2740/There's Got to be a Morning After

There's Got to be a Morning After
Date of Scene:	02 August 2020
Location:	Nadia's new room in stately Pym manor, Creskill New Jersey.
Synopsis:	Sometimes the hardest battle you can fight is to not do evil.
Cast of Characters:	Hank Pym, Nadia Pym-van Dyne

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Hank Pym has posed:
It's going to be a nice room. Nadia just has to decorate it. The bed and furnishings are top notch. There's even a dedicated workstation worthy of a SHIELD director. The lone exception is a large plush wasp (or bee, hard to tell, nah it's a wasp of course) tossed into the bed with Nadia. Hank is cautious. He felt the defense mechanism he nearly triggered the other day, lifting her onto a counter. He saw what she did when she threw a fit. So putting her to bed was one thing. Tasking her arm and putting it around a wasp pillow was another.

He could really use a drink as he sits there sipping his tea and eating a turnover.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia turns over in her bed and hugs the plush wasp in her sleep. She is very much a hug person, likely due to being starved for any sort of physical affection her entire life until she escape.

It's almost eerie, when she is there sleeping she seems so innocent, you would never this girl sent upwards of a dozen mutants to the hospital in a fit of anger the night before, some of whom will likely need reconstructive surgery in order to walk again.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym finds this a perfect moment for the Scientific Adventurer Prayer, "Please Lord, don't let me fuck this up." He looks at her again seeing her mother and yes, the unmistakable Pym stamp, poor kid. Maria was smart and beautiful. For a moment, he hates every bit of himself he sees in her. This is not Hank Pym or Ant-Man or Giant Man. He saw Yellowjacket in her when she was fighting. SHIELD is not getting her. If they have to live in the Microverse they are not getting her. Every instinct tells him, she's good, he can get her beyond this. Caution be damned, he reaches with his bandaged hand to brush the hair from his daughter's face. Maybe a little caution, Jan sometimes freaked when he'd do that.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia's eyes snap open, from the shallow state of post-REM sleep she was in, when her face is touched. One hand, quick as can be, darts up to grab her father's wrist in her vice-like grip. Were it most other people terrible things might have followed, but as her eyes come into focus and she sees it is her father her arm drops limply back to her side on the bed and she grimaces at the reflexive reaction. One can only guess how the students of the Red Room might have been woken up in the morning.

"I'm a monster." is a apparently her version of 'good morning' today.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym hisses as his burns are roughed up. His response is to sit on the edge of her bed an open his arms to her. "It a common reaction to act defensive when rudely awakened. your mother... bit me once. But, your hair was falling in your face. You're not a monster. You do this because you were raised to do it. I made my mistakes by personal choice. Anyway I'm keeping you. Anybody who messes with that gets to see a paramecium face to face. You are not a monster. You are beautiful... just you were lost before. Now you're found but getting over your previous life is not easily done. Believe me I know. Your daddy is uniquely suited to understand you. Are you going to hug me or let me keep talking? I can talk all day."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"I hurt those people really badly." Nadia says looking away perhaps to hide the anguish and uncertainty written across her face, "That's not what heroes do. I just... the machine was breaking and I just wanted to fix it... and they kept stopping me, trying to take the thing we needed to help hundreds of thousands, Lorna said millions in Genosha, why should they do that?" She takes a deep breath before letting it out as a sigh, "But does that mean I should injure them to the point some may never walk again?" Guilt, so much guilt, even in the face of tremendous accomplishment.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym does brush that hair from her face then. "You broke a couple knee caps. They will recover. There is that. And no, you shouldn't injure anyone to that point. This is why you have stingers that work like tasers. As for being a hero... maybe you concentrate on being a sixteen year old girl, albeit a scientific prodigy, for a while? Maybe you need to take things a little slower. You've done so much already. You escpaed, hacked Pym particles, rescued me, you rebuilt the size morpher. Maybe you should get used to living your life and not be thrown into combat every minute."

"You messed up. But those... terrorists might have destroyed the means of rescuing those poor people or detonated Shuri's power system and killed thousands. You tried to get them out of the way, the way you were trained. Your teachers didn't teach you nonlethal subdual techniques."

"Baby, I need to explain a terrible truth all Pyms need to learn. We don't know everything," he concludes. Something wet hits Nadia's face. then another.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"It's not the first time it has happened." Nadia confesses, "When I get like that... I don't know why I get like that... it seems to make sense in the moment but then I realize what I've done and it feels terrible." She turns back to look at her father again, "What's wrong with me? I just want to help people but I seem to keep hurting them... you say they made me that way but what if it's just the way I am? Maybe SHIELD is right about me being dangerous, maybe you would be better off without me..." This kid who often seems to have all the answers for once has none of them and finds herself completely lost as a result.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym puts his arms around Nadia practically picking her up. he does this very slowly and deliberately, not wanting to startle her and ruin a precious moment with a broken jaw or smashed knee cap. "Yes. I would be better off coming home to this empty house. Wait, I'd be dead from Pymtron poisoning. The Avengers would be dealing with Pymtron invading, maybe lobbing nukes, house would be splinters. Listen, you came and rescued me, now I help you. Sometimes the Universe works things out. We need to get you tested for bipolar syndrome because what you're saying sounds like me... only no one understood bipolar syndrome when it got really bad for me. I... I thought I was reacting to some gases I was exposed to!"

"I love you, baby. This is the first of many times I will be telling you that. You and I, we're going to argue, drive each other nuts and pull each other off the edge of a cliff. We are definitely not here to make each other's life easier. But we make them better, if that makes sense. And don't you ever... ever say I'm better off without you or assassin training or not, I will... I will embarrass the shit out of you in front off Bobbi, Janet and those Titans. We're talking belt up under the pectoral muscles, picket protector, thick glasses... Jerry Lewis mimicry." And maybe not totally appropriate but he starts to tickle ribs. Is she even ticklish? Meh, something has to break this heavy, sad tension.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia allows herself to be moved, resting her head on her father's shoulder as she listens to him, she can't really argue with the logic of what would have happened if she hadn't intervened to rescue Hank from PymTron. "That's quite a name." she says after Hank dubs the thing PymTron, "I don't know what happened on that world but I don't want you to ever end up like that thing." she hugs him, whatever she may be in the end she is a hug person. "Maybe I should be tested. Sometimes it seems like my brain just doesn't work right." Hank earns himself an off look when he talks about how he would embarass Nadia in front of her friends. It may dawn on him that she has no frame of reference for why any of this should be embarassing. She also doesn't seem to be ticklish, but she does manage a weak smile. She knows he means well even if she doesn't fully understand.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym holds Nadia at arms length and asks, "You trust me right? You are only sixteen. I could order these tests for you as your guardian (soon to be legal parent). I am not going to demand this but... you need to be tested for bipolar syndrome and get a whole psychological profile. I've felt the way you felt. It sucks. We can make it better. I mean... when I'm depressed. I'd sit around and think and blammo, I get ideas! When I'm manic, I throw together the stuff I imagine. You just need to monitor the serotonin levels. Unlike me, you have a dad who knows this stuff. So you want to listen to the voice of experience and start some testing and get treated? You will feel better and... I will be here."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia gives a small nod of her head, "Of course I trust you. You're my Dad, a genuine hero and the grestest scientist in the world."

She lets out another sigh, "I think I need help. I want to get tested." For all that she just woke up, she still seems exhausted, emotionally drained by the past twenty four hours. It is also likely the consquences of burning the candle at both ends for a month straight are coming home to roost.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym does a sort of stealth eye wipe. "See? You /are/ smarter than me. Took forever to get me on the couch... the analyst couch... here in America, when we receive psychological therapy we often lay down on couches and tell our problems. You tilt your head just like your mom... adorable. I think you shuld let me bring you breakfast in bed and we should both kick back and be lazy today... maybe watch some awful monster movies. And when you feel better... I'll tell you about your mom. She was an amazing woman. Oh and... Reed Richards is smarter than me too. I make all the wicked cool stuff. And I gave my girlfriend super powers on purpose... without side effects. "

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia gives her father another hug before releasing him so he can go and make said breakfast, switching to snuggling the large plush wasp once more instead and getting comfortable under the covers again, "Yeah... I think I would like that. Maybe I can just rest today, there's still Genosha and I promised Lorna I would help her people, but maybe just for today I can rest. I want to eat your food and hear about Mom." she seems sceptical that Reed Richard is indeed smarter than her father, in her mind he's probably just being modest.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym gets up to leave. He gives Nadia an okay gesture. Breakfast. Obviously a microwaved burrito will not do... or cold pizza. French toast should be doable. The internet is my friend. I hope the ants didn't get into the syrup again. Damn, no industrial press /or/ plasma tap here. Substandard kitchen. Oh, quick trip to Subatomica for that fruit I like. She'll love it and... I need to order her some more stuffed animals. She is so good for me. I think that says even more than 'I love you.'

At the door he turns to his adorable, unstable daughter and says, "I love you, Baby Wasp."