The time was 11:35 PM, on a rainy stormy night at the Minitropolis Penitentiary as a psychologist came in to talk to a particularly troubled inmate. His name was Karl and he was shaking as he sat in his seat, waiting for the psychologist to show up. Her name was Dr. Sheila Hillenbrandt and she was appointed to handling particularly troubling cases. It seemed a lot of inmates had been claiming the same thing though ... it seemed highly delusional and concerning to somebody of her profession. She hoped it didn't signal some larger mental disease that was going around. Still, the doctor was conscientious, caring and as kind as could be under the circumstances. She wore a buttoned up navy blue suit jacket with white blouse underneath, bore a concerned face with dark brown eyes, slightly overcast by her light mahagony hair.

She'd take a seat across from the skittish convict and nod sympathetically

"I just want to ask you a few questions ... Mr... " she'd pause, peering into her notebook of names and photos on file, "Karl Streisky..."

"You won't believe me..." he scowled, backing away in his chair, "none of them do..."

"Just please ... tell me what happened the other night ..." Dr. Hillenbrandt asked calmly, "I promise not to judge"

Karl seemed less than willing but he took a deep breath and pressed on.

It had all happened a week or so ago. Him and a few of his associates, a smaller branch of something known as the Chaos Crew were on a heist at a bank. As the name implies, the Crew was assembled to cause havoc in the city, usually breaking off into multiple factions and causing mischief and crime if for no other reason than to keep the heat off their boss, Byron Biggs, a sort of mob boss. It also wasn't too uncommon for the Crew to be so widespread in numbers they'd often attack one another, not knowing which criminals were put on which jobs. It was dangerous work for sure but for Karl, he could handle a little danger.

He was 29 years old, and grew up without his parents who were tragically taken from him. He long believed the police were reponsible for not doing more to prevent their murder. This thinking influenced most of his life decisions, drawing him in towards a life of crime. Well, that and the promise of large amounts of money and bounty.

On this night, him and his Crew were storming the Minitropolis Bank. It was a job they had scoped out for about a week, looking at the weaknesses of the laser grid security system, how many guards were on duty each night and about how long it would take to infiltrate the safe room, grab a sizable amount of money and get out before tripping any alarms or alerting the police. It also helped that the Chaos Crew had an insider working for them. That's right, it wasn't uncommon for the Crew to recruit "civilians" who often times weren't even involved directly in the crimes other than to provide intel.

Anyways, the plan was flawless. They had considered every possible variable. Except one. Her name was Alexis Cole. Of course they didn't know that. They knew her simply by a set of initials. SG.

Hours earlier, Alexis Cole, or Lexi as she liked to be called received a tip of her own, that the Minitropolis First United Bank was down to be hit around that time that night. How? Well a security guard had caught wind of the plan from the Crew's inside man. How did Lexi know that security guard? Well, she didn't. Her friend Josh did. Josh knows people.

The Crew were successful in the first step of the plan, having subdued the pair of sluggish guards that stood watch over the bank's entrance. After all, the guards figured they didn't need to be TOO diligant as the security system within was state of the art. Even if somebody should slip through the cracks, they would be caught and the police would be sent in to handle things as quick as possible.

That wouldn't be the case that night.

The thuggish looking gang knocked out both guards using the tips of their assuault rifles before finding swiping their key cards and getting inside.

"Shhh..." Karl warned, holding his 2 cohorts back, "Wait until we get the signal..."

"What signal?" another one asked, looking around to notice no laser grids in sight. "The alarms seem to be disabled already"

"Hmm, you're right..." Karl muttered to himself, although he didn't seem too happy about it. AFter all, with the alarms momentarily disabled, their plan was going right on track. He didn't seem so convinced.

"There's no way Axel got in that fast" Karl added, shaking his head with worry while his cohorts went on ahead to the safe room knowing time was of the essence. He'd pick up his phone and call for Axel. "Axel... Axel, why didn't you tell us you disabled the alarm?"

"....I didn't" a very confused Axel would answer, "it was turned off when I got here"

"What? But how? You're the only one of us who knows where the control room is and it's not like somebody could've just snuck in before us and..." Karl started before getting startled by the sound of a fight breaking out. He'd hear a thud before the line went silent. "Fuck ... Axel! AXEL!"

"...really? Your guy's name is Axel?" the voice on the other end chuckled. It was certainly not Axel, it sounded like a young lady with a mocking tone, "Were Ratchet and Clank not available?" she added before hanging up the phone.

"Fuck." Karl thought but continued to follow his men. Had Biggs double crossed them again? Sent in another criminal to do their job? It was bad enough they had that rogue vixen Roxie running around getting in their way ... what use was there sending them to do another job that was already tabbed for someone else?

Karl would cautiously approach the safe room, noticing the door was cracked but he heard no noise from his boys.

"Cmon guys, we gotta get what we need quick and get out of here... somebody beat us to the job..." Karl warned, stepping closer as he kept his gun at his side, "...guys? C'mon this isn't funny, we gotta go... for real"

Still no answer. Karl was getting peeved now.

"Alright, let's just go before..." Karl yelped, but what met him on the other side of the door was a swift fist to the face, causing him to stumble back in shock. "shit"

"What?" Lexi smirked, looking at her own fist and twirling it a bit, "not expecting me to hit so hard for a girl?"

"The fuck are you?" Karl asked

"That's what your other guys said..." Lexi shrugged, noting their fallen bodies at her feet, "I didn't have to say much more, nor do I think I need to tell you who I am either ... now why don't we just do this..."

Karl lay there on the ground, a bit woozy, trying to decipher everything that was happening. If this new person was one of Byron's, she was pretty eccentric, even for him. She wore purple and gold like some kind of cheerleader and a shiny metal belt that clearly said "SG" on it, the metal work impeccably sharp, as were her matching wrist gauntlets, posing as some kind of Wonder Woman ripoff. Her steps towards him were fairly quiet considering she was wearing metallic purple boots as she strolled closer. Despite her young age, she didn't even seem afraid. It was as if this particular young woman had dealt with menaces before. But she hadn't dealt with him, or a gun to the face.

"No, why don't you back the fuck away from this job, you bitch?" Karl would snap, hastily getting himself up before the smug young lady could come any closer. This startled Lexi a bit and she raised her hands in defense. "Who sent you?"

"Okay..." Lexi nodded, the smile no longer an issue as it faded away from her concerned face, "I can tell ... you're upset ... I don't blame you ... you're probably scared"

Karl would fire a warning shot into the air, well above Lexi but still effective in getting her stunned. "You're damn right!! I'm not fucking around, you little bitch ... who sent you? Is this some kind of dare? Why are you dressed like Captain Marvel?"

"Captain Marvel? Really?" Lexi rolled her eyes, "c'mon, now we're not even..."

BANG!

Another gunshot would silence the talkative Lexi as he shot a bit closer this time.

"Let's .... just ... talk..." Lexi nodded, stepping slowly closer to him. As she did, he could notice weird electricity surrounding her feet and hands.

"The fuck are you?" Karl yelped, beginning to wonder just what was happening. This all felt like something out of a dream ... or a superhero movie.

"Please ... put the gun down..." Lexi nodded, still stepping closer but the apprehension on her face was apparent. She was confident but she wasn't stupid. She knew her foe had the upper hand ... for now. "I promise you... you won't like what I do next"

"Is that a threat, you fuckin'?" Karl began, his rage getting the best of him as he was swift to pull the trigger but Lexi was swifter, able to position herself under him and grab for his right arm, the one that held the gun. From then she'd take a deep breath, her heartrate going about a million miles a minute but she'd slow it just long enough to allow her to activate her secret weapon.

The electricty from her feet and hands seemed to transfer into the stunned criminal as he'd drop his gun and watch her grow in front of him. In fact ... the whole bank seemed to be growing as he felt like he was being static shocked and momentarily immobile. He'd look up in disbelief, continuing to shout obscenities, which Lexi couldn't help but find amusing considering his dwindling situation.

"What are you doing to me?! You bitch?! What are you!?"

Now unfortunately for Lexi and even moreso for Karl, she still wasn't super well versed in how her superpowers worked and so Karl would find himself tiny in a matter of moments but to make things worse, his clothes would be not so tiny, leaving him naked and swimming in them as the now giant superheroine loomed over him.

By this point, more than enough time had elapsed to alert the authorities and the alarms began blaring. A loud sound for most people but even moreso for the tiny 3 inch tall Karl who was left shriveled up in his clothes.

Lexi shook her head and sighed, "I tried to warn you ... but I'm not completely heartless... I will grow you back but it'll take a few minutes ..." Lexi nodded, leaning over and staring at the scared little criminal, "Hopefully in that time, you'll be able to think about what you did ... and also the cops will be here to take you away ... sorry it had to be this way"

With that Lexi would gently reach out with 2 fingers as the horrified Karl Streisky tried futitely to escape. The 2 fingers would briefly spark him but as she had mentioned, he wouldn't feel the growth starting right away as it would take a bit of time. With that, Lexi would stand up to full height and not say another word, instead dashing out from wence she came, leaving Karl and his gang ripe for arrest with Karl no more than 3 inches high.

"...and that's what happened" Karl sighed, still trembling as he relived the ordeal. In real time, he was likely only tiny for 5-10 minutes but the sight and chill of it all haunted him still. It felt like an eternity waiting to grow back and by the time he did, he was a weeping wreck buried in his clothes when the cops came to detain him and his associates, who all corroborated his story to some degree, saying that they also saw a purple and gold clad woman attack them but the shrinking part seemed to be where some disagreements arose. Some even said the girl shrank HERSELF sometimes, performing acrobatic tricks while the size of a bug only to grow back and smack them in the face at her full size.

Dr. Hillenbrandt would continue taking notes, trying her best not to show any reaction whatsoever. As concerning as the story was and the degree of the young man's delusions, she could tell he was genuinely shaken up in retelling the story. Whatever the case, she could tell that he truly believed that those events happened and wasn't lying, at least not in his mind.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Streisky" the cold sounding Hillenbrandt said, getting up and leaving the room, going behind a glass wall to talk to someone else, the man who had been appointed as Karl's defense attorney.

"You don't believe me..." Karl sighed, already knowing that was the case.

After chatting with the psychiatrist, Karl's defense lawyer made his way into the room. He'd sit across from his criminal client and make stern eye contact for several moments before speaking.

"Okay so ... it seems you're dead set on pleading insanity..." he sighed

"I am NOT pleading insanity" Karl sighed, "I'm TELLING you what happened!"

The lawyer would look both ways as if to make sure nobody was listening as he leaned in privately

"But what really happened?" he asked with a whisper, "I can try to reduce your sentence but you need to be honest with me here... telling these fantasies is only going to make things worse for your case"

"I'm telling you the truth!" Karl sighed, slumping in his chair

"...then again, the jury may find sympathy for somebody so young going through so much ... maybe we could convince them of your mental unrest ... the doctor over there seems to believe it anyhow"

Karl would just sigh and shake his head. He know what he saw that night ...


------

"Really good practice today, girls" Chrissy would say cheerfully closing her locker to look across at the pale blonde girl across from her. "Especially you Rachel ... that spin move at the end was really something, think you'll be able to pull that off at the regionals?"


"I mean ... maybe..." Rachel nodded shyly, but of course Rachel Rutschmann had always been a sort of shy girl.

From a young age she had a bit of an overbearing mother who, despite only wanting the best for her, could push her into some situations she wasn't comfortable with. Rachel felt herself to be an introvert, yet here she was as a college cheerleader, following up on her 7 plus years of being a cheerleader in general. She was also in choir, spent a brief time in chess club (before her mom realized she wasn't exactly going to win the chess championship) as well as most other clubs in school. Sure, she liked people just fine but she also enjoyed her down time, something she didn't get much of. It did help that she took a liking to Chrissy pretty early on. If she had to be pushed into cheer club she was glad to have someone like Chrissy as a friend.

"You okay hon?" Chrissy would ask, picking up on Rachel's unease as the 2 girls walked from the locker room to the campus outside.

"Yeah, yeah, it's all good..." Rachel chuckled, "just thinking about finals and all that"

"Finals?" Chrissy asked, "hon, spring break ended just a few days ago ... we got plenty of time"

"M-Maybe but I need to get straight A's again or..."

"Right" Chrissy rolled her eyes, "your mom, you were telling me about... but hey, she makes a mean cookie"

"Ugh..." Rachel sighed, looking even more fatigued. After all, that was the last thing she needed to hear about.

"S-Sorry ..." Chrissy pouted, "...I'd like to stay and talk but I actually have to go to work in a few ... we'll hang out soon, alright? And again, super work today at practice, we're going to kick some ass in the spring, even more than we did in the winter, ok?"

"Y-Yeah ... sure" Rachel nodded, offering a sincere smile as she had appreciated Chrissy's optimism. She'd look behind her and watch the other cheerleaders heading their seperate ways. She'd open her mouth briefly as if to say something to them, and maybe arrange a hangout but then shrug and walk off. Perhaps some alone time was best for now. Before she could go much further though she felt a vibration from her cell phone which she removed from her purse in curiosity, "Hello? Oh hiya Mr. Hilfmann ... yeah, I can come in today..."

It was still and quiet in the metallic manufacturing plant. Even the machines had gone to bed it semeed. Yet one hero was on the run. One person still had something she had to do and while she wasn't quite sure why or where she had come from, she was led forward by the haunting screams of a damsel in distress. It was life or death.

"Lexi!!" she'd scream, her voice echoing into the cold unforgiving dusk as the beams of light became blinding to the worried superheroine as she dove, seemingly gaining speed at an alarming rate but never quite able to reach her.

"Hold on!" Lexi screamed, holding back tears, her arms reaching as far as they could go but it seemed like the poor falling woman just got further and further

"Lexiiiiiiii!!"

"NOOOOO!!" Alexis screamed, sheets doused in sweat, face warm with panic as she'd place her hand on her cheek, her mirror a fuzzy image in the background of her room as she was tingling with regret. "Fuck... fuck fuck fuck..." she'd sigh, her eyes producing tears once more as she tried to maintain some kind of composure but it was too late. She had had the dream again.

It was enough that final exams were right around the corner. The guilt was killing Lexi. She was gone. It was all her fault. She'd shake her head and look down at the ground, not even seeing the usual sight of her curious cat Tiny who would usually be out and about during the night. It was just her in her room, left to wonder why or how things had gone the way they did.

The start of that story would take us back to a couple months earlier, shortly after spring break ended.

It had been about a month for Lexi since the Fairy Festival. Unfortunately despite their best efforts and those of protestors from around the region, the construction of the new Enormo Enterprises facility was still well underway and likely to be completed soon. Since that fateful night, and ensuing battle at the colony, a few more of her friends learned of her secret identity as ShrinkGirl ... a secret that was growing less and less secret by the day. To that end, she'd receive a call from her friend Josh and tsk as she rolled her eyes, drawing a reaction from her best friend Leah Henderson who was walking alongside her.

"Everything okay?" Leah asked

"Yeah..." Lexi groaned

"You don't SOUND okay" Leah remarked

"Josh has another ... mission for me..." Lexi sighed, "You have some time?"

"Need me to be the getaway vehicle again?" Leah would smirk,

"Not so much" Lexi replied, "just could use the company ... it's another stupid one ... cat in a tree"

"Awwww you love cats though" Leah shrugged

"Yeah but like ... I could do that now... save a cat from a tree... I'm SHRINKGIRL..." Lexi stated confidently, although not so loudly that she would draw any public attention, "I should be doing more ... hero stuff"

"Well isn't that what we did during spring break?" Leah shrugged, "I mean, sure ... we could've gone to the beach or done normal spring break stuff but you decided to go on hero patrol ..."

"Leah we both know it's still too cold to go to the beach, and also you were awesome on the getaway after that bank robbery we stopped" Lexi replied

"Bank robbery YOU stopped" Leah rolled her eyes, "and that was WAY too close for comfort... I think it's awesome that you wanna do good and help people and all that but ..."

"What?" Lexi asked, a bit concerned

"I don't know... it seems like you're going a bit ... overboard?" Leah shrugged "Maybe let the cops take care of the small crimes... sorry ... didn't mean the pun"

Lexi shrugged, "M-Maybe you're right ... especially with classes coming back, I've gotta stay focused"

"Speaking of ... how ARE your classes going?" Leah asked

"Mixed bag ... I'm great with English and literature because I love to read and write ... biology ... eh, not so much..." Lexi answered

"Yeah I'm surprised you took that, you barely made it through our chem class last semester" Leah commented

"WE barely made it through" Lex corrected her with a grin

"Does this make Josh kind of like our Professor X?" Leah asked

Lexi would raise an eyebrow in response

"I don't know, like he briefs us on missions and stuff?" Leah shrugged

"When he gets a floating wheelchair and mind reading powers, I'll see what we can do..." Lexi sighed, "actually... don't give him any ideas"


------

"Oh dear, I don't know why this keeps happening..." a nice old lady by the name of Ethel would proclaim, making room for the 2 younger women as they stepped out onto the patio to observe a tall tree that stretched up into the sky higher than the house it dwarfed. Tucked behind one of the branches of that tree would be a frightened looking black and white cat with shy blue-green tinted eyes as said eyes darted every which way. It wasn't hard to see the cat was spooked, even from a distance.

"Um... okay, stay here and uh ... let the experts handle it" Lexi nodded, running out towards the tree to begin the rescue.

Ethel would look over at Leah and give her a confused look, "does your friend always dress like a superhero?"

"It's a ... whole thing" Leah shrugged

Lexi would tap her foot impatiently looking up at the tree, "Okay uh ... cat ... here I come..."

With that Lexi would begin climbing the tree but would be greeted with frightened meowing and even a claw swiping her way as the sought after feline would disappear deeper into the thickets of the tree.

"Oh dear... Oliver, don't be mean to our company..." Ethel sighed

"Oliver..." Lexi sighed, trying to call to the cat sweetly while also drifting up closer to him. "Don't be scared, okay?"

Lexi would take a deep breath and think, realizing she may only have one shot to calm this frantic cat down and return him safely to his owner. She focused her energy as she would at times to becoming smaller and would seemingly disappear behind a tree branch.

"Oh dear ... I think my glasses are failing me..." the befuddled Ethel stuttered, watching the sight but what she was watching didn't quite add up. Leah on the other hand simply shook her head and shrugged

"Yeah uh ... that must be it" Leah sighed, crossing her arms and watching "this is quite the life I lead..." she'd think to herself watching Lexi approach the cat at a more mousy size before growing back and wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

"Gotcha!" she'd yelp, before their combined weight would inevitably collapse the tree branch, sending Lexi onto her butt harshly while Oliver simply leapt off safely and walked back to the house at a hastened pace. Leah would run over to help her best friend up.

"You okay, Lex?" Leah asked, eyebrow raised, "good thing I came along for this mission"

"Yeah yeah ..." Lexi groaned, rubbing her lower back as she got back up, but then smiling a bit as she watched the reunion between the older lady and her cat, Oliver. Okay, that moment was sweet enough to make it all worth it but still... there had to be more than this.

Later back at Josh's that's exactly what the fledgling superheroine would discuss with her "Professor X"

"Well ... we got a lady who needs her chimney sweeped..." Josh offered

"Pass"

"A short girl from Middlebury who wants you to go as her date to a dance so that she doesn't look so short..." Josh shrugged

"Is that one real?" Lexi leaned in to read, noticing it was, "Ugh ... I'm starting to think people aren't taking this seriously..."

"Well, hey" Josh shrugged, trying to be encouraging as he patted his friend on the back, "maybe you need some time away from all this... how about D&D at the comic shop with Chris and I?"

Lexi would give an uncomfortable grin but wouldn't outright say no. At least as of now, she didn't have anything else going on.

"Okay if I roll a 7 or higher, I take out your Steganocerous" Chris proudly proclaims, taking luck into his hands and spilling a 20 sided die onto the table. To Josh's delight, the number comes up as a 5. Chris makes note of the result on an expanding piece of scratch paper while Lexi sighs, fairly bored as she checks out things on her phone.

Leah had class, Chrissy had work and it seemed this was her only option.

"You sure you don't want in on this?" Josh asked, "I told you I'd write you a character real quick"

"Nah, it's okay ... I ..." Lexi started, her eyes suddenly drawn back to her phone as it lit up with a phone call. It was Chrissy. "Hello? Oh ... oh really? S-Sure I'll be right down. Thanks"

Lexi would slowly get up and nod politely to the two gentlemen still playing their game of fictional creatures doing battle.

"What's up?" Chris asked, noticing Lexi's imminent departure.

"That was ... Chrissy" Lexi nodded, with a bit of a grin, "they need some extra help down at the Krazy Kookie so ... I'm gonna just throw on an apron and lend a hand"

"Awww man, we were almost done with the quest too" Josh sighed, "but okay ... do what you gotta do"

"I'm sure you'll be sure to let me know how it goes" Lexi quipped, as she headed out the door, swiftly returning to her cell phone to text Chrissy.

"Thanks for the out ... you're a lifesafer" Lexi would text, figuring Chrissy knew. They had a certain 'signal' when one or the other would get into a situation that was less than ideal. Chrissy's code word was "muffinpastry" whereas Lexi's was "holycraphelpmeimscrewed" ... not the most conspicuous wording, for sure.

To Lexi's surprise though, another text message would come pouring in not even a minute later.

"No, Lex, for real, we need your help" Chrissy messaged, "Mara called out"

...again?" Lexi would ask herself but roll her eyes. Perhaps some time at work could help her feel more like she was making a difference. After all, at least lately it seemed like very little of her "hero work" was having an impact.

-----

"This ... ShrinkGirl character is having a major impact!" an angry kingpin announced over a video conference call some miles away from this.

That kingpin would be none other than the intimidating and well known (among a certain circle) crime lord Byron Biggs. Byron was responsible for much of the chaos which erupted in Minitropolis over the passing weeks. Usually a bit more behind the scenes, he had become especially proud of his handiwork of late and so his crime ring had been giving the name "The Chaos Crew" with many of them being hired by him or his associates in exchange for a cut of their loot. It was an effort to undermine the police and ultimately line the pockets of those who were above such things as ethics or morals. If a few people had to go to jail or be killed for their recklessness, so be it. Byron Biggs would almost never face any charges anyhow, being so high up the food chain.

At the moment though he was speaking on a video conference call with a few of his associates who ran different outfits of the Chaos Crew from around the city. On the West Side was Spike Slade, responsible for the small crew who got ambushed by ShrinkGirl not too long ago. On the South Side was Crazy Eddy ... last name unknown. His tactics were a bit on the shady side and his name was ... well ... self explanatory. Running the South Side was Pyro Pete ... not much explaining needed there. And finally, in charge of Minitropolis East was ...

"The fuck cares?" the sassy young female crimelord retorted, casually launching a bullet towards the video screen and missing by a good margin just for target practice while her other hand fished for another mini cookie in a pouch that rested upon her lap. This young woman would be known as Roxanne Wright but her friends and foes alike called her Roxie, if they even had time to call her anything before she put an end to them. Extremely dangerous, reckless and ultimately uncaring, Roxie was a loose stick of dynamite that even the chaos crew feared, yet Byron Biggs put her trust in her to run one of his biggest crime rings in the city. Foolish? Perhaps.

"Roxie ..." Byron Biggs groaned, "We've had a talk about this..."

"Yeah? And I didn't care then either ... you guys are all just wimps" Roxie shrugged, "I've fought the Shrinkbitch ... she's nothing ..."

"Nothing or not" Byron warned, "she's been taking out members of our crew. Karl is off the grid as are many others"

"Not my fault they got beaten by a girl" Roxie shrugged, "no offense ... oh wait, I'm the only girl on this call, isn't that a bit sexist?"

"Here she goes..." Spike sighed

"Maybe the way we're approaching this is wrong" Byron stated, seeming very calm as he adjusted the navy blue tie on his matching dark blue blazer with the silver pinstripes, "maybe some bank robberies, arson and the like aren't going to deter this do-gooder... we know how to contend with Minitrop's "finest" ... the Mini Troop is, let's face it, a joke, but this ShrinkGirl is a wild card..."

"She's nothing..." Roxie shrugged again

"If you're so confident in stopping her, let's see a plan" Spike retorted

"Yeah, I'm tired of you always talking shit, except when it comes to your stuff!" Crazy Eddy interjected

"I could waste her anytime I want" Roxie shrugged, "but where's the fun in that? I have bigger fish to fry and truth be told, I don't even know why I'm part of your little fan club"

"It's called the CHAOS CREW!!" Crazy Eddy shouted, seemingly deeply offended by this, "We are here to ..."

"Yes yes I know, create havoc across the city, hurt all feelings without no pity, kick down people til they feel shitty... I mean for crying out loud, did you rip this off Team Rocket from Pokemon?" Roxie laughed until she snorted. Her mic was put on mute and she was visibly upset through the video screen while the other jeered a bit. Byron shook his head in disapproval.

"Look. I realize unity isn't exactly something we preach here ... we're kind of an ... all men for themselves operation" Byron declared, "and we can continue to do what we do for the most part but it's only a matter of time before this ShrinkGirl becomes a bigger problem so I say we nip it in the bud ... Roxie, you are the ONLY one to face her comprehensively ... you know her strengths, her weaknesses ... how do we get to her?"

Roxie sighed, twirling a gun in boredom, "Alright ... Alright ... I'll tell ya ..."

The others looked over with anticipation.

"...for $50,000...." the smug Roxie continued, slamming her gun down on the table, barrel first

"50,000??" they mostly gasped in outrage, except for Biggs himself, who seemed remarkably calm.

"Okay" Byron Biggs conceded

"Hmm?" Roxie smiled

"Deliver me a winning plan to stop this threat ..." Byron announced, "and you can have your usual fee plus the 50k ... but don't fail me again Roxie"

"Yeah yeah yeah ... and whattaya mean, again?" Roxie snapped, crumpling up her now finished bag of Rutschmann cookies which she chucked carelessly into the corner of the filth infested apartment/hideout.

"...never mind. Where do we get started?" Byron asked

"Leave that to me" Roxie smiled "first step ... recruitment"

----------

As it turned out, not only was Chrissy not lying about needing help at the Krazy Kookie, but things seemed especially busy that evening, until finally they were able to turn in for the day, Chrissy seeming a bit tired out. She'd look down at her watch.

"Late for something?" Lexi asked with concern

"Oh, I just told my friend I'd try to see her tonight but doesn't look like i'll have enough time" Chrissy shrugged. "Actually, you'd like her... I think you met her... she's on the cheer team, Rachel Rutschmann"

It was then, it finally dawned on Lexi. Something that should've seemed a lot more obvious before.

"Rutschmann?" Lexi nodded, "Like Rutschmann's cookies?"

"Oh boy..." Chrissy rolled her eyes, looking a bit guilty as if she had shared a forbidden secret by mistake.

"Chrissy you KNOW I've always wanted to know where our cookies come from, they're freakin amazing"

"Okay okay yes ... Cindy Rutschmann is Rachel's mother but she doesn't like to talk about it..." Chrissy relented.

Cindy Rutschmann, for those of you wondering was the owner and co-founder of Rutschmann Cookies, a very famous brand of cookies who provided their wares to various local colleges under different names. Naturally, the Krazy Kookie served some of the Rutschmann's specialties including Fudge Frenzy and Apricot Delight.

"Right right right ..." Lexi nodded, toning down her enthusiasm just a tad. After all, Rachel was probably used to getting questions about that all the time, her origins and how much she loved cookies and all that. The answer, surprisingly, was ... not very much. "S-So ... are you seeing her tomorrow?"

Chrissy would let out a sigh.

"You can join us..." Chrissy smirked, watching as her friend Lexi cutely delivered a fist pump, "but don't just talk about cookies the whole time, okay?"

"Chrissy ... Chrissy cmon" Lexi smirked, "You're talking to Lexi here ... the Lexster, I've got a memory like an elephant and am super repsonsible ... I'll be on my best behavior..."

"First time I met you, you forgot your pants..." Chrissy giggled playfully as the two continued walking home from work.

The young Rachel Rutschmann would be finishing up her own endeavor as she came out from the back room of Aztek Parts and More, the surprisingly successful computer repair store that had opened up in Minitropolis right across from the Crazy Jester card shop. It was surprising because nobody had even heard of the head mechanic, Trevor Hilfmann, who seemed to fund the entire operation which opened rather quickly, but speaking of speed, their fast turnaround times and all around great customer service was likely responsible for such early success.

To that end, Rachel would meet her new customer with a smile at the counter, tilting her head a bit as this was a customer she knew.

"Gloria?" Rachel asked, referring to the tall, dark haired girl across from her who stood at 5'11. She was familiar with her from the somewhat brief time they spent together on cheer team. Gloria had been the former co-captain before an incident with Chrissy and some uh ... misplaced marijuana got her kicked off the team. Since then, she had been relatively quiet on campus, "You still up ... here at Mini U?"

"Yeah, just been working on some projects" Gloria answered, seeming fairly cold as she set her laptop down on the counter to be looked at, but it was more than most had heard her speak in weeks, "How fast can you have this fixed, and also ... nobody's going to look at the hard drive, right?"

That was an odd question, Rachel thought to herself but she proceeded to make note of Aztek's privacy policy which clearly stated ...

"...Aztek respects the privacy of all clients and will never search personal or other such files in the case of any repair that is needed relating to the hard drive without express written consent of said client and ..."

"Okay" Gloria sighed, not needing the whole brochure read to her, "...sorry. Just been a lousy couple months, I guess"

Rachel frowned

"S-Sorry to hear that ... y'know, I'm seeing Chrissy later ... if you wanted to maybe join us? Or? Maybe not?" Rachel winced, remembering that may have not been such a good idea

"Chrissy... uh ... no thanks" Gloria groaned, "She still hanging out with that freak Alexis?"

"Lexi?" Rachel frowned more, her nerves beginning to shoot up quite a bit, "...um... yeah... I uh ... never got why you hated her so much"

"Girl is a freak" Gloria repeated, this time seeming a bit more aggressive as she leaned on the counter a tad. Upon noticing a raised eyebrow from the older man in the back, she backed off, not wanting to arouse any more suspicion. "Just ... please take a look at the computer for me. The sooner the better ..."

Gloria would then walk away, not making much more small talk or conversation.

Truth was, Rachel was seeing both Chrissy and Lexi, as Chrissy mentioned last minute that Lexi would be joining them. She had only seen Lexi in passing but had heard quite a bit about her from Chrissy who seemed totally enamored with her. She could remember how Chrissy practically begged the rest of the team to let her on the squad during the beginning of the Fall Semester, only for Lexi to mysteriously go missing. Then again, she could understand Chrissy's fondness for the girl after she exposed Gloria's plan to plant a blunt on her clothes to frame her.

"Sometimes I wish I could just ... not pick sides..." Rachel would think to herself before being interuppted by her boss, Trevor Hilfmann.

"What's that? A new client? Did you get their name?" Trevor asked

"Oh. Oh ... well ... no, not officially but I know her from school ... it's Gloria Graff" Rachel stammered

"I ... see..." Trevor replied, a hesitance in his voice as he sighed,

"Is there a problem, sir?" Rachel asked, seeming a bit nervous herself now, she could tell something was wrong

"Well, you didn't have her fill out the paperwork for the laptop intake... you kind of just let her ... walk away without getting information about the problem or charging the diagnostic..." Trevor sighed,

"Oh" Rachel sighed, seeming a bit out of it. She had been in a bit of a funk lately and was usually much more attentive to such details but Gloria's presence was a bit surprising and, as usual, intimidating.

Seeing the tenativeness in his employee's voice and body language Trevor would relent, also knowing that he had an incoming call.

"Just ... please be more aware of that kind of thing ... you're a real smart person and I know you didn't mean it ..." Trevor sighed, going into his pocket to fish out his phone. "I apologize but I do need to take this"

Rachel nodded, returning to the counter and slumping a bit. What was wrong with her? She had felt so anxious lately. Between her grades at school being on the decline, not much of a social life outside of Chrissy and the pressure of trying to carry a couple different jobs, all the while feeling like her mom was abandoned her to keep her cookie empire at large yet simultaneously checking in super often to prod her "prodigal daughter" into any and everything. It was just super overwhelming. Perhaps she could use some of that optimism she always heard about from ...

"Lexi..." Trevor Hilfmann muttered, while pacing around in the back room of the surprisingly high tech small time computer repair shop, "is everything okay? this is the fourth call this week"

Lexi was in her room at the moment, hunched down on one knee and shaking her head as she forced out the words, "I ... I think I need to see you again ... I need more of ... wh-whatever it was that you gave me last time... I don't think the last dose took or maybe it took too well, I don't know?"

"Lexi, this is very concerning..." Trevor sighed "I didn't wanna spook you before but the last tests we ran..."

"I kinda figured they weren't good..." Lexi chuckled a bit, not meaning to make light of the situation but it's how she coped, "...when you were hesitant to say anything afterwards ... look whatever this is..."

"Whatever it is ..." Trevor cautioned, "is unprecedented for anyone in the science field and we can't exactly just bring you to the ear, nose and throat doctor to have you examined..."

"W-Well you're a Doctor, right Dr. Hoffnung?" Lexi asked, a bit concerned now

"Hilfmann... please" Trevor sighed, "but yes, technically ... although I don't think I can do much more for you than..."

"Please." Lexi said again, a pause in her voice while her cat Tiny made himself at home down by her feet, curling up and letting out a low purr. Lexi's face would return to a smile in response. "Just one more dose and we'll go from there, okay? Also I'm curious since last time when you said you had some new gadgets you wanted to show me"

"Y-Yeah..." Trevor answered hesitantly, his eyes darting between the office and the store where it seemed things were picking up, "We can ... we can still do that demonstration... I just ... I worry..."

"I know ... and I'd be lying if I said I didn't as well" Lexi sighed, bending down to pet Tiny and rub her face briefly with his, causing her to jostle the phone. The befuddled doctor on the other end would hear some ruffling noises as the phone gently thunked against the feline's head.

"You ... you still there?" Trevor asked, confused before being interuppted by Rachel who called to him from the desk.

"Umm... Mr. Hilfmann, sir? Could we see you out here for a moment, please?" she asked on behalf of an angry customer

"I gotta go..." Trevor murmured, tucking the flip phone back in his pocket to end the call before going back to work. Lexi let out a sigh.

Shortly after her call with Trevor she'd slump onto her bed again, feeling another jolt of what felt like electricity despite not being anywhere near it. The last month or two she'd have intermittent spells of the electrical instability, which would sometimes be as mild as a static shock to her losing feeling in her fingers but other times she would inadvertedly alter her size. Luckily that didn't happen too often but it was enough to be very concerning.

Since confessing this to Dr. Hoffnung ... er.. Hilfmann, she had attained some relief in the form of these new experimental nanites he had been working on from his time with Enormo. Had Operation Delta been more tested (or let's face it, morally ethical, legal or anything of the sort) they were a sort of medicinal treatment that could perhaps slow the experiments adverse effects on the human body and help the host better control its benefits. They worked for a month or two but now Lexi was feeling the electrical discharges again.

As she was about to seek refuge on her bed again, she'd refuse another message, letting her know that she'd be hanging out with Rachel later that evening if she were interested in joining. Lexi smiled and nodded, thinking this was just the distraction she just may need.

"Sounds great, will see you tonight" Lexi texted back.

-------------

"So these are ALL real?" Leah asked, leaning over and reading Josh's list of ShrinkGirl messages the website had received since being open, scrolling through them with curiosity as an intrigued Josh watched in his own amazement at some of the requests. "Barbie doll got flushed down the toilet? Ouch"

"Oh, Oh I like this one ..." Josh would exclaim, trying to hold back his laughter, "Coins fell between the seats in my Chevy ... you know how hard it is to get in that little space?"

Leah would shake her head in wonderment, "Y'know when you made this website, I'm not going to lie, I thought it was kind of a silly idea"

"Really? I'm pretty sure you DIDN'T lie ..." Josh replied, "you were very upfront about silly you all thought it was"

"Well ... I still am not sure I've changed my mind but if nothing else, it's good for a laugh" Leah noted, bending down to finish packing her backpack with the necessary items for her next few classes, "oh and seriously, thank you for the extra help with that science homework the other night"

"No prob" Josh replied cheerfully, "you think you're ready to ace that biology test?"

"Ace? Eh ... but a solid C? I can feel it in my bones" Leah would confidently joke

"And home ec?" Josh asked

"I actually feel pretty good about that" Leah replied, "I make a mean cupcake, lemme tell you... and you can be my test subject when finals roll around"

"Heh, pull my arm" Josh smirked, as he'd start getting his own things ready for class before pausing, "...what about Lexi?"

"What about her?" Leah asked

"Well it's just ... she doesn't talk about class much ... I don't have any classes with her so ... I can't say but I just worry I guess" Josh said

"Yeah ... I'm a little worried too, to be honest ... with everything going on, I'm sure she's gotta be feeling burnt out ... she'd never be the type to tell you either, which can be doubly dangerous... I know she barely made it through our chem class together last semester so she opted to take Philosophy along with her art classes... which she SEEMS to be doing okay in" Leah explained before pausing, deciding to take the discussion into a more positive direction though as she remembered all the wonderful qualities about her best friend, of which there were many. "But hey don't worry about Lex, yknow? She's a tough cookie for sure"

---------

Speaking of cookies, the exhausted Rachel Rutschmann would return home to the lavish white house with gold trim, that is after clearing the extravagant gates with the "CR" initials embroidered upon them. She may have wanted to keep her affiliation with Rutschmann Cookies on the downlow but her mom was all too happy to make it public knowledge with a gaudy mansion in the middle of an otherwise average suburban neighborhood.

The introverted blonde would hope to just make a beeline for her room but her hopes would soon be dashed as she heard her anxious mother on the phone and raising her voice just as Rachel drew closer to the door.

"Yeah well my daughter may be able to help since you can't ... hold on one second" Cindy Rutschmann said, addressing her latest phone victim before turning her ire towards her fatigued young daughter, "Rachel hon, could you come here for a moment, please?"

It was there Rachel would soon find herself in the relatively dark room, surrounded by a lot of ethernet cables, wiring and flickering lighting, all the while watching her mom, bushy auburn hair, green eyes and chapped lips, in her usual puffy white suit jacket and matching pants pacing around, a hand on her hip in impatience as she continued lecturing the person on the phone.

"What now...?" is all Rachel could think, trying to hide her angst as her mom would look at her with a smile but it didn't feel like a warm loving smile. It felt more like the smile one gets from somebody who needs something just before they deliver their calculated request.

"Rachel, you work in IT ... " Cindy said, "why don't you tell this man we don't need his help anymore?"

"I'm ... sorry?" Rachel stammered, not completely understanding the situation, as the pair stood in one of the houses many "server" rooms which oversaw security for the whole house.

"Ugh, never mind" Cindy said dismissively, and Rachel herself was perplexed as to whether the dismissive response was intended for her or the IT person on the phone but either way she was immediately put off and even tempted to walk out of the room altoegther before her mother stopped her. "Hold on honey"

Rachel would stop dead in her tracks ... for now.

Cindy would rudely and abruptly hang up the phone.

"Sorry about that dear, just some of these security IT people are just ... ugh..." Cindy scoffed, not finishing her sentence completely, a chronic habit of someone who often seemed to be going a million miles a minute, "so how was your day?"

"Honestly, a bit tiring... I have to get some homework done real quick before meeting Chrissy and ..."

"Oh the blonde cheerleader" Cindy said, leaping right back into the one sided conversation, "I swear, I don't know why you still associate with her ... nice girl for sure but she's not really helping you get anywhere, yknow? She's a cheerleader, she's nice but ... I mean, does she have any references? Is she going to ..."

"Mom... I just want to have a social life...yknow?" Rachel stammered, feeling once again steamrolled by her mother's overbearing approach to pretty much everything, "Not everything is about advancing"

"I remember when I was young..." Cindy stated, nodding her head as if she somehow pitied her daughter, or youth in general, "But anyways ... I could really use your help ... see... there's something wrong with the security codes here... the safes are only locking some of the time when detecting a potential intruder ... I had the butler test it earlier and after only getting tazed once...."

"You had our butler tazed?" Rachel asked

"I didn't ... the security system did ... well, when it worked" Cindy sighed, not seeming very concerned with much else other than her own projects, "But the point is, something is wrong ... the security codes that govern this system are very important ... now I thought since you work in IT..."

"Mom, I work at a computer shop ... I know a LITTLE bit about rewiring hard drives because I've been learning from Mr. Hilfmann but ..."

"Ah ... see now THAT'S somebody who can help you out ... your boss at work is very good with computers, maybe HE'D know how to rewire the security alarms... the codes, you see ... don't seem to be working" Cindy repeated

"Mom, that's not really what we do at Aztek parts" Rachel muttered, seeming frustrated by this conversation. Once again her mom wanted her to provide a magic solution for a problem that wasn't even a problem in her own opinion, not that her opinion ever seemed to matter in most cases.

"Ugh, fine..." Cindy sighed, waving her daughter off, "it's fine... I just thought ..."

Before the controlling helicopter mom could finish her sentence, she received another call, "...ugh hold on..." she'd take the cell phone call and almost immediately jump into her angry mode, "what? no ... no no no no no... those orders need to be delivered before the 24th ... well, I don't care how much the shipping is, just get it done"

Rachel would take this time to dismiss herself, feeling more disgruntled than ever, her backpack slung over her shoulder while she headed upstairs to change.

"What's the difference anyway?" she thought to herself, pertaining to the stupid security codes, "only thing in that safe is the cookie recipe... who's going to bother stealing a cookie recipe?"

Lexi winced and looked away as she was all too aware of the needle piercing the flesh on her arm. She'd let out a weak gulp and whimper, close her eyes and exhale as the calming voice of Mr. Hilfmann helped her through the ordeal. He'd soon remove the needle and disinfect the site of the injection as Lexi had a seat, rubbing her sore arm for a moment.

"Th-Thank you Dr." Lexi replied humbly, "I really mean it ... I don't know where I'd be without you"

"Well Lexi..." Trevor sighed, discarding the used syringe which had just injected potentially curative nanites into the young woman, "There is no gaurantee this is going to work long term, if it works at all"

Lexi nodded, already knowing the risks. She hadn't had any super bad electrical attacks (as she called them) since her time at the fairy colony but her powers and her body still didn't seem exactly normal. That's to be expected however when one is exposed to the amount of experimental voltage that one Alexis Cole was that fateful afternoon at Enormo Enterprises.

"On the brighter side of things..." Trevor continued, walking over to his lab bench and removing the cloth which covered the round shiny medallion that would be ShrinkGirl's iconic purple and gold SG metallic belt buckle. "I was able to make those modifications you wanted ... not sure how it'll translate when you change sizes but check it out"

The resourceful engineer of sorts removed the letter "S" carefully from the inset he had carefully crafted, soon doing the same with the G before putting them both back.

"The S works as a sort of grappling hook to help you out of tight spots ... the G, as you requested..." Trevor stated with a bit of hesitance and a great sigh of desperation, "can be thrown at enemies like a ... batarang..."

"Score!" the spunky Lexi giggled, quickly rebounding from her injection.

Trevor would ignore the young woman's juvenile reaction, chalking it up to immaturity as he walked over towards a lab bench with more gadgets and gizmos.

"So... you had mentioned some other potential equipment?" Lexi asked

To that end, the kindly former engineer would show Lexi just what he had been working on.

"Working with ... well, that place..." Trevor cringed, refusing to fully acknowledge his past, "I worked a lot on miniature mechanations of sorts ... this time, I believe they'll be used in the right hands"

Lexi would lean down and marvel at the various metallic looking creations the doctor had whipped up, one in particular really piquing her interest.

"Is that a jetpack?" Lexi asked in a silly manner

"It is, yes ... in a way" Trevor responded, "it's a high speed propulsion momentum based ... uh ... yeah, it's a jet pack..."

"Awesome!" Lexi chuckled, "although not sure ou wanna see this girl get airborne, I'm clumsy enough on my feet..."

"Yeah ..." Trevor sighed, "I'm still trying to find all my microchips that you knocked over"

"I'm sorry..." Lexi pouted, hanging her head for a moment, "I offered to shrink down and take a look for em"

"No no, it's fine..." Trevor shrugged, "I'm sure they'll turn up ... most of them anyway"

"So ... can this stuff be spray painted purple maybe?" Lexi grinned, looking it over.

"Y'know I can't help but think I'm enabling you here" Trevor lamented while Lexi got more and more ideas in her head of how to become more "superheroic" based on comics she had read.

"Oh, 100%" Lexi chuckled, "you totally are, but I really appreciate it... are you sure you don't want any money or anything?"

Trevor would shake his head

"Appreciated but not needed and probably not a great idea either..." Trevor replied, "I'm trying to stay off the grid and that's all I need is receipts showing I'm helping a superhero"

"Superheroine, technically" Lexi corrected the doctor.

"Whatever..." Trevor sighed, shaking his head. Despite his reservations, there was something wholesome and joyful about the young Alexis Cole that made him willing to put up with the antics. The fact that she was using her newfound abilities the way she was had been admirable to him.

Lexi glanced down at her watch and realized she was running a little late.

"Anyways, I've gotta go if I hope to catch the bus down to the Mini Mall" Lexi said, still rubbing her arm a bit as she headed for the exit, "thank you again, Doctor..."

"You don't have to keep calling me that ..." Trevor sighed, shaking his head as he watched his young charge depart.

----------------

Later that night, Chrissy would be beholding quite a scene indeed, just slouching a bit while watching the young Alexis Cole dance, or at least she was convinced the bubbly brunette THOUGHT it was dancing while they had been in a summerwear store checking out swimsuits together. Or at least Chrissy had. Lexi had started as well until a popular song came on the store's PA and she'd begin shuffling through the aisles with a bit of an extra swagger in her step and sway in her hips.

"You always so energetic?" Chrissy giggled, "I mean, I work with you so I kinda know the answer but it's like, where does it all come from?"

"Not really sure to be honest" Lexi responded with a chipper tone, shrugging a bit while backing up, throwing her elbows to the beat of the music before accidentally striking something, or rather somebody from behind. She noticed she had jabbed the lower gut of Chrissy's friend, Rachel and instantly her smile turned to a look of regret. "Oh my God ... no, I am SO sorry!!"

"So.... nice to see you again Lex" Rachel winced in a tiny bit of pain. The elbow had hit her like a javelin, jabbing her swiftly but it was more the suprise of it and some additional pressure put on her that seemed to bring a harder impact. She took it like a sport as much as possible, shaking it off after a few moments while Lexi, now joined by Chrissy came over to look in on her, "I'm fine ... basically just like missing a cheer routine"

"Ooof, yeah, I've fallen off a number of human pyramids" Lexi chuckled, scratching her own head while attempting to move the topic away from her own clumsiness just there. "Also ... usually been RESPONSIBLE for them falling ..."

Chrissy would roll her eyes, looking over at Rachel with concern before addressing Lexi real quick again, "By the way, do you plan to try out for the team next semester??"

"I might" Lexi nodded, "I'm not sure why I didn't try THIS semester to be honest ... just been real busy with stuff..."

"Heh, I know how that goes" Rachel chimed in, seemingly over the hit, "Been working at the computer place downtown..."

"You're working there too?" Chrissy asked

"Too? What else do you do?" Lexi asked, "if you don't mind my asking"

"I work as a vet assistant at the animal hospital too, although that's only on weekends" Rachel shrugged, "I love animals"

"That's sweet" Lexi smiled, "but I hope you get some time for yourself"

"Oh yknow ... I do ... here and there..." Rachel shrugged with a nervous grin

"You okay hon?" Chrissy asked Rachel while the trio would continue sauntering throughout the store. Chrissy had at least picked out a tie-die bikini while Lexi hadn't really decided on anything rather than the fact that she shouldn't be so outgoing with her dancing in a spot with such little room to move about.

"Eh, not really..." Rachel groaned, clutching her stomach very briefly, which Lexi took as a cue that she had bruised the girl more than initially thought, "My mom and I had a fight before I left ...."

"Again?" Chrissy asked

"She expects me to be supergirl, y'know? Like she wanted me to fix her security system because of some security protocol not working or something? I don't know ..." Rachel rolled her eyes, "I just started working for Aztek, it's not like I'm this tech expert..."

"Oh, you work for Aztek?" Lexi added cheerfully, "I know the guy in charge there"

Lexi then realized why that might not have been a good idea to say

"Oh, Mr. Hilfmann? I think he's mentioned you a time or two, yeah" Rachel nodded

"You know the computer repair guy?" Chrissy raised an eyebrow, "I don't think I've ever seen you on a computer in all the time I've known you"

"W-Well yeah ... because it always needs um... repairs" Lexi shrugged

"Is that why your name doesn't appear in our client database?" Rachel teased, "...not that I look at those things, mind you"

"Can we change the subject please?" Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes.

Around this time, a group of young guys was also at the mall, although unaware of the females. They would be Chris, Will and Trent, 3 guys that Lexi knew from school, although out of the three, only 1 knew of her superhero identity ... okay so technically 2. But Trent didn't really count. He just saw her tiny once. That could've been ANYONE named Alexis Cole ...

These guys would be going about their evenings in a similar fashion having just wrapped up at a gaming store, while arguing about which Call of Duty game was better. All but Will who was more of a Legend of Zelda guy. The group would eventually find themselves at the food court which was quite the coincidence as Lexi, Chrissy and Rachel would be doing the same.

"But yeah, that's why I was late tonight..." Rachel sighed, eyeying her watch with some derision. She usually prided herself on being punctual, something that was both ingrained in her by her mother but also something that was important to her innately. "Just family drama and stuff..."

"Why don't you just tell your mom to back off?" Chrissy shrugged, almost matter of factly about it, while the girls sat at a table, Chrissy with her lone bag from the Summer Shack, along with a small purple satchel around her shoulder, Lexi with a bigger, more traditional style handbag and Rachel with more or less just her cell phone, slim wallet and keys in her pocket. What the other 2 weren't privy to of course was that inside Lexi's large purple handbag dwelled the SG medallion, said to protect her from dark magic, and was now enhanced by Trevor's technological augmentation.

"Heh yeah, that wouldn't exactly go over well ..." Rachel shrugged, her plate of food relatively untouched as her hands shook a bit. Lexi took a moment or two to observe this and would frown a little, thinking that Rachel seemed like too kind a soul to be under such crushing pressure, especially at such a young age. "...as it is, I think she wants me to get a third job"

"Oh that's ridiculous!" Chrissy scoffed, casually going for a fry on the edge of Rachel's plate, "S-sorry, you didn't want that, right?"

Rachel would nod and acquiese the fry while the two continued to talk. Lexi would listen with one ear but be drawn to the TV mounted on one of the mall's pillars overlooking the food court. The news was on, speaking of a series of small fires breaking out on a city block in Minitropolis.

The superhero side of Lexi took over for a brief moment while she narrowed suspects in her head based on her growing knowledge of Minitropolis and their crime ring.

"...Pyro Pete...." Lexi sneered, not thinking she was being too loud but apparently it was at least loud enough for Chrissy to catch and pick up on.

"I'm sorry, what?" Chrissy would giggle a bit

"Um... Peet... Peet's Coffee... Starbucks!" Lexi blurted out, as she perused the surrounding area with her eyes in haste in an attempt to divert attention away, plus she COULD go for a fruity frozen drink or something. Still, not her smoothest exit strategy.

Lexi would stroll at a methodical pace, not too fast or slow, just enough to get her mind on something else and try to refocus on what should've been a calm evening out with friends, although her mind was anything but calm ever since taking on the responsibilities of a superheroine, which to be fair, was something she was never formally tasked with doing. She could've kept her secret powers to herself but it didn't feel right. At the very least it certainly made life more interesting. Yeah ... that's it... Lexi thought to herself, the positive thoughts flooding her mind once more like a waterfall. Sometimes she just needed a little ...

"Chris!" she blurted out, being the first to greet him since she could already see him and his cohorts in tow, she recognized Will from the card shop but couldn't quite place the name to the face, "and uh....?"

"Will" Will would say in a very friendly tone, offering to shake her hand despite the fact that they had met a few times before, albeit for short times at the Crazy Jester. "and you're Lexi, right?"

"Heh yeah..." Lexi responded, bowing her head a bit in embarassment, "S-Sorry, not good with names"

While she kept her eyes on the group of guys, including a brief nod to Trent, she also turned when she realized it was her turn in line at the small Starbucks stand to order, she'd address the barista in a friendly tone and ask for a strawberry ice tea, continuing to chat with the guys now.

Meanwhile back at the table, Chrissy would suddenly get a bit quiet, ducking down so that only a small portion of her head was visible behind her shopping bag which she thrusted suddenly onto the table to serve as a barrier.

"Everything okay??" Rachel asked

"That guy ... over there..." Chrissy muttered, her voice down to a whisper, as she shifted her eyes in the direction, "near Lexi ... no, don't look, don't look... okay look real quick ... that guy over there ... name is Trent ... he's my ex"

"Oh I didn't know you guys broke up, I remember seeing you on campus with him a few times ... although come to think of it, I didn't think you were all that serious with him" Rachel commented, scanning the area briefly before returning to her talk with Chrissy

"We weren't ..." Chrissy sighed, continuing her hiding efforts by putting her hand over her forehead as if she were getting too much sunlight "We went to the Valentine's Dance together and I agreed to a date with him after that but it just ... didn't go anywhere ...? I thought he was a nice enough guy but he kinda took it hard ... I just ... ugh ..."

Lexi herself was in the process of finding out this information while the quartet talked and she accidentally asked the wrong question.

"So you and Chrissy still...?" Lexi asked Trent

"Hmmm?" Trent murmured before realizing what she meant, "Oh well uh ... no, I guess not"

Chris gave Lexi a look like "please no, don't say anything", shaking his head and trying to divert the trajectory of the conversation but the awkward damage had already been dealt. Lexi knew it too, and a quick glance would show that Chrissy was no longer there. She was a bit worried by this but a more in depth scan of the area would find her heading towards the restrooms in the corner, likely to get out of obvious sight while Rachel had been a bit behind her, taking her phone and raising it to her ear. Lexi frowned and just returned to the current conversation.

"S-Sorry, I uh ... didn't know" Lexi sighed, feeling like a total jerk now, albeit unintentionally. She didn't know the background of the guys hangout and how part of it was to help their friend get over the blonde with whom Lexi was currently spending some time with.

"Nah it's cool, stuff happens" Trent nodded, trying to shake things off with a smile. Will tapped his shoulder and gave Lexi a bit of a friendly look as if to nonverbally forgive her for the social mishap.

"Hey, we still gotta get to Best Buy before they close, see if your computer's ready" Will said with a nod, bringing Trent along, while Chris still lingered behind for a bit longer to talk to Lexi as she sipped on her now ready strawberry drink.

The rush of fruit flavor and sugar hit her with an exciting burst. It was definitely needed, as simple as it was, she even gave the girl behind the counter an overly giddy smile as if to nonverbally thank her. It was amazing in a way how many things could be communicated without words.

Rachel waited patiently for her friend, her phone at her waist. After a time, the woman's room door would slide open and Chrissy would offer a sheepish wave, not having to actually utilize the restroom but simply using it as a faked opportunity to get away.

"Sorry about that..." Chrissy started

With a burst and a clamoring, the men's restroom door would flutter open and out would dart one of the most generically dressed criminal types anyone could imagine, complete with black mask that covered most of his face, save for a tuft of orange hair.

Rachel would give him a shocked look and that was all before the aggressive young man, likely in his 20s shoved her forcefully to the ground, noticing her wallet, which had been loosely in her skirt pocket to this point was now sliding across the tiled floor of the mall. Like a running back scooping up a fumble, he would quickly grab it up while the commotion continued, some shouting after the assailant but doing little else as he looked like the type who would resort to violence if challenged.

"Rachel!" Chrissy gasped, watching as the brute criminal was on the run, wasting no time in cutting through the food court and heading into the main atrium of the mall.

"Shit" Lexi shook her head, going briefly over to her purse to fetch something. Chris watched with a bit of concern.

"You're not thinking of ...?"

"I'm not thinking ... I'm doing" Lexi sneered, taking the whole purse with her and ducking down behind a pillar, fishing out the iconic SG belt buckle she packed for such an occasion. It's a good thing she also had her belt modified and ready to go to accept the belt buckle in place as if it were a normal part of her wardrobe. After all, a good Batman like superheroine had to be prepared for such things.

Chrissy would duck around the corner to see where Lexi had gone off to her but she wouldn't see her. Only her purse.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Chris sighed, running as best he could to keep up with the criminal but losing ground to him quite quickly even as some brave bystanders had made the effort to shove him back and keep him from advancing. The man seemed unarmed but had enough strength to bully his way through the crowd with little exertion.

"Oh I know it's not" the tiny Lexi squeaked from inside Chris' clenched hand, "how far is he from us?"

"Still pretty far..." Chris sighed,

"It'll have to do ... throw me!" Lexi squeaked commandingly

"I'm sorry, what?!" Chris asked

"Why is this always such a point of contention with people, THROW ME!!" Lexi squeaked

"I really don't think this is a good ... ugh!!" Chris yelped, being jumped by another in a black jacket, sending Lexi sliding onto the floor like a wayward bread crumb. She'd slide across the tiling on her side, scuffing her thighs a bit and then stand up and shake her head, about to grow back before being startled by the thunderous black boot of a third thuggish figure who entered the fray, the 2 of them seemingly ready for this as they had Chris surrounded. Lexi would dart behind a garbage can and grow back, looking to Chris for a moment and nodding to let him know she had his back but he shook his head and pointed towards the first running badguy who still possessed Rachel's wallet.

"You guys don't want to do this..." Chris sighed, remaining remarkably calm as the two simply closed around him in a tightening formation.

Lexi meanwhile took advantage of the confusion to chase down the guy with Rachel's wallet. She knew this all too well now. One guy in a black jacket and mask? That's unlikely enough but more than that? This was a Chaos Crew operation and they seemed to have planned it in advance. But was that really all they were after? One wallet? Or was this a distraction for something bigger?

Lexi wouldn't have much time to ask that question as she saw the guy quite a few yards away but she had a way to close the distance. She'd pull carefully onto the S of her belt, feeling it with her fingers to make sure it fit snugly the way it should. She'd tug on it lightly and a fishing rod wire would keep it tethered to the buckle but have enough pull for her to get it up to her shoulder as she took aim at the railing up on the second floor just above her.

"Here we go ... field test" Lexi thought, hawking the S-Grapple and watching as it spun around and eventually took hold on one of the thin metal spires of the mall railing. With that phase completed, she'd let gravity, or the opposite thereof run its course, launching her up towards the second floor, but before getting fully up there, she'd release the hook from it's perch, leaving her feeling weightless for a moment before landing a lot further ahead on the first floor again, essentially having slingshotted herself to gain a sizeable distance on the thug.

"I'm going to need some backup here..." the criminal holding Rachel's wallet in his breast pocket would say to what appeared to be a small wireless mic tucked behind his ear.

"Backup is coming" another gruff voice would respond.

As Lexi reached the atrium of the mall, a central area with 4 diverging paths, it appeared she may have succeeded in surrounding the robber, but just in case she reached for the G on her belt, preparing to throw it if necessary.

"Tell me when ..." the voice on the headset would say, sounding a bit tense now that it was known Lexi was involved in their plan.

"NOW!!"

With that, there'd be a horrible ear piercing screech emanating from the spacious ceiling above, the result of several support cables. As Lexi arrived in the near center of the decorative tile floors to confront the thief there would be only seconds before a shadow quickly grew larger from above. The mall's iconic crystal chandelier was about to make a crash landing. She'd come to a brief stop, her legs spread apart in a defensive pose.

A good distance away, but not too far to see what had been happening was Chris, simply dodging the men's attacks while they tried to throw punches and pin him down.

"I told you guys... we don't have to do this violently..." Chris shrugged, seizing a punching fist from one of the men, "in fact I'd prefer we ... didn't!"

Chris finally let his temper get the best of him a little bit, twisting the fist this time instead of just passing it back as he had the past few punches. While his attacker cried out in pain, he'd bound over him and push him towards his associate, ready to aid Lexi before hearing the glass shattering and the screams of horror.

"LEXI!!"

The overly confident wallet thief would snicker to himself, shielding his eyes only briefly as the grandiose chandelier collided with the glossy tile floors like so much wreckage, leaving shattered glass, diamond fragments and more in its wake. As it sizzled and sparked, there was one thing he didn't notice and that's the pesky brunette occasionally known as ShrinkGirl. The crowd stood in stunned silence, most of them having noticed a young woman under the descending chandelier not even moments before ... was she...??

No.

For at that moment, Lexi came springing triumphantly out from the debris, having sprinted away from the carnage by shrinking herself to bug size and navigating it, dodging some schrapnel in the process but remarkably unscathed as she slid and grew back just in front of the arrogant ne'erdowell delivering swift justice in the form of a powerful momentum aided punch to the jaw. In the process, the malicious man stumbled back but not before lobbing the wallet up towards one of his associates who ran to catch it.

"Shit" Lexi muttered, knowing she had to keep an eye on the pinned criminal but also not wanting to see her friends' wallet get stolen. The young do-gooder's face would droop as she watched the criminal fade down a corridor, and she'd point futilely towards them as if to alert the approaching police and mall security but to no avail, as most of their focus would be apprehending the fallen criminal on which Lexi knelt before getting up and trying to scamper away as fast as she could, actually shrinking briefly when ducking behind a garbage can and growing back.

She'd run back to Chris to see how he was doing and while he had a small bruise on the side of his face, from a sucker punch, he seemed fine otherwise, but he motioned downward on Lexi.

"Hmm? I have something ... on my shirt?" Lexi asked, pulling the end of her shirt out just a bit to have a look. Chris would roll his eyes and point out the belt buckle. It wasn't hard to miss a big shiny "stop sign" on one's waist, after all.

"Oh right..." Lexi sighed, noticing Chrissy and Rachel were fast approaching, she'd shift the medallion into his hands. "Can you hold onto this please?"

"What? Me? Why?" Chris sighed, holding the feminine looking medallion and instinctively holding it to his side so the 2 approaching ladies wouldn't see it or at least it wouldn't be noticeable.

"Just please..." Lexi asked under her breath, "I'll pick it up from you at school"

"...this could be all avoided if you just wore a mask..." Chris muttered, hiding the SG medallion in his pocket even as it stuck out a little but just looked like a purple coin if one wasn't looking at it in more detail.

"...shut up" Lexi would say to him through gritted teeth, a bit too stressed out to deal with the logistics at the moment.

"Oh my god, Lexi, are you okay?" Chrissy sighed, almost in tears as she hugged her brunette friend tight. Rachel seemed shaken up and worried as well.

"Y-Yeah ... I'm good" Lexi nodded, out of breath herself. Of course she didn't want to tip her hand too much that these kind of action sequences were becoming common place for her.

"What were you thinking?" Chrissy snapped a bit, almost ready to smack her friend if she weren't so concerned for her safety, "you could've been killed!"

"I just ... I don't know ..." Lexi shrugged, hanging her head a bit in awkward embarassment, "I couldn't let those guys just rip us off like that ... I'm sorry I couldn't get your wallet back, Rachel..."

"Hey, don't worry about it" Rachel sighed, giving Lexi a hug as well, "There's nothing in there I can't replace, I can always cancel the credit cards and ... yeah, you're more important obviously and I'm stunned you'd do all that just to help me out but ... yeah... what she said ... are you insane? Those guys could've really hurt you"

"If helping your friends is insane, then lock me up now" Lexi said proudly with a bit of goofy grin

"Oh gosh, if you weren't so lovable I'd be more angry right now..." Chrissy chuckled

As Lexi slowly went to go recollect her things, she'd take a visual scan of the mall, mouthing a "thank you" to Chris who was nice enough to help her out as he also went his own way to go find his other friends and hopefully explain away anything odd they may have seen. One thing Lexi didn't see was any sign of the men in black, and not the cheesy Will Smith movie but the actual collective of gentlemen who had tried, and mostly succeeded in ruining Lexi's night.

She despised the Chaos Crew, as they were born out of a desire to just cause ... well, chaos. They committed crimes all over, seemed to vary in age, race, demographic and motive and were just something that stood for everything she was against. She took this attack especially personal since the Mini Mall always felt like somewhat of a safe haven, but it seemed nothing was safe lately ... heck, look what had happened during the previous years Winter Carnival.

As Lexi scanned the crowd though, and the police who eventually DID show up on the scene to make sure everybody was okay as they taped off the area around the fallen chandelier, she could swear she saw a familiar face in the form of Officer Sonia Sanders. Maybe she was moving a bit too fast and was at too great of a distance to really make it out but the outgoing young officer seemed to be giving her a look of disdain, as if to say "I warned you"

Then again, Lexi, with all of her conscience and optimism, did have a habit of being hard on herself. The attack would've likely happened whether she was there or not and at least she able to stop the criminal from hurting Rachel or Chrissy but the chandelier thing? It's unknown if that would've happened if not for the fact that they were clearly trying to get the drop (some pun intended) on poor Alexis Cole.

Lexi would let out one more sigh as she collected her bag and also attempted to recollect her feelings, Chrissy and Rachel hovering close behind.

"You sure you're okay, Lexi?" Chrissy asked again

"I should be asking you and Rachel that..." Lexi shook her head in response, "Rachel, did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine" Rachel nodded, "I mean, I'm not thrilled but I'm not hurt and that's what's important, I'm just glad YOU'RE okay and thanks again for the second effort... I'm beyond grateful, I don't even know what to ..."

"Don't worry about it" Lexi smiled, "Everybody needs a helping hand"

---------

A very tired Alexis Cole would stumble home that night, letting out a near silent yawn upon entering the door to her parents house. But it was apparently not silent enough. Lexi's worried mom waited her at the door while her dad was far behind, watching TV but still awake as the clock approached midnight.

"Lexi we were really worried about you ..." Lexi's mom said, wrapping her arms around her precious daughter and shaking her head, while simultaneously overcome with relief


"I um... I told you mom...." Lexi stuttered, "I was just going out with a couple friends to the mall..."

"But we saw the news!" Lexi's mother proclaimed in fear. On an unrelated note, the family cat Tiny came scampering by and just dashed around the two, making a beeline for Lexi's bedroom. He seemed to spend a lot more time in there since he learned his owner could shrink and literally play "cat and mouse"

"Oh..." Lexi replied, a bit downtrodden, not sure just how much they knew. Luckily, her dad was tuned into the conversation as well as the TV and filled in some blanks

"Yeah, someone almost got killed by a falling chandelier they say, some thugs attacked the mall and it was just pure chaos..." Lexi's dad reiterated, repeating what he had heard from the breaking news story which was still running as cleanup crews were assessing the damage after the mall had closed

"Why didn't you call us?" Lexi's mom sighed in grief, "let us know you were okay?"

"I'm ... I'm sorry mom ... I was just so scared with everything going on..." Lexi whimpered, of course lying a little bit but it was a rather daunting situation that seemed to go by super quickly.

"Oh goodness, we're just glad you're okay..." Lexi's mom sighed, "that poor girl though or whoever it was... that almost got smushed by the chandelier... I can't imagine anybody DOING something like that ..."


Lexi would simply nod, her body trembling a bit in the embrace with her mom as she fathomed that thought herself, despite having been there. A single tear trickled down her eye but she just nodded along and eventually dismissed herself upstairs. What IF something had happened to her and she didn't come home that night?

Lexi would soon join her cat Tiny in the bedroom and just flop on the bed, Tiny quick to hop atop the mattress and push on her head lightly with his pointy tipped ears as if sensing distress in his owner, something he had detected many times since she made the switch to ShrinkGirl.

Lexi would roll onto her sigh and accept her kitty into an embrace

"It's not your job to worry about me Tiny..." she'd smile as she smushed her head into the cat's warm fur, Tiny responding by arching his head up to try to kiss her cheek, "But you're a great cat, love that you don't eat me when I'm mouse sized"

-----

Elsewhere, that next afternoon the police were investigating into a more private matter but one that was of the utmost importance to the cookie lady herself, Cindy Rutschmann. A group of officers were taking a picture of a cracked open safe, which now contained nothing, it's doors almost off the hinges from whatever had cracked it open.

"I just don't understand..." Cindy sighed, relaying the story to the officers once again, "the security system HAD been malfunctioning but we just had the codes reset ... I'm the only one who has them and I never would've ... I just ..."

She was clearly distraught which was fairly rare for the confident founder of the world renowned (well, Minnesota renowned) cookie recipe, the one responsible for bringing so many smiles to the faces of people all over the tricounty area. It was therefore more ironic that the person behind such a creation was herself so cold and bitter by comparison.

"And you said your daughter was the victim of a robbery the night before?" the officer confirmed

"Yes..." she sighed, nodding her head, although her expression seemed neither angry nor upset, it was more like she was stating a fact merely to confirm it, "some hooligan took her wallet at the Mini Mall ..."

At that very moment, another officer was interviewing the daughter Rachel Rutschmann in the other room. That officer's name was Sonia Sanders, a diminuitive but strong willed cop on the force who, despite her hardened nature and need to excel to prove her point sometimes, would be one of the best when it came to relating to people of all ages and walks of life.

"I'm terribly sorry about what happened to you last night..." Sonia reiterated, "I'm sure this is an awful time to be asking but we just need to check on every detail of this case"

Rachel simply nodded, seeming equally as expressionless as her mom but she still in shock. Not only had she been robbed of her wallet the night before but overnight, the family's vault was cracked into and their most sacred possession (in her mother's eyes anyway) the Rutschmann Cookie recipe had gone missing.

"Did you have any ... enemies?" Sonia stuttered, struggling to think of the words. After all, this young college aged girl seemed nice as they came, it didn't stand to reason somebody would try to use her to infiltrate the vault but then again, the mom didn't seem very likable so it was more likely an act staged by a competitor. Still, she needed to cover all bases

"Enemies?" Rachel shook her head, "I ... no ... not that I know of ... the guy at the mall who jumped me was wearing a mask, I have no idea who he was"

"Could've been an ex maybe? Maybe somebody your mom knew?" Sonia asked, offering a suggestion as the whole thing DID seem very peculiar. She was also too familiar with the Chaos Crew and their MO which was usually just that -- completely random and peculiar. Their victims usually didn't match up or follow a pattern and this was done purposefully to ensure they'd always stay at large in some capacity.

Rachel simply shook her head shyly. Sonia nodded and began to walk away, knowing she likely wasn't going to get any more information out of the stunned young woman.

"Thank you for your cooperation..." Sonia said, before departing.

Once the police had left, Cindy seemed miffed, crossing her arms and simply watching the Mini Troop police cruisers evacuate the premises.

"Mom?" Rachel asked shyly, "wh-what did they say?"

"Useless as ever" Cindy sighed, shaking her head, "they don't seem to have any leads, they couldn't find any evidence of anybody logging onto the computer ... there must be SOME way to get into that hard drive and see ... hmmm..."

Rachel would just sigh and take some steps away.

"Thanks for asking if I'm okay mom..." Rachel thought to herself

"This was clearly a stunt from a competitor..." the elder Rutschmann thought as she paced around the area, the break in was fairly clean aside from the prying open of the safe and the alarm itself never went off. The laser grid also wasn't tripped. Whoever this was had an in somehow ... perhaps a disgruntled former employee? God knows she had plenty of those but she had no way to get any intel ... if only she had someone who could either spy on the competition or assess the security system from a closer vantage point? Maybe even someone who was a bit more familiar with the criminal types around the city since it seemed the police were never on top of things.

---------

Meanwhile, Lexi was just sitting at a table, kicking back on her day off yet still occupying her work place, the Krazy Kookie, just doodling a bit in a small notebook she had out while Leah and Josh shared a table with her. Somebody walked by them and a wayward cookie wrapper would flutter slowly to the floor before Lexi swooped up and pounced on it, sure to return it to its rightful place ... a nearby garbage can.

"Yknow..." Chrissy shrugged, currentling donning the green and gray uniform which represented the Kookie's colors, "if you wanted to work today, you could've ..."

"Heh, sorry ... just was bored and ... I don't know, Leah's only been here a few times... thought I'd take her here for llunch" Lexi commented, continuing to draw intently, while Josh peeked over, also peering at his phone, seemingly now preoccupied by whatever had come through on there.

"I don't know why I hadn't been here before" Leah swooned, eating a couple of the doughy chocolate chip cookies, "These cookies are amazing"

"You need a moment alone with the cookies?" Lexi winked and giggled

"Speaking of cookies" Chrissy chimed in with glee, wiping the counters for a moment before taking a turn, "I've gotta head to the back to restock ... mind manning the fort, Mara?"

"Consider the fort manned ... er ... womanned... you know what I mean" Mara giggled, working behind the counter over by the barista side where not much was going on for the time being. The red head would salute her blonde colleague before almost immediately zipping over to the table containing her recently made friends.

"What we doing?" Mara giggled, leaning over the table a bit, "planning some trouble?"

"What? No..." Leah shrugged, nibbling on a cookie "what makes you say that?"

"Lexi's doodling and looks like Josh is canoodling..." Mara commented before pausing, "hmm, that's not bad ... I should write that down"

"I was just reading on the site..." Josh said, glancing at Lexi, as 'the site' was usually code for the ShrinkGirl website. The secret ShrinkGirl website that only ShrinkGirl afficianados knew about. That ShrinkGirl website. "...that Ms. Rutschmann got robbed last night"

"What? No way!" Lexi shook her head, confirming it by reading that the latest plea for help came from the cookie queen herself, Cindy Rutschmann. Josh then glanced at Mara, feeling a bit silly as he himself remembered a crucial detail

"Oh right ... you already knew that Lex is ... Shrink...Girl..." Josh stuttered, realizing he was among many colleagues who knew the not so secret secret.

"Not only that but I've seen her naked" Mara smiled proudly. Funny enough, nobody at the table questioned this. Not even Lexi who knew it not to be true. It was just said with that much confidence.

"So who do you think might've done it?" Leah asked, her voice utterly distorted by the sounds of cookie chewing

"I'm noffff surrrffff" Lexi answered in jest, mimicking her best friends speech pattern before continuing to scribble away at her doodle

"What are you drawing anyway?" Leah remarked, after swallowing the cookie

"What I would look like with a mask ... it's not flattering..." Lexi shook her head

"Why would you wanna hide that pretty face anyway?" Leah teased

"Hmmm, maybe it's the Kekse" Mara remarked, nodding with a moment of serious pondering

"The what now?" Lexi asked

"Kekse" Mara replied, "it's this new cookie shop that's suppose to be opening soon ... they claim to have some amazing cookies ... so guess they're our competiton ... or at least, will be"

"We really need 2 cookie shops on a relatively small campus?" Lexi asked herself out loud

"I found it strange too ... but hey, they don't pay me to think" Mara shrugged, before hearing a customer ring the bell that was at the counter, "oh right, I should probably get that but nice chat ... also ... something to ponder ... isn't a bra like a mask for your boobs?"

Once Mara had left the table, the 2 girls stopped to ponder that while Josh just shrugged

"Yeah I guess she's ..."

"Yeah yeah ... got a point..." Leah tsked, "...so what are you going to do about the Rutschmann thing?"

"What do you mean? I've got to at least investigate ... see what's up, yknow?" Lexi commented

"Right ... but didn't you just hang out with Rachel the other night? What if she sees you there being all superheroic?" Leah asked

"Ohhhh... oh I hadn't even thought of that" Lexi sighed, shaking her head in annoyance, "why does this all have to be so complicated?"

"I always figured the shrinking and not getting stepped on was the complicated part" Josh commented

"I always thought it would be finding outfits to wear that are your size" Leah added, as usual focused on fashion

"Har de har har..." Lexi sighed, "maybe I could ..."

Josh raised his hand, as if to suggest something,

"I'm NOT wearing the Luchadore mask..." Lexi commented, quickly shutting down Josh's recurring idea, much to his dismay.

"Well if you're not going to wear that ..." Josh added, "there might be something else we could work out..."


------------------


"Hmmm.... well, thank you for coming over Ms. ShrinkGirl is it?" a very grateful yet perplexed Cindy Rutschmann would say, "but ... don't you usually not wear a mask?"

"Oh it's uh ... something new I'm trying..." Lexi sighed, from underneath a fairly thick black mask over her face, which seemed even odder when contrasted with the rest of her outfit which remained largely the same, consisting of her purple crop top, goldenrod skirt and purple boots. The mask extended just to her neckline with some stretchiness and had a replica of the SG logo on printed around the forehead area. How did she get a custom mask printed on such short notice? Let's just say Josh knows some people. To that end, he would be on the other end of a communication device tucked into her ear. Oh how she tried to talk him out of THAT idea.

"Well who am I to argue with the experts?" Cindy shrugged, walking Lexi through the well kept tiled floors of her mansion like home, past some elegant railings and expensive looking vases and straight towards the vault room just below the first stairwell. Lexi did have to wonder why the thieves would only go for the vault and cookie recipe? Granted that is very valuable but pretty much anything they took from this home would've cost a pretty penny, especially a painting on the wall which was very well done called "A Pretty Penny"

"Is that a penny?" Lexi would hear a static distorted voice warble through her ear. She'd tap her ear for a moment in confusion.

"Yes, it's a penny" Lexi would mutter

"Oh, sorry" Josh nodded in response, out in a car about a block away but monitoring Lexi's current progress through a fuzzy 80s camera installed in the mask, "just found a penny in my car, nifty .,.. 1972 ... good year"

Lexi would roll her eyes, not really sure why this new tech was even needed but Josh seemed especially eager to try it out and well, it did make her feel more like a secret agent or something.

"Walk a little slower..." Josh whispered, watching Lexi's movements but the footage was a little shaky with each step she took, "I'm trying to scan for clues"

"I am NOT walking slower ..." Lexi muttered under her breath, "this was a stupid plan and I don't know why I agreed to it!"

"I'm sorry?" Mrs. Rutschmann asked, continuing to lead Lexi down towards the vault,

"I said, you have a very nice place here, Mrs. Rutschmann and might I say I'm a big fan of your product" Lexi said enthusiastically, both to save face and well, it was true she enjoyed the signature cookie crunch of a good Rutschmann cookie.

"Oooh ooh!" an ambitious young Joshue James would comment from the safety of his car some few blocks away, "ask her for free samples"

"I am NOT asking for free samples..." Lexi muttered, sounding a bit more obvious this time, "Um... lead the way, ... sorry"

Lexi would awkwardly and uncomfortably find her way around the labyrinthine home, the checkerboard tiled floors finally coming to an end as they reached the cellar and things took a slightly more "normal" tone despite the presence of a large bank like vault, something you don't see in most homes. Still, she wasn't quite walking her normal casual pace so that Josh could 'take evidence' or whatever, and also she wasn't use to wearing a mask and her eye holes seemed to be a bit off as she'd see traces of gray on either side of her pupils and basically had no peripheral vision.

"I don't care what the others say ..." the stubborn young heroine thought to herself, "after this mission, I'm done with the mask ... I don't know Batman stood this kind of thing ... eh, he was rich, probably had it custom fitted or something"

"Um... Ms... SG... or however we call you ..." Cindy Rutschmann commented in a sort of pretentious way, "Are you ... okay? You've been kind of spaced out since you arrived"

"Oh I'm perfectly fine" Lexi said, coughing a bit and disguising her voice even a bit for reasons even she didn't understand. Cindy had already more or less heard Lexi's true voice but now she was deepening it a bit as if to continue the secrecy. "Just uh ... gathering evidence"

"I see..." Mrs. Rutschmann muttered, but it again was filled with an air of dismissiveness towards the masked wonder. With that, she'd type in a few codes to open the vault and one would think that would be it but no, this vault simply would let them down another hallway which led to a much smaller wall vault at the very end. The vault had been cracked to the point that the door was hanging off a single hinge. It wasn't hard to wonder how the criminals got to it though. The place seemed devoid of security aside from needing the keypad to enter. At least ... that's how it appeared

"Hold on there...." Cindy warned, holding her hand in front of Lexi so she couldn't progress further and then pulling out a small remote which engaged an intricate laser grid as well as security cameras that were now more visible with their blinking red lights on as they swiveled to capture every possible angle of the protective hallway.

"Okay ... that's more what I expected" Lexi nodded, as Josh rambled on the other end of their communications system

"Oh my gosh, that is highly advanced!" he commented, even just seeing it on the fuzzy footage on screen in front of him, "ask her if those are centigrade 2 or 3 lasers... that's important because..."

Lexi would slowly turn her earpiece to "mute" and continue her conversation with the robbery victim

"So you're telling me the criminals got in here without tripping ANY of these alarms?" Lexi asked, to which Cindy would nod, crossing her arms with a tinge of impatience, "and what about the security cameras? They didn't pick up anything?"

"They were disabled ... it was as if the robber had inside knowledge of the entire system ... around 1:32 am last night the cameras went black. By the time they were re-engaged, the robbers had long since departed..." Cindy sighed, describing the situation again.

"And all they stole was..."

"All they stole?" Cindy asked, with a bit of indignance, "They may as well have stolen the entire Rutschmann name! They stole one of the original copies of our Rutschmann signature chocolate chip cookies recipe, down to every last secret ingredient and how to make them ... do you know how much that could go for on the black market of baked goods and commodities?"

"Oh ... that's a thing?" a confused Lexi responded before adjusting back to her over the top superhero voice, "I mean yes yes ... of course ... one musn't be too careful..."

After another pause, Cindy would snap her fingers and a gruff man would show up, seemingly out of nowhere, dressed to the nines and about 6 feet tall.

"Harris?" Cindy asked, receiving only a grunt in response from the apparent personal bodyguard type, "please escore Ms. uh ... ShrinkGirl ... off the premises"

"Huh?"

"You're not needed, dear" Cindy shrugged, already turning around and going for her cell phone as if to search for an alternative, "it's obvious the news was right about you ... you're more of a publicity stunt than a hero..."

"H-Hey ... that ... really hurts..." Lexi sighed, her bravado fading quickly as the man tugged on her arm gently to show her out. "I may not be like ... the most heroic hero that ever hero-ed but ... I'm no...."

Cindy would simply hold her hand up, as if Lexi was the one with the audacity to interuppt her phone call which she was now on.

"Yup. Yup. No." Cindy said, her words short and halted as she continued on with her new phone call, "Yeah... like you said, completely and utterly useless..."

Lexi would growl under her breath as she was shown the way out.

"I'm not going to fight you, yknow..." Lexi sighed, crossing her arms as she kept a good distance apart from herself and Harris the apparently silent bodyguard. Even he would shrug and nod, eventually letting her leave of her own accord, Josh just a short way away to pick her up again.

"Nice lady..." Lexi thought to herself facetiously, "can't imagine why Rachel's not a fan..."

"Can you believe she said that though, for real?" Lexi tsked with disdain as she visually inspected her choice of outfit, a purple tank top to go over the white t-shirt she was currently wearing as she tilted her body in the mirror to have a look, offering a shrug of approval in her own reflection, "a publicity stunt? me? I mean, okay I'm not perfect but..."

"Lex... I get it..." Leah said, on the other end of the phone, as she tried to juggle it amidst the chaos currently going on with her own life as she had 2 classes that were scheduled way too close together and so she'd be in the mad sprint trying to get to that second class on time, all while attempting to console her best friend, "but wasn't it you who told me, you can't worry about the haters, yknow? Haters gonna hate hate hate hate..."

"I'm pretty sure you just got that from Taylor Swift" Lexi said with a degree of snark, finally settling on a jean skirt as she finished packing up, already running late,

"No, no I think that was you" Leah said with a nervous grin, nodding politely as a girl in front of her was holding the door open so she could get into the campus building, "L-Look Lexi, I get that it's frustrating, I do... but ... oh hey"

"Hmm?"

"Sorry, Alex was just saying hi" Leah replied

"Alex?"

"Guy from my social studies class" Leah shrugged, getting herself settled into the class, having made it in with a few minutes to spare

"Oooh, spill. Is he cute?" Lexi asked, sitting on her bed and putting pink socks on

"I don't know ... not really" Leah shrugged with indifference, "Look. I know what you're trying to do ..."

"You do?" Lexi answered hesitantly

"Lex I've known you practically my whole life ... you're trying to distract yourself with stuff to detract from whatever you're worrying about but in terms of your ... yknow, thing" Leah paused, trying not to be too public about the fact that her best friend was a superhero. "You do a lot of good .. for real ... it doesn't matter what what's her face thinks... she doesn't own you"

"Th-Thanks Leah..." Lex would say with a half smirk, "I ... I gotta go, I got Chrissy giving me a ride in a few"

"Oh cool ... yeah, I should get stuff ready for class myself..." Leah said, opening her book with one hand while reaching for pens with another and keeping her phone precariously balanced on her shoulder, "maybe we could have a study session or something soon?"

"I'd like that" Lexi smiled.

----------

"For fucks sake" an irate Roxie would exclaim, just about to chuck a lamp across the room for fun before deciding against it at the last second, just clutching it in her gloved hand for a second while her ungloved hand had a flip phone in it, "what do you mean 'not good enough'?"

"I'm just relaying to you what our client said ..." Byron Biggs elaborated on the phone, "they don't believe its authentic..."

"Then why don't you send this supposed client over HERE?" Roxie retorted, slumping herself up and out of her beanbag chair while pressing her face closer to the phone receiver, "so I can give them an authentic punch in the face?"

"Handling this like a true professional, I see..." Byron reponded with a tone of derision in his gravely voice

"You and I both know I'm not professional in any sense of the word" Roxie rolled her eyes, "except maybe the fact that I accept cash money as payment... although I'd also settle for a degree of human suffering..."

The reckless vixen would flop back down on the beanbag chair, while a pause lingered on the other end of the phone line. She'd grab a gun off the barrel that served as an end table for her rigged up set and shoot a bullet into the air, watching in amusement as speckles of dry wall showered around her, "Okay ... if that wasn't good enough, we need to go straight to the source"

"You mean?"

"You got any better ideas, chief?" Roxie shrugged, pointlessly aiming the gun around with an eye closed and her tongue slightly extended out of her blood red painted lips, not intending to shoot but just enjoying the sensation of lining up a prospective target

"It's possible ..." Byron conceded, "we could probably pull the operation off as soon as tonight, I'd just have to take some men off the Drexler district... I can trust you to lead this?"

"Psh, yeah right..." Roxie shrugged, "I ain't risking this pretty face on that bullshit ... and I don't get out of bed for less than 6 figures ... send Pyro and the new girl ... lord knows she's been itching to get some action"

"You sure that's wise?" Byron asked

"Since when is ANYTHING we do wise?" Roxie chuckled, only showing a sign of real human emotion while scritching the belly of her aggressive but friendly German shepherd, Woof. "Now, are we done here?"

"I suppose..." Byron sighed, "I agree with you that the client is being unreasonable but for what they're paying, we kind of have to make them happy"

"Happiness is overrated" Roxie shrugged, bopping her head along to a song only she could hear.

----

Lexi would get into Chrissy's car and let out a sigh of relief that she hadn't kept her friend waiting too long, having seen her just pull up only a few moments before she made her way down, double and triple checking to make sure she had everything before boarding Chrissy's powder blue Toyota. She'd smile upon seeing Chrissy in her white shirt and green apron although Chrissy didn't seem to return the smile. She had a much more demure appearance even when usually seeing Lexi would cheer her up no matter what.

"H-Hey Chrissy, thanks again for the ride" Lexi said, whipping herself into the front seat and getting comfy. She noticed that Chrissy remained silent, even as she started driving. Something was definitely off, "You okay?"

"I ... I don't know..." Chrissy sighed, "Everything at the mall was just so ... awful... and ... Rachel... I haven't heard from her since..."

"Well it was still only a couple days ago and she's probably got a lot on her mind, having to reset all her cards and stuff..." Lexi nodded, still feeling the guilt from letting the main criminal get away.

"Yeah ... I don't know ... it's not just her... I'm worried about you Lex ..." Chrissy said

"Me? I mean I'm flattered but why?" Lexi asked

"W-Well just ... seeing what you did, or tried to do..." Chrissy said, not sure how to address it, "I mean at one point I thought you actually ... yknow... died... I mean that chandelier looked like it fell right on you... and ... I mean, it's great that you wanna help your friends but ... that was just ... super scary ... for everybody"

"I know" Lexi sighed, and while she was understandably spooked by the experience herself, it was becoming more and more commmon for her to be thrown into life threatening situations so perhaps her heartrate had regulated when it came to that. A scary thought to be sure but her anxiety had definitely ebbed compared to her "early" hero days.

"But yeah ... no..." Chrissy shook her head, trying to regain that usual southern charm and confidence that people knew her for, "There's nothing to fret over, I suppose ... although seeing Trent again wasn't a big help ... he still won't leave me alone..."

Lexi frowned, "I wish I could help with that somehow..."

"It's fine ... you don't need to ... just ... do me a favor and don't dive under anymore chandeliers" Chrissy joked, driving by her job briefly so that she could drop Lexi off closer to the academic building's parking lot.

"You got a deal" Lexi smiled, hopping up a bit to give Chrissy a long hug before making her way out of the car, "thanks again for the ride ... I hope to have my own car soon"

"You ever consider just ... living on campus?" Chrissy suggested, "may be a bit extra but you save on travel and all that, plus you'd be right near Leah and everyone"

"I have considered it and likely ... yeah" Lexi nodded, "it's in the cards"

"Well anyways ... gotta go ... thanks for the pep talk ... see ya girl" Chrissy smiled, slowly pulling away.

Lexi would take a moment to feel some actual peace for once. She wasn't happy about what had been happening. She was angry that Cindy Rutschmann wrote her off so easily, even moreso because she was the one who asked her for help in the first place. Plus the whole incident with Rachel, plus just various worries going on. She had to get to class though, she was already running late and couldn't afford to miss too much more time.

Lexi's emotional peace was unfortunately short lived though as she noticed a single police cruiser parked on the cul de sac which was across from the building she needed to get into.

"Not more criminal activity..." Lexi thought although she did notice the cruiser's lights were off. It was possible an officer had just stopped there for something but this was really the first time she'd seen a police car (and not a campus police car) on campus since ...

"Ms. Alexis?" a gruff voice stopped her, having rolled the window down. This person had definitely been waiting for her.

Lexi would turn, not sure how to react. Sure enough, the brown eyes staring out at her would belong to none other than Officer Sonia Sanders. Lexi would stand there for a moment or two, awkwardly clutching books to herself before making a shrug and nervous smile as if to say "who, me?" Sonia didn't care for that as she rolled her eyes and made a motion to call the young woman closer.

Lexi would of course comply, not wanting any more trouble with anyone. To this point, aside from some initial hiccups she hadn't really dealt with the police too much in any bad way.

Sonia let out a bit of a sigh. It was hard to tell if it was one of relief or annoyance or just ... a sigh.

"Alexis..." Sonia sighed

"Lexi" Lexi gulped, hoping she might lighten the mood

"Whatever." Sonia said strictly. Apparently mood lightening was not on the table, "Look ... I know that you're trying to do the right thing. I get that you want to use your ... whatever for good but ... I warned you and I was pretty clear about it ..."

"I haven't done anything wrong though" Lexi whimpered

"Officially? No. But let's just say my sargeant and many others don't take too kindly to vigilantes ... and it doesn't help that you're going viral" Sonia replied

"How so?"

Sonia would pull up her cell phone real quick and show Lexi shaky blurry footage from the Mini Mall incident. The footage was taken from a spectactor who had been standing maybe 50 feet or so from the chandelier crash and had their camera pointed fairly well at the action to show the chandelier falling, Lexi seemingly disappearing and then reappearing to be able to fight the criminal again. Lexi gulped

"Yeah ...." Sonia sighed, "and I also know you trespassed at least once on the Enormo Eastside construction project in the woods"

"Oh ... well..." Lexi stammered, not even feeling too bad about that one but still.

"Look, as long as you don't hurt anybody, I'm not really looking to write you up or anything ... it's just that lately... we've been taking in a number of distraught criminals describing some bizarre stuff" Sonia explained

"Bizarre like?"

"Bizarre like somebody shrinking before their eyes or even shrinking THEM" Sonia snapped, "Now I don't know what you're capable of ... I took you at your word that you're a good person"

Lexi simply nodded at the last statement rather than verbally confirm to avoid any kind of escalation.

"But you need to lay low for a while ... people are questioning you and not just the police ... people are going to find out who you are, what you're doing ... they may not know HOW you're doing it ... heck, I don't know how you're doing it, but I'm just telling you ... please ... lay ... low" Sonia warned again, "now I'm sure you have class or something so just ... yeah ... remember what I told you ... because I'm probably not going to be able to protect you next time"

Lexi nodded humbly and walked away, mouthing the words "thank you" to the officer. Even though she was still a bit afraid and understandably so after the encounter, she hadn't been deterred as much as one would think. So maybe she wouldn't seek out trouble but that doesn't mean she'd stop responding if trouble came around.

Sonia shook her head, fearing that very same thing. She already knew this wouldn't be the last she'd hear or see of Alexis Cole. She just hoped the next time wouldn't be on the front page.

------------

Lexi stayed at home that night, getting some rare studying in as her cat Tiny occasionally brushed up against her leg. She'd pause only briefly to ruffle the fur on his underbelly before attempting to get back into it. Occasionally her phone would vibrate on the desk nearby and she'd have to fight the temptation to look. Leah was busy working on her home ec project and Chris was off ... doing Chris things, so who was it that seemed to keep trying to reach her?

No.

She wouldn't have time. She needed to study ... God knows this philosophy stuff was tough enough on its own.

"But really, what IS tough??" Lexi would think to herself in a bit of a facetious tone, something she did anytime she tried to dissect Philosophy to any degree.

Finally on the 4th vibration, Lexi could resist no longer. Maybe it was Chris. He knew Philosophy after all. Maybe he had some kind of Philosophy Sense and could tell she was having trouble reading through the dense text. While Lexi got her phone, Tiny decided to turn it into an open invitation to visit her lap. She'd let out a surprised eep and giggle as she checked the phone. It was 4 straight messages from Josh.

The first read, "Hey, I have some info you may want to know about ..."
The next read, "Rutschmann Cookies changed distributors...."

Okay, well ... interesting information but how did that pertain to her in any way?

The third was the most concerning, with just "911"

The fourth offered some further explanation saying, "My friend Emilio down at the Maxanto Food Plant says the shipments are running late. And not just a little late, like super late. Something is holding them up. I'd look into it"

Lexi sighed. Her parents weren't home so she could probably take a look but... no. No more hero stuff. Officer Sanders was very clear about that. Plus what were the odds any of this had to do with the robbery at Rutchmann's or that there was any kind of criminal activity going on? There was at least ONE way to check just to be sure. It was in Lexi's drawer in the form of one of the police scanners.

Almost as if understanding her trouble, Tiny would let out an inquisitive "meow?"

"I know ... I know..." Lexi sighed, "I really need to study, you're right..."

Lexi would put pen to paper, having very little intention of actually writing anything while she skimmed the pages of the textbook she was instructed to read. Tiny offered further insight in the form of another "meow"

"No, I know ... people COULD be in trouble..." Lexi answered, her pen hitting the paper's edge, signaling a sort of "defeat" on the battlefield of study.

"Meow?"

"Don't give me that look" Lexi grumbled, closing her text book and going for her drawer to search for and plug in the police scanner "...I'm talking to my cat, that's where my life has gone"

Lexi would throw her arms to the side as the police scanner hummed with idleness. Maybe Josh was worried for nothing. Sometimes he could be a bit overly paranoid. Just as Lexi was about to sit on her bed to take a break from her mind's aimless wandering, the signal over the radio came in a little clearer. Definitely clear enough to hear the words being said .

"....Maxanto ... attempted ... break-in .... send ... help"

Lexi sighed, "just once could Josh be wrong about something?"

Lexi went to look at her cell phone to implore her friend for a ride since he was the only one available. Before she could even get that far, she'd see a message already waiting. It was from Josh.

"I can be there in 5 ... get your costume ready"

"...I hate how he does that..." Lexi sighed

-------------

In a not too distant future, Joshua James had taken on the role of ShrinkGirl's personal chauffeur, at least to a certain point. If things were as hectic as they sounded over the police scanner, there would only be so far he could go before he'd be intervening in a police manner. Of course for Lexi, well ... it was just another day at the new job she gave herself.

"So what do we know?" Lexi asked, not feeling the most confident about this but also feeling a bit extra motivated by events that had happened not too long before.

"Well, in the wake of the recipe theft, Rutschmann Cookie Co switched distributors to Maxanto, who does a lot of the food distribution for the Minitropolis region..." Josh explained, "they thought this would be more ideal than using their private factory since they'd be more likely to be hit by theft there..."

"Makes sense..." Lexi nodded, following along as they drove through the dusk skies. It seemed peaceful to this point, but it was only a matter of time for sure.

"Well, somebody must've caught wind of the move because the Maxanto facility was suppose to receive their first delivery of resources from the Rutschmann plant but my friend on the staff there said they were running late and the last message they got from the truck driver was very concerning..." Josh continued on

"Concerning how?" Lexi asked, as the large building began to loom over them.

Surrounded by long chainlink fences on every side with strict "NO TRESPASSING" warnings at almost every corner, it was obvious they were reaching the limitations of Josh's transportation. The building itself was fairly massive, housing 3 large silos that were responsible for manufacturing and distribution of various food brands through the city.

"He said it sounded like the truck driver was distressed, as if under gunpoint or something... and well, we already heard that police call about the break in ..." Josh explained

"Well on the bright side, it looks kind of peaceful ... here ... never mind..." Lexi sighed, noticing that around on the other side of the building she could faintly make out red and blue alternating lights. The cops had beaten them here, but she had something they didn't ... the ability to shrink to tiny size.

"Alright..." Lexi sighed, stepping cautiously out of the car, setting one purple boot down in the gravely parking area just before the fences came down, "...wish me luck"

"Go get em, Lex ... remember I'm on speed dial as your getaway" Josh nodded, slowly driving off so as not to arouse suspicion.

"Let's hope I don't need a quick escape..." Lexi thought to herself, her breathing a bit shaky as she made her way up to the chainlink fence. Despite her nerves she'd give Josh her brightest smile and a thumbs up as she turned to face him, emulating a comic book like pose before he faded from view. There was no need to worry her helpful friend, after all.

She'd quickly shrink before there could be any further opening to see her make her move literally under the chainlink fence as she reduced small enough to navigate under one of its steel honeycomb patterns as if it were a large opening to a cavern.

Upon infiltrating the outer perimeter of the facility, she'd see a door with a lone guard. She'd keep herself her current tiny height, approximately 4 inches, before ducking behind a stone gray concrete wall, growing back to full size and having a quick peek at the guard who appeared as most guards do, stoic and stone faced, a dark visor obscuring his eyes.

What she didn't expect to see was someone who didn't appear so guard like, wearing mostly black and whispering in his ear. Unconventionally, the guard simply let the gentleman in. Lexi shook her head in disapproval. This had the Chaos Crew written all over it.

She took a step forward before hearing the slightest of noises. It was amazing how her recent experiences had made the usually clumsy girl into a sort of ninja with instincts and reflexes befitting of such a title. Upon hearing the rattling, she'd turn around, only to nearly get clubbed in the head with a night stick.

One of the fake guards was the culprit and he shook his head at his mistake. Lexi just looked at him, although couldn't make eye contact through the reflective black visor over the face, and she'd simply head out into the complex, drawing out the first fake guard who had been standing watch at the door.

"We've got her!" the guard barked, causing the doorman to draw a tazer from his pocket.

"Awwww c'mon, not even gonna ask me for the password?" Lexi shrugged, stepping up closer and sliding at the last minute to avoid the brute's aggressive force as he lunged forward, tazer gripped tightly in his hand and sparking from both ends. She'd shrink herself as she limbo-ed under the man's legs sending his momentum into his charging partner who he unintentionally tazered.

She would then slip through the door he was standing watch over but she knew now it was only a matter of time before the others (and there had to be others) caught wind of her appearance. The hallway she let herself into was dark and dingy. A distant dripping could be heard and an entanglement of pipes hung above her on the raised ceilings. She'd cautiously walk towards a dim light that led out into a bigger area but surprisingly nobody was to be seen there either. What was on the concrete wall was a fairly smudged and hard to read directory of what the factory manufactured and directions to each section.

A number of brands were listed, but Lexi's focus was drawn immediately to "Rutschmann Foods" -- underneath the main listing was something that said "main batch mixing". She'd feel a slight tingle at that moment on her left side, her eyes widened for just a moment before the pain set in, tickling every fragment of her spine and figure with a rattling shockwave as a thug stood behind her with a charged tazer that he stuck callously into her hip

"UGH!!" Lexi exclaimed, turning around to strike the man but to her surprise she did even more than that. As she stumbled back, her skin sizzling from the shock, she noticed the man had seemingly vanished, now no more than a pile of black clothes and a tazer on the ground. She stumbled towards the clothes and gently nudged them with her boot.

"Ummm... hello?" Lexi said, wincing a bit as the pain raged on like a soft heartbeat, inflicting her now and then. Being tazed wasn't pleasant naturally but this wasn't like the kind of pain she expected. It felt like her entire body was pulsating and in the moment she struck the man, she could feel a similar electricity discharging out of her and into him, which likely led to his shrinking. "Uh... what do I do? Do I leave a note?"

She heard some angry squeaking underneath the clothes and almost shrugged. She hated to be so careless but hey, the man assaulted her first. He had caught her by surprise for sure but Lexi had a surprise of his own for him that even had her flabbergasted.

"Um... well uh ... serves you right?" Lexi shrugged, not even sure if the stunned man in the clothing could hear her as she darted off, her body still not feeling quite right but she was shaking it off from the adrenaline that coursed through her. As she followed the confusing directions through the downward steel staircases of the factory, an odd thought passed through her mind that had little to nothing to do with the current mission.

"Why did everyone's voice sound so cute while tiny?"

Amusing thoughts aside, she couldn't stop her pursuit. She had no idea how many more thugs awaited or if she had even been too late for whatever they were planning next. She knew she was getting closer to the main factory as she could hear the sound of machinery growing subtly louder and louder with each area she cleared.

Elsewhere in the factory a trio of gangly thugs led by the aptly named pyro Pete were in front of a locked door with a 9 digit number pad on it.

"C'mon, hurry up, don't you know the password?" Pete yelled, barking orders at a masked woman who was trying a few different things but struggling each time to unlock the door that would lead them to their ultimate prize.

"I told you, I don't know ... I THINK I know" she said

"Well we're not getting paid to THINK we know..." Pete sighed

"Hey!" a voice rang from just above.

On a catwalk stood the purple and gold clad Lexi, hand on her hip (the one that hadn't been tazed) as she smugly smirked at her opposition down below.

"I just wanna say ..." Lexi said, in a semi-serious sounding voice, "I'm REALLY glad you guys hired a lady on your team, it's a good bit of inclusion ... that said, give her a break, she's new, yknow?"

"Get her!!" Pete shouted, sending the other thug after her. This thug had but a handgun and he cocked it and shot, of course missing as Lexi would shrink out of sight.

"Please don't tell me you thought that was going to work..." Pete growled under his breath, berating his fellow thug while the fully masked woman continued her work, her fingers shaking as she kept trying combinations, at times forgetting altogether and having to start over as the intensity of the moment was weighing on her. She was the only one of them to be fully masked. The other 2 were wearing black that covered most of their faces but she was truly concealed, wearing all black from head to toe, the only clues to her gender being her curvature and her voice.

Pyro Pete would reach for his signature weapon which he had laid against the wall, a rather hefty flamethrower as he turned to the woman, "You keep at it, I'll hold off the gnat!"

"Awww how cute!" Lexi smirked, suddenly growing in front of him and throwing a punch which connected, "You have a nickname for me, and here I thought you ..."

Before Lexi could continue her taunting she was wrapped up by the other, more portly gentleman in a tight bear hug kind of restraint.

"Do you .... mind?!" Lexi shrieked, elbowing the guy hard in the stomach, although it wasn't with enough force for him to fully release her, "we ... were... talking..."

She began to twitch a bit, trying to escape. "C'mon..." she thought in her mind, "shrink shrink shrink..."

It wasn't working.

Meanwhile, the ninja looking woman just glanced at Lexi curiously before continuing on. Finally the men would hear a click that would force them to give up their fight against Lexi.

"About time!" Pete remarked

Lexi let out a loud yelp as the other thug squeezed her tighter, only to forcefully bump her into a pile of boxes.

"Ugh ... I see how it is ... love em and leave em..." Lexi stated woozily, watching as the woman with them seemed hesitant to keep going. She would ultimately follow her cohorts but after pausing, as if to see if Lexi was okay but outside of a perfunctory look, her actions meant very little as she still went on with whatever they were planning to theft.

Lexi got up and stumbled, still feeling the tingle on her hip, her vision even blurring a bit but she had to keep going.

In the next room was the source of it all. Giant machines hissed and hummed, pumping out insane amounts of foodstuffs as the conveyer belts and giant vats were all over, surrounded by catwalks. On the highest such one were the 2 men and their female companion.

"Alright not bad, Sugar" Pete said

"Not crazy about the nickname..." she replied, shrugging a bit

"It grows on ya..." the other thug said, "At least you didn't get my nickname..."

"What's wrong with your nickname?" Sugar asked

"Oh stick a sock in it, Crudmaster and let's go!" Pete nodded, waving them both towards their next goal.

The man known apparently as the Crudmaster gave "Sugar" an annoyed eyeroll and followed along, their steps noisily echoing along the steel grates of the catwalk.

Lexi could shrink but she wasn't super fast and she was somewhat hobbled but still she wasn't too far behind. She'd watch the group discuss something amongst themselves upon reaching a small console at the end of the catwalk up against a wall. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but she'd begin to pace around to get a more advantageous position.

"Okay look, we don't have much time..." Pete whispered, "before the cops show up and there are likely going to be a lot of them ... our distraction will only last so long ... so we need to get this emergency shutoff thrown long enough for us to get the sample we need and get out of here ... did you bring the key?"

"I did" Sugar replied, holding a very small key that would act as the catalyst for the shutdown procedure. First she would enter a password quickly to confirm the shutdown, before getting the prompt for the key.

"What's that?" Lexi asked, growing back to normal and startling the 3 of them, "the key to my heart?"

"You're too late, ya pest!" Pete snarled, putting the key in and turning it, causing the machines to all whir to a stop around them, although this also turned out a lot of the lights that remained on, as they now glowed a dim red.

"EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED. BATCH WILL BE SEALED OFF TO AVOID CONTAMINATION"

"Sealed off?!" Pete snapped

"Y-Yeah ... I thought you knew that ... " Sugar stuttered, "the emergency shutdown stops the process, but also seals the vats so that nothing can get in them and the dough can stay fresh"

"For fucks sake, you didn't think to mention that at any of the meetings?" Pete snapped

"To be fair, I haven't been doing this very long and..." Sugar started before being tackled by Lexi, causing the other 2 men to draw their guns on the 2 women as they struggled.

"Ugh! Get off of me ... Lexi!" Sugar yelped, realizing she had made a mistake.


Lexi's eyes widened, "...what?"

The other 2 men would chuckle at Lexi's dazed and confused look on her face. How did this stealthy ninja girl know her name? It wasn't Roxie ... she was much more tacky and cared nothing of disguising herself, plus this girl seemed to have a more shy demeanor. In fact, on closer hearing, the voice even sounded familiar.

"Don't ... try ... anything..." the Crudmaster said, his gun pressed firmly to the back of Lexi's head, "stand up slowly... let our partner up ... and just stay still..."

Lexi gulped and did as she was told, getting off the mysterious masked woman and scrambling to her feet at a reasonable pace while the gun followed her slowly. Pete smirked and picked up his super soaker like flamethrower. Sugar's eyes, the one thing that was showing looked aghast.

"Yknow, I've always wanted barbequed ShrinkGirl!" Pete snickered

"Wait!" Sugar yelped, getting to her feet as quickly as she could, "Don't hurt her!"

"The fuck you care?" Pete sighed

"She's ... she's..."

Lexi looked on confused but wouldn't have much time to process her current dilemma as she felt a hard slam to the back of the head and went out cold, as the Crudmaster slammed her with the flat end of the gun and she fell down in a heap.

"Lexi, I'm so sorry..." Sugar sighed, slumping down and looking down at the injured superheroine, tears forming in her eyes as she finally took off the mask.

"...this is why we don't hire more women..." Pete muttered under his breath, to which Crudmaster nodded in agreement.

With the mask off, the stunned woman would wipe the tears out of her eyes as her hands pressed her face and she let out a heavy sigh

Lexi wouldn't fully regain consciousness at this point but she'd see enough to make out some of what was going on

"...I ... I can't do this, you guys, I'm sorry..." the stunned blonde woman said, shaking her head as she went to grab the key from the machine. Now it was her turn to become the target of Pete's comically oversized flamethrower. "Huh?"

"Yeah ... this job doesn't really come with an exit strategy..." Pete sneered

"You're in, until you're not" Crudmaster reaffirmed, cracking his knuckles

"Now you're going to get us what we need, and MAYBE we'll let your girlfriend live" Pete said in a condescending tone. "You understand that, ...Rachel?"

Rachel Rutschmann? Working with the Chaos Crew? How could this have happened?

It's hard to say for sure, but the roots of it may have been earlier that week when she was working over at Aztek Parts & More in downtown Minitropolis. It was one afternoon after she had finished checking in a computer from her former cheermate and classmate Gloria Graff. Afterwards, her boss, the nice but at times stern Trevor Hilfmann had told her she needed to be more responsible with clients information and taking it down.

He would get called away on some matter. It was weird how he seemed to fade into that lab in the back so often. Rachel just figured it was some kind of project he had going on but as it was, she had heard some weird rumors about him, possibly being a former engineer with Enormo Enterprises and some even comparing him to the infamous "Mad" Max Mumford.

"Heya Miss, you doing okay?" a blonde girl from across the counter would ask the anxiety ridden Rachel at this point. She'd snap back to reality in time to return the greeting with some concern of her own.

"Oh hi!" Rachel stuttered with a nervous laugh, "welcome to Aztek Parts and more ... we sell parts ... and more! Did you find everything you needed today?"

"...and more" the young girl chuckled. She was wearing a black sweatshirt that went down past her waist and that was about it, as the pair of white short shorts underneath may as well have been panties, barely extending past her upper thighs. She looked rather young and had very striking blue eyes. "but for real, you okay? You don't need to do the whole spiel with me ... I use to work retail, I know how it can be"

"Huh, th-thanks and yeah ... I'm fine ... I guess" Rachel replied, trying to stay focused on the job. It was true her job at the computer store was just a side gig. A way to possibly get her some experience in technology related training as yet another merit to add to her already impressive resume. At least that's what her mom had pushed for her. "And ... hey I've seen you in here before, you were looking for a motherboard the other day ... Rosie, right?"

"Something like that..." the sneaky blonde snickered and nodded

Fast forward to present day and a dazed and confused Lexi would find herself tied up tight against a cluster of pipes that ran out from the wall, a thick and tense cabling keeping her binded. The thugs had apparently learned their lessons from past attempts of trying to contain the squirelly Lexi who could shrink out of most of their binds but with her arms and legs so tightly restricted it would be a challenge, especially in her weakened form as only her feet were able to scamper a bit, scraping uselessly against the industrial metallic floor. 8

In desperate attempts to get free, Lexi would strain and yank at the constricting steel cabling that bound her, only lascerating her arm more in the process, and occasionally experiencing the same blurry vision she'd get from time to time, likely as a lingering after effect of her tazer shock.

"R-Rachel..." Lexi would whimper, looking over at the gathered trio of criminals. "...wh-what's going on? Wh-Why are you working with them?"

"You don't have to answer that..." a very determined and focused Pyro Pete responded on her behalf

"Hey, human torch, I wasn't talking to you!" Lexi snapped

"Look toots, the only reason you're even still alive is because apparently Sugar here has some kind of attachment to ya, I don't really know and I don't really care ... once we're done here, we'll likely blow the place and you with it"

"What?!" Rachel yelped, "that wasn't part of the plan"

"Uh ... what's our name? We're the CHAOS Crew ... there IS no plan ... the only plan is chaos" Pete retorted

"Wait so then you ... PLAN the chaos?" Lexi asked, again being a bit snarky, "isn't it no longer chaos then? It's kind of a catch 22 when you think about it..."

"Make her shut up please" Pete snapped, his hands lingering on a handgun he had in his pocket, at first looking to Rachel but upon seeing her hesitance, turning to Crudmaster, "Crud ... put some tape on her mouth or something..."

"Where am I gonna get tape right now?" Crud responded, seeming a bit exascerbated by the whole thing before finally rolling his eyes and stepping away. Pete relaxed his grip for a moment from the gun.

"Lexi I'm so sorry about all this" Rachel said, tears forming in her eyes, "and Pete ... I'm sorry too"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Pete asked, turning to face her

"For this!" Rachel snapped, stomping his foot hard with her black work boots and snatching the gun out of the holster, pointing it at his head, "Get back!! Now!"

Lexi's eyes went wide. For some reason she was more panicked with Rachel holding the firearm than one of the thugs or even someone like Roxie who seemed more experienced at it. Rachel's arm twitched wildly as she pointed the gun's barrel at Pyro Pete.

"Don't move..." Rachel snapped, keeping the gun locked on him although somewhat loosely while she'd continue advancing towards Lexi

"Shit, NOW you show some guts..." Pete rolled his eyes, reluctantly keeping his hands up. He was more than a little reckless but he wasn't stupid either. He knew he was always likely to die in his line of work but he certainly didn't want it to be like this. He knew this much. Rachel was uninvited to the company Christmas party.

"This was a huge mistake ... this was a huge mistake..." Rachel would let out slow sobs, her breath panicked as she continued backing up towards Lexi

"Rachel ..." Lexi shook her head, a bit forlorn as well, "...don't worry about it..."

"Hey boss, I'm back..." Crudmaster would mumble, returning to the "job" with no tape to show for it, "they didn't have no tape but ... hey, what the fuck's going on?"

The man known only as Crudmaster would hastily reach for his weapon but Rachel would shake her head and offer no further warning, instead shooting Crud in the shin with a loud BANG, sending him backwards in pain onto the steel floors.

"What the fuck? You shot Crudmaster?" Pyro yelled indignantly

"I'm sorry, that nickname is still just ... like ... what bet did you lose?" Lexi muttered under her breath, while Rachel got to work, trying to undo the cabling but it was tied up pretty tight to keep Lexi there.

As Rachel worked on the cable untying, Lexi was aware of the fact that Pyro wasn't going to stand still for long and was intently eyeing his flamethrower which remained leaned against the wall a good distance from him but not so far that it was unthinkable that he could get it.

Rachel, in addition to the other millions of emotions running through her head could only think about one thing as she looked over at her friend Lexi, clad in purple and gold, right down to the wrist gauntlets and the shiny chrome SG medallion on her belt.

...Roxie was right all along.

But was she right about everything?

The question posed originated from that fateful conversation with the blonde girl she mistakingly called Rosie.

"Wait, you mean your name is really Roxie?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow, a bit of embarassment overcoming her as she hated missing peoples names. "I'm pretty sure I've called you Rosie the last 3 times you were in here"

"Oh you did" Roxie shrugged, "I just didn't wanna correct you, it was kinda cute and eh..."

"Ah..." Rachel answered as Trevor carried on his conversation with Lexi back in his office and/or not so secret lab.

An awkward silence hung over the pair of girls until Roxie just matter of factly referenced some of the conversation she had overheard with Rachel and Gloria just moments ago.

"That other girl... the tall one?" Roxie asked, "she been giving you problems too?"

"Her? No ... I mean she's a bit ... aggressive..." Rachel shrugged, "but I mean, it's been a hard few months for her"

"Yeah ... I thought I heard her reference ... Alexis? Lexi? Is that her name?" Roxie asked, playing dumb for the blonde computer parts employee.

"Y-Yeah ... Lexi Cole" Rachel shrugged, not thinking much of it

"Okay..." Roxie said, suddenly looking dire and worried, her voice lowering to a whisper, "listen ... you should stay away from her"

"Huh?" Rachel chuckled a bit, "you're kidding, right? Lexi's harmless"

Roxie shook her head and looked down now, visibly upset

"H-hey ... I didn't mean to make fun..." Rachel sighed, "you okay? Wh-What's the matter?"

"Lexi... is uh ..." Roxie sighed, "oh what's the point, you won't believe me anyway"

Rachel took a quick look back to ensure her boss wasn't watching her at the moment. She didn't want to seem too distracted from work or like she was on a social call. To make things seem even more "professional", she'd guide Roxie around the small store a little bit to make it appear she was assisting her.

"C'mon..." Rachel nodded, joining Roxie with a whisper, "...please... you can tell me, I won't laugh, I won't judge, I promise"

"Okay..." Roxie sighed, proving that her acting was surprising as impressive as her aim, "Lexi ...I don't know all the details and I know this'll sound completely crazy and ... I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't see it but ..."

"Please..." Rachel said, her eyes still darting back and forth between Roxie and the back room to make sure she didn't get in trouble

"She shrank my brother..." Roxie sighed, hanging her head

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Rachel stuttered

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, just forget the whole thing" Roxie sighed, a single tear dripping from her eye as she looked away shamefully, hands tucked into her pocket.

"No no, please.. just ... say it again" Rachel said, strangely intrigued now.

"Have you ever heard of ... ShrinkGirl?" Roxie asked

"The weird ... superhero person?" Rachel asked. There had been rumblings on the news. Some girl in purple would show up once in a while and criminals would occasionally say they were shrunk by her or that she shrunk herself before knocking them out in a fist fight. It was all rumors that the news would run with and turn into fantastical stories. Although there WAS that incident on the pier back in December. A giant robot attacked the Winter Carnival. Strangely enough the criminal the police were after was ALSO named Roxie (a sure coincidence) but another girl was spotted there as well, wearing purple who seemingly "disappeared" when officers tried to confront her amidst the chaos. "She's ... she's not real... at worst she's a vigilante with an expensive costume"

"She's real..." Roxie nodded, "And she shrank my brother ...he may never walk again! ...I mean he WILL walk again but it'll take him forever to get anywhere ... you see because he's ... so small... never mind, the point is ... just ... st-stay away from Lexi ... please ... I'm warning you ... it's taken everything I have to not swear revenge on her...I've ... I've made some horrible mistakes and..."

Rachel would stop the stuttering blonde right there. It appeared she had had enough of the bullshit. Or maybe not.

"Look." Rachel said somewhat sternly, "I know Lexi... I don't know her super well, but I've met her a few times and she seems like a genuine person ... but that doesn't make your pain less real ... ShrinkGirl COULD be real and whatever happened to your brother, I am so so sorry ..."

"Look. It's my problem, not yours..." Roxie stammered, smacking her lips a few times and sniffling as she tried to hide her clearly very real emotions. "Just ... thank you for hearing me out and think about what I said, okay?"

"I... I will..." Rachel nodded, "you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine" Roxie nodded, her hands sloppily entering her hoodie's pockets once more before she'd take a fairly hasty exit out of the store, but not before a small sleeve of paper came out and hit the carpeting just before the store's exit.

"Miss? Roxie?" Rachel asked in vain, trying to catch her but it seemed the blonde concealed in black could no longer hear her. In the doorway remained the paper, except when Rachel picked it up, she noticed it had a bit more weight to it than that. It wasn't just a paper. It was a paper CD sleeve. On its front surface was an elaborate red logo with the words

"Unlock your potential. Embrace the chaos. Call Now" 755-812-CHCR"

The CD inside seemed to be some kind of promotion or information about whatever this was. Rachel raised an eyebrow but decided to hold onto the disk. Maybe Roxie would return for it.

Back in the present moment, Lexi shook her head, although she wasn't able to fully turn it to get a full view of what was around her 360 degree surroundings but she thought she made out something that could be of use.

"R-Rachel..." the struggling Lexi eeked out, keeping her eyes on the pensive Pyro Pete while he analyzed a potential offensive action, her eyes signaling towards a large set of bolt cutters on the ground.

"Y-Yeah ... good idea..." the weary Rachel responded, keeping the gun pointed at Pyro but while also trying to lean over and pick up the bolt cutters. Lexi could only spectate, although she was doing her best to wriggle free of the restraints. She wouldn't need much freedom to at least pull off a shrinking type escape but she did need them looser, or ideally just off altogether.

Rachel was working on it but Pyro was growing impatient, plus there could be clattering heard down on the main floor of the factory below them. It was hard to tell whether it was officers finally arriving in the area or more of the thugs that had come on the heist but either way, Lexi needed a way out and fast.

As Rachel struggled to get the bolt cutters around the tight steeling cabling on Lexi's wrists, Pete let out a sadistic laugh

"Wh-What?" Rachel asked, her voice a bit choked up

"You." Pete answered rather simply, "You're not cut out for this ... look at you, you've probably barely touched a tool in your life"

"Th-That's not true" Rachel shook her head, "Back in 4th grade, my mom had me join the scouts and I worked with my cousins in their hardware shop when I was 16 ... she wanted me to get more of a background in ..."

"Rachel" Lexi warned, "he's just trying to bait you... please ... keep going"

Rachel would nod, getting back down on a knee as she carefully tried to free her friend without hurting her further, the bolt cutters firmly affixed around the cabling, beginning to fray it.

"So you've always been a mommy's girl, huh?" Pete laughed, "Roxie was right about you..."

"Roxie..." Lexi groaned under her breath, "...that figures"

She'd then hear a snap and smugly grin, trying not to make it obvious that her hands and most of her upper torso were now free.

"This is why I told Rox that whole "recruitment" idea was non-sense... we don't need amateurs working for the chaos crew" Pyro Pete stated emphatically, suddenly showing no fear as he stood up and walked towards the idle flamethrower, glaring at Rachel as if to dare her to pull the trigger, "you gonna do it? Bet ya never fired a gun until just now either, or lemme guess, your mommy gave you gun lessons in Kindergarten"

"FUCK YOU!" Rachel screamed, clearly emotionally rattled, the gun's sights lined up with Pyro's neck but a rushed shot would force her to miss to the north and the recoil would only hurt her shoulder briefly as Pete chuckled uproariously. Soon more thugs were coming up the ladders leading to the massive catwalk to join him. It wouldn't be long before Rachel and Lexi were surrounded and it wouldn't matter if Rachel had the nerve to shoot or not.

Lexi would nod towards Rachel to non-verbally let her know she was good to go. It wouldn't quite be that simple though but in Lexi's mind, it was more about instilling her friends, or in this case, the people she was trying to rescue with confidence. There was no benefit in letter Rachel (or anyone) know that she was a bit scared herself. Still, the superheroine would do what she did best and shrink, leaving nothing but loose cabling for a brief moment before growing back completely free, save for a sore shoulder and a still weakened body from the shocks and bruises she'd endured.

"Oh bravo ShrinkGirl..." Pyro Pete smiled smugly as his backup arrived, slowly standing to their feet, each one armed with an AK-47. "We figured you might show up ... according to Roxie, these are your favorite cookies or some bullshit ... we failed to kill you at the mall, but we won't fail this time"

Lexi looked over at Rachel who gave a guilty look. Was she in on the mall attack as well?

Perhaps. But it wasn't quite so cut and dry.

Lexi could remember being distracted talking to Chris and his friends when she happened to notice Chrissy and Rachel in the far corner of the food court, heading towards the ladies room. Well, Chrissy was heading towards the ladies room to avoid being seen by her now ex-boyfriend Trent. Rachel had picked up her phone and appeared to be on a call.

"Okay, I'm here ... you just need me to ... hand this off to you?" Rachel asked, her voice soft and cautious, trying not to be heard. She had what the Crew needed tucked in her wallet, but she wasn't sure how this would work or why they wanted her to do it there.

"Just confirm your location..." the voice on the other end would answer, a deep voice but a computer digitized one as well, intended to hide the identity of the caller.

"Um... okay" Rachel nodded, leaning in a bit closer, pressing her phone to her face, "I am at the Mini Mall Food Court, about 20 feet or so from the ladies restroom"

"Perfect. Stay there" the voice ominously said before the line would go cold.

-------------

"I swear, Lexi..." a distraught Rachel would mutter, "I didn't know they were going to try to ..."

"We can talk about this later..." Lexi muttered under her breath. Sure, she was angry ... feeling betrayed as well by the friend of Chrissy's who just so happened to be the daughter of the cookie mogul. But for now she had to focus as 4 thuggish looking figure, led by the bombastic Pete approached.

"Pete..." one of them muttered, loud enough to be heard but still under their breath, "you know we don't have much time here... that stupid emergency shutdown also triggered an alarm"

"Well, we can't get what we came for anyway at this rate ... but we have the next best thing... ShrinkGirl's head on a silver platter for our boss ... plus..." Pete snapped, grabbing Rachel forcibly by the arm and pulling her over, "someone who knows her away around here"

"Ugh! Cmon!!" she'd yelp

"Wait, isn't she one of ours?" the other thug asked

"Not anymore ... but perhaps she can be useful something..." Pete sneered, walking her back over to the machine where they started and initiated the shutdown. "Reverse the shutdown, Sugar"

Rachel looked worried but she had 3 armed men aimed on her while the other stayed pointed at Lexi.

Lexi just nodded, as if to suggest she comply.

"Hey punk" Lexi muttered, referring to the guy dressed in black who kept his gun at an uncomfortably close distance, "your shoe's untied"

"You really expect me to fall for that bullshit?" the angry thug retorted, his voice having a similar vocal filter on it, perhaps as a result of the helmet he wore.

"I don't" Lexi shrugged, "but I don't need you too"

Lexi took a deep breath and before she could exhale, she was no more than an inch high, although she had to be careful as she could slip through the small slots in the grates at this size. This seemed to take 30 seconds to her but in real time, it was maybe the blink of an eye. To say the gunman was startled would be quite the understatement.

While Rachel entered the password and reactivated the machines, turning the lights back on, Pete glared at his negligent henchman with disdain.

"Did you like ... really not know she could do that?!" Pete shook his head, seizing a firm grasp on his flamethrower gun again as he took a few steps forward, "For fucks sake ... sometimes you gotta do these things yourself..."

As Pete stomped along like a gorilla on the catwalks, the earthquake like thudding of his rubber work boots were giving the currently tiny superheroine a devastating rattle as she'd hang from the twisted corkscrew like metal, climbing underneath the grates like Crash Bandicoot until she'd find a way to climb back up once the menacing fire happy thug was past her. She'd then grow back and wave gleefully to the other 2 armed guards who had been blocking Rachel's path. A seemingly easy target to hit but as soon as they took their shot, she predictably "vanished" away or so it seemed.

Unfortunately for Pyro Pete, one of the missed shots would hit his right shoulder (and that was his good flamethrower holding shoulder) sending him to fall on one knee in agony, worsened still by the fact that his kneecap was impacting against the unforgiving metal surface.

"FUCK!! You morons!" Pete screamed out, "What are you doing?! You shot me!"

While the 2 guards went to help their bumbling boss up, Lexi grew back again and darted towards Rachel.

"Rachel, we've gotta go!" Lexi snapped, trying to remain as stern and calm as possible. She could see the flashing red and blue lights in the distance and was starting to hear the sounds of police sirens. On the other side, the chaos crew were none too pleased either.

"I can't...." Rachel sobbed, shaking her head in shock. "I'm so sorry ... I can't do it... I can't do this..."

"Rachel... please" Lexi shook her head, trying to keep it together herself, although she never dealt well with seeing tears on anyone's face. She'd hastily text Josh with her phone, typing "911" to signal the need for an escape. Looking back at Rachel, she could see this wouldn't be an easy feat to get her out safely. Her hands began sparking again, but this time it wasn't from the side effects of the tazer. Rachel looked at her a bit scared. Lexi didn't have much choice.

"L-Lex?" Rachel asked, her voice getting a bit more panicked

Lexi took a quick turn back to see the thugs were slowly reassembling. Although Pete was injured he could still hold his flamethrower in his other arm as he hobbled his way back up.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry" Lexi winced, lunging at Rachel as if to give her a hug but it was merely so she could press enough of her mass against the scared woman to begin shrinking her. Rachel would feel very lightheaded and uncomfortably, feeling like Lexi was a tumbling tree about to fall on top of her, seeing the superhero's costume and body get bigger and bigger.

Within a few seconds, the former 5'7 blonde was no more than a few inches tall as she was wrapped up tight in Lexi's palm so she wouldn't be smushed, even though there was some pressure put on her but Lexi cradled her as close as she could, her heart breaking more than just a little bit hearing the frightened screams and squeaks from within her clutched hand.

"Shhh Shh..." Lexi uttered quietly, knowing very well this would do little to comfort the tiny woman. Lexi herself had shrunk several times but of course it wasn't an experience one gets used to immediately, if at all. "It's going to be okay ..."

Lexi would stand to her feet and feel a swift WHACK

Having being hit by a thug's gunshaft would shake not only the side of her face but would send her back down on the cold floor on her shoulder, the tiny Rachel jarring loose from her hand. She was thankfully big enough to stand on the grated floors but she still looked stunned as her giant guardian was seemingly down for the count.

"You sure about that?" the smug thug would respond after his cheap shot. Lexi would get to her feet nervously as she was instructed by a pair of thugs with loaded guns.

"Okay fellas ... let's just ... talk about this..." Lexi whimpered, her eyes darting all over the place as soon as she was aware of the fact that Rachel was no longer in her hands. Her heart would race faster than the machines that had begun cranking to life. Looking down beyond the railing she'd see small vats of milk moving about on thin conveyer belts, serpentining around the larger vats that held the cookie batter and other large silos of commodities.

Rachel squeaked and looked around in shock. It seemed the Crew either hadn't noticed her shrinking or didn't care since all their attention was focused on Lexi but she had nowhere to go. Even if she COULD be undetected, at her current size, the very thought of escaping this building would be the equivalent of climbing Mt Everest in terms of distance.

Lexi would take a couple of careful steps back as the men seemed to walk closer and closer to her, leaving her nearly pinned to the railing, her arms leaning against it. It would be the third step that would be the most costly, but not for Lexi.

In a moment of unawareness, Rachel felt the wind get knocked out of her, hit by a "wall" of purple leather in the form of ShrinkGirl's iconic heel boot. The impact would send her careening off the edge of the catwalk. Such a light and gentle "thunk" against something the size of a boot would be imperceptible to most. But Lexi wasn't most.

She'd peer over the edge and scream, "RACHEL!!"

"LEXIIIIIIII!!" the tiny Rachel would squeak

"The fuck you waiting for?" Pete shouted, clutching his injured shoulder as he continued leaning in pain, "Kill her!"

The gunshots firing was deafening and as the police crowded their way into the facility, the noise and commotion would only grow louder... yet in the next ensuing seconds it was almost as if Lexi found herself in some kind of nightmarish action movie ... every sequence of events playing out in slow motion and very little no sound. Of course that's not really how it went down but Lexi's adrenaline and anxiety were at an all time high as she shrank and jumped from the catwalks herself with the intention of saving her friend Batman style, attaching the G grappling hook to the underside of the catwalk and essentially trying to "bungee jump" for her

"Rachel!!" she'd squeak, reaching closer for her.

At this point, the 2 tiny ladies were basically unnoticeable to the police who were hastily closing in on the Chaos Crew's location. A disgruntled Pyro Pete, knowing when he was outmatched, picked up a communicator device off one of the other guys, basically leaving them to get arrested while he made his way out through a corridor to the left.

"Yeah ... she's here ... no... we didn't..." Pete sighed, his shoulder and body still aching from the encounter

Meanwhile, Lexi tumbled down reaching her hand to try to catch the falling Rachel Rutschmann.

"I have one shot at this..." Lexi thought to herself, her body sparking briefly before growing back to normal, trying to snatch her up like a baseball. It looked like she might have a chance before her vision started to blur again and her mind practically exploded in grief.

"NOT NOW!! NOT NOW!! PLEASE!! PLEASE NO!!" Lexi thought to herself, and while her body language didn't show it, she was majorly freaking out right now. Her one chance was about to be squandered because when she looked to catch the shrunken Rachel, she was seeing 3 blurry after images of her. She'd take a blind attempt at it, feeling the cord on her grappling hook beginning to tighten. She'd keep her hand grasped and unhook the hook, maybe a bit too soon, sending her down on her back, she'd let out a pained yell, but look down in her hand, opening it in angst.

"Please be there ... please be there..." Lexi groaned, sick to her stomach already over the whole thing but the feeling hit her like a crushing thunderous tidal wave when she opened her hand and saw nothing. "N-No... No..."

It was then she felt her phone vibrating. She took a moment before answering it. The police were literally all around her but weren't keying in on her as they stampeded for the Chaos Crew and Lexi was a bit in the shadows, between some machinery that obscured her from view. She'd pick up the phone finally and through tears would answer, "Y-Yes Josh?"

"I'm like ... a street away ... I can't get too close because the Mini Troop is all over the place" Josh said, "...are you ... okay?"

Lexi would just shake her head, not that Josh could see it over the phone.

"No... No I'm not..." the downtrodden Lexi said between sobs, peering into the mechanical workings of the factory. The girl she shrank could literally be lost anywhere in there, if she even survived the fall.

There was only one thought Lexi had as she evaded police detection and headed for an exit.

"...I'm a murderer..."








"

Rachel Rutschmann was getting tired of her mom's demanding ways all the time....

No matter what she did, it never seemed good enough... it felt to her as though she had more jobs in the past few years than most adults have in their whole lives. Still, no praise from Mommy dearest who couldn't even be bothered to show up to most of her cheer competitions, recitals and whatever else she tried out for. Yet when she needed something, she was so quick to seize the help of her "prodigal daughter".

Rachel schlepped her backpack hastily onto her bed and slammed her head down on the pillow for a moment, almost not noticing the familiar disc come sliding out of the dropped backpack.

"Unlock your potential. Embrace the chaos. Call Now" 755-812-CHCR"

The words seemed to almost amplify in size and weight as they popped out towards the wayward girl's eyes. She'd pick up the disc and eye it curiously. Who still used CDs these days outside of AOL internet service? Was that even still a thing? Irrelevant.

Rachel had some time and needed to cool off. If nothing else, maybe the CD and its contents would give her a good laugh.

So far it was off to a rocky start.

Putting the CD in brought up a crude "CHAOS CREW" logo and a loading screen. Once again, it felt like something out of the Windows 98 era as a sandtimer briefly spun around before playing a slightly grainy video. Was that? It was ... It was Roxie, the girl from the computer shop but she looked a little different. She was wearing a red leather jacket with a black tank top underneath, and her hair (which was more or less concealed from her time in the store by her hoodie) was down and out and quite frankly looked very nice.

"If you're watching this, I hope you're in a good place right now ... we have selected you ..." Roxie began but then a deep male computer voice dubbed over her to say "...RACHEL RUTSCHMANN" "...for a very special mission"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. Stalker alert? How did the blonde stranger know she would snag the disc? What if somebody else had found it? Again, irrelevant at this point.

"Life is tougH, I get it..." Roxie said over the video, "when I was 17, my dad pushed into military school ... said it would toughen me up ... well it did SOMETHING ... not sure it was that ... point is, no matter what I did for daddy dearest never seemed to be good enough..."

Rachel would suddenly stop and take notice at this sentiment. Roxie seemed to be capable of spinning many stories, but this sounded and felt sincere. Just who WAS this woman anyway? She decided to listen on and hear the rest of the message

"Sometimes..." Roxie sighed, "as hard as it can be at times, you have to make your life your own ... and that's what the Chaos Crew is all about ... yes the name is a bit counterintuitive, but it's about finding order in a chaotic world ... it's about embracing that chaos, turning it around and making it work for YOU instead of against you..."

Again, Rachel raised an eyebrow but if she had wanted to, the exit button was always a click away. Instead, she opted to keep watching.

"Anyways, I get it ... I was a little skeptical about this all along ... but if you'd like to give us a call..." Roxie nodded, waiting for a strangely long time before muttering, "hey, who's the numbskull on graphics?"

The number would then materialize under her, mimicking the number on the disc itself, "give us a call!"

Roxie would give this overly pleasant smile that almost appeared unnatural. As if not knowing the camera was still running, she'd mutter through her glossy teeth, "c-can i stop smiling now?"

Rachel would do her best to resist chuckling at the last part.

The whole thing felt shady as hell, despite its humorous and at times heartfelt presentation. Still Rachel couldn't help but ask herself one simple question.

"What do I have to lose?"

------

"...I told you, I killed her" Lexi whimpered, currently sitting in the passenger seat of Josh's car trembling and even sparking a bit. Josh looked over and appeared deeply concerned, he had never seen Lexi this way before, not even after whatever happened to her back at the Enormo Enterprises lab on their first day.

"Lex" Josh sighed, driving a decent speed. Not too fast or slow, trying to stay as normal as possible as the police were all triangulating at the factory. "You didn't kill her"

"You weren't there" Lexi said, as she shook her head, seeing only her forlorn reflection in the car's translucent windowpane, drops of water surrounding the form as the rain began to fall. She'd sigh, still deep in thought before another thought struck her. "Shit. What time is it? 11:39?"

"Oh that's slow ... it's actually 12:21" Josh nodded

"Your clock is exactly 42 minutes slow?" a confused Lexi asked before returning to the weight of the situation "okay ... it's after midnight, I've gotta get home ... chances are my parents are home already and are looking for me"

Lexi would glance down at her cell phone but the battery was near empty. Even so, there were no missed calls. She'd just sniffle and slump in the seat for the remainder of the ride. Her arms showed serious signs of abrasion from being tied up with the metallic straps and well, she still had the welt on her hip from being tazered. All in all it was likely the worst night she'd had as a hero and maybe her worst night ever. How was she going to tell Rachel's mom ... or anybody ... that Rachel was...

Maybe she survived? Probably not.

At this moment, it was Lexi who was just concerned about getting back into her house unseen. A quick periphery look would reveal that both her parents cars were parked alongside the house. That wasn't a good sign. Well maybe they hadn't noticed she was missing, or maybe they just figured she was upstairs napping. Yeah, that seemed as likely as anything.

"Well ... she's not upstairs napping..." a very worried Mrs. Cole would say matter of factly, at that very moment having returned from the upstairs bedroom to check after a long night out.

"Jeez, I wonder where she could be ..." Lexi's dad would exclaim, "it's not like her to leave without at least leaving a note or something..."

"Maybe she stayed on campus with Leah?" Lexi's mom suggested

That might have indeed been a good cover to use but Lexi, in her current panicked and worn out state wasn't thinking clearly. She'd keep her head down as Josh's car slowly passed Lexi's parents home in the twilight, peeking up towards where her window was.

"You sure you don't wanna just stay over at my dorm tonight?" Josh asked, "Just call your parents from there?"

"That'll just raise more questions... no offense" Lexi sighed, to which Josh simply shrugged.

"This reminds me of Spider-Man #247 when Peter had to..."

"Not now..." Lexi sighed, rubbing her forehead before frowning at her friend Josh. "S-Sorry Josh, I ... I didn't mean to..."

"Nah, nah I get it ... you're stressed and ... look, I don't know what happened in there exactly with the factory thing but I'm sure you did everything you could..." Josh nodded, putting his arm on Lexi's shoulder to comfort her before awkwardly removing it. Lexi didn't indicate that it wasn't okay to touch her but he just felt suddenly nervous for whatever reason.

For Lexi the heartbreak was quickly returning as she couldn't stop thinking of the scene of Rachel plummeting through the darkness while the gunfire went off in the background. The tears would well in her eyes until she could no longer contain them. Josh would frown, driving further down the road.

"Wh-Where are we going?" Lexi asked, noticing the car slowly pickin up speed as they had passed the house entirely and were turning back towards the University.

"You can't go home ... not like this" Josh shook his head and sighed, "I just ... hate seeing you like this"

"Well that's very nice and all.." a choked up Lexi responded, "but I need to get home or things will just get worse"

"And you will... tomorrow ..." Josh said, "I'll call Leah, I'm sure you can stay with her tonight..."

"Y-Yeah ... good idea..." the sleepy and fatigued Lexi stammered. How did she let things get so out of control??

That's the exact same question that Rachel Rutschmann asked herself, while attending a very awkward meeting of hardened criminals. To say she recognized any of them would be a lie, although she was aware of the long standing crime problem in the heart of Minitropolis. It wasn't exactly a secret and now the intelligent blonde was seeing firsthand where they came from. So then ... why did she turn to this life? Was she really so mad at her mother? What is it she was looking for?

"Purpose. Identity. Chaos" a voice suddenly rang out, but it wasn't from Rutschmann's own mind ... no. Not this time. It came from the commanding leader who made her way into the room. It was the girl from Aztek parts and more, but she was dressed a lot differently, clad head to toe in black leather with a purple vest underneath her wide open leather jacket. She definitely looked a lot more "edgy" than the soft spoken girl who told the story of her poor shrunken brother.

"Roxie, was it?" Rachel asked, a curious eyebrow raised as she watched the leather wearing blonde woman command the room with a strong presence despite her at times shaky demeanor when it came to phrasing. She seemed to know her stuff but then would become erratic at times, although never quite reached the point of boiling over with anger or anything like that.

"So ... Miss Rachel decided to join us, after all" Roxie smirked

"Um... y-yeah ... I uh ... I did ... lovely hold music you have on the hotline, by the way..." Rachel chuckled nervously trying to make a joke. At the moment, it didn't appear to be going so well as everybody in the room, including Roxie, grew silent for a few moments, and nothing but a cough could be heard. Suddenly the room burst into strangely uproarious laughter.

"See? I told you we needed some fresh blood in here" Roxie smirked, "and not the usual kind ..."

"S-So you're all uh ... criminals..." Rachel muttered softly, not sure what else to call it

"Now now criminals is a harsh term..." Roxie shrugged, sitting in the empty steel folding chair next to Rachel, "we prefer the term, second chance seekers..."

"Ummmmm... okay" Rachel stammered, seeming even more nervous now.

"Now you're probably wondering..." the carefree and flippant Roxie commented as she strutted around the room, smiling back at her newest recruit, "...why you? Why would we turn to you? How could you help us? How could WE help you?"

"Well I figured..." Rachel began but it was a sentence that was not meant to be finished. At least, not by her.

"You see Ms. Rachel Rutschmann" Roxie stated, with a certain elegance and style put on the harsh pronunciation of the girls German last name, "You possess something that is valuable to our client and we possess a unique opportunity to help you help yourself ... or is help you help us... I'm not great at remembering these things"

"Rox, just get on with it" one of the gruff gentlemen sitting in a chair across from Rachel huffed. He was decked out with a snake tattoo just below his neck and a spiky black haircut with piercing hazel colored eyes.

"I was getting there..." the suddenly whiny Roxanne commented, "geez, you guys never let me play this up ... ANYWAYS ... Rachel ... honey..."

Now Rachel was beginning to get truly uncomfortable as the confident blonde strode her way. It almost appeared as if she was about to give her a lap dance, but she stopped just shy of that, leaning down instead and getting just as uncomfortably close.

"We ... want ... your ... cookies..." Roxy whispered in a slow sultry voice. Rachel responded with a raised eyebrow, more stunned than anything and not in the sexual manner. It was more just surprising to see the complete 180 on display from the "random" customer at Aztek.

"My.... my what?" Rachel stuttered

"Your cookies! You are THE Rachel Rutschmann, right? Daughter to Cindy Rutschmann?" Roxie asked, standing back up and shrugging, as she realized her advances were having little to no effect on the shy and prudent young woman. She was no ShrinkGirl after all. "No use in lying about it ... a quick google search pulls your name and likeness right up"

"Ok... y-yes I am..." Rachel nodded, "I ... I guess I just don't think about it ... God knows I hear enough about that stuff from my mom..."

"How would you like to ..." Roxie asked, seemingly being very selective about her words as she proceeded slowly, yet methodically in her speech, "...get revenge on good ol mom, HOWEVER, in the end show her what a good little daughter you can be?"

Rachel seemed very confused now.

"We need you ... to help us attain the recipe for the Rutschmann cookies" Roxie explained

"I ... guess I saw that going in this direction..." Rachel nodded. After all, this wasn't the first time she'd been asked in conversation, whether jokingly or with a bit more assertiveness that she surrender the family formula. Truth is, she knew nary about it, only where it was kept and the secret codes to the safe. She could've easily learned it but she didn't share her mom's love of baking and the family business was definitely not for her, as much as her mom may have pushed in the past. "The question is ... why do a bunch of criminals want cookies so bad and ... why don't you just steal some cookies then?"

"Because ... Rachel ... babe..." Roxie said, again maintaining that smooth and sexy persona. Rachel again seemed unfazed, so much so that Roxie dropped it altogether, "Okay look whatever ... Rachel... if you help us steal the cookie recipe, we can make you look like a hero"

"I don't follow" Rachel raised an eyebrow yet again

"Why does nobody listen to my plans all the way through?" Roxie sighed, throwing her arms in the air and pacing around a bit before returning to her youthful charge, "Okay okay ... here's the deal ... you don't have to touch a thing, you don't have to DO a thing ... you just need to get US the security codes to the safe ..."

"O.....kay" Rachel nodded, surprisingly not hesitating as much as Roxie had feared.

"R-Really? That's just it? Maybe I should've asked for more" Roxie joked. Rachel remained unamused. Tough crowd.

"Well I don't have them ON me ... I mean I think I know them but I can stop home real quick and write them down ..." Rachel shrugged.

Roxie rolled her eyes

"Oh yes, lovely ... put em on a sticky note and drop em in a library good will box... for crying out loud, have you never done this before?" Roxie asked, with a seeming hint of sincerity before realizing the inevitable truth and the whole reason she had started this idea, "oh right, you haven't ... my bad. Force of habit"

"W-Well I mean, I could text them to you or ... something" Rachel shrugged

"Very traceable... especially back to you" Roxie nodded, "and you don't want that ... you see, Rachel, we want you to look like the victim here ... follow me. Your mom's recipe gets stolen by the Chaos Crew ... but not REALLY ... okay yes really, we're really going to steal it but then you're going to get it back from us! Yay... your mom will be SO proud of you"

"I... don't see what you get out of this..." Rachel shrugged.

"We get ... the recipe... plus our client gets what THEY want ... but we're really just borrowing it" Roxie shrugged, "you follow? Do I need to use the whiteboard? Fellas over there said I didn't need a white board ... I think it really livens up the whole classroom feel I'm going for here..."

"Okay okay..." Rachel sighed, tiring quick of this peppy crime spree performance she was being subject to. "I'll ... I'll get you the codes ... I just can't do it tonight, I'm seeing my friends Chrissy and Lexi and ..."

"I'm sorry..." Roxie giggled, shaking her head and pacing around, "that's just ... that's rich ... did you say ... did you say ... Lexi?"

"I ... did?" Rachel nodded, gulping a bit as she realized she may have said too much

"Lexi Cole... the ShrinkGirl..." Roxie sighed, shaking her head in disapproval, "and she thinks WE'RE too dangerous"

At this, the small gathering of criminals would chuckle to themselves.

"Hon, she's put like 3 of our men in the insane asylum ... sometimes in a little glass box ... literally!" Roxie sighed, for once not seeming amused but rather saddened. "But hey... you go ... hang out with ... the ShrinkGirl ... just don't come crying to me when she ... well, ruins your life..."

"Or shrinks ya..." another man chuckled under his breath

"Yes... or shrinks you, very original..." Roxie sighed, rolling her eyes, "we know she shrinks people, it's in her fucking name! ...Sorry, lost my temper there for a moment... but I'm back, we're good..."

"I guess ... I don't have to see her..." Rachel sighed

"No. No, you see her. In fact, go out, have a fun little time" Roxie shrugged, "If she's with friends, she's not going to just go all Super Saiyan on ya ... you should be fine. But of course there's still the matter of the information. You know what? Write it down"

"Huh?"

"Write down the security codes ... put them in your wallet. We'll take care of the rest" Roxie nodded, suddenly seeming as business like as a bank teller while describing the process.

"But you just said..." Rachel stammered

"I KNOW ... what I just said..." an upright Roxie would respond, "but listen to what I'm saying NOW ... bring us the codes ... and just ... follow the plan. You'll be fine... I promise..."


----

"I'm not fine, Josh, I'm not fine..." the distraught Lexi would continue to sob as the car pulled up to Miniborough University.

"I know, Lex ... we're going to get you to Leah's ..." Josh sighed, slowing the car to a stop as they'd park just outside her dorm building. Josh, being the gentleman he was would attempt to meet Lexi on the passenger side to help her out of the car but she was intent on walking out on her own.

"I'm ... I'm fine..." Lexi sighed, although her scars were a lot more evident with some light on them.

"Shit ... you really got beat up..." Josh winced, noticing the scratches on her arm and some of the dirt on her face and costume.

"I'm fine..." Lexi sighed, still sniffling, "I'm ... at least I'm alive..."

Josh hung his head and sighed, walking with Lexi up towards Leah's place.

Meanwhile Lexi's parents were at least a bit more at ease having heard that their daughter was staying over with her best friend.

"Okay ... okay... thank you Leah, yeah that's fine... thanks again" Lexi's mom would continue, ending the phone conversation and turning towards her husband. "You were right, she's sleeping over Leah's tonight ... late night I guess"

"We should consider ourselves lucky" Lexi's dad replied, "most kids her age are out doing worse ..."

"I am a little concerned though ... that's the second time we haven't heard from her and ..."

"Hon, you need to ease off her a bit" Lexi's dad shrugged, seeming a tad more calm about everything, "Let her breathe, let her grow up ... we'll always be there for her, she knows that ... and I'm sure when you were in your early 20s, you didn't spend a lot of nights at home with YOUR parents"

"I guess you're right ..." Lexi's mom said, "our little girl is growing up"

-----

How ironic those words would soon become.

Lexi stumbled into Leah's dorm room and practically collapsed into her best friends arms. Josh would simply nod and give a sympathetic smile as he watched the 2 embrace.

"Th-Thanks again for taking her for the night" Josh nodded

"Are you kidding me?" Leah smiled, despite the downtrodden circumstances, "She's my best friend ..."

Still, as Leah helped Lexi to remain upright she didn't feel the same energy in their hug. Her friend seemed distraught, her heart shaken. Her body almost limp.

"Lex, you still with me?" Leah asked

"I need to ... I need to ..." Lexi sniffled, clearly about to cry

"It's okay Lex" Leah said softly, guiding her friend to the bed and holding her around the arms in a sort of sideways hug, "you cry if you need to ... I'm here"

"I ... I..." Lexi whimpered, "I'm a murderer..."

Josh simply showed himself out, looking as distraught as anybody as he headed up the hallway and out of the dorm building, leaving the two ladies to deal. He also appeared angry -- although not at Lexi. He hated the Chaos Crew and couldn't believe they'd put anybody through such a thing.

To no avail, Leah tried to cheer up her best friend, helpless to watch her sob.

"Lexi... Lexi c'mon ... you are not a murderer..." Leah sighed, "why would you say something like that?"

"Because I ... I ... killed..." Lexi hiccupped and shrank a bit, "I ... I..."

"Lexi?" Leah gasped, taking her hands off her squirming best friend who was seemingly spazzing out with every other sniffle and word. It was like her entire body was having a glitch. "What's happening to you?!"

"Oh I don't know ..." Lexi whimpered, shrinking smaller and smaller on the bed, "I just feel so low..."

Leah frowned, watching her best friend shrink down completely, just a few inches tall. It wasn't the first time she had seen her in that state but to see it happen the way it did was truly heartbreaking. She now went to gently pat her friend on the shoulder, realizing she now no longer needed her whole hand.

"Lex?" Leah said, in a softer tone, "It's... it's going to be okay..."

Lexi flinched when Leah touched her. She wasn't quite expecting a nearly full body pat on the back but she just sighed, her tears subsiding a bit even as her fingers continued to show some signs of sparking. She let out a soft side.

"Leah?" Lexi squeaked

"Yeah hon" Leah nodded, attentive to whatever she needed

"Can I just ... stay small tonight?" Lexi sighed

"You ... you wanna?" Leah asked, "I mean ... sure ... if you don't mind..."

"I want to" Lexi nodded, sniffling a bit

"Ummmm... okay ... sh-should I prepare a bed for you or something?" Leah asked, a bit unprepared for this, "I think I have a pencil box or something... I could pad it out with makeup sponges?"

Lexi just nodded slowly. At this point she didn't care too much for sleep, if she even could. Before Leah could get off the bed to go looking though, she did spot a small smile on her tiny best friend's face. She shot one back.

"Heh, don't get used to this" Leah sighed, dipping under the bed to search for the pencil box, "I don't need you staying here every night ... might get mistaken by a bug and swatted by one of the RA's"

"Heh..." Lexi sighed, a momentary cease in her depression, "...yknow... we had always talked about being roommates someday"

"Well, yeah ... that's true" Leah nodded, re-emerging from below the bed with a long pencil box that resembled a coffin but could be opened on the top, "this isn't exactly how I pictured it..."

Lexi gave her a dopey shrug, finally starting to look tired.

"I don't know..." Lexi sighed, "maybe I SHOULD move onto campus next semester at the very least ... it would keep me here, I wouldn't be as distracted and I wouldn't have to keep covering for my parents and stuff ..."

"Yknow..." Leah sighed, "Someday you ARE going to have to tell them..."

"Likely yes..." Lexi whimpered, her voice soft and slow, "I don't know how though .. this whole thing even blows my mind..."

"How do you think I feel?" Leah asked, gathering some soft supplies to pad out the makeshift bed for her little friend, "I'm building a doll sized bed for my tiny best friend... you think that's a sentence I planned on saying?"

"At one time, perhaps" Lexi winked

Leah sighed before raising an eyebrow, "y'know, a thought just crossed my mind but ... it's stupid, it's silly..."

"What is it?" Lexi asked

"No ... no, forget about it ... not a good time" Leah chuckled a bit, the idea becoming increasingly amusing to her the more she thought about it

"C'mon ...." Lexi sighed, her tiny size and whining a bit too cute to resist.

"Okay okay ... what if we had a ... tiny sleepover?" Leah said, finally bursting out into a slight giggle upon finishing the thought, "we could both be tiny and just ... I don't know, go nuts"

"That does sound kinda fun" Lexi conceded, before stretching her arms to the sky with a powerful, yet squeaky, yawn, "but... maybe not right now"

"No, of course ... this is your small time, little missy" Leah joked, gently placing her thumb on Lexi's lower torso and her index finger around her back.

"Wh-What are you doing?" the small and confuzzled Lexi asked her giant best friend

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Leah teased, applying a bit of pressure with her thumb, creating a slight tickle for the tiny Lexi, "I'm picking you up, bitch ... you mine now..."

Lexi would just shake her head, feeling the grip become a bit tighter but letting out a squeaky giggle through it all

"You giant dork" Lexi giggled.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" Leah smirked, setting the little Lexi on her dresser. She was just happy to see her smiling again.

"I... I guess nothing..." Lexi shrugged, "now you got my bed, or not?"

"Oh it's coming little miss bossy" Leah giggled, gently nudging it onto the dresser alongside the tiny Lexi, who would slowly climb in.

"Okay ... THIS is adorable" Leah smirked, beholding the incredulous sight of her best friend climbing into an open translucent pink pencil box padded out with gauze and makeup sponges. "Can I get a picture of this?"

"No pictures!" Lexi squeaked defensively, throwing a hand up, "that's all I need right now..."

"Oh c'mon ... I'll say I photoshopped it, nobody needs to know it's real" Leah shrugged

"Not tonight, okay ... maybe during tiny sleepover" Lexi giggled

"You serious... we really doing tiny sleepover?" Leah asked

"Eh, you kinda sold me on it ... but for now... I just wanna sleep if that's okay ..." Lexi squeaked and nodded, laying her small head down on the cushy makeup sponge pillow.

"Of course..." Leah nodded, "oh shoot, I forgot..."

Lexi would sit up a bit, waiting for Leah to return. It wouldn't take long for her to come back with a small silky microfiber cloth, like the kind one would use for glasses.

"Your blanket, my dear..." Leah giggled, dangling the small but soft cloth down to tiny Lexi who would grab it and just cuddle with it a bit.

"Thank you...." Lexi squeaked cutely.

Leah would just watch her tiny friend doze for a few moments with a bright smile on her face. Finally she let out a sigh, and her voice took on a more serious tone for a minute.

"And ... yknow..." Leah began, "if you ever need to or want to ... yknow, talk about what happened? I'm here for ..."

Leah stopped speaking as soon as she realized Lexi was already in dreamland. Although she appeared asleep, her little body still trembled a bit. Whatever she had seen had really traumatized her. For what it was worth though, Leah knew in her heart that her best friend ... tiny or not ... would rebound quickly.

After all, Lexi was one tough cookie.

A sleepy, and still very tiny Lexi would stir in her makeshift bed, flexing her back muscles against the surprisingly resilient and comfortable pillowy softness of the makeup sponges. Seriously, how had nobody thought to make a bed out of these before? Her vision still a bit blurry as she began to regain consciousness, she recognized the familiar, if not giant, surroundings of her best friend Leah's dorm room and could see Leah herself in the far distance.

Her eyes now more or less wide open, she'd smirk playfully and close them again, flopping herself back into a sleeping position but Leah had already caught her being awake. She also noticed, in addition to the sights, a surprisingly sweet aroma filling the fairly small dorm room. Was that ... cookies?

Cookies?

LEXI NO // RACHEL !!! /// I GOTCHA /// NOOOOOO!! ///

Lexi instantly flinched and sat up, making panicked little squeaks.

Leah came over quickly and knelt before her troubled friend, hovering a small cookie crumb overhead.

"Lexi, you alright?" Leah asked in a concerned tone. Lexi just shook her head and trembled, having had a spontaneous night terror in the midst of the morning. "Awwww, here hon. I've been making some cookies for my home ec class ... people seem to really like em and well, I thought you could use something sweet"

Lexi whimpered and took the cookie crumb -- about the size of a small boulder to her and began to cutely nibble on it. "Th-This is good" Lexi squeaked between bites, but she still seemed troubled. Leah didn't know any better though. How could she possibly know that her adorable tiny best friend lounging in her room was actually the murderer who killed Rachel Rutschmann?

A more somber and serious Leah returned after a time and sat on the bed next to Lexi, sighing.

"So ... I did hear the news about the factory incident last night, and Josh told me what he could ... he said you were very distraught..." Leah sighed, "I ... I can't say I understand what you're going through, I ... haven't been in your shoes and I can only imagine some of the things you've seen ... but ..."

Lexi nodded and gave Leah a slowly forming smile, "I... I know Leah ... just you being here is enough..."

"That said ... as cute as it is..." Leah winked, "you can't stay small forever ... you gotta get out there and ... face your life"

Lexi nodded, "Y-Yeah ... maybe it's time I take a break from all this ... ShrinkGirl business"

"Maybe" Leah nodded, "You're the most important, yknow? You gotta take care of yourself ... and hey, just because you're not always takin down mad scientists and fighting crime doesn't mean we can't still make use of your shrinking powers in some other ways"

Lexi and Leah would share a laugh together while Lexi continued to nibble on the admittedly very delicious cookie. She may even argue they were so good, they could give Rutschmann cookies a run for their money.

Speaking OF cookie places, the Krazy Kookie was just about to open but there was no sign of one of their star employees, Alexis Cole. While Stacy pondered where she could be, she also glanced across the street to notice the quickly assembling competition, the future site of "Kekse -- Authentic German cookies and pastries"

She shook her head, again wondering why a relatively small college campus needed 2 cookie places so close together before briefly catching a glimpse of her red headed barista making love to the whipped cream bottle.

"Mara!" Stacy snapped, "stop drinking all the whipped cream, we have to pay for that!"

"Well if it's so much of an issue..." Mara shrugged, after gulping down a healthy amount of the whipped substance, licking her lips clean, "...maybe restrict my access to it or something..."

"Mara, you're our barista ... you NEED to have cream" Stacy sighed

"Then don't get mad at me over a problem you caused..." Mara shrugged, continuing to slurp up whipped cream, even as some of it was missing her mouth.

Stacy rolled her eyes.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, a fairly reinvigorated Trevor Hilfmann was ready to start a new day at work with his computer store, Aztek Parts & More. After all, they did sell parts ... and more! He'd slide his way out of his car and enter through the back door, but not before noticing some troubling signs. The most blantant of all was that it appeared the dead bolt to his lab's entrance had been melted through.

He hastily opened the door and looked around in incredulous horror at what lay in front of him.

"Shit"

-------

Back on the Miniborough University, Chrissy was wrapping up cheer practice for the day, looking a bit exhausted and also curious herself as to where one of her most enthusiastic cheerers had been. She was of course referring to Rachel Rutschmann who was generally on time or early for practice. At the very least she'd call if something came up. But there was no sign of her anywhere.

"Okay, good job ladies" Chrissy exhaled, a bit worn out, physically and mentally as the girls passed by her, a couple giving her high fives as she grinned, "We're gonna nail regionals, okay? Just a few more weeks, we'll get there!"

Although she tried to keep up her usual peppy attitude, Chrissy was clearly very worried. Once practice had wrapped up, she slid into the locker room and grabbed for her phone, speed dialing Rachel yet again. She'd lean on her locker for just a moment before pacing around the room. Her pacing was so arduent, she could've left tire tracks in her wake from making the rounds so many times.

"Rachel ... it's Chrissy ... " Chrissy whimpered, sounding more and more anxious with each word. She'd even pause here and there, hopeful that the voicemail machine would cut off and she'd hear the welcome sound of Rachel's voice. Still nothing. "Um... just wanted to make sure everything was okay ... I'll just ... call you later, I guess"

Chrissy frowned and hung up her phone. She decided for the heck of it to try one more person.

That person would be none other than Alexis Cole who was currently walking towards class with Leah Henderson, back to her normal size and at least somewhat ready to attempt things again, her Biology books grasped firmly against herself. The two would have to soon split off as Leah was heading for her home economics class.

"I'm telling you" Lexi said, trying to divert the subject to anything more fun than what was plaguing her since the prior night of horrors, "Your cookies are BANGING ... if you need a taste tester anytime, I'm your gal"

"Heh, I'm not surprised" Leah teased, "and thank you ... fashion has always been more my thing but I suppose I can bake here and there"

"Honestly, I'm impressed" Lexi quipped, "only times I remember us baking as kids usually ended with the fire department showing up"

"That was one time and we were 6! We didn't know how to use an oven!" Leah scoffed

"Damn, your mom was sure mad that day..." Lexi chuckled

Leah looked a bit forelorn as she nodded, "...I miss mom"

"S-Sorry Leah, I didn't mean to..." Lexi shook her head, realizing the mistake she had made, albeit unintentionally. Then again, she didn't intend for what happened with Rachel either. Leah waved her off, realizing that her best friend was already wrought with enough grief.

"It's fine ... I ... I just ... yeah" Leah nodded, forcing a smile. "I'll see you after class, okay?"

Lexi nodded and sighed, looking down the hallway to where her biology class would be located. Maybe it was her shattered nerves or lack of sleep but that hallway appeared to stretch on forever. Each beleaguered step she took seemed to put more and more of a toll on her body. She wasn't a big fan of Biology. It didn't help that she was failing it.

Her intentionally slow walking would be interuppted shortly by a slight vibration in her pocket. She knew she shouldn't answer it but her hand (one that was free and able to slip away from the vice grip she employed on her books) found itself in her pocket and slowly picking the phone out. It was a missed call, from Trevor Hilfmann.

Lexi continued to walk down the hall until finding a place she could sit, a bench stationed not too far from the science department and her waiting biology class. Rather than check the voicemail, she decided to call Mr. Hilfmann back directly. He answered almost immediately.

"Lexi, is this a bad time?" Trevor asked, his usual calm demeanor seeming anything but at that moment.

"Ummm... well... I do have class..." Lexi stuttered.

"Oh ... well, as soon as you can, please come by the computer store ... something's happened" Trevor sighed

"Oh gosh, are you alright?" Lexi asked

"I'm fine ... just ... again, when you have a chance ..." Trevor replied

"I'll come by right after class" Lexi said firmly, ending the phone call before sighing and remaining still on the bench for several more moments, simply watching as the students passed her by, the halls slowly becoming less crowded as classes were starting to begin their sessions. She'd look at her watch, and then look at the Classroom in which her Biology class was held. She'd let out a great sigh and stand up slowly.

----

Not even half an hour later, the frantic Lexi arrived at Aztek Parts and More, much to Trevor's surprise as he manned the counter alone. It was a slow day after all and he hadn't found any extra help yet since he fired Rachel Rutschmann.

"Lexi" Trevor stated, seeming a bit surprised, "I thought you had a class"

"I uh ..." Lexi stammered, "it got cancelled ... professor got food poisoning..."

Lexi would follow her trusty ally into his lab, her heart sinking a bit even before seeing the sights she would see as a result of her blatant lie. Inside the usually organized (okay, so sometimes it was disheveled) lab was the clear signs of a break-in but this time it was much more apparent than the one at the Rutschmann residence. Drawers were ripped open, some cabinets torn clean off their hinges and various chemicals, including some small beakers of the nanite compound were spilled all over, leaving a murky silver puddle in their wake.

"Wh-When did this happen?" Lexi stuttered with shock.

"Must've been last night... I keep this place pretty well locked up, but somebody was prepared" Trevor sighed, shaking his head, "the greatest casualty though was this..."

Trevor gestured over to a glass case which was now empty.

"Were those...?"

"Yeah" Trevor nodded, seeming more confused than anything, "Those were the enhancements I had been working on for you ... the mini jetpack, the anti-gravity boots, the plasma beams..."

"The plasma beams?" Lexi asked

"They were to be makeshift arm cannons you could wear that would adapt to your size and movement" Trevor shrugged, "Okay so I got a little TOO into the superhero thing ... the point is, you're the only one who even knew I was working on this kind of stuff ..."

"Are you ... sure?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow, "I mean, I know you haven't had that many employees here but ..."

Trevor would stop and sigh.

"There was one ..."

The incident that Trevor would recall also took place not too long ago, the same day Rachel had been speaking with the strange girl who's name she mistook for "Rosie". It was that same day Trevor had first been on the phone with Lexi when he got called away.

"Umm... Mr. Hilfmann, sir? Could we see you out here for a moment, please?" Rachel asked on behalf of an angry customer

"I gotta go..." Trevor murmured, tucking the flip phone back in his pocket to end the call before going back to work. Lexi let out a sigh. "How can I help you, sir?"

"You can help me by taking back this hunk of junk..." an irrate older gentleman stated from behind the counter, gesturing towards a black laptop he had set there.

"W-Well hold on there..." Trevor nodded, trying to keep the situation calm. In doing so, he had dismissed Rachel from the situation. Rachel was a bit distraught anyhow, having felt like she was failing at this job and also having met that strange girl Roxie who left her the CD.

In walking back to the store room, her eye was caught by something flashing. She'd take a peek out briefly to see what her boss was doing. It seemed he had his hands full with the arguing customer. She made doubly sure before pressing on the slightly ajar door that was clearly labeled with a PRIVATE -- AUTHORIZED PERSONELL ONLY sign and stepped slowly inside. She'd flip the lights on and take a look around, seeing a row of small bottles on neatly organized shelves. They were labeled "Delta Nanites, Extremely Experimental" with a cautious flag on all of them.

"What in the..." Rachel would stutter, suddenly mesmerized by what she had seen, and that was only the beginning.

In the center of the lab was a sort of counter for working on things but this seemed highly advanced. Certainly not the kind of thing one would work with to fix laptops. She'd take a few more steps into the lab, despite not hearing Trevor's voice anymore, nor that of the angry customer. She just had to see what was inside that glass case that was sandwiched between a couple of file cabinets and stationed just on top of another work bench.

"The heck is this stuff..." Rachel marveled, a bit of a science geek, although not overly so. Still, it was hard not to be drawn to the sight of some kind of military grade jetpack and other weapons and gadgets which on their own would be remarkable for somebody like Trevor Hilfmann to possess, except they were also teeny tiny, as if made for a small action figure to wear. She doubted, because of their small size, that they were even functional and were maybe just for display. Even still, she found herself fascinated enough with them that she would fumble for her phone. She'd get a quick snapshot before hearing footsteps behind her.

In a panic, she'd take a step back but it was too late.

"Rachel?" Trevor snapped, "what are you doing back here? This is a private area... and I was asking you if you could look up a receipt for the gentleman out there, you never came out to help..."

"I ... I ..." Rachel stuttered, hiding her phone.

"Rachel, I'm afraid I've gotta let you go" Trevor sighed

"What? But ..."

"Just ... see yourself out..." Trevor grumbled, "I don't have time for this right now..."

Trevor Hilfmann let out a great sigh upon finishing his story, "in retrospect I should've mentioned that to you but I figured you had enough going on ... and other than snooping around, she seemed pretty harmless but yeah, I fired her ... she was constantly having her head in the clouds anyway and would mess up even the simplest orders... sorry if it sounds like I'm being too harsh ... I know she's a friend of yours"

"Yeah... she was..." Lexi stammered, realizing her mistake, "I mean IS ... IS... she still IS ..."

Trevor seemed confused

"B-But even if Rachel knew about the machinery and stuff ... she couldn't have ... because she's ... well..." Lexi stuttered

"Do you know something I should be aware of?" Trevor asked, seeming a bit suspicious now.

"No! No! Rachel is definitely NOT the thief..." Lexi gulped, although the reason she thought so had nothing to do with any faith in Rachel's innocence. She may have fallen in with the wrong crowd but Lexi found herself ultimately responsible for what had happened to her in the end.

"I ... never thought she was..." Trevor said, "just ... I don't know. I'm a bit worried this could be the first hit from Enormo Enterprises ... Maximillian specifically"

"That nut? This doesn't seem like his style..." Lexi nodded, a finger to her chin as if she were some kind of detective suddenly. She had made a good number of enemies these past several months. Mad Max, Roxie ... wait ... Roxie ...

Rachel had mentioned knowing Roxie during the fight in the factory. If Rachel knew Roxie, she might've told her some things as well. That would mean Roxie had perhaps some information.

"Um... Dr... Mr... Hilfmann, sir..." Lexi stuttered, always struggling on what to call the older gentleman. Calling him 'Trevor' just felt weird for someone her age as he was clearly her elder and a very helpful and friendly man. "...do you remember seeing anyone in your shop recently? Like a ... young blonde woman?"

"That's not exactly super specific..." Trevor shrugged, "but ... yeah... I think I do remember someone like that, wasn't in much but stopped by once in a while over the past week, usually dressed in a black hoodie or something like that. Not very talkative but I do remember Rachel speaking with her a few times, they might've been friends from school or something"

Lexi gulped again. How is it that all her arch foes seemed to somehow know each other?

"Just ... stay safe, Hilfmann Hoffnung" Lexi stammered once again

"You can just call me Trevor, yknow" Trevor sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I'm fully aware...." a somewhat emotionally distant Lexi responded. "I... I gotta go... just ... if the blonde girl in the hoodie comes back into the store, lemme know ... like call me as soon as possible"

"O...kay..." Trevor nodded, before noticing Alexis making her way for the door in a bit of a hurry, "H-Hey ... are YOU alright? Did the last dose of nanites do anything to stem the issues you've been having?"

"The nanites?" Lexi asked, almost forgetful of her own condition as she had the door pryed half open, nearly out of the back room entirely before she remembered, "Oh, oh yeah! I'm uh ... feeling much better ... besides final exams coming up and all that fun stuff"

"You have a lot on your plate, Lexi..." Trevor sighed, "You really should take care of yourself first ... but you're a kind soul, always looking out for others"

Lexi gave him a shrug and a smile, "It's what I do..."

----

A few weeks went by and the cheer regionals were fast approaching. Lexi had started getting things back on track, after apologizing profusely for missing a couple days of work and agreeing to work on extra credit in Biology class. That was the good side of things. On the bad side, the news was all over town that Rachel Rutschmann was a missing person after the altercation at the Maxanto Factory. Nobody had connected those dots but there were search parties employed all over and Rachel's mom Cindy would appear on the news almost every night in tears at the disappearance of her daughter, only fueling Lexi's guilt. Because of this, Lexi hadn't engaged in much hero work, aside from the occasional listening for signs of Roxie, but she hadn't been in any kind of heroic mission since the factory fight.

One day after school however, Lexi and Leah were walking towards the card shop for some chill time with their friends Josh and Chris when they heard a disturbing noise. Somebody was being physically attacked in an alley nearby. Leah looked at Lexi worriedly, already knowing her friend was planning something reckless.

"Lexi..." Leah warned pensively.

"I've gotta help" Lexi frowned, putting her handbag down and fishing out the SG medallion that she would routinely wear on her belt in cases such as this. It wasn't her full costume but it was enchanted by fairies and protected her from dark magic. Geez, now she sounded like she was in an RPG. The point was, Lexi wasn't the kind to just let somebody get attacked like that, hero or not. She had to step in and by the time the police were called, if they ever were, this poor person could be beaten up or worse.

Leah would take a step back, however supportive she might've been, as she watched Lexi seemingly disappear behind the corner. Of course she knew better. It was no mere magic trick that her best friend had employed. But it was the 2 thuggish men who were in for the real surprise as they assaulted a younger man, about 20 with black hair and a Mini U backpack on.

"I told you..." the young man grunted as he was punched again and again, trying uselessly to block or somehow defend himself as he would slowly get more and more pummeled and pulled against the brick wall by subsequent attacks "I don't have any money!"

"Bullshit!" the thug responded, suddenly pulling a knife, "we'll just take what you have then!"

"C'mon... my laptop's in there!" the young man pleaded as the accomplice thug practically ripped it off his shoulder by a strap.

"Awwww, afraid to lose your homework?" the man jeered derisively.

Suddenly came a triumphant and heroic ... squeak? Yes. A squeak.

"Pick on somebody your own size!" the emboldened but tiny Lexi chirped from down below, before growing back and smacking the cruel man holding the backpack, sending him into the brick wall across from the mugging victim. Leah would watch from a distance as Lexi shrank and grew to fit the situation, even employing a brief bit of parkour as she leapt up onto the wall briefly, staying there just long enough to draw a punch from the thug, which would miss, resulting in the thug severaly bruising his hand.

"Ugh, stay out of this ShrinkBitch" the thug grunted, getting punched a few times himself by the assaulting Lexi

"Oh so you HAVE heard of me..." Lexi smirked, swift kicking the thug to the ground as he held his side in pain, "then you know how this ends"

"Ugh, let's get out of here..." the injured thug told his similarly hurt comrade, "it's not worth it..."

They would drop the backpack and hastily make their way out of the alley.

"Aww, and we were just getting started" Lexi smirked, before looking at the slightly injured victim. "....hey, you okay?"

The young man couldn't help but stare, and not necesarrily at Lexi directly but the shiny gold and purple belt she was wearing that had the iconic SG logo on it. He stuttered a few times as if meeting his biggest hero ... ironic choice of words.

"Y-You're ..." he stammered

"Yes Yes ..." she smirked, "keep it under your hat, okay?"

"Um... well I don't really know your real name" he shrugged, "plus shouldn't you wear a mask?"

Lexi sighed and rolled her eyes. Again with the mask thing.

The rescued young man would start to scamper out of the alley before he looked back at Lexi, who shot him a confused look in return. "Yes?"

"Um... yknow, if you're not doing anything later..." he stammered

"Are you seriously asking me out right now?" Lexi shrugged, matter of factly

"Well I mean, it's just that I ..." he stammered

"Don't push your luck, kid" Lexi giggled

"Heh ... fair enough ... I don't care what they say about you though, Miss... you're the real deal" he said, giving her a sheepish smile and a wave. AFter all, he had just been rejected by THE ShrinkGirl!

Lexi looked a bit confused by his last comment though. Who was saying what about her?

Leah came down the alley to aide once the trouble had subsided.

"Lex, you okay?" Leah asked, "that was amazing!"

"Heh... yeah... I'm just wondering what he meant by ..." Lexi said, but then stopped, quickly having her attention drawn to what he had meant. Her eyes went wide to see the words written in some kind of strange graffiti. They were small... sized more to be on a bathroom door than a brick wall but they were clearly legible because they were in a rainbow color.

"SHRINKGIRL IS A MURDERER"

"MURDERER ... MURDERER ... MURDERER..."

The cursed word echoed in Lexi's worried head like a pinball, constantly appearing to her. And it got worse. As she walked towards the card shop to meet the others, trembling a bit as Leah tried to calm her down, she saw more small works of graffiti, saying "I KNOW YOU DID IT..." "YOU KILLED ME..."

Lexi shook her head nervously as Leah tried to comfort her

"Lex ... hon, you are not a murderer, okay? You are the kindest person I know..." Leah reassured, stopping short of going into the card store, "y'know, we don't have to go in here..."

From inside, Lexi could see their friends, Chris and Will waving. She offered a half hearted smile and wave back, "We kinda do" Lexi smirked, leading Leah inside.

----

About another week had passed and Lexi was waking up for the morning. This would be the morning of her first final, in Philosophy, as well as the evening for the cheer regionals which she planned to go to in order to support Chrissy and her friends.

News of Rachel's disappearance had started to become national news as more and more info was coming out and more witnesses were asked about possible things they had seen and any clues as to where she could be. As Lexi glanced pensively down at her cat Tiny who gave her a pensive meow, she shook her head.

"D-Don't give me that look..." Lexi frowned, "you know I'd never hurt anyone, right? Not on purpose... yknow?"

Tiny just meowed and made his way out of the room, his tail bobbing as he walked away. Lexi rolled her eyes and grunted, as she hoped that was merely a coincidence and not a sign of things to come.

For today, Lexi's key was just to have as normal a day as possible. She had even been staying away from any kind of hero business, aside from the lone mugging in the alley. There was nothing around that could possibly remind her of ShrinkGirl.

"That ShrinkGirl character,..." she'd hear her mom mutter upon making her way down to the breakfast table. Her heart almost skipped a beat. Hearing that name from either of her parents mouths was just bizarre. But what had brought it on?

The answer lay on the small TV mounted in the kitchen that her mom and dad were both watching as Lexi reluctantly sat down for some breakfast, helping herself to the relatively untouched box of corn flakes that sat beside a bowl that was prepared for her to use. Her dad took notice of her aloof nature but was also fixated on the latest news headline as Lexi's mother was.

"They say ShrinkGirl may have been involved in Rachel's disappearance" Lexi's mom tsked, standing up and getting going for work herself. She was always a pretty busy and frantic woman, and now this latest news gave her some reason to harbor anger.. albeit unintentionally against her own daughter.

Lexi glanced up at the TV, trying to pay it no mind as the likes of Pyro Pete and others were on there being interviewed.

"Yeah, she was there..." a ravaged Pyro Pete said, being interviewed while in prison, "I'm not sure what she did but we never saw Suga-- Rachel again..."

The newscaster went on to continue, "It would appear Rachel got caught up in the infamous crime gang, the Chaos Crew where she was at the Maxanto Factory the day of the raid... police have searched the entire facility but found no evidence of a body..."

At this, Lexi at least had some hope that Rachel could still be alive. But still, things didn't look good.

"I thought for sure that whole ... ShrinkGirl thing was a publicity stunt..." Lexi's dad said, strangely calm while he ate his corn flakes, "I mean, people can't really shrink"

"I'm telling you, there's some bad voodoo out there" Lexi's mom, notoriously superstituous said, while cautioning her daughter, "You stay away from that area, I mean it ... it's very dangerous out there"

"I think she can take care of herself" Lexi's dad defended as the most awkward breakfast continued.

The next scene on the news was perhaps the most disturbing of all as a tearful Cindy Rutschmann was interviewed yet again.

"I just ... I can't believe this happened to my little girl..." Cindy sobbed a bit, "ShrinkGirl, if you're listening to this, bring my daughter back ... and step forward ... we will find you ... I promise you that"

Lexi hung her head in shame.

"I've ... I've gotta get ready for class..." Lexi sighed, stepping away from the dining room table, and trying her best to avert her eyes from the traumatic news.

"Do you need a ride?" Lexi's dad asked.

"N-No, that's okay... Josh should be over shortly" Lexi sighed, disappearing up the steps.

Again, Lexi's parents shared concerned looks.

Lexi would open the door to her room, again racked with guilt. She didn't want it to end this way ... she didn't ... notice the slight crack in her window at that time. Until she did.

"What in the..." Lexi asked, seeing a small spiderweb shaped crack forming in the window, the result of something very small but fast piercing through it. She backed away as another high speed pellet flew into the room.

Tiny, who was perched under the bed made a defensive screech as something landed near him. It was a red oval-shaped projectile that lay on the ground there sizzling after it had caused a second, more substantial crack to the window. After the projectile lay dormant for a moment, the curious cat began to sniff it.

Lexi leaned down and gently shoved her kitty aside.

"Don't ... heh ... don't play with that" Lexi sighed, a bit exacerbated but also curious to see what it was. Even though it was sparking, its shape and appearance looked familiar. Was that ... a Mentos?

Finally a third one pierced the window and this one caused major damage to the small bedroom windowpane as the spindling patterns of cracks and damage intertwined until the combined wear on the glass took its toll and the window was suceptible to the final moment, a figure crashing through it. Lexi backed away, holding onto Tiny tightly even as he tried to make a bolt for it, while teeny tiny glass fragments rained into the room.

Luckily Lexi's parents heard none of this as they made their way to work.

Lexi glared upwards concerned and also a bit angry.

Tiny bolted out of the room while a tiny figure, staying afloat via a jetpack landed herself on the windowsill, smirking arrogantly after having succeeded in her breaking and entering mission.

The tiny woman then hovered over to the dresser, glaring at Lexi with a burning look of anger.

The tiny woman stood at about 3 inches, wearing deep purple under her armor plated shoulder pads which housed a jetpack that ran along her back, appearing all in chrome. This matched her silver boots with appeared highly technological. It didn't take Lexi long to surmise that this was the stolen tech that Trevor Hilfmann had designed for her. Most dangerous of all though was the arm cannon that ran along the woman's wrist, culminating in a handle that she could operate to fire whatever projectiles she had loaded in there.

The woman had dirty blonde hair and 2 different colored eyes, one deep red and the other a bright purple. Her face was a bit pale... almost unnaturally so, as if she were taking makeup lessons from Harley Quinn. Despite her radical appearance, Lexi gasped as she recognized the tiny antagonist almost right away.

"R-Rachel Rutschmann?" Lexi stuttered, watching the small adversary hovering off the dresser just a bit, as her boots also had some propulsion to them.

"ShrinkGirl..." Rachel growled, pointing her non-cannon arm in an accusing manner at the giant Lexi, "You .... you killed me ... you ruined my life, you bitch!"

"Wh-What?! No no... I..." Lexi stuttered, almost crying, "I didn't mean to... I ..."

"Oh you didn't mean to?" Rachel squeaked, her voice even sounding a bit modified, as her old voice was somehow resonating along with her new tiny voice, she shook her head in disdain. It was clear she was not to be reasoned with. "And I am no longer Rachel Rutschmann ... that was my old life ... you KILLED Rachel Rustchmann! I am now ... SUGAR RUSH!!"

Lexi blinked a few times and although nervous and tense thought to herself, "...Sugar Rush isn't a bad villain name"

The tiny woman would use her jetpack to hone in closer on her giant enemy, shaking her head and tsking, "Anything to say for yourself? Anything at all?? You left me for dead, Lexi! I thought you were suppose to be a hero!"

"I am! I mean I'm trying!" Lexi whimpered

"Fuck you!" Sugar snapped, coming in for an upper cut on Lexi's chin. Lexi's reflexes forced her to lurch back a bit but it wasn't enough and Sugar's punch connected, although it seemed to cause HER more pain than Lexi who only felt a mild "love tap" by comparison. The weakened Sugar Rush hovered down to tend to her wounded hand.

"Oh shit..." Lexi whimpered, feeling bad for the woman who just assaulted her, "are you okay, hon?"

"Shut up!" Sugar Rush sneered, firing from her cannon what appeared to be sugar glaze but it was super hot. Lexi thankfully dodged and watched as it landed a few feet from her, sizzling into her carpet.

"...hey, I just had that carpet cleaned..." Lexi sighed, before turning back to her vengeful tiny attacker, "Rachel look, we can fix this... let me try to grow you back, I can..."

"You can't!" Sugar Rush snapped, the cannon pointed squarely at Lexi's chest from down below as she sneered up at ShrinkGirl, "I'm STUCK this way, don't you get it? Roxie's the only one who was willing to help me..."

"Look, Roxie is not your friend, trust me" Lexi shook her head

"and YOU are?" Sugar Rush snapped, firing again.

This time, instead of dodging Lexi shrank herself out of the way, soon matching Sugar in size. She figured she may as well make this a fair fight. That might not have been her best idea as the enraged Sugar Rush pounced on Lexi and tackled her to the ground, beginning to strike her hard with the blunt end of her metal enhanced arm thanks to the cannon. Lexi grunted out in pain, before shrinking even smaller than Rush and sliding under her, growing back to 3 inches tall and looking exhausted already.

"Rachel... we don't ... have to fight..." Lexi squeaked ahd whimpere, the side of her face severely red from the beating she had just taken.

"I have nothing else to live for!" Sugar snapped, firing another stream of hot glaze at her similarly sized target. Lexi dodged it and took a defensive stance. Sugar Rush then put her jetpacks on full blast, aiming for the heroine and going for a dive domb manuever. Again Lexi would spring into the air and dodge it, Sugar Rush thrown off a bit as she had to quickly change directions or risk smacking into a giant dresser.

"Guess being a former cheerleader paid off..." Lexi thought to herself, still tired but at least her athleticism was bailing her out.

Rachel seemed a bit knocked out from the thunk against the dresser and Lexi approached her cautiously. She was about to speak when she heard a booming voice from downstairs. It sounded like her dad ... but he had left? So she thought.

"Lexi, Josh just called the house!" Lexi's dad announced, "he's not going to be able to make it over to pick you up, he's feeling sick ... so either hop in the car with me or you're walking"

Lexi sighed, looking down at Rachel sadly.

"I'm sorry, hon ... I've gotta go..." Lexi sighed, carefully scooping her tiny foe and setting her on the dresser. Rachel was beginning to come to and looked understandably upset. She was about to reactivate her jetpack when the fast thinking Lexi swiped a glass from next to her and flipped it over, trapping Rachel inside.

"You bitch!!" Sugar squeaked, banging on the glass, "get out here and fight me, you coward!"

Lexi frowned. She knew she couldn't take Rachel with her ... she'd burn a hole through her pocket and try to kill whoever was with her. She also wasn't sure about leaving her here but she did seem well contained under the glass. She sighed sadly, having been on the other side of this interaction before. Was Rachel really stuck small though? She had to be able to try and fix it.

"Rachel ... if you could just ..." Lexi frowned, not being able to get a word in edgewise as the angry adversary continued her tirade from under the glass. "If you just could ... ugh ... forget it"

Lexi angrily left the room to meet her dad. Tiny got up on his hind legs to step up high enough for his eyes to curiously peer in on the tiny captive.

"Oh what are YOU looking at?" Sugar Rush squeaked, giving the cat a nasty snarl and look. Tiny, in typical cat fashion just kind of traipsed off, not effected either way by the hateful gaze.

The despondent Rachel Rutschmann, currently known as Sugar Rush simply slumped in the glass prison. She looked around the room as she plotted her escape, recognizing a picture on Lexi's wall. It was her and Leah Henderson. She didn't know the girl exactly but she had seen the two on campus often together.

"You took something from me ... I'm going to take something from you..." Sugar sneered to herself in vengeance.

Down the stairs an anxiety ridden Lexi would walk, meeting her dad as quickly as she could, having scooped up her books and hoisting them into a backpack with the purple and white Miniborough University. Her dad was quick to notice how hurried and tense his daughter appeared.

"Lexi?" he asked, stepping just ahead of her to let her into the passenger side of his black Ford escape, "what's the hurry?"

"Huh?" Lexi stuttered before just shaking her head, usually an expert at regaining her composure in high pressure situations. Yet she almost couldn't stop the tears from coming out. "Oh ... ummm... you know... just the final exams and all, want to get off to a good start"

"Yeah?" he asked, not quite believing all that, despite the fact that he knew his daughter to be a conscientious student. There was clearly something else bothering her. He wasn't planning to pry but this had been the first time in a while they really got to spend much time together, just the two of them. He'd turn down the radio and turn to Lexi, "You know .. this is the first time in a while we've really got to spend much time together, just the two of us"

Lexi would give him a forced smile, not because she didn't love her dad because of course she did. In fact both of her parents had been incredibly supportive and kind to her over the years. The more she thought about it, the more she was reminded of the luxury she had that others didn't. Her best friend Leah lost her mom when she was 10. Rachel had become a victim of her mom's helicopter parenting her entire life to the point that it drove her way down the wrong path. She even remembered the cruel words of Roxie who seemed to mock Lexi for being this "well fed" family girl. What she had was definitely unique and worth cherishing. She decided to do just that, even if it was only for the short car ride to school.

"You're right Dad" Lexi smiled again, this time giving it a much better effort, "things been going well at work?"

"Heh yeah, for the most part ... " Lexi's dad would respond, working at a sales firm downtown, "Oh hey, I actually meant to tell you but I don't know for sure, one of my associates knows a guy who works at Mini Motors downtown, he might be able to get you a deal on a used Toyota!"

"Oh?" Lexi smirked a bit, "that's great"

Truth be told, Lexi HAD been saving money for quite some time to pick up some kind of used car, even if it wasn't the best, she'd need something to get around in. She was growing tired of relying on her friends and family for constant rides. Plus it would allow her to gain some freedom and independence for when she went on top secret hero missions ... although at this point, she wasn't exactly convinced that was the way to go moving forward.

Now what should the next topic of conversation have been with her dad? Maybe about how she was a superhero?

"Things at school been okay?" Lexi's dad asked, "Don't really hear you talk much about it"

As the car would slow to a stop for a red light, Lexi would give the type of cheeky look to her father that many youngsters would give as she quipped, "Dad, how often did I EVER talk about school? Outside of cheerleading?"

"Good point" he shrugged, "was a bit surprised you didn't try out for the University's cheerleading squad"

"Eh, it's complicated..." Lexi replied, not wanting to recall the series of chaotic events that led to her missing out on tryouts. Truthfully, part of her did feel a bit of envy that she wouldn't be participating in tonights regionals but she'd at least be there as a cheerleader in the stands to watch ... given other things didn't interfere, as she hadn't forgotten about her tiny villain in the bedroom.

"You know, Lex..." Lexi's dad said, "your mom and I had been talking and we think maybe next semester..."

"...I'm thinking about living on campus" Lexi blurted out, interuppting her dad mid-sentence, "I'm sorry, you were ... you were saying?"

"That's actually kind of what we were saying..." he chuckled as traffic picked back up again, he would slide over into the right lane as the school got closer, signs soon signaling the turn off lane for Miniborough University. "Your mom and I have loved having you around, for real ... but it seems like you're always a bit strained, in a hurry and well, you'd probably prefer to hang out with people your age more often than us old farts"

At this, Lexi would chuckle a bit, "Dad, that's not it at all!"

"Nah nah, I get it..." Lexi's dad would proudly announce, "I'm the cool dad but your mom? She can be a bit of a square ... and it's okay, so between us cool cats ..."

"Oh lord Dad, you just killed any credibility you just had by saying 'cool cats'" Lexi smirked as they'd reach the campus parking lot shortly. At least this time there were no signs of police cars, deadly drones or Leah being kidnapped by Mad Max. What an improvement!

"Well ... good luck on finals, honey" Lexi's dad said, opening the door for her "and..."

"Oh dad, one more thing" Lexi giggled, "next time you wanna give me a ride to school? Just tell me"

"What are you...."

"Josh doesn't have our house number ... I know he didn't call there ... I also texted him during the ride and he said he's feeling fine" Lexi smirked, having all but busted dear ol dad on his little white lie.

As it turns out, Josh HAD come to pick up Lexi while she was dealing with things inside with Rachel Rutsch--... Sugar Rush. Lexi's dad, wanting to spend a bit of quality time with his daughter asked if it was okay if he brought her to school instead. Josh was understandably okay with this and so took off to school himself. Of course this was unbeknownst to Lexi at the time but the effort on her dad's part was touching, if nothing else.

"You were texting on our ride?" Lexi's dad joked, "and here I thought this meant something"

"Oh c'mhere, you cool cat!" Lexi chuckled, and kissed her dad goodbye, "Thank you ... for everything"

"Yeah, of course" Lexi's dad nodded, and while he kept the confident grin on his face for a time while his young daughter departed, he quickly looked down at his dashboard and frowned a bit. He could tell there was something more going on. A father just knows these things.

What Lexi's father couldn't have known though is that in his daughters room dwelled a most unwelcome guest, one who stood about 3 inches tall with a tenacity of breaking out of glass containers and it wasn't a cockroach. No, it was the enraged Sugar Rush who continued to blast away at the glass container she was in by assaulting it with a steady stream of hot glaze, stepping up closer and seeing her own reflection in the glass -- the angry red eyes staring at her.

"What have I become??" Rachel thought to herself, while watching the glass dissolve. Her breathing would grow shallow even as she was getting closer and closer to her ultimate goal of escaping. The glass would start to give under the heat and melt a big (or small) enough hole for her to crawl through, shaking herself off after the ordeal. It wasn't exactly how she planned her villainous debut going, but then again, she never pictured herself as the villainous type to begin with.

She'd hear a staticy sound in her headset and pause.

"Sugar ... Sugar, for Chrissakes you had me worried there..." the shrill female voice on the other end of the comm said

"I know ..." Sugar Rush stuttered "I'm sorry... just had a bit of a ... holdup"

"No offense but you going in alone? Wasn't your best plan there, sweetheart..." the voice, revealed to be Roxie said, "...sorry, I swear I didn't mean to make that pun... it IS kinda clever though... sorry... you okay?"

"I'm ... I'm fine..." Sugar answered, the arm cannon smoking a lot from its extended use.

"Do you need a ride? Anything?" Roxie asked

"No, I'm good ... but thank you" Rush responded, "Just ... continue on with the plan ... phases 2 and 3"

"Excellent" Roxie grinned, "Don'tcha worry Sugar ... we're going to have a BLAST!"

Rachel Rutschmann had had it with life ... it seemed like all her life she couldn't find anyone worth trusting ... anyone who could act like a real friend to her. Sure, she made some friends in her handful of stops in life, only to have them scared off by her overaggressive mother, or shy away once they learned she was the daughter of a cookie genius like the so called great Cindy Rutschmann.

Rachel Rutschmann had nobody she could go to and trust in times of crisis.

And then she met Roxie.

Sure, it started out rocky. Roxie came into her job one day disguised as a "regular ol' girl" but turned out to be anything but. Roxie Wright operated as part of something called the Chaos Crew. They didn't exactly have the best name, being behind most of the capers, big and small, that ravaged downtown Minitropolis. Roxie didn't think of it as crime though, she thought of it as seizing opportunities.

Rachel Rutschmann wasn't really convinced that was ever the plan.

It all just appeared to be a way to justify the Crew's horrific ways of pilfering, destroying and causing anarchy in the name of boredom. Nothing Roxie ever did seemed to have any purpose to it. A quick Google search of her criminal history showed that. She was a loose cannon, she was not to be trifled with. She gave zero fucks.

But she was the only one who gave a damn about Rachel Rutschmann on the night that she died ...

It was on that horrid fateful night that Rachel found herself drowning -- literally ... buried face down in a giant vat of cream. Actually, the vat wasn't so giant but Rachel found herself reduced ... again literally ... to a tiny doll of herself and helplessly trapped, soon left for dead by the hero ... the so called ShrinkGirl ... Alexis Cole ... the goody two shoes who never faced any consequences for the harms SHE caused. Why? Because she dressed in a cute little costume? She could make a few jokes? She had a perfect smile?

None of that was going to save Rachel Rutschmann. Rachel Rutschmann was about to die.

Her lungs were heavy, her body was giving out, and then came some hope.

As the rest of her accomplices at the Maxanto Food Factory faced justice for what they did, and while that wench ShrinkGirl snuck out the front door to catch a ride, likely from her daddy or some good friend of hers, Rachel found an escape. Rachel found a new life. A new identity ... literally, in the hands of Roxie Wright.

That was then ... this was now ...

----

On the Miniborough University campus, Lexi was staring down at a nearly blank piece of paper and this particular challenger was giving her a very arduous time as her eyes darted between the desk, the floor, the ceiling and the clock on the wall.

"CAN you control what you do? Or do you merely THINK you can, when in reality it’s pre-determined?? Please explain, using examples from our readings, examples of pre-determined destiny and whether or not you agree."

On the top of the page read "PHILOSOPHY 102 FINAL"

Lexi blinked a few times as her mind seemed to fizzle out for a moment.

"What the hell is this crap?" she thought to herself.

Lexi would continue to grind away at the Philosophy final, just one of a few she would have to take today before heading over to the Miniburough Arena to see the Cheer-Off Regionals and support Chrissy. Luckily she had the day off from work. There's no way she could juggle all this AND the mini villainess in her room on top of it.

Hopefully her best friend Leah was faring better.

------

To that end, Leah had her own problems as she was running late for her next exam, which would be her Home Economics class. There, she would need to do a live cooking demonstration and based on the reviews of one customer (who may or may not have been 3 inches tall at the time) her cookie recipe was "pretty danged scrumptious" so Leah was at least confident she could handle that. But first, she would have to get there and it seemed like everything was getting in her way as she frantically scooped through her backpack to take many of the things out and put things in that she might need for the rest of the day.

Unbeknownst to the eager, scatterbrained young Leah Henderson, somebody else was on a mission too and she was in a bit more of a Rush. A Sugar Rush.

Unfortunately for her though, navigating a crowded college dorm with students shuffling in and out, even a small one like the one Leah lived in, proved to be a hefty task for someone fairly new at operating a jetpack and being 3 inches tall at the same time. It seemed like every other second, Rush was spinning left or right to avoid being run into or trampled, performing barrel rolls and quick serpentine manuevers at a moments notice, or else she'd be squished.

As she felt herself getting faster and faster, whizzing up through the hallways of doors, the pulsing thought still haunted her mind.

"Is this really my new life now??"

-----

It was dark. It was sticky. It was possibly the worst experience she had ever had.

No.

It wasn't what you think.

It was the night Rachel's life would change. Maybe forever.

Her breathing was nearly non-existent, she could feel only the rough coarse surfaces of Roxie's leather glove and hear some grunting and muttering in the distance, along with the much louder piercing sounds of the police sirens going off and the violence that would ensue as the Mini Troop took down the majority of the Chaos Crew. But they wouldn't find her. Nobody would find her, save for Roxie.

"Shit" Roxie muttered, finally opening the gloved hand to reveal the now tiny and shaken young Rachel Rutschmann, "I uh ... fuck. I don't know what to say ... and that's rare for me"

"What the fuck?" Rachel squeaked in horror, just laying in Roxie's hand, spent and out of breath, her first words uttered since the reckless ShrinkGirl had taken her off the edge of a railing and dumped her careless into some liquid creme as it passed by a conveyer belt. Had her hand been a moment or two earlier she may have been safe, or at least safer than she was. As it stood though, she was only alive because Roxie crashed the party.

"I said that gig wasn't a good idea" Roxie rolled her eyes, for the moment ignoring the plight of her tiny accomplice, "I said it was stupid, it was a suicide mission? Does anyone listen to me? No? Oh, why because I use my gun to change the TV? Everybody does that for fucks sake! That's why we HAVE guns!"

Rachel cowered, still dripping and afraid, her black outfit torn and ravaged as she simply wondered what would happen next. Knowing Roxie like she did, she almost feared she would be swatted like the bug she was. But that wasn't to be. Roxie had other plans it appeared.

"You're lucky I showed up" Roxie muttered, setting the tiny Rachel into the crevice between her breasts, which were pressed firmly into her tight leather suit before taking off, "Sorry if it's a tight squeeze, by the way, wasn't really expecting all this"

At this point, Rachel Rutschmann couldn't be picky.

The bosom of the reckless Roxie provided some modicum of warmth on what was otherwise a cold and bitter night. That chill would only grow colder as the wind stung the two of them, Roxie accelerating at a very dangerous rate to escape the facility. Rachel was pretty sure Roxie was saying something but the overwhelming tremor of the motorcycle as it revved and the sounds around her pretty much made it impossible to hear. She'd find herself losing consciousness again as Roxie continued their getaway.

At least Roxie was a friend. Roxie could be trusted.

-----

Speaking of trusty friends, Lexi had every intention of stopping by Leah's home ec final as soon as she wrapped up on her futile quest to conquer the inner workings of philosophy. The two had agreed to get a bite to eat real quick in between their respective tests. Lexi also expected to hear good news of how much her excellent cookie recipe would slay the class and earn her an A+

That's what she expected, of course. But how often does life go the way one expects?

Lexi certainly didn't expect Rachel Rutschmann to still be alive, let alone in her current state. But it was starting to add up in her head. The missing components from Dr. Hilfmann's lab ... plus her affiliation to Roxie, who likely jacked them. Admittedly, she had to admit the jetpack and arm cannon were kind of cool. Unfortunately she wasn't so pleased to see the once pleasant blonde so embittered and angry. Then again, she could hardly blame her. Being stuck tiny would likely drive anyone to such measures.

For those were the kinds of measures that led people to do reckless things, like rocket up towards a young brunette's dorm room with reckless abandon. Of course ... how did she know she had the right dorm room? She didn't.

The wayward armor clad Sugar Rush would find herself inside a dorm room but it wasn't at all what she was expecting.

"I am Sugar Rush!" the boisterous young tiny villainess squeaked but was quickly droned out by the sounds of deafening heavy metal music, as the dorm room she entered was home to two rowdy guys head banging and laughing up a storm. The noise along would be enough to shake Rush to her core, and she hovered clumsily out of the room, almost getting smacked into by a male student in a hurry.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Rush squeaked, before blasting off in another direction

"I know you're in here somewhere..." the determined Sugar Rush thought to herself, homing in on another room with the door slightly cracked open. This one had an admittedly more relaxed feel to it but also a fairly familiar odor for one to experience on a college campus.

This person was stoned out of their mind.

"H-Heh ... cool..." the blonde guy sitting in the corner would remark, making direct eye contact with the floating armor wearing supervillain who floated above him menacingly.

"Cool?" Rush squeaked, before seeming a bit startled, "Wait, you can see me?"

"W-Well of course, little gal" the guy chuckled, a sort of buzzed inflection pervading his speech, "you look righteous... my name's Torvald by the way but my friends call me Torvi"

Rush rolled her eyes and just remained there for a moment

"This is a long shot but do you know where a uh ... Leah Henderson is?" Rush shrugged, realizing this may be a fruitless excercise. To her surprise though, the stoner guy seemed to be of some insight.

"Oh Leah ... yeah she's totally righteous..." he said, further proving that righteous may be the only adjective he knew, "She's uh ... up the hall in room 220 ... I should know, I like to watch her shower... heh..."

Rush raised an eyebrow but was too exhausted to pass judgement. Instead she'd jet out of the room as quickly as she arrived. Torvi would simply giggle and nod, "...cool"

At long last, Sugar Rush was nearly eye to eye with her goal, watching the giant Leah Henderson prepare her things from behind, her naive form looming in the near distance. Sugar Rush was ready to show her the full power of what her new suit could do. She would make Lexi pay for trifling with her and at the same time, perhaps exact some revenge.

At least, that's what Rush thought, but how often does life go according to plan? Before long, Rush found herself assaulted by a large building block object. It was ... a calculator?

"I don't need this..." Leah hummed to herself, blissfully unaware that she had just smacked the action figure sized villainess with the TI-83 Plus. "Hmmm, I can probably get rid of this too..."

Leah would haphazardly toss a small hairbrush that was buried deep in her backpack out and it thudden down on the carpeted floor like a boulder making an earth shaking noise in its wake as the alert Sugar Rush was just narrowly fast enough to avoid it.

"Okay, no more Ms. Nice Gal..." Rush thought to herself hovering up behind Leah again and prepping her arm cannon.

"Oh shit..." Leah exclaimed, turning around quickly and whipping her backpack around in the process, "I've gotta get moving!"

"hey wait ... no!!" Sugar Rush squeaked, feeling the full brunt of the mighty moving backpack which collided into her like a fast moving freighter, sending her sputtering in the opposite direction, her trajectory altered to the point of being wavering in her flight. Now she was really pissed off, but worse yet, stunned to the point of not seeing her exact direction. She'd find herself floating downwards as her jetpack began to fail and land within the slightly unzipped crevice of young Leah's backpack.

"You ... fucking ... bitch..." the stunned tiny villainess squeaked futilely, laying there spent as she waited to come to.

---

Lexi wiped the sweat from her brow upon finishing her difficult task, looking down at her no longer blank piece of paper and narrowing her eyes a bit.

"That's about as good as it's going to get..." the overworked Alexis Cole thought to herself before walking bravely to the front of the classroom and submitting her final exam. She'd give her professor a sheepish smile, "th-thanks again for the awesome class"

"Was it really awesome?" the philosophy professor would challenge, "or did you believe it was awesome?"

"...God I hate this" Lexi thought to herself before leaving the classroom, one challenge (hopefully) conquered and behind her. Currently in front of her as she walked was her friend Chris who had also just finished up on the Philosophy final exam.

"Gosh I'm really going to miss that class..." Chris bemoaned, "but at least I'm taking another one next semester"

"Hooray..." Lexi smirked sarcastically, walking alongside her dark haired friend for a little while.

"Hey, ya got some time?" Chris asked, "we could hang out or something?"

"That would be cool..." Lexi replied, "but I'm meeting up with Leah, plus wanna cheer her on at the home ec final"

"You ... cheer on people during their finals?" Chris asked, confused

"...I don't know what to tell you" Lexi shrugged, "if you don't know me by now, I have nothing more to teach you ..."

"Heh, fair enough" Chris shrugged sheepishly, going along his merry way while Lexi offered a friendly wave.

For just a brief amount of time, Lexi was beginning to feel like herself again. Maybe things were turning around, or maybe she was just better able to compartmentalize the various facets of her life.

Elsewhere, a similarly confident Leah Henderson was setting up for her home ec final, stationed at a bowl in which she'd be mixing the various ingredients for her cookies alongside some of her fellow culinary gurus and friends. She was hopeful that these cookies would come out good, even if she was a bit anxious to be baking in front of others but her nerves were at least a little settled upon glancing through the small classroom door window and seeing a smiling Lexi, looking goofy as ever as she offered a wave to her best friend. Leah acknowledged her without being too overt and began cracking eggs and getting to it.

Lexi smirked, watching Leah go. It was sure nice to see her best friend so involved in something. She could practically see the smoke emitting from her ears as she was in deep in thought on how to bake the perfect cookies. Wait. There was actually smoke... right? That wasn't just in Lexi's mind?

Lexi glanced downwards towards Leah's backpack and saw it again, a bit clearer this time but it's understandable why some of the other students, and Leah herself, wouldn't notice it. There was a decent amount of smoke to be seen as it was, while others were putting their dishes into the oven and continuing on in their own quest. But Lexi couldn't stop fixating on that one portion of Leah's backpack that seemed to be getting a hole burnt into it.

"Oh shit" Lexi sighed.

A beleaguered Sugar Rush would be piercing through the thick burlap surface of the infernal backpack prison using a fine tip laser on her arm cannon and came stumbling out, her jetpack still on the fritz, forcing her to climb the table leg.

Leah glanced back again while mixing her batter just to see if Lexi was still there. Instead of seeing her smiling best friend, though, she saw Lexi making a sort of nervous face before seemingly disappearing from view.

"Should I be worried...?" Leah wondered, continuing to just focus her attention down on the bowl of ingredients as she prepared to add sugar. Also unbeknownst to her, she'd be adding just a bit more than your average Sugar.

The professor of the class made their way around the classroom, checking on their students and offering approval or advice as they watched on.

"Ms. Henderson" Professor Wannabaker said, tilting her head as she observed the setup, "I know you're a very meticulous young cook, but time is of the essence, you need to hurry and finish the mixing phase"

"Of course" Leah chuckled nervously, "Certainly..."

Leah could be a tad on the slow side, especially when it came to projects that she was passionate about. Something about baking, among other things, would get her into those modes where it seemed like the rest of the world just melted away for the time. Unfortunately for her, that meant she wasn't noticing the tiny threat shimmying her way up the table leg towards her.

Lexi meanwhile was also inside the classroom but unseen to all due to her now tiny size, having snuck in under the door and looked around nervously for the ravaged tiny villainess, before she spotted her making her way up the table leg as if she were pole vaulting.

"Oh cripe ... I could really use that jetpack right now..." Lexi sighed to herself, performing a couple of well timed somersaults and hand stands to spring forward a bit more quickly, latching onto the table leg and climbing up herself.

By this point, Sugar Rush had beaten her similarly sized foe to her destination, and she wouldn't be beaten this time.

Perhaps a poor choice of words though, as the massive chef Leah Henderson would prepare her next phase, using an electric egg beater to begin whipping her purree like batter into a thicker consistency.

Sugar was able to kick her jetpack on at least a little bit, enough to send her upwards, but not too far before she felt something strong tugging on her leg. She'd look down and cuss to herself upon seeing Lexi grabbing onto her ankle.

"Get off, damn it!" Sugar squeaked, the sound barely distinguishable as Leah kicked on the electric mixer.

"Leave my best friend alone and we'll talk!" Lexi squeaked back, quickly getting shaken from her vice grip as she despertaely fought to keep Sugar away. At this point, even the focus locked Leah Henderson saw the two struggling on her countertop and her eyes widened as she let out a noticeable gulp, hitting the off switch on the electric mixer.

This prompted the already irritated professor to revist Leah's table.

"Ms. Henderson is there a problem?" Professor Wannabaker asked, seemingly confused at her students current course of actions.

While Leah attempted to answer that question, Lexi found herself thwacked up against the side of the ceramic bowl, Sugar trying to shake her foe loose by kicking her against the unforgiving wall again and again while simultaneously continuing her ascent.

Lexi would let out a frustrated grunt as she continued fighting the forces of gravity, friction and upward propulsion and it would come down to who would want it more. It turns out that answer was nearly a dead heat.

As Sugar lurched over the rim of the giant bowl, filled with thick cookie batter, her eyes widened for just a moment, being taken back to that traumatic night at the factory. This may have given Lexi a temporary advantage as she was able to similarly vault up over the edge and tackle Rachel from behind. Unfortunately, both of the women in combat were about to find themselves in a whole lot of dough.

Leah would take a deep breath and attempt to resume her excercise. It had been a crazy couple of months after all. Maybe she was just seeing things and her best friend and some armor plated fairy looking being hadn't just tumbled face first into her cookie batter.

"Oh fuck." Leah thought to herself, looking down to see just that, with Lexi and Sugar Rush entangled in a conflict just inches below where her electric mixer would be plunging.

"Well?" the impatient Professor Wannabaker would comment

Leah gave her a nervous giggle, but this was no laughing matter.

An enraged Lexi would thrash her way futilely through the thick cookie batter, feeling as if entrenched in a swamp but she was determined to work past it as she saw the downed Sugar just inches away. Lexi yanked her out of the batter and threw a swift punch to disable her from any attacks with the now jammed up arm cannon.

"You took my tech!" Lexi squeaked, throwing a thunderous punch to her, although it likely sounded like a paperclip hitting the ground to anybody of a more normal sized variety. "You're messing with my best friend! I don't want to fight you but I will!"

Meanwhile, Leah didn't know what to do. She wasn't about to turn her best friend into a frappe but she also had her professor giving her the stink eye and this situation was at best impossible to explain.

"Professor Wannabaker!" another student becried, "my gingersnaps exploded!"

"What?!" the confused and irate professor simply shouted, turning away from Leah and going to tend to the inept young cook who somehow exploded a set of gingersnaps.

Leah looked down concerned, giving her best friend a most puzzled look.

"Lexi..." she whispered, "what are you doing in my cookie batter? Why is that even a sentence I'm saying?"

"It's a long..." Lexi grunted, delivering another punch to the weakened Sugar Rush "STORY!"

The final punch Lexi delivered came with a bit of recoil sending her back down into the batter.

"J-Just carry on..." Lexi sighed, as Sugar began to stir and come to.

Rush tried to use her jetpack as a means of getting back at ShrinkGirl, by facing forward and turning the jets on full blast. It would take a few seconds, but the cookie dough would being to ripple a bit as a result and Sugar would slowly start to pull herself free to launch at Lexi.

"Lexi, look out!" Leah whispered, as another student just gave her a weird look. Again, Leah nervously chuckled.

Lexi gulped, her reflexes not nearly so good when weighed down by what felt like several tons of cookie batter. She had no choice but to take the solid impact delivered by the newly reinvigorated Sugar Rush as she clanged into her and pinned her to the edge of the bowl. Lexi let out a loud moan of pain that likely just sounded like a squeak.

Leah growled a bit, her finger looming overhead, she'd prepare the ultimate tiny disabling weapon. The flick.

Lexi shook her head, a bit concerned. She wanted to stop Rachel but she didn't want to cause serious harm. She looked anxious and closed her eyes, realizing why Leah was doing it but also not agreeing.

"Leave my best friend alone!" Leah said, a bit more loudly

Sugar turned for a quick moment, seeing the giant finger and letting out an audible gasp, at least to Lexi. Leah struck the back of the jetpack, sending her wildly off course and out into the classroom like a common housefly. She sputtered and shook, flying in involuntary loop le loops before cascading out of the open window, somehow unnnoticed by anyone save for the tiny superheroine and her best friend who delivered the devastating blow. Unfortunately she also splashed Lexi with some batter in doing so.

Some of the students nearby Leah continued to give her weird looks, now even dropping what they were doing to see what had happened. Leah just shrugged and pretended to act angry about something else.

"This recipe is just so frustrating! Argh!" Leah groaned, her acting a bit melodramatic but it was sufficient enough to bring the other students to shrug and return to their own final projects.

A weakened and batter covered Lexi just sighed in defeat, frowning mightily as Leah plunged the mixer into the bowl but also scooped her tiny best friend into her hand and closed it quick so nobody saw.

"Leah I --!" Lexi eeped, but was quickly silenced by the closing hand, feeling as if encased in a fortune cookie.

"Sorry Lex..." Leah thought to herself, "but I've gotta keep you safe for now..."

With that, Leah deposited her tiny best friend into her pocket while she started the mixer at last and attempted to stay focused on her final exam while wondering who that strange tiny woman was that Lexi was fighting. She would find out soon enough for sure, and that worried her even more.

Sugar Rush on the other hand was pretty banged up but the armor was surprisingly durable. It had to be, since it was expected to be used in such conditions. As Sugar Rush coughed up the ounces of cookie dough in her system she heard the static coming through on her radio headset, pulling the microphone closer to her mouth to speak once she had the strength.

"That... could've gone better..." Rush squeaked, hovering around the campus for a bit before landing just under a large metal bench.

"I gotta say, kid..." Roxie said, sounding a bit more focused as she was in an empty gymnasium at the time. "I admire your moxie ... but maybe next time, just focus on the plan ... she'll get hers. They all will"

"Y-You're right..." Rush answered, before hearing some muffled voices along with Roxie "...are you ... with someone right now?"

"Oh never mind that" Roxie chuckled looking over at a couple of tied up security guards and blowing them a kiss, "it's okay boys, we can play later ... you just be good and stay tied up, you'll have great seats for the show!"

Sugar Rush got a bit of a chuckle out of that. Perhaps more than she should have. Something about being shrunk and beaten down made one a bit more sadistic. She would've been appalled with what Roxie was doing in a past life, but that person was dead.

Rachel Rutschmann was dead. From her ashes arose a new being named Sugar Rush.

She owed her life to the kindly hell's angel named Roxanne Wright and on this day, she aimed to get retribution.

Lexi coughed and hacked, the sounds being absolutely heartbreaking to Leah Henderson as she watched her tiny best friend, now toweled off by the young chef herself. Lexi's squeaky little coughs reminded her of a wounded kitten. Leah wasn't the violent type but she was extremely pissed off at the strange iron antagonist who left her best friend in such a condition.

"So that's Rachel Rutschmann?" Leah asked, stepping back and letting Lexi speak as her legs dangled off the edge of the dresser she sat on. It was weird how casual this all was to them both now. The fact that Lexi was tiny barely even registered in Leah's head, it was almost as if they were conversing as usual.

"Yeah..." Lexi nodded, "and ... it's obviously my fault she's shrunk"

"But it's not your fault she's dressed like Iron Man or tried to kill you during my final exam" Leah said defensively.

"Actually... I think she was going for you" Lexi squeaked and shrugged, still pulling cookie dough out of her ears

"Me?" Leah asked quizzically, "I barely know her"

"She's going after you to get to me..." Lexi sighed

"That's strangely sweet in some way" Leah paused for a moment, "like I'm your most loved one and all the villains are gunning for me because ... yeah, okay, I'll stop, it's not really that nice of a thing"

"She's not a villain..." Lexi whimpered, "well maybe she is, but I MADE her one ... I'm responsible ..."

"Lexi you didn't do any of this" Leah frowned, pulling up a chair to speak to her tiny best friend at a more reasonable height, "You tried to stop her ... she got mixed up with that Roxie girl ... you couldn't have known..."

"I shouldn't have shrunk her though" Lexi sighed, "Sonia was right..."

"I'm sorry, who's Sonia?" Leah asked

"The police officer I told you about ..." Lexi replied, "she stopped me a few months ago, warned me about getting involved in things I shouldn't ... she was right. If I had just let the police take care of the Chaos Crew that night, Rachel could be in jail but at least she wouldn't be ... what she is now... plus with her mom's money, I doubt she'd see any time anyway..."

"Lex, you can't deal in what if's..." Leah warned, "...although..."

"What? What?" Lexi squeaked, looking down at herself and all around, "do I have more powdered sugar on my face?"

"Hon, you look like a tiny pilsbury doughboy at this point" Leah giggled, "...but seriously... maybe you SHOULD take a break ... yknow? Like you planned to? I mean ... what about your classes?"

Lexi frowned

"Yeah, that's what I thought ... I mean, I'm always going to have your back and you always have mine but you also need to think of yourself..." Leah sighed

Lexi nodded in agreement.

"So ... wh-what do I do? What do we do?" Lexi asked, looking up at her best friend in confusion.

"We ... go do our lunch real quick like we wanted and then you get to your next exam, I'll head back to your place while I have time and pick up the 'SG' belt and all that..." Leah said

"No need, it's in my backpack already, which I left over Josh's" Lexi said

"Oooh, you saw Josh?" Leah teased, "Anything going on there?"

"No... just ... ugh. Whatevs..." Lexi giggled, glad she could still laugh despite all this madness. "I guess... I'm just worried ... that Sugar's going to do something dangerous if I take too long with this"

"Her name's Sugar?" Leah said, whilst raising an eyebrow, "look ... not to be cruel but ... she's 3 inches tall... how much damage can she possibly do?"

----

The time had come, the sky was dimming and the illuminated sign drew people towards the cite of the regional cheer off being held this year at Miniborough University. About half a dozen teams of cheerleaders from around the tri-state area gathered to show their stuff, practicing on the sidelines as the large gymnasium filled up with participants.

In the growing crowd sat Lexi and Leah, sliding onto the gold painted bleachers.

"See? Wasn't that nice?" Leah asked, her hand on Lexi's shoulder for a moment, "you take some time ... take care of yourself and you're looking better already"

"Was I looking bad?" Lexi asked, a bit self consciously as she raised a brow

"No! No ... I just mean ... I've been worried about ya, you've been super anxious and well ... not always yourself lately" Leah said, "it's just ... nice to see you in a good mood... you deserve it"

Lexi smiled and then noticed her cute blonde friend Chrissy getting ready down on the main floor facing her and Leah. She'd wave and step down gingerly to try to meet up with her.

"Hold up, Leah, just gonna say hi" Lexi said, stepping carefully over a couple people who were down a couple rows from them, reaching Chrissy after a more or less straight shot down the rows of bleachers.

"Heya Lex" Chrissy giggled, giving her friend a hug. "Glad you were able to make it, means a lot"

"You kidding me? Of course" Lexi smirked, "just feel bad for these other teams ... I'm sure they're good but they came out all this way just to get mopped up by Mini U"

"Heh, I appreciate that spirit" Chrissy giggled, her eyes briefly looking down as if maybe not so happy

"Is everything okay?" Lexi asked

"It's just ... everything with Rachel and ... I don't know..." Chrissy replied shaking her head, "This whole cheer routine was kind of inspired by her and ... we all just miss her very much"

Lexi's eyes went hollow for a moment and she nodded, feeling the loss perhaps strongest of all.

Her anxiety which had been curbed for the time being seemed to be returning and she didn't want to throw Chrissy off her game, so she'd simply dismiss herself for the bathroom real quick which had Chrissy a bit worried. She'd go to follow but lose her super quick in the crowd, not realizing what happened.

Feeling a bit choked up from the moment herself, Chrissy went and took a detour towards the locker room to recollect herself, knowing she'd soon have to be on point for the cheer competition.

"Fuck..." Chrissy sighed, leaning against a locker, a single tear dripping from her eye. She was alone, so she thought. "...I can't do this"

She'd hear a gun click.

"...don't worry toots. I'll do it for ya"

Down a hallway and tucked down a couple of corridors resided Lexi, who shrank to avoid beind caught up to by Chrissy and slowly slid herself into a ladies room stall. Realizing she felt a bit better now, she was able to rejoin Leah after more time had passed, and by now the crowd had ballooned quite a bit. There were almost no seats left. Luckily Lexi had a solution for that too.

Leah, sitting up a few more rows to make room would feel her phone vibrate. She'd read the text :

"Check your pocket"

"Check your ... are you ..." Leah sighed, reaching in and feeling the form of her tiny best friend. "are you kidding me?"

Lexi herself would actually be giggling out loud as Leah's hand just grazed her side.

Lexi felt her own phone vibrate and read the corresponding text message

"You realize I can't take you out in public, right?"

"I know" Lexi texted back, "Can you at least maybe sit forward a bit? I can pop out like a baby kangaroo and see the show that way ... maybe you can take a bathroom break during intermission?"

After more time passed, and Lexi watched the dots on her phone translate to another message bubble she'd read

"...the things I do for you"

Again Lexi laughed uproariously, although it was no more than a mouse squeak that was inaudible to the large gathered crowd.

Lexi scrunched herself up a bit to have a better view of the action as a gaggle of spotlights all converged to highlight the action on the floor and the booming voice of a young and overzealous male announcer rang out over the crowd.

"Welcome to the Tri-State Regional Cheer Finals!!" the voice announced as the hefty sized crowd responded with overwhelming applause, although a murmur overcame the area as the spotlights redirected to focus on one woman in particular, her seat resting somewhere closer to the action. On the jumbo-tron, a video of the woman being consoled by some of the cheerleaders was shown. It was Rachel's mother, Cindy Rutschmann.

"We'd like to thank Ms. Cindy Rutschmann for coming here tonight in support of her daughter, Rachel who we all continue to miss and hope to have good news soon"

A moment of silence and bowed heads followed as Lexi watched on, trying to hold back tears again. Leah as well looked noticably shaken.

Once the moment of silence had passed, the action would begin.

"To begin things tonight ..." the announcer began but suddenly there was another gasp and audible confusion on the floor as a young cheerleader somersaulted into the center of the hardwood arena. "Oh is that? I believe it's Chrissy Alderson of the Miniburough University team!"

The crowd cheered a bit, although seemed a little confused at the same time. This didn't seem to be a planned part of the show, and what's stranger is that the young cheerleader was wearing a black and purple hoodie, the only thing showing was her long blonde hair as she shook and gyrated a bit to some upbeat music that was playing in the background.

"HELLO MINIBUROUGH!!" the girl screeched into the excited crowd. Lexi raised an eyebrow. That wasn't Chrissy's voice.

The tiny Lexi again felt her cell phone vibrate and read the text, "You didn't tell me Chrissy was going to be doing some kind of show to start?"

Lexi hastily typed, "she isn't"

"I can't hear youuuuuu!!" the girl in the black hoodie giggled as she continued to hop and skip along, but nobody on any of the teams seemed to recognize her, even as she offered a big toothy grin. Finally she flipped the hood up, revealing her pale face, blue eyes sparkling with mischief as her sloppy blonde hair hung down and she shook her head a few times as if shedding an uncomfortable layer of clothing. "I said ... are you ready to PAR-TAAAAAAAY?!"

With that she'd reach up and point a pistol into the air, her shadow highlighted cryptically by the spotlights as they shone on her. Many people were already calling 9-1-1 on their cell phones as the mighty BANG was heard, the wayward bullet striking a light overhead causing it to flash and spark before crackling out.

The crowd would scream and the faux cheerleader would giggle, just dancing and reveling in the mayhem as she licked the barrel of her recently discharged firearm, "What's the matter?? Don't ya wanna CHEER?! Isn't that what we're all here for!"

"L-Lexi....?" Leah asked, fumbling awkwardly for her tiny best friend as if she were a forgotten set of car keys, "Lexi isn't that ..."

Leah retracted her hand from her pocket in a hurry to see it was empty. She glanced down at Lexi's purse that had been parked on the floor next to her. The "SG" medal that would normally be inside it was missing. She just let out an exhausted sigh.

"Fuck"

"Hahahaha, okay, not much for talking, huh?" the darkly clad cheerleader chuckled, mocking the crowd as she paced about. Some would try to flee from the exits only to be stopped by bulky men in leather vests. "My name's Roxie and we are here ... to BLOW AWAY the competition!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"

The maniacal blonde revealed herself by ripping the hoodie off, wearing her usual purple leather with sleek leather pants, although her reveal would be short-lived as she was tackled by a speeding girl, also wearing purple. The crowd all stopped the frenzy for a moment to see what had happened. The spotlights tried to zero in on the two women as they struggled down on the ground.

"Oh hiya, Lex" Roxie chuckled, swinging one of the pistols up by Lexi's chin before Lexi grabbed at Roxie's wrist and held it as tight as she could to prevent her from making a shot attempt, "How's the family...?"

"Get the fuck out of here!" Lexi snarled, fighting back as the two slowly got back to their feet.

"Wait wait wait ..." Roxie stuttered a bit, although she was half laughing, "are you wearing ... a mask?"

Indeed she was.

Lexi was facing her formidable foe while wearing the black ski-mask looking contraption that Josh had earlier designed for her to wear. It seemed to be the only logical course of action when fighting in such a public space.

"S-So you just ... have a ski-mask, a ... belt and a ... costume just ... sitting around?" Roxie remarked sort of facetiously as she gestured condescendingly towards ShrinkGirl

"What can I say, I pack light" Lexi shrugged, taking the moment to sweeping kick the cocky Roxie off her legs and onto the ground, sending her other gun spiraling into the corner before she had a chance to draw it. At this point, Lexi was smart enough to know never to let her guard down around the vicious criminal. Plus she was about as ready for revenge as Roxie was after seeing what she had helped turned Rachel into.

Roxie appeared to be down for the count, but losing her guns didn't mean she had no weapon. In fact she arguably had one stronger than both barrels, as her fingertips gripped around the microphone she found laying around.

"H-Hey is this thing on?" Roxie giggled.

Since the AV department was no longer a main priority at this point, it was and Roxie's shrill and boisterous voice rang through the terrified auditorium.

"Meet your hero, everyone!" Roxie giggled, pointing directly towards Lexi, "It's SHRINKGIRL, but you may know her better as ... Al..."

Lexi quickly struck Roxie in the side of the face causing her to lose the microphone and her balance.

"Awwww, c'mon honeybuns" Roxie smirked, falling to a knee as the microphone made a horrible feedback noise upon hitting the ground again, "don'tcha want credit for all that superheroing you do?"

Lexi growled, although the mask was proving troublesome for a couple reasons as she could only sort of make out Roxie's exact location between the poorly placed eye-holes and the room being half in darkness. Meanwhile, she was unaware that students and staff alike in the crowd were taking videos on their cell phones. Roxie again grabbed for and snatched up the microphone as Lexi lunged for her.

"Uh uh uh...." Roxie teased, "Maybe don't be so quick to attack, or I'll tell everyone here your secret ... hmmmmm??"

"Roxie, what are you talking about?" Lexi muttered under her breath

"Oh c'mon ... YOU know the one..." Roxie giggled gleefully, clapping her hands as a couple of men restrained Lexi from behind. Turns out Roxie was just stalling for time while more of the Chaos Crew snuck in, leaving her free to practice her MCing skills for the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen... may I present to you, your hero ShrinkGirl ... but is she REALLY such a hero? Hmmm?? I don't think Ms. Rutschmann would find her to be such a hero.... hmmmm??"

"Roxie... don't..." Lexi growled, still trying to lunge violently for the hazardous femme fatale while being held back, but not for long. Lexi had never stared at somebody with such violent intent as right now. She herself was hurting, emotionally and physically. She knew Roxie was by no means a nice person but this was a new low, even for her.

"Hmm? Don't what?" Roxie asked naively, pretending to not understand the message, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some news to report ... well actually a couple of things but we'll start with the big one ... we've found Rachel Rutschmann's murderer, everyone!!"

At this, the crowd would audibly gasp, even if many were incredulous over the revelation.

Cindy Rutschmann in particular got to her feet, glaring visibly at the apprehended ShrinkGirl.

"N-No, it wasn't like that ..." the defensive Lexi muttered, shaking her head as she tried to drag herself free, the purple boots scraping on the hardwood floors. Roxie just looked Lexi up and down and smirked victoriously.

"Oh don't worry" Roxie smirked, holding the microphone away from herself a bit, "What I'm about to do will be much much worse ... just figured we should share the spotlight, I'm not TOTALLY selfish, you know"

With that Roxie just clicked her tongue and winked, bringing the microphone back up towards her mouth.

Lexi knew she didn't have much time to speak, so she did the quickest possible thing to escape the grasp and shrunk herself to tiny size, briefly becoming entangled in the gruff men's fingertips before sliding down their arm and sliding onto the floor like a wayward poly pocket.

"Shit, we lost her!" one of the thugs grunted

"What do we mean 'we'?" the other one stomped angrily, just missing hitting tiny Lexi as she slid across the floor amidst the hectic chaos.

"Boys ... boys..." Roxie grinned, the hand which cradled the microphone now curling around it as she put it along her hip, "no need to get so angry ... that's why we have backup, remember..."

With that Roxie took a bow and brought the microphone back to her mic, saying just 3 simple words, "You're up, Sugar!"

Lexi's eyes darted around while Roxie continued to speak, and while she was still concentrated on stopping the gargantuan titaness, she also had to be alert for the sudden appearance of a high speed assailant on a jetpack. Oh how it used to be much simpler when finals season only involved juggling final exam pressure.

Like a zig-zagging bolt, Sugar was on Lexi in no less than 3 seconds flat, pummeling the similarly sized ShrinkGirl in the jaw with a mighty flying punch, sending her crumpled onto the ground before circling back, weaving between the legs of some of her Chaos Crew cohorts, her one red eye seemingly fixated on the purple clad heroine as if targetting her.

In a fit of annoyance, Lexi tore the mask off as it was only causing her more problems at this point and getting punched had caused it to slide further to the left, only obscuring her vision more. Luckily, she got herself situated quickly enough to evade Sugar's next divebomb manuever which ended up almost hitting Roxie's boot. Fortunately for Sugar, Roxie had the snappy reflexes to avoid causing harm to her tiny cohort and then continued her manacing speech to the show go-ers of Miniborough.

"Yes that's right everybody! Our first 1,000 audience members to the show tonight get a SPECIAL SURPRISE!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!" Roxie giggled like Harley Quinn a bit, continuing to act like an 80s supervillain as she boasted proudly over the microphone. A couple of her minions took quick notice of this themselves, one of them even turning to the side and muttering, "wh-why does she do this?"

"That's enough Roxie! You're going down!" a miffed but still tiny Lexi chirped back, standing in the shadow of her dark boot before tripping on what felt like ... glaze? She'd fall to her knees and have trouble standing back up, her suit and boots having different ideas as Lexi tried to pull her body off the floor but kept getitng interfered with by the viscuous nature of the fluid in which she was currently ensnared.

"Not good to feel helpless, is it?" Rush quipped, landing nearby after having landed the shot, a single foot long strip of glaze on the floor, "like you can't move? Can't do anything? Nobody around to save you?"

"Rachel!" Lexi squeaked, "I ... I didn't mean..."

"SHUT UP!!" Rush screeched again, cocking the cannon again, she'd fire another jet of hot glaze, this time in Lexi's immediate direction. This time, Lexi would take the lesser of two evils, opting to dodge downwards back into the glaze, only further pinning her down but it was better than a scorched upper body. Even the near miss radiated heat around the miniature superheroine as her armor plated antagonist closed in, a sadistic grin on her face.

"I'm ... I'm sorry" Lexi nodded, only on one knee right now.

"Nobody wants to guess?" Roxie giggled, "Nobody at all? Awwwww sad face...." Roxie teased now, making pouty lips as she brought the microphone to her face again. One thing was for sure -- if the villain thing didn't work out, the young and troubled Roxie may have had a future as a game show host.

Sugar Rush meanwhile was a bit less talkative, opting instead to blast off towards Lexi again and slam into her at full speed, so hard that the force pulled her pinned body free from the glaze, the sound akin to that of pulling gum from one's shoe. Lexi just groaned and whimpered as she was forcefully flung further from the action, only hearing Roxie's words echo in the further obscuring darkness in the distance.

"Oh very well then!" Roxie giggled, striking a cheery pose of her own, "Tell ya what, I don't like to leave ANY of you out, so ... you all get ... a BOMB!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!! ... you get a bomb, and YOU get a bomb ... EVERYBODY IN THE CROWD GETS A HOT FRESH BOMB!!"

At this point, the panic understandably ratcheted up to 11. People were frantic, trying to push the thuggish goons aside as they pushed for the exit, some falling and tripping on the bleachers, some even cruel enough in the heat of the moment to step on their fellow citizen as they tried to be among the first to get out the door. Some did manage to find exit out of the building but there were still likely a few hundred or more remaining inside, either paralyzed with fear or intimidated enough by Roxie and her goons. The police were on their way, but would there be enough time?

"Ughh...." Lexi groaned, her vision a bit blurry as Sugar had her in her arms and would cruelly dump her off. She'd scream, having fallen from maybe a foot but at her current size, it felt more like quadruple that and as she looked up, she'd briefly see the thrusted engines of Rush's jet boot as it was about to slam down on her.

Fearing that and powered solely by adrenaline, Lexi sprang out of the way of the rocket stomp, rolling onto her side briefly and getting back to her feet as Sugar prepared the arm cannon again. At this point, the timid ShrinkGirl wasn't sure what would come out. Another blast of glaze? A Mentos grenade? A lasso that tasted like Nerds rope? That would actually be quite tasty.

"Rachel ... please..." Lexi squeaked

To this mention, Sugar Rush would only raise the cannon again in threatening fashion.

Lexi gulped.

"Sugar ... Ms. Sugar Rush..." Lexi nodded, trying to say the name in as respectful a manner as possible, "Pl=Please... didn't you hear her? She's going to set off a bomb ... she's going to kill everyone here... you could die too!"

"I'm already dead!" Rush shook her head, stopping just short of letting another blast free, "besides ... I trust Roxie ... if this is her course of action, then I'm on board"

"Yeah? Is part of the plan to kill your mom too?" Lexi asked

Sugar had fired up her jetpack again and was about to make another drive at Lexi, consumed only by a craving for revenge before hearing the stunned heroine's last question. It finally clicked with her, if only for a moment. But it was a moment enough for her to rethink her actions, if only momentarily.

"What... did you just say?" Rush asked

Lexi pointed up frantically. It was hard to tell with the shuffling people going back and forth, but she could see a woman wearing a black suit, similar to the kinds her mother would always wear but it looked like the kind of suit someone would wear to a funeral, with a black shirt underneath and a black hat to match.

"Sh-She actually came..." Rachel squeaked, looking up at the sight confused as all hell, "M-Mom ... never came to the cheer regionals ... always said she had ... work to go to"

"She cares about you, Rachel" Lexi implored, "I get why you're angry ... I especially get why you're angry at me and I understand why you're angry at your mom but ... you don't want her to die, right?"

"I ... I ..." Rachel paused, before shaking her head, threatning to conk Lexi in the head with the cannon, "No!! This is another trick!! You're in on this!"

"What?!" Lexi squeaked in surprise, backing away as the enraged Sugar Rush fired another shot of hot glaze across the way at her.

"I ... I ... this is all some bullshit!" Sugar Rush growled, her eye glowing red again. Maybe Rachel really WAS gone. "Roxie would never put my mom in danger, Roxie is my friend!"

"I'm telling you she's not!" Lexi squeaked, panicked as she shook her head, "Roxie only cares about one person and that's herself ..."

"LIAR!!" Sugar Rush growled blasting off again at Lexi. This time, Lexi would jump over the jetpack armed Sugar, delivering a powerful down kick on the jetback to disable her for the moment, essentially piledriving her into the floor. She'd sigh under her breath and shake her head. "Sorry Rush, but I've gotta try to find this bomb and save these people ..."

With that, ShrinkGirl would unshrink and head into the shadows of the locker room while people were hopefully too distracted to notice her unmasked. Most people were, except for one.

Roxie dropped the micrphone, again causing the feedback static as a blood red smile crossed her face.

"Awwww cmon Shrinks, we were just gettin' started ..." Roxie giggled, stomping on her way to catch up to Lexi. In the process, she'd just miss stepping on Rush who rolled out of the way with a meek scream.

Sugar would simply watch after Roxie, her thrusters slow to recharge.

Lexi would run frantically down the currently empty corridors down towards the locker rooms. There wasn't anybody inside. Well ... actually. That wasn't completely true. She could hear the faint screaming of a woman.

"Ummm... hello?" Lexi asked, quietly at first before raising her voice. "Is anybody in here?!"

She'd hear it again, the concerning sound of a woman's muffled screaming. It was coming from somewhere in the locker room. Lexi's heartrate was near ready to go into overdrive and as she saw red and blue lights flashing in the distance. Fuck, who do I go to in a time like this?

Somewhere else on campus sat a focused Joshua James who was focusing on tweaking his latest Yugioh deck that he made for worldwide dueling online when a phone call came to him from none other than ShrinkGirl herself. And how did he know this? The caller ID would show "None other than ShrinkGirl herself" while a ringtone belted out triumphant superhero like music.

Josh picked it up, not sure what to expect, "Hey Lex ... how are things going with that new villain? Sugar Star you said her name was?"

"Sugar Star?" Lexi stammered, momentarily taken out of the action, "No, do you even pay... never mind ... Josh I need to know ... if you know anything about ... b-bombs..."

Lexi sighed, the question sounded completely asanine. Why would Josh know anything about ...

"What what kind of bomb is it? A remote detonator? A chemical bomb? Are we looking at an amateur operation here, because then it's most likely a pressure cooker bomb or something using the motherboard of an old Game Boy...." Josh answered with methodical precision and attention to detail.

"Moving on ..." Lexi groaned, also trying to search for the source of the woman's voice, "I don't have much time ... there's a bomb somewhere in here ... would I hear like ... ticking or something?"

"Not necessarily" Josh answered, "If it's a remote detonator, it might not even be active ... but I mean ..."

"Hold on" Lexi said, finally hearing some banging coming from a locker as she neared it. She'd slip her phone into her pocket, unknowingly hanging up on Josh while she tried to pry open the locker. She'd peek in briefly through the slits to see a pair of blue eyes staring back at her, sweat dripping down the face of the captor.

"CHRISSY?" Lexi said audibly.

This would only make the woman in the locker shake and scream more.

"Hold on... I will get you out of there..." Lexi lightly kicked at the locker door, careful not to hurt the girl inside. She then got an idea, dislodging the S from the SG belt and using it as a sort of lock pick. She'd sigh in relief as she she thrust it in at just the right angle to disengage the lock, sending the frightened Chrissy out of the locker and into her arms, shaking and crying.

"Chrissy Chrissy..." Lexi whimpered, holding her tight, not even thinking about the fact that her secret identity had just been further exposed. "Holy shit, what happened to you?"

Chrissy just let out near silent mumbling noises in between sobbing. It was then Lexi realized why the screams had been so muffled. She had been silenced with an almost too generic piece of tape across the mouth. Lexi winced as she slowly took the tape off her mouth, Chrissy looking utterly stunned but also borderline unconscious from not getting much oxygen.

"Chrissy, I gotcha, I gotcha, I promise" Lexi sighed, her anxiety but also her anger climbing when she thought about the kind of horrific soul that would try to hurt somebody as kind as Chrissy. Her arms slid down Chrissy's to try to find the tape or rope that was keeping her from moving her limbs. Her face would turn stone cold upon realizing that what she was feeling wasn't rope or even the back of Chrissy's wrists. It was sleek and likely metallic.

"Lexi ..." Chrissy finally spoke after a pause, "I ... she... you ..."

"It's okay Chrissy, we will get this off of you!" Lexi sighed, the bomb currently strapped around Chrissy.

Before she could make another move, Lexi would hear a giggle, her eyes darting all around. Since it was just her and the traumatized Chrissy, that really only left a couple more possibilities for who was in there now and Sugar Rush would've made a distinctly different sound.

"Heya Lexi..." Roxie giggled, simply strolling into the locker room, "Oh didn't you hear? I'm thinking about trying out for the team? Don't you think I did a great job out there? I really KILLED"

"Roxie, you bitch!" Lexi growled, setting Chrissy carefully down on a bench while she was a bit immobilized.

"Tsk tsk tsk... not so fast there, Shrinky" Roxie smirked callously, a remote detonator in her hand, "I .... wouldn't do that"

Chrissy's eyes widened.

"The fuck is wrong with you Roxie?" Lexi frowned, still keeping her distance, not wanting to take a chance.

"You know... I take that as a compliment... oh hold up, my shoe's untied" Roxie giggled, settling her foot down on a bench as she non-chalantly set the detonator down on the ground, going to lace up her right boot with both hands before winking over at Lexi, "just by the way ... you make ONE move towards that detonator ... I blow us all to high hell..."

Unbeknownst to both Lexi and Roxie, Sugar had found her way into the room and was watching the battle unfold from a distance.

"So you really don't care, huh?" Lexi asked

"You're going to have to be more specific than that..." Roxie shrugged, finishing the lacing of her boots and standing up straight, taking the detonator back into her hands. Lexi noticed briefly a green crumpled up bag of cookies fall out of Roxie's pant pocket. It bore the logo of KEKSE cookies on them. She shook her head in grief as Roxie casually scooped up the bag and ate a cookie out of it.

"Rachel's mother!"

"Who?" Roxie asked, mouth full of cookie crumbs.

"Rachel Rutschmann!!" Lexi snapped

Again Roxie remained standing up with a befuddled look on her face.

"...Sugar" Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes

"Ohhhh oh yeah, what about her?" Roxie shrugged, seeming fairly uncaring at this moment. She'd toss the now finished bag of cookies to the concrete.

"Her mom is going to die if you blow that bomb" Lexi said

"And?" Roxie giggled, "You think I give a fuck?"

"She thinks you're her friend, Roxie" Lexi said

"Yeah, and?" Roxie asked

"You are seriously messed up" Lexi sighed

"You're REALLY laying it on thick with the compliments tonight, Shrink ..." Roxie smirked, sliding up to Lexi uncomfortably close, "but flattery will get you nowhere, if you know what I mean ..."

"Ugh..."

"Oh my god, what do you want, a cookie? Fresh out ... Her mom's in the crowd, whatever ..." Roxie giggled, "She's pretty much served her purpose... this whole operation was at best a suicide mission ... for my men anyway ... I'll be slipping out the back as soon as the cops close in which ... seems like they're ahead of schedule surprisingly"

If it was possible to hear such a sound, the sound of Rachel Rutschmann's heart breaking could likely be heard from behind a locker door where she watched the action unfold.

So ShrinkGirl was right ... Roxie wasn't her friend either.....

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexi noticed an orange streak of lightning make its way out of the locker room, likely heading back towards the auditorium. Roxie saw it too, but chose to largely ignore it.

"Worst case scenario..." Roxie shrugged, walking right past Lexi and heading to Chrissy, "Blondie here is my bargaining chip to get out of here"

"Don't you ... dare touch her" Lexi snarled

"Awwww, is she your girlfriend?" Roxie giggled, "Seems I've struck a nerve ... I will agree she's cute but ..."

Lexi would dive at Roxie now, no longer caring about the detonator because she saw an opportunity to get it as Roxie yammered on. She'd tackle the chatty supervillain to the floor and the two would struggle as the detonator rolled to Chrissy's ankle who struggled to move closer towards it, her arms and legs still bound up.

"Nice to see you have some edge to you, Shrink Gal" Roxie smirked, dodging a punch from Lexi that would cause the superheroine to injure her hand on the cold concrete, leaving a noticeable red bruise. "Seems you've been practicing since our last go round, you even upgraded your gear a bit ... respect."

"Wish I could say the same" Lexi grunted, rolling onto her side as Roxie kicked her in the groin, sending her down in a loud groan of pain. As she watched Roxie stepping towards the bomb, she could only try to line her body up so that what she was about to do would work, firing the G from her belt like a grappling hook but this time she was aiming to use it more as fishing wire, as she hooked Roxie around the boots, disabling the usually agile Roxie.

With that, Lexi would unhook the belt buckle from herself to keep Roxie restrained while heading over to Chrissy briefly, "We will get this off you ... I just need ... some ... uh ... bolt cutters?"

Roxie would let out a hearty, if not maniacal giggle, "Bolt cutters?! HA HA HA HA HA!! Listen to this one, it's almost like you have ZERO experience disarming a bomb!! Bolt cutters would cut your friend in half before you even did anything to the circuitry in the bomb!"

Lexi rolled her eyes, standing up with Chrissy and trying to get her out of the locker room, careful to make sure she also took the detonator with her.

"C'mon ..." Lexi sighed, "the police are here ... surely one of them will have a way..."

"Heh, turning yourself in, huh?" Roxie giggled, still on the ground and writhing to try to escape as Lexi held the detonator. "Always detested your honesty but hey, you do you!"

Lexi again would roll her eyes even if she did see some truth in what Roxie was saying. She was pretty much about to surrender herself to a swarm of angry Mini Troop who had already begun making arrests on the thugs that held the auditorium hostage.

As she arrived back in the auditorium she noticed the tiny Sugar Rush hovering at her.

"Don't you DARE activate that thing!" Sugar squeaked, referring to the bomb remote in Lexi's hands.

Lexi made a "hands up" motion, keeping the detonator up in the air for a moment to show Sugar she meant no harm.

Unfortunately someone else did.

"Yoink!" Roxie giggled, snagging the detonator from Lexi's hands.

"Roxie, this isn't what we agreed on!" Sugar squeaked, hovering angrily about

Roxie gave her a bit of a careless shrug

"Buyer Beware" Roxie giggled, about to flick the floating Sugar out of the sky. Lexi shook her head with concern and dove in the air, shrinking in the process and driving Rush out of the way, sending them both down towards the floor, the impact injuring them both further but doing greater damage to Sugar Rush's elaborate system of jet packs as her arm started sparking as she stood up.

"I can handle myself, Lexi" Rush growled a bit

"I'm on your side!" Lexi sighed

"Nobody's on my side ... and I could care less about the other bomb she has, but I don't want my mom to die, as much as I claim to dislike her..." Sugar Rush declared

"...Wait. Other bomb?" Lexi asked, before looking up to see the menacing face of Roxie glaring at them both.

The police began to close in on Roxie yet again, reminiscent of the Winter Carnival fiasco from about 6 months prior. This time though, Roxie had some negotiating power as she had previously mentioned and she intended to use it. Without hesitation she clicked a button, triggering a countdown of 10 minutes which started on Chrissy's bomb as it was strapped to her still by pretty sturdy wiring.

"Uh uh uh..." Roxie taunted as the cops came in closer, "You want her to die?"

Roxie grabbed Chrissy and spun her around so the encroaching police could see the red flashing numbers as the ticked down. They groaned as their leader, Sonia Sanderson shook her head, instructing them to put their weapons down.

"Very good" Roxie giggled, then shoving the bound up blonde to the floor and making a break for the exit.

The police were swift to pursue, except for one who could only keep her focus downwards.

"Rachel, what do you mean, other bomb?" Lexi squeaked, her mind overrun with anxiety as she had Roxie getting away, another potential threat and the impending countdown on Chrissy's bomb. Sugar Rush simply glared at her, "Look, I want to help you but we have to help each other... I'm on your side!!"

"You're not on anyone's side!" Rush retorted, pointing her arm cannon in Lexi's direction, "And I'm not on anyone's either!"

"Look, you can trust me..." Lexi sighed, "just please ... tell me where the other bomb is!"

Sugar Rush sighed, looking a bit aggravated if nothing else. She opened her mouth as if to reveal something but a loud thud silenced her. The same thud silenced Lexi as 2 overturned glass tubes trapped each of the tiny young women.

"What the fuck?!" Sugar Rush shrieked, struggling futilely to break through the glass prison as a police officer scooped it up. The glass containing Lexi was picked up by none other than officer Sonia Sanderson herself. "You set me up you bitch!!"

"Rachel!! I swear...!!" Lexi grunted, in her own predicament now as she was trapped and watching any chance of victory fade with each step that Roxie took out of the auditorium. "Sonia!!"

"Alexis Cole..." Sonia Sanderson sighed, holding the glass steady, "It gives me no pleasure to do this but you are officially under arrest!"

"No! You don't understand!" Lexi squeaked, tears streaming down her eyes, "This is ... this is my fault, you're right .. but ... if you don't let me go... I can't stop Roxie!"

"We have our police on that right now ... she won't escape the campus, there's a perimeter all around the block" Sonia replied in a terse tone of voice

"B-But there's another bomb!! And Chrissy!!" Lexi sputtered, "please!! I know I probably don't deserve it but give me a chance!! Please... Pl-Pl-Please...."

Lexi's squeaks and cries soon faded as she fell to her knees. She knew in her heart she deserved this. She just felt even worse if something happened to Chrissy on top of everything else as part of her recklessness. She didn't say another word but found herself being placed down as the police officer securing Sugar Rush had her tucked safely into a duffel bag within a police cruiser parked just outside.

Lexi looked up, a bit confused.

"Go" Sonia sighed

"Y-You sure?" Lexi asked

Sonia rolled her eyes, seeming a bit pissed but she gently tapped the glass with her boot to knock it over, giving Lexi her freedom back. Lexi looked back, a hint of confusion but also gratefulness on her tiny face. Sonia simply gestured with her eyes in the direction that Roxie had gotten off to. Lexi would grow back and notice the police officers working on Chrissy, trying very hard to get the bomb off before it could detonate as a bomb squad was brought in.

Lexi was tempted to see how it all played out, but she doubted she had friends on the force, aside from Sonia herself.

Roxie simply giggled in glee as she strutted about Miniborough University campus, holding tightly onto the remote detonator which showed 2 different countdowns now. The screams of the innocent and the increasing presence of the police didn't seem to phase her as she almost seemed to have an extra hop in her step.

"Freeze!" a Mini Troop officer protected by a large bulletproof shield shouted, popping out from behind a formation of foliage. Roxie mockingly put her hands up.

"Awwww shoot, you got me" Roxie giggled, her fingers still dancing around the buttons of the detonator, "y'know it would be a shame if somebody were to ... set these bombs off now"

The officer narrowed his eyes as he glared at the smug young criminal.

"That's what I thought..." Roxie smirked, unholstering a pistol and going for the officer regardless of the shield. Before she could get a shot off though she'd be tackled by the adrenaline fueled Lexi who delivered a swift flying kick, causing the officer to groan a bit since he no longer wanted to aim his gun since another civilian was involved.

Rather than go off on another ballistic verbal barrage, Roxie simply readjusted her pistol to shoot at Lexi in the temple, which would've struck head on if Lexi hadn't quickly shrunk.

"That is getting SERIOUSLY annoying" Roxie snarled, trying to stomp on the small ShrinkGirl while the police officer stayed studied on her, trying to get a good shot in while she was distracted. The officer didn't exactly LIKE ShrinkGirl, he only knew of her from the tabloids and various rumors he had heard on the force. But for better or worse, he was finding her helpful.

Carefully observing the scene through his scope, he'd try to find the best non-fatal place to shoot the vixen as she thrashed about. Roxie, more focused on her now tiny prey would simply stomp a boot dangerously close to the bug sized Lexi to stun her and then glare down.

"End of the road Shrinks..." Roxie giggled

BANG!!

Lexi winced, rolling a bit to look up and notice Roxie wounded, having been shot in the shoulder. In the process she'd watch as the building sized detonator came crashing down near her, the compact superheroine curling up a bit to avoid being smushed. The officer would be quick to come over to Roxie and apply handcuffs although Roxie would have an interesting reaction to her impending incarceration.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!" she'd laugh maniacally despite the burning pain and the discomfort of the handcuffs, "You got the wrong gal! But then again, you guys aren't the brightest bulbs in the ... ouch... bunch!!"

Lexi glared down at Roxie as she grew back, a bit of a smug smirk of satisfaction on her face as she watched the woman get handcuffed and pulled up off the ground by the Mini Troop Officer.

"Take her away" Lexi muttered

The officer gave her a bit of an annoyed look

"Y'know, you're not exactly on our favorite persons list either..." the gruff officer stated, more focused on keeping Roxie in front hf him as he walked her towards a police cruiser.

Lexi was about to respond but thought better of it. At this point, her sometimes hasty mouth had gotten her into more trouble than it was worth, and she still had a bomb to stop ... and possibly more. She'd notice the 2 countdowns on the detonator -- the one that represented Chrissy's bomb was down below 2 minutes now. She gulped audibly and ran as fast she could back to the auditorium.

"Please remain calm..." a member of the bomb unit told the trembling Chrissy as they were very careful to cut one of the wires that kept the bomb fastened to her wrist. Lexi cautiously walked in, holding the detonator which she would bring over to officer Sanderson.

"Did you stop Roxie?" Sonia asked

"With help from one of your men, yes ... she's been placed under arrest ... I have the detonator but ..." Lexi stuttered, "I... I don't know how to stop it"

"It ... can't be stopped" Sonia sighed, "our people are doing the best they can, they should have it disarmed..."

"But what about the other one?" Lexi asked, worriedly, as the crowd would hear a click, holding their collective breath. The light on the detonator would momentarily dim and the bomb, which had been fastened around Chrissy's arms, clanked harmlessly onto the ground. Lexi let out the biggest sigh of relief but still noticed the other countdown continuing, approaching under 3 minutes.

"We have our crews searching with bomb sniffing dogs but nothing has turned up ... there doesn't seem to be another bomb in this building..." Sonia stated, trying to sound as calm as possible but she was understandably rattled as well.

Lexi thought for a few moments when it dawned on her. She knew where the other bomb was.

Without wasting much time, the anxiety driven Lexi dashed her way up towards the upper row of bleachers where her backpack dwelled and pulled out her cell phone. She didn't have much time.

Not too far away at the Krazy Kookie, a bored Mara remained sitting at the counter, holding a pastry and a can of whipped cream which she'd grasp in each hand as if putting on a puppet show.

"But Mara..." Mara said in a high squeaky voice, as if playing the voice of the pastry, "you don't deserve to be here all alone..."

"Eat me, Mara" the red haired playful elf would continue, voicing the strangely manly voice of the whipped cream bottle

"I already told you..." Mara sighed, "if I eat you, I get in trouble"

"Nobody has to know ..." the whipped cream can, also voiced by Mara would proclaim proudly in its demanding masculine tone.

Mara's green eyes darted each other as if to survey the situation and she raised the can up to her mouth, with every intention to fill her gullet. She then felt a vibration and yelped a bit, reaching for her cell phone.

"Oh hiya Lexi luv, how's the cheerleader thingy?" Mara asked

"Not exactly ideal ... Mara, look. You've gotta get out of there" Lexi said

"Hmm? Wh-Why?" Mara asked, "Y-You're not watching me, are you? Because I swear, I was going to clean all this up"

"What?" a confused Lexi asked before staying on track, "No!! No!! Mara, listen ... there's a bomb in the building! I don't know where it is but you have ... a minute and 37 seconds to get out of there"

"Y-You're serious, huh?" Mara asked, suddenly worried as she put the whipped cream and pastry down, looking around her surroundings and taking a few slow steps forward.

"Mara, please" Lexi gulped nervously, "Get out of there"

"Wait..." Mara said bluntly, "I think I can hear it..."

"Mara, please..." Lexi cried, "there's no time to be a hero ... get out of there, and get anyone else out of there!"

"Oh there's nobody here" Mara shrugged, still surveying the area for the bomb which she suspected was somewhere under the floorboards. Somebody very tiny would've had to have gotten it under there without being noticed. "I ... think I know where it is, Lex"

"Mara!!" Lexi whined, the timer coming down under 20 seconds now

"Oh alright, alright..." Mara sighed, surprisingly non-chalant for somebody who's life was in danger.

Lexi remained on the phone, her heart racing as she didn't hear anything from Mara and could only watch helplessly as the timer counted down on the detonator.

"Mara?" Lexi asked in a worried and high pitched tone. The next sound she would hear on the phone was a crackling BOOM and the sound jostled the auditorium even.

Lexi began to weep, still not hearing anything but a bit of rustling.

"S-Sorry about that" Mara smirked, taking her phone out from inside her top, "had you in my boobs for a second there ... well, not literally ... although how wild would that be?"

Lexi let out a relieved giggle, "Mara... fuck .. don't scare me like that again"

"Hey, I owe you big time, luv" Mara smirked, "B-But how did you know?"

"J-Just a hunch..." Lexi sighed

But how DID she know? It took her some time, but it seemed other than the cheerleading regionals, Sugar would stand the most to gain from blowing up anything that reminded her of her mother's cookie recipe, the thing that got her into the ordeal in the first place. That would be one clue but another would be Roxie's wording from earlier in the night when she threatened to "blow up the competition" ... The Krazy Kookie's impending competiton would of course be the "Kekse" cookie shop that was being built right across the way. Roxie likely didn't have a dog in the fight but the fact that she had a packet of the KEKSE cookies on her meant that she at least had some contact with someone from there. It was a shot in the dark, but one that paid off in this case.


-----

"...and that's how it happened..." Lexi sighed, sitting across from a woman as she twiddled her thumbs, trembling in her seat.

"I uh ... huh..." the perturbed therapist sighed, "I ... honestly don't know what to say ..."

"J-Just promise me..." Lexi sighed, laying her head in her hands, "That what we talk about is confidential..."

Dr. Sheila Hillenbrandt made a couple notes on her scratch pad before nodding. Her demanor was a bit methodical and some may even say cold, but she did have a caring look in her eyes as she had listened to the young and frightened Alexis Cole recount the whole ordeal that led to the "demise" of Rachel Rutschmann.

"It will stay between us" Dr. Hillenbrandt said, "and ... even though I'm not an attorney, I don't think what you did, no matter how outlandish, qualifies as murder"

"S-So you do believe me?" Lexi asked hesitantly

"To say things have been a bit unusual lately would be an understatement" Dr. Hillenbrandt said, tweaking her glasses, "...but it all kind of adds up now ..."

Lexi nodded, still looking disturbed as she tried to shake the endless guilt she was undergoing. She muttered something softly to the doctor, something that Sheila had to lean in to hear.

"Is... R-Rachel okay?"

"I ... honestly don't know" Dr. Hillenbrandt responded, "She was transferred to a high security facility last I knew... unfortunately, nobody's saying much about the situation... but she seems to be in stable condition, all things considered..."

"I would give anything..." Lexi sighed, almost breaking into tears again, "to help her grow back again... I think I could do it, I just ..."

The kindly doctor finally broke her usually stoic appearance, a sincere frown crossing her face as Lexi's words trailed off into melancholy sobs.

-----

Some time earlier, a smirking blonde stared down proudly at the carnage she had wrought, as a Mini Troop police cruiser was crackling and burning like a campfire after having run into a tree. The young woman, Roxanne Wright was no worse for wear, her cheeks a bit dinged up, not to mention the sharp shooting pain through her shoulder. She'd walk it off though. This wasn't her first time being shot.

"Poor bastard..." Roxie smirked, watching the police cruiser finally detonate as she walked away victorious, a single handcuff around her wrist while the other dangled like some kind of charm bracelet. "All in all, not my best work ... but that's okay ... time to call the boss man"

Roxie would shrug non-chalantly after having committed yet another homicide to escape, propping her cell phone up around her shoulder and after a long delay hearing a click. The line was fairly silent until a deep voice came over it.

"...Roxie? I told you not to call this number..." the gentleman on the other end said.

Normally Roxie would be a bit more fiery in her response but she was understandably spent.

"Yeah ... look boss man, I'll keep this quick ... I'm gonna need double my usual rate and maybe some super strong painkillers to get me by for a few days... I'd say all in all it's the least you could do" Roxie shrugged, as if ordering a pizza.

Again, the line remained silent, although Roxie could hear strange noises in the background. Then again this guy was always a bit strange and that was putting it mildly.

"N-Now ... is not a good time..." the mysterious gentleman responded as Roxie could hear sounds of struggle and some kind of electrical interference, "...I told you to run any kind of financial requests through Biggs anyway"

"Whatevs" Roxie sighed, "good luck with your science project or whatever"

With that, the careless blonde would toss her cell phone, she had about 2 dozen of them anyway, and make her way home after an eventful night of chaos and carnage.


-----

Lexi, on the other hand had had enough chaos for one lifetime. She came home from her therapy appointment at least feeling a little better. Sometimes it helped to just get the burden off of herself. It had been about a week since the terrorist attack at the cheer regionals. She had tried to call Chrissy but to little avail. The whole experience left her blonde friend understandably rattled.

Still, the young superheroine, who had completed her first year of college somewhat successfully (hey a 2.87 GPA isn't the worst, right?) decided she deserved a treat and so she found her way into the kitchen, fishing out a creamsicle and heading upstairs.

Lexi curled up on her bed as her cat Tiny joined her, a goofy grin on her face as she took a small bite of her creamsicle. She was about to settle into a more restful state when a knock on the door startled her. Standing in the threshold of her bedroom were her parents and they looked gravely concerned.

"Is... everything okay?" Lexi asked, looking back

"Lexi ... we need to talk"