Chapter 243: Iron Man: She Loves Me Three Thousand Times!

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"Bill Foster, also a scientist, once worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. He was a close friend of Ava's father and had a conflict with Hank Pym," Nick Fury said, "But he's just an ordinary person, without the capability to steal the lab from Hope and Scott."

"Then who is this Sonny Burch?" Natasha Romanoff asked. "He was mentioned in the video too. Hope went to him for components. Since Hope asked for his help, would he really try to steal from her?"

"He would," Nick Fury replied. "He's a black-market tech smuggler, and he has no reputation to speak of. Even though Hope is his trading partner, it's still highly likely he would try to seize Hank Pym's advanced tech lab."

"He probably doesn't have any special abilities, right?" Scott Lang asked.

"Just an ordinary person," Nick Fury confirmed.

"It doesn't sound like someone capable of stealing a lab," Scott Lang asked again. "And what about this last person? Jimmy Woo?"

"He's even less likely," Nick Fury explained. "He's with the FBI."

"Why does the FBI get involved again?" Scott Lang seemed surprised.

"Probably related to the Civil War," Steve Rogers said. "Hank Pym mentioned that you went to Germany and had a clash with the Avengers. It's definitely the Civil War. You must have violated the Sokovia Accords during that operation. So, this Jimmy Woo is probably here to punish you."

"This punishment should involve something like house arrest," Clint Barton said. "Scott mentioned an ankle monitor. It's a location monitoring device. Scott's under house arrest and can't leave at will."

"Then, you mean I went to Hank Pym's lab in my pajamas..." Scott Lang recalled his appearance in the video wearing pajamas and suddenly realized, "I was wondering why I ran out in my pajamas. Now that I think about it, Hank Pym must have taken me while I was sleeping."

"More than all that, I'm curious about something," Tony Stark inquired. "Scott, when you turned into Janet, did anything happen between you and Hank Pym other than playing hide and seek with Hope?"

"What do you mean by 'happened'?"

"You know, well, Janet and her old man haven't seen each other in such a long time, if you catch my drift..."

"Nothing like that happened!" Scott Lang looked at Tony Stark, dumbfounded. "What on earth are you thinking?"

"If nothing happened, then nothing happened. I'm just making sure. Why are you getting so worked up?" Tony Stark remarked.

"Hey, there's no need to confirm something like that!" Scott Lang exclaimed.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know?" Tony Stark quipped.

"I'll go with Option C!" Scott Lang made his choice.

[Correct answer! Reward granted!]

Suddenly, Scott Lang transformed into a giant several tens of meters tall, then reverted back to normal the next moment.

"So now you're Ant-Man without needing the Ant-Man suit," Sam Wilson commented.

"There's a difference between me and Ant-Man," Scott Lang explained. "Although Ant-Man can also grow larger, his primary ability is shrinking. On the other hand, Enlargement Magic can't shrink; it can only make things larger."

"Then what advantages does Enlargement Magic have compared to Ant-Man's enlargement?" Clint Barton asked.

"Compared to Ant-Man's enlargement, when I use Enlargement Magic, my defense and strength will reach a terrifying level," Scott Lang explained. "And there's one aspect where Enlargement Magic is incomparable to Ant-Man."

"What aspect?" Clint Barton inquired.

"Ant-Man's power affects the entire body, not specific parts. However, Enlargement Magic is different. It can be localized. I can enlarge my entire body or choose to enlarge just one hand," Scott Lang said.

"Localized enlargement?" Tony Stark suddenly cast a suggestive look downward.

"Tony, can't you think about something else?" Scott Lang said, exasperated.

At this moment, a light appeared in the space, and the video started playing.

At the beginning, Hope Van Dyne entered a spacious hall, where a burly man with a gun seemed to be guarding.

Walking to the center of the hall, she saw Sonny Burch sitting there, speaking to his subordinates.

"Susan, welcome to the fine dining establishment!" Sonny Burch greeted Hope Van Dyne.

"Sonny." Hope Van Dyne approached Sonny Burch and placed a bag of money on the table.

"'Fine' means 'good' in French, symbolizing the good strategy of putting ecology before profit by directly bringing produce from the farm to the dining table," Sonny Burch explained.

"Well, then I hope your answer to whether you got the parts I ordered is also 'good'," Hope Van Dyne said.

"I've always admired your sense of humor, Susan." Sonny Burch laughed. "Please, have a seat, Susan."

"No need, thank you." Hope Van Dyne didn't sit down.

"You know, I have a special friend at the FBI," Sonny Burch said. "I say 'special' because he tells me things I wouldn't know otherwise. For example, your name isn't Susan, it's Hope Van Dyne, and your partner in crime is your father, Hank Pym."

"What do you want?" Hope Van Dyne asked.

"Relationships are built on trust, Hope," Sonny Burch replied. "I hope our relationship has a solid foundation."

"Our relationship?" Hope Van Dyne almost laughed. "I'm just here to buy something from you. What relationship?"

"Our relationship is changing, Hope. S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are gone," Sonny Burch continued. "But what about Hank Pym? He's a great opportunity."

"What are you trying to say?" Hope Van Dyne couldn't quite understand where he was going with this.

"Do you think I don't know what you're trying to build with these parts?" Sonny Burch picked up the components from the table. "Quantum technology! Nanotech, AI, and cryptocurrencies are outdated. Quantum technology is the future, the next gold rush."

"Is that so?" Hope Van Dyne asked.

"I want in, Hope." Sonny Burch said shamelessly, without blushing. "So, out of goodwill, I've already arranged a buyer for your lab. The starting price is one billion dollars."

"Thank you, Sonny, but no." Hope Van Dyne obviously wouldn't agree. "But my father and I have more important matters than business, so I'll take the components as we agreed before."

"My buyer doesn't take no for an answer." Sonny Burch took the components off the table and placed them beside him. "So, either we do business together or we don't do business at all."

"Then we won't do business." Hope Van Dyne picked up her money and was about to leave.

"You can leave, but I'm afraid your money will have to stay." Sonny Burch snatched the bag of money that Hope Van Dyne had brought, "Consider it compensation for my hurt feelings."

"Listen, Sonny, if you just hand over the components willingly, it would be simpler for everyone." Hope Van Dyne said.

"My dear, the only thing you can take away from me is my heart, but it will heal slowly." Sonny Burch replied.

"Fine." Hope Van Dyne didn't say anything more, turned around, and left.

"She mentioned something important with her father. I need to know what it is," Sonny Burch said to his subordinates while taking the money and components, preparing to leave. "Because if she's not cooperating with us, she's definitely cooperating with someone else. Find out, I want to know the name..."

Bang!

Before he could finish speaking, one of his subordinates was suddenly sent flying, crashing to the ground. But Sonny Burch hadn't even seen how his subordinate had fallen.

Undoubtedly, it was Hope Van Dyne who had made that move. She had shrunk down to ant-size and was flying through the air.

Hope Van Dyne was even more proficient with her Wasp suit than Scott Lang was with his Ant-Man suit. Her Wasp suit had wings that allowed her to fly, and Sonny Burch's henchmen were no match for her. They were quickly subdued.

"Glad to do business with you, Sonny," Hope Van Dyne said as she grabbed back the components, but she still placed the bag of money beside Sonny Burch.

"Our business isn't finished yet, Hope," Sonny Burch said provocatively, sitting arrogantly. "I can assure you of that."

Hope Van Dyne paid him no mind, taking the components and walking toward the door. But as she was walking, she noticed a shadow at the door that seemed like a ghost.

Hope Van Dyne felt something was off and stopped in her tracks.

Sonny Burch was also surprised, standing up. "What's that?"

Without a doubt, that shadow was Ava Starr, also known as Ghost. She moved toward Hope Van Dyne like a phantom, disappearing with each step she took, only to reappear in front of Hope Van Dyne the next moment.

Thud!

Hope Van Dyne reached out and launched an attack towards Ava Starr.

Ava Starr disappeared instantly, her form reappearing behind Hope Van Dyne as she reached out to grab the components.

Hope Van Dyne reacted quickly too. She flapped her wings and gave her shoulders a shake. With a quick snap, her wings beat down, and she struck Ava Starr.

However, after clashing for two moves, Ava Starr managed to grab the components.

Hope Van Dyne immediately shrank down to the size of an ant, flying toward Ava Starr's head and crashing into her face, causing her to stagger.

In the next instant, Hope Van Dyne enlarged herself, snatching the components back. She then delivered a swift kick to Ava Starr's head.

This kick was fast, but it didn't connect. Ava Starr disappeared on the spot.

"Dad, did you see that?" Hope Van Dyne said to Hank Pym.

"Hope, run!" Hank Pym, who was watching the surveillance footage from inside a car, urged.

But it was too late.

Ava Starr reappeared. She lunged at Hope Van Dyne, wrapping her arms around her and jumping to the side. Both of them crashed into a nearby table.

However, the moment Ava Starr's body made contact with the table, she turned ethereal. Her form passed through the table as if it wasn't there.

But Hope Van Dyne wasn't so lucky. She crashed heavily onto the table, nearly breaking her back. The components she was holding slipped from her grip and fell to the ground.

Hope Van Dyne quickly got up, threw the components to the side, and then flew in with a kick at a nearby chair. The chair whooshed through the air toward Ava Starr.

Ava Starr's figure flickered like a ghost, and the chair simply passed right through her.

"I have to do something." Scott Lang in the car couldn't sit still and quickly stood up.

"Wait!" Hank Pym pulled out another Ant-Man suit from a small box, "This one isn't finished yet."

At this point, there was no time to consider too much. Scott Lang put on the unfinished suit, shrank down, and rode an ant to fly into the lobby.

Meanwhile, Ava Starr had Hope Van Dyne pinned against the wall, her fist raised to strike down.

Scott Lang reached out and grabbed Ava Starr's fist, then flew up to deliver a kick that sent Ava Starr flying.

"Do you remember the kick I taught you?" Scott Lang asked.

"I remember, great form," Hope Van Dyne replied.

"Back in the day..." Scott Lang said, "What happened between us?"

"Now's not the time to talk about that, Scott," Hope Van Dyne interrupted, looking up. Ava Starr's presence had disappeared.

"Damn it, where did she go?" Hope Van Dyne searched frantically, but Ava Starr was nowhere to be found.

"The ant cameras can't see anything either," Hank Pym's voice echoed in their ears. "Go and check..."

Before he could finish the sentence, Hank Pym's voice suddenly vanished, replaced by static.

"Dad!" Hope Van Dyne knew something was wrong and immediately flew away with Scott Lang.

Indeed, Ava Starr had gone to find Hank Pym. She reached her hand into Hank Pym's neck, pointing towards the lab. "Give me that!"

What could Hank Pym do? Only surrender.

So when Hope Van Dyne and Scott Lang hurried over, they found Hank Pym sitting there, looking frustrated.

"Are you okay?" Hope Van Dyne asked.

"Of course not," Hank Pym said. "She took the lab!"

The scene went dark, and the video ended.

"This ability to shift between tangible and intangible seems quite interesting," Tony Stark couldn't help but comment.

"This ability trumps most people," Stephen Strange added. "Heroes like Captain America and the Hulk who rely solely on physical prowess would be ineffective against Ava."

"It looks like I'll need to add a new feature to my armor," Tony Stark mused.

"Do you know how her phasing ability works?" Scott Lang asked.

"I don't have all the details, but it seems to involve manipulation of quantum fields," Tony Stark replied.

"Quantum fields?" Scott Lang looked puzzled.

"Simply put, it's the transformation of matter between different states within an object," Tony Stark explained.

"That's what I thought," Scott Lang continued. "So how do we counter this phasing ability?"

"I don't know for sure yet, but since her powers are related to experiments in the quantum realm, we might be able to figure it out," Tony Stark said to Nick Fury. "Fury, can you get me the data from that experiment in Argentina?"

"I'll give it a shot," Nick Fury replied. "But you shouldn't worry too much about her. She's not really an enemy. Everything she's done is just to survive. She joined S.H.I.E.L.D. because they promised to cure her, but she left when she realized they couldn't."

"So you're saying if we save her life, she might be an ally with superpowers?" Steve Rogers suggested.

"With my understanding, it's a possibility," Nick Fury confirmed.

"Since her abilities are linked to the quantum realm, Hank Pym should be able to help her, right?" Phil Coulson chimed in.

"It seems I need to find Hank Pym again," Nick Fury concluded.

[The fifth question begins. Please be prepared.]

[In the process of time travel, who created the time-space GPS?]

[A. Tony Stark (Iron Man)]

[B. Bruce Banner (The Hulk)]

[C. Scott Lang (Ant-Man)]

[D. T'Challa (Black Panther)]

[If you answer this question correctly, you will receive a storage bracelet. You can use it after forming a blood contract. If you answer incorrectly, you will lose one year of life.]

"For this scientific question, it's probably Tony," as soon as they saw this question, everyone's first thought was Tony Stark.

"However, in the previous video, when Scott suggested time travel to go find Tony, Tony declined," Thor said. "I don't doubt that Tony can solve this problem, but he refused."

"He did refuse back then, but he might change his mind later," Steve Rogers said. "Remember the 'farewell message' Tony recorded before the time travel? By then, he wasn't so opposed to the idea anymore."

"I'm curious though, what made Tony change his mind?" James Rhodes asked. "At that time, he had a daughter and a wife. He should have stayed away from such risky endeavors."

"It's not important. What's important is that Tony took action," Bruce Banner said. "And it won't be me. Time and quantum fields aren't my domain. The answer has to be Tony."

"Definitely Tony," Scott Lang agreed. "Although I suggested time travel, I don't have the expertise to solve such high-tech problems."

"It couldn't be me either. Only my sister in Wakanda has the intellect for such 'high-end' matters," T'Challa added.

"I choose A!" Tony Stark made his choice.

[Correct answer! Reward distributed!]

A silver-white bracelet appeared on the ground.

Tony Stark used his fingernail to prick the dry skin on his lip, and with a forceful pull, a sharp pain shot through him, making his lip bleed.

Tony Stark dabbed a bit of blood onto the storage bracelet using his fingertip, completing the blood contract.

"This space is huge!" Tony Stark exclaimed in surprise.

"How big?" Nick Fury asked.

"As big as the Stark Tower," Tony Stark replied.

"Then how much can it hold?" Phil Coulson pondered after considering the size of the Stark Tower.

Shortly after, the space played a video. At the beginning, Tony Stark was washing dishes, but he didn't seem to be very skilled at it, as water was splashing everywhere, even onto himself.

Tony Stark dried the plates with a towel and then wiped down the areas that got wet.

There was still some water on a photo placed there. Tony Stark took the photo out to clean it.

After a couple of wipes, he froze.

The photo was a group picture, showing him with Spider-Man.

Looking at Spider-Man's face, Tony Stark remembered the earlier visit of Steve Rogers and the others, when they came to him with the plan to use time travel to save everyone.

At that time, he had firmly refused.

But now, looking at Peter Parker's youthful face, Tony Stark wavered.

If there was a chance to save this kid, should he really give up?

Tony Stark couldn't resist the yearning he felt for Peter Parker. He decided to calculate.

"I have a little inspiration. I want to see if it'll work. So, before we wrap up for the night, I want to run another simulation," he instructed Friday to start modeling and calculations. "This time, in the form of a Möbius strip, initiate a reverse."

"Processing," Friday began the simulation, and a holographic image that would baffle an ordinary person appeared in the air.

"Alright, take the characteristic values of that particle and perform spectral decomposition. It might take a bit of time," Tony Stark manipulated the image with his fingertips.

"Just a moment." Friday began the calculations again.

"It's okay if it doesn't work out. I'm just..." Tony Stark suddenly froze, because the simulation in the air had actually succeeded!

Tony Stark couldn't believe his eyes as he looked at the model before him and fell back onto a chair.

"Shit!" He cursed after a while.

"Shit!" A young voice echoed next to him.

Tony Stark turned his head and saw a little girl sitting on the stairs, looking at him. It was his daughter, Morgan.

"Why are you up, little one?" Tony Stark lowered his voice and asked.

"Shit," Morgan smiled innocently and said.

"No, we don't use that word. Only Mommy can use it. It's her creation, her exclusive word," Tony Stark immediately educated her. 

"Why aren't you asleep?" Morgan asked.

"Because I have important things to do. Otherwise, what do you think?" Tony Stark said, then quickly confessed, "I'm preoccupied."

"Is it about the juice popsicles?" Morgan asked.

"Yes," Tony Stark said. "It's blackmail. What flavor would you like?"

Tony Stark led Morgan back to her bedroom, gave her some popsicles, and put her to bed.

"Tell me a story," Morgan said as she lay in bed.

"Tell you a story?" Tony Stark narrated a very simple story, "Once upon a time, Morgan went to bed. The end."

"This story is terrible," Morgan said.

"Come on, it's your favorite story," Tony Stark said. "Love you three thousand times."

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[END OF CHAPTER]