Peter waited patiently inside the van until Coulson stopped and had them go inside; they saw a corporate headquarters building with Fury facing them as they were joined by a brown haired woman with a ponytail in a black suit and a smiling man in a suit. "Welcome to the headquarters of what used to Pym Technologies until it was sold to Stark and folded into his company... Please welcome Hope Pym and Scott Lang who will be assisting us." Fury introduced to them and as Peter and Castle had their eyebrows raised.
"Isn't she the kid of Pym? Why is she helping to steal her daddy's stuff and why doesn't she just give us the stuff?" Castle demanded as Hope sighed shaking her head.
"If it isn't the infamous Punisher... For your information; I want to help take down Stark for what he did to my family... Ruined my father's life and including his marriage to my mother..." Hope retorted as she then calmed down a bit. "As to why I am doing it this way... Deniability, don't want suspicions fall upon me or my father if someone was just so happing to use his old suit... If it is 'stolen' in a robbery then... Gives us a cover..." Hope answered as Peter put his hand up.
"I can understand that part but... How did Tony Stark ruin your father's life?" Peter asked as Hope looked to Fury who grunted as Coulson was getting them their weapons to get ready. Peter looked it his gun and frowned.
"You didn't debrief your recruit; did you Fury? He doesn't know that Stark is the real culprit behind what happened with Ultron..." Hope said as Peter was taken aback. "All the lives destroyed by Ultron, the international incident it almost became... The guilt destroyed my father's sanity and his sense of self-worth and he became Yellowjacket to try and atone, doing what Stark Jr says to do when he never got along with with his old man." Hope then said and took a deep breath. "Father created the Ultron program to create a series of sentries as a failsafe peacekeeping force if we were ever invaded by aliens. It was going perfectly but Howard Stark wasn't happy that he wasn't going to get credit for the best protection force the planet would ever have and would take the attention away from his corporate superheroes. So his genius son took the initiative Hacked into the program and the designs; altered them to be more deadly with weapons and made the Ultron program understand violence as a first resort creating the murderous out of control robot that we all know and hate... Taken down by Hyperion with the blame laid onto my father..." Hope finished as Peter took this in and wondered what other evil laid underneath the smiling billionaire with the goatee.
Through this story and mention of Ultron; it made Fury and Coulson looked more serious. "As for me... I was a security guard at a subsidiary of Stark that was overcharging customers illegally and I was fired for whistleblowing... Snuck in and hacked my way to get the funds to reimburse their customers. Fury found me and now I'm here..." Scott then said looking chipper as Hope sighed.
"Okay; follow me and I will help lead you through security. Tell you all what to expect and let Scott hack in; can't use my own override as the CEO of what used to be my dad's company. One thing though... Be weary of any security guards especially the head 'Happy' Hogan... He used to be Stark's bodyguard but was sent here after this place was acquired by him." Hope then said as they ended up following her to a side door as Scott used a device to hack into the lock and got them in.
They looked at the huge place as they saw the guard and Hope led them through the best route. They stopped at an elevator as Scott hacked his way in and got them access. They were led up and then to a lab; Hope nodded to Scott as he got to the panel and got the security inside. They looked in and there was a storage unit with a black and dark red bodysuit with a silver helmet with ant like antennas and a separate one with a black and yellow bodysuit with artificial wings and a similar helmet. "My parents' old suits..." Hope then said as they then hid behind the doors as guards swooped by the door and this included an unassuming man in a suit who decided to look behind. "That's Happy..." Hope whispered as they stopped and Peter was standing by closest to the door as Happy opened it to go and check.
He was looking around and Peter felt his Spider-Sense and decided to swoop in and knocked him down to the ground. "What do you think..." Peter asked as he got looks from Fury, Coulson and a disbelief look on Hope making him confused.
Happy then yelled as he got up and was growing larger, bulkier and his skin turned purple until he was turned some sort of Hulk like creature making Peter freaked out. "Stark wanted to try and turn him into a superhero... Used an experimental serum he used from a sample of Bruce Banner's blood... Codenamed 'the Freak'... Did you neglect to tell your newbie that Fury?" Hope explained as they then started running away from Happy as he was trashing the place trying to get to them.
"We will cover your escape... Lang; get the suit!" Hope yelled at Lang as she got to the Wasp suit to put it on quickly as Scott quickly changed into the Ant Man suit. Happy was quickly crushing stuff to throw at them as they had to dodge and Peter saw that the others were firing at Happy to try and slow him down. Janet was flying in the Wasp suit and firing stingers form her hands at him while Scott was running about and shrinking and growing back to normal size.
"When you are small and your mass increases; your strength and speed increases as you move like a bullet... No time to train you how it works now... Call upon ants to help you..." Janet yelled at him as she shrank to and started firing at Happy's eyes to distract him as he tried to hit him. Peter stood still wondering if he should try and help as Scott yelled while shrinking.
Peter held his breath and ran to Happy only for him to have an odd look on his face as he then exploded and Peter was covered in Happy's guts as Scott excitedly grew back to normal size. "I got inside his body... Then I grew inside of him!" Scott excitedly shouted and then patted Peter on the shoulder as he went up to him as Janet got up and looked at him in disbelief with her body language. "Guess where I entered... Here's a hint; he didn't eat me..." Scott said as Peter got his mask up to his nose so that he could throw up.
In the van Peter had changed back into his normal clothes and was silent as they drove him back. "So now we have a new Ant Man and Wasp in our crew despite how our other costumed friend screwed things up..." Fury told them all as they dropped Peter off and he fumed at him as he tossed the gross black suit at him.
"Don't... Ever... Call... Me again... " Peter thundered at him grossed out and furious. "Working with the Punisher is one thing but then you send me there and didn't seem fit to warn me that the place was guarded by a purple Hulk who exploded on me... I will take my chances working around Stark's corruption on my own... I am certain that you only want to take down Stark for the CIA's benefit... God; I am gonna have to have like 17 showers in the morning..." Peter then yelled at them.
"You can't drop out now Parker..." Fury told him as Peter gave a face that said 'watch me'. He ran to his apartment building while Castle muttered that he didn't have the stomach for this.
Coulson got out and went up to Peter as he got his hand, "What do you want..." Peter demanded as Coulson got out a photo and gave it to Peter. It was off a smiling US military crew with a younger Fury with both eyes and Coulson at the forefront. "This was you and Fury..." Peter asked and Coulson nodded.
"Fury was the Colonel running our unit and I was a sergeant... We came across one day a secret Stark facility and found a lab working on rebuilding Ultron... Stark wanted more sequels to his 'Age of Ultron' because it would be good PR for the new Squadron Supreme to fix the disaster of a recent botched plane high jacking... We began working with a brilliant woman named Pepper who was Tony Stark's assistant and pretty much babysitter... We found evidence of what he did to the Ultron program and this but we got caught... I was on the phone with her as she was found out and was silenced... Minutes later our unit was found by Hyperion and Spectrum who were sent to take us out as traitors to the US... Fury and I only barely got out with out lives..." Coulson told him as Peter took this in.
"So you lost your brothers in arms..." Peter asked as Coulson then gave him another photo and his eyes widened as he saw it was a wedding photo of Coulson with a redheaded woman. "Pepper... She was your wife..." Peter muttered in stunned shock as Coulson looked at him seriously.
"It's your choice if you're out but we could use your help Peter... This is personal for me and Fury... Just think that if the man who killed your uncle got free and no one could track them down and if Norman Osborn survived what happened at the bridge... If he was free with no evidence to link him back to what happened... Wouldn't you do anything to get justice for your uncle and Gwen?" Coulson then asked him as Peter then thought it over.
He then sighed and said reluctantly "I am acting against my better judgement and I know that I will regret this later but... I am still in..."
Hyperion was in the morning flying with Rhodes in the War Machine suit as a test flight; "I can imagine how this must feel for you Hyperion... Being able to fly all the time..." Rhodes told Hyperion who looked at him.
"You're Tony's best friend... I have known him for a long time and though he calls me like a brother; I don't feel that we're very close... I don't think he actually respect me that much... How is it with you Colonel Rhodes?" Hyperion asked Rhodes who sighed at Hyperion.
"To tell you the truth Hyperion... Tony calls me a friend but I never really thought of him as one... I just always found him a smug arrogant fool and though the parties with him are fun... I just end up regretting it later... He always seems like he knows what he is doing but I never feel it's the case... I just really put up with him for pity and because it's my job for the military liaison" Rhodes then said as Hyperion looked down.
"I just wanted to ask because I feel trouble trying to be close with friends... I thought Nighthawk could be like my opposite in dealing with threats to the world but I realised how paranoid and untrusting he is... Zarda; always friend but I think she has become jaded... Colonel Ledger I believe sees me as one but something about how eager he is to take American domination to the stars and trying to open up to him... I don't like the answers he gave..." Hyperion answered as they got alerts in the heads up screen of Rhodes' helmet and Hyperion's communication device for them to come to the Stark building in San Francisco.
They then flew there and got inside to be brought to an area cleaned up; there was Stark there looking upset. "My friend Happy's remains were there... Blown up by monsters... Stole valuable superhero equipment and I believe that it's the same fools who decided to declare war on the Squadron Supreme..." Stark warned them as they were silent as he looked absolutely furious.
Later in the week Peter sighed as he was at the bowling alley with Zarda who was wearing a large jumper, shirt and jeans, he then went up to her as he managed to get a 7. "So... What should we do about the force that killed Sk'ym'x and stole the Ant Man and Wasp stuff?" Peter asked Zarda as they got the alert and she frowned at him.
"Just forget about all that Squadron stuff and let us have fun..." Zarda told him with asmile as she went up to bowl and Peter got red in the face as he saw her behind in the tight jeans. He was in awe as she scored a strike. "You were staring." Zarda stated as she went up to him and it wasn't even said judgementally. Peter had a look of denial but she shook his head. "Peter... By now I know perfectly when someone has been staring and it's okay..." Zarda told him softly looking quite amused.
"Sorry but it's awkward as we are teammates and you were my first crush... I should be smarter than this..." Peter groaned as she actually giggled. He then had a memory of this place...
Peter was cheering on Gwen as she got a strike; "Wow Puny Parker... Long time no see... I would have imagined that you would be stuck inside studying and hitting books and not pins..." smugly said a tall blonde haired figure and it was his old high school bully 'Flash' Thompson.
"Not now Flash..." Peter muttered as Flash got by the scruff of his jumper as Gwen got up to Flash with a hard glare.
"Hey baby; ditch the geek and I could show you a good time with a real man..." Flash smirked but ended up being kicked in the shins by Gwen and Gwen took Peter to take advantage of Flash's discomfort. She then kissed Peter hard on the lips as Flash angrily lunged and Gwen got them out of the way and FLash ended up tackling a staff member holding up a tray of alcohol bottles.
Peter was in awe and Gwen laughed as they watched Flash be chewed out by the angry staff member who told him that he will be billed for the bottles as the security came to escort him out. Peter ended up laughing as well.
Zarda looked at Peter in concern as he got himself awakened; "sorry Zarda... But... I remembered that I went here with Gwen for our first date..." Peter muttered as Zarda looked apologetic.
"Well Peter; I have to say that she was a lucky girl..." Zarda smiled at him and Peter smiled as he decided to just forget all that on his mind as they focused on the rest of their bowling together.
Coulson here having a backstory somewhat inspired by Butcher's motivation in the comics/show was an idea I had all the way back in that unfinished sequel to my Marvel Injustice story that had him be an alternate universe version inspired by Butcher, Sarge from Agents of SHIELD (using that very nickname) and the Stranger/"Captain Luthor" from Superman and Lois (it was before they revealed that he was actually the show's version of Steel). The reveal would have also been used in Spider and Charlatans. Plus spoilers for that episode of What If I recommended of the new season of Happy saving Christmas but it was only thanks to reading up on it afterwards did I learn that in the main comics universe that Happy actually twice became a monstrous villain called the Freak but not really Hulk like.
Plus guess what Endgame meme I decided to enact?