Become a Homelander and a Marvel superstar

She felt Ah Zu's breath brush against her cheek.

Hope panicked and quickly turned around, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window and pretending to admire the view of San Francisco outside.

As Hope spent more and more time in Azu's "Temptation Domain," coupled with the immense shock brought by the zoom-in and zoom-out lights, her strong psychological defenses were on the verge of collapse.

Hope instinctively let down her guard around the man in front of her.

She finally nodded.

"Yes, you win," Hope admitted. "Ant-Man isn't a legend. My father, Hank Pym, did indeed invent those Pym particles that can change the spacing between atoms."

But she then gave a bitter smile, her eyes dimming slightly.

"But you've got the wrong person, Daniel."

"My acknowledgment of these things' existence doesn't mean I can help you. Because neither of these things are in my possession."

Hope sighed.

"Darren Cross is in actual control of Pym Technologies. He is secretly developing a weapon called the 'Wasp Suit' in an attempt to replicate my father's achievements. The original formula for Pym Particles and the Ant-Man suit are kept very secret by my father."

"And my father..." Hope gritted her teeth.

"...Years ago, he destroyed most of the experimental data and manufacturing formulas related to Pym Particles stored on the server. Not only that, he also hid the last Ant-Man suit, guarding it against everyone like a thief."

"Honestly, you'd be more useful to Darren than to me. He's already reverse-engineered his Klaus particles using the remaining incomplete data. But it's a defective product; long-term use will make him bloodthirsty and cruel. Actually, he was originally a good person..."

"Of course you can make this..." Hope paused, "What's it called?"

"Shrink the lamp, enlarge it, Hope," Azu replied.

"Oh, okay, that's a pretty straightforward name. I mean, since you're capable of inventing this shrinking and magnifying lamp, you should be able to solve this problem too."

After saying this, Hope looked away from Azu somewhat dejectedly.

"As for me... all I have right now are some peripheral technical data. Without the Pym Formula as a reference, I simply cannot lead the team to advance your project."

"No, Hope. You're wrong."

Azu slowly approached Hope from behind, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. The distance between them was so close that Hope could clearly feel the heat emanating from him, but Hope did not resist.

"Only you can help. And only you are worthy of this great cause."

Hope turned to look at Azu with a puzzled expression: "Why?"

Azu reached out and gently lifted a strand of Hope's short hair, tucking it behind her ear.

This intimate gesture made Hope's body suddenly tremble.

"First of all, I must express my sincerest apologies to you, Hope."

"Before coming here, I used some special channels to conduct a very thorough investigation into everything about you."

Upon hearing that Azu had investigated him, Hope frowned slightly, but her inner resentment vanished in an instant under the influence of the aura.

"I understand," Hope said softly. "After all, in this world, besides you, only Pym Technologies is researching the technology of changing the size of objects. Understanding your competitors is normal in business."

"Thank you for your understanding, Hope. You're always so wise," Azu nodded approvingly, then continued.

"I am very aware of Pym Technologies' current situation. Darren Cross, your father's most prized student and now the de facto controller of Pym Technologies, is indeed a genius."

"But he has no morals, no bottom line. He doesn't care at all what this technology will bring to humanity."

"He just wants to turn it into a weapon and sell it at a high price to any organization that can afford it, even terrorist organizations!"

"If Darren Cross were involved in my project, the world would become a hell of assassinations and brutality. He is not only unworthy of access to my technology, he is not even worthy of continuing to control Pym Technologies."

Hearing Azu's assessment of Darren, Hope nodded in deep agreement. This was also why, even after breaking with her father, she remained at the company to secretly hinder Darren.

"As for your father, Hank Pym..."

Ah Zu sighed, a hint of regret in his voice.

"He was once a great hero, there's no doubt about that."

"But sadly, he was also a pitiful man utterly crushed by his past. An accident destroyed his courage. He was terrified by the Pym particles he had created. He not only stopped all his research, but also tried his best to cover up the existence of this technology, attempting to erase it from the history of human technology."

"He lives in the shadow of the past and refuses to face the future."

"ACCIDENT?"

Hope caught the word with remarkable keenness. In her memory, her father was always tight-lipped about the past.

"What accident? What are you talking about?" She turned around and stared intently into Ah Zu's eyes.

Ah Zu seemed somewhat troubled. He looked away, as if hesitating whether to tell the cruel truth to the vulnerable woman in front of him.

"Daniel! Tell me!" Hope's voice rose eight octaves, and she even grabbed Azu's arm.

Under Hope's repeated questioning, Azu let out a heavy sigh.

"About your mother, Janet Dane."

boom!

Hope felt a wave of dizziness. Her mother's death was the biggest trauma of her childhood and the catalyst for her gradual estrangement from her father.

Her father only told her that her mother had died in a plane crash. He even sent her to boarding school when she was seven years old.

"In 1987, a separatist intercontinental ballistic missile was launched, targeting the continental United States."

Ah Zu calmly recounted the long-sealed top-secret file.

"Your father's Ant-Man suit malfunctioned, preventing him from shrinking. In order to disable the fuse inside the missile, your mother, Janet, made a choice."

"She deactivated the Pym Particle Regulator on her suit, causing her to shrink uncontrollably to the subatomic level. She successfully penetrated the titanium alloy and dismantled the missile."

Upon hearing this, Hope's face turned deathly pale. But Azu didn't stop and continued speaking.

"But the price was... she fell into an abyss of infinite collapse, never to return to her original size."

"She didn't die in the plane crash, Hope. She sacrificed herself to save the lives of thousands."

Tears welled up in Hope's eyes involuntarily.

Twenty years of lies, twenty years of resentment. Upon learning the truth, it all turned into a flood of overwhelming sorrow.

"Why...why did he never tell me...?"

Hope covered her mouth, her body trembling violently. All her strength crumbled completely at that moment.

Just then, Azu stretched out his strong arms and pulled Hope into a tight embrace.

Hope did not resist, but leaned against Azu's broad chest, as if she had found a harbor where she could vent all her sorrow, and cried freely.