[center][img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YYRw8fNlTMc/WS7os0sjymI/AAAAAAAA1CU/0U37v2bqWSEARLAtl1DJmlJf1-erLHrAACK4B/s1600/ted_kord____the___real___blue_beetle_by_spidermanfan2099-d4qhf7q.jpg[/img][/center] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E H O M E O F T E D K O R D[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Present Day, Around an Hour Ago | Boston, Massachusetts[/color][/sup] Ted Kord walked back and forth between the suitcase on his bed and his wardrobe, packing for his trip. He started with the basics first. The immutables - underwear, toiletries, shoes and socks, and now he was starting to have to make decisions. This shirt, that tie, those pants, and a dress suit for the Expo itself. The Expo itself. Where the likes of Lex Luthor and Tony Stark were likely to attend. Paragons of post-modern executive fashion. Ted couldn’t choose. He stuffed the three suits he was picking between in the case and hoped inspiration would strike him as far as which he should wear on the day. He zipped up his case and reached over to pick it up. Suddenly the Intercom whistle sound from the classic Star Trek series came through, indicating that Ted had just received a message. Checking his phone, the sender appeared to be hp@redant.com. The only way the sender ever communicated with him. By his own company email account, doubtless filtering out all third party observers with its secure connection. [right][color=RED][b]“Ted. Please help. Big problem. Only you would understand. Come alone.”[/b][/color][/right] Ted quickly fired back a response. [color=SKYBLUE][b]“I fly in tonight, will be in town for NY Science Expo. Urgent enough for tonight, or is tomorrow morning OK?”[/b][/color] It only took a few moments before another Star Trek intercom whistle sounded and he got his reply. [right][color=RED][b]“Tomorrow OK. Come alone. Need help.”[/b][/color][/right] Ted fired off a final message. [color=SKYBLUE][b]“Alright, I’ll be there first thing in the morning. Be ready to buzz me in at 7.”[/b][/color] A final whistle and it was confirmed. [right][color=RED][b]“Thank you, Ted. Expect you at 7. Good friend.”[/b][/color][/right] Ted paused for a second in contemplation, then ran off to his lab. He returned with his Blue Beetle suit and a bag of his own design. Ted had recently come into a small amount of vibranium, one of the most valuable metals on Earth. Not a significant amount for any kind of mass-production, but a small sample size for testing. The interesting thing about vibranium - its most valuable property scientifically - is its ability to absorb energy and its versatility in doing so. That energy can be in virtually any form, from kinetic energy as in blunt physical force, to… say the bombardment of X-ray’s from your standard dual-energy X-ray system that you might see at an airport. Using vibranium, Ted had created a thin bag that could absorb X-rays a few inches and mimic empty space within the bag, or around the size of a folded metal-mesh and circuitry suit with a prototype non-lethal BB gun. Effectively rendering its contents invisible to the technology. Hank Pym. Ted thought to himself. What have you gotten yourself into..? [h3][center][color=SKYBLUE][b]* * * * *[/b][/color][/center][/h3] Hank Pym was easily the most brilliant mind Ted had ever met. In fact, Ted would hazard a guess that Hank Pym was the most brilliant mind that everyone who had ever met him had ever met. The kind that gets seen maybe once in more than a few generations kind of brilliance. Before meeting the man himself he’d once read an article that mentioned his name alongside of a string of others; Galileo, Da Vinci, Newton, Edison, Bohr, Einstein. At the time Ted thought it was a nice bit of rhetoric, if a little cliched and hyperbolic. Since then when he thinks back on that article, he spends more time thinking about which names probably don’t live up to being next to Hank’s. Except the man on the street probably wouldn’t really understand just how brilliant he actually was due to his displeasure at the notions of selp-promotion and desire to shy away from the limelight. He wonders if there was something in destiny that there must be an Edison in the world at the same time as a Tesla. If a Pym had to exist at the same time as a Stark… and with a Luthor on the horizon, with a greater promise for the future still. Or does that make Ted a bad scientist for even mentioning the notion of destiny in the first place? Wouldn’t be the first time he’d felt at all intimidated or questioned himself when thinking about Hank Pym. It would unlikely be the last. [h3][center][color=SKYBLUE][b]* * * * *[/b][/color][/center][/h3] Ted first met Hank Pym at a symposium in New York. One of only very few that Hank had ever been successfully pressed into attending. He’d introduced himself to the very quiet man, who hadn’t responded in kind and the pair found themselves in a back corner watching everything unfold, when Ted noticed a famous face and couldn’t help but burst out... [color=SKYBLUE]“Wow! Is that… Janet Van Dyne?”[/color] The gears in Ted’s head quickly began to whir and spin, connecting the dots as to why that might be the case. [color=SKYBLUE]“Here? At a symposium? Hey, that must mean that Hank Pym is here! That’s crazy! I’ve never met the guy. I’ve been reading up on some of his nanobot principal work, some of the things he thinks he’s going to be capable of doing in the next few years…”[/color] Hank had fallen very quiet at first from the mention of his name and Janet’s. But eventually a small smile began to crease across his face, before Ted’s description of the work caused it to spread further still. [color=RED]“Well, maybe I’ll go ask her…”[/color] He started to walk towards the beautiful woman. [color=SKYBLUE]“Yeah, sure. You’re just gonna go up and talk to her, you seem even more awkward than I-- hey! Where are--! Ok, you’re just going to go right up and talk to her, huh? Well, good luck with that…”[/color] Ted watched as the blonde haired man approached the model and said something he couldn’t hear. Suddenly she threw her head back and laughed, whilst taking the man by the wrist intimately. She suddenly kissed him on the cheek and turned, as the two approached Ted. She had a smile that could make Ted’s knees shake. [color=YELLOW][b]“Hello, Ted was it? My husband here said you’d very much like to meet me.”[/b][/color] It was one of very few times that Ted had found himself at a complete loss for words. The blonde haired man completed introductions. [color=RED]“Ted, this is my wife Jan. Jan, this is Mr Ted Kord.”[/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Hank? Pym?”[/color] Ted stammered. [color=RED]“Yes.”[/color] The man said, awkwardly chasing down a waiter carrying a tray to get another drink. [color=SKYBLUE]“Well… why didn’t you say?”[/color] Ted found himself confused over the whole situation. [color=RED]“You didn’t ask.”[/color] Hank said, very matter-of-factly, taking a somewhat uncouth swig of champagne that gave away the fact he wasn’t used to the etiquette of this kind of event. [color=SKYBLUE]“But I-- I introduced myself. It’s generally considered good practi--”[/color] Jan took Ted’s hand and smiled at him, [color=YELLOW][b]“Ted, welcome to my life. Hank has his ways.”[/b][/color] This would very much become an understatement, Ted would find over the the course of his friendship with Hank. [color=RED]“I’m going to the bathroom.”[/color] Hank bluntly announced between the three of them. [color=RED]“I’m going to be a while. I need to--”[/color] [color=YELLOW][b]“It’s Ok, Hank. We get the idea. I’ll be right here talking to your friend Ted when you get back.”[/b][/color] [color=RED]“So you’ll be here?”[/color] [color=YELLOW][b]“I’ll be here.”[/b][/color] She smiled. [color=YELLOW][b]“You won’t have to go looking for me. Right here.”[/b][/color] She said to him, gesturing to the exact spot she was standing on. Hank nodded and waded his way through the mass of people towards the bathroom on the other side of the room. [color=YELLOW][b]“So, how do you know Hank?”[/b][/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“I guess I don’t. I just met him now. Standing here talking with him… although admittedly, I guess I was doing most of the talking. I guess I’m starting to regret running my mouth so much now… I could have been asking him about his work, if I’d known it was him that I was talking to.”[/color] [color=YELLOW][b]“Ah-huh.”[/b][/color] Ms Van Dyne nodded. [color=YELLOW][b]“And what is it about his work that you’d want to know?”[/b][/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Oh… Well, we’ve just started looking into the possibilities with nanotech ourselves over at Kord Omniversal. I guess I was going to ask about whether he finds it easier to work with more complex individual nanodrone programming and a central processor which can then delineate--”[/color] Ted stopped. [color=YELLOW][b]“Yes?”[/b][/color] Janet asked him. [color=YELLOW][b]“You stopped.”[/b][/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“I just realized this is the most I’ve been able to speak to a fellow scientist’s wife or girlfriend at one of these events without either her eyes completely glazing over, or outright running away and going to talk with Tony Stark instead…”[/color] Janet’s eyes lit up and she laughed. She had a smile that could make a man feel twenty feet tall. [color=YELLOW][b]“Well, you know, I met Hank at the introduction day at MIT...”[/b][/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Of course you did, am I the only one who attends any of these things who didn’t go to MIT?”[/color] Ted muttered to himself. [color=YELLOW][b]“...and that was before I got the offer to appear on ‘Runway Ren--’”[/b][/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Runway Renegades!”[/color] Ted said, slightly too excitedly. [color=SKYBLUE]“I know, I saw the whole series! You were awesome, you never should have been kicked out in week twelve!”[/color] Janet was somewhat taken aback that anyone here recognized her from that long ago. Whilst that show eventually gave her a springboard to opportunities in the fashion industry, few people actually remembered her from the show itself. [color=YELLOW][b]“--well, I suppose. But I should probably have been out earlier in wee--”[/b][/color] [color=SKYBLUE]“Week 9? With the bridal gown challenge? Nah. Yours was still better than Ernesto and Ingrid’s. Sure, you might have had a down week, and skated a little on past performance but their’s was even worse. Ingrid completely butchered the neckline, she used stretch stitching instead of…”[/color] He found Janet staring and rendered slightly agape. [color=SKYBLUE]“...sorry. I-- I have a pretty good memory...”[/color] [color=YELLOW][b]“I can see that.”[/b][/color] She smiled again. [color=RED]“I’m back. Sorry. They had an attendant in there. He was looking. I think I’ll have to go at home.”[/color] [color=YELLOW][b]“That’s OK, hun. Ted here was just telling me what he thinks of your work. He was curious about your programming the nanodrones and whether you preferred complexity in the programming within a central processor or more autonomous individual nanites with a broader rule-governed framework.”[/b][/color] Ted stood impressed that not only had Janet recalled his question, but phrased it more clearly than he originally had. [color=RED]“Oh!”[/color] Hank exclaimed with pleasant surprise, smiling and turning to Ted and finding a kindred spirit in science. [color=YELLOW][b]“He also was telling me what he’s thought of my work, and his own preferences against using stretch stitching in sweetheart necklines of wedding dresses…”[/b][/color] Hank stiffened up out of curiosity. [color=SKYBLUE]“It’s a joke, Hank. I mentioned to Janet how I saw her on her ‘Runway Renegades’ show years ago.”[/color] [color=RED]“Ah!”[/color] Hank said, relaxing again. [color=RED]“And call her Jan. Our friends all do.”[/color] The three smiled at the thought, as friendship was plainly stated by the scientist, a slightly uncomfortable pause broken up by a commotion as a man ran across the hall, a half minute before a black-garbed figure dressed as a spider swung across in pursuit. The conversation changed to how this spider man could possibly achieve these feats, further forging the aforementioned friendship. [h3][center][color=SKYBLUE][b]* * * * *[/b][/color][/center][/h3] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]L O G A N A I R P O R T[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Present Day | Boston, Massachusetts[/color][/sup] Ted stepped out of the car with his bags and left a $20 cash tip for the driver. He pushed through the airport, and saw some familiar faces. [color=SKYBLUE]“Murray, Jeremiah, all ready for New York?”[/color] “I believe so, Ted.” Said Jeremiah, who already looked flustered. Ted wondered how much the older man had needed to scramble in order to get himself ready for this brief trip. “This is gonna be great!” Murray repeated. Ted put his arm around the smaller COO. [color=SKYBLUE]“It’s alright, Jer’. We’ll check our bags and get a drink in you. Let you take a load off. First class and lounge perks. Time we got that back un-kinked. Relieve some of the stress in these shoulders.”[/color] “I should call my wife…” He said. [color=SKYBLUE]“When we land. At the moment, you need to take some time to unwind before your heart gives out. You work plenty hard. The Christmas bonus I give you every year is supposed to tell you that, Jeremiah. So since you’re so bad at taking hints. We’re going to get these bags checked and have company-mandated booze pumped into you. You don’t have to come out with Murray and I when we land, but you’re gonna kick back now. That’s an order.”[/color] “Casual clothes fridays and Gin and juice Jumbo Jet Junket-days!” Murray Takamoto said, beaming from ear-to-ear. [color=SKYBLUE]“Something like that…”[/color] Ted said, as the three took their bags to check-in.