Ariel had the toughest job in the entire colony and throughout these ten or so months, she's had about six total days off. Even on her birthday, Ryan only gave a slightly better punishment than the other days. She simply popped her in her mouth to taste her. Ariel was only in there for a few seconds before Ryan spit her and commanded her to leave her presence. It was one of the best things that she could've done. But this little nap she's had for the past few hours was one of the few kind things that Ryan had done.
Ariel opened her eyes and saw the clock next to her bed and instantly sprung up from her slumber. She knew Ryan would only be gone for a few hours, maybe just one hour if her insoles didn't last. And today's insoles won't last long. She bolted out the door and ran to the exit of the colony as fast as possible. She didn't want to be late. She couldn't be late.
Ariel then got to the exit and saw several guards protecting the outside. They were there to make sure no one escapes or bothers Ryan. They were wearing high class armor that had metallic red stripes and the rest was kind of dark gray. And their weapons of choice were either the lance or a low energy rifle. Although no one was stupid enough to venture outside, they still stood out every day to make sure nobody did.
As Ariel walked towards the gate, she was stopped by the two guards with lances, their blades clinking against one another forming an X out of their sharp weapons.
"What's this? I'm Ryan's Number one and I cross through this checkpoint everyday!" Ariel commanded to the soldiers. They held their positions and stared down Ariel with anger in their eyes.
"Sorry Ariel but Ryan has no need for your services today. She said so herself. She just requested some scientists to see her immediately. She doesn't need you today." There was a high officer behind the two guards wearing a navy blue uniform. "Congrats Ariel. You get the day off." The officer said as he handed Ariel a piece of paper to show her. "Now get out of here before I have my men escort you out." Ariel had no choice but to accept what the officer said. She turned around and headed back home.
Ariel remembered what the young corporal said about the Six Fingered Tower. She looked near the old ranger base and headed there. She's heard of the Six Finger tower before but she always thought it was a fancy restaurant that the most distinguished of the colony went to dine but now that she was invited to it, she could find out what it really was.
The trek to get to the tower took a little less than five minutes and when she got to the entrance, there was nothing but boarded up windows and doors. She was confused and even considered just heading back home until she saw in the corner of her eye one man start to walk to a foot that seemed to be boarded up doors. Ariel got up against the wall to hide herself. The man then knocked on the door and said one word. Atheon. Ariel knew she was in the right place so as soon as the man went inside, Ariel went up the closed door and knocked exactly how the man before her did.
She then saw a part of the door open up, a small hatch opened up to see two eyes staring her down. "Yes?" The man said as he looked around and behind Ariel.
"Atheon." The door then opened and the man quickly pulled her inside and threw her in a crowd.
"Hey boss! Look who crawled to the front door! It's Ryan's Number one!" As Ariel looked around, she saw the crowd get closer and closer to her. She saw some of her old friends from school grab sharp objects that they were preparing to use against her. She kept hearing phrases like "I'm going to have fun killing you." and "For my family!" She knew what they talking about. She had been sending people to their deaths for these past few months. This was the rebellion against Ryan and she was their target.
"Did she send you here? Come to kill us?" A tall, bald man came up to her and got close to her face. "I would tell us now traitor before we do something we don't want to." The bald man said as he picked up Ariel by the hair, bringing her to her knees. Or want to do.
"Ahhh! I don't know why I'm here! Maybe we can talk about this?" She screamed for them to release her but they wouldn't listen. The man then began to drag her across the floor towards a ladder that lead up to the second floor of the building. Ariel continued to scream the more this bald man carried her to the ladder until they all heard a voice that silenced the whole building.
"Hey!" Everyone, including Ariel, looked up to see a masked man on the second floor. The mask was an all black one that she accustomed to see on a Warpriest, something that was completely abolished after Ryan and the General took control. There were five War Priests in the colony and they were all killed out of fear that they alone could destroy Ryan's newly formed empire. The dark red eyes made of high valued gems have long since been removed but the expression of aggression was ever present, no matter who wore it. "What the hell are you doing with her?" The masked man climbed down the ladder and the crowd soon dispersed leaving just the man that held Ariel by the hair. "You never answered my question Bruce. What are you doing with her?"
Bruce let go of Ariel and saluted the man. "Sorry sir. It's Ryan's Number one and you've sa-" Bruce was cut off when the masked man signaled him to release Ariel. Bruce quickly did as he was told, releasing Ariel and letting her fall to the ground.
"I said nothing about hurting her. Her and I need to have a little chat and she can't talk if she's dead can she? Now leave." Bruce then walked away, leaving Ariel and the masked man alone in the center of the building. He then extended his hand to help Ariel up from her sitting position. "Come on, we have important matters to discuss alone." Ariel was then pulled up by the masked man.
"Who are you?" Ariel said as the man started walking towards the ladder.
"Just get up here and I'll explain what's going to happen to you." Ariel was forced to follow him up the ladder to find out who he was and this little rebellion was.
As soon as Ariel got up the ladder, she reignited the conversation they were having downstairs. "I'll ask again. Who are you and what's up with that War Priest mask? Are you one of them?"
The masked man chuckled a tiny bit as he walked towards a bright blue console and bent over it. "I'm not a War Priest. Although my father was which is why I have the mask. No, I'm the leader of the rebellion that Ryan and the general continue to hunt. I am the hope that this city needs. And as for my identity..." The man took off the mask and turned to Ariel. "I'm not surprised you didn't recognize my voice, we did only exchange words for a few seconds." She gasped and covered her mouth. She saw the man's scar going down his face from the top left of his face to his nose. It had freshly placed stitches on the massive cut on his face.
"You're the corporal from earlier. The one that..." The corporal nodded and walked towards Ariel.
"The one that took the General's blows. He banged me up pretty good. But I'm not just a New Ranger corporal. Name's Christian. Christian Marckos and you're Ariel Garcia." Christian said as he went to the console and typed in a few buttons. "You probably have a lot of questions but we don't have time for those. Look at the window." The orange window suddenly turned into a blue screen that had a similar hologram from when John and her were assigned to shrink Destiny ten months back.
"What is that?" Ariel asked as she got closer to the hologram that was a skeleton with some stats and numbers dotted around. "It looks so familiar."
"It should look familiar. It's based off the same program that you saw when you were told to shrink Destiny." Christian said as he entered in a few numbers to reveal the body of the skeleton. "But instead of a girl who doesn't even know we exist, our 'goddess' is our target. Ryan. She's built this empire through terrorizing the population. She's enslaved this once proud colony into doing horrible tasks like massaging her feet after a run. Eating us for disobeying her outlandish requests. You know what she does. She needs to be stopped."
"Where do I come in?" Ariel started to walk closer to the hologram of Ryan, admiring the detail that the rebellion managed to created such a detailed 3-D model of Ryan.
"You're going to be on the inside as you normally would. I've worked nearly six months to get to the position of guardsmen but I knew if I could take the abuse that Ryan and the general gave me, I might be able contact you." Christian said as he got next to Ariel. "We've already infiltrated her guard, her science division and many more, we just needed to get in her inner circle. You. Now, I think you need to leave. I have a feeling that if you stay any longer, they'll revolt and try to kill you again. I'll escort you out." Christian then popped a strange, clear blue card out of the console and handed it to Ariel.
"What is this?" She took a look around the card and say the initials 'SIS' etched into the card.
"It's yours now. If you keep your pretty little mouth shut, I won't have to kill you." This shocked Ariel as she put the card in her makeshift pocket. "Thanks? I guess. What is it? Besides a blue card."
"It'll let you in on everything that the rebellion is doing. Hold it against your eye and everyone holding one of these cards will appear blue. Anyone who isn't will appear red. Those who are with the New Rangers will be purple. Helps us identify who's who. Now, I'd recommend you take the back way. We don't need anyone associating this abandoned building to Ryan's Number one." Christian then pulled out his card and held it up to a door that soon opened up to an ally that was filled with trash, to be expected of course when the building they're based in is abandoned.
Ariel walked up to the door, stepped out and turned to Christian. "I don't think I thanked you for saving me earlier with the general and just now."
"To be honest with you, if I didn't know your history with John, I wouldn't have stopped them from killing you." Christian said as Ariel left the building and stepped into the alley. This surprised Ariel as she instantly turned around. "How do you know John?" She asked as Christian was just about to close the metal door.
"Of all questions that you might have, that's the one you ask?" Christian said as he shut the door, locking it to prevent Ariel from trying to get back inside. The metal door was pretty secure when Ariel to get it open. She pounded on the door, desperate for some form of communication.
After several seconds of banging of the door, Ariel gave up on trying to convince Christian to let her back in and decided to head back home. She wasn't too far from her house so she started to leave the alley and head home. Putting her hands in her pocket, she suddenly felt a vibrating sensation coming from the pocket that she put the card in. She pulled out the clear blue card from her pocket to see it beeping. She then pressed the beeping button on the center of the screen. As soon as she pressed it, the button disappeared and was replaced by Christian's face.
"Christian. So you don't want to talk face to face so you go with this card?" Ariel said as she got behind a dumpster, concealing herself from anyone who walked by.
"Listen Ariel. We have some big intelligence on the General. If you ever want to see the colony in its full glory again, you'll help us take down the New Rangers. If not, we might live under this 'goddess Ryan' for the rest of our natural lives. Think about it, future generations will suffer under her tyrannical rule." Christian said as she continued to type on his computer.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Later today, we're going to break into Ryan's science division in the old ministry tower. Take her down one step at a time. We'll slowly wither her defenses until nothing is left. Then we strike at her. Get a pill that brings her to our size and then we'll punish her accordingly. You in?" Christian replaced his face with a detailed 3-D model on Ariel's card of the plan. "If it means taking that bitch down and getting my friends back, I'm in one hundred percent." Christian smiled.
"That's great. After you're done with whatever Ryan wants you to do, head back here at six, and we'll gear up. I'll keep you updated on any further developments. Christian out."
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
The story continues to follow Ariel and the colony's small rebellion against Ryan.