Hope closed her eyes; taking a deep breath, her heart pounded as she raised her particle blaster in front of her. "Okay, I can do this," she whispered to herself before opening her eyes to see one of their white lab rats standing on top of the table that sat in front of her, staring at her with its red beady eyes. She then squeezed the trigger, resulting in the rat shrinking to the size of a marble after it was struck with an energy blast. But before Hope could get a cheer out, the rodent popped into a small salmon pink coloured goop explosion. "Shit!" she cursed. She thought for sure that she had made the necessary modifications to her blaster; giving it the ability to properly manipulate a biological atomic structure. But, to her dismay, it remained frustratingly the same; only able to stably influence the sizes of inorganic structures.

"Hey, Hope!" Scott Lang bounded up the set of stairs towards the elevated room that she was working out of, inside of their lab that held their fully functioning quantum bridge. He reached her, throwing his hands onto his hips as he panted out in excitement. "You'll never guess what just happened?"

Hope took off her safety goggles, removed her blaster from around her wrist and then turned to her partner in confusion. "I thought you left like an hour ago to drive Cassie home from school?"

"I did. By the way, she wanted me to ask you how you're liking the mug she gave you."

Hope smirked as she picked up the mentioned item next to her which was half filled with lukewarm coffee. "You mean the one that says, 'World's Greatest Hero'?" She teased him. "Tell her it's perfect."

"You know grandmas are the real unsung heroes of the world." He retorted back in a goofy manner as he referenced the gift that his daughter had given him. A golden cup with the same inscription as Hope's mug, save the last word that refered to him as the ultimate matriarch, grandmothers. According to Cassie, they were sold out of all the appropriately engraved plaques for him at the time of purchase. Scott then muttered under his breath, "Besides, trophies are more prestigious than coffee mugs." Hope bit her bottom lip to conceal a chuckle, finding his jealousy adorable.

He then seemed to have noticed the goopy mess on top of the table when he slowly turned to her, baring wide eyes, as he muttered, "You didn't?" He pointed at the spot. "Hope, not again." He whipped his head over to the rat cages along the wall. "Who was it this time?"

Hope sighed. "Number Five."

"Number Five? Hope, he had a name!" he snapped his head back dramatically.

"Just because you called him Sir. Bites-Hisfootsalot doesn't mean the rest of us have to."

"But he did bites his foots a lot!" She shook her head at his ridiculousness as he continued. "Hope, you ended his little life on his one week anniversary, out of all days." He then looked at her with an over-the-top comical face of disgust. "You monster!"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Anniversary for what?"

He walked over to her, taking her hands in his own as he looked at her with the utmost sincerity that he could muster up. "His one week anniversary of completing the rat obstacle course that I set up last month."

"Oh, god." She rolled her eyes before redirecting him back to his opening remark, as she asked, "I thought you had something to tell me?"

His eyes lit up. "Oh, Yeah!" He squeezed her hands before dropping them. "So after I dropped Cassie off at her mom's, I went back to my place. And as I pulled into my driveway, there he was!"

"There who was?"

"Cap!" His excited face promptly dropped as he quickly added. "—tain America." He vigorously nodded his head as he shrugged, trying to come across nonchalantly. "Captain America."

Hope's interest piqued, totally ignoring Scott's annoying habit of calling Steve Rogers 'Cap'. "What did he want?"

"Get this!" The man had the excitement of a child who was just let loose in a candy store. "He's asked us to officially join the Avengers!"

Hope gasped with excitement. She so desperately wanted to get out there more regularly and make a difference for the better. She wished for nothing more than to have the opportunity to get into her suit and become the hero that her parents had been when they were part of the Avengers.

"Nah-ah, no way!" Hank called out. Hope and Scott walked over to the ledge of the room to see the older scientist looking up at them. He was tinkering with some modulator near them with Janet assisting him. "You're not joining that reckless, misguided group," he griped.

"Dad." Hope descended the stairs with Scott on her heels. "You and Mom founded the group," she stated, believing that fact to be the trump card to stop him before he properly began negating the idea.

"Yes, and it was a mistake."

"Oh, Hank." His wife reached over to him as she spoke calmly. "You don't mean that. We did a lot of good when we were a part of the team."

"And it's up to us, anyway." Hope added while pointing at Scott and herself.

"Oh, it is. Is it?" he responded to his daughter sarcastically. "So you two are just gonna take my suits and do with them as you please? Might as well have a repeat Germany situation while we're at it."

"I'm sorry, again. Alright? I apologised for that like a hundred times already," Scott interjected with zero acknowledgment from anyone. Like he was talking to himself.

"Wait." Hope couldn't believe the words coming out of her father's mouth. "Are you telling us. Telling me the Ant-Man and Wasp suits aren't even ours? You're just letting us use them as long as our actions are first pre-approved by you?"

"I didn't say that."

"Well, what are you saying then?"

"Hank." Janet gently took her husband's shoulders in hand; spinning him around to face her. She shook her head at him before saying, "They have to decide this on their own." Janet locked her gaze with Hank's as Hope could see him visibly deflate in her hold. He then slowly nodded. Janet smiled at him before looking over to her daughter, gesturing with her head for her and Scott to get out of the lab to talk about the proposal in private.

Hope smiled at her in return, loving her so much in that moment, wondering how she ever got on without her. It had been just shy of a month that they'd gotten her mother back from the quantum realm. Hope had taken nearly every opportunity that she had to spend time with her. Janet Van Dyne was every bit as wonderful as she'd remembered her being, and more.

Hope then grabbed Scott's hand, dragging him to the elevator, bringing him up to her apartment suite. As soon as they reached her floor she brought them over to her large, yellow sofa; plunked herself down while pulling Scott along with her.

She turned to him, nerves excitedly dancing through her body. "So, what exactly did he say?"

"Well, he said they're trying to grow the Avengers project and thought we'd be a great fit." He smiled proudly. "I think he saw me grow really big on the news." He referenced the altercation that happened while they were rescuing Janet that resulted in Scott embiggening himself out in the public's eye.

Hope held back a smile as she said sarcastically, "Yeah, I'm sure that's what made him want us." Knowing the decision was probably based on Scott's allegiance to Steve, which he proved in German, than anything else. He flashed her an innocent grin where she sighed; focusing on the severity of the conversation. Whatever they were to decide on would be life altering.

"So." She seriously asked, "Is this something we want to do? Like, would we have to relocate to New York?" Knowing that's where their headquarters were. "What about our families? Specifically, what about you and Cassie?"

"I asked him about that and he said we could still stay West Coast based and just make the necessary trips to the Avengers Tower for training, and missions, and other avengery stuff."

She raised her brow. "Avengery Stuff?"

"His words." He nodded. "Well..." – he scrunched his face and tilted his head – "I think they were his words? To be honest, between his godlike pecks and his dreamy eyes I may have, kinda gotten lost for a moment there during our conversation."

She shook her head at him before her face split into a smile. "So, does this mean we're going to do this?"

"Do you want to?"

"I want to!" The idea gave her heart palpitations just thinking about it; excited by the opportunity.

"I want to too!" He then pointed his finger upwards to slow down the haste of their decision making. "But, I do have to check in with Cassie first before I give a definite yes."

Hope excitedly nodded. "Okay." knowing that Cassie would be thrilled for her dad, and encourage him to do it. She then sprang toward Scott, smashing their lips together as she kissed him. They were going to become Avengers!

The twentieth floor of the Avenger's Tower was where Hope and Scott had found themselves a fortnight later. That particular storey was dubbed with the name 'The Ready Room' which was a large open space where they trained in.

There, standing along with the duo were Clint Barton, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Tony Stark. They were all facing a matrix of oversized shields which were wrapped in bulletproof material that were suspended from various tracks on the ceiling. Propelling them into motion; swinging and sliding the large bullet-proof plates. On the other side of the field of moving obstacle lay a target, placed high up on the back wall.

"Okay," Clint spoke up, "Your objective here is really self explanatory. Hit the target." Hope's eyes were already fixed on the objects in motion, trying to figure out if there was a pattern in their movement and if there was a moment that she could see a clear shot to her target. The shields ran tightly together, intended to force one to use a projectile to hit the target. But Hope was planning on shrinking down and flying through it; making herself into her own bullet.

Tony, with his Iron Man mask up, pointed at the course. "Have you recently watched Galaxy Quest or something?"

Clint looked to the side as he muttered under his breath, in what looked like embarrassment, "Maybe."

Hope had no idea what they were referring to but Scott seemed to as he chimed in dramatically. "I don't care, I'm not doing it. This episode was badly written!"

Both Clint and Tony pointed at him with excitement on their faces.

Natasha smirked. "Solid movie."

Hope must have let her confusion show for that Steve shrugged at her when he caught her eye line. "I don't understand the reference either." Hope smiled at him, now seeing why Scott had a crush on him. He had an endearing quality about him.

"Nat." Clint nodded at the spy. "You want to give it a go first?" He gestured at the course with his head.

Natasha took a few steps forwards. "Alright." She raised her brow, looking the target over as she drew one of her pistols, taking her time as she aimed it up. She then fired her weapon, where she hit one of the barriers. She huffed before squeezing the trigger again. Followed quickly by a third shot, both hitting different shields. Natasha then lowered her gun as she turned to Clint, awkwardly signing at him with her weapon still in hand while she spoke, "Are you kidding me?"

He shrugged. "I hit it."

Tony then sarcastically spoke up, "Gee, the man literally named Hawkeye hit the target. How surprising."

Clint then looked at him. "Do you want to try it?"

Natasha moved out of Tony's way as he looked over to the challenge. "Huh," he said like he was somewhat disinterested. He then flipped down his mask and held up his arm. From the top of the sleeve of his suit, popped out a small missile which he fired. The projectile, with smart target lock, weaved around two of the moving barriers where it didn't have enough space to turn and manoeuvre the rest of its way through; exploding into a swinging shield about halfway down the course. He then flipped open his mask as he suggested, "How about we let the new kids try it before I destroy this setup with more firepower?"

"Tony, you're not blowing up the course," Steve said in a particular annoyance that indicated that he had to hinder his shenaniganry far too often for him to find it enduring.

Tony walked away as he casually threw up his hand. "Yes, dear." He then stopped at the side of the room where he had a glass and a bottle of single malt sitting on a bench. He then skillfully handled it with his armoured gloves; pouring the drink into the glass. Hope couldn't believe the man, he really did come across as arrogant and entitled.

Steve then turned to Scott and Hope. "Well? Do one or both of you want to go next? Show us what you've got." He smiled encouragingly.

"Ah." Scott turned to look at Hope. "What do I do? Go big? Go small. Call an ant?"

"Your ants won't get into this building," Tony called out from his spot at the bench after taking a sip of his drink. "This place is sealed. Even the air ducts have pulsating force fields that would be near impossible for a bug to get through." He then tilted his head in contemplation. "Well, unless it was moving really fast and had perfect timing."

"Well that's the opposite of useful. I'm now Ant-Man without any ants." He threw his hands up in defeat.

Hope shrugged. "Sucks for you." Then activated her helmet; too excited to try out the course to dwell on her partner's problem. She shrunk down and flew straight at the swinging objects; relatively confident that she could now see the pattern of them in motion. She quickly manoeuvred around the first few shields, hovering mid-air for the briefest of moments in the centre as she waited for a clear shot to beeline it to the target. When she saw her chance, she took it. Within a second she crashed into the target with her shoulder witch made a red light at the top of it switch on and halted the moving parts of the course. She then turned around and easily flew threw the stationary blockades, growing to size in front of the others; disengaging her helmet almost at the exact moment her feet touched ground.

"Alright." Steve smiled. "Very nicely done."

Natasha folded her arms. "Not exactly what I was expecting, yet effective." She nodded.

Hope smirked, satisfied with herself. There was a part of her that was nervous to join the team. Scared that she wouldn't compare to the rest of them. But now with her small victory she felt a lot more worthy.

Clint then pressed a button on the remote that he had in hand which started the course up again. Steve then stepped forwards, taking his shield off from his back as he studied the moving parts before him. "I would like to go next." He positioned his shield like a Frisbee, tilting it so it was almost fully vertical and curling it under his arm. He then threw it with the speed that only a super soldier could acquire. The shield whizzed straight through the first few initial barriers but then dinged on one of the middle plates that sent it completely off course. It bounced to the top, nicking a cable in the rafters that shut the power off in the room. After a couple seconds red emergency lights came on. Not that they were necessary to see with since the windows, that bordered the tops of the walls, had sunlight streaming in through them.

"Sure, I can't blow things up but you can shut down our power?" Tony put his hands out to his sides. The engineer then put his drink down as he walked over to the wall panel that lay next to the elevator. He stepped out of his suit before he removed the cover and started to tinker. "The top floors don't need all their power, right?" he asked rhetorically.

"You're rerouting power?" Natasha asked. "You sure you want to be doing that?"

"She won't notice." He waved her off. "Only taking a little bit." He fidgeted one last time before the lights suddenly came back on. "There." He slapped the panel shut. "Problem solved."

Natasha raised her chin as she eyed him. "I give you two minutes tops."

Tony shrugged before he focused on Scott. "Now we finally get to see Lang grow really, really big and Hulk out through the course." He smiled at him with mischievous fascination.

Scott then excitedly slapped repeatedly at Hope's thigh with the back of his hand. "See," he whispered to her, "They saw me when I was at my biggest." He flashed her a twinkling grin.

As much as Hope did not understand the men around her and their weird obsession with size, she smirked at her partner, genuinely happy that he possessed something that was desirable to the team.

"Wait." Clint threw his hands up in the air. "No one is Hulking out through the course. I just got this thing set up."

"Is that why you didn't invite Banner to this rodeo?" Tony asked as he happened to turn his head away before he stepped back into his suit.

Clint scrunched his face as he pressed the button on the remote to restart the course, asking in confusion, "What about me not having inflight tanner for Rio?" Clearly not hearing the man's words properly.

Natasha chuckled as she signed to Clint where he smirked, signing something back to her. Hope had not realised that Hawkeye was deaf until that afternoon when she'd met everyone in the room for the first time. She wondered if she should verse herself a little in A.S.L. so that she could better communicate with her new cohort, as she watched the two, not understanding a word that they were signing.

During all the commotion, Steve had retrieved his shield that had bounced to the side of the room; now gaining speed as he started to run to the front of the course. "I'm going to give it another try," he grunted before hurling his shield. This time it soared nearly all the way through only stopping as it embedded itself into the very last moving barrier in front of the target.

Steve took a sharp breath before he looked over to Clint. "You sure that sequence allows for a straight shot projectile to get through it?"

"Yeah."

"Hands up if you don't believe him," Tony asked the room as he raised his own, pointing his finger to the sky.

Before anyone could engage with his question, the elevator doors opened and in walked Maria Hill. Her eyes were focused on her tablet in hand; not bothering to look up to them. Hope's breath hitched as her heart started to race at the sight of her. She assumed that the agent had connections with the Avengers project to some complicity. She just never thought that she would be there, right then, in front of her.

"One minute and thirteen seconds," Natasha said, obviously to Tony, as she was looking down at her watch.

The agent, dressed in a black pantsuit, hair twisted back, went straight to the panel; opening it. She rested the tablet on the edge of the bulkhead before she threw her hand on her hip, studying the sight in front of her. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you," Tony said. "Barton's playground over there is pumping a lot of power through those wires."

Maria sighed before she drew her side arm. She then turned, and from clear across the room she fired her weapon well over all their heads, towards the active course, where the red light at the target glowed and the matrix had stilled itself. She hit the target in one shot.

"Whoa." Hope heard Scott from beside her, as he audibly gasped out what she herself was thinking. She was incredible.

"See, I told you!" Clint piped up.

Again, without looking to anyone in the room, she holstered her sidearm and spun back towards the panel. She reached in and yanked at a connection which resulted with the lights flickering off once again.

"Tony, if you touch this again I'll coat the insides of all your Iron Man suits with super-glue," she calmly warned him as she grabbed her tablet and flipped the panel closed; her back still to all of them.

"Yes, Mother," Tony joked as Maria went for the elevator to leave. "Wait," he called to stop her as his eyes lit up as if an idea had just popped into his head. He turned to address the whole room. "Maria just gave me an idea. We should throw a cocktail party tonight to welcome the newbees."

Maria stiffened her back as if she were both annoyed that Tony had stopped her from leaving and for bringing up Hope and Scott's presence there. At least, that's what Hope had made of it.

Natasha asked, "How exactly did Maria just give you this idea?"

"Her shot. A shot – I may add – that she just happened to take right after Steve's disastrous one."

"You guys can do whatever you want," Maria said unemotionally as she called the lift; the doors opening instantly where she walked in. But just after she turned to face the elevator's control panel she happened to catch Hope's line of sight. Their eyes locked for less than a second, yet, in that briefest of a moment, she made every nerve in Hope's body stand at attention. Maria, quickly looking over to Tony as she continued. "I've got too much to do here" – she gestured to her tablet in hand – "so I won't make it." She then closed the door with a press of a button.

Hope quickly drew a shallow gasp of air not realising that she was holding her breath. The way Maria looked at her and then so casually dismissed her, left her emotions in complete disarray.

"Okay, never mind." Tony turned to the rest of them "We'll have to do it another day. Maria can't come."

"Come on, Tony," Steve scoffed. "Just because Maria won't be there to play me at pool doesn't mean we can't still have a party."

"Play you?" Tony almost laughed at him. "More like, have your ass handed to you. And for how many times in a row has it been now? Six?"

Steve put his hands to his hips, dropping his head. "Seven, actually."

"I think it's a good idea," Natasha spoke up, derailing them. "Sam should be back by this evening too so he can join us as well." The spy then looked at Hope as she gave her an unfamiliar look. Like she knew something. While she continued. "And don't worry, Tony. I'll make sure Maria drops by." She then smirked at her.

The team continued on bantering but Hope had stopped listening. She just felt so hurt, angry, and confused by the short appearance Maria had made. She could no longer focus on the idle conversation that was happening around her. Her heart was pounding and she had a faint pain in the pit of her stomach. She loathed how that woman had always evoked such impactful feelings within her.

"Yeah, Hope and I are totally down for a party." The woman snapped out of her trance at the sound of Scott saying her name. "Right?" He turned to her as he asked.

Hope simply nodded, forcing herself to be in the moment with her new teammates. "Sounds good to me," she forced a smile.

With that, she allowed herself to be put into a situation where her current boyfriend, the woman whom she had slept with only a short few months ago, and herself, would all be together in the same room; encouraged to interact with one another.

She wasn't necessarily scared that Scott would find out about her and Maria. Because they weren't together at the time when it had happened, so there was no foul play had. In all honesty, she could probably tell him without him getting angry at all. He had always been fair and reasonable towards her; a quality that made him such a great boyfriend. What did scare Hope, however, was the fact that she didn't want to tell him regardless of his understanding nature. That she couldn't find it in herself to inform him about their one time encounter, because then she'd have to assure him that it was in the past and meant nothing to her in the present. She hated herself for it, but there was something that she was still holding onto and she needed a little bit more time to let it go. To get proper closure. It would be best if she had, she convinced herself. She had a really good thing going for her with Scott and she didn't want to jeopardise it just because Maria had a way of disorienting her with a single look. Hope would get through this party and prove to herself that Scott was the right one for her, then she could fully move on and truly be happy.