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.
Giantess World
