“Look at this.”

Drew stood in front of Val facing her towering computer, her blouse-covered breasts hung high above him as her arms flanked on either side. A manicured pointer finger touched the surface of the screen with a click.

“These are all suburbs surrounding the franchises Casey’s mother, Susan, owns,” he nodded along, “notice how the number of missing people reports of anyone in bracket two or below spikes in each location, not to mention the countless number of subs who aren’t counted.”

“Holy shit…” he trailed off, “you don’t think she’s killing them, do you?”

“I doubt murder, but kidnapping is likely. There’s also always coincidences, but the kicker is that majority of these cases were employees at Ms Pierce’s stores.”

“How haven’t the police caught onto this yet?” Taylor suddenly chimed in, mouth agape at the sudden revelation.

Val declined backwards into her chair, “that’s what I’ve been trying to say Taylor, the police don’t care about these people so they would never bother looking into it. Cases that involve anyone in those brackets are more trouble than they are worth.”

“So now that we know this, what are we supposed to do next?” Drew was intrigued by the bucket loads of information he received; however he was still sceptical of what was to follow.

“It has become somewhat of a status symbol for those in upper brackets to own ‘servants’, it may seem outlandish but my current theory is that Susan is kidnapping these people and either trafficking them or keeping them for herself and close contacts,” Val’s plan unravelled before the roommates’ eyes, “if we can get physical proof of a major trafficking scandal, we can make for a headline case, and we can use the story of Casey’s assault against Drew to provide backing evidence that these behaviours are passed down. If we play our cards right, we could completely topple everything the Pierce’s have worked for and save countless lives.”

Shock crossed the tiny man’s face, a human trafficking ring rose the stakes a lot higher than a simple kick to the chest, “far out...” he mumbled, what had he gotten himself into.

“I thought you said that the police didn’t care though, and how do we know for sure that this is true,” Taylor said.

“I said they didn’t care enough to look into it for themselves, If we give them evidence of human trafficking the whole situation changes. But you have a point, we don’t know if it’s true, however, from how that family treats people like Drew and the strange coincidences that line up, I have a strong gut feeling I’m right.” Taylor wasn’t completely satisfied with the answer but didn’t offer a response.

Drew collected himself, “right, so where are we going to get the evidence?” there had to be a catch to this plan, it’s not like they could just easily prove that the Pierce’s were prolific human traffickers.

Val leaned in close, her elbows touching down on the desk once again, she faced him with an undecipherable look on her face. “I understand if your answer is no, but just think of all that I’ve said so far,” he was unsure of where this was going, “the Pierce’s have recently moved into a house suited for the bracket above theirs, it’s safe to assume they’ve moved into the sixth bracket.”

Confusion and fear still stuck with him, what point was she trying to get across and did she just say sixth bracket?

“Susan’s husband is a sought-after businessman who is rarely home, and I imagine their new place will be in a messy state as they move in. Drew, you can use this opportunity to sneak in and investigate their place, if they are using people as servants, snap some photos and if you can, try to speak to them, we could use their statements. We just need anything that can definitively expose whatever scandal they are pulling.”

“Woah, woah, hold on,” Taylor butted in, “you’re telling Drew to BREAK into their house off a hunch?” her voice rose in volume. She struggled to comprehend what Val was trying to prove here, through her time working at Normandy Law she’d gotten used to her boss’ way of doing things, and while she had proven to take risks occasionally, this was a whole other ballpark.

“It’s dangerous I know, but this is merely a proposal,” the two giant’s conversed as their eyes met above him, “if- no, when Drew inevitably brings back our evidence, I will ensure to reimburse him generously,” her gentle gaze lowered back down to him.

Drew was at a mental crossroad, on one hand there was a bat shit plan that could potentially get himself kidnapped or worse and on the other, the option to laze around in the safety of his home and hope somebody else eventually worked up the courage to tackle the corruption that plagued the upper brackets. The latter honestly didn’t sound like a terrible option now that he thought about it.

The future he had envisioned earlier crossed his mind. The inspiring words Val had uttered entered his thoughts. This wasn’t time to revert back to old habits, if the Pierce’s had truly entered the sixth bracket, he would be not much more than a mouse scurrying around in a gigantic mansion. Surely, he could lay low, gather evidence, and get out unnoticed, it probably wouldn’t even be that hard he reasoned with himself. Drew psyched himself up, he’d seen enough spy movies to pull off a covert mission like this, he could do this, he WOULD do this.

“It’s alright Taylor,” he raised his palm behind his back to her, “I’ll do it.”

His roommate pursed her lips, god he’s dramatic.

***

The blazing midday sun raked across the pavement; it was a usual mid-December Saturday in Australia. Drew and Taylor hiked their way from the apartment to their local gym dressed in casual workout gear, he had insisted on accompanying her after hearing Val’s plan to gather evidence against the Pierce’s.

“You know you can’t get gains from only one day at the gym, right?” she patronised, those words had left her mouth repeatedly throughout the morning and yet he maintained his act.

“No, really? It’s not like you’ve told me a million times,” his eyes rolled at her constant nagging, “I need to be in prime form for the break in,” he punched the air twice with a half serious facial expression.

Taylor breathed a heavy sigh and adjusted the gym bag draped over her shoulders, “don’t you think her plan is a little insane though.”

“Maybe a bit, but like she said it’s necessary to spark a change in the world,” there was a certain glint of confidence across his face.

“Wow, someone’s inspired,” her sarcastic words betrayed her inner thoughts, in truth, she was worried for him. Taylor’s thoughts wondered back to Drew’s burst of trust in Val when her master scheme was revealed, “where’d all this confidence come from anyway?”

“I just think Val had a point, I don’t want to grow old like this,” he answered, “plus, I reckon I can actually pull it off, they probably live in a mansion, how would they ever find me, I’m basically a midget James Bond.”

Taylor gave a half-hearted chuckle. He wasn’t completely wrong, yet it still did little to ease her worries and truthfully, she was a little annoyed at how lackadaisical he was acting. At least she had the gym to relieve herself, maybe he’d get a reality check after struggling with the small freehand weights.

The two of them arrived at a commercial building with a red sign above the entrance that read ‘Jetts’, Taylor swiped her membership tag and the sliding doors opened. She had mentioned to Drew that if anyone asked if he was a member to say he was with her, she had the meathead that ran the place under her thumb apparently.

Trashy pop music played over the speakers as they strode over the rubber flooring to a rack of weights that rested next to an empty squat rack. Drew kept close to Taylor’s defined leg already slightly intimidated by the giants working out, from what he could see, he was the smallest one here, in size and build.

A deafening crash shook the floor beneath him,  the noise overrode the already thunderous sounds of metal plates clattering together. His head snapped to the source, a blonde girl with a similar build to Taylor, albeit less defined and shorter, had dropped a large metal bar with huge weights on either side. Sweat was rolling down her face and her skin had gone flush with red; she was clearly working hard. A bold ‘30’ was written on the face of the dark green plate that hung on the end of the bar, and there were four plates on either end. He quickly did the maths in his head, 260kg, including the bar – what the hell.

“Yoo, nice one Claire!” Taylor’s voice boomed; her left hand directed the shout across the room to the blonde giant.

“Thanks Taylor!” her cheery voice called back, a surprised look crossed her face as she spotted Drew, the tiny man had shuffled behind his friend’s leg slightly as if he didn’t want to be seen. “Who’s the little guy?”

The brunette peered down and saw him awkwardly shying away from the interaction, a smug look snuck its way onto her face, she wondered where all the confidence went, “that’s my roommate, Drew, it’s his first time at the gym,” her shin hooked behind his back and pushed him forward slightly, his arms flailed as he regained balance, “go on, say hi, Drew.”

This mightn’t have been the best idea, he was way out of his depth in here, “oh. Uh, hey,” damn it, why was he being so awkward.

Claire giggled at the introduction, she never had an opportunity to properly speak to someone so small before, “pretty brave to do your first workout with Taylor, I’ll be impressed if you can keep up.”

Desperate to not let himself seem socially inept he adopted his new signature courageous attitude, “if you’re worried about anyone, it should be her,” he gestured upwards to the muscular woman who towered over him, his response earned a resounding laugh from Claire.

Smooth.

“Oh, really?” Taylor cocked her hip to the side and bent over, her fist hooked into the back of his shirt and grabbed a handful. The top of her fingers pushed into his back, the cool feeling of their nails rested on his skin, “well let’s get to it then,” with a goodbye wave to her blonde friend she carried him over to the freehand weights.

“Let me go man, that’s not cool,” he cried from her hand, tiny legs flailed about as he tried to pry her grip from his shirt, petite hands struggled to get their grip on her knuckles. All his efforts were rewarded by a hearty chuckle.

He landed in a heap on the synthetic floor as Taylor released him from her grasp, her scuffed, white converse came to a rest before him. Rubber and fallen sweat drops were all he could smell with his nose pressed against the ground.

“Alright Mr. Bond, it’s leg day today, so we’re gonna hit some squats,” the iconic white stripes of her Adidas gym bag slammed onto the ground beside him as he rose up. She tapped her chin as her eyes scanned the rack behind him, “I’m really not sure what someone your size would lift, but let’s try, I don’t know, 2kg?”

The pink weight looked like a toy in her hand, the handle easily fit between a couple of her fingers, light weights like these weren’t really designed for people of her stature. Drew scoffed at the thought that 2kg would be enough for him, he was almost insulted, he’d be able to lift that without a doubt. “Go on, give it here, this’ll be easy,” he continued to ride his earlier confidence as he got down into a squat position and readied his arms to receive the mass upon his shoulders.

Taylor lowered herself into a squat, the width of her body encapsulated his form. Legs spread to the side; her knees flanked him as she focused her attention on gently placing the weight on his shoulders. Drew braced himself as the oversized hand weight rested upon him, to his surprise his legs buckled. He wasn’t that weak, was he? It was only 2kg, a regular sized child would be able to lift that.

“Gimme a deep squat,” her forearms rested on her thighs as she watched him struggle under the dumbbell, a smile slowly creeping onto her face. He slowly started to lower himself down, his face showed genuine strain. “It’s not that heavy, I thought you were gonna impress me today squirt!” she joked sarcastically as he battled against the pink weight.

A soft burst of exasperation escaped his lips as he finally reached the lowest point of his squat, “dickhead…” he managed to squeeze out, it was easy for her to say and why was she acting so annoyed with him anyway.

Her watchful eyes tracked his movements as he did his reps, each squat seemed harder than the last. Drew’s body was shaking by the time he reached the tenth compression, with a quiet grunt he hoisted himself upwards one last time. Taylor’s hand reached down and whisked the weight away, the way she held it so effortlessly was a solid hit to his pride. A drop of sweat rolled down his face as he doubled over panting, palms to his knees as he gathered his breath back.

“What a display of strength,” she stood back to her looming height, powerful calves replacing her figure, “you’d probably be more useful as my towel boy.”

“Nah, I think,” he paused to gather his breath, “I’ll do another set.”

Seeing his pitiful reps from before did little to add to his credibility, “oh, maybe I’ll ask Claire if she wants to come watch this time,” her thumb pointed behind her.

“No, no, that’s okay, uh-“

“Yeah, thought so,” her shoes squeaked against the ground as she turned towards the squat rack, “why don’t you watch me, you might learn a thing or two,” his eyes lingered on her muscular behind as it stretched her black shorts when she bent down to grab the plates for the squat rack.

By the time he had recovered, the giant gym junkie had loaded multiple dark blue plates onto the bar, three on either side, each one had the number ’50’ on them. He recalled a time where Taylor had told him that squats were her best weights, but he never realised that she was this good. That was a whole 300kg weighing down that bar.

“Come be my spotter,” without even looking, her fingers wrapped themselves around his head, like she was holding a tennis ball, and pulled his little body closer towards her. The wide part of her calf was level with his eyesight, and her crew sock came up to his waist. While he stood there with his mouth agape shocked by her nonchalant manhandling, she ducked under and let the bar roll between her shoulders and neck. The weight lifted off the rack as she straightened up, the metal bar sagging on each side.

Drew had gotten used to how the ground would quake when Taylor or any other giants would walk around, but this felt different. From behind her defined calves that were as wide as him, the rubber flooring did little to absorb the shock of her movements. As she shuffled backwards to get more room to squat, each stomp caused the floor to rumble violently under him, powerful jolts travelled through his body. An extra 300kg had been added to her step and it wasn’t just felt, it was heard, each tread created an audible thud. It was as if she was a mighty titan from mythology, with the weight of the world upon her back, he couldn’t help but be in awe.

Bulging quads filled out her shorts as they harboured the heavy iron, he sometimes forgot how much muscle she really had hidden in there. Before his very eyes, Taylor lowered herself down, both of her ass cheeks revealed themselves through her tightening shorts, their toned definition apparent. Her hulking form lowered down further, until he was facing the impressive visage of her glorious, sculpted tush. The length of her crack could comfortably hold half of his body if she were to clench at that moment. To his surprise, her butt descended further, he recalled a saying she liked to remind him of, ‘ass to grass’.

With a deep, almost masculine grunt, Taylor decompressed her legs and shot upwards. Before Drew had a chance to react, her butt crashed into his chin and sent him flying backwards. He landed on his own butt as he gazed up at his enormous friend, her long legs fully straightened, quivering slightly under the strain.

“One,” she boomed. It didn’t seem like she noticed what happened as she began to descend into another low squat. This was going to be a long workout.

From his lower vantage point he watched as Taylor’s ass appeared to grow larger as it got closer to him, her butt cheeks separating once more to reveal the chasm that was her crack. A stench of stale air wafted past him as she lowered even further, now that he was sitting, her ass came within inches of his face. The two massive cheeks were the length of a king-sized mattress, if she shifted back any further his head would get caught between them.

Another booming grunt came from the giant as she shot up, her thick ass clenched together at the apex of her squat, it swallowed up any loose parts of her shorts.

“Two,” her voice was heavy.

Taylor continued her squats, each time her ass came within inches of Drew’s face and the acrid smell of sweat began to build with each one. The odour served as a reminder to him of how she laboured at the gym for hours every week, working to sculpt her ass into a fuller and firmer meaty piece of flesh.  

A thunderous sigh of relief came from Taylor as she racked the weight after finishing her ten reps, a sheen of perspiration covered her tan skin. Her head turned to peek behind her, she’d forgotten Drew was even there. “Why are you sitting there, what if I failed one of my attempts?” she was genuinely perplexed as to why he sat behind her like that. Large shoes turned their way towards him as she squatted down to get closer, her recently worked out ass rolled against her heels, that same smug expression from before on her face “if you can’t handle 2kg, I doubt you’d be able to handle my fat ass.”

“Well, you looked like you had it sorted,” he returned, trying to hide his admiration.

Taylor rose back to her full height, “damn right I did.” Her previous worries for Drew dissipated while she worked out, now wasn’t the time to think about it, the plan would figure itself out. Right now, she was in the mood to keep pumping out sets. “Alright, well that’s enough break, let’s get back to it.” She raised a plastic bottle from her bag to her lips, her burly bicep grew in size as she squeezed the fresh water into her mouth. After she felt refreshed, she sauntered back to the rack and shouldered the weight, her head turned as much as it could to address him, “if you’re just gonna watch, maybe move out of the way.”  

Drew heeded her words and scrambled out of the way as her huge footwear stomped into position. Those booming footsteps gave a clear warning; there was a giant at work. If there was anything that he had gathered from this trip to the gym, he was glad he was relying on stealth and not brawn to break into the Pierce’s mansion.