Back to GatefoldIssue #3 by A. Crute
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"Astonishing Tales - Part Three"
Central Park
Cassie Lang was the non-powered teenage daughter of the superhero Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang. She had, in the past 12 hours, become the sidekick of her ‘Uncle’ Hank Pym, aka Yellow Jacket, and it was this status as his sidekick that meant she was in left in charge of the very intense scene which she was currently directing. She was directing it largely by keeping her mouth shut and trying to look in charge. It was so far working, for the most part. She had sent some SHIELD Agents to quiet down a noise that was coming from the other side of the park.
There was a party going on where a bunch of the city’s ‘scenesters’ had decided an end of the world party (advertised on the local radio as ‘the most bitching party the end of the world has ever seen, if you’re going up in that bright light or down the fiery steps do it singing and wrecked!’) would be the best possible thing to do when the world is literally hours from ending. They had swarmed into the park in their finest beach gear and got as close to the tiny star as possible and began to party in the warmth, bathed in the light that was giving them all nice golden brown tans.
It seemed they had figured one of two things, the first of which was the world was going to end and there was literally nothing that they could do about it so they were going to dance the night away in the sunshine and screw the consequences. The second thing they figured was someone was going to solve this. It seemed they were certain of it.
It was starting to become quite a social movement. The World is threatened, there’s a serial killer, there’s a terrorist…then along comes Spidey, the Avengers or The Fantastic Four, and then they would save the day, panic over, why was everyone so worried? So a large portion of society had just stopped worrying.
Cassie was not one of them. She had been with Hank when he discovered the tiny star growing out of the Micro-Verse in the center of the park that had already killed one woman and was now slowly roasting the park alive. She had seen how concerned and serious he was about the situation. She had also been there when her dad, Uncle Hank, Aunt Jan and Bill Foster has shrunk down to a microscopic size and travelled to the tiny planet that was orbiting the star to solve the problem before the entire world was destroyed. That had been several hours ago and now she was really frightened.
She decided to call her mom again. While she dialled, she couldn’t help but think. At least it’s a nice day for the world to end.
# # # # #
The Tiny Planet Circling the star (Mah-Ria), which was almost in the Micro-Verse
Bill Foster roared and brought his massive forearm down across the shielding arms of Scott Lang, forcing the smaller man back onto one knee. Scott faltered momentarily with his arms before moving them back up to block his face just as Bill brought his arms back up to slam them down across Scott again, but the white man launched forward and tackled him around the waist and to the ground. The stadium shook and the crowd roared with excitement.
The two had been beating one another for about twenty minutes and they showed no sign of tiring. They were smaller than they had ever been before but they were at a relative size (compared to all the beings and structures around them) of about 80 feet tall. As veritable giants, Scott roared with anger and began to unleash his fists into the face of his friend Bill, drawing first blood as he pounded his fist into Bill’s nose until blood poured out.
The two were the first victims of Psycho-Man in the arena. The Micro-Verse despot had jumped them the moment they landed and blasted them with his Control Box, then he had sent these two directly to the arena whilst he kept Jan and Hank prisoner under the influence of his rays in his overlooking throne room.
A grin twisted across his face as he watched the fight.
The two men were no strangers to size changing, but whereas Scott usually shrank Bill usually grew, so at this massive relative size Bill had a little advantage. He quickly doubled his size and seemingly without a thought swatted Scott from his chest. He rushed forward and delivered a massive boot to the chest and ribs of the rising Scott. Scott let out an animal like yelp of pain and hurtled back 40 feet into the side of the arena.
The stone stand gave a shudder that caused the beings in it to scream in terror for a few seconds before it was clear that it wasn’t going to crumble. Then they screamed in excitement.
Scott rose to his feet and stumbled forward; he was punch drunk but had enough sense about him that he began to grow to match Bill Foster’s size. The giant scientist rushed him only to find an elbow slammed into his face, wobbling him backwards.
The two didn’t have what would be called an expertise in physical combat. Bill Foster, if he was honest, was a scientist much more than a superhero though he had donned the tights a fair few times in his life by now. He, however, didn’t usually need fighting skills since he was quite well built and was generally somewhere between 4 to 15 times the size of the enemy he was fighting. The size and the power that came with it always tipped the scales in your favor.
Scott was the opposite. He had been given some physical training during his days with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, so no doubt he could handle himself against some AIM goon or some street punk he might have to take down but, much like Bill, he relied more on his powers than anything else. He could shrink down to avoid the fights and take the enemy out with skill and stealth, or he could have an army of ants make sure no one was really focusing on the fight as they clawed at their own skin.
If Captain America was watching he probably wouldn’t be giving them good scores for form. The hate that was boiling through their veins powered by Psycho-Man’s Control Box was making them fight like killing one another was the only important thing in the world. It was exactly what Psycho-Man wanted.
He was, however, thinking of changing his mind as he watched the fight below him and was actually enjoying it. It had been so long since he had enjoyed anything it was giving him second thoughts about killing them quickly. Even more influential to him was the fact that the crowd was loving it.
He employed the arena for the same reasons the Romans had the Coliseum and the other arenas. It was a sport the general population loved; it kept them happy and it kept them from thinking about the other conditions they were forced to live in on their overcrowded world. If he had a Slave Master train the two up a bit, then the next fight between them could keep everyone’s bloodlust satisfied for a year, by which point he would be fully prepared for the War.
He had only a few hours left before he could begin the next stage of his plan. The Psycho-Star would have grown to a big enough size to destroy the planet Earth and he would be free of his greatest enemies and free to begin his expansion through their universe.
He turned to look at his other captives. They were all from the upper universe, the universe which he would rule soon, and amounted to all that universe could send to fight him. They were completely under his control and offered no resistance. He smirked and turned back to the fight in the arena.
He flicked off the Control Box and watched as Bill, who had Scott hoisted into the air by his throat, suddenly faltered and began to lower him down almost with a drop. “Scott!”
He quickly moved his fingers to check for a pulse as Scott spluttered to life. “Bill, what the hell happened?”
# # # # #
In the Throne Room
Psycho-Man turned to look at the two other captives he had in his control. He didn’t know who they were but they had the technology to get into his world at its current size so it was very possible that they were a threat…or would have been if they weren’t so pathetic. He made sure to let one of them feel how pathetic he truly was.
Hank sat in the foetal position rocking backwards and forward, his eyes shut tight as he shook his head from side to side. His lips quivered. “Tell me how you feel?” hissed Psycho-Man as he tilted Hank’s face up to his own.
“I’ve screwed it up again,” he turned his face away from Psycho-Man as quickly as he could. “I screwed it up all again, everyone is relying on me. Everyone…and I screwed it all up. Tony, Steve, all of the Avengers…Cassie, poor Cassie stuck with me as her ‘Uncle’. I’ve doomed them all!”
Psycho-Man smiled. “An Avenger.” He stroked his face. “I know about you.”
“I let you get the jump on us, we had one chance and I screwed it up…screwed it all up again. I can’t do anything right, I let you blast me with that Control Box.”
“You’re pathetic aren’t you? Little Avenger? So pathetic.”
Hank nodded quickly his agreement. His body convulsed as he began to sob aloud. “I fail at everything, everything!” he barked. “I screwed up time and time again with the Avengers, got knocked out by tunnels and built Ultron…I built Ultron, he’s killed so many! I used my brain waves and created one of the greatest evils the world has ever known. I’ve had break down after break down…I,” he looked up and into the corner at Jan. “I’m so sorry Jan.”
Psycho-Man turned to the corner where Jan cowered with a smile. He did not get a chance for fun like this any more. He remembered his youth growing up in the over-crowded slums of his world. He had risen in power through his own wits and skills, his vindictive instincts which allowed him to grind people down. He loved it and yet since he became a supreme ruler it was very hard to do any of this. It was all micro-management slaughter and planning.
“Jan,” he called with a loud and commanding voice which made the small woman in the corner jump with a shriek. A blast of ‘Fear’ had taken care of her well. “Jan, how do you feel about Hank…what exactly did he do to you?”
Jan looked sheepishly across the room and then sharply turned her head again and looked into her knees. She was cradling herself, trying to protect herself from the outside world, the world where everything was so scary.
“Tell me!?” he screamed at her. She screamed again and tried to scramble away. “Tell me and I can make the fear go away, replace it with something else perhaps.”
“H..he hit me,” she gasped as she began to inhale air sharply.
“Is that all?” he asked with a ‘tsk’. Violence was hardly something unusual.
“I loved him and he hit me,” she gasped again. “Made me feel weak, tiny. He betrayed me.”
Hank screamed in pain and began to thump his own hands against his head, tightening his fingers into fists until he was thumping himself in the side of the head.
Psycho-Man laughed aloud. This was more enjoyable to him. “How about we do something about that then…switch doubt to hate maybe and you can watch as he and the large brown one beat each other to within an inch of their lives. Hm...?”
# # # # #
Minutes Later
The crowd were vibrating with joy. They could barely believe their luck. They had seen the brown skinned human oppressor beat his comrade near to death and now they had another? Psycho-Man had explained it all on the Network, how he wished for them to have freedom, to stop living in their awful conditions and to move across the Galaxy and these human oppressors were keeping them down, stopping them from living out their manifest destiny.
Now they would see them, under his greatnesses urgings, beating themselves to death as the crowd continued expanding to their destiny.
The second that Yellow Jacket entered the arena and the two rushed at one another, increasing their sizes as they moved. They grew bigger and bigger until they met at the height of 90 feet and began to exchange blows.
Bill Foster had been thoroughly healed thanks to the technology of this world but it only took two swift blows from Hank Pym to burst his nose wide open again. He responded with a massive right hand of his own that rocked Hank sideways. He was a bigger man in mass even if Hank had equalised their heights and he had more power thank the smaller Avenger. He followed up with a swift massive boot to the side of Hank’s head and grabbed him by the back of his costume. He rapidly increased his height doubling as quickly as possible and hauling the now almost child like Hank up into the air and pitching him across the arena.
Yellow Jacket waved his arms erratically and began to shrink rapidly until he vanished from sight. The crowd was silent, Psycho-Man practically leaned over the banister too much as he focused on the arena floor. His usual Hate and Rage mix for the fighters meant they did nothing but try and kill each other outright; using these tactics were unusual.
Jan had been given the best dose of Joy he could find and hd not stopped laughing at the beating occurring in the arena. Her lungs sounded like they were about to burst she was crying so hard with laughter.
Bill roared like a wild animal and then, after a few seconds, rushed towards the stands. He was furious and he would take it out on anyone he could find even if they did look like insects to him. The beings screamed and began to flee in droves, pushing and shoving one another.
Bill was suddenly hauled backward. Hank had appeared out of nowhere, almost like teleporting as he increased his size at a phenomenal rate, and he locked his arm around Bill’s neck and slipped his leg between Bill’s and performed a picture perfect judo throw which barrelled the giant across the arena floor.
Hank had studied judo for years before he became a superhero and it had saved his life the first time he became Ant-Man and now it had just saved the lives of everyone in the stands who Bill would have no doubt crushed to death. It did, however, also gave Bill another target once more. He launched to his feet and, mirroring Scott’s move earlier, tackled Hank to the floor. He mounted him and began to punch.
Hank threw up his hands into Bill’s face and he pressed his hands tightly across his face, forcing his head back and he then began to shrink. Bill scrabbled to get a grip of Hank but he vanished off again out of the sight of the onlookers. Thousands of sets of eyes in their twos and threes on the onlookers heads searched the arena for the first sight of him.
It came as he appeared about 50 feet above Bill in the air and growing fast. He let gravity do the rest and came down on his friend hard. Bill waved him off with a scream and a massive arm and then swung.
Hank reduced his size by half and let the arm whiz past him before he rapidly grew in size and drove his knee into the ribs of Bill, lifting him up in the air. He sent him spiralling before he came crashing down, and immediately Hank rushed at him. He had to stay on top of this fight if he was going to come out with his life. He reached Bill and for a moment paused as the giant’s eyes blinked ‘Hank?”
Yellow Jacket grinned and pulled his friend up to his feet. “Psycho-Man,” Hank nodded by way of explanation.
“What?” barked Psycho-Man in his throne room. He looked down at his Control Box and began to twiddle with the device to check it was working and then to boost the signal. He let out a yelp of pain as a shock raced through his body. He stumbled forward and then turned as he caught a view of the Wasp, whose hand was already glowing with another Wasp Sting.
“They’re called mood stabilizers. Hank had some in his system and guess what? It appears they block your Control Box. It only took him a second while you were distracted to get one to me, then all we had to do was play along.”
“I’m going to…” he hissed as he took two steps forward.
“...duck if I were you,” Jan leapt back as the giant hand of Hank smashed the balcony into a thousand pieces and lunged for Psycho-Man. The dictator let loose with a blast of energy of his own at the giant mitt.
Jan caught a glimpse of Bill Foster swiping away the guardian troops of Psycho-Man with a slap of his hand sending them spiralling into the stands. “I’ll break Scott out, I know where he is…it’s the least I can do after the beating I gave him!” shouted Bill over the pandemonium and smashed his hands into the stands to clear his way without having to shrink down.
Hank shrunk and followed his hand through the window. He leapt sideways as Psycho-Man blasted at him with energy coming from his hands and the Control Box.
“Hank, we need to get to the laser array which is enlarging the star!” barked Jan, who was the leader on the mission. “I don’t know if I can shut it down…we brought two physicist and an electrician for a reason!” Her gossamer like wings beat at hyper-speed, powering her through the air as she unleashed Wasp Stings towards Psycho-Man.
“I won’t let you stop me!” screamed the dictator in best supervillain style. “I’ll detonate the star, destroy your world and use your own star for power if I need to!”
He fired another blast to cover his tracks and then fled from the room.
“Can he do that…if he destroys the star won’t it destroy this world?” Jan screamed over the chaos that was still raging outside.
The Avengers launched into a high speed flight down the corridor after Psycho-Man. “The world and the star are still out of phase; it’s feasible if he caused a growth surge in the planet at the same time the star went supernova it would escape with nothing more than some erratic weather…I’m not about to let that happen though,” Yellowjacket responded.
“You need to get to the laser array,” Wasp commanded. “I’ll handle Psycho-Man.”
They both had to suddenly drop out of flight mode as a series of blasts collided with the wall closest to them. The Psycho-Guards had managed to sort themselves out. “I can give you cover fire,” nodded Jan as she began to charge a Wasp Sting. “You need to stop that star; if we have to let Psycho-Man go then that’s just what we’ll have to do.”
Hank nodded and primed himself for a leap before he took flight. “Hank,” Jan paused for a second as the blasts continued to rain in on them. He looked to her. “Everything I said when we were fooling Psycho-Man…I didn’t mean it.”
Hank nodded. “I know, you’ve told me you forgive me enough times.”
He began to move forward. Jan’s hand stopped him. She looked into his eyes. “There is nothing to forgive you for…that wasn’t you.” She spoke slowly and clearly, this was something she truly believed but she knew how Hank felt about himself a lot of the time. She wanted to make sure it got through. “That was an illness, something that happened to you not something you are…you’re a hero. Now go and save the world...again.”
Hank sighed and took her hand. “You’re coming too; I can’t run the risk of losing you now after you’ve just said something like that. By the way, remind me to show you something I built for you when we get out of here.” He smiled and held up his free hand. “Bio-charge gun!” he commanded and Jan watched as a ray gun appeared in his hand as it grew. “Close your eyes and begin to shrink in two seconds, as small as you can.”
Hank launched sideways keeping tight hold of Jan and pulled the trigger of the weapon. Jan felt the heat and saw the flash of light through her closed eyes before she shrank to nothing.
She opened them a few seconds later as Hank yanked on her arm. She was in an open space. She could see the outside world on the other side of an arch way. He released her and began to take to the air as they grew.
“What happened?”
“I boosted your power and shrunk us beyond the atoms of the building, and the force of the blast against the wall carried us clear through the solid mass of the walls…we phased and surfed, basically.”
“How long have you been able to do that?”
“Well, that was the first time…I’m glad it worked; it really it could have been very messy.”
Hank looked down at his arm at some electronic read out on his wrist. Jan was silent as she thought about what the two had just done. “Bill and Scott are together; I’m sending Rover to pick them up.”
It took several minutes before the powerful beam that shot off into the sky could be seen by the two Avengers. They began to dive towards it.
“You can figure out what to take out?” Jan asked, looked at the sliding and shifting gleaming mechanism which looked completely incomprehensible to her.
Hank smiled at Jan and held his bio-charge gun in the air. “I don’t need precision when I’ve got this.”
A blast suddenly tore through the air towards them. The two separated and circled away. They searched the ground for its source and settled on Psycho-Man who was at the array and had turned it’s automated defences on them.
“He’s going to blow us out of the sky!” screamed Hank over the noise.
“Not if I can do anything about it,” growled Jan. “You go small and I’ll go large!”
Yellow Jacket gave the thumbs up and began to reduce his size as she began to increase hers. She was the size of Avenger’s mansion in seconds and then three times the size a few later. She continued to grow much larger than she would ‘on’ Earth. She skidded across the landscape as the laser blasts of Psycho-Man bounced off of her like they were nothing, her hand swiped at the cannon and smashed it to pieces. She winked at Psycho-Man.
Psycho-Man let out a roar of anger and began to type angrily at the wrist mounted device he wore.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned Hank. He had appeared behind Psycho-Man as if from nowhere. The villain scowled and began to turn his head. The bio-charge weapon was pointed at the back of his head.
“You can’t stop me and the laser array. I can press the button just as quickly as you can pull that trigger. Now neither of us wants that.”
“You come from an advanced civilization, Psycho-Man, so I assume you know about nuclear fusion? Do you know how much energy is released by splitting an atom of Hydrogen in half? If I threw a marble into the sky and it not only broke the atmosphere but went all the way to the moon and then when it got to the moon it knocked it out of orbit…that doesn’t even begin to explain. Now take a guess how many atoms of hydrogen are in my body.”
“You built an atomic hand gun?” Psycho-Man grinned slightly. He thought Hank would have worked well under him.
“When it’s turned up full by my mental relay, yes. Currently, however, I’m thinking more than enough to blast me, you and everything in a 10 mile radius to dust.”
“You would sacrifice yourself and your friends?”
“To save the world, in a heartbeat” he nodded.
BOOOM! BOOOM!
There was suddenly a huge explosion which made both Hank and Psycho-Man duck in surprise.
They both looked up as the silver gleaming Rover span around in the air and fired another blast at the laser array. The beam being pumped from it died away a second later. “Ant-Man, Goliath and Rover to the rescue Master Pym!” buzzed the electronic voice of Rover.
Hank grinned at his creation before it quickly changed to a grimace as his body was thrown backwards by a blast from Psycho-Man. He levelled his arm to try and get a shot off at the despot but he was already fleeing the scene.
Hank swore loudly and began to grow. This was made doubly quick as the world around him began to shrink away. His back phased through the buildings as they shifted into different phases of reality.
He launched to his feet and began to soar towards Rover which was growing at the same rate. He flew through the opening door a split second after Jan. He greeted his friends with a smile as Rover span I the air and began to blast off into the sky growing all the time.
# # # # #
Central Park
Cassie’s heart skipped a beat as the park suddenly went pitch black. It took a few seconds before the lampposts in the park registered the dark and flared into life. A massive cheer went up from the massed people. Cassie almost leapt for joy. Then she waited, her heart skipped more and more beats; she was waiting for her Dad and the others to get back before she really celebrated.
The flood lights from the front of Rover hit her first as the tiny silver vehicle suddenly exploded into its full size playing ‘victory’ music. The crowd was going wild as the doors slowly opened and out walked the three heroes. Jan was again shrunk down and sitting on the shoulder of Yellowjacket
The heroes waved and Cassie burst forward from the crowd. Scott leapt down from Rover and met her with his arms wide open. “You had me worried,” she confessed with a kiss to the cheek of her father.
“Exactly why you’re never going to do anything as stupid as I just did, you’re a good girl. You don’t want to worry your father.” He smiled down at his daughter.
“Well,” Hank smiled at the pair. “I better get Rover back home for a diagnostic…and let Jan size up again.”
“What? Wait!” Cassie held up her hand in the classic ‘stop’ motion. She had been with her Uncle Hank and seen him in his black mood earlier in the day. She knew exactly what he needed. “Uncle Hank, you just saved the entire freaking world!”
“The Solar System even,” added Scott “The Watcher, the Inhumans and the Eternals of Titan owe you one too.”
“The entire universe owes you one if I know anything about Psycho-Man,” added Bill with a smile.
“Yes, ok, if we accept that as a fact?”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “This calls for a massive victory party!” she gestured with her arms for added effect. “Superheroes don’t have enough victory parties, why should the MTV music award winners have all the fun.”
“Were generally quite tired after a big victory,” laughed Hank. “I think just this once we can make an exception. You get things organized and well be right back. I’ve got something to show Jan.”
# # # # #
Hank Pym’s apartment, the spare room
A exquisitely performed Waltz wafted through the air. Hank waited in the center of the room for Jan to appear. He played with a dial on his ‘wrist watch’ and dimmed most of the lights. A series of blinking lights appeared across the ceiling of the ballroom and a spotlight shone down on him.
The massive double doors at the end of the room opened and in walked Jan. She was dressed in a long black ballgown with her thin, almost transparent wings glistening behind her as they grew at her tiny size.
“Wow,” she gasped as she walked into the room. She had never seen this room before.
“I built it for you,” Hank smiled as she practically glided across the room to meet him in the center.
“You never used to take me dancing, I thought you hated it.”
“I did…I was an idiot in so many ways.” He took her hand and the two began to glide around the room. “I…” he stopped. He didn’t want to ruin the moment and really there was nothing going on his mind that he could think of which would make it any better, so he kept silent.
“Hank,” she said as he spun her around in time with the music. “How would you like to go for dinner one night next week?”
Hank smiled. “Nothing could make me happier.”
Cassie Lang was the non-powered teenage daughter of the superhero Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang. She had, in the past 12 hours, become the sidekick of her ‘Uncle’ Hank Pym, aka Yellow Jacket, and it was this status as his sidekick that meant she was in left in charge of the very intense scene which she was currently directing. She was directing it largely by keeping her mouth shut and trying to look in charge. It was so far working, for the most part. She had sent some SHIELD Agents to quiet down a noise that was coming from the other side of the park.
There was a party going on where a bunch of the city’s ‘scenesters’ had decided an end of the world party (advertised on the local radio as ‘the most bitching party the end of the world has ever seen, if you’re going up in that bright light or down the fiery steps do it singing and wrecked!’) would be the best possible thing to do when the world is literally hours from ending. They had swarmed into the park in their finest beach gear and got as close to the tiny star as possible and began to party in the warmth, bathed in the light that was giving them all nice golden brown tans.
It seemed they had figured one of two things, the first of which was the world was going to end and there was literally nothing that they could do about it so they were going to dance the night away in the sunshine and screw the consequences. The second thing they figured was someone was going to solve this. It seemed they were certain of it.
It was starting to become quite a social movement. The World is threatened, there’s a serial killer, there’s a terrorist…then along comes Spidey, the Avengers or The Fantastic Four, and then they would save the day, panic over, why was everyone so worried? So a large portion of society had just stopped worrying.
Cassie was not one of them. She had been with Hank when he discovered the tiny star growing out of the Micro-Verse in the center of the park that had already killed one woman and was now slowly roasting the park alive. She had seen how concerned and serious he was about the situation. She had also been there when her dad, Uncle Hank, Aunt Jan and Bill Foster has shrunk down to a microscopic size and travelled to the tiny planet that was orbiting the star to solve the problem before the entire world was destroyed. That had been several hours ago and now she was really frightened.
She decided to call her mom again. While she dialled, she couldn’t help but think. At least it’s a nice day for the world to end.
# # # # #
The Tiny Planet Circling the star (Mah-Ria), which was almost in the Micro-Verse
Bill Foster roared and brought his massive forearm down across the shielding arms of Scott Lang, forcing the smaller man back onto one knee. Scott faltered momentarily with his arms before moving them back up to block his face just as Bill brought his arms back up to slam them down across Scott again, but the white man launched forward and tackled him around the waist and to the ground. The stadium shook and the crowd roared with excitement.
The two had been beating one another for about twenty minutes and they showed no sign of tiring. They were smaller than they had ever been before but they were at a relative size (compared to all the beings and structures around them) of about 80 feet tall. As veritable giants, Scott roared with anger and began to unleash his fists into the face of his friend Bill, drawing first blood as he pounded his fist into Bill’s nose until blood poured out.
The two were the first victims of Psycho-Man in the arena. The Micro-Verse despot had jumped them the moment they landed and blasted them with his Control Box, then he had sent these two directly to the arena whilst he kept Jan and Hank prisoner under the influence of his rays in his overlooking throne room.
A grin twisted across his face as he watched the fight.
The two men were no strangers to size changing, but whereas Scott usually shrank Bill usually grew, so at this massive relative size Bill had a little advantage. He quickly doubled his size and seemingly without a thought swatted Scott from his chest. He rushed forward and delivered a massive boot to the chest and ribs of the rising Scott. Scott let out an animal like yelp of pain and hurtled back 40 feet into the side of the arena.
The stone stand gave a shudder that caused the beings in it to scream in terror for a few seconds before it was clear that it wasn’t going to crumble. Then they screamed in excitement.
Scott rose to his feet and stumbled forward; he was punch drunk but had enough sense about him that he began to grow to match Bill Foster’s size. The giant scientist rushed him only to find an elbow slammed into his face, wobbling him backwards.
The two didn’t have what would be called an expertise in physical combat. Bill Foster, if he was honest, was a scientist much more than a superhero though he had donned the tights a fair few times in his life by now. He, however, didn’t usually need fighting skills since he was quite well built and was generally somewhere between 4 to 15 times the size of the enemy he was fighting. The size and the power that came with it always tipped the scales in your favor.
Scott was the opposite. He had been given some physical training during his days with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, so no doubt he could handle himself against some AIM goon or some street punk he might have to take down but, much like Bill, he relied more on his powers than anything else. He could shrink down to avoid the fights and take the enemy out with skill and stealth, or he could have an army of ants make sure no one was really focusing on the fight as they clawed at their own skin.
If Captain America was watching he probably wouldn’t be giving them good scores for form. The hate that was boiling through their veins powered by Psycho-Man’s Control Box was making them fight like killing one another was the only important thing in the world. It was exactly what Psycho-Man wanted.
He was, however, thinking of changing his mind as he watched the fight below him and was actually enjoying it. It had been so long since he had enjoyed anything it was giving him second thoughts about killing them quickly. Even more influential to him was the fact that the crowd was loving it.
He employed the arena for the same reasons the Romans had the Coliseum and the other arenas. It was a sport the general population loved; it kept them happy and it kept them from thinking about the other conditions they were forced to live in on their overcrowded world. If he had a Slave Master train the two up a bit, then the next fight between them could keep everyone’s bloodlust satisfied for a year, by which point he would be fully prepared for the War.
He had only a few hours left before he could begin the next stage of his plan. The Psycho-Star would have grown to a big enough size to destroy the planet Earth and he would be free of his greatest enemies and free to begin his expansion through their universe.
He turned to look at his other captives. They were all from the upper universe, the universe which he would rule soon, and amounted to all that universe could send to fight him. They were completely under his control and offered no resistance. He smirked and turned back to the fight in the arena.
He flicked off the Control Box and watched as Bill, who had Scott hoisted into the air by his throat, suddenly faltered and began to lower him down almost with a drop. “Scott!”
He quickly moved his fingers to check for a pulse as Scott spluttered to life. “Bill, what the hell happened?”
# # # # #
In the Throne Room
Psycho-Man turned to look at the two other captives he had in his control. He didn’t know who they were but they had the technology to get into his world at its current size so it was very possible that they were a threat…or would have been if they weren’t so pathetic. He made sure to let one of them feel how pathetic he truly was.
Hank sat in the foetal position rocking backwards and forward, his eyes shut tight as he shook his head from side to side. His lips quivered. “Tell me how you feel?” hissed Psycho-Man as he tilted Hank’s face up to his own.
“I’ve screwed it up again,” he turned his face away from Psycho-Man as quickly as he could. “I screwed it up all again, everyone is relying on me. Everyone…and I screwed it all up. Tony, Steve, all of the Avengers…Cassie, poor Cassie stuck with me as her ‘Uncle’. I’ve doomed them all!”
Psycho-Man smiled. “An Avenger.” He stroked his face. “I know about you.”
“I let you get the jump on us, we had one chance and I screwed it up…screwed it all up again. I can’t do anything right, I let you blast me with that Control Box.”
“You’re pathetic aren’t you? Little Avenger? So pathetic.”
Hank nodded quickly his agreement. His body convulsed as he began to sob aloud. “I fail at everything, everything!” he barked. “I screwed up time and time again with the Avengers, got knocked out by tunnels and built Ultron…I built Ultron, he’s killed so many! I used my brain waves and created one of the greatest evils the world has ever known. I’ve had break down after break down…I,” he looked up and into the corner at Jan. “I’m so sorry Jan.”
Psycho-Man turned to the corner where Jan cowered with a smile. He did not get a chance for fun like this any more. He remembered his youth growing up in the over-crowded slums of his world. He had risen in power through his own wits and skills, his vindictive instincts which allowed him to grind people down. He loved it and yet since he became a supreme ruler it was very hard to do any of this. It was all micro-management slaughter and planning.
“Jan,” he called with a loud and commanding voice which made the small woman in the corner jump with a shriek. A blast of ‘Fear’ had taken care of her well. “Jan, how do you feel about Hank…what exactly did he do to you?”
Jan looked sheepishly across the room and then sharply turned her head again and looked into her knees. She was cradling herself, trying to protect herself from the outside world, the world where everything was so scary.
“Tell me!?” he screamed at her. She screamed again and tried to scramble away. “Tell me and I can make the fear go away, replace it with something else perhaps.”
“H..he hit me,” she gasped as she began to inhale air sharply.
“Is that all?” he asked with a ‘tsk’. Violence was hardly something unusual.
“I loved him and he hit me,” she gasped again. “Made me feel weak, tiny. He betrayed me.”
Hank screamed in pain and began to thump his own hands against his head, tightening his fingers into fists until he was thumping himself in the side of the head.
Psycho-Man laughed aloud. This was more enjoyable to him. “How about we do something about that then…switch doubt to hate maybe and you can watch as he and the large brown one beat each other to within an inch of their lives. Hm...?”
# # # # #
Minutes Later
The crowd were vibrating with joy. They could barely believe their luck. They had seen the brown skinned human oppressor beat his comrade near to death and now they had another? Psycho-Man had explained it all on the Network, how he wished for them to have freedom, to stop living in their awful conditions and to move across the Galaxy and these human oppressors were keeping them down, stopping them from living out their manifest destiny.
Now they would see them, under his greatnesses urgings, beating themselves to death as the crowd continued expanding to their destiny.
The second that Yellow Jacket entered the arena and the two rushed at one another, increasing their sizes as they moved. They grew bigger and bigger until they met at the height of 90 feet and began to exchange blows.
Bill Foster had been thoroughly healed thanks to the technology of this world but it only took two swift blows from Hank Pym to burst his nose wide open again. He responded with a massive right hand of his own that rocked Hank sideways. He was a bigger man in mass even if Hank had equalised their heights and he had more power thank the smaller Avenger. He followed up with a swift massive boot to the side of Hank’s head and grabbed him by the back of his costume. He rapidly increased his height doubling as quickly as possible and hauling the now almost child like Hank up into the air and pitching him across the arena.
Yellow Jacket waved his arms erratically and began to shrink rapidly until he vanished from sight. The crowd was silent, Psycho-Man practically leaned over the banister too much as he focused on the arena floor. His usual Hate and Rage mix for the fighters meant they did nothing but try and kill each other outright; using these tactics were unusual.
Jan had been given the best dose of Joy he could find and hd not stopped laughing at the beating occurring in the arena. Her lungs sounded like they were about to burst she was crying so hard with laughter.
Bill roared like a wild animal and then, after a few seconds, rushed towards the stands. He was furious and he would take it out on anyone he could find even if they did look like insects to him. The beings screamed and began to flee in droves, pushing and shoving one another.
Bill was suddenly hauled backward. Hank had appeared out of nowhere, almost like teleporting as he increased his size at a phenomenal rate, and he locked his arm around Bill’s neck and slipped his leg between Bill’s and performed a picture perfect judo throw which barrelled the giant across the arena floor.
Hank had studied judo for years before he became a superhero and it had saved his life the first time he became Ant-Man and now it had just saved the lives of everyone in the stands who Bill would have no doubt crushed to death. It did, however, also gave Bill another target once more. He launched to his feet and, mirroring Scott’s move earlier, tackled Hank to the floor. He mounted him and began to punch.
Hank threw up his hands into Bill’s face and he pressed his hands tightly across his face, forcing his head back and he then began to shrink. Bill scrabbled to get a grip of Hank but he vanished off again out of the sight of the onlookers. Thousands of sets of eyes in their twos and threes on the onlookers heads searched the arena for the first sight of him.
It came as he appeared about 50 feet above Bill in the air and growing fast. He let gravity do the rest and came down on his friend hard. Bill waved him off with a scream and a massive arm and then swung.
Hank reduced his size by half and let the arm whiz past him before he rapidly grew in size and drove his knee into the ribs of Bill, lifting him up in the air. He sent him spiralling before he came crashing down, and immediately Hank rushed at him. He had to stay on top of this fight if he was going to come out with his life. He reached Bill and for a moment paused as the giant’s eyes blinked ‘Hank?”
Yellow Jacket grinned and pulled his friend up to his feet. “Psycho-Man,” Hank nodded by way of explanation.
“What?” barked Psycho-Man in his throne room. He looked down at his Control Box and began to twiddle with the device to check it was working and then to boost the signal. He let out a yelp of pain as a shock raced through his body. He stumbled forward and then turned as he caught a view of the Wasp, whose hand was already glowing with another Wasp Sting.
“They’re called mood stabilizers. Hank had some in his system and guess what? It appears they block your Control Box. It only took him a second while you were distracted to get one to me, then all we had to do was play along.”
“I’m going to…” he hissed as he took two steps forward.
“...duck if I were you,” Jan leapt back as the giant hand of Hank smashed the balcony into a thousand pieces and lunged for Psycho-Man. The dictator let loose with a blast of energy of his own at the giant mitt.
Jan caught a glimpse of Bill Foster swiping away the guardian troops of Psycho-Man with a slap of his hand sending them spiralling into the stands. “I’ll break Scott out, I know where he is…it’s the least I can do after the beating I gave him!” shouted Bill over the pandemonium and smashed his hands into the stands to clear his way without having to shrink down.
Hank shrunk and followed his hand through the window. He leapt sideways as Psycho-Man blasted at him with energy coming from his hands and the Control Box.
“Hank, we need to get to the laser array which is enlarging the star!” barked Jan, who was the leader on the mission. “I don’t know if I can shut it down…we brought two physicist and an electrician for a reason!” Her gossamer like wings beat at hyper-speed, powering her through the air as she unleashed Wasp Stings towards Psycho-Man.
“I won’t let you stop me!” screamed the dictator in best supervillain style. “I’ll detonate the star, destroy your world and use your own star for power if I need to!”
He fired another blast to cover his tracks and then fled from the room.
“Can he do that…if he destroys the star won’t it destroy this world?” Jan screamed over the chaos that was still raging outside.
The Avengers launched into a high speed flight down the corridor after Psycho-Man. “The world and the star are still out of phase; it’s feasible if he caused a growth surge in the planet at the same time the star went supernova it would escape with nothing more than some erratic weather…I’m not about to let that happen though,” Yellowjacket responded.
“You need to get to the laser array,” Wasp commanded. “I’ll handle Psycho-Man.”
They both had to suddenly drop out of flight mode as a series of blasts collided with the wall closest to them. The Psycho-Guards had managed to sort themselves out. “I can give you cover fire,” nodded Jan as she began to charge a Wasp Sting. “You need to stop that star; if we have to let Psycho-Man go then that’s just what we’ll have to do.”
Hank nodded and primed himself for a leap before he took flight. “Hank,” Jan paused for a second as the blasts continued to rain in on them. He looked to her. “Everything I said when we were fooling Psycho-Man…I didn’t mean it.”
Hank nodded. “I know, you’ve told me you forgive me enough times.”
He began to move forward. Jan’s hand stopped him. She looked into his eyes. “There is nothing to forgive you for…that wasn’t you.” She spoke slowly and clearly, this was something she truly believed but she knew how Hank felt about himself a lot of the time. She wanted to make sure it got through. “That was an illness, something that happened to you not something you are…you’re a hero. Now go and save the world...again.”
Hank sighed and took her hand. “You’re coming too; I can’t run the risk of losing you now after you’ve just said something like that. By the way, remind me to show you something I built for you when we get out of here.” He smiled and held up his free hand. “Bio-charge gun!” he commanded and Jan watched as a ray gun appeared in his hand as it grew. “Close your eyes and begin to shrink in two seconds, as small as you can.”
Hank launched sideways keeping tight hold of Jan and pulled the trigger of the weapon. Jan felt the heat and saw the flash of light through her closed eyes before she shrank to nothing.
She opened them a few seconds later as Hank yanked on her arm. She was in an open space. She could see the outside world on the other side of an arch way. He released her and began to take to the air as they grew.
“What happened?”
“I boosted your power and shrunk us beyond the atoms of the building, and the force of the blast against the wall carried us clear through the solid mass of the walls…we phased and surfed, basically.”
“How long have you been able to do that?”
“Well, that was the first time…I’m glad it worked; it really it could have been very messy.”
Hank looked down at his arm at some electronic read out on his wrist. Jan was silent as she thought about what the two had just done. “Bill and Scott are together; I’m sending Rover to pick them up.”
It took several minutes before the powerful beam that shot off into the sky could be seen by the two Avengers. They began to dive towards it.
“You can figure out what to take out?” Jan asked, looked at the sliding and shifting gleaming mechanism which looked completely incomprehensible to her.
Hank smiled at Jan and held his bio-charge gun in the air. “I don’t need precision when I’ve got this.”
A blast suddenly tore through the air towards them. The two separated and circled away. They searched the ground for its source and settled on Psycho-Man who was at the array and had turned it’s automated defences on them.
“He’s going to blow us out of the sky!” screamed Hank over the noise.
“Not if I can do anything about it,” growled Jan. “You go small and I’ll go large!”
Yellow Jacket gave the thumbs up and began to reduce his size as she began to increase hers. She was the size of Avenger’s mansion in seconds and then three times the size a few later. She continued to grow much larger than she would ‘on’ Earth. She skidded across the landscape as the laser blasts of Psycho-Man bounced off of her like they were nothing, her hand swiped at the cannon and smashed it to pieces. She winked at Psycho-Man.
Psycho-Man let out a roar of anger and began to type angrily at the wrist mounted device he wore.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” warned Hank. He had appeared behind Psycho-Man as if from nowhere. The villain scowled and began to turn his head. The bio-charge weapon was pointed at the back of his head.
“You can’t stop me and the laser array. I can press the button just as quickly as you can pull that trigger. Now neither of us wants that.”
“You come from an advanced civilization, Psycho-Man, so I assume you know about nuclear fusion? Do you know how much energy is released by splitting an atom of Hydrogen in half? If I threw a marble into the sky and it not only broke the atmosphere but went all the way to the moon and then when it got to the moon it knocked it out of orbit…that doesn’t even begin to explain. Now take a guess how many atoms of hydrogen are in my body.”
“You built an atomic hand gun?” Psycho-Man grinned slightly. He thought Hank would have worked well under him.
“When it’s turned up full by my mental relay, yes. Currently, however, I’m thinking more than enough to blast me, you and everything in a 10 mile radius to dust.”
“You would sacrifice yourself and your friends?”
“To save the world, in a heartbeat” he nodded.
BOOOM! BOOOM!
There was suddenly a huge explosion which made both Hank and Psycho-Man duck in surprise.
They both looked up as the silver gleaming Rover span around in the air and fired another blast at the laser array. The beam being pumped from it died away a second later. “Ant-Man, Goliath and Rover to the rescue Master Pym!” buzzed the electronic voice of Rover.
Hank grinned at his creation before it quickly changed to a grimace as his body was thrown backwards by a blast from Psycho-Man. He levelled his arm to try and get a shot off at the despot but he was already fleeing the scene.
Hank swore loudly and began to grow. This was made doubly quick as the world around him began to shrink away. His back phased through the buildings as they shifted into different phases of reality.
He launched to his feet and began to soar towards Rover which was growing at the same rate. He flew through the opening door a split second after Jan. He greeted his friends with a smile as Rover span I the air and began to blast off into the sky growing all the time.
# # # # #
Central Park
Cassie’s heart skipped a beat as the park suddenly went pitch black. It took a few seconds before the lampposts in the park registered the dark and flared into life. A massive cheer went up from the massed people. Cassie almost leapt for joy. Then she waited, her heart skipped more and more beats; she was waiting for her Dad and the others to get back before she really celebrated.
The flood lights from the front of Rover hit her first as the tiny silver vehicle suddenly exploded into its full size playing ‘victory’ music. The crowd was going wild as the doors slowly opened and out walked the three heroes. Jan was again shrunk down and sitting on the shoulder of Yellowjacket
The heroes waved and Cassie burst forward from the crowd. Scott leapt down from Rover and met her with his arms wide open. “You had me worried,” she confessed with a kiss to the cheek of her father.
“Exactly why you’re never going to do anything as stupid as I just did, you’re a good girl. You don’t want to worry your father.” He smiled down at his daughter.
“Well,” Hank smiled at the pair. “I better get Rover back home for a diagnostic…and let Jan size up again.”
“What? Wait!” Cassie held up her hand in the classic ‘stop’ motion. She had been with her Uncle Hank and seen him in his black mood earlier in the day. She knew exactly what he needed. “Uncle Hank, you just saved the entire freaking world!”
“The Solar System even,” added Scott “The Watcher, the Inhumans and the Eternals of Titan owe you one too.”
“The entire universe owes you one if I know anything about Psycho-Man,” added Bill with a smile.
“Yes, ok, if we accept that as a fact?”
Cassie rolled her eyes. “This calls for a massive victory party!” she gestured with her arms for added effect. “Superheroes don’t have enough victory parties, why should the MTV music award winners have all the fun.”
“Were generally quite tired after a big victory,” laughed Hank. “I think just this once we can make an exception. You get things organized and well be right back. I’ve got something to show Jan.”
# # # # #
Hank Pym’s apartment, the spare room
A exquisitely performed Waltz wafted through the air. Hank waited in the center of the room for Jan to appear. He played with a dial on his ‘wrist watch’ and dimmed most of the lights. A series of blinking lights appeared across the ceiling of the ballroom and a spotlight shone down on him.
The massive double doors at the end of the room opened and in walked Jan. She was dressed in a long black ballgown with her thin, almost transparent wings glistening behind her as they grew at her tiny size.
“Wow,” she gasped as she walked into the room. She had never seen this room before.
“I built it for you,” Hank smiled as she practically glided across the room to meet him in the center.
“You never used to take me dancing, I thought you hated it.”
“I did…I was an idiot in so many ways.” He took her hand and the two began to glide around the room. “I…” he stopped. He didn’t want to ruin the moment and really there was nothing going on his mind that he could think of which would make it any better, so he kept silent.
“Hank,” she said as he spun her around in time with the music. “How would you like to go for dinner one night next week?”
Hank smiled. “Nothing could make me happier.”