When it came down to it, Dr. Pym was a wily old fellow.

Under Scott’s expectant gaze, he simply put his phone away and nodded calmly. “Okay, just wait. We’ll get a reply in a week at the latest.”

Scott made the sign of the cross in thanks.

Dr. Pym said impatiently, “Aren’t you going to train? You actually lost to an ant this time, and were even captured alive. Are you still so proud of yourself?”

Scott was dumbfounded. “Didn’t you say that it was a robot ant?”

Dr. Pym snorted. “Just because it’s a robot, it’s no longer an ant? It was a robot, so of course you would lose? Then why didn’t you just admit defeat when you went up against that Patriot or whatever?”

Depressed, Scott left. He couldn’t reason with the old man.

Besides, there was Hope. Letting this cheap father-in-law scold him wasn’t a big deal! Scott perked up as he left.

Dr. Pym watched him leave. Once Scott’s footsteps faded, he quickly took out his phone and sent a request for a deal concerning the Pym Particle, along with a commission to wipe out Scott’s criminal record.

The Pym Particle deal was of high priority. He might not have enough credit points in his account, but he could get credit points in advance.

This was what it meant to be an important partner.

Seeing the “Accepted” notification for both items, Dr. Pym took a deep breath before he smiled bitterly. “It really isn’t easy to have a daughter.”

But he had no choice. After all, he had lost his daughter’s mother!

…

Seeing Dr. Pym’s request for a deal as well as a commission to clean up Scott’s record, Luke accepted them and chuckled. “Old man, you’re really good to your cheap son-in-law.”

That alert notification earlier had been deliberate on his part.

Otherwise, because of a lack of two measly points, this commission would have remained in the background for the time being, and the alert about an insufficient balance would never have gone out.

Dr. Pym had always dealt directly with the bigshot in the past and rarely used this phone, so he didn’t know that was the normal procedure.

If it were the Bat Squad, they would know at a glance that something wasn’t right.

Dr. Pym was an inflexible geezer.

Luke didn’t want the bigshot to forsake his integrity and screw the other party over while doing business together.

But it wasn’t a bad thing to beat up this old man a little. Even if the old man found out in the future, it didn’t matter – this was to prevent him from becoming big-headed.

This was also to sound out Dr. Pym’s attitude toward Scott. At the very least, he wasn’t just making use of the other man.

Recalling Scott and Hope’s PDA in front of Dr. Pym, it was clear that the two had a thing.

Dr. Pym didn’t have many weaknesses and was a tough character, but Scott and Hope weren’t that troublesome.

As long as they interacted more in the future, it wasn’t impossible to pull this pair into the Justice League.

When the time came, the Justice League would enjoy all sorts of benefits – were they going to just hide the technology and not use it?

Ivan and Donnie had created a lot of things, which they had given to the bigshot in exchange for credit points.

If these two youngsters could put their pride down In this sort of environment with mutual benefits, how could Dr. Pym himself not do the same?

If Dr. Pym hadn’t made a deal with the bigshot, it would make sense if he hid things.

But if he went back on his word after making a deal, who would dare trust him in the future?

One day, Dr. Pym would understand that what goes around, comes around!

Luke couldn’t be blamed for thinking too much. It was just that the Pym Particle was really extraordinary, and the Ant-Man suit was just the most basic application of this technology.

It was just like how Tony’s armor looked cool, but the core technology was still the third generation arc reactor.

A lot of side products could be created with the arc reactor.

Many of them weren’t any worse than the Iron Man suit, but they weren’t necessarily suitable for battle.

Thanks to the large arc reactor, Tony’s energy company already supplied 27% of the total electricity used by major cities in America.

He made no less money than before, and his profits were increasing steadily.

A reputation for making a high-tech new energy source was worlds apart from selling weapons. It was also more suitable for Tony, who liked to do things aboveboard.

The Pym Particle was similar in that it could change Earth’s technology in many ways, even beyond that of other worlds.

Luke had obtained the data, but in the end, that was just the ‘bottom line.’

What he really wanted was for Dr. Pym to continue working on the Pym Particle.

For this reason, he was even prepared to give Dr. Pym some Water of Life.

It would serve the old man right to keep him busy for decades. Otherwise, how would he be able to live up to Luke’s investment?

It was similar to the situation with Tony.

If it were anyone else who had created Ultron, Luke would have definitely taught them a good lesson.

Tony, on the other hand, had only been mocked and told to remember the consequences of his mistakes.

Talent was the biggest protection a person could have.

…

Valentine’s Day passed peacefully.

San Francisco was a “sister city” to Los Angeles. After the earthquake a few years ago, its people were more tenacious than anyone else.

In just two months, the residents’ negative emotions basically disappeared, and the people even bounced back better than ever.

After all, thanks to Luke’s arrangements, there had been very few deaths.

The casualties and property damage were far less than during the Battle of New York, or even when the Enchantress wreaked havoc in Grand Rapids.

Both the Californian and San Francisco authorities had put together formidable disaster relief programs.

The classic government method of wrangling over disaster relief for a few months was not the norm here.

With the cooperation of many parties at the state and city levels, and with many bigshots with real power giving the green light, at least 80% of disputes in the disaster relief operation were done away with.

On top of that, Tony’s and the Bat Squad’s foundations provided on-going support, and monster fans from all over the world were now making ‘pilgrimages’ – the entire city was recovering quickly.

After the radiation cleanup, except for where the Mutos had gone ashore and fought, most people could finally return home.

After the situation settled down, it was already the middle of March, and San Francisco on the west coast was filled with the smell of spring.

840 Winter Street welcomed an unexpected guest.

Maggie stood at the top of the stairs and glared helplessly at the man who was hugging his daughter, Cassie. “Scott, you don’t have visitation rights.”

Scott didn’t care. He simply made a face at his daughter. “I’m just here to see my little peanut.”

Maggie put her hand to her forehead. “Scott, you promised last time that you would find a job and settle down. Then, you disappeared for more than a month. You didn’t even call during that time. Now, you suddenly show up?”

Scott’s hands paused for a moment before he finally let go of his daughter. He rubbed her head and gave her the gift bag. “Go to your room and open your present first. I’ll come find you later, okay?”

Cassie rolled her eyes as she looked between her parents. “Okay, but you have to eat with me later. Paxton does a tasty barbecue.”

Scott nodded hard and watched his daughter run upstairs. Then, he raised his hand and gestured at Maggie.