Honey, I Shrunk the Egos

Settling in Again

The time away had not been enough for Ed, and after a single evening back with Ed Junior, he found himself on the front steps of his business even earlier than usual. Taking a deep breath, he walked inside, giving a nod to the receptionist as he tried to pass. "Mr. Edgar?!" She gasped, getting to her feet. "You've been gone so long! We all thought you were dead!"

Ed hesitated and glanced back at her. "Didn't uh... call the cops, did ya?"

"No..." The receptionist sighed softly. "You said never to call the police here. We called Ed Junior though... he said you were taking a nap."

Ed stared at the receptionist with his mouth open slightly as he considered if the boy really though he'd been napping this whole time. They hadn't bothered to discuss his disappearance, or his return when he'd gotten home, things just picked up where the left off. "Yes. A nap." He nodded. "Everything run smoothly while I was gone?"

The receptionist stared at him in disbelief for a moment, clearly she didn't think he'd been napping this whole time. Though she seemed to let the matter go. "Uh, there was some clients who refused to talk with anyone but you, and one of the-"

"Write me up the notes. Leave 'em on my desk, alright Darlene? I'll get it all back in workin' order again, just need ta walk the floor." Ed turned and headed down the hall, a large grin on his face. It was good to be back in charge instead of being toted around in a cardboard box and relying on Mark and his people. It was a long day of getting things back in order, and when he finally sat down, he popped his cowboy boots up on the desk and groaned. Something was missing. His factory was filled with yes men, even the babies were obedient and he almost missed the friction of people harassing him about whether or not his business was ethical. Mostly, he missed the look on Jackieboy Man's face any time he declared that selling babies was a legitimate job. A notification popped up on his computer and he leaned in, opening his email.

A message from Google, with a link to a discord and simply the words, "They miss you too.". A shudder ran down Ed's back as he glanced at the clock. Technically he was done for the day, and he didn't want to go home anyway. Dropping his feet to the floor, he leaned in, opening discord.

In another pat of the city, Dr. Iplier smiled at the receptionist as he entered his office. "Good morn-"

"I didn't dream that!" The woman cried out, eyeing him intensely.

"That I was five inches tall?" Dr. Iplier tilted his head. "Of course you did. How could I have possibly been so tiny. I'm sorry I was out for so long with my..." The doctor sighed, eyes drifting off to the left as he thought. "... family... emergency..." He fumbled through as he looked back to the still wide eyed woman. "But I most certainly didn't shrunk." He tapped his hand on top of the computer monitor, grinning. "How many deaths?"

"Dr. Iplier, I saw-"

"You had a hallucination. Trust me. I'm a doctor. I was never tiny, neither was Mark. How many deaths?" Dr. Iplier grinned.

The woman let out a frustrated sigh, grabbing her mouse and clicked around a bit. "Three, that were reported."

The doctor nodded, leaning over the desk to look at the monitor. "Still batting 100!" He chuckled contently, as he leaned back again. "And you've started rescheduling appointments?" He asked as he stepped towards his office.

"Yes doctor..." The woman watched him closely as he gave a nod and disappeared into his office. "I know what I saw." She muttered, returning to her work.

Dr. Iplier chuckled at the mess left around his desk. "Nurse!" He screamed out, which the receptionist, who was not a nurse, promptly ignored. "Clean up this mess!" The doctor hollered and the receptionist leaned her head back, curious about what mess he was even on about. She knew better than to bother him though, and allow his 'nurse' to clean it up. Of course, Dr. Iplier didn't really have a nurse, and began to clean up the mess himself. After arranging everything on his desk just the way he liked it, he began watching videos of people getting hurt again. As he found one where the man had clearly broken his ankle, he chuckled until he realized that he wanted to show it to Dr. Schneeplestein and ask what type of break he thought it was.