Just before the laser fired, intense sparks suddenly erupted inside the Wasp Suit.
The tentacle preparing to fire the laser immediately went silent, bursting into clouds of black smoke.
"What?! What is he doing?!" Darren slapped his suit in panic.
Then, even stronger sparks exploded; the suit's shrinking and enlarging functions were damaged, triggering an irregular physical collapse.
"No! Stop! Stop!"
Darren screamed in "extreme fear."
His body, under the influence of the out-of-control Pym Particles, began to collapse unevenly.
His limbs and torso, like soda cans being sucked dry of air, twisted and folded inward.
"Crack! Splat!"
"Ahhhhhh—!!!"
Finally, amid Darren's shrill screams, he turned into a tiny flash of light and completely disappeared into the air.
The laboratory returned to silence.
Only a few broken wires were still emitting faint sparking sounds.
Hope knelt on the ground, dazed.
She stared blankly at the spot where Darren had disappeared; there was only emptiness.
"Daniel...?"
Hope called out softly into the air, her voice trembling slightly.
No one responded; there was nothing.
She suddenly understood the feeling her father must have had when he lost her mother Janet all those years ago.
The pain of watching a lover disappear before one's eyes while being powerless to do anything.
The man who had hugged and kissed her in the sea breeze just a few hours ago, telling her "I belong to you," would never come back...
"No—!!!"
Hope covered her face with both hands, her shoulders trembling violently, and her suppressed sobbing slowly turned into heart-wrenching wailing.
Pym, his eyes red-rimmed, stumbled over to his daughter and pulled the devastated Hope into his arms.
This old man, who had been stubborn his whole life, was now filled with unspeakable guilt.
He was wrong, terribly wrong.
For the first time, he felt his intuition had been so stupid; he shouldn't have been so guarded against this young man named Daniel.
The young man not only possessed brilliant talent but also used his own life to prove his love for Hope and his nobility.
It was his narrow-minded prejudice that indirectly led to this tragedy.
"I'm sorry, Hope... I'm sorry..." Pym choked up while stroking his daughter's hair, "He was a true hero... He was a good man..."
The father and daughter wept in each other's arms amidst the ruins, and a lingering sense of sorrow permeated the air.
Notification! Gained special popularity value + 35000! (From Hope van Dyne)
Notification! Gained special popularity value + 15000! (From Hank Pym)
Homelander, who had used a shrinking light to shrink himself and watch the show from the sidelines, received the message that the popularity value had arrived.
He put his hands together to show appreciation to the two dedicated actors and silently thanked the father and daughter for their tips.
Afterward, Homelander flew away from the scene and began preparing for the next act.
Time passed second by second until Hope's emotions gradually calmed down.
"Near far wherever you are... I believe that the heart does go on..."
At this moment, a soft mobile phone ringtone suddenly rang in the laboratory.
Hope's sobbing stopped, and Hank was also stunned.
The two followed the sound and, from under a pile of destroyed instrument ruins, dug out a black mobile phone with a screen that was still flashing.
This was not Hope's phone, nor was it Pym's.
Although the phone was a bit worn, it was not damaged in the explosion.
The screen did not show the caller's name, only a line of flashing "Unknown Encrypted Number."
The phone kept ringing continuously, as if it were very persistent in its urging.
Hope wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and picked up the phone with slightly trembling hands.
After hesitating for a moment, she pressed the answer button.
"Dr. Daniel?"
Hope's heart twitched; it was indeed Daniel's phone...
She held back her inner sadness and said, "No... it's not. I am his friend."
There was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone.
"May I ask if he is available to take a call now? There is some data that needs his personal confirmation."
"He..." Hope closed her eyes, tears falling again, "He had an accident... He can't come."
The other side of the phone fell into a long silence.
After about ten seconds, the female voice sounded again, with a hint of gravity in her tone.
"May I ask, are you Ms. Hope van Dyne?"
Hope was stunned, "How did you know?"
"I am Mary, Dr. Daniel's chief research assistant at Vought International, Mary."
The female voice on the other end gave the answer.
"If Daniel really had an accident, then Ms. van Dyne, please come to the Vought International San Francisco branch immediately. There are some things about Daniel that I think you must know."
"Things about Daniel?" Hope gripped the phone tightly, "What is it?"
"I can't explain it in detail over the phone. I'll wait for you at the Vought International San Francisco branch."
Beep, beep, beep.
The phone hung up.
Hope turned to look at Hank, a glimmer of Hope reigniting in her eyes.
"Father, take me to the Vought International branch. Immediately."
...
Half an hour later.
An old-fashioned convertible pulled up downstairs at the Vought International San Francisco branch building.
An intellectual woman wearing a white lab coat was already standing at the door waiting.
"Ms. van Dyne, Dr. Pym. Please come with me." Mary didn't offer any extra pleasantries and turned directly to lead the way.
The three passed through several strictly guarded security doors and arrived at a spacious laboratory.
The laboratory door slid open.
As soon as Hope walked in, her gaze was immediately drawn to something on the experimental table.
It was an exquisite photo frame.
In the photo, it was a picture of her side profile. In the bottom right corner of the photo, a line of words was written in a sweeping, elegant script: My One True Love.
Hope walked up, gently picked up the photo frame, and tears welled up again uncontrollably.
Mary walked to Hope's side, handed her a tissue, and said softly,
"He actually knew you a long time ago, Ms. van Dyne."
Mary stood to the side, her voice calm as she began to tell the story of that non-existent, poignant love story.
"At a business reception, he saw you from afar once. Since then, he fell in love with you at first sight."
"This has been an open secret in our laboratory; he mentioned you often." Mary smiled slightly.
"He knew the pain in your heart and also knew the barrier between you and Dr. Pym. So, he used the resources of Starr Group to investigate the truth about the disappearance of your mother, Ms. Janet, back then."
Hearing this, Hank Pym's body shook slightly, and he looked at Mary with complicated eyes.
"After learning about Janet's experience, he stopped all other projects in his hands and devoted all his energy to the research and development of spatial miniaturization technology and the Quantum Realm."
"He built a huge deduction model and finally reached a shocking conclusion."