Five years had passed since Lily’s coup. Many things did change for the better: nobody was without a home, hunger was the lowest it had ever been, wars between nations were a thing of the past. The cost, however, was a high one. Complete and utter loyalty to Lily and the elite which she placed in power. Any signs of “Anti-thought” or Protest were ruthlessly quashed. Entire cities were ‘resized’ in the initial aftermath of the takeover. Though billions still lived their lives normally (or as normally as they could), billions of others were subjected to Lily’s full wrath. Absolute obedience was demanded.

A hierarchy of elites, enforcers, and regulars filled the new global order. All in their places above the reduced. “Reduced” was a term purposely enacted by Lily’s regime to convey the power they held over the subjected populations. A word to reinforced the idea of power to take a person from someone to nothing.

In the capital of Fountainbleu – formerly Atlanta, citizens lived a life of luxury (at Lily’s discretion) as Lily ruled over her global empire. From here, Governors and Governesses were directed, and Enforcers were indoctrinated.

“…I mean did you see Lily’s outfit at the last Founding day?” A pair of two regular women sipped coffee on the side of a pedestrian filled street, their conversation mirrored many others in this timeline. Embracing Lily and how they can benefit her. “The former first lady as necklace pendant. Absolutely marvelous. I wonder what she’ll wear this year.” One of the women added to the conversation. She lifted her right hand and sipped her coffee, a small man wrapped around her ring finger. His body was dyed a vibrant blue. Their conversation came to a sudden halt as the thudding of heavy rubber soles approached.

From their seats, the regulars watched as two enforcers marched inside the coffee shop. Dressed in purple jumpsuits with heavy black boots, the two enforcers looked as intimidating as Lily had initially designed them to be. They stepped up to the bar. A tall male with a Reductress Crowd Control rifle slung on his back and a slightly shorter female with Reductress Pistol at her side. The guns gleamed in the sunlight which peeked through the coffee shops windows.

A barista nervously took their orders and the two stepped to the side.

“Any plans for Founding Day?” The man looked down at his compatriot, a “Gomez” emblazoned on her badge which read “Sub Lilium. Et nos unum sumus.” around the border.

Looking up to his eyes, Gomez smiled and replied, “Naw. I think me and my friends may go downtown and hit up some places, but otherwise nothing big.”

The man nodded, “Got  ya. Did you get your bonus yet?” he asked.

Gomez smiled. “Not yet. You?” the man merely smiled.

“How many?” Gomez asked, seeing if she could expect a bump this year.

“25.” He replied, his badge shined proudly in the sunlight with a “Nelson” etched into the metal.

“25!?” She leaned back in surprise. “What the hell do you do with that many reduced?”

“Oh. I have my purposes.” A wiry smile crossed his face.

Gomez regretted her question, “Ugh. You know what I don’t even want to know…”

The barista called their order, Gomez and her partner walked to the counter and grabbed their lattes.

“…So that means I should probably be getting, what, 50?”

“Oh. You wish.” Nelson nearly spat out his drink.

“That’s, you wish, ma’am.” Gomez teased. Though they had entered as enforcers in the same class, she was quickly promoted above Nelson. She oversaw a platoon of 35 other enforcers. The two, however, often found time to catch up when they were both in Fountainbleu.

Nelson took a sip of his latte and smacked his lips. The two walked from the coffee shop into the early-Spring weather.

And so the scene played out like innumerable others throughout the world. The Non-Reduced living their lives as normal while the Reduced suffered and toiled, often ignored.

At the top of the Fountainbleu Government complex, Marlo Fountainbleu continued to work in her sister’s shadow. Though she blamed herself for the state of the world she was slightly proud of her younger sister in a sick and twisted way. How she had grown their family name to, literally, rule the world and her usage of Marlo’s technology to do so. And Marlo did benefit from some things. Though Lily kept her around as small secretary she was gifted her own reduced. Marlo smirked to herself as she felt a much-much smaller woman fall under her left foot…

Lily, meanwhile, had sequestered herself in her office. She watched as drones and on-person cameras fed live footage to the screens on the wall across form her. She lied on a chaise and, with wine in hand, and watched as her forces stormed a rebel camp somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

“Damn Preppers.” Lily whispered to herself and took a sip of wine.

Screams erupted from the video feeds as her forces made quick work of the compound. Intelligence gathered said there could be upwards of 200 people within.

“All Rebels appear accounted for.” A familiar feminine voice spoke from behind one of the cameras. “I got teams 1 and 3 doing a final search of the area, but it looks like this has been…squashed.” Lily watched as a heavy boot landed on a reduced rebel screaming on the ground. A small squelch followed.

“Great work, General Boucher.” Lily toasted Amanda and sunk into her chair. “Why must you all keep fighting?” she asked aloud.

On the opposite side of the lounge, the former first lady wore a silver collar around her neck which was linked by a chain to Lily’s ring-toe on her left foot. The former governor of California accompanied her on Lily’s right foot.

The Reduced Woman attempted to ignore her captress and focus on rubbing lotion into Lily heel, but was yanked upwards.

Lily lifted her left foot barely 2 inches from the surface of the chaise, but it was enough to raise her tiny prize skyward. She wiggled her toes and watched as the tiny woman danced in the air. “Don’t ignoreee meeee.” She teased before placing her foot back down.

Grabbing her neck, the smaller woman chocked and fought for air before turning her eyes to Lily’s sole, “Because the American people know a Tyrannical Bitch when they see one.” The first lady spat onto the surface of Lily’s gigantic sole.

“Ooo. Bad answer.” Lily grabbed her phone a pressed a button. The smaller woman screamed in pain as a shock passed through collar. “Keep going and at this rate you’ll be living between my toes.”

As she was shocked, the first lady was reduced in size, the collar around her neck acting as means to control her obedience and size.

“Back to work!” Lily snapped and looked out the window over her capital. In the distance Stone Mountain was graced with domineering image of Lily standing with her hands on her hips and Atlanta between her legs. Similar landmarks received the same treatment. The Statue of Liberty became the Statue of Lily. Christ the Redeemer became Lily the Watcher. The Motherland Calls was replaced with Lily Calling.