Atomic Fox #4

It was early Sunday morning when Barry finally woke up from his tranquilizer induced "nap." Adam had been by his friend's side since he had returned to the dorm last night and found him lying there in his bed. The professor must have brought him back somehow.

He felt bad about just leaving him in the lab like he did, but it's not like he could have moved him anyway. And he wasn't about to shrink him again just for that. The last thing he wanted was for Barry to wake up during that.

His friend sat up in bed and saw that Adam was watching him, "oh, hey buddy. I had this awful nightmare. You know what? Nevermind. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm off to the beach instead."

Barry got out of bed, but as soon as he stood up he froze, "woah. I don't really remembered what I did last night, but I must have eaten something really good! I feel twenty pounds heavier!" Barry said, alternately slapping his stomach with both paws, finishing with a double slap. He smiled and left his paws there before looking down at them. Then he shook his belly up and down a few times. _The professor wasn't lying, he seems completely obsessed with his size and weight. _

Even though his behavior might be a little strange to him, Adam liked seeing his friend happy like this. Maybe I should just not say anything and let him keep thinking he had just dreamed the whole thing up.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine. You go enjoy yourself before class tomorrow."

Barry tilted his head to the side, "wait...what? Today is Saturday you silly fox."

"Fraid not. You were pretty worn out the other night. I think you slept all day and night. Must be another bear thing, right?"

"Uhm, no. We don't hibernate. What's going on here."

Adam sighed, "you already know what happened."

"You mean I wasn't dreaming after all?"

"Sorry."

"Then that means...Adam are you alright!"

"Me? Yeah I'm just fine. It's you I'm worried about."

Barry flopped back down onto his bed, "last thing I remember I was squeezing the life out of you. I...I don't understand why I did that," he said, looking down at his feet.

"The professor explained it to me. He said you couldn't help yourself. I know you Barry, you'd never have done that in your right mind."

"It doesn't matter. I still did it."

"Listen, I forgive you. Please don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm fine."

"I'm glad you're ok buddy, but I'm not. I need a beer or something."

Adam hopped up from the bed. "Really? I can take care of that for you. You just wait right here."

"You can't bring alcohol into the dorm. I'll just go to the beach like I planned and get a couple martinis or something."

"Don't worry, I got everything under control. It's really no problem at all," Adam said, placing his paw on the doorknob.

"Fine, I didn't much feel like going out now anyway."

"Be right back!"

Adam hurried out of the room, went outside and found the nearest convenience store to the campus. He picked up a single beer, took it to the cashier and after flashing his ID he was out of there in no time.

Ok, now for the fun part.

Adam took the beer in hand and ducked out of sight behind the store. As soon as he was sure nobody was around to see it he shrunk the can down to the size of a thimble before pocketing it.

"There, now nobody is ever going to know any different," he said before hurrying off back to the dorm. Had he been paying better attention he might have noticed the same grey-furred wolf Rufus had been talking to yesterday had just seen everything, but Adam was preoccupied by his concern for Barry and he continued on blissfully unaware...

**********

"I'm back!" Adam exclaimed as he closed the door to their room.

"I don't see any beer."

"Oh don't worry. I have it," Adam said as he fished in his pocket. It took him longer than he expected. When he finally found the can, he held it up for Barry to see, "I hope you like microbrews!"

"Well, your stupid size puns are at least slightly less annoying being as though I'm not small anymore. I hope you don't think that tiny can is going to do any good for me though."

"How drunk did you plan to get anyway? About how many beers you think you'll need?"

"Maybe twenty? Why?"

Adam stepped over to the table that sat on the back wall between their two beds and placed the can on it.

"Alright Barry, it's probably best for you to stand behind me. Just in case I mess this up again."

Barry jumped up off of his bed and hurried out of the way, "what are you doing?

Rather than answer Adam pointed his finger at the can and zapped it. It instantly grew into the biggest bear can he had ever seen.

Barry's jaw flopped open "oh my...Thanks buddy!"

"Anytime. You can still lift it, right?"

"Just watch me!" Barry exclaimed, rushing over to the table. He grabbed the can, popped the top and promptly began guzzling it.

"Uhm, think you might want to slow down just a little?"

His friend ignored him and kept going until he had the can tilted fully vertical, then he slammed it back down onto the table and wiped his mouth. From the sound of it he had drunk the entire thing.

"Ah, much better. Don't worry, I can handle twenty beers easy."

"Uh oh."

"What's the problem?"

"Well, I just calculated the volume of the can based on it's new height. I...um...kinda overdid it."

"You what? How much beer did I just drink..."

"About two cases worth."

"Two cases! You can't be shherious."

"You better hurry up and lie down big guy...while you still can."

"Ya know, dats a good idea. I fink I'll do dat..."

Barry promptly fell over and only half landed on his bed. Adam supposed it would have to do.

He spoke again, which was a surprise. He should have been unconscious by now. "Adam. I'm so soowwy, dat I hurt you....I..." and then he really was asleep

"Pleasant dreams Barry."

As Adam stood there contemplating what to do next, the door flew open and several wolves burst into the room. He tried to fight them off but it was hopeless. They shoved a bag over his head, tied his hands and then lifted him up, carrying him away.

Adam was powerless to do anything. He couldn't even seem to shrink any of them. It must have been too soon after he had zapped that beer.

He felt himself being pushed facedown into the backseat of a vehicle of some sort. Next he heard several doors slam shut. Then the engine started and he soon heard tires squealing as they raced away.

Adam wasn't totally sure where they were taking him, but he could guess. Since he had been abducted by wolves, he suspected Rufus would be behind it. But the real question was why. This seemed a lot of trouble to go through over that incident in the hallway the other day.

Adam felt his power return as he lay there. He could have probably tried to do something right then, but he couldn't see anything which made that very risky. He decided to wait and see where they were taking him, and why.

He didn't have to wait long. The vehicle stopped after only a few minutes. He heard several doors open, then one right next to him. He was pulled out roughly and forced to walk a short distance, but then they stopped.

Next he heard two quick knocks, followed by a deadbolt being slid to the side and a lock being turned. A door was opened, but probably not very far from the sound of the chain jingling as it drew taught.

"Who is it."

"Special delivery for the boss," came the reply from just behind him.

Adam knew that voice. His captor was the same grey-furred wolf Rufus had sent to find him yesterday.

He heard the door open fully as he was pushed inside. Then he was marched a bit further before being shoved down into a chair. It was only then that the bag came off of his head.

Adam looked around and took stock of his surroundings immediately. He was inside the living room of a small house from the look of it. The first thing he noticed is the entire place was a wreck. It was as is someone had destroyed all the furniture and then started on the walls next. Massive claw marks were everywhere, much bigger than they should have been. Something strange had happened here and Adam suspected he wasn't going to like whatever it turned out to be.

He didn't have to wait long for his explanation. Rufus strode into the room and wasted no time.

"Alright fox, if you want to walk out of here in one piece you're going to explain to me how I did all this," Rufus said, gesturing all around the room they were in.

I need to pump him for information. Time to play dumb.

"If you did it then why would you need me to explain it for you? Seems pretty simple anyway. You just decided to trash your own place. I guess Barry making a fool out of your entire pack made you real mad or something."

Rufus was practically snarling, "you better watch your mouth if you know what's good for you. I'm in with some really powerful people now. Even if I kill you I'll probably get away with it. Don't piss me off."

Hmm, there's only one group he could mean. The Syndicate. Why would they be interested in Rufus though?

"Now, you're going to tell me how I got so big and you're going to do it right now."

What? Could Rufus have my power too? This is bad...real bad.

"What are you even talking about? Your old enough by now Rufus that you should know how that thing works. Unless you can't find it..."

Rufus raised his paw and slashed Adam right across the left side of his face. It stung enough that he knew he had drawn blood.

"I'm aiming the next one for your throat. I was right behind you the other night when that blue light thing hit you. It went through you and hit me too. My associate here just watched you shrink a beer can not twenty minutes ago. You're going to tell me how you did that, or I'm going to kill you.

I can't tell him. If he figures this out then he's going to kill a lot more people than just me. I'm going to have to...

"Oh, you mean that size changing thing? It's kinda complicated. Maybe it would be best if I just showed you instead!"

Adam didn't have the use of his hands, but he didn't need them to increase his own size anyway. He pushed, and the next thing he knew he was sitting on the ruins of the chair with his head pressed hard against the ceiling. The rope binding his hands had snapped and he was free.

"Ugh, my head. I think maybe I'm just a bit too big for this place Rufus. Next time you have me over for a chat I think we'll just stay outside."

The look on Rufus' face was priceless. Adam went down on all fours, which is all the height he could manage in the suddenly confined space and pushed both Rufus and the nearest wolf into the wall with his forepaws. They reminded him of the plastic soldiers he used to play with as a kid, only uglier.

Adam smiled, "now, you were saying something about...?"

"Can't...breath..."

It was only when he heard the sickening snap of bone that Adam understood he was crushing both of them without even realizing it. He recoiled in horror at what he had done, releasing the two of them and placing his forepaws on the ground for leverage before giving the wall behind him a forceful kick with both legs. It collapsed easily and he rolled himself out of the building through the hole he had made and into the street.

As Adam stood up to his full height, more wolves appeared and began to surround him from all sides. They kept their distance though. I have to get out of here before this gets any more out of hand.

He turned to the side and ran for all he was worth then. The wolves had surrounded him completely and he was forced to jump over them. He wasn't used to being this size, so he only put as much force into his jump as he would have normally needed to clear them. It wasn't even close to enough and he caught one of them in the face with a footpaw. Though Adam shifted his weight as much as possible to his other leg as soon as he could, he still came down on him hard, knocking him to the ground on his back laying face up and trampling him.

Hmm, that was Grey-fur. And here I was worried about him crushing ME just yesterday.

Adam looked back and did something unexpected, to the wolves anyway, "Sorry about that!" He yelled. Then he saw his unfortunate victim rise to his feet, and hoped that meant he'd be ok. None of the wolves moved to follow him.

He was at least twenty feet tall now and quickly attracting attention. He had to shrink himself before he ended up surrounded by news helicopters and police cars, but he needed more time before he could do it.

I need to get out of sight for a few minutes and then I can shrink back to normal.

He had an idea. He ran over to the nearest sturdy building- ironically the headquarters of the Oceanside Daily, which was the number one newspaper in the city- and decided to climb to the top. Adam dug his claws into the masonry and pulled himself up. He grimaced as he dislodged bricks and mortar from the walls which crashed onto the street below. At least two vehicles were damaged, but thankfully they seemed to be unoccupied.

He completed his climb and laid down on the top of that roof, trying hard to distribute his weight evenly so it didn't collapse.

With nothing left to do but wait, he had no choice but to look back on what had just happened. The memory of realizing he had been crushing those two terrified him. He wasn't even sure how badly he had hurt them. How could I have been so stupid.

Mercifully Adam felt his power return and grant him a reprieve from his thoughts. He promptly reduced his size, not just to normal, but much smaller than that. He found he didn't have to wait long at all to recharge after he did this. Apparently shrinking was much less taxing on his abilities than growing, which only made sense.

The next thing Adam did was to stand up and run over to the edge of the roof. He realized quite quickly that he'd have saved himself a lot of time if he had done that before he shrank himself. He had to climb up a bit of a lip on the side of the building as well before he could look out over the ledge. When he did he located the college campus in the distance. Luckily it wasn't very far.

This is a bit further down than jumping off of my bed, but the principle is the same.

Adam let himself fall forward off of the building and entered free fall. Pointing straight down with almost no drag he gained a frightening amount of speed, but he knew by now how to control his decent from his prior experiences doing this. He spread his arms and legs as before to slow himself. This time however he used his tail like a rudder to change direction so he was now facing his destination.

I need to do this more often. It's so much fun!

He found himself pulling away from the building at a good speed despite his size and was halfway back to his dorm before he hit the ground and quickly made himself normal sized again.

Adam walked the rest of the way there, which he now found incredibly boring. When he finally got back to his room he checked in on Barry, who was still sleeping soundly just where he had left him.

I have to go see the professor. If Rufus has powers like mine it's only a matter of time before he figures them out on his own. We need to come up with a plan to deal with him.

He made his way to the lab, then did the only thing he could think to get inside and knocked on the door. The professor opened it quickly.

"I knew you'd be back. We have a lot of work to do. Come on."

"Wait for me!"

Adam looked behind him, "Barry? How are you even vertical right now!"

"Very carefully. My head is killing me, but that was some great beer. Just next time maybe a bit smaller. Or you could maybe make me a little bigger and..."

"Not happening."

Barry looked disappointed, but said nothing more.

"Will you two hurry up and get in here already?" The professor interjected.

They made their way into the lab, which Adam noted was still pretty torn up.

"Did I do all this?" Barry asked as he surveyed the damage.

"No, I did all of this. This one is on me for making you that big in the first place," Adam replied quickly.

"Did it occur to the both of you that it's nobody's fault? Barry wasn't ready for that kind of size, and Adam, you had next to no experience with your powers. This will not be the last time something goes wrong either, trust me. You best get used to it. You're a team now."

The two of them looked at the professor, then at each other.

"A team?" They both said in unison.

"Yes, a TEAM. I'll level with you. We had a member of G-force with these exact powers. He had to partner with someone because he couldn't function at a small size. It drove him crazy. Adam, I suspect you don't like being big, so that's what Barry is here for.

He couldn't possibly know about earlier, could he?

"You got that right professor. It would suite me just fine if I never had to do that again."

"Wait, you've already done it? Tell me everything."

Adam explained what had happened after Barry fell asleep to his companions. From the wolves kidnapping him up till when he had turned himself into a giant to escape from them.

"Oh my. This is worse than I thought. If Rufus was caught in the same energy as you then he has to be stopped, and soon. You cannot imagine how dangerous he is."

"I think I have some idea," Adam said, pointing out the dried blood on his face.

"That bastard! I'll kill him!" Barry roared.

"No, it's ok. Calm down big guy. I think I did worse to him anyway. I didn't mean to. I was just trying to have a little fun with him and his friend as payback for bullying me. I'm sure I broke something though. He'll be laid up for a couple of weeks at least. Should give us time to figure out how to stop him. Well without killing him anyway."

Barry smiled, "heh, he had it coming. You should have shrunk him and left him like that...forever."

"I can't do that Barry. It's wrong."

"I know, I know. I wasn't being serious. But you're still too nice fox. Did you seriously apologize for running one of them over?"

Maybe I should have left that part out.

The professor huffed, "anyway as I was saying, you're partners. You two will be training together starting next weekend,"

"Wait, you mean I get to be BIG! Can we just skip class tomorrow and do it then? Please!?"

Both Adam and the professor looked at Barry and shook their heads.

"Aww. It's going to be murder waiting a whole week, but I'll manage! Thanks for giving me the chance guys. I won't let you down."

"Well just have to see about that. Now I need to talk a few things over with your friend here...in private."

"Fine. I'm going to go celebrate. Cya later Adam," Barry replied as he walked out of the lab.

Adam watched him go. He just drank two cases worth of bear and he is going to go celebrate?

"So I take it you've reconsidered my offer then?" The professor asked.

"It doesn't look like I have much of a choice now. Don't think I'm happy about it. But yeah, I'll join your team under one condition."

His teacher crossed his arms, "oh really? And what condition might that be?"

"We're so changing the name. G-force? For real? Who came up with that crap anyway? It's awful!"

"Actually, I did."

"Oh. Uhm...this is awkward. But seriously Vern, we need a new name. That one is so generic it even starts with a g."

"What did you have in mind?"

"How about...GIGA?"

"Adam, that not only also starts with G, it has another G in it and is only four letters."

"I know right, it's perfect. See the two G's cancel each other out and..." Adam sighed, "yeah, you're right. That one's even worse."

"Look, if you can bring me a better name we'll change it, ok? I know perfectly well how bad the current one is. Trust me, I spent years listening to the media cracking jokes about it. Even so, we have more pressing matters to discuss at the moment."

"I'm listening."

"It's time for a little history lesson. It's probably best if I start at the beginning. I originally formed this team to oppose super-powered villains. We had a good run. We kept the world safe from the worst of what those individuals could do. Even if we didn't capture the strongest of them, we kept them in check, showing up again and again to thwart their schemes."

"Sounds like thing's were going well. So what happened?

"The villains got smart and formed a team of their own. Oh sure they were disloyal and no doubt each planned to betray the other at their earliest convenience, but they worked together well enough when it came to their common enemy, that being us. They were a lot more powerful than we were back then, and once they joined forces we were pushed back. It wasn't long before they started slowly carving up the world into various holdings for themselves. We did what we could to stem the tide, but that just made them angry. Finally they had enough of our continued meddling and struck at us openly with their full force.

"We were facing total defeat. Had they won that battle the world would have been plunged into anarchy and chaos. I couldn't let that happen. Fortunately I had been preparing for just such a contingency for some time."

"What did you do exactly? The situation sounds pretty grim, yet you clearly survived."

"I had created a weapon of last resort from the exotic matter. It was originally meant to be used on the villains alone, but they had us completely surrounded before I could complete it. Faced with no other choice, we decided to detonate the weapon as they stormed our base and all of us were exposed to it's effects. It worked better than I could have imagined."

"What did it do exactly?"

"It stripped our powers. With all of the villains gathered into one area the world was saved from them, for the moment. After that G-force was neither needed nor capable of functioning as a group anymore, so we all went into early retirement."

"All the stories are making sense now. But with no villains left, why the secret lab? And why recruit me?"

"Because Adam, super powers are usually genetic. We stopped one generation of villains, but now a new generation has been born to replace them. The world won't have long before it sees the first of these. We need new heroes to stand against them."

"Wait, if super powers are genetic then that means my dad..."

The professor placed a hand on Adam's shoulder, "yes that's right. Your father is, or at least was, a member of my team. He was a hero."

"Really? That's wonderful! Where is he now? Can I see him?"

"You will in time. He is in hiding, along with the rest of us."

"Hiding from who? I thought you dealt with the villains?"

"We took their powers, but they still live. And so does their team. You probably know of them as The Syndicate. Stripped of their abilities, they moved into organized crime. It's not exactly world domination but still they are quite powerful. Your father has been on the run from them for years. That's why he never came back, because he would have put you in danger."

"The Syndicate is already after me anyway. Rufus is working for them. I'm sure of it. There's no reason for dad to stay away from me anymore"

"I'll talk to him, but I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet. He's got a lot of work to do of his own."

"I don't suppose you'll be telling me what that is."

"No. I will only say that it's vitally important. I know this is a lot to take in Adam. Did you have any other questions? I'll answer them if I can."

"Just one. Do I get a cool super hero name?"

"That's up to you. Your father thought it was silly and didn't bother. I don't mind, but if you do want one then you'll be coming up with it on your own. As you probably already noticed I'm awful with names."

"Thanks professor. I'll think it over. Something will come to me eventually I'm sure," Adam sighed, "until then I've got studying to catch up on. Goodbye."

"Goodbye Adam."