"Make yourselves comfortable, please."
In the end, they went into Scott's house. Natasha still wasn't convinced and wanted to investigate further.
For quite a while they talked, or rather, subtly interrogated. But they couldn't find anything out of place. Natasha, still uneasy, gave a signal: the rest of the team should keep Scott distracted while she discreetly checked the house.
However, she didn't find anything suspicious either. No hidden documents, no unusual technology, no visible modifications. Everything seemed... normal. Too normal.
Just as they were about to leave, Natasha noticed a photo on a shelf.
"Do you have a daughter?"
Scott's expression changed more times in one second than anyone could count. Natasha saw love, sadness, guilt... and finally, determination cross his face.
"Yes. She's the most important thing in my life. I... would do anything for her."
After saying that, Scott walked them to the door to see them out. But just before stepping outside, Steve sensed something. His reflexes made him raise his shield in an instant, protecting the group.
But what he saw changed his expression.
His shield—his most iconic weapon—began to shrink in his hand. In half a second, it was as small as a bottle cap. Completely useless.
Natasha and Clint reacted instantly, weapons in hand, but by the time they aimed... Scott was gone. Only his clothes remained, falling slowly to the floor.
"Sir," said J.A.R.V.I.S. through Tony's glasses, "I detect a life form... above your head."
Tony barely had time to blink before a sharp blow landed on the back of his neck. He fell to the ground, dazed, and just in front of him he caught sight of a tiny red-suited figure. The miniature Scott snatched the glasses from his face and crushed them underfoot before escaping.
"Natasha!" Tony shouted.
She turned at once, just as an object behind her suddenly expanded in size. It was a simple mug. A distraction. She realized it was a trap a second before being struck from behind.
Natasha reacted immediately. From the direction of the blow, she deduced Scott's position and fired without hesitation. She didn't expect to hit him—she just wanted to mark his location.
Clint understood the plan and shot an arrow that, upon impact, released a white foam trapping Scott. He quickly grew in size and broke out of the containment, but was now exposed right in front of the team.
Even surrounded, Scott didn't give up. He threw several Pym discs like the ones Pym had shown earlier. When they hit, objects would grow or shrink, forcing the Avengers to dodge them.
Scott used the chaos to shrink again.
But Clint had already identified the discs. He shot an arrow precisely where Scott would reappear. The arrow passed through one of the discs and shrank mid-flight.
It hit Scott directly in the foot, making him stumble.
Steve didn't waste a second. He caught him in his hands and held on tightly. Scott tried to grow in size to escape, but Steve, anticipating it, greeted him with a direct headbutt as soon as he returned to normal size.
Dazed, Scott couldn't stop them from shrinking him again and restraining his hands.
"Well," Tony sighed, "looks like we caught our guy."
Natasha wasn't so sure. She frowned.
"The suit that was stolen... was yellow."
She turned to Scott, who remained silent.
"Why?"
Scott gave no reply.
"Fine. We'll interrogate you later."
They decided to take him in. As they headed for the door, Scott made one last move. He struck a section of the wall.
To everyone's surprise, it wasn't a trap. He simply activated the house's alarm. The sound filled the space for a moment... and that was all Scott needed.
He pressed a button on his suit.
Before their eyes, he began to grow. His body reached gigantic proportions in seconds. Big enough to crush them all with a single step.
But instead of attacking... he ran.
"And... he ran away," said Tony, full of sarcasm.
"At least now we know who the culprit is," added Clint.
"I'm not so sure," Steve said, frowning.
"Are you kidding? He attacked us!"
"I know. But... he didn't seem like a killer."
---
After everything that happened, Natasha decided to keep digging into Scott's life. While the rest of the team worked on tracking him down, she went to his ex-wife's house, where his daughter also lived.
When she mentioned Scott's name, the woman frowned.
"He got in trouble again? He should've come to see her..."
She explained that Scott had scheduled visits once a week. The last one was over ten days ago. He hadn't shown up.
That contradicted everything Natasha thought about him. Scott had said his daughter was the most important thing in his life. He had meant it. She had felt it.
But when she spoke to the girl, her attitude was very different from her mother's.
"Is my dad okay? Did something happen to him?"
"I'm sure he's fine," Natasha tried to reassure her.
"My dad always comes. Even if he has an emergency, he lets me know. Something happened to him. Something must've happened..."
Natasha didn't know what to say. She only felt sorry for the little girl.
Before leaving, she discreetly collected blood and DNA samples. She wanted to make sure the child wasn't being used to blackmail Scott.
But S.H.I.E.L.D.'s test results were clear.
[Analysis successful. No presence of external toxins. Health status: optimal.]
She even had Scott's close contacts investigated. Nothing. No suspicious persons, no strange activity.
The more she investigated, the more it frustrated her not to find any answers.
---
At the end of the day, Natasha returned home. Exhausted and frustrated. She lay down on the couch, closed her eyes for a moment... and heard a soft voice.
"Mom, you're back."
"I'm here, sweetheart. Did you have fun today?"
"A lot!"
Jean ran to her side, full of energy.
"Dad taught me how to control my fire. It's awesome! I can even heal!"
"Heal...? With fire?"
"Yeah, look!"
Jean stretched out her hand and, after a moment of concentration, a small flame appeared. It took her some effort, showing how unstable her control still was.
But when it finally appeared, Natasha was stunned.
The flame didn't burn. On the contrary. It was warm, comforting. As it got closer, it felt like her fatigue was fading away.
But the peace didn't last.
"M-Mom... something's wrong. I can't control it!"
The flame exploded. It grew rapidly, as if someone had thrown gasoline on it.
Natasha tried to approach, but the fire surrounded her completely, ignoring even her movements.
"MOM!"
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+20 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)