Meltdown
by DeanCo

Dr. Frank Geiger would never have become Meltdown if he hadn't been fat. For Frank Geiger was fat. Very fat. Incredibly fat. Even fat people thought Frank was fat, that's how fat he was. Describing Frank as 'obese' just didn't cut it. No. If you had to describe Dr Frank Geiger to someone, sooner or later, you would be forced to use the word 'fat'. There was no getting around it.

Frank weighed over 12 pounds at birth. By age 3 he tipped the scales at 65 pounds and had already worn out 4 strollers. By first grade, he weighed in at 132 pounds, and a special desk had to be constructed for him.

Of course, children are cruel, and Frank was the butt of every joke on the playground. 'Nyaa nyaa Fatty Frank, bet ya can't catch me!' Hey, Tub 'O Lard, get away from my bicycle, ya might squash it!' 'Ha ha ha ha ha!' Not a day went by where Frank was not reminded how incredibly...fat he was.

Since he had no friends, Frank threw himself into his studies. And the effort paid off, Frank rose to the top of his class scholastically. He was especially interested in theoretical radiation analysis. But the one thing Frank truly craved, friendship, eluded him. He became a lonely, solitary boy. Full grown, he weighed 475 pounds. After scoring a perfect 1600 on his SAT, he received a full scholarship to MIT, to study advanced radiation theory. It was there he met Valéry Popov.

Popov was half Russian, half French. He was fat as well, though not as fat as Geiger. Like Frank, he studied radiation theory, although he was not nearly as brilliant. He too was treated as an outcast and a 'foreigner'. Over the course of their time together at MIT, the two became fast friends. Frank called Popov 'Val', and Popov called Geiger 'Frank', which was an improvement on 'Fatty'. For the first time in his life, Frank had found a friend. And so it was no surprise when, working late one night in the lab, Frank shared with his friend the nature of what he called his 'little discovery'.

Frank had discovered the formula for an 'anti-radiation lotion'. A thin coat, spread over the entire body, would permanently protect the wearer against the radiation produced by a nuclear bomb. This would allow soldiers to conduct operations in radiation areas without the need for a bulky NPC suit. The only drawback was, the wearer had to be exposed to a high level of radiation for a short period of time for the lotion to take effect. The dose was by no means lethal, but the amount and duration had to be tightly controlled for the lotion to be effective. Frank had been testing the process on lab rats, but the results were inconclusive. Geiger wanted to enter the radiation chamber and test the lotion on himself, tonight when the lab was empty, and he wanted Popov to take the controls. Popov quickly agreed.

Popov swung the heavy, radiation-proof door shut and hit the 'Auto Lock' button. Inside the chamber was Frank, dressed in nothing but shorts, a thin film of the lotion spread completely over his 475 pound body. Frank hit the intercom and said,

"OK Val, I'm going to give you the parameters. Listen carefully. Dosage, 1.0289 rads, duration 7.2482 seconds. The dose and duration must be exact to the decimal point, otherwise who knows what will happen..."

"Trust me, my friend. I have entered the parameters correctly and am ready to proceed."

"This is a great moment in history, Val."

"Indeed it is, Frank. Shall I initiate?"

"Go ahead."

BRRRRRRRMMMMM! The low hum of electrical generators filled the air, and the isolation chamber was filled with a blue glow as Frank's massive body was bathed with radioactive particles. Frank could see the 'Time remaining' LCD counting down: 6, 5, 4, 3...

Popov reached over and flipped the 'Auto-Cutoff' switch to 'Manual Control'.

Frank screamed, 'Val! Are you insane? What are you doing!"

Popov considered for a moment, then said, "Yes. I will tell you. You deserve that much at least. But first I must do something." Popov reached over and increased the radiation intensity from 1 to 5 rads. A lethal dose.

"For God's sake, Val, cut power now! Get me out of here! What are you doing?"

"I am sorry, my friend, but I must kill you."

"WHAT?"

"I must kill you. But I will tell you why, before you die. I feel I owe it to you." Popov increased the intensity to 10 rads. The blue glow intensified. The hum got louder.

"I work for the KGB", Popov said. "My assignment was to find someone like you, gain their trust, then steal their work and kill them. This is a perfect opportunity to complete my mission. Your formula will be of great use to the Russian Army, I believe. And your death will be deemed an accident, a researcher who got his numbers wrong and fried himself to death. Soon my assignment will be at an end, for soon you will be dead, Frank. Goodbye." Popov turned the knob to 20 rads, and waited.

And waited.

But an amazing thing happened.

Frank didn't die. His skin began to turn bright orange. He could see places where his skin was rotting away from radiation poisoning, but the cuts would heal up as if by magic. He had been exposed to enough radiation to kill an army, but he was still alive!

Popov couldn't believe his eyes. He turned the knob to 50 rads, and waited. The hum got louder, and the generators began to show signs of overheating. But still Frank sat there.

Popov began to panic. "Damn you! Why don't you die?" he screamed. He turned the knob fully to the right, 100 rads. "Let's see you survive this!"

Suddenly the generators shorted out, sending a shock wave through the entire control room. Popov was knocked unconscious by the blast. The emergency backup system kicked in, cutting the flow of radiation. Finally, when radiation levels returned to normal, the backup system opened the isolation chamber door. Frank was free. His skin had taken on a rubbery orange sheen, and the last of his radiation burns disappeared. He walked into the control room. Popov began to awake.

Frank said, "How could you do this to me, Val? I thought you were my friend! But you played with me, lied to me, led me on! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND! ARRRGGGH!!!"

Suddenly a dim blue light began to glow around Frank's massive body, and he levitated into the air. A massive dose of radiation engulfed the control room, and Popov's skin was slowly burned off his body. Popov died a slow, excruciatingly painful radiation death, right before Frank's horrified eyes.

And Meltdown was born.

EPILOG: Popov's death was deemed an accident, 'a researcher who got his numbers wrong and fried himself to death'. Popov's fingerprints were on the controls. Only Meltdown knows the ghastly truth. And Meltdown never recovered from the death of Popov, which is why he joined the forces of good, to atone for, as he puts it, "killing my only friend."