The Zip Files Bk. 01: Zip Unzips Ch. 08

Her eyes turned down and gave him a long look. But, Zip didn't notice. He had been distracted staring at her breasts, again. When he saw her head turn towards him, he immediately tried to pretend he hadn't been by leaning forward to study the poster more. Cassie rolled her eyes - but patiently let him.

Upon the poster Iron John was crouched upon the rock at the top of a little crag, glaring, like some combination of man and beast. This artist had indeed depicted him as fully naked - but with hair and beard hanging down to strategically cover the naughty bits. The Iron King stood before him in a much more upright and regal pose; like an angel meeting with a demon. His wings were folded behind him, and the ring of horns around his head had been painted to glow slightly - almost like an actual crown. The two were posed as if they were philosophers in deep debate over their respective worldviews - like Diogenes meeting Alexander.

According to legend, they had spent some time arguing their relative philosophies before the Horned King realized he had more in common with his quarry than his comrades, and had let him be. Around them there crouched a ring of the Horned King's servitors... but the fearsome beasts were facing outwards. Keeping watch for any of the Horned King's nominal teammates who might interrupt their conference, rather than standing guard over the cornered serial murderer and rapist.

In reality if the conference had occurred then no-one knew where. But, in a touristic touch, the artist had positioned it upon the slopes of either Mount Caj or Mount Vic, with a view down into the city behind them. It had been long enough since Zip had been on either mountain that he could not tell if a specific viewpoint was implied - though he had the feeling someone who was a regular at the ski lodges would have recognized it instantly.

From what Zip could remember, since it was all legend, there weren't a lot of hard facts to go round. Some said there was only one conference, where they had debated for a day or more; others that there were many short meetings stretched out over weeks while the other superhumans on the case searched fruitlessly.

The only real hard fact - the only one any of his previous history teachers had ever acknowledged - was that the Horned King had suddenly abandoned the search for Iron John while it was still underway. Leaving his fellow superhuman 'allies' busy, he had, along with his then-consort Power Flower, taken advantage of their distraction to begin laying the groundwork for what would become known as the Gaia War. The war that would end up with the Horned King, having undergone surgery to 'neuter' his powers, being sealed in his prison somewhere out beyond the orbit of Uranus; and watched over carefully by Tempus and the rest of his Saturn Society, from their own fortress in orbit around the eponymous planet.

"Well," Zip said, not really wanting to argue with her. "I guess we'll never know."

She turned and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she said. "That's a rather dismal view to take for a historian. Why would you say that?"

'Shit,' Zip thought. "Well, uh, because the Horned King is up there, sleeping," Zip said. His eyes darted upwards. "They aren't going to wake him up, ever. And Iron John is dead. So no one can say, right?"

Cassie gave him a long look, then shrugged.

"True enough on the first I guess... for now," she said. "But on the second - you don't honestly believe that, do you?" She shook her head. "They don't kill people like that, Mister Zilch. Not if they can possibly help it. Oh, I know they said they did - but they didn't."

She panned her head slowly around the four corners of the globe.

"He's still out there," she said. "Probably in a very deep dark hole, but out there. Not even very far, I would imagine. They wouldn't want to risk transporting him more than they could help it. But, he is alive. In a cage, with a very solid lock. Being studied. Right now."

Zip swallowed. "Of... of course," he said.

Under the circumstances, this wasn't too comforting to him. But then, he suddenly realized he might have an opportunity. An innocuous conversation, on topic even, would leave way less of a trail than typing it in a search engine right when a bunch of three-letter agencies might just be on the lookout.

"So, uh, I was wondering something," Zip said.

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked. "What?"

"So, uh, do they have a way of detecting you know... their kind?" Zip asked. He nodded towards Iron John and the Horned King, upon the poster. "Like, I imagine they didn't back then, or else they would have caught Iron John way faster - and the Horned King too, during the War. But, what about now? Have they gotten better at it?"

Cassie gave him a piercing look, then smiled.

"Well, 'they' is a very big category," she told him. "You never might know what 'they' have that 'they' might be holding very close to their chests. But as far as we, those who observe closely, can tell? No, they don't. If they do, they are deliberately not using it, in many many cases where it would be very useful for 'them' to do so, solely to make us think they do not. And that seems quite doubtful. There do seem to be ways of verifying, if one suspects a specific target - but they require you to get close. Quite close. Like, 'stick your hand in this box' close, or 'give us a sample of your blood' close. And, for better or worse - not ready for mass production."

"I... I see," he said. That made him feel slightly better - and also more nervous about his next doctor's appointment. "So, uh... how do they find them then?" he asked.

Cassie looked up and smiled airily.

"Why, the same way as since time immemorial," she told him. "They watch very closely - and look for signs and portents."

"Signs and portents?" Zip asked, confused.

She nodded.

"Like what?"

She waved a hand in the air, and shrugged.

"The usual," she told him. "A chicken born with the entrails of a goat. The flight and passage of birds. The stars, shifting in their courses." She looked skyward, then back to him, and smiled. "The Fingerprints of the Gods, as they have always left them," she told him.

Zip stared at her for a second, trying to make sense. Then, suddenly they were disturbed by a buzzing in her purse.

"Ah," she said. Reaching in, she pulled out her phone, looked at it, and sighed.

"Important?" Zip asked.

She nodded. "My own missive from the Old Gods, I am afraid," she told him. She slipped it back into her purse, and then bowed, slightly. "I must bid you good evening," she said. She gestured in the direction of the parking lot. "It is time that I returned to my chariot."

"Sure, sure," Zip said.

He watched as she turned and walked away - and continued watching until she had completely vanished. Then, he shook his head.

"God DAMN, she has a fantastic ass," he muttered. Then, exiting the T-shirt shop, he went away to find something better to do.

With the mall near closing, Zip decided it was about time to go home. But then he happened past the department store he had been in earlier. He noticed the pretty shop-clerk named Isabel still wandering around. Having disposed of the San Caj girls who had been hassling her she looked very bored. She was going from rack to rack, putting things back into place on their hangars - presumably trying to tidy up a little in advance so she could get out faster come closing which, this being a Sunday evening, was not very far away.

"Huh..." Zip said, staring at her. "I don't want to use my main power, since they might be looking for that right now. But based on what Cassie said, it might just be safe to test out another one..."

Among various thoughts that had been swirling through his head that day, his brain had repeatedly fallen back to Mrs. Sablier's email. To the many many arguments she had made that his big penis had had nothing to do with his efficient conquest of her; and the slightly contradictory argument that she was relatively unique amongst women in caring about such things at all and that he could be assured that his long member would not automatically bring the other beauties of his world to their knees.

"Does size matter in this universe, or not?" he asked. "Hard to get a scientific sample size but... let's run a little test."

He went into the bathroom, took off his undershorts, and stashed them away behind a garbage can. They were an old ratty pair anyways, so if he permanently lost them he didn't really care. Then, going commando inside his pants, he wandered back into the mall, and into the department store. He went into the section the pretty clerk whose name-tag read Isabel was in. She was not being hassled any more, and looked intensely bored - tidying up some tables of merchandise at the end of her shift. He wandered into the clothing racks - getting close to her but not too close. She looked up briefly, noticed he was there, and then went back to what she was doing.

Concealed behind some clothing, a couple of racks over from her, he reached down. He unzipped his fly. Then he activated what was, depending on how you looked at it, either the lesser or greater of his two main powers. He swelled his dick up to gigantic size again, but kept it limp. His huge penis lay like a serpent against the front of his pants, making a large bulge. Reaching down, he adjusted his open fly so it hung open like a cavern, giving a clear view up inside.

At the edge of women's underwear where it connected to maternity, Isabel was refolding some sports bras that had been laid out on a table, which another group of his fairer peers had churned into a mess. Zip found a location nearby, at a clothing rack where he could keep an eye on her through a tiny mirrored surface at the edge of a shiny shelf but not visibly look at her. Then, open fly right within her eyesight, he pretended to browse.

It didn't take her long to notice. A bored expression on her face, Isabel folded another bra and laid it down. She looked up and glanced over at him. Then she did a visible double take - as if confirming what she had seen.

He could see her little mouth drop open. From the pattern her lips made, he was pretty sure she had just whispered 'wow...'

He moved his head, so there was not even the tiny line of sight between his face and hers provided by the mirrored edge of the rack. He waited a few seconds. Then he moved his head back. Isabel was looking around over her shoulder, trying to see if anyone was watching - or maybe if someone had a hidden camera on her. But this place, half-dead at the best of times, was completely empty now. The nearest customer was half the store away, and her supervisor was nowhere to be seen.

Licking her lips slightly, the pretty clerk turned back to her work. She folded another couple of bras, looking down - but her hands seemed to shake a little bit more than before. Then, she looked up at him again.

Zip still seemed to be paying no attention to her at all. His face down, he appeared to be busy comparing price tags on maternity-sized pants.

She took a deep breath. Then, a tiny shiver in her body, she seemed to make a decision. Half the bras were still unfolded. But despite that, she left the table. Turning, she briefly pretended to rearrange some panties on a rack, to make her route less obvious. Then, turning back around, she walked over to a rack just beside his. She walked straight to a position where she would have a good view. She fiddled at the maternity nightgowns on the rack for a few seconds, her head down. Then, when she was pretty sure he wasn't looking, she turned her head and took a look.

Her eyes spread wide. She took a deep breath. She looked away, quickly, before she got caught. Her hands trembling, she pretended to adjust a dress on its hanger, her slender fingers trembling. Then she turned her head again, and took another peek. Her eyes blinked wide.

Zip knew it was time to make his move. Still not looking at her - at least, not openly - he suddenly stepped away from the rack of pants, and walked over to the same rack she was at. He came to stand just beside her. As he did so, he could sense her breath quickening, and her body tensing. But he made no move to touch her, or interact with her at all. Still acting completely oblivious to her presence, he stood next to her at the rack - his crotch still positioned in her line of sight - and pretended to examine the price on a couple of dresses.

At this new rack, he didn't have a tiny mirror. But he did have a glossy plastic stand on top of the circular dress rack, which was advertising a special clearance in women's underwear. There was just enough reflection that he could see the position of her head, as she stood beside him.

Next to him, now half a meter away at most, Isabel trembled for a second. She glanced up at his face. But he still appeared to be paying her no attention at all. Turning back to the rack, she pretended to return the favor. She adjusted another couple of dresses - not noticing that it was the same pair she had already adjusted three times now.

Then, she could no longer resist. With a deep breath, she turned her head, dropped it down... and looked.

"Oh..." she whispered softly. She could see more now. Her hand, on a dress, clutched tight and trembled slightly.

Zip waited a few moments. Then, out of view above her new sight-line, he finally turned his head and looked right at her. Her pretty bleached-blonde face was still turned down, gaping in disbelief down into his fly. He looked into her face, without her realizing, for several seconds. Her lovely features were turned down, her eyes wide. Her lips, hanging open, quivered slightly.

Then she turned her eyes up slightly - and with a startled gasp realized he was looking at her. With a yelp, her face leaped upwards. Panting in shock, she stared at him in horror.

"Oh! I... oh my gosh, I... uh... I'm..." she stuttered out, unable to find words as her world seemed to suddenly rock and swirl around her, to be caught so openly looking into a man's pants.

"Were you looking?" Zip asked her.

Stunned, Isabel instinctively shook her pretty head back and forth. "No, I... I wouldn't..." she whimpered, one hand rising up to her mouth in horror. "I couldn't do that, it would... it would..."

"Were you looking?" Zip repeated firmly. "Just tell me."

Isabel took a deep breath. She could not help herself. Fingers over her lips, her eyes darted down once more. They lingered for a second or two. Then they jumped back up to his face. But when they arrived there, a little bit of suspicion had appeared upon her lovely features.

"Did... did you do that on purpose?" she asked him, glancing again at his fly.

"Of course not," Zip lied. "I didn't notice until after you did... now stop trying to blame me for your own behavior, and just answer. Were you looking?"

"Oh!" Isabel gasped. Her own shame ran deep enough that the accusation she had tried to deflect it onto him seemed to hit her like a punch to the gut. In an instant, any hope of counter-attacking and blaming him seemed to vanish off her guilty face. Taking a deep breath, she bowed her head.

"Oh... okay..." she whispered softly. "I'll admit it, I..." She licked her lips. "I was looking..."

"What were you looking at?" he asked her.

Her pretty head spun around, to make sure no one else was nearby. Then she turned and looked back at him. Unable to meet his gaze, she turned her eyes down to his chest like a penitent schoolgirl apologizing to her stern teacher.

"I... I was looking... at your penis..." she finally admitted.

"Why?" he asked.

Her eyes darted up, and stared into his. They were gray, and quite lovely. "What?" she asked, as if startled.

"Why were you looking at my penis?" he asked. "Have you never seen one before?"

She rapidly shook her head. "No... I have a boyfriend," she said, defensively.

"Then why were you looking at mine?" he asked her.

She took a deep breath. She squirmed. She licked her lips. Anything she could do to avoid answering. But in the end waiting just made it worse, and at last she found she had no choice but to answer.

"I... I was staring at your penis..." she admitted, softly, "because it's really, really big."

"That's it?" he asked.

She slowly nodded.

"You were looking at my penis... just because it is very big?" he asked.

A blush appeared on her lovely cheeks, but then she nodded again. "Yes..." she whispered, softly.

"Have you never seen a big penis before?" he asked.

Isabel took a deep breath. Then, she couldn't hold herself back any longer. Having already been caught, having already admitted to staring at it, there were no longer any barriers left. Her face turning down, she looked back into his fly... and let her gaze openly linger on his giant package once more. She licked her lips and squirmed. It had, of course, grown since she'd last looked at it. Being an experienced woman, she didn't have to ask why.

Staring at it, her eyes filled with the sight of Zip's huge cock lurking inside its dark cave, Isabel slowly shook her head. "I... I thought I had," she admitted. "I... I even thought my boyfriend had one. I... I was wrong."

After she got done speaking, her eyes remained fixed downwards. Zip realized it was now or never. He had to strike now.

"Do you want to touch it?" he asked.

The question seemed to go through her like wildfire through dry grass. Her eyes, still on his penis, widened - and a sharp breath sucked in through her luscious pink lips. She looked back up - and for a moment the old look of suspicion, that he had engineered all this, appeared on her pretty face. But her shame had gone too deep at this point, and it vanished. Instead, she just shook her head.

"I... I could never do that with a customer..." she whispered.

"I'm not really much of a customer," Zip said. "I was just bored - I don't have any money."

"Oh..." Isabel gasped. Her blush deepened, to hear that. Her pretty face visibly struggled to come up with another objection.

"I... I have a boyfriend!" she gasped.

"You said that already," he pointed out. "You're clearly not loyal enough not to look - why should touching be any different?"

At this line, Isabel whimpered. But deep down, she seemed to recognize his point. Her head whipped back around, as if looking for her supervisor - and he was not sure if she was distressed or relieved when she still was nowhere to be seen.

"We... we don't have anywhere to go," she objected at last. "I can't be seen going into a changing room stall with a customer or... anything like that."

"Just do it right here," Zip said. He stepped closer. Isabel took in a sharp breath - her body visibly surging in panic. But he didn't touch her. Instead, coming to stand right next to her, he made, with their bodies, a screen. The large dresses of the maternity rack, swishing to either side, provided a natural shield - creating a little personal space all to themselves between her body and his crotch.

"Oh..." Isabel gasped, raising a hand to her lips. She seemed to shiver with indecision.

"If anyone asks, just say you were helping me with something," he told her.

"Are you sure, it's alright?" Isabel asked at last - the last traces of outrage having been driven off her face by the sight of his veiny shaft growing slightly inside his fly, like a python slowly uncoiling up into a tree. She squirmed, her curvy hips wiggling inside her short dark skirt - well aware that it was her staring at it that was making him erect.

He smiled at her - and tried his best to keep it a friendly smile, without a hint of condescension or smarm.

"Only if you want to," he assured her. "It not, then don't. I won't tell anyone a thing, either way."

"Oh..." Isabel said. She seemed relieved.