This is the first time I'm actually writing Gen since she hasn't appeared in SA yet (barely in my outline as well) and I like how her character is coming together.

Chapter 179: Gen & Pym's Vacation Hideaway Part Two

The Hideaway House - Lecanto, Florida - 12:14 PM

Gen rolls eyes as she heads back into the house. James groans as he walks back to the car to grab his back before heading inside. It's a cute sprawling house with a simple living room, an open-concept kitchen with a small island. An indoor pool next to the living room and the other rooms are beyond it.

James closes the door behind him as Gen puts her gun down on the island's countertop.

"When SHIELD said they were sending someone, you didn't even cross my mind," Gen says. "I don't think I've even thought of you since the Academy."

James smiles, not surprised. It's not like he's thought of Gen either. "SHIELD said I had to 'protect you.'" He throws in air quotes to irritate Gen which works.

Gen scoffs. "Great. I can hide behind your massive ego. I've been hiding, lying low, for a week. It's been fine so far. Lots of people want me dead and SHIELD thinks I need your help."

"Look, I don't want to be here either," James says. "I had plans that I'm still completing here whether you like it or not."

"Okay, Pym, okay," Gen grins as she opens the fridge and takes out a pitcher of lemonade. She goes into the cupboard to get two glasses, both decorated with palm trees. "What are your plans?"

"Finishing my dissertation defence."

Gen stops pouring and stares at him. " … the one you were supposed to complete in the first year of the Academy?"

"Yup," James says proudly.

Gen bites her lips as she nods, sliding James his glass across the table. "I have gotten death threats, James Pym as a bodyguard I didn't want or need, and his incomplete Ph.D. as a weapon. Not to mention that I'm a visible minority woman in STEM sent to hide in Redneck Florida. Thank god that I told my family I loved them. I'm going back into hiding."

"Gen, wait."

To his surprise, she stops. She even comes back to take her glass and she looks at him intently.

"Did SHIELD tell you someone was handling whoever was sending you death threats?" James asks. "SHIELD didn't tell me much about this whole mission in case I got shot out of the sky or something. Even then, it was all classified."

"I think a third is being taken care of," Gen says skeptically, tracing the rim of her glass.

" … fuck." He shrugs. "You know what, we'll be fine."

"Not comforting. Do you want to see your room?"

"Finally."

Gen rolls her eyes as James picks up his bag. She leads him down a hallway and points out the room she claimed which was obviously the master suite. She points out the bathrooms, the storage closets that have close to nothing in them since there's no regular tenant, and the washer/dryer. She opens the door to a smaller bedroom at the end of the hall that has a simple bed in the corner, a closet, a dresser, and a window.

"Charming," James says as he puts his bag on the floor by the closet. He isn't sure if he should bother unpacking since he doesn't even know how much longer they'll be here. "Have you gotten any death threats since you got here?"

Gen shakes her head. "No, thankfully. Who is this girl they think they're smearing? It's obvious from their comments that they don't know anything about me. They just needed someone to hate, someone to fill the endless hours of their empty lives since they can't act on anything. A villain to make them feel like heroes. I don't bother going through it anymore. I have better ways to fill my time."

"By working on your beach tan?" James guesses. "Another Ph.D.? You tend to put focus on risks that are beyond your control while ignoring those you could take care of."

She smiles a little. "Yes and yes. Either way, I can handle myself. Threats are only a combination of words with intention. There are no conditions, no alternatives, no way out. Death threats are least likely to be carried through, especially if there are conditional words like if, else, until."

"Then why tell SHIELD if you can handle it? Why would they send you here if it wasn't bad? Or send me? I know you're scared because you're reciting an Academy textbook they wrote. Threats cause uncertainty but it all depends on the context."

Gen narrows her eyes at him. "As if you read a textbook in the Academy."

James couldn't argue that since it's accurate. "Fine. Flatter me, what did you do after the first message?"

"Ignored it and did some laundry. I only told SHIELD when I was getting them hourly."

James nods, looking at her softly. "Gen, since I'm here, I should at least have some knowledge on what you did to end up in this situation."

"Says who?"

James isn't surprised she's acting defensive. She always has since their days at the Academy. "My life at risk too, you know. A target on your back is blocked by a target on mine."

Gen crosses her arms. "SHIELD told you. I decrypted something. SHIELD intercepted a message they couldn't crack so they asked me to do it. The people who needed the message didn't like that so they threatened me to keep quiet or tell them what it said. There. You happy?"

James keeps quiet as Gen leaves him to unpack. He hears her walk across the house, past her room and probably to the kitchen or living room based on how many steps he heard. James sits on the floor, looking out the window to watch a palm tree fly in the wind.

He and Angela could've hung out here if she wasn't called to the South. He wonders how far she is from him. For all he knows, she could be in the next county over.

Forget this mission. He has a dissertation to finish.

-o-

James ended up lying on the floor surrounded by his research. He lost track of how much time passed and figured it was time to get something to eat since the sun has gone down and the particles were starting to move on the paper.

James stands and walks out of his room, ignoring the stupid pain in his stupid knee. He hasn't seen Gen since their last conversation, which isn't good considering the reason he was sent here. He heads into the kitchen and looks in the fridge for food. He cringes when he sees an assortment of vegetables. Angela already did that back at their place when she moved in. He's working on his dissertation while on vacation and supervising Gen. He wants real food.

James opens the pantry and looks at the top shelf for even something like boxed macaroni. He looks in the back and freezes when he sees a bomb. James blinks, making sure he isn't hallucinating since he hasn't really slept for two days.

Instead, his brain awakes and he shrinks before flying to the other end of the kitchen. There is a bomb on the premise and he has no time to question it and is running out of time to get rid of it.

God, if Gen is somehow already dead … no time to think that either.

James grows back to his regular size and sits on the counter. The pantry doors remain open and James can still see the makeshift bomb. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and opens the EMP he uses to talk to ants. He isn't entirely sure what he's doing but he knows an electromagnetic pulse is instrumental in slipping through delicate software, allowing people to control and tweak it, hence how he and his father can communicate to ants. It's more successful for targets in close range but he's not that far.

He taps around his screen, reconfiguring the signal. Instead of calling some ants to handle the bomb, he sends a pulse directly to the bomb itself. Once it's complete, James isn't entirely relieved. He isn't sure it worked so he lights up his hand and shoots it with some bioelectricity.

His body tenses but nothing happens. James stands on the counter and stretches his neck to see inside the pantry. He burnt the bomb to a crisp so they should be fine now.

He hears footsteps and lights up his hands to point in that direction. For once, he's glad to be greeted by Gen staring at him as if he's the most annoying person on the planet (basically her poker face).

"What was that?" Gen asks, seeing the aftermath of a blasted shelf in the pantry and James standing on the counter.

"I found a bomb in the food pantry but I already diffused it," James explains as he jumps down. "I didn't even need the internet or whatever lessons I took in the Academy. You didn't notice it?"

Gen peers inside and her eyes widen as she shakes her head. "I checked every nook and cranny when I got here. Even with an EMP but it didn't pick anything up. You used an EMP to defuse it so it should've been traceable by mine."

"Someone must've planted it while you were here," James explains. "Couldn't have been while you were asleep or in the shower because they would've killed you directly then. One of the neighbours told me you were here for a week. They saw you arrive. Did you ever leave the house?"

Gen shakes her head and her gaze never leaves the diffused bomb. "I went out once to get groceries because SHIELD didn't leave enough food and delivery doesn't go this far out. But even when I came back, I scanned the place from the driveway."

"It's a small neighbourhood that seems to pick up on everything so they might've noticed if someone was coming up to this place. The neighbour I spoke with made it sound like this was an Airbnb."

"A lot of houses here are vacation rentals," Gen explains. "One of the neighbours down the street is visiting from Peru. You don't think-"

"Relax. We'll scope the house again. It's fine. Honestly, there wasn't even a timer on this so it wouldn't have gone off. It wouldn't have killed you."

Gen looks at him. "What if it killed you?"

"Let's be happy it didn't." He sighs. "Look, I'm sorry for badgering you earlier but is there anything else you should tell me since SHIELD didn't tell me shit?"

"No."

James narrows his eyes at her. She answered too quickly. "You're lying."

"Wouldn't be the first one I told."