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Chapter 17: War
Belgrade
Janet saw The Executioner's henchmen dragging him toward the door, one of his arms dangling useless by his side. But she made no move to stop them. The rest of the security men, seeing their leader down, had started scrambling for the exits too, and Janet wasn't going to do anything to change that. This mission had gotten out of hand.
Iron Man had remained virtually buried under a mound of human bodies since The Executioner sent his entire force at him. And while Stark had never been in danger himself, safe within his armor from any weapon this crew had, the overwhelming manpower thrown at him had neutralized his effectiveness. No doubt that was The Executioner's plan. And Janet couldn't take on The Executioner herself. She also knew now that she couldn't trust Pym to it.
She cut power on her tiny repulsor wings and dropped to the floor next to Pym's head. His helmet had come off, and he was groggy, but he already seemed to be coming around. Janet knew he'd be furious at her. But what choice did she have? He was about to pull The Executioner in two, not only killing him, but doing it in the most vulgar manner.
"Hank, Janet, what happened?" The voice was Stark's. She could see him, walking toward them through the smoke. The last of the guards who'd been attacking him was running for the back exits.
"Hank was about to kill The Executioner. So I shrunk him."
"Then we go after him," Stark's metallic voice came back.
"Tony, Hank's psychotic again. We can't trust him. We've got to get him out of here."
"We will get him out of here. We'll get all of us out of here. Including The Executioner." Iron Man kept stalking toward the exit.
Janet didn't want to leave Pym here alone. But she didn't want to make Stark take on The Executioner by himself, either. She was the one who let the man go. She could help get him back.
"Alright. I'm coming with you."
"Just remember, sweet cakes, you can't shrink me down."
"Yeah, but you won't try to kill the man, either."
"Fair enough."
Janet fired her repulsor wings and soared back into the air. She saw Pym out of the corner of her eye, just pulling himself up into a sitting position, as she neared the ceiling. Then she moved off.
Iron Man strode below her like a robot out of a science fiction movie. He made for the exit they'd seen The Executioner leave through. Janet swooped down through the doorway into the building's perimeter corridor at the same time Iron Man did. She was just about to make her turn and head down the walkway toward the exterior doors, when Stark's voice crackled over her earpiece again. He sounded as unnerved as she'd ever heard him.
"Holy shit."
Janet pulled to a midair hover and looked back at Iron Man. He was staring through the glass exterior wall into the street outside the conference center.
Janet turned and saw it too. "Oh my God."
He must have called in the whole freakin' army.
In the streets outside the conference center, what looked like a full military battalion had drawn up. A tank flanked each corner, and armored cars with smaller cannon and machine guns formed a solid line between the tanks. Hundreds of troops, guns raised, stood in the gaps between the armor. As Janet looked on, a military helicopter roared into view over the top of the building, then banked, turned back, and leveled what looked like a rotary cannon at them.
Janet had never seen anything like it. Fear gripped her throat like the hand of a specter.
"Uh . . . Tony? What do we do now?" She could hear her own voice quivering with fear.
"Working on it, sweetheart." Iron Man was pressing buttons in a compartment in one arm of his armor.
"Tony, we need to go."
"Ya think?"
Some guy with a bullhorn called to them, the sound echoing off the close streets. Janet couldn't understand a word of it. It was in Serbian. But she didn't need to. She had little doubt what he was saying.
"Uh, Tony?"
"You need to get Hank out of there. I'll try to stall 'em. We need two minutes."
"Two minutes for what?"
"JUST GET HANK!"
Janet didn't argue. She flew back into the assembly room. Pym was just staggering to his feet.
"Hank!"
No response.
"Hank, can you hear me?"
Still nothing. Then she remembered she'd seen him throw his earpiece away.
Well . . . there's nothing else for it. Janet flew up and lit on the floor of his outer ear.
"Hank!"
Pym stopped.
"We've got to get out of here. They've called in the whole army!"
Pym didn't move for several seconds. Then he spoke on a low whisper. But it sounded to her like the thrum of some great machine.
"You let him get away."
"Hank, for God's sake, we can talk about that later. I'm not kidding, the army's outside the building. We've got to get out of here!"
"You . . . you protected my wife's murderer."
"Hank, I didn't protect anyone. Tony was going after him. But he must have called in reinforcements."
Suddenly, Janet felt Pym's whole body shudder. She saw his hand move, down by his side. Firing her wings, she lifted off into the air . . . just as Pym's hand swatted at the side of his head – right where she had been.
If he'd have hit me . . .
"Hank, you bastard! You could have killed me!" She yelled it before she remembered Pym couldn't hear her.
She thought seriously about leaving him then. Let him take his chances with the Serbian military - that'd teach him. But then that same merciful place in her heart that let The Executioner get away made her remember: Hank's not himself. He's having another psychotic break.
She made up her mind: I can't leave him. But how do I communicate with him? She didn't dare light on his ear again. But without his earpiece, he wouldn't hear a word she said, no matter how loud she screamed.
Just then, she heard an explosion. It sounded like it came from outside the building.
"Tony!" She flew back toward the exit. Another explosion rocked the building. She heard the high scream of Iron Man's repulsors firing up, a blast of energy . . . then all other sound was lost in a thunderstorm of gunfire. Janet was just about to clear the threshold of the door, swooping down at it from above, when she heard the glass wall to the outside shatter. Shards blew into the room.
"TONY!"
She could still hear Iron Man's repulsors blasting. Then she saw holes appearing as if by magic in the interior wall – and a split-second later, heard them. Those bullets are penetrating in here!
Janet dropped to the floor. She looked up to see Pym do the same.
"Tony! We're gonna die!"
A tank cannon thundered, and the wall above her head exploded.
"TONYYYYYY!"
Another repulsor scream – Iron Man was still fighting back. A huge explosion rocked the building from outside. One of Iron Man's repulsors blasts must have hit its mark – she saw a bright yellow flash reflect off of everything.
Then came another scream – a different one. Not Iron Man's repulsors . . . this one really did sound like an aircraft engine. In that instant, the ceiling exploded, dropping tons of debris in a heap in the middle of the cavernous room. The QuinJet descended into view through the hole.
"Get Pym into the jet!" Stark's voice popped through her earpiece. "Get – UGH!" Janet heard more large caliber fire from outside. "Janet! In the cockpit! Hit 'Control – Z – 6' on the keypad! Do you—" Another cacophony of gunfire. "Do you copy?!"
"Got it!" she said. But she had no idea if Stark heard her. So much gun and artillery fire was thundering in the air that a tornado could hit the building and she wouldn't hear it.
Janet fired her wings and rocketed toward the QuinJet. Flying through the air like this, she knew she could be hit any second by the withering fire coming in from outside. But Stark was out there risking his life to get them out of here. She wasn't about to let him down. She was relieved to see Pym scrambling for the QuinJet too. At last, his survival instinct was overriding his despondency.
For now.
The QuinJet settled onto the mound of debris it had created, the side door opening on auto command. Janet soared straight through the door, then banked hard inside the aircraft and made a bee line for the cockpit. Another cannon blast thundered from outside – the whole QuinJet shook. Janet soared to the control panel and landed. The keys were as big as she was. She found the one she wanted and pushed on it with all her might.
"Control."
She scrambled up one row through the waist-high keypad to the "Z" key.
"Z."
She clambered around the side of the keyboard toward the numbers at the top. Another cannon blast rocked the aircraft and threw her off her feet. She fell into the "tab" key. The command console beeped and displayed an error message on its screen.
"Shit!"
Janet crawled back toward the "control" key and pressed it again. Then the "Z." Then she scrambled back toward the numbers at the top. Another cannon blast. Gunfire ricocheted off the windshield. She crawled the last inch to the "6" key, raised herself to her feet, and pressed down on it with all her weight.
The QuinJet's engines roared to life. She heard mechanical compartment doors opening beneath her. The jet began taking off, vertically lifting back through the hole it had come down through. Janet launched herself toward the passenger compartment to make sure Pym had made it in. She found him just strapping into a seat. The side door was closing on its own, when suddenly a streak of fire blinded her, and Iron Man rocketed into the compartment. He blazed in so fast he bounced off the far wall. But his repulsors shut off once he was in, and he fell harmlessly, if ungainly, to the floor. The aircraft door closed, and they rose through the roof of the conference center into the night air.
Suddenly the craft lurched, and Janet felt and heard powerful surges of energy coming from beneath them. She screamed – she couldn't help it. But Stark's voice came back in her ear.
"It's the jet's weapons. They're clearing us an escape path."
Iron Man, still in full armor, jumped up and scrambled into the cockpit. Janet followed, firing her wings and entering right behind him. As they rose above the building, she could see the military below them, all weapons firing full-tilt at the rising QuinJet. The craft rocked and bounced – but it kept rising. Iron Man was at the controls, typing commands and pushing buttons. Janet saw the nighttime cityscape of Belgrade stretching out before them.
Suddenly, she heard a very different sound – a loud bang, like a giant rock had hit the hull of the aircraft. The QuinJet lurched violently to one side, and the control console let out a searing alarm. She heard a sound like gas escaping through a valve, further back in the aircraft.
"We're hit," Iron Man's metallic voice came through her headpiece, surprisingly calm.
Janet said nothing. She let Stark work the controls. The QuinJet veered dangerously back toward the rooftops, the sounds of its engines now very different – a throaty grind mingled with its usual roar of power. Janet saw a building loom dead ahead. They were heading right for it. Stark's fingers continued to fly across the keyboard. Slowly, the QuinJet began to right itself. They veered past the building, just passing it on their left. Then the QuinJet started to climb again, gaining altitude as it continued to steady and level. The city of Belgrade began to recede below them. Then it disappeared completely behind a thin sheet of clouds.
The jet kept climbing, rising into the night sky. Janet saw the waxing moon hanging low in the east. The QuinJet vibrated like a car with a wheel out of balance. But it kept climbing. At last, slowly . . . slowly . . . slowly . . . she allowed herself to dare to breathe again.
The craft swooped forward, rattling and grumbling. Nobody said anything for a long time. The jet continued to rise and gain speed, but it was not the effortless climb of their departure from New York. Air hissed loudly out of a circulation system somewhere, and that grind still rumbled under the roar of the engines. But it seemed like it was getting quieter.
Stark in his Iron Man armor still sat at the control panel, not moving, his hands still resting on the console. His armor was scorched and scraped, and two compartment covers on one arm dangled open at odd angles, the compartments they once concealed, empty.
Finally, he spoke. "I guess we made it."
Janet found that she was standing in the co-pilot's seat, its black fabric stretching out like a field around her. "Yes. I guess we did."
Stark reached up and pressed a button on the side of his helmet. His face plate popped open, and she could see him for the first time. He looked around.
"Where are you?"
Janet exhaled a little laugh. "I'm in the co-pilot's seat."
Stark looked down toward her, but she could tell he didn't see her. "You know if we're not careful, somebody's gonna sit on you one day."
Janet laughed – the relief that they were alive flooding through her.
"And to think your dying view of your killer would be of their gigantic ass."
She laughed again. In fact, once it started, the laughter gushed out of her. She couldn't stop it. She felt like she'd just been brought back into a bright, beautiful day after nearly being buried alive. She laughed so long that, after a while, Stark started laughing too. Janet sat down and let the laughter come. It felt good.
They had made it. They were alive!
Stark looked back at the control console, his laughter dying away. "I don't know how long this thing's gonna stay aloft."
Janet thought about this. "Well, can you help me get back to normal size. If the ride gets rough, I don't want to be bouncing around the cabin like a marble."
Stark slapped his gauntleted hands against the arms of his chair. "Yep!" He stared blankly out the window into the night sky. "Besides, we've got that other passenger to deal with."