The sound of loud swearing woke Zek up as his drama-senses began tingling. He sat up in the hammock he'd strung up between two outward-projections of the museum's rooftop. He wasn't an architecturologist but he knew buttress was a building word so that's what he was going to call them.

But anyways, Zek was now awake and feeling great. Sure he'd been up half the night and all day yesterday having fun, looting places, interfering with other people looting places, people watching, miniature golfing, and a bunch of other super-fun activities, but that just left him feeling pumped! Well, until he decided he needed a nap, which is why he'd sacked out on the roof of a museum. Those didn't tend to be very fun or exciting literally ever so it would be a great place to sleep.

Zek yawned loudly and stretched languidly before opening a small portal to his cafeteria in Zekworld where he pulled out a box of a dozen glazed donuts that were still as hot and fresh as they were when he picked them up yesterday morning. Then he shifted in his hammock and threw one of the donuts at the swearer. "Oi!" he shouted. "What's going on down there?"

Then he started chomping down on another donut.

That's when the doors to the museum opened a bit and a half dozen museum employees walked out, all at a brisk pace, heading toward the parking lot.

"Excuse me," one of the employees said as they approached the pacing man. The name on the speaker's ID badge on his lanyard was obscured by a hieroglyph scrawled on with charcoal. "But the museum is currently closed to the public. You are trespassing. Please leave."

"Please leave," the other five employees repeated in unison. All their employee IDs were similarly obscured. They all had their basic customer service smiles on and like any good employee who dealt with the public, they all looked a little dead inside. As another car pulled into the lot, three of the employees split off to deliver a similar message.

This time it was Tarin's turn to pull Lee to a stop. So Lee stopped, still holding Tarin's hand as he warned her that the spirits might not be very willing to help. "Even if we don't get much, some information is better than nothing," Lee told Tarin. Then left him to do his thing of talking to people who didn't appear to be present.

As she was waiting, Lee heard her name called out from across the street. It was such an unusual and unexpected thing that Lee actually turned to look.

And saw a couple familiar faces. Standing right outside the Haven building. This could be very good, Lee thought as she waved Quin and Will over to her side of the street. Being part of Haven, Quin might have more information about what they were up against so Lee could formulate some kind of plan.

Plus, it would be good knowing at least some of the others who were going to be at the museum with them.

Lee was quite surprised to see that Will was with Quin, though. Hadn't he said that he didn't know any other mutants?

Well, that could all be sorted out later. There were much more pressing concerns at the moment.

Seeing Quin starting to make her way over, Lee turned to look at Tarin when she heard him actually speaking to her rather than the spirits. "Hold on a sec," Lee said as she looked up at him. "I just saw someone who might know more, then we can all go."

It was going to take the spirits time to get to the museum and back. They could move more quickly that the average person, but even spirits had their limits. They wouldn’t know anything until then either because even if he had fully linked up, the museum was well outside the range where Tarin would have been able to see what the spirits were seeing.

Tarin’s plan had been to start walking again and potentially set up the spirit fueled barrier that he’d set up the night before, but before they could actually start walking, Lee had asked Tarin to stop.

Someone who might know more about what was going on?

Nodding with a thoughtful frown on his face, Tarin followed Lee’s line of sight to the people crossing the street. They didn’t look like they were members of any of the groups that would automatically know things about the more supernatural goings on of the city, but Lee knew a lot of people…like Michael.

While they waited for the two to cross, Tarin looked down at Lee, still firmly grasping her hand, “Two things. Want a perimeter like we had last night, or should I save everything up for when we get to the museum?” He paused for a minute before saying the second.

”Second…do you have enough energy?” After the walk to the shop the previous night and the walk home, Lee had been really amped up. If she’d slept, it hadn’t been for very long…not that the sleeping part was what actually mattered. “It takes way less energy to do what I need to do than you need to do what you do…” Did that sound slightly contradictory to what he had just said about saving up for when they got to the museum? Yes, but Tarin’s power was mostly mental energy, not physical.

“There’s no way the world is this small…”

Quin had taken the words right out of Will's mouth as the man's gaze flicked from Quin to Lee to... the other person standing with Lee. Will hadn't really ever expected to run into Lee again, save maybe another late night run, but he -certainly- didn't expect Quin and Lee to be acquainted. And did Lee know Quin, or... "Archer?". Both? Bah. It was too early and he was too under caffeinated to worry about the semantics. 

Following in Quin's footsteps, Will crossed the street towards the pair, raising a hand in a wave as they closed the distance. Looked both ways to see nothing coming down the asphalt and made a quick jaunt across. Huh, light traffic today it seemed, convenient. People by and large were probably still shaken up about yesterday. Will had to wonder if people were bunkering down inside, and how many people called into work. Ah, jeez. He'd never called his boss about the cafe. Well, something to do when they were digging for the laptop then.

"Hey. Fancy runnin' into you again." Will said simply to Lee as they got close enough to speak without shouting. He lowered his waving hand, tucking the thumbs of both hands into his side pockets of his pants. He gave a nod as well to the man standing with Lee in greeting, while he tried to wrack his brain for who they might be. Had Lee said anything when they'd met that night? He remembered mentions of an ex-husband. A kid... Neither seemed to fit here. Well, introductions would happen. Were happening?

He was content though, to let Quin and Lee talk, as they seemed to be the two who knew each other, at least more than his familiarity with anyone here. Besides, he'd caught a few bits of conversation from across the street after he'd caught sight of Lee. Will didn't necessarily like eavesdropping... but he couldn't help it. Both figuratively and literally. He hadn't caught it word for word, but the tone... wasn't light. 

That was Lee.

Quin was still trying to figure out how Will would have known Lee as the two of them crossed the uncharacteristically quiet street. New York, even Manhattan, was huge and there were so many people. Coincidences like this were strange and Quin kicked herself a bit for having not checked horoscopes today to see if anything like this made sense. The thought almost made her laugh though, wondering if there had been anything in the stars to suggest that a millennias-old sorceress would be terrorizing the city the previous day.

As she approached, Quin noted that Lee was holding hands with the other person and decided that must be the boyfriend she’d mentioned when they worked out.

Will greeted Lee and Quin did the same, “Small world, I guess…” she said, reiterating her thought from earlier.

Introductions were made and Quin looked down the street,

“We got caught in all the mess yesterday. Long story short, we ran into Michel and ended up back at Haven. My laptop got left in the mess at the coffee shop where he works and we were going to see if we could find it since things seem to have calmed down.” she said by way of explanation.

The man with Lee looked over at her with a small sigh after Quin finished speaking, ”So much for more info.” he said, then looked off into the distance a bit, ”They’re back. Want to listen in?” he said, again to Lee.

OOC - Permission to talk for Tarin given by me because I can.

The call didn’t specify who, just that there would be three others. Three was better than zero, but not knowing who they were or what they could do just didn’t sit well with William. He liked there being a plan. Flying by the seat of his pants was not something he enjoyed, it was something he could do, but he didn’t like it.

One more turn and then the XUV pulled into parking for the museum. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but the XUV had the party lights on. Parking on the street, sidewalk, parking spot, or inside the building were all options. At least that’s what he had been told… The last one William assumed had been a hyperbolic joke.

Up ahead, closer to the building, William could see a man. Beyond the man were six security guards all addressing him.

”Well, someone is here—and security is keeping him out?” William slowed to a stop a few yards behind the man then turned to Kealey as he put the vehicle in park, ”Are we sure this is the place? Their security is still on duty.”

Six people. Friggin idiot. He had paced in the parking lot, walked around a bit, and attracted enemy attentions. Because those were definitely enemies, right? Under someone’s… sway? Like in a vampire flick, yeah? All coming out like—

“Excuse me,”

and

"But the museum is currently closed to the public. You are trespassing. Please leave."

There were hieroglyphics on their badges, scrawled over the names in black… and they were acting in unison, giving creeper vibes. Repeating ‘please leave’, all together now. Like they had rehearsed.

Another car pulled in, and half the group split off to approach the new vehicle. Ashton, meanwhile, had to figure out the best response. Because these seemed like normal, mind-controlled, people. He couldn’t just go and hurt them. It also did not seem like a mentally balanced response. And—

Damn, that other vehicle was HUGE!

Okay. So violence was out for the moment. He could certainly dispatch them with a clever move later if they needed to, but a ruse might be better. Some good old fashioned American lying.

”I am so so terribly sorry. Y’all are doing your jobs and I just traipsed in here hoping to see the exhibit, but now— I feel terrible. I should go help you get that other vehicle to leave. Then I can get out of your hair. Here—“ Ashton cut the sugar sweet monologue by breaking into a brisk walk in the direction of the big vehicle.

He approached from the side, right around the time the three goons did. He slipped in front of them, and started talking over anything they could say.

”Hey, you folks, I’m terribly sorry. These guards here are doing their very best to do their job, and their job is currently sending folks away. I wish they cared less, but they seem to care an awful lot what their boss wants. I think maybe we should regroup somewhere else and get out of their hair!”

Emotion wise, there was concern for himself, the people in the car, and the folks getting manipulated. Also, whatever emotion was tied to smooth talking liars. That clever emotion, you know? The “thinking on your feet” feeling. What was it called? Slickness? Sly…? He wanted to give everyone a chance to back out and determine a new attack plan, since hey, he didn’t want to brawl with what were most likely innocent people. He also was curious if the blonde woman and the guy driving were X-men, or help Shard had sent.

He looked to the blonde. He saw a ring on her. Might as well ask. ”Is your husband named Shin…?”

Shinbo, Shard, Shin, Testy Ah, guy had way too many names.

They pulled into the parking lot of the museum and Kealey frowned as William spoke. Someone was already here, and they were being hampered in his attempts to enter the building.

Was she sure that this was the right place? ”Absolutely.” Kealey said. Shin had said that this was the place they needed to be and he simply wasn’t wrong about things like this. Not when it mattered as much as this mattered.

The guards didn’t seem particularly malicious. Determined…focused…but not particularly malicious. They had the feel of people who wanted to do their jobs and were good at it. They were moving from the doorway of the museum now, the man they were probably supposed to meet approaching at a faster clip than the security guards. Their feelings hadn’t changed, but other man’s had.

He was concerned, about what Kealey didn’t know, but it was there along with a myriad of other things that seemed more like personality traits than situational feelings. It had taken years, but Kealey had eventually learned to tell the difference.

”This is one of the people we’re meeting.” Kealey said as he approached the XUV and she rolled down the window.

The man was babbling now, talking about how much the guards cared about what their boss wanted done and Kealey realized that they did indeed care quite a lot.

Well. They had cared a lot. Now they hardly cared at all…as was made evident by the fact that they started to wander away from the car and its inhabitants. Kealey kept a hold on that emotion just in case something else was at play here and someone else tried to make them care again.

Was her husband’s name Shin? At that, the blond smiled, ”You must be one of the people he said we’d be meeting. Hop in, easier to keep a low profile until the others arrive…do you know who they are?”

Zek pouted in between donut bites. He'd wasted a donut on someone who didn't even have decency to tell Zek why he was swearing. Well where was the fun in that?

He peaked over the edge of his hammock and saw some guards approach the dude and then another car that was just pulling up. His eyes widened. Was he about to see a fight?!

...No. He wasn't. Just a lot of talking that he couldn't hear. So Zek dropped a little white orb of light off the side of his hammock and then smashed golden orb into the hammock itself. The hammock vanished and Zek immediately feel three feet through the air and through the white portal he'd opened beneath him to his own personal dimension the size and shape and design of Yankee Stadium. He collapsed on an inflatable bounce house he'd set up in the outfield for just this sort of occasion and he only almost blew the donut bite out of his mouth upon impact, but it was worth it.

He crawled out of the bounce house, donut box in hand, and clambered into a golf cart which he drove to about second base. There he opened a portal to Dullworld and peaked out.

Oh. He was still super high up in the air. Like thirty feet. He was roughly over the parking lot though, and the car that had pulled up was relatively beneath him. So Zek smashed a golden light into the donut box and in vanished inside a much tinier pocket dimension. He crammed the half-eaten donut into his mouth and pulled a fifty foot coil of rope from the golf cart's back seat, which he attached to the cart before throwing the rest out of the portal. Then he climbed out of the portal and began sliding down the rope, whereupon he crashed to the ground on his butt by the car.

He winced in pain but at least now he was right where people were so he'd have a front-seat view for whatever was or wasn't going to happen, to he was happy. "What's up?" he asked from the ground, though the donut made it sound more like "Wharherbluff?"

When Tarin asked his first question, Lee took a quick look around. "Maybe when we get closer," she said. "Everything looks pretty normal here still."

Then Tarin went on to ask his second question and Lee simply shook her head as she watched Quin and Will make their way across the road. "For a normal day, more than enough. But with not knowing what we're walking into? I'd prefer to start off with more. But if this mystic is there doing magic in such a public place, she's probably got some guards, so that solves a couple problems." Namely, Lee gets her energy levels up while the headcount against them goes down.

By this time, Quin and Will had made it over, with Will making a comment about running into each other. "Certainly wasn't expecting to today," she replied. Nothing about his powers or what he'd said the night they'd run into each other in the park would have made Lee think he would have been called for this kind of situation. Then again, he obviously knew at least one other mutant than he had that night.

Make that at least two, Lee corrected herself as Quin explained the previous day.

Only for the younger woman to go on to say that they were on their way to search for her lost laptop. "Wait, you mean you haven't talked to Michael today? Shit," Lee said before turning to look at Tarin. "Yeah, it'd be easier and faster than you trying to relay it," she told him. "Can we do it while walking?"

Tarin nodded when Lee pointed out that waiting until they were closer was probably a good idea. They had no idea what they were walking into and things did seem extremely quiet at the moment. Tarin knew he was just restless, wanting to be able to do something as they made their way towards the museum that felt helpful, to take his mind off of thinking about what they were willingly walking into.

Lee’s energy level was a concern too and Tarin shook his head slightly as she explained that she had plenty of energy for a normal day, but probably not what they were walking into. That meant she’d need more before they got into anything resembling a fight. Lee hadn’t even acknowledged the fact that he had offered more of his own energy to help, but they were holding hands and Tarin hoped that it would help at least a little. “You’re obviously welcome to more if you need it.” he said simply as the new folks approached. Hopefully Lee already knew that, but Tarin wanted to be sure.

Whoever the two newcomers were, they weren’t in the know that Lee had thought they’d be. In fact, it looked like they were just a couple of bystanders out looking for a lost laptop. It wasn’t really a problem because they’d not been expecting more help, but as Lee cursed it was obvious that she’d been hoping for better. This situation really did suck.

The spirits had returned though and as Lee said it would be easier if he didn’t have to relay messages, Tarin nodded. Could they do it while walking? “Absolutely. Let me link up and we’ll be good.” he said, then couldn’t help but grin a bit as he added “Sometime I’ll really impress you and chew gum while walking.”

Tarin had just reached out to connect with the spirits when he remembered that they weren’t exactly alone. Sighing a bit and addressing the two newcomers, he said, “Yes, they’re spirits, yes they’re real, and yes they’re everywhere.” he said as his eyes clouded over to white and several spirits winked into existence around them. One of them was Tony, the former fighter that Lee had sparred with on occasion, one of them was the guy from the shop the day that Michael had stopped by and who had played informant, but the other two were spirits that Tarin didn’t know. “Let’s go….” he said, looking at Lee’s acquaintances, “If you’re mutants and good in a fight we could probably use a hand.” Tarin said, deciding that if he was qualified to jump into this, these two probably were too. “We’ll explain on the way.”

That settled, Tarin started to walk and addressed the spirits, ”What did you see?”

“Not a whole lot to be honest.” Tony said, ”Lots of folks working there, but something seemed off about them. Too happy to be at work.”

The little weasel of a guy spoke next, “Couldn’t get anywhere near the Egypt exhibit. Any time I got close, suddenly I was moving in the opposite direction. After what happened to that other guy I wasn’t going to push it.” Tarin nodded. That was perfectly reasonable.

One of the new spirits spoke next and Tarin frowned as it explained, “Looked like there were also some patrols of guys who looked like they’d come right out of the Egypt wing, had some kind of dogs with them.”

Well. That was a problem and solved a problem at the same time. ”Sounds like we won’t be able to walk right in…but that might solve our energy problem.” Tarin said, turning a grim smile to Lee.

As the two pairs met up, Will was getting the distinct feeling that the pair of people he and Quin had walked up to were not having as calm a morning as he was. Sure, he was running on too little sleep and the jittery energy of residual anxiety from the chaos of yesterday, but he'd stepped out of bed (couch, really) with the belief that things were going to be easy and smooth today. Tarin and Lee did -not- seem to have that same disposition. It was subtle things. Tone. Body language. The overheard bits of the discussion about problems involving magic, mystics and guards. The way Lee swore aloud when she discovered Quin hadn't talked with Michael today. Y'know, -very- hard to catch things.

Will had just enough time to try to digest all that and start to think about formulating an excuse to not be there anymore when the other person with Lee said something.

>> “Yes, they’re spirits, yes they’re real, and yes they’re everywhere.” 

Spirits? Right. Lee had said something about someone she knew, and ghosts and...

And then they were there. Even with the warning, Will nearly jumped out of his skin, teeth gritting and muscles tensing. He was not used to being snuck up on, and for someone or something to be so utterly not there to be so completely there wasn't something he'd experienced before. He stared, openly, hearing but not quite parsing the words that were directed at himself and Quin, his brain taking a few seconds to catch up while he forced his heart to slow down and unclenched his jaw. 

Good in a fight? Explain on the way?

Will's curiosity was locked in a pitched battle with his natural tendency to stay far -far- away from trouble. Normally, he'd follow his gut and give some sort of excuse to duck out and away. If this was what it sounded like, he was pretty sure he couldn't outrun or hide from the trouble if things went completely south for everyone involved, at least if what Ranger had been talking about was even half true. 

"Uh. Well," Will finally managed to tear his gaze away from the specters, turning his head to raise an unsure eyebrow at Quin. She knew Lee more than he did, surely. And, maybe this other person too? This felt an -awful- lot like sticking their neck out where it didn't belong. 

"We're sorta headed that direction anyway?" Will said non-committally, as much to Quin and himself as in response to Tarin. It wasn't untrue, at least with the direction Lee and Tarn seemed to be headed. Maybe not the path he'd normally have walked, and... maybe it wouldn't hurt to hear things out?

If things didn’t stop happening at warp speed, Quin didn’t know what she was going to do. One minute she and Will had been walking out of Haven to look for Quin’s laptop. The hope had been that they’d find the laptop and that Quin would be able to attend her work call later in the afternoon. All of Quin’s work would be there and she wouldn’t have to try to explain to her professors why her work wasn’t done.

Now things were going wild again, wild like they had been the day before. Lee seemed disappointed that Quin hadn’t spoken to Michael that morning, ”I didn’t want to interrupt-“ she started, but Lee and her companion were talking like she and Will weren’t even there.

They were back? Could he do it while walking?

They were real? They were everywhere? They were spirits?

They were there.

Quin’s eyes widened and she actually stumbled a step back as actual people flickered into existence around them and started holding a conversation with Lee and Tarin as they started to walk down the street. Tarin had said something and in her shock, Quin had almost missed it. They needed help? If they were good in a fight?

Will’s voice pulled Quin out of her thoughts and she looked over at him and blinked a few times. He spoke again and pointed out that whatever was happening with Lee and Tarin it was in the same direction that they’d already been heading. Smiling a small smile and shrugging her shoulders as she took a deep breath, Quin nodded and started moving to catch up and find out what the hell was going on.

”I’m not hallucinating…right?” she said to Will as they moved ”Those were ghosts….weren’t they?”

Kealey confirmed they were in the right place. William wanted to believe her, but his eyes had him doubting. Other than a few staff heading toward the XUV, nothing was happening.

Until it was.

The man that had the museum staff walling him off turned and quickly hurried over to the XUV. Kealey confirmed the man was one of the three they were meeting. That reassured William, it was less likely he would also be at the wrong place. Probably. After cutting off the museum staff the man word vomited… All about how the staff were doing their jobs. Then, how they should regroup out of the staff’s hair.

After a beat the man asked if Kealey’s husband was named Shin.

Kealey handled the conversation, which William was all too happy to let her do. Key point, she invited the man into the XUV. William, on cue, hit the unlock button on the door and there was a dull clunk as the doors unlocked.

William put the car in reverse to back away from the museum staff that had approached the XUV when someone… slid down a rope? William paused, his mouth slightly agape as the man spoke from the ground. Clearly in tongues, but it was speech.

Turning to Kealey, William asked, ”Is… that another one?”

The guys, the guards… wandered off? Had his ruse worked? Actually worked? That was a shining first.

Well, whatever.

He got the giant vehicle, when she asked him to. The reasoning was good. Maybe if it looked like they were committed to leaving, the guards would stay gone.

The driver backed the vehicle up a bit, then

Thump. The sound of a body hitting the ground nearby, muffled by the fact of it being outside the vehicle.

”What the hell?” he rolled down a window, and stared down at the person- it was a person- who had landed on his side of the vehicle.

He blinked, then carried on.


”So anyways. Your question. The guards, they were all talking in unison like they were being controlled. And their name tags had weird rune-looking things scrawled over their actual names. Like, Egyptian hieroglyphs. In charcoal or something like it.” he explained.

That had been his cue. Visual. The weird marks.

”And- He glanced at the guy outside. He was kind of annoyed by the weird interruption.