[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 ‘ E M B A S S Y ‘[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Present Day | Manhattan, New York[/color][/sup] Beatriz DaCosta was stretched out on a deck chair by the pool, wearing a skimpy green bikini and soaking up the sun. She’d been for a swim as soon as the camera crew had left, noting how fantastic the pool had looked when they had first passed it, and now she was making the most of the seasonal warmth. Hank Pym was sitting on the next deckchair over, and put a book down to open up his laptop and start some work. [color=limegreen][b]“Hi!”[/b][/color] Bea said, angling herself towards Hank. [color=red]“Hello.”[/color] Hank said with a smile, before returning to his laptop, entering his password and waiting for it to load. Bea furrowed her brow, and looked down at herself before trying to engage again. [color=limegreen][b]“Oh! I seem to have forgotten to put on sunscreen, would you be able to help me out?”[/b][/color] She arched her back and pushed her breasts forward provocatively towards the blonde haired scientist. [color=red]“Sorry. I didn’t bring any.”[/color] He said, looking her straight in the eye with a sympathetic look. [color=red]“Made sure I came out here fully covered.”[/color] He gestured down towards his clothes. [color=red]“Ah! There’s some over there though!”[/color] He pointed to the next deckchair over where her bottle of sunscreen rested. Bea rolled back and pouted. She wasn’t used to being rejected. A few seconds passed before Hank made an outburst as if a thought had finally occurred to him. [color=red]“Oh!”[/color] He exclaimed. [color=limegreen][b]“Yes..?”[/b][/color] She rocked back, making the same sultry pose as before. [color=red]“I don’t suppose Ted told you the Wi-Fi password, did he?”[/color] [color=limegreen][b]“No.”[/b][/color] She said firmly, with frustration boiling to the surface. [color=limegreen][b]“He hasn’t!”[/b][/color] Bea got up and stomped away, green mist bubbling off of her bronze flesh. Janet was approaching the pool coming the other way, wearing a full bodied yellow and black one-piece, huge wide sunglasses and an oversized wide brimmed hat. They passed and Jan took a free deckchair next to Hank with a knowing self-satisfied smirk. [color=red]“Time how long it takes me to crack Ted’s Wi-Fi network?”[/color] Hank asked, looking for a challenge. [color=yellow][b]“Sure thing, hon.”[/b][/color] Janet said, smiling and setting a timer as she rocked back, the self-satisfied smirk not going anywhere fast. [color=skyblue]“Hey! Looking good, Bea!”[/color] Ted said, approaching the pool wearing only his Blue Beetle cowl and board shorts. Bea growled at him ferociously, causing him to jump back a few metres in self preservation. [color=red]“He didn’t tell her the Wi-Fi password...”[/color] Hank said knowingly to Janet. [color=red]“Poor Ted, he really has no idea what women want.”[/color] [hr] [sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E H O M E O F H A N K P Y M & J A N E T V A N D Y N E[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Two Weeks Post-Crisis | Manhattan, New York[/color][/sup] Ted hit the buzzer at the compound, and waited for the reply. [color=red]“You’re late.”[/color] Hank buzzed through. [color=skyblue]“By... forty seconds.”[/color] Ted said, checking his still Hank-time set watch. [color=red]“Late is late, Ted.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“It’s getting later the longer you leave me out here.”[/color] He heard the loud buzzer and the gates started to slide open. Ted started the long walk up the driveway to the complex. Once again he was wearing his Blue Beetle outfit under street clothes. Called to help handle an issue for Hank and Jan once more. He got to the front door and knocked. Hank opened the door and stood in front of the doorframe. [color=red]“See. Now you’re three minutes late.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“Last time you told me I was early when I rang your buzzer allowing for the length of the driveway. Do you want me to allow for the driveway or not?”[/color] [color=red]“It’s not about what I want Ted. You run your own business, you have your own responsibilities. You should want to be on time.”[/color] Hank said, letting Ted into the house. [color=skyblue]“Well, its sounding like you want me to ring the buzzer, and then travel at the speed of light up the driveway so that no time actually elapses, so I can both be at the front gate and your door at the same point in time.”[/color] Hank ignored him and led him into the kitchen, where he sat down with very high posture at the dining table. Ted turned a chair and sat down facing him. [color=skyblue]“So, I heard you came up with something for Jan.”[/color] [color=red]“Yes.”[/color] Hank replied plainly. Completely missing any implication of a question in there that may have required elaboration. Ted decided to make it overt. [color=skyblue]“Well-- would you like to show it to me? Caring is sharing, Hank.”[/color] [color=red]“You’ll see when Jan comes home from work. She won’t be long.”[/color] Suddenly Hank got up, tucked his chair in and started walking to his lab. Ted quickly got to his feet and rushed to follow him. Doubling back to tuck his chair back into the dining table, before racing after Hank. It wouldn’t be worth the trouble to do anything otherwise. [color=skyblue]“And how have you been, Hank?”[/color] Hank twitched mildly, and then responded with some surprise. [color=red]“I’m fine. Back on my medication. I’ve still been-- somewhat productive. I’m-- happy enough, I suppose if you’re looking for a specific mood update. But this seems more like kitchentalk. Are you, messing with me Ted?”[/color] He asked, before going back to his workbench where he was assembling cut metal sheets. [color=skyblue]“Kitchentalk?”[/color] [color=red]“Yes. Kitchentalk. Doortalk you have your basic greetings and salutations. Then social decorum dictates we move into the house. Idle chit-chat and exchange of pleasantries over a beverage… oh, I didn’t ask you for a drink. Is that what this was? One of those subtle jokes you use, because you wanted something? Chai? Coffee? Soup? Ovalti--”[/color] Hank exploded to his feet. [color=skyblue]“Whoa--!”[/color] Backing up so as to not get bowled over as Hank was quickly into action. [color=skyblue]“No, I’m fine. I don’t need anything. It wasn’t a joke. I guess I’m not as up to date on my social etiquette as some.”[/color] Hank slowly sat back down and got back to work. [color=red]“Oh, because I thought it was one of your jokes. Talking about work in the kitchen and then engaging in idle chit-chat in the laboratory. It was quite funny.”[/color] He smiled broadly, whilst he worked. [color=skyblue]“I can see that.”[/color] Ted said, standing back and watching Hank work. [color=skyblue]“Well, since you don’t want me talking about whatever you did for Jan until she gets here, I guess I may as well fill you in on an idea I’ve been working on.”[/color] [color=red]“Oh. Are you having issues with the clustering on your nanite spore-cloud for your upper atmosphere cleansers?”[/color] Hank asked, as he kept on with his metalwork. [color=skyblue]“What--? How did you know about th--? No. Well, yes! But that doesn’t matter! This isn’t about that.” [/color] Ted was thrown for a second. [color=skyblue]“I’m putting together a superhero team!”[/color] Ted exlaimed. Hank stopped working and sat up, seeming to focus on something in the far off distance. [color=red]“But you’re not a superhero.”[/color] Hank said bluntly. His brow furrowed with curiosity as if he’d been presented with a problem he couldn’t yet solve. [color=skyblue]“Wow. OK.”[/color] Ted said, surprised by the response, even from Hank. [color=skyblue]“But the news seems to disagree. And it isn’t so much about me. I know a few metahuman girls who seem interested that I think I can get on board, and human-metahuman relations have never been more strained. I think a team that shows collaboration between humans and metahumans would be a good thing right now.”[/color] [color=red]“But you’re not a superhero.”[/color] Hank repeated. [color=red]“You’re a very human person who jumps around in a blue suit of your own design, using a gun of his own design, and flying an interplanetary prototype vehicle that nobody else could design or afford to make. So if I were to hypothetically agree, your ‘superpower’ would be an engineering background and money. Neither of which are superpowers.”[/color] Hank explained, before returning to his work. [color=skyblue]“It’s not about ‘powers’, Hank…”[/color] Ted responded. [color=red]“And furthermore,”[/color] Hank continued, [color=red]“it would seem that the implication of the mask or cowl is there to preserve and maintain your actual identity as secret. Having the kind of money to come up with that interplanetary exploratory vehicle would limit the possibilites of who you could actually be. Because despite being private citizens, these people tend to find themselves at the top of rich lists and their wealth is generally known, regardless of efforts to keep that knowledge from the press. It’s only a matter of time until someone figures out who you are, mask or not, just through process of elimination.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“That’s why this idea is so great, Hank! Forming this team ALSO hides where the Blue Beetle’s costs and expenditures go. Because all I need is a plausible figurehead with money at the top and people stop asking that question!”[/color] [color=red]“That’s all well and good but you’d still need a ‘plausible figurehead’, I can’t imagine there’d be too many of those lying around; people with that kind of money and time on their hands.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“But don’t you see? I’ve got the perfect guy for it now! Max!”[/color] Hank stopped working and leaned back, trying to figure out what was being said to him. [color=red]“Max?”[/color] He asked, trying to figure out who he knew that might fit the bill. Then when he found it Hank’s eyes doubled in size. [color=red]“Lord, no?”[/color] He barely spoke above a whisper. [color=red][b]“Lord? No.”[/b][/color] He said considerably louder. [color=skyblue]“I admit he can be a bit rough around the edges.”[/color] [color=red]“Rough around the edges? The man is a crook.”[/color] Hank was stunned at what his friend was suggesting. [color=skyblue]“Technically not a crook.”[/color] Ted corrected, holding one finger up. [color=red]“Because he agreed to resign if charges weren’t laid and then went and jumped into a multimillion dollar golden parachute, Ted!”[/color] [color=skyblue]“He did. And now he has money and time, like I said. Plausible figurehead.”[/color] [color=red]“The Government took out marching orders to distribute his heart medication! Do you have any idea how crooked and money-grubbing you have to be for the government to actually issue marching orders against a pharmaceutical company?”[/color] Hank went back to work. He lowered circuitry into the chassis of his work, and closed it up. [color=skyblue]“That’s the nature of the pharmaceutical industry, Hank. It’s de-regulated and crooked by its very nature. He won’t be working in Big Pharma surrounded by executives who are all out to scrap for every dollar they can get. He’ll be surrounded by heroes! How bad could he possibly be?”[/color] Hank turned around, and looked Ted straight in the eye. [color=red]“What was that?”[/color] He asked, before clapping twice loudly. Ted seemed taken aback by the clapping, but this was Hank he was talking to. He was known to have his little eccentricities, OCD tics and foibles, so he repeated himself. [color=skyblue]“I said ‘That was Big Pharm. He won’t be working there anymore. He’ll be surrounded by heroes. How bad could he possibly be?’”[/color] [color=red]“Thanks.”[/color] Hank clapped twice again. [color=red]“Did you get that?”[/color] The chassis on the work-bench sat up and replayed a recording of Ted’s voice. [color=cyan][b]“I said ‘That was Big Pharm. He won’t be working there anymore. He’ll be surrounded by heroes. How bad could he possibly be?’”[/b][/color] [color=red]“Thank you, that’ll be all for now. Turn around, I have to seal the backside of your chassis.”[/color] It jumped off the workbench and turned around, exposing it’s backside for Hank to continue sealing. It was an extremely rudimentary robot, almost like a stick figure given enough thickness to support it’s own weight, but lean, lanky and cumbersome. [color=skyblue]“What the Hell do you call this!?”[/color] Ted exclaimed, baffled by the show Hank and the robot were putting on. [color=red]“This is L-RON.”[/color] Hank said plainly. [color=red]“Say ‘Hello’, L-Ron.”[/color] [color=GreenYellow]“Hello L-Ron.”[/color] The robot replied in it’s own voice, clearly different from Ted’s voice which it had just replayed earlier. Hank smiled, pleased with himself. [color=red]“Sorry, that’s just a little joke we worked out together.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“L-Ron?”[/color] Ted asked Hank, pointing at the robot. [color=red]“Yes, for Learning-Robotic Organization Network. This is just the Beta version. Hence ‘Learning’.”[/color] [color=greenyellow]“I may be the Beta, but I’m all Alpha.”[/color] The robot replied. Ted looked at Hank. [color=red]“Don’t look at me. I only taught him the ‘Hello L-Ron’ joke. Heh-heh. ‘Hello L-Ron’.” [/color] Hank chuckled to himself. [color=skyblue]“Where’d he come from? Why do you suddenly have a robot?”[/color] [color=red]“Well he came from me making him, Ted. I mean, you’ve been standing right there whilst I put him together. I thought that much would be clear.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“That’s not what I--”[/color] [color=red]“And as for why I have a robot, well I was looking around on the K.O.R.D network one day and I stumbled upon this Butler Xcel smart home system you’ve been working on and since - as you know - we’ve been having issues with my pills and such some time I thought I could probably do with something to help me get more organized and--”[/color] [color=skyblue]“Wait-- You were on my network? How did you--? What were you doing on my network!? That’s corporate espionage!”[/color] [color=red]“Friends don’t accuse friends of committing corporate espionage, Ted.”[/color] [h3][color=skyblue][b][sub]“FRIENDS DON’T COMMIT CORPORATE ESPIONAGE AGAINST FRIENDS, HANK!”[/sub][/b][/color][/h3] [color=red]“I wasn’t. I just... like to see what you’re up to. What you’ve been doing. You’re my friend.”[/color] Hank seemed hurt. [color=skyblue]“Hank. I was working on a home organizational system. You hacked into my network and now I’m looking at your own organizational network which came from you looking at those planned K.O.R.D projects. You call him ‘L-Ron’, I call him ‘Intellectual Property’.”[/color] [color=red]“That’s harly fair. It’s science, Ted. Ideas beget ideas. L-Ron’s hardly your company’s intellectual property, because I fixed all of the problems you’d been having.”[/color] Ted forged on beyond the kidney-punch to his ego. [color=skyblue]“Problems you only knew I was having from hacking my network… to work on a project you only considered trying yourself because I was already working on!”[/color] [color=red]“Well, alright I guess I hadn’t considered all of that!”[/color] Hank yelled back. [color=red]“So how about, if I just don’t mass-produce it? Keep it a personal hobby project? Would that be OK with you?”[/color] [color=skyblue]“That would be fine.”[/color] Said Ted, calming down. [color=red]“You’d be alright with that? You could live with depriving the world of--”[/color] Ted cut him off. [color=skyblue]“I think the world will be just fine with the completed Butler Excel, and if its not, I’m sure someone else who hasn’t hacked my company’s network will find a way to fill the market just fine.”[/color] Hank replied icily. [color=greenyellow]“To be honest I’m honestly not sure if you guys want to stab each other or suck each other off half the time. Maybe both? A kinky hate sex kinda deal.”[/color] The pair both looked at the robot wide-eyed. [color=skyblue]“What--? Hank, why did you teach him that?”[/color] [color=red]“Me? That’s all you.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“Me? I don’t speak like that!”[/color] [color=red]“Well, not you-you. But it’s on you. I wanted to fast track L-Ron’s ability to speak with colloquialisms, so I created a series of Bot’s to probe your [b][i]DissKORD[/i][/b] gaming network and you should have heard the things it came out with… It took me a whole night to sweep through L-Ron’s subroutines just to delete the instant request for pictures from any female it comes across.”[/color] Ted stood slack jawed. [color=skyblue]“This is what I’m talking about with corporate espionage! What made you think that was alright?!”[/color] [color=red]“Why are you yelling? I thought we already agreed this was just going to be a hobby-project.”[/color] Hank asked plainly. [color=skyblue]“But you didn’t know that we were going to agree to that when you did this!”[/color] [color=red]“Well, it’s only until I can come up with a more effective way for it to base it’s automated thought processes. I’m still working on a way to contextualize my own brain scans.”[/color] [color=skyblue]“Yours..? [sub]God help us all.[/sub]”[/color] Ted sarcastically sniped, before instantly regretting it. Hank really didn’t mean any harm, and deep down Ted knew it. [color=greenyellow]“Well, he’s hardly going to use yours, is he? It’d be factory seconds.”[/color] The robot replied. Ted just swallowed the abuse, knowing he probably shouldn’t have made the sarcastic jibe in the first place. Suddenly they heard noise coming from the direction of the front door and the jingling of keys. Janet had returned home. The three left the laboratory to greet her. [color=skyblue][b]“Hi Jan!”[/b][/color] Ted called out, to anounce his presence, before she’d see them in case she wasn’t expecting him and he startled her. [color=greenyellow]“Hi Jan!”[/color] The robot clanked past the human pair and greeted her. [color=greenyellow]“I don’t suppose you have any pics of yourself..?”[/color] [color=skyblue]“Hup, Hank. You missed one.”[/color] Ted called out. [color=red]“Oh, he’s still doing it.”[/color] Hank said, disappointed, pulling out a smart device and going back through L-Ron’s subroutines via Bluetooth. Ted looked over his shoulder at the operating system Hank was using to run L-Ron. [color=yellow][b]“Hello Ted, I take it you’re here to help with the Scott Lang situation?”[/b][/color] Jan called out, from places unseen within the complex. [color=skyblue][b]“I am. And to see whatever Hank’s cooked up for you. He’s been keeping it a secret while you’ve been out.”[/b][/color] Ted called back. [color=yellow][b]“Well, in Hank’s defense he wouldn’t have been able to show you while I was out. Just give me a few seconds to get changed and I’ll be right with you!”[/b][/color] She called back. Ted kept walking through the house. [color=skyblue][b]“That’s fine. Whenever you’re ready.”[/b][/color] He got towards the front door and saw a pile of cloth on the floor. Out of curiosity he walked to the front of the house and crouched down to inspect it. He picked it up. It was a dress. Had she just-- stripped down at the door..? [color=yellow][b]“You know, if you sniff that Ted, we can’t be friends anymore.”[/b][/color] Joked the two inch model dressed in a form fitting black and yellow number, flying right next to his ear. [color=skyblue][b]“Gah!”[/b][/color] He fell out of his crouch into a sprawl on the floor.