The Changelings (non gender-changed version)
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The Ant-sized man and the Wasp
The Changelings (non gender-changed version)
"Are you sure about this Janet?" Hank asked, as he rubbed some sweat out of his dirty blonde hair. He was wearing a red suit with some black streaks on it, with a silver belt, and he had a silver helmet shaped like an ant under his shoulder.
"Positive Hank. We've been working on this project for months! While it might help the world greatly, we still need a break. It'll still be there tomorrow. Plus, today's Halloween!" Janet, his wife, who was wearing a yellow and black dress, with fake wings sticking out of her back, and two yellow antennae on her ears. They were both standing outside the house of one of their colleagues, who was currently hosting a Halloween party. The couple were dressed up as their favorite super-heroes, Ant-man and Wasp, two heroes who inspired them to become myrmecologists, scientists who study ants.
Hank sighed. "You're right." He then put the helmet over his head, and put it on, before moving it around a bit, getting it into the right position. They both walked into the house, were a bunch of people they recognized from work were wearing different costumes. As they walked around the house, looking for the host, someone came up to them.
"Hank!" A person wearing dark robes, dressed like some kind of shady dealer walked up to them. Hank smiled, and he nodded in acknowledgement to his best friend, Carl. "Nice to see you here! I hear you two are almost finished with the project!"
Hank smiled, and nodded. "Yes we are. It's going to stop world hunger."
"Kinda funny how because of reading comics of a person who could alter the size of something, inspired you to build the same thing! While I hear it doesn't work on living creatures yet, it can increase and decrease the size of stuff like food and resources. That must help a lot of world problems! You'll be world famous!" He said bombastically.
Hank rubbed the back of his helmet. "Well, we might not become that famous."
"Don't be so modest Hank!" Janet said, patting him on the back. "We both earned it!"
"You sure did! Here, have a drink on me!" Carl handed them two bottles of beer. They both smiled, and were about to drink some of it, but the host of the part walked up to them.
"Ah, Hank, I was hoping you'd arrive." As the host walked up to them, Hank gave his wife his bottle to hold, which held her off on drinking her bottle. Hank shook the hand of his work-friend, before Janet gave both of the bottles to Hank to hold, before shaking the man's hands. Hank reached over and handed his wife a bottle. It wasn't the same bottle that she started out with, it was actually Hank's, but since neither have taken a sip yet, it didn't matter. They both took a medium sized gulp, before talking to the host.
"How's your project doing anyways?" Hank asked, before taking another sip of beer.
"It's going according to schedule. It should be completed in a month or two." Hank smiled at that as he took another sip.
"Good. I can't wait until we can try to shrink living creatures. Imagine how the environment might benefit if we could shrink ourselves and reduce our carbon dioxide emissions." Hank was hoping to fulfill his childhood fantasy, but was distracted by a tugging on his back. He turned around to see Janet acting like she's sick.
"Ugh, I don't feel that good." Janet fell backwards passing out, and Hank quickly caught her, before putting a hand against her forehead.
"You don't have a fever. You weren't sick earlier. Why are you acting like this?" Hank asked, before noticing something on the brim of the empty bottle Janet was drinking from. He handed his wife to his friend, who looked at Hank curiously, as Hank picked up the empty glass, and inspected a powder on the edge. "Someone drugged this drink." Hank's eyes widened, and he looked at his own half-way finished drink in his hand, seeing some of the same powder on the brim. "Oh no..." Hank stumbled backwards, before hitting the railing on the second floor, and tripping over his dropped bottle, causing him to fall to the first floor, landing on a glass table, shattering it and shocking everyone, as blood leaked to the floor.
As everyone backed away in fear, someone walked up to Hank, and crouched down, before gently moving Hank's head to look at him. "Hey buddy, you'll be alright. Here, drink this." Carl brought a glass of what seemed to be water, but had a different tint to it to Hank's face, and gently tipped it in his mouth. Trusting his best friend, and dazed and affected by the drugs, Hank agreed, and swallowed the entire drink, before grunting in pain. "It's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay." Suddenly, everything went dark for Hank, as he passed out.
"Ugh, my head." Hank muttered, as he slowly came to.
"Hank! Are you okay?" Janet asked, and Hank's eyes shot open, and looked over at his wife, who was still wearing her Wasp costume. Hank blinked in surprise at this. He looked around the area they were in, noticing how they seemed to be in a dark cave with green gunk all over the place. He then looked at his restraints, noticing the same green gunk restraining both him and his wife.
Hank then focused on the question his wife asked him. "I'm okay Janet. Where are we? How did we get here?" He asked.
Janet shook her head. "I don't know. Last thing I remember was passing out at the party."
Hank nodded. "I remember that. You passed out, and I noticed that someone laced our drinks with something. I was only half-way done with my drink by that time, so the drug didn't affect me as much. I stumbled backwards, and fell off the second floor, and landed on a glass table. I remember thinking that I was going to die when Carl came up to me, and had me drink something." The realization hit Hank like a punch to the balls. "Carl did this! He was the one who gave us our drinks, and drugged them!"
"But why would he do this?" Janet wondered. They stopped wondering when the sound of someone walking echoed across the room. They both looked at the entrance to see a bunch of really strange creatures walking it. They looked like horses, but they also resembled bugs, with their black chitin and their wings and overall appearance. They also had a lot of holes in them. Most of the smaller ones were following a bigger one with a longer horn, and who was also wearing a crown.
"So, both of you have finally woken up." The leader said, in a strange voice that sounded like there was multiple people speaking. By the sound of the creature's voice, it seemed that it was a she.
"Who are you, and what have you done to us?!" Janet yelled, pushing against her bonds, but unable to break them.
The creature chuckled. "I haven't done anything. Well, except for bringing you two strange ones in from the desert. My scouts found you two unconscious in one of the worst heat waves the badlands have ever had. Both of you are lucky that we found you. Any longer and you would have been dead."
"Why have you restrained us?" Hank asked, calmly.
"Because I can't be sure if you are a threat to my children. I don't like to do this, but I will protect my hive if it's in danger." The creature said, in a dark voice. "So tell me, are you a threat to my hive and my children?"
"No." Hank responded. "We will not hurt you, if you do not hurt us."
The creature smiled. "Good." Her horn glowed green, and suddenly the gunk faded away. Both of the humans fell to the ground. Hank managed to land on his feet, before falling backwards. But when Janet fell, something happened, and she shrunk down, and had two wings grow out of her back, before flapping quickly, allowing her flight. Every creature in the room took a step backwards in surprise.
Janet looked around in confusion, noticing how she was smaller than everyone else, before she heard the faint humming sound from her back and turned her head to see a set of wings flapping behind her back. "Ah!" She screamed, and her wings stopped flapping, causing her to fall to the floor, and grow back to normal size. "That was weird. What was that?"
"I'd like to know as well. I've never seen a creature with such powers." The bug pony spoke up.
"I think those were the work of Pym Particles. Which should mean that..." Hank looked down at his Ant-man suit, and took a deep breath, before somehow activating the particles, shrinking himself down to the size of an ant. "Holy crap! I am Ant-man!" He yelled in joy, before growing back to normal size.
"And that must mean I somehow became Wasp?" Janet asked, becoming excited. They both looked to the bug pony, and her confused look, before calming down.
"I'm sorry. I'll explain this." Hank spoke up, as they all started to walk out of the cave.
