Live and Let Bloat

Yuri Cosovo was a madman; there was no other way to put it. The former Communist general had never let go of his ideals, and basically lost his mind after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A short time after this, he ended up forming a large army of those who shared his goal: take over the world and switch it over to Communism.

His latest bid was his greatest yet. He claimed to have put some kind of chemical in the water supplies of the world, along with all soft drinks juices and what have you. No one knew what it would do besides some important government officials, but everyone was too panicked to drink. Fresh-squeezed juice was the only thing anyone would dare touch, and they were demanding the governments do something about it.

They had two options.

One: Give in to Cosovo’s demands and give him unquestioned rule of the world so he would hand over the antidote.

Two: Kill Cosovo, destroy his North Pole Headquarters and destroy his personal army.

For once, the leaders of the world agreed on something. They knew that number two was, basically, their only option.

But how to go about it? Firing nuclear missiles at the North Pole would melt the ice and cause much, much more harm than good. No, a strike team was the only option. In hours the United States, China, England, German, Australia and Russia had compiled some of their best Marines into a large strike team who were flown into the north pole on top-secret, supersonic F-38 troop transport planes.

One hour, and no reports. Two hours, nothing. Three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten eleven and half a day. After twenty-four hours they knew the entire team was lost.

There was one final option, and that was sending in individual agents. It was known that, in many cases where a group failed, a single person could triumph. America sent an agent that never returned. England’s failed, as did the ones sent by Russia, Australia, Germany and China.

Now it seemed that all hope was lost. But while most of the world just gave up, China and America were not quite ready to give in. They each decided, without telling anyone else, that they would try just once more.

They each sent in their second-best agents, America sending Cassandra Walton and China sending Lana Yi. Still neither power had any idea what the other one was doing, nor did the rest of the world. Walton was sent in literally two hours before Lana, and it was only then that either side informed the rest of the world of their plans. Of course, not long after Yuri Cosovo happily gloated that he had apprehended Cassandra Walton.

When Lana Yi approached Yuri Cosovo’s base, she had no idea that she was the last hope for the world. She had been told that America had sent an agent, but had no idea that she had been apprehended. As far as she knew, there was a chance she could walk in the door and see her job done.

She knew the only way into his base was an elevator sitting in the middle of countless miles of snow, and this would be a tough thing to get by. Seven or so soldiers and three cameras guarded the elevator. On top of that, there was a camera in the elevator.

But when she looked at the elevator through her binoculars, she saw only six guards there. It did not take her long to figure out what had happened, but as she turned she saw a fist about to slam her in the face.

"Blanmghaaaa." Was about all she could manage to say as she came to, before she came to her senses.

She blinked open her eyes and saw only granite ceiling very high above her. She tried to turn her head, but it was somehow held firmly in place by some metal band on her forehead, as were her wrists and ankles. The only other things she knew was the fact that she was lying on a metal table, and that she felt a greasiness all over her.

‘Idiot!’ She thought, scolding herself. ‘You were too confident! You weren’t on your guard, you stupid, stupid, stupid…’

"Ah, Agent Yi, you’re awake." A voice said in good Mandarin, obviously over a loudspeaker. "I was fearing you may have been dead or in a coma and then wouldn’t be able to have my fun."

"Cosovo." She said, almost growling. "Show yourself, you coward!"

"I value my health, Agent Yi." He chuckled. "And I am not as dim as some secret agents."

"Oh, now I’m going to make sure you die slowly!"

"That was not aimed solely at you, Agent Yi. All the other agents were that easily apprehended, including Agent Walton."

The table she was lying on suddenly began moving, shifting so she was in a standing position. In front of her was a concrete wall with a large glass panel in it. Behind this panel was a tall, thin, redheaded woman who had some kind of tube held fast in her mouth that Lana could only assume was Cassandra Walton. She was dressed in a black jumpsuit that was almost exactly like the one Lana wore on missions, but all of her equipment was gone.

"Haven’t you wondered what that chemical I put in the drinking supplies of the world does, Agent Yi?" Cosovo’s tone was confident and mocking. "Or do you already know?"

Lana decided it would be best to remain defiantly silent. Honestly, she had no idea what the chemical did, but knew that she was about to find out when it was used on the woman in front of her. She wished there was something she could do other than stay strapped in place on a table.

"The silent treatment, eh? Ah well, if you already know then it doesn’t matter, but if you do not you are about to be very surprised."

The tube in the agent’s mouth suddenly jerked, as though something was now being pumped into it. Her cheeks puffed out as though she were not swallowing, but soon she had no choice and Lana could see the agent swallowing, a pained expression on her face.

Her stomach began to bulge, stretching the material on her black suit a bit. But quickly after the chemical stopped flowing and the tube pulled itself out of the agent’s mouth, and she just stood there rubbing her distended belly. Soon she broke down into tears, knowing as well as Lana that she was doomed.

Then Lana heard a low hissing, right as the agent’s stomach began to grow even more. It stretched quickly while the woman grabbed her stomach and grimaced in pain. Her stomach grew at a fast rate, and in seconds she looked almost three months pregnant. Barely twenty seconds later she looked more like nine months pregnant, and at that time a stretching sound became audible as the agent actually began screaming in pain.

"Fascinating, isn’t it?" Cosovo said over Walton’s screams. "The chemical actually began turning into a gas inside that unfortunate girl’s stomach."

She tore at her stomach with her nails, succeeding in only tearing the fabric of her shirt and revealing her enormous gut. She looked about five months overdue, and red lines were appearing on her over-stretched belly. The lines were increasing in number, and where there were not lines there was skin that was pale it had been pulled so tight.

Her screams just turned into one long yell just as a door slid over the glass and the sound was cut off. But even then Lana heard a muffled version of the explosion, and she knew what had happened to the agent.

"You sick scum!" She screamed as her bed tilted into a lying position again. "So this is what your plans for the world are?"

"If they do not bow to me, yes." He laughed an evil, mirthless laugh. "My plans for you, Agent Yi, are just a little different."

"Really?" She just prayed that she sounded more angry than hopeful.

"I suppose you feel greasy, right?"

"Uh…yes." She said reluctantly. "Why?"

"Before we brought you here, you were immersed in a vat of a chemical I have developed. This will allow your skin and clothing to stretch for miles on end before you feel even the slightest bit of pressure."

"What is the point of that?"

"Agent Yi, you are one of the largest thorns in my side, even before this mission you were sent on. You may only be China’s second best, but you were my worst enemy. I plan on embarrassing you as much as I can before I kill you."

As she looked up, she saw a tube very similar to the one that had just been in Agent Walton’s mouth coming at her. She squeezed her mouth shut, but in a moment metal hands pried her jaw open to allow the tube in. Once it was, they squeezed her mouth shut over it so she could not just spit it out.

"Get ready for a long drink." Cosovo laughed again. "A very long drink!"

In a moment a cold liquid was flowing into her mouth. Panicking, she tried what Walton did and did not swallow at first. But soon the pressure became too great and it practically forced its way down her throat and into her stomach. After only a few seconds she felt her stomach begin to bulge out, but she barely felt a thing and knew that Cosovo’s chemical would work.

"What’s worse?" She thought as she lay there helplessly. "The fact that I’ll be internationally embarrassed or the death I could have had? Hmm…"

Her stomach bulged outward, and without it even filling her with gas the size of it soon rivaled that of Walton’s. After two minutes of being filled with the chemical she had gone well beyond Walton’s size had been, with a stomach sticking five feet into the air.

"Full yet?" Cosovo asked as the chemical stopped flowing.

The robotic hands released her as the tube pulled out of her mouth. The clamps on her wrists, head and ankles released, and the table tilted so she fell off, landing so she was lying on top of her gargantuan stomach. She just groaned and rolled to the side, the chemical audibly sloshing around inside of her.

"Scum." She mumbled. "Lousy scum."

"Why not take a look at yourself, agent Yi?" Cosovo asked. She felt metal arms grab her and hoist her into a sitting position as a mirror slid into place where the glass plate had once been.

Lana got a look at herself, and almost cried. Her face was still pretty and her long, black hair was the same. Her arms were fine and her legs, though spread wide to allow room for her gargantuan stomach, were normal. It was her stomach that bothered her, higher than usual and five feet long. It hung onto the floor and even if she moved only slightly she heard the chemical sloshing around.

"You have about three seconds." Cosovo laughed yet again. "Two…one… now!"

Only a millisecond after he said "now", Lana heard a loud hissing. She pressed her massive stomach and felt strong resistance building as more of the chemical turned to gas. It increased in size as she began to feel just a bit lighter.

She was lifted onto her feet as her stomach grew and her body became lighter. But her biggest surprise came seconds later, as she felt the rest of her body begin inflating! She gasped as her arms and legs began to bulge, as her hips widened and her back began rounding out.

She was inflating even faster now, as her entire upper torso took on the shape of a sphere. Her arms were three feet around at their widest, and her legs were four. But this did not matter as they were being engulfed slowly by her enlarging torso.

"Ah, this is an enjoyable experience!" Cosovo said. "You know, even if the world does submit to me I may just inflate a few people for the fun of it all."

Her arms and legs had been made part of her torso up to her knees and elbows. Her feet finally left the ground and she yelled, shocked, while her body just continued to swell. She was almost up to her wrists and ankles, her body basically no more than a sphere with hands, feet and a head. Even her neck had been pulled into her body, but her head seemed to be invulnerable to being pulled in.

Before long she was just a sphere, but her body continued to inflate. To her incredible shock she began to get even larger, as though her skeleton was somehow able to stretch along with her. She was seven feet tall and had a diameter of almost ten feet at her widest point, and she did not seem to be stopping any time soon.

A while later Cosovo entered the warehouse-sized room, which was now basically full of Agent Lana Yi. She was countless feet tall and even larger around, but still alive. She looked down at the tiny Cosovo, and laughed at how easy it would be to just roll over him if she was not cramped into so small a space.

"You know, Agent Yi, I’m lucky there’re no sharp objects around." He called up. "Because at your current size, if you popped my entire complex would be destroyed!"

"Really?" She said.

"Oh, yes." He laughed. "But find a way to pop yourself, agent!"

"Maybe I will!"

"It doesn’t matter, the world has already given in to my demands. Everyone besides China and America already have the antidote, and America’s is on the way, Only your country has any hope left in you, but I figure they’ll succumb in six or so hours!"

"They have the antidote?" She sighed in relief. "For China, then. No, for the world."

Her nails were very close to her body due to her inflated state, and she began pressing them into her flesh. Cosovo yelled up, asking her what she was doing, but she just continued to press into her skin. She felt a slight pain as she got scratched, but she knew that she had to go deeper, and soon, she did.

The North Pole complex was destroyed.

The world had the antidote.

Lana Yi was hailed as the savior of humanity.