Laurel is Dead

Terribly few people had ever described Laurel as beautiful during her life, but now, as she towered over the insect-sized population of her hometown, there was no shortage of men that couldn't resist staring longingly at her from the perceived safety of their windows or through the screens of their televisions. Maybe it was the seductive sway of her hips as she placed one foot in front of another, keeping to the straight path the streets laid out before her. Maybe it was the alluring smirk and the majestic confidence radiating from every inch of her towering form. Maybe it was simply that she so unbelievably huge, but to many, many people that watched her move with such ease and casual grace towards the city, trampling and crushing anyone in her path while wearing nothing but a self-assured grin, she was all that was beauty and power.

When the street became narrower and the buildings a bit taller, Laurel paused at the outskirts of the city proper. News media was still scrambling to cover the events as they unfolded, but enough stations were carrying live footage of what was being called the Giant Woman Attack that much of the nation held its breath while waiting to see what the giantess would do next.

Laurel's eyes widened a bit more as she spotted what she was looking for, and her smirk expanded to a full-on grin as she reached out and snatched a news helicopter from the air with all the ease of a girl capturing a fat, lumbering firefly. Collective gasps rose from in front of thousands upon thousands of television sets as the world marvelled at how something so unbelievably colossal could move so quickly.

America stared through the lens of the camera and the woman's face filled the screen, her bright and laughing eyes peering through the souls of every person watching. So many leaned forward in their seats as they watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath, and when she looked back into the camera, her cold stare was nearly as startling as the way her low, soft voice rolled out through the air like a peal of feminine thunder.

"Evacuate the women and children," the giantess declared. "No men leave the city."

A long, terrible pause followed before her voice filled the air once again. "You've got five minutes. Cross me and you'll all pay."

Despite the harsh warning, even those inside the city limits couldn't turn their eyes away from their screens just yet. It just simply wasn't possible to look away from those huge, dark eyes, but after another long moment they were replaced for the briefest of instants by the sloping curve of her fingers curling in on themselves. A trio of bloodcurdling screams rang out from the speakers of every observer's set, but even that was quickly mitigated by the blasts of shattering glass and the screeches and groans of rending and collapsing steel.

Blackness filled the screens as the noise continued for a moment longer. Far too many found it impossible not to give every iota of their attention to the cacophony of sound pouring from their televisions, so when the vile, wet squelches started to join the noise they all experienced them together.

Whatever panic had been building grew exponentially from that moment on. While the news stations cut away from the static, taking a moment to give their sympathies to the chopper crew's families and promising their viewers continued live coverage, Laurel opened her hand and let the mass of bloodied, balled up steel roll from her fingers and crash through the upper floors of a small building beside her, smashing and maiming several more as she put the little object out of her mind.

Her entire body was ablaze with passionate excitement and barely restrained lust. Thousands and thousands of tiny little lives stared up at her, trembling in terror, and perhaps millions more around the world were watching her with their own morbid fascination and fear. She had power, so much unstoppable power, and everything in her was begging to use it. Crushing that helicopter in her hand had brought that indescribable rush of sheer exultant satisfaction running back through her body.

Laurel's eyes dropped to the streets. She looked out over the cars colliding and the countless tiny people scurrying about in blind panic like so many ants. Five minutes or fifty, it didn't really matter. They didn't look to be going anywhere, and what really mattered was that she'd given them a chance. The whole world saw it on TV, and it was going to be her words they remembered.

Besides, why should she be bothered with keeping track of time? It wasn't like she was wearing a watch.

Laurel couldn't resist grinning slightly to herself at that thought, even as she stretched her arm out towards the tallest building in reach. She didn't know what it was, but it was prominent, taller than the other buildings in the area, and while it wasn't rounded in any way, it struck her as rather phallic in the moment.

Wasn't that what all skyscrapers were? Steel and concrete dicks raised towards the sky to stroke the egos of politicians and architects and financiers?

Fuck that, she thought as her fingers dug into the side of the building. In one fierce motion Laurel shoved with all of her strength, expecting to send the tower toppling over, but the glass and concrete and steel gave way far more easily than she expected. Her slender arm tore most of the way through the structure before it slowed enough to catch on a broad set of beams, and from there its continued momentum simply ripped the top half of the building away and sent it careening down toward the crowded street.

Laurel stared in fascination as the tremendous mass of masonry smashed to the ground. She'd barely had time to notice how many people were in the shadow of the shattered tower, but as she watched it crash through smaller buildings and explode across the pavement, she was sure that dozens would die, either pulverized by the impact or eventually crushed and suffocated beneath the rubble.

It was so easy, so simple to just smash something so huge and significant. It was like this massive building that she'd stared up at so many times when driving to her miserable job was made of nothing but tiny children's blocks, and watching it break apart at her feet was Laurel's first real indication of just how incredibly powerful she actually was. It was amazing. It was incredible.

And it felt. So. Good.

Laurel raised her foot and let it rest on the still-settling pile of rubble. There wasn't going to be a rescue operation. There weren't going to be survivors. Her head snapped up, dark hair swirling in the breeze as she sought out another helicopter. Her vision locked on it, the cameras inside letting the world look into her eyes as she started to press down.

The pile of rubble crunched and shifted beneath her foot as Laurel stepped down. She couldn't resist biting her lower lip as the ruined mess gave way, compacting and forming itself to the shape of her tremendous sole. She thought of the people, trapped and pinned in the darkness, and the way they were slowly being flattened and crushed beneath her. It was so deliberate, so ruthless and cruel.

And she loved it.

It was exactly what they deserved. She almost certainly wasn't ending the lives of men exclusively, but all of this was what men had built, and the women who bowed to their demands and allowed everything to come to this point were nearly as bad as the men themselves.

They were all guilty.

Laurel turned from the street, the ball of her foot twisting once more on the impromptu mass grave she'd so casually created. There was no reason to hold back, nothing to keep her from going straight for what she wanted.

Business men. Executives. Fat cats, middle managers, and every prick in HR. Her toes bulldozed through a few small buildings as she took her first step towards downtown, fully intent on cutting a path straight to the heart of the city. Nearly every person trapped in that particular church and grocer pulverized without her notice, though the sensation of buildings crumbling beneath her foot was still a thrilling new experience.

Her shins smashed through city blocks as she strode forward, though Laurel was in no rush. Her knee drove through the side of a warehouse, and she took the time to kick her leg out with all of her unimaginable force, sending an explosion of rubble and smashed human debris scattering over the buildings and streets before her. Her fists swung as godlike hammers, crashing through any structure in her reach too large to simply topple with her legs. Every one of her limbs smashed through the air as she pushed on, the low grunts and growls of her efforts accompanying the whirlwind of destruction raining down on everything in her path.

That's what she was here to do. She was here to destroy. To break, to smash, to kill, to crush... that was all she had left, but that didn't matter one bit. Destruction was all that she wanted.

By the time she smashed her way through to center city, the swirling dust of the devastation began to cling to her body, dirt obscuring the gleam of her sweat-touched flesh. Her dusty fingers pushed through her dark, matted hair, clearing her vision as she turned to glance over her shoulder for a moment, looking with satisfaction on the brutal annihilation she'd brought.

Hundreds and hundreds were dead at the very least, smeared into pavement or splattered beneath tons of stone and steel. Where Laurel had been, nothing was left but ruin and death, and that was only the beginning.

There was a fair amount of open space in the downtown area, at least compared to some cities. Plenty of people were crowding the pavement, pushing and shouting and trying for all they were worth to get out of sight, get away and hide.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere," Laurel declared to the swarming crowds. She stepped from the ruined mass of construction and carefully positioned her foot over the primary street leading away from the area, letting it hover briefly over the horrified, screaming and struggling pile of humanity choking the roadway for just a moment. Their already intense terror redoubled into a total and blind panic as the people stared upwards at the dusty curves of the giantess's incomparable sole.

Chunks of crushed and broken rubble clinging to her fragrant toes slipped free as Laurel let them flex and wriggle slightly in anticipation of what she was about to do. Boulder-sized bits of buildings rained down on the desperate people below, smashing into the crowd and ending the hopes of escape for some just slightly before she stepped down, extinguishing all hope for the rest.

They didn't die instantly. The idea of dozens of people pinned beneath her foot, struggling in vain for their lives was simply too exciting for Laurel to let it pass too quickly. She let them writhe and scream and weep, trapped beneath her heel and arch and toes while she savored their last moments.

Finally, Laurel let her weight start to shift forward, gradually building the pressure on the many people underfoot until she felt them begin to burst, the numerous crunches and the spreading warm wetness sending a long, involuntary shudder through her entire massive being. It took a heavy sigh to steady herself once her sole sank into the concrete, utterly smashing every thing living and otherwise that happened to be beneath it.

"Out on the street," she firmly declared, her voice low and imperious as it rang out through the city. "Your buildings won't save you," Laurel continued, pausing to drive her fist through the side of an office tower and send most of it toppling to the streets below, blocking off even more avenues of escape. "Come out and face your judgment."

It wasn't easy to tell with all the swirling tides of panicked people on the ground, but when she stepped towards the next largest building within reach, again relishing the satisfying squelch of tiny persons splattering and flattening beneath her heel, she did notice streams of people pouring from the various exits.

Good. The little maggots were doing as they were told.

She reached out and wrapped her arms around the corporate tower, feeling the stone start to give way and the glass windows shattering from the faintest pressure. She had no idea that it would be so rewarding to feel these tremendous structures and buildings just... just fucking break. Her immense leg rose and Laurel let out a soft grunt heard by millions as she smashed her knee through the side of the tower, wrenching back with her arms at the same time.

The huge office tower simply imploded in her grasp, and Laurel couldn't resist letting out soft sigh of satisfaction as she experienced the blast of concrete chunks and powdered rubble and tiny mangled men spraying across her bare, glistening body. This was power. This was the power she was meant to have, and destruction-that was her purpose.

Laurel took a deep breath and looked down, pausing just a moment to drink in the devastation below her before she swung her foot through the stump of the collapsed office building, strewing the millions of little bits that the lower floors became across a few city blocks and further filling the streets with impassable ruination.

She gathered her strength and shoved another structure slightly more than half her height onto its side, grinning as she watched it break apart and shatter when it hit the ground. Nobody was going to escape her now. She'd choke the streets with the smashed ruins of the very offices they'd sat in day after day. This was her city now. They were her people, and they were going to stay right where they were, even if she had to trap them there.

News cameras and thousands of fearful eyes followed the giant nude goddess's every move as she swirled about downtown, flinging and kicking buildings to pieces with methodical determination. Emergency personnel found every route into the area filled and blocked off with the mingled, pulverized rubble that had once been the city's skyline. Ambulances and fire trucks backed up as the paramedics and others tried to clamber through the shattered stone while the few survivors that managed to make it that far struggled to find some way out.

Laurel looked down over the thousands she held more or less trapped, grinning slightly as she watched them all scurry away from her. One or two might leak out through the cracks, but by this point she could tell they were staring up at her and simply, blindly fleeing for all they were worth. People started to pile up against the mountain of rubble she'd made, as far as they could manage to get from where she stood.

Did they think they were safe? Did they think they could get away? Laurel sneered as she whirled about on them, striding directly for the piling mass of humanity with deadly purpose. Her footfalls sent the earth to shuddering, hunks of stone tumbling from the tops of the the piles she'd created. Boom. Boom. Five swift steps one after another. The fear and panic drove most more ferociously, sending them clawing at each other and the rubble before them, but many couldn't resist turning to watch.

They were the only ones to see it coming. Laurel barely broke stride as her dusty bare foot rose into the air above the densely packed pile of people, her immense toes casting them into their looming shadow for just a moment before they smashed down, pulping through the screaming, scrambling things in an instant. Her heel rose into the air and her lips parted as she started to twist and grind her foot into what was left of them, a huge grin of wicked delight taking hold of her while she smeared dozens of helpless people together in one huge, gory wet mess.

"Go ahead," she purred, dragging her foot back and admiring the bloody, dirty smear she'd created. "Run."

They did. At least, the ran from her as best they could. It was so easy. The little things were so tiny and so, so simple to control. She nudged them forward with her bloodstained, dirty toes, chuckling as the little people tumbled over one another in their haste to preserve their pathetic lives.

She circled around, smiling brightly as she herded her little people with her feet, spurring them on and occasionally experiencing the pleasing, warm sensation of a few stragglers squishing beneath her toes. They were all as dumb as they were weak, and before long the vast majority were bunched together before her. Some were still spiraling off from the group and making their way towards the fringes of the almost crater-like space Laurel had created, but she was satisfied with how many she'd gathered.

Hundreds of the frightened, fleeing people were flung from their feet as Laurel dropped to her knees in their midst. Dozens were smashed deep into the pavement as her knees sank in, and those who weren't flat on the ground and struggling to pull themselves back up were busy recoiling from the ruthless feminine sky that seemed to be falling down on them.

Laurel leaned forward, firmly planting her palms in the middle of the crowd and grunting softly as her sensitive flesh felt the frail little people beneath them squelching and spreading to a smeary paste. She lowered her head to carefully scrutinize her captives, delighted with the added details she could make out and how clearly she could hear the shrill chorus of their terrified screams at this level.

She'd almost put the fact that they were all real living people out of her mind during all of the systematic, brutal destruction she'd wrought on downtown, but now she had what she really wanted. Of course there were all different sorts of people gathered in the area, but there was no shortage of what Laurel was looking for.

There they were. Suits. Ties. Fancy stuffed shirts and slick haircuts. They were just part of the system and the world of cruel injustice, but they were definitely the part that Laurel hated most.

"Look at you," she growled, her face hovering just above the agonized and horrified crowd, her voice crashing into their comparably tiny bodies with measurable force. "You thought you could hold us back forever, didn't you?"

Laurel felt the indignant rage of the entire day's events rising back up within her, mingling with and even starting to overtake her righteous passion for the destruction she had caused and would continue to create. Her gorespattered hand rose from the crowd and curled into a fist, squashed bits of businessmen and contractors and tourists alike dribbling down onto the people below before she drove her knuckles through them, spraying every little person within a radius of several yards with their instantly smashed remains.

"We won't be overlooked. We won't be held back and held down. We won't be abused."

Laurel spoke for a hundred generations of female suffering and oppression. That was her purpose now: even the score, show the world... history would never forget these moments. Nobody would ever forget her vengeance. Her other hand raked through the swarming, sobbing crowd, ripping up a handful of people that were more or less intact.

"How does it feel?" Her fingers slowly started to curl in on themselves. The people writhing about in Laurel's grimy grasp had more than enough time to understand what was about to happen to them. "I was powerless. I was insignificant." Laurel could feel them fighting back, struggling against the faintly yielding flesh of her fingers. She could feel the resistance and it was easy and simple and wonderful to just squeeze through it.

She watched intently as a warm pinkish-red mess began to squelch through her fingers, grinning with dark satisfaction as she felt dozens of little lives slowly ending in her grasp, one wet crunch and pop at a time. "I guess you know how that feels now," she mused while her fingers clenched to a tight fist, then slowly opened to reveal the gory, grimy smears that were the only remnants of those she'd just scooped up.