4328/The Way To Fix A Wall

The Way To Fix A Wall
Date of Scene:	07 December 2020
Location:	Home Depot
Synopsis:	A meeting at Home Depot turns into a train wreck. Not literally, but close enough.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Lang, Ororo Munroe

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Scott Lang has posed:
"I'll just pop over the Home Depot down the street and pick up a few things before we head home pumpkin...no I didn't break anything, much," Scott muttered to his daughter before he left for the big home improvement store. Opting to walk instead of drive as it was close. And making the somewhat odd decision to wear the Ant-Man suit under a hoodie and some loose sweatpants. Hank had been telling him to get used to wearing it more, a hero needed to always be ready and while it was easy enough to carry the suit in a shrunken state, quickly changing into it wasn't always practical.

"Still don't see why this thing has to be so tight," he mumbles to himself as the single father walks into the store and surveys the aisles. A jigsaw, a few bits of wood and hardware, Cassie was into birds lately, he'd pick up the ingredients for a birdhouse and surprise her with the project when they got home. Maybe a flower to go with. He sets off towards Aisle 10 with a basket in hand, having little to worry about, it was still early morning and there were more employees than customers to get in his way at this hour, planning to be on the road home soon as he was done.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Aperture science." The words to the song spring from Ororo's lips, gentle and soft. She didn't mean to say anything aloud, but the tune is in her head and has been since she was sent to collect a new reinforced door for the back patio. She hums gently as the men load the large unwieldly structure through the exit doors, which themselves are a bit of a marvel of engineering.

"You know where to deliver it then?" she asks. She is reassured by the staff; they have made many deliveries to the mansion, and this is no different. She gives a smile which melts, then turns to look around the store. "We do what we must, because, we can.."

Walking down aisle 11, she hums the pervasive tune, not having noticed the beleaguered father in the next area. Perhaps they'll meet at the other end, unless the power of music causes mayhem.

One never knows.

Scott Lang has posed:
'CLEARANCE' immediately draws Scott's eye as he stops in the aisle of powertools and looks at the random assortment of scratch and dent options, some marked with tags stating what was wrong with them, others no more than a price. And there amongst the scraps, a plug-in jigsaw at a whopping 15 dollars. The tag on it merely reads, 'Intermittent Start' and Scott picks it up for an examination.

"Probably just a loose wire, bet if I..." his thoughts trailing off as he finagles a pocketknife on his keyring to pry off part of the casing and poke around checking the connections. Everything SEEMED in working order but of course there was only one way to be sure, a test run. A quick look about shows a support column nearby with an outlet set in it, Scott wasting no time in crouching down and plugging in the jigsaw with its casing still apart so he can examine what happens. He pulls the trigger and there's a satisfying 'whirrr' from the blade and Scott smiles smugly to himself.

"There's that Masters degree at work, now I...oh crap!" his pride at a job well done short-lived as the jigsaw smokes and a small bolt of electricity arcs forth. Directly at the controls in his Ant-man suit's belt. The most classic of hapless malfunctions, the power surge triggers the growth mechanism.

Scott's outer clothes shred away as he expands, the sweatsuit gone to polyester heaven while his helmet automatically snaps up into place around his head. "No no no!" he cries out as he stumbles back in surprise, his already now massive body bumping into the ceiling high rack next to him, pelting Aisle 10 with whatever product was lining its shelves top to bottom. People were also beginning to scream at the appearance of the massive red-suited being with the alien-looking helmet that has suddenly shown up, Scott able to look over the once massive shelves, in fact he's slightly bent over to keep from hitting the ceiling, the antenna on his helmet scraping off a light fixture with a bigger shower of sparks, the next bumping the sprinkler system setting them off throughout the store and setting off the fire alarm.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Quite content, Ororo sways down the nice aisle. She leans over to survey some odd manufacturing tool, uncertain what exactly it is for, when she hears raised voices. She glances back at the odd little tool, wondering what route one would need to make a router function, when she hears crashing. She pauses in her deliberations, then places her hands together at her heart.

She interlinks her fingers then turns both hands backwards, cracking the knuckles on both hands in a lovely display of preperatory stretching, and then lets her hands hang to the sides.

And walks around the corner, as water begins to spray down upon her head.

"Oh," she says eloquently, looking upward. Not quite the challenge she was expecting. "Well then." And she causes a wind to lift her, her eyes changing to white, and she rises into the air.

When she's at around Scott's height, she says, "I am sorry, but I am going to have to ask you to collect your purchases and leave." Her voice is firm, the volume amplified. And her hands...crackling.

To be fair, she didn't see that it was a mistake.

Scott Lang has posed:
Growing was always oddly more taxing than shrinking, molecular expansion usually something Scott likes to precede by taking a deep breath and closing his eyes at least. No such opportunity given this time he lets out a groan that might just sound like a fearsome beast to all of the now much tinier people scurrying about. Water running down the tinted lenses in his helmet he struggles to gather his wits about him when something floats up into view near his head and speaks to him. He doesn't quite fully process what was said, less to do with hearing and more to do with just not being able to focus. But what he DOES notice is those crackling hands, the spark that caused this whole mess still fresh in his mind.

"No, get away!" he bellows, one massive hand suddenly swatting at the far smaller woman. He wasn't trying to hurt her, but when you're 40 feet tall any small gesture can do some damage, and whether he hits or not his knuckles do wind up smacking into the rack on the other side, another avalanche ensuing in Aisle 12 this time with a loud clatter and series of bangs. Scott winces and starts shuffling backwards in his crouched stance, trying to look behind him to be sure he wasn't about to step on anyone in the process.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
One of the odder things about Ororo's powers is something that isn't thought of often, but one which comes up depressingly so: She has next to no defensive abilities. The flight, when kept indoors, is not as agile as many other fliers. She has no real body enhancements, and a giant hand being flung at her is actually a very significant threat!

That being said, she trains against giant mutant-hating robots in the simulator on a weekly basis, and this is definitely not the first time she's had this done in her direction. A quick updraft pins her to the ceiling, and she uses the time when Aisle 12 is having its minor issues to get some distance, slipping backward.

"It was not a request," she says from a touch further back. She glances about attempting to see if there are any civilians remaining, then when she ascertains that there are not, she buffets him toward the giant exit doors with winds. Which also move about some of the merchandise, but there is no saving that now anyway.

This is a super fight. Things gonna get broken.

With winds shearing about her (Yes, indoors, she's magic) she calls out, "OUTSIDE!" Both to remove the threat from the location, and to allow her to access more of her own talents. Because the winds, kept indoors? There just isn't that much air to work with.

Scott Lang has posed:
At this point honestly Scott would be thrilled to be outdoors himself if only so he could stand up straight. His fingers are hammering the 'shrink' control on his suit to no avail and he gives up on that as he keeps backing up...only for a strong wind to suddenly hit him. At his size and with only the limited air inside to work with it wasn't likely she'd be able to push him out with sheer force. But then he starts getting pelted with all the OTHER stuff that is getting flung.

"OW! Quit that you little air conditioner from Hell!" Scott requests, his arms up trying to shield his toros as lumber, powertools, paintcans, and other heavy debris smacks into him with irritating and sometimes bruising force. Two however could play at this game and as she was now out of swatting reach Scott reaches down and grabs hold of a line of shopping carts all linked together and whips them towards her like a massive steel and plastic boomerang. While several carts fall off the end, most stay stay stuck together and he puts enough force behind it to largely counteract her windstorm though it would likely slow the unusual projectile down.

Hoping that would be the end of it Scott quickly turns about, Storm at least getting her wish as he crashes through the glass and thin steel struts that make up the front entrance and gets outside where he can stand tall. The store was largely empty but here outside civilians were still milling about, some taking off in their cars, others simply running. "Cassie won't let me live this down...or Hank," he thinks to himself as he tries to figure out a plan.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
For a moment, Scott is alone outside, while cars whip about trying to escape. The crushed door which was just outside used to be the one which was destined for her own place, so this is causing Ororo some consternation...and it may in fact cause her to be banned from the location in future. Which is why the figure who walks out the door does so with such...vigor. "Are you quite through?" she asks, not truly listening to the answer. The skies above are clouding over with immense speed, and while her long white hair moves in the winds, she has yet to get really dirty. A tornado filled with all of that loose glass, for example.

She does look at the sparking thing on the giant's waist, then frowns. She flicks a small bolt of lightning at it, almost casually, and assumes that she needs to do more. "That, is ENOUGH!"

And given that she's just tossed electricity at an already malfunctioning device, it likely is. Or things just got a lot more confusing.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott needed to get control of this situation, he was an Avenger dammit! Paying little heed to what was going on behind him for a moment he raises his hands up palms out and bellows, "Calm down! There is nothing to see here! Everything is fine! Go home!" That should smooth things over just fine as another panel of glass from the front entrance falls and smashes to the ground. It was about then he notices the fact things are darkening up, and there's another smaller voice from down near his ankle. Scott looks down and flinches back. "You again! Get..." Is as much as he gets out before the bolt of pure power slams into him. The suit is made to be very resistant to such charges but even still he can feel this one, every hair follicle on end and a tingling in his teeth.

More importantly is what his Pym control device is feeling though as it lets out a high-pitched whine and all those times he hit the 'shrink' control earlier finally catch up. Scott instantly shrinks down to the size of an ant, far smaller next to the powerful woman than she had been next to him moments ago. Strewn among the debris he would be difficult to even see and with the flash of the bolt blinding everything in the area it would be easy to think he had just vanished, or disintegrated.

Down less than a couple feet away from the toe of her shoe Scott looks around incredulously. "Are you KIDDING me? Oh don't you do this, don't you..." as he expaseratedly hits the 'grow' control. And gets nothing. "No. No no no," he hisses as he touches the communicator on his helmet. Ordinarily it would magnify his shrunken voice so normal people could hear him, without it he'd need to be practically inside their ear canal. But it's as fried as the shrink machine after the powerful jolt. Scott's knees shake, he was in trouble here as he looks up at the imposing weather titaness. The one he had just called an air conditioner and tried to swat like a bug. "Oh boy," he whimpers to himself, unsure if she even knew he existed still...even less sure how she'd react finding out he did.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
A titaness who does not react in the fashion which the now-tiny hero may expect. Which is to say, her mighty form stills when he vanishes. She does not look stunned, cry out, or flee in terror, nor does she continue an assault or bein to search for his missing form.

She falls on her ass. She then settles backward, her head hitting the ground, and groans softly as she raises her massive hands to rub at her temples.

Inside her head, Ororo is fighting with something unexpected. You see, she is linked to all life around her, great and small, and is able to keep an empathic awareness of the energies and flows. The sudden change, quite powerful, left an aching void in her mind which has caused her to experience something akin to pain, though perhaps not quite that.

She sits up a bit and starts using her senses. Not her eyes, they can be deceived. Instead she reaches out, and finds the little puddle of awareness which should not be there. Then she gets on her hands and knees, peering about. For all purposes it looks as if she knows what he's done. She does not, but it might seem frightening.

Scott Lang has posed:
Does he want to be found? Does he not want to be found? Scott is torn on the matter as he watches the colossus collapse, able to feel the ground shake imperceptibly as her butt touches down hard. Under normal circumstances he'd make a quip about a booty that can rock the Earth, but right now nobody would hear it and he's rather terrified. Something which only grows as the sounds of distant sirens picks up. He looks at the destroyed Home Depot and thinks about trying to explain things to the police. But this stranger whoever she was, she'd destroyed almost as much as him with the windstorm. Surely she wouldn't want to stick around and explain things either. And Cassie, still alone back at the bed and breakfast down the street. The thought of his daughter seals it, he has to try.

Scott leaps out near her sweeping gaze and begins jumping up and down, able to leap many times his own height in his miniaturized form. Still he was a speck all the same waving his arms up and down. "Hey look, right here! Look here! C'mon hurry up!" His voice was nothing, not even a squeak to a normal human ear, it was on another pitch entirely. He needed something better and after a few hops he settles down, grabbing a piece of glass that was about 40 times larger than himself, easily lifting it up and smashing it on the ground next to him. THAT would draw attention.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
While the temptation to note that she does not in fact have a large bottom, or to electrocute Scott for commenting thusly even in his poses, may exist, that does not happen. You may consider yourself gently chided for this, and while we continue I shall huff knowingly on the topic. Huff.

In a more direct fashion though, Ororo peers downward, her eyes tracking after her other senses until they settle upon the gentleman who is currently not so very threatening. His hopping self lands upon an outstretched hand, and that hand does not crush him. Though one might assume the threat is implicit, she leaves her fingers open, her hand delicate and huge. Comparatively. Huff.

"I can see you, clearly," she says, her voice calming noticeably. "But what to do with you, I can not say. Your emotional spectrum decreased considerably but is still..." She pauses, peering down at him. "Do you need help? Is this all a rather large error?" She does not pun, so pun not intended. Puns are for peasants.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott had angered one woman in his life enough for her to divorce him and he'd been the larger man and she without superpowers. He had no intention of trying to anger this one with any discussion of big man-hands, even if he was small enough now that the lines of her palm were practically ditches. Forget fortune-telling, with some water he could fortune-slip-n-slide. But for now he stands in her hand confused and still rather scared himself. He needs to communicate. Smacking his helmet a few more times does little good, he needs a better plan. Fire and police sirens draw ever closer, the fire alarm still ringing from the building, even if he jumped up next or in her ear she might not hear him over the racket.

He does a quick spin, there, a fallen gallon of paint spilling out on the parking lot. Scott leaps from her palm with surprising speed and force, almost certainly enough to make her hand move despite his insignificant size. The ooze of thick paint was as tall as he was, if an actual ant fell in it they'd probably get stuck and even Scott wasn't eager to color himself periwinkle. A bit of busted wood that's many times longer than he is serves for a crude brush. Dip, write, dip, write. No time for anything fancy. "B&B -->" Bed and breakfast, that way. They had to move, he had to get back to his daughter, Scott giving her a few seconds to read the message before he swipes it away with another brush of the stick, leaving less evidence behind.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
While Ororo is not actually planning to leave, abandon the scene, or any such thing, she glances at the note on which the diminutive one has written, before it is removed from play. She sighs, offers her hand again, and then says, "As you wish. One moment."

Then she does something unprecedented. She calls the police. "Yes, police dispatch please. ..Yes, I am Ororo Munroe, here at the Home Depot in New York. I am dealing with the problem, yes, it is safe to enter the area. No active weaponry are required, but I understand your need to protect your own officers."

She goes on as she waits for him to board, or if he does she spends the time walking him toward his destination. "No, I will make a statement. Damages are significant but not life-threatening. Yes, I am that Ororo Munroe, clearly. Are you new, dear?"

Boggling. She must have done this before.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott slaps his forehead so hard he can hear the clang even if she can't, her voice booming like thunder but still understandable as he's lifted again in her palm. But she was moving at least, Scott finding himself rocking a bit back and forth on her palm as it sways a bit with each step, able to feel each vibration of her footfalls like a minor quake. Still she hadn't mentioned HIM, that was something. And that name...why was that name familiar? So foreign and yet...oh hell, Scott's head snapping up to gaze at the African titaness again. Her features made Mount Rushmore look small about now but familiarity finally clicked into place, the X-Men. He grinds his teeth, less and less sure if he wanted this clearly dangerous woman around his young daughter no matter how helpful she was being but, the ant-sized figure finally slumps a bit. He had no choices.

With little warning he jumps at her, landing on her shoulder like an enthusiastic flea. She might feel the sensation of another smaller jump after and a strange and probably slightly disturbing feeling of him literally in her ear. At least he wasn't going DEEP as he lays back in the curvature of the edge of her ear canal, shoulders against one side, feet propped up on the other. Fiddling with the helmet again, he's relieved at least he can get it to retract, able to breathe for short amounts of time without it.

"Hey, can you hear me?! Name is Scott, the new Ant-Man! My equipment malfunctioned back there! ...I'm sorry I flung a bunch of shopping carts at your head, my bad!" he hollers as loudly as he can into her ear. Even with that it was still probably a barely audible squeak she had to focus on.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The first thing that the lady whose ear he is appropriating says is, "Have you considered using a celphone when you're this size? It should still function, microwaves do not care after all."

She continues to look forward, her heart racing slightly as she notes the sound in her ear, but she allows it to do so with a smile. One must enjoy the little ups and downs in life after all. Complete control over your self is useful, but gets old.

She tilts her head a touch, looking for the bed and breakfast. Ah, here we are. "I do hope that we can discuss it without further throwing of appliances," she says, her tone a touch sardonic, if still huge. "There are only so many locations in the area, I'd prefer to limit our damage to just the one."

Scott Lang has posed:
     "My helmet has SEVERAL options for communicator built in and that part was working fine until SOMEONE decided to go all Ernest Goes to Jail on me...he gets electric powers in that one if you haven't seen it, really recommend," Scott trying to bring a bit of levity to the situation as he hangs out in the stranger's ear canal, her white hair sweeping back and forth at times outside like a thick curtain. She can probably feel his tiny moves now and again, especially as she tilts her head and he has to brace himself to keep from sliding.

"H-hey careful now. I don't mind falling out of your ear, I can take a good drop but you do NOT want me getting caught up in your earwax," he lightly chides. At least it was warm and cozy he thought, were it not for the current situation he could probably manage a nap in her ear.

He gives her directions up to his room in the small cottage, the caretaker giving a surprised look at the entrance of the exotic woman that they surely did not rent a room to. Entering the little suite with two bedrooms Storm will find a young blonde girl of about 6 sitting on the end of a bed. She looks up at her quizzically but without fear, the TV on in front of her showing...what else but the destruction right down the road. Cassie points to the TV and showing a wisdom beyond most girls her age says, "My daddy again?" Scott keeps his facepalming to a mere mental one this time and groans in Ororo's ear.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"Yes darling. He's in my ear," she says, reading the situation and sitting down with a calmness that belies the damage she can do. "I apologize, at least half of that was my own fault. You are truly a trusting young lady, I could have been anyone at all."

She settles her hands on her lap, then waits like that. She has no guile, and honesty is often the right choice. "You do not need to flee, it is taken care of. I promise on my honour as a teacher." She has a Wakandan accent, but not a harsh one. Perhaps she's tempered it through years of teaching students? Likely so.

"He seems to be stuck as a tiny person though," she says to the nice young lady with the brilliant smile. "Is there something I can do?"

Scott Lang has posed:
Cassie seems surprisingly unphased. Her father had only become a 'superhero' of sorts a year ago but for a 6 year old that seems like forever ago. Weird things happening and strange people with funny accents were almost the norm for the young girl who had giant ants running around the house as pets most of the time. "I know not to trust strangers, but..." Cassie hesitates and then shrugs. "You seem nice. We can get lunch together at McDonald's later! I always get to pick when I save Daddy...and he's always asking pretty ladies to lunch anyway," Cassie wise beyond her years but still having the tastebuds of a 6 year old and the social decorum of one as well as she hops off the bed and starts digging through a suitcase.

Scott meanwhile is only slightly mortified as he swings his legs around to hang outside Storm's ear but doesn't leave just yet, he still has no way of communicating without being this close. "A lot of the parts are interchangeable, I always carry some spares...my mentor insists I need them more than he did...and I do NOT ask that many ladies out to lunch," he adds with a grumble.

Finally though Storm can feel him jump out of her ear and onto the bed as Cassie pulls out a smaller, more rugged looking box from the case. She pushes a button and it flickers open with a series of whirrs and snaps revealing what looks like a miniature doll-sized workshop and storage center that Scott steps up into. Within a couple of minutes he's walking back out and clicking his controls again, zapping back to normal size where he staggers and then drops backwards on the other bed with a groan to stare at the ceiling.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
"If you wish, I do not object. Perhaps I can purchase something called 'soft serve' there as well. I have never eaten at this...Macdonalds." She likely shocks Cassie with this statement, but she is not attacking and that's nice. Filling time.

And Ororo sits, watching and waiting. Her phone rings while he works, and she speaks with the police. Apparently she'll be right there, but has to deal with the situation first. She hangs up as he appears, then sits and lets him loom over her for a moment, and gives Cassie a smile.

Then, giving HIM time, she interjects only a little. By offering her hand. "I am Ororo. It is nice to meet you sir." She handles these things well, it seems. Experience with chlldren will do that.
    "And yes, I am reacting very oddly. Of course I am. I am a teacher."

OH NO, A TEACHER! RUN!

Scott Lang has posed:
Cassie practically gasps. Her ant-sized father working in a tiny laboratory after wrecking a store down the street is of complete secondary concern to this poor woman never having had the gloriousness that is minimum-wage prepared fast food. "You HAVE to eat McDonald's, they have the best fries and ice cream and chicken nuggets and..." Ororo getting a rundown of most of the menu before her phonecall at least gets Cassie to settle down, but still looking at the clearly suffering white-haired woman with grave concern.

When Scott DOES return to normal Cassie doesn't give him the same consideration as the mutant leader, jumping onto his midsection excitedly. "Uncle Hank is gonna be ma-a-a-a-ad!" she sings playfully with a slight bounce that makes Scott groan again.

"Thank you for reminding me Cassie. Off now please. Daddy is still suffering from...a lot of things," he requests, the little blonde girl obediently hopping off and getting to work cleaning up the tiny workshop. He reaches up and clasps Ororo's hand in his gloved one then and sits up.

"Ororo it's...well I don't know if I'd use the word nice for today but interesting. It's interesting to meet you Miss," he settles on before flashing a grin. "Give me a moment to clean up and change, I believe I owe you a Big Mac! And hey, a teacher! You know if you like kids, I have a GREAT babysitter gig for you. I'll lay it all out at lunch. Talk your ear off. Lovely ears by the way, had a great look to them..." A teacher might be scary. But now that the danger had passed it was Ororo in danger of Scott's neverending mouth, the trio soon setting off for the nearest golden arches for better or worse, to all live Happy Meal ever after.