"What ..." That was all she could get out. Yes, Scott had returned from the quantum tunnel. But he appeared to be no older than twelve. Twelve-year-old Scott, who was wearing an adult's Ant-Man suit. The suit hung off him like a potato sack. "Uh, guys? Something's not right here," twelve-year-old Scott realized in a high-pitched voice. Bruce looked first at his hands and then at the controls. This wasn't the way it had been planned. "What's going on now?" Steve pointed at Scott in confusion. Abigail slapped her hand to her forehead and turned away from the child in exasperation. This couldn't be happening.
"Who is that?" demanded Natasha. "Is that Scott?" This was not good at all. "Yes, that's Scott," the boy confirmed. Then he pressed some keys on his gloves, shrank
and disappeared into the quantum tunnel once again. "What's going on?" asked Steve, but Bruce had already pressed the controls again. The quantum tunnel opened again and Ant-Man got bigger and finally stood in front of the opening. This time it was the ninety-three-year-old Ant-Man. "Bruce?" asked Steve, clearly more impatient. "What is it?" Steve stepped closer to the console. "Move over for a minute, will you? I need to get over here." He worked as fast as he could. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. " Steve was already moving aside. But even he was beginning to worry. Reassuringly, he walked up to Abigail and put a hand on her shoulder. "Can you bring him back-
get him?" Bruce flipped, levers and switches and pushed all sorts of buttons with his giant green fingers. He looked at a monitor and jiggled it discontentedly. Then, finally, he nodded.
One more time Scott shrank and disappeared into the quantum plane. Upon his return, let's just say it was Scott. Sort of, anyway. "That's a baby," Steve observed. Abigail, completely done with nerves, pressed herself against his shoulder and hid her face in his shirt to stop looking at baby Scott. "That's Scott," Bruce explained, as if that would make things better.
things any better. "As a baby," Steve grumbled, unable to accept it as it was.
"He's growing again," Bruce insisted. "Get Scott back here."
"When I say power off, power off!" The quantum tunnel had been running for nearly an hour now, and the generators wouldn't last much longer. Natasha and Steve stood nearby and
held themselves ready to turn off the power the moment Bruce gave the order. Suddenly, the scientist flipped several switches and yelled, "And power off!" as he pressed a large button.
Natasha flipped the lever of the heavy current transformer and Bruce continued to pound the buttons on the control unit. The quantum tunnel lit up briefly as Scott returned in his atomic form,
grew tall again and, fortunately, looked perfectly normal
looking, as he pushed up the face mask of his helmet, Steve was relieved to realize that it was the same good old Scott and not in baby, nor a twelve year old, nor an old man behind it. He was back again. "Oh, thank God." Natasha was glad as hell that they had the experiment behind them even if it hadn't gone as they had hoped. They would not be able to solve their problem with this method.
Steve looked at Bruce, stunned. But Bruce unapologetically cheered and beamed at the others. "Time travel! Wicked! " he exclaimed in high glee. "What, I.... consider this a success all the way around." Shaking his head, Steve left the room. Natasha went after him, but Abigail stopped her. She knew Steve was desperate, but he wouldn't want Nat to see him like this lest she take away the best hope she had left. So she decided to hurry after him herself.
YOU ARE READING
The closest thing to a daughter
Adventure❝ she is the closest thing I ever had to a daughter ❝ - english version Abigail a thief on the run from her past, with extraordinary uncontrolled powers and an unhealthy amount of self-confidence, meets the famous Russian spy Black Widow. Not a g...
