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..."
Giantess World
