Chapter 2: Documentary

"What'd you do that for?" Lucy asked Ella, watching her shoe near the wall with a trail of grey/brown behind it from where Ella kicked it.

"That's what the town is here for, Luce. It's not a model village for watching, it's made to be destroyed." Ella explained, confused as to why Lucy was hesitating.

"It's both actually, so at least get good shots before you go smashing everything." Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fair enough." Ella agreed, pulling her right shoe off throwing it onto the platform at the door, away from the town.

"Jason, you got the macro lens?" Ella asked him, deciding to focus on the shots first as per Lucy's request.

"Oh yeah. Let's be careful with this, shit's expensive and it's not mine." He explained, unscrewing his camera lens and putting the macro one on. He was very delicate putting it on, zooming his camera a few times into a nearby grass field. - "Jesus, this grass is realistic as shit." he commented to deaf ears behind him.

"We'll stay put since we're not allowed to destroy anything-" Ella gave sassy eyes towards Lucy, who returned a grossed-out look at Ella. Both girls spent a lot of time bantering with each other but it was clear there was no real hostility between them. - "Just get shots of interesting areas then we'll do the destruction footage."

Jason slowly walked around looking for points of interest, being that this was identical to their town it could be a cheap way to get some drone shots, but his focus was getting some videos of the buildings and showcasing their realism to the viewer. This was effectively free advertising for the stress suite. - "We should be getting paid for this..." he muttered whilst recording a minuscule tree in a field.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan for that," Ella spoke with confidence.

"You do?" Lucy's interest was peaked, finally making money from their work? it sounded amazing.

"Lucy!" Ella tutted with her tongue. - "Have I ever lied to you?" she said sarcastically.

"Yes, actually. A lot. Jason is the only other person who lies to me more than you do." Lucy explained.

"Oh. Well, this time I'm serious! Just you wait. Also, you better believe me otherwise you're not getting a cut when it works." said Ella.

"Fine, jeez." Lucy rolled her eyes for the sixtieth time today, Ella smiled a little knowing she had her on her side once again.

The group paused as Jason moved around taking shots of tiny buildings and trees, letting him do his work as they awaited the fun part of their project.

"Soooo... how are we looking?" Ella asked impatiently.

"You can start, I think I've got enough to be honest."

"Fantastic," Ella said with a light smile. - "Come on, you. Get in on this."

Lucy shook her head side to side in a disagreement. - "I'm not taking my shoes off."

"Fine. Just destroy a few things at least." Ella asked Lucy who didn't respond instead inspecting the town below.

Ella took her first big shoeless step forward onto a bunch of buildings, feeling them compress beneath her like tiny sandcastles. Her face lit up as she twisted from side to side. - "Oh my god. This feels unreal." her breathing was audible as she took another step.

Ella suddenly began jumping up and down, smashing the ground beneath both of her socked feet at the same time. Turning sections of the town with buildings, lamp posts, trees and roads into mush, becoming dead wastelands of grey, flat as can be.

"Jesus, calm down," Lucy asked with a weird look on her face, watching her friend stomp around like a crazy person.

"It's not my fault they made this so satisfying," Ella shouted.

"Fine. I'll try it too." Lucy caved, leaning down to unzip her black boots.

"Come on, Jason. You've gotta join too." Ella requested whilst still stomping away, jumping around like a child in a kids soft play.

"Sure but in a second, I have an idea. I should get a nice shot of the tiny version of the stress suite, that way we can use it as an opening shot." He explained.

"Jason, you're a genius. That's a good idea, you should do that." Ella confirmed to a happy smile from Jason.

Jason waltzed forward into the center of the room looking down at the white building, this was for sure the stress suite building as it was hideous and stood out in the aesthetic of the town, it looked like it belonged 30 years in the future. Jason leaned down on one knee, closing his camera in on the building.

In the background you could hear smashing noises from Ella and Lucy, distracting Jason from his shot. He watched Lucy slowly and timidly stepping on buildings in a different section of the town in her ripped tights.

"Oh my..." Lucy uttered.

"I know, right?" Ella acknowledged.

"Guys, quiet. Just for this one last shot." Jason commanded.

"Alright." Ella responded.

He zoomed in on the stress suite building entrance, spotting cars moving. They had moving cars in this simulation? their movement was so precise and realistic, almost like the tiny cars had entire mini mechanics and properties like regular cars. Then he saw people flooding out of the stress suite, tiny people? he thought with a shock, his breath quickened in fear, catching the attention of Ella. - "Jason?" she asked, trying to see what was wrong with him.

Jason rubbed his eyes then refocused onto his preview to make sure it was real, spotting a tiny person pointing a camera at him out front of the stress suite building, they were wearing a red shirt. On the left of the tiny person was a blonde girl and a brown-haired girl, he could barely make out their faces, managing to focus enough on the brown-haired girl's face, she was sobbing her eyes out whilst pointing, it was Ella. Then that means the red shirt guy was...

Jason looked down away from his camera at his shirt, it was red. He flew backward in shock falling onto his ass on top of the town, scrambling backward causing massive destruction behind him as his hands/nails gripped the surface frantically pulling him away from whatever he'd seen. He threw the camera forwards in his jolt in front of Ella's feet beyond the building.

"JASON! The fucking camera, what the hell has gotten into you?" Ella spat, he'd probably broken the lens that he'd been renting, it was surely going to dent any potential money they'd have left for their productions.

"The- the- the building. It's-" Jason was shaking violently, stuttering his words out unable to convey what was happening.

Ella looked wide-eyed at him, Lucy just looked confused.

"The- building- I- I- I saw, people, they- they-"

"THEY- THEY- spit it out, you idiot!" Ella shouted.

Jason took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. - "I JUST SAW TINY VERSIONS OF US OUTSIDE THE STRESS SUITE BUILDING." he shouted, looking forwards in horror. Ella looked at Lucy confusedly, holding the camera in her hand.

"Shut up." Lucy said rolling her eyes yet again. - "You always come out with this shit-"

"I'm not kidding!" he shouted in her face.

"Why would you throw our really expensive camera and lens over a gag? god, you are such an asshole. Seriously, us three being tiny? we're literally standing right here in front of you." Lucy burst out in her angry rants that came out from time to time. Ella just let her handle this one as she was totally right. "Do you know how much money we're going to have to fork up for the damages? was our reaction worth it?" Lucy continued.

Jason sat there trying to catch his breath from his panic attack. Lucy walked over to him, her ripped black tight covered feet causing destruction in their wake. - "Lucy, stop walking!" he shouted desperately.

"Whereabouts were they? I want to look for myself," she asked with a straight face, totally unamused from his joke.

"The stress suite one, the white ugly one right there." he pointed, looking at her with anticipation of what she'd find.

"Alright." she stood over it looking down, her gaze lifting to look at Jason's fearful eyes. Lifting her giant foot over the building. - "Lucy, don't-" he blurted out as her tight covered foot shot straight through the building in a loud crash, her strength was overkill. Jason watched in front of him as she twisted her tights violently turning the building into fairy dust.

"That's how much I don't believe you and I won't put up with your shitty jokes anymore. You're paying for the camera. Ass." she angrily commanded, lifting her foot to survey the bottom, the grey rubble blending in with the black tights. He snickered. - "Hilarious."

"You- you killed us." Jason lightly spoke catching Lucy's angry attention again.

"What the fuck are you even talking about? do you even hear yourself right now? we're standing in front of you." the shouting continued.

"I know what I saw!" he shouted violently for the first time.

"Guys... please stop fighting. We'll just ask somebody, okay?" Ella reassured them.

"No- no. Look at the footage, I recorded it!" Jason pointed at the camera, pulling it away from Ella firmly surprising her slightly. He frantically looked through the footage on the camera trying to find the recording. - "It's- it's not here." he said with defeat.

"Well isn't that convenient?" Lucy joked sarcastically, smiling at Ella who responded with a confused smile.

"I'll just record some more, watch out, and don't step on anything," Jason ordered them.

"Come on, Jason. Can't I just enjoy this? I was actually having fun for once." Ella spoke quietly, trying not to set him off as he was clearly upset.

"I thought you cared about a big story? something worth documenting? this is it!" Jason exclaimed.

"Yeah, I mean- I am. But... tiny people? we're not shooting a sci-fi movie here." she stood in disbelief holding her head.

Jason started shooting another shot, looking for people on the road, which he did find. A road filled with many cars and frantically running people, his mouth went agape realizing he wasn't going crazy. - "Look!"

Lucy and Ella both looked at each other confusedly with a shrug as they walked towards Jason crowding around his camera. He pulled his head out. - "Look right there, tiny people running around."

The girls' eyes tightened looking closer at the screen, they were definitely seeing tiny people, it was clear with this macro camera. - "Droids?" Ella rationalized.

"How could they be droids?" Jason asked confused.

"How could they be real?" Ella retorted.

"Why are they running around like headless chickens? they are acting like game NPCs." Lucy also attempted her own theory.

"Uhhh, duh. Because two big-ass giants are crushing their town? Did you forget that part?" he tore her theory apart immediately. Standing up to his full height.

"I know it's weird, why do you think I'm freaking out but think about it. The facility wouldn't let us bring the camera in, right? The buildings are stupidly realistic, both in appearance and destruction. Years ago scientists were talking about significant developments in shrinking tech. This is incredibly possible, you guys. We need to document this, at all costs." Jason turned to make eye contact with both of them as his shock subsided. - "This is what we set out to do."

"I agree." Lucy nodded in agreement, no negativity or banter as normal due to this serious issue occurring.

"Guys. This company is huge, if we attempt to mess with them, they could ruin us."

"I'm sorry, Ella. But this is the business we got into, we've all seen hundreds of documentaries together on late Friday nights in your moms living room, brave people going against the flow or corruption to expose the truth, this is important." he explained.

"I never wanted this." Ella explained with a deep frown on her face.

"You- you what? but you said-" Jason attempted to speak before being interrupted.

"I know what I said! I just wanted to be popular in front of the camera, I didn't want to endanger my life!" Ella shrieked, to shock from Lucy & Jason, she'd finally been honest with this, was the entire thing a ruse? she never wanted to hunt for the truth with them.

The trio paused awkwardly thinking about the situation that was occurring, Ella stood there with her arms crossed in a sad lump. Jason became frustrated, she'd exposed herself for who she was in the face of making a real difference, she was a fake.

"Let's put it to a vote." he commanded, lifting his head with anger on it.

"What- no!" she cried.

"This is a group decision!" he shouted in her face. - "This is what you agreed to when you lied about wanting to make a difference, don't you remember?"

"All those in favor of exposing this practice, say I." Jason raised his hand pre-emptively in agreement with the decision.

"I." Lucy's arm shot up immediately, no doubt in her mind.

"What... Luce. You- you've never cared about anyone!" Ella shouted, afraid of what was going to happen if they attempted to endanger this massive company.

"That's rich coming from you. I do care about stuff deep down, El. It's like Jason said, we got into this business for a reason. This is a serious project to have in our careers." Lucy responded.

"Guys. If we do this, we're in serious danger." Ella tried to convince them to dip out.

"We know." Jason shot a glance at Lucy, both nodding lightly.

The door of the suite shot open catching all of them off-guard, their gazes turning towards someone standing in the doorway. There stood the director of the facility, Suzanne. 

"Who are you?" Jason asked in fear, hoping they hadn't been caught, moving the camera to hide it behind him.

"I'm the director of this facility, my employees and customers were disrupted by shouting coming from this room so I thought I'd personally check in and see what could be causing distress to my customers here." she explained. Jason couldn't believe she was the director of this entire facility, she didn't look a day over 40, her medium-length blonde hair drooped over her white lab coat. Her ID on the coat read "Suzanne Anderson: Director".

"What appears to be the problem?" she asked with a bright smile, showcasing her white teeth and red shiny lips.

"Well..." Lucy shot a glance at Jason signifying that he was taking the lead here. "We were having a disagreement about who gets to destroy which parts of the town, our friend here-" she signals at Ella. "-has been destroying more than her fair share, so we just want to make sure we split everything equally as friends."

"That's great. You sure it has nothing to do with that camera?" Suzanne leaned her head forwards toward Jason, she must've seen the camera immediately after coming in.

"Oh- no." Lucy corrected her.

"Well as you know, cameras and phones aren't allowed in here so you're going to have to hand that over before you leave."

"We were not aware that cameras-"

"Cut the shit, Luce." Jason spat, surprising Lucy as he totally blew everything. - "We know what your company is doing, we're walking out that door with this camera whether you like it or not."

Suzanne slowly leaned over to the left, slamming her hand on a button on the wall initiating the closing of the door behind her shutting all of them in the room together. - "What is my company doing?" Suzanne asked with a smirk.

"Shrinking people, putting them in here as fodder for people's entertainment."

"Come on, little boy. Think harder than that. Do you seriously think we'd have real people killed on such a scale for a cheap gig like this?"

"Then how else-" Jason attempted to ask.

"Listen. You've got twenty seconds to hand over that camera, it's the only opportunity you're going to have to you better take it, kiddos." Suzanne continued to smile lightly with her dagger-shaped eyes, her calm yet threatening demeanor was terrifying to them. Lucy finally didn't feel like the toughest girl in the room, she felt the presence of the devil as she swallowed in fear.

Suzanne waited ten seconds to total silence as Jason looked around, Ella stood there shuddering in fear, she knew this was going to happen, why wouldn't they listen to her?

The director reached behind her lab coat pulling out a bizarre-looking blue firearm, pointing it at Lucy. - "Are you going to leave peacefully?" the cold-blooded director asked her. She looked to her left fearfully looking at Jason who shook his head side to side, telling her not to back down.

"I refuse." Lucy held her head high.

"So bold, so powerful." Suzanne said sarcastically with a smirk. Shooting Lucy, Lucy's eyes widened at last second as she saw the blast hit her, she clutched her eyes shut in fear, was she dead? slowly opening her eyes one eyelid at a time. She looked around at a bunch of buildings, on her right was a massive flat area of grey and rubble.

"Where'd she go!?" Jason shouted

"God, you teenagers and your stupid questions. Honestly." Suzanne turned her firearm towards Jason who pieced it together quickly after that comment. - "You shrunk Lucy?"

"Bingo!" she responded. - "This is your last chance to hand over the camera." her smirk vanished instead turning into an icy emotionless stare.

Jason started sprinting forward. - "ELLA RUN!" he shouted but she just stood there, the director quickly amended her aim to shoot where Jason was headed, blasting him and causing him to vanish along with this camera into the ground below. Suzanne then moved her firearm towards Ella who quickly raised her hands.

Suzanne then lifted the firearm away from the trajectory of Ella, holding it closely instead. - "You've not said much." she spoke, looking inquisitively at the girl.

"I- I didn't want them to do it. I said it was dangerous." Ella squeaked.

"Clever assessment." Suzanne commended her.

"Tell you what. Since the footage is gone and you don't seem to agree with your friend's decision, you can leave. You are obviously banned from coming back here as well, we'll blast you before you get 5 feet from the door." Suzanne turned to leave the room preparing to open the door, she glanced over her shoulder looking at Ella.

"Get over here. I'm kicking you out in case that wasn't obvious enough for you." the director ordered Ella.

"Will anyone know about what I've done here today?" Ella asked.

"Honey, they are just clones. The session gets purged when you leave anyway, everything in the room during a purge dies anyways, the only people who will know are me and you."

"Purge? So everyone dies in the room anyway? Does that mean I can finish my session?" Ella scratched her head avoiding eye contact after asking.

Suzanne was blinded by the audacity of this girl, she heard her friend just now saying they were shrunk, she knows her friends are in this city right now. Surely she'd want to just leave immediately unless she was planning something? They were going to search her on the way out anyway and her footage is gone, no harm in it- Suzanne thought.

Suzanne pursed her lips, turning to make direct eye contact with Ella. - "Sure. I don't see why not." Suzanne paid no mind to what was going through this girl's head, she truly didn't care. Pressing the button and heading out the door, closing it as she left leaving Ella on her own.