| The Cat at the Museum |
| Summary: | the Black Cat steals but is interrupted by Scorpion and Moon Knight |
| Date: | IC Date (2014-12-18) |
| Related: | N/A |
| NPCs: | Scorpion |
| Scene Runner: | Moon Knight |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
 .. .. |
-==[ Metropolitan Museum — Upper East Side ]==-----—
The lobby of the museum is a huge, roughly circular room with a very high ceiling. A staircase curves up one wall, dark-veined white marble stairs lined by a thick, dark red-brown railing of polished wood. The floor is tiled in black and white marble, and an impressive light fixture just shy of a chandelier's elegancy is suspended from the ceiling, casting light all the way down to the bottom floor. On one side of the lobby is the entrance to the gift store - a room lit just a bit too brightly, and stuffed full of shelves and racks containing souvenirs of all types. A short corridor leads past the front desk, and the ever-present duo of receptionist and security guard, into the depths of the museum.
Located on the border of Central Park on Museum Mile, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the most comprehensive art museums in the world. With nearly two million works of art spanning more than 5,000 years, The Met presents the best of human creativity from around the globe. From the splendors of ancient Egypt, to the spectacular New American Wing, to the Met's beloved Impressionist paintings, a world of great art awaits you at NYC's largest museum and most-visited attraction. The collection and all special exhibitions are included with recommended admission. Plus, enjoy dining, the audio guide and shopping at The Met Store.
While flipping through your local Monday morning paper, you notice an interesting article on the front page: "PRICELESS MUSEUM PIECE STOLEN!" Sometime after midnight last night, a priceless book was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Police have no suspects and are continuing their investigation. The book, oddly titled A Madman's Mutterings, is several hundred years old and deals with topics pertaining to the supernatural. Because specific details of the crime are being withheld by the authorities, the museum's curator, Mr. Maximilian Pride, refused to comment to reporters."
Typically, after a theft from a museum, the place closes down for a day or two to allow police to do their things, to allow for cleanup (if there is any) and to reintegrate or update their security systems. This is also a time when security is actually very low in a museum setting. No one believes that the same museum would be robbed two days in a row.
For the Black Cat, this represents opportunity. There has been a /bauble or piece of art/ that she's been interested in and it was under the tightest security - such that she may have needed a partner to pull it off. But with museum security being on the glitch and doing random tests, it's the perfect opportunity for the Cat to go shopping for her five finger discounts.
Once again it's midnight and the museum is quiet. A police cruiser is parked outside, the officers inside are watching Mike and Molly on their tablet while eating stuffed bagels. Inside, the Cat will estimate that there are 3 security guards on duty (the typical number) and doing a diagnostic and knowing what she knew from casing the place in previous days, the security system is sectional (meaning, certain rooms are online while others are offline. This is a rolling and automated testing sequence. Which will allow her to get in, wait in an /off/ room for the next room to go off, and move there. Following the security rolling blackout. Also, if she happens to trigger something, it will be considered a false-positive and ignored.
Black Cat doesn't do anything the 'easy' way, of course. What's the fun in that? And she's had her eye on that Egyptian necklace for quite some time, now. Hey, if it's good enough for the Pharoh's queen it's good enough for Felicia, right? And tonight is the -perfect- night for it, with the rolling security checks and attention focused on the other side of the museum.
She starts on the roof, of course. There are plenty of skylights and such, which would mean a 30-foot fall to the death for most people. But not for Black Cat. It's easy enough to climb the brick wall using her claws, and she pads quietly over to the one she wants. Ordinarily she'd prefer to keep this kind of job completely aerial, except there isn't a skylight in the Egyptian exhibit.
Bypassing the security loop on the skylight window, she jimmys the lock to pop it open.
No alarms, nothing but the sounds of the wind and a helicopter flying some blocks away over the city. Above, the cloud-cover provides an excellent darkness and a brilliant reflective glow of the city beneath. The room beneath the skylight appears devoid of security, people, and has many pieces of art from the Baroque period.
Up goes the skylight, to be propped open. Hooking one of her grappels to the edge, the Cat eases into the opening head-first. Depressing the winch, she lowers herself slowly into the room upside down, knees drawn up as she looks around the art display. The blonde wrinkles her nose at the choices, being much more a fan of the Renaissance period than the Baroque.
Silence, beautiful silence. Also the room is darker than it normally would be. Sure, the lights are low, but the rolling blackouts also involve a majority of the lighting. There are security detectors within certain illumination devices. Thus, no light, no security.
A sign suggests: There are three conventional exits from this room. North, West, and South. North is the direction of the Egyptian exhibit. West offers Russian art and diamonds. South provides the exit and abstract pieces.
The winch motors are quiet, much quieter than most security system audio thresholds. Stopping near to the floor, the Cat rolls smoothly from the inverted position to land on her feet. Looking up, she gives the grapple a bit of a shake to dislodge it before reeling it in completely.
She looks about. Russian art and diamonds, Egyptian treasures, or abstract pieces. Decisions decisions. For a brief moment she's almost distracted by the diamonds, but that's not why she's here. Thanks to her latent metagene Felicia has night vision equivalent to higher-end military optics, so the darkness doesn't trouble her in the least. North it is, padding quietly into Egypt.
Moving northward, the Cat will time her advances with the shifting of the security system such that she will not trigger anything unwanted. After passing through the upper Nile section, she finds the Lower Nile exhibits. The room is darkened and no security is present. She has 4 minutes until the security system comes back online and 4 minutes is likely plenty of time.
Like with Indiana Jones, the bauble is located on a pressure plate. A plate that will trigger an alarm if it isn't depressed when the system comes back online. It is hung around a neck/bust that is under glass and behind a velvet rope.
Oooooh! Velvet rope! The bane of cat-burgulars everywhere! Felicia looks over the setup and then steps lightly over the 'barrier' to get closer to the glass. With a 4-minute window she won't worry about the pressure plate. A claw extends through the hole in a glove, curved and sharp. A smooth circle opens the side of the glass casing, and she reaches in quickly to slip the necklace from its display.
Tilting her head, Felicia admires her catch for just a moment before stashing it… into the depths of her cleavage. And then it's time to get the hell out of Dodge. Back out she goes, intending to escape the same way she got in.
Moving with the blackouts, Felicia finds herself ready to move to the original room from the Upper Nile room. That's when things go sideways. The skylight of the first room is shattered inward and from above, a man in a green body suit with a long tail descends (ala falls) onto the marble floor below. The Scorpion has made his presence known. Landing on his feet, the Scorpion snarls as he surveys the room and the signage. He has not yet seen the Black Cat and she's quite able to avoid his gaze if she is so inclined. He looks at his watch and mutters to himself, "I got 2 minutes. Better make this good, Gargan. Else we'll end up back in the slam." Glass shards still plink down onto the floor.
Black Cat freezes when the skylight shatters, easing down slowly into a crouch. <Oh you've gotta be kidding me…> He might as well have driven a bulldozer through the wall with an entrance like that. Still, maybe he'll pass by quickly enough so she can slip past. Oaf.
Alarms begin to sound. Metal doors start do descend between /active/ rooms (which do not include the three rooms that the two of them are adjacent to - common, upper and lower nile). From Scorpion's room however, the west and south doors are closing and he grumbles, "Seriously? You think some sheet metal is gonna stop the Scorpion?"
Black Cat almost decides that now's time to make a break for it, then she sees that her excape options are still open. And the Scorpion's attention is more focused on the steel doors anyway. She didn't become New York's premier burglar by acting hastily, after all.
Looking up to the skylight and the source of a shadow, one will see the Moon Knight descending into the room toward the Scorpion. His voice is deep as he states, "Stand down, Scorpion. Make this as painless as possible for youself."
The Scorpion turns to look up as the Moon Knight's feet are planted right into his face. The Scorpion goes down in a roll but springs to his feet a few yards away. With a arg and an annoyed tone, the Scorpion says, "Painful for you, you mean." and his tail whips releasing a plasma bolt that is hurled toward the Moon Knight. MK twists and evades the bolt.
<Shit-shit-shit… Is this Grand Central Station, or what?> Black Cat watches as the dark, caped figure crashes into the room and into the Scorpion as well. So much for her comfortable, 4-minute escape window. The masked blonde rises, concealment be damned. "Do you boys mind fighting someplace else? There's some really valuable artifacts in this room."
The Moon Knight is suddenly distracted by the voice of the Black Cat and her observation. He glances around and would seem annoyed if his face were exposed to reveal the grimmace. In his distraction, the Scorpion takes advantage and moves closer to use his tail as a blungeoning attack. The MK is knocked across the room and into the south wall with a significant oof. No painting were damaged in that particular attack.
The Scorpion then turns to the cat and says, "Thanks for the assist, babe. Too bad we ain't got time ta get better acquainted. But it looks like we both got things ta steal."
Dammit, that wasn't what she wanted. All the same, with Moon Knight out of the way and Scorpion's attention on other things, she gives the big green guy a jaunty wave. "It's all yours. Too risky for -me-, I'm sure. Just hope you don't run into any *bad luck* along the way…" And with that, she'll shoot a grapple hook up to the skylight to make her escape.
And of course the bad luck probability field will ensure that *whatever* the Scorpion tries next won't end well for him…
The Moon Knight is down, but not out.
The Scorpion turns his attention to the metal door to the west, whips his tail and smashes the door off its hinges.
As The Black Cat makes her escape, she may see the Moon Knight rising from the slumped position against the wall and launching his own snaring assault that entangles the Scorpion's tail. He gives a pull and jerks the Scorpion off his feet.
Above, on the rooftop, the night allows a dampening of the noise below. The air is cool and pleasing, her escape is on the horizon.
Home free! Or so she thinks, at least. She glances down just in time to watch the Moon Knight snare the scorpion and pull him off his feat. "Hmmm. Bad luck for you…" she chuckles to herself. Hopefully the Scorpion will put up enough of a fight to at least give her a head start, and she intends to take full advantage of that.
Unhooking her grapple, Black Cat sprints across the rooftop. And rather than descending to street level she launches another grapple at an adjacent building to swing over. She doesn't travel as quickly as -some- hero-types would this way, but it's a lot faster than running.