#heartthump

Right before she could enter the front doors of a preppy clothing shop that led into the interior halls, she had to awkwardly scoot around a mother trying to calm down her hysterical kid crying about a monster in the bushes. Avoiding that, she managed to get inside and make a beeline towards the doors that had led to the actual store fronts within the building. Disregarding the entirety of the early-winter selection, she was already fashionable enough, thank you very much. 

The weekend had brought in a decent crowd, though considering this mall was in a bustling city it wasn’t hurting for customers even on slow days. Natasha braced herself for the oncoming noise by putting in her earphones and stared upwards at the five stories from the bottom floor. She could barely make out the people in the sea of colorful brands and the cacophony of voices. It was a wonder, for Natasha, that the employees can stand this much commotion every single day. Perhaps she should be happy she gets to work her life away behind a desk.

In any case, that video game wasn’t going to buy itself. Natasha strode onto the crowded escalator. She tried to not bump into the group of rambunctious youths in front of her and held onto the rail with a tight grip. Trying to focus on the electronic beats that played in her ears, her fingers tapped down on the volume button to dial her music up to cover up the loud conversation between two older women behind her.

The trial of getting to the third floor was, for the most part, grueling. Stepping off the escalator almost felt like flying. With a skip in her step, she quickly made her way along the balcony, pulling her hat down to cover her eyes. Eye contact with others was not mandatory on her day off. Her attention was laser focused on trying to spot the store front she was so keen on finding. She was so dead set on getting to the game store that she-

“OOF! Hey, watch it!” scolded the teenager she accidentally bumped her shoulder into.

Natasha’s attention snapped back into place as she backed up with her hands raised. “Oh damn, sorry!” Natasha faltered apologetically, “You okay? I didn’t hurt you did I?” Her guts were already twisting in embarrassment as the glare the youth was giving her made her feel like she was the size of a mouse. 

After what felt like forever, the tension broke as the teen rolled his eyes and put his ear phone back into his head. “Nah I’m fine,” he said while brushing off his shoulder, “It’s all good, see ya’ miss.” As if Natasha didn’t just hurt him, he shrugged it off and moved on with his day. 

As he walked away, Natasha hung around for a moment to ponder, wondering why he didn’t tell her off for shoving him. She should have been paying attention to where she was going and not turn on autopilot like an idiot. Pain from her forearm snapped her out of it, she hadn’t noticed her own fingernails were gripping tightly into her flesh.

One enormous sigh later, she watched the carefree boy just stroll further away from her, and turned away when he stopped, seemingly preoccupied with something on the ground floor.

Oh, to be able to just let things go. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Natasha continued her journey to the game store, which wasn’t too far from that spot. This time, she kept her guard up, and made it to the storefront of her usual place. While it was more hole-in-the-wall than the franchised game store in the mall, it had much older games for sale. Plus, the prices were much more reasonable than more recent titles.

Her expectant grin dropped when she realized that the employee who usually was manning the store wasn’t there. This time, it was a guy she hadn’t seen before, who was just staring at his phone, leaning apathetically on the counter. She surmised it was probably his first day and thought to give him a kind impression. While she never had to work retail in her life, the horror stories she had heard gave her empathy for those working on the front lines in society. 

“Hello!” Natasha cheerfully said in a chipper demeanor as she strolled into the store, smiling at the employee who barely raised his head. When their eyes met, a chill went down her spine as she not only saw indifference, but annoyance. She couldn’t understand his grumble before looking back down at his phone.

Brushing off that warm welcome, Natasha just assumed he was already having a bad day, though she wondered to herself if she had laid on the introduction too thick. She made her way to the previous-gen console games and focused less on the employee’s coldness towards her. She had actual business to attend to. 

Picking though nostalgic titles was a walk in the park for her. Natasha simply just had to pick out something that wasn’t already in her collection, maybe even a duplicate copy with an alternate cover she hadn’t seen yet. Her pink push on nails hooked onto a few survival horror classics and pulled them into her hands as if she was an excited pre-teen again. She was having a great time sitting there on her knees, she hardly even noticed the sourpuss employee behind her making passive aggressive sighs. 

Once she had a good stack of games in her forearm, Natasha turned to see the employee still glued to his phone. It turned out that the hard part of her trip wasn’t just getting to the store, but checking out.

“Hello!” Natasha said as she approached the counter, though her excitement dimmed as she noticed the employee didn’t even notice her greeting. He had to have heard her, he wasn’t even wearing any earphones. After one awkward silence, she cleared her throat and spoke up again. “Excuse me,” Natasha said with a more firm tone in her voice, though she didn’t want to cause a scene, “I’d like to buy these please.”

The death glare the employee gave nearly made her jump, unfortunately she knew this look and the knots in her stomach twisted. She didn’t like where this conversation was heading. This guy looked down at her hands and rolled his eyes in disgust as he shoved his phone into his pocket. 

“Fine,” the cashier grumbled as he nearly tore the games out of Natasha’s hands. While she was taken aback from how rude this employee was being, she had hoped he’d do the bare minimum and just do his job without a fuss. Unfortunately, her hopes dropped when the cashier stared at the cover of each game she bought as he scanned them. He shook his head and just had to open his rotten mouth.

“Your boyfriend ain’t giving you enough attention huh?” the cashier said bluntly with a sick smirk on his face, “Does he even like these games?”

Wow. That’s how it’s going to be then?

Luckily, being in countless upper management roles had given her the skill of keeping a lid on striking out to offense. Though she gave the cashier an unbothered smile, a furious rage burned in her chest. He couldn’t have been serious. “Nah,” Natasha responded, “These are for me.”

“Suuree they are,” Cashier said, stopping mid-button press as he was ringing up the items, “These are outdated garbage, nobody plays shit like th-”

“Cool, are you going to just yap or do your job?” Natasha interrupted him, not even giving him the reaction he wanted as she calmly just searched through her purse for her wallet. That made the ostensible incel shut his mouth, his ballooning red face looked like it wanted to explode. To his credit, it looked like he had some idea that if he were to escalate, he would lose his paychecks indefinitely. He shoved the games into the cheap plastic bag and basically threw the bag onto the counter.

“Twenty four fifty,” he grunted with spittle hitting the register. He scowled, seeing Natasha smiling smugly as she tapped her card on the reader. Natasha couldn’t have been more happy when she got the receipt and shoved the bag into her purse. While it looked like she walked away completely unbothered by the cashier’s behavior, her knuckles paled as they gripped the purse’s strap. 

The words he said just replayed on a loop in her mind, almost driving her to tears. Why the hell did she have to be punished for just buying video games on the only time she could let loose? Her heartbeat pulsed loudly in her ears as her firm sense of justice became too raw to bear. Without realizing, one of her hands pulled harshly on the waist of her dress. A meltdown was approaching upon the horizon, however, she had to push the wave down. If she were to shed even a single tear, she could be in bigger trouble than that disgusting pig. It was all becoming all too much, Natasha needed an outlet before she- 

Ping!

Halfway out of the store, her phone notification went off. Natasha didn’t know why she did, but in the middle of storming out of her ruined sanctuary she checked her phone. It looked like someone left a message in the personal friend group chat. Upon opening it, her eyes lit up as she saw who it was from.

Atlas Gang Group ChatNovember 23rd @  1:00 pm

Jason: Hello! Sorry I have gone quiet for the past two weeks. Recovery has been a bit more rough than I expected. Good news though, I’m coming back to work monday! :)

Her grip loosened with a sigh of relief. It was about time, she really needed an ear to listen to her right then. Natasha lost contact with the reality happening around her as she tapped her nails onto the phone’s keyboard. 

Natasha: HEEEEYYY! :D Omg i’m so happy to hear! MAN you wouldn’t BELIEVE what just happened at the 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” screeched the pig’s voice.

Natasha’s head nearly spun off of her shoulders at the yelling, expecting to see an angry cashier confronting her. However, he seemed to stare in absolute horror at something beyond her shoulder. A rattling sound right behind her became apparent with an unnatural chill that made the hair on the back of her neck stand. She held her breath as she hesitantly turned her head to face… it.

Natasha’s day-off just got a whole lot worse. 

[Image Description: Natasha is face-to-face with a large monster that resembles an anthropomorphic  dinosaur that is made out of stone and glowing crystal. It is “drooling” and staring her down.] ---

Natasha: HEEEEYYY! :D Omg i’m so happy to hear! MAN you wouldn’t BELIEVE what just happened at the 

Jason: ??? Nat?

Jason had been staring down at the cut off message for about a minute, wondering why she didn’t finish what she was saying. Though he couldn’t ponder for long as a grating voice snapped him out of it.

“Yo what about LONDON TOWER?? EHHHHHH?” Motor gleefully suggested as he was flipping through the clearance costumes in the back of the clothing store.

Jason just gave him a tired stare and pressed the side button on his phone in order to put it to sleep. “You realize I’ve been an American citizen for six years now, right?” Jason said, “And for the last time, I will not be a masked vigilante, it’s literally illegal.” While it might have been too late, Jason had concluded that it was an absolute blunder to reach out to Motor for help. 

The original deal was to just go shopping for plaster to fix his ceiling and get used to controlling that pesky curse in public. Jason had to go back to work at some point as rent would not pay itself. At first it seemed nice to go out shopping after a whole two weeks inside, however, it quickly became apparent that the goal of their trip had changed from getting his life back together to picking out tacky Halloween costumes. Long after October.

“Oh come on Jason,” Motor said, “Don’t you know that great power comes with great responsibility?” He quoted that as if he was some professional historian, finger raised and all. 

“I am being responsible,” Jason answered as he folded his arms, “By keeping this thing under wraps and not breaking the law.” His gaze turned to the ultra cheap costumes around them, feeling a sense of embarrassment from the mere thought of wearing tight leggings and a wonky mask.

“Bro what the hell is the point of having a superpower and not usin’ it?” Motor asked as he held up a black jumpsuit towards Jason to compare sizes. The office worker shifted his glare to the jumpsuit and shoved it away. 

“It’s not a- ugh,” Jason grumbled as his palm hit his forehead, “I just need to learn to be normal again, nothing more.” He turned away from Motor with his arms crossed, his ears red with boiling fury. 

“Being normal sucks,” Motor retorted as he turned his back to throw the jumpsuit improperly onto the hangers, “Besides, it ain’t gonna kill ya to have a disguise for when you get a growth spurt.” Motor continued to clank through more clearance costumes on the hangers while pouting. Jason on the other hand, wasn’t going to bother to humor the nerd with his bizarre fantasies. Though if Jason had to concede anything to Motor, he had a point about needing to hide his identity in case it happens. All it could take was one escaping thought to cause a terrible scene and a call to the United States military. 

Perhaps, he could hide somewhere when he felt the butterflies coming on, or maybe just drop that silly crush on Natasha. Though the former was easier said than done. Suddenly Jason shook his head vigorously, realizing that he was treading dangerous waters if he were to dwell on his feelings for her any further. Looking for a distraction, Jason glanced over at the clearance table with all sorts of Halloween masks that weren’t lucky enough to be sold during the holiday they were made for. He reached out and picked up a bright white ski mask with wiring connected to it. Seeing the wires attached to the mouthpiece and the small battery pack on the other end made him realize it had a voice changer.

With his curiosity satiated, Jason was about to place it back down onto the table to check out the other masks in the meantime. Before he could get the chance to, both of the men heard a loud screech from the shopping mall entrance. They looked at each other confused, though did not say a single word as a crowd of mall shoppers ran into the clothing store and sprinted to the building’s exit. 

Grimly, Jason assumed that they had ended up in a situation that Americans are unfortunately too familiar with. Just as Jason was going to join the crowd to run from the apparent threat, a large hand that grabbed his shoulder stopped him. 

“Motor what the bloody hell are you doing!?” Jason shouted before he was dragged down to hide behind the hangers with the janitor. Motor promptly shushed him and Jason stared at him, wondering what was going through Motor’s head now.

“I didn’t hear a gunshot,” Motor whispered as they huddled behind the costumes, “Did you?” Now that he thought about it, a gun surely would have been fired by now if it caused this much of a panic. “I didn’t,” Jason confirmed, attempting to peek through the costumes to watch more people run, “But whatever it is, we shouldn’t be standing around to find out.”

In order to figure out exactly what the panic was about, Jason focused his new hearing towards the groups of people hustling to get to safety. Though what he heard cleared nothing up at all.

“Run for your lives!”

“WHAT WAS THAT THING!?”

“Lucy, come on baby! We’re almost outside!”

“I’m not making it up!! It’s HUGE guys!”

“Think I saw it chasing some lady, this is our chance!!”

It had left him with more questions than answers. They couldn’t have been talking about him as he was nowhere near the scene of the crime and the last he checked was his normal height. But, if the involuntary giant was with Motor, then what the hell else could they be referring to? Motor himself seemed to tune in the best he could. With his curly bangs covering his eyes, Jason found it hard to decipher if Motor had come to his senses yet. Nevertheless, someone had to use their common sense at that moment, and it sure would not be Motor. 

“L-let’s get out of here,” Jason shuddered as he turned to Motor, and witnessed one of the most horrifying things imaginable to him. A dark brown eye pierced through Motor’s bangs had its full attention completely focused on the little office rat. That sizzling stare burned into Jason’s mind as it was the telling sign of a reckless idea being born with full immunity to doubt.

“Jason,” Motor said, “Someone is in deep shit right now and needs your help.”

Hearing the unexpected serious tone Jason had thought Motor could never possibly possess, his face turned completely pale as he began to involuntarily shiver. Shaking his head, Jason tried to mutter out excuses though his disbelief. “Wh-what?!” Jason squealed, “I-I can’t do anything about this, we should get somewhere safe-”

A harsh, jamming finger into his sternum which took Jason’s breath away. “You have the power,” Motor argued, “Are you just gonna run away to do the safe thing, or the right thing?” 

This was one of those rare times where Jason could peek behind Motor’s bangs and saw those judgemental eyes stare deep into his soul. His resolve crumbled, unsure what the correct answer had to be in this situation. Never in his life he was depended on like this and merely asking something like this crushed Jason. “I… I can’t-” Jason sputtered, unable to give a simple reply as his scared eyes stared back at Motor. 

His fingers gripped into the plastic of the mask he had been holding onto.

“...Oh- oh bugger.”

---

Natasha’s shoes skidded as she sprinted around the corner, not bothering to look behind her as she heard a storefront’s windows shatter. Unfortunately, this didn’t buy the time that Natasha wanted. In the matter of seconds, the pursuit continued as if the thing didn’t just tumble through a wall of glass. 

The unnatural footfalls of the towering thing grew louder as it rapidly gained ground towards Natasha, who had burst into a full on sprint for her life. Her mind still held the glimpse of that living art school project and the unidentifiable wet substance that dripped from its claws. Out of everyone else in the mall, it had its eyes dead set on the prey it picked to give chase. Natasha wasn’t sure why, but this wasn’t the time to stop to ask questions. 

Her feet hit the laminated floors as her chest burned with every quick breath. 

She thanked herself for not going with the low-heels today instead choosing her casual white tennis shoes. It had done her a favor in running away from the ghastly creature behind her. 

Natasha’s skin raised goosebumps from the frigid breath tracing the back of her neck.

To her horror, she found they were heading towards the end of the floor that had nothing but a white plastered wall that had spelled out a grim fate for her. Natasha only had a couple of seconds to look around for a way out, as death trailed at her heels. At that moment, she saw the escalator which was devoid of people. Suddenly, the inner urge of her rebellious days long past called to her.

She acted upon it.

In one swift skip, she jumped onto the escalator railing and had dodged a swing from the beast, her backside landed on the rail. Swiftly, she slid down the railing, freedom blowing through her pink curls. Pure glee rushed through her heart, however it was brief as she attempted to hop off of the rail. 

Natasha was rudely reminded that she wasn’t fifteen anymore as she tumbled a few feet and didn’t make the graceful landing as planned. With a yelp, she fell onto her side and ended up rolling on to her back. Her trendy glasses broke in half on the floor and her hat floated into the mall’s koi fish pond.

Just before she could even think about getting up, its claws slammed right along her shoulders. The crackle of laminate filled her ears and the chilled breathing sunk into her spine. Before she could even register it, she had been caught.

“No no NO NO NO!!” Natasha croaked, “Not like this!” Pleading seemed to just bounce off the beast as it drew closer to her face, making no noise other than its scrapes on the tile floor. She tried to get up, push it away or anything, but her limbs were tired from running. Everything shut down as the end grew closer. The adrenaline pumping through her veins had blinded her to the mascara dripping off her face and how her throat had become hoarse from screaming.

Regrets sprouted from the depression her mind had cultivated. She should have stuck with her musical passions instead of safe corporate work. Maybe even sucked it up and just tried to ask Jason out on a date. Man, calling her ma first from time to time wouldn’t have hurt. Did she really need to pick up these video games today?

The blinding maw was open wide, and she would soon find her fate to be a cruel one. Her eyes closed shut, ready for the end.

“H-h-hey, y-you there!”

The icy grasp of death suddenly released, and Natasha heard a deep voice give a frightened screech. “Leave her al-AAAH!” Yelled the voice, “Bloody h-hell what are you!?” 

Natasha felt the overbearing presence above her shuffle away and she felt safe enough to open her eyes to see what brave idiot was dumb enough to get its attention. Turning her head she saw a guy, who began to slowly retreat. He looked like he ran out of ideas for a Halloween costume; dressed in all black clothing that covered just about everything except his face, which was covered by a knock-off slasher hockey mask.

Natasha could tell right away that he bit off more than he could chew, especially since he wasn’t even holding anything to defend himself with. She could only push herself up as she witnessed the stranger take shaky steps away from the approaching monstrosity.

“U-Uhm, sorry that was rude of me wasn’t it?” The stuttering stranger spoke, his voice became hoarse with fear, “See, you’re causing a huge ruckus and hurting people, d-do you understand what you’re doing?”

It towered over the skinny man. The full height of this thing had to have been almost twice as big as him. Even if the creature didn’t have long crystalline claws and a mouth a dentist would faint at, the idiot had no chance. While it was hard to gauge from where Natasha was prone, she could tell the pleads from behind the guy’s mask had not gotten through to that thing at all. An attempt to peacefully negotiate had been done in vain.

Natasha pulled herself up off of the ground and leaned forward to get a better look as she debated if she should make a run for it. While it would have been the safer option, she thought it cruel to leave this guy alone with that B-movie abomination. One glance was all it took for her to notice that they were the only ones in the mall, and she didn’t hear sirens. Worst of all, she saw the monster slowly lower its arms and bend its legs, just as if it was about to pounce on the shivering man who obviously froze in fear.

“Hey!” Natasha shouted, “Watch out!!”

The masked figure’s head jerked towards her direction, followed by a surprised gasp as he visibly was taken aback by her presence. Natasha could not even comprehend what happened next. She had to have been trapped in a nightmare conjured by her anxieties and caffeine overdose. In one blink, the masked stranger’s height lurched upwards, and he had gained an unexpected height advantage over the monster. Visibly cold vapor hissed through its ‘skin’ as it backed away, if only for a moment. From what Natasha could tell, the stranger didn’t expect this change either as he looked down to investigate his hands with a shaking head. Though the match up changed quite a bit, the monster had already lowered itself, disregarding the change entirely.

Unfortunately, the now-giant man didn’t notice it pouncing on top of him until it was already too late. The only thing he could do was to flinch backwards to stop the thing from slicing his head off, but alas, the glowing, blade-like claws scraped down his arm. A pained shriek rang out before a slam in the chest interrupted the man as the creature barged into him. Blood dripped onto the laminate floor as he shoved the beast aside with both arms. The stoney creature fell under its own momentum into an abandoned hot dog stand. Natasha stood up onto her feet, still trying to process the scene unfolding in front of her. This seemed to be a chance to get away from the insanity she’d had been thrown into, through her wet eyes locked on to the wounded giant. He had looked back at her, she could see his dilated pupils as he held his trembling arm. The stranger then dashed towards her direction.

Natasha backed away, preparing to make a run for but found herself cemented to the floor. To her horror she spotted the creature getting up from the greasy remains from the stand as if it was nothing. The fear upon her face caused the giant to look over his shoulder to see what she was gawking at.

That is, until he tripped over the edge of the koi pond and fell right into it.

Water splashed about and turned red from the blood seeping out of the masked giant’s wound. He had a rather difficult time getting out of the water, unfortunately, the creature had seen this and made a slow stride to collect his head. Tiles cracked under its weight as it approached the fountain, looking down at the incapacitated giant who was struggling with his pain. 

However, before it could leap onto the masked man, one of its feet landed on a stray puddle. Immediately it yanked itself back with a loud hiss as vapor rose from the affected foot. From where Natasha was standing, she could see the obsidian-like skin under its foot dull into an ugly gray and the light leave the pulsing blue crystals. Within the pond, the masked giant scrambled, not realizing the creature had halted its pursuit and wobbled back up to his feet. He leaped from the pond clumsily and tried to run past Natasha as if she wasn’t even there. As it didn’t want its prey to get away that easily, it readied itself and leaped across the pond as if it was nothing. The beast slammed down onto the other side despite it limping on its poor foot and made a bloodthirsty dash towards the wounded giant. Natasha took a step away from the scene, nearly slipping on ice. “WOA- huh!?” Natasha yelped as she saw that the spots where the monster had been had been frozen completely with the puddles becoming black ice. Remembering some parts of her highschool chemistry class, an idea sprouted from her mind. Her attention went back to the fight as she heard a loud clash.

The masked giant had grabbed a plushie stand and rammed it into the beast to stop its chase. While that idea might have worked out, the creature knew better as it grabbed the stand by the sides of it. Large bright teeth emerged from its gaping maw and it snapped its mouth in the middle of the stand, including an unlucky teddy bear. The stand had been torn in half to the giant’s horror and it didn’t take long for the beast to leap from the remains of the stand. A loud thump echoed across the empty mall’s lobby upon impact. Natasha saw the beast’s arms slam down against the giant man and pin him to the floor. She shivered, knowing that what that brave moron was seeing was that eldritch gullet. His screams then snapped her out of her inaction. She couldn’t just stand there and let an innocent… man? Die. Not because of her.

Quickly, her eyes darted around the mall, trying to see anything she could use to save his life. Her desperate mind then spotted the fire hose box across from where she was standing. Natasha made a bolt for it as the beating continued.

“AA- St-AH! Get-” The giant stammered as claws slashed into his chest, though an unexpected roar came from him. “GET THE FUCK OFF!!” He yelled as his good arm swung from the side and plowed into the predator’s head. It reeled back in agony, its growls sound less like an animal and more like crumbling glass. No longer was it holding him down as it held the side of its face, though it still was in grabbing distance from the giant man. The time to intervene was now, or more regrets would follow her.

The door to the fire hose box slammed open, and she tugged the end of the hose out of its roll. The beast made a deep rumbling noise as it glared down at its exhausted opponent with its blazing blue sockets. Before it could lash out at him once more, a daring human caught it off guard by jumping in between them.

“HEY UGLY!” Natasha yelled, hose ready in her hands, “WHERE’S YOUR RAINCOAT?!”

[Image Description: From the point of view of the monster, Natasha is spraying a fire hose at it while yelling. The quote “Random guy” on the floor is staring at her in amazement/fear for her safety.]

The water spouted from the nozzle and drenched its face completely. Vapor poured from the graying skin from the beast as it writhed in agony from the water pouring into every crack along the surface. It scattered away from the onslaught but it was already too late for it to run, as its feet twitched for the last time before they froze completely. Pieces of its arms withered and crashed onto the floor. To what Natasha could guess was a scream, it had made a loud engine like roar before the light from its eye sockets dimmed. 

From a creature made of crystal, it stayed a mere frail stone statue for only a couple of seconds as the pieces of it cracked onto the tiles, and what remained was a pile of rocks with its vapors dissipating into the air.

Nothing but quiet running water filled the mall lobby.

A clatter of a fallen hose's nozzle followed the moment of silence that was shared between the two of them in the lobby. If she wasn’t on high alert from the impossibly giant man behind her, Natasha felt like she could collapse onto the floor into her favorite fetal position for a mental breakdown. Her dim wine eyes held a haunting staring contest with the frozen remains of the thing that almost ended both of their lives. However, it was cut short as her shoulder jumped from the loud groan behind her. The winds of movement brushed against her back, causing her to turn around to face him.

Now that she didn’t have to worry about meeting her maker early, Natasha had a better look at her terrifying rescuer. It was as if he was a slasher villain that escaped his own B-movie. He had just about everything; The black clothing, emotionless hockey mask, incredibly imposing height and what she could see, his squinting eyes staring daggers at her. Despite his appearance however, the giant could only barely sit himself up and was clutching his chest, hissing in pain from the beating he took. Too many questions ran through her mind to pick which one she should ask first. Since she couldn’t find the words, the giant used his own. 

“Uhm.. you alright?” he asked softly, his hands trembling.

“I-I guess,” Natasha finally answered with a dry mouth, “Should be asking you that.” She pointed at his chest, however her eyes gazed over the torn sleeve that revealed a rather nasty wound. 

The giant’s head followed her finger and he slowly unclenched his hands, shaking and definitely had his blood on them. Even with a deep voice, he uttered a squeal upon seeing the deep scratch on his forearm and pulled it close to his chest. Natasha attempted to lean a little to get a better look, however he pulled it away from her view. 

“O-oh that?” he spoke, chuckling nervously through his strained voice, “It’s just a scratch, no big deal haha…” Even with his eyes hiding behind the black mesh within the mask, Natasha could tell that he was looking away from her desperately. Dude looked like a serial killer, but he acted like a puppy who’s paw got accidentally stepped on.

“You sure?” Natasha insisted as she reached her hand out timidly to him, “We should get that wrapped up atle-”

Before she could finish, wind knocked Natasha back as the giant jumped back up to his feet. Thankfully, she managed to not fall over, though her heart rate multiplied seeing him reach his full height. Even while he was hunching over his obvious wound, her stomach dropped as he was tall enough to punt her like a football if he wanted to. 

“That won’t be necessary!” he said, “I’ll just go and clean it… out…” The giant paused in his spiel, unintentionally looming over the shivering woman. Standing within his shadow, that survival instinct re-gained the hold of her heart. A tiny voice in her mind tried to remind her he had just saved her life, however she did not like the way he was staring her down.

“You’re adorable,” he finally spoke. 

“E-excuse me!?” Natasha yelled, unsure if she had misheard him.

“AH- I mean,” the giant clumsily backpedaled as he waved his hands, “Sorry! You’re just so small now.” 

Dread crawled up her spine as it felt like his examination was piercing through her. Natasha shuffled away from him as tears welled up in her eyes. “Y-you’re goddamn huge,” Natasha whimpered as she grabbed the sides of her fizzled hair, “Ain’t no way this is actually happening to me right now...”

As if a switch flipped, the giant perked up and put hands down gently, backing up to give her space. “Oh, bugger!” the giant pleaded, “I forgot I’m… this.” His sigh flickered through the audio processor in the mask, looking away from her and drifting his eyes to the ruined pond.

He began talking again, though Natasha couldn’t exactly hear what he was saying over the loud thoughts crashing into her head. Ringing in her ears deafened her as everything about this situation had just seeped in. This wasn’t normal. Her fingers became numb and suddenly it became harder to breathe. She almost died. She could have died. 

Natasha was staring into her muddled reflection of the cracked laminate floor, not even hearing anything rather than the noise popping in her ears and her own sobbing.

Why did life have to be so cruel?

A droopy hat pushed her out of her spiral as it suddenly filled her vision. Natasha blinked and realized it wasn’t just any hat, it was her hat that fell into the pond. Though soaked through and tinted red on some of the edges. Her shaking hands reached up to grab the sides of it and looked up. The giant had been holding her hat in one of his hands while kneeling to her as if he was some dashing knight. Their eyes met for the first time, yet it felt so familiar.

“You deserve better than this Natasha.” He spoke with as much warmth as he could with an artificially deepened voice. While this gesture would have been sweet, charming even given the circumstances, the calm Natasha felt flickered out as his hand suddenly doubled in size. She couldn’t help screaming loudly from the sudden growth spurt as his entire being grew bigger right in front of her. He’d let go of the hat at this point, startled by her outburst and stood up in order to give her space. There wasn’t much clearing he could give, considering his back had bumped into the balcony of the second floor. The hot dog stand’s remains also had to get a word in as one of his shoes slipped on spilled grease, which caused him to fall back down onto the mall’s tiles. The sound of the cracking floor followed as Natasha backed herself into a pillar opposite of the walking disaster.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry I didn’t mean to-” the giant tried to plead to the sobbing woman who had already been through enough that day. However, his attempt at smoothing things over was interrupted by a yell that came from down further into the lobby.

“Yo, did you show that thing who’s boss-” Motor shouted as he ran towards the scene, though his jog turned into a full on sprint as he saw who had become a sobbing mess, “NATASHA! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

Light returned to Natasha’s eyes, and didn’t waste any time running towards her best friend. Upon impact with Motor’s large frame, she squeezed him in a tight hug as she wept. Of course Motor returned the favor with a hug, though spiked a glare at the disruptive man taking up a quarter of the mall’s first floor.

“Man, I have never been happier to see you!” Natasha wailed as she pulled away from him with her hands on his arms, “This gotta be a nightmare right!?”

“Uuhhh,” Motor said, his eyes quickly checking Natasha for any signs of injuries, “You alright?”

“NO I’M NOT ALRIGHT!” Natasha shouted, her hyperventilating returning as she gripped the sides of her frizzled pink hair. Though Motor put a stop to that with a chapped hand on her shoulder.

“Breathe sis,” Motor said, herding Natasha to follow him out, “Let’s get you out of here.” Natasha kept her head down as she gripped the brim of her hat. She didn’t want to look at the chaotic scene around her anymore and just wanted to wake up in her bedsheets . However, their walk outside was halted as Motor looked over his shoulder at the quiet giant. 

“Hey big guy!” he yelled, “You might want to get out of here, I saw the feds getting ready to raid the place, the back entrance is clear!” Natasha couldn’t see it, but she heard a loud grumble behind them and felt the vibrations through the floor.

“Thanks… kind stranger,” the giant retorted, moving towards the other direction on his hands and knees. She heard him mumble ‘ows’ and sounds of struggle against concrete.

Curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head to look back at the giant. Her large rescuer was attempting to shove himself underneath a balcony and into the alcove that had the mall’s back exit. Though he wasn’t having much luck trying to crawl into it on the account of the fact that he was basically two stories tall. He sighed, turning back, and their gazes had once again met. His eyes were hazel. That flame of similarity was still there, despite everything. The only thing Natasha could muster was a small flap of her hand before being shown the door.

What a terrible day off this was.

---

“You people are worthless,” Blaire slammed the police car’s door shut as she was reprimanding a small group of quivering officers. One of the piglets, the one who gave the news to the government operative, stuttered in his words as he fiddled with his belt.

“Ma’am, you need to understand that the claims made about the situation were not believable,” he said, sweating bullets from the stare down he was receiving from Blaire, “How were we supposed to realize that the reports of an actual monster rampaging at the mall were credible calls?” The soul nearly left his body when a finger jabbed into his chest, nearly stabbing through his bullet-proof vest.

“Prank or not you should have sent SOMEONE to the scene!” Blaire shouted, her gaze burning up the officer’s will to protest, “Lives could’ve been lost for Christ's sake!” The officer only nodded his head like a dog as she removed her finger with the world’s heaviest eye roll. As it seemed like the day would not get any better from there, Blaire shoved a hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out her sliver lighter. “You’re all lucky my people arrived in Seattle before this shit show,” Blaire said as she was fishing out a cigarette, “Keep away the press and uninvolved civilians, tell them nothing, and let us handle the rest.”

Blaire didn’t waste the rest of her breath and carried herself with purpose into the frantic parking lot. Ambulance sirens backdropped the chaotic parking lot, as her agents attempted to keep the witnesses from asking too many questions to prevent the situation from boiling over. Knowing today was going to be a long one, Blaire lit her cigarette and took a deep puff while surveying the scene unfolding before her. It didn’t take long for her to hear fast paced footsteps trail behind and an unconfident voice spoke up.

“Uhm- Ms. Witch?” A woman dressed as if it was her first day at a clerk job said, fumbling a tablet to her chest, “I have the diagnostics ready for you.” Blaire didn’t bother to look back at her and kept on walking closer to the mall’s building. “Walk with me,” Blaire ordered. The girl picked up her pace and started going through the notes she had written on the tablet while trying to not make direct eye contact with her superior. 

“Sweep is already almost done collecting all the samples from the entity within a mile radius, and there have been no reported casualties from the initial incident,” stated the informant as she struggled to keep up, “They’re currently trying to figure out how to handle transporting the samples without them merging.”

That confirmed what Blaire had been suspecting when she read that light-weight documentation. The few experiments that had been conducted so far concluded that the alien mineral is strongly magnetic to many common metals, but especially magnetic to itself; the separate chunks seemed to fuse together on contact. She wasn’t even sure if ‘magnetic’ described this peculiar attraction appropriately.

Blair’s eyes landed on the torn open doors of the front entrance. “I’m assuming it’s been terminated,” Blaire said as she took another drag.

The new hire’s fingers tapped on her tablet as she bit her lip, “Yes?” she hesitantly answered, “Though Sweep have just found out water can completely neutralize the lifeform.” Blaire stopped in her tracks, causing a collision between her and the clumsy young woman as she smacked into her back. The informant stepped away quickly and sputtered out an apology. “Oh, my gosh I-I’m so sorry-” 

“Nevermind that,” Blaire said as she turned around to face her with raised eyebrows, “What do you mean they just found out that water kills it? Why wasn’t this anywhere on the documents?”

“Well uh, I-I guess no one bothered to try? I don’t know ma’am,” the informant continued, “It’s been confirmed that the entire structure of the entity has a terminal reaction upon coming into contact with water.”

“Huh, well I’ll be,” Blaire responded as she tapped the burnt bit of her cigarette, “The bastards are invading the wrong planet, huh?”

“Actually, ma’am we can’t confirm sapience or intent at the moment,” the informant flipped through the reports, “Witnesses stated it was mindlessly rampaging during the entire event.”

“Same could be said of the military to be honest,” Blaire bluntly said as she watched a small crowd of teenagers being rounded up for questioning, “So, which group was able to terminate the thing? Sweep? Police? Or God forbid, Mall security?”

“About that…” the Informant said hesitantly with her eyes traveling to her feet, “It had been neutralized… by a civilian, ma’am.”

“Is that so?” Blaire asked, now giving full eye contact to the informant as the cigarette in her hand was gripped, “Who is it?”

The informant’s hand pointed towards an ambulance several meters away with a small team of EMTs tending to a pink-haired woman curled in a foil blanket. Nearby there was a tall shaggy man loudly arguing with a couple of her agents. “Those two were the only ones who know what happened to it,” the Informant clarified, “Though there is also-”

Before the informant could say anything else, Blaire dropped her cigarette onto the ground and dug in her heel to snuff it out. “Begin a Hamilton stratagem,” Blaire ordered as she strode towards the ambulance, “There was a severe gas leak that caused mass hysteria, delete any evidence to the contrary and administer amnestics if witnesses prove uncooperative.”

“But- but ma’am there’s something else you need to-” The informant didn’t get to finish as her higher up was already pushing her way through the crowd to get to that woman. 

Upon the EMTs and agents realizing who had the audacity to interfere, they let the Witch through to the back of the ambulance where the lady in pink was sitting. At first glance, she did not seem to be the type to get into any sort of fight. She was hunched over as her knuckles were death gripping the blanket. One could only imagine what she saw with her petrified gaze that was staring into the parking lot asphalt.

Reality had been torn apart for this poor girl, soon enough Blaire will sew it right back up like nothing happened. Before that though, she needed that first hand information before it was lost. “Excuse me,” Blaire spoke up, pulling out her FBI badge from her pocket. The woman didn’t seem to hear her the first time, so she tried again. 

“Excuse me,” Blaire restated, “Miss?”

“Those eyes…” The woman mumbled under her breath, still unresponsive to anything Blaire was saying. That was until a pair of fingers snapping right in front of her face yanked her back to the present. “HUH- Oh!” she yelped, finally realizing that someone was trying to talk to her, “Sorry! Uh, can I help you?”

“Yes actually,” Blaire said, flashing one of her trusty badges, “Agent Mansley, I'm with the FBI and I’m here to confirm a few things with you if I may?” That scared doe-look upon the woman’s face melted into an icy stare as she looked away from Blaire. “I already talked to the cops,” she grumbled, “Why do you gotta talk to me? Not like you’ll take it seriously either.”

Of course, the local police force seemed to once again muddle her investigation with their less than lackluster civilian relations.

“Because I want to hear it coming from a reputable source,” Blaire said as she crossed her arms, “It will only be a few questions and after that we’ll take care of you, miss…?”

The woman looked back at Blaire with full eye contact, keeping her walls up with skepticism. Despite having come out of Hell completely frazzled, she pulled out a mask of confidence with a deadpan expression. “Maryham,” she answered as she pushed some of her pink hair strands behind her ear, “Natasha Maryham.”

Filling that name in the back of her mind for later, Blaire lent out a hand to Natasha. As if on instinct, she had reciprocated with a very firm handshake only a corporate rung manager could give. “A pleasure to meet you Natasha,” Blaire said, “Promise this won’t take too much of your time, I’m sure you are very busy today.”

“Actually, this was my day off,” Natasha responded as her hands traveled onto her lap and fiddled with her sundress, “Wished I was working, in hindsight.”

“I can only imagine,” Blaire lied, pulling out her trusty pen and flipbook, “What happened?”

The mask slipped as it took Natasha more than a minute to gather her thoughts coherently just as expected. Having a few false starts with mumbling, Though when the witness could warm up to recount her terrible day, Blaire was surprised at the details this shaken person was able to give of the entire ordeal.

“I-I was in one of the stores shopping, ya know, as you do,” Natasha explained as her eyes drifted back to the asphalt, “And all of a sudden this… thing jumped out of nowhere, I guess it had a problem because it tried to kill me!”

“What did ‘that thing’ look like?” Blaire asked, her eyes taking a knowing glance at the bismuth dangling from her neck.  

Natasha gripped the side of her head, fingers twirling through her curls. “I-I don’t even know how to put it,” she said, “You know claymation? Animated clay figures and stuff?” 

“I’ve seen Wallace and Gromit before,” Blaire answered with a smirk, attempting to make eye contact with her. Though no matter how much she tried, this one seemed to evade her gaze. Not on purpose however.

“Sort of like that but,” she said, “It-it was like someone messed up making a dinosaur or something- and… uhm. Teeth. Lots of teeth.” Through her recounting of its appearance, her breath became staggered, and she heaved every breath. The woman coiled her hair around her fists, tighter and tighter, threatening to tear the hair out at the root. Blaire took it upon herself to hover a comforting hand over Natasha’s shoulder, not quite touching her.

It took only a moment for Natasha, who was just about to break into more tears, to look over at the offered hand and shake her head silently. The hand retracted, letting the woman’s tears shed for a long minute. Sniffling, Natasha wiped her eyes, the ruined mascara smearing upon her arm before she turned to the agent once again. 

“That ain’t even the craziest part,” Natasha mumbled, her eyes traveling to find the words to explain, “When it… cornered me, some guy in a hockey mask got its attention.”

Blaire raised an eyebrow at this. She glanced back over to the large man that started to have a rather loud debate with one of her agents, noting the lack of a mask. Sure, it was rare that someone would play hero in situations like this, though it wasn’t impossible. Certainly wouldn’t be unwelcome. However, why didn’t the informant mention another witness at the scene? “This masked man saved you?” Blaire asked as she turned back to her interviewee, Natasha nodded.

Just as Natasha opened her mouth to continue explaining, Blaire asked another unprompted question. “Can you give me a description of him?” Blaire questioned as she actually wrote in her notepad, “I want to get information from him as well.”

“That’s the thing,” Natasha said, fingers fumbling, “He’s gone and, I-I don’t know how to put this but, he uh, wasn’t normal.”

Blaire looked up from her writing, staring at Natasha who seemed to be completely cognisant and stared right back at her. “Care to elaborate Ms. Maryham?” Blaire asked.

“If I told you that the guy grew ten feet tall, would you think I’m seeing things too?” Natasha responded, this time giving the agent full eye contact. Perhaps to see how Blaire was going to react, as if she expected the same brush off response the cops had given her. During her years of working for FAIRA, she’d become accustomed to finding the difference between people making stuff up for attention, figments of their imagination and the people that have actually seen something they shouldn’t have.

Just by the look in Natasha’s eyes, she definitely fell into the latter and that was a problem.

The EMT, who was standing by the two chatting, covertly waved a small vial of blood at Blaire’s direction. Question time was coming to an end and while there were a few more loose ends she’d like to tie up, she had a job to do. Closing the notebook, Blaire feigned confusion and asked, “Are you positive that’s what you saw?”

What light that was left in Natasha’s eyes dissipated, turning back to watch the pavement. “Knew you weren’t gonna believe me.” Natasha muttered, disappointed but not surprised. Keeping up with the act, Blaire gave a quick nod to the EMT and let him get Natasha’s attention.

“Sorry to interrupt,” the EMT said, “Ma’am we’re gonna need to get you on oxygen, we’ve detected carbon monoxide in your bloodstream.”

Natasha spun her head at him, worry plastered on her face. “Wh-what? ” Natasha asked, raising her voice, “Am I going to be okay?!”

The medical professional put a hand upon her shoulder and shook it gently, speaking in a soft voice as he administered his lies. “Oh, you should be just fine Natasha,” the EMT said, “We’re gonna put you on oxygen for about an hour and you should be okay to head on home.” He pushed the oxygen mask into Natasha’s hands, “Put the mask on, and breathe in, take the mask off, breathe out,” he instructed. Since she didn’t want to die, Natasha did as she was told. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” The EMT spoke as he grabbed a full syringe, “I’ll need to take blood work of your… expressive friend there.” And with that, he went to take care of the man shouting obscenities at the agents, thus leaving the two of them to chat.

“Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause hallucinations you know, ” Blaire off-handedly commented, “Think that’s what you saw in there.” Most people, when presented with a situation that challenges their reality, head straight into denial and try to come up with a normal explanation for it. However, sometimes they will dig deeper and become an issue that only an amnestic could solve. Even then, termination wasn’t out of the question either. It all depends on what reality the witness is willing to accept, and if they value their lives over the truth.

Blaire saw that thought spin in Natasha’s mind, when they are conflicted about which reality to accept to be true. “But- but it all felt so real,” Natasha sputtered as she took off the mask, “That thing literally tore apart the mall! How could I have made that up?!” She shook, holding both of her arms and had trouble catching her breath.

“Breathe,” Blaire spoke, forcing the mask back into Natasha’s mouth, “There was no monster, there was a gas leak. The monoxide’s gotten into your blood, convincing your brain you’ve seen something that wasn’t there. Hell, any crashing you felt was probably just a thousand feet, all stamping to get out of there. There’s no monster, you’re perfectly safe.”

Scared eyes stared at Blaire, though slowly, they dimmed as Natasha nodded along. Breathing in oxygen, and out of the mask just as she was told. Thankfully, this witness was not going to ask anymore questions, and they would not have to do this the hard way.

“Have a pleasant rest of your day ma’am,” Blaire said, “Feel better soon.” With that, Blaire left the ambulance and walked past the commotion of her agents corralling a rather frazzled brute of a man to an ambulance for a ‘blood test’. Right then it wasn’t a concern as they had a bigger problem on their hands.

Searching around the scene, she found her Informant tapping away at that damn tablet. “Informant,” Blaire hissed, causing the poor girl to nearly jump out of her skin. She spun around to attention.

“Y-yes ma’am?” whimpered the Informant.

“Why didn’t you inform me that there was a second anomaly?” Blaire asked as she loomed over her.

“With all due respect ma’am,” the Informant said, pushing up her glasses, “I tried to tell you earlier, but you told me to initiate the Hamilton stratagem.”

“That’s important information that should have been relayed immediately,” Blaire said, shoving the Informant’s shoulder, “Grow a damn backbone, and tell me what I need to know.”

On cue, the Informant looked back to her tablet and pulled up a video file. “Just as the incident occurred, this humanoid had appeared to fight the creature and inexplicably doubled his size during the confrontation,” the Informant told her superior, “We can’t gather information on where this man came from as it seems most of the cameras in the mall had been compromised right before he showed up, All we have is this security footage of the lobby to confirm his presence.”

Once the tablet was in Blaire’s hand, her eyes became glued to the screen. While the camera angle wasn't the best, being that it was on the third floor and pointed towards the lobby. She could still make out the last of the crowd storming out of the mall and not a moment later, Natasha slid and fell onto the lobby’s tiles. Knots tied in her gut, watching the initial anomaly pinning her to the floor. That poor girl indeed. 

Then came the other anomaly, stumbling in from the corner of the video reluctantly. As he was covered from head to toe, it was obvious that he was hiding his identity for a reason. That reason quickly became apparent, watching the anomaly outgrow his opponent and somehow still got his backside handed to him. It was a pathetic attempt at vigilantism, there was no plan and his flailing around could barely count as a fighting stance. The woman he was attempting to save had to be the one to figure out to save both of them from it. Despite the dangerous negligence the giant shifter displayed, what truly made Blaire’s stomach drop happened after the creature was turned into rubble. Trembling fingers fumbled through her coat pocket to fish out another cigarette, placing the butt onto her lips as she focused on the giant’s movements when he attempted to hand the hat back to the lady.

She didn’t pick up on it at first, but the sudden twitch in his hands and what she could make out behind the eye holes of the mask, they were wide every time the giant grew. Clumsy footsteps backing away from the woman and having to painstakingly shove his body out of the lobby in order to leave the premises. He wasn’t in combat anymore, so why would he need to increase his size again if he wanted a simple escape? There was only one conclusion to be drawn; he didn’t have control over his growth.

“Informant, wrap up the cover up here as fast as you can,” Blaire ordered as she shoved the tablet under one of her arms, “I’ll meet with sweep in order to collect any DNA samples of this new anomaly immediately.” Just before she could storm off to the mall, a tug on her elbow caused her to glare back at the Informant stopping her.

“Yes Ma’am but,” the Informant said as she instantly let go of her superior, “Wh-what about the aliens? What should we do about them?”

“We can put aside a task force for that,” Blaire answered as she brushed off her arm, “A basic patrol protocol and water can take care of them.” Blaire lit the cigarette hanging from her mouth as she gave the order. “There’s a moron roaming the streets of Seattle that could bring humanity to its knees,” Blaire directed the informant as she blew a puff of smoke into the air, “and we need to track him down, do you understand?”

“I-I suppose so ma’am-” She didn’t get to finish raising her concerns as Blaire stormed towards the mall. There was no time to dawdle and second guess her judgment. Lives were going to be at risk and there was no telling when the giant was going to make himself known.

Exhaling smoke from her lungs, Blaire stared back down at the paused security footage. The frame where the giant’s eyes were briefly caught stared right back at her. Despite the good intentions he might have, a threat is still a threat at the end of the day.

She had to track this anomaly down. It was Blaire’s duty after all.