It was a brisk, bright and fairly peaceful afternoon right off the coast of Hugo Harbor as the frigid waves lapped up against the shore, setting the stage against a deep azure sky.
Hugo Harbor, like many other areas on the outskirts of Minitropolis was definitely in need of some TLC.
It's once pristine boardwalk was much worse for wear and the yachts that use to dock there were either showing signs of rot or just abandoned entirely.
It wasn't too far from there that a sleek black limousine with tinted windows made its way towards a set of shipping containers.
The engine idled for a moment or two before the hazy headlights dimmed. A tall man with gray hair got out of the car and came around to the back of the limo to let out its passenger ; none other than Byron Biggs.
Byron Biggs, the self declared leader of a crime syndicate known as the Chaos Crew appeared to be a man on a mission.
Byron was looking unusually formal for this particular rendezvous, sporting a pinstriped black jacket and a navy blue tie which he adjusted with a flinch or two while he looked towards his driver and gave him a nod, as if to non-verbally communicate that it was okay for him to get back into the car and wait.
In his place, two thuggish men emerged from the front and side of the limo, standing menacingly on either side of the pit boss.
"You sure this is a good idea?" one of the men said, his voice gruff as he raised a single eyebrow. "I mean you did your research on him, I'm assuming..."
"We're too far into this project to shut it down now" Byron responded somewhat dismissively, "besides ... I actually TRUST this subject ... unlike our last ... attempt..."
"That's exactly what I was getting at, sir..." the thug said, as all three men stood on the alert, looking out for the cops or any signs of trouble as they waited for the impending arrival of their client. "...are you sure it's a great idea to put 'you know who' back in play?"
"Well, let's not forget..." Bryon said, checking his watch impatiently as the moments seemed to linger on more and more whilst the wait dragged on. "...it wasn't a total loss ... we managed to make a dent or two in the public perception of lil Miss Perfect... and what's more..."
"Sir." Thug #2 said, quick to point out the arrival of a silver car that pulled up to meet the group. "It's him..."
Byron let out an exhale as the silver car slowed to a stop. He looked down at his own cell phone for just a moment to note a blinking red dot. He simply nodded at this and waited for the man to emerge from his vehicle.
How he got out was anybody's guess. The man was built like Mr. Incredible, although slightly less tall. That didn't stop him from hobbling out of the car's restrictive door frame, putting undue strain on the shocks as his weight descended and he stepped out to meet the Chaos Crew. At long last the client Byron was waiting for had shown up ... representing Phase 2 of his devious plan.
The man was holding a silver briefcase with a sleek initialed monogram. The silver of the briefcase matched the man's grayish suit that seemed as though it was ready to burst at the seams.
"Nice to finally meet you ... I trust your trip down here was pleasant?" Byron said, offering a hand to shake.
The man with the briefcase was reluctant but eventually returned Byron's pleasantry.
"Let's cut the formalities ..." the man said, with a nod. "Do you have it?"
Byron snapped his fingers, prompting one of his men to go into the limo where he would grab his own briefcase. Whatever was contained inside must've bore some extra weight as even the bulky thug struggled to lug it over but eventually would hand it to the mysterious hulking figure who also had a tough time grasping it at first.
"This it?" he asked
"You'll get the rest when the job is done..." Byron said, "not to mention whatever 'extra benefits' you see fit to take... if you know what I mean, of course"
"I'm not a criminal like you and your goons..." the man said with a dismissive tone, "...no offense"
One such goon simply nodded and looked at his cohort
"Eh, we get it all the time..." the man said, in a moment of candor.
"I'm here to do as we discussed" the man said in a voice as cold as the wintry air around them, "nothing less ... nothing more. If you and your ... minions want to help yourself to any extra cash, that's on them ... that's not what I got involved with this for..."
"Well then..." Byron said , a bit perplexed now, "If you're not in this for the money then what ARE you doing this for?"
The man with the briefcase just remained stoically still before uttering a single word as his response.
"...Vengeance..."
In a more casual setting, just across town from the harbor, a young woman by the name of Alexis Cole sat with one leg off her bed and one leg on it as she leaned back onto the disheveled bedsheets, a light purple hoodie draped over a chair across from herself as she stretched her arms up with a tired and whimpering yawn ; her cell phone propped awkwardly on her shoulder.
"Geez Lex..." a playful but familiar voice on the other end of the call said, "Am I really boring you that much?"
"Nah of course not, Lee" Lexi said, casually tossing a balled up sock towards the laundry basket in the corner of her small studio apartment bedroom. To her dismay, the wool projectile would clank off the side of the basket like a missed free throw and she'd simply get readjusted on her bed to prevent the phone from slipping as she slouched. "Just been ... well, it's been a helluva month, let's just say that..."
"Yeah I bet ..." Leah said with a bit of a concerned tone, "You sure you're okay ...? And how is Mara...?"
"Mara's ... holding up pretty well" Lexi said with a long sigh.
Of course Lexi was referring to the fact that her good friend with the bright red hair and bubbly personality to match had taken an emotional shot with the loss of her beloved pet phoenix Penelope who became a tragic casualty in Lexi's last heroic escapade, taking down the sinister Dr. Cryomatter. The fact is without the help of Mara, Josh and especially Penelope, many innocent people could have been hurt or worse ... not to mention Lexi herself who suffered a deep freeze as a result of the battle with the icy villain. It was only Penelope's phoenix flame that was able to recover her and perhaps even endow her with the power necessary to save Miniborough's college campus ... again.
At least, that's what Lexi THOUGHT Leah was asking about ...
"No I mean, like how is Mara in bed?" Leah teased.
"Leah ... cmon..." Lexi sighed, flopping onto her bed, hoisting her leg up and making herself as comfortable as one could be while keeping an eye on the police radio that sat across from her. Truth be told, it was one of the few things in the room NOT covered with either clothes, wrappers or some kind of miscellaneous paraphernalia. Lexi had let things go since the stress of a new semester. Her first semester in ages without her best friend Leah around had been tasking it's toll on her usual bubbly and positive facade. Of course that was before even factoring in her "other job" as a superhero and additional juvenile drama, as she liked to call it.
"C'mon what?" Leah teased, getting ready for her next class to begin at her respective school in Colorado as she kept her best friend on speaker phone, pacing around her dorm room, "If I got laid, you know you'd be the first one I'd call to tell you all the juicy ..."
"Yes Leah, I know..." Lexi smirked, "Maybe next time don't assume I'm alone when you make that grand declaration..."
"How was I suppose to know Grandma Cole was staying over that night?" Leah chuckled.
"...yeah ... it's the strangest thing ... she hasn't been by since..." Lexi teased.
"Okay c'mon girl, stop dodging the topic..." Leah said with a half smile, her attention briefly diverted by the time, realizing she didn't have much of it left to spare, "it's been a month ... if you're not going to talk about it with your best friend who ARE you going to talk about it with...? Not like you can talk to JOSH about it..."
Leah instantly felt a tinge of guilt for bringing up Josh's name in the wake of everything that had happened.
"Lex I'm sorry..." Leah said, her voice suddenly deflated.
"It's ... it's fine ... it's all very complicated ..." Lexi sighed, before hearing a voice in the next room over.
"Was that ... Sapphire?" Leah asked, referring to Lexi's interdimensional roommate who had been staying with her since a near interdimensional apocalypse had left her "displaced" from her native realm.
"Heh yeah ... ever since she discovered the internet ... well ... let's just say there's been a lot of strange Google searches ..." Lexi said with a smirk, realizing what she already knew all too well ; her life was anything but ordinary. "...although not strange in the way you may think..."
"Heh ... well tell Ms. Blue Hair I say hi, okay?" Leah said, "and about Mara and Josh ... I didn't mean to ..."
"It's fine ..." Lexi said reassuringly, "I probably do need to lighten up with the whole thing ... I'm actually going to a comic con with Josh this weekend, something called Mini Mayhem Con..."
"You're going to a comic con?" Leah smirked, "That's perfect ... you already have the costume for it ..."
"Yeah." Lexi said rather flatly, looking across the room at the ShrinkGirl costume and its various components on the floor. "Trust me. Josh was insistent on my wearing that ..."
"Eh, just lean into it" Leah said, "besides even in full costume you won't be the geekiest one there"
"Heh, thanks L" Lexi smirked, hearing some static coming through on the police transmitter. She curiously stumbled off her bed, keeping the phone close by as she turned her attention to the odd transmission.
"Lex, you still there?" Leah asked, noticing the line had gone silent.
"Hmm? Oh yeah ... sorry..." Lexi said, her voice sounding a bit more distant as she tried to clean up the signal. She had picked up a trick or two from Josh on police radios. Needless to say that if anyone had told her that this would be a skill she'd need going into her first year at Miniborough University she never would've believed it. Alas, there she was, her finger on the pulse of a crime ridden city known as Minitropolis. "...just may have a distress call ... yknow, typical ... hero stuff, I guess"
"Heh ... go get em, tiger" Leah smirked, "...I should probably get going anyway ... I have a mission of my own..."
"Gonna try to make it to class before Kevin so you can save him a seat?" Lexi said with a girlish giggle.
"You know it ... yah girl's gonna reel that fish in one way or the other" Leah said with a confident grin.
"You got this Lee" Lexi said, "...and hopefully I do too"
"Hey, you're the cutie crusader!" Leah said, "liberty and justice for small, yknow?"
"...I can't believe that nickname stuck" Lexi remarked with an eyeroll, "...and the catchphrase too ... Josh'll be proud, I suppose"
"I helped come up with that too, you know" Leah replied, "I should get a quarter every time someone says it"
"Fine, well pay yourself and call it a day..." Lexi smirked, trying to listen to the crackly radio broadcast with a modicum of difficulty.
"Alright, Miss Shrinks a lot" Leah teased, "I'll leave you to it ... kick some ass out there and we'll talk soon, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan ..." Lexi said, leaning in to hear the radio transmission a bit better once hanging up the phone with Leah.
Although choppy, the Cutie Crusader as it were could make out a few key words
"Masked -- bzt -- caper -- pzt -- Jackson -- Jewelers--"
"Robbery at the jewelry store?" Lexi muttered to herself as if confirming the a bark from the dog Lassie, "why does that ring a bell?"
"Probably because it was your first official mission as ShrinkGirl" a voice said, speaking from the threshold of Lexi's disheveled studio apartment bedroom.
It was none other than the blue haired Quartzarian native herself, Sapphire.
"Heh ... how long have you been standing there?" Lexi asked, reaching for her purple spandex, "...and also ... how did you know that? I never even told you about that..."
"Well I'm just going by the fanfics I checked out" Sapphire commented with a certain shaky tone in her voice.
"Fan fics?" Lexi asked, raising an eyebrow
"I believe that's the term for it ..." Sapphire replied, "short for 'fan fiction' ...they appear to be media produced by ..."
"Heh, thanks Saph..." Lexi said, strapping on one of her thick gold-plated wrist gauntlets, "I know what fan fics are ... but ... there are some ... about me??"
"It would appear so" Sapphire said with a nod, "and they got a few details wrong if I may be a bit critical"
"Really? Like what?" Lexi asked, sounding a bit more intrigued than she probably should have been.
"Well I'm pretty sure you've never been to space, or rode on the back of a dragon..." Sapphire commented, as though reviewing a bad movie.
"Space? No ... the dragon thing? Kind of" Lexi said with a bit of a smirk, remembering that epic moment. "...anyways, how's the job hunt going?"
"Fair" Sapphire replied with a sullen pause. When not checking out the unusual amount of ShrinkGirl fan fiction available online, Sapphire had been trying to apply for jobs. "I may be able to become something called a crosswalk guardian..."
"You mean a ... crossing guard?" Lexi said, trying to politely correct her sometimes overzealous warrior friend, "...I mean, sure that's a possibility ..."
"I'm just wondering how I should go about guarding the crosswalk from invaders ..." Sapphire said, adding to Lexi's inherent worry that this might not be a good idea for her well meaning roommate.
"Heh ... maybe start small..." Lexi said, "...didn't Krystal say she could get you in at the coffee shop?"
"I've already BEEN in the coffee shop..." Sapphire said, once more sounding confused.
"No I mean ... IN ... as in like ... a job" Lexi chuckled, finishing up her preparations. "although to be fair, you don't HAVE to get a job ... I have no problem with you staying here and it's not like this is a permanent thing ... I'm sure we'll find a way to get you back to your dimension soon enough ... so I wouldn't go getting too attached to Minitropolis ... don't wanna go starting a job and not putting in your two weeks notice because you got whisked away to Quartzaria, you know?"
"I ... suppose..." Sapphire said, a pensive tone in her voice, "...do you need help by the way? With this mission?"
Lexi shook her head.
"I appreciate it but nah, sounds like a small time robbery..." Lexi said, not even realizing her unintentional size pun.
As the heroine made her way towards the door, she couldn't help but ask herself what was weirder ... the idea of Sapphire as a crossing guard or the fact that ShrinkGirl fan fiction even existed ...
"It's flattering enough ..." Lexi thought to herself, "but who would be a FAN of me?"
Shards of broken glass dotted the floor like confetti, whilst the pulsating red lighting lit up the otherwise dimly lit venue.
The inside of Jackson Jeweler's definitely looked like a crime scene, and a sloppy one at that.
Loud alarms blared and flashing lights alerted anyone within a square mile radius of the obvious theft in progress.
Whoever this was pulling off the jewel heist, they weren't exactly "top notch" at their job.
Still, one could be fooled into thinking this was all somehow part of a villainous plan as the overly zealous jewel thief scooped up valuable baubles and trinkets as if going trick or treating, depositing them into a cute pink gift bag. The young mysterious thief, who couldn't have been more than 22 years of age, was dressed fairly casually in a black hoodie and jeans. She appeared to be unfazed by the security alarms, perhaps because she had earbuds on and was humming along to a K-pop song that was blasting through them.
"Ooh pretty..." the amateur thief said, slowly scooping a necklace into her hands and admiring it for just a moment or two as it refracted in the open light.
Not too far off the thief's trail was a conveniently miniaturized Alexis Cole, having used her shrinking abilities to slip in through an air duct undetected ; not that it mattered much as the alarm had already been tripped and was only leaving the tiny heroine with something of a pounding headache as it echoed all around her.
"Josh?" Lexi squeaked, leaning warily against the metallic edge of the air duct she was in, trying to communicate with her "man in the chair" on the other end. "Is there any way you can turn off these alarms? I'm getting a mondo headache here... Josh?"
Lexi, who had grown accustomed to hearing her friend, Joshua James' voice through her headset with some kind of guidance felt like she was going in blind, and in this case deaf as the radio line appeared to be shot.
Lexi sighed, wondering if maybe she couldn't be heard due to the pulsating sounds of the security alarm or if the makeshift comm system the pair had employed was simply running into interference issues due to Lexi's current cramped location within the tight air duct.
Regardless, Lexi decided to press on, feeling the strong sense of deja vu.
After all, while it had been some time, Lexi had first attempted a mission at this very jewelry store when a reckless ne'er-do-well named Roxanne Wright was up to no good. While that mission hadn't exactly gone to plan, Lexi would like to think she got just a bit better in the time that had passed. Plus a lot of things had changed. Lexi had dealt with interdimensional interlopers, giant robots and that very same woman, Roxie Wright was now her next door neighbor in an odd twist of fate. Yeah, it was funny how life worked sometimes.
Flashing back to the present, the tiny brunette scampered into the chaos filled lobby through an opening in the metal slits of the air grate, sliding her doll sized body against the side of a jewelry display case as coverage, noticing the culprit was a woman in a black hoodie with tufts of blonde hair poking out.
"Roxie??" Lexi thought to herself before realizing even SHE wouldn't be so dumb as to just go charging in ... plus it wasn't exactly Roxie's style to carry around a silly gift bag.... let alone one that looked like it came from the Minitropolis Shopping Mall.
While not completely ruling out the possibility of Roxie playing some kind of prank, Lexi still proceeded with some caution just in case this newbie thief had some tricks up her sleeve. She would cautiously pace about, careful not to be detected by the jewel thief as she poked her head out from behind various crates, being sure not to be spotted. To her surprise, the thief wasn't exactly acting like someone who had limited time until the police showed up.
No, instead she seemed to be dancing a bit, bobbing on her feet and poking through the assorted jewelry as though on a leisurely shopping trip.
Lexi let out a sigh, almost frustrated herself by how foolish this criminal was conducting themselves. Even the Chaos Crew had more "organization" than this person.
Was it a trap, though? There's no way it could be THIS easy.
Lexi shrugged at last, almost unsure how to proceed here so she simply unshrank herself as she stood behind the woman in the hoodie.
It was now or never.
"Freeze!" Lexi said, standing before the thief in her full "SG" costume and putting her fists up as though ready to throw down.
The woman turned slowly, enthusiastically casting the black hood off her face ; and the playful look she conveyed definitely confirmed that this wasn't Roxie ... and in fact, Lexi wasn't sure WHO this was.
"Shrinky!!"
"I'm sorry what?" Lexi responded, confused as all hell.
Lexi gave the woman a strange look as the thief in question did something she was DEFINITELY not use to having done. She lunged at Lexi with arms opened wide to give her a hug. Lexi slid to the side quickly causing the thief to miss entirely and almost go toppling over the jewelry case behind Lexi. The confused superheroine simply raised an eyebrow, unsure whether to help the clumsy criminal up or leave her.
"Took you long enough" the woman chuckled, her body slouched sideways as she gave the befuddled ShrinkGirl a teasing stare.
While her hair was indeed blonde, draping its way over her face and obscuring her hazel eyes a bit, it also had a distinct streak of blue in it. The woman appeared to have a fairly curvy form despite it being tucked behind the black hoodie. Lexi raised an eyebrow as she sized up this strange woman with her gift bag overflowing with stolen goods. Lexi would watch in continued stunned silence as the clumsy fallen blonde helped herself up, only appearing dazed for a moment as she recollected some of the trinkets that had been lost from the bag during the fall.
"Can I just say, it is an HONOR to meet you, ShrinkGirl!" the woman said, before finally making her name known, "Name's Namine but you can call me Nami ...."
"I'm sorry ... uh ... Nami, was it?" Lexi asked, standing across from her overzealous foe with a confused look, "This is uh ... all kind of new to me... the whole ... whatever is happening right now..."
"Oh shit, yeah you're right" Nami said, nodding as if attempting to gain a greater understanding of the bewildered superheroine's plight. "I'm sure you're expecting to fight or whatever ... we could if you want..."
It was at that moment, the over-exuberant Nami would set her "gift bag" down on one of the few remaining display cabinets she HADN'T smashed and begin bouncing on her Nike sneakers as if in an old boxing video game, bobbing and weaving as she threw some punches at the air. Even stranger was that there was a hammer nearby she could've employed as a weapon instead. This clearly didn't seem like a "battle" Namine was committed to winning.
Again, Lexi wasn't sure if she should fight or cringe.
Before Lexi could question the overexcited blonde woman much further, she'd notice the piercing, pulsating red and blue lights from outside the jewelry store, signifying the arrival of the Mini Troop ... took em long enough.
"You realize the cops are coming, right?" Lexi said, almost sounding as though she pitied this newbie thief. "You're kinda uh ... busted"
"Oh I know!" Nami said in a cheerful tone, again coming in for a hug ; this time a bit slower but it wasn't easing Lexi's nerves any as she backed away with an uncomfortable wince to avoid the second hug attempt from Nami. "But at least I got to meet my hero ... tell me, are you looking for any new villains?"
"Uh?" Lexi asked, a bit confused as Nami seemed to stand there awkwardly, "I uh ... look you seem like a nice gal and all ... and I'm sure you'll make some hero VERY happy some day but uh ... I'm not really in the market for a uh ... new nemesis..."
Nami pouted, "That's a shame ... we could've been really great enemies, Shrinky..."
"Wh-Why do you keep calling me that?" Lexi chuckled nervously, her hand reaching behind her neck as she just stood there incredulously staring down Namine.
"Oh sorry, it kind of was the nickname I gave you in my fan fics so I ..."
"Wait, that was you?" Lexi said, raising an eyebrow, "you've been writing the ShrinkGirl fan fics?"
"Pretty cool, right?" Nami said, again oblivious (or perhaps indifferent) to the fact that the Mini Troop were closing in from outside the broken into jewelry store, "I thought you'd appreciate the fact that I chose to hit the venue of your very first superhero mission..."
"And ... how exactly did you know that?" Lexi asked, sounding a bit creeped out now.
"I've been following you for a long time, Alexis Elizabeth Cole" Namine said, rather matter of factly at that.
"Great..." Lexi sighed, "using my full name ... that's not too unsettling..."
"Been a big fan of your work for a long time, I must admit ... and it's an honor to be busted by you..." Namine said, "in fact, would you mind signing my bag?"
Namine held out the bag of stolen jewelry for Lexi, acting like an excitable groupie.
"You ... realize you're going to jail, right?" Lexi said, shaking her head.
"Maybe" Nami said, sounding rather non-chalant as the blaring voice of a gruff Officer rang out through the crime scene. "My dad's a pretty good lawyer, so we'll see!"
"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!! COME OUT NOW!!"
"Oh shit..." Lexi thought to herself as she heard the voice loud and clear ... that was none other than Sergeant Sal Swift ... and unlike Namine, they were NOT a fan of Lexi or ShrinkGirl in the least. "Well uh ... I'm gonna guess the Mini Troop has it from here so uh ... enjoy jail I guess..."
Namine chuckled and shook her head.
"Oh Shrinky, you're so funny! This is great dialogue for my next fan-fic but unfortunately for all of you, you won't be catching me today!" Namine said, cupping a small orb in her hands. The orb began to sizzle and crackle.
Lexi took a dive towards the side of a jewelry display suspecting an explosive device or worse, only to watch a large burst of smoke rise up into the air.
A decent camouflage for sure, but it also backfired when the dense smoke set off the sprinklers and dampened Nami's hair and makeup, causing black streaks to come streaming down her face like dark tears as they dripped haphazardly against her flesh like raindrops on a car window.
Lexi had very little time to act as the Mini Troop had already made their move into the jewelers, sending ShrinkGirl into a maneuver she knew all too well -- the "tuck and shrink"
"Freeze!! Police!!"
Namine, a bit stunned and shivering from the involuntary shower she had just taken stopped dead in her tracks, no longer reaching for whatever other devices she had in her hoodie pocket. She surrendered the jewels to the authorities and could only pout as she was forcefully taken back outside and stuffed into a cop car. Despite her slight struggle though, the young woman seemed to crack a smile as if she were glad to have attempted such a foolish crime ; even if it only gave her a brief moment with her "hero".
"Ugh..." Sal said, shaking his head, "she's no hero that's for sure..."
"What do you mean, sir?" Officer Sonia Sanders said, right behind her boss as the surrounding Mini Troop Officers surveyed the scenes for any other forensic evidence of whatever else had happened.
The hulking Mini Troop Sargent Swift knelt by an open air duct.
"... I can't prove it ... but she was here..." Sal said, "...the ShrinkGirl"
"No offense sir but you sound like J Jonah Jameson when you say stuff like that..." Sonia sighed, finding her boss' unhealthy infatuation with ShrinkGirl to be just that.
"I'm sorry, are we talking about some Superman character?" Sal said, seeming none too amused. But then again, when was he ever?
"Spider-Man, sir" Sonia sighed.
"Well laugh it up but this is no laughing matter." Sal Swift said, "this isn't a comic book ... and that purple tight wearing Alexis Cole is doing nothing to suppress crime in this community ... in fact she may as well be encouraging it..."
"Sir, again ... all due respect..." Sonia said, walking alongside her paranoid boss, "but it's not like Alexis TOLD this woman to commit this crime"
"Yeah well, let's just get her statement back at the station ..." Sal said, "because last I heard, she couldn't seem to shut up about meeting her 'idol' ... the ShrinkGirl..."
Sonia sighed, shaking her head as she suspected the same as her boss ... not that Lexi was a bad person but that she HAD been in the jewelry store at some point to stop the crime, or at least try to.
Lexi meanwhile let out a tired exhale of her own, feeling as though SHE were the criminal on the run as she lay against the backside of the building, no more than 3 inches tall as a stray cat sat down next to her.
She let out a slight chuckle as the mammoth sized cat nuzzled her side, letting out a growling purr.
"Heh ... rough day, boy?" Lexi squeaked and giggled, scratching the giant feline under the chin. "My name's Lexi ... what's yours?"
Lexi gave it a moment or two before realizing she was expecting a cat to reply to her...
Yup. Just another day in the life of Alexis Cole.
Giantess World
