Part 4
Wonder Woman peered down at the tiny half-conscious figure floating in the toilet bowl amid the remnants of her breakfast that she had just expunged.
“Mouse Man? Is that you? Merciful Athena, were you…inside me?”
Milton blinked slightly and shook himself back to full attention. His costume was now little more than a few gray tatters hanging off his body and his skin had been burned a deep purple by the heroine’s stomach acids. He was wracked with pain, more severe than any he had felt thus far on this caper, and he was certain he could see bone through patches of skin that had been partially eaten through.
“So…” he croaked up at the startled female face looming above. “…you’ve decided to spare me after all, eh, Amazon? Commendable, though it will ultimately avail you nothing. I tire of your toying with me. Let us finish this here and now!”
“Toying with you?” Wonder Woman was more puzzled than before. “I haven’t been—Wait a minute. How long have you been following me?”
“Ha!” the Mouse Man laughed. “Feign ignorance all you want! I will still destroy you, Diana. Or should I say…Ms. Prince?!”
“How do you know who—Never mind that now,” Diana said. “We need to get you medical attention.”
Grabbing a paper towel, the woman reached into the bowl and scooped the Mouse Man up in her hand. She held him gingerly but still winced when she heard the shrunken super-villain moan with pain.
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Half an hour later, the Mouse Man found himself in a miniaturized sick bed somewhere in the Justice League’s satellite headquarters. A tiny man no bigger than him stood beside the bed, dressed in a red and blue costume with a cowl over his face. The strange little man had injected something into him with an equally tiny syringe.
“He’s stable,” the Atom said as the Mouse Man began to drift into a peaceful sleep. “I gave him a sedative and something to minimize the pain. But I’m not a medical doctor, Diana. This man is going to need more than I can give him.”
“I know that, Dr. Choi,” Wonder Woman answered. Her (subjectively) gigantic form towered above the table where Ryan Choi (the current Atom) and his miniature patient resided. “But I wasn’t sure who else to turn to. Treating him is understandably difficult due to his size. We can’t put him in just any hospital, especially not with what he knows.”
“I guess that’s where I come in,” said another voice behind them. The two heroes turned to see this new arrival. Standing in the doorway of the infirmary was a tall, stunning brunette woman clad in a magician’s tailcoat and top hat. Fishnet stockings clung to long shapely legs that, from the Atom’s perspective, seemed to extend for miles.
“Zatanna.” Wonder Woman smiled as her friend entered the room. She walked over to the lady magician and clasped hands with her. “Thank you for coming.”
“Nice to see you, Diana,” Zatanna said. She did not return her teammate’s smile. “But I’m not too keen on this favor you’ve asked for.”
“I realize that but I see no other solution,” the Amazon Princess insisted. “This man knows my secret identity.”
“Then maybe you should have picked one that doesn’t sound so much like your other name,” Zatanna shot back.
“Batman set that up,” Wonder Woman protested. “He arranged all the paperwork and got me the job with the Department.”
“Only because he knows you’re all about the truth and couldn’t give someone a false name. Only a slightly altered one,” said Zatanna. “If you could just learn to tell a damn fib, Diana—”
“Ladies, ladies!” the Atom called up to the bickering giantesses, waving his hands over his head. The two towering women stood before the table and turned their attention to the miniature hero, who had grown to about five inches to be more visible. “Let’s calm down a minute! Now…what exactly is this favor you’re talking about?”
“A mindwipe, Atom,” Zatanna said gravely. “Erasing memories.”
The Atom was dumbfounded. “You…you can do that? Wait, of course you can. There was that whole messy business with Dr. Light. And the Injustice Gang. And—”
“And…others,” Zatanna finished, hesitant to say more. “Things spiraled out of control. It’s too much power for any person to have. Not to mention a human rights violation. That’s not what the Justice League is supposed to be about. I swore I’d never do it again.”
“But what else can we do?” Wonder Woman asked. “We can’t send the Mouse Man back to prison with this knowledge.”
“No offense, Diana,” the Atom said, walking over to her hand on the table and leaning casually against the silver bracelet on her wrist. “But why not? You said this guy had been following you for days and you didn’t even notice. You kicked, squashed, stepped on, sat on, and swallowed the poor bastard alive if his ramblings are to be believed. Far be it from me to underestimate a little guy but it doesn’t sound like he’s much of a threat.”
“And what if he shares what he knows with others?” said Wonder Woman. “Someone bigger and stronger, coming to hurt me and those I love. Please, Zee. You have to do this.”
“No!” the lady mage declared. “Out of the question!”
Diana dropped to one knee and bowed her head. “By the grace of Olympus and the spirit of the Earth, I, Diana of Themyscira, pledge myself to your service, Zatanna Zatara. I offer you a boon of your choosing to be collected when you are in great need, if you will but grant me this request.”
For a long, agonizing moment, Zatanna paused and stared at the prostrate Amazon. She then let out a heavy sigh. “You always were a smooth talker, Diana. Fine. One more time. But you owe me.”
Zatanna approached the Mouse Man’s miniscule bed and leaned forward, casting him in her shadow. As the sorceress prepared to work, the Atom quickly hopped onto Wonder Woman’s hand and clambered up to her shoulder.
“I, uh, think I’d better stand back,” he murmured. Wonder Woman smiled at her little passenger and took a cautious step backwards as well.
“First of all,” Zatanna said, “let’s see what we can do about these wounds.” She placed a hand over the Mouse Man’s body, covering it completely with her slender fingers.
“Esuom S’nam seirujni laeh!” she intoned. There was a bright flash and Zatanna gently lifted her hand away. In the blink of an eye, Milton’s color returned to normal and the flesh re-knit over his bones. The acid burns all over his torso healed in mere seconds. Though his costume was still little more than rags, his body was restored. A moment later, the Mouse Man’s eyes sprang open and he looked about in confusion.
“Where am I? Who dares accost the maleficent Mouse Man?”
“Take it easy, Mighty Mouse,” Zatanna told him. “I’m just trying to help.”
“Aha, Wonder Woman can’t defeat me alone so she calls for backup. Is that the game, Amazon?” the Mouse Man said, throwing off the covers and leaping from the bed. “It’s to be two against one?”
“Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” the Atom called from Diana’s shoulder.
“You will not conquer me, Justice League!” The Mouse Man began scurrying across the tabletop.
“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” Zatanna’s massive hand descended towards him but he leaped out of the path of her fingers. As Milton tried to escape, she reached for another target.
“No! Not the tail!”
The Mouse Man dangled upside down in the air, the tail of his uniform grasped firmly between Zatanna’s fingers. He fought and struggled but only succeeded in swinging back and forth ineffectually. The tail added authenticity to his look but it was certainly an inconvenience at times like these.
The magician lifted him up to her large blue eyes. “Listen, Mickey,” she said with a frown. “We’re 22,300 miles above the Earth in geosynchronous orbit. I don’t think you’re going to get very far.”
“You can’t hold me here! I am the Mouse Man! I will annihilate you all!”
“Let’s just get this over with,” Zatanna whispered. She held her other hand in front of the tiny villain’s dangling form and furrowed her brow in concentration. “Esuom Nam…uoy lliw tegrof…Anaid…Ecnirp!”
Milton went limp in her grasp and his eyes glazed over. Again, he shook himself out of his daze. “W-what’s going on? How did I get…I’m…so confused…”
“There,” Zatanna announced curtly. She grabbed Wonder Woman’s arm and roughly deposited the Mouse Man in her palm. “It’s done. I hope you’re happy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a show to get to in Atlantic City.”
“Thank you, Zatanna,” Wonder Woman said. “I am sorry it had to come to this.”
“So am I,” the magician agreed. “But it’s hard to say no to you. You bring out the best in people. And sometimes the worst…” Both women glanced down at the minute figure in Diana’s hand, still scratching his head in bewilderment.
“I can’t help feeling sorry for this poor man,” Wonder Woman said. “Perhaps…perhaps your magic might be able to help his condition?”
Zatanna shook her head. “A chemical formula made him this size. Mixing science and magic is a risky prospect. Besides, I don’t want to fry his brain any more than we already have.” She took several steps away from her teammate and made an elaborate bow. “Catch you on the flipside, kids. And don’t think I won’t be collecting on that boon, Diana. Annataz…raepasid!”
With a small explosion and a puff of smoke, she was gone.
Still delirious, Milton glanced up at the woman who now cradled him in her hand. “Wonder Woman? How did....I can’t seem to…” His expression suddenly shifted to a scowl as something within him changed. “I’m not sure how I got here but I’ll destroy you, you Amazonian harridan!”
Milton jumped to his feet and reached for her, ready to fling himself at the giant woman’s face in fury. Wonder Woman simply closed her hand around him, squeezing him in her fist.
“That’s enough of that, thank you,” she commanded. “Come on, Mouse Man, it’s time to take you home.”
From his perch on her shoulder, the Atom watched the villain struggling and squirming in her grip. “He really doesn’t remember?”
“Let’s hope not,” the Amazon responded. “Atom…do you think I did the right thing?”
“Hard to say, Princess,” said the tiny hero. “But if it’s any consolation…I probably would have done the same.” This did little to relieve the troubled look in the heroine’s eyes as she took her miniature captive towards the teleport bay.
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Milton Raton sat stewing in the oversized psychiatrist’s couch. His two-inch frame was nearly lost in its vast leather folds. The man to whom he now spoke was not his original psychiatrist of course (she no longer found Milton’s condition to be cute or amusing and had asked to be reassigned to Prof. T. O. Morrow instead). Nonetheless, his inane theories and psycho-babble were just as annoying as hers had been.
Milton had been returned to the custody of Haven Correctional Village earlier that week. A day later, he’d learned that an anonymous donor had sent the prison money to fund the search for a cure to his miniaturization. They had even recommended a scientist on the payroll of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. After examining the patient, the scientist was hopeful that Milton’s condition might one day be reversed.
Milton cared little about this. He wasn’t certain how his latest scheme had been thwarted or why the conclusion of it was still a fog in his mind. All he knew was that Wonder Woman had taken something from him. Something vitally important. And he was going to get it back.
“So, Milton, how are you feeling today?” the new psychiatrist inquired.
“Invigorated, doctor,” Milton answered. “My recent experiences have left me refreshed and motivated. I am looking forward to what the future brings.”
“That’s good,” the psychiatrist said, making a note on his pad of paper. “There may be hope for you yet, Dr. Raton.”
The future, Milton thought. Oh, how he relished it. This bourgeois prison and its insipid jailers would not hold him for long. Soon, he would break free. And the Mouse Man would have his revenge!
The End
Giantess World
