by Jason Starr
Cassie figured it out.
Scott felt the jolt again, but this time the ant suit wasn’t immobilized. More important, the ants that had appeared to be suffering from the fungus immediately started to show drastic improvement. They walked around normally, not zombie-like.
“It worked!” Cassie said.
Scott returned to his normal size.
Monica was partway out of the kitchen now, squirming on the floor with her arms still tied behind her back.
“You’re making a mistake, a big mistake,” she said, “using your technology like this. What does it get you? You’re a criminal, you love money. Work with me. We can be partners.”
Then Scott noticed something strange happening—the flies and the ants were targeting Monica. It was a combined ground and aerial assault: the ants, maybe hundreds of them now, attacked her body, biting her, while flies assaulted her from above. More flies and ants entered the house, targeting Monica, as if they instinctively knew she was their greatest enemy, and they had to fight her off.
“Looks like there’s been some collateral damage,” Scott said.
Monica tried to say something, but there were flies and ants all over her face, and she couldn’t speak. Scott put on his street clothes over his Ant-Man suit, and then he and Cassie left the house.
IT’S TOTALLY viral, Dad.”
“The ant fungus?”
“No, YouTube. You have over a million views already.”
Scott sighed in relief. He had already seen the four-second clip of himself as Ant-Man, emerging from the sewer; it seemed like the whole world had. It was Sunday night, and he and Cassie were at their apartment. The zombie fungus had been curtailed dramatically in one day, confusing scientists who hadn’t been able to determine how or why the fungus had started spreading in the first place.
Ant-Man was the big hero. Ironically the viral video had helped him—after the news media had picked it up, he was credited with apprehending Monica Rappaccini, the woman responsible for four murders and implicated in the nonfatal shooting of Roger Shelly, a federal marshal.
Scott had given Carlos the scoop on Monica Rappaccini, which garnered Carlos lots of kudos with his superiors at the FBI. Scott told Carlos that he’d been at the house with Monica when Ant-Man had showed up and saved him. He had a feeling that Carlos didn’t quite believe the story, but Carlos was glad that the situation had been resolved. He didn’t force the issue.
One complication: When she was apprehended, Monica had revealed to the Feds that Scott was Ant-Man. Scott had expected this to lead to a rush of interest from reporters and curiosity seekers, and he thought he might even have to move to a higher-security building. But so far—aside from comments from old friends on his Facebook page such as “Ha!” and “Congrats!” and “I always knew you were hiding something”—no one seemed to care all that much. He got interview requests from a couple of obscure blogs, but it wasn’t exactly like 60 Minutes was rushing over to do a feature on him. From now on he’d have to be extra careful guarding the Ant-Man technology, but he couldn’t help feeling a little, well, silly for putting so much energy over the years into keeping his secret.
He didn’t feel any ego blow, though. He preferred to be low key, incognito. The lack of attention and hoopla felt like a gift.
Later, Cassie was in her room when Scott received a text from Tony Stark:
Great video of you online bro. The ladies will love that one
Scott smiled, texted back:
Look who’s talking, the winner of the babysitter of the year award
Tony came back with:
My bad, but even when I mess up I wind up helping out, doing something heroic. Guess I just have the gift
In the morning, Cassie came out for breakfast in a short skirt and a tight top.
“You’re going to school dressed like that?” Scott asked.
“It’s normal,” Cassie said.
“Whatever,” Scott said. “I won’t judge.”
Cassie had a few bites of cereal then said, “Actually, I’m going out with Tucker after school.”
“That’s nice,” Scott said.
“You don’t mind?”
“No, I just want you to be happy,” Scott said. “You’re getting older now, I get that. You don’t have to tell me about every boy you hang out with, either. You’re entitled to some privacy.”
“Wow,” Cassie said. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You can still call me Daddy,” Scott said. “That I like.”
“Thanks, Daddy.” Cassie smiled. “Do you want me to remove that tracking app?”
“No, it’s okay,” Scott said. “I don’t mind you knowing where I am at all times. I actually kind of like that.”
Cassie left for school.
A little while later, Scott headed to work. It was a perfect spring day—eighty degrees, no clouds. It was pleasant to walk along the tree-lined Upper East Side street, past all of the busy, happy ants—not having to worry, for a change, whether somebody was going to try to kill him.
On the subway headed downtown, an attractive woman with short red hair was riding next to Scott. She half-smiled at one point, so Scott had a feeling she was attracted to him.
With all of his bad luck with dating recently, Scott was hesitant to try to strike up a conversation with her. But then again, he didn’t want to let a couple of bad experiences tarnish him. He was eager to get his life back to normal.
“Hey, I’m Scott. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” she said, smiling. She seemed happy he’d spoken to her.
“How do you feel about ants?” he asked.
“Ants?” She sounded confused.
“Yeah, you know—the most important insect on Earth. They’re so awesome, right?”
Scott knew her reaction would determine whether things in his life were truly back to normal.
She just stared at first, maybe confused. Then she sneered and said, “Wow, what a freak,” and moved to the other end of the subway car.
Yep, normal.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IT started where many great things start—at a dive bar in Brooklyn. Big shout out to the entire Marvel team, especially Stuart Moore, Axel Alonso, Jeff Youngquist, and Sarah Brunstad. Being immersed in the world of Ant-Man has been quite a thrill ride, and certainly a highlight of my career. Also big thanks to my parents, for always encouraging me, and booksellers, librarians and readers, for making this all possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JASON STARR is the internationally bestselling author of many crime thrillers, including Tough Luck, Twisted City, and The Follower, and his books have been published in over a dozen languages. He has also co-written several novels with Ken Bruen for Hard Case Crime, and his work in comics for Marvel, DC, Vertigo, and Boom! Studios has featured Wolverine, the Punisher, Batman, Doc Savage, and Justice Inc. Many of his books are in development for film and television. Starr has won the Anthony Award for mystery fiction twice, as well as the Barry Award. He was born in Brooklyn and lives in Manhattan.
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