Ch 3

In a fast-speeding tunnel of brilliant colors, the family traveled towards the Quantum Realm.

The tunnel then split into two more and Hank, Hope, and Janet had flown into the first one.

Scott and Cassie flew through the other one and landed on a rocky surface with a purple sky and lava falls.

"Hank, Hope, Janet?" Scott tried his comlink but there was nothing except static.

"Oh my God." Cassie said, panicked and scared.

"Hey, look at me. We're gonna find them and we're fonna get ouf of here, okay?" Scott said and Cassie nodded. "This is okay. It's okay."

"You're saying okay too much." Cassie said.

"It is. In the mean time, look around. This is beautiful, it's like we're camping. We love camping."

"We've never been camping."

"But we've always talked about it."

"Is that sun moving?"

Scott turned to where Cassie was pointing and saw a glowing sun creature gliding towards them.

Then it wrapped Scott in its tentacles.

"I don't think this is a sun!"

Luckily, Scott grew giant, grabbed the tentacles, and flung the creature away.

Suddenly, it got swallowed by a massive pink manta-ray-like creature.

"Run!" Scott shouted.

They ran but the creature soon blocked them.

Then a yellow energy beam vaporized the creature.

Scott and Cassie turned and saw mysterious, robed and armored aliens pointing blasters and a glowing staff at them.

"Are there Quantum people in the Quantum Realm?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah." Scott said in surprise. "Didn't know that either."

Meanwhile, Hank, Hope, and Janet went to a palace where they met a royalty humanoid named Krylar who had hooked up with Janet once.

As they talked, Krylar served them blue drinks with small octopus-like crestures inside them.

"Janet van Dyne." Krylar said. "After all these years. I thought you were dead. You have got to be Hank. I've heard so much about you and your ants. What are ants anyway? Do we have 'em down here?"

"No, I don't think so." Hank replied.

"Too bad." Krylar said. "You have to be Hope. She talked about you every day."

"That's strange." Hope said icily."She never said anything about you."

"I don't think I would have told my kid either." Krylar replied. "Wild stuff."

"How wild?" Hank asked.

"Very wild, Henry." Krylar said.

"Krylar, we're looking for friends of ours. Two of them. Human, like us." Janet explained.

"Human, that's the word. Totally forgot what you call yourselves up there. Human."

" Are you not human?" Hank asked.

"Not technically, but yes. In the ways that matter."

Suddenly, armored Quantumnauts with blasters aimed at them but Krylar ordered them to stand down.

"So, what is it that brings you to us, Janet? If I remember correctly, you left. You left all of us. With him."

"Janet, what is he talking about?" Hank asked but got no answr.

"You didn't tell them about him. Did you say anything... about what you did here? How many people died because of you? Does your family even know who you are?"

Now this was getting personal.

"Your mommy... is full of secrets."

"You're lying." Hope replied.

"I lie. A lot. Not about this."

"Let them go. He just wants me."

"But you want them. So they're coming too. Along with those other friends of yours. I heard about them. But he did too. And he sent the Hunter."

"What kind of hunter?" Hope asked.

"Not a man. Not a machine. A mechanized organism designed only... for killing."

"Where are they?" Hank asked.

"No clue. Dead. Probably dead. This is so sad when all of this... could have been avoided, Janet. Just give him what he wants."

"What happened to you?"

This wasn't the Krylar Janet knew.

He was a friend and now he was gone.

"We fought against him."

"He can be very persuasive. Let's pay him a visit. I think we're done here."

Suddenly, Hope kicked the table down and knocked down Krylar.

Hank and Janet knocked down Quantumanuts, then grabbed their blasters, shooting down othet Quantumanits.

Hank shot down one Quantumanut off the building, then he and Janet went to the ship where it had a living organism that was the controls.

Hank then threw a Pym Particle disk at Krylar's creature and it grew to a massive size before grabbing Krylar in its tentacles.

Finally, Hank found the controls on the ship which were a living organism and the ship's engine flared up when he inserted his hands into the holes. Hope then flew in and joined them before the ship flew off.

Meanwhile, Scott and Cassie had met the Resistance who were a bunch of homeless freedom fighters fighting to liberate the Quantum Realm.

Suddenly, blue gunships descended and Quantumnauts dropped down, shooting down Freedom Fighters with blue energy bolts from their blasters.

Cassie put on her suit, then shrunk down and kicked but it didn't work.

Cassie bounced off the Quantumnaut's helmet, then was blasted away as he stalked towards her.

Then Scott shrunk down and kicked the Quantumnaut in the same spot, sending him flying before he regrew. "Jump and tap, one move." Scott explained.

"I know how to do it, dad." Cassie said, annoyed.

"Oh yeah, cuz it didn't look like it from my end."

"I messed up on the timing."

"One move. Jump…"

Scott said as he did the same trick to other Quantumnauts, knocking them all down before regrowing.

"And tap, like that. You see what I did?"

"No. You're like, this small."

"I jumped and tapped."

Suddenly, a rapid-fire barrage of purple energy bolts sent Freedom Fighters flying and blew up most of the sentient buildings in plumes of flame and smoke.

When the dust cleared, there was a floating golden armored head with tiny legs, missile launchers, and side blasters.

Welcome back to the Quantum Realm, Scott. the head said in a booming voice. I've been waiting a long time for this.

"What?" Scott asked, having a hard time hearing with the apparatus. "Is someone in there?"

Oh yes. The destiny you cannot escape. Our fates have always been forged together. Ever since that day we met. The day you broke me. Banished me down here.

Scott then had a flashback of him kicking Yellowjacket into the bug zapper and his eyes went wide as he came to the realization.

"Wait, Darren?!"

Soon enough, the armor plates opened up and there was Darren.

As a massive floating head.

"Surprised to see me?" he asked with glee.

"Yeah." Scott said. Honestly, he was.

When he had seen aliens with rainbow-colored rock obsessions plus a woman who could phase through walls and Cap and Iron Man fighting each other, he'd thought he'd seen everything.

Apparently, resurrections were also possible.

"Is that the bee guy?" Cassie asked in surprise.

"Cassie? I almost didn't recognize you." Darren said.

"How are you not dead?" Scott asked.

"I became the ultimate weapon."

"Is that what this is? Look, Darren-"

Then Darren turned his helmet back on and blasted the two heroes back with an energy bolt from the purple crystal on his head.

Darren is dead! THERE IS ONLY MODOK! And there's no place you can run, Scott, not from me and not from Him. He's the future. He's the past. And now all he needs is…you.