantly.

"What about Bruce?" Claudia responded.

"Do you trust him?"

"Of course. He helped me get through these hard months."

"Do you trust him around Melissa?"

"Why would you ask that?"

Thomas turned to Bruce. "Well, I was thinking back to the day I first came here... When we met in the basement a few weeks ago, you mentioned it, but at the time, I forgot about it. But now, I remember that speech you gave, how you were going to take revenge on Melissa."

Claudia turned towards Bruce; her calm expression now broken into a slightly angered one. "Bruce! You can't be serious! You were going to kill my daughter?!"

"Of course not!" Bruce promptly replied back. "Why would I put you through that much grief?!"

"I don't know..." Thomas said. "You sounded really convincing back then."

"I had to make myself look like a good leader to you all, didn't I?"

Thomas stared at Bruce, before focusing on Shawn, Dawson, and Jenna. "Hey, guys. You wanna know how good a leader he is? He wasn't even going to try to lead everyone out of the house."

"What?!" Jenna said in surprise. "Is that true?!"

"Yeah," Thomas said. "He was just going to stay down in the basement with Mrs. Cruz, and let us rot in the walls. If Ray didn't do what he did, we wouldn't even be standing here right now."

Dawson groaned. "That bastard... Who'd've thought that getting caught again by Melissa would lead to this?"

"You all should be happy that you followed Ray against my words," Bruce said. "I guess you can call that a blessing in disguise, so can we take the spotlight off of me supposedly being a bad leader?"

"Okay," Thomas said. "But that still doesn't change the fact that you're not a good person, either."

"Now what are you talking about?" Bruce asked.

Thomas leaned forward. "You said it yourself when I confronted you a few weeks ago. You said that you were going to wait for the day that Melissa would restore Mrs. Cruz and Rebecca back to normal, and you believe that Mrs. Cruz would get her to restore you as well. ...You were using Mrs. Cruz, weren't you?"

This latest accusation got a rise out of Bruce. "That's ridiculous! I would never do anything like that!"

"So, you were lying when you told me that?"

"Lying?! I never said that at all!"

"Now that's a lie right there."

"...Fine. Whatever." Thomas shrugged, and sat back in his spot on the couch. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to stay here with Claudia."

Thomas turned to Claudia. "Are you okay with that?"

"...Yes," Claudia answered.

"Wait..." Dawson chimed in. "Is your relationship sexual?"

Bruce looked towards Claudia, who nodded to confirm Dawson's question.

"How long has Bruce been down there with you?"

"Since he came," Claudia answered.

"...I think I see what Dawson's getting at," Shawn said. "Do you two have an open relationship?"

"Of course not!" Claudia vehemontly responded. "I would never allow that!"

Shawn and Dawson looked at each other. Thomas looked towards Bruce, who now had an increasingly angry and anxious look on his face. Thomas was sure that Bruce had already figured out where this was going.

"Guys," Bruce said. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Why?" Thomas asked.

"I don't think this has anything to do with anything."

"What's wrong? You're not hiding anything, are you?" Thomas smirked.

Bruce gritted his teeth. "You little..."

"Bruce," Claudia called. "What are they talking about? What's going on?"

"Nothing," a flustered Bruce answered. "They're not talking about anything important!"

Thomas turned to face Claudia. "While he was with us-"

"Thomas!" Bruce interrupted.

"He would regularly engage-"

"Thomas! You better not!"

"In sexual acts with the girls in the colony."

Claudia gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. She had a horrified look on her face.

Bruce turned towards Claudia. "That's not true! I never did anything like that!"

"Then why were you being so defensive and interrupting me?" Thomas asked.

"I knew what you were going to ask, and I wanted you to stop it!" Bruce's tone became increasingly louder as he said this. "But it's a lie!"

Thomas shook his head, and looked towards Shawn, and then Dawson. Then, he saw Jenna walking towards the living room, until she was inside.

"Bruce," Jenna said. "Before Gloria came, you would make me give you head. A lot. You did it to the other girls, too. Once Gloria showed up, you just used her."

Bruce angrily frowned. "That's not true! Why are you getting in on this?!"

Jenna shrugged. "Just because."

"I can attest to this," Shawn said. "It's true. Bruce, stop denying it. The way you're reacting is just making you more guilty."

Bruce was furious. He gritted his teeth and tightened his fist, before slamming it down onto the coffee table in front of him. The force of his fist hitting the hard wood shook Melissa's glass jar, and though she was sitting, the shockwaves managed to topple her onto her side.

Claudia stood up, and approached Bruce. "So... It is true. ...You were using me."

Bruce stared at her, before giving a calm answered. "I'm sorr-"

His apology was interrupted by Claudia's firm palm slapping him on his left cheek. Then, Claudia quickly walked out of the living room, and headed upstairs.

Bruce rubbed his cheek, before looking at Thomas and saying, "Well, I hope you're happy."

"No," Thomas said. "I'm not. Not yet, at least."

"Now what?" Bruce was obviously irritated.

"This one is about Taro." Thomas turned towards Sayuko. "Do you want to take this one?"

Sayuko nodded, and looked towards Bruce. "Why did you not rescue my brother?"

"Your brother?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's talking about me," Taro said. "And I would like to know the answer to that as well."

"Well, we didn't see you in time," Bruce answered. "If we did, you would have been in there with us. Besides, Melissa treated you like a king compared to them."

Thomas looked at Shawn, who was shaking his head at the obvious lie that Bruce had told.

"That's besides the point," Taro responded. "What if she decided to kill me a lot sooner because I was still in there? Sayuko wouldn't have the slightest idea as to what happened to me."

"Well, that didn't happen, did it?!" Bruce said.

"Thomas told me," Sayuko said. "He told me about your rules. How you told them not to rescue anyone you didn't like. ...There was only one reason why you did not rescue Taro, and that's because you're a racist."

"The hell are you talking about, girl?!"

"Thomas told me that you hate Asians."

This latest revelation garnered increased attention from Taro, Robbie, and Kim.

"Don't even try to deny that," Dawson said. "I don't even want to mention that rant you went on when we wanted to get her brother, but you wouldn't let us."

"Now, what if we were still in the walls," Thomas said, "and Melissa still got Robbie and Kim over here? Can you imagine how I would feel, seeing my best friends in that closest, but not being able to help them? I don't think Melissa would have put them in that hamster cage as well."

"Dude," Robbie said. "You sound like a real shitty 'leader'. I'm sorta glad we came when we did."

Bruce quickly turned towards Robbie. "Now, why don't you just shut your fuckin' mouth, you-" Bruce stopped himself before he finished his sentence. Then, in a calmer tone, he said. "Alright fine, so I am a bit racist. Aren't we all?" Bruce turned towards Sayuko and Taro. "You two came from Japan, one of the most racist countries on the planet! Tell me that you both don't see yourselves as better than everyone in here!"

"I admit," Taro said. "Japan is a xenophobic country. It's one of the reasons why I left. And Sayuko and I were raised to have great pride in our heritage. But that doesn't mean we're racist."

"Bullshit."

"Believe what you want."

"I don't care what your reasons are!" Sayuko said, becoming a bit emotional. "My brother could have been killed because of you! You're awful!"

"Whatever." Bruce grunted. "You finally got your brother back, so you should be happy. Why don't you be quiet like little girls are supposed to."

Taro wrapped his arm around Sayuko, and pulled her closer to him. She then rested her head on his chest. Taro glared at Bruce, who averted his gaze from the siblings.

"Bruce," Thomas said. "Pretty much everything that came out of your mouth has been a lie. I don't know who's worse: Melissa for putting us through this, or you for deceiving the people around you, people who trusted you."

"We all know that Melissa is the true bitch in this story," Bruce said. "I just wanted out of here. Didn't we all? So I used Claudia a bit. Wasn't it Malcolm X who said 'By any means necessary'?"

"...You did NOT just compare yourself to Malcolm X," Thomas said, becoming irked. "Unlike him, you didn't help ANYONE!"

"Now you're the one who's fuckin' lyin'!" Bruce snapped. "I set up the campsite in the walls! I gave you all rules to keep the peace! I lied to Melissa and said that I didn't know where you all were when she asked me, all to protect you! And you say I didn't help anyone?!" Bruce shot up from his seat. "You little piece of shit! I will murder you!"

"You're making threats now?!" Thomas said, enraged as well. "How low can you go?!"

"Fuck you! I should kick your ass right now!"

As Bruce was finishing his sentence, two sets of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Seconds later, Claudia reentered the room, joined by Rebecca, who was holding a glass jar. Claudia had something in her hand as well: the Shrink Ray. Her angry tear-streaked face glared right at Bruce.

Everyone in the room had noticed the Shrink Ray in her hand, and how she was staring at Bruce. Their mouths dropped in anticipation and horror, there were even a few gasps.

Claudia aimed the ray gun right at Bruce. "Don't move, Bruce."

"Claudia!" Bruce called, in shock though trying to be affectionate. "Baby! What are you doing?!"

"Don't give me that 'Baby' crap!"

Claudia pulled the trigger, and a beam of light shot from the ray and darted towards Bruce. He tried to run out of the way to avoid the beam of light, but it traveled much too fast for him. The light hit his body, and he instantly fell to the floor, creating a thud as his body impacted it. His body glowed as it rapidly lost its size, until he was right back down to the size he was an half hour ago. He laid unconscious on the floor, the result of the side effect of the shrinking proncess.

Claudia sighed, and powered off the Shrink Ray, before handing it to Rebecca. "Take it back upstairs, and hide it. Even from me."

Rebecca nodded, took the Shrink Ray and gave Claudia the jar, and then walked back upstairs.

"I don't know what to think," Claudia said as she walked to the spot that Bruce laid at. "I was wrong. I let a man seduce me... again. The last time that happened, Rebecca was conceived." She kneeled down, and picked Bruce off of the floor, and placed him into the jar she held. Then, she stood up and set the jar on the coffee table, across from Melissa.

Shawn walked away from the wall he was leaning against. "...Well, I guess that's over with now. What now?"

Kim walked into the living room. "I wanna go home, now. What about you, Robbie?"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Robbie responded. "No offense to any of you all here, but I wanna get out of here."

"You're preaching to the choir," Dawson said. "Maybe now I can get this checked out." He pointed towards his missing arm, its stub now free of the tissue that had been bound to it.

Jenna turned towards the ragged woman. "What about you, Sheryl?"

"...I'll probably go back to the streets, where I belong," Sheryl answered. "I don't think there's any room for me to stay here." Sheryl looked expectantly towards Claudia.

"...I'm sorry," Claudia said.

"Don't worry about it." Despite this, Sheryl had a disappointed look on her face.

Thomas stood up. "Robbie, you drove here, right?"

"Yep," Robbie answered. "Hopefully, Melissa didn't destroy my car."

"Well, you think you could give us three a ride home?" Thomas asked, refering to himself, Sayuko, and Taro.

"Of course," Robbie said with a smile, before turning towards Sayuko and Taro. "Would that be okay with you?"

Taro nodded. "I would love that."

"Me too," Sayuko said.

Robbie turned towards Claudia. "Mrs. Cruz. Do you mind if I check your garage and see if my car is still in one piece?"

"Not at all, dear," Claudia responded. "The door is in the other room behind me."

"Great." With that, Robbie, followed by Kim, walked through the living room, into the main hall, and into the room across the hallway that Claudia was referring to.

As soon as the couple disappeared from Thomas' sight, the living room was rocked by a loud, but at the same time quiet, and familiar scream. Everyone in the room turned towards the source, which was none other than Bruce, who had awoken inside of the jar he was now in.

"What the fuck?!" Bruce yelled out in rage as he stood and started to pound on the glass wall. "How dare you do this to me again?! You bitch! Make me big again!"

Claudia shook her head in pity as soon as he called her "bitch." "No."

"You're gonna keep me like this?! Are you fuckin' serious?!"

"...That's a good question, Mrs. Cruz," Shawn said. "What are you going to do with him?"

Claudia folded her arms, and for a few seconds seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "...They're both going to stay small until Edgar gets over here. I'm going to call him tonight, and tell him what happened."

"So you're going to set Bruce free after Mr. Cruz comes?" Thomas asked. "After this, Bruce could probably go after you."

"I know. I'll figure out what exactly I'm going to do by the time Edgar arrives."

"I hope so," Thomas said. "...Maybe you could give him to Mr. Cruz."

"For what?"

"I don't know. At the very least to have him away from here."

"Or you could keep him around," Dawson added. "I bet he'd make a great footslave!"

Claudia looked at Dawson as if what he had said especially disgusted her. Thomas and Shawn chuckled, while Jenna moaned deeply. Thomas looked towards Sayuko and Taro on the couch behind him; Taro had a curious look on his face, while Sayuko seemed indifferent.

"I'm serious!" Dawson continued. "I'm sure that he could get every nook and cranny at his size! Plus, he would have no choice but to do what-"

"NO." Claudia shook her head.

"...Your loss, I guess." Dawson shrugged.

Dawson walked back into the kitchen, and headed towards the counter. A few seconds later, Kim appeared from the other room, and called out to Thomas. "Hey, Thomas! The car's all fine. She didn't destroy it!"

"That's great!" Thomas said, before turning toward Sayuko and Taro. "You both ready?"

Sayuko nodded. Taro responded with, "Yeah." Then, they both stood from the couch, and walked out of the living room, and headed towards where Kim was standing.

"Where's Dawson?" Kim asked. "Robbie wants to see him."

"For what?" Thomas asked as Dawson walked back into the living room, having heard Kim.

"They bonded over their love of feet," Kim responded.

"...Robbie has a foot fetish, too?" Thomas was surprised by this revelation. "I would have never guessed."

"Yeah," Dawson said. "He and I are family." He then made his way to where Kim, Sayuko, and Taro were, before all four left Thomas' sight.

Thomas turned towards Shawn. "When are you going to be leaving?"

"...Not long from now," Shawn responded. "I'll probably leave at around the same time as the others."

"How are you getting home?"

"The bus, I guess. I still have my wallet."

"That's good."

"I could drive you all home," Claudia suggested. "It would be easier."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Shawn said. "The media already knows that we're missing, and if they see a car with us in it, they'd probably arrest you."

"Oh... Right." Claudia sighed.

Thomas looked towards Melissa, who had been silently watching everything that had unfolded in this living room. He did not know if she was still as angry as she was upstairs, but he knew that her anger had not completely subsided.

He approached the coffee, and kneeled down right in front of Melissa's jar. She looked up at him as she saw his shadow cover her. Nearby, Bruce was still yelling and pounding on the glass inside of his jar, but Thomas tried to ignore him.

"I have one question, Melissa," Thomas said. "Why did you do all of this?"

Melissa stared at Thomas. Her face did look a bit calmer than before. "...I don't feel like getting into this right now. You won, I lost. Just take that and move on."

"...Well, I know that Mrs. Cruz is going to make you big again soon, so it's going to be hard for me to move on, since we have class together." Despite now being six weeks behind in his college classes, Thomas felt that he could possibly catch up with his peers.

"Please. Just take it and get out of my sight." Melissa turned her head away from him.

Thomas sighed. Melissa was being difficult to the very end. He was worried about how Melissa would act when she was back to her normal size and living normally with Claudia and Rebecca. Sure, the Shrink Ray would be gone, but the family relationship would be forever stained, despite what Claudia wants.

"Fine, Melissa," Thomas said, before standing and walking away from the jar. He considered a few parting words for Bruce, but decided against it. He felt that Bruce was not worth his time anymore.

He walked up to Shawn and Claudia, who were standing right next to each other as they watched his exchange with Melissa.

"I don't think she'll change," Thomas said.

Claudia sighed. "...That's my daughter. Lord have mercy..."

~~~

In front of the Melissa's house, and before Thomas departed from there, he bid his farewells to Shawn, Dawson, and Claudia. Carlos had finally come from the backyard to see him off. He still seemed to be angry at Thomas for supposedly having a hand in Gloria's death, but he did adknowledge Thomas for saving Melissa's remaining prisoners. Though he did not know them too well, or maybe even at all, Thomas also had a few words with Jenna and Sheryl, who both also thanked him.

Claudia thanked both Thomas and Sayuko on behalf of both her and Rebecca for saving her, as well as helping her open her eyes to Bruce's deception. She assured him that no one would touch the Shrink Ray until Edgar Cruz arrived at the manse.

As no one would believe the truth of what actually happened to them, they all fabricated a lie: That they were all kidnapped and taken to an unknown location by a group of sadistic men wearing masks. The men would have killed off nearly everyone else they captured, but for some reason, one of the men turned on the others. That man then blindfolded the survivors, and released them back into the world, before he took off to parts unknown. The story was not perfect, but it was more believable to the public than a lone woman with a shrinking device.

As per Dawson's suggestion, he, Thomas, and Shawn traded email addresses. Dawson tried to get Jenna's email, though she refused, believing that he would start stalking her. Carlos also refused to provide his email, as he flatly stated that he did not want anything to do with them after today. Carlos' sudden change in his demeanor still vexxed Thomas, as he used to be a rather friendly and easy-going guy.

With the final words having been said, Thomas climbed into the passenger seat of Robbie's car, and Sayuko and Taro joined Kim in the backseat. Thomas waved at his former companions as the car drove out of the driveway, and away from Melissa's house.

As he looked back on the white house that drifted further away from his vision, he still could not believe that such a lonely house would hold such a horrible secret. Many people must have passed the house in their cars or on foot, and they did not have a clue as to what was going on in there. Dozens of captives in the closet... Dozens of cries for help... Dozens of lives being snuffed out as if they were bugs... All of this, and no one would not even have suspected it.

After all, shrinking technology does not exist. Or rather, it was not supposed to exist.

Thomas had to wonder. What was the purpose of the Shrink Ray? Why was such a thing even made? Did Mr. Cruz invent it for the U.S. government? Furthermore, why would he even send such a dangerous weapon outside of the lab? Even if Melissa hadn't have become mad with power over it, what if it still managed to fall into the wrong hands?

He remembered the story Claudia told both him and Gloria when they discovered her. That Mr. Cruz was working on "size altercation technology." What exactly did Mr. Cruz have planned in his mind?

Despite having put an end to Melissa's reign of terror, he still came out of this ordeal with more unanswered questions than he did going into this.

However, he could take solace in one thing: Melissa's twisted, gruesome "Bugman Games" were finally over.

Fifteen minutes later, Robbie pulled up in front of a small, two-story house that stood between two more similar houses, which were all seperated by fences. There were also a few small trees standing throughout the front yard.

"This is it, right?" Robbie asked.

"Yes," Taro said. "Thanks for bringing us here."

"No problem." He unlocked the car's doors.

"And Thomas," Taro called. "You have my deepest gratitude."

"Thank you, Taro," Thomas responded.

As he was sitting closest to the door, Taro opened it, and climbed out of the car. Sayuko prepared to follow him, but stopped just as she was about to exit the car.

"Thoma-kun," Sayuko said. "I want to thank you again for making this possible. I have my brother back, all thanks to you." She smiled.

Thomas return her smile with one of his own. "I didn't do it alone, Sayu. You helped as well."

"Yeah," Kim said. "You're a hero, too."

Robbie nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I guess you all are right," Sayuko said. "Without Thoma-kun, I wouldn't have had the courage to do anything close to this."

"We make quite a team, don't you think?" Thomas said with glee.

Sayuko nodded. "Oh! Will you be going to school tomorrow?"

"...Probably. I need to see how things are with my classes. They should know that I was one of the missing."

"I see... Then I hope to see you in class on Tuesday. You helped me with my schoolwork as well, and I don't want to see you of all people fail the class you helped me in."

"Don't worry, Sayu! I don't intend to fail!" Thomas grinned.

Sayuko chuckled. "Well, I'll see you then." She turned towards Robbie. "I know that my brother did it already, but thank you for bringing us home."

"It was nothing," Robbie bragged.

Sayuko smiled at him, before she climbed out of the car, and closed the door behind her.

As Thomas watched her walk towards her house, he had a sudden urge. One that he could not ignore. He felt that it was now or never, just like when he first asked out Melissa.

Thomas opened his door and stood out of the car. "Sayu, wait!"

Sayuko, as well as Taro ahead of her, stopped in their tracks and turned to face Thomas.

"What is it?" Sayuko asked.

Thomas approached Sayuko, as the others around them watched. Once he reached her, he stood before her for a few seconds. She stared at him, her eyes wondering just he had called her for.

Then, he wrapped his arms around her. Her eyes widened in surprise as he pulled her closer to his body.

"Thank you," he said. "You looked after me and cared for me. You kept me safe."

"Thomas..." Sayuko softly said.

"You're more of a hero than me. I think that without you, this wouldn't have happened."

Thomas felt Sayuko's arms wrap around his body. "I was glad to care for you. You're a good person. You deserved that and more."

The two embraced each other for several seconds, before Thomas released her, and he stepped back from her. He could see that she was blushing, though he was as well.

"I'll see you real soon, Sayu," Thomas said, with a smile.

"Of course, Thoma-kun," Sayuko responded, also smiling. "I look forward to seeing you again."

Thomas nodded in agreement, and then turned around and walked to Robbie's car. He then stepped back into the passenger's seat, and closed the door. Both Robbie and Kim had delighted expressions on their faces as they looked at Thomas.

"You two would make a cute couple," Kim said.

"You think so?" Thomas looked back towards Sayuko and Taro, who were just about to enter into their house. The siblings waved back at the trio in the car one last time before they walked inside. They waved back, while they watched them disappear beyond the front door.

"Yeah!" Kim said. "You two should get married, and have some cute Blasian babies!"

"One step at a time, Kim," Thomas said. Admittedly, the idea of being married to Sayuko was one that appealed to him. After the time they spent together, and after today, he would love to call Sayuko his wife. ...But that day was a long while off, if it were to come at all.

"Anyway," Robbie said as he relocked the car doors. "Let's get you home now, Thomas."

"Alright," Thomas said. "I can't wait to rest on my own bed."

Robbie then put the car's gear into drive, and then drove away from the Takei sibling's house. Thomas made sure to memorize the neighborhood that they lived in, as he was certain that he would be back over here sometime in the near future. Except he'd be alone.

~~~

Thomas unlocked the door to his apartment, and walked inside. As he closed the door behind him, he let out a deep sigh of relief. Everything was as it was when he had left, and surprisingly, his power had not been cut, as the digital clock off in the distance was displaying the correct time: 3:37.

There was so much he had to do. He had to call his job to inquire about his status there. He had to also inquire about his classes at his community college, but that could wait until tomorrow, since he would be at the school anyway. He had to throw out the now old and maybe even rotting food and drinks that were in his refrigerator and kitchen. He had to check his email, as he knew that he now had a huge backlog of messages from worried friends and family, as well as, of course, hundreds of spam messages.

He looked towards his answering machine near his phone. No doubt that it was also filled to the brim with messages.

He walked to the desk that both devices were set on, and grabbed the phone from it base. He dialed a certain number, and brought the phone to his ear. The phone on the other line rung a few times, before a familiar voice belonging to a middle-aged woman spoke.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom. It's me, Thomas."

Thomas' mother let out a cry of sheer relief. "Thomas! Where have you been?!"

~~~

Edgar Cruz walked into his private dormroom, and closed and locked the door behind him. He had spent the last week-and-a-half in the main lab, trying to perfect the process of instant growth using specialized radiation.

Unfortunately, his team's attempts have all been met with failures. While they were able to induce growth in inanimate objects, organic speciments were a different story: While it looked as if the speciment would indeed grow, seconds into the process, it would collapse into a pool of goo and radioactive ions.

So far, they had tried the ray on plants and small animals; they dare not even thing about using a human subject until they made more progress. Edgar especially did not want a repeat of the Portal Project failure, when one of his most dedicated men volunteered to be the first human to travel through a portal that the team created, only to find himself inexplicitly the size of a dustmite and in the room of a young woman. From the radio transmission, that woman mistook him for a bug, and dispatched of him as one.

This was the first time he had been in his room since the latest round of experiments had started. He took brief naps in his office, but did not get any decent sleep. Of course, he barely slept at all since coming to this research facility, and he was sure that his lack of decent sleeping was starting to take its toll on his sanity.

After today's failures, he gave his team a week off to rest. Now that he was back in his room, he felt that he was finally going to get some decent rest.

However, he notice that the screen on his cell phone on his nightstand was notifying him that he had new messages. He never took his phone with him into the lab; it always stayed here in his room.

He grabbed the phone, and flipped it open. There were 39 voice messages waiting for him.

"Yikes."

He opened the list, and it seemed that the bulk of those messages came from someone named "Sayuko Takei." He raised an eyebrow as he went down the list. As it turned out, ALL but one of them were from this mystery person. That last message, the most recent one at the bottom of the list, was from Claudia, his ex-wife who ran off with some guy and took Rebecca with her, while leaving his beloved daughter Melissa behind.

He could never forgive her for that. It was the second time that he had been betrayed by her, and that time, she hurt Melissa in the process.

Despite his feelings for her, he decided to play her message first. He confirmed his selection, and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Edgar. It's me, Claudia. I... I don't know how to explain this, but you need to get the Shrink Ray and take it away from here. Melissa went on a rampage with it for the last half year. She shrunk me, Rebecca, and a whole lot of other people, most of whom are... dead... We were able to stop her thanks to some help from some of those people who were still alive. ...I never left Melissa for some guy. It was a lie. Please, Edgar... Come over here ASAP."

Edgar pulled the phone away from his ear, and stared at its screen. To say that he was surprised at what he just heard would be an understatement.

"Well, well..."

He sighed, and walked towards his bed, and grabbed his suitcase from its side. He placed it on his desk, and then opened it. There were two square-shaped slots inside, one of which had a box tucked inside of it. The box was empty, except for soft foam with an indentation in the shape of the Shrink Ray.

"Melissa, Melissa... You keep surprising me."

It seemed that he would not be able to get any decent rest just yet.