"HAH!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!! Now it is I that am doing the laughing!!" the triumphant scientist Dr. Maxmillian E Mumford declared to the dark empty room that was his forboding laboratory.
Accompanied only by his machines, a growing armada of metallic mayhem that lurched and crawled behind him, the Doctor watched on confidently as his one remaining drone had currently secured cargo that he'd find integral to his plans. In fact, it had gone BETTER than planned!
"Not only do I have the ShrinkGirl ..." the arrogant antagonist announced, "...I have her CAR as well!!"
Finally Max would quiet down, but only upon hearing footsteps which made their way towards his current location. Most employees knew better than to interuppt the Doctor at most times during the workday, let alone when he was in the middle of one of his "locked in" work sessions, which had been the case now.
Of course, Dr. Giovanni Guillardo was more than a mere "employee" of Enormo Enterprises as he knocked on the door to cautiously introduce new information to the head Engineer. Because of this, even the steely resolve of Dr. Max was interuppted, if only briefly, to acknowledge the newcomers presence.
"Yes, Dr. Giovanni?" Dr. Max asked, attempting to retrieve some modicum of professionalism as he addressed his colleague.
"Well ... I have some news on the development of the portal inducer..." Dr. Giovanni proudly proclaimed.
"Oh? Is it ready?" Dr. Max smirked, suddenly even more excited as he leapt from his seat, turning to approach his current prized possession (that is before the arrival of the purple car), the SG medallion which had been kept hoisted between the metal prongs.
"It's not quite ... ready ... although we could fire off a test run ... we just have to be careful to ..."
"Yes yes yes, I know!" Dr. Max hastily retorted as he fetched the SG medallion, which was to act as a sort of power source.
"Okay ..." Dr. Giovanni sighed, while simultaneously admiring the Doctor's bravado as they both marched their way down the halls of Enormo, down some clackety metal steps, "Just wanted to make sure you knew the risks ... but then again ... look who I'm talking to"
"There is no need to be worrying, Dr. Guillardo ..." Max reassured, "it's not like I'm going to blow up the city!"
________________________
On an unrelated note, a small intersection of Minitropolis' Coffee District had already seen the kind of horrors Max was capable of, whether they realized it or not. It was on the same city street that Lexi had helped save not moments ago where Officer Sonia Sanders was currently tending to fellow Officer Chas after his harrowing experience.
Having defused the current crisis, Chas, Sonia and now Carl Scolex who rolled onto the scene were all anxious to find out what the Drone attack had been about. They all had their own theories and ideas ...
"This is no doubt Enormo Enterprises technology ..." Sonia frowned, carefully inspecting a piece of the wreckage as the crews were combing through and re-routing traffic. "It's only a matter of which facility to trace it back to ... the East Minitropolis branch or the central location..."
"At first I thought it was perhaps a naval base misfire or something but ... yeah ..." the still stunned Officer Chas sighed. "hard to believe we have that kind of tech in our own neighborhood... it's pretty dangerous..."
"Pretty dangerous ... but that's not it ..."Officer Scolex proclaimed, a gravely tone in his voice once more. Sonia was almost ready to stop him before he began as she knew where the ensuing rant would lead, "this is again the fault of ..."
"Officer Scolex!" Sonia sputtered, "If you are going to blame this on that girl again ..."
"Who else am I to blame it on?!" Carl sneered
"The company that MADE the drones? Enormo Enterprises?" Sonia snapped
"And who were the drones after? Chas TOLD you they were focused SOLELY on Alexis ... HE saw the whole thing, correct?" Carl asked
"W-Well technically ... yeah ... but she ... she saved me ..." the wounded Officer remarked
"Oh, bullshit!" Carl Scolex sighed, "she was probably just trying to cover her own tracks... or gain some good publicity ..."
"I don't really consider THIS good publicity..." a distraught Sonia Sanders replied, gesturing towards the carnage that was around them.
"Exactly ... she's a vigilante, not a PR genius..." Carl remarked
"Alright ... enough ..." Sonia sighed, "Let's finish combing the area, make sure all civilians have been accounted for who may have been affected by the incident and let's try to regain the peace as best we can here..."
"And the evidence?" Carl asked, gesturing towards the wreckage.
"It's coming back to the station, naturally ..." Sonia said, "...we're having it loaded onto the armored van just as soon as it gets here"
The already disgruntled Officer Carl Scolex put his hands on his hips and let out a long sigh as if to show his disapproval, all the while showing his usual signs of stress, as if his eyes kept flipping their focus down to his cell phone, expecting a call any moment.
______________________________________
Not too far down the road, Lexi herself lay on a table, looking utterly shocked and defeated as she whimpered, only the size of a small doll and forced to helplessly watch while Max's evil drone had blasted off with not just her car but Sugar Rush AKA Rachel Rutschmann inside.
She felt a pit in her stomach, so much so that she was barely paying attention as Roxie shoved Krystal off herself and proceeded to skip her way over the scraps of debris as if going for a walk on the beach, offering only a quick wave back to Lexi and her blonde friend while she swung open the door to the Cafe and went to fetch her trusty motocycle, peeling off in a flash.
"LATER, SHRINKS!!" Roxie would cackle, the sound of her motorcycle almost as raucous as that of the Drones that had just littered the area with schrapnel.
With the Shrinkmobile (and Lexi, so he thought) in tow, Dr. Max called off his Maximites and left the coffee shop in horrible shape but at least it was over ... for now. Lexi just looked around at the destruction and a single tear trickled down her eye, as Krystal leaned in to comfort her.
"ShrinkGirl ...? L-Lex?" Krystal asked sadly.
The two girls paused their interaction for the moment as a small chirp could be heard and something else hovered into the restaurant to break the short lived silence. This time it would be another drone, but a much smaller and less intimidating one. All the same, Krystal was understandably frightened.
"HEY!!" Krystal yelped, so loud it almost made the tiny Lexi jump back. "You leave us alone!"
"Wait..." Lexi squeaked, trying to hold back a chuckle as she waved to the drone, which in turn activated a small spotlight to better see her down on the table. "He's ... he's one of ours ... he's a friend of mine ... in fact ... the drone is ... kind of an experimental thing..."
Josh watched the scene from a camera in his garage, shaking his head in dismay while also slightly marveling at the fact that his drone worked as well as it did. Of course this hasn't been the only time he'd tested it, nor the first time Lexi had used it in a "heroic" type of scenario.
"You have your own drone?!" Krystal exclaimed, suddenly elated despite their traumatic encounter, "That is so cool! I should've known you'd have something like that, I'm sorry if I freaked out, Lexi .. it's just ... holy hell ... wait til I tell everyone I was just part of a REAL ShrinkGirl adventure ..."
"H-eh...maybe ... we don't need to tell people about this..." Lexi chuckled, sparking a bit as she involuntarily grew back. Now normally she'd be more than happy to grow back but she didn't intend to do so while on the flimsy table, her sudden increase in weight predictably causing the table to give way and collapse as she fell on her backside. "...Ouch ... put that on my bill, please..."
"Lexi! Shit, you okay?" Krystal asked, wasting no time in offering a hand to help up the well known crimefighter. Lexi grunted and nodded as she rose to her feet with Krystal's assistance.
Lexi looked over at the hovering drone and took a moment to appreciate just how nice of a job Josh did with it. The drone was fairly small, but it didn't need to be particularly big thanks to her size changing powers.
Unlike the original model, this one had been more hollowed out on the inside to allow Lexi to actually climb inside and pilot it if need be, although she was in no shape to drive anything as she felt super woozy from the whole encounter that she had endured.
"Th-Thanks for the lift, Josh..." Lexi said weakly before covering her mouth, "Oop, sorry ... I didn't mean to ..."
"Josh?" Krystal asked, curious as she took a short pace around the hovering drone to have a look at it.
The drone bore thick chromium armor but rather than stick to default silver, it had a bit more stylizing on it, with thin white and purple lines spray painted along its surface and wings, including an SG logo painted on the very top ; which also housed a hatch that could open up.
"Your friend really gets into the superhero thing, huh?" Krystal teased a bit.
"You have ... NO idea..." Lexi sighed, before hobbling over to Krystal herself and wrapping her arms around the young woman in a warm and sincere hug, "thank you so much for your help ... I am SO sorry you got wrapped up in this ... I feel terrible"
"Lexi stop ..." Krystal smirked, gently rubbing Lexi's back in the hug before looking at her a bit more concerned, "Are YOU okay? I'm worried about chu..."
"I'll be fine..." Lexi said, with some confidence rising in her voice, even as she wasn't sure. She felt as though any moment could present an unexpected surprise and jolt her size back down or up or ... who knows? But she kept a steely resolve nonetheless. "I just ... I wish I could do more to help you ... do you live far from here? Do you need an escort back? Just in case things are still dangerous out there?"
"No no ... I live close by" Krystal said, "but ... I wanna go with you!"
"What?" Lexi smirked a bit but then shook her head as worry took over her mind again, "No no no, you can't go with us ... I'm sorry ... I appreciate it but ... it's just not safe ... you already saw what happened with you being here as a bystander ... I can't have anyone else getting hurt because of my reckless choices..."
"Lex... that crazy girl was here before you even showed up..." Krystal said, referring to Roxie, "Because you were here, you might've saved my life..."
"You need to give yourself more credit Lexi ... ouch!" the drone spoke, much with Josh's voice, although the concluding 'ouch' came off as a tad confusing. After a pause, Josh's robotic voice spoke again through the drone's speaker system, "S-Sorry ... damn spider in my room I can never catch the damn thing ..."
Lexi let out a bit of a forced giggle.
"...as you can tell, I'm not exactly running a tight operation here ... but Josh is one of my best friends and he ..."
"Oh ... yeah I get it ..." Krystal said sadly.
"Huh? No, why are you ... why are you sad?" Lexi asked confused, as she rested a hand on Krystal's shoulder and looked her in the eye. Nobody was allowed to be sad on Lexi's watch, after all.
"Not sad ..." Krystal said, mumbling a bit as she looked down, "Just ... you were saying earlier ... you didn't have a sidekick ... and I just ... well, I don't know ..."
"You wanna be my sidekick?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow
"Well no ... well maybe yes ..." Krystal stammered, "I just ... I'd rather be your friend"
"Well you ARE my friend!" Lexi said with a sincere smile, "I'm not gonna just ditch you, Krystal ... it's just that right now ... things are dangerous..."
"I understand ..." Krystal sighed sadly. "I didn't mean to butt in ..."
"You're not butting in ..." Lexi sighed, looking dejected as her eyes flicked back and forth between Krystal and the drone as it offered closely and obediently behind her.
"Maybe she could ... come by?" Josh said thorugh the drone. Lexi looked back, a bit aggravated. "I'm sorry ... it's just ... I'm not that far from here and ... she seems really interested..."
Krystal gave Lexi a hopeful look who had to relent as she sighed and shook her head, finally turning that head shake into a nod.
"Okay ..." Lexi sighed
"Yeah?" Krystal yelped excitedly, "Oh hell yes! Let me just grab my purse! Oh and my phone ... it's ... it's on the ground over here somewhere heh ..."
"Uh yeah ..." Lexi frowned, recalling the incident that just took place with Krystal's old and now beat up phone, "Sorry about that"
"Hey it's all good!" Krystal giggled, scooping up the phone and popping away for a bit, "I'm just excited as hell to be part of this ... I'm going to go to the Batcave and meet Lexi's partners and ..."
"I wish this was as much -- fun ..." Lexi whimpered, her size powers sparking her a bit smaller for a second before restoring her, "...as you say it is ... I just ... ugh ..."
"Hey, if you want, I can just go home ..." Krystal frowned.
"No ... no it's fine ..." Lexi sighed, "You can come with ... just follow the drone, okay?"
"I'll try to keep it under 60 miles an hour ..." Josh quipped, "speaking of ... are you ready to try this sucker out?"
"I'll admit ..." Lexi shrugged, "I've been interested in trying this for a while ... albeit under better circumstances..."
As Lexi shrank herself, thankful that she was still able to with minimal issues, she couldn't even process all that had happened in such a short time. She had literally been on her way to Trevor's place to possibly reverse her shrink powers. It was a decision she didn't make lightly but she still remained scared for her future. Now, here she was, shrinking again to board some kind of Drone as if it were a first class airplane flight.
Once shrunk, the drone would dip down slowly, the camera viewing Lexi as she stood, appearing (in the footage) as a normal bystander from where the drone hovered, just above ground level.
The tiny Lexi smirked, a hand on her hip as she pointed right at the camera viewing her.
"H-How do I look?" she squeaked
"P-Perfect..." Josh mumbled, getting lost in the moment for a bit, "...absolutely perfect ... uh ... I mean, hop on!"
With that Josh hit a button which caused a small ramp to protrude from the Drone, similar to an alien mothership, which is how it appeared as the tiny girl wearing purple, gold and white walked her way up the chrome walkway into her new "ship"
Krystal watched on, a bit giddy while also gathering her car keys.
"I'll meet you guys outside in a few, okay?" she giggled, heading out to get her car while Lexi got settled within the cockpit of the ShrinkDrone, looking around in amazement.
"H-How did you have the time and knowhow to build all this?" Lexi asked in pure shock. She felt as if a member of the U.S.S. Starship Enterprise, a reference to one of her favorite shows growing up, Star Trek : The Next Generation ... although she'd be the first to admit she lacked the conviction and intelligence of a leader like Captain Jean Luc Picard.
"Eh ... a few free days here and there, the right part combinations and a surprising number of YouTube how to videos ..." Josh quipped, "now, are we ready for ... takeoff?!"
"Let er rip!" Lexi squeaked cutely, feeling the seat beneath her rumble as the Drone made a slow, wavering ascent before evening out and beginning to hover out the open door of the coffee shop.
Lexi peered over to see Krystal getting into her car, able to see through a large LCD video wall that served as a sort of "one-way" window in which she could see out but others would just see the outside of the armored drone.
"Okay ... so what's the plan?" Josh asked, already programming in his garage as the destination of Lexi's new ride.
"The plan?" Lexi squeaked, pausing as she took a deep breath, "Go as fast as you can ..."
"Huh? I thought we were ... waiting for Krystal?" Josh asked, now sounding confused.
"Josh..." Lexi sighed, looking exhausted "...I ... we can't let her come to the ... whatever we're calling it ..."
"The Josh Cave" Josh responded emphatically.
"Really? We're STILL going with that?" Lexi asked with a sigh, "Okay okay fine ... we can't let her get to the Josh cave ... so ... just hover above her car for a bit and try to lose her with some evasive manuevers..."
"If that's ... what you want ..." Josh sighed, sounding a bit dejected.
The plan to "ditch" Krystal wasn't something which was usually in Lexi's character but she also wanted to make sure nobody else got hurt because of her involvement with all of this. Her eyes would dart around the area, seeing Krystal's silver car behind them at a close distance while the drone hovered slowly about the neighborhood, making a bee-line towards Josh's place.
"Can this thing go ... any faster?" Lexi asked, glancing back to notice Krystal still keeping a good pace behind them.
"I guess, Lexi ..." Josh said with a sense of uneasiness to his voice, "I just don't want to go zooming too fast and draw attention to it ..."
"That's fair..." Lexi nodded, noticing that as the drone took a corner around a high rise, Krystal's car seemed to fade from view, "well maybe up the speed just a LITTLE bit ... I think we've almost lost her ..."
"Aye aye, captain..." a very engaged but also disappointed Joshua James answered as he followed the orders of his tiny pilot and friend, Lexi.
Moments later, the Drone would land just outside of Josh's garage. A few moments went by and then the door opened, and Lexi's ShrinkDrone hovered into the garage, landing on a workbench where space had been cleared off for her re-emergence.
"So, how was that?" Josh asked, through the Drone's communication system, a small speaker on the dashboard.
"I can tell you more in literally 30 seconds" Lexi squeaked, "But it was surprisingly comfortable ... this is kind of amazing ..."
Lexi would continue her thoughts as she slid out through the exit ramp, looking up at Josh as she did so.
"I just wonder how long this thing can fly ... like how far can I get on a single charge?" Lexi asked
"In some of my test runs I was able to keep the Drone going for about 2 hours but that's just maintaining a slow speed and not using nav systems or anything like that ..." Josh answered, watching Lexi pace around the work bench, inspecting the underside of the Drone as if checking out a new car. "You uh ... you can probably get bigger now ..."
"I will ... or I'll try to ..." Lexi sighed, sparking a bit at just the thought of it. "I'm trying to keep my size changes to a minimum, although sometimes it seems like I have no choice..."
"Yeah ... Dr. Hilfmann was telling me about that ..." Josh frowned with concern as he watched his tiny friend pace about, finding it a bit adorable as she knelt down and poked a life-sized screwdriver that was on the counter next to her, as if in disbelief that it was real and not just a comically sized prop. "I wish you had said something before..."
"I ... try not to make a big deal of these things ..." Lexi squeaked, before giggling, "No pun intended... that time"
"Yeah but stil, you know that you can ..." Josh began, only to be interuppted by a knock on the door. He cautiously walked up to the garage door, sliding out a small slot so that he'd be able to see the guest on the other side before letting them in.
To his surprise (and Lexi's) it was Krystal and she looked a bit awkward as she stood there in front of her silver car.
"Hey uh ... guys?" Krystal asked, "Mind letting me in? I kinda have to use the bathroom..."
_________________________
An uncomfortably large quake shook the Fensterian Citadel in the mystically cloaked Fairy Colony in Fenster Forest. At the forefront, to check on things was none other than the armor clad fairy valkyrie known as Daniella, but most knew her as Dani.
This stoic, blonde haired blue eyed steadfast protector of the realm wasted no time in charging down to the inner sanctums of the citadel to see a massive flux of energy come surging through. Holding up her sword to shield her eyes, she'd glance to the right to notice a wormhole forming before her eyes, shaking her head nervously.
"No ... no ... this can't be ..."
Elsewhere, a pair of scientists had a much different react to the occurence, watching in joy as a large machine was creating the interdimensional rift that Dr. Giovanni had spent most of his life trying to accomplish. In the process however, they were drawing excessive amounts of power ... so much so that the lab itself began to experience a power failure, momentarily saved by on board generators but only for so long.
"Is there a way to ... increase the power, Dr. Mumford?" Dr. Giovanni asked his eager lead Engineer who monitored the power levels as the portal inducer continued to pick up energy, aided mightily by one tool -- a purple and gold medallion with the SG insignia.
The medallion seemed to be helping to create a more stable portal but it wasn't sufficient enough to energize the gateway which eventually had to be shut down as the ambitious Dr. Maximillian reluctantly slid down the lever which gave power to the almighty machine. Without such power, the interdimensional portal inducer would slowly hum down to a resting state, small amounts of smoke emanating from each of its metallic nodules as it lay dormant in the room.
Dr. Giovanni paused, his disappointment noticable but he did pick up his handy notebook and begin scribbling some observations down.
"Not perfect but a very nice second test run" Dr. Giovanni concluded.
Maximillian seemed less enthused.
"It was ... encouraging yes ..." Dr. Max said, "but the machine seems to draw at least 10 times as much power as anything that our servos can handle and we're equipped for some pretty strong stuff here..."
"Time, Dr. Max..." Dr. Giovanni said with an encouraging tone as he inspected the machine for any signs of fatigue or damage. There appeared to be none save for some overheating but that was to be expected. "This will take time ... but the progress and eventual result will be worth it ..."
"Heh, I have no doubt, Dr. Giovanni ...." Dr. Maxmillian said with a smirk, except this time he really meant it. He actually did believe in his colleague. It was a weird feeling for him but not the worst thing. Their second test run hadn't been an amazing success but at least it hadn't caused any noticeable disruptions outside of the lab.
_____________
"...the heck just happened?" a concerned Lexi asked as she sat atop a counter in Josh's garage, feet propped up as she had just witnessed the lights go on and off in a quick burst for the second time in 5 minutes.
"I'm not sure ..." Josh said, opening up a page on his computer which allowed him to monitor the Minitropolis power grid, "but we're not alone ... rolling blackouts have just started hitting the city as of a few minutes ago ... it could just be a one time thing ... or ... where'd you go?"
Josh looked over to see his friend was no longer on the table to listen to him, or so it seemed. He sighed.
"Shrank to micro size again?" Josh sighed with dismay. Lexi, naturally couldn't answer.
Thankfully her own "power surge" restored her size fairly quickly as Krystal re-entered the room, looking concerned herself.
"You guys see that?" Krystal sighed, "everybody's losing power it seems ... my mom said we've been out twice in the past 10 minutes..."
Krystal made her way over towards the counter to hop up and have a seat. It seemed Josh's garage was fairly deficient of proper seating so most guests would sit on the sturdy counter. This wouldn't be a problem except Josh quickly noticed Lexi wasn't visible.
"WAIT! DON'T SIT THERE!!" Josh blurted out but thankfully it was a non-issue.
While Lexi had shrunk and regrown, she was a safe distance from Krystal.
"It's fine ..." Lexi sighed, looking down at her hands and rubbing them together as if she were cold.
Strange thing was, however, she wasn't cold but her hands were. It was almost as if they weren't receiving proper circulation, and yet there was still a stark tingling in the extremities that came and went. Her condition was worsening for sure.
"Heh ... so much for my being the 'hero' you thought I was ...." a dejected Lexi sighed, still rubbing her hands together. The tingling had stopped ... for now.
"Hey what are you talking about?" Krystal said supportively, putting her hand on Lexi's shoulder. "You saved my life at the coffee shop! You save lots of people all the time! I can't say I completely understand what you're going through with your super powers but ... I'm sure you'll figure it out"
Josh nodded, appreciating Krystal's positive spark of energy. As he turned around to say something, he noticed the pesky spider, a gray "Daddy long legs" with long lanky joints as it hobbled about on a keyboard of his. He angrily slammed his hand down, trying to get it, only to lament as he missed.
"Still with the bug problem?" Lexi smirked
"It's just this spider ..." Josh sighed, "I can't tell if it's the same one or different ones that keep getting in ... I don't even see a web in here!"
"Maybe you need to clean up the Twinkies, buddy" Lexi joked. Josh shook his head but was pleased to see his old friend cracking a smile again, even momentarily.
Josh continued to monitor things over on his screens before coming over to talk to the girls, needing a break from so much time with machines. Lexi hopped off the counter and let out a groggy yawn as she stretched.
"Hey, do you mind if I use your shower?" Lexi asked shyly, "I'm pretty beat and ... well, worst case, if I shrink or something, maybe Krystal can help me out?"
Krystal gave a smirk and a thumbs up as if to acknowledge her readiness for such a task.
"Yeah, sure ..." Josh said, "it's up the hall and to the right"
"Thanks hon" Lexi said, beginning to take her walk for the door before realizing her metallic gold wristlets were still tied onto her forearms. "Heh, guess I don't need to keep these on ..."
Krystal was momentarily distracted on her phone so she didn't even notice as Lexi turned to Josh briefly, setting the wristlets on the counter.
Lexi turned again to make her way for the door, but somehow the convergence of static energy, even for a moment, caused her body to give off another spark -- except this time, it wasn't her that shrank but rather poor Josh who was in the vicinity. He found himself just a few inches tall as Lexi made her unaware way to the door.
"Hey" Lexi said to Krystal, figuring Josh was just ducked behind a counter or something as she addressed the busy blonde, "you mind just ... walking me there? If I shrink or something... well, that wouldn't be great ..."
"Heh no worries Lex" Krystal said, following Lexi out the door as their voices faded. The last thing that could be heard being said was Krystal's remark, "hey, does this mean I'm your sidekick now?"
"Heh not quite ... professional escort maybe ..." Lexi giggled, again obscured from the door as it closed. "....not sure if that sounds any better though..."
"Hey!!" Josh yelped out, terrified to look up and see his once waist level workbench now miles up in the sky compared to him. "Lexi? Krystal?! A hand here?!"
Josh sighed and gulped, heart racing. He had considered this possibility in his head numerous times. Heck, under the right circumstances he may have actually ASKED Lexi to shrink him just as she had done to Leah before, just as a fun experiment of sorts. This didn't feel as fun though.
"Then again ..." the usually calm Joshua James thought as he just paced around his currently giant laboratory/garage. "What's the worst that could happen? They'll be back shortly and Lexi will fix my height ... we'll all have a nice laugh about this..."
Josh's logic would have been sound if not for a certain eight legged visitor who didn't take too kindly to his prior attempts to squash him.
Josh gulped, looking up at the spider that now stood at roughly his height, marching towards him like an eager attack dog on the prowl.
"G-Good spider..." Josh squeaked, scampering under a desk as he heard the door creak back open into the garage. "I like Spider-Man ... that's gotta count for something, right?"
Unfortunately, this agitated arachnid didn't take too kindly to being attacked -- whether by a Spider-Man fan or not.
"Hey Josh...?" Krystal asked, looking around in confusion. "You still in here? You mind if I snag the Wifi password?"
Josh squeaked, about to come out and try to get the blonde's attention but he was quickly impeded by the spider, letting out a yelp as he fell on his back and scooted into a corner, seeing his only hope now was a No. 2 pencil.
Latching onto the pencil, Josh would grab it up like a makeshift spear and try to jab at the spider. The method was somewhat effective even as Josh was losing grip on the large cumbersome graphite fighting staff.
The spider seemed to be making herky jerky motions forward, almost as if trying to seize the pencil from Josh's hands. Josh would let out a desperate grunt as he threw the pencil like a javelin. It grazed the spider and caused it to stumble back, but all Krystal noticed was a pencil hitting the ground from behind a desk as if it was dropped on its own.
"Josh?" Krystal asked confused. "Uh ... you under the desk?"
Krystal walked into the area where Josh did most of his work, which was cornered off with a few small desks on all sides, the one against the wall housing his computer and most of his research tech such as where he worked on Lexi's Shrinkdrone.
Krystal was about to take a better look at it before noticing the spider crawling its way towards her foot.
"Oh geez!!" Krystal yelped, smacking the spider with her sneakered foot, causing a booming tremor for the poor shrunken Josh who just backed away, suddenly bearing an aghast look on his face to see his spidery foe reduced to tatters as it lay there, squished.
"Yikes..." Josh sighed, "I wanted this to end ... but not like this ..."
Krystal briefly studied a couple of the designs on Josh's computer, understanding some of it while also not being so sure about the rest. She had already been impressed with Lexi, her ingenuity, her car and the like, but the scope of Josh's ambiitions only further blew her away.
After a few more moments, Lexi returned sighing in relief as she re-entered the garage, re-costumed but also refreshed while she noticed Krystal but didn't see Josh.
"Hey ... where's uh ...?" Lexi asked, before having her question almost immediately answered with a loud "THUD" and "Ouch" ... Josh soon emerging from under the desk as Lexi's shrinking mojo seemed to have worn off, similarly to how it did with Roxie and Krystal back at the coffee shop "Oh, there you are ... fine time to start cleaning under your desk"
"How long were you down there?" Krystal asked, confused
"It's a ... weird story ..." Josh sighed, opting not to tell Lexi the truth for fear of adding further guilt to her. He knew she didn't shrink him on purpose after all.
"So ... uh ... what's the plan?" Lexi asked, suddenly getting back into "hero" mode as she slid alongside Krystal to look at Josh's computer screen, "And also ... you've been damn busy ... is this a map of the whole city?"
"It's not perfected yet..." Josh commented, "but yes, more or less ... I've been test flying the drone around to get me accurate topographical footage and was able to create this simulated grid to ... what?"
Josh stopped talking when he noticed how "jaw dropped" the two girls looked at him.
"Just ... that's amazing ... like legit" Lexi said, a sincere smile on her face.
"It's no big ..." Josh said with a light smirk
"No, it REALLY is ..." Lexi said, smiling still as she caught a glimpse of something else on Josh's workbench but she figured it was something she wasn't suppose to see as it looked like a scrap of gold metal resembling her wristlets. It could've also been any number of things but she decided not to go into it. "You do so much for me, Josh ... not to mention the risk you could be putting yourself in ..."
"Well, I just wanna help my friends" Josh said, "and besides if you told me at the beginning of last school year that I would end up being friends with a kickass superhero, I would've signed up for that any day of the ... wait ... what risk?"
"Well ... it's just ..." Lexi stuttered, "You know how crazy Mad Max is ... heck, that's why we CALL HIM Mad Max..."
"Mad ... Max?" Krystal chimed in, finding herself a bit lost in the conversation, "wasn't that some 1980's action movie?"
"Technically ... yes ..." Lexi sighed, "But he's also ... not good news ..."
"He's the owner of Enormo Enterprises..." Josh explained, "well, one of them ... Lexi's current condition is the result of some experiment that she stumbled into ..."
"How do you ...?" Krystal asked, curious to know the story now.
"I thought it was a changing room!" Lexi decried
"...but anyway ... she got her super powers and that's kinda why she's awesome, among many things..." Josh said with a blush. Krystal turned to him, a coy smirk on her face but she quickly turned her attention away from him.
"You know what ISN'T awesome though?" Lexi sighed, "besides not knowing when I'm going to shrink or grow or what? The fact that that lunatic has likely been tracking me the whole time ... those drones were RIGHT on my tail as soon as I started driving ..."
"And you said they had tractor beams?" Josh added
"Yeah ... they were obviously after ME but they scooped up my entire CAR ... with Rachel inside!" Lexi sighed.
The group paused for a moment with concern before Lexi took a step forward, looking at the map Josh had on his computer, particularly to note the distance between where they currently were and the monolithic building that was Enormo Enterprises.
"He's not getting away with it" Lexi said decisively, taking a single step forward and feeling her confidence grow, only to be struck down again -- literally -- as she briefly shrank and re-grew, looking over at Josh with a disgusted look, "Uh ... you know you got a dead spider under your desk?"
"...Yeah..." Josh sighed, before returning to the developing crisis, "but what do you mean by ... he's not going to get away with it?"
"I MEAN ... I need to --bzt!!" Lexi squeaked, poofing away again into tiny form, only to poof back to normal size, "I need to break in there ... and save Rachel!"
"Uhhhh... I'm sorry Lex..." Josh sighed, looking worried, "Normally I'd be right there with you but ... your powers are so unstable ..."
"I have to agree with Josh unfortunately..." Krystal sighed, looking concerned as well.
"Well I can't just sit on my hands ..." Lexi sighed, an unusually fitting choice of words as she noticed her fingertips sparking again, "I need to get this under control and I need to save Rachel! This is my fault..."
Josh could tell the experience was having an effect on Lexi both physically and emotionally as her heightened sense of awareness seemed to be doing her no favors as it pertained to her body sparking and changing sizes.
"Okay well ... let's try to head down to Aztek, okay?" Josh said, "We can visit Trevor ... see what he can do, yknow?"
"Didn't you say you couldn't reach him on the phone?" Lexi asked, worried.
"Yeah ... he kinda stopped taking calls right after the drone thing started but before that I had discussed an idea with him to maybe stabilize you and have you keep your shrinking powers..." Josh explained, getting his coat on as the pair headed for the door.
"Yeah? And what would that be?" Lexi asked
"I'll explain on the way ..." Josh said, before looking to Krystal. "You coming?"
"Me? I ... I CAN ... yeah ... I just don't wanna get in the way ..." Krystal said shyly
Lexi gave her a bit of a comforting glance.
"You're not getting in the way, I promise..." Lexi said, meaning to just wrap an arm around Krystal to comfort her but of course her shrinking powers would misfire and she'd end up literally holding the shrunken blonde in the palm of her hand now. "Oh shoot ... I'm sorry!! Just ... ugh..."
"No no it's okay!" Krystal giggled, her voice high pitched and squeaky as she sat in Lexi's soft palm, "Now I REALLY won't get in the way, I'm portable now!!"
"W-Well..." Lexi sighed, having to restrain a chuckle from the comment, "the good news is, it should wear off shortly ... and if not, I can try to grow you again myself..."
"Mine seemed to last about 5, 10 minutes..." Josh said as a reference point before realizing he may have let the "secret" slip.
"Your ... what?" Lexi asked
"...uh ... never mind."
Giantess World
