This is a companion piece to the series "Of Foxes and Birds". Thank you, Merlin Missy, for the editing.
Macro or Micro
Dr. Anissa Pierce's brow knitted in stern concentration. She knew that she was close, very close to achieving a miracle of modern science. The previous experiments proved promising, but still she understood that promises don't a Nobel Prize make.
"Well, Doc, what's the word?"
Anissa's chocolate irises shifted momentarily from the monitor to the owner of the baritone. His tone was as anxious as her keystrokes. Together, he and she had poured more than their sweat, blood, and tears into this project. They had poured almost all of their young adult lives. Failure was not an option.
"John, will you keep quiet? I'm almost there. If my premise is correct, these final adjustments should do the trick." She glanced over to him again with a corner of her mouth upturned. "Stop fidgeting! You're throwing my sensors off."
John sighed, "Sorry." He watched her marooned tipped fingers become a blur of flowing mocha. As the son of the Green Lantern, he had seen the incredible wonders the universe had to offer; however nothing excited him like making new discoveries.
The two colleagues had been looking forward to this day since they met at a symposium hosted by Wayne State University in Detroit. Although she attended Gotham State and he remained in Detroit, the two corresponded regularly. Sure, they had naively thought they could work together on a dream project, but each knew that graduation and the real world would treat that dream like so many others. Yet, here they were.
"I hope your circuit designs match your ego, Mr. Stewart. Those sensor readings must be precise! If they are in error by just one micron..."
"Anissa, we've been through this over and over again," he cut her off a bit more sharply than he intended. "I've no doubt the designs are sound. The readings you see are correct."
She walked over to the table where he lay strapped. She adjusted the battery of little white patches that covered his torso. "I've no intention of trying to explain how I fried the son of the JLU's founding members." She let her hand linger a moment on a strong bicep. "I don't want to eat your mother's mace!"
"I'm not worried about that. I'm more concerned about..." He lifted his head just enough to scan down his sensor-covered skin to note that he wore only a pair of trunks. "Are YOU sure that, umm, those will, umm, keep me from being embarrassed?"
Anissa kept her face straight, but her eyes sparkled with humor. "Don't worry. These Wayne Tech specials will make sure that little Johnny boy won't be exposed."
"Droll, 'Nissa, very droll," a frown crossed his lips. "'Nissa..."
"Yes?"
"I...I...It's gonna work!"
She winked at him then returned to her workstation. He could only shake his head. She reminded him so much of the two most important women in his life. Anissa was the perfect combination of the fox and hawk. The elder Stewart noted as much when he met her during the awards ceremony for the Bruce Wayne Science and Technology Fellowship. He would always ask about Anissa during one of his frequent surprise visits with John's younger brother Rex. He strongly hinted that his eldest son look at her for more than her bountiful intellect.
A loud bang on the keyboard broke his reverie. "I think I've got it!" She left her workstation and strode purposefully across the lab. She wanted to make sure that Mr. Wayne's investment paid a handsome return. That time had come.
John swallowed hard. His whole adult life had been geared for this moment. His parents didn't want him to follow in their footsteps, but he knew they were proud of him especially his mothers: Mari and Shayera.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
Anissa covered him in a non-conductive composite blanket then donned a pair of special polarized lab specs that would allow her to see any fluctuations in energy. They were dealing with both macro and micro biochemical systems, so any interruption in the energy flow would prove catastrophic.
He closed his eyes and sent up a silent prayer. "Throw the switch already."
A trembling finger pushed the green button. A deafening silence surrounded him as the magnetic flow poured into his very being. Dr. Pierce watched in fascination as sub-atomic particles seemed to reach out and caress, almost lovingly, her partner's form. Suddenly, a little spark jumped. Then another. Soon sparks were flying all across the lab. She stood transfixed in horror as lightning bolts thundered forth from John's quivering form.
"'N-N-Nissa! 'N-N-Nissa! H-H-Help me! P-P-Please!"
She didn't bother with shut off button. She smashed the console; her
bloody fist testified to the cessation of the experiment. She ran over to John's still quivering body. "John! John!"
His eyes glowed with a terrifying luminescence. Try as he might, his muscles refused to obey his command to stop convulsing. "'Nissa, I feel, I feel...Arrrgh!"
Without warning, Stewart bolted upright, ripping the straps from his arms and legs. He stumbled from the lab table across the room knocking over everything in his path. "I'm being ripped apart! 'Nissa, for God's sake, help me!"
She grabbed another blanket from the locker in the hope that she could siphon off the power that wracked his system. As she attempted to wrap it around him, she noticed that he wasn't as tall as before. "John, you're... you're shrinking..."
Stewart's face grimaced in bewilderment. "What?"
"You're shrinking! You're shrinking!"
Stewart rapidly glanced around the lab. Everything did seem a bit out of proportion. Before he could analyze this new information, he body again shook violently. His limbs felt heavy and ponderous.
"Oh my..." Anissa clasped her hands to her mouth. Her eyes widened as her colleague and friend no longer seemed shorter. In fact, he appeared to be growing.
John caught her shocked expression and sought to steady himself against the wall. Much to his surprise, his hand punched straight through leaving a much bigger hole than he knew his fist could ever make. "What is happening to me? "
"It worked, John! It worked!" Anissa quickly grabbed a portable bio-scanner. She attached the sensor to his skin. "Your metabolism is off the charts! How do you feel?"
"How do I feel? I feel like my guts have been ripped out then patched together again!" His mind quickly raced. "I'm going to try and shrink again."
"John, no! We don't know if..."
"'Nissa, we've come too far now. If I can control my growing and shrinking, there won't be any doubts about our work."
Stewart's face contorted in concentration. He remembered his father telling him to plant his feet and stand. He planted; he stood.
"John?" Anissa whispered. She studied his features while running a worried hand through her close-cropped red hair. Her stomach flipped, but she couldn't tell whether from anticipation that her career-defining moment was at hand or that a man she had grown to respect and cherish more than she cared to admit could be dying.
A slight groan from Stewart told of the cost, but his muscles no longer twitched out of control. Pierce rushed to his side and offered him support as they made their way back to the lab gurney. She felt a rush of relief that he was back to his normal stature.
"Well, Dr. Pierce," Stewart smiled wanly, "are we a success?"
Anissa's rose colored lips parted slightly to reveal a relieved smirk. "We? We?"
Stewart slumped to the gurney. "Yes, WE!" He grinned, "I know this might seem out of place at a time like this, but I'm starving."
Her eyes rolled in mock annoyance. "Typical. We're on the verge of rewriting everything about biochemistry and physiology and you wanna eat?"
His smile grew even bigger. "Yuppers."
She warmly clasped his hands. "John, if you hadn't..."
He interrupted her. "I feel like Chinese. My dad told me about this place in Beijing. Momma swears by the eel head soup."
"Eel head soup! Bleech!"
"Uh huh." He looked down at his midsection. "I guess those trunks were as good as advertised."
Anissa gazed him fully. "Yes. What a shame!"
"Anissa!"
She threw him a lab coat. "Get dressed, John. We're going to celebrate!"