4431/Elevate My Fear

Elevate My Fear
Date of Scene:	19 December 2020
Location:	Lost Pond Mall
Synopsis:	Scott and Satana skip the highway and take the elevator to Hell.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Lang, Satana Hellstrom

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Scott Lang has posed:
The big holiday was almost here and Scott was about as prepared as he ever was. With two stuffed bags in either hand he walks a bit awkwardly towards the elevators, one last store to hit and he'd be done. "Spencer's. I shouldn't have to buy anything for a 6 year old in Spencer's," he mutters about the mall staple, the bag handles beginning to dig into the flesh of his palms already. With a dramatic sigh he founds the corner in the current department store maze he's trapped in to see two elevators on the wall, one already open.

"Hey, hey hold up! Hey!" he hollers enthusiastically, picking up his pace. Inside the elevator an old man and lady look back at him impassively, the woman reaching over to the buttons, and clicking the 'close door' button. They clunk shut just as he reaches them and Scott growls out, "Well Merry Christmas to you too ya old bag!" He thwacks the 'call' button with his elbow and waits, the other set of doors soon opening on an empty box, Scott scooting inside and dropping his bags on the floor temporarily with a sigh before reaching out to tap the '3.'

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
The holiday season is always so interesting when you're coming at it from the "other side" of things. She looks over as Scott makes his way in, smiling a little bit. "Now, that's the holiday spirit, isn't it?" she asks him. She's "dressed down" for herself; black leather pants, black leather boots, red top.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott does what any sane man would do when an attractive younger woman gets in the elevator with them dressed in leather pants. Tries his best not to seem like he's looking at her and probably failing. "Oh, yeah that's me, Mr. Christmas. Gotta keep my daughter happy after all! Or at least outdo the ex," Scott admits. He does look a bit on the Christmas side of things. The jeans and winter boots not surprising, but the ugly Christmas sweater isn't something MOST sane people would put on except at an office Christmas party, an outrageously bright red with patterned snowflakes and pictures of dinosaurs wearing Santa hats all over it. 'Merry Rex-Mas' spelled out along the front. Clearly Scott has no shame when it comes to his fashion. The doors close with just the two of them inside and there's the whirr of the motor and a feeling of movement as it starts to climb...and the lights begin to flicker. "Huh, guess this thing has gotten a bit too much use today," Scott tries to jest, dutifully looking forward now at the elevator doors and the little LCD number screen just above it signaling what floor they were on.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
    "AHHH. Now that /is/ really the holiday spirit. Outdo the ex. Bitterness and anger, masked under saccharine affection and the exchange of money for...fondness?" She frowns, as she looks up. "Oh, hells." she says, as she looks at the roof of the elevator.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott is frowning too though more at the woman's words than anything to do with the flickering lights. "Hey, hey now my little girl loves me plenty and I'm not bitt...I'm not ANGRY. It's a friendly competition is all!" Scott tries to argue though it's clear the redhead's attention has shifted elsewhere. He waves a dismissive hand stating, "Don't get worried, this mall is old but-" his words cut off as the lights go out, a single emergency light in one corner of the elevator clicking on casting them in the faintest glow. Meanwhile the LCD screen over the doors begins to change again, and rapidly at that as it flickers from 0 to 9 over and over again only to suddenly stop on what looks like the letter 'H.'

"I'm uh, I'm sure it's nothing. Electrical surge. I'm an engineer, very common, always like this," Scott lies sounding a bit nervous. All the more so as there's a sound like something skittering on the outside of the elevator.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
"No. It isn't." Satana looks at the roof a moment, then back to Scott. "She took your daughter. And on some level, you hate her for that. Oh, that's tied up in love, and memories of love. For her, or your daughter, or both." She sounds almost distracted. "But, that's moot at the moment. "I would dearly love to spend more time feeling out your mind. But right now, I advise you to stay low, and stay near the back of the elevator, if you ever want to see your little girl again." Her fingers move subtly in arcane patterns.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Spend more time feeling out my...dammit am I talking to a therapist?! I already tried this before the divorce and then there was another one in prison, that, I, uhh just so we're clear I was in for nonviolent reasons by the way," Scott backtracking a bit as he realizes telling a young woman she's trapped in an elevator with an ex-con was a GREAT way to start someone panicking. Except, the one panicking was Scott, particularly as the elevator's speakers which had been playing Christmas music before the lights went out, now come back on. Only it was no merry song coming out of the speakers.

"Satana. I seeeeee you. All wrapped up nice and neat in a box. Time to send you home to Daddy. He misses you so." The voice doesn't sound human, it barely sounds alive and as it finishes speaking it begins to cackle while the elevator begins to rock and sway.

"Crap crap crap," mutters Scott who reaches towards his belt. The sweater wasn't the only thing he had on, his Ant-man suit worn underneath, something he'd taken to more and more lately. But he doesn't even know what to do with it yet, the threat as yet unseen, no easy way out of the elevator, especially with someone else there.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
"Borzeron, don't be an idiot." Satana says, calmly. "Yes, I know it's you. Always the sycophant. I have better things to do today than this." She looks to Scott, and considers a moment, then extends her hand in front of him. A brief pulse of orange magic wraps out and around him before fading.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Bozo-ron? Do you know this thing? What are you do...oh just one day I wanna meet a woman who can't do weird things AND isn't my ex," mumbles Scott as the orange glow fades around him. There's a more determined look on his face now though, even if he still flinches when the elevator gives another hard rock and then there's a terrible screech of something clawing at the metal.

BORZERON MORTAL FOOL! WHEN I'M DONE WITH HER I'LL CHEW ON YOUR SOUL!" It's the voice again, but louder, deeper, and no longer coming from the speakers but from outside. There's a clunk and a jolt and the elevator begins to drop. The numbers on the screen flash again. 2, 1, 0...-1, -2, -3. It shouldn't be possible but it at least gave the impression they were heading someplace much, much deeper.

Scott grits his teeth and presses something on his belt. In an instant he's gone, nothing more than a pile of clothes on the ground, and then he appears again, this time wearing only his Ant-Man suit. He points somewhat accusingly at Satana, "Can you stop this thing?!" It's not clear if he means the demon or the elevator, but he might be hoping for both.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
"Quite possibly." Satana answers. "But whether I can do it with getting you out of Hell may be the question." She considers, and then her eyes light with a spark. Literally. A reddish spark of light. "You have a daughter. A daughter you love, and who loves you." An idea forming in her mind. She reaches out a hand towards Scott, as her nails extend to long, black talons. "Give me a day."

Scott Lang has posed:
"I'm sorry getting me out of WHERE?" snaps Scott, his Christmas shopping forgotten as the numbers continue to count backwards, speeding up now, already into the negative 20's, the feeling of dropping motion getting stronger. The emergency light is flickering now, threatening to cast them into total darkness. Outside the demon cackles and snarls but still unseen. Inside, well glowing red eyes and black talons weren't making Scott feel too good about his fellow trapped passenger.

He grimaces, looking between the woman's hand and the elevator door, then raises his wrist, the bio-electric gauntlet emitting its own glow as it warms up, pointed at her. "Give you WHAT day?! And why do you keep talking about my daughter? You had better leave her out of this or I'll tear you, that thing, and any more like it apart," he warns, not quite comprehending his situation. But his love and paternal desire to protect Cassie were on strong display, ready to fight the armies of Hell for her alright.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
"Getting you out of Hell, mortal. That's where we are. And trust me. You do not want to be here when those doors open. You want to see your daughter again. I can make that happen. But to pull us out of here, pull us out of Hell, I need a tie so strong, so pure, that not even Hell can tear it asunder. And conveniently, fate has put us in an elevator together."

Convenient, because she can piggyback on that same tie to yank HERSELF out of here with him. "I need one day of your love for your daughter. One day of her love for you. Give me that, and I can use us to get us out of here." She looks at the walls. "We don't have much time. Do you want to see her again, or not??"

Scott Lang has posed:
     The gauntlet remains pointed steadily at Satana for a few seconds more, Scott glancing aside at the numbers again. -200's and climbing. He didn't know why, but he had a terrible feeling -666 was the magic number when, well, when all Hell would break loose. "Mortal. Lovely," Scott seethes, feeling like he's been pulled into something he barely understands, that he wants to FIGHT but doesn't know how. Sweat beads on his forehead and he realizes only now it's also getting warm in the elevator as it plummets down a shaft that should not, COULD not exist.

"DAMMIT!" he hollers before he slaps his other hand into Satana's outstretched one and closed his eyes thinking of Cassie. He didn't want to give up any memory of her, how could he pick? His eyes scrunched as he thought of his little girl, settling in on the first time her team had won a soccer match, just last year, 5 years old. How happy she'd looked, how she'd come running into his arms. Her telling him all about the game even though he'd just watched it, and him listening to every detail like it was the most interesting story in the world, heading afterwards to get ice cream, the sound of her laugh, the look of her smile. A tear wells in his eye. "Cassie, Daddy's coming baby," he whispers.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
She grabs his hand, squeezing tightly, and wisps of red fire curl around his hand. It burns. A lot. And then those memories begin to burn away. What was crystal clear begins to become foggy. As it does, a golden-white cord begins to extend up from their clasped hands. It pierces the ceiling of the elevator as if it wasn't there, though there's a shout of pain from the other side of it as the pure light of love streams up. There's a long moment and then it finally seems to lock onto something on the other end. Cassie.

Satana smiles as she feels it connect, and then she lets go of Scott's hand, grabbing that cord. Her other hand shoots out to take its place. "Don't. Let. Go." she says, and that reddish hellfire, mixed with the gold-white of paternal love surrounds them both. The elevator continues to drop.

They don't. The roof explodes (and Borzeron with it) as they descend /no/ further, the elevator completely unable to take them lower. Satana is part-demon. Scott has done some things in his past that might fall somewhere in those Seven Deadly Sins. But Cassie is innocent and pure, and the love of Cassie and Scott inviolate. Which was exactly what Satana was counting on. She gives the cord a tug, and then her magic sends both of them streaming upwards at dizzying speeds. The burning hellscape of the shaft finally fades as in a final burst, they're back in the elevator. Back in the mall.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful~" comes the familiar lyrics as the once more mortal elevator snaps back into existence. A DING! to follow as an ordinary 3 flashes on the number screen above the door. Inside Scott is woozy though, his face pale, his hair a disheveled sweaty mess from the heat, the fear, the emotion. "Cassie, I, I'm sorry baby," he huffs, leaning against the wall of the elevator feeling as tired as if he'd fought a half dozen supervillains, his hand aching in agony despite showing no burn-marks to speak of. His eyes flutter open, glaring accusingly at Satana who looked every bit the normal pretty woman she had been when she'd first walked into the elevator. But Scott wasn't trying to catch glimpses of her backside now.

"You...if you ever try to take a piece of me and my little girl away from me again, I don't care the reason, I will take you out," vows Scott, the ordinarily happy go lucky, goofy Dad something much more firm right now even in his weakened state.

He pushes himself up off the wall and leans over slowly, stuffing his sweater and other normal clothes into one of the shopping bags, then picking them up slowly, hissing in pain as his magically burnt hand grips the handles, standing up to hobble out the doors.

Satana Hellstrom has posed:
Satana releases his hand, and the talons retract to normal attractive manicured nails. "I'm sorry. But either she lost a piece of you, or she lost all of you." And she actually DOES sound sorry, unlike her mocking, toying comments earlier. "Go see your daughter, Scott. Merry Christmas. A loving father is the best gift you can give her." And with that, and a sigh, she moves out of the elevator.