The tone and tenor in Trevor Hilfmann's lab was solemn silence as the two young scientific minds seemed to simply wait on Lexi's next words as she had vanished momentarily to take the phone call. She finally came back, a look of anger on her face as she simply stared at the two gentlemen.
"Lex?" Josh asked, "everything okay?"
"New plan" Lexi said, "we fuck this bitch up"
"Uhhh?" Trevor responded, not expecting anything like those words to come out of Alexis' normally positive and friendly self. It was as if she were overcome with rage.
"Nobody and I mean NOBODY messes with my Leah Lovely" Lexi said, a statement that had a certain cuteness to it despite her enraged tone.
"Leah Lovely is her best friend..." Josh said to Trevor as if he somehow didn't know
"Yes I know... I've met her numerous times!" Trevor responded, almost frustrated a bit. He would have addressed the issue further except another surprise email caught him off guard. It was from the seller herself, Witchy Delia. The subject read "local pickup?"
"I notice you're here in the Miniborough area ... I've got the stuff if you'd like to pick it up somewhere..."
"It's a trap" Josh said
"It's totally a trap..." Lexi said, agreeing before nodding, "and it's our chance to catch her ..."
Trevor raised an eyebrow
"I have a plan but I'm going to need to pull some strings and make some stuff happen pretty quick ..." Lexi said, turning away but summoning Josh. "Dr. H, don't respond to that until we get the next part of the plan..."
"I'm ... not even sure what the plan is ..." the usually very analytical and quick thinking man stated, before rolling his eyes, "...also not sure how much I love the Dr. H thing..."
"Wait, Lex where are we going?" Josh asked
"I need some things and I need them now..." Lexi said, "Silly question but do you know anyone who ... could get us a mannequin?"
"A mannequin?" Josh said, before pondering for a moment, "Ummm... yeah my friend Matt works at a mannequin warehouse"
"...why was that so easy for you to think of?" Lexi asked, continually dumbfounded by Josh's resourcefulness
"I know people" Josh smirked "but wait... that still doesn't answer where we're going"
"YOU'RE going to the mannequin ... man ..." Lexi said, unable to believe what she was saying at this point, "I'm going to the fairy colony ... damn , I say some weird sentences, don't I?"
Josh just shrugged, but nodded "A little bit ... but sounds good to me"
"Oh ... I'll need to make one more stop though" Lexi sighed, her scatterbrained mind taking her a million miles a minute as she could only think of justice for Delia and vindication for Leah Henderson.
In her office, a forlorn Sally Davidson rewatched the security footage and frowned, shaking her head. She didn't want to believe it herself but she had watched it on repeat time and time again. Even though the camera was a black and white older security camera from about 20 years ago, it was clear as day that the slim, tall and busty Delia lays some clothes down on the counter, then leans in to speak with Leah who nods and hands her the clothes. The video lacked audio but it was clear the two girls exchanged some kind of whisper, as if a deal was struck.
Still, Sally couldn't believe Leah would do something like that ... especially with how dedicated she was to hard work and fashion. She let out a sigh and simply went about more of her day, feeling regretful about the firing but having no other choice. It wasn't exactly as though stuff like this happened by magic...
----
"You sure have changed your mind on this quick, Lex..." Mark said, speaking to Lexi who had hurried into his office on her way to the forest, "heck, it's almost like magic what a 180 you're doing on this"
"Something like that ..." Lexi replied with a wry grin, "but ... is it doable?"
"I ... suppose so, yes" Mark said, with a nod, "I'll get Jerry on the phone and we can try to make it happen but ... why was it you needed the extra security?"
"Well... you saw what happened to your window" Lexi explained, "just from placing up a poster of me ... there are some crazies out there ... that was my main hesitance on doing this but if you can assure me that Jerry has connections to a small security firm who can oversee this, I would just feel a lot better if I were there to aid with it... I already feel awful about what happened here..."
"Lex, you are an upstanding young lady" Mark said, already jotting down some phone numbers, "I'll call Jerry as soon as I have the chance and we'll get rolling on this soon .. his warehouse isn't too far from the store so it could even happen tonight ... unless that's too soon"
"Tonight will be perfect" Lexi smirked
----
Just outside the Snack Shack sat that same suspicious white van that seemed to appear almost everywhere Lexi frequented. It had only recently started changing locations more often, with it now parallel parked on the busy roadway as the man in the driver seat, a recourceful Scott Travis with a pair of Cybertek ultra enhancing binoculars watched Lexi as she seemed to dash out the front door of the establishment and make a bee-line for her car.
"She's up to something..." Scott said, tsking as he began to lose visibility of her car as soon as she pulled into moving traffic. He panicked though as soon as she saw her zipping away and seemingly vanishing under a car, only to reappear at the next street corner, "she... she shrank her car!! You saw it too, right?"
The already fatigued Officer Scolex, sipping on a coffee would simply nod and agree, "yeah I saw it, what of it?"
"Well?" Scott asked impatiently, "isn't that a crime?"
"Technically there's no legal precedent to say you can't shrink your vehicle in moving traffic as long as you use your turn signal..." Officer Scolex shrugged, seeming a bit downtrodden himself.
"What?! Are you serious?" Scott asked, annoyed as all hell.
"Yeah..." Carl sighed, "...we checked."
----
In the speeding ShrinkMobile, Lexi finally got a hold of Chris, sounding a bit upset
"Chris ... for Chrissakes are you alright?" Lexi exclaimed, "I've been trying to call you the past couple days ... I mean, I know you're big again at least but is there something wrong? I just don't..."
Lexi then paused her verbal tirade upon hearing Chris' demure voice, a sort of energy lost as he started to tell Lexi what happened. She let out a sigh as she pulled up closer to the forest.
"Okay ...okay..." Lexi said softly, "Well I'm going there now ... I'm going to the forest and ... I could use your ...no... no I understand it could be awkward but ..."
Lexi paused, letting Chris continue on the other end of the line as he seemed hysterical over the recent events with Spark. She then got an oddly specific smile as another idea bounced around in her head.
"Yknow what, Chris?" Lexi said, "We're going to make this right ... come meet me at the forest ... I don't know ... as soon as you can ... I've got a bit of a full dance card and ..."
Before Lexi could finish her sentence she could see Chris himself not too far out in the woods just taking a sullen walk around the outskirts.
"...wait... is that you right there?" Lexi asked confused.
Chris took an awkward turn over to see Lexi in her running car and waved before sighing and dropping his arms.
"So much for being alone..." he thought to himself, his not so sneaky cover now blown.
----
Moments later, the duo of Lexi and Chris, both fairy sized now as Chris carried something in his right arm made their way towards the fairy colony as Chris bemoaned his inclusion, and even worse, Lexi's idea on this current adventure.
"I still get don't get why you needed me ..." Chris sighed, "I mean, no offense but this has been a rough time for me and I ..."
"Hey" Lexi said, cutting the bemoaned wizard off in his speech, "it hasn't exactly been wonderful for me either and plus I needed you to find the fairy colony ... I know it's in this area but you seem to have this sixth sense for knowing where the cloaking mechanism is ... chances are they aren't exactly welcoming visitors ... especially now that they know a young witch is out and about but if you can get us through that, I really need to talk to Spark and Dani..."
"Yeah, I mean ... I guess I get that" Chris admitted, before pulling up what was in his other arm, a fairly hefty 80s style boombox, "I just don't get why I needed THIS"
Lexi just gave Chris a sly smile, some levity returning to the moment as she peeked over at him, noticeably befuddled but her intention was more to cheer him up than anything.
"You never seen classic 80's movies, I'm guessing?" Lexi asked
Chris simply shook his head
"Then this is going to be even more fun than I thought..." Lexi smirked
Chris himself would find out firsthand as he awkwardly traipsed through the thickets to behind where Spark's large cylindrical log shaped home was, letting out a defeated sigh within seconds and turning back to Lexi who offered her support from not too far away.
"Welp, looks like she's not home, let's go" Chris said, trying with great persistence to get out of the humiliation endeavor. Lexi simply gave her socially awkward friend an annoyed look and a gesture that highly suggested going back which he did with further reluctance.
"I don't even know how to turn this thing on..." Chris sighed, clumsily laying the heavy battery powered boombox at his feet, "Why did you even have this in your car??"
"Stop asking questions and just ... go!!" Lexi shouted, a slight urgency in her raised voice whisper as she thought she heard stirring from the house within, "she's coming!!"
Chris gulped down his pride and raised the boombox up, as Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" began to play, the music resonating throughout the forest. He looked back at Lexi with a nervous smile. Lexi returned his look with a thumbs up, even taking out her smart phone as if to snap a picture but sliding the phone right back into obscurity once she saw Chris' disapproving look.
"Uh... Spark?" Chris uttered, not sure if he could be heard over the music as he slowly mustered up the confidence to slide up to her window, "I am ... uh ... I'm just a boy ... trying to tell a girl ... that ..."
Lexi watched him proudly, even mouthing the words with him. The entire moment would have been perfect, except for one thing.
"Yeah no..." a voice resonated from up on the window. She was wearing light green pajamas and had blonde hair. It was indeed Spark's sister Lark who stifled a giggle. "She's the next window over..."
Chris quickly pressed the music off and glared up at her from the grassy clearing
"Then why did you let me go on for so long?" Chris muttered, a bit miffed
"I don't know..." Lark shrugged, having a bit of that sassiness in her for a fairy who refused to be compared to Tinkerbell herself, "...just seemed kind of funny and I wanted to see where it was going..."
Lexi stepped out, feeling a bit bad for causing her friend Chris any added trauma to his situation, she simply patted him on the back.
"Hey, no worries, buddy" Lexi said reassuringly, "I'm sure if Spark HAD seen it ..."
"Oh I saw it..." Spark said, chiming in front an adjacent window before gently squeezing herself out and landing near the duo, "and it was cute ... but a bit ... hard to understand? Why were you playing music outside my window?"
"I don't know..." Chris groaned, feeling a bit awkward enough as it was to be seeing Spark. Shoot. She looked so pretty as always ... "Lexi said it was from some movie or something..."
"It was from "Say Anything!" Lexi groaned, "am I the only one who enjoys a cheesy romcom? ...anyway ... we needed your help but ... first I thought I could ... y'know ... maybe help ... you and Chris ... although I suppose it's really none of my business ... my apologies..."
"No, no ... it's okay ..." Spark sighed, offering Lexi a friendly wave, "and just by the way, I did get your message ... our resident blacksmith, Saberhagen is working on a new belt for you now ... should be even more sturdy than the last ... just please don't let a sexy witch seduce it off of you ..."
"Oh man you make ONE mistake and they never let you hear the end of it ..." Lexi grumbled
"And as for YOU..." Spark said, booping the shy Christophicles on the nose
"...guess it's my turn to get a tongue lashing..." Chris sighed, with some shame
"I ... may have overreacted ..." Spark sighed, "But that still doesn't change the fact that ... I'm still just not sure about us..."
Lexi, hearing some of the topic of the conversation backed away a bit, a sweat drop visible from her forehead that may as well have resembled an awkward anime character when they get into a strange position.
"M-Maybe I'll leave you two to ... have this talk..." Lexi offered, taking small and nervous steps backwards, "I need to find Dani anyway... she's uh ... in the fairy tower place, right?"
"Fairy Tower Place..." Spark smirked, knowing exactly where Lexi meant despite her fumbling of the terminology, "Yes hon, she practically LIVES there"
"Okay ... um... cool.. I'll be back in a flash" Lexi said, hastily retreating from the area so that Chris and Spark could have their talk undisturbed.
"She's cute ..." Spark shrugged, "your friend, that is"
Chris simply nodded, finding himself in a position where he was afraid to speak too much. After all, he felt the last time he spoke with Spark too candidly, it got him in a bit of trouble and he didn't want a repeat of that while the two sorted out the admittedly confusing situation. Still, when Chris noticed that Spark was being surprisingly quiet, he found himself slowly interjecting.
"Spark ... I'm really sorry if I ..." Chris started, but this time it was Spark who would find her voice again
"Chris..." Spark sighed, taking Chris' hand almost as if by instinct, grasping it for just a moment before letting go a bit slower, her fingers lingering there just a few extra seconds, "...I was thinking about ... all of this and yeah ... I was hurt by what you said but maybe I shouldn't have been..."
"No no, you were valid..." Chris said, again his hands fumbling for hers before deciding against it for now, "I mean ... I really like you ..."
Spark chuckled upon hearing this and nodded, even as she failed to keep eye contact
"I really like you too..." the usually much more surehanded red haired fairy responded to her human companion. "I just ... when you started talking about .. me being bigger or you being smaller, it just ... got me to thinking..."
"How feasible this all is?" Chris asked shyly as if to complete the thought for both of them. To this, Spark would nod shyly
"Well yeah ... I mean ... I do want to meet your friends ... like your other ones" Spark said
"To be fair, I don't exactly HAVE that many friends..." Chris said, trying to reinject levity into the situation while also being somewhat truthful, "I mean you've met most of them already and they all know about this weird size changing thing we all do..."
"See, that's just it" Spark sighed, "I don't find it weird... but maybe it's because you're always becoming my size ... maybe I should be more accepting to the fact of ... becoming ... bigger?"
Chris gave her a look, and it was one of intrigue but also not one of excitment.
"Well no hon ..." Chris said, taking her hand and keeping it there this time. It seemed for a moment or so that Spark was about to retract her hand but she kept it there instead, a certain invisible bond seeming to keep the two interlinked for the time being, "if you're not comfortable with that, I shouldn't have forced it on you ... I love your size but ... I also just ... love..."
Spark leaned in a bit, not sure what to make of Chris' next word. While it wasn't completed, it may as well have been, causing the duo to both turn bright red.
Spark sighed and gently relinquished Chris' same size hand.
"M-Maybe we should ... take a break on this for now ..." Spark sighed, biting her lip a bit
"Is that ... what you want?" Chris asked shyly
"I'm not sure..." Spark sighed "I'm just kinda ... thinking out loud ... truth be told, relationships have never really been my thing..."
"Heh, well ... same here, look at me .. I'm a total dork" Chris shrugged, chuckling until a slight snort escaped his mouth
"Hey, I didn't say that either" Spark grinned, booping him on the nose again, "I think you're pretty darned awesome wizard guy, whether you're small enough to fit in my hands or big enough to hold me in yours ..."
"So ... what are we doing then?" Chris asked, still a bit confused as his heart seemed to flutter and hang on the fairy's each ensuing word.
"I guess ... I'm not sure ..." Spark sighed, giving him a nervous chuckle, "I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear ..."
"I guess I'm just glad you're not at mad at me anymore..." Chris replied, in a matter of fact sort of tone
"I think ..." Spark sighed, "we can try this again ... just maybe ... not right now..."
Chris nodded and sighed. Spark could tell he looked a bit sad but wasn't sure what to say, and thus the two remained in a state of awkward standing in that grass clearing before Spark finally decided to shift the topics.
"I should uh ... see if Saberhagen's done with the new SG medallion..." Spark said, floating a couple of inches off the ground and heading that way
"And I should go .... find Lexi in the Fensterian Citadel" Chris said, also trying to stay on topic
"Huh." Spark giggled, "you remembered the name better than her"
Chris gave a nervous smile as the two went their seperate ways for now.
----
Lexi herself nervously approached the Fairy Palace Place ... er ... Fensterian Citadel blocked off by a pair of heavily armored Fairy Guards whos faces she couldn't see under thick heavy blue and gold armor. She gave one of them a peculiar look up since they were elevated on top of some golden paved stairs.
"This is ... new..." a confused Lexi said, used to some security detail but nothing quite so stringent, "are Amelia and Thomas on a break or ...?"
"Who goes there?" the gruff fairy guard stated, leaning a pointed lance in Lexi's direction as if to resemble a sturdy defense, even in the clearly calm and peaceful girls approach. Lexi chuckled nervously, side stepped things.
"M-Maybe I came at a bad time ..." Lexi asked, as Chris slowly entered the scene from behind, also surprised to see how she was being treated.
Thankfully any potential confrontation would escalate no further as Dani made her way onto the steps just above the two try-hard fairy guards, lowering her hand as if to signal a cease-fire of sorts.
"At ease soldiers..." Dani said, an almost hint of humor in her voice. If it had been, it would be one of the few Lexi or anyone had ever hear from the usually stoic warrior of the Fensterian Kingdom.
"Heh thanks..." Lexi said, still feeling a bit uneasy as she stepped to the side of one of the guards, Chris following after as one of them gave him a gruff noise but nothing more. Lexi cautiously yet eagerly followed Dani up the castle steps.
The next thing the trio knew they were in the inner sanctum of the Fensterian War Room where Chris looked around even more confused while Lexi tried to state her case as simply as possible.
"...and so ... that's really it" Lexi sighed, looking at Dani hopefully while she was also not quite sure what to expect. After all, in the past Dani had been pretty reluctant to even let them in on the simplest of secrets. Revealing anything about Fensterian traditions in defending against witches, let alone anything more potent seemed unlikely, "do you think you can help me... fend off this witch?"
"Well ... young hero.." Dani said, her hands neatly folded as she sat across from the two humans who had presented their plan (well mostly it had been Lexi while Chris asked the occasional quirky question about Fensterian tradition which ranged from tactical to 'how does the armor work so that your wings still stick out') "The Fensterians are not new to the ways of the wiccan"
"...that's another word for witches" Chris whispered to Lexi who angrily elbowed him back
"I know what Wiccan means" Lexi sighed
"There are ... certain things ... that can help ..." Dani sighed, "but most of them go back to the ancient eras..."
"How ancient we talking? Like 1970's?" Chris asked
Dani gave him a stern but sincere look in response.
"Try eons ago..."
"So ... 1950's..." Chris uttered, trying again to pose a serious query. Serious or not, Dani was not amused
"Ignore him" Lexi sighed, Chris himself groaning in defeat. "What are ... some of the defenses ... and if I may ask ... are they ... usable by ... say .. a human..."
"Well..." Dani said, folding her arms in thought, "normally I'd say there's no way but ... I was skeptical about allowing you to have a belt enchanted with Fensterian magic ...however from what Spark tells me, you've been very responsible about it and ..."
"Actually, didn't you lose it?" Chris muttered, which caused Lexi to shoot him a very defensive look
"I didn't lose it ... it was stolen..." Lexi whispered, again looking very angry at Chris as Dani peered at them both with trepidation.
Dani raised an eyebrow, "you mean to tell me...?" she said, "the belt is in the hands of a witch?"
"Technically??" Lexi said
"She might've sold it on eBay!" Chris chimed in, not exactly helping
"I ... thought you knew that ..." Lexi frowned, "from when I was shrunk"
"Well I figured you didn't have the belt on you for that ..." Dani said, "but I didn't realize the witch had it"
"Is that ... bad?" Lexi asked, already knowing the dreadful answer
Dani simply got up and sighed, turning away. For a moment, Lexi feared their interaction was closed for the moment. Thankfully she turned back.
"Yes." Dani said very simply, "While unlikely, the witch could use the belt and its energy signature to track us ... she could even gain immunity to our magic if she's able to figure out a way to reverse engineer something of her own ..."
"So it's bad, got it" Chris said, almost not wanting to hear the other possibilities. Sensing Lexi's negative gaze he sighed, "what, sorry? Just ... trying to be realistic..."
"Come." Dani said, beckoning Lexi into another chamber thta opened upon her hitting a switch, a stone wall shifting out of the way to allow her in. Lexi slipped through but Dani held up her hand as if to stop Chris from entering behind her.
"Awww cmon, I wanna see the weapons room." Chris sighed, but a Fensterian guard soon stood in his way, simply to stop him from continuing on. He'd sit down a bit frustrated, the guard sitting across from him before resting his elbow on the stone table, "...so uh ... you been a guard long?"
Inside the strange glowing area that Dani took Lexi into were slick lines of light, streams of purple and gold, not too unlike Lexi's costume itself, but these appeared both futuristic and ancient, almost resembling lasers in the shape of heiroglyphics.
"The text is in Fensterian..." Dani explained, "but it details a great war between witches and fairies..."
"S-Sorry, Dani..." Lexi said, piping in for a second, "I just don't see ... fairies getting into too many wars ... no offense..."
Dani let out a dejected sigh, not because she agreed or disagreed with Lexi's assessment but because she could only shudder to think if the legends were true. She had always just accepted Fensterian heritage for what it was, despite knowing some of the darker sides of things, including their link to the Quartzarian Kingdom and in this case, their eons long feud with wiccans.
"It's fine..." Dani said, laying her hand on the heiroglyphic laden wall for a moment, the wall seemingly reacting as if sparkling to life with her touch, "it's just that ... if you do hope to have a chance against this enchantress ... besides simply blocking her magic, you're going to need ... more"
Lexi nodded in dire seriousness
"That's why I came to you ..." Lexi sighed, "but I understand if you're not so willing to ..."
"It's not even that..." Dani sighed, her voice low and solemn, "I have a solution, or rather something that ... in history has worked to contain a witch's power and even subdue them ..."
"I sense a but coming..." Lexi nodded as she listened to the stoic fairy warrior's words
Dani walked over towards a panel on the wall and pressed very carefully on a central point where all of the laser scribed words seemed to coincide. The result would be a panel opening up and a strange purple box emerging. The box in some ways almost resembled the Quartzarian cube that imprisoned Lexi ... otherwise known as ... well, Pandora's Box.
This one looked different though and seemed much older and musty, as if not having been used for generations.
"This witch's containment trap hasn't been used for generations..." Dani said, carefully holding onto the rusty metallic box that was covered in sigils and warped metals. "But ... it's possible ... if we can re-enchant it ... that this could ... at the very least hold your witch inside ..."
"So it like ... sucks them in ... like a vaccuum?" Lexi asked
"That's the idea..." Dani nodded, "but something this old, and without the proper energy ... likely won't last long ... if it works at all ... you'll also have to weaken the witch first ... witches are very crafty ..."
"Heh, I get it..." Lexi stammered a bit
"Get ... what?" Dani asked, a raised eyebrow on her face
"Oh ... well witch ... craft ...?" Lexi sighed, realizing the pun was unsurprisingly unintentional, "never mind... go on"
"This witch's trap hasn't been used in probably over 100 years..." Dani said, "but yes ... basically, if you can lure the witch close enough after weakening her magic, she could be contained inside and it would even give you temporary control over her magic..."
Lexi nodded as she tried to conceptualize the whole thing, but she could draw only one parallel from pop culture.
"So... it's kind of like the thing from Ghostbusters?" Lexi asked, "the little box that sucked Slimer in?"
"...maybe this isn't a task for you, young heroine..." Dani sighed, finding the jokes to be most unhelpful.
"No no... I ... I'm sorry ..." Lexi sighed, "The truth is ... I'm scared ..."
"We all get scared sometimes..." Dani said, and while the words were intended to be comforting they came off a bit cold and basic.
"I just mean ... she ... she humiliated me ..." Lexi sighed, hanging her head, "She could've killed me but she didn't ... it was like she didn't even see me as a threat ..."
Lexi paused as she said those words, realizing a slight contradiction in that. Yes, Delia had been cocky with her and basically "played with her food" rather than just gulping it down, but at the same time, the mere sight of a ShrinkGirl poster made her flip out and trash a storefront window. Why would Delia go to so much trouble and arouse suspicion over somebody she presumed to be dead?
"You still ... okay, Alexis?" Dani asked, noticing that Lexi had spaced out for a moment there.
Lexi nodded, a regained confidence on her face.
"Yeah... moreso than ever ... my plan is to lure Delia to an abandoned location so that nobody gets hurt ... I'm working on setting a bait of sorts..." Lexi nodded, "but... what else do you think I would need...?"
Dani sighed
"We... can try something ... but it's fairly risky..."
Lexi simply nodded, taking the witch's box from Dani and putting on her serious face.
It was now or never ...
-----
The time was approaching midnight in downtown Minitropolis and while a nervous Lexi had a battle plan, it was another duo who was scoping things out on their own... the shady Mini Troop Officer gone rogue known as Officer Carl Scolex and Cybertek mastermind (at least he liked to think so) Scott Travis.
After seemingly hours of sitting in their surveillance van, the attentive officer was alerted by a blip.
"There!" Scolex said, leaning in.
"Hmm?"
"She's at a toy store ... Jerry's Joyworld down on 21st street!" Carl said, eager to reach for his phone.
"Oh?" Scott asked, not seeming super interested in the development at first
"Don't you get it? It's after hours ... she's probably robbing the place ... we got her! We caught her in the act!" Scolex said.
"So what's your plan? You're going to call in your backup and arrest her?" Scott asked, raising an eyebrow
"That was it, yeah..." Scolex responded
"Isn't that a tad ... basic?" Scott asked, "The whole point of this surveillance was to get long term knowledge on Alexis Cole ... we already knew she has some shady dealings going on ... you go in and arrest her and what do we really learn?"
"We put that freak behind bars..." Carl said
"Do it your way, i suppose..." Scott shrugged
"Why are you suddenly defending her?" Carl scoffed, "you want to catch her as bad as I do ... so I thought..."
"I have my reasons..." Scott said myseriously as Carl made the call.
----
The scene was set at Jerry's Joyworld, a typical type of toy emporium one might see from the 1990's, with shiny linoleum floors, purple girders and red shelving and an array of colorful signage dangling from the ceiling. A nervous Lexi looked over at her friend Josh and could ask only one question.
"Wh-What's with the lab coat?" she asked, referring to her friends scientific appearance as he wore a long white lab coat that extended almost to his knees.
"Hey, I gotta look the part" Josh said, whipping out a pair of thick black glasses from his lab coat pocket and putting them on. Lexi simply rolled her eyes.
"You realize you're not Dr. Hilfmann, right?" Lexi sighed, "he responded to the email AS you ... you're here to be the "buyer" ... so when Delia gets here, just tell her what we practiced okay? And then get the hell out of here..."
"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Josh asked, in a mock scientist voice, going to his glasses as if to adjust them, "have you run all the proper calculations?"
"This isn't a joke..." Lexi sighed, "I couldn't bear to see you or anyone else get hurt ... I even feel bad putting the security at risk..."
Lexi was of course referring to the small security firm that oversaw the toy store afterhours. She had them on call just in case but hopefully she could handle things herself, especially with the new power Dani had granted her.
"Well, what about you?" Josh asked, "Sure, I may look weird in a lab coat but ... what exactly are YOU wearing?"
"That's ... not important..." Lexi said, narrowing her eyes as she watched a red corvette with bright white LED lights slowly pull into the empty toy store parking lot. "...she's here."
In the car, a non-chalant and confident Delia adjusted her mirror, checking her lipstick and puckering up a bit before reaching for the ShrinkGirl costume which was in a finely pressed laundry bag. Her plan was simple. She'd act as though she planned to make the deal for the costume, hand it over and then simply mesmerize the poor bastard who spent so much money on it. She figured she could repeat the process a number of times until she grew bored of it and just donated the suit to Goodwill or burned it altogether.
As for the fairy enchanted belt, that still dwelled elsewhere ... that was to be saved for another use.
Delia slowly got out of the car, a chirping sound emitting from the key fob and she slowly walked up to the door of the closed toy store. This was admittedly a very strange location to make such a drop, and while Delia wasn't adverse to it, something caught her twinkling eye as it glowed purple briefly ... a poster on the store's window advertising a new ShrinkGirl action figure.
"...keep your cool, chica..." Delia thought to herself as she approached the quirky looking young man in a lab coat who stood atop the set of stairs leading up to the entrance of the store.
Next to him was a mannequin posed by a stack of purple boxes that said "SHRINKGIRL : THE OFFICIAL ACTION FIGURE"
"Oh awesome, you brought the costume!" Josh said, masquerading as the buyer while trying to keep his cool. Lexi meanwhile was nowhere to be seen, at the moment.
"Yeah ... you got the money...?" Delia asked, trying not to throw up in her mouth as she observed the overly pedantic promotion of the glorified cheerleader known as ShrinkGirl. If only any of them knew what she did ... that ShrinkGirl was no more ... reduced to a piece of dust and likely a smear under somebody's shoe by now.
"Oh yes, right here..." Josh said, reaching into a bag. "I'm really glad you were able to hook me up on such short notice ... see, this is going to be our "Standee" for Lexi ... well, ShrinkGirl ... and so... an authentic ShrinkGirl costume will really make this display pop"
"Yeah..." Delia said, rolling her eyes as she tried not to let the whole thing get to her.
What did these asshats see in her anyway? She was a goody two shoes in purple tights who's sole ability was to get smaller... Delia was an all powerful witch with style to spare. They should be making statues to her, let alone action figures of the preppy little punk.
As Josh had his back turned, an observant Lexi watched as Delia's hand glowed green with fire. It seemed her plan had shifted from erasing Josh's memory to full on attacking him, consumed with rage over his ShrinkGirl fandom.
Lexi wasted no time, aborting her own plan as she leapt out and seemed to zoom over to grab onto Delia's strong right wrist to stop her from slashing Josh with the enflamed hand.
"No you don't!" Lexi screamed, before Delia took a step back and delivered a swift kick to Lexi, sending her tumbling, fittingly enough into the pile of ShrinkGirl action figure boxes. Josh took this moment to flee out of the front door as Lexi had asked and Delia was no longer focused on him, instead shaking her head in disgust.
"So you found the reverse switch on my spell, huh?" Delia said, clapping her hands a few times in mock applause, despite the fact that her foe seemed to have disappeared, the pile of boxes suddenly tumbling to the ground as if nobody was under them, but Delia knew better, "oh, really? Shrinking to hide from me? Good luck..."
"I'm not hiding from you anymore..." Lexi said, although despite the determined words, her voice lacked a certain oomph. It was even ... a bit squeaky.
Still, Delia was a bit surprised as she watched the boxes part ways and out emerged Lexi, clad in purple and gold, not too unlike her costume but this time she appeared almost as a knight of sorts, the suit metallic but malleable as it seemed to warp to her body and whatever size she was. Curiouser still though were what appeared to be two sharp purple wings protruding from the back of the suit.
All this would be pretty badass except the superheroine stood at about the height of a fairy.
"Really?" Delia smirked, "Little miss Shrinkerbell?"
"Let's do this!" Lexi squeaked with a glare, briefly flashing purple as she took a dive at the assailant witch.
The fight was on
Giantess World
