Carmen, Kyle, and Samantha watched as Arisu’s motorcycle pulled into the hotel where they’d been staying. The three of them were across the street, watching from inside a restaurant. Kyle and Samantha were, for the moment, full size, and although Carmen’s height drew a few stares, most of the diner’s patrons seemed uninterested in anything but nursing hangovers with runny eggs and coffee.

“Son of a bitch,” Kyle muttered angrily, watching Arisu approach the hotel room they’d been staying in, “Richard fucking sold us out!”

“I can’t believe it,” Samantha said, stunned, “he was one of your groomsmen!”

“I always knew he was a real bastard,” Kyle growled, “but… god damnit Richard, trying to have us killed?”

“Money’ll do that,” Carmen muttered, “come on guys, let’s leave through the kitchen.” Outside of their hotel room they saw Arisu reappear, an angry snarl on her face as she looked for them.

The three were silent as they walked through the restaurant’s kitchen. The diner staff gave them odd glances, and a grizzled cook who looked like he belonged on a wanted poster was about to say something until they opened the back door, exiting with a brief nod.

“We should have come up with a trap or something,” Carmen muttered as the trio walked to a beaten old brown car they’d “borrowed” after ditching their previous ride earlier that morning.

“I didn’t think she was actually going to come,” Kyle sighed, “fuck me… now we’ve got to deal with Richard too.”

“Richard will be easy,” Samantha muttered, “let’s talk about the killer ninja lady that’s on us now.”

“First things first,” Carmen said with a grin, “time for you two to go small, let’s say six inches, big enough for me to hear you without having to shout too much.”

“Wait Carmen not right here in the parking-“ Samantha began, but Carmen just giggled as Samantha fell through her clothes with a squeal of surprise. A moment later she was balling up the clothes, taking their tiny occupants with her as she tossed them into the passenger seat. With a final look around to make sure that nobody had seen, Carmen started the car.

“Carmen!” Kyle shouted, peeking out of the pile of clothing on the passenger’s seat, “you’ve got to be more careful! We’re on the run remember? A six foot three woman is suspicious enough, let alone one who shrinks people in public.”

“Sheesh sorry,” Carmen muttered, pulling onto the highway, “it’s my first time on the run from the law!” She sighed, “okay, so how exactly do we want to deal with Arisu? I don’t suppose you have some machine guns buried for a holiday giveaway somewhere?”

“No,” Kyle muttered, “if we could get our hands on some guns though-“

“Fat chance,” Samantha said, cutting him off, “we don’t even know how to use them if we did, and besides from what I’ve seen guns don’t stop Valkyries.”

“We’re like zombies,” Carmen said with a small smile, “you’ve got to hit us in the head if you want us to really go down, that said getting shot hurt like hell and I’m pretty sure if we filled her up with enough lead it would do the trick.”

“Okay, do you know how to use a gun?” Samantha asked, a little exasperated.

“I shot my dad’s hunting rifle a few times, that’s it,” Carmen admitted. She paused, her eyes lighting up, “actually… it’s probably still at our old family cabin!”

“Where?” Kyle asked.

“It’s up in Michigan,” Carmen explained, “maybe four hours from here, there’s a little resort town we used to go to in the summers, but I don’t think my parents have been there since I moved out.”

“And you think you can get into it?” Samantha asked.

“There’s a key hidden in a fake rock and I know the alarm code,” Carmen said with a smile.

“And you’re not worried that the cops or Jormungand might be watching it?” Kyle asked, it all sounded too good to be true, a place they could hide out at and it had a gun in it to boot…

“The town it’s in has maybe three cops,” Carmen replied dismissively, “I’m sure they drove by it, but I doubt they’ve got a guy sitting outside of it or anything. If Jormungand is watching it… well we want to confront them at some point, right?”

“When we’re ready,” Kyle cautioned, “showing up and scrambling for your dad’s old bolt action rifle while a crazy woman with a sword hacks the door down doesn’t sound like a winning plan to me.”

“Carmen,” Samantha asked suddenly, “is there any chance you could get a sword?”

Carmen snorted as she took a highway exit headed north, towards Michigan, “I’m not picking up swordplay in the next few days Sammy, but I’m not half bad with my fists if she’s waiting for us.” She looked back at the road, not wanting to say much more. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, and she bit her lip, wondering what would happen if she fought Arisu again.

You’ll beat her, she told herself hollowly, you don’t have any other choice.

She flipped on the radio, catching the end of a weather forecast warning of more winter weather on the way.

And we’re heading into Michigan, Carmen thought wryly, hope Arisu likes snow…

…

“What do you mean it’s going to impact the search?” Melinda asked angrily, “it’s just a bit of cold!”

Agent Wilkins sighed, staring down into his coffee cup. He was a fifteen-year veteran of the FBI, and the agent in charge of the operation. In theory Melinda was just an outside consultant, in practice she had more control over things than he was entirely comfortable with, though to her credit she always deferred to his authority. The two were meeting now in his private office, away from anyone else.

“They’re saying it’s going to be the storm of the century,” Wilkins explained, “hurricane force winds over the Great Lakes, feet of snow on the land. The national guard’s being activated, they’re briefing the president on it Melinda,” he said with exasperation, “all the local police affiliates are going to be busy, and we can’t exactly have our agents moving in the field in those kinds of conditions. We can get a few snowplows to give our team some mobility, but unless someone calls in a direct sighting of them… We’re stuck.”

Melinda sighed, “I understand…”

“If it’s any consolation, once it starts to come down Mendez won’t be able to move either,”

“A small favor from God,” Melinda muttered, reaching for a cigarette. She lit it up, ignoring the flinch of the man as she took a long puff. She rolled her eyes at his reaction, “it’s me smoking or you spending all of our meetings fantasizing about me,” Melinda growled, “we must pick our poisons unfortunately.”

“Yeah,” Wilkins muttered, looking away a moment. Working with Melinda so frequently had made dealing with the pheromone effect something of second nature to him, intrusive sexual thoughts were common, and though he hated the smell the cigarettes did make them easier to ignore. He took a moment, steeling himself before delivering the next round of bad news, “Arisu Moriyama has been spotted in the Chicago area,” he said quietly.

Melinda coughed, almost choking on her cigarette, “WHAT!?” she rasped, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“I only just found out in the last hour,” Wilkins said, “she walked into some poor guy’s house and threatened to step on him I guess, from what I’ve seen of her work, he’s lucky to be alive.”

“She’s here for Carmen,” Melinda spat angrily, “they’re going to link up together and disappear.”

“It’s odd though,” Wilkins muttered, “why would she come personally? Jormungand is friendly with most other criminal groups, it would be easy to get Carmen out of the country if that’s what they wanted…”

“She’s here because she wants to spit in my eye,” Melinda sighed, “I think the Westwoods are still alive, Arisu is prone to dramatic gestures, maybe they fit in somehow.”

Wilkins glanced out the window at the dark grey sky, seeing the trees in the parking lot sway slowly back and forth, “Whatever it is, we’re all getting stuck soon… you can just tell there’s a storm coming in,” he muttered, “a bad one…”

…

Carmen felt something in her die a little as she saw the boarded-up storefronts in the resort town where her family had spent so many happy summer getaways. Mapleport had at one time been a thriving community, with the fishing industry and tourism giving the town a vibrant boardwalk. Now though, the fishing boats were docked, rusting at anchor in a Marina with support pillars crusted over with striped mussels, and the hotels that lined the beach were dark, the pools emptied and the parking lots cracked and deserted.

“The economy has not been great to this place,” Kyle muttered, peering out the window. Carmen had grown the two of them back to four feet tall as they’d entered the final stretch of their journey, and they peered out the windows of the car as the desolate town rolled past.

“It used to be nicer,” Carmen muttered defensively. Was it though? She wondered, or was that another thing she was remember better than it had been?

The town itself seemed lethargic, a sleepy place driven to deeper slumber by the cold winds blowing across the lake, a sure warning of a harsh winter storm on its way. Nobody so much as glanced at the car as they rolled to the edge of town, where the lakeside cabins lay in secluded plots covered in evergreens.

Carmen almost breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the old family cabin, and she drove around to the back of the gravel driveway, parking their “borrowed” car out of sight of the road. The three of them stepped out and walked up to the cabin, and Carmen withdrew the key from a fake rock near the door with a grin.

“Looks like mom and dad still own the place,” she said, pushing the door open. She quickly moved to the alarm, typing in the code and disarming it with a loud beep. She looked around, grimacing at the thin layer of dust on everything, “looks like they haven’t used it in a while… there’s a groundskeeper guy that is supposed to come by once a month to check on it… I’m going to check the pantry and see if there’s any food.”

Kyle and Samantha walked in after her, glancing around the dilapidated cabin. From the look of things there was a living room with a simple couch and a truly ancient television, and a pair of bedrooms. Kyle pushed one open, revealing a room decorated in soccer posters, with handful of old trophies on the dresser.

“This must have been Carmen’s room,” Kyle muttered as Samantha followed him in.

“Holy shit!” Samantha laughed, pointing to a picture frame on the nightstand, “look!”

“No way,” Kyle grinned, grabbing it, “come on, let’s show her!”

“All right guys,” Carmen called, “the only stuff here is a bunch of canned beans my dad bought when he thought the world would end in 2012, so-“

Kyle and Samantha walked back into the main room of the cabin, smiling and holding the frame up to her. She went silent as she slowly took it from them, her eyes going wide as she read the framed school newspaper article.

“Phoenix Rises at State,” she grinned, blinking away a quick tear as she looked at the photograph of her scoring the final goal in the state championship, “by Kyle Westwood… and… Sammy look, you’re in the back there, in the stands!” she pointed to the school band assembled behind the triumphant shot, Samantha was there, in a band uniform, trumpet at her lips.

The three of them were silent, looking at the old school newspaper article as they thought over everything that had happened between them. The wind howled outside as the storm grew more powerful over the lake, and the three shivered, looking back at the open door.

“I’m uh… gonna run out and get us something to eat,” Carmen said finally, walking towards it.

“Aren’t you worried about being recognized?” Kyle asked uncertainly.

Carmen sighed and gave a small smile, “I feel like everything’s going to end pretty soon anyway, don’t you think?” A gust of wind seemed to emphasize the point, the trees swayed outside as the sound of the waves on the shore a few hundred yards away picked up.

“Yeah,” Kyle said quietly, and he looked to Samantha, who nodded solemnly.

“Come back to us though, okay?” Samantha said quickly, “before the end.”

“I will,” Carmen promised with a smile and a nod. She had a sudden mischievious smirk on her face, “try to have a little fun while I’m gone.” She winked, and suddenly Kyle cried out in surprise as he disappeared into his clothing. Samantha winced, readying for her own shrinking, but it didn’t come. Carmen smirked, “I just get this feeling like you guys like Sammy to be the big one, am I wrong?”

“Nope!” Samantha beamed, reaching into the pile of clothing and fishing out a naked Kyle.

“Well uh, I wouldn’t mind being the-“ Kyle started, but Samantha covered his mouth with a single finger, giggling as Carmen walked out the door. Once the Valkyrie was gone, she removed her finger, smirking down at her tiny husband.

“Nice try,” Samantha laughed, “but… you’re mine Kyle!”

He just sighed, giving her a goofy grin, “Of course…” he made a mental note to have Carmen shrink Samantha for him one of these days… he had a few ideas of what he could do to his wife if he had the opportunity to hold her in his hands, but for now he was her toy.

Samantha giggled, carrying him over to the couch and flopping down on it, “Carmen said to have a little fun… we’ve had a stressful couple of days, I’m thinking I will.” She licked her finger, bringing it down between his legs and causing him to hiss as she slowly circled it over an erection he hadn’t realized he had.

“S-Samantha,” he groaned, squirming in her grip.

“I might not have those Valkyrie pheromones,” Samantha said with a smirk, “but I’ve been playing with you long enough that I don’t think I need them to turn you on.”

“No,” he groaned, his eyes almost rolling back in his head as Samantha continued to toy with him, “y-you don’t…”

Samantha fought the urge to laugh, leaning back into the couch as she slowed her motions, toying with her husband and delaying his orgasm while she thought over what to do with him. It was a nice diversion after the insanity of the past few days, to hold Kyle like a doll and enjoy this bizarre sexual experience that they’d gotten as a silver lining.

“Fight it a little Kyle!” she giggled, slowly twirling her wet finger around his manhood, “you’re making it too easy for me!”

“I-I can’t!” he managed, trying in vain to squirm out of her hand. He groaned as he sprayed his seed across her fingers, causing her to smirk triumphantly as his hips bucked against her palm.

“Now let’s talk about how you’re going to get me off,” she giggled.

Kyles eyes widened, “down your panties,” he said quickly, trying to cut her off before she got other ideas.

“What’s the most you ever lost on a coin toss?” Samantha said in a fake gravelly voice, imitating a movie they were both fond of. She teasingly held up a quarter she’d found in the couch.

“S-Samantha come on,” Kyle said, licking his lips, “j-just put me down your panties! I’ll crawl right inside, you’ll love it!”

“Heads, you go in the front,” Samantha said, giving him that goofy gravelly voice again, “tails…” she giggled, the serious persona instantly abandoned, “well I really liked the way you felt up my ass Kyle, let’s say tails and… it’s a pretty obvious pun, you know what happens if it lands on tails.”

Kyle gulped, “Flip it.”

Samantha bit her lip, stifling a giggle as she flipped the coin. She squealed in surprise as she missed the catch, and the coin rattled across the floor and came to a rest on the other side of the room.

“Call it,” Samantha said, grinning at him.

“Just go see what it is,” he said, irritated.

“I can’t call it for you, that quarter is from 1998, it’s been traveling 24 years to get here, call it!” Samantha giggled as Kyle rolled his eyes.

“Heads,” he said finally. His world shook as Samantha stood up, walking across the cabin to where the quarter lay on the floor. She bent over, holding him tightly in her fist, giving him a sense of vertigo like on a roller coaster as the two of them peered at the coin.

“I guess that’s your lucky coin,” Samantha said with a giggle, “don’t mix it in with the rest of the change.” She stood back up, causing his stomach to lurch as he was shifted ninety degrees in the span of half a second.

“So uh… do I get to pick what happens now?” Kyle asked eagerly.

“Nope,” Samantha giggled, “remember the coin toss was just on whether you’d be getting me off in the back or the front…” She brought him down to her waist, pulling the sweatpants she’d looted from the donation bin away from her skin. She tossed him in, and he flailed for a moment as she pulled the drawstring tight, sealing him against her womanhood.

Samantha fought a shiver of pleasure as she bent down to pick up the quarter, chuckling as she slipped it into her own pocket. She’d put Kyle through a few more coin tosses before Carmen came back, lucky coin or not she was sure she’d win one eventually.

For now, though, Samantha collapsed on the couch again, enjoying the sensation as Kyle began his journey inside of her.

…

Carmen hadn’t immediately gone to the car, instead wandering down to the frigid beach. She felt a sense of unease as she watched those waves crash upon the shore, she’d swam on this beach dozens of times in her youth, from her time as a little girl all the way up into high school. It had carried a sense of familiarity and peace, had. Now though? Carmen fought the urge to step away from the shoreline, large bodies of water made her nervous, and had for the past five years, a deep irrational and primordial fear that all Valkyries shared. That lake was no longer the joyous excursion it was in her youth, it was death.

She shook her head and forced herself to turn away, walking back to the car. Coming to this place, to Mapleport… she was already regretting it. Everything, from the shells of her favorite boardwalk shops, to the dust covered cabin, reminded her of a past she increasingly questioned.

Get some food for everyone, she told herself, starting the car, once that storm rolls in, we’ll be snowed in for a couple days at least…

She paused before entering the vehicle, pulling a bottle of body spray from her pocket with a grimace. She’d found it in the cabin’s bathroom while searching for supplies, a strong musky aroma that had been popular back when she’d been in high school. With a sigh she began spraying it over herself, it be suspicious to arouse everyone everywhere she went, and she hoped that the spray would cloak at least some of her pheromones before going into town.

…

The old grocery store was almost the same as Carmen remembered, she’d accompanied her dad here plenty of times to buy hot dogs for beachside cookouts after. It was nice that at least one thing in Mapleport was still the same as in her rose-tinted memories.

“Carmen?” the grocery store clerk, an aged man in a striped uniform asked suddenly as he bagged up her items.

She froze, “Y-Yeah?” she said.

“It’s me, Marvin?” he said excitedly, “I can’t believe you’re back after all these years, are you staying at your parent’s old cabin?”

Carmen blinked; she did remember Marvin, did he not know she was on the run? That she was a Valkyrie? She licked her lips, then put on what she hoped wasn’t a suspicious smile.

“Yeah, just in town for the weekend,” she lied, “I missed Mapleport I guess.”

Marvin chuckled, “I think most people want to revisit familiar things at some point in their lives. I hope something here makes you happy.” He pushed a coffee can full of lollipops towards her, “would you like one? Normally they’re for kids but… well I remember you used to love them.”

Carmen hesitated, then with a small smile grabbed a red sucker, “Thanks Marvin… close early, okay? The radio says this storm is going to be a real monster.”

“Part of growing up is not being afraid of monsters,” Marvin said with a wink, “take care Carmen.”

…

Carmen walked through the parking lot, carrying bags of groceries in each arm. The sky had grown increasingly dark as she’d shopped, and she looked up and wondered how long it would take before grey ceased to be an accurate descriptor and the radio would switch over to black. She opened the car door, placing the bags in the passenger’s seat.

“Hi Carmen,” Arisu said from behind her.

Carmen whirled around, screaming as she rained blows down upon the Asian woman. Arisu giggled, blocking each strike in turn, then leaping backward in a spinning kick that Carmen just barely managed to duck underneath. She gritted her teeth, shifting her stance and raising her fists like a boxer as Arisu circled her, the movement of her feet suggesting a Muay Thai approach.

“No knife this time?” Carmen asked, “nodding to the sword on Arisu’s back.

“I don’t want to kill you right now,” Arisu said with a grin, “let’s take a step back…” She held her hands up in mock surrender, “I must say I love everything about this! Your parent’s old cabin, this town you spent so much time in… one of my favorite English words is haunt Carmen, and you’ve brought me to yours, a place of power for you?”

“Something like that,” Carmen said quietly. “If you don’t want to fight here, what do you want?”

Arisu chuckled and pointed to a bar across the street from Marvin’s grocery store, “A drink and a short discussion?” she said.

Carmen sighed, reading the sign Four Winds Bar. It had a reputation, even when she had come here in her youth she’d heard of it, and it made sense that Arisu had found lodging there.

“The front two doors are locked, and the windows are barred,” Arisu said, looking up at the approaching storm clouds, “but there is one door left in the back that we can use… if you would join me.”

Carmen gritted her teeth, “fine,” she growled, “lead the way.”

…

The Four Winds Bar was cold, and the dim fluorescent light above didn’t warm as Arisu walked behind the deserted counter and poured herself a drink. She reached for a glass, pouring Carmen a thick brown whiskey, sliding it across the wood to her.

“If you want to get me drunk, you should know better,” Carmen muttered, reaching for the glass and downing half of it in a single gulp.

“Not at all,” Arisu smiled, “I have to drink an entire bottle of Sake to feel anything after Melinda’s gift, I’m sure you are much the same?”

“Yup, that gene therapy gives you one hell of a tolerance,” Carmen said, downing the rest of the glass and then slamming on the bar, indicating she wanted more. “I don’t suppose you’ll just fuck off and leave us alone?”

“No,” Arisu smirked, pouring Carmen a second drink, “we’ve come too far for that… but fighting you, following you… I became intrigued, I found out as much about you as I could Carmen.” She sighed, sipping her own drink, another thick brown bourbon. She grimaced, “I prefer Sake, but when in Rome…”

“Did Melinda teach you that phrase?” Carmen asked with a smirk.

“She did,” Arisu laughed.

“Et in Arcadia Ego!” the two women said together. In spite of everything, Carmen laughed, and toasted with Arisu as they drank.

“She is everywhere,” Carmen muttered, looking at Arisu.

“She is,” Arisu agreed, looking away a moment. “She’s here at least…”

“Yeah,” Carmen smirked, holding out her glass for another drink, “what do you want Arisu?”

“I really like you Carmen,” Arisu said eagerly, leaning over the bar, “I want you to come away with me, be my friend, my enemy, I don’t care, I just want you to abandon this whole life Melinda has dictated for you and step into a more… open one.”

“And what about Kyle and Samantha?” Carmen asked, reaching for a toothpick and twirling it around her fingers idly.

“Shrink them permanently,” Arisu said, “they’ll be out of their old lives for good, and you could keep them as your pets! A happy ending for all three of you!”

Carmen’s mouth quirked, “that’s a happy ending?”

“For the people that matter,” Arisu said with a shrug, “look in my eyes and tell me that there is no part of you that wants that.”

Carmen slid her glass away and stared Arisu in the eyes, trying not to flinch away from those dark orbs, “Plenty of me wants that,” Carmen said, summoning a fire she didn’t know she had to stare the other woman down, “but not the me that I want to be.”

“Fool,” Arisu began, “you-“

“Now you listen,” Carmen growled, “I don’t have some big army of thugs, or bribed cops-“

“It’s just you and I!” Arisu said, throwing the whiskey bottle to the ground, smashing it to pieces, “my people are far away, as are yours! You know I will kill you if we fight each other to the end, I am offering you a way out!”

“Melinda loves history,” Carmen said suddenly, “I’m guessing you do too?”

“She told me some interesting stories of this country,” Arisu said hesitantly.

“Pour me a shot of rum,” Carmen growled.

Arisu frowned, but turned around, searching for a moment before finding the spirit, a rarely used one in an American bar in this part of the country. She poured a glass in a tumbler from behind the bar, setting it in front of Carmen.

Carmen grinned, walking forward and taking the glass, lifting it and downing it in a single gulp, “Damnation seize my soul if I give any quarter,” She said with a wicked smile, proud that she was finally able to quote something Melinda had explained to her word for word, “or take any from you!”

Arisu’s eyebrows raised, then she smiled in turn, “fine last words the first time they were said, and fine now. I’ll come for you and your friends with the storm.”

“See you real soon,” Carmen said, lifting a middle finger salute as she walked for the door.