fix·a·tion
/fikˈsāSHən/
noun
definition: an obsessive interest in or feeling about someone or something
Currently the hyperfocused and always hard to talk to middle aged scientist known as Dr. Maximillian E Mumford had something of a fixation. It had only grown since he had first planted the seeds in his own mind of such things as interdimensional travel and the implications it could have. Inspired by once colleague Dr. Giovanni Guillardo from his earlier days, Dr. Max never gave up on potentially finding out more about the universe, what's really going on beneath the surface and how there simply had to be more than what appeared in "reality"
It had seemed his work, whether in transformative nanites or size manipulation had always received similar criticism to that of his long thought to be deceased fellow scientist Dr. Giovanni. Max was often times mocked -- openly or covertly -- for his weird obsessions that often yielded no results outside of a massive bill for the company and little to show for it. Outside of the Enormite -- a trinket with minor transformative properties, Enormo Enterprises made most of its money on more traditional ballistics and military applications -- building finely functioning drones and things of the like.
That's what the public would mostly believe.
Conspiracy theorists had always suspected the worst from the shady monolith -- wondering what kind of "secret projects" were being worked on behind closed doors. Surely Max, despite his often times callous and one tracked mind had something more up his sleeve, some would proport. Usually these conspiracy theorists would be subject to the same kind of mockery that Max had received. But sometimes ... the conspiracies had merit. For indeed, the past year had seen more progress on the front of "experimental technology" than any year before it.
It started with "Project Delta" -- although this was not the first of its kind. It was to be a size manipulation procedure that -- if successful could produce super soldiers with size changing abilities. In addition to mere size changing though, the subjects exposed to such tech would also attain a strength boost making them more durable and useful than any kind of soldier ever seen. Such a sustainable success would not only put Enormo on the map internationally but it would finally give the much maligned Dr. Max the credit he thought himself to so rightfully deserve.
Project Delta didn't turn out quite as planned though. There were certain elements to the project that were never employed or perfected -- mainly because the project was inadvertedly set into motion well before it was suppose to. A certain troublemaker by the name of Alexis Cole -- somebody who had NO business activating such equipment exposed herself (and in some ways the company itself) to the experimental technology and the fact that she gained ANY benefit from it was a miracle unto itself. That she had survived without any long term health defects (to this point) was also impressive. But one person wasn't quite so impressed.
Dr. Maximillian E Mumford.
Of course his technology worked -- it HAD to work. He designed it. Dr. Max never made miscalculations. He was in fact, infallible, if only in his own deranged and fixated mind.
"Dr. Max!" a shrill voice announced, obstructing the Doctors view on the video screen on which he had so studiously been working. "You've made a grave miscalcuation here and it is my responsibiliy as Queen of Fensteria to not only let you know about it but ..."
"Could you please ... lower the volume?" Max scoffed, seeming more annoyed with the fairy queen's presence at all than any message she may have had concerning "mistakes" on his part. After all, the mad doctor simply didn't MAKE mistakes. Perhaps one that he could admit was not having already put in headphones to keep the audio private, something he was hasteful to rectify as he fastened a pair of ear tight headphones to continue his correspondence with the mysterious woman who appeared in a small video window on his already overcrowded monitor. "We do not need the whole building hearing you"
"...yes and I don't need my entire colony flocking to me in a PANIC!" the woman on the other end said -- going under the name of Esmerelda. The stern blonde haired fairy was the notable leader of the Fairy Colony known as Fensteria. "Yet your portal machine has been causing just that!"
"Surely you do not think I am doing this on purpose!" Dr. Max said, an innocent if not insincere sneer on his face
"I dont care HOW you're doing it" Esmeralda said sternly, "it needs to stop ... I allowed you to build that facility along the borders of the human forest in exchange for protection and so far not only have we been in more danger than almost any point in our history, you are now on the verge of potentially starting a civil war ..."
"Civil War..." Dr. Max repeated, a hint of laughter in his voice, "My dear ... fairy queen"
"Please never call me that." Esmerelda was quick to retort, "Queen Esmerelda, please."
"Yeah ... I just ... don't see myself doing that" Dr. Max quipped matter of factly, "The fact is this is no DISNEY movie ... so you go ahead and be Queen Emerald of the magic candy kingdom..."
"That is not at all what I said ..." an increasingly annoyed Esmerelda said, leaning closer to the monitor.
It was worth noting that in Esmerelda's realm, she wasn't speaking into a computer monitor at all but rather a small magical cauldron through which she could see her correspondents visage. Her appearance was merely translated onto a computer screen for Max to see -- almost like some kind of Human to Fairy Skype communication.
Max was nearly ready to abandon the conversation before he realized a potential use for the fairy after all.
"Okay ... my apologies ... your ... magesty..." Max said, almost throwing up in his mouth from having to use such vocabulary on such a silly looking monarch. "Perhaps ... we can help each other out"
"You can help ME out right now ..." Esmerald said, "by ceasing your experimentation on other dimensions ... I've already warned you and I won't warn you again ... you're tampering with things you don't understand ... just recently we've been showered in ancient crystals from a distant world..."
"Crystals, you say?" Max smirked, only trying to confirm his suspicions. It was then he realized that this self proclaimed "Queen of the Fairies" COULD be of help after all. "What ... kind of crystals?"
"That ... is unimportant..." Esmeralda pouted, playing things close to the vest.
"All due respect here ... Esmerelda..." Max said, "..you have as much at stake in this as I do ... or perhaps I should have my drones make an announcement that the Queen of the Fairies is working with a conniving human..."
"You wouldn't ..." Esmerelda said, "...besides, they'd never hear you ... the colony is cloaked and you know that ... it's off the sights of your drones which means its also shielded from any outside noise"
"Ah but I've gotten through that before..." Max shrugged with a sense of arrogance
"That's because I ALLOWED you to..." Esmeralda reminded, "and you abused your powers then..."
"Abused is such a harsh word..." Max lamented, "had it not been for that ShrinkGirl and her cohorts, my drones could've operated peacefully and nothing would've come of it..."
"I ... don't completely disagree..." Esmerelda sighed, "That ... human showing up here led to some trouble outside of just the drone attack"
"See? She even pesters OTHER cultures..." Max tsked, "but my experiments, among other things, seek to rid the world of ShrinkGirl ... that could be beneficial for both sides and on top of that ... I have ANOTHER proposal..."
"Why am I not surprised...?" Esmerelda sighed, growing tired of the conniving doctors constant spin.
"These crystals that have appeared in your realm? This is ... problematic, yes?" Max suggested
"It's being mitigated as we speak..." Esmeralda said, "but yes ... these crystals possess powers foreign to even us Fensterians .. er ... fairies ... it would be best to dispose of them or send them back to where they came from ..."
"May I propose a ... third option?" Max sneered. Esmerelda knew already where the Doctor's mind was at and became instantly filled with dread.
"No." she repled sternly. "No way."
"Can you REALLY afford to wait?" Max grinned, feeling his advantage over the disarrayed fairy kingdom growing, "I can discreetly remove the crystals and this whole thing can be behind us...?"
"And the portals?" Esmeralda asked
"I can't always predict where the portals will open ..." Max sighed, in a rare show of honesty, "but I assure you I'm not TRYING to open them anywhere that will cause suspicion ... you must believe me because such suspicion is not good for either party involved here..."
The conversation was about to proceed further before Dr. Max heard a familiar voice from behind, standing in his doorway. It was Dr. Joseph Wright.
"Ummm sir?" he asked, only able to vaguely make out the fairy woman and some of the other imagery on his cluttered computer screen, "what are you doing?"
"Oh! Uh... nothing!" Max said in a huff, quickly closing his conversation with the fairy queen, "I was simply dabbling in one of those uh ... roleplaying video games ... quite addictive I must say ... I can see why the kids love them so..."
"Well sir..." Joseph said, "...while it's nice to see you doing ... something else ... it's time for the fiscal meeting or did you forget again?"
"Of course I didn't forget" Max replied, "I just figured I'd avoid it ... you know ... like usual"
"It's your call, sir" Joseph said, "But this one ... wasn't on the schedule ... and it seems to directly involve you ... in fact the board has been called in ... including Edward..."
At this name, Dr. Max could almost feel his grizzly fingernails digging into the keyboard on which they sat. EDWARD ENORMOLOGATTI ... owner of Enormo Enerprises. What the fuck could that old geezer be doing around these parts again? He only showed up on very rare occasions. This caused the Doctors usually cold demeanor to shift as he got up.
"Oh ... Edward's coming..." Dr. Max said, faking some enthusiasm as he lifted from his chair, "why didn't you say so? Let us ... go to the fiscal meeting ..."
With that, the Doctor departed his desk, even as his mind was swimming with thoughts as he glanced back at the computer screen which had seperate tabs open -- one for investigating the properties of Quartzarian Power Gems, another with stats on ShrinkGirl's car and still another one with hidden schematics labeled PROJECT EPSILON.
_______________
Back at the Cole residence, things were a bit more relaxed for the time being. Lexi's father handed her an envelope as his bubbly daughter whisked her way on upstairs, no doubt focused on her school work and things to come as the new semester had just arrived. In fact she was so involved that she simply set the business looking correspondence on the edge of a desk before focusing on the more pressing matters.
"Heya Tiny! You little cutie!" Lexi cooed, leaning down to the level of her fluffy orange cat and snuggling him gently, ruffling his bristly fur with her fingertips. She'd giggle as the cat passed on by, loosely escaping her commanding hug and tickling her nose in the process with her long bushy tail. She shook her head and grinned watching him leave the room.
Lexi would then flop onto her bed, gazing up at the ceiling for just a moment or two before receiving a phone call. She didn't recognize the number which usually meant one thing.
"Hey Spark" Lexi said casually, knowing that fairy phone numbers didn't always show up on traditional caller ID.
While she was right, and could hear Spark's voice, it sounded extremely staticky as if something were jamming the signal.
"Spark, you there?" Lexi asked, a bit concerned to only hear clips of Spark's (and what sounded like Mark and Lark behind her) voice as it flickered in and out of coherence.
"Lexi!" Spark finally said, "Hey ... hope you're well"
"Oh you know ... just usual school stuff" Lexi shrugged
"I forgot you humans go to school in the fall ... we actually just wrapped up for the time being" Spark said, her voice stll hard to hear but the signal appeared to be momentarily stabilizing.
"Heh, so you go to school in the summer? That's gotta be weird" Lexi asked
"No weirder than being a fairy living in a pocket dimension at the edge of the woods" Spark smirked, "...anyway, we have a situation..."
"Oh? Is everything okay?" Lexi asked, leaning up with concerned concentration
"Well ... we're not sure..." Spark said
Spark's less "diplomatic" brother Mark could be heard sputtering in the background
"What do you mean we're not sure?" Mark said, audible to Lexi on the phone call, "we've got an interdimensional crisis on our hands ..."
"We don't KNOW that ..." Spark said, in response to her ever jumpy brother, "...anyway, ignore him"
"Not sure I can" Lexi said with a shy grin, "You need me to come by?"
"If you can..." Spark said, watching in her periphery as Lark and Mark bickered about 'choosing ones words more carefully', "I don't mean to disrupt you ..."
"No, it's cool" Lexi said, "I mean ... not cool that you're having problems but cool cuz ... yeah ... I'll be over in a bit ... hey, maybe I'll call Leah and see if she can come too"
"Ummm sure!" Spark said, again distracted by her siblings incessant fighting "I mean, it's not going to be like a fun girls outing or anything"
"Oh I know" Lexi replied, leaning the phone on her shoulder now, "but Leah likes to visit the colony from time to time ... she'll also never admit it, but she kinda likes when I shrink her"
"Is that like a ... friendship type of thing?" Spark asked, unfamiliar with such a human custom.
"It's a ... Leah type of thing" Lexi chuckled, "anyways, I'll be by as soon as I can ..."
"Sounds good" Spark said, and just as the phone was hanging up, Lexi could hear Spark scold her siblings, "can you guys keep it together for ONE --?!"
"Fairies ... supervillains ... term papers..." Lexi sighed, "I sure am living the dream..."
With that, Lexi would turn her focus to calling Leah, waiting a few rings before the pleasant voice of her best friend came through on the phone.
"Hey Lex, um... what's up?" Leah asked, sounding a bit preoccupied as faint noises could be heard from around her
"Was heading down to the forest to visit the fairy siblings" Lexi said, as though she were proposing a hangout at the mall or something, "did you wanna come?"
"Oh Lex, I'd love to normally but I'm actually on my way to the auditorium for rehearsal..." Leah said, juggling some books as she walked towards her car, currently in between the end of class and her extra curricular activity of being fashion consultant for Sally's Boutique. She could already sense the disappointment in Lexi's body language. "But we'll hang out soon, I promise"
"Yeah ... yeah no problem Lee" Lexi said, still sounding a bit deflated, "I mean, I think it's awesome you got this fashion thing, I just ... we don't really see each other too much these days ... really since after my birthday..."
"I know ..." Leah sighed, "but the school year just started, I've been working a lot ... you have been too and ... I'm sure things will calm down soon ... not gonna lie, I wish you had gotten that dorm on campus ... then we could've at least seen each other between classes more often"
"Or had that shrunken slumber party..." Lexi teased
"Heh, yeah we still gotta do that!" Leah said, clumsily spilling her books onto the passenger seat of her car. They fit in nicely with the scraps of paper and other disarray that littered the car floor. "But hey, I gotta go ... talk soon, okay?"
"Sure, Lee ... I love --" Lexi said, but already heard the click of the phone before she could conclude her sentence "...you"
______________
Sitting in his chair at a tense meeting in the Enormo Enterprises Headquarters sat Leah's father, Dave Henderson -- accountant for the company. In his years there, he often had to crunch some numbers to make things work and the company was routinely just at or over budget but his latest finding was simply too incredulous not to report.
Members of the board sat along a long boardroom table including a few of the engineering team who would best be able to explain some of the financial allocations of late. Of course, this team wouldn't be complete without the head of Engineering himself, Dr. Maximillian E Mumford who gingerly took his seat, peering across the long table at none other than head honcho, Edward Enormologiatti.
Edward founded the company back in the 1990s, making Max a sort of "co-owner" and share holder which Edward was mainly brought on to provide business expertise and funding. The company, despite a rocky start did start making him money and so Edward generally took a hands off approach while managing other smaller properties. Max shot his old "friend" a bit of a nervous gaze, waiting for him to announce the intention of the meeting.
"So ... " Edward sighed, "We know that the company's big project from last year didn't exactly ... perform well..."
Another board member simply shook their head in dismay, drawing Edward's attention.
"Was there something you'd like to add on that matter, Mr. Cafferty?"
"Well..." the businessman stuttered, peering nervously over at Max as it seemed the domineering scientist intimidated almost everyone, even his superiors. "Um... if you're referring to Project Delta ... which I assume you are ... yes. The project was a massive financial loss for the company but more importantly it caused a lot of PR issues that we are still recovering from to this day ..."
"Could you be a bit more specific?" Edward asked
"Well quite simply ..." Mr. Cafferty replied, "...the bad publicity from not just the experiment and rumors but also the reports of drone attacks..."
"I'm sorry, did you say drone attacks?" Edward asked
"That is correct, sir..." Mr. Cafferty meagerly stated.
Another board member who seemed to have a bit more bravado went on record, interuppting the nervous Mr. Cafferty.
"Yes, Mr. Billson?" Edward asked, gesturing over to the younger man in the navy blue blazer.
"The drone attacks made the news ... and while..." Mr Billson started, only to be interuppted by an irate Dr. Max
"Those drone attacks were isolated incidents and never traced back to our company!" Max shouted, "any implication of such is merely a hoax..."
"Be that as it may ...." Mr Billson said in a calm sort of tone, while also hinting strongly that he didn't believe Max's verbal defense, "we've had at least 2 reported drone hits in the past year ... some of them caused casualties, others were in violation of air traffic laws ... these were unlicensed drones, and may I add, they were armed"
"So we have armed drones..." Edward said, furrowing his brow. "...running amuck in the city with the Enormo name on them"
"Nein nein!" Dr. Max said angrily, "what this man says is a lie! There have been drone attacks yes but those are not our drones! I'd highly suspect Cybertek is behind those attacks!"
"That was my other point ... um... sir..." the more shy Mr. Cafferty said, returning to the discussion. "With all of the bad press ... we're losing clients ... many of them are turning to Cybertek for their weapons needs, seeing us as ... well, unfortunately ... reckless"
"But these are lies!" Max said again, his fists resting on the boardroom table as he sprung up from his chair.
This time, Edward Enormologiatti wasnt having it.
"Dr. Maximillian!" the gruff owner said, "please ... sit down."
Max reluctantly grumbled and did so, crossing his arms like a petulant little child as the board discussed their growing concerns.
"So ... between the loss of clients, the failed experiments ... and the recent news from accounting..." Edward said, which instantly drew Max's ire towards the already nervous and dead silent Dave Henderson who simply gulped and adjusted his tie. "this is a big problem ... which is why we called this meeting. Normally we would have our quarterly financial meeting a little bit later in the month but the way this was described to me seemed ... too urgent to ignore. Hence why I'm appearing here in person along with the rest of our board members who were graciously able to make themselves available today..."
While not named directly by the owner, it was well known that Dave Henderson was the head of the accounting department so any information received would likely be from his end. Max's sneer towards the tenured employee didn't go unnoticed by Dave himself but he simply sank lower in his seat, trying not to get involved. He had simply been doing his job after all.
"I'm ... I'm sorry ..." Dr. Max said, a hint of restrained anger in his voice as he raised his hand for the board, "What ... news from accounting are we here to address? Is everything ... not in order?"
At that question, Dr. Max again gestured with his eyes over towards Dave. While never signed off in writing, it was generally Dave's job (along with the rest of accounting) to make financial discrepencies "disappear" -- fudge a zero here and there, move some funds around, that kind of stuff.
"That brings us to the main topic of the meeting yes..." Edward announced, as an already anxious Dave leaned over to turn on a projector which was focused on a screen on the wall. "Mr Henderson if you could ... yes, thank you"
With that was your usual "pie chart" type of graphic to represent spending and expenses. It appeared fairly normal -- the usual wedges of color represented what kind of projects the budget was being spent on.
"This would be ... acceptable ... except for one thng ... not being accounted for..." Edward said, "Next slide please"
Dave Henderson would nervously advance the powerpoint showing another pie chart. This time the chart showed a very small chunk of the graph with no description.
"This unallocated money on its own would be concerning ..." Edward said, "but it was more the name of the project associated with it that raised eyebrows to the board ..."
The next slide would show a sizeable amount of money being dedicated to something called "Drone Enhancement"
Max would again remain skeptical.
"Yes and?" Max asked, "Drone work is very expensive, especially with the recent shortage of parts..."
"The thing is ... you've already allocated quite a bit to drone enhancement... robotics and the like" Edward said. "In fact ..."
Edward now zoomed in on the pie chart to show that "Drone Enhancement" was listed twice. One wedge was a much bigger one, representing the usual budget, so that smaller one now looked even more suspicious -- as if it had been added last minute and given the same name.
"Thankfully, some invoices turned in recently by the financial department found where the descrepency may lay ..." Edward said, "While some of the materials ordered could easily be justified as drone related purchases, there are others that are ... well quite unique and unfortunately all too familiar of past failures ... Mr. Henderson, could you please explain?"
Mr. Henderson looked like a deer in the headlights as he had to face not only the board but the already seething Dr. Max.
"Um... y-yes sir ... upon looking at our ongoing projects for the upcoming quarter ... I saw one that hadn't been officially announced or even discussed..." Mr. Henderson said with a gulp
"I was not aware I had to divulge projects to our ACCOUNTANTS" Dr. Max said with a sarcastic sneer.
"N-No .... of course not, sir" Mr Henderson said, "so we asked around and ... nobody in engineering or any branch of the company knew anything about ... Project Epsilon..."
With that the Doctor's face turned red, both from anger and a touch of embarassment.
"Project Epsilon..." Edward sighed, looking regretful but also angry himself, "Dr. Max ... I may not be well versed in the Greek alphabet but that sounds to me to be a follow up to ... the Delta Project?"
"S-So what if it is?" Dr. Max said, again standing from his seat, getting resentful looks from the members of the board while Dr. Wright sat just near him looking nervous as all hell. "Are we not to TRY AGAIN? Science is not a one size fits all ..."
"Interesting choice of words ..." one of the board members muttered
"Science takes months ... no YEARS to perfect ..." Max reiterated, hoping to be more convincing of his point
"In this case, it also takes money ..." Edward said, "and your last attempt at this, and quite frankly, a project I was NEVER on board with, failed immensely"
"Failed...?" Max said, his angry growing, "FAILED?! Have you not SEEN the news? ShrinkGirl! THE ShrinkGirl! How do you think that happened?! People don't just go around SHRINKING!"
"...it was never traced back to Enormo though" a sarcastic Mr. Billson said with a thinly veiled snicker.
"I'm sorry, what is this? You want to be doing the LAUGHING at a time like this?!" Dr. Max snarled, looking as though ready to strangle the know nothing business man.
"Settle down, both of you!" Edward said, before gesturing over to Billson.
"It's just ... when a drone attack is reported against us, you say it's not our business ... it's not proven ... it's a hoax ... yet you want to take credit for the ShrinkGirl ... and say she's an Enormo success story when she is in no way affiliated with us and in fact you've gone on record MANY times saying she's a menace to society so even if she WERE affiliated with us, that would also just add fuel to the fire!" Billson explained sternly.
"...I am simply SAYING..." Dr. Max sighed, "That the science is sound ... it CAN work ..."
"Then why hasn't it?" Billson said, "even if you want to say that ShrinkGirl thing worked, that was not the projects intent! Or need I remind you of the last trials BEFORE the ShrinkGirl incident?"
Max even had to cringe a bit before sighing, trying to return to his point.
"You think Thomas Edison was successful inventing the lightbulb on his first try?! You think ... Sir Isaac Newton got hit with the first apple to fall from the tree?!" Max shouted.
"...we're running in circles here" Edward sighed. "The point is ... I am heavily against this project even being proposed... even MORESO seeing it snuck into the budget like this"
"I would have HAPPILY tapped into the funds from the Delta project ..." Dr. Max said
"But that was defunded" Edward said, with a definitive tone of voice, "and so will this project..."
"Nein, you can't be doing this!" Max said
Edward sighed as the board members gave him annoyed looks, also shooting tense glances back at the head of Engineering himself.
"You have 2 weeks" Edward said, much to the chagrin of the others.
"Excuse me?" Max said
"You have 2 weeks to show me and this company that this project is worth ANY further investment" Edward said "but frankly... I have my doubts..."
The board members began to collect their suitcases and stand up, shaking their heads as they looked at Max with disdain. Edward lingered and stayed behind as an angry Maximillian approached. Before he said a word though, Edward leaned in to speak to him.
"...and you should be lucky, I'm not calling out your OTHER transgressions..." Edward whispered.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Max asked
"Please ... I know not all of the money is going where it says it is ... I also know you have Dr Giovanni on your staff ... SOMEHOW ... did he rise from the dead or something?" Edward asked
"He was never dead, sir" Max explained, "he was in a ..."
"Let me guess... other dimension..." Edward sighed, "Look Max... when I was younger, I really liked and believed in what you and Giovanni preached ... pushing the limits of known reality ... the possibility of more... whether it was size manipulation or dimensional flux or what have you ... but seeing Giovanni devoured by an exploding vortex didnt exactly help my confidence. But then you convinced me ... in his memory to start a company ... to work on not only traditional sciences but new ones ... I believed then in your vision ... but I have to be honest ... Im a much older man now, and I've seen a lot but I haven't seen anything like what you both believed in... maybe it's time to give up on the fairy tales and fantasies... you have 2 weeks, Max. Show me your project is capable of doing anything more than hemmoraghing money and MAYBE I'll keep you on..."
"Keep me ON?! KEEP ME ON?!" Max screamed, drawing more attention from the retreating board members as Max verbally assaulted his former colleague and now boss. "What are you saying sir?"
"I'm saying this is your last warning ... your shareholder status and co-ownership with be rescinded if this project fails the way I see it failing and then ... you'll be out on the streets..." Edward said and he didn't mutter another word as he made his way for the exit.
Max was steaming mad, but rather than focus that anger on Edward, his eyes seemed fixated on one individual who at that moment wished HE could shrink.
None other than Mr. Dave Henderson himself ...
Giantess World
