(no subject)

[science_is_fun]

It didn't take long after the Galactus invasion for things to go back to normal. ...or at least, normal by the standards of the Avengers. T'Challa had returned to his quarters after apprehending Bi-Beast, only to find that an small bee-like robot had slipped through the defenses of the Avengers' Mansion, bypassed T'Challa's own security measures, and was in the process of shrinking down whatever Vibranium it could find for some undoubtedly nefarious purpose.

The insectoid machine self-destructed shortly after it was spotted, but between Tony, T'Challa, and the Vision, they were able to trace a weak signal to somewhere within New York's subway systems. In case this was a trap, half of the team went to check it out, while the other half stayed at the mansion in case another threat popped up. (also, in some cases, it just made sense - having the Hulk smashing his way through the subway would likely do more harm than good, no matter who was responsible for this, and Thor wasn't as effective underground)

Yellowjacket immediately volunteered to pursue the lead - he hated waiting around, and besides, this would be a chance to prove himself. Even he could tell that the team didn't exactly trust him, so maybe if he single-handedly caught the villain responsible for this, they'd change their tune.

Unfortunately for Yellowjacket's plans, the rest of the team decided it was best to split up, and he was the only one of them stuck with a partner. The others went solo - they must have thought that he's too weak to handle this on his own. If he'd been working with Vision or Stark, that would be one thing - showing either of them up could be spun as a win.

Instead, he was with the Wasp, which... complicated things. She kept insisting that he was Hank Pym, even though Yellowjacket had killed Pym months ago. On top of that, there were times when she was around where he... didn't quite feel like himself, and Yellowjacket didn't like that one bit. It reminded him too much of Pym - that whiny pacifist had been the weak link of the Avengers, and he didn't want to turn out the same way.



"Why don't you go off on your own? Everyone else did. ...It's like they've never even seen a horror movie." Yellowjacket grins, his darker sense of humour on display. "This'd be about the part where the killer starts picking people off one by one..."

He pauses, as though he's listening for something. "Or maybe that's not 'til later." He taps at his Avengers ID card, trying to get the signal to strengthen, but it's still faintly shown on the screen, bouncing around the map of the tunnels.

Comments

[science_is_fun]

Hank grabs the remaining drone to use as a makeshift shield to put between himself and Ultron. Rather than flying around it, Ultron demonstrates how futile this action is by tearing through the middle of the machine, leaving Hank holding two worthless pieces of metal and bringing him face-to-face with his own creation.

"Goodbye, Henry Pym." Ultron charges up another energy beam, believing that killing Pym would prevent this day from being a total loss. Before Ultron can deliver any kind of finishing blow, a bright yellow light shines through the gaps in his body as the Wasp's beams tear through his internal systems. He briefly considers ideas for how to prevent future encounters from going this way - barriers installed in his body, or a colony of nanomachines - before a blast tears through his power core, cutting off those plans (and his body's regeneration process) completely.

Smoke pouring out of every opening, Ultron plummets to the ground. Hank finishes burning off the last inhibitor before shrinking down and flying into Ultron's mouth, only concerned about one thing at this point.

"Jan? JAN!" At least she should be easy enough to track down - he just has to follow the trail of destruction to its source. He looks around frantically, trying to spot even a hint of yellow among the cold gray of Ultron's body.

It isn't long before he spots her, and Hank's heart stops for a moment - it's not looking good. She's passed out, and it doesn't look like she's breathing. Ironically, despite Hank picking up scientific fields of study like most people pick up hobbies, medicine isn't something that he's very knowledgeable about, but he has no choice right now.

Despite every instinct screaming for him to get Janet out of there, in case Ultron is faking it or going to regenerate, he's pretty sure that it's a bad idea to move someone when they're like this. Instead, he goes straight to CPR, alternating between mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions, listening for any kind of change in her breathing and desperately hoping that he's not too late.

Even if he could get her to a hospital, it's not like the medical professionals would be able to do much when she's at this size, and while he could find a way to make her return to normal proportions, the sudden shift in size could just make the situation worse. As terrifying as this situation is, he's the only one who can do anything to save the woman he loves.

[the_awesome_one]

It's not true, what they say. Or at least, not for her. There's no light or anything. Maybe that's just her. Or maybe...maybe there's gotta be no chance of coming back.

Because suddenly the world is light and pain again as she starts coughing, her whole body convulsing. But there's something warm, and that means it's not Ultron, and that's ok.

"Wha's hpp'n?"

[science_is_fun]

Hank breathes a sigh of relief, sitting up and pulling the mask off of his face so Janet can see a friendlier (or rather, less annoying) face once she gets up.

"You stopped Ultron, that's what happened. And then you passed out. Not sure if it's lack of oxygen or overusing your stingers. I'd guess it's the first one; we haven't spent much time at this height, so I might have to run some tests at some point. We should probably get out of here, but first thing's first - how many fingers am I holding up?"

He holds three fingers in front of her face - he probably doesn't have to, but Hank doesn't want to assume that they're out of the woods only for it to turn out that Janet has more serious problems to deal with.

[the_awesome_one]

"You sound wrong," she manages, head still swimming. She holds a hand up to her forehead. The chatter is different, so is the tone of voice.

And then, it strikes. A faint glimmer of hope, deep down.

"...Hank?"

[science_is_fun]

Hank's smile in response to that is full of warmth, very different from Yellowjacket's cocky smirks. Janet's doing a lot better, so he won't worry for now.

"It's me, Jan. And as much as I'd like to think this is permanent, I honestly don't know." Those last few words are among Hank's least favourite to say, but considering that his previous return to normal only lasted a few minutes, there's not much to go on.

"Considering that what just happened scared me more than the first time that I tested Pym Particles on myself, there's a few things that I need to say." He looks around; the air's a lot thinner at this size, and Ultron's insides aren't the best place to have a serious conversation. "...though maybe it would be better if we got out of here and grew back to normal size first - I wouldn't want either of us passing out."

[the_awesome_one]

She has no words, and instead flings her arms around his neck, squeezing him as tight as she can, a few tears escaping as she nods against his chest.

"Yeah. Get...get me out of here."

[science_is_fun]

Hank's momentarily surprised by the sudden hug before he wraps his arms around her, smiling as he rises into the air. It takes a bit to get used to flying around in the Yellowjacket suit, especially while carrying someone, but it doesn't take long to go back the way that they came in.

Once they've made it out of Ultron's mouth, Hank lets go of Janet, gently putting her feet on the ground. "Are you doing okay? Can you grow back to normal?"

Given that his track record with trying to talk about his feelings has consisted of one of them being unconscious at the time or something else interrupting him (he glances over his shoulder to make sure that Ultron isn't reactivating), he wants to be absolutely certain that Janet's not stuck at insect size or in danger of collapsing.

[the_awesome_one]

She nods, slowly. "Ye...yeah, I think so, just...gimme a sec."

She holds a hand to her head, fingers pressing past her hair.

"Ugh, what did I even do?"

[science_is_fun]

"You got extremely close to winding up in the Microverse. Thankfully, you grew larger once you got inside Ultron, so the effects weren't as bad as they could have been."

"In theory, it's a universe that exists 'beneath' our own, and if you shrink beyond a certain point, you're sent there. I've never been there myself, since I haven't been able to bring anything back, though Ultron just proved that it's possible. In theory, it could allow for safe travel between--" He stops, realizing that he's rambling.

He tries to steer himself back to the important points that he had wanted to bring up. "The first thing that I was going to say was not to shrink that small again, though I suppose risking our lives is just part of this job. At least let me do some research first; I'm not sure if humans can survive in the Microverse, and I don't want you to wind up there only to find out that they can't."

[the_awesome_one]

She groaned, but nodded.

"He was going to kill you. And with Pym Particles, he'd kill the others. Had to stop him here and now...at least until you come up with a better way."

She looks into his face with a sigh. "I failed you once...couldn't do it again."

[science_is_fun]

"I-- what?" Hank shakes his head.

"Jan, you didn't fail me. If not for you, I'd still be Yellowjacket, and I'd either have killed someone by now or I'd be dead." That miniature prison wasn't exactly stable - it definitely would have killed the Serpent Society, and likely anyone else that he sent to it, given how quickly it imploded.

"You trusted me enough to get me back into the Avengers in spite of everything, and from what I saw in the news, you stuck with the team even when it was down to just you, Hawkeye, and Cap. You always try to do the right thing, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against you. That determination's part of why I--"

He tries to force himself to get the words out - what's the worst that could happen? Aside from it turning out that he completely misinterpreted how she feels about him, and he makes a fool of himself, and...

He starts again, "Part of..." but he only manages to work up enough courage to mumble out "why I love you."

[the_awesome_one]

"No, but, I should've-"

She's cut off by him talking and then...and then he says it. Right there, out of nowhere, the thing they'd danced around and fallen back from and never, ever actually addressed.

Without hesitation, her arms go around his neck, and within an instant she's kissing him, fingers in his hair, gripping him tight. It takes her a long moment to remember that this is Hank. He'll need an answer.

"I love you too, Hank."

[science_is_fun]

Hank cycles from nervousness to relief to getting lost in the moment as Janet suddenly pulls him into a kiss. He wraps an arm around her waist, holding her close while they kiss, as though he's worried that this is all a dream and he'll wake up if he lets go of Janet.

In spite of his concerns, hearing Janet say those four words is enough to put a big grin on his face. "I wasn't sure if now would be the right time - I don't even know what tomorrow will bring, if I'll stay this way, but I wanted to make sure that... that you know."

[the_awesome_one]

"I, Hank..."

She stops, and reaches down into her costume, pulling out a small container. "I've kept this, since...since you came back to us." She opens it up, pulling out small, folded papers.

"It's names of doctors who specialize in these sort of things, I cross-referenced their credentials and-and reviews where available along with reading their published materials and interviewed each of them..."

[science_is_fun]

"Jan..." He's not really sure what to say, but he decides to go with "Thank you. For everything."

He glances through a few of the papers; from what he can tell, she was pretty thorough with her research. "I'll definitely make this a priority - this is a second chance, and I'm not going to waste it."

Hank realizes that he'll need a lot of help, both personally and professionally, to get back to something resembling normal, but he can't just bury himself in his work and try to forget about it when that's part of what got him into this in the first place.

[the_awesome_one]

"No, it's..."

Suddenly, she's crying, her emotions tumbling out.

"I'm so sorry, Hank, I should have been there, I could've stopped all this, but I walked away when I shouldn't have..."

[science_is_fun]

"Jan..."

He holds her close, giving her time to let it all out. He's starting to feel a bit choked up himself.

"If anything, I'm the one who walked away - I'm to blame for all of that. I should have stayed, or tried to make it work, or... I don't know; I probably should have done just about anything other than leaving the team and isolating myself."

He moves to wipe away some of her tears. Seeing her like this breaks his heart, and he wants to try to cheer her up. "But unless we get Kang's time machine working, we can't change the past. Besides, at least something good came out of all of this - I'm not sure how long it would have taken for me to tell you how I feel otherwise."

[the_awesome_one]

Just having him there - him helps, a little. But she just presses into him more, with a little groan.

"I knew, and I hope you knew, but...we weren't very good at things, were we?"

[science_is_fun]

"We've got plenty of time to improve."

He chuckles as he recalls something from a while ago. "Though at least things never got as complicated between us as they did with Hawkeye and the Black Widow."

...Or was it Hawkeye and Mockingbird? T'Challa had made some cryptic comment about Hawkeye's weakness being blondes shortly before the Hydra/AIM civil war.

[the_awesome_one]

"Ugh, well, if we're at that level then we're already on the train to weird town, so...yeah, let's avoid that."

Who even knew anymore, with those two. Or three. Hard to tell.

"Can we just run away and be like this for, like, a month?"

[science_is_fun]

Hank looks at Janet's research, giving a small smile.

"That depends - if any of these are retreats, I'd be more confident with returning to the team if I've gone through more thorough treatment. And I'm sure that the staff would be more at ease with an Avenger around in case I wind up reverting."

Sure, it's a flimsy justification, and his expression makes it clear that he's not too concerned about reverting back to Yellowjacket at the moment (or at least, he's trying to keep it light for Janet's sake), but somehow, he feels like the team won't object to the two of them taking some time off.

[the_awesome_one]

"A couple are," she says, in a rush, hand lifting to brush through his hair. "I just...I want to be there, this time. For you. For us."

[science_is_fun]

"Right. Of course. And I swear I won't run away this time."

From the team, from his problems, from Janet... There are a lot of things that he needs to handle better this time around. Still, he chuckles a bit.

"So do we tell the rest of the team that I'm back for real, or let them wait for a bit?"

[the_awesome_one]

"We have to, since, you know, Ultron," she said, with a sigh. "We'd best get on that."

[science_is_fun]

"Right, just checking."

On top of that, they'll likely have to call in Vision to help with dismantling the place and making sure there's no trace of Ultron in here. Still, it was good to be back.

((OoC: Not sure if you want to end this here, since I think we've covered all that we wanted to.))