AVENGERS EVOLUTION

in

"The Chessboard Is Set - Avengers Assemble Part One"

Note: All characters and locations mentioned here are property of Marvel Comics Inc, I claim no ownership to them whatsoever.

PART ELEVEN

Board Room, Van Dyne Fashion Inc.

New York City, April 2005

5 minutes earlier

"It's stain-resistant, wrinkle-resistant - and it goes well with any wardrobe!"

Janet Van Dyne was sitting in the board room with a pair of other representatives of Van Dyne Fashion, listening to a young woman giving her top presentation to join with the fashion conglomerate.

"And this is why," said the young woman, "you should allow Harrison Imports to join the Van-Dyne family in the fashion world."

Van Dyne stared silently, not saying a single word.

The young lady was confused by this silence. "So? What do you think?"

No one said a word, not even the two gentlemen who sat at either side of Janet.

Sweat began to form on the lady's forehead, she began to tug at her collar in discomfort.

Finally Janet broke the silence. "No."

She looked at Janet in confusion. "I ... I don't understand .. "

"You mean, 'I dont get it'." Janet snapped. "You don't get the opportunity to join the Van-Dyne family - you don't get anything!"

Janet got to her feet, her associates getting up along side her, they walk out of the boardroom, leaving the young lady weeping at her newfound failure.

Janet walked into the little kitchen area, picked up the pot of coffee sitting in the coffee maker - and began to pour herself a steaming hot cup of coffee.

"Man," replied a voice from behind. "You really tore into that girl."

She turned around to see a familiar face, Jimmy Matthews. He was a part time model for Van Dyne Fashion, and did the odd office work that was ever required. Janet managed to put her coffee down, just before Johnny wrapped his arms around her.

"Jimmy," she smiled. "I'm still married."

Matthews finally realized where she was coming from, and broke off his warm embrace. "Sorry, I forgot myself."

She picked her coffee cup back up, and walked out of the kitchen with Matthews following behind.

Janet entered into her office, sitting behind the desk at the back of the room, behind her is a large window overlooking the New York skyline. Matthews closed the office door behind him, and sat in a cushy chair in the office corner next to the door.

"Still," Matthews replied, "what you said to that girl was uncalled for. I mean, she was only trying to do her job."

Janet sighed. "You're right. My mind has been on ... other things."

"Let me guess, does it have something to do with you not wearing your wedding ring?"

Janet looked at her ring finger and knew what he meant. "I .. must have forgotten to put it on."

She was lying - somewhat. Before she came to work, she had a serious arguement with her husband Hank Pym, both were screaming at the top of their lungs, even Hank managed to hit Janet so hard that she fell to the floor.

Hank Pym stood over his wife, his face awash with anger and violent rage. Janet had had enough, she slowly got to her feet and slipped off her ring from her finger.

"I've had it," she told him, putting her ring down on the table. "Our marriage is over, Hank."

His mood changed from anger to remorse. "Please Janet," he cried. "I've just been under so much stress lately." Hank reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but she smacked it aside.

"You've been like this just after we got married - when we gave up our identities as Ant Man and Wasp. Ever since we got married, you've been obsessed with your pet project.'

"You dont understand .. this could unlock secrets into human life that we couldn't even dream of."

"The only secret that is going to be unlocked is our divorce." She grabbed her coat. "I'll be sending someone over to pick up my things." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Goodbye Hank." And with that, she walked out the door, shutting it behind her.

She was able to clean herself up in the limo ride to work, covered up the shiner that Hank had given her. But the damage had already been done, their marriage was over.

Now Janet looked over the streets of New York and pondered to herself. Matthews spoke up from his littles space, trying his best to break up the silence. "Mission control to Janet," he joked. "Come in, Janet?"

She broke from her reverie, and turned to face Matthews. "Huh? What?"

"You seemed like you were in your own little world there, Janet."

Janet sighed and returned to look out the window. "I was just ... thinking .."

Matthews approached her from behind, and turned her around to face him. She would have lashed back in defense, if it weren't for Jimmy's reassuring blue eyes to relax her. "You want to know something, Janet?" He asked. "You're not cut out for all this - business suits and everything. You're a model after all."

A smile appeared on Janet's face. "I was a good model, wasn't I?"

"You were a great model. That's where all the fun is, in modeling - not here. Not with all the suits and highbrows - it's all out there." He pointed out the window.

Janet was mesmerized by Jimmy's eyes, both of them locked on eachother's gazes. They slowly inched forward, just about to kiss on the lips, untill Janet's speakerphone buzzed - breaking them both out of their romantic little trance.

It was her secretary. "Miss Van-Dyne, your limo is waiting to take you to the auditorium for the fashion show."

She broke away from Johnny, and headed over to the pressed the TALK button on rhe phone. "I'm on my way, Maria." She headed for the door. "I need to go now. I'm supervising the fashion show down at the Empire University Auditorium - to show off our new summer wardrobe to all the students." As she walked to the door, she kissed Matthews on the cheek. That left the fashion model with a smile on his face - not to mention a red lip-print on his cheek.

Janet walked out the front door of the tall high-rise to find a limo parked out front, the driver dressed in the usual chaufferr's uniform - black jacket with matching cap. Upon catching sight of the attractive looking woman, he rushed over and opened up the back door.

As she walked up to the limo, she noticed something streak out of the sky. She looked up to see what seemed to be a man flying out of the sky.

"Who was that?" She asked the limo driver. "Was that Iron Man?"

The limo driver shrugged. "Dunno. Would you please get into the car? I'm already behind schedule."

Janet sighed and climbed into the limo, the driver closed the door shut and then headed for the driver's seat.

Janet sat comfortably in the back of the limo, as they headed to Empire University. Suddenly Janet heard an explosion, she tried to look out the window, hoping to find out what it was and where it came from - she had no such luck.

"What was that explosion?" She asked.

The driver said nothing, focused completely on the road. That's when Janet recognized the plate of glass which seperated her from the driver. She sat back and relaxed in her seat.

A few minutes later, she noticed things out of the window - things that were not familiar. Janet noticed the phone at the back of the limo, obviously a communications link between her and the driver. She picked up the receiver and placed it to her ear. "Driver," she spoke into the phone, "this isn't the way to Empire University."

She heard nothing but dead silence. She put the receiver back down and rapped on the glass partition with her knuckles.

"You've made a wrong turn!" She shouted. "Turn back!" But the driver didn't even acknowledge her at all. She pounded on the glass. "DRIVER!" She screamed.

The driver pressed a small button on the console, suddenly Janet heard a loud click come from the door- she turned to noticed that both doors had been locked. The driver pressed a set of buttons, suddenly metal sheets slid down over the windows and the glass partitiion, shutting off her view with the driver and the outside world.

She pounded on the metal partition. "DRIVER! DRIVER!" She fell back on her seat, wondering what she could do to get out of this. 'There may not be something Janet can do," she thought to herself. 'But let's see what Wasp can do.'

Janet closed her eyes and began to concentrate, suddenly her clothes began to wrinkle and slip off her shrinking body, until finally she disappeared in a pile of clothes. Within a minute, a winged figure hovered out of the mountain of women's clothes - the Wasp was airborne.

Wearing her Wasp costumeunderneath her clothes, it was coated with unstable molecules (called Pym Particles, one more thing to remember her husband by) so when her body shrank to insect size - her costume would shrink down with her. She was glad that she didn't get rid of her Wasp costume, of course she didnt think she'd have to use it so soon.

She adjusted the stingers on her wrists to fire a high intensity beam, and she began to fire them upon the metal partition, hoping to cut through it.

Suddenly a green mist flooded the entire rear area, causing the Wasp to cough profusely, she then collapsed to the floor unconscious.

Figuring that Janet Van-Dyne was finally knocked out by the gas, the driver pressed another button on the console. The entire body of the limo changed into a futuristic winged aircraft, that shot into the sky - and vanished in the blink of an eye.

First Iron Man, then Wasp - WHO'S NEXT! Find out soon enough! To be continued...