Meeting Ghost:
They arrived at the school Scott and Hope activated their suits and went inside.
"Do you think they can handle it?" George asked.
"They'll be fine son,"
"I'm just concerned about Scott's new suit. You do realise there have been complications with it recently,"
"Everything's going to be,"
"Ahh!" Scott's voice shrieked through the coms.
"You were saying?" George asked.
Hank called Hope. "What's going on?"
"His suit's misfunctioning,"
"If you guys need to fix this, you'll need to find a safe place to hide," George advised.
"Found on!" Scott screamed. "We're in the storage room! Oww!"
"What are you going ow for?"
"He's grown big," Hope was laughing.
"Ha ha ha ha," Scott sarcastically mimicked. "Could you fix this please?"
"The size-changing coils are malfunctioning," Hope reported.
"Try hook them back into place," George suggested.
"Fixed!" Hope answered after a second. "Oh how cute!"
"What's cute?" Hank asked.
"He's just shrunk to the size of a toddler,"
At the mention of toddler, George burst out laughing. He and Hank waited a couple of minutes until Hope came flying back in, enlarging back to a large size. The toddler Scott pulled himself up onto the seat. He was wearing a blue pullover.
"Heya champ, how was school today?" Hank asked.
"Ha ha ha!" Scott fake laughed. "Can you fix the suit?"
"So cranky," Hope cheesed.
"Hey. Wanna a packet of nutty buttys?" George joined in with the fun.
"Not funny," the toddler Scott crossed his arms, pulling on an angry. "Stop laughing,"
"Sorry, it's just you're so cute,"
"I'm not cute!"
"Oh, look at that. The baby getting angry," Hope teased more, rising up Scott's tension.
"Let's play baby man," George boasted. "Remember how we played babies as kids Hope? Let's do that,"
"Yes. Let's.
"What?!" Scott did not want to be treated like a dool. "You are going to regret this," he swore.
"Consider it payback," George mocked.
After a little while of playing, Hank managed to fix the suit and Scott was back to his actual size. Using some tweaks and bits from inside the old suit, he managed to track a signal down. The signal emitted from a wood area on the outskirts of town. They drove over there.
They pulled the van in front of giant black house which seemed to be devoured by the dark night.
"This seems right," Scott said. He and Hope geared up.
George and Hank started activating the cameras on the ants.
"Oaky doky," George muttered. "Soon as we get that lab, we leave as soon as possible,"
"Are you alright Georgie?" Hank asked. "You seem very quiet,"
"IT's nothing,"
"Come on. It's gotta be something,"
"It's just…I'm worried about Alison. I'm really concerned about what may have become of us these past few years,"
"I'm sure she's fine," a glimmer shimmered in his eyes.
"Ah…" George raised a finger. "Don't think about it,"
"Think about what,"
"You know what I'm thinking about," George noticed that Scott looked like he was dreaming while standing. "Hey, Scott,"
George's interruption slipped Scott out of his daydreaming.
"Do you think you can stop day-dreaming about my sister?" he asked getting annoyed with his lack of focus.
"Yes. Sorry,"
"Good,"
Scott shrunk and flew off on an ant leaving him and Hank to look at the cams. They peered through and saw no sight of the lab-thief. "I'm not getting anything on the monitors," He called. "There's some kind of electronic disturbance. Be careful,"
"You know me, Hank," Scott answered. "I'm always careful…whoa!"
"What is it?" George screamed.
"It's just the suit," Hope calmed everyone down.
"If it's just the suit, then where is Ghost?" George asked.
"I see her," Scott answered.
"She appears to be asleep in some kind of chamber giving off energy," Hope said.
"What for?"
"No idea,"
"Just get the lab and get out of there," Hank ordered.
"Roger that!" Scott called.
The boys waited a sec and watched the cameras carefully. "What the…"
"The ghost's gone,"
"Guys…" Hope's com buzzed.
"Hope? Hope!" George called.
He heard a bang and saw Hank was knocked out. "Dad?"
He felt a massive bang to the head and went out.
"Get up!"
George gasped as he was shaken away. He realised he was tied to a chair. So were Hope, Hank and Scott.
"Dad," Hope gasped. "George?"
George struggled to breath. He feared that the Ghost Girl would reach her hand through his skin again like before.
"Don't ever touch them again," his sister hissed.
"Now. Now Hope…I think I'm being rather gentle with your father, all things considered," The Ghost Girl named Ava hissed.
"What the hell are you talking about?" a confused Hank demanded.
"Another casualty of Hank Pym's ego…" a familiar voice uttered from down the hallway.
The four captives turned and saw Bill and Emma walk to them.
"Bill…" Hank simply uttered. "What have you done?"
"You two are with her?" Hope breathed in betrayal. Their aid had actually been a trap to lure them here.
"It's you've done! Dr. Pym," Ghost cursed.
"I knew there was something about you," Scott glared at Emma.
"Sees I owe you an apology Scott," George now saw why Scott had been sceptical about Emma earlier.
"I actually thought you were cool Bill," Scott remarked.
"What the hell is going on here?" Hope asked completely confused.
"I doubt Hank has ever mentioned my father," Ava remarked. "Of course why would he? Why would he unless he didn't want his children to know what he did to our family?"
Hope and George crossed their eyebrows.
"Elihas Starr," Ava started here story with that one simple name. "They were colleagues at S.H.I.E.L.D. They did Quantum Research together. Until my father dared disagree with the great Hank Pym. You had him fired," she snarled at Hank. "Discredited for good measure. My father tried to continue his research on his own, desperate to restore his name. The name you had no right to take away. So, he took risks. Too many, until something went wrong. He told me and my mother to run. I could tell he was scared. I didn't want him to be alone. I ran into the room to be with him just as the tunnel exploded and everything went black. When I woke up, our parents were dead. I wasn't so lucky despite surviving. They call it molecular disequilibrium. A rather dull name, I think. Doesn't quite do justice to what it means. Every cell in my body is torn apart and stitched back together, over and over every day. And that happened to me all because of your egotism, Hank Pym,"
"I was still at S.H.I.E.L.D. when I got a call about a quantum anomaly in Argentina." Bill started speaking his part of the story to the captives. "I tried to keep Ava safe but S.H.I.E.L.D. saw an opportunity for a new 'tool',"
"They built me a containment suit so I could control my phasing and trained me to be stealth operatives. I stole for them. Spied for them. I killed for them. and in exchange for our souls, they were going to cure me. They lied,"
"When S.H.I.E.L.D collapsed, my father and I took Ava in. My father built the chamber to slow her decay, but her condition was progressive,"
"Is that why you ended our friendship?" Hope demanded. "Because of what happened to Ava,"
"Yes. My father told me not to meddle with Hank Pym or any of his offspring…" Emma kneeled down to glare into Hope's soul. "…because they cause trouble…and casualty,"
Hope could do nothing but stare back. Emma pulled her face away.
"Emma and I don't know how to cure Ava, but then…" Bill was interrupted by a mobile phone chiming. "She wanted to kill you, but I told her to take the opportunity to follow you and your family around…" The mobile phone chimed again.
George and Hope saw a frantic look on Scott's face.
"I convinced her to watch you instead and then you started building up the tunnel. Then she told me about Lang and how he was connected to her through quantum entanglement,"
"And you led us here," George finished his statement.
The phone kept chiming.
"Oh for…." Emma growled and picked up the phone. "Cassie, 911,"
"That's my daughter. I need to text her back," Scott pleaded.
"Absolutely not,"
"It's 911. That means it's an emergency!"
"You're not making demands here,"
A different trill was emitted from the phone.
"Great! She's video chatting me. Just let me talk to her! Please!"
"Just let him!" Hope ordered.
"Fine!" Emma huffed. "But if you tell her where we are…" she gestured to Ava.
Scott gulped.
Emma held the phone in front of him. Scott managed to sway his daughter, his ex-wife and George's former friend Jim into thinking that he was sick and that he was getting better. The call ended.
"Sorry about that," he apologized awkwardly.
"Ava, let our father help you," Hope implored.
"I don't need your help," Ava snapped. "We already have a way to cure me?"
"How?!"
"Janet,"
"What!" both twins gasped.
"For the last thirty years, she's been down there absorbing quantum energy. We can extract that energy. We can use it to repair Ava's molecular structure-"
"Extract it?" Hank breathed.
"Yes!"
"Are you insane?! That would our mother apart!" George shouted. "You'll kill her!"
"You don't know that. I'm gonna fire up your Tunnel. When Janet's location pops into Lang's head, he's gonna give it to me or I'm gonna turn him over to the FBI."
"What?" panicked Scott.
"You can't do this!" Hope shouted.
"You don't get to give us orders Hope!" Emma hissed.
"Ava, just let me help you!" Hank implied. "Don't do this to my wife!"
"Why should she listen to you Hank? Why should she accept help from you? Or any of your children?!" Emma demanded.
"You George are goanna help us fire up the tunnel too," Bill ordered, picking up a shrinking disk and tossing it to Ava's chamber. "We know all about your unique engineering skills,"
"Like hell I will help you!" he refused.
"Do it or your family get handed over to the FBI too," Bill threatened again.
"Damm you Bill!" Hank shouted, hating Bill's guts even more for threatening his daughter and for using his son. He suddenly started breathing heavily.
"Dad?" Hope asked.
"Dad?!" George screamed. "Bill. He needs his pills! It's his heart!"
"They're in the tin!" Hope gestured over to the red mint box on the table.
"Just get them!" Scott shouted, going along with them.
"He's not goanna be any use to any of you if he's dead so help him!" George shrieked.
Bill huffed. "Which tin?"
"The red mint one,"
He picked it up.
"Wait!" Emma shouted.
But the moment it was open, giant ants erupted from inside. They snapped their jaws at Ava, Emma and Bill forcing them back.
Two of them cutting the Pym family and Scott free. Hope activated her suit and shot a blast at Ava. Scott grabbed the lab. George helped his father out. With the ants keeping the Fosters and Ava at bay, they made a break for it. Quickly they loaded the lab into the van and drove off.
What did you all think? Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know what you all thought. Happy reading.