The Widow and The Wasp

The Black Widow lurks in the shadows with no intentions of getting involved, though she probably should. The man her target is dealing with is not one to be trusted, and for the life of her Natasha can't figure out what Hope van Dyne is doing associating with the likes of Sonny Burch, but she was going to find out. She lets Hope complete another transaction with Burch and then follows her back to a waiting van with Hank Pym and Scott Lang inside. She then follows them back to a nondescript empty lot where Pym made a nondescript building grow from what had appeared to be a case on wheels. That was, Natasha had to admit, pretty damn impressive and kind of cool. She knew she should probably infiltrate the building and get a look at what Pym was up too, but she didn't want to spy on Hope. They were still trying to rebuild their damaged friendship and she wanted to give Hope a chance to explain things for herself. Plus, she really did not want to deal with Pym. On a professional level he would just see her as an agent of SHIELD, there to get in his way. On a personal level, he was responsible for taking years of friendship away from her and Hope, and Natasha wasn't sure she was ready to be civil to the man just yet.

So, Natasha backtracked to Hope's apartment to wait for her there. She honestly wasn't trying to scare or startle anyone this time, but she still managed to make Hope jump when she spotted her leaning against the wall next to the apartment door.

"Jesus Christ, Natasha!" Hope yelps as she presses her hand to her pounding heart.

"Sorry." Natasha apologizes sheepishly. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Hope eyes the redhead carefully as she walks to her apartment door while pulling out her keys. "I take it this isn't a social call?"

"Can we talk?" Natasha replies. "Inside."

The brunette nodded, unlocked her door and invited her friend inside. After dropping her keys in the bowl by the door, and shedding her blazer and bag, Hope makes her way further into her home as she asks, "So what's this visit about, Nat?"

"Sonny Burch." Natasha says, getting right to the point. She watches Hope try not to react to the man's name, but Hope wasn't a trained spy, and couldn't hide the sudden tension in her body from Natasha who was.

"Who?" Hope tried despite knowing playing dumb wouldn't work on Natasha.

"The man you're buying black market components from." When Hope turns to look at her Natasha explains why she's there. "A while back a neo-Hydra group tried to infiltrate and ruin SHIELD with the long-term plan of taking its place in the world. An agent turned traitor, a man named Rumlow, was using Burch to sell stolen SHIELD tech."

"Nothing we've gotten from Burch is from SHIELD." Hope cuts in defensively.

"I know, Hope." Natasha reassures. "I'm not here about whatever it is your dad and you are up to. I'm here to warn you to stay clear of Burch. SHIELD has been biding its time before bringing him down to make sure they get his whole operation, including several dirty federal agents. The agent in command of the op knows that you're my friend and gave me a heads up so I could tell you to stay the hell away from him so you don't get caught up in things when it goes down."

There is a brief flicker of panic in Hope's eyes but her voice is calm. "Thanks for the heads up."

Hope doesn't heed Natasha's warning. What she and Hank are doing with the parts she gets from Burch is too important. Burch can feel the heat on him and mistakenly thinks Hope is a part of it. The Black Widow watches unseen, thanks to a suit upgrade from Shuri, as Hope fights in a suit of her own. She's impressed. Hope has been trained, not on her level or even the level of a field agent, but trained well enough to mostly hold her own. When Hope gets in over her head a bit the Black Widow steps in to lend a hand, deactivating the stealth feature on her uniform with a simple press of a button on her gauntlet. But before she does, she sends a message to the agent in charge that there was a change in plan regarding Burch's take down.

"I had this under control." Hope says, her voice modified by her helmet.

"Of course, you did." Natasha says as goons fall all around her. "But this place is about to get crazy, and the sooner I can get you out of here, the safer you'll be."

Sure enough, just as Burch and two of his men are tagged by Widow's Bites, the restaurant is overrun by SHIELD agents. A couple of them target Hope, and before her friend can shrink and disappear, making this all worse, Natasha grabs her wrist. "The Wasp is with me. Stand down. That's an order."

"Do as the Widow says." Comes the voice of their S.O. who is angry and annoyed.

Natasha smirks. "Agent 13."

Later after they're allowed to leave the scene, with the part Hope needed thanks to Natasha, the pair regrouped at Hope's apartment with a bottle of wine. "Being yelled at by Sharon felt too much like being yelled at by your mom."

"She did channel a hell of a good Peggy Carter." Natasha says with a laugh.

Hope refilled their glasses and then sat back with a heavy sigh. "Thank you for covering for me, Nat. I think I should tell you why you stuck your neck out for me." They finish the bottle and open a second while Hope tells Natasha about her mother being the original Wasp and what truly happened to her. She explained the quantum realm, and what happened to Scott. "There's a chance, Nat, a real good chance we can get her back."

"That's amazing, Hope." Natasha replies, blue-green eyes a bit wide as she processes everything Hope has told her. But then Natasha's expression of awe shifts into one of concern as something uncertain passes over Hope's eyes before she ducks her head. "What's wrong?"

"The tunnel isn't finished." Hope admits after a long pause where it's clear she's trying to decide what to say. "And SHIELD just put the only man who can get us the parts we need in prison."

"Burch isn't the only game in town, Hope." Natasha replies as she makes Hope look her in the eye. "You could have come to me. I would have helped."

Hope sighs and shakes her head in frustration. "Hank isn't going to accept help from SHIELD."

"Did I say SHIELD?" Natasha replies. "No, I said I could help. I'm a spy, Hope, I have connections outside of SHIELD. If you need anything else to build your quantum tunnel, you let me know."

Months pass before Hope reaches out to her about needing a part for Pym's quantum tunnel. Natasha reassures her friend that she'll get what she needs, and then starts shifting through her contacts to see who might have what that is. She finds what Hope asked for with a retired MI6 scientist she's used in the past while on undercover missions and makes arrangements for an exchange. Natasha wasn't expecting any trouble, but trouble must be lurking around her scientist because when she arrived at the meeting site, she discovered she wasn't the only one on scene. The Black Widow smirks as she stalks them, her smirk growing when the older of the two signals for the younger one to fall back. She hears the older of the pair tell the younger one, "Stay back, and whatever happens do not interfere."

The Black Widow makes the first move. There are no weapons used, simply hand to hand combat. Natasha gets in a solid surprise hit, catching her opponent off guard, but the other woman recovers quickly, and counters Natasha's strikes move for move. Natasha takes a punch to the ribs that's going to bruise, and a shin to the face that busts her bottom lip.

"Sloppy." The older, dark haired woman scolds when she lands the kick that busts Natasha's lip.

That only urges Natasha on and a few moves later her opponent is pinned. She smiles, and her opponent grunts at her. "Hey Mel."

Melinda May grunts again and flips the younger woman off her before leaping to her feet. "Nat." She greets before saying, "It's good to see that living in the ivory tower hasn't made you soft, though you were a bit sloppy. I shouldn't have been able to kick you in the face."

Natasha had landed in a crouch and shrugged as she stood upright in that slow cat like way of hers. Smirking, after probing her lip with the tip of tongue, she replies, "Maybe I just miss getting beat up by you, Mel." Melinda shakes her head and Natasha smiles more. "And I don't live in the tower anymore. I'm buying a house in Queens."

Melinda rolls her eyes and is about to ask what the hell Natasha is doing there when a voice calls out her name. "It's clear, Skye. There's no threat, just a brat."

When the younger agent joins them, Natasha looks her up and down and says, "Thanks for not getting in the way, kid. Tussling with a SHIELD agent will help my cover as a Russian, and I always enjoy getting a chance to get the drop on Mel."

Skye blinks wide eyed as she says, "You're the Black Widow." Then she turns her gaze to Melinda. "May, you know the Black Widow?"

Natasha smiles. "Agent May trained the Black Widow."

Melinda ignores the look of awe she's getting from her current student and scowls at her former student. "What the hell are you doing here, Carter?"

"Picking something up for a friend." Natasha answers honestly. "You?"

"Ghost hunting." Melinda answers.

Natasha's eyes light up. "Ooo! A spy hunter! Fun!"

Melinda groans again. "How have you not gotten yourself killed yet?"

"Sheer dumb luck and excellent training." Natasha replies with a smirk.

There is something oddly familiar with the way Skye looks at her. She is used to young agents looking at her with fascination and awe, respect and even fear, because she's the infamous Black Widow. But the way Skye looks at her, looks at Melinda because of her, it oddly enough, reminds her of the way Phil Coulson used to look at Steve. Something about the girl reminds Natasha a lot of Coulson for some reason. There was also something about the girl, something in her eyes, in her toughness, that reminded Natasha of Melinda. Natasha's curiosity had her wanting to pick at that a bit more, but she didn't get the chance. The ghost Melinda was hunting wasn't after SHIELD operatives, it was after the component Natasha was there for.

Ava Starr was like Wanda in that she had been a kid enhanced by Hydra, one of the first successful attempts at triggering powers in children. But Wanda, as it turns out, had something unique in her DNA that Hydra's manipulations unlocked. Starr's abilities were unnatural. Codenamed Ghost, her primary objective was to hunt down and take out whatever SHIELD spy, agent, or operative, her masters ordered her too. Hydra controlled her by controlling her abilities which caused her great pain when left unchecked. Without Hydra there to reset her so to speak, Starr was in constant agony.

"We need those parts." Hank Pym grumbles. "We can't move forward until we have those in place."

"I know, Dad." Hope sighs softly. Her father had been moaning about this for weeks.

Hank continues to grumble and groan. "We wouldn't be in this mess if SHIELD had minded their own business."

"Burch was selling stolen SHIELD tech, Dad." Hope explains yet again. "It was their business." She walks over to where her father is sitting and puts her hand on his shoulder. "We'll get the parts Dad. I trust my source."

The only warning they got before the Black Widow appeared was the ants working around them started acting strangely before she spoke. "I wish you'd have trusted me sooner, Hope."

"Natasha." Hope yelped, her hand to her chest and an annoyed look coming across her face. "Stop doing that!"

Normally Natasha would be amused by this but now wasn't the time for amusement.

"How did you get in here?" Hank demanded. He was now standing glaring at the young woman who used to be his daughter's best friend, the daughter of someone he used to be friends with before spending years being mad at her.

Scott snorted at Hank's question as if it were a silly one. "That's the Black Widow, Hank. She's like the world's best spy."

Natasha hands Hope the components she asked for, ignoring Hank's grumbling and Scott's fawning.

"You got them." Hope says with relief. "Thank you, Natasha."

"You used SHIELD to get the parts?" Hank scolds. "Hope!"

"I asked Natasha, who offered to help when I told her what we were doing." Hope shot back.

"You told SHIELD what we were doing!?" Hank replied.

Natasha huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not SHIELD, Dr. Pym. Yes, I am an agent of SHIELD, and an Avenger, but more important to the matter at hand, I am Hope's friend, despite your efforts to contrary."

That defused Hank a bit and he slumped back into his chair. "I'm sorry about that, Natasha. I shouldn't have kept you two apart, especially during a time when Hope needed you."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that because what Hank did wasn't ok so she wasn't going to say that it was. Sighing, Natasha finally replied, "I appropriate you saying that, Dr. Pym." Then she focused on Hope. "Burch told someone what you were doing, that you were working with quantum technology, and now you've got a target on your backs."

Hope tensed up. "What?"

"Remember the Neo-Hydra group I told you about?" Natasha replies and then begins warning them about Ava Starr, a.k.a. Ghost.

Hank looked both horrified and intrigued by the idea of using quantum energy to change a person, to give them extraordinary abilities, but then jumped right to the part where the woman must be suffering. He says that once they've gotten Janet back, he'll work on a way to help her. When Natasha says she'll be sticking around Hank bristles again. "Thank you for the warning, Natasha, but we can handle it."

The redhead groans and rolls her eyes. "I'm not doing this." She glares at Hank Pym. "I don't know how my mother survived working with you and Uncle Howard without suffocating on the ego and stubbornness." Natasha speaks in a firm, commanding voice that reminds people, reminds Hank Pym, of Peggy Carter. "Starr is a Hydra agent, a dangerous one, one who has no issue with killing whoever gets in her way. Your options, Dr. Pym, are you either work with me in her apprehension, or I call in the SHIELD team assigned to bring her in, and you can deal with them."

She can tell that the thought of working with SHIELD is not a pleasant one for Pym, so she has no doubt that he will begrudgingly work with her. But she feels the need, as she so often does, to defend SHIELD and its reputation. "And just so you are aware, Dr, Pym. Howard Stark didn't steal your research. Mitchell Carson did, and when it was discovered my mother fired him and had him arrested. He did manage to flee before he could be sentenced because he had help. When we took down Alexander Pierce and his Neo-Hydra, we discovered Carson was a Hydra agent, sent to steal tech and research for SHIELD. He was finally apprehended after the Yellow Jacket incident because my mother had him on a SHIELD arrest list. SHIELD didn't burn you, Dr. Pym, my mother didn't turn her back on you, you burned those bridges with your grief and your guilt all on your own."

The Black Widow stayed in the shadows after that, shifting her focus to the professional rather than the personal. She was there to provide back up and to bring in the Ghost. She was also evaluating the Wasp. After spending her professional life in an agency full of strong women like her mother, Melinda, Sharon, Maria, and Bobbie; Natasha was finding it a bit obnoxious to be surrounded by mostly men in the Avengers. She and Wanda would be thrilled to have another woman on the team, even if only on a reserve status.

Ava Starr's father had once been a SHIELD scientist whose work went against SHIELD's ethics. Hank busted him and turned him in to Director Carter and Howard Stark, who promptly fired him and had his research and work destroyed. He was then recruited by those trying to rebuild Hydra. No one was sure if he willingly handed over his daughter for experimentation or not, and since he was dead it didn't look as if they'd ever find out. Tom Foster's father Bill had been Hank's assistant and helped him develop the enlarging properties of Pym Particles. Tom resented Pym's success after Hank had pushed his father out of his projects. The two were working together to get their hands on Hank's lab and technology. Tom Foster's Goliath was meant to keep Ant-Man busy, with the assumption that the Wasp was no match for Ghost. As it turned out Ghost was no match for the Wasp and the Widow, though she did put up a hell of a fight.

Once they had Ava Starr nullified and Natasha had her restrained, the redhead stands and takes in their surroundings. She cringes, and when she hears Hope's helmet retract turns to look at her friend. "We trashed your dad's lab."

Hope looked around and laughed as she tried to catch her breath. "What's wrong, Nat? Afraid he'll call your mom and tell on you?"

Natasha huffed playfully, "That would require him to actually talk to her." Hope made a face that said Natasha made a fair point. The redhead laughed. "Clearly you don't remember the paper mache volcano incident."

It took a moment but then Hope's eyes went a little wide and she laughed. "There was red goo everywhere! I'd never seen your ma so mad before, she yelled at us in Italian for nearly an hour while flailing her arms around, we kept having to duck as we tried to clean it up." Then she gasped at another memory. "But that was nothing compared to the time we accidentally set your mom's garden on fire."

"I was way too competitive to be a girl scout." Natasha laughed. "But, as far as I know no one has beat our cookie sales record in our old troop, thanks to you."

"While I would love very much to hear all the little Hopie stories you're willing to share, I could use a little help." Scott's voice crackled over the comms.

"Shit." Hope said, closing her helmet. "Scott!"

"Go." Natasha replied. "I'll call my SHIELD contact for pick up."

Scott would be out for days once everything caught up to him from going as big as he had, but in the end, no one was hurt, the tunnel was safe, and the bad guys apprehended. A SHIELD transport arrived with two enhanced containment pods, along with Agent May and her new junior agent who still made Natasha tilt her head and look at her as if there was something about her she should be seeing. Natasha stands by her former S.O as Goliath and Ghost were loaded onto the transport.

"Wait." Hank Pym called out as he approached the SHIELD agents with Hope at his side. "What are you going to do with her? She needs help."

"She'll be prosecuted for her crimes, Dr. Pym, but she'll also get the help and treatment she needs." Natasha replies.

Hank grumbles. "And what will SHIELD's help cost her?"

"SHIELD isn't going to use her as a weapon if that's what you're implying." Natasha says, trying hard not to sound defensive, and failing. "SHIELD doesn't use or abuse enhanced people, Dr. Pym. I would never stand by and allow that to happen. My daughter is enhanced, and so is my girlfriend's son. All of your past bad experiences were with Hydra agents, Dr. Pym, not SHIELD. SHIELD is still full of good people who only want to save and protect, who still stand for everything my mother wanted it to stand for. Perhaps one day when your anger and grief are behind you, you'll remember what that was, and why you once considered her a friend."

The next morning Hope stumbles out of her bedroom to find Natasha sitting on her sofa. She yelps, and throws a vase at the redhead, which Natasha catches easily. "You have got to stop doing that!"

Natasha laughs. "I just wanted to stop by before I left for New York to give you this."

Hope blinks sleep blurred eyes at a small card looking thing in Natasha's outstretched hand. She accepts it and looks it over carefully to discover it's an access card. She blinks and looks up at her friend.

"Full access to the compound." Natasha tells her with a warm smile. "There's a place for you on the reserve team if you want it."

Again, Hope blinks, her mouth falling open. "You, you want me to be an Avenger?"

Natasha nods. "You have the skills and abilities. We'd be lucky to have you. Plus, Wanda and I could totally use another girl around." Natasha smiles. "So, next time Scott comes to the compound to train, come with him." Then she bites her lip. "And, you know, if you and Scott wanted to come to New York before then, I'd love for you to meet May and Peter, and maybe have Sunday dinner, my moms would love to see you again."

Hope closes the distance between them and hugs Natasha. "I'd like that very much, Nat."

A few weeks later Natasha is on her mothers' sofa with May trying not to fall asleep after Sunday dinner when her phones rings. She smiles when she sees its Hope. At first she mistakes Hope's rushed and breathless words for panic or fear, but then she releases its utter joy because Janet was back, alive and well. Natasha was thrilled for her friend, beyond thrilled, and so was Peggy when Natasha told her. With Janet back, maybe now things between the Carters and the van Dyne-Pyms could mend beyond Natasha and Hope.