32ND FINALS: ANT-MAN VS. SCARLET SPIDER

The place of battle this time was the Ayutthaya Historical Park in Thailand, where the laser ropes have now been set up around the Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. Moments later, two lights flashed and formed into the matches two participants, Ant-Man and the Scarlet Spider, both appearing before cheering fans on the other side of the laser ropes.

For Ant-Man, he couldn't help but marvel at where he was, for him, being in a different country and culture was indeed mind-blowing. His only regret is that he was unable to take his daughter with him to see these ruins first hand, and furthermore, under more peaceful circumstances.

As for the Scarlet Spider, he just stood there, ignoring the crowd's cheers and shaking with anticipation to start the match and prove to his father, whom he knew was watching, that he was not a weakling. As such, the more antsy and intense he felt, the more the suit began to increase his muscle mass, as well as his desire to pound Ant-Man into a pulp, all to make an example out of him for another person he knew, was watching, Spidey. Someone whom at one point he called a brother, but was now his most hated enemy.

It wasn't long before the Ref Bot showed up on the scene, with the announcer's face on display on its screen. "Welcome to Thailand, gentlemen," he said pleasantly. "I trust that you're familiar with the rules and to keep this a nice clean fight?" he received his answered when both the understanding Ant-Man and the irritable but cooperative Scarlet Spider both nodded to him. "Well then, let's not waste any more time!" The Ref Bot soon floated up high into the air and finally set the stage by saying out loud what the crowd waited anxiously to hear. "BEGIN!"

The Scarlet Spider wasted no time as he held up his right hand in a web-shooting motion, just like Spidey, and shot a black, gooey line at Ant-Man's feet, causing him to quickly side-step to the left to avoid it and allow the line to hit the ground instead. However, this does nothing to deter the symbiote-wearing teen, for he quickly web-zipped forward, and upon landing on the ground, turned to the left to face Ant-Man and threw a left legged front kick, intending to hit the former thief's belt buckle.

Seeing this attack coming his way, Ant-Man instinctively shrunk down, dodging the Spider's kick and ended up the size of an insect on the ground. As he looked up, he saw that the Spider's left foot landed right in front of him, and once the Spider himself looked down and spotted him, he raised his right foot and attempted to step on him, forcing the size-altering Hero for Hire to jump and flip backward and narrowly avoid the Spider's foot. Once he landed, he spotted the Spider continuing his assault by raising his left hand and throw it downward in another attempt to squash him, thus forcing Ant-Man to jump and roll to the left side and allow the Spider's hand to slam the ground instead, and deciding to make his move, he jumped on top of the Spider' hand, ran all the way up his arm, then jumped up and threw a hard right uppercut.

Thanks to Henry Pym's design, even in his shrunken form, the wearing of the Ant-Man helmet still maintained the same level of strength he possessed fully sized. And it's this fact in which THIS Ant-Man proved, for when his tiny fist connected with the Scarlet Spider's jaw, it still managed to knock him off of his feet and land hard on to the ground. Once the Scarlet Spider was on his back, the shrunken Ant-Man landed on his young opponent's chest, then turned and proceeded run down the Scarlet Spider's belt buckle. However, he was stopped when he felt both of his feet sinking into what felt like tar, and as the former thief looked down, he saw that it was the Spider's symbiote suit keeping him 'grounded.'

Moments later, and still lying on his back, the Scarlet Spider looked down on his chest and spotted Ant-Man struggling to get free, and thus used his right hand to pluck him off of his suit. As he got back up on his feet, the Spider was now seeing in anger with how the bug-sized hero humiliated him and wanted nothing more than to crush him in front of the whole world. "Oh, you little...!" Suddenly, the angry teen received another surprise when Ant-Man grew back to human size and delivered a hard double legged mule kick to the Scarlet Spider's chest.

With the human-sized Ant-Man in mid-air and the Scarlet Spider reeling backward, both combatants saved themselves by back-flipping and landing on their feet. Moments later, it is the Scarlet Spider who attacked by taking his right hand, and strangely, made it stretch forward and grabbed Ant-Man by the shoulder. Once having the Hero for Hire in his grip, the Scarlet Spider pulled his outstretched arm backward and proceeded to pull Ant-Man towards him.

Knowing that he has to act fast, Ant-Man went to use a tactic that he once used in aiding his fellow Avengers fight off against Galactus in that he began to grow large and thus transformed into that of the enormous identity known as Giant-Man! After growing, Giant Man soon took his now enlarged left hand to grab the Scarlet Spider and picked him up as if he were an action figure.

The Thai crowd, those who supported the Avengers, all cheered upon seeing this moment, and it wasn't just them. For back in the states, more accurately, in the office of Heroes for Hire back in New York, the match is being watched by that of Ant'Man's daughter, Cassandra 'Cassie' Lang, and the team's secretary, Jenny Royce, both of whom watched the match from a T.V. on her work desk.

Cassie watched on with excited glee, further proud of her father for being a superhero. "Yeah, get him, Dad!"

As for Jenny, she too smiled at Ant'Man's efforts, but at the same time, was a little worried. Though she knew that Iron Fist had trained Scott in martial arts, she wondered if it was going to be enough to get him through the match. And what bothered her the most was wondering if letting his daughter watch was a good idea. All in all, she hoped for the best.

Back in Thailand, Scott, as Giant Man, still has a firm grip on the struggling Scarlet Spider, but not strong enough to crush him. "Easy there, kiddo!" said Giant Man, trying his hardest to be friendly, despite the Spider becoming more and more hostile. "Look, it's best that you give this up! There's no way you can beat me like this!"

Suddenly, the Spider, consumed with pure rage, managed to pull his right arm free and stretched it upward with a clenched fist and managed to punch Giant Man in his right eye. This loosened the enormous hero's grip, allowing the Spider to pull out his other arm while pulling his right hand back, and with both hands, pried Giant-Man's fingers open. Once freed, the Spider leaped up and grabbed a whole of Giant Man's throat, where he then proceeded to use his suit's strength to choke him.

As Giant-Man gasped and searched for air, he could start to feel light headed and was just seconds away from fainting. But knowing that falling to the ground at this size would cause significant collateral damage, as well inadvertently crush the Thai audience, Giant Man acted by quickly shrinking back down to the insect size of Ant-Man, which freed him from the Scarlet Spider's make-shift choke hold. With the help of his helmet, the shrunken Ant-Man mentally called a flying ant and safely landed on it's back, allowing the Scarlet Spider to fall to the ground.

The Scarlet Spider managed to land safely on his feet, however and was now angrier than ever, which had the side effect of causing small, liquid tendrils to move around his body like worms. "What's the matter," he roared, actually scaring the spectators watching. "You'd much rather fight me as a giant, as opposed to fighting like a REAL man? Show yourself!"

Thanks to the Ref-Bot, the Scarlet Spider's outburst is seen worldwide, including the people watching the Garden. While some of the Thunderbolts 'fans' cheered for this kind of intensity, it only scared the people supporting the Avengers. Also disturbed by this development was Gwen Stacy, who fearfully watched her boyfriend's aggressive behavior from the skybox. And the Avengers, who watched from their corner with a concerned look on their faces.

But none more so that of Spidey, who knew full well that the reason for his best friend's behavior was that of the suit he was wearing...and how it reminded him of the black suit that he once wore. "Oh man," thought the worried Web-Head. "I was afraid of this! It's the suit! Harry, please, don't let that thing make you do something that you're going to regret!"

Back in Thailand, The irate Scarlet Spider is swatting away at the small Ant-Man trying to hit him. Finally, it wasn't until the third swat attempt in which Ant-Man jumped off of the flying ant, then grew back to human size and went for a right legged flying kick, with the Spider's masked face being the target.

However, the Spider spotted this, and thus grabbed hold of Ant-Man's ankle with both hands, then spun around and threw him off to the side. Though Ant-Man managed to flip backward and land on his feet, the Spider shot a line which successfully hit and stuck to the size-altering Hero for Hire's right shoulder. This allowed the symbiote-wearing teen to zip over and plant both of his feet into Ant-Man's chest, taking him down to the ground. Now wanting to end this, the Spider jumped up off of Ant-Man's chest and up high into the air. Once airborne, the Spider flipped backward, and as he looked down, he shot two lines that ended up hitting the ground, and more specifically, both sides of the dazed Ant-Man. A split second later, the symbiote clad Thunderbolt made his move by zipping down and kick both of his feet downward, intending to ram both of his feet into Ant-Man's belt buckle.

The Ant-Man spotted this and thus shrunk down once again and called his flying ant to swoop in and pick him up, causing the Scarlet Spider to ram his feet into the ground instead, creating a crack. After missing his target, the now fuming Scarlet Spider looked around for Ant-Man, and thanks to the suit enhancing his senses, he soon heard the buzzing sound of the flying ant coming his way. As such, he took both of his hands and clapped them together where he heard the buzzing. Once he opened his hands up, he looked down and saw a now dead flying ant, as well as an unconscious Ant-Man.

An act which was seen by a stunned Thai crowd, and recorded by the Ref Bot, which broadcasted it throughout the entire globe. Especially back in the Heroes for Hire officer, where a scared Cassie, as well as Jenny, saw what just happened to Ant-Man. "DAD!"

Back in Thailand, the Scarlet Spider had an evil smile behind his mask as he now had Ant-Man literally in the palm of his right hand. "Big or small, a chump is a chump!" said the Spider in a ruthless tone, then raised his left fist with the intent of squashing him like his namesake. "Too bad you won't be around long enough to learn it!"

Back in the Garden, Spidey, along with his teammates as well as some of the people in the audience, stood horrified at what the Scarlet Spider planned to do with Ant-Man, leaving the Web-Head, and the equally mortified Gwen to unknowingly yell this in unison. "HARRY, NO!"

Just as the Scarlet Spider was about to finish Ant-Man off, he was stopped when he heard the voice of his father, the Iron Patriot, speak to him via a com-link in his ear. "Harry, don't even think about it!"

"Huh, Dad?" asked the confused Scarlet Spider. "But, I need to-"

"Need to follow the rules!" the Patriot replied sternly. "In that, you defeat your opponent, not kill him! In time, we will dispose of the Avengers, including the one that you currently have at your mercy, but until then, we do not alter the plan!"

The Scarlet Spider appeared to be completely dumbfounded, which caused him to calm down and the symbiote tendrils to die down and return his costume to normal. But even in feeling at east, the Scarlet Spider was still hesitant in sparring Ant-Man's life.

Back in the Garden, the Patriot saw his son's reluctance on the viewing screen and thus gave him this angry response. "Finish the match! Right now!"

In Thailand, the Scarlet Spider let out a groan of disappointment, then took the tip of his left index finger and pressed Ant-Man's belt buckle as if he was pushing a button. Sure enough, this action caused yellow energy to come out and consume Ant-Man, freezing him in a defeated posture.

Through the Ref Bot, the announcer saw the Scarlet Spider ending the match non-violently, and thus let out a sigh of relief before mentally commanding the Ref Bot to hover down to the victorious young Thunderbolt, but still keeping it at a safe distance. "Ladies and gentlemen, your winner...The Scarlet Spider!"

The Scarlet Spider did not hear the announcer declaring him the winner, nor did he even hear the cheers of the Thunderbolts fans in the Thai spectators, for he was too transfixed on the defeated and still insect-sized Ant-Man still in his hand. "Consider this your lucky day, Ant-boy!" he thought, then looked up into the sky as he soon remembered the one person he wanted to truly rip apart. "But Peter, what I got in store for you is worse...MUCH worse!"

WINNER: SCARLET SPIDER