333 C333 Breakfast

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🏆Yesterday's GIF winner(s): LoEnd!🏆 (A/N: Authors Log, Chapter 333: It's been 5 years since my nobility was taken from me. In this time, my hopes, dreams, and ambitions have slowly withered away, leaving me a broken and hollow shell of my former majestic self. Today, like ever other day, a new usurper wears my family's heritage upon his head, prances around my castle, and sits upon my throne. What more can these peasants possibly take from me?)

Scott Lang groaned and rubbed his eyes as he slowly awoke from a good nights sleep. He was disoriented and confused for a moment, unsure of where he was when he was met with an unfamiliar ceiling.

After agreeing to spend the night at Hank Pym's house, in order to start his training bright and early, Scott retired to a guest room and awoke to the sun's rays beading down on him.

"Huh?" Scott grunted as he found an unknown figure leaning against the wall by the door, staring at him. "Who the hell are you?"

Scott's sleep dazed eyes adjusted to see an unfamiliar woman. She was wearing a sleek black suit and had a stern look on her face. Scott couldn't help but feel intimidated by her.

"Have you been standing there watching me sleep this whole time?" He asked, creeped out.

"Yes." She replies uncaringly.

"Why?" Scott couldn't help but ask.

"Because the last time you were here you stole something." She answered, eyeing him as if he were a kleptomaniac, who would steal everything her family owned if she wasn't keeping watch.

"Who are you?" Scott asked groggily.

The woman's expression turned even colder. "I'm Hope Van Dyne," she said curtly.

Hope continued to glare at him. "And you're the man my father chose over me to become Ant-Man."

Scott blinked in surprise.

He had no idea that Hank Pym had a daughter, let alone that she was upset with him. "I'm sorry?" he said tentatively.

Hope shook her head, clearly not interested in hearing his apologies. "You shouldn't be here," she said pointedly. "My father made a mistake in choosing you. You're not fit for the job."

Scott bristled at her words, feeling defensive. "I did what I had to do to see my daughter again." He said firmly. "And I'll prove myself one way or another."

Hope turned to face him. "Proving yourself to my father is one thing," she said icily. "But proving yourself as Ant-Man is another. And you haven't done that yet."

Scott opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, he noticed something odd and terrifying that he didn't notice earlier.

"Oh! What the f*ck!" As Scott was about to get out of bed, he recoiled in fright when he saw large insects crawling all over the floor. "Whoa... Are those ants?"

Hope continued to stand calmly among the bugs. "Paraponera clavata. Giant tropical bullet ants. Ranked highest on the Schmidt pain index. They're here to keep an eye on you when I can't." Without another word, she turns and walks out of the room, leaving Scott alone among the insects.

"How am I supposed to get out of here?!" Scott called out but received no reply.

Looking down at the floor full of giant ants, Scott swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he eyed them warily.

Although he was never afraid of bugs, being surrounded by so many of them was a lot different than dealing with a few flies or other household annoyances.

Even spiders weren't a problem for him, that is, as long as they weren't poisonous.

"Ugh. You don't bite me, and I don't step on you, deal?" Scott negotiated as he tentatively puts his foot down on the floor, carefully maneuvering his way out of the room.

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Downstairs, Hank sat happily in his kitchen, enjoying a warm cup of coffee with Peter sitting across from him, dressed in his usual spider suit.

"You arrived earlier than I thought you would." Hank comments, as Peter didn't spend the night like Scott.

After Scott accepted his offer, Peter left immediately so that he could make it back in time for dinner with his family.

"Well, I was excited to start Scott's training." Peter shrugged as he seemed to remember something and opened a portal above his outstretched hand. "Here, I think these belong to you."

Pym watched as a corked glass vial fell into Peter's hand. Inside this vial were six tiny ants, all with even tinier cameras strapped to their backs.

"I-I..." Pym had no excuse to speak as Peter places the vial down in front of him.

Obviously, he tried to spy on Spider-Man, but what is he supposed to say now that he was caught?

"..." Tense silence filled the room as Peter watched the elderly man squirm in amusement.

But thankfully, before Pym could say anything, his daughter Hope came walking in, followed by Scott, who looked weirded out by the colony of giant ants marching behind him.

"Scott! Good, you're awake," Hank said, glad that he could find something to change the subject. "Are you ready for your first day of training?"

Hope rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I've already told him he shouldn't be here," she said, glaring at her father. "All we have to do is take down the company's servers and Cross wouldn't even know what happened."

Hank sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I assume that you've already met my daughter, Hope."

"Yeah, she's 'great' by the way." Scott held back his real thoughts, though the sarcastic tilt to his tone surely made his feelings known.

"She doesn't think that we need you." Pym says.

"We don't. We can do this ourselves." Hope said as she turned to the world-famous superhero, who she still couldn't believe was in her father's kitchen. "And even if we couldn't, Spider-Man is involved now, so I see zero reasons why we need this thief."

"Hope, please. We can discuss this later. Right now, Scott needs to train." Pym says in a lecturing manner.

Hope didn't look happy about it, but she didn't protest any further. With one last scowl in Scott's direction, she turned and sat at the table across from Peter.

Pym shook his head at his daughter's behavior. "Don't mind her," he said with a small smile. "She's just a little bit anxious. It has to do with this job, which, judging by the fact that you're still here, I take it that you're interested in."

"What job?" Scott asked in confusion.

Based on last night's conversation, he only knew that he would be training to become Pym's successor as Ant-Man.

...

After Pym explained the situation with Darren Cross and the Yellowjacket suit, Scott had a full grip on the situation.

"So this guy stole your company and is recreating your suit?" He summed it up simply.

"Yes, and we need you to break into the company and destroy the suit alongside all of his research." Pym nodded.

"Is that why you chose me? Because I have experience in this?" Scott asked, as breaking into companies was a specialty of his.

"It's one of the main reasons, yes." Pym nodded his head.

Scott frowned.

It might have been wishful thinking, but last night when they were convincing him to become Ant-Man and join the Avengers, he couldn't help but feel as if they saw something in him.

Some kind of heroic quality that no one else could see, but now he found out that they only needed a good thief...

Scott couldn't help but feel a wave of disappointment wash over him.

Seeing this, Peter spoke up. "I just want to make it clear that I'm not recruiting you into the Avengers because of your criminal skills."

Scott turned to him doubtfully.

"We already have many agents who are far more skilled than you when it comes to theft." Peter says, thinking of the top-level Shield agents in his employ. "I'm recruiting you because I think you have what it takes to be an Avenger. It may sound a bit cringe, but I think that you have what it takes to be a hero, Scott."

"But you don't even know me..." Scott replied hesitantly.

"I don't?" Peter asks as he whips out his phone and taps it a few times. "Scott Lang, 35 years old. Date of birth xx/xx/19xx. Social Security Number ends in 5124. An ex-con, who has already been fired from two separate jobs since his release 4 days ago. Ex-wife Maggie Lang and daughter Cassie Lang..."

Peter says as he gives everyone a brief glimpse of Scott's profile and records before getting to the good stuff.

"Before prison, you had a high-paying job at a company called VistaCorp, though you were fired when you tried to expose their unethical and illegal practices. Desperate to support your wife and daughter as well as find proof to take down the company that wronged you and so many others, you turned to burglary and were caught stealing from the company's CEO." Peter explains.

Scott's mouth dropped open in shock. Although he tried to explain all of this in court, everyone simply wrote him off as a lying criminal.

"Did I miss anything?" Peter asks.

"No, that's all correct." Scott nodded dumbly.

"Wait!" Hope cut into the conversation with a deep frown. "I looked him up and his records say nothing about any of that."

"Well, the Avengers have access to a lot more information than you." Peter answered with a shrug.

Meanwhile, Pym simply smiled as he watched his daughter's impression of his chosen successor slowly change.

Of course, he knew everything that Peter just said was 100% true, as he personally investigated using his Ant-Man suit, which is why he was so dead set on Scott taking his place.

"Now that we're all on the same page. I believe it's time to start Scott's training..."

A/N: 1582 words :)

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