[Yatz57]

This is a story by Swamp Hulk I have done an illustration for (can be seen at http://yatz.deviantart.com/art/The-Progressive-Patriot-strike-73336058). I'm supposed to do the TF scene gor this, later on, which I'll be posting on the forum. Looking forward to it, as I haven't done a TF comics in ages…

PROGRESSIVE PATRIOT in LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR NONE?

By Swamp Hulk

PART ONE · SOMETHING IN THE WATER

            Charlotte Feldowitz was a reporter employed by The Decider, a neoconservative weekly magazine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had just turned thirty five years old, had pretty green eyes, blonde hair, and was a shapely 5 ft 9 inches tall with an attractive buid, though not exceptional. She had worked her into becoming a respected neoconservative journalist, and she often struggled to reconcile her beliefs with those of her liberal Reform Jewish family. Charlotte at least had a fairly wealthy and prominent husband in James Rourke, who was a leading Republican fundraiser and powerful CEO of Rourke Industries. Jim despite his handsomeness seemed often distant from her, and it was rare to see him come home after he received his father's inheritance. One summer weekday, however, Charlotte received a message from an aggrieved environmentalist friend of hers who claimed that the Delaware River was being polluted and the wildlife of the surrounding environs was dying out rapidly and in unprecedented numbers.

            Ever quick to snap up a potential story, Charlotte began her investigation even though her boss, the catankerous and irascible Kenan Lellisman warned her to avoid antagonizing any 'potential or current friends' of the magazine. Though Feldowitz was fairly conservative on nearly all issues, she had always had a progressive spot for the environment- and this tiny sliver of recalcitrance convinced her to disregard her orders. Calling in favors, she managed to find out information about a secretive company polluting the pristine Great Lake through a surreptitiously hidden chemical plant located on the Pennsylvania shore. She discovered that the pollutants were quickly destroying the fragile habitats around the lake, but that the polluters had powerful friends and silenced her environmentalist friend, who had fallen into a coma after a sudden "car accident." With the story growing fishier and fishier, Charlotte Feldowitz dug deeper and deeper to find out the culprit behind the water pollution epidemic.

PART TWO · LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR NONE?

            After venturing forth one evening to check out the veracity of a recent tip regarding the polluters, Feldowitz found herself at a secretly operational chemical plant right next to Schuykill River. To her horror, she discovered that the chipped paint on the outside declared the place to be under the ownershpi of Rourke Industries. She hoped that her husband wasn't involved, although he had been acting strangely as of late, she still loved him. The female journalist proceeded into the seemingly abandoned shell of the factory, dressed in a gray pantsuit with a pink blouse and black go-go boots. It gradually dawned on her that although the factory appeared closed, it was in reality operational- dumping thousands of tonnes of chemicals, pollutants and radioactive sludge into the Delaware River.

            Just when she finished taking photos and jotting down notes, the floodlights turned on- and she discovered herself surrounded by a group of shadowy thugs and black-suited men. One of them stepped forward, revealing himself as her husband, Jim Rourke. He clearly looked displeased and upset. "What are you doing here?" He scowled at Charlotte, "Don't you know that you are trespassing on my property?" "But Jim, I'm your wife- I, I…am just trying to get to the bottom of who was behind this pollution problem we've been having." "Is that so?" he responded, "Well don't worry Charlotte- I just came here to get the bottom of this myself and shut down this…dilapidated monstrosity." Breathing a sigh of relief, Char ran up to her husband and embraced him. Then, he grabbed her forcefully and dragged her to the edge of catwalk overlooking a vat of radioactive sludge. "I'm sorry Char, but I just can't afford to have snooping reporters around. Don't take it personal, I enjoyed the company…sometimes. Oh well. A pity." He then shoved his struggling wife into the vat. Char let out a loud scream as she fell down into the vat, while Jim and his cronies let out gales of diabolical laughter. Her husband and his cohorts then proceeded outside, and turned off the lights- believing that the nosy reporter had been finally taken care of. Besides they had to report to their boss, the infamous supervillain Sheriff Injustice, who had been particularly insinstent to Rourke to finish off his pesky wife.

PART THREE · METAMORPHOSIS

            Unfortunately for Jim Rourke, the radioactive waste bath didn't kill his wife. It merely mutated her and transformed her into something more than human. While briefly unconscious when she was submerged, Charlotte managed to exert herself, climb to the edge and crawl out onto the ramp. Then she felt short of breath as well as a severe headache, forcing her to stagger forwards and crying out for someone to make the pain stop. She then began to change, her irises becoming dark blue while her skin began to take upon a bluish hue. She yelled out in pain as she felt searing pains travel throughout her body as she felt her body begin to grow taller and gain muscle mass. Her hair lengthened, as her growing frame began to shred and rip her clothes. "Noooooo! What…is happening to me?" Charlotte cried out as she felt her body changing, growing, and transforming. Her feet grew past the confines of her boots, shredding the leather and rubber within seconds. Her blouse as well as suit shredded against the growing muscle beneath, as her bust began expanding in proportion. Her pants grew shorter and shorter, as her hips and lower body surged against the fabric.

            She quickly passed six and then seven feet tall, and her new frame shredded her outer garments, the tattered remnants falling upon the concrete. Her skin became a dark blue, while her lips became a bright, luscious red and her cascading hair became purple. She felt new thoughts arising within her tormented mind, thoughts and feelings that she had previously suppressed. Maybe Gay Marriage was good for America. Maybe big government and national health care weren't such a bad thing. If conservatives were so wrong about the environment and global warming, then maybe they were wrong about the merits of tax cutting, outsourcing, union-busting, and privatizing social services. She felt strangely liberated by the transformation, despite her rising fear about her sudden transformation into a monstrous inhuman creature. Her thoughts seethed with hatred of the callous, greedy, and malevolent nature of the men that had did this to her, and unabashed fury at the husband who had betrayed her and left her for dead. The mutant that had formerly been Charlotte Feldowitz let out a loud roar as she reached eight feet three inches in height and her growing body shredded the last remnants of her clothes, leaving her fully nude. She opened her eyes and looked down upon her new features, first in horror and then in fascination as she ran to the nearest mirror and stared at what the radiation and toxic waste had done to her body. She felt stronger, more confident, more beautiful, and vastly more powerful than she once did. The woman decided to test her strength and she seized a massive steel crate that must've weighed a hundred tons and tossed it as if it were a shot put.

            The mutant grinned, then grimaced as she felt a surge in even more power going to her arms. She shouted something indiscernable as she whirled around and set a scorching blast of fire and energy that destroyed a crane behind her, leaving only a pile of molten metal. Charlotte felt her brain radiating with energy and power, and realized that she had new powers of telepathy, but wasn't sure if she wanted to test them out yet. She looked down at her incredibly sexy body and realized that she needed some sort of clothes if she didn't want to raise too many eyebrows or suspicions. She recognized that her powers seemed unstable, and anticipated that they would vanish by sunrise, but reappear a few hours later. Concentrating for a moment, she conjured a costume from thin air: a tight red leather leotard, mask and pair of gloves, and a purple utility belt. Her thoughts then drifted onto the new political ideas that had emerged from her mind. She felt much more progressive and liberal on many issues, yet she still retained her basic patriotic beliefs, her hawkish instincts, her contempt for terrorists, traitors and criminals, and her love for both the United States and Israel. She chuckled, "From now on, when evil rules the streets- Charlotte Feldowitz is no more. There shall only be the PROGRESSIVE PATRIOT!" And with a whoosh, the costumed 8 ft 3 inch tall amazon flew up in the air, smashing through the roof, and into the night sky- intent on exacting revenge upon the guilty polluters and other enemies that oppressed the least fortunate, persecuted the innocent, attacked the state of Israel or sought to betray the United States. Now those fiends had a new nemesis in the form of a blue-skinned, muscular, pissed-off superheroine that was intent on their defeat.

PART FOUR· RETRIBUTION

            The Progressive Patriot flew to the north west, as she realized that her errant husband was probably off celebrating with his cronies. Sure enough, the treacherous robber baron was holding a wild party over at the Rourke Industries building. Reveling in his latest successes, Jim Rourke was holding up a toast for his 'dearly beloved, and recently deceased' wife when all of a sudden the roof caved in and a giant blue-skinned woman appeared. Several of the goons rushed at the intruder, but were knocked away with relative ease. Another pulled out a gun but was quickly disarmed and then tossed out a window, shattering the glass as he somersaulted out of the building. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with guns," the Progressive Patriot grunted as she booted another thug out the window as the thug tried to squeeze off a shot, "Because someone might get hurt."

            Rourke, shocked by the appearance of the costumed superhuman, scurried downstairs as fast as he could. He heard the sounds of gunfire, bullets bouncing off of the avenging superheroine, and then the sounds of his men getting pummeled. He reached the company Hummer that his bodyguards would drive, started it up and sped out of the parking garage as fast as he could. Suddenly, he crashed into an object and was knocked backwards from the impact. Groggily, he saw the same costumed figure strutting towards him while the front of the Hummer was completely smashed. "Awww, honey, don't you recognize your wife?" The figure said sweetly as she ripped off the door handle and dragged the squealing CEO out. "Y-Y-You're Charlotte?" Jim stuttered, amazed at the woman that now held him up by his foot. "But-But-But you're dead! No one could survive that fall or that kind of exposure." His captor only laughed, "Funny thing about that. Your little radioactive waste turned meek and puny little Charlotte Feldowitz into the mighty Progressive Patriot. However, I think it's about time that you got your just reward." With that, she concentrated and then conjured a set of bottles of hard liquor in the Hummer. She then chucked her blabbering husband into the jeep, where he smashed into the bottles and was quickly doused in all manner of alcohol. "You know, I really can't stand men who drive SUVs- or husbands who would try to kill their wifes to earn a few more bucks on the side," the Progressive Patriot said calmly as she grabbed the Hummer. "Wait!" Screamed Rourke, poking his head out the window, "it wasn't my idea- Sheriff Injustice told me to do it. He said you were onto our plans and that he'd shift the blame onto me if the story hit the press. I'm really sorry. I-" And before he could finish the sentence, he and his SUV went sailing into the air until they landed in front of the police station with a loud crash.

            Several uniformed police officers ran outside and extracted the blubbering husband from the fire. "I swear, I had nothing to do with the pollution. This hulking THING was-" "Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," one of the cops commented as he handcuffed the hapless villain. "We had a tip about an hour ago about your little plant dumping waste into the river. Heck, you left a paper trail so obvious that even Barney Fife could figure it out with not much thinking. Oh, and on top of that- you've also nailed yourself a DUI." The errant husband attempted to protest his fate but he was swiftly silenced by the sound of the police chief reading him his Miranda rights. The alcohol-drenched robber baron was then hauled away to jail, while the cops chuckled at the fortune of their evening. Meanwhile, from miles away, the Progressive Patriot watched in the air using her heightened sight. "Well, now with that unpleasantness behind me- I think it's time for me to return home and figure out what to do." She landed at the family mansion minutes later, and the Sun soon rose after that- returning Charlotte back to her normal, human self- though minus her clothes. Slightly embarassed, Charlotte ran into the mansion, put on some pajamas and crashed on the bed.

            The blonde journalist woke up eight hours later, stirring with a yawn. "Wow, that was an entertaining dream," she chuckled as she stretched and grabbed the clicker to the television. She turned it on, and her eyes opened wide at the sound and picture she saw. "We would like to report that prominent industrialist James Rourke and several dozen other accomplices were charged today with violations of numerous environmental and safety regulations, as well as driving while under the influence. Jim Rourke or his lawyer was unable to be reached for comment. The police have commented that the evidence checks out, but rather randomly and mysteriously appeared all last night. Apparently Rourke industries was behind the recent pollution of the Delaware and Schuykill rivers, and that security guards have reported seeing an eight foot tall woman running around in a superhero costume and apprehending the villains. No one's really sure what to call this strange savior, but we shall keep you updated with further breaking news." "Ohmigod!" Charlotte exclaimed as she realized that it wasn't all a dream. She realized that her life had just changed dramatically, and that while she could pretend to continue living her old life during the day, she was now obligated to take upon higher duties than simple reporting. After all, the timid, meek and neoconservative blonde journalist Charlotte Feldowitz had now become the tough, powerful and hawkishly liberal Progressive Patriot!

THE END?

[ze fly]

Awesome! As usual!  😉

[Deadly Pixxxie]

Oh, now that was a cool story!!!!

[Adam Wagner]

Hulking out turns you into a communist? I mean I knew that rational thought was limited and all but jeez.

[KeithXZ]

So, exposure to the "right" mix of deadly radiation and toxic chemicals will turn a neocon American into a giant version of a typical Canadian???

I find that hard to believe.  😉

Great story!  Well done!

[AlexG]

In the last day or so, Yatz has added a new pair of panels to his FMG story.  8)

Source: http://yatz.deviantart.com/

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

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