Chapter 7: The Wondrous Wasp

Inside the lab, Jan tapped her fingers on a table, impatiently waiting on Hank to finish his latest project.

"Is it almost done, yet?" She asked.

"Almost," Hank replied, not looking up from his work. "Integrating the Pym Particles and the other upgrades into the designs you asked for is proving a little trickier than I thought. Almost makes me wish you came up with something a little less elaborate."

"You know me. Go stylish, or go home."

"Well, I hope you aren't needed anywhere," he replied, finally getting up and holding up the outfit. "It's finished."

Jan instantly perked up at the sight. She sprang up and ran over grabbing hold of it.

"It looks great! I can't wait to try it out. She then ran towards a change screen that was set up in the lab, her head quickly poking out. "No peeking," she winked before ducking back behind.

"Hank just rolled his eyes before turning away.

"I still can't believe you talked me into this," He let out.

"That's because of my persuasive personality," Jan remarked as she slung her shirt and pants over the top of the screen.

"You sure you don't want to reconsider this?" he asked. "What we're getting involved in is a pretty high-risk job. It's not to be taken lightly."

"Blah blah blah, just tell me how this works."

Hank let out a sigh of annoyance

"The suit is endowed with specialized Pym particles that will allow you to decrease in size, but still retain your normal strength and speed," Hank explained. "Additionally, the suit comes with nano-fiber wings. They're lightweight, extremely durable, and very strong."

"Really?" Jan asked, finally coming out. "Sounds fun."

Hank turned around and the sight took his breath away. Jan stood in a yellow and black dress with black leggings, yellow gloves and boots, and antennas on both ears.

"Woah…" Hank let out.

"You like it?" Jan asked, looking down at herself and twirling around. "It feels nice."

"I… you look… great."

"Well, looks aren't everything. Time to see what this baby can do."

With that, Jan shrunk down, and her wings sprouted out of the back of her suit. She buzzed around in a circle, giggling like a schoolgirl as she did.

"Is this what riding on Antony feels like?"

"In a sense, yes," Hank answered, a nervous smile gracing his face.

"So, what else can this suit do?"

"Well, it's equipped with electric bio-tasers on either glove. These will disperse low-energy blasts or 'stings' if you will. No permanent damage, but it will definitely leave a mark."

Jan looked down at her hands and tried activating the stings. Her hands then began glowing, much to her delight. She then shot her hands out and fired a few stings at some nearby books. The books jumped off the shelves, the covers and a few pages signed.

"Sweet," she commented.

"Well you seem to be getting the hang of this," Hank observed smiling.

"Oh yeah!" Jan agreed. "Come on, I'll race you down the block!"

"Jan, wait!" he called out as she bolted out the window, causing him to sigh. "I think I'm starting to regret this decision."

...

Jan was having the time of her life. Flying through the city while the size of a bug was probably the most fun thing she had ever done.

"I can't believe I waited this long to get a suit!" she exclaimed. "This is the coolest thing ever!"

"Jan?" Hank called on the communicator he installed into the antenna. "Where are you?"

"Hank?" she questioned. "You put in a radio? Nice."

"Well if we're going to work together we need a way to communicate with each other, right?"

"True. But to answer your question, I'm at the corner of Jefferson and-"

Just then, an explosion rang out from a nearby lab. Jan turned just in time to see a mini tornado plowing through the doors and onto the street.

"What was that?" Hank asked.

"Uh… gotta fly now!"

"Jan, would you just wait?!"

Jan ignored Hank's request as she flew after the tornado, which was tearing its way through the busy city streets.

"Okay, that is too small to be a normal tornado, and the weather's all wrong. So, what's really going on here?"

As she flew alongside the tornado, she fired a few stings at it. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then the tornado swerved toward her. She quickly flew up to avoid it. As she looked down, she saw the tornado stop and begin to disappear. In its place was a man wearing green armor and a weird helmet that covered everything except his eyes.

"You actually shot at me?" the man asked as Jan flew back down to him. "That was a mistake. No one shoots at Whirlwind."

"First time for everything right?" Jan countered.

Enraged by this, Whirlwind turned back into his miniature tornado and began chasing after Jan, who began flying away from him. The two continued racing down the street, swerving around and dodging every car that came in their way.

"So, what's your deal?" Jan asked. "Just woke up one morning and decided to trash a college lab?"

"It just so happens, trashing that lab just made me a millionaire," he retorted.

"Ooh, theft, huh? Well in that case, after you and I are done, we can have a nice chat with the cops."

Irritated, he accelerated towards her. She quickly flew upwards to get away from him, but he quickly followed.

"Okay, I did not expect him to do that," she admitted.

As he came up to her level, he unleashed a series of fast-moving punches toward her, all of which she tried to avoid.

"You are pretty cool, I gotta admit," Jan replied. "You can spin into a tornado, and you can fly. You could do so much more with your powers. Like… blend giant drinks, or cool people off on hot days. Instead, you're just going to the big house."

Whirlwind just ignored her as he kept trying to punch her. One punch actually made contact with her and she was sent flying into a car, leaving a fair-sized dent in the door.

"Okay… Maybe Hank was right..."

As she got back in the air, she saw Whirlwind charging toward her. She quickly flew over the car and around a street corner. Whirlwind, however, plowed through the car, slicing it in half as he pursued her. What was waiting for him, however, was a swarm of ants flying right at him. As Whirlwind attempted to bat the ants away, Jan came to a halt in the sky, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Let me guess," she said aloud. "An ant told you where I was."

She turned to see Hank in full Ant-Man gear riding up to her on an ant.

"A termite actually. He was in the sonics lab when it happened."

"He said busting up that lab made him a millionaire," she remembered. "Makes you wonder what he stole."

"We'll figure that out in a moment. First I think I need to give my new partner a talk on team communication."

Jan turned red with embarrassment, rubbing the back of her head.

"What were you thinking Jan?" he asked. "This guy could have killed you."

"I'll admit, maybe I let the adrenaline cloud my judgment, but I thought I could take him."

"Well, you thought wrong! This is a dangerous job and I don't want to see you get hurt! If something happened to you-"

Before he could finish, Whirlwind had spun around so fast it knocked the ants away, as well as Hank and Jan.

"Playtime's over," he declared, activating buzz saws on both his arms.

As he spun around again, the buzz saws flew off his arms towards the pint-sized heroes. Both Jan and Hank scattered to avoid the saws. Thinking fast, Jan flew towards Whirlwind, dodging and blasting the buzz saws as she did so. As she came up to him, she grew to normal size blasting him in the face, causing him to cry out in pain before falling over unconscious. Hank marveled at this as he returned to normal size.

"Whoa," he let out.

Jan then turned around and walked over to her partner, giving him a hand up.

"Maybe I underestimated you a little," Hank admitted.

"And maybe I need to work on listening," Jan admitted herself.

"Yeah well… maybe we can help each other. We are partners after all."

"Right. Ant-Man and the Wasp!"

Hank chuckled a bit at Jan's choice of name.

"Wasp huh?" he asked. "I like it."

Wasp smiled enthusiastically.

...

Wasp

Voice Actor: Colleen O'Shaughnessy

Appearance: EMH (if it ain't broke, don't fix it)