More characters, folks! MY characters, that is. Enjoy this bit of...stuff. And you'd better not get tired of original characters...cuz guess what...there's gonna be more.
Security guard, George Seaton, checked his watch. He hated his job. It was boring, lasted long hours, and didn't pay well. He looked around. He had only the countless paintings of contorted people and flat landscapes to keep him company in this museum.
He sighed. He was just about ready to drift off to sleep when he heard a low, belch-like voice blurt out what he thought sounded like "dirt".
"Great, now I'm hearing things," George muttered to himself. He began to walk towards the sound. He reached a large room filled with precious sculptures and a few potted plants. He turned on his flashlight. It was difficult to see in the museum at night.
Behind him, something crawled out of the potted plant and landed with a thud on the floor. George spun around, pointing the flashlight at the floor. What he saw turned his stomach over many times.
He was looking at a creature about the size of a housecat. It was slimy-looking and had six tentacles, two of which were held like a dog uses its front paws to beg. The revolting being had its mouth open, revealing an exceptionally long tongue which was hanging out. It would have looked like a dog if it weren't for it's slimy skin and its large, single, yellow eye.
The being seemed to smile as George removed his pistol from his belt slowly. Without warning, the being's tongue shot back into its mouth and it began to scurry away. George took off after it while pulling his two-way radio from his belt.
"This is guard six!" he shouted into the radio, "There's something down in the Sculpture Area!"
He knew he had at least a minute before another guard found him. Until then he would have to keep the little, slimy nuisance in his sight. Unfortunately, that was a little easier said than done. The gross little creature was quick and kept climbing onto sculptures.
"We're going to need more than two people down here," he said into his radio, "And make it quick!"
Nyoko Kotara watched the hallway from the vent in the ceiling. The guard below her received a message from his radio about something in the Sculpture Area...the other side of the museum.
The guard didn't move until the second message came through the radio. He walked away down the hallway. As soon as he was out of sight, she opened the grate and slid out onto the floor. She pushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face and moved quietly towards the other side of the hallway.
She reached another room and looked up at the vent in the ceiling.
"Tony!" she hissed. A moment later, a spectacled face appeared in the vent.
Tony Mardolino removed the grate and lifted Nyoko into the vent.
"Sludge is keeping the guards busy," Nyoko told him, "We should have plenty of time."
"That's good," Tony said in his slight Italian accent, "According to the map on my laptop, the room we're looking for is only a hallway away."
Tony indicated his laptop screen.
"Let's keep going then," Nyoko instructed.
They continued through the ventilation system until they reached another grate. Tony lifted the grate and set it aside. He then pulled the laptop from his coat. His coat was very large and sported some huge pockets.
"According to the layout," Tony said quietly, "there are security beams throughout the room, crisscrossing in unsystematic locations."
"All you have to do is look to see that," Nyoko said impatiently. Sometimes Tony's computer skills got on her nerves.
"Of course," Tony said apologetically, "I'll take care of it."
Besides being an expert with computers, Tony had the mutant ability to create voids in the atmosphere. Anything inside these voids while they were created were temporarily put out of existence. After creation, anything that wasn't there before could enter the void without difficulty.
Tony reached out his hand towards the glass box in the middle of the room. The top of the box disappeared along with all the beams above it. The ends of the beams could still be seen where they had been cut off by the cylindrical void.
"Time to do it the old fashioned way," Tony pulled a rope from his pocket.
Nyoko let him tie it around her waist and tighten it.
"That should hold," Tony took the other end of the rope in his hands, "Ready?"
Nyoko nodded slipped through the opening and into the void. The discontinued beams had once made her nervous. That was back when she had first become a burglar. As the years went by, she became more and more accustomed to the tasks, especially after she met Tony. Tony had made things much easier in terms of stealing precious items.
Nyoko reached into the glass box and lifted the sparkling emerald from its small stand. She placed it in the pouch on her belt and gave the hand signal for Tony to pull her up. A few moments later, Tony was untying the rope and placing it back in his coat pocket.
"How much do you think it's worth?" Nyoko showed him the emerald.
"I'll check," Tony responded, immediately typing on his laptop, "It depends on where we sell it. If we sell it to a museum other than here the options are almost endless. If we sell it on the Black Market the options are limited."
"We'll figure it out later," Nyoko handed Tony the emerald for him to place in his pocket, "Now let's get Sludge."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Tony brought the museum layout onto the laptop screen again, "All we have to do is follow the ventilation system until we reach the closest computerized sign. Once we're there, I can program it to display a message to Sludge. Sludge is quite intelligent. He'll figure it out."
Intelligent was a good word to describe Sludge. Sludge was enjoying himself, evading the countless guards chasing him. He would occasionally hide around a corner and wait for a guard to approach...then wrap his tongue around the unfortunate guard's legs and trip him, creating a pileup behind him.
Sludge had just hidden himself behind the head of a distorted statue, when a frustrated guard walked past him. Just as he had planned, Sludge popped out from behind the statue and landed on the guard's head. The rest of the guards pointed their pistols at Sludge.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" the guard with Sludge on his head waved his arms frantically to keep from being shot.
Sludge licked the guard's face and shot off into the darkness of the museum once more. An automated sign caught his single eye. It read: GET OUTSIDE!!! Sludge instantly understood and scurried to the two exit doors where he hid behind a large vase. The guards came rushing into the room, stopping by the doors to look at the programmed sign.
"What's that supposed to mean?" one of the guards asked.
"It's probably some advertisement for the nature exhibit and someone just left it on," another guard said.
Sludge licked the leg of the guard closest to him. The guard, being caught by surprise, whirled around, startling most of the other guards.
"There it is!!!" the guard yelled.
Sludge opened his mouth and spit in the guard's face.
"Agh!!" the guard stumbled backward into the other guards.
"Stop pushing!" the other guards pushed the guard back towards Sludge. The guard tripped and fell, knocking the glass door open. Sludge quickly slipped out the door and into the night.
Magneto stood on a street corner watching the museum. Around him stood Gambit, Pietro, Toad, and Photon. The museum showed no signs of being active.
"Are you sure this is the right building?" Toad asked, obviously bored.
"Scanners show one Japanese female and one Italian male on the second floor," Photon reported, having transformed his hand into a heat scanner, "Scanners also show a large number of American males and an unclassified creature on the first floor."
"This is the right building," Magneto insisted, "All we must do is wait."
"Waiting is right up there with showers," Toad muttered, "I hate them both."
Seven minutes later, a grate on the side of the museum opened and a dark shadow jumped from the opening. It turned and helped a second dark shadow from the vent.
"Our wait is over," Magneto smiled, "Let us greet them."
"Be ready to gather the rest of the troops if we're in need of puissance dans les nombres," Gambit reminded Pietro.
"Can't understand French, but I know what you mean," Pietro replied.
As soon as Tony set her down, Nyoko realized that someone else was near.
"Someone's coming," she said, staring into the darkness beyond the streetlights.
Tony looked up and squinted into the shadows, "I do hear footsteps. You don't suppose it's the cops, do you?"
"Cops always come with their sirens blaring," Nyoko shook her head, "It doesn't matter. We can defend ourselves."
A group of five people stepped into the light. The leading figure wore some sort of dark red armor with a matching cape and helmet. To his right, there was a slim figure with silvery white hair and another figure that seemed to be hopping instead of walking. On the lead figure's left, there was a man wearing a large overcoat accompanied with a pair of glowing, red eyes. To his left, there was what looked like a robot. The group stopped with a few feet in between themselves and the burglars.
"Good evening," the first figure stated.
"Buona sera," Tony returned the greeting, knowing Nyoko wouldn't.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the lead figure spoke again, "I am Magneto and I have a proposal for you."
"How do you even know if we're the ones your looking for?" Nyoko asked, menacingly.
The robotic man spoke, "You meet the descriptions of Nyoko Kotara a.k.a. Riptide and Anthony Mardolino a.k.a. Vortex."
"Indeed you are the ones I am looking for," Magneto continued, "I am aware that you are both expert burglars. Excellent traits for a normal human being. But as you and I already know, you are mutants like myself and my colleagues."
At that moment, Sludge rounded the corner, spotted his masters, and climbed his way to Nyoko's shoulder.
"Meet Sludge," Tony explained while Sludge began to pant like a dog, "Our loyal accomplice and friend."
The figure furthest to Magneto's right left its crouching position and stood up.
"Hey, man! Check out his tongue!" the figure pointed to Sludge, "He's like a mini-me!"
"Shut up, Toad," the white-haired figure pushed the one called Toad back to his crouching position.
"As to my proposal," Magneto went on, silencing the squabble, "I would be honored if the three of you would join my Brotherhood of Mutants. It is an organization that is for the support of mutant safety. Sympathy for normal human beings cannot be found in this association.
Magneto paused for any response. When there was none, he continued, "The Brotherhood is facing hard times. We recently lost a few of our members. We have also learned of an enemy that plans to attack us. This enemy is building his army as we must do now. I would be deeply honored if you would join us."
Tony glanced at Nyoko. She made no response. He opened his mouth to say something when there was an angry voice from far behind them.
"It had to have come this way!!" it was the guards.
"Pietro," Magneto made a hand gesture to the white-haired figure.
The one called Pietro disappeared in a blur towards the opposite direction.
"They're looking for Sludge," Nyoko said to no one.
"Let us take care of these humans for you," Magneto offered without waiting for an answer.
In the next moment, Pietro had come back followed not so quickly by a group of nine other men. That group rounded the corner and charged the guards. Shocked and frightened by the sudden attack, as well as the group's looks, the guards didn't stay long.
After staring at the nine attackers, Nyoko and Tony turned back to Magneto.
"We may be strong, but the variety of power always interests us," Magneto gave a slight smile.
"I suppose we could join you," Tony said hesitantly, "Although we don't like too much publicity."
"I cannot guarantee that we will keep out of public eyes," Magneto told them, "But we can do our best."
"Ce sera un plaisir de travailler avec vous," the man with the overcoat held out his hand.
"I know a greeting when I hear it," Tony smiled and took the man's hand.
"Remy LeBeau, but call me Gambit," the man winked at Nyoko, "Welcome to the Brotherhood, mes amis."
You like, no? Did you catch the little cameo thing in the beginning? Tell me if you did...I like to know. Oh, and for all of you who don't know what Travis looks like...you know, the student at Xavier's...he's called Flare...well, anyway, I have decided that he has red hair. Hahar!