16692/Invites and Megabytes

Invites and Megabytes
Date of Scene:	28 December 2023
Location:	Barbara's Penthouse (Clocktower - 25th Floor)
Synopsis:	Barbara retrieves a hard drive from Scott Lang, and they share in a bit of conversational back and forth.
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Scott Lang

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Barbara Gordon has posed:
The back and forth texting with Batgirl, of all people, lead to her eventually giving Scott an address. When he arrived, he'd find himself eyeing one of Gotham's historic landmarks. The giant clocktower stretched high in to the sky, and the text he'd been given had said to simply go inside the lobby, and press the button for the penthouse. The lobby? It was a beautiful affair, classically designed, and once upon the GCPD headquarters. But it was also eeriely quiet and devoid of other people. The tenant directory indicated there were many apartments in the tower, and many of them occupied, but the place /felt/ empty.

The elevator ride was completely devoid of anything interesting, aside from classical music quietly playing, and it wasn't until it arrived at the penthouse level that Scott found himself face to face with someone's private home upon the doors sliding apart.

An impressive home, none the less, with the faces of the clocktower on all sides, and an open floor plan of rooms bleeding in to one another. A Christmas tree, fifteen feet tall, sits at the base of a inside balcony that leads to double doors for the outside balcony, the tree lit up brightly, with leather living room furniture just a few paces away. A fireplace on the eastern wall was lit with crackling flames, and on the western side of the open floor plan penthouse, a large kitchen is stylized in a strange fashion, that of a mint green and cyan blue hues, with twinges of what looks like sci-fi elements to accent the retro 1950s nuclear-aesthetic.

Also in the kitchen is the redheaded Barbara Gordon, someone Scott has met a number of times now. She stands there behind the central counter pouring a pair of drinks, as she looks up toward the newly arrived. She smiles toward him, gathering up the drinks she walks toward him. Dressed in a grey turtleneck sweater, a pair of black slacks and black heeled boots, Babs approaches him and offers him one of the drinks.

"You made it." She announces to him. "Welcome to my roost, I suppose." She says in a friendly tone, her red hair tied up in a messy bun on the crown of her head.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott Lang looks up at the clock tower, and then back to the address on his phone. Then back to the Clock Tower. "Alright Stark Tech phone, I'm trusting you," and he takes a step in. Pale green eyes slip to the directory. And Scott notices the lack of anything. Even people. When he's inside the elevator, Scott starts to sing "One is the Loneliest Number" by Three Dog Night. Even singing it in tune with the classical music playing. The place honestly feels like a ghost town. An unimpressive place that manages to have an upkeep.

Eventually the doors open and he steps through. Pause. Pale green eyes soak everything in. He looks back to the elevator, which is going down. "Heh," he lets out the little noise then starts to look about.

"Why are all of my friends Rich and I'm not?" Scott asks, either himself or whatever deity someone believes in. He'll let out a long whistle as the eyes take in a fire place, rooms that bleed together, swanky leather furniture and the biggest tree in the city, he suspects. Then he pauses at the kitchen. "How Vault 33 of you," Scott says referencing the one video game he kind of plays. Everything looks modern yet retro. It reminds him of Fallout.

A contrast to Miss Gordon, Scott is there in a pair of blue jeans, a simple black t-shirt and a long blue coat. "How are you Barbara? Besides living in a different tax bracket than me," he is still staring all about the place. "Impressive. I feel under dressed."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
When her kitchen decor is commented on, Barbara spares a glance over her right shoulder back toward it before she looks back at him with a grin. "Vault 111, actually, is the primary vault identification adorning my nerdy memorabilia..." She states in a coy way before the rest of her home's immediate presence is glanced at when he comments on the tax bracket element. She laughs softly.

"I spent a decade in a wheelchair. It gave me a lot of time to get good at computer programming, which yields good results, I guess you could say." She tells him before motioning him further inside. "Glad you made it though, feel free to make yourself at home. I have a get together coming up this New Years Eve too, if you're looking for a party to attend. Won't find a better seat in the city than one up here for it either."

She takes a sip of her wine from the tall glass she'd poured, and motions toward him. "Did you have trouble finding the place? I sometimes get people asking me to confirm I meant this building, when I invite them over like this, almost like they don't think I should be in here..."

Scott Lang has posed:
"Apologies about mislabeling your vault, Overseer Barbara," Scott says and even gives a small bow. "I shant mislabel your vault while I stay here as guest away from the Super Mutants," he says with a grin.

"I recant my statement about tax bracket," Barbara arned this. Now he just feels worse for saying what he did.

"If you don't mind an Avenger crashing your party," he grins at her. "I wouldn't mind attending." A party in a clocktower just sounds fun anyway.

Scott will take a glass if one is offered to him. "I didn't have trouble. The place is just so quiet, I questioned if I had the right place. So, it wasn't about finding it. Just making sure everything was proper. I mean, I felt like I walked into a Zombie movie or something equally earie," he admits.

Pale green eyes rest upon her, "I do have a present for you. Well, besides my company."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The joke about the Overseer has Babs laughing openly as she steps toward the kitchen. "Come have a look." She tells him, as she strides over to the counter of the island, which has a few barstools pushed up against its front. the island itself has a few items upon it that Scott might recognize, including a Nuke-shaped Cola bottle dispensor complete with every flavor of Nuka Cola inside it.

"I uh... kinda feel hard in to video games in the early years of my injury." She tells him then. "This one happened to one of the major ones out at the time, so it found a place in my recovery..." She quietly explains, as she motions toward a Mr. Handy robot on the counter, that is activated by the very hand gesture alone. It comes to life, with its metal arms swaying, and a butler-jeeves voice speaking up. "Good day, Mum. How might I be of service?" The little counter-top robot states, rolling in a circle.

Babs smirks at it, then shoots a smile toward Scott. "A present?" She asks. "that computer hard drive?" She inquires. "I do need to get that under the microscope.." She mutters then, before sipping her wine once again.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott smirks at the laughter. He takes a seat at the island. Then seeing the bottle dispenser. A nod comes from him. "Actual flavors? I know a soda company, or two tried to work with the IP."

Pale green eyes slip toward the Mister Handy. "Neat!"

"Why are you acting embarassed about that. Be loud and proud, it helped you," Sctt says making sure she doesn't feel awkwardd because of him.

Scott will open up what looks to be a buckle on his belt. He sets down a very small computer. Something that looks on pair wth three-inch action figures.

Pulling out a disc, he places it on the machine and it turns to normal size. "Yep. And I am the delivery man there. It's not hurt. Shrinking wnt' do anything, just scale it back to normal." Scott has seen other things changed simialrly and everything was fine.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs remains standing beside the corner of the counter that he takes a seat at. She puts her wine glass down on the counter top, and smiles warmly at what he says toward her nerdy side being part of her recovery. "When you grow up playing World of Warcraft, I guess a Bethesda RPG isn't a far leap of logic." She replies before her eyes watch him as he produces that disc from the fancy technology.

She reaches out for it when it is returned to normal size, and turns it over in her hands. "Impressive, that tech you use..." She comments then. "As someone who dabbles in a lot of engineering these days, myself, I must admit I'm quite curious about the ins and outs of it." She states, before setting the hard drive down again, her eyes going back toward him.

"It's Pym tech, right? I've never met the man... I assume you were some kind of protege to his work, and that's how you got involved in it, which lead to the Avengers?" She asks, curious about Scott's origins, it seems!

"And all the Avengers are welcome to the party, but I can't imagine many will show up. I've sent out a lot o invites, but I usually only get those local to Gotham to actually come to Gotham. Our city has a bit of a bad rep, ya know..." She states with a sly smirk.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Not really, but even if it was, don't shy away," Scott doesn't quite chide her. However, he's trying to encourage her to be proud of herself.

"I can't go into too much of those ins and outs, trademark secrets and all that. The disc are durable to not break when being carried, yet pliable enough to break causing the particles within them to release. This causes things to shrink or grow. "They're color coded." There's a little more to it than that, but that's the broadtroke.

When his origins come up, it's his turn to get quiet. "It's a bit more complicated than that. I would love to say, I was his prodigy. The son he never had in the company, but I wasn't. I was a thief that recently did his time for society. Whether it was fate, a plan by Pym, or something else, I don't know. A job that came across my lap saw me with the costume by the end," he looks at her not sure how she would react to an ex-con being in her home. "I'm an electrical engineer by degree, but a father that made a very stupid decision trying to help out his kid. And it all went sideways for me," he shakes his had a little bit. "Corporate espionage. Take some money, corporation sees it as a drop in the bucket and my daughter gets the best college life money could buy," he sighs. "I'm an idiot. A well-meaning, well-educated, idiot." Now, Barbara can maybe see a real reason why he downplays himself. Maybe he hasn't forgiven himself? Maybe he doesn't see himself as worthy? Either option has potential.

"This Avenger will come to the party," he says with that confidence -slowly- creeping back into his voice.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
In inviting Scott to her home tonight, Babs revealed her identity as Batgirl to him, though he probably had a pretty good guess to begin with. All the same, as he speaks on himself to her, she simply stares at him and watches the facial features that grace his visage throughout what he admits.

"You know..." She starts, her eyes dropping for a moment before rising again. She tilts her head slightly to the right. "I've dealt with a lot of thieves. Very few of them have ever cared about their kids, or been able to get away from that life, once they fell in to it. The fact that you're an Avenger, and the fact that you have a kid who needs you as a role model now... Well that proves that you're anything as negative as you may have just described."

She grins softly at him then, before she raises her glass up for another sip from its contents. When she lowers it again, she nods once at him. "I've seen you in action a few times now, too. You're smarter than you let on. Maybe more than you even realize." She adds, before giving him a lopsided smirk.

She pats the hard drive lightly then with her free hand's fingertips. "Thanks for running this by, too. It's important to a good friend."

Scott Lang has posed:
"I don't know Batgirl. Maybe one day I'll see it. I just keeping of the two years I lost with my daughter. The pain it caused. How it was the final nail in a troubled marriage. I just see all of that. And some of it, I couldn't stop. Things were going to happen," mainly the marriage. Scott realizes there was no saving that one. Even if both of them wanted, they just weren't a good fit. They both got Cassie from it and that made every horrible and wonderful time worth it.

"But that's my origin. The part I try to keep hidden. It's there in public record. Sometimes it gets brought up, but a lot of times people forget. They just see the now and nothing else. That part's really nice. That's a view I want to have one day," Scott admits. A willingness to change, always a good sign. "I bet I look better in that skin tight cat suit than whatsherface," he jokes a little bit. "I know you've met a lot of people Batgirl, but I think the world might need Barbara Gordon more than Batgirl. And the world could really use Batgirl, too." It's his way of saying she's equally special.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The majority of what he says gets a contemplative expression from the redhead, who just gently nods her head a few vague times at the last bit of his personal story. When he compliments her, and Batgirl, she smiles widely again, and laughs softly once more. A glance is given to the rest of her apartment, before she looks back at him. "Well, there's actually two Batgirl's these days... I'm just the original, I guess. Once I got out of the chair, I had a decade of plans to enact. Dreams of how I'd do it right, if I got another chance. I got that chance, so all of those dreams, plans, wishes, and wants.. I'm making them happen. It's been a ride, to say the least. But, we have a lot of help in Gotham these days, compared to back when I sustained my injury. Back then it was a lot less of us, and the risk was a lot higher. I mean, it's still plenty high today, but... progress is progress. It's good to have allies."

She shows another quick smile toward him then before she nods at him again. She shifts her weight from one heeled boot to the other as she leans against the counter's edge. "My father was my childhood hero, ya know? Jim Gordon. Police Officer extraordinaire..." She grins just a little. "He put the whole bug of me wanting to fight crime in to my head. Of course, originally that meant become a Police officer myself, but... then I saw Batman in action, and well... things changed. My point is... I'm sure your daughter will consider you the same some day, as I consider my dad."

Scott Lang has posed:
"Well, yeah. I figured you weren't the blonde one I've seen photos of. I'm happy you get to live your dreams, too," Scott says sftly as he looks at her. Just listening to her story a bit more. Scott's quiet for a bit as Barbara reveals a lot about herself. What motivatedd her way back when and how it changed.

"That's what I want. To have her see me the same way you see your Dad. Saw your Dad? Even if she becomes the next Spider-Girl, Batwoman, or regular person. I just hope I leave a good impression," he says and gives a soft smile. "That's why I'm an Avenger, to be a little more like Jim Gordon and a little less like idiot that made a bad choice," he says, not associating himself with that choce. A step in a good direction mayhaps?

Barbara Gordon has posed:
When Scott speaks of the possibility of his child becoming a super hero herself some day, Babs suddenly grins again. She lightly shakes her head. "She better get her application in soon. I was reading an article earlier saying that the Bats are soon to be a thing of the past. A startup robotics company wants to introduce mechanized police officers that can eliminate the need for regular Police, let alone 'the vigilante Bats.'" She laughs softly. "Our days might be numbered. Between drones, and robot advancements... the future is gunning for us. so to speak."

She raises her glass up again for another sip, before lowering it again. "Have you had any dinner yet? I could put in an order for some delivery?" She asks. "Unless you have some pending Avengers business to tend to?"