Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents...

# 7- "Honey, we shrunk the Doc..."
Written by Anthony Crute

The sticky floor of a stolen car…

Doctor Leonard Samson crouched on the floor of the car to steady himself. Whatever was encrusted on the old floor carpet had completely ruined his pants but honestly at the minute he had bigger things to worry about.

The reason he was crouched on the floor of the car was that during a visit to counsel Titania at the Pym Prison their session was rudely interrupted by her husband Carl ‘The Absorbing Man’ Creel. Samson had tagged along with them as they made their escape so he could hopefully someway stop them and return the two into custody.

The only problem with his plan was he was currently no taller than an inch having been shrunken down when entering the Pym Prison.

He closed his eyes as the car turned a corner sharply. He had been attempting to monitor and map the cars journey as best he could so that he would have someway of knowing where he ended up and find his way back or so he could alert someone to their location.

He had a third option which he had entertained for a few seconds when the car started. He could attempt to take the two villains out himself but the chances of him taking out two super villains of Titania and The Absorbing Man’s calibre and strength at his current height did strike him as highly unlikely.

There was another hope however a small sliver of a chance. His personal teleporter and body guard Murmur. She had been with him at the Pym Prison and the entrance of Creel to the building could not have gone unnoticed so right now she could be alerting his fellow superheroes and they could be on their way to rescue him right then.

Doc Samson’s office, around thirty minutes earlier…

Louise Grant Mason AKA The Blonde Phantom (I) sat at her desk scribbling into the diary of Doctor Leonard Samson. She was making sure that he would see the booking of an appointment she had just agreed for him at the residential mental home for meta humans the next day.

She was chatting on the phone as she did so. She wasn’t expecting any calls but kept her eyes along the lights of the call waiting system just in case.

“I’ve told you Roger I’m perfectly happy…yes flying cars are all well and good but I’m too old to be getting shot at every day….Yes I know you’re older than I am and haven’t been de-aged but you’re full of that super soldier serum. I’ve dodged enough bullets in my time.”

She tapped the desk with the end of her pen absent mindedly. “The V-Battalion was always your and Brian’s baby. I helped out in the beginning putting a few of the creeps into the popsicle moulds but then I retired…I’m still retired…Yes I did get involved with She-Hulk and now with Doc Samson but I’m not planning to back flip across the room to disarm a gorilla with a nazi scientists brain for the rest of my life. Yes that happened…twice as I recall”

The door to the outer office of Samson’s practice swung open sharply and in stomped the teenage boy Amadeus Cho. “I’ll have to go Roger, Mastermind Excello just walked in…well obviously not THE Mastermind Excello. He’s a new one I’ve named…yes he’s just as smart. Ok bye, give my love to the others.” Louise hung up the phone and smiled at Amadeus. He looked flustered. “Gay British men from the Golden age, always nattering on. Odd considering he’s head of the worlds most secret military operation.”

“I forgot my bag…” he pointed into Samson’s office as if he was asking for permission. Louise nodded ..”…and my scooter.” He thumbed behind him as he walked into Samson’s open office.

*POP*

Several papers rippled on the desks in the office before stopping as the form of Arlette appeared in the centre of the room in front of Louise. She had seen such events so many times she didn’t even bat an eyelid.

“The Doc and that hottie were in such a hurry they dumped me and ported out before I could tell them.” Amadeus walked back into the room with his bag slung over his shoulder. He stopped and stared at Arlette. “You just heard me call you a hottie didn’t you?” she nodded with a smile.

“Where’s Leo?” Louise cut in over the embarrassment which was emanating from the young Amadeus. He was no doubt one of the most intelligent people on the planet but it was clear to the world wise Louise that his people…especially female people skills were lacking.

“He’s in his meeting with Titania. My i-pod died,” she held up the small white square. “He will call me when he wants me,” she dropped down lazily into her chair and picked up the control pad for the video game she had been playing when Leonard had so rudely interrupted her earlier and made her do her job.

Unbeknownst to his three associates that Leonard Samson could not in fact call them as his Cell Phone had been left at the prison. Had Arlette had waited an extra few seconds she would have indeed known of her bosses want for her as she would have seen the massive form of Crusher Creel explode through the wall of the visiting room where she herself had been sat.

Creel’s car, thirty-ish minutes later…

Samson sighed gently, he couldn’t shake the feeling that help wasn’t coming from his friends anytime soon. “I’m going to get stepped on. I just know I’m going to be stepped on.” He went silent again and listened intently to the half of the conversation he could hear from The Absorbing Man.

“Don’t worry baby, I’ve done the hardest part busting you out.”

“Yeah…yes I do realise you’re only an inch tall. You’re standing on my shoulder remember. I’ve got it all planned don’t worry.”

Samson scurried forward and looked up between the legs of Creel at his face. He had a stern look of concentration as he turned the wheel of the car. Samson memorized another right turn. Creel tilted his head to the side. Leonard guessed that is where Titania was stood.

“There’s people out there right now looking. Giant-Man, Black Goliath, Wasp, Atlas…god knows how many guards. Someone will turn up something sooner or later and we’ll grab the Pym particles.”

Samson felt the car slowing before it finally came to a stop. Creel switched off the engine and grabbed a baseball cap and pair of sunglasses from the seat next to him and quickly threw them on. “Yeah, I know who would have thought the two of us in the suburbs.” He laughed gently as he climbed out of the car. “My What?...oh my wrecking ball. I’ll cover it with the blanket on the backseat and get it tonight.

He moved under the seat as the back door swung open and Creel leaned inside tossing a blanket over the large metal ball which lay on the backseat.

Samson took a short but sharp breath as he rocked back onto his back foot and then launched forward. He had to time his jump perfectly and have a lot of luck on his side as he leapt through the open door. If he timed it wrong or if Creel or Titania happened to be looking down chances are he’d be done for instantly.

He shot forward faster than expected and quickly made a mental note. His reduced size and mass had reduced his strength but not in direct correlation. He was proportionally stronger than he would have been at his normal height.

He was however unable to make the correct mental adjustments before he tightened his leg muscles and hurled himself away from the base of the car. He literally shot through the air like a bullet causing a whistling sound around him. He shot between the open legs of Creel and connected with the lawn of the house they’d parked outside off.

A small pile of dirt exploded into the air. Samson heard the car door slam shut behind him. He was face down in the dirt with half of the lawn in his mouth but he still managed to push himself sideways away from the tiny crater he’d created into some of the grass surrounding it.

“Damn! Dog or mole or something’s been at the lawn. Only cut it this damn morning…yeah yeah yuk it up baby. I’m a regular Johnny homemaker.”

Samson fixed his grip around a Dandelion and tilted himself to watch as Creel fiddled with his key in the door before opening it and walking inside. He threw a backwards glance up and down the street before furtively closing the door.

He dropped down onto the dirt and leaned his back against the stork of the flower. He ran his hand up the vein of a strand of grass. “What are you going to do Leonard?” He ran his proportionally large (though really tiny) hands through his green hair which he absently noticed blended perfectly with the chlorophyll in the grass around him.

He ran through his options in his mind. First and foremost was the obvious he could make a hasty retreat back to the prison or to his office. That would take time though, at his current height even with his powerful legs running flat out or leaping he guessed it would take hours to retrace his steps perfectly from his current location. It didn’t look too much like the Creels were going anywhere but they were career criminals he doubted they’d make a stupid mistake of hanging out in one place too long. The second they had a location on Pym Particles or come the morning they’d be out of there.

His second option was to go into one of the houses along the street and try to use their phones. The draw backs of this plan were two fold he had no way of knowing how a person would react finding an inch tall man using their land line and it would put the person in grave danger should the Creels find out where the phone call to the police was made from.

The thought suddenly crossed Samson’s mind that the police turning up at all could put everyone in the neighbourhood in danger from The Absorbing Man throwing one of his destructive temper tantrums.

The third option seemed both the most obvious and most ludicrous. He would go into the house and try to do something to stop them…somehow. He admitted to himself it wasn’t the most well thought out and logical plan. He should have known better but the fact was he was a superhero…even if retired for the most part. He went up against impossible odds that’s what he did. He realised that the entire aura around being a superhero was probably dampening his senses and common sense to the very real danger but he was beginning to think that this was his only option. He wasn’t sure what he would or even could do but there must have been something.

He bent his legs and launched himself upwards above the grass line. He reached the top of his arc and came down on the crazy paving leading up to the door. He had made the massive leap of three feet compared to his usual half a mile. He headed for the door.

It took him a few minutes to get to the door. He squeezed himself under the door with out too much difficulty and found himself staring up at a coat rack in a carpeted hallway. The stairs lay in front of him and too the left and there was a door either side of the hallway and one directly in front of him.

The house looked like any other suburban home and hardly the den of a couple of hardened super criminals. He moved forward walking at his normal pace which given his current size was like edging forward silently at his normal size. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice the thick shag of the carpet still went up past his waist making his going down the hall rather tough.

A glance at the wall showed a few photos. The first was a small grey haired woman with huge purple glasses balanced precariously on her nose. On her knee bounced a small naked boy who was laughing madly. The photo next to it showed the same woman years later but not looking too different with Carl Creel with his arm around her. This was obviously the home of Creel’s mother or grandmother.

Samson dove sideways planning to hurl himself up against the wall but instead found himself lying face down in the carpet with the fibres towering over him. He rolled over as best as he could and looked up through the thick shag at the simply colossus form of The Absorbing Man who stopped and stood over him. He had a cordless phone pressed to his ear. “Don’t give me that crap Whirlwind, you know exactly where the Wasp is…yes you do! You’ve been stalking her as long as she’s been the damn Wasp….” He let out an exasperated sigh and headed across the hall to the door opposite the one he had entered through.

Samson weighed up his options as he climbed to his feet. He could follow Creed or he could follow the instinct he first had and continue down the corridor to the room which looked like the Kitchen. His mind decided on the kitchen.

If he had been surviving on prison food for the past several months he knew exactly which room in the house he would be heading for…given their stature that is. Several months away from his partner at full size may result in a very different choice of room. He was hoping due to their equal size he could take out Titania. He wondered what Creel would do when he couldn’t find his wife. He figured the Absorbing Man would either start smashing up the house no doubt drawing the attention of the neighbours and the cops. There was the chance he could flee the house and bide his time but given the fact he would have no idea where his wife was Samson wasn’t sure.

He thought briefly as he continued about his current ‘partner’. Detective Stacey Dolan was one of the most stubborn and infuriating women Samson had ever met and the fact that he was a superhero didn’t impress her in the slightest. These were the qualities he found himself liking in her the most. She was a detective in the special meta human crimes department and would no doubt be one of the officers dispatched to this house should the neighbours report The Absorbing Man.

Samson stepped onto the hard kitchen floor which was tiled with black and white checks. He stretched his legs suddenly feeling very free away from the carpet which had ensnared him seconds earlier.

The new sense of freedom probably had very much to do with his next action as he sprinted at his full speed across the kitchen floor. Even given his tiny stature he was able to cross the floor rapidly as his tiny mass was pushed on by his still awesome strength. He leapt into the air and caught the edge of the kitchen chair.

He pulled his weight effortlessly onto the seat of the chair before launching himself at the back of the chair and pressing his feet against it and using it as a springboard. The chair slid back an inch as he hurtled up to the table top with little effort.

He landed with his knees bent and then stood up to his full height stretching his back as he did so.

The face of Titania stared at him from the edge of a plate on which sat a freshly microwaved burger and fries. She had a handful of meat in one hand and part of a fry pressed close to her face. She was looking at him with a look somewhere between astonishment and bewilderment. “You have got to be friggin kidding me!” She growled.

“Mary, calm down…I just want to…” Doc Samson ducked and dodged to the size as a blob of ketchup the size of his face hurtled across the expanse of the table towards him. It was clear that Titania’s strength was also intact at this size.

“Mary…ugh!” Doc righted himself only to find himself tackled down by Titania. She sat astride him in her tiny orange jump suit from The Pym Prison and unloaded a fist across the Doc’s face.

“CARL! CARL!” Titania screamed to her husband as she continued to land blows on Samson.

“He,” Samson blocked one of her fists from landing a blow. Their two arms tensed against one another briefly and shook as they both channelled power into their punches. Samson managed to over power her and roll her from the top of him onto her back “Can’t hear you! Calm down I just want to talk!”.

Titania swung her head forward and slammed it into to bridge of Samson’s nose making him rock back. He was planning just to talk to her but it appeared she was more intent on fighting him for them to get anywhere. She followed up on her advantage by raising her knee into his groin and then as he rocked back planting both feet into his chest.

Samson swore loudly as he flew backwards and then to the level of the table top…and then kept going. He landed flat on his back on the seat of the chair pulled up at the table. His long green hair covered his face and lay in his mouth.

He spat it out loudly and moved it from his face with his hand. “All I wanted to do was talk, make her realise that it would probably be best to turn herself in.” Samson leapt to his feet and then powered himself into the air and back to the table top. “…But No! you have to fight.”

Samson scowled at Titania, the look quickly vanished from his face replaced by one of confusion. The plate containing fries and a burger spiralled through the air as Titania hauled it forward from where she held it above her head (with a little difficulty.)

Leonard threw himself into the air and looked down as the plate of food spun below him and off the edge of the table and too the floor where the plate smashed. He managed to land on his feet and from his crouched position glared at the kitchen door. Should Creel have heard that he would come investigating and any hope Samson had of talking or beating Titania would go out of the window.
Titania was also staring at the door, she however was pleading mentally with her husband to hear the noise from whatever room he was in and come investigating. Samson noticed Titania’s distraction and took advantage of the situation.

She let out an exhalation of air as she was shoved back hard into the wall which the table stood against. The wall made a gentle thud as if someone had thrown a ball against it or something.

Samson had Titania pinned up against the wall. “Dammit Mary listen to me, that’s all I ask. It’s not like I can bring you in and beat up Creel is it?”

Titania glared at Samson. He had an arm across her forearms and stomach while pushing her feet from the table top. She seemed to stop struggling. “What do you think you’re doing?” Samson’s anger in his voice was clear.

He closed is eyes and inhaled deeply. His emotions should have no place in this conversation. She may have busted out of the prison but he still viewed this woman as his patient and she needed help even if she didn’t think she did. He began to speak again but this time he made sure to keep a calm and even tone. “You were doing so well. You were serving a short sentence and your rehabilitation plan showed real chances of success. You would have been out in no time and would be on the straight and narrow.”

Titania suddenly let out a scream. Doc had turned his head for a second and she used the chance to strike. She raised her knees to her chest and again struck out. The only problem were Leonard’s feet were planted firmly on the table top with his strength. The thrust of Titania’s kick made his legs move away slightly but mores o made the table slide a couple of inches from the wall. The two exchanged glances for a second as they both began to fall.

The two tried to right themselves to land on their feet but they were too close to one another and ended up colliding before slamming into the floor. The two were only an inch tall so the fall had been like being thrown from the top of a building. Thankfully though the two had superhuman resistance so neither were hurt too badly.

Samson climbed to his knees and inhaled deeply. Titania’s boot slammed across his face. “You really are a do-gooder know nothing aren’t you!” Titania grabbed his long green hair and turned like a hammer thrower before unleashing him and sending him hurtling across the kitchen.

She crossed the kitchen slowly to Samson’s position where he was standing slowly to his feet. He could have moved quicker, been more decisive in his actions to take her down but he wanted to see where this was going. Titania was opening up, it was something her notes had never indicated her doing. He cursed himself mentally as Titania’s fist slammed into the back of his head. “You’ve never had to deal with anything like I have.”

Titania growled at him as she swung her foot into his stomach. “You don’t know what it’s like to be picked on and beat up just because you’re smaller than other people. Have no one like you….One person has liked me 100% for who I am regardless of all my flaws. One. His name is Carl Creel.”

Samson was already beginning to work through what Titania was saying and what he thought she would say to predict possible ways to talk to her and what to say. He was still listening to her and was prepared to change his approach at any given moment.

“He loves me and you want me to spend what 7 years away from him? 5 with good behaviour? 3 with your recommendation? I can’t be apart from him for that long. I’d go insane without him.”

Samson rolled forward as she swung another kick at him he’d heard enough now. He got to his feet and quickly turned to face her. “Okay so what now?”

“I beat you to a pulp or at least hold you till Carl comes in her and then watch as he squishes you.” Titania leapt forward. Samson dodged to the side letting her stumble forward before he dove for her back and dragged her arms back and locked his fingers together behind her neck.

“Not what I meant,” he gritted his teeth as the strong woman struggled in his grip. She raised one leg and slammed it down on his foot. He kept tight hold of her still. “What do you do now? Now you’re together? Now you’re both on the run again!”

“Well figure something out…were together that’s all that’s important.” Titania stomped on his foot again and this time dragged both of her arms forward. She managed to get free of his grip. She turned and caught him across the face with a backhand knocking him sideways.

Leonard did not like hitting women, he did not like hitting men either to be fair but hitting women especially sat badly with him but he realised in certain superhero contexts it was acceptable. If there was one thing he hated more than hitting women though it was when he was forced to lash out at a patient and that’s why he had stuck strictly to restraining her (with the odd tackle thrown in to allow him to do so). She was now testing this patience.

“So what will you do for money?” Samson dodged back as she swung a right at him. He dodged the other way as she threw a left. Samson had trained in several fighting styles over the years and had the uncanny ability to read people that he had developed over years of fighting practice and from studying body language in his career. Titania had not trained in this way and was losing her temper rapidly she was telegraphing her blows with neon signs.

“Well figure something out, it’s not like we can’t do things…we have skills.”

“So you’ll knock off a convenience store? Or a bank?” Samson got more involved in the fight now as Titania let out a scream and lunged forward again with more blows. He simply grabbed her wrist and with a twist tossed her head over heels to the floor. “You’re both wanted super criminals so it’s not like you could get a real job…not a legal one at least.”

She swung her legs up and flipped to her feet facing away from Samson towards the door. They both opened their eyes wide at the same sight. Creel was heading down the corridor towards the kitchen.

“Carl! Carl!” Titania screamed at the top of her lungs and waved her hands madly.

“I know he’s gone straight with the damn Thunderbolts but he owes me!” Creel barked down the phone as he turned into another room along the corridor.

Titania turned and ploughed at Samson. “He’s so friggin’ useless sometimes!” She barked. She slammed her arms up into the chin of Samson and kept running so that he was lifted from the floor and dragged back with her momentum.

She stopped and flung her hands out tossing him backwards. Samson collided with the refrigerator with a solid but dull thump. His body dropped to the floor leaving the large dint in the metal door where his body hit. Several fridge magnets clunked down to the floor after him shaken free by the force. “That actually hurt. So come on how will you get cash? Knock off a bank?”

“No! well figure it out. We have each other and that’s all that counts.” Titania turned on her heel and began to head to the door. She was taking a different approach now and trying to actively draw Creel rather than beat Samson up.

Leonard couldn’t let that happen. He launched forward sprinting at his full speed. His strength coupled with his current diminutive size meant he crossed the kitchen at almost superhuman speeds. He sped past Titania and launched himself into the door frame which caused a louder thud than he planned.

He changed the angle of his body and grabbed Titania as he rebounded. Her feet lifted from the floor as she was carried by his momentum. His feet touched down on the floor for a split second before he powered off the ground again and up to the kitchen counter next to the fridge.

They bounced twice before spiralling into the full kitchen sink. The water rippled and then was still.

Samson was first to break the surface and inhaled deeply the taste of soapy water in his mouth and nose causing him to cough wildly. He turned and looked for Titania before finding her as she grabbed his foot and yanked him down delivering a kick to him as he drifted past her.

He took a couple of seconds to right himself and start to head for the surface but he was already running out of air, the fact he hadn’t taken a breath coupled with his tiny lungs meant he couldn’t stay underwater for very long. When he broke the water Titania had managed to drag herself to the side. She held onto the chain to the plug and waved at him as she yanked it up.

The water was still for a second before it began to swirl and Samson felt himself being pulled by the power of gravity. He kicked his legs manically. He slammed his foot hard into the edge of a metal pan and used it as a base to push himself away from.

He catapulted out of the sink and landed in a wet mess on the counter. He coughed wildly and was not amused as a bubble exited his mouth. “You know what I think…” Samson said between coughs as he stood up and faced Titania who was moving towards him like she didn’t have a care in the world. “I think you’re both scared.”

“Were not scared of anything!” Titania surged forward. Samson waited for the perfect moment before leaning forward with his weight to meet hers. The two forces met each other hard at first before Samson used a technique he loved to use. He let her strength do the work as he rolled his shoulder and then tossed her with his own strength.

Titania landed on top of a plate rack which had them layered like a pyramid. The top one cracked and then smashed as she fell through to the one below. She shifted knocking half of the plate from the rack to the bench. She moved towards the wall and braced herself. Samson began to talk fast. If she brought the rack down there was no way Creel wouldn’t hear it.

“You’ve both led bad live, they’ve been hard on you and then you found each other. You saw something in common through all of the macho bull you both pull and fell in love. You also fell into a co-dependant relationship. You’re both so scared of losing one another that you don’t let the other see what you’re really thinking. You’ve both attempted to go straight a few times but then it crumbles. You get too scared that you’ll make it straight and he wont and you’ll be forced apart…the same goes for him. You’re stuck in this life that’ll stop you from ever being truly happy because you’re scared breaking out of it will leave you alone.”

Titania stopped and stared at Samson for a second. It all made sense, it even sounded like it might be right to her. Was she truly that scared of losing Creel that she would live this half-life as a criminal thug ever stopping her moving on with her life. A job? A family? They’d forever be out of her reach if she kept on the way she was. Was it all worth losing just so she could be with Creel so that she wouldn’t have to feel as alone as she always had done. Did she love him so much she’d screw both of their lives up in this never ending circle.

Titania creased her face as she gave the plates another push. “Screw you Doc. I don’t ever want to be alone again.” She let out a scream as she pushed. Samson watched as the plates tilted and then finally gave way. The full plate set collided with the counter top before slipping off and smashed to pieces on the floor.

Samson stopped and stared at Titania for a moment until the loud booming voice could be heard vibrating through the room. “Baby what’s going on? I almost tacked Black Goliath down and Grandma will hit the roof if something is broken…”

Creel stopped in the doorway and tossed the phone aside. He glared at the little green haired man and stretched his hand out to the decretive silver plate on the wall and absorbed it’s qualities.

Samson watched the silver individual cross the room ready to squish him and ‘save’ his wife never suspecting that she had practically betrayed him by forcing him to stay in the vicious circle of which he wasn’t aware. He had no plans of hanging around to explain it to The Absorbing Man.

He turned on the counter and launched forward at his top speed. He needed to build up momentum for the next part to work properly. He leapt into the air from the edge of the sink and covered his face.

He felt the solid surface of the window as he met it causing the glass to shatter around him. He was thankfully too small for the shards of glass to cut him too badly as they fractured into large pieces. He planted his feet on one piece and used it to direct himself away from the remained.

He landed in the grass with a roll and took off. Even if Creel rushed outside it was unlikely he would find him amongst the overgrown lawn but he wanted to take no chances.

He stopped as he reached the edge of the garden and squeezed under the fence into the next door neighbours yard. He turned and peered through a gap between the boards of the fence as he heard the car fire up and a now human Creel (and he assumed Titania) roared away.

Samson let out a sigh, he had failed to capture them and worse for him failed to help a patient in any way.

“Hisss!”

Samson turned from the fence and found himself face to face with a large ginger tom cat which was baring it’s teeth at him and raised it’s paw ready to strike. Leonard sighed again at the sight and swung his arm towards the cat catching it around the side of it’s face. “Now is not the time tiddles!”

The cat let out another hiss and turned tail and ran across the yard. “It’s been a long day…” he thought about the long journey home he had on foot “..and I have the feeling it’s not going to end soon.”

Next Time: Leonard isn’t wrong. His day is going to go from bad to worse as still at only an inch high our green haired hero goes up against The Wrecking Crew!