“This is Deputy Director Dwight Mendelton of the National Security Administration. I am here speaking on behalf of the people of the United States of America.” the man leading the column of tanks introduced himself to the incomprehensibly large woman before him.

Mendelton had served the greatest nation in the world’s national security interests through the cold war. He had operated as a diplomat during a time where the two global superpowers had their near apocalyptic dick-measuring contest. He had been in the room with dictators with their fingers on the button, in one case very literally. He had negotiated deals where the consequence of failure would mean the elimination of the human race. The pressure he felt under the stern gaze of the four hundred foot tall woman surpassed all of these. 

No amount of reviewing footage or reading statistics about her size could prepare him for the feeling of being in her presence. He had read the dossier. He knew the tanks were useless against her, as were the hundreds of missiles aimed at this location, as were the jet fighters and the bombers circling overhead. She was the most powerful human being on the face of the planet, and there was nothing they could actually do to stop her from doing whatever she wanted. All they had was the projection of power, and a threat. Somehow, Mendelton would have to turn this losing position into a desirable outcome for the people of the United States. Never had the threat of failure been so pointedly demonstrated than by the sight of her foot, heel resting on the floor, stretching fifty feet up in the air and topped with toes that were larger than his car. That power mixed with her unearthly feminine beauty made it a challenge to think straight.

“Where. Is. Thomas.” She shouted in three staccato bursts that rattled the walls of the bunker. It would have rattled Mendelton as well, except he could see through her projection of confidence to where her shoulders hunched up.

Mendelton didn’t need the special audio set up they had manufactured to speed up and pitch up her rumblings to understand what she wanted here. He was a master of body language. The size of his opponent only made her easier to read. The usually miniscule twitches and nudges of the human body as it served as the vessel for inner thoughts were so magnified on her. The way that she set her jaw when she heard he was using Dr. Thomas Black’s microphone to talk to her. The way she clutched her cupped hands tightly to her stomach… That’s right. She’s not a goddess. She’s a human being. That means she has all the normal human emotional weaknesses just waiting to be exploited.

“Thomas is safe.” He assured her. “So long as you cooperate with us, he will remain safe.” Her eyelids peeled back ever so slightly, a sign of anger and of realization, a sign that now all players in this game understood the rules.

“It has been determined that it is no longer safe for you to act autonomously.” Mendelton plowed on with the demands. “We have decided the most peaceful way to ensure your cooperation is to take custody of Thomas.”

“You are holding Thomas hostage.” the giantess rumbled the statement in other words. Mendelton chose to say nothing for some time, letting the plainly spoken truth sink in to her before continuing.

“You can have remote contact with him so long as you comply with us. You are to stay here when we tell you to, and you are to make yourself available for tests about your… condition.” Mendelton explained. This was the hard sell. The opposition has all the facts. She understood the position. Transforming that into her doing what you want, that’s the trick of it.

“And if I don’t?” She asked in a flat and even tone. Everything we know about the giantess indicates a very strong bond with her husband. Threatening him should work.

“If you don’t, then we can’t guarantee his safety.”

“You’ll hurt him.” She whispered, once again cutting through the euphemisms, and once again Mendelton did nothing to confirm or deny the plainly stated truth. He could see in her face that he was winning. The corners of her eyes were pooling up with tears, her nostrils were flaring, her shoulders were falling in resignation.

“First things first. Hand over the child to us. You won’t be able to look after him while we do our tests.” Mendelton saw her hands cup together more tightly. This would be the hardest battle. He was sure he could get her to follow most orders so long as she kept being rational about her position in this. Emotions would get in the way of things, make her not think clearly.

“It’s ok, we won’t hurt him.” He said in a softer voice to combat the softer resistance. “He will be safe with us, and we will let Thomas take care of him.”

“And then you’ll have two hostages.” The giantess observed. She cupped her hands even tighter, and tilted her chin up. Her shoulders relaxed from her hunched and anxious state, rolling back as she puffed her chest out.

“You’re too large to care for him on your own, and we can’t let you be close to Thomas just yet. He will be safe with us.” He said, and raised his hands up to her to accept the child.

“No, I don’t think so.” She declared. Mendelton kept his jaw clenched as he witnessed the signs of her resignation flip back to resistance. Head tilted up, spine lengthened. One last stubborn refusal.

“If you don’t…” He started to reiterate the rules, but the giantess was shaking her huge head back and forth, like a disappointed teacher scolding a student for making an error. Mendelton’s doubts and fears began to creep back up into his throat.

“Why didn’t you attack me in San Diego or Seattle?” She demanded. Mendelton gagged on his words, but it didn’t matter, because she didn’t leave him any opportunity to speak. She was standing up. Her massive feet, each twice as long as the tanks they came to confront her in, rolled forward and planted themselves flat, bringing her toes to flank either side of their formation. She scooted her butt forward, lifting her tons of weight off the ground to slam it back on the ground. The resulting tremor made Mendelton and his escorts stumble. Some soldiers began to fire wildly in the air in fear. Mendelton’s stumble combined with his eyes locked on the giant’s face caused him to fall onto his back. He followed her eyes as she rose up, and up, and up. Her chin was still pointed up in defiance. Her eyes, animated by anger and disdain were cast down the length of her inhumanly large and mostly nude body. 

She won’t do anything to you as long as you have Thomas, he reminded himself. There’s no way she will hurt you if it means hurting him. The reassuring thought was cut off by the ungodly sound of the massive woman chuckling. 

“Hahaha, ohhhh… no wonder you little ones are scared.” She cooed down as she slowly slid her right foot forward to compare it to the tank. If anyone was still looking up at her face, they would have seen her wrinkling her nose and bit her lip condescendingly.

“They sent you in here with these tiny tanks and guns but they are useless against me, aren’t they?” Shit. She was calling their bluff.

“And you think you’re tiny now?” She asked in a hushed and dreamy tone. “Just give me a couple weeks your tanks won’t even be as big as my little toe.” To emphasize her point, she rolled her foot up and splayed her digits, the smallest of which dwarfed any of them, and tapped her foot down. Even that small movement for her was enough to send the soldiers stumbling again.

“If you don’t comply…” Mendelton started to choke out into the microphone to in an attempt to gain control.

“Yeah, I know, you’ll hurt Thomas, supposedly.” She cut him off again. Her eyes scanned the soldiers as they flinched away from her. There was still anger in them, but the slightly upturned corners of her mouth suggested a new mood coming over her. She took her big toe and laid it on the front of the tank.

““You think you can pick on my little ones and that will control me. But you can’t hurt Thomas, or anybody I love or care about for that matter.” She reasoned.

“S-stop. We have Thomas…” Mendleton tried to reiterate the game state to her. Was she crazy?

“How badly do I have to misbehave before you hurt him, hmm?” She challenged. “Let’s say I crush your itty bitty tank…” She started, and launched right into the demonstration. She slowly pressed her weight down on the tank, flexing her big toe down. The armored vehicle began to groan as it was compressed under foot. The force traveled through it to the concrete floor below, sending spiderweb cracks shooting out from underneath the tank and scattering the ground forces further. The back half of the tank began to rise in the air due to the front half being flattened. She released her foot, and the now u-shaped tank rocked back into a resting position with a terrible metallic sound.

“So are you gonna hurt Thomas now? Cuz If you do, you’ll lose your bargaining chip… what do you think happens then?” She demanded. She lifted her foot up over the vehicle, and hovered it over their heads. One step would be all it would take. She received no response. She lingered there for a few tense seconds to let them contemplate whether they would like to be snuffed out by her foot before setting it back to the side and continuing her argument.

“The only thing stopping me from crushing all of you is the safety of my family. Anything you do to him I will unleash back on you a million fold. I’ll march from here to Washington DC. I’ll flatten your army. I’ll swat your air force out of the sky. I’ll capsize your navy. I’ll grind your cities to dust under my feet.”

Mutually assured destruction. That phrase defined Mendelton’s early career. No one had the upper hand, because even if you somehow got into a winning position, the other party could flip the board. They can’t actually hurt Thomas or she will destroy them all. She can’t hurt them or they’ll hurt Thomas. Trish waited for the realization to sink into the little man’s soul, then relaxed her shoulders and softened the look on her face.

“I’m not like this, you know. It doesn’t have to be this way.” She said with a sigh, then carefully squatted down to get closer to them. Her massive shape drawing closer caused the soldiers to panic. The tank at the back of the line fired its cannon up at her. The loud boom echoed off the concrete floors and the large hollow chambers of the giantess’s bedroom, deafening all the normal sized people. The shell flew up and into Trish’s left shoulder, but the impact was even less than the little stings of her attacker’s guns when she was sixty feet tall. The shell didn’t even penetrate her skin. It flattened into a disk and fell two hundred feet down to the ground with another loud clang, not that anyone but her could still hear it with the sounds of the gun shots echoing off the concrete pad. Trish carefully adjusted her baby to one hand, closing a hollow fist around the little one to free her other hand.

“Baby on board.” She scolded, and with two swift motions pinched the barrels of the tanks and bent them into a ‘u’ shape. Now it was the second tank in line’s turn to panic, except with the barrel pinched shut there was nowhere for the shell to go. The resulting explosion sounded like a tiny firecracker to Trish’s ears.

“Oh dear…” Trish sighed at the pathetic display. She got to work with her free hand, pulling apart the flaming tank to help her enemies escape to safety. She dug her thumb underneath the turret and peeled it off as if it were a tab on a soda can. The little people inside scrambled up and out of the hole. The last to escape was the driver, who was fighting to escape while panicking about his left arm being on fire. Seeing this, Trish fell forward from her squat and onto her knees, and brought her head directly above him. She wetted her finger in her mouth until it was dripping with spit, and pressed it into him to douse the flames. The stickiness of it adhered him to her finger, causing him to lift off the ground slightly as she retracted her finger.

“Just relax, little ones.” She whispered down. “I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Let’s walk back from the threats and see if we can move forward together. Now who is the tiny guy that was buzzing in my ear?” She asked as she scanned the now pacified and disarmed soldiers. Mendelton swallowed hard as her eyes passed over him, did a double take, and then locked on his position. She focused all of her attention on him, and it was like the sun beating down on him, massive and oppressive.

“Gotcha!” She breathed as she sat on her feet and bent down further, her face hovering one hundred feet above where he laid prone. She secured her dangling hair behind her ears with her free hand. “You understand what I’m saying right? That if you hurt Thomas I’ll stomp you and the rest of the world with it into the dirt?”

“Y-yes.”

“Great. Let’s not let that happen, hmm? Here’s what we’ll do. You and your little friends go and bring Thomas to me, and then we can all have a little sit down about moving forward together.” She dictated.

Mendelton reached for his radio with shaky fingers and changed the channel output.

“Did you hear that?” he asked the leader of the free world. This was their Cuban Missile Crisis. Mendelton could imagine the President facing the window in his office, eyes cast over the national mall that represented the American empire. He had his finger on the button that would determine the fate of everything, just like JFK did in decades past. One wrong move, and the apocalypse would come. Only instead of fire and radiation, their end would be made under cataclysmic footsteps.

“Yes.” the President replied. The President was indeed staring out the white house window, towards where the Washington Monument stood tall and proud. He was picturing her standing next to it, the tip of the monument not even reaching her knees as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. He imagined her putting her hands on her knees and bending at the waist, stooping down as if she could spot him in the windows, a mocking smile lit on her lips. What could they possibly do?

“Retreat.” He ordered. It was a relieving word for Mendelton. One step back from the brink.

“And the hostage?” He choked out, his eyes still locked on Trish’s gaze as she tilted her head back and forth impatiently for his answer.

“Turn him over.” He said.

Mendelton let out the rest of the tension with a sigh. Seeing what the giant had done to his armored escort with just a few simple waves of her hands, feeling her weight through the ground as it shifted, it was clear that no one was a match for her. He switched the channel back, and spoke into the microphone that connected him with the monster of a woman.

“Yes.” He relented. Trish’s mouth involuntarily curled into a full smile, which she quickly corrected back into her stern and disappointed glower.

“Go fetch him them. And the rest of my family, too.” She ordered, and sat back up straight. Finally he was released from her gaze, the pressure of her attention fell off of him as she redirected it to her hand. She gave one last look to the soldiers to make sure they were well pacified, and then opened her hand to check on her baby. Mendelton saw her lips part as she too breathed out the tension of the moment. He regarded the humanity of her for a moment, a moment that was interrupted when she glanced back down at the still unmoved soldiers.

“Now.” The goddess ordered, and they all but ran out of the door to obey. They returned within minutes with Thomas, his parents and brothers, and Jeb. Trish leaned forward, stretching her hand out to make a wall between the soldiers and her loved ones. She brought her face close to the ground so she could see the fear written across their faces as they retreated without prompting. She waited for them to be clear of the doors before she hunching down as low as she could so she could account for them all, her big eyes tracing over them to verify that they were unscathed.

“Oh my god.” She blubbered into the floor, lowering her head even further to nuzzle her nose into Thomas.  “I’m so glad you’re all ok.”

“I’m fine, we’re fine. Just a little rattled.” Thomas said as he pushed back against the probing of her nose. “The whole damn army is out there.”

“What a way to come into the world.” Jeb murmured as he eyed the tanks flattened by his gigantic daughter. “How is he?” He prompted, setting aside the anxiety of being held at gun point just minutes previous. Trish’s tears dried, and she unfurled her hand to reveal tiny Thomas Junior sleeping soundly in the center of her mother’s palm. As soon as the light was let in, the baby began to stir and squirm in the center.

“Oh, just look at him!” Thomas’s mother cooed, and despite being slightly over the hill, scrambled over the edge of Trish’s palm like a woman possessed. Thomas and Trish shot each other a knowing look.

“You better hold onto him for a while, Mom. Trish and I have to go.” Thomas said, offering a hand up to help lower his mother from his wife’s hand with his baby in tow.

“As if you could take him from me!” She quipped as she bounced him on her shoulder.

“Give’em hell, kiddo.” Jeb called up Trish. Trish furrowed her brow and nodded with a sly grin. Damn she was making him so proud today. Giving him a grandbaby and resisting the authoritarian government all in one day.

—

Trish emerged from the bunker fifteen minutes later, demonstrating her power by ripping the large door the army had breached with explosives off its hinges. She carried it up with her as she unfurled herself, making sure she stood up straight and tall as if they needed a reminder of how insignificant they were in comparison. Thomas was small enough to fit in the crook of her collar bone now. The bowl shape of it made it a much safer option than riding on top of her shoulder, particularly, they reasoned, if she was going to need to use her hands to defend herself. For now, her hands rested on her hips as she took a commanding pose over the countryside.

She regarded her opponents, and it was almost comical how impotent they were. The ground was carpeted by legions of ants, and the air swarmed with assault helicopters training their weapons on her as if that would matter. She sighed at the display.

“Cat’s out of the bag guys. You can go home. I know you can’t hurt me.” She said. The helicopters hovered there tensely for a few moments more before, one by one, they turned to return to wherever they came from. One helicopter remained, hovering around her like a hummingbird. Keeping an eye on her, she figured, as everything else was well shorter than her ankles.

“First things first, I want an apology.” She demanded. “For interrupting me on the birthday of my child and for threatening my husband.” Thomas smiled to himself, and found himself glad in a new way that whatever force was causing Trish to grow chose her and not the maladjusted brats of his favorite erotica.

“Of course. We apologize.” Mendelton placated through the helicopter’s loud speaker.

“I don’t accept. Not yet.” She said, cocking her hip out a bit. “What’s your issue with me?” She said, four hundred feet tall and as if she didn’t know.

“Truth be told, this operation was deemed the most likely chance of success to mitigate the damage your sustained growth will cause. As of this morning, your condition has been officially declared a global emergency by the president.”

“Don’t you watch the news? I don’t have to eat any more. Your little biosphere is safe and sound.”

“Yes, and while we’re thankful for that, there will come a time when just the size of you is going to be dangerous to all inhabitants of earth.”

“I’ll be gentle.” She brushed it off.

“No, you won’t be able to. You will be so large that your body heat and breath will disrupt local weather patterns. Your increased mass will upset tectonic plates. In three years time you’ll be eighteen miles tall and growing more than a mile every day.”

“So?” She said, though she was beginning to see the problem. “You’ll just have to stay out of my way.”

“It only gets worse from there. In six years time you’ll be thousands of miles tall. You could lie your head down on America’s northern border while your feet rest on her southern border.” Trish had pictured that scenario before, simultaneously dreading it and being thrilled by the possibility of being that large. Though, in her fantasies she was often joined by a similarly sized Thomas. She knew the reality would be much more lonely.

“...and even laying down you will far exceed the stratosphere. Your breathing would be capable of completely recirculating the atmosphere in just a few breaths.”

“Then I’ll stop breathing.” She offered.

“Even if you did, your weight will begin to throw the earth off its axis. The moon will be drawn into a closer and closer orbit, and will threaten to collide with earth.”

“Then I’ll catch it and push it back out.” She snapped back with complete faith in herself.

“By that point you will have surpassed earth’s mass. The crust of the earth would crack and the mantle would splatter against your body.”

“Well, I’ll jump into orbit.”

“The force of you leaving would cause an explosion that would extinguish all life on earth.”

Thomas sat up as he detected the tone of Trish getting increasingly flustered. He stood up from the nook of her collar bone, placing his hand on the front of her neck to get her attention.

“Trish, they have a point.” Trish laid her hand on the front of her neck to hold him to her.

“No, they don’t. I’m not going to destroy the world. I’m not.”

“They don’t believe in the destiny thing. They’re going to be worried about you until you prove otherwise.” Trish furrowed her brow. How to demonstrate what she knew to be true? What was the way out of this?

“Think about your child.” Mendelton ventured, and nearly regretted it when he saw her monumental face light up with anger. No turning back now.

“In six years time your child should be starting kindergarten, only this will not happen in our current time line. Instead, his mother’s body will be crushing the world he and the rest of humanity calls home.” Trish frowned as she was forced to imagine it, six year old junior living in the post apocalypse just because his mom wouldn’t stop growing.

“So what’s the plan?” She asked. Mendelton exhaled, relieved that she was able to see their point of view, but nervous about what had to be suggested next. Time to put the cards on the table. He looked at her face through the window of the helicopter, and he could see a part of her that was just as scared as they all were about her size. Something about that told him that the next move he was going to make was the right one.

“Our original plan was to coax you into swallowing several devices in an attempt to destroy you.” He admitted.

Thomas held his mouth in shock. They really were desperate. They actually were not confident in their ability to harm her.

“So what, you want me to agree to let you kill me?”

“The future of the planet and the people you love depends on it. The larger you grow, the less likely it is to work.” He said.

Trish mulled it over, looking at the tiny military arrayed beneath her. She thought about being their size, looking up at her standing miles and miles over the globe. Too big to see her family. Too big to move without destroying the planet.

“Ok.” She agreed, and shrugged her shoulders, causing Thomas to jostle in her collar bone.

“WHAT?” Thomas screamed so loudly into his microphone that it made Trish wince from the volume. Trish just pressed him into her neck more firmly with her fingertip.

“Thomas, I can’t just bring a new life into this world just to crush the planet.”

“That doesn’t mean you should sacrifice yourself! There has to be another way!”

“You heard him. The longer we wait the less chance it has to work.” She said, prying him from her neck to sit in the palm of her hand, and then lifting him to her eye line.

“Trish…”

“Thomas, I know there isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for Junior.” She said. “If you were in my position you’d do the same thing, and you’d be holding me just like this and I’d be begging you not to do it.”

Thomas choked. It was simply not possible that this day that began with the birth of his child would end with the death of his wife. Trish rolled her eyes.

“Relax, Thomas. It’s not going to work anyway.” She doted, bringing her other hand up to stroke him with her fingertip.

“Then why even do it?”

“It’s a win-win. If it does work, I will have just saved your lives. And if it doesn’t work, then these little bugs will know that it’s useless to try something as stupid as launching bombs at us.” She said with a measured glare at the helicopter.

“But-”

“No buts.” She said confidently. “Trust me on this. I love you.”

“I love you too-” He started his protests, but it was no use. She was lowering him to the ground to join ranks with the military men.

“Ok, now where’s this jagged little pill?” She said confidently.

Mendelton could hardly believe it. Her willingness made him suspicious that she knew something that he did not. On the other hand, he had an intense respect for her rationale. As a parent himself he would like to think that he would make the same choice, but he could only do so hypothetically. The giant woman had stared down that reality and chose others over herself.

They backed the truck that carried the payload to her feet, and unfurled the tarp. Inside were a series of three perfectly spherical metal capsules. To Trish they appeared to be the size of small gumballs. She would be capable of swallowing them, she figured. She stooped down and picked up the truck. The driver dove out of the door as it began to get lifted in the air. She brought the deadly pill case to her face to study the things meant to kill her.

“What are they?” She asked, poking one to roll it in the truck bed.

“Our strongest nuclear warheads at the center of our most caustic and deadly chemical weapons. We developed them particularly with you in mind.”

“How sweet.” She said sarcastically, pinching one between her thumb and forefinger, bringing it up to her mouth, and sniffing it. She paused to contemplate if she should be doing this, but one look over her shoulder at her family at the entrance to her bedroom wiped away the doubts. She put it in her mouth and threw her head back to swallow it.

“Swallow two and hold the other in your mouth.” Mendelton instructed. Trish nodded and took a second into her mouth.

“I accept your apology by the way.” She said before popping the last one in her mouth. “I know it must be pretty scary, sharing a world with a goddess.” Trish turned to retreat a safe distance away, the two bombs sitting uncomfortably in her stomach.

Trish took a look over the flat countryside. Tall as she was, she could see the curvature of the earth slightly bowing on the horizon. She briefly imagined her body filling up the entirety of the vast plains. As huge as she was now, she would be like an ant compared to that woman. Humanity, Thomas and her baby included, would be less than specks. Less than germs, even.

This isn’t going to work, she told herself. One day she would be that big, and still she would grow. She thought about what Mendelton said, picturing herself the size of the planet. She wondered what it would feel like to have it, as he said, ‘splatter’ against her.

Mendelton watched the giantess through the monitor as she pondered the horizon, a wistful look on her face. Finally, she turned to the helicopter and nodded, giving them permission to begin. This isn’t going to work, he knew as he saw her nod. She actually was a goddess, and this was not how her journey would end. He pressed the button anyway.

The explosions started in her stomach: two blasts in quick succession. The sensation was like suddenly being full to bursting with food, and the pressure still built. Trish figured that this might be what it would feel like to carry a baby and have it kick you. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. She felt the need to burp, and that’s when the bomb in her mouth went off. As powerful as the explosion was, the only effect it had on her was to force her cheeks to puff out. Her lips parted slightly, and a line of fire and caustic chemicals shot out a hundred feet in front of her. She brought her hand to her lips to contain it, flashing an apologetic look to the helicopter.

Then, the tingling. Mendelton had said that there were caustic chemicals inside the bombs. Trish could see the white foam gurgling out between her fingers as it expanded inside her and attempted to melt her. This too did not hurt. It was an odd, even pleasurable feeling of being filled with tiny bubbles popping, like popping candy. The tingling subsided in time, and Trish cleared her mouth of the remaining foam by sucking in her sinuses and firing a spit wad that created a small crater that fizzed with acid. She turned her head up to the helicopter and opened her mouth and showed her tongue as if to say ‘all gone!’

“Just like I thought.” The goddess said. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, little ones.”