4459/How the Talon Stole Christmas

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How the Talon Stole Christmas
Date of Scene: 22 December 2020
Location: Somewhere in Gotham....
Synopsis: Strix mistakenly thinks a shrunken Scott and his car to be a toy, only to find out that it is, in fact, a very nice man who invites her over for Christmas.
Cast of Characters: Scott Lang, Strix




Scott Lang has posed:
It was late, later than Scott had wanted to be in a city such as Gotham. In the backseat of his rather unassuming looking blue Honda was a shopping bag. He had thought the Frozen craze was over but no, Disney came out with another blasted singing doll and it had been all Cassie had talked about for weeks claiming all her friends were getting one. And so too apparently every child in the nation given how hard it had been to find. Which was what led him from one city to another. Now he sits in his car behind a series of other tail lights, a cold drizzle just adding to the fun. His fingers drum on the steering wheel as he casts nervous glances to the various dark steam-laden alleys the city was known for. The last time he'd been here it was kidnapped by a mob boss. He didn't want a repeat. Traffic crawls forward and stops again after only a few feet. Scott has had enough.

"Screw it, one more Pym particle here we go," he mutters as he hits an odd red button his car's console. In a flash his car seems to vanish...and a much tinier car begins to zoom by underneath traffic. It works well for a while, until a now lake-sized pothole appears in front of him. Scott veers off, a little ramp on the curb made for pedestrians letting him get onto the largely empty sidewalk. He checks his GPS and then begins zipping down one of the dark alleyways he'd been so nervous about before, his car not much more than a Hot Wheels now, with real working headlights!

Strix has posed:
One of the things Strix had not anticipated after cutting her ties with the Court of Owls is the lack of things to do. Her days up until that point had pretty much consisted of one of two things: Murdering someone, or being frozen to wait for the time in which to murder someone. Now free of that indentured servitude and left to her own devices she finds herself wandering about and just.... watching things.

She's currently perched on the corner of one of the buildings that define the alley that Scott has drove down. The cold winter air has made her a bit sluggish and sleepy, but she really doesn't need to be alert and on her toes for just watching traffic. Still, her eyesight is just as sharp as ever, and notices a tiny little car zoom out into the alleyway.

The Talon drops down from the two story height like it was nothing, right above where the car is zooming about and picks it up curiously. She's never seen a model car like this. So lifelike, and with a little person inside too.

Scott Lang has posed:
It was working! Another shortcut or two like this and Scott would be on the highway and back to New York before 10, in plenty of time to relieve his babysitter. He's doing his best to plot things out, the GPS not having a great map of Gotham's backalleys when two massive black pieces of footwear slam down in front of him sending up splashes of water that might as well be waves to the miniature man inside. He screams and tries to veer, certain there had been no one in this alley a moment ago. It's too late thought as gloved fingers grip the Accord on either side, each digit longer than the car, and him inside as he's hefted skyward with gut-wrenching speed.

He holds very, very still then inside as he's brought in front of the masked face, each goggled eye it seems bigger than his car and focused on him with unwavering intensity. Scott tries not to holler, telling himself he was safe...sorta. He could revert the car back to normal and himself. But he also wasn't in his Ant-Man suit which was shrunken inside his pocket, at this point smaller than most dust motes since it was shrunk twice. Reflexively he revs the car engine a couple more times and then stops, hoping this, whatever it was didn't recognize he was a real person.

"C'mon, set me down. You clearly aren't a toy collector," he thinks to himself, his gaze flitting side to side without turning his head, trying to figure a way out of this...and then trying the one other option he can think of. Flashing the high beams at her.

Strix has posed:
Curious. The little man inside seems to be fully animated. Strix has never seen anything like this and, much like her namesake, looks at the car and its passenger first with one curious eye, and then the next. Then the high beams start flashing at her, which causes her to draw back in alarm.

Now that she's seen this curiosity, she's uncertain as to what to actually *do* with it. It's a toy unlike any other she's ever seen and is quite taken with it. When she was a child, before the explosion that nearly ended her life and sent her down the path to be a murderous Talon, she had only ever played with dolls. Cars and trucks were a boys thing.

She decides to keep it for now, tucking it in a hidden pocket before scaling up the buildilng's walls to remain hidden from view from normal passes by. Once on the roof she pulls out the car, looks at it again, and sets it down on the rooftop to see if it'll go tooling off again.

Scott Lang has posed:
It was impossible to read the expression of what he can only think of as a ninja. Who else dresses all in black like this? For a second he's hopeful as the 'colossal' black-clad being jerks back thinking maybe just maybe she'll drop him. Thanks to physics he knew the car might get banged up but would still be intact. No such luck though. "No no no," he whines as he instead gets tucked into a pocket, a sickening feeling of motion to follow as the car jolts and grinds from the light abuse it's taking. Then? Back on solid ground. Scott lets out a sigh of relief, looking about again. The tactical footwear of his kidnapper was still visible in the rearview, too flexible looking to be called boots, clearly made for stealth and agility. Nothing any normal person would just walk around in, as if the facemask wasn't sign enough.

"Dammit, I gotta get outta here," he mutters as he floors it again, the car puttering away from her. It takes him a second or two of looking around before he puzzles out where he is though. "Are you kidding me?!" he snaps as he slams the brakes and glares around realizing he's on a roof. He grumbles and peers about in search of another option down...and spies one in a loose gutter. The light weight of the car he thought, he might be able to ride down it like a water slide. Or die. But it probably would work. The little car veers and starts beelining for the gutter pipe where the water on the roof was channeling into.

Strix has posed:
Strix cocks her head, curious as the little car drives around for a bit before coming to a stop. She waits for it to do something else, but isn't expecting it to head straight for the gutter! Afraid she's going to lose this new toy, she deftly picks it up in her clawed hands before it can go for a swim, and places it back safely in the middle of the roof, where it can't go careening off the edge like that again.

She crouches down to be closer to the vehicle, her posture indicates excitement, as to see what the car is going to do next.

Scott Lang has posed:
No no no! Scott doesn't get more than a few feet away before his toy-crazy ninja captress simply sets him back where he started. Clearly despite fearsome appearances she was enjoying his antics...and delaying his ride home. Scott rubs at the bridge of his nose feeling a headache coming on. She wasn't attacking. Maybe communicating wasn't the worst idea. He looks up nervously through the driver side window at the huge faceless visage peering down at him while he was less than an inch tall. Yeah, this was a great idea. He couldn't change into his suit easily but he enlarges it just the same and slips the helmet on as cold rain continues to patter down, each drop that hits the tiny car striking with enough force he can feel it vibrate.

With the helmet on it amplifies his voice enough to be heard as he rolls down the window and calls out, "Umm, hello? Hello up there? Hey look this isn't a toy. I need to get home so, if you could carry me back down to street level I'd really appreciate it," he informs the surely sane and understanding hobo assassin.

Strix has posed:
Strix's head lifts up in shock. The last thing she expected was for this to start speaking to her. She crouches down to get eye level with Scott. Peering into the car she comes to realize that this is, in fact, no toy as the man said.

She straightens up goes to the edge of the building, and peers at the traffic. She, then, looks at the alleyway which she found Scott and starts to piece things together.

She goes back and picks the car up and lays it flat in the palm of her hand, walks back to the ledge and holds him up to behold the traffic. Then she points in the direction she supposes he was trying to go and cocks her head at him curiously, as if asking him a question.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott considers again reverting to normal size, but who even knows if the roof could sustain the weight of a full car? He certainly couldn't drive it off that way, he'd have to go Giant and lift it down and then THAT is a whole thing...so he waits, flinching as him and his vehicle are plucked up once again. He rocks nervously inside the car, no matter how steady her movements there were odd motions from being in someone's palm, and his stomach clenches as she holds him out like that over the roof's edge to look at the traffic. His car could survive a couple foot drop thanks to physics, he was less sure about several stories.

A stammer in his voice he responds, "Y-yea I was trying to get back on the highway. I have to get home. I have a kid to go see. Christmas is coming. You know Christmas? Holiday cheer and joy and all that?" Scott says, still not picking up on the fact she was actually mute, assuming perhaps she was simply very quiet.

Strix has posed:
There's a moment of silence before Strix nods. Yes, she remembers Christmas. Something she hasn't done in many, many years, and something she remembers fondly. Coming to a decision, she carefully deposits Scott back into that hidden pocket and takes off.

In Gotham, the rooftops are a secret hidden highway of their own, of sorts. So many people in masks use them to get around, and for good reason. Their height is usually within a story between one another, and the flat rooftops themselves make for good, quick silent running. It takes her about fifteen minutes, leaping from rooftop to rooftop to get to the overpass where the traffic lessens as it funnels into the highway itself.

She reaches into her pocket to pull out the car, and sets it carefully on the ground, and makes a little scootching motion with her clawed hands to send it on its way.

Scott Lang has posed:
     "No wait don't put...me in here," Scott whines uselessly as it seems his new 'giant' compatriot has already made up their mind. The fast running and jumping jostles him about, pockets not made for being comfortable transport, all the worse the fact the car is sitting vertically in the tight pocket leaving him feeling like he's in a rocketship about to take off. He turns the car off after a couple minutes when it becomes clear this is going to take a while and a million scenarios play out in his head. Was she taking him to a lair? An alien abduction? His nervousness grows with every shake and shimmy, and his finger hovers over the 'enlarge' button more than once. But he wills himself from hitting it until finally, he's free! And back on the edge of the road. He looks around in bewilderment, even despite the detour on the roof she'd taken him on she might have still shaved another ten or fifteen minutes off his commute home.

"Hey stand back!" he warns, finally hitting the enlarge button. The ninja's Christmas 'toy' suddenly reverts back to being a rather plain looking car with Scott still wearing the Ant-man helmet inside. He pulls it off, running a hand through his helmet hair and looks at her through the open window standing on the side of the road in the drizzling rain. Wearing elite tactical gear with clawed fingers and more than one weapon strung to her waist. So why did she look oddly...pitiful? Scott's jaw clenches as his brain screams at him 'no no no' while his conscience says 'you gotta.' For better or worse Scott's conscience had always been stronger than his brain.

"Hey thanks for the ride, uh, Ninja Gal," Scott at least able to take a good guess at gender from the shape of her. Which was another problem really in the cold December weather, thick warm clothes would certainly have done a better job of obscuring such a thing. "So uh, what are you going to do now then?" he questions, his eyes more than once flitting to some sharp object or another on her, whether it's her fingers or a knife.

Strix has posed:
Strix takes a step back as instructed, and nearly falls to her butt in surprise as the car just *enlarges* in front of her. She didn't know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. At Scott's question, she just shrugs, and points back to the city proper.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Yes I know the city but...you can't talk can you? OK, yes or no questions. Umm, you were just hanging out in that alley, in the dark, in the rain. Do you have a home to go to? A family? Something to eat?" Scott asks his questions in succession, watching her warily yet outside on the muddy side of the road.

Strix has posed:
A shake of her head once, twice, three times in a row to Scott's questions is enough to let him know that Strix is, effectively, homeless. Her posture doesn't lend itself to sadness, though. More... curious and wary, than anything. The rain doesn't seem to be bothering her all that much, and Scott wouldn't notice the cold's effects on her unless they were in the middle of combat.

Scott Lang has posed:
No home. No family. Nothing to eat. Christmas lights still twinkle in the distance here and there even in a place as dark and gloomy as Gotham. The car is started again, and out of the radio chimes 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year' while warm air flows from the heating vents. Scott's grip on his steering wheel tightens his brain begging him not to do the crazy thing he was about to do. But what kind of hero would he be if he didn't? "Listen, I'm driving back to New York tonight to my house. It's a bit of a trip but if you want, you can come with me, you know, for just a little while till we get you sorted out. Or, I mean if you just want me to drop you off somewhere, I have a little bit of cash I could lend? It's all up to you, no pressure," Scott manages to get out, clearly tense but still flashing a grin at the end of it all despite himself.

Strix has posed:
Strix looks hesitant, looking back to the city. Really, she doesn't have anything to tie her here save for the few that have shown her kindness, which she would like to repay sometime. She looks back to Scott and the car and comes to a decision.

She opens the passenger side door, and awkwardly sits in the chair, the pair of swords at her back making things more difficult than it really needs to be. She doesn't bother buckling herself in. Back in the day when she was a child and actually rode in cars, seatbelts weren't really a thing. Once in, she shuts the door, and turns to Scott expectantly.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott sucks in a deep breath as the door opens and the ninja that had been literally carrying him in her pocket a few moments ago now sits beside him instead. Somehow she felt more dangerous than when she'd been a colossus. At that size everyone seemed about equal, now she screamed 'dangerous' all on her own. He doesn't bother trying to tell her to buckle in as he nods his head and reluctantly takes his eyes off of her and puts them on the road.

"Alright, well, uh, if you wanna take the swords off or anything you can put them in the backseat or, whatever other gear you want. Just don't damage the doll back there alright? It's been a long night getting that thing. And if you want me to stop and let you off you can, I don't know, tap the window?" Scott suggests as he pulls into traffic, casting furtive glances at her now and again, communication more difficult now that he can't pay full attention to her in the rainy night-time traffic. Instead for now he simply turns the radio up a bit, the familiar Christmas tunes serving to calm him some even if they only add to the peculiarness of the situation. "Cassie you better appreciate the hell out of this gift," Scott huffs to himself.

Strix has posed:
Strix just stares impassively at Scott, wholly unaware at how uneasy her mere presence is making him. After all, people are *supposed* to tremble at the sight of Talons. That's just how it works. At the mention of the doll, she turns around in her seat to look at the doll in question. Turning back to Scott, she quirks her head and holds up a hand about chest high. High enough for a child to fit under.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott glances over at the gesture and nods his head. "Yes, I have a child. She's with a babysitter right now. This was the last Christmas gift I was getting her. Though, she goes back to her mother's tomorrow. We're divorced but, we share custody Christmas Day, I get her in the afternoon. It's, complicated and all. Not a great break-up. But Cassie is a good smart kid. Oh my god recently she brought me back this piece of art she did at school that..." And now Strix has done it. Scott is off and talking about Cassie, his fear of her replaced with his overwhelming urge to talk about his only child as he proceeds to gush about her, and barring a distraction she may well just hear about everything Cassie has ever done in her life from birth to now over the entire drive back to New York.