Several hours earlier.
"...No, I just decided to switch targets."
On the wasteland battlefield, Miles had barely finished speaking and begun preparing to use Personality Simulation when Kang froze him in place.
"Time Stasis!"
Everything around him, including Miles himself, fell utterly still.
Sand hung in the air, frozen into an amber tableau. Miles remained poised to activate his power, unable to move even his eyes.
"It's time to end this."
Kang's voice held no emotion. He slowly raised a hand toward Miles's head, and blue energy gathered in his palm, radiating destruction.
At that very instant...
Whoosh!
An unremarkable red dart streaked through the air. Though launched later, it arrived first and struck the frozen Miles dead-on!
Miles shrank rapidly in a flash of light, becoming a speck too small for the naked eye to make out. He vanished from Kang's energy lock.
"Hm?!"
Kang's pupils contracted, and the energy gathering in his palm stopped. He whipped around, his gaze cutting toward the direction the dart had come from.
Scott Lang strolled out from behind a dune and even raised a hand in greeting.
"Hey there, buddy."
He wore an easy grin. "I know that little bastard Miles can get on your nerves, but killing him is a bit much. If you've got a problem, we can talk it out... Ah!!"
Before he could finish, an invisible force seized him by the throat, lifted him off the ground, and dragged him before Kang.
"You're Scott Lang from the future?"
One look at Scott was enough for Kang to recognize where he had come from!
"Cough, cough..."
Scott's eyes rolled back as he struggled to squeeze out a reply. "Aren't... aren't you?"
"You think I should be from the future?"
Kang's expression shifted as realization struck, and his face darkened.