At first Spider-Woman had not noticed what was happening and instead just for the moment took the opportunity to bask in her victory. It wasn't until she heard Rita groaning again that she realised what was happening. The giant woman was growing once again and Spider-Woman felt a chill run down her spine as she saw Rita get up to her feet and her size was increasing rapidly.
As Rita grew she was able to rip the web lines that were keeping her trapped with such ease that it was if they were made of thin pieces of string. Spider-Woman took a step back and had to look up and up as Rita's body stretched upwards and to her the world was shrinking once again. Her groaning was only getting louder as she grew larger, it was almost like Spider-Woman was seeing something out of an old science fiction B movie but unfortunately this was real life.
By the time Rita had finally stopped growing her height had quadrupled making her a colossal two hundred feet tall. Despite the fact that Spider-Woman was a giant herself she looked nothing more than a doll in comparison to the woman who was a true colossus in every sense of the word. Spider-Woman didn't want to admit to the fact that she was absolutely terrified. She had faced opponents larger than herself in the past and even considered herself victorious against Rita when she was a mere fifty feet in height. Now though she could see that she was going to be in for the fight of her life and she didn't know whether she would come out the other end with her head held high. Only time would tell what the outcome would be.
One thing that Spider-Woman also couldn't believe was the fact that she was over sixteen feet tall and yet had never felt so small in her life. The woman before her was well over ten times her size and a whole lot stronger as well. Her webbing would be too weak to properly contain Rita anymore and Spider-Woman didn't even know if her attacks would have any effects. Her mind was telling her to run and hide but she knew that if she didn't stop Rita many more people would be hurt or worse and she would only have herself to blame. What both women didn't know was that the DeMara Particles in Rita's system were highly unstable and if left unchecked would make her grow bigger and bigger with almost no end in sight. In a few short hours a skyscraper would seem like a model building to her.
"Ok Rita is talking out of the question right now?" asked Spider-Woman knowing full well that it wasn't going to work. Instead of properly answering Rita tried to stomp on her but she was able to leap out of the way.
Spider-Woman had noticed that Rita's growth spurt had also revitalised her. Just moments before Rita had been completely fatigued but now it was like she could run a marathon and still have enough energy left over to climb Mount Everest. Thankfully for Rita her intelligence had not taken another nose dive but she was far from the competent genius that she had been a few minutes before.
With great speed Rita bent down and grabbed Spider-Woman with both hands. She then began to squeeze tightly so that she could crush the superheroine. Everything had happened so fast that Spider-Woman didn't have time to dodge out of the way but she could feel the wind being squeezed out of her body. She could also feel her ribs being crushed and if it hadn't been for her enhanced durability they would have been crushed already. One thing that she did have on her side was that one of her arms were free but she didn't have the strength to break free. Instead she would have to resort to using her brain rather than her brawn and in moments an idea soon popped into her mind.
"Here's web in your eyes," said Spider-Woman with a small hint of humour in her voice. With her free arm she shot out a spray of webbing right into Rita's eyes. The sudden impact of the webbing into her eyes caused the colossal woman to drop Spider-Woman and try to remove the webbing from her eyes. As Spider-Woman fell she was able to use her agility to land on the ground with all the grace of an Olympic gymnast.
This was only a temporary solution to a big problem for Spider-Woman. She might have been able to free herself from Rita's clutches but unless she ended the fight fast many more people would most likely be harmed. She needed to think of a way of defeating someone who was more than ten times her size and the answer wasn't particularly an easy one to figure out either.
For now rather than going high Spider-Woman instead decided to attack low at Rita's ankles in the hopes that it would topple the colossal woman. Instead all she got for her efforts was a strong kick that sent her flying a few hundred metres into another street. The kick had dazed her but she had still gotten her wits about her to ensure that she at least landed safely. She was greatly winded and needed some time to catch her breath but she could feel the slight tremors in the ground. Rather than being an earthquake instead they were Rita's footstep and each one sounded slightly louder than the previous one. Spider-Woman didn't need to be a genius to know that it meant Rita was heading her way.
As Rita walked to Spider-Woman's location she didn't care if anything got in her way. She walked through some cables that snapped when she walked through them and already she had finished removing all the webbing from her eyes. Passers-by had already fled in absolute fear of her as they saw the two hundred foot tall woman walking the streets with no consideration for anything around her. A police copter had also picked up on her but she took no notice of it and continued to move to where she saw Spider-Woman land. Right now Rita wasn't thinking rationally, all she wanted to do was get her hands on Spider-Woman and then Doctor Janet Van Dyne and she didn't care who go in her way.
The short distance away Spider-Woman was still recovering from the powerful kick that she had received. If it hadn't of been for her superhuman abilities she would have easily been killed but she definitely felt like she was hit by a big rig truck. It was then that she realised that she couldn't beat Rita using bruit force, she still had her wits by her and she needed to use them to outthink the giant woman.
Moments later Rita approached Spider-Woman's location and she could see her prey standing only a short distance away. Almost immediately Rita began to run towards her but one thing that she didn't notice was that about ten feet off the ground Spider-Woman had created a web line that stretched from one side of the street to the other. It was too low and thin for Rita to notice and almost immediately her foot got tugged by the webbing and she went crashing down to the ground. The impact of the landed sent dust into the air and the sound generated was almost loud enough to shatter glass.
Knowing that she only had a few moments to work Spider-Woman ran towards the downed colossus and quickly approached her face. As soon as Spider-Woman reached Rita's face she began to punch it repeatedly hoping that her blows would do some damage. She continued to punch away as if Rita's face was a punching bag but when she saw the enormous hand coming towards her she leaped out of the way so that she didn't receive any more injuries. She had yet to fully recover from the kick.
Unfortunately for Spider-Woman she was helpless but to watch Rita get back up to her feet. There were a couple of bruises on her face where the superheroine had been punching but overall she didn't seem to be too effected by the attack. If anything all that Spider-Woman had done was make her angry. She was also only a few mere minutes away from undergoing another growth spurt, this was a piece of information that Spider-Woman was not aware of but if she did it would only make the situation worse.
Spider-Woman was trying to think about what she could do to stop Rita. She had never faced an opponent with such brute strength and who could shake off her best attacks like this. She was beginning to regret not contacting the Avengers or more importantly Doctor Janet Van Dyne. She had felt that she could have handled things herself but she had to admit that she was much over her head with this one but she already knew that no one would be coming to help her.
The next thing that Spider-Woman saw was Rita slamming her fisted into the side of a building and parts of it began to crumble and quickly she held onto a piece of debris. It weighed roughly a few tons but as Rita threw it towards her it was almost as light as a feather to her and as it went soaring through the air Spider-Woman had to leap out of the way or else she would have been crushed.
What Spider-Woman saw next was even worse than before. The building that Rita had slammed her fist into had been a residential apartment block and there were people still inside. One particular resident had their apartment completely smashed and was now hanging on for dear life by a small piece of debris. Unfortunately if this man were to let go he would fall to his untimely death.
Spider-Woman knew that she had more important things to concern herself about but she couldn't ignore the pleas of the endangered man. Despite the risk to her own safety she quickly made her way towards him but she did have a two hundred foot woman standing in her way.
Probably for the first time since her own growth spurt Spider-Woman's lack of size was actually her advantage as she was able to dart through the legs of Rita and quickly make her way up to the apartment where the man was hanging from. Rita turned towards her as she saw Spider-Woman reach where the endangered man had been clinging for his life. He had been surprised to see Spider-Woman much bigger than she should be but before he could say anything else Spider-Woman had to leap away with him on her shoulder. Only a moment later Rita's hand slammed down on where they had been causing even more damage but both Spider-Woman and the man were safe.
A few moments later Spider-Woman landed on the ground and told the man to make himself scarce before he faced anymore dangers. The man didn't argue with that and soon left the scene but not without telling her that he had been wrong about her. Like many people in the city he had believed that she was a menace thanks to J. Jonah Jameson's campaign but now he saw the truth.
With the man now safe Spider-Woman could finally turn her attentions back to Rita. An idea popped into her head but there was one minor problem that she had. For this plan to work she would need to find something to distract Rita for a few moments but it didn't seem to be likely since Rita was completely focused on her. It would take a pretty big distraction to turn her attention away from her.
This distraction came as Rita noticed a slight pain in the back on her heel. She took a brief time to look and she could see that there was a taxi cab driver that had crashed into him. In his panic at the sight of the giant woman he had not applied his breaks and so had ploughed right into her ankle. The driver himself was unharmed and he quickly got out of his car and even pulled out a gun. Still in a panicked state of mind he began to shoot at her rather than simply running away. Thankfully for Rita the bullets bounced off her since her skin was now too thick to be penetrated by regular bullets.
All this had given Spider-Woman the distraction that she had desperately needed and quickly she shot two web lines on two buildings that were opposite each other. The webbings had connected to a high part of both buildings and as soon as she knew that they were secure enough she began to move backwards while holding onto the webbing. She could feel the webbing being stretched further and further but this was all part of her plan. If she ever found out who the hapless driver had been she would thank him for helping her though it had been purely to try and save his own skin.
Rather than complaining about all of this Spider-Woman seized the opportunity and continued to step back with the web lines in her hand she had to wait until she felt that they were tight enough to allow her to do what she wanted to do. With each step she took back she could feel the web lines getting tighter and tighter and it would only be moments before Spider-Woman could end the fight.
"HEY QUEEN KONG!" shouted Spider-Woman so that she could be heard clearly by Rita. Almost instantly the towering woman turned around completely forgetting about the cab driver. He took the opportunity to run away now that her attention was diverted. Spider-Woman could hear Rita growling a little as she turned but she just had to wait a couple more moments before she could finished the giant woman off. "TRY PICKING ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"
As soon as Spider-Woman saw that Rita had fully turned herself around she allowed herself to slingshot through the air using the two web lines that she had created. With all the pressure that had been built up in the lining they easily had the power to send the giant Spider-Woman hurtling through the air and a fantastic speed. She moved faster than she expected but it was for the best since the more speed she had the more effective her attack would be. This was her last shot at taking down Rita.
While Spider-Woman flew through the air up to Rita's face she got herself into position to deliver a flying kick. It only took a few brief moments from when she launched herself to when she came into contact with Rita' cheek. The force of the impact of Spider-Woman's flying kick was like being struck by a heavyweight boxer to Rita.
As soon as Spider-Woman's kick came into contact with Rita's face the towering woman began to fall. Spider-Woman herself had to pull off a couple of manoeuvres to safely land on the ground but Rita was not so fortunate. She fell down as if she were a stack of bricks but when she landed on the ground it caused a small tremor and there was a lot of dust in the air after her impact. For a few moments Spider-Woman couldn't even see her but as the dust settled she could see the outline of the two hundred foot tall woman lying on the ground. Much to her relief Rita seemed to be unconscious and she even risked walking up to her face and slightly tapping it. She could still hear Rita breathing but she didn't respond to her at all. It was the best sign that she had all night.
"Wow that was close," said Spider-Woman to herself. "Maybe I should write a record of the biggest guys I've beat. Right now you would definitely be at the top, the only thing that could top you is if I fought a mountain."
"If you want to I can arrange that," replied another female voice. Spider-Woman turned around but she couldn't see anyone. Almost so small that she couldn't be seen by her there was a woman who was only around an inch tall and had insect like wings. Her costume consisted mainly of red and yellow and she had shoulder length brown hair. She landed on the ground moments later and quickly she began to grow and as she did her wings disappeared. Eventually she grew up to five and a half feet which to her was her normal size although she could grow much, much taller than that. It was only as she reached her normal size did Spider-Woman actually take notice. "Or if you want to you can have a few rounds with me."
"Wow wait you're…" Spider-Woman was almost star struck as she realised who was standing in front of her. She was three times the woman's height but even then she still recognised who she was.
"Doctor Janet Van Dyne aka Wasp aka Giant-Woman aka the prettiest member of the Avengers but I have to admit that last one is self-proclaimed." She then looked all the way up at Spider-Woman until she reached her face. "And you must be the Spider-Woman who I've heard so much about. I must admit that you're much taller than you look in the papers." She already knew the likely cause of Spider-Woman's increase in height but for the moment she was keeping that to herself.
"Oh yeah I had a close in counter with some of your particles and it made me have the mother of all growth spurts." She took a little sigh as she thought that she was going to have another battle. She thought that Doctor Van Dyne would try and take her to the police since most of the city thought that she had killed Peter Parker. "I'm sorry but it was an accident and if you're going to try and arrest me, don't. I know Jameson's got the idea in everyone's head that I killed Peter Parker but believe me I didn't."
"I know."
"And ever since then…" She had to stop herself for a moment so that she could actually fathom what had just been said. "Wait you know? How?"
"Well I don't know for sure but the Avengers have seen the acts you have done. We find it unlikely that someone like you who is so willing to help others up to the point where you are actually willing to sacrifice your life would actually murder someone. For obvious reasons the team cannot act or even comment to the press but we do hope that one day your name is cleared and then we can consider you joining the Avengers."
"Me an Avenger?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The world famous Doctor Janet Van Dyne was actually telling her that she could be an Avenger. She had almost idolised them for some years as she saw news reports of them going off and saving the world many times over. "You really think so?"
"Sure you've shown what it takes to be a true hero and that is exactly what we're looking for." She then turned to the still enlarged and unconscious Rita who was lying on the ground. "And I see you're not the only one affected by my particles." She gave a sigh as she instantly recognised Rita. "Oh Rita we could have been friends but you wouldn't let go of your jealousy towards me. I'm sorry to have seen you like this." She then took a tiny object out of her pocket and when it came into contact with her hand it instantly grew in size. After a few moments Spider-Woman could see that it was an aerosol canister. "Now let me get you back down to your right size Rita."
Doctor Janet Van Dyne stepped up to her long-time rival and sprayed her with some of the Van Dyne Particles that were inside the canister. Almost instantly Rita began to shrink in size and Spider-Woman watched in amazement as Rita shrank smaller and smaller by the second. In almost no time at all the once two hundred foot tall woman was now back down to her normal size. She was still unconscious but at least now the threat of her destroying everything in sight was gone.
"Wait are those shrinking Van Dyne Particles?" asked Spider-Woman as she realised that she was moments away herself from shrinking to normal.
"Not quite," replied Doctor Van Dyne. She gave the canister a quick shake after she had finished using it. "These are what I call anti-Van Dyne Particles, it dispels the effects of Van Dyne Particles on any person or object reverting them to their regular size. I do have growing and shrinking Van Dyne Particles are my person as well but I find these ones much more useful."
"Hey why don't you spray some of those my way so I can actually fit into my house again?" There was some happiness inside Spider-Woman but that burst as she began to hear sirens, she realised that the police were very close and in truth she was surprised that it had taken them this long to respond. From the loudness of the sirens she most likely wouldn't be able to shrink and get away too quickly. She knew that she was likely to be in another chase and that was something that she really didn't want to do. "The police are coming, what am I going to do? It's too late for me to make a proper escape, they're going to see me and I can't leave without becoming normal first."
"Don't worry about that." A smile soon appeared on her face. "Leave that to me my very tall friend."
No more than thirty seconds later the first police cars began to show up and almost immediately the street was being cornered off. A fair few of the officers that had attended the scene were heavily armed because they expected to find either Spider-Woman or a giant rampaging woman. Instead they found what seemed to be Doctor Van Dyne standing there with the unconscious yet normal sized Rita lying on the ground. There was no sign of Spider-Woman and the only way they could tell that there was actually a giant there was the crater in the ground where Rita had fallen.
In a matter of minutes there were two dozen officers on the scene but none of them had seen Spider-Woman escaping but as Wasp stood by the unconscious body of her rival she saw a detective approach her. He was a tall, well-built man with jet black hair. His height and build would be enough to intimidate almost anyone but since Doctor Van Dyne had matched sizes with beings who could make the Empire State Building look small she didn't give him much of a second thought.
"Can you please explain to me just what the hell is going on here?" asked the Detective in a voice that showed just how annoyed he was. "I get calls from dozens of people telling us that Spider-Woman is fighting some kind of giant woman and I find you here in the middle of all this. I have half a mind to arrest you right here and now but we both know that if I did I would have Avengers up my ass."
"You seem to be a very pleasant man Detective…" replied Doctor Van Dyne with some sarcasm in her voice.
"Castle."
"Ok Detective Castle, this woman you see lying on the ground stole some of my Van Dyne Particles and modified them. She is an old rival of mine and she thought to use them to show that she was better than me. Unfortunately it led to these unfortunate events and all the damage that you've seen."
"I see and I'm guessing that you're going to take her away somewhere so that you will try and help her? I know that's what you so called superheroes like to do when you've beaten up the bad guys."
"No this one I'm leaving with you guys. I have given her a dose of Anti-Van Dyne Particles so she shouldn't be growing again any time soon."
"And what about Spider-Woman? I've had reports that she was on the scene but surprise, surprise she's nowhere to be seen."
"She went down that way?" Doctor Van Dyne pointed in a direction down the street. "She was hurt in the fight but I don't think she could have gotten far."
Without even thanking Doctor Van Dyne for the information Detective Castle turned to some of his officers and ordered a couple to arrest Rita while some of the others were told to go and chase Spider-Woman.
Doctor Van Dyne didn't want to wait around so she shrank herself until she was only a few inches tall. By then her wings had grown back and she began to fly away from the scene. None of the officers tried to stop her at all and in a way if they did she would have easily been able to get passed them. She flew for a few minutes but rather than returning to the Avengers Mansion she instead landed in a back alley after she checked that there was no one else around.
As soon as Doctor Van Dyne landed on the ground she grew back up to her normal height. She then placed her hand inside one of the pouches on her costume and took out something that seemed to be white with a little of blue and a lot of black in it. The object seemed to move as she outstretched her hand and at first it looked like she had a small doll in her hand. In reality it was a shrunken Spider-Woman, she had been reduced to a mere couple of inches in height and she did give out a sigh of relief.
"That was close," said Spider-Woman, she gave another sigh but also she took a look around her immediate area. Not just so that she could check that the coast was clear but also to take in the view of the world around her. A few short minutes ago it had seemed to be only a third of its original size but now she felt like she was in the Land Of The Giants. "Hey when did everything get so big?"
"Don't worry you won't have to get used to it," replied Doctor Van Dyne as she placed Spider-Woman on top of a closed bin.
"Oh yeah I forgot to ask, why did Rita hate you so much? I've seen girls hate each other in school but nothing like this."
"Well Rita and I used to be friends back in college. We were both geniuses and funny enough we were both looking into unlocking the secrets to size manipulation. We both had our ways of trying to unlock the secret and I just happened to be the first to succeed. Unfortunately Rita couldn't accept that I had discovered the secret and not her and she was convinced that I stole her work to leapfrog her. I hadn't seen her for a number of years until tonight, it's a shame that things turned out like this. I admit that I couldn't have done it without her help but I wanted the project to have been by both of us but she only wanted it for herself." She took a moment to pause as she looked at the still tiny Spider-Woman. "And how did you get your powers?"
"Oh you know the old, girl being bitten by a radioactive spider angle. Never gets old." She too paused for a moment. "You said that the Avengers don't believe that I killed Peter Parker?"
"Well there are a couple of us that think you might have done it but I don't believe them. Especially after what I've seen tonight. You're a true hero Spider-Woman, you put your life on the line to help others and there is nothing more than can be asked of you. Unfortunately there isn't much that the team can do to try and clear your name, that is a job that only you can do." She paused for a moment as she prepared to use her powers once again. "Anyway I've gotta get going now, it was nice meeting you Spider-Woman." She then began to shrink herself so that she could fly away but suddenly Spider-Woman released something and began to wave her hands.
"Hey wait!" Spider-Woman shouted at the top of her lungs thinking that she wasn't going to be heard at her decreased stature. "Aren't you going to, you know… make me my normal size again? I don't want to have to be trying on my old doll's clothes."
"Oh silly me." With that Doctor Van Dyne began to grow again and it only took her a few moments to return to her normal size. "Sorry these things sometimes slip my mind." From one of her pouches she took out and then enlarged a canister of Anti-Van Dyne Particles. As soon as it was the right size she began to spray some of it on Spider-Woman. No sooner had she done this the tiny superheroine began to grow. At first it was slow and quickly it sped up, as soon as Spider-Woman felt that she was too big to stay on the bin she leapt down to the ground. Only seconds later she was back up to her normal size. "They you go, back to the way you were."
"Are you sure? I swear I was taller." In truth Spider-Woman was her normal size for the first time in a day but she had hoped to gain an extra couple of inches.
"Fraid not, the Anti-Van Dyne Particles return any person to their proper stature no matter how tall or short they were."
"Well thanks for that. This is definitely better than living the rest of my life as a human doll or a giant. Although it was pretty fun being the tall one for a change."
"Actually before I go I'll give you one little gift." She then placed her hand in another one of her pouches and enlarged a vial of green liquid. As soon as it was its proper size she passed it to Spider-Woman. Spider-Woman herself was a little confused with what she was seeing.
"What is this stuff?" She had the vial in her hand and she brought it closer to her eye so that she could see the contents of it.
"A special batch of Van Dyne Particles. By drinking that vial you'll grow into a sixty foot giant but the effects only last for about half an hour. Let's just say it's another way of me saying thank you for what you've done tonight. A couple of words of advice, only use that stuff if you're in a really sticky situation and if it can be helped don't take it in doors. Believe me growing through a ceiling is more painful than it looks."
"Thanks I guess." She took a moment to think as she realised that she didn't sound too grateful for what she had been given. "I'm sorry if I didn't sound grateful. I do really appreciate you helping me out tonight."
"No problem Spider-Woman." There was a smile on Doctor Van Dyne's face as she spoke. She was just happy that everything seemed to work out.
"Thanks." With a small amount of caution she removed her hood and then took off her mask so that Doctor Van Dyne could see what she looked like underneath. "And my name's Gwen, Gwen Stacy."
"Ok Gwen." She placed her hand on Spider-Woman's shoulder as the masked heroine began to put her mask and hood back on. "If you need me for anything else all you need to do is call."
"And if the Avengers need me you know where to find me."
"Actually I don't but I can figure it out."
With that Doctor Van Dyne said her goodbyes and then shrank down to a few inches in height. Her wings grew at her reduced size and she flew away so that she could return to the Avengers Mansion. For now Spider-Woman placed the vial that she had been given in her pocket and then web-swung away. She had just gone through an experience that almost no other human being had ever been through and she thought herself to be stronger after this experience. The only thing on her mind at that moment in time was getting home and taking a nice long shower. She appreciated the fact that she could now fit in her home and show like a normal person.
The End