THE SPONGE
A Fat Positive Superheroine Serial
By The Hero
Chapter One Susan Whitmore was born to Jeanine Whitmore and her husband Lawrence. Her father was a safety engineer at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility around the time of the accident, and thereafter he drowned his guilt about the incident with alcohol. He left her mother when Susan was nine, forcing her to take a job as a waitress in addition to her job as a hospital lab technician in order to support Susan and her younger sister Jennifer, who was only three at the time. Susan took charge of the housework and practically raised Jennifer between baby-sitters.
Origin
Four Years Later . . .
It was Susan's first day of Junior High, and Susan hadn't seen her friends all summer, as she and Jennifer had been at her grandparents' all that time. Running late, she jumped into the shower. While in there, she felt as if she were bloating. Upon toweling off and getting the soap out of her eyes, she discovered that her body had expanded, appearing to gain about fifty pounds! Panicking, but realizing her mother had already left for work, she threw on one of her mother's bulky bathrobes and proceeded to get Jennifer off to school. She then grabbed an oversized T-shirt and squeezed into a pair of her mother's jeans, running out of the door to class.
At school, she was made fun of by her friends for porking out so much during the summer. Getting upset with them, she ended up eating lunch with the “Moo Crew,” a clique of fat girls she originally would have shunned. They welcomed her with open arms, going so far as to chip in to buy her an extra dessert for lunch.
By the time she got home, her mother's jeans had finally stretched out to feel more comfortable on her. She quickly arranged for the sitter to pick Jennifer up at school so she wouldn't have to see her like this. When her mother got home to change for her second job, she was alarmed at seeing Susan and asked what happened. Susan started with describing what happened in the shower that morning and ended with her friends' abuse. Her mother told her that a full doctor's visit was more than they could afford at the moment, but that she could perform a blood test on her when she got home from work tomorrow. Until she found out what was wrong with her, Susan should just try to blend in as well she can.
The next morning, Susan woke up in a soaking wet bed and back to normal size.
Stripping her bed and throwing the linens into the dryer, she went to take another shower. Relieved that she had lost the weight of the day before, but realizing she couldn't explain such a dramatic weight-loss as natural, she jumped into the shower thinking about gaining the weight back. She promptly lost her balance and fell, wedging herself into the bathtub with all the fat she put on. Her body started to overflow the tub as she reached out to turn the water off with her foot. Now stuck in the bathtub, she got to thinking that if she could pull the water in, maybe she could push the water back out.
Concentrating on pushing out, suddenly all the water came out with a WHOOSH, overflowing onto the bathroom floor! Looking down, she found she had lost all but the original fifty pounds of water weight she had gained the day before.
Since she was still sitting in the tub full of water, she had to concentrate to keep from ballooning back up again. Keeping concentration, she finished her shower, got dressed and went back to school.
When her mother got home that afternoon, Susan told her what happened. Her mother said that she might be a mutant, but not to worry, that together they'd get through it. Maybe with more control, Susan could slowly reduce the amount of water weight gain she suffered until she became normal sized.
Over the rest of her school years, Susan acquired better control of her powers, lowering her weight gain to about ten pounds under normal circumstances. During which time she became fast friends with the “Moo Crew.” Between eating lunch with them everyday and binge-fest sleepovers on weekends, she ended up putting on about forty-five pounds naturally, making her fairly heavy-set. That and since she wasn't dating, she used food as a social and emotional release.
Attending a community college for courses in computer systems, she soon got a job in a freelance computer systems analysis company, still fighting the battle of the bulge, especially during the rainy season . . .
Chapter Two
Forming the TeamOne morning, as Susan walked into work, her boss asked her into his office. He asked to meet with a potential client, who specially wanted to contract her for some security work. He gave her directions to a French Restaurant, where she would be interviewed by a Mr. Zion.
That evening, wearing a loose fitting business dress, Susan showed up a few minutes early at the restaurant, and asked for Mr. Zion's table. She was escorted to a private dining room, where she saw an extremely well-muscled, fairly handsome Italian man already sitting at the table, wearing a business suit. “You must be Mr. Zion,” Susan said. “Actually, no, my name is Tango, I'm waiting for him myself.”
Together they waited until another joined their table, an unkempt street punk in greasy T-shirt and dirty blue jeans. (Not something to be here in - she thought - Definitely not Mr. Zion!) Soon after seating, without introducing himself, the waiter came with a message from Mr. Zion, saying he would join them shortly and that they should eat without him. Tango and Susan placed their order, and the punk made snotty remarks to the waiter. (Dear God, I hope he's not hired! - she thought)
It was during dessert - Susan was just starting to try the petit fours, splurging on her diet a little - when Mr. Zion showed up in a suit, wearing a pair of long, insulated gloves. Seating himself, he introduced himself, saying he wished to bring together a team of paranormals to use their abilities to help mankind, and thus aid mutant-human relations, and that's why he had arranged to meet them. They each tried to deny their abilities (Have I put on that much weight? I didn't think it was that humid outside...) but soon found out that Mr. Zion had proof.
When he asked what their salary requirements were, Tango denied payment, as he was already quite wealthy. The punk, whom they found out was named Talis, started to mouth off about his pay rate - wanting money for booze, broads, and partying - as he lit up a joint. (How disgusting, not exactly the best way of showing an ability to get along with others!) Susan asked him not to smoke, he showed his arrogance by blowing smoke towards her. As she tried vainly to wave it away, Tango asked him what the price of his loyalty was. Talis said 50 grand, and Tango wrote out a check without a thought, asking what he could do. Talis claimed he could turn into a humanoid cat-creature and proceeded to demonstrate. (Good thing we're in a private room!) He then changed back.
Turning to Susan, Tango then asked what she could do. She shifted uneasily in her chair, saying it wasn't exactly something she was proud of. He insisted to know what he was paying for and how much did she want. (He actually thinks he can BUY me!) “Look, any business arrangement I make is going to be with Mr. Zion, not you, but if you MUST know, all I can really do is absorb and redirect water.” He wanted her to demonstrate, but she begged off, claiming there wasn't enough water at the table for a visible demonstration.
He called out to the waiter to bring eight pitchers of water! Susan told him only two pitchers would do, that and her outfit didn't exactly stretch. When the waiter had gone, she stuck her hands into both pitchers, draining the water out of both of them. As she did so, her body began to visibly swell, as if she were getting fatter before their eyes! When her outfit had filled out to the point of just starting to strain, she reversed the process, expelling the liquid back into the pitchers. Everyone but Zion was taken aback but the visuals of her display. “It's not much of an ability but it's the best I can do,” she explained. “That's all right, you show potential and that's what counts,” Zion told her, “Although we don't know the limits of your ability to absorb, I have developed a type of fabric that will expand as you do, no matter how big you might get.” He then declared the meeting over, giving them directions to his house in the country, asking that they bring clothing for about a week.
On the way home, Susan wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. Sure, she could learn to control her powers, but what about her mother and little sister? Jennifer was a year away from being able to get a job yet, and Susan had to help support her family!
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the overwhelming feeling of hunger! (Must be aftereffects of Talis's marijuana smoke, Susan thought, I hear afterwards you get a case of the munchies.) She tried to will it away, but ended up stopping at the closest Donut shop. She grabbed a dozen of different kinds of donuts, (There goes my diet, damn that Talis!) polishing them off before she pulled in the driveway to fall into bed and drift off to sleep...
Chapter Three
The Test of PowerThe next morning, Susan packed up her little VW convertible to go to Mr. Zion's. Her mother was upset to see her go, but she realized Susan needed to learn to control her powers more than she would be able to had she stayed at home. Jennifer acted glad to see her go, as mother always seemed to dote on her. Susan was sure she was more upset that she was leaving; after all, Susan was like a second mother to her.
Mr. Zion's home was a rather large and comfortable house, resting close to a nearby mountain in upstate New York. Mr. Zion met them at the door, along with a blue-skinned man, later introduced as Mr. Zion's associate, Azure Streak. He told them to leave their bags in the foyer, that he had something to show them. He led them to the side of the mountain, pushing a couple stones on the cliff face. The cliff-side gave way, revealing a subterranean passage. He explained that this was the base he had built to house the team he wanted to get together.
Soon they came to a pair of double doors. He then handed Susan a one-piece stretchable jumpsuit, explaining that it would grow as she did, and suggesting she go into the other room and change. (Geez, this thing covers my body, but as tight and figure revealing as it is, it doesn't leave much to the imagination!) Zion then said that he wanted to test the extent of their abilities, as well as their teamwork potential. He told them that the next room was a kind of holodeck simulation, and to enter when ready. When they did, they opened up onto a city street.
The doors then closed and disappeared. Next they saw a giant robot walking down the street towards them. Tango said it was finally time to discover the extent of Susan's absorption, and proceeded to open up the hydrant next to her.
What happened to Susan was beyond belief. As her legs were the first things hit by the onrush of water, they started swelling first, becoming the thickness of large tree trunks! Then her already plump rump began to grow and distend, widening and filling out to project almost three feet behind her, hanging down slightly to rest on the tops of her thighs. Her belly caught up with her rear, then surpassed it, pushing forward to the point where her arms would have trouble reaching around it. It continued to hang about to her mid thigh. Her already generous breasts inflated to the size of beach balls, resting heavily to be held up by her protruding paunch. Her arms became covered with layer upon layer of fat, overflowing her wrists, with the fat of her palms splaying her fingers apart. Lastly, she developed about four extra chins, her head merging with her torso and her cheeks filling out her face. As Susan continued to inflate, she felt her muscles and bone structure growing as well, in strength as well as size. When she topped out, she was close to 13 feet tall and 13 feet wide, which gave her a 40 foot waistline!
She tried to move from her seating position - the rapid growth unbalanced her - to move out of the stream, but found the extra bulk hampered her to the point where she couldn't move as far as someone of her height normally could, in fact she couldn't move much faster than she could at normal size! (This is embarrassing! I feel utterly bloated, yet somehow more powerful!) She then aimed her arm, using her other one as a brace against her breasts, towards the robot.
Tango and Talis watched her transformation with a mixture of awe and fear.
“Uh, yeah...” Tango said. “I assume you can expel that water into some kind of blast, the way you're aiming your arm?”
“Well, I hope so...” she replied.
The idea they came up with was that Tango would hide behind a building. As the robot came for Susan, Talis would run across to distract it. Then Tango would grab it by the legs and throw it up into the air, where Susan would blast it for greater effect.
Well, things went off with barely a hitch. Talis jumped the gun a bit and Tango had to help him. Tango got stepped on, which didn't hurt him, but trashed his clothes. Eventually, Tango got it airborne, and Susan hit it, sending it into the ceiling of the Danger Room, the blast halving Susan's water weight in the process.
After it was all over, Mr. Zion congratulated them on a good job, as Susan relieved herself of the rest of her water weight. He told them the base did have its own set of living quarters, but they wouldn't be ready 'til the next week. Until then they could make themselves at home.
He also told them about some kind of cosmic disturbance happening a week from then, where forces of the elemental planes would be able to summon their master. The team had to be ready to stop it.
The next morning, they found the kitchen a wreck with most of the refrigerator emptied! (Wasn't me! If I went on this kind of binge, I'd at least clean up!) It was obviously Talis's doing. (The inconsiderate jerk!) While Susan tried to clean the kitchen, Talis lit up another joint. (Oh joy, another case of the munchies.) After Talis blew the smoke her way, Susan decided to try to put a stop to it, absorbing about a glass of water from the spigot and shooting it with her finger across the room to put out Talis's joint.
“Bitch, do you know how much I PAID for this stash?!” Talis raved.
“Then don't do it anymore!” Susan shot back. Talis didn't light another one, mumbling about the fat prude bitch.
After she got the kitchen cleaned, she talked to Mr. Zion alone. She asked him if there was a way to customize her living quarters. He said there was, within reason. Susan explained that she'd like her place to function as a one bedroom apartment, complete with separate bathroom and kitchen, that way she could count on a stocked kitchen. He said he would see what he could do. After that, Susan went out to breakfast (major munchies!), stopping at the bakery where her best friend Dee and her mother work. Susan let herself get plied with another dozen extra rich pastries, while she complained about Talis's pot smoking making her binge. Dee remarked that she noticed how Susan's appetite improved, acting interested in meeting Talis. (Don't tell me she's actually intrigued by the idea of him!)
The rest of the week went uneventfully, except that Talis got most of his street scum biker friends together and partied outside on the grounds all week. Mr. Zion reprimanded him for it, though a bit lightly. (He should have fired him, considering it's supposed to be a secret location and Talis is taking advantage.) Susan ended up staying at Dee's for the week to avoid him, where she was kept well fed. (Oh, the hell with the diet, I doubt I'm going to be able to stick with it at this rate!)
By the end of the week, Susan got to see her quarters. They were huge! Mr. Zion had to convert over a lab for the space Susan wanted. She had a walk-in closet, along with a spacious kitchen with eating area. Surprisingly enough, the kitchen was fully stocked with all manner of tantalizing goodies. (He must think that because I'm chunky, that I love most anything fattening, too bad he's right, looks like I'll never lose any weight from now on!) The living room was a combination of living room/computer lab/study. The bathroom was three times the size of a normal one, with an extremely deep combination hot tub and shower stall - Susan had asked for a large tub so she could both bathe and relax without concentrating on keeping her absorption down. The bedroom had a king (Kong!) size waterbed. Mr. Zion fitted it especially so if she lost any water weight at night, rather than soaking the sheets and flowing all over it would absorb the water into the waterbed mattress. The only things curious about the place were that the doorways were extra wide, which was understandable, considering it was originally a lab, and that all the furniture was reinforced, seemingly to handle extra weight.
After she moved everything in, Susan decided to set up her scale for her weekly weigh in - she set this routine up when she started dieting. She had gained three pounds in a week! (Damn that Talis! Between the Marijuana Munchies I keep getting and staying at Dee's while he parties, I going to be the size I'd be if I absorbed Lake Ontario!!!) Before she could contemplate killing Talis, however, the alarm bell rang, interrupting her thoughts and summoning the team to the meeting room...
Chapter Four
Combat and Betrayal!Once she got to the meeting room, the team was told that the cosmic rift was beginning to open in Central Park, bringing in the Elementals,who would summon their master. They piled into the team jet - Mr. Zion wanted to make it look like they weren't coming from only 7 or 8 miles away. (How can Mr. Zion AFFORD all this stuff?!) They then flew to be dropped off at the scene.
When they got there, they all heard commotion coming from over by the fountains. Tango and Talis went bounding off towards the ruckus, leaving Susan, who couldn't run or leap as fast, behind. (I wish they would at least take me with them, they KNOW I'm not that fast!) By the time Susan got there, she found they were outnumbered 5-3. There was one for each of the four elements, plus a giant humanoid tree! Susan saw a fountain towards the middle of the battle, but before she could get to it, she was encased up to her neck in rock! (I swear, I gotta find a way to get fatter without a direct water source!) As soon as Tango broke her out of it, she was hit with a wind blast that sent her back over fifty feet to hit a tree, knocking her out. (Luckily I seem to be pretty durable, no bones were broken.) Thankfully, Tango was enough of a powerhouse to beat heck out of all of them one at a time, while Talis acted as a diversion - getting knocked silly enough but still coming back for more.
After they were all taken out, they degenerated into their individual elements! Tango revived Susan, and they all went back to base.
The next week went pretty uneventfully. Susan was able to make a couple programs for the Danger Room, so she could eventually work on her powers. Tango tried teaching her some hand to hand combat moves while she's grown, but he was at a loss as to how to teach her anything useful. (Not that it wasn't fun to try, he is moderately attractive. His attempt at wrestling has potential, though not with his technique. I wonder...) She finally decided on a hero name, going with THE SPONGE, as she soaked up so much water. (OK, so it's not powerful sounding!)
She also tried to refrain from eating any sweets, or at least tried to. Dee asked her to a movie on Friday night, (Giving me an extra cushion to my chair as she overflows hers) talking her into going out for ice cream afterwards. Dee tried to talk her into a Chocolate Massacre, but Susan settled for a banana split instead, feeling she was good that week, but not THAT good.
The next night, Mr. Zion asked the team to locate a possible new member, detected in the warehouse district. They went to check it out, this time taking Tango's Ferrari. They found him fighting some street toughs with some highly advanced weaponry. He cleaned them up handily. Upon meeting him, he appeared to be in red powered-armor, he called himself the Powered Avenger.
No sooner had he introduced himself than two monstrous figures appeared on the rooftop above them. One was a hulking brute of a man, the other had spiked armor. They demanded Tango come with them, and he refused. They attacked, greatly outclassing the team, even Tango! By the time Sponge got to the other side of the building where they took Tango, she found him slung over the brute's shoulder. Sponge tried something she only theorized she could do. She ran up, grabbing him, and drained water out of HIS body and into HERS! It seemed as if she could process the water of others better, as she hardly inhaled any from him, yet she doubled in weight, ending up the size of her friend Dee. Not that it did any good. The brute got really enraged and backhanded Sponge into oblivion, taking Tango for the spiked guy to teleport them away. Talis picked her up, put her into the car, and started ordering Powered Avenger as to what to do next - which grated on him enough so he wouldn't come with them. They got back to base just as Susan was waking up. Talis then talked her into going with him to rescue Tango.
The first place Talis took them was to a gun shop, where he snuck in invisibly and stole half a dozen shotguns. Then they went to a city garage and stole a garbage truck! (I swear this punk's going to land us in jail! Personally, I don't see what use shotguns would do against someone who could take out Tango, that and a garbage truck would be merely a Tonka truck to him!!!) On the way to the original scene of the fight, Tango passed them in a rental car! They met in the middle of the street, Tango explaining he was released, that they worked for someone named Grandmaster who wanted to take over the mafia so he could take over the world. He had wanted Tango to work for him. Powered Avenger showed up again, amazed that Tango escaped. Talis explained that Tango could take a lot of punishment, demonstrating by taking a shotgun and shooting Tango in the back!
Susan went berserk! (It's one thing to commit senseless felonies, but shooting a friend in the back in altogether different, especially a friend who seems to LIKE me!) She jumped him from behind, draining him of over half him mass while ballooning her to almost 800 pounds, while Powered Avenger took up a defensive position against him. Talis got really pissed, demanding to know if she was going to fight him up front. She quickly let go of him - she didn't want to kill him, just get him to stop. He then told her to watch her back and disappeared. During the interchange, Powered Avenger asked Tango how he should tell Susan she got fatter when she used her powers, he told him she already knew. The three of them went back to base.
When they got back, Susan told Mr. Zion all about what happened. He said he'd talk to Talis when he saw him again. He also demanded to see Tango when she mentioned he'd been kidnapped. Tango told him of his encounter with Grandmaster. Mr. Zion immediately had him scanned for electronics and found several tracking devices! So much for base secrecy - hopefully they'd found them in time.
Later, they got to know Powered Avenger, who ended up being a 15 year old kid. (Hey, maybe Jennifer might be interested in him?) Tango offered to drive him home, on the way, they stopped at an Italian restaurant Tango recommended for pizza. Susan ate heartily, eating almost a whole pie with everything by herself - she had gotten the munchies from draining Talis's marijuana poisoned fluids. They then dropped him off and went back to base . . .
Chapter Five
Working OutThe next few days, Susan had a lot of free time on her hands. You see, Tango got called off on a case for his private detective firm, and Powered Avenger was grounded for a week for being out so late the evening before.
She started working out in the Danger Room, using one of her new programs to increase the humidity in the room. She then stepped into the room, making sure to concentrate so she wouldn't double her weight as she would in such humidity. (It's a real strain to keep from inflating - somedays I double my weight and have to call off work til the weather changes.) Just as the strain became too great, Susan then reversed concentration, trying to suck all the moisture from the room into her body, saying to herself “Fat, big, Big FAT!!!” By doing so, she not just doubled her weight, she tripled it! (Well, this is progress, now to just work on getting taller!)
She tried to exert pressure to slowly revert back to her normal size without relying on her water blasts, but the humidity in the room countered her efforts. She waddled out to the control room - she wasn't ready to work on this in front of people - to turn off the humidity and activate the emergency desert heat program she created for just such an emergency. Her ponderous form got stuck in the doorway at first, her newly widened rump wedging itself in the doorway. (This place isn't built for someone weighing around 525 pounds, I'm going to have to talk to Mr. Zion about widening the doorways in the base!) Her protruding belly got in the way of reaching the console, causing her to push against the control panel to get to the Off switch. She ran her pudgy little fingers over the console to start the desert program.
Pushing her way back into the room, Susan started sweating profusely, slowly melting off her newly accumulated water weight. It took several minutes for her to get back to normal, then she started losing even more weight! She was wasting away! She made her way to the control room to shut it off, opting for average humidity. (I think I'd rather be my normally pudgy self than waste away like that! Not that I want to slosh like I do after I grow, I think Dee has it easier, all her bulk is natural.) Susan worked on making adjustments on the desert program to make it more moderate to deal with.
The rest of the week, Susan worked out in the Danger Room, eventually getting to the point where she could grow to about 7 feet tall and about 800 pounds if she strained herself, while only growing to 300 pounds instead of her normal 350 pounds when in high humidity. (That's at least an improvement.) She also improved her programs to the point where they would respond to voice responses, linking them into other programs so she could adjust environmental controls within the programs.
Unfortunately, she was busy enough that she couldn't spend much time with Dee. She called her up and explained about a big project she was working on, saying she'd call her when she was free for dinner.
On Thursday, Mr. Zion asked her if she'd go with him to Chicago to meet some supers that formerly belonged to a Superteam called the Protectors that he wanted to recruit, noting how low their roster was on team-members. They'd be leaving on Saturday and possibly staying a night. When Susan went to pack her overnight bag, she tried on her business outfits to determine which one to take. Most of her regular ones were extremely tight through the waist and hips! She went to the bathroom to weigh herself, she weighed 180 pounds, she'd gained another seven pounds in the last two weeks! She knew she had drained most of her water weight in the danger room during her last workout, so she KNEW it wasn't water weight. She felt around her midriff, realizing her slight belly that disappeared when she stood was softly pronounced now, even when she stood. She had not noticed it before as she was most physically comfortable wearing those stretchable outfits Mr. Zion was providing her with. (Guess I'll have to start working out in the gym like crazy again to slow the process down a bit, especially as the team tends to meet over the dinner table, this is just like when I was in school!)
Susan ended up packing her loosest outfits, which now didn't fit as loose as she would've desired, and she and Mr. Zion flew in the jet to Chicago. . .
(Continued)
