Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Every superhero remembers when their powers first emerged, but it’s not as straightforward as the comics make it out to be. Rachel remembered the disorienting feeling that night just before she turned 7 years old. She couldn’t pinpoint how the sensation started, but her head was pounding and her ears were ringing loudly. She tried finishing the small portion of food her mom called “dinner”, but it only made her want to vomit. Rachel barely makes it to her room, fully decorated with memorabilia of the Guardians Of The Globe, mainly of War Woman, and collapses onto the bed. 

As Rachel tossed and turned, she held onto her growling stomach, trying to sleep it off, clenching her eyes together to try and fall asleep. However, as she woke up, she only found herself secluded in soft darkness. Confused, she tried to feel her way around on what felt like her blanket and the cushioning of her bed, yet she didn’t remember her bed being so big. She also felt the oxygen a bit tenser, harsher as she looked to see that her clothes had gotten bigger, or perhaps she had gotten smaller. 

Downstairs, her mother was cleaning the dishes as her husband, Raymond, came home, feeling a bit disgruntled from the work environment.

”Everything okay at work, honey?” She asked as Ray sat on the table, taking off his glasses and massaging his temple.

”It’s fine, just that promotion I was hoping for went to another person, and as always, I’m left out of the conversation!” He vents as his wife hugs him from behind to comfort his woes. He often felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb despite being a wallflower in the back. 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure more opportunities will come.” She tries assuring him, despite the amount of bills on the table and raising a child together. As the two embrace each other, they hear a large thunk upstairs and Rachel screaming. 

“What was that?” Raymond stood up, putting on his glasses before calling out for his daughter, his wife joining him. 

“Rachel, sweetie?” Her mom calls out, hearing Rachel cry out for them. They scanned her bedroom, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. They approached her bed, only to find only her clothes. Panicked, they continuously calling for her, while Raymond checked the closets and opened the window to see if anyone was lurking.

“Down here!” Rachel tries calling them out, covering her ears as the sounds echo sharply for her. As she tries waving them down, her mom nearly steps on her, making her jump before her mom. Seeing no choice, Rachel goes towards the corner furniture and starts making a scratching noise, trying to get their attention. Her mom could faintly hear the noise, looking down and leaving her mouth gaped.

“Oh my god…Raymond.” She flags her husband down, seeing a glimpse of what looked to be their daughter standing by the bottom of the furniture, covering herself with a tissue, and standing roughly an inch tall. Rachel whimpered as they got closer, not used to them literally towering over her. Raymond peeked forward, confused yet intrigued by his daughter’s new size.

“What the hell?” He muttered as he extended his pinky out to ease his tiny daughter. Rachel wipes her tears, embracing her dad as he slowly extends a palm for her to climb on. As she climbs on, she holds onto his hand, not bracing for the shift in speed as her parents examined.

“Where did all of this come from, Ray?” His wife asked, confused. However, Raymond only nods his head before placing his daughter onto the massive bed, tucking her into her pajama shirt. 

“Just breathe, honey. Think big.” Her dad assures her, as Rachel takes a deep breath, thinking about growing back to normal size. As she calms down, she feels herself growing back to normal size, touching the bed to ground herself from her panic. She feels one side of her arm entrapped in her sleeve as she fixes herself back into her clothes. Rachel adjusts her eyes to see herself back to normal, examining her hands in astonishment and confusion.

“Mom, Dad, what’s happening to me?” Rachel asks, still a bit shaken by the whole ordeal and slightly shrinking out of anxiety. Her parents looked at each other, not knowing how to respond. However, all Raymond could think about was the golden opportunity laid out for them. Holding onto Rachel’s hand, Raymond softly smiled with stars gleaming from his eyes.

“Baby, I think you’re gonna be the next big superhero!” He proudly proclaimed, having big plans for his shrinking daughter.

Chapter Text

About three years had passed since her powers kicked in, but that didn’t stop her parents from setting up a strict schedule for Rachel. 

At 5:20 am, Rachel would wake up and begin her morning routine, eating only a granola bar and a fruit. Occasionally, she would sneak in an extra apple to counter the lingering hunger.

By 5:30, she would go into her closet and suit up for the day. Her “suit” was a green shirt with a stitched “R” symbol on the chest, black shorts, a small, yellow cape, and a green domino mask to conceal herself, not that anyone from the town didn’t recognize her. Luckily, the spandex material used made it easier for her to shrink and grow in record time. 

By 5:40, Rachel had freshened up, fixing her hair into a double braid before examining herself in the mirror. As she examined herself, all dolled up in her hand-made costume, she felt a sense of pride and yet silly with the bright, slapped-on colors and accessories, putting her hands on her hips to assert confidence. 

“Here comes the Shrinking Rae.” She muttered half-heartedly, making finger guns and “pew” noises before heading out to her parents' room, peering her head inside to alert them.

“Psst. I’m heading out, guys. I’ll be back before school starts. Love you, bye.” She whispered rapidly, quickly heading out before her parents could even register the info. Giddy, she grabs her roller skates, helmet,  and mini radio and makes it out the door just before 6:00 am.  

Slipping her headphones in and tuning her radio, she skated across town, feeling the warm sunrise glow across her. A few neighbors greeted her, only knowing Rachel through her superhero persona. Occasionally, they would give her tasks of cleaning their lawn or house, or help with homework, despite being in a younger demographic. Most of these tasks didn’t utilize her shrinking powers or training, much to her parents' dismay, but Rachel still liked helping regardless. 

By 6:15 am, she would reach her first stop, checking bulletin boards across town. As she scoured through the various community event posters, rooms for rent, her eyes gleamed as she found an ad for a lost pet, with a reward of $50 if found.

“Jackpot!” Rachel whispered ecstatically, ripping a tag from the ad and on the hunt for a shih tzu named “Pixie”. She continues to skate around town, going to the alleyways to see if any of the strays matched the description of Pixie, looking for a medium-sized dog with a pink bow. She didn’t have much luck, as she searched the same areas for the next hour, leaving her with little more than an hour before her school started. She was ready to turn in until she heard a faint bark nearby.
“Pixie!” She cried out, hearing the dog faintly respond to her call, but it seemed to have come from down below. Curious, she looked towards the storm drains where the noise was coming from. Looking into the hole, she took off her skates and radio and shrank down to fit into the hole. Narrowly avoiding the gunk down below, Rachel goes to the small circular entrance on the side as she gradually crawls inside.

“Pixie?” She called out once more, hearing Pixie yelp echoed once more. Although the smell from the drain was rather strong, Rachel covered her mouth and nose to avoid breathing it in. She grabs a flashlight from her shorts and shines it towards the pipe. Growing smaller in size the further she goes, she shrank down to a foot, leaving behind her flashlight. As the light slowly faded, she saw the shine of the puppy’s eyes from the light, going closer as she saw it entrapped under some debris. 

“Pixie!” Rachel said, scaring the puppy, nearly biting onto the pint-sized girl as she narrowly ducked from its jaws.

“Woah, hey! Hey…It’s okay…I’m not gonna hurt you.” Rachel assured the scared, giant puppy, raising her hands in the air towards the light. The puppy calmed down but yelped from its trapped lower half. Rachel looked and saw the cause of pain, slowly moving towards it, and slowly grew a few inches to brush off the debris. With Pixie free to move, the puppy greeted the tiny hero with a harsh pounce, licking her in appreciation.

“Aw, Pixie, stop. Ew…” Rachel laughed, albeit mildly disgusted, getting drenched in their slobber. As Pixie licked Rachel in appreciation, a timer went off, signaling that it was 8:10, having only twenty minutes before her first class started.

“Oh shoot!” Rachel thought as she nudged the giddy shih tzu off her. As Pixie tried to walk, she softly yelped as a part of her leg was bruised.

“Poor baby. I’m gonna get us out of here.” Rachel assured the puppy, going in front, and grew a few inches in the narrow pipe, nearly entrapping her. She grabbed the surprisingly heavy puppy due to her size and made her way towards the flashlight before reaching for it and putting it under her armpit. As they made their way towards the exit, Rachel slowly grew back to normal size as the pipeline grew wider before making it towards the storm drain. Climbing with one hand and carrying Pixie with the other, she slid the manhole off as an onlooker saw Rachel and helped pick her up from the storm drain.

“Young lady, what are you doing playing in storm drains?” The woman asked, out of concern, as Rachel showed her the injured shih tzu.

“I found a lost dog.” Rachel proclaimed before seeing the time.

“Oh shoot!” Rachel freaks out, seeing the time about to be 8:25 am. Giving the lady Pixie to hold, Rachel quickly shrinks and grows into her skates and grabs her radio. 

“Do you know where this address is?” Rachel shows the lady the small paper as she points down right around the corner.

“Perfect, thanks!” Rachel says before grabbing Pixie and skating down the street, she scans the houses to find the right one, with a man about to leave in his car. Rachel calls him out as he looks to see the costumed girl approaching him. Rachel holds the puppy in the air. A little girl came out and cried out Pixie’s name, giddily, as her dad approached.

“Oh, thank god you found her, where was she?” The father asked Rae.

”In the storm drain around the corner, she must’ve gotten swept during the storm last weekend.” Rachel explained, with the father sighing in relief that the worst hasn’t happened.

”Might need to take her to the vet, though.” Rachel explained, noting Pixie’s leg.

”Yeah..right. Well, it’s nice to know we have a local hero around here. Thank you.” The father said in appreciation, although he realized he needed to hold his end of the bargain.

”Listen, I don’t have the money on me right now, but if you come back later today, I’ll have it for you.” The father explained, but Rachel interjected.

“Don’t even worry. I’m just happy to help.” Rachel proclaimed.

”No, no. Least I can do given what you went through to bring her back.” The father insisted, but the timer beeped, noting that it was already 8:30 am. Rachel panicked as school was about to start.

”Sorry, I love to continue, but I gotta get going!” Rachel rushed, heading out of the driveway. With the father and daughter waving goodbye.

”Thank you…!” The two greeted her before pausing, not knowing her name.

”SHRINKING RAE!” Rachel introduces herself as she skates away. Skating downhill, she rushed through a shortcut and made it to the back end of her classroom. Using one of her spare hoodies, which she had placed outside for special occasions, she tossed it on top of her suit and sprayed some strong fragrance to cover up the smell of wet dog and rain. As she sneaks through the open window near the restroom, she inspects herself to look the part of just being Rachel, removing her mask and fixing her frazzled hair before making her way to the empty hallway. 

By 8:40, Rachel made her way inside as the morning announcements played, slowly opening the door to avoid making a scene. 

“Ah, Rachel. Nice of you to join us today.” The teacher greets her, despite not even glancing at the door.

”Hi, sorry I’m late…bad traffic.” Rachel makes up, despite her secret identity being an open secret.

”It’s fine, just grab a seat and grab a note from the office after class.” The teacher instructs as Rachel walks to her seat towards the end of the room. As Rachel, she wasn’t exactly the popular kid in class, but she wasn’t bullied either. She didn’t mind it as much, although most kids turned their heads away from the lingering smell coming from her, making gossip as most kids do. Rachel sat down in her seat, twiddling her fingers in silence, still thinking about her superhero ”exploits” in class.

”Hey, did I miss anything?” Rachel leaned towards the girl next to her, trying to make small talk, but was quickly shushed by her, not wanting to be associated with her.

”Cool, cool.” Rachel muttered, leaning back into her chair. As she paid attention to the teacher lecturing about fractions, Rachel could feel the other kids gossip about her, noting her amateur outfit or how often she came in dirty. Her family didn’t have much money for lunch or going on field trips, so she was associated with being the poor kid in class. She could feel their eyes looking over her and leaning away from her vicinity, making her shrink slightly from not wanting to stick out as she already was. Despite being unable to see further back, she liked being in the last row away from people to avoid the attention.

Towards the afternoon, Rachel was busy doodling her superhero persona as a nice escape, listening to music in secret as they were watching a nature documentary in class. However, as she searched for the right station, there was breaking news that a bank robbery was taking place in her town just a few blocks away. Rachel listened carefully, hearing there was a hostage situation inside, roughly five men with guns. Her eyes widened as she thought this was all those nights of training were for. Estimating the time before lunch, she can be back before the bell rings, going to fight her first big crime bust!

“Mrs. Thorne! I have to use the bathroom!” She stood up, raising her hand and getting the attention from the other students.

“William is using the hall pass, Rachel. You’re going to have to-.” Before the teacher could finish, Rachel clenched her legs to sell the urgency. Mrs Thorne sighed in defeat, not wanting another accident.

“Okay, fine, just be back before lunch.” She said as Rachel quickly rushed out of the classroom and went to her locker, tucking her hoodie away. As a security guard was going to exit through the back door, Rachel shrank onto their back and snuck out through them. She hopped off to find her skates close by, slipping into them as she quickly skated to the scene of the crime. Rachel donned her mask and felt an overwhelming sense of confidence radiating off her. Her cape swished through the harsh wind as she extended her arms out, feeling more accustomed to being Shrinking Rae than just Rachel. 

The bank was filled to the brim with police cars, sirens continuously going off, and a crowd watching over, making it hard for Rachel to get a clear insight into what was happening. As she gets a closer look, she hears gunshots go off, making the crowd scream and crouch down in fear. Police assure people to remain calm and negotiating with the robbers. However, Rachel sees a way in through the corner vents, moving away from the crowd and climbing towards the vents. Once she sneaks inside, she shrinks down and crawls her way into the building, getting a better view of the hostage situation. Looked like a couple of guards were knocked cold, bank tellers and hostages zip-tied and taped over their mouths, and cowering over a corner with one of the masked robbers wearing a black beanie over his mask, pointing an assault rifle towards them.

“Come on, don’t be shy, just show me where and no one gets hurt.” The goon commanded with a heavy Brooklyn accent as the civilians quickly showed where their wallets were and the goon grabbing and throwing them to the floor. Rachel looked at the civilians, recognizing the father she had spoken with earlier.

“Jesus, you guys are almost done over there? I’m tired of playing babysitter!” He called out towards the other guys, using an electric drill against the automatic vault. One of the other guys in a green ski mask popped out of the room.

“Quit your bitching! You got the easiest job!” He chimed in as he precariously drilled the vault. Rachel took a breath, seeing the severity of the situation, and shrank even smaller to fall out of the vent and into the brim of the babysitter’s beanie. Another goon wearing red came out, pulling out duffel bags from the registers and tossing them to the black mask goon to put the wallets in. Rachel peeped out of the brim to see when to jump inside.

“We got lucky, this town doesn’t have any costumed freaks running around this town.” The red masked goon interjected as the black masked goon filled the bag.

“You think they’re gonna send the Guardians on us?” The black masked goon asked hypothetically, turning his head away to keep an eye on the hostages.

“Hell no, not when there’s bigger fish to fry in the world.” A yellow masked goon jokes, keeping an eye on the front and acting intimidating to the crowd outside, shooting in the air to keep the act.  Neither of the goons paid attention as Rachel hopped inside, hanging onto the side strap. The red masked goon hoisted the bag and carried it towards the vault for the rest of the money. Rachel tried covering away from the intense sparks flying off the machine. 

“Be for real, who’s gonna give a damn about a town like this?” The green masked goon chortled, just about to break through, until Rachel lunged into the machine and tinkered with the inner mechanics, dislodging some wires, nearly shocking herself doing so. The drill beeped, smoke coming out, and an error message blaring out.

“Shit!” The green masked goon jumped, not wanting to get caught ablaze. The other goons came in, hearing the ruckus.

“What did you do? You broke it!” The red one chastised him, grabbing the drill and inspecting it.

“No, I didn’t!” The green masked goon retaliated. 

“Actually, I did!” Rachel proclaimed as she poked her head out of the drill and jumped towards the red masked goon, growing to full size to knock him to the ground.

“Oh shit!” The green masked goon freaked out, trying to reach for his gun, but Rachel quickly kicked it out of his hands before lunging a kick towards his face, knocking him out. Rachel looked around and saw her accomplishment, feeling like her dad’s training was paying off.

“Not bad for the first time.” Rachel thought, feeling confident. However, her ego trip was quickly shut down as she heard a gun cocked behind her. 

“Little girls should be in school, not playing dress up.” The black masked goon warned, pointing his gun towards Rachel. Although Rachel raised her hand, she played coy and slowly approached him. Meanwhile, the father saw the opportunity to grind against the beam to break his zip tie, narrowly breaking free. 

“Funny you should mention being little,” Rachel smirked as she cartwheeled forward, shrinking down for a second before growing to give herself an extra boost to kick the gun upward, accidentally setting it off.

“Quit playing and just shoot her!” The yellow masked goon chimed, seeing police close in from the de-escalation of the situation.

“It’s kinda hard when this chick shrinks!” The black masked goon retorts, having a hard time getting a good shot of her, with Rachel narrowly missing each bullet piercing through the floor. 

“Goddamn it, it’s like everyone’s got a gimmick these days.” The yellow goon rolled his eyes, trying to help. As he left his post at the front door, the police began moving forward to the building, bringing out the battering ram to the steel door. Rachel grew to normal size, trying to land a blow on the bigger goon. He counteracted as he backhanded her to the hostages, shrinking herself so as not to crash into the hostages. The father had broken his zip tie and caught Rachel in his hand. The tiny girl felt the wind knocked out of her as she quickly caught her breath, barely getting a glimpse of her savior.

“Nice running into you again, sir.” Rachel joked with the remaining goons approaching them. The father’s concerns were muffled as he didn’t know what to do.

“How’s your throwing arm?” Rachel asked, with the father understanding her request, holding onto her and launching her into the air towards the goons. Rachel barely screamed, not being used to the fast speeds from the roller coasters her parents made her ride. She could barely register as she grew big once more and struck the black masked goon out, even getting some of his teeth knocked out. As she lands on her knees, scraping them a little, she wipes the saliva and blood off her hands. Rachel took a second before trying to stand up, but was butted in the face by the Yellow masked goon’s gun, making her collapse to the floor.

”Sorry, kid, just business.” The yellow masked goon coldly apologized, with Rachel heavily breathing, whimpering as her nose bled, and trying to get up. Her vision was blurry, and her ears were ringing as she barely had the strength to get up. She can hear the remaining goon coming to her, playing up her injuries.

”Kid?” He called out, hearing her whimper as he leaned closer. Feeling him close, she wiped the blood off her nose, giving a faint smirk, changing her demeanor.

“Got you.” Rachel smiled coldly, striking his groin area and making the goon collapse in pain. She shrinks down and rolls under him to get behind him.

”Agh, you little bi-“ Before he could finish, Rachel grew to normal size, grabbing his gun and butting it with the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. Rachel pants as she catches her breath, sucking her blood back into her nose and feeling one of her teeth loose in her mouth. Rachel looks around, making sure there aren't any other goons as she heads over to the hostages and helps them break their zip ties and taped mouths.

”It’s all good, guys. Though this might hurt.” Rachel warns, ripping off the tape from one of the bank tellers.

”There were five!” She warns Rachel, confused as she quickly looks around the unconscious goons, only counting four.

”Then wait, where’s-“ Rachel mutters before she hears the toilet flush and an unmasked goon in a brown beanie coming out. He quickly stopped in his tracks, seeing his team on the floor and a little costumed girl all roughed up, putting two and two together.

“Sh-shit!” He stumbles trying to fix his mask and grabs his gun strapped around his chest, aiming it towards the hostages. Rachel, not wanting to get any of the hostages hurt, lunges towards him, shrinking down and grabbing onto his shirt. Being trigger-happy, the brown masked goon accidentally sets off his gun towards the hostages’ direction, trying to smash the bug-sized girl. Narrowly escaping his hands, Rachel saw no choice but to try a maneuver she’s been practicing, going underneath his ski mask and crawling inside his ear.

“NONONO!” The brown mask goon panicked, feeling her inside his head. Without warning, Rachel slightly grows between his nose and mouth to choke him, yanking on his uvula. The goon uncontrollably hurls in his mask, barely able to register what is happening. Feeling nauseated and gasping for air, the goon’s body gave out, collapsing onto the floor face first. 

As the last goon falls, the police finally break through the door, charging as they realize that all the goons have already been taken care of. Stumped, the officers looked around, handcuffing all the unconscious goons and helping hostages.

“Do you know who did all this?” One of the older officers asked a hostage, but before they could respond, they heard groaning coming from the brown masked goon’s head, going towards it, and saw something shifting around underneath their mask.

“What the hell?” The officer muttered, pulling the mask to find a tiny hand claw out of the goon’s ear, with Rachel gasping for air and covered in various bodily fluids. Shaking and grossed out, Rachel barely registered the scenery as she quickly stepped away from the goon’s ear and grew back to normal size.

“Oh god, this is so gross…” Rachel looked at herself, covered in filth and not even noticing her cape was missing inside the goon’s nose. She felt nauseated from the constant shrinking and growing and from crawling in someone’s body for the first time, on the verge of dry heaving, but barely held it in. The officer slowly approached her, crouching down slightly to give the girl enough space.

“Young lady, do you need some assistance?” He asked her, subtly turning his head away to avoid the smell coming from her. Rachel only smirked, trying to play it off, fixed her domino mask, and awkwardly stood up towards him.

“No no, I’m fi-HURrrGl.” Before she could answer, her body gave out and made her vomit up her breakfast and her loose tooth, coughing as she kneeled down, barely having any strength from the fighting. Holding onto her sensitive stomach, Rachel tried getting up, but was overwhelmed by the fighting and bruises she had gotten.

“Oh no, gonna miss lunch….shit.” Rachel muttered before passing out on the floor.

Chapter Text

Rachel barely registered where she was. She could only feel the leather padding shake from what felt like a car, the strong gust of wind blowing out from the open window, and the strong odor radiating off her. Barely opening her eyes, she quickly sat up from pure adrenaline, gasping in shock.

“THE HOSTAGES!” Rachel screamed, still in her fight-or-flight mode of thinking.

“Woah, woah, take it easy, sweetheart. They’re all fine.” The officer from before assured her, fixing his mirror to check up on the little heroine. She was still a mess from the whole ordeal, face and body covered with bruises and bits of dry vomit, frazzled braids, and costume damaged and stained. Rachel took a breath as she adjusted to her new, unfamiliar setting.

“Oh god…am…am I in a cop car?” Rachel muttered, amazed yet realizing the implications of what’s gonna happen. 

“It’s not exactly the Dark Wing, but it gets the job done, and the ladies.” The officer softly laughed with Rachel, barely reacting to the small talk, getting closer to the school. As she sat in the car, tears started welling up, desperately wiping them as she sniffled and shifting different sizes frantically, fearing the worst to come.

“Woah woah, dearie, what are you crying for?” The officer asked, concerned. 

“I-I don’t know, I don’t know what I was thinking! I thought it was gonna be a simple crime bust. You know, like how the Guardians do on TV or in the movies! I don’t wanna get in trouble or get more eyes on me at school, and I don’t wanna get grounded!” Rachel blurted out in a rapid stream of consciousness, barely taking a breath as she leaned back in her car seat, covering her face in shame and grabbing her legs to cover herself. The officer barely registered her little rant but tried to ease the tension. 

“It’s never like in the movies, kiddo.” He shook his head in disappointment but smirked from the childlike ideology. As they reached the school, he parked the car on the curb and sighed, unsure how to comfort Rachel.

“Look, so you did sneak out of school, trespassed a crime scene, and nearly got yourself killed.” He points out sternly, with Rachel looking up from her knees to see where he was going with this.

“But, you also saved a dozen lives, and no one got hurt or robbed. Commendable, yes. Reckless, most certainly, but still a brave thing to do for a girl your age and with your… shrinking gifts.” The officer changed his demeanor to a softer and admirable tone, seeing Rachel softly glow in confidence, fixing herself up. 

“I was gonna save this for my lunch, but I think you need this more than I do.” The officer pulls up his lunchbox to pull out a lukewarm pepperoni pizza for her. Rachel was drawn to it, rarely having pizza at home with her strict diet, but held back.

“I don’t know…” Rachel hesitates, having doubts about taking someone else’s lunch.

“Aw, no one should go on with their day on an empty stomach. If it helps, I get discounts daily, so I won’t go hungry.” The officer persuades her, with Rachel taking the pizza and chowing down on the pizza. Rachel can taste the cheesiness and strong spice of the pepperoni, mixing to create a potent mix in her taste buds. She savored every bite as she audibly made an “mmm” sound as she finished her pizza, scarfing it down in under a minute. She lets out a small burp, covering her mouth instinctively out of embarrassment. 

“Thank you.” Rachel softly smiled, feeling a bit better. 

“Alright, you ready to go?” The officer asked, with Rachel taking a breath before nodding her head. As the officer gets out, he quickly reaches his glove compartment for a VHS and an envelope before opening the door for Rachel. The two walked into the empty halls with students peering out the door window to see the commotion. They discussed amongst themselves what Rachel did to spark a lockdown and police to come to their school. Rachel held onto the officer’s hand, feeling the pressure kick in, but the officer gestured for her to walk with pride, owning up to the moment, so she did.

As they reached the principal’s office, she could see her parents sitting, feeling their presence as she perched back in the seating area, not sure how they would respond to her antics.

“Wait here, okay. It’s gonna be alright.” The officer assured her before reaching into his pocket and grabbing the envelope.

“By the way, the folks at the bank wanted you to have this before I forget.” The officer gave Rachel the envelope and opened it. Rachel’s eyes glistened with excitement, and she smiled as she was taken aback by such generosity. 

“You've got a great future ahead, kiddo, just maybe stick to finding lost pets for now.” The officer advised her before entering. 

Rachel sat alone for 30 minutes, twiddling her thumbs and looking over the envelope. She tried reading some of the torn kids' magazines on animals and activity books that were already solved and sticky to the touch. Rachel had time to think about her day, her training, and the thrilling aspects of fighting those goons had on her. It was like an adrenaline rush, however, her thoughts were interrupted as it got heated with Rachel’s parents arguing with the principal inside. It was muffled as Rachel leaned into the door to hear bits and pieces, but she heard the words “expelled” and “her future”. Rachel turned pale at what that could mean, not being the first time she left school grounds to stop a petty crime. She hears the chairs scrape as Rachel quickly goes back to her seat. The door quickly opened as Ray and Debra huffed out of the room.

“Come along, Rachel.” Debra coldly said as Ray took the VHS with him, as Rachel looked back at the principal and officer, worried about what was to come. 

The car ride home was silent, with Ray looking back at his daughter, concerned with how people saw her. As they got home, Debra gave Rachel an extensive bath, washing the gunk off her and shampooing her hair. No words were spoken. 

As the girls were busy in the bathroom, Ray continuously watched the security footage, seeing Rachel in action and taking on the bad guys. His eyes were glued to the TV, seeing her shrink and grow with such grace, just like he trained her. Although he noted how Rachel vomits every time she goes inside someone’s body, something she needed to work on.

By dinner time, Debra had served the family dinner, and they silently ate. Rachel, desperate to break the silence, spoke up.

“So…am I grounded?” Rachel softly spoke, hesitating to ask.

“No,” Ray answered.

“Yes,” Debra answered. The two looked at each other, confused.

“Ray-” Debra tried to detest, before Ray interjected.

“What, this is exactly what we’ve been training Rachel for. I mean, you realize sooner or later, she was gonna be doing more than just finding lost pets.” Ray tries explaining.

“And what, she’s just gonna be skipping school and getting herself killed?!?” Debra asked, squinting her eyes in frustration.

“Well, I only got a few brui-” Rachel tried to interject herself, with Debra flashing her a look before she quickly shuts up.
“Sorry, Mom.” Rachel apologizes, slightly shrinking out of embarrassment.

“Look, no one said this job was gonna be easy. If Rachel is gonna be a superhero, she’s gotta lean in all the way and commit.” Ray tries explaining, reaching out for his wife’s hand, who slightly pulls back.

“She got expelled, Ray. We both got jobs and can’t just leave Rachel by herself. It’s already hard enough as it is in this economy.” Debra's voice tightens before pulling back, sighing in frustration and stress.

“Did you see the footage, Debra? How fast she was moving, with the shrinking and growing. Our daughter took on five guys without breaking a sweat! She was like lightning!” Ray said ecstatically, practically geeking out from his daughter’s achievement.

“If she hadn’t shown up today, people could’ve gotten hurt. She’s already a known name in the neighborhood! Imagine how far she can go and reach worldwide?” Ray tries selling Debra the idea.

“Maybe joining the Guardians with War Woman!?!” Rachel excitedly predicted, leaning onto the table. With Ray shaking his head and leaning close to his daughter.
“You’ll be better than the Guardians. Teams are only gonna slow you down, sweetie.” Ray softly told her, patting her head as Debra was uncertain about the possibilities this would bring to their family.

“Guys, I don’t wanna be the bad guy here, but there is a lot to consider in all this.” Debra sighed, trying to explain her doubts, massaging her temple.

“Which is why I’ve already been doing some research.” Ray teased, with Debra and Rachel looking confused by what he meant. He gets up from the table and guides them to the desktop, opening up news articles on programs for super-powered beings and the early rise of social media influence for up-and-coming heroes. 

“I’ve been doing some reading, and the government incentivises super beings who register in this program. The more aware people are of Shrinking Rae, the more benefits we can get!” Ray explains, with Rachel and Debra seeing the various news articles and the benefits that seemed too good to be true. 

“Aren’t you guys tired of being looked down on all the time? I’ve seen how the other kids look at Rachel, always giving her looks behind her back. Or you, honey, always having to deal with the frustrations of customer service. I’ve had my fair share of people looking down on me, and I promised myself that if I could, I wouldn’t let any of you go through that.” Ray monologued with Debra, looking away, hating to admit all his points were right. As her father lit up from the possibilities, Rachel saw the responsibilities laid onto her, wanting to make her parents proud of her. 

“Actually, I got a little something from earlier,” Rachel mentions before rushing to her room and grabbing the envelope. She returns to show her parents the envelope containing a chunk of folded bills estimated to be $120 and lollipop wrappers. Her parents were starstruck by how much was inside.

”Rachel, where did you get this?” Debra asked, pulling out the money, inspecting to see how authentic it was.

”Well, earlier this morning I found a lost dog for $50, but I guess some people also chipped in. Although I ate most of the lollipops, sorry.” Rachel notes, hesitantly confessing to that last part. Ray only smirked, huffing, seeing as it only proved his point.

”Don’t you guys see? Our luck is beginning to change, and it’s all because of you, Rae.” Ray smiled, putting his hands on her shoulders in approval, with Rachel shifting awkwardly as she felt the pressure of approval on her shoulders.

“Thanks, Dad.” Rachel softly said, feeling his approval radiate off him. However, she looked over to her mom, who was hypnotized by the blue screen on the computer, seeing the various articles about how financially prosperous kid superheroes were, and seeing an opportunity for her daughter.

“Okay. Okay!” Debra clapped her hands together, rubbing them together as she had plans for her baby girl. She squats down to Rachel’s level alongside Ray in support.

“So, does this mean I’m not grounded?” Rachel asked hesitantly, with her parents looking at each other, unsure how to respond.

“Well, you did get expelled,” Debra notes, but Ray tilts her towards him.

“Ah, she’ll have the best education at home, with us!” Ray assured Debra, pausing before nodding her head.
“Okay, fine, but no more freebies!” Debra notes, with Rachel cheering, having gotten off scott free.

“Get some rest, Rae! We’re gonna be training extra hard tomorrow!” Ray notes as Rachel races up the stairs and to her room. As they tuck her in bed and kiss her goodnight before going to their room.

“So, how exactly are we gonna train her? We’re not exactly in a high-crime neighborhood.” Debra notes.

“Simple, we go across the counties nearby and stake out, keep her street level. Maybe use a little word of mouth at first.” Ray mentions quickly as he guides them to their room.
“And us training her?” Debra asks, feeling unqualified, as Ray goes towards his closet, spreading the clothes to one side.

“We’ll have to be creative, of course, but…” Ray pats around to find a button, setting off a secret door.

“Not like we won’t be prepared,” Ray smirks into his closet, revealing a compartment of guns, accessories, and various weapons at his disposal.

“How long have you been planning this?” Debra’s mouth was slightly gaped, seeing how much he had prepared. 

“I was into military stuff as a kid, hoping to enlist, but never met the qualifications. I thought of selling them, seeing no use in a town like ours, but something told me to hold onto them. Then along came Rae, and I got my answer.” Ray explained, seeing so much potential for his daughter. 

“Our daughter is gonna change our lives,” Ray notes, holding onto his wife’s hand, with Debra embracing him. The two began working the night away, shaping Rae’s future as they saw fit.

Chapter Text

While Rachel slept that night, her parents scoured their rooms for equipment, like Ray’s boxing gear and miscellaneous items in the garage, transforming them into an obstacle course for Rae. Debra, on the other hand, looked for her camera and began working on a social media page for Shrinking Rae, seeing the boom happening with the internet. By the time Rachel’s alarm went off, they were just about set, having everything laid out for her.

Ray

“Rae, get up and change, grab a granola, and meet me out back?” Ray nudged Rachel as she groaned out of bed, quickly donning her costume, and met him in the backyard. As Rachel chewed on her bar, her eyes barely adjusted to the morning sun, seeing the backyard filled with shoddily made obstacle courses and various boxing equipment, like a boxing mannequin. 

“Today, we’re focusing on timing and speed. You ready?” Ray asked, having a stopwatch, thumb on the button. Rachel did some brief stretches, cracking her neck and knuckles as she leaned forward in a starting position. She stared at the hula hoops modified to various sizes.

“Should be easy.” Rachel thought, cracking a confident smile, as Ray triggered the stopwatch.

“Shrinking and growing into the hoops,” Ray commands as Rachel runs into the hoops, shrinking into the small hoops before jumping into the bigger hoop, barely making it to the other side before tripping. Landing on the floor, Rachel groaned as Ray picked her up.

“You need to anticipate your steps before you react. Again.” He instructs, making Rachel go towards the beginning and repeating the process.

Debra

After another grueling day of training, Rachel opened the patio door, frazzled as she reached for a cup of water, sweating profusely. As Rachel sighed, quenching her thirst, Debra came in, ready to train her flexibility.

“Finish your water, we’re gonna work on your stretching,” Debra instructs before taking her to the living room and putting on a yoga DVD. They start by stretching their legs on the floor, with Rachel barely able to reach her toes.

“Come on, you gotta push yourself! Push a little harder!” Debra commands, pressing Rachel’s back forward towards her foot. Rachel winced as she felt herself struggling under the pressure put on her.

Drug Bust #2

Rachel took a hit to her face, but she brushed it off, and her vision was blurrier than usual, going off instinct. It had been some time since there was a crime report, just as she was about to celebrate her 10th birthday. Hearing the sharp gun fire, she shrank and lunged towards the nearby guard, grabbing him into a chokehold, straining his throat. His gun goes off, scaring off the other goons trying to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Some of the drugs get destroyed in the process.

“WATCH OUT FOR THE DRUGS, IDIOT!” One of the main goons shouts, seeing the money dwindling in front of his eyes. Rachel grows to normal size to bring the choked goon down before going towards the others, making one trip with a swift left kick. The goons slowly fall, with one of the remaining ducking towards a wall.

“HOW THE HELL ARE WE LOSING TO SOME SHRINKING KID?!?” He thought aloud, hearing the commotion. However, he felt a small thump on his shoulder, with Rachel going into his ear to pull her signature trick.

“You tell me.” She whispered confidently, crawling inside his ear as she made him gag and choke on his vomit. He collapses onto the floor as Rachel crawls out of his mouth, drenched in his saliva, gasping for air. She grows back to normal size, flicking off the residue from her, looking around the room.

“All clear!” Rachel called out as Ray and Debra came out, camera in hand, having taken as many pictures of her as possible.

“Great job, sweetie. Some mistakes, but your take-down technique has gotten better.” Ray notes, writing on a notepad. Debra instructs Rachel to stand by the body and strike a pose. Rachel followed suit, arching herself up as she put her hands on her hips.

“Smile, Rae. And this time, try not to puke.” Debra instructs, being a common problem every time Rae pulls that maneuver.

“You kidding, mom, I’ll be-“ Before she could even finish, she couldn’t hold it in and hurled onto the floor, lowering her head.

Ray

Rachel lifted her head up from the water, eyes red, gasping and coughing, as Ray pressed his stopwatch. While Rachel adjusted, Ray looked at one of the checks the government had sent them, barely under three hundred.

“Time, 2 minutes and 15 seconds! Just a second over your previous record.” Ray notes. 

“That’s good, right?” Rachel asked, fixing herself up.

“Yes, but it can be better. You need to keep practicing if you don’t wanna breathe inside someone. Can’t have you keep puking, Rae. It’s bad for the press.” Ray comments, with Rachel rolling her eyes.

“I can’t help it. It smells awful in there.” Rachel complained.

“You’re thirteen now, Rachel. Gotta start growing up. Again.” Ray sternly notes before dunking Rae’s head back into the water for another test run.

Debra 

“Do I have to do this?” Rae groaned, wincing as her mother combed her hair vigorously, donned in a green dress at a pageant for super-powered girls. 

“Would you rather do another sewer run?” Her mom whispered harshly with a forced smile, with Rae shuddering at the mere thought of that experience, her nose numb for weeks. 

“Most girls your age don’t get sponsored. They even sent us a complimentary suit to replace your other one.” Debra lectured about the luxury Rae has as she fixes her makeup. 

“I know, it just doesn’t feel right, plus it’s itchy.” Rae looked underneath her dress at her new suit, scratching from the itchy spandex.

“It’s modern.” Debra crooked Rae’s head to her.

“You’re gonna go out there, do a little strut, and prove yourself to them, Rae,” Debra affirmed, placing her hands on Rachel’s shoulders.

“Okay, Mom.” Rachel nods as Debra leads her towards the back of the stage. She can hear a spokesperson introducing her next.

“-Utilizing the latest in Parvulus’ state-of-the-art micro particles, please welcome your very own Shrinking Rae.” The spokesperson announced as Rachel stepped forth into the modeling floor in her poofy dress. She was met with murmurs as she awkwardly walked down before taking a leap forward, shrinking out of the dress and into her black and green suit, striking a “ta-da” pose to the amazement of the crowd. Unlike her last costume, her suit is made to shrink and grow with her with ease, now wearing a cowl to cover her head and green goggles to give her clearer vision. They were short sleeves, showing off Rachel’s biceps with a sleek “R” on her chest along with some gloves for added protection. Rachel shrank and grew to demonstrate her abilities, posing as the audience cheers her on.

Robbery #3

Rae kicks her feet in the air, being able to flex her legs to knock out the robber. 

“Come on, higher, Rae!” Ray muttered outside while Debra was recording with her phone.

Ray

Rachel sweats as she has to diffuse a live bomb, feeling the clock tick down to mere seconds before detonation.

“People are counting on you, Rae!” Ray continued to apply pressure.

Debra 

“Can’t we just have pizza for once. It’s my 16th birthday today.” Rachel begged as she was served a small plate of veggies.

“Which is why you need to watch your figure. Can’t have any noticeable fat sticking out.” Debra points out, with Rachel huffing on the verge of tears as she gets up from the table, losing her appetite.

Mr. Whiskers 

Rachel wrestled with an aggressive cat on a tree, getting a few scratches and her hair frazzled.

“Agh, come on!” Rachel muttered, desperately keeping herself stable on the ladder as the cat scratched on her exposed bicep.

“Goddamn it!” Rachel winced as she was finally able to grab hold of the feisty kitty, tossing and turning in her clutches.

“I hope the reward money is go-.” As she sighed from relief, she barely had time to register that the ladder was leaning back. Rachel tried to stabilize, but the cat jumped back onto the tree, giving Rachel the boot.

“Fuck you, Mr. Whiskers!” Rachel curses out the cat as she falls back, trying to shrink to minimize damage before hitting the pavement.

Crime Bust #4

“I’m so tired.” Rachel thought, lying on the floor, all bruised up and blood trickling down her nose. Her ears were ringing as the bullets ripped through the air, barely able to see through her broken goggles.

“Back to it.” Rachel took a breath, hopping back up and rushing towards the remaining goons. It all became like clockwork for her, despite the crime rate being minimal between her training and actually fighting crime. She shrank down, closing her eyes, and let her instincts do the work as she flew through the air. She could remember the ballet lessons her mother trained her in, able to contort her body with ease. She could hear the ringing metal of a knife flying towards her, growing back in size and grabbing the handle, landing on her knees before sending it back to the goon’s leg. The goon screamed as the knife struck towards his thigh, not noticing Rachel going towards him for a knock-out.

On the car ride home, her parents were ecstatic about Rae’s performance tonight, with her flying in the air, stopping another crime bust, the usual fluff. However, Rachel was numb to the noise, leaning her head on the ice pack her mom had made and closing her bruised eyes.

As Rachel got home, she was all frazzled out from the vigorous training and crime-fighting the night had gotten her. She took off her cowl, letting her hair roam free as she collapsed on the floor from exhaustion. 

Debra and Ray

Rachel groaned as she felt something nudging her shoulder, sleeping with her face pressed on the floor, drooling slightly. She barely got an hour and a half of sleep as she slowly adjusted to her surroundings.

“Rae, get up. You’re trending online!” Debra gleefully told Rachel, showing the notifications from the website, despite Rachel barely having her eyes open. 

“And there are people who want to speak with you on the news!” Ray chimed in with greater news, with Rachel only groaning in acknowledgement. However, she quickly turned around and sat up, fully digesting the news.

“What?!?” Rachel’s eyes lit open, softly smiling from the news and disbelief. 

“In just a little over ten years on the streets, we have our own heroine looking out for the little guy. Locals have come to know her for finding their lost pets, small favors, and eventually stopping gangs and robberies here in the county.” The news reporter announced, walking towards Rachel’s house as Rae in costume jumped and grew onto the frame.

“And here she is now, our Shrinking Rae. So tell us, how did you get your start being a hero?” The reporter asked Rachel as she softly smiled. 

“Well, I-“ Before Rachel could deliver an answer, Ray and Debra approached the camera and took over the interview. 

“When her shrinking powers kicked in as a child, I scooped her into my hand and said, ‘Rae, you are gonna be the greatest hero in the world! Even more than the Guardians!’ And here she is now, our little small town hero, grown up!” Ray gloats, placing his hands on Rachel’s shoulders, feeling proud and accomplished.

“Since then, we’ve raised her to be the best and to look out for our community, and might I say she’s been doing a great job keeping it crime-free!” Debra notes, hugging Rae, both of them smothering her with their affection and support. Both Rachel and the reporter softly laughed it off. However, Rachel felt a sense of entrapment from her parents but tried not to show it in the interview, awkwardly smiling at the camera.

“Well, there you have it, folks. On the screen below is more info on her various exploits and contact info across social media platforms and on the website-“ As the reporter talked, Rae and her parents cut into the frame once more.

“Shrinkingrae.com! With an ‘e’ at the end!” Her parents yelled out, with Rae cringing as the reporter continued.

“Well, that. This is Channel 6 signing off.” As the news fanfare plays out, the reporter heads back to their news truck, quickly changing their demeanor and making a phone call to an anonymous source. Opening her glove box, she looks to make sure the tied up reporter she had shrunk was still there before closing it. 

“Did you get all that?” They asked in a serious tone.

Maryland

“Yes, marvelous performance.” The caller smiled, watching the interview on their small TV. He writes down some notes as he puts on his board. It was messy with red strings pinning all of Rae’s exploits down towards a small town outside of Brooklyn. On the board was also her father, Ray, and the Maryland factory accident from seventeen years ago. 

“Should we grab her now?” She asked, grabbing a tranquilizer gun.

“No, we still need to run some tests and move our operation close before we can strike”. He notes, experimenting with a bootleg micro particle stolen from Parvulus’ lab.

“More tests?” The fake reporter asked, as the real reporter in the glove box grows rapidly back to normal size. They tried to attack but were shot with a tranquilizer gun. 

“Yes, more tests. Meet at the rendezvous, the rest of the team will meet you there,” The caller reaffirms, sighing from the failure. 

“And the hostage?”

“Bring her in. We could always use another test subject.” He shrugs, thinking little of it. Reaching for his coffee, he made his way to another room, looking at his small crew tinkering in their small lab. They had a handful of subjects to test on, applying a gel that caused different body parts to shrink and grow at a painful rate. Others were moving equipment away into a moving truck, including a green prototype supersuit into a box.

“When the time comes, she’s gonna be our way back to the top.” He smiled, drinking from a cup engraved with a rusted “MicrOrganics” logo.

Chapter Text

With the crime rate down, Rachel spent most of her time being a spokesperson, something she wasn’t too keen on. The blinding lights from the camera, the fake smiles all around, and overall artificial mannerism were something her parents didn’t train her on. 

“Come on, Rae, smile!” Debra instructed, contorting her face to encourage her daughter to radiate that energy. Rachel strained her face, trying to incorporate that smile they wanted.

“Too much glare from goggles, turn to the left.” The photographer instructed, and Rachel obeyed.

“That’s it, strike a pose, dear.” The photographer continued, putting their arm in the air to instruct Rachel to flex her muscles for the camera. The photoshoot lasted for an hour, constantly changing and putting more makeup despite being known for not being afraid of getting down and dirty. It came with the territory of going spelunking inside a person’s body. Rachel goes into her dressing room to unwind, lying back on the chair and using a towel to wipe off the sweat and makeup. As she rested her eyes for a second, her parents came into the room, throwing off her groove, softly groaning. 

”Are we finished?” Rachel asked, yawning.

“Rae!” Debra quietly scolded her, looking outside the door before closing it.

”What? It’s a fair question. Wasn’t expecting to be called in for a photo shoot for the third time this week.” Rachel vented, shrugging it off.

“It’s good for publicity. Being a hero isn’t just about rushing into danger or saving a cat from a tree. You also have to be relevant, Rae.” Ray notes, seeing the potential boom in recognition she can have. 

“Rachel.” Rachel quickly corrects him. 

“Excuse me.” Ray crooks his eyebrow, sensing some attitude from her.

“Nothing. I just feel like I could do so much more than just publicity.” Rachel argues.

“I mean, Teen Team is looking for new mem-” Rachel pulls up her phone to show the team on display saving people before Ray shuts it down.

”Rae, we’ve had this conversation many times. Can’t rely on anyone else, and you gotta stay low, just for now. Besides, “Teen Team” doesn’t have much staying power, especially when they all look like college students by now.” Ray lectured, seeing them as inferior.

“Not to mention taking the spotlight from you.” Debra chimed in, making it her main priority.

“Well, maybe I don’t want it on me all the time.” Rachel snapped, feeling frustrated by the constant attention, with Ray and Debra being taken back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Debra asked firmly.

“I don’t know, maybe I just want a break from all this.” Rachel stuttered, waving her hand across the room, decorated with her image plastered all over.

”Rae, you can’t be serious.” Ray tries to find reason in Rae’s words, massaging his temple in frustration.

“But I am! I mean, there hasn’t been much going on, and it’s not like you guys want me to venture outside of this town or even use my powers to actually make a difference.” Rachel continued to argue.

“Rae, I don’t appreciate this new attitude-” Ray tries to turn the conversation.

“You know why you can’t be crime-fighting now, Rae!” Debra persisted.

”Rachel! But am I wrong?” She snapped, desperately wanting validation.

”Rae, stop acting ungrateful!” Debra demands.

“I’m not-” Rachel tries to explain, but keeps getting shut down.

“Taking these sponsors is what’s keeping this family afloat. I mean, come on, Rae, don’t you want this?!?” Ray argues, persisting in his point.

”I-I-“ Before Rachel can respond, there is a sudden knock at the door, pausing the family tirade as they straighten up and keep up appearances.

”C-Come in!” Debra changed her demeanor to a cheery tone. As the door opens, an assistant comes in with a plastic wrap suit, barely visible from the outside.

”Hi, this is for Rae.” The assistant announced as Rachel approached it, unraveling to reveal a modified suit. This one had a lighter green color mixed with yellow lines across the arms, thighs, and hip area, with a bright “R” symbol in the chest area. Unlike her last suit, she would be fully covered from head to toe, even having an opening for her hair in the back. 

”A new suit?” Rae asked, inspecting the little details of the suit. It even came with a set of glasses to replace the goggles.

“Yeah, we’re experimenting with a new formula with the microparticles to calibrate with your shrinking ability, plus focus groups believe that your costume needed a change. Too aggressive and masculine. And we also included some glasses with it, since we noticed you had some difficulties with the goggles.” The assistant explains, pulling up the folder with various notes from the focus groups. Rachel took the suit to change, quickly shrinking and growing into the suit to calibrate it to her liking. She comes out to reveal herself, fixing her hair through her cowl and putting on her glasses, seeing things clearly than before.

”So, how does it feel?” The assistant asked, prepared to take notes. Rachel took a minute to look at herself, stretching to break in the suit.

”Well, a little tighter, but not as exposed as my last one. Not sure how I feel about the lines.” Rachel notes, feeling a bit snug with the tight spandex, and checking how her figure looked in the mirror. 

“It’s perfect!” Debra interrupts, not wanting Rachel to be a burden on the team. 

“Yeah, sorry. Again, it tested positively in the focus groups. We’re trying to lean more into the feminine aspect, especially within your age demographic.” The assistant notes, with Rachel’s parents nodding along with the information. Rachel, however, felt slightly uncomfortable that her life was being dictated by numbers. 

“Anywho, we’re gonna need to do another photo shoot to show off the new you. If you have the time, that is.” The assistant notes, looking at their watch for the time.

“Well, I mean-” Before Rachel could give an answer, Debra stepped in and answered for her.

“She would love to! Wouldn’t you, sweetie?” Debra smiled, holding firmly onto Rachel’s shoulder.

“Sure.” Rachel faked a smile, just wanting to get this over with.

“Great, we’ll see you back on the floor.” The assistant and her parents quickly leave to return to the floor, with Rachel sighing in frustration before following suit.

By the end of the day, Rachel was tired from all the PR and needed some time alone. Rachel and her parents barely talked about their fight, wanting to move past it and focus on the generous check that came with it. She didn’t get to eat from being tired and burnt out, not that it was gonna be fulfilling. Her frustration with her parents had grown every passing year, but these few months, her training and crime fighting had stagnated, becoming bored with just being Shrinking Rae. However, it was hard to dissociate from Rae and Rachel when her room was covered in so much Shrinking Rae memorabilia from over the years.  She couldn’t look at herself in the mirror without feeling bitter, tossing her new cowl into her hamper and lying on the bed with the lights off. She scrolled through her phone, seeing various people’s social lives, dating, and socializing with friends, yearning for the same.

As Rachel continuously scrolled through her phone, she stumbled upon notifications from her social media page. Most messages were either spam, crude comments that either infantilized or fetishized her shrinking powers, or genuine messages she kept for old time's sake. As she scrolled, she saw one cryptic message from an anonymous user with only the message “Need help. Will pay? Call this number”. The red flags were going off, but something drew her to it, taking a chance and calling. The line rang for a good second before someone picked up.

“H-Hello? Oh good, you responded? Uh, is this The Shrinking Rae?” The person asked, having a distinct, shaky feminine voice.

“Um, yes, this is her. How can I help?” Rachel asks hesitantly, on guard. 

“I-I don’t know how much time I have before they come back. Could we possibly meet at the Burger Mart across from the high school? Just a minute!” The girl asked before yelling away from the phone.

“Um, sure? Are you safe?” Rachel asked, concerned, hearing bits of murmurs in the background.

“I’m fine, just on a time limit. So can we meet in, say, thirty minutes?” The girl asked frantically, hearing footsteps coming closer. 

“Wait, tonight?” Rachel was surprised by the last-minute errand.

“Great, thanks! See you then! Wear casu-” The girl abruptly hangs up, with Rachel left with so many questions. She debated whether or not was a crank call or an actual cry for help. However, seeing as she wanted to get out of the house and maybe get some cash in, Rachel grabs a denim jacket, plain yellow shirt, and some jeans to put over her suit, always wanting to be prepared. Rachel sneaks through the window of her room, going for a walk to the burger mart.

The walk took about twenty-five minutes from home, feeling the burn in her legs from being on her feet all day, wishing she had somehow implemented skates into her costume. The cold nighttime environment was very dark, with barely any light posts in her area and only the chitter from the animals accompanying her. Rachel gets closer to the busier area of her town near the high school. The lights are more apparent, giving her some assurance that nothing shady will happen as she goes inside the Burger Mart.

The doorbell rang, announcing her presence, with some folks recognizing her as Shrinking Rae from recent publicity. She greeted them with a friendly smile, but was more concerned to find the person who called her. However, she really didn’t have much to work off, seeing older folks with their families, some teens snickering at her, or just some workers who greeted her. She sat in one of the secluded booths, not liking the attention she was getting just by being there. Leaning towards the window, she tries browsing her phone, but the reception is terrible, and her parents cut off her mobile data to keep her focused on superhero work and to rely solely on her skills. Groaning, she decided to close her eyes for a couple of minutes, seeing she had some time before this person comes, if they do.

As Rachel dozed off for a couple of minutes, she was awakened by a pestering poking on her arm and a sharp “psst” sound. Rachel squirmed, barely opening her eyes, and seeing a little girl in a purple jacket poking her to wake her up.

“Psst. Miss Shrinking Rae! It’s me!” The girl whispered aloud, surprising Rachel as she shushed her, not wanting to cause a scene.

“Shh! Please don’t…don’t scream that out .” Rachel eased, with the girl nodding her head. The girl sat across the table, and Rachel got a better look at who her client was. She looked to be roughly 9 to 10 years old, with short, messy hair, and a youthful innocence in her face and overall demeanor.

“Oh, right, sorry, secret identity.” She giggled, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. Rachel was confused by this, seeing an unaccompanied child sitting by her. She looked around to see maybe she belonged to one of the patrons, but barely saw anyone at that point.

“Everything okay? You seem tense?” The girl asked, confused by the paranoia Rachel radiated.

“Is it that noticeable?” Rachel muttered sarcastically, not used to being around kids.

“No.” The girl shakes her head. 

“Seriously, kid, are you with your parents?” Rachel asked, concerned and confused.

“No, it’s just me. That’s why I’m here. Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Shirley, a huge fan of your work.” She introduces herself erratically, extending her hand to Rachel, who hesitantly accepts, shaking it. Shirley was a bit jittery meeting her hero, trying not to make a fool of herself in front of her.

“Rachel. Listen, I ain’t too anxious to be doing any unauthorized meet and greets. God knows I don’t need any more trouble.”  Rachel introduced herself, but felt like she had been duped.

“Oh, no, I’m not here to meet you. Well, technically I am, but the point is that you’re the only one I can trust to help me.” Shirley leaned in, whispering close to Rachel, making her uncomfortable yet intrigued by what she meant.

“I wasn’t sure about your rates or what you’re capable of, but I need your help finding my mom,” Shirley tells her, showing her a picture of her mom, the reporter from Channel 6, on her phone, and seeing if Rachel recognizes her. She looked familiar, yet not much. Shirley looks around to see if anyone is looking for her, paranoid of who can be listening in. 

“Have you tried going to the police? Your dad?” Rachel asked, concerned.

“I… I don’t have one. And I tried, but they dismissed me, saying there’s a wait time before an investigation can happen,” Shirley explained, frustrated by the lack of results.

”She’s been gone for almost a month, and last time I saw her, she was gonna researching about people going missing in the area, and you were a part of it.” Shirley continues, showing Rachel some photos of her mom’s evidence board of people reported missing. 

“Wait, why me? How am I a part of this?” Rachel asked, confused.

“I don’t know, she didn’t tell me much, but I did see some photos of some of the people. It’s…gruesome.” Shirley hesitated, showing her, with Rachel looking to see that some of the people have turned out dead, but with some parts of their bodies shrunk or abnormally sized.

“Jesus...” Rachel turned pale at the sight, despite being numb to gore in her lifetime.

“Yeah, last thing I heard was my mom was gonna ask you some questions, seeing how you can shrink, and maybe linking it to that company you work for. Par...snip?” Shirley tried annunciating, but struggled.

“Parvulus. Look, kid, I don’t think this is something I can help you with. There are too many variables at play, and having these photos can get you in trouble. I don’t think I’m the best fit for this.” Rachel tries explaining, potentially getting involved in something bigger than just a simple missing person case.

“That’s why you can, you always find a way despite the odds.” Shirley tries to appeal to Rachel, confused by what she meant.

“I remember seeing the videos of you fighting the goons and how you shrank and grew just to land a punch. That first video of you at the bank taking on those five guys, and going inside that one guy to knock him out, it was amazing!” Shirley quietly nerded out just telling that story in detail, with Rachel softly smiling before frowning, thinking about it extensively.

“Yeah, except I puked my guts out and got suspended for pretty much the rest of my life.” Rachel sighed, looking away in resentment at how her life had turned out. Shirley noticed her being upset, trying to go in a different direction.

“My mom always told me about how the real superheroes were those in the streets, not ones in spandex or in the sky. But you were that middle woman, fighting street crime and being the face of our town. All you needed were just roller skates, your shrinking powers, and your skills. You just…did you.” Shirley monologued, noting Rachel’s supersuit underneath her jacket, with Rachel pulling back, sighing as her little speech might’ve worked on her.

“Look, even if I were to take this, there’s no guarantee I will be able to-.” Before Rachel could give a definitive answer, two officers came inside, asking the cashier for some information.

“Shit,” Shirley whispered, cowering away from their view.

“S-Shit, what?” Rachel asked, slightly looking as the two officers looked their way.

“I think they’re here for me,” Shirley whispered, cowering her head and peeping through her phone as the officers came to their table.
“Excuse me, miss. Is this little girl bothering you?” One of the officers asked.

“Um, n-no sir, she’s…my sister.” Rachel blurts out, thinking on the spot as the officers looked over the two girls, barely seeing the resemblance between them.

“Half sister, just visiting out of town,” Rachel emphasized, doubling down on the lie.

“Likely story, can I see your ID?” The officer asked, with Rachel pulling out her ID, with the officer inspecting it thoroughly.
“Wait a minute… aren’t you that tiny, shrinking girl?” The officer asked, crooking his head in disbelief, getting a good look at Rachel in casual clothing. 

“OH SHRINK RAE!” The other officer blurts out, laughing as Rachel awkwardly joins in to ease the tension.

“Oh yeah! I think our old chief used to tell stories about you, like how you shrank and made guys puke. Couldn’t be me! Major cajones on you, girl!” The officer notes, laughing at such a gross power.

“Aw, that’s adorable. Baby’s first crime bust.” The other officer laughs along with Rachel, cringing in embarrassment. 

“Alright, alright, I’m guessing you came all this way to meet your hero, huh kid?” The officer asked sarcastically, as Shirley tried to answer, but was interrupted.

“Look, whatever the case, I don’t wanna deal with the foster system again, so if you can just take her back yourself, we’ll be happy to just let this slide.” The officer explained, with Rachel confused by what he meant.

“I’m sorry, let what slide?” Rachel asked, crooking her head in confusion.

“Well, you are technically a minor out on curfew…aiding and abetting with little miss runaway over here…and loitering for over an hour.” Both officers noted, with one of them writing a ticket for Rachel with a hefty fine. Meanwhile, Shirley was toying around on her phone, making a transaction online.

“C’mon, for old time's sake, you know. Help us, help you. Besides, you always were good at doing our jobs and making us look bad.” The officer notes with a hint of resentment, with Rachel reluctantly agreeing, clenching a fist underneath the table. 

“Technically, we’re not loitering, since I bought us burgers to go,” Shirley explained as the cashier called for her name, going to pick it up.

“So, we got a deal, kiddo?” The officer asked, extending his hand to her, with Rachel accepting begrudgingly, firmly shaking her hand.

The two girls walked across the dark streets, with only the animal noises and crinkling of the greasy bag accompanying them. Shirley tugged on Rachel’s arm while grabbing some fries from the bag, seeing her in a bitter mood.

“Do you… Do you want a fry?” Shirley asked with an encouraging smile, holding a shriveled fry toward Rachel.

“No.” She coldly responds. However, her stomach and fatigue disagreed, growling from the hunger.

“Maybe one…please?” Rae asked, taking the fry off Shirley’s hand, savoring the soft, salty appetizer. Shirley offered the bag to her, having bought a burger and fries for her. Rachel took a second to consider before taking the bag and eating the rest of the fries, gorging herself in the hearty, greasy food as they walked. Shirley just watched her enjoy herself, making a bit of a mess eating the messy cheeseburger. Rachel barely noticed her staring until she was halfway through her burger, with some ketchup on her face.

“Oh, shit, did you want some?” Rachel asked, blushing from the crude display of her eating.

“No, you’re good, just never seen someone eat so fast,” Shirley notes, with Rachel playing it off. She looked embarrassed, not used to eating a full meal because of her strict diet. She tried to change the subject, looking into the bag and seeing only trash and ketchup packets, but no napkins.

“Of course they didn’t leave napkins,” Rachel muttered, having to deal with sticky hands and a kid to babysit. 

“Can I ask you something?” Shirley asked.

“No,” Rachel answered loudly, with Shirley nodding her head, trilling her lips to keep herself occupied from the long walk home, annoying Rachel.

“Okay, fine.” Rachel sighed, giving in to Shirley’s question.

“Does this mean you’re gonna help me?” Shirley asked, pestering about her case.

“I already told you why I can’t get involved. There’s just so much involved that I can’t do as Shrinking Rae.” Rachel tries explaining, with Shirley persists with the questions.

“Why?”

“Becau-!” Rachel snapped before she took a moment to take a breath, composing herself.

“Because I could get my parents in trouble with my sponsor.” Rachel calmly explained.

“Your sponsor?” 

“They told me to stick to low-level crimes, something that’s easily manageable and good for the press. I already got trouble with the state, and then Parvulus wants me to focus on selling products, slapping my face on whatever. Whatever you thought of who Shrinking Rae is, those days have long passed.” Rachel vents on the limitations, the burdens laid on her, and takes a second to stop by the only lit lamp post to sit down.

“It’s just…I’m so tired, kid.” Rachel sighed, leaning her head on the pole, frazzled and mentally exhausted being Rae.

“Shirley.” She corrects Rachel, with Rachel tilting her head up, reminding her of her stubbornness.

“Sorry, Shirley.” Rachel corrects herself as Shirley smiles, sitting by Rachel and leaning onto her for comfort and warmth. Rachel clenched up, not used to having company, but slowly eased up from the tension.

“Can I ask you another question?” Shirley asked once more, with Rachel giving up on saying no.

“You might as well.” She said tirelessly, shrugging in defeat.

“Why did those cops hate you so much? Don’t superheroes help them?” Shirley asked with a somber look.

“Well, I wouldn’t say hate, they just don’t like it when I interfere with their work. My dad used to hack into the radios so we would go to the scene of the crime, do my thing, and strike a pose for social media. It got to a point where it seemed like I was making them look bad, so they pulled those loopholes for simply doing the right thing.” Rachel continues explaining, emphasizing fighting moves while deflating from the harsh reality kicking in.

“After a while, they got tired of me cleaning the streets and pretty much asked us not to, giving me a hefty lawsuit should I get involved in any crime fighting locally.” Rachel tries explaining, with Shirley barely understanding the legal repercussions Rachel faced.

“People love their heroes, just not ones that outshine them, especially in a small town like ours.” Rachel notes, with Shirley huffing in disbelief at such treatment.

“Those guys sound like assholes,” Shirley comments harshly, with Rachel huffing a smile, agreeing with her crude sentiment.

“Well, they’re not all bad. This one cop I was friendly with used to give me pizza every time I saw him.” Rachel reminisced, standing up as she was ready to continue walking, extending her hand to Shirley, and the two continued walking and talking. The rest of the walk home was Shirley asking Rachel questions about what being a kid superhero was like.

“They made you crawl in a sewer?!?” Shirley asked in disbelief.

“It was for me to get used to the smell of the human body, and it worked. Nothing can smell as bad as being drenched in…all that.” Rachel recounts, shivering as she tried holding in her dinner and keeping her composure. 

“That’s so gross! You must’ve stank like crazy!” Shirley covered her mouth, trying not to laugh, with Rachel agreeing. The two girls vented their problems, with Shirley being known to be very eccentric and never staying still, with Rachel relating never being able to explore the world as much.

“Do you know if she maybe owed money to someone, maybe seeing someone?” Rachel asked, trying to see if maybe there’s a connection, but Shirley gave her a confused, sour look at the suggestion.

”What, it’s a common thing.” Rachel shrugs it off.

“No, she hasn’t seen any since my dad, some late-night dates here and there.  And we’re not exactly rich, but not that desperate to take out loans.” Shirley explained with Rachel understanding that last sentiment from her family experience. 

“She worked part-time at the news station, but sometimes substitutes for journalism class at the school.” She continued, with Rachel listening attentively. 

The two made it to the foster care offices, with Rachel carrying a tuckered Shirley on her back for the last stretch. Despite having her hands tied, Rachel did want to help her out, figuring out a compromise.

“Shirley…Shirley.” Rachel nudged her from behind as Shirley yawned, with Rachel crouching down to softly drop her to the ground.

“Listen, I’d like to help, but I can’t as Shrinking Rae, but maybe as Rachel. If I can find enough information, I can let the right people help, and they can help find your mom and the other people.”

“Maybe looking into your sponsor?” Shirley asked, seeing how they might play a part. Rachel hesitated, but nodded her head.

“Y-Yeah, them too,” Rachel assured before knocking on the door. Before the people came out for Shirley, she tugged on Rachel’s arm, feeling safe around her.

“I know you’re scared and tired, but people still believe in you, Rachel. Even if you don’t see it.” Shirley tells her, giving Rachel some confidence as a social worker opens the door.

“Oh, thank god, you found her. Where did she run off to this time?!?” The woman asked, as it was a common occurrence for Shirley to run away.

“Oh, um, she was nearby, just went out for a walk and gave her some company.” Rachel lied, with Shirley agreeing with her.

“Okay, at least she wasn’t gonna do anything stupid. Rambunctious, this one is.” The social worker sighed, having a lot on her plate as is. Shirley is taken inside by the social worker, with her signaling Rachel to check her phone. 

Walking five minutes to her house, Rachel browsed her phone to see message after message from Shirley of the photos from the diner. As she deciphers through the messages, she looks at the deceased bodies, wondering why they turned out like that. She looked for clues across the photos, revisiting her interview with the reporter. As she watches the interview, she notices how different the reporter is from Shirley’s mom, being off, slight differences between the two, but she notices that on the side of her jacket, the woman carried a “MO” card, throwing her off.

Looking back at the photos, she notices the limbs pulsating with the gel the company was known for, but a different, unstable variant of it. Rachel looked at the evidence board, but the pictures were blurry and smeared, trying to see if maybe there was anything to see where this board was. As she zoomed out, she remembered that Shirley mentioned she used to work at the high school, believing it might still be there. 

Thinking about the high school, she figured if she could enroll inside, maybe she could find more clues in that room, perhaps finding evidence that Parvulus has been experimenting on people. With little to lose, she had an idea, planning to embrace her Rachel persona and investigate as a student. 

“Always wanted to mingle with people my age.” Rachel thought, trying to find a positive outcome of taking this case. She comes home to find her parents watching TV, unfazed by Rachel leaving the house.

“Hey, Rae, been out for a walk, sweetie?” Debra asked as she washed the dishes. 

“Y-Yeah, listen, I’ve been thinking.” Rachel starts off, with both Ray and Debra paused, looking to see where this would lead.

“Rae…” Ray sighed, not wanting to have another argument.

“I think it’s time I enroll in high school,” Rachel announced, catching her parents off guard. 

“Maybe inspire kids my age and spread awareness of the brand, plus keep myself low from trouble.” Rachel tries convincing them, with Debra huffing a laugh in disbelief.

“Now that’s what we’ve been talking about. Thinking about the image! We’ll enroll you tomorrow morning.” Ray smiled, patting her on the back, with Rachel composing a fake smile her mother had taught her.

Chapter Text

Barely sleeping from the night researching on Shirley’s mom, Rachel dozed off by her computer in the room, groaning as her alarm went off.

“Rae! Get up! You’re gonna be late for school!” Debra alerted, banging on Rachel’s door so she could get up. The tired girl cracked open her baggy eyes, still wearing her outfit from last night, and wiped the bit of drool off her face.

Freshening up, she was ready to go, carrying a small bag as she didn’t plan to return to school so late in the game. They got there an hour early to talk with the principal, with Ray and Debra using their influence to get Rachel to skip a few grades, shifting her into senior grade level learning. They discussed how much of an influence Shrinking Rae had on the community and possible business ventures she can bring to STEM students and their school. Rachel was barely paying attention to their capitalist spiel, wanting it to be over to focus on her main task. 

Despite not being in school for so long, Rachel had taken time to learn some basic education on the side when she wasn’t crime-fighting or training. Having everything at home was convenient, but also stagnated experiences like field trips, social interaction, and missing out on big rites of passage of a youth’s life. However, Rachel hoped to remedy this with this case.

She walked down the hallways, having that same feeling as a kid that everyone was looking at her. It was like she had a third eye on top of her shrinking powers. As she walked down to her class, she tried to find the journalism class Shirley mentioned, but with it being a big school, she might need to spread out for some extra intel. The bell rang as Rachel power-walked across the halls, shifting around the various bodies of students, using her shrinking and growing powers to squeeze through. She makes it to her classroom, with the teacher writing “Shrinking Rae” on the board.

Period #1 

“Ah, Rae, we were just discussing you. Class, this is Rae, who you might be familiar with as our town’s Shrinking Rae! She’s gonna be joining our class this semester!” The high-pitched teacher announced, cracking such an eccentric “smile” that rivaled Rachel’s mom. Rachel could feel the tension in the room, all eyes on her, and that damn snickering and gossiping going around.

“H-Hi everyone, I’m Rae, but you guys can call me Rachel.” Rachel awkwardly smiled, putting her best foot forward. No one responded, with only pity coughs occupying the silence. 

“Some of you might recognize me on the street in spandex-.” Rachel starts off, but was interrupted.

“What are you even doing here?” A girl asked harshly.

“I’m just here…to…” Rachel tries to explain, but also to conceal. 

“Probably her sponsors weren’t cutting it for her, so she came crawling back here.” Someone else snarked, making a few students laugh. Rachel tried to remain calm and confident, but was starting to feel rattled, not knowing her situation. Some students shushed them with the teacher waving her hands to shush.

“Class, let’s be respectful. Now, Rae has been busy with being a spokesperson for Parvulus’s industries, isn’t that right?” The teacher chimed, clasping her hands and staring at Rachel to listen attentively. 

“Yes, I do help promote their works with my shrinking powers for military and medical use.”

“What about us? You forgot or what?” A guy asked, instigating murmurs from the crowd.

“No, I haven’t, I’m still here for you, I just…been caught up. I’m not here to promote products or show off my powers to you. I simply want to learn with you and just be Rachel.” She explained, already wanting to get this Q & A over so early in the morning.

“Ah, so humble, you are a stitch, Rae. Why don’t you take a seat right…uh…THERE!” The teacher laughed it off, looking for a place for Rachel to sit towards the back of the class. Rachel sighed as she made her way to the back, not being in view of the other students. However, someone casually leaned their foot out for Rachel to trip on face first.

Period #2

“Wake up, Rae.” The math teacher slapped his ruler down on her desk, startling her.

“Care to explain what the answer is for what’s on the board, or do you plan on going back to sleep?” He asked sarcastically, with the class snickering. Rachel adjusted her glasses and quickly read the problem.

“The answer is 2x^2 + x + 4,” Rachel answered tiredly, with the teacher surprised by her quick response that he checked his notes. Blinking his eyes, confused, as she was, in fact, on the dot.

“That is…correct?” He huffed in disbelief, clearing his throat. 

“Maybe you students should take notes from her and get a good night's sleep.” He joked dryly, with some students rolling their eyes in disbelief. 

Period #3

Rachel ran across the track, panting and barely breaking a sweat under the sun. She felt like her Shrinking Rae persona, pushing herself to the limit but having the freedom to break free from restrictions. However, as she reached the end of the track, panting as she heard the harsh, pitched whistle blow towards her, alerting her to the gym coach.

“Hey, Red Rush! You gotta stick with the rest of the group!” The coach lectured, with Rachel realizing that she might have overdone it, being the first one ahead by one lap. 

“Oops.” Rachel muttered before drinking a bottle of water in one gulp.

Lunch

Rachel grabbed a small lunch from the dining hall. One of the perks of being at school was being able to eat a decent meal, even if it was subpar at best. She looks around to see if there are any available seats, maybe socializing with other girls her age. 

“Hi, is this seat-.” Rachel greets before being interrupted.

“Fuck off, sellout.” One of the girls harshly scoffed at her, returning to their conversation with their friends. 

“Cool, same to you.” Rachel muttered, not letting the diss get to her. 

She walked around the campus, sneaking away to the hallways to find Shirley’s journalism class, only having a clue about the room. She walked across campus, seeing various rooms, but having luck seeing which one stuck out. However, it wasn’t until she reached the far end of the school and saw two trailer-style classrooms tucked away from the other classrooms. Rachel looked across the window on the door, seeing one of them empty and then the other that matched the photos Shirley sent.

“Should be careful with that room.” A teacher passing blurts out to Rachel, startling her by their presence.

”Oh, sorry, I was just…looking for my next class.” Rachel lied, with the teacher smirking from her curiosity.

"All good, it’s a shame what happened to her, even if she didn’t have many students attending it.” The teacher waved it off, explaining to Rachel.

”What happened to her?” She asked. 

”Nothing much, just very much into chasing conspiracies. Last I heard, she was investigating another case, but she put her two-week notice in early without a trace. Then again, she could be back working at the news station.” The teacher explained, unsure herself. 

“Huh, that’s…interesting.” Rachel nods, trying to see if she can inquire more, but is interrupted by the bell. 

“Well, that’s the bell. Be seeing you…uh.” The teacher begins to rush off, but not without asking for her name.

“Rachel.” She properly introduces herself.

“Rachel, oh right, the shrinking girl. So cool.” The teacher smiled before heading out. Rachel gives one last glance at the classroom, wishing she had more time to investigate during the day. 

Period 4

Rachel stared down at the dead frog with its belly in the air, ready to be dissected. Some people gagged by the smell or the mere sight of gore while performing a surgery.

"Right after lunch.” One of the students whispered to another. Most students attempted to dissect the frog, cutting amateurishly and getting grossed out by touching the various organs and fluids. In her group, Rachel carefully pulled the organs of the frog to the side, numb to the smell and textures. The other students in her group watched her perform this surgery, one of them covering her mouth and nose, and another writing notes in his journal.

"How are you doing this without gagging?” He asked, amazed by Rachel’s unfazed mannerisms.

"Well, I’ve had previous experience going into people’s bodies, so the smell doesn’t really bother me as much. Plus, I watched a lot of gory movies as a kid.” Rachel explained without breaking contact. The other students in her group were amazed, nodding their heads.

"Cool.” The guy appreciates her determination.

“Have you considered going into the medical field if you weren’t a superhero? You have a knack for body stuff and surgery.” The girl asked, curious about Rachel’s intrigue for body-related issues, especially with her powers. 

“I…I don’t know, actually…Maybe.” Rachel didn’t know how to answer, never thinking about what other aspirations she had outside of being a hero. Rachel felt at home with a little bit of normalcy, with her group asking her questions and engaging with her.

By the end of the school day, she was exhausted, already having an abundant amount of homework lined up. However, she hadn’t forgotten about the abandoned classroom, planning on sneaking in later that night.

By nighttime, Rachel returned as Shrinking Rae, changing into her super suit and climbing over the fence. She looked around to see if she could spot any glares from cameras, narrowly avoiding them and making her way towards the trailer classrooms. Security walked around with flashlights, but they were pretty sparse. Climbing through the vents, she tried not to cough from the high buildup of dust as she slid out of the opening and landed on top of the desk, growing back to normal size.

“Alright, let’s see what we’re working with.” Rachel thought, checking around the room for other clues about Shirley’s mom and her work. However, the room was barren, cleaned out, with the evidence board was nowhere to be found. Rachel predicts that maybe it was in hiding, looking around for a button or some type of contraption to reveal it. However, as Rachel looked towards the bookshelf, she noticed an object pressed against the shelf and the wall. She tried to see if she could get a glimpse of what was behind, but it was too narrow and dark to see.

She tried shifting the heavy bookshelf, heaving as she pushed it across an inch or two, trying not to make as much noise despite the shelf being metal. Hearing some noises coming from the room, one of the guards goes towards the classroom, alerting Rachel to the impending light. She tries shifting the bookshelf back before shrinking down behind it to hide from hearing the door cracking open. The light shines across the room, trying to spot any anomalies. Despite the uneven bookshelf, the guy brushes it off before closing it again. Rachel stays shrunk for a minute before continuing, using her legs and growing abilities to nudge the bookshelf forward by a smidge. As she pushed it forward, she realized that the evidence board was placed behind it the whole time.

“Should probably take all this to go.” Rachel considered, seeing that she didn’t take her phone with her, not that the photo quality would be any better than the ones from Shirley. Memorizing all the connections and tidbits, she pulls apart the pins from the photos, but keeps the red string held together for later. As she looked through the photos, she noticed one on the floor, which she picked up to be a photo of Shirley and her mom hugging at what looked to be her new job. Rachel smirked, seeing the two having a strong bond that she didn’t really have with her parents lately. However, as she got distracted, she heard some more footsteps coming around for the next check.

Rachel quickly grabbed all remaining pieces, nearly pricking herself with the pins, and fixed up the bookshelf. She climbed on top, moving a tile from the ceiling to put all the photos in as she climbed up herself. Fixing the tile, she crawls into the vent once more, adjusting her size while carrying the various photos. As she walked across the dusty vent, it turned on from a set timer, blowing harshly as the photos got loose, only being held together by the delicate red string.

“No, come on.” Rachel whispered, trying to hold all the photos back together, but some of the photos had snagged loose, going into the fan and getting shredded. This caused the fan to malfunction, churning out bits of the photos. This alerted some of the guards to investigate, looking into the main fan to see what was caught inside.

“I’m telling you, something is up with this room. It’s like it’s cursed.” One of the guards assured the others of his superstition. 

“Probably just some rodent getting caught in it.” The other guard detested. However, they could hear loud rumblings coming from the vents, and Rachel grunting as she climbed back up the steep vent. 

“That doesn’t sound like a rat. We got a potential break in eastbound!” One of the guards radios in, climbs on the railing, and goes to the top of the trailer. As Rachel clawed out, she could see more lights and the guard climbing up, barely missing her. With the fence being a literal hop and skip from the trailer, she moves back holding all the various jumbled-up photos and prepares to launch.

“Here goes nothing.” She took a breath and quickly lunged into the air, shrinking down as she held the photos up like a mini glider and flew through the last stretch. However, the red strings snagged on the fence, causing Rachel to fall back and the photos to drop, and she grew a few inches out of sync from the shock. She had scraped her back against the metal fencing and pricked herself with some of the pins on the side of her arm.

“Agh, fuck!” She winced, feeling it pierce through her costume. While the spandex was sturdy enough that it didn’t tear, she was covered in bits of dust and blood seeping through the suit. Despite the moderate pain she was in and pins attached, Rachel quickly gathered any of the remaining photos and bolted out of there, unaware she had left one and left bits of her blood across that little patch. She tried to grow back to size, but was unstable from the bleeding, nearly growing and shrinking every second.

Meanwhile, the guards heard the rattling of the fence, went to the source, and saw the red string caught in it.

“The hell kind of prank is this?” The guards thought, thinking it could’ve been some punk trying to cause a commotion, sweeping up the shredded photos. The wind picked up as the one abandoned photo slapped onto the metal fence, flashing it towards their direction. The head guard flashes his light and sees what looks like one of the corpses’ out-of-proportion body glowing radiantly. His eyes widened, looking around the field to see a scattered blood trail. Quickly turning around, he goes to the other men nearby.

“Gentlemen, this was nothing more than just some kids pulling a prank.” He blurts out confidently, with the others confused.

“What about these photos? They look…?” One of them shows a shredded piece.

“Merely some disturbed boy’s imagination. A simple Photoshop job.” He assures them.

“Keep this whole ordeal under wraps, we don’t need to involve any paperwork or committee to second-guess our jobs.” The guard assures the others, mainly shrugging it off.

“You guys, focus on the other side of campus. I’ll deal with the cleanup here.” The head guard insists with the two guards there nodding their heads, but also a little suspicious. As the head guard inspects the grass area, he picks up the photo and samples of Rachel's blood on the gravel and grass area with a pipette, putting it into a vial. Smirking from gaining insight, he makes a quick phone call to his “superior”.

“Kinda late to be bothering me with trivial nonsense, Derek.” The head superior, Dr. Adler, answers, tinkering with the glowing vial across various equipment in his lab.

“Wouldn’t call if I didn’t bring good news.” He corrects him.

“It seems our recent guinea pig might’ve known a little too much. Someone snuck into school and got sloppy, leaving some photos behind.” He tells Adler, examining the photo and the bit of blood on it.

“You called merely for some photos?” Adler asked, frustrated by the few results from the little bit of the stolen sample left.

“That, and also some blood samples from our shrinking friend.” Derek hints, catching his attention. He goes over some of his notes, thinking about how they can be used to stabilize.

“Now that is something worth calling my attention. Bring it in for experimentation. It could be the missing piece of our project.” Adler hypothesized, cracking a smile like a mad scientist. As he turns on his camera, he extracts a few doses of the sample into a syringe, looking over at one of the “volunteers” wearing a mechanical suit, trying to escape.

“By the way, you might need to make two people ‘disappear’”. Derek hints, wanting to leave no witnesses or anyone to question his authority. 

“Good, I’ll send in our specialist to pick them up. Starting to run low on volunteers anyway.” The superior huffed from his joke, injecting the tampered sample into the suit, powering it, causing the volunteer to scream in pain as his body contorted from his body shrinking to different sizes. However, the suit wasn’t able to stabilize, causing it to implode the volunteer from the inside, contorting his body into the tightened metal suit, steaming from the malfunction. The volunteer’s head was purple, eyes nearly popping out as the suit returned to its normal size. Disappointed, Dr. Adler pressed a button for the suit to open up, plopping the bloody, mangled corpse onto the floor, with body parts half shrunk or grown to various sizes.

“Such a waste.” He tisked disappointed, going to his camera to stop the recording.
“I need clean up on the garbage in my office, and for Amanda to carry out another assignment.” He alerts on the radio, getting acknowledged. He pauses, grabbing the camera as Amanda comes over with a gun ready to go.

“Who’s the target?” She asked coldly.

“Two janitors at the local high school, and I’ll need you to pick up Derek after his shift, he’s got some interesting development.” 

“So more babysitting, love it,” Amanda complained, rolling her eyes as her body slumped in disappointment.

“Is that a problem?” He asked, cocking his eye at her attitude.

“I thought we were gonna start attacking Parvulus! We already know who this shrinking bitch is, why can’t we just kill her already?” Amanda angrily questioned him, with him only sighing.

“In due time, my dear. I told you that the girl is the key to all of this, and I believe she still has some use for our plan. It’s all coming together.” He calmly explained his reasoning, not afraid to be challenged.

“Don’t call me 'dear’, the only person who can is dead because of them.” She coldly warns him, with him looking into his old MicrOrganics ID card of his happier, youthful self.

“We’ve all lost something that day.” He sympathizes with her plight. The two walk out of the room and into the halls of the secluded building as henchmen pick up the dead body.

“How’s our reporter friend?” 

“Resting, still hasn’t given us anything to work off. The only thing she mentioned was ‘Project Goliath’”. Amanda informs him, causing him to freeze from the name alone.

“Impossible, that was shut down years ago…” He mutters, with Amanda confused by his statement.

“Of course, he takes credit for my creation once again.” Dr. Adler sighed, massaging his temple in frustration.

“You take care of business. I’m going to have a chat with this reporter and see what else she knows.” He orders, walking steadfast with Amanda barely picking up the pace.

“And if she doesn’t?”

“I have ways of making her talk.” He looks over his camera to play back the harrowing scream of his last volunteer.

Chapter Text

At this hour, the only accompanying noises that kept any traveller company down the dark part of town were from the animals and the glowing beams from the vastly spread out post lights. However, Rachel’s tired panting kept her company, being drained from the stream of blood leaking out of her, trying to reach a hot spot to call. Dragging her backpack she had left by the trees at school, the extra burden didn't help when she had to carry it across the road.

Because she bled from the sharp pins and deep scratches from the fence, her shrinking powers were out of sync, making a 20-minute walk feel like an eternity.

“Come on, just think big.” Rachel panted, sweating profusely as she tried to stabilize a normal size. However, her size continued to shift, making the pins pierce her deeper and causing her phone to drop.

“Damn it!” Rachel winced, wanting to take off the damn pins but didn't want to leave a blood trail. She was barely two feet tall, lugging around her heavy backpack. She checked her phone to see that she had one bar, which was enough to make a quick call. She positions the phone on the backpack, typing her password and calling Shirley. 

Shirley was lying in bed with a bag of ice pressed to her face. She had gotten into a fight with a couple of kids who often picked on her for being different. She often had trouble reading social cues, focusing on the little details, and kept to herself. These fights increased with her new status of being an orphan, now having nobody by her side. However, Shirley never cried or told the teacher, never feeling like she could trust them with her feelings, and became numb to the bullying. She simply sat by the bed playing with her dolls to cope with the loneliness. As she swayed the doll emotionlessly, she heard the vibrations from her phone and instantly picked it up.

“Hi, Miss Rachel! Did you get any updates about my mom?!?” She asked enthusiastically, but her mood shifted as she heard Rachel wheezing and panting.

“I…found some photos that might help, but some of them got shredded…” Rachel starts, starting to lose strength as she tries growing, but barely shrinks an inch. 

“Are you okay? What's wrong?” Shirley asked, concerned for her well-being.

“I-I’m fine, just scraped myself…and impaled by some…pins..AGH!” Rachel tried playing it off, but the pins shifted deeper inside her, making her wince in pain.

“Do you need me to come get you?” Shirley asked, not wanting her to be in more pain.

“N-No…I'm fine… don't want trouble… just need to…rest… by post light.” Rachel mutters before collapsing from the blood loss. The phone hangs up, making Shirley panic as she quickly puts on her jacket and sneaks out the fire escape. She borrowed one of the foster care bikes and biked like hell to where Rachel was.

Rachel was barely conscious, feeling shaky from the blood loss, and barely ate anything all day. She had a hard time breathing, trying not to tear up from the pain of the now giant pins. She shivered from the cold that night, remembering her dad's training of preserving energy and keeping warm, rubbing her hands and legs together to build heat. She felt the stinging raw pain around her body, making a bloody mess around her suit. Her eyes could barely keep open as she saw a beaming light approach her, hearing a screeching halt of a bike across the concrete. 

“Shrinking Rae!” Shirley cried out, jumping off her bike and going towards her. Rachel could barely get a glimpse of the giant girl looming above her, barely having the strength to respond.

“Shirley?” Rachel called out weakly, with the girl carefully carrying her in her hands.

“Please don’t be mad. I know you said to stay put, but I couldn't just leave you,” Shirley explained, grabbing a napkin she brought from the foster care and wrapping Rachel in it. Rachel tugged on the napkin for warmth as Shirley put her in her pocket and grabbed Rachel’s heavy bag and phone to prepare for the bike home. Shirley strained as she carried her backpack, but toughed it out as she mounted on top of her bike and biked home. 

When Rachel woke, her eyes barely adjusted as the first thing she woke up to was pink. Confused, she slowly sat up, feeling the hard plastic bed she was lying on. The room felt small and childish, putting the two together.

“Oh god.” Rachel groaned, realizing she was sleeping in a pink dollhouse. Shirley came back to the room to see Rachel waking up, slowly approaching her to not startle her by her size.

“Hi Rachel.” Shirley smiled, looming above and seeing a barely awakened miniature Rachel adjust.

“Hey, did you put me in a doll house?” She asked Shirley tiredly.

“Y-yeah, I didn't know where else to put you with you being so small. Plus, you look so cute when you're tiny, sleeping in the bed.” Shirley playfully teased the tiny girl, much to her dismay.

“I hope that's okay.” Shirley clenched up in embarrassment, clearing her throat, for teasing her hero.

“It’s fine, just…kinda ironic with my powers.” Rachel plays it off, despite being used to people making comments that infantilise her powers. Rachel tried to get up but was still weak, barely making it to the outside of the doll house before kneeling in pain.

“Wait, slow down. I got you.” Shirley insisted, offering Rachel a finger to act as a crutch, hesitating on taking it. 

“It’s not gonna bite you.” Shirley joked, with Rachel grabbing onto it. She guides Rachel to a small plastic chair by the lamp. Rachel could feel the heat radiating off the lamp at her size and the bit of blood trickling down the table from the pins. Shirley grabbed a first aid kit on standby and prepared to help Rachel.

“First thing, this might hurt…” Shirley warned before quickly pulling the pins off Rachel. Surprisingly, Rachel barely made a whimper, only tightened as she braced for the sharp needles to come out. 

“Huh, so that was…barely anything.” Rachel thought, with Shirley reaching for some cotton balls and a bit of rubbing alcohol.

“Well, I meant this…” Shirley corrects her, with Rachel smirking, feeling cocky.

“Alcohol?” Rachel thought.

“You might wanna take off your suit,” Shirley instructs, with Rachel blushing red from the idea.

“It's the only way to get you cleaned. Plus, you need a wash with you covered in dust and blood.” Shirley insisted, with Rachel rolling her eyes as she pulled off her cowl and unzipped the back of her suit to reveal her bare back, covering her exposed chest. Shirley gasped, seeing a large bloody wound on her back, and feeling sympathy for Rachel.

“What? Is it bad?” Rachel asked, not liking how long Shirley stared at her.

“A little, you’re gonna wanna hold onto something soft,” Shirley warned, pulling a small pillow from her doll house for Rachel to hold onto. Shirley prepares a cotton ball and a dab of alcohol.

“Come on, it couldn't be that bad-” Before Rachel finished, she felt the stinging, burning sensation of the alcohol pressed onto her exposed wound. Rachel tugged onto the pillow tightly, wincing as she clenched herself from the pain. Shirley pressed around her back and onto her arm to clean away where she got pricked. 

“I’m so sorry.” Shirley repeatedly apologizes to Rachel, taking a second to catch her breath. Rachel nearly teared up from the shock and pain, grounding herself on the pillow. Despite being stabbed and shot at, the most painful was the burning sensation alcohol her parents used to soak her raw wounds in post-battle.

“You’re fine, just…forgot how much that hurts.” Rachel pants, catching her breath and slowly releasing the pillow. 

“Thank you,” Rachel said in appreciation, with Shirley smiling from her accomplishment. However, Rachel felt exposed with her suit halfway down. 

“We should get you washed up,” Shirley notes, grabbing a coffee mug and filling it with hot water and soap since Rachel was too small for the tub or sink. Rachel felt bad having a little girl take care of her, but at her size and strength, there wasn’t much she could do. Shirley brought the steaming cup filled with soap to the table for Rachel to climb on. 

“Do you need a hand?” Shirley asked, seeing Rachel hesitate to get in.

“No, just feel a bit…exposed.” Rachel tried explaining subtly. Shirley instantly caught on, giggling as she quickly turned around to give Rachel some privacy, covering her eyes for extra security. Rachel smirked at Shirley’s overreaction, quickly slipping off her bloody suit and climbing onto the cup. She slowly sinks into the hot water, making her clench up from shock as she quickly submerges herself into the soapy water. Despite being a bit taller than the cup, Rachel leaned back, indulging in herself and soaking into the hot makeshift bath.

“Okay, you can turn around no-.” Before Rachel could finish, she got a better look at Shirley, seeing a bit of bruising on her face.

“Woah, what happened to you?” Rachel asked, concerned, with Shirley hesitating to answer.

“I, um, gonna put our clothes to wash.” Shirley makes up on the spot, grabbing Rachel’s tiny suit and leaving the room. Rachel tried to reach out for her, wanting to help, but only sat in silence. Rachel tried lathering up in the meantime, ducking her head in to wash a bit of her hair and face. She could remember the times when her mom used to bathe after a long day fighting and training, and how it took three hours just to get all the earwax and various bodily fluids off her, leaving her skin always pristine. 

Rachel took a brief minute to look around Shirley’s room, seeing it barren yet filled with some toys she was able to take from home. She looked at the walls to find some posters of the Guardians of The Globe, and noticed some crude sketches of her Shrinking Rae persona by the side, making her smile. Shirley came back in pajamas, changing from her school attire. 

“Hey, sorry for running out, just…needed a minute.” Shirley quickly explained, grabbing a green one-piece doll dress for Rachel to fit in and a small wash cloth for Rachel to dry off in.

“You’re fine, I was just worried, is all.” Rachel explained with Shirley sitting by the table, arms folded, and turning her head away from Rachel out of privacy and shame. Rachel quickly got off the cup and wrapped the cloth around her to dry off before putting on the dress in the meantime. Rachel grew a few inches to fit into the silk, cold dress, still a bit weak to grow full size just yet.

“Not bad. You can look now, Shirley. Shirley?” Rachel smiled, checking out her figure in the dress, feeling confident in such a faux dress. However, her mood shifts when she looks at Shirley sniffling a little bit. Rachel tried to lean over Shirley, not knowing how to approach the girl, but put her hand on her shoulder in support.

“I’m sorry, I just…had a bad day. Well, a lot of bad days lately…” Shirley muttered, with Rachel sitting by the edge to give the girl company. Shirley jittered around, grabbing one of her dolls and combing its hair with her fingers to soothe her nervousness. 

“I know what that’s like. I’ve had bad days too.” Rachel starts by trying to empathize with the giant girl.

“What helps me is letting it out, if you wanna talk about it.” Rachel offers, with Shirley wiping her tears on her sleeve, fidgeting in her seat, her face feeling a bit numb from the fight.

“It’s just been hard adjusting since my mom disappeared.” Shirley starts, sitting on the bed and taking a breath before continuing. Rachel didn’t know how to respond, but just listened to Shirley vent.

“I don’t exactly make friends so easily. I tend to talk a lot, or sometimes get hyperfixated about something, which annoys a lot of people. Then again, I’m also in a class for people like me.” Shirley softly vented, feeling drained from the constant bullying. Rachel could empathize with her plight, going through something similar in her youth.

“I don’t mind it, but now they’re saying that’s why my mom left,” Shirley mentioned, feeling a sharp pain at that last bit, clenching onto her doll for the resentment in those words. As she felt the anger grow, Shirley took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. She goes to her wall of posters, pulling out some of her Shrinking Rae drawings, having her in various action poses fighting robbers.

“Sometimes, I wish I could be like you.” Shirley softly smiled, seeing so much confidence in Rachel in her superhero persona. Rachel only sat by the edge of the table, enjoying the silence and keeping the lonely girl company.

“Did you have any friends when you were a kid?” Shirley asked curiously, with Rachel took a second to respond, thinking about her restrained childhood and being an outcast herself.

“Well…not really. Wasn’t exactly approachable to most kids.” Rachel starts off, with Shirley tilting her head in confusion.

“Really, but you’re Shrinking Rae?” Shirley said in disbelief.

“Well, yeah, but that was exactly why. Guess I grossed kids out when I went spelunking in people’s bodies and smelling like wet dog.” Rachel reminisces, softly laughing, looking back with Shirley joining in the soft laughter. 

“It was…lonely, but also comforting being in a league of your own, not worrying about meeting people’s standards.” Rachel pauses, but shrugs off that feeling for now, not wanting Shirley to pity her.

“You remind me of my mom…just taller.” Shirley softly smiled, thinking about how much her mom comforted her. Rachel smiled at that remark, but felt the love of her mom radiate off her, seeing her smile.

“You’re really close with your mom.” Rachel notes, with Shirley nodding her head at the sentiment. 

“Yeah, she’s pretty much the only friend I've got. Despite being busy or tired, she always used to make time for me.” Shirley explained with a smile, with Rachel looking away awkwardly, having a hard time remembering the last time she and her parents did something together outside of being a hero.

“How about you, are you close with your family?” Shirley asked, not wanting to hog the conversation. Rachel was caught off guard, having stared off for a good minute.

“Y-Yeah, they pretty much taught me everything I know,” Rachel said somberly, looking at her hands and seeing herself as a weapon. Shirley felt something was off, but didn’t say much.

“Some people at school think it’s weird to be close with family.” Shirley adds.

“Screw those people.” Rachel huffed at such a statement.

“When you think about it, weirdos like us make the world interesting. Plus, most kids don’t have the luxury of having a loving family. Believe me.” Rachel said with a half-smile, projecting a little bit.

“Do you truly believe that?” Shirley asked with uncertainty, with Rachel taking a moment to think of how to respond.

“I…I like to believe that, even if sometimes the world feels too big. And we’re…too small.” Rachel fixed herself, turning to look at the window and the night sky. At her height, she could feel how everything encompassed her entire surroundings, hugging her knees and staring into the night, feeling shaky and not wanting to seem weak in front of Shirley. However, as the two were bonding, a harsh knock banged onto Shirley’s door, making the girl jump. Instinctively, Shirley grabbed Rachel, catching the tiny girl off guard and nearly lost her breath from the sudden jolt. The door cracked open as one of the social workers barged in.

”Shirley? Who are you talking to?” They asked, having heard muffled sounds of a conversation in her room. 

“Um, n-no one, just…playing with my dolls.” Shirley showed off a frazzled Rachel, who remained still and tried to remain inanimate. The social worker gave a confused look, looking around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary. They shrug it off and quickly close the door. Shirley leans her ear to the door to hear the footsteps disappear before sighing in relief.

“That was close. Sorry.” Shirley leaned back on the door, holding Rachel onto her right shoulder in an awkward hug to protect her. Rachel clenched up from the closeness, not used to hugs or physical touch, only leaning her small head onto her shoulder for support. However, this was short-lived as Shirley heard other footsteps and murmurs from other social workers.

“I think they might’ve gotten suspicious,” Shirley said, pulling Rachel away and going to the doll house.

“Wait, Shirley.” Rachel groaned, not liking to be tossed around like a rag doll in her hand. 

“What are we doing?” Rachel asked as Shirley opened the house and set everything up, sitting Rachel in the tiny chair.

“Well, I have to pretend to play with dolls, so I’m playing with my dolls.” Shirley explained, wanting to commit to her alibi and maybe give Rachel a makeover until her suit was dry. Rachel was hesitant, feeling like she was being treated like a baby.

“C’mon, plus you seem like you needed some relaxation. Pretty please.” Shirley begged with her puppy eyes, Rachel rolling her eyes, and giving in.

“This should be fun.” Rachel thought, with Shirley giddy, getting a small comb to fix up Rachel’s hair. Shirley gently brushed Rachel’s hair, getting rid of all the knots and entanglements of the strands. Shirley grabbed some straws and wrapped it around Rachel’s hair to form some curls. She liked working her fingers, finding it stimulating during quiet moments, and kept her still. 

Despite the embarrassment, Rachel found herself back in a calming place, remembering when her mom used to give her baths and fix her hair before the powers kicked in. She remembers how she used to greet her dad every time he left for the day and often came home late. However, the memories seemed to fade as she tried to remember a life when she didn’t have powers, making her toss and turn out of instinct.

“Rachel?” Shirley asked with concern, with Rachel taking a breath and fixing herself.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Sorry.” She apologizes to Shirley, who tries to extend a finger to comfort her, but Rachel brushes it off.

“Let’s continue. Please.” Rachel insisted, with Shirley nodding her head as she grabbed the dryer to dry her hair and give her some curls. Rachel felt the heat from the dryer warm her up and fixed her hair.

“Close your eyes,” Shirley instructed, with Rachel obeying out of interest in seeing where this leads. 

“Okay, open,” Shirley instructs, positioning her phone as a mirror, with Rachel adjusting her vision to see herself with beautiful curls

“Ta-da,” Shirley said with a soft pitch and jazz hands. Rachel was starstruck to talk, stroking her long hair and feeling the curls through her fingertips. 

“Do you like them? It’s okay if you don’t.” Shirley asked, preparing for the worst and leaning her hand forward to see if modifications were needed.

“No, no. It’s just. They look so beautiful on me. Thank you.” Rachel smiled, holding onto Shirley’s finger in appreciation. Shirley was taken aback but smiled at her appreciation and gentle touch, never having someone to play with. However, there was another knock at the door, with Rachel hiding in the dollhouse, but she peeped through the window. She could see Shirley and the social worker talking. The worker had brought Shirley’s clothes from the washer back, including Rae’s tiny suit, in which Shirley said it was for her dolls, throwing away suspicion. They also mention applying more ice to her bruised face. 

“Your suit’s ready.” Shirley holds onto Rachel’s tiny suit, passing it through the door as Rachel quickly changes. Rachel steps out of the house in her suit, jumping off the table before growing full size in front of Shirley’s eyes. Shirley was starstruck seeing Rachel grow in front of her eyes, towering over her.

“Much better.” Rachel thought, taking a moment to adjust from the constant shrinking and growing. She looks around the room and checks for her backpack. 

“Oh yeah, before I forget. I got these from your mom’s class. Some of them got shredded, but I think I can still pin them back.” Rachel looks over her backpack, looking over the photos to see some scribbles on the back of them. Rachel tried deciphering them, but they mainly looked like chicken scratch and some numbers.

“Shirley, do these mean anything to you?” Rachel squats down to Shirley’s level, showing the back of the photos to her. Shirley takes a minute to look at them, recognizing bits of her mom’s handwriting.

“A little, mainly just notes on some kind of gel and colors”. Shirley notes, looking at the numbers and putting them in chronological order. Rachel and Shirley put the photos together across the table. Shirley puts them side by side, seeing no correlation outside of the victims with the glowing gel. Shirley clenched up, seeing the bodies up close, with Rachel taking note and bringing her close.

“I’m…sorry you had to see this.” Rachel apologizes to Shirley for the grotesque imagery, trying to shield her from it. However, Shirley paid no mind to it, being more focused on finding her mom. 

Rachel tries to remember how they were arranged, seeing if there might be significance to the photos and the text. Rachel turned the photos around, seeing a vague word spelling out, shifting the photos together that reads out-.

“Goliath.” Rachel muttered out, confused about what it meant. Shirley perked up, recognizing that phrase.

“You know something about this?” Rachel asked her, with Shirley nodding her head. 

“Mom kept talking about it before she disappeared. Something she had discovered in your company.” Shirley mentions, remembering how frantic she worked late nights.

“Probably why she wanted to talk to me. Maybe Parvulus knows something, but I can’t just ask them outright.” Rachel thought, trying to make a plan on how to go about it.

“Maybe you can shrink around the offices and snoop around,”  Shirley suggests, knowing Rachel can do it.

“Perhaps, but have to give my parents a reason to go there. It’s pretty far from here.” Rachel notes, looking at her costume and thinking how it could use some maintenance.

“Hold on.” Rachel thought, grabbed her phone and called her parents.

“Rae?” Debra answered with concern.

“Hey, mom. Quick question, am I scheduled for any photoshoots or any tests done at Parvulus coming up?” Rachel asked with fake enthusiasm.

“Um, not that I know of, why?” Debra asked, confused about her daughter’s sudden interest.

“Just because…I would like to put my powers to practice and maybe apply some more gel into the costume.” Rachel made up on the spot, trying to sound interested in the bureaucratic aspects.

“I’ll have to ask your father and will keep you posted. Are you planning on coming home tonight?” Debra asked, seeing how it was past 9 pm. 

“Um…” Rachel paused, grabbed her stuff, and was prepared to head out. However, she looked over at Shirley, staring down at a photo of her and her mom, holding it tightly. Rachel looked back, not wanting to leave the girl alone.

“You know what, I might stay over with a friend, big exam coming up.” Rachel made up, with Shirley perking up from the implications of a sleepover with a friend.

“Fine, just make sure you don’t eat anything else for the night and don’t do anything you’re not supposed to. Can’t have you looking bad like last time.” Debra warns her sternly, with Rachel groaning.

“I won’t, I lo-”. Rachel tries to add, but gets hung up prematurely, leaving the call to an awkward end. Despite this, she had grown accustomed to it by now from her parents. Rachel leaned on the wall, taking a second to adjust. Shirley didn’t know how to comfort, only just held onto her hand to comfort.

“She sounds so angry. Why does everyone look at you like that?” She asked somberly, leaning onto Rachel for support. Rachel exhaled, not knowing how to respond. She looked down, seeing Shirley’s bruised face, trying to change the subject.

“Do you wanna learn how to defend yourself?” Rachel asked with a soft pitch, squatting down to Shirley’s level. Shirley’s eyes glowed from the idea, wanting to learn from her hero, nodding her head enthusiastically. 

“Here, follow as I do,” Rachel instructs, leading Shirley to the middle of the room, standing in a fighting pose. Shirley quickly got into an amateur pose alongside Rachel. Rachel quickly puts her fists into the air, punching the air. Shirley tried to imitate, slowly getting the hang of the motion of each passing punch.

“There you go, now block.” Rachel smiled, demonstrating a blocking technique by putting her arms together. Shirley does the same, barely registering Rachel’s movement.

“And kick!” Rachel yelped, lunging her leg into the air with ease, but Shirley struggled to get her leg up, tripping. Rachel lightly laughed, going to help Shirley up, but the little girl was insistent that she could get up without help. 

“Okay, now combine them.” Rachel practiced with Shirley, getting better with each passing move. Shirley felt more confident about facing her bullies, with Rachel seeing her mood quickly change. The two playfully sparred with each other, with Shirley making sound effects. Shirley became exceptional, channeling her inner anger and frustration into each punch and kick. After some time, the two took a breather, working up a bit of a sweat and lying in bed. 

“Good, you did good.” Rachel compliments, pulling off her cowl to cool herself off, with Shirley closing her eyes for a minute. 

“Now, Shirley, you gotta promise me that you’re gonna use this as a last resort. Understand?” Rachel tells Shirley, sitting up on the bed and instructs Shirley to join her. Shirley took a second to register the responsibility.

“I…I understand.” Shirley nods her head to assure Rachel, despite having some resentment for her bullies. Rachel could feel the hunger kicking in, grabbing her stomach to suppress the hunger.

“Do you want some leftovers?” Shirley asked, seeing how hungry Rachel was.

The two ate some leftover pizza from the lounge, bringing it to their room. She puts on a cartoon movie of her dolls to introduce Rachel to the characters. This one was about a girl trying to find her parents in a fairy-like setting. While Shirley ate her slice, she subtly observed Rachel’s response, being glued to the screen and gorging on the pizza. Rachel felt guilty for eating past her deadline, but she felt a sense of satisfaction as the cheesy slices filled her stomach.

The film reached its climax, with the fairy girl reuniting with her parents, embracing each other in a hug and positive affirmations of their love. While Shirley watched this film multiple times, Rachel froze out of instinct, eyes watery and shaking. Rachel sniffled a little, her breaths stifled, and her mouth quivering. She didn’t know why she was crying, but the movie triggered something inside that she had been bottling up, unable to seal it back. Rachel’s tears stained her suit, her body shaking, feeling herself shrinking and growing out of instinct. Shirley didn’t know what to say or do, but leaned towards Rachel to give her a tight hug. Rachel stabilizes, letting the emotions take the lead as she holds onto Shirley’s hand for support.

A few hours had passed since the movie, with Shirley and Rachel sleeping in bed. Shirley was underneath the covers while Rachel was over them, holding onto her to help with their nightmares. They didn’t talk much else after Rachel’s emotional episode. However, Rachel felt a bit of catharsis letting all of that out after bottling it up for years. Despite the day she had at school and getting hurt sneaking in, Rachel was glad to have spent some time with Shirley, something she had missed in her static childhood. Slowly waking up, Rachel groaned, looking at her phone to see messages from her parents saying to be ready by 7 am. It was already 5:59 am, barely giving her time to wash up properly or wake up. Quickly grabbing her stuff, she looks around to leave no trace of her being there. She puts the photos away in a drawer, puts on her jacket and pants over her suit, and looks over Shirley one last time. 

“I’ll be back before you know it, kiddo,” Rachel assured the sleeping girl, placing the photo of her and her mom by her desk to keep her company. By the time Shirley woke up, her arm extended over the bed, noticing Rachel’s absence. She barely opened her eyes to see the photo of her and her mom, and the window was cracked open, still smiling from last night before getting up to close it. 

Epilogue

“You miss the outside world, Miss Hayes? You haven’t seen the outside world in days, weeks. Surely, we can let you go…if you can tell us what Parvulus is doing with Project Goliath?” Dr. Adler asks calmly, coldly, sitting right in front of the dazed reporter in the mechanical suit.

“Go-Goliath…?” She starts off, still adjusting to her surroundings after being drugged. Her hair was frazzled, her skin pale, and she could barely fit into her clothes. She started to become delusional from being underfed and dehydrated, not even noticing the death trap she was currently inside.

“What is this? Where am I?” Lydia starts, feeling the heavy suit weighing on her.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Where your head should be is on the question I asked. What is Project Goliath?” Dr. Adler said sternly, pulling out his camera.

“I don’t know, I was barely there for a day.” Lydia tried explaining, but Adler was not pleased. 

“You took quite a few photos, poking your nose in something you didn’t want the public to see.” Dr. Adler continued, seeing if this would make her talk. Searching his camera, he pulls out the video of his last test subject and shows it to her, tilting her face to make her watch.

“Let me show you what will happen if you don’t start giving me some answers.” Dr. Adler warned, showing off the video of the victim’s body shrinking in on itself and screaming from the pain. Lydia tries looking away, tensing up, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“ALRIGHT STOP!” Lydia screamed, ready to talk, and Adler paused the video to listen.

“I barely got a glimpse of what it was. All I know is that it was a plan to mass produce powers similar to that shrinking girl, like an army, I think. One thing I remember was “Think Big.’” Lydia explained tiredly, memories fading in and out, with Dr. Adler disgusted by that phrase. 

“I have…notes on variables, how the dead bodies' limbs looked, I thought the disappearings were because of them.”

“And where are your notes?” Dr. Adler prods her some more.

“Behind the photos in my classroom. Little tidbits, scribbles, I don’t have any more than that.” Lydia tries to assure them, stressing her life at hand and the safety of her daughter. As Dr Adler made some mental notes, Derek and Amanda came in and interrupted the interrogation.

“Doctor, I bring news of my findings.” Derek chimed in on the annoyance of the doctor.

“Go on.” Dr. Adler asks, barely giving them the attention. 

“One, I got a bit of samples from our shrinking friend’s blood.” Derek proclaims, presenting a small vial of blood and photos of Rae’s blood trail. Dr. Adler tries to get a closer look, but Derek withholds it to get his end of the bargain. Huffing in frustration, he pulls out his phone and pays him digitally, much to Derek’s pleasure. However, Derek’s expression quickly changed seeing the notification.

“This is just half?” Derek said, confused by the number deposited to his account.

“You’ll get the rest when this is over. And what else do you two bring?” Dr Adler tells him, grabbing the vial and looking at it up close, seeing the potential. 

“We believe she is working with a little girl, probably her daughter,” Amanda tells Adler, showing photos of Rachel leaving the foster care building and a glimpse of Shirley closing the window. Lydia was caught off guard hearing that last part, wondering why her daughter was involved.

“So what should we do with them?” Amanda asked.

“Simple, pay the little girl a visit.” Dr. Adler smiled coldly, with Amanda nodding her head, ready to get the job done.

“NO!” Lydia shouts, trying to fight her way out of the suit.

“Find any photos and leave no evidence by any means necessary.” Dr Adler commands his team, with Amanda cocking her gun. Dr. Adler goes towards his work station and puts a drop of blood into the remaining bit of the bootleg gel, sparking a reaction before putting it into a syringe. 

“Derek, take the rest of the sample to the labs and prep a team to steal some more samples.” Dr. Adler commands, with Derek begrudgingly obeying.

“Our time is almost here, simply manipulating the media’s perception of Parvulus and their heroine, and then we claim what’s our’s.” Dr. Adler monologues, with everything going according to plan, and prepares the shot of the glowing syringe.  

“Or simply die.” He adds before injecting the unstable variant into the suit, causing high frequencies in the suit and Lydia excruciating pain as her body shrinks down with temporary success.

Chapter Text

Rachel

Quickly running to her house, Rachel barges through the door and makes her way to the restroom to properly get ready, freshening up and fixing up her hair. She also sprayed some perfume to give her suit a fresh scent after sleeping in it the night before. 

“Mom! Dad! I’m home! Hello?” Rachel called out to an empty house, looking around to see that they were gone. Seeing she had some extra time, she tried to make herself a bowl of her dad’s cereal, something she was strictly forbidden to touch to keep her weight in check. However, as she tried to take her first bite, she heard a car pulling up, honking extensively.

“Rae, let’s go! We gotta beat traffic!” Her parents chimed, trying to signal her.

“Dammit.” She groaned, quickly dumping the cereal into the sink, and instead grabbed a small granola bar, feeling disappointed and still hungry. 

The drive from their town to Parvulus usually took about an hour since it was closer to the industrial side of their state. With traffic, however, it took roughly an hour and a half to two hours sitting on the highway. 

“Fix yourself up, Rae. Can’t have you leaning during the meeting. It’s a bad look.” Debra lectured to Rachel, begrudgingly fixing herself up.

“So…how was your sleepover?” Ray tries to make conversation, clearing his throat from the awkward silence. 

“Fine, just slept over to… help with biology homework and stuff.” Rachel makes up, not wanting to raise suspicion.

“And you didn’t do or eat anything you weren’t supposed to, right?” Debra chimed in, interrogating Rachel.

“No, mom.” Rachel sighed, with Debra suspicious. 

“That’s good. Yeah, your mom told me how you wanted to go to the lab today, and turns out they had some big news for us.” Ray explained, with Rachel perking up, trying to see what it was.

“Oh, did they say what it was about?” Rachel asked, trying to play coy.

“Not much, but mentioned something about Goliath. Some new initiative or something. Big plans!” Ray continued, not even knowing what it was, or hiding something.

“Rae, just know that we love you, okay?” Ray blurts out, with Debra looking concerned. Rachel was caught off guard by this, trying to question what that meant, but didn’t want to pester on.

“Cool.” Rachel muttered, remaining suspicious. The drive to the city remained silent, with Ray and Debra taking a breather and Rachel being on alert.

Shirley

After the sleepover, Shirley was still a bit sleepy, having stayed up later than her usual bedtime. She quickly got ready and sat outside to wait for the school bus. Shirley often sat in the back to avoid any confrontations with her peers, playing with her doll's hair to keep her steady. She often got a lot of stares from her classmates, being the smallest and easiest to pick on. Even in her class, it was hard for her to mentally focus, often getting in trouble for not paying attention.

During recess, she went to sit on the benches, trying to avoid the bullies as much as possible despite wanting to play on the swings. Watching the group of bullies approach a kid on the swings, they tried to get him off by violently shaking him off, pushing him off, and making him scrape his knees. Shirley felt a pent-up rage, tired of seeing them abuse the smaller kids, sitting up and exhaling deeply.

“HEY ASSHOLES!” Shirley starts, getting the bullies' attention, marching towards the steadfast Shirley.

“Oh, the orphan kid. What do you want?” The head bully asked, staring Shirley down, with Shirley remaining unfazed, giving a harsh stare. 

“Leave him alone. I won’t ask again.” Shirley warns calmly, clenching her hands into fists.

“Or what, gonna call for your mom?”  The bully cocked a smug smile, eager to see what she does. However, without warning, Shirley lunges her fist towards his windpipe, making him gag on his own words.

Rachel

Rachel felt out of place wearing her costume among the formal suits, often getting eyes on her for her semi-celebrity status in the company. She wasn’t used to seeing tall skyscrapers in her town, ironically feeling meek in comparison. The inside of Parvulus was very sterile, sleek, and heavily focused on its pristine presentation. Rachel and her family sat in the waiting room, while Rachel looked at the video of her Shrinking Rae persona plastered in the advertising, looping back several videos of the company's accomplishments, such as the infamous shrinking gel. Despite sleeping better than most nights, Rachel couldn’t help but want to doze off, slightly leaning before Debra’s coughing voice steered her away. As Rachel got numb to the looping videos, a representative approached the family.

“Mr. Price will see you now.” The woman greets them, escorting the family to the top-floor boardroom of the head CEO. The room had an elongated table where the CEO was busy tinkering with his tablet, pulling up the image onto the giant screen in the room before shifting his chair towards the family.

“Ah, there’s my shrinking girl of the hour.” He greets Rachel, fixing his slicked-back blonde hair, and extends his hand to Rachel. 

“Hello again, sir.” Rachel awkwardly greets, having rarely seen the CEO despite the years of working together. 

“Oh, please, call me Brennan, or simply Price. So glad we can meet here today. I was told you were eager to come for a visit, and I thought I'd let you guys in on our new initiative. Please sit. Get comfortable.”  He greets with a soft smile, showing the family to their leather-bound seats. Rachel felt herself sink into the soft, cushioned seating, leaning back a bit to really enjoy her seat, much to her mom’s dismay.

“Alright, so, I understand you’ve been having some legal troubles about you interfering with police work in the past and not being able to properly be a hero.” Brennan starts, with Rachel feeling uneasy about the whole situation. 

“Which is unfortunate, because you were amazing. The videos and photos of you shrinking into people’s bodies. It was great PR for you, your family, and our company; everyone got a piece of the action.” Mr. Price reflected ecstatically, but later sighed from the recent turmoil Rachel was going through.  

“However, with this new project we’re about to launch, we need everything to go smoothly and without controversy.” Mr. Price urged, stressing the last parts.

“So what even is this project about?” Rachel asked, seeing some hesitancy from him and her parents. 

“We call it “Goliath”, roughly 20 years in the making, we’re expanding our business from the private sector to the public.” He introduces, pulling up an animation of the initiative. 

“With this new expansion, we plan on potentially wiping out hunger with bigger masses of food, having life-changing surgeries with microscopic surgeons, and tactical warfare and espionage that simply requires soldiers the size of an ant!” He explains, with the animation demonstrating increasing food sizes, x-rays of doctors fixing tumors from the inside, and miniature soldiers engaged in espionage. Rachel thought all of it was something out of a science fiction movie. Then again, her whole life is based on being able to shrink into places. Mr. Price smiled as he paused the video. 

“In my past, I’ve studied with plenty of scientists, even helped run a small company as an understudy for a few years called MicrOrganics. Although this was before your time, Rae.” He explained, reminiscing on his upbringing. Rachel’s eyes tilt up from that name drop, sounding familiar, but she can’t place a mental picture of why. Meanwhile, Ray softly chuckled at the name drop.

“Oh yeah, 'Think Big'.” Ray chimed in, faintly remembering its slogan, with Brennan joining in on his nostalgia. However, Ray’s face turned somber, thinking deeper about it.

“I was a janitor there, before…” Ray cleared his throat, trying not to remember, feeling small in the moment. 

“Of course, it goes without saying that we suffered great losses with the  Maryland incident. But, from that tragedy came a new frontier in preserving that vision. Which is why 18 years later, my team and I will make that dream a reality.” Mr. Price lowered his head somberly before raising his spirits, believing in his vision. However, Rachel looked around, wondering how she fit into all this.

“And then, where do I come into all of this?” Rachel blurts out, with her parents looking at her concerned. 

“Well, that’s the thing I also wanted to discuss with you today.” Mr. Price changed his demeanor, sighing before continuing.

“We’re discontinuing the Shrinking Rae identity…indefinitely.” He announced, hitting Rachel with the news. Shocked yet confused, she leaned back on the chair, taking a moment before responding.

“What?” Rachel muttered, at a loss for words.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s just, statistically, you haven’t been the biggest selling point to our brand as of late. Not to mention with the legal pressures you’re facing, your parents and I believe this is the best course.” Mr. Price gestures towards her parents to be on the same page as he explained the reasoning for his actions.

“So that’s it? So wait, if I’m out of the company, does that mean I can be Shrinking Rae without the association?” Rachel asked, still trying to understand. 

“I…can’t let you do that, legally speaking?” Mr. Price explained, whispering the quiet part aloud.

“Legally speaking? What does that even mean?” Rachel asked interrogatively, getting frustrated with the lack of answers. 

“Shrinking Rae, as in the name, image, and all that implies, technically is owned by me.” Mr. Price explains straight up, leaving Rachel pale, vision and sounds blurry from the news. She clenched her fists in anger at the news, standing up and slamming them on the table.

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?” Rachel explodes, with everyone shocked by her anger, making Mr. Price lean back into his chair out of fear.

“Rae!” Debra snapped.

“Listen, I deeply understand your frustration, but-” Mr. Price tried to ease the tension in the room, but Rachel wasn’t having it.

“Since when has my name, my whole identity, been something that was up for sale?!?” Rachel asked him interrogatively as he reached for his bag, pulling some papers out.

“Since you signed this years ago…” He answered, showing Rachel contracts upon contracts, barely recognizing them. 

“I never signed…” Rachel recalled, but saw her parents’ signature on every piece of paper. Rachel looked over her parents, who could barely look at her in shame.

“You guys knew?” Rachel asked, feeling betrayed.

“It was something we weren’t expecting when we first signed, Rae.” Ray tried to reason with her.

“But this is only just a minor setback, right?” Debra asked Mr. Price, uncertain about their future. 

“You will still be paid royalties, moreso should this new venture take off, and with your continued input and testing, you can still be a hero to the community. Maybe not as Shrinking Rae, but simply Rachel. We just need you to sign this.” Mr. Price assured them, pulling out another contract for Rachel not to be Shrinking Rae, seeing a narrow path forward. Rachel scoffed at the idea.

“You’ll still provide for your family, and hey, maybe live out your best life as an ex-kid superhero living on royalty checks.” Mr. Price tried to accentuate the positives in an almost condescending manner.

“It was never about the money…” Rachel said bitterly, massaging her temple from the headache this conversation was giving her. 

“You guys realize being Shrinking Rae isn’t something I can just turn off? I don’t even know how to be Rachel when this is who I’ve been pretty much my whole life!” Rachel tried explaining calmly, but couldn’t hold her emotions, nearly tearing up.

“Rae, this is what’s best for all of us, for you. You just simply have to play along.” Ray tried to comfort her, leaning forward to place his hand on her, but she quickly pulled away, not wanting to be touched. 

“Do you even know if this will work?” Rachel questioned Brennan harshly.

“I’m sorry?” He asked, softly laughing at the interrogative attitude from Rachel. 

“Do you know if this Goliath project will even succeed, and it doesn’t blow up in your face?” Rachel continued to press on him, with Debra and Ray concerned with Rachel’s behavior.

“Careful, Rae.” Debra cleared her throat, sweating from how Rachel’s behavior was making them look bad.

“I mean, you’re presenting this idea of this highly unstable gel being for public use when you’ve barely scratched the surface of the dangers of it.” Rachel tries arguing.

“From your initial idea, this can disrupt the norm, has so many risks of endangering lives, or falling into the wrong hands, which is going to happen. I’ve seen what this gel can do, and if this goes out, more people are gonna get hurt from your gross negligence.” Rachel ends her desperate rant, not even caring about her hero persona. However, Brennan sighed, shrugging at her concerns, and turned off the TV screen.   

“We’ve already looked into countermeasures, all of your worries have already been noted.” He tries convincing her, trying to remain calm from her hysteria.

“Look, I can’t stop you from fighting to be a hero, it’s practically in your blood…” He softly starts, pushing the new contract to Rachel to sign. 

“But, I can’t protect you from any legal consequences you will face.” He tells her straight up, leaving Rachel defeated and looking over the contract of discontinuing her hero persona. 

“We’re looking to have a soft launch tonight, near your hometime as a token of good faith. Just give it some thought, come make an appearance tonight and see the potential.” Brennan tries to smooth the tension out between him and Rachel, holding the pen, and her hand shaking from the emotions.

“I need to excuse myself.” Rachel said bitterly before escorting herself out of the room. Ray and Debra looked at each other, having doubts, but ultimately gave in, signing their names and Rachel’s on the contract.

Rachel could barely think, feeling shaky and nauseated from all the bureaucratic paperwork and trivial legalities. She tried looking away from her image plastered on the walls, feeling a sense of loathing being stuck in the suit. As she stormed through the hallways, she accidentally bumped into one of the workers, making them drop their clipboard with papers.

“Oh, my apologies, Miss Rae.” The worker apologized, picking up the papers off the floor.

“Sorry, no worries.” Rachel helped pick up her clipboard, passing it to the worker, and went to the restroom to wash up. The worker looked over her notes for the shipment of gel to be sent to the party, making her way to the company garage. As she got into the truck, she got a surprise from the passenger seat, with a gun aimed at her.

“Hey, no hard feelings.” Derek apologizes before shooting her with a tranquilizer, shifting the cold body to the side before taking over the steering wheel. 

Derek and Amanda

“Shipment is secured, bringing it back to base in two hours.” Derek alerts over the phone, with Amanda staking out near the foster care system. 

“Copy, standing by near foster care. Preparing to go inside for extraction.” Amanda relays back, cocking her gun, ready to sneak inside the foster care. Utilizing the fire escape, she tries looking for the exact room based on the photos she took. Amanda pulls out a screwdriver, cramming it underneath the window to tilt it open on the other side, successfully breaking inside. 

What should’ve been a quick in and out trip turned into an hour-long hunt of scouring the room to find no photos or any notes that could help them. Amanda threw drawers onto the floor, turning the place inside out, not amused with playing hide and seek.

“Where the hell are they?!?” Amanda muttered bitterly before checking the drawer for the last photo of Shirley and her mom.  As she huffed, she heard the school bus approaching the building, looking outside and waiting to see the girl come out. As Amanda watched, she noticed a long period of nobody leaving the bus, causing the bus driver to leave for the next stop.

“Shit,” Amanda muttered, seeing a deviation from their plan. Meanwhile, Derek was just about to exit the freeway and head back to base before getting a phone call from Amanda.

“We got a problem.” Amanda coldly explains the situation.

“What problem? I ain’t got no problem.” Derek shrugs.

“The girl didn’t come home, and the photos aren’t here.” She explains. 

“So..?” Derek paused, confused about how it was his problem.

“So she probably took the photos with her and has the info we needed! Not to mention risking exposing our whole operation!” Amanda angrily whispered to him, trying not to cause too much attention. 

“Shit, so what do we do?” Derek asked, groaning at more work than what he signed up for. Amanda stood in the room, looking around at how they could make this benefit them. 

“I have an idea, but I’m gonna need you to come over here now.” Amanda blurts out sternly to Derek.

“I’m listening.” 

“How much of that gel do you have? Do you think we have enough to make something explode?” Amanda asked, with Derek looking at the back of the truck, seeing more than a dozen of Parvulus’s gel clanking around in the glass containers.

“Plenty.” Derek smiled, liking the idea.  

Shirley

Shirley sat in the principal’s office, having bits of bruising, dirt, and blood on her, but also a smile on her face. She looked at the beaten-up bullies sitting across from her, content knowing that most of the blood on her wasn’t her’s. As the bullies approached the office one by one, Shirley was the only one left by the end of the day, being next in line to tell her side of things. 

“Can you explain to me what caused all this?” The principal asked Shirley, confused about how such a little girl could cause so much carnage on kids older than her.

“Well, I saw a kid getting bullied and stood up to them, asked them nicely to stop, and, well, when that didn’t work, I simply punched and they stopped.” Shirley calmly explained, with the principal nodding her head, confused, looking over a file with notes and photos of the incident.

“And this explains the punching, kicking…biting???” The principal asked, concerned, seeing the photos of the bruises and some bite marks on the bullies. 

“Well, they started it! They always picked on the little kids during recess, and now I’m in trouble for fighting back?!?” Shirley frantically explained, pouting as she crossed her arms and stood by her actions, as the Principal sighed deeply.

“It’s not because you fought back, Shirley. I mean, there are phone calls I have to make, meetings with parents, paperwork, and having you suspended!” The Principal vented, exhausted from dealing with angry phone calls and staying overtime. As her anger started to rise, she took a quick step back, taking a deep breath before proceeding. 

“Look, I know you have a lot going on at home with your mom missing, but I can’t excuse that as a reason for you to lash out at others.” The Principal changed her pitch, trying to sympathize with the troubled girl, but still had to be firm with her.

“Where did you even learn how to fight like this?” She asked, concerned yet subtly impressed by her skill.

“Nobody…videos…” Shirley tried lying, barely looking the principal in the eye.

“Shirley.” The Principal asked sternly.
“NOBODY! I just learned it myself.” Shirley whined, trying to hold back tears and not let on her secret, hugging her backpack. However, as she held onto her backpack, the principal noticed a cheaply made Shrinking Rae keychain, recognizing the image. Staying silent, she searches online for “green shrinking girl” and finds images and videos of Rae’s fighting style, analyzing the photos of Shirley fighting, and seeing the similarities. 

“Shirley, I’m gonna need the room, gotta make a quick phone call.” The Principal calmly asked Shirley, making her suspicious as she left. As she closes the door, she leans towards the door to hear the conversation, hearing bits of an emergency meeting, suspension, and being influenced by Shrinking Rae’s violent actions. 

Rachel

The drive back home was quiet but not as heavy on traffic, making it back before sundown. There was heavy tension in the car as Rachel and her parents barely talked to each other, with the sounds of the radio, cars, and Rachel’s hunger occupying the silence. By the time they got home, Rachel wanted to take off the suit, feeling burdened by what being Shrinking Rae has cost her. Going to her room, she lay in bed wanting to be left alone, can’t even stand to look at herself.

“Can’t take that from me. I’m Shrinking Rae.” Rachel muttered to herself, not wanting to give in to the legal pressure. As she scrolled through her phone, she saw there was a local party for high schoolers, finding herself intrigued by the party scene for kids her age. However, as she was looking over videos of it, her parents knocked on the door, sighing as she couldn’t get some space away from them. 

“Rae, honey, go take a shower, we gotta get going for the investor meeting.” Her father tells her from outside.

“I don’t even know why I’m even going if I’m out! Don’t even have something to wear with it!” Rachel argued with logic, but it didn’t sit well with her authoritarian parents.

“They’re lending you a dress for the occasion! Now, quit being such a brat and do what you’re told!” Debra commands her, not wanting to hear another word. Rachel groans before obeying. She stood in the shower within the hot water, letting it wash over her, contemplating her options. With her involvement with Shirley and how people see her in general, it added an extra burden, knowing how much she could help people, but couldn’t. 

Rachel quickly fixes up her hair, making curls similar to how Shirley did before looking over the dress covered in plastic. The green evening gown had a tight fit on Rachel’s figure, with the hip ratio compressing her, and the upper chest and back exposing her. She quickly gets out of the bathroom to show her parents, dressed in formal attire, and they are impressed by the sleek look on their daughter.

“Hey, not too bad, sweetie.” Ray compliments her softly.

“Really? I feel kinda exposed and overdressed for this.” Rachel thought, checking herself in the mirror that accentuated her figure, not comfortable in flashy clothing.

“Rae, you look perfect.” Debra assured her, fixing up Rachel’s hair and adoring her daughter.

“Let me just get something before we go.” Rachel tells them before going to her room, grabbing a denim jacket for later and a spare suit in case of an emergency.

The three made their way across town near the community center, driving past the dark road towards the downtown district. As Rachel looks out her window, she can see lively activity at the party around the corner from where the investor meeting was. 

“Remember, Rachel, you’re here to make an impression and make the company look good. We can deal with finalizing paperwork later, but for now, just be yourself and don’t cause a scene.” Debra instructs Rachel before exiting the car.

The investor meeting was filled with older businessmen, making Rachel stand out from the crowd. Ray and Debra insisted that Rachel stay close as they introduced her to every member there. To her, it was all a performance, heightening her voice and body language, discussing her experience working with Parvulus and being a hero. Most of the men asked Rachel about her experience shrinking into people, or how a girl her age broke through the genetics industry. Rachel tried to dissociate from the awkward questions, trying to make it through the night, as she quickly steps away to grab some drinks and a few samplings from the table. Taking a few bites of the salami and cheese charcuterie board, she noticed a few men making glances at her, trying not to make it obvious she was listening in.

“Can’t believe a girl her size can eat so much.” One of the men rolled his eyes at the display of Rachel enjoying herself.

“Would help if she could shrink a few pounds from eating like that.” Another man joked, causing some snickers from the crowd.

“Who knows, she’s gonna make some guy in bed happy with her gifts.”  Another person chimed in, prodding their elbow on one of the men’s chests from the innuendo. Some laughed while others showed discomfort as Rachel looked embarrassed and belittled by their crude comments. Rachel huffed away from the crowd, looking at the party close by, wanting to get out of the stuffy room.

“Hey, mom, can I borrow the car keys? I’m gonna grab something from the car.” Rachel asks, trying to hold her emotions together for the sake of her family.

“Um, sure, just don’t take long, I think they’re gonna start presenting.” Debra gives Rachel the keys. Rachel quickly exited the auditorium, trying to calm down and not letting the crude comments affect her.

“C’mon, Rachel, you’re better than that,” Rachel assured herself, grounding herself from the brief affirmations. She quickly goes to the car and drives it over to the party, getting a good view of the lively crowd of kids socializing. As she parked the car nearby, she looked into the car mirror, wiping any tears and fixing her composure.

“Wish I had something better to dress in.” She thought before looking in the back to see her denim jacket, making do. As she got out, Rachel donned her denim jacket over her dress and made her way to the house, feeling a bit of her depth mingling with kids her age. Seeing no point in turning back, she lifted herself into the crowd and asserted her presence to the unsuspecting crowd. The kids got a good look at her in her sleek green dress juxtaposed with the denim jacket, figuring it was some fashion statement. Some kids started whispering to each other while others were surprised she even showed, one of them being the girl from her biology class.

“Oh, hey Rachel!” She waved as she came over to greet her with a hug, making Rachel clench up from the sudden affection.

“H-Hi, Ashley, was just in the neighborhood and wanted to see what’s…the word?” Rachel stuttered, not knowing much of modern-day lingo. 

“So I see, did you come from some fancy ball? You look good.” Ashley admired, guiding Rachel across the crowded house blasting loud music. She tried to focus, but the atmosphere was a bit much for a shut-in like herself. 

“Thanks, I feel a bit overdressed for this.” Rachel thought, seeing everyone in casual clothing.

“Nah, don’t even worry. Besides, homecoming’s this weekend, and it’s the perfect time to strut your stuff.” Ashley teased, flaunting a pose to help Rachel loosen up.

“Maybe you can find yourself a guy to take you.” Ashley continued, winking at Rachel as she gestured towards the male demographic, seeing a diverse lineup.

“Right…” Rachel smirked at the thought of boys. Since her training, she has never had much interaction with boys her age, mainly working with older people and doing business. With little experience, Rachel swallowed her fears and leapt forward into the loud, hormonal surroundings.

The first thing Rachel did was gorge herself on the food gatherings, taking multiple slices of pizza, wanting to let loose. The other people cheered her on as she practically finished a whole box. Rachel heaved as she leaned back on the leather couch, having never experienced a full stomach. 

“Oh, man…” Rachel groaned, feeling nauseated from the gluttonous binge. 

“Is there any water nearby?” Rachel asked sluggishly, dying of thirst and bloated from the food. However, her answer came with a shirtless jock carrying a keg of beer over his shoulders.

“No water, only booze in this house!” The jock joked, pouring a cup of alcohol in a red, plastic cup for Rachel. She looked over the foreign substance, seeing the bubbles fizz and the strong smell get to her.

“Drink up, you’ll feel better, miss.” The jock kindly gestured to the cup, with Rachel pondering what her parents would think. However, after the day she’s had, Rachel had one simple thought: Who fucking cares!

Desperate to defy them, she grabbed the cup and gulped a huge swig of the booze. Despite the first impression, the beer tasted awful, making Rachel gag and spit some of it out, coughing as it didn’t sit well in her throat. The crowd laughed with some cheers, seeing her embrace this new, rebellious side.

“So, that’s…terrible.” Rachel thought, saying the quiet part aloud.

“It’s not supposed to taste good, just helps push you towards the buzz.” The jock instructed, patting her on the back to help make it sit well with her. 

“Here, just take it one sip at a time.” He instructed, checking her to make sure she was still okay.

“I’m Tony, by the way.” He introduced himself, smiling at Rachel to keep her at bay.

“Rachel.” She blurts out, still catching her breath as she continued to drink and started feeling that euphoric feeling Tony talked about. 

The night became a blur, with Rachel being the showstopper at the party, dancing with all the people there, even being a little flirty with Tony. Ashley guided Rachel across the party, taking lots of photos of them dancing, making crude faces, and going for more drinks. For the smallest moment in time, Rachel didn’t feel weighed down by her superhero persona, only seeing herself as simply herself. She could barely hear the music as she was lost in herself, feeling a sense of warmth radiate off her body, and hugging herself. However, that song she sang to herself soon faded as the realization kicked in: she was missing the presentation.

“SHIT!” Rachel suddenly gasped, feeling the sudden weight of her actions, and tripped over a passed-out girl.

“Ow! What the fuck?!?” The girl asked, being woken up by Rachel’s clumsiness.

“Sorry, sorry.” Rachel slurred her words, feeling light-headed and barely able to think and stand up properly. People barely got a glimpse of the commotion as Ashley saw from the corner of her eye.

“W-What time…’sit?” Rachel asked herself, with Ashley coming to Rachel’s aid.

“Rachel, you okay?” Ashley asked, hoisting Rachel onto her shoulder to carry her to a nearby couch upstairs.

“F-Fine…just so hot…what time is it?” Rachel asked again, taking off her jacket, and felt a cold shiver in her body, massaging her head from the headache.

“Almost eight, why?” Ashley asked, with Rachel realizing she was gone for almost an hour and a half.

“Oh god, I’m missing it!” Rachel turned flushed, sweating, and barely able to keep her emotions and headspace in control.

“Missing what?” Ashley asked, confused and concerned for Rachel.

“I left some stupid presentation to come here…No longer Shrink…Rae…Shirley… I gotta go, I’m sorry.” Rachel continued to slur her words, barely getting a complete thought out of her system, leaving Ashley confused, trying to follow the drunk girl, but she got lost in the crowd. With her jacket left behind, her phone kept buzzing, having missed three calls and several texts from her parents. 

Rachel could barely register her surroundings, swaying left and right onto the walls, bumping carelessly into others. She tried to go to the bathroom, but it was currently occupied by kids hooking up. She lay onto a wall before continuing, feeling like she’s been walking in circles, trying to escape the hellish sight.

“Rachel!” Tony called out, tapping her shoulder and bringing her the jacket and some water from the sink. Rachel gasped, frightened by his appearance, with tears in her eyes.

“Let’s…let’s get you fixed up.” Tony smiled, assuring her everything was gonna be okay.

Tony set her in one of the empty rooms, turning on the lights and bringing some more food for her. Rachel grounds herself with the soft silk sheets, taking some breaths as Tony sat next to her to keep her company.

“How are you feeling now?” Tony asked out of concern, with Rachel gulping some water to wash down the food and alcohol inside her.

“Still a mess, but barely holding it. Haven’t puked…yet.” Rachel softly muttered, slowly regaining consciousness.

“I don’t know what I was thinking coming here.” Rachel started venting, catching Tony off guard, but listened.

“Damaging Shrinking Rae’s brand and my parents’ image, even if I really hate them right now.” Rachel continued, feeling a hard lump in her throat, barely able to contain her emotions.
“Rachel?” Tony tried to comfort but she clenched up, covering her sobbing face and leaning back.

“I don’t wanna be like this. I’m not a bad daughter… I’m just…so lost on who I am anymore.” Rachel exhaled, with the alcohol letting her do all the talking. Rachel felt embarrassed, venting all her frustration on Tony, feeling weak and flushed from the emotional overload.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay…” Tony leaned over her, softly removing her hands from her face and wiping the tears off her. Despite what people said at school about Rachel and her double life, he liked seeing her at her realest. 

“Who do you want to be?” He asked her, with Rachel blushing from his towering over her, softly laughing from the awkwardness between them.

“I just… I really don’t want to be alone right now.” Rachel tells him, letting her emotions get the best of her, bringing him forward for a drunken kiss. Tony was caught off guard by this, leaning back with hesitancy.

“Wait, Rachel, this isn’t right.” Tony softly rejects her, seeing her mental state.

“Ugh, I’m sorry, I’m not used to this…” Rachel apologizes, laughing it off.

“It’s fine, just don’t think we’re both in the best mindset.” Tony tried explaining, not trying to get aroused.

“Not even for some cuddling?” Rachel smiled, being a bit flirty with the skittish jock. Tony shrugged at the idea, with Rachel and Tony fixing themselves on the bed to spoon. The two lay on the bed with Tony hesitating to put his arm on Rachel, but she guides his hand around her waist, tugging on her dress and making her feel warm from her cold body.

“You feel so warm.” Rachel muttered, moaning softly as she got comfortable, holding onto his muscular arm. 

“You know, I kinda thought you were pretty cute, especially as Shrinking Rae.” Tony whispered, complimenting Rachel and making her blush before turning around to get a good look at the hunk.

“You think so? I’ve been such a mess since I came to school.” Rachel tried playing it off as Tony stroked along her figure and her looking over his muscular chest.

“I’ve never been so close like this before.” Rachel admitted, wondering if she’s even doing a good job at being intimate with someone, feeling vulnerable yet safe in his hands. 

“You’re doing great.” Tony smiled, caressing her messy hair, with Rachel embracing his touch. 

“If I weren’t so drunk right now, I would totally kiss you and…other things.” Rachel winked, trying to be extra flirtatious, giggling from the suggestive behavior.

“Would you even…shrink on it?” He asked boldly, with Rachel snapping out of her comfort zone, freezing from that phrase. 

“What?” Rachel asked, slightly pushing away from him.

“I-I’m sorry, was that-? I thought that’s what you-” Tony asked, trying to explain his comment while Rachel unraveled herself from his arms.

“Goddamit. Is that why you’ve been so nice to me this whole night? To fulfill some fetish?!?” Rachel asked harshly, feeling betrayed and used as she sat up from the bed to fix her dress. 

“N-no, it wasn’t-” Tony tries to fix the situation between them.

“How can I be so stupid?” Rachel muttered, barely able to think straight as she paused for a brief moment to try shrinking, but found herself struggling to shrink an inch from the alcohol inhibiting her powers. 

“I can’t even make a guy in bed happy…” Rachel looked at herself in shame, feeling embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

“Can’t even have just one night being myself without someone wanting my powers.” Rachel vented before grabbing her jacket and leaving the tainted room. 

“Wait, Rachel, please!” Tony tried to grab onto her hand before she left, violently reacting to his touch.

“Don’t touch me!” Rachel whacked his hand away from him, not realizing that all the attention was on her, phone cameras pointing at her. The anxiety started to kick back in as Rachel quickly leaves, not wanting to be at the party anymore, dragging herself out the door with the minimal strength she had.

“Rachel, wait!” Ashley called out before looking back at Tony, scowling at him.

“What did you do?” She asked angrily, but Tony could barely muster the courage to explain what happened.

Rachel barely makes it out of the house, ears ringing and vision blurry, feeling sick. She could barely hold it together before making it to the nearest trashcan, puking most of the pizza out and heaving loudly. She couldn't care less that people saw her, just wanting to leave and get to her car. As she sat herself in the driver’s seat, Rachel hit the steering wheel, screaming loudly before shifting into a crying fit, letting all of her emotions pour out of her system. She wailed from the frustration, loss of autonomy, and shame she had brought to herself. 

As Rachel sat in the car, she tried stifling her tears and held onto her jacket for emotional support, leaning her head onto the wheel. However, before she could recollect her thoughts, she saw a bright, ominous glow radiating off the dark before hearing a loud boom, making her more alert.

“What the hell?” Rachel thought, turning on the steering wheel, and headed straight towards the origins of the explosion. As Rachel slowly drove, still sobering up, she could see a fire igniting near the trees from a truck that had been flipped to the side.

“Oh, god!” Rachel muttered before quickly getting out of the car and making her way to the fire, seeing if anyone was around. Rachel searched around, but stumbled upon the half-burnt corpse of the worker she had helped earlier in the day. Covering her mouth from shock and smell, Rachel saw parts of their bodies abnormally sized, recognizing that familiar coating that was on them. She could hear someone shouting for help on the side, going over to help them. 

The man coughed as he barely recognized the woman in green standing over him, pulling him out of the fire.

“What happened? Are you alright?” Rachel asked, turning him around to face her. The man slowly regained his vision, slowly recognizing who had come to his rescue.

“Well, shit, we were just talking about you.” Derek crooked a broken, bloody smile.

Derek and Amanda

A couple of hours earlier, Derek made his way towards the foster car, parking the out-of-place truck across. The truck rattled with metal and glass clanking across the uneven road, not noticing the cracked gas tank underneath. Derek quickly got out and went to the back of the truck to check on the cooled gel, shivering from the cold leaking out of the truck.

“Alright, just a couple of these bad boys ought to do the trick.” Derek thought, grabbing a couple of samples of the gel before closing the door, and checked on his unconscious stowaway.

“Keep an eye on things for me, will you? Can’t have another parking ticket.” He joked as he made his way towards the fire escape. He heaved as he was relatively inactive, climbing the various stairs and making his way towards the top, knocking on the window.

“Jesus, get inside! Someone can come in by now!” Amanda harshly whispered, grabbing Derek through the window.

“Alright! So, what now?” Derek asked, looking over the trashed room. 

“We make a mess.” Amanda thought, yanking a sample of the gel from Derek and spilled it across the room, spreading it across various objects. The objects that the gel was covered in started to have violent reactions, causing them to shake and shift into various sizes, leaving them in a straining cycle. Derek and Amanda carefully made a trail towards the door, with Amanda setting up a rigged trigger that would ignite when opened.

“Doesn’t this seem excessive?” Derek asked, with Amanda scoffing at the idea.

“We’ve killed people before; this isn’t new.” Amanda coldly tells him.

“Yeah, but kids?” Derek continued to show hesitancy. 

“She’s a part of this, no loose ends. Besides, I lost everything to these bastards years ago. Not losing sight of the cost.” Amanda explained, clenching her fists in anger and letting out a single tear in her grief.

“Let’s get a move on.” Amanda huffs, shoving Derek with her elbow before climbing out. Both Derek and Amanda climbed out and got to the truck, with Amanda surprised to see the cold body in the passenger seat.

“You brought an accomplice here?!?” Amanda yelled at Derek.

“What, I couldn’t just shove her out of the truck in the streets. She’s fine.” Derek argued, not wanting to hear Amanda lecture him. The two dragged the unconscious employee into the back of the truck, locking it shut before driving off. As the truck drives off, a car parks in front of the foster care, with Shirley and one of the workers coming out, holding the photos in her hands

“Go to your room. We’ll be talking more about this.” The social worker commanded Shirley as she studied the photos of the dead bodies and footnotes on the back.  

Meanwhile, the worker slowly regained consciousness, shivering from the a/c blasting in the back. She can hear the glass clinking and the car moving, triggering her fight-or-flight instincts. In the front, Derek and Amanda try to give Dr. Adler an update on the situation.

“If you see the shrinking girl, I want you to bring her alive.” Dr. Adler mentions before hanging up.

“Do you smell that?” Derek asked, noticing a faint smell of gas emanating from the truck.

“It’s probably outside.” Amanda tries to dismiss his concerns before hearing footsteps in the back. The worker was screaming out for help, using a lighter as a light and to keep herself warm, desperate to break out of the door. 

“Shit, she’s awake.” Amanda groaned, looking through the small peephole. 

“It’s fine, no one’s around here. I’m just gonna push through, there’s no-.” Before he can finish his thought, Amanda pulls out her gun and shoots through the peephole, making the worker crouch down in fear, dropping the lighter. 

“WAIT, AMANDA!” Derek begs her to stop, becoming deaf from the close range and getting alarmed, pushing the brakes violently. The break made the glass vials drop onto the floor, with the lighter igniting them and causing a violent reaction. The worker was doused in the gel and on fire, screaming in pain as the mixture of fire and gas caused the truck to explode. Amanda quickly reacts, jumping out in time, but leaves Derek and the worker to fend for themselves.

Rachel

Rachel felt a sense of anger, punching Derek to demand more information.

“Who are you working for?!?” Rachel asked, violently raising his battered upper body from the floor. Derek could barely speak, only coughing blood onto Rachel.

“Sweetheart, that is not the question you should be asking right now.” Derek softly laughed, knowing he didn’t have much time left.

“The real question is, how much time do you have left to save that little girl?” Derek retorts, with Rachel realizing the implications before hearing a faint explosion nearby, seeing smoke in the air, pinpointing the exact location of the fire.

Rachel quickly drops Derek to the floor, rushing to the car to change from her dress and into her suit before driving off. Rachel tried not to swerve, still being a bit impaired, as she quickly made her way to the foster care, seeing the fire ablaze from the top floor. 

There was a crowd outside, staring at the firefighters trying to put it out, and police were keeping everyone calm. Rachel quickly jumped out of the car, pushing herself towards the crowd. As Rachel made her way through, there was a loud, metal snap coming from the fire escape, breaking off and lunging its way towards the crowd. With the crowd quickly dispersing, a lone social worker tries reaching out for a kid, not aware of the danger he was in. Rachel quickly tries shrinking to break through and grows to normal size to push the social worker out of the way. The two quickly caught their breath as Rachel quickly helped them up.

“Are you hurt?” Rachel asked, with the social worker still shaking.

“I-I’m fine, thank you.” He nods, having some slight bruising, but is relieved to be safe. He and Rachel looked at the entrance to see the other kids and social workers exiting the building, with Rachel trying to get a glimpse of the count.

“Do you know if everyone was accounted for?” Rachel asked one of the social workers.

“W-We think so, but I couldn’t see from the smoke if anyone from the top floor made it out.” He explained, thinking about the other kids’ safety.

“Oh, god. Is there any other way up?” Rachel asked, seeing that the easiest way was off-limits.

“Well, it would have to be through the stairs, but with this fire, you’d have a death wish.” He tried explaining, but Rachel had already made up her mind, making her way towards the front, but was stopped by the police.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be here! We had a deal!” The police tried to reprimand her, but Rachel pushed them off.

“I don’t give a shit! There are people inside!” Rachel angrily retorts, seeing that she has much to lose, and runs through the flames, emitting some cheers from the crowds for Shrinking Rae.

“Wait, you’re going to get yourself killed!” The police tried to stop, but the flames quickly overwhelmed them, blocking the entrance.

Rachel coughed as she tried not to breathe in the heavy smoke, pushing heavy pieces of rubble out of the way and making her way to the stairwell. 

“Hello? Anyone hear me?” Rachel tries calling out across the halls of each room before making her ascend to the top floor. She tries staying focused, swerving left and right, trying to regain control from the alcohol flowing inside her. As Rachel made her way to the top, she could barely see the bodies of Shirley and the social worker on the floor, barely conscious.

“Shirley!” Rachel calls out, rushing towards her and holding her in her hands.

“Please, please, please be okay.” Rachel prayed aloud, tense from the lingering smoke getting to her eyes and oxygen depleting. She tries performing CPR on her, barely resusitating the little girl, coughing from the smoke.

“Shrinking Rae…I knew you’d come.” Shirley weakly smiled, hurting from the bruises and burn marks on her.

“C’mon, we have to go. Can you stand or need to be carried?” Rachel asked, trying to get Shirley up, but barely had the strength before collapsing onto the floor.

“I’m sorry.” Shirley sheepishly apologizes, with Rachel cradling her in her arms while hoisting the unconscious social worker onto her shoulder.

“It’s okay, I’m here. I’m gonna get us out.” Rachel assured her, trying to put on a brave face despite the heavy burden on her. However, Shirley looks back, realizing that all her stuff relating to her mom and the case was left in the room.

“Wait, the evidence, Rachel! We can’t leave-” Shirley looks back, wanting to go back.

“We can’t, Shirley! It’s all gone!” Rachel tried explaining before kicking the door down and slowly walked down the stairs, straining as she felt herself losing strength with every step.

“C’mon, Rachel. You can do it.” Shirley tries cheering her on, holding onto her tightly so she wouldn’t breathe in the smoke. Rachel had made it to the bottom floor, but was trapped inside with no escape. To make matters worse, she can hear the upper floors crumbling towards them. Rachel quickly looks around, with Shirley pointing towards the flaming entrance, seeing no other options.

“Hold on, Shirley, and I’m sorry in advance.” Rachel mustered all the strength in her to rush straight through the entrance, feeling the building tumble down as she ran.

“Sorry for what?” Shirley asked as Rachel quickly throws both of them off her body to safety, making them roll across the floor as the foster care building completely collapses behind them. All three ladies had barely made it out, with the crowd cheering for “Shrinking Rae”. Rachel sighed in relief despite the body ache, looking over at Shirley and the social worker, who was slowly regaining consciousness.

“Little bit of warning next time.” Shirley asked, feeling some scrapes on her knees and tensing from the burns. Rachel winced as she crouched closely to the girl to tend to her.

“Again, sorry. Don’t worry, medics will get you patc-” As Rachel smiled to ease all tensions, the social worker quickly lunges at Rachel, shoving her away from Shirley.

“Get away from her!” She angrily hissed, holding onto Shirley for protection. Rachel and the crowd could barely register what had just happened.

“No, Miss Miller, she saved us!” Shirley protested, trying to break free from her clutches.

“She’s the reason why this all happened!” Miss Miller yelled towards Rachel, leaving her stunned and confused by her words.

“What? No, I-” Rachel tried explaining herself, with the crowd murmuring.

“She’s been a bad influence on you, Shirley! You got in trouble at school, because she taught you to be violent, to lash out at people!” Miss Miller continued, with Rachel stunned to hear Shirley’s troubles.

“I-I only taught her self-defense!” Rachel tries explaining, on the verge of tears.

“Silence! You’ve also been exposing her to dead bodies, giving her false hope about finding her mother, and practically leeching your insecurities onto her! She told me everything between you two.” Miss Miller continued to prod Rachel, pressing on her with her twisted truth. She leaned forward, recognizing the strong odor radiating off of the bruised, battered Rachel.

"I can practically smell the alcohol on you.” She whispered to Rachel, adding more insult and making her turn pale and shake from fear. She hated the feeling of all eyes on her, but was surrounded by people and various lights radiating off her camera. As Rachel was getting a stern lecture, a firefighter approached them, bringing some broken glass and some burnt photos, barely recognizable.

“We found this at the origin of fire. Do these mean anything to you?” The firefighter asked, with Rachel inspecting the vials to see Parvulus’ logos on them, realizing what Derek had done to set her and the company up.

“It was also found by a truck that had exploded near the dark roads.” The firefighter continued, getting more intel as it came. Meanwhile, a limo had approached with Debra, Ray, and Mr. Price coming out to see what had happened, with cameras pressed onto them and the press asking multitudes of questions. A police officer had also approached Rachel, handcuffs in hand.

“I’m sorry, kid, but you’re under arrest for endangering a minor, disturbing the peace…” As the officer lists off her “crimes” and her rights, he cuffs Rachel and escorts her to the car. Rachel could barely speak from the heavy lump in her throat, going through the motions as she saw Shirley desperately reaching out for her. Miss Miller and other social workers tried to contain the girl as she was screeching, trying to fight her way to Rachel. 

“NO, RACHEL! I’M SO SORRY!” Shirley tried shouting out, barely having the strength to scream or fight. The siren goes off as Rachel is driven to the police station for questioning. Rachel looked around the crowd to see her mom and dad, trying to signal them, but they couldn’t even give a glance from the embarrassment and shame she had brought to them, Parvulus, and ultimately herself. Despite all her efforts, Shrinking Rae was no more…

Chapter Text

After sitting in the cell for the night, Rachel finally gave in to the urge to sleep, shifting her body onto the uncomfortable bench, barely stabilizing herself. Her hair was a frazzled mess and was covered in soot and rubble clinging to her costume. She could barely move from the cuffs on her hands, making them itch and grind on her wrist from the tight strain. 

Shortly, Rachel groaned as she woke up from her sleep, drooling a bit on the bench. Sitting herself up, she examined her surroundings, feeling groggy from the intense lighting in the cramped room. She could hear the buzz and voices coming from the TV hanging outside of her cell. Squinting her bloodshot eyes, she could see the emanating glow of the fire and news coverage of her superhero persona being blasted. Memories of the previous night hit her like a train, causing her to cringe at the painful reminders. However, she recognized one of the social workers being interviewed, leaning in close to see what they had to say.

“Look, I don’t know the whole story or politics of what went down, but all I know is that girl saved my life and fought to save more tonight. Truth is, I don’t care what people say, she’s a hero, flaws and all.” The social worker bluntly tells the reporter before cutting back to the weather portion of the news. Rachel was surprised by that comment, making her night in jail slightly easier to adjust to. However, that radiant glow was shortly snuffed as a secretary came to open the cell.

“Um, Rae, we’re ready to see you for some questions.” The secretary announced, with Rachel taking a breath, prepping herself for the berating she’s gonna get. 

The interrogation was conducted by two officers, one loud, young, and boisterous, while the other was older and reserved. The younger cop starts, berating Rachel’s actions with his screams being heard across the room. Rachel was too numb to even register, going through the motions of the proceedings. 

“-AND THIS WHOLE REBELLIOUS TEEN ATTITUDE YOU’RE GIVING US HAS COST MILLIONS IN INFRASTRUCTURE DAMAGES, JEOPARDIZED A CASE WE’VE BEEN BUILDING FOR WEEKS, AND WORSE, ENDANGERING A MINOR AMONG OTHERS!” The younger cop finished his tirade, tossing the burnt evidence towards Rachel and slamming his hand on the steel table. The older cop simply drank from his stirred coffee mug, trying not to spill it.

“What my partner is trying to get to is if you have anything about you and Parvulus’ involvement with the fire. It would really help both our cases.” He sighed, trying to de-escalate the tension in the room, with Rachel sitting there, staring them down.

“I invoke my Fifth Amendment priv-” Rachel said robotically, feeling it ingrained in her head, but was cut off.

“You know, you’ve used that Fifth Amendment excuse like eight times since you’ve been here, and I’m telling you now, in a trial, that won’t fly!” The angry cop pressed Rachel.

“Connor, ease up.” The older cop gestured to him, lowering his hand to signal him.

“And another thing, we’ve tried getting a hold of Brennan, your Parvulus lawyers, and your parents, and guess what, no one ain’t coming for you. No one wants to be involved with a drunk, hormonal liability in a cape. So cut the shit and start talking!” He threatened, making Rachel slightly wince from that last comment.

“Connor! Take a walk. I got it from here.” The older cop commands him, with Connor huffing out of the room, slamming the door on his way out.

“Apologies about…him. He’s pulling a double with this fire fiasco.” He explained as he grabbed a donut and passed it towards Rachel.

“Look, I know you’ve had a long night and have some grievances with us, but deep down, we’re both fighting for the right cause. I want to help you out, Rae, as much as you want to help us.” He tries leveling with her, with Rachel huffing at his fake sentiment.
“More like try and step on me as always.” Rachel retorts, staring at him angrily. The cop sighed as he was getting nowhere with the stubborn girl. 

“Even if I wanted to, all that I had working on was conveniently burnt in the fire, alongside that damn gel. You might as well just sue me like you’ve been wanting to.” Rachel briefly explained, just wanting it to be over.

“No one wants to sue you, girl. We only pulled that lawsuit card out to make sure you don’t get hurt or interfere in our field.” The cop tried to explain the state’s actions, but Rachel wasn’t having it.

“So instead, you blackmail me and my family financially.” She snapped back, with the cop trying to calm her down.

“Why me? Why is it that I’m the special case when the Guardians do what I do without repercussions?!?” Rachel vents, standing up, trying to raise her hands, but could barely move them, wanting to stretch them. She sighed as she sat back down, defeated and tired from continuously defending herself.

“Well, for one, you’re the only superhero within a 200-mile radius, so talk gets around quicker.” The cop starts, trying to get to her level.

“If you were in New York or Chicago, no one’s gonna question your actions. Aliens, magic, and world-ending stakes- it’s just Tuesday for them. Their biggest worry is whether or not it’s gonna affect their commute. Here, however, people aren’t  prepared to make life-or-death decisions.” The cop explained to Rachel, who couldn't care less about the world politics of doing the right thing. 

“Take that little girl you were helping. If you hadn’t gotten involved in her life, she and that social worker you saved would’ve been fine and not recovering at the hospital for burn wounds, along with leaving dozens of foster kids stranded with no roof.” The cop softly lectured, pulling out more photos from the fire and the various victims, some involving Shrinking Rae in a bad light. Rachel briefly looked at the photos, seeing a photo of Shirley with several burn marks and scrapes, clenching up internally from the guilt. 

“Your mere presence creates panic in these small-town folk; that their normal, quiet lives can change in an instant. Despite your good intentions, people don’t always want a hero.  That’s just the harsh truth of it, kid.” The cop sighed from the grief Rachel had caused, with Rachel looking away, not wanting to confront that ugly truth. As the two sat in silence for a brief minute, there was a loud knock on the metal door, making the cop get up.

“Look, I can’t force any information on you, but your options outside of this cell aren’t looking great. Just think about that poor girl and her missing mother when you testify.” The cop ends coldly before exiting the room, leaving Rachel speechless and her stomach in knots, internalizing every word. However, dissociation with reality was cut short when the cop returned to the cell, clearing his throat.

“Looks like your parents finally showed up.” He announced, approaching Rachel to remove her handcuffs. However, just before he can, she simply shrinks out of her cuffs, making them clank onto the metal table. The cop was confused by this, seeing her grow back to size with ease. Rachel massages her bruised wrists from the strain before standing up, silently moving past him, before pausing by the door.

“For the record, I could’ve done that hours ago.” Rachel reflects bitterly, not even looking back at him before shutting the door on him. 

Rachel left the building, feeling the heat from the morning sun radiate off her. She could barely adjust her eyes, her body shivering from hunger, before seeing a vague resemblance to her parents’ car. Stepping inside, she could feel the intensity of their disappointment and frustration from the rear glass window, not saying a word to their daughter before driving off. Rachel was used to their silence, but at this instance, she knew that she had messed everything up.

“Hey…mom, dad…” Rachel softly starts, leaning forward with a timid style. Her greeting was met with silence, with Ray trying to focus on the road.

“Listen, about last night-” Rachel awkwardly continued to make conversation, but Debra quickly silenced her by turning up the radio. The audio blasts towards the back of the car, detailing the incident and the backlash Parvulus has been receiving.

“-multiple reports of Parvulus’ gel were found at the scene, leaving two employees dead and multiple injuries involving children. Investors have claimed to have pulled funding for the launch of “Goliath”, leaving Parvulus CEO, Brennan Price, desperate to find alternate avenues, including sponsoring the local high school’s homecoming.”

“Fuck.” Rachel muttered, sinking to the back of her seat in shame, covering her face. 

At school, it was no different, barely able to eat the soggy sausage and pancake without getting looks and gestures towards her. Her drunken escapades became plastered online, from her drunk dancing, yelling at Tony, and puking on the lawn, painted a bastardized reflection of Rachel. She could barely get past scrolling on her phone without seeing #shrinkonit trending on her social media. Wearing a black hoodie, she covers herself with the thick hood, shifting past the crowded hallways, desperate to remain hidden.

Her classes went normally, but she couldn’t escape the buzzing gossip and crude jokes she faced. Even a poster of her and Parvulus was vandalized by some comedian. Rachel barely reacted to the degradation of her character, seeing no point. However, not all the students joined the bandwagon, with some shushing the gossip or throwing the poster away. As Rachel walked passed the gym, she noticed that the kids from the foster care were being stationed there in the meantime, providing some relief that they had a temporary roof over their heads. 

“Rachel.” She heard a familiar voice, looking over to see a remorseful Tony in his letterman jacket. Rachel clenched up, remaining silent, before trying to walk away.

“Rachel, wait, I just want to talk.” Tony tried to grab onto her hand, but Rachel shoved him off.

“You’ve done enough!” Rachel bitterly tells him, clenching her fists before taking a step back, deflating from the point.

“Just… leave me alone.” Rachel softly pleads, hugging herself for support. Tony was left speechless with some students looking at the commotion, leaning in to see the drama.

“Guess she won’t be shrinking on your dick anymore.” One of the girls snarked, causing some laughter from the crowd.

“Fuck off, Cheryl! Jesus!” Tony bites back at her, huffing out of the hallway as Cheryl decides to pursue Rachel, with other students following to see what happens. 

“It’s a shame what happened last night, with your sponsorship and crap.” Cheryl sarcastically apologizes as Rachel goes towards the cafeteria hall to eat some cold chicken nuggets and tater tots. It wasn’t the most salivating meal option, but more fulfilling than what her parents gave her. 

“Must suck having to deal with us normal people.” Cheryl continued, huffing as Rachel paid her no mind, more focused on eating. Ashley quickly shifted through the crowd to help Rachel.

“Cheryl, come off it. She’s having a bad day.” Ashley pleads, wanting to show support for her friend and ease tensions.

“What, she’s a big girl, for someone that shrinks, that is.” Cheryl harshly teased with a wink, jabbing Rachel with her elbow. Rachel simply took a breath, just wanting this lunch period to be over with. Irritated by Rachel’s inaction, Cheryl slapped the plastic tray off Rachel’s table, causing some gasps from the crowd, and pulled Rachel’s hood off to expose her numb, dissociative face.

“You know, homecoming would’ve been cancelled because of your drunk ass going viral, but I guess Daddy Warbucks needed something to help sweep the big crime scene you left at the foster care.” Cheryl points out, wanting to make Rachel feel small at the moment.

“I just don’t get what you're trying to prove, that you’re somehow better than us?!?” 

“I’m not.” Rachel coldly assures, finding it harder to remain calm. 

“So why the little girl, then? Were you trying to groom her into your lifestyle? Trying to compensate for your sad, freak show life?” Cheryl continued to press Rachel, with her breaths becoming heavier, fists clenched, and standing before the girl.

“Oh, what, you’re gonna hit me now?” Cheryl taunts in disbelief, with Ashley begging Rachel not to engage. 

“There are cameras everywhere, you really think you’re gon-” 

POP!

The crowd gasped, clenching up in silence at the sudden punch to the face. Cheryl collapsed onto the floor, hardly breathing and tearing up with a bloody, broken nose and busted lip. Rachel pants, feeling the anger get to her as she felt the sting from her punch, knuckles drenched in blood. Despite the release, Rachel didn’t feel the satisfaction of knocking her down, only instant regret. Her body was shaking, seeing the people in shock, cameras lit up, and she could barely muster a sentence. 

“Rachel…” Ashley gasped, covering her mouth in shock and leaving the table to help Cheryl. The crowd began dispersing as numerous people commented, “Jesus Christ!”, “What the fuck?”, “Fucking animal.” “Someone get a teacher!”. The noise became a blur as Rachel felt the panic kick in, wanting to leave the suffocating room. Before a teacher could reprimand Rachel, she quickly made a run towards the exit, not realizing it had triggered the school alarm.  

Rachel ran out of the school, not looking back as she tried to fight off her frustration and self-loathing. She continuously ran across town, past the Burger Mart, past the shopping centers, past the edge of her world. Her throat became hoarse from the panting, barely giving herself a break before collapsing onto the pavement, exhausted physically and emotionally. She could feel the bruises on her body worsening, barely able to catch her breath, and emotions swelling up. Her cries were stifled, her breath shaky, and her hands clenched into fists. Her lips dried up, barely able to speak from the running and crying. She wanted desperately to stand up, but struggled to find the will inside her.

As she lay on the hot concrete, she could vaguely hear a loud siren accompanied by a beam of red light passing by her. Rachel slowly puts together where she had stumbled onto, remembering Shirley, and steadily pulls her broken self together. 

By the time Rachel made her way to the hospital, she was a limping mess, hugging herself for support, and Cheryl’s blood was still dripping on her hand. The receptionist took a look at Rachel, concerned.

“Hello, miss, do you need some medical assistance?” The receptionist asked softly.

“I’m fine, thank you.”

“I’m looking to see if a 'Shirley' is here.” Rachel paused, blanking on her last name. The receptionist checked on her computer, pulling up three different Shirleys.

“Looks like we got a couple here. Is there anything you could describe about them?”

“Short hair…roughly 9 or 10…from the fire.” Rachel gave brief descriptions, struggling to put them into words. The receptionist continued to search and found one result.

“Ah, Shirley Hayes, room 321. The poor girl was crying when she came in. Must’ve been in so much pain from the fire.” The receptionist comments, with Rachel turning her head slightly away in guilt.

“Is there any way I can see her. I’m a…a close friend.” Rachel clarified, begging to see her.

“Unfortunately, she’s in critical condition and was determined to bar any outside visitors outside of family and her social worker for her sake.” The receptionist explained, deflating Rachel. However, from the corner of her eye, she could see the door to the stairs, having a faint idea.

“Where are your restrooms?” Rachel asked, playing coy as the receptionist pointed in that direction.

Shirley could barely move her arm from the bruising, with her body still raw from burn marks and scrapes. She smelled strongly of aloe vera, being an intense agent to soothe the burning sensation. The room was quiet and sterile, with only the electronic beeps from the machines keeping her company. As she was still sleeping, Rachel quietly snuck inside the room, getting a good look at Shirley covered in various tubes and medical equipment, hesitant to continue, but needed to push through, for both of their sake. Rachel brought a chair closer, slowly scraping it across the floor, and sat beside Shirley, holding her hand to wake her up softly.

Shirley groaned from the pain but embraced the gentle touch before opening her bruised eyes, wincing, but pushed forward. Her vision was blurry, and she saw a vague black figure. 

“Hey, kiddo.” Rachel starts softly, trying to keep her composure, not wanting to startle the girl.

“Ruh-Rachel?!?” Shirley blinked twice, ecstatic to see her. She tried leaping off the bed, but was restrained by the equipment, tugging on her arm.

“Shh, easy. Gotta keep a low profile.” Rachel explained, using her hand to ease the excitement.

“Oh, right.” Shirley squirmed, wincing as she tried not to move the IV tube on her arm. Shirley held onto Rachel’s hand for support, tightening the grip between them.

“Sorry, I’m just…happy to see after…” Shirley starts raspy but optimistic, although she lingers at the last part, remembering the backlash Rachel faced.

“I’m happy seeing you, too, but that’s why we need to talk.” Rachel paused, subtly moving her hand away from Shirley and lowering her head. Shirley could sense something was wrong, worried for Rachel. 

“Shirley…I…can’t be a part of your life anymore…” Rachel tells her coldly, not able to look at Shirley in her bruised eye. Shirley didn’t know how to respond, trying not to tear up from the words.

“What?” Shirley asked in disbelief, her voice cracking from the news.

“W-Why? I-Is it because of Miss Miller? Me?” Shirley asked, barely able to keep herself together, finding fault in causing all this. 

“No, Shirley, it’s not you.” Rachel sighed, trying to assure her, but it wasn’t working.

“Then why?!?” Shirley asked, breaking her voice.

“Shirley, I’m not someone you need in your life right now. Look at what happened because of me.” Rachel tries to softly explain, but Shirley keeps finding reasons to keep defending her.

“No, y-you didn’t do this! They set you up! They-”

“Open your eyes, Shirley! You almost died just so they can get to me!” Rachel snapped, taking a breather from the intense outburst, resting her head on the metal railing of Shirley’s bed. Shirley didn’t respond, softly tearing up, sniffling from seeing Rachel be cold, even if she doesn’t mean it. Rachel sighed before continuing, massaging her temple.

“I’m sorry, Shirley, but I’m not the hero you keep saying I am. I’m just a walking publicity stunt playing dress-up. That’s all I’ve ever been.” Rachel explained softly, dismissing everything that made her special.

“Every time I wear that suit, someone gets hurt. I screw up. I lash out. I make everything worse for everyone, including you!” She laments, projecting her insecurities onto Shirley. She was emotionally frayed, barely able to keep her composure around the little girl.

“I shouldn’t have taken your case…” Rachel pauses, feeling a tightness in her throat from what she was about to say.

“Meeting you was a mistake…I’m sorry.” Rachel apologized, sitting up as Shirley tried reaching out to her with all her strength.

“No, Rachel, wait!” Shirley cries out, tugging on Rachel’s hand, who barely reacts to her physical pleas.

“Stay with me…please…you promised!” Shirley softly begged her, sniffing and not wanting to let her go despite the heavy emotions. Rachel sighed, yanking her arm away from Shirley. The little girl winced as the violent pushback made the tubes recoil inside her. Rachel didn’t look back, despite her concern.

“The police will find your mom.” Rachel tiredly assures her.

“You need to grow up, Shirley. Can’t always rely on superheroes to come save you.” Rachel callously tells her before shutting the door, pretending like her chest didn’t just cave in on itself. Rachel deeply exhaled, letting the words she told Shirley sit in before nearly collapsing to the floor. She leaned her back to the wall, hugging her knees as she tried to reason with herself.

“It’s for her own good…” She internalizes, but couldn’t bring herself to. She could hear Shirley’s muffled sniffling and soft, desperate wails from inside the room. Rachel wanted to go back in, take back everything she had told her, but the damage was already done, damned if Shirley hated her. She just needed to stay away from her. 

Rachel walked back home, forcing her tired body to walk, never looking back. She covered herself with her hoodie, filling herself with the thick black void to avoid being seen. She had felt smaller than ever despite standing tall. As she had left the hospital, she didn’t notice a mysterious car pulling up at the front of the hospital.

Rachel returned home, huffing over the long day she had had, not even noticing her parents sitting by the living room with their arms crossed.

“Where have you been?” Ray starts sternly, but Rachel doesn’t even answer, storming off to her room. She couldn’t stand the sight of the Shrinking Rae posters on her wall, ripping them off in a fit of resentment. She dumped all of her merchandise across the floor, leaving the room a big mess. Ray and Debra barged through the room, seeing an unstable Rachel throwing a fit. Rachel sees her suits, wanting to rip them apart, but they were sturdy enough to be torn by hand, one of their redeeming qualities. Debra goes forth, restraining Rachel’s hand, still shaking with rage.  

“We asked you a question, Rae!” Debra tried to calm her down, but Rachel could barely control herself before dropping the suit onto the floor. Rachel sat herself on the bed as her parents lectured her.

“We’ve gotten multiple calls at school saying you knocked a girl out. After the trouble you’ve caused last night, do you even care what this means to us? To Shrinking Rae’s image!?” Ray lectured with Rachel rolling her eyes at his main concerns. 

“So that’s what you guys are so worried about?” Rachel asked in disbelief.

“Rae, listen-!” 

“It’s Rachel! I’ve told you over and over, it’s Rachel!” She corrects them, scowling at them. 

“That’s why you’ve been acting up? For a name?!?” Debra asked, trying to figure out why Rachel was acting like this.

“It’s not just about the name, it’s MY name you’ve been profiting off of!” Rachel emphasized, hitting her chest from the pain she was in. Ray and Debra tightened up, seeing Rachel seethe with rage.

“You guys barely gave a damn about my well-being if it didn’t somehow involve a paycheck!” Rachel vents, unpacking her frustration.

“Rae-Rachel, where is this coming from?” Ray calmly asked, trying to reason with her.

“You’re really asking?” She asked in disbelief, feeling unheard.

“We’ve only looked out for what was best for you and your future as your manager, sweetie.” Ray tries explaining, holding onto Debra’s hand in support.

“I didn’t need you guys as managers! I just wanted to be your daughter!” Rachel explodes, leaving the room silent with her words. Rachel sighed, taking a breath before continuing, as Debra was visibly upset at her daughter’s outburst while Ray stood quietly behind her.

“Ever since I’ve gotten these powers, you’ve set me up with these high expectations that kept getting bigger and bigger- with sponsorship, militarized training-”. Rachel kept escalating the blame as Ray stepped in.

“Hey, that’s not fair, Rae-”

“I’m not done FUCKING talking!” Rachel explodes, sitting up, with Debra stepping in.

“Don’t talk to your fath-” 

“The worst part is that you guys stopped noticing me as just me, but as some product you’ve groomed to keep your broken dreams alive!” Rachel expressed, with the harsh criticisms hitting Debra, greeting Rachel with a-

SMACK!

Debra raised her hand, striking her daughter’s face, leaving a burning red mark across her cheek. Debra angrily reeled back, tearing up from the harsh truth as Ray was startled to see it escalate. Despite the sting and her left ear ringing, Rachel didn’t respond, sighing as she looked at her mother with a cold, numbing stare.

“Funny…that isn’t the worst thing I felt today…” She played it off, despite the internal pain, before sitting back down, trying to calm down.

“I am so tired and alone. And yet, I can’t even trust you to just…be my parents.” Rachel softly resets, voice cracking from her words.

“I could literally crawl through shit for you and you’d still find something wrong. I could be bruised, dying, covered in god knows what…and I would never…be good enough for you, for anyone…” Rachel's eyes swelled up from tears, barely able to hold them back.

“I have so much hate in myself. I don’t even care about the lawsuit or what the public thinks. It’s just too big…and I’m too small.” She tilts her head down, slightly shrinking as she cries, clenching her hands into fists. Her parents could see the hurt Rachel was in, trying to go in for a hug, but Rachel pushed them away.

“You don’t have to say anything. I just need space.” Rachel softly told them, her voice still hoarse.

“Rachel, wait. Let’s talk about this.” Ray begs her, wanting to comfort her.

“I’ve already said enough. Just go.” Rachel shuts him down coldly, with Ray and Debra slowly leaving the room with a heavy heart. Rachel barely had the strength to sit up, lying on the bed as she held onto her pillow, dampening it with her tears. 

Meanwhile, Shirley lay in her bed alone, with dry tears on her bruised face, dissociating from the barren room. As she looked at the dry wall, she didn’t notice the door creaking open, with a figure approaching her.

“Hey, Shirley…” The figure greeted her, but Shirley gave them no reaction.

“I don’t want to talk now, Rachel…”

“No, baby, it’s me…” They correct her, tilting Shirley’s head to reveal a familiar, gentle face.

“It’s mommy.” Lydia smiled at her daughter, having wrinkles in her eyes and a dry smile, seeing her daughter and caressing her face. Shirley could barely believe her eyes, doing a double-take.

“Mom….MOMMY!” Shirley explodes with pure happiness, reaching out for her mom, embracing her with open arms. The two teared up being reunited, with Shirley crying into her mom’s chest.

“Shhh, baby, it’s okay…I’m here now…” Lydia tries to assure her, stroking the back of her hair before pulling her away.

“Listen, sweetie, we don’t have much time.” Lydia explained before pulling the medical equipment away from Shirley, making the girl wince from the sudden pain. Lydia looked over the cabinet for some band-aids and cotton to quickly patch herself up. Shirley was confused by this, but went along with it.

“Shouldn’t we wait until the doctor comes back?” Shirley asked, confused by the hurry.

“I’ll explain everything once we leave.” She swiftly explained before cradling her daughter in her arms and taking her to the stairway, away from the crowd. She loads Shirley into the car before steering out of the building, shivering from the body ache.

“Mom, are you okay? What happened to you?” Shirley asked, with Lydia barely able to see the road in front of her.

“I’m fine, Shirley…Just tired…from business trip…” Lydia winced, with Shirley seeing remnants of a glow on her skin underneath her long-sleeved shirt. 

“Mom? Are you glowing?” Shirley asked, with Lydia tilting her arm away from her, and cleared her throat.

“Listen, Shirley, did that shrinking girl visit you today?” She asked Shirley out of the blue, with Shirley perking her head, seeing something was off.

“She did…but she didn’t stay long…” Shirley explained to her mom, with her tone being somber from the mention of her.

“Did she say where she was going?” Lydia pressed her, with Shirley trying to avoid the conversation.

“Shirley, please!” Lydia snapped, desperate to know.

“I don’t know! You’re scaring me.” Shirley tensed up, concerned for her mom as they pulled up at their driveway.  Lydia sighed, fixing her composure and placing her hand onto Shirley’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, baby. It’s just… I need you to tell me everything about her.” She explained to her before exiting the car and walking her to her house, with Shirley noticing the door was cracked open.

“Mom?” Shirley hesitates as Lydia looks over her daughter.

“Don’t be scared, baby. I’m just gonna have friends over…” Lydia assured her before opening the door to find company waiting for them.

“We just need you to play nice for your mommy, okay?” Amanda smiled, sitting by the couch holding a gun in her hand. Lydia tugged on her daughter as several gunmen surrounded the room.

As the sun began setting, Rachel woke up groggy, with her hoodie and pillow soaked in tears, and her face still an aching mess. Rachel slowly sat herself up, looking at the mess she had made earlier. Grabbing a box from the closet, she gathered the torn posters and merch of herself into the box, alongside her costumes. She saw several costumes she had accumulated over the years. She had some brief nostalgia from her sloppily made kid costume, still missing its cape, the beta black and green outfit that made her look like a scuba diver, and then her modern suit, looking at them with resentment. 

Making her way outside, she dumped her merch into the bin, giving one last look at her costumes before tossing them into the trash. However, as she was about to turn away from the bin, she felt a sudden vibration inside her hoodie, reaching inside to pull her ringing phone out.

“H-Hello?” Rachel called out hesitantly. 

“Hi, is this Shrinking Rae, or do you prefer Rachel?” A soft-pitched female asked, catching Rachel off guard.

“Depends who’s asking.” Rachel tells them, keeping her guard up.

“This is Lydia, Shirley’s mom. She’s told me lots of things about you.” She introduces, with Rachel confused yet relieved she came back.

“Listen, I understand she promised you a cash reward, and my husband and I wanted to personally thank you. We’re over on Highland Ave, the small red house, if you wanna come over tonight. Dinner on us, of course.”

“Um, yeah, sure. Where’s…Shirley?” Rachel awkwardly agreed, pausing at the mention of her name.

“Great, hope to see you soon!” Lydia interrupts before hanging up, leaving Rachel confused. Giving it some thought, she felt something was off about the conversation and Lydia suddenly appearing. 

“Husband?”  Rachel reflects, remembering the first conversation she had with Shirley, turning pale and dropping the phone.

“Shirley doesn’t have a dad!” Rachel panicked, grabbing her suit and running back to her house to shrink out of her clothes and into her costume. As she donned her uniform, Rachel grabbed the car keys and rushed to the driveway, with her parents trying to catch up to her.

“Rae-Rachel, wait!” Ray calls out to her with Debra alongside him, shutting the door to her parents' pleas.

“Rachel, where are you going? Can we just talk?” Debra asked, pleading with her.

“I’m going to help someone, even if you guys hate me for it!” Rachel proclaims before recklessly backing out of the driveway and putting the pedal to the metal. Ray and Debra tried running towards the car, but sped off to God knows where.

“Rachel!” Debra cried out before collapsing onto the street, breaking into tears as Ray comforts her in the middle of the road. 

Rachel rushed through every red light, honking be damned, trying to find Highland Ave. 

“C’mon, c’mon…” Rachel muttered, driving across every corner until she saw the sign, turning quickly to find the red house perched in the middle of bigger complexes. She quickly parks her car in the driveway, leaping out and barging inside. The room was dark, suspiciously quiet, with Rachel searching the empty living room. 

“Shirley?!?” Rachel calls out to the dark room, hearing muffled sounds upstairs, and rushes across the stairs to the only lit room. She bangs on the door before seeing Shirley and her mom tied up in the bright pink room, mouths taped, and guns pressed to their heads. 

“One peep…and I’ll start with the little one,” Amanda warns Rachel from behind, closing the door behind her. Rachel took a second to catch her breath, realizing the situation she was in. 

“Look…whatever it is you want from me…just leave them out of it…please,” Rachel begged, raising her hands and obeying their command. However, Amanda looks at the gunman, pressing his gun towards Shirley’s temple, making her whimper in fear and softly crying. Rachel instantly kneels to submit, frantically trying to reason with them.

“Wait, wait, wait, don’t shoot! I’m already going with you. You don’t need to get them involved any longer. Please, I’m begging you-.”

BANG!

A gunshot goes off, with Amanda tearing a hole through Lydia’s leg, making her jolt back on the chair and collapsing backwards. Both Lydia and Shirley screamed through the duct tape, with Lydia crying in pain as she tried scooting to her daughter.

“NO!” Rachel screamed before trying to lunge at the attacker. However, Amanda was quick on the punch as she swiftly pistol-whipped the back of the head. Rachel collapses to the floor, with her head swollen and ears ringing violently, desperately fighting through the pain. Amanda watches her pathetic attempt to crawl, pinning her to the floor with her boot and crouching down to Rachel’s level, gun to her head.

“You are in no position to beg.” Amanda sternly whispered to her, with Shirley trying to reach over to Lydia and Rachel.

“Unless you want to see this little girl’s brains on the floor, stand the fuck down.” Amanda warns before Rachel shrinks out of sight, making Amanda instinctively shoot the floor. Rachel jumps forward to the gunman near Shirley, growing mid-flight to kick him back. Rachel was fast yet sloppy, targeting each gunman across the room, utilizing her powers to great effect. However, the gunmen began to overwhelm the miniature fighter, with one grabbing her leg and slamming her against Shirley’s nightstand. Rachel grew back to normal size out of shock, with her body battered and coughing up blood. The men reached over to grab her arms, with Rachel struggling to fight them off her, before Amanda approached her.

“You’re lucky he wants you alive.” Amanda huffs before pulling out a syringe and injecting it into Rachel's neck, sedating her. Rachel winced from the shot, feeling her body tense as the needle pushed the fluid inside her, making her body droop to the floor. Rachel tries once more to fight, barely having strength in her limbs, and her eyes feeling heavy. Her powers began to act up, causing her to shrink and grow sporadically before she passed out.

“The doctor will be seeing you soon.” Amanda coldly teased before gathering her men to carry Shirley and Lydia out the back, putting hoods over their heads. Rachel could barely open her eyes, only felt herself being dragged and dropped into a van like a ragdoll. The last thing she heard was the unstable shaking of the car driving them off into the unknown. 

Chapter Text

Rachel could barely open her eyes, her head still pounding, feeling the harsh vibrations of the van bounce vigorously on the concrete road. She couldn’t even tell how long it had been since the three of them had been taken hostage, faintly seeing the unconscious bodies of Shirley and her mom. 

“Sh…Shurly…” She muttered before harshly sliding across towards them, feeling the van come to a screeching halt. Rachel could hardly react, closing her eyes and hearing the car doors slamming and opening towards the back. The voices were muffled, lots of screeching radio chatter that made her squirm as men opened the back doors. Rachel tried desperately to reach out for the other women, but was dragged by her leg and her limp body slammed onto a soft leather gurney. She could vaguely hear a woman barking orders, turning her head to see Shirley and her mom placed in separate beds, going into different rooms. 

Every time Rachel opened her eyes, it was in an entirely new setting. The warehouse environment looked abandoned, rusted, and lacked any lighting to support the place. She could faintly make out figures in lab coats looming over her, discussing vague medical terms she could hardly comprehend. They stretched one of her eyelids and flashed a bright light towards her, making her flinch, eyes watery, and pupils dilated, seeing her slightly conscious and taking notes. She tries desperately to shrink her way out, but her powers have failed her, leaving her vulnerable. 

Riding across the hallways, she could vaguely see a figure resembling Shirley beside her before taking her to another room. She tried to reach over, but her hands were tied, one chained to the gurney, and the other suspended in the air. From the corner of her eye, she could see a vague glow and hear a woman screaming in pain before passing out once more.

“-gaining consciousness…” Rachel heard the woman again as another figure approached with a syringe.

“Keep sedating her and start the draw.” A soft, deeper-voiced man instructed, with Rachel slowly regaining strength, trying to fight as a doctor cuts a piece of her costume, exposing her wrist and veins.

“Shhh, it’s almost done, just a pinch…” The woman cooed, slowly caressing Rachel’s hair before pricking her. She winced, feeling the cold needle invade her, liquid pulsating inside her arm and making her vision blurry.

“No…please.” Rachel softly cried out, tearing up before being put back to sleep, rendering her useless. 

She continued to wake up periodically, hearing the vague beeping of a machine and harsh lights burning her, making her sweat, and her face was crusted. Her breathing was hoarse, wheezing with her breath she took. She couldn’t move around with metal cuffs cutting into her arms and legs, and the medical tubes across her arm, feeling the blood being drawn. Rachel wanted desperately to cry out for help, but didn’t have the mobility or strength in her, being a mere voyeur in her own body.

Rachel could vaguely hear arguing from the woman and doctor, something about keeping someone alive and Goliath, trying to put the two together.

“SHE MUST SEE OUR CAUSE, AMANDA! If we act hastily, she won’t help! Keep running tests on her!” He argued, barely making out the words as they continued to bicker, making the woman storm out of the room. The doctor sighed, looking over the comatose Rachel, and fixed his composure before approaching her.

“Rest up, dear. We have big plans for you and our other guests.” He assures Rachel, removing her glasses and wiping the sweat off her face. Rachel subtly turned away from his touch, feeling invaded as he went to a machine to inject more sedative fluid inside her, making her unconscious.

As Rachel regained consciousness, her heavy eyes opened up to a bigger, darker room with only a lamp beside her. Her skin was pale from the extensive blood drawn from her, feeling a loss of circulation in her legs from the cuffs, and an overall sense of grime from the sweat. Alongside the medical machinery was a TV sitting in front, faintly playing some local news. Finding herself alone, she clenches herself together, straining as she tries to break away from the chains, desperately envisioning herself shrinking out of them.

“Tonight, teenagers across town come together for the homecoming dance, being sponsored by Parvulus Industries. Rumors speculate that CEO Mr. Price is to present opportunities for students and the re-launch of Project Go-”

The TV shuts off as a door slowly opens for someone in the shadows. 

“I wouldn’t waste your time breaking free. You’re gonna need to conserve your abilities and strength.” The soft, yet deep voice warns her before shutting the door.

Rachel could hear the keys clanging off as they approached closer to her, revealing themself to the light. They were on the shorter side with grey hair, an arch in their posture, and a hanging lab coat over them, the typical mad scientist aesthetic.

“Welcome back, Miss Shrinking Rae, or do you prefer Rachel?” He asked, with Rachel remaining silent.

“Fair enough, I was just being courteous.” He starts, looking over his notes and examining Rachel’s exhausted physique. 

“Dr. Charles Adler, former head of MicrOrganics.” He properly introduces himself, handing Rachel a worn, crinkled business card that has seen better days. Rachel’s eyes briefly open, faintly recalling that name, barely able to read it from her chained, swollen hand.

“You might not recognize me or my company, but I know all about you.” Dr. Adler confidently assures Rachel, bring forward a board full of red strings and a collage of photos connecting Rachel’s family to Parvulus and Maryland. 

Rachel could make out the headlines she had made over the years, starting with her first bank robbery to the recent foster care fire. She could also see Brennan’s face scribbled out, labeling him as a traitor and x’s across his eyes. Finally, she made her way towards a vintage photo of the original MicrOrganics team, a time capsule of a younger, optimistic Adler and Price. As she glanced at the collage, she could faintly recognize a younger Ray looming by the side, away from the crowd.

“Ah, yes, your father. He’s been a part of this, too.” Dr. Adler explained, taking the photo and looking over it for nostalgia. Rachel was confused but what he meant, her whole world spinning in disbelief.

“M-My dad?” Rachel faintly muttered, darting across the board, wanting to stretch herself to get a better look, but was stuck in place. 

“Let’s begin back in the nineties.” Dr. Adler promptly brings out a VHS from his coat, inserting it into the VCR, hearing the machinery operating and high-pitched ringing tracking the cassette. The video starts distorted, cheesy music picking up as the MicrOrganics logo is plastered front and center with shoddy CGI.

“The future has never looked brighter at MicrOrganics Industries, where thinking big is our company motto.” A peppy narrator introduces, showing off a glamorous building with various lab coats talking amongst each other as the narration continues. 

“The Cold War had ended, the Berlin Wall came down, and science was prospering, thanks to government funding.” He continues, faintly smiling from the memories flooding back to him, watching old employees working on experiments involving matter shrinking. 

“I believed in a better tomorrow, where humans can outshine the capes in the sky. While the costumed people focused on the big, world-ending threats, I wanted to tackle the issues that plagued modern man. Hunger, housing, war.” He continued, gesturing with his hands in the air with faint excitement. Rachel could only observe the video, seeing an old interview from a younger, more optimistic Amanda alongside a man holding her belly from behind, evidently with a slight bump.

“Our family believes in big change through small solutions at MicrOrganics!” The two announced unsynchronously, giggling from the blooper before leaning back for a kiss. 

“I saw a narrow way through, with the use of size-manipulating particles I had produced. A temporary, amateur fix, but it led to being commissioned by the government for use in warfare. However, as I kept thinking bigger, the ideas became too high a risk to put money into.” Dr. Adler’s eyes were glued to the screen, sighing as he saw a cartoon depict a portion of steak grow ten times in size. A dream only existing in animation. 

“Begrudgingly, I couldn’t have done it all without the help of Brennan Price.” His eyes scowled at the TV as Brennan’s chistled, businessman persona encompassed the screen, faintly distorted.  

“Brennan and I became close business partners, where I was the brains, and he the salesman, pitching my ideas to investors. It was a nice system, although we often clashed.” He turned his head away from admitting this, with Rachel perking her head in curiosity.

“What happened between you and Price?” She asked, looking over the board at the scratched photo once more.

“He wanted to rush into the bigger projects, focused on making a profit, ignoring safety protocols. He threatened me with bankruptcy from the loans we took, and unemployment for the hundreds that had become family to me.” He explained bitterly, leaning his head with remorse as he looked over the group photo, shedding a tear.

“Forcing my hand, I agreed to get started on our biggest project we’ve been building towards- Goliath.”

“MicrOrganics. Think Big.” The narrator ends the video as the cassette abruptly finishes, showing white noise on the TV before Adler turns it off. 

“Goliath? Isn’t that the gel? Then wait, why the suit? Why are my dad and I a part of this?” Rachel asked persistently, interrupting the narrative Dr. Adler was setting up, waving his hand towards Rachel’s impatience.

“The gel was merely the byproduct of a bigger vision. A single, versatile element in treating the world's greatest crises.” Dr. Adler explained, looking over the mechanical, rusted suit and his notes.

“And yet, thinking big with Goliath was what cost me everything.” He explained with somber bitterness. 

“The accident. Something with the formula going wrong, right?” Rachel asked, unsure based on testimony from her dad and Brennan. However, Dr. Adler scowls at Rachel, moving towards the board furiously.

“Wrong, it was because of Brennan’s impatience that caused all this!” He slammed his hand toward Brennan’s picture, making Rachel wince from fright before calming down once more. He pulls two VHS tapes from a box, ejecting the previous one. This one was a static, black and white camera footage of a lab, radiating a bright glow. 

“The formula was stable, only offering temporary shrinking, but progressing nonetheless. However, Brennan needed the results to come quicker, desperate to fend off the loan sharks with money we didn’t have.” A figure approaches as it adds more vials into the mix, messing with the machinery. 

“In a desperate bid, he tampered with my vision, pushing it to its breaking point!” He explained over the video. The figure triggered the alarms in the room, quickly running out, and leaving a lanyard behind that was hard to make out. 

“I wasn’t there at that moment, preparing a gift for Amanda’s baby shower in the office. A token of appreciation. However, by the time I came…” The gel glows harshly in the footage, spilling its fluids onto the floor before combusting, cutting the feed short.

“I was too late…” Dr. Adler sighed somberly before ejecting the VHS and placing another. This VHS featured fuzzy news footage from a helicopter of the Maryland factory fire spreading across the surrounding forest, and smoke blurring the camera.

“-at this hour, a chemical fire from startup company, MicrOrganics, has ignited just outside of the freeway, threatening the local wildlife and employees. We’ve gotten an anonymous tip that this started from illegal experimentation under Dr. Charles Adler, head CEO-.”

“Brennan had framed me, playing innocent and using his charisma to manipulate the press that the experiments were my idea.” Dr. Adler explained, clenching his hand into a fist as he fast-forwarded the news coverage.

“-over a hundred people have been confirmed dead, with only a handful surviving. We like to urge viewer discretion as the remains on screen are casualties from the incident.”  The reporter explained, as the camera examined the charred, disfigured bodies, looking similar to the ones Lydia was researching on. In the background, Rachel could hear the wailing of Amanda mourning her dead husband as first responders tried getting her away from his torn body, with a younger Adler comforting her.

“Casualties, they called them, not even saying the names taken from him.” Dr Adler couldn’t look, skipping ahead to when a debris-covered Brennan is interviewed on camera, wiping a tear before saying a word.

“ The events here today could’ve been avoided if it wasn’t for Dr. Adler’s inaction for safety and results. As his protege, I would like to extend my deepest sympath-” Brennan explains to the media, hearing footsteps, aggressively approached him from behind.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH-” Dr. Adler calls him out, pummeling Brennan and making a big scene with the media. The POV camera quickly rushes the two fighting as extra hands come in to break them up, shouting “GET HIM OFF!”, “CUT THE FEED!” before the news cuts to a rainbow test card alongside a beeping sound. Rachel was speechless, with a faint tear dripping from the overload of trauma inflicted on her. Her throat tightened seeing it unfold before her eyes, feeling a sense of guilt from a mess she wasn’t involved in, and yet her life revolved around it.  

“That emotional outburst was all they needed to clear Brennan’s name, despite the evidence being clear as day.” He mournfully finishes his rant, ejecting the last tape and dumping it back into the box of disregarded evidence. 

“I tried to find a way back in the public’s good graces, but was completely shut down. Coincidentally, however, Brennan had started a new company from the fallout, having created a gel from the incident that was inferior to my original formula. Only providing temporary pleasure that had people come back for more.” He sat back down, frustrated and tired, resting his hand on his head to cover his emotions. Rachel felt betrayed by the company that raised her family, feeling the blood on her hands from cashing in the checks, and breathing heavily from anger.

“So if the gel was created from the accident, does that mean Brennan had been profiting off their corpses for years, slapping my name over them?!? Is that why I’m here? So you can get your revenge?” Rachel asked furiously, wondering if that was the connecting piece to all this.

“You’re here because you are Goliath realized.” Dr. Adler explained, leaving Rachel confused by what she had meant, wondering how long she had been under his radar.

“I studied all the previous survivors within close range, looking into how the radiation had affected them. Most had died from internal sickness, but your father remained strong, healthy.” Dr. Adler explained, pointing towards the board with Ray prominent, pulling up his file and scrambled notes tied together.

“I hypothesized that the exposure to the tampered formula might’ve given him some sort of side effect, maybe potential super powers.” He recalls, remembering how bright Ray looked at the possibilities of being someone important.

“As time passed, he showed no results and disregarded him, leaving him with only the false promise of greater purpose.” He sighed, with Rachel looking with remorse, remembering the harsh words she had told her father that rang true. 

“I thought nothing of it and moved on. Until I saw you on live TV fighting bad guys in some amateur costume.” He glanced at the board once more, seeing a youthful Shrinking Rae fighting criminals with a smile, making Rachel uncomfortable from being stalked her whole life.

“The way you shrank and expanded instantly, no gel or substances required. I took note of your every exploit until I saw your image plastered on his company. You have this unseen potential festering inside you, but he stunted you into a cheap marketing prop.” Dr. Adler continued, turning his head away and judging Rachel, seeing the corporate-owned Rae lose her glimmer over time. 

“Not like I had a choice being someone’s product.” Rachel muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Ah, and yet you never fought against it when your parents cashed the checks and slapped your logo on lunchboxes?” He questioned her inaction, with Rachel scowling her eyes at him in frustration.

“I’ve done more for this town than you’ll ever know. All I’ve ever done was try to prove myself to people, and I don’t owe you or anyone a damn thing!” Rachel argued, wanting to stretch and fight her way out, but only tightened the bond to her bed. She felt the tingling sensation on her left arm from being raised for so long, and the needle penetrating her that made her wince. 

“You really don’t have the slightest idea how much power you biologically inherit?” Dr. Adler shook his head, tossing her his scribbled notes that yielded positive results among biological matter.

“Your blood is the key to saving millions!” Dr. Adler emphasized, holding onto the bag that was pumping her blood. Rachel’s eyes widened in disbelief, never realizing her true potential.

“It’s pure, brimming with raw, dangerous power! But if I can properly stabilize it with his gel, you can save the world in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine.” He caressed the bag with pride, sloshing the blood as Rachel was turning paler from the information and drainage.

“I must thank you, Rachel. If your life hadn’t been publicised, I would’ve never found the motivation to find my way back and atone for past sins. I would’ve never realized that the formula was sitting beside me. That’s why I need you, Rachel, to fulfill your true purpose. All I need is your cooperation.” He asked with a soft, artificial compassion, holding onto her shoulders like a proud father. Rachel turned away from the sudden proposition, realizing the implications of being owned by another conglomerate. 

“So that’s it. You plan to make me your glorified blood bank?”

“I know this must seem too much for you, but your blood would be rendered useless if we don’t stabilize it soon!” He begs her, cradling her hand in his to emphasize his point, but can see she is being stubborn, pulling away. 

“I didn’t want to come to this, involving the little girl and her mother…” He begins ominously going towards the light switch on the side.

“But perhaps you can use some persuasion…” He suggested, turning on one flickering light towards the end of the room to reveal a hooded and bound Shirley, looking around, and her muffled cries for help. 

“Shirley!” Rachel cries out, violently trying to fight her way out of the cuffs, but only made her situation worse by making the cuffs cut a piece of her wrist, making it bleed. Meanwhile, Dr. Adler goes to his drawer and pulls out a vial of the Parvulus gel, walking towards Shirley to remove her hood and ripping the tape off her mouth.

“Rachel! I’m scared!” Shirley cries out, having been surrounded in darkness ever since she came.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!?” Rachel angrily asks the doctor, wanting desperately to be free.

“It’s not what I haven’t done to the little one you should be worried about…” He responds, pausing as he goes towards the back of the room to trigger a garage door to open, emitting a bright glow. Rachel could barely make it out, but could hear wet, gasping breaths from inside the garage. 

“It’s what's gonna happen if you don’t start cooperating.” He continued sinisterly, turning on the light to reveal a deformed Lydia inside a tube. Parts of her limbs had been elongated or shrunk, her head swollen, and covered in the foul substance. Lydia cried out in horror, her reality distorted in a living nightmare.

“MOMMY!” Shirley cried out, trying to escape from her chains with her high-pitched screams filling the room. She tried leaping forward but only made her fall headfirst onto the hard floor.

“You bastard. You keep presenting yourself as superior to Brennan, and yet, you experiment on innocent people out of pettiness!” Rachel questioned him, with Adler angered by the comparison, going over to Shirley.

“I am NOTHING like that man!” He retorts, violently picking up Shirley from the floor and positioning her chair towards her mother, wincing in pain from Adler’s domineering touch, wiping the blood and snot from her nose. 

“Because, unlike him or your parents, I am offering you, the hero, a choice. To be the savior you believe yourself to be.” Dr. Adler continued, moving towards Rachel and looming his disturbing presence over her.

“Dozens have already died getting here. Don’t let their deaths go to waste.” He whispered harshly, reaching over to Rachel’s head to make her confront her choice.

“And I am not above dissecting on women and children in the name of science.” He threatened, positioning Rachel’s head to make her look at a crying Shirley and the mishapened Lydia.

“Otherwise, I would have to put her out of her misery and make her watch.” He hints, flashing his pistol at Rachel. Lydia continues to cry from the immense pain, shedding a tear as she could barely hear her daughter crying and bloodied from her bruised eyes. 

“Rachel, please! Don’t let him hurt my mom!” Shirley cried out, worried for her. Rachel reflects on what she’s sacrificing, but it would all be worth it for Shirley’s sake. She nods her head in agreement.

“Okay.” Rachel muttered, too tired and numb to keep fighting. Adler leaned in close in a gloating, smug manner. 

“Is that a yes? I’m gonna need verbal consent before continu-” As he continued to linger his actions, Rachel spat a glob of saliva and mucus towards his face, but had only made it onto her cut right hand, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

“Very well.” He huffed, pulling the tube from her wrist and mixing an ounce of her blood and the gel from the vial, shaking it in his hand. The mixture created a purple glow, flicking it to ignite a reaction before he walked towards Shirley in a chilling, confident manner.

“Shh, it’s okay, sweetie. Your mom is gonna be just fine.” He assures her, wiping the tears off her as he opens the test tube with his handprint. Dr. Adler approaches the frightened Lydia and injects her with the mixture. Wincing from the needle insertion, her overgrown, inflamed limbs began to slowly deflate back to normal. The glow on her skin begins to fade away as Lydia shivers, feeling her bones contort to their original spot. Her vision became blurry as her swollen head adjusted itself. Rachel and Shirley watched in awe and horror seeing the once deformed Lydia returned to her normal figure. There was silence in the room, with Dr. Adler smiling in tears at his accomplishment, having achieved his lifelong dream. Lydia slumped from her chair, unconscious and muttering her daughter’s name in a dazed state. 

“Do you girls see…the lives we can save with this…” He starts, placing the syringe by the side of his work table. 

“With this new formula, we can reproduce this on a global scale and expose the fraud that Brennan and his fraudulent formula have always been!” Dr. Adler gleefully gloats, ready to make them pay for their decade-long sin.

“We?” Rachel asked, confused by what he had meant.

“All of you, the girl, her mom, and you. You’ve all played a part in this achievement that I couldn’t in good conscious separate you. You’ll be like a family together.” He said with a proud yet sinister grin, hugging the frightened Shirley to illustrate the bond between them.

“That wasn’t part of our deal!” Rachel angrily retorts, feeling her hand cuff tighten, but also a bit slippery from the mixture of saliva and blood on her hand. Her head started spinning, realizing a way out.

“The deal was to keep them safe in exchange for your cooperation, but if I let Ms. Hayes out in the world, who’s to say that she would suffer side effects that only I can treat?” Dr. Adler argues, displaying a fragile Lydia to Rachel before glancing at Shirley.

“And to think the psychological trauma this poor child would be suffering if I separate her mother and her hero.” He persisted, caressing Shirley, who was emotionally frayed to even speak or react. Rachel tried thinking of her options, looking at her slobbered hand, seeing her blood trickle onto the floor, having a faint idea.

“Well, if it’s to be this way, doctor, I want you to be the one to put me out of my misery,” Rachel begged, with Shirley distraught, hearing Rachel giving up.

“No, Rachel! Don’t give up! Please!” Shirley begs before Adler grabs some duct tape to silence her whining. Shirley persisted despite being gagged, tearing up as she tried looking over Rachel from behind.

“It’s like I told you, I’m just a blood bank. I’ll be handing the keys to you, Shirley.” Rachel assures her, with the girl caught off guard by the phrasing.

“You hear me, handing it.” Rachel emphasized once more, with Shirley confused by what she had meant. As she tried moving her arms, she noticed the chains tangling with each other, causing a brief strain. It dawned on her what Rachel was trying to tell her, tinkered away with her hands. Dr. Adler paid no attention to her words, preparing the anesthetic to put Rachel in an eternal sleep.

“Well, if this is what you desire, dear. Then I shall provide you with a goodnight kiss.” He teased, flashing the syringe towards the pale, blood-drawn girl.

“You’ll finally have more purpose than for just your shrinking.” Dr. Adler gloats, grabbing Rachel’s left arm, suspending it in the air, making her wince from the numbing sensation. As he prepares to prick her for the last time, Rachel clears her throat, alerting his attention to her.

“You know, before I go to sleep, I have a few things I want to clear up.” Rachel starts, confusing Adler, raising his eyebrow in intrigue.

“Go on.”

“For starters, despite the pain my parents caused me, they offered me some pretty decent advice. Namely, three” Rachel starts, playing with her right, lubricated hand, applying pressure on her index finger to dislocate it.

“One, they taught me to break my body for survival.” 

SNAP!

Rachel grits her teeth, feeling the tendon from her finger break off, making her hand swollen, fighting through the pain. Shirley continued to play with her hands, getting the chains to strain once more.

“Two, my mother taught a girl to…” Rachel continued, using her shaky hand to hug onto her thumb and squeeze it tightly as it- 

CRACKLE!

“SMILE through the pain…” Rachel groaned, nearly tearing up from the high sensitivity of her hand flaring up, feeling her fingers tear through her skin. Shirley tries pulling on the interlocked chains, on the verge of breaking them apart.  

“And what was the third thing?” He asked, with the syringe inches away from her left arm as Rachel leaned in close to him, pressing her right middle finger on the railing for the final part of her plan.

“When in doubt, just shut…the fuck…up.” Rachel whimpered with a defiant smile as she slammed her broken right middle finger down, making it-

POP!

As Rachel had contorted her fingers, popping them from the bone. Shirley snapped the chains off, breaking her arms free and slipping to the floor, alerting Adler. He turns his head towards the girl, not noticing Rachel slipping out of her cuffs, nearly degloving her hand with skin scraping off. With her bloody, swollen hand free, she lodges the syringe into his chest, with Adler groaning from the pain. Before he could react, Rachel painfully used her palm to plunge the sedative into him, causing him nausea and numbness. He tries to fight Rachel, but his body turns against him, with Rachel hearing the keys in his coat, grabbing them. 

“Clever…girl,” Dr. Adler compliments as Rachel yanks his coat off him to slam his body towards his desk. Rachel looked down at him with disgust before writhing in pain from her hand. Three of her fingers had been dislocated, with parts of her skin raw from the cuts and bleeding, shaking from the intensity. With the keys in hand, she tried holding onto them to break free from the chains, slowly releasing herself from the medical bondage. With her arms and legs free, she tries sitting up, suffering from body aches as she pushes herself to walk before collapsing onto the floor from her legs falling asleep from lack of circulation. 

“C’mon, Rachel…Don’t give up now.” She told herself, crawling towards the fallen Shirley, trying to turn her body towards Rachel, struggling with mobility from her chained legs. Rachel sat up slowly, freeing Shirley from the chair with the keys.

“You did a good job buying me some time, Shirley.” She softly compliments a bloodied Shirley, looking over her teary face before peeling off the duct tape. The two stared at each other in silence, mouths slightly adjacent from unspoken words, and eyes averted yet locking into each other. Rachel felt the resentment glaring off the girl, feeling guilty for bringing them into this mess and for everything she put her through at the hospital.

“S-Shirley, I-” Before Rachel could say anything, Shirley instinctively reached out for a hug, stunning Rachel. Shirley didn’t say a word, but rather held onto her tightly, sniffling and wailing into Rachel, relieved she was okay. Rachel could feel Shirley’s tears pressed onto her chest, with the girl not wanting to let her go. Rachel sighed in relief as she let her emotions take her, bringing Shirley closer and tearing up alongside her.

“I’m so sorry,” Rachel whispered repeatedly, holding onto her hair to assure her that she was safe. Shirley pulls away, wiping the remaining tears off her face.

“I knew you’d come back.” Shirley said with a weak smile, with Rachel smiling back before the two looked over at the slumped-over Lydia. Rachel stood up to inspect her, seeing her medical gown slightly torn and her body twitching. She looks around the room to see a folded wheelchair on the side.

“Shirley, grab that wheelchair, we’re gonna need to carry her out of here.” Rachel instructs, with Shirley following suit. The wheelchair was squeaky, with one leg barely touching the floor, as Shirley tried to keep quiet, rolling it over to Rachel. 

As Rachel tries to hoist the unconscious Lydia to the chair, her flared hand is giving out, making her wince in shock, trying to push through.

“Your hand.” Shirley noticed, but Rachel was too focused to care about her needs.

“I’ll be fine, just need to give it some rest.” Rachel groaned, trying to remain optimistic in front of the little girl. Shirley helped Rachel position Lydia into the chair, giving her hand some rest. Rachel and Shirley both strained themselves to steer Lydia out, but as they were about to leave, Rachel looked over the box of evidence Adler had collected, thinking about the damage Brennan had caused to her family and innocent lives. She goes over to grab the hefty box, slowly pulling bits off the board, and placing it inside. Rachel briefly examined the leaking blood bag, going towards it and spilling the remaining pints onto the floor, rendering it useless for Adler and his team. 

“What are you doing?” Shirley asked, confused, seeing Rachel strain herself for the box.

“Exposing Parvulus…but on my terms.” Rachel groaned, setting the box on Lydia, who barely reacted.

“Let’s move.” She continued, affirming her plans before the three of them quietly made it out of the room. However, Dr. Adler wasn’t completely unconscious, slowly twitching his fingers in agony to bring some semblance of control. The doctor slumped his weak body towards his coat, dragging himself forward to reach for the radio. 

As they make their way across the dark hallway, they go towards an elevator, creaking open and shining the only bright light in the room. Going inside, they squint their eyes from the intense lighting and realize that they are seven stories underground. 

“Can we go home after this?” Shirley asked, hugging onto Rachel, as she tried formulating a plan. Before she could speak, the elevator jolted midway towards the third level, blaring out a high-pitched alarm. The sudden stop and darkness startled Shirley, and she whimpered as she nearly tripped on the floor.

Meanwhile, using the last bit of strength, Dr. Adler pressed the middle button, bringing his radio closer to speak. 

“Ff…Find….them.” He ordered, slurring his words across the building through the loud, metallic speakers. 

“Rachel?” Shirley softly called for her, squirming as she could hear men swarming the stairs from outside, trapping them inside the tight space. Frightened for their lives with limited options, she could only softly look down with a weak smile of assurance. 

“Y-yeah, but we’re gonna have to fight our way out of here.” Rachel explained hesitantly, raising her fragile fists in the air, shaking for the fight ahead. 

Chapter Text

Whenever Amanda picks up the bottle, she often yearns to go back to the last time she truly believed in a better tomorrow. Through her beer goggles, she can still envision the sterile yet welcoming environment of her baby shower, the last time she was happy. She can still hear the applause, her co-workers mingling, and her darling husband beside her, caressing her baby bump. It was a dream come true with a bright future ahead. However, she often woke up hearing the screeching alarms go off before waking up to a- 

GASP.

Amanda groaned, fixing herself up from slouching by the monitors, not noticing the captives escaping. Her head was groggy, spinning as she tried to adjust to her barren reality, looking at a half-empty bottle in resentment. However, her self-loathing was cut short as the speakers picked up on white noise, hearing a deep, distinct slurring. She checked her monitors to see Adler slumped on the floor with a destroyed room.

“Ff…find…them…” Adler commanded across the building, with Amanda setting the building into code red. The lights flashed a dark red, alarms screeching as the gunman began assembling. Amanda rushed towards the stairs, stumbling onto the walls, fighting her body to straighten herself before reaching her radio.

“Requesting all hands! We have…a breach! Check all floors!” Amanda calls out on the radio. The men began marching their way down the stairs, knocking down every room in sight as they descended deeper. They tried reaching the elevator, but it remained stalled and suspended mid-ascent. 

Meanwhile, the girls remained trapped inside, with Rachel jittering from the low energy and blood continuing to seep into her torn suit. It hurt raising her arms in the air, feeling one hand flare up from the dislocated fingers and the other weak from the blood loss. Despite the fear festering inside her, Rachel tried to keep a brave outlook for Shirley, holding onto her side for support. They could hear the men stomp across the building, surrounding their floor. With no escape in sight, Rachel looks towards the ceiling, seeing a faint hatch underneath. Remaining silent, she grabs Lydia’s wheelchair and positions her to the side near the railing.

“What are you doing?” Shirley asked, confused and concerned that Rachel was climbing over her mom. Rachel’s legs were shaking from the unstable platform she had made for herself, nearly tiptoeing just to reach.

“Gonna…buy us…some time…” Rachel answered with a tight breath, using her free hand to the ceiling tile off to reveal the emergency hatch. Rachel’s body flickered, dripping some blood and sweat onto the floor, and instinctively shrank a few inches.

“Dammit.” Rachel groaned, trying to grow back to normal size, which became a painful process. Shirley held onto the wheelchair, trying to stabilize it for Rachel.

“Thank you.” Rachel looked down in admiration before pushing herself out of the tight hatch and onto the top of the elevator. She saw how they were halfway through a floor, seeing some vents she could climb into, dreading it.

“I’ll try not to take long. Shirley, do you remember the self-defense I taught you?” Rachel asked, hesitant to leave Shirley in a dark room with her mom.

“Yeah, I punched my bully in the throat like you taught me. And even bit them too!” Shirley smiled, beaming with pride. Rachel blinked in disbelief, concerned for the oncoming gunmen.

“That…works, too. Remember to aim for their pants, too.” Rachel advised, with Shirley smiling at the suggestion, giving a thumbs up. Rachel grabs hold of the metallic rope, straining herself to climb up, but falls back due to the limited strength of her one arm. Rachel slams herself back, jolting the elevator and causing the vibrating wire to echo across the building. 

“Agh, shit!” Rachel muttered, trying not to raise attention. Meanwhile, the gunmen heard the vibration and fixed their formation towards the sound. They were tactical and precise, moving in a hive with guns aimed and ready to strike.

“Be careful!” Shirley warned, worried for Rachel’s well-being. However, Rachel shook off the pain, going to the nearby wall and raising her shaking, broken hand.

“Don’t worry, Shirley…” She plays off her pain, cracking a shaky, confident grin. 

“Wait until you see the other guys.” She assures her before punching the wall hard, manually positioning her fingers back into their sockets. Rachel held in her scream, gritting her teeth, and tearing up, as she felt the sudden pop of the fingers. She squeezes them together to reset the nerves and mobility. After a deep breath, she has a better time climbing onto the rope, hopping onto the nearest vent before attempting to shrink once more, jumping mid-air towards the narrow opening. 

Amanda makes her way to the final floor, opening up to a messy laboratory, and the doctor wheezing on the floor. She tries not to slip on the spilled blood, hoisting Adler onto the gurney before going into the drawer for the Narcan. Administering the antidote for the sedated doctor, she inserts the nasal tip and squeezes it, reviving the doctor to a conscious state.

“Amanda…” He calls out, holding out for her tenderly, coughing as he could taste the bitter fluid down his throat. 

“They mustn’t escape…” He instructs, flashing his pistol towards her to take it. Amanda nods her head, grabs it, and checks the ammo. Before she can go, Adler grabs onto her with final instructions. 

“Do what you must… but keep Rachel alive…broken if you must.” He instructs, with Amanda struggling with the temptation to end this.

“Remember…what his sacrifice made possible.” Adler finishes before passing out, with Amanda softly tearing up, hearing the screams linger in her head. Amanda only saw red, grabbing onto the radio to relay Adler’s message and fixing the TV for Adler.

“If you find them, kill the girl and her mom…” She instructs, pausing on the final part.

“Leave the shrinking brat for me.” She ends ominously before cocking her gun once more, letting the alcohol and rage take over. 

Rachel dragged herself across the metallic walls, squirming into the tight space, and left a blood trail. She looks down below, seeing the gunmen surrounding the elevator, ready to pry it open. Using the intercom, the head gunman relays a message to the girl inside.

“Alright, ladies, we've got you surrounded. If the shrinking asset complies, we can guarantee your safety.” The message blared inside, with Shirley holding onto Lydia, remaining silent.

“Last chance, we can make this easier than it needs to be.” He asks once again, pressing a button to bring the elevator to their level. The other gunman readied their guns as they used a crowbar and positioned it between the electronic doors. 

“Alright, I hope you're ready, hero .” He taunts Rachel.

“When you are.” She whispered bitterly, suppressing the pain by squeezing her flared hand and waiting for the right moment to strike.

Shirley continuously presses the close door button to stall for Rachel.

“Shrinking Rae, please.” She whispered her name repeatedly, praying for a miracle. 

Outside, the crowbar wedged between the heavy doors, prying them slightly open before the men were startled by a piece of the vent dropping down to the floor, with Rachel slinking out and landing on her knees. Crouching down with her hand supporting her, the men turned around to see a bloodied Shrinking Rae ready for battle.

Whipping out their batons and knives, they charged at Rachel through the tight hallway, with Rachel screeching towards them in an adrenaline rush. Rachel lunged forward at her first opponent, utilizing her legs and flexibility to launch a swift kick to their face. Knocking him back, the others began to swarm the girl, trying to grab hold of her, but she was quick in her movements, delivering minimal punches, fighting through her pain. She had some momentum going before a man grabbed onto her hair, yanking her back and restraining her with his arm around her neck. She tries kicking any man who approaches her in a panic-stricken frenzy. Her windpipe squeezed tighter, her movements desperate, as the man suppressed her to radio his superiors.

“The asset is contained, my men are working on eliminating the other-.” He signals, with Rachel looking at the elevator, fearing for Shirley and Lydia, and sinking her teeth into his bare arm.

“AGH, BITCH!” He cried in pain as Rachel viciously tore chunks of his skin, loosening his grip. She hits her head back, breaking his nose, and slinks out of his arm. Free from his grasp, she spits out skin and hair follicles before making her way towards the elevator, sliding and jumping over them as much as she can, feeling them pull her back. 

As Rachel fought the dozen men, Shirley tried defending her mom, violently grabbing hold of the crowbar sticking inside as the men slowly opened the door.

“Easy, girl, no one’s gonna hurt you…” He said with a soft voice, crouching and hiding his gun behind him. Shirley saw through his false promises, seeing an opening between his legs, and gave it an effective kick. 

He drops the crowbar from the pain, instinctively pulling his gun towards Shirley. Quickly ducking from the barrel, Shirley picks up the crowbar to whack the gun out of the way, causing a loud-

BANG!

“SHIRLEY!” Rachel screamed, panicking as she quickly rushed towards the elevator, crawling to the floor. She tried pushing herself across, feeling the batons beating her down and knives slicing through her legs. Despite the bleeding, she limped across the hall, swaying across the walls away from the oncoming men.

Shirley uses her new weapon to swing towards the man’s face, slamming him to the concrete and knocking him down. Rachel made it towards the back of the hallway, seeing Shirley carrying a bloodied crowbar over an unconscious gunman, softly breaking a broken smile. 

“Nice work.” Rachel compliments, panting in between breaths, holding onto her side. Their meeting was as short as a soldier using his baton, ready to strike.

“Behind you!” Shirley cried out, with Rachel elbowing his side, but got stuck on her shoulder, yelping from the impact. The man straddles, preparing to strike her once more, but Shirley tosses the crowbar to Rachel to give her a fighting chance. She grabs hold of it and whacks him in the head, pushing him off her. Utilizing the weaponry, she holds onto the crowbar and the unused baton, raising them in the air, ready to face the remaining horde.

“Shirley, take your mother into one of the rooms and lock it!” She commands as Shirley attempts to push the heavy chair towards the nearest room. Rachel quickly launched herself into the fray, using her melee weapons to strike down at the remaining men. The men try overwhelming her, using their batons to strike across her body, but she tries deflecting as much as she can, remembering the fencing classes her parents signed up for.

As Rachel buys time, Shirley pushes Lydia into one of the dark rooms, shutting the door behind them and catching her breath. Inside, there was that distinct blue glow in the corner of the room, hearing deep, ominous groans with Lydia slowly reacting towards her environment.

“S-Shirl…ey?” Lydia softly cried out, not having the strength to open her eyes to see her daughter.

“It’s okay, mommy…I got you.” Shirley assured softly, going to find the switch to activate the light. However, she instead triggered lights on the southern end, revealing the source of the glow.

“Oh, god…” Lydia groaned, clenching up from where they were, with bad memories flooding back, revealing several disfigured inhabitants in test pods. They lay on the restrained bedding, looking towards the two women, trying to vocalize for their aid. Despite the intense imagery, Shirley hesitantly approaches them.

“S-Shirley, wait!” Lydia begged, trying to steer her wheelchair, but struggled to push forward from her limited strength. As Shirley got a better view, she could see the men inside, heads swollen, arms elongated and contorted. Shirley looked over the table, seeing their ID of being guards of the local high school and more of the damned gel. One of the men banged his hand on the glass with his long fingers trailing on the glass.

“HhhhhhhhhEELP….USsssssss”  He begged, slurring his pleas with the other crying out in pain. Shirley squirmed at the sight, but nodded her head.

“I-I’ll try…” She hesitantly promised them.

“Shrinking Rae’s here. We’ll come back. I promise.” Shirley continued, turning away slightly and sniffling as Lydia approached her.

“Shirley…” Lydia called out, concerned for her daughter’s well-being.

“We can’t just leave them here! They have families, too!” Shirley tears up, thinking about how close she came to losing her mother. Lydia brought her close for a hug, stroking her hair to comfort her, silencing her fears.

“I know, baby. I know.” Lydia softly soothes her as she looks over the table, seeing the gel taunting them.

“We need to take the gel out.” Lydia wheeled toward the table, grabbed the vials of gel in her hands, and placed them into the box. 

Outside, Rachel felt her arms slowly give out, muscles burning, and strength depleting. Feeling the heaviness of her weapons, she tosses the baton towards one of the oncoming men and relies solely on her crowbar, swinging it across. As one tries grabbing onto her hands, she jabs at him with the crowbar, pinning his neck and scraping him across the wall. She continued to swing her crowbar around, utilizing her legs to leap towards them. She wrapped her legs around one of their waists, continuously punting him with it before tossing him to the side. With four men left to deal with, she skittishly stood her ground, having a loose grip on the crowbar.

“You tired yet?” One of the men asked, surrounding a bloodied Rachel, barely holding onto her crowbar. Before Rachel could answer, her body flickered as she significantly shrank, feeling her powers slowly kick back in. 

“Still got a few tricks up my sleeve.” She cracked a devilish smile, dropping the heavy crowbar to the floor. The men charged once more, but she shrank out of sight before reappearing with a swift kick to the chest, launching one of them back to a vending machine, shattering glass that pierced them. Landing on her feet, she sees one of them with a knife in their hand, ready to take a stab at her. Rachel shrank back once more, crawling onto his arm before growing full size and snapping his arm back, making a loud crack and dislocating it. The man shrieked in pain, dropping the knife as Rachel elbowed his head. Rachel took a breather, kneeling from the surge of pain and exhaustion. 

“Three down…” Rachel looked around, seeing most of the men unconscious or groaning in pain. However, one man tries to get the upper hand, ready to point his gun towards Rachel. However, Rachel shrank down, disappearing before his eyes, and made the last man standing a dead man walking.

“One more…” Rachel whispered to his ear sharply, making him flinch and flay his arms to swat her away. She jumps off, growing full size, and utilizes her legs to wrap around his neck to strangle him unconscious. He tries using his gun, shooting stray bullets that echo across the room before he slowly passes out. Rachel could feel his breath die out, knocking him out before she lay on the floor, taking a deep exhale from the fight. 

Her body was covered in scratches and purple bruises, her face was busted in, her glasses shattered, and her hair frayed from the constant pulling. Her costume was soaked in blood, mainly from the other guys, and torn to shreds. 

“I…really need a break after this…” Rachel groaned, turning into a soft snicker at her comment, barely taking it seriously. She coughed up some blood, tasting the copper trickle down her throat, not able to contain her laughter that echoed across the hall. Her breath rasped from the realization that she just took down a dozen men. Tears dripped from her face from the high adrenaline, mixing laughter and pain before she sighed, trying to maintain her composure. 

Rachel flopped to the side, breath still shuddering, and winced from the intense jolts of pain before she pushed herself up. Spitting a wad of blood to the floor and wiping her lips with her hand, she limped across Shirley’s room, banging her scraped knuckles against the door. 

“Hey, Shirley, it’s safe now. I got th-.” Before Rachel could finish, the side door flew open, with a limping Amanda barging in, gun in hand. The two women locked eyes on each other, with the drunken woman raising her gun, wanting Rachel dead. Rachel narrowly moves out of the way, with Amanda managing to graze Rachel’s arm with a stray bullet, making her cry out. Rachel tossed herself to the floor, holding her bleeding arm, before going forward to fight. 

“Can’t keep them safe!” Amanda hissed, reaching towards the door where the girls were held in, shooting through the lock. Before she could barge in, Rachel knocked her down, grabbing onto Amanda’s wrists to steer the smoking gun away.

“Can’t save…yourself!” Amanda taunts, aiming the gun towards her, with Rachel shrinking out of the way as Amanda unloads the remaining ammo out of frustration. Lydia and Shirley held each other from the loud gunfire outside before hearing a clicking sound. 

“Damn it”, Amanda groaned, quickly sliding another clip to the holster and cocking her gun. Amanda strains herself to get up, her line of vision blurry and aim shot. 

“Come on out and face me, you tiny brat!” Amanda ordered, skittishly looking around the flickering room in a drunken fury. However, as she grew impatient, Rachel grew back to size, lunging her fist directly to her face before disappearing. 

Amanda could feel the harsh impact of her punch, her face stinging from its side. Before she could react, Rachel appeared once, lunging a kick towards her chest, banging her towards the wall with her gun instinctively going-

BANG!

Lydia held onto Shirley, covering her ears from the loud gunfire going off and the fighting.

“Mom, we have to help her!” Shirley pleads, trying to fight her way from her mother’s grasp.

“No, Shirley! She would want you safe!” Lydia detests, desperate to keep hold of her and away from the exposed door.  Despite her protest, Lydia was hesitantly concerned for their savior.

Amanda caught her breath, growing angrier by the minute. As Rachel tried to land another fast punch, Amanda finally caught onto Rachel’s pattern, grabbing onto her ankle mid-size and slamming her miniature body onto the wall hard.

“Insect.” Amanda degrades her, making the tiny Rachel squirm in her hand, crushing her in place. Amanda aimed her gun at Rachel’s head, ready to pull the trigger, as the tiny girl bit onto her finger hard, making it bleed.

Amanda jolts from the pain, dropping the gun and Rachel to the floor. Rachel gasped for air, struggling to grow back to size, roughly growing two feet taller. She tries pushing herself, but Amanda steps hard onto her wounded ankle, making her scream from the crushing pain. Pinning her to the place, Amanda grabs a baton and turns Rachel over, positioning the pole against her neck to choke her.

“You don’t deserve a quick death…” Amanda starts, with Rachel kicking and scratching, desperate to escape her clutches. 

“Not before I leave you with some parting thoughts…” She continues, subtly lifting the baton enough to give her enough air to breathe. Amanda let out a deep exhale, her whole mannerism changed, deflating her hard exterior before Rachel’s eyes. 

“I had so much to give to this world. A future ahead with my husband and a baby on the way.” Amanda starts, with Rachel remembering the woman from the video, feeling guilty. 

“I lost both of them that day.” She continued somberly, subtly pressing onto Rachel’s neck, making the tiny girl gasp, trying to hold in as much air as she could. 

“I tried desperately hard to move on, but I could still smell the smoke from the burnt bodies, the sounds of the sirens, and blood on my hands holding his decaying corpse.” Amanda couldn't hold back her emotions, letting her tears trickle onto Rachel’s face, who tried desperately to get the baton off her. 

“Do you know how hard it is to let that imagery go?” Amanda asked her, who could barely speak, slowly turning purple.

“DO YOU?!?” Amanda angrily asked once more, pressing the baton deeper into Rachel’s windpipe 

“-orry…” Rachel sympathizes repeatedly, barely able to speak, and barely has any fight left in her.

“It seethes inside you, lingers in your deepest moments until your last, dying breath.” Amanda continued, emphasizing every syllable, seeing Rachel’s eyes turn red, tears overflowing.

“When Adler told me all about you and the luxurious life, I looked upon you with jealousy and hatred, seeing your name slapped on that bastard’s stolen accomplishments!” She vents, tearing up in her drunken rant, softly lifting the baton to give Rachel breathing room, heaving heavily. 

“In the end, you were just a tiny girl in an ever-growing world.” Amanda sighed, seeing a frazzled, miniature reflection of herself through Rachel.

“You may have been Adler’s secret achievement to science, but you were the daughter I never had.” Amanda tearfully confessed, letting go of the baton to wipe her tears, sniffling. Rachel softly teared up from the revelation, feeling a heavy burden she didn't know she had. 

“I don’t expect you to pity me now...” Amanda adjusts, taking a breath before shifting back into a colder demeanor.

“Just making sure you send a message when I join you in Hell.” Amanda grips onto the baton, slamming Rachel back down with all her might, only seeing red in her eyes. Rachel desperately tries scratching and kicking while pinned, feeling the air compress and her neck on the verge of snapping. 

“When I'm done killing you…the little girl and her mom will be joining you!” Amanda threatened, pressing harder with Rachel’s eyes softening from the threat.

“Don’t…please…” Rachel begged repeatedly with her remaining breath, eyes rolling back, thinking of Shirley and the promise of protecting her. 

Inside, Shirley and Lydia heard the whole commotion, with Lydia holding Shirley desperately as she fought her grasp.

“Rachel needs us!” Shirley cried out, pushing herself away from her, rushing towards the bullet-ridden door.

“Shirley, wait!” Lydia cried out, desperate to stop her, but could barely push herself. Outside, Rachel’s vision began blurring out, sounds muffled, and her strength depleting. 

“Anything you wish to take to your grave, sweetie?” Amanda coldly asked, watching Rachel slowly die in front of her eyes. Before Amanda could see the life fade away, she was startled by the sudden banging of the door, Shirley freezing over the towering Amanda and gun down below her. With the grip loosened, Rachel saw a glimpse of her vague figure.

“…Shirley….” Rachel softly called out, coughing as she extended her arm for her to pass the free gun. Amanda looked over, ready to strike the girl before she slid the gun over to Rachel. 

“Please….look away….” Rachel begged Shirley before aiming the heavy gun towards Amanda and closing her eyes. The woman could barely react before hearing-

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Shirley quickly turns away, closing her eyes shut and covering her ears, hearing the muffled gunfire go off. She drops to the floor, shaking, clenching herself in fear as silence fills the air.

Click. Click. Click.

Rachel continues pulling the trigger, slowly opening her eyes to see the smoke from the gun. Taking a moment to breathe, she drops the empty gun and sees Amanda remain in place. Amanda choked on her blood, not able to speak with bits leaking out from her body, riddled with bullets. The blood trickled down onto Rachel as Amanda slunked her cold body on top of her before her light finally died out. Rachel barely reacted, suffocating from the weight of Amanda pinning her down. 

Shirley turns back to see Rachel struggle to get out, moving Amanda’s body off Rachel with all her might. Despite moving it an inch in the air, it gave Rachel enough room to squirm out from under Amanda. 

Rachel gasped for air, coughing violently, and massaged her throat, feeling the strain from the baton. Rachel leaned onto the wall, letting her tears out, and caught her breath.

“Thank…thank you Shirley…” Rachel said in one breath, trying to adjust to her miniature size before growing back to normal. She winced as the process was painful, feeling her body spasm from the pain and trauma of taking Amanda’s life. As Rachel slowly adjusted to her nightmare surroundings, she saw Shirley freezing over the lifeless body, with her blood trickling onto her feet. 

“Is she…did I- kill…” Shirley couldn't form a sentence, with her breath shaky and fear instilled in her. Tears start overflowing as Rachel quickly gets up and holds onto the frightened girl, shielding her from the body.

“Hey, hey, no, no, no. Listen. Listen to me…” Rachel softly starts, crouching down and holding Shirley’s face to wipe the tears with her bloody hands.

“You didn't do this. I did this. I killed her, okay?” Rachel frantically assures her, trying to hold back tears and shift the blame onto her.

“I’m so sorry I got you involved.” Rachel apologizes before softly breaking down, loosening her grip on Shirley’s face.

“N-no. She was…she was hurting-.” Shirley tries to find reasoning for the violence, turning her head to the body, but Rachel quickly guides her worried head towards her.

“No, no, d-don’t look! Look at me! Look at me…” Rachel begged, sighing as she eased her voice.

“It's not your fault. Say it.” Rachel softly affirms her, making sure it's ingrained in her head.

“It's not-it’s not my fault.” Shirley repeats, trying not to break down. 

“Again.”

“It’s not my fault.” Shirley repeats over and over, tears swelling up again as Shirley holds onto Rachel, crying into her chest. Rachel froze as Shirley held onto her, reaching over her and holding her tight, and cried alongside her. Despite her parents' training her to do what must be done, they didn't teach her how to cope or shield others from that burden. The girls slowly stifled their tears, Rachel loosening her grip to check on Shirley.

“Okay, good girl…good girl…” Rachel softly smiled, trying to shift the conversation as she saw the shattered vending machine with candy spilling out of it. Without saying a word, Rachel swoops Shirley off the ground and into her arms, trying not to drop her from her limited strength. 

“Listen, we’re gonna go home, you’re gonna be with your mom, and…” Rachel muttered, limping across the room and onto the vending machine, picking out an assortment of snacks and candy.

“...and play with your dolls and eat all the junk food we want…” Rachel continued as she nudged Shirley to pick out what she wanted, pointing to the sour gummy worms.

“That sounds…nice, right?” Rachel asked, trying to make conversation, with Shirley nodding her head, liking the idea, still sniffling but slowly recovering.

“Good. Let’s go help your mom.” Rachel guides them to Lydia, who is still in a dazed state.

“Oh, thank god you're both alright.” Lydia muttered, with Rachel lowering Shirley to hold onto her mom tenderly. Rachel saw their bond, happy to see them safe for now and together again. However, her head turns over to the test pods, seeing the two subjects.

“We’re not gonna leave them here, are we?” Shirley asked, holding onto Rachel’s side. Rachel didn't say anything at that moment, thinking of how to go about this in her battered state. Despite her desperately wanting to save more people, Rachel knew it would be too much, clenching her fists and taking a breath. 

“I…I cannot take them with us…not like this…” Rachel softly explained, looking over her torn, bloodied self, barely hanging on. Shirley looked down in disappointment, but understood the situation.

“She’s right…” Lydia chimed in, rolling herself towards the girls.

“We need to recoup…and there's more of them than we could ever help right now.” She explained to Shirley, nodding her head and holding onto Rachel. 

“Don’t worry. When this is over, I’ll be back for them.” Rachel promised before making their way out of the room and towards the elevator. The ride up remained silent, with the women tired and frayed from the whole experience but lucky to have survived it together. The door chimes as it opens to the first level’s garage. The atmosphere was quiet, still, with only the hum of the flickering lights keeping company. 

Rachel and Shirley steer Lydia towards one of the SUVs with a window barely cracked open, as Rachel shrank towards the opening and grew into the driver seat. Lowering herself, she pulls the plastic shell holding the wiring, tinkering with it, and with a static spark, the engine roars to life.

“Just like dad taught me.” Rachel thought, trying to remain positive as she opened the door for Shirley, preparing to help Lydia into the backseat.

“Wait…” Lydia muttered, with Rachel pausing to look over her.

“Your blood…they kept more in the freezer here…” She warned, with Rachel hopping over to the large freezer, opening the door to see a dozen bags of her blood that they had taken from her. Her eyes scowled over the bags, feeling violated by the power they took from her, and quickly brought the bags back to the car.

“What about the gel?” Rachel asked, not wanting to leave anything to chance.

“Leave it, it’s useless without your blood…needs time…to stabilize…” Lydia explained, as Rachel buckled her in the seat, with Shirley sitting at the front alongside Rachel, who quickly swerved out of the biological hellscape, ignoring the blood trail she left behind.

Meanwhile, Dr. Adler groaned, ears ringing and lips dry, as he adjusted back to his surroundings. He could vaguely hear the alarms still going off and muffled noises coming from the TV. He squints his eyes to get a better view, seeing Parvulus’ logo on display. 

“With students and investors coming in from across the district, CEO Brennan Price has teased big plans for his 'Goliath' project, and potential scholarships and opportunities for the students. No comments have been made regarding controversies of their mascot, Shrinking R-”

CRASH!

Dr. Adler throws the remote towards the TV in frustration, seeing Brennan and Rachel’s images back to back. The TV hissed as smoke emerged from the broken set. He looked around and saw the lab a bloody mess, everybody gone, and radios making static, dead noises. Looking over to his side, he leans over the bed to grab his radio.

“Amanda, do you copy? Over.” Adler called, remaining static.

“Amanda, it’s Adler. Please respond. Over.” He asked before trying to climb off the bed. He stumbled from the limited strength, limping his way into the mechanical suit that hung by the door. Pushing a few buttons, the metal suit opens up, with the doctor climbing inside it before the suit contorts to his size. Adler could feel the suit squeezing onto his body frame, collapsing onto the floor before pushing himself up. Before he can adjust to the suit, a helmet slides over his head, blocking his vision briefly as the interface comes alive. His breathing adjusts from the suffocating suit before going over to one of the tables to grab a fresh syringe and some gel.

He rushes across the stairs, stomping his way between every room, calling out for his team. It wasn’t until he reached the third level that he got his answer. He saw them unconscious and a bloodied body lying on the floor.

“Amanda!” He cried out, rushing over to it, turning pale as his worst fear had come true.

“No, no, no…not you too.” Dr. Adler whimpered, turning the body around to see the life in her body gone. He held her close to grieve, remembering when she was full of life and had a promising future in biology.

“I’m so sorry…” He apologizes, resentful of the life he had groomed her grief into. He closes her eyes to finally let her rest in peace, letting out a vengeful cry in anguish. As he took a breather, his eyes turned red in rage, rushing towards the first level and seeing everything stripped. All remaining blood samples had been taken or dumped.

“No, not like this…they’ve taken everything from me!” He relents, tossing the empty crates to the side. As the crate bounced onto the floor, he saw remnants of Rachel’s blood trickling onto the floor, seeing a shining light to his plan. He stoops down to the floor, grabbing his syringe to extract the sparse samples. The blood was tainted, not stabilized by their science, but Adler neither had the time nor the patience to complete the process.

“One way or another…!” He mutters, using the remaining gel to create a concoction with the blood, pouring it into the syringe. He vigorously taps it to create a vague purple sludge that doesn’t come close to the perfected formula, with the gel and blood ratio being off. 

“This ends tonight!” He assured quietly, holding the syringe and inserting it into the opening of the suit, wincing from the pricking sensation and the fluid seeping into his skin. The suit glowed from the substance, with Adler screaming in pain, feeling his body contort to the suit. However, his body stopped shrinking, and he felt his body frozen in place.

“W-what’s happening?” He asked, looking at his hand to see it slowly elongate itself. He could feel his muscles stretch, bones growing, and his vision blurring, making him cry out in pain, distorting through the mask. His body expands in size, and his shadow begins to suffocate the room, no longer feeling small, but thinking big. 

Chapter Text

Living in a small town had its pros and cons. One of the least favorite aspects of it is the lack of nearby freeways in town, relying only on the scenic roads. There was barely any lighting outside of the car lights, making Rachel want to take a nap despite the body aches. As she tried closing her eyes, she could barely steer the car properly, swerving across the road. Shirley continuously pats her weary face, startling Rachel every time she dozes off.

“Dammit…sorry…” Rachel groaned, trying to pull herself together.

“Do you want some more gummy worms? They might help…” Shirley offered, and Rachel nodded her head in agreement. The little girl extends her arm to Rachel, slurping up the soft, sticky goodness, wincing as she tries not to move her busted jaw. The ride was silent, stilted, with everyone barely having the energy to push forward. Lydia was lucky to catch some shut-eye as the two girls took over being her guardians. 

“Is it…okay if I put on some music?” Shirley asked hesitantly, with the girl barely registering her question. Rachel’s vision blurs between reality and fantasy, remembering the time when she first stitched the “R” in her first costuming, much to her mother’s approval, before it all went wrong. She pondered if this was the life she truly signed up for: stilted childhood, corporate push, and broken sleep schedule wrapped in spandex. Rachel’s eyes grow heavy, wanting desperately to sleep her worries away. However, the reality quickly hits her in the face, with Shirley vigorously tapping her face before the car swerved towards the grass.

“Rachel? ” Shirley asked, with Rachel quickly hitting the brakes, catching her breath. Lydia groaned as she bounced from her seat, slowly waking up. 

“Are you okay?” Shirley asked, concerned for her. Rachel clenches her dry, bloody fists onto the steering wheel, shaking a bit from nearly crashing the car. 

“Huh, oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Rachel assured, giving a weak smile before fixing herself up.

“And sure. Just not so loud, please.” She grants Shirley, who messes with the knobs, finding a station that carries a good signal. As Rachel continues to drive, Shirley picks up stations on classical music and baseball before finding a news station with a decent signal.

“With students and investors coming in from across the district, CEO Brennan Price has teased big plans for his 'Goliath' project-”

“Right…homecoming, or whatever…” Rachel recalled bitterly, changing the channel and putting on a static pop song in the background. Shirley continued to hand-feed the remaining worms to Rachel, trying not to push her jaw too hard. 

“I wish there were a faster route to take…” Rachel mutters, with her mouth full of chewed worms, not having experience driving this far off. As they continued, Lydia slowly yawned, stretching her arms up and sitting up in her seat. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be in town soon. Take your time…” Lydia muttered, still half asleep, shifting her body towards the window, moaning as she made herself comfortable.

“Mom?” Shirley looks behind, trying to stroke her mom’s frail arm, easing her pain.

“Hey, baby…” Lydia greeted with a weak smile, trying to hide the pain she was in. 

“You know, you never properly introduced me to your friend.” Lydia adds, trying to make light conversation. 

“Oh, right. Um, Mom, this is Shrinking Rae-Rachel. Rachel, this is my mom, Lydia.” Shirley awkwardly introduces them as if it were the first time they met.

“H-Hi…Ly-Miss Hayes.” Rachel corrects herself, unfamiliar with the proper names to address people. She lightly waved with hesitation through the rear view window, despite the bloody, torn mess she was currently in.

“Funny, I thought…you’d be…smaller…” Lydia joked, with Rachel snickering at the comment.

“Haven’t…heard that one before….” Rachel softly laughs, with Lydia and Shirley joining her, keeping her company. Rachel finally saw some light, seeing some searchlights and faint party music a few miles down. Rachel smiled, finally seeing a path forward for the three of them. However, Rachel’s tunnel vision halted when she felt a distinct-

THUMP!

Rachel instinctively hits the brakes on the car, making the women jump and the box and wheelchair bounce around. Some of the blood bags leaked out, spilling onto the VHS and documents. Rachel could faintly hear the sounds of rubble crashing down behind, with the women kicking into fight or flight mode. 

“The hell was that?” Lydia looked back, concerned, trying to get her head straight. 

“I don’t know, I think I ran something over, or-” Rachel tries finding reasoning, before another-

THUMP!

The vibrations grew bigger, trees shaking, and that distinct glow flittering in the back. 

“I think I know what it is.” Lydia ominously mentions, her heart dropping from the realization.

“What?”

“That.” Lydia points towards the hulking giant, hearing the metal clang together and stomp onto the ground. Covered in his metal tomb, Adler continued to grow, towering over the pine trees, and continuously grew to a behemoth size. 

“BRENNAN!” Adler roared through his mask, feeling his breath burning and the gel surging inside him. The suit pierced through his skin, feeling the veins pop and wiring sting across as he continuously strained himself, moving at a slow yet sturdy pace. The three looked over him in awe and fear, barely able to muster a complete thought.

“Fuck.” Shirley muttered aloud, speaking for everyone in that car.

“Shirley.” Rachel and Lydia call her out for the language.

“Sorry.” Shirley plays it off before hearing the oncoming footsteps approach them. 

“We gotta move!” Rachel initiates, grabbing onto the driving stick and shifting it into second gear. As Rachel intensively drives, Adler comes to rush forward, leaping forward and creating earth-shattering vibrations that could be felt three towns over.

“Dammit, do you think he saw us?” Lydia looks back, seeing Adler targeting their direction.

“Probably, I don’t know?!? We’re the only car out in this never-ending forest.” Rachel stresses out, cracking from the false composure she’s putting herself out for the trio.

“Quick! Turn off the headlights!” Lydia instructs, seeing him stomp towards them, and Rachel obeys. With the lights turned off, Rachel steers away from the road, turning everything off and keeping still. Shirley extends her shaking arms towards Rachel and Lydia, who both hesitantly extend their hands from the back seat, tightening as the car shakes. The three leaned close to each other as they felt the metal boots scrape across the pavement, making them jolt. However, Adler completely ignored them, moving his attention towards the city, roaring Brennan’s name with foul fury. The three caught their breaths, exhaling hard as they weren’t stomped on.

“He missed us, why would he-?” Lydia asked, confused, before remembering the intense lights in the direction of the school.

“Homecoming.” The three said in unison before Rachel drove towards the back end of town. Rachel quickly drifts across the four-way street, making a last-minute detour from the school.
“Where are you driving us? The school’s straight ahead.” Lydia asked, holding on for dear life in the back before Rachel stepped on the brakes, screeching the car to a halt.

“Police station, maybe you guys buy me some time and extra hands.” Rachel explained before getting out of the car to help Lydia up. Shirley instinctively climbed out of the car to bring over the heavy wheelchair. The two get Lydia towards the front before Rachel loads her with the leaking box, grossing her out.

“And what about you? You don’t plan on fighting him in your condition, right?” Lydia asked, seeing a blood-soaked, battered Rachel taking charge.

“I’m gonna rush towards the school and warn everyone. Should give me time to charge up.” Rachel explained, trying to play off her worries.

“Give them Hell, Shrinking Rae.” Lydia hesitantly smiled, holding onto Rachel’s bruised hands for support, giving her all the energy she’s gonna need. Rachel didn’t expect the physical touch, but embraced it before nodding.

“Shirley, help your mom, okay?” Rachel instructs, crouching down and holding the frightened girl before asserting confidence in her.

“Okay, Rachel. We’ll be here for you.” Shirley nods, giving a passing salute before nudging Lydia towards the front door.

“Good girl.” Rachel salutes her back before heading back to the car and driving towards the school. However, as she barely makes it down the dark road connecting the homes and downtown, she notices the heavy traffic barely passing the outskirts. Rachel hops out to see a handful of police and extra security passing people in. She tried peeking towards the school, seeing students and businessmen being checked in at the front.

“Dammit…There’s no way I can get passed them.” Rachel muttered frustratingly before stepping onto a manhole. Seeing the metallic circle scrape across her feet, she recalls all the times her parents forced her to climb inside. It was to not only get used to the sickening smells of the human body, but also to navigate across the city. 

“Shit.” She groaned, pulling the circular entrance off and taking a deep breath before entering inside. Descending, she embraced herself for the onslaught of sensory triggers of crawling through filth. Rachel could feel the atmosphere getting darker,  walls growing tighter, being submerged in darkness, and waist deep in sludge. Despite the stinging stench in her nostrils, the slime caking deep onto her suit and hair, she pushed through, thinking about Lydia, Shirley, and the place she called home. 

At the police station, Lydia and Shirley tried to alert anyone at the front, but no one was there to greet them. They looked around, seeing a slew of missing persons posters, including one of Lydia. Hearing faint noises towards the side, breaking through the counter. Shirley tries steering her mom across, seeing a faint glimpse of two parents arguing with the police.

“Ma’am, I can assure you, we haven’t heard anything regarding Shrinking Rae-.” The older cop tried explaining before Debra stood up and slammed her fists onto the steel table

“Rachel! We’ve told you her name is Rachel Rivera!” She corrects them, with Ray trying to ease her stress.

“Surely you guys have something on the databases, regarding anything unusual going on?” Ray hypothesized interrogatively. 

“Look, all we know is that the girl she was with disappeared from the hospital as well. It’s been barely three days to consider this a missing persons case, or even a kidnapping.” The younger cop explained as he poured himself a cup of coffee. However, their argument was halted when they heard a loud, visceral bang on the door. The older cop excused himself, ready to pounce on whoever dared to bang on the door carelessly. Much to his surprise, they were met with a bruised, blood-covered Lydia and Shirley, changing his tone.

“Lydia? Where the hell have you been?” The older cop asked, confused to see her suddenly appearing after weeks of being declared missing.

“We need help. I know where their daughter is.” Lydia answered coldly, with the younger cop too stunned to notice his hand burning from overpouring. 

Meanwhile, the school’s bathroom was completely quiet as a young boy came out of the stall, flushing the overpowered toilet. Taking refuge at the school from the foster fire, he wore pajamas that had Shrinking Rae’s colors and signature emblem, being a reluctant fan despite the controversy. Using a stepstool, he climbs up to quickly wash his hands, before hearing a loud-

CLUNK!

Startled, he could faintly hear the sounds of Rachel groaning and scraping across the metal pipes coming towards the gym showers. With curiosity getting the best of him, he approaches the shower, hearing Rachel’s voice clawing out of the drain, poking his head towards the small opening.

“H-Hello-” Before he can call out, he sees the stopper punch up, making him jump back in fright. The stopper wiggled around, with Rachel straining to push it off from the tight suction, going back to pull it off. 

GASP!

Rachel gasped, coughing for fresh air as she extended her tiny arm to climb out of the drain, with the reluctant boy grabbing onto her arm and pulling her out of the gunk.

“What the hell?” He holds her by her arm, squinting his eyes to see Shrinking Rae, now covered in blood and slime. Rachel pulls her arm from his grasp before growing to full size in front of his eyes, making him freak out and cower towards the shower wall. Back to normal size, she flicks off any remaining sewer gunk off her, grossed out by the pungent slime intact on her hair.

“Woah…” He said, gazing at his hero despite being a complete mess.

“Thanks, kid.” Rachel nods her head at him, noticing he is wearing her pajamas and softly smiling. However, that faint moment was flushed when she felt another thump, thinking about who was coming.

“Where’s the party? Are there more kids here?” Rachel asks him before extending her slimy hand to him. He accepts begrudgingly despite the strong odor radiating off her, nodding his head and pointing towards the left side of the building.

“Do me a favor and tell the other kids to leave the building at once.” Rachel softly commands before the two feel a louder thump, shaking slightly and making the lights flicker. With no time, the boy nods his head and quickly leaves.

“SHRINKING RAE SAYS WE GOTTA LEAVE!” He yells across the hall and towards the classroom where the other kids are. Rachel quickly navigates across the halls, hearing the loud dubstep music grow louder, and is greeted by security.

“Hey, ma’am, you can’t be-” Before he can stop her, Rachel quickly shoves him away, leaving a stained handprint across his suit. The other guards try to corral her, but she swiftly shrank from their gasps. 

As the party kept going, the teens noticed a strong stench approaching them, seeing Rachel approach the stage. She created various reactions from the crowd, mostly commenting on her pungent smell and caked in sewage, covering their noses and mouths. As the crowd moves away, Tony faintly notices Rachel across, turning his head over from the girls mingling with him to see her.

Rachel approaches the front, shifting passed the horde of teens and businessmen. She can see businessmen mingling, with Brennan speaking with a young woman, offering a large, overcompensating check.

“I’m sure with the right training, we can sponsor you as our new spokesperso-” Brennan tries sweetening the deal before being interrupted.

“Brennan!” Rachel called out, signaling his attention and halting the music. The party stops as all eyes are on Rachel, leaving a soaked trail behind her. 

“S-Shrinking Rae? What a surprise.” Brennan tries playing coy, grinning a fake smile before gesturing with his finger for security to escort her out.

“You need to stop this party now!” Rachel explained, flinging herself onto the platform and grabbing the mic, feeling his footsteps approach closer with each passing second.

“EVERYONE NEEDS TO LEAVE NOW! HE IS COMING TO KILL-” Rachel screamed out, causing concern amongst the crowd before being grabbed by security. Rachel tries fighting the tight grip, stalling her powers as Brennan approaches the microphone.

“Nothing to be afraid of, folks! Just some minor earthquakes. BRB!” He awkwardly shimmies out of the scene, with security escorting Rachel and him behind the curtain. The crowd murmured from the mixed messaging, confused by Rachel’s desperate plea. Brennan smiles at the crowd before changing his demeanor to Rachel.

“What are you doing?!?” He whispered angrily to Rachel, who only scowled at him.

“You need to cancel this party. Adl-” Rachel tried warning, but kept getting shut down.

“Look, I get your upset about me firing you, but you can’t just throw a bitch fit on stage covered in…that!” He tries finding reasoning while turning his head away from Rachel’s strong odor. 

“I know you caused the incident.” Rachel blurts out, catching Brennan off guard.

“W-What incident?” He plays it off, but he has a nervous tic.

“MicrOrganics, about Adler, and how you’ve been profiting off the people you let die.” Rachel calls him out, pointing her fingers at his chest and leaving caked stains on his pristine suit. As she glanced towards his vest, she could see a faint lanyard, and she grabbed it from him. Brennan tries to stop her before revealing that it is the burnt ID card from the video.

“You…kept this?” Rachel asked with visible disgust towards the sweating Brennan, who yanked it off her.

“Y-you can’t prove all that. Adler’s been a ghost since he lost all his credibility.” He taunts, discouraging the idea of being caught after all these years.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s coming, and you can’t buy your way out of this.” Rachel warned, making Brennan turn pale with her words.

“Just get everyone out. That’s all I’m asking.” Rachel sighed as Brennan asserted himself in charge.

“No one’s going anywhere, goddammit.” Brennan firmly tells her, trying to fix his composure before feeling the violent tremors growing more intense.

“I don’t need some washed-up mascot telling me how to run my company.” Brennan lectured, grabbing a square and wiping the stain Rachel left, pressing it onto her in a bitter taunt.

“Come hell or high water…” He leaves Rachel to wallow in her filth, slicking his hair and composing himself to the crowd.

“BECAUSE GOLIATH LAUNCHES TONIGHT!” Brennan smiled before presenting the slides with mixed applause from the audience. However, the reactions were cut short as the crowd felt a violent-

THUMP!

The crowd gasped, feeling the ground shake, with some dropping to the floor. The metal railing creaked destructively, lights flickering, and sounds of screaming echoed outside the gym. The partygoers panicked, hearing the walls crashing, Adler’s steps moving closer before the building started shaking. The kids murmured as businessmen began scrambling for an exit, with electrical wiring and rubble crashing down before people could escape. Rachel turned pale from the realization- he was here. 

CRASH!

“BREEENNNANNN!” Adler cried out through his mask, screeching across the room to a horrified crowd. The glass shatters from the intense entrance, with Adler scraping his giant, metal hands across the walls. The crowd disperses, desperate to leave as Adler rampages across the compact gym hall. Metal railings crashed down from the ceiling, crushing some students underneath it. Businessmen try to cower, trying not to get stepped on. As Adler adjusts to his surroundings, he can see the place decorated with party lights, balloons, and crass banners, cheapening his accomplishments.

“THIS IS WHAT YOU TURN 'GOLIATH'?!? INTO SOME CHEAP PEP RALLY?!?” He angrily calls out, with Brennan cowering behind his security team, aiming their guns towards the glowing, metal man. Rachel comes out, trying to sway their guns away from Adler.

“Wait, do-!” Rachel tried to stop, but was met with an elbow to her face, knocking her down. The men fired their bullets towards Adler, irritating him. Adler walks across, stomping across the room and smashing the ceiling in as he pumps more gel into his veins, metal piercing him deep, and growing significantly. The rubble comes crashing down, striking across the room as people fall beneath it. With Rachel knocked down, Tony sees a fire alarm switch, rushing towards the danger and pulling the trigger.

The sprinklers go off with beaming lights flickering, distracting Adler, flinging his arm across the crowd, slapping some men against the wall. Pushing the security team to the side, Brennan was pressed against the corner, frozen in fear as Adler’s head loomed over him amongst the chaos.

“Dear God, Adler? What happened to you?” He asked, playing coy. However, the giant wasn’t having it, screeching in pain as the stinging gel infused onto his skin.

“You…made me…THIS!” Adler proclaimed, reaching towards the tiny, scared businessman, who barely scurried away before Adler grabbed hold of him. With his metal hand, Adler crushed Brennan’s ribs, making them snap. He could barely scream from the compressed pain, coughing blood, and tried banging on the giant hand in desperation.

“Please…we can talk…about this…” Brennan begged, blood spilling from his mouth, trying to keep his posture. Staring down at the tiny man, Adler growled, envisioning Brennan completely crushed to a bloody pulp. However, he held back, only leaving Brennan breathless, anxious for a response.

“Dying’s easy,” Adler muttered, standing up and kicking the sturdy wall, having a tight grip on Brennan’s frightened body, crying out for help. 

“I’m gonna make you feel the pain and suffering you caused.” Adler coughed before slamming his clenched fist towards the wall, pausing in between punches, growing angrier from the grief.

“To my crew!”

CRACK!

“To my future!”

CRACK!

“TO AMANDA!”

CRACK!

Adler confessed, gripping Brennan tighter and slamming him against the walls before breaking through, stomping his way outside, leaving the gym covered in debris. 

Rachel slowly woke up, feeling the sprinkler rinse the filth off her. Blood and water trickled into her nostrils, making her cough as her eyes slowly opened. Her vision was blurry from the static alarms, her ears screeching, and barely had the strength to push forward. However, a figure approaches her, crouching down to her.

“Rachel!” He called out, slowly cradling her under his arms, and helped her up. Rachel’s head spun, readjusting her surroundings, and saw the huge crater on the wall.

“-ony?” She called out, fixing her glasses, and felt him wipe the rubble off her.

“Hey…” Tony smiled awkwardly, still holding guilt from his comment at the party. She winced as she held onto his hand, embracing his gentle touch. 

“W-Where’s Brennan?” Rachel asked, looking around and seeing the carnage Adler had caused.

“That giant thing just took him out, something about pain.” Tony explained frantically, looking over the harrowing scene with Rachel.

“It’s really bad, Rachel…” Tony explained, as Rachel looked around, feeling the heavy toll. 

“Oh God.” Rachel clenched, covering her mouth as she saw rubble and metal railings on the floor, with bodies lying unconscious and kids crying from the trauma. Rachel looked back and forth at the gym and the crater, feeling Adler’s thunderous stomps, contemplating her next move.

“Help me!” A girl cried beneath the heavy metal ceiling, barely visible with a crowd surrounding her. Seeing the desperation and lost voices lingering, Rachel knew where to prioritize. 

“Show me where to start.” Rachel instructs Tony, hobbling over towards the collapsed scaffolding. Rachel crouches down, trying to lift the heavy metal off the ground. Straining herself, she barely moved it an inch, feeling herself lose grip. 

“Hang on…” Rachel notes, shrinking down and navigating deeper across the metal railing. She moved across the tight space, leaping over the frail pipes and railing before finding the source of the cries. Rachel barely registered who was caught underneath when a flicker of electricity revealed a frightened Cheryl, whose face was still healing from the shiner Rachel gave her. She whimpered from her leg crushed by the heavy beam and dress snagged onto the metal. Taking a second to squint her bruised eye, Cheryl recognized the glare from Rachel’s glasses, looking at her.

“Oh…” Cheryl looked down remorsefully at the tiny Rachel, turning her head away in shame, expecting her to leave her there. Despite the bad blood between them, Rachel quickly drives under her arm, walking across her dress and ripping the threads entangled to the metal. Cheryl could feel Rachel work her magic, growing slightly, and strain as she tried lifting the pole from her leg.

“Quickly, shift yourself forward.” Rachel commands her, with Cheryl wincing, feeling free from the pole’s grasp. Cheryl caught her breath, feeling the heaviness in her broken leg, and softly cried in relief.

“Hang on. I’m not leaving you.” Rachel instructs as she navigates her way back to the front, growing back to size. Rachel heaved as she tried lifting the heavy metal up, barely getting it an inch off the ground, struggling with her limited strength. 

As she was on the verge of dropping it, Tony called over some extra hands, lifting alongside her. Rachel turned her head to see a mix of teens, kids, and some business suits lifting alongside her, giving her enough strength to lift the first chunk off the ground.

“Quick, someone grab her!” Tony led, with one of the helpers pulling the girl from the floor. Dragging her across, they drop the scaffolding to the ground with the girl hyperventilating. Her body tensed as parts of her dress ripped and her leg twisted. Wiping her tears, Cheryl got a good view of her hero, lying on her back and coughing.

“W-Wait, Rae-Rachel…” Cheryl corrects, calling out for her as Rachel crouches, holding her frail hand for comfort.

“T-Thank you…but why?” She asked, seeing the hesitancy in Rachel’s eyes as she straightened herself.

“Because I took an oath when I wore this suit.” Rachel starts, pointing to her torn “R” before lifting her body towards the bleachers.  

“To protect everyone, no matter what.” She continued before lying her down and leaving her to the others to watch over. 

“Where next?” Rachel asks Tony, barely able to figure out where to continue with the various people in need.

“Too many places to count,” Tony answered bluntly, holding onto Rachel’s hand to stop her. 

“Don’t worry about us, I can lead from here until the ambulance comes. You focus on stopping that giant and be the hero you’re meant to be.” He insisted, wanting to share the burden alongside Rachel, who nods her head and goes forth.

“And Tony.” Rachel quickly turns back, catching him off guard as she hugs him with a slight limp.

“Thank you.” She softly smiled at the boy, embracing him before pulling back, leaving on good terms. 

As Rachel made her way outside, she could see the towering Adler scraping his way across the vast grass fields, spotlights blinding him as Brennan continued to scream for help.

“Charlie…Listen…” Brennan coughed, wheezing from his tight constraints.

“Is this about money?” Brennan pleads, pulling out a checkbook that scatters across the wind.

“W-We can work with this…giant discovery? I’ll make it worth your while.” Brennan frantically bargained as Adler remained silent. Staring down at the pathetic man, Adler dismissed him by dropping him.

Brennan screamed from the top of his lungs before Adler grabbed onto his leg, making it snap from the sudden jolt. Brennan cried out from pain, feeling it rip into two before Adler hoisted him up to eye level.

“Money can’t fix what you’ve taken from me.” Adler lectured, grabbing onto his arms and suspending him in the air with a tight grip. Brennan clenched in fear, being so high up, and his limbs slowly pulled apart.

“You’ve taken my credibility!”

“My family!”

“My goddamn autonomy!”

SNAP!

Brennan cries out from the intense pain, feeling his right arm pull out of the socket.

“Don’t…just blame me…the girl’s just as responsible.” Brennan argues, straining his voice as his ligaments continuously tear.
“Maybe, at least she isn’t some expendable suit like you.” Adler insults him, with Brennan feeling his skin about to tear apart.

“ADLER, STOP!” Rachel cries out, limping across the field to stop the violence. Adler turns around, pausing Brennan’s execution and holding him by his broken leg. 

“This doesn’t concern you, Rachel!” Adler detested trying to intimidate the girl but remained steadfast in his presence.
“I am what you both made me and more!” She continued, recalling what Adler had called her before.

“The hell’s she talking about?” Brennan asked naively, never putting the two together before.

“I get it, Adler. He destroyed your life and tried to control mine! But if you kill him now, he wins!” Rachel continued, with the three hearing the sirens of the police cars and ambulances approaching the school.

“People are finding out about Brennan’s actions. Killing him would only be mercy from the justice he’ll face.”

“Let me help you. Please…don’t be like him.” Rachel begged softly, wanting the violence to end peacefully, raising her hands to show restraint. Adler looked down at the remorseful girl, considering her words and looking at the mechanical mess he had turned himself. He wanted to end this turmoil, but it wasn’t gonna be because of her.

“There’s no saving me, child.” Adler drops Brennan’s broken body to the sandy ground, making him groan from the pain.

“NO!” Rachel rushed before she was met was a swift boot to her face, kicking her back against a wall. She wheezed for air, holding her stomach for support, barely able to get a visual of the giant coming closer.

“To believe that the system that disregarded you would save us!” Adler taunts, grabbing onto the dazed Rachel, raising her in the air.

“Tell that to the woman you killed.” Adler retorts, ready to crush the girl in his hands. However, before he finished her off, Adler heard the screeching from the bullhorn.

“Open fire!” The lead cops commanded, with every cop in the vicinity firing towards the giant. Empty shells hit the floor, with the burning lead irritating him than hurting him. The bullets rippled across his mask, barely cracking it to reveal a bit of his glowing eyes and flared nostrils.

Behind the police, Rachel’s parents, Lydia, and Shirley watch in horror as the attack has little effect on Adler.

“Where’s our baby?” Debra asked, trying to get a good view from their location. To their shock, Shirley could see Rachel barely hanging on from his metal grasp, with her powers stalling in place, trying to cower from the stray bullets.

“RACHEL!” Shirley cried out, rushing her way towards the police.

“STOP! YOU’RE SHOOTING AT HER!” Shirley begs, making one of the cops aim towards Adler’s chest, cracking a valve and leaking some of the gel. Through Adler’s cracked interface, he could feel the gel pouring out, making his body convulse, shrinking significantly, dropping Rachel to the ground. 

“No, this is NOT how this ends!” Adler retaliates, grabbing onto the school’s carts and tossing them towards their direction. The police disperse, trying to avoid the oncoming carts crashing onto them, as Rachel’s parents could see their daughter bleeding on the ground, not waking up.

“Rachel, get up, baby!” Debra pleads, with Ray holding onto her. Lydia wheels her way to them, providing support alongside Shirley.

“Give her a chance. Your daughter’s stronger than you both realize.” Lydia comforts, seeing Adler stare them down, ready to strike.

Rachel shivered from the body ache, coughing up wads of blood, and saw Adler approaching the car. She tries getting up, kneeling on the ground to support herself.

“Adler…!” She cried out with all her strength, just enough to get his attention. Adler turns around to see the stubborn girl staring up at him, bleeding and shaking.

“Your fight’s not with them…” She tells him, standing up with her shaky, bloody fists raised towards him. The more she stalled, the less strength Adler had, shrinking continuously.

“Why won’t you just stay down!” Adler snarled, kneeling to punt the tiny girl to the ground. 

“You’re not some martyr!” He continues to tear her down, growing weaker and shrinking down more and more. He felt the metal piercing him deeper as he shrank, coughing up more of the gel-infused blood that seeped out of his suit.

“You’re just a hypocrite! A parasite A tiny girl in spandex thinking she is more than just some prop!” He vents, seeing red as he aimlessly punches her to the ground again and again. With each punch, he molded a crater beneath her as he slowly shrank back to his size.

The family watched in shock, wanting desperately to help, but was held back by the police. More people came out of the gym to see the commotion, shocked to see Rachel taking every punch.

Adler looked around, seeing the horrified crowd panicked and standing on the crater he had molded. Clenching his bloodied fists, he lowered down to the bruised Rachel, wheezing from the brutal beatdown, grabbing her by the neck and raising her to the air. Opening the arm slot for more fuel, he made Rachel lean her bleeding nose forward, watching it seep out of her and into his suit. The suit gained more power, making him shriek in pain as the blood infused onto him, melding metal and skin as he grew back to his giant form, dropping Rachel like a lifeless doll. 

“It’s time for this town to see the real you…” Adler remarks, raising his metal boot in the air, looming over the broken Rachel.

“Just a bug beneath me.” Adler taunts her one last time, lunging his foot down to crush her. As he launched his attack towards her, Rachel’s world became silent and slowed down. Her life flashing before her eyes.

She recalled the intense training, the disgusting sewer crawls, and endless photo ops her parents and Brennan groomed her whole life around. However, she also remembers the softer moments, like Debra gently bathing her in warm water, skating across the neighbor in her DIY outfit, hugging her dad after a long day at work, and wearing her kid suit for the first time with full confidence. 

She also remembers the small moments. The smiles she brought rescuing pets, saving lives, the rare pizza she ate outside her strict diet, and friends like Ashley, Tony, and Shirley. Shirley lingered in her mind, thinking about how much she had grown since meeting Rachel. From teaching Shirley self-defense to playing with her as a doll, she was content knowing that if this is where her story ends, she will be safe in her mom’s arms.

Rachel looked up at the oncoming boot, exhaling and closing her bruised, bloodshot eyes, wanting to sleep.

However, outside of the crowd, her parents and Lydia argue with cops to intervene, but they keep getting pushed back. Taking action, Shirley grabs onto the bullhorn, cutting the silence as the static screech hits Rachel.

“SHRINKING RAE! GET UP, RACHEL!” Shirley pleads with the loud radio, with Rachel opening her eyes and-

THUMP!

Adler felt the sudden restraint from his boot, confused and frustrated as he couldn’t deliver the final blow to Rachel. Underneath, Rachel held onto the boot with all her strength, straining as she slowly fixed herself up.

“You’re right, Adler. I am everything you say I am.” Rachel weakly accepts, with Adler confused, barely stabilizing his size.

“I am just some parasitic mascot, a tiny girl in a big world, a hypocrite fighting for a town that couldn’t give a damn about her.” Rachel repeats, lunging herself forward before leaping to the side, with his boot crashing down, creating a violent ripple onto the crowd.

“But I'm also stubborn, compassionate, and I’m done being the mistakes you’ve all labeled me to be.” She corrects him, frustrating him as he continues to smash her to the ground, kneeling in frustration to inspect his surroundings. She shinks out of the way, however, before finding herself staring up at his raging, glowing eyes targeting her.

“Because I…am Rachel Rivera…” She declared confidently, infuriating Adler, slamming his fist down. He felt the ground shake, making him shudder from the unstable mix oozing inside him. He looked at the small crater, seeing Rachel gone, and inspected his hand up close. 

“But everyone calls me…” Rachel reappeared, holding onto his finger before launching herself towards his face.

“...Shrinking Rae!” She proclaimed before striking him in his exposed eye, making him react to the sudden pain. The crowd cheered as they saw Rachel get back up and fight the giant.

“Let’s go, Shrinking Rae!” Tony cheered, pumping his fist in the air, as the crowd soon joined in.

“Shrinking Rae!” The crowd joined in cheering her name, continuously giving her all the motivation to fight back.

“Come on, Rachel!” Debra joined in the cheering, with Ray by her side.

“You got this, baby.” Ray added, with Lydia and Shirley joining alongside them. 

Rachel climbed onto Adler’s flaying arms, holding onto the scraping metal before shrinking herself to go in between. He can feel him crawling in his armor, dislodging wires that created malfunctions on his arm. He felt his arm tighten, shrinking down to a miniature size, making him jolt from the sudden pain, leaking more of the glowing gel.  

Growing back across his disfigured shoulder, she ran across him, with Adler trying to swat her down with his remaining arm before shrinking down to break the arm valve, causing more leakage. His suit bled, causing him to cough out his glowing blood through the mask, making him shrink subtly.

“You can’t…stop this!”Adler proclaimed, striking Rachel across his now elongated arm, making her slide down it to the ground.
“It festers inside me!” He tells her, with Rachel seeing the leaking gel from his chest glow inside the suit, giving her an idea.

“Then I’ll purge it right out of you!” Rachel insisted, rushing across his arm and leaping onto the opening of the mask.

“What are you doing?!?” He asked, seeing how Rachel is hanging off his mask, tugging onto the sharp corners of the opening, feeling his breath through his nostrils.

“Going…spluenking!” Rachel explained, leaping forward into the nasal opening. Adler felt her every step, twitching his nose and snorting from the lack of air. Rachel crawled through the tight, mucus-infested tunnel, moving her way towards his uvula to tug onto it. 

“Disgusting…parasite!” Adler called her, and Rachel held onto dear life, trying to make him puke. She swayed across his swollen uvula before seeing a faint glow burn down his throat, seeing that she needed to go deeper.

“You’re goddamn right I am.” Rachel corrects him before diving head first down his esophagus, forcing him to swallow her. Adler felt Rachel slide down his tonsils, making him involuntarily gulp her down. 

“What…is your endgame? You’ll kill us both…” Adler protested, gagging as he felt the suit constrain him, gasping as he felt a sharp pain from the metal piercing his rib.
Rachel was surrounded by darkness, the air was heavy, hot, and sticky, and felt the slimy tissue clench onto her body before moving towards the distinct glow of gel bleeding into him.

“So be it.” Rachel thought about protecting the people she loves, content with that knowledge. She grew significantly, stretching out the muscles and making the suit pierce him deeper. Adler’s body rejects Rachel like a stubborn pill stuck in place, making him choke up on blood and shrink back down. The people could see Rachel making a noticeable bulge on his throat, making comments alongside the chants.

“Oh my god, is she in his throat?”, “So gross”, “Fucking metal, man!” They comment, gasping in horror and sympathy for what she must be going through.

“Come…on…” Rachel strained, feeling his throat tighten the more he shrank, adjusting her size and lunging her fists forward, kicking, scratching, and punching his insides as she continuously manipulated her size. The constant spamming of her powers was working; his stomach convulsed with the gel, burning her. She was in a feral state, refusing to back down, and held her ground.

“RAAAAAHHH” Rachel screamed with foul fury, feeling the walls crush her as the mixture of fluids lunged upward.

“HurRHRHhhGggl” Adler puked his lungs out, spilling blood and other fluids onto his suit, grossing the crowd as his body distorted to a disfigured state. The crowd watches in disgust, worried about Rachel’s well-being. The suit tightened, liquid spilling onto the sensitive wiring as the mix of metal and electricity sent shockwaves onto Adler’s broken body. He shrieked as his body fried him, suit compressing in on himself. Rachel was still trapped inside, avoiding the metal nearly piercing her and shrank down to avoid being crushed to death. 

Adler’s body was burned to a crisp, radiating glowing bile and blood on his now dented suit. His skin had melded into the suit, leaving him a suspended, disfigured corpse before collapsing to his side. The crowd froze, seeing smoke emitting from his body, and left a lingering stink as everyone approached with caution.

“S-She did it…” Ray comments in awe and horror.

“Where is she?” Debra comments, concerned that Rachel hadn’t popped out yet. The crowd quickly rushes to the body, worried about Rachel. Police tried to corral the crowd, but were stopped when flashes of light appeared before their eyes. Within a moment, dozens of faceless agents in black and green suddenly appeared, scattering across the field.

“The asset is down! I repeat, the asset is down!” An agent declared in their comms as they approached the body. Radio chatter was lively as police and the crowd was left confused by the sudden appearance.

“Woah, woah, what the hell’s-” Connor asked indignantly, as the older cop restrained his frustration.

“Easy, son. It’s their problem now.” The older cop chimed in, seeing the GDA star symbol stitched onto the arms. The agents investigate the surrounding area, seeing the glowing gel scattered on the dance hall and fields, collecting samples. 

Meanwhile, Brennan slowly woke up, tensing his dislocated body and opened his eyes to the oncoming police and GDA agents, quickly shutting them and playing dead. 

An agent scans the disfigured Adler, seeing any anomalies before hearing some groans and squelches across his throat.

“Picking up a signal in its throat.” The agent notes, pulling a small laser scalpel to slice Adler’s throat, releasing a bile-covered Rachel from its grasp.

GASP!

Rachel took a deep inhale of fresh air, lying on the floor as blood poured out. She coughed as she was slicked in various bodily fluids, numb to the grossness. The agent scoots back to give the tiny girl space before attempting to grow back to size. Her body strained, barely growing an inch or two, and having little strength left in her. The crowd tried hovering over the oppressive agents, with Tony leaping forward to see Rachel collapse, but still breathing.

“HEY GUYS, SHE’S ALIVE! RACHEL’S ALIVE!” Tony announced as the crowd cheered her on, despite them covering their faces from the intense odor. Ray and Debra let out a deep exhale in relief, both of them collapsing onto the floor to cry. Lydia watched their harrowing cries of relief, wheeling herself to them and patting their backs for support.

Shirley pushes through the masses, squeezing through the yellow tape and rushing to Rachel’s aid.

“RACHEL!” Shirley cried out, shoving past agents, and crouched over her unconscious hero. She carefully cradled the small, frail girl in her arms, who hardly registered what was happening. Rachel winced from the body pain, barely opening her eyes to see Shirley loom above, covering her from the blinding lights.

“S-Shirley?” Rachel called out, trying to extend her arm as Shirley gently held it, laying it onto Rachel’s torn suit.

“Shh, it’s okay…We’re okay….You can rest now…” Shirley assures her, with Rachel flickering in and out of consciousness, softly smiling at the news. An agent approached Shirley from behind, gently placing their hand onto her shoulder.

“May I see her, please?” They asked through their mask, extending their hand to help. Shirley looks over to Rachel with hesitancy, but she nods her head in agreement. 

“W-wait..Shirley…” Rachel wearily called out to the girl, leaning in closer. 

“Tell them…my blood…is the cure…” She blurts out before Shirley hands her off to the agents and explains the situation. Placing her onto a soft stretcher, she barely made an imprint onto the soft bedding, but it was the most comfortable bed she had ever laid on. At least, to her broken, weary body, that is. With the town safe and everything getting back into place, Rachel let out a soft exhale before closing her eyes, finally able to sleep.

Chapter Text

White. All Rachel could remember was the blinding lights and how much it hurt to move her body on the gurney. She could hear the monitor steadily beep. There was muffled hospital talk, her ears ringing, barely able to open her bruised eyes to her sterile surroundings.

Within the blink of an eye, she felt the cold steel cutting into her suit, giant hands examining her miniature, bruised body, shuddering at their rubbery touch. 

“She’s regaining consciousness.” A doctor notes, flashing their light towards her.

“Keep administering the anesthetic. She needs rest.” Another doctor instructed, injecting fluid through the IV latched to her wrist. Rachel winced, feeling the fluid pulsate into her veins, making her involuntarily shift sizes before the anesthetic worked its magic. 

She recalled her whole experience in fragments, shifting between sizes, but she found herself in a stable place. When she opened her eyes, she could tell where she was, height-wise, based on how completely submerged she was in her hospital gown. Despite being heavily drugged and sleeping through most of her time, Rachel could hear faint voices, like the monotone doctors checking her vitals, the pain and regret from her parents, or even strangers outside giving thanks. 

With her body still healing and her senses numbed, it was hard for her to bathe herself, often needing assistance. Rachel hated being seen helpless and small, but she couldn’t deny how good it felt to be free of grime. She can feel the warm water enveloping her and soft, gentle hands gliding across her skin. It felt awkward, intimate, but it also brought back memories of being a child.

By the time she had completely healed, she slowly woke up in her hospital gown, a cast on her once broken hand, and felt the lingering, gentle touch of her mom at her bedside. Debra rested her head alongside the metal railing, still caressing Rachel’s wrapped hand, not having slept in days. With her vision blurry, she reached for her fixed glasses and saw the room decorated with balloons, cards, and various gifts on the table. Towards the corner, she can see the TV set suspended in the air playing the news of the recent events, detailing the ongoing recovery, with POV footage of Rachel fighting the giant Adler.

“-A week since the alien encounter, hospitals are still overbooked, having to pitch tents due to the various injuries. Luckily, despite the high numbers, we can report that there were no casualties reported and that town hero, Shrinking Rae, is making a speedy recovery.” 

“Alien…encounter?”  Rachel muttered, lips still numb from the anesthesia. Debra slowly woke up to the sound of her daughter, seeing her fading, bruised face adjust.

“Rachel?” Debra called out.

“M-Mom?” Rachel responded, feeling her motor functions return slowly.

“Oh my god, baby! You’re okay!” Debra cried out, leaping onto the girl and hugging her tightly. Rachel could feel the tight squeeze from Debra, wincing from the jolt of pain, and felt her sobbing, stifling her tears.

“Ray, come in here! She’s finally awake!” Debra called out, with Ray quickly coming in with snacks, dropping them to the floor, and rushing over to his family. He came in on the other side, hugging them both and smothering Rachel in their raw, sobbing emotions. Rachel could barely react, being overstimulated, but softly teared up, embracing them, being in a rare moment of peace with her family. Her parents quickly pull away to wipe their tears, fixing up Rachel’s hair and caressing her lovingly.

“We are so proud of you, Rachel.” Ray softly affirmed.

“I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.” Debra continued, giving a regretful look of sorrow, barely able to look into her daughter’s eyes. 

“Thank you, guys.” Rachel greets, wiping her tears before arching herself up to see the various gifts laid across the table. She could see multiple get-well-soon cards, some sweets, and other handmade trinkets that resembled her shrinking persona. She looked past them and saw many sketchy drawings from the foster kids, with one saying: “Thank you, Shrinking Raye!” signed by all of them. 

“That little girl you helped brought those drawings in while you recovered.” Debra mentioned that Rachel saw one of them signed with decorative glitter by Shirley.

“S-Shirley? Where is she? And her mom?” Rachel asked, jolting out of bed, concerned. She winced as her body still ached, with her parents easing her back.

“Easy, honey. They’re fine. You need more rest.” Ray assured, placing her back into bed. As Rachel lay back, she spotted a thin box to the side and reached out for it. As she opened it, it was her suit patched up, good as new, feeling the sleek, thin spandex with her free hand. As she smiled at her fixed costume, her eyes shifted towards the loud knock on the door.

“Hey…is now a bad time?” Brennan sheepishly presents himself, wearing a black hoodie and a sling across his arm. The room turned silent, with her parents concerned and Rachel scowling at him.

“What do you want, Brennan?” She asked, wanting him to go straight to the point.

“Listen, Rae- Rachel. I just wanted to come say thank you for your service and apologize for the way I-”

“Save it. What is it you’re really here for?” She asked, seeing through his faux act.

“Look, I was wrong to cut you out. With Goliath being a bust and such, all I’m saying is, why don’t we just let bygones be bygones?” He starts, scrambling to pull his checkbook out, and scribbles onto it.
“And make this work again.” He offers the check, presenting it to Rachel’s parents. They gasped as they saw the generous amount before showing Rachel. Her eyes widened in disbelief at the messy $1 million proposal. 

“That’s only the beginning. When they patch you back up, you get back in the spotlight. I’m talking interviews, a movie on your life story-.” 

As Brennan continued with his messy pitch, Rachel looked at the television screen, seeing a wheelchair bound Lydia reporting live at the crumbled lab.

“-As news of this…alien encounter…?” Lydia squinted her eyes, confused, before clearing her throat.

“Alien encounter, it had kidnapped several people over the past month, using them for experiments in this town to create a formula to shift its size, with responders struggling to find more bodies from the wreckage.” Lydia continued, showing footage of bodies being carried out from the test tubes and responders struggling to get past the rubble. Rachel reflects on what Brennan’s check meant: a way out of debt, “gratitude”, but ultimately him buying her back. As she clenched her fist, she sighed, knowing the right thing to do.

“What do you say, we have a deal?” Brennan asked, jittering as he extended his fragile hand to her, looking back at her costume. Her parents looked at her with wide, gullible expressions, seeing Rachel barely paying attention.

“Rachel, are you listen-”

“No.” Rachel answered, crumpling the check. The room went silent, and the adults remained still. Rachel quickly tossed the bed sheet off her and climbed out, limping her way across the room and into the changing area.

“Rachel? Where are you going?” Her parents asked, with Brennan stunned by her answer. Before she could answer, she quickly shrank out of her gown and cast, and grew into her suit. It still felt snug on her figure, but with some room to grow into it.

“Going to help those people.” Rachel explained before opening the curtain to reveal herself, holding her fragile hand to suppress the pain before heading out.

“W-Wait, Rachel. That was a million dollars you’re throwing away. Just think about this-.” Brennan laughed anxiously, trying to bring her back, but Rachel pushed through him.

“We’re done here, Brennan. This whole mess started because of you.” Rachel declared, pointing towards the TV at the disfigured bodies coming out of the rubble. She stared up at the fragile CEO, seeing his face turn pale.

“I’m done letting people write my story for their gain.” Rachel continued, with her parents shying away, feeling the projection from her words. As she tried leaving, Brennan quickly held onto her arm, tugging her back.

“Yeah, I’ve caused all this, but you wouldn’t be here with your quirky shrinking gifts if it wasn’t for me. Let’s not forget I still own you.” Brennan coldly lectured, with her parents stunned by his sudden turn. Rachel gave no reaction, simply pulling away from his grasp.

“Then sue me.” Rachel simply tells him, adjusting her arm from his grasp.

“If you excuse me, I’ve got people worth saving waiting.” Rachel left him and her parents speechless at her defiance. Brennan could only stare up at the TV, dissociating. 

“And this just in, Parvulus Industries is in hot water as multiple samples of their Golaith gel were found at the scene, having been used for the experiments.” Lydia’s coverage continued, showing the distinct blue glow of the gel.

“What?!?” Brennan’s eyes opened, with Rachel’s parents confused by the revelation. 

“Multiple documents have also come out regarding the unethical experimentation and lethal side effects, with warrants for Brennan Price’s arrest already in motion.” Lydia explained, showing helicopter footage of Parvulus’ building being infiltrated by police. Rachel’s parent gave him a death stare before Brennan limped his way out of the room, trying to avoid the press and recognition. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” He muttered, catching his breath, as he made his way towards the back exit. He softly laughed as he tried to escape the hospital and go off country before a flash of light appeared behind him.

“Mr. Price?” A monotone voice called out for him, freezing him in place before turning around. He looked to see a man with a buzz cut in a grey suit and shades that sent shivers done Brennan’s fragile spine.

“Donald Ferguson. GDA. I have a few questions I was hoping you could answer.” He introduces himself, flashing his badge as other GDA agents appear before his eyes. They quickly surround Brennan, pointing their guns at him, ready to shoot should he even think of taking a step. 

“Willingly. Of course.” Donald asserts calmly to him, not able to detect the sarcasm in his tone.

“Shit.” Brennan sighed, limping to his knees in defeat. 

As Brennan dealt with the fall, Rachel snuck inside an ambulance heading to the site, shrinking into the cushions of a gurney’s pillow. She tucked herself into the cotton padding, suppressing the pain in her ribs from the rocking motion, but poked her head out to hear the radio chatter. As the ambulance arrived, they pulled out the gurney and took it over to the site. Rachel jumped out of the pillow, growing back to size in front of the yellow tape. She got the eyes of some cops and first responders, pausing at her presence. Knowing the drill, Rachel quickly raised her hands in the air.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble, but if you let me, I could help you find the rest.” She proposed, closing her eyes and expecting pushback.

“Well, what are we standing around for? Let her in.” Connor intervened, pulling up the tape, and a responder escorted her inside, exhaling in relief. She looked around, seeing a handful of test pods and people being treated with the antidote. 

“Where do I start?” She asked before the responder guided her towards the crumbled laboratory, which had collapsed from Adler’s weight and made a giant sinkhole. 

“Some bodies we weren’t able to save.” He notes, pointing towards the covered, disfigured corpses that didn’t make it out.

“But with your help, we hope to prevent more casualties. We just need someone small enough to locate through the wreckage.” He explained, with Rachel looking at the immense rubble buried.

“I understand.” Rachel nods her head, and the responder provides some rope for her to use if she finds a body. Tying it around her waist, she descended deeper into the hole, shrinking between the wreckage. The process took roughly an hour before Rachel could find another test pod, hearing their dry, hoarse breathing. The rope shook as responders quickly came to pull the wreckage to locate them. The process repeats throughout the day, as Rachel was able to find three bodies still hanging on, crawling out, covered in rubble and soot.

Unfortunately, one of the janitors she had promised to save died from exhaustion. Rachel looked over the broken test pod carrying the decaying corpse, brushing her dusty hand across the shattered glass and shedding a tear, exhaling from the burden.

“I’m so sorry.” Rachel apologized, looking at their lifeless eyes before closing their eyelids to let them rest. One of the responders approached her, patting her on the shoulder in solidarity.

“Hey, don’t let it eat you up. You’ve saved plenty more lives than anyone can dream of…” She advised, cleaning off the rubble and soot from the heroine. 

“And now, a family can finally grieve.” The responder spoke softly before covering the body with a blanket and escorting the pod.

“Get some rest, you’ve helped a lot today.” They smiled as Rachel looked around, seeing the others being treated and watching their deformed bodies transform back to normal. 

“Not nearly enough.” Rachel thought before approaching the dazed survivors, seeing them shiver as the fluid pumped inside them, barely recovering from the traumatic experience. She held onto their frail hands to show support, comforting them, and being a warm presence despite being covered in grime.

“Th…Thank…you…” One of them muttered, tearing up as Rachel smiled at them, trying not to tear up. As she rested, she was approached by one of the officers.

“Miss…Shrinking Rae. May I borrow you for a second?” He asked, with Rachel standing in his presence.

“The lab folks were wondering if you had a moment to draw some blood for their vaccine?” He asked her, with Rachel nodding her head.

“Y-Yeah, of course.” She agreed, following the cop into the compact blood truck. Once she completes the blood draw, she comes back out with a bandage wrapped around her arm, barely able to move her arm or walk. She sat by the seating area to eat her lukewarm pizza and a cookie, taking a breather after the exhausting day. However, with her back turned away, she felt a sudden flash of light and a figure approaching her.

“Miss Rivera?” The monotone voice called out, with Rachel sighing before taking one last bite of her food.

“I take it you’re here for Brennan or for intervening with an active scene. I know the drill.” She said tirelessly, flipping herself over with her arms extended, expecting to be cuffed.

“That…won’t be necessary.” He assured her, raising his badge with a soft smile.

“Donald Ferguson. GDA. Just wanted a few minutes of your time.” He introduced himself, with Rachel cocking her eyes in suspicion. However, with the week she had, she didn’t bother to question it, offering him a chair to sit. The timid agent took her offer, shifting the free chair and sitting across from her.

“So? I’m guessing you’re the ones who came up with the ‘Alien’ story?” She asked, puzzled by the cover-up.

“We just went with something common to lower suspicions in a small town like yours.” Donald explained, clearing his throat.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you guys even bothered to show up.” Rachel snarked. 

“With you in the area, we figured you could handle the heavy lifting, and we'll handle the cleanup.” Donald explained timidly, feeling the valid frustration in her voice.

“Plus, we’ve been investigating a lead regarding your parent company’s use of the gel on its citizens, but that unraveled a deeper narrative that needed to be scrubbed.” Donald continued, pulling out confidential notes similar to what they pulled from the lab. 

“Meaning the story Lydia got kidnapped for?” Rachel asked, flipping through the pages of scribbled notes.

“Anything you or anyone else involved will be officially written off and covered with simply being an alien. It’s simple, effective, and keeps the necessary people out of the picture.” Donald details coldly, with Rachel deflating from the realization that her hard work will go unnoticed, passing back the documents. 

“So that’s it? All the trauma these people endured, died, or what I have done to protect this town just goes away because you say so?” Rachel asked the steadfast agent interrogatively, feeling herself on edge before trying to calm herself from the body ache.

“It’s not ideal, but in our line of work, our greatest triumphs are often celebrated silently.” Donald advised in solidarity, with Rachel begrudgingly agreeing with him.

“Your hard work won’t go unnoticed. At least to people like them or Shirley. Rest assured, their recovery, burials, and any therapy they need will be covered at no extra charge.” Donald glanced over at the first responders helping the survivors, with Rachel softly smiling, knowing they’ll be okay. However, she quickly soured before forgetting one crucial detail in the narrative.

“And what about Brennan? Does he just get away with this?” Rachel sighed, figuring he had posted bail.

“He’s…under our jurisdiction. His company will be under close management, and the formula will be kept safe from public use.” Donald clarified, with Rachel slightly dismayed to see her get new owners. 

“So, I’m guessing that means…you guys own me now?” She asked tiredly, lying back in her chair.

“Sponsored, but not under contract. Anything you do from here on out will be covered without any legal hassle, including a clean slate.” Donald smiled, with Rachel perking up from the news.

“Wait, you’re serious? Like a fresh start?” Rachel asked, softly laughing in disbelief. 

“It’s not much, but it’s our way of saying thanks for handling this.” Donald smirked, liking seeing happy. However, their time was cut short as his watch beeped, looking to see a message inscribed.

“That was my superior. I need to check back on a Mauler Twins case in Chicago.” He explained, quickly getting up and fixing his suit. He looked back at the sun setting, unfazed through his shades, but glanced over at Rachel one last time. 

“But, you’ve got a bright future ahead, Miss Rivera. Just help keep creating small wonders for this town, for Shirley and her mother.” Donald softly advised, extending his hand to her.

“I will, thanks.” Rachel shook his hand, standing up, and the two parted on good terms before she headed back inside the truck. 

“We’ll keep in touch soon.” He ends ambiguously, barely registering with Rachel. 

“Wait, keep in touch?” She turned around, confused, before he simply vanished, leaving nothing but a small dust trail. Rachel exhaled, looking over her surroundings and feeling a sense of pride and optimism. 

“Right, small wonders.” Rachel muttered, sitting back in her chair in disbelief. She looked at the sun setting, feeling the weight fall off her shoulders. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before a responder approached her.

“Hey, we’re heading back to the hospital. Do you need a ride?”

“Yeah, please.” She responded, limping her way to the backseat. By the time she made her way back, she was already exhausted and was escorted back to her room to rest. She was tired but content with where her future was heading.

About a week had passed, having been under strict orders to rest her body before she was discharged. Life in the town had slowly transitioned back to its isolated self, away from the dangers of the crazy world she inhabited. Despite the crime rate declining once again, Rachel still took it upon herself to put on her suit, serving as a symbol of security. 

She continued training with her parents, but there was no malice in their actions. They always made sure Rachel was okay, even if she got a minor scratch. Ray took it upon himself to provide for the family once again, with Debra focusing on housework. However, her strict diet remained the same, since they had limited options of what they could buy to eat. 

Rachel continued going to school, greeted with applause for her actions, but was timid at the sudden change in people’s hearts, like with Cheryl. She continued to be an ace in biology, often having people come to her house and tutor them for some extra cash. 

During the nights, she would patrol the town, greeting kids and helping neighbors with small problems. The most action she got was when she shrank down into a sink and plunged for a wedding ring someone had dropped, or the occasional lost pet. The cops appreciated her help, often letting her accompany them in the front seat to patrol alongside them. The days slowly turned into weeks, as the impact she had in her neighborhood quickly turned around.

However, by the time the weekend came, she often slept over at Shirley’s house, making it her personal duty to check on her and her mom’s well-being. Shirley remained headstrong as always, having a new status of being Shrinking Rae’s best friend and savior to the school kids. 

Rachel even came to Shirley’s school to give a small presentation on her adventures and what being a hero meant to her. She answered various questions, like what was the grossest thing she had ever done, or if she ever regretted having powers. Despite the loaded questions, Rachel gave clean answers, claiming not to change a thing from her life experience. However, the one question that stumped her was: What was next outside of their town?

Despite the disappointing news that her big news story was censored, Lydia quickly returned to her news work, too stubborn to be bound to her wheelchair. Her recovery took a little longer, but every time Rachel visited them, Lydia transitioned from wheelchair to crutches and back to walking with a minor limp in her leg. Lydia had trouble accepting Rachel’s help at first, especially with doing everyday chores like cooking dinner, but she slowly came around, seeing Rachel and Shirley bond. With everything returning to a normal schedule, their biggest battle was overcoming the trauma they’ve shared. 

Shirley found herself in a cold sweat and tears, reliving the trauma of being back at the laboratory. However, she was never alone, as Rachel often slept beside her to keep her company.

Rachel still had nightmares of all she had endured, often crying or making her body involuntarily shift sizes. During those nights, Shirley often held her from behind, stabilizing Rachel and making herself the size of a stuffed animal for Shirley so the two weren’t alone. 

For Lydia, her trauma was internalized, trying to keep a strong face for the girls. She hated being seen as a charity case by everyone. However, she often had nightmares of her time being experimented on and feared the same would happen to her daughter. She had trouble sleeping, spending time downstairs watching late-night TV eating pizza. She wasn’t alone, however, with Rachel and Shirley sometimes waking up from their nightmares.

“You girls couldn’t sleep too, huh?” She asked wryly, with the girls shrugging off their nightmares, softly chuckling.

“You guys wanna watch a movie and eat some cold pizza?” She asked, patting the cushions of the couch and joining her. Lydia sat in the middle so Shirley could cuddle with her to the side, while Rachel gave some space between them. The three decided to watch another one of Shirley’s fairy movies, despite Shirley quickly falling asleep in her mother’s arms. 

Rachel ate the pizza and watched despite not understanding the general plot, feeling a hesitance between her and Lydia. She often longed for that gentle, loving touch from her mom when she was a kid, with Debra making up for it as much as possible. However, with Lydia and Shirley, it felt genuine and not forced. Lydia could feel her eyes glance over them through the glare of her glasses, placing her tired hand onto Rachel’s.

“You don’t have to do this alone, you know?” Lydia assured her, gesturing with her head for Rachel to come closer. Despite the awkward scooting, Rachel leaned closer, with Lydia offering her a hug, letting the weary girl rest her head on her shoulder. She wasn’t used to this physical affection, still tensing up before easing herself and accepting the unwavering love. 

“You’re a part of this messy family now.” Lydia joked, stroking Rachel’s messy hair and making her softly laugh before closing her eyes. Despite the hardships they’ve faced in the past few weeks. It was moments like this that made them an unconventional family unit. 

By the time spring came, finals were already in motion, as Rachel was completely deep in her studies. With her tutoring money, she often went to Burger Mart with her school friends to study, being the designated leader for their biology study group while eating a hearty meal. Luckily, the finals were heavily focused on anatomy, something Rachel has firsthand experience in. 

“So if the stomach and spleen are part of the digestive system, would the kidneys also be?” Ashley asked, looking over her notes, confused.

“No, that’s just urinary. Separate area, but can get where the confusion comes in.” Rachel corrects, snacking on her fries as her friend edits that tidbit.

“I’ve always been curious, what’s the furthest you’ve travelled inside someone?” Tony asked, with Ashley nudging him for the rude comment. However, Rachel smirked from his bold curiosity.

“Truth is, not as far as people think. Mainly, I just mess around with the ears to make bad guys puke and the occasional chokehold in their throat.” Rachel shrugs it off, with Ashley being grossed out by the image of being covered in bodily fluids.

“Sick.” Tony smirked, impressed by the lengths she goes through regularly, and Rachel smiled back.

“Should we go over the respirat-” Before Rachel could ask, a student barged in through the front door, holding his phone.

“YO, CHANGE THE CHANNEL TO NEWS! THE GUARDIANS JUST DIED!” He proclaimed to a stunned crowd. The front clerk quickly finds the remote and puts on the local news, with Lydia in front of a green screen.

“-reports just confirmed that all members of the Guardians Of The Globe have died. The death toll includes heavy hitters such as The Immortal, Darkwing, and War Woman, sparking various reactions online, many in disbelief or believing it to be a hoax.” Lydia reports, showing photos of the team grayed out with a red “Dead” text over it. The crowd inside the Burger Mart gasped, too stunned to speak, and checked their social media for confirmation. Ashley covered her mouth in shock as Tony comforted her. Rachel could barely react, seeing those names on the screen.

“Oh, God.” Rachel muttered, seeing War Woman’s image on display, remembering how much she idolized her as a kid, now just a faded image.  

“While no further details of the future of the team, many are left to wonder who will be next in line as Earth’s defenders?” Lydia ends somberly, but with a straight composure. People kept talking about their favorite heroes dying, with Rachel’s dissociation interrupted by a harsh vibration on the table, quickly reaching for her phone to see an anonymous text.

“Guardians Tryouts in 3 days. Coordinates down below.” The text read, with Rachel barely able to register the responsibility laid out for her.

“Rachel? Are you okay?” Ashley asked, seeing her friend had turned pale.

“I…I don’t know.” Rachel barely answered, staring at her phone through her glasses, speechless about what was to come.