Chapter Ten
"Why do I have to go to bed now?" Jubilee complained several hours later when
they got back to the Hotel. "It's only
ten o'clock!"
Psylocke sighed. If this is what kids were like, she wasn't sure if she wanted some. "I don't care if you want to go to sleep or
not. It's late, I'm tired, and it's
been a long day. Now, do you want me to
send Logan in to tuck you in before I go?"
Before
Jubilee could say anything, his head appeared in the doorway.
"Hey, kid. I
heard ya didn't want to go to bed."
She jumped up into her bed as Psylocke said,
"I am so glad you're here. She's been driving me up the wall."
"Hey! I
heard that!"
Logan grinned. "Here, let me take over." Psylocke thanked him and glided past him. He came all the way in and closed the door behind him. "Ya really should go to sleep. We got big day ahead of us tomorrow, and
you'll wanna be rested for it."
"You mean you got a big day ahead of you. You get to go to the museum, and I have to
stay here and pester the room service people." She said defensively, drawing her knees up to her chin, under the
blanket.
"Tell ya what. Gumbo and Amanda don't need anyone to
help them case the Amulet. Why don't we
go on a tour of the museum? Although
pestering the room service people does sound like fun."
Jubilee couldn't help but giggle a little. "Alright, we can go to the museum. But, just you and me. I don't want anyone else to come with us."
"Ok. Just
you and me. Now, go to sleep."
"Yessir!" Jubilee crawled under all the blankets, and
laid back. Logan came forward and
pulled the blankets up under her chin, and kissed her on the forehead.
"Sweet dreams." He whispered, then turned the light
off, and closed the door behind him.
* * * * *
"This is so cool! I've never been to a museum with you before!"
Jubilee and Logan were wandering around in the
Animals of North America exhibit. They
had just left Amanda and Gambit who were going looking for the Amulet. They weren't entirely sure where it was, so
they had decided to start at the top and work their way down. Macleod and Joe
were looking for it too, and the others were just off by themselves, seeing the
sights of the city.
Jubilee and Logan passed the stuffed Grizzly Bear
and turned the corner, and Jubilee ran off ahead. Then she stopped, did a double take, and ran back to the first
display in the row.
"Hey look! It's you!"
Logan looked at the display. There was a little furry weasel shaped
creature climbing over a fallen tree with a bird in its mouth. The sign underneath it read 'Wolverine.
Latin name 'Gulo gulo'
"Oh, ha. Very funny." He said, crossing his arms over his chest, and looked at the little stuffed animal in the glass display. He had seen many of these when he was wandering around the Canadian forests, but they never looked so defenseless. He read the caption under the name out loud. "The Wolverine is the largest land member of the Weasel family. In Europe and Asia, it is called the glutton. Because it often applies a stinking scent to any leftover food it can't consume, and because it resembles a bear cub, wolverines are sometimes called skunk bears. It eats small mammals, carrion left by bears or wolves, birds, fish, fruit, roots, and on occasion prey as large as caribou or moose. Only very scattered populations exist in eastern Canada today. Wolverines are more numerous in the West and North. The wolverine may live ten years in the wild. The fierce, solitary wolverine is featured in many Native Legends."
"Well that defines you to a tee." Jubilee said, sitting down on the bench in front of the display. She looked at the little Border collie sized creature, with the brown fur, and the golden streak down its sides, and the three sharp claws on its forepaws.
"Which part? The skunk-bear, or the fierce, solitary hunter?"
Jubilee grinned at him. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
A family with a whole bunch of little kids came over. The kids plopped themselves down on the bench beside Jubilee and put their grubby little fingers on the glass, smudging it. A little girl said, to no one in particular,
"Hey look! Isn't it cute!"
Jubilee started laughing, and Logan snorted with disgust, turned away and started walking down the hall. Jubilee ran after him. "C'mon Wolvie, lighten up! They're just kids."
"Yeh, I guess you're right, but still, you do not call a wolverine 'cute'."
Jubilee couldn't help but start laughing again.
Meanwhile, Gambit and Amanda were searching the Museum for the Amulet. They weren't sure who had made it, or what time period it would be in, and they didn't want to split up to find it, so they stuck together and looked around. They were in the Ancient Mayan artifacts exhibit and looking at the broken pieces of pottery from Machu Picchu.
"So," Gambit started, "Richie say somet'in' yest'day 'bout you bein' over a t'ousand years old…" He trailed off, not really knowing what he was asking.
"And you want to know if it's true." Amanda filled in.
"Oui."
"Yes, I am over a thousand years old. I died for the first time in 824, in England. I'm not going to tell you the year I was born."
"824 AD?"
"Yes." She laughed. "I'm only 1200 years old, not 3000. If you want to talk to someone that old, you'll have to talk to Adam. He's 5000."
"Dat's amazin'."
"Yeah."
Just then, a tour guide followed by a bunch of people went by them and into the large room before them. The woman's voice rang off the marble walls, and Amanda and Gambit could hear her perfectly.
"And here we have one of the Museum's more interesting treasures, The Amulet of Light."
Both Amanda and Gambit perked up. There it was! They listened as the tour guide continued talking about the Amulet.
"This magnificent Gold Amulet was the prize possession of the Shaman of the Inca tribe who lived in Machu Picchu around 1000 AD. Legend has it that the Shaman used it to banish a terrible demon that was destroying the village. But that's just legend. Of course, the Amulet has no real power."
A man in the crowd put his hand up. "Excuse me, but how do you know it has no real power? Do you have any proof that there wasn't a demon attacking the city, and that the shaman didn't use it to save the people?"
"Well, no, but think about it. How could it be real? Demons don't exist, and if they did, why would this little piece of gold scare it away? But, if you want, in our gift shop there are books about the Amulet, and you can look through there to find all the evidence you want. Now, come along, we're running out of time." And she led her entourage away. When they were gone, Gambit and Amanda went towards the glass case that held the Amulet.
"I hope for our sakes that the Amulet really does have power." Amanda said as they arrived at the display.
"Oui." Gambit looked at the Amulet, sitting there on its piece of black velvet. It was little, only about 2 inches across, in the shape of a little sun with it's rays sticking out in all directions. He took his shades off to see it better. It was intricately carved, with a tiny face in the center of the disc. Around the face were symbols, Inca writing most likely, and neither Amanda nor Gambit could read them.
"It's beautiful." Amanda said, stroking the glass over it.
Gambit put his glasses back on. "We prob'ly will have to find out wha' de symbols mean. Dey could be de key to makin' it work."
"Yeah, you're probably right."
"De woman mention books about de Amulet. We shou' find de books, and ge' de translation o' de symbols from dere."
"Yeah, but first, we have to figure out how we're going to take it. The we can figure out how to use it."
They started looking around for things that would let them into the room, and would be a problem when it came to stealing it later. Amanda was looking around the pedestal itself, looking for anything that would go off if they picked it up. They didn't want the guards following them back to The Hotel where they would keep the Amulet. They didn't want to keep it at Macleod's place, because the Immortal seeking to kill Macleod might go there, find the Amulet, and steal it before they got a chance to use it.
Gambit was looking around the walls, looking for the lasers that would alert the guards to their presence. While he was looking, Amanda said,
"There's nothing here. No wires holding it down, no pressure sensors, no heat sensors, nothing. There must be something in the room itself."
"Dere is, Cher." Gambit was looking at the wall. There were laser emitters and receivers all over. And there were lots of them. "When de museum is closed, dis room will be covered wit' a laser net."
"No problem. We just use mist to see the lasers, and avoid them. Simple. Now, how about that door?" She turned to face the way they had come in. The whole room was circular in shape, and the only thing in it was the pedestal with the Amulet in the center. There were two doors, and both of them had thick a metal portcullis that was probably lowered every night. On the other hand, there was also a sunroof in the ceiling, but both of the thieves were a little leery of using it, in case the laser net blocked off the area they would need for a rope to lower them down with, which it probably would. So, they decided to go for the door.
They went to have a look at the doors. They couldn't be sure that the portcullises would be down, they might only go down when the alarm was triggered, so they couldn't make any hard plans yet.
"Look like we jus' wing it, eh cher?"
"It does look like that. But it can't be too hard for a couple of master thieves like us, right?" Amanda took a pad of paper out of her purse, and a pen, and started writing down all the things they would need for the heist. When she was done, she showed it too her partner and he approved the list.
"Ok, so, we all set now?"
"I would say so." They started on their way out of the room, following backward the path they wanted to take to the Amulet Room. In the lobby area before the exhibit entrance, there was a huge window overlooking the common room. It was the perfect entrance.
"Dere's de way we get in, cher." Gambit pointed to the window. Amanda nodded.
"Absolutely. You know, the architect who designed this place wasn't thinking about thieves when he made the plans. Any amateur could get in."
"Which make it perfect f' us."
Just then, Logan and Jubilee came out of the exhibit across the room, the Native American Art exhibit. Jubilee saw Gambit and Amanda and went running towards them. Logan followed more slowly.
"Hey petite." Gambit said as she stopped breathlessly in front of them. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah! We saw all kinds of neat things!" She looked at Logan, who had stopped behind her. "Didn't we!"
"Yeah sure, kid." He looked at Gambit and Amanda. "Did ya find the Amulet?"
"Yes. And it will be a piece of cake to steal it. Who ever designed this place certainly had no idea of what he was doing." Amanda said. "We just need a few things, but I think I have them all, so we're set."
"Ok. As long as it's that easy." He looked down at Jubilee. She looked anxious to get going. "We got more museum to see, so, we'll leave you to get ready. C'mon kid." He went past Gambit and Amanda and headed towards the Mayan Artifacts exhibit, with Jubilee trailing behind him.
