The world around Spider-Woman was all fuzzy as she fell to the ground. Just moments before she had been sprayed with Van Dyne Particles by a thief who had thought that they would provide him with a form of escape. He had hoped that they would shrink her so that she would no longer be a threat. He was still webbed up by Spider-Woman's webbing but everyone knew that her webbing only lasted for around an hour before dissolving. He would have had to play the waiting game but much to his horror his plans were backfiring in a big way.
Rather than growing smaller Spider-Woman was in fact growing bigger. She had been a woman of average height just moments before but now the thief could see her growing bigger by the second. Spider-Woman herself had no idea what was happening, her head was spinning and she felt like she was going to throw up. She felt like her body was on fire as it stretched and enlarged as the effects of the Van Dyne Particles took hold.
The entire process only took seconds to complete and by the end of her growth Spider-Woman panted heavily trying to get as much oxygen in her body as she could. It was only when she felt the spinning and stretching sensations end that she decided to stand up to her full height. The thief had to look up, and up and up at her as the costumed super heroine slowly rose back up to her feet.
When Spider-Woman finally got up to her feet she staggered a little and needed to place her hand on a nearby wall to help support herself. The disorientation was slowly fading away and she was continuing to regain her bearings. She heard a clattering sound as the terrified thief dropped the canister and simply looking up at the towering figure before him.
"W-What was that stuff?" asked Spider-Woman as her head cleared and she was beginning to see the world around her for what it truly was. Everything looked different and she was amazed to see that she couldn't see the thieves that she had just been fighting. It took her a few moments to see that she needed to look down to see them. When she did she could see that the world around her had seemingly shrunk, it took her a few moments to realise that she had grown. "What's happened to me?" She looked at her hands before looking down at the still conscious thief who now only seemed to be one third of his original size. She knew that she had in fact grown, previously she had been just over five and a half feet tall but now her height had tripled to over sixteen and a half feet.
Spider-Woman was still in a state of confusion after the change in her body but she could hear the conscious thief muttering a prayer. He believed that now that he had turned Spider-Woman into a giant that she was going kill him for this. He didn't know that even in the worst of circumstances that she wouldn't kill. He thought that he had created a monster that was going to hurt him.
"Please I'm sorry," said the Thief as he looked over to where Spider-Woman was standing. He still couldn't believe her height, it was almost like a statue had come to life and was walking around. "I thought that they would make you shrink."
"And how is that better?" snapped Spider-Woman as she looked down at the thief. She was able to step away from the wall and she was amazed that she was still able to walk. She knew that by being this size her body would be struggling to support her but she couldn't feel any true ill effects. "So rather than turning me into the tallest woman on the planet you preferred to shrink me so that I'd be powerless against you?" Her voice was stern and angry and it only made the thief even more terrified. All the joy and humour had completely disappeared from her voice.
Despite her anger she still wasn't going to seriously harm the thief. She wasn't even thinking about harming him at all. Her main thought was to find a way to restore her original size. Sadly she didn't know much about Van Dyne Particles and how exactly they worked. Right now the only person that she thought that could help her was the thief who had just sprayed her with the growing Van Dyne Particles.
Before Spider-Woman could ask any more questions she heard a loud bang from a few blocks away. She knew something possibly terrible had just happened and she looked towards where the sound had originated from. Thanks to all the buildings in the way she couldn't see exactly what was happening. The only way that she could find out what was happening was to leave the thief where he was and investigate for herself. A small part of her wanted to stay question the thief but if anyone was injured or died because of her inaction she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.
"Don't move a muscle," said Spider-Woman as she turned to look at the thief. She then shot a line of webbing onto a nearby building and swung away. She was thankful that the strength of the webbing had increased along with her size or else it wouldn't have been able to support her extra weight.
A short distance away an armoured car had been forcefully stopped. It was turned on its side and there was a huge dent in its side. The two men responsible for the armoured car were still inside but they knew that if they had somehow got out to defend the van they wouldn't stand much of a chance.
The culprit of this attack was a man who went by the name of the Shocker. He was a man who didn't possess any superhuman abilities but instead possessed a pair of gauntlets that could create vibration blasts that were strong enough to shatter bone and break through reinforced steel. His real name was Herman Schultz and he had created these gauntlets himself. The costume he was wearing covered him from head to toe in a quilted material and was primarily a yellow and brown colour. This costume wasn't just for show but because they absorbed the vibrational feedback from his gauntlets so that he wasn't harmed.
Unlike many superpowered villains his main goal wasn't world domination or some sort of grand plan for a new order. Instead he used his gauntlets primarily to try and make himself rich through thievery. Over time he had come into contact with Spider-Woman on a few occasions and each time they fought she would come out on top. She would often use some kind of punch line to add insult to injury but this time he was more than prepared for her arrival. He had made sure that his gauntlets were more powerful than ever.
The Shocker stood a few feet away from the armoured van that was on its side. He carefully walked over to the door that was all that was stopping him from stealing the cash that was inside. He knew that he had minutes before police officers would respond and he thought that if he was lucky Spider-Woman would be some miles away dealing with some other robbery or super villain.
He turned a dial on his gauntlets and then used them to create a vibrational blast that was strong enough to rip the doors off of their hinges. He smiled as she could see the bags of bank notes that were ripe for the taking. Everything had been going to plan but he heard someone touch down on the ground behind him. It was a louder thud than he had expected but he still felt confident of victory.
"Shocker!" said a relatively loud and somewhat angry voice of Spider-Woman. She had landed a few metres away from him and since he had his back to her he couldn't see her increased size.
"Spider-Woman I knew you'd show up at some point," replied Shocker with confidence in his voice. He began turn towards her and his confidence was continuing to grow. "You have no idea how much I wanted to…" By now he had fully turned around and discovered that Spider-Woman towered over him. "See you." His voice had become very quiet and he could feel genuine fear over the towering superheroine before him. The last thing that he expected was to see her as a giant and he was completely lost for words. If she had still been normal he would have thought that he could have taken her out but since she had tripled in size he knew that he didn't stand a chance.
"I am really not in the mood for this right now!" Each word she muttered only made the villain feel more and more terrified. "As you can see right now I have bigger problems to deal with so you can either stop what you're doing right now and wait for the police to arrive or I can beat the tar out of you and then you get arrested!"
There was a moment of silence as the Shocker began to decide his options. He did consider fighting back but he knew that his chances of victory were very slim. She had defeated him a few times before and that was when she was normal size, now that she was much bigger and stronger than she was before he knew that she would most likely defeat him. The Shocker would rather be arrested unhurt and with his dignity intact rather he slowly rose his hands up into the air indicating that he was surrendering.
As Spider-Woman heard police sirens approaching and she quickly webbed up the Shocker's gauntlets so that he couldn't move them and then webbed his feet to the ground. She quickly went over to the driver's side door of the armoured van and she used her superior strength to rip it open. The two security guards were still inside and she wanted to make sure that they were alright. They had remained quiet while the Shocker had been attacking but they had been able to send out a distress signal that was picked up by the police and thus the reason for their approach.
Both men were surprised when the door was ripped open. The armoured vehicle had been on its side but when they looked up could see the enlarged head of Spider-Woman looking down at them. Normally she would have had to climb on the side of the armoured van to be able to reach inside but with her increased height this was not a problem for her. She could see that the two guards were in a panicky mind set after the attack and the sudden appearance of a giant woman.
"Don't worry guys I'm here to help," said Spider-Woman as she looked down at them. They were still in their seated positions and only their seatbelts were preventing gravity from making them fall towards the passenger door. "Please take my hand." She reached towards them and she held her enlarged hand out to them. They were still in disbelief over what had happened but the driver grabbed onto Spider-Woman's hand. To her it was like a young child was holding onto her hand but she gently picked him out of the damaged van and placed him safely back down on the ground. She did the same for the other guard a few moments later and when they were both on the ground they marvelled over her size. They were only one third of her size and it was intimidating for them. "Are you guys alright now?" She squatted down so that she didn't seem to be so big.
"Y-yeah we're fine," said the driver who was still in disbelief over what he was seeing. "Thanks to you."
"No problem it's all in a day's work." Her voice was somewhat bubbly and reassuring. Her anger had melted away for the moment so that she would seem less threatening to the two men. She could hear the police sirens again but this time they seemed even closer. "Gotta go guys and for now lets keep this whole growth spurt business our little secret alright?" She saw the two men nodding at her. "Ok, stay safe."
With that Spider-Woman webslinged away and went back towards where she had left the thieves. She was happy that she could stop the Shocker from robbing the armoured van but it was a distraction that she really didn't need. She just hoped that there was some way of being able to shrink herself back down to her normal size. She also hoped that she wouldn't grow any bigger. Images flashed through her mind of her being several hundred feet tall and having to avoid the National Guard.
It didn't take her long to return to the side entrance of the Science Museum where she had left the three thieves but much to her horror they were gone. She stood in the area in disbelief that they had somehow escaped. Rather than being saddened that what she thought to be her one chance of returning to normal had been lost she was more angry at herself for allowing them to escape.
"I can't believe how stupid I am!" said Spider-Woman angrily to herself as she punched a nearby wall. With her enhanced strength she left a small dent in the wall without damaging her hand. "I leave them alone so I could deal with the Shocker and I actually expected them to still be here? I can't believe I did that." She gave out a sigh and then sat down with her back to a nearby wall. "What am I going to do now? I'm huge and I have no idea how I'm going to shrink back down again."
An idea popped into her head and at that point in time she was willing to try anything. She thought that she would be able to shrink herself by simply concentrating and willing herself to be small. She had seen Doctor Van Dyne change size numerous times on the news and she thought that there was a chance of shrinking herself down by sheer force of will. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she concentrated on shrinking. For a few moments there was nothing around her at all.
Spider-Woman concentrated for several moments and truly willed her way to shrinking but as she opened her eyes she saw that everything was just as small as it was before and all she had done was made her face red. This couldn't be seen under her mask however but she was disappointed that her idea had failed. She had already known that it was going to be a long shot but she still had hope.
Disjointed Spider-Woman looked over to the webbing that was on the ground. It had been the webbing that she had used to pin the thieves down and make them in her mind unable to escape. She noticed something a little odd and when she got up to take a closer look she saw that the webbing itself had been cut. She was more than certain that the thieves couldn't have done this themselves, she could only devise that there was a fourth person involved who had been able to free them as she dealt with the Shocker. The canister was long gone as well and her options were low.
There was nothing at the scene that gave Spider-Woman any indication where the thieves could have gone. She was going to have to track them down in some manner but she felt very tired all of a sudden. It seemed that the change in size had sapped much of her energy and she was struggling to stay awake. She was too big to return home and she didn't want to explain to her father why she was so big.
Spider-Woman began to consider exactly where she was going to go. She couldn't stay at the house of any of her friends, not only was she too big to get through the doors but once again she didn't want to explain to them how she got so big. The only place that she thought could be a decent place for her to stay was the school gym hall. It was not the most ideal of places to stay but she knew that it was one of the few places that could house her and she also had another advantage. The next day was Saturday so she would have the weekend to try find a cure before school started again on Monday and she would either be discovered or have to find somewhere else to stay.
With little choice in her situation Spider-Woman stood up from her seated position and used her webbing to attach a line to a nearby building and she lifted herself up as she webslinged away. The entire events of the last few minutes were going through her mind but her fatigue prevented her from thinking straight. She couldn't remember the last time that she had ever felt so tired. She could feel herself nodding off as she webslinged and the last thing that she wanted to do was to fall asleep while webslinging and fall to the ground. She might not be killed with her enhanced powers but she still would have suffered a horrific injury. Thankfully she couldn't be seen too well in the darkness so she didn't get any unwanted attention from the police force.
Since the school was only a short distance away from where she had been Spider-Woman had been able to reach it in relatively good time. Even when she landed she couldn't believe how much smaller it looked now. The gym building was still much bigger than she was but it definitely looked a lot smaller than it had done just a very short while before. She knew that there were a set of double doors that were left unlocked.
Opening the doors wasn't the problem for Spider-Woman it was getting through them that she was having difficulties with. If it had been a single door she wouldn't have been able to get through but since they were double doors it was possible for her to get her much larger body through.
It took her a few moments of squeezing and twisting until she was able to get through the doors and she gave a small sigh of relief when she was through. As she stood back up to her full height she was certain that there was no one else around so she took down her hood and then took off her mask. It was nice for her to take her mask off but it was nothing that could help solve her immediate problem.
So many thoughts went through Spider-Woman's head as she sat down on the ground. She couldn't remember the last time that she had felt so tired and she was very close to just collapsing on the ground and forgetting that the entire night had taken place. She was considering calling someone who could try and help her but no one that she knew personally could help her right now. For now the best thing that she could do was lie down on the ground and try to get some sleep.
A couple of miles across the city the thieves that had stolen the canister of Van Dyne Particles were pulling up to a warehouse near the docks. They were driving a van and where there had been three thieves previous there were now fourth. The fourth had remained at the van during the robbery and had been the one who had freed the other thieves after Spider-Woman had left to deal with the Shocker.
The two thieves that had been knocked out had regained consciousness although they were still hurting from battling Spider-Woman. They hadn't seen her in her enlarged state but all they cared about was getting the canister to their employer and walking away with their payment.
The warehouse itself seemed to be empty as there were no guards patrolling the outside. At first they weren't certain that they had gotten the right address but nonetheless they pulled up in near a small door. Rather than one thief going to the door the entire group went since they were afraid that they would be double crossed and they just wanted to be sure that they could get away with the money that they had earned.
The tall thief was the one who knocked on the door and it took a few moments for the spyhole open and they saw two eyes looking at them. The thief holding the canister was at the back of the group so if it was a double cross that they could at least run with the canister so that the employer didn't get what they wanted.
"What's your business here?" said the man behind the door. His voice was low and not that much more than a growl.
"We got the canister your boss wanted," replied the Tall Thief. "Now let us in so that we can get our paper and get outta here."
"Where's the canister?" This was when the other thief stepped forward so that the man could see the canister. Moments later the spyhole shut and the door came open. The man was very tall and very well built. There was no doubt that he was merely hired muscle. "Follow me, the boss has been expecting you."
With some caution the thieves followed the hired muscle as they walked through the warehouse. Once again they didn't see anything that really struck them as being significant. All there was were a few cardboard boxes on the ground and a few cars parts but nothing that really caught their notice. It wasn't until they came up to what seemed to be a switch box on the wall did they finally discover that the warehouse was different to almost every single one in the docks.
After pressing a series of buttons a whole opened up on the floor at the centre of the warehouse. It was a staircase that led down into a basement and it was obvious that the owner of the warehouse would have things down there that they didn't want prying eyes to see. It only added to the confusion and suspicions of the thieves and they remained cautious in case it was a double cross.
Despite their fears the thieves followed the hired muscle down the steps and after a short walk they could see tech that was years ahead of what they had ever seen before. The basement was also much larger than they had expected and they looked around at all the equipment around. They could see why someone would want to keep this equipment hidden, if it was stolen it could probably go for thousands if not millions of dollars.
It took a further few moments before the group stopped at a desk that had a few pieces of equipment such as a microscope and a computer. They could see a relatively young woman with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. She couldn't have been any older than her late twenties and she wore what seemed to be a floral dress. The thieves were confused because when they were hired the person on the phone had a man's voice where this was clearly a woman.
"Greetings," said the woman in a somewhat emotionless voice. "I see that you have my Van Dyne Particles. Good I was beginning to think that you weren't coming."
"We have what you want," replied the Tall Thief. It was obvious that he was the leader of the thieves and he wasn't going to walk out of the warehouse without the money he was promised. "Now give us our money or else this little canister that you care so much about will be taking a swim in the Hudson River."
"Before I pay you for anything I want to see if you've brought me the real thing or just a canister of air freshener." She took a paper weight from her nearby drawer and placed it on the desk. "Spray some of that stuff on this and we'll see what happens."
The thieves were still cautious but they could understand her wanting to see if they had the real deal or just a dud. The thief with the canister stepped forward and sprayed a very small amount of the Van Dyne Particles on the paper weight and they waited to see what happened. It took a few moments before they saw the paper weight increase in size. Thankfully for everyone the size change was not too large for it to cause a problem but by the end of its growth it had almost doubled in size.
"There you see," said the Tall Thief.
"Very well," replied the Woman. "Eric, make sure that these men get their payment and then show them out." The hired muscle stepped away for a moment and a few seconds later he returned with a briefcase and when he opened it in front of the thieves they could see the fresh hundred dollar bills inside. "This is the payment that we agreed on, you actually performed well. I might just hire you again if I need anything else."
"If our transactions run as smoothly as this we're more than happy to work for you. As long as you pay us of course."
With that the canister was placed on the table as the thieves were handed the briefcase of money. They could have tried to leave with both but they suspected that there were probably defences that would prevent them from leaving with their lives.
They didn't realise that the woman's name was Rita DeMarra and she was by all counts a genius. She was a gifted scientist who could excel in any field that she wished. She had been a classmate of Doctor Janet Van Dyne in college and they had been rivals ever since. They had both tried to be the one who cracked the secrets of size manipulation but unfortunately Doctor Van Dyne had beaten her to it. She had become the size changing heroine Wasp/Giant-Woman while Rita had faded into obscurity and refused to quit until she had unlocked the secrets of size manipulation. She wanted to prove to the world that she was a genius and that she could create Van Dyne Particles that were superior to the ones created by Doctor Van Dyne herself.
The hours seemed to fly by as Spider-Woman slept in the school gymnasium. She was having strange dreams that didn't make all that much sense but then again many things that had happened to her over her life hadn't made any sense. To her these dreams were simply that, dreams.
When Spider-Woman eventually work up she could see the sun's rays coming through the glass located near the ceiling. She groaned a little and sat up as she stretched her longer body. The events of the previous night had mostly been forgotten and she began to wonder where she was. It took a few moments for her memories to come back to her as she remembered that she was a giant.
She gave a sigh as she slowly got up to her feet and began to stretch herself again. Despite the fact that she had been sleeping on the ground she did feel refreshed. It was not the most comfortable sleep that she ever had but it was more than adequate to recharge her after her growth spurt.
A new day might have dawned but Spider-Woman still had the same problem that she had the previous day. She was stuck as a giant and she had no idea how she was going to shrink herself. She considered trying to contact Doctor Van Dyne but reaching her was going to be a tall order. Since she was a member of the Avengers she was housed at a mansion located within the city. Unfortunately knocking on the front door would not be the best course of action because despite Spider-Woman's innocence she was still wanted for murder and the Avengers would most likely try and arrest her.
"Come on Gwen think," said Spider-Woman to herself as she walked around the gymnasium. This was her way of trying to come up with an idea and since she knew that there was no one around she could talk to herself. "You've been supersized and you can't turn to the Avengers for help." She gave a bit of a sigh as she knew that she could have gone to Peter Parker with this problem but since he had died trying to be special like he couldn't help her and she felt guilty for his death ever since.
Spider-Woman imagined what her life would be if she was stuck in her increased size. She could see herself trying to play the drums for the Mary Janes but they seemed to be child size playthings rather than a real drum kit. She saw herself going to one of the few Big and Tall women's fashion shops in the city and being told that she was almost three times too tall for their largest size.
"I just bought myself the cutest outfit and now I'm too big to even wear it," said Spider-Woman as she gave a grunt to herself. By now she was walking close to one of the baskets. She noticed that even though it was ten feet off the ground that she would have to bend down to reach it. "At least if I stay this size I have a promising basketball career. I think teams would be falling over themselves to have a tall gal like me on their team." She knew that this wasn't helping but it was a little joke that she had with herself so that she didn't crack from the pressure.
Suddenly Spider-Woman began to hear voices and immediately she put on her mask and hood so that her face couldn't be seen. This had completely caught her by surprise as she didn't expect anyone to be at the school on Saturday. She quickly began to look around to see if there was anywhere that she could hide as she heard the quiet voices becoming louder. There were at least two people heading her way and she was quickly running out of ideas. She looked up to the ceiling and she knew that even if she hid up there she would still be easy to spot. She was quickly learning that a giant had a very difficult time being stealthy and she could hear the voices and the footsteps coming closer and closer. They were coming from behind a door that was close to where she was standing and in mere moments two innocent people would see the towering Spider-Woman and would most likely raise the alarm or be terrified of her change in size.