14250/Night at the Museum Spiders Come to See 'Em

Night at the Museum Spiders Come to See 'Em
Date of Scene:	25 February 2023
Location:	Museum
Synopsis:	Kaine and Felicia have a run-in over a museum heist. MJ just happens to be on duty as a security guard. After a bit of back and forth, the two finally agree to cooperate. No red-heads were harmed.
Cast of Characters:	Mary Jane Watson, Kaine Parker, Felicia Hardy

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Mary Jane Watson has posed:
It was a very, very late night in a museum. With various artifacts on loan from some Eastern European countries and Italy. For whatever reason, SHIELD thought there was something else in the museum that someone might be after -a mongst the bits of Italian paintings and statues on display. So that meant that a gumble detail had been dispatched to patrol. That meant Mary Jane, in uniform, with a flashlight at her side in the dim lights

Kaine Parker has posed:
The skillset inherited from his progenitor and perhaps on some spiritual level from the spider totem herself has many useful applications. If you are Peter, you apply these responsibly, guided by the memory of dear guardian. If you are Kaine, you apply these in acts of survival and competition for resources.

For the contract, he operated as Kaine to avoid confusion for Ben and Peter. His last interaction with the Scarlet Spider left him a little remiss on what he should be using as a moniker. He lacked a real identity anyway, for him everything is an alias.

So he finds himself in the museum wearing his red and black costume prowling on the ceiling, his first prey are the security cameras. Crawling to the first of likely many, he attaches a device provided by his employer by clipping two alligator clips to a pair of wires. It's the same old trick, record a time period where there's no movement, and play it on loop.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Of course, a purveyor of fine art like a certain Black Cat is going to be getting a good look at some fine Italian paintings. Of course, she's heard on the grapevine that one of the paintings hides something a little extra~ If she can get ahold of the right portrait and take it home, she'll be able to sell the special bit for a good payday -and- keep a nice work of art for herself. Felicia so does enjoying having her cake and eating it, too!

    So she's here, slinking her way inside, spending time liesurely picking locks and disabling other devices. The alarms are always a fun thing to play with, though perhaps this exhibit doesn't have the latest arming patches. How droll.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And wholly unaware of anyone else around there, Mary Jane is doing her flashlight patrol. Sonja's not even bothering to rouse herself tonight - this sort of duty is beneath her and seh's not going to bother in the slightest with it. So that means that Mary Jane is mostly on her own with none of the stealth or instincts that comes from Sonja's long history.
    It's fairly easy to track her by the flashlight - why are the inside lights so dim in the first place? Convention.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Two criminals doing criminal things leads to the awkward moment where both arrive at the same alarm requiring disablement. He descends on a web-line and makes the classic 'psst' noise to get her attention.

He then whispers, "Alright, if you hired me, I'm pissed, because you are early. If you didn't hire me, I'm pissed because we are working the same place. Either way, start explaining yourself."

While waiting for a reply, a beam of light enters the room. He mentally swears and then zips himself back up onto the ceiling to avoid MJ's patrol.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Unfortunately, Felicia doesn't have spidey-senses. She's got night vision, super strength, a sharp mind for traps and security, and a great ass. But nothing in there helps her detect Spider-Men from doing a Mission Impossible descent above her. So she glances up as she disables the device and frowns up at Kaine, fingers clenching. "...I work alone, darling, and if you're here for the same thing I am.." she tsks, and then smiles. "...deal with it."

    She glances up as she sees the light and shakes her head, curling and uncurling her gloved fingers and putting some distance between herself, Kaine, and the security guard--whom she can already tell has a very familiar face. "Well tonight just got more interesting.." she says, amused.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
The light goes on ahead, and Mary Jane isn't thinking to look up. This is incredibly repetitive, she's been at it for five hours, and she feels asleep on her feet. How exactly she got stuck in this duty is having annoyed someone higher up in the ranks. So looking very, very slow and haggard, the flashlight sweeps around again, and Mary Jane heads along one of the other areas.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine's eyes narrow behind his mask at Felicia's snark. He doesn't allow her to put much distance between them following because she's a 'problem' give the circumstances. When he recognizes MJ, he acknowledged yet another problem.

When MJ continues along her her route, he once more descends upon the cat burglar and mutters, "You should have lied. Would have made things less complicated. Here's the rub, my client paid to have the way cleared. I need you to not be in the way."

"We should figure something out, or I'm tying you up for the redhead." He then adds, "I'll handle the cameras while you think on it."

Upwards he ascends again deftly moving into the next room, hidden above from MJ while he preps the next camera.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Kaine will find that Felicia has no patience for talk, especially when she's at work. Perhaps rudely, she'll just keep on moving towards the Italian artifact section, laughing softly. "I'd love to see you try~" she quips. "But thank you for doing all the work for me~" she adds when he's moving up to work on the next camera. Not that she trusts him to do it, now that she's a wildcard for him to worry about. Is she worried about Kaine? Not at all. She never worries. Or, at least, that's what she tells herself.

    "Always a spider causing me trouble..." she tsks softly. She does lack the ability to stick to walls, however, so this does leave her requiring side passages and the main museum floor to get around. Thank goodness for the abundance of shadows.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Well, she's not aware that anyone is there and going to have some fun with things. Of course Sonja might be aware, but tonight she's definitely not sharing anything to Mary Jane. Ther'es just the shuffle of Mary Jane walking through the rest o fthe level, flashlight flickering occasionally as she would walk on her patrol, seeming even more dead on her feet.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine grows irritated by Felicia's lack of willingness to cooperate. He lurks above as they draw nearer to the Italian artifact exhibit. Working on yet another camera, he inspects it and carefully removes a screw.

Knowing Felicia is around and having the advantageous vantage point, she's easy for him to spot again. In a fit of spite, he rears back his hand and tosses the screw. It hits a tile right next to her with a loud 'CLACK'.

Quickly, he scurries through an arch way to an adjacent room and positions himself to observe if MJ takes the bait and maybe catches a cat in the process.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    CLACK. Felicia freezes and presses against a wall, rolling her eyes. "No honor amongst thieves, clearly..." she tsks quietly. She stares up at the retreating form of Kaine and narrows those eyes. A long, low exhale and she focuses, seeing if she can't simply cause the Spider to have a little trouble with her manipulation on the threads of fate. A little Black Cat bad luck sent Kaine's way for crossing her path.

    Despite the inconvenience, though, she smirks. So much for the 'milk run', it just makes tonight that much more... interesting.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And then Mary Jane is swearing over as she hears it. She's been around this place enough to know that noises don't come out of nowhere. She goes to take out a small radio and goes to report in <<Hearing noise around current location. Investigating>> Presuming that either are in range to see it they can tell she's speaking into the small radio. Rahter than just wirting it off as a noise.
    So she's moving to quickly head along in the direction where the screw came from.. Then the flashlight clicks off.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine is already experiencing bad luck by both Black Cat and MJ's presence in the museum. That bad luck is compounded when MJ's light switches off. Because that is exactly what he didn't need to have happen.

He also underestimated MJ's adherence to protocol, not expecting her to radio in the disturbance. Still, he considers his options, a brewing irritation growing in the back of his mind.

Professionalism kicks in. He taps his ear and whispers into a subvocal mic. "Black Cat is in the museum. You paid me for normal security. Fee goes up, or we call it and I keep the retainer. Your call."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Of course Felicia doesn't carry a pocket radio jammer. She might add that to her list of toys to pack in her pouches. For now, though, she's already slipping way towards a darker corner, to hide behind a bit of statuary or a sculpture. With any luck, she may simply be able to get around behind MJ... And with her night vision contacts, all's the easier.

    Not that easy is quite so -fun-, however. She idly taps her claws on her palm, watching, waiting, and finding herself feeling quite patient. No sense jumping the gun. She'd missed Red, after all~

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And there's some sounds coming along towards Felicia. Mary Jane is quiet, but not supernaturally so. She doesn't have night vision goggles and she's keeping her light offj ust in case as it makes her harder to track if there is something. She knows the layout well enough to not bump into anything and to tell if something stands out..
    But she doesn't have the virtually supernatural stealthiness of the Black Cat,a nd walks past her totally unaware.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine prowls his way back into the same room as the pair, carefully navigating the ceiling. However, he underestimates the physical integrity of a patch of ceiling. Evidently, a week before a plaster patch had been applied to some of the ornate decorations on the ceiling. The craftsmanship was shoddy and more importantly didn't hold up to Kaine's weight.

The danger of the fall immediately registers and his uncanny reflexes kick it, but this doesn't prevent the chunk of plaster from following to the ground. It crumbles on impact and sends a scattering of debris along the floor. It's loud if not odd sounding.

Meanwhile, Kaine finds himself attached to a large glass case, having weblines himself to avoid the fall himself. The glass gives a sharp 'crack', and he sighs. Rotten luck.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Just as planned, even if it was improvised. She's continuing to be patient, though, waiting for MJ to pass by, waiting for something else. She closes her eyes for a moment, listening carefully. And there it is. The sound of something cracking, things falling from the ceiling. Felicia allows herself a smile, then silently clucks her tongue in her mouth. This is why you don't cross a black cat's path. Or in this case, a Black Cat.

    With the noises giving away the fact that MJ is definitely not alone, she starts to push ahead, to slip past Red and into the exhibit she's actually looking for. Wouldn't do to get caught up in whatever little scuffle comes from this. She glances up over her shoulder, casting a smile at Kaine, making sure that he can see her before one bright eye winks at him. Was this her doing? Maybe~

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
And there's another swear along from Mary Jane as she goes to ehar other things. Yup.. Clattering somewhere else <<Unknown on site>> That's spoken over into the radio as she goes to pass along a warning. OF course, it was late night duty and just some noises along a museum with a low priority tag might not get an immedaite response, if at all.
    Mary Jane is going along quietly, trying to sweep ahead towards where she heard things. Inwardly cursing at how useless she is here while Sonja is laughing and laughing, offering no help

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine glares daggers at Felicia as she casts that smile at him. That might have been a miscalculation on her part. The blacksheep of the Spider family has a temper and a vindictive streak. The chip on his shoulder is big.

A moment later, he's back on the ceiling and crawling his way on Black Cat's path. He murmurs something into his mic, continuing a conversation with his employer. He debates the merit of creating more of a disturbance. That same infuriating smile comes to mind.

He zips to speed up his progress and perches above the painting of mutual interest. He whispers again, "Can we call off the tricks and try negotiating again? Or does this have to get messy?"

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Truth be told, Felicia hadn't actually known the exact artpiece was in need. She might've just been happy enough to take her pick of any of them. There's some lovely pieces here. Poor Mary Jane back behind them, missing the fun! "...well thank you for pinpointing the prize," Felicia purrs as she steps closer to Kaine and the painting.

    Then she simply shrugs, "...really quite depends on what you want out of it, darling. I'm here for this, for my private collection... it's not often you see a lovely piece by Artemisia Gentileschi here in New York..." she says, that winning smile still firmly in place.

    "...As for whatever's embedded in the back of it or the /frame/... because surely your friend on the radio isn't an art collector..." she swirls her finger in the vague direction of Kaine's head. "...is probably worth more than the piece itself, mmm?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Sweeping along in the back goes Mary Jane, darting along. Not aware just -what- the brekaing and enterers are after means she has to go along the entire area. Well, she still thinks there's just one. And she hasn't seen them so far. So she really can't do much more but sweep at a faster pace and hopes she runs into them doing somehting.

Aware that she could be on the wrong end of things, all she can do is reprot in and wait for backup to be sent - if it's coming and they don't decide it's just her mind going nuts from inactivity. She's audible now moving at a fast jog.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine crosses his arms and commence negotiation, "I only know enough to do the job, and the job was to clear the way to this painting. It's safe to say, you are right. The price for my help would definitely cut into the profits of a normal art theft. One moment."

He speaks murmurs into his radio, "Black Cat wants the painting. Is that a deal breaker?"

His head tilts to the side as he listens. "They want the frame. You can keep the rest?"

He points, "And I'll help you collect anything else you want on the way out. Deal?"

His gaze glides toward the sound of the fast footfalls of MJ. "If there's a counter-offer, make it quick."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Felicia waits, then laughs softly, "...such a good little puppy you are..." She sighs, shaking her head, "...normally I wouldn't compromise on this but I really have had it up to here spend my nights playing with Spider-Boys.." she tsks softly. "But I'm not interested in getting in a fight. Whatever your little gangland friends want with it isn't any of ~my~ business."

    She then turns away from the wall, sauntering away from the painting, only to look over her shoulder. "But let's play. Bring the painting up to the roof, and..." she points a slender finger at a glass case studded with locks and probably alarms, full of necklaces. "...that lovely Peruzzi necklace... I've got a girlfriend it would look positively dashing on..." she lifts her hand and extends her claws. "Do that and I'll take care of our... mutual friend if she works her way back here. Besides, you've got the better kit for staying high and dry," she concedes as she nods to the ceiling.

    Spider-powers are so much quieter than grappling hooks.

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine's expression is blissfully hidden by his mask, but its likely he doesn't care for the puppy moniker. Desperation for funds is keeping him compliant. He follows her finger to the glass case that is studded with locks and alarms.

He growls, "Deal."

At the mentioning of a girlfriend, Felicia gets a cursory sweep of his gaze. The women exudes sensuality. There's a very brief moment of jealously for whoever is waiting which he promptly dismisses with a slap to his masked cheek.

Kaine is not a skilled burglar, but he seems to have one in his ear. He disarms the security measures on the painting and then transitions to the case. A glass does happen to be one of his commonly used tools. After an inspection, makes a few careful cuts and manages to fish the desired necklace out with a strand of web.

The painting, he webs to his back, and then proceeds to follow the rest of the instructions, clambering his way to an stairwell and eventually sneaking his way onto the roof to wait.

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    A woman like Felicia probably has multiple girlfriends. Or friends. Or 'friends'. Or any number of various monikers. Let alone her alter-ego out of the mask. "Wonderful, thank you very much~" she states and winks before slipping off into the shadows. There is, of course, a little extra sway of her hips. Is it a tease, or is it a thanks? Regardless, she just about melts into the shadows.

    She's off into the rest of the facility, making sure that any further patrols are given the slip--or a distraction. But it isn't too long until she's up at the roof. With the cold weather in New York, she's not showing off her upper half. Instead, that (in)famous zipper is zipped up to her throat, the warm fur of her collar keeping her neck nicely toasty. "There."

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine waits in the cold for Black Cat's eventually emergence. A couple of times, he rests his hands on his torso and channels heat into his body. Realizing he should be making the most of his time, he's tracing a finger along the frame when the cat burglar arrives.

There's a smell of scorched wood and warmed glue. He carefully begins removing the frame leaving the stretched canvas.

With a free hand, he tosses the necklace toward Felicia. "Hope that pleases the girlfriend."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    Felicia runs her fingers through her hair once she's out up top. She snatches the necklace as it's tossed and smiles, looking it over. "Oh I'm sure she'll love it... and I'm not even the one who stole it, too~" she says with a playful tone. "As far as the painting..." she takes a deep breath, cold air and the scent of.. hot glue?

    "Mmm... lovely scent, that... you're no stranger to stealing art now, are you?" she asks, sounding genuinely curious. "I do hope whatever is in that frame is worth your trouble, though. Saves me the trouble of finding a buyer for it, too.."

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine looks over his shoulder to Felicia and adds in a clipped tone, "I'm not an art thief, I've just got one in my ear, and I'm good at following directions. It helps that we don't care about the painting itself... but if I can limit the damage, I might as well try."

He has MJ's words echoing in his ear from a couple of days ago. The canvas is freed. He sets it against a wall. "That's yours if you want it."

Listening to more instructions, he raises the frame over his head and then smashes it down on the roof. He rummages through the remains until he identifies a chip which he tucks away.

"Otherwise, we can leave it, and the museum can put it back on display." He stands and brushes small wood debris off his suit. "Well, that's done."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    "Again, appreciated," she says softly and takes a look over the painting. She carefully picks it up, holding it in both hands. "Well done," she then adds. "Perhaps in the future we can work together again, mm? Only maybe without playing pointless games with each other. Not every time will we be looking for the same prize, either..."

    She turns to head towards the roof edge. "I do wonder if I know your little friend in your ear, though... world is too small for us art thieves to not bump shoulders..."

Kaine Parker has posed:
Kaine nods to her, "I'm willing to partner up for the right payout, and I would prefer not to deal with the complications of being on your bad side."

He shrugs, "Maybe you do, but I won't be the one to reveal my client's identity... even if I knew it. No clues or hints from me."

He abruptly laughs, "And, they just hung up on me. So, I'm guessing they don't want you to know either."

From within his suit, he retrieves a card. "Here are the contact details for my current broker. You want a spider on your side they can arrange it."

He shoots it on a glob of web at her feet then turns and fires off a line, "I'm particularly good at removing problems. If someone is bugging you, this spider doesn't mind taking care of business."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
    "Oh I'm sure they know me -plenty- already..." Felicia laughs, leaning down to pick up the card. "We'll see then, Spider," she states as she carefully wipes off the goo. "And I'm not hard to find if you need an extra pair of hands to help you with some heavy lifting..." there's a grin. "Stay warm out there, Spider. It's still awfully cold..."

    And then she's firing off a grapple as well, in the opposite direction of Kaine's. Two strange thieves in the night, back to their lairs.