Mess With The Wasp - Get The Stinger

31 2 0
                                    

Jan was in a great mood at the prospect of helping Scott shop, and Scott was admittedly a little overwhelmed at the sheer size of the tall buildings and incredible number of people around him. It wasn't something that he was even remotely accustomed to - and even if he thought he was, New York was just far bigger than anywhere he'd ever been before.

It was humbling. And also more than a little dizzying as he looked up at the towering buildings around him. But Scott tried to push past it and ignore the sensory overload that was surrounding him from all angles.

And Jan helped with that. Just about the time that Scott had reached his limit, she pulled him into a shop and told him to start finding whatever it was he wanted. "Since he's the one that put you in this spot, we're working on Tony's cards, so don't feel bad. Especially after that stupid stunt he pulled."

Scott just nodded wordlessly and focused on finding a few things in his size. He knew what he wanted, and as long as it fit right and the knees weren't distressed, he was happy with it. It wasn't hard to find several good shirts and a few jeans, though Jan kept pointing out a few other things just when he was sure that they were completely done. Though even after she'd overinflated the amount of clothes he needed by at least twice, he had to admit that he did like a few of the sweaters she picked out.

When the two of them had finally finished and Scott had taken a hard line, insisting he didn't need to go nuts - "I just wanted to replace what he got rid of - not get a whole house full of clothes," he insisted - they finally started toward the Mansion. Jan was swinging her bags and telling him all about her new suit that Hank was working on - increased speed, better maneuverability - the works.

They were only a few streets away from the Mansion when their day went south and the pair of them were very suddenly surrounded by armed men in head to toe black, weapons drawn. The lead soldier didn't get very far in his demands, though, before Jan sprang into action.

She started out simply by attacking the nearest soldier, yanking the weapon out of his hands and springing in front of Scott to shoot one of the men in the leg - and then she really got mad when she realized that they were using live rounds with a teenager involved.

With an outraged kind of sound, she threw the weapon at the lead soldier and pushed her sleeves up. She didn't give any other warning on what she was about to do, though when she got to a point where she needed Scott out of her way, she simply pushed him down and stepped around him before she started firing off her stingers on full blast. It took no time at all for her to level the soldiers singlehandedly.

When she spun back around to face Scott, the color was bright on her cheeks and she snatched up her shopping bags with a grumble. "We need to move quicker. I can't believe they'd even ... ugh! Why would they try that so close to the mansion! Who the heck are these idiots?"

Scott stared for just an instant before he followed suit, but even then, he had to rush to keep up - and Jan was all but marching back at a surprisingly quick pace, her bags swinging as she moved and grumbled to herself. When they got back, she made a beeline for Stark to demand he figure out exactly who those idiots were as she outlined exactly how mad she was - that Scott was there for the attack.

"Well you know what the real problem is," Tony said. "You shouldn't have been out shopping. It was needless."

"Oh, knock it off, he's not going to dress the way you want him to so just ... stop." She turned toward Scott. "I'm sorry that happened. Are you alright?"

"They didn't really ... have a chance with the way you worked them over."

She beamed at him for a moment. "Of course they didn't. Why would they? I'm an Avenger - they ... were just ... creepy soldiers from ... what? Where did Cap say they were from?"

What If? Episode 907Where stories live. Discover now