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[sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E   ‘ E M B A S S Y ‘[/b][/color][/h3][/sub][hr][sup][color=darkgray]Earlier This Week  |   Manhattan, New York[/color][/sup]

Ted and Janet both stepped out of the Bug carrying boxes, followed by a clanking L-Ron.

[color=yellow][b]“You’ve got a lot of... stuff... here, Ted.”[/b][/color]

[color=skyblue]“I caught the implication there, Jan.  You meant ‘shit’.”[/color]

[color=yellow][b]“Good.  You were meant to.”[/b][/color]  She said, puffing slightly.

[color=skyblue]“I’m just moving some day to day stuff, and things that connect my other life to the Blue Beetle.  You know, the kind of things that might be hard to explain if I have house guests, when there’s a guy running around in a costume calling himself ‘Blue Beetle’.”[/color]

Ted reached inside his box and pulled out the perspex box containing the blue scarab artifact.

[color=skyblue]“Things like this.”[/color]  He lobbed Janet the box with a grin.  [color=skyblue]“That could potentially be quite the conversation starter these days, if people see that on my mantle.  I can imagine I’ll be dodging quite a few awkward questions by having it here instead.”[/color]

Janet, hefted her heavy box onto one shoulder and grabbed at the perspex box which had been tossed to her.  She bobbled it a few times from trying to do too much at once  before getting a good grip on it.

[color=yellow][b]“Careful.  This thing looks expensive.”[/b][/color]  She said.

[color=skyblue]“Relax, I’ve had it since I was a boy, Jan.  That thing’s been dropped more often than OsCorp release deadlines.”[/color]

Jan looked perplexed at Ted.

[color=skyblue]“...Please don’t tell Norman I said that.  The man’s in terminal need of a humour transplant.”[/color]

She looked closely at the artifact.  [color=yellow][b]“Still, it’s very beautiful.  Can’t be too careful.”[/b][/color]  She put it on the top of her already full box and the pair kept walking to the front door with L-Ron clanking along behind them.

[color=yellow][b]“It’s pretty impressive how fast you were able to put all this together.”[/b][/color]

[color=skyblue]“The land was the main thing.  Expensive in the inner city, I’ve had the plans in my mind for a long time.  So it was never going to take long for the design to come together.”[/color]

The clanking had stopped, the pair turned around to see L-Ron holding the perspex box with the azure artifact.

[color=skyblue]“Oh.  It fell out.”[/color]  Ted said.

Jan lowered her box to make an easier target for the robot.

[color=skyblue]“L-Ron, hey, throw it in.”[/color]  Said Ted.

The robot didn’t respond, seeming confused.  Looking from the pair, to the perspex box.

[color=yellow][b]“L-Ron!  Throw it!  This is heavy.”[/b][/color]

The robot considered what was being said, and then suddenly the arm holding the box started to spin 360 degrees at the shoulder socket, growing faster and faster.

[color=skyblue]“Hey, whoa.  Easy now.”[/color]  Ted said with concern, palms out in a calming gesture.

The arm was a blur.  L-Ron released and the scarab soared over the pair, Ted flinched and ducked instinctively even though the box flew more than a few yards over their heads.

He turned and watched it fly past, over the compound’s fence and away, off into the distance.

[color=GreenYellow]“L-Ron has thrown it.  The box will get no heavier.”[/color]  The robot explained his action.

[color=yellow][b]“Maybe it’s still ok?”[/b][/color]  Janet looked off in the direction it had gone.

Ted sighed.  [color=skyblue]“My uncle gave me that…”[/color]

[color=yellow][b]“We’ll just put the boxes inside and go look for it.”[/b][/color]  Jan reassured him.

But this wouldn’t be the day they found it again...

[hr]

[sub][h3][color=SKYBLUE][b]T H E   A B O D 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]

Janet fluttered around Ted, whilst he slowly found his way back to his feet.

[color=yellow][b]“So what do you think?”[/b][/color]  She landed on a table and showed off a few different angles of her costume.

[color=skyblue]“I’d say it’s a bit on the small size, but just like everything else you put on you’ve found a way to make it work.”[/color]  The diminutive designer/model laughed at Ted’s joke.

[color=skyblue]“So I take it the logic is we have someone small to be able to take it to Scott on his own terms?”[/color]

[color=red]“Something like that.”[/color]  Hank explained.  [color=red]“But Jan’s suit has a few other features that Scott’s doesn’t.  Obviously the wings, which enable controlled flight, but she also has use of some bio-electric ‘stingers’ to go with the motif.”[/color]

[color=skyblue]“The bumblebee?”[/color]

[color=yellow][b]“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘wasp’.”[/b][/color]

[color=skyblue]“Well, sure, but I don’t think you need to go waving Jan’s white anglo saxon privil--!  Ah!”[/color]

Janet let Ted have it with both stingers.

[color=yellow][b]“Stingers work fine, Hank...  I knew you’d go making that joke the second you heard the codename, Ted.”[/b][/color]

[color=skyblue]“Sorry.  I need to get a writing staff.  Until then, we’ll just have to occasionally accept I lean into the obvious gag from time to time, when you do something like call yourself ‘WASP’.”[/color]

[color=yellow][b]“Well, I have limited options when I’m looking to not clash with someone who calls themself something like ‘Blue Beetle’.”[/b][/color]  She replied with no small measure of snark.

Hank opened up his tablet and checked the real time diagnostics on her suit.

[color=red]“Stingers re-charging, eighty-five, ninety, ninety-six… stingers fully re-charged.  Now be mindful of what I said, Jan.  If you overuse your stingers you can stall your flight.  If you max out your use at 30% remaining power, you should still have standard flight capabilities, any more than that and you’ll have to be mindful of any aerial manouevers you’re attempting.”[/color]  Hank clarified the suits limitations.  [color=red]“I will be in contact with you over the ear-piece.”[/color]

[color=skyblue]“What bandwidth?”[/color]  Asked Ted.  [color=skyblue]“I have my own inside the cowl as well.”[/color]

[color=red]“It’s an encrypted line.”[/color]  Replied Hank.  [color=red]“I could give you the bandwidth, but it would only be garbled.  We’ll set everyone up on a single line next time, once I have more time to establish one.  For now, just stay in close contact and relay messages through Jan.”[/color]

The pair checked their equipment.  Ted checked his new fully functional B.B Gun, and his cartridges.

[color=red]“I mean it Jan, know the limitations of your suit’s design and don’t overtax the stingers.  And Ted, make sure she comes back ok.”[/color]

[color=skyblue]“Don’t worry, if she runs out of magic pixie dust I’ll just have her think more happy thoughts.  Right, Tink?”[/color]  He smirked at Janet.

[color=yellow][b]“It’s a Catch-22.  My happy thoughts are having fully charged stingers so I can get you back for jokes like that one...”[/b][/color]  Janet smirked right back.

[color=skyblue]“See?  We’re all on the same page already.”[/color]  Ted said, turning to Hank.  [color=skyblue]“So where’s Scotty 2 Robbery?”[/color]

[color=red]“Burglary.”[/color]  Hank corrected.  [color=red]“Robbery is a different crime, he--”[/color]

[color=skyblue]“Hank, please don’t edit my jokes for accuracy.  Sometimes you’ve just got to roll with the gist of the message...”[/color]  

[color=yellow][b]“Crossroads Innovations.”[/b][/color]  Janet responded.  [color=yellow][b]“He hasn’t returned here since the-- burglary.”[/b][/color]  Hank nodded with a satisfied smile.  [color=yellow][b]“But after making a few calls, I’ve been able to glean that he’s still been going in to Crossroads, where he’s also been contracted out to clean.  They say he hasn’t missed a day there, even in the past when he’s called in sick at other locations he’s still kept those bookings.”[/b][/color]

[color=skyblue]“Crossroads?”[/color]  Clarified Ted.  [color=skyblue]“Well, we’ve got an intersection point, if you’ll pardon the pun.  We know where he’s going to be then, so we can scoop him up when he’s unaccompanied, question him and make him give back what he stole.”[/color]  Ted outlined the plan.

[color=skyblue]“You can leave your car in the garage,”[/color] Ted explained, as he took off his outer clothes revealing his Blue Beetle outfit underneath, [color=skyblue]“I brought mine.”[/color]

[color=yellow][b]“You didn’t?!”[/b][/color]  Jan gasped excited.  Then squealed.

Ted’s only response was a wink as he pulled his cowl down over his face.

Hank and Jan rushed out to the front of their house.  Ted walked slowly through the house behind them with the clanking cumbersome robot in tow.

[color=yellow][b]“Where?”[/b][/color]  Jan asked, scanning the skies.  [color=yellow][b]“Can you see it, Hank?”[/b][/color]

[color=red]“No.  Not yet, Jan.”[/color]

Ted walked through the front door fiddling with the remote controls on the back of his glove.

[color=skyblue]“If you can’t see it now, you’re not gonna.”[/color]  Ted smiled at the rare occasion he could get one over his brilliant friend.

A line seemed to descend from nowhere, as Ted grabbed the skywire and turned to Jan.

[color=skyblue]“I want you to follow me up, flying slow.  The last thing I want is another flying bug smeared against the paintwork.  I just cleaned it up after the whole drone fiasco the other week.”[/color]  He stuck out his tongue in jest, leaning into his joke.

Jan stuck her tongue out right back at him.  [color=yellow][b]“I’ll see you when we get back, Hank!  We’re going to get your stuff!”[/b][/color]

And the two heroes ascended until they disappeared into the unseen airship, leaving the genius and his robot all alone on the compound’s lawn.