Janet Van Dyne (bewaremysting) wrote in pastprologueic, @ 2014-11-30 13:39:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !type: log, character: janet van dyne, character: tony stark |
WHO: Janet Van Dyne & Tony Stark
WHEN: Not too terribly long after this
WHERE: Van Dyne Residence, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
WHAT: Janet is told about the unsuccessful attempt to save her father, and so she decides to take matters into her own hands.
WARNINGS: Some language
___
The cut that sliced deeply across his palm had stopped bleeding. He must have sliced it open in the scuffle, probably from the sharp edges of holding the armor gauntlet. By tomorrow, it’d be scabbed over, and mere days after that, a pink scar that would fade and disappear far faster than it should have. That’s the thing: Extremis made it easy to forget the failures that circumstance deemed to etch upon your body, the things you should be made to remember.
After the bust-up -- the realization they had failed to not only find Van Dyne but that they had showed their hand and had significantly reduced the chances of finding Jan’s father alive -- Tony knew it was time to fill Jan in on what was going on.
He wasn’t looking forward to it.
It was well into the night (or early morning, really), when Tony let himself into the Van Dyne residence, the scent of blood, metal, old earth, and sweat still clinging to him, cut up and banged up in the ways he always was -- a darkening bruise across his cheek received god only knew how, bruising around his neck from where that Meathead guard had him in a stranglehold, a hundred other aches and pains that might as well be lumped together under ‘Post-Battle Residuals’. Somehow, he knew Jan would still be up.
In the next room over, Janet was slouched deeply in the cushions of a sofa, staring blankly at the images flashing before her on the television but not really paying attention to what was playing. Her face was devoid of her usual make-up - she didn’t bother anymore, since lately she only tended to wash it away with her tears. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her face was drawn as a portrait of misery. Her knees were pulled up against her chest and she hugged a pillow tightly to her chest. Nothing mattered to her anymore; not her looks, nor her company. Not even shopping cheered her up, despite Julie’s attempts. She only wanted her daddy back, safe and sound.
She considered herself so lucky that at least she had Hank there with her. He’d been with her just about every moment since she’d heard the news. It was such a comfort to have him there, but at the moment, he’d stepped out of the room. So when Janet heard the door open, she immediately thought, “Hank? Is that you?”
“It’s me,” Tony answered, hovering in the doorway as he studied the picture before him. The air was hot and stuffy, bathed in deep shadow and flickering blue lights from the television, and Jan, spotlighted by it all. He finally pushed off the doorframe and entered the room, taking a seat at the end of the sofa by Jan’s feet, mindful of not sitting back lest he set off the numerous bruises and aches he had so recently incurred.
He glanced at the television -- a repeat of an earlier Dutch newscast, and Tony could only make out one in twenty words without bothering to throw up a mental translation filter. “I think it’s time you should know what’s going on.”
One look and Janet could tell that Tony had been in some kind of fight. The scrapes on his face, the weariness in his eyes, the way he held his body when he walked and tried to hide a wince when he sat down.
That, and she noticed Tony was clean shaven.
Ordinarily, Janet might’ve jumped with with worry and doted upon Tony, asking what happened. At the very least poked and made fun of his about the loss of his iconic beard and mustache. But she was already emotionally exhausted with her father’s kidnapping. Considering Tony was here to help find out who took her father, she had a pretty good idea how he got those scrapes.
Tony’s statement only confirmed her thoughts.
Janet’s father was Dutch, she grew up learning the language, and went to Amsterdam to visit her father frequently even after her parents divorced. But the newscast was just a droning noise in the background to her now. Her bottom lip quivered. The tone of Tony’s voice made her expect the worst. But she had to be strong… for her father’s sake. She hugged the pillow tighter, wondering if she shouldn’t ask to wait for Hank to return for his comfort.
Instead, she nodded. “Okay,” was all she could squeak.
“Your father was kidnapped by the Nefaria organization, a high-profile unit that operates pretty heavily in west and central Europe. They hired locals to do the initial smash and grab, and then killed them to cover their tracks. They used one of your father’s junior researchers authorization codes to get in. He’s dead too.” He stopped, let that sink in, because it spoke to how very serious these types were. “So we combed over every known and unknown property Nefaria listed in their financial holdings or through various shell companies. We suspected your father was being held in one of these locations. And given the nature of your father’s work, they wanted him to work in a lab. We narrowed it down to two likely sites and attempted a rescue op. We failed.”
Tears swelled in Janet’s eyes as she listened with a sort of numb detachment because she couldn’t really believe any of this was actually happening. The first thing that came to mind, Janet blurted out angrily, “Why would they kidnap my father!” But then she withdrew with a worried expression. “What do you mean, you failed? Did you see him? Is he… is he dead?” The worst thing she could possibly imagine.
“It’s not...no. We didn’t find him. Thor and Sif didn’t either at the other location. And now we’ve shown our hand, so they know we’re actively looking. They’ll probably move him soon, and it will -- I’ll be honest -- it will make things harder. I...I’m sorry. I made a promise and I couldn’t keep it. I’m sorry.” He couldn’t look at her as he said it, kept his gaze on the open slice of his palm so he didn’t have to see her face. “Jan, your father deals in infectious diseases. What they could possibly want him for...I don’t even want to begin to entertain the possibilities.”
Frustrated, upset and angry at those who did this, Janet wasn’t able to focus her emotions at those responsible, so instead she redirected them toward Tony. He was already apologizing, so it made it much easier. Crossing her eyebrows and scowling, she tossed her pillow at Tony. “What?! You’re giving up?! You fought space aliens attacking New York and grabbed onto a nuclear missile, and now you’re giving up?! You just don’t care! I hate you, HATE YOU! My father will never work with these Nefaria people, whoever the hell they are! He’ll never cooperate with them! He’s a good man, not like you! I’m going to get my daddy back, even if I have to get him myself!”
As she shouted, tears ran down her cheeks and her face turned red with rage.
Tony brought his hands up to fend off the pillow, took it and set it aside, then reached out to try and grab Jan’s hands in an attempt to calm her down. Her rising voice would wake the others -- if anyone could actually sleep in the house. “No, Jan -- I’m not, we’re not giving up. Not until we find him.” Or his body, he thought grimly. “We won’t. I’m just saying, I just wanted to prepare you for the...there are ways...there are ways people can break, Jan. Everyone breaks given enough time and enough pressure. Everyone.”
He had.
Tony was trying to grab, but Janet was quick and repeatedly swatted Tony’s hands away. In a shrill voice, she snapped, “Don’t you touch me!” She got up off the couch to edge away from him, picking up another pillow from the side and throwing it his way. Ever since she came to Amsterdam, she’d worn the electric shock bracelets Tony had given her before, and though she wasn’t angry enough to use them, she was close. Now Tony was suggesting that her father was going to be tortured and forced to work for the bad guys. This was too much for her to bear. “And don’t you say that! He’s going to be okay! They’re not going to hurt him! He’s too important! You’ll see! I’m going to get him back, with or without your help!”
“Okay,” Tony said simply, looking up at her from the sofa, shoulders bowed and lying defeated in his lap. “Okay. We’re coordinating efforts with KLPD, KMar, and Interpol to keep an eye on the borders, rails, and waterways. We’re going back through the records to see if there was something we missed. We’ll start widening the pool to family relations and associates.” He rubbed his eye, not even wincing at the pain the action caused because the migraine that was forming behind it was going to be worse. These things would take time, which was a precious and dwindling commodity. And there was nothing to be said for how much of the National Police were already in the pockets of Nefaria in the first place.
The defeat in Tony’s body language along with the details of how he was continuing to look for her father, caused Janet to calm down a little. Wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand, she pouted and flopped down upon the sofa again, folding her arms crossly over her chest. “You better start doing something,” she grumbled. She was already feeling guilty for displacing her anger at Tony, but she was currently too stubborn and fired up to apologize. Maybe later. Grumpily, she started forward at the television screen, because she couldn’t meet Tony’s eyes.
There was no real reasoning with Jan in this state, he knew (oh, how he knew), but it didn’t help that he felt like he deserved very barb and curl of anger. It wasn’t often Tony Stark experienced defeat, and by all accounts, this should have been simple. He had faced down far more difficult challenges with seemingly impossible odds before (christ, an army of aliens descending down upon New York City, a nuclear missile, Jan was right), but this one...this one had gotten away from him and he couldn’t quite understand how.
His Dutch was, being generous (and Tony was a generous man), rusty, but it was the name Nefaria coming from the television that caught his attention. How…?
But no, it wasn’t about the organization or the kidnapping (that information hadn’t been leaked to press, and if it had, there would have been hell to pay), but what looked to be some sort of construction project being funded by the rijke investeerder.
Luchino Nefaria, a man who had once made headlines by publicly denouncing his wanted daughter’s criminal activities.
During the news report, Janet didn’t move a muscle. She simply listened to the reporter and took in the image of the construction site. She knew exactly where it was located, too, a half a mile outside the city.
It would be a perfect place for a secret bad guy organization to hide. She bet her life that this was where they had taken her father.
“Didn’t you say the name of the people who took my daddy was Nefaria?” she asked, pointedly, but didn’t wait for confirmation. In that instant, she made a decision. She jumped off the couch and began running for the front door.
“What are you…? Jan -- wait!” Tony sprang off the couch after her, injuries be damned. His longer stride and reach got him to the door before her and he turned and blocked her way. “What the hell do you think you’re going to do, storm in there by yourself? Jan these people do not shy away from murder to get their own way. They kidnap an infectious diseases scientist, and it’s probably not to clone puppies! What do you think is the likely outcome of this scenario?”
Janet was never one to be intimidated in a fight, despite her height, lack of experience and apparent physical weaknesses. When she made up her mind, there was little that could sway her. Especially when it came to her daddy.
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do! You already admitted that you fucked up before, I’m not going to let you do it again! Not when my daddy’s life is on the line! And it’s not like I’m completely defenseless.” She lifted her left arm right in Tony’s face so the bracelet he made her was directly in front of his eyes, and she pointed to it with her other hand for emphasis. “Remember?”
“So you get in one or two good shots, wow, that’s great Jan! They’ll be armed to the teeth, with guns that shoot actual bullets. You’re bringing a taser to a gunfight and you’re going to get yourself and your father killed. So, no. No, I can’t let you do this. I won’t.”
“I swear, if you try to stop me, I’ll zap you in the nuts.” The ferocity in Janet’s eyes conveyed that she would do it, too. “Have you also forgotten about the whole Pym Particle thing? They won’t even know what hit… why the hell am I standing here arguing with you?” Instantly, she shrunk down to an inch tall, flying where she once stood in front of Tony, insect wings buzzing angrily. Instead of going out the door that Tony had blocked, she turned and flew down the hallway to leave out the side door.
“Yes, turn your taser into a bee sting that’s really sound battle tactics--” Tony shouted right back over her, until suddenly she wasn’t even there anymore, only the glint and flutter of gossamer wings barely catching the moonlight in the dark.
Electronically, she was as bright as a roaring flame in his mind.
“All they’ll need to stop you is a mason jar! Jan, stop!” he shouted at her, grimaced, and then called for the armor.
Flying as quickly as her wings could take her, she reached the door before Tony and managed to turn the knob to open it and go outside. The weather was chilly, but not freezing. Clear skies and very little wind. Ideal for flying. She paused for a moment to get her bearings, then darted off into the night. The cold nipped at her skin, for she only wore a set of flannel pyjama bottoms and a top, but she was determined.
As soon as the faceplate of the armor closed over him and the HUD flickered to life, Tony took off to the skies after her. Human eyesight was limited, but the armor’s precise targeting system easily picked Jan out of the city lights. She could fly fast, but his suit’s thrusters were far, far faster.
He overtook her in mere seconds, swiped out and enclosed a metal hand around Jan’s tiny form. “Sorry, Tink, but Neverland’s off the table tonight.”
Keeping her cupped in the metal prison of his gauntlet, he lowered them both to the ground -- a park by the looks of it. His faceplate slid back and he stared down at his closed hand in consternation. “If I let you go, will you promise not to fly away and talk about this like the adults we pretend to be?”
Janet had tried to use her tasers while caught in Tony’s hands, but after a couple of attempts she quickly found out they were ineffective against his suit. Fuming, she thought of breaking free by suddenly expanding her size. Her wings wouldn’t work while enlarged, but she was convinced that she could shrink back down and continue flying before she fell too far. But then she’d still have the problem of Tony following her.
By the motion of Tony’s hands, she could tell he’d stopped flying. Her temper had reached an all time high, and she wanted to tell him, No, but that wouldn’t help her situation. “I promise not to fly away,” she conceded.
He waited a moment, that slowly unfurled his fingers. “I’m sorry, Jan. I really am. But you’re not ready for this, and you can’t do it alone.”
For one reason or another, Janet always found people underestimating her, and that, on top of everything else, infuriated her more. Standing up in the palm of his hand, she pointed an accusatory finger at him. “If you were in the same place, I know you’d do the exact same thing!” Her wings buzzed as she hovered slightly. “And time’s being wasted! I don’t need your help, or any of the Avengers!”
Darting forward, Janet flew directly toward Tony, entering his suit. Absolutely nothing was going to get into her way. Reducing her size even more, she slipped in the small spaces between Tony’s body and his armor, directing her tasers not at Tony, but the exposed mechanics of the suit, which was not as protected as the outside. Her anger focused the energy blasts in precise zaps, focusing on the joints, but anything really that she came across, since she wasn’t able to see what she was doing in the darkness.
“Jan, I--” but he didn’t get to say anymore as he suddenly reared back from the bug-like human flying at him. “Jesus! Jan, what the fuck are you--ahhh!” For a creature of small mass, Jan’s undiscerning stingers -- using his own goddamn tech -- hurt. The barrage of stings caused him to yelp and jerk back, whirl around with arms akimbo, only to suddenly become unresponsive as alerts sounded through his head -- joint motors in the left leg were shorting out, and then in the right arm.
“Jan, stop! You-- argh! -- you’re a plus-30-year-old woman whose emotional maturity can be called into -- gah! -- serious question every time you refer to your father as Daddy --” Tony’s stream of words was suddenly broken off by a noise that achieved a high frequency he never knew he could achieve when one of Jan’s barbs struck the very place she had been threatening.
His vision nearly whited out as his suit locked up and fell hard to the earth.
Janet’s focus had been on the suit. Any harm she caused to Tony was accidental. Except for his balls. That had been totally on purpose. “You’re one to talk about emotional maturity, buster,” she said, not knowing whether or not Tony could hear her.
By the sparks she was causing from the mechanics, the sound of the hydraulics, and the choppy movements Tony was making, she could tell she was accomplishing her goal. When the suit locked up, she felt Tony’s fall, and she had to maneuver quickly as Tony’s body fell forward from gravity and pressed right up against the inside of his suit.
Exiting through the open face plate, he hovered in front of Tony’s eyes to make sure he was alright, then told him. “Tell my mom and Hank that I love them.” She paused for a moment. “I’ll see you later.”
The hesitation had come from the fear that she might not make it out alive, but in that instant, she’d decided that was not going to be an option. At her house, she’d seen Tony’s defeated attitude, and Janet wasn’t going to buy into that. Positive, stay positive. She was going to find her father, take down the people who kidnapped him, and be reunited. She turned and flew away, leaving Tony behind.
“Jan,” he croaked, watching her flittering figure zip away. He jerked reflexively, sent a mental command to the suit, JARVIS, anyone to do what he commanded, but the armor only made a whining screech before grinding to a halt. Literal dead weight. “JAN!”