Lauren like museums, but not as much as her little brother Nicholas.
At only six years old, Nicholas William Snow was already a smart kid with a bright future ahead of him. He had visited the American Museum of National History more times than Lauren could count and no matter how many times he's explored the 28 building, he always came back for more. Especially now.
The Camelot exhibit had been brought back for the first time in a year, and she and Nick always made it a point to see it whenever it returned. It was how they bonded. Not to mention Nicholas' entire first-grade class was there too and Lauren was tagging along. She didn't mind being in the munchkin crowd, children were much easier to interact with than adults.
Nicholas was bouncing in place, his teal eyes alight along with a massive grin overtaking his tiny face. His hand squeezed tightly around her wrist, "I can't wait to see the Camelot exhibit! Can you believe this is the last day it's going to be here!?"
Laughing at his excitement, Lauren shushed her little brother, "Easy there, Nicky. You know this isn't the first time they've done this. I'm sure they'll bring it back again and you can continue to haunt this place to your heart's content." The siblings giggle to themselves before a sudden shush washed over the entrance room. The director of the museum had stepped out to greet them. Lauren knows this because Nicholas was eagerly tugging her wrist and whispering, "That's the director! He's so cool!"
"I never thought I would see the day when someone calls a man in a tweed outfit 'cool'." Lauren chuckles earning a nasty look from Nicholas. But there was no denying, the director of the museum somehow managed to work in a coffee brown tweed suit with black dress shoes. All he needed now was a tweed hat and a corn pipe and he could cosplay as Sherlock Holmes.
"Good afternoon, everyone!" He called out to the group, "I'm Doctor Theodore Breaks, I'm the director of the American Museum of National History and your tour guide!"
The students gasp and murmur their excitement, while Nicholas bounced in place, squeezing Lauren's wrist to the point of bruising.
Doctor Breaks waved to shush the kids, "Now, I know we're all excited, but we must be respectable while on museum grounds. First and foremost, everyone who is in the first-grade class must be paired with a partner. You stay with your partner at all times. Yes, young man?"
One of the students raised his hand, "Does that include going to the bathroom?"
Doctor Breaks chuckled good-naturedly, while the rest of the students giggled, "No, but we will stop to take a bathroom break. Now does everyone have their partner?"
Nick smiles up at Lauren, who playfully ruffles his mop of brown hair.
The tour started off fair enough. They started by taking a few stops at other exhibits such as the Hall of Minerals, a dark room filled with glowing displays. Then they went to North American Mammals exhibit, a much brighter room full of life-sized displays of animals.
The rest of the tour went as follows: Milstein Hall of Ocean Life; Akeley Hall of African Mammals; Scales of the Universe; Hall of Saurischian of Dinosaurs; and finally the Hall of Camelot.
The exhibit was dressed in colors of golds, greens, and blues. Pictures were hung on each wall with informational cards just beneath their frames. Lauren could easily recognize each character in their respective portraits from Morgan le Fay to Sir Lancelot, and of course the famous King Arthur himself.
When Lauren was a kid, she used to obsess over the stories of Camelot and the legends behind King Arthur. So much so she developed a small crush on the king. But now, looking at his picture, he wasn't as dashing as her six-year-old self originally thought. 'I did watch a lot of Disney princess movies as a kid...' Yet, despite this, she couldn't take her eyes away from the picture. Lauren couldn't say why, but for some reason, she just didn't want to forget it. The colors of Arthur's maroon red cape flowing behind him. His chainmail vest and armored wristlets, and his pointy gold crown, embedded with red jewels resting on his head.
And of course, the famous Excalibur. She had seen close to a million pictures of King Arthur's sword, sometimes the handle was thicker and had more jewels in its hilt, sometimes the blade had designs on its surface, or it was just blank. Either way, she always enjoyed looking at it and thinking: 'All he did was pull the sword and he was king.'
True there are different variations of the story, such as the sword was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake, but this was her favorite variation of the myth. And once again, Lauren didn't want to forget any details of its likeness. Lately, she found herself memorizing pictures, color, and faces of everything around her.
'I just don't want to forget.'
She finally forced herself to turn away and gaze the room. Noticing Nick looking at one of the empty black suits of armor. She walked over to stand beside him and sized up the body of metal. "Never gets old, huh?"
Nicholas nods in agreement and asks her, "Do you think this was worn by any of the Knights of the Round Table?"
Lauren never thought of it until now. It was likely, that this had been worn by one of the knights, maybe Sir Lancelot, or Tristan, but there was no telling if that was the case or not. the information card, set in a glass case, only said that this was found in what historians believe was the remains of Camelot. It could very well belong to some other knight in some other kingdom, but there was no way she would douse her brother's dreams with that kind of logic. Despite being an incredibly smart boy, he was still just a kid and he deserves to let his imagination take him to places beyond their world.
So Lauren shrugged, "Probably. Anything is possible, Nick." He smiles at her.
Then the ground started to shake.
At first, it was a little hum before it turned into a vibration, and then it shook the entire room as if someone was racing to them. Lauren instinctively wrapped herself around Nicholas, just as one of the walls burst open, leaving a massive size hole twice as big as the average person.
A large man steps through. He wore a full-body green battle suit, with three talon hands, and a long barbed tail. Lauren recognizes him as one of New York's villains: Scorpion.
Children and adults ran out through the doors. Lauren scooped up Nick and ran after the crowd, leaving the villain behind to ravage the exhibit. Nicholas squirmed, trying to wiggle out of her arms. "Nicky, stop that!"
"But he's destroying everything!" Her brother cried, tears welling in his eyes. Lauren nods in response, never ceasing her pace, they were just a few feet behind the others. She could understand Nick's pain, it hurt her too, but there was no way they were going back. "I'm sorry, Nicky, but we can't turn back..."
They soon came out with the other visitors. The streets were crowded with police units, officers kneeling behind their cars with their guns raised over the vehicles' hoods and held to the fire. It was like a scene from a cop movie that Lauren had seen a few nights ago with her friends. It had been a cheesy, buddy cop film that had a similar scene to this. Only this was no movie.
It wasn't until they were safely behind the police crew that Lauren willfully put her brother back down and gave him a look over. She brushed wall dust and tiny bits of debris off his dark brown hair, before pushing up his bangs to see his face. His eyes were puffy and red, and there were a few scratches on his arms and cheek, but it was nothing serious as far as she could tell.
"Are you okay, Nicky?"
Her brother whimpered, "H-He's destroying everything..." Lauren shushes him, pulling her brother into a hug, tucking his head beneath her chin and gently rubbing his back. "It's okay... It's okay..." Most people wouldn't understand Nicholas' obsession with the artifacts. He adored the stories of King Arthur and the tales of Camelot just as much as Lauren did, minus the crush of course. When her little brother first started attending school, he didn't quite get along with the other kids, mostly because of his shy nature and disinterest in normal boy things like action movies, or video games. He was much more interested in books and museums than anything else.
When he heard about the legends of Camelot, it drew in his attention, and when Nick learned it was real, he grew obsessed and desperately wanted to see it for himself. Lauren took him to the museum for the first time as a surprise for his birthday. Her little brother went crazy with excitement. He practically haunted the exhibit during its three days in the museum before the items would be packed up and shipped to another museum since it was a traveling exhibit.
And since then, the two went to see Camelot every time it returned.
It was like seeing a childhood theme park get torn down. Or a family's favorite restaurant shut down after years of being open. Going to the Camelot exhibit was their sacred tradition to spend time together on something they both enjoyed. It was a real shame that it would no longer be there when they revisited the museum.
'Or if I allow us to visit the museum.' Lauren thought bitterly; the idea of Nicholas being in danger left a terrible taste in her mouth. She isn't sure if she would ever allow him to come here again after what happened today...
"I think you should call Mom and Dad..." Nick whimpered against her pink shirt.
That was probably a good idea, Lauren thought, their parents deserved to know what had happened. She might not be able to reach them at this time. It was close to three and their parents didn't get off work until five. Still, a voice message would have to suffice if they didn't answer their phones. "You're right, let's call them real quick. Hopefully, they won't freak out."
"They will..."
Lauren silently agreed and pulled out her cell phone, the device was close to 2%, nowhere near enough to make a call to her parents, especially in this area where everyone is probably flooding all the networks. Looking around, she spotted a Shake Shack from across the street. Grabbing Nick's hand, they dashed across the road and went inside the gourmet restaurant.
It was surprisingly empty save for the cashier waiting behind her counter.
Nicholas tugged her wrist, "I need to use the bathroom, Lauren." She nods and points to the back, "Go ahead and make sure you wash your hands after you're done." He nods and slowly walks to the back, his head down.
Ignoring the pain in her heart, Lauren went up to the cashier, "May I use your phone, please. Mine is almost dead." The lady nods and proceeds to produce a cellphone, but then she jolts and yells at someone behind Lauren. "Hey, stop!" Lauren spins around and spots Nicholas running across the street, back to the museum.
"No, Nicholas!" Lauren bursts through the glass door and chases after him.
He couldn't allow this to happen. The artifacts, the art, the history, they shouldn't be taken away like this!
"Nicholas! Get back here right now!" Lauren barked from several feet behind him. She was going to kill him.
He slipped between the wall of on-lookers and ran under the yellow caution tape circling the perimeter. Officers standing jumped into action when they spotted him, racing up the stairs. "Kid, get back here!" They move to grab him, but he dodges their arms and burst through the door. He immediately noticed that the hallway looked desolate, bare and bleak with no sign of human life. The floors were scarred with deep scratches as if a massive beast had run down the hallway in a fit of rage.
And judging by the signs hanging on the walls, these scratches led right back the Hall of Camelot.
He just needs to save one thing. Just one thing. Something small that he could fit in his pocket, anything as long as it was part of the exhibit.
Another part of Nick, the more logical voice; was screaming at him to turn back and return to Lauren. His big sister would no doubt be mad, but she was probably more worried than anything else. She had always been protective of him for as long as he's known. Yet he needed to do this. There wasn't much history of Camelot left aside from the stories. All of these artifacts had taken years to excavate and preserve.
If he could just save one piece, then hopefully their stories won't end.
"Nicholas!"
His eyes widen, Lauren sounded much closer. Snapping out of his state of paralysis, Nick charges down the hall back to Camelot. All the while, he imagines King Arthur riding on horseback next to him, brandishing Excalibur high over his head like a warrior charging into battle on the wings of the wind.
Lauren narrowly missed the officers. She skids into the building and slammed the door shut, pushing the locks into place, just as a few men in uniform slam into the glass doors. "Sorry!" She yells to them, "I need to get my brother."
One of the men shakes the door, "Open up!"
Lauren bites her lip and shakes her head, if they catch her then they'll drag her back and leave Nicholas behind. "Sorry officers!" She yells again, hoping they could hear her sincerity through the glass. One of the officers grabs his radio, "We need the ram here. Some idiot girl just locked herself inside."
Lauren winces, shame washing over her body. 'I am an idiot, but I'm also a big sister.' Lauren looks at the sign above: "Hall of Camelot" and then looks at the chalk white scratches in the dove gray floor. 'Nicky, what are you doing?' With a deep breath, she breaks into a dash. 'Hold on, baby bro. I'm on my way.'
Nick ducked behind a fallen display case and crawls over bits of broken marble and glass. He didn't see Scorpion, but he could hear the man's growling and grunting, somewhere deeper in the exhibit. His vocal sounds were accompanied by crashes, artifacts crunching in his hands. Nick didn't know what Scorpion was after, but if he could save just one item from his favorite place in the entire world than it wouldn't matter.
As he drew closer, Scorpion's voice became clearer and also much more aggressive.
"Where is it? Where is it?"
Nick continued crawling, dragging his shoulder against the wall. He focused on his breathing, regulating the movement with slow, even intakes through his mouth this way he could be extra silent. Ahead he could see the silhouette of Scorpion tearing through some items, sound of wood splintering made Nick cringe and shrink back.
"Where is it? Where is-ah!" Scorpion's pleasing tone made Nick crawl closer for a better look. Peeking around the corner, he saw Scorpion in all his green armored glory, grab one of the artifacts, a robin egg blue vase with painted depictions of the war between Camelot and Essetir, in the Battle for Camelot.
Scorpion grins before dropping the vase, the ceramic artifact explodes on impact, dust and broken squares spread out into a shallow pile. Scorpion spread apart the pieces before uncovering a small bronze ring, lined with glowing gems. "The Ring of the Moon." He gasps in delight, carefully picking up the jewel, "It's finally in my possession!"
Nick lunged forward, but two arms shot out from behind him, one wrapped around his mouth and the other seizing his middle before yanking him back to a familiar body.
"Shush!" Lauren hissed between her clenched teeth and proceed to awkwardly carry him back in her crouching position. It was lucky that Nick was much smaller than her and very light too, or else it would have been nearly impossible to move him.
The boy wiggled against her, desperate to stop Scorpion from destroying his childhood.
The animal-based baddie chuckled to himself, fantasizing of his future accomplishments. Already his mind was using the ring to destroy Iron Fist, taking over K'un Lun and achieving all the wealth in the world. "You are going to make me a mint."
"Good, you could use a mint!" His orange lensed eyes snap up to the ceiling, where a web suited hero sat adhered above him. Spider-Man made a quick gesture with his wrist and thwip! the ring was snatched from Scorpion's grasp. Hot fury shot through his veins, "Spider-Man!" His long tail thrust upwards to stab the arachnid. Spider-Man saw the upcoming attack a fraction before his spider-sense vibrated across his head.
He jumped away from the attack, the sharp tail bursting through the ceiling, raining plaster and a heavy collection of white dust.
Spider-Man swung around, shooting balls of webbing at the villain's green head.
Nick was transfixed by the scene, as was his sister. Lauren had seen Spider-Man plenty of times on TV or on an online video, but never in person. He was much stronger and faster, not to mention shorter, than what was shown on screen. His movements were acrobatic and flexible, with lighting fast reflexes and equally fast puns to accompany his swift actions.
Lauren closed her eyes and shook her head, tightening her hold around Nicholas. Now that a super-hero was here, they could make their escape. Sadly, Nicky didn't have their best interest in mind. "Stop wiggling, Nicky." He muffled something in her palm. Lauren sighed pretending she understood what he was saying, "I get it, but this is too dangerous, we need to leave. Now." He looked at her with sorrowful baby doll eyes that plucked the strings in her soul. She shook her head once more, "No. We're leaving."
Nick continued to struggle; twisting and turning much to his older sister's dismay. "Nick, please stop," she pleaded, looking cautiously around. Spider-Man and Scorpion were still fighting, with the later growing more and more frustrated and destructive.
No longer caring about being spotted, Lauren tightens her hold around Nick and stands up, before making a mad dash to the exit.
Spider-Man caught a lick of pink racing to the door from the corner of his eyes. It was a teenage girl carrying a little boy in her arms. 'What are they doing here!?' His spider-sense vibrated again. He jumped just as Scorpion's tail stabbed the ground he originally stood on.
Seeing his pray continuously avoid his attacks, Scorpion roars and proceded to chase the hero with his ready claws. His intentions were to slice the web-slinger open like a boar and tear off his mask to see the fear in Spider-Man's eyes as he delivered the final blow, but all murderous intentions faded upon spotting something move from the corner of his eye.
Turning, he saw a young girl carrying a much younger boy. Grinning mischievously, he shot his tail forward and wound it around the girl's ankle.
Lauren screams when something took her by the foot, she released Nick first before falling flat on her stomach. She looked at her brother's stark white face before being dragged backward and then Scorpion switches his tail for his hand, pulling her upside down, blood rushing to her head, dangling in front of his masked face.
"Leave her alone!" Spider-Man yelled, dropping in front of him. He gestured to himself, "I'm the one you want, let the girl go!"
"Oh, I don't think so." Scorpion chuckled, smirking sinisterly at Lauren. "I finally found your weakness, Spider-Man. Come any closer and she won't leave this place alive."
"Lauren!" Nicholas yelled he started to run to them.
"Stop!" Lauren ordered, making her brother freeze in place. "Get out of here, Nick!"
He choked, tears welling in his eyes, "B-But..."
"GO!"
Her brother whimpered, but nodded obediently and ran out through the exit.
Lauren sighs in relief. "Now." Her blood curdles at her capture's voice, his sick grin made her skin crawl as if he was undressing her with his eyes. Scorpion looked down at Spider-Man who remained rooted to the floor in front of them. "Here's what's gonna happen. You leave and don't come back. I'll grab my ring and let this little doll go. Understand?"
Spider-Man didn't like this, especially since he didn't have any chips to bargain with. However, if he wanted the girl to live, then he was going to have to play along with Scorpion. That thought alone made him grinch beneath his mask. "Fine." He bit out, forcing himself to back up a step. "But you let her go first."
Scorpion shook his head, "Not until you leave. I'm the one in charge here, web-head." He whipped up his tail, pointing the barb end at Lauren's back. "Do we have a deal?"
Lauren could feel the sharp point gently grazing the line of her back much to her disgust. Her face felt swollen and heavy with the gallons of blood weighing in her head. Her neck ached with the effort to keep her attention on Scorpion, all the while she tried to come up with an escape strategy. Lauren was not a super-hero, but she wasn't a bargaining chip either.
With her arms dangling off her shoulders, blood pooling into them too, and Scorpion's attention mainly focus on Spider-Man, she might have the element of surprise on her side. But what could she use to enact her escape? She didn't have anything in her pockets aside from her cellphone, but even that wouldn't do much.
Maybe...
Taking a deep breath, Lauren bent her other leg close to herself before shooting it out, stomping Scorpion on his exposed jaw.
The villain cried in pain, the grooves in the bottom of Lauren's shoes digging into his skin, forcing him to release his grip around her ankle. Lauren landed flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her lungs, pain rippled throughout her body like the rings of a lake after a rock had been dropped on its clear surface. Biting her lip, she forced herself to roll away from Scorpion. Said villain regained his composure and seethed at her, eyes burning with untamable rage.
"Why you little, bit-"
thwip! A cloud of webbing sprayed over his mouth.
"That's enough out of you!" Spider-Man said, right before he webbed Scorpion's arms, legs, and tail to the wall behind him. Scorpion growls, struggling against the bondages. Spidey then kneels down next to Lauren, and helps her to her feet, "You okay?"
"Yeah," she murmured, voice strained, before giving him a thankful smile, "Thank you."
Spider-Man put his arm around her shoulders to keep her stable while allowing her to hold on to his other arm for extra support. "What were you guys doing back here anyway? I thought they evacuated the museum?"
Lauren winced with each step she took, every move she made aggravated some part of her body, mostly in her back. She'll have to get that checked...
"We did leave, but my brother ran back. He loves this place and I guess he wanted to help... Heh, he's a smart kid, but he's still prone to childish actions... I'm sorry about this, Spider-Man, I should have kept a better eye on him. This is all my fault."
Much to her surprise, Spidey shook his head, "Don't apologize. This isn't your fault, Miss...?"
"Lauren," she supplied politely, "Lauren Snow."
"Nice to meet you, Lauren. And don't worry about your brother, I've met plenty of great people just like him, from what you've just told me, he's a great kid."
"He's the best," She agreed, "We came here as a sibling bonding day. Both me and Nick come here whenever they have the Camelot exhibit on display. We're dorks, I know."
"Sounds like me." Spidey chuckles. Lauren giggles, her little brother would love to hear that, Nicholas was a major Spider-Man fan and as of today, so was she.
A sudden roar made the two jump, they turn back around to see Scorpio, now free from his bounds, charging at them, his tail raised to strike.
"Look out!" Spider-Man shot a line of web, wrap his arm around Lauren's waist and swung them from Scorpion's strike range. Scorpion jumps onto one of the walls, his claws sinking in deeply and scales on all fours after them.
Spider-Man managed to maneuver Lauren around so she could cling to his back, allowing him to use both his hands. "Okay!" He called to her, thwipping towards the door, "First thing we do is get you out of here and back to your brother, then I deal with Scorpion, okay?"
"S-Sounds like a plan." Lauren whimpered, seeing the ground so far below them made her stomach drop like an iron ball. Hard tile flooring, it could easily crack someone's skull open. If she loosens her grip around Spidey, even if it was just a little bit- splat! Her shaking arms tighten like a vice around his ribs, squeezing him with every ounce of strength she had.
"It's okay!" Spidey yells to her, swinging low, with his legs stretch out. He breaks the doors down with the bottoms of his feet and jumps up to scale along the length of the ceiling, Scorpion still chasing after them.
"Everythings going to be okay!"
Spider-Man's sixth sense screams to life and he jumps to avoid another strike.
Something hot tears through Lauren's shirt and pierces her side, making her cry out in pain. A numbness invades her systems, her arms unlock from Spider-Man's middle and she begins her descent.
Everything begins to slow down, like in the movies during a dramatic moment. She can see the ceiling expand, with Spider-Man getting smaller. Then blackness begins to eat away at the corner of her eyes, encircling around her vision. She sees the web-slinger hold out his hand, two fingers pressing down on his wrist shooting a strong line of web right to her. Her vision is reduced to a pin size hole focused solely on Spider-Man's face.
Despite his mask, she swears she can see his eyes widening in horror as she falls into the black unknown.
AN: There you have it, folks! LazyChipmunk's first Ultimate Spider-Man story. :D Hope you enjoy it!