Not Expendable

Concrete Cage

Scott watched in horror as the building began to crumble and collapse. On his flying ant, he was out of harm's way, but his ears rang in his helmet at the sound of crashing cinder blocks and screeching metal. Clouds of dust flew up into the air.

He couldn't believe his eyes. They were tracking and infiltrating a terrorist group in London, and they'd just destroyed their own secret headquarters with an explosion at the building's base.

Once the dust cleared, Scott saw Sam fly around the perimeter of the rubble, firing at any terrorists trying to flee. Bucky had told them that the group could be a new offshoot of hydra. They had been kidnapping in order to continue experiments to replicate the super soldier serum. Scott wasn't sure what their name was, but their emblem was a crow.

"Is everyone okay?" Sam asked over the radio. "Did everyone get out?"

Scott landed on the ground, growing to full size and scanning the ground around him. He saw Wanda and Bucky, as well as Peter. Peter ran up to Scott, his mask dissolving from his face. His eyes were wide with fear.

"Scott, did you see Hope come out?" he asked, tugging on Scott's arm. "I-I saw her on the second floor."

"It's okay," Scott reassured him. "She'll probably be out in a moment." He reached up to go through his radio, but instead he heard Sam.

"Does anyone have eyes on Clint, Bruce, and Hope?" he said. "I can't see them from the air."

The sound of static filled Scott's ears. He heard clips of a voice on the radio.

"......under.....can't see....Clint's here."

"That sounds like Bruce," Wanda said. Her eyes glowed red as she lifted herself into the air with masses of energy.

"Hope, can you hear me?" Scott said over the radio, on their channel. "Peter said he saw you in the building."

There was a long pause, then the crackle of static erupted once more. He could barely hear her voice.

"Scott! ......I'm stuck under.....I can't.....please find me!"

He was taken aback by how laced with panic and fear her voice was. He grabbed Peter by the shoulder.

"Hope's stuck," he breathed.

"Where?"

"Hope, you keep cutting out," Scott said, trying to remain calm. "Do you know where you are?"

"NO!" she screamed. "SCOTT! Please find me! I can't—see—I can't—breathe! Please, it hurts!!"

He jumped at her volume, sweat bursting out of his pores.

"How do we find her?" Peter said. "She's probably tiny!"

"I can't—grow!" Hope gasped. Her radio began to cut out again. ".....regulator damaged....can't feel....please!"

"Spread out!" Sam said. "She's probably getting crushed by something. We've gotta get through this rubble now!"

"No!" Scott said. "She's small, you could accidentally crush her. I have an idea."

He used his earpiece to summon his team of ants, as well as a bunch of them in the area. He shrank down and looked back up at Peter.

"I'm going to have the ants track her scent," he said. "If she's really stuck, we need to find her first."

He let one of the carpenter ants sniff his helmet, which Hope had just done some reparations on. It probably still had some of her scent on it.

"Find Hope," he told them.