"When I first learned you'd come back here, I was happy. I thought you'd finally changed your mind."
Kang's voice was calm, as though he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him. "Unfortunately, it seems I was wrong."
"We'll stop you, Kang!" Janet replied coldly. "Your ambitions will never come to pass!"
"Why?" Kang seemed genuinely puzzled. His gaze swept over Pym and Hope as if they were two pieces of unimportant furniture. "Because of these two? Your family?"
"This has nothing to do with them!" Janet shook her head. "You want to conquer everything by force. That will never work!"
"...Haha!"
Kang actually let out a quiet laugh.
"You know, Janet," Kang said with a smile, "I've heard that more times than I can count."
"I've conquered countless worlds and met countless self-proclaimed heroes of justice like you. Before they died, they all said the exact same thing to me. Again and again..."
Looking at the smiling man before them, everyone felt a chill creep into their hearts.
He was a demon.
"We're different!" Hope said, unable to hold back. "We have the Avengers!"
"The Avengers?" Kang thought for a moment. "Do you mean the big green gorilla or the idiot with the hammer?"
Hope's and Pym's expressions changed at once.
He was talking about Hulk and Thor, two of the Avengers' strongest fighters!
Though Pym had never gotten along with S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers, he knew perfectly well how powerful they were.
"You... defeated them?" Pym asked in disbelief.
"Many times," Kang answered lightly. "So many that I've grown bored of it. Sometimes they come at me together. That's a little more interesting."
"But..." Hope went pale, at a loss for words.
"Conqueror... Kang?"
Old Pym muttered the name, then suddenly asked, "Janet told