2015.02.22 - Where is Loki?

School, school was boring and Nicky hadn't visited a single school day since she had been away from home. No, instead she dragged Loki to the Gotham Museum, claiming that that was not only more interesting than school, but also more educating. "come on Loki. I heard they have an exhibit about old Norse. And Egypt. And also a really new one in making which shall tell about the superheroes of today. Like Axiom or Fox or maybe even you!"

Loki, dressed in an incognito outfit of his usual black leather pants, but with a checkered dress shirt left untucked and a peacoat. His hair is pulled back into a ponytail which he stuffed up inside a newsboy type hat. "I am not a superhero, but the other exhibits seem to be somewhat entertaining. Perhaps we can visit them all."

"One after another. They have two or three thousand exhibits! So where you want to goo?" Nicky asked, her gloved hand pulling at Loki's. Green gloves, which she made herself. Passing the entry to the first hallway she did let his hand go eventually pointing to the map of the museum "See? Three floors full of stuff! And that even when those feline thieves always steal the stuff. What were their names again?"

Loki looks around the museum in awe, saying "I don't know..." in a fascinated voice. It was so different than the museums in Asgard. "Well, what are your favorite exhibits?"

Looking up at the map, Nicky pondered some time, then pointed to the special exhibit hall "Hey, look! They have the teddy bear of Theodore Roosevelt here! Want to see it? You have a camera with you? I sooooo have an idea for a photo!"

Nicky eyed the thing, then the mouth gapped "You got a Jarvis? Isn't that the most modern thing they make at Stark? for sure that thing has a camera in it. Comeon. Plushies await!"

"It is? It talks to me sometimes. Wait for me!" The young Asgardian trots to keep up with Nicky, who seems very excited about the plushie exhibit. Loki doesn't know exactly WHY that would be so entertaining, but he follows along anyway.

With his hand seized, Loki grins and runs along with her. To anyone watching, they just look like a pair of young teenagers running through the museum. Hopefully there aren't any security guards to stop them and spoil the mood

To others it might look like young love, not like fangirl and young god... or a pair of cast outs by their families. The cheerful giggle of Nicky drew the looks of some people, and one or two hissed at them, trying to silence them in the hallway. But instead of turning left, where they should have, Nicky just ran straight in the heat of the moment. Just... Running with someone who knew at least to some degree how you feel.

Loki ducks under arms and dodges people talking without any collisions. "where are we going?" He asks, "nnnnnn-wheeeeeee!! Oh, wait a moment!" He skids to a halt. "Can we go over here please? I saw something that caught my attention."

Nicky comes to a halt sliding, looking into the direction of Loki and then where he is looking. A moment she seems to think, then she nods. "Sure. If you tell me what we are going to look it once we are there."

"I sensed something. It's as though it is calling me..." Loki said, making a worry face. And then he sees it. A creepy looking mask made of wood and metal. It wasn't part of the exhibits, laying on the floor near a garbage can. "What is this?"

Nicky followed shortly after, looking at the item. "It's calling you?" she asked, already stretching her hand out to try to pick it up. "Hmmm, It's not Doc Dooms mask, that wouldn't have wood in it." she pondered, just before she was to touch it...

Nicky touching the mask yields nothing out of the ordinary. It has runes etched into the inside of it, which glow just faintly in the shadows. "It appears to be some sort of mask. It looks very primitive. Very Viking."

The mask gets picked up by Nicky and she turns it in the hands, looking at the inside and then the outside again "Viking, huh? How do I look like?" she mocked him, holding the mask in front of her face. Not yet pressing it against her Face, but just holding it there.

Loki did indeed have Thor's number, and the numbers of others such as Lois Lane and Pepper Potts. There is no indication that Loki is anywhere in this world, leaving Nicky at the museum all alone as those touring the exhibit begin filing in with one of the tour guides.

Trying to at least connect to anyone in that phonebook, Nicky pressed the entries one after the other, hoping to get someone at the phone. Eventually the entry of Lois did result in more than an empty line. "L..Lois?! Something happened... Loki suddenly disappeared! He... He was suddenly gone! Call Superman, the avengers or whoever... I... Oh Lois, It's my fault! I gave him this thing which ate him! He's all gone!"

Lois Lane had been out and about, when her phone rings. "What what? Nicky? Slow down, what happened?" The woman is clearly concerned. "Where are you, what happened to Loki? And what do you mean, ate him?"

"We told you we go to the museum and all. And we found this thing and all and toyed around with it... And as he held it in front of his face..." Nicky's sobs are clearly audible over the phone, but then she manged to continue "And then the mask suddenly gowed up and he vanished!

Lois Lane takes a few breaths. "You shouldn't just mess around with ancient artifacts!" she scolds. But she's clearly worried. "Look, I'll see who I can call in on this... Superman doesn't deal with magics, but maybe I can get a hold of one of the Zataras..." She's trying to sound positive. "Is there anything now? A strange feeling in the air?"

"It was just a geeky Viking mask laying next to a trashcan!" Nicky claimed, weighing the thing in her hand "I... I don't know... it's... I can barely keep all my hands and feet!"

"So what happened to the mask? Is it with you?" Lois asks sharply. She's trying to catch a cab, so that she can get to the museum. But it's a long way to Gotham from where she is... "Stay where you are, Nicky."

"I have it... but... The people are starting to stare!" Nicky was at the brink of loosing her nerves, and that was not a good sign. "I mean... Please... make it quick...""

"I'm coming, Nicky. I'll be there as soon as I can." Lois can be heard ordering a cabbie to 'step on it'.

The tour group people glance over at Nicky and begin muttering amongst themselves, looking at her and wondering. The tour guide had subtly radioed for a security guard to come up to them and help with only a few quick words that don't sound like they belong to the language.

Nicky tried her best to stay calm, but she knew she couldn't uphold it too much longer. "If I suddenly don't answer anymore... you know..." She tired her best to place the tablet and mask upon the closeby bench, her hands shivering maniacly. The last inches the phone fell, and the almost silent PLOPP! was to be heard over the phone, while in the Museum there was just a moment of tan cloud to be seen before the small fennec plushie ended on the floor just in front of the bench - too small to get up to where the tablet ended.

Lois Lane finally reaches the museum, having broken a few laws along the way. "Could you stay here? I might need a quick getaway!" The cabbie grins. "Not a problem, Miss Lane. Another one of your amazing scoops?" "I don’t know yet!" Lois raps her scarf about her head donning her sunglasses. Not much of a disguise, but... "Nicky?!” she yells, darting into the museum. "Nicky?! Where are you sweetie?" It’s a ruse, sort of. She needs to find Nicky and fast...

It starts with just one guard arriving to assess the situation. He arrives just in time to see Nicky transform into a plushie and gets on his radio to summon more security guards. "This is Owens, need some backup in the Norse exhibit STAT."

Down where Lois is, guards come out of a room and start heading toward where Loki and Nicky are located, some with their clubs drawn, others just huffing and puffing along.

The only real sign of Nicky was... the plushie which tried to get up to the bench, where the still dialing tablet and the mask lay. A living plushie, at the place minutes before someone got turned into greenlight. If the mask was cursed? hard to tell... The plushie however seemed determined to try to get back to the phone she had dropped when she couldn't stand it anymore...

Lois Lane foloows the guards, being as unobtrusive as possible. She's no stealthy ninja, but she DOES know how to trail someone. She merges in with the crowd, trying to find Nicky. When she gets to the Norse section, she spots the fennec plush, and has to make a decision.

She runs to the fennec plush. "Okay everyone, calm down..." she says quietly. 'Where's a superhero when I need one?'

The guards seem a bit apprehensive. "Back away, ma'am. We don't want you to get hurt. That isn't a stuffed animal, it's a person that might hurt you."

Nicky glares at the guard as he claims she would hurt someone! It was Loki who was abducted, her best friend! And it was totally unfair to call her dangerous!

Lois Lane smiles. "It's okay, I know her." She takes off her sunglasses. "Loke, I promise I can handle myself. So, what seems to be the issue here?" Yes, Lois is pulling her usual tactic of 'I deal with weirdness everyday, what's up?' demeanor. She kneels down. "It's okay Zerda."

"I think the real question is why an apparently magical artifact was sitting in the open." Lois counter, crossing her arms. "And don;t claim ignorance on the matter; there are plenty of methods for detecting magicked artifacts." Is Lois bluffing? Maaaybe. But she has a point. She takes a casual stroll forward, getting closer to the bench. Just in case.

"It shouldn't have been out in the open It should have been among the other exhibits. She must have taken it. The sergeant turns to talk to his people. When Lois moves, one of te guards draws a weapon and points it at Lpois and Nicky.

"Check the security footage. You do have that right?" Lois sounds just a bit cheeky. When the weapon comes out, she freezes. "She's no danger, I assure you..." The reporter looks at the guard. “Look, I know you're doing your job and I applaud that, really I do. I don't want anyone making rash decisions here."


 * Aftermath: the mask ends up in the museum vault.