Chapter 17: Ant-Man: I Have a Daughter

"Mr. Stark, watch out, it's Ant-Man!" Peter immediately reacted and warned.

At that moment, Iron Man also received the situation report from his A.I. F.R.I.D.A.Y., and instantly activated the suit's fire suppression system.

"Ah, so I've been discovered?" Ant-Man's voice came from within the suit.

"Are you the guy who can shrink?" Iron Man asked.

Ant-Man replied: "No, no, I'm your conscience."

Iron Man sneered: "I hope my conscience can withstand the erosion of the coolant."

"Whoa! Die, die, die!" As he spoke, the coolant smoothly flowed, spewing out from the pipes towards Ant-Man.

Ant-Man turned and ran, but he couldn't outrun the coolant stream.

When Iron Man designed this cooling system, it was to prevent overheating from overtaxed components, or fires caused by external impacts.

So the cooling system had to be fast-acting.

Ant-Man was directly flushed out by the coolant and fell to the ground with a thud.

At the same time, Captain America's team took advantage of Wanda's outburst to quickly distance themselves from Iron Man's side.

After some discussion, they decided to let Cap and the Winter Soldier proceed to Siberia as planned, while they stayed behind to continue hindering Iron Man and the others.

But before that, they needed a big distraction to draw everyone's attention so Cap and Bucky could slip away unnoticed.

So Ant-Man voluntarily stepped up to be that conspicuous target. 

"What the hell is that thing?" Peter looked at the center of the plaza in shock.

What appeared before him was an enlarged version of Ant-Man, over thirty meters tall, almost as big as Ultraman.

"The little guy grew huge again. This dude is so weird, shrinking and growing like that," War Machine, who had one foot pinned down, feebly complained.

"Well done, Tic-Tac!" Falcon praised.

Without a word, Ant-Man flung Rhodes away, sailing right past Peter's head.

Peter quickly fired webbing, trying to catch War Machine, but the immense force yanked him forward into the air as well. 

Finally, using a bus for leverage, he stopped War Machine's momentum and pulled him back.

"Good job, Spider-kid," War Machine thanked him before rushing back towards Ant-Man again.

At that moment, Ant-Man kicked over another bus.

Peter turned to catch it, taking several steps back before stopping its motion.

"Here, catch!" He forcefully threw the bus back.

Iron Man and War Machine launched an assault on Ant-Man, but they were helpless against the towering giant who could rip off a plane's wing to use as a knife.

"Anyone here want to show off a special talent?" Iron Man shouted as he fired a barrage.

Peter wondered: "This guy defies the laws of physics. His body grew bigger, but its density shouldn't change, right? How can he withstand those repulsor blasts?"

"His entire body defies physics by changing size! His mass increased too!" Iron Man pointed out.

"Okay, I have a plan, let me try it."

Though still confused, Peter decided to focus on ending the fight first. 

He swiftly approached Ant-Man and fired several webbing strands, sticking to his feet and joints.

The extremely tough webbing immediately restricted Ant-Man's movements.

Already sluggish after enlarging, he suddenly turned into a stumbling, oversized old man.

Seizing the opportunity, Peter fired more webbing from both hands, starting at Ant-Man's feet and wrapping around him in layers.

"Mr. Stark, and uh-" Peter didn't know War Machine's actual name.

"It's Rhodes, call me Rhodes. What do you need us to do?" War Machine replied.

"Okay, Mr. Stark, Mr. Rhodes, you two find the right moment and use your speed to hit his chin, knock him out!" Peter revealed his plan.

"Got it!" Iron Man and War Machine chose to trust Peter.

Ant-Man seemed to realize their plan, but at this point could no longer resist.

In fact, this was only the second time he had used his growing ability. The last time, he hadn't gotten nearly this large.

So he was really just a conspicuous target used to draw fire, his actual combat capabilities quite limited.

Crunch!

The two armored Avengers poured their momentum into their fists, slamming into Ant-Man's chin with brutal force.

Ant-Man's body craned back and he crashed to the ground, rapidly shrinking back to normal size.

"Nice work," Iron Man looked at Peter, very satisfied with his performance.

Peter made a victorious gesture: "No problem!"

Boom! 

While they were talking, a Quinjet rose up from the nearby tarmac.

"Damn it!" Iron Man and War Machine cursed under their breaths, taking flight towards the Quinjet.

Falcon also flew up after spotting it in the distance.

Peter was dumbfounded for a moment.

The battlefield had abruptly shifted from the ground to the air. How could he get involved now?

In what universe could Spider-Man fly?

Hey, could you let me copy that?

Waiting online, it's really urgent!

"Hey kid, could you give me a hand?" Ant-Man wailed, asking Peter for help.

Peter walked over and stopped about three meters away: "If I help you, won't I also be branded a war criminal?" 

Ant-Man: "No, no!" Ant-Man tried to convince him. The repeated enlarging had put an immense strain on his body. He was now in pain all over with little strength left.

"But it's too risky and I don't want to take that chance," Peter said.

"I have a daughter. Her name is Cassie. She's adorable. How about I introduce you?" Ant-Man tried appealing to Peter's interest in girls.

The main reason was that he thought this young man seemed decent. His voice revealed he wasn't old, but courageous, intelligent and highly capable - an outstanding young man.

Although Cassie was still young, he didn't mind having a good young man get acquainted with his daughter early.

Most importantly, they were "relatives" of a sort!

Peter: "Your daughter would be very sad to hear that," Peter walked over and helped Ant-Man up.

Of course, it wasn't because of the pretty daughter Ant-Man had mentioned, but simply because he thought it was okay to lend Ant-Man a hand.

After all, anyone with discerning eyes could see they hadn't really gone overboard from start to finish.

Ant-Man introduced himself: "My name is Scott Lang, you can call me Scott. What's your name?"

"Uh, I'm Peter Parker, you can call me Peter," he said.

"Hehe, okay Peter, what a great guy, with such strong muscles," Ant-Man put a hand on Peter's shoulder, patting his chest as he chuckled.

Peter felt a chill: "Please don't make such creepy gestures and expressions."

(End of chapter)