Mr. Giant

By Jeff James <kingkong52@hotmail.com>

Rated: PG

Submitted August 1999

Summary: An old, laughed-at high school teacher of Lois's takes vengeance on Metropolis.

***

Part One

It was fairly late at night, and Lois was tired from a long day. At 3:00 that morning Lois had had to cover a story of a major oil spill in the bay of Metropolis. Animals and plants alike were injured or damaged in harmful ways, and now two environmental groups were suing Pizon Oil, the company responsible for the act.

As tragic as the event was, Lois had noticed someone at the scene of the accident—someone who had a place in her distant past. This certain someone had been taking two cupfuls of the polluted bay water, then jumping into a nearby truck and speeding away.

Lois was pretty sure who it was now. Although time had distorted the face with wrinkles and gray hair, the small body was enough to clue her in.

She got out her high school yearbook, senior year, and flipped to the faculty page. There she saw the face she had seen at 3 in the morning: Mr. John Giant. He used to be Lois's biology teacher as well as the silent laughing stock of the student body. He was very small, yet his last name was 'Giant.'

As she stared at his picture, Lois recalled how he had hit on her on the last day of school. She reported it to authorities and, sure enough, Mr. Giant never returned the following year.

Wondering what he would want with the oil chemicals, Lois put her annual back in the dusty chest and locked it. Suddenly she felt strong arms wrap around her waist. It was Sup-no, Clark, and he had flown back from saving afew citizens from certain death.

"Hi, honey," he said, kissing her neck. "What are you doing up?"

"Oh, nothing important," Lois replied, embracing him. "Just remembering the good old days."

"Well, you shouldn't live in the past!" Clark laughed. He lifted her up and carried her into the bedroom. The door slammed behind them.

***

"Hey, Bernie, get me the Iodine Adro-nator," John Giant commanded to his lug of an assistant. "And the two test tubes on the bottom shelf!"

It was currently one o'clock in the morning, but Giant had no time to sleep. He was on the verge of creating the world's first Molecular Expander device, which, if successful, could make any animate object huge in a matter of minutes.

"Do you realize what a breakthrough this could be?" Giant exclaimed. Bernie didn't answer. He was busy drooling over a swimsuit calendar.

"BERNIE!"

"Huh, what?" Bernie dropped the calendar and turned to face Mr. Giant. His temples glistened with sweat.

"I pay you to assist me, not to look at babes in skimpy clothing. Now when we finish this thing I'll go out and get you one of those girls." He paused. "Just hold on."

He picked up one of the toxic oil samples he obtained at the bay early in the morning. Everything was going perfectly as planned. Why, the media people still thought that spill was an accident! How ignorant they are; it was actually the result of bribes, secret meetings, and detailed plans.

Mr Giant needed those chemicals to perfect his Molecular Expander.

And in less than one minute, it would be perfected.

***

Lois came into work vibrant and in a cheerful mood. Just as she put her things on her desk Perry accosted her.

"Oh, Lois, sweety, I need you to get the scoop on the aftereffects of that oil spill. Ya know, dig deeper." He rubbed his chin. "Hey, where's Clark by the way?"

Lois forced a smile. "Well, he'll be here soon. Rough night, I guess."

Perry grinned knowingly. "Anyways, we need better coverage on that tragedy. Get the low down on every sick animal, every canister of oil that was spilled. I figured you could do it since you're my leading lady."

"Sure thing, chief." With that, Lois grabbed her belongings and left.

***

Bernie scratched his head in an ignorant manner.

"What exactly is the point of this stuff, doctor Giant? I mean, what's in it for me or you?!"

Giant halted his scientific procedures, took a deep breath, and turned to face the nitwit. "While I have told you in the past to never question my word, I'll tell you anyway because I have time to spare." He began pacing the floor in front of Bernie.

Giant continued, "My whole life I have been shunned by my peers, teachers, and even students. My previous experiments always bombed, and that soon became my reputation in Metropolis High.

"In my last year there, I was attracted to a beautiful senior by the name of Lois Lane. She was the only soul who seemed to respect me. When I asked her if she had the same feelings for me, she freaked out and had me fired. The only thing I had to live for then was the dream that one day I would create a scientific marvel of my own."

Bernie wiped a small tear from his brown eyes. "Touching tale, doctor." He sniffed twice.

Giant turned his attention back to his work. "When I'm the size of King Kong, my name will fit my description, and Metropolis will be in my clutches!"

He looked down at an old edition of the Daily Planet. There he saw an article by the high school girl he loved.

"Not to mention Lois Lane!"

***

Superman flew low, just beneath the clouds. He sensed something was up about that oil spill. If it was oil.

He tried telling himself that it was just a tragic accident, as was the notorious Exxon disaster. But he could tell deep in his gut that something was not right. Therefore, the man of steel decided to explore the remains at the bottom of the bay.

Diving beneath the surface with as little splash as possible, Superman began looking over the wreckage and oil canisters—which he was the most interested in.

He swam up to a group of three canisters lying in an unkempt manner between two rocks. He examined them, then used his X-ray vision out of curiosity. What he found was very startling.

The words "Pizon Oil" had been painted over a skull and crossbones, as well as the text that read: "Danger: Toxic Chemicals. Do not consume."

***

Mr. Giant had diluted the chemicals with a grade-A solvent, then poured his substance into a small glass bottle. He had a hard time extracting it into a needle because his hands shook with excitement.

"Bernie, you are about to witness the greatest scientific breakthrough since electricity! With one drop of this substance, I can grow 50 feet tall overnight! If I want to become even bigger, I'll add more drops."

With that Giant proceeded to inject the liquid into a vein on his right arm. He put a patch on the tiny hole and looked at Bernie, smiling a maniacal grin.

***

Lois had had a disappointing day. Perry had instructed her to "dig deeper" on the oil spill issue, yet all she uncovered were more facts relating to the EPA suing Pizon Oil. Several scientists were also down at the beach collecting salinity samples from the contaminated bay water.

She hadn't seen Mr. Giant since that dark morning a day ago, but Lois continued to think about what he was doing with his life. Frankly, she was surprised he didn't end his life after getting fired. After all, being a science teacher seemed to be all the world to him.

Lois snuggled beside Clark.

"Ya know, I did some exploring around the crash site," reported Clark, stroking Lois's hair. "I found something really interesting.."

"What was it?" Lois sat up.

"Well, the canisters of supposed 'oil' used to be barrels of toxic waste. Now I don't know if that stuff really was oil, or it was toxic chemicals disguised as oil. It was strange." He scratched his head and took off his glasses.

Lois, intrigued, sighed and rested her head back on the pillow.

Part Two

He awoke lying on a miniature bed, with miniature furniture and clothes surrounding it. He then heard footsteps, and Bernie came in, about the size of a possum to him.

"Boss, it worked! Your stuff really worked! Look at you, now! You're Godzilla!" He began leaping around the room. "Do you think I can use the stuff soon?" Giant's assistant inquired.

"No, not now." Giant's voice was like a small volume of thunder. He loved it. "I will not waste my precious experiments. When I have Lois Lane and Metropolis under my control, maybe I'll let you use a drop or two of it."

Following this statement, he slammed his fist in the ceiling, causing a huge hole for him to crawl out of. He did, and stood upon the rooftop admiring the city in front of his eyes.

"At last, my name fits my description!" he bellowed as he made his way into Metropolis. With each step, Bernie felt a little reverberation in the ground. The assistant followed his boss into traffic noise and tall buildings.

Cars smashed into each other, and people ran away screaming, especially the women. It was all a hysterical sight through Mr. Giant's point of view.

But he couldn't be concerned with that now. He had to find the Daily Planet building. He was clueless as to where it was until Bernie shouted from below: "Hey, boss! There it is! There's that newspaper place!"

"It's times like these I appreciate you, Bernie my man," Giant yelled. He stomped on over to the front of the structure.

Meanwhile, inside, Clark was busy talking with Jimmy, and Lois was researching the oil spill on the phone. It didn't take long for them to hear the consistent thunder of large footsteps. Clark, Jimmy, and everyone else went to the window to see what was happening.

Outside, Giant saw a journalist walk out the front door, without even noticing the King Kong-sized figure. He bent, opened his hand, and lifted her startled body up. She screamed.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Just tell me the floor Lois Lane is on."

"Ummm…um…s-she's on the fifth floor, I think. Could you put me down now?" she was on the verge of crying.

As Clark ran off to change into Superman, Lois stared in disbelief at her old teacher. She wondered if that morning at the spill site had anything to do with his enormous size.

Suddenly, he began to climb the building. As he approached, everyone in the office stepped back. But that wouldn't last long as Superman had just appeared, zooming in and around Mr. Giant.

The humungous human seemed calm. "I was prepared for the Man in Blue to try and stop me. Good thing I obtained a little token from my good friend Lex Luthor!"

With that he pulled out five pieces of kryptonite from his pocket and shone them in Superman's face. Immediately the red and blue figure fell to the ground writhing in agony. Giant tossed the pieces down to Bernie, who continued to hold them in front of Superman.

All at once, Mr. Giant darted up to the fifth floor before anyone could even think. He peered in and instantly spied Lois. When he began to reach into the building, everyone ran backwards. It was Jimmy who accidentally ran into Lois and knocked her on the floor.

Dazed, Lois hardly moved when Giant's hand came crashing through the window straight for her. The fingers closed around her middle, picked her up, and carried her slim figure out the broken glass. "He's got me! Help!"

Lois tried to push herself up from the grasp, but it was no use. She screamed after looking over his thumb and seeing how far it was to the ground. "Put me back, John! You put me back right now!" She pounded on his forefinger.

"You look even more beautiful than I remember you, Lois," Giant commented with a lovesick look upon his wrinkly face. He walked off and almost stepped on Superman deliberately. As the superhero writhed in pain at Bernie's feet, he could hear Lois calling for help.

The sexy reporter was locked in Giant's grip from the waist down, and she knew it, too. Her long legs thrashed at the nothingness below. "You put me down now, Giant!" she yelled up at him.

He smiled sown at her as his foot smashed a nearby truck. "Still the feisty one. I love that in women." The captor stroked her hair with his other finger, and made his way down to her breasts. Lois tried to push it away, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, several police officers had approached Superman and pulled Bernie away. Before they tossed him in the squad car, Superman, still in a weakened state, called out for them to halt their actions.

"Wait a minute! Holdup!" He held up his hand, struggling to get himself on two feet. "I just want to know how he became so big. If you help me on this one, I won't have the cops arrest you."

Bernie stood up and mulled this over. Should he be faithful to the man who gave him work, yet took advantage of his stupidity? Seconds were swallowed up into the past as the buffoon thought of all the incidents in which Professor Giant had treated him unfairly.

"I'll show you to his lab," he announced.

***

It was relatively quiet up in the wilderness surrounding Dr. Giant's laboratory. Without the agitated screams of disappointment from the professor, though, it just didn't feel familiar to Bernie.

"This way, Superman," the assistant said, motioning for Clark to follow him. "He's keeping it in a locked chest which I actually do have the keys to."

At the front of the chest, Bernie paused to check his pockets. Then with a fearful look on his face, he claimed, "I can't find it! Oh no, I'm going to jail!" He bent down and began tearing open his clothes, looking for anything resembling a key. "Maybe we can use a paperclip. I'm good with those."

When Bernie looked up again he saw the chest door wide open, a smoking crater where the lock used to be. Superman stood there with his arms crossed, a smug look upon his clean face.

"Oh yeah, forgot you could do that," Bernie said sheepishly.

At once he reached in and took out a thin glass tube and large needle. The tube was about a quarter full of eerie blue liquid. Superman took it gently and raised a brow. "This is the stuff, right?"

Bernie nodded. "Just don't take all of it, cause, ya know, I might want to try it someday." He smiled a buffoon's smile.

Ignoring him, Superman began extracting the liquid.

***

Down by the beach, Giant was eyeing all of the girls in their swimsuits. Lois remained in the Fay Wray position.

"If Bernie could only see some of these girls!" He whistled, then turned to Lois. "Don't worry, though, Lo-Lo, cause you're still my number one gal!"

"Exactly what are you trying to accomplish, John?" she yelled up at him. "If you're planning on whisking me away to never- never land, forget it." Lois pushed some wind-blown hair behind her ear, then rested her arms on his oversized thumb.

"What I plan to obtain out of this incident is respect, from you and millions of other Metropolis citizens. I want to be thought of as a brilliant god-like figure. Also, I'll probably get a whole bunch of money from my new Molecular Expander invention, don't you think?"

"You made yourself this big? I never knew you could accomplish anything more than a disaster in the chemistry lab," Lois retorted. " And you think you'll get respect from me after acting like King Kong in New York?" She laughed a little bit.

Giant's face turned red with embarrassment and anger. He gritted his teeth as he made his way towards downtown, not caring who or what he crushed.

"I will be noticed," he said under his breath, although it was perfectly audible to Lois.

The captive reporter spied some helicopters and airplanes off in the distance, emerging from the whiteness of the clouds. She felt relieved, but it didn't last for too long as Giant started to climb the highest building in Metropolis.

"John, um, this would be a great time for you to put me down. You can always just pick me up again when you reach level ground." Lois flailed her legs at the air for a second time.

Without looking down, Giant's voice boomed: "Nonsense, you're going to be my bride, Lois, as soon as I take control of this city. Wouldn't it be neat being married to a such a big man?" He chuckled at his own dumb joke.

Lois rolled her eyes, although still a bit frightened due to the height at which they were. "I'd have to be lifted 45 feet just to talk to you."

Up in the sky, the Man of Steel zoomed down through the gauntlet of buildings that was Downtown Metropolis. He eventually spotted the huge figure, ascending a skyscraper while still carrying Lois.

Immediately Giant spotted him, and placed the captive Lois down on a nearby ledge. Unfortunately for her, no windows or doors were open, so all she could do was try to slowly crawl away, her legs dragging along the concrete.

Superman was obviously trying to make Giant dizzy. The plan had worked, but when Superman flew towards Lois to get her, the strong right hand of Giant clamped down on him, trapping the man in blue tights. He squirmed and groaned, but Giant was having no trouble in crushing him.

"Clark!" Lois yelled involuntarily, but no one heard her.

Then it happened.

Before Giant and Lois's very eyes, Superman started his sudden growth spurt that took him up to 50 feet in height. During this process, Giant had reached down and picked up Lois again.

"Will you let me go, already?!" she screamed.

Superman, now as big as Giant, just hovered in mid-air a few yards from him and his beautiful captive.

"How did you -what- who- BERNIE!!!!!" the professor shrieked.

Down below, Bernie shouted a very faint "Sorry, boss!"

Superman, in Bernie's defense, stated, " Hey, he had to make a choice. Either go to jail for some idiot professor who treated him poorly, or help me defeat that idiot and go scott free." He smiled a smile that annoyed Giant greatly.

"Now give me Lois, professor." Superman held out his open palm.

Giant lifted Lois up and kissed her entire body, much to her disgust. "I love you, dear Lois." With that he proceeded to extend his arm out to Superman, when suddenly his fingers opened up and Lois easily slipped out. She screamed as she plummeted towards the street.

While Superman went after her, Giant pulled himself onto the top of the skyscraper. He playfully pounded his chest and cried: "Metropolis! I am the new ruler of this vast land! You will obey my laws and patterns of living! Do not resist me, or you will suffer greatly!"

As Giant spoke and swatted at the planes as if they were flies, Lois had fallen into Superman's open palm. He caressed her slim and curved body, then closed his fingers around her. She rested her arms on his knuckles as she was put down gently on the sidewalk. Several paramedics and officers rushed up to her to make sure everything was okay.

And it was.

It all seemed over in such a hurry. Professor John Giant was brought down by Superman, with the aid of the aircraft. He was held in the grips of the Man of Steel until he spouted off the formula for the Molecular Expander's reverse potion.

He and Bernie were also treated to a week's work of cleaning up the Pizon Oil spill, which Superman supervised, as well.

As for Lois, well, she stands there at nights, with Clark's arms wrapped firmly around her waist, but she hasn't looked at her year book in so long…

THE END