Chapter 16

The Natural History Museum of New York City was a grand building that was built in 1890 and was one of the biggest museums in the world. Its grand walls had seen its fair share of history since it had been built. Within the walls was a rich assortment of history. Within the walls was the bones of long extinct animals from dinosaurs to early man before they discovered fire and made the wheel. There was relics from the Ancient World from China, Egypt, Rome and South America. There was also within the walls more recent history that had happened in the world. There were the uniforms of the American Civil War to some weapons from that war. There was also some weapons and maps from the two World Wars along with the names of the young men from New York who had travelled to Europe in both wars.

The receptionist in the beginning of her shift had thought the day would be like any other day. She would go in to work about 8:30 in the morning to get her desk set up and to drink the hot chocolate that she had bought from the Starbucks across the road. That was her morning routine before she started her shift. She had thought that once that was finished the day would be quite after that until the back of her shift which would be around 2pm so that her workmate could start his shift.

But that was the case for today. She had not even sat at her desk when a big monster had smashed his way into the main floor of the museum. Ducking underneath the table she held her hot chocolate close as the gorilla stomped over the floor. His big feet and knuckles that he walked on made such horrible noises as he stalked closer to where she was hiding. Holding her breathe she prayed that one of the Avengers would come in through the doors that the monster had probably destroyed. Holding her breath, she nearly made a noise when she heard someone else walk into the museum.

"Leatherback you know what you have to do here?" asked a well-educated voice that had a strong German accent.

A grunt was heard and the receptionist ducked deeper under her desk. She had to hold her hand across her mouth when she saw a massive foot slam into the floor only a few feet away from her head. She could see the grey foot through the legs of her office chair that was ducked in close to her table.

"I understand! Keep the heroes focused on me while you go to London to find your book!" came the reply from the brutish monster. The monster that had not yet seen her.

The receptionist held her hot chocolate close to her. She hoped that they didn't see the steam coming from the warm drink. The warm drink that she drank to wake her up in the early morning.

"Good, now see to it that you do not fail me!" the man said before he walked away. The receptionist heard the clicking of his shoes against the laminated floor as he walked through the chaos with little care. He just reached the door before he was simple gone. He had not even gone through the door. He was just simple gone.

Leatherback snorted which caused the museum worker to duck even further under the table. Leatherback stomped out of the main lobby of the museum leaving the receptionist alone under the table who took a deep breath out when the danger was passed. Rising from her hiding spot she picked up her hot chocolate. Placing the hot drink onto her desk she sorted out her uniform that had got messed up from her hiding under her desk. Picking up her hot chocolate she was about to take a drink out of it but was stopped when someone grabbed her arm. The hot drink was dropped to the floor from the reaction and the hot liquid was splattered across the polished laminated floor. She hadn't even had a chance to drink the hot chocolate this morning and it was already on the floor. She wasn't even given a warning when a warm hand covered her mouth to keep her silent. She struggled to get out of the persons grip only to find the grip getting tighter.

"What are you doing here?" came the voice of the person who was holding her. He had and English accent and as he spoke his grip got tighter.

Grapping the man's hand she tried to force it off her mouth so that she could speak. "Edward, let her go! If you have your hand over her mouth she won't be able to speak!" came another voice. This time it was a female voice with a Scottish accent. The newcomer walked up to the receptionists view and stopped before her. Nightshade nodded her head at Edward who instantly let her go. Studying the museum worker who had seen enough already in the morning Nightshade gave Edward a hand gesture for him to stay behind her. She didn't want to freak the women out. "If I were you I would take the day off! I am sure your boss will understand after seeing the news later today! So maybe you could go to a café here in the city or see a friend! I am sure Christmas is coming up and it might be wise to start shopping for that!" she said to the worker who was trembling. "Well on you go! I can tell that you don't want to be here any longer than you need to be!" she said shooing the women away.

Standing her ground, she faced the other women who was wearing the strange hat. "Not until you tell me what is going on, ma'am!" she said in the best calm voice she could muster for what she had already been through. She had learned how to speak to people in a calm voice from so many years of working as a receptionist at a busy museum.

Nightshade looked at Edward who only shrugged as he kept standing behind the museum worker. "Animal control!" was all she said before she turned on her heel. "Now go and do something far better than asking us how we do our job!" she shouted over her shoulder as she walked away and followed the destruction that Leatherback had left in his wake as he went to get something.

"You don't look like animal controllers!" she shouted at Nightshade before she walked out of sight at the archway that lead to the Ancient Empires of the World.

Nightshade stopped suddenly as she looked back round to face the women who had questioned her. "Edward see to it that she finds the door out and then join me once that is done!" she said to Edward before turning back to catch up with Leatherback.

"But what happens if she keeps coming in?" Edward asked as he took the workers shoulders as he lead her towards the door.

"Then keep doing it until she gets bored! Humans have short attention spans! Trust me after an hour of doing it she will be bored and would have gone home!" came the reply from further down the corridor.

Edward stopped but his grip on the worker didn't loosen. "An hour! How could anyone do that?" he asked himself before pushing her onward again. He had never done anything that lasted more than an hour. The doors were just right before them when the receptionist finally broke free. "What do you think you are doing?" he asked as she spun around to face him. Upon seeing what he looked like she was already running out of the door and into the street. Groaning to himself and shaking his head at the usual response that he got from humans he ran after Nightshade. Little did he know that the receptionist had pecked her head through the door that he had left unlocked. She watched as the zombie wearing military uniform ran into the corridor that went straight to the Ancient Egyptian section of the museum.

Looking over her shoulder as if expecting another monster to appear she made her mind up. Stepping through the open door she tiptoed in. She never expected to ever want to go back into work when someone told her to leave, but this sort of thing never happened to her very much. She had been working when that alien army had dropped out of the sky that the Avengers fought. She could only take cover with the other workers of the museum along with any visitors while that fight was going on just outside. But this time she was going to see what was going on. Bringing out her phone from her jackets pocket and checked that it had plenty of battery before she sneaked towards the Ancient Egyptian section of the museum. Her heals clicked against the laminated floor until she had enough that she took them off. Her feet that were only covered in her tights slipped all over the place as she tiptoed closer to the Ancient Egyptians. She always found this place scary. She didn't know why. Maybe it was because of the two Mummies that they had on display. It may have also been the other items that they had on display especially that letter that was supposedly written by the High Priest Imhotep.

Coming to a corner she slowed down. She was not in any hurry to come face to face with the scaly monster and the zombie too quickly. She had seen a lot of the Walking Dead TV series to know what to do when a zombie was close by. She was prepared to call the police who may call the Avengers. She also didn't want to come face to face with that monster who had first appeared with that German man. The lady who was with them was something else. She didn't look to old, maybe somewhere in her late teens or even in her early twenties. Maybe she was older than she looked, and she wanted to ask how she kept good care of her skin when dealing with zombies and monsters.

Keeping her back against the wall she slowly walked towards the first display of the Ancient Egyptian exhibit. Looking past, the pillar that supported the ceiling many feet above her head she was not expected to see what she saw. A giant scaly gorilla stood tall and proud before the zombie and the young women. The two had brought out their weapons. The girl had a cutlass that was painted night black while the zombie held a massive axe in both hands. The two were circling around the monster waiting for the right moment to strike. The receptionist ducked in behind one of the exhibits as she got her phone out again. Activating her camera, she set it to record and angled it towards the three fighters.

Leatherback stood in the middle as the two Argentix's circled around him like a couple of sharks. "Nightshade, I see that you have hardly changed!" he sneered when Nightshade was in front of him. His cracked lips formed a smiled when Nightshade hissed through bared teeth, something that humans didn't do. "I take it the years have been got to you?" he asked just before she disappeared behind him and Edward was before him. "Ah, Edward! How is my friend! I hope there is no bad feelings for you losing your fight against Seth?" he sneered at Edward only for him to growl at him. "Well you two are in such bad moods today!" he laughed unaware of the camera filming them and posting it live on Facebook.

Nightshade stopped when she returned to being in front of Leatherback, while Edward had taken a step back to prevent him from getting away again. "Stop playing this game, Leatherback! We are both tired of your game! Where is Seth and what is his plans!" she hissed at Leatherback.

Leatherback sneered at Nightshade. Baring his sharp teeth at her he looked down at her. "This is a game Nightshade. You have to solve the riddle that Seth has given you and once you have solved the riddle you will be a step closer to defeating him!" he replied still showing his sharp teeth at her.

"Enough of this!" Edward snapped as he raised his axe preparing to strike Leatherback. The axe got stuck in Leatherback's back as the giant gorilla screamed in pain. This was enough for Nightshade to leap in. Her cutlass sliced through the top layer of skin. The ape tried to swipe at her back Nightshade had already moved out of the way. With Leatherback focused on Nightshade Edward could wipe out his axe from Leatherback's back.

Leatherback screamed in pain when the axe was ripped from his exposed back. Swinging round to smash Edward only to find that he was gone and soon he found Nightshade's cutlass cut up his spine. Hissing in pain he found Edward where Nightshade was only a matter of seconds ago. The zombies green fist smashed into his face causing Leatherback to take a few steps back from the force.

Edward and Nightshade came back to standing next to each other.

Leatherback regained his balance before glaring at the two. Baring his sharp teeth at them he started bashing his hands against his chest. He was about to run towards them when a hammer smashed into his chest sending him crashing into the wall behind him. The hammer shot past Edward forcing him to duck to avoid getting another head wound.

"Avengers Assemble!"