Log:Nightmare at the Museum

Given 2012/09/25 	 Titan Aoi Total Babe 1

We'll start things with a bang and not a whimper in this case. The exhibit of Sekhemket: The Buried Pyramid had been in town for over a week now and surprisingly nothing bad had happened. No plagues of locusts. No rivers turning to blood. No darkness sweeping across the land. No one had heard a voice in their head as an ancient scarab called to them and bestowed upon them the powers of an ancient Egyptian deity.

Of course such a thing was too good to last. The first reports of trouble are the radio calls of the police responding to a silent alarm at the museum at slightly after midnight. Backup is requested and given. For those monitoring the radio they can hear the officers as they arrive and report approaching the front of the museum when suddenly the sound of weapons fire comes over the radio, sending the responding officers cursing and swearing as they scramble for cover.

From there things become readily apparent even to those who lack the ability to monitor the police bands. Squad cars race through the night with sirens blaring and lights flashing. Gunfire mixes with the loud thunderclaps of blasters as they discharge their packets of ionized plasma in return, their brilliant bolts lighting up the night like some sort of insane fireworks show.

Outside the Science Museum  IC Zone It is just after midnight but it is far from quiet. Outside the Museum four squad cars have taken up defensive positions on the street about 15m from the front of the museum and facing the door, lights strobing brightly in the night. One of the cars has hopped the curb with its right front wheel in its driver's haste. To one side sits a SWAT van, its passengers disgorged and its rear doors open. The police officers and SWAT team members crouch down behind the cars as they trade fire with the enemy.

Titan had been in the downtown area, going to a club this evening. So, he's close enough to hear the commotion. He jumps, and lands behind the police cars, getting a feel for what's going on.

Aoi was working in her underground laboratory when her retainers bring her the news of the unfolding event at the museum. Quickly donning her suit she exits via the secret tunnel and zooms across the city to set down in a fast landing by the largest collection of police patrol cars.

Around the entrance of the museum is a group of five men who are exchanging fire with the police. The men are dressed in some sort of paramilitary style of body armor colored urban gray in a digital camo pattern similar to MARPAT. The outfit includes a full helmet, torso and shoulder protection, gauntlets, cuisse and boots. All the men are armed with some form of automatic blaster rifles that appears to have a laser sight and an under-barrel grenade launcher. They are also all armed with some form of pistol though at present none of them have been drawn. The men appear to be highly organized; not just random hoods out on a quick snatch and grab.

The police officers are more or less hunkered down behind their vehicles, using them as shelter from the fusillade being launched by the armored men although they are exchanging fire. All the vehicles show heavy damage on the sides exposed to the criminals though none of the police seem to have been injured yet.

Titan waves to Aoi, and then decides to do for the direct route.

Titan leaps, landing near the gunman closest to the door. No point in waiting. The police are outgunned at the moment. He then takes a backhand swing at the man, figuring that they're armored enough to take a full strength hit.

The man by the door reacts almost immediately as Titan leaps toward him, taking his rifle and using it to attempt to deflect the blow.

Titan gets blocked. He chuckles. "Nice."

Aoi sees Titan charging in and redirects her flight to take her in an orbit over the gunmen. If nothing else that gives them another target rather than the poice. In the course of her flight she extends an arm and one of the weapon clusters mounted on her forearms lights up. A beam of ..something.. flashes down at a gunman. No visible itself but the beam causes the air to fluoresces as it passes through.

As Aoi shoots at the gunman to the left of Titan the man attempts to dodge out of the way of the attack, using the structure of the accouterments outside the building for cover.

The man ducks back behind a concrete plinth, Aoi's shot being absorbed by the material and glowing momentarily. The man to the right of Titan turns and fires at him with the grenade launcher from beneath his gun while the two men on the ends open up on Aoi with their blasters.

Titan is actually bleeding as he gets knocked a few meters, and rolls to his feet. He looks a bit surprised by it. "Better hope you guys have lots of those shells. Because I'm debating making you eat those things."

The two men unleash a stinging fusillade of blaster fire at Aoi, pushing her up and back through the air but not truly inflicting any serious damage.

Titan steps up to the one he tried attacking the first time, and takes a swing at him. "You're going to need more firepower than you have. You might want to consider withdrawing."

The man near the doorway attempts to dodge out of the way as Titan attacks him again.

Titan swings over the man's head. "Am I going to need to grab a car? Fine."

Aoi flies back down to effective range of the gunman she was firing at, and this time takes a leaf out of their book and uses cover herself against the other gunman as far as possible. A different weapons system fires, a stream of hyper-accelerated particles which is spread over the immediate location of the targeted gunman.

Aoi frowns her her blast misses again. She may have to change tactics.

The gunman on the far right raises his rifle and sights on Aoi, firing a grenade at the flying girl

The grenade soars through air and explodes in an air-bust, sending out a brilliant flash of light and a loud deafening boom. The remaining three gunmen all turn on Titan as he tries to hit their teammate and unleash more grenades at him

Titan grins...and stands there, looking at them. "Seriously? Any more? Might want to think about surrendering now."

If you could see the faces of the men behind the helmets you would be able to see that they find it rather impressive that you are still standing after that barrage. Unfortunately you can't so you'll have to imagine it as they show signs of hesitancy.

Aoi flies straight up waiting for her sight and hearing to recover, making a mental note: fit flash defense on the sensor system.

As Aoi takes to the air to wait for her vision to clear the gunman immediately in front of Titan attempts to strike him with the butt of his rifle. Three of the remaining four men fire more shaped charges while the final man simply unloads with the blaster.

Titan actually gets knocked off his feet that time, and tumbles backward, ending up on the ground.

The remaining four men open up with another furious barrage, actually pushing Titan back toward the street and knocking him off of his feet.

Titan remains where he is, catching his breath.

Aoi hovers, her eyes starting to clear but not enough to even fly safely in anything but open sky.

Titan gets to his feet...and leaps at one of the guys at the end of their arc, intending to just plow into him. . o O (At the very least...this'll get him to stop firing.)

Aoi still can't see or hear well, so delays, waiting on her eyes to clear.

With the man on the far right end scrabbling for safety as Titan comes flying through the air at him the remaining four men open fire. The man in the center fires yet another of those damnable shaped charges while all the rest simply use blaster fire.

Titan gets knocked over by the myriad of plasma blasts. He manages to roll to his feet despite that. His shirt is completely shredded by this point, after taking getting hit with a dozen blasts, and a half dozen grenades or so.

Aoi is finally able to see. And one of the things she sees is Titan at the end of the crescent of gunman. Powering into flight and strength mode, Aoi plunges down; and slams with terrific force right into the centre of the cornice fronting the museum. Because she's starting to get annoyed, and there's a gunman underneath the tones of old marble. She'll pay for replacing it.

The falling cornice lands squarely upon the gunman below, pinning him beneath the rubble. Even worse his armor fails to completely protect him as he takes the brunt of the damage upon part of his body not fully protected by the plates. Although he is stunned momentarily by the falling debris he is still quite conscious, however.

Aoi comes to a stop just a little below where the museum cornice used to be, before it shattered and fell like a shower of heavy stones onto the gunman beneath.

Total Babe is late to the scene. Well, she's only on foot, and not really the ideal shape for running.. She looks about to take in the situation.

Suddenly a small sporty yet sensible car pulls up on the far end of the police barricade and a man dressed in a tweed jacket leaps from the drivers side, nearly getting himself shot by the nervous police. Heedless of the danger the man goes rushing forward screaming, "YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM! YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM! I WARNED THEM THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN BUT THEY WOULDN'T LISTEN TO ME, THE FOOLS!"

Aoi thinks -- yes, well stopping them is what we're trying to do. but it's surprisingly difficult --

Total Babe runs after the shouting man. "What did you warn them about? What's going on?" She also makes sure she's between them and anyone with weapons.

Titan is clearly starting to feel a little frustrated, as he hasn't managed to hit any of them yet. He takes a swing at the one he's standing next to, but not before moving around his target to make it harder for the others to shoot at him without hitting their friend.

The man babbles to Total Babe as he runs heedlessly directly toward the combat, "ONE OF THE FRAGMENTS! IT'S INCOMPLETE BUT I BELIEVE IT CONTAINS ONE HALF OF THE INCANTAMENTUM ANUBIS!"

The punch from Titan solidly connects to the dodging man and sends him flying nearly fifty feet through the air where he lands in a sprawled heap, only barely conscious.

Total Babe thinks. o O (Hm. Stop bad guys first Interrogate nutter afterward.)

Aoi flies to a point where she can, just, get two of the gunmen in the arc of her pulse beam weapons system. She expects they'll dodge, and she'll miss. But the odds have shifted, and making two of them waste time dodging is now in the heroes favor. So, making her flight move, she unleashes a pair of pulse plasma bursts, one at each of the duo.

With a combination of cover and their dodging action the two agents are able to evade the spray of plasma sent their way.

The remaining gunman unleashes a barrage at Total Babe, striking her solidly although failing to do too much damage.

The man stops, his face locked in the expression of someone with far too much education who feels that the subject they are speaking to has failed to understand the importance of what they are saying. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" he screams, eyes wide in panic. "WITH BOTH HALVES OF THE INCANTAMENTUM ANUBIS A SORCEROR HAS THE POWER TO ANIMATE THE BODY OF THE DEAD!"

Total Babe decides range is not her friend against people with sights. She charges straight at the guy who fired on her, whirling her three section staff.

As Total Babe goes charging toward him the gunman executes a martial dodge. The style of the gunmen is not the refined style of years of practice in a monastery but is more practical and pragmatic. In this case, however, it is enough to get him out of the way.

Titan jumps over to the one he had already managed to hit once. He then punches downward, attempting to knock the agent out, clearly wanting to even the odds a little bit.

Stunned and only semi-conscious the downed gunman is an easy target. One more hit and he is deep into slumber land.

Aoi takes a moment to activate her scanning sensor and look 'inside' the museum for other intruders. Then she looks back at the two gunmen, "If you're mercenaries being paid, whatever you've been promised, I'll double it if you switch sides." and waits, planning to shoot after one or other of the gunmen commits to an action.

As Aoi activates her sensors she has just a moment to register the massive form as it charges the doorway.

With an absolutely ear-shattering sound of shattering glass and crumbling stone the front of the museum seems to suddenly explode outward as a form that can only be described as monstrous comes pushing through the wall.

In life it would have stood nearly twenty feet tall and weighed over seven tons. In death it weighs considerably less, yet is still massive. The fossilized skeleton of the tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest predators of all time, comes crashing through the wall and out into the small plaza in front of the museum. Quickly crossing the distance to the street it bends its massive head to seize one of the police cruisers in its stone-like jaws.

Aoi is frozen for long instants as the undead T-Rex bursts through the front of the museum. Then is what is actually a panic reaction, she fires a particle beam at it.

The blast knocks loose chunks of the fossilized bone but seems to do little to slow the prehistoric horror as it dips its head, crushing the car within its massive jaws, shaking it as a terrier would shake a rat and tossing it well over a hundred feet to one side.

Total Babe thinks "Great, now dinosaur skeletons. Like the people with the guns weren't bad enough." But she can't let something that dangerous roam the city. She charges the monster and swings her staff at the joints of its ankles, hoping that might cripple it.

More chips of bone go flying but the massive creature seems largely unphased.

Titan grimaces at seeing the skeleton. He jumps directly at the skeleton, attempting to drive straight through it. He leads with his shoulder...attempting to shatter it.

By now police are running, people are screaming. As Titan slams into the beast he staggers it actually managing to shove it back half a dozen feet and knocking it to its side. However despite the massive damage the prehistoric beast surges to its feet and turn, sweeping aside police cars with the casual strength of its tail as it lurches at the source of its pain.

Titan winces a little bit as he slams into the dinosaur skeleton. He lands on his feet next to it.

Titan gets clipped by the teeth of the creature, thankfully just a graze. . o O (I'm...pretty sure this thing could injure me badly.)

Total Babe mutters, "Ugh. That thing is as tough as it looks!" Then she charges in, still attack the ankles with the fast-whipping staff.

The staff only scrapes the monster, inflicting no serious damage.

Aoi sees Titan nearly get chomped by the teeth. Flying across to the T-Rex skeleton she wedges herself into the mouth, and depends on the suit to protect her. She's got atomically hardened collapsium plated alloy to shield her. Titan and Total Babe only have skin.

The mighty beast shakes its head violently from side to side, pawing at its jaws with its tiny forearms as it attempts to dislodge Aoi.

Titan remains by the feet of the dinosaur, and starts to wind up for a massive uppercut.

Aoi hangs on as well as she can but the violent shaking simply dislodges her.

With a massive blow more of the bones of the giant reptile shatter but the binding magic that animates the great beast holds the shards together, at least for the moment.

Total Babe exclaims in frustration, "Oh, come on!" as she swings her staff once more at the animated bone-shards. "What's this going to take?"

The blow slams into the leg of the monster much more solidly this time, splintering bone but still it stands.

Titan takes another quick swing at the dinosaur...just slugging at the leg of the beast.

Titan slips on some of the debris by his feet, and misses entirely.

Aoi turns in the air and flies in a loop that intersects the T-Rex's ribs at high speed, suit set to maximum strength argumentation.

Somehow, through some freak of fate the monster moves at the last minute, causing Aoi to nearly fly between two of the beast's ribs, inflicting only incidental damage. With its jaws now free it turns its attention once more to Titan and the monstrous teeth descend.

The beast's jaws come down on Titan. It doesn't break his skin, but there's an audible grunt from Titan as he's hit.

Titan is also knocked down from the bite, ending up on his back.

Total Babe doesn't have a good plan here. She just whirls her staff about, hitting it again and again at blinding speed....

And again the Devil seems to watch out for his own as the beast lucks out and is only grazed by the vicious attack.

Total Babe thinks. o O (I'm losing my touch. If I ever had one.)

Titan gets back up, and attempts to grab the jaw of the creature, since it's right there in front of him.

With a leap Titan latches on to the beast's jaw, squeezing it and crushing the fossilized bone. It is too much for the animus filling the prehistoric skeleton to take and the spell breaks, the bones an fragments of bone falling to the ground like some sort of ossified rain.

Total Babe exclaims, "Finally!" and wheels about to see if the armed men are still in pursuit range.

Aoi flies away without a word, considering her future. She's built the best battlesuit she can construct, and when tested in conflict it proved ineffective.

Titan's bleeding slightly, but as the police arrive, his wounds start to close up. He removes the tatters of his shirt, "Well. That could have gone better."

Total Babe nods. "At least the dino is broken - what the hell was going on?"

Titan says, "No idea. Perhaps we can find the guy who was screaming?"

Total Babe says, "That was my thought..."