╔════════════╗
𝑰𝑻 𝑻𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺 𝑻𝑾𝑶
-𝒔𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏
╚════════════╝

2018

          SCOTT JERKED up, suddenly awake from last night. He groaned, blinking groggily. Looking beside him, he realized he was in a car, and Hope was driving. "Hope?"

She gave a meaningless look before focusing on the road again. He noticed her hair was now long; her bob from years ago gone.

"Is this another dream?" He asked, referring to the dream he had the previous night about being in the quantum realm again, and embodying Hank's wife.

"Do you think it was a dream, or is it possible that you really saw my mom down there?" Hope asked coldly, gripping the wheel tighter.

"I'm...not sure," he responded, focusing on the cupholders. They stopped at a red light before Scott suddenly noticed he was absent from his house; being on house arrest. One minute he was eating cereal on the couch, watching TV and the next, he's in a car with Hope.

"I can't be here! I-I can't be here! I'm under house arrest!"

When Scott tried to pull the handle, Hope shook her head. "They won't open while the system's engaged, Scott."

Scott furrowed his brows, looking out the window only to stare into the eye of a pigeon. He gasped, leaning away from the window. Peering around, he saw another bird approach the vehicle, and it dawned on him that they were shrunken down.

His eyes widened even further when a garbage truck passed them overhead. The light turned green, and Hope moved forward.

"You have to take me home. They could show up any second!"

"Relax. As far as your nanny cops know, you're still at home."

Scott looked down at his ankle, seeing a tan line from where his ankle monitor was previously on. He shook his head, confused. This prompted Hope to fill in; "He's programmed to follow your daily routine. Nine hours in bed, five hours in front of the TV, two hours in the bathroom...whatever that's about—"

"That's totally inaccurate." Scott brushed off, shaking his head. "And how do you know about my daily routine? You spying on me?"

"We keep tabs on all security threats, all right? And so far, the biggest one we've had is you."

Hope drove off the road, going into a concrete tube that was part of a nearby construction site.

Scott sighed, "I'm sorry about Germany. They just showed up. They said it was a matter of national security. That Cap needed help, so—"

"Cap?" Hope gave him a look.

"...tain America. Captain. Cap. It's what we call him. If you're a friend. I'm not saying I'm a friend of...well, a little—I know him. Whatever. I'm sorry! I didn't think I'd get caught."

"You didn't think about a lot of things."

"How's Hank?" Scott asked after a moment, bowing his head.

"We're still running. The house is gone, so is our freedom. How do you think he is?" Hope shot his down, exiting the tube and continuing on the side of the road.

"And...Christina?"

Hope sighed, giving a quick look at him. "She took the Accords hard...Scott. It took her a long time to bounce back. You really hurt her. I've never seen her more down than when you left."

Scott shook his head in shame. "I'm sorry. I know you're both mad."

"I'm not looking for an apology, Scott," Hope replied, parking the car beside an abandoned building. "The only reason why we're even talking is because we need what's in your head."

Returning the car and themselves to normal size, Hope swiftly exited the vehicle with Scott following.

Hope entered a passcode, opening the door and leading Scott inside. From there, they rode down the elevator to an underground lab.

Scott passed tables full of equipment he's never seen before. Behind all that, a machine was placed behind a wall of glass windows. He followed Hope to the machine, noticing enlarged ants working around it.

Passing by a worker ant, Scott took in a Hubble-like machine and he started to wonder how much time they had on their hands since Germany.

When Scott finally made it to the entrance of the machine, he saw Hank and Christine's silhouettes contrasting against the light around them. They were both huddled behind a computer on a cart.

Christina was leaning over before her head bobbed up to peer back at Scott. He watched her rise to her full height, now wearing a bodysuit with her hair pulled up into a sleek ponytail. It was longer now, he noticed. The ponytail reached to the middle of back, nearing her tailbone.

I guess both Christina and Hope let their hair grow out. Scott thought with a quiet hum.

Hank leaned towards her, whispering something before they both focused their attention back on the computer. Hank typed a few more things before shutting the computer promptly and shoving it under his arm. They exited together.

When the light shown on the front of them, Scott took in the clothes she was wearing; jeans and a sweater. It was simple, but she still looked beautiful in it.

Scott nodded at the two. "Hey, Hank and Chris. Look, I just wanna—"

"Save it." Hank blurted, standing close to Scott. They paused, staring at one another before Hank moved away.

He frowned sadly at Christina next. "Chris—"

She held up a finger, walking past him. "Shove it, Scott. I don't wanna hear anything from you."

Hank nodded at Christina before at Hope. "Can we start?"

Hope nodded back, "Yeah." She crossed her arms, stepping towards Scott. "So, while you were relaxing at home...we were building this. It's a tunnel. To the quantum realm."

Scott's eyes widened, making Hope nod. "To my mom. We might think she's still down there. We just don't know where."

"What?" Scott asked softly, following Hope when she walked away with Hank and Christina.

"If we can pinpoint the location of my mom, then the pod can take me down there to get her."

Scott's eyes landed on Chris, watching her backside as she walked ahead. He shook his head quickly, getting sidetracked. "You built all this and you didn't even know if she's alive?"

"It's called a hypothesis," Hank snarkily replied, leading them to the back of the machine. "Last night, we powered up the tunnel for the first time."

"I was ready to go in, but..." Christina glanced at Hope, seeming to talk to Scott, but aiming her head at Hope.

"It was overloaded and it shut down." Hank finished. "But for a split second, the doorway to the quantum realm was opened."

"And?" Scott asked, now standing on a small platform with them.

"And five minutes later you called," Christina answered.

"Talking about mom." Hope added, nodding.

"We think when you were down there, you may have entangled with her—"

"Hank, I would never do that. I respect you too much."

Christina rolled her eyes blatantly at him.

Hank placed his hands on his hips, blinking. "Quantum entanglement, Scott."

"We think she might have put some kind of a message in your head." Hope continued, gesturing to her head. "Hopefully, a location. And opening the tunnel triggered it."

"Once we get the tunnel properly up and running, I'll go down there and fetch her out." Christina reached up, tightening her ponytail.

"Okay, no. You shouldn't do that—" Scott directed to her before glancing at Hope, "And your mom put a message in my head? Come on, that's insane."

"No, Scott," Hank said, walking towards him. Hope tapped Chris' arm, and they moved to some control panels behind them.

"Insane is going to Germany, without telling us, and fighting the Avengers. Just tell me you weren't lying about the suit you took. Tell me you really destroyed it."

"I did! I destroyed it, I swear!"

Hank scoffed, stepping back. "I can't believe you destroyed my suit! That was my life's work!"

"What was I supposed to do?"

Hank sharped turned towards him, yelling, "You were supposed to not take my suit!"