DARREN CROSS CONCLUDED his presentation on the Yellowjacket project. The bald man beamed at his potential buyers and waited for immediate feedback.
"So...it's a suit?" Frank, one of the attendees, said.
The rest murmured as Darren kept smiling and stared at Frank.
"Don't be crude, Frank." He walked up to him. "It's not a suit, it's a vessel. What's the matter? You're not impressed?"
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"No, I'm impressed. I'm also concerned. Imagine what our enemies could do with this tech."
Darren placed a hand on his shoulder. "We should have a longer conversation about that, Frank."
The man looked at the hand on his shoulder as Darren kept it there. After a few seconds, he removed it and spoke to the rest.
"Thank you for coming. Hope?"
His business partner, Hope Van Dyne, smiled and started to see the buyers out.
"Thank you very much, everybody. I will escort you out now. Thank you."
They all started to leave. Her father and former founder of the business, Hank Pym, went up to his ex-protege.
"You seem a bit shocked." Darren told Hank.
Hank had watched the entire presentation and was taken aback he had found out his past as Ant-Man and was working on replicating the shrinking tech for his project.
"Darren, there's a reason that I buried these secrets."
"So you finally admit it!" He exclaimed softly. "We could have done this together, Hank. But you ruined that. That's why you're the past and I'm the future."
"Don't do this."
"Dr. Cross?" A potential buyer, Mitchell Carson, called out.
Darren eyed Hank as he walked away and joined the man. Carson continued.
"You sell to me first, 20% over your asking price. I can have the cash here in two weeks."
Darren was more than willing to agree. "Deal."
They left the lab. Hope watched them leave before walking up to her father.
"We have to make our move, Hank."
"How close is he?"
"He still can't shrink a live subject. Just give me the suit and let me finish this once and for all."
"No." Hank immediately retorted.
"I have Cross' complete trust." Hope shot back.
"It's too dangerous."
"We don't have a choice."
"Well...that's not entirely true."
The raven-haired woman was confused. Hank looked out the door for a second before gazing back at her.
