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Leia waited for Poe to finish his moment with Shara, her own bouquet of yellow roses in hand. “I should have known you would come today of all days,” Poe stated once she was closer. “Let me guess, you need my help.”
She raised a brow but placed the roses down in front of the headstone to stall. There was no point even answering the question. Poe wasn’t stupid, he was just as sharp as his mother. She knew her timing was far from perfect, but she was running out of time. He would figure it out, they had always been in sync. “I’m just asking for you to hear me out.”
He looked resigned, sparing one last look at his mother’s grave but followed her out of the graveyard. “So, what’s the job?”
“The mission,” she emphasized, “requires breaking into a tech company we think is just a front. Destroying the place if it is.”
“Sounds easy enough,” he answered. “I doubt JEDI needs my skills, it sounds like your average in and out.”
She motioned towards her car, stepping in herself. Poe sighed, glancing back at his motorcycle before joining her. She needed him, he was her only option on this. Starting the car and getting them on the highway was the best way of making sure he would listen to what she had to say. She barely even felt guilty for it. She’d been doing this too long.
“It won’t be easy,” she answered, nodding towards the tablet in the back seat. “We’ve attempted to get agents in and nothing. It was down to three of our agents and like it or not, you're still on the books. You never officially quit.”
Poe glanced through the specs, eyes roaming the screen as he took it all in. She knew why he’d left, his mother’s death last year had hit him hard. Losing a partner and a parent in one terrible moment. “It’s a two-person job,” he finally answered. “You might as well turn the fucking car around because I won’t work with a partner.”
She could understand his reluctance, but he was the only person she could trust to do this. “I told you, the only members who have the skills to do this job are Black Widow, or Ant-man and the Wasp and Widow is far too recognizable these days.”
“Well, the Wasp is fucking dead so give Nat a call!”
“Your mother was planning on retiring.”
He hadn’t known, she knew that. Hell, she was counting on it. “She didn't want to tell you, not until she had finished training her replacement but then the accident happened, and you left, so I never needed to tell you.”
She waited for the explosion, whether anger or grief or surprise. “I can’t Leia,” he whispered, so quiet she almost couldn’t hear him. “I can’t be with a different Wasp.”
“Her protégé was … it’s my daughter, Poe.”
As hard as she had tried to keep them out, and she had tried hard, both her children had become involved in the spy world. They had started young, just like she had - it was the only life her family seemed to know. But she had already lost her husband and her son, she couldn’t lose her daughter too. She needed Poe to agree, and she would use any underhanded method she knew to do it.
They pulled up to the building that housed the Judicial Enforcement and Detainment Initiative or JEDI as the agents called it. It had grown from the underground bunker they had hidden in from her father’s days to the tall glass structure before them. She was proud of her family’s legacy; she needed to ensure it lived on after her.
She pulled into her parking spot, a small sign reading ‘Director Organa’ in front. “I’ll tell you what, just meet with her, train for a few hours,” she suggested casually. Exactly like she had rehearsed this two days ago. “Just see what she can do, and we can go from there. I’ll have someone pick up your bike and bring it here even.”
He was leaning back in the seat, eyes closed. His Adam's apple bobbed, and she knew she’d won this battle. “I don’t have my suit,” he tried, his last ditch effort.
She barely held back her grin. “We have an upgraded one here, it could use a good test,” she replied. “No one else around here can do what you can do.”
Poe Dameron was one in a million, literally. They had the technology to make the suits, but few people could handle the stress needed to make them function the way they had been designed to. He had done it as easily as breathing, even better than his father, the original Ant-man. He’d been born for this.
“Two hours, then I’m gone.”
She could work with that. Leading them to the elevator, she ignored the open stares from the more senior agents who recognized Poe. For an intelligence agency, everyone knew everything, or at least it felt like that. She pushed the button for the sub-basement where a large training room was set up for the more infamous agents. The doors opened in a control room, a red and black suit and peculiarly shaped helmet already waiting.
“You could have at least pretended like I would say no,” he huffed, reaching to take the suit.
“You know where the locker room is,” she replied. “My two hours don’t start until you’re in the arena.”
Poe walked away with an eye roll, but she knew it was an agreement. She walked over to the set of windows that overlooked the arena, spotting her daughter as she worked on hitting the moving targets that were usually reserved for Hawkeye. She pressed the button that would patch her into Rey’s ear piece.
“He’s here,” she told her daughter briskly. “Poe’s getting changed so we only have a minute.”
“He agreed?” Rey asked.
“Tentatively, so make it good,” she replied. “He’s used to the capabilities of Shara’s suit so surprise him.”
“Going to tell me the plan?” her daughter asked.
“Do I ever?”
A second voice popped on to the intercom, Poe’s form walking into view down below. “I hope you started the timer. And that my bike is on the way,” Poe added.
“Focus Dameron, you’re out of practice,” she reminded him. “Rey, this is Poe. Poe, my daughter Rey.”
“Tick, tick,” he replied impatiently.
“He seems nice,” Rey snorted.
This was spiralling out of hand already, but she knew them both well. “I’ll up the ante, Poe,” she interrupted before she could lose her advantage. “You catch Rey and I’ll let you walk out that door with a severance package Stark would be jealous of. But if she beats you, you’re back at work tomorrow morning with this mission as your number one priority.”
“You’re on,” he answered.
Poe was gone in an instant, shrinking down to a size she would normally never be able to see. But the arena was set up for this, cameras and trackers allowing her to watch the action. The room was huge, especially with both of them shrunk down to the size of insects, but the suits were tied to each other, allowing both of them to find each other easily.
Rey had the advantage, her suit equipped with wings, but Poe was more experienced, finding a place to hide where the wings would be of little help. They had never met, but from their banter most would never know it. They tossed barbs over the radios like they were old friends teasing each other. There was almost a flirtatious side she pretended not to hear.
Rey was the impatient sort, tiring of Poe’s game eventually. “Well, this has been fun but time to beat you,” she told him.
“Yeah, I’m sure that-”
Whatever he was going to say was cut off as Rey fired at him, blowing his hiding spot to smithereens. “She’s got weapons?” he asked incredulously. “Do I have weapons now?”
“No,” her and her daughter answered in unison.
“Fuck!” he swore, rising from the spot he’d been thrown to.
“Ready to give up?” she singsonged, hovering above him.
“Nope,” he replied confidently.
It took her a second to figure out what he was going to do but by then it was too late. Shouting out a warning that he was out of practice was pointless, he’d already started to enlarge rapidly. The ceiling in the arena was about 20 stories and Poe’s helmet was dangerously close to scraping it.
“Wait, he can do that?” Rey shouted, returning to normal size to stare up at him. She removed her helmet, mouth wide as she looked at the giant before her.
Poe’s enormous hand reached out, grabbing her around the waist. She could see her daughter struggle to get free, her helmet lost. She couldn’t shrink without it.
“Guess I win,” Poe’s voice echoed in the room, but he sounded off.
“Shrink! Now, Poe!” she shouted but it was too late.
His large body swayed for a moment before he fell backwards, crashing into one of the fake buildings and crushing it. His grip must have loosened, Rey was able to fly back down to the floor safely. Her daughter looked at her through the windows, gesturing frantically.
Switching to the intercom, she got Rey’s attention. “His suit is like yours, shrink him back to normal size then check him for injuries! I’m coming down to help!”
Rey nodded, flying towards him. She turned, bolting towards the stairs even as her knees reminded her why she was no longer on active duty. By the time she was down, Poe’s giant form was gone. The yellow of Rey’s suit told her where to find them. She needed to climb over debris to get to them, seeing Rey straddle Poe’s waist as she removed his helmet.
She climbed over to them, just in time to see her daughter reached for his neck to check his pulse, sighing at whatever she found. “He’ll be okay,” she reassured Rey. “He should wake up in a minute, his body just isn’t used to that anymore.”
They both waited, Poe’s eyes fluttering open after a few minutes. He stared up at Rey, his eyes coming into focus. “You okay?” Rey asked, brushing his hair out of his eyes.
Poe was silent, worrying her a little as he did nothing but stare at Rey. “You’ve got the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.”
Rey flushed, practically jumping off of him as she muttered a thank you.
She cleared her throat, reminding them that they weren’t alone. “Well, since you don’t seem able to get up, I’d say Rey won.”
He tried to rise, giving up after a few seconds. “Technically, I beat myself,” he grumbled.
“I’ll give you until Monday to recover,” she continued, like he hadn’t spoken. “But I think it’s clear you need some practice.”
He didn’t reply, too busy sneaking a look at her daughter. She sighed, her daughter was staring back. The first Ant-man and Wasp had started the same way and Poe had been the result. But it had worked for them until the radiation had affected Kes so much that he’d needed to retire. They’d protected each other harder because of their relationship. She wanted Rey to survive, above everything else. Guess it was a case of being careful what you wished for. At least she knew Poe was a good man.
She turned on her heel, vowing to stay out of it unless it interfered with missions; her daughter was an adult after all, and she might be old, but Poe was certainly easy on the eyes. Heading back to her office, she decided to give Kes a call. She was going to anyway, with the anniversary and all but he would probably appreciate the heads up too.