Minitropolis Penitentiary was home to several unsavory characters and thanks to the heroics of one Alexis Cole AKA ShrinkGirl, the residencies were filling up fast as the young 20 something brunette was quickly collecting many new enemies.

Located on what one would call the shadier side of town, the maximum security prison facility was firmly gated off by thick tattered fencing, barbed wire and your usual gaggle of swat officers and police dogs.

The streets of Minitropolis might have been a hotbed for criminal activity and unrest but the locked down mecca of the Penitentiary would suggest otherwise. This was a place of law and order, of forced compliance. A place where nothing ever ever went wrong and nothing out of the ordinary ever happened.

“Bang bang motherfuckers!!!” came a cackling voice, determined to rile up the peace.

The voice was a familiar one to law enforcement and criminals alike and belonged to a blonde haired feisty young woman known as Roxanne Wright ... although many would only be able to eep out the word “Roxie...” before meeting their bitter end, if she so desired it. More often than not though, the playful vixen with the leather spandex and colorful crop tops would simply toy with her foes, keeping them at bay with her twin .45's colored ruby red or sapphire blue and if that didn’t work for whatever reason she may persuade others, like that foolish ShrinkGirl with her ravishing hips or crudely painted lips.

But even as Roxie engaged in one of her favorite pastimes, firing off curse words faster than the bullets that leapt from the barrel of her guns, a lingering question would be on the mind of all those she terrorized or worked with.... why?

Why would the reckless Roxie even bother breaking into a penitentiary that would be by all accounts happy to have her as a permanent guest? Why risk it? Sure, Roxie was a loose cannon with an affinity for gambling but this felt more like randomness for randomness’ sake...

“We have a code 14 security breach!!” an anxious officer shouted over the litenany of noise as bullets fired off in the background of his alarmed radio call. Alas, before he could finish his sentence, the officer would meet a gruesome fate as Roxie was all too eager to slam the barrel ofher firearm into the side of his face, giggling with glee as she watched him topple over.

“False alarm!!” she cackled into the fallen guards radio only further pointing out her less than subtle motives.

Indeed, Roxie wasn’t there to get captured but rather to spring someone from the prisons iron tight grip. She was here, perhaps ... for unfinished business.

To that end sat a girl, quietly sobbing in her cell even amidst the chaos and screams that rained down around her. The noises echoed like firecrackers in the night but she was numb to it. She was numb to a lot since her ... accident.

She barely could distinguish, nor even care about the desperate cries of the prison guard on the other end of the door holding her cell as she heard him yell “fuck fuck fuck fuck...” before a single gunshot silenced him for good.

The downed security guard had been trying in vain to stop Roxie from reaching the very door she had so easily reached, and with surprisingly low casualties. After all, ending peoples lives with a single gunshot almost seemed too simplistic to the oddly nuanced young criminal. She loved to kill, but there was something more satisfying in a long term approach, which brought her now towards her target ... the woman in the cage.

“..what do you want?” the forlorn young woman groaned, already recognizing the voice as it haunted her in her nightmares since their last encounter.

This was no ordinary woman and no ordinary prisoner for that matter. While most of the prisoners shared cells or were crammed into cells about the size of small closets, this woman could be contained in one no bigger than a hamster cage, which is where she lived out herhumiliating sentence after being arrested one fateful night, caught up with the wrong crowd and reduced to the size of a small toy by the wretched woman she knew as ShrinkGirl ...

“Come on now, Rush...” Roxie smirked, looking down at her shrunken accomplice, “that’s no way to say hello to your old friend...”

“We’re not friends...” the young woman, who now went by Rush (or Sugar) responded.

“Suit yourself...” Roxie shrugged, swaying her hips as she sauntered around the tightly guarded prison cage which was surrounded by a small but potent laser grid, should the tiny prisoner ever regain the ambition or desire to escape. “I was just coming by to say hello and... oh I don’t know...give you a shot at vengeance but ... hey...”

“What... did you say?” Rachel asked, her tired pale face looking up at Roxie.

Since Sugar met her fate, an accidental one at the hands of Alexis Cole she no longer appeared the same. Her face (and entire body for that matter) had been permanently altered by prolonged exposure to food additives while shrunk to tiny size. Her pale white flesh made her appear almost candy like in a sick twist of fate befitting her self given namesake, Sugar Rush.

“Oh y’know ... little vengeance ... little ... revenge...” Roxie chuckled, an almost content tone in her voice as if she were describing a pleasant stroll on the beach while she leaned in, the woman’s busty body dwarfing the small cage as the reckless blonde paid no mind to the lasers. “..maybe some shopping and sushi afterwards... kick off the ol boots and watch some Desperate Housewives...?”

“Fuck you ...” Rachel sighed, turning away as she was intent on resuming her moping ways.

“Awwww cmon...” Roxie said, a slight hint of sorrow in her voice even as she jeered down at her tiny accomplice, “...I know I wasn’t the perfect friend but wasn’t I better than living in a hamster cage?”

“It’s not a hamster cage!!” Rachel squeaked and snapped, feeling insulted yet again. “It’s a prison cell and you put me in here!”

“I... did no such thing” Roxie said in a matter of fact tone, shaking her head at the accusations. “I... could have been more helpful admittedly...”

“You left me to get arrested! You left me to die!!” Rachel shrieked, her words perhaps being more scathing if not for her diminutive size in the face of the comparatively gargantuan woman.

Roxie offered no verbal defense and simply slid her shoulders a bit and looked down, before reaching into her pocket.

“Well... I suppose ... if your mind is made up...” Roxie responded with a half grin on her face,showing only a fragment of something metallic in her hand.

“Wh-What ... what is that??” Rachel asked curiously.

“Oh... just your old shit... battlesuit and all...” Roxie grinned, holding it out as if making a peace offering, “now whattaya say we go make a certain Shrinkpunk’s life a living hell? Huh? Wouldn’t that be nice...?”

Rachel looked at Roxie with a strong trepidation but could only exhale, realizing her options were limited.

"I'm in”

___________________


While the tragically misguided Rachel Rutschmann was being broken out of one kind of prison,the resilient but bubbly Alexis Cole found herself plunged into another kind of prison altogether as a wicked wind blew through her burnt sepia colored hair, eyes squinting to see anything in the growing vortex of gusts and sand which seemed to swirl around her.

“Hello...?!” Lexi yelled, voice fading uselessly into the ether, “Uh ... anybody here?”

Lexi found the entire scenario beyond bizarre but then again that had become the order of the day since an incident at the much maligned Enormo Enterprises in downtown Miniborough set her life on a whole different course.

Shaking her head, Lexi held her clammy hands stubbornly against her own arms as a whipping frigid wind snapped and crackled at her feet and she watched in pure shock as the sandy ground below her morphed into a thick and fluffy froth of pinks and magentas resolving the unmistakable hue of an ... ice cream cone?

“Lexi?” she heard a voice beckon to her from through the noise. It sounded like her friend, Mara,the 5'6 green eyed red haired woman who at one time was Lexi’s coworker at a small college based eatery known as the Krazy Kookie.

“Mara?” Lexi yelped, a brief break in the noise making her voice suddenly audible to the looming red head who came into view through the blizzard like clouds above as they dissipated giving more coherence to Lexi’s current situation.

The stunned brunette found herself atop an impossibly large but somehow nearly perfect sphere of strawberry ice cream as it rested, perched atop a large Statue of Liberty-esque ice cream cone. Lexi was about to shout out again to her lovely friend with the sweet tooth before she felt her legs sliding a bit, as if being absorbed by the quicksand that was the ice cream surface below her.

“H-Hey!! Ack!! C’mon!” Lexi groaned, her body falling victim to the downward gravity of the viscous lactose as it pulled her down, although not enough to entirely submerge her.

“Oh Lexi...” the now aware Mara sputtered out, finally spotting her friends body on her scoop of ice cream as if finding a wayward sprinkle, “I knew you were sweet but this is a bit too much, no?”

Mara’s infectious but overbearing laughter filled Lexi’s ears as the curious elf girl (oh right, she was also part elf, was that not previously mentioned?) slid her powerful pink tongue along the surface, scraping a good amount of the geography and suctioning it into her mouth. Lexi let out a bit of a weak grin, finding the display a bit cute but perhaps not so much given her own frosty predicament.

“Mara?” Lexi chuckled nervously, not wanting her friend to lose sight of where she was on the ice creams circumference, “Um... I think that it’s great you've found a tasty ice cream but uh... remember, we’re friends... you know? Friends... don’t eat friends...”

As chaotic as things had been to that point for Lexi as she tried to keep her patented positive attitude up at full strength, she’d feel her heart sink just as her world shifted ; an unmistakable result of the giantess Mara tilting the ice cream cone to her gargantuan lips for a more up close and personal chomp.

“Maraaaaa!!” Lexi screamed, the elf girl’s teeth growing more and more prominent, as too did an unusual odor, “MARA!! Geez!! Heh... your breath kind of stinks, girl...”

Lexi then paused. This wasn’t Mara.

“Girl?”

Lexi groaned, her head feeling like she had been hit by a freight train as reality dawned on her in a very unusual way, although surprisingly this also was becoming a more common occurrence of late. The strange and twisted size based dreams...

“Seriously...” Lexi groaned, her hand reaching up and brushing against a bristly surface resembling a thick wall of fur, “what the hell are we feeding you, Tiny?”

Lexi in this case was referring to her ironically named orange tabby cat “Tiny” who was currently sniffing over her usually much bigger owner’s shrunken body as it lay within the sheets of her bed. Those sheets lay twirled and tangled up like the savage wasteland Lexi had dreamt herself to be.

“Okay okay!!” Lexi squeaked, beginning to shift her tone from panicked to a bit more irritated as she groaned and rolled onto her side, only to be further prodded by her cat. “Come on Tiny... I said enough!!”

As Lexi lay there, rolling a bit and giggling involuntarily as a result of the cat’s tickling whiskers she’d observe a hanging shadow as it encroached on the threshold of her bedroom’s doorframe.

“Lexi, sweetie?” a familiar female voice rang out through the room, as Lexi herself emerged from the sheets, laying sideways and shrieking as she tumbled out of the bed as the result of her sudden growth back to normal size, “..ugh there you are ... come on, stop goofing around with the cat, we’ve gotta get going”

“G..Going?” a confused Lexi sighed, petting Tiny gingerly as she sat herself up by leaning against the side of her mattress while she remained slumped down on the bedroom floor.

“Yes... remember your dad got today off to help you move your stuff into your dorm room?” Lexi’s mom sighed, finding herself equal parts confused and concerned for her daughter who hadn’t seemed quite right of late.

“Oh... oh yeah...” Lexi nodded, rubbing her head.

“You sure you’re okay?” Lexi’s mom asked, “It’s not like you to oversleep but lately you’ve spent a lot of time in bed ... you sure you’re not coming down with something?”

“’m fine, mom” Lexi chimed in, cheering up as she lifted herself up, wearing a white tank top, gray pajama shorts and socks, although still appearing a bit disheveled as she hobbled over to the closet, “I’ll be down in a bit to meet Dad ... what time is it anyway?”

“It’s almost 2...” Lexi’s mom said, sounding discouraged

“2 o'clock?” Lexi gasped, “like in the afternoon?”

Lexi’s mom could only nod as Tiny made his way out of the room, looking as if he had had enough as well.

“Oh shit... sorry uh... shoot...” Lexi sighed, “..why didn’t anyone come get me earlier?”

“We figured you could use the rest...” Lexi’s mom responded, leaning on the doorframe as another voice was heard behind her momentarily, “yeah hon, she’s awake...”

Lexi’s dad now Joined her mom at the door frame, holding an envelope up at angle as Lexi gave him an odd look. The envelope was addressed to Alexis Cole herself from the University of Miniborough.

“Incoming!” Lexi’s dad proclaimed, tossing the envelope in like a boomerang, Lexi snagging it in her right hand.

“Thanks Dad!” Lexi replied cheerfully as she perused her closet casually for clothes for the day while also using a free hand to begin shredding the upper half of the envelope.

Lexi’s parents were just about to retreat and give their daughter some privacy before the once bubbly brunette let out a defeated sigh.

“Lexi?” her dad asked, “..is everything okay?”

“Well...” Lexi replied with a huff, blowing a tuft of her from her hazy eyes, “looks like you won’t have to take me to campus today ...”

__________________________________


“That'll be $7.85 sir...” the friendly cashier at the Shrink Shack said from behind a wooden counter with red and blue trim as she handed a man in a white lab coat a bag from the restaurant containing a to-go order for a burger and fries with a drink.

“Thank you, Miss” the man responded, handing her exact change before slipping a tip in the tip cup and turning to exit the restaurant.

The “Shrink Shack” (formerly known as the Snack Shack) had always been a popular little spot for locals and tourists alike to enjoy a burger or shake in the Minitropolis area but recently its popularity exploded with its sponsorship of heroic youth ShrinkGirl taking the small area by storm.

As a result nearly the entire menu had been given clever names related to the city’s small heroine, such as the ShrinkBurger, Spritekin Cola or Freedom Fries ... wait... that last one had already existed...

Perhaps then it was even more perplexing that the man who made the to-go order was heading to work at the one place that found ShrinkGirl the most repugnant.... none other than the looming scientific factory all residents knew as Enormo Enterprises.

In would walk the veteran doctor by the name of Joseph Wright, an unusual smile on his face as something so simple as a brief lunch break brought him joy, especially when the staff at the “Shrink Shack” were on their game as had been the case on this afternoon.

Unable to contain his wait any longer, the Doctor had already begun munching on his burger, half unwrapping it in his hand as he walked past an office he was all too familiar with ... the office of scientific engineer and self proclaimed CEO Dr. Maxmillian E Mumford.

Most employees were all too familiar with the workings of mad genius Maximillian and this is why they almost all methodically avoided any route that would take them past said office for fear of being caught up in his latest never ending rant or worse, incurring his wrath if an experiment hadn’t gone according to plan.

Lately though, the mad doctor had been a bit more quiet than usual, which had some people relieved while others worried even further. Just what was the Doctor planning?

The curiosity was almost as strong as Dr. Wright’s hunger as he peeked into the office to just have a quick peek. To his surprise, the Doctor was inside the office but he didn’t appear his usual angry self, he almost had a semblance of a smile on his face as he grinned emphatically at the
sight of a large machine as it rose up over him.

Dr. Wright should have known better but he decided to investigate further, if for no other reason than he thought it unusual that the Doctor was working alone on what appeared to be such a massive project.

Maximillian didn’t usually take so well to unannounced and sudden visits from anyone, so Dr. Wright was pushing his luck a bit by shimmying up so close to his boss during his project. Even still, the Doctor didn’t seem too perturbed until he saw the bag in Dr. Wright’s hand.

“This?!” Dr. Max shrieked, snatching the bag almost instantly and holding it up as the fries shook and tumbled inside, “What is this that you are bringing here?! The SHRINK... SHACK?!”

“Um... y-yes sir..” Dr. Wright sighed, now regretting his decision to check on the Doctor, “would you uh.... like some of my ShrinkFries?”

“No! I would NOT be liking some of the... ARRRRRGH!!” Maximillian shouted, voice echoing off the walls as he threw the bag with disdain to the ground, fries spilling out everywhere, “Has this entire town gone insane?! We should putting this ShrinkGirl into the jail, not making FRENCH FRIES IN HER HONOR!! What in the actual hell is this indignation?!”

“I'm ... I'm sorry sir..” Dr. Wright sighed, his usual anxiety returning in a hurry as he rushed toscoop his filthy fries from the otherwise clean and glossy tiled floors. As he did so, he found himself being handed a fry by a metallic claw, “..oh, thank you ... what the hell?!”

“Oh please...” Dr. Max sighed, making no effort to help his associate out with the mess that he made and rather continuing to rant as a couple of Max’s faithful robotic minions, known as the Maximites went to work acting as vacuums, brooms and dustpans to clear the area of potato encrusted debris. “You know that even a genius such as myself couldn’t finish all this work alone ... or perhaps you have not noticed that I haven’t been as active on the floor making sure that everything is up to code...??”

“Oh no, sir..” Joseph stammered, never too comfortable with the Maximites, resembling mangy mutts as they walked unnaturally on 2 jagged legs with fierce mouths resembling metallic beaks.“I...uh...we.... yes, we’ve noticed...”

“I assure you ...” Dr. Max said, “it’s not because I’ve suddenly developed any shred of trust or confidence in any of you because I can say with certainty that is definitely not the case...”

“Oh uh... that’s uh... that’s good, I guess...” Joseph sighed, wondering when his own indignation would end.

“Well anyway ... you likely have no interest in this grand plan I’m working on... so...” Dr. Max stammered, about to send his underling away before realizing he wanted just a moment to gloat, “..no, you know what? Maybe you should be filled in... come... take a look at this...”

Dr. Wright did as he was told, taking a beleaguered step closer to the large machine on display where sparking wires and ominous creaking sounds made it none too approachable. Before he could get too close though, Dr. Max emerged from behind a desk holding a shiny purple medal.

While not an expert on such things, it didn’t take Dr. Wright long to surmise the significance of the medal as it bore an extremely bright, if not tacky, gold SG emblem on its surface. The Doctor’s eyes rose with astonishment.

“How did you ... get that?” Dr. Joseph Wright asked in pure bewilderment.

“That is not important” Dr. Max replied, his hands swirling over the warm surface of the medal as it still sizzled as if having been supercharged, “THIS is just one instrument in my foolproof plan to..."

“Uh... you know what?” Joseph sighed uncomfortably, taking a step back as he clutched his tattered Shrink Shack bag, “Maybe I shouldn’t know about this ... for uh... legal reasons”

“Suit yourself...” Dr. Max replied in a strangely sing-songing tone as he returned the SG medal into the slot on the machine from whence it came, “but hopefully you did NOT forget what today is...”

“Um... August 2nd?”

“Nein! ...I mean yes but also ... it is the date of the grand opening of our OTHER project in town...” Maximillian proclaimed, throwing a newspaper in the doctors face. Dr. Wright took the newspaper and briefly skimmed it with his eyes.

“Pack of puppies save a duckling from Central Pond...” Dr. Wright read out loud, a bit confused

“The other side! Read the other side...” Dr. Max sighed with frustration.

“City hall takes a pause as debates on the next school budget grow tense...”

“Down here... ugh....” Dr. Max groaned in disgust, “...too many of the Shrink Burgers have turned your mind to mush!”

“Oh... uh... new cookie place opens on school campus... August 2nd...” Dr. Wright shrugged, putting the paper down, before nodding as he remembered the labs loose affiliation with the operation, “Oh... that was today? Well I mean... I could swing by after work and pick up some snickerdoodles or something...”

“Is food all you think about?!” Dr. Max shrieked

“Well no... but you said ...”

“The Cookie Place is a FRONT!!” Dr. Max sighed, “..does ANYBODY read my NEWSLETTERS?!”

“Ummm well... uh... you know...” Dr. Wright stammered, attempting desperately to change the subject, “You know ... now that you mention it... my son was talking about applying for a job there...”

“Nobody cares about your son, Dr. Wright...” Max sighed, before realizing his own faux pas in his phrasing, “Oh uh... you know what I meant... sorry ... been a bit overworked in the laboratory you see...”

Dr. Wright just sighed and walked out of the room in disgust, walking past a tall young lady who had just started working there over the summer. Her nametag read “Gloria Graff” and she had long wavy brown hair with an olive complexion.

“Is ... Dr. Max alright?” she asked, “I heard some shouting coming from down here...”

“He’s in one of his moods again ... what else is new...?” Dr. Wright grumbled as he continued his schlepping back to his own office.

"This is such bullshit!" a discouraged Lexi grunted before drawing looks of disdain from her mom, "uh ... bullhonkey... sorry..."

"Well, you're upset ..." Lexi's mom sighed, taking the letter from her her frustrated daughter, "I don't blame you ... "

"I sense a 'but' coming..." Lexi replied,

"Well..." Lexi's mom said pensively, reading the letter again carefully,

The letter came from the board of administrators at the University of Miniborough responding to Lexi's request for University Housing for the upcoming semester. It read as follows:

"Dear Alexis Cole,

We regret to inform you that your application for University Housing has been denied in light of recent events and public safety concerns. The board of adminstrators feel that it would be a safety risk to allow you to live on campus at this time. We do however look forward to welcoming you back to Miniborough University for the upcoming Fall Semester!"

Lexi sighed just shaking her head when she felt a vibration from her pocket signaling a phone call. She looked down and forced a bit of a smile as she saw her best friend Leah Henderson's name flash on the phone's caller ID.

"I uh ... I'm gonna talk to Leah for a bit ..." Lexi sighed, "We can talk about what a failure I am later ..."

Lexi's mom let out a sigh of disgust following the melodramatic statement as her downtrodden daughter retreated, "Lex ... you are not a failure ... hon ... go tell her she's not a failure..."

"I think she knows..." Lexi's dad shrugs, before looking over the letter himself, "Still... I know she was looking forward to living on campus this semester ... I think it's a bit ridiculous..."

"Well I don't love it either ..." Lexi's mom replied with a bit of indecisiveness in her voice

"...I sense a 'but' coming..." Lexi's dad teased.

_______________________

Things at the Mini-Troop Headquarters located in Downtown Minitropolis had been extra hectic lately, both due to the recent prison break but also with the emergence of "ShrinkGirl" copycats and a new seemingly hyper-dedicated faction of criminals, be they Chaos Crew or other who seemed intent on swearing vengeance to Lexi.

Due to that extra risk, an Officer had even been appointed to periodically check on the Cole residence following Lexi's disappearance through a wormhole earlier that summer. The Officer, known as Carl Scolex had been scouting out the house for a couple months now although something about his behavior always seemed erratic to one officer in particular ; her name was Sonia Sanders.

Officer Sanders was one of the younger cops on the Minitropolis Police Force (affectionately referred to, or perhaps in mocking referred to as The Mini Troop) as well as one of the shortest, clocking in at just a tick over 5'1 but she also had a certain passion for her job, and even rarer, a sense of humor that differentiated her from her colleagues.

She was also incredibly observant of details, even during the ever changing landscape of fighting crime in a small city seemingly overrun with it. While juggling desk work, field work and all manners of patrol work she also found herself noticing many things about her colleague Officer Carl Scolex. Some of them could simply be attributed to stress or perhaps some details about the job assignment that she wouldn't be privvy too. But she couldn't escape the unshakable feeling that something was off about Carl.

"...there's something off about Carl" Sonia said out loud to one of her junior officers, Jeff Tannebaum.

"All due respect Officer Sanders ..." Jeff said, "I really need to finish this paperwork before 5 and ... I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say ... off..."

"Right. Sorry ..." Sonia sighed, but not because she was truly regretful. She just knew better than to air grievances aloud.

Perhaps part of Sonia's concern over Scolex came from their differing points of view on the recent emergence of Alexis Cole AKA ShrinkGirl as some kind of vigilante ne'erdo-well superhero in the small town. Sonia certainly didn't love everything Lexi did ... but overall she understood where the young woman was coming from and certainly never wished her harm or any legal ramifications in whatever avenue she chose to pursue.

Carl Scolex on the other hand jumped on the "ShrinkGirl is a menace!" bangwagon fairly early on and seemed to be dedicating the remainder of his career to delving into her case. While his approach could be a bit radical at times, it seemed his thinking on Lexi was by and large shared by the Mini Troop, which made Sonia's "ShrinkGirl Sympathy" as it was known feel somewhat out of place.

"Alright, listen up everybody!" an exhausted sounding Carl Scolex announced, standing in front of about a dozen of his peers as they either picked their heads up off of desks or turned to him while standing. "...I just got some news from the chief who was just on the phone with the mayor ..."

There was a long pause in Carl's speech as if about to announce something truly catastrophic. Finally, after a long drawn out breath, he made his announcement.

"...the mayor has decided to hold a public ceremony at town hall in a couple of weeks and was inquiring about police availability ..." Carl sighed. At this point, everybody seemed a bit bewildered. Not that it wasn't an important duty but these kind of events were always met with police presence, bomb sniffing dogs and the like.

"...the event in question..." Carl continued, speaking as though there were rocks in his mouth, "... is to celebrate ... ShrinkGirl..."

At the drop of this polarizing name, the police station was in a frenzy, as a cacoughphony of murmurs, whispers and quiet shouts could be heard reverberating through.

"I know .. I know..." Carl said in disgust, "Apparently he plans to ... honor her... in a ceremony and says it's for the best that the community embrace her as a ... as a hero..."

The words made the hardened officer sick to say. He shared the sentiments of his coworkers who all repeated the words with great astonishment.

"A hero? She's ... she's the reason we're so ragged? Are you fucking kidding me? She's a so-called superhero for chrissakes? can't she take care of herself?"

"Look." Carl said, after giving the Officers a moment to vent their frustrations, "I'm not thrilled about it either but I look at it like this. We all have a duty to the Mayor and the city of Minitropolis to conduct ourselves professionally and maintain safety."

A few people reluctantly offered their support.

"But additonally..." Carl added, "It may just give us an opportunity to see her slip up... so be alert, be tactful and do not hesitate to make an arrest if needed..."

One officer raised their hand as if to raise a question

"You mean ... if someone tries to attack her or the crowd?"

"I mean if SHE tries anything..." Carl said, a sneer of hatred mixed in with his voice.

____________________________

A few blocks away from the police station was a row of small businesses, consisting of a card shop for avid Magic the gathering gamers, a few small-time salons and eateries and a fairly new business that went by the name of Aztek Parts and More, owned by former Enormo Enterprises scientist, Dr. Trevor Hilfmann.

At this time, the main owner, aged somewhere in his late 50's was simply watching as a new hire, a woman with hair dyed light cobalt took her time looking through a database. The doctor appeared a bit tense as he watched her, silence befalling the room save for the rapid key clicks on a fairly dated computer keyboard.

The woman with light blue hair had striking but cold eyes of a similar hue as she remained steely in her focus, typing away before taking a momentary pause.

Trevor backed away for a moment, perhaps self conscious that he was crowding her space. The woman nodded a bit, seeming neither happy nor sad about the situation and gave him a fairly stone cold look before shrugging.

"You should be fine now Mr. Hilfmann" she said.

"Oh..." Trevor said, trying to hide his excitement even as he rejoiced internally, "Oh thank you so much ... I'm sorry, you rname was ... Aeriel?"

"Aeris" the young woman said, "and ... thankfully nothing of yours got too corrupted or anything. I appreciate the call. Had you waited much longer, who knows what may have happened to your files? Seems you've got a lot of valuable information on this server"

"Something like that ..." Trevor sighed, "I must admit, this is a tad embarassing for me ... I'm not exactly an out of date amateur when it comes to these kind of things but I guess in today's day and age, it helps to fortify one's cyber security"

"Of course" Aeris responded, her eyes occasionally fluttering between the computer and the kindly man in the white lab coat. "Well, for today it's just the one time charge of $249, unless...you'd be willing to try out our service that I mentioned..."

"Ah, the cyber security package..." Trevor responded, referring down to a business card in his hand from the new startup company Cyber-Tek.

Their advertisements were definitely ramping up as they got closer and closer to making the leap into the public domain. The company promised to be a more transparent approach to future technologies, working to create state of the art robotics, drones and ballstics and innovative solutions to thwart a new generation of cyber criminals.

The "more transparent approach" was a shot at their main competitor who had been in the area for over 2 decades ; Enormo Enterprises. Enormo always had a more "sinister" view in town due to the shady nature of just what it is they did (or the often unknown nature of it) and Cybertek looked to market itself as a "cleaner and kinder" face of the community, opening up in a nearby region.

Despite the public "battle" between the 2 companies, they were actually fairly friendly with one another ; borrowing techonologies from their counterpart to help advance both causes. It would be foolish after all for CyberTek not to accept some help from the "pros" when it came to such things as drones and surveillance, something that was a bit of a budding interest for young founder, Scott Travis.

"Simply something to ponder, Mr. Hilfmann..." Aeris proposed in a calming and professional manner even as her voice lacked a lot of emotion. "If I may ... infer ... you seem to be somebody who ... makes a decent amount of enemies? That's not a bad thing, really. In fact it usually means you're doing something right."

Trevor paused for a moment, not wanting to go too far into it, even though he was sure the young woman with whom he was speaking might sympathize. After all, she was a CyberTek employee so she'd be at least somewhat familiar with Trevor's former employer, the monolithic Enormo Enterprises.

"Well ... thank you and ... you're probably right." Trevor replied, looking back at the computer again as it finished the last of loading a few updates installed by the young woman Aeris.

While Trevor's attention was diverted, Aeris herself happened to snag a glance at a fairly elaborate workshop behind the Doctor.

"Heh, still keeping up on engineering, sir?" Aeris asked, remarking towards the piles of scrap and robotic experiments in the sealed off room. While nothing on the scale of CyberTek or Enormo Enterprises, it was indeed a modest showing by a single man running a small business.

"Oh! Oh ..." Trevor sighed, again embarassed to have left the workshop so exposed, "Yes ... I uh ... I suppose you could say that..."

"If I may be candid for a moment, sir..." Aeris said, "I think I remember your name coming up about a year or so ago ... when CyberTek was in discussions with Enormo about a possible merger..."

"Oh? Well that is entirely possible..." Trevor confessed, "and I remember some of those meetings myself when I was ... still there..."

"So you ARE the Dr. Hilfmann I remember?" Aeris said, a slight wryness to her otherwise automated sounding voice, "I thought you looked and sounded familiar ... but wasn't your last name something else at one time?"

"Uh... that's a long story" Trevor said, trying to shift the topic, "Is there... anything else I should know about my server? Or does your report cover all of it?"

"Well you're back online..." Aeris replied, breezing past the topic as if it were trash on the side of a freeway, "the program will do its thing to repair any directories that may have been hit and after that, the program will go ahead and delete itself. You'll get a confirmation of this sent to your phone to ensure your privacy is secured ... but like I said ... if you ever do decide to go with us for a more regular Cyber Security service, feel free to look me up ..."

"Thank you" Trevor said thankfully, "I'll be sure to do that"

Aeris nodded as she shook the man's hand began to walk away even as her eyes zoned in on one particular detail, a vial of what appeared to be blood taped to a tiled wall. The vial was detained along with a handful of others, all with different subsequent dates noted underneath and the name "ShrinkGirl" on them.

She simply remained still for a moment before showing herself out the front door.

___________________

It was a breezy summer day on camus at Miniborough University as the short, stout trees wavered in the breeze. Waiting for her best friend was a 5'6 brunette named Leah Henderson, mid-phone call with her friend Joshua James who had been hard at work on a birthday surprise for a certain purple and gold clad superheroine.

"Thanks again for getting them for me ..." Josh said, peering down at the near finished product on his lab's workbench.

While he wasn't quite as versed as a veteran engineer like Trevor Hilfmann, Josh had his own tricks up his sleeves and liked to refer to himself as Lexi's "man in the chair" for being able to come up with crafty scientific solutions to her problems.

More than that though, he considered himself a good friend and was more than ecstatic to surprise her for her birthday, and also found himself grinning ear to ear anytime he saw her image on a poster in town or even just thought about her. Heck, everything about Lexi just seemed to make him smile lately...

"Yeah ... well, it wasn't easy explaining to her why I needed them ..." Leah said with a sheepish grin as she rehoisted a fairly heavy tote bag over her shoulder. The weight inside was awkward as it contained a trendy metallic lamp. "Oh hold on ... I gotta go, I see her coming ... yes, okay ... talk later, bye"

As Leah knelt down a bit, the result of trying to balance all the weight she was carrying while hanging up the phone, Lexi showed up, all too ready to help.

"So this is the lamp?" Lexi asked with a grin, as if it could be anything else in the overflowing tote bag that swayed precariously on her best friends shoulder.

"Heh, yeah ..." Leah shrugged, before taking note of how quickly her friend had arrived, "Wait, how did you get here so fast? Finding parking anywhere this close is usually a bitch..."

Lexi simply grinned and slapped her purse, giving Leah an eyebrow raise.

The gesture would normally need more explanation but Leah and Lexi communicated often with simple non-verbal gestures throughout the years. It also helped that Leah had become all too familiar with Lexi's new life as a superhero by night ... and day for that matter. She knew Lexi liked to occasionally show off that her vehicle of choice, an interdimensional purple Stratacruze (more easily referred to as the "Shrinkmobile" could conveniently change sizes when needed.

"You shrank the car again, huh?" Leah said with a slight giggle in her voice

"Hey, if you buy a convertible, you're going to lower the roof sometimes" Lexi said in a bragging tone, "or in this case .. the whole car I guess..."

"Anyways..." Leah smirked as the two continued their conversation while strolling towards the University Housing, "are you sure you don't mind meeting me down here? I said we could go grab something at the mall after... I'm just stopping by my dorm for a bit to put this lamp in there ... plus I need to run some laundry while I'm here ... but that shouldn't take long..."

"I mean, I still go to school here..." Lexi said, trying to shake off the feeling of rejection she had, "and I'm sure I'll be crashing over Casa de Leah from time to time..."

"I just hope you aren't expecting me to clean up the place every time you show up unexpected" Leah teased, "because you know I won't"

"Trust me, I know" Lexi grinned, elbowing her best friend playfully noticing the lamp sliding around in the bag, "Hey, do you want me to carry that for you for a bit?"

"I mean... if you want ..." Leah shrugged, continuing to walk alongside Lexi as a trio of other students made their way by on the opposite facing path, "You sure you can handle it with that mondo purse you always have?"

"Piece of cake, Lee..." Lexi said with another air of confidence emanating from her voice, "after all, I saved a ton of room in this purse recently ... you wanna know how...?"

"Yes I know, Lex" Leah said with a playful smirk as she slipped the bag with the lamp over onto Lexi's shoulder, causing the duo to pause briefly, letting the other bypassers continue on their walk, "You shrank your car..."

Lexi shrugged as she slowly took on the weight of the lamp, its metallic surfaces occasionally grazing the side of her arm as it shuffled around in the bag.

What Lexi and Leah had neglected to notice was that at least one of the students that passed by them overheard the casual exchange and their eyes lit up, darting back to the two girls and quickly recognizing the 5'4 brunette.

"So you got this lamp from work?" Lexi asked, not finding it heavy but indeed hard to control as it seemed to always want to slip out of the bag which, to be fair, wasn't ideal to transport such a bulky object.

"Yeah, Sally was just going to throw it away but I think it looks super trendy ... and hey, it's free!" Leah giggled

"Congratulations, Leah" Lexi teased, "you're well on your way to being a thrifty old lady who hits all the garage sales"

"Fuck yeah, girl..." Leah shrugged, casually taking out her phone to respond to a text before the two stopped in their tracks, altered by a female voice behind them.

"Omigosh, is it really you? Lexi?" the girl asked.

Lexi wondered if it was too late to say no but the fact that she responded to the name at all made her awfully suspicious.

"Oh um... yes... yes I suppose it is" Lexi replied in a cheerful tone. She didn't want to be rude after all.

She turned to face the girl who asked for her and saw a pretty but anxious looking blonde girl with reserved blue eyes, tufts of blonde hair obscuring some of her facial features as it casually drooped along her face and down quite a ways past her shoulders. The girl, clad in a black t-shirt that clung to her curvy body also wore jeans to complete the fairly casual look, something Leah as a fashionista of sorts likely wouldn't approve of but it was right up Lexi's alley as she always appreciated a more "do as you please" approach to style.

"Hi... um... heh... sorry...." the blonde girl muttered, looking a bit nervous now, as if she had been caught doing something wrong.

"No need to be sorry, what's up?" Lexi asked, maintaining her positive demeanor even as Leah's damned trendy lamp threatened to give her long term shoulder pain with how it leaned and swayed awkwardly in the flimsy tote bag.

"Well I just ... ugh okay!" the girl said, her voice quickly gaining in both confidence and tempo, "I'm just going to ask ... uh ... are you ShrinkGirl?"

The question was asked so quickly and haphazardly that it caused both Lexi and Leah to pause. Not because they were upset or surprised but it was more that the girls demeanor in asking it seemed more akin to a groupie meeting their favorite rock star for the first time.

"Ummm... ShrinkGirl?" Leah asked, trying to play dumb for the sake of Lexi's perceived "secret identity" that was more or less no longer a thing. "Is that like uh ... Santa Claus? Lexi, are you Santa Claus?"

Lexi gave Leah a bit of an annoyed look to reassure her best friend that it was okay to drop the act.

"Yes ... okay? Yes..." Lexi said, maybe sounding a bit more irritated than she really was but only because of the extra weight on her shoulder, plus she felt herself experiencing those annoying tingles again ... something she had hoped ended a while back when Dr. Hilfmann had been treating her. "I am ... ShrinkGirl..."

"Omigosh!!" the woman giggled, her voice loud enough to draw the attention of a few uninvolved bystanders who quickly shrugged it off, "It IS you! I knew it! I knew it!"

"Heh yeah... I ... I'm sorry..." Lexi sighed, reaching out to shake the shorter blonde girl's hand, "I didn't get your name?"

"Oh! Oh shit! Yeah! Heh ... sorry I'm Krystal!" the young woman said, "I just ... ugh,. I'm sorry, you probably get this all the time... I know you're hanging out with your friend here..."

"Best friend" Leah said, with an air of smugness. Krystal frowned a bit, not meaning to offend either of them.

"Oh! Oh right ... I ... yeah..." Krystal nodded, "You must be uh ... huh. Does ShrinkGirl have a sidekick?"

"Sidekick?!" Leah grunted, a notable raise in her voice

"No no... I'm sorry... ugh can I start again?" Krystal sighed and the way she composed herself instantly caused Leah to soften up once she realized the girl was more overexcited than anything and wasn't trying to patronize, "I just ... I see so many posters of ... of YOU, Lexi... of ... ShrinkGirl .... I mean usually you're eating a burger or ... smiling into a camera..."

"Wow..." leah smirked, looking over to Lexi in a teasing manner, "Where did you learn such high end acting talent?"

"...but in all those posters I notice you're ... by yourself..." Krystal continued, "which is cool, by the way! I just don't know like ... when you fight crime ... like do you have a sidekick like a Robin or ... shit what was Spider-Man's sidekick?"

"I don't think he had one..." Leah said, sounding fairly confident

"To be fair, you also thought Alfred was Batman's brother..." Lexi smirked

"Look I've heard a few names from the comics ... I don't know their whole family tree, so sue me..." Leah sighed with defeat

"Anyway ... yes I'm sorry to bother you Ms. Lexi..." Krystal sputtered to which Lexi shook her head

"No no, you're fine... really" Lexi nodded, "you go to school here as well?"

"I'm starting this fall... I'm super excited!" Krystal said, her hyper energy a bit infectious and charming. "...but even more so if I'm going to school with you!"

"I'm here too, hi..." Leah said, half joking but a bit annoyed to be "Lexi's sidekick" in this impromptu exchange

"Oh, of course... ugh I'm such a dope, sorry ..." Krystal gulped shyly, reaching out a hand to shake Leah's, "My name's Krystal ... wait I already said that..."

"Leah..." Leah said, trying to ease the newcomers nerves, "and it's fine, really... we were just doing ... errand stuff, nothing special"

"Oh my gosh, ShrinkGirl and Leah do errands together?" Krystal gasped, seemingly a bit too excited about this news, "I do errands! Like all the time!"

Lexi smirked a bit and nodded

"I'm sure you're great at it..." Lexi said with a smile

"You mean that? Ugh, that's so cool! You don't know how cool this is!" Krystal blurted out, "I talk about you to my friends like all the time... I think you are SO awesome... the way you just ... ugh... so like... you can shrink, right? Can you shrink other people?"

Lexi nodded shyly, not sure how to feel about this overload of attention. It was making her feel a bit stiff, although that could have also originated from a number of things inflicting her physically at the moment, including a tingly numbing sensation that slid its way down her spine and into her legs.

"Omigosh..." Krystal eeped out, "Could you like ... could you shrink ME?"

Lexi's eyes widened a bit and she didn't look offended but also wasn't sure how to respond.

"Oh! Um... well... I ... heh..." Lexi said, grinning a bit to hide any nerves she felt, the tingling fading for the moment and allowing to move a bit more freely even as she carried the cumbersome lamp still.

Leah shrugged, slightly amused by the idea.

"I mean I suppose you COULD give her a demonstration ..."Leah giggled, "although you may wanna give her the warning first"

"The warning?" Krystal asked curiously

"Oh ... well it's not like .. .a sure thing but there's MAYBE ... just a SLIGHT CHANCE ... that your clothes don't shrink with you..." Lexi admitted with a bashful look on her face

"Yeah, this one left me tiny and buried in my dress in the middle of the forest!" Leah scoffed

"I was still learning!" Lexi groaned

"You guys are so cute!" Krystal giggled, "mind if I get a selfie?"

With a slight nod from the two girls, Krystal quickly deployed her smart phone, grasping it tight as she leaned in for a very awkward type of selfie where all three of the figures were barely in frame. She'd still observe it with a grin of pride, however.

"Gosh that's so great!" Krystal smirked, "Anyways ... sorry again to bother you two, I should probably catch up with my friends now but thank you so much for the picture and your time!"

"Heh... take it easy there..." Leah replied, waving sheepishly before glancing back at Lexi, "Nice girl ... a bit overzealous ... surprised you didn't shrink her"

"She didn't really give me a chance..." Lexi said, again feeling a cloak of lightheadness clouding her vision as she stumbled a bit.

"You sure you got that, Lex?" Leah asked, coming back at aide her friend, "you've seemed a bit out of sorts since you took the bag ... we don't have that much further to go..."

"I'll be fine" Lexi groaned, although held her head as she took an involuntary break by slouching at a nearby green metallic bench, setting the bag down at her ankles. Leah joined Lexi at the bench and tilted her head, appearing worried.

"Lex?" Leah sighed, prompting Lexi to turn and face her, "you sure you're doing okay? I know you told me about those weird dreams you've been having where you wake up really tiny"

"Oh! Oh yeah ... I didn't tell you the latest one, did I?" Lexi said, trying to change the subject as the mere mention of it was making her heart begin to race.

"Mara and the ice cream?" Leah smirked.

"Oh okay so I did tell you..." Lexi shrugged, her senses returning to normal now that she was in a sitting position, although her focus was shifting quickly to the logo on the bench as well as the corresponding logo on the building not too far from them.

The bench was green and gold to reflect the colors of the new cookie place on campus, known as KEKSE. Originally intended to be a small start up, and competition for "The Krazy Kookie", it would soon become the only cookie place on campus (plus what kind of campus needs 2 seperate cookie operations within walking distance of the other?) after a horrific attack left the Krazy Kookie in disrepair.

It was originally planned to be rebuilt but between the tradgedy of the attack and the incarceration of Cindy Rutschmann's lone daughter Rachel as part of the whole ordeal, Rutschmann cookies pulled their support and the business would ultimately decide to remain closed. It was something that still angered Lexi to this day -- not because she loved cookies, although they were good, but more that there was something about the KEKSE company she didn't trust nor like.

"Lex? Lexi?" Leah asked, practically snapping her fingers in her friends face to regain her attention

"Huh?" the dazed brunette responded

"Geez Lexi..." Leah sighed, looking a bit more forlorn, "You're getting me really worried, hon..."

"I'm fine... really..." Lexi grumbled before looking down and away, unable to maintain eye contact as she watched people casually shuffling in and out of the newly opened Kekse cookie kitchen. "It's just ..."

Leah keenly observed Lexi's hand balling into a fist as it rested on the sleek metal surface of the bench and she could already sense the impending anger coming.

"I know, Lex..." Leah frowned, "...I don't like them either ... plus it sounds totally stupid ... what kind of name is ... Cake...Sah?"

"I think it's German" Lexi shrugged, "but there's something more nefarious there I just don't trust ..."

"I hate what happened with the Krazy Kookie too..." Leah sighed, "but we can't just assume that this new place is ... holy shit, is that Justin Wright?"

"Is it?" Lexi asked, peeking her head up to see over crowds as they crossed her line of sight.

She peered into the restaurant very quickly to spu what appeared to be a boy with dark hair and withdrawn eyes. A boy who looked all too familiar as she remembered him briefly dating Leah but the whole thing turned out to be a scam ...

"Fuck, that IS him" Leah sighed, not really appearing upset or anything but there was a perceptible change in her demeanor.

"He's working at a cookie shop now?" Lexi quipped with a half chuckle, "how the mighty have fallen..."

"Lex, you worked at a cookie shop for like 5 months..." Leah said, very matter of factly

Lexi was going to retort with something, most likely in the wise cracking family but she felt woozy again. She didn't want to alarm Leah though and instead wanted to try and refocus to just enjoying the rest of her day. Perhaps a trip as far as possible from the stupid cookie place and Leah's stupid ex-boyfriend would do the trick, but she wouldn't get very far as she rose to stand up, her hand grazed the metal surface of the bench creating a stark static shock.

She'd have but a moment to perceive what happened as she yelped, instantly reduced to just a few inches tall and now standing at her newfound tiny size next to the toweringly tall bag containing the steel silver lamp which now looked like a skycraper.

Leah, a bit oblivious at the moment noticed Justin peer almost directly at her while she was "people watching"

"Oh shit, get down, Lex" Leah eeped in a quiet tone, only to look over and see her best friend no longer occupying the seat next to her, although her purse was still there. "Lex? Lex?"

"...down here..." the dejected Lexi squeaked, directing Leah's attention downward as she had to lean over the tote bag containing the lamp to fully see the fate of her best friend, now shrunken again.

"Geez Lex... I said get down like ... duck... but that'll work too, I guess..." Leah teased.

Lexi simply crossed her arms and grumbled... not so much because she was mad but rather she worried that this was the start of something more serious as she looked down at her tingling fingertips and observed their sparking.

CyberTek Main Headquarters
3:35 PM
Main Office of CEO Scott Travis
_____________________________________

Scott Travis considered himself to be many things ... tech savvy, diplomatic, and most importantly in his eyes, fashion forward.

He was one of the up and coming executives in the Miniborough area and a stark contrast from anybody in the business community at large but especially in his own field where traditonally people much older and more rigid in their ways headed up the helms of big businesses.

Scott believed in a more direct approach and while some of his techniques could be seen as a little "too" aggressive, he usually left negotations feeling as though his side had won or at least like all parties left the table satisfied.

After all, Scott had been able to push for his company to begin building operations in Miniborough/Minitropolis a lot faster than most businesses ever see their permits approved and he had gotten to work in a hurry building the company up from a "fly by night" purveyor of tech parts to something much more substantial with their first big factory set to open shortly, rivaling Enormo Enterprises in its scope.

Unlike most brazen businessmen however, Scott would admit when he needed help, which is what made his initial idea to propose a merger with Enormo all the more baffling. Despite the merger never coming to pass, he still resigned himself to the fact that he would be foolish to start any kind of technology based company without at least looking into the origins and long-standing existence of Enormo Enterprises as well as its place in the Minitropolis Community.

At this particular moment though, as an irate Scott Travis wrapped up a web conference with rival Dr. Max from Enormo, he quickly grew to loathe the prospects of any kind of partnership as the devious scientist on the other end of the call showed his true colors more and more.

"And I am not seeing what the big deal is, Mr. Travis..." Dr. Max said, hunched over the monitor in such a way as to obscure any suspicious workings or happenings going on behind him.

"Well it's intellectual property theft for one thing, Mr. Mumford..." Scott said with nostrils flared

"That is DOCTOR Max! Always DOCTOR!" Max snapped

"Look ... just ... cease and desist with what you are doing ... because it's painfully easy to trace the presence of our nanites in your newest technologies and that's only scratching the surface, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole lot of your inventive tech was just stolen property from elsewhere" Scott accused, his mouses' cursor already aggressively circling the red "END CALL" button

"Is this the kind of accusations you are to be making?! You'll never work in this town again!!" Max snapped, trying with haste to be the first to end the heated exchange but rival Scott was just a little bit faster in ending the call, leaving the Doctor in a familiar mental state of disarray as he slammed his fist angrily against the control panel which housed his monitor, along with a plethora of buttons running alongside it.

The noise caused his associate, Dr. Giovanni to enter the lab shaking his head a bit.

"Max, it's not worth it, I keep telling you ..." Dr. Giovanni said, "people don't understand the importance of our work"

Max looked over a bit curiously at the man, one of the few scientists he found remarkable as he entered the room.

"No... no it is not that, Dr. Giovanni..." Max sighed, resting in his office chair while watching some of his tabulations take form on the computer, "No it's just that ... Travis guy ..."

"From Cybertek?" Giovanni remarked, taking a sip of tea "Never cared for the guy ... with the flamboyant suits and all..."

"Right?! What is WITH that?!" Max sighed

"Still, you can't let him get to you ... or anyone ..." Giovanni advised, "I've seen the way people look at you sometimes, Max and it upsets me..."

"What do you mean?" the doddering doctor asked

"Well, most here just don't appreciate the work you do..." Giovanni said, gesturing towards a crawling android of the doctors own design, "yes it's ... unconventional but ... you think people saw any future in my designs? My interdimensional vortex inducer?"

"Ah but Gio.. Gio... the thing is, your inducer worked!" Max said with a suddenly reinvigorated grin, "People SAW it ... whether they want to believe it or not, you DID go into another dimension...!"

Giovanni sighed ; hearing the words took him back in a way he wasn't sure he would be ready for. He spent quite some time in an alternate timeline and reality with no way to really prove what had happened. Since getting back to the "Prime" world, he seemed intent on something bigger ... something more.

"Maybe you're right Max ... but regardless of my discoveries or yours ... you have to realize there will always be opposition of some kind..." Giovanni advised, calmly standing up and finishing up his cup of tea, "It's important to find that balance sometimes... you've been working 12-16 hour days from what I can tell ... why not take a break? Kick your feet up?"

Max simply nodded as his respected colleague exited the office and the mad scientist decided to do just that, engaging in one of his few past-times. It wasn't quite a video game but rather a simulation of sorts.

"Computer..." Dr. Max announced once he was sure the room was clear, "Launch ... ShrinkGirl Simulator Version 1.1"

______________________

"What do you mean you can't grow back?" Leah asked, a concern growing in her voice as she hunched over her shrunken best friend, hands on either side of her

"Yeah! I mean ... I don't know...!" Lexi squeaked, whimpering as she paced around a bit, only able to get so far in either direction as Leah's hands flanked her, "I'm trying but ... I'm ... I'm just stuck ... this has been so weird lately... I'm like ... I'm all out of sorts.."

"Okay ... okay ..." Leah stammered, while Lexi herself remained down on the pavement, gently gesturing with her hands as she flashed a nervous grin, "well the important thing is to stay composed... don't panic ... you know when I'M feeling a bit high strung about things, I just ... wh-what? What's behind me, Lexi?"

The "calm and collected" Leah Henderson nearly jumped 3 feet upon slanting her body to see the gentleman watching her talk to the pavement by the bench, yelping as she snatched up her shrunken best friend in a panic, swinging her around towards her backside as if hiding a cell phone that she had been caught in class with.

"JUSTIN!!" the nervous Leah responded to the boy's presence, although she couldn't quite understand (nor could Lexi) why SHE would be the anxious party here. After all, it had been Justin Wright who should be feeling so guilty and socially awkward at that moment.

"Hey ..." Justin said, a bit of uncertainty in his voice as he stood back and gave Leah her space, watching as she fumbled around with her hands, unaware of the tiny cargo within aside from an odd squeaking sound that seemed to emanate from the clenched fist.

"Ugh, Leah?" Lexi squeaked uncomfortably, "... I appreciate the lift but I'm your best friend, not a stress toy..."

Sensing Lexi's discomfort, Leah eased up on the pressure while still keeping the shrunken woman in her now softened grip.

"Anyway ... was just uh ... trying to find my necklace pendant..." Leah lied badly, using her free hand to feel around the underside of the bench with a certain degree of randomness, "nope, not there ... oh dang it!"

"L-Leah, listen, I was actually hoping we could talk...?" Justin asked, trying his best not to jump to any judging conclusions about his ex-girlfriends dodgy behavior. After all, he could rightfully understand why she'd be reluctant to give him the time of day

"Oh uh... maybe... yes?" Leah stammered, trying to wrap things up as quick as possible even while Lexi twitching in her hand like a firecracker

"Maybe yes?!" Lexi squeaked angrily, her tiny voice somehow still piercing the tense atmosphere, "Don't talk to that loser, Leah!"

Justin and Leah both paused uncomfortably, even while Leah did her best to scoop up her belongings which now consisted of the lamp in the overloaded tote bag, her own purse and Lexi's purse.

"Was that ... uh ...?" Justin asked, a bit confused as he tried to parse the voice in his head

"I am your conscience..." Lexi said, in a bit of a hokey "ghostly" voice, "...you must leave here at once..."

"Yeah uh ... that's my conscience..." Leah said halfheartedly as she tried to escape the awkward encounter by any means she could think of, quickly shuffling to her feet and stumbling in the direction of her dorm room.

"Do you need help with that?" Justin asked with some concern noticing Leah struggling to even walk with all the weight dragging her down, and that was to say nothing of the fact that she insisted on keeping her right hand tucked to her side, out of view.

"No! I mean... no thanks!" Leah sighed, leaving the Kekse employee and ex-boyfriend Justin Wright in a head scratching state of bewilderment as he watched her retreat.

Lexi grunted and twirled herself around as best as she could in Leah's soft but forceful hands, trying to get herself into a more comfortable position as she no longer felt light-headed but still a bit uncomfortable.

"Ugh ... Leah ... you know ... he can't see us anymore ... could you just ..." Lexi squeaked, not sure if Leah could even hear her as she made her way for the door to her dorm building, carefully depositing the shrunken Lexi into her own purse. Lexi sighed in a bit of frustration.

"I hate when she doesn't listen to me..." Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes as she resided inside her own purse, catching a closer glimpse of the ShrinkMobile as it lay dormantly parked in the purse. "Huh... I need to get a car wash, huh? Seems a bird shit on the roof again..."

After a time, the door to Leah's dorm room slid open as Leah herself waltzed ever so graciously into the room, dragged down with much force by the metal lamp that weighed her down like a pendulum as she slumped down toward the floor, resting herself but not before placing Lexi's purse atop the mattress.

"Thanks for the hand, Lex..." Leah teased out loud, before getting a text message almost immediately from the miniature crime fighter

"Love you too, Leah! ~ :p " Lexi sent back

"But ... are you ... okay, for real?" Leah asked, standing over the purse

Rather than try and strain her small voice, Lexi texted her best friend back instead, finding it a much more effective means of communication.

"I feel better, yes... do you think you could give ME a hand now? Literally? :p "

The size puns never seemed to get old for Lexi, no matter how long this condition of hers had persisted and even Leah had to let forth a reluctant chuckle as she fished the shrunken brunette from the purse and set her down on the mattress.

"So ... you all ready to get big again?" Leah said, a forced sort of cheerleading tone in her voice as she threw her hand up in the air as if performing a magic trick

Lexi simply nodded, then looking at Leah a little self-consciously.

"...what?" Leah asked nervously

"Well I can't DO this with you just standing over me!" Lexi chuckled a bit, pacing around so as not to make eye contact with her presently giant sized best friend.

Leah rolled her eyes, seizing her own phone from her purse as she traipsed towards her dorm's rather miniscule bathroom, "...all the girls in the world, I'm best friends with the world's smallest diva..."

"I can still hear you!" Lexi chuckled, surveying her surroundings just briefly before taking a deep breath.

Okay ... the still weary Lexi said to herself, trying to power through any doubts she now had. She'd take a deep breath slowly, followed by another one, eventually finding herself back where she started, her fully realized 5'4 height. Leah observed the transformation through the cracked door of the bathroom as she had only retreated there to give Lexi some space.

"Okay well ... if you're sure you're still good to go grab some food..." Leah said, "...I think I'll just bring a load of laundry down while we're here ... laundry room is usually packed during the semester and ... uh ... I have some catching up to"

Lexi gave the room a quick once-over. Lexi wasn't necessarily the neatest person herself but very few could contend with Leah Henderson when it came to clutter. Whether it was her car, her locker in high school or now the current dorm room, Leah -- despite her outwardly organized and "proper" appearance seemed to have trouble keeping up with things like laundry or piling up papers.

To that end, Lexi observed the large basket of clothes practically ready to burst as it was so full.

"Heh... yeah, couldn't hurt" Lexi snickered a bit, grabbing up her purse and setting it down under Leah's desk which was also surrounded by a fortress of papers.

"Yeah ... so I mean ... if you wanna head out and I'll catch up with ya...?" Leah said, fixing her hair and washing her face for an audience of one in the bathroom as the water ran.

"Yeah, that's fine... I'll --!!"

Leah only caught the couple of words uttered by Lexi, not thinking too much of it as the hissing of water around her likely muffled whatever Lexi had said. After all, it's not like the bubbly but often clumsy Alexis Cole found herself in a heap of trouble now, right? Not again ...

Rewinding back just a few seconds though, it was obvious something was amiss.

Lexi hadn't gone more than a step to her right before hooking her ankle on the side of Leah's haphazardly placed laundry basket. She was about to utter one of her "patented" yelps of panic upon falling but to add unusual insult to unlikely injury, she found herself AGAIN miniaturized in a matter of mere moments, landing face first against one of Leah's pink socks.

"Ugggh!!" Lexi yelped, turning away in disgust only to feel herself dragged down more, sinking into the fabric equivalent of quicksand as she fell deeper into Leah's impending load of laundry. "Ugh! Come on!! Really?!"

Each of Lexi's resistant squeaks were droned out by layers and layers of casuals, delicates and more as Leah finally made her way out of the bathroom, none the wiser to Lexi's latest disappearance. Only observing that Lexi's purse was no longer in its spot on the bed, Leah figured Lexi had gotten a head start out of the building and this only hastened her own plans to put the laundry basket in the wash.

Lexi groaned, shaking her head in dismay as she felt the sensation of motion once again as she was whisked away, trapped in the laundry basket as she had been trapped in her own purse not too long ago.

"I know I'm SHRINKGirl..." Lexi lamented, "... but this is just a BIT too much..."

Tucked away somewhere in the recesses of Leah's clothing, Lexi tossed and turned, desperately trying to either break free or restore her size ... at least enough so that Leah could see her and stop what was sure to be a very unfortunate laundry day. It didn't help that Lexi's motions within the thick catacombs of clothing were keeping her pinned by static electricity ... so much so that her own hair was starting to stand on end as if exposed to one of those electrical orbs from Spencer's Gifts.

Leah, continually unaware carried the laundry basket down towards the washroom while Lexi let out yelp after yelp of useless struggling, finally able to regain her bearings as the laundry basket made a quick pit stop atop a cold metallic washing machine.

Lexi gulped as she knew what came next and didn't really want to have a news story about her the next morning with some kind of quippy headline like "SPIN CYCLE!"

Desperately trying to make sense of which way was up was Lexi's mission while Leah's was simply to find the most reasonably priced fabric softener from the nearby vending machine. Lexi sighed in relief as she could make out the laundry room through a sizable plastic cutout in the laundry basket.

"I'm going to be okay!" Lexi thought hopefully, beginning to make her way towards the opening until she felt her surroundings lifting around her. "Oh no... please.. why me...??"

Lexi returned to a state of panic as Leah swiftly hoisted up a bundle of laundry which contained the ensnared and shrunken superheroine and she looked down to see her options were running short.

"Leah!! C'mon!! Please!!" Lexi squeaked, not sure how well her tiny voice came through in the noisy laundry room as the washing machine bubbled to life, its motors slowly kicking on as Leah deposited the first clump of laundry which contained her tiny best friend. "LEAHHH!!"

Lexi sighed, sputtering a bit as she finally was able to clamber her way to the top, this time ready to shout at the top of her lungs if need be.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't get that chance as another large deposit of white and pink clothing fell upon her like an unforgiving avalanche and she began to grow more and more uneasy as she could feel her fate being sealed.

There was no other choice ... if she couldn't get Leah to notice her, she would have to muster up whatever strength she had and trigger a size change, even if it meant damaging the colleges washing machines in the process. She tried to regain some sense of that calm she had had earlier when she was shrunk in her own purse but this was a tad different as she wasn't quite ready to face streams of water that would be comparable to tsunamis.

Leah Henderson meanwhile, almost done with her task, paused for just a moment. Something didn't feel right but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She looked down at the console of the washing machine, noting that it took quarters and wasn't digital like many other things on campus.

"Oh shit..." Leah sighed, fishing through her pockets for any loose change. "I should've asked Lexi if she had any coins..."

At that moment came a voice and a familiar hand, holding the required currency.

"Yeah Leah, what do you need?" Lexi asked, her now fully regrown self standing up as her torso stuck out of the washer machine.

Leah herself looked understandably flabbergasted at the sight of her friend's disheveled appearance, hair zapped up in the air like some kind of mad scientist and while she couldn't help but marvel at Lexi's non-chalant demeanor in the face of nearly being washed away, she and Lexi both knew ...

Something was seriously wrong with the spunky crimefighter...

Steam hissed as the factory floor at CyberTek was teeming with activity ; some of the best and brightest minds hard at work on innovative new technologies. Among them were also some of the most eccentric minds (and that was saying something) including one scientist who seemed to have a fixation on frost.

His name was Dr. Calvin Cooledge but he also went by the nickname "Cryo" for his dedicated work in the field of cryomatter and cryogenic technologies. He was staring rather intently at a neon blue colored tube of fluid as a young woman passed by, giving him a bit of a flippant glance. He acknowledged her presence only briefly before continuing on his work, multi-tasking by employing a robotic arm that was working on another task while he occupied himself on a computer screen to his immediate right in what was essentially a cubicle formation of computers and desks.

The young woman, Aeris, found her eyes wandering as she surveyed what she felt to be a rogues gallery of both technology and scientists en route to the office of her boss, Scott Travis. She'd engage in some mandatory socializing as her cold but efficient mannerisms got her through a gaggle of busy scientists before sliding into an elevator, able to pause for a moment and look down at her phone as her hands seemed to fidget just a bit.

Almost as if set to a rhythm, Aeris would have her phone stowed away just in the nick of time as the elevator made its stop on the third floor and she calmly and coolly proceeded down the hallway, machinelike in her approach even as her phone now buzzed to life with a small series of messages finding their way to her. That would have to wait as she now had to respond to a call from the boss man himself.

With cold and calculated precision the frigid blue haired woman with the navy blue suit jacket to match slid her way into Scott's office, appearing as even-keeled as usual while she juggled a number of conflicting thoughts behind those stone cold eyes.

"Aeris... sorry that we've had to delay this rendezvous a few times now but I wanted to make sure we got on the same page as it pertains to the Aztek project..." Scott said, performing a half turn in his office chair to face his young associate.

"I will admit ..." Aeris said, raising an eyebrow as she observed the body language of her cohort on the other side of the desk. "...I'm a bit surprised you haven't asked for a full debriefing yet"

"Things have been busy..." Scott replied, and further reinforced Aeris' growing suspicion that the young CEO was suddenly lacking some swagger. "But tell me ... or at least give me the short version ... is Dr. Hilfmann our guy?"

Aeris paused for a moment. She had gone into the office expecting that very question and was all too ready to yield the information but for whatever reason she found herself hesitant as she recounted everything that occured during her time at the Aztek Parts and More office.

"Yes... I'd say ... it's safe to say so ..." Aeris said

"You don't seem so sure..." Scott replied, his thought interuppted by a ringing phone which he waved off with haste, "...that can wait"

"I think ... more investigation is needed" Aeris said, continuing her train of thought

"Isn't that why we planted the 'suspicious' files on the Aztek server?" Scott asked, putting up air quotes at the notion, "did you give him your card?"

"I did ..." Aeris said

"Well the way I see it, it's gotta be him..." Scott nodded, tapping his fingers on his mahogany desk as he thought out loud, "we know that our spunky little hero has had some help ... there's no other way to explain the fact that she's been able to control her ... condition as well as she has..."

Aeris nodded as she listened

"Well, sir ... even IF Trevor's been aiding her... how does that help us?" Aeris asked

"From what little Enormo's engineering team would divulge about Project Delta ... I was given the very strong impression that ... one ... the project was still at least a couple years away from trials ... two, anybody involved in the project would require some kind of consistent monitoring and three ... the side effects could produce some very unstable results" Scott explained "So the fact that Lexi seems to be receiving all of the potential benefits from the project without any of those anticipated drawbacks seems a bit ... too fortuitous..."

"You'll forgive me, sir..." Aeris said with a bit of a coy grin, "...if I don't quite buy you're doing all this out of your good natured concern for Alexis Cole..."

"You know as well as I, Aeris ... this is a copy cat business ..." Scott said, "and from what I've often seen in my experience, be it with software, hardware or any form of developing tech ... it usually doesn't pay to be the first one to the party ... however ... this ShrinkGirl proves to be an interesting prototype ... and there's much we could learn from her so we don't potentially make the same mistakes..."

Aeris nodded, looking down at her phone briefly, showing her first signs of discomfort.

"So ... we ARE moving forward on the Nanite Project?" Aeris asked

"But of course ..." Scott said, "Now our technology is not exactly the same as Enormo Enterprises' original goal with the Delta project but still, it couldn't hurt to check on the competition ... and given that Dr. Maxmillian and his team apparently operate on the edges of ethical business, it's not unreasonable to think some of OUR tech could have been leveraged in creating ... whatever ShrinkGirl is ..."

"So ... short version ..." Aeris said, a bit of hurriedness in her voice, "You want me to continue tailing the doctor"

"I want you ... to be smart about it..." Scott said, "...but yes."

"Have I ever been anything but smart?" Aeris asked, holding a sleek blue pen between her fingers and occupying her fidgeting hands with it

"You've certainly been one of our more ... careful employees..." Scott conceded, turning his attention momentarily to a series of video monitors, displaying the other concurrent activites, including Dr. Cooledge and his dry ice experiment that seemed to be having adverse results as he watched his experimental robot arm on the counter flinching and showing signs of rust. "...that's not always saying much, though"

Scott was about to continue when his phone rang again. An already impatient Aeris rose to her feet and nodded as if to acknowledge the information, even as she gestured toward the open door.

"You shold probably get that, sir" Aeris said, although whether or not the man did seemed to be of minimal concern to the machine-like woman as she showed herself out.

Scott simply nodded, as the thoughts racing in his mind piled up, even moreso when he saw the call waiting was from the Minitropolis Police Department, care of Officer Carl Scolex.

"Go, Carl..." Scott said, picking up the phone.

____________________________

Lexi sat on a computer chair in Trevor Hilfmann's backroom lab ... or the Lexi cave as she had preferred to think of it.

The former Enormo Enterprises Engineer had been more than gracious to help Lexi through this difficult time, providing her nanites to get her journey started, as well as monitoring her ever changing condition since the events of her "accident" occurred almost a year ago to the day.

Still, Lexi realized that even with the best support, things could still go wrong. Certain variables could slip through the cracks and unexpected adversities could arise in the process, and so Lexi found herself looking downwards, trying to keep her thoughts contained while her best friend Leah Henderson sat not too far from her, already sensing Lexi's trepidation as Trevor had gone to survey the results of their gauntlet of tests.

"Lex? I'm sure it's going to be alright" Leah said with an encouraging nod, trying not to be distracted by her buzzing phone which seemed to be the norm these days.

Since Leah had gotten her job back at the Fashion Boutique, she had not only continued her promising run as a young fashionista but she had impressed Sally, old friend of Leah's mom from back in the day and Leah would consistently get messages from her boss about potential changes to the shop, new styles to bring in and more. For somebody who was brought in as a summer hire, Leah was seeing more and more importance with the company.

On top of that Leah was fielding calls of a more social nature too, as her best friends birthday loomed large -- being just a couple weeks away. She wanted to throw Lexi the kind of party she truly deserved and thanks to the help of the ragtag but rock solid friends the duo had made over the past years, Leah was all set to deliver Lexi the kind of birthday party she'd never forget, which also made her seem disengaged with current events as she continued coordinating and checking her phone.

Lexi appeared discourged but only for a moment or two before the more calm and professional Dr. Trevor Hilfmann re-emerged into the workshop wearing his well known and predictable long white lab coat as if working at a pharmacy. To complete the look, he was also carrying a clipboard with printouts from their tests.

Trevor could be all business at times but surely he had some good news for the nervous Lexi as she read over the scans and their findings.

"Well ..." Trevor confessed, addressing both Leah and Lexi, "I'm afraid the news isn't good..."

"Oh come on, Doc..." Leah scoffed, sliding her phone out of view as it faded into her pocket, "You're killing me here"

"I'm sorry..." Trevor said, a sort of curt mannerism to his tone as he gently set the clipboard down on a table across from Lexi, not that it was of super practicality seeing as how Lexi wouldn't even know how to begin reading or processing the information contained within. "As it always stood ... Project Delta was a highly risky and potentially volatile experiment..."

"Project Delta..." Leah repeated, shooting Lexi a concerned look, "that's the ... science thingy you ended up involved in?"

Lexi only offered a nod of confirmation while she listened to the doctor continue

"The Doctor was crazy for even allowing it to get as far as it did..." Trevor lamented, "crazier still to not have it guarded so tightly ... it was almost as if ..."

Lexi took great care in noticing Trevor's sudden impedence in speech. What had his mind circled around to?

"Oh geez..." Trevor sighed, shaking his head as a visible anger overcame him

"Doctor? Mr. Hilfmann?" Lexi asked with concern, no longer so focused on her own problems, "...everything alright?"

"Maximillian hoped this would happen..." Trevor sighed

"Hmm?"

"I'm not saying he hoped for YOU to find it but ...." Trevor sighed, "I can remember how aggressive the Doctor was in trying to develop the project ... he had everyone from senior engineers like myself to college interns looking at or working on the project ..."

"Well ... that's ... not so uncommon, right?" Lexi asked, trying to understand

Trevor shook his head

"A project like this didn't need that big of a team, especially in the conceptual phases but it's appearing more and more like we were way beyond that ..." Trevor said, "the fact that the Doctor had a fully functioning design for the project ... one that was able to alter your body chemistry so profoundly ... makes it seem the Doctor was much more willing for human trials than he even let on ..."

"So ... you're saying, he WANTED someone to walk in there?" Lexi asked

"I'm not sure ... he might have had a particular target or person but ... from what I understand you were able to get into the room quite easily..." Trevor explained

"I thought it was a changing room..." Lexi sighed, looking embarassed, "...or at least it could've operated as one"

"Well..." Leah sighed, trying to inject some humor into the tense situation, "it ... DID change you..."

Lexi gave her best friend a bit of an annoyed look despite the clever joke. The funny tinglies didn't last long though, even while some new ones emanated through Lexi's extremities, leaving her shivering as she slumped onto her side, grabbing hold of the metallic countertop in Trevor's lab but in doing so only causing her hair to stand up on end as if overcome by static cling.

"Lexi!!" Leah shrieked, helping Lex up as best she could until the inflicted brunette was able to stand herself up again.

"I'm ... I'm fine..." Lexi sighed, her voice lacking in breath and and strength for several moments

"You're not fine ..." Leah sighed "Doctor Hilfmann... please... you have to help her!"

Lexi simply nodded reluctantly, hugging her arms around herself as she felt another chill, her body sparking like a flickering Christmas bulb. Trevor simply hung his head and sighed.

"I feel like this is my fault..." Trevor said

"What? No no... not at all ... you've ... hic!!" Lexi yelped, let out a hiccup so powerful that it actually shrank her to doll size for a moment. A second hiccup quickly sprung her back to normal "...helped me a ton..."

"I encouraged you to keep up this hero thing ..." Trevor sighed, recounting the events that had led them here while reaching into a file cabinet and referencing some documents he had kept on hand pertaining to the Delta Project. "...I even provided you the nanites and constructed gadgets for you ..."

Lexi frowned hearing this. She had found Trevor's actions to be kind and helpful and nothing more.

"I just fear I was enabling you to continue on like this ..." Trevor groaned, flipping through some paperwork contained in a thin file folder, "I was hopeful that you'd be able to power through this ... I've always believed in your positive spirit, Lexi and what's happening now is not an indictment on that ..."

"I sense a but coming..." Lexi sighed

Leah looked sadly at the Doctor as if to ask through non-verbal means if her best friend would be okay. Trevor didn't give an answer but just nodded pensively before taking a deep breath in order to make his next statement.

"Leah?" Trevor asked, "W-Would you mind giving us a moment?"

"She can stay..." Lexi said, whimpering a bit

"No ... no... it's okay Lex..." Leah said, nodding in support as she took a few steps backwards towards the open corridor into the storefront. "I'll be right outside if you need me, okay?"

Lexi gave Leah as cheerful a smile as she could watching her best friend disappear behind the threshold before focusing her attention back on Trevor who seemed to be staring her right in the eye.

"W-Well .... D-Doctor...?" Lexi eeped nervously, stifling a hiccup as a small dust cloud surrounded her, "Wh-what are my options?"

"It's hard to say, Lexi..." Trevor said, shaking his head as his eyes shifted focus between the worried Alexis Cole, the paperwork in his folder and the vials of blood he had sampled from her over the past year. "I've been following the effects the experiment has had on you and for the most part they've been stable ... I've been able to keep your condition at bay using the nanites in an attempt to rebalance your polarity..."

Lexi nodded as if she understood but her heart felt worried and her head weary as she waited anxiously.

"W-Well what happened?" Lexi gulped nervously, "I WAS starting to feel more stable..."

"I can't really prove this with any science ..." Trevor sighed, "and heck, I'm not sure how much of this IS science anymore but between your interdimensional trip and even exposure to ... for lack of a better word, fairy dust ... something has changed in your body that's causing these erratic size changes"

"Fairy dust?" Lexi asked, thinking deeply on her experiences over the past year or so "You mean... from Fensteria?"

"Yeah ..." Trevor nodded, "plus the antidote we gave you after your shrinking from the witch girl ... I'm just not sure the human body can handle all of these stimuli ... even yours"

"So ... wh-what do I do, Doctor?" Lexi gulped, looking down in worry as the ground began to spin, forcing her to close her eyes for a moment to avoid a further sensation of vertigo.

"I ... may have a solution ..." Trevor sighed, flipping through more pages of the classified Delta Project documents. He continued to flip through them until reaching the apparent last page. "...the um... termination clause"

"The what?" Lexi eeped, hiccuping again and shrinking almost instantly before snapping back to her full size, "Damn it!! I'm sorry..."

"No ... no I'm sorry" Trevor replied, "I shouldn't have led off with that ... it's ... not what you think, but it is basically a kill switch for the Delta Project or at least it was meant to be..."

Lexi remained as still as she could, listening to the Doctors words nervously

"Basically, if anybody opted out ... or if the effects proved too adverse and dangerous ... we could reverse the process..." Trevor explained, "of course keep in mind, we didn't know the process COULD work yet when we devised this idea ... such a thing was never constructed at Enormo's facilities ... at least not as far as I know..."

"S-So what are you saying, Doctor?" Lexi asked worriedly

"I'm saying ... I'll do my best to engineer a similar design ..." Trevor sighed, "Since this would be a one time thing and I have most of the parts here, I should be able to do it ... there's no gaurantee this will work though but then again ... there was no gaurantee the experiment you fell victim to would work ... nor any of the elements you've been exposed to since..."

"S-Say ... it does work" Lexi nodded, "that would fix my weird ... shrinking stuff?"

"Well..." Trevor sighed, "If it works ... the way it's intended to ... it'll do much more than that... it would restablize your body's composition to what it was prior to the exposure ..."

"You mean...?" Lexi asked, a tear forming in her eye

"Yeah..." Trevor nodded, "You'd be ... well, cured ... that's ... if it works, of course"

Lexi nodded, shivering a bit.

"I ... I don't know what to do, Trevor..." Lexi whimpered, the tears continuing to fall, "...I was always so afraid of my shrinking powers ... even moreso when I saw what they could do to other people but ... then I've seen how they help people and how they even make people smile ..."

Lexi paused for a moment, a strange smile crossing her face as she giggled

"I ... I remember a time ... Leah and her boyfriend broke up ... actually it was just after you helped me and her escape from the lab and ... I ... I brought her a pizza ... except I shrank as sort of a joke so it looked like the pizza was ... heh ... walking on it's own ..." Lexi nodded, sniffling a bit as she recalled the silly time, her voice breaking with each word, "then of course I grew back ... but ... it was just so nice to ne able to bring Leah that moment ... and I suppose that pizza ... and there have been others, just like that ... I mean ... yes I love saving people and helping others but ... I love my friends and ... even being 'ShrinkGirl' ... I see that it makes people smile ... to see there's someone out there willing to help them and ..."

Trevor nodded, listening to Lexi's every word even as she broke down and whimpered into a crying mess.

"I understand Lexi ..." Trevor sighed, "And this isn't something you have to decide on immediately ... it would take me at least a few days to even construct a prototype for this and ... again, it may not succeed in reversing your condition anyway ... my only worry is ... if you choose NOT to do this ... or if you DO choose to do it ... your condition could ... well ..."

Lexi leaned in curiously

"You could uh ... suffer ... what we called in the trial phases a ... fizzle out" Trevor sighed, not sure how else to explain it.

"That ... that sounds bad..." Lexi sighed

"It ... it is bad ...I mean it's bad but it could be ... even worse... depending..." Trevor sighed, "basically ... you'll continue to lose control of your size until one moment, you may just ... stop ... stop being able to shrink, stop being able to grow ..."

"So ... kind of the same thing as the cure then?" Lexi asked

"N-Not exactly ..." Trevor sighed, "...assuming it happens while you're normal sized ... then sure, no problem really... but if you're mid-shrink or ... even tinier..."

Lexi gulped

"...I could be stuck that size"

"Permanently..." Trevor sighed. "It's a very slim possiblity but just something I should mention and also warn you not to use your powers for the time being"

Lexi nodded

"I'll .... I'll certainly keep that in mind..." Lexi sighed, "as it is I haven't been TRYING to use them ... it's just ... been happening..."

Trevor nodded "I know ... and I'm rooting for you ... I really am... I wish I had better news ... fact is, because you're the first human this experiment was successful on, there's nothing to really go on for research ... everything to this point has been applied hypotheses and they've worked remarkably well to this point ... I believe even in science, there can be an X factor and I think in some ways, Lexi, the X factor is your positivity ... that heart you carry within yourself ... I can't really quantify it but ... you've overcome amazing odds ... so ... just ... do your best to maintain that"

Lexi nodded, trying to remain strong as she held back the tears. Leah slowly crept into the room now as the curiosity was leaving her a bit too weary not to check up.

"Everything .... okay?" Leah asked, despite already knowing the answer. She hadn't seen Lexi quite so distraught in a long long time.

Lexi simply stood up and hugged Leah tight. Leah was all too ready to accept her friends hug, even as the sudden change in electrical polarity caused them both to suffer the static cling effect, hair reaching high into the air like spiderwebs. Leah snuck a slight giggle in with her crying as she shared in Lexi's despair, but they both had to share a chuckle over how ridiculous their hair currently looked as a result of the extra static charge.

____________________________________

Back on the Miniborough Campus, a diligent but tired Justin Wright finished up his duties for the day, wiping the dark green wooden counters and sliding some freshly baked cookies into sleeves as he noted the time. He walked up towards the door, ready to flip the OPEN sign to CLOSED as a young woman walked up to the storefront.

"Sorry Miss..." Justin said from the otherwise of the door, just about to lock it as he pointed to the sign.

The woman, fairy tall and striking gave him a pouting look as if to say "please?"

Realizing that it wasn't QUITE 7 PM yet but still fairly close he relented and let her in.

"Okay ... my apologies..." Justin said, letting the woman in. She definitely looked famlliar and in fact Justin recognized her as being in the cheerleading squad on campus, or at least she HAD been. It was hard to miss her when she was far and away the tallest on the squad and stuck out like a sore thumb when the squad would perform their synchronized routines.

Still, Justin could swear he had seen this young lady somewhere before or maybe it was just the fact that she was wearing an open white lab coat with black top underneath, the white lab coat reminding him all too much of what his father did for a living as well as Justin's own interest in science.

"Oh good, you stll have them..." the woman chuckled, seeming friendly enough despite her imposing appearance, "The macadamia nut, please ... I'll take three of them ... they're for my boss"

"Your boss have a real sweet tooth?" Justin asked, sliding the cookies out and totaling them up

"Something like that ..." she shrugged, "actually ... if I'm being honest, he's not really sweet in any way..."

She chuckled after that comment before finding herself in a similar spot of deja vu.

"I've seen you around campus, haven't I?" the woman nodded, "My name's Gloria"

"Gloria, right!" Justin nodded, "You're on the uh ... cheerleading team?"

"Was." Gloria shrugged, rolling her eyes

"Oh ... I see..." Justin said awkwardly, not sure if he really wanted to get into it as he politely relinquished the cookies to his female customer. "You uh ... just quit or ...?"

"Something like that ..." Gloria sighed

"Sorry ... didn't mean to bring up any bad memories..." Justin nodded "...I didn't exactly have the best first year here myself..."

"It's okay ..." Gloria said, despite still seeming a bit put off by it, "It gave me more time to pursue other passions ... for example, most people just think I'm a pretty face ... they don't see me as a science type"

Justin nodded

"So you ... you're in the science club now?" Justin asked, noting her lab coat

"Not exactly..." Gloria said, "I actually got an internship up at Enormo Enterprises ... they needed some extra help with some big project they're working on and they recruited some of the college students ... huh... guess I shouldn't be mentioning all thsi ... have no idea if it's classified or not..."

Justin's heart sank nonetheless at the mention of Enormo Enterprises.

"Enormo... huh?" Justin responded, as if seeing a ghost.

"Yeah ..." Gloria said, "I mean, I realize it's not the most glorious thing but ..."

"It's just ..." Justin started and then stopped, "...you wouldn't believe me anyway..."

"What do you mean?" Gloria asked, securing the cookies in her purse

"Well it ... was ... something happened ..." Justin stammered, "My uh ... girlfriend at the time, Leah and her friend Lexi ..."

"Lexi??" Gloria asked, her tone suddenly changing quite rapidly, as derision filled her eyes, "Lexi Cole?"

"Y-Yeah... that's her... you know her?" Justin asked

"Yeah ... that bitch is trouble..." Gloria said, not wanting to delve into the details. "For real. Stay away from her if you can"

"I ... I don't really know her SUPER well..." Justin said, feeling even more uncomfortable as the atmosphere grew tenser, "but ... she seemed really nice ... it's honestly kinda cute the way she sticks with her friend Leah"

"Mark my words..." Gloria growled, "Leah will find herself in some kind of trouble and so will you if you associate with that girl. She is nothing but trouble ... her whole nice girl thing is just an act ... and I wish more people saw that ... "

Justin was about to open his mouth to offer defense before Gloria coldly cut him off

"...or perhaps you don't follow the news? Lexi was here ... the night the school was attacked ... the place that USED to be here? The Krazy Kookie? Was hit by a bomb!"

"...Lexi didn't do any of that" Justin said

"She didn't stop it, either..." Gloria scoffed, "...and she parades around in some Halloween costume claiming she's ShrinkGirl? She made everybody at that cheer rally into a target and like it or not, she's going to do the same to anyone else in her life ... and she may not be a killer but she sure as hell doesn't give a fuck who she throws into the line of fire ..."

"I ... I gotta go ... please... have a good night ... Ms. Gloria ..." Justin sighed, watching his irriatable customer leave.

Still ... what if she was right? Was Lexi really a danger to society?

WHY LEXI IS A DANGER TO SOCIETY ...

AN ESSAY BY RENOWNED SCIENTIST DR. MAXIMILLIAN E MUMFORD ....

The keys on the evil Doctor's keyboard stood silent as he had momentarily lost his train of thought. Of course he had published many such articles and essays to be read in the Enormo Press -- the companys internal newsletter ... a publication that seemed to spend a lot of time in trashcans.

But upon further contemplation the cantankerous Doctor decided that maybe it WAS time for a break. Maybe a quick game would get him in the right headspace.

"Computer ... Launch ShrinkGirl Simulator Version 1.2...."

From there, the mad Doctor watched as a digitized version of Minitropolis' Grove Park loaded in, an extremely realistic rendering featuring the usual gaggle of people passing by as the wind tranquilly blew by. At least until a model of Lexi spawned in and along with it, a few large mechanations of the Doctor's own design.

Lexi would peer around, seeing she was surrounded by three horrifically large metal monsters. One with a spinning orange blade that sparked red hot fire, another that was more brutish in appearance, featuring numerous stegosaurus like plates along its shoulder for protection and another smaller but faster model that resembled a condor with four sharp wings.

With haste, the robots would all charge at Lexi, starting with the fierce robot bird. Lexi jumped into the air and performed a near perfect backflip, shrinking as she did so and landing atop the robot birds chassis where she'd stick her tongue out at Max's other robotic minions. only fueling the already mad Doctors' growing rage.

Foolishly the second robot would charge forward, its strong mechanical blade pulsating as it swiped left and right in an erratic pattern as if chopping up a salad. In doing so, however the robot would errantly strike the incoming robot bird just as Lexi dismounted it and grew back to normal, sliding under the robots legs and falling victim to an attack from the third creation, Max's metal plated Destroyer robot.

She looked up in worry, dodging out of the way just as the robot struck the ground with a mighty force, causing the ground to shake and rumble violently, and leading to Lexi losing her balance.

"Yes!" Max shouted out loud, watching the scenario play out on his screen, "I've got you now!"

But what happened next could only be described as dumb luck as the robots tremor inducing punch also dislodged a nearby tree and its strong trunk came crashing down, nearly fracturing the Destroyer down the middle and rendering it useless as it collapsed onto its knee.

Filled with extra smugness now, Lexi turned to her final opponent, a robot she'd refer to as the Lumberjerk for its saw blades.

"Come and get me fool!" Lexi chuckled, seemingly unphased even as the robots shadow grew closer and closer and its flesh piercing blade threatened to saw her into a fine Lexi filet. She'd put her arms up as if yawning but it was really a ploy to expose her solid metal wrist gauntlets, causing the blades to just strike them and remain there, spinning quickly but ultimately doing more damage to themselves than the gauntlets that blocked them.

After the robot took a pause, Lexi chuckled and ducked down for a moment, vaulting up with some extra lift and power to strike the robot hard with the side of her gauntlet, sending it stumbling back.

Determined to try one more time, the Lumberjerk would lunge forward, blades spinning erratically and it would miss Lexi by a country mile as the confident ex-cheerleader simply somersaulted to her right, while the cumbersome robot found itself face down, having tripped on the remains of its fallen comrade. To make matters worse for Max and his million dollar machines, the saw-blade on the Lumberjerk would dislodge and fall right onto the robots back, spinning still and causing irreversible damage to its metallic armor.

Lexi would shrug and gloat, putting her foot atop one of the mechs as a message would flash on the screen.

"SIMULATION COMPLETED. SHRINKGIRL WINS"

"Gah!" Dr. Max yelled out in frustration, striking his keyboard and causing a loud sound just as a young lady knocked timidly on the glass pane seperating his office from the outer hallway. "Ugh ... you brought the cookies ... FINALLY... come in..."

"You ... okay Dr. Mumford?" the woman, known as Gloria Graff would ask, handing him the cookie bag.

"I am ... I am fine, yes" Dr. Max responded, a slight hesitance in his voice as he snapped up the bag with the green and gold KEKSE logo emblazened on it. As he took a bite into the first of the macadamia nut cookies he let out a content sigh, one of the few times the Doctor could be heard expressing any form of pleasure.

While this transpired, Gloria couldn't help but notice the chaotic spread of machinery in Max's lab. It seemed to get more and more clustered up each time she passed by. But something caught her eye this time that she hadn't noticed before.

A network of metallic tubes comprised a larger machine that snaked upwards into a sort of secure bracket or holder, and inside of that was none other than a purple and gold medallion bearing the "SG" logo. Gloria raised her eyebrow a bit and the observant Dr. Max was not unaware of her skepticism.

"I assure you ..." Dr. Max said, almost offering a dismissive laugh in the process, "it is NOT what you think ..."

"Isn't that ... ShrinkGirl's medal...?" Gloria asked, more than a bit confused

"Okay so THAT part you are right about ... but ... well, quite frankly, if I were to tell you what I'm using it for, it would likely just confuse you further..." Max shrugged, nibbling sloppily on another cookie, "All you need to know is that ShrinkGirl is a menace and I WILL find a way to stop her ..."

Gloria nodded, "Yeah... I ... I caught that ... also liked your article in last week's Enormo Press ... 'ShrinkGirl ... small person, huge menace...'"

The Doctor leaned back in his chair in a rare show of contentment.

"Yes yes ... I'm glad SOMEBODY listens to my wisdom ..." Dr Max gloated before watching a loading bar on his console just below the ShrinkGirl medallion light up, signifying that something had completed. "N-Now ... surely you must have somewhere to be ... what do I owe you for the cookies?"

"Don't worry about it, Doctor..." Gloria said, feeling a bit uneasy to be in the lab even if she did see eye to eye with Max on his views of ShrinkGirl, "I uh ... I'll see you tomorrow"

"Fair enough ... see you then" Dr. Max sighed, munching on the cookie in glee.

Damn, those cookies were good, even if the recipe was more than a tad bit familiar ...

________________

Lexi let out a deep sigh, only hearing the hum of her car as she drove pensively down the city streets, on her way to work at the Shrink Shack ... damn, she still couldn't believe they renamed the restaurant after her. She didn't know whether to be flattered or a little skeeved out.... or better yet, ask for more royalties.

As Lexi sighed, still feeling a bit on edge, she noticed an incoming call from Leah and pressed the button on her car's dashboard console to accept the call, hearing Leah's voice come through the car speakers.

"Lexi ... are you doing alright?" Leah asked, already knowing the answer

"I don't know, Lee..." Lexi sighed, "I think I just need to ... get back to work ... like actual work, and establish some normalcy in my life..."

Lexi was of course decked out in her white waitress dress with the slim purple candy stripes. Funny enough the restaurant used to have a white and blue color scheme but once again ShrinkGirl mania took its toll even on the long established family place.

"I definitely want to see you get that normalcy..." Leah said supportively, "I just ... I don't know if this is such a great idea... yknow? With ... what's been happening to you lately..."

"I'm fine" Lexi said resolutely, and she really did mean it at the time. She hadn't had more than a headache here and there since her incident the day prior. Maybe taking a break from using her size powers would stabilize things long term and this would all just be a bump in the road. Lexi liked to think positively after all, "...but ... I do appreciate your concern"

"Of course Lex ... I love you girl..." Leah whispered, looking over to see that her boss Sally was looking her away as Leah herself was also at work and ducking back to check on Lex, "I uh ... I gotta go... please be careful"

"You know it, hon" Lexi smiled, always happy to get the check in from Leah, "Be fabulous"

After the call ended, Lexi's smile continued, if not for just a bit longer. She's find a space up front and look at her place of employment, the plastic decal of herself adorning the window with a tacky speech bubble reading "Upgrade to a Super Shrink Shake for $2.99!"

Lexi got out of her car and took a couple steps towards the restaurant, as a couple of excitable young ones made their way around her, one of them turning back and waving, having recognized her. Lexi gave a sheepish smile but just as things seemed to be going her way again, Lexi's body would be struck with another brief moment of helplessness as she tingled, taking a deep breath as she gulped hard.

"...this may not have been a good idea..."

______________

The previous night, two shady figures entered a dark alley. One of them was extremely quiet, which wasn't hard to do when one is but a few inches tall. The other was Roxanne Wright, reckless criminal extraordinaire and she was slightly more quiet ... for her, even as the small chains on her leather pants jangled with each step while the duo drew closer to the back of a brick building that they had both visited before.

The tiny girl, now known as Sugar Rush extended out her new shiny metallic wings with a small but still overstated clank and ch-tunk sound, resembling a tiny Doctor Octopus with 4 bladed protrusions stretching from her jetpack.

"Not too shabby, huh?" Roxie gloated, down one knee to watch her tiny cohort hovering a tad off the ground, taking in the sight of her "gift" in action, "huh... kinda fills me with pride, almost ... now I know what it must be like to have a daughter"

Sugar Rush took exception to that, shooting the pompous Roxie a heated stare

"I am NOT your daughter" Rush said, turning to the side in defiance

"Hey hey ... you know what I meant" Roxie sighed, slowly getting up off the sandy concrete, "geez, you try to have a moment and they shoot you down ... typical rebellious teen"

"I'm not a teenager" Rush huffed, "I'm probably older than you!"

"What? No 'thank you for breaking me out of prison and giving me an upgraded suit'?" Roxie scoffed, walking gingerly past Rush as she surveyed their surroundings.

"Ugh ... fine ... thank you ..." Sugar Rush sighed reluctantly, activating her jets to fly up to Roxie's level, "I guess I'm still not ... thrilled to be ... you know, ... this way"

"I get it ..." Roxie said, half listening to Sugar while also making sure they weren't being watched. "Okay I mean, maybe I don't COMPLETELY get it but ... oh shoot"

Roxie's exclamation startled Sugar a bit as she floated back to get a better view, glancing up and seeing what Roxie saw, a blinking red light on the front of a security camera that had a clear shot of both of them, even in the dark.

Roxie raised a pistol, ready to shoot the incriminating video camera down before Sugar shook her head

"Let me..." Sugar Rush sneered, raising an arm and blasting a thick wad of bubble gum that covered the entire casing of the camera, obscuring the video and eventually causing the camera to spark and short out.

"Hmm... not bad..." Roxie shrugged, slipping her gun back into the holster on her waist, "but you still left some evidence by leaving the camera intact"

"Yeah but I didn't want to wake the neighborhood and alert any nearby cops by blasting the thing ... and I doubt you have a silencer on that ..." Sugar commented

"...good point. I actually have something called a 'loudener' on it" Roxie chuckled "but good thinking, I've taught you well, my daughter..."

"...this is never gonna end, is it?" a disgruntled Sugar Rush bemoaned.

"Oh shush..." Roxie sighed, rolling her eyes as she took a look around. The girls were surrounded on 3 sides by brick walls but one of the walls had a vent that likely led to the inside of the building. "I'm trying to help you out here after all ... that crazy doctor may have something in here that can help you grow back ... or at the very least some cool new weapons"

"I just don't know how smart it is to hit the same place twice..." Sugar warned, peering into the vent, able to see further down due to her small size.

"That's what makes it perfect" Roxie beamed with confidence, shrugging her shoulders, "Nobody ever expects it ... it's the perfect crime"

"Is there really such a thing as the perfect crime?" Sugar asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sugar Rush wasn't exactly your traditional villain. Physically, and in some ways mentally transformed by her dealings with ShrinkGirl and an unfortunate set of circumstances, Sugar was technically still a good person at heart, even if that heart was riddled with turmoil and her body was fused with more additives than a double stuffed Oreo.

Roxie flashed a small flashlight down the vent, not able to see too much further as it appeared the vent dipped and turned in another direction.

"Okay, well ... you're on" Roxie said to Sugar after turning off the flashlight.

"Ugh ... of course I am" Sugar Rush sighed, already accepting her role as the one to slip into super tight spaces.

"I'd do it but ... I gotta lay off the bon bons" Roxie chuckled, slapping her own ass.

Rush reluctantly squeezed through the grates in the vent and flew into the dark steel tunnel, flipping a small switch on her wrist that caused the tips of her propeller blades to light up, giving her sufficient visibility as she descended deeper.

Meanwhile, an impatient Roxie waited outside, leaned up against the brick building playing Candy Crush on her phone as if it was just a normal Tuesday evening. She heard a little clanging arise from inside the grate and peeked through the vent for a moment.

"Everything okay in there?" Roxie asked, hearing the sound of Sugar Rush speeding up the tunnel to meet her

"We've gotta get out of here!" Sugar exclaimed, quickly bursting through the vent, leaving some dent marks to prove she was there was she sped ahead of Roxie who made a run for her bike.

"Geez, what happened in there?" Roxie scoffed.

"I accidentally tripped the laser grid ... there should be an alarm any moment..." Sugar grunted, shaking her head

"Oh dear daughter... I thought I taught you better than that..." Roxie teased, straddling her bike and revving it up.

"Just shut up and go!" Sugar groaned, landing on Roxie's shoulder as the couple departed the site of none other than "Aztek Parts and More"

_______________

Lexi walked into the Shrink Shack, passing the brightly painted purple door and gave a wave to their host, Will. It was the same Will who made some cute Dungeons and Dragons figurines, which wasn't too surprising since his father Jerry owned Jerry's Joyworld, a popular toy store in the area. In fact, even the toy store had recently gotten into the "ShrinkGirl" business, selling mini mockups of Minitropolis' new favorite crime fighter.

"Heya Lexi, how are things going?" Will asked, as the restaurant was a bit slow to start, it being about an hour before the lunch rush.

"Good. Good" Lexi asked calmly but confidently as she smiled at her friendly co-worker. So far so good. "And with you?"

"Oh you know..." Will shrugged, "Waiting until the last minute to get this college paperwork in, but I should be all set for the next semester ... you go to Miniborough U as well, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Lexi replied, noticing out of the corner of her eye a young girl, no more than 6 with dark pigtails and a toothy smile approaching her. She paused her conversation with Will to show her some attention, glancing down at a piece of paper the girl was proudly displaying, "Yes, sweetie?"

"It's you!" the little girl cooed, holding up the paper which was actually a kids menu for the Shrink Shack, and there was a "color in the ShrinkGirl" activity on the back. The girl had used the plethora of crayons at her disposal to great effect, giving Lexi pink and purple shoes, a neon green skirt and rainbow colored wrist gauntlets. "You're SHWINKGIRL!!"

Lexi blushed deep red, never knowing how to feel when this kind of thing happened. She simply nodded and smiled.

"I ... I sure am..." Lexi smiled, as she reached for a purple crayon that was atop Will's counter. "You mind if I sign it?"

"You would do that?!" the girl exlclaimed, her eyes lighting up even further as she bounced with joy.

"Of course ..." Lexi nodded, "I really like what you did with my gauntlets..."

"Your what?" the girl asked, a bit perplexed

"My uh ... wrist thingies..." Lexi chuckled sheepishly, gesturing to her own wrist as she used her other hand to write her name, "and what's your name, little sweetheart?"

"Melissa!" the girl replied with an even bigger smile. The sight was almost too much for Lexi to take without melting.

"Okay... Melissa..." Lexi grinned, doing her best to sign legibly with a dulled purple crayon as she wrote "To Melissa, from your smallest but biggest fan, ShrinkGirl"

The young girl looked at the paper a bit sideways at first, perhaps not understanding Lexi's subtle size joke but she smiled all the same and gave Lexi a quick hug before going back to her table to show off her prize, an autograph from the one and only ShrinkGirl.

"Now that was cute" Will said with a nod, noticing a family coming in to order. "I kinda needed that ... was a nice moment..."

"Heh ... thanks, Will" Lexi said, smiling shyly.

It truly felt good for Lexi to be able to share smiles with people for something she did that she really didn't feel was so remarkable. Sure, it had never been done before, but it wasn't like she chose to do it or even practiced it. Her entire existence as "ShrinkGirl" was nothing but a series of accidents, right down to the fact that she drove an interdimensional car that had to be modified to run on traditional fuel sources.

Lexi gracefully bid Will adieu so that he could tend to his customers, unaware of the static she was slowly gathering up as she made her way across the restaurants thin teal carpets and turned the bend into the kitchen.

Will had just shown a family to their seats after directing them to their waiter Mark, when another of Lexi's co-workers named Kimberly came over, looking a little woozy as she groaned, with her hand to her head.

"Still feeling kind of out of it?" Will asked, to which she nodded "You should be able to go home... just ask Mark... Lexi just got here so she can cover you..."

"You sure?" Kimberly asked, her brown eyes showing concern as she shook her head, trying to stand up straight, "I don't want us to be down a girl"

"Hey, your health's more important..." Will said, "But again, just check with Mark or Stacy ... I'm sure they'll be okay with it since Lexi's here"

"Okay ... okay thanks ... where IS Lex anyway?" Kim asked

"She just stepped into the kitchen I think" Will replied.

Kimberly nodded, trying to keep it together while her stomach started giving her fits. She put a hand on the threshold to the kitchen, which wasn't a very big one at that. She noticed their chef Peter but didn't see anybody else, and it was kind of hard to miss somebody like Lexi who was usually quite talkative when she'd walk in.

"Lexi? Hon?" Kim asked curiously, then looked to Peter, "Did you see her?"

Peter had his earbuds on and seemed to be in a state of zen watching beef patties fry on the grill. Finally, he looked up to see Kimberly looking a bit irritated. He pulled out an ear bud and looked over confused.

"Was Lexi in here?" Kim asked again

"Uh ... yeah..." the distracted Peter answered, his eyes fluttering between Kimberly and the sizzling burger patties, "She was just in here ... I think ... maybe she went to the bathroom or something... or the break room"

Kimberly just sighed, but nodded, not feeling frustrated with Peter but just ill and in a hurry to get out. So she'd continue on her way to Mark and Stacy's office instead to ask for the time off.

But where WAS Lexi?

Not even a few minutes earlier is when Lexi had walked into the kitchen to say hi to Peter, the well meaning but often hyper focused main chef of the Shrink Shack. Her body unknowingly charged with static electricity proved a dangerous thing when she'd tap the metal countertop in the kitchen with her hand.

"Hi Pete --" is all that would be heard before Lexi again unintentionally reduced herself, looking up in shock at the now giant kitchen, its pots and pans laid out like some kind of ginormous factory. "...oh shit, not again..."

It would be the same tiny Alexis who would be hiding underneath the counter when Kimberly's giant black shoe hit the ground and that's all the tiny woman could see at her current size.

"Kim! Kim!" Lexi squeaked, figuring even though people knew of her powers, they'd never think to look for her there, "I'm here! I'm down here!! Please!"

Lexi simply let out a whimper as Kimberly walked on by, not even acknowledging the tiny Lexi's existence as she remained cowered under the counter, surrounded by the ambience of burger sizzling noises and other chatter going on around her.

"Ugh ... I can't really work like this ..." Lexi squeaked, feeling ridiculous to be in this predicament. "...right?"

As would sometimes be the case, Lexi would find her mind wandering into a daydream....

In that daydream, she'd see a white paper bag with purple letters being plunked on a table with the words "The Shrink Shack Kids Meal" on it. An excited young girl named Melissa would go for the food before noticing something else inside, shaking the bag up a little bit before pulling out a "toy"

"Mommy! Daddy! Look!" Melissa would say, holding the shrunken Lexi in hand as she squeaked and flailed about, "I got a toy!"

"Oh wow..." Melissa's mom would shrug, looking at the poor Lexi, "They make them so realistic now..."

Lexi shook her head and shuddered.

"No... no... not gonna happen ..." Lexi gulped at the thought. "I just gotta ... unshrink ... tell Mark or Stacy about this ... and uh ... yeah ... I don't know..."

Of course at that moment, an already troubled Kimberly would be talking to her boss Mark to let her out early on account of a stomach bug.

"Of course... of course ... I appreciate you hanging in this long..." Mark said, leading Kimberly out of the office and towards the kicthen, "Just make sure Lexi's here and all set... say, she should be here now, right?"

As confused as Kimberly was to attempt explaining that, it would be even more confusing that Lexi seemed to pop up out of thin air, now in the break room and coming out, looking a bit woozy herself but at least she had regained her size again.

"Oh, there she is!" Mark said, "Hey Lexi, do you mind if Kimberly takes off? She seems to have caught that stomach bug that's been going around"

Lexi hesitated for a moment. Of course she didn't want anyone to have to suffer through that kind of thing ... especially a coworker who she really liked. She had opened her mouth, all too ready to have to be the "bad guy" and tell them about her own condition ... but instead....

"Yeah, of course" Lexi said with a nod, "Get some rest, Kim"

"Thank you so much, Lexi ... you're a lifesaver" Kimberly said, holding her head again as she dipped out of the corridor that seperated the office from the break room and kitchen. Lexi gave a supportive nod.

"Just ... doing my job..." Lexi said weakly, feeling as if the phrase had multiple meanings at that moment.

"Are you sure YOU'RE okay, Lexi?" Mark asked, a bit concerned to see her knees had a bit of wobbliness to them, "don't tell me you're getting sick too"

"Me? No... nope, I'm fine..." Lexi said, lying through her teeth even as she presented a kindhearted smile.

Lexi would carry that smile out into the restaurant with her as she observed it filling up with more customers. One in particular, who was impatiently waiting to be seated by the front counter struck her as both familiar and unique.

The woman had long blue flowing hair and ice cold cobalt eyes. She didn't appear malicious but also didn't give off the feeling of warm and friendly. She was wearing a dark blue suit jacket with white button up shirt underneath and the logo on her jacket was a circle currounded by a large C and a T, the logo of CyberTek.

Lexi continued her early shift duties even as she noticed the young woman seemingly locking eyes with her briefly. Did she recognize Lexi? It wasn't too uncommon these days with the posters being out and about but the woman seemed to focus on Lexi for an unusually long time even as Lexi was trying to listen to another couples order.

"Sounds great, you guys, I'll be right back with those drinks!" Lexi said with a smile, taking a few steps to her right before tripping and becoming obscured by a set of booths.

The curious Aeris raised an eyebrow as she saw the young woman who she already knew to be ShrinkGirl take an unusually long time to get back up but slowly and surely she did, scampered into the kitchen with an odd spark still emanating from her right index finger.

It was the kind of detail 99% of people wouldn't even think to notice, but Aeris wasn't like those other 99% and if she didn't know any better, she'd say Lexi shrank and then unshrank within a matter of seconds.

Meanwhile Lexi herself took a breather in the kitchen, safe from the gaze of Peter who was too enthralled in flipping burgers and making sure they were all topped with the same ratio of ingredients. As her breath slowed down, she noticed her sparking finger symptoms did as well until finally she felt more at ease.

Still, she let out a low sigh.

"...this is going to be a long day..."

Aeris, the young CyberTek employee is now seated, her mind racing with thoughts as she rudely waves off her waiter while locked in a phone conversation.

"...I thought I told you not to keep calling me on this number..." the gentleman on the other end of the call said in detest.

"I wouldn't have to keep calling you if your contractor provided what we discussed..." Aeris said, finally flagging down the very waiter that had tried to help her, "Yeah, could I get a water and lemon, please? Thanks."

"I know for a fact she's secured the package" the heavy set man said, letting out a sigh, "this is not a good time... can we discuss this later? Things have been ... well, chaotic to say the least"

"That should be the norm in your business, no? Or should i say ... OUR business?" Aeris replied with a cheeky wink, even if the man on the phone couldn't see it.

"Okay okay ... I'll ... find her... and ... get what you need, just... chill, okay?"

"How much 'chilling' I do will be completely up to you, sir" Aeris shrugged non-chalantly, accepting her water with lemon and continuing to otherwise ignore her waiter as she kept on talking, "Scott won't be happy if he doesn't get what he needs soon... he's been counting on this as a potential step forward in his project ..."

"...the less I know about this project, the better" the disgruntled older man said, cutting Aeris off mid-speech, "I'm on the way there now, okay? I was just trying to spend some time with my daughter..."

"Oh how sweet..." Aeris said indifferently, toying with her straw in the water, "...well, do what you gotta do ... oh, and say hi to Roxie for me, okay?"

The man, known only as Byron Biggs sighed and hung up the phone as his daughter Chrissy climbed into the backseat of the car.

"Who was that, dad?" Chrissy asked

"That was ... an associate..." Byron sighed, "I'm afraid we're going to need to make a little detour..."

"Uh... okay..." Chrissy responded, seemingly not concerned or thrilled about the prospect.

In many ways she was used to the secrecy...

"Ugh, Mara ... c'mon you CAN'T wear that!" a stunned but amused Leah Henderson said while holding in laughter, watching her red haired and rumbunctious friend holding a bikini top up to her bust.

The bikini top was white with red circles resembling a bulls eye. One cup said "HONK" and the other said "HERE". Mara giggled like a schoolgirl as she let it hang on its metal stud again with a sheepish shrug.

"C'mon, it's funny ..." Mara giggled, "plus since I work here, I get my 20% discount..."

"Yeah, about that ..." another employee grumbled, taking the wrongly misplaced bikini top from the shelf and hanging it where it was suppose to go, in the novelty bikini section. "...you're fired"

"What? Again? Why?" Mara asked, half miffed but mostly just curious.

"You've missed like 8 of your last 10 shifts ... including today! Right now! You're supposed to be working!" the disgruntled young Spencer's Gifts employee with the name tag "Erik" said, "turn in your stuff by the end of the day ... or don't... I don't care..."

As Erik walked off mumbling obscenities, Mara simply gave Leah a confused look

"What was that guy's problem?" she asked, "...well guess I have more free time for the party then..."

Leah simply stifled a giggle as the girls proceeded out of the store, resorting to her cell phone upon feeling it vibrate.

"Ooh a text from Chrissy!" she said excitedly, "sweet, she can come to the party too!"

"Wasn't she moving soon?" Mara asked

"That's what I thought ... I'll ask her but maybe it's not til later in the summer??" Leah replied, a bit preoccupied with her other party plans.

This year, Leah Henderson had gone all out to prepare a birthday event for her friend Lexi that was befitting of the lady's stature ... well, relatively speaking. She had even gone so far to pull some strings with the owner of Balthazaar Beach, a private beach on the edge of town that had a beautiful view of the water. Thanks to Josh's help, she was able to rent out the whole beach for Lexi's birthday afternoon which was fast approaching.

"Lexi and I haven't been to Balthazaar's in years! She's going to be super surprised and it'll be a great time for us to relax and chill and ..." Leah continued to explain her motives, all the while watching Mara nodding in anticipation, sensing her incoming remark, "and yes Mara, a chance for you to wear a skimpy bikini..."

"Psh, it's not always about that ... okay maybe it is..." Mara giggled, "Hey, can Penelope come?"

"Penelope...." Leah said, in the same sort of monotone voice she always did when the creature was referenced, "Penelope, your fire breathing, made of fire, firebird phoenix?"

"That's the one!" Mara giggled, pulling out her phone and scrolling through pictures of Penelope including a few selfies.

Leah finally relented and nodded, "Sure, why not?"

"Hell yeah!" the bubbly elf retorted with a fist pump, "So who all is coming? You, me, Josh...?"

"Yup, and Chris ... I tried to get the fairy sisters ... and Mark..." Leah said, "but they seem to be preoccupied with something ... and apparently Chrissy too ... oh! Speaking of ..."

Leah casually checked her phone, a bit surprised to read the news.

"Huh. Apparently she ISN'T moving?" Leah said, confused.

"Huh. Guess we had that going away party for nothing then ..." Mara shrugged, "although it was pretty bangin'"

"...Lexi got shrunk and kidnapped ... and Chrissy got assaulted" Leah said with a dissapointed frown.

"...oh right"

____________________

Speaking of Lexi, she was finally out of what felt like the world's longest day of work and still had one more stop to make ... an emergency therapist appointment with Dr. Sheila Hillenbrandt but she decided to take a quick detour to 'Aztek Parts and More' to see Trevor Hilfmann.

Her symptoms were, for the time, dormant as she tried to be careful not to touch anything metallic. She was beginning to see the correlation between weird electrical charges and her body size changing, even if it wasn't always consistent.

Lexi walked into the store, expecting to see the usual smattering of customers and Trevor himself manning the desk ; either that or one of the young ones he hired that never lasted long.

Instead she saw the store was more or less deserted with a sign up on the counter that said "Please Ring Bell for Assistance"

Rather than do that however, Lexi peered back as far as she could to see none other than the blue haired woman from the restaurant, hunched over at a computer in Trevor's workshop. At least that's what she was able to make out from her current vantage point.

Lexi leaned her head up, trying to get a better view before she finally decided to ring the bell, tapping it like a cat afraid to get their fur wet whilst she feared any repurcussions of hitting the metallic bell.

DIIIIING

Lexi let out an exhale of relief. She hadn't shrunk ... yet.

Trevor noticed Lexi and seemed suspicious as he made his way to the main counter to help his "customer". While Trevor excused himself, it was the young woman Aeris who also flashed a suspicious look -- one that was thankfully unnoticed to all as she briefly swiped her hand underneath the computer desk she was working on.

"Hey Doc..." Lexi said, trying to act as casual as possible, while still peering in, "Wh-What uh ... what's with big blue over there?"

"Oh well ..." Trevor said, the guilty look not leaving his face, "she's here ... uh ... I think I mentioned the young woman I was having fix my computer systems?"

"Yeah ... she just removed a virus or something?" Lexi asked, honestly not in the best frame of mind to try to deduce anything. To her, all computer issues just sounded like "Virus".

"Something like that" Trevor sighed, "....well, I decided to bring her in more full time, at least to shore up my security systems..."

"Cameras out back go on the fritz or something?" Lexi asked

"Something like that ...." Trevor sighed, "There was a ... break-in last night, or at least an attempt..."

"Shit, for real?" Lexi said, looking concerned immediately as she put each hand on the glass counter seperating her and the former Enormo Doctor, "Any idea on who?"

"Actually, I know exactly who ..." Trevor sighed, beckoning Lexi to come join him behind the counter, "...I probably shouldn't say but ..."

"But you've already started to ..." Lexi said, in an almost smug tone, feeling akin to a detective getting closer to solving a big case.

"Well ...." Trevor sighed, passing by the room Aeris was working in and giving her a friendly nod as she continued typing away.

Lexi's eyes passed by the room, which was windowed off, and briefly made contact with Aeris' -- their exchange feeling fairly hostile and charged, despite not lasting more than a couple seconds.

Maybe it was the icy blue stare or the demeanor of the woman as she mechanically worked on her task but something about her didn't sit right with Alexis Cole.

"...you sure you can trust her, doc?" Lexi asked in a bit of a dull whisper while Trevor took the young superheroine into a dark room where his security footage lived.

"Look..." Trevor sighed, "If I've learned anything in the past year and change, it's not to trust anyone ... I mean for that matter, I've been keeping tabs on operatings over at Enormo and ... well..."

"...Mad Max up to something big?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...Maxmillian..." Trevor said, correcting her as if still owing the crumudgeon any respect from their past days working today, "has been fairly quiet"

"That's ... good... right?" Lexi asked, the momentary chat about her adversary strangely taking her mind off her otherwise mounting anxiety.

"You would think so... but not exactly..." Trevor lamented, rewinding through some security footage to show Lexi. "It's not confirmed but from my connections on the inside..."

"Wait wait ..." Lexi said, shaking her head for yet another moment, "you have connections on the inside?"

"...I ... stay in touch here and there ..." Trevor confirmed, "I'm careful to stay away from Dr. Mumford but there are signs that Enormo's Engineering department is working on something big and keeping it under wraps ... seems a lot of research dollars have been diverted to their sister location that was built in the Fenster Forest region..."

"And this is all stuff you're just NOW telling me?" Lexi asked, seemingly upset.

"Well ... given everything you're going through and how unadvisable it would be to use your powers right now ..." Trevor said with a stern tone of voice, "I didn't see it helpful to inform you"

Lexi nodded, looking a bit apologetic.

"R-Right ... sorry ... tough day ..." Lexi sighed

"Which is why I REALLY didn't want to show you this..." Trevor continued, exhaling as he shook his head, finally pinpointing the security footage that confirmed the attempted break-in from just the prior evening. "The camera was completely short-circuited but not before it captured this footage and sent it to me through the cloud ... some criminals are just careless..."

Lexi paused and narrowed her eyes at the blurry image of the woman on screen as it almost appeared she was locking eyes with the viewer.

"Yeah ... and she's one of them ... except she's not careless ... she's just reckless..." Lexi scowled, as if directly challenging the face on screen, "that's Roxie ..."

"Yeah" Trevor said, nodding, "A quick cross-reference with police records showed me that but the weird thing is ... even though she's armed here, she didn't shoot the camera ... in fact the security camera itself is structurally sound, however all jammed up with ... what appears to be ... bubble gum..."

"Bubble gum?" Lexi asked, before again pausing, her heart almost stopping for just a second. "...no. C-Can you pause that footage for just a second?"

"Ummm sure" Trevor said, leaning in a bit to study the footage but Lexi was a bit more keen to notice something ; namely a slight shinyness from behind Roxie's shoulder that couldn't be accounted for by anything else. "Oh... oh I see that too... is she carrying a weapon or something?"

"No." Lexi said, shaking her head as her stress began to return as soon as it had taken a break. "Zoom in, please"

A closer look at the footage revealed the silvery shine was actually a reflection of light off one of Sugar's mechanical wings on her suit.

"...Sugar Rush" Lexi sighed with a groan.

Trevor instantly turned off the monitor at this point.

"Look... Lexi ..." Trevor said, shaking his head, "This is why I didn't want to bring you in on this ... no offense ... you're amazing at what you do ... heck, more amazing than people who have been doing similar for all their lives but ... you need to take care of yourself ... you know? Have you given any further thought to the course of treatment we discussed?"

Lexi nodded, holding her aching head for a moment.

"Y-Yeah ... I ... I think I need more time..." Lexi said, before reluctantly showing herself out of the office, her mind swirling with thoughts.

"W-Wait, where are you ...?"

"I gotta go ... I have an appointment to keep..." Lexi sighed, doing her best not to make eye contact again with the off-putting Aeris in the other room as she made her way out, her steps forming a bee-line to her car.

Roxie being on the loose again wasn't exactly a huge shock to Lexi but seeing Sugar Rush gave her uneasy feelings of the last and only time they encountered each other. The combination of the two was probably up to something unthinkably diabolical...

_______________________

"Got any 2s?" a non-chalant Roxie Wright would ask her houseguest while leaning a single boot on a coffee table, holding a set of cards towards her upper left shoulder. After a long silence, Roxie would peek her head over her boot to have a better look at her "opponent", the diminuitive Sugar Rush who sat cross-legged on the table's opposite side with the comparatively life-sized cards propped up in a way for her to see them. "See hon, this is where you're supposed to either say yes or go fish..."

"I KNOW how GO FISH works!!" Sugar snapped, standing up only to quickly find that standing wasn't even sufficient to get the giant Roxie's attention. She'd come out from behind the cards as if they were a changing screen, looking increasingly frustrated, "I just highly doubt you broke me out of prison so that we could play cards!"

"Eh, I'm an enigma..." Roxie shrugged, reaching over and plucking up a lime green bottle of Rolling Rock and swigging some down before shaking the bottle teasingly over Rush, "you want some? I mean ... I'm guessing it doesn't take much to get you loaded since you're ... you know ... s-sorry"

Sugar Rush gave her a dead serious death stare before sighing and going back behind the cards, trying to maintain some sense of dignity.

"Just ... why did you bother bringing me here, Roxie?" Sugar asked, a sense of anger and confusion in her voice.

"Can't a girl just ... do another girl a solid?" Roxie asked, setting the beer bottle back down.

"No. Not you ...you're not like other girls..." Rush said in a dejected way, as she caught the striking image of Roxie's German Shepherd dog "Woof" coming up to greet her in her periphery, "there's gotta be something in it for you ... and ... holy fuck Roxie, can you keep this monster away from me please?"

"Awwww, Woof's just saying hi!" Roxie cooed, vacating her seat to fall on a knee and begin massaging her pup lovingly under the chin, "Isn't that right, Woof? Yeah!! That's right!"

"Well the fucking thing's the size of a giraffe to me... just ... please..." Rush said, a sincere tone of fear in her voice as she huddled closer to the cards at the sight of Roxie cuddling the uncharacteristically docile Schaferhund.

"Okay ... okay ..." Roxie said, her face showing a rare appearance of regret as she pat Woof on the side and gently beckoned him away, "but really, you have nothing to be afraid ..."

Just then came a strange doorbell like noise that caused Roxie to almost jump.

"What the fuck was that?!" Roxie yelped, reaching under her coffee table and seizing one of her guns. Turns out she had about 50 in the living room alone.

"That ... was the doorbell..." Sugar said, looking up at Roxie confused. Why would a master criminal be afraid of such a simple noise?

"I have a doorbell? Since when?!" Roxie snorted, standing up to answer it while also sliding the gun into her back pocket, "you stay here in case this gets ugly..."

"Great..." Rush sighed sarcastically, "...anything goes down I can throw a couple playing cards at them..."

And so Roxie would go towards her door, the path somewhat impeded by various litter and her walkway towards said door not exactly stealthy as the questionably sound wood floors creaked under her boots.

Roxie would take a peek through a small glass peep-hole (something she also wasn't familiar with as she didn't exactly get a lot of visitors to her unlisted address) and be rudely greeted with a familiar but unwelcome face.

"Oh fuck, it's you" Roxie said, sighing as she kept the gun perched in her back pocket but reluctantly opened the door, or tried to anyway, a golden chain keeping it bolted so that it wouldn't fully open but it did open enough so the encroaching gentleman could peek inside.

That encroaching gentleman would of course be none other than Byron Biggs.

"Sorry didn't realize you were coming, or I would've trashed the place some more..." Roxie scoffed, then peeking around the man's shoulder, as best she could to spy one other gangly looking man with him. "Oh and you brought company ... lovely.... ever heard of calling first?"

"Ever heard of paying rent?" Byron retorted. "I allow you to live here rent free AND heat free in case you hadn't noticed"

"Oh I HAVE noticed..." Roxie shrugged, "gets fucking chilly here in the winter..."

"I meant 'heat' as in ... you know what I meant" Byron sighed, not at all in the mood for Roxie's ridiculous games. "...where is the package?"

"Is that anyway to say hello?" Roxie asked, "No 'how was your day Roxie?' 'How are the kids, Roxie?'"

"...you have no kids" Byron groaned

"And see, you know that ..." Roxie said with a playful nod, "And how do you know that? Because we got to know each other..."

"She's stalling for time, boss, she's hiding something..." the other accomplice on the opposite end of the door said

"Geez, where'd you find this one? An extra from Generic Gangster Movie #6?" Roxie chuckled, while out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a more pressing conflict taking place ... namely Woof eyeing her "houseguest" as a table scrap. That might not end well.

"Roxie ... just tell me you have her ... and get her to me so we can move on with this ..." Byron said while Roxie seemed strangely unfocused in the moment, her eyes darting back and forth.

"Hold on ... ONE second ..." Roxie said with a nervous chuckle, slamming the door hastily and making sure the bolt was extra tightened.

In the short time she had, she would swiftly approach the table to find Woof looming over Sugar Rush like a hellhound, teeth bared as he barked ferociously a few times and Rush fell onto her backside, shaking her head and scooting back. Roxie sighed, as the gangsters on the other side of the door only heard "Bad dog! Bad!"

Roxie came back to the door just a couple moments later, grinning ear to ear.

"Sorry ... dogs, amirite?" Roxie chuckled, "You got a couple pets at home, dontcha sir?"

"...I hate animals..." the fatigued Byron Biggs replied

"...no surprise there...." Roxie groaned under her breath, "ANYWAYS ... if I find her, I'll let ya know, okay?"

With that Roxie made every effort to pry the door shut all while Byron and his accomplice continued to harrass her and bang on it further.

"C'mon, we know you have her!! We sent you there to...."

"La la la la ... can't hear ya!!" Roxie sighed, walking away with a total look of annoyance. "Auf wiedersehen or some bullshit ... happy trails ... til next we meet ..."

Roxie's next words would be droned out by the sound of annoyingly loud death metal that she'd put on to silence any further yells by Byron Biggs and his predictable goon who would eventually relent.

"Ugh... let's just go ..." Byron sighed

"Come on ... she's obviously got her..." the other cohort chimed in.

"I'm wise to that ... but I've got my daughter in the car ... can't stay long..." Byron replied, "besides, she'll get sloppy at some point, she always does..."

After a period of waiting, Roxie leaned out the shot up window of her apartment, watching Byron's car pull away from the apartment complex that had a big "BIGGS REAL ESTATE" sign out in front. She sighed as she carefully slipped the secured Sugar Rush from her tight jeans pocket.

"Sorry about that..." Roxie giggled, a bright grin on her face, "I thought they'd NEVER leave ... now ... where were we? I think it was your turn..."

"Roxie..." Sugar squeaked, a bit upset, "what did they mean by the package?"

"The package...?" Roxie said, rolling her eyes, "You know those gangster types, always wanting their money or ... packages or ... oh you know what, I think I owe Pyro Pete a box of smokes ... as if that's what he needs right now is more smoke, amirite?"

"Roxie ... I heard them say 'her' ..." Rush said, "they're looking for a person"

"No ... no ... they definitely said 'it' ..." Roxie lied

"I know what I heard!" Sugar squeaked again, a bit more angrily.

Roxie sighed, leaning on the edge of her couch while keeping Rush perched in her hand.

"Okay so ... I guess we need to talk ..."

______________________

Enormo Enterprises : Maxmillian E Mumford HQ
Time: 5:34 PM

SHRINKGIRL SIMULATOR VER. 1.23
INTENSITY LEVEL : 7

Lexi was surrounded by two fierce robots with lobster like claws and furnace like grates for mouths.

"Geez, you really put the crab in CRABBY, huh, Mad Max?" Lexi teased, performing a backflip over one of the crab robots as it breathed fire at her, accidentally incinerating its partner in the process.

Lexi then shrank and landed on the back of the berzerk robot as if comandeering a mechanical bull, shrinking herself into its circuitry and beginning to toss out bolts and circuitboards as if plucking her eyebrows.

The results would be an instant KO for Maximillian's blastercrabs as ShrinkGirl came somersaulting out of the defeated robot successfully.

SHRINKGIRL WINS!
YOU LOSE!

"Son of a --!!" the angry Maximillian E Mumford cursed, thrusting his fists against the console which housed his elaborate network of computer screens. "I thought for sure the fire would get her ... and why does the simulated ShrinkGirl make such quippy puns?!"

Irrate and exhausted, Maxmillian slumped at his desk, his eyes drawn from having spent so much time in front of the flickering monitors. In the treshold stood a sympathetic colleague -- none other than interdimensional expert Dr. Giovanni Guillardo.

"Max?" Giovanni asked with a bit of cautious tone in his voice as he approached the irritated doctor. "Is this a good time?"

"...as good as any..." Max responded, "how can I help you?"

"Well ... that's just it" Giovanni said, walking into the office, peering around at the various scraps and prototypes the Doctor had been working on. "I want to thank you for all of your help to this point ... I've made great progress on the dimensional portal inducer thanks to your funding and engineering department"

"That is good news..." Maxmillian said, quickly closing out of his ShrinkGirl Simulator program before it was evident, "I could use some..."

"Everything alright, Max?" Giovanni asked, "you've been putting in some serious hours here ... I realize you're the chief engineer but .... you need to take care of yourself, yknow? I remember you always burning that midnight oil in college too..."

"Well ..." Max sighed, "...sometimes if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself ... and I'm so close to cracking this whole ..."

"...ShrinkGirl thing?" Giovanni suggested, interuppting the Doctor's train of thought. Max looked up, a bit perturbed.

"Is it that obvious?" Max sighed

Giovanni directed his gaze up at the SG medallion that Dr. Max had kept mounted like a trophy within the metal prongs of one of his machines and sighed.

"Just a bit ..." Giovanni said, "...look, I don't know muxh about this ShrinkGirl other than what I've heard on the news and well, from the Chaos Crew ... although I do remember ..."

"Yes, I know..." Dr. Max sighed, rubbing his temples from stress, "You've mentioned before that ... other ShrinkGirl..."

"I'm just saying ... the ShrinkGirl I knew ... Alexis I believe her name was..." Giovanni said, "she was a bit rough around the edges, but she was a good person..."

Max suddenly paused, deciding to redirect the conversation a bit.

"...I'm not suggesting she ISN'T a good person..." Maxmillian said, "...it's more ... well, she was exposed to one of OUR experiments..."

Giovanni nodded

"Project Delta..." Giovanni said

"You know about this?" Maximillian asked, a bit surprised.

"I've met her before, remember?" Giovanni replied, "albeit a different 'her'..."

"Well ... it's just ..." Maxmililan inhaled before continuing to speak, "...Project Delta wasn't completed when she ... exposed herself to it ... so ... the side effects could be devastating, you know?"

"So .... you're interested in capturing her ... to ... help her?" Giovanni asked, with more than just a bit of skepticism in his voice.

"Who said anything about 'capturing'?" the not so good Doctor lied, "I simply need her to come back to the lab ... to run studies... although such a thing is hard with her being such a target of criminals and police alike..."

"I see...." Giovanni said, taking a moment to study his surroundings, seemingly deep in thought.

"You're ... thinking something..." Max said

"Well ... it's just ... she was exposed to some kind of energy signature from THIS lab, right?" Giovanni said

"This is correct..." Max replied

"So ... can you cross reference that energy signature with whatever device she accessed?" Giovanni suggested, "It's ... a tad unethical but it could serve as a way to track her... she may be giving off some kind of electrical polarity you could track and ..."

It was at that moment a lightbulb went off in the dastardly Doctor's head.

"Yes!! Yes!" Dr. Max sneered, suddenly snapping back to his usual vibrant self as if struck by a bolt of lightning. "This is an EXCELLENT idea!"

"...heh, glad I could be of help..." Dr. Giovanni said, beginning to regret his own idea now. He diverted his focus instead to the shining SG medallion, "...um... speaking of ShrinkGirl ... what is the significance of the medallion again?"

"Ah! I believe it could be a key component in our ... I mean YOUR dimensional portal inducer!" Doctor Max said, "...but more on that at another time! If you don't mind ... I have some work to do..."

"Of course you do..." Dr. Giovanni said, reluctantly leaving the office while serving up one final glance back at his eagerly diligent boss and colleague Dr. Maxmillian.

_____________________

"...thank you again Dr. Hillenbrandt..." Lexi sighed, a hesitance in her voice that was rarely heard from the seasoned therapist, "...for taking the time to see me..."

"Of course, Lexi..." Sheila replied, "...but you've been seeing me for a while now, just Sheila is fine"

"Of course ... s-sorry Sheila Hillenbrandt..." Lexi stuttered, realizing she was again being too formal, "It's just ... been a lot..."

"Well, our next session was scheduled for next Tuesday..." Sheila nodded, tapping her notepad, "but you insisted I see you earlier ... so ... what's going on? Talk to me..."

Lexi sat still, her lip quivering a bit as a single tear trickled down her face.

"I ... I just don't think I can do this ..." Lexi said, her voice soft and weakened

"Do ... what? You mean ... the ShrinkGirl thing?" Dr. Hillenbrandt asked

Lexi nodded

"All of it ..." Lexi sighed, looking down at her fingers, which for the moment were fine but she was constantly hyperaware of the prospect of sudden shrinking or some kind of jolt that would affect her joints, "...I ... I try so hard to keep it together ... I ... I was a cheerleader for 6 years ... I just ... I love making people happy"

Sheila nodded and continued to listen

"...but I just ... I can't handle all this ..." Lexi sniffled, beginning to sob, her breathing getting shallow and short, "...people ... adore me ... and I don't know why ..."

"Well I know why ..." Sheila said with a warm smile, offering Lexi a tissue from a small box on her desk which she humbly accepted. "You're a very kindhearted young woman and you're always making people laugh and ... like you said, you do your best ... people like that ... people need that"

Lexi sniffled and turned away.

"I'm so sorry..." Lexi said, choking up again.

"Why are you sorry?" Sheila asked

"I just ... I don't cry ..." Lexi groaned, her cheeks swollen and her face red as the tears continued to flow, "I ... I always try my best ... to stay positive..."

"It's okay to let it out sometimes..." Dr. Hillenbrandt said, "...in fact it's healthy ..."

"I ... I'm not healthy ..." Lexi sighed, "At least not physically ... my body is ... my body is just ... messed up right now ... my shrinking powers ... are all ... fucked up ... I'm sorry ... messed up..."

"Lexi ..." Sheila sighed, putting down her notepad and trying her best to just address Lexi as a friend and not a professional, "Listen... I've dealt with a lot of patients and ... I can't always say I know exactly what they're going through but in YOUR case, I REALLY can't say that ... I can't imagine what it's like ... to have those powers ... I'm still in disbelief of it but ... whatever it is you have ... you've said it yourself before ... maybe it's a gift ... to be used for good... and you've made the most of it ... that's something to be proud of..."

"And ... what if I have to give this 'gift' back?" Lexi asked

At this, the Doctor would wrinkle her brow, a bit confused

"This ... this disturbance in my body ... could be hurting me ..." Lexi sighed, "and ... my friend ... the uh ... one I mentioned to you ... who helps me with all of this ... he said the only way to potentially stablize me would be a treatment that could ... well, undo all this ..."

Sheila nodded

"So ... you're afraid ... of no longer being ShrinkGirl..." Sheila replied, with understanding.

"Yes... isn't that weird?" Lexi said, chuckling a bit despite her sadness, "I just said how much pressure I feel being her but ... I almost can't imagine my life without it now..."

"It's not that weird, Lexi..." Dr. Hillenbrandt said, "...again, I ... can't relate but she's a part of your identity... part of who you are ... it would hurt tremdously to lose that, I'm sure ... but ... suppose worst case scenario, you did ...? Would that be the worst thing?"

Lexi would ponder this for a while, taking a pause and just looking dumbfounded.

"...I mean, would your friends stop loving you?" Sheila asked, "Would your family?"

Lexi shook her head.

"Of-of course not..." Lexi stuttered, "I just ... I don't know ... I always thought I did this for ... doing good ... but part of me ... l-likes the glory ... I know it sounds selfish but something about when people recognize me ... or see me around town and say hello ... at first it had me a bit weirded out but ... it's kinda ... it's kinda cool ... I mean ... as cool as it can be to do some of the stuff I do ..."

Sheila nodded.

"Ultimately ... it's your decision ..." Sheila said, "But in my opinion, the idea of a ... ShrinkGirl isn't so much the powers but the person underneath and ... well, I know it's probably a cliche but I do believe any of us are capable of being heroes..."

Lexi nodded and offered the Doctor a bit of a grin.

Sheila, curious about what the brunette was grinning about had to ask, "What?"

"Just was thinking..." Lexi giggled a bit, "YOU'RE a ShrinkGirl if you think about it..."

Dr. Hillenbrandt had to ponder the joke for a moment before getting it and letting out a chuckle of her own.

"Yeah ... I suppose I am ..." Sheila grinned.

"Anyway ... th-thank you so much ... for your time Dr. Hillen... Sheila..." Lexi sighed

"Of course..." Sheila replied, "never hesitate to reach out to me if you need something ... or ... your friends for that matter ... you have a lot of people who are there for you, Lexi ... and they would be happy to do so, just as you would..."

Lexi nodded, as the tears subsided.

Taking a deep breath, Lexi would collect herself noticing that her powers hadn't been acting up as of the past few hours. Maybe she was in the clear? Then again ... maybe not.

Lexi still had a decision to make ...

The clear blue water splashed up against the crisp sandy shores of Balthazar Beach located on the coast of the Minitropolis Pier. A group of young men and women hooted and hollered over the outcome of an ongoing volleyball match as the victory would eventually reside with the team led by Mara, the feisty red haired elf. Her comrades would smirk and chuckle, sharing high fives while the others eventually came over to reluctantly congratulate the winning team.

The team compromised of Mara, Leah Henderson, Chris and Josh had just dispatched the team of Chrissy, Will, Trent and Justin -- yet one question was on everybody's minds...

Where was the birthday girl? Where was Alexis Cole?

"You said she was getting changed, right?" Mara asked, chuckling a bit as she chugged some water from a pink acrylic bottle, "What's taking her so long?"

"Well ... to be fair ... it takes her a while since ..."

"Oh right..." Mara chuckled, "I forgot ..."

"Hey, we playing again?" Chris asked, hopping back onto the sandy court divided by a swaying volleyball net. Something about his sporty attitude seemed very out of character for the usually reserved young man.

"Hold on Chris!" Leah chuckled, trying to dampen his enthusiasm a little in light of the event to come. "I think Lexi wants in on the next one?"

"Lexi? Heh ... you sure that's a good idea?" Chris smirked

"Come on ..." Leah said, appearing more than a little upset, standing flat footed in the sand in her sensibly retro but stylish white bikini with the blue stripes. Her eyes were looking momentarily melancholy but just as quickly, her face showed signs of a smile as she felt her phone vibrate. "Oh! Oh! She's ready!"

And out she came, the birthday girl, shivering in the sand while also feeling the scorching sun on her flesh. She waved sheepishly up at the crowd but what should've been a fun, joyful moment didn't have that same spunk to it.

Sure, her friends were having fun, almost in spite of her. But Lexi would slowly approach the tree trunk sized ankle of her friend Leah with a helpless look on her tiny little face, her brown hair bustling in the breeze as she was almost yanked to the ground by the gale.

"Y-Yes Lexi?" Leah asked, trying her best to be patient but this had gone on for a while now.

It seemed like ever since Lexi had overdosed on her own powers and got herself stuck small forever that it was Leah's duty to watch her ... almost like some kind of babysitter. She took it in stride but really ... how much more could she do for the poor thing?

Still, Leah held the unenviable task of being Lexi's best friend and that meant she had to be the party cheerleader ... ironic since Lexi was the true cheerleader between the two of them but she was much too small to do that anymore, and in fact, too small to do anything.

"Up you go, Lex" Leah said, a hint of 'routine' in her voice as she had gotten use to doing this, "Everybody look!"

And that's when the rush of emotions hit the tiny birthday girl, no longer in the hot sand but now allowed to momentarily exist with the "larger" beings who were her friends. They all smirked and looked at her, waving to her as their words and sentiments all seemed to blend together like the debris and salt that flowed from the tempid sea.

"Oh heya Lexi! You look great! Happy Birthday, girl! Heyyyy you're looking fine! Love the new hairdo! Let's party! Perfect weather today!"

The echoing compliments would surround the tiny girl and she'd offer her patented smile and wave, but in her heart she felt nothing. She was happy to see them ... it had been a while.

Since becoming tiny forever, Lexi rarely saw her friends and spent most of her time in a box at home -- heck she barely saw her cat Tiny ... a now cruelly ironic name for the feline that would occasionally poke his head into her box to say hello.

"Alright... what do you wanna do now, Lex?" Leah asked, her attention seemingly all over the place as she watched some of her friends re-engage in the volleyball game, others still lounged on the beach, and some took drinks from a cooler that was nestled on a towel up on a sand dune.

Lexi looked around and hopefully squeaked at her giant best friend, "I'd like to get in on the volleyball game?"

"Uh ... you sure that's a great idea...?" Leah sighed, echoing her friend Chris' sentiment, "I mean ... you're smaller than the ball, hon..."

"I know ... but ... I ... I could do it..." Lexi squeaked, "I mean ... I'd like to ..."

"Okay Lex, if that's what you want..." Leah said, seeming neither happy nor sad but just complacent to the tiny birthday girls request.

She'd carry Lexi over to the others and use her other hand to signal them to stop playing.

"Hey you guys ... Lex wants in on the next game" Leah announced, doing her best to phrase the request as anything other than what it was ... totally absurd.

After all, how could a 3 inch tall girl play volleyball?

"Um... s-sure..." Will said, nodding as he gave uncomfortable looks to the others, "We'd ... LOVE for her to play, right?"

"Oh yeah ... of course ... of course..." Josh said, "M-Maybe I can find a really small ball?"

"No, that's okay ..." Chris smirked, an uncharacteristic mean spirited tone in his voice as he spiked a regular sized ball into the sand, causing a small cloud of dust to whisk right up towards the tiny girl in Leah's hand, "the almighty ShrinkGirl can handle a bouncing ball, right?"

Lexi suddenly gulped, somehow feeling even smaller (metaphorically) in her best friend's hand as she watched the others look awkwardly down on her.

"Um... y-yknow what guys?" Lexi squeaked, turning away, "I think I'm good... I don't need to play..."

"You sure? We could use a plus one...!" one of the guys shouted off in the distance even as he had already started playing.

It was as if nobody had the time for her anymore. That even seemed to apply to Leah who just gave Lexi a dull look down, suddenly holding a water bottle in her hand.

"L-Leah? You don't think I'm too small to play, right?" Lexi squeaked, watching Leah take a glug of water from the bottle while looking up confused, "Leah? Where'd you get that water bottle?"

"Huh? I've always had this..." Leah shrugged, the bottle now empty. Lexi could swear it just came out of thin air though. "...in fact..."

Lexi yelped a bit as Leah's grip became tighter around her waist. She looked uncomfortably into the dull eyes of her best friend, confused as all hell now.

"Leah! What are you doing?!" the frightened Alexis squeaked

"I'm putting you in here ... I wanna go play ... I wanna do something that isn't watching you 24/7!" Leah scoffed, lowering her friend gently down into the water bottle until only her upper half was showing.

"Leah!!" Lexi squeaked, "Please!! Don't put me in a water bottle! I wanna hang out with you ... with all of you!"

"Well you should have thought about that before you overused your powers and got stuck tiny!" Leah sighed, "I mean LOOK at you! What the hell do you want out of me, Lex?"

At this point, Lexi was fully in the water bottle, her hands pressing softly against the plastic insides as she gasped, shaking her head worriedly. This couldn't be happening ... even Leah was abandoning her.

"But ... But Leah! I love you hon! You're my best friend!" Lexi squeaked, beginning to sob.

"I thought I loved you too..." Leah shrugged, leaving the water bottle in the sand and walking away.

"Leah?!" Lexi squeaked, noticing the bottle was slowly filling with water. At first it was a slight trickle but it soon grew more and more, pooling at her feet and slowly rising up to her waist as if a torrential downpour was coming, "Leah! Please!! L-Let me out of here!! I'm going to drown!! Leah?!"

"LEAH?!!!"

"Nuuuuuu ... Nuuuuuuu..." Lexi sobbed, her words muffled against her pillow as her body trembled. "Nu ..... please ... nuuuuu ... I can't ... I can't ..."

Her face was soaked but the nightmare had passed ... for now.

As Lexi stared at the wall, the vivid neon characters '4:43 AM' stood out to her as a throbbing headache persisted.

2 hours. She had gotten maybe 2 hours of sleep, despite having a tiring day.

She couldn't stand the thought of being tiny forever or somehow losing her friends ... she'd trade all of her superhero adventures in an instant if it meant the same simple fun times she loved to dream about with her friends.

As she lay awake now, eyes affixed on the ceiling, she began to come down from her panic. She knew Leah would never abandon her, even if that horrible fate did come to pass. But she didn't want to force Leah to make that choice.

Lexi had to make the right choice for her friends but also for herself. She reached for her phone and started to dial Trevor's number before pausing.

"...it can wait til morning at least"

______________________

Carlos' Coffee was a quaint but trendy Cafe in the suburbs of Minitropolis. It was paricularly bustling on this sunny day as patrons shared conversation, laughs and WiFi.

One bubbly employee was assisting her latest customer while wearing her light green apron emblazened with the Carlos' logo. Her name was Krystal and much like Lexi during her barista days, Krystal found herself all too happy to see people smile as a result of her perky service and love of all things latte and cappucino.

Her current customer was a shy looking blonde with a red sweatshirt ; a hood draped over most of her face, which was a shame in Krystal's humble opinion, for she thought the lady was particularly pretty, with her unique cobalt eyes and sensible amount of lip gloss, just enough to accentuate the youngster's lips but without overdoing it.

"Okay hon, here ya go ..." Krystal said with a smile, handing over a drink to the young lady before pausing, grabbing a black Sharpie marker from the counter, "Oh I'm sorry, you said your name was ...?"

"Rosie..." the young woman said with a shy smile, her hand tucked into her hoodies pocket as she watched the barista scribble the name on the side of her cup, "oh ... and I forgot to mention... I'd like to order another latte for my girlfriend ... shes meeting me here soon"

"Oh, of course, hon" Krystal said, setting the cup down on the counter in front of the grinning "Rosie" as she momentarily broke character to flash a conniving grin. Of course unbeknownst to Krystal and the other patrons at the Cafe, Rosie's "date" was tucked inside the hammock like pocket of her sweatshirt. "...what's her name?"

"Her name?" "Rosie" asked shyly, "Her name's Rachel but could you write Sugar please? And maybe put a little heart on it?"

Krystal practically melted at the idea and nodded happily as she did so

"That is SO cute!" Krystal quipped, handing Rosie the second cup as the shy blonde customer gave a confused look.

"I'm sorry, you don't have anything smaller, do you?" Rosie said for a moment before shrugging, "You know what? This'll work ... what do I owe you?"

"Total is 12.23" Krystal said, almost feeling bad for taking the young woman's money given how sweet she was.

Krystal never would've been able to believe who Rosie REALLY was.

Unfortunately for "Sugar", who resided uncomfortably in the sweatshirt pocket, crumpled up like a gerbil, she knew all too well whom she was dealing with.

Rosie calmly and casually sauntered over to a nearby seat in the corner, with a view of the city outside through the large picture windows. She set down the two drinks and discreetly slid Sugar Rush out into her hand, setting her down on the tabletop, behind one of the cups.

"There" 'Rosie' said, her voice beginning to retain some of its signature snark as she kicked back at the cafe, "Don't say I never did you nothing ... and look, she even wrote a heart on it ... too sweet!"

Rush appeared unamused, although it had been a while since the poor woman had experienced something as simple as a latte. Prison food wasn't exactly amazing and even if she had access to stuff such as that, she was much too small to properly enjoy it, which brought her to her current perplexment as she looked up and frowned, much too short to reach the cup, let alone drink from it.

"I do appreciate the gesture, Roxie ..." Sugar said with a sigh

"Shhhh, you wanna blow my cover?" 'Rosie' said with a teasing smile

"Oh right ..." Rush said, a rare smile crossing her face as she rolled her eyes "because Rosie is so much different than your ACTUAL name ... you know, I have to say I'm almost impressed, if not stupefied by your daringness to just ... show yourself in public when you're wanted in 38 states ...

"39, my dear Rush..." the girl in disguise shrugged, taking a sip before looking down at Rush and expressing something rarely seen by the emotionless vixen ... emotion.

With some quick thinking, the inventive young Roxie emptied out a small container that held sugar packets and used it as a small vessel for her pint sized accomplice, pouring some of the tiny woman's latte into the glass for her.

"Better?" Roxie asked, a strange sincerity in her voice as she watched Rush hesitantly approach the slightly more manageable drinking chalice.

"Yeah actually..." Rush nodded as Roxie provided the straw, having broken off a piece of it. Rush took a long, drawn out sip of the creamy latte and let out a satisfied mmmmmm. It may have been the first time in a long time she genuinely enjoyed something.

Roxie would ever let it be known, but this brought her a smidgen of delight.

_________________________

Elsewhere in town, somebody else was experiencing a form of "delight" -- but it was that of the maniacal variety.

The dastardly Doctor Maximillian E Mumford had quickly and tirelessly recalibrated his newest variation of drones to hone in on one energy signature in particular. That of Alexis Elizabeth Cole. For this, he owed a debt of gratitude to former colleague and now partner, Dr. Giovanni Guillardo for his ingenious idea to track Lexi using her electrical polarity which had been altered by exposure from his company's "Delta" experiment. Due to this, his heat seeking drones were now able to narrow down exactly which person they were looking for.

To make matters even easier, Max cackled in glee as he viewed a top down view of the city, digitized as if looking at a Ms. Pac-Man maze. He'd not only narrow down Lexi's location but could also ascertain that she was on the move and upon switching to his drone's on board camera, he spotted a shiny purple car making its way at a brisk pace through the streets of Minitropolis.

"This is almost too easy ...!" the evil Dr. cackled aloud, "This time ... you are MEIN!"

_____________________

"So Roxie ..." Sugar said, taking a slow sip of her latte while the much bigger gal was almost finished with hers.

Roxie gave the tiny one another cautionary "shush", causing Rush to roll her eyes.

"Fine ... ROSIE..." Rush said, with a hint of disdain in her voice. After all, it had been under the guise of 'Rosie' that Rush first met the evildoer, "...I appreciate this gesture and all but you've been dead silent on ... well, for one how you plan to nab ShrinkGirl and two ... what exactly went down back at your apartment?"

"Ugh ... okay ..." Roxie sighed, leaning down a bit, "I suppose I can only distract you for so long ... say, do you need me to top off your drink again?"

"...Roxie, I've got enough to feed me for a week..." Sugar sighed, "now on with it, please"

"Fine... fine ..." Roxie said, wrinkling her brow, "The truth is ... I was hired by Byron to capture you ... well, recapture you ... you know, out of jail"

"Okay ... well why?" Rush asked, "and why haven't you turned me over to him then?"

"He's not the client...." Roxie said, in a matter of fact way as she took another sip of her latte "The Chaos Crew is ... complicated..."

"Is it though?" Rush asked, with more than just a hint of skepticism, "seems like its just a group of thugs taking stuff and selling it to bigger thugs for money..."

"I get it, that's how it APPEARS ..." Roxie admitted, "...and actually there is a bit of that ... but ... the Chaos Crew is almost .. purposely disorganized ... there are factions within our own factions who are at war with each other ... point is ... we have agents all over town ... some of them even masquarading as normals within town... heck, that barista over there could be one of ours and I'd never know it..."

Roxie glanced over at the blonde hair Krystal behind the counter and upon making eye contact Krystal giggled and waved. Roxie offered a slight wave back and turned back to Rush.

"Okay, so she's not in the club ..." Roxie said with a slight hint of derision in her voice, "but there are others ... some you'd never expect ..."

"I'm sorry but ...how does this all tie back to ...?"

"The job of breaking you out was thrown out to any of us ..." Roxie said, "but our client was ... well, it may surprise you ..."

"Try me" Sugar Rush said

"You ever hear of Cybertek?" Roxie asked

"...kinda?" Sugar replied, "Some new tech company ..."

"Some BIG new tech company ..." Roxie said, her voice suddenly low and hushed, "for whatever reason, we were contracted to break YOU out ... for Cybertek..."

"But ... why me?" Rush asked

"I don't know ... but it has something to do with something new they're working on, I'm guessing ..." Roxie said, "there was somebody else who was down to take the job of breaking you out but they couldn't due to a ... conflict of interests ..."

"Conflict of interests?" Sugar asked

"Let's just say they're an inside man ... er ... woman..." Roxie said, rolling her eyes as she thought about the person in mind, "and an old rival of mine ..."

"Doesn't seem like you really make friends often..." Rush chuckled, "...no offense"

"Eh, none taken ..." Roxie said, "All I need's my pup, Woof, my .45s and eh ... that's about it..."

For whatever reason, Sugar Rush could tell Roxie was lying, not that it was hard to tell.

"I don't completely buy that, Rox..." Sugar said, "if you really didn't care about me, you would've turned me over to Cybertek by now... unless you're just using me to help you get revenge on Lexi and THEN sell me to the highest bidder..."

"Honestly?" Roxie shrugged, swirling the creme in her latte as she peered down at Rush, "that was my original intention but ..."

Roxie's voice trailed off and Sugar raised a brow. It was at that moment, Sugar realized that Roxie didn't need to finish that sentence. It was almost as if the badass babe had an epiphany and her stone cold heart grew 1/2 a size that day...

"Okay well ..." Rush said, attempting to break the awkward silence, "let's do what YOU want then ... how do we find Lexi? and make her pay?"

"Oh Shrinks?" Roxie chuckled, "Look around town! She's everywhere! Billboards, buses, that stupid restaurant now! The town is in love with her ... which means she's an easy target ... I even heard the mayor is thinking of throwing some shindig for her ... but don't worry, she's not going to make it there ... not in one piece anyway ..."

"So then .... you know where she is?" Sugar asked

"Not in so many ways ..." Roxie shrugged, "but if I know her ... and naturally I do, she'll be out and about sooner than later ... the girl has a flair for the dramatic..."

_______________


Lexi meanwhile had had enough of the dramatic. Even as she drove her shiny purple interdimensional car through the busy streets of Minitropolis, she couldn't help but seek out a simpler life and while she was reluctant to potentially say goodbye to the shrinking powers that had made her so unique and helped her experience things no other person ever had (outside of fairies and Mara), she hoped it was for the best.

At this point, she was maybe a few city blocks from Aztek Parts and More and a rendezvous with Trevor Hilfmann. She was close to starting a treatment course that may stabilize her condition, and while she wasn't sure what the future would hold, she was finally beginning to feel at ease with her decision, encouraged by the words of her friends, therapist and family. She could still be a hero in her own way. She didn't need any powers or fancy cars... well, she still intended to keep the car. Just maybe without the shrinking shift.

Fate however, had other ideas.

Unbeknownst to Lexi at that moment, a swarm of Enormo enterprise drones, marked with yellow and black industrial decals and narrow red laser detection beams, were triangulating her location. As if that weren't enough, the alleyways nearby were stirring with the clanks and crashes of wayward Maximites, terrible little nano-morphing robots that could go from the size of small dogs to much much bigger if needed.

Lexi was almost home free, almost to the street that contained the card shop, Aztek and other familiar sights.

But life was about to throw her yet another unexpected detour.

From way up in the sky a jagged orange targetting reticle surrounded Lexi's car as it cruised down Steinway Avenue. The reticle finally drew even with the car and Lexi happened to glance in her rearview mirror to see a fearsome sight.

Not 1, 2, 3 but rather 4 Enormo Enterprise drones were tailing her like vultures, protruding jagged wings raising from their perceived shoulders.

"Oh fuck... not now..." Lexi sighed, as if there would ever be a good time to deal with such a fiasco.

Lexi yelped as one of the drones took its first shot, a piercing hot orange laser that tore up the pavement around and in front of her car, forcing her to swipe a right turn or get incinerated. This naturally slingshotted the remaining drones towards her location while more horror awaited her in a nearby alley.

While taking that turn, Lexi would smartly set her car to "autopilot", swing open the door to her glove compartment and try her latest manuever (something suggested to her by Josh for convenience) -- changing into her costume on the fly by divebombing her tiny shrunken self into the compartment and coming out in the ShrinkGirl purple and gold, back at the wheel and just in time to watch a Maximite robot clamber onto her hood.

Watching from a remote location on Enormo Enterprises Premises sat the evil Doctor Maximillian E Mumford who chuckled with glee upon seeing his frightened foe on camera.

"Bingo...." he'd laugh, before hitting a button that would unhinge the robotic creature's mouth.

Lexi glanced inside the threatening maw of the raccoon sized Maximite and as it seemingly expanded, she saw nothing but the growing crimson portal of a laser as it began to charge up.

Rather than allow it that chance, she quickly shifted her car into SHRINK -- shrinking herself as well -- and drove forward under its tree trunk sized legs before regaining the size of her car and herself, driving in another direction as she kept her head on a swivel, especially as Maximites awaited her on the ground, but drones threatened her from the air.

"Great ..." Lexi sighed, taking a completely different route now, "I can't lead them to Aztek ... I can't lead them anywhere NEAR Dr. Hilfmann and I definitely can't lead them towards MY neck of the woods and my parents ... or Leah's ... shit... what do I do...?"

What Lexi ended UP doing was the only option currently available and it involved her quickly veering off onto a highway entrance to try to lose the bots.

The Maximites while fast were beginning to lose their fervor as their robotic talon like claws stomped on the roadtops, leaving massive footprints with each stride.

A couple of the drones fell for Lexi's quick diversion while 2 more kept pace through a tunnel and out onto the freeway where Lexi now tried to weave around cars as fast as possible, drawing understandably agitated horn honks and drivers shaking their fist as the reckless heroine blew past them without even using a blinker... how rude...

A witnessing police officer nearly fumbled his coffee watching the purple streak whiz by, with 2 assailant drones overhead, and two more in the distance playing catch up.

"Dispatch ... we have ..." the young rookie cop, a blonde haired gentleman named Chas stammered, flipping through a large guidebook on the passenger seat of his car, "...a pair of unlicensed flying drones and ... a girl in a ... purple ... rocket car?"

There was a bit of static on the other end of the call as if somebody on the other end was trying to translate all of this in the moment, while Chas threw on his flashing red and blue lights and began a pursuit.

Lexi glanced the flashing lights in her periphery but couldn't pay them mind as the drones were her main concern. She quickly took an ill-advised right turn, cutting in front of the speeding lanes of traffic to try and quickly change her path. The police car followed closely behind.

"So this is ShrinkGirl..." the young cop thought to himself, closing in on the purple car.

He wasn't so much scared of her as not sure what to expect. Some had told him that she was a total 'sweetheart' while others still, notably Officer Carl Scolex clung to his belief that she was a hardened criminal and a menace. He figured the truth may lie somewhere in the middle but he was more concerned for the civilians that were getting thrown into harms way whenever something like this broke out.

Chas had already smartly deduced that the drones weren't Lexi's doing, because why would they be chasing the person who operated them ... but then it brought to light a few more suspects. Was any of this really Lexi's fault at all then...?

Not too far down the street was Carlos Coffee and the whole suburban block, usually a haven from such hazards was about to get a rude awakening in the form of a purple Stratacruze blasting by pursued closely by 4 whizzing flying drones.

Roxie and Sugar took note and Roxie herself smirked, standing up as Rush almost looked disappointed that she wouldn't be able to enjoy her frothy beverage anymore.

"Well? Shall we ... pay our check?" Roxie smirked, holding her hand out to retrieve her partner and reciting the words as if signaling a dramatic "action movie" type exit.

"Uhhhh Rox?" Sugar squeaked, "You already paid at the counter..."

"Ugh, whatever ... we're on!" Roxie smirked

Outside, Lexi was simply trying her best to dodge and weave through traffic, reluctant to activate her cars shrinking form for fear of her own health but she was quickly drawing the conclusion that she had no choice.

On the slightly more positive side of things, Lexi felt as though she evaded the cop who was on her trail.... something she probably shouldn't have been proud of. She had nothing against law enforcement but she didn't want the poor officer to also get caught in the crossfire, as had been the case too many times when Lexi got involved in these things.

Unfortunately Lexi's short lived victory would be just that as Chas wasn't giving up on his pursuit but rather taking a short cut, having a near photographic memory of the roads and their layout, his police cruiser would now be swerving swiftly into Lexi's trajectory.

"Fuck" Lexi gulped as it seemed the Officer was content with staying in her path to act as a roadblock, damages be damned. Lexi slammed on the brakes but when she realized that wouldn't be enough, she finally had to throw caution to the wind and throw back the shift switch on her car, activating the shrink turbines and reducing herself and the car to a toy size to slip under the car undetected.

Officer Chas, groaned, stepping out of the car annoyed.

If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed it. The car seemed to just vanish as it got closer and closer to his but he knew what likely happened ... if the urban legends about Lexi were true.

He watched above as 3 of the 4 drones continued on their pursuit to find Lexi, but one seemed to be staying there, hovering above his cruiser and swiveling about as if trying to find the best route to go.

Lexi meanwhile would be momentarily safe, having pulled her car into an alley where it was more than small enough to fit. She watched with bated breath as the drones seemed to be going in another direction, wrongly trying to find her further down the street as it turned into a long straightaway.

Lexi wasn't aware yet, nor was even the mad genius of Mad Max, but it seemed when Lexi was in shrunken form, she was able to elude detection, being too small to be spotted from such a high distance.

"Hey!" Lexi would hear the authoritative young voice shout, but it wasn't being directed at her.

Officer Chas was looking upwards as he pointed his gun up at the drone.

The officer was just about to lower his gun, as the drone idled there but next thing he knew, he was under fire, being peppered by ballistics as he slammed the bullet proof door of his cruiser shut and ducked back inside.

"Shit!"

At the same time, someone else would be yelling "Shit!" as Dr. Max watched Lexi fade from view and now one of his drones was on an unintended shooting spree on a Mini Troop Officer.

Max had a split screen view of all 4 drones and watched as the others whizzed about futilely, trying to track Lexi down. He had had a visual on the car but then it just disappeared, and with it, his young foe.

"Oh that ... tricky girl ..." Dr. Max sighed, realizing what must have happened. "...maybe I can draw her out..."

The evil Doctor would waste no time, manually redirecting all of his drones to the same intersection, all closing in on the police officer in his car but none of them firing.

Lexi watched the whole tense scene unfold while ducked behind a brick wall and sighed. She couldn't let this poor officer take the hit for her recklessness.

"I need backup!!" a panicked Officer Chas announced on his radio. "I repeat ... I need backup! There are 4 drones ... at least 1 is armed and ..."

Just then his communications were cut off as one drone flew down up close and shot through the passenger window. Chas lurched to avoid the onslaught but it came at the cost of his police radio as it was ripped from its console by the ensuing force.

Just then he heard a loud clang, as if something had jumped onto his car, if only for a moment. He'd peer outside his driver's window to see a girl, a brunette in purple and white tights and a gold skirt, wearing gauntlets similar to Wonder Woman's.

The woman had snagged the jagged edge of one of the drones and was slowly shrinking herself to fit better aboard its slippery metal surface, only to be hoisted unceremoniously off as if riding a mechanical bull.

Lexi would let out a pained grunt as her body hit the street and she lay on her back, back to full size for the moment as the stunned Officer watched on in shocked silence.

The four drones were now united as they all fired red targeting lasers that joined at the center of where Lexi's body lay. Lexi winced, throwing up her gauntlets in some futile attempt to stop what would certaily be a kill shot, had it not been for the sudden interference of the young rookie cop.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Chas said confidently, firing a clip into the drone closest to the costumed warrior which then drew the fire of all 4 drones back.

Desperate, Chas rolled out of his car to take cover behind it as Lexi took the ceasefire as an opportunity to get up, delivering a swift uppercut with the edge of her gauntlet to severely damage one of the drones, which now went into the sky at a wobbly trajectory as it hemmoraged electricity.

Lexi looked back concerned for the cop's safety as the other 3 drones seemed more focused on catching her. The fourth drone seemed to be possessed though and her attack on it left its weapon and navigation system behaving erratically as it let loose with a barrage of rockets that went into the city sky ... save for one that was heading right for Chas' car.

"Fuck" Lexi gulped, wasting no time to make a run for it, even as the 3 functioning drones followed her with targeting lasers.

Officer Chas, who was about to pick his head up to get a better view of the escalating conflict watched in horror as one of the rockets blasted the pavement underneath his cruiser and sent it spiraling towards him.

Chas was backing away as fast as he could as Lexi sprinted with all of her might to make the unlikelliest of interceptions.

"NOOOOOOOO!!" Lexi cried out, not caring how much it hurt her or even changed her as her body sparked with power, arms outreached as far as they could go as if lunging for a loose volleyball.

Her outstretched body was now directly in front of the doomed Officer but Lexi wasn't ready to see either of them go out like that and instead she let out a scream as she used all of her energy to do something she didn't know she was capable of before.

In a blast of what appeared to be lightning, the car had vanished and yet the Officer was relatively unharmed, only thrown back a bit from the ensuing force as Lexi lay on the ground on her side, cradling something in her now closed hands.

"Holy shit, are you alright Miss?" Chas asked, going over to assist, even as the drones were a threat from overhead. Lexi simply nodded weakly before opening her hands to reveal the police officers toy sized car.

"I uh ... hope you didn't have anything important in there..." Lexi said with a nervous shrug

Chas had to chuckle at the woman's candidness even as their peril was not yet over.

"Holy hell, you saved my life..." Chas said, a genuine tone of gratitude in his voice as he glared up at the one wayward drone that was still sparking and firing off random munitions.

Chas fired his own clip into the drone and watched it awkwardly hover to the ground and land as it whirred down.

"Guess you had my back too..." Lexi said, out of breath as she looked at her hands which were now basically twitching uncontrollably. That couldn't have been good. "Tell me you have backup coming..."

Almost as if to answer that question the roaring of sirens could be heard closing in on the area as well as a triage of flashing lights.

"Yes... but for now ... you've gotta go!" Chas said, firing another bullet at one of the drones to distract it.

"What? No!" Lexi cried, "I can't leave you out here, you're a sitting duck! I shrank your ride!"

"Go!" Chas said, almost forcefully as he reloaded his gun. "They're not after me anyway..."

Lexi gulped matter of factly as 3 red lasers all focused in on her chest and she nodded.

"Good point." Lexi sighed, "but please ... be safe..."

"You too" Chas said, a steely resolve in his eyes as he tried his best to turn the fight to him, knwoing that other Mini Troop cruisers were getting closer by the second.

Lexi excused herself as best as she could, short of breath as she collapsed back into the alley where she was hiding, shrinking herself as a precaution to hopefully stay off radar.

As if she needed any more distractions, she received a cell phone call which she'd take, all while keeping a continuous eye on the carnage just outside the alleyway.

Her shrinking had thrown the drones off their track again as they simply hovered around the neighboring streets of Minitropolis while Lexi remained tiny, crouching by her shrunken car in the alleyway.

"Yes Josh?" Lexi asked

"What is going on?!" Josh responded, with grave concern, "my police scanners are going nuts! Something about drones and explosives down by the Coffee District?"

"Um... yes and yes ..." Lexi sighed, "I ... I don't know what to do ... I'm kind of boxed in here..."

"Should I send out the ShrinkDrone?" Josh offered

"Normally I'd say no ... but ... I may not have another choice ... not sure what to do with the Shrinkmobile in the meantime though..." Lexi sighed

"We'll worry about that later ... I'll get the drone over to you, just hang tight!" Josh said

Lexi paused for a moment as she realized she hadn't yet told Josh of her exact location.

"You sure you're about to be able to find me?" Lexi asked, "I haven't even told you ..."

"Don't worry about that." Josh smirked confidently, already fast at work typing in coordinates based on a tracker he had installed on the underside of the ShrinkMobile.

"...really? the ShrinkMobile?" Lexi heard a voice retort. Her jaw dropped almost instantly.

"Uh Josh? I gotta let you go..." Lexi sighed, putting the phone away to see none other than Sugar Rush, using the edge of her cannoned arm to leave a long scratch along the ShrinkMobile's otherwise pristine purple finish.

Lexi cringed, more at the noise than anything else as it sounded like coathangers going through a blender.

"Rush..." Lexi groaned, already exhausted from what she had been through. "Look, I ... we ... don't have to do this right now..."

There was a long pause as Rush let her metallic arm off the edge of the car and simply glared at Lexi. So many emotions were bubbling inside of her, she didn't even know what to say first.

She wouldn't get the chance as a stomping foot came down and a black boot took up Lexi and Sugar's view.

"Nice ride, Shrinks" Roxie cackled triumphantly down at her shrunken foil, "Is that a Hot Wheels or are you more of a Matchbox girl?"

A tense Dr. Trevor Hilfmann watched in wavering despair as the news broadcast the developing situation in Suburban Minitropolis. Drones that had yet to be identified (but Trevor recognized them almost immediately as Enormo Enterprises) had gotten caught up in a shoot out with local police, but they also seemed to be zeroing in on one target and ignoring all others.

Trevor let out a sigh, trying to keep all of his priorities in a line even as things were getting even more hectic around him. His new network security analyst Aeris stood up and gave the Doctor a concerned look.

"Dr. Hilfmann, sir?" Aeris asked, her cell phone pressed against the side of her thigh, "Would you mind if I ...?"

Trevor nodded with understanding.

"Yes ... I understand this isn't a safe time right now ..." Trevor replied, "the drones are thankfully several miles from here but I understand why you'd want to head out ... just ... be safe"

"You too, sir" Aeris said, sliding out the back door discreetly while Trevor shook his head in dismay.

He knew the ceasefire from Dr. Mumford wouldn't last but even he was shocked to see how reckless the Doctor was being, even while he knew from experience how determined Max could get when he wanted something and it seemed like his obsession with capturing ShrinkGirl had consumed what little common sense the admittedly brilliant mind had.

Just outside the office, Aeris slid into her dark blue Saab, putting her cell phone to her cheek as she hastily called her boss, Scott Travis from Cybertek.

"Sir, have you had a chance to see the news?" Aeris asked

"Yeah ..." Scott sighed, "I have no idea what kind of lunatics they have working at Enormo but ... geez..."

"Do you think they're after...?"

"They're likely after Alexis ..." Scott said, "But keep an eye on the situation"

"Will do" Aeris replied.

Back inside meanwhile, Trevor was placing a call to the only other person he knew that dealt in drone technology that wasn't a licensed professional.

On the other end of that call would be a hard working Joshua James, watching with anticipation as his new and improved ShrinkDrone began its takeoff, creating a loud humming sound in the tight space.

"Alright ... here goes everything..." Josh said, with more than just a hint of determination in his voice.

Just as the drone cleared the open garage door, he'd receive a call from Trevor and realizing the situation, he decided to take it, while keeping a close eye on the path of his drone to make sure it was able to reach its destination.

"Uh ... Trevor? Sorry, Dr. Hilfmann..." Josh said, a clear sense of distraction evident in his quivering voice, "What's up?"

"Uh ... well ... what is UP..." Trevor said, his usual patience wearing thin, "Is a massive drone strike in Minitropolis right now ..."

"Oh shoot... uh ... really?" Josh asked, leaning his phone on a shoulder while watching his own drone navigate the grid-like streets of the city, trying to make a beeline for Lexi.

"Yeah ..." Trevor said, "Look, ... I think I already know the answer but ... is Lexi getting involved in this?"

"Lexi? Um... well ..." Josh stuttered, all but giving himself away.

"Yeah ... that's what I was afraid of ..." Trevor sighed, "...she had called me this morning, all anxious about getting her polarity recalibrated"

This news seemed to catch Josh by surprise as he briefly took his eyes off the drone feed.

"I'm sorry, what?" Josh asked, sounding concerned

"Yeah ... I thought she told you ... she's been having those disruptions again ... and it's been getting really bad ..." Trevor explained, "I told her to use her powers sparingly or not at all ... at least until we can figure out what's going on with her ... she called me all upset this morning and wanted me to start on a cure for her ...."

"Oh ... I ... didn't know ..." Josh sighed, sounding guilty now as he had been basically supporting her superheroism and was currently sending backup her way.

"Yeah well ... very few did, I guess" Trevor sighed, "I like Lexi's optimism but sometimes she can just ... rush in blind..."

"Yeah ..." Josh sighed, "H-Hey ... l-let me know how everything goes, okay? I... I gotta go"

"Of course" Trevor said, before pausing, "oh, and one more thing? If you're going to fly that drone to intercept Lexi, be smart about it ... don't fly into public airwaves or anything like that"

Josh smirked sheepishly as the Doctor had already been wise to him.

"That obvious, huh?" Josh sighed

"I've worked with engineers most of my life" Trevor quipped.

Josh paused for a bit, suddenly struck with an idea.

"Actually Doctor? Do you have another moment?" Josh asked, "I may have an idea about Lexi and how maybe we can help her ... it's kind of out there ... but hear me out..."

________________

Back in the scrum of the battle, other police cruisers were arriving rapidly to the scene to address the drone situation but curiously enough, the 3 remaining drones had scattered for the time being. Still, the Mini Troop remained in place as the road was swiftly blocked off and everybody inside the neighboring buildings were told to remain inside until the situation was resolved.

This included Carlos' Coffee, where an anxious blonde barista by the name of Krystal crouched below her counter in fear, occasionally peeking up to see if anything new had developed. Although anxious, she had a confidence that Lexi was on the case. Others didn't quite share her optimism as they watched with held breath at the scene outside.

While the drone stand off was at a stand still, more interesting action was brewing in an alley just off the main road where Lexi found herself cornered by two of her notorious foes, the reckless Roxie Wright and the soured Sugar Rush.

Roxie tapped her foot impatiently and smirked down at Lexi's tiny little purple Shrinkmobile.

"Really, Shrinks? A honking purple car that stands out like a sore thumbnail ... how tacky is that?" Roxie taunted as Lexi was more occupied with keeping the same sized Sugar away from her car as they both stared each other down.

"This coming from the girl who has a custom bike with her name graffiti'd on it..." Lexi sighed under her breath.

While distracted with her banter, Sugar launched a swift punch towards Lexi which she dodged, but Rush's momentum carried her forward and her blunt metallic arm cannon collided with the side of the Shrinkmobile.

"Hey, you wanna stop messing up my car?" Lexi squeaked, momentarily focused in on the ensuing fight.

"Oh I'm sorry ..." Sugar squeaked angrily, "I wouldn't wanna dent your precious fucking car ... all you did was RUIN MY LIFE!!"

Lexi frowned, looking down for a moment.

"Rush ... I've offered to grow you back ... I've ... I've tried everything..." Lexi sighed.

"I don't want your pity ...!" Sugar Rush sneered, activating her jet thrusters and lifting off the ground a few inches, "I want your head on a pike!"

"I am SO proud right now!" Roxie smirked, pretending to a wipe a tear from her callous face

Sugar ignored Roxie's "motherly" commentary and continued on her assult of Lexi, blasting off at full speed. Lexi gulped, but fell onto her back, anticipating the attack. She grabbed Rush and hoisted her up, throwing her over the Shrinkmobile and at Roxie's ankle. The quick thinking Roxie shifted her ankle out of the way and the tiny villainess was dispatched into a small puddle, sputtering and shaking her head, stunned.

Lexi sighed, getting into the Shrinkmobile and starting to drive away.

"Oh no you don't!" Roxie smirked, about to stomp her foot down on the car.

Lexi quickly slammed on the brakes and performed a hasty K-turn, glancing out the side window and checking behind her as she pulled back onto the main road, unshrinking her car in the process, only to reshrink it and drive under the police cars roadblock.

Rush shook off the dirty alley water and looked even more pissed off as she sprung to her feet, blasting off with her jet thrusters until she was nearly eye level with Roxie.

"Let's get her!" Rush sneered

Roxie simply nodded with a grin, not giving a fuck about the police presence just outside their current location as the duo sprung out, giving the police a new target.

Lexi regrew her car just after clearing the police blockade and Roxie, seeing her opportunity took a shot for the back window, striking it and splintering glass into Lexi's back seat.

"Shit!" Lexi yelled out, her car swerving as she began to panic, on a collision course with the doorway of Carlos Coffee shop.

Seeing no other option, Lexi threw the shrink shift into overdrive and shrank the car, driving through the doorway which was just ajar enough for her to drive through.

A curious Krystal peeked up again from her perch behind the counter, only to see what appeared to be a toy purple car drive itself into the coffee shop. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Lexi?" she asked, not sure if the tiny superheroine could hear her.

Unfortunately for Lexi, regrowing herself even briefly gave Max's drones another lock on her location and while she had shrunk again, the drones had triangulated her location to the Cafe, which only added to Lexi's troubles as Roxie shot the windows clean off ; Sugar Rush hovering over her shoulder and blasting off towards Lexi.

As the patrons went off screaming ; all but Krystal who remained in shock at the developing scene, watching as 3 drones also hovered into the crowded coffee shop, Lexi sighed, pulling her car under a table and stepping out of the vehicle just in time to see Sugar Rush divebombing her.

"Fuck!" Lexi squeaked, jumping out of the way as she lay there.

Roxie just watched the scene for a moment, all too cogniscent of the fact that Lexi wasn't growing herself back. Maybe ... she couldn't?

"Cmon cmon cmon..." Lexi sighed, her body sparking again as she briefly regained her full 5'4 size.

Roxie came charging at her, throwing a punch which Lexi countered by jumping onto a nearby table perching herself there.

"Ha!" Lexi smirked, about to throw a punch of her own before her powers betrayed her again and she shrunk to 3 inches tall again, now just punching the air in front of her.

Roxie smirked down at the shrunken heroine, holding her finger in a flicking formation.

"Ya wanna try that again?" Roxie winked

"Wait wait WAIT!!" Lexi squeaked, about to take off in the other direction but she was too late and soon found herself flung painfully through the air like a paper football.

Krystal yelped and held her hand out, catching the tiny superheroine like a flyball to deep right field as she lunged to her side. Lexi lay in Krystal's soft palm, breathing fast as she looked up at the giant barista, recognizing her instantly as the "groupie" from the college campus.

"Lexi?" Krystal asked, a concerned look on her face, "You okay?"

Instead of answering Lexi rolled over and shrugged.

"N-Nice catch ..." she squeaked, giving Krystal a thumbs up as she seemed exhausted, trying her best to pull herself up.

"I gotcha hon..." Krystal said, even while she was wary of Sugar Rush, Roxie and the drones. "...although you may wanna grow back soon ... n-no pressure of course.."

Lexi nodded, straining a bit as her body seemed to be momentarily paralyzed. Krystal looked down with concern, understanding the problem.

"You ... you can't grow back, can you?" Krystal frowned. Lexi simply nodded with what little fortitude she had.

"Awww pity..." Roxie smirked, noticing the sickeningly sweet display between Krystal and Lexi, "She's a ShrinkGirl fan ... it's a shame too ... I kinda liked you ... in a ... I don't wanna kill you kind of way ... and that's saying something for me"

Lexi sort of nodded as if to say "yeah ... that's a point"

Roxie shrugged and cocked her red .45, pointing it squarely at the stunned blonde haired barista.

"Fuck!" Lexi grunted, flipping herself back onto her feet. She looked at Krystal and focused with all her might, only having maybe a split second to get this right.

There was a quick static shock like sound emanating from behind the counter as Krystal seemingly disappeared, the duo now crumpled behind the counter as Lexi had toppled onto Krystal with the two of them currently at the same size.

"Holy shit!" Krystal squeaked, "You saved my life! and you shrank me!"

"Heh ... yeah ... s-sorry about that ..." Lexi sighed, "I didn't really have many other options ... I'm just glad it worked..."

"Of course it worked!" an over-enthused Krystal squeaked in response, throwing her arms around Lexi and giggling as she swung her side to side in a hug, "You're SHRINKGIRL! It always works ..."

"Heh ... I ... appreciate your support ..." Lexi said with a shy grin, "truly I do ... but we're not out of the woods yet ..."

While things were momentarily quiet, it was the kind of eerie silence that one knows won't last long. Sure enough, booming footsteps approached the location of the 2 ladies and Roxie grinned down from the other side of the counter.

"Heya girls" Roxie winked down, "Laying down on the job? I'd like 2 iced mocha-javas and ..."

"...and I'd like you to shut up for a change!" Lexi sneered, gently shoving Krystal back to allow her to grow.

In the heat of the moment, Lexi was able to get her powers to flicker back on and grew to throw a punch at her cocky rival. Roxie however, no stranger to a bar fight, put her own fist up to block, only to try striking the purple do-gooder with the barrel of her gun which she clutched in the other hand.

Lexi grabbed the gun as best she could, her grip wobbling as the two became entangled a bit, Lexis one fist balled up in Roxie's hand while the ladies other hands were fighting over control of the ruby tinted pistol.

Roxie won the tugging match for the time being and shoved Lexi back. Lexi had to peek down, just briefly to make sure she hadn't accidentally skidded onto her tiny fan, Krystal who was shrunken still behind the counter but seemed fairly invested in the action and not nearly as afraid as most would be in such a situation.

"Roxie ... look around you ..." Lexi said, gesturing to the trashed coffee shop as a few of Max's Maximites came hobbling in with their sharp metallic claws scratching the linoleum tiled floors with each step, "don't you think we both have a few more things to worry about than some petty feud?"

"Eh, I'll worry about THEM later" Roxie shrugged, cocking her gun for dramatic effect.

Lexi almost had to roll her eyes (and in fact, likely had time to do so during the display) at Roxie's carelessness in this moment, giving her time to grab for Roxie's wrist briefly and yank on it. Fuck. No effect. Lexi retracted her hand just as quickly as she had reached it forward.

Roxie looked at Lexi confused as all hell for a few moments ; the gesture seemed to be fairly arbitrary and not at all a combat tactic.

"Um... were you ...?" Roxie asked, "trying to hold my hand?"

"Huh?" Lexi smirked raising an eyebrow

"Yeah ... yeah, you like ... reached out and ... tried to grab me!" Roxie smirked, taking a good step back from the counter. "Personal space, Shrinks ... not my fault you want what you can't have!"

"Oh for fucks sake, Roxie, I was trying to shrink you!" Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Uh-huh ... sure..." Roxie giggled

"Roxie, why would I make that up?" Lexi sighed, "I'm fuckin' SHRINKGirl"

"Oh no ... no no no..." Roxie teased, "we definitely had a moment there"

"YOU had a moment..." Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes again.

"Well...." Roxie said, reholstering her gun and bearing both fists, "why don't we try this again? Try not to cop a feel this time"

"Roxie I literally cannot express how pissed off I am with you most of the time ..." Lexi muttered, half under her breath as the vixen approached to launch her attack.

Lexi stood still, finding Roxie's foolhardy approach quite predictable but rather than take her telegraphed punch in the chin, she shrank herself while performing a jump up and landed on the counter at about 4 inches tall, a hand on her hip.

"Missed me!" Lexi squeaked, her victory short lived as Sugar Rush came careening in, tackling her swiftly to the counter.

While Rush lay on top of Lexi, trying her best to impose her will on the fallen heroine, Lexi watched out of the corner of her eye as Roxie casually swept around to the other side of the counter, grinning down at the shrunken Krystal.

"Fuck..." Lexi thought to herself, too preoccupied with trying to lift Rush's weight off her -- a hefty task given that the tiny woman was thoroughly armored and also pretty strong in her own right.

"I've! Been! Waiting! For! This!" Rush screamed out with each successive blow she tried to lay on ShrinkGirl, some punches hitting her torso, while others were awkwardly blocked as Lexi tried to back herself out of the pinning manuever.

Lexi grunted, trying her best to grow back despite the pressure on her, watching helplessly as Roxie scooped up Krystal and dangled her in front of Rush and Lexi's view just over the counter. Krystal let out a shrill scream upon being hoisted up like a mouse and Lexi just let out some pained grunts while Rush continued to smack the poor woman with her metal plated arms.

"Roxie!!" Lexi squeaked, finally attaining the strength to pry Sugar Rush off her long enough to get half of her body off the counter as if she were a wrestler being pried up from the mat. "Leave her alone!!"

"Such a pretty little thing..." Roxie smirked, holding the frightened Krystal by the back of her green apron as the fabric slowly began to give way. "Would look nice on my rearview mirror, what do you think Rush?"

"All due respect..." Rush sighed, taking her focus off Lexi for the moment and begrudgingly letting her up as the fight seemed to have slowed to a stand still, "...I can't very well support you treating a tiny lady that way since ... well...?"

Rush simply needed to gesture towards herself for Roxie to sigh, bearing a look on her face akin to a child who had just been scolded.

While Lexi assessed the current dire situation, she was also alert to the fact that the Maximites had slowly been closing in but they weren't making a move just yet. Their eyes seemed to be scanning the proximity with some kind of red laser, as if drawing a cybernetic map of the location. Similarly the drones seemed to be doing the same thing, as if calculating a way to seize Lexi without hurting any of the other combatants involved.

"Roxie!" Lexi squeaked, throwing her hands up as she took a careful step forward, with Sugar Rush encroaching closely behind, "We can talk this out ... just ... please..."

"Can I stop you right there, Shrinks?" Roxie chuckled, taking a bit of care to set Krystal in her now flat palm to keep her a bit safer, "if you're going to say 'put her down' ... please don't ... it's a cliche ... and then I drop her and say "you said put her down" ... yknow, we all have a good laugh about it ... I mean except for your friend here who becomes a pancake but you get the point!"

It was in that moment, however brief that something inside the usually friendly Lexi snapped. She had had ENOUGH of Roxie's condescension at her expense and it was made even worse by the fact that she was literally holding a human life in her hand. Lexi would've never forgiven herself if something horrible had happened to Krystal after having been shrunk.

Keeping that in mind, Lexi lunged forward, Sugar noticing her hand sparking a bit. Rush tried to pull Lexi back but Lexi forcefully yanked her hand away and took a flying leap at Roxie with both hands out.

Roxie, not quite expecting this daring manuever flinched a bit, squeezing Krystal in her hand in the process, only to feel that grip growing looser and looser as Lexi now tumbled down onto her, regaining size faster than one of her motorbikes on Route 99.

Lexi stood up in triumph, carefully clutching Krystal in her hand, having snatched her out of Roxie's cold grasp. Surprisingly though, Roxie seemed nowhere to be seen ... and then it registered to Lexi who grew an enormous grin on her face as she peered down.

"Oh hiya Roxie..." Lexi taunted, seeing the once 5'6 criminal reduced to the size of one of her pistols, "How's the weather down there, squirt?"

Roxie looked up angrily but didn't seem devastated as she still pulled out one of her guns.

"This changes nothing, you bitch!" Roxie squeaked, taking aim up at Lexi with the now absolutely tiny gun.

Lexi sighed and shook her head.

"Bad move" Lexi said softly, gently nudging Roxie over with her steel boot, the force sending the shrunken blonde into the corner in a heap. "Heh ... I've waited a long time for this ..."

Trying to stay focused, Lexi glanced over at Krystal in her grip and frowned down at her.

"Now ... where do I keep you safe for now?" Lexi asked softly, but Krystal looked down worriedly and pointed. Lexi looked where Krystal was pointing to see the Maximites were on the prowl, making methodical strides towards Lexi who had now made herself clearly visible by having grown back.

After giving her tiny fangirl a nervous look, Lexi carefully outstretched her body and arm to place the blonde barista carefully down on top of the back counter of the coffee shop, seemingly miles above the tiny Roxie who remained down for the moment.

Lexi glared down at the obnoxious Maximites as three of them clopped her way.

"Bring it on, you beasts..." Lexi muttered, sparking again before shrinking herself down to their size, ducking and weaving as the beasts took turns trying to capture her in their metallic maws.

Watching from his office was the psychotic Dr. Maxmillian who cackled at glee with the 3 versus 1 advantage in the battle, seeing the point of view of his robots through various smaller LCD displays on his one big display.

"Ah-HA!" the evil Doctor laughed, "it is just like ShrinkGirl Simulator Scenario 1.35b!"

Meanwhile, in REAL life, Lexi grunted as the fearsome robots seemed to be just a tad stronger than they had been during her last encounter with them despite their smaller size.

Two of the ravenous robotic hounds had her arms wrapped up in slick metal lassos that protruded from their mouths like vicious tongues. Lexi would take a step towards her left, then one towards her right, as if caught in the middle of a game of Tug of War.

Despite the strength of the bots, Lexi felt as though she could keep pulling and eventually one or both of her attackers would run out of tenacity as the thick metal tongues were starting to give way due to the strain Lexi was putting on them.

Lexi let out a grunt, but to her surprise, she suddenly felt herself growing -- not only in strength but also in size, finding it much easier to repel the Maximites when she outgrew them by several feet, returning to her normal size in a flash. This was a preferable outcome for the size changing heroine, except she didn't intend the change.

Elsewhere in the chaos lay Roxie, gritting her teeth as she watched the mayhem unfold. Stumbling to her now tiny feet, she was greeting by her currently same sized partner in crime Sugar Rush who tilted her head in shock.

"Roxie?" Rush asked, "Are you alright?"

"Am I alright?" Roxie squeaked, "I've been better!! But never mind that ... give me a boost!"

"You sure about this...?" Sugar asked nervously

"Hon, do I hesitate on anything?! Let's do this shit!" Roxie squeaked, pounding her fist into her waiting palm, "Time to show Shrinks how it's REALLY done!"

Rush didn't love the plan but Lexi was distracted as she stared at the two drones that seemed to be just analyzing her movements while she pivoted on her toes like an NFL cornerback waiting for the pass.

Max meanwhile, watched on in his lab as he could only make out crackly footage of Lexi staring down his drones. Something about them being in a closed in location was making it near impossible for the Doctor to accurately communicate with them remotely which explained their sudden hesitance.

Lexi would not have long however to take advantage of her short window of opportunity, as she turned around in a hurry, seeing Rush holding Roxie's hand and clearly in discomfort as she tried to drag the similarly sized woman up like Tails "Miles" Prower carrying Sonic the hedgehog into battle.... except Sonic didn't wield a gun like Roxie did.

"Hah!" Roxie squeaked, as the tag-team made its way towards Lexi's torso. Roxie smirked as she looked down the barrel of her gun. Even at its tiny size, a shot to the chest was still likely to do some damage. She prepared the shot and let her finger rest on the trigger until the angle was just right, ready to proudly chirp out her usual "catchphrase".

"BANG BANG MUTHA -- ACK!!"

Lexi wasn't having it.

She hastily swiped the duo out of the sky like a pair of annoying gnats, with Sugar Rush losing control of her jet thrusters as a result and careening the two onto the same counter they started at, except it was now the size of a football field to them.

Lexi sighed, not happy with herself but she wasn't about to get shot by a pipsqueak.

With the drones seemingly in a holding pattern and sparking a bit themselves, Lexi walked over towards the counter to check on her two tiny foes and see how Krystal was. She decided to start with Krystal first, approaching her cute little body on the counter.

"Krystal? You alright?" Lexi asked, "I promise I'll grow you back as soon as ..."

"Don't worry about me!" Krystal squeaked, "Just go your thing! You got this Lexi!"

Lexi blushed a bit, not expecting the uproarious response. It was kind of nice having her own little cheerleader.

Unfortunately not everybody was such a fan as Roxie got to her feet, giving Lexi mock applause.

"Way to go, hero!" Roxie squeaked sarcastically, pedantically pacing around the counter as she reholstered her guns and got herself straightened up after the tumble. "You bested somebody who's like 1/25th your size! You feelin' big now?!"

"Actually ... yes..." the smug Lexi smirked, leaning over Roxie and seizing a small glass cup.

The following manuever would be so predictable but Roxie found herself desperate to avoid the obvious embarrassing predicament only to find herself too late as both Rush and Roxie would become victims of the ol' "overturned glass trap"

"Phew..." Lexi sighed, feeling as though she neutralized part of the threat at least. She glanced over to see Krystal, now full size and sitting on the counter to applaud her. "Oh hey Krystal ... wait ... Krystal? How did you ...?"

Krystal offered a shrug.

"I'm ... not sure ... I just kind of ... grew back..." Krystal said, incredulously as her hair seemed to be standing on end a bit, "I feel kind of ... staticy too..."

Lexi gave the glass on the table a concerned look, although she didn't notice any signs yet. Then again, her powers seemed to be getting even more erratic. She sighed uncomfortably as she just looked at the drones staying eerily still as she approached Krystal.

"You kicked ass out there, girl!" Krystal said, offering a hand for a high five. Lexi seemed hesitant at first, especially as she knew the job still wasn't done but she decided she could at least indulge the new friend in a celebratory high five, right?

Bad idea.

Lexi yelped as there was but a spark of static from the high five and she was instantly shrunk herself, now laying on the counter and shaking her woozy head.

"Shoot!!" Krystal sighed, looking down towards the tiny Lexi, "I am SO sorry..."

"It's okay..." Lexi squeaked dejectedly, now just a few feet from her encapsulated foes as they smirked at the turn of events.

It seemed they had both been busy since becoming prisoners of the Carlos Coffee glass, Sugar trying to fracture it with the solid blunt end of her cannon arm before finally opting to use her other not so secret weapon, the cannon itself, which was loaded with corrosive hot glaze which began to trickle onto the inner surface of the glass, eroding it away as Roxie gave Lexi a pretty determined stare.

"You ready for Round 2...?" Roxie smirked, cracking her knuckles for dramatic effect.

Lexi sighed, pretty much running on pure adrenaline at this point while her joints ached from both the physical activity and extra toll her powers short circuiting was putting on her.

Roxie came out charging, throwing a haymaker in the direction of her least favorite former cheerleader. Lexi dodged underneath it and performed a clumsy backflip, falling on her butt for a moment.

Krystal, trying to think fast, grabbed a spoon and slid it over to the tiny superheroine.

"Go kick her ass!" Krystal cheered, hoping for the best as the tiny Lexi picked up the spoon awkwardly, holding it up as if it were a battle staff.

"Heh ... come at me bro..." the suddenly cocky (yet still tiny) Lexi quipped, beckoning Roxie closer.

"The fuck?" the already irritated Roxie squeaked, "Did this just become American Gladiators or something?"

"Something like that" Lexi squeaked, using the spoon to trip up her similarly sized rival and knock her on her backside, "Now how's THAT for a scoop?"

Roxie groaned and got herself back up, only to notice Sugar Rush behind her, smirking as she handed Roxie a fork that was about as tall as the tiny women were.

Lexi gulped momentarily, seeing Roxie get a joyful grin on her face as she wielded the four pronged weapon and spun it around as if she were in colorguard.

"Only in my life could this happen..." the stumped but spunky superheroine thought to herself as she threw up the spoon in desperation in order to block Roxie's oncoming attack, a loud clang reverbating, although to most bystanders (such as Krystal) the sound would be minimal at best.

Krystal watched from a close distance, leaning down in curiosity but also frowning as she watched Roxie begin to pound on Lexi with a bit more fervor, fearing it was only a matter of time before the spoon gave way to Roxie's bitter onslaught of attacks.

"A-Are you okay, Lexi?" Krystal asked with a murmur in her voice, "do you need any more spoons?"

Lexi had to chuckle at the unusual question even as she battled Roxie with all the strength she had, finally breaking Roxie's attack pattern by swiping at her feet to try and trip her up. This time Roxie would be faster and leap back, setting the fork aside as it was becoming too heavy for her at her current size.

Lexi let out a tiny grunt and tried to swipe at Roxie as hard as she could with the weighty spoon ; swinging from the hips with her best baseball stance, but Roxie was prepared for the swing and grabbed the curved basin of the spoon, swinging both women around like a wobbly pendulum for a moment before Roxie gained a more steady grip on it and began spinning poor Lexi along the handle as she started to lose her grip.

Lexi would get flung awkwardly towards a napkin dispenser where she'd land dazed and confused, Roxie now holding the spoon, although she would release it soon after.

"Heh, now I've beaten you up there AND down here!" Roxie chuckled, again cracking her knuckles as she began skipping towards ShrinkGirl gleefully, all too ready to dole out more pain. "So tell me ... Lexi is it...?"

At this point, Roxie was merely taunting for no reason as Lexi seemed to be fading fast, her head drooping as she lay there with her back to the napkin dispenser, trying to focus on Roxie as she blurred in and out of focus.

"What's a girl got to do to get a few feet of height back, huh?" Roxie teased, pausing just short of stepping on Lexi's ankle and instead going for a swift punch to the face.

Krystal yelped, but then lurched forward, a look of anger on her face as she narrowed her silvery blue eyes.

"Hey!! You can't DO that to her!" Krystal huffed, stomping towards the tiny Roxie, and she may have made it there if not for the vicious gaze and approach of Sugar Rush, who flew up at her like one of the drones, if not on a much smaller scale.

"You want her, you gotta go through me!" Sugar Rush squeaked, holding out her arm cannon as it began to rev up.

Krystal bore a look on her face that showed she understood the seriousness of the situaiton, but also she couldn't help but feel confused to be held at gunpoint by a floating woman the size of Tinkerbell.

Meanwhile, Roxie stroked the underside of Lexi's bruised chin as if consoling her lover, forcing Lexi's eyes to meet hers.

"It's gonna be alright there, Lex..." Roxie chuckled, a sense of mock concern in her voice, "Just make me big again and we'll call you an ambulance ... you have my word ..."

Lexi's eyes drooped before finally opening again, taking a moment to survey her surroundings. For one reason or another, something crossed her mind, and it bounced around like a shiny marble.

Metal ...

She needed something metal to potentially spark her powers again...

Even as she lay there, a bit crumpled, she could feel her fingertips locking up with that helpless feeling as if being constricted by an invisible band of particles. She watched Roxie sway on her hips, noticing the most obvious thing. The twin guns on her belt.

Roxie shrugged, too busy teasing Lexi to notice that her own body was sparking a bit.

"Awww Lex..." Roxie smirked, leaning in close enough to practically be on top of Lexi as she fell on a knee, "It wasn't suppose to end like this ... and here I thought we'd spend year after bitter year fighting each other to the death ..."

Lexi couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a ploy or something more genuine but either way she had herself in a decent position to reach for one of the guns as it slumped out of its holster as a result of Roxie dipping down so low.

"Roxie ...?" Lexi whispered, trying to make her voice sound as beleaguered and weak as possible.

Roxie knew her foe was many things, but evil wasn't one of them and so she was pretty confident she could get the naive brunette to grow her back as some kind of act of kindness, especially while she was knocked out and confused.

"Yes, Lexi?" Roxie smirked, continuing to put on her fake loverly act even as she felt the dazed Lexi's hands reaching towards her waist.

"G-Get ... b-b-bent..." Lexi grunted, swiping at the gun and feeling a small shock that snapped at her hand and seemed to travel through her whole body.

Sugar Rush continued her stand off with Krystal meanwhile, but her arm was clearly wavering as she held her "ready to fire" pose while also being floating in the air to be at Krystal's face level.

"L-Look ... I'm sorry ... Miss... Sugar?" Krystal asked, confused but she remembered Roxie mentioning that name, "...I ... don't wanna hurt you but ..."

The next sequence of events would occur almost simultaneously as Lexi let out a squeak which grew into a yelp as her body literally grew now that she had a short burst of energy, her body's length now taking up most of the counter, which was bad news for Roxie as Lexi would try to leap up off the counter

"Fuck!!" Lexi yelped out, trying to get off the counter as quick as possible and tumbling back over the side with the register as Roxie took this moment to scurry away, still tiny on the counter but she felt a similar crackling energy going through her as well.

Sugar, who had swerved out of the way as a reflex to the sudden growth, now went to go help Roxie as Krystal went to get Lexi up as she rolled on the floor, back to her full size.

"Lex, you alright?" Krystal asked, only to get a weak thumbs up from the embattled Lexi. "We've gotta get you out of here ..."

"Even if ... that were possible ..." Lexi sighed, holding her back a bit as she was helped up by her blonde barista admirer, "we've still got them AND the drones ..."

Almost on cue, the 3 Enormo Enterprises drones began to spark to life.

"Ack!! Finally!!" the controller on the other end cackled, "Throw power to the tractor beam and ballistics!"

Lexi watched in shock as one of the drones poked a small weapon out from under its tin plated facade and she watched it coming right for her, as another one was flanking her from the right side.

"Krystal, get down!" Lexi yelped, picking up the nearest thing she could, a mop that happened to be in its rolling bucket just as the drone on her right swept by. She swung the mop as hard as she could, over a ducking Krystal to strike that drone and send it careening down to the ground behind the counter into a wreck.

"Really?! A mop?! I'm being beaten by a mop now?!" Dr. Max loudly exclaimed, watching the screen of Drone #3 go dark.

Lexi then looked back at the counter that once held Roxie and Sugar Rush only to see neither there.

"The hell did they go ...?" Lexi muttered, before seeing Roxie just laying on the ground in front of the counter at normal size now, pointing a barrel straight up at her.

"Oh heya Lex, you miss me?" Roxie smirked, firing a bullet which Lexi backed out of the way of just in time.

"Well ... I knew that wouldn't last ..." Lexi sighed, then looking at Krystal, "we've gotta get you out of here"

Krystal nodded but also looked worriedly at the remaining threat. Still 2 more drones and --

"BANG BANG, MOTHER FUCKER!!" Roxie yelped triumphantly as she sprang to her feet, shooting one of the drones clear in the center of its metal grates before it could unleash its weaponry, triggering a spark inside of it which caused it to let off a small burst and explosion.

...1 more drone then.

"God damn it!!" Dr. Max yelled, his anger rising as he watched another Drone go offline, "who the hell is SHE now?! Wait. Is she not the girl I hired to steal the cookie recipe? No matter ... anyone who gets in my way of ShrinkGirl must be DESTROYED!!"

Lexi peered around the counter from the side now, with Krystal closely behind. She spotted her ShrinkMobile which was still in shrunk form underneath one of the booths. To get there, she'd have to cross Roxie and the drones' path ... not to mention Sugar Rush. She let out a frustrated sigh as she thought it over.

"Krystal ..." Lexi whispered, tapping her on the shoulder and pointing to the purple car. "I need to shrink and sneak over there ..."

Krystal summed up the distance and found it to be fairly far, especially for a shrunken Lexi but then she had an idea.

"W-Wait Lex ..." Krystal whispered, while Roxie was occupied staring down at the last remaining drone. Krystal took an old razor phone out of her pocket and knelt down, setting it at Lexi's feet.

"Ohhh CUTE! You have an old school phone?" Lexi said, briefly breaking out of the moment.

"No ... well I mean yes, it's a loaner... but ... focus" Krystal chuckled, "Do you think you could ... y'know, shrink? and ... jump on it?"

Lexi raised an eyebrow, thinking she saw where Krystal was going with the plan. Lexi gulped and took a deep breath, hoping she COULD still shrink. She released the breath and found herself at just 3 inches tall, looking up at Krystal and offering another thumbs up.

"Ugh, I've gotta stop with the thumbs up ..." Lexi thought to herself as she awkwardly climbed aboard the phone as if it were a bobsled, "it's so lame..."

"Ready?" Krystal whispered. Lexi nodded

Krystal gently hit the phone with the side of her sneaker, sending Lexi on a trip across the freshly waxed floor, skating past Roxie without being detected by Sugar Rush was a bit more attentive and tried to divebomb Lexi on her path towards the ShrinkMobile.

Lexi ducked, successfully dodging but then saw her own problems approaching with the underside of the booth quickly racing towards her. Lexi abandoned ship and leapt off the phone, still at tiny size as she scrambled towards the ShrinkMobile, climbing inside.

"STAY ... OUT ... WAY!!" the sparking Enormo Drone said in a crackly robotic voice as its failing signal made its voice capabilities hard to hear, "YOU ARE ... BUSINESS!!"

"I'm sorry?" Roxie mocked, talking over the commanding robot voice, "I can't ... understand ... YOU!!"

"GET OUT ... WAY!! SUBJECT ... NEUTRALIZED...!!" the drone chirped as its voice continued to clip in and out.

"Get better Wifi, dude!" Roxie chuckled, pointing her gun back in response.

This time, instead of unleashing more ballistics, Max's drone would let out an odd hum and a green laser would emerge, providing a bit of vacuum suction on Roxie's hand that would cause her to lose grip of the gun momentarily.

"Damn it! Wrong button!" the befuddled mad scientist groaned, accidentally triggering the tractor beam instead of the ballistics.

As Roxie tried to make heads or tails of the erratic drone and Krystal remained crouched behind the counter, banking on Lexi's success, the superheroine herself dwelled within the cockpit of her trusty ShrinkMobile.

"Please start ..." she muttered nervously, flicking the key and sighing in relief as the car powered on, it's bright white flashlights flashing on like mini lighters as she began to pull out from under the dining table.

She just had to get the car outside, grow it back and try to drive the drones, Roxie and Sugar Rush out of the area. After that ... she'd have to figure something else out, but hopefully Josh's drone was also on the way. Yeah ... simple plan.

Roxie smirked, as Lexi tried to drive behind her giant leather boot without detection. At least, Lexi thought she wasn't being detected. Roxie lifted her foot and was just about to stomp the ShrinkMobile (and its driver) flat.

"NOOOO!!"

Roxie yelped, suddenly taken off her aim by the lunging Krystal who was able to wrap her arms around Roxie's torso and drag her down towards the ground, Lexi flooring it to get out of the way as their bodies crumpled down on the ground behind her.

"Shit..." Lexi gulped, safe for the time being and also too small to be detected by the drone even as it was in the same area. She couldn't leave Krystal alone to handle Roxie though, especially after owing her life to the kindly blonde. Lexi would peel back and drive back towards the scene of the 2 women as they both struggled to get up before the other.

Roxie grunted, elbowing Krystal in the torso to try and get her off before seeing Lexi's speeding purple cruiser coming her way in her peripheral vision. She blindly reached a hand out and smirked as her cold fingers wrapped around the toy sized vehicle.

"Got her!!" Roxie cackled, continuing to push Krystal off with her one hand while clinging onto the Shrinkmobile in a Statue of Libery type pose with the other as she tried to help herself up while simultaneously pondering why she had never considered a career in professional wrestling before.

"Put! That! Down!" a pained Krystal yelped, slapping at Roxie's hand and face until Roxie finally slumped over, setting the ShrinkMobile on the closest flat surface she could reach as she had been draggnig Krystal over there.

That surface would be one of the restaurants tables which Lexi now sighed in relief to be on, just to be free of Roxie's tight clutch. She looked up in concern as the Drone was now zeroing in on her, despite her tiny size. But maybe it wasn't her the drone was after now.

"The car!!" Dr. Max yelped, as if talking to someone but really he was just talking to his own machine as he guided it down on Lexi's location atop the dining table. "Get the car!!"

The now fully functioning tractor beam began to pull on Lexi's car, even as she shifted it into reverse and tried to drive the other way, not that it would matter because she only had so much terrain being up on the surface of the coffee shop table. Maybe she could risk it and try to grow the car?

Sugar Rush had other ideas as she violently threw herself towards the ShrinkMobile, clinging to its metal surface from the passenger side and holding on tightly as Lexi continued to drive.

"You're mine, bitch!!" Sugar Rush squeaked in pure dismay as she smashed the window in, sprinkling shards of shattered glass Lexi's way. Lexi yelped and looked back to see Rush now had her arm cannon pointed practically in her face. Worse yet, the car was beginning to lose contact with the ground as the pesky tractor beam continued pulsating and the Drone drew closer.

One threat at a time though ... Lexi thought to herself and fucked and rolled out of the car to avoid a blunt shot in the face. She sighed, watching her car continue to be pulled up by the powerful tractor beam, as Rush tumbled into the car, unlocking it from the inside with her free hand and hoisting herself into the passenger seat, not realizing herself what had happened. She had only been occupied with capturing and killing Lexi.

Unfortunately she would do neither but would be captured herself as she watched the maw of the drone approaching, a result of the tractor beam as it pulled her and the tiny car inside. Lexi could only watch helplessly, trying desperately to grow back but once again her powers weren't listening to her.

She'd peer over the table to see Krystal and Roxie locked up on the ground with one another, constantly stumbling.

"You guys!" Lexi squeaked, her tiny voice too faint to hear amidst the chaos, "Somebody stop that drone!! Somebody stop that --!!"

It was too late ...

"HAH!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!! Now it is I that am doing the laughing!!" the triumphant scientist Dr. Maxmillian E Mumford declared to the dark empty room that was his forboding laboratory.

Accompanied only by his machines, a growing armada of metallic mayhem that lurched and crawled behind him, the Doctor watched on confidently as his one remaining drone had currently secured cargo that he'd find integral to his plans. In fact, it had gone BETTER than planned!

"Not only do I have the ShrinkGirl ..." the arrogant antagonist announced, "...I have her CAR as well!!"

Finally Max would quiet down, but only upon hearing footsteps which made their way towards his current location. Most employees knew better than to interuppt the Doctor at most times during the workday, let alone when he was in the middle of one of his "locked in" work sessions, which had been the case now.

Of course, Dr. Giovanni Guillardo was more than a mere "employee" of Enormo Enterprises as he knocked on the door to cautiously introduce new information to the head Engineer. Because of this, even the steely resolve of Dr. Max was interuppted, if only briefly, to acknowledge the newcomers presence.

"Yes, Dr. Giovanni?" Dr. Max asked, attempting to retrieve some modicum of professionalism as he addressed his colleague.

"Well ... I have some news on the development of the portal inducer..." Dr. Giovanni proudly proclaimed.

"Oh? Is it ready?" Dr. Max smirked, suddenly even more excited as he leapt from his seat, turning to approach his current prized possession (that is before the arrival of the purple car), the SG medallion which had been kept hoisted between the metal prongs.

"It's not quite ... ready ... although we could fire off a test run ... we just have to be careful to ..."

"Yes yes yes, I know!" Dr. Max hastily retorted as he fetched the SG medallion, which was to act as a sort of power source.

"Okay ..." Dr. Giovanni sighed, while simultaneously admiring the Doctor's bravado as they both marched their way down the halls of Enormo, down some clackety metal steps, "Just wanted to make sure you knew the risks ... but then again ... look who I'm talking to"

"There is no need to be worrying, Dr. Guillardo ..." Max reassured, "it's not like I'm going to blow up the city!"

________________________

On an unrelated note, a small intersection of Minitropolis' Coffee District had already seen the kind of horrors Max was capable of, whether they realized it or not. It was on the same city street that Lexi had helped save not moments ago where Officer Sonia Sanders was currently tending to fellow Officer Chas after his harrowing experience.

Having defused the current crisis, Chas, Sonia and now Carl Scolex who rolled onto the scene were all anxious to find out what the Drone attack had been about. They all had their own theories and ideas ...

"This is no doubt Enormo Enterprises technology ..." Sonia frowned, carefully inspecting a piece of the wreckage as the crews were combing through and re-routing traffic. "It's only a matter of which facility to trace it back to ... the East Minitropolis branch or the central location..."

"At first I thought it was perhaps a naval base misfire or something but ... yeah ..." the still stunned Officer Chas sighed. "hard to believe we have that kind of tech in our own neighborhood... it's pretty dangerous..."

"Pretty dangerous ... but that's not it ..."Officer Scolex proclaimed, a gravely tone in his voice once more. Sonia was almost ready to stop him before he began as she knew where the ensuing rant would lead, "this is again the fault of ..."

"Officer Scolex!" Sonia sputtered, "If you are going to blame this on that girl again ..."

"Who else am I to blame it on?!" Carl sneered

"The company that MADE the drones? Enormo Enterprises?" Sonia snapped

"And who were the drones after? Chas TOLD you they were focused SOLELY on Alexis ... HE saw the whole thing, correct?" Carl asked

"W-Well technically ... yeah ... but she ... she saved me ..." the wounded Officer remarked

"Oh, bullshit!" Carl Scolex sighed, "she was probably just trying to cover her own tracks... or gain some good publicity ..."

"I don't really consider THIS good publicity..." a distraught Sonia Sanders replied, gesturing towards the carnage that was around them.

"Exactly ... she's a vigilante, not a PR genius..." Carl remarked

"Alright ... enough ..." Sonia sighed, "Let's finish combing the area, make sure all civilians have been accounted for who may have been affected by the incident and let's try to regain the peace as best we can here..."

"And the evidence?" Carl asked, gesturing towards the wreckage.

"It's coming back to the station, naturally ..." Sonia said, "...we're having it loaded onto the armored van just as soon as it gets here"

The already disgruntled Officer Carl Scolex put his hands on his hips and let out a long sigh as if to show his disapproval, all the while showing his usual signs of stress, as if his eyes kept flipping their focus down to his cell phone, expecting a call any moment.

______________________________________


Not too far down the road, Lexi herself lay on a table, looking utterly shocked and defeated as she whimpered, only the size of a small doll and forced to helplessly watch while Max's evil drone had blasted off with not just her car but Sugar Rush AKA Rachel Rutschmann inside.

She felt a pit in her stomach, so much so that she was barely paying attention as Roxie shoved Krystal off herself and proceeded to skip her way over the scraps of debris as if going for a walk on the beach, offering only a quick wave back to Lexi and her blonde friend while she swung open the door to the Cafe and went to fetch her trusty motocycle, peeling off in a flash.

"LATER, SHRINKS!!" Roxie would cackle, the sound of her motorcycle almost as raucous as that of the Drones that had just littered the area with schrapnel.

With the Shrinkmobile (and Lexi, so he thought) in tow, Dr. Max called off his Maximites and left the coffee shop in horrible shape but at least it was over ... for now. Lexi just looked around at the destruction and a single tear trickled down her eye, as Krystal leaned in to comfort her.

"ShrinkGirl ...? L-Lex?" Krystal asked sadly.

The two girls paused their interaction for the moment as a small chirp could be heard and something else hovered into the restaurant to break the short lived silence. This time it would be another drone, but a much smaller and less intimidating one. All the same, Krystal was understandably frightened.

"HEY!!" Krystal yelped, so loud it almost made the tiny Lexi jump back. "You leave us alone!"

"Wait..." Lexi squeaked, trying to hold back a chuckle as she waved to the drone, which in turn activated a small spotlight to better see her down on the table. "He's ... he's one of ours ... he's a friend of mine ... in fact ... the drone is ... kind of an experimental thing..."

Josh watched the scene from a camera in his garage, shaking his head in dismay while also slightly marveling at the fact that his drone worked as well as it did. Of course this hasn't been the only time he'd tested it, nor the first time Lexi had used it in a "heroic" type of scenario.

"You have your own drone?!" Krystal exclaimed, suddenly elated despite their traumatic encounter, "That is so cool! I should've known you'd have something like that, I'm sorry if I freaked out, Lexi .. it's just ... holy hell ... wait til I tell everyone I was just part of a REAL ShrinkGirl adventure ..."

"H-eh...maybe ... we don't need to tell people about this..." Lexi chuckled, sparking a bit as she involuntarily grew back. Now normally she'd be more than happy to grow back but she didn't intend to do so while on the flimsy table, her sudden increase in weight predictably causing the table to give way and collapse as she fell on her backside. "...Ouch ... put that on my bill, please..."

"Lexi! Shit, you okay?" Krystal asked, wasting no time in offering a hand to help up the well known crimefighter. Lexi grunted and nodded as she rose to her feet with Krystal's assistance.

Lexi looked over at the hovering drone and took a moment to appreciate just how nice of a job Josh did with it. The drone was fairly small, but it didn't need to be particularly big thanks to her size changing powers.

Unlike the original model, this one had been more hollowed out on the inside to allow Lexi to actually climb inside and pilot it if need be, although she was in no shape to drive anything as she felt super woozy from the whole encounter that she had endured.

"Th-Thanks for the lift, Josh..." Lexi said weakly before covering her mouth, "Oop, sorry ... I didn't mean to ..."

"Josh?" Krystal asked, curious as she took a short pace around the hovering drone to have a look at it.

The drone bore thick chromium armor but rather than stick to default silver, it had a bit more stylizing on it, with thin white and purple lines spray painted along its surface and wings, including an SG logo painted on the very top ; which also housed a hatch that could open up.

"Your friend really gets into the superhero thing, huh?" Krystal teased a bit.

"You have ... NO idea..." Lexi sighed, before hobbling over to Krystal herself and wrapping her arms around the young woman in a warm and sincere hug, "thank you so much for your help ... I am SO sorry you got wrapped up in this ... I feel terrible"

"Lexi stop ..." Krystal smirked, gently rubbing Lexi's back in the hug before looking at her a bit more concerned, "Are YOU okay? I'm worried about chu..."

"I'll be fine..." Lexi said, with some confidence rising in her voice, even as she wasn't sure. She felt as though any moment could present an unexpected surprise and jolt her size back down or up or ... who knows? But she kept a steely resolve nonetheless. "I just ... I wish I could do more to help you ... do you live far from here? Do you need an escort back? Just in case things are still dangerous out there?"

"No no ... I live close by" Krystal said, "but ... I wanna go with you!"

"What?" Lexi smirked a bit but then shook her head as worry took over her mind again, "No no no, you can't go with us ... I'm sorry ... I appreciate it but ... it's just not safe ... you already saw what happened with you being here as a bystander ... I can't have anyone else getting hurt because of my reckless choices..."

"Lex... that crazy girl was here before you even showed up..." Krystal said, referring to Roxie, "Because you were here, you might've saved my life..."

"You need to give yourself more credit Lexi ... ouch!" the drone spoke, much with Josh's voice, although the concluding 'ouch' came off as a tad confusing. After a pause, Josh's robotic voice spoke again through the drone's speaker system, "S-Sorry ... damn spider in my room I can never catch the damn thing ..."

Lexi let out a bit of a forced giggle.

"...as you can tell, I'm not exactly running a tight operation here ... but Josh is one of my best friends and he ..."

"Oh ... yeah I get it ..." Krystal said sadly.

"Huh? No, why are you ... why are you sad?" Lexi asked confused, as she rested a hand on Krystal's shoulder and looked her in the eye. Nobody was allowed to be sad on Lexi's watch, after all.

"Not sad ..." Krystal said, mumbling a bit as she looked down, "Just ... you were saying earlier ... you didn't have a sidekick ... and I just ... well, I don't know ..."

"You wanna be my sidekick?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow

"Well no ... well maybe yes ..." Krystal stammered, "I just ... I'd rather be your friend"

"Well you ARE my friend!" Lexi said with a sincere smile, "I'm not gonna just ditch you, Krystal ... it's just that right now ... things are dangerous..."

"I understand ..." Krystal sighed sadly. "I didn't mean to butt in ..."

"You're not butting in ..." Lexi sighed, looking dejected as her eyes flicked back and forth between Krystal and the drone as it offered closely and obediently behind her.

"Maybe she could ... come by?" Josh said thorugh the drone. Lexi looked back, a bit aggravated. "I'm sorry ... it's just ... I'm not that far from here and ... she seems really interested..."

Krystal gave Lexi a hopeful look who had to relent as she sighed and shook her head, finally turning that head shake into a nod.

"Okay ..." Lexi sighed

"Yeah?" Krystal yelped excitedly, "Oh hell yes! Let me just grab my purse! Oh and my phone ... it's ... it's on the ground over here somewhere heh ..."

"Uh yeah ..." Lexi frowned, recalling the incident that just took place with Krystal's old and now beat up phone, "Sorry about that"

"Hey it's all good!" Krystal giggled, scooping up the phone and popping away for a bit, "I'm just excited as hell to be part of this ... I'm going to go to the Batcave and meet Lexi's partners and ..."

"I wish this was as much -- fun ..." Lexi whimpered, her size powers sparking her a bit smaller for a second before restoring her, "...as you say it is ... I just ... ugh ..."

"Hey, if you want, I can just go home ..." Krystal frowned.

"No ... no it's fine ..." Lexi sighed, "You can come with ... just follow the drone, okay?"

"I'll try to keep it under 60 miles an hour ..." Josh quipped, "speaking of ... are you ready to try this sucker out?"


"I'll admit ..." Lexi shrugged, "I've been interested in trying this for a while ... albeit under better circumstances..."

As Lexi shrank herself, thankful that she was still able to with minimal issues, she couldn't even process all that had happened in such a short time. She had literally been on her way to Trevor's place to possibly reverse her shrink powers. It was a decision she didn't make lightly but she still remained scared for her future. Now, here she was, shrinking again to board some kind of Drone as if it were a first class airplane flight.

Once shrunk, the drone would dip down slowly, the camera viewing Lexi as she stood, appearing (in the footage) as a normal bystander from where the drone hovered, just above ground level.

The tiny Lexi smirked, a hand on her hip as she pointed right at the camera viewing her.

"H-How do I look?" she squeaked

"P-Perfect..." Josh mumbled, getting lost in the moment for a bit, "...absolutely perfect ... uh ... I mean, hop on!"

With that Josh hit a button which caused a small ramp to protrude from the Drone, similar to an alien mothership, which is how it appeared as the tiny girl wearing purple, gold and white walked her way up the chrome walkway into her new "ship"

Krystal watched on, a bit giddy while also gathering her car keys.

"I'll meet you guys outside in a few, okay?" she giggled, heading out to get her car while Lexi got settled within the cockpit of the ShrinkDrone, looking around in amazement.

"H-How did you have the time and knowhow to build all this?" Lexi asked in pure shock. She felt as if a member of the U.S.S. Starship Enterprise, a reference to one of her favorite shows growing up, Star Trek : The Next Generation ... although she'd be the first to admit she lacked the conviction and intelligence of a leader like Captain Jean Luc Picard.

"Eh ... a few free days here and there, the right part combinations and a surprising number of YouTube how to videos ..." Josh quipped, "now, are we ready for ... takeoff?!"

"Let er rip!" Lexi squeaked cutely, feeling the seat beneath her rumble as the Drone made a slow, wavering ascent before evening out and beginning to hover out the open door of the coffee shop.

Lexi peered over to see Krystal getting into her car, able to see through a large LCD video wall that served as a sort of "one-way" window in which she could see out but others would just see the outside of the armored drone.

"Okay ... so what's the plan?" Josh asked, already programming in his garage as the destination of Lexi's new ride.

"The plan?" Lexi squeaked, pausing as she took a deep breath, "Go as fast as you can ..."

"Huh? I thought we were ... waiting for Krystal?" Josh asked, now sounding confused.

"Josh..." Lexi sighed, looking exhausted "...I ... we can't let her come to the ... whatever we're calling it ..."

"The Josh Cave" Josh responded emphatically.

"Really? We're STILL going with that?" Lexi asked with a sigh, "Okay okay fine ... we can't let her get to the Josh cave ... so ... just hover above her car for a bit and try to lose her with some evasive manuevers..."

"If that's ... what you want ..." Josh sighed, sounding a bit dejected.

The plan to "ditch" Krystal wasn't something which was usually in Lexi's character but she also wanted to make sure nobody else got hurt because of her involvement with all of this. Her eyes would dart around the area, seeing Krystal's silver car behind them at a close distance while the drone hovered slowly about the neighborhood, making a bee-line towards Josh's place.

"Can this thing go ... any faster?" Lexi asked, glancing back to notice Krystal still keeping a good pace behind them.

"I guess, Lexi ..." Josh said with a sense of uneasiness to his voice, "I just don't want to go zooming too fast and draw attention to it ..."

"That's fair..." Lexi nodded, noticing that as the drone took a corner around a high rise, Krystal's car seemed to fade from view, "well maybe up the speed just a LITTLE bit ... I think we've almost lost her ..."

"Aye aye, captain..." a very engaged but also disappointed Joshua James answered as he followed the orders of his tiny pilot and friend, Lexi.

Moments later, the Drone would land just outside of Josh's garage. A few moments went by and then the door opened, and Lexi's ShrinkDrone hovered into the garage, landing on a workbench where space had been cleared off for her re-emergence.

"So, how was that?" Josh asked, through the Drone's communication system, a small speaker on the dashboard.

"I can tell you more in literally 30 seconds" Lexi squeaked, "But it was surprisingly comfortable ... this is kind of amazing ..."

Lexi would continue her thoughts as she slid out through the exit ramp, looking up at Josh as she did so.

"I just wonder how long this thing can fly ... like how far can I get on a single charge?" Lexi asked

"In some of my test runs I was able to keep the Drone going for about 2 hours but that's just maintaining a slow speed and not using nav systems or anything like that ..." Josh answered, watching Lexi pace around the work bench, inspecting the underside of the Drone as if checking out a new car. "You uh ... you can probably get bigger now ..."

"I will ... or I'll try to ..." Lexi sighed, sparking a bit at just the thought of it. "I'm trying to keep my size changes to a minimum, although sometimes it seems like I have no choice..."

"Yeah ... Dr. Hilfmann was telling me about that ..." Josh frowned with concern as he watched his tiny friend pace about, finding it a bit adorable as she knelt down and poked a life-sized screwdriver that was on the counter next to her, as if in disbelief that it was real and not just a comically sized prop. "I wish you had said something before..."

"I ... try not to make a big deal of these things ..." Lexi squeaked, before giggling, "No pun intended... that time"

"Yeah but stil, you know that you can ..." Josh began, only to be interuppted by a knock on the door. He cautiously walked up to the garage door, sliding out a small slot so that he'd be able to see the guest on the other side before letting them in.

To his surprise (and Lexi's) it was Krystal and she looked a bit awkward as she stood there in front of her silver car.

"Hey uh ... guys?" Krystal asked, "Mind letting me in? I kinda have to use the bathroom..."

_________________________

An uncomfortably large quake shook the Fensterian Citadel in the mystically cloaked Fairy Colony in Fenster Forest. At the forefront, to check on things was none other than the armor clad fairy valkyrie known as Daniella, but most knew her as Dani.

This stoic, blonde haired blue eyed steadfast protector of the realm wasted no time in charging down to the inner sanctums of the citadel to see a massive flux of energy come surging through. Holding up her sword to shield her eyes, she'd glance to the right to notice a wormhole forming before her eyes, shaking her head nervously.

"No ... no ... this can't be ..."

Elsewhere, a pair of scientists had a much different react to the occurence, watching in joy as a large machine was creating the interdimensional rift that Dr. Giovanni had spent most of his life trying to accomplish. In the process however, they were drawing excessive amounts of power ... so much so that the lab itself began to experience a power failure, momentarily saved by on board generators but only for so long.

"Is there a way to ... increase the power, Dr. Mumford?" Dr. Giovanni asked his eager lead Engineer who monitored the power levels as the portal inducer continued to pick up energy, aided mightily by one tool -- a purple and gold medallion with the SG insignia.

The medallion seemed to be helping to create a more stable portal but it wasn't sufficient enough to energize the gateway which eventually had to be shut down as the ambitious Dr. Maximillian reluctantly slid down the lever which gave power to the almighty machine. Without such power, the interdimensional portal inducer would slowly hum down to a resting state, small amounts of smoke emanating from each of its metallic nodules as it lay dormant in the room.

Dr. Giovanni paused, his disappointment noticable but he did pick up his handy notebook and begin scribbling some observations down.

"Not perfect but a very nice second test run" Dr. Giovanni concluded.

Maximillian seemed less enthused.

"It was ... encouraging yes ..." Dr. Max said, "but the machine seems to draw at least 10 times as much power as anything that our servos can handle and we're equipped for some pretty strong stuff here..."

"Time, Dr. Max..." Dr. Giovanni said with an encouraging tone as he inspected the machine for any signs of fatigue or damage. There appeared to be none save for some overheating but that was to be expected. "This will take time ... but the progress and eventual result will be worth it ..."

"Heh, I have no doubt, Dr. Giovanni ...." Dr. Maxmillian said with a smirk, except this time he really meant it. He actually did believe in his colleague. It was a weird feeling for him but not the worst thing. Their second test run hadn't been an amazing success but at least it hadn't caused any noticeable disruptions outside of the lab.

_____________

"...the heck just happened?" a concerned Lexi asked as she sat atop a counter in Josh's garage, feet propped up as she had just witnessed the lights go on and off in a quick burst for the second time in 5 minutes.

"I'm not sure ..." Josh said, opening up a page on his computer which allowed him to monitor the Minitropolis power grid, "but we're not alone ... rolling blackouts have just started hitting the city as of a few minutes ago ... it could just be a one time thing ... or ... where'd you go?"

Josh looked over to see his friend was no longer on the table to listen to him, or so it seemed. He sighed.

"Shrank to micro size again?" Josh sighed with dismay. Lexi, naturally couldn't answer.

Thankfully her own "power surge" restored her size fairly quickly as Krystal re-entered the room, looking concerned herself.

"You guys see that?" Krystal sighed, "everybody's losing power it seems ... my mom said we've been out twice in the past 10 minutes..."

Krystal made her way over towards the counter to hop up and have a seat. It seemed Josh's garage was fairly deficient of proper seating so most guests would sit on the sturdy counter. This wouldn't be a problem except Josh quickly noticed Lexi wasn't visible.

"WAIT! DON'T SIT THERE!!" Josh blurted out but thankfully it was a non-issue.

While Lexi had shrunk and regrown, she was a safe distance from Krystal.

"It's fine ..." Lexi sighed, looking down at her hands and rubbing them together as if she were cold.

Strange thing was, however, she wasn't cold but her hands were. It was almost as if they weren't receiving proper circulation, and yet there was still a stark tingling in the extremities that came and went. Her condition was worsening for sure.

"Heh ... so much for my being the 'hero' you thought I was ...." a dejected Lexi sighed, still rubbing her hands together. The tingling had stopped ... for now.

"Hey what are you talking about?" Krystal said supportively, putting her hand on Lexi's shoulder. "You saved my life at the coffee shop! You save lots of people all the time! I can't say I completely understand what you're going through with your super powers but ... I'm sure you'll figure it out"

Josh nodded, appreciating Krystal's positive spark of energy. As he turned around to say something, he noticed the pesky spider, a gray "Daddy long legs" with long lanky joints as it hobbled about on a keyboard of his. He angrily slammed his hand down, trying to get it, only to lament as he missed.

"Still with the bug problem?" Lexi smirked

"It's just this spider ..." Josh sighed, "I can't tell if it's the same one or different ones that keep getting in ... I don't even see a web in here!"

"Maybe you need to clean up the Twinkies, buddy" Lexi joked. Josh shook his head but was pleased to see his old friend cracking a smile again, even momentarily.

Josh continued to monitor things over on his screens before coming over to talk to the girls, needing a break from so much time with machines. Lexi hopped off the counter and let out a groggy yawn as she stretched.

"Hey, do you mind if I use your shower?" Lexi asked shyly, "I'm pretty beat and ... well, worst case, if I shrink or something, maybe Krystal can help me out?"

Krystal gave a smirk and a thumbs up as if to acknowledge her readiness for such a task.

"Yeah, sure ..." Josh said, "it's up the hall and to the right"

"Thanks hon" Lexi said, beginning to take her walk for the door before realizing her metallic gold wristlets were still tied onto her forearms. "Heh, guess I don't need to keep these on ..."

Krystal was momentarily distracted on her phone so she didn't even notice as Lexi turned to Josh briefly, setting the wristlets on the counter.

Lexi turned again to make her way for the door, but somehow the convergence of static energy, even for a moment, caused her body to give off another spark -- except this time, it wasn't her that shrank but rather poor Josh who was in the vicinity. He found himself just a few inches tall as Lexi made her unaware way to the door.

"Hey" Lexi said to Krystal, figuring Josh was just ducked behind a counter or something as she addressed the busy blonde, "you mind just ... walking me there? If I shrink or something... well, that wouldn't be great ..."

"Heh no worries Lex" Krystal said, following Lexi out the door as their voices faded. The last thing that could be heard being said was Krystal's remark, "hey, does this mean I'm your sidekick now?"

"Heh not quite ... professional escort maybe ..." Lexi giggled, again obscured from the door as it closed. "....not sure if that sounds any better though..."

"Hey!!" Josh yelped out, terrified to look up and see his once waist level workbench now miles up in the sky compared to him. "Lexi? Krystal?! A hand here?!"

Josh sighed and gulped, heart racing. He had considered this possibility in his head numerous times. Heck, under the right circumstances he may have actually ASKED Lexi to shrink him just as she had done to Leah before, just as a fun experiment of sorts. This didn't feel as fun though.

"Then again ..." the usually calm Joshua James thought as he just paced around his currently giant laboratory/garage. "What's the worst that could happen? They'll be back shortly and Lexi will fix my height ... we'll all have a nice laugh about this..."

Josh's logic would have been sound if not for a certain eight legged visitor who didn't take too kindly to his prior attempts to squash him.

Josh gulped, looking up at the spider that now stood at roughly his height, marching towards him like an eager attack dog on the prowl.

"G-Good spider..." Josh squeaked, scampering under a desk as he heard the door creak back open into the garage. "I like Spider-Man ... that's gotta count for something, right?"

Unfortunately, this agitated arachnid didn't take too kindly to being attacked -- whether by a Spider-Man fan or not.

"Hey Josh...?" Krystal asked, looking around in confusion. "You still in here? You mind if I snag the Wifi password?"

Josh squeaked, about to come out and try to get the blonde's attention but he was quickly impeded by the spider, letting out a yelp as he fell on his back and scooted into a corner, seeing his only hope now was a No. 2 pencil.

Latching onto the pencil, Josh would grab it up like a makeshift spear and try to jab at the spider. The method was somewhat effective even as Josh was losing grip on the large cumbersome graphite fighting staff.

The spider seemed to be making herky jerky motions forward, almost as if trying to seize the pencil from Josh's hands. Josh would let out a desperate grunt as he threw the pencil like a javelin. It grazed the spider and caused it to stumble back, but all Krystal noticed was a pencil hitting the ground from behind a desk as if it was dropped on its own.

"Josh?" Krystal asked confused. "Uh ... you under the desk?"

Krystal walked into the area where Josh did most of his work, which was cornered off with a few small desks on all sides, the one against the wall housing his computer and most of his research tech such as where he worked on Lexi's Shrinkdrone.

Krystal was about to take a better look at it before noticing the spider crawling its way towards her foot.

"Oh geez!!" Krystal yelped, smacking the spider with her sneakered foot, causing a booming tremor for the poor shrunken Josh who just backed away, suddenly bearing an aghast look on his face to see his spidery foe reduced to tatters as it lay there, squished.

"Yikes..." Josh sighed, "I wanted this to end ... but not like this ..."

Krystal briefly studied a couple of the designs on Josh's computer, understanding some of it while also not being so sure about the rest. She had already been impressed with Lexi, her ingenuity, her car and the like, but the scope of Josh's ambiitions only further blew her away.

After a few more moments, Lexi returned sighing in relief as she re-entered the garage, re-costumed but also refreshed while she noticed Krystal but didn't see Josh.

"Hey ... where's uh ...?" Lexi asked, before having her question almost immediately answered with a loud "THUD" and "Ouch" ... Josh soon emerging from under the desk as Lexi's shrinking mojo seemed to have worn off, similarly to how it did with Roxie and Krystal back at the coffee shop "Oh, there you are ... fine time to start cleaning under your desk"

"How long were you down there?" Krystal asked, confused

"It's a ... weird story ..." Josh sighed, opting not to tell Lexi the truth for fear of adding further guilt to her. He knew she didn't shrink him on purpose after all.

"So ... uh ... what's the plan?" Lexi asked, suddenly getting back into "hero" mode as she slid alongside Krystal to look at Josh's computer screen, "And also ... you've been damn busy ... is this a map of the whole city?"

"It's not perfected yet..." Josh commented, "but yes, more or less ... I've been test flying the drone around to get me accurate topographical footage and was able to create this simulated grid to ... what?"

Josh stopped talking when he noticed how "jaw dropped" the two girls looked at him.

"Just ... that's amazing ... like legit" Lexi said, a sincere smile on her face.

"It's no big ..." Josh said with a light smirk

"No, it REALLY is ..." Lexi said, smiling still as she caught a glimpse of something else on Josh's workbench but she figured it was something she wasn't suppose to see as it looked like a scrap of gold metal resembling her wristlets. It could've also been any number of things but she decided not to go into it. "You do so much for me, Josh ... not to mention the risk you could be putting yourself in ..."

"Well, I just wanna help my friends" Josh said, "and besides if you told me at the beginning of last school year that I would end up being friends with a kickass superhero, I would've signed up for that any day of the ... wait ... what risk?"

"Well ... it's just ..." Lexi stuttered, "You know how crazy Mad Max is ... heck, that's why we CALL HIM Mad Max..."

"Mad ... Max?" Krystal chimed in, finding herself a bit lost in the conversation, "wasn't that some 1980's action movie?"

"Technically ... yes ..." Lexi sighed, "But he's also ... not good news ..."

"He's the owner of Enormo Enterprises..." Josh explained, "well, one of them ... Lexi's current condition is the result of some experiment that she stumbled into ..."

"How do you ...?" Krystal asked, curious to know the story now.

"I thought it was a changing room!" Lexi decried

"...but anyway ... she got her super powers and that's kinda why she's awesome, among many things..." Josh said with a blush. Krystal turned to him, a coy smirk on her face but she quickly turned her attention away from him.

"You know what ISN'T awesome though?" Lexi sighed, "besides not knowing when I'm going to shrink or grow or what? The fact that that lunatic has likely been tracking me the whole time ... those drones were RIGHT on my tail as soon as I started driving ..."

"And you said they had tractor beams?" Josh added

"Yeah ... they were obviously after ME but they scooped up my entire CAR ... with Rachel inside!" Lexi sighed.

The group paused for a moment with concern before Lexi took a step forward, looking at the map Josh had on his computer, particularly to note the distance between where they currently were and the monolithic building that was Enormo Enterprises.

"He's not getting away with it" Lexi said decisively, taking a single step forward and feeling her confidence grow, only to be struck down again -- literally -- as she briefly shrank and re-grew, looking over at Josh with a disgusted look, "Uh ... you know you got a dead spider under your desk?"

"...Yeah..." Josh sighed, before returning to the developing crisis, "but what do you mean by ... he's not going to get away with it?"

"I MEAN ... I need to --bzt!!" Lexi squeaked, poofing away again into tiny form, only to poof back to normal size, "I need to break in there ... and save Rachel!"

"Uhhhh... I'm sorry Lex..." Josh sighed, looking worried, "Normally I'd be right there with you but ... your powers are so unstable ..."

"I have to agree with Josh unfortunately..." Krystal sighed, looking concerned as well.

"Well I can't just sit on my hands ..." Lexi sighed, an unusually fitting choice of words as she noticed her fingertips sparking again, "I need to get this under control and I need to save Rachel! This is my fault..."

Josh could tell the experience was having an effect on Lexi both physically and emotionally as her heightened sense of awareness seemed to be doing her no favors as it pertained to her body sparking and changing sizes.

"Okay well ... let's try to head down to Aztek, okay?" Josh said, "We can visit Trevor ... see what he can do, yknow?"

"Didn't you say you couldn't reach him on the phone?" Lexi asked, worried.

"Yeah ... he kinda stopped taking calls right after the drone thing started but before that I had discussed an idea with him to maybe stabilize you and have you keep your shrinking powers..." Josh explained, getting his coat on as the pair headed for the door.

"Yeah? And what would that be?" Lexi asked

"I'll explain on the way ..." Josh said, before looking to Krystal. "You coming?"

"Me? I ... I CAN ... yeah ... I just don't wanna get in the way ..." Krystal said shyly

Lexi gave her a bit of a comforting glance.

"You're not getting in the way, I promise..." Lexi said, meaning to just wrap an arm around Krystal to comfort her but of course her shrinking powers would misfire and she'd end up literally holding the shrunken blonde in the palm of her hand now. "Oh shoot ... I'm sorry!! Just ... ugh..."

"No no it's okay!" Krystal giggled, her voice high pitched and squeaky as she sat in Lexi's soft palm, "Now I REALLY won't get in the way, I'm portable now!!"

"W-Well..." Lexi sighed, having to restrain a chuckle from the comment, "the good news is, it should wear off shortly ... and if not, I can try to grow you again myself..."

"Mine seemed to last about 5, 10 minutes..." Josh said as a reference point before realizing he may have let the "secret" slip.

"Your ... what?" Lexi asked

"...uh ... never mind."

"You could've just TOLD me you shrunk!" Lexi sighed, kicking back in Josh's front seat as a now normal sized Krystal was in the back seat.

Lexi rapped her fingertips on Josh's dashboard now, a habit she'd find herself doing whenever she was nervous. It also seemed to ease any built up static that remained crackling through her digits. The last thing she wanted to do was shrink Josh WHILE he was driving.

"It just didn't seem like something I should trouble you with ..." Josh shrugged, trying to turn on some music to distract from the otherwise tense mood while the three briskly made their way towards the neighborhood holding the small computer parts emportium. "...plus I think I TRIED to tell you and you didn't hear ..."

"I remember my first time being shrunk..." Lexi groaned, not having the most pleasant memory of it. "I'm so sorry Josh, it won't happen again ... well... I guess I can't really promise that ... and Krystal? You're .. good, right? Like no more tingles or shrinky feelings?"

"I'm fine Lex..." Krystal nodded, "Like Josh said, it's all good... I know you aren't doing it on purpose..."

Her friends reassurance, while appreciated would only get Alexis Cole so far in trying to accept whatever was happening with her. Still, she was a bit relieved to see Aztek Parts & More appearing on the right side of the road as they neared it.

"Okay, let's go in" Josh said, shutting the car off as he pulled up to the curb by the entrance. Lexi was about to stand before Lexi put her hand on her shoulder for a moment. Lexi looked back in response.

"You go ahead Josh ... I just want to talk to Lex for a second..." Krystal said with a coy smile that had Lexi and Josh both curious, but Josh followed her orders and walked out of the car, walking around the front of the vehicle to then navigate towards the entrance of the shop which appeared very much closed.

"So ... you and Josh..." Krystal said with a low whisper in case he was listening

"What about us?" Lexi asked, confused again.

"Oh cmon, he so obviously likes you ..." Krystal giggled, regretful that she couldn't talk about it much further as it seemed Josh was heading right back to the car after getting nowhere with the front door.

"Huh? It's not like ..." Lexi started but again, ceased her talking once she realized Josh was quickly on his way back to join them. "No luck, Josh?"

"No..." Josh said with a sigh, "...he's not answering his phone ... the buildings dark inside ... I don't even see his car around ... I just hope he's alright ..."

Lexi frowned, "...I was so close..."

"So close to what?" Krystal asked, a bit curious.

"N-Never mind..." Lexi sighed, a bit of anxiety welling up inside of her which resulted in her shrinking again, just about 3 inches tall on the top of Josh's car seat.

"Well ... I was suppose to meet Chris and some of the guys here anyway ... our DnD campaign cotninues shortly" Josh sighed, referring to the card shop across the street. He hadn't yet noticed Lexi's change in stature as he spun his head around to look at his other surroundings, "Although maybe you girls wanted to do something else for now?"

"I don't mean to mess up your plans, Josh..." Lexi squeaked, getting his attention as that was indeed not the voice he was expecting to hear. Krystal leaned over the front seat from behind to have a better luck at the shrunken Lexi and tried to contain a giggle.

"Heh... you really ARE cute tiny, Lexi..." Krystal muttered, looking the 3 inch tall figurine sized girl over.

"Heh ... thanks" Lexi squeaked shyly, looking down at her phone as she had been texting Leah on and off to keep her updated while her best friend had been still at work at the Fashion Boutique.

"Well ...." Josh sighed, giving Krystal and Lexi a nervous look, "It's up to you both ... Krystal, I won't be able to drive you back for a bit while the game is going ... if you wanted to sit in, that'd be fine although I don't think you'd find it all that interesting..."

"You kidding me? I love D and D!" the bubbly blonde exclaimed. Lexi gave them both an uncomfortable thumbs up while messaging Leah to possibly hang out with her when she got out of work. Krystal shot Lexi a sad look downwards "Unless ... Lexi didn't want to, of course ... sorry ... I feel like I'm totally butting in here..."

"N-No you're fine ..." Lexi sighed nervously, looking up at both her friends while she remained currently unable to unshrink, "I just ... don't know what I'm really gonna be able to ... well ... DO ... in a D and D game ..."

An uncomfortable silence emerged, from which Josh would shoot his tiny friend a sly grin. Lexi looked up in utter discomfort and groaned.

"Oh no ... c'mon ... not that ..." Lexi squeaked

"You DID said you'd try it one of these days ..." Josh shrugged

"Ugh ... FINE...." a cranky tiny Lexi squeaked in resignation, "let's just get this over with ..."

_____________________

Meanwhile an evil Doctor gloated over the progression of his ongoing endeavor ... to potentially discover powerful new dimensions by leveraging both the work of his interdimensionally gifted colleague Dr. Giovanni Guillardo -- and using a seemingly invaluable trinket belonging to his greatest arch enemy -- she who shall not be named.

On that note, it was about time to kick up the Doctor's favorite "game" while he waited for the return of his Drone and its prize.

"Launch ShrinkGirl Simulator 7.2 ...." the Doctor proudly declared, watching as another dastardly scenario of the evil engineer's design came to life before his eyes -- a pixelated form of a wooden box proceeding slowly down a conveyer belt. Right on cue, Lexi herself would smash free of it, only to see a long row of nearly identical wooden boxes on a long, winding conveyer belt as they traveled their way deeper into the depths of a dank musty factory.

In this scenario, a digital version of Dr. Maximillian E Mumford himself would appear to taunt Lexi as he'd pull a lever which would trigger a piston to crush an unlucky crate if it should happen to line up with the moving machinery. Lexi looked up in fear for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

"You realize ... I can just get off the conveyer belt, right?" Lexi chuckled, doing just that as she rolled off to the side, rendering the entire exercise more or less useless.

"SHRINKGIRL WINS! FLAWLESS VICTORY!"

"What?! Nein Nein Nein Nein!" Max shrieked in defeat watching the horrid message play out yet again, "She's supposed to stay and get crushed! Aggggh!!"

BZT -- INCOMING VIDEO CALL : ORIGIN UNKNOWN --

Dr. Max knew such a call could only originate from one unique caller and he quickly peeked over his shoulder to make sure nobody was observing his large video monitor as he accepted the call, rubbing his aching temples as he did so. Being a crazy mad scientist certainly wasn't as easy as he remembered it being ...

Sure enough, popped up on the screen at a very close up angle was a stern looking woman with sharp piercing eyes. Her very presence would be much more menacing if not for the fact that she went by the title of "Leader of Fensteria -- the fairy colony" -- better known to her denizens as Esmerelda.

The two had been in touch sporadically since Dr. Max had done extensive scouting of the mystical fairy colony hidden deep in the trenches of Fenster Forest. It was therefore no coincidence that he was able to commission and ultimately build a second Enormo satellite location that may, in the future, serve a very strategic purpose. For now though, he faced the wrath of a fairy woman seemingly scorned.

"To what do I owe this distinct displeasure...?" the rude Doctor retorted before Esmerelda could even get a word in. After all, her pouty face already conveyed quite the message.

"You know damn well what this is about ..." Esmerelda quipped, similarly looking over her shoulder as she communicated with the thrifty humanoid via a magical reflecting pool deep in the Fensterian Citadel. She had to peek over now and then to make sure no knights or guards were able to observe her actions. "just a few moments ago, a wormhole opened up right in the center of the citadel..."

"A wormhole, you say?" the mad doctor replied with a wry smile that crossed his tired face

"Don't act coy with me Doctor..." Esmeralda sputtered, "...quite frankly I'm not sure what exactly you're a Doctor OF ... but that's another story ..."

"Insults will not be necessary Queen Tinkerbell" Dr. Max smirked as he slung another verbal arrow

"Regardless..." an annoyed Esmerelda replied, opting to ignore the "Tinkerbell" comment, "...this was not the plan"

"Ah but this WAS the plan!" Dr. Max cackled with glee, "this was always the plan ... I was just able to assemble the resources a bit ... quicker than planned..."

"Thats the other thing I wanted to talk to you about ..." Esmerelda said in a low cautionary voice, "...whatever you're using to power your ... gadget ... it's based off Fensterian energy ... which would explain the unexpected emergence of the portal ... brief as it was..."

Dr. Max looked back to see his "SG" trophy glistening in its metallic holding cell, giving off sparks from the recent experiment.

"Oh I'm sorry ..." Dr. Max replied mockingly, "you are wanting the belt? I'm afraid it's not for sale..."

"I don't WANT the belt ..." Esmerelda said definitively, "that belt holds but a mere fraction of Fensteria's true power ... but using it could be very dangerous if not ..."

"Yes yes, I know ... use caution, do not be swimming 30 minutes after eating..." Dr. Max shrugged, "you think I do not read warning labels?"

"This isn't a joke --!" Esmerelda yelled, again peeking over her shoulder to make sure she couldn't be overheard

"And I would think you'd be happy, after all..." Dr. Max rambled, continuing to ignore the fairy queen's concerns, "The plan is ahead of schedule ... if successful, you'll be able to capture your ... fairy thingy..."

"Yes ... the fairy thingy ..." a very disgruntled Esmerelda responded as she folded her arms in stark indignance. "We're both aware of the endgame here ... quite frankly, not sure it'll have a very happy ending for all involved..."

"Oh I already suspect that it won't ..." the curt Doctor replied with an indifferent shrug, "but that's why ... oh ... I've got to be going ... call on the other line ... bzt ... can't hear you!"

"Doctor ... you better not...!!" Esmerelda shouted but it was already too late. Dr. Max closed communications and left an already distraught Esmerelda burdened with the thought of what such a mad man could do with such power, even with such a small dose.

The reason Dr. Max had cancelled the call however was two fold. While he refused to listen to any more of the prattlings of the self entitled Esmerelda (as intriguing as her idea of Fensterian power was to him), he was also alerted to the arrival of his drone which had just returned after a successful (and destructive) mission to capture Lexi and her precious toy purple car as he so callously called it.

The eager mad scientist quickly departed his office to go greet his newest acquisition in the chamber it would be landing. Along the way he would be intercepted by fellow scientist Dr. Giovanni Guillardo who quickly took note of Max's unusual happiness.

"Well somebody seems excited..." Giovanni joked, "should I be worried?"

"No, you should be coming with me!" Dr. Max said in a half joking but still commanding manner as the two men sped up their walking pace. "Wait until you see this!"

______________________

"Wait until you see this!" Josh exclaimed, commanding the attention of all of his D&D brethren as they sat at a crowded rectangular table adorned with a shiny playmat. They looked at him curiously and with some skepticism remembering the last time he made such a proclamation. He had presented them with a mini statue of a dragon that breathed real fire. Cool, for sure but an obvious safety hazard. What he had in his hands this time however would be something much different -- or rather, someone.

Joshua James carefully opened his hands and deposited none other than Alexis Cole -- all three inches of her -- onto the playmat where she stood, looking up in sheer humiliation.

Losing control of her powers was one thing, but this was an all new low for the Shrinkster.

Lexi would wave shyly, and while she was maybe 50% sure she could grow herself back if she REALLY tried, she knew this gave Josh (and the other 'geeks' for lack of a better word) a slight thrill, particularly Chris and Will who seemed to lean down and have a closer look.

"Lexi? Is that really you?" Will chuckled

"No, dipshit, its the OTHER ShrinkGirl" Chris chuckled, laughing until he produced a small snort upon seeing his friend reduced to a DnD figure.

"Okay, guys ... be nice" Josh chuckled, taking a seat behind Lexi who looked back a bit annoyed but tried her best to hide it. "I was thinking we play a special campaign ... a ShrinkGirl adventure!"

"Well no fair, how come you get the authentic figure?" Will queried

"Your dad owns a toy store, dude" Chris chuckled, "You probably have like 16 ShrinkGirl action figures under your bed ..."

"No I don't ..." Will groaned defensively, "...not 16..."

"Alright, alright ... let's get started..." Josh said with a chortle, gently pinching Lexi around the waist and lifting her up, only to move her a short distance by what appeared to be a plastic door. "I'll roll to see if ShrinkGirl breaks through the door..."

"Is it too late to opt out of this??" Lexi squeaked and bemoaned

"Action figures don't talk, Lexi ..." Chris teased, drawing a crossed arm pout from the miniature superheroine.

'You guys don't think you're being KIND of mean?" a worried sounding Krystal said as she hovered over Josh's shoulder to watch.

"Heh, I agree..." another voice chimed in. Lexi almost leapt in joy to see it was Leah, out of work and standing beside Krystal to watch the demeaning scene play out. "...plus what gives, Lexi? You'll do THIS but you never offer to be my tiny fashion runway model??"

Lexi sighed, a slight giggle in her voice. Had she not been so internally freaked out about her powers going haywire, she'd find some humor in all of this. After all, she saw the value in not taking oneself too seriously and didn't mind using her powers on occasion to become small for just these kind of gags. Still ... a doll sized runway model? ...actually that did sound pretty cute, but maybe another time.

"Anyways ..." Leah continued, faking a step towards the exit, "I can see you're busy here with your friends so maybe ..."

Lexi squeaked and made a quick turn for the edge of the table, trying with all her might to grow back.

"Wait Leah -- don't leave!!" she squeaked, almost falling on her face as she grew back suddenly, going from 3 inches tall to nearly 5 and a half feet in no time flat, strewing things around the table in the process and causing some annoyed sighing from the D&D players as their D20's, character sheets and props were either knocked off the table or throw off their placements. Lexi gave a shy smile and a shrug as she sprung from the table.

"Hey you can't take our Lexi figure..." Chris said in a mocking tone as he stood up to meet Lexi, "we were still playing with her!"

"Sorry Chris" Lexi chuckled, pushing him playfully back into his seat by shoving him on the shoulder. What she didn't see coming, nor did poor Chris, is the event that would ensue, shrinking HIM to miniature size as he now just stood on the chair aghast at his new current size of only 3 inches tall.

"Hey!!" Chris squeaked angrily, "C'mon! I was just joking around!"

As the laughs grew from a murmur to a louder all out chuckle, Lexi only offered her newly shrunken friend a wry grin.

"Don't worry short fry, it should wear off ... eventually..." Lexi joked, following Leah out the door. "So, how was work?"

"Heh... it was fine ..." Leah replied, "but I have a feeling YOU'VE had the more interesting day..."

______________________________


Elsewhere sat a disgruntled young Roxie Wright, her dog Woof curled up by her ankles while she threw sharp pocket knives at a dart board, lining up each shot beforehand as if aiming one of her rifles. She'd groan as another shot would veer wide right, shattering an empty beer bottle.

"I'll clean that up later ..." she mumbled to nobody in particular before getting a phone call.

The reckless (and at times sloppy) criminal peeked around, trying to find the source of the vibrating phone only to dig it out from under her own posterior as she got off her futon.

The tired blonde answered the phone in the only manner she knew how as she picked up and said,

"Yes, this is Roxie ... if you somehow have this phone number, please lose it or I'll come find you and I will..."

"...still sticking with that same ol' voicemail message, huh?" the unimpressed female voice on the other end replied. Roxie rolled her eyes, toying with a knife between her dexterity gifted fingertips.

"Oh it's you ..." Roxie sighed, dropping the knife on the floor. It clattered there for a moment or two, attracting the attention of the inquisitive German shepherd, Woof. Roxie gently tapped him with the heel of her boot to keep the dog from playing with the sharp object, "whattaya want, blue hair?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Roxie ..." Aeris said with a shrug, seemingly getting suited up for something herself, buttoning up her sleek "Cybertek" blazer being careful to mind the extra attachments she had strapped to her belt to appear as inconspicuous as possible. "...do you have her or not?"

"If I did, do you think I'd just hand her over?" Roxie asked

"For the right price, yeah..." Aeris replied with an eye roll, "I know you pretty well after all..."

"Yeah well she ain't here ..." Roxie said, a strange lack of emotion in her voice.

"Huh. I actually believe you ..." Aeris replied, fumbling for her car keys, "if only because if she WERE with you, you'd be gloating about it right now ... just like you've been dangling her like a carrot over the Chaos Crew ever since you were sent in to --"

"Hey... that job was up for grabs" Roxie said, "You snooze, you lose..."

"Look I could care less about this job myself..." Aeris shrugged, "You think I like juggling all these reponsibilities? Thing is, if you don't have her that means she's either out in the weeds or Enormo has her..."

At this, Roxie sat up a bit.

"Enormo? What do those fuckers want with her?" Roxie asked

"They likely don't give two shits about her" Aeris said, checking to make sure she had everything as she made her way out to her dark blue Saab. "But the drone attack was a pretty dead giveaway that Max is in the hunt for SOMETHING big... maybe not our blonde friend but ..."

"She's NOT my friend..." Roxie said with a tone of detest in her voice

"You know what I mean, geez chill, Rox..." Aeris said, getting into her car, "Anyway ... I'm trying to get a head start before shit hits the fan ... Lexi's inside man seems to be on the run and I've gotta see if I can gather any clues ... you in?"

"Another chance to trash that place? Pass...." Roxie shrugged, resuming her made up game of "knife darts" with her free hand. "Just a word to the wise though, don't try the back way in..."

"Duh, he's got a laser grid..." Aeris said with yet another eye roll before ending the call.

Roxie looked down at Woof who let out a low whimper. Roxie, not one to emote found herself showing a similar look as her face displayed momentary sadness.

________________


Leah and Lexi waited in line for ice cream at the summer hot spot "Mini Scoops" located just nearby a skatepark. The area was bustling with activity and noise, but that was all taken up to 11 as many kids (and even some adults) erupted into hooting and hollering when Lexi had first arrived at the scene with Leah, wearing her ShrinkGirl costume, the only clothes she seemed to have on her for the time being. She sighed and offered some waves and even still a few selfies, all the while trying to contain this uncomfortable tingling feeling in her extremities even as she took the smallest of steps forward in line.

"Lex, are you okay?" Lean asked concerned, noting the uncomfortable look on Lexi's face, "it almost looks like you're trying to hold in a sneeze..."

"In many ways I am ..." Lexi stuttered, flinching and arching her back as Leah looked on with concern, wishing she could do something to help her suffering best friend. "It's like ... a struggle to keep my body this size ... although when I'm small ... it's also a struggle ...."

Leah was about to respond when a girl in front of them turned and gasped, although the gasp seemed "played up" as if her turning around was very much scripted and planned.

"Omigod it IS you ... you're ShrinkGirl!!" the girl chuckled, looking as star struck as some of the others had. The girl looked to be about 15 and was with a group of her friends who had a similar reaction. Lexi again waved sheepishly, but Leah seemed a bit more upset at the intrusion.

"Hey, can't my friend live her life?" Leah snapped, causing the girls to nod their heads obediently and slowly quiet down their excitement. Lexi had to chuckle at least a LITTLE bit as the line slowly advanced.

"You think you were a bit harsh on them?" Lexi asked.

"Maybe but ... I don't know ..." Leah sighed, "guess I'm stressed myself..."

"Work been tough?" Lexi asked as the line progressed forward at a brisk pace, "I know you said this was your big summer fashion rush..."

"Even more than that --" Leah said, seeming suddenly a lot more excitable, "Sally wants me to start like ... curating the clothes we order for the shop ... kind of like a 'staff picks' thing ..."

"Really?" Lexi smiled, the conversation taking her mind and body off any unusual sensations she had been feeling, "So like, I could go in and buy something from the 'Leah collection'?"

"I mean, not exactly ... it's just ... Leah approved... I guess?" Leah answered in a bit of a confounded way. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be rambling about work right now ... especially after everything you've been going through"

"Lee, it's fine" Lexi said with a smile, "I need it ... for real ... I just want to feel like a normal girl again ..."

Right on cue, as Lexi said those words, a few skater boys in t-shirts passed by and whipped out their cell phones at just the right time to sneak Lexi into the background of their selfie, giving each other a high five as if they had just won some kind of award.

"Since when has NORMAL ever been your thing?" Leah said with a joking tone, "when has it been EITHER of our things? We're the goofy goobers damn it!"

"You got that from Spongebob..." Lexi smirked as the two ladies were just a couple spots away from ordering ice cream.

"Actually I got it from Mara ..." Leah sighed, "she kept humming that stupid song and now it's in my head..."

Lexi simply nodded, feeling a bit of an electric charge go through her as Lexi and Leah finally reached the counter. Try as she might, she just couldn't stop this burst of energy from striking her through the leg and up her torso. She HAD however somewhat mitigated the overall effects of her size burst.

"Hi uh ... " Leah started to order but then noticed Lexi had again shrunk, although not all the way. Her best friend of over 15 years was now standing at approximately the height they both were when they met, if not a bit less, standing at no more than 2 feet tall and failing to even reach Leah's waist. "One adult and ... one child..."

Lexi simply grumbled as Leah couldn't take her eyes off the reduced Lexi. She wasn't sure how but this somehow felt more humiliating than when she was the DnD action figure ... at least then she felt an odd sense of adoration from the guys at the card shop. This just made her feel foolish and like a little kid as Leah led her to their seats, a set of 3 metallic chairs surrounding a round table with an umbrella hoisted high in the air.

Lexi let out a grunt, climbing up on the chair and looking down in dismay.

"My feet don't even touch the ground!" Lexi sighed and sputtered.

"Awwww calm down, shorty..." Leah teased, sliding a navy blue cup of lemon gelato towards Lexi with a spoon already in it, "at least you're big enough to eat your ice cream!"

"Yeah for now ..." Lexi sighed, having to sit up a bit to see into the cup and gather up a scoop, "Th-Thanks again for buying..."

"Well, I was going to anyway ..." Leah said, "but then I thought, you probably left your wallet at home in your Barbie dream house"

"Leah c'mon!" Lexi groaned, although half laughing as she lapped up a scoop of the frosty treat.

"Hey you wanted me to treat you like a normal person, this is what normal people do ..." Leah giggled, "and hey, the people have stopped staring now..."

"They're staring MORE now..." Lexi sighed, rightfully pointing that out. Leah simply offered a nervous grin.

After a pause while the two girls enjoyed their dessert, Leah finally spoke up.

"So, Josh said Trevor wasn't around anywhere?" Leah asked

"Yeah ... and I'm really worried about him ..." Lexi sighed, her wrist shaking a bit as she tried to pull up another scoop.

"Oh shoot" Leah eeped, noticing the momentary tremble, "you're not about to shrink again, are you??"

"I don't ... think so ... no" Lexi said, "but I appreciate the attentiveness ... I'd rather not dive into a pool of lemon gelato ..."

"Actually that sounds kinda yummy..." Leah replied casually, sampling her raspberry gelato on a sleek white plastic spoon with a goofy grin across her face, "how great is gelato anyway?"

"So great!" Lexi smirked, pushing herself more forward on the chair to make sure she had the right angle to eat the gelato.

"Well more importantly..." Leah said, having been well aware of the attack earlier, "what exactly happened ... with the drones and everything?"

"It was such a mess..." Lexi sighed, yelping as she suddenly shot up in height, growing back to normal, but almost slipping out of her chair as she did so. She'd scoot back and continue eating while talking, "Mad Max had like ... my exact location..."

"So he's ... tracking you somehow?" Leah asked worriedly

"Honestly, I'm surprised he hadn't tried it sooner..." Lexi commented, "the mad doctor's been crazy quiet for a while ... and now ..."

"Now, he's just crazy" Leah responded with a smile, proud to have finished Lexi's comment, "...I know your humor by now, I'd like to think"

"Heh yeah ... but ... some other crazy stuff happened, Leah..." Lexi explained, "For one thing ... I shrank a car..."

"You shrank a car?" Leah asked, "You mean ... besides your own?"

"Yeah..." Lexi said, still in astonishment as she recalled the harrowing events, "I ... I saved this police officer from being killed ... I dove in front of the car and ... I don't know how but I ... I shrank it ... it was like ..."

"...the coolest thing I've ever heard!!" Leah exclaimed, suddenly sounding like one of the spunky fangirls herself. "Lexi, you're a fucking hero"

"Th-Thanks Leah but I ..." Lexi paused eating, her body still only for her to resume movement again, "...false alarm"

"But nothing" Leah said, "You saved someone's life ... and you shrank a car ... wait, yeah how DID you shrink a car?"

"I have no idea ..." Lexi said, looking worried, "I was only under the impression that I could shrink myself and occasionally other people..."

"Whoa ..." Leah gasped, suddenly deep in thought, "you think you could like ... shrink this entire ice cream stand and we could just ... take it with us?"

Lexi simply shot her best friend a comical glare that may as well have said "Are you being for real right now?" Leah herself shrugged and resumed eating her gelato.

"But yeah ... I ... really don't understand the extent of my powers ..." Lexi frowned, "and ... I mean, yeah ..."

"Well hey," Leah said, trying to adopt her best friends mindset and look on the bright side, "you saved the police officer, it sounds like you saved Krystal too from what I heard"

"I did, and she was awesome as well" Lexi said, again recounting the intense battle she had just been in, before stopping and chuckling "...although ... you should've seen the look on Roxie's face when I shrank her!"

Leah gasped and started laughing out loud, dropping her spoon and drawing further attention from some adjacent park goers. She finally settled down before leaning in to talk quieter to Lexi

"You shrank Roxie?" Leah repeating, her laughter still evident as she tried desperately to hold it in "..and you didn't get pictures?"

"I would if I could have ..." Lexi chuckled, knowing that even if she somehow grew up to never defeat Roxie she'd always have that one triumphant moment "...she grew back super quick ... it seems like even the people I shrink also grow back ... eventually..."

Leah shrugged as if she understood this science perfectly while taking another hearty scoop of gelato, leaving nothing save for a dribbling drip of pink, "Guess that's why you left Chris tiny at the card shop..."

"Heh yeah ..." Lexi replied, at first retaining her smile but it slowly faded over time as she thought about something else, "Hey, Leah?"

"Yeah, Lex?" Leah asked, making sure to stay attentive as it seemed Lexi had something more heartfelt on her mind.

"You know? How I keep shrinking?" Lexi asked, to which Leah nodded, "what if I ... what if I couldn't grow back?"

"Lex don't say that..." Leah frowned.

Sure, the girls had often joked about life as fairies or being shrunk as kids but it was all make believe and even in those concocted storylines, they'd always end up being their normal selves again.

"I'm ... I'm not saying it's super possible..." Lexi said, while truthfully not knowing the answer, "but it IS possible ... what if I was ... you know? Stuck tiny? Would we still be best friends?"

"Lex, of COURSE we'd still be best friends..." Leah said sincerely, "I've got your back no matter what ..."

"Yeah?" Lexi said with a nod and a half smile, "I believe you of course, it's just ..."

"I mean ... things would have to change a LITTLE bit I suppose..." Leah teased, getting more and more into the nuances of thinking about the scenario in question, "couldn't really play basketball anymore ... not super fair to you ..."

"Well we ..."

"Whenever you asked me for a ride, you'd always have to say 'can I have a lift'? and then we laugh and laugh even though it's a played out joke..." Leah continued

"Yeah yeah..." Lexi sighed

"And you'd have to call me Supreme Overlord Leah for all times, that's non-negotiable..." Leah chuckled "AND..."

"Okay okay!" Lexi groaned, no longer enjoying the joke, "I'm serious Lee..."

"I am too ... you know that I love you Lex..." Leah said, "Now eat your gelato before it gets all goopy..."

"Okay okay..." Lexi giggled, about to do just that before her body began to have other ideas, "...shit. shit, Leah it's happening, move the cup, please! Hurry!"

Leah was just quick enough to swipe the gelato cup back a bit as Lexi leaned forward and shrank onto the table, now sitting down on the napkin that had been in front of the gelato cup.

"Thanks Lee... that was close..." Lexi squeaked, only a few inches tall again and using the napkin as a bit of a beach blanket.

"No problem, Lex" Leah said proudly, "like I said -- nothing bad happens to my --"

Just then, the red haired lusty elf known as Mara slid by, quick to snag Lexi's former seat as she hungrily eyed the half eaten gelato in the cup.

"Mara wai --!!" Lexi squeaked but it was too late. At her current position relative to Mara's she soon found herself smooshed below the woman's ample bosom as she scooted in closer to Leah.

"Is this Lexi's?" Mara asked, pointing down to the gelato cup, "do you think she would mind if I had a bite?"

"Ummmmm.....?" Leah gulped nervosly, already knowing exactly where Lexi was. "I don't think she would ... but ..."

"Hmm?" Mara asked, a bit naive still as she looked side to side, Lexi the victim of the increasing pressure as she squeaked out in pain, "...is there something on my face?"

"N-No ... not your face ..." Leah sighed, turning bright red, "You just boob smushed Lexi..."

"I what?" Mara eeped before scooting back, only to see the tiny Lexi crawling out from under the elf's large breasts acting like a bug that had been stepped on.

"My back...." Lexi squeaked, perhaps playing it up a LITTLE bit for sympathy. The impact wasn't a pleasant one but between the softness of Mara's flesh and the extra cushioning of the bra, she had just felt smothered for several seconds.

"Oh shoot, luv... what were you doing down there?" Mara frowned, before looking down at her own boobs with disapproval "...yknow someday I'm going to kill someone with these things..."

"You almost did ..." Lexi squeaked, straining to stand back up and somehow salvage this moment, "wh-what uh ... what brings you here anyway?"

"Oh, I just applied to work here!" Mara answered enthusiastically, speaking down towards her tiny friend

"Oh nice ... but aren't they only open for like another month before they close for the season?" Leah asked

"Why do you think I applied?" Mara said with a shrug, "this is their busiest season and they're desperate for help"

"So you got the job?" Leah asked

"Oh yeah no ..." Mara shrugged, "I asked for a free sample ..."

"Well that's not so bad ..." Leah started

"... of all 54 flavors in one cup" Mara continued, prompting both Leah and Lexi to let out an agreeable "ah...."

"You sure you're okay?" Leah asked Lexi again as the tiny woman slowly regained composure.

"Just my pride..." Lexi squeaked shyly

"Soooo what were you two doing out here?" Mara asked, "and why is Lexi super tiny? I guess I should be used to that second part by now though"

Lexi sighed as she attempted to explain, "We really need to get into Aztek Parts to talk to Dr. Hilfmann but ... he's gone"

"What do you mean? Where did he go?" Mara asked

"Nobody's sure ..." Leah sighed, "and he's not answering phone calls either ..."

"There MIGHT be something in that lab that could stabilize me ... but even then ... I'd have no idea where to begin ..." Lexi lamented

"Well Josh would know..." Leah said

"True" Lexi replied, "but we'd still need to find a way in ... awww what am I saying? That's breaking and entering ... we can't do that"

"Well you can't go on this way, Lex" Leah frowned, "in the last hour you've been normal height, half height and tiny height"

"Half height, what was that like?" Mara asked curiously

"Omigosh it was so cute ..." Leah smirked, getting distracted as she began to explain it to Mara, all the while frustrating Lexi further.

"Hey hey! C'mon! Let's focus!" Lexi squeaked

"Right right ...." Leah sighed

"If only you knew someone..." Mara smirked coyly, "with teleporting powers ..."

Lexi and Leah blinked for a second before almost feeling stupid for forgetting that.

"Ohhhh yeah...." Lexi said with a bit of a smirk.

"And if that doesn't work, Mara can just smash the door in with her boobs" Leah joked, eliciting a giggle from all 3 girls.

"This feels so wrong ..." a distraught Lexi whimpered from the backseat of Leah's Toyota as the group ; now accompanied by Josh pull up to the curb of Aztek Parts and More. The building is still dark and the CLOSED sign is still plastered over the front door, although there is ONE notable change. There's now a dark blue car parked where there wasn't one before.

"You wanna keep shrinking and growing all the time?" Leah asked, trying to show her best friend some tough love, as if she had ever been in such a situation before herself.

"I know ... no... not really..." Lexi frowned, rubbing her hand a bit to calm her nerves. She wasn't sure at this point what was causing her "size spasms" but she figured keeping a calm head could only help things as Josh gave her a supportive look, sitting next to her.

"Don't worry Lex, we'll figure this out" he said sincerely as Leah slowly stopped the car.

"Alright Mara... you're up" Leah said, unlocking the doors with a hefty click. Mara gave an acknowledging nod, although Leah would prompt her to stop before fully making it out of the vehicle, "hold on ... I have to know ... how DO these teleportation powers work? Like do you just ... think about it and you poof to China or something?"

"It's uh ... kinda situational?" Mara answered, not seeming sure herself, "and fairly limited too ... oh and a couple times I poofed without my clothes so ... look away if you're not into that kind of thing..."

"Pretty sure at least 2 of the 3 of us are..." Leah sighed with a chuckle, resting her head on the steering wheel, "we know LEXI is, at least!"

"Can we just ... ugh??" Lexi sighed, looking flustered as she just peered down at the floor of the back seat.

The 3 remaining occupants of Leah's car would watch as Mara, the helpful bubbly but not very stealthy young elf stepped up to the door, leaned into it a bit and then just stood there for a moment. They watched as she pulled on the handle and saw the door, to their surprise, open right up.

"Oh, she's good..." Josh remarked.

Mara gave the rest of her friends a dopey shrug before stepping back up to the car.

"It's uh ... it's open" Mara said, very matter of factly.

"It ... shouldn't be ..." Lexi said, sounding a bit worried. "Unless Trevor's back ..."

It wasn't until this point that Lexi finally noticed the dark blue car. She wasn't 100% positive but it looked familiar ... she could swear seeing a similar kind parked outside the Shrink Shack and again at the very same Aztek store one day when she came by to see Mr. Hilfmann. Something about this didn't sit well but at least Lexi could take some solace in the fact that they weren't technically breaking and entering if the door was open.

Lexi peered over to see Josh making a call.

"What are you doing?" she asked

"Calling Trevor again ..." Josh replied, "...still no answer. So I'm not sure he's back from ... whereever he went...."

"Ugh, I just hope he's okay ..." Lexi groaned, her head in her hands.

"I hope YOU'RE okay..." Leah said supportively, "I get that you want to help him but ... you gotta take care of you first ..."

Lexi nodded but still felt a pit in her stomach. Now wasn't the time to discuss what was on her mind though. She followed Josh and Leah as they made their way out of the car and up to the entrance of the storefront, very carefully opening it only enough to slip through and quietly sliding it shut.

The store was empty and eerily quiet -- only dull traces of flourescent light flickered to fill in some of the otherwise darkened area. Even the glass cases that held various laptops and computer components were dim, if not off entirely. It was almost as if the store hadn't been in business for weeks.

"I don't like this ..." Lexi whispered to Leah who was beside her.

Josh took a cautious step forward, each minute movement seeming to make some sort of noise even as he tread carefully. Finally, when he had stopped the whole group also took note of a very slight sound. It almost sounded like the pitter patter of feet across a field of plastic. It, in fact sounded like somebody typing.

Rather than talking aloud and further exposing themselves, Josh gave the ladies a signal to follow him as they crouched a bit and slid behind the counter.

Leah peeked over at Lexi, not wanting to talk but instead mimed using her hands, first pointing to the door that seperated them from where Trevor's workshop would be and then taking both her hands, holding them a fair distance apart and then compressing them, before pointing to Lexi and then back at the door. Lexi nodded, although she didn't look super confident. Still, it was perhaps their only chance to be stealthy and see what was going on.

Leah leaned down a bit more, as the gang were all down pretty close to the floor, since a picture window behind the counter could potentially get them spotted if there was indeed an intruder on the other side of said door. Leah carefully cracked the door open enough so that Lexi, once tiny, could slip inside.

Lexi took a deep breath and found it surprisingly easy to shrink this time, although her main worry now was if she could grow back. For the most part, it seemed like she could trigger shrinking if she NEEDED to, but it also occurred at times she didn't want to and growing didn't always seem to happen on its own.

For now though, Lexi scampered through the slight opening provided and kept her back pressed to the dark concrete wall as she slid very carefully with each foot taking a small stride towards the threshold which would open up into the laboratory of Trevor Hilfmann. Without even needing to get much closer, Lexi could hear the sound of keystrokes getting louder among other more conspicuous noises. Somebody was definitely inside but Lexi hesitated to call out Trevor's name, especially with no evidence of his car or exact whereabouts.

Just outside the door, Leah gave Mara a worried look and wanted to give the red haired elf similar instructions to teleport and help Lexi without verbally communicating as much. This was admittedly harder to do but Leah tried anyway, pointing to Mara, then pointing to the door again. She then held both her hands by her mouth and mouthed a "poof" with a bursting motion to simulate vanishing.

Mara nodded and then took a single stick of gum out of her pocket, holding it out to Leah as if she were about to put a dollar bill in her hand. Leah would've facepalmed if not for the sound it would make.

The tiny stealthy Lexi continued to scoot herself closer to the laboratory, not quite sure what she would see but she did indeed make out a large (well everybody was large to her at the moment) female figure who was only slightly obscured by the darkness. She wasn't able to completely make out the face despite a flickering computer screen which illuminated it but she swore the girl looked a lot like Aeris ... the digital security expert Trevor had recently hired.

"...I knew there was something about her I didn't like ..." Lexi thought to herself before carefully scampering back towards the door.

In her haste, Lexi wasn't careful enough to avoid a scrap of plastic, a wayward 'A' key from a busted keyboard that found itself among the strewn about scrap that usually littered the ground in this back hallway. Normally this wouldn't be a factor but it certainly was an audible noise. Then again, it was completely possible that the sneaky young woman who was using one of Trevor's computers wouldn't notice such a miniscule noise when on a mission of her own. If Lexi were lucky, the woman in the office wouldn't notice the tiny one at all.

But then again, luck was never Lexi's thing...

Lexi froze as a small pinlight flashed on her, the result of a penlight being pointed at her by none other than the blue haired hacker herself, Aeris. The resulting shock caused Lexi to snap out of her size as she warped back to normal, looking up and gulping as she lay on the ground.

"Just so you know ..." the mechanically cold voice proclaimed, her voice practically echoing off the concrete, "...you're all about as stealth-like as a clydesdale..."

"What IS a clydesdale anyhow?" an inquisitive Mara would ask, entering slowly and stepping over Lexi on the ground. Lexi simply facepalmed as Leah and Josh walked in, both concerned to confront the hacker.

____________________

"Ah yes .... careful ... careful ... and ... here we are!" the snarky mad scientist chortled softly as he watched his drone make its way very carefully down a long ventilation shaft that couldn't have been much wider than the drone itself.

Like a helicopter depositing its cargo, the drone detached its underside and left in its wake a purple car before taking off slowly back up the tube.

Giovanni watched in astonishment as Max simply turned to tout his latest achievement.

"You see? It is with YOUR help, Dr. Giovanni ..." Max explained, "that this was possible! I was able to trace the location of this car ... this ... MONSTROSITY! and FINALLY capture..."

"Um.. Doctor?" Giovanni asked, a bit concerned as he watched an angry looking blonde woman emerge from the vehicle

"Not now, Giovanni, you will have your chance..." Dr. Max chuckled, "You know I like to be doing the gloating from time to time..."

"Uh... gloat away..." Giovanni said, a bit of a headache creeping up on him which prevented any further protest from the exhausted scientist.

"As I was saying ... I have already succeeded in making the roads safer by taking this THING off of them and NOW I have finally seized the miniscule menace ... my tiny adversary... and I am betting she STILL has some wisecracks up her sleeve, no?? So tell me then, Miss Alexis ... what do you have to say for your --?"

Max would turn swiftly to view the car and it's now expelled passenger in the containment chamber only to be met with the derisive glare by the young woman formerly known as Rachel Rutschmann.

"...no... no no no... this cannot be!" Max exclaimed, gesturing towards Sugar Rush and looking at Giovanni with a pouty look, "THIS is not the SHRINKING GIRL!"

"...that's what I was trying to tell you, Max..." Giovanni sighed.

Max grabbed hold of what appeared to be a small radio, which allowed him to inject his voice into the small metallic holding chamber for those unfortunate enough to hear it.

"You are NOT the ShrinkGirl ... and yet you are still ... a shrunk GIRL..." Max announced, his rousing speech not exactly rehearsed to that point.

"And you're the science guy here?" Sugar Rush grunted. At first she had been scared (and still was) but the fact that the giant so-called genius couldn't even tell her apart from Lexi had her a bit less frightened of the potential threat he posed, even as her eyes darted every which way to see a possible weakness in the containment chamber.

Giovanni had a curious peer around Dr. Max's shoulder, not focusing on the girl but rather the car. A shiny purple vehicle with odd jagged shapes to its design that one wouldn't normally see from cars of THIS dimension.

"Okay ... okay ..." Max exhaled, on his own train of thought as he walked and talked in run-on sentences, "so this is not the main target ... but we still have the car ... "

"Does he always talk to himself?" Rush interjected rudely, still able to hear him as he had left the radio on.

"I am not TALKING to you ... little ... blonde robot girl..." Max sputtered, before turning off the radio and turning to Giovanni so that he would have the "honor" of hearing the ramble.

"Um... Max... that car ... do you know a lot about it?" Giovanni asked

"I only know it is the vehicle of that ShrinkGirl and ..." Max explained, shortly thereafter cut off by Giovanni.

"Yeah ... I ... I recognize it ... or at least ... the design of it..." Dr. Giovanni said. "As you know ... I spent a great deal of time in another version of this same city ... while there, I encountered another ... Alexis Cole... who went by ShrinkGirl ... she helped me when my first dimensional machine went awry ... saved me from some crystal beasts..."

"Crystal ... beasts?" Max asked, a bit intrigued

"That was back then ..." Giovanni sighed, "she warned me not to try it again ... but of course, I'm a stubborn scientist ... and I ended up eventually warping back here to this version of Minitropolis ... with very limited resources or capability to continue my research ..."

"Uh-huh...." Dr Max said, "No offense Giovanni but you have already told me most of these things before ... outside of the crystal beasts..."

"Well, as you remember you saved me from one of them that night you found me in the forest ..." Dr. Giovanni said, "I was somehow able to open the rift to that city again ..."

"And which city is this?" Dr. Max asked

"I don't know its exact name ... but this horrible knight in black armor came out the portal at the same time ... that's when I fled my lab ... but that vehicle ... I swear it bears a lot of the same stylings as what I saw in the brief glimpse I had inside that portal ... and ... Max, what are you doing?"

"Hmm? Oh nothing..." Max said with a strong hint of false innocence in his tone. On his phone he was texting himself.

"Note to self : run ShrinkGirl Simulator new version later with 'Crystal Beasts'"

_____________

The tense standoff in Aztek's back room was just getting started as the snarky Aeris stood before Lexi, Mara, Leah and Josh who cautiously slid themselves into the laboratory. A quick cursory glance showed that everything was still where it had been. The only thing that had been touched was literally the desktop computer that Aeris had comandeered for the time being.

What the quartet didn't know is that Aeris had a round puck like device in her hand that she had taken from under the desk. She discreetly slipped it into the pocket of her leather pants as she never broke eye contact with the trepidatious Lexi.

"I know you ... you're that digital security chick ..." Lexi said, "How did you even get in here?"

"There's a key under the welcome mat" Aeris chirped back

"Wait really?" Lexi asked

"No not really!" Aeris chuckled, "Seriously, ... you're a bit too naive sometimes to be a superhero, Lexi ... or should I say ... ShrinkGirl?"

"So is this part of your security service too? A free break in with every --??" Lexi began the heroic banter right on schedule but her body wouldn't allow her to finish it as she shrank instead, causing Aeris to inject just a small dose of laughter into the situation.

"I'm sorry, could you ... speak up hon?" Aeris asked, while giving the others a wry look, "Look, I'm not gonna lie... is this a tad awkward? Yes... is this how I saw this going? No ..."

"Then why are you --?" Lexi squeaked, before realizing how ridiculous she looked. She groaned and gave Leah a reluctant look upwards. Always happy to 'lend a hand', Leah did so and picked up her best friend, giving her a platform from which to speak on, "Why are you here?"

Aeris tilted her head and paused. She was almost tempted to answer the question but rather her mind drifted as she connected some dots from earlier in that week.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Aeris asked smugly, sizing up her diminuitive cohort, "You were the waitress at the Shrink Shack?"

"The ... the what?" Lexi eeped, before looking back at Leah, "Uh... think I'm about to grow again, so you may wanna..."

Leah nodded as she hastily placed Lexi back down and watched her shoot up like a weed, back to 5 foot 4, her head spinning like a top after yet another sudden size change.

"Huh, that would explain quite a bit..." Aeris said, muttering just a bit but still loud enough for the others to hear. "Still, it's interesting seeing it in person..."

"Will you start making sense, please?" Lexi said, taking a defiant step forward.

"You're the one who's the anomaly here, darling..." Aeris said, in a fairly condescending tone. "Everybody in the city seems to want their hands on you in one way or another ..."

"Yeah ... tell me something I don't know ..." Lexi replied, in a surprisingly glum tone. Sure it was flattering to be "valued" by some or even be seen as a hero by others, but between that and her current ordeal, the pressure was becoming utterly flattening towards her.


"Look ... I can't pretend to know what you're going through ..." Aeris said, "nobody can seem to explain it ... even your science guy Dr. Hilfmann and ... he knows his stuff admittedly..."

"Where is he? What did you do to him?" Lexi sneered a bit, a noticable spark in her hair that seemed to travel down a strand like a tiny current.

"I couldn't tell you ..." Aeris said with a very frank shrug, "Doc is off the grid and has been since earlier today ... no doubt in conjunction with that drone attack ... say you were involved in that too, right?"

"I wasn't INVOLVED in it..." Lexi eeped, her anger causing her to shrink again before springing right back up, as she now bore an exhausted look on her face, "...look I just ... want my life back ... I don't want crazy robots following me... I don't want to not know what size I'll wake up in the morning at ..."

Even Aeris bore a small frown of support for the sincere superheroine.

"Unfortunately Alexis ... that's the life you've fallen into... whether you chose it or not..." Aeris said with a nod, her hands being kept pretty close to her vest, literally the whole time as she plotted an escape route in case things went south. "Although I will say, based on what I know about Project Delta, and how secretive Enormo Enterprises IS about their projects ... I still find it highly improbable that you were selected to be in the experiment..."

After another long and seemingly endlessly awkward pause, Lexi threw her hands down in disgust, repeating the alibi that pretty much summed up her whole existence as ShrinkGirl to this point.

"...I thought it was a changing room" Lexi sighed

"Huh. Not quite the noble origins I suspected but ... good to know..." Aeris said in a mechanical manner as she seized a small PDA (seriously, people still use those) and began to tap on it, as if adding notes to something.

"Anything else I can give you to help author my memoirs?" Lexi asked sarcastically as her friends stood behind her, offering a wall of resistance if needed.

"Oh I have plenty of questions, don't get me wrong ... and my boss does too... perhaps you've heard of him ... Dr. Scott Travis....?" Aeris said

"I ... I gotta be honest with you ... I got too many doctors in my life as it is right now,..." Lexi groaned

"Oh I've heard of him!" Josh said, jumping in. "He's behind that new CyberTek company that's starting up..."

"Correction. We've already STARTED UP." Aeris said with a smirk, "and we're well on our way to some REALLY impressive tech ... but that's neither here nor there"

"So is that what this is about?" Lexi asked "You come here to steal more of Trevor's technology?"

"If I had wanted to do that, I'd do it already" Aeris said, "But no. Just like everyone else, I want to learn more about the Delta Project ... otherwise known as YOU. I want to know what makes you tick, why you can do what you do and how you fared so much better than the other subjects..."

"Other ... subjects?" Lexi asked, curiously.

"Oh, you really didn't know, did you?" Aeris asked, "not surprising ... I will say, meeting you in person has been both intriguing and ... disappointing"

"I'm ... sorry?" Lexi responded, a bit confused herself.

"Well it's nice to put a face to the name" Aeris said, matter of factly as usual as she backed away from the computer she had mostly been facing the whole time. "and from how I've seen you characterized on the news and all, I never thought you to be the science type or even someone who could design all those gadgets you have ... hell, your car alone is a mechanical marvel ... that had to have been a custom made..."

"Oh that's a fun story!" Josh interjected, "She got it from another dimension but I made the modifications to make it ..."

Leah tapped Josh on the shoulder as if to get him to cool his jets.

"Oh. Sorry ... it's just ... she asked about it..." Josh shrugged

"Point being... what you can do is remarkable..." Aeris said, a tone of reluctant applause in her voice before she twisted the verbal knife, "You however ... are not"

"Uh... and what's that suppose to mean?" Lexi asked, brow now furrowed with anger

"Careful there, short stack... don't blow that pretty lid of yours again or ... we've all seen what happens ..." Aeris said with a bit of an added tease in her voice. "All I mean is ... you wear a pretty set of purple tights ... you drive around in some super car ... to this point you've made yourself look VERY convincing as a hero, I'll give you that. But most, if not everything you have is a happy accident ... I've had to work myself up to be where I am..."

"And where's that? A criminal?" Lexi sneered

"I'll admit ... there were some shady days..." Aeris shrugged, "truth be told, I'm still collected paychecks from the chaos crew while I attempt to go legitimate with CyberTek"

"So you're Chaos Crew ... figures..." Lexi growled

"FORMER Chaos Crew .. okay so maybe not so former but on my way out ... two weeks notice sort of thing?? It's a gray area ..." Aeris shrugged, "all I know is, I want to be on the winning side when the shit goes down"

"And what shit would that be?" Lexi asked

"Look ... Alexis ... you seem nice, you do..." Aeris said, even while her tone remained cold. Truth be told, she was focusing more on her next step than the one she was currently on, "At one point I would've asked you to come to CyberTek. I know my boss would love to study you ... heck, he'd much prefer that than what we've had to do to try and comandeer your little friend Rachel Rutschmann"

"The fuck are you talking about?" Lexi lurched forward a bit, only to be stopped by a tazer that Aeris quickly reached for, as it sparked painfully close to her face.

Aeris' reflexes were indeed amazing as she showed restraint to not just jab the sparking weapon into Lexi's body despite their close proximity.

"One step more and who knows what this'll do to you..." Aeris said with a smirk, "I've studied enough of Trevor and Travis' work to know that electric polarity plays some key role in whatever you got going on there ..."

Lexi reluctantly yieled but still wanted answers.

"So what about Rachel? Why do you want her?" Lexi asked

"Lexi ... Lexi Lexi Lexi ..." Aeris said with a half smile and another of her indifferent shrugs for good measure, "Do you think you were or will be the only 'ShrinkGirl' there ever is? There were test subjects before you at Enormo ... it was covered up ... they ... well, let's just say they didn't react as well as you did. Similarly, there will be cases AFTER you. Now that the science community at large has seen that what you ARE is possible, it's never going to stop..."

Lexi sighed and just continued to listen with ever increasing dread at that statement.

"Now, it's fairly common knowledge that Rachel Rutschmann was not the result of an Enormo Experiment but rather ... the offspring of one ..." Aeris stated, "in laymans terms... you shrunk her ... but if we could somehow study how you did that and reverse engineer it ..."

"...you want to make more ShrinkGirls..." Lexi said, finally realizing the connection.

"It's not all about you, but yes ..." Aeris said, hand on her hip as she had the tazer in hand but currently held it at a greater distance. "And whether it's CyberTek or Enormo or some other group or groups ... SOMEBODY is going to crack the code. Trevor is the only one who's not on either side that seems to know a thing or two about this and you really SHOULD look into his files on the Delta Project ... oh wait you can't ... I stole them..."

"You bitch --!!" Lexi finally flinched and pushed forward as her emotions betrayed her.

Despite Leah briefly trying to hold the lunging brunette back, her attempts were fruitless as Aeris predictably whipped the overly eager ShrinkGirl with her tazer on a fairly high setting causing her to wince and fall to the ground in pain.

"LEXI!!" Leah screamed, watching her best friends body having a severe reaction as she sparked and crackled, before shrinking to the ground and then growing again, only to shrink some more. Leah stood and looked back at the others shaking her head. "I'm... I'm afraid to even touch her while she's like this... I ... I don't know what to do ..."

"Well I do!" Aeris smirked, offering the crew a mocking salute, "Would love to say it's a pleasure but ..."

Without even finishing that sentence, Aeris dodged and weaved around Leah who was on her knees, too distraught to even be an obstacle. Josh tried to tackle the incoming Agent of Chaos but he was simply juked to the left like a ragdoll defender.

Mara would look the least ready for an offensive manuever but surprisingly she swung her fist hard and connected with Aeris' jaw, staggering the young woman for just a moment. Even Aeris had to pause as she rubbed her cheek.

"Huh. That was a lucky shot" Aeris winced

"Yeah I get that a lot..." Mara giggled but the giggles wouldn't last long as Aeris would jab the bubbly elf girl with the tazer as well before slipping out the front door and making a beeline for her getaway vehicle.

The trio of Lexi's friends, even the hobbled Mara would've made an effort to catch up but they were too concerned with Lexi who lay on the ground, flinching and crying as she continued changing sizes involuntarily.

"Lexi....LEXI!!" Leah cried, "Please... stay with us!"

______________________

Dr. Giovanni Guillardo found himself in the deep dark lab underneath Enormo's main operating floors. It was there his portal inducer was in semi-functional condition after having produced a fairly encouraging first test. At the moment though, the Doctor found himself more fascinated with the purple car of Quartzarian origin (even if he didn't know the name of the dimension)

Even more curious was the tiny blonde woman with the metallic armor on. Feeling stared at, Sugar Rush simply sneered at the inquisitive scientist.

"What do YOU want, old man?" Rush squeaked, blasting the clear sleek glass with what appeared to be powdered sugar. It was actually a fairly acidic compound but it did little to erode the material which kept her trapped with only a toy sized vehicle that she could potentially make a getaway with if there were anywhere to possibly drive it to.

While sympathetic to the young woman's plight, Giovanni knew bette than to mess with what was foreign technology and a very angry (understandably so) woman with an arm cannon. Even if she was figurine sized, he knew better than to poke the bear, so to speak.

Instead he noticed some modules on the side of the containment chamber. They were monitoring energy levels almost like a heart rate, with momentary spikes being shown now and then.

Giovanni's main specialty was in interdimensional study and entropic science (not the easiest field to break into) but he had studied up on Max's "Project Delta" and knew a bit of the science behind the size manipulation that his company had worked on. He could see some of the same energy signatures emerging from the shrunken woman as that of Lexi when Dr. Max had been trying to track her.

Curious, the elder Doctor typed in some parameters on the adjacent keyboard and hit ENTER, beginning a spectral energy scan analysis.

A loud stirring sound startled Sugar Rush who looked up with a bit of dread as the metallic floor underneath her gave off a loud tremor and she was nearly knocked off her feet. She looked out at the "giant doctor" with a sense of worry.

"H-Hey ... c'mon Gramps... I was only kidding around..." Rush squeaked, looking around as a green laser started to come down on her as if she were in a giant copying machine. She feared for her life momentarily thinking maybe she was about to be trash compacted but it only turned out to be a scanning laser that passed up and down before fading away. It was still an unsettling moment to say the least.

While Rush shook herself off from the harrowing experience, Dr. Giovanni took careful note of the results of the scan, finding the energy readings eerily similar to something else he had encountered. It was both a good sign and a bit troubling and definitely worth reporting to Doctor Max.

With that, Giovanni was off to find his colleague, while Rush pensively paced the prison, looking for any sign of escape.

_______________

It was nearly closing time at Kekse Cookies as a weary Justin Wright was wrapping up for the day. It hadn't been a terribly trying shift, but there's only so much he could get into working at a cookie shop. It wasn't exactly where he saw himself, but his dad was able to get him the job pretty easily and a summer job was a summer job.

It was just about time to lock up when Justin heard a strange noise coming from behind the kitchen. He expected to find their head chef (or one of them) Melissa in the back room but it was empty. The clattering seemed to be emanating from somewhere deeper in the building. Perhaps the basement?

Hearing more strange creaking and then a loud CRASH, Justin simply had to make sure everything was okay. He turned back briefly to make sure no customers were in the main lobby before peeking his head in the basement, seeing only a silhoutte and a large chunk of mangled machinery.

"Hey!" Justin said, instantly regretting it as the man delivering the machinery gave him an annoyed look.

Rather than continue the confrontation though, the man bolted through a back door that wasn't suppose to be accessible to the public. Justin made his way slowly down the stairs, not sure what he would find, walking around the wrecked machinery and peeking out the door to see the man was already gone, speeding off in a 1980's Fiero.

Justin let out an exhausted sigh and then peered back at what was dumped off.

If this were a break-in, he wasn't sure what the criminal was trying to steal and instead of stealing, he had actually put something into the storage closet, or at least would have, had he not been caught.

Justin briefly studied the machinery, finding it too eerily familiar to technology he had seen as concept sketches on his dad's desk. He had no doubt it was Enormo Enterprises tech, even in its current ruined state. It was a drone that was a little over the size of a car's engine block and it was in pieces. Why would somebody try to stash it there though?

On the other end of a phone call, the same exact question was being postulated, albeit in a much less friendly manner.

"Why the hell would you try to stash it there?!" an irate Doctor Maximillian shouted to the man on the phone piloting his Fiero at a high speed as he escaped the campus. "And why would you do so during BUSINESS HOURS?!"

"I didn't know the shop was still open ..." the gangly man replied. He was a fairly generic looking thug in a white tank top with a tan complexion and greasy black hair. He went by the name of Skaggs. He wasn't the best and brightest of the Chaos Crew but beggars can't be choosers.

"It's 5 in the afternoon, of COURSE the shop is still being open! At least for one more hour!" Dr. Max shouted before realizing his calculations had been just a bit off in this case, "...okay so it's almost 6 o clock but you see my point ... you were entrusted to capture the evidence from the Mini Troop and store it somewhere safe and what do you DO?! You put it in the back room of my cookie shop?!"

"Yeah Doc ... I had to wonder why DO you have your own cookie shop anyway?" Skaggs asked, "seems like you have your hand in too many cookie jars ... heh"

"Now is not the time to be making the joke!" Max sighed, his already stress filled head filling with more thoughts, "Look ... did anybody see you?"

"There was a boy ..." Skaggs reported

Max let out a heavy sigh, fearing what had to be done.

"Do you ... remember anything about him?" Max asked

"Not really ... was just a ... young guy ... brown hair ..." Skaggs replied, vaguely remembering the man's appearance, "nothing too crazy ... had a name tag on ... think it was Jason or ... Joseph or ..."

"...Justin." Max groaned "...great. Look ... that kid is compromised now ... he's seen too much..."

"Should I uh ... take care of it?" Skaggs asked.

"Nein..." Max replied

"Nine?"

"...no" Max sighed. He was so tired of dealing with imbeciles "Just ... don't worry about it. I'll take care of it as soon as ..."

Just then the Doctor was interuppted by an urgent alarm going off.

"Ugh ... I've gotta go ... it's always something ... just ... stay clear of the situation and we'll figure something out..." Max said, closing his phone in haste to peer at the monitor.

There he saw what appeared to be a grid of the city. Like a radar he noticed a blipping dot getting further and further away.

"What in the hell?" the appalled doctor exclaimed, throwing up a monitor but only seeing darkness. "Oh ... he's not going to get away with this ..."

In a car speeding down the freeway sat Aeris, fairly proud of her achievement after disabling ShrinkGirl and making her getaway in her blue Saab. In the glove compartment was the tiny puck like device she snagged from the desk in Trevor's office. It was installed there some time ago to keep tabs on the doctor, his latest developments and any ideas he might've had involving ShrinkGirl.

In her pocket was a flash drive containing many important files she stole off Dr. Trevor Hilfmann's desktop. Files containing classified info on Project Delta, among other things. The flash drive alone would likely be worth quite the haul but she was still focused on finding the whereabouts of Rachel Rutschmann and hoped maybe some audio recorded on the surveillance device would illuminate more details.

Just then the cold calculated woman received a phone call, from Scott Travis.

"Aeris... are you okay?" Scott asked, "I've tried calling you 5 times now"

"I'm good" Aeris said confidently, unaware of the low hummed pitch emerging from her glove compartment as she spoke, "Just had a little run in with your friend Alexis Cole"

"Shit, what happened?" Scott asked in a panic

"I'll tell you more when I get back to the lab" Aeris said, "I've gotten all I can off Trevor Hilfmann ... I'm not sure where he disappeared to ... just hope that maniac Maximillian didn't get his hands on him or ..."

Suddenly the line went dead.

"Aeris? ... AERIS?!" Scott shouted, looking back to make sure nobody was nearby to hear his panicked shout.

The call had been terminated by a loud thunderous BOOM!!

Aeris had no time to react as the front side of her car ignited in a horrid burst of flames as she futilely tried to escape, but could only swerve her car into a guardrail, going tumbling off the main road down towards some trees, the car's frame now mangled as even the metal was beginning to give way.

Aeris gasped, out of breath, whimpering as she looked down, feeling numb from the waist down. She winced and gasped, looking up at the bright white sky as everything began to fade to black.

The atmosphere was sterile and vacant but seemingly endless. Whereever the frightened Alexis Cole looked appeared only glass. Glass walls that seemed to stretch impossibly high. She could never hope to scale such a thing even if she had the strength to attempt it. She tried taking a few deep cleansing breaths to calm her racing heart but nothing seemed to quell the anxiety. The unthinkable had happened.

Lexi was nearly micro size.

Appearing to most as no more than a speck, Lexi found herself inside a large petri dish now, its lid left omitted in case she found the strength to grow but that seemed unlikely. It was better this way though ... she knew her friends hadn't put her in there to be cruel but rather to protect her. There was so little of her left now, she had become an incredibly precious and finite resource. Any more shrinking and she'd likely enter into negative numbers.

The petri dish remained perched still and careully atop a microscope plate, which is where a larger than life eyeball peered down on the pitiful shrinking victim. The eyeball belonged to Josh who simply let out a discouraged sigh while he went back to his friends, Mara and Leah frowning and shaking his head.

The brief altercation with the sneaky CyberTek woman known as Aeris had resulted in what seemed to be an incurable condition for Lexi who shrank and shrank at one point becoming so small that even a common houseant would prove to be a formidable foe. She showed SOME signs of promise at one point, even sparking back as high as a whole 12 inches but it never seemed to sustain ; her size constantly rubber banding until she finally reached her currently impossibly small size.

Leah was speechless. Mara felt heartbroken and Josh, while also devastated paced about trying to think of a possible solution.

As Lexi lay lamenting confined inside her microscopic prison, she felt such strong resentment towards Aeris, for obvious reasons. She hoped the smug blue haired bitch was happy with what she had caused. She could only imagine the glee and satisfaction the thoughtless agent would've espoused had she been there to see Lexi's current predicament. There was no doubt Aeris was in a much better situation ...

___________


"Where IS she? Where is Aeris?" an irate Scott Travis asked, on the phone with the Mini Troop's very own Carl Scolex as the crafty CEO also had his own men and professors on the case to track her down.

It all happened so fast. One second, Aeris had been racing back to the office with possible evidence on Trevor Hilfmann, the Delta Project and ShrinkGirl herself, and then ... she was gone. A horrifying explosion and the sound of twisted metal were the only clues, however brief, that the worried Travis had on his side.

The police were on the scene, having been stretched extremely thin on this day -- a day that would be remembered for not one but two harrowing incidents. First the attack on the Coffee District, a handful of injured but thankfully none killed in the reckless attack, but now this. A car seen exploding off the side of a guard rail and sent careening into the woods.

"Scott ... I ..." Carl stuttered, not sure how to break the news

"What? What is it? What? Who did this? Where is she? I want answers!" Scott said, not in the best frame of mind to be conducting any conversation.

"I ... I have men and women looking into that ..." Carl said hesitantly

"What do you mean?! Is she not there?" Scott asked, before pondering the unthinkable, "is she...?"

"Well, that's just it ..." Carl said, "...we don't have a body ..."

"What do you mean don't have a body? Did you check the wreckage?!" Scott asked, watching local traffic cams and other video feeds for more information as the flames continued to billow out of the vehicle but at a much slower rate.

"When we got to the car ... she was gone, we have fire crews putting out the fire and search and rescue crews trying to find your missing agent..." Carl explained

"Well this is unacceptable ... I ...!!" Scott began before glancing down at his other phone. He suddenly changed his tone quite radically, "...I've gotta let you go"

A confused Officer Scolex listened as the voice turned to dialtone and the search continued on.

Scott looked down at his phone to only see a text message from an unknown number.

"SHE'S ALIVE"

Scott sighed with relief but then tried to trace the number back. It wouldn't be hard since it was one of his own.

"Hello?" Scott said, his voice a bit more hushed as he conducted this phone call a bit more privately.

There was static on the line before a deep voice emerged.

"She's alive."

"Yeah I understand that but ... h-how is she?" Scott asked

"Not good."

"What ... are your recommendations?" Scott sighed, not sure what to do next.

"If we even CAN get her to a hospital like this, I don't see how long she'll last ..." the man on the phone said, "there may be another way though ..."

"Not ..."

"Sir, its our only chance to not just get her back but have her at full capacity ... or ... at least close to it..." the man said

"This is a human being we're talking about!" Scott said with resentment

"She will die, Scott ..." the man said matter of factly, "or at the very least, she'll be gone physically and mentally ... paralyzed from the waist down ... we're still not sure how her brain function is... so far shows encouraging signs but these things change fast... so you need to make a decision ..."

Behind the man was Aeris, propped up on what looked like a gurney but with various tubes and wires hooked up to her. Some were IV, some were ... of unknown origin. Her pulse, while slow, remained steady. Her eyes were firmly closed, her face bloodied. Her extremities showed no signs of life, her fingers hanging there limply.

"...We need a decision, sir" the man said again.

"...do what you have to do" Scott said, sighing regretfully.

It seemed the men in the mysterious armored truck in the woods had already made the call anyhow as they got fast to work with an experimental procedure.

__________________

"I may have an idea ..." Josh said, after much time had gone by. Leah and Mara looked to the brown haired young man hopefully. "...but it's pretty experimental"

"This is ALL experimental..." Leah said with a nod, "I ... wouldn't even know where to begin so whatever we can do to help ..."

Mara nodded in silent support.

Josh went towards a set of drawers, trying to open them. Some of them he was able to but a few were locked from the outside prompting Josh to search for, and find a key under the cabinet in a tucked away floor tile that slid open.

"You've ... been here before, huh?" Leah said, noting how familiar Josh seemed with the setup and the hidden secrets.

"Once in a while..." Josh nodded, "I'm really grateful for Dr. Trevor and how he's taken me under his wing ... I just wish he were here right now ..."

"Yeah ... I hope he's okay ... still no answer from him?" Leah asked. Josh shook his head with a frown.

As Josh rifled through a bigger drawer, trying to find the device he was looking for, Mara hunched over the microscope and peered down to see Lexi's tiny body, barely.

"H-Hi Lexi..." Mara whimpered softly, knowing the micro girl could hear her even if her own voice would be too small to respond back. Mara watched as Lexi waved a hand up cutely. Mara backed away, looking almost sad, her emerald eyes showing a bit of shine as if she were beginning to cry.

"Mara, you okay?" Leah asked

"She ... she waved... to me..." Mara said, her voice sounding as though she were about to laugh even as the opposite were true, "she's ... she's freakin zero inches tall and she ... waved to me...like ...like I was her good pal"

"You ARE her good pal ..." Leah said, wrapping an arm around the sad red head.

"I know .. I just ... I ..." Mara frowned, a rare sign of sadness from the usually bubbly elf, "I can't imagine being that small and ... then ... just waving so cutely ... you should've seen her ... her tiny little arms ... it was ... ad-adorable ...."

Leah couldn't help but force a chuckle. Lexi was a trooper. Always had been.

She also wasn't going to be rude. Somebody says hi to you, you wave back ... whether you're micro sized or not. It's just common courtesy.

Josh finally found what he was looking for, holding what appeared to be a cylindrical black and silver cannon with a small suctioning syphon on the end of it.

"This was my idea ..." Josh said, stuttering nervously as if giving a presentation in front of a class, "...the idea I pitched to Trevor before everything went down... I was thinking maybe ... Lexi has taken on too much electrical energy, advancing her internal and external polarity beyond a point that is tolerable by any human body"

"C-Could you please repeat that again? I ... wasn't following..." Leah said, noting that Mara was again just peeking down at Lexi through the microscope, although not saying anything.

"So basically ... Lexi's body is holding too much 'charge' now ... literally... her powers seem to work based on some kind of electromagnetic field manipulation ..." Josh said, although he himself still wasn't too sure about it, only learning what he knew from studying alongside Trevor Hilfmann at times, "She's able to compress and expand matter using her brain waves ... it's like a thought into reality type of thing ... the problem is she has TOO much electrical energy stored up, especially after what just happened..."

"Uh-huh..." Leah nodded, believing to be following the science. She had paid SOME attention in Biology class after all and remembered that the brain was made up of neurons and those neurons gave off sparks.

"So basically ... and I'll admit this was a long shot even when I pitched it to Trevor..." Josh said, "this is a polarity reverser ... it's meant to remove excess electrical charge from an object that's giving off too much positronic energy... in laymans terms, it's basically an electrostatic vaccuum ... I believe some elements from this machine would be integrated into whatever cure Trevor was planning for Lexi ... perhaps nanites that reversed the process she underwent rather than accelerating it..."

"So ... we need to use THAT thing on Lexi?" Mara asked, jumping back into the conversation and pointing to the strange device.

"Sort of?" Josh replied, "it's ... really going to be hard to know if it works ..."

"Well we'll know it works if we can SEE her again..." Leah responded anxiously.

Josh nodded

"Well that's the other thing ... we can't exactly ... use this on her now..." Josh sighed, "it could suck her up like a particle at her current size..."

"and that's ... bad...." Mara said with a nod, truly not getting it before sighing, "yeah, that's bad ... I'm sorry ... I'm a bit of a dope sometimes"

"Stop it, you are not a dope" Leah said with a sigh, giving Mara another small hug. "We're all in this together"

Even Lexi, who was too small to audibly contribute to the discussion could hear every word from inside her petri dish. While she felt utterly helpless, she was beyond touched at how hard her friends were trying to help her. Even if she could grow back to a manageable but small size, she would almost settle for that because she felt like she were in good hands and she felt kind of dopey for ever doubting the steadfast loyal friends she had gotten to know over the years.

"Okay Lex..." Josh said reassuringly as his massive fingers encircled the petri dish like a monolith, grabbing it carefully and setting it down on the shiny black countertop, "just gonna move you VERY slowly there"

"So ... we need her to grow...?" Leah asked

"We need her to grow big time" Josh said with a nod, "...and even then, there's no promise this'll work ... but I just ... I can't use it when she's this small... I don't even know if I could use it in her REGULAR tiny state"

"So ... we .... just need her to uh ... grow bigger huh..." Leah said, a sense of despondence in her voice.

Lexi frowned, despite the fact that nobody could see it. She didn't blame Leah for her skepticism though. While she wasn't sure how long it had been, Lexi had felt like a car out of gas for the past while since Aeris gave her body that whirlwind of a zap that coursed through her. Still, if what Josh was saying was saying had been true and her size changes could be controlled through her mentality, perhaps "will" played a role in that will.

"We can do it!" Mara said out loud, with a sort of booming voice that gave the micro Lexi some hope. A tiny smile even crossed her face.

Lexi continued to watch in as if in a massive aquarium, observing her friends and seeing what they were potentially up to.

Finally it hit Leah like a bolt of inspiration.

"W-Wait ... I know what Lexi would want us to do ..." Leah said, a bit of shyness inflicting her voice, "It's going to sound kind of cheesy but she'd want us to uh ... cheer"

"Cheer?" Josh asked, "No offense, Leah but this isn't exactly a good time to be, well celebrating..."

While Lexi watched, she pressed her tiny hands against the glass, finding her best friend's solution cute if nothing else. It may or may not work but either way, Lexi felt a bit heartwarmed to even hear of the idea. It had been too long since she'd heard Leah's cheers, even if they could be a little goofy.

"W-Well ... Lexi always cheers US on ..." Leah said, pacing around the group as if to rally support. "Whether literally or metaphorically, she's ... she's always making us smile"

Josh nodded a bit, setting the device down on a nearby table as he also showed a small smile.

"Lexi's ... one of the coolest people I've ever met" Mara said shyly

"You don't have to say it like she's not here" Leah grinned, gesturing over to the petri dish, "she's very much alive and with us! Say hi Lexi!"

"H-Hi..." Lexi squeaked shyly. Nobody could hear it. The words were lost to the air around her, but she still bought in. She was smiling ear to ear, even if it was a smile that only she knew existed.

"We can't heeeear you!!" Mara said, cupping her hands around her mouth and shouting a bit. Leah gave her a sort of nudge. "What? Too much?"

"Yeah, just a bit too much" Leah said with a nervous smile, "...kinda sounds like you're making fun of her now"

Lexi still had to giggle even at that. Mara was too much of a lovely goofball to be intentionally malicious to anyone, especially Lexi.

Lexi took a deep breath and began jumping up and down in place as if getting ready to go for a run. She had to try. She owed it to them. She owed it to herself.

"Lexi, you're amazing!" Leah said

"Lexi, you're a badass!" Josh said -- the 2 women glancing over at him, not understanding quite how that was a compliment but Josh just shrugged, "...well you already took 'amazing'"

"Lexi luv, you're a sexy beast and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!" Mara said with a hearty hoot and a holler.

Lexi turned bright red inside her petri dish as she did a small jumping jack, trying to put all of her focus into this.

"You think we should ... like ... REALLY cheer?" Mara asked a bit cautiously

"Like ... spell stuff?" Josh asked

Leah sighed, the only one of the three to have any experience in such a thing, although she always considered herself inferior to Lexi in the cheering regard.

"Th-This one's for you, Lex..." Leah sighed, turning bright red as she performed a jumping jack of her own, "G-R-O-W .... I can't think of anything that rhymes with W!"

Lexi giggled out loud in her little micro world as she watched her best friend make an absolute fool of herself just to try and get Lexi to grow again.

"TROUBLE YOU!!" Lexi squeaked, not that anyone could hear but she liked feeling as though she was playing along with the game, "TROUBLE YOU RHYMES!!"

"Lexi, Lexi you're so cool! Lexi, let's go ... play some pool!" Mara sputtered goofily, also jumping around and accidentally bumping into Leah's shoulder, "Oop sorry"

"You're good, Red" Leah smirked

My friends are incredible ... Lexi thought, feeling a charge go through her. Could it be?

She struggled and pushed a bit, focusing as hard as she could on growing. It was likely imperceptible to her friends (especially as they continued their cheering escapades) but a small spark struck her micro body and caused it to double in size. It was working ... it was really working! Lexi closed her eyes and gulped, knowing it might not feel pleasant as the tingling continued to run through her body but she had to try. She had to give it everything she had.

"Lexi Lexi you can do it!" Josh said, trying to keep up with the ladies, "Put a little power to it!"

"A bit generic, but not bad" Leah complimented

"Heh thanks" Josh chuckled

"C'mon Lex..." Lexi said to herself now as the sparks continued to fire off inside of her like pistons in a car. She was growing but it was at such a slow rate likely nobody would notice even as they leaned in. Josh could SWEAR he saw a spark of white lightning, similar to a static shock but he didn't want to say anything yet.

"Lexi!" Mara chimed in, "If you grow back RIGHT NOW I'll give you a big wet smooch on the lips!"

A moment went by and still nothing. Leah gave Mara a bit of a sheepish shrug.

"C'mon Mara ... I know Lexi but did you really think that would ...?" Leah started only to be thankfully interuppted by the brunette heroine herself as she sat crosslegged on the table, leaning forward with her lips out.

"Kiss me, you fool!!" Lexi giggled.

Mara leaned forward, all too eager to honor her side of the bargain but she wouldn't have the time as Lexi sadly shrank again, but this time only to 3 inches tall.

"...I can't believe that worked" Leah said, half joking.

"What can I say, I be the lucky elf of ye all!" Mara giggled with her overdone Irish accent which she sometimes liked to employ.

Lexi blushed as she found herself laying in the petri dish now, her body about the size of a young kid in a kiddy pool compared to it. She'd pull herself out and rather than shrinking again, she'd find it within herself to grow, a little bit more and more with each attempt as her friends stood back and let out collective sighs of relief.

After the ordeal had completed, Lexi slid the petri dish away, sitting on the countertop at full height, although her hair was now spiked in almost every direction with delicate threads protruding out like fibers of spiderweb with how much static she was putting out.

"I ... I .. thank you..." Lexi said, a grateful smile crossing her face.

Leah was strongly compelled to hug Lexi while she could but Josh stepped in front of her.

"Unfortunately ... we don't have much time ..." Josh sighed, pulling out the polarity reverser and holding it near Lexi, "I assume you heard the plan?"

Lexi nodded.

"Do what you gotta do, Josh" Lexi said, looking a bit nervous but she trusted his science.

Josh nodded and began running the machine on low. It hummed to life like a mini-vac as Josh stepped in front of Lexi and hovered it around her immediate area. Lexi winced a bit but there was no pain, it just felt like a strange tingling but she had been use to that by now. After the first couple of passthroughs with the strange device, Lexi's hair no longer stood on end. She also seemed to be sitting more comfortably upright and no longer shaking.

"Lexi?" Leah asked nervously, "you okay?"

Lexi nodded

"I'm not sure if we'll know if it's working but ... I DO feel a bit better..." Lexi said, "almost feels like I'm getting my hair blow dried ... just without it being wet..."

"Yeah were not going to know for sure for probably a few days but the fact that you're not shrinking or anything is a good sign" Josh said, continuing to run the small device, "Do you mind if I turn it up a setting?"

Lexi nodded to give her approval.

Josh revved the device up, causing the sound to grow a little louder and some small crackles could be heard but nothing that would hurt Lexi. It felt akin to receiving several static shocks except each one was less than the size of a bug bite.

"Anything at all?" Josh asked, just making sure, "like.. you don't feel that weird feeing you told me about? That you're about to shrink"

"I feel... I feel good" Lexi said, nodding with certainty, "I truly do ... like not amazing obviously but I can control myself... my size feels stable ... and hey... if this IS my stable size, it sure beats where I was before"

Everyone let out a long and loud sigh of relief as Josh put the polarity reverser back on the desk he started it from.

"Hey Lex..." Mara said, appearing guilty, "Sorry about before with the whole ... I can't hear you thing ... I didn't mean anything by it"

"I know you didn't, Big Red" Lexi smirked, giving her a hug and finally the kiss she was promised, "I believe you owed me this"

Mara was the one to turn flush red at this point as Leah just chuckled.

"I was ... I was really scared, Lex" Leah said in a heartfelt way as she hugged Lexi.

"I was too, Leah... I was too..." Lexi said, exhaling as she hugged her best friend, "But you led the charge, you kicked ass out there"

"Me?" Leah asked

"Well all of you ..." Lexi said with a grin, "you're the best cheerleaders ... no... the best FRIENDS I could ever hope to have"

The 4 all regathered themselves after what had felt like a hellish couple of hours. They had made no progress in finding Trevor Hilfmann, Aeris had gotten away with any potential clues and information, and Lexi had almost permanently shrunk to amoeba size. And yet they all felt a strange calm wash over them as she slowly made their way from the lab.

"Good thing I'm normal sized again" Lexi added, as the group made their way out of Aztek Parts, this time making sure to lock the door up tight. "I've got work tomorrow ..."

"You have GOT to be kidding me.." Leah said with a half smirk as she face palmed.

"Hey, it's just work ... waitressing ... normal adult girl stuff" Lexi shrugged

"Okay ..." Josh said, "but I should warn you ... your shrink powers are still likely active inside of you ... all I did was calm the tide for a bit"

Lexi nodded with understanding.

"So please please PLEASE...." Josh said, "Don't use your shrink powers anymore until we figure more out or Trevor gets back"

"That goes double for me" Leah said, "if I find out that you intentionally shrunk yourself again ... well... I'll kick your ass"

"I'll hold you to that" Lexi said with a wink as Mara piled on for another hug.

"I'm just really glad you're back!!" Mara said in a whimpering voice even as she smiled brightly.

"So um...." Leah started with a hopeful grin as she wanted to continue the recent upswing of the mood, "I wasn't going to tell you this until NEXT week but ... Mara and I were able to book us an afternoon at Balthazar Beach for your birthday! Just us and some close friends for fun in the sun! Surprise!"

Lexi burst out into a smile and jumped into Leah's arms for a hug.

"Thats awesome, sweetie! Thank you so much!" Lexi exclaimed, "....but Mara already told me last week"

Leah shot Mara a dirty look as the sheepish elf merely shrugged.

_______________

After a similarly trying day, Minitropolis' Finest were having a very important meeting at their headquarters following a day that saw 2 horrific incidents in their city. Carl Scolex, as often seemed to be the case in these situatons, took to a podium to speak first, addressing his fellow officers as he hung his head.

"There's no easy to way sugar coat what happened today ... it was truly a tragic day for this city..." Officer Scolex said, "and sadder still is that so many people continue to idolize ShrinkGirl even as --!"

"Officer Scolex!" Officer Sonia stood up angrily to interuppt, "Is now really the time for this?"

"If not now, when?" Scolex fired back, "Instead of having kids meals and toys made of her, she should be held accountable for the horrific things she's let transpire in this city!"

"Such as saving my life, sir?" an injured but still very much alive Officer Chas pointed out as he raised a hand.

Carl remained irate but decided to heed his colleagues advice to stay on script.

"ANYWAYS ..." Carl sighed, "in light of todays incidents, the Mayor has rightfully called off the ShrinkGirl ceremony originally planned for next week ..."

While Carl WAS somewhat relieved by that fact, he had secretly hoped it still happened, as it would have been a prime opportunity to nab the vigilante in broad daylight when things went sideways, which they inevitably always would whenever Alexis Cole was involved.

"For now, I suggest those who's shifts have ended head home to their families while the rest of us continue on and try to return some semblance of normalcy to operations around here..." Carl continued, before dismissing his fellow officers to their designated jobs.

All but one would scatter, and that one would be Sonia who approached Carl already looking to be in the mood for a confrontation.

"Not now, Officer Sanders..." Carl Scolex sighed

"I was just going to ask you ..." Sonia began, "did we ever find any more evidence of that woman, Aeris? After the crash?"

"No... and that's very concerning..." Carl sighed, knowing more about the young woman than he let on.

"Well absolutely ... I just ... don't get how a body could up and vanish like that..." Sonia said

"We still have search and rescue squads out there, we WILL find her..." Scolex said, even as he had his doubts.

He only knew of Aeris as a high ranking security agent within Scott Travis' network, but naturally, he couldn't let that info slip.

"Well what's strange sir, is ... one of the officers who searched that car told me they found nothing in the glove box except some registration and a few Cybertek forms" Sonia explained

"And? What's any more strange about that than the rest of all this?"

"Just seems odd that the glovebox of an agent's car would be more or less empty ... do you think she ... got away somehow?" Sonia asked.

"The car was found on its side, flames all around after falling about 40 feet from the freeway..." Carl replied, "We're not optimistic that she even survived, let alone got away anywhere..."

_________________________


The final party who was trying to piece things together from his chaotic day would be none other than Mad Scientist Extradonaire, Dr. Maximillian E. Mumford. It felt like weeks, if not months were leading to these moments all converging. Even without Lexi herself, he had a test subject he could somewhat reliably employ. He looked up at his monitor to notice an incoming call from Cybertek and hastily hit the button to ignore it.

"Damn ... 6th one in the last 20 minutes ... I could swear I blocked these communications for good!" Dr. Max thought out loud.

The Doctor had bigger fish to fry than deal with some petty squabble with Scott Travis. He had nearly all of the components he needed to bring his plans to fruition. In fact he had MORE than enough, if the test run was any indication. Even if Dr. Giovanni's portal inducer hadn't been successful for long, it DID cause dimensonal activity somewhere since the Queen of Fensteria, Esmerelda had made it known.

If the evil Doctor hoped for a more significant showing however, he would need more power, and lots of it.

While pondering all of this as well, Dr. Max was finetuning a number of other things, as robotic arms whirred around him, adding parts to an ever growing collection while he made his next series of robotic masterpieces fully functional. Still, he had one more thing to try ...

SHRINKGIRL SIMULATOR 2.87

"There's nowhere to run, you crazy doctor!" the digitized Lexi on the screen quipped, the setting a bit vague as she charged forward only to be stopped by a portal that opened in front of her. She'd peek curiously into it only to be thrown back hard by a large green crystallic arm.

This is where the simulation took some liberty, estimating the approximate height of such a creature based on rough predictions. The 8 foot tall hulking crystal beast stepped out of the portal and charged towards Lexi who shrunk under it, only to grow back but despite her best attempts to wail on it with the metal end of her wrist gauntlets, it would be like attacking a mountain -- very little damage was done.

Another portal would open above the challenged superheroine and another of the green creatures would spawn, almost landing on top of her if not for her flightly footwork.

Max laughed and continued replicating the event, watching as "Lexi" tried and tried to fight back against a growing army of Quartzarian crystal beasts. She'd shrink under them, she'd jump over them. She'd even succeed in getting a couple to strike the other wth some quick manuevering but she could never quite beat them in a straight head to head battle.... until ...

"SHRINKGIRL LOSES? YOU WIN?"

It was as if even the machine itself, designed to run simulations of combat against Lexi was confused at the outcome. Had the Mad Doctor actually found something capable of overwhelming and eventually defeating Alexis Cole?

"Yes!! Yes!! It is I that is now doing the WINNING!!" Dr. Max laughed with glee, "...of course all I need to do NOW is open about 12 of those vortex things all around her ... send in those ... whatchamacallits and let nature do the rest!"

Of course what Max hadn't taken into account was the fact that Lexi had in fact dealt with Quartzarian opposition before, albeit in a superpowered battlesuit that she no longer had. He also hadn't counted on Dr. Giovanni peeking around the corner and surmising most of what the Doctor had been doing despite not uttering a word.

Becoming quite worried, Dr. Giovanni opted to pass by the lab altogether, rather than deliver the latest news to Dr. Max.

This was irrelevant though, for Maxmillian had noticed a test was run on his containment chamber in the basement. He could even spy at the precise time Dr. Giovanni had the energy analysis ordered on the captured Shrinkmobile and its inner contents. He wasn't angered by this however, quite the contrary. He appreciated his colleague's forward thinking and found it curiouser still, that the car was giving off incredible energy readings.

"Hmm... I need power ... seems there's power within that tin can ... everything's coming together now ..." Dr. Max chuckled.

Overexcited with joy, the elated scientist began to hastily make his way down towards the basement to tell Giovanni the good news. There was no way anything could POSSIBLY go wrong now.

__________________

To pile on to what had already been a tense day for everyone, a nearly exhausted Sugar Rush continued her futile assaults on the seemingly impenetrable metal and glass prison which contained her and Lexi's "ShrinkMobile"

Ever since Dr. Giovanni had vacated the room, Sugar wasted no time in letting loose with pretty much everything in her arsenal, aiming cherry bombs (bombs that were actually cherry candy with gun-powder inside) electrified licorice rope and burning hot jets of scalding hot glaze whereever she could get it. The best she had done was fry a few circuits and caused some cracks to adjacent machinery but she couldn't find any kind of "release lever" or clear escape outside of shattering the glass itself which seemed nigh impossible.

Letting out many strained breaths, Rush would glance down. She had let her emotions rise above a healthy level and the results hadn't been encouraging. She may have also shattered both headlights on the ShrinkMobile in a fit of rage when she struck the glass with her steel arm cannon.

She glanced down, observing any pattern in the metallic wiring under her feet, any kidn of weakness she could exploit. She also had to be careful not to get TOO reckless and risk electrocuting herself if she hit the wrong wires or set the whole containment chamber aflame with no clear way out.

Rush looked every which way and with a great sigh decided to return to brute force, if not briefly. To her surprise though, she'd feel a gale force wind slowly picking up above her. Raising an eyebrow, she'd watch a pneumatic tube of sorts hover over her as if some kind of crane game. Well Rush wasn't about to let herself get snagged up like a carnival prize.

The crude looking machine cast its moving shadow over her as it moved fairly quickly along a track, finally stopping and beginning its descent on the armor clad woman.

Rush would try to fire her jetpacks but they weren't strong enough to fight the counterpull of the strong suction as it intensified. Sugar Rush just couldn't believe how shitty her luck was at this point as the tube drew closer and closer, soon close enough to vacuum the poor little woman up.

"Get the fuck away!!" Sugar squeaked, finally looking out and seeing a giant face looming overhead. She gave the man a confused look. "What are you doing?!"

"Not letting anybody else suffer at Max's hands..." the man said, watching as the tiny captive was set free.

She hovered high above the containment tank now, looking down confused at the man who freed her. She almost gave him a sort of salute as she zipped off into a ventilation shaft.

"Not sure what the fuck is happening anymore..." Rush sighed, deeply in thought, "but I feel like the worst is yet to come..."

Lexi's tired eyes fluttered open that fateful Friday afternoon -- well, maybe 10:36 AM-ish. It was one of the better sleeps she had had in a while, after deciding to a take a break from the whole ShrinkGirl thing.

The decision naturally wasn't entirely her choice, as any prolonged use (or any use) of her shrinking powers could have erratic effects so rather than even try, Lexi lived the life of a normal 21 year old girl while working her waitressing job, hanging out with her best friend Leah and Mara and just lazing about a little bit. After all, you're only 21 once ... and in this case, on this particular day, Alexis Cole was no longer 21 years old.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEXI!!" the jubilant voices of her parents arose after noticing she had woken up. Lexi waved shyly and shook her head, unable to speak before Tiny the lovable cat pounced on her mattress. She leaned forward to give the cat an all emcompassing hug.

"You guys are total dorks, you know that?" Lexi replied at last, turning bright red. "But thank you truly"

"Of course!" Lexi's mom replied, seeming happier than she did in ages as her dad joined in on the moment of celebration. "Now hurry downstairs when you're ready, we got you something"

"Is it a cake?" the goofball Lexi asked

"I told you she'd guess..." Lexi's dad sputtered, his hands on his hips with mock disappointment. Lexi giggled and continued snuggling with the bristly furred orange hairball she knew as Tiny.

Not too much time later, Lexi would come down, wearing a relaxed purple tank top with white summer shorts and white sneakers. Underneath the clothes she had on a turquoise bikini top and bottom for her day at the beach which was soon to come but for the time being she was content to spend some time with her parents on the lovely August day.

It was a much needed reprieve from fighting criminals, handling the stress of being a minor "celebrity" and shrinking so small she had to be viewed through a microscope. She knew in the back of her mind the trouble was far from over though and as if to remind her of that, a topic came up briefly in the conversation during the birthday lunch.

"So ... I'm sorry ... you said your car was ... stolen?" Lexi's dad asked

"By a crazy mad scientist..." Lexi sighed, munching on her cake but brushing the occurence off as if it were a normal one.

"Now why'd you have to go ask her that?" Lexi's mom chuckled, "it's her birthday!"

"It's fine, Mom" Lexi said, nodding as she wolfed down a small chunk of cake, "I ... probably should get the car back ... plus the poor girl inside..."

"Girl inside?" Lexi's dad asked

"Hey, you're the one who had to ask..." Lexi's mom groaned, having enjoyed the break from 'ShrinkGirl' talk for the past week.

It wouldn't be long now before Leah would arrive in the "Leah-Mobile" to pick Lexi up for some fun in the sun and while Lexi knew she couldn't avoid her 'supersized' problems forever, she had hoped to get at least one more day of "vacation" before drafting up some kind of plan to save Sugar Rush, her car and possibly more.

____________

Unfortunately, while Lexi was taking her break, plans were being set in motion at the headquarters of the dastardly Dr. Maximillian E Mumford at Enormo Enterprises. Of course this didn't happen without a few hiccups along the way. The first of which was the revelation to the cranky Doctor that about a week prior, Sugar Rush had escaped her containment chamber.

"...what do you mean she ESCAPED?!" Dr. Max shrieked with fury upon finding Dr Giovanni on his knees inspecting the containment chamber and the machinery which housed it. "She's not even THIS big! She couldn't have escaped!"

"I'm sorry, Doctor..." Giovanni lamented, trying his best to recall the disappearance while his voice notably faltered, "It was like, one second she was there ... she threw some kind of smoke bomb ... and then ... she was gone..."

Dr. Max raised an eyebrow at the story while also inspecting the inside of the ravaged containment chamber.

"Yes yes ... I see this blonde bomber made quite the mess in there..." Max sighed, noting all the damaged circuitry, cracked metal and more. "Admittedly we wouldn't have had this problem with the ... ShrinkGirl ... unless of course... it was HER that kidnapped the blonde girl ... but nein ... she would've taken the car too ... so then what GIVES?"

"Doctor Max..." Giovanni said, trying to remain as calm as possible, "I have to say ... I'm a bit ... concerned ... with your fixation on Alexis..."

"My FIXATION? MY FIXATION?!" the Doctor yelled. The cellar of the large manufacturing plant was fairly secluded so while the yells may have reverberated against the metal beams, very few heard or would even explore more of their nature. "This ShrinkGirl is a menace, I assure you! The fact that she turned that nice blonde woman into some kind of tiny maniac who did what she did should be proof of that..."

Giovanni didn't appear so convinced, but he also didn't wish to escalate the situation any further.

"She is MY responsibility..." Max lied, "Her condition is the result of MY lab's experiment gone awry ... therefore any trouble she causes is on MY hands ... the COMPANY'S hands ... you think I LIKE having to do all this? No! I would rather be on the beach sipping cocktails and ..."

Dr. Max paused at that moment.

"Anyway ... it is unfortunate we lost the shrunken girl ..." Maximillian said, although he dared not mention any more about what he had planned for Sugar Rush, had she remained. "But ... we still have the car ... and I noticed you ran a spectromagnetic scan on it not too long ago"

"Oh... oh that..." Dr. Giovanni said, seemingly also caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I was just ..."

"You were being a forward thinker!" Dr. Max said, giving his colleage a pleased pat on the back, "and that is why it is nice to have you aboard! It is always important to inspect every piece of resource you can and in doing so, you might have found JUST what we needed..."

"I did...?" Giovanni asked, whilst not sounding extremely pleased.

"Yes!! You were right that this car ... this car is not ordinary" Dr. Max said, "I mean besides the SCALE of the car, it is giving off an amazing energy signature... unlike anything I've ever seen ... which is why our next steps will be as follows ... we take the car, we inspect every square inch and salvage anything we can of use"

"...and the rest?" Giovanni asked

"Normally I'd say sell it for scrap but who beside Mattel would want a car that size?" Dr. Max said with a chuckle, before pausing, "...that was supposed to be a JOKE, Dr. Giovanni..."

"Oh.. uh sorry Max... I'm just not used to you ... ever making them" Dr. Giovanni stuttered in surprise as his eyes continued to dart from the car back to Max, attempting to envision whatever his colleague was planning.

One thing was for sure ... Max was dealing with powers he knew very little about and that could only mean horrendous danger...

And so it went ... that next week.

Almost every day seemed to bring new results for Max's fast developing plan.

Day 1 saw him gently pry open the ShrinkMobile's door with a sharp-nosed plier, scanning it closely until he found the source of its power, or at least part of it. Inside the glove compartment were several teeny tiny gems. Each one couldn't have been bigger than a pebble and yet they exuded immense power.

Day 2 saw the Doctor attempting to pair those powerful crystals with his only other source of mystical power, the very symbol of his hated foe, ShrinkGirl and her purple and gold plated medallion. The results of such a test produced a bit more stable of a portal but still nothing lasting.

Day 3 saw the Doctor continue to modify his Maximites, making them bigger and more adpatable to new situations. In fact, the Doctor would spent quite some time on this. After all, he had a deadline to meet.

Day 4, the Doctor would continue a combination of tests on the ShrinkMobile, the portal inducer as well as keep tabs on some people he had surveillance placed on. While one of his surveillance beacons had gone off the grid for good, he was satisfied that its resulting explosion likely took a key player off the board.

Days 5 and 6 would see Dr. Max take a couple days off from the main office at Enormo Enterprises while he brought his work to the Fenster Forest sister location determined to begin construction on ANOTHER portal inducer. After all, for his plan to work he would need not only copious amounts of energy but multiple locations for his machines.

Finally, Day 7 had arrived ... a day the Doctor would refer to simply as ... B-DAY ...

__________________

"Hey hey!" Leah chimed in gleefully as Lexi climbed into her car, "Happy B-Day girl!"

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Lexi giggled, a giant smile on her face, "And thank you so much for doing all this!"

"Uh... duh... you're my best friend, you think we weren't going to celebrate your big 2-2?" Leah teased

"I think the 21st birthday is the big one, isn't it?" Lexi teased

"Eh whatever, let's just go ..." Leah giggled, wearing a vibrant pair of sunglasses with thick red plastic frames and teal tinted lenses while her hair was tied up in a pony tail.

"Those glasses are awesome!" Lexi smirked

"You like them?" Leah quipped, flipping them up for a moment, "They're part of the unofficial Leah summer collection down at the store"

"Oh yeah, you told me you've been kind of taking more control over there" Lexi said with excitement, always admiring the way Leah dressed. Even now, she looked sporty and fashionable with her light orange sundress that came down to her calfs, and at the end of those calfs would be a pair of wedge shaped heels that Lexi couldn't picture wearing herself but her bestie pulled them off nicely as expected. "How's that been going?"

"Honestly? Pretty awesome" Leah giggled, "Always been telling my friends how they should dress, so it's nice to be able to do it for a living"

"Heh, don't remind me..." Lexi teased, "Surprised you haven't given me the rundown on my current outfit"

Leah glanced over as the traffic slowed down and shrugged, "Eh purple's your color, Lex, you know that ... although not so sure about the teal bikini... but hey it's your birthday, you rock it"

"Heh thanks" Lexi said with a smile, just letting her eyes coast off to the side and watch the city as it cruised by.

Try as she might, her mind would still wander to the image of Sugar Rush ... trapped in a cage somewhere at Enormo Enterprises, likely being tortured or hurt or worse... She also wondered about Trevor who she hadn't heard from since everything went down with the drone attack. In fact, nobody had heard from the former Enormo Enterprises engineer for quite some time.

Leah slowly pulled up to the beach which said "RESERVED FOR A PRIVATE EVENT" -- she gave Lexi a smirk as if to flaunt her 'influence' in such a matter but Lexi seemed preoccupied as her brown eyes gazed out at the beautiful coastline as other friends of her were also just arriving a beautifully decorated area with streamers reading "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEXI"

Leah peered over at Lexi, a bit disappointed to not see more jubilation on her face.

"You okay, Lex?" Leah asked with a frown

"Huh? Yeah ... yeah of course" Lexi smiled and nodded, feeling her bubbliness slowly returning.

"C'mon ... we're going to have some fun, okay?" Leah smiled. Lexi was all too happy to accept that invitation as she stepped out of the car to go walking on the boardwalk which led up to the beach.

Lexi would stroll across the sunburnt sand with her flip flops on, waving to friends and acquaintances she'd known from the past year or longer. One of them that she was pleasantly surprised to see given all the tumultuous things that had happened was her new blonde fangirl, Krystal. She'd quickly hop up to her and give her a big hug.

"Krystal!" Lexi cheered, "so glad you could make it!"

"Heh, you think I was going to miss ShrinkGirl's birthday?" Krystal replied shyly

"You can just call me Lexi, yknow?" Lexi chuckled a bit. Krystal just shrugged

As Lexi continued to socialize, she noticed none other than her friend Chris passing by, restored to full size in a pair of green swim trunks and currently wearing a black t-shirt over that.

"Heyyy" Lexi teased, "look who grew back? See, I told you it would wear ... hey, why the long face?"

"...I had a date with Sara Eckstein that night..." Chris sighed, "and I didn't grow back in time..."

"Oh..." Lexi gulped sheepishly , trying her best to put a positive spin on the situaton but even she was at a loss for words as she incurred her annoyed friends uninspired glare, "She's uh ... she's really pretty"

"...yeah ... I know" Chris grumbled

"I could ... maybe put in a good word for you?" Lexi said with a goofy grin, "see if I can...?"

"Its fine ..." Chris sighed, looking down at the sand, "it just wasn't meant to be ... I probably would've blown it anyway..."

As Chris hobbled off, Lexi did her best to offer some last consoling words but before she could she was hastily tackle hugged by another partygoer, none other than the cute blonde Chrissy.

"Oof!! H-Hey!" Lexi giggled, "glad you could make it!"

"You kidding?" Chrissy chuckled, "I wasn't going to miss this!"

Lexi held her embrace with Chrissy for an extra few moments, just letting out a content sigh. She needed something like this for the longest time. Sure, the hug was nice but it was more just the activity of enjoying some summer fun with friends.

"You ... okay Lex?" Chrissy asked, noting how long Lexi had held the hug.

"Huh? Oh yeah ... I'm just ... really glad to see you" Lexi said, "and even happier to hear that you aren't moving away ... what happened with that anyway?"

"My uh ... dad changed his mind..." Chrissy said, sounding a bit puzzled herself.

"Well whatever happened, I'm glad it did" Lexi giggled, glancing around at the all the work Leah had put into this wonderful beach gathering.

She looked around to see a volleyball net, with participants on either side bopping a ball back and forth. She also took note of the picnic table on the sand, housing a small pile of presents for Lexi herself. She also saw Josh over by a cake, shooing away some seagulls who had seemed eager to sneak a piece.

"Heh ... well it's the thought that counts" Lexi quipped, giving Josh a hug as soon as he turned around. "Thanks for coming, Josh"

"I wasn't going to miss this" Josh smirked, his eyes briefly glancing down at the table with gifts. Most were your traditional rectangular boxes but one stood out like a sore thumb.

Despite the fact that it was wrapped, it was obvious this was no ordinary gift, as it was shaped very similarly to Lexi's wrist gauntlets except it seemed a bit sleeker and longer. The wrapping paper did very little to conceal its shape as it was clumsily taped along the jagged edges. Lexi gave Josh a sheepish grin of her own upon seeing this.

"For me?" Lexi smirked, picking up one of the thinly veiled presents, she turned it to the side and gave Josh a grateful look before asking, "..do you mind if I...?"

"Oh... oh sure!" Josh said with a blush, "I'm not sure ... how much you're going to like it though ... given that ..."

Leah happened to be glancing over at Josh and Lexi's interaction and scooted over towards the picnic table herself to watch Lexi opening the gift.

"Oh, she's opening it now?" Leah asked, "this is so cool!"

Lexi grinned brightly as her two friends hung over her carefully tearing the makeshift wrapping paper to reveal what she already suspected. A new set of wrist gauntlets, but these seemed to be quite a bit enhanced. They felt more lightweight and had more of a curve to them so they'd be more comfortable to wear.

"Check out the inside..." Josh said

Lexi turned the gauntlet towards her so she could see the curved inside and notice an etching on the metallic surface. It was hard to see except in the right light but it was engraved with 3 signatures and a message.

"To our badass little heroine -- love Josh, Leah & Mara"

Lexi set the gauntlets carefully down and hugged Josh so tight, even giving him a little kiss on the cheek, to which he blushed bright red.

"I love it Josh, thank you so much!" Lexi smiled, turning and hugging Leah as well.

Mara came traipsing over at that point and she had a "guest" flapping its fiery wings behind her.

"...Mara brought the phoenix?" Lexi asked, half surprised but also not extremely so.

"...I tried to tell her not to, trust me" Leah replied wth an eyeroll as the red haired elf and her trusty fiery companion came on by to greet Lexi.

Lexi just shrugged and chuckled, giving Mara a hug and patting her back.

"Thanks for coming, Big Red" Lexi said with a smile

"No doubt" Mara smirked, noticing that Lexi had already opened the impressive wrist gauntlets that Josh had modified, "Oh I see you already got your gift ... well one of them ... what I got you is nothing special"

"I'm sure it's fine" Lexi smiled, "you guys didn't have to go to all this trouble, yknow..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexi spotted a wayward volleyball that threatened the livelihood of her birthday cake. She lunged forward just enough to deflect the projectile harmlessly onto the sand, sending some hungry seagulls scattering in the process.

"Sorry!" the sender of said ball announced, none other than Will from work.

"How many people did you invite?" Lexi teased Leah

"Eh just a few" Leah said with a shrug

Lexi took a moment to inspect the wrist gauntlets a bit more while her friends continued to socialize. She noticed a couple of other differences, such as little levers on the inside and indentations for her fingers to slip into.

"So ... these are pretty cool..." Josh said, attempting to explain the modifications, "There are a number of features that should help you fight Max and his robots..."

Leah gave Josh a bit of a harsh "ahem" to interuppt him, causing Josh to frown a bit, his shoulders sulking now.

"Oh ... well I mean ... IF you ... yeah..." Josh said with a sad grumble, "I designed these before ... well, everything happened with you ... and your ... yknow ... powers"

Lexi shrugged, giving Josh another hug.

"Even if I just mount them on a mantle somewhere, it's an amazing gift... and I really love it... thank you again" Lexi said with a grin.

Lexi was about to take a step towards the volleyball game when she felt her phone vibrate. She looked down curiously, eyes widening.

"Lexi?" Leah asked, "what's wrong?"

"It's Trevor!" Lexi said, rushing to answer the phone. Josh and Leah instantly leaned forward with anticipation as Lexi put the call on speakerphone.

"Lexi?" Trevor asked, his voice a bit garbled on the other end of the line which could be a result of the beach and its poor cell phone reception.

"Holy cripe, are you okay Trevor?" Lexi asked, "where have you been?"

"I'm okay" Trevor said, "I fled to upstate ... after the drone attack, I couldn't take any chances ... I apologize for falling off the grid ... but..."

"But?" Lexi asked, concerned for whatever the Doctor was going to say next.

"...never mind" Trevor sighed, "I just wanted to ... wish you a Happy Birthday, Lexi"

Lexi blushed a bit and nodded.

"Th-Thank you Trevor" Lexi replied, "But what about ...?"

"There'll be another time to talk about ... everything else" Trevor said, "Have your powers been stable?"

"Yes" Lexi said, "But you should know that Aeris ..."

"I know" Trevor said with a sigh, "Again ... we can talk about it another time ... I should be back in the city next week and ... what's that noise?"

What WAS that noise?

It sounded as if a small armada of helicopters were suddenly circling the beach. Unfortunately, that would've been a welcome distraction compared to what was really happening. Lexi and her group of friends looked up with fear as a cluster of shadows cast themselves over the sandy surface.

"I'm ... going to have to call you back..." Lexi sighed, sliding the cell phone onto the picnic table as she hung up the phone call.

Descending on the birthday party were about a half dozen robots with whirring propeller blades. A couple of such robots had large turbine like fans on their shoulders, blowing the volleyball net to a point that rendered it almost unusable. Chris, already familiar with the situation took a defensive step back, waving off the others and trying to get them to safety.

As if that weren't enough a few of Max's box-like drones landed on the beach but these were different entirely, as small crab-like legs extended from their inner chasis and they began to surround the party, their razor sharp anchor like claws allowing them to tread along the sand fairly easily. Lexi reached over instinctively for the wrist gauntlets and strapped them on, much to the shagrin of Lexi's best friend, Leah Henderson.

"Lexi, what are you doing?!" Leah said in a panic.

"I can't let these things hurt anyone!" Lexi said, bearing her fists and standing in a defensive position.

One large robot seemed to be leading the rest and its triangular metallic feet touched down on the beach, blades extending from its shoulders as the faceless head of the creature opened up like a refridgerator to reveal a staticy monitor displaying the face of her arch nemesis, Dr. Maximillian E Mumford.

"Happy Birthday, Fraulein Alexis!" Dr. Max chuckled maniacally, "I hope you didnt think I'd forget!"

Lexi stared down at the robot, also all too aware of the crab-like robots as they seemed to close in on her, snapping their claws menacingly.

Chris jumped to the forefront, conjuring up small bursts of fire from his fingertips and launching them at the crab robots. The fire would strike each one and render it immobilized but not for long as the liquid metal composition seemed to reform as quickly as it collapsed.

"Make this easy on yourself, Alexis!" Max announced through the robotic sounding PA of his machine, "turn yourself in and this all ends!"

Lexi frowned, almost considering the proposition if it meant nobody else got hurt.

She watched as the crab robots seemed to be closing in. Lexi was stunned and paralyzed with indecision. Normally she would shrink and try to fight them off that way but she knew that could be a risky idea. She watched as the robots drew closer and closer. While they were only a tad bigger than the size of an actual hermit crab, they would do some serious damage if they swarmed Lexi.

"Lexi, what are you doing?" Chris yelped, shooting some electric bolts at the creatures to deter them. Lexi backed away nervously, falling on the sand.

"Hey, careful!" Leah snapped at Chris, "She can't handle electricity... if she gets shocked ... well..."

Leah gulped, realizing she had said that out loud. Max's face on the monitor suddenly contorted into an ominous grin, as the blades retracted and now a set of electrified tentacles extended from the robot instead, whipping around wildly.

Lexi let out a helpless gulp as the electrified lassos came at her with rapid speed. She performed a backflip onto the picnic table, careful not to land her feet on her own birthday cake but it wouldn't matter as one of the snaky tentacles flipped the table entirely, sending Lexi onto her back, rolling out of the way to avoid being crushed by the table.

"What the hell do we do?" Leah asked in panic as the crab robots seemed to be circling her and Chris now.

"Stay out of the way ..." Max threatened Leah and Chris as his robot took slow thudding steps towards Lexi, "and I won't have to hurt you ..."

"Get bent" Chris said, throwing a charged blast of fire at Max's robot. The strike was successful in hitting the robots chest but it only left the outer metal charred a bit. The robot continued on its path unimpeded even as the elemental wizard futilely threw whatever he could at it.

"I have to say, that IS rather impressive" Leah quipped, "you ever get any ladies with that?"

"You know ... I never really tried" Chris shrugged.

Lexi continued to run, looking up to see a couple of drones rising up above her. She'd notice the front of the drones opening up and a couple of gun turrets becoming exposed. Lexi raised her gauntlets, screaming a bit as a myriad of bullets struck the metal. She dove out of the way and kept on running.

"Hey numb nuts!" Chris said, still giving chase to Max's robot, picking up a rock he found in the sand and throwing it at the head. "What good is Lexi to you if she's DEAD?"

"Stay out of this, foolish boy!" Max sneered, the electrical tentacles snaking backwards and snapping at Chris who backed away in the nick of time.

Leah could only watch helplessly as Lexi was cornered by a boardwalk, doing her best to stay away from the encroaching crab robots, aerial drones and Max's sentinel robot as it approached, all of them a threat to her as the claws of each crab robot began to charge a sizable amount of electricity.

Chris focused for the time being on getting the other party goers to safety while Leah looked around for anything to possibly help Lexi, only finding a parasol buried in the sand. She sighed and picked it up, running over to aide her best friend, only to get thwacked by one of Max's rope like tentacles. She yelped and dropped the parasol in the sand, causing Lexi to scream out in anguish as she watched Leah fall to the sand with a scar on her face.

"LEAH!!" Lexi yelped

"I told her to stay out of the way ...." Max said, with his usual indifferent tone. Lexi just bared her eyes with anger. "Now then ... will you come quietly ... or?"

Lexi glared at the dastardly scientist as he took a few more forceful steps forward.

"Have it your way ..." Max shrugged, suddenly turning one of the arms of his robot into a buzzsaw, which he pointed down towards Leah.

"No! No no no no!!" Lexi said, shaking her head, "I'll go! I'll go with you! Please ... don't hurt her! Please Please!!"

Max smirked, turning the buzz saw off and retracting it back into the robot.

"That's a good girl..." Max smirked

Lexi sighed, feeling defeated as she hopped down from the railing of the boardwalk and began to slowly walk towards Max's robot. She was wary of what the mad scientist had up his sleeve though and noticed the crackling electrified tentacles still weren't completely stationary.

Max seemed to be waiting for the right time to strike, and Lexi -- anticipating this, grabbed hold of the parasol that Leah felt for her.

Max shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Wrong move, Fraulein!" Max shouted, snapping 3 of the electrical tentacles her way. Lexi hastily threw up the parasol, unfolding it like a shield only for it to get charred in a hurry but she was safe for the time being. She looked down at Leah with a frown, noticing that she was conscious but not in great shape.

Max's robot took another thundering step towards the two girls, only to be interuppted by another blast of fire, but this time from Penelope the phoenix, as Mara rode the bird as if leading a dragon to a medieval style adventure.

"Leave her alone, asshole!" Mara snapped, blasting the robot as hard as Penelope's flame powers would allow her. The robots face closed long enough to shield the monitor from being damaged as Lexi helped Leah up.

"Leah are you okay?" Lexi asked, letting Leah shoulder her weight onto her as the two hobbled towards safety. Leah gave Lexi a weary thumbs up.

"Always happy to take one for the team..." Leah sighed, nodding as she soon regained more ability to walk on her own. Lexi frowned as she watched Mara and her phoenix do battle with Max's large mech.

"I can't let her fight that alone!" Lexi said, getting Leah over to Chris.

"But Lex, you can't shrink ..." Leah said

"Maybe I don't need to ..." Lexi said, exploring some of the options on her new wrist gauntlets.

"Lex!" Josh said, "try squeezing the trigger on the inside"

Lexi nodded, watching as small but sharp purple and gold wolverine like claws covered her fingernails. She smirked a bit.

"This could work!" Lexi smirked, leaping into battle. Leah looked on with concern, hoping her hapless best friend knew what was doing here.

Mara hopped off of Penelope and grew back to her normal size.

"I don't know who you are ..." Max said, "and frankly I don't care ..."

"Awww, well the feeling's mutual, science nerd" Mara smirked

Max simply pressed some buttons on his end to activate a series of homing missiles which fired off from the backside of the robot. Mara yelped, shrinking herself at the last minute and trying to run between the blasts, making herself small enough to not be an easy target now. Lexi ran by and scooped up the tiny elf, smirking down at her.

"Need a hand?" Lexi grinned

"My hero..." Mara swooned.

Lexi nodded, gently setting Mara down on the sand and allowing her to grow back.

"At least ONE of us can still use shrink powers" Lexi shrugged

"Is this whole world crazy?!" Max snapped, "first the fairies ... now ... THIS ... what is going on here?"

"Fairies...?" Lexi thought to herself, "how did Max know about the fairies...?"

It was then she remembered that fateful night at the fairy colony when Max's drones attacked, although they seemed rather inert, aside from defending themselves once Lexi and her batallion took action. There had to be some kind of reason why Max wanted to know more about fairykind, and size changing in general.

"No matter!" Max snapped, swinging the powerful electrical tentacles like a jump rope at the two ladies who narrowly avoided being hit, "I can assure you, this is the last birthday you will EVER have!!"

"You talk too much!" Mara snapped, teleporting herself onto the head of the robot as she tried to somehow punch at it or loosen some of the wiring. Unfortunately her usual luck was unsuccessful and she was grabbed harshly by a robot arm and thrown to the sand.

"MARA!!" Lexi snapped, charging towards Max's robot with little regard for her own safety. Leah and the others could only look on in suspense as she took a flying leap towards the mech.

Max was quick to attack but Lexi was just a bit quicker, throwing up her new enhanced wrist gauntlets just as Max's electrical tentacles made contact with them. Unfortunately for Lexi though, metal was a superior conductor of electricity and while they were somewhat shock absorbant, Lexi had no choice but to stand her ground as she felt what seemed to be an unimaginable surge of voltage course through her.

On the other end, Max wasn't content simply to stun Lexi with some electrical blasts. He seemed hellbent on setting his mech to kill, turning up the power as high as he could even at the expense of the robots main power sources.

Lexi let out pained breaths as she tried to hold the fort, a tense tug of war emerging from the incursion. Lexi began to step forward, electricity crackling through her and the gauntlets, scattering dangerous bolts of lightning as she drew closer and closer towards Max.

Maxmillian couldn't believe what he was seeing and he set his robots shock thrusters even higher, trying to overload Lexi's body but in the process he wasn't doing himself any favors either as the large mech began to spark and crackle from the inside. Lexi was in pain but she grinned nonetheless. The new gauntlets were definitely absorbing more electricity to ensure she didn't get barbecued and while she wasn't sure how much longer they would hold, she continued to walk closer to the imposing mech, suddenly having the advantage as she let out one last cry, ripping her hands apart from their current closed stance and sending several volts of high energy electricity back at its source.

Max's mighty mech was equipped to handle SOME of this damage but the unthinkable happened as the robot was fried from the inside out, a victim of its own high voltage whch Lexi had deflected, at the cost of her own body as she was sent thrown back into the sand, the gauntlets taking the brunt of it but she wasn't immune either, sparking and writhing a bit, sending painful flashbacks into her friends minds of the tazering incident from Aeris at the lab.

Max slammed his fist down in frustration back at his console as he watched his screens go black. He had lost the battle and control of his other drones which shut down and collapsed uselessly onto the sand. The mad doctor at that moment simply continued to be mad as his head rest on the console, wondering where he had gone wrong.

Meanwhile Lexi's friends quickly hurried to the sand to find the superheroine twitching a bit. Leah was the first to help her up, brushing some sand off her brusied body. She noticed Lexi's hair was doing that thing again where it stood up on end but other than that, she surprisingly seemed fine.

"Lex?" Leah said, "Please tell me you're okay ..."

"I ... I am ..." Lexi said with a sigh, "Josh, whatever you made these gauntlets out of or whatever ... may have saved my life ..."

"Well they do have some extra protection against electrical attacks" Josh said, "Although I honestly didn't think they could take all that"

"Maybe there's just a science to how badass Lexi is" Mara quipped, patting her friend on the back, "seriously though, are you okay?"

Lexi nodded, "I am ... and you know what's kind of weird? I actually feel ... okay... like I feel like I'm in control of my powers again..."

"Are you sure about that?" Leah cautioned.

"Well, I can't say for sure" Lexi said, "but I no longer feel those weird tingly feelings despite taking that huge electrical shock"

"I suppose it IS possible..." Josh postulated, "that getting that supercharge from Max's machine actually set your polarity BACK to normal a bit"

"Heh, you mean Max actually HELPED me?" Lexi asked with a grin.

"It would appear so" Josh shrugged "At least in the short term..."

Lexi sighed, slowly unstrapping the wrist gauntlets and setting them down.

"So ... does this mean ShrinkGirl is back?" Josh asked

"I'd say she never left" Lexi shrugged, "And with friends like you guys ... well, I'd say we're all pretty damn heroic"

"Oh gag" Leah giggled, "when do we get to the cake?"

Lexi frowned a bit, motioning over to the overturned picnic table and the now ruined cake.

"...well, there IS a bakery down the road..." Leah giggled

"Heh don't worry about it" Lexi said, "this has been the perfect birthday already"

Leah nodded and tried to force a smile but Lexi always knew better when it came to Leah's emotions. She could see an unfortunate frown trying to break through.

"You okay, Lee?" Lexi asked

"It's just ..." Leah shrugged, "this has been great ... it really has ... I just ... I don't know ... it's kinda too bad you and I couldn't do something fun ... like just the two of us ... just like old times..."

"Well... the day's still young" Lexi giggled "What did you have in mind?"

Leah gave her shrinking capable best friend a mischevious grin. Lexi gulped a bit

_____________


Later that night at Leah's place, the two girls decided to do what they set out to do. Spend some quality alone time together. Although this wasn't exactly Lexi's finest moment.

"Leah....?" Lexi sighed, "are you SURE there's not something ELSE we could do?"

"Awwww c'mon ... you promised..." Leah pouted

"Okay okay .. let's just get this over with ..." Lexi sighed, currently tucked behind what appeared to be a curtain.

"And... sporting this summer's newest fashion ..." Leah giggled, taking on the voice of an announcer as she looked down at a doll sized runway with a napkin over a part of it to simulate the curtain, "...it's Alexis Cole..."

Lexi came out begrudgingly wearing a doll sized sundress as Leah hit "play" on a boombox blasting some fashion show music.

"C'mon Lex!" Leah teased her tiny best friend, "Strut! Show your stuff!"

Lexi rolled her eyes, turning to the side with a hand on her hip and winking.

"Thatta girl, you're fierce, you're a tiger!" Leah teased, making her hands behave like cat claws

"Funny... I feel more like a kitten at this point" Lexi squeaked

"C'mon, more strutting" Leah teased.

Lexi rolled her eyes and had to giggle just a bit.

"I'm just glad your dad and brother aren't home..." Lexi squeaked, "...where are they anyway?"

"Derek's over his girlfriend's and dad? I'm not sure ... he's been working a lot of late hours at Enormo..." Leah frowned

Lexi frowned a bit as well, but only for a moment before humoring Leah some more with the tiny fashion show.

__________________

The twilight hours were upon Enormo Enterprises but it seemed nobody ever got a break, including one weary accountant by the name of Dave Henderson who was about to go home for the night before finding yet another anomoly in the budget for the company. It was getting harder and harder by the day to justify some of the expenses he had to either write off or come up with some kind of crazy explanation for in case there were ever an audit.

Still, as he searched through expense reports, he saw a label that seemed a bit more specific, if not a bit vague. He leaned in to have a closer look.

"What is ... Project Epsilon?" the confused accountant asked.

Too tired to question any more, the weary man would turn off the lights and head down the hall for the exits, only briefly aware that at least one light was still on in an office down the hall, but he dare not bring the accounting incident up to Dr. Max at this hour. It was something that could wait until the next fiscal meeting.

Inside the office, Dr. Max was focused on his grand plans, watching in glee as he gazed at a series of cameras including construction going underway at a few different locations.

Everything was finally clicking into place, and despite his loss to Lexi (yet again) he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

"...do you think Lexi had a nice birthday?" a voice asked, which Max could hear while watching the surveillance feed from his second monitoring device.

"I'd say so" another voice answered, this one a male. "She seemed pretty tired out when she got home though"

"I'm just glad she was able to relax for a while..." the maternal sounding woman said, "she really deserved a break"

Max simply grinned maliciously as he watched the scene play out from a camera implanted in the cell phone of Mr. Cole.

"Hehehe ... one down ... one to go ..." Max chuckled.