6087/Grand Theft Oa

Grand Theft Oa
Date of Scene:	30 April 2021
Location:	The Raacal, Somewhere in Space
Synopsis:	Scott tries to lie to Maxima about where his new vault came from, she plays along for awhile and continues to look down on the human race.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Lang, Maxima

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Scott Lang has posed:
If there was one thing that Scott had abused this long trip, besides Oa's trust, it was the ship's matter fabricator. His room was a mess of beanbags, wild clothes, magician's apparatus, and whatever other goofy bachelor pad ideas floated through his brain. And now, was that a dollhouse on the ground he was laying in front of? It was odd whatever it was, a hexagonal structure about three feet long, like a metal honeycomb. With a very strange looking door on the front covered in various locking mechanisms.

In fact the Oan vault hadn't originated in the fabricators of course. And while shrinking it small enough made it portable, even at this scale it was too heavy for a standard table...as evidenced by the broken one hastily tossed in one corner. So it sets on the floor now of the warship, Scott laying on his belly in front of it. Next to him are a host of lockpicking tools that he's trying to finagle, figuring making the massive vault locks more doorknob sized might make this an easier task. Judging by the number of bent and broken picks that might not be the case, the door designed to be opened by two Lantern rings working in tandem to operate the complicated mechanisms. A curse sounds out from Scott as another pick snaps and he picks up another.

Maxima has posed:
Fwoosh, the door to the room slides open because Maxima has never heard of knocking and even if she had it is her ship and she does as she pleases.

Standing there in the doorway the amazonian space conqueror gives the room a once over like it is her first time seeing it. Though it is certainly her first time seeing it in this state.

"You have been entertaining yourself I see." She says as she wanders across the space, pausing to curiously prod a beanbag chair with one of her metal booted feet, before reaching the area where Scott is working on the door to the strange miniaturized structure.

"Scott Lang, the ship registered your departure and return while I was tending to matters on Oa." She states Maxima, likely seeking an explanation though no question is actually asked.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott starts a little, miraculously not bending another pick as his head swivels to eye Maxima briefly. Laying on the ground as he is she properly towers over him of course, but then he's seen her from an ant perspective also so it hardly seems that strange as she approaches him, her armored boots giving her all the stealth of a bull walking on marble floors. He turns back to his work, falling back on his best defense. Play dumb.

"Well there's not much else to do on this ship but play with the tech. And you can't expect to fly me halfway across the galaxy and NOT take a look at the first alien planet we come to. It might not be a big deal for you but it is...for...me," his words slowing as he can feel something turning under his pick and there's a click. Carefully he manuevers the pick to keep it in place, the only way the vault would open is every mechanism was open at the same time. So far he had 3 down...and about a dozen to go. "You need anything then?" he innocently asks as he selects another lockpick, not explaining in the least what he's doing.

Maxima has posed:
Maxima seems to accept this at face value or perhaps she already knows the truth, one never knows with telepaths. She eyes the strange structure Scott is working on curiously with its oddly Oan architecture.

"And what is this?" A metal booted foot is placed on top of the structure as if to emphasize the question. "And those strange metal wires that you are playing with? If you require entertainment there is always the combat simulation deck."

Scott Lang has posed:
One can hear Scott hiss in a breath and firmly but carefully grip the sides of the shrunken vault, afraid the slightest shift by Maxima will undo the 3 locks he has already managed to get. When that doesn't happen he lets out a sigh of relief and picks himself up into at least a kneel, his mind racing for more lies. Just the thing to use on a telepath, but old habits die hard.

"It's a...training tool of sorts. A lockpick training tool. I can't just tear every door off its hinges like you can, or sometimes want to be a bit more quiet about it. So I learn to pick locks instead! It, it's very entertaining. For me anyway. I don't think you'd be much into it," he babbles with another nervous look at the Oan vault. Inside lay Brainiac's shrink array, along with whatever other tech the Lanterns had decided to stash with it that was deemed equally dangerous. Everything was just fine, so said his shaky grin as he looked back up at Maxima with a few beads of sweat on his forehead despite the ship's perfectly controlled climate.

Maxima has posed:
Maxima laughs, seemingly greatly amused by something Scott said. Though if she has seen through his lies she seems to be playing along for the moment. "Lock picking?" She doesn't seem terribly familiar with this concept, "What is lock picking?"

Maxima peers at the device intently, like her eyes are boring holes in it, "You wish to open this storage unit without damaging it?" Even telepaths can sometimes be confused by the unfamiliar concepts they find in the minds of others and Scott Lang's mind is stranger than most.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott wasn't sure he'd ever heard Maxima laugh. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her anything resembling close to happy before, stereotypical angry redhead with superpowers more her style. He almost seems alarmed to hear it as his eyes widen a bit before he offers a nervous chuckle in return.

"Uh, yeah, you know locks? When you shut doors and set them so other people can't get through them? Lockpicking is the skill of, opening it anyway even if someone else doesn't want you to. Or you know, if you lost your keys or left them inside on the other side of the door...that may have happened once or eight times to me," Scott confesses. At least SOMETIMES it was legal. He looks back down at his work as she once more calls attention to it and chews his bottom lip a moment before adding, "And yeah I'm trying to open this without damaging it. I mean, it's practice but I've got uh...some valuable stuff in it. You know. To help motivate me to get the job done," he suggests with a rapid nodding of his head as he tries to sell himself on his own lie.

Maxima has posed:
Maxima looks at Scott and then back to the miniaturized vault. It is hard to pinpoint the source of her apparent amusement, until the current lock that Scott has been painstakingly working on with the greatest of care suddenly seems to just open completely on its own.

"I am Maxima, primitive mechanical mechanisms do not bar me from anything." She informs Scott.

"I see, this is an Earth adaptation to compensate for the lack of telekinetic and ferro-kinetic abilities in most humans." Perhaps more in keeping with Scott's expectations of Maxima the laughter is apparently condescension at the expense of humans that they can't just open locks with their mind.

Scott Lang has posed:
That was more like it, look down on him physically AND figuratively. Scott mumbles under his breath and rubs at his forehead as if staving off a headache, but of course the headache was still looming over him. He stands up at last though and waves a hand at the vault.

"Well but of course Princess, I never expected less of you. Of course you can't just push down on the lockpoints as hard as you want, each takes a precisely different amount of force and has to be maintained on all...17 unique locks at the same time while the door is swung open. But I already know that's less than no challenge for Aleracian royalty," he schmoozes with sarcasm. In fact he doubted it was a challenge, he hadn't seen her more than mildly troubled by anything in his time knowing her, even shrunk she'd been unstoppable. What were 17 unique alien locks to power like that?

Maxima has posed:
The amusement persists across the features of the Almeracian crown princess as she continues looming over Scott, still not having removed her boot from the top of the vault.

"The manipulation and disassembly of mechanical devices is child's play, yes." Maxima tilts her head to one side as she watches Scott. "Seeking to better yourself is and make up for your human shortcomings is a noble pursuit though. Hopefully you will be able to open your training box soon. I am quite curious as to what might be inside." The metal booted foot is withdrawn again as she gives the miniaturized vault another once over. Such a curious thing Scott has acquired.

Scott Lang has posed:
"It's not disassembly it's...nevermind. Just don't go selling humanity so short all the time. Last I checked it was Earth that beat Brainiac and mastered shrink tech. Else YOU wouldn't need ME," Scott rightly if somewhat smugly points out, complete with actual pointing from a lockpick. He does at least rein in the urge to physically poke her with the lockpick, a bad feeling it would wind up places other than a lock if he tried. Though the grin he wears just might see to that anyway as he gives the pick a little twirl between his fingers and starts to crouch down to resume his work.

Maxima has posed:
The lock that had opened seemingly of its own accord snaps shut again as the mirth fades from Maxima's expression, "And you credit humanity with the defeat of Brainiac? Not the fact that Earth was harboring the remnants of Krypton and members of the Green Lantern Corps? the Almeracian core system repelled Brainiac with far fewer losses."

She stops to consider something for a moment before taking several steps closer to where Scott is laying on the ground. "Your size manipulation technology is impressive and does save me the trouble of tracking down where Brainiac has fled to and extracting the technology from him by force, however I am not sure I would rate your use of it as mastery. To start with, why do you not reduce your size and enter the locks to solve them from within with more precision rather than using clumsy tools?" It is a frank and perhaps slightly brutal assessment of Scott's retort.

Scott Lang has posed:
There's a 'pshaw' sound from Scott who gives a dismissive wave of his hand. "Yea sure, I mean some other folks helped but the battle was on Earth, homefield advantage for humans so we gotta get most of the credit. And last I heard some Lanterns were human anyway," Scott points out, frowning as he does when Maxima undoes that one lock she had been holding open. That was another hour's worth of work there at least.

"And I already thought about going inside the locks. But they're strong, precise, and the metal is, tough. One of them pinches me in there when it snaps close and I might wind up stuck. I'd rather do it safe and slow thank you very much. Besides. It's good training. Remember?" sticking with his lie from earlier no matter how much she might see through it.

Maxima has posed:
A hint of amusement returns to Maxima's expression, "Certainly one area humans have shown an aptitude for is resourcefulness and forging advantageous alliances." Was that a compliment? It's hard to tell.

"I suppose it is." Maxima agrees when Scott talks about his way being good training. "Though training your body to resist the force of those locking mechanisms and developing the strength to push them back into position would be it's own form of training as well."

She turns towards the door, "Anyway, I will leave you to solving your puzzle. Hopefully it will be worth the wait ...and not draw any annoying pursuers." She adds before walking towards the door again.