The Star-Spangled Giant (Chapter 5) (Patreon)

“So it’s official? The name change, I mean,” Nate asked, wrapping his arm around Ann as they strolled along the busy downtown street for their date night.

“Yep. You’re looking at Overwoman now, not Mini-Missus,” she replied, a proud grin on her full lips. “And thank God, right? I swear, an intern at G.U.A.R.D. must’ve picked that name for me back when I joined, and I didn’t have the clout then to change it.”

“Well, to their credit, they’re kind of bad at names already,” Nate pointed out. “Remember, they called themselves G.U.A.R.D., which I’m pretty sure doesn’t even stand for anything specific. Also, don’t hate on the interns! I was one not so long ago.”

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” Ann said, walking her fingers up Nate’s side and tickling his ribs. “Now you’re… what, the first-assistant office grunt?” Before her gentle taunting could be taken seriously, she leaned in and kissed him hard on the lips, conspicuously growing two inches taller in the process to better align. “Just kidding, baby.”

As the couple reached a crosswalk, they stopped in their tracks to wait for the light, passing the time by massaging palms and gazing into one another’s eyes. Nate was continually bewildered at how he, a merely-average silver-spoon Harvard grad benefiting from parental nepotism with his job at G.U.A.R.D., had ended up with someone as perfect as Ann. She, a striking auburn-redhead with aquamarine eyes who’d strategically disguised her svelte Olympian-sculpted body with a slightly-baggy blouse and skirt, plus chunky heels and thick-rimmed glasses, was a marvel of a person, having scarcely aged a day during the wonderful years of their long-term relationship, a side-effect of her powers. Not only was Ann gorgeous inside and out, kind and funny and whip-smart, she had a knack for coming off as human when not in costume, even though she was anything but human. The word superhuman, though relatively common in a world where it was standard practice to see a superhero or two flying overhead on your way to work in the morning, was apt for Ann. Or Overwoman, as she was now apparently known due to her changing preference for using her powers to grow instead of shrink.

Arriving at the restaurant, the pair were led to their reserved table. Nate stared around the room; no eyes followed them, which was only natural seeing how they were, by appearances, just a normal couple. If Ann was wearing her “other” outfit, of course, not a soul in the place would be looking anywhere but toward her with supreme awe. Especially if she was using her powers, because once she had enlarged herself, it was kind of hard to see anything other than her.

“So, busy day at the office for you?” Ann pleasantly questioned once they were seated. She rested her cheek on an upturned fist, those gemstone-like irises attentively studying Nate across the narrow table. Her eyelashes batted. “I had to be away from base for most of the day, so I didn’t know if anything was going on.”

“Oh, you know…” Nate shrugged. He knew his girlfriend had only the sweetest intentions at heart, and was genuinely interested in his day, but as usual couldn’t shake the feeling that nothing he had to say would be anything other than boring and unworthy to a superhero’s ears. “A lot of filing, making calls to insurance companies about hero collateral damage, putting together orientation packets for a couple new players.”

“Hey, that’s all important. Even if it gets a little dull for you sometimes,” Ann said with a wink. The wine arrived and she sipped languidly from her glass.

“What about you?”

“Same-old, same-old,” she humbly replied, though she couldn’t help but smirk. “But then again, I like the routine. This morning’s mission, there was a little bit of sneaking involved, so I still had to go on the small side first, but once we had the right intel and everything broke loose, I got a… bigger entrance.”

“I noticed,” Nate laughed, though he kept his volume confidential. “I saw the news. Couldn’t see much of you, from all the dust, but… it’s good you were there.”

Soon after, the server brought their orders. Ann, though ladylike in her deportment, had a monster metabolism due to her powers, and wasn’t shy taking hearty bites of meat and veggie. Her boyfriend watched her lifting the fork toward her soft lips, reminded by the posture of her elegant fingers of the news footage he’d seen earlier, where she gripped a telephone pole exactly the same way, using it to stab an enemy truck. Nate, slightly troubled by his own inadequacy despite being on a lovely evening out, mostly stirred his own dish in circles.

“Something the matter?” Ann asked.

“No, no. Just a long day. But, I was curious about something that I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Nate said. “I mean, I think I know the answer, but I also don’t really, since we don’t usually get too much into shop-talk after hours, but…”

“What is it?”

“Why the change from Mini-Missus into Overwoman? Besides the name being way more kick-ass, obviously.”

With a twinkle in her eye, Ann knowingly bobbed her head. She ran her fingers through her dark shimmering ginger-tinged locks, illuminated even better in the table’s candlelight. She drew breath, pondering her response, while Nate admired her knockout beauty: every detail from her rosy dimples to the faint freckles of her youth that popped in the warm light. How did he get so lucky? “Luck” being the operative word, because he certainly didn’t think he’d entered this relationship on his merit as a person.

“Well, like you know, I used to mainly go for stealth missions. Back when I first got these… abilities, it was kinda scary, honestly, putting myself out in harm’s way. Being small, where nobody can see you, just took off some of the pressure. I mean, you remember those days.”

“I do.” He also remembered the meeker, shyer person she used to be before blossoming into her strength: ironically, she was a shrinking violet right up until she acquired shrinking powers.

“So, y’know, that’s just how I was branded. The name and everything. I was just the warm-up act, sneaking around and taking out the big gunners, maybe helping some civvies to safety, before the heavy hitters came in to shake up the fight. That worked for me, and I can still do it in a pinch. But then…”

“You started not minding the spotlight,” he suggested with a smile.

“It’s partly that. Hell, I didn’t even know I could grow for a couple years there. Then, once I figured it out, sort of like using a new muscle for the first time, it started coming in really handy. I mean, let’s face it, I’m stronger and faster than normal while I’m tiny, but that size doesn’t do you much good when a building’s coming down. Next thing I know, I’m growing for more and more missions, and I’m handling the big throw-downs instead of the clean-up… and I mean that literally, obviously, since I can handle a lot of henchmen once I get up there high enough.”

“I’ve seen you grab a dozen in one handful without even blinking.”

“My record’s twenty-three guys, for the record,” she added, prideful of her achievements but by no means conceited. “I could probably get more in there, but once I’m big enough to hold them, I’m afraid my finger will twitch and I’ll crush some of them. Anyway, the point is, the growing thing isn’t just my gimmick anymore, it’s more part of my… you know, “identity” than the shrinking thing. Plus, a lot more people know me for it than before, since…”

“Since they can actually see you doing it now,” Nate said.

“Right. So, G.U.A.R.D. decided I should own it all, in my name and my attitude. And here we are,” Ann concluded.

Secretly, Nate had to admit he’d noticed that latter commitment of hers on his own. Ann’s attitude had indeed transformed over the years, even as her appearance hadn’t really aged. In the time before acquiring her size-changing powers, the redhead was an introvert, adorably so, a bookworm who tended to get flustered and conceal her natural beauty in whatever ways she could. Now, that demeanor was only her disguise; the real Ann had arisen from the ashes, confident and charming and often even dominating.

The dynamic of their relationship, formed only shortly before she gained her powers, was entirely flipped. Though not a brute, Nate had previously worn the pants in the relationship; now, he was the clear subordinate, the mortal beside this brave, self-assured, deific super-woman. The longer Ann developed her powers, challenging herself to grow yet-bigger, becoming competent and even comfortable operating as a hero while everything around her looked like toys, the more noticeable this shift became. Not that Nate minded the change, even though he occasionally missed the simpler times. It was hard to get wistful when he had such a beautiful, powerful lady who, by all accounts, seemed to love him as much as he loved her. Plus, though he kept this part mostly to himself out of slight embarrassment, seeing Ann grow into a giantess got Nate desperately horny.

“So, the other important question,” he said with a façade of seriousness, but still cracked a smile. “Did the name change come with a new costume?”

Ann raised an eyebrow, shaking her head in amusement and lacing her fingers between Nate’s in the center of the table. Her thumb caressed his.

“No, it did not. I think they might’ve recolored it a little, but not much else. Why, pray tell, is that the important question?” she snickered, egging him on.

“Oh, I just wondered if they’d snipped more of the fabric to show more of you off. You know, like adding a boob-window and thigh straps and one of those midriff cut-outs so people see your belly button.”

“Somebody’s a little pervert, huh?” Ann joked. Despite her words, however, she tightened her grip on Nate’s hand, while below the table, her shoe nudged his leg, until it slipped off, commencing a game of footsie.

“Hey, there’s a ton of super-women who have those kinds of suits. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

“It’s totally impractical! Plus, who wants to see my belly button?”

“I do!”

“You want to see all of me, as I recall,” Ann purred throatily. She was now practically fondling his hand with her fingers while entangling their legs beneath the restaurant tablecloth. “So what then, would you have my suit just be me, naked? Growing in front of everybody with nothing on?”

“I know you’re being sarcastic,” Nate retorted. His pulse quickened, while his body thrummed with arousal. “But that doesn’t sound bad at all.”

Ann laughed, then taking the lead, pulled his hand to her across the table, thus forcing Nate to lean in. She snatched his tie as well, flirtatiously drawing him closer. Startled, he didn’t fight the motion, coming nearer and nearer to his beaming girlfriend’s mischievous countenance as she shut her eyes and puckered up for a kiss. He followed suit, coming inches away from meeting Ann’s luxurious lips, when just then, an ear-splitting boom from somewhere outside shattered the quiet and turned every head in the restaurant.