Shrinking Rae

Smoke curled into the bruised sky, the aftermath of a brutal clash between titans leaving the city in splintered disarray. Shattered glass littered the streets like ice, and jagged concrete slabs jutted from the earth as if the ground itself had erupted. Among the wreckage, the world was eerily still—save for the faint, uneven thump of a buried heartbeat. Shrinking Rae darted across the devastation, her suit scuffed, blood on her brow. Her boots crunched over debris as she scanned with sharp, calculating eyes. She felt it before she saw it—a tremor under a leaning section of collapsed freeway. A muffled groan. Still alive. Without hesitation, she shrank. Suddenly ant-sized, she slipped through the narrowest crevices, weaving past steel rods and dust-choked gaps until she found him. The young man lay pinned beneath a broken beam, barely conscious, blood trickling from his temple. He couldn't move. His breath was shallow. She expanded, careful not to worsen the fragile structure. Her hands, small but sure, pressed against the beam. Rae gritted her teeth, legs trembling as she focused her strength. Inch by inch, the weight lifted, just enough. With a final surge, she dragged him clear. Back to full size now, she hoisted him onto her back and leapt to safety, the road collapsing behind them as they landed atop a battered emergency vehicle. She knelt beside him, checking his pulse. Steady, but weak. He would live. As distant sirens approached, Rae sat beside the unconscious man, dirt and sweat streaking her face.