Larger Than Life by Neon

The forest floor trembled underfoot as Ava retreated deeper into its reaches. Her lithe frame clashed with her towering height as she wove between the trees, snapping ancient trunks like twigs. She took care to avoid outright leveling the terrain, but the swath of damage created by her haste was unavoidable. Each footfall still sent tremors through the earth, scattering birds and causing animals to flee in panicked waves.

Soft moonlight filtering through the canopy cast fleeting silver patterns over her skin, the play of shadows reminding her how exposed she was. Ava crouched by a clearing, the far-off sound of approaching engines grating against her constitution. Even in this remote expanse, she couldn’t escape them. The reinforcements weren’t subtle—she could hear the low growl of tactical vehicles and the rhythmic beat of chopper blades in the distance, drawing closer by the second. Their flood lights flickered through the forest, carving paths of unnatural light between the trees.  

“Why can’t they just leave me alone?” she inquired to herself, her voice low but resonant, carrying through the night. She clenched her hands, her fingers digging into the soil and leaving deep furrows. “I don’t want to hurt anyone…”

Ava’s body tensed as she spotted a drone flitting closer, its tiny red light blinking like a voyeuristic eye. She let out a slow breath, trying to suppress the growing frustration that simmered beneath her surface. Even in this vast wilderness, she was never truly alone. The world wanted her to be their monster—or their goddess—but no one seemed willing to let her simply exist.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sharp crack of breaking branches. The tactical crew had arrived, their vehicles edging cautiously into the clearing. Soldiers poured out in tight formations, their weapons trained upward. The first few floodlights snapped on, their beams slicing through the darkness to illuminate her impossibly tall form. Ava instinctively shielded her face with one hand, the sudden brightness momentarily disorienting her. She could barely make out some details via the inconsistent illumination. Though she was no expert, Marlowe’s NYPD team appeared to be joined by what looked like military troops and vehicles. Escalation.

“Giant entity is in sight,” a voice barked over a loudspeaker. “Prepare to engage. Civilians are cleared from the area.”

Ava’s stomach lurched. The phrasing—“entity,” not “person”—was a stark delineation of how they saw her. Not as Ava Nova, the pop star who had sung to millions and was beloved the world over; but rather as an anomaly, a threat to be neutralized.

“I don’t want to fight you,” Ava called out, her voice echoing across the clearing. The soldiers hesitated, their formations tightening as her words rolled over them like thunder. “Please, just let me go. I’ll leave. You won’t ever have to see me again. I’ll… I’ll fucking disappear!”

For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the faint hum of a hovering drone. Then, a sharp reply came from the loudspeaker. “Stand down, and we can negotiate terms for your containment.”

Ava’s jaw tightened. “Containment?” she repeated, her tone laced with disbelief. That wasn’t the first time they had used that word, and it was getting old very fast.

“You think you can contain this?” She gestured broadly to herself, her enormous form looming over the vehicles like a living mountain. As soon as the words left her lips, Ava knew there was no walking it back.

With that, the tension finally broke as gas canisters arced through the air, hissing violently as they released clouds of thick smoke. Ava stumbled back, coughing intensely as the acrid fumes stung her eyes and throat. Her reactionary movements sent shocks through the ground, unbalancing several soldiers who scrambled to maintain their footing. 

“That’s enough!” she bellowed, her voice swelling with anger and desperation. She swiped almost instinctively at the nearest drone, her fingers brushing it with enough force to send it careening into a tree. The impact shattered the tiny machine, its pieces raining down in a glittering cascade. Fragments rained down from the sky onto the troops below.

The soldiers reacted immediately, their weapons discharging bursts of rounds that pinged harmlessly against Ava’s skin. She glared down at them, her frustration continuing to boil. “I said stop!” With a single step, she closed the distance, her dominant foot sinking into the earth just yards from the nearest vehicle. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, knocking more soldiers flat on their backs. A stray hand grenade landed between her big toe and its neighbor, the concussive blast and ensuing shrapnel leaving no damage to speak of. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but Ava found herself feeling virtually no pain at all from the attacks. The emotional blow of it all had certainly landed, however.

The sight of them scrambling sparked a conflicted pang in her chest. She didn’t want to hurt them—but she couldn’t let them keep pushing her, either. Her irritation manifested in a new way as she crouched, bringing her enormous face closer to the ground. The soldiers froze in fear, their gazes darting between her massive features and the shadows cast by her all-encompassing presence. Maybe now they would understand a fraction of how it felt to be locked in someone’s inescapable gaze.

“Do you understand now?” she asked, her voice soft yet edged with steel. Her breath ruffled the grass and sent stray leaves spiraling into the smoky air. “You’re not in control here. I am.”


The soldiers stared up at her, their hesitation palpable even through their rigid stances. Ava’s shadow now completely engulfed them as she leaned in closer, her features accentuated by the stark floodlights. The faint whir of drones overhead felt like a mosquito’s buzz in her ears, a constant irritant that chipped away at her already frayed patience. She was running out of ideas for how to reason with them.

“Please,” she reiterated, though the calm in her voice now carried a weight that seemed to almost suffocate the hazy scene. “You don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this. Just stop following me.”

“Hold your positions!” a commanding voice barked through a loudspeaker, penetrating the tense atmosphere. The soldiers managed to regroup, their rifles trained on her once more.

Ava exhaled sharply, the force of her breath sending dust and leaves scattering across the clearing. “Why do you people think you can solve everything with guns?” she muttered, more to herself than to them.

Then came the next wave—rockets streaking through the air with thin trails of smoke. Ava’s eyes widened as the projectiles arced toward her. Instinctively, she threw up her arms to shield herself. The explosions struck her forearms and shoulders, leaving behind faint scorch marks but causing her no real harm.

Still, her temper flared once more. “Enough!” Ava roared, her voice reverberating through the forest like a sonic boom. She lashed out, a gigantic hand sweeping low to brush aside a line of advancing vehicles. The armored trucks toppled like toys, their sirens sputtering as they slammed into trees and boulders.

The soldiers scrambled to avoid her retaliation, their formations splintering as she rose to her full height. Her piercing glare swept over them, blue eyes glinting with a mixture of rage and regret. “Why do you keep pushing me?” she demanded. “You’re forcing my hand!”

The chaos of the moment was subverted by the appearance of another helicopter. This one, larger and sleeker than the others, hovered just out of her reach. A much more powerful spotlight snapped on, bathing her in its blinding glow. Ava shielded her eyes, her teeth gritting in frustration. It wasn’t just the light—it was the way the camera’s lens seemed to leer at her, as if the entire world was watching and judging her every move.

“Back off!” she shouted, her voice a warning growl. The helicopter didn’t budge.

Ava hesitated. Her anger burned hot, but beneath it was a profound sense of sadness and isolation. The world didn’t see her as a person anymore—just a spectacle, a threat, or a symbol. That realization struck harder than any weapon they could aim at her. The spotlight remained unwavering, the camera documenting every second of her turmoil.

Ava’s fingers twitched. She wanted to crush it, to swat it out of the air like the other pesky drones—but would that only make things worse? The answer came in the form of a second barrage: gas canisters and sonic bursts aimed at her exposed legs. The shrill noise made her wince, her hands instinctively covering her ears. They had escalated first. She just wanted to be left alone. This was too much.

“That’s it,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

In one fluid motion, Ava reached up and grabbed the helicopter’s landing skids. Her grip was firm but controlled, her fingers curling around the metal frame with ease. The pilots panicked, their screams audible even over the hum of the rotors. The machine groaned in protest as Ava held it aloft, her strength effortlessly overpowering its feeble attempts to escape. From their forced perspective in the cockpit, the view of the personnel inside was limited to Ava’s enormous breasts looming over them through the haze. She caught herself peering into the helicopter for a moment before quickly averting her gaze. Lingering on their suffering would only weaken her resolve for what had to be done.

“Do you get it now?” she demanded, scowling at the soldiers below. “You can’t fight me. You’ll only hurt yourselves.”

With calculated precision, she turned and hurled the helicopter into the forest, ensuring it crashed far from the soldiers at her feet. The explosion lit up the trees, sending sparks and debris into the night, but Ava felt no satisfaction in the act. It was intended as a message, not an attack—a line drawn in the sand.

But the reinforcements weren’t finished. More vehicles rolled into the clearing, their floodlights slicing through the smoke. Ava could hear their commanders barking orders, their voices urgent and strained. It was clear they hadn’t expected her to retaliate so decisively.

Ava sighed heavily, the sound rumbling like distant thunder. “Why won’t you just listen?” she asked, her voice tinged with both anger and pleading. She stepped forward, her foot sinking into the earth with a deep crunch, and the soldiers instinctively fell back. The sight was a strange mixture of satisfying and saddening. It was the first sign that they might actually relent since this all began.

She crouched low again, bringing herself closer to their level. Her fingers brushed the ground as she leaned in, her expression softening despite the tension in the air. “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said. “But if you keep coming after me, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

For a moment, there was a flicker of doubt among the soldiers. Courtesy of her advanced vision, she could see the conflict in their eyes—the uncertainty, the fear, and perhaps even the glimmer of understanding. But it was short-lived. Another voice rang out over the loudspeaker, sharp and commanding. “All units, engage at will!” Their orders couldn’t be more clear.

Ava’s patience snapped. “Fine,” she muttered. “Have it your way.”

She returned to her full height, her figure dominating the clearing, no longer postured in a way that communicated restraint. The soldiers scrambled to adjust their tactics as she moved with deliberate intent. With one swift motion, she swept her hand across the ground, toppling another line of vehicles like mere dominoes. The sound of metal crunching and engines sputtering filled the air.

The soldiers’ response was immediate—new salvos of rockets and a hail of bullets flew toward her, their impact peppering her skin with harmless pings. Ava barely noticed. Her attention was fixed on the soldiers themselves, their frantic movements resembling tiny ants scattering underfoot. So be it.

She took another step, and this time her foot planted dangerously close to a group of retreating soldiers. The impact sent them sprawling, their weapons clattering to the ground. Ava’s gaze lingered on them, a blend of frustration and pity playing across her brightly-lit visage.

“You don’t stand a chance,” she said resignedly, her voice carrying an air of finality. “Leave while you still can.”

As the battle raged on, Ava couldn’t help but acknowledge the cost of her own actions. Unlike with the helicopter, she couldn’t avoid the sensation and sight of what she was inflicting upon the army. Each step, each motion carried with it visceral consequences—both for the soldiers beneath her and for herself. She wasn’t just fighting for survival; she was fighting to be understood, to prove that she wasn’t the monster they believed her to be. Ironically, she knew that in doing so, her right to defend herself was sure to be overshadowed by the terror that sprung from her actions. It was all on camera, after all. There was no going back now.

Ava lunged forward, her titanic body a blur of motion that sent torrents of terror through the ranks of soldiers below. Her colossal right foot slammed into the ground with the force of an earthquake, the shockwave radiating outward and sending troops sprawling in all directions. The impact alone crushed several unfortunate soldiers beneath her sole, their cries lost in the deafening rumble. Others scrambled to get out of the way, their panic palpable as they tripped over one another in their desperate bid to escape the monumental footfalls. A handful of soldiers who had escaped being directly crushed clung to her top, bottom, and even the sides of her spread toes. Those who didn’t succumb to her movements managed to hang on for dear life for the moment, unable to do anything but wait out the nightmare.

A lone sergeant, his face pale with terror, raised his rifle and fired, the bullets bouncing ineffectually off Ava’s skin as he knew deep down they would. She didn’t even notice, her attention focused on the line of tanks ahead. As she shifted her stance, her heel twisted slightly, and the man’s world became one of unbearable pressure. The sergeant’s defiant battle cry transitioned into a sickening crunch as the soft flesh of her footpad met the unyielding earth. His presence never even registered to the pop idol above.

The throng of soldiers scattered like insects beneath an overturned rock as Ava took another step, her massive toes sinking into the soft earth and dragging debris with them. One squad, positioned too close to her path, found themselves caught in the wake of her advancing foot. A soldier at the edge of the group turned to run but slipped, his body sliding directly into the trench-like imprint her toes had left behind. He barely had time to scream before Ava’s foot settled into place, the pressure pancaking him into the dirt in an instant.

“Please, pull back!” one of the officers screamed into her radio, voice cracking with desperation. She waved frantically at the troops under her command, boots slipping helplessly in the churned mud created by Ava’s weight. Nearby, another group of soldiers huddled behind an overturned armored vehicle, their wide eyes locked on the enormous toes that flexed just yards from their position. 

One young private, his hands shaking uncontrollably, couldn’t tear his gaze away from the sheer size of her foot. Even just one of the Ava’s toes was larger than the armored vehicle they all desperately hid behind. In that surreal instant, the private’s mind was struck by the irony of how he used to look up pictures of those same feet to get off. Never in a million years could he have imagined they might be the last thing he would ever see.

As Ava adjusted her position, the ground beneath the soldiers seemed to shift like a living thing. Her toes splayed slightly, the subtle movement dislodging chunks of rock and dirt that showered over the huddled troops. One soldier gasped as the shadow of her big toe darkened his entire view, his mind frozen with the realization that he was utterly at her mercy. She was unstoppable.

Her gargantuan foot lifted ominously, the action pulling debris and bodies into the air before slamming back down with a dull, earth-shaking thud. Boulder-sized stones and dirt clods rained from her enormous sole in a lethal hailstorm. Another group of soldiers cried out as the suction created by her descending step drew them into its crushing embrace. Their shouts were brief, swallowed by the overwhelming sound of the disturbed earth compacting beneath her.

Ava hesitated, her gaze flickering down to the chaos at her feet. Her heart flipped as she caught sight of the carnage left in her wake: bodies flattened beyond recognition, vehicles crumpled like soda cans, and soldiers screaming for medics amidst the wreckage. “Stop… just stop,” she pleaded, her voice trembling. Her words fell on deaf ears, the remaining troops either too terrified or too resolute to heed her.

One particularly courageous—or perhaps desperate—soldier sprinted toward her, clutching a satchel of explosives. His target was clear: her foot, the most immediate source of the havoc being wreaked upon his comrades in arms. But before he could close the distance, Ava shifted her stance again. Her mighty toes, flexing unconsciously, caught him mid-stride. The soldier’s body crumpled under the immense weight, his final act of retaliation reduced to nothing more than a faint red smear against her skin.

The realization hit her like a physical blow. Ava’s breath hitched as she stared down at the soldiers she had just unwittingly crushed, their lives snuffed out by her mere presence. Her mind raced, desperate to reconcile the growing toll of her existence with the person she believed herself to be.

The crowd of battered soldiers at her feet thinned out as survivors in all manner of sorry states retreated further into the forest, their movements frenzied and chaotic. The sight of her towering figure, her toes curling and flexing as she adjusted her balance, was enough to send even the most stalwart among them into a panicked retreat. But for those who remained trapped beneath her, there was no escape. Each shift of her blood-caked feet, each unconscious twitch of her toes, brought with it the risk of total obliteration.

Ava’s chest heaved, her hands trembling as she looked down at the clearing. The devastation was undeniable, the casualties piling up with each step she took. She wanted to scream, to tell them to stop pushing her, but she knew it wouldn’t matter. The damage was already done, and the world would never see her as anything other than a monster. Not that it would stop them from watching.


The mayhem at Ava’s feet reached a fever pitch. The remaining soldiers, battered and shaken, scrambled to retreat, their movements disorganized and desperate. Some abandoned their weapons and equipment entirely, driven only by the primal instinct to survive. The cries of the injured and dying filled the air, mingling with the rumble of Ava’s shifting weight and the distant hum of fleeing helicopters.

One soldier, slinging a bloodied brother over his shoulder, glanced back at Ava’s immense form. Her powerful toes wiggled slightly, the faint movement enough to dislodge a fresh torrent of earthy rubble that tumbled toward the fleeing troops. The soldier’s face twisted with combined awe and terror as he pushed forward, his labored breaths pouring out in ragged gasps.

“She’s not even fucking trying to kill us,” he cursed under his breath, his voice quivering. “And look how she’s snuffing us all out like bugs…”

Nearby, a sniper on a rocky outcrop steadied his rifle, his state-of-the-art scope trained on Ava. His hands shook as he adjusted the sights, the enormity of his target making him doubt the effectiveness of his weapon. No previous attack had seemed to penetrate any spot on her body in any meaningful way, and she wasn’t even wearing anything to protect her skin. His weapon was one of the most powerful rifles money could buy, and it might as well be a water pistol in his nervous grip. “Captain,” he hissed into his radio, his voice tight with panic. “With all due respect, there’s no stopping her… she’s a force of nature.”

In the command center, Captain Marlowe’s jaw tightened as she watched the live feeds from the battlefield. Her monitors displayed the wreckage left in Ava’s wake from all angles—flattened vehicles, shattered trees, and the gruesomely disfigured corpses of soldiers crushed beneath her god-like steps. The camera feeds zoomed in on Ava’s feet, showing the grim details of her unintentional destruction: bloody impressions in the dirt, twisted scraps of metal embedded in her soles, and the faint outlines of uniforms among the rubble.

“She doesn’t even realize what she’s doing,” an officer murmured, his voice heavy with disbelief. “It’s like… like she’s too big to even notice us.”

Marlowe’s fist slammed onto the console, silencing the room. “She’s aware,” she snapped, her voice cutting through the tense silence. “She knows exactly what she’s doing, even if she won’t admit it to herself. She’s a danger to every living thing on this planet, whether it’s deliberate or not.”

“But Captain,” the same officer hesitated, gesturing to the screen. “She’s not attacking anyone directly. She’s just… moving.”

Marlowe turned toward him, her expression a mask of restrained fury. “And every time she ‘moves,’ people die,” she said coldly. “Intent is irrelevant when the consequences are this catastrophic.”

Her radio crackled with incoming reports from the field. “We’re losing too many men out here!” a frantic voice shouted. “We need to fall back, regroup—anything! We can’t keep fighting something this size!”

Marlowe’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the screen, watching Ava’s movements with laser focus. The giant woman was crouching now, her face a portrait of anguish as she surveyed the carnage at her feet. She looked like she wanted to speak, to plead for understanding, but her voice wouldn’t change the outcome. The soldiers on the ground had already made up their minds—fear and self-preservation were their only motivators now. The captain could hardly blame them.

“Pull back the ground forces,” Marlowe ordered into her radio, her tone grim. “Get the injured out of there and regroup at the secondary perimeter. We’ll reassess once we’ve secured a safe distance.”

The tactical room fell silent as the order was relayed. Marlowe crossed her arms, her gaze locked on the screen as Ava rose to her full height once more. Her colossal figure loomed over the forest, casting an ominous shadow over the retreating troops. For a brief moment, her eyes flicked toward one of the drones, as though she knew she was being watched.

“She’s not a force of nature,” Marlowe began under her breath. “She’s a ticking time bomb. And if we don’t figure out how to defuse her soon…”

She let the sentence trail off, her words hanging heavily in the air. The room succumbed to a morose climate of silence, the toll of the unfolding catastrophe settling over the command center like a shroud. On the monitors, Ava began to move again, each footfall like the bang of a booming war drum as she delved deeper into the forest. The remaining cameras followed her retreat, capturing every detail of her towering silhouette against the shattered landscape.

The unlikely arboreal battlefield was mostly quiet now, save for the groans of the injured and the crackling of burning wreckage and aftershocks that signaled Ava’s departure. The soldiers who had survived stared at the destruction around them, their expressions blank with shell shock. For many, the sheer enormity of horrors they had just witnessed was just far too much to process.

“She’s unstoppable,” one officer whispered, his voice barely audible over the chaos. “The eggheads are saying she’s at least five hundred feet tall. I mean, how do you fight something like that? Captain, nothing we did made a goddamn dent.”

Marlowe didn’t have an answer. She could only speechlessly observe behind her screens as the last sign of former media darling Ava Nova melted away into the horizon, her tall shadow finally fading into the mist. The show was over for now. The world could only hope there was a way to stop her before the next one.