Leah would clap and giggle upon watching new friend Chrissy complete a backflip trick off a bench in the central plaza of campus.
"Didn't I tell you, girl is good!" Lexi would clap a bit as well
"Awwww, well I've been cheerleading since I was in diapers so ..." Chrissy would shrug, an air of confidence about her as she wore her navy green hoodie and jean skirt. She seemed rather fond of skirts as no matter what the weather was she'd be wearing one. This day had been a particularly brisk September afternoon but still the perky blonde would dress in a mix of summer and autumn wear
"Not sure I'd wanna see a cheerleader in diapers..." Leah would joke
"Oh you know what I mean" Chrissy would giggle a bit, "So, we'll see you at the meeting later, Lexi?"
"For sure ... 7 o clock, right?" Lexi would nod in anticipation, "Again I REALLY appreciate you getting me in ... should I like ... have anything special prepared or...?"
"No, I mean just bring yourself" Chrissy would nod, stating the obvious, "maybe some pom poms if you wanna show us a quick cheer but I've already talked to the team and we all agree you're in, this is more of a formality"
"Again, I can't thank you enough" Lexi would blush, giving her friend a hug as she'd have to depart soon.
"No worries, Lex ... I gotta head off to work in a few but was nice meeting you Leah" she'd add in a friendly voice as she slowly took off. Even after her departure, Lexi's face would remain dumbfounded and feature a smile of sorts. Leah knew this look all too well.
"Uh... Lex?" Leah would joke, briefly swiping her hand in front of her best friends eyes. "Earth to Lex?"
Lexi would widen those eyes for a second and nod, "Huh? Yeah I'm here"
"Yeah you're here alright..." Leah would roll her eyes, turning to the side to collect her backpack and other things that she had set down for a moment, "you're on the beach with Chrissy right now, that's where you are..."
"What? No..." the defensive Lexi would retort, becoming a bit flummoxed at the thought
"Ohhhh yeah, I know that look in your eyes ... you LIIIIKE her" Leah would tease, bumping her friend lightly
"She's a very nice girl..." Lexi would agree, "But we're just friends, I just met her the other day and she was super nice to get me another tryout"
"And you're sure you're feeling better?" Leah would ask
"Y-Yeah..." Lexi would nod although she wouldn't seem super confident about it. She had had a couple of brief bouts with some vertigo feelings and wooziness but for the most part, her health and more importantly her size had been stable the last day or so.
All of her natural positivity could only push her so far and while she was excited to put the ordeal behind her, a lot of things still didn't seem right. At times it was almost as if she was fighting her body. She felt extra sensitive to any kind of wind or electrical currents and ... if she didn't know any better, the birds in the sky looked super messed up.
Of course, those weren't any birds, and a closer look may have triggered some trauma for the bubbly Alexis Cole, as these airborne creatures were not avarian but rather mechanical, bearing the same dreaded insignia as the hazmat suits from the previous night.
Meanwhile, Josh was studying the notes on Project Delta, trying to make heads or tails of the thing. It touted a way to spontaneously change size of any object within a certain parameter. Further pages would show metal cubes that could change in size from 1 inch to 10 feet in width with a complicated quadratic formula showing the rate of size increase and decrease.
Further turning the pages would reveal even more grids showing objects changing in size, denoted by outlines like an algebra graph problem. Most of the terminology was careful to use the word OBJECT. It never used the word PERSON or HUMAN. However as Josh got further in the research study, that's when he saw it.
HUMAN IMPLICATIONS AND POTENTIAL TRIALS.
"Human trials are still months or maybe years away. The hope would be to have the Project at full capacity within 18-36 months, producing the world's first fully modifiable soldiers. These soldiers could shrink and grow to fit any situation and the size alteration could be controlled via remote inside their gear. The subject could possibly control their own size alteration due to the enhanced electrical polarity they would be endowed with but this is not something that would occur simply. A remote or some kind of triggering device would likely need to be used until such time as a human could become sentient over their own size"
Josh read this over with much fascination. This was some sci-fi level shit right here ...
In fact, Josh was so fasincated, he didn't notice his phone blinking red from underneath, some kind of modified device seemingly integrated inside. He just knew one thing.
"I need to find Lexi"
------
"Hey, have you guys seen Lexi?" Chrissy would ask a group of about 6 girls while they waited in a small auditorium on the outskirts of the campus. Most would simply shake their head, some distracted on their phones, although one in particular seemed strangely livid. Her name was Gloria and she'd approach Chrissy with a bit more aggression.
"I still don't see what the big deal is about this girl or why you want her here" Gloria would sneer.
Gloria was certainly an imposing figure, the tallest of the cheerleaders and perhaps the strongest and most athletic. She stood at 5'11, a good 5 inches taller than her blonde cohort, had an olive compexion, dark brown eyes and painted green nails.
"Lex is a nice girl and ..."
"And what? She's a nice girl .. okay? She was so nice she couldn't even be bothered to show up" Gloria scoffed, "and now we just put everything on hold to wait for her? Again? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm sure she's FINE but ... why are you so protective of her?"
"I'm not being protective, I just .. I don't know, I liked something about what she showed us the other day" Chrissy shrugged, trying desperately to defuse the deterioriating situation.
Gloria sighed, "she didn't seem so special to me ... seemed a bit show-boaty to be honest, and that smile? I mean, nobody's THAT happy"
"So what if she is?" Chrissy giggled, "she wants to be a CHEER leader... it's okay to be cheery"
"No, I'm not buying it" Gloria tsked, chewing carelessly on a piece of gum which she'd tease and snap with her tongue, "Nobody's that happy... now we can get started and if she shows up tonight we'll see what happens, okay?"
Chrissy would sigh, "Okay..."
-----
Lexi would anxiously check her watch as her and Josh were at the library now, Josh having tracked her down and insisting he had something urgent to show the young brunette. While Lexi knew she kind of owed Josh one, she was also attentive of the time as 7 pm fast approached. She had her pom poms ready to go and was basically going to zip over to cheer practice but what Josh was saying had been admittedly interesting.
"So ... this is the project" Josh would explain, laying out a simplified version he had typed up himself, "basically they're trying to make Enormites but on steroids... perfectly modifiable objects that can grow or shrink... the science involves molecular compression and electrical manipulation... basically the majority of matter can be broken into various electrical bonds and ..."
"Josh...?" Lexi would sigh, again, looking at her watch, "It's not that I don't care ... I do ... but ... I need to get going"
"Just a few more minutes" Josh would urge, "I'm really ... I'm worried"
"Why are you worried?" Lexi would ask, her eyes occasionally fluttering to the window now where a few more "white birds" seemed be gathering. If she listened closely she could hear faint screams of students.
"I'm worried something happened to you in that lab and you're not telling anyone because you're scared" Josh would nod, unintentionally reaching his hand out as if to comfort Lexi but it had just the opposite effect as she withdrew her hand. "S-Sorry .. but for real ... you could be in real ..."
SMASH!!
Lexi's heartrate instantly accelerated as a window at the library was shattered and in came one of the drones. The Enormo drones no less, giving her nightmares of her time in that containment chamber when she had been shrunk and basically experimented on. It was then she put it together, at least in part. She WAS the object Josh was talking about. Enormo was trying to create size modifiable objects and that was her. She was LITERALLY Experiment 287. That's why they tried to put her in a box. That's why they wanted to likely study her, experiment on her. She was an OBJECT. At this thought, she grew very very angry.
"We've gotta get out of here!" Josh would shout, collecting up his thing and taking Lexi's hand, dragging her out the back door of the library, but they could both hear whirring helicopter blades from the other side of the door. The drones had all exits covered.
"Josh" Lexi would shake her head, slowly releasing her hand from Josh's. "we can't run ... I mean, we can try but ..."
Without another word, Lexi would kick down the door. One of the overzealous drones would be hit by the door, sending it sparking and careening into a nearby bush. The remaining 2 would stay fixated on the pair of students although it didn't seem to be Lexi they were focusing on.
"Joshua James" one of the drones said in a very robotic, almost "Stormtrooper" like voice, "You are coming with us"
At this Lexi would look over in shock. SHE was the one who had inadvertedly broken into the lab. She was the one who had basically stolen their technology by BECOMING it. Why were they after HIM? She quickly realized why, by mere fact that he possessed so much knowledge about all this.
"Josh, what the hell did you do?" the panicked Lexi asked as the 2 ran from the descending drones.
"Huh? Um... I didn't do anything" Josh lied as they dipped down a corner. They lost the pursuing drones, but yet more seemed to appear from behind a rooftop, always one step ahead.
"Yeah? Then why do THOSE things know your name?" Lexi asked as they continued running. "Why are they chasing us? Why are you running from them? Okay dumb question, you're running the same reason everyone else is..."
And that was a keen observation. Even though the drones were seeking Josh specifically the sight of them on a college campus raised very real concerns and most people were ducking into buildings or trying their best to stay out of the way as the drones seemed to beeline towards Josh and Lexi.
"Son of a ..." Josh would snap, looking at the back of his phone and finally noticing the blinking red beacon.
"What?" Lexi would ask
"I was right the whole time, they DID install a tracker on here..." Josh shook his head to this.
Back at the Enormo labs, the evil Doctor would sneer, seeing all of this play out through the various cameras on the drones.
"I've got you now, you STUPID boy!" Max would chuckle
Below the grid of cameras, Max could see his relative location showing up as a dot which moved every time he did. As a bonus, he also saw the foolish girl he was SURE to be part of the problem, but he would deal with her later. He wanted to make sure to put out the problem of the boy who knew too much first.
"Well, while you figure out what to do about that!" Lexi would sigh, picking up a wayward rock and tossing it at a drone causing it to spark and explode, "let's ..."
She'd quickly look over and see Josh had already broken his phone in half, thereby severing the GPS device.
"...didn't you need your phone?" Lexi asked, finding his solution a bit drastic, albeit understandable.
"I've got like 5 of them" he shrugs
"Well that won't stop them, let's go!" Lexi shook her head, this time taking HIS hand and leading him towards an abandoned set of buildings in the proximity. She had to get them away from the public and figure something out. They had about 6 of them on their tail but at least with the GPS no longer in play, maybe they could find a way to lose them.
"You aren't going to get away from me that easily!" Max would chuckle, hitting a button to accelerate the drones towards the two of them.
"You have been warned..." the drone would robotically state, hovering close enough to Josh to deliver a brief electrical shock, akin to that on a tazer. Josh would fall to his knees, his vision getting blurry.
"Josh!" Lexi would cry out, before glaring at the drones, a bit of an electrical spark emitting form her fingertips. Josh would briefly notice this but wrote it off as a result of seeing sparks from his own endured shock.
"Hey, losers! Follow me!" Lexi would taunt, running away from the robots to try to draw them off her fallen friend but since they were merely machines, they were unaffected by her taunts and would instead triangulate on Josh's location, determined to bring him in for detainment or worse.
"Okay ... then let's do it this way..." Lexi would sneer, doing a somersault and backflip over Josh and delivering a well placed karate chop on top of one of the drones, just between the propeller blades so she wouldn't incur pain but she still struck it pretty well.
Max watched in shock as one of the camera screens turned to static.
"WHAT?! What is it that's now happening?!" the angry Doctor would state.
At this, the other 3 robots would turn towards Lexi. They now perceived her as a threat, which is what she wanted. What the rest of her plan was remained to be seen. She'd quickly dash off, now drawing them away so Josh could at least recover.
"Lexi, don't ..." he'd whimper before falling to his knees, trying to get up, but his body felt woozier and woozier with every attempt.
Furious, Dr. Max would reach into his drawer and hastily hook up a microphone to his computer setup, comandeering one of the drones manually, including the voice unit.
"You stupid girl, I remember you!" the voice of the doctor would chirp.
"And I remember you, Mad Max!" Lexi would answer defiantly punching the human piloted drone in its front end, disabling another camera and its flight navigation, it would flutter to the ground useless now, leaving only 2 more.
As Max watched another one of his eyes in the sky flicker out, he would switch to Drone 2 to continue the pursuit, watching Lexi run towards a building whos doors would be locked.
"You're mine, fraulein!" the angry doctor would announce, the blades spinning faster as the drone came down. Lexi backed away as far as she could but the robotic drone was descending purposely slow to build the drama, the propeller blades basically nearing the neckline of her shirt as it inched inwards She breathed quickly before finally sighing.
"Fuck it" she uttered, closing her eyes and focusing hard, shrinking out of her clothes and out of view.
"WHAT IN THE?!" Max would shout, the 2 robots just scanning the area confused.
They would both eventually hover down towards the pile of Lexi's clothes, unaware that Lexi's shrunken body had climbed out and was precariously dangling off the nearby stairs, she'd land on the grass with a soft thud, too soft to be heard by the searching robots as they combed through her clothes. As she ran through the fields of grass, she'd snag a blade of it and briefly cover herself as if Eve from the old Bible story. Finally she'd double back once she felt a bit more confident. She'd have to time this just right to not only disable the bot but also regain the clothes ... she didn't want that old perv spying on her, after all.
While the 2 robots shone spotlights on the fallen clothes of Alexis Cole, the real girl, all 3 inches of her ran her way back through a dense field of tree like grass before finally willing herself to grow again, the blade of grass now serving useless as a form of cover but she was quick enough to get back towards the predatory robots and reshrink herself in time to get back into her clothes, surveying the situation briefly as she covered herself with a sock.
"I've gotcha!" Max would sneer, seeing her tiny and afraid body shivering behind the sock, sending a robot in for the kill but Lexi had other plans.
"Yeah that's right..." Lexi would whisper to herself, letting the distance between them grow smaller, "keep coming"
At the crucial moment of would be collision, Lexi would drop the sock like a matador dropping a towel to distract a bull and after doing so, she'd leap up onto the top of the drone, having to grab herself up as she was starting to slip.
"C-Can I get smaller?" Lexi asked herself, remembering that she HAD before but it had been just a chance thing. This time she would have to trigger it. This time, there was no such time and so she would have to trust in her instincts, running towards one of the blades of the drone as it spun at high speed. It surely looked like a suicide attempt except she had a plan. She'd duck underneath the blade with the most precise of timing and shrink herself further, slipping briefly into the innards of the drone, much to Max's confusion. It was almost as if he had never considered this possibility.
"What?!" Max would snap, now off the microphone for the moment, "I had never considered this possibility!"
Unbeknownst to him, a very confused and concerned Dr. Hoffnung glanced into the office only briefly to see his boss getting so flustered and upset. He didn't know all the details but he knew it was nothing good, but however decided to just walk away for now.
"I don't exactly know machines..." Lexi would say to herself, standing atop wiring and chips that now dwarfed her in size, "but I'm guessing some of these things are important..." the fast talking Lexi would assert as she pulled out some of the cables and as a result, watched her mechanical surroundings begin to spark and collapse on themselves.
Wasting no time, she'd leap from the exploding drone and attempt to grow herself back, although only reaching about half size, but burrowing into some of her clothes to at least offer coverage.
"Uggh..." she'd groan, probably looking ridiculous to anyone who passed by. Most people wouldn't consider the fact that she had been only a few feet tall and would figure she was simply crouching or in a stumbled over position, creating the illusion of shortness.
Unfortunately what wasn't an illusion was the looking sight of the final drone, and Max's last chance to capture Lexi.
"You ... are mein!!" the evil Dr. Max would assert
"Uh... so not my type" Lexi would chuckle, struggling to her feet to run in the oversized clothes before slowly growing her body back into them, but of course it wasn't perfect, certain parts of her wardrobe were now either stretched or not in the right places and that effected her running speed drastically.
Even worse, the stress, size change and the continued sparking on her hands and feet were weakening her visibly and she'd find herself soon face down in the grass after tripping one last time, the drone hovering over her
"Surrender now, you foolish girl!" Max would announce, "if what has happened to you is what I think has happened, it will take only a single shock from this drone to reduce you to an atom ... at which point it'll be easier than ever to take you back to my lab ... dissect you and figure out what makes you tick ... YOU'RE MINE!! I'VE WON!! GIVE UP NOW!!"
Lexi was struggling to get to her feet, unsure of what to do. Shrink? Stay in place? She was in trouble now but would never admit it of course. She winced and waited for the inevitable pain that would likely occur from the electric shock before hearing a slam instead.
She'd turn around confused, her clothes still disheveled as she rolled onto her side to see the mangled and ruined drone on the grass. She'd scoot away just in case it tried anything but it did appear to be down for the count. To her surprise, she'd see Josh, still not looking great but he had konked the final robotic drone out with his backpack and looked at Lexi, again worried.
"Josh..." she'd gasp, before giving him a hug, which only shocked them both a bit, although luckily Lexi was able to hold her shrinking powers back. "Ow ... are you okay?"
"Um... maybe?" Josh would groan, still holding his head, "Lexi what was that thing talking about ... about the electric shock and the ..."
"I ... I don't know...." Lexi would frown, looking really withdrawn now, "That guy is a lunatic, yknow... I have no idea what he meant"
"Lex... I think you do" Josh frowned, "If something's happened, you can tell me..."
"N-No offense Josh..." Lexi sputtered, "but I'm still getting to know you and ... I ... ugh I'm late for cheerleading again ... I ... I don't even think I'm going to go ..."
"Oh cmon, you gotta go" Josh would whimper, again struggling to stand.
"No ... I ... no ... not exactly feeling cheery now, plus you need me" Lexi would concede, offering a hand to keep her friend standing upright. She'd hold him close to help him walk as they walked towards the health center, completely bypassing the auditorium in the process. After some time, Josh would wake up on a nurses bed, feeling a bit better but noticing a sticky note on his chest. He'd peel it off and read a short note,
"Josh, thank you truly for your help, you're a good friend"
below that would appear a heart and Lexi's signature. Josh would sigh, grateful for the note but still worried as he just lay there and continued to rest.
----
"So... you think a human got into the machine?" Trevor would ask his boss worriedly later that night
"I'm not thinking, I'm knowing..." Max would say, feigning concern, "Oh you were right Dr... this is truly terrible ... we need to find this person ... this ... Alexis, I think her name is ... and we need to ... we need to make this right"
Trevor would pause and look at his boss for a moment, not at all positive that the words were sincere but he would also nod in agreement.
----
Finally, Lexi would be able to relax, concluding a first week of college that involved missing out on cheer team, learning how to shrink, albeit not very well. For the moment, she could focus on something more normal, like talking to her new friend Chrissy on the phone
"I'm so sorry again about the cheer thing, I know you stuck your neck out for me and I really do appreciate it but ... I just don't think it's going to fit into my semester schedule right now ... maybe next semester..."
"Well I'll admit, I was more than a bit bummed to not see you there..." Chrissy would nod, "but I may have another offer for you ..."
"Oh?"
"How'd you like a job?" Chrissy giggled
"You mean it?"
"Girl quit at the cookie shop I work at on campus... I could recommend you ..." Chrissy said in a sing songing voice
"Yknow, I'm beginning to get a bit worried you don't think I can do anything on my own ... first you clothe me, now you're getting me a job?" Lexi joked
"So is that a no?" Chrissy asked
"Oh no, totally call them" Lexi would giggle
"Okay, sounds like a plan!" Chrissy chuckled, "I'll let you know how it goes"
"Lexi! You have mail!" Lexi would hear her mom say from downstairs.
"Okay mom, hold on a moment" Lexi would say, tucking her phone down for just a bit before bidding adieu to Chrissy.
With that, the still exhausted Lexi would head down the stairs and accept the envelope. It appeared to be a rather official looking thing, with the address typed up in blue.
"It's from Enormo Enterprises" Mrs. Cole would say, giving Lexi good reason to pause, "didn't you go on some tour there the other day?"
"Ummm... yeah!" Lexi nodded, hastily running back upstairs, "Must be a ... generic thank you thing!"
"Okay ... well, don't be too long, dinner will be ready soon"
"Okay mom!"
Lexi would creep back into her room, the envelope in her nervous hands as she went to open it, but her sight was momenrarily distracted by another sight. It was the drawing she had snatched from Leah's car not even a couple days prior. The playful sketch depicting "the shrinking girls" with Lexi wearing purple and gold. To this she would smile, taking the picture and pinning it up on her corkboard. She'd then turn to more serious matters, opening the letter and seeing official business letterhead from Enormo Enterprises. The letter read:
"Ms. Alexis Cole,
I understand completely why you wouldn't want to hear from this company. Truth be told, I don't know why I'm
doing what I'm doing sometimes. You don't know me, but I'm one of our scientists here, named Hope. I'd love to
meet you sometime and see if I can offer you any assistance for things that may or may not have transpired in your
life as a result of the reckless actions of this company.
I understand this may come off as a demand but I assure you that it's not. I don't expect to hear back from you but
if you're ever interested, I've included a confidential phone number you can call. At the very least, I can try to
help you understand what may have happened to you. I know things may feel bleak now, but everybody needs a little Hope.
Signed,
Hope "
Lexi's eyes looked to the letter, her mind and heart processing its words but she put her head down, eyeing the wastebasket by her bed instead. Determined to send it there to rot, she'd suddenly change her mind and slip it into a drawer. She'd shake her head in wonderment at her own decision but offer the identical justification that the note had provided.
Everybody needs a little hope.
Giantess World
