Five tremendous pairs of feet surrounded their little group, but for poor Gage they had taken on truly mind-boggling proportions. Where Rima and Charis were like little dolls, he must’ve been smaller than a flea compared to them. All five of them emanated cruel beauty at an unthinkable magnitude.

So intimidating were the five women that only now did Gage take stock of their surroundings. They appeared to be in a massive cathedral: apparently, the beanstalk rose straight up through a circular opening in the floor, and then continued to climb up through a shattered stained-glass window in the ceiling. Even in this land of giants, the beanstalk remained the largest thing by far – it was easily wide enough to hold all five giantesses in its vines and branches, and it dominated the center of the cathedral.

Speaking of the five girls, they looked ludicrously out of place in the old cathedral. All of them wore snappy cocktail attire coupled with strappy heels; they could’ve been attending a Hollywood premier, but definitely didn’t belong in this grave hall.

“Wow, you two munchkins are in for some fun,” called down one of the giantesses, a blonde. She wore a form-fitting red dress, a matching set of red heels, and plenty of red lipstick that made her grin seem all the more evil.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” muttered Rima fiercely. She drew a wand from somewhere in her witch’s cloak and waved it. Nothing happened. “Shit – I’ve been Silenced!”

“Look at the little girl waving her little wand,” mocked the blonde with a laugh. In the blink of an eye, she bent down and swatted both Rima and Charis to the floor, knocking them from their respective means of flight. Before either of them could react, another of their tormentors, this one a brunette, slammed her black pump onto both the broom and the disc, pulverizing them instantly. Luckily for Gage, Nightwing had taken him well out of range of the tremendous hand, but that did nothing for his immense frustration at his inability to protect his friends. He watched helplessly as they staggered to their feet.

“They’re only Level 75, how is this possible?” gasped Rima.

“I looked up the Magic Beans on the trip up,” answered Charis raggedly. “Apparently if you beat this level, you can use the Beans to grow yourself – it pretty much doubles their stats.

“How the Hell is that fair?” hissed the witch.

“The effect wears off when you leave. They must’ve been waiting here just to mess with whoever came along.”

“Rima, can you take them?” shouted Gage.

“Maybe two of them,” she growled, “but not five.”

Gage’s mind raced as he tried to think through the situation. Rima wasn’t strong enough to win in a head-on fight, but worse yet, if she died... she would really be dead. Those bitches didn’t know that, not like they would care either way; judging by their hungry stares, they wanted to see them suffer, nothing more. On the other hand, Charis had no such limitation – she could easily kill herself to escape the level. Plus, the bitches hadn’t even noticed him, so in that sense he was safe as well. Still, that didn’t leave them with much to work with.

Without warning, Nightwing swooped away, carrying Gage out of the circle of feet and to safety. He scowled, remembering that only Rima could control her familiar. Apparently following orders, the bat lighted on a marble podium, where they became horrified onlookers. As he watched, he could see Charis and Rima having a heated discussion even as the circle of women began to close in with their feet, poking and prodding the tiny women with growing force and malice. He couldn’t know for sure, but he could guess what was being said: no doubt Rima urged Charis to kill herself, and of course Charis stubbornly refused. Gage knew she would never abandon Rima like that. Unfortunately that meant both of them would suffer at the hands of these demented girls, and there was nothing any of them could do about it. They couldn’t even attempt to fight for fear that one of them might murder Rima in retaliation.

“What should we do with them, Alicia?” the brunette asked the blonde as all five women continued to lightly tap and shove the girls with the tips of their heels.

“Well, I think we’re already on the right track. Let’s make them our foot slaves.”

The other girls giggled their assent. “Yeah,” chimed in a different brunette, this one wearing a purple dress with gold heels, “these little bugs should be kissing our toes like the goddesses we are.” She kicked off her gold shoes and knocked over Charis, then positioned the sole of her foot on top of her so that her toes rested directly on her victim’s face. “Lick them you little bug.”

Gage winced as he imagined the awful stink that oozed from the giant girl’s toes; but at least Charis’s senses weren’t jailbroken. Meanwhile, poor Rima found herself underneath two girls’ feet, and Gage knew that the stench must be unthinkable. “Lick them clean,” giggled Alicia before batting Rima across the head with her big toe. She proceeded to press her toe down onto Rima’s face. His stomach churned at the thought of swallowing the filth from their feet.

The torture continued for what seemed like forever to the horrified Gage, and probably longer for his defenseless friends. Rima and Charis were forced to thoroughly lick each girl’s toes, soles, and heels. When he saw Rima vomit from the disgusting grime she had ingested, Gage almost leapt off the podium in a rage, safety be damned. Each new abuse slashed into his heart, but he could do little more than clench his fists in powerless fury.

As time went on, the giant bitches became progressively more violent. With their toes and feet, they began battering their helpless victims, causing them to cry out in pain much to their malevolent glee. Great black and blue bruises began to form on his friends’ bodies, and he saw Charis’s arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Gage’s heart fell apart when Rima tried to use her relatively tougher body to shield Charis from harm, eliciting more laughter from their tormentors. They dragged them apart with ease and continued with the torture.

Then it finally happened. Gage saw Charis pull her pistol from its holster, bring it to her temple, and fire.

“Aw, that bitch ruined our fun,” cried one of them.

“It won’t happen again,” said Alicia confidently. “I cast a Paralyze spell on the white-haired bug. She won’t be able to clean our feet, but I don’t think that will keep us from having our fun.” Gage watched as she bent over and scooped Rima off of the ground – he saw the shine from the tears streaming down her face. The group moved away from the beanstalk, presumably to inflict more horrors on his friend.

Suddenly, Nightwing took to the air. Gage roared in frustration as the bat plummeted through the opening in the floor, his vision wet and blurry.

…

Nightwing took Gage to Rima’s penthouse. There, he spotted an ashen-faced Charis, and when she saw him she began sobbing uncontrollably.

“Oh Gage,” she cried, hugging him to her chest. “It was so horrible.”

“Calm down,” he replied firmly. Not that he hadn’t suffered from hysterics already, but he knew that they needed to help Rima – and that time was of the essence. “Our friend needs us. We don’t have time for anything else. So snap out of it.”

Charis held him on her palm, her eyes overflowing with tears. She nodded, choking down a sob. “What should we do?”

“Don’t worry.” Gage set his lips in a thin line of determination. “I have a plan.”