2021.07.30 - AIM Night at the Museum
A Night at the Museum
Professor Remy LeBeau felt it was time for the students to get out and get some true culture, not just what they could learn in the classroom or in the Danger Room, but actual real world knowledge. So, a field trip has been planned for the Metropolis Nova Metro Sea-Air-Space Museum. Known for it's interactive, fully immersive exhibits of early sea travel, air travel, and space travel, it's a sought after destination for schools, colleges, and knowledge seekers everywhere. So today's crowds are a good size, with several full school tours and one large family reunion, the "Constanza" family all wearing matching blue t-shirts that say "Constanza Family!" Just in case they should get separated from one another.
Of particularly interest is a new donation to the exhibit, a piece of rare space rock, seemingly a plain porous stone found on a recent space walk. The strange thing is that the rock seems to emit random, or seemingly random, signals across multiple wavelengths. There are pictures and voice tours of how it was found, but the rock itself is being kept guarded while they do research on it.
This brings our students and their handsome teacher, Mr. LeBeau in for a day of learning and getaway. Tickets are paid for as the students gather around the entry foyer, Remy looking at the map as Bobby and Jacob talk about what they want to see first. "The age of sail is a great exhibit I heard. You can be a pirate and get a cool pirate name or be a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy!"
Remy does a pretty good job, all things considered, in keeping this herd of cats organized. He always was a cat person, so it just seems logical that he was the choice for the faculty chaperone. "Okay, students! You are representatives of Sky High, you better remember that. I am not gonna be over your shoulder the whole time. You surely be able to find me around here, but you all old enough to take a tour or conduct your own."
He shifts his weight to the other hip as he talks. "Behave. That's about all I think I gotta say. Have fun. Learn something, 'cause I'm gonna ask you what you learned when we get back, and I'm gonna expect something." Remy cracks into a little grin. "If you need some funds for a souvenir or somethin', don't be afraid to come get me. Everybody who wants something should get somethin', just don't get too fancy with your tastes." He holds up a hand. "Might wanna pair off, but that's up to you. Just one last rule: don't leave the building without me, compris?"
Jacob might not be an actual, factual student at Sky High, but he knows quite a few people there, and happens to live nearby in Metropolis. It's only natural for Jake to want to check out the museum with his friend, Bobby and Remy, especially with the new space-rock just waiting to be accosted by Jacob's eyes!
Jacob looks around, noticing very many people wearing blue, and nervously looks down at his own t-shirt in a symphony of watercolor blue and green hues. "Oh man," he pouts, looking over to Bobby and Remy. "Uhh, oh, uh, yah, I'm like, really looking forward to this! Thanks for uh, letting me tag along n'stuff? I really wanna see that like, space-rock-thingy?"
It's not the usual place he finds himself, or even among several on a list, but today is the day that Jesse Drew has chosen to visit the Sea-Air-Space Museum. He glances casually over his shoulder, as if it were a practiced and very familiar thing to do, as he steps through the doors and into the space.
There's a moment of a smirk as he notices the school crew there. Perhaps a little more sadness in his eyes, just for a few seconds, and the smirk becomes a sad smile, before it fades to neutral. He slides his gloved hands into his red and black jacket with sparing bright gold trim, but he's hard to miss for so many other reasons.
What a silly thing to do, Jess thinks to himself. Here I know at least one person who's a great pilot, but he's busy doing Justice League or Avengers work, or something, in space. So here I am, at this museum, where schoolkids learn.
It doesn't occupy his mind long, and soon Jesse's wistful smile turns a little brighter. If they can learn, he figures, so can he. This should be an ideal place for him to settle this question once and for all, and then he can get on with the case he's investigating.
Remy's instructions and warnings don't go unheard by Bobby, for he pays particular attention to his teacher as they look around the foyer. The mention of pairing off gets a nod and he looks at Jacob, "Hey partners right?" he asks, though it's more of a gentle statement than a question or command. Before he goes off anywhere, he does turn to Remy and asks, "Where will you be? Is there an exhibit you're looking forward to? We could all get a little learning in together unless you have something "teachery" (using.actual air quotes) to do." His tone is light and playful though as he asks.
Being somewhat observant, the red and black jacket with gold trim catches his eye and he nudges Jake, "Someone got all dressed up today," he whispers though not as softly as might be polite in a place like this. "So Jake, wanna see what they're showing about the space rock, or "Space Signal Stone" as they call it?"
"Oh, uh, I just thought I'd hang loose in case anybody need Remy." He flashes a particularly boyish grin back to Bobby's question. "You mind if I come along with you two? It'll be better with the three of us. We're real easy to spot, so any of the students can find us pretty easy."
Looking up when one of them catches his eye, he waves to the student and nods to him. "Yeah, go right on! I'll be around, don't you worry." Then, quieting his voice a bit, just to be heard between the three of them, he gives a dip of his head to Bobby again. "I wanna check out that space rock. I read a whole lot about it." And, being one of the X-Men, he's naturally suspicious of it.
Jacob smiles brightly to Bobby and nods quickly. "Oh yeah, totally!" he agrees, his attention shifting toward Remy as Bobby questions him. "I don't mind at all or anything! Like, the more the merrier? But uh, we totally have to check out this like, space rock kinda thing, because I'm like, really curious about it? And uh, maybe the like, 'sea' part of the museum, y'know?"
Jacob's attention is certainly caught by the fancily-dressed stranger when Bobby points him out. "Whoa, am I like, underdressed?" he asks quietly, his crystalline eyes positively frosted over with worry. "Oh uh, do you know that dude?"
Jesse totally hears it. He could probably hear them having a conversation clearly across the museum. It returns the smirk to his face again, and he looks over, right to Bobby, raising an amused eyebrow with a shine in his elfin eyes. The space stone...they'll find each other there, and then he can use the coincidence to slide into a conversation. Maybe Bobby knows something, or his friends do.
Jess sets off, exactly in that direction with a spring in his step. Those boots look expensive.
When Remy asks to join them, Bobby can only smile broadly, there might even be a wink from the student to his teacher when no one's looking. "Yeah that stone sounds like it could be interesting. I mean a rock that has naturally occurring radio frequencies emitting from it and other signals. That just screams "alien tech!" doesn't it?" Bobby seems excited by the prospect of that as well and when Jake seems excited too, he nods "Well it's settled, we'll start with the alien tech rock and Remy can give us an overall of what he's read about it!" There's that grin again towards the Cajun as he starts moving towards the direction of the exhibit.
As they head there, Bobby notices the glittery jacket man heading off as well but thinks nothing of it for now, it's a big museum and a lot of people are here, so it's not that unusual. "Oh, also I hope you know you're buying us lunch too, Remy?"
"Well I wasn't gonna be the one to say it, but you bet I was thinkin' the same thing!" Remy chuckles as he holds out his hands in a shrug and shakes his head. "You know I was thinking that, just like you were thinkin' it. I'm just hopin' Reed Richards got this exhibit on his visit list."
Once they get moving, Remy seems to notice the man with the colorful jacket, but he just files the appearance away. It's familiar, somehow. Maybe he'll just ask- "Huh?" He turns his attention to Bobby. "Oh, uh, yeah, I figured. You are a student, remember! I gotta treat you to lunch and one souvenir."
On the way to the exhibit, Bobby is reading some of the brochure he picked up at the front desk. To Remy, he grins "Well we have been spending a lot of time together, so it's not surprising we're thinking alike. Well if he doesn't, I'm sure we can tell him about it, or you can anyways." Then Bobby's reading the brochure, some of it aloud. "So it sounds like the stone was brought back from a mining expedition to collect space ice..." He reads a bit more in the brochure, "Oh, it's about the size of a large geode," he mentions and as they pass by another space rock on display, Bobby points. "Oh maybe that big by the sound of it."
As they continue into the darkened room with the sign above the arch indicating the new exhibit. "Oh, so there's a short video explaining how it was retrieved and who retrieved it...the ship that brought it back was called the Exodus Horizon..." As the trio enters, the lights are dark and much of the illumination is given off by small floor lights. The first imaging panel on the right shows a replaying of finding the rock, and it's seen as a greenish blue rock that looks like coral.
"Yeah, sometime you gotta let me tell you about Annihilus." Remy clears his throat, strolling in the display's immediate area with Bobby and Jacob. He glances over when there's another rock shown to him, and he gives a nod of acknowledgement in the size comparison. That's about what he figured. At least, until it decides to destroy them all and grows to monstrous size, or something. He's fairly sure that it will happen, and it will happen today, because the X-Men happen to be there. A couple of them, anyway.
Though he does glance over when he spots the jacket. He *knows* that guy, he just can't quite place the face...
Jacob's eyes widen as he listens to Bobby. "Whoa, space ice? I thought like, water wasn't in space? Except for like, the moon or something, or uh, maybe Mars?" Jacob doesn't know much about space, really, but it's all so fascinating! "So like, it's an alien radio rock or something? Oh uh, I mean, alien radio geode? That's like....pretty wild, right?" Jacob looks between Remy and Bobby, soaking up any information he can from the pair. Though, as they progress, he continues to spot the fellow in the fancy clothes, and whether knowingly or not, he continues to track the fellow and his expensive boots.
Once they all got to the display of the space rock, Jesse had planned to make his way over casually and slowly, but it seems that the trio of men took a greater interest than expected. He can't be that casual about it, so he just walks over, as if he happened to be meeting with some old friends.
But once he gets close enough, Jess brightens up. "Oh, hey! It's Remy, isn't it?" He doesn't say the team or anything else...they must go back.
"Sure, Remy, anytime you want to tell me a story, I'll be up for it." Bobby grins, finding the back and forth enjoyable as they head into the dark room. Nodding to Jacob, Bobby grins "Yeah a big alien radio geode. I mean nothing could go wrong with that right?" After the initial display on the wall, there's a holographic model of the stone spinning in the middle of the room, showing what the rock looks like. It appears to be similar to coral in appearance, but has a shiny metallic sheen to it by the image. The automated voice overhead continues about how the rock seems to emit a spectrum of signals across the wavelengths known.
Then there's the jacket guy coming up to Remy and Bobby gives him a suspicious look at first, or maybe it's a different emotion that crosses Bobby's face at the bright smiling man. He glances to Remy, "Oh, is this someone you know, Remy?"
At first, Remy has a hard time placing the man. But after a few seconds, his thoughtful expression shifts to a more pleasant one, of recognition. "Oh -- yeah! Yeah, Jess Drew!" He reaches a hand out to the man in the great jacket. "Bobby, uh, Jess here helped us out in San Francisco a while back." Then, turning back to face Jesse, he continues on with a laugh. "What you up to around here? You pick up and move to the Twin Cities, turn into Metropolis's Angel of the Night?"
"Whoa, but like, how is it uh...who put the radio in it?" Jacob blinks a few times, looking between Bobby and Remy again. "I'm uh...I don't get it, I guess? But like, I'm so excited to see it!" Jacob looks at the hologram and finds himself getting lost in watching it spin. "Whoa," he says again, more slowly.
But then, the stranger is approaching, and Jacob sort of moves behind Bobby in a way and watches as Remy and Jess chat with one another and catch up. "Uhh...like...yah."
It's easy to see a slight blush on Jesse's cheeks, as he shakes Remy's hand. Looking to Bobby, to offer an explanation, he chuckles self-consciously and waves his hand. "That old nickname was always a little much for me. I'm Jesse Drew, Jess to my friends. I'm a private investigator." Which may be surprising, considering how he stands out with his sense of fashion and truly striking looks.
Bobby just turns to listen to Remy and Jesse talk about their past. When they are done, Bobby nods, "Oh, well any friend of Remy's is a friend of mine," he says. "Bobby Drake," he adds and sticks out a hand for a shake. "So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this isn't just a coincidence if you're a private investigator. Though I have to say, if your goal is to blend in with the schools and families here today, you might want to update your wardrobe." Grinning a bit, Bobby cocks his head towards the rotating holographic display "You're here to see the rock too I imagine?" He seems about to say something else, when suddenly his cell phone starts to vibrate. Reaching into his pocket to check it, Bobby furrows his brow and looks "Hmm that's weird, it said I had a message but nothing's there." Then a few other people nearby begin checking their phones as ringers go off playing noises and songs as people begin murmuring some strange questions.
"What Bobby tryin' to say is that your jacket is stylin' and you always look so great." Remy smoothly glosses over Bobby's not-as-smooth introduction. He throws an arm around Bobby's shoulders, squeezing the far one a bit emphatically. "Got the students here to do some real-life learning about things they can only really get by being up close and personal with some exhibits!"
When everyone's devices start going off, Remy narrows his eyes and breathes in slowly and deeply, through his nose. "Aw, dammit. I knew I forgot somethin' today." Oh well, he figures. It can't get its screen scratched by sitting at home in his room!
Jacob maintains his spot behind Bobby, keeping quiet and listening to the trio as they chat and get to know one another and, of course, discuss the mysterious space rock which so many people have come to check out. "I'm uh, Jacob," he murmurs, his own tanned cheeks a bit red as he looks around nervously. "Uh...that's like...a lot of calls comin' in?" Jacob reaches into the pocket of his jeans and checks on his own phone curiously.
Jess waves to Jacob, wiggling his fingers in the fashionable gloves he wears, comparable to his fine footwear. It is worth noting, though, that despite their obvious stylishness, they also seem quite durable. But before he can say anything, his phone rings. He reaches down, sliding it out of his inner jacket pocket, and flicks up the display.
With a frown, Jesse shakes his head. "Nothing's here on mine, either. Whatever it was...do you think it was some museum stunt?" Since they've been calling the rock a signal, a broadcaster, maybe it was an attempt to build interest.
When Remy corrects his words and squeezes him, he just rolls his eyes a bit at his teacher but smiles nonetheless and looks polite. When the phones keep ringing, Bobby looks around at the confusion and then turns back to Jess. "I don't think so. That wouldn't really fit with the exhibit or anything would it?" Looking at Remy and Jacob, Bobby puts his phone back into his pocket and then notices a man clutching his chest, an older woman looking for a doctor as it appears his pacemaker is acting up. Quickly, a woman rushes over identifying herself as a doctor and starts to administer chest compressions.
"I don't think this is part of the show....Maybe it's something with the device? We need to find out where they are keeping it!" He starts to look around for an employee of the museum "Did any of you see anyone working that we could ask?"
"Normally I'd caution against jumpin' to conclusions, but I'm pretty sure you right." Remy holds his hands up. "I ain't seen a soul since the lobby area, but I'm gonna assume somebody's getting help, after that pacemaker went on the fritz. I'll go to the info desk and see if I can find out what's up with the device." And before anyone can stop him, Remy sprints in that direction, shockingly fast.
Jacob nods to Jesse as he looks over the fellow, but his attention is drawn toward the man clutching his chest. "Uhhh....m-maybe a uh, docent? I-I'll look for...uh, a docent or someone or something?" Jacob looks around, but he's never been to this museum before, and he doesn't know what exactly he should be looking for. "Uh, like...this can't be a coincidence, I don't think. I mean, like, this is...should we like, evacuate the place? Or uh..."
"No, don't run off. Remy might be able to take care of himself, but we should stay close and frosty." Jesse looks around quickly, not bothering to check his phone. Everything else is clicking together with all its puzzle pieces. There's something not right about this, but he's not sure if it's the weird rock or something else.
Jesse's money is on something else.
Enter one very confused delivery boy. A teenager, dressed in a Big Belly Burger uniform comes around the corner, a bag of burgers in his hand as he enters the museum -- flagrantly violating the 'no food' sign posted at the entrance. He pauses for a moment, fishing out his flip phone and staring at it as it jangles with a twenty year old ring tone. "Hey!" he calls to the room at large. "Can someone tell me where I can find..." he checks the bag, seemingly oblivious to the chaos at large. "Melvin Forbush? I got two Double Chili Billies eating their way through this bag with his name on it."
When Remy takes off, Bobby looks at Jacob, who seems paralyzed with what to do. Jake, can you start getting these people out of here? Whatever's going on, having more people here means more targets." Jesse gets a curious look at as well, "Jesse, we need to find if anyone strange or out of place is around. Are you able to see if anything is out of the ordinary while we get the people out?" He starts to join Jacob in ushering people out. "Hey everyone," he calls out over the din of the confusion and talking. "This is a test of the museum's early warning system and we need to comply so the local law enforcement can check the place out." Yeah it's a weird lie but hey it's not too unbelievable.
Seeing the delivery boy, Bobby moves over and puts a hand on his shoulder, The Museum is testing it's early warning systems and we need to evacuate everyone. Perhaps you can find...Melvin was it outside?" He doesn't know the teen from anywhere so assumes he's a normal. In the lobby, he looks over to Remy and sees how his progress is going.
Jacob blinks slowly as his attention is drawn to the delivery boy. "Uhhhh...." He looks toward Remy and Bobby, as well as the relative stranger Jesse, then clears his throat softly. "Oh yah, I can take care of that." Jacob begins to make the rounds, ushering people out calmly while the chaos seems to be going on in full-swing. "Hey, the exit is this way n'stuff!" he says, moving past Parker as he begins to lead some people out. He's maintaining his composure as best as he can, but he still has no idea what is happening and looks around as if seeking some clarity on the matter.
Okay, Jesse thinks. At least he's not being undermined or ignored, so that's good. And getting people out of the likely most dangerous place, that's another good thing. So he gives a nod in reply to Bobby before setting off into the crowd and very skillfully losing himself in the people. With his incredible feats of perception, it won't be a difficult thing for Jesse to discover anything -- or anyone -- out of place.
The delivery boy gets a second glance, though, as Jesse moves off. He looks *so* familiar, somehow. But he pulls his mind back to its task. There will be time later for catching up and settling resemblances.
When Bobby explains what's happpening to him, Parker takes a moment to look around and take in the scene, including the people exiting calmly. Then he turns back to Bobby, and makes a surprised sort of noise. "Huh. Timing is everything, am I right?" He sighs. "Bummer. Someone owes me twelve bucks." He turns, then, and heads out with the crowd, quietly dropping the bag of food on the Info Desk as he goes.
When it's clear Jacob has the people evacuating with his warm and friendly smile, Bobby claps him on the shoulder, "You're doing great, Jake. Almost everyone's out, when they are, we need to get the doors locked. If you see anything strange, give a holler," he adds with a grin and a wink. He heads back over towards the info desk, he stops by where Remy is talking, "Any luck? We're getting the place cleared out and Jesse's looking for anything strange."
As he's speaking, he watches as the pizza boy heads out in the crowd, Bobby giving a sigh of relief and looking at the bag of food on the desk. Hmm...he reaches over and opens it, just checking to be sure it is food and not something that would have caused the issue.
The phone sounds have dwindled but now several emergency lights are flashing and security is starting to come around. Jesse will notice that one of the security guards has a pair of sneakers and not the usual boots they wear. That security guard, instead of heading towards the front doors with the rest, enters a door marked "Museum Personnel Only."
By the time Bobby reaches Remy, he's done talking with everyone he had to talk to. He has learned a lot, being a teacher, and one of the things he finds most valuable is an increased ability to speak with people for a specific purpose, in as briefly a time as possible. When the burger place's emissary drops the food on the counter next to him, Remy pauses, looks at the bag, then looks at Parker heading out.
"Hey, hey!" Remy waves a hand at Bobby. "What you doin' there?" Then he stops and frowns softly, scratching his stubbly chin with a finger. "Wait, who'd order something at a museum unless they worked there?"
"Oh, okay," Jacob responds to Bobby, smiling up at him. There's concern on his face, sure, as it is a strange situation, but panicking won't help anyone. Jacob helps to usher people out, waiting for the right time to try to get the doors locked somehow. "Uh...hey, don't we need like, a key or something? Or is it like, all electronic locks or something?" he asks as he makes his way back toward Remy. "Like...everything feels so...like, bizarre n'stuff?" he says more quietly, looking curiously at the bag of food. "Uh, are there like, fries in there? Or uh, onion rings?"
Slightly apart from the other group, Jesse keeps a low profile and slips away from the crowd, stealing right to the door and through it. He's really surprisingly good at moving silently and keeping himself less noticeable, though part of that happens to be thanks to powers he hasn't exactly been entirely open about having.
It's those powers that keep Jesse from panicking, because he's pretty sure he's walking into a trap. But if Jesse Drew can't handle himself against some guy in disguise who forgot to change his sneakers, he'll be ready to hang up his hat.
The bag contains, perhaps anti-climatically, two double chili burgers and a large fries, all of which is cooling rapidly. Unless the scheme involves high cholesterol, it's unlikely that the bag of food is anything more (sorry, Freud!).
It's only a minute or two later that a new figure enters the fray. Or at least becomes fray-adjacent. The Spectacular Spider-Boy in on the scene, bouncing in, and up to the two guys who seem to be the most in charge. "Greetings, citizens!" he says, his voice cast low. "I'm here to help. What's the sitch?"
Bobby looks towards the retreating delivery boy then when Jacob comes up, Bobby opens the bag, "Looks safe, I'd say help yourself if you're hungry. We might be in for some action that'll get your appetite going." Turning back to Remy, Bobby offers his teacher a bright smile, "That's a good point. Maybe it was a distraction or something?" he wonders as his gaze moves over to notice Jesse hanging out by one of the Personnel doors. Nudging Remy, Bobby aims his head over there "Looks like Jesse's on the trail of something?" He eyes the other guy suspiciously still but he seems to be onto something.
Just then, a spider-clad hero rushes in making a splash "Looks like the cavalry is here," Bobby says then amends it "Or is that the Spidalry?" WIth a wink, he gives him the rundown "Strange space rock and some a lot of EM signals going off. It's either the rock or someone trying to steal it we think." Turning towards the door Jesse is by Bobby points it out "Tell me the rock is that way, Remy?"
"Bobby, we ain't gonna steal somebody else's food." Remy sets his jaw and steps over to roll the bag back closed, and firmly this time. "That boy probably have a hard enough time workin' that job he do."
Just as he turns, of course, that's when the Spectacular Spider-Boy appears. Remy looks him over, takes a deep breath, and nods a couple of times. "We with the X-Men, Gambit," he jerks his thumb at himself, then flicks a finger out to gesture to Bobby, "Iceman," then a nod to the other Sky High person remaining. "This here's Jacob. He good with water stuff."
But just before Bobby points it out, as the group starts back to where they had been, Remy spots Jesse. Once his frosty colleague speaks up, Remy just nods emphatically and motions for everyone else to follow.
Jacob is distracted from peeking in the bag by the appearance of Spider-Boy quite suddenly. "Whoa! Like, uh, who're you?" he asks, blinking a few times with those crystalline eyes trained on the fellow. "And uh, where did...oh, he's like...okay." Jacob looks toward where Jesse has ended up, then back to Bobby and Remy, then once more to the Spider-Boy. "Uh, so uh, do you think we should like....put the space rock somewhere? Or uh, in a metal box or something? Like...a Ferris Wheel Cage or whatever? Because uh, what if it's makin' stuff go weird?" He's looking around at everyone, unsure of where his attention really should be focused.
The X-Men and their Amazing Friends will have to deal with where to put the rock, if anywhere, because at that moment, Jesse's backstage, as it were. Carefully making sure that his target is still ahead of him, he performs an effortlessly graceful leap and ends up squarely in shadow, on the ceiling. Thankfully, he can move as silently as any other surface, and he continues after the strange, incongruous man.
Spider-Boy listens to the explanation with a small widening of his mask's lenses. "Wow, the X-Men?" he says, sounding genuinely impressed. "And Jacob!" Whicb doesn't sound -as- impressed, but definitely notes the white-haired boy. "Definitely sounds like something that needs to be dealt with," he says, bounding after the others. "Space rock, huh? Like, an evil space rock?" he wonders, coming to rest on an obliging case nearby. "I mean, phone ringing is annoying, but it's hardly sinister." He looks around the group. "Right?"
"We don't know if the rock is sinister or just if it's doing something that no one in the museum figured out it could do," Bobby explains as they head for the Personnel door, after Jesse had slipped through and following the faux-security guard. The guard is heading down a few corridors then takes a set of stairs up towards the next floor and roof. He glances over his shoulder at one point but doesn't see Jesse. Then he turns back and hurries up, going through a door that leads into the cleaning and preparation rooms for the museum's staff. Most of them are evacuated and left the glass walled rooms empty. The man heads for one of the doors and after sliding his badge, goes inside towards a table with many statues and other relic sitting on it.
Meanwhile Bobby frowns at Remy in that pouty way, "Hey they'll be cold by the time this is done...and that's a much greater crime." He follows the Cajun's directive though as they take the stairs down to where Remy found that the stone was being held. When they are out of sight of everyone, Bobby says "I'm not sure where Jesse went but the rock is downstairs in the observation vault. We don't know what we're up against but be on the lookout." With that, the group head down through a few doors. At one regular locked door, Bobby reaches out and touches it and a layer of frost covers it. Then with a hit, it shatters and swings open. There are still red lights going off as they go down another corridor, when down an intersecting hall, there's a strange sight. Two figures dressed in high-tech hazmat looking suits are moving towards them, each carrying what would look like strange claw devices with electricity arcing between the rods. "I don't think they're with security..." He looks at the others, "Can someone keep them busy while we get to the rock?" Up ahead is what looks like a more high tech door, "Not sure I'm going to be able to freeze that lock..."
"Boy, you talkin' to a thief and tryin' to tell him what's worse 'n not as bad?" Remy smirks, shaking his head as he speaks quietly between them. Before he can say anything, Bobby's shattered a door, and the Cajun cringes as it goes down. "Well, that's a few hundred more for Professor X to pick up..."
He carefully picks himself through the doorway and sighs as Remy immediately sees those figures approaching. "I don't know, Bobby Drake. But I'll give it the best crack at it I got." Reaching into his pocket, he withdraws not the pack of cigarettes some might expect, but instead a deck of cards, new in pack. He tugs the wrapped off and slips out a handful, before his eyes light up pink. "You just let Remy bring the party."
Jacob follows along with Remy and Bobby, looking around curiously at everything in the museum with a renewed appreciation--not only appreciating the artifacts and exhibits, but looking around for clues and trying to parse together what is happening. He follows the group and remains quiet, trying to observe without being hasty or getting caught up in anything. At the request to keep the fellows in hazmat suits busy, he hums quietly and looks over to Bobby. "Uh...this door...is it like, watertight?" he asks, his crystalline eyes shedding a soft light as he lets a small orb of water hover above one of his palms. "Uh...and...like, should we leave that guy to like, go on his own? Because uh...what if he needs help?
Spider-Boy leaps to catch the top of the entryway and pulls himself to crawl along upside-down on the ceiling. "Will that other guy be okay?" he asks, echoing Jacob's concern with a small frown. But then there are... "Beekeepers!" he shouts, reaching into his jacket and pulling out what looks like a cartoon ray gun. "With...electricity sticks!" He looks at the others. "That's what they're called, right? Beekeepers?" He aims and fires with a ZWIP sound, and a stream of webbing shoots at the face of one of the goons. "Or do they prefer apiarists?"
When Remy pulls out the cards and slowly unwraps them, Bobby's face lights up with a slow spreading smile. "I'd never dream of telling you your business," he offers to the Cajun, "But shit just got real by the looks of it. I was kind of hoping to see those fingers of yours at work..." and with a somewhat dramatic pause, he adds, "...on the door." He looks towards the door with a couple of locking mechanisms. "I think it's water tight, Jake," he says in response to the question and as he turns back to see what they are doing, a pair of "Security guards" come up from the direction the group had just come from. Like the one Jesse followed, these have sneakers and the clothes don't fit well and when they pull out electrified fighting batons, it's clear they aren't Museum security.
The webbing Spider-Boy shoots catches one of the beekeepers in the face, getting a thumbs up from Bobby, "Whatever you want to call them, just keep 'em busy!" With the guards and hazmat suit wearers both getting close, Bobby decides to keep the fight fair. stretching out his arms and forming two solid walls of ice behind the two pairs of goons, keeping any further reinforcements from arriving. The webbed goon struggles to pull the webbing off, getting his hand stuck to the prod in his hands. "I'm not sure where Jesse went! He was following someone. They must've gone a different way."
Meanwhile, upstairs, the lone security guard rifles through the collection of antiquities on the desk until he finds one he was looking for. It's a dark, obsidian color and shaped like a Buddha or something similar. Then he does the unthinkable, smashes it against the desk. Inside is some type of blinking devices with wires and a button. When he presses the button there's a high frequency sound that seems to be emitted, just low enough for human ears to pick up. Then, the "guard" moves to a wall and scans his badge across a small panel. A panel slides open and reveals an old style cage elevator. The man steps in and pushes the buttons as the elevator begins to descend...a gap at the top of it showing on top of the solid roof of the car as it slowly moves down to floor height.
"I don't think these guys are beekeepers." The cards in Remy's hand flare with electric pink energy, glowing and cracking in a way almost menacing. "I think these are one hundred percent AIM jerks, and they don't intend to make a single friend of us with those stun prods." Under his breath, almost to himself, he adds, "Sure hope those are stun prods. Kinda doubt it."
He puts on a courageous face for Bobby, though, winking in his direction before he starts in on keeping the fake personnel from approaching and getting too close to the mysterious rock that seems to have no end of incidental environmental effects, even if it didn't intend to. A volley of cards flies out at the not-beekeepers and explode close enough to blow them off of their feet.
Upstairs, whoever the faux guard really is, he's made an enemy of Jess Drew in smashing the irreplaceable artifact. This isn't going to end well for the guy, and he is definitely on the Spider's To-Punch list. To make the elevator before the panel closes, Jess has to practically hurl himself down, then bounce off the floor to rocket past the gate. The elevator might be slightly disturbed, but it's likely to just be shrugged off as part of the ride on an antique lift.
Still staying quiet and keeping himself hidden, Jess continues after the mysterious figure. At this point, it's as much for his own curiosity, but he's keeping his venom blasts at the ready...just in case.
Jacob looks rather uncomfortable as fighting breaks out. He hurls an orb of water toward the floor in front of one of the hazmat suited mooks and waits for it to spread before freezing the puddle over into a slick spot of ice. "I'm like...not totally sure what's going on, but like...I have a bad feeling. I think I'm uh...gonna try to track down that guy?" He means Jesse, of course. "I'm worried about the dude being alone at a time like this, y'know?" He looks over Remy and Bobby, then at the Spider-Boy. "Uh, Spider-Guy, like, watch over my pals n'stuff?" he says before spotting an opening to try to rush past the baddies and toward upstairs in following after where Jesse might have gone.
"AIM?" Spider-Boy says, wrinkling his nose and firing another line of webbing at the non-adhesed goon. "I heard about them on the news. Aren't they a bunch of nerd scientists or something?" He flips backwards just in time to avoid the explosions caused by Remy, but he's right back when they clear, firing webbing at every floored beekee -- er, nerd in a hazmat costume. Jacob's request gets a salute, albeit upside as he stands on the ceiling. Then he's back at it, springing around the hallway and doling out the dukes. "They're pretty tenacious," he observes to no one in particular. "I mean, for nerds."
The combination of explosive cards aimed perfectly by Gambit that send the two hazmat wearing goons backwards, slipping on the ice created by Jacob, and then neatly wrapped up in webbing by Spider-Boy. As the other is mentioning tenaciousness, there's a brief jolt of electricity as one of the other approaching guards manages to touch the ceiling hanger. Luckily, the suit absorbs a lot of the initial brunt, perhaps it was set to stun at the moment, but there's barely enough time for Remy to notice the approach and avoid a swing at him.
Bobby watches Jacob head off past the goons and into the stairwell, though as he does, he notices a red flame protruding from the ice wall at the end of the corridor. "Looks like more of them are coming, tenacious and plentiful. We really need to get through that door into the vault soon or we're going to be endangered!" He steps in front of Remy and shoots a spray of ice at the closest Faux Guard, but the heat from the electric baton melts a lot of it. "I'll buy you some time," he says to Remy.
As Jacob's rushing upstairs, he hears the ding of an elevator, rounding the corner he sees the top of a cage elevator descending past the floor he's on and riding on top appears to be Jesse Drew, perched precariously but safely as it goes down to the next level, from where Jacob came from. Watching it a moment, Jesse disappears out of view and Jacob hears the doors open one level down. Before he can do anything, he hears several booted feet coming from the way he just left...does he go to investigate or take the way down to where Jesse was...who can say!
Remy keeps on going, leaping into the danger to make sure the ones they've defeated are down and out. It's that opportunity that the second wave of AIM fighters takes, and though the nimble X-Man manages to notice their quick approach in time, he doesn't entirely move as fast as he needs to in order to avoid it.
Fortunately, Remy does manage to avoid the brunt of it, but he still gets slugged. He's used to it, and reacts with a powerful kick to the middle, rebuffing them long enough for Bobby to take his ice and make a helpful wall. While that's going on, Remy grimaces and feels around where he was hit. It'll bruise, but fortunately nothing was broken or anything. "A'right, looks like it down to Remy to get through the lock. They get too frisky, you fall back. Hear me?" He claps a hand against Bobby's back and moves to start getting that door open.
It's not a matter of if he can do it. It's a matter of how long it will take, especially with AIM breathing down their necks. But now that he's started, he's a step closer to the finish.
Jesse looks up just in time to see Jacob. Silently, he lifts a hand and waves it, trying to catch the young man's eye before pointing downward. Follow the elevator downward. That's all he knows about everything going on and the different positions. If Jacob's teaming up with him, they definitely need to be sure they're clear with each other. But hopefully, he thinks, this will lead to them stopping the one he was following.
Unfortunately, Jess has little idea of what else is going on. It sounds crazy, but he's not sure what all is happening. He's focused on his own.
Jacob's eyes widen when he sees the elevator moving downward, catching Jesse's hand motion pointing downward. The surfer mentally groans and skids to a half, turning to face the way he came so he can make his way to where Jesse is heading. He's not alone, it seems, and this only serves to frazzle the snowy-haired fellow. He forms a tube of water with his hands, letting it rests across each of his palms as he focuses on freezing it sold into the shape of a bat. It's not nearly as quick as Bobby's ice powers, but once he's equipped, Jacob dashes back the way he came, haphazardly swinging his 'bat' with wild abandon as he yells out loudly, perhaps hoping to strategically disorient the enemy as he rushes past (or, perhaps, not having a clue what he's doing!).
Spider-Boy is looking pretty pleased with himself when that stun rod finds him, and while the suit does absorb a fair amount of the voltage, he's still momentarily stunned. He drops, falling right on top of the trussed-up goons. "That sucked," the teenager complains as he gets to his feet, and he kicks the offending goon in the side. "Play fair," he admonishes, and moves to aid Bobby in keeping the advancing goon horde at bay. "What -is- it with this rock?"
When Remy heads to the door, he'll find it has two locking mechanisms, a standard dial type tumbler lock and a digital biometric look. The renowned thief should have no problem with either of them, it's just a matter of time now! Bobby looks at Spider-Boy as the pair team up to stop the encroaching faux guards. Down the other hallway,the flame torches have just about burned through the ice wall, about 4 more of the hazmat wearing goons ready to push through but still a ways away.
Bobby and Spider-Boy are in too close of quarters for Bobby to safely use the ice powers in a grand fashion, so he falls back to his fighting skills, some of which he learned at the hands and feet of Remy himself. Blocking and punching, using his ice generation to augment his punches, but the security guard's have some type of impact resistant armor underneath. At one point Bobby manages to freeze one of the stun batons after taking a shock himself. He quickly ices up into Iceman form to keep that from happening again. "I'm not sure but it does seem to be emitting radio signals from a lot of frequencies." He looks over to Spider-Boy before he pushes one of the guards back giving him room to maneuver. "We have more coming!" he calls back.
As if on cue, a panel slides open across from where Jacob went upstairs and between Bobby, Spider-Boy and the about to bust through beekeepers with flame torches. Out steps another security guard who looks towards the hero pair and curses, moving in that direction leaving his flank unprotected from Jesse.
Furthermore, Jacob comes around the corner swinging towards the stairs, using his makeshift bat to flatten several lightly armored scientist looking AIM operatives that were apparently on their way to the same set of stairs Jacob is heading towards. There is the sound of fighting from that direction, a short descent to the main action for the Aqua teen!
Remy concentrates as best he can. He's a good, cool head under fire, and even literally, right now. The first tumbler is ridiculously easy, but the digital one is always more of a challenge, and more frustration.
He glances around -- no museum workers, definitely. This is gonna have to be the hard way. Cursing quietly to himself, his whisper lost in the combat rush around them, Remy puts his all into it. If he can't manage this, they're going to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, sooner or later.
As the ice wall falls and the AIM troops advance, Remy glances up again, then back to the lock...and after a few little tricks, Remy narrows his eyes...goes for it...and then he beams, looking back at Bobby. "Hey, Remy still got it!" He starts pulling the door open.
As the elevator continues its descent, Jess braces himself and gets ready. Once that man's out of the car, it'll only be seconds before he's perhaps lost himself down one of countless hallways, maybe to rendezvous with the heavy footfalls Jess has heard, and maybe to gang up on Jacob. He can't have that, he doesn't even know the guy's abilities! It certainly won't do to have students and strangers fighting for him.
So once the car does come to a stop, Jess hurries to open the hatch and launch himself into the car, leaping to tackle the man before he makes any distance. He won't even need a venom blast for this. Just a simple karate move renders the man unconscious, and Jess hurries to join Jacob from the other side, taking the other group of the men down with incredible ease. AIM isn't known for its combat specialty.
There's only so much which Jacob can do away from a proper source of water, and it seems the teen is quickly reaching his limit. He continues to make his way back down a level to meet up with the stranger (that is, Jesse), his bat swinging wildly to and fro at anyone who gets in his way. As he makes his way past a water fountain, he bashes it especially hard against the nozzle with his bat until it begins to spray in the wake of his slight vandalism.
And then, shortly thereafter, there's Jacob dashing onward, a steady stream of water writhing and curling after him in the air like a regal eastern-style dragon. He's ditched his bat, it seems, and directs the water into slamming against the few goons between Jesse and himself. "Uh, h-hey, are you alright?" he asks, his eyes glowing wild, coruscating like true gems in the light and seeming nearly as exactly alien as they are, for once. He looks around to check on Spider-Boy and his two Sky High companions, then, in case his help is needed.
Spider-Boy makes an exasperated noise as the ice wall falls and more AIM troops appear. "This is how zombies get you," he says, shooting webbing at anything yellow that moves. "Quantity." The webbing is a poor combat weapon in these close quarters, however, and despite Remy's call that he's unlocked the door, the Spider-Boy and his Amazing Friend are still forced to fight a bit as the door is opened. At least they make it look good.
Just as Bobby is about to call out to Remy, the Cajun's victory is declared and the large, door begins to swing open. Bobby manages to freeze the legs of one of the guards while Spider-Boy covers the hall in webbing to slow them down and but realize more are on the way. "Way to go, teach!" Bobby grins to Remy as he makes his way up to him. Jesse's tackle and impressive combat skills combined with Jacob's mastery of water handily take out the first wave coming down the hallway through the ice, but see more following. Whatever AIM wants, it seems willing to hurl resources at it. As he runs by, Jesse picks up the small device that the one guard took from the artifact and looks at it. The strange item looks hi-tech and appears to be in the 'on' position, the button pushed in, with lights flashing up and down it.
As the team of heroes push past the opening vault door, they hear more footsteps coming from behind them. Quickly, they close the vault door, which might buy them a bit of time. As they rush into the storage and examination area, an eerie blue light suffuses the room. Sitting on a large table is what looks like a geode of blue and purple gems, cracked open. What makes it strange is that the gemstones inside appear to be part of an elaborate and possibly alien circuitry, with tiny lights moving along lines throughout the entire inside. Anyone with superheating or the ability to sense frequencies will hear all manner of them being emitted from the stone.
What might give pause is the tearing of the fabric of air in front of the stone, as several bio mechanical limbs emerge, tearing it open. Out steps an eight foot tall insectoid like creature made of metal and organic parts (https://bit.ly/3kFLhes). It looks at the heroes, then reaches out for the large stone, taking with a pair of insectoid limbs and again looking at the heroes. Behind the sounds of feet are louder as agents of AIM begin to open the vault door.
The creature makes Remy stop and just stare for a time. Once it's taken the rock, he finally speaks up, lifting a hand to it in what he hopes it will recognize as a greeting. "Hey! Uh, if you don't mind, could you maybe let us know what's up with that rock? And uh, if you could tell us who you might be, maybe give us a hand? These guys that are comin' behind us...they wanna steal that thing. We were comin' down here to make sure they didn't get it."
Even if they don't speak exactly the same language, Remy knows there's a good chance that the creature has some kind of translation device, or something like that. In any case, the Cajun charmer speaks with a tempting tone and knows just how to stand and move. Hopefully it is conveyed over their cosmic divide. It takes a lot of cool and a lot of charm to pretend like everything's casual when a villainous organization is breaking down the door, not twenty feet away.
When Jesse meets up with Jacob again, he smiles and raises both hands, to signal to his new friend that everything seems to be fine, for the moment. "I'm fine. I have a lot of experience in this. Are you okay? Are the others you were with okay?" He assumes they probably are, being X-Men and all, but they've been in a tight spot before. Still not entirely decided about the item, and whether or not turning it off would be a good idea, he keeps the gadget in his jacket pocket for now.
Whatever the account, Jess listens carefully and assesses the situation in seconds. "Let's go back and see if we can't do a surprise attack from the rear. No funny comments." Holding up a gloved finger, Jess sets out to lead the way. He can at least get a fix on where they are with his enhanced senses and, if anyone happens to be in the way of the AIM variety, they'll have the advantage of surprise.
Fortunately, they seem to have just that, and in short order, they're hustling past the high-tech door formerly locked to them. The rock and its harmonious sounds make Jess have to pause for a second, to get used to all of that. It's a lot, with senses so powerful. He takes out the device from his pocket, to visually compare the construction and circuitry, but he gets very little opportunity when they're confronted by whatever that thing is, from wherever it happens to come from.
It's for the best that Remy speaks before Jesse gets the chance, so Jess stands by, glancing occasionally back to the AIM troops trying to stand up to the vault door. "They're not good people -- they'd try to exploit you and that rock in whatever way they could." If that might have some bearing on the thing's decision-making process, he isn't sure, but it doesn't hurt to try, usually.
I really hope I don't have to blow my secret ID today, Jess thinks to himself. And I also hope they didn't bring any telepathic students along.
Jacob looks tired, yet relieved to see Jesse. "Yah, I'm okay n'all. Uh, I think they're like, still fighting maybe?" He follows after Jesse to rendezvous with Remy, Bobby, and Spider-Boy. He doesn't really expect to walk right in on an alien encounter of any kind, and his widened eyes reflect this quite clearly. "Uhhhhhh!" He looks to Remy and Bobby and, deciding that they don't -seem- to be in any sort of danger, he remains quiet and listens so he can get a better idea of exactly what in the world might be going on!
Spider-Boy makes it through the door just as Jesse and Jacob go through, and when the door closes, he keeps his web-pistol trained on it like an actual guard. "So, what's the plan no--yi!!" he yelps as the creature appears, fighting the instinct to bring his pistol around and possibly make things worse. Instead. he uses it to shore up the door a bit so he can listen to the conversation at hand. If it -is- an actual conversation. Who can tell. "Are we even sure this thing isn't -with- the beekeepers?" he wonders aloud. "Aren't AIM the weird tech guys?"
When Remy starts speaking to the creature in a casual way, it doesn't react at first. A moment later, he uses one of his biomechaniod claws to touch the inside of the geode in a seemingly random pattern. The blue and purple circuit gems seem to pulse in a new pattern and suddenly the remaining words that Remy speaks are heard in some raspy alien tongue overlaid over his own words. As the others filter into the room, the creature holds the space rock in a more guarded stance, wrapping it up in a claw and stepping away. The tear in space behind the creature begins to close, sealing itself and getting the insectoid creature to glance over its shoulder in surprise. Whatever allowed the portal rift has been cut off...
Hearing the noises in the hallway, the large bio creature looks at Remy and opens its mandibled maw and starts to emit a strange series of noises. The geode-like rock begins to flash again and everyone hears a raspy voice overlaid. It's no ta perfect translation but the meaning is clear..."Have come....retrieve mindstone...was lost...brought here...why?"
After it speaks the creature looks warily at everyone, his multiple socketed eyes seeming to take in the group all at once. However, the noice of the vault door being worked can be heard, it's likely only moments before the dozens of AIM operatives arrive!
"They weird, they not *that* weird!" Remy comments, before he can catch himself. He hopes that this creature, whatever it may be, isn't easily offended by how very different-looking creatures regard it. "Oh, uh...well, we just people, we like to learn. Never wanna live in ignorance, that's what I say!" He chuckles a bit, though there's some nervousness on the edges of that as he looks back to the door, which surely isn't going to hold much longer.
"But uh, if you can help us, we'll be grateful. If you can't, I'd like to suggest you find some cover, 'cause these boys don't play nice." Remy reaches into his pocket again, to pull out that pack of cards. He only got to use a couple so far. He feels so much lately that he's not in the field enough, and he almost craves this situation. He'd just prefer if it had been at a time where they didn't have students with them, and he absently hopes that none of Sky High's students that were evacuated earlier decide to band together as a neophyte team. "You ready, X-Men and all'a you Amazing Friends?"
That's good, Jesse reflects. The creature seems to be friendly, or at least not hostile to them. Figuring that he can leave it to find cover as Remy suggests, Jesse positions himself more strategically near the passage from the door, but flanking it. He may be able to get off a few venom blasts, if he hides them as something else that's plausibly deniable. He can admit, he probably should have ducked off somewhere and pulled on the rest of his costume, but he's also pretty sure that if push comes to shove, he can trust the X-Men.
Jacob looks like he has no idea what is going on, which isn't exactly uncommon for him in all honesty. But at this point in time, Jacob's quite lost and seems to be trying to parse the goings-on. But, there's AIM still to deal with, and the surfer boy sighs. "This is like...I mean, how many of these dudes are there anyway? Like...this is uh...insane!" Jacob sticks close to everyone, placing himself likewise between AIM and the creature.
"I told you," Spider-Boy says to Jacob, shrugging a shoulder. "They're like zombies or something, only boring." He ZWIPS a few more structural webs against the door, and turns back to the creature that Remy is advising hide. "Can't he just...open his hole again or something?" He waggles his fingers at the being. "And slip back wherever he came from? Maybe if they can't detect it or whatever, they'll give up."
The words of everyone get overlaid with the device into the strange sounds. The creature looks over the group to behind them as the AIM goons work on the door. The creature begins to weave its free arms around into an intricate pattern, but seems frustrated. "It....will not open...." the words come slowly and with anger as the creature begins to try and tear open that space.
A moment later, the sound of the door opening happens and the first of the AIM operatives with shock batons moves into the room, facing off against the heroes! As the first rushes in, the creature howls in triumph and there's a small tear opening in the air near him. It would appear that it might take a little time for it to open fully. The creature holds the geode still and seems to be not paying attention to the invading forces of AIM. It's up to the heroes! A full dozen figures enter the room, pushing through as one points at the space rock "Retrieve that at all costs! MODOK wants it's power!" Flamethrowers come out, shock prods are drawn and the forces move up in the large sealed room and corridor!
Bobby readies some ice around his hands and does his best to slick the floor, making their movements awkward and unstable, should help the others with their attacks.
"Well shit." Remy lets it just slip out, after a long time of watching his mouth because he's in front of students so much of the time. He's a role model! But he's heard how the kids talk, too. This is practically Sunday best! "Looks like it is time to party, gentlemen!"
Charging up some of the playing cards as his eyes flare pink, Remy lets them fly in a volley, specifically aimed at the flamethrower brigade. That's too nasty to be allowed to continue in close quarters. They can't afford to let AIM make this vault into an oven!
As everything goes down, Jesse feels an impulse. With a soft frown, he touches a hand to his forehead and decides, because things just look that way, that he's better off near the creature. So he hurries in that direction, sliding a hand idly into his pocket and finding the device there.
He pulls it out, on the way across the room, and looks it over. Still on, but it's definitely not doing anything useful for them. Whatever that AIM agent was doing with it, he didn't employ it for anything obvious. So he flicks the switch off, having reasoned that he can just turn it on again later, if anything bad happens.
Then he turns to square off against any comers. He can take a bunch of thugs with shock batons! So when a triple threat tries to menace him, Jesse Drew leaps into action with kicks and punches so graceful, they're almost balletic. A smile comes to his face when he's doing it. He didn't need venom blasts after all! Yet.
Jacob looks around in a bit of a panic at all of the sudden activity. "You can uh, leave the fire to me," Jacob assures the others as he launches a few orbs of water toward the flamethrower brigade. "I uh, wish these dudes would like, just chill out? Like, they're just big jerks! What's the point even? Like, you duuuuudes! Leave this uh, alien dude alone, okay?" He sounds....almost mad? Maybe more annoyed? It's hard to tell, perhaps, but he does seem agitated at least!
"Ugh. MODOK. Bo-ring. I hate that game," Spider-Boy says, webbing an AIM goon in the face almost negligently before he leaps into the air directly -at- the encroaching horde. "I mean. He's the lamest boss -ever-." He pings off one goon's head and mule-kicks it as he swings by his fingertips to donkey-kick another in the gut. Another leap, another punch thrown. "There's a little kid in my building who can beat that game."
When everyone makes their stand a lot happens in a short period of time. Remy's cards explode, sending several of the flame throwing AIM agents back against the wall dazed and out of the fight,the explosions destroying their equipment but costing Remy a good portion of his cards. Jacob's water blasts douse the flames on the remainder of the flamethrowers, but each time it drains him of his water reserves. Each of them get back up and draw various hand held weapons when their flamethrowers are neutered. Jesse moves up towards the creature, just in time to intercept a trio of guys with batons. They try to shock the quickly moving hero, and while he takes only minor burns each time and manages to kick and punch his way through them, his stamina starts to wane as the death by a thousand cuts begins to have an effect. Parker's webbing manages to wrap up several of the AIM agents, and his punches and kicks take out more. Bobby does his best to keep the area iced for the AIM, keeping them off balance but not wanting to risk using it to full effect around the water and explosions.
The creature's rip in space is slowly growing and at the moment Jesse shuts off the small device from his pocket, several things happen. The first is that all the signals, flashing lights, and everything else that had gone haywire stops. Whatever the geode does it was not causing the ringing of cell phones or the alarms going off, it was the device planted by AIM into one of the artifacts! The next thing that happens is the geode circuitry begins to pulse faster and there are a variety of sounds across the EM spectrum pouring into the room.
The heroes continue to stave off the AIM operatives as the creature fully creatures it's portal and steps one bio-leg through, Jesse managing to stop an AIM agent from rushing to grab the geode. Remy continues to fling cards, sending explosions through the sealed room as webbing from Parker and Water from Jacob send AIM agents reeling back, only to be replaced by another. MODOK must really want this outer space device!
As the creature steps through the portal, it looks back and nodding and its that strange translated language says "Thank you!" and then as if you were hearing a scream, the tear suddenly closes, a small clinking sound hitting the ground as one of the blue circuitry crystals falls to the ground.
The heroes shore up their defense, though what they are fighting to protect has left. The AIM operatives seeing their mission failed, make a fighting retreat, dragging their fallen companions. Though they are retreating the heroes are running low on strength and it's a near standoff until they push the AIM from the basement of the museum out into the streets. Before leaving the room, Remy reaches down and grabs the fallen piece of crystal and holds it up, it is still pulsing blue as if it receiving or sending a signal....what the geode was is unknown at the moment but perhaps someone can gleam info from what the heroes have to report...who was the creature? That my friends is for another adventure!