[A/N]: Stones??
The vehicle in the center of the lab dominated the space, and now Domino could actually see it properly.
At first glance, it looked like a submarine that had sex with a rocket.
It turned out to be a quantum shuttle, a masterpiece of miniaturization technology where the hull gleamed white and silver under the fluorescent lights.
"You're a scientist," Domino said, her voice carrying genuine confusion as they moved deeper into the lab. "How can you believe in cults of all things? Jay and I are just humans, albeit enhanced, but still fundamentally human."
Hank paused at the bottom of the stairs, one hand on the railing. "I know I'm not completely senile, despite what my daughter might think. But I still believe you to be divine, Goddess, because you've given tangible miracles. More than that..." He moved to a workbench, picked up a container of Pym Particles, the red liquid glowing faintly. "You are the ruler of this."
Domino stared at the particles. "I don't understand."
"I've been recording data from every fight you had. Through SHIELD's surveillance network, your every action in the Helicarrier, even your battle with that Large sentinel." Hank's hands moved across a holographic display, pulling up readings. "You manipulate quantum energy, the same realm from which my Pym Particles derive their properties from. The Quantum Realm exists in the space between spaces, where size becomes meaningless and reality bends."
The display showed crimson strings wrapping around objects, zoomed analysis of quantum states shifting.
"You channel the Quantum Realm's energy instinctively," Hank continued. "My Pym Particles access that realm through technology, through carefully calibrated formulas that open doors. But you..." He gestured at the combat footage. "You don't need doors. You are the realm's energy, given form and will. You bend it, shape it, command it like it's an extension of your being."
His expression shifted into awe. "In every meaningful sense, you are the goddess of the domain I've spent my life studying. Whether you accept that title or not doesn't change the fundamental truth."
Domino sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright, enough buttering me up to be a goddess, old man. No matter what you may believe, I can't bring Janet back to life."
Depression crashed over the trio like a physical wave as Hope's hand flew to her mouth, her face going pale while Hank's shoulders slumped, visible defeat washing over him and Scott looked between them, clearly wanting to help but having no idea how.
Domino let the silence stretch for three seconds, then smiled. "Because I can't bring back the living from the dead."
She paused, watching their confusion build.
"Janet's alive."
The words detonated like a bomb.
Hope moved faster than Domino expected, crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat and grabbed her shoulders hard enough that the grip would leave bruises if not for her durability while her face had transformed, gone from despair to desperate hope so fast it probably gave her whiplash.
"What?!" Hope's voice cracked, raw with years of grief suddenly given hope. "She's alive? My mother is alive? How... how do you know? Where is she? Why hasn't she..." The questions tumbled out faster than she could form them, each one carrying weight.
Hank had frozen completely, his face cycling through emotions too fast to track as shock, then disbelief and finally hope so fragile it looked like it might shatter him washed over him. "Where is my Janet?"
"Still down there in the Quantum Realm, waiting for you." Domino gently extracted herself from Hope's grip. "How about we get going and bring your wife back, Doctor Pym?"
Scott, from his position near the shuttle, looked like he'd been slapped. "She's... wait. Thirty years in the Quantum Realm and she's alive? How is that even possible?"
Domino gently extracted herself from Hope's grip, her hands coming up to steady the woman who looked about two seconds from collapse. "Time works differently in that space. Hank knows this. What's been thirty years here might have been different there. Days? Weeks maybe? Hard to say."
Hope's breath came in short gasps, like she'd forgotten how to breathe properly while tears tracked down her face, cutting through the soot from her electrical burns. "My mom. My mom is alive. She's been alive this whole time and we..." Her voice broke completely.
"Thirty years," Hank whispered, and the words carried so much weight they seemed to bend the air. "Three decades of not knowing. Of hoping and despairing and hoping again. Of pushing everyone away because the alternative meant accepting she was gone." His hands shook violently. "And she was there. The entire time she was alive."
Scott's voice cut through, still skeptical. "How do you know this? How can you be certain?"
"I work with the Power Broker," Domino said simply. "He deals with secrets and powers. This came from him."
Hank's expression shifted as sudden suspicion crept in. "Why?" His voice carried decades of skepticism. "Why do you need to do this? What do you want in return? Nobody offers miracles for free, goddess or not."
Domino met his gaze directly. "I need your tech and expertise to deliver a baby without hurting the mother."
The awkward silence that followed was profound.
Scott's mouth opened and closed before opening again. "I'm sorry, what?"
"A Celestial baby the size of a planet," Domino clarified. "Growing inside the Earth's core. When it's born from the emergence, Earth will be cracked open in the process. Thus, I need Pym Particle technology to shrink it down safely. And more importantly..." She looked at Hank. "I need your expertise to perform the extraction without killing the mother or the child."
To Domino, this was just another mission parameter since it was challenging, yes, and had apocalyptic stakes, absolutely, but fundamentally, it was just a problem with a solution, assuming they applied the right tools and knowledge.
Hope's face cycled through expressions too quickly to track. "You're talking about planetary surgery to deliver whatever this Celestial baby is? "
"Essentially."
Hank stared at her for a long moment, then laughed, the sound carrying genuine amusement mixed with hysteria. "A Celestial? Of course. Why not? At this point, I shouldn't be surprised by anything. Just give me all the data you have on this so-called celestial?" He turned, already moving toward the equipment. "Hope, prep the shuttle. Scott, get the backup suits ready. If we're doing this, we're doing it properly."
"Wait," Scott called after him. "We're just... we're actually doing this? Based on what a self-proclaimed goddess told us?"
"She literally brought tens of thousands of people back to life, you Neanderthal! "Hank said without turning. " And more importantly, she knew Janet was alive and that's enough for me."
As Hank and Hope moved through the lab with newfound energy, checking systems and running diagnostics, Scott approached Domino cautiously.
"So," he tried, going for casual and landing somewhere around intensely awkward, "you're a goddess. That's... that's pretty cool. Do you grant wishes? Am I supposed to pray? Is there a specific ritual, or..."
"Scott."
"Yeah?"
"Stop talking."
"Yep. Good call. Silence. I can do that."
He lasted approximately fifteen seconds.
"It's just that this is all really overwhelming, you know? Like, last month I was a divorced ex-con trying to see my daughter, and now I'm apparently working with actual divinity to rescue someone from a quantum hell dimension while also preventing apocalypse. My life is insane."
Domino's expression softened slightly. "You have a daughter?"
"Cassie. She's eight. Smartest kid you'll ever meet." Scott's face transformed when he talked about her, pride bleeding through every word. "I'm trying to get my act together and be the dad she deserves, you know? The whole Vigilante justice thing against my company was stupid, but then Hank recruited me for this Ant-Man thing, and now apparently I'm doing side quests for goddesses."
"I'm not a goddess." Domino said gently now after Cassie reminded her of Luv.
"That's exactly what a goddess would say to test my faith."
Domino groaned, pulling out her phone. "I need backup before you people drive me insane."
She opened the group chat labeled "Mercs for Money" and typed quickly:
Domino: Need you all at these coordinates in one hour. Bring full gear. Weird job.
Deadpool: Define weird on a scale of "Tuesday" to "Resurrecting thousands of dead".
Domino: Saving Earth, fighting Alien Androids, all the while delivering a giant baby.
Slapstick: Never a dumb moment with you, Goddess of Life, Death and Fortune. I'll bring my mallet.
Gorilla Man: Om Bodhisattva. I'll portal everyone to your location. Just send coordinates. My magic's getting better every day
Hit-Monkey: SNFESOWE1?!/1!?!
Machine Man: Who gave Hit-Monkey a phone? And wait, did you say PORTALS?!
Massacre: The Lord says help those in need, even if you have to steal from others.
Domino, seeing that some things never change, smiled and sent Hank's address, then pocketed the phone.
Then she turned her attention to where Hank was suiting up where the Ant-Man suit gleamed red and silver under the lights, a vintage masterpiece of miniaturization technology that shouldn't work but still did anyway.
"You're eager to see your wife," Domino observed.
"Thirty years," Hank said quietly, his hands steady despite the emotion in his voice as he sealed the helmet. "Three decades of not knowing if she was alive or dead, of hoping against hope that somehow, someway, she'd survived." He turned, and his eyes behind the helmet's visor carried determination that bordered on desperation. "So yes, Goddess. I'm eager to see my wife. To bring her home. To tell her I'm sorry for every way I failed her and our daughter."
"Stop calling me goddess and we'll get along fine."
"As you command."
They made their way to the quantum shuttle, and up close, Domino could appreciate the true engineering marvel it represented.
The entry hatch opened with a soft hiss of pressurized air while the interior displeased Domino immediately: cramped didn't begin to cover it.
Four seats, two front and two back, packed so tightly together that personal space became a forgotten luxury while the walls pressed in, covered in displays showing quantum field readings and dimensional stability measurements.
The smell hit her next: ozone mixed with something chemical, probably from the life support systems while the temperature was cool enough to raise goosebumps, climate-controlled for optimal Pym Particle stability.
Hope slid into the pilot's seat with ease, her hands moving across controls like she'd done this a thousand times while Hank took copilot, already pulling up navigation data as Scott squeezed into the back, looking like he was trying very hard not to hyperventilate in the confined space.
Domino took the remaining seat, her shoulder pressed against Scott's, her knee touching the back of Hope's seat with no room to move and no room to breathe without being aware of everyone else's breathing.
"Cozy," she muttered.
"Try doing this solo for thirty years," Hank said without turning. "You learn to appreciate the company."
Fair point.
Hope's hands moved across the controls with steady precision despite learning her mother was alive, despite the apocalyptic stakes and despite the fact that they were about to shrink down to subatomic size and dive into a realm that trapped her mother.
"Are you sure she's there?" Hank asked one final time, his hand on the shuttle's entry hatch. "Because the risk we're taking, if this fails..."
"Only one way to find out," Domino said, meeting his eyes in the reflection of the cockpit glass.
The shuttle's interior was cramped, filled with displays showing quantum fields and dimensional stability readings while everything hummed with barely contained power.
Hank's hand trembled for just a moment and then steadied. "Alright then. Let's bring my wife home."
Hope's voice came through the speakers, steady and professional despite the emotional weight. "Engaging Pym Particles. Shrinking sequence initiated. Three... two... one..."
Reality twisted.
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