"Hold on Sue, we'll be there as fast as we can."
"I appreciate that, Reed, but I think I got this. I'm facing what must be the least intimidating villain ever. Short, stocky, paunchy. He looks like a middle-aged cosplayer talked into attending the convention by his granddaughter. I should have this wrapped up by the time you arrive."
"That's why you are the strongest member of our team. Over."
"I read you Reed, and flattery will get you nowhere. Over."
Her husband's chuckle came over the earpiece.
The ludicrous looking would-be arsonist was backed against a wall. His can of accelerant pooling out on the floor.
"Freeze, Jerk!" exclaimed the Invisible Woman.
The nebbish-looking villain seemed unhurried and unafraid. As he began to raise his hands in the air, the right sleeve of his costume slid down displaying and odd shaped object. At first Sue Storm though it was a camera and wondered if this clearly out of shape dude was a fan and his crime had been an elaborately staged ruse to capture a picture of her.
What a weirdo! thought Sue. He probably fantasizes about me arresting and frisking him. Gross!
"Let me show you why I am called the Doll Maker."
He flicked his wrist and the object on his wrist emitted a flash of light. It is a camera! Thought Sue, not even bothering to throw up a forcefield. She felt a tingling all over her body, as though she had been tossed into a mound of itching powder. The sensation passed quickly.
"Is that supposed to intimidate me, jerk!" she fired back. But something was wrong her own voice sounded strange, higher pitched. She quickly noted the scale was off as well. The pudgy costumed villain was suddenly looming over her!
"Oh, crap!" croaked Susan before she made a move to turn herself invisible and flee. The net the Doll Maker cast was wide enough to reveal the lump along the outer edge. Sue felt the Doll Maker's hands grasp her through the webbing of the copper threaded net. A lump formed in her throat. The entire net was placed into a canvas backpack which the Doll Maker tossed over his shoulders. He'd be gone from the premises before the rest of the Fantastic Four turned up. He had played his hand expertly. As he pulled away in his non-descript automobile, he spotted the Fantastic Car gliding down to land on the roof of the building he had just evacuated. He stroked the backpack and stated, "We are going to have so much fun together, Ms. Richards."
In the pitch darkness Sue was, for one of the few times in her life, frazzled. The copper in its webbing turned the entire net into a Faraday cage. None of her electronics could transmit through it meaning that she had no way to contact Reed, Johnny, or Ben. Worse it meant that they could not track her! Whoever this Doll Maker fellow was he had planned things exceptionally well. Sue had no idea what size she now was other than tiny "doll sized." A shiver went up Sue's spine. This was bad very bad!
**
"Sue?"
Reed strode into the room where his wife's last signal had emanated from. It was empty. In one corner, a tipped up can that read Kerosine.
"Sue?" he yelled again.
Johnny strode into the room.
"Sis?"
Ben Grim asked, "Hey brainiac, you sure this is the right room?"
"Positive!"
"Hey Reed," said Johnny, "This is scented water, not kerosene."
"What?"
"Yeah, watch."
The human torch ignited himself. The pool of ersatz accelerant did not burst into flame.
"What in the world?" asked the Thing.
"My God! He's got Sue!" exclaimed Reed Richards. "She's been kidnapped."
"Oh, come on, Professor how could the squirrelly guy blue eyes described capture the Invisible Woman? I mean it sounded like all she'd have to do was blow hard in the guy's direction and he'd topple over."
"You are right, Ben. We aren't dealing with anything we have faced before."
"Shit!" hissed Ben.
"Shit indeed." Echoed Reed.
**
In the dark, Sue could hear nothing aside from the rumble of the engine. She tried manifesting a force bubble. The net expanded away from her, and the inside of the backpack filled with bright light, the backpack swelled but did not tear apart. Sue realized with dread that her reduction in stature diminished her powers by an accompanying scale. Since she was now doll sized, she could only project doll sized force bubbles. She was a living action figure! In a rage, Sue exploded the force bubble.
The paunchy driver was stunned for a moment by the clash of thunder and lightning coming from the backpack in the passenger seat. Then he put all the pieces together and smiled. He thought back to birthdays and Christmases. No gift he had ever received could compare to the one he had just given himself. He pushed the button on his CD player. His mix CD launched into one of his favorite songs, "I love Little Girls" by Oingo Boingo. In a surprisingly fine voice, he sang along. His route out of the city took him past the Baxter building before he was on the bridge and out of the city. Like many toxic things in New Jersey, he occupied a tract home in suburbia. He pulled his car into the garage and, backpack in hand, strode into his kitchen. He strode over to his living room where things he had laid out earlier awaited. Anticipation coursed through his soul.
Above a fish tank filled with water he opened the backpack and deposited the contents into the water as he threw a switch. Sue gasped as she hit the water. There was a loud whine from her earpiece, and she realized that the water had been electrically charged enough to short out all the electronics on her person and on her suit! He pulled the net away from the shrunken superheroine and she came sputtering to the surface. He scooped her up. Still dazed and coming to grips with her situation, Sue realized too late that the nerdy giant had slid a tiny inhibiting collar around her sinuous neck. Now she could no longer manifest any of her powers. No tiny force fields, but worse, no invisibility!
The giant's very ordinary face looked down at her.
"Welcome to your new home Ms. Richards. Let's get you into something dry."
"Keep your hands off me, perv!"
"Really? And how are you going to stop me, wee one?"
He carried her over to a tiny X-frame beneath a magnifying glass and a desk lamp.
"What are you going to do?" asked Sue, almost succeeding in keeping the fear out of her voice.
Her wrists, ankles, and narrow waist were strapped to the frame.