CyberTek Main Headquarters
3:35 PM
Main Office of CEO Scott Travis
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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"
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"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...
Giantess World
