"As you command, Master." Ego's voice faded away as though he had never been there.
Homelander reached over and pressed the communications button beside the bed.
"Skynet."
"I'm here, sir." Skynet's virtual avatar appeared in midair.
"How is Hope's experiment coming along?" Homelander asked.
"Progress has been severely impeded, sir," Skynet reported.
"Your Enlarging-Shrinking Lamp technology is exceptionally advanced and complex. Ms. Hope needs time to master it and integrate it with the stable properties of Pym Particles."
"That requires extensive calculations and countless rounds of trial and error. A complete solution is unlikely in the short term."
Homelander rubbed his chin. "Have we obtained the original Pym Particles formula?"
"Not in its entirety, sir," Skynet replied.
"Ms. Hope did receive all of Dr. Hank Pym's research materials, but she has never displayed the complete formula on the laboratory's internal network."
Skynet brought up several surveillance recordings. "At each stage of the experiment, Ms. Hope manually entered portions of the formula into an isolated workstation to run integration tests."
"She completed every critical step herself and cleared the data cache immediately afterward. She has kept the complete formula under tight guard."
Homelander watched the footage and nodded slightly.
That was only natural. Pym Particles were strategic-level technology. No scientist in their right mind would reveal the formula in full to the researchers working under them, much less leave traces of it on a network server that hackers could breach at any time.
Hank Pym had spent his life guarding against people stealing his technology. As his daughter, Hope was at least as cautious as he was.
"Looks like I'll have to go to San Francisco myself."
San Francisco, on the West Coast of the United States.
Vought Group branch office, advanced physics laboratory.
The laboratory had Vought's highest level