The Dangers of Daring Officer Dolly

Chapter 4. An Ever Widening Reality

By Skytower

The single great difference between crawling headfirst down a wall when you are six feet and one inch tall compared to crawling down a wall when you are thirteen inches tall is weight. Merry McCormick weighed one hundred and eighty five pounds when she stood at her normal height, but considerably less so when she was reduced. Merry wasn't really sure how much she weighed after she had been shrunk. To be honest she really didn't want to know. All of her adult life Merry had taken for granted the power her attributes gave her. The deference that people seemed instinctively to give to a tall beautiful woman. In times past she had even resented it.

Merry never resented it anymore. She missed it every time she was shrunk and handled like some child's plaything. Every time The Group-the four people who controlled Merry's life- every time they sent her on a mission Merry missed her height and power. But tonight was different, for she had begged for this mission. It was the first time ever that Merry had pleaded to be shrunk. Her feelings about that request were still forming but they weren't good feelings.

Merry flexed her fingers and the magnet holding her hand to the metal of the air conditioning duct released. She was still anchored by three other magnets; two on her knees controlled by switches on her toes and one on her other hand. She moved her hand forward, placed the magnet against the metal and turned it on again. In this way, step by step Merry had moved down three stories of air conditioning ducts. Her long platinum blonde hair hung straight down from her head and her blue eyes strained in the semi-darkness. Merry was tired and worried. It had taken her nearly and hour to make it this far and the large D battery strapped to her back would not power the magnets forever. She had two hours, perhaps three left of climbing power. Since this was her mission The Group had refused Merry any new equipment. So instead of a light Merry had to contend with near darkness, instead of a doll sized jumpsuit with pockets she had to use a utility belt and a string bikini taken from a Lara Croft action figure. To keep her large breasts from escaping while she was upside-down the bikini was tied as tightly as Merry could stand it. The bottoms she had turned inside out to avoid the over-large seams. The belt held as many pre-knotted ropes as Merry could make in an afternoon. It was the only thing Merry had that she could fit the ropes into. But the belt and its strap were made of a hard plastic that dug into her waist with every movement. The harness that held the D cell in place was strapped tightly to her stomach with straps going over her shoulders and a single strap running between her legs. The weight of the battery dug the strap into her sex and her movements while climbing forced it back and forth. It did not make the climb any easier. But there had been nothing else for Merry to use, and even to wear anything at all had come at a price. For an hour before the mission she had been forced to play Dolls with Molly. Molly Dolemont was perhaps the strangest of the four people Merry had named: 'The Group'. They were all brilliant, young, rich and completely lacking in morals. Each of them had peculiarities, fetishes that at times scared Merry. Molly's peculiar joy was being hypnotized and regressed in age. She enjoyed being age 12, not her normal age of 19. Mentally regressed to age 12 she regarded a shrunken Merry as an extra-special doll.

Merry shuddered at the memory but kept moving.

"This will be worth it." She whispered concentrating on her climb. The duct, as they all did, echoed her voice back to her along with all the other sounds of the building. Cold air chilled her body and the scent of chemicals and tin filled her nostrils. At least the duct was clean. Merry had been in some ac ducts where the dust was so thick it was almost like walking through snow. But dust was the least of the dangers Merry had to look out for. She climbed facing downward instead of backing down because of those dangers. AC ducts sometimes were perfect dens for hawks, raccoons, snakes or rats and Merry had once climbed down straight into a nest of baby rats.

{It had better be.}

The words appeared in Merry's mind. They were not Merry's own thoughts, but a message from The Group. They could see and hear what she saw and heard and they could tune into her whenever they wished.

It will be, Merry repeated silently.

There was no more exiting part of Merry's job as a police officer than arriving first on a crime scene. Even if the criminal was long gone the place itself held echoes of the crime, and the emotions that had driven the criminal. Merry had been a Los Angeles police officer. She had seen every different type of criminal and crime scene there was. Or so she thought. But that night three weeks before her decent into the library ac ducts, Merry saw something that she could not accept. Merry had been on speed duty, nailing speeders on the highway when she spotted the flashing hazard lights of an overturned van. Merry called it in and moved toward the van with her flashlight. There was something odd about the scene to her. First the fact that the hazard lights were on at all. Drivers who ran vans off the road and flipped them on their side usually didn't or couldn't turn on the hazard lights. Even if they were still conscious their first instinct was to get away from the vehicle. Second there were no tire tracks from the highway to the van. Warned by her instincts Merry had her gun out and was sweeping the area when something slammed into her stomach and knocked her down. Merry had recovered quickly but her flashlight was smashed. A sound made her look up and in the flashing orange glow of the van's hazard lights Merry saw a gargoyle-like creature flap it's wings and fly away into the night.

It wasn't something she included in her report. The van's driver was found in the morning by the side of a road two miles away. He remembered nothing. The van itself contained only a few statues moving from one museum to another. They weren't even valuable enough to rate a guard. It was a mystery Merry was happy to let lie so long as no one was really hurt.

Two nights later Merry was jogging through the park when she saw the same gargoyle glide across the night sky. She followed it as best she could, running through the woods. It led her right to the library. The Pine Woods library sat on the southern border of the park. Merry burst out of the copse of trees that separated the park from the libraries rear courtyard in time to see the gargoyle sink into the ground near the side of the building and vanish. It seemed to be sinking in quicksand. Merry found fresh blood on the grass but the blood steamed away into mist before she could get a sample of it. The library was closed. Suspicious Merry hung around. An hour later the door opened and four people came out. Two of them Merry recognized immediately, Dave Saxon and his wife Helen. Merry hadn't seen them for a few months but she did work with their daughter Hellena. Merry taught self defense courses at the high school and Hellena was one of her students. The other two people were strangers to her. Dave and Helen moved drunkenly and had to be supported by the other two. As Merry watched they were placed into their minivan and drove off. After that the two strangers embraced and went to their own car, a giant SUV. Merry got the licensee plate number before they left.

Merry really didn't want to do anything about it. Her life was strange enough already, but the Saxon's were her friends. Not close friends, Merry didn't have close friends, but friends.

Merry sounded Hellena out about her parents and learned that Dave and Helen had taken to playing Dungeons and Dragons after hours every Thursday night at the library. The head librarian and his wife ran the game. Hellena mentioned that her parents often acted strangely when they got home. They were tired and confused she said, almost like they were drunk. Hellena added, somewhat reluctantly, that often her parents would lock themselves into their room and make strange noises for the rest of the night.

The head librarian's name was Frank Spencer. He had taken over the job after the last head librarian: Jessica Chevron; had vanished without a word. Her daughter had also vanished without a trace. Frank's wife name was Sylvia. She was an amateur archeologist and assistant county coroner.

She reached the bottom of the shaft at last and swung down to the solid surface, shutting off the magnets. Merry breathed deep gulps of air as she struggled out of the harness that held the D battery to her back. She was sweating heavily. The more beneath the main floor of the library she climbed, the worse the ac seemed to function. It was hot in the duct now and there was more dust than before. The dust clung to her sweating body and Merry shifted uncomfortably. She had seen blown up pictures of dust mites. Only the slightest chill teased her body, and that chill did nothing to cool her off. The bikini, as most doll clothing did, was chaffing her. Merry sat for a few minutes to rest and let her head settle. Even as light as she was she had still been upside down for more than an hour. She untied the top of the bikini and was grateful as her breasts broke free. Merry massaged them for a moment. They'd be sore the next day. She pulled at the plastic belt until the buckle came loose and set it to one side. Merry didn't need light to know that her body was crisscrossed with deep red lines and bruises. She pulled down the bikini bottoms and stretched out to get the blood flowing into her legs. She lay there for a few minutes doing stretching exercises.

The fact that Frank had no real history prior to his appearance and marriage to Sylvia was enough for Merry. Too live without a paper trail in modern America was impossible. The unexplained disappearance of Jessica Chevron and her nineteen-year-old daughter Margarita also aroused Merry's suspicions. On her own she searched the library as much as she could without being obvious. The only thing she found was down stairs in the rec-room. On a shelf in the back were two gargoyle-shaped bookends that were exact copies of the gargoyle Merry had seen.

It was some measure of how much being in service to The Group had changed Merry that she went to them for help. It was a conscious decision on her part, a realization that she lived in two different worlds. Getting in touch with The Group was easy. Frighteningly easy. The morning after her jog Merry got up and started her exercise routine. Merry's physical fitness routine had developed almost into an obsession. Every day she spent two hours working out. Aerobics followed by weights followed by a martial arts routine. Merry drove herself sometimes until she dropped, as if being buffed could make up for her loss in stature when The Group shrunk her. There was another reason, one that Merry didn't like to think about. The Group liked her to be in top physical shape for her missions and Merry didn't want to disappoint them. Usually for her workouts she wore a tight pair of sweats. That morning she set up a full length mirror and worked out in the nude.

Merry had finished her workout and taken a shower. Then she had dried her body and hair and stood nude in front of the mirror.

"I need to see you. Something's come up I think you should know about, and I need your help."

Only one of The Group was male. Tremont Coach was a voyeur. Merry didn't know if The Group watched her all the time, or had one of their computers watch her, but she felt that Tremont seldom missed an opportunity to see her nude. There was a pause of perhaps a half of a minute and then a response broke into her thoughts.

{Come to the house after your shift is over tonight.}

The fact that The Group was still awake when her shift ended at two thirty in the morning didn't really surprise Merry. In all the time she had been in their service Merry had never seen any of them sleep. She wasn't even sure they needed sleep like ordinary humans.

Merry was always nervous when she had to go to the Pennytorch estate. It was here that The Group had first shrunk her, here where they briefed and trained Merry for her missions; here where they punished her.

Merry left her bike at the door of the mansion. It was open and she went in without knocking. There was no need for her to knock, they knew she was there. The Group received her in the living room. The room screamed wealth and taste, with broad wooden beams, a plush carpet and furniture both expensive and old. The four of them were waiting for her, sitting around a large dining room table. Though there was no formal ceremony involved Merry could not get over the feeling that she was a subject petitioning the nobility. She told them all what she had found out, observed and suspected.

But their reaction surprised her.

"Officer Dolly we didn't alter you so that you could play detective." Deborah Pennytorch scolded her.

"Your abilities should not be used to solve simple robberies." Delilah, Deborah's twin sister agreed. The twins were tall and slim, with hair that reached to their waist, deep blue eyes and sharp features. They were both wearing off-the-shoulder full-length evening gowns. Deborah's was white while her sister's was black.

"But this could be something useful to you. Or even a threat." Merry had argued.

"The Saxon's have obviously gotten themselves involved with a magic cult." Tremont Coach said coldly. He was wearing a black roman toga and his blue eyes seemed to see beyond Merry's uniform to her body.

"Their choice, their consequences." Molly agreed. She was the only one who never seemed to change clothing. Molly almost always wore a pair of blue jean overalls and a T-shirt.

"Their use to us ended months ago." Tremont said.

"Magic? Magic exists?" Merry had blurted out the words in complete astonishment, earning her condescending laughter from Tremont.

"It's not as strong as it was twenty centuries ago." Molly said. But yes it endures."

"But... if they can do magic don't you want to know about it?" Merry pleaded.

"Magic's day has long since passed on this planet." Tremont said. "It can now be no more than a nuisance.

"Two people are missing!" Merry insisted.

"We really don't care." Molly said.

"But..."

"The matter is settled Officer Dolly." Delilah said firmly. The tone of voice she used chilled Merry to the bone, for it promised punishment if she continued. Merry knew well and well dreaded the punishments the four of them could dish out. But something deep inside her pushed Merry to risk her next statement.

"You're making a supervillain's mistake!" Merry had nearly barked out the words. Then she had stood still, barely breathing as Delilah voiced the commanding question.

"Explain?"

"Look... in stories... in a lot of them... the supervillains always ignore the little stuff and it comes back to bite them in the ass." The words stumbled out of Merry's mouth as fear rose within her. "You don't ignore R2-D2, you don't overlook Merry and Pippin... ah... when supervillains ignore the small stuff in the movies they loose. Little stuff... matters... Please I know that better than anyone. If you want to rule you can't ignore the small stuff."

"She has a point." Tremont said after a moment.

"She does." Deborah agreed.

"I just need to spy on the game." Merry pleaded. "Only a few hours on Thursday... please."

"Very well." Delilah said, but her tone of voice showed how cool she was on the idea. "But we will only shrink you Officer Dolly. The rest is up to you."

Merry stood up and took a deep breath. The battery and magnets had been left over from a previous mission before The Group had given her more sophisticated equipment. Getting to the roof of the Library had been easy enough. The Pine Woods library was a three-story structure of poured concrete molded into a grotesque pseudo-modern artistic lump. It was ugly, but easily climbable and opening the vent cover on the ac pipe had taken no more than a screwdriver and a few minutes. Stripping naked in the bright moonlight on a 3 foot sloping ledge had been a little harder. Staying on the ledge while the shock of being shrunk passed was even harder than that.

Merry sighed and put her top back on, letting it hang more loosely this time. Then she pulled the bottoms back on. She turned toward the light that filtered in from the rec-room. To her right was darkness, to her left the duct ran two more feet and then another shaft ran upward to the main reception area on the first floor. The duct ahead of her ran to the other side of the rec-room and ended in a dead end. She walked barefoot down the duct, following the light that came through the vents. The metal felt cold against her skin but the air was hot and stuffy. Merry was in the basement now. The rec-room was a large room with stacks of unbound magazines and between those stacks was an old plastic table. There were three vents in the duct and Merry stopped at the middle one and peered down. There were the players, gathered around the table. Soda, dice, small metal figures and reference books were strewn on the table. The game was under way and Merry settled down to watch.

Over the next four hours the game proceeded. Characters lived and died, treasures were found and the arguments over spoils grew heated and were resolved. Underneath it all was a group of friends who were having a great time. It brought back some fond memories to Merry. She had played D&D in junior high school and for a time in high school. Like most of her other fan-girl hobbies that had stopped soon after she left highschool. Being a police officer had consumed her life.

The game proceeded and nothing strange happened. There was no discussion of the thefts, no sign that anything was out of the ordinary. The Group stayed silent. Coldly silent. As a cop Merry was used to stakeouts that produced nothing. But The Group was not. Merry had hoped, prayed, that something would happen the first time. The chances of her talking them into letting her do this again were slim and none. But nothing happened. Near midnight the game ended. Books, maps and boards were put away, good-byes were said and the lights were turned off. Merry sat in the dark for a few minutes as her eyes adjusted to the change in light. Now only the light from the end of the vent, where she had come in, gave any illumination at all.

{Nothing happened.}

Merry swallowed but said nothing.

{Officer Dolly you have used up one of our nights.}

A cold sweat wrapped Merry in its embrace and she licked her upper lip. She seldom knew who was speaking, all their voices sounded alike in her head. But somehow when Delilah was angry Merry knew it.

{Leave that place, go home. We will decide what, if anything, to do about your presumption later.}

Slowly Merry climbed to her feet. She was still sure that there was more, but she knew that The Group would never listen to her now. Merry fought back tears as she walked back to the magnetic climbing harness. It was at times like these that her loyalty to The Group cleaved Merry's sense of self to the bone. This was a matter of justice, something wrong was happening here. If they did not aid her then were they people she could stay loyal too? But if she didn't stay loyal to them The Group could exile her to the hell of the microscopic world. There she could be eaten, consumed really by single cell organisms. The memory of a hint of that fate terrified Merry.

She had just bent down to pick up the harness when another word popped into her head.

{Stop.}

Merry froze.

{Look to your left.}

Merry turned around and saw what had gotten their attention. Before the light coming from the rec-room had cast the left wall of the vent in shadow. Now light coming from the main reception area filtered in from the vent above her. In the dim light was revealed not a flat plain wall, but a set of Venetian blind-like metal straps.

"It's another vent." She said.

{Leading where?}

{According to the plans the only thing in that direction is dirt.}

{Try to open it.}

Merry reached over and felt along the seams for a hold, but it was tightly closed. She tried pushing the upper end of one, but it didn't move. Standing back she calmed herself, controlled her breathing and let loose with a flying kick to the upper end on one of the plates. It didn't budge.

{Put your ear to it.}

Merry did as she was told, brushing her hair away from her ear she pressed it against the cold metal. She didn't hear anything, but The Group could detect more than she could.

{No sound.}

{Curious.}

For a few minutes Merry stood with her ear against the cold metal. She tried but all she could hear was the sound of her own heart.

{Keep your ear to the metal and tap it once with your knuckles.}

Merry did so and a loud hollow knock echoed in her ear.

{Enough. Wait.}

Merry stood and waited. For a while nothing happened. She knew that they were talking it out. After a few minutes she sat down. The only sound in the air duct now was the sound of Merry's own breathing. In the dim light she imagined shapes forming out of the darkness, but they vanished when she blinked. Merry hugged her knees to her chest and tried to stay calm. She concentrated on her breathing and tried to ignore the feeling of oppressive space all around her. Vague horrors lurked at the outskirts of her mind. But there was only one she was truly scared of. But she held her true fear at bay by using the other fears against it.

{You may have discovered something of value to us Officer Dolly.}

Merry's head jerked up at the announcement. It took her a moment to realize she had fallen asleep. The fears vanished as the voice in her head spoke.

"What do I do now?"

{Now we start exploring.}

Merry struggled back into the magnetic climbing harness.

"Exploring?"

{Every duct.}

Every duct. The library was three stories high and shaped like a half-melted lump of clay. And there was an air conditioning vent in every room.

Merry took a deep breath, tightened her top as much as she could stand, put on the plastic utility belt and then struggled into the magnet harness.

{We'll start with the ground floor first.}

Grimly Merry started to climb.

It has often been said that when you look for something it will be in the last place you look that you will find it. Merry didn't know what she was looking for. But all through that night she looked. She climbed up and down vents, walked along them, crawled through them and at one point fell down a long slanted one. The D cell gave out halfway through the night and Merry discarded it and the magnetic harness. When she at last started to climb down the last vent Merry was beyond tired. Her muscles ached from climbing and her eyes burned from peering into the darkness for too long. This last vent ran into the main reading room. The main reading room of the library was a vast glass enclosed semi-dome that looked out onto the park, the rear courtyard and the parking lot. Light from the streetlights filtered into the vent. Merry settled down onto the metal and looked around. The vent stretched out in a straight run for twenty feet then hooked left.

{This is the last vent.}

{So that was the only one not shown on the plans.}

{Curious.}

Merry started to move down the duct. She had only taken two steps when she slipped and fell down.

"Ouch!" Merry yelped before she could stop herself.

{You are tired aren't you?}

Merry felt the floor of the duct and brought her hand up. It was slick. She smelled it and the odor brought tears to her eyes.

"What leaked?" Merry wondered looking at the roof of the duct.

A slight sound ahead of her triggered Merry's instincts and she dived aside as something charged. Merry pressed against the side of the duct and looked for her attacker. It emerged into the light a few moments later.

"My god!" Merry whispered.

{If it is your religion needs work.}

The creature before her had the body of a long snake, but with small caterpillar-like legs. The torso was human, with slight breasts with bright red nipples. The face and head were human, delicately shaped, but hairless and the eyes were the cold black pools of a reptile. The two arms were as long as the body and ended in live snakeheads. On the things chest, embedded into the skin, was a red gem that glowed.

The need to survive combined with revulsion at seeing the beast washed away Merry's fatigue. As the creature charged Merry met it. She dove under the arms and drove her knee into its stomach. The creature reacted by whipping it's body around and swiping Merry's legs out from under her. Merry kicked up into its chest as the thing sought to pin her underneath it. It flew back and she rolled away to come a standing position again.

This time when the snake-headed arms came at her Merry grabbed them, twisting them together as she gathered them under her arm and twisted her body. She hoped to bring the creature down with the maneuver but instead it lifted her up and slammed her headfirst into the ceiling of the duct. The blow stunned Merry and she fell away, trying to clear her head. One of the snakeheaded arms lashed out and Merry cried out in pain as its fangs found her thigh. She kicked it away and rolled back. The creature followed slowly. Reaching up Merry tore off her top and held either end of it with each hand. This time when the creature's arms came toward her she twisted the top around one just below the head and jerked it tight. The thing hissed in pain and the other arm came toward her, but Merry dodged it and with a spinning heel kick dealt the creature a blow between the eyes. It fell back but the free arm wrapped itself around Merry's stomach. She lost her grip on the top and the other head broke free. The creature lifted her up and slammed her against the side of the duct. Stunned as Merry was she managed to grab the seam between two of the ac duct metal sections and hang on. She kicked at one of the snakehead arms and the creature drew back, but as it uncoiled from Merry's stomach its scales scraped at Merry's skin. Merry fell hard onto the floor of the duct. She scrambled to her feet again only to be tripped by one of the arms. This time there was no way to avoid being pinned under the creature's body. The snakeheaded arms each bit into her shoulders and the creature went for her neck with its fangs. At the same time the caterpillar feet ripped and tore at her lower body. Merry ignored the pain as best she could and struck out with both hands. One hit the creatures jaw as it moved in on her. The other hand shaped like a spear dug at its left eye. It reared in pain and Merry was able to kick free. She scrambled away as fast as she could but a blind blow from one of its arms caught her in the stomach and slammed her into the side of the duct. The blow knocked the wind out of Merry's lungs and she fell gasping onto the floor. The creature was on her before Merry could recover and one arm wrapped around her stomach. A second later and the second arm joined with the first. Merry was lifted up and slammed down again and again and each time the coils enveloping her stomach and chest closed a little bit tighter.

It was a classic snake maneuver. Squeeze the life of out the prey and then eat. It kept her away from its main body, making Merry's free arms all but useless. She pounded and tore at the coils but her blows had no effect. But Merry did not give up. Even as she felt her strength leave her body along with her breath she fought back. Desperately, savagely, her spirit roaring within her the police officer beat and tore against the arms. Then she managed to grab onto one of the heads. With a savage primal instinct Merry gouged at the eyes with her fingers. The thing hissed in pain and rage and brought Merry closer. It's mouth opened showing sharp fangs. Merry lashed out, her hand forming into a spear and going for the creature's throat. But the thing dodged at the last minute and she hit the gem on its chest instead. The impact shattered the stone and a maelstrom of wind and flame erupted in the duct. Merry was thrown the length of the duct and slammed into the metal wall and knocked out.

{Well that was an exiting one minute and thirty-five seconds.}

Merry opened her eyes and sat up. Without the adrenaline rush of combat aches and pains rumbled through her body. She felt drained but knew it was only temporary. It was always like that after a fight. She wasn't really weak, but the adrenaline rush was gone and her normal strength level felt weak.

"That's how long it should take." Merry gasped the words out as she felt along her stomach and chest checking for broken ribs. She didn't feel any, but there didn't seem to be a lot of un-scratched skin left either. Her shoulders and thigh were still bleeding faintly from the bites and she prayed there was no venom. "Any fight that takes longer than five minutes is a fight by two people who don't know how to fight."

{Really.}

"That's what my old gym teacher used to say. He'd tell me that in a fight if the two people knew what they were doing you'd know who was going to win in the first ten seconds." Merry stood up and was relieved to see that her legs would support her. She moved into the light from one of the vents and looked at her body. The light was dim but Merry could see that her body was a mess. Her bikini bottoms had been lost during the fight and the creature hadn't left one inch of her skin intact. It was impossible to tell how many cuts she had.

Merry looked down the duct and saw the creature lying prone. Cautiously she approached. As she got closer Merry realized that the snake creature was gone. A human was lying there. Bending down Merry rolled the figure over and the unconscious nude woman fell limply into the light.

"Margarita Chevron." Merry said. The young woman was very much like her drivers license picture. An Asian by race she had blacker than black hair that hung past her shoulders. Her skin hovered somewhere between being pale and being crimson. Her face was the true great feature of Margarita's body. Her eyes were wide apart and set under thin eyebrows. Her nose was wide and her lips were full. She had a full strong jaw and even asleep Merry could see a strength in the face. Her breasts were slight but her body solid. Merry could tell that Margarita wasn't the type who worked out a lot, her body was simply one of those that didn't really need it. Margarita could keep her slim figure just by walking. Merry put a finger to the woman's neck and found a strong pulse.

"She's alive."

{Can you move her?}

Merry didn't understand the question at first. Then she realized that Margarita was taller than she was. She was at least five inches taller. For a moment Merry struggled with the concept. Then she realized how tall she was and where the fight had taken place. She had managed to forget both facts. But now Merry realized fully what had happened. She had fought a creature, a magical creature.

"I can move her." Merry said, deciding to push the realization away by doing something. She bent down and pulled Margarita over onto her shoulder and then stood up. The woman didn't weigh as much as she would have if they were both their normal sizes. It was an awkward carry though.

{Take her and any of the pieces of the gem you can find and go to the vent in the ladies room. Deborah and Delilah will meet you there.}

Merry eased Margarita down and gathered up the fragments of the gem. She wrapped them in her bikini top and tied it around her waist. Then she picked the woman up and headed toward the vent in the ladies room.

"Little stuff does matter." Merry whispered to herself.

Suddenly the body on her shoulder shifted. Thinking that Margarita might be waking up Merry set her down. Then she stared in astonishment as Margarita's body shimmered and then melted away into a dark smoky cloud. The cloud did not dissipate, but started to move on it's own down the duct.

{Follow it!}

Later Merry would remember and marvel at the total surrealism of the situation. But at that moment she followed the order. She chased the cloud of smoke as it moved through the ducts, climbing as quickly as she could through the vertical vents and almost loosing sight of it once or twice. Her wounds slowed her down but Merry didn't give up. She followed it all through almost the entire ac system until it came to the main shaft. It floated down and Merry skidded to a stop. She was on the first floor, but it was still an eight-foot drop to the bottom of the shaft and her ropes were too far away to get and come back. If the cloud moved out of the vent she'd never find it. Merry watched as it reached the bottom of the shaft and started to move out of her sight.

"Hell!" Merry shouted. She leapt and fell, but hit the side of the duct as she fell. Merry pushed off from it and continued falling. She fell the length of the shaft that way, bouncing herself off one side to the next like a superball, trying to slow her fall. It would have been impossible for a full sized Merry, but for a thirteen inch tall Merry it was do-able.

But not entirely safe as Merry found out when she landed. Unable to right herself in time Merry belly-flopped onto the bottom of the shaft. Lying there with the wind knocked out of her Merry was still able to lift her head and see the smoke pass through the mysterious vent and vanish.

{Well this is proving to be an interesting night.}

Merry let her body go limp. The way she had traveled down the vent had pretty much scraped away any outer layer of skin that the battle had left.

{Can you still make it to the ladies room?}

"I think..." Merry spoke the words and started to rise but that was all she was able to do. Even as her mind was starting to form the word: "not", her body gave out and she blacked out.

Dreamless sleep was an eternal place, but not a place of peace. Merry was nude laying face down on a metal surface as alternately cold and hot air hit her body. Only the fact that her body was hurt and her energy spent allowed her to sleep. But while the place of dreamless sleep was eternal the time a person could spend there was not. Merry opened her eyes and looked around. The sounds of the open library echoed through the ac ducts.

{Awake at last.}

"Yea." Merry said. She made it too her feet despite aching muscles.

{Think you can make it to the ladies room now?}

"I'll make it." Merry said gritting her teeth. "Do you have any idea what is going on?"

{Not entirely. Move. We will explain when we see you.}

Crawling through the vents of an open library was different than crawling through the vents of a closed library. Merry saw from a mouse-like perspective through the ac vents as the normal humans went through their normal daily routine. Merry tried to shake the feeling, but seeing so many giants reminded her of just how far from that world she had come. It was a relief to get to the ladies room. Deborah stood on a toilet seat and opened the vent. Merry didn't say anything as the young woman took her in hand and dropped her into a large purse. After a rather bouncy trip Merry heard a van door opening and closing and then a hand reached into the purse and pulled her out.

It may have been a normal van once, but now it was comparable to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. There were four seats, each in front of consoles. In the center of the van was a small rectangular table. Deborah and Delilah sat in two of the seats. The other two seats held flickering holograms of Trent and Molly.

"Ouch." Deborah said as she pulled Merry out of the purse. "It's a good thing your little body doesn't have a lot of blood to loose."

Was that concern Merry heard in her voice- saw on her face? Merry wondered. It has hard to read the intense blue eyes or the sharply defined features in either twin. Today they were emphasizing their twin-ness by wearing identical jeans and tight T-shirts with the Wonder Woman symbol on them. The outfits made both girls look fresh and wholesome.

"She's a tough little dolly." Delilah commented. Again Merry couldn't tell if they were complimenting her or not. As always the question ran through her mind: "What am I to them?"

Delilah put a small clear plastic bowl on the table and filled it with liquid from a bottle. The liquid was clear, but it was too thick to be water.

"This may sting a bit." Deborah said as she dropped Merry into the water.

Had Merry been at her full six feet one inch size her scream would have shattered the windows on the van. Being put into the liquid was like being thrown from a snowbank into a hot tub. She tried to jump climb or scramble out of the bowl but Deborah held her in. After a few minutes the pain subsided and Merry sank into the liquid.

"I don't think we should ever try to do that when she is at full size." Molly said.

Merry looked at her through pain glazed eyes. Molly was the plain, mousy friendly girl you saw in the mall. Dirty blonde hair, stocky build and grey eyed. But behind that facade was a coldly brilliant mind.

"It was a nice show." Tremont said.

Tremont was the voyeur of the group. Short but with rugged good looks and shiny black hair his eyes, Merry was sure, had never left her body.

The pain eased and warmth began to build in Merry's body.

"Easy does it there Officer Dolly." Deborah said as Merry began to sink into the liquid. She took a small sponge and reached into the bowl, slowly wiping it over Merry's wounds. She stood the shrunken woman up and moved the sponge over her back and shoulders.

"What ever that creature was that Magarita Chevron turned into it wasn't poisonous." Delilah said.

Merry looked at her shoulder after the sponge had passed and was amazed to see the skin close over the wounds. The sponge moved to the small of her back and Merry began to feel heat in her loins. The Group kept talking but Merry stopped understanding their words. Her hands flowed over her body as if feeling it for the first time. When they touched her waxen aureoles she gasped. At the same time the sponge was moving up and down Merry's legs. Merry squeezed her own breasts, kneading them and forgetting everything else but her own body. Suddenly she felt the sponge being taken way. Merry lunged for it and grappled with it as if it were a lover. She hugged it, rubbing it against her body.

"What is this?" Delilah asked.

"Another side effect." Tremont said.

"You plan these effects don't you?" Deborah asked.

"No I don't."

Merry barely heard them. She and the sponge might have been a like a pair of lovers in the woods being watched by fairies.

The sponge was pulled away despite her deathgrip but a hand replaced it. Deborah pushed Merry back down into the liquid and one hand held Merry firmly while the other explored her body. Merry was lost in her body's feelings, wanting nothing more than to keep feeling the heat and passion of the moment. Deborah obliged her by easing one finger between Merry's legs and rubbing. Merry screamed out her passion as Deborah pushed a little into the opening to her womb and found her clitoris. Deborah rubbed out a rhythm and Merry was enslaved to it. It built and built and Delilah reached over with both of her hands and pinched Merry's large-but-tiny breasts.

It was too much and Merry screamed out her passion in one final release before falling back spent.

The hands left and Merry lay half-in/half-out of the liquid. Her body was healed. She felt fine. But Merry's face flushed red as she realized the show she had put on.

"That is some side effect." Delilah said.

"Tremont thinks so." Molly said. "He said he'd be reviewing the recording for an hour or so."

Merry's flush spread to the rest of her body as she realized what Tremont would be doing as he watched her.

"Well it's not like we wouldn't think of doing that later anyway." Deborah said. She took hold of Merry's arm and pulled her out of the solution. Merry said nothing as Deborah produced a towel and dried her. A part of Merry was amazed she could still be self-conscious after everything that The Group had done to her, but she was embarrassed. The fact that Deborah was very gentle with the towel and allowed Merry to hold onto it after she was done helped a little.

After that Deborah put a little table and chair on the table and then put a spoon and a bowl filled with what looked like cherry ice cream in front of her. Then she added a small glass of milk.

"You eat and get some rest." Deborah said. Delilah took the large bowl off of the table and put a small bed there. "We've got more research to do."

Merry sighed and started to eat.

As night fell Merry was back in the air ducts. Deborah had taken Merry back into the building and put her into the duct in the ladies room. Her wounds healed and with a full days sleep behind her Merry felt a little better. She was also better equipped this time. Strapped to her thighs were small daggers each tipped with a sleeping potion. Merry was wearing a sleeveless black halter-top and a pair of short running pants. She was still barefoot, but that was by choice. Merry had discovered that at thirteen inches bare feet were better for climbing. The magnetic harness she was now wearing was lighter and more powerful and the battery was a round gel sack that fitted comfortably to her back. She was wearing a helmet that was fitted with a faceplate that had nightscope vision, allowing Merry to see without strain. Around her waist was a wide soft-fabric belt that contained numerous pockets. It held four ropes and a small spray bottle. In the bottle was a substance that would eat through the metal on the closed vent.

They do care about me. Merry had thought when Deborah had briefed her on the equipment. This stuff can't be easy to make.

It was a hollow thought but Merry clung to it. She also clung to the fact that The Group as whole had praised her instincts. Tremont's research on Sylvia, far more detailed and invasive than Merry's had been, showed a very dangerous necromancer. The Group didn't like magic that much and the way they had looked when the word: 'necromancer' was used stressed that dislike. They might tolerate a witch, white or dark, but someone who played with dead bodies was someone they would deal with harshly. In Merry's mind that put them on the side of justice.

Once in the vent Merry started to make her way in the direction of the rec-room.

The problem, as Deborah had explained to her, was that somewhere in the library was a secret room. The Group speculated it was an old fallout shelter, but it did not show up on any of the plans or building records. The only hint of where it could be was the sealed vent. Merry was to go through that vent, find the door and open it from the inside. They would track her of course, and if Merry did find people already in the shelter her daggers would deal with them.

Merry hoped it would be that easy. She doubted it would be.

The ducts were dim and silent again. Merry moved cautiously through them, wary of another attack. She wondered about Margarita. Was the girl shrunk first and then changed into the snake monster? Could it be that The Group was not the only ones who could shrink someone? A flicker of hope rose in Merry but quickly she quashed it. The creature that had attacked her last night had shown no sign of intelligence. It had been an animal, either hunting for prey or defending its territory. Merry doubted anyone would agree to be reduced to that level. The Group at least let Merry keep her humanity.

{Wait.}

Merry stopped. She had just reached the main shaft. Bellow her lay the vent to the rec-room and the closed duct.

{The camera we put into the rec-room earlier is showing us Sylvia and Frank. The entrance is behind a water fountain. Clever. Proceed as we planned. We will meet you in the room once you have shown us what is in there.}

Merry took a deep breath and started to climb down. She moved quickly but carefully and landed only a few feet away from where she had fallen the night before. Ignoring the dried blood from her last landing Merry took the spray bottle from her belt. Handling it carefully she sprayed the liquid onto the metal, being careful not to touch it. Then she stepped back. In a few minutes the metal bubbled and then seemed to boil. The effect stopped as quickly as it had started and then the metal crumbled away into dust. Merry stepped carefully through the hole and looked around.

There was no dust in this vent either, but there was a dank retching odor to the place. Merry was a cop and had been in death houses before; she had once stood outside a crack house that had caught fire with the addicts inside. That was very close to the smell that met her now. She moved down the vent slowly. It went about twenty feet then turned right. Merry stopped. Infront of her was a short sloping duct that stopped at a vent. But a solid metal grate with pointed barbs faced her half way.

{They must have been afraid of animals.}

Merry used the liquid in the spray bottle and watched as the barbs corroded and turned to dust. The she stepped carefully through the opening and moved down the duct. When she got to the vent Merry saw a scene that could have been lifted from any horror movie.

The fallout shelter was rectangular in shape. It was about fifty feet long by thirty feet wide and from floor to ceiling it was twelve feet high. Light came from caged incandescent bulbs set against the wall. The walls were covered with occult symbols drawn in hundreds of different colors. At the far end of the room Merry saw a vault-like door. On the left wall was set a chest full of gold and jewels, it almost looked like a pirates chest to Merry. Next to it was a glass cabinet filled with bottles and vials of multicolored liquids. The other wall had four cages separated by a bookshelf filled with small demon statues. In the cage closest to her was a skeleton clothed with the remains of a T-shirt and jeans.

At the center of the room with four posts at each end, was an X shaped stone altar. A nude Margarita Chevron lay chained on the altar. Margarita was the same size as before. Her body was covered with red symbols that were glowing with power. She was screaming her head off and pulling at her chains.

Sylvia stood at the foot of the altar and chanted. She was wearing a dark robe with mystical symbols on it. In her hand was a large dark staff with a black skull on its head. While she chanted Frank ritually took a demon statue from the shelf and put it on one of the post. Then he went for another statue. Frank wore only a loincloth and Merry could barely stop herself from gasping as she saw him. The man's body was patchwork of scars. At each joint, on each limb was a set of surgical scars.

Merry used the liquid in the spray bottle to cut a hole in the vent. The walls were stone so she hooked a rope into the edge and climbed down. The floor was hard stone but clean.

{Take out Frank first. At the same time we will handle Sylvia.}

Taking out her dagger Merry ran toward Frank. He was just putting the statue on the last post when she drove it into his calf. Frank grunted and turned, dropping the statue. It fell and shattered a piece of it catching Merry in the back as she ran. She tripped and looked back to see Frank slowly stumble into Sylvia. She screamed in scorn and shoved him aside. He fell to the floor and Sylvia looked around. She spotted Merry and with a cry started to go toward her, only to be stopped. Delilah grabbed her arms and Deborah pressed a cloth to her face. Sylvia struggled for a few minutes but then collapsed. As she did so the glow from the symbols on Margarita's body faded.

"Welcome to Universal studio's horror exhibit." Deborah said. She moved over to the altar and looked at Margarita. "You ok."

"Help me please." The captive gasped out.

"Of course." Deborah said.

"Here you go." Delilah said handing her sister a set of keys.

"Thanks." Deborah said.

"You ok Officer Dolly?" Delilah said glancing over in Merry's direction.

"Fine." Merry said taking off her helmet.

"There we go." Deborah said releasing the last of the chains. Margarita sat up and rubbed her wrists.

"What a place." Delilah said looking around. "We'd have never found it."

"Twenty feet down with lead and concrete walls." Deborah agreed.

"Mom!"

The word was a choked whisper and Merry watched as Margarita leapt off of the altar and went over to the cage with the skeleton in it. She stopped, knelt down and slowly touched the remains.

"What happened?" Merry asked coming up along side her.

"Mom and Sylvia were friends." Margarita said. "They were always interested in magic and stuff. Mom found this book..."

She trailed off and Merry put her hand on the girl's leg.

"First they found all that." She gestured toward the chest. That was ok I guess. But..."

"They didn't stop there." Merry said softly.

"They built Frank from spare parts." Margarita went on in a voice empty of emotion. She looked at Merry but the sight of a thirteen-inch woman didn't seem to phase her. "That was gross enough. But then Sylvia... well she wanted to try out a spell on me. Eternal youth or something. She had me down here and chained up when Mom walked in. They had a fight, Sylvia won, but the spell was ruined. She stuck mom into the cage and tried the spell on her first. It didn't work. Then she changed me... Made me small first... Then... there was... snake demon she was trying to summon. I don't remember much after that."

"Do you have any idea where the book is?" Delilah asked coming up beside them.

A grunt stopped Margarita from answering and they looked around in time to see Deborah fall to the floor. Sylvia stood over her, blood on her staff. Behind her Frank started to rise.

Merry felt a wrench like she had never felt before and found herself at full size again. Her clothing was shredded as she grew but Merry barely noticed. In the time it had taken her to grow Sylvia had raised her staff and was about to drive it into Deborah's prone body.

There were half a dozen ways that Merry could have handled the attack. She was trained to handle hostage and life and death situations. But this was different. Only one thought burned in her brain as she saw Sylvia standing over a dazed Deborah: One of her masters was in danger.

Two steps and a leap; and before Sylvia realized the danger she was in the bottom of Merry's heal had smashed into her face. By that time Sylvia was past realizing anything because Merry didn't pull her kick. The force of her anger focused through her limb and Sylvia never heard her neck snap. Merry heard it and she knew what she had done, but there was no remorse. Instead she quickly turned and bent over Deborah.

"How is she?" Delilah asked.

"Just a bump and a little cut sis." Deborah said sitting up. "Never realized just how true that old adage is: 'Never turn your back on them until you tie them up.'"

"We won't have to tie them up now." Merry said. Once she was sure Deborah was ok she had turned back to Sylvia. The angle in which the woman's head lay told the story.

"You killed her?" Delilah asked.

"I killed her." Merry said. She got up and bent down to checked Frank. "And I guess he couldn't live without her."

"You killed her because she hurt me didn't you?" Merry felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Deborah's face.

"I guess so." Merry said. Try as she might Merry could not find any remorse in her. There should have been some. Sylvia should have been arrested, tried and a court should have decided her fate. That was the law. That was how Merry had once decided to live her life. But the sight of Deborah hurt had fueled fury in Merry. Merry had no doubt that she had been grown in order to protect Deborah, but there had been no order to kill given. Either Tremont or Molly had simply trusted her to do the right thing when she reached full size. But was killing Sylvia the right thing? Why did she do it? Would she now kill to protect the group? Had she gone that far into their service? Merry wanted to shout the word: 'NO!' at the top of her lungs, but she didn't. The answer lay at her feet. Instead she stayed where she was and waited.

"That was very sweet of you Officer Dolly." Deborah said tenderly. She bent down and kissed the top of Merry's head.

Merry felt a flood of joy at the words and the gesture and tried to keep the emotion from swamping her. She failed.

"Well this is a mess." Delilah said walking over to them. Behind her walked Margarita.

"I'll never get big again." Margarita said in the same shocked voice she had used before. "Sylvia was the only one who knew the spells."

"Never say never." Delilah said. "Look at Officer Dolly."

"You know magic?" Margarita asked looking up at her.

"No, but it shouldn't be that hard to learn a few spells." Deborah said. "In the meantime I think you can stay with Dolly."

Where they could keep an eye on her, Merry realized. Was Margarita to be another servant? Or was she a loose end they hadn't decided what to do with?

"I guess that'll be ok." Margarita said. She wavered for a moment, in both speech and balance, then she sagged against Delilah's legs. Merry checked her and found that the shrunken girl was fast asleep.

"You dropped this." Delilah said holding one of Merry's daggers in her hand. "And the poor girl needed some sleep anyway."

"I..."

"Uh-uh, don't say anything." Delilah interrupted Merry. She picked Margarita up and handed her to Merry. "Take her out to the van and Molly will tell you how to hook her up so she'll sleep for the rest of the night. Then grab your spare clothes from the locker under the seat and get back here. We have a lot to do before morning."

"Right." Merry said taking the girl. As she hurried up the stairs Merry's mind tried to take everything in and failed. She tried to shove the questions away, resolving just to do what she was told. But though the questions were degraded in volume they still persisted. Why had she been so angry when Deborah was hurt? When had she crossed that line? Had they tamed her that much? It seemed obvious that the answer was yes, but Merry still wanted to deny it. It helped somewhat that Sylvia was a murderer, that she had shrunk and changed Margarita...

Just as The Group had shrunk and changed Merry.

Merry stopped and leaned against a wall. The Group was different; she had seen them do good things.

"I do not serve evil!" Merry mouthed the words; far too afraid to say them aloud.

Pulling herself together Merry started to walk again. With every scrap of will she had Merry refused to feel guilty about Sylvia. She had saved Deborah and now Margarita...

What would The Group do with the young woman in her arms?

Without The Group I wouldn't have saved you, Merry thought. Or Dave and Helen Saxon. Or a lot of other people.

But what now?

The question haunted Merry. Would Margarita live with her now? How would Merry live with a shrunken woman? What would she do with her?

The last question stopped Merry half way out of the library. She stopped between the two glass doors and for the first time realized that Margarita was small. Doll sized. For the first time she was holding a woman who was smaller than she was, not because of age, but because she had been shrunk. Just like many others had held her.

A feeling of power filled Merry as she looked down at Margarita. She let her hand flow over the tiny teen's breasts, across her stomach, linger between her legs and then move down to her feet.

Slowly Merry pulled herself together and pulled her hand away from Margarita's body. She walked quickly over to the van and got in. It was some measure of how much Merry McCormick had changed over the past year that she walked nude across a public parking lot and didn't twice about it. Once in the van she put Margarita on the table.

"Give me a few minutes Dolly." Molly's hologram flickered as the images owner started to leave her seat. "I have to set up a few things."

The hologram flickered out and Merry found herself alone with the shrunken young woman.

For the first time in a long while Merry felt that she wasn't being watched. She reached under the seat and pulled out a pair of pale yellow sweatpants and a matching halter-top. She was just putting on her sneakers when she heard Margarita moan. Merry looked up to see the young woman go from lying flat on her back to laying on her side. Her sleeping form faced Merry and there was a surge of kinship in the officer.

"You can stay with me." Merry said and suddenly she desperately hoped that Margarita Chevron would be allowed to stay with her. "You're like me. You can help me. They are a good... that is they mean well. We can... we can do some great things together." She reached over and stroked Margarita's hair. "We... we can have some fun... if you like Star Trek... I mean. Classic, Next Generation... I got a HD set... dvd too... I..." Merry stopped talking and swallowed. With everything she had left the young woman brought her self under control. "There are worse ways to live you know," she said "and worse masters to serve. I..."

"Ready to set her up Officer Dolly?" Molly asked as her hologram flickered into life again.

"Almost." Merry said as she tied her sneaker. "Ready."

"Ok, let's get started. Put her on her back."

"Right." Merry said and eased Margarita onto her back. "This won't hurt a bit." She added in a whisper.

End.

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