Direct Action
Date Published: May 18, 2022, 5:50pm
Written By: WrigleyField
Note: This is my first story, and I’ve only just begun it! I’m posting the first chapter here to gauge interest and hopefully get some helpful feedback. This first chapter is supposed to mainly set up the characters. It is higher on action and lower on development than I intend to write the rest of the story, so please keep that in mind.
Chapter 1:
James methodically rose to a crouch as he crept toward the massive house. Remember to check your peripheries, he thought to himself, as he recalled all of the training that had prepared him for this moment. Brad slowly turned around and held his index finger to his lips. Despite his best efforts, James was being too loud in the bushes. It did not take much to disturb the peaceful silence of midnight in suburbia. Anything could give them away.
“Relax, Brad, we’re fine,” Sophie whispered.
Emily smirked to herself. She knew Sophie was only trying to reassure James on his first mission. In reality, her experience told her flawless execution would be needed if they were going to pull this off.
“Coast is clear, head for the vent,” the team of four heard through their earpieces. Craig was stationed on a hill overlooking the quiet cul-de-sac. His infrared binoculars were far from military grade, but they did the trick. He was amazed that James was able to put them together in his lab back at school, he thought to himself. That kid might be a newbie, but his contributions were already proving to be substantial.
James was far more anxious. His next trial was imminent. He knelt by the vent that would lead the party into the Amazon’s abode. He reached for his back pocket and pulled out a little tube. The moment of truth, he thought, as he poured the contents onto the bolts of the vent. Amazons took special care so that the tools needed to tamper with their infrastructure were not available to Littles; a homemade solution would have to suffice.
“No…” James muttered under his breath. He’d gotten it wrong. He’d assumed the bolts would be steel, but they appeared to be some kind of titanium alloy. His chemical freezing agent was specified to cause steel to contract enough that the vent could be pried open. Whatever this alloy was, it had a greater level of resistance.
“Guys, we have a problem. It’s the wrong kind of metal. We are going to need to find another way…” was all James could think to say. How could he botch his most basic task? The only reason he was here in the first place. But all of the fallout from that would have to wait. Time was of the essence here.
“What do you mean, it’s the wrong kind of metal?” Emily asked harshly.
“Man, there is no other way,” said Brad. “We gotta get in through this vent. It’s the only way to get to the nursery without triggering the alarm.”
Sophie tried tugging on the vent. “Ugh, it’s no use, it won’t budge.”
“Let me try,” Brad persisted. If anyone could get it, it would be him. Brad was about as fit as a Little could get. He almost always had to hide his brawn under loose, long-sleeved shirts. Amazons did not care for Littles who conditioned themselves in this way; they often made sure things ended poorly for them.
Brad set down his pack of supplies and laid down on his back. He placed the bottoms of his feet against the vertical wall. Pulling with all of his might, he grunted and launched with his legs and back.
The gut-wrenching sound of metallic scraping rang out as one of the bolts came free from the wall. As usual, Brad had done it. Great, James thought, I cooled the alloy just enough that Brad gets to be the man for popping it out. He mentally kicked himself for thinking this way. All that mattered was the vent was open and they had a way in. His competitive pettiness was childish with such a high-stakes task at hand.
“Good one, Brad!” Emily whispered, trying to contain her admiration. She knew better than to count Brad out. He always seemed to be able to come up with a solution.
The three began crawling into the vent, leaving Sophie behind. They would need her later. Emily and James followed Brad up through the duct. The only reason they could fit in such a cramped space was because they were Littles. Amazons designed structures only in Amazon sizes.
As they neared the top of the house, they came upon a vent in the floor of the pipe. Looking through it, they could see the Amazon woman lying asleep in bed. The baby monitor was inches from her head.
Emily turned to James. “You see that?” she whispered, “any noise in the nursery room, and you’ll literally wake the sleeping giant. No more fuck-ups!”
“Got it,” James whispered back. Don’t make excuses, he told himself. Just be better.
Meanwhile, Brad had made it further down the duct and begun unscrewing the vent above the nursery. It was much easier from the inside. He grabbed the grated opening and gently set it aside inside of the pipe.
“Come on!” he said to the others, before dropping down into the room.
Emily gestured to James and they both made their way over. Being more experienced in stealth, Emily dropped first. She landed with almost no noise, on the tips of her feet. Finally, James went. His landing was not quite as graceful–he landed hard on his feet before falling backwards onto his butt with a minor thud. Mercifully, Littles were light enough that such a noise was still not very loud.
The target of their mission was sleeping as soundly as her captor. The Little was locked in her crib with bars all the way around and above her, secured with a padlock. James looked at her with pity. The poor girl had a locking pacifier gag strapped around the back of her head. She wore a bright pink footed sleeper with mittens that would restrict her from any use of her hands. He could make out parts of the words, “Mama’s Little Stinker” written across the front of the sleeper. The bulge of her thick overnight diaper was evident through the pajamas.
Such a demeaning existence was the fate of the majority of Littles. The knowledge that it really could happen to anyone kept the team of Little rescuers grounded and down-to-Earth. One wrong move or stroke of bad luck and it would be them in her place.
Emily went over to a dresser and found the key to the padlock in the drawer. It made sense that the Amazon would not keep it far away, as there was no way for her “baby” to reach it there once she was locked in her crib. Emily approached the crib and read the words on the jumper as she opened the lock. “Cruel, but not wrong,” she remarked, able to smell the contents of the diaper through the sleeper.
She gently reached down and nudged the Little on the shoulder to wake her. The woman stirred and opened her eyes in a panic. She started to make a few muffled noises through her pacifier before Emily shushed her.
“Shhhhhhhh. Quiet! We’re from Direct Action and we’re getting you out of here. You want out right?”
The babified Little vigorously nodded her head yes.
“Okay then, move quick!”
James helped Emily raise their rescuee out of the crib. The two had to stand on the Amazon-sized desk chair to accomplish this, as the top of the crib was easily 10 feet tall. Once they lowered her to the floor, it became clear that this operation would be further complicated. The Little woman’s legs buckled–she was unable to stand. Emily and James watched as she lowered herself backwards onto the carpet. She grimaced as the solid mess in her diaper shifted and spread across her bottom. James felt uncomfortable watching this. He could make out the poor girl’s intense blush even in the darkness.
Emily put aside her disgust. The graphic, horrible nature of the lives captured Littles suffered through was what motivated her. People in situations like this were why she trained so hard and risked it all. The depressed, hopeless Littles who had been broken by extreme humiliation and physical mutilation had no one looking after them. Except, ironically, for their Amazon captors. That was what Direct Action was about–being that lone beacon of light in a world of darkness. Emily saw the pain behind this girl’s eyes. She was going to get her to safety or lose everything trying.
Meanwhile, James looked over to Brad. He had climbed up onto the desk and was working out a way to open the latch. Direct Action was familiar with how Amazon security systems worked. They were typically meant to trigger the alarm if a forcible break-in from outside occurred. However, someone opening the window from within the house would not set it off.
“Hey kid, give me a hand would ya?” Brad whispered to James. James was happy to comply, if only to move away from the diapered Little on the floor. He scrambled up on top of the desk using the chair and joined Brad. Each of them pushed in on one side of the long latch, and Brad used his foot to get the window cracked. He then reached down and finished lifting.
As the window opened, the three inside heard Sophie’s voice. “About time,” she quipped. Sophie’s job was to set up the ladder the group was to use to escape the home. She had used it to climb up to the window from the outside.
“Alright, let’s not waste any time,” Brad said decisively. “James and Emily, follow Sophie down.” He gestured towards the helpless girl sitting on the carpet, “I’ll grab her and we’ll leave.
“Before we all become a midnight snack for some baby-crazy monster,” Sophie added.
James and Emily wasted no time climbing down to the lawn outside. James wondered to herself how Brad was going to maneuver “Mama’s Little Stinker,” as he mentally called her, down the ladder.
Emily knew better than to doubt Brad. He always found a way. Sure enough, a few moments later, they saw Brad emerge from the window. The Little woman was riding piggyback, with her mittened arms clasped around his neck. This way made the most sense for both of them, allowing Brad the use of his own hands while letting the girl contribute by holding on tight. She could do that, even if whatever the Amazons had done to her had rendered her unable to do much else.
The Direct Action team had to be prepared for everything–there was no limit to the horrors the cruelest Amazons could inflict on Littles. They needed to be prepared to conduct their operations with no help from the captives.
Once Brad reached the ground, Sophie quickly folded up her ladder. The team did not mind leaving evidence of how the rescue was conducted. By the time the Amazon figured out what had happened, they would be long gone.
“Okay, make for Craig’s position,” Emily ordered. The team started off in that direction. Brad was strong, but he was not Hercules. He called out for support. “Hey James, give me a hand,” he whispered. “Grab her legs and I’ll grab under her shoulders. My back needs a break.”
James quickly complied. His heart had been pounding throughout this whole operation. Now that he was out on the street in plain view of the neighborhood, with an immobile Little in tow, he was desperate for it to be over. Lest he end up like Mama’s Little Stinker.
“Still clear, hurry up to me,” the team heard Craig through their earpieces. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
“On it, Craig,” said Emily. She stayed behind the two men while Sophie scouted ahead. As the group made their way up the short hill, they came upon the welcome sight of Craig’s getaway van. Sophie and Emily threw open the back doors while Craig started the engine. Brad and James carried the rescued Little into the back. The girls quickly followed, slamming the doors behind them. The mission complete, Craig stepped hard on the gas, and the six free Littles sped off into the night.