The woman could see attacks coming, but that didn’t necessarily mean she could do something about it. Threads erupted all around them, creating an arena. The thing that had been Hunter closed in, dancing, moving acrobatically, using the threads. Lace barriers rose between her and her target, and she slipped past them, despite the fact she was taller than most buildings.

She got her hands on the naked giantess, wrapped her in a hug, and squeezed. Her own threads tore through the carbon molecule chains, disarming her target, protecting them as she crushed meat and bone.

The giantess, helpless to do much of anything, exerted more influence, more control.

And the part of Hunter that was deep within the Titan erupted in a sudden laugh, fighting off the control that tried to subvert her very being. Manic, reckless, defiant, free.

You can’t, the glimmer of Hunter deeper still within that manic Hunter thought. I won’t let you pull at me or push me. I won’t let you make me do things.

Other giants were pressing in now. The Knight, the Mother. The Knight cut through threads. The Mother brought forth life between them, en masse.

Titan, manic ‘Mincemaid’, and teenage girl acted in concert.

The noble giantess was flung, hard, into the thinnest and most taut threads. Hunter pounced on the giant knight, ever-aware of the tide of flesh that was riding up behind her. Life being birthed and grown.

This Titan body pulled at parts of her deepest self, that had been mindful of eyes on her, whether she was on stage or standing in line, practice in being situationaly aware and wary.

Her actions were confident, decisive. Fighting sword and armor with kicks, pounces, and eruptions of razor-sharp thread. Driving the Knight back through a forest of her own making.

She could see the figure on a distant rooftop. She could see his Self, shattered and ruined in a way even she wasn’t. He wore a monstrous form, like she did.

And she remembered, with distorted memories, that he had been a face in the background when Amy Dallon had ruined her mind as badly as her powers had ruined her life.

He was everything in herself she hated, and everything outside herself that she hated.

The laughing ceased. Her body creaked under its own weight, as she stood at equal height to buildings fourteen stories tall.

Snow floated down around her, and she was aware of snowflakes striking the finest threads and being cut. Aware of the armies mobilizing to defend their noble giantess, and the terror beyond this battlefield, beyond the noble giantess’s reach.

This wasn’t what you wanted. This wasn’t what I wanted either.

She resisted the urge to laugh, taking in the moment, swimming in her hatred for that black feathered boy-man, and the tattoo-handed woman he worked with.