AlienWarlord
patreon
C334 Spider-Man
🕑 Added 2023-05-06 14:13:11 +0000 UTCAfter eating breakfast, Pym and Hope led Peter and Scott to the basement, where everything they needed to train a new Ant-Man was waiting, including the suit.
"Hey, earth to Scott," Peter waved his hand in front of Scott’s dazed face.
"H-Hey," Scott replied, trying to hide his anxiety.
He looked at the Ant-Man suit, which was placed on a nearby table. It looked harmless, but he knew better.
"Are you ready to get started?" Hope asked him, her arms crossed.
Scott nodded, not sure if he was ready but willing to give it a shot.
"Alright, let's start with the basics," Hank said, picking up the suit. "The first thing you need to know is that it works with Pym particles, which allow you to change your size."
He explained the mechanics of the suit to Scott, who listened intently, focused on the suit that scared him half to death.
"Okay, let's try it out," Hank said, handing Scott the suit. "Put it on."
Scott put on the suit, which was surprisingly comfortable. He looked down at himself and couldn’t help but feel that at least he looked cool.
Pym steps forward and begins instructing him. “Now, in the right hands, the relationship between man and suit is symbiotic. The suit has power, the man harnesses that power. You need to be skillful, agile, and above all, you need to be fast. You should be able to shrink and grow on a dime, so your size always suits your needs.”
Walking over to a nearby door, Hope closes it and motions toward the keyhole. “Dive through the keyhole. You charge big, you dive small, then you emerge big.”
She may not like that her father chose someone else, but she would at least give him a chance. Especially after learning that his criminal record wasn’t as black and white as she originally thought.
Nodding, Scott puts on the helmet and takes a few deep breaths before charging at the door.
*Bang!*
“Ow!” Due to his nervousness, Scott forgot to hit the shrink button, which immediately caused him to smack into the door, breaking it off of its hinges.
“Useless...” Hope commented under her breath.
“Scott, just relax and watch.” Peter says as he waves his hand, instantly reverting the door back to its original state.
“?!” Everyone in the room watched in awe, as they had no idea that Spider-Man had this sort of power.
“Now watch carefully.” Peter says as he jumps forward, aiming himself at the keyhole of the door.
Now, everyone was even more shocked, as they wondered how he was going to shrink himself without the Ant-Man suit.
Suddenly, Peter's body lit up in a faint red light, as he activated the Reality Stone and shrunk himself down, mimicking the function of the Ant-Man suit.
And with Peter’s pinpoint precision, his now tiny pin sized body slipped right through the door's keyhole and flew out the other side.
“What the...” Hope uttered with her eyebrows extended upwards.
Seconds later, the door swung open and a normal-sized Peter walked out, smirking under his mask at their shocked faces. “See? It’s not that hard.”
“H-How?” Pym asks, flabbergasted by what he just witnessed.
After all, he spent all of his life keeping his precious Pym particles out of the hands of others, and now someone he barely knew either stole them, discovered them on his own, or had some sort of meta-human ability that allowed him to mimic their use.
“I have many powers that the public doesn’t know about.” Peter shrugged as he closed the door again and patted Scott on the shoulder. “Give it another try.”
Feeling a sense of competition, Scott stepped up to the door once again and prepared himself for another try.
After all, he can’t fall to far behind Spider-Man. His manly pride wouldn’t allow it.
While listening to Scott continue to fail several times, bashing himself against the door as he tries to shrink and dive through the keyhole, Hope and Pym stared at Peter questioningly.
“No, I didn’t steal or use any Pym particles just now.” Peter explains, making them wonder if he can also read their minds. “It’s just an ability of mine. That’s all.”
With their minds set at ease, everyone returned their attention to Scott’s training.
And just as they started paying attention, Scott leaped at the door and shrunk, flailing his arms and legs as he flew through the keyhole.
...Seconds later, the door opened.
"Whoa," Scott breathed heavily, back to his normal size. "That was weird."
"Just focus on your breathing," Pym said calmingly. "Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Scott nodded as he regained his breath.
“Good, you’ll get used to switching back and forth like that soon enough.” Pym said reassuringly.
And when Scott could finally breathe normally again, Hope stepped up. “Alright, let's move on with the lesson. When you’re small, energy is compressed so you have the force of a two-hundred-pound man behind a fist a hundredth of an inch wide, you’re like a bullet. You punch too hard, you kill someone, too soft, it’s a love tap. In other words, you have to know how to punch.”
Scott scoffed. “I was in prison for three years, of course I know how to punch.”
“Show me.” She says as she puts up her hands
“Oh, this is going to be fun.” Peter comments as he materializes a bucket of popcorn in his hands and turned to Pym. “You want some?”
Hesitantly taking a handful of the food, and studying it to see if it was real, Pym couldn’t help but be amazed by Spider-Man’s spectacular powers.
‘Just how far do his abilities actually go?’ He wondered in awe as he ate a piece of buttery popcorn.
While the two spectators were munching on their snacks, Scott wound his arm back, balled his fist, and hit Hope's hand
“Seriously?” She raised a questioning brow as his limp fist hit her outstretched hand. “That was terrible. Your daughter can probably hit harder than that...”
“You want to show me how to punch?” Scott asks as if she couldn’t do any better. “Go ahead. Show me.”
Just as she did, he puts up his open hand, waiting for her to hit it.
Suddenly, Hope smirks as she steps forward and punches him in the face, knocking him off of his feet.
“That’s how you punch.” She comments as she stared triumphantly down at him.
“She’s been looking forward to this...” Pym comments with a shake of his head.
“I can tell.” Peter nodded beside him.
“Hope trained in martial arts at a... difficult time.” Pym reveals.
“By a difficult time, he means when my mother died.” Hope corrects her father.
“We lost her in a plane crash.” Pym says, eyeing Peter as if to say ‘Keep quiet’.
After all, if Peter had a high enough clearance in the government to learn about him, then he most likely knows what really happened to his wife.
And of course, this look didn’t go unnoticed by his daughter, though she decided to pretend otherwise, as she can ask her questions later when her overprotective father wasn’t around.
“It’s bad enough you won’t tell me how she died, could you please stop telling me that lie? We’re working here.” She scoffs as Scott is still recovering from her punch. “Alright princess, let’s get back to work.”
“Were you even going for the hand?” Scott asks in exasperation.
“You know what?” Peter vanishes the popcorn and steps up. “I should probably handle his hand-to-hand training.”
“Why? You don’t want a girl teaching your ‘future Avenger’.” Hope asks sarcastically.
“No, in fact he’ll probably receive basic training from a girl (Natasha) but as an Avenger we have to go through a bunch of specific high-level training, so it’s best if I get him started on the basics early.” Peter says as he reaches a hand out and helps Scott back to his feet.
“Thank you...” Scott whispered as he knew Peter was saving him from getting used as a punching bag to release all of Hope's bottled-up anger.
“I got you.” Peter says as he waves his hand and heals Scott’s bruising face. “Now let's start with the basics.”
...
And so they trained for hours, practicing shrinking and growing, dodging obstacles, and sparring.
Scott made mistakes and stumbled more times than he could count, but he never gave up.
Hank and Peter encouraged him and gave him tips, and by the end of the day, he had improved a lot.
He wasn’t exactly ready to go out into the field, but he would be soon enough.
"Good job, Scott," Pym said, patting him on the back. "You're a natural."
Scott smiled, feeling grateful for their help.
He knew he still had a lot to learn, but he was excited to keep going. He was finally starting to understand the power of the Ant-Man suit, and he was ready to use it.
“Let’s not praise him too much.” Peter cut in before the old man could feed Scott’s ego any further. “He had a very productive day and after a few more productive days, he might just be ready...”
“Yes, you’re right.” Pym nodded in understanding.
Peter turned to Scott seriously. “Remember, confidence is good, but overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.” (A/N: -Darkest Dungeon)
“R-Right.” Scott nodded jerkily.
“Good, now let's retire for the night and start again in the morning.” Pym nodded as well, wishing somebody would have taught him that crucial lesson in his youth. ‘Maybe Janet would still be alive...’
A/N: 1625 words :)
