Chapter 1: Underbelly

Matthew sighed in relief. He had finally managed to meet his quotas, which meant that he wouldn’t have to endure Andrea’s wrath that night. It was a very good thing, because his boss was known for being… short tempered on the best of nights. Then again, the twenty-something Normal had never known one Small who wasn’t an absolute basket-case of pent up frustrations and dangerously volatile reactions. Sadly, it seemed that Small mobsters were the worst of the worst.

He approached a non-descript warehouse on the outskirts of the main city of Gigantopia. He felt his nervousness rise when he noticed a slew of commercial vehicles gathered on the parking lot. Andrea had called her whole troops here it seemed, which meant that something big was happening tonight. And suddenly he feared that even managing to achieve his weekly objectives wouldn’t allow him to avoid the punishment his boss liked to inflict on the “bad players” as she called them.

Matthew parked his car, a black city-dweller one, which seemed banal enough to never attract even more than a cursory glance by the general populace. And even cops weren’t really able to see through his disguise, since he was very careful with his dealings. Sadly, he was also lazy and sort of a coward, which impeded his operations and made him one of the lowest ranked lieutenants in the gang. And with a slew of younger, angrier, brats jockeying for his position, he knew he had to step up his game.

“Hey man, didn’t expect you to show yourself tonight” chuckled a voice behind him, startling him. “Whoa, jumpy it seemed” laughed Pierre-Adrien.

“You’re a dick, P-A, you know that right?” grumbled Matthew, glaring at his fellow lieutenant, a massive black man who had to be around two meters tall, easily dwarfing his own thin and small frame – he was barely reaching 1.70 after all.

“Yeah, yeah, you tell me that every time” laughed his friend. “But seriously”, he added, turning deadly serious again. “The boss is in a fool mood and she wouldn’t like for you to fuck it up this week. She’s been searching for an excuse to slap your ass for a long time now buddy. You haven’t been slacking off again, right?”

“Of course not” huffed Matthew, giving his best imitation of outraged dignity. “I never do, it’s just that I don’t have the easy spots” he finished, fishing two large bags which weighed just enough to make him struggle. “See, I’m covered. Now, can you tell me what the fuck is happening here? Why is there so many goons in one place?”

“You haven’t heard?” replied P-A and he seemed genuinely surprised. “There has been a new gang trying to encroach on our territories. Seems they have been pretty ruthless.”

“Yeah, ruthless. In Gigantopia” snorted Matthew, who was honestly worried more by his bags than that news. “What did they do? Slapped one of our look-out on the nose? Tried to sell some totally legit new Gigantic-cooked drug or something?”

“I’m serious Matt ; they took out Angus’ whole team” said Pierre-Adrien darkly.

“What? What do you mean they took out Angus? They are the toughest motherfuckers this side of the whole fucking country!”

“Yo, don’t yell man” grumbled P-A, looking at him sideways. “It’s not a good thing you weren’t told that, everybody’s been talking about it for two days already.”

“Really… shit” spat Matthew, whose dread was starting to skyrocket again.

He knew he was doomed. Andrea wasn’t really subtle when she was singling out someone for punishment. That sort of black-out was exactly her style. His guys and he had been kept out of the loop because she wanted to make an example out of him. It was evident that nobody would intervene to defend him, since even P-A was already letting him walk alone through the door of the warehouse. He didn’t want to be seen with someone marked for execution, so to speak.

At least Matthew hoped it was figurative. His boss had never killed anyone, of course. Gigantopia was far too policed for this sort of thing to happen. At least with a Small. Giants and the even bigger ones trampled peoples from time to time, but it was generally admitted that it was the Normals’ and or Smalls’ fault for being in their way, ninety percent of the time. The perks of being several hundreds of meter tall seemed infinite…

It didn’t meant that the few gangs operating at the heart of the country couldn’t be violent however, and Andrea had a knack for breaking those who displeased her without killing them or even making them permanently useless. So far, Matthew had managed to avoid it and had ever been in the public, looking as the 18 meters tall tyrant had belittled and humiliated grown up men as if they were but toys.

Admittedly, he had liked it, up until now. Andrea always made a show out of things and it was vaguely arousing to see her pin peoples to the ground with her bare feet, forcing them to lick her greasy toes and other demeaning tasks of the sort. She even had sad on one poor fucker’s legs once, instantly crushing them as if they had been made of brittle glass and not bones. This one time, he had almost passed out when he had seen the way those legs had been broken, in more than a dozen of places each.

When he knocked on the large steel door and it opened slowly, it was clear he had been expected. The whole gang was here and they opened a pathway right through their silent ranks, up to the stage. He did his best to steel himself, walking without looking at anyone. He wouldn’t grant her the pleasure of seeing him quake and beg for forgiveness, a light punishment or anything he could think about. At least, not until Andrea would get up. He may have been a coward, but he had some pride still!

All his hard-earned resolve melted like snow under the summer sun when he looked at his boss. Andrea was absolutely colossal, like always. Most Smalls were taller of course, but she was broader than most, with a surprisingly heavy body shape. Her jet black hair, kept in a very clean square cut, contrasted deeply with her incredibly pale skin. And her icy blue eyes were as hard and cold as diamonds. Matthew almost squealed just looking at them like that. There was absolutely no mercy in those icy balls.

“Matthew” she said, in the exact same tone she could have said trash or cockroach and he stopped dead in his tracks.

He was dead. He just knew it right here and then. He had never seen Andrea so angry yet so calm. Everything in the way she stood to how she looked at him made it quite clear that he wouldn’t walk out of here alive – if he walked at all. And yet he knew she loved her theatre. She wanted the punished to play their part up ‘til the end. So he lifted his bags, full of so much money he could have bought himself some peace for a few months with it and talked to her.

“Boss. I… I’ve met my quotas and then some this month.”

“Your old quotas you mean” she growled, a cold smile forming on her face as she was clearly enjoying what was about to happen already. “The ones you had before Angus and his whole team up and left. Did you think that my orders to double your offerings didn’t extend to you Matthew?” she finished deceptively low.

That was absolute bullshit and everyone knew it. Even if she had given such orders, they would have obviously applied only for the coming month, not for today. If Angus and his guys had really disappeared two days ago, nobody here could have managed to double their due to their demanding leader. Except…. Except if they had taken a dip in their savings and accepted to do that to avoid punishment.

A quick glance at his fellow lieutenants, who all seemed rather ashamed confirmed his suspicions. The bastards all knew he couldn’t do that! Unlike almost all of them, Matt wasn’t in that “business” for the thrill or even some sort of sick fascination with money. He needed it to help his struggling family in Western G! Almost all his savings went to them! Even if Andrea hadn’t forbidden communication of this increase to him, he wouldn’t have been able to meet it, and he was certain everyone knew of it.

“Come on boss” he said, and he was proud of how firm his voice sounded. “You know I can’t achieve that kind of money so fast! Give me a chance and I’ll make it up to you next month!”

“No.”

There was such a finality in that single syllable that Matthew found himself absolutely unable to speak even one more word. He just looked at Andrea, who got up from her chair – her throne more like – and strolled toward him with a cold smirk on her face. He dropped his bags and took a step back, but managed to not look behind him. He knew his fellow gang-members wouldn’t open a path to him, not for all the wealth of their boss herself.

He had to admit that she was looking absolutely spectacular. She was bound to hurt him, perhaps even maim him, but a part of him couldn’t help but bask in her beauty. Her face displayed nothing of her slight overweight, with well-defined cheekbone, a small nose and absolutely no freckles to speak off. And below her neck, her few hundreds of kilograms in excess rested in all the right places.

She had an absolutely enormous bust, which dwarfed even her little belly wide hips and a wider ass, naturally. But she also clothed in a way meant to entice others to her. Usually her corset made her already massive looks positively monstrous while allowing her hips to seem even wider. Tonight, she had eschewed it for a looser shirt which displayed more than it hid her rather large belly.

She also wore stilettos, which shouldn’t have been able to support her yet did. And tonight she had chosen to be clad in blood red and jet black clothes, a tell-tale sign that his punishment would be memorable. He had seen her draw blood, and a lot, when she wore those colors, and he was really starting to regret his life choices since it would be his that would stain her clothes soon enough…

Andrea snapped her perfectly manicured fingers and immediately three tall dudes whose faces were hidden by a faceless mask deposited a hastily built bed before their boss’ throne. A Normal sized-bed that is, clearly waiting for him to lie onto it. Matthew gulped and dropped his bags of cash, unable to make even one step. Was he just supposed to accept that Andrea would use him to support her feet or something? It wasn’t sounding that bad but something told him it wasn’t the end of it.

Andrea snapped her fingers a second time and pointed at the bed wordlessly, and the young man knew he had no other choice but comply. There was an almost manic glint in the colossal woman’s eyes, and he didn’t want to incense her even further. So he did as he was told and laid on his back on it, waiting to see what would happen to him. During a moment or two it seemed Andrea wanted to say something else, but then she huffed and waved at her cronies.

‘What the fuck!” screamed Matt when one of them actioned something and the bed was lifted by several meters.

“What, don’t you want to feel like a Small for once in your life, Matthew dear” chuckled his boss, her disdain of him so thick he winced. “Don’t worry, if you don’t try to escape your punishment, you won’t fall to the ground. If you do… well, ten meters is a high fall for little things like you, but don’t worry, my feet would be there to break you…”

The threats weren’t even veiled tonight and it made Matthew’s blood chill. Andrea had been thinking about it for a long, long time. And he was basically falling into her trap. All he could do was try to look at her as she returned to her throne. She was relatively far away, but to close to put her feet on him. And he was just under the level of her belly. A sudden dread almost made him jump but just as he realized what was awaiting him, his boss dragged the bed toward her.

Rattled by the movement, he almost fell over the edge of the bed, but he hadn’t the time to be worried about it at all since Andrea lifted her shirt and her belly in one perfectly practiced motion and then let it fall on him. The shock was violent enough that he heard several bones cracking, and he was certain his hands, which he had lifted unconsciously before his face to protect it, had been reduced to paste.

Several hundreds of kilograms were now trapping him, slowly crushing him as his boss had deemed it enough to punish him. She was probably right. Entirely covered by that belly, he was unable to see anything but phantom light in his eyes, signs of a cerebral commotion or a lack of air. Perhaps he’d suffocate and die before he could do anything more to him? At least it wouldn’t be so terrible he reasoned weakly.

Sadly, Andrea had other plans. Just as his lungs started to burn, she lifted her belly from over him. Matthew barely had the time to take two gasping breathes before she slammed his body with her belly, far more viciously than the first time. Now, ribs had been broken and a horrible plain in his torso indicated that one of his lungs had probably been pierced. He also felt blood on his face, his nose seemed to have been entirely flattened as far as he could tell.

He started to scream and cry, begging for his life, for a second chance, for anything but another slap of that monstrous belly. Sadly, Andrea wasn’t known for her mercy and she slammed her belly on him two more times before finally getting up, looking at the mess that his body had become. He was still breathing but barely and his whole skin was turning a deep purple as his body tried to fight off the injuries.

“Well, that’s a bummer” she said, snapping at her cronies to lower the bed. “I expected him to die on the spot. Dispose of him far from it… but make sure he’ll be found in the morning. I want this city to know that her true ruler demands efficiency!”

The last word had been thundered and punctuated by a loud stomping of her right foot, which almost crushed one of her goons, who had approached the bed. He yelped and looked up to the Small to meet her eyes. He screamed a second time when he realized that Andrea’s lust for blood had been ignited and he tried to get out of the way.

Sadly for him he wasn’t quick enough and her large foot fell on him, reducing him to a gory mess as the colossal woman laughed like a maniac. All his bones had been pulverized when she had propelled her numerous tons on him, his body unable to endure it. At least he hadn’t suffered, his life having been snuffed out in an instant. No one even dared to complain. All the gang members were accustomed to Andrea’s bloodlust and her horrible reprisal should anyone talked back or worse, spilt the beans.

The Small had survived several probes by the police, mainly thanks to connections far and wide inside the force and outside, in so many sectors that she was basically untouchable. Why bother trying to get back at her when she could just destroy you without any repercussions? Gigantopia’s whole system was rigged against them, as far as the Normal gang members could tell.

“It seems there was more than one position opening tonight” she grinned evilly. “Killing two microbes like you is really a great way to pass the time… Sadly I have more urgent matters to attend than playing with you. Lazlow, P-A, Meredith, I want you to try and find who took out Angus and his guys. Blake, you’re up to lieutenant status, you take over Matthew’s turf. You’d better be a better job than him, am I clear?”

“Yes ma’am” yelled the whole gang as the tyrant departed the warehouse.

Her orders were obeyed to a word and then some, with some of her most devoted servants cleaning up their comrade from the ground and brought his remains to a nearby incinerator. As for Matthew’s agonizing form, he was put into a van and dropped into the heart of the city. It was expected he’d die before anyone would find him.

In that, Andrea was wrong.