It hadn’t taken long for Elana to unbuckle herself from her seat. Lot of good it did her in the depths of her captor’s pocket. She constantly found herself shifted around and pressed against the rump beneath the fabric before her. Just trying to keep herself from being tossed all around was quite the effort. In the back of her mind she wondered just how long it would take for her to squish if Krieg forgot she was there and sat down. Probably less than a picosecond. Robbed of the safety of her mech Elana was quite aware of how vulnerable she was before these women. No. These monsters.

Occasionally, when she wasn’t focused entirely on trying not to be plastered against Krieg’s rear she managed to make out her booming voice and those of her subordinates. There was the occasional screech of engines and the din of gunfire. Those grew fewer as time went on. Was simple stuff really, orders to the other Colossi. Whatever else could be said about her, it appeared the infamous woman was a decisive commander.

“…Loaded and stored aboard the ship. Might as well check for the Factor. Lost a few girls, have to make up for it.” Was one particular tidbit that had Elana musing over it for a bit.

No time to reflect on it as Krieg started walking again, rhythmically slamming Elana against her ass with each step. The pilot had never thought she’d have sympathy for loose change but she was quickly gaining it. Climbing out was laughable. As though she could manage to climb that distance without losing her balance. The red head also doubted she’d survive a leap from the warlord’s pocket to the ground.

After a long while a shadow fell over the tiny woman. The familiar fingerless glove clad hand descended from on high. One nearly crushed her, Elana’s heart pounding as the giant woman groped around for her carelessly. Two of her searching digits came closer to her and she found herself kicking out desperately, trying to melt into the fabric of the pocket. Whatever this woman had in mind for her, if she left this place she wasn’t living. That’s what she convinced herself of. The fingers found a grip on one of her legs, pinching it between them.

“No, gah, ah! Let me go! You can’t do this!” She screamed, as though the merciless woman could hear her or feel her squirming and writhing upside down.

Looking rather like an ant gripped by one of its miniscule legs or a fly by the wing, Elana found herself dangling upside down before Krieg’s face. Her lips were set in a frown now and her brows were knitted into a scowl. Those blue eyes, they bored into her and brought her struggles to a half. This woman was the type who wouldn’t hesitate to rub her out between her fingers and wipe what was left on her pants. Maybe pissing her off wasn’t exactly her brightest idea. The pilot fought to keep panic from her face and failed.

The massive woman brought her towards the ground, bending down before releasing her none to gently. Elana landed upon the cold mental surface of what felt like a ship’s floor. Surprisingly the young junior officer found human hands helping her to her feet. Women. There were a large number of women all gathered and cluttered upon the floor of what looked like a hanger. A hanger with plenty of Colossi hanging around, stocking weapons, moving crates, and what looked like whatever they’d managed to take from the surface including people.

“Hey, Elana!”

Elana recognized that voice and felt all too much relief when she saw a stocky black haired woman pushing through the crowd. She was dressed in combat armor though looked like that hadn’t done her much good. A lieutenant’s bar was placed on her color. Elana met up with the other woman, who promptly wrapped her arms around her in a crushing hug.

“Ah, Beth, watch it! Still walking off being stuffed in a pocket after that crash landing.” Elana hissed.

The other junior officer winced as she backed up. “Sorry, sorry. Just… well, considering things. It’s good to see you aren’t dead.”

“Yeah well… most weren’t so lucky. Levi…” Elana trailed off, wincing as the memory of her squad mate exploding in a shower of shrapnel.

Beth’s rather rough face turned grim. “Yeah. I know the feeling. My platoon…” She shook her head.

Well at least there was a familiar face amidst the sea of women. Elana looked around, getting on the tips of her toes. There must have been hundreds of them. All sprawled out on the floor like so many ants. She looked up at the towering blonde above. Was she planning on playing exterminator then? Elana shuddered at the thought, all of a sudden wanting her mech back.

“Any idea what’s going on?” Elana asked.

Beth shook her head. “No more than you do probably. Got picked up by one of these bitches. Apparently she thought I wasn’t appetizing after eating her way through an apartment’s tenants.” She snorted. “Fuck her then right?”

Despite the circumstances the pilot managed a thin smile. “Clearly poor taste.”

“Damn right. Bet I tasted better than any of those poor sons of bitches.”

They shared a laugh before plopping down on the floor. Seemed like there were still more of their numbers being added to. Every now and then one of the massive women would stomp up, depositing a few confused women onto the floor before walking off to go about their business. Went on for hours it seemed like. Were they on one of the massive ships that had blotted out the sun? Seemed like no one had any idea. A few lucky people found friends and family members. Though, Elana had to wonder as she glanced up at the leader of their captors again, how lucky were they really?

“So that’s her then?” Beth asked. “That’s Krieg?”

Elana nodded. “Yeah. After Levi… after he got blown up, I killed the three that did it. I was trying to rendezvous with Colonel Bradshaw. Turned out she got there first.”

“I’d have probably shit myself, mech or no.” The infantrywoman chuckled nervously.

“Well, managed to not do that. Pretty sure they don’t have spare pants in my size here.”

“Probably not.”

Evidently the last of the Colossi had made their delivery as said massive blonde turned towards the small puddle of people at her feet and looked down. The warlord squatted down and started spinning the tip of a combat knife on the floor. A rather frightening grin stretched across her features as her eyes took them all in. Rather like how one takes in their favorite colors of certain candies.

The crowd stared up at her looming form nervously. Especially watching that knife. It was huge. The biggest slab of metal Elana had seen. Mech swords weren’t that big. At least she hadn’t seen one that was. She nodded over to someone unseen. A 50 meter colossus stepped forward with some kind of equipment in her hands. The woman looked completely nerve wracked as she looked at Krieg. After a while the blonde final spoke.

“Well. It’s your lucky day gals. Or maybe not. Depends really. See, we seem to have taken a few losses on that raid. Unfortunate really. So we’re going to be having a Recruitment Drive. Sounds fun right? Here’s how it works. My lovely assistant over here- yes you, shit for brains- is going to wave her scanner over you. If she finds that you have the Colossus Factor, you get recruited. It’s great. Here, go ahead and show em’.” Krieg waved a hand over the group.

The shorter Colossus swallowed hard and set the scanner working on the far side of the crowd. A faint green glow fell over each person it passed over in turn. Right as she was about to near the center of the pool of bodies Krieg lifted a hand. The woman squeaked in fright and flinched as though expected a blow, freezing her scanning on the spot.

“So… anyone so far?” She asked.

“N-no boss. All normies so far.” The assistant stammered.

It seemed pretty amazing that anything as big as any Colossus could be cowed. It appeared that the warlord was quite good at creating fear even among being as big as her own people. Elana shuddered to think about how she treated what she might view as ‘lesser’ beings. That was likely not pretty.

It appeared her thoughts were fairly prophetic as the spinning knife slammed down upon the floor in a slicing motion. It slammed down and effectively split the group in half. Those caught under the massive knife were sliced in various manners, screams and blood curdling cries for help turning Elana’s face pale and Beth’s stony. Krieg’s eyes were wide with glee as she started moving the knife, forcing the people on the other side to run or risk getting crushed. It was a stampede. The people on the other side could only watch and wonder if they shouldn’t get running.

“Turn and run and I don’t care if you’ve got the factor or not, I’ll eat you all.” The warlord promised.

Despite not exactly having a clue what this factor was. It seemed rather the ticket to survival. So it was that no one dared run. After all. What if they had it? They might get out of this alive. Pack mentality took over. Elana was rather ashamed she was as paralyzed by it as anyone else. She was human. She didn’t want to die. Not eaten alive at least.

It was fortunate then for the runners, Krieg clearly wasn’t going to eat them. However as she tugged at the laces of her combat boots and kicked them off it was clear she had different things in mind. The warlord peeled off black socks and tossed them on either side of the group. Normally this likely wouldn’t have weighed much even for her, but it was laden with sweat and as such crushed any unfortunates that got caught under the socks. Those that were crushed found themselves pinned and trapped under a salty, sweaty hell. They were the unlucky ones, robbed of good air and forced to suffocate beneath the attractive blonde’s socks.

Elana wanted to look away from this next part as Krieg sheathed her knife but she couldn’t. The blonde’s face was split with a grin as she started chasing around the tiny failed prospects with her feet. They tried to scatter in all directions but their fate was clearly sealed. She brought her pale bare sole over one fleeing group, bringing it down abruptly and ending their screams. There was a sickening series of crunches and pops and splatters that followed. The warlord chuckled as she dragged her foot back, a long streak of red left where once there had been people.

“Well one person’s misfortune is another person’s good luck I always say.” She mused aloud as she popped a small splinter group under her big toe, twisting it slightly before chasing more stragglers.

Elana heard retching around her as others watched and she found herself holding onto Beth’s shoulder for support. This woman… she was pure evil. She made a game of butchering civilians, squishing them like bugs like some bored little girl. Elana watched with encroaching dread as she finished off the last few people, red splotches now dirtying her soles. They were next. Or more to the point, she was certainly next. The red haired woman found herself unable to crack any joke to relieve the tension. People were crying in one another’s arms, convinced that the last sight they’d ever see in this world was the underside of this cruel woman’s pale sole.

Krieg idly sliced the last of the survivors in half with her toenail and left her to bleed out. Her blue eyes returned to the rest and she grinned that horrible grin. “Let’s hope you all have better luck eh? I mean, sure, only one in every million humans has the Factor. But hey. You might get lucky. Maybe you’re that one in a million.” The derisive snort told everyone what she thought of those odds.

With a nod from her master the scanning Colossus started again. As the green glow got closer and closer Elana found some mild comfort in grasping Beth’s hand. If they were going to die, they’d die together. As the glow grew closer the pilot closed her eyes. This was it. Was going to pass over and she and everyone else was going to get crushed under this evil woman’s toes. In a more sarcastic state of mind she might have thought that at least she was pretty attractive. As it was, those thoughts failed her.

“Hey, we got one!”

Elana opened her eyes and looked up at Krieg’s face in the distance. She lifted a brow. “Oh yeah? Well, whatdya know. Who’s the lucky lady?”

The Colossus moved her scanner. “Her. The one with the… red hair.”

For a long, long while Elana didn’t register the finger pointing down right at her. Given the fact Beth lacked red hair the pilot swallowed hard. Her heart stopped and she dared not look behind her at the expression of the blonde. Beth looked down at her in shock as though looking at her for the first time or something. There wasn’t a sound for the longest while until Elana felt a tugging at her jacket.

“Elana!” Beth grabbed onto her legs and Elana tried to grab her fingers but she ended up shaken off with ease. Elana stared in panic down at her friend, trying and failing to squirm her way out of the jacket. It was to no avail and eventually she found herself face to face with Krieg once again. As soon as recognition flared in her blue eyes, her expression turned a very dangerous calm as she held her hand out for the scanner. She ran it over the tiny woman struggling in her fingers and looked at the results.

“Well. What’re the odds eh? Pity. Was looking forward to eating you. Red heads tend to taste…” Elana suddenly found herself brought right in front of Krieg’s massive lips. They parted and a wave of humid air assaulted her. Saliva broke and formed from the roof of her cavernous mouth. Her tongue writhed and wriggled like some kind of living organism. Her sharp teeth looked fit to impale her. It was the back of her throat, that slimy black, pulsating pit that led to hell itself that actually got Elana screaming in hysterics. The tip of her tongue ran down Elana’s front, coating her in a thick layer of saliva. “…spicy. Mmm…”

The mouth shut and left Elana almost catatonic in Krieg’s fingers. The blonde sighed. “Ah well. Guess you’ll be making up for killing my girls then. Congrats. You get to live, I guess.” She said with an inordinate amount of disappointment in her tone.

‘You get to live’. Singular. That spurred Elana awake right quick. “Wait! No! Please don’t eat them! Please, I’m begging you! If there’s a shred of humanity in you, please, please don’t! I’ll do whatever you want!” She begged desperately.

The blonde fixed her with a look of amusement. “You’ll end up doing whatever I want anyway. News flash, tiny, I ain’t human anymore. None of us are. You won’t be either here in a bit. But sure, ya know what, you’ve convinced me. Tell you what. Offer me something better than eating about… let’s say, a hundred humans, and I’ll leave em’ be. Hell, I’ll drop em’ planetside myself.”

“I…” Elana found herself at a loss for words.

“You’ve got twenty second. Make it good.”

Elana’s face crumpled with despair. “B-but! I can’t give you anything! You know that!”

Krieg was apparently looking at a watch on her wrist. “Sounds like a personal problem to me.” She remarked. “Also, ten seconds.”

“Th-that’s not fair! You evil fucking bitch!” Elana started kicking and screaming.

“Hey, life ain’t fair. And that’s Miss ‘you evil fucking bitch’ fuck you very much.” The warlord retorted. “And time. Welp. That was twenty second I’ll never be getting back.” She noted with a sigh.

“Wait, please!”

Krieg rolled her eyes. “Give it a fucking rest already would you? Hey, Mary, take Miss Please Don’t over here to the Doc for her awakening will ya? She’s giving me a headache. Need to clean up here.”

“Sure thing Boss.” The other Colossus looked relieved and took Elana’s struggling form before beating a beeline for the nearest exit.

It wasn’t fast enough for Elana to miss the parting words of the Warlord. “Sorry ‘bout that time waster, folks. Now then, let’s get to your maiden voyage into my stomach shall we?” She was certain the laugh that followed would haunt her nightmares for as long as she lived.