CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ;
" the art of ghosting "

" it's a world of laughter, a world of tears
   it's a world of hope and a world of fears
   it's a small world after all "
               ✧ IT'S A SMALL WORLD
                    richard m. sherman
                   + robert b. sherman!

All looks like another beautiful day in the neighborhood as Scott and Laurie start to finish up Scott's last three days of house arrest.

All looks fresh.

All looks bright.

Everything's going just fine!

And so, the hours that follow are filled with yet another beautiful montage of nightmares and chaos.

With her feet on the table full of empty dirty plates, Laurie continues to munch on pickles and popcorn, eyes stuck on her self-help book of Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin. Beside her, Scott remains focused on the magic trick video on Online Close-Up Magic University, quickly imitating each of their instructions.

"Snap your fingers. That gets them to look over there... Now, that is misdirection!"

Not long after, Scott and Laurie have karaoke playing on their TV, bopping and jamming out as each have microphones in their hands.

Next, Scott lays in the queen sized bed, literally sobbing at The Fault in Our Stars as Laurie hangs over the edge of the mattress, not looking up from her comic book as she hands him yet another tissue.

The eighteen year old girl slams her fist on the table at her disfigured green origami frog while Scott ever so delicately hangs his perfect paper swan from the ceiling.

With a face of extreme focus, Scott bounces a racquetball on the floor which then bounces to the wall and then to the opposite wall, onto the floor, and then finally into the Nerf basketball hoop.

Dropping and sliding on her sweat-panted knees, Laurie cheers, "And he scores!"

As Scott works on a layout for his business, Laurie sits at the dinner table, gnawing on her lip as she tries to get through her English homework.

Wearing matching blue headphones his oldest insisted they get, Scott slams his drumsticks against the tiny pads of the play drumset while Laurie jams out beside him on Guitar Hero.

And as Scott spends many many hours in the bathtub, Laurie finds that their montage has finally come to an end. So, the dork herself now chills in her makeshift bedroom, sitting on her bed and staring down at her blank black screened cellphone.

It's been a long yet slow day, and those usually are the days when temptation is greatest.

So, really, she can't help but go to her old messages, scrolling down the very short list of recent messages until she can find his. The chat that is filled mostly with blue colored messages from when he just flat out stopped responding to her.

The little emojis next to his name are gone, which she felt at the time he rightfully deserved. She was tempted to block his number, delete every message they ever sent to one another, ixnay any and all of his pictures on her phone, but she isn't petty. OKAY, so she actually is really petty, but there was always this nagging feeling, this sense of guilt that stopped her.

"You think you aren't..."
That old familiar voice that used to make her laugh so hard just now makes her wanna cry.
"But you are. You always said I knew you better than you knew yourself."

"Gordo..."
Her voice sounds tinny and all kinds of whack in her memory, like an old recording she'd much rather delete.

"One day you'll find him...
And I hope he breaks your heart."

Too late.

She holds the phone to her chest and drops back onto the bed with a huff, blowing the hair out of her eyes. She idly stares at the ceiling when a funny feeling fills her head and a funky burning sensation enters her eyeballs.

Her face twitches and she catches her breath.

It hurts. Not just her heart, but her body too.

For half a sec, she actually misses the drugs.

Morphine pills were easier to pop, somehow the easiest to find too. Then again, oxy wasn't too bad to find after the desperation set in. Lots of people in San Fran were more than willing to hook her up. Besides, she had used her street smarts!

And Laurie knew it was wrong, she knew it was a bad decision, but she also knew it helped stop this. Because this means she's in trouble. And this is happening right now.

And before she knows it, Laurie's body starts going haywire.

"Nah, no, no... not now-," she hisses before grunting, trying to stand before her legs go out from under her, "Oh Holly Golightly, please, why now?"

Laurie shrieks to herself as her body suddenly starts to twitch, body fading in and out of itself, stretching, growing, shrinking, twisting. Her head is thrust to the side and her body crumbles as the transformation continues, the bones in her spine and in her arms and in her legs popping and grinding each other.

Blood starts to leak from her eyes and her ears and her mouth. Laurie bites back a scream, falling face first into her rug as her nails dig into the wooden floor around it. Falling and crawling haphazardly towards her desk, her arms retract and then her legs pull in and then she's normal size again.

And just like that, the attack is over.

Laurie Lang coughs on the blood in her lungs and on her face, wiping it away on her pale blue sleeve. Her sweatpants are torn and her sweatshirt is now too stretched out. But at least it's over. Those emotions and those symptoms have passed and the sad kid heaves a sigh of longing, laying flat out on the floor, limp and tired and unmoving.

Just 'cause you're sober doesn't mean you don't miss it. Whether it's drugs, your best friend, or shrinking up to the size of an ant and being a superhero. It's all the same in the end.

♢ ♢ ♢

And soon, the father and daughter sit in their pjs and with bowls of cereal in hand, having successfully completed the very first day of Scott's last three days of imprisonment. Neither discuss what happened to either of them earlier in the night. Maybe because they're embarrassed, maybe because they're trying to ignore their problems, or maybe it's because they're stupid. It's a toss up.

Still, the two have pretty much tired themselves out, each content to sit quietly. That is, until a quiet buzzing interrupts their regularly scheduled nightly viewing of some random old movie on TV.

Laurie watches the flying ant with slowly widening eyes, watching it diligently dart around her and head straight for her father's neck where it sinks its little stinger in.

Making a face, Scott smacks at the bug, distracted, irritated. And he doesn't think anything else of it.

But boooy, is there else something to it.

"Um, by the way, I-I just wanted to say..." Laurie guiltily scratches her eyebrow, "Sorry Dad."

"You're sorry?" Scott just looks confused, "Whaaa-,"

And then he starts to wobble, his mouth still stretched open for another bite of cereal before his bodily functioning shuts down and he collapses.

The grown man makes a hugely loud thud as he falls off the couch and connects with the hard ground.

And fading in and out of focus is Laurie who stands over him with a quiet sigh and a shake of her head, "Ooo yikies, my man, that sounded painful."

Scott's vision starts to go black.

"See, I tried to tell them this would be a lot easier if they just, I don't know, let me explain it to you slowly and with big words," the girl winces and bobs her head back and forth, "But you know, espionage and drugging you seemed more their speed!"

And in his ears and in his very confused mind, his daughter's voice begins to slow and stretch and lower within the layers of his deep subconscious.

"Don't woooorry, Dad.

You're

                                          gonna

be

                                                                                    just

fine."

And then he passes out completely.

♢ ♢ ♢

The whole world is black and silent.

"Okay, but I still don't see why I can't sit in the front seat."

"Because you'll switch the radio station and I don't want to listen to emo music."

"Your ears would be blessed to listen to my emo music."

Scott slowly wakes up, eyelids fluttering and squinting as he softly groans and comes back to real life.

When she pops out from behind him and sees his eyes are for sure open, the teen eagerly gasps and much too violently shakes his chair, "He's alive! He's aliiiive!"

"Laurie...?" Scott murmurs, looking very disoriented, "What's...?"

"Ha ha, don'tcha get it?" Laurie dorkily snorts, "I was Doctor Frankenstein!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, you did really good." Trying hard to be supportive, Scott mumbles back that he got the joke while slowly looking around the vehicle until his eyes land on the woman beside him. "Hope? Is this another dream?"

But Hope gets right to business, "Do you think it's a dream or is it possible that you really saw my mom down there?"

"I'm not sure, I-..." Scott replies thoughtfully before suddenly gasping and panickedly yanking on the car door, "I can't be here! I can't be-, I'm under house arrest-,"

"They won't open while the system's engaged, Scott."

Making a face, Scott turns to look out the window, only to be met with one giant eyeball. The man yelps at the sight of the massive pigeon, only to then realize it's not the pigeon that's massive, just them... that's really small.

As he looks around in wonder at their Magic Car Van, Laurie happily nudges his shoulder, "Pretty rad, right?"

But Scott is still panicking, "You have to take us home! They can show up any second."

"Relax... As far as your nanny cops know, you're still at home." Hope ndos to Scott's leg that is not bare of his ankle cuff, "What's your ant's name again, Laurie?"

"Henry." The kid pipes up from the back, eating from a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

"Right, well, Henry's programmed to replicate 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!"

"Ehh, not really." Laurie squints thoughtfully.

"How do you know about my daily routine? Have you been forcing my own daughter to spy on me?"

Laurie gasps in great offense, but Hope has her back, "She wasn't spying, Scott. Besides, we keep tabs on all security threats, all right? And so far, the biggest one we've had is you."

Scott goes quiet, ashamed. "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 repeats slowly, mocking, patronizing.

"...tain America. Captain... Cap. It's what we call him. If you're a friend. I'm not saying that I'm a friend... a little. I know him. He's nice, we're not-, whatever-!"

"So cool!" Laurie giddily squeaks.

Who woulda thought that her very own padre would be friends or whatever with THE Captain United States? It's almost too much to handle!

"I'm sorry!" Her dad finally bursts, "All right? I didn't think I'd get caught."

Shaking her head, Hope's hands stay gripped around the steering wheel, "You didn't think about a lot of things."

Laurie not-so-subtly cringes.

"How's Hank?"

"We're still running, the house is gone. So is our freedom. How do you think he is?"

There's an awkward silence that Laurie feels obligated to fill.

So, to answer Hope's rhetorical question, the girl whispers in her dad's ear, "He's not good."

"Yeah, I figured, thanks." Scott heaves a sigh and she shrugs, "I'm sorry. I know you're mad."

"I'm not looking for apologies, Scott." Hope pulls the van to a halt and then with a push of a button, the entire vehicle bursts back up to its proper size, "The only reason why we're even talking is because we need what's in your head."

Scott, still in his pjs and slippers, slowly follows the very determined Hope and happily skipping Laurie into an old abandoned multi-story warehouse, looking all old and dilapidated and inconspicuous. It's pretty much a secret lair, one full of fancy ants and wacky technology and a very angry Hank Pym.

It gets awkward. Again.

And over the course of the next twenty minutes, Scott gets roasted, Hank continues to prove he's a grumpy old man, Hope is back with a new hairdo and a sassy attitude, Laurie is still having a blast, and oh! Apparently Janet Van Dyne is still alive?? All in a day's work for a couple of part-time almost superheroes.

And then they're back on the road again with the gang back together and a new mission in mind.

Sitting within their secret incognito van, Scott is finally out of his pajamas and into real clothes as he sits awkwardly on the bench beside the huge black monitors and screens. His fingers drum uncomfortably on his kneecaps as he watches everyone work around him, like they've got this done pat, like they've practiced and done this a thousand times.

Scott guesses they probably have.

But then a weird thought occurs to him and his eyes widen when he realizes one person is missing.

"Hey, wait a second!" Scott glances around quickly, "Where's Gordo?"

"Who?" Hank asks from the driver's seat.

Scott rolls his eyes, "You know who! Gordon Makina. You've known the kid for the past, like, three years, he's Laurie's best friend. Why isn't he here?"

Hope pauses where she sits beside him, "...What do you mean?"

"If he was gonna be hanging out anywhere, I thought he'd have been with you guys."

"Wait..." The brunette woman gives him a very serious look, "Laurie didn't tell you?"

Scott goes very still, "Tell me... what?"

"They got-," Hope pauses, scrunches her nose, and glances back to the front of the car, "What was it Laurie called it?"

"Divorced." Hank answers distractedly, his eyes still on his laptop screen.

Hope just sighs, going back to whatever it was she was doing.

But Scott is busy having a nervous breakdown.

"Wait, what?!" He cries, "Divorced?! Laurie and Gordo got married?! Hold on. Back up. Wait, what? When?!"

Scoffing, Hope rolls her eyes, "No, Scott, they weren't actually married. That's just what Laurie used to explain that they weren't best friends anymore."

Scott gives her a funny look.

"Don't look at me, I don't know. You know her."

Scott looks hurt for half a second. They've grown so close over the past few years, he's shocked she wouldn't have told him. And then all those lame excuses and sketchy lies suddenly start to make sense, and he finally understands why Gordo never came around the apartment. And all those times when she was leaving the apartment to "hang out" with some pals, she wasn't with Gordo like he naturally assumed, she was with them.

"Try not to mention it, Scott. She's not okay with it." Hope's dark eyes are sad as she sighs and shakes her head, "She acted out for a long time because of it... but you know that."

He sure does. That's the whole reason he made the dealio with the government in the first place.

"She tends to do that." Scott purses his lips.

"Yeah. Luckily, she was acting out on our side..." Hope pushes her hair back and nods to where the girl is standing outside the van, speaking louder, "Ready Laurie?"

"Yuppers!" The girl hero salutes, "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

When everyone is sure the comms are working, Hope nods, "We'll be right back."

"Wait, Laurie, you're going in too?" Scott is terrified, "You didn't tell me you were-,"

"Dad. It's okay." Laurie rolls her big icy eyes, "I, like, totally know what I'm doing."

"It's okay, Scott, there's nothing to worry about." Hope tosses her hair, "It'll be quick, in and out."

"No fighting?"

"No fighting." Laurie rolls her icy eyes.

"Oh okay, uh, well, just-, be careful then, kiddo." Scott gives her a thumbs up to which she responds with an even better double thumbs up.

The two brunettes stride away from the totally not suspicious van parked out front and entering the even shadier restaurant. As Laurie's eyes adjust to the dim lighting, she finds a man wearing a pale suit and dark slicked back hair sitting at a table across from them.

Laurie's pretty sure she throws up in her mouth a little.

"Susan, Karen!" The man practically cheers, throwing out his arms in practiced glee, "Welcome to Oui!"

"Sonny!" Hope, or Susan as she is known, forces a fake smile, but Laurie can't even try.

Her face muscles literally will not lift for this nimrod.

But Sonny Burch doesn't mind, he's way too in love with himself anyway, "Oui is French for yes. As in, yes, farm-to-table, yes, locally sourced, and yes, to planet before profit."

Laurie dips her chin, mumbling, "What's French for 'shut your big fat mouth'?"

Elbowing her in the ribs, Hope quickly clears her throat, "Well, let's hope it also means yes to do you have the component we ordered?"

Laurie's eyes drop to a metal case that sits on the table, hand twitching against the urge to grab for it.

"You know, I've always loved your sense of humor, Susan." Sonny laughs and sighs, "Karen, however, yours is a little bit more questionable."

The girl's jaw drops, "I bEg YoUr PArDoN?!"

"Have a seat."

"No, we're good." Stopping hair before the table, she tightly smiles, "Thank you."

"You know, I have a special friend down at the FBI. And I say special because... well, he tells me things that I didn't previously know."

Laurie smirks to herself. She knew the FBI was shady as hecko. Lesson #1: Don't trust the government, kids.

"For example... Your names aren't Susan and Karen. Your name's Hope Van Dyne and you," his grimey finger slowly shifts from the scolding woman over to the wide-eyed eighteen year old, "are Laurie LaRue Lang."

The girl's smirk drops and she panics, but then she quickly tries to pull it together, tries to sound smooth, tries to play it cool.

"That's it!" The phony Karen demands, "I'm gonna need to speak to your manager."

Sonny Burch makes a face.

Hope just gives her the look™️.

"No?" The kid deflates under the weight of the look™️, "Okie dokie, then."

Suppressing a slow strained sigh, Hope looks back at the man, "What do you want?"

"Relationships are built on trust, Hope. And I want our relationship to have a strong foundation."

"Oh, gag me with a spoon." Laurie huffs, plopping down in the cushiony chair and pushing her cheek onto her fist.

"Our relationship?" Hope repeats, making a face.

"My business landscape's been shifting, Hope. Well, SHIELD and Hydra don't even exist anymore. But now, Hank Pym? Hank Pym, is a real opportunity."

"Do you have a point?"

"You think that I don't know what you've been building? With all of this? Quantum technology." A strange shiver goes over Laurie's skin as he goes on, "And you can forget nano-tech. Forget AI. Forget cryptocurrency. Quantum energy is the future. It's the next gold rush!"

"That so?"

"I want in, Hope." His eyes are bright with greed and, uh, villainy, "So, as a gesture of goodwill, I've taken the liberty of arranging some buyers for your lab. Starting bid? One billion dollars."

Laurie yawns. She's bored.

"Thank you, Sonny. Really. But my father, my friend, and I have something slightly more pressing than starting a business. So, I'll just take the component." Hope slowly pushes their huge bag of mullah forward, "As arranged."

Sonny's face tightens, "My buyers don't take 'no' for an answer. So, we're either in business together, or we aren't in business together."

"Then I guess we aren't." As Laurie heaves a sigh of relief and eagerly stands to leave, Hope starts to pull the money back.

But then Sonny stops her, "You both can go. But, I'm afraid your money's gonna have to remain." He twists a pompous smirk and Hope's eyes narrow, "Let's call it compensation for my injured feelings."

"I'll tell ya what you can do with your 'injured' feelings, pal," Laurie uses her fingers for emphasis, leaning in close, "You can stuff them straight on up your tight arrogant lil-,"

"Listen, Sonny..." Hope holds up a hand, cutting her off, "This is gonna be so much easier on everybody if you just give me that component."

"Darlin', the only thing you're taking from here is my heart." His eyes blink slow, like he's trying to flirt, "But it will mend in time."

Laurie just looks at Hope in disbelief when she grits out, "Okay."

As they turn to walk from the fake French restaurant, Laurie wears a pout, "Hoooope, I literally wanna nunchuck that guy straight into space, I don't even care."

"Don't worry, Laurie." Hope gives her a wicked smirk, "You'll get your chance."

"What a time to be alive!" The girl practically skips out the front door.

And then, the part-time hero and full-time freak of nature known only as Stinger enters the building.

And naturally, the restaurant quickly descends into chaos.

Stinger and the Wasp take the world by storm. As the big men all around the restaurant rush to escape with their tech and their money, miniaturized versions of Hope and Laurie work together.

Laurie thrives in this environment. In a suit that's black and blue, the girl takes down all those in her path. Her body flips and twists, just as graceful as her time in gymnastics, muscular and toned from years of practice and experience of fighting. Small bites of electricity blasting from her wrist as she shrinks and grows, ignoring the pain to focus on her task — fighting being the only way she can focus on anything anymore.

Then, when all is said and all is done, Hope has the silver case in hand and Laurie is practically doing backflips in glee.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Sonny."

"Oh, our business isn't finished yet, Hope!" Sonny yells after them, promising revenge like some kind of Disney villain, "I can assure you of that!"

Laurie just swivels around to stick out her tongue and two great big thumbs up, "Up yours, my dude!"

Sonny just sticks his tongue right back out at her.

But suddenly Laurie backs right into Hope, stumbling a little as she turns to see that her sort-of partner has stopped right in her tracks. Hope's shoulders are set back and her lips are parted just slightly, like she's confused, like she's worried. The teen gives the older woman a weird look but then follows her gaze to the empty lobby of the restaurant before them.

"What in the heck is that?" Sonny quietly murmurs from behind them.

Laurie looks around quickly, her hair standing on end and her mouth going dry with a panic of something she can't see. With a clenched jaw, Hope quickly drops her mask and Laurie does too, following her lead even though she's still not sure what's going on.

"Hope...?"

And then suddenly something - or someone - is glitching and appearing right before Laurie's eyes. The girl shrieks and Hope lifts her blaster to fire when the white-suited creature literally phases right through her.

"Uh, Dads..." Laurie glances around quickly, "Are you buds seeing this?"

"Hope, Laurie, get out of there!" Hank yells in their commlink.

Laurie throws up a kick when the other being grabs for the case, but her leg goes through and when the creature punches back, it makes contact and Laurie goes flying. Laurie skids back against the marble floor, panting for air as Hope spins around and still tries to land a hit. Instead, Hope is forced to drop the case when she's shoved against the wall.

Squeezing her eyes tight, Laurie forces her body small and then she's launching forward with a punch aimed at the being's face. It stumbles back before ghosting away and then kicking Laurie hard in her still weaker knee. Laurie belts out a yell, her hard metal helmet breaking the tile floor and the thin glittering wings on her back bending as she lands on her back.

As the ghost-like being wraps its hand around her throat and raises a hand, Scott - now dressed in his full Ant-Man suit, suddenly materializes beside them and catches her wrist just before her hand can make contact.

Laurie's eyes snap up and she beams, "Dad!"

Then, drawing back, Scott lifts his leg and then very skillfully kicks the Ghost far away from them, making it go still on the ground. He quickly grabs at Laurie's black gloved hand, pulling her to her feet before looking her over for any kind of deadly wound or something. Laurie just stares at him with wide happy eyes, pleased that he's by her side, that they're fighting together.

Families that fight together, stay together!

Convinced Laurie's okay, Scott finally looks at Hope with wide eager eyes of his own, "You taught me that kick! Remember?"

"Yeah!" Hope sasses back, "Great form."

"Those were the days. Whatever happened to us?" Scott sighs and glances around, "It's family moments like these I will never forget."

"With a good therapist, hopefully I will." Laurie pants, resting her hands on her knees.

"Not the time, guys." Hope breathes back, still prepared for a fight as she glances around, "God, where did he go? I lost it!"

"I'm not seeing anything on the ant cams." Hank's voice tells them over the comm, "Try looking-,"

A terrible sound of crackling comes over the commlinks and when the trio rush back at the van, they find Hank Pym bent over with his hand pressed to his neck and gasping for air.

Hope quickly slides close, grabbing his arm, "Are you okay?"

"No!" He growls back, "He got the lab!"

"Guys..." Laurie breathes heavily, glancing around with wide eyes, "I think we just got... ghosted."

Ba dum tsssss.

Her cheesy grin fades when Hope and Scott shoot her a look.

With a heavy rough breath, Hank determines, "We need to find somewhere to regroup and figure out where the lab is."

"So where to?" Scott pulls Laurie close and shakes her to make her agree with him, "How about our house? Mmm? I'm supposed to be there anyway. Woo could walk in any second!"

"Exactly why we're not going to your house!"

"What about your house?"

Hank sharply glares back at him and Laurie awkwardly whistles out a little tune.

"Sorry." Scott joins in on her wince before thinking for a long slow moment, "...There is one place I can think of."

Laurie gasps in realization, she loves those three wombats. "Ooo yes, let's!"

"No, no, no! No, no!" Hank, however, does not love those three wombats, eyes wide with near rage, "No!"

Laurie grins.

This is gonna be so much fun!

hellooooo! so i finally got a chapter of something out, thank God! it's been a weird couple of months everybody, am i right? also, i've had this chapter like almost finished for nearly a month now and i just couldn't... get it finished? it was painful. also, i don't even love how it is now but you know what, it's finished and i'm putting it out there!

WHAT DID YOU THINK? ghost made her first appearance, scott is back in the game, and SO IS THE STINGER! tadaaa! she's finally arrived and ready to kick some names. i hope you guys found it funny and enjoyable rather than dumb and annoying, lol, sometimes this story teeters on the line a little! also, writing the fight scenes were hard for some reason? hope those were okay!

ALSO: GUESS WHO'S COMING BACK NEXT CHAPTER? OOO TENSION!

anyway, i hope you guys enjoyed it and i hope you're all staying safe out there! i love you all, and keep an eye out for some updates coming your way! i'm trying to get back in business!!! what would you want to see updated next?

now, a funny thingamabob:

choose your fighter