Lexi would gingerly approach the computer store, peeking inside briefly to see what appeared to the kind of dingy computer store one would see in the 1990's. Like so many Radio Shacks, it had dark grey carpeted floors, steel shelving and black trim on the walls. She'd back away a bit to let another customer go in ahead of her, the customer carrying quite a bit of things so she gently nudged the door open for them, eliciting an appreciative nod.
She'd look inside and see a whole lot of old looking computers, although some newer ones, all on shelves, along with mice, keyboards, and various accessories. The store had a very "sterile" smell to it, which wasn't the worst thing, but she definitely feel like the new shops' demographic.
As she watched the customer ahead of her explain their computer problem to the gentleman behind the counter, she couldn't help but wonder if she had just caught a glimpse of a familiar face in the back room, which she glimpsed through a small window, behind which appeared to be where the computer repairs took place.
In a few moments, she'd be speaking to the gentleman behind the counter.
"Um ... h-hi..." Lexi stammered, "this is going to sound kind of weird but does a ... Doc ... er, Mister Hoffnung work here?"
"Um... no, but my boss' name is Trevor Hilfmann" the man behind the counter responded.
"Geez, how many names does this guy have?" Lexi mumbled under her breath
"Hmm?"
"N-Never mind ..." Lexi replied shyly.
By this time, the mysterious computer technician in the back had already noticed the inquisitive young lady and was taking a pause from his work to peer over again from the tech window.
"W-Would it be ... possible maybe ... for me to ... see him?" Lexi asked, folding her arms and trying to look as shy as possible to perhaps sway her chances
"I don't know, Miss ... he's been pretty busy lately ..."
"Um... it's okay" Trevor 'Hilfmann' said, stepping out from behind his reclusive area and waving Lexi in, "she's a ... friend of the family"
Lexi blushed and nodded, walking past the salesman and continuing on into the back room.
Once there she saw an array of computer monitors, desktops, laptops and really the kind of stuff you'd expect to see in a computer repair shop. Upon closer inspection though, she also saw some more ...unorthodox gizmos. A couple even looked similar to the robots she had faced at the winter carnival, although a bit smaller and thankfully deactivated.
"So you uh ... work here now?" Lexi asked awkwardly, not really sure where to begin.
Trevor Hoffnung (assuming that was his real name) had helped her greatly. He provided her intel on the nefarious Enormo Enterprises, a company in town that still remained shady and infamous for whatever it is they did. The most recent scandal tied to the company came in the form of a vicious and nearly deadly attack at the pier's annual winter carnival in which a large metallic monster unleashed its wrath. Thankfully Lexi (and by proxy, a vixen by the name of Roxie) had been there to stop the attack but it only raised further suspicions on the strange company that had been known to be working with Nanites before. All that was in the not so distant past though, and Lexi was more curious than ever to see what Dr. H had been up to since.
"So... Dr. H... what have you been up to since ... everything?" the inquisitive Lexi asked
"Heh, well while it is true I do have a doctorate, I go by Hilfmann now" Trevor answered
"Yeah I noticed that ... old family name or ...?"
"Protection" Trevor replied, now taking Lexi a bit deeper into the repair room of the Aztek Parts and More shop. "I'm not naive to the fact that Dr. Mumford has trackers out there somewhere... I've triple inspected my car and thankfully found nothing but that doesn't mean I'm out of range ..."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I've gotta stop ya ..." Lexi sputtered, "Dr. Mumford?"
"Max..." Trevor sighed
"Ohhhhh Mad Max... yeah..." Lexi nodded, "is it true that he's building a second plant that's going to cut into Fenster Forest?"
"Sadly yes ... I'm hoping it doesn't go through but somehow the company has acquired the zoning rights to the land ... it would be a shame to ravage those forests ... they've been part of this region for ... who knows how long?" Trevor answered
"Yeah ... I'm still not sure how they were able to get the permits ... well... Max isn't the OWNER of the company, right?" Lexi asked
"No, that would be Edward Enormo..." Trevor answered
"I'm sorry, guy's actually name is Enormo?"
"Eh, Enormiaggio..." Trevor replied, in his best worst Italian accent
"I guess I understand that..." Lexi shrugged, "what does he think about what Max is doing?"
"He uh ... doesn't exactly know..." Trevor sighed, "d-do you mind if we change the subject?"
"Um... y-yeah sure" Lexi replied, as she sat down on a flimsy and rickety black office chair, holding her arms a bit uncomfortably as a chill seemed to go through her. As soon as it passed, she let her hands fall to the side and her eyes were going every which way, "this ... isn't just a computer shop, is it?"
"It is not" Trevor answered, quite matter of factly, opening some drawers to reveal more packs of nanites, but if Lexi leaned up just a bit, she could see some of the drawers had some multi-tools, strangely shaped hexnuts and ... an injection needle?
"Sh-Should I be worried?" Lexi chuckled nervously. Despite the save back at the Enormo Enterprises lab, it wasn't completely clear how involved Trevor had been in Maximillian's handiwork. While not a sole contributor, he likely knew quite a bit, which could make him a helpful ally but also potentially somebody to watch out for. Thus is the life of a fledgling superheroine, after all.
"No" Trevor said, after a bit of a pause, "Truth be told, several of the research projects at Enormo were at least partly my doing, but I never intended them to be used like that ... I was able to confiscate a few of the components from Dr. Mumford's Maximite creatures, which is what you saw on that shelf over there. Don't worry though, they've been neutralized but I've been able to gain some fascinating insight on how they work..."
Lexi nodded as she listened to the Doctor talk. She wanted to keep listening when an incessant vibration from her cell phone kept diverting her attention.
"Do you ... need to get that?" Trevor asked.
"Hmmmm... probably nothing that imp==" Lexi began, as another incessant notification set her off, "Okay okay, I'm sorry, hold on..."
Trevor would just shake his head and sigh, turning to go through more technology on his work bench before his young employee asked him for help at the main desk. He would depart for the moment, while Lexi read her texts. The latest one was from Josh and simply said "Hey, call me... I have big news"
Since Trevor was out of the room for the time being, Lexi took this moment to pick up her phone and dial him, keeping her voice fairly low, "Yeah, what is it?"
"Okay first of all, where are you?" Josh asked, as the sounds of the others clamoring over Dungeons and Dragons could be heard in the background, "secondly, you have a hit on your website!"
"What? No, cmon..." Lexi scoffed
"It's true, come check it out, I've been checking the emails since I have them forwarded to my phone now" Josh replied
"So you ... have an email set up for me that I can't even check ... and the emails go to YOUR phone?" Lexi asked
"Yeah ... I mean it's nothing inappropriate ... well a few dudes did send pictures of their ..."
"TMI!" Lexi snapped, as Trevor entered the room again, "Look, I gotta go ... I'll look at your ... whatever later"
"Oh okay..." a disappointed sounding Josh answered as the phone call abruptly ended.
"Everything okay?" the concerned former Dr. would ask
"Huh? Oh yeah ... just ... friend of mine ... made me a website..." Lexi explained, while rolling her eyes a bit, "y'know, in case any trouble comes up ..."
"So like... you're a professional superhero now?" Trevor asked, with a half smirk on his face.
"Hey I didn't think it was that funny!" Lexi hmphed, crossing her arms.
"Oh I meant no offense" Trevor nodded, with a reassuring hum as he looked through some boxes labeled JUNK, while another was labeled THINGS. The level of organization on display was simply magnificent.
While watching the older fellow go through his things, Lexi looked down at the gray concrete floors with some confusion. Were things ALWAYS spinning so much. She put a hand to her right temple as she tried to stabilize herself in her seat. Huh. It was similar to the weird dizzy feeling she got around Chrissy, but thankfully this time she didn't shrink or even change in any way. She'd even check her fingertips to make sure there were no signs of sparking. There were none.
"No, I honestly think it's pretty admirable what you're doing Ms. Cole" Trevor stated, before realizing his mistake, "...ahem, Lexi ... I think it's pretty respectable and altruistic even..."
"Th-Thanks" Lexi replied, forcing a smile while gently caressing her own hand with her fingertips.
"Are you okay?" Trevor asked, "I've seen you grip your hand a couple times, are you feeling any discomfort? I only ask because the effects of the experiment you were exposed to still aren't known ... honestly, it's somewhat of a miracle that you're still alive?"
Lexi would nod uncomfortably and whimper, "Honestly? I'm not like ... in any extreme pain or anything but I do get these dizzy spells and my hand will sometimes feel like I dragged it on a carpet ... if that makes sense"
"It makes total sense" the knowledgeable doctor stated, "Your body's polarity was severely affected by the experiment, it's kind of what allows you to compress yourself and the matter around you ... your body has certain electric fields which ... bzzt and react and przzzzt, when you were exposed to the ... radi... in the..."
Lexi would blink her eyes multiple times as she'd hear the man's words coasting in and out as if he were on a defective radio line. What was happening to her? She simply nodded and tried to keep her appearances up while his words sounded more and more distorted before finally leveling out, the blurriness no longer being an issue as well.
"I know ..." Trevor sighed, "not the most relatable thing to be talking about, I hit you with a lot of sciency mumbo jumbo just then"
"Oh? No that's okay Dr. H" Lexi giggled with a thumbs up, "I understood some of those big words... I know what polarity is and uh ... experiment"
The 2 would giggle, although while Lexi remained optimistic, the more stoic in comparison Dr. Hoffnung would worry a bit.
-----
Deep in Fenster Forest, away from the parts that were being scanned over by construction equipment for possible plotting points on the new Enormo labs project, there would be a cottage, a rather humble one at that, and this is where our next scene would take place. For it was here, the 3 fairy siblings ... Spark, Lark & Mark were talking about something their brother Mark had just done, and they were discussing it, as fairies usually do, in a very calm and reasonable manner.
"You did what?!" Spark snapped, leaning in at her already jittery brother as he sat on the blue and white, meticulously kept bedspread of his humble slumbering chamber.
"I don't know ... I just ..." Mark sputtered, but before he could even serve up an answer, his other sister Lark had other ideas
"You can't just ... invite people here" Lark shook her head, "what the hell is Esmerelda going to think?"
"Forget about her..." Spark shrugged, looking annoyed in general, "this is just ... a bad idea overall... you don't invite humans to the colony ... why do you think we cast a cloaking spell over it so people can't see it?"
"Seriously... last person to even see this place was that Icabod guy and he lost his head, you want someone else to lose their head?" Lark retorted, "is that what you want??"
"Well to be fair, they did replace it with that pumpkin..." Spark shrugged with a guilty looking grin. Sure, she hadn't been the one to do it but she heard things.
Mark was definitely annoyed about the situation. Maybe even more so that Spark had spied on his newly acquired MinIPhone (as he was calling it, since it said iPhone on it when you booted it up) to see he had reached out to a girl on there.
"Oh, so now you're going to be quiet about this?" Lark scoffed
"Psh, just leave him alone, he only invited her because she's a pretty face" Spark smirked, leaning in to tease the socially awkward brother
"That's not even her real face!" Lark shook her head, snatching the phone casually away from Mark as he sat on the bed. He'd spring up from where he was try to regain it but his sister had him by just a couple centimeters, which was an insurmountable height difference for fairies. "It's a sketched drawing at best!"
"Still, if the site had said ShrinkBOY, he probably would've have gone for it" Spark shrugged
"Cmon .. it's not like that!" Mark groaned, finally getting the phone back when Lark tired of teasing him with it. "It's just ... I thought with that witch attacking us, we could use some ... protection?"
"Oh geez, again with the witch" Lark sighed, "we haven't seen witches since ... since..."
"Since before the Pumpkin guy!" Spark finished the sentence, somewhat accurately.
"Well ... I don't know, but this person I encountered set a part of our colony on fire, how do you explain that?" Mark asked. To his surprise there was a bit of an awkward silence to that. Nobody was quite sure how to respond. "Look don't worry about it... I'm sure she won't show up. She probably isn't even real ... it looked like a fan site anyway"
"Fan ... site?" Lark asked, "how do you already know so many terms about the internet?"
"I research things" Mark nodded confidently
"Yeah, remember, sis?" Spark nodded, "He hates everything about fairy culture so of course he'd rather learn about human culture"
"That's not true!" Mark said
"It's SO true..." Lark shook her head, hand on one hip, "but I guess you're right ... chances of a superhero coming here are about the same as a witch..."
As the 2 sisters finally left Mark with some peace he could hear one more quip arise out of his sassy sister, Spark, "and besides that ... what's with that slogan ... liberty and justice for SMALL? Come on..."
Giantess World
