Professor Bill didn't seem surprised to see Cross there, which only confirmed Lock's suspicions.
Ava said coldly, "King Lock made his move. If I hadn't been at the scene, Cross would have been captured already."
"What?!" Professor Bill's face went pale. "Did you just say King Lock? Why would he bother with a small project like ours? We haven't even done anything illegal!"
Cross frowned. "That's what I don't get. But he came with Dr. Pym. Maybe… Hank invited him?"
Even as he said it, Cross didn't believe his own words. If Hank Pym could summon someone like King Lock, he wouldn't have needed to sabotage Cross's research from the shadows.
"Damn," Professor Bill muttered. "When I came here, I didn't even check if I was being followed!"
Cross glanced at the monitors. The feeds showed nothing unusual. As a scientist, he trusted what the instruments told him.
Then, a calm voice echoed down the stairwell.
"What a pity," Lock said. "I happen to know."
The air shimmered as Lock's invisibility dissolved. He appeared on the stairs, relaxed and composed.
"King Lock?!"
Cross and Ava froze in shock. They hadn't expected him to find them so soon.
Cross leaned close to Ava, lowering his voice. "Ava, stall him. He can't attack a quantum body. I'll get Bill out of here."
Ava nodded sharply. "Alright. Uncle Bill, stay behind me."
In the next instant, she blurred forward like a phantom, her figure flickering between the real and the unreal.
Lock didn't move. He simply drew back his fist and slammed it into the stairwell.
Boom.
Concrete shattered. Dust and soil poured down, sealing the exit completely.
Ava circled him in an instant. Her gloved hand darted out, straight for Lock's chest like a viper's strike.
Lock turned just enough for her attack to pass harmlessly through him. She was fast, but not faster than him. Her strikes phased through space, finding no purchase.
"Ava," Lock said evenly, his tone almost casual, "why not take Professor Bill and go? You can't, can you? Your quantum state can't carry anything larger than yourself."
His gaze met hers. "If Cross hadn't shrunk before, you wouldn't have been able to take him with you. Am I wrong?"
Ava's breath caught. How could he know that?
He was right. Her quantum form could never transport anything heavier or larger than her own body. It was a flaw no one should have known about.
"So what?" she snapped. "If you dare to hurt Uncle Bill, I'll haunt you. I'll kill you a thousand times over if I have to!"
Even as she said it, she caught sight of Cross out of the corner of her eye. He'd already triggered his Wasp suit, shrunk, and drilled a hole through the ceiling to escape.
Her fury spiked. Coward! she cursed silently. You liar!
Lock's voice came again, calm and sure. "Leave him. He won't get far."
Ava froze. Who is he talking to?
A tiny figure—no bigger than an insect—hovered near the ceiling. Hope, in her shrunken form, was waiting by the hole.
Lock turned back to Ava. "You care about Professor Bill, don't you? Then stop. I can cure you."
"Hmph. I'll never trust anyone connected to S.H.I.E.L.D.—not even you!"
Her body fractured into a dozen blurring silhouettes, each one attacking from a different direction.
Lock narrowed his eyes. Every afterimage carried mass and momentum. Each was real—a quantum superposition of the same person.
Hope's voice buzzed through the communicator. "Lock, don't let them touch you! Those afterimages aren't illusions—they're all real! Quantum superposition. She can exist in multiple states at once!"
Lock frowned slightly. He didn't understand the theory, but he knew the name—Schrödinger's cat. Alive and dead at the same time, until the box was opened.
No matter. He didn't need to understand quantum physics to end this.
"Ava," Lock said, his tone dropping cold, "if you don't stop, I will."
Ava smirked. "If you could stop me, you would've done it already."
"Is that so?"
Lock stopped moving. He simply stood there.
Seeing her chance, Ava lunged. Her quantum hand pierced through Lock's chest, reaching for his heart.
Her instinct screamed that she was making a mistake—but it was too late. Her hand clamped around his heart and pulled hard.
Nothing happened.
The muscle didn't tear. The rhythm didn't even falter.
If it had been anyone else, their heart would have ruptured instantly under that force. But Lock's body—honed through nine refinements—wasn't that of an ordinary man.
He smiled faintly. "Do you feel my sincerity?"
Ava gritted her teeth, pulling harder. The heart barely shifted, then snapped right back into place, as though bound by invisible armor.
Suddenly, Lock said, "Now!"
Ava's eyes widened. "Who are you talking to—?"
Her body jerked. Sparks flickered over her phase-shifting suit. She looked down in alarm and slapped at the controls, but the interface refused to respond.
"Wha—ahh!"
Pain lanced through her arm. She stumbled backward. The hand still buried in Lock's chest had re-materialized—only to be severed cleanly as the rest of her body phased solid again.
She hit the ground hard, gasping.
Two shadows shot from her white suit, growing mid-air until they landed on either side of Lock—Scott and Hope, back to full size.
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A/N: Advanced Chapters Have Been Uploaded On My Patreon
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