Avengers: Unbreakable
The Avengers and all related characters and settings are the property of Marvel Inc. and their respective affiliates. All rights reserved (by them, not me).
Episode 1: Confluence
Chapter 29
Previous relevant chapters: 23, 27
The home of Henry Pym, Larchmont, New York
Henry Pym woke up to the sounds and smells of bacon frying and coffee brewing. He breathed in deeply and sighed.
Maria. I love that woman!
He could hear the local morning news playing on the TV in the kitchen. He stretched. It was only then that he realized he had slept in his clothes. And they stunk! He turned his head and saw that he was sleeping on the sofa.
What happened?
Then his memory started pouring back in, and he recalled everything: Maria's death, the failed experiment. And just as quickly as hope and happiness had risen inside him at the prospect of breakfast with Maria, it sank at the gut-wrenching recollection that he would never have breakfast with Maria again. The air went out of him, and he laid his head back on the sofa and decided he didn't want to live today. He wasn't sure he wanted live any more days, for that matter.
Lost in these morose thoughts, it took him several minutes to confront what should have been an obvious and immediate practical question:
Who's in my kitchen making breakfast?
He had a memory – or thought he did – of someone at his front door. A pretty, petite woman with inviting brown eyes. Did he just dream that?
Then the woman from his dream-memory came around the corner from the kitchen into the living room. Pym sat bolt upright.
"Who are you?"
The woman put down the mug of coffee she was holding and approached him. "You don't remember." It was more of a statement than a question.
"I remember your face. But I don't remember your name. What happened?"
The woman took a chair across from him.
"I'm Janet van Dyne, Vernon van Dyne's daughter. I came here yesterday looking for you because my father had your name in his files. You were looking pretty rough. So I got you inside and you passed out on the sofa. Then I decided . . ." she looked back at the kitchen . . . "to stick around and help."
Pym managed to swing his legs off the sofa and onto the floor, but his head still throbbed.
"That's very kind of you. But you shouldn't have. I'll be okay."
Janet got up and retrieved her coffee. "Really? You just gonna call the pest control company about that ant in the basement?"
Pym looked up. "You saw that?"
"That and the computer files on the experiment you were working on."
Pym grew alarmed. "You shouldn't have gone down there. That's proprietary-"
"And I realized," Janet interrupted, "that my father had your name in his files for a good reason. You're a lot like him."
Pym thought a minute.
"Vernon van Dyne. Yes, I remember that now." He looked up at Janet. "You said he was killed."
"Yes," Janet replied.
"I'm sorry."
Janet nodded.
"And your wife . . . ."
Pym just hung his head and stared at the floor.
Neither said anything for a long time. Finally Janet got up, walked over and put a hand on Pym's shoulder.
"Hey. I made some breakfast. Why don't you get cleaned up."
Pym stood, and his eyes made contact with hers. And he immediately felt something he knew he shouldn't so soon after his wife's death. He chastised himself inwardlyfor this. Then he turned and headed for the shower. And for a few minutes, the steam and warm water helped him forget the nightmare of his last three days.
Twenty minutes later Pym returned to his kitchen. He was clean and wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Janet stopped short when she saw him. He was handsome. His thick blonde hair was clean, but he hadn't shaved, and his 3-day old growth gave his sharp features a rugged attraction. The snug shirt and loose-fitting sweats hinted at the toned physique underneath.
He saw Janet looking at his clothes. "I decided I'd just get comfortable. I mean . . . ." He looked toward the foyer, where he'd undoubtedly noted that Janet had also cleaned up the mess he'd left there. "I figure you've already seen me at my worst."
Janet smiled and handed him a mug of coffee. And sixty seconds later, they were sitting down to breakfast, Pym in his own kitchen, both of them with a person they barely knew. It felt so oddly awkward yet comfortable at the same time, neither seemed to know what to say. Eventually, Pym broke the silence.
"I remember now you said something about your father was murdered because of his research?"
"That's what I believe, yes. Someone invaded our home, destroyed his study and killed him. That's why I came looking for you. I was hoping you could tell me who might have done it."
Pym shook his head.
"I don't know. I can think of a lot of people who'd want to. But he wasn't working on that alone, was he? I thought he was collaborating with the military. They should have been protecting him."
"They weren't," Janet said. "The other name he had in his files was a General Samuel Sawyer."
Pym shook his head. "I don't know that name."
"Dr. Pym, do you have any idea what department or laboratory in the military might have been working with him on something like that?"
Pym smiled.
"Please, it's Hank."
Janet found her eyes drawn to his smile. She hadn't seen it before. It looked good on him.
"Okay," she said. "Hank."
"And I'm sorry to say," Pym continued, "that I'm probably going to be no help to you there. I've tried to avoid the military, to be honest. They never seemed to think my work showed much promise. And military funding comes with military strings attached."
Janet thought a moment. "So what exactly were you and Dad collaborating on?"
"It was early in the research – both his and mine. I was just starting to observe the Particles and their effects, and I sent some of my data for him to take a look at. There's so much about them we still don't know. He was wondering whether the Particles might provide the resistance to radiation he was looking for. We ran a couple of experiments together. But nothing came of it."
Pym paused.
"But I definitely will never forget him. He was one of the few people who ever saw my research that didn't think I was crazy. In fact, he encouraged me a lot. He's the one who turned me on to the effects of magnetism on the Particles."
"He never told me any of this," Janet said.
"Probably to protect you," Pym offered. "He probably feared that someday, somebody might come looking for research like that, and maybe it would be safer for you if you didn't know."
"Well, I'm not letting it die."
"What do you mean?"
"I intend to continue his research. I feel like it's the best way I can honor his memory."
Pym nodded. "That's a noble thing. You think there's enough left of your father's study to pick it back up?"
"Oh I don't intend to work on it there," Janet said.
"No?"
"No. I intend to work on it here."
Pym struck a look like he didn't know whether to laugh, get angry or get excited. He shifted in his chair.
"Well, uh, I'm very flattered that you would want to do that. But my own lab is not in the greatest shape right now. And besides, I've got my research to do."
"Well that's what I meant. I'm going to pursue my father's research by helping you with yours."
Pym looked stumped. "But I already said, the Particles don't provide any resistance to radiation."
"But I think you have it wrong way around," Janet said. "It's not that the Particles offer radiation resistance. It's that my father's technology can offer you resistance against the side effects of the Particles."
A light of recognition and curiosity glimmered in Pym's eyes.
"How?"
"Well, from looking at where Dad left off, he had established that melanin-coated nanoparticles injected into the body could protect tissue from the effects of radiation."
"Melanin? The skin pigment?"
"That and some other things. The same properties that protect your skin from harmful sun radiation, when harnessed and rendered uniform through nanomanipulation and configured with certain other compounds, can protect other body tissues from other types of radiation. Based on my preliminary analysis of your research, it looks like it might provide protection against the side-effects of your Particles as well."
Now a look of amazement flashed in Pym's face, as if he immediately saw the possibilities. But just as quickly, a look of conflict shadowed him. He glanced down at his coffee.
"You know, I am flattered that you think of my work that way. But . . ." he looked up and out the window where a brilliant day had dawned, "in the clear light of morning, I realize that my experiment yesterday was foolish. I need to do a lot more work before I try something rash like that again."
He looked back down at his coffee. "Besides, I have other more important business to attend to: like mourning my wife. Now is not the time to start a new collaboration."
Pym then launched into some discussion about the guilt he would feel at starting a new collaboration so soon after losing Maria. But Janet lost her focus. She'd noticed something about the local news broadcast playing on the TV, and she quickly tuned Pym out. A moment more and she jumped to her feet in alarm.
"Oh my God! That's my house!"
She turned up the volume.
" . . .that a military SWAT team raided a home in White Plains overnight. Now this is highly unusual, not only because it's a military team raiding a civilian home, but because this is the same house where a man was found murdered just a few days ago. Officials are not saying what they're looking for, only that there's no need for area residents to be alarmed. But as you can see, they have the house cordoned off, and they're not letting anyone – reporters included – in or out. From White Plains, I'm . . . ."
"Sawyer!" Janet cried.
"The General?"
"Son of a bitch! I knew they were lying to me! I'll bet that was him I was talking to! And I told him I knew about the research, and he came looking for it!"
"Or for you," Pym said. "If your father was collaborating with them, they probably already have the data. I'm guessing they didn't know you had another copy. They probably came to get it - and you - out of circulation."
"But if they wanted it that bad, why didn't they just tell me and let me bring it in?"
"That would mean admitting the project exists," Pym said. "Like I said: military funding, military strings attached."
Janet put a hand to her head. She couldn't believe this!
"What am I supposed to do now?"
Pym thought a moment. "Well, you could still go to them. But judging from the secrecy . . . and that" – he nodded toward the TV set – "I'm not sure it would be a good idea."
Janet shook her head. "No. That jerk lied to me, then raided my house. I don't trust him."
Pym thought further. "Do you have all the files and the backup?"
"Yes. They're in the car."
"And there's nothing else in the house about the research?"
"No."
"Any information that would send them looking for you here?"
"No. Only that one piece of paper. Until I found those files, I'd never heard of you before." Janet paused. "No offense."
Pym smiled. "None taken. Well," he continued, thoughtfully. "I guess you can't go home then."
"No. I guess not."
"But if they're looking for you, they'll have tracked your cell phone."
Janet's eyes widened. She fished into her purse and pulled out a phone.
"Only I'm not carrying my cell phone," she said. "My battery was dead. So I took Dad's."
Pym raised his eyebrows. "Wow. Lucky break for you. But turn it off. It won't be long before they start looking for it too." Janet did.
Neither said anything more for several minutes. Janet was confused and scared. But she thought she knew where Pym was going with his line of thinking. She didn't know what to say next.
After a minute, Pym continued. "I guess you'll have to go off the grid for a while."
Janet nodded, still dazed. "I guess so."
"And . . . ." Pym hesitated. "I guess you'll be needing someplace to stay."
Janet nodded again.
Pym thought a minute more. Then he sighed. "Well, why don't you give me your keys, and I'll get your car pulled in. We'll want to get it out of sight." Janet started fumbling through her purse looking for them.
Pym nodded toward the back of the house. "And I guess you can use the spare bedroom."
Janet nodded awkwardly. Pym looked back at the TV, then at her again.
"Looks like we'll be working together after all."
