Not A Toy 129

Back in the world of the study, Maisie could only watch as two giants wrestled for what appeared to be control of the shrink ray. She couldn't guess at their relationship, but it seemed this newcomer had some semblance of that device, but whatever was happening between them now was completely beyond the girl's understanding. They might as well be feuding goddesses for all Maisie could grasp as to their workings.

In that uncertainty, Maisie found action as her refuge.

"You can put me down!" Jenna's voice dragged her from her thoughts.

The graduate had almost forgotten she held her would-be interviewer in her grasp, having instinctively yanked her at the sound of something crashing in the next room.

Maisie went to speak, but her words vanished behind tightened lips. She did not acquiesce to Jenna's words, instead rising from her knees with and breaking into purposeful strides.

"Who knows how that's going to end..." Maisie said, taking stock of her surrounds - all too familiar at this point. This observation did not account for the squirming woman in her grip. Without thinking, the youngest of the pair had taken Jenna into an almost cradled position.

"W-What-are-you?! Hey! Where-are-we?! I don't need to be carried!" Jenna's half-formed protests manifested with all the authority available to her. Yet the warmth of Maisie's hands, her size, the ease of which she carried the teacher - all rendered that authority less than commanding.

Maisie peered down at Jenna as she moved, taking a brief moment to grasp at how small Jenna was now, but that couldn't be her focus. "We gotta move quickly!" Maisie said, her attempt to silence Jenna's demeanour.

"Where?!" Jenna squealed.

Maisie shook her head. "Let's hide - whatever happens out there maybe we can find a good spot to lay low until its sorted out. I'm assuming you'd rather not get zapped again!"

That much was definitely true, but before Jenna could respond she felt her dwindled form lifted upwards - a yelp pressing past her lips.

"Don't argue with me!" Maisie said impatiently, standing onto her toes.

Maisie twisted the shrunken woman in her grip before hefting her onto the glass surface of what was the 'second level' of the desk. There was no hope for Jenna to get up there herself now, so Maisie ensured the older woman was taken care of.

"I'll get up there too but maybe we can find somewhere to hide or even a way down..."

Jenna felt her naked form grace the cool glass surface, a solved rubik's cube ahead her. As she righted herself, she felt no closer to solving the puzzle of this nightmare herself.

In the hall, the two women believed they were each closer to their own solution. The device had hit the ground with a thud - a far from comforting sound - and yet that couldn't deter their risen spirits.

Sophie scrambled to her knees, and Nathalie followed suite. In her frenzy though, the dark-haired girl forgot how small she had become and how encompassing her dress was, she caught herself in the length of the fabric and tumbled forward, crashing to the floor as Sophie reached out - victory was at hand.

Half-collapsing, half-diving onto the floor, the redhead twirled in place and mustered her lessened strength to lift her prized device in one hand. Nathalie came to her knees and stared down the barrel of defeat.

Breathing heavily, Sophie couldn't help but let a devious grin crease her face. "I told you to listen, and now you can do it from inside a shoebox..."

Nathalie's eyes went wide, she had no time, no more options, and braced for the device's horrible light.

Sophie pulled the trigger.

Click...

...?

...Click-click-click.

"C'mon..." Sophie grumbled.

As in response, the device let out a low tone. One that caused both women to stare in a potent mixture of emotions. They both knew what the sound meant; they had both heard it hundreds of times during their work. The device had suffered some kind of serious flaw.

The two women's breathing was all that filled the thundering silence between them as the world seemed larger than it had before, and both considered their next move...