188 Chapter 56

Miss Martian popped through the door. Wasp fluttered out of the palm of Superman's hand and a small group of AIM scientists front of them.

"Are you honestly not tired of being humiliated?" Miss Martian asked.

"You will all bend at the knee to the true masters of the world!" he yelled. "You will all bend at the knee before AI…."

Wasp blasted the man in the face to shut him up. One of them swiped an energy sphere in the air and sent shockwaves through the air. Wasp darted around, dodged the attack, and clipped the man on the underside of his wrist with a very sizzling pulse of energy which stunned him.

Miss Martian grabbed one of the goons around the neck and slammed him as hard as possible down to the ground. A loud crack echoed from the Martian. One of them blasted a miniature flame thrower. It caused Megan to flinch ever so slightly. Prior to Harry flipping through the air and taking him down.

"Stay away from that!" Wasp yelled.

"Crush her!"

An AIM brute whirled around. Some hammer, doused in energy, came down towards Jan. Jan dipped, dodged, and swerved around the room, to avoid the hammer before it smashed her to pieces. The tiny superheroine came down and blasted the man in the side of the arm.

Miss Martian sunk the man's foot into the ground and allowed Jan to super charge the man's hammer with a well placed shot with the stinger.

One of the men burst open a vault. A Pym Cannon slipped into his hand and he fired.

Megan grabbed Jan and Harry and sunk them through the floor. Only, there had been no need to as the cannon exploded on the man's face.

"Shit!" Jan yelled.

Pym particles doused the man's face, causing it to burst from the helmet. He shrunk down to a microscopic size.

"Don't touch him!" Jan yelled to the AIM soldiers.

Superman blasted them away and Miss Martian put them to sleep. The three heroes came back around and dropped down to the ground just in time. Superman only could barely see the man.

And then the man returned to his normal size, and kept growing, and growing until he was starting to burst through the ceiling. Things were only about to get worse from here.

"Unstable Pym Particles," Wasp murmured. "Damn it!"

Marie helped herself to a cup of coffee. Only to hear the sounds of battle from downstairs which caught her off guard.

'Marie, we've got a problem,' Megan projected into her mind. 'AIM attacked, and one of them had been doused with Pym Particles...we have no idea what's going to happen, but we need you to evacuate the building.'

Lois and Mary Jane came around the corner.

"Megan said the AIM guy had been doused in unstable particles," Marie said.

"Okay, I slept through...whatever science Pym studied, but….even I know that's not good," Lois said.

"Right, we need to get them out of here, because the particles will keep making him grow and shrink until his cells overload and take out the entire building," Mary Jane said. "At least that's how Gwen explained it to me when she mentioned it to me."

"Right, not time to deal with the science, time to deal with the run for your life," Lois said. "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP EVERYONE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! SOME REALLY BAD SCIENCE GUY JUST DOUSED HIMSELF IN SOME UNSTABLE PARTICLES LIKE AN IDIOT!"

Mary Jane appreciated Lois's passion. Still, she had a feeling pulling the fire alarm would be a much easier way to get everyone to the exit promptly then running up the hallway and yelling like a madwoman.

A rumble from downstairs could be heard. The people rushed through the doors. Marie grabbed Mary Jane and pulled her out of harm's way just as a large fist punched through the floor. The man burst through the ceiling, eyes fluid and milky and he shrank back down before expanding back up.

Every time the man grew, he got a little bit larger before deflating. And then expanding, back and forth. He roared and snatched at Marie's ankle. Marie dodged out of the way and sent a cart flying at the man's face when they made their way through.

"Nadia and Karen, they're not out," Marie murmured.

Marie waited for the man to disappear and made her move. She jumped over the hole, all the way to the main lab. With heavy breaths like she ran a marathon, Marie charged in.

Nadia and Karen picked up something from a basement scanner. Frowning, Nadia typed away at the computer and ran a quick simulation. Knowing the man could end up cutting the power from the building.

"You really should leave!"

"In a minute!" Nadia yelled back to Marie. "If my calculations are correct and then….oh no...this is worse than I thought."

Nadia ripped off the print out and hoped she had been wrong. The unfortunate problem with being a genius was she was more right than wrong most of the time.

"The Pym Particles will self destruct and blow the entire city to ashes unless we find a way to remove them," Nadia said.

"There's got to be a way, right?" Karen asked. "A way to…."

"Working on it,' Nadia said. "Alright, of course, the problem is the more the particles are unstable, the faster he switches from his giant form to his microscopic form. And the giant form is only going to get more giant until….."

Nadia snapped together two pieces of equipment. She did not have time to test the blasted thing. Still, she had been very confident it would work.

"Really could have used the Project Bumblebee suit right now," Karen said.

"Yes, because Miss Martian and Superman are down there fighting it," Nadia said. "And you know….."

"Yeah, I figured out they were Megan and Harry a long time ago," Karen said. "But, that's their business, what they want to do, and….you have to admit, it did make us feel safer when they were close by. And they've got this….and you got this too, Nadia. If anyone can save the day it can be…."

One of the vents broke open and the floor shook. Nadia put up a hand to silence Karen and finished snapping the device into place. They were running short on time.

"And put the wire in here, and perfect," Nadia said. "Marie, someone needs to get close enough to the man when he's on giant size and implant the weapon in the base of the neck. This charge should negate the particles and flush them out of his body, without infecting anyone else."

Nadia bit down on her lip. The only problem was if he acquired more particles. Thankfully, those have been moved to a vault across town, so unless he could sense them.

Jan flew up from the lab below, through the floor. Nadia handed her the device.

"GO!"

Jan understood the device. The ground almost crumbled beneath them and blocked their way to the exit. Jan and Marie disappeared down to the basement with Nadia and Karen left behind.

"Um...how…."

Nadia blasted one of the windows open, giving them an exit. Karen's eyes widened and she gulped very slightly, gazing downward. To say Karen had her share of misgivings about jumping from such a height.

"It should be fine," Nadia said. "If we calculate the angle of the jump just right,, we should be able to come out with nothing more than a few sore joints, maybe some bumps and bruises...sprained ankle but….."

"Sure beats getting smashed to bits," Karen said.

Nadia and Karen jumped out of the window and a loud smash through the building. They jumped out of the building just in time for it to be destroyed.

Thankfully, they had been the last two who escaped, other than the heroes who had been standing inside of what had been Hank Pym's basement lab.

The hapless AIM scientist, expanding to several times his normal size, rose up. He screamed in agony ,reaching out to the south.

"What's down that way?" Harry asked.

"Hank's vault...it's packed full of even more Pym particles," Jan said. "Which, as you might have guessed, is not a good thing for him to get his hands on."

The scientist shrunk down one more time. Every time, the warmth surrounding his body increased and even at his microscopic size, it felt like Harry, Jan, Marie, and Megan stood in furnace. They climbed out of the hole, with Jan ready to prepare herself to do what needed to strike the moment the man started growing again.

The Scientist Supreme watched the carnage unfold. One of her scientists wrecked Van Dyne Industries and reduced it to rubble. Growing and shrinking. Screaming in pain.

"It's not how it wanted it."

"Well, what did you want?"

Emma Frost walked behind the Scientist Supreme who broke out into a sigh.

"Not someone to destroy half of the city," she said.

"Half is a cheerfully optimistic estimate," Emma said. "Do you think they have any chances to succeed?"

"Maybe a two percent probability, if there timing is on point," she said.

"Monica, there's a reason why you haven't taken AIM as far as it needs to be and now it's in shambles," Emma said. "You need to learn how to play the odds...yes, there's a lot of anger in his mind. Anger at something that he cannot control, and it's making him more unstable."

"We have to get him to stop."

He grew again with Wasp just narrowly missing putting the device on the man's neck. Monica breathed in heavily and tried to figure out what they needed to do to get the man to stop growing. Hard to grab ahold of the man to take him down.

Superman darted into the man's line of sight and kept him distracted. The scientist swiped at the air and made his way through the fence, reaching out for more. He roared, with no words coming out. The scientist had been reduced to nothing more than a monster.

Wasp, like a tiny blur, dove in to impale the device on the back of the man's neck. He reached around and smacked Wasp out of the air. The device when flying just before Megan caught it and prevented it from smashing down to the ground just in time as well.

Megan slipped the device into Harry's hand and Harry flew around. The man started to shrink one more time until Megan locked onto his mind.

As she thought, the particles were based on his anger, his emotions and his frustrations. And this scientist felt them. So much so that Megan's entire mind flooded with said anger. Marie reached over and grabbed Megan by the hand as the man started to rise up one more time.

The two women, although Marie had been a novice, worked together to help temper the mind of the crazed giant. Who slammed his hands all around, breathing very heavily.

Wasp got almost close enough to take the man down, only to find herself smashed down to the side. Superman flew around the man's head and distracted him.

Marie could see a weak spot. If only they could get close enough to get it. To temper the man's mind and bring him down to the ground.

A boost of mental energy hit Megan from afar and Marie could even feel the tingle. It amplified the powers of both of their minds and allowed Megan and Marie to latch onto the mind of the man.

Marie, seizing her opportunity, charged up the man's extended arm and jammed the device into the man's spine. One pull of the switch caused the Pym Particles to siphon out of the man with a crackling. All while knocking Marie off to the side until Superman caught her.

From the hole, several AIM scientists crawled out. Right in time to be greeted by some government agents who showed up.

The scientist who had been infected, laid on the ground, shivering and moaning. The taste of power he acquired had been far too much. It damaged both his mind and his body and left him shuddering immensely.

AIM had been led off by SHIELD in shackles. Monica amongst them, in shackles, and very willingly turning herself in.

The sense she cut some kind of deal with SHIELD, hit Harry suddenly. He watched Emma view Monica leaving out of the corner of her eye. Emma walked over for a second and the pair of SHIELD agents frowned.

'This will only take a minute," Emma said. "I hope you have learned something from this."

"Yes," Monica said. "In changing the world, I have become far worse than my sisters ever could be."

Emma just frowned. There would still be a place of someone of Monica's stature in this world, and there would be no doubt she would be released to Queen Bee's loving care sooner rather than later, after SHIELD got whatever information they had for AIM.

Even if Marina had to pull in a lot of favors to return her sister home.

"So, what happens with her?" Harry asked.

"The future is hers to decide," Emma answered. "Hopefully, for her sake, she makes the correct choice"

More than anyone else, Emma Frost understood the need to stand out from the rest of the pack. And Monica had that need, that desire more than most people, but Emma had been there before. But, shortcuts did not win the chess game of life, rather long-term planning did.

Harry walked over to where Nadia and Karen waited.

"You two alright?"

"Yeah, that made my heart rate jump up though," Karen said. "I appreciate what you do even more now because...it's hard to make those decisions over time."

Harry put his arm around Karen and pulled her in close.

"It takes practice," Harry said. "And if you're serious about making Project Bumblebee a thing…."

"Well, now it would be hard to get it done because the prototype was destroyed," Karen said.

"We rebuild though," Nadia said. "Like everything else, we rebuild. As long as we have our greatest assets, our minds, we can do anything."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Harry said.

Well, a good deal of financial support helped in ways like this was well. Harry watched as Emma slipped off, talking to Jan in undertone about something. He turned to Megan and Marie and smiled at them.

"Your quick thinking really saved the day," Harry said.

"Well, it helps that when you're scared for your life," Marie said.

The trio walked off, with Nadia and Karen following. From the park across the street, they would have to meet with Mary Jane and Lois who had been waiting with the poor people they managed to get out a long time ago. Who thankfully escaped the lab, although the lab would need to be rebuilt.

Maxwell Lord heard of the destruction of VanDyne industries. Which meant the power cells along with it. Because some scientist with self esteem issues had to get greedy and try and take a shot at Superman with an unstable cannon. And then, AIM's Scientist Supreme was taken in and their entire organization crumbled.

It was not a good day for Maxwell Lord. Especially when SHIELD was coming to him for Lord's many crimes. Illegal trafficking and trying to incite a war among other things. Lord came down the steps, to prepare for his next move which looked to be to send him into hiding.

"Good evening, Mr. Lord."

As Maxwell Lord lived and breathed, he came face to face with Vandal Savage, Hugo Strange, and Lord blinked twice. Surely, Bruce Wayne could not be with them?

No, it was not Wayne, the faint facial scars indicated he just underwent plastic surgery like Bruce Wayne.

"Savage," Lord said. "What are you doing here?"

"When man has lost everything, he can either perish, or finally see the light."

Savage clasped a hand over Lord's shoulder. Lord responded with a nod, his eyes glazing over.

"Yes, I've seen your vision...the Light's vision of a better world," Lord narrated in monotone. "And only the strong with survive."

"Of course, it's nature's intended order," Savage said. "And with the upcoming great war, helped forward by the Justice League's actions on New Year's Eve of 2010, Earth will undergo a long overdue cleansing those who hold back our future evolution."

"So, shall we proceed?" Strange asked.

Savage just smiled and turned Lord to the elevator. A glowing red chip flickered on his neck. The last one they could salvage, but Lord's gifts would be a worthwhile investment.