4126/Singularity

Singularity
Date of Scene:	14 November 2020
Location:	Hank Pym's basement laboratory, Cresskill New Jersey. early evening.
Synopsis:	Nadia catches Hank on a bad day in almost every way.
Cast of Characters:	Hank Pym, Nadia Pym-van Dyne

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Hank Pym has posed:
Few people understand Hank Pym. In fact, few care too, though that may be changing. Abrasive, sometimes abusive, he often demanded respect instead of bother to earn it. Maybe he can change. Maybe oxygen can spontaneously convert to gold. Such an event is not impossible under quantum physics, merely incredibly rare. Some people would rank its chances as substantially better tan Hank becoming a people person.

The lab is spotless and in complete order. This indicates Hank is working on something incredible important. It's when the lab is messy that he's just screwing around. A huge tablet mounted on a wall shows a complex array of equations, softly glowing. Other than that...

A capsule in a corner blinks its sensors, then emits an alert charm. Perhaps sharp young ears could catch that. After a moment a window in the capsule emits a blaze of light and its hatch swings open.
5rHank was a little dismayed to learn this device looked like the teleport chamber in 'The Fly.'

Light streams out of the hatch as it opens and Hank Pym half steps, half stumbles out of the device. He's wearing little, shorts and a complex silver wrist band about sums it up. He reels and grabs a counter, hunched over it. Pym gasps for breath.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Here, there, and everywhere. Lately Nadia has been all over the place, whether at the Titans tower or the Pym Technologies campus setting up lab space for her new G.I.R.L. initiative or even Jupiter using that fancy new propulsion system she managed to design for the Titans' T-Jet. But as spread out as her activities have been she always finds time to stop back at the house in Cresskill, whether for a bit of rest and a home cooked meal or just to make sure her father hasn't torn a gaping hole in the fabric of space and time /again/.

So it is that Nadia comes down the stairs into her father's basement laboratory. She is out of her Waspette armor for a change, dressed in a pair of skinny black jeans and a black T-shirt with the words 'Just A Girl That Loves Hornets' in bright pink lettering with an accompanying picture of a pink wasp. Her boots clunk on the stairs announcing her arrival even before she is actually in sight.

Entering the lab Nadia looks around, for a moment she seems to be trying to remember if she has ever seen her father's lab so tidy before, hopefully he hasn't been replaced by an overly neat evil doppleganger while she was gone. That is when she sees the capsule lightshow and Hank emerge gasping for breath and bracing himself on a table. "Oh no, Dad are you okay?! What are you doing?!" Concern is evident in her voice.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym remains hunched over and says a little roughly, "Not. OK. Getting better! Particle control was slipping, they were unconstrained... killing me. But I figured out... why... cure was harder. May not work indefinitely... may not be practical. God... is that display right? I was in that blasted thing for two days. No wonder I'm hungry. Uhm... could you maybe hand me that robe over there?" He gestures at the robe, almost toppling. "I'm not ready to receive company... Sorry."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
There is a moment where Nadia is frozen, a split second while her mind sorts through a dozen possible courses of action while processing the scene before her and the situation that her father seems to be in. "I'm calling Bobbi and Janet." she informs Hank as she hands him the robe. "You stay there, sit down before you collapse, they should know what to do." She pulls out the glowing electronic rectangle that is her smart phone and begins placing the calls.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym gets up, breathing more normally now. Nadia might be surprised by his expression. Has she ever seen him angry? No. He glares at her and tries to put his hand over the phone, to interrupt the call. "I said get me the goddamn robe! They can't do anything here! This is our field, Pym Particles. We are Pyms... oh sorry -Pym and Pym-van Dyne! I do not need Janet to come in here and take charge or Bobbi, SHIELD's watchdog over Pym." He doesn't get the phone of course. Maybe on his best day but this is far from his best. He instead straightens up and stares at his daughter, looking her in the eyes.

Their eyes are on the same level. Actually, maybe her eyes are a little higher, curse those boots.

Hank Pym sinks into a chair, heavily and shuts his eyes, "Don't call them. I don't want to see them. Call Tony... or Richards, Reed or Valeria, but not them. Please. If this isn't a metaphor for my Goddamn life..."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
It can be easy to forget that Nadia has some of the same training as Natasha. Her expression still looks concerned though suddenly there is stiff resistance as well. This tone might have been a mistake with the girl raised in the Red Room, a girl who's primary associations with yelling include beatings and soviet torture. "And I said sit down before you hurt yourself. This is exactly what you tell me never to do. You're in no condition to help yourself and I am not the biologist that Bobbi is. But she's not answering anyway."

When Hank finally sinks into a chair Nadia also relaxes slightly. She's never seen her father like this and she clearly doesn't like it. "Valeria and her Dad have been off doing something for awhile now and getting a hold of Tony is next to impossible."

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym doesn't waver. He's seen Natasha do this before after all. Locking eyes again he seems to calm down. "All right then, next to. me, you're the one best suited to understand this. My recent illness was caused by Pym Particles affecting my nervous system. I found the cause... you're going to laugh at tis, wait for it... it was my BPD medications. Once I cut them out and purge the last of them from my system, I should be better. I have this bracelet to regulate my blue and red particles to prevent anymore seizures. The height variations... well nothing I make really works as I want it, robots, particles... Wasps. Come over by me please. I missed you. I... you have so many people vying for your time... I haven't even had you that long and I'm going to lose you." He reaches a hand out to the stern girl.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia takes a deep breath as she struggles to get a handle on her emotions. Mindfulness, that's what her therapist keeps telling her. There is still a stiffness to her as she walks over as she tries to override the internal survival mechanisms of her previous life. "If you cut out your BPD medications, won't that cause other problems?" She has witnessed first had what untreated BPD did to her own brain, there is a very real reticence to the idea of Hank leaving his unchecked. It seems like a short term solution at best.

Eventually Nadia does allow herself to be drawn into a hug. "Lose me? I'm not going anywhere. There's just lots of people who need my help and so many things to experience. I spent sixteen years in a bunker prison school, it's nice to get out and explore."

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym gets up to wrap his arms around his daughter. "Yes. I remember." He hugs her tightly resting his chin on her shoulder a moment and not caring if he looks silly. He reaches very carefully to touch her cheek and pat it in a bid for understanding. The bracelet on his wrist twinkles. "I'm sorry I yelled and cursed at you. You certainly had enough of that it's just... tis could be hard for you to listen to but, I don't exactly have a filter right now... I don't feel like I'm a good dad for you. I felt like I should've told you a couple times I didn't like things and I didn't because I was scared. Losing you is the only thing I'm scared of honey and when is this fucking bracelet going to kick in? Anyway... I feel like... you needed Giant-Man to survive but those days are past and I wasn't the person you wanted to teach you to live. In hindsight it's obvious. You made yourself into a Wasp... not an Ant-Girl. Janet... well Janet loves you. She can do more for you than I can... she has done more for you... the hospital, the Waspette Figures and royalties, the GIRL Lab."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia in true teenage fashion winds up rolling her eyes, no matter the upbringing somehow this trait is innate to all of them. "You're my dad. Nothing is going to change that, it doesn't matter what you do or don't do. I moved Heaven and Earth to find you and now I'm trying to find me. For sixteen years in the Red Room there was no me, there was only what they wanted me to be. I'm still not even really sure who me is, but I'm hoping to figure that out. Yes, Janet and I are very close, I can only assume she's like Mom because I'll never truly know her but right now Janet is the closest thing I have to a living Mom and I treasure that, just like I treasure having a father. Money is just something Janet is good at, Science is something you're good at, which is why Pym Tech needs both of you. I've been learning a bit about what goes into public labs recently and wow my head was spinning. I'm a trained assassin and a pretty good scientist, what I need aren't things, what I need in my life are people, living people. You, Janet, my friends in the Titans, the members of GIRL, the Avengers, my other friends, everyone. After being locked away for so long what I need is people. You're not going to lose me, you just might need to share a bit and let me find myself."

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym looks Nadia in the eyes... wait he has to look downward a little now, success? He sighs deeply. "It's hard to share when you have no one else. I have no one else. I'm sorry I put that on you. I won't again. I'm going to get my head together too. I met a wonderful musician who has helped me through some dark spots with his music... there are other ways to deal with this problem. I'll find them for me and for you. I feel like I'm one of those black holes, sucking in all manner of information and then spewing it all out as they evaporate. Anyway... let's get some lunch and I can tell you how this bracelet works. It's called a singularity field despite making me your size, or Jennifer's size at odd times... I no longer have pain or seizures. I guess my stuff does work."

"I love you Nadia. remember that. Even at your worst, I love you. Sometimes I may blurt out what I'm thinking but it's not what I'm feeling. Blackholes are just unpredictable when they blow."