The mermaid stared at the strange... doll? This was probably the strangest thing ever. She wasn't sure quite what it was. Only that it- she was big. Huge enough to pick her up by the hand, but the way it stared at her it seemed to recognise her. Was it someone she knew?
The strange glassy eyes seemed to turn even more glassy, as they stared past her. The ticking noise the creature made increased, as it stared and stared at the mermaid. God what did it want! All she could do was swim in circles, she couldn't get away from her! But the giant doll girl wasn't moving...
"Are you okay?" She asked tentatively.
Jeff wasn't... quite sure what was going on. It was getting harder to think.. harder to... to move... Did she wind down already? Why was it getting so hard... to..
The mermaid stared. It looked like whoever this person was, she was not quite done changing. She was not quite sure what to make of this either, but she suspected things just got a lot stranger.
Agent Cecilia had a list of people who had yet to transformed on her database. She was slowly using the information from social networking, various sightings on cameras, even credit card transactions to work out the identity of this giant creature by process of elimination. "Do you think we need to contact the magic girls?" She asked. If this became 'ugly', there was no way to know what damage such a creature could do.
"The magic girls deal with magic threats... this is our jurisdiction," reminded Hawkins.
Cecilia smiled a little at that. Hawkins was quite correct. This was not a magic threat exactly, (at least she hoped not...)
Suddenly Hawkins swerved the car to the right.
Cecilia gasped in surprise as her partner evaded something. They both got out of the car, to see what it was.
"A.. rock?"asked Hawkins. It was about half the size of their car. It would have been quite nasty if it hit them!
"That's not all," Said Cecelia. "Scanning to maximum," The gynoids eye's glowed a soft pink as she looked down the road.
There before them stood the clockwork girl. She was big, to the point that an ordinary human was the size of a doll to her. Two rivers of blue hair flowed down the sides of her body, just barely off the ground, thick and luxurious with a shimmering quality to it. What was even stranger though was that her clothes seemed very ill-fitting. Her clothes were actually larger then they should have been, made for someone older then her. How this could have happened boggled the imagination.
"I am not detecting signs of hostility," Said Cecilia with some surprise.
"But she threw a rock at us!" said Hawkins glancing at it. More like a boulder really.
"I am continuing to scan... estimated age, twelve years old based on development, possibly younger." A minor? The giant was a minor?
Then the giant clockwork girl started skipping down the road. Strangely enough it did not make the ground shake as one might have thought. She was very light, and the sound of her ticking became sharper as it bent down and picked up the rock... then she went back to her original position up the street. The girl threw the rock once more, making the agents duck- and repeated the process once more.
"She's playing hopscotch," said Cecilia rather amused. These assignments got stranger and stranger.
"Well- let's try and communicate with her," said Hawkins bringing out a megaphone. "Attention- Little- girl." That.. was just weird.. "We just would like to talk to you. Would you please come over here?"
The young girl however continued playing. It moved perfectly, repeating the same motions over and over. It was completely robotic yet graceful in her actions, each movement causing her spring to wind down further and further. She seemed content and carefree, in a strange way as the bangs of her hair gently brushed the ground.
"I am continuing to scan... I am detecting only residual mental activity. If- I am applying the algorithms correctly. I can not tell based on the motions of her... cogs, but many are not rotating- if that means they are not processing as a thinking mind should. She is not aware of her actions at the moment."
Hawkins frowned a bit at that. "So she's sleep walking?"
"I've accessed the world database on large transformations. They are rare, but it has been documented that people go through a period where they tend to forget who they are for a while as their brain essentially... reboots."
"Why is she playing hopscotch?" Yet another stone was thrown down the street. The girl seemed mindful not to cause any damage, but it seemed like she absolutely had to play. She kept on playing happily, blissfully even. Her ill fitting dress was occasionally pulled up, as she played.
Cecilia shrugged. "Likely the first instinct that came to mind on what she needs to do. We've seen guardian type transformations who will stay at a door for an entire day until their brain caught up."
"How do we snap her out of it?" Hawkins asked glancing at the stone and the strange girl picking it up once more. Yikes- that one nearly hit a car!
Cecilia quickly went over the options. "We need her name. That usually brought them out of it. But I have still not been able to work out who it is. I've narrowed it down to one hundred individuals in the area though. I need more time and information."
Then just as suddenly, the girl... stopped. She stooped slightly, as her winding action ceased. Her large dress had fallen in a massive heap on the street, but fortunately the large grey blouse covered most of her. The strange key on her back was winding the other way now, very... very... slowly.
Hawkins and Cecilia carefully approached. Unless the girl laid horizontally, there was no way they could wind her themselves. It would probably take two people at once to even consider it.
"I guess... we have time now," said Hawkins. "Try to find out if any similar transformations exist in the area. Maybe someone else will know something."
"What have we here?" wondered Jeff's father. For some reason the grandfather clock in the main hall had disappeared... in its place was... a huge key? He touched it gently, almost feeling strange ticks resonating within it. "Hm... looks valuable." He knew what to do with valuable things.
