Angel

BANG, BANG, BANG

The aggressive rapping on my door awoke me from my drunken stupor. The bottle I was holding clanked against the floor, rustling a chorus from the other bottles that were my breakfast and lunch.

Rubbing my eyes, I saw the television play the news broadcast again about my release from jail and the dam of memories broke flooding my mind with inky blackness.

There I was, hands on the side of a multistory apartment building. I had gone out-of-scale with my experimental size changing equipment, now towering over everything around me. Like with many urban buildings, it was too tall for our ladders to climb. I invented the rescaler to solve this very problem. My hand was next to a balcony, encouraging its occupant to climb aboard. It was a young woman. She shot me a huge smile from ruby lips, making her brown eyes sparkle. Her dark hair bounced as she hugged my thumb. It was bigger around than her.

The heat of the fire caused a nearby sliding door to explode. In a moment of human reaction, one we were trained to suppress, I jumped. She fell from my palm, still grasping my thumb. Before I could reach her, she slipped. My other hand did catch her, but it was all too much. I balled her between my hands, clutching her, likely far too tightly, to avoid dropping her again.

I forgot myself. I stepped away from the building, treading on our fire truck. Luckily no one was in it, but it was ruined. Adrenaline does funny things to a mind, particularly when one is out of scale. While at the normal size I may have been able to process this because of my training, I just couldn’t at that moment. Knowing I couldn’t fight due to the tiny bird I was holding in my fist, I fled the scene.

When I was found, I was a sobbing mess that was huddled inside an abandoned warehouse, stroking the girl that I rescued. She, in turn, was rubbing my gloved hand and cheek, speaking reassuringly. She was trying to calm me down. While I was locked into the sweet voice with a hint of a German accent, my out of scale body was not able to relax. I was an idiot for not trying to grow prior to today. I could have figured this out. I could have done something.

They restored me to normal size. That sweet woman, Felicia, continued to try and console me as handcuffs were placed on my wrists. Because of my actions, not only was the apartment building razed but several nearby buildings had collateral damage. The judge charged me with the abrogation of duty and reckless endangerment. I was also charged for the destruction of public property, causing over a million dollars in damages to the fire truck, street fixtures, and utility poles.

The punishment for these crimes was a month in jail, permanent barring from being a firefighter, and the destruction of my size changing equipment and research. I was informed that if I attempted to restart this research that I would be arrested and sent to jail for a very long time. That tinkering with the scale with which our world was fearfully and wonderfully made was an affront to God directly.

So in just a few moments of time, I lost not only my passion but my life’s research. Due to my disgrace and lack of income, my landlord evicted me and sold all my remaining possessions to cover back rent. I had not been looking forward to leaving prison, with no home or prospect of food on the outside. That all changed when I saw who was waiting to collect me.

Standing in the lobby was the apple-cheeked Felicia. Her smile seemed to take up her entire face. She embraced me in a hug tighter than I thought possible and kissed my cheek. Pulling out my hand, she pressed a ball of her fingers into my palm. I’ll never forget what she said next:

“You carried me from death and Hell in the palm of this hand. Let me now carry you home so we can make you whole again. You were my angel, let me be yours.”

As the wave of emotions subsided, I could hear my sweet Felicia answering the door. The person at the door spoke with the tones of authority, though I could not make out what was being said. After a moment I heard the door close and the click of heels walking down the hall. I felt Felicia rush into the room. Her warm, soft hands stroked my cheeks as she set to straightening me in the chair. I felt her thumbs rub across my eyelids as she whispered, “You need to wake up, John. You have a visitor.”

With my eyes fluttering open, I saw a concerned but loving gaze from Felicia. She kissed my lips and said, “We need to talk about you getting a shower later, sweetie. I’m not being your angel if I let you drown in booze.” She kissed me again and flashed the smile that made my heart melt. I would do anything for her. She collected the bottles from the floor and left.

Replacing her in the doorway was an imposing figure. He was dark and looked like he bent steel girders for fun. The green of his uniform made no mistake about it. He was military. He walked over and gripped my hand. While I was still mostly tone from my firefighting training, it still felt like he could crush my hand.

“John, I am General Crews. It is a pleasure to meet you,” throbbed base tones, “However, I know you are busy.” His eyes scanned the disheveled man before him. “Your country needs your help.”

As he sat on the couch next to my recliner, I straightened up. I was not military, but I respected what they did. “What help could a disgraced firefighter provide the military?”

“Well, I think your beautiful friend being alive is the perfect evidence of the help we need,” Crews boomed, “Our best scientists have been unable to replicate your scale-changing equipment. We need you to show us how to build it.”

I sat straight up at this, “There is no way that I am going to let anyone weaponize scale-changing. What are you planning on doing? Shrinking towns in the Middle East so you can keep it on your desk as a trophy? Having a sailor pluck a sub from the ocean like a toy?”

Crews bowed up, “Absolutely not. We think your original use of this technology is the best. Imagine what logistic challenges that a mudslide presents. A single medical officer could effectively recover and treat victims of such an occurrence if the hill only came to her knees. Who knows, we might be able to feed an entire village from a single ration pack.”

Felicia, who had been listening at the door, stepped in, “This sounds great. Doesn’t it, John? You could become the angel for so many others!”

I turned my head. This is a mistake. What may be a boon to some will be harmful to others. Felicia kneeled next to my chair. She took my hand and placed it on her cheek. I said in a low voice, “I was ordered to halt my research. The court understood the dangers of this technology. Humanity isn’t ready for it.”

Felicia’s eyes were beginning to water. My heart melted. “Please John, don’t pass this up. You know they will eventually figure this out. With you there, you can ensure it is used responsibly.”

My lips turned to a soft smile. I ran a finger over her earlobe before using the pad of my thumb to wipe away the forming tear. I looked back at Crews. “General, one of the problems we have to tackle is how adrenaline is produced in an out-of-scale individual.”

Crews sat up straight, listening intently. “Does this mean you will join us?”

Leaning over, I kissed Felicia’s forehead. “Only if my little angel is by my side.”

Felicia looked at me with a bit of shock, but a fissure formed on Crew’s dark face exposing rows of gleaming white teeth. “Absolutely. We’ll have transport for both of you here tomorrow. I will submit the clearance order for Felicia myself.”

Felicia and I settled into our new routine. The scientists and I completed a new rescaler and began studying its effects. We were doing the research that should have been done the first time. Felicia spent her time with emergency preparedness specialists devising procedures and strategies to best deploy this technology while minimizing negative consequences. For instance, in the case of mudslides, the out-of-scale individual needed to hand dig to avoid harming someone with a misplaced trowel blade and wear cleats to avoid slipping and crushing people below.

Felicia’s team was having tremendous success. I was so proud of her and showed it to her every opportunity I got - miniature bouquets of flowers, tiny test dummies and even a pet cat no bigger than a hamster. While my team was able to reduce matter and keep it reduced, enlarged matter quickly returned to its original scale.

That was the rub. There were some disaster scenarios where having a person small out-of-scale was advantageous. What we needed though was a person large out-of-scale. Without this General Crews was concerned that funding would be cut. We needed a win and without it, I was having a bad birthday.

When I came back to our quarters, the lights were off. On the table was a note from Felicia telling me to enjoy my cake. I was confused until I looked at it. Artifully covered in frosting was a itty bitty, smiling Felicia on the cake looking to celebrate my birthday.

As I began to lean in, the whole world shook from an earthquake. I plucked Felicia and her clothes from the table and dove under it. The room began to come down. She dressed as she yelled to me, “John, the rescaler is on the chair. You need to go out-of-scale to help everyone.”

I cried, “I can’t Felicia. All I can see is that I nearly killed you the day we met.”

Felicia nodded and pet my nose, “I understand my love. Let me carry you.”

Through the rubble I reached the ray. I aimed it at my sweet angel and watched as she expanded. Bursting through the rubble, she balled me into her fist before slipping me into a shirt pocket. Through the fabric I could feel her heart starting to race. She was out-of-scale, but it wasn’t holding. She was beginning to reduce like all of the test subjects. It dawned on me.

Screaming as loud as I could, “Felicia, get mad! You need adrenaline to maintain this scale!”

It was clear she heard me when she patted the pocket. A kaiju yell rumbled out of her and her scale stabilized. For the next several hours my angel rescued everyone at the base.

When she was finished, she sat down exhausted. She plucked me from her pocket. “I need this now,” she said pointing at my crotch. Like tissue paper she tore them away. I was already hard for her by the time my cock felt the cool night air. She brought me to her lips and milked me dry.

Calmed down, I felt her body’s scale begin to relax. She continued to cuddle me as, on her own, she returned to her normal scale. I gently picked her up and found her a cot. I sat by the cot, watching over her as she slept. As I stared into her face, the thought came to me that while I may have rescued her by holding her in my hand, it was clear that she was the one who rescued me.