Sophie

"I don't know what you're planning, but things end here, miss Wilkins," Gard said.

"Oh, things will definitely end here," Sophie stood with her back aimed at Gard while examining Southford down below in the distance.

The ring on Sophie's finger begged for Gard's attention as it radiated a dark green glow. "I would refrain from doing anything stupid now if I were you," he warned.

Sophie looked over her shoulder and commanded the ring to glow even brighter, just to tease. The eyes of Gard's lackey were zeroed in on the ring and bulged bigger, which amused Sophie.

Gard, however, simply stared back at her, unfazed and determined.

"You've seen it more often, haven't you, Gard? I know you've been tailing me these last few weeks. I've seen you often." Sophie said.

The ring flared brighter now, shutting Gard's eyes to narrow slits. An immense power flashed out, sinking deep into the core of Gard's being, making it crystal-clear to him that Sophie was holding the strings right now. She could shrink him and his lackey, right here, right now in an instance, if the wish was there. He'd seen the ring in action a number of times. What a horrible power it was to be capable of stealing a person's size and shrinking objects to mere microscopic proportions.

Gard had seen firsthand Sophie harnessing its power to turn an impressively looking statue soaring as high as a tree into a small figurine that could fit in a woman's closed fist.

He'd also witnessed several cars and people being shrunk down and abducted by his high-school crush.

Unless some untraceable alien force caused the disappearance of the entire war fleet of Green Hills's naval base, a mountain range in the far north and a remote village that consisted of people who worshipped a banished God with half a brain and three eyes, Gard was quite sure that this was all Sophie's handiwork.

Gard's eyes swept to the farthest corner of his purview, where he saw Henry's hand - Gard's lackey – making a stealthy movement towards the 9mm in his holster. He laid his own hand on that of Henry's and shook his head, barely perceivable.

"Anyone else aware of your secret? Beside that rookie next to you." Sophie asked.

"I've shown recorded footages of it to a loyal friend of mine within the department, but next to her and Henry here, no one else knows about it. At least, as far I as know." Gard said.

"What did she say when you showed it to her?" Sophie asked. "Of these recorded footages of me shrinking things down."

Gard gave a peal of rueful laughter. "That I just wasted a good 2 minutes of her time."

"Can't blame her, can you?" Sophie smiled as she stood still with her back aimed towards them while looking out of Southford. "Is Henry here convinced?"

Gard eyed his younger colleague before answering. "Henry's convinced that there is something out of the ordinary with you, with your ring. He still finds the idea of shrinking preposterous and believes it to be scientifically impossible, but he's not buying the lilli-takeover theory blurted out in the media either. He wants answers, just like me."

"And answers you will get," Sophie said, turning around to them. "But first–" Her arm shot out. Gard flinched as if someone threw a bucket of cold water in his face when a luminous green snake crawled out of the stone attached to Sophie's ring.

It withered and flew in a straight lightning-fast line towards the car stationed behind Gard and Henry, nearly missing their faces when it traveled between them. The 9mm was already in Henry's hand before the car dwindled down to handheld size before his eyes.

Sophie gave a derisive chuckle. "Seeing someone receiving hard proof of something he'd considered impossible at first never gets old. He looks like a skittish weasel."

"I'm going to call back-up. Now!" Henry grabbed a phone out of his pocket. "And I will plant a bullet between that wench's eyes if that ring isn't thrown on the ground here before us in 3 seconds."

Gard's hand moved swiftly. A yelp escaped from Henry's lips when his phone was slapped from his hand, thudding in the dirt below. Sophie looked surprised and amused at the same time.

"What the hell are you doing, Gard?" Henry grunted with a strained face as the barrel's end of a 9mm rested right beneath his jaw.

"Drop it," Gard said.

Henry's hand wrapped open, and the gun clattered on the ground.

CRUNCH!

And there went Henry's phone, crushed beneath Gard's shoe, right when their superior's voice babbled through its speaker.

"Why?" Henry said, eyeing Gard while his voice was punctuated with anger.

Sophie laughed. "The answer is power, Henry. Your senior colleague here loves women with power. Especially when they are as beautiful as I."

"Asshole!" Henry spat on the ground, staring daggers at Gard. "I'll drag you to court for this!"

"I'm sorry, Henry. I just couldn't let you do your thing. I want to do it my way." Gard took a step back while still keeping his gun aimed at his colleague.

"Idiot! Don't you think Hoovers will know that something fishy is going on when you cracked my phone? The GPS tracker in the car probably still works, shrunk or not. The whole department is likely on his way already."

"Good! That's good!" Sophie's ring lit up again. She turned around.

Gard brought his attention to Sophie. He kept the gun loosely aimed at his colleague. "What is your end goal?"

Sophie remained silent for a moment. "For a start, I'm going to shrink the whole Capitol and take it home with me. After that? Who knows…"

"No," Gard said decisively. "You're going to leave these people alone and shrink me instead. Take me home with you..."

Sophie chuckled while looking over her shoulder. "Who says I'm interested in–"

A car's tires screeched as it stopped on the road further ahead. Two doors swung open.

"Mom!" Madison ran up to her mother, dashing bluntly between the two officers, and clasped her arms eagerly around her mother's waist.

Claire ran after her kid sister but stayed at a safe distance when she noticed the gun in Gard's hand.

"C-cuddle-bunny?! Wha-what are you doing here?" Sophie quickly dimmed the light of her ring and answered her daughter's hug.

"You lied to me, Mom. About everything." Madison's tear-filled, blue eyes locked in on her mother's. "But, but I'll forgive you, Mom. I promise. Just come home with us. Please."

"Is this, is this your work, Mom? This isn't human now, is it?" Claire held the miniaturized patrol car of Gard and Henry in the palm of her hand.

"I…" Sophie stammered.

Henry used this moment of confusion to take the matter into his own hands. Gard stood gaping there, admiring Sophie's beauty, with his gun weakly aimed at his colleague. Before he realized what was happening, he sat keeled over, gasping for air after Henry snatched away his weapon and stomped him in the stomach.
 He picked up his own gun and aimed it at Gard. “Stay out of this!” He breezed at his colleague. The other gun, Gard’s gun, he aimed at Sophie. "You, give me the ring!"

Sophie scowled. "Over my dead body."

"Oh, I can arrange that," Henry chuckled.

"Henry!" Gard rasped with anger while still straining with pain after Henry pulled the trigger for a warning shot. Both Sophie and Madison shrieked when a bullet thudded in the sand right next to their feet.

"Give it!" Henry shouted. "Or do I need to threaten the kid instead?" He aimed his gun at Madison now, who stood shivering within her mother's firm grasp.

"Noooo!" Years of practice as a cornerback during his college years came in handy at a crucial moment like this. Gard bulldozed forward like a raging buffalo. His tackle was clean and Henry's fall was hard. A brief tussle in the dirt followed between the two gentlemen before a blind shot whipped them all to silence.

Puzzlement washed over Sophie's face when a sudden heavy weight leaned on her arms. Then she felt something oozing over her hand. She keeled over when Madison sank through her knees, noiseless, slumping on the ground.

"Cuddle-bunny!" Sophie's knees plunged down next to her daughter. She stared wide-eyed at her own hand that was covered in fresh, warm blood. Madison's strained, pale face looked up at her. Vitality drained away from Madison's usual merrily countenance as her lips uttered the word 'mom' in a faint final burst of her lungs before remaining silent.

Gard snatched back his gun from Henry's hand before knocking him out cold. He heaved heavily as he stood up. He stepped aside as Claire came running up to her mother and sister. He looked over his shoulder when the sound of a whopping chopper doomed up behind him in the distance. Faint sirens were heard from various patrol cars coming their way in the far distance. Claire's sobs mingled with the wailing of sirens and the whooping of a chopper in the distance.

Gard turned around again. His first priority was to call for an ambulance. His arm soared already underway to his pocket. Then it froze in midair, because right in front of him stood Sophie, staring at him intensely.