Ch 62 Training

"So how did you get out of that one?" Peter asked.

"I didn't." Scott said.

"He was let out." Cassie said.

Scott was in his cell as Jim said he almost had them convinced that he was gonna change his ways and now he was gonna break Maggie's and Cassie's hearts. Another cop arrived and told him he had a lawyer as his visitor.

"Which lawyer? Matt Murdock?" Tony asked.

"No. Not a lawyer actually." Hope said.

Scott was led out to meet Hank Pym, who told him he had said he'd stay in touch, and commented how Scott preferred the inside of a cell. Scott realized who he was as he apologized for stealing the suit while ants covered the camera.

"That's a nice way to cover a camera." Pepper said.

"The technology sure is revolutionary." Tony said.

Hank commented how Maggie was right about Scott as the moment things got hard, he turned back to crime which is why she was trying to keep him away from Cassie.

"He turned back to crime for me." Cassie muttered.

Hank said Scott could either spend the rest of his life in prison or go back to his cell and await further instructions. Scott said he didn't understand and Hank said he didn't expect him to as none of them had many options and he had let Scott steal his suit. A flashback showed him being responsible for Emily and then eventually Luis being made aware of the safe.

"He planned it out really well." Steve said.

"That's my dad for you." Hope said.

Hank said, "Second chances don't come around all that much. So, next time you think you might see one, I suggest you take a real close look at it." He got up and walked out as the ants crawled away, uncovering the camera.

"I wonder what the cops were thinking of those ants." Sam said.

Cassie was lying on her bed, listening to the bunny again as Maggie asked if she wanted a different toy but she said she loved this one. Maggie told her to get some sleep and kissed her forehead. Cassie then asked if daddy was a bad man because she had heard some grownups say he was bad. Maggie said daddy just got confused sometimes and she nodded.

"More like desperate." Scott said.

"Must be Paxton who told her." Fury said.

"He is behaving like a jerk right now." Bruce said.

"He thought I was still a crook so he wanted to keep his family safe." Scott said, "Now that he knows I'm not, him and I are actually friends."

"Yeah. It's pretty funny actually." Cassie said and everyone chuckled.

Scott was in his cell when a flying ant stopped outside and he saw as some of the ants carried the miniature suit to him. They pressed it and it grew to normal size. A cop started walking inside as the ants formed numbers to count down.

"These ants are being used very creatively." Steve said.

"That's why SHIELD wanted Pym." Hill said.

"But he didn't want to work for SHIELD." Fury said.

"I can see that." Natasha said.

Scott managed to put on the suit before the cop arrived and shrunk. The cop was shocked as Scott ran out while Hank commented he had listened this time. The alarms blared as Jim asked to set up a five-block perimeter. Scott slipped as several ants surrounded him and Pym said they were his associates. Scott commented how he had got a camera on an ant.

"These ants can do a lot of stuff." Clint commented.

Scott asked where the car was and Pym said there was no car as they had wings and an ant with wings landed there.

"From this angle, it looks like a helicopter." Bucky commented and everyone chuckled.

In spite of Scott's protests, Pym made him get on it and it flew on top of a moving cop car as Pym said they would give him a lift beyond their five-block perimeter. Scott said he was getting the hang of this and it was like riding a horse as Pym said he was throwing 247 off balance, shocking Scott by the name.

"I think you're mistaking horse for Pegasus." Benjamin joked to Scott and everyone chuckled.

Hank said it didn't have a name but a number because of how many ants there were. The ant flew off into a bus as Hank said he was controlling it and it wasn't listening to Scott. It flew into a woman's hair and then on a newspaper before flying out. Scott asked if he could throw up in the helmet as Pym told him not to throw up in the helmet and Scott felt light-headed before falling off the ant. It flew down to catch him.

"Not the best experience then, bub." Logan said.

"Not at all. But now it's like child's play." Scott said.

"We all are at the rookie stage in the beginning." Rhodes said.

"But you could control your suit right in one go." Wanda reminded him.

"I'm an army guy." Rhodes shrugged.

Scott then woke up on a bed and saw Hope looking at him. He awkwardly greeted her and asked who she was before asking if she had been watching him sleep the entire time. She said she had.

"You're creepy." Hill said to Hope and she sighed.

Scott asked why and she said last time he was here he had stolen something. Scott realized it was Pym Manor and was about to step off the bed when he saw both sides were surrounded by many ants, shocking him. Hope said they were giant tropical bullets ants to keep any eye on him when she couldn't.

"I think you are overdoing it, Miss van Dyne." T'Challa said.

"I overdo it with people I know nothing about." Hope shrugged.

Hope said Pym was waiting for him downstairs as he asked whose pajamas these were.

"What a thing to ask." Peter said.

Scott managed to get off the bed as the ants moved out of his way and he said he wouldn't step on them and they won't bite him. He managed to get out of the room like that carefully.

Everyone sighed in relief as Vision said, "I believe the ants listened to your deal."

"Kind of." Scott said.

Scott walked out as Hope and Hank were talking and the latter said Scott had already met his daughter. Scott said he had and that she was great.

"Thanks." Hope smirked.

Hank said she didn't think they needed him and Hope said they didn't as they could do it themselves. Hank said he had gone through all this effort to let Scott steal his suit and then Hope had got him arrested. Hope said they could try this and when Scott failed, she could do it herself.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Scott said sarcastically.

"Sorry." She cringed.

"I believe you two didn't get off on the right foot either." Thor said.

"Still better than you, Steve and Tony." Hope said and everyone laughed.

"That is actually true." Loki said.

Hank said she was anxious about the job and assumed Scott was interested before asking him if he wanted tea. He said he did as Hank poured him some and said he was impressed with how Scott had gotten past his security system.

"That truly was impressive." Odinson said.

Hank said freezing the metal was particularly clever.

"That sure was." Tony said.

Scott asked if Hank had been watching him and he said he had been watching him ever since he had robbed Vista Corp. Hank then corrected 'burgled' Vista Corp as he showed Scott the newspaper.

"He is THE burglar." Rhodes said and everyone chuckled.

Hank said Vista Corp's security system was unbeatable but he had beaten it and asked if he would like some sugar. Scott said he would as ants moved sugar blocks to his cup but he said he was fine as the ants moved back.

Everyone chuckled.

Scott asked how he could make them do that. Hank said ants could lift objects 50 times their weight and they built, farmed and cooperated with each other. Scott asked how he could make them do that again and Hank showed him a device on his ear which he used to stimulate their olfactory nerves and he basically spoke to them. He could do everything and Hope said he still knew nothing.

"I'm pretty sure that's what Scott was asking." Tony said.

"He is Jon Snow." Aunt May said and everyone chuckled.

Hope walked off to meet Darren as Scott raised his hand but Hank said he didn't need to. Scott asked who they were, what was going on and if he could go back to jail.

Everyone chuckled as Steve said, "That is a pretty huge info dump. Trust me, I know."

"We know that." Logan said.

Hank asked Scott to come with him and told him 40 years ago, he had created a formula to alter relative atomic distance. Scott was confused as Hank said he had learnt to change the distance between atoms and that powered the suit. He led Scott into a lab with a lot of stuff, awing him. The suit was too dangerous so he had hidden it from the world and switched gears to start his own company- Pym Tech. He had taken on a protégé called Darren Cross who was his assistant and he had considered him the son he never had.

"The two of us had a wall between us so he wanted to show affection to someone else to make up." Hope muttered sadly.

"The walls are broken now though." Scott said and she chuckled.

Hank said Darren had suspected he wasn't telling him everything as he had heard rumors of the formula and became obsessed with recreating it. Hank wouldn't let him so he had conspired against him and voted him out of his own company because the chairman was his daughter Hope and was the deciding vote.

"Bummer." Tony said.

Hank said she had come back to him on finding out how close Cross was to cracking the formula. The process was highly volatile if one wasn't protected by the helmet and it could affect the brain's chemistry, which Cross didn't realize as he wasn't the most stable.

"If he reminds you of Stane, he is not stable." Pepper said and nods followed.

Scott asked what Hank wanted from him as he said, "Scott, I believe that everyone deserves a shot at redemption. Do you?" Scott said, "I do." Hank said, "If you can help me, I promise I can help you be with your daughter again. Now, are you ready to redeem yourself?" Scott said, "Absolutely. My days of breaking into places and stealing shit are done. What do you want me to do?" Hank said, "I want you to break into a place and steal some shit."

Everyone chuckled as Sam said, "That must have been….shocking."

"It was." Scott said.

"And very dramatic too." Cassie added.

"It sure was." Scarlet Witch agreed.

Maggie asked Jim if he would be home for dinner tonight as he read a text from his partner which said Scott's 'lawyer' was Hank Pym.

"Should have thought of that, dad." Hope muttered.

"All of us make mistakes." Loki shrugged.

Maggie asked if Jim had any good news and he said it was news as he walked out. Cassie said if he was trying to find her daddy and he said he was to keep him safe. Cassie said, "Hope you don't catch him."

Everyone chuckled as Benjamin said, "And he didn't."

"Because I said it." Cassie joked and everyone laughed.

In his lab, Darren performed an experiment on another lamb as Hope watched from above. This time, he managed to shrink the lamb and the container and was overjoyed.

"Uh-oh." Natasha said.

"Must have increased his ego too." Bucky said.

"Now you have to stop him even faster." Fury sighed.

Hank showed Scott pictures of Mitchell Carson, who was Ex-Head of Defense at SHIELD and was toppling governments. He had always wanted his tech.

"To give Hydra." Hill added.

Hank said unless they broke in, stole the Yellowjacket and destroyed the data, Cross would unleash chaos upon the world. Scott said their first move should be calling the Avengers but Hank said he had spent half of his life trying to keep the technology out of the hands of a Stark and he wasn't going to hand-deliver it to one now.

"Why the hate? The two of us could be great co-workers." Tony said. [1]

"Howard wasn't the best experience for him." Hope said.

"Even better. He wasn't the best experience for me either back then at least." Tony said, "Though I have no idea how calling in the Avengers would mean hand-delivering the tech to me as I wasn't an Avenger back then."

"Not everyone keeps up with everything." Steve said.

Hank said this wasn't some cute technology like the Iron Man suit and could change the very texture of reality.

"All right! That was uncalled for!" Tony said, offended.

"It's just his hatred for the 'Stark' name talking here." Hope said, "Your suit is an innovative piece of technology." [2]

"Yes. And you have created AIs on a level no one has." Bruce said, "And based on how you talk about this new armor, I really want to see it."

"I will show it to you sometime." Tony said.

"It was pretty cool." Cassie remembered from the recording.

"Earth has a lot of geniuses. You are one of the best, Stark." Thor told him and he nodded in appreciation.

"What he said." Odinson told him.

"I like your suit too." Scott told Tony.

"Let's continue." Clint said.

Hank said they were too busy dropping cities out of the sky.

"Trying to stop them from falling actually." Wanda said.

"The media loves warping events." Scarlet Witch said.

"I know that." T'Challa said.

"They only want more viewers so they say whatever attracts them." Fury said.

Scott asked to send the ants but Hank said they needed someone to lead them too. Scott said he was a good thief but this was beyond his league. Hope arrived and opening up blueprints, said Scott was right and she should wear the suit. Hank refused and she said she knew the facility inside out and knew everything about Cross and the mission. Hank said they needed her close to Cross or the mission won't work. Hope said they didn't have time to screw around. Scott was a criminal and she was his daughter but Hank refused loudly and firmly.

No one said a word due to how intense the argument was.

Hope walked out as Scott said she was right and he wasn't the right guy. Scott asked why he didn't wear the suit and Hank said he had spent years wearing it. It had taken a toll on him and Scott was their only option. "Before Hope lost her mother, she used to look at me like I was the greatest man in the world. And now she looks at me and there's just disappointment." Hank said as Hope listened sadly from outside, "It's too late for me, but not for you. This is your chance. The chance to earn that look in your daughter's eyes. To become the hero that she already thinks you are. It's not about saving our world. It's about saving theirs." Scott listened intently and finally said, "Damn. That was a good speech."

"At this point I think I'm nothing special." Steve said and everyone chuckled.

"Scott." Hank said, "I need you to be the Ant-Man."

"Only you can do it." Peter said.

Scott was then wearing the suit as Hank said in the right hands, the relationship between man and suit was symbiotic.

"Never felt that with any of my suits." Peter said.

"Trust me, you don't want symbiotic suits." Benjamin told Peter with a look. [3]

Scott needed to be skillful, agile and fast and be able to shrink and grow on a dime so his size suited his needs. Hope shut the door as Hank told Scott to dive through the keyhole. He had to charge big, dive small and emerge big. Scott shrunk and tried to dive but failed. He tried multiple times but failed all his tries and Hope muttered he was useless.

"For now." Hope said.

"I need to get much, much better." Scott said.

"I have a feeling you did." Clint said.

Hope told Scott when he was small, his energy was compressed and he had the force of a 200-pound man behind a fist a 100th of an inch wide. He was like a bullet. He punched too hard, he'd kill someone and too soft, it'd be a love tap. He needed to know how to punch. Scott said he was in prison for 3 years and knew how to punch. She raised her hands and asked him to show her. He punched but nothing happened to Hope as she said it was terrible. He asked her to show him and she punched his face, staggering him back, saying that was how they punched.

Everyone chuckled a bit as Pepper said, "Maybe you should lighten up a bit."

"I was too angry at the moment but yeah, I shouldn't have been that harsh." Hope agreed.

"But still, some harshness is required during training." Natasha said and nods of agreement followed.

Hank arrived and said Hope had been looking forward to this. She had trained in martial arts in a difficult time. Hope said by 'difficult time' he meant when her mother had died. Hank said they had lost her in a plane crash. Hope said it was bad enough he hadn't told her how she died so he should stop telling her that lie. They had to work now. Scott groaned and asked if she was going for the hand.

"No." Hope said lamely.

Scott worked on the suit as Hank arrived and the former said the regulator was holding me back. Hank told him not to screw with that because he might go subatomic, which meant he would enter a Quantum Realm, a reality where all concepts of time and space became irrelevant as he shrunk for all eternity. Everything he had known and loved would be gone forever.

Everyone was shocked on hearing that as Tony said, "That must be…..frightening."

"It has to be." Steve agreed.

"I believe this will come into play later." Thor said.

"The Quantum thingy is safe to do now actually." Scott said.

"Yes it is." Hope agreed.

"Things get easier to understand over time." Cassie said.

Scott simply made a lame joke as later, Hank told him he needed to learn about his greatest allies, the ants. They were loyal, brave and his partners on the job. Scott shrunk down in the grass and ran into a hole in the ground as Hope told him the crazy ants were lightning fast and conducted electricity which made them useful to fry out enemy electronics. One of them arrived and Scott petted it, calling it cute when he was surrounded by many of them and covered. He screamed in horror and returned to normal size, saying it was a lot scarier a second ago.

Everyone cringed as Clint said, "Still having trouble."

"Just watch." Scott said.

Scott and Hope sparred again and this time he performed better but he was flipped down as Hope twisted his arm.

"Okay, that went too far." Wanda said.

"I'm sorry." Hope said guiltily again and Scott shrugged.

Scott looked at the map and said Futures Lab had its own isolated power supply with a security guard posted around the clock. They needed to take him out to deactivate the security systems. Scott later shrunk again and this time, more ants arrived. These were the bullet ants as Scott asked if they remembered him from the bedroom but they came at him and he grew back to normal again in fear.

"Still not good." Hill said.

"It will be soon." Scott said.

"Some learn faster. Some learn slower." Benjamin said.

"That sounds right to me." Logan said.

Hope said the Yellowjacket pod was hermetically sealed and the only access point was a tube about 5 millimeters in diameter. Scott said he had a sick feeling in his stomach and was told it was protected by a laser grid which could only be shut down for 15 seconds. He needed to signal the crazy ants to blow the servers, retrieve the suit, and exit the vaults before the backup power came on.

"So it's Mission: Impossible then." Tony said.

"Which makes this a job for Ethan Hunt." Sam said and everyone chuckled.

"We don't have time to contact him." Scott sighed.

Scott was shrunk again and was introduced to a carpenter ant which was ideal for ground and air transport. Scott looked at one through a microscope and recognized it. He said he was going to call him 'Ant-thony.'

"'Ant-thony? Really?" Sam asked as everyone laughed, "Because I like that name." [4]

"It sounds like a pretty good pun and a good name." Cassie said and the laughter increased.

Hank said Scott needed to learn how to control it this time. He tried to tell ants to put sugar in the cup as him and Hope sparred again and this time, Scott punched her in the abdomen, staggering her back. He mocked her but was punched again and flipped down.

Everyone chuckled a bit as Natasha said, "Never let your guard down."

"Especially against those more skilled." Odinson added.

"Or against a bigger number." Bruce said too.

Scott later put an ointment on his bruises as Hank called him outside. Hank had made some disks for Scott to use as weapons. Red shrunk and blue enlarged.

"I remember that." Steve said and Scott sighed.

"Sorry about that." He said lamely to Tony, Rhodes, T'Challa and Natasha.

Scott was then introduced to fire ants which were known for their bite and were remarkable architects. They could get him in and out of difficult places. Scott tried to get the ants to put sugar in the cup again but failed, saying they weren't listening to him. Hope said he had to mean it and there were no shortcuts or lies. She glanced at Hank as she said that and he said throwing insults into the mix won't do anyone any good.

"At this point I'm really out of line." Hope sighed.

Hank said they should focus on helping Scott. She angrily put on the device and an army of ants arrived, throwing sugar cubes into the cup and covering the light until Hank called out to her, making her stop.

"Okay, I'm behaving very creepy." Hope said.

"I know right?" Scott said.

"Sorry." She shrugged again.

Hope said she didn't know why she had come to Hank in the first place and walked out as Hank said they couldn't do this without her. Scott walked out and got into Hope's car, joking she should lock the doors as there were strange folk in the neighborhood.

Everyone chuckled as Sam said, "Now that's how you break the ice."

Hope said this wasn't a joke and Hank was asking him to risk a lot. Scott said he was doing this for his daughter.

"Thanks dad." Cassie smiled and he nodded.

Hope said when her mother had died, she hadn't seen Hank for 2 weeks. Scott said he was in grief. Hope said she was too and she was 7. And he hadn't retuned in any way that counted. He had just sent her off to boarding school. She had thought with everything at stake, they had a chance of making up but he still wanted to shut her out. Scott said he wasn't shutting her out as he trusted her. Hope asked why he was here and he said it proved he loved her as he was expendable. That's why he was here. "You must have realized that by now. I mean, it's why I'm in the suit and you're not. He would rather lose this fight than lose you." Scott told her.

"Damn right!" Fury said.

"Now I will finally see sense." Hope sighed.

"Better late than never." Aunt May said.

Scott was going out when Hope said she didn't know he had a daughter when she had called the cops on him. She asked her name and Scott said it was Cassie. She said it was a pretty name.

"Thanks." Cassie said and Hope smiled.

Hope gave Scott the device and told him to clear his mind and think of Cassie and how much he wanted to see her. She put a coin in the front and Scott tried again. This time, the ants arrived and lifted it for him, impressing Hope as he made them twirl it.

"And now the ice is broken." Bucky said and everyone chuckled.

"Yes. It is." Hope agreed.

Scott and Hope went inside as Hank said Janet had convinced him to let her join him on his missions. They called her the Wasp. He regretted saying yes every day. He turned around and said in 1987, Separatists had hijacked a Soviet missile silo in Kursk and launched an ICBM against the US. In a flashback, a shrunk Hank in the Ant-Man suit was shown on the missile as the present Hank narrated he needed to go through solid titanium to get into internal mechanics and he had to shrink between molecules but his regulator had sustained too much damage. He was shown trying to use the regulator to no avail when Janet flew next to him as Hank said Janet had gone subatomic and deactivated the bomb. In the flashback, she shrunk to subatomic level and went into the missile as Hank screamed in despair.

Everyone watched the scene sadly, their greatest sympathies going out to Hank and Hope.

"I'm sorry." Steve said sadly and Hope nodded in appreciation.

Hope was in tears as Hank said Janet had died a hero. He had then spent the next 10 years studying the Quantum Realm as Hope realized he was trying to bring her back. Hank said all he had learnt was that they knew nothing. Hope assured him it wasn't his fault and she had made her choice. She asked why he hadn't told her sooner and he said he was trying to protect her. She nodded tearfully as Hank said he couldn't lose her after losing her mother. Hope tearfully apologized as Scott said this was awesome and they were breaking walls and healing.

"And you had to ruin it." Peter said as everyone looked at Scott.

"Uhhh…yeah." Scott said lamely.

Scott realized he had ruined the moment and Hank said he had as he said he would make tea and raised his thumbs.

"Now the outcome of the training." Cassie smirked.

Scott ran to the door again and this time he shrunk and managed to jump through the hole before emerging big. He happily said he had nailed it.

Everyone clapped as Tony said, "Finally!"

Scott then befriended the ants as well, especially Ant-thony as Pym worked on the particles and Scott ran with the ants, succeeding in his training.

"And now the mission." Steve realized.

"Uhhhh…..not my best moment." Sam said as he realized what was coming.

"No. Sorry about that." Scott said.

"It's all right Tic-tac." Sam shrugged.

"Well, let's continue watching." Logan shrugged.