Atomic Fox #1

How to make enemies and influence friends

Adam looked up from his tablet toward the large building directly ahead of him, which stood just up a set of double sided stairs. He was double checking one last time to make sure he had the right place. "Hmm, Carter Hall. Yup, this is it alright," he said. He always did have a habit talking to himself.

He was alone. Definitely not the situation one wanted to find themselves in on their first day of college. "I'll be fine. I've always managed before just fine..." Adam muttered as he trudged up the stairs. "Why do they have to make these steps so darn big anyway?" But he already knew the answer. The steps were fine, he was just much too short, being barely over four and a half feet tall himself.

He had almost reached the door when it suddenly began raining.

"GAH!" Adam exclaimed as he rushed inside. He absolutely hated getting his fur wet.

He shook his head to dry it quickly, spraying water everywhere. Good thing nobody was around because he hadn't bothered to check first. "Now then, let's see here..." He muttered, consulting his tablet. "First class is World History." he hadn't wanted to take that class, but there were only so many physics and chemistry courses available here at Oceanside College. If he had to take a boring class, it was better to get it done first thing in the morning.

He checked the clock and... "Oh no! I have less than a minute!" Adam exclaimed much too loudly. Good thing everyone had already cleared the hallway.

"Room 404, 404, 404," he chanted, reading the number next to each door as he ran passed. "Why can't I find it!" Finally he did near the end of the hall. He quickly opened the door and raced to the first open desk he could find. His butt hit the seat not a millisecond before the bell sounded.

"So good of you to join us, Mr. Fenex. I was just about to mark you absent," A tall solid black wolf wearing a dress shirt and slacks informed him. "Why did it have to be a wolf..." Adam said under his breath.

"Don't worry, I won't bite. Well, ok there was this one time...but I digress. If you didn't already know, my name is Mr. Black."

Really? That's so unoriginal! Adam made sure to keep his mouth shut this time. He supposed he should consider himself lucky he hadn't offended Mr. Black though. Wolves always did have extremely good hearing and Adam well knew this. Maybe he wouldn't be so bad after all?

"Now, open up your tablets and I'll bring up our lesson for the day." Everyone complied and he pressed a button on his own larger tablet, which was hard to see because it was as dark as their teacher's fur.

"Alright then. As all of you know, sixty five years ago military scientists from several governments conducting research to enhance their soldiers inadvertently unleashed a plague on humanity. Nowadays human-animal hybrids are common place, but there was a time when they were unheard of.

"As the virus spread the initial response was to quarantine the afflicted. The populace was terrified of the sudden proliferation of- at the time- strange looking creatures all over the world directly in their midst. The internment camps continued for five terrible years. Now, does anyone know what brought an end to that?"

Many students immediately raised their hands, or paws. The question wasn't exactly a hard one after all.

"Rufus?" Mr. Black said, pointing over the heads of all the students towards the back of the class. Adam turned to look and immediately wished he hadn't.

Sitting their surrounded on all sides by other slightly smaller wolves was a massive red and black furred monstrosity. Yikes! Adam spun around almost immediately and glued his eyes firmly to the front of the room.

"Come on teach, everyone knows us wolves banded together and threatened to break out and start a massacre if they didn't let us go on their own."

"Ah, but that's only part of the story, and the wolves were hardly all their was to it. Does anyone have anything else to add to Mr. Scarlet's version of events?"

Adam was hardly about to say anything, even though he knew full well what had actually happened. He looked down at his tablet and hoped he wouldn't be called on. That turned out to be a mistake.

"Mr. Fenex. I bet you can answer this one. Being the only fox here leaves you uniquely qualified I think."

Adam slowly looked up and began speaking.

"What was that Mr. Fenex? I didn't quite catch that," Mr. Black interjected.

Somebody snickered from the back of the room. Adam didn't need to look to know who it was.

Incensed, Adam continued much more loudly, "fine. Sure the wolves were getting pretty restless, but it was the foxes who actually figured out a real solution that didn't involve going on a suicide attack against the humans who still outnumbered us at the time by quite a lot. We managed to convince the humans to allow us to resettle into individual enclaves all over the world in peace."

"Though it pains me to admit it, Mr. Fenex is quite right. Back then right after the change, wolves were still half mad with feral instinct. But those days are far behind us now. In modern times, we're very much in control...usually," Mr. Black finished by flashing a toothy smile. I sure hope he's just putting on an act.

Adam looked again towards the back of the room. Rufus was staring a hole through him. Surely he couldn't possibly be mad, could he?

Class continued, but honestly Adam had learned all of this stuff before he even started high-school and found it boring. Doubly so since he wasn't even a history buff. Class did eventually end, and when it did Adam made a point to leave as quickly as possible.

He got halfway down the hall before he heard it. "Hey FOX!"

Adam slowed but kept walking, hoping he'd just let him go. No such luck.

"Hey, I'm talking to you fox!"

Suddenly more wolves showed up from ahead of him, preventing any escape. Damn wolves and their pack instincts.

Adam turned and looked at Rufus, but was sure to keep his eyes low so it wouldn't be taken as a challenge. It didn't help.

"You embarrassed me in there along with the rest of us wolves. I think I should teach you a lesson, hmm?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean too. Please just let me go."

"What do you think guys? Should we let the poor little fox go?" None of the other wolves said anything. Surprisingly Rufus lifted a paw ahead of himself and waved it side to side as if to clear the hall. The other wolves slowly stepped out of the way.

This is too easy. Though he doubted they actually meant to let him leave, Adam turned and slowly walked away. He made it to the first wolf on his right side before he was tripped and they piled on him.

"Get em!" Rufus shouted. Adam barely even heard it though, it was all he could do to cover his head as they began kicking him. Even these bullies knew better than to use their claws or they'd end up jailed for it. Laws on that sort of thing were really strict.

It seemed like the beating continued for several minutes, but it was probably a lot less before Adam heard a grunt, followed by the sound of something being slammed into the lockers that lined the hall. Amazingly the rain of blows stopped almost immediately. Adam then heard growling. Still terrified, he raised his head just enough to see what was going on.

An enormous grey and black furred bear had Rufus pinned to the wall with a massive paw planted firmly into this chest. The wolves began to surround him then. One moved in to strike, but with his free paw the bear struck him, sending him down hard. Then he threw Rufus down on top of him.

The other wolves stared at him dumbfounded, unsure of what to do next. The bear solved that dilemma for them by unleashing a deafening roar that even sent Adam cowering against the nearest wall. They ran away quickly then, literally with their tails between their legs.

"Yeah, that's right. Pick on somebody your own size next time!" The bear called after them.

Then the bear lowered one of his monstrous paws to Adam, "you alright?" He asked as he helped him to his feet.

"Uh...uh...I think so. Thanks!"

"Name's Barry by the way. Wolves always thinking they're the big dogs around here trying to run things. They got numbers I'll give em that, but you just can't beat us bears for raw power," to punctuate this Barry actually struck a pose and flexed his muscles. Adam had to suppress the urge to laugh because how ridiculously fat Barry was, though of course he had muscles to match even if they weren't very well toned.

"I'm Adam. Foxes don't have much in the way of either numbers or muscles truth be told."

"It's fine, you make up for it in other ways. Some of us gotta be smart ya know."

"Well...yeah that's true."

"You know it. Anyway, you should stand up for yourself next time no matter if you think you can beat em or not. Wolves can smell fear after all and once they've got your scent forget about it."

"You're right. I should have known better than to let him push me around. But he's so much bigger than me. I don't think it would have really made a difference what I did."

"Won't know till you try. Anyway I have some good news. We're roomies! That's actually why I'm here. I couldn't find you earlier to tell you."

"Oh..uhm that's good I guess."

"You guess? Who could have possible been better than a bear!"

"Idk, I was kinda hoping for somebody who wasn't three times my size though..."

"Hey, noting wrong with being big. Actually I kinda wish I were even bigger," Barry patted his over-sized belly with one of his paws for effect.

Surely he's joking, right?

Adam must have been cringing because Barry laughed, "don't worry little buddy. I'm on your side after all."

"Yeah, thanks for that. I'm just..."

The bell rang, interrupting Adam.

"Oh no, I better hurry or I'm going to be late to class!"

"Don't be so dramatic. What's a few points on the first day anyway?"

"Bye!" Adam said as he hurried away.

"Hmm, he's gotta learn to relax. Those foxes have entirely too much energy," Barry said, mostly to himself as Adam left him all alone in the hall.

**********

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully for Adam. Rufus didn't seem to share any other classes with him, and neither did many of his wolf buddies. It wasn't until the last class of the day that anything else interesting happened.

"Hmm, Advanced Physics. Been waiting for this one all day," Adam smiled, pushing the door open.

He sat down in his seat, thankfully early this time. In fact he was briefly alone with the aging professor who sat behind his desk engrossed in his tablet. Out of all of his teachers the professor was only the second human.

"Your reputation precedes you Adam. I don't usually make a habit of learning much more than the names of my students before the first day, but you've impressed me. You may be the most brilliant student to ever sit in my class."

"Uhm...thanks I suppose."

"Hmm. Well, you foxes always were a modest bunch. Though I've met a few exceptions...anyway you deserved the compliment. What, with your perfect scores on nearly every major test you may be more qualified than I am to teach this class," the professor said with a chuckle.

Adam was sure he was blushing. He was very thankful to have a face full of fur right about now. Though it did nothing to conceal his squirming.

The professor laughed out loud this time, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," he said, standing up and walking over to Adam's desk at the front of the class. He extended a hand and Adam offered his paw a bit reluctantly."

"Vernon Von Klaus, at your service. But you can call me Vern if you like."

"Uhm, I think I'll stick with professor...professor."

"Suit yourself. I expect great things from you Adam," the professor said as he headed back to his desk.

"Why is that?"

The question seemed to bring him up short, as he briefly stopped walking. "Ah, just those scores are so impressive and all. I'm sure your parents would be proud."

"Well my mom is, but I've never even meet my dad."

"He was a good fox, kid. Don't let anyone tell you different."

"Wait, you knew him? How?"

The first bell sounded and students began piling into the room, putting an end to any further inquiry Adam might have made.

Though he was normally very attentive whenever physics were concerned, Adam could hardly concentrate on anything except what the professor had told him. He never knew his father and assumed he had just abandoned him and his mom as a kit, but then why would the professor call him a good fox after that? He had to know, but the professor left even before the students did at the end of class and Adam never got a chance to continue their discussion. He followed after him as quickly as possible but wasn't able to catch up to him.

Dejected, Adam made his way to the dormitory. Room 66, which was a bit ominous, but he supposed it might have been worse.

Barry was already there waiting for him dressed in a blue and yellow hawaiian shirt.

"Oh, hey there buddy. I was just on my way out to party on the beach! Wanna come?"

"Can't, got too much studying to do."

"You actually study? Come on, you're supposed to have fun in college. Ya know, wild parties, loud music, eating as much food as you can until you pass out....well that last part might just be a bear thing I guess."

"You go ahead and enjoy yourself. Maybe next time."

"Well ok then. Be back by about twelve," Barry said, looking behind him as he strolled out of the room.

_Midnight? Is he serious? _

Adam turned his attention to more pressing matters, those being getting as far ahead of his physics class as he could. He just needed to grab his tablet and then...Oh no.

He immediately realized what he had done. In his haste to catch up with the professor he had left it in class. He had to go back for it, those things weren't cheap and it had all of his notes besides.

He raced back and found the room empty with the lights off. He gingerly cracked the door and peered inside. His tablet was sitting just where he had left it. He opened the door completely, went in, and grabbed it from his desk. Before he turned to leave however he saw a flicker at the back of the room. Adam looked closer. A broom closet stood slightly ajar. A strange blue light seemed to strobe from the small crack between the door and it's frame.

Adam knew he should go, but his curiosity got the better of him and he timidly approached that door. The light he saw seemed to be getting stronger. Adam opened it and stepped inside. He soon realized this was no broom closet. Somehow the professor had a full fledged laboratory hidden away inside the school.

Various lab stations with advanced equipment were scattered about the room. Adam knew what some of them were, but many of them were a mystery. What quickly drew his attention however was the source of all of that blue light he had been seeing. Suspended in the center of the room between several concentric rings was a brilliantly glowing blue orb. It seemed incredibly unstable, constant shifting it's volume, density and incredibly it's mass as well.

It was hard to tell, but Adam considered that what he was seeing violated the laws of physics as he understood them. So consumed by his curiosity was he that he walked towards the orb, heedless of any danger it may pose. I have to know.

He got about five feet from it before he heard the professor shout at him, "Adam, NO! Get away from..."

It was too late. One moment Adam was standing there transfixed by the orb, the next he was flat on his back with the professor standing over him trying frantically to get his attention.

"ADAM! Are you ok? Please, talk to me!"

"Ugh. What happened" Adam asked Groggily. Spots were swimming in front of his eyes and he had difficulty seeing anything just then.

"It's complicated, even for you I'm afraid. You interrupted a very important experiment. I must have left the door open. It would have locked automatically and kept anyone out otherwise. This is my fault. I don't know what to say."

"Who are you Professor? Why do you have a lab here of all places?"

"I guess I owe you this much. A long time ago I was known as....V Prime."

Adam coughed, and he knew it had little to do with his current condition. "V prime! The leader of G-force? I've heard so many stories about you and your team. You were heroes! But they all say you guys are dead and gone."

"I'm afraid rumors of my demise are only slightly exaggerated. Some of us are still around, but I no longer have any powers, nor any other member of G-force. I was hoping to fix that problem, but now I may have created a new one."

"Uhm...what do you mean a new problem?" Adam asked.

"Like I said, it's complicated. But you were exposed to a form of exotic matter I was trying to experiment on. The stuff has properties we barely understand. What I do know is it's the reason we all lost our powers in the first place. I thought by studying it I could learn to reverse that."

Adam looked up slowly, "what is it going to do to me."

"Hopefully nothing. I've been exposed a few times myself by mistake to no ill effect other than my power loss the first time. As you have no powers, it shouldn't do a thing to you at all. How do you feel?"

"Better. I guess I don't really notice any difference."

"That's a relief. You should run along. Don't say a word about any of this please. I'm trusting you here. Can I count on you?"

"Sure professor. Your secret is safe with me."

"Wonderful. Call me if ANYTHING happens. I'm serious. You should be fine, but if you're not I need to know immediately."

"Ok. But about my dad..."

The professor held up his hand, "another time. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but trust me it's for the best if I don't say anything right now."

Adam sighed, "fine, but you have to tell me eventually V pri..."

"Don't call me that. EVER!"

"Sorry, professor, but I've never met a celebrity before. I guess I better get back to the dorm. I have a lot of studying to do and..."

"If it's for my class don't worry about it. Take the night off," he said, waving his hand.

"But, I like studying."

"Doctor's orders."

"Uhm, that doesn't work if you're not a MEDICAL doctor, professor."

"Ok, fine then smarty pants. If I find out you stayed up all night studying, I'm flunking you."

"Um...um...ok...no studying tonight then. I promise."

"That's a good fox. Now you best be going. Goodnight Adam."

**********

Adam pressed open the door to his dorm room. It was dark inside as he expected. It wasn't even quite 8 o'clock on a Friday night, so Barry was probably not coming back anytime soon.

He flopped down on his bed and opened up his pad, "sorry V, but I need to know what that stuff was. Doesn't really count as studying if it's not class work anyway.

He began flipping through everything he could find on "exotic matter," but nothing even close to what he had seen was in any of his notes. He considered the internet, but before he could even open a browser he suddenly felt incredibly weak.

I think I better call the professor... but he never got the chance.

**********

Adam knew he had fallen asleep as soon as he woke up the next morning. He could see sunlight through his covers. That was odd, he never pulled those over his head. He brushed them off...or at least he tried to, but when his paw made contact with them they barely moved. It felt like punching a punching bag instead of trying to move some blankets.

Adam began to panic as he was slightly claustrophobic. He tried everything to push or pull the covers away from him but they wouldn't budge. It was like they weighed more then he did, which was of course ridiculous.

I have to calm down. They aren't tight, they just won't move. I can breath well enough. I'm ok for the moment.

And he did calm down a bit. Then he tried something that shouldn't have been remotely possible. He sat up while still under his blankets. His ears just barely brushed them as he reached a fully upright position.

Aha. Barry is holding them on me or something. Must be some kind of silly prank. Well I'll show him!

Adam turned around to face what he figured was the head of his bed and move towards it as quickly as possible while half crouching. He kept moving, but even though he should have walked the length of the bed three times over he never did reach the end. It was as if he was walking on a treadmill.

Finally he walked faster, which was probably going to result in bashing his head into the nearest wall, but at this point the wasn't sure what else to do. After nothing changed he finally ran for all he was worth.

_This is getting ridiculous, what is going... _

And then Adam saw daylight as the covers disappeared from overhead. It blinded him though and he couldn't see where he was going as he ran right into the wall.

"Oomph!"

Only this wall wasn't very hard. His whole body seemed to press into it before it lightly pushed him back. He landed on his backside back on the bed.

He got a good look at the wall he had just run into then. It was composed of white fabric and...this can't be happening.

Adam looked straight up. The "wall" was about ten feet high by his estimation, though if his hunch was correct his estimations would soon be proven meaningless. Adam turned his head to the right so slowly he almost didn't move it at all. He really did not want to see what he expected to.

But he did. On the other side of the room, which now seemed a colossal distance to his eyes lay Barry, asleep on his own bed. Only instead of being three times bigger than Adam was, Barry was now hundreds of times his size. There was no doubt about it, somehow Adam had been reduced to the size of an insect.

"I can't believe this. No, wait, actually I can and that should probably scare me more than being two inches tall does right about now..."