The wedding day finally arrived. Rather than a wedding shower (Hank and Jan didn’t need any more stuff) or a bachelorette party, Jan had opted to have a simple breakfast the day of wedding with Sue and Bobbi. Jenny had been invited, but felt awkward at an eating establishment since she couldn’t practically make that work through her suit. Jan made sure to get her run in with Jenny before leaving.
The truth was, Jan wanted the breakfast in part because Sue had traveled so far and arrived barely in time for the rehearsal, and partly so she could avoid alcohol. She had never quite gotten over her slip of the tongue while tipsy that had cost Ant-Man his life. Even with Scott back, she felt that error led indirectly to Cassie’s death. Part of how Jan lived with herself for that error now was to make sure she never made it again.
The three woman had taken the Fantasticar to a simple café in one of L.A.’s trendier neighborhoods. In the interests of time -- it was a late-morning wedding -- Jan had suggested they wear their dresses. For the ceremony. All three women looked spectacular in a simple sheath. Jan’s was floor-length with a thigh-high split seam and a plunging neckline; with her build and current height, she was one of the few women who could outdo Sue and Bobbi. For that matter, Jenny was going to be drawing her share of attention, too.
They were just finishing up their elegant breakfast when sirens began to roar past. Then they heard someone say the tallest building in the city had an upper floor fire.
There was no hesitation. The three long-time super-heroines bolted for the Fantasticar. Jan could fly, but this was probably the fastest way there for Sue, and certainly for Bobbi.
On arrival, Jan approached the incident commander, with Sue and Bobbi close behind. “Wasp, Invisible Woman and Mockingbird reporting, chief,” Jan said. “How can we help?”
The chief nodded. “The biggest issue is getting people out on the upper floors,” he said. “The fires about two-thirds of the way up the building, and the fire exits are blocked by flames.”
“Arson?” Bobbi asked.
“Almost certainly, but the lives are the first priority,” the chief said. “Can you help get folks out.”
Jan nodded. “On our way,” she said.
Sue used a force-field elevator to propel herself up, while Bobbie used the Fantasticar. They worked on getting people out of the south and west sides of the buidling.
Knowing she could save more people by being big, Jan made sure she had the clear stance room and swelled to her full 512-foot height. She was glad now she’d worn the top tights to an old Wasp uniform underneath; with people the size of bugs to her, some could get under even her ankle-length dress.
But the Jan saw something horrific. A massive tongue of flames shot out the top of the building and people trapped on the north and east sides of the roof were screaming and starting to panic.
The problem was, the building was nearly double Jan’s height at 1,018 feet. Even stretching her arms all the way up, they’d still fall more than 200 feet to her hands. She needed to be even bigger, but the limits of her size changes since her return blocked that possibility.
Jan set her jaw. I have to try, she thought. I have to grow. Lives are depending on it!
Jan willed herself bigger -- and started growing even larger. It felt strange, different than any otgher growth she’d ever experienced, like she was sliding an old-style slide rule as she did it, but it was working.
Soon, Jan was nearly 770 feet tall, and no able to reach her massive hands up to the people on the roof, on eon each of the two endangered sides. They climbed on as quickly and carefully as they could.
Then Jan realized she was getting wet. She looked down to see the firefighters spraying down her dress. It was smoldering, and they were working to keep the massive wall of fabric from catching fire and endangering both her and the people she was saving.
Gingerly, Jan lowered her hands. The people climbed off the hands, now 10 feet thick, with some difficulty, but were able to get down safely.
Bobbi flew the Fantasticar over by Jan. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be able to get this big,” Mockingbird said.
“I’m not,” said Jan. “I don’t know what the price will be, but we saved a bunch of lives today.”
Sue came over on her force-field platform and stepped into the Fantasticar. “I’ve been around the building. I think that’s everybody.”
Jan sighed, looking down at her ruined wedding dress. She had designed it herself. Still, the lives were more important.
Jan willed herself back down in size and hit the familiar wall of her minimum height -- but something was wrong.
Jan looked around her. The men were barely hip-high, and the women a little lower. She was closer to 12 feet than 8. She tried shrinking several times, but it was no use. She was stuck at 12 feet tall.
Realizing something was wrong, Sue and Bobbi made sure their help wasn’t needed for anything else, then got their colossal friend into the Fantasticar. Bobbi piloted, knowing Sue would be better able to help Jan.
With years of experience in putting on a good public face, Jan held it together until the car was airborne, then let loose. “Omigod, omigod, omigod!” she said. “Sue, I’m stuck! My dress is ruined, and I’m stuck at 12 feet tall! What am I going to do?”
“Jan, focus!” said Sue.
Jan started to bawl. “You don’t understand!” she wailed. “After what happened the last time, I wanted this to be perfect, to get the wedding off to a good start. But now my dress is ruined, and I’m not just a giantess, I’m a freakishly huge giantess!”
Sue grabbed Jan’s colossal head. “Jan. You say you want this wedding to be perfect?”
“Yes,” Jan replied.
“Who are you marrying?” Sue asked.
“Hank,” Jan said.
“And who is Hank?”
“You mean today?” Jan asked. “Right now he’s Giant-Man, but he’s been Ant-Man, Goliath, Yellowj--”
“No,” said Sue. “Who is Hank to you?”
Jan had calmed down considerably by now, and the question seemed to center her even more. “He’s the man I love,” she said. “The man I loved from the moment I laid eyes on him; the man I’ve always loved even through the trouble and the weirdness, the man I’ll always love.”
Sue smiled up at her friend. “Then the wedding will be perfect,” she said, “not because of the trappings or the ceremony. What makes a perfect wedding isn’t the day, it’s what the day is about. What makes a perfect wedding day is a good, strong marriage, with love and trust.”
Jan closed her eyes. “You’re right,” she said. “But why can’t I shrink?”
Sue got on a communicator in the seat console in front of her. “Reed here.”
“Darling, it’s Sue,” she said. “Is Stephen Strange there?”
“Yes,” Reed said. “What’s wrong, Sue?”
“We may be a little late,” Sue said, “and we need to talk to Stephen. Jan’s kind of … stuck bigger than she was.”
“Hmmm,” said Reed. “Well, he knows the magic that helped get her back to our dimension better than anyone else, and that’s what set her size limits. I’ll let Hank and the minister know about the delay, and I’ll have Stephen on momentarily.”
“Thanks, Darling,” said Sue. “I love you.”
“I love you, Dear,” Reed said.
Dr. Strange was on the phone within a minute. Sue explained the situation.
“Janet, how were you able to grow to more than 750 feet tall?” Stephen asked.
Jan, still wet, was shivering with the airflow in the Fantasitcar. “People needed saving, and I was the only way to save some of them, but only if I got that big,” she said. I just … did it.”
“I see,” said Stephen. “I’d have to do more research, but it sounds like an unforeseen side effect of the magic that both sent you from Earth when you were toxic and brought you home.”
“Explain,” said Bobbi from the front seat.
“The initial magic Thor used was to save lives from Janet’s toxicity,” Stephen said. “the magic we built on that spell to get Janet home was to save her life. Apparently, Janet can slide her size scale when lives are on the line -- but she still has the same range limitations of one sixty-fourth of her maximum height as her minimum, and 64 times her minimum height as her maximum.”
“So I’m bigger because I slid my range up?” Jan asked.
“Essentially, yes,” Stephen said. “You may someday be able to slid it down, or even further up, but one or more lives will need to be on the line for you to do so -- not just in danger, but able to be saved only by you changing you size range.”
“But she’s otherwise fine,” Sue said.
“Yes,” Stephen said.
“Thanks, Stephen,” Sue said. “We’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Jan, shivering, bit her lip. “Sue, what will Hank think of me this size.”
Sue looked at Jan with an expression that screamed, are you kidding? She said out loud, “Sue, this is Hank.”
Jan laughed. “You’re right,” she said. “If there’s one person in all the Earth who won’t care what size I am, it’s Henry Pym.”
Jan asked Sue to contact Jenny and Lightspeed using the communicator; Jan’s fingers were now too big to easily work the controls. They arranged to meet at Jan’s old bungalow, near the beach area where the wedding was to take place.
On seeing Jan, Jenny put her hands to her mask. “Oh, my gosh, Big Sis,” Jenny said, “Now you’re my Really Big Sis.”
“I’m afraid we’ll have to rework our running routine somehow,” Jan said.
Jenny smiled up at her older friend. “If you’ve taught me anything, it’s that there’s a way to solve almost any problem sooner or later,” Hazmat said. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Right now, the problem is this wedding dress,” Jan said.
“It looks like all the damage is actually below the waist, mainly in the leg area,” said Sue.
Jan grabbed a notepad. “Every fashion designer’s had to do an emergency, last-minute fix,“ she said. “I just wish this one wasn’t on my own wedding dresss.”
Jan drew a quick sketch and handed it to Lightspeed. “Julie, can you quickly cut and sew this dress to match this design?”
“Sure.” Julie said. “Where are the scissors, needle and thread?”
“Sewing basket under my bed,” Jan said.
Julie was gone and back in no time, and the dress was transformed in matter of seconds. The skirt now came to a point in front and back. Jan was showing a lot more leg than before.
“It’s .. daring,” said Sue.
“But you’ve got the legs for it,” said Jenny.
Jan ducked down to look in a mirror. “It’ll do,” she said. “Let me negotiate the door, and let’s get down to the beach. I’ve got a headmaster to marry.”
Giantess World
