AN: Thanks to Marvel-Tolkien Fangirl and Qweb for reviewing the last chapter.
"Back in the early '60s I was a young researcher working in the R and D department of Stark Enterprises," Pym began. "I had just graduated from Cal Tech with Ph.D.s in chemistry and physics, so Howard Stark put me to work on a team working on an alternate energy source. One night I was working late in the lab when I accidentally discovered a gaseous particle that would cause an object to shrink or expand—"
"How could you possibly discover something like that accidentally?" Scott asked incredulously, applying pressure to the wound on Pym's shoulder.
"I was conducting an experiment with a chemical formula my team had come up with. I thought that by infusing the chemicals with Gamma Rays I could kick the reaction into overdrive," Pym replied.
"Let me guess: it didn't work," Scott observed wryly.
Pym laughed, "Actually, it did work. A little too well, actually. The Gamma Rays hit the vial and caused a chemical reaction I wasn't expecting. The chemicals atomized and vaporized. When they hit the countertop, it almost instantly disappeared."
"So what had happened?"
"I looked back at the tape in slow-motion, and saw that the countertop had begun to shrink when the particles touched it," Pym explained. "When I looked a little closer at where the counter had been, I found a tiny countertop sitting on the ground. I conducted the experiment again, captured some of the particles in a special container I had designed, and found a way to analyze them. Apparently the Gamma Rays completely changed the chemical composition, broke the chemicals down into subatomic particles. Further experimentation showed that with the proper concentration I could control the rate and extent of shrinking. I named them 'Pym Particles' since I was the one to discover it."
"So why have I never heard of 'Pym Particles'?" Scott wondered.
"I never published my discovery," answered Pym simply. "I know I could have made a lot of money off of it, but I didn't want it falling into the wrong hands. The ability to shrink yourself could be a powerful tool for the wrong people."
"But you wound up using it, sir."
"Well, I didn't exactly have much of a choice," Pym replied with a shrug. "when I made my discovery, I immediately brought it to Howard Stark's attention. He wasn't sure how to use it, but bought the rights to the formula, anyways. He gave me a generous settlement; I get paid every time Stark Industries uses it, though it doesn't exactly happen that often… Anyways, when Anton Vanko was deported back to Russia, he brought two pieces of information with him. One was the ARC reactor, which he couldn't reproduce, and the other was the knowledge of my formula's existence. When he couldn't build an ARC reactor, he was desperate to find a way to redeem himself to the KGB. He finally told the KGB about my formula, and they sent a team to steal it."
Pym paused for a minute while Scott adjusted the bandage. Finally, he continued, "It didn't exactly work out for them. I was working late in the lab the night they tried to steal it, and heard them break in. I saw their shadows outside my office door through the window, and didn't know what else to do. I grabbed a vial of Particles, pulled the seal off, stuck my thumb over the opening, and let the Particles hit my body just as the door slammed open." He laughed and shook his head. "You should have seen the look on those agents' faces when I disappeared right in front of their eyes. I even left a little pile of clothing behind—unintended consequence. I was somewhat surprised it didn't actually kill me, more so than I was that I'd shrunk to about half an inch tall. I slipped out of the pile of clothing and ducked under my desk. A couple of the agents looked under the desk to try to find me, but I hid behind a leg. When they weren't looking, I sliced into the phone line and got a message out to the police in Morse code. Then I climbed up onto the desk and found the KGB agents rifling through my files looking for the formula. I grabbed a paperclip, bent it straight, and then picked up one of my pencils. I ran at them and took them by surprise. I stabbed the closest one in the hand with the pencil, ran up the second one's arm, and punched him in the jaw. To my surprise, it knocked the man out cold. I jumped off him while he was falling, grabbed onto the third man, and stabbed the paperclip into his chest as far as it would go. I rode him to the ground and saw a shadow over me from the last guy's shoe. He brought his foot down on me; I caught it with my hands and pushed back with all my might. The guy fell back and hit his head on the edge of my lab counter on the way down. That was when I realized how much good I could do with the Particles."
"So does that explain…?" Scott gestured toward the hidden alcove.
"The first one there is mine, for my first alias," Pym nodded. "The day after I fought off the KGB agents, I was experimenting with the particles again, and had the misfortune to stir up an anthill on the Stark Industries grounds. When I escaped from the ants, I had an idea to tap into insect communications with radio frequencies. A little experimentation, and I managed to isolate the correct radio frequency. I engineered the helmet rig using biological and electronic components to generate the proper radio commands, along with a basic computer program to handle the crossover from insect thought patterns to human brain waves."
Scott gave him a surprised look. "So you can actually communicate with insects?"
"Of course; weren't you paying attention when I saved your life?" Pym responded, equally surprised.
"I sort of had more on my mind," Scott replied sheepishly. "You were actually controlling those bees with your mind?"
"Yes," Pym answered with a smile. "The Ant-Man persona is really the only one where I use that a lot. The one next to it belonged to my wife Janet. When her father was murdered, she went looking for revenge. I met up with her when she was staking out the murderer's hideout. She was ten seconds away from charging in with nothing but her stiletto heels to fight with when I stopped her and convinced her to let me help her. I made the Wasp suit for her so the two of us could take that criminal down. I gave her wings, along with a new Bio-Sting that I'd just created. It taps into the person's own bio-electrical current and emits it as a blast of electrical energy. I discovered the bio-electrical current when I—"
"The Wasp, Doctor…"
"Oh, right," he said, blinking. "Anyways, the two of us went in and took down the murderer—you'll notice her suit doesn't have the same type of helmet as the Ant-Man suit, since she was never really a fan of controlling insects, plus I actually liked still being able to see her hair… So she flew in first and set up in the rafters of the warehouse. I followed a few minutes later with an army of ants. My distraction was exactly what she needed to knock the man unconscious so we could take him into custody," Pym finished.
"Impressive," Scott observed.
"You should have seen her that first time we fought together. She'd only had the wings for about an hour, but it was like she'd been flying her whole life… She was everywhere at once, and nowhere at the same time… I think that was when I fell in love with her…" Pym trailed off, momentarily lost in thought.
A moment later he picked up his train of thought again. "We started working for the government a couple years later part-time. That picture of us in front of the Eiffel Tower on my desk? We were sightseeing to build our cover as American tourists. We were really in Paris because the CIA had received information that the KGB was going to try infiltrating the U.S. embassy. Our job was to be in the embassy undercover when the KGB attacked. They set off a car bomb outside as a distraction, and a man broke in through a second-floor window. We both took cover, shrank down, and went upstairs to investigate. The first room we checked was the ambassador's office. We found the ambassador lying on the floor, a Soviet assassin standing beside him with a boot on his back, pointing a gun at his head. The hand the assassin was holding the gun with—actually the whole arm—looked cybernetic. I instructed a pair of hornets to sting the assassin's other hand just before he was going to shoot. The shot went wild. He was looking around wildly for the source of the stinging, and the ambassador started crawling away. The assassin went to shoot again, but Janet hit him in the chest with a Bio-Sting. The assassin fell backward, and I grew back to normal size and went to subdue him. We fought for a couple minutes, but he managed to escape through a window." Dr. Pym picked up the picture in question, flipped it over, and pulled a photograph out from behind the one of himself and Janet in Paris. This photo showed the two of them wearing the Ant-Man and Wasp suits that Scott had seen, and shaking hands with—
"Is that President Johnson?" Scott asked incredulously.
"Yes, it is," Pym replied proudly. "Back during the Cold War, the government liked to acknowledge certain extraordinary actions by American superheroes. Saving a U.S. ambassador from an assassination attempt certainly qualified. Those medals above the suits in the alcove? Those are all ones we received, mostly from the U.S. government. These particular awards are on the far left above the Ant-Man and Wasp suits."
"What's the third suit in there?" asked Scott, pointing.
"I actually created a couple of alternate aliases for myself," explained Pym. "That is the Yellowjacket, my first alternate identity. He's actually patterned after Janet's Wasp identity: flight, Bio-Stingers, only occasionally controls insects. He's much more brash and impulsive than I am. I originally created him because I felt like Ant-Man was being forgotten and ignored by other people. Well, that and I wanted to experiment with some of Janet's abilities."
"What's with the empty mannequin?" Scott wondered, pointing to the last mannequin in the secret alcove.
"My second alternate identity," Pym answered. "About 15 years ago I was experimenting on the Pym Particles and discovered a way to expand an object's mass greater than its original size. Using it on myself gave me increased strength proportionate to my increased size. I developed the Goliath as an alternate identity which would allow me to make greater use of the size and strength increase."
"So where is it now?"
"I retired last year, remember?" Pym responded simply.
"Yeah, but, from being a superhero, too?"
"From being a superhero, from Stark Industries, from teaching, everything. Of course," Pym acknowledged with a shrug, "You already know that it hasn't been much of a retirement. I still teach introductory chemistry at UCLA once a year, and come in here once or twice a week as a consultant."
"And apparently you also work as a superhero," Scott noted.
"Janet doesn't exactly know," Pym said sheepishly. "I think she suspects that I'm still in the game, but she doesn't really want to know more. That's why it's all here instead of having anything at home. But I did give up the Goliath persona last year when I decided I had found a worthy successor. Now I only take the Ant-Man suit out occasionally to rescue defenseless security guards!" He smirked at Scott when he said the last part.
"This is all really impressive, Doctor, now what's that bank of drawers over there? Is that really a rocket launcher in that drawer?" Scott asked, giving Pym a look.
"Actually, last I checked there are six in there," Pym responded. "Those are all full of equipment that I've collected over the years and found useful. I shrink them down using Pym Particles, and when I shrink down, they are the right size for me to use, or else I can expand them to the right size."
"Wow."
"So, can I trust you to be… discreet with this information, Mr. Lang?" Pym asked, looking Scott square in the eye.
"Well, considering that you saved my life last week, I certainly owe you that much, Dr. Pym," Scott replied, nodding. "I won't tell a soul any of what you've told me."