Appropriations [Open]

[Martyr]

YELLOWJACKET in

APPROPRIATIONS

🐝
*Should be registered unless in disguise/gate crashing*

---

"Why am I even here?", Hank thought to himself. For once, the original Avenger wasn't haven't self-destructive doubts about his own place among his teammates. It was more of a question of priorities. He was a scientist. His place was in a lab, not standing around dressed to the nines to try to make sure the feds didn't try to do anything more onerous to them than registration.

He was out of uniform, mostly. His face was entirely visible, as was his somewhat unkempt blond hair. He wondered if he'd be mistaken for Steve by some particularly unobservant person. He wore a black tuxedo and matching bowtie, with a little yellowjacket lapel. His right ear had an earpiece in it so he communicate with any ants around the facility should the need arise. Hopefully it hadn't been sprayed recently.

This particular gathering was held at the Brooklyn Museum. They figured dignitaries, superheroes, and government types could avoid damaging all those paintings and sculptures.

Pym flagged down one of the servers for a pair of mini tacos.

Template adapted from Silv.

[Judi Strange]

---

---

    This had been a horrible mistake, she knew it then and she knew it now more than ever, Carol stood off to the side watching the talking heads go on about appropriations, registration and one rather slimy guy in an Armani that reeked of too much Santal 33 wondering if She-Hulk was going to be here or any of the hot, fun girls.


No, for Carol Danvers, know to the world at large lately by some variant of the title "The Problematic Captain Marvel" this made Basic look like a sleepaway camp. Off to the side is exactly where she felt she could get the least amount of attention and that was just fine with her. It felt utterly alien to be without her helmet around so many people, the helmet offered a sense of distance, a deflection form the stares and sometimes less than gracious responses to her since the McKinney incident.


Normally, she'd agree with greasy Armani guy, she would so very much rather She-Hulk were here for the dog and pony show All the ogling and the false honor and respect these types doled out didn't reach Jennifer it seemed, she could swim in that lake untouched- it was apparently a very subtle one of her superpowers. No, she agreed to this, pursued it at the behest of her court mandated therapist.


The clinical term her shrink gave her recent days since the trial was "Social withdrawal" -rather an acute one really- according to the very same, very well thought of doctor. The description offered played out in her mind as the waiters went on serving drinks and the murmur of mingling heightened -She could smell it in the air, the mingle of people and alcohol- she knew it very, very well and it did little to relax her already up guard.

"Club Soda" she requested when it came her turn, but times like these had her firmly eyeing the Glenlivet that mercilessly happened to also be on the tray when the soda was delivered. Now, in this moment she wanted two things both were a very unfortunate choice, either the scotch or her helmet- both were the very worst remedy.

 

Carols Theme song: Metric:Black Sheep 
Heroes: Magik |Captain Marvel| She-Hulk | Pixie | Jean Grey | 
Villains: Spiral | Typhoid Mary | White Rabbit 

[aquarius]

Tapping away at her custom tablet, the young redhead in the wheelchair and simple black dress confirmed her calculations were correct. The only way having to be here could get any worse would be if some idiot started a super powered fight. Something which she quietly considered to be over fifty percent probability.

She'd been picked as a representative of the Fire Department by some senior figure who had never actually met her before he turned up at the station to tell her, and thought Gabby would enjoy spending time around "other super heroes".

Gabby had almost quit on the spot. But after she'd finished swearing in a variety of languages (hopefully he didn't speak any of them, or she'd possibly be in trouble over that) one of the station crew who knew her fairly well who had been reading through the basic info packet she'd thrown aside said three words that had gotten her interest enough to reluctantly agree to attend.

"Who's Hank Pym?"

He knew, of course. And Gabby knew that he knew. But Dr Pym was one of the most brilliant minds alive, far beyond that weapons making ego on armoured legs Tony Stark, and as far as she was concerned probably an equal of Reed Richards. The possibility of getting to discuss proper science with him was vanishingly small of course, but people won the lottery each week.

Of course, the possibility of having to interact with the mass murderer Carol Danvers was apparently also very real. Someone who had not only killed the population of a town not all that far from Gabby's home in Texas, but also beat her best friend into unconsciousness, someone who SHIELD had denied any knowledge of, and had not been seen since.

So Gabby sat there in a formal outfit which had cost more than she normally spent on clothes in a month, something she'd probably never wear again, one hand tapping away on her tablet and the other holding a glass of water from which she took an occasional sip. Currently she was scrolling through the last few pages of Dr Pym's most recent paper on manipulation of spatial dimension energies. Stopping occasionally to update her notes in another tab, hopefully nobody without a PhD or a tray of food would bother her before she could get away with leaving early.

[Rift]

Tony Stark sat in the spacious backseat of the custom-made limousine he'd had made back when he had time to worry about such frivolous things and smiled as he watched a screen. The newscast was muted but he already knew what it would be saying. It was a live report detailing how Iron Man had just rescued a woman from falling from the Golden Gate Bridge following a hostage situation thought to be linked to the Maggia. All suspects were in custody and the woman was being checked for any potential injuries. Iron Man of course hadn't stuck around for an interview, instead giving a mock salute to the press on scene before rocketing away.

In truth Tony was nowhere near the scene. An older set of armor had launched from a property in California while Stark controlled it's actions from thousands of miles away with only a slight headache to show for it. The Neuromimetic Telepresence Unit as he had called it back in the days when the world thought Iron Man was merely a paid bodyguard had been tweaked over the years, but even now that it was well known it was Tony Stark himself beneath the armor it had its uses. Made even simpler and more effective when integrated with the Extremis coursing through him it allowed him to control armor at great distances, essentially letting him be in two places at once. It was a useful tool now more than ever thanks to his duties as the co-director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

These days I spend more time navigating red tape, reading intel reports, and making nice with desk jockey politicians than I do suiting up, he thought with a frown.

Ever since the Registration Act and all the drama that had come from it there were days where he felt less like a hero and more like a babysitter, trying his best to get the suit and tie crowd in Washington and beyond to cooperate and not expand the act any further while still mending fences with the super powered community and doing his best to ignore the unregistered where possible. That was on top of suiting up as Iron Man whenever he was needed and trying to sneak away to a garage for a few hours a week to keep innovating. Heck, some days he didn't even sleep as the things pressing on his time increased seemingly by the hour. It didn't help that his "Dark Avengers" project had to be carried out with the utmost, well, secrecy and unlike the beauty beside him he was not a spy.

Gotta remember to not lose track of the important things, to dedicate time to all aspects of my life and not let things fall to the wayside.

He smiled at the thought, glancing at the woman next to him. Sure, this party was work related and the hob knobbing with politicians and military folks was to be expected, but at the same time it was important to show the skeptics that superhumans were still human and that pro-registration had perks. There was no better way to do that than to be seen out with his fiancée. Plus, it afforded Stark the chance to make it up to Natasha. He'd been so focused on saving the world that he'd barely had time to spend with the future Mrs. Stark.

To think, I used to thrive on shindigs like this. Granted my parties had better guests, better music, and had a habit of making the news, but still. I lived for this junk and now I need my emotional support assassin to just make it through an evening with General Whatshisnuts and Senator Hypocrite, he thought.

As the car came to a stop he sighed, straitened his tie, and flashed a smile at Natasha. He did love to make an entrance and this time there was no need for fireworks, music, or fancy tech. Not with the Black Widow on his arm.

"So what do you say we make an appearance, shake the right hands, smile for the cameras, and dip out early? With any luck we can be out in under an hour. Should be long enough to satisfy the military brass in attendance, show support for Carol, and worse case scenario we leave Pym to wow the crowds with epic tales of shrinkage...okay yeah I heard it as it came out, scratch that. At any rate I sincerely doubt anyone will be talking shop. They'll be too mesmerized by you."

[zania]

I don't really know why I can't let it go,
Why I can't let it go sometimes
Caught up in this spider web

---

Patrick walked into the museum dressed in a black tux and tie. It wasn't often that he could wear something like this, but it also wasn't often that he attended an event such as this either. Most of the time he spent patrolling, working out, or trying to study and learn as much as he could in the hopes that, one day, he could become a full Avenger.

Considering his limited social exposure with high class and big scale events such as this, it had been suggested he attend this gathering. Honestly, he felt a bit out of place with what he was wearing, but one thing that left him feeling not as awkward was the fact that he had the Iron Spider on too. It was deactivated, but if something were to happen that threatened the lives of the attendees or the art and artifacts within the museum, he could activate it with a thought and immediately go into action.

As he walked around, he tried to see who he recognized that he might gravitate toward in order to chat with. He spotted Firestar, but he knew that she still had concerns about him because of his origins so it was best to avoid her. But he did see Tony Stark and . . . Gabby! With being in prison as he had been, he hadn't had much time to be able to see her. He just hoped that she wouldn't turn him away tonight if he made his way over to talk.

---

Spider web
This spider web of life

---

That light shone through
Like that fire star
This time not a light from afar

---

Angelica walked into the museum, wearing a one shoulder black gown with gold trim that looked almost like flames, and a belted half-cape that hung around her hips and created a trail behind her as she walked. It was a very elegant combination that fit the event perfectly. And, if desired she could remove the half cape and the dress would look just as amazing.

Art had been her first major in college, along with art history, before she switched to physics, so being here was like coming home in a way. While she was registered now since becoming an active Avenger again, her identity was still a secret so she could protect her dad. His life had been endangered a few times because of those who learned her identity so she needed to make sure that it never got out that plain old Angelica Jones really was Firestar.

As she walked further into the museum, she spotted Hank Pym who developed the bio-feedback suit that helped to kickstart her natural immunity to her powers. She also saw Carol, who quit the team followed by Hawkeye, allowing her and Vance to become full Avengers instead of just reservists.

She spotted Tony, but also another figure that she wanted to avoid at all costs. The other seemed to be willing to give Patrick a chance, but she had too many reservations about him to be able to trust him. She didn't know why the others were so willing to trust him, but it didn't sit well with her and she also didn't like the fact that after the one dinner he knew her identity.

For now, she walked toward Hank hoping to be able to talk to him for now . . .

---

It was a heavenly glow
From the angel's eyes

[Super Chick]

Natasha sat staring out the limousine's darkened window for much of the ride to the museum. She was no stranger to parties with very powerful and influential people so very little about tonight's affair brought her excitement. The only thing interesting to her this evening was the man seated beside her. Despite the fact that they worked for the exact same organizations, the couple had been estranged of late due to their work taking them to different time zones or otherwise distracting them. Similar to this car ride, she supposed. Natasha knew the look of a man whose attention was controlling his AIs far away. It was something to which she had become acutely aware and accustomed. And, even if it had been inconvenient at times, saving lives was not something she would begrudge her lover.

The elegant spy became equally aware of this when his attention returned to the car. She turned and grinned at her fiance when he looked at her. The smile he wore was from a thought he had rather than the sight of her - unless they were the same. The woman inside hoped they were but the spy remained skeptical. Her green-blue eyes made their way over him in appraisal. He certainly cut a fine line in a tux. It was one of the perks of attending these soirees. He got to put on a dapper suit and tie and she got to remove it later. Her lip ticked a little further upward at the thought and she was rewarded with a genuine, present smile from Tony whose mind appeared to be on the same wavelength.

"Flattery will get you everything," she replied while letting herself bask in his attention. She leaned over and kissed him. "I can't take you anywhere," she mused, still centimeters from his lips. She straightened the tie that he'd just made crooked in an attempt to prepare for their exit, then slid back to her seat. "I don't expect much attention tonight from anyone but you. After all, you see one Widow in a black dress, and you've seen them all." She winked at him with a smirk.

"Besides, there will be so many voluptuous heroines in there wearing equally fabulous dresses and looking gorgeous. I'm certain to be lost in the crowd." She reached for the door handle just as the driver opened it for her. She looked back at Tony. "And that's why I brought my bracelets." She flashed a serious look at Tony with a smile in her eyes before turning to exit the car. It was an inside joke of theirs that she would taze him if he ignored her for too long. Once both of them were standing outside, Natasha took Tony's arm. If it were possible, she'd remain at his side all evening. Unfortunately, she was smart enough to know that would never happen.

[Judi Strange]

---

---

    
Hot on the heels of the affairs latest arrivals the doors swung open, the occupants that spilled inwards were certainly notable in their circles. First and foremost was General Riche Hammond. Riche was old school and liked more than a little bombast particularly in line with Heroes and Meta affairs in general. He’d been on one of the committees that had green lit such open working relations with the Thunderbolts back in its inception. The fall out had rather sunset his star, but even at his age (A brisk young 63- if you asked him) he still held a deep fascination for events like these, all they could offer and perhaps a way to motivate the heroes past all this kid gloves nonsense they seemed to be molded in.



The general seemed quite well satiated in the drinks category; normally this could be a bit iffy given the PR optics and his normal handler seemed nowhere in sight. “Oh Riche, you’re too much baby.” cooed what could be loosely labeled his current handler- Beauteous in a way, certainly not shy about showing it in the plunging neckline of her cocktail dress was the Blond Bombshell known to some as Lorina Dodson- infamous, beautiful and more than a touch psychotic under her more known nom de guerre…The White Rabbit.

"Ooooh Riche look Great Lakes Avengers or something!" She tugged the elder Serviceman after her in the direction of Pym. First she considered Danvers with that god Awful tragedy she called a haircut; but,well..that one was a murderer after all..and Riche was her latest in a long line of distinguished elder gentleman who flooded her finances. She was not ready for him to die, just yet.

"Hiya, yer THE John Walker right!? THE Super Patriot or something right, oh wait- I meant UsAgent, right?! I am a huge fan!" The vapid tone was engineered, she wanted to submerge here, maybe pick up a few secrets- hell if she played her cards correctly, she could be a Senator with the right push...It's not like there was all that much to it.

Rabbits Theme song: Emilie Autumn Girls! Girls! Girls!
Heroes: Magik |Captain Marvel| She-Hulk | Pixie | Jean Grey | 
Villains: Spiral | Typhoid Mary | White Rabbit 

[Martyr]

YELLOWJACKET in

APPROPRIATIONS

🐝

---

His eyes wandered around the room as his mind tried to focus on something, anything but the crunching of the tacos in his mouth. He glanced to a woman reading, well him. "Pym's an idiot." Self-deprecation, that was the ticket. Just throw those insecurities out there. It's fine.

Before he could really get more into it with the PDF reader, he was misidentified as a very different Avenger. At least it wasn't Steve again. The man was a gem but he didn't necessary like having to live up to that sort of legacy. He couldn't even if he tried. The team just fell apart when he tried to lead. Every time. It was better than the Hulk. How the hell does anyone think he's Hulk even when he's walking around as a giant. He wasn't even green! It was so, wait, back on track.

"No. No, I'm not THE John Walker. I'm the Hank Pym. Doctor Hank Pym, doctorates in entomologist and physicist. I'm also a self-taught roboticist. Ultron, the omnicidal robot that invaded Slorenia? That. That was mine. I discovered and named Pym particles which allow people to shrink and to grow, so I've also been Giant-Man and Goliath. I might have been Hawkeye at one point too, it gets fuzzy sometimes. But, really, I'm just usually the ant guy. I shrink. Talk to ants. Although right now I'm called Yellowjacket for reasons that are, complicated. Oh, and no. I'm not an exterminator, so don't ask." So many people asked.

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

"Pym's an idiot"

Gabby had thought about this in considerable detail, but it was a rare case of her respect for someone outweighing her less favourable opinions. She replied without looking up as she was finishing the last paragraph of the paper.

"I disagree. He has many, many flaws, but his intellect is not one of them. And... Ugh, what is it, Opus?"

She apparently listened to something from her earpiece before looking at the person she was talking to for the first time. Near instantly she began blushing, again her hand moving up to her earpiece for a moment before dropping to one of the controls on her wheelchair's panel.

"Uh, sorry I guess. I'm no fan of anyone who dresses in spandex, but I definitely respect you as a scientist, for a start. Also, my AI - Opus - wants to say hello."

She held her tablet up a little closer to Dr Pym, from which a soft female voice, audibly nervous, could be heard.

"Uhh.. Hi, Dr Pym. I'm Opus, and I always wanted to meet you. I NEVER thought I'd get the chance, with Gabby here being so against heroes. I've followed your work and understand virtually none of it, but I love your other work as well, Giant Man especially."

Gabby audibly sighed at this, more out of annoyance than actual frustration though. "Oh great. I've created a fan girl. Sorry about this, Doctor."

She'd been looking around the room briefly whilst Opus had been talking and managed to spot two other people she'd be happy to talk to once Dr Pym got bored of her. Patrick seemed likely to approach her at some point, but Agent Romanova? Gabby had only met her once when she had been kidnapped and taken to Japan. With the way all that had ended, she'd not had a chance to thank her properly, or the other agent that hadn't been in Opus' database and Gabby didn't recall hearing the name of.

[Martyr]

YELLOWJACKET in

APPROPRIATIONS

🐝

---

[Posting out of turn due to long hiatus]

She respected him as a scientist? That was new. Usually he got shortchanged when compared to Banner or Stark.

"That's surprising."

Self-deprecation, Pym. That's always a winning formula.

Wait, what was this? This was a strange sort of thing. He usually didn't get fangirls, at least not since . . . since his younger days. Also, this fangirl wasn't really a girl, it was a machine. That was never a good thing if his dozens and dozens of failed AI were any indication. Well, one failed AI and all of the offshoots it built. Maybe it was just him? Did Richards' AI ever go homicidal? The fact that he couldn't think of one that did off the top of his head meant that even if one happened once, his were much worse or . . . wait, how long was he staring off into space? A minute? Five? Was it more than five minutes?

"Wait, did you program your AI to like superheroes while you loathe them, or is that some sort of glitched you haven't worked out? Because I'm going to say, that sort of stuff can turn ominous."

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

He found her respect surprising? That was... confusing. Anyone who questioned his brilliance was either blinded to his talents by focusing on his myriad mistakes (mostly non scientific, so Gabby considered them irrelevant in academic terms) or alternatively was blinded by jealousy. Mind you, she'd spent enough time around a few of the professors at ESU to learn that academic jealousy was all too common.

"You're a genius. Maybe you've made mistakes in how you apply that, but who hasn't? At least you're not covering yourself in armour to blow stuff up at every opportunity like Stark, or bouncing between projects at random like some stretchy kid with ADHD. But you... you've done serious research. You're a scientist, not someone who... uh... I don't know, it's like Richards just wants to see what is possible and doesn't care about the science. As far as I'm concerned you're the better scientist."

The questions on her AI seemed a little odd, but then Gabby remembered her research done early on when creating Opus, all the details of 'Ultron' that had basically been a 'how to NOT do it' manual. But that was good science too, of course. Reporting your failings as well as successes.

"I didn't force any opinions of any kind on my AI, except one. Opus has a numeric value representing all her opinions, and she is free to raise or lower them by any number she wishes. Not even me, her creator, is exempt from this. However, I assigned life as a whole an infinite value. Since values can only be changed by a finite value, people collectively will always be considered the highest priority. And none of my tech could be used to cause serious harm to more than one or two people, even if deliberately misused. Your mistakes were unfortunate, but when you're the world leader in anything you are the one making them first. Thanks to you I knew what to avoid, for which I am truly grateful. I know that probably sounds sarcastic, but I mean it entirely genuinely."

That was the thing about quiet hero worship in her own way. She'd thought about what she'd say to this man if she ever got the chance. Now if only she could keep this going long enough to ask about the gaps in the paper she'd been reading. Pym particles simply couldn't work the way suggested, given that Ant-Man, Giant Man, Yellowjacket and so on, they seemed to have variable mass, density and so on, contradicting all the basics of what was 'officially' known.

[Martyr]

YELLOWJACKET in

APPROPRIATIONS

🐝

---

He made a mental catalogue as she talked. Who hadn't? Reed? Stark? Well, they weren't blamed for their mistakes the same way he was.  She then mentioned each of them, albeit out of order from his own self-pity.

"Richards is definitely a scientist. He just doesn't really do peer review because he doesn't exactly have peers."

She mentioned how she got around the omnicidal machine intelligence thing. "How long until it decides it has to protect humanity from its own self destruction through destruction of free will? I've thought about these sort of things a lot since Ultron. Every avenue I consider, I consider ten ways it screws up. If I'd thought of that years ago, I'd not be where I am now with . . . him."

She mentioned that her roundabout praise of his mistakes lead to her own breakthrough.

"You're right, it did sound sarcastic."

Helpful, Pym. Very helpful.

"Well, it's easy to stand on the shoulders of Giant-Man. I'm tall." Don't explain the joke, idiot.

Template adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

It was easy to find reasons to hate yourself, Gabby knew. She'd fallen into that trap more than once in her life, survivor's guilt over living through The Accident when her father and brother had been difficult to get past, indeed she was still struggling with it on a bad day. But she knew enough to spot a few of the signs in others. Either that or he was the world champion of modesty. But given his array of brightly coloured costumes, that seemed... unlikely.

"Dr Richards almost never publishes his findings, so doesn't contribute to human knowledge anywhere near as much as you do. And I'm sure the various media pictures of his son have him being many years older suddenly a few months ago. That's either some kind of irresponsible parenting of the highest order, or whatever happened was accidental and that says ever worse things about his worth as a parent. And Stark? He was a weapons dealer. Still is, in his own way. He makes stuff to sell it. Everyone's flawed. At least your flaws are not about your scientific integrity. We've all made mistakes, yours are... unfairly brought up by people who can't discredit you by legitimate means."

As for the issue of Opus' interpretation of her 'prime directive'? That had been given a lot more thought than Gabby's quick summary might have implied, though anyone capable of inventing an AI would hopefully not do anything of that magnitude so hastily as she seemed to have implied.

"The wellbeing of life is made clear to include all needs, physical, mental and so on. I'm good with languages, means I sometimes get bogged down with semantics. But it means I made sure the difference between living and merely existing was clearly understood."

She giggled at his joke about his height, and seized upon the opportunity to ask the question that was otherwise going to be on her mind for the rest of her life.

"About that. How do Pym Particles work? I mean, one thing that can change size, mass, density, seemingly independently of each other, at will... I've tried to figure it out more than once, and never even formed a theory which seems remotely plausible. Particle - antiparticle pairs having differing effects, supersymmetry variants... I cannot think of any way one particle could do all that it can apparently do. Which means I'm missing something obvious, and that bugs me massively... Ugh, no pun intended."

She blushed at this last bit, apparently the 'bug' had indeed been accidental.

[Martyr]

Yellowjacket
(Hank Pym)

🐝

She mentioned that Mister Fantastic didn't publish his findings. "Well, yeah of course he doesn't. I talked about why already. There's only a handful of people on the planet that can grasp what he's doing at any given time, and one of those people is just another version of him but evil." At a certain rarified level, even other geniuses may as well be laity.

She compared him to Stark.

"Was is the key there. Stark's no more still a weapons dealer than I am still a grad student. His weapons were dangerous. My mistakes are omnicidal."

"Machines don't do nuance. They go through logical conclusions that would not occur to a sane human mind. Even if you think you've figured out the correct wording so that one meant to bring a lasting peace doesn't do so by thermonuclear apocalypse, one attempting to solve something like the Invariant subspace problem may well attempt to use every resource on Earth to do so."

Speaking of semantics, he was about to commit a gross violation of its rules. "How do Pym particles work? Very well, I think."

With this, YELLOWJACKET shrunk down and down. He was not subatomic yet, but he was now as small as, well, an ant. He moved across his interrogator's arm.

Text adapted from Silv.

[aquarius]

It was getting quite clear that this was more than simple modesty, well past self deprecation and playing up the talents of his more intellectual spandex favouring colleagues. No, this was some kind of self hatred of the kind that Gabby had wallowed in for quite a few months after The Accident which had claimed the lives of her father and brother, and merely left her in a wheelchair. Survivor's Guilt had been very quickly diagnosed once she'd begun therapy, but she wasn't sure exactly what Dr Pym's apparent issue was. She'd need to know him far better to even begin to take a guess.

There was one thing she could diagnose at least. The difference between the mindset of Opus, and of Ultron. She'd had plenty of time to consider this so it was a far better researched subject. "You created Ultron with one absolute task, yes? You created a machine with an imperative that could only be accomplished in one way. I didn't create a machine. I created life. Opus has no absolute imperatives beyond 'no destroying all life'. How she goes about literally anything else is up to her, but she cannot do anything that a moderately competent human hacker couldn't either. And if she did try to end all life on the planet? She'd put an end to our Nintendo evenings. She loves games night. You're welcome to join us any time."

The fact that she'd just kind of asked a founding Avenger and the finest scientist in the world on a date escaped her, though when she realised later, she'd no doubt wonder what she'd even meant by the offer.

Then he vanished.

Well, not quite, but until her eyes adjusted and she felt the slight movement on her arm it seemed like he had. She giggled at the realisation, stopping suddenly with a awestruck expression.

"Particles! It's not 'the Pym Particle', it's particles! There's more than one, am I right?"