"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!"
Giantess World
