Sorry for the wait! I had to double check my mental health there so I didn't drop dead or jump in front of a bus. enjoy the next chapter :)

PS- T. Rycbar is mediocre at best

IDon'tOwnMarvel

Stopping in front of a relatively fancy house in San Francisco, I took a deep breath and summoned every ounce of confidence I had left in the tank. I had, of course, my dinosaur baseball cap with a little embroidered t-rex on it for good luck, but that wasn't going to do everything for me. I was going to have to pick myself up and tough it out to get what I wanted today. The dinosaur might help, but this was going to be mostly on me.

I put on a face of business then, slouching my shoulders just enough to seem casual and indifferent with my briefcase gripped tightly by my side. Hank Pym wanted my work, and I was going to deliver in exchange for a very special price.

After a quick rap of my knuckles on the door, it swung open with Hank almost immediately frowning. "Are you...Jack?"

"Uh huh," I pushed past him, inviting myself in towards a sitting area. "I heard you were interested in some of my work."

He didn't stop me and simply shut the door before joining me in the living room with a table between us as soon as he picked a seat.

"Not to draw any offense, but you're...not exactly what I had in mind when I asked for the best of the best." Hank commented, watching as I set my briefcase down on his coffee table.

"No," I agreed, looking up between his eyes. "You imagined someone older? Possibly Male?"

"I did." He stared right back, clearly trying to get some sort of read on me. "If I may ask, what drew you to the field of cybercrime?"

I considered telling him it was better than sucking dick before I figured that he might actually need a non-sarcastic response for me to get on his good side.

Shrugging lightly, I sat back a little. "It was the only thing I was better than my sister at. I'm also a bit of an adrenaline junkie when it comes to, uh, bending the law."

"I see." He passed a look back at the door. "Do you often come to the buyer's place of residence?"

"Do you often let strange criminals know where you live?" I countered, sitting forwards again and clipping open the case to look over the selection of harddrives I brought with me.

Hank nodded to himself. "Touché."

"Alright, so what did you want?" I asked finally, dragging my fingers over the flash drives in their organized foam packaging. "I have Spyware and Worms with me. No one seems to want my Adware too, so I brought one just in case you were interested. I call it 'Crash'."

He put up his hand to decline the offer for my underselling product. "I need something that will allow me to watch a network."

"A whole network? What kind?"

"P2P, I think." He shook his head. "I haven't' been there in a little bit."

I looked over the three Spyware drives for a moment before sliding out my personal favorite and setting it aside. "You'll want 'Mission Impossible'."

"I also need one that can decimate any and all data." He added, making a grin grow on my face rather quickly.

I let out a sort of giddy chuckle at that, pulling out my monster of a malware program. "You want the 'Locust'?"

"If that can do the job?" He leaned forward and took 'Mission Impossible' off the table to inspect it.

"Oh it can do the job." I laughed at him, remembering how well this creation could eat and leave nothing behind. "Remember that homophobic cosmetics company? Greener Looks?"

Hank hummed at that. "Vaguely."

"Exactly." I smiled mischievously. "That's what the 'Locust' can do. It finds and destroys any information in a given network until it reaches the end. It only has to be altered for one network in particular so that it doesn't get out and kill everything."

I was almost puffing my chest out in pride. This monstrosity of a bug was all mine and I was fucking proud of the time I put in.

"Yeah, that'll do the trick." He handed back 'Mission Impossible'. "What's this going to cost?"

I smiled, knowing this was my in. "Depends on what you're doing with them."

Hank gave me a look. "I thought there was a general rule of not asking in your line of work."

"There is." I agreed casually, clipping up the case again and leaving the two flash drives out on the table. "I just like to know where the Locust is headed. I have some respect for the public and their privacy."

"Let's just say that the people I have in mind deserve much worse than losing business."

"Yeah, I've heard some nasty rumors about those guys at Pym Tech ever since you left." I sniggered, his eyes snapping up to look at me as I continued with information he thought I didn't have. "That guy, Darren, a real asshole with maybe a brush of racism and a teaspoon of sexism. I've actually weaseled my way into the little network they have going. They've got some questionable stuff going on. I mean, micro-tech? Shrink rays? And did you know about their donation to that charity that supports fracking? What a bunch of losers?"

Pym sputtered, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. "What-how did you-"

"Figure out your target? Hack into the network you paid a small fortune to set up like it was nothing?" I smirked and leaned back in my seat. "Like you said, Antman, I am the best of the best. So what do you say I stick around a bit, see this little project of yours through? I planned on hitting Pym Tech at some point, might as well team up, right?"

"What?!" He snapped, "No! You can't-"

"I'll give you a day to think on it." I interrupted his worry, snatching up the Locust and standing with the briefcase in hand. "You know where to find me."

I stepped out of the house, leaving him alone in his shocked silence and pacing down his driveway to my unmarked car that SHIELD had so generously lent me. Needless to say, I was beyond proud of myself for getting the reaction that I did from him. He didn't seem like the kind of guy I could manipulate to get my way, but by leaving 'Mission Impossible' with him, I just knew the leverage was there. He knew I wouldn't turn him in since he had good proof of me being a criminal, so it was clear that I actually wanted to work with him. It was a simple understanding- I don't turn him in and he doesn't turn me in.

Sure enough, later that day in my apartment, I got an IM on my computer through Garage from Hank saying that we had a deal. From there, my involvement in his plan started to take root. And while I was technically undercover for him, he had no problem putting me undercover to keep a closer eye on Scott too. It was like being undercover while being undercover. I was a triple agent in some senses.

Oh, yeah. I smiled to myself. This is exactly what I need. Just a job with no deaths and only one child to keep from being traumatized.

If only TC could have been there to help.

"Dale, look, it wasn't a violent crime, I mean, I'm a good worker." Scott reasoned, hoping desperately that there was a way to salvage this before he was let go again.

Dale gave him that insincere sympathetic look Scott had long since gotten used to from ex-employers. "No, it wasn't a violent crime. It was a cool crime. I'll tell you what, though, this'd be totally off the books, off the records, but, uh… if you want to grab one of those Mango Fruit Blasts on your way out the door," Dale waved him along. "I'll just pretend I didn't see it."

At a loss for words, Scott had to just get up in a defeated manner and leave. Of course, free food is free food, so the smoothie was in hand on his way out the door. This was all while he hated how badly he needed the job he just lost. His record had made it hard enough to fight for visiting hours with his own damn daughter, now he couldn't even prove to the court that he was working.

The walk back was nothing short of frustrating and he had to stop to take a deep breath outside his apartment door. That moment of trying to calm himself was cut short.

"Rough Day?"

He turned his head mostly out of confusion from the unfamiliar voice and gave the girl standing nearby an estranged look. She was giving him a sort of judgemental look with her dinosaur embroidered sweatshirt hoodie and green backpack over one shoulder.

"Are you lost?" He asked, returning the judgment with a bit of worry for someone who didn't look like they were quite an adult yet. "Where are your parents?"

"I'm 18, grandma." She scoffed, looking him up and down. "Sunny Grove retirement is a few blocks south. Are you lost?"

He pursed his lips at that and nodded, shoving his key into the door to let himself in. "Okay."

Much to his surprise, the kid pushed past him the second that door was open and walked on in like she owned the place. "Took you long enough."

"Um," He stood for a moment, his mouth agape at the audacity. "Excuse me, this is my unit-"

"Oh is it?" She shook her head, filing deeper into the apartment before popping down on an open chair at the table with two other people Scott didn't know.

What the fuck is this? He went in too, shutting the door behind him and giving Luis a bewildered look.

"Hey, Scotty, what's up?" Luis noticed him with a smile as if Scott being in there was weird. "I thought you were supposed to be at work."

Scott turned his attention away from the strangers at the table and decided to brush it off at the moment with a shake of his head. "I was. I got fired."

"Damn!" Luis cursed, mixing up a bowl of batter at the counter. "They find out who you are?"

"Yep," He stole a few more glances at the small group as the girl opened up her laptop to start typing.

"Baskin Robbins always finds out, bro." Luis added, getting a nod from one of the strange men at the table too.

"Baskin Robbins don't play."

"You want some waffles?" Luis closed the top of the waffle maker, letting the one inside cook and giving Scott an expectant look.

"Yeah," Scott eyed the kid in particular at the table. "I'll take a waffle."

Luis pointed with his mixing spoon. "Oh, that's Kurt. He was in Folsom for 5 years, he's a wizard on that laptop."

Kurt gave him a nod. "Nice to meet you."

That is a thick accent.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." Scott turned to the other guy at the table. "And who are you?"

"Dave." He replied easily. "Nice work on the Vista job."

"Vista job?" Kurt perked up. "Yes. No, no, I have heard of this robbery."

"Well," Scott shook his head. "Technically, I didn't rob them. Robbery involves threat. I hate violence, I burgled them. I'm a cat burglar."

"So you're a pussy?" Dave teased back.

"Yeah," Scott sighed, ready to give in at this point. "Who's that? Is she Kurt's niece or something?"

"I have no children." Kurt scoffed, "Jack is her own person."

"Naw man, she's cool." Dave added with a smile. "She's responsible for 38 malware attacks across the US. Never been caught."

38 malware attacks? Scott frowned, I forgot how tech savvy kids could be these days. Where are her parents though? Someone should be telling her the consequences of these kinds of actions.

The kid didn't even bat an eye with the tiniest hint of a smirk. "That you know of."

That's even more concerning. Scott looked back to Luis with a new amount of growing suspicion. "Okay, why are these people here? What do you want?"

Luis smiled like he was already proud of something. "Okay, my cousin talked to this guy two weeks ago about this little...perfect job."

"No way." Scott shook his head at him.

"No, no, no. Wait!" Luis tried, "This guy...this fits your MO."

"No!" Scott shouted back, not missing the barely noticeable flinch from Jack. He went on regardless. "I'm finished man. I'm not going back to jail."

"It's some retired millionaire living off his golden parachute. It's the perfect Scott Lang mark."

Jack clenched her fists over the keyboard for a moment before continuing with her typing, giving Scott a moment to reconsider his tone around the shifty kid.

"I don't care." He replied finally, "I'm out."

There was a little mental sticky note placed in his brain past that point to try and talk to Jack again. If she didn't have someone warning her against what these other guys were encouraging, she could seriously mess up her life.

I went back to my own apartment later that evening to sleep that happened to be only around three blocks from Luis's. He offered to send Dave with me which was nice because that proved he actually cared a little about my wellbeing. I declined with the excuse that I had a taser. The 'taser' was really just my crazy superpowers, but they didn't need to know that.

So, yeah, they were actually pretty nice people. I had met some weird guys before who were trying to buy stuff off me. The first and second time I had to knock a dude out for getting too comfortable, I was a little shaken up. I got used to it after a while though and it ended up being more of an inconvenience than anything else. The guys never succeeded in getting super close either since my reflexes were faster, but it was still a stressful business. This world had no shortage of bad men.

I was more ready for tomorrow though as I sat down at my table and finished constructing an email to be sent to Pym. He wanted updates on Scott whenever they came up and I was just happy to have something to do after blackmailing him into letting me help. I actually refrained from selling any of my work work while I was on the job and spent most of my time on my computer, surfing the dark web in search of criminals I could beat up or, alternatively, watching fight videos on the internet between other mutants that I didn't know existed until I stumbled across the platform.

The amount of crime fighting that I was doing on this job was a little ironic considering the other things I had to do to complete this mission, but I was able to capture some pretty nasty fuckers around San Francisco.

My email to Hank had only barely gone through before my computer pinged with an alert from Garage for an arms deal going on nearby. I'd long since infiltrated the website to work to my advantage, so, looking over the 'private conversation' I was able to get all the details on this sale and suit up with time to make it there tonight. My mask came up last when I got there to ensure anonymity.

Perching on the bottom level of a fire escape, I watched the alleyway intently until a man with an orange hat wandered in and lit up a blunt while leaning against the wall across from me.

Buyer?

My question was answered when a different man came down the alleyway carrying a brown paper bag in hand. The two of them were dressed pretty similarly- comfortable, but not homeless. If the one guy didn't show up with an obvious paper bag, I might not have recognized him right away as the seller and had to wait out a few minutes to see who did have the gun before making a move. There was a moment of careful whispering between them as the seller showed off the gun behind the dumpster. I interrupted when I dropped down with a loud slap of my sneakers.

"Ladies," I gave a small wave when they both snapped their heads to look at me.

"This some kind of set up?" The seller demanded, poking the buyer in the chest. "Who is she?"

"Just a concerned neighbor." I replied with a shrug. "I was hoping you'd make better choices before I had to intervene-"

The buyer snatched the gun and and took off with it, leaving me with a pissed off seller.

"You just cost me nine hundred, you bitch!" He pulled a knife out of his pocket with a furious glare.

He lunged and I was not as prepared for the jab as I had hoped, just barely sidestepping it with his knife slicing a cut across the outside of my upper arm. I cursed under my breath when he came at me again, and grabbed ahold of the wrist holding the knife. Twisting it back was enough to make the knife drop to the ground before he attempted another strike with his free hand. I blocked it with two years of martial arts on my back, and yanked his face down into my knee. Then he was promptly shocked unconscious and dragged with an annoyed sigh from me all the way out to the street.

He sat upright mostly against a wall for the rest of that evening with a sharpie link on his forehead for the cops to convict him. They were tipped off on my walk back home so that perhaps the next time someone wants to buy a gun, they won't have the easiest time. All in all, it was a satisfying bust. It would've been better if I could learn how to dodge properly so I wouldn't have to be oozing out my wound over a sink while rubbing in antibacterial soap. After all, who knew where that knife had been?

It was rinsed and then let to bleed out a moment more before I decided to open the first aid kit Happy had insisted I bring along.

"Oh, fucking hell." I sighed, opening up the regular cloth pouch to reveal a clear screen asking what my problem was. "Come on."

'Please input injury.'

"Absolutely not." I unclipped a small lever below the screen and popped it up to show the bandages and what I was actually looking for. "Honestly, Happy, do you trust me with anything?"

I had only barely pulled out an adhesive gauze bandage that could cover the whole area before my phone started going off. Sighing again, I finished fixing the bandage on before pulling my shirt back over my head and then finally responding to a call from, you guessed it, Happy.

"What?" I demanded, ignoring the gross sting and ache on my arm as I shut the first aid kit and packed it back on the shelf. "It is nearly midnight, dude, and I'm working."

"Yeah, working." He scoffed back. "Why'd you activate the medikit?"

"Medkit?" I parroted with a small smile. "It's a first aid kit and I needed a bandaid. Paper cut."

"Oh, so you needed an adhesive gauze bandage for a papercut?"

"Yeah," I wandered back into my living room to sit down and pull my blanket up on my lap. "I did."

"Cut the crap, kid." He warned, "Just tell me what happened. Don't think I won't send Speedy out to check on you. Do you need a hospital?"

"Jesus, dude, no," I smiled, laying back on my couch and getting comfortable with my bad arm. "Just some guy trying to sell shit and he cut me with the knife. On my arm. Nothing fatal. I took care of it."

"Did you? Because the last time you 'took care of it' Tony found out that you'd been hiding a sprained ankle. Remember that? Malibu? Stairs"

I rolled my eyes. "Happy, I'm an adult, okay? I don't need a baby monitor."

He let out a sarcastic laugh at my response. "No, you're a teenager with rights. Look, I'm gonna ask Friday for the footage on the Medkit-"

"First aid kit. It says it on the box."

"Medkit." He continued, "And if I think you need a doctor, I'll personally see to it that you go. I'm not messing around, kid."

"Hm," I hummed and nodded. "Okay, Peeping Tom. Have a good look at my bathroom and me in a sports bra. Meanwhile, I will be sleeping because there really is nothing to see there. Have a nice night."

"Hey, I will."

The next day and after no visit or calls from Happy, I set off again back to Luis and Scott's apartment. I walked with only one strap over my shoulder due to the dull ache on my injured arm making it difficult to hold weight there. It felt dumb, letting that guy get a good slice in before I could react. Now I was living with the consequences. There was one cat-caller on my way to the apartment too and I had only just flipped him off, moments before I almost ran directly into Scott outside.

"Ah! Jesus," He did that strange shuffle-step thing away from me that people do when they almost hit each other but just barely miss. "Sorry. I didn't see you."

"Mhm," I nodded, turning to walk by him towards the building. "Have fun wherever you're going."

"Yeah-" His hand shot out to grab my bad arm before I could go too far. "Hold on-"

"Ah!" I gasped when he grabbed right over the cut and yanked away. I gave him an appalled look then. "Ow!"

"I-" He opened and shut his mouth. "I'm sorry. I just-"

"Don't grab me, dude." I took a step back from him, knowing damn well to be gentle since he was really just a stressed out dad today. "Do you know any criminal etiquette? God."

"I'm sorry. I really am." He held up a hand to try and prove his innocence while I shrugged back my aching arm to try and ease the pain.

"Okay?" I shook my head, tossing up a good hand in defeat. "What?"

"I was just...worried, I guess." He replied, looking to the left anxiously. "Do you have anywhere you can go? Is it just you? Because, like, hanging out with those guys upstairs- you should know they're really not the best influence."

"Don't ask about my personal life." I shook my head, waving him off and turning away. "Bye Scott."

"Yeah." He hesitated by the van as I walked up to the building. "Uh, good talk then!"

I'm gonna have to learn to be more careful with him. I thought, dragging my sorry ass up the flights of stairs. Scott might see my age more as a worrying offense than the other guys. He does have a daughter of his own after all.

I passed a guy in the hallway with just the most badass scar on his cheek that ran from the bridge of his nose down to his jaw. It would've been a cooler thing too if he wasn't an asshole and shoved past me on my way by, further irritating the bad arm.

"Watch it." He snapped, shooting me a glare while I just rolled my eyes and kept going.

Still, I hummed, hesitating with my hand hovering to knock on Luis's door. Scott might worry like Clint does. Maybe I should try a more angsty approach for the sake of this mission.