Ant-Man
Goliath
"I'm heading out Dad. Don't wait up for me!" Hope called out to her father as she unlocked the front door of the house, ready to leave.
Hank rose from the sofa he was seated on and went to see his daughter out before she left.
For a long time, a rift between Hank and Hope had existed and the absence of affection was keenly felt. But with their relationship rekindled, Hank found himself taking a more active role in his daughter's life. Doing gestures such as seeing her out, even if they were small to show that he was there for her.
"Where are you going at this time of night?" Hank asked, but he had a feeling that he already knew the answer.
Hank observed that she wore a thin-strapped black dress and had a yellow silk scarf draped around her neck. It looked exactly like the kind of thing you would wear on a date.
"Oh! You're going out with him again." Hank figured things out quickly and voiced his displeasure.
Hope smiled at the absence of a first name basis between her father and Scott and asked, "Is that a problem?"
"No it's fine, just leave your old man behind. I don't mind." Hank pretended to passively express his hurt feelings; badly.
"I won't be gone for long, besides you have the ants to keep you company!" Hope reminded her father of his insect companions.
"And they're real fun company too." Hank quipped.
"Bye Dad."
"Don't stay out too late!" Hank called out to Hope one last time as she went out the door.
"I will!" Hope called out defiantly. Her defiant spirit getting a smile out of Hank.
With a free schedule for the night and hours to waste, Hank went into his bunker to do some experimenting.
Having been told by Hope that Scott was now a member of the Avengers, Hank wondered if he could still be of any use to Scott. Hank had passed the torch over to Scott by entrusting him with his Ant-Man suit, Hope had shown him the ropes by teaching him the fighting techniques needed to be a proper fighter, but Hank had a feeling that there was still more to be done to help Scott.
As he thought about how he could help Scott, a thought occurred to Hank; Scott's ingenious integration of the enlargement disc with the regulator to escape the Quantum Realm was unprecedented, the capabilities of the enlargement disc uncharted territory; and it was a territory that he was going to explore.
Testing of the enlargement disc with a suit would not be possible because it wasn't as if Hank had a spare Ant-Man suit lying around in his basement, so Hank set out to create an alternative option.
Using an old dog harness from days long gone by as inspiration, Hank created a harness comprised of metal tubing and fitted with a regulator that housed an enlargement disc modified to have an increased output. A perfect build for its test subject.
So after countless cups of tea brought by Hope during the late hours of the night and much tinkering that spanned many weeks, the harness was now ready for a field test.
"OK 291, lets go on a little trip." Hank spoke to the future test subject he kept in a small jar.
"You spend too much time with Scott and next thing you know, you're talking to ants!" Hank reflected out loud to himself.
Hank drove to an abandoned park where the field test would not be disturbed and if successful would provide enough room for what Hank hoped would be 291's substantial growth.
Hank placed the jar in the middle of a field and opened the lid, allowing 291 to exit the jar. After taking many steps back, Hank pressed a button on a remote control and watched as 291's height grew from mere inches to many feet in a matter of seconds. It was an astonishing sight.
"291. You are one goliath of an ant!" Hank proclaimed, having found an apt new name for 291 and been witness to what could be considered the pinnacle of his efforts. He also now had a story that was sure to astound Hope when she returned from her date.
Thank you very much for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter of this story and the Easter eggs I planted in there. I didn't want to wait until Infinity Wars or another Phase 3 movie to hint at the possibility of Giant Man, so I gave it a go now.
