Homesick
“Wow,” Hank Pym said in a rare show of admiration as he looked up to a fifty feet tall Scott in the specialized lab.
“WE DID IT! WE DID IT GUYS!” Scott was yelling while looking at his giant hands, feet, and body. When he looked up, and the ceiling wasn’t looking so high anymore. Turning his head down, he saw almost small, almost tiny Hope and Hank. They almost looked like Cassie’s toys from his level, and Scott found the idea childishly amusing. He felt a smile form on his face that matched his feelings but his new helmet was covering it. Though, it didn't cover his unrestrained laugh.
“Now be careful okay, Giant-Man?” Hope said with a bright smile. Her excitement matched his, Scott saw. “Try to move slowly to not to fall or break anything. Your strength has increased with your size. So, if you aren't careful, you may accidentally open a hole in the wall.”
Scott made a thumbs up. He took a deep breath and slowly took a couple of steps forward before stopping abruptly. Hope looked at her father questioningly before asking the giant. “Are you okay, Scott? Do you have nausea or pain?”
“Uh,” Scott’s hand went to scratch his head, but he realized he couldn't do that fairly quickly. Though the motion of his eyes suddenly caused him a faint headache. He tried to concentrate, but he wasn’t sure if his vision was getting blurry or his red lenses needed cleaning. He tried to clear his throat before speaking. “ Uhm- I’m okay, I guess? I think I just need to clean my lenses...”
Scott straightened and blinked for a moment before feeling to fall onwards. His hand darted to hold a column to not fall on Hank and Hope, and they immediately retreated while giving him directions to shrink back.
Scott did as he told. He closed his eyes and pushed the button on his right hand. He felt himself shrinking and a moment later he was back to his normal size.
When he reopened his eyes, he felt like he was still falling, which he was until Hope ran and caught him. Then Hank came too to her help carry him. Scott’s eyes closed again against his will, but he couldn’t find the strength to open them back.
Scott woke up.
Probably still under the dream’s effect, he was half expecting to find a plate of orange slices on his bedside, but he was disappointed when his vision became normal and he saw the beeping alarm clock instead of the fruits.
Scott tiredly sighed and silenced the alarm, but he didn’t make an effort to leave the bed. He just turned on his back and lazily watched the ceiling with an arm under his head instead. He started to think about his dream.
His memories were showing up in his dreams more often lately. They were various. Sometimes before, sometimes after he became the Ant-Man, rarely, when he was a child or a teenager. Though, they were mostly from after he became the Ant-Man.
For example, the last one was when Hank and Hope were working on Giant-Man. He saw Cassie previous night, with her ugly bunny on under her arms and a massive smile on her face. On last thursday Hope had given him one last smirk before snapping on her helmet and flying away for him to follow her.
They were making Scott feel more homesick than ever.
Not that his daily life was failing to remind him of the things he had to leave behind. How could he ever forgot what he’d lost while he was living in an another -wait- an alternate version of it, which he thought was a terrible version. His dreams were just a cherry on top of his general problems.
He took a deep breath and pushed over the covers. He wasn’t ready to face the day -he never was for a while now, but he had nothing else worth to do other than swinging his legs over and rubbing his face to wake up fully.
He got up and went to take a quick shower, then he came back to his room. He put on some clean clothes without rush, then he started to wear his protective suit.
Of course, it wasn’t his Ant-Man suit. It looked more like the suit Hank wore for going to to the quantum realm to get Janet back home, only this one was more… basic. With its dirty gray color and black lensed helmet, Scott always thought he looked like a giant bullet-ant when he wore it. The black strips on his arms and legs completed the look.
He zipped his suit but didn’t put his helmet on. Instead, he picked it up from the open shelf of his wardrobe and left his room with it hanging from his hand. Walking from the narrow corridor, he turned left and entered the kitchen.
“Good morning,” he said to other Cassie and other Maggie. They were feeling extra other for Scott this morning, but he didn’t tell that to them.
“Morvnin’ dad,” said sixteen-year-old Cassie while chewing her cereal idly. Her mother Maggie greeted Scott too, but she did it with proper manners.
Scott found himself a bowl from the dish rack and sat down himself too. He checked the clock before pouring cereal and milk in his bowl. His silence was expected considering the day, but it still felt unusual when it compared to his general cheerfulness.
“I thought you didn’t need to go to work today,” Maggie attempted to make small talk while eyeing him behind her coffee mug.
“I don’t. I just wanted to check and renew the batteries of the radio. The last time I did was three weeks ago, the batteries must be running low by now.” Scott said, his attention mostly on his spoon.
“I’ll come with you,” Cassie said. Her mother made a face at her but she quickly shot back by making a similar one.
Scott shrugged. “Whatever you want Cass,” he said in a neutral voice but there was no small talk for the rest of the breakfast.
“So… Happy anniversary I guess?” Luis said in a weak voice when Scott sat on the passenger seat and closed the door.
“Not funny, Luis,” he said, taking off his mask.
“Yeah,” Cassie agreed from the back seat, playing with her safety belt. Her mask was already thrown on the left seat.
They were in other Luis’ ugly sedan. Apparently, he was a friend of Scott’s in this universe too. His character was much like the Luis Scott had met in prison. Honestly, the only notable difference between them was the other Luis lacked the ugly brown van, which he made it up by his ugly brown sedan.
Whenever Scott needed to go to the radio transmitter, Luis would take him there since told him who he was, making him one of the three people who knew his secret. Seeing he still wasn’t killed or kidnapped yet, it was clear which Luis was better at keeping secrets.
Scott had a car himself too, but mostly it was him and Luis together whenever he went to the radio. Sometimes Cassie would tag along also. Since the journey itself wasn’t very fun, Scott guessed she was doing it to support him. He couldn’t believe at the fact that his daughter was still that amazing even in a different age and universe.
They were going to the shed mostly once at every two or three weeks -but never a month. The road usually took about forty minutes after they leave the city, but it could get longer. Sometimes because of the weather, sometimes the possible eyes watching them from the bushes.
Luis opened the radio, and they listened to music for a while without talking. Then, Cassie leaned in between the front seats and asked Scott. “Do you still believe they’ll come for you?”
She hadn’t asked that question for some time, but Scott guessed it was probably because his repeating answer bored her out. Still, he was about to give the same answer once more. “ Yes. Hank spend years trying to find Janet, not knowing if she was alive or not. So did Hope after we learned it’s possible to go and come back from the quantum realm. I know they’re coming. They probably still haven’t figured out the numbers.”
To Cassie, it was a weak excuse. “Dad, it’s been- ow!” her words got cut by the loud and hideous screeching from the radio. Both she and Scott covered both of their ears while Luis barely saved them from crashing while covering his right ear.
The terrible sound ended about five seconds later, leaving the three of them with ringing ears.
“Was that another thunder?” Cassie frowned while rubbing her ears.
“Probably,” Scott said while doing the same. “I’ve never seen them causing that sound before but… I don’t know what else may cause it.”
Cassie nodded at his answer while he and Luis exchanged a look. They stayed silent, but the sound was just another new thing today that was causing Scott to feel suffocated.