It had started out as just another news broadcast. The reporter, a woman by the name of Jean Loring, was standing outside of the mayor's house, delivering a story that held no appeal to Ray- but he stopped to listen when she mentioned a 'mysterious shrinking man'. Apparently, the people suspected him of being the one to hold the mayor hostage.
Walking down the narrow, tiled hallway to the outside and using his advanced smartphone to watch the news, Ray listened as he heard the reporter talk about how he was a menace and needed to be eradicated- probably what the whole city was thinking now. What surprised Ray the most, though, was when the broadcast blurred before coming to a complete halt. Then, the screen faded to black, before it came back- this time showing the mayor, taped to a chair, with a large bowie knife by his neck.
The mayor- a balding man in his early seventies- gulped as he looked at a piece of paper in his hands, before speaking with a bit of a stutter- obviously nervous. "Citizens of Ivy Ci-city, there is a m-madman on the loose who goes by the name of R-Ray P-p-Palmer. If he doesn't c-come here bef-fore five o'clock, the mayor will be- will be-" There were tears in the old man's eyes, and a loud voice barked at him, the knife going closer to the mayor's throat. "Executed! Your move, shrinker." The mayor screamed, before the camera stopped rolling.
Outside The Mayor's House- 4:42
"Well, Jean, looks like the only story we'll be talking about is who died today." One of the several cameramen joked with her, nudging her with his arm.
Jean wiped a short strand of jet black hair from her face as she turned to the cameraman with her dark brown eyes. "Look, Tom, we're dealing with a serial killer here. I don't think its a good idea to start cracking jokes about the person who's created jobs for over half the city." She snapped at him, and he quickly turned to walk away.
Although, she was losing faith in the mystery man- had he decided to let the mayor die? She hoped not. Turning she walked toward the cameras where she was about to report how all seemed lost, when a gust of wind sent a speck of dust in her eye. "Gah!" She yelled, wiping the eye with a pink nail. Getting it out, she looked at it carefully in her nail for a second before it blew away.
The cameraman asked if she was ready to do the broadcast- but she refused. "No... I don't think hope is lost for the mayor." She said slowly. For what she saw on the dust in the nail was a person- and that dust was on its way to the held-up house.
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Ray struggled to pilot the dust speck as he aimed for the window to the house. After running into the bimbo with the mile-long eyelashes, he didn't want to fail at piloting the small dust particle. Finally getting close to the window, he stood on the dust before leaping off and growing bigger simultaneously- in what might've been the stupidest mistake of his life.
Sylbert whirled around as he saw Ray crash through the glass window, wasting no time at all in lunging at him with it. Sure, he was surprised- but the whole point was to be prepared for anything. So here he was- stabbing at Ray with eight inches of solid steel.
Ray had already been damaged by the window glass, but he now had to battle the madman who'd decided to try and kill him. Unfortunately, he found this mad man was quite good at killing, as he felt the sharp blade penetrate his right shoulder, yelling in pain as the lunatic twisted the knife. As he pulled it out, Ray wheeled away, dodging the next swipe of the knife, and propped up to his feet, raising his fists- a stupid idea, considering he had little to no training in martial arts.
As the lunatic swung his blade again, Ray felt a quick thought run through his mind- an image of him dodging the knife. Next thing he knew, he felt a tingling sensation in his shoulder, and when he reopened his eyes the knife had missed.
Sylbert stood, his mouth agape- the shrinker wasn't supposed to do that. Was he? "What'd you do?" He snarled, needing to understand this- it wasn't something the belt could give him.
"I didn't understand it myself at first. But now I do. See, when the laser fired to fuse me and the hydrogen atom, all the atoms in my body became me. The atoms are me- and I am the atom." Ray replied, lunging at Sylbert and punching him in the jaw.
Sylbert stepped back a bit, clutching his jaw a bit as he turned to Ray. "Atom, huh? That's cute." He snickered as he pressed the center button on his belt, shrinking down to a quarter of the size of a flea. Ray shrunk down with him till he was (seemingly) a few feet taller than Sylbert.
"You may be an expert assassin, but you don't have the same control over the size manipulation than I do." He said, bringing his knee up to hit Sylbert square in the jaw, sending him flying back a couple inches. Running at him, Ray jumped and stomped his foot on Sylbert, growing till his whole foot covered him, and kept trying to contain him. The seconds passing by seemed like hours as he felt Sylbert growing under his shoe, until suddenly he felt a sharp pain- the bowie knife.
Yelling in pain, Ray felt Sylbert's strength returning as he threw Ray off of him, then jumped back to his feet. Sylbert coughed a bit of blood out and spat on the ground, looking around briefly before he seemed to get an idea. Throwing his knife at Ray, he turned and grabbed the mayor- chair and all- and threw him toward the shattered window.
Needing to act quickly Ray raised an arm to block the knife- he didn't have time to fully dodge it- and ran toward the mayor who was launched out of the window. Knowing if he jumped out to grab the mayor he'd die, he started to grow, sticking his arm out the window and reaching for the mayor.
Lucky enough, Ray barely caught the edge of the chair. Exhaling a sigh of relief, Ray turned his huge head to Sylbert, who was stabbing at his thigh- however, at his current size, it merely felt like pinpricks. Which still hurt, nonetheless. Moving his hand into an OK symbol, he held it close to Sylbert's head, and flicked him toward the wall, which he hit and fell unconscious to.
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Twenty minutes later, Sylbert had awoken, and was in Ray's giant grip, then knife several feet away. "Who are you?" He growled, squeezing the assassin tighter.
"Well if you're gonna be somethin' as lame as th... Atom, I'll be..." Sylbert thought for a moment before grinning. "Dwarfstar." He chuckled a bit before being slammed against the wall by Ray.
"Who do you work for?" Ray asked, loosening his grip. He could already hear the door being forced open, and the SWAT teams running up the stairs.
"Friend of yers... Name's Prof..." Sylbert started, before shaking his head. "Professor Planck. Some wacko obsessed with you." Then, he fainted. Ray dropped him, and shrunk back down, as the SWAT team came in, clad in black and aiming guns at him. Raising his hands, Ray was put in handcuffs and taken out of the house.
As the SWAT teams were about to put Ray in a squad car, the mayor noticed his hero being taken away and intervened. "Wait! This man isn't a criminal. He saved my life. Isn't that right..." The mayor thought of what he had called himself in the house, "Atom?" He said, happy to remember.
Ray remained silent, but after a brief discussion, the Mayor and the SWAT teams argued for a bit before they came upon a conclusion.
"So, Atom, you have a choice- serve a year in jail, or swear to protect the city from every threat the police can't." The mayor said formally.
At this point, Ray had a good long time to think. Thinking about the knife wound in his shoulder and thigh, and the million other places he was hurt, and wanted to just take the year in jail. But then he turned to the loud crowd behind the police barriers, and knew that he was a somebody- that people knew him.
"I'll take the community service." Ray said with a smile, turning to the mayor. "Very good! Now, erm, if you don't mind..." He said, as he pointed to the several cameras and offered his hand.
"Of course," Ray smiled, as he grabbed the mayor's hand and turned to the camera, just as the snapshot happened.
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Meanwhile, in the destroyed laboratory, Al Pratt- aka, Professor Planck- was creating a suit made of the thing he made Dwarfstar's belt out of. "Soon, Atom... We will meet face to face. And then, I will take revenge for the way you ruined my chances at success...." He laughed, a laugh that echoed throughout the ruins of the lab as the once sane scientist swore to destroy his own nephew.
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