The meeting, the questions, that night...

Checking his own tie again and making his way down the hall, Tony went to a room meant only for himself in his company. Well, him and Rhodey... And on special occasions Pepper. It was empty save for a few panels of glass hanging over the walls, makin it an almost fully darkened room where there were no windows and minimal lighting. It would have all gotten in the way anyway. Once the door closed behind him and the room was completely enveloped in total darkness, automatic lighting came on and the room came alive with light and depth. Holographic representations of the rest of the Avengers came up all around the man who stood at the heart of the room.

Looking up with his hands in his pockets, Tony could see them all reporting in from where ever they were across the globe. Steve Rogers sat in front of his holographic generator, only displaying his upper torso, arms and head as he sipped from his coffee. Natasha stood in full view, wearing her black leather body suit with her equipment as her attention fell to a full body representation of Bruce Banner fidgeting beside her, trying to find something to do with his hands nervously. Behind Tony, two more holograms appeared, one of Captain Marvel who only displayed her face and the Black Panther, who also stood full bodied in regal attire as he sat at a desk back in Wakanda.

"So, what's the big bad newsworthy threat we've got brewing today?" Asked Tony, swiping his hand over in the air to reveal news articles of the early morning while the rest of the Avengers made eye contact with each other.

"Well I'm outside the solar system right now, nothing I can tell you out here except what you can't get from the national news." Answered Carol, panning her holographic display like it were a camera to show what was behind her, which was the picture of a green planet with two moons. "Little matter with the Shi'ar again, nothing too problematic, bad taste in picking planets to live on where the weather's nasty."

"More locally, Hank Pym was attacked last night." Explained Steve, bringing up the front page of his news paper in hand for everyone to see.

Wincing at the poor attempt to show the blurry image of the printed press, Tony swiped his hand again to the same news provider and read off the headlines. "Next time just link us the page online Cap."

Shifting his eyes back and forth, Steve put the paper down and sipped from his coffee. "I don't know how..."

"Go easy on him Tony, he's over a hundred years old." Scoffed Bruce as he brought up the article and reports the group were brought together over. "He's doing well in the hospital, from what the doctors have claimed, he was attacked by some kind of animal that tore through his lab and destroyed a good chunk of his work and research."

"Do we have any evidence that it could be the same creature who attacked Hammer industries?" Asked T'Chala, sipping at some tea at his desk.

"Hard to say for now. It's like trying to find out if the same kind of explosive was used in two different locations." Going over the damage reports thanks to SHIELD, Natasha took the reigns of the meeting and shared what information she had, including pictures of the damage and reports from the authorities who investigated the attack. "For now, the only one who was hurt was Pym. Janet was on the scene too but is in less sever condition compared to her husband."

"Jan? What happened to her?" Asked Tony, worry setting in as he looked over pictures of Ant Man asleep in his cot at a New York hospital, his face, chest and neck showing sever lacerations while he laid **** with a breather mask over his face. Another picture show Janet Van Dyne on a different floor being checked over, she was awake and answering questions for the doctors and nurses but looked fatigued.

"She's okay, but doesn't remember what happened, she's pretty bruised up though so we're not sure if she were attacked or..."

Tony pretended to listen as his hearing blurred, the rest of the room bled away as his mind swam. His eyes fell over Janet from the camera that watched over her cot, how the woman rubbed her hand over her face and closed her eyes sleepily. In that moment, when Tony closed his eyes, the world went dark.

*

A dream? A memory? A nightmare? The sensations were so raw, so open. There were no thoughts, no memories to draw on, only the storm of scents in the air, the blare of noise in his ears and the thrill of the chase as he ran on all fours through the brush and trees around him. Soon said plant growth made room for brick and concrete, the forest quickly being replaced with a jungle, an urban jungle. The smells and sounds were STRONGER here, almost deafening with the cacophony of car horns, pedestrians talking over each other and radios playing music from hundreds of locations all around him. But instead of being overwhelmed all it did was make it easier to navigate, easier to know where to go.

Slinking from one alleyway unseen to the next, he darted up the wall with the same ease, leaping stories up in the air from one wall to the other to land on all fours on the roof of a shop and sniff the air. There was something... Familiar about this place... Something that the beast recognized as he sniffed the air again. Darting his head to the street nearby, he blinked to see the windows lit at a large building that took up most of the block, a research building.

Jumping off the roof and running across the active street and giving drivers the scare of their life, the massive wolf skulked and spied over the lip of a row of windows on the first floor, looking in on what looked like a couple arguing late at night. Twitching his ears, he could make out what they were saying, not understanding a word but getting a hint of the mood they gave off.

"I'm SORRY Hank but I can't reschedule my shoot because you found a discovery at the last minute and need me there as arm candy."

"This is a once in a life time discovery Janet! Do you have any idea of the ramifications of knowing that there is a sub-level of reality? A quantum realm outside the barriers of time and space and my PYM particles can actually have anyone reach it! The deans at the University NEED to know about this, we could get some serious recognition from the heads of academe here."

"Honey, my fashion show is in Milan, I wont be here when you do this, don't worry, you don't need me behind you to make you look good. Just give them that Pym charm that won me over." Janet winked before turning around to get herself a drink at the nearby table. But before she did, she felt a hand grip her arm.

"You ALWAYS do that Jan, you ALWAYS try to make me sound small, even when I've accomplished so much."

"Hank... Please..."

"YOU ALWAYS DO THAT!"

A cry went out as Janet was slapped hard across the face with Hank's other hand, sending the woman to the floor shaken and covering a swell at her face.

"You think I'm SMALL when you aren't there to build me up don't you!"

"Hank please! Don't do this!"

"YOU THINK I'M SMALL!" Tapping a dial on his watch, the man began to grow and expand, becoming 8, then 10, then 20 feet tall while Janet cowered on the floor to a giant bringing his foot up as if to stomp right over her. "NOW WHO'S SMALL?"

Before his foot came down, the windows exploded when the wolf burst through with a howl, startling Ant Man as he looked down to a monster clawing at his ankle and causing him to keel over in pain. Rolling onto his back and taking out the wall behind him with the furniture crushed, Hank looked up to the creature quickly climbing up his chest and clawing at his chest, neck and face. All the while the wolf roared out in rage raking his claws against Ant Man's forearm when he tried to raise it in defense.

"What the hell? Swinging a punch, he managed to knock the monster off him and with his strength send it crashing through a grandfather clock. But much to his surprise, the collision didn't harm the monstrous wolf, if anything it only fueled its rage further as it quickly got to its feet and charged towards him again with the same fervor. "I'm not falling for THAT again!" Clenching his fist, Hank slammed it into the wolf from overhead with enough drive to punch right through the floor and down into the cellar.

Pulling his arm free of the hole in the floor, Hank looked back at the frightened Wasp who still shivered from her spot on the floor. "Now for..."

With a howl, the wolf exploded out of the hole in the floor and clamped down its jaws over Hank's arm. The searing pain making the giant cry out as he grabbed hold of the wolf who continued to bite and scratch at what it could, even biting Hank's finger to break free of his grasp and land on all fours. Guarding his injured arm and hands, Hank stared back at the black wolf who growled and raised its hackles, taking a stance between him and the frightened woman behind him.

"What? You got a guard dog? Is that it Jan?" Hank screamed, cocking his fist back to swing a punch at the wolf. "I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU MAKING ME SMALL!"

Cowering in fear, Janet closed her eyes in horror, raising her arms to guard herself for the massive fist heading towards her, only to hear the crunch of bones, then the sensation of a pair of arms snatch her up off the floor and run up the stairs of the room. Over the shoulder of the beast, Janet could see for a fleeting second the sight of her husband clutching at his shattered wrist, just as he crashed head first into the wall in pain. The damage to the wall and floor had been too much and the entire building began to collapse like a house of cards, burying Ant man in rubble and causing the roof to collapse over top of him. Landing heavily in the cellar, Hanks oversized body cracked a gas vein, just as metal scraped nearby and caused a spark.

Jumping out the window and landing outside as the floor collapsed behind them, just in time for the building to collapse and explode from the gas explosion. The shock sending the two rolling in the parking lot just as the wolf righted himself to all fours with the **** woman in his arm. Lowering her to the concrete of the parking lot while the building burned, the wolf sniffed at her face, only to dart his attention back at the burning building when the rubble parted to reveal Ant Man stagger to his feet and crawl out of the wreckage, cradling his arm. Stumbling out of the fires, he finally passed out himself, the result causing him to shrink back to human size and lose all fight to keep awake.

Narrowing his eyes and bending his ears back, the wolf growled back at the former giant, turning his attention back to the woman to sniff her face to check her over. Off in the distance, the sounds of police and fire sirens disturbed the wolf and caused it to flee the scene. Leaving the couple passed out in front of their burning home.

As the wolf fled, it could hear a voice whisper in its mind, whispering a name it didn't know, didn't recognize, but one that would not relent.

*

"Tony? Tony are you listening?"

Blinking and rubbing the bridge of his nose, Tony shook his head and looked up at Natasha who stood there with her arms crossed.

"Sorry, my mind drifted off there for a bit, how's Janet's condition?"