Ant-Man and the Wasp

Dinner with the Enemy

While repairs were being made to the Pym van Dyne Technologies building, Hank and Janet were getting ready at their house. Hank wore a blue suit, a white shirt, a red and yellow striped tie, and black dress shoes. Janet had on a nice red floral blouse, light blue jeans, and dark red heels. Whatever they were up to, their expressions showed they did not want to go.

Scott knocked on their front door. “Hank! We need to talk.”

Hank answered the door. “Can’t it wait? We have somewhere to be.”

“Sorry for bothering you.”

“It’s fine. We were invited to the house of Douglas Josten.”

“Is he a supporter?”

Hank sighed. “No. Far from it. More like a disgruntled ex-employee.”

“I have no experience in that, but if you need protection, my suit is in my trunk.”

“No. Scott, go home to your daughter, Cassie. Douglas is just a lot of talk and no bite. I wouldn’t be worried.”

“Alright. If you say so. Stay safe.”

Within the hour, Hank and Janet arrived at the Josten House. Nadia was already there in a beautiful yellow dress. They knocked and were soon greeted by Douglas Josten. He was a black-haired Irish man in his mid-forties, dressed in a black formal shirt, yellow tie, ash slacks, and black dress shoes. His expression was a smirk that almost seemed smug.

“Welcome, Hank.” Douglas stepped out of the way. “The ratatouille is almost done.”

“Thanks, Douglas,” Hank said before passing him by. Nadia and Janet did the same.

The house interior was a lovely family abode. There were family photos decorating the walls. Kids' toys were strewn across the living room floor. The laughter of children could be heard in a bedroom upstairs. All of it seemed like an ordinary family home.

Douglas went into the kitchen and pulled the ratatouille out of the oven. “Jasmine! Elijah! Dinner!”

Two kids raced down the stairs. The oldest, Jasmine, was eight years old and Elijah was five. Following them was their mother, a red-haired woman wearing a black-and-red-stripped shirt, dark blue jeans, and black sandals.

“You must be Hank and his family.” She said kindly. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I’m sure.”

She passed him by to attend to the seating of the children. Nadia looked confused. She had no clue why Hank was uncomfortable being near Douglas. He seemed alert.

“Dad, is something wrong?”

“Douglas was a part of my Microverse exploration team and my former partner on a failed project. He’s brilliant but petty. He never accepts he was the cause of failure and always blamed me. Whenever possible, he drags up the past because he knows it will hurt me. I fired him after security caught him stealing the designs on the Ant-Man suit.”

“Then why invite us here?”

“That’s what I want to find out.”

The two families sat at the dining table. The ratatouille was divided among the seven of them. Douglas’s cooking was quite sublime. His kids were so polite and even they seemed to enjoy the dish.

“So, Douglas, what’s the occasion?” Janet asked.

“There’s no ulterior motive. Just a nice dinner with old friends.

“Friends?” Nadia asked.

“Your dad and I go way back. I was a grad student with an idea that Hank helped me make real. It’s a shame what happened, but he did design it for killing. Right?”

Hank frowned. “That’s not what happened.”

“You put your brainwave patterns in that thing and gave it weapons.”

“They were non-lethal, but you modified them without permission.”

“It flipped like a switch and killed all those people.”

“Don’t bring this up in front of your kids.”

“How many did that machine kill, Hank?”

Hank clenched his fist. “Why can’t you stop?”

“Because he’s been down in the Microverse killing those people too. He killed Olivia, Joseph…”

Hank stood up. “Let’s take this somewhere private.”

Douglas escorted him upstairs to his bedroom and locked the door. Nadia and Janet looked worried, but the Josten family continued their dinner as if nothing had happened. It was all so suspicious and weird.

“How can you sit down there in front of your family and talk about genocide.”

Douglas smirked. “I vented my issues innocently at home. Have you?”

“You’re still petty.”

“And you are responsible for the deaths on our team.”

“You and Elias ran at the first chance. I got beaten badly. Where were you?”

“We created that thing, but it was your brain that made it a genocide machine.”

“STOP TALKING ABOUT ULTRON LIKE IT WASN’T YOUR FAULT TOO!!! You gave him the weapons that killed people and the adaptability that allowed it to rewrite its own programming. I designed it for peace, but you made it capable of war.”

“Believe it or not, I did not invite you to hear just for one of these talks. I’ve been looking into Microverse too.”

“Tha-That’s impossible. You don’t have the Pym Particles necessary for such a trip.”

“I’m still as smart as you. I worked hard and finally made a breakthrough. You are looking at the only human to crack your secret.”

“How do I know you didn’t steal it.”

“Don’t insult me. You have your ants spying on me.”

Hank was upset, but he put it aside. “What did you see?”

“A world of metal and a walled city surrounded by fire and billions of bones. The robots constantly send a signal and it still haunts my dreams. ‘Born of science and the foolish men, who they, out of fear, did condemn, in his metal castle most foul sits the dreadful Crimson Cowl.’”

Hank was chilled to the bone. He left the bedroom and headed downstairs. Janet and Nadia noticed how scared he looked.

“Dad?”

“We need to go.”

Without another word, the Pym-van Dyne family left the house post-haste. Hank looked up and saw Douglas wave kindly from his bedroom window. He knew Douglas was lying about the fear he felt, but the chant was all too truthful. The petty father had done what he had planned: he made Hank more fearful of the future.

Later that night, Douglas quietly went down into his basement. After moving several boxes, he uncovered a hatch that led below. It was a personal, high-speed tram that traveled to the harbor and under the water. There, where no one would see, was a hidden base of an unknown purpose.

Once inside, Douglas put on a lab coat and entered a large laboratory filled with other scientists. At the center was M.O.D.O.K, remaining unconscious with wires connected between its life-support chair and the computers. The spider legs were removed to study their origin.

“What have you found out, Elias?” Douglas asked his colleague.

“It’s fascinating,” the Polish scientist said. “It seems to be a human who has undergone massive mutation. Soon, we can proceed to wake it up.”