BVLJ #3: Withdrawing the Max

***In this episode, militant Amazonian Major Max Volatile's raid on the Westmester Bank should be an easy win for Orias City's celebrated heroes, the Extra Twins. But they're all in for a big surprise!***

Westmester Bank was one of the biggest and most exclusive financial establishments in Orias City. The entrance hall was floored with green marble. Brass-trimmed mahogany counters flanked either side of a sweeping staircase, separated by a parade of pillars as wide as redwood trees. The vaulted ceiling, four stories high, created orchestral quality acoustics for the piped music. The bank’s theatre-like image alone warned any but the most serious of villains from ripping it off.

Major Maxine Volatile considered was one of the exceptions.

On a quiet Tuesday morning, the affluent clients and uniformed clerks were shaken by shouts as Max strode in through the gilded double doors. Four men in ski masks rushed past, brandishing assault rifles, yelling for everyone to get down. A woman screamed as the clients quickly threw themselves to the floor. A security guard drew his pistol and one of the criminals opened fire. The blast echoed through the hall as the guard was hit three times in the chest. The other guards dropped their guns and kicked them away.

After the flurry of shouts and gunfire, the bank was quiet again, with customers trembling face-down and clerks with their hands up behind the glass of their counters.

Major Max Volatile walked importantly down the middle of the room, recognisable by everyone there. She was an imposing woman, at her natural 7 feet tall, and wore the signature midnight blue uniform of her own paramilitary outfit: tight piped trousers and a brass-buttoned jacket that hugged her slender physique, leather boots that reached her knees. She had a low top under her jacket, showing off dog-tags that fell into a modest cleavage, and her shoulder-length black hair was slicked back, eyelids shaded black to match. Her echoing footsteps and the squeak of her boots filled the hall, making her sound larger than life.

Max approached a counter and stopped at the middle window of a set of six, before a man in a burgundy suit. He had a grey moustache, was broad-chested and might have been considered large before anyone other than this woman. His name tag read Mr Hugh Boyce, Manager. He stood before Michelle, a pretty brunette attendant in a buttoned white blouse, as if to shield her from the criminals.

Max gave him a moment as he looked defiantly up at her, then she offered the immortal words of bank robbers everywhere: “I’d like to make a withdrawal.” Boyce puffed out his cheeks, preparing to defy her, so she sternly added, “You will open the main vault in precisely three minutes or we will kill our hostages. One every thirty seconds.”

“You can’t,” Boyce replied, sweating about the collar. “This is Westmester Bank; the moment you stepped in here the vault was sealed and an alert sent to the authorities. The vault won’t open again until tomorrow morning There’s nothing I can do.”

“Then you’ll have to find someone who can.” Max raised her left wrist, flicking the sleeve back to reveal a gold watch. “You have two minutes and forty-five seconds.”

“There is no one else!” Boyce protested. “That’s the whole point: we have no choice. You can kill all of us, but it won’t be possible.”

“The richest 0.5% of the city use this bank,” Max countered, still looking at her watch. “If they demanded it, there is no situation where you would deny access to their vault immediately. You have two minutes and twenty seconds.”

Boyce chewed a lip, trying to think of a way to argue. A woman on the floor started crying and the man next to her hissed at her to be quiet.

Max regarded them both coldly, and said, “Let’s move things along.” She pointed at Michelle, behind Boyce. “I will start with her.”

“You can’t,” Boyce almost laughed back, even as Michelle retreated fearfully. “These counters are bullet-proof, lined with reinforced –”

Max clasped her big hands on the top and side edges of the counter’s window frame. Michelle shrieked and Boyce backed up, both of them hitting the wall, as the clerks either side dashed further away. Max heaved furiously at the counter, veins popping up on her skin, putting all her strength into tearing the window out. The metal creaked and the wood snapped as her eyes bulged: one of the famous mood swings the militant villain was known for.

Chunks of the counter ripped out and the metal gilding bent and twisted as Max tore her hands back, scattering the remnants on the floor. But strong as she was, her assault had only stripped the superficial top layer off. Smooth metal lay underneath, and the glass was unscathed. Max snarled with disappointment as Boyce moved slightly forward again.

“You see,” he said. “You can’t get in here any more than you can get in the vault.”

Max pulled a lapel of her jacket down and pressed something. She buttoned the lapel back in place and locked eyes on Boyce, raising her chest to restore her rigid posture. The bank manager frowned. Max checked her watch again and said, “Forty seconds.”

Her men twitched behind her, guns aimed and ready.

“You don’t –” Boyce started, then jumped back and cursed, “Sweet Venus!”

Max started growing. Her muscles led, stretching tight against her uniform, but the material stretched, too, expanding with her. She swelled in all directions, getting much taller, sliding her legs apart as she did. A male bank client near her expanding boot scrambled to his hands and knees to get clear. One of the gunmen knocked him down, but Max’s growing leg struck him in the back. The criminal hit the floor too and rolled over, looking up with new fear as Max rose towards the ceiling.

The villain bent her knees as she reached fifty feet high, head almost touching the ceiling. She bent, her shoulders swelling up into the space of the vaulted roof, then crouched, ballooning through the hall. The gunmen jostled their captives out of the way, shoving them aside to avoid being struck by Max’s enormous boots.

At last, the growing stopped, and the criminals and civilians alike were looked up with wonder and terror at the giant villain. Bunched up, she barely fit in the hall, a thigh pressed into a groaning pillar on one side, torso hunched over the counters. Boyce ducked down at the counter window to see her face above him. The gunmen were equally startled, not having expected this, and they backed towards the edges of the room. Their hostages crept after them, low to the floor.

“Time’s up,” Max announced. She reached a huge hand towards the counter and the clerks scrambled away screaming.

“Impossible!” Boyce cried. “This isn’t possible!”

Max’s fingers closed on the top of the wide booth and crushed the metal and glass. She lifted a segment away with ease, crumbling the remnants.

“To the back!” the manager shouted, urging his clerks towards the counter’s rear exit. While others hurried through the door, the hole separated Boyce, Michelle and another girl from it. Boyce pushed Michelle. “Hurry!”

She stumbled through the gap and Max’s hand lashed down to grab her. The pretty clerk screamed as Max lifted her by the waist. The giant villain reach her other hand in, brushing over Boyce as he ducked, and grabbed the second clerk, a blonde girl in the same shirt and skirt uniform. Max straightened up slightly, knocking against the ceiling and cracking it, tumbling bits of brick and mortar into the hall.

“Put them down!” Boyce demanded, stepping into the open beneath her.

Max regarded the two women in her hands; at her new height, each was only slightly taller than her palms. Both shrieked and pushed against her fingers as their feet lashed about from the bottom of her fists.

“You failed to follow orders,” Max told Boyce. “Here is your punishment.”

She squeezed her fist closed on the blonde clerk, who screamed as her bones were crushed. Boyce yelled as others shouted and screamed around them. One of the hostages got up and ran for the door, but a gunman stepped in her way and smacked her back down. Max ground her fingers together and the blonde clerk gave a final gasp before flopping limp. Dead. The giant woman dropped the clerk to the floor with a thunk, making another woman scream.

“Twenty-five seconds,” Max warned Boyce as he stared in shock at the clerk’s body.

The only sound was another woman crying.

“Ten seconds,” Max said.

Michelle resumed struggling in her hand, shouting, “Help me! Mr Boyce, just let her in!”

“I’m telling you I can’t!” Boyce shouted back.

“Three, two,” Max counted down, and the manager rushed further out, throwing his hands above his head.

“Okay, I’ll do it! Just stop! I’ll find an override but it will take time.”

“Unfortunate,” Max said and lifted Michelle, tightening her grip. The clerk shouted in pain.

Something blasted through the roof, making Boyce dart to the side to avoid falling masonry. Max twisted, knee smashing through a pillar and Michelle screaming from her hand. Gunmen and hostages alike ran out of the way of the pillar crumbling between them. Most eyes, however, were on two shapes whipping through the air, circling Max. People, flying – heroes! She swatted at one and missed, her hand snapping through another pillar.

In a surge of speed, one hero flew up between Max’s knees, aiming for the hand holding Michelle. Max rose away from the attack, breaking through the ceiling with a tremendous crack and an eruption of debris. The hero darted past, missing. As Max stood taller, bits of the bank collapsing around her, more hostages ran for the exit and the gunmen started shooting. One civilian was hit and knocked down, but at the same time the shooter was struck by a flying hero and thrown into the wall. The second hero, a woman in a cape, dropped down on another shooter, feet on his back driving him face-first into the marble. The woman rolled off and sprang forward, clearing the distance to the next gunman in an instant. She hit him so fast, with both fists, that his chest crumpled.

“Go, go!” the other hero shouted, landing by the door and waving the hostages on. He was a dashing young man with short brown hair and a tight blue and white jumpsuit that accentuated a well-sculpted body. Cole Extra, one half of the Extra Twins.

As a man and woman ran past him, Max’s booted foot slammed down on them. Cole was thrown back by the unexpected force. He spun and caught himself mid-fall to hover off the ground. He stared aghast: the civilians had disappeared, together, under the giant woman’s boot, with a spray of blood either side of her sole. Other civilians stalled near her heel, shrieking as they looked up.

“You bitch!” Cole yelled and launched towards Max’s face.

His sister, Lea Extra, was already flying past the massive woman, distracting her as she loomed out the top of the bank. Max swung her free hand at the darting heroine as Michelle squealed in terror from the other hand. Max’s other booted foot rose to reposition and one of her gunmen tripped as it swept over him. He shouted as her heel crunched down on him.

“Sick,” Lea said, spotting the man get squashed. She floated just out of Max’s arm reach as Cole glided up to join her. The pair were classic Orias heroes, with Lea every bit as good-looking as her twin: her white cat-suit with blue boots and pants over the top showed off an athletic figure with enviable curves. She had a soft-featured face, gently tussled shoulder-length hair, dirty-blonde, and a cheeky, charming smile. She called out, “You’re killing your own men, Major Max – give it up!”

“They’re willing to die for the cause,” Max replied with a voice like thunder. She was a titan, with the cracked bank building open around her waist, glass skyscrapers reflecting her image. People variously pressed themselves to windows with amazement or pushed over each other to get away.

“What cause, Max?” Cole laughed, flippant in the face of even the biggest threats. “Forcing people to give up easy money isn’t exactly noble. Why can’t you villains ever just get a job?”

One corner of Max’s mouth rose in a knowing smirk. “This isn’t about money, you fool. Once I crack open that vault, you’ll see.” She turned and raised a foot, to stomp through the wall behind the counter. The Extra twins shouted at her, flying in to attack, but their super-speed wasn’t quick enough to stop Max driving her boot through the remains of the counter and the wall behind it. She dragged her foot back, scattering wood, metal and brick through the hall, revealing a wide set of descending stairs. Cole latched onto her shoulder and pulled back, strong enough to make Max turn, as Lea came around to her front, aiming a punch at the massive woman’s chin. The blow struck Max hard and she was thrown off balance, stepping away from the counter and cracking the marble floor. The step just missed the manager, Boyce, as he ran for the exit, and the tremor sent him sliding into a pillar.

Max snarled and swatted at Lea as she retreated. Cole came up from the other side and landed a punch of his own on her chin, making her stumble again. She was ungainly, unused to this massive size, and their rapid movements dizzied the giant woman. Her knee slammed through the side of the bank, ripping a great hole in the wall. Her boot smashed through onto the road, breaking the asphalt.

“Alright, Max, don’t you think you’ve done enough?” Lea shouted, backing up for another charge. “How’d you get so big? Even for you this lacks subtlety. Everyone in Orias is going to see us kicking your ass.”

The goading enraged the enormous villain further and she stepped out from the bank completely, grasping at the twin. Lea flew back over a four-lane road, drawing Max into the open. Cars were backed up either side, kept clear of the bank but not by much. The hostages were still running for cover as Max trod heavily between them, cracking the road. She swiped at Lea again and missed, then flexed her shoulders and roared, her voice rattling the far office block, cracking windows and sending people scrambling in fear.

Cole darted in from the side and Max turned just in time to see his attack. With one arm cocked back for a punch, he aimed a killer blow at her jaw – but Max opened her mouth wide. His punch flew through space, missing his target, and he twisted in midair, redirecting to avoid Max. She snapped her teeth shut, just missing biting the hero in half, but as he moved to fly clear he was pulled back. His cape was caught in Max’s teeth, and the motion jolted with. As he twisted back to pull the cape free, the giant woman quickly snapped her mouth open again and stretched forward. Cole shrieked with surprise at the cave of a mouth closed over him. Max bit down hard. His super-strength prevented a fatal chomp but the force stunned him. Quicker than he could recover, the giant woman threw her head back and toppled him all the way into her mouth. He fell on her tongue, and as he tried to right himself her teeth chomped on him again.

Lea screamed and flew in to attack as Max quickly chewed up her twin, blood spurting between her lips. The giant woman ducked to the side as she swallowed Cole. Max lashed back at Lea, grinning triumphantly, but had no time to enjoy the triumph as the heroine went on a wild attack. Though Max moved faster than her size should allow, weaving to avoid the hero’s rapid attacks, Lea unleashed a tornado of punches, hitting her face from one side to another. When Max tried to swat her off, the woman dropped down and kicked both feet into the giant’s neck. She rolled through the air, steadied and threw her full weight into Max’s chest.

Max coughed in pain and surprise and stepped back, arms windmilling as she lost balance. One of her boots landed on a car, crumpling it flat. She started to get smaller, something sparking under her jacket where Lea had hit her. She fell with a shout, back crashing into a high rise, and as the walls and windows smashed around her she was sucked in on herself, doing less damage the further she fell. By the time Max’s rear hit the sidewalk, with building parts raining around her, she was down to fifteen feet tall.

Lea followed her down and drove a knee into Max’s dazed face as she stopped shrinking. The villain collapsed into a crack of her own creating, rubble around her body, back to her normal height. The device under her jacket sparked again, broken. Lea landed with a foot either side of her, fists raised ready to pummel her further.

“No, no!” a woman’s squeaking made her stop. Lea’s fury subsided as she saw Max’s hand roll open, the pretty bank clerk rolling out of it. The heroine stood over her in amazement: Michelle was only four inches tall, shrunken along with Max. She stood up in the villain’s palm, looking down at herself, and screamed.

Lea looked up, seeing people slowly closing in. The police were holding onlookers back but officers were creeping closer and Boyce was blundering over the road. Clouds of dust rose from the wrecked bank and the building above them, where office workers peered down through broken walls and windows. With the chaos over, a circus of law and media was about to begin. Lea stared back down at the battered villain; too late to finish her off now. Max’s whole face was bloody, but particularly around the mouth, where she’d eaten Cole. Lea bared her teeth, itching to do something more.

Michelle looked up, noting the heroine towering over her for the first time, and trembled with fear. Lea frowned.

“I can take care of you, at least,” she said, crouching. As she reached for Michelle, the bank clerk flinched. Lea didn’t give her a chance to protest or flee, grabbing the woman. She quickly stuffed the tiny woman into a pouch at her belt, muffling her just as the bank manager approached.

“You did it!” he said breathlessly. “Thank God. But where’s Michelle?”

Lea turned to face him. “I don’t know; I only saw her fall. She . . . I’m sorry.” She indicated the rubble around them, suggesting the body might’ve been lost. She pressed a hand down on her pouch to stop Michelle struggling, not sure why she had said that, or taken the woman. It was done though, it didn’t matter for now. She asked Boyce, firmly, “What was in that vault that Max wanted so much?”

Boyce gave her an uncomfortable look, unsure if he should share. With the police closing in, he didn’t have to. In the next instant they were surrounded by people shouting questions or throwing praise. Lea wanted none of it, so moved away. She told the police, “Don’t be gentle with her. That animal killed my brother.”

***Next time on Big Villainy, Little Justice: detectives on the case of the recent size-crimes corner "AnaConwoman", or as she prefers to be known Anaga – a particularly scary maneater! Coming June 13th 2022.***