CHAPTER 13

Later that afternoon, Pym asked Scott and Hope to come into his study. He was standing, looking at some pictures on the shelves when they got there. “Your mother convinced me to let her join me on my missions,” he said. “They called her the Wasp. She was born to it. And there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t regret having said yes.” Hope walked toward him, hearing for the first time the truth she’d always wanted to know.

“It was 1987. Separatists had hijacked a Soviet missile silo in Kursk and launched an ICBM at the United States. The only way to the internal mechanics was through solid titanium. I knew I had to shrink between the molecules to disarm the missile, but my regulator had sustained too much damage.” Pym paused, reliving the events in his mind. There was wonder and admiration on his face—sadness, too—as he went on. “Your mother, she didn’t hesitate. She turned off her regulator and went subatomic to deactivate the bomb. She was gone.”

Pym turned to his daughter, who had barely moved a muscle while he told the story. “Your mom died a hero,” he told her. “And I spent the next ten years trying to learn all I could about the quantum realm.”

“You were trying to bring her back.” There were tears in Hope’s eyes.

Pym slumped a little. “But all I learned was we know nothing.” It wouldn’t bring back the lost time, Scott knew, but they were starting to understand each other. He hadn’t abandoned his daughter; Pym had spent her childhood trying to find her mother, who had saved the United States from a nuclear bomb.

“It’s not your fault,” Hope said. “She made her choice. But why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” she asked, and really started to cry.

“I was trying to protect you. I lost your mother. I didn’t mean to lose you, too.”

“I’m sorry,” Hope whispered.

Scott broke the silence. “This is awesome. It’s awesome. Y’know. You guys are breaking down walls, you’re healing. It’s important.” Scott saw the way they were both looking at him and wished he hadn’t said anything. “I ruined the moment, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did, yes,” Pym said.

Scott could tell they needed some alone time. “I’m going to make some tea,” he said.

Later that day Scott made the dive through the keyhole in the doorknob for the first time.

Over the next couple of days, Pym worked feverishly, creating and miniaturizing the gear that the ants would need to overload and disable the lab’s power and security systems. Scott spent every waking moment with the ants, learning what they could and couldn’t do. He got to know Ant-thony better than the rest of them, since Ant-thony was going to be his main ride in and out of the lab. He ran with the ants, taught them how to build things, learned their little behaviors, and figured out how they worked together.

Then he was ready for the last test before the real show.

“The final phase of your training will be a stealth incursion,” Pym said. He showed Scott a schematic drawing. “We must retrieve this prototype of a signal decoy. It’s a device that I invented from my S.H.I.E.L.D. days. We need it to counteract the transmission blockers that Cross installed in the Futures vault. It’s currently collecting dust in one of Howard Stark’s old storage facilities in upstate New York.” He showed Scott the map. “Should be a piece of cake.”