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?"
Giantess World
