The Alligator, as he was know in both heroic and wrestling circles, wanted nothing more than to be a woman. He expressed this to Croco, his sidekick/manager.

“First off, and I am stressing this because I believe it is important,” Croco said, stubbing out his cigar. “You will never wrestle again. Not in the way you’re used to.”

It was here that the Alligator brought up Nong Thoom.

“Nong Thoom,” said Croco. “Only does movies and exhibition matches. If that’s what you wanna do, I’m sure we can arrange something. Maybe with one of your Society of Saviors chums. Folks love heroes fighting heroes, for some reason.”

The Alligator conceded that an exhibition match was not quite the fire of combat he normally enjoyed in the ring, but that the idea of facing his teammates for charity struck him as a fine idea.

“Well, like I said, we can arrange that, whether you go through with this or not.” Croco paced back and forth in his small office. “More to the point, I think, is that Nong Thoom weighed 140 pounds before the operation. You’re a big guy, ‘Gator. You’re good as a big guy.”

The Alligator thought on this. He looked at himself in the mirror, all seven feet eight inches of him. His chest was broad, his muscles nearly bursting the seams of his jade jumpsuit. He looked down at his large, scarred hands. Not exactly ladylike.

The Alligator turned and faced Croco. “My size is who I am. I need you to understand, Croco, as you closer than family to me. I am not changing who I am. I am merely altering the outside to match what is inside.”

Croco looked up at the man who had saved his life countless times. “If this what you want, I’m behind you,” he said.

The Alligator hugged the smaller man, in a grip that would have crushed a lesser person. The Alligator wiped a tear from the eyehole of his mask, and asked Croco if it was possible for him for him to have as nice a chest as Chyna.

Croco lit another cigar. “Gator, old buddy, let me make some calls. I’ll get you better, or I ain’t worth my paint as your sidekick!”

Born Of An Atom Bomb is a daily warm-up piece, where I base a character around a random word or phrase. Today’s word: alligator