The Marvel Universe Roleplaying Community - The Ant-Man March

From: big_pympin Date: May 24th, 2009 12:37 am (UTC) Re: The Man in the Ant Hill (Link)

Hank grunted when he hit the corner of the tunnel. The dirt was soft enough to cushion the fall-- at least well enough that he didn't break anything.

He stood and found himself face to face with an ant. And another ant. And another. Hordes of ants, all intent on protecting their nest. There was no way he could escape.

One of the ants lunged toward him. He ducked below the mandibles but the creature was too fast. It lunged again. Hank waited until the mandibles were closing in around him before running forward and striking the ant's head. He couldn't hope to match the ant's strength, but it was enough to stun the ant. Still, it was hopeless. If only he could...

"Aha!" He spotted a matchstick not far from him. There was a small stone within reach.

Hank seized the pebble and threw it at the match. The match burst into a small flame but it was large enough to distract the ants. He had to act quickly.

Using a piece of string some unwitting ant had dragged back to the nest, Hank created a lasso and hooked it onto a nook further up near the entrance. He pulled himself up as fast as his limbs would allow. He was almost out of the nest when the head of an ant peered down at him, hovering over the entrance.

Hank screamed and the ant skittered back briefly then seized the tiny human with his mandibles.

But instead of snapping him into shreds, the ant carried Hank out of the nest and released him.

Hank scrambled back. "You don't want to hurt me, do you?" He was aware of how stupid talking to an ant was but somehow it calmed him. "Why? When all the other ants are trying to- AAH!"

The match hadn't held off the attacking ants for long enough, and now there were more of them congregating around him.

"I hope you're friendly!" He yelled and jumped on top of the ant that had pulled him out of that accursed nest.

The ant flailed for a moment and Hank tried nudging it in the direction of the ledge.

"This is never going to work. I'll be-"

But then the ant responded and took off. They reached the wall and the attackers seemed to back off once the ant started climbing.

He clung to his savior until they reached the ledge.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!"

Hank jumped off and into the serum. And then he was growing until finally he stopped. He looked around and laughed. "I did it! I'm normal again!" He kept laughing, even as he grabbed the remaining solutions of pym particles and locked them away in a safe. Without proper maintenance they would degrade and be safe to dispose of down the drain.

"Too dangerous, far too dangerous."

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From: big_pympin Date: May 24th, 2009 12:52 am (UTC) Re: The Man in the Ant Hill (Link)

The next day there was a knock on Henry Pym's door. He knew who it was and he knew there was no way around this.

"Dr. Pym, I know you're in there!"

Hank unlocked the door and opened it. "Hello Mr. Gomez."

"This is the last time I'm asking."

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Gomez but I don't-"

"Of course you don't have it. You never have it. You have to pay the rent like everyone else, doctor or no, and if you don't I'm throwing you out."

"Yes well, I'm sorry but-"

"But your latest shrinker ray or whatever it was failed and you don't have any money for me."

"Well... I was goingyes. I don't have anything. It didn't work. But-"

Mr. Gomez's face turned red.

"But I'm scrapping the whole idea. I promise Mr. Gomez, from now on I'll stick to more practical inventions."

"Inventions that pay."

"Yes."

Mr. Gomez frowned. "Fine. One more week and if you don't have my money then I'm throwing you out. And no more stories about crazy things like shrinking objects and talking to ants. You work on things that can be done."

Hank Pym couldn't help but smile. "Yes sir, of course."

Henry closed the door and started for his desk again but he stopped suddenly. There was one ant walking along on the floor right across his path. It kept pausing and looking around like it was lost.

Pym bent down and placed his hand in front of it, letting it walk up onto him.

"Hold on little guy, I'll get you back outside where you belong."

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