The Matter Expander Ray

This story is based in the X-Men comics of the early 1980’s where Kitty Pryde has only recently joined the X-Men. It is like the comic series Wolverine First Class. I hope you enjoy.

Logan aka Wolverine was sitting in the lounge of Xavier’s Institute For Gifted Youngsters. He was trying to watch the TV. But there was something wrong with the dish on top of the mansion. He was getting a good picture. All he was getting was static and this was annoying him. There was a big game on the next day and he didn’t want to miss a second of it.
But then the youngest member of the X-Men Kitty Pryde aka Sprite came into the room. She had a huge smile on her face and a newspaper in her hand. She saw Logan where he was sitting and she quickly went over to him. She then gave him a hug and she tried to put on her happiest face.
“Have I ever told you that I love you Logan?” asked Kitty.
“What do you want?” replied Logan.
“Only this.”
She then gave Logan the newspaper and he read that there was a demonstration by a Professor Isotope. He was going to showing the world his brand new invention that would revolutionise the world. He wasn’t too impressed with what he was reading. But Kitty was still hugging him.
“And?” he asked.
“And I need someone to take me to New York. All the other X-Men are busy. You’re my last hope.”
“What can I get out of it?”
“You get to say you were there when the world was changed forever.”
“I’ve already done this.”
“I’ll tell you where the Professor hides his liquor.”
Logan began to think about it for a moment. He quickly made us his mind and he looked at Kitty again.
“You got yourself a deal,” said Logan.
“Oh thank you,” replied Kitty. She then gave him a kiss on his forehead. “What am I going to wear?” She then paused for a moment. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Fine.”
Kitty then went out of the room and went to her own room to pick out some clothes. It took her half an hour to get ready to go. She went back down to Logan. He was still sitting in his chair grumbling at the TV.
“I’m ready,” said Kitty.
“You took so long that I thought you’d gone by yourself,” replied Logan.
“Hey I wasn’t that long.”
“You were long enough.”
About an hour later Logan and Kitty were at the Institute of Science and Discovery building. It was flocking with people who were eager to see Professor Isotope’s invention. Most of them Logan considered as Nerds. But Kitty seemed to be very excited. She was almost jumping with joy.
“I can’t believe I’m actually here,” said Kitty. She said this in a very excited and eager voice.
“Yeah neither can I,” replied Logan. His voice was a lot different to how Kitty’s was. Instead of being excited it seemed to be bored.
“You’ll enjoy it Logan.”
“I doubt that.”
The pair went inside the building and took seats in the main assembly room. There was a large ray gun in the middle of the stage. There were a few people looking at it. But Logan wasn’t interested he just sat down and went to go to sleep. But Kitty nudged him so that he’d stay awake.
But a few minutes after they sat down a tall man wearing a lab coat came onto the stage. He seemed have a bit of limp but he was moving around alright by himself. He then went to the microphone.
“Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said. “For those who don’t know me my name is Professor Isotope. I thank you all for coming today to see my new invention. It can end world hunger and solve our fuel crisis and need for raw material. There are still a couple of bugs I haven’t corrected yet. But in a matter of time this will be used freely to help people.” He then got out a cigarette lighter from his pocket. “Ladies and Gentlemen this is a cigarette lighter. There’s nothing special about it. You can pick it up in a convenience store for a couple of bucks.” He then walked over to his ray gun. He placed the cigarette lighter on an X on the ground. “Now before I do anything Ladies and gentlemen you each have a pair of goggles under your seats. You must wear them before I activate the machine.”
Everyone then went under their seats and took out the goggles. They quickly put them on. Logan was slower doing his since he wasn’t too particularly bothered with what was going to happen.
“Ok now that everyone has their goggles on I can start up,” said Professor Isotope. He then walked to the controls and pushed a button. A bright beam then came out of the ray and hit the cigarette lighter. Before their very eyes the cigarette lighter began to grow. People began to awe in amazement and even Logan was now paying attention. They watched as the cigarette lighter grew to the size of a fully grown man. “As you can see Ladies and Gentlemen my invention that I’ve called M.E.R has increased the size of this cigarette lighter. Now if I was to use it on lets say an apple it could feed an entire village in Africa.”
In the audience Kitty couldn’t believe what she had just seen. She was now more excited then ever.
“Did you see what happened?” asked Kitty.
“Yeah this can’t be good,” replied Logan.
“Why? Like he said it can feed an entire village in Africa with just one apple. Imagine all the lives it’ll save.”
“But if it gets into the wrong hands it’ll ruin them.”
Just then Logan heard a cracking noise. He looked up at the ceiling and he could see it crumbling just above M.E.R. In a matter of seconds the ceiling came open and several ropes came down. Several men wearing yellow radiation suits came down. Then a being with a really big head and small arms and legs came down. He was sitting in a hover chair and no one could see the rest of his body. Logan instantly recognised him as the villain M.O.D.O.K who had been a thorn in the side of Iron-Man for years.
“What do you think you’re doing?” asked Professor Isotope.
“Liberating your invention for the benefits of A.I.M,” replied M.O.D.O.K. “And there’s no one who can stop me.”
People began to run out of the room in panic. It was only Logan and Kitty who weren’t running. Logan wasn’t surprised that something like this had happened. If he had actually betted on it he would have betted this to happen.
“What do we do Logan?” whispered Kitty.
“Suit up,” replied Logan.
Both Logan and Kitty went into a quiet area and they suited up. They returned as the X-Men Wolverine and Sprite. They were quickly noticed by M.O.D.O.K and he commanded the A.I.M scientist.
“Don’t let them take the M.E.R!” commanded M.O.D.O.K.
The A.I.M scientists sprung into action and they began to fire at Wolverine and Sprite. Wolverine was able to dodge out of the way most of them. A couple of them hit him but they didn’t cause too much damage and his healing powers quickly healed up any wound he received.
Sprite on the other hand just phased through all the bullets. She wasn’t being hurt at all. It would just tickle her from time to time.
M.O.D.O.K could see that the heroes were getting closer to him. He pressed a button on his chair. This released a smoke bomb and it completely covered the room within seconds. Wolverine couldn’t see through the thick gas. But when it dispersed M.O.D.O.K and the A.I.M scientists were gone. All that was left in the room were Wolverine, Sprite and Professor Isotope.
Sprite went to Professor Isotope’s aid. He had been knocked down during the fight. But he hadn’t been hurt in particular. He was able to get up onto his feet and he brushed some dust off himself. Sprite quickly went over to him to make sure that he was alright. He could see that he seemed a little disorientated.
“Are you alright Professor Isotope?” asked Sprite.
“I’m fine,” replied Professor Isotope. “But you can’t let them get away with taking the M.E.R. In their hands there’s no telling what they’ll do.”
“Don’t worry we’ll find it,” replied Sprite. She then turned her head to Wolverine. “Right Wolvie?”
“Should be easy enough to track,” answered Wolverine. “But I don’t think it’s going to be easy.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Its never easy kid.”
The pair then took Professor Isotope ton see a paramedic who was just outside of the Institute. Someone had called the emergency services just after M.O.D.O.K and his men attacked.
After Professor Isotope was dealt with Wolverine and Sprite began to track down the whereabouts of M.O.D.O.K. Wolverine was had the scent of one of the A.I.M scientists in his nose and he was using this to track them. But the longer they tracked them the more dangerous it was going to be. It wouldn’t take long for someone like M.O.D.O.K to use an invention like M.E.R.
But eventually they came to an old house near Broadway. It looked like it had been abandoned for years. Sprite was unsure whether this was the right place. But Wolverine seemed to be certain.
“Wolvie are you sure this is the right place?” asked Sprite. “This place looks too run down.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” replied Wolverine. “Did you expect them to be in some kind of skyscraper visible from miles away?”
“I guess not.”
“They’re definitely here.”
“Wolverine and Sprite slowly went through the door. But inside all they could see was old furniture. There was graffiti on the walls but there was no sign of anything high tech. They went further into the room and there was still nothing.
“See there’s nothing in here,” said Sprite.
She then leaned onto the wall and she accidentally activated a panel. It went into the wall and the floor began to go down below them. It seemed that they were in some kind of elevator and they were going down.
“You were saying Kid,” said Wolverine.
“I stand corrected,” replied Sprite.
They went down further eventually they reached the bottom. But instead of just walking off the elevator they were confronted by dozens of A.I.M scientists. They had seen them coming thanks to their cameras.
“What now?” asked Sprite.
“Now we fight,” replied Wolverine.
“Fire!” commanded one of the scientists.
The A.I.M scientists then began to fire their weapons at them. But Wolverine took the brunt of their fire while Sprite just phased through them harmlessly.
Wolverine began to slash their weapons with his Admantium claws. They didn’t last long against his claws. All the scientists who lost their weapons quickly surrendered to the pair.
But meanwhile in another room M.O.D.O.K had a small lizard in front of the M.E.R. He was just about to activate it when he heard what was going on in the other room. He looked towards a scientist who came running in.
“What’s going on in there?” asked M.O.D.O.K.
“Sir the heroes are back,” replied the scientist.
“Stall them.”
“I think that’s too late.”
Just then Wolverine and Sprite came bursting in. The scientist began to shake with fear. But M.O.D.O.K. was unmoved. All he had was a huge smile on his huge face. But Sprite seemed to be a little over confident.
“Give it up M.O.D.O.K,” said Sprite. “Give us the M.E.R. back and maybe Wolvie here won’t hurt you.”
“Wrong superheroes,” replied M.O.D.O.K.
He then pressed a button on the control panel and a beam shot out of the .M.E.R. and hit the lizard. Before everyone’s eyes it began to grow to monstrous size. As it grew it stood on its hind legs and its teeth got sharper. Wolverine and Sprite took a step back as it grew up to 60 feet.
“Get out of here kid,” said Wolverine.
“I’m not leaving you here,” replied Kitty.
Wolverine then jumped towards the lizard with his claws out. But Wolverine was whipped by the Lizard’s tail and he went flying through a wall and up to the streets of New York. M.O.D.O.K was happy with what he was seeing. He knew that this time he was going to win.
“Go after him my pet,” he commanded.
The Lizard then busted through the walls and went up the streets of New York. Wolverine was still recovering from his last attempt to fight the giant lizard. He could hardly stand up when the Lizard came up through the ground.
It was followed by M.O.D.O.K who wanted to see what was happening. He didn’t want to miss this for the world. He had completely forgotten about Sprite. She was left standing there unsure what to do. She could see Wolverine being hurt thanks to a couple of computer screens.
“Wolvie can’t last too long against something like that,” she said to herself. “If there was only something I could do.” She began to think and she came up with an idea. She then looked at the M.E.R. “Maybe there is.”
Back on the surface Wolverine was still being kicked around by the lizard. He stabbed it several times but all this did was make it mad. This was one foe he couldn’t see beating unless he found some kind of weakness.
Again he was whipped by the Lizard’s tail and he was sent flying again. He was just about to go into a building. But he seemed to land on something soft. He looked at it and he could see that it was a giant yellow hand. He then looked up and saw that it was Sprite who had caught him. But now she was also 60 feet tall.
“Kid what did you…” said Wolverine.
“Do to myself?” replied Kitty. “I used the M.E.R on myself to tip the scales in our favour.” She then put him on the roof of a nearby building. “Now don’t you worry Tom Thumb Queen Kong’s going to take care of everything.”
“Queen Kong?”
“The best I could come up with under such short notice.” She then faced the giant lizard that was about 100 feet away from her. “Hey why don’t you try taking on someone your own size.”
M.O.D.O.K didn’t like what he was seeing. He thought that his lizard was going to spell doom for the heroes. But now that Sprite was the same size as his lizard he didn’t like the odds. But before he tried to do anything he wanted to see what would happen.
The two titans then clashed with each other. Both seemed to have equal strength. The Lizard then punched Sprite in her chest. She had tried to phase through it but it seemed that using the M.E.R had deactivated her powers. She had been planning to use them to give herself an advantage. But without them she couldn’t see herself winning. This was demoralizing for her.
“Kid remember what I taught you in the Danger Room!” shouted Wolverine from the top of the building.
“That alcohol is the cause and solution to all of life’s problems?” replied Sprite.
“No the other thing.”
“Oh yeah.”
Wolverine had been teaching Sprite some karate in her Danger Room sessions. But now she was having some trouble remembering what she had been taught. The giant lizard was a huge distraction.
But when she did remember she began to punch and kick the lizard in key areas. This caused it great pain. Now M.O.D.O.K definitely didn’t like what he was seeing. He flew off from where he was watching the fight and he went back into his lab. Wolverine noticed this and decided to follow him. Anything M.O.D.O.K was planning definitely wasn’t going to be good.
When Wolverine reached the lab he could feel the ground shake as Sprite and the Lizard continued their all out brawl. He saw M.O.D.O.K right next to the M.E.R. He saw him typing a couple of things on it.
“Hold it,” said Wolverine.
“Too late,” replied M.O.D.O.K. “In a couple of seconds my pet will be too big for your friend to take care of.”
“Wanna bet.”
He then pressed the red button and the M.E.R. started up. Wolverine then dived towards M.O.D.O.K. But thankfully for M.O.D.O.K he was just about able to dive out of the way. But unfortunately for M.O.D.O.K Wolverine had accidentally knocked the M.E.R. to the left and it shot out a beam. Instead of hitting the lizard the beam hit Sprite once again and she began to grow.
The Lizard took a couple of steps back as it watched Sprite grow again. She watched the world shrink around her once again and she grew taller then most of the buildings that surrounded her. But within a couple of seconds she stopped growing and was around 300 feet tall. The Lizard now only came up to her knee. She grabbed it by its tail and she lifted it up.
“Looks like Queen Kong just became Goddesszilla,” said Sprite in cheerful voice. She then grabbed some cables that weren’t too far away from her and she wrapped them around the lizard. IT couldn’t move and she just left it there. She thought that someone like S.H.I.E.L.D would pick it up.
After Sprite did this she went back to where M.O.D.O.K’S lab was. She could see that he was just about to fight Wolverine but he used a smoke grenade to block their vision. But when the smoke subsided M.O.D.O.K was gone.
“Where did he go?” asked Sprite.
“Far away from here,” replied Wolverine. “I don’t even have a scent.”
“That’s a shame.” She then looked at the M.E.R. “But at least we got Doctor Isotope’s invention.
“Better get it back to him. He should hopefully be able to return you to normal size.”
“I don’t know. I kinda like being a giant.”
“Come on Kid.”
“Fine.”
She then picked up Wolverine with her one hand and the M.E.R. with her other hand. She then began what was to her a short walk back to the Institute of Science and Discovery. There she put the M.E.R back on the stage through the hole in the roof. Professor Isotope was still there and he was surprised to see that Sprite had grown so large.
“Let me guess you used the Matter Expander Ray?” asked Professor Isotope.
“The what?” replied Sprite.
“That’s what M.E.R stands for.”
“Oh. But anyway can you make me my normal size again please.” She then began to think a little. “Actually not quite my normal size. I wouldn’t mind being a couple of inches taller.”
“Ok I have some bad news then good news and then more bad news.”
“Ok fire away.”
“Ok the first bad news is that the M.E.R isn’t designed to make things smaller. It can only make things bigger.”
“So I’m stuck like this forever.”
“No that’s where the good news comes in. The effects are only temporary.”
“That’s great so when do I return to normal?”
“That’s the final bad news. You won’t return to normal for another seventy two hours.”
“Three days? What am I going to do for the next three days?”
“I have an idea,” replied Wolverine.
The next day Logan is sitting watching the game he had been looking forward to. But the picture was fuzzy. He then got up from his chair and went to the window. He then opened it.
“Hey Kitty a little to the left!” he shouted.
Kitty was outside the mansion and she hadn’t yet shrunk to her normal size. She just sat there and moved the satellite dish a little to the left like she had been told. But after that she gave out a sigh.
“I hate being a giant,” she sighed.

The End