Dr. Pym's voice softened, losing its usual authority and confidence.
"Scott… I need you to become Ant-Man."
---
In the days that followed, Scott began training in the Ant-Man suit under the guidance of Pym and Hope.
The first focus was reaction speed and agility.
According to Pym, shrinking and enlarging happened in an instant—without sharp reflexes and precise coordination, it was useless.
The exercise was simple in theory: sprint toward a door, jump at the last second, shrink mid-air, pass through the keyhole, then return to normal size inside the room.
Scott was confident.
Years of being a thief had given him excellent escape skills and quick reactions under pressure.
"This is easy… run, jump, shrink, pass through the lock, then grow again… come on, Scott—you've got this…"
After hyping himself up, he charged forward.
Jump.
Shrink.
Bang!
A loud thud echoed from outside the door.
Inside, Pym and Hope looked completely unsurprised.
"I-it's fine… that was just a test run… now the real attempt—"
Bang!
Another solid collision.
Scott's confidence was as stubborn as the door he kept slamming into.
---
Beyond agility, there was combat training.
As Ant-Man, speed alone wasn't enough—if he got caught, it was over.
Hope personally trained him.
At first, Scott didn't take it seriously—until Hope slammed him with a shoulder throw so hard it nearly knocked the soul out of him.
From that moment on, he took it very seriously.
Of course, close combat meant physical contact… and that contact gradually brought them closer.
Right at that moment—
Pym wandered in, completely oblivious.
Scott and Hope instantly separated like they'd been electrocuted.
"So? Hope's skills are pretty good, right? She's trained in combat and martial arts."
Pym didn't notice anything.
"That started… after my mother died."
Hope said calmly.
"Yes. She died in a plane crash."
Pym lowered his gaze.
Hope immediately frowned.
"Not telling me the truth was bad enough. But you're still lying? You don't need to make things up."
She had heard that excuse for years.
---
Scott's life soon became miserable.
Training. More training. Endless training.
One day, he was in the basement tinkering with the suit, trying to remove the buttons on the gloves.
Pym walked in just in time.
"I don't think these buttons are very convenient."
"Don't touch those!"
Pym stopped him immediately.
"If they break, you'll shrink to subatomic levels."
"…What does that mean?"
"It means you'll keep shrinking. Forever. You'll enter the Quantum Realm—where time and space don't exist. Everything you know… everything you love… will disappear."
Pym's expression turned somber, as if recalling something painful.
Scott froze.
"…You know what, these buttons are perfectly fine. No need to fix them. Honestly, they match the gloves pretty well."
He immediately backed off.
---
The final major training: controlling ants.
Without that, Ant-Man was just a name.
In the garden, Scott shrank and followed Pym's instructions into an anthill.
Under Hope's guidance, he observed a species of yellow ants.
As he reached out to touch one—
Suddenly, hundreds of ants surged toward him like a tidal wave.
"AH—!"
Panicking, he instantly enlarged—
Boom!
He burst out of the ground.
---
In their spare time, the three studied the blueprints of Cross's building—memorizing layouts, server locations, and security systems.
"The Yellowjacket suit is stored in a sealed glass chamber," Hope explained, showing footage.
"The only entry point is a pipe about five millimeters wide at the top."
"It's protected by laser grids. We can only shut the power off for fifteen seconds."
"You have to get in and take the suit within that window."
Scott's eyes widened.
"Fifteen seconds? That's not even enough time to pee!"
"I'm not done."
Hope continued calmly.
"You'll also need to command the ants to destroy all servers and erase all research data."
Scott gave up resisting.
At this point, he was just along for the ride.
---
Next came the aerial ant squad.
The moment Scott saw the lead ant under magnification, he recognized it instantly.
"That's the one! The one that broke me out of prison!"
He pointed excitedly.
"I'm naming him… Anthony."
"Great. Now learn to control them."
Pym tossed him an earpiece.
---
There were also specialized weapons—disc-shaped devices the size of coins.
Red discs shrank objects.
Blue discs enlarged them.
Scott adapted quickly to most aspects—combat, suit operation…
But controlling ants?
No progress.
They ignored him completely, acting purely on instinct.
"You need focus," Hope said patiently. "You're distracted. You think too much."
"You have to clear your mind and concentrate."
Pym echoed her advice.
"Focus on what you want them to do. Remove all unnecessary thoughts."
---
In the end, Pym had chosen correctly.
Scott had talent.
With enough training, he gradually reached the baseline of becoming Ant-Man—
And finally began to command the ants.
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