A very concerned Alexis Cole rushed her way carefully through a blocked off entrance that was barricaded with police tape and the sounds of forensic cameras going off at the incredulous sight of glass that had been strewn all over the stairs leading into the small town restaurant known only as the Shake Shack.
Some of the Minitropolis Police tried to caution the excitable young woman from stepping so close to the scene of the vandalism but others simply recognized her as ShrinkGirl (it was hard not to with the poster of her in tatters but still recognizable)
Lexi ran into the establishment where she worked and found only Stacy and her husband Mark. Mark was sitting at one of his own red rubber booths rubbing his head as his wife reapplied a thick white ice pack.
"And you don't remember anything, honey?" Stacy asked as Mark gingerly shook his head.
"I remember seeing some ... young lady ... in front of the shop ... she gave me this confusing look and I was ... out cold..." Mark sighed
Lexi was of course at the Snack Shack upon hearing the news of an attack on the small restaurant. Nothing was stolen and nothing was broken save for the restaurants entry window and the cheesy merchandising for the Crusader herself, ShrinkGirl but that was more than enough reason to check in on her new employers even amidst everything else going on.
At that very moment she had Josh on a hunt for the missing ShrinkGirl clothes and belt and while she had tried to check in on Chris to see how he was doing, he hadn't returned her calls since they were both restored to full height, an occurrence she found strange but hopefully not too serious.
Lexi could only tap her chin in concern as she thought about who could've caused such needless destruction but it didn't take long until one name resonated in her already traumatized mind. "...Delia"
"Sir, I ... I feel awful about this" Lexi sighed, sitting down in the unoccupied booth across from her injured boss.
"Don't" Mark said, shaking his head, "I had a feeling when I made it public that we support you that we'd get well ... less than savory characters..."
"Which is why I URGED you to get a better security system..." Stacy said, sounding a little annoyed even as she tried to help her wounded husband by pressing the ice pack against his head. He hadn't sustained any serious injuries and to make matters more confusing, very few seemed to even fully remember what had happened, save for the "mysterious woman" and a blast of broken glass.
"Like it would've done anything..." Mark sighed, "the woman fired purple smoke at us"
Lexi paused again, her suspicions all but confirmed.
"Purple ... smoke?" Lexi repeated
"Yes... or something like that ..." Mark said, "I honestly thought I was seeing things in the heat of the moment but it would fit since she was wearing mostly black and had these strange ... purple eyes..."
"Purple eyes?" Stacy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mark hon, I think you might've taken too many pain killers..."
"I didn't take ANY painkillers" Mark said, almost starting to chuckle but the laughing seemed to aggravate his rib which he rubbed a bit as it was tender from the fall. "I'm just telling Lexi what I saw..."
Lexi nodded
"I ... I appreciate you giving me any information you can" Lexi said
"Well of course" Mark said, and though his voice still sounded strained, Lexi could perceive the undying optimism in it, "I figured if anyone could help us, it would be the world famous ShrinkGirl"
"Heh ... w-well I wouldn't say I'm exactly ... world famous..." Lexi sighed nervously, unwilling to divulge any of the details from the past night. She also felt additionally guilty that had she been able to stop Delia the night before, none of this wouldn've happened, and that was to say nothing of other incidents she could've prevented. "....but I'll do my best"
"Also ... while I have you ..." Mark said, his voice still sounding a bit weak, "I got another offer for you ... a sponsorship offer"
"Oh heavens Mark..." Stacy sighed, actually slamming the ice pack down on the table as she started to turn away, "You think this is REALLY the right time?"
"I ... kind of have to agree with your wife..." Lexi said with a nervous smile, "I feel like if it weren't for my silly picture up on your window, none of this would've happened"
"Hey hey, this would be totally different" Mark said
"Different how?" Lexi asked
"I'm friends with Jerry down at Jerry's JoyWorld... I assume you've heard of it..." Mark said
Jerry's Joyworld was one of, if not Minitropolis' biggest toy stores, located squarely downtown they always seemed to have the latest and greatest action figures as well as their own custom "Joyworld" brand designs. Lexi MAY have known of it from her younger days.
"Oh uh ... well yeah ... that's that uh ... toy store place.." Lexi scoffed, "not that I ... go there anymore ... I'm a bit too old for that, yknow?"
"Well..." Mark said, reaching a bit painfully into his pocket to reveal what appeared to be a purple painted die-cast hot wheels car but with some extra trim on it to make it especially unique.
"Wh-What am I looking at?" Lexi asked, almost afraid to hear the answer
"The first in a series ..." Mark responded with a nod, "assuming you sign off on it ... Jerry and his son are interested in making a ShrinkGirl line of toys ..."
"Oh gosh, I couldn't..." Lexi sighed
"You may even know his son, he goes to Miniborough University ... his name is Will" Mark continued
Will....
It made a little more sense now. Will had been one of Josh's DnD buddies and was responsible for making all manners of super articulate, if not miniature DnD figures. It would make sense his dad would be THE Jerry of Jerry's Joyworld but their acquaintanceship didn't exactly make Lexi more eager to have her likeness plastered on even more merchandise.
"Huh." Lexi sighed. She certainly didn't want to squash the ambition of another small business owner, especially one she went to school with. But she already saw what dangers the restaurant got into just by knowing her. It might not have been the best idea to involve another place that could become a target of the wayward witch.... even if the Shrinkmobile model WAS fairly decent for a first attempt. "...can I ... think about this?"
"Of course, of course" Mark nodded, "Take all the time you need ... and once you're ready let me know, Jerry's just a phone call away ... and of course the ambitious twerp is already hard at work on the first set of action figures anyhow ... but if you say no, they just ... well ... scrap them I guess"
"Seems kinda wasteful" Lexi frowned, "can't they like ... donate them at least?"
"Well, it's up to you" Mark shrugged, "but yeah... I suppose..."
Lexi sighed, more concerned with Mark's condition and the condition of her current employer. It was bad enough she got her former job literally blown to ash by Roxie in a terrorist attack. She didn't want to see any harm befall Mark and his family restaurant or another family business in town all because she had to choose to don the purple and gold tights.
Speaking of which, Lexi would get a text message at that moment which would briefly but effectively divert her attention from the ongoings. She glanced down and saw the message was from Josh and it seemed important.
"I'm ... I'm sorry, sir but I've gotta take this" Lexi said, standing up and nodding, "I hope you're okay ... and please call me if you need anything"
Mark nodded gratefully, not seeming at all upset.
"It's like I always say, Lex" Mark said, "You get knocked down, you gotta get back up"
Lexi gave him a smile as she carefully exited the restaurant, being sure to step around the broken glass that littered her escape.
Mark's phrasing was common, and simple, but yet effective. One did need to get back up after falling down. Lexi had been cut down about as low as she could go ... by a merciless witch named Delia. But she couldn't let that have her operate in fear. She had been in tough spots before for sure but she had to keep going. Not just for Mark, not just for her friends but for herself and everyone in Minitropolis who counted on her.
----
In a white surveillance fan that had seemingly been parked in the same spot for a suspiciously long time, the two cohorts from within, Mini Troop Officer Carl Scolex and one of the many lead engineers of Cybertek, Scott Travis were busy monitoring their new finding. At first thought to be a blip, a one time thing from last nights chaotic evening involving one shrunken Alexis Cole, the two were finding more and more that they could trace Lexi's whereabouts at almost all times using the GPS in her cell phone.
They had happened upon this little nugget of information with Josh momentarily abused his powers of technomancy to hijack one of their drones and search in her direction. While the duo hadn't quite figured out how that trick was possible, they currently were able to follow Lexi's phone, having subverted Josh's little trick against him and were now using the chip he had installed into the phone to basically track his tracker.
"Where's she heading to now?" Officer Scolex growled, perhaps a bit weary from spending way too much time alone in a white van with a sketchy and eccentric genius.
"The mall, how the fuck should I know?" Travis scoffed, pointing to a green flickering radar map with a cursor that spun around and around, showing occasional red blips akin to those seen on old fashioned submarines.
Impatience aside, the wily police officer was impressed with this new turn of events. The plan had originally involved a Cybertek branded (Enormo Enterprises made) tracker implanted on Mr. Cole's cell phone. The officer had expertly planted it upon being called by Lexi's worried parents during the young woman's time missing in the far off realm of Quartzaria.
That excursion was of no interest to Scolex and he used the tracker instead to keep his enemies close, figuring if Alexis did return, that was her place of residence, for the time being. He never in his wildest dreams thought they could get a good lock on Lexi's actual cell phone as it moved about town, but that's indeed what they were doing.
"So? Where is she now?" Carl asked again, his mind racing
"Nowhere that important since the last time you asked ... 30 seconds ago..." an agitated Scott Travis responded. "Just seems to be an address uptown a few blocks over, probably some boy friend or something"
"Psh, best of luck to anyone who gets caught up with her..." Officer Scolex sneered
----
Luck indeed is what had made it possible for young Joshua James, the aforementioned young man, to lock onto the whereabouts of Lexi's missing ShrinkGirl costume -- and he had found it in perhaps the most unlikely of places.
"You have got to be kidding me..." an aggravated Lexi chimed in, leaning over Leah as the trio were intently staring at Josh's computer screen and yet there it was, in surprisingly high quality JPEG form.
The listing read:
ONE (1) OFFICIAL SHRINKGIRL COSTUME
LIGHTLY USED
INCLUDES PURPLE TIGHTS, GOLD SKIRT, GALVANIZED METALLIC GAUNTLETS
$429.99
BID NOW
"...she listed it on ebay?" Leah asked, also finding the whole thing incredulous "how tacky is that??"
"W-Well wait ..." Lexi said, "How do we know that's even the real one? There are probably like 17 fake ShrinkGirl costumes online"
"No no..." Leah said, pointing to a very small discoloration on the lower part of the tights, "see that there? that's where you dripped some from our victory ice cream..."
Lexi just groaned but realized her best friend was right
"So what do we do?" Lexi asked
"What do you think we do?" Josh asked, typing a higher number into the box, "We bid"
"We bid?!" Lexi sighed, "I'm not buying back my costume from the bitch that copped it!"
"I don't think I've ever seen you this fiery, Lex" Leah said with a nod, "It's kinda hot"
"Awwww, you think so?" Lexi smirked, an almost sultry looked in her eye as she winked at Leah who then turned away sadly, "What?"
"...Mara was right" Leah said, "I'm not a good lesbian ... that would've driven me wild if I was..."
As Lexi consoled her clearly very much so heterosexual friend, Josh let out a gasp.
"What? What is it?" Lexi asked
"Someone else just like... doubled my bid" Josh said, watching the price go up
"So... double it again!" Leah said, interjecting, "You can afford it, right Lex? You're making mad bank at your new superhero job"
"Okay first of all it is not a superhero JOB" Lexi said, a bit annoyed as it was, "and no ... I'm not giving that witch a single penny... and yes I realize usually witch would be vague slang against someone you don't like but in this case she's a literal witch..."
Josh scrolled down to read some of the questions on the costume.
"Huh." Josh commented, pointing to one in particular,
The question hailed from a user known only as "Madscientist89"
The question was "Is the SG belt included?"
After a time, there came a response from the seller, known only as WitchyDelia.
"I'm sorry but the belt is not for sale"
"She's not selling the belt too?" Leah asked,"Wonder why"
"Cuz it has something to do with her weakness or something..." Lexi said, "I don't really get it myself but she seemed to get like a headache just by being near it ... it's like her kryptonite or something"
"So why wouldn't she sell it off then?" Leah shrugged, "why keep something you have no use for?"
"Not my concern..." Lexi said, "We need the belt back too ..."
"Don't tell me, tell ... WitchyDelia" Josh said, frustrated as the bid kept racking up way too fast for any of them to keep up with, even with Lexi's "extra superhero money"
"Whoever wants this thing wants it bad ... but why?" Lexi asked, before realizing something, "oh fuck... the username ... the username ... Madscientist89?"
"You think it's ... Mad Max?" Leah asked
"Who else could it be?" Lexi gulped, "We can't let him get it!"
Time was fast expiring on the bid and they were over $1500 as the counter ticked down
"Well?" Josh asked, anxiety building as the time kept ticking down.
"Make a bid!" Lexi said
"What?"
"MAKE A BID!!" Lexi repeated again, knowing full well none of them could afford the thing at the rate the price was skyrocketing. Even so, Josh got a bid in just under the wire, at over $1750.00
The trio exhaled until a final bid of $1799.99 came through and just beat them out.
"Sorry you didn't win this item" -- Ebay read, instead declaring the winner "Madscientist89"
"Fuck." Lexi sighed as Leah tried her best to console her angry best friend
"W-Well I mean ... even if it IS Mad Max ..." Leah said, "What's he going to do with it? Wear it as pajamas?"
"That is kind of a funny thought" Josh shrugged, holding back a chuckle
"You guys ..." Lexi whimpered, looking downtrodden, "this isn't funny .. she humiliated me ... she literally belittled me and ... she stole my shit ... she sold it online... she attacked the Snack Shack"
Josh and Leah both frowned, trying their best to comfort their friend
"I know..." Josh sighed, "and we're going to get her ... we still have those growth stones and who knows, maybe some of the other gems can do something to help as well?"
Leah looked down at her watch and panicked a bit
"I'm ... I'm really sorry Lex" Leah sighed, "but I've gotta get to work"
"Of course hon ..." Lexi nodded, giving Leah a hug, "we'll let you know if anything comes up"
Lexi turned away sadly as Leah went to her car and drove off to work at the Fashion Boutique. Meanwhile, Josh was facing away from her, instead engrossed with something on his computer. He looked back at Lexi with a sly grin, leaving the brunette woman dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry Josh but ... how can you be so happy at a time like this?" Lexi asked
"Maybe ..." Josh responded, turning to the side so that Lexi could see an instant message he had just received, "because I know who our 'mad scientist' is"
----
Leah sped into work and took one of the lone parking spaces to the right of the cramped parking lot into Sally's Fashion Boutique. She rolled her eyes but figured it was her own fault for running late that she missed out on closer parking. She took a hurried hike up the steps to her workplace and while it was decently crowded, she was surprised that the first person she ran into was Sally herself, looking a bit disgusted.
"Sally!" Leah exclaimed, hanging her head a bit, "Hey ... I'm really sorry if I'm late but ..."
"Leah..." Sally said, her tone seeming less angry and more regretful, "we need to ... talk ... in my office please..."
Leah raised an eyebrow and didn't say a word as she followed her boss into the back room, only chiming in to ask, "...is everything okay?"
"No"
-----
At Aztek Parts & More, one of Miniborough's finest (and kind of only) computer part stores, Josh and Lexi were eager to meet the winning bidder of the Ebay sweepstakes, an elder gentleman by the name of Dr. Trevor Hilfmann, otherwise known as "MadScientist89"
"But I don't get it!" Lexi said, viewing the email on the scientists' computer that stated he won the bid, "why bid so much?"
"And why not let us know first?" Josh asked
"That suit in the wrong hands ... could be very dangerous..." Trevor sighed, "I wasn't 100% sure if you two knew it was on the open market but I figured you might've ... and regardless I was going to find it and return it to you ... after I of course ask why it was stolen in the first place... that suit is infused with very expensive experimental and in the wrong hands dangerous size changing nanites.... the price I paid for it on Ebay is actually only a fraction of what it would be worth if anybody knew what it was really capable of"
Lexi hung her head a bit
"I'm sorry sir..." Lexi sighed, trying not to cry any further as her eyes had been puffy enough already from the night before. "...I know I should've been more responsible and ..."
"Hey hey ..." Trevor sighed, "I figured you didn't LET it happen..."
Lexi gulped as she could only recall the events of the prior night in some anxious horror. While she didn't TECHNICALLY let Delia take the clothes and belt, she hardly put up much resistance, if she had even been capable of such while she was shruken down into such a fragile size. The whole night played back to her like a horrific yet strangely erotic nightmare as she gulped.
"M-Maybe we shouldn't talk about it..." Josh stepped in, sensing Lexi's obvious distress
"No... no .. it's my fault..." Lexi said, her voice growing more and more choppy and weak, "...the suit was stolen because I went to a party with some friends ... and it was stupid and rash ... and even worse ... the person who has it..."
"...Delia" Trevor nodded
"H-How did you know?" Lexi sniffled
"...her name's on her ebay account" Trevor said
"Speaking of which, what's with the MadScientist handle?" Josh asked, "you had us a bit worried"
"That wasn't my intention but I also couldn't reveal who I really was ..." Trevor said, "while most people don't fully know who Dr. Maximillian is, I figured it's just as likely a mad scientist would want to buy a super valuable size changing suit than anything so I took that alias and ran with it..."
"Admittedly your life is pretty comic book life..." Josh shrugged, to which Lexi simply looked over to listen, "I mean you drive this badass car, you have a costume and your arch enemy is a mad scientist..."
"Sometimes I think you both forget that this isn't a game..." Trevor sighed, "...had to dip into my kids college fund to buy the damn thing back and that's assuming this miscreant makes good and sends it to me"
"I can pay you back..." Lexi said,nodding her head, "Every penny"
"I can't ask you to do that..." Trevor said, "just promise me... like you already did ... but REALLY promise me... be responsible with this stuff and also ... for your own health ..."
Lexi nodded, looking upset again.
"Hey... hey, I get it you're upset..." Josh said, going over to hug Lexi. Trevor couldn't help but smile at the show of friendship even as he felt uneasy as ever with everything that had been going on lately. "but we got the suit back ... or at least we will...and we can always make another belt"
"Yeah... she was quite stingy with the belt..." Trevor sighed, reading over the email he had gotten from eBay.
Lexi sighed, feeling a bit defeated.
"Well... I appreciate you all for stepping in and coming to my aide..." Lexi said, as if presenting a grand speech, "but I need to fight my own battles... and the fact is ... this isn't going to stop with the costume ... she's made a mockery of me... she's hurt my friend Chris by shrinking him ... she's ... she's just a terror... I can't let it stand"
"You know it, Lex" Josh said with confidence, "and we're going to find her and put an end to this"
"But how?" Lexi sighed, again feeling the emotional rollercoaster as it took her back down a dark path, "I'm sure she'll be easy enough to find, she's not exactly subtle but even if I do find her ... I have no defenses and even less offense ..."
"Well... on one hand..." Josh suggested, "she thinks you're probably dead or at the least stuck shrunk... we could probably use that to our advantage..."
"I'm not sure what she knows..." Lexi sighed, "at the very least she knows I'm working for the Snack Shack ... she nearly tore the place apart over a fucking poster..."
She then paused, beginning to formulate a plan.
"Look, we will catch her, we'll get your stuff back..." Josh said, "I just don't wanna see you rush into anything again"
"I know ..." Lexi nodded, "and don't worry ... from now on, no more thinking with my emotions..."
At precisely that moment, Lexi's phone rang. It was from Leah. She excused herself and slid back deeper in the lab to hear better. It was kind of hard to make out Leah's speech but it sounded like she was sobbing and quite deeply.
"Leah...?" Lexi whimpered, "Leah darling?"
"Lex...." Leah sputtered as she cried over the phone
"Leah .. what's wrong?" Lexi asked
"I ... I got fired..." Leah sobbed
"What?! But ... why? How?" Lexi whimpered
"I think it had something to do with Delia..." Leah whimpered, still hard to make out as her wavering voice cried, "Sally said she saw me just hand her a bunch of clothes for free... but I ... I wouldn't do that ... I know I wouldn't do that... Lexi ... I ... I feel awful ... I love this job, yknow?"
Lexi's heart broke as she heard her best friend tell the story. The silence even endured so long that Leah herself had to ask where Lexi had went.
"Lex? You still there?"
"I'm still here, hon" Lexi said reassuringly.
Lexi's heart turned from sadness to anger as she pictured her best friend crying. There was now only one thing on her mind.
Fucking witch bitch is going to pay
Giantess World
