The frog prince by THE MIGHTY LINGSTER (ending by Marknew) No growth in the first chapter, but you have to read it if you want to have a clue as to what's going on. So saieth the Mighty Lingster, and let none question His word, lest they face the full force of His rapier- like wit. Also, shouldst thou dwell...(getting old)...if you live in a country which forbids access to adult literature, or if you are beneath the age of majority in the country from which you have logged into the vast neoprene tangle of the Internet, kindly take a flying fuck at a galloping goose, because I don't want you reading my shit. Got me? Continued by Marknew, with permission from the MIGHTY ONE, given before his tragic internet death. A great talent, lost to us far too soon. But, enough of that. On to the story. All new from the conveniently placed ***. Some edits before that to make it all consistent. T H E F R O G P R I N C E Chapter 1 -- Life Is Like A Bowl Of Cherries Johnathan looked down into the toilet as he voided the night's pee, his vision slowly clearing to reveal the filth covering the rim of the commode. Flecks of shit were scattered all along the inside, and he fought back a sudden urge to retch. "Goddamn fucking plumbing...!" he began, but suddenly closed his eyes and took several deliberate, long breaths. He opened the cabinet beneath his sink and pulled out the toilet bowl cleaner, and began the unpleasant chore. Minutes later, in the shower, he thought back to his reaction. "Not good. The stress from work must really be affecting me, I CAN'T let myself lose control. I just can't." He washed himself off, paying special attention to his hands, and then shut off the water and toweled himself off. His heart rate had slowed, he knew, and he went into the kitchen to make his usual ginseng tea. After finishing breakfast, Johnathan got dressed and left for work. He walked to the subway station, and got on the 9 train, which would take him downtown. He noticed an attractive girl stealing glances at him, but forced himself not to make eye contact. "Focus, focus, focus," he thought to himself. Reaching the World Trade Center, Johnathan piled out of the train along with most of its occupants, and made his way up and out to the street. He walk-jogged (jalked? wogged? he wondered) the two blocks over to 135 Broadway and pressed the button for the 23rd floor, "Hamlin Brothers Securities". Getting off the elevator, he began to walk toward his cubicle, in the north-east corner of the building. He passed his co- workers; most of them didn't know him yet, he'd only been here six weeks. They didn't know his name, they didn't know where he was from, and not a one of them knew he'd been in a mental hospital from 1988 until 3 months ago last Tuesday. It was a voluntary convalescence. Johnathan's doctors were prepared to release him less than a year after the 'incident', but Johnathan refused to leave. The doctors didn't know, or at least didn't BELIEVE, but Johnathan did. Johnathan knew and believed, he'd seen the effects of his losing control, and for more than seven years believed that freedom was the last and least luxury of which he should allow himself to partake. He banished his family -- refused to see them. Refused to see ANYONE he knew from before. And now, after 3 months in New York, he had made not even one friend. No lovers, not even prostitutes, would Johnathan have. No confidantes, not even acquaintances one could consider as more than minimally casual. Johnathan was an island. There would be no letter in a bottle, no Friday, no rescue -- Johnathan was resolved. Johnathan had focused on mathematical studies to keep his mind occupied and rooted to reality -- OBJECTIVE reality -- while he was hospitalized. He read Ayn Rand, Nietzsche, and the Stoics, but steered well clear of any author or philosopher even remotely Cartesian, Continental, or subjective. When he finally allowed himself to be released, he was well-equipped and pedigreed for a job as an accountant. He had his BA in Accounting from an in-house tutor, and his CPA through an outpatient program sponsored by the hospital. He was suited for a job on Wall Street, and he went in search of one. His test scores were excellent, and he soon found a fat envelope from Hamlin Brothers in his mailbox. He was offered a position starting at $45,000, and while that was quite low for a CPA in Old New York, Johnathan recognized that it was only because he was 26 that he was being offered as much as that without experience. A kid right out of college would be offered considerably less. Johnathan's every day was a tenacious exercise in routine. Johnathan would tolerate nothing else. The sameness was solid, it was palpable. No fantasy could penetrate it. Nightmares, however, sometimes poked through. Like many workplaces, Hamlin Brothers held a party on Halloween, and encouraged its employees to dress accordingly. And so it was that on this Halloween, 1996, Johnathan turned the last corner on the way to his cubicle and was confronted by a giant frog. His heart jumped into his throat, and his vision turned inside-out, as his worst nightmare confronted him. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! NO! NO!!! NOOOO!!!!" he screamed, ROARED, falling backwards and kicking himself spastically backwards against the floor. "NOOOOOO!!! GET AWAY! GET!! AWAY!!!" People flooded the hallway to see what was happening, and were quite amazed to see a look of absolute, unquestionable horror on Johnathan's face. Few, if any, amongst them had ever caught a glimpse of terror so raw as that which clearly resided in the snarl of Johnathan's lips, the taut bulge of his eyes, the claw-like grip of the carpeted cubicle wall in his hands. Johnathan had stopped screaming, even though he looked as though he still were. One co-worker silently noted the expression on Johnathan's face matched precisely the look on Lee Harvey Oswald's in the famous photo that captured Jack Ruby shooting him. Johnathan looked stricken unto death. Even after the frog removed its head and turned out to be Rebecca Hanson, the woman in the next cubicle, Johnathan seemed to be still possessed by the horror. It wasn't until his boss slapped him in the face that Johnathan first realized he had not been looking at a giant frog, but rather at a person in a frog costume. "Ah...Ah...." he gulped air, breathing for the first time in over a minute. "I'm all right. I'm all right. Frogs. Frogs." But he could not clear the memories from his mind. The years peeled back and once more he was lying in his sleeping bag, covered by his friends the frogs. "Johnathan," his boss spoke, "come with me." "Yes, yes, I'm okay, I'm coming." Johnathan dutifully rose to his feet and raised the corners of his mouth in a weak smile, as if to say, "Thank you for tolerating me." He followed his boss down to the big corner office that had a view of the Brooklyn Bridge, whereupon he was directed to close the door. He did so, and then took a seat. Johnathan was very good at sitting still, and he used this talent now to create the appearance that he was calm. "What just happened out there, Johnathan? Do you need to see a doctor?" his boss asked. "No. No, sir, I just had a little panic attack. That's all, sir," he reassured his boss. "It seemed very...extreme. You've been working very hard on the end-of- the-year bond-swap sales initiative, I know. Why don't you take today off? Go for a walk? It's clear you've been pushing yourself too hard, and we really don't want incidents like this morning's, do we?" "No, sir." "The firm retains a personnel consultant in midtown, and they have relationships with several stress-reduction centers and...mental health specialists. Perhaps we could arrange a meeting for next week?" "I...well, uh, if you think that would be something I, er, would, yes. If you think so. Yes." Johnathan stammered. "Okay, then. We'll see you tomorrow, then, Johnathan. Take the day to rest." "Yes, sir," Johnathan said, and then turned and left the office. He walked to the elevator, forlornly, upset that he'd so spectacularly lost his cool earlier. He rode down the elevator without thinking about anything, and then wandered north from downtown, aimlessly. Without much sense of time passing, he walked up through TriBeCa and Soho, past his apartment in the West Village, and up through midtown. As he passed Rockefeller Center, he decided he would continue on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and spend some time there. CHAPTER 2 -- All Messed Up With No Place To Go The painting caught his fancy. Somehow the weird melting pocket watches reminded him of his penis. It was by a fellow named Salvador Dali, and Johnathan begin to wonder if, in its own way, his penis wasn't JUST LIKE a melting pocket watch. Earlier he'd had a similar attachment to a sculpture by a man named Konstantin Brancusi -- that one was of a smooth, rounded, three sided piece of marble that purported to be a woman. He could see her breasts, somehow, and the place where her legs folded, and led to her vagina. "How is it possible that a completely featureless ROCK can BE like a woman?" he wondered. Everything was coming undone, he could see. So he went to have lunch. American art museums, unfortunately for Johnathan, have a pretentious habit of selling small bottles of beer and wine in their cafeterias. Trying to be European, no doubt. Johnathan picked up a nice, 12 oz. bottle of chablis to go with his ham on rye, and settled down by himself in a corner. He hadn't so much as touched alcohol in a long time. In fact his abstinence from alcohol was one half hour longer than his abstinence from sex, and 45 minutes longer than his abstinence, at that time, from LSD. It was 8 hours less than his last, and thankfully, ONLY, one commission of mass murder. One bad habit resumed, Johnathan made his way back onto the streets of Old New York. In due course he made his way to a bar in TriBeCa called 'The Gold Lounge'. Unbeknownst to him, an ancestor of his, a Dutch widow named Anneke Jans, had once owned a farm that included the land that the 'The Gold Lounge' now stood on, as well as all the land stretching from the North Tower of the World Trade Center up to the Holland Tunnel. Had his family held onto the property, they would by now be one of the wealthiest on the planet, and this whole story wouldn't have happened. Bummer. He walked in the front door of the tavern, and sat down at a tall table about 15 feet from the bar. A pretty blonde girl was behind the brass rail, and when she placed some glasses on a rack at eye level, he was surprised to see that she had thick, athletic-looking arms. It was only about 7pm, and she was the only person who appeared to be working at the moment. In due course she came over to his table to get his order. She smiled at him in an efficient waitress-like way, and, misinterpreting it, he felt a rush of warmth on his face. Johnathan ordered a Bass (he'd heard it advertised on a pleasing commercial on WNEW), but when she brought it to him a few minutes later, she dropped it roughly, barely making eye contact with him, and rushed over to another table where four large bankers had just ordered their third pitcher of beer. She lingered at their table, joking with them. Aside from the wine at the museum, Johnathan hadn't drank alcohol in nearly a decade, so the pint glass of Bass left him a little buzzed and more relaxed than he usually let himself be. When he finally got her attention again he ordered another, drank it, and then ordered a third. As she brought the third glass, the barmaid again made eye contact and smiled. Johnathan thought, quite confidently, "She really likes me." The barmaid began to walk away, but then paused and turned back to Johnathan. "So..." the girl said to him, as if she wasn't sure how to continue, "what do, uh, what's your, um, your n-name?" "I'm Johnathan. What's your, uh, your name?" "Su-susan," she said, blushing. "My GOD!" Johnathan thought to himself, "She REALLY likes me!" Susan's blush deepened, and Johnathan could tell that she was breathing heavily. She looked around suddenly, as if unsure of her location, and then looked back at him, biting her lower lip. She glanced down at the floor, embarrassed, then stepped closer to him and made eye contact, "Do you....think I'm pretty, J-Johnathan?" "She's not smart," he thought, and noticed a confused look come over her, but, "You're very beautiful, yes." And while he bathed in the glow of her smile, he suddenly realized that she wasn't just a pretty girl, but truly beautiful, just as he'd said. He noticed her nipples rising and pressing against the fabric of her shirt, and the thought crossed his mind that she had very large, very firm-looking breasts. He realized that although Susan had not moved, her breasts seemed to be rising towards him, pushing forward and stretching the buttons on her blouse. Suddenly, one of the buttons slipped free of its eyelet, and sprang away from the middle of Susan's chest. She looked down, and made an embarrassed noise. "Serves me right," she giggled, "for always wearing clothes I'm too BIG for!" Susan buttoned her blouse back shut again, but it was clear from the strain of the fabric that the button wouldn't hold long. Johnathan looked Susan up and down, and realized that she was, in fact, too large for her clothes. In fact, now that he noticed, she seemed to be GROWING even larger. Suddenly the top TWO buttons of her blouse popped open. When Susan reached up to close them again, the seams above her right shoulder gave way, and her healthy deltoid muscle was exposed. Susan spread her arms out in front of her and looked down at her body, confused by what was happening to her clothing. "Do you work out, Susan?" Johnathan asked, trying to regain her attention. "Oh yes...for about a year," she said, looking directly into Johnathan's eyes, "I like lifting things. You don't think I'm too muscular, do you? My father says my arms are getting too big, and that men...won't be interested in me if they think I'm too strong." "I like...I mean, there's nothing wrong with a gir...woman being athletically buil, er, athletic," he said, even as he thought, "She isn't at all inhibited, is she." "Do you really think that's right?" she asked, beaming at him a little bit more. "I really love being stronger. I used to be so weak, but now I lift three or four days a week, and it's really changing me. It's definitely made me get bigger." Susan held out her arm, and lifted back the sleeve that had ripped, exposing everything from the powerful right shoulder all the way down to her fist. Flexing, a solid-looking, though not-too-imposing wedge of muscle rose up from her upper arm. "My biceps are my favorite body part to train," she explained, smiling docilely, "Do you think they're big?" "Uh...yes," Johnathan replied, staring at Susan's muscular arm, and feeling himself becoming aroused. Something was wrong, he knew. Susan was acting too forward, too intimate for someone he'd just met. Warning bells should have been going off in his head, but instead he just thought "must be the alcohol." "You like them! I can tell from your eyes. A lot of guys don't appreciate how STRONG I am!" she whispered, gleefully, "My trainer says," she looked around, as if to see if anyone was listening, but then returning her gaze to Johnathan's, "that I have really dense muscles for a woman, and th-that..." The idea of her "dense muscles" sent a shock wave through Johnathan like an electric current multiplying his arousal. Susan seemed to shudder for a second, and Johnathan couldn't help but notice that the vascularity of her arm and other exposed body parts seemed to increase substantially. "Wow! WOW!! Johnathan, I feel so STRONG all of a sudden. I've never felt so muscular and powerful before! It must be my imagination, Johnathan, or...maybe...maybe it's just being around you that makes me feel this way. I think....I think I love you, Johnathan!" "You...love ME!?" Johnathan asked, shocked. Susan grabbed Johnathan by the lapels of his jacket and hoisted him to his feet. She seemed surprised, as did he, that she was a) able to heft him so easily and b)nearly as tall as he, but she hesitated for only a second before she pressed her lips to his. Johnathan, shocked, tried to break free of her embrace, but found that pressing against her shoulders was futile. She was incredibly strong -- far, far stronger than he. Everyone in the bar was staring, and Johnathan found his hands slipping helplessly down Susan's arms, until they cupped her bulging biceps. Even though only partly flexed, they were inhumanly solid. And so wonderfully shapely and large. In fact, as he contemplated her surprising strength they seemed to be growing larger in his hands. Once again he could hear seams tearing, but he wasn't sure if it was Susan's blouse or her skirt. "Oh...Susan...," he groaned, "how did you ... what are you, why are you..." She stepped away from him, smiling proudly, but he was surprised to see that she now seemed taller than he, and her musculature seemed even MORE developed than before. He suddenly felt intimidated when he looked at her arms and shoulders. "I can't believe I'm so attracted to you, Johnathan, I normally go for men who are really tall, not shorter than me! What, are you 5'4" or so?" "Uh, no. I'm 5'9"!" "But..what? That's not possible! I'm only 5'5"!" Belatedly, Johnathan realized what was happening: "Oh, no! I'm doing this! She's becoming even taller and stronger!" As he faced this frightening realization, Susan took a deep breath, causing her swollen breasts to rip through what remained of her blouse. Every man in the bar began cheering, but Johnathan hardly noticed. His attention was firmly fixed on Susan's bountiful bosom. As he watched, her already over-generous breasts began growing even more! Susan made an effort to cover herself, crossing her arms over her chest. Her swollen, untensed biceps easily covered her nipples, but her breasts continued to swell. Johnathan turned and ran, flying out the door of the bar as fast as he could. After a few seconds, he could hear loud footfalls behind him, gaining. Looking back over his shoulder, he could see Susan chasing him, her large, powerful legs propelling her at far greater speed than he was capable of. As he turned around to check on her, he noticed that her enormous, naked breasts were bouncing up and down wildly, like two extra arms chasing him. Too late, he turned his head back to see where he was going and ... WHAM! He slammed into a light-post, face first. Johnathan remained conscious as he fell to the ground, though his vision was all spotty. Susan quickly reached him and lifted him, holding him and cradling his head on her breast. "Why did you run from me? Don't you know I love you?" He gazed up at her, amazed at her strength. She held him at arms' length as if he weighed nothing and continued, "How could you think you could out-run me? Compared to me you're so small and weak." He did feel small and weak in her arms, which seemed now to have boundless strength. She looked at him more closely. "You said you were 5'9"?!! Are you kidding? You're light as a feather. You must have no muscle at all then. Yes, that's it, your muscles must be really soft, and small, so weak and adorable --just like a little girl's! Now don't you worry, so you don't bump into anything again I'll carry your helpless little body in my big, strong arms home to my place." Disoriented and drunk, Johnathan found himself believing her. "I must really be a weakling," he began to think. Horrified, he could see the muscles of his body becoming smaller and softer by the second. Craning his head, he looked down at his upper arm and flexed it. The biceps that rose up were pathetically underdeveloped. "It's so..PUNY!" he thought, and watched as the tiny little thing sunk away into nothing, becoming too small and soft even to flex. What little strength was left in his body was slowly leaching away as he convinced himself of his own weakness. And soon he really was as weak as a little girl. Soon, the feeling of weakness, the tumultuous day, the effect of alcohol on him after his long abstinence and the comfortable feeling of being caressed and carried conspired together, and Johnathan dropped off to sleep. When Johnathan awoke it was almost nine. He rolled over, as if it had all been a dream, but then became aware of a thudding pain in his forehead. "Owwww," he groaned. Still hoping for a return to reality, Johnathan reached across his chest, hoping to find the toned, solid arm of a 26 year-old man. Instead he found a soft little pipestem of an arm. He got out of the strange bed and looked himself up and down in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. "Pathetic," he thought, "How can I go to work like this?" He walked over to two 15-lb. weights that were sitting at the foot of the bed, grabbed one in each arm, and lifted. He was just barely able to straighten his legs with the two dumbells in his hands -- he couldn't even begin to curl them or lift them with his shriveled arms. Worse, his head was clear, and he'd need a few beers before he could even try to fix things. Just then Susan came through the door. "My GOD," he thought, "she's immense!!" Susan had a large cardboard box, and she was clearly proud of her ability to carry it. She slowly set it down on the ground, and Johnathan could see that it was a new weight set. "You can have those fifteen-pounders, Johnathan," she said, "although they look like they're too heavy for you! I just went out and bought a new set of dumbells and weights. "Can you believe this box weighs almost 400 pounds? It sure doesn't feel that heavy." She pulled out a massive hunk of metal and began curling it, "75 pounds," she smiled. "Too light." She sidled over to him, and he was amazed to see that he was just about looking eye to eye with the bottom of her breasts. She pulled off the sweatshirt that had left her navel exposed, and revealed her almost- supernaturally large and firm tits. "Do you know, Johnathan, I was only 5'5" and a 'C' cup yesterday this time? I can't imagine what happened to me." "You grew, and I shrunk," he said, "I was a normal, fairly muscular man yesterday, now I'm a complete wimp!" "A very handsome wimp," she smiled, reaching down and picking him up like an infant. "I must've made her really stupid, too. Doesn't she realize this is impossible? Why is none of this sinking in?" he thought. She pressed him into her enormous, pumpkin-sized breasts, and Johnathan was quite pleased to see that not everything had shrunk, as his penis suddenly reared up to its original erect size. "Mmmmmm...", Susan said, "that's a whole lot of dick for such a little man." She tucked him under her left arm, and used her right to clear the bedding away. Still holding him, she rolled onto her back and grabbed Johnathan around the waist with each of her hands. His penis was volcanically erect, and she began playing it around the edge of her vagina, as if she were masturbating herself with a dildo. Johnathan kept reaching for her massive, creamy breasts, but he scarcely was able to hold them with his weakened arms. Instead he grabbed at her forearms, captivated by the vascular bulges and ridges that cascaded down to her elbow. "You like those?" she asked, smiling. She put him down astride her abdomen, and he leaned into her bosom, pressing his head into the cleavage of her breasts as he fondled her incredibly muscular arms. Prone on her belly, he was just barely able to insert his penis into her. She forced him in, and he delighted in feeling her muscles tense and loosen as she lifted and pressed him in and out of her. Susan was moaning, "Oh, keep touching my muscles, Johnathan. I've gotten sooo..... STRONG," she growled, "and it makes me feel even stronger to be with a man who is so weak." He kept pushing in and out, up and down. His feet were resting on the inside of her knees, her legs spread apart for his member's assault. Her enormous breasts, each larger than his head, rocked and gyrated directly in front of his face. Occasionally he would slide forward and stroke the inside of her cleavage with his head and pencil-thin neck. Susan had her arms bent, fists clenched, and rhythmically flexed her biceps in tune with Johnathan's rise and fall. She seemed as stimulated by the rising and hardening of her own muscles as by her partner's stimulation of her nether- regions. As she climaxed, she took her left hand and pushed Johnathan's middle up against herself, even as with her right she easily crushed his head against her breasts, despite his trying with all his strength to stay up. He couldn't quite breathe as she clutched his body closer to her and struggled for some space and some air. "Ahh!" she screamed, "Ahhhh!" Her voice thundered in his ears. Finally her grip relaxed and he lay on top of her, playing with her breasts and watching her flex her muscles with delight. *** "Ooooh, that was great! Let's do it again!" She held him in the air and watched with delight as he strained to reach her breasts, then lowered him slowly on top of her. "Wait, Susan! I'm not ready!" She wrinkled her nose, then sighed and stood up, still holding him. "OK, my little toy man. I wanted a drink anyway." She carried him to the kitchen and took out a bottle of white wine from the refrigerator. "You first!" Johnathan held up his hands. "I don't think it's such a good idea," he protested. "I have to go to an appointment for work, and I get -- "Oh, you were so adorable last night when you were drunk! Here! It's good for you!" She brushed aside his arms and stuck the bottle into his mouth. The wine cascaded down his throat, and being cold he hardly tasted it. He must have gulped down a glass and a half before she removed it, put him down on the floor and finished off the rest without taking a breath. "Wow, that felt like nothing to me, but it must be a lot for you. I bet you get drunk a lot quicker than me, since you're so small." He stared stupidly ahead. He already felt woozy, although at least his hangover was just about gone. She was right. Maybe she was smarter than he thought. He looked into her eyes. They were so beautiful, and, he realized, very intelligent-looking. "You're kind of an odd guy, aren't you, Johnathan?" she asked, still looking at him intently. "What do you do?" Jonathan looked up at her, her massive bosom, just inches from his face, making it hard to focus on her words. "I ... I'm an accountant," he replied, staring at the mound of tit. She stared down at him. "Oh I LOVE accountants." She looked a little puzzled. "I don't know why, but I do, especially you. And you, you like strong girls, don't you? Strong girls with big breasts. That's why you like me, right?" His eyes shifted from her breast to her biceps, which were softball- sized, even unflexed. "Um, yeah, well ... I" "You're so cute! My body makes you all tongue-tied, doesn't it?" His head was spinning from the wine. "Wh-what do you mean?" he answered, feeling even more unsure of himself than usual. She was right again. It was scary how well she seemed to know him and how easily she dominated him, especially when he was drunk. He felt like his willpower was dissipating just as quickly as his muscle had yesterday. "Oh, don't worry about it! I just think you are the cutest thing, and any reason you like me is great. I just want to you want me more and more. Don't you?" He gazed up at her again. It was impossible not to want her. He put his arms around her, but her chest so broad and muscular that he was able only to reach to her shoulder blades. He wanted to hold her closer, but succeeded only in pressing himself against her huge bust. The rest of her was solid muscle, with absolutely no give. She put an arm around him and he cried out, like a baby's squeeze toy, from the force of her hug. "Oh that's so sweet! I just love the contrast in our bodies. It makes me feel so incredibly powerful, like a Supergirl. Do you know what I mean?" He knew exactly what she meant. Already she had more power in the one arm wrapped around him than he had in his whole body. Just thinking about her overwhelming strength was making him more and more aroused. In the back of his mind, a small voice was telling him to change everything back while he had the chance. He tried to imagine himself strong again and to visualize Susan as she was when he first met her, but with his head pushing against her gigantic breast it was impossible to control his thoughts. He tried to distract himself, to play a chess game in his head, do his tax return or review the fingering for his piano recital piece, fifteen years ago. But then Susan flexed the biceps of the arm holding him, the surge in size and hardness of that gargantuan muscle pushing his shoulder more deeply into her bosom. How could that tiny voice compete with Susan's powerful sensuality? She lifted him again to her lips and kissed him deeply, her tongue pressing into his mouth, filling it, as his erect member pressed against her hard abdomen. "Oh," he thought, clinging to her even more emphatically, "she really is a Supergirl," and then suddenly he blacked out. When he came to, he was lying down on Susan's bed in a darkened room. He picked up his head slightly, and immediately she burst through the door, hovering over him. "Oh Johnathan, I was so worried! I thought I'd killed you!" Johnathan struggled to prop himself up, but the combination of his weakened muscles and a stabbing pain in his back and shoulders made it impossible. Susan looked even more beautiful than ever, only her look of panic at his state of health marring her perfect features. She gently lifted him and held him, feathering his face with the slightest of kisses. He turned to face her and groaned in pain. "No! Don't move, Johnathan. You're injured! A couple of your ribs are broken." He winced and closed his eyes. "What happened? Did you crush me or something?" He looked up at her face. Her skin was radiant, and flawless. Susan burst out crying. "Oh, I didn't mean to! I just didn't know my own strength. Please don't hate me!" Her tears flooded, dripping down her face and onto Johnathan, who painfully brushed them off his cheek and then touched her face lightly. "Oh, you're such a sweetie!" "Yeah, well, these things happen. Um, how long was I -- "Almost ten hours!" Johnathan nodded and put his hand over his forehead. "Yeah, my head's killing me again." Susan nodded sympathetically. "I know. It's all that wine I gave you. I'm sorry about that too." "Hey, don't keep apologizing. You don't have to." Susan's face brightened. Johnathan was thinking to himself. "Damn! I'm in total agony, and there's only one way to fix it." He continued, out loud, "Come on, I'll be better before you know it. But what I really need now is a drink." A flicker of concern danced across Susan's face. "I-I'm not so sure that's a good idea. You know, you've had a lot to drink lately. It might not be so good for you." "Yeah, yeah I know. But," he smiled, "you know, whatever it takes." He motioned to Susan to put him down and she did, slowly depositing him on the floor. He stood unsteadily, his weak legs barely holding even his reduced weight, while the effort of standing straight was torture to his injured ribs. He looked over at her. She seemed different somehow, like she was standing even more erect than before. "So, aren't you going to offer me a drink? To ease the pain?" She looked pained and her brow wrinkled. "Uh, no Johnathan. I, uh, I'm not. I really can't." He looked up at her. God, she looked magnificent. She was more than half a foot taller than he. Her breasts pushed out from her chest so boldly, and her muscles seemed to be chiseled out of solid marble. But why was she acting so funny? "Uh, you mean, you drank the last of it?" She cleared her throat. "No. It's just ... I don't think you should drink." He gave her an odd look. Who did she think she was? True, he had all of the musculature of a ten year old girl while she looked like she could punch a hole through the wall, but since when could a 19 year old barmaid tell him he couldn't have a drink? He struggled inside. It was difficult to argue with her, then he remembered the last time he'd been drunk. Was he becoming a mouse mentally as well? Well, he'd try and fix that, once he got drunk enough. Then he'd show her. "Yeah, well, I appreciate it, but I think I can decide that for myself." He tried to stand straighter to look her in the eye, but the pain made it almost impossible and she was so initimidatingly large. "Oh Johnathan, don't hurt yourself! I can't bear it!" Her hands fluttered. She seemed at a loss, not knowing what to do or say. He couldn't help but stare at the furious pumping of her enormous biceps as she waved her hands around. His own hands were shaking as he spoke. "Susan, calm down. I'll be all right. I-I just need a drink or two to dull the pain. I'll be fine. OK? Just fix us both something so we can relax. Do you have any whiskey? That'll do the trick. It won't take much for me." He smiled, motioning to his slight frame. Susan looked very uncomfortable. "Johnathan. Please listen to me. It's too dangerous. I'd worry. You have to promise me you'll never drink again." Johnathan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Hey, you served me three beers yesterday and stuffed a bottle of wine into my mouth last night. Now you're telling me I shouldn't drink?!" He was shouting. "PLEASE don't be mad at me. It's for your own good. Look how you got hurt." He screwed up his courage. "That was from running away from you, the first time. And the second was when you squeezed me too hard. Maybe it's YOU I should stay away from!" She burst into tears again. "Don't say that! You know I love you." She covered her face with her hands as she wailed. Johnathan hated that. He really couldn't bear to upset her or make her mad at him. "Susan. Susan." He reached up to take her hand, trying to pull them down so he could look at her, but hard as he tried he couldn't budge them an inch. God, what a behemoth he'd created. He'd really gone too far this time. And he was so pitifully weak! "SUSAN!!" he shouted. She lowered her hands. "Susan, listen to me. I love you too. OK? I just need a drink that's all. If you won't give it to me, I'll go out and have one, and then when I'm feeling better I'll come back and we can talk, ok?" "I can't let you go!" she wailed. "Susan, I'll come back. I promise." "Nooo. You'll get drunk again." "Hey, come on, I'm not that awful when I drink. I just won't hurt as much." She shook her head, trying to recover her composure. "No. I can't let you." She crossed her formidable arms in front of her and stood in front of the door. "You have to promise me." "This is ridiculous. Let me go." She stood, immobile. He grabbed at her arms and tried to pull her, then push her aside, but he had no more success than if he had pushed a redwood. "You can't keep me here!" "I have to. It's too dangerous," she repeated. "I can't believe you won't listen! It's because I LOVE you!" "Susan," he said in measured tones. "Please step aside. I am a grown man. I make my own decisions." She looked undecided for a moment, then concerned, then, lips quivering, shook her head again. "OK, OK, I promise. I won't get drunk. I'll ... I'll just go home, get some things, maybe have ONE drink to relax me. Then I'll come back later, ok? Is that good enough?" She looked him in the eye, then, satisfied, nodded. "Ok. I mean, I trust you Johnathan, of course I do. I just don't want anything bad to happen. You understand, don't you? I really, really love you!" "I love you too, Susan," he echoed. He walked slowly out of the room and out of the apartment, waved to her from the street and carefully stepped into a taxi, driving back from Queens to his apartment in Brooklyn Heights. The pain during the drive down the potholed street nearly killed him, and even a hot shower didn't help. There was only one thing to do. Of course as a result of his long period of abstinence his tiny apartment was completely alcohol-free, so he went to a nearby bar and found a private corner. He quickly ordered a double vodka, which he figured would be the quickest route to the type of oblivion he needed. He settled into a dark haze, matching the dim, dirty state of the bar, and pictured (as clearly as his muddled brain would permit) the body he'd had before he'd met Susan, well-muscled, healthy, ribs intact. He felt his pain leave him and let out a deep sigh. Now, he had to something about Susan, he thought. She had gotten too attached to him. Yes. She was much too clinging. He thought of her as cool and detached. Yes, she really shouldn't be in love with him like that. He didn't need that at all. And then last, but not least, she was much too -- he suddenly looked up ... and up. She was standing in front of him, dressed in a dark blue skintight lycra suit which extended only to her elbows and knees. Her formidable arms were perched on her hips. She did not look happy. "WHAT are you DOING?" "Uh, Susan? How did you -- "You PROMISED!" "Yeah, yeah, I know, but -- "Come with me!" She took his hand and wrenched him out of his seat. "Tip the waitress!" He looked up at her and put a crumpled dollar bill on the table. "Another one! Good. Let's go." "Wh-where?" "Back to your apartment. WE are going to have a little chat." She marched him down the street. He unlocked the door and they climbed the stairs to his attic room, Susan taking them three steps at a time while Johnathan staggered a flight behind. "I should have KNOWN I couldn't trust you!" she said angrily when they entered the room. "Susan! What's the big deal? Nothing's happened." He smiled at her. "And I'm feeling much better. So you don't have to worry anymore about having hurt me." Susan looked down at him sternly. "That ISN'T what is worrying me." She looked around the apartment, then pulled Johnathan to the corner that served as a galley kitchen, opened a cabinet and grabbed a jar of instant coffee. "This should sober you up," she said to herself, taking a mug and filling it a third of the way with the granules. She filled the rest with water and handed it to Johnathan. "Drink this, now." He just stared at her. "Do I have to force you?" she added, looming over him. "OK, OK." He took it and grimaced. "It's too strong!" "Just finish it." He closed his eyes and drank. The caffeine was making his heart pound, but otherwise he was quickly returning to his usual modestly alert self. "There. Jesus, Susan! What has gotten into you? You're being so unfriendly all of a sudden. I thought you said you loved me." "I must have been out of my mind. How could I love a little twerp like you?" She looked disgusted with him, and herself. "But ...." Then Johnathan remembered what he'd done to her feelings for him. "Yeah, right, sure. OK. Well, nice while it lasted I guess. Hey, if you aren't interested in my anymore, what are you doing here? You came all the way here just to tell me you don't like me?" "YOU know why I'm here. I have to decide what to DO about you." She put her hands on her hips and took a half step toward him. Something about her stance started frightening Johnathan a little. "Wh- what do you mean?" "You can't be trusted to act responsibly and you're a danger to everyone on earth. I can't allow it." "Hey, wait a minute. Who appointed YOU to take care of the world?" Her lip curled slightly. "YOU did." "I did? Hey, I may have been drunk, but I think I would have remembered that." His head was beginning to pound. "Look, I have to lie down. Why don't you just leave now, ok?" "You know that doesn't take care of the problem." Johnathan felt completely exasperated. "Look, just get out, ok? Go back to your bar, or lift some weights or something." She just crossed her arms in front of her and looked down at him, contemplating him. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She looked at him impassively. "I'm trying to decide whether I really have to kill you." "Kill me? Are you crazy?" He stared at her. She wasn't joking, and with her enormous strength, she could do it easily. Even though he had restored his previous strength she was still half a foot taller than he, with 26" rock-hard biceps and those stupid "dense" muscles! Oh where did he come up with that one? He had no idea how strong she could be, and he didn't want to find out at first hand. How could he ever defend himself? He thought of the fire escape and turned around to open the window and jump through it. But before he bolted the five feet to the window she was already in front of it, her massive frame completely blocking his access. He turned back to the door and sprung for it, but somehow she got in front of him again. This time he kept going, his shoulder colliding directly with the point below her breasts, but she was solid as a tree and he succeeded only in wrenching his shoulder. "Aaggh!" he cried repeatedly, staggering around the room, once again in pain. Susan looked down on him with bored condescension. Johnathan was not dancing around randomly; he was looking for his one last chance to save himself and then saw it, his old baseball bat. He was desperate now. If he had to break her bones in two, he would. He grabbed it and charged her again, timing his swing while reliving his greatest little league save-the-game moment, but using the sharp curve of her hip bone as his target. Seemingly caught flat-footed in surprise at his sudden move, she made no effort to stop him and he connected solidly, his follow-through amply aided by the sudden two-thirds reduction in the length of the bat, as the wood broke neatly in two pieces, one in Johnathan's hand as he spun out of control onto his sofabed, the other in Susan's lightening quick left hand. When he turned back to her in disbelief, she curled her large fingers around the thickest part of the wood and squeezed once, creating a momentary bulge in her biceps while obliterating the name "Darryl Strawberry" from the relic as the bat fragment assumed an unsuitable hourglass shape. Dropping the bat on the floor, she extended her arms and tensed her muscles more completely, enjoying Johnathan's frightened reaction to her 31" biceps, her cannonball shoulders, the breasts that pushed ever further outward atop her cascading set of pectorals, and abdominals that had more ripples than a hurricane-tossed sea. "H-h-how can you be s-s-o --" Johnathan stuttered. "You should know, Johnathan. You're the one who made me this way." "Th-th-then you KNOW about that -- but how d-d-did you -- n-n-no one else has ever -- She sighed, bored. "You still don't get it, do you? You don't even know what you've done." She bent down and picked up four foot long iron crowbar Johnathan used to secure the door. She threaded it through the three middle fingers of her right hand and instantly bent it back on itself, then slid her hands down to the ends and twisted them into a braid, bending one end upwards. She held it up for him to see. "Looks just like the beginning of 'Johnathan' now, doesn't it?" Finally, she put the straight end into her mouth and started chewing, rapidly sucking more inside and devouring the twisted metal like a piece of spaghetti. She frowned. "Got something stuck in my teeth." She moved her tongue around and slowly pushed a six inch metal spike out of her mouth, then spit it across the room, the spike missing Johnathan by no more than a hair and embedding itself in the center of the letter "J" on his computer keyboard. Then she licked her lips and patted her stomach, which was completely unchanged in size and shape. "Yum yum, although I usually prefer it a little more 'al dente'." She raised her eyebrows, looked directly at him and gave him an open-mouthed smile. "Now for you. Where should I start?" "AAGGHH!!" He closed his eyes, shaking with fear, trying to summon up his power. She laughed. "You can't do it, Johnathan. With all that caffeine you're as sober as can be. It'll be a couple of hours before it wears off." She floated into the air and pretended to do the breast stroke as she drifted over to him, laying on her side in mid-air opposite him as he lay on the sofabed in disbelief. She reached out to pick up the sofabed and lifted it, rising to the ceiling with her arm hooked underneath, then tipped it so that Johnathan rolled off into her waiting arm. He pushed against her. "Don't be stupid. Your strength against mine is as little as that of a flea!" "Please, please!" he begged. "I'll never drink again. You can watch me. Spy on me all you want. Just please don't kill me!" She settled down lazily onto the floor, replacing the sofabed, but keeping a tight grip on Johnathan. "I'll think about it." She walked over to the window, pushed it open and flew out, disappearing into the sky. Johnathan collapsed onto the sofabed, still shaking, then got up to look out the window, hoping somehow to see her smashed body three floors below on the pavement. But there was nothing. She had really flown out of the room, just like Supergirl. End of Part 2 [more to come, perhaps -- Mark]