Vol. 1 #11 - Crimes of Passion

By Neil Gow

Avengers Mansion - Early in the morning...

Janet van Dyne looks up at her face in the mirror and tries to recognise the woman she sees. She used to be a successful business woman. She used to be the leader of the Avengers. She used to be a happily married woman. Now, all she can see is a mess, waiting for sixty seconds to pass before she knows whether her life can ever truly be the same again.

She should have known, after all of these years in the business. Wanda had the same problem - they had discussed it once, a long time ago. Stress does things to a woman's body and the Wasp works with stress every day. It was just bad luck that the business with the Kree had come at the wrong time. She just thought that she was late, but now it was two months since her violation by Whirlwind and she needed to know. She needed to be released from this prison that she has locked herself in.

And what about Hank. Oh God! What was she going to do about Hank? What would he think? Jan let her back settle up against the bathroom wall and slowly slides down until she is sitting on the cold tiled floor with her knees drawn up close to her chest. Her arms are shaking as she opens her hand. At first she doesn't look down, too terrified to see what the pregnancy test will dictate for the rest of her life.

Two Blue Lines

Her stomach drops away like a bottomless pit and her throat sears with a burning heat that came from nowhere. The room is bathed in a blue white light as a blast of bio-electric energy vapourises the pregnancy test.

For Janet van Dyne, her life is over.

State Attorney's Office, Manhattan.

" I don't care who she is, where she comes from and which people she consorts with Mr Freeman, that woman has broken into a state holding area, assaulted members of staff and hospitalised a prisoner in the custody of the US government. She will have to pay the price for her crimes." The steely blue eyes of the attorney break off from the rather flustered face of Duane Freeman. He thought that his position as Avengers Liaison would help Thundra's position, but it would appear otherwise.

" Mr Jacobs, you must understand that Thundra isn't from Earth. Where she comes from the women work under a different set of rules - a different, violent set of rules. She truly believed that what she did was appropriate."

" Oh well that's fine Mr Freeman. We shall just have to inform Mr Cannon that the severe spinal injuries he has suffered whilst in our custody are 'appropriate' and that he'll have to dismiss any thoughts of lawsuit on that basis? Do you have any idea how much this little escapade is going to cost us? Cannon has already had some of the top 'corporate' lawyers in the city sniffing around after him, and we all know what we mean by corporate? These are the people that defend scum like Fisk. We have to be seen as coming down hard on her."

Freeman knew that he was getting nowhere with this. He would have to take another angle. " OK, Mr Jacobs, there is another part of the equation that we haven't taken into account. Thundra is only here helping the Avengers as a repayment of a debt. At the end of the year she is due to return to her dimension..."

" I honestly don't care Mr Freeman. She will just have to wait to return to her dimension, like any other criminal would wait to return to their home after a nice long stretch."

" Jacobs! We're not talking about someone not getting back to Kentucky for Thanksgiving! This woman is the queen of a planet of warrior-women. Her husband is Arkon the Thunderer?!"

" And what, Mr Freeman? We should send her back there because her husband might come here and cause trouble? This is New York, Mr Freeman. We've dealt with the Atlanteans and Galactus, I'm sure we can handle Arkon the Thunderer...again. And anyway, Mr Freeman," Jacobs lets a triumphant grin spread across his face ," if Arkon was to attack, I'm sure the Avengers would protect us. That is what you are here for, after all?"

The Black Panther crouches on a ledge high above the sprawling mass of the city. Sometimes T'Challa couldn't believe what had happened to him recently. He longed to return to his native Wakanda but at the moment that just wasn't possible. Soon though, he would find a way to retake his throne and return to his homeland.

Of course, he also had other responsibilities. He was the leader of the Avengers in a period of their existence that was strangely unsettled. The images that Harbinger showed them caused them all to question their lives and their existence - casting a strange veil over the mansion. There was obviously something wrong between Jan and Henry, Thundra was in prison and the business with Steve and this replacement Captain America was insufferable. Even Genis seemed to be pre-occupied at the moment. The only person that appeared to be unaffected by this malaise was Vision, but what could the Black Panther tell of the mental state of the synthesoid?

He looked around and decided that he should return to the mansion. There were issues that he needed to deal with, sooner rather than later. Pushing off the ledge, Black Panther goes to leap across to the roof of the building below him, but where he would expect the power of the Panther Spirit to fill his body with power and vitality, now he feels nothing!

He sways in mid-leap and then tumbles down, falling head over heels from the ledge. he feels the air whistling past him as he turns and pivots through the air, years of training kicking in where once animal instinct would have sufficed. Seconds. He has seconds to do something. He spins around again stretches as far as he can. His fingertips brush the wall and then grasp onto an open window ledge. Gravity exerts it's terrible toll on him and his body is jerked like a rag doll as his fall is halted, for a few seconds. His shoulder wrenches out of it's socket and he slips, falling again, but this time with more control - even through the red haze of pain. T'Challa turns in mid-air and then grabs at the building again, this time swinging his feet in as he grabs an edifice, smashing through a massive window and rolling into a packed conference suite, casting glass shards across a black marble table. A woman screams and T'Challa collapses in pain. As his vision fades, he sees the misty imagine of a panther standing on the other side of the room, blood dripping from it's jaw.

Jan sits on the bed and hears as Hank comes into the mansion. Jarvis greets him at the door and asks how his speech went. Hank bemoans the state of the lecturing facilities at the college he has just visited, like he does with all colleges he visits. Bill Foster shouts from the kitchen that he has some beers in the cooler, but Hank says he has to go and see Jan first. How she wished that he wouldn't be so diligent, give her a couple more minutes to prepare for what she has to do.

Each of the footsteps on the stairs was like a death blow for Jan. Could she carry on through with this? Would she be able to do this to Hank, after all these years together? Even after all the things he had done to her in the past she still loved him with all her heart, even more than she did when she first met him when she was just a teenager. She was never totally sure what it was that attracted her to him. Maybe it was his maturity? Maybe it was his intelligence? Maybe it was because he was willing to accept her into his life as (nearly) an equal, rather than as a fashion accessory? Whatever it was it had never diminished and that was what made this so hard.

Hank knocked on the door three times and slowly stuck his head around the corner. " Hi Jan? Just thought I'd check you were OK. Jan?" When he heard no reply he opened the door fully and stepped into the room. Hank had been lecturing at UCLA this morning and that had meant a very early trip in the Quinjet. Even though he liked traveling by himself, so that he could gather his thoughts it was still tiring and he wasn't getting any younger. Add to that the fact that he has had precious little sleep over the last two month because of his worry for Jan and he was bound to be exhausted. Still, he couldn't let that stop him from helping her through this.

Hank stopped stock still in the doorway as he finally saw Jan. She was standing in the doorway of her room's bathroom, surrounded by a halo of light. She was wearing the long, black silk negligee he had bought her for their wedding anniversary years ago and she had done her hair. " Jan??"

" Hi honey. I think there are some things that we need to talk about..."

There is a almost silent 'pop' as Lockjaw disappears from the dark alley, leaving Gorgon by himself in New York. He was supposed to have been dropped off at Avengers Mansion, but he had given Lockjaw one of his special biscuits and suggested that he be left somewhere else. He knew where the Mansion was, and he could go there later. Now, he had other matters to attend to - matters of the heart. he had asked Lockjaw to take him to Thundra, and he had!

Or had he? The bearded face of Gorgon looks around and his brow furrows. This is not the sort of place that he would expect to find the woman of his dreams? Why would she be in this alley, or nearby?

Suddenly a flash catches Gorgon's eye as a large federal vehicle passes the end of the alley at a crawl in the New York rush hour traffic. Gorgon is not a telepathic inhuman, but something tells him that he has to get to that vehicle. He streaks out of the alley and into the street, running out into the street, causing cars and buses to come to a shuddering halt.

"Thundra!!!" His voice bellows out along the busy street, louder and more threatening than anything that most of the New Yorkers had encountered before.

Inside the penal transport, Thundra hears the voice and something triggers in her heart. It's him! The man she saw at the mansion. The magnificent, rugged, cloven hooved man who had fought alongside the Avengers against the Kree! What was he doing here? " Gorgon?!"

That voice was all that Gorgon needed to shock him into action. Never the thoughtful one, like Medusa, or the subtle one, like Karnak, Gorgon is a man dominated by base emotions - anger, hunger, passion and justice. Whatever she has done to be in this situation, Thundra deserves to be free. Gorgon raises his cloven hoof and slams it into the road. Massive seismic waves roll along the street, shattering the asphalt, smashing windows and throwing people to the ground. The penal transport bucks into the air, snapping it's rear axle and crashing to halt.

Gorgon roars his approval and charges at the back of the vehicle, planting a hoof on the rear door - a door of six inch thick, reinforced steel, able to stand a direct hit from a field gun. It breaks in two like an egg shell and Thundra staggers out into the daylight.

" Thundra!"

" Gorgon!"

The two heroes throw their arms around each other and embrace, drawn together by some unknown force. Thundra does not think of the betrayal she is delivering to her betrothed, Arkon, and Gorgon does not think of the shame that he will bring to the Royal House of the Inhumans. Something wilder and more primal is driving them.

With the street in chaos, the run into the shadows and disappear.

Jan drapes her hand across Hank's arm and strokes it. " So you see honey, I wasn't sure what you thought, what you wanted to do. I couldn't be sure whether you were hanging around because you wanted to or because you felt you had to. I had to be sure, sweetheart, I really did."

" But Jan, why didn't you just ask? I know we've had our problems but I thought that we had trust in each other still?"

" I couldn't imagine what you were going through. You had to stand there and watch what he was doing. I saw you flailing in those shackles Hank. I could see everything. How could you want me after that?" There was a tear running down Jan's face.

" After all the things that I've done to you Jan - not someone else, but me, your husband, has done to you, you've still stuck by me. How could I blame you for something that Cannon* did to you? It wasn't your fault, Jan. You were the victim. I just thought that you hated me for not doing more - I thought that was why you've been treating me so coldly?"

* ( Cannon is the surname of the villain Whirlwind - Neil)

" Well Hank," Jan smiled at him and ran her hand across his chest ," I think it's about time we kissed and made up, don't you? I'm sorry sweetheart, I really am." Jan closed on Hank and pressed her lips to his. She could feel his heart pounding against her chest as she slipped her hand inside his shirt and ran her palm across his muscles. She felt his arms close around her and the two fell backwards into the king-size bed. Hank entwined his hand into her hair and they continued their passionate embrace. Hank released her mouth and buried his head into her neck, kissing her like he had wanted to for weeks. Over his shoulder, Jan stared into space, heart vacant.

" How's T'Challa?" Steve Rogers pulls Jarvis aside, trying to keep out of earshot of Captain America as he watches a re-run of the wrestling in the mansion's lounge.

" He is in the infirmary. His shoulder has been reset and the cuts that he sustained during the fall have been treated, but Dr. Foster thinks there is something else wrong."

" What?"

" I'm not sure Sir - I am not a medical man - but he mentioned that the hormone and adrenaline levels in his body were a fraction of their normal level. It would appear that the Black Panther may have lost his powers?"

The Vision sits and increases his level of integration into the mansion's computer system. Ever since his body was critically injured he has realised how much more efficient he can work in a digital format. In the absence of Black Panther he had taken it upon himself to search for Thundra using the cities network of security cameras. Eyewitness statements claimed that she was freed by a localised earthquake. Another one claimed that the Devil himself freed her. A cloven hooved devil that brought earthquakes with his feet. That had to be Gorgon of the Inhumans. Vision had tried to communicate with Attilan but an electrical storm of some kind was blocking the message. They would have to confirm his involvement by more conventional methods. Genis was searching the skies but in the end he was new to the planet and Thundra had spent many months living in the worst parts of the city.

The Vision noticed that a mail had arrived for him. His exploration of humanity via the internet had continued and he was developing a number of different persona with which to participate with many groups. He opened the mail, one from a group where Victor Shade was a sports fan.

The Vision read the message and withdrew from the system in shock. Not that the message was bad news, more that it was totally unexpected.

HI VICTOR

I KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT THE WAY THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN ON THESE MAILING LISTS BUT I HAVE REALLY ENJOYED OUR CONVERSATIONS AND AS YOU HAVE HINTED THAT YOU LIVE IN NEW YORK, AND I HAVE TWO TICKETS FOR THE JETS HOME GAME WITH THE COWBOYS, I WAS WONDERING WHETHER YOU WOULD LIKE TO MEET AND GO TO THE GAME TOGETHER.

I'M SURE YOU'LL HAVE OTHER THINGS TO DO, BUT IF YOU DO WANT TO GO, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH ASAP.

L8R MAGGIE

The Vision stopped for a second and considered everything. Someone, a human, was asking him to go on a date, based on his imaginary internet persona. Merging with the computer again, he tried to access an image of Wanda, his former wife, The Scarlet Witch.

ACCESS DENIED.

The Vision sat and pondered what he should do.

Hank stretched out in his sleep and felt the once-familiar feel of Jan's silk sheets under his hand. Slowly his brain began to assimilate the events that had happened last night. He had made love to Jan and now everything was going to be all right. They had crossed the barrier put between them by Whirlwind once and for all. Soon life would be truly back to normal. Without opening his eyes he took a deep breath and sighed. A broad, gentle smile grew across his face. He had waited for this for so long. His life had never been easy but the best times, the times when he felt most in control, were the times with Jan. She is the glue that held his life together. Without her, he wasn't whole.

He opened his eyes and looked around. " Jan??" Nothing. She wasn't there. Oh, she was probably just in the bathroom. He slid out of bed and pulled on a robe. At least she still kept his robe with hers. He popped his head around the door but the bathroom was empty. Strange...

Hank stuck his head out into the corridor. " Jan?" Still no answer. He moved from the room and down the stairs to the ground floor. Jarvis was busy polishing a piece of silverware. " Jarvis, have you seen Jan?"

" Why yes, Master Pym. She is in the kitchen, preparing a drink. I would have brought it to her but she was adamant she would do it herself."

Pym opened the door to the kitchen and saw Jan standing with her back to the door. She smiled and walked as quietly as he could up behind her and slid an arm around her waist. "Morning lover.."

Jan spun around with a ferocity that shocked Hank and slapped him full in the face. Hank reeled under the blow and Jan pushed him in the chest, staggering him backwards. " What the Hell do you think you are doing?! Get your hands off me, you bastard!" There was a venom in Jan's voice that Hank had never encountered before and yet a underlying weakness, a quiver of uncertainty.

" Jan? What's the matter?? I thought..." Hank held out his hands, pleading with his former wife to explain.

" What? You thought you could just sleep with me and it would all be better? You thought that you could just take what has happened and make it all disappear? Well I'll tell you something for nothing Henry Pym! You can't! Not with your 'Pym particles', not with your super science and definitely not in my bed. Hell Hank, " Jan took a deep breath, not quite believing she was going to be this cruel to Hank," you're not even that good! Even Cannon was better!"

Hank's face was a broken version of it's former self. His mouth just hung open, unable to comprehend the turn-around in his life. What had possessed Jan? Why was she saying these things?

" I made a mistake the first time I fell for you Hank and it's not a mistake I'm going to make again. I'm not going to saddle myself with a mentally unstable, abusive fool who thinks so little of me that he thinks I can be screwed into happiness. Just get lost Hank!"

Pym reaches out and brushes his lovers arm, still silent and in shock.

" I said GET LOST HANK!!!" His arm is blown backwards by a huge discharge of bio-electric energy as Jan uses her Wasp's sting to clear a way to the door. She shrinks as she is running and flies up, out of the room and out of the mansion.

" JAN!!"

Epilogue One

Jan slips the envelope into the postbox at the airport and checks the departure board again. The flight to the Netherlands boards in fifteen minutes. Hopefully the postal service will be able to get her Avengers communicard back to the mansion safely. She's sure that they will come looking for her. Steve and Wanda are two of her best friends, after all. She just hopes that Hank will be all right. She had to do it. She had to let him go, but she had to sleep with him first. She wasn't prepared to live a lie with him for the rest of her life. She couldn't watch him strut around proudly as her stomach began to swell and grow, believing this was his child, thinking that they would be together forever. She couldn’t risk an abortion - even the most discreet clinic could have someone who would ruin their career for the massive pay offs the media would pay for the story of an Avenger Abortion! She had to get away from Hank once and for all, for his sake, but she had to leave herself the back door, the way back in. So she slept with him. If she ever returned, the child would be his, the son or daughter he never knew he had. He would forgive her for what she had done if that was the prize. She was certain of that.

The tannoy announced her flight number and she gathered her newly bought hand luggage and moved towards the departure gate. A new life, with Hank, without the Avengers and without the Wasp. That would be her future. That was the path she had chosen to follow and she was going to see it through to the bitter end.

Epilogue Two

Henry Pym stands in his laboratory and feels the power. It has been a long time since he has worn this costume. The black leather gloves feel strangely appropriate, slightly warm with the surges of power from the embedded circuitry. The brilliant yellow bodysuit encasing his body like a glove. The two black fins, filled with extra-solar batteries and ultra efficient capacitors, running down his shoulders. He had put a lot of work into updating the equipment over the years but recently he had slacked off. The last three days he had hardly emerged from the lab, perfecting the new configuration. More power, more protection and some new stuff he had been experimenting on. This was the best the suit had ever been...

.. and this was going to be the best that he had ever been. He was sick of being used, sick of being dependable old Hank, always there when people needed him. He had been a fool all these years, a fool to believe that any of them cared. He would show them! He would show that .. bitch, that no-one would mess with Henry Pym again. Not Henry Pym. Not Hank Pym...

and most definitely not YELLOWJACKET!

Author Notes

Firstly, I would like to apologise to those people that found the small smattering of 'naughty' words in this story out of character. There inclusion was a simple choice. This is not the sort of story that Busiek et al would have been allowed to present in the normal Avengers, and in real life this sort of situation is rarely fill with sterile, dispassionate phrases. The emotions expressed in this tale need a little more impact.
Secondly, I’d love to hear what people think about this storyline?

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