Good Morning Readers and Marvel Fans!

Here it is, Chapter Fifteen! Kinda a long title, but it'll make sense (hopefully) by the end of the chapter.

Enjoy!

The Marvelous Museum:

"So why do we have to go to a history museum," Jacob asked, looking up at the Museum of Natural History; he'd seen it in the Night at the Museum movies, but he'd never been to the actual museum itself before. "I mean, the Internet exists for a reason, and it's free."

"C'mon, Jacob," Ben answered, wearing a trench coat and fedora, which did little to help him blend in. "Ya gotta write a paper fer yer science class due on Friday, and you're gonna do it the right way! First things first; ya gotta chose a topic, then research it."

"Any other reason we're here? We've never done something like this before."

"Sue's having some friends over, and she didn't want me there." He gave a small frown at that.

"Poor you," the boy said in mock sympathy, giving his Big Brother a grin. "Well, if you're so upset about that, maybe you need some alone time." He turned to walk away, but the superhero pulled him back by his hoodie.

"Oh no ya don't! Don't make me carry ya on my shouldahs!"

Jacob groaned; it was embarrassing when the Thing did that in public. It made him feel like a little kid, and it drew everyone's attention to him (though it was secretly pretty cool being up that high). "Fine! Let's get this over with." And with that, the two walked up the steps to the museum, earning a few stares as they approached the ticket booth.

The main hall was large and full of people milling around, going to the separate parts of the museum. Looking around, the boy was thrown off by how many people were here on a Tuesday; there were at least six tour groups that he could count from where he stood, and dozens of other people were walking off through the side hallways that led towards the other exhibits.

"Where should we start," the Thing asked, looking over at a nearby map of the museum. "They've got everythin' from prehistoric animals, to mammals, and-"

"Which ever one's the easiest to write about," Jacob muttered.

"C'mon; this'll be fun," his big brother said enthusiastically. "This is da easy part! Ya must have some idea on what ya wanna write about already!"

The young teen shuffled his feet a little. "Well… I liked the part when we talked about sea creatures; we looked at a bunch of pictures of those in class." He really did like that part of the class so far, but he figured that they wouldn't have any sea creatures here since it was a museum, not an aquarium.

"'Hall of Ocean Life,'" the superhero read, running a finger over a blue section of the map, and Jacob felt his heart sink; now they didn't have an excuse to leave. "Dis way!"

"Hooray," the kid muttered unenthusiastically.

"I don't get it," Ben said, leading them down one of the halls, past other exhibits of land animals and such. "When I was your age, goin' to the museum was FUN!"

"Yeah, because museums didn't exist before 1961."

"I'm not dat old!"

"I dunno, I guess that museums never really appealed to me. I mean, a bunch of inanimate objects just sitting there, along with those life-like diorama people starting at you with those creepy, blank, un-staring eyes? It doesn't seem fun." He noticed his brother giving him an amused look, and he quickly backtracked. "I'm not scared of mannequins."

"Mmhm… not even of that one right behind ya?"

Jacob nearly jumped out of his skin turning around. Finding none, he turned back to the snickering hero, giving him a death glare. "Not. Funny."

"Out of all the things ta be scared of, I didn't think mannequins ta be one of them."

"Say it louder, why don't you?"

"I can be pretty loud when I want to," the rocky hero warned him. His expression softened at the kid's embarrassed expression. "If it helps, I'm scared of drownin'."

"Why?"

"I'm basically a giant boulder; I'd sink like a rock."

"Oh." He'd never thought of that particular aspect about his friend, and almost felt sorry for him; he used to go to the community pool, and was a pretty descent swimmer. Then he realized which section of the museum we were going to. "We can choose a different exhibit if you're-"

"I'll be fine," the Thing assured him. "As long as it doesn't flood, I'm fine!"

They finally entered the hall, and Jacob couldn't help but gaping at the room. It was large and open, and blue lighting made it seem like they were under the sea. To the sides were several different dioramas of different sea creatures, but the biggest attraction hung from the ceiling. A life-sized whale figure hung from the ceiling, and with its body position, along with the blue lights, made it appear that it was swimming through the air.

"Damn," he muttered, looking up at the whale. "That's a pretty big whale."

"A blue whale," Ben told him. "The largest species of whale, and the largest animal in the world."

"How'd you know that?"

"There's a sign."

"Thanks for reading it to me," he said sarcastically.

The teen heard a muttered "Crap" from behind him, immediately followed by his Big Brother trying to backtrack. "I didn't mean it like tha-"

"It's fine," he said, turning back to the hero, who looked pretty scared at the prospect of having offended him. "Looks like I've found another fear of yours: being rude."

"Hey," his friend chuckled, "its parta tha job when you're a hero! Now let's get started!"

..

After that, they walked around the hall, examining each dioramas, Ben helping him read the signs next to the displays as he took a few pictures on his smart phone. He couldn't take notes on what he saw, but he planned on looking up whatever he decided to choose on the Thing's computer back at the Baxter Building. Looking at the different exhibits, including a school of dolphins, a coral reef, and a giant squid fighting a whale, he had to admit that his Big Brother was right about going to the museum, even if the exhibits didn't come to life at night.

At one point, Jacob had wandered back into the center of the hall, right underneath the blue whale display. He stared right up at it, remembering those videos of scuba divers swimming next to the mammoth creatures, and could only imagine how cool it would be. Turning slowly as he continued to stare, he started as he suddenly bumped into someone.

"OW," a girl's voice cried indignantly, and he looked over to find a teenage girl lying on the ground nearby, a notebook lying next to her.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, scrambling to her feet and holding out a hand to help her out. "I didn't see you there; it was my fault!"

"It's fine," she assured him, accepting his hand as he helped her up. She was older than him, maybe sixteen, and wore a t-shirt that read "Coles Academic High School, Jersey City, NJ." She looked nice, but he thought that Catherine looked nicer. "I wasn't looking where I was going, either. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You're from Jersey City," he asked, indicating to her shirt. "That's quite a distance from here."

"Yeah," she replied, picking up her notebook. "I got a school assignment; writing a four-paged paper on African mammals, but I decided to check out the rest of the museum while I was here."

"Again, I'm sorry for bumping into you," he said apologetically. "I'm here with my Big Brother, and I was just looking at the-"

"Kid, it's fine," she said, giving him an amused grin. "I'm not gonna sue you!"

He blushed a little at that (though he wasn't sure why). "I know… I just… I'm Jacob, by the way."

"Kamala," she replied, walking towards the other side of the hall. "Thanks for not killing me!"

"No-No problem," he called back, giving her a small awkward wave as she left; he didn't know why, but she seemed… familiar, in some way, and wondered if she was a famous kid actress or something.

"There ya are," the Thing said, walking over to him. "Ready ta go? We can see some of the rest of the museum."

"Y-Yeah… I guess so," he replied, still staring after the girl.

Ben followed his gaze, his eyes widening a little at the sight of the girl. "Kamala?"

The boy whirled around. "How do you know her name?"

The superhero quickly averted his eyes, starting to mumble something about a Reed Scholarship (which didn't make sense, since she had just told him that she went to school in New Jersey) when it suddenly clicked. Looking back at the girl, his suspicions were confirmed; Catherine had drilled him on the top superheroes in the city after meeting Red Hulk (so he would be prepared in case he ever met any of them), and he now recalled seeing a picture of a young hero who could change her body shape. "That's Ms.-"

"SHH," the rocky man said quickly, putting a hand over the teen's mouth. "We're in public… we'll discuss this afterwards."

"Fine." He gave the girl, who was now looking at the diorama of the dolphins, jotting a few notes in her notebook, and couldn't help but wonder what it must be like for her; balancing her home and school lives with her superhero life. It must be hard, especially since she was in high school, and he couldn't help but feel glad that he didn't have any powers. He looked back up at the Thing, pushing the hand away. "Can we see the Egyptian part? I wanna see if the Tablet of Ahkmenrah's a real thing."

"It's not," his Big Brother told him, "but it's still got a real mummy."

"Oh well," Jacob sighed, following the hero out of the hall; it was hard to believe that in a universe with aliens and superheroes, there wasn't a tablet that brought museum exhibits to life. "Can we still get pizza after this?"

"We always get pizza! Don't ya ever get tired of it?"

"Not really... So is that a yes, then?"

"Definitely!

Ms. Marvel! HECK YEAH! Such a cool superhero, and will probably be making another reappearance in a future chapter. Sorry we didn't get to see her fight or use her powers, but I wanted to explore the more domestic, non-crime fighting side of a superhero's life. Sorry for the alliteration of M's in the title, but I wanted something that stood out.

I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! As always, favorite and follow me to keep yourselves updated and current with new chapters and stories, and feel free to leave a review with your comments and thoughts on the chapter or the story so far! I'm open to ideas for future chapters, and for other heroes you'd like included in the story. As for villains, I already have a few ideas in mind, but you'll have to wait to see who makes an appearance in future chapters!

Have a great day!

-aggiefrogger

Also, I do NOT own Night at the Museum, the Tablet of Ahkmenrah, or the American Museum of Natural History in ANY way, shape or form!