14529/Let's do a National Treasure

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Let's do a National Treasure
Date of Scene: 28 March 2023
Location: Titan Tower, Metropolis
Synopsis: When a mysterious package arrives for Jinx, everyone immediately assumes Trap. Seems likely, but a fellowship is born and a treasure hunt is begun.
Cast of Characters: Jinx, Kate Bishop, Colette O'Connail




Jinx has posed:
The music is playing loud. At least for Jinx who has her ear buds in. Boxing is not exactly 'her thing' but the danger room is empty right now so she's going at it with one of the simplest simulations. It's kicking her butt. But really, this is just a workout for her - her physical violence usually comes in the form of magic.

This is also a form of anger management for Jinx. "Fuck," she says punching a fake person. "You," she does a spinning kick. "Hank!" The third NPC blocks her punch and knocks her back on to her butt.

A delivery man on a bike pulls up out front of Titan's Tower and presses the buzzer as he reaches in to his backpack and takes out a package. "Uh. Hello?" He looks up in to the camera and says, "Package for someone called.. Jinx?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate is in ops chair upstairs watching Jinx go at the dangeroom program from afar. She cleared the alert about Jinx trying to use the training simulations and monitored what kind of program is being run. Mostly so no overrides kicked in and she could get her frustrations out.

    That reminds her she needs to talk to Donna and Hank at some point.

    The delivery guy announcement causes her to make a pained noise, sort of like a high pitched complaint that an animal might make. "better not be a bomb..." she grumbles and kicks around to stand and keys the dangeroom to pause via her t-Comm. "Hey Jinx, delivery for you. Meet me in the lobby in case it is a surprise bomb."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Down in the lobby there's another visitor already. Not one who has to ring to get in because she has a pass, but not a member of the team either. Technically she's Kian's English teacher, though her relationship with the Titans is a lot more complicated than that.

    Also, when the others arrive down in the lobby, she's arguing with the delivery driver. And very obviously enjoying it.

    "Look, I'm just here to make the delivery. I've got other deliveries to make. Can you just take the damn package?" he calls through the doorway.

    Colette stands leant against the glass, examining her nails. "Do I look like it's my job to open doors?" she asks. "Because it's it's not."

    She drops her hand and looks through the door at the driver. "I mean I'd just /love/ to help you out," she tells him, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "But I mean it would just be rude for me to open their door for them and let some random stranger in. It's not /my/ door you know. Also I'd have to reach all the way over /there/"... her hand stretches out with wildly exaggerated effort towards the button that would cause the door to open, and hovers a fraction of an inch away from it. "And it's soooo far away. Honestly I'd love to help you out, but I couldn't really give a fuck."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx gets back on her feet. The simulation is easy so they don't advance on her and kick her while she's down. But she can't just toss magic about in the danger room to solve her problems and lately she has been very reserved in her use of magic. So this is the only way she'll get better - and fantasize about kicking Hank's butt.

As she moves in she lands a good blow on the NPC but he doesn't move at all. In fact, none of them. Then the message from Kate belows over the environmental speakers. She pokes a finger at the NPC's nose and says, "You.. I'll be back for you later."

Jinx catches up with Kate as they enter the lobby and says, "Really I should just stay back in case it -is- a bomb. You know, you're the hero - you're meant to protect people from this kind of shit."

She stares with wonder at Colette's overly dramatic depiction of the effort she'd have to go through to take the package waiting her and plants her hands on her hips. Her workout top is sweaty and her sweat pants are baggy. But the smile on her face grows exponentially.

"Whose this delicate wall flower?" Jinx asks Kate and strides forward. "I'm Jinx."

The delivery driver says, "Okay!" Finally he's getting somewhere. He holds out a tablet for Jinx to sign, "Signature right here please." She writes an X and he stares at it a moment, shrugs, then hands over the package to her.

"Do we have a bomb scanner or something Kate?" She rattles it a moment, then holds it up to her ear, "I hear they vibrate now instead of tick."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "Do I look bomb proof Jinx." she says sardonically. I mean she is in her Hawkeye gear, which is armored, but no she isn't bomb proof. Honestly.

    "Anyhow... you are ..." she pauses. "It is a delivery for you. Your mess. You get to be part of fixing whatever is about to go wrong." though she also slows to watch Colette torment the delivery guy. ""Hey Trouble." she calls to Colette. "You do know it might be a bomb right?" yeah she is mostly adding that to probably freak the delivery guy out while he is handing it off to Jinx. Not like it would worry Colette right. She seems unphasable.

    She glances around "Tower isn't going off like crazy, so no bomb actually, unless it is a very stealthy one. Though if it is a magic trap for you or cursed package.. eh can't say. Don't have magic curse scanners right." she smiles to Colette "Here for trouble?" still not introducing her to Jinx.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette rolls a little to the side, remaining slouched against the glass but giving way enough to allow the door to be opened and the packet fetched. The delivery driver gives her a dirty look as he hands over the package and retreats, which she entirely ignores. She watches Jinx for a while without comment, then turns to Kate.

    "You've got another one. How many Titans do you guys even need? Aren't there like four hundred of you already by now? Also, this one seems to be British. Unless she's one of those people who thinks putting on an accent makes them seem cooler."

    She bumps away from the wall to stand beside Kate, looking over the package curiously. "Trouble, me? Nah, never," she says. "Just here to drop off Kian's latest lesson plan. There's like bomb scanners built into the door or something, right? But I wouldn't rely on them."

     She looks up at Jinx. "Best way to deal with a mystery package is to blow it up. If it's a bomb, then that's what it wants to do anyway, so you're just helping out. If it's not a bomb... well so what, blowing it up would be fun."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx stares at Colette a second. "A - not a Titan. B - my accent does make me sound cooler." She smirks and tosses the package from hand to hand juggling it closer and closer to Kate. "Yeah I know it's not a bomb - look at the name."

She turns the box around to show the sender is Iama Hyditte. "Classic fake name. First used by the legendary treasure hunter Antonia Phillipe." She reaches over to Kate, resting a hand on her side with an eyebrow waggle trying to make her feel uncomfortable, then lifts a knife from her utility belt.

She turns away from Kate and cuts through the tape to open up the box. "And before you ask me. Not a clue who sent this to me or even knew I was here." Whoever sent it has been doing their research and that's never a good sign.

She pulls from the box a medallion on a cord necklace. She holds it up to the light and Turquoise flecks shine in the light of the otherwise now green metal, once copper. She stares at it in surprise. "No fucking way..."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate wiggles her fingers at the poor delivery driver as he flees. Then she turns back to Colette "She isn't a Titan yet. Though there is potential there." mostly to get under Jinx's skin. Though partially because she does think there is potential there.

    "Also if you count the associated teams.. Young Avengers.. West Coast Titans.. Great Lake Titans... Gotham Irregulars... Boston Beagles... a lot of us Colette. Be worried." yeah she made all but one of those up.

    "Nerd" is the comment at the history lesson and the knife pluck doesn't actually seem to make Kate uncomfortable. She just flicks her eyes down and then back up. "Be sure to throw yourself on the package if it is a bomb to save us bystanders Jinx." she deadpands.

    "No fucking way what?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette stares at Jinx again. "I am torn between congratulating you for having not been roped into this nonsense yet, and mocking your claim that it makes you sound cooler. It just makes you sound British. I'm gonna settle the cognitive dissonance caused by these two opposite reactions by ignoring it."

    "I'ma hide it?" Colette says with a raised eyebrow. "That's an incredibly fucking lame false name. Kate, whoever sent this package is obviously a supervillain. You should track them down and shoot arrows at them until they promise to use less lame pseudonyms in future. If this person was a vampire, they'd go about claiming to be called Alucard. It's that bad, and something should be done."

    She raises an eyebrow at Kate. "Also you're making that all up. All four hundred and seven of you are here. I swear every time I turn up to the tower, there's some new, fresh faced cape type just burning with enthusiasm to save the world. I've completely lost track. You should give up on the code names and start having numbers, it would be easier. I'll call you Titan Seventeen." She jerks a thumb at Jinx. "She can be Titan Four Oh Seven".

Jinx has posed:
Jinx gives Kate a small glare at the jab about not being a Titan 'yet'. Though that doesn't last long as Colette tries to get under her skin next. "Not a Titan." She points the knife at her, flicks it around to catch the blade, then hands the handle back to Kate.

"No fucking way is that this is a piece of the Occulus Infinitum." She is brimming with excitement as she holds it up to the light. A beautiful pattern splashes across the floor. "Way back when the Spanish started conquering their way across South America, it was rumoured that the Mayan Empire decided to keep their gold stockpiles safer - so they began building bigger boats."

"Treasure Hunters for centuries have been looking for the hidden vault of gold and about sixty years ago it was all just here say until someone noticed a statue of an unknown guy in Colonial Metropolis Bay with a spy glass that looks out at the ocean to the south. But the spy glass is hollow and had a turquoise circle inside it - with placeholders for three more."

She looks back to Colette and Kate and says, "Legend has it, if all four are placed inside then the spy glass will reveal the way to the hidden treasure." She clasps the jewellery in her hand and declares, "And this is one of them."

Obviously her enthusiasm at finding lost things is being used by someone to shortcut their way to the treasure - if it's even real. But does she care? Heck no. This is why she's such good friends with Harley.

And in this moment, all sins are forgiven, "Friends! I already have one of these in one of my apartments. We are but one Occulus Infinitum lens away from finding lost Mayan gold! ... We have to do a National Treasure."

Kate Bishop has posed:
"Nope all real teams.. also hey... I am pretty sure I am somewhere lower than Titan 17.." she does some of the mental math to try to determine what member number she has. To be honest it is probably in the computer somewhere with account creation dates knowing Vic.

    She reaches out accepting her knife back while still pondering what number Titan she might be. Back into it's sheath it goes. "Also... you're right Colette it does sound a bit like a supervillain thinking they are clever. They probably do need an arrow in the knee."

    After watching Jinx's joy at a real lost artifact and treasure map she drawls slowly. "We all know you are being set up to be a catspaw for this right. We all do know that... this is either a trap to get you.. or to make you do the hard work.. and then get you." which is worse probably. Hard work then a double triple cross or something.

    "A National Treasure?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette nods her head in agreement with Kate. "Clearly a trap. Should have blown it up. I told you all along, you should have listened. I have a /fantastic/ instinct for these things. People should listen to me more."

    She raises a finger. "Hold on a second. Do they count different in Britland? Because here's one, there's one in Mary Poppins' apartment, and there need to be four to make the spy glass thingy, right? That means we need two, not one. Two in American numbers, anyway. Maybe we've just got more numbers than you because, bigger country."

    "If this is a National Treasure thing, then I'm gonna put this in right up front: Not It on Sean Bean. Someone else has to be. Being Sean Bean has a very low survival rate. Probably not Kate either, because she's the one with arrows, and Sean Bean is usually on the receiving end of those rather than doing the firing."

    She nods at Jinx. "That means you're going to have to be Sean Bean, and Kate's going to have to shoot you. See why this is a bad idea? Blow it up, it's the only way to be sure. Kate's got exploding arrows, it'll only take a minute."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx gives Colette a frown and says, "I told you - one of the lenses was found in the statue. It's currently housed in the Metropolis Museum of Natural History." Which means, she's going to steal it from the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. But first things first - find the final missing one.

She slides it in to her sweat pants and looks at them both. "How have you not seen National Treasure and National Treasure 2 with Nicholas Cage?" Though the Sean Bean problem is a conundrum. "Hm. Yes. Sean Bean. He's the bad guy in that movie though."

There's only one solve for it. Jinx can't be the bad guy for a change. "Easy. Whoever sent me this -clearly a trap- lens can be Sean Bean. They'll die at some point and we'll find the treasure and become rich beyond my wildest dreams."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "I mean. Technically Colette is right. You have two and need to get two. Also technically Jinx is right. She only has to find one of them." she just sighs. "honestly annoying.. you are both right... and that ruinbs what is usually the best kind of right. Technically right." she shakes her head sadly.

    "I mean.. yes I've seen all the movies.. I think part of me was just hoping you weren't suggesting a treasure hunting caper on the behest of someone obviously using you as a catspaw... and also you both have flawless logic here too... we should blow it up.. but short of that we should blow up Sean Bean."

    Okay maybe she is enjoying this. Signs point that she is leaning in stoic but actualy enjoying it. "Also money isn't all that." just to needle people.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
     "Knowing where another one is is not the same thing as having it," Colette points out. "If it's in a museum, they'd probably say no if we asked to borrow it. Museums don't generally work like libraries. And if we steal it, Gar will complain again." Wait, what?

    "I gotta agree with Kate on the money thing though," she says, waving a finger indicatively back and forth between herself and Kate. "See us two were smart and got born into stupidly rich families, so the whole treasure thing isn't that big a worry for us. Which is probably why I'm a school teacher and she's a superhero, rather than us having to waste our time being supervillains or whatever."

    To be fair, nobody has yet told her about Jinx's past. It's not intentional.

    For once.

    "On the other hand, I do find the argument about Sean Beaning the scum behind this pseudonym compelling. Especially if the outcome is them being blown up. I mean yes clearly this is a trap, and clearly the whole cats paw thing, but... regardless of trying to set you up, that pseudonym is a crime against humanity."

    Colette stops to give it a bit of thought. "I mean... so long as there's plenty of time to stop off at bars and get wasted on the way, I'm in. Sounds like a laugh."

Jinx has posed:
Gar? Complain? Well now she -has- to do it. As Colette pokes a finger in to a very ouchie wound. Her life in poverty with very little and that this did indeed lead her to a life of crime and supervillainy. She puts her hands on her hips and stares at her sternly.

"If we're lucky and this is a proper National Treasuring there'll be plenty of bars with hidden clues and - you know what. You two and all your fancy money is fine. I'll keep the treasure if we find it. Unlike you two I could actually use it."

She points a finger at them both, "And if you try and fuck me, I'll go full Supervillainess on your asses. I don't care how good your aim is Kate. You won't walk straight for a month once I'm done with ya."

She patpats her sweatpants pocket just to make sure it's still there and then smiles. "Right. First things first. We need to figure out who sent this to me, who is setting me up, catspawing or what have you. Because they feel confident enough to part with one lens. It's possible they have another. Also I hate being duped."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "That does seem fair. Colette gets to be drunk. I get to have an adventure. You get to have treasure." she seems like she is considering this very philosphically.

    Thank. God. She isn't drinking anything when Jinx threatens to make her not walk straight for a month. The spit take would have been beautiful. Instead she just chokes a cough and then puts her hand over her face for a moment. Phrasing. "Noted. Fucking Jinx means not walking straight for a month when she is done with you. I'll remember it Jinx." hard to forget really.

    "I mean.. verifying it is the real deal would be good too right. Can you like.. do a tracking spell or some such on the lens and find the last owner or holder of it or some such?" back to business.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Don't threaten Kate," Colette warns Jinx mildly. The mildness presumably because she doesn't know how serious Jinx is being, but it's curious that the self-proclaimed school teacher seems unbothered about having been included in the threat, and appears to be a little protective of Kate.

    "Also, it's not exactly a National Treasure thing, because wrong nation. Mayans. That means it'll belong to Belize or Honduras or Mexico or something. They'll probably ask for it back. You may have to put up with a finder's fee or something."

    "Also, Kate... I totally caught what you said there. Don't pretend it wasn't intentional I can't say I approve but... no wait, I can say whatever the fuck I like. That was pretty funny. Tracking spell? So the Brit does magic. She really IS Mary Poppins."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx slaps a hand to her face. Damn, she walked right in to that one. "You're encouragable Kate," she clips back and sighs. Her eyes narrow a touch at Colette and she tilts her head to the side. "Oi, you her mommy dearest or something? what's with the protective aunt act."

She slings an arm about Kate's shoulders and snugs her in. "Kate and I is best mates yeah?" She smirks a moment - but it doesn't last as Colette lays out the reality of it. "You lot are gunna tell the world if we find ancient Mayan treasure? Yeah well,.. may be we'll see how it shakes out."

"Don't call me Mary Poppins. The name's Jinx." As in, the Supervillain Jinx from the Fearsome Five. Wanted in countries all over the world.

"And yeah. I can do magic but it's not going to help much. Best we'll see some shady figure in some darkened room somewhere. Nah, we need some detective braining going on. Trace the paper, hack the delivery records, that kind of shit."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Honestly Kate didn't seem too threatened, and also quite comfortable enough to make a joke about the phrasing, a risque joke even. She chuckles "Don't fight, Jinx isn't going to zap me for real." she is, pretty damn sure of that read on the situation at least.

    "I mean.. it could be one of those countries National Treasure Thing. Though the country it was stolen from doesn't really exist so do they have a solid claim. I think it depends on where exactly it is found. Like sunken vault in international waters it may as well belong to Atlantis.. just don't tell Namor."

    "I suppose I could ask the Tower AI to track the package down so we at least have a starting point and then see if survielence cameras can start to lead us back to whomever did it .. probably through a gopher.... unless they are actually an idiot." she offers ah and for the packaging now.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "It's my fault she ended up with these lunatics, so I keep an eye on her is all," Colette replies to Jinx with a shrug. "Someone has to." She doesn't seem offended.

    "Jinx? Hi. My name's Colette." She doesn't seem to be remotely familiar with the name, either. Perhaps she doesn't pay much attention to the whole Supervillain thing. Or perhaps she does recognize the name and doesn't really care.

    "Getting the AI to track the package back might be a good starting point," Colette acknowledges. "But I don't see why that should rule out the magic tracking options too. I mean you say seeing a shady figure in a darkened room as if that's a bad thing. Could be plenty of information in that to be getting on with. You can figure out a lot from things like that, and I've got really good night vision."

Jinx has posed:
"Wot are you a cat?" Jinx says with an amused look on her face. "Colette. Kay. Well, there's three of us now and that's more than enough for a good conspiracy. So we get this AI to do the map work and if it's a bust - then I'll do a bit of scrying yeah?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Also Namor can fuck right off. If we have to negotiate with the oceanate let's do it with Thor. Way sexier." She fans her face and then laughs. "Oh yeah and I have to get all my files on this shit from the apartment. So... I'll take you to one of my secret lairs but no telling Donna about it. Deal?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
    She snaps a shot of the package tracking material and starts to type type type on her t-comm as she listens to you both talk to each other. She is absorbed in starting the trace and all that which seems potentially more reliable than Jinx's magic anyhow.

    Not that she says that out loud.

    She peers up though at the Thor bit. "I mean.. Thor is from space viking heaven not the oceans?" then back to her t-comm. She mmms softly. Working the angle. "Sure .. one of us can escort you to your place to get secret files. She isn't to go unescorted out amoung the mundanes Colette."

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Meow," Colette replies to Jinx, deadpan. She's not going to actually /offer/ the reasons why Jinx talking about dark figures hiding in shadows sounds to her a lot more like an opportunity than a limitation. Shadows are good. Darkness is welcoming. Home. She's a school teacher though, as she already said. Far too many people know she's got weird powers than she's comfortable with already. About six.

    "Kate has a point. Totally a space viking. Ultimately it all comes down to where the treasure is. If it's in Atlantis, we're probably not going to be able to get it anyway. If it's in Mexico or Honduras or something, who knows. We'll just have to hope it's hidden where nobody's looking, I guess."

    "Colette raises an eyebrow at Kate, and then turns to Jinx, eyebrow still raised. "Why aren't you to go unescorted amongst mundanes? Does your magic go off randomly at people or something? Or are you allergic to them and there has to be someone around to slip you an EpiPen if someone called 'John' gets too close?"

Jinx has posed:
Space viking. Atlantis.. Asgard.. Thor.. Aquaman. She throws up her hands, "Eh. Aquaman, Thor. Same diff really. Hunky bodies and weird weapons. One of them says 'Right on' and the other 'Ye Verily' or whatever. Both on my fuck list." She waggles an eyebrow.

"...aaaanyway. May be I just want to see if the rumours are true that he only fucks fish." Straight faced as she possibly can get. "Why just one of you. We should all stick together. This is a conspiracy. Can't have one of us running off to get the treasure ahead of the rest of us."

She frowns though at the the whole 'unescorted' thing. She's snuck out of the Tower a few times on her own but here she is and they're discussing it so she stays mum. "Eh. Trust issues I guess. Titan's are paranoid I'll go on a killing rampage or something."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    There is a snort from Kate. "Cause she is on supervillain parole as far as some of the Titans are concerned. Which is honestly just a good excuse for going out drinking with her like shore leave."

    Kate isn't twenty one is she? Maybe she is. Probably not.

    "So yeah, AI is crunching. We can go to your secret lair together if Colette wants." she strangely does not seem worried about having a ... school teacher... along on a National Treasure.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Is Kate twenty-one yet? There's a fair possibility Colette knows, but she's not saying. In fact she has readily supplied Kate booze in the past when she was most definitely not twenty-one yet, so she obviously doesn't care.

    "Oh yeah, the Titans are very down on people going on killing rampages," Colette agrees. "They think it's rude. You don't wanna do that, they'll give you such a look. Lemme just go upstairs and hand Kian his lesson materials and we can take my car. Better than all three of us trying to sit on Kate's bike. Someone's bound to fall off, you should see how she likes to take corners. Then we can go visit your lair, track down the person with the bad pseudonyms and kill them in the face, find the treasure and spend it all in a bar somewhere. Sounds good to me."

    She starts wandering in the direction of the elevator to deliver the lesson plan as promised, stopping while she waits for the elevator to arrive to yell back "Totally only fucks fish. How is that even a question?"