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?
Giantess World
