Mark was still speechless at the miracles appearance of his friend.  He had given up all hope, and now, he had a chance.  Not a good one, but at least something.  Something to hold onto.  Even with the city crumbling around him, people screaming in the distance, the sky tinged grey, and ash blowing in the wind, he almost felt safe.  Almost like everything would be fine. 

            “So,” Chuck said after a little while.  “Have any other plans?”  Mark snapped back to reality, suddenly realizing that his fight was not over.  Far from it.  He looked back at Chuck, and noticed that his friend wasn’t looking as great as he once did.  He was holding his limp arm, and blood pretty much covered him from head to toe. 

            “Are you alright?”  Mark asked hesitantly, the question coming out as almost a whisper. 

            “I’ll be fine.”  Chuck replied.  “We just need to think of something else.”

            “Well I don’t know anything else.”  Mark stammered.  He was out of options.  How can you kill a giant? 

            “Mark, you’re a geniuses.”  Chuck said calmly.  “You made a potion to turn me into a superhero, and one to make someone a giant!  You can think of a way out of this!” 

            Mark’s dwindling confidence was raised at his friend’s kind wards, but he still didn’t have any ideas.  The army had been called in, and hadn’t even scratched her!  But then a thought popped into his mind.  He might not be able to kill her, but could he change her back? 

            “Chuck, I think I might have something.”  He said, trying not to sound to confident.  The effect was lost on the super hero.

            “You do!”  Chuck shouted, obviously putting all his faith into Mark’s new idea. 

            “Maybe.  But I don’t know if it will work.”

            “Well what is it?”

            “At my house, I was working on a shrink potion, but I couldn’t finish it.  I might be able to make something out of that.”

            “Worth a shot.”  Chuck said.  “Here, jump on my back, I’ll fly us to your house.”

            “Um…” Mark started, a little scarred of the idea of flying on someone’s back.  Chuck knew what he was thinking.

            “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t drop you.”  Somehow Mark didn’t feel that much better.  He reluctantly climbed onto his back, and the two rocketed into the air.  They flew high, up above the dust from the city below, finally able to see clear sky’s for the first time in what seemed like ages. 

             Alison was still on her destructive rampage, killing anything and everything that so dared to cross her path.  She couldn’t even count how many things she had crushed under her feet that day.  Especially a tiny little hero who thought he could save everyone simply by punching her.  She laughed to herself as she remembered his fate, trampled up her massive foot. 

            She looked down, noticing a tiny bit of movement below her.  What she found was a tiny person, cowering in fear behind a car.  She reached down and grabbed the man, not caring about the tanks pulling up behind her.  They barely even left a mark on her flawless skin. 

            “So tiny.”  She said mockingly to her captive who was now shaking violently.  “Why didn’t you just run away?”

            The man didn’t respond.  His eyes were opened wide, not believing what they were showing him.  He tried to scream, but nothing came out but a small whimper.  Sweat rolled down his face as the giant’s grin grew larger and larger, her thoughts settling on a proper torment for her captive. 

            “If you don’t want to talk, we can just skip to the fun part.”  She said menacingly.  She placed him back onto the ground, not even bothering to hold him down as she stood back up, towering above the little man.  She moved her foot over then, knocking him over, and covering his lower half with her heel. 

            “Now don’t worry, I don’t think this will actually kill you.”  She shifted her weight, crushing half of the man instantly.  His silence broke as his screams echoed off the buildings.  Alison could hear it even over the growing roar of the tanks behind her.  She kept walking, not bothering to look down at her handy work.  Her foot lifted off the man, dragging many of his organs along with it, stuck to her sole.  The rest stayed behind, smushed in the crater below him.  The last sight the man saw was a bloody mess in front of him, before he finally passed out, never to wake again. 

            Chuck was nervously pacing around the room, eagerly waiting for Mark to make some sort of a break through.  The anticipation was killing him.  Knowing that each moment he stood here doing nothing, that monster was destroying things was killing him.  Not being able to do anything was killing him!

            Finally his wait was finished as Mark turned around, a smile spreading over his dirt and blood covered face. 

            “I did it.”  He said flatly, amazed that he actually managed it.  He didn’t know how, but he had solved the problem he had run into time and time again over the years.  He didn’t know how the answer had come to him, but he didn’t care.  He had a way to beat her. 

            “Nice!”  Chuck screamed out, rushing over to see Mark’s new potion.  He held it out, a purple liquid that he had placed into a rather large syringe.  “So we just stab her with this?”

            “I think so.”  Mark said.  “I obviously haven’t tried it out yet, but the math works out.” 

            “So now we only have to get close enough to actually use it.”

            “Yeah.”  Mark said, rubbing the back of his head.  He hadn’t thought of that. 

            “Well, no point in standing around here.  We’ve got a city to save.”  Chuck said triumphantly.  If Mark didn’t know better, he would have thought they had already won from Chuck’s reaction.  He hopped onto his back, and once again the duo flew into the sky, Mark holding on for dear life, no more confident with Chuck’s flying abilities than he was last time. 

            They found the giant easily.  All they had to do was fallow the sound of toppling buildings, or the roar of cannon fire.  They turned a final corner, and saw the monster ahead of them, effortlessly slamming her fist into another skyscraper, taking it down without a second thought. 

            “So this is the plan!”  Chuck shouted over the sound of the building.  “I fly you in there, land on her shoulder, then distract her while you jab her with the potion. 

            It was a bit simple, but that isn’t always a bad thing.  “Got it!”  Mark shouted, fighting to be heard over the commotion. 

            “Hold on, cause this might get a little nasty.”  Mark did as he was told, fighting to keep his grip as Chuck bolted up to Alison, hell bent on ending this. 

            She turned suddenly, a sixth sense telling her that something was wrong.  Her quick reaction spelled doom for the two.  She grabbed them, her fingers rapping around the duo, stopping them in their tracks. 

            “I thought I killed you.”  She said, the smile gone from her face.  She started squeezing, threatening to pop mark’s organs from his body.  Chuck wasn’t in as much danger, but he knew his fate wouldn’t be much better if he didn’t find a way out quickly. 

            Then she stopped.  She didn’t let go, but relaxed her grip.  “You know, killing you like that wouldn’t be any fun.”  She reached down, grabbing Chuck’s head between her forefinger and thumb, and pressing hard enough for the hero to feel it.  She pulled him out of her hand.  He tried desperately to be free from her clutches, but whenever he moved, she squeezed that much harder.  He gave up, his vision starting to blur. 

            She turned her attention back to Mark, now completely still in the palm of her other hand. 

            “You look tasty.”  She said mockingly.  Before he could react, or even process the information, she moved her hand, throwing the tiny boy into her open mouth.  Chuck could only watch in horror.