10355/The Map to Immortality

The Map to Immortality
Date of Scene:	08 December 2019
Location:	Wu's Import Warehouse, Chinatown
Synopsis:	Tombstone kidnaps Indiana Jones in order to get a price on a old antique. This results in a gun-fight, Silk arrving, and Tombstone learning about the path to Immortality.
Cast of Characters:	Indiana Jones, Tombstone, Silk

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Indiana Jones has posed:
The SUV rolled through the dark streets of Chinatown. It avoided the brightly-lit avenues, the ornate arches, the sidewalks lined with shops. It seemed to be one with the shadows of the area, sticking to the dirtier street that clashed with the seemingly-pristine vehicle. However, the dent on the driver's-side door suggested that all was not well for the occupants.

The vehicle stopped in front of the warehouse door, then beeped three times, paused, then beeped twice more. In response, the sliding door to the loading bay opened slowly.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone looked at the sliding warehouse door with a big grin on his face. It had been a annoyang past two days. First he was blinded and left with a splitting headache afterwards by that sppedster bitch, then he was insulted by some wannabe cop who insited he cut out of Bushwick, and was now dead because of it. Both times, he was forced to flee the police, who luckily did not catch him. Tombstone was not in the best of moods this morning, but that all cahnged when Wu Ping, the leader of the Sons of the Dragon and local businessman, got a package from his Uncle, the notorious Opium Lord Fa Lao. The package itself was apprently a gift for his Newphew in accordance with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and was almost three months late oddly enough. Inside was a very complex tapestry showing off what appeared to be a Peach Tree and a Chinese Woman picking from it. There were a bunch of Chinese Words written in it, but oddly enough Wu and his nephew, Ling, the secondary leader of the Sons, couldn't read it, saying it was some regional dialect of Chinese they could understand.

Tombstone, not seeing much use in the old artifact, decided to sell it to some buyers he knew here in Chinatown. But, before he could that, he wanted it verified and chose someone one of the Sons, Peter Matthews, recommended from NYU. Aprrently, he was a archelogical professor that taught there named Indiana Jones. It had been a few hours since he had sent three Sons out to capture Indiana and he was starting to get impatient when the van arrived and pulled in. Four men stepped out of van, two Asians and two Caucasians. One of the men, who was wearing a red and gold t-shirt and had a feriocious looking dragon tattooed on his arm walked up and said,

"Got him boss, put up a hell of a fight though."

This brought up a murmur of agreement from the rest of the Sons in the van, the loudest coming from a member wearing a red jersey and sporting a gold colored hat who appeared to have a bag of peas over his right eye. The rest of the men appeared to have just gotten out of a very brutal fist-fight. Tombstone just grunted and said," Good, now pull his ass out, I wanna talk to him." The four men grunted and opened the back of the van and reached to pull Indy out.

Indiana Jones has posed:
The lead thug, a Triad up-and-comer named Chang with more guts than sense, nodded and went to open the door. The man was wearing khaki pants and shirt, with hiking boots and a leather coat. He was also zip-tied, with his arms behind his back, and had a blindfold covering his entire upper face. Chang hauled him out, none too gently, and two men watched the man as the other two duck-walked him to a chair, pushing him down into it. Chang looked up to Tombstone, and the chalk-faced man realized for the first time that Chang was missing two teeth, and looked none too happy about it.
"He had this on him." One of the careful observers stepped forward and brought out something more suited for a lion tamer than an academic - a ten-foot leather bullwhip. Lonnie could tell this was no badly-woven dime-store child's toy; it was a weapon in itself.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone took the whip and examined it closely. Tombstone had not seen many whips in his life, but he could tell that this one was made to cause damaage. He lazily tossed it to a Son to his right and said, "Hold on to this, don't want our friend to get his hands back on this." Tombstone walked up to where Jones was and grunted. One of the Sons in the van, a scrawnier one wearing a red and gold t-shirt with the number 9 on it growled and said with a Thick, Brooklynn accent," Dat bastard damn near punched mah lights out. Can you at least let me at em?"

Tombstone roughly grabbed the man's shoulder, who cried out in pain from Tombstone's tight grip as Tombstone said," No, i need his ass to validate the artifact Chuck. Now, get rid of that blindfold Chang and let me talk to him!"

Indiana Jones has posed:
Chang shrugged. "Yes, boss."
Chang walked over to the man in the seat, then pulled off the blindfold, revealing the face of Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr.
Any illusions of some bookish professor at home in a library were immediately dispelled. Some people are hard cases, and this one was hard-looking indeed, lips pulled back slightly in a snarl of anger, eyes as focused as lasers, his shoulders bunched. He looked at Chang, who took a step back.
"Choulou de liu bi shi!" Jones barked at Chang, whose face contorted in anger. For a moment, he actually looked as if he were going to take a shot at the professor, but the sudden harsh smile betrayed that Jones was goading him...and easily.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone glared slightly at Chang, as if telling him mentally not to do anything stupid and started to walk towards Dr. Jones. Each step Tombstone took was slow and deliberate, as if he were trying to intimidate the good doctor. Once Tombstone got close enough, he looked down at the Doctor and said," So, were Dr. Jones? Peter Matthews told me a lot about you. You remember him? Regardless, i got a job for you to do."

Indiana Jones has posed:
Jones looks up at the pale tough guy. He seemed somewhat resigned. He had seen guys like this, a thousand like him over the years. The Big Dog, and this was his yard.
The mention of Matthews generates only mild curiosity. "I remember him. Mid-level student, the patience of a mayfly. As I recall, he broke a 3rd-century pot as he tried to smuggle it out of the storeroom. So you can color me unsurprised. As for you...who are you again? The street thugs all start to blur together after awhile."
A long, long while.

Tombstone has posed:
ombstone slightly glares at Jones as he says," The name's Tombstone, and i want you to help me with something." Tombstone then snapped his fingers, and within a few moments, a Son carrying something in a cardboard tube showed up and handed it to Tombstone. Tombstone tilts the tube slighly and gently removes the tapestry from the tube. He then says," A pal of mine got this thing from China as a Moon Festival Gift from his Uncle. I want you to validate it and see how much it's worth

Indiana Jones has posed:
Jones looks at the object in question, then at Tombstone. Yeah, he has a pretty good idea where this guy gets his nom de plume, and it's probably not just because of his pallor. But the mention of the Moon Festival does pique his interest. And the tapestry does look rather aged. The color of the threads was a dead giveaway.
He looked back to Tombstone. "You wanna undo this plastic thing, or do you want me to unroll it with my nose? Besides, I'd need a table and sufficient light for this...and just so you know, I *do* have posted hours...but lemme guess - you're not much into paying consultation fees."

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone looked at Chang and said," Alright, untie him and get him a desk and a lamp." He then turns to Indy and says with a hint of a snarl," Your payment is not me killing your ass after you are done. Now, no funny business while studying this thing, or i will have the boys waste you where ya stand!" As the table and lamp were pulled up near Jones, Tombstone eyed Chang to make sure he didn't slit Jones throat while untieing him.

Indiana Jones has posed:
Chang produced a knife and cut the zip tie with a practiced flick of his wrist. Dr. Jones got up slowly, then rubbed his wrists. Handcuffs were getting outmoded, weren't they?
He took the tapestry gently, then cleared the table with one arm. He placed the rolled-up cloth on the table, then carefully unrolled it. He studied it as it was slowly revealed to him.

He was suitably impressed. This was old, 15th century at least. The iconography was immediately recognizable. The Western goddess, Hsi Wang Mu, a prosperity goddess. She was also wearing the headdress, festooned with the same peaches that she was picking from.
He looked to Tombstone. "Do you want the complete rundown of this artifact..." Shit, he said "artifact." Shoulda gone with "relic." "...or do you just want the dollar value someone will pay for this?"

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone looked at Indy with a face that showed that he was thinking it over for awhile. He then shrugged and said," I was orginally just wanating the price. But, since both my friend and his newphew couldn't exactly tell me what is written on that damn piece of cloth, you can tell me what the whole deal behind this thing is, than you can give me the price."

Indiana Jones has posed:
Dr. Jones looked into the face of Tombstone, and he realized he was going to have to be very careful. "All right. The lady here is Hsi Wang Mu. She is a Chinese goddess, known as the Western goddess of prosperity. These peaches? They come from her garden. They are supposed to make whoever eats them immortal. They were featured in the 16th century novel JOURNEY TO THE WEST. Her garden is supposed to be located in K'un Lun. The Chinese named another mountain by that name, but it's not the same one. It's holy ground, normally inaccessible to mortals."
He points to the writing. "This is an old text, written in Middle Chinese. It says, 'Praise be to the Western Goddess as she...cultivates her garden.' That landscape behind her is...hmm."

Then he sees it, and careful, careful, Doctor Jones. This is a new name, and don't say it out loud, for the love of God. Tombstone is watching him, so he has to con the guy.
"This landscape...it's in the province known as Chou, back when Genghis Khan was still a force to be reckoned with. It's known as Guangdong province now."

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone nodded solemy as he listened to Jones tell him about the artifact, his eyebrows widening when he hears about the Immortality part. After Jones is done, Tombstone chuckles and says," Fruits that give you immortality, imagine if something like that existed." As he speaks, he grins at Dr. Jones, revealing teeth as sharp as a vampire's fangs. He had obviously filed his teeth to make himself look scarier. Tombstone then says," Now, tell me how much the damn thing is worth."

Before Indy can speak however, a bald member of the Sons, who is wearing a red and gold leather jacket starts yelling in Mandarin, occasionaly yelling in English," He did not read all, He did not read all!" The man then points to some words near the bottom of the Goddess' feet. Tombstone then snarls at Jones and says," If there is something you are holdin back from me you better spill it. Or il will break ya skull in half!"

Silk has posed:
"Now now, nobody's breakin' anybody's skull in half." The voice is almost musical, and amused, as a figure drops down from above, upside down, hanging from a silvery web. It is a young woman, her hair hanging gently down in careless waves. Her almond eyes seem to be smiling, but below that, a red half-asleep covers her nose and mouth. She is clad in a skintight suit, black and white, adorned with red webbing and a stylized "S" emblazoned on her chest.

"Sorry I missed storytime. Traffic was TERRIBLE."

Indiana Jones has posed:
Dr. Jones is almost as startled as the others, but that's okay. He was surprised that one of the Triad guys had twigged to the con. His fault for underestimating his opponent.
How did that girl know where he was?
Well, Indiana Jones was never one for allowing the unexpected opportunity to slip by. He jumps away from the table, grabbing the tapestry as he does, and towards the Son who has his bullwhip. The Son, also surprised by the sudden presence of Silk, never sees the punch coming and drops the whip as he is knocked back.
A quick crouch, and the old friend is in his hand.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone growls in anger once Silk drops in out on nowhere, memories of Spider-Man flooding his brain. This anger is made worse by Jones grabbing the tapestry and punching out once of his guys. Tombstone then lets out a enraged bellow as he yells," Waste both them motherfuckers and get that cloth back!" The Sons in the room pull out their guns and start to shoot at both Jones and Silk as Tombstone himself lifts up one of the boxes at the warehouse in a impressive show of strength and hurls it at Silk.

Silk has posed:
Silk quickly flips down to dodge the box, and in the process, the move flips her out of the immediate line of fire. Now on her feet in a crouch behind the box, she rises just enough above the box to issue webs from her fingertips toward the guns of the men firing. For the moment, they are her focus, as she gives a hard pull on the webs the moment they contact the firearms. An attempt to use her strength to disarm the henchmen. "Sorry! No wasting motherfuckers today! You've reached your limit! Here's a ticket for more wasting - come back tomorrow!"

Indiana Jones has posed:
Dr. Jones jumps for the nearest cover, a couple of crates that could provide temporary cover for a few moments. He pops up, then spots one of them with a P99 pistol.
There is a sudden harsh sound as the whip end curls around the gun arm, and Indy YANKS with the expertise of decades of practice. The pistol flies out of the man's hand and seems to float towards Indy. He snatches the gun out of the air and ducks back behind cover to examine his find. This newer guns look all melted, but they tend to work like the guns he was familiar with.

Tombstone has posed:
The man with the P99 cries out in pain as his arm is whipped and he is disamrned, Meanwhile, the rest of the goons have their goons taken away by Silk, whose pun only serves to piss off Tombstone. Tombstone lets out a cry of anger and charges at Silk, swinging his fists at her.

Silk has posed:
Silk squeaks as she sees flailing arm guy descending upon her, and she begins thwipping out complex nets of webs toward him as she prepares to defend herself. "Didn't I meet you in a used car lot? You were wearing blue. I was test driving a used Miata," she says as she plasters webbing in his direction with one hand, and toward the ceiling with the other. If she can web him up, she'll haul him along with her. She is uncertain of this guy's stamina and strength, though, and she can only hope the plan works.

Indiana Jones has posed:
Chang yelled, "You hear the boss! Open fi-"
And then a hole opened up above his left eye and his face went slack, and then the body followed, dropping like a dirty shirt.
This caused a moment of hesitation in the gang members, but they had thought the bookish man in the suit incapable of killing.
THEY WERE WRONG.
Indy fired again, and the guy with a complicated-looking assault rifle caught the slug in the neck, penetrating his spinal cord and sending a lethal surge of hydrostatic shock that turned out the lights forever.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone startsto swear and curse as he struggles against the webbing. Suddenly, the webbing breaks off of the man and he snarls in anger as he looks at Silk. He grabs yet another box and tosses it at her. Meanwhile, the goons that still have their weaponry focus all of their fire on Indy

Silk has posed:
Silk mutters as the goons apparently found more guns, and have begun firing on Indy. She swings wide, but is hit by the thrown box, and it knocks her winding sideways. She thwips out a second web toward the wall to stabilize herself, and she begins throwing webbing at the guys firing. Nets of it. Sheets of it, practically. To cover them and break their line of sight. All while trying to avoid thrown obects, and occasionally failing. "Ow...OW, HEY! Knock it off, Smiley!"

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone growls even more once he sees all of his men either dead or unconcious. He turns sharply to the right and sees Dr.Jones. Growling angrily, he immiediatley starts to charge at him. This was all his fault.

Indiana Jones has posed:
Indiana took a deep breath.
Once upon a time in the Old West...
Indy rose, the P99 in his waistband.
In his left hand, he held the bunched up tapestry. In his right, the cover opened, a Zippo lighter with a green four-leaf clover. His good luck charm.

In a voice that has commanded men in the Great War, World War 2, and the Korean War, Indiana Jones barks, "FREEZE OR I BURN IT, TOMBSTONE!"

...a man escaped by holding himself hostage.

Silk has posed:
Silk sends out a barrage of webbing at Tombstone's back as he charges Indy. She doesn't expect it to hold him for good, but at very least she could slow him down.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone is briefly stopped by the web. After he struggles for a minute he breaks free, but stops once he sees Jones with the lighter towards the tapestry. Tombstone immeidaltey stops and looks at Indy with a glare as he says," Give me the cloth!"

Indiana Jones has posed:
Dr. Jones smiles almost savagely as he moves to the side, towards the loading-dock door.
"I have faced off against the Kaiser's men at Verdun. I have killed Nazis in the Egyptian desert. I have felt the presence of God, seen alien spacecraft from beyond the universe..." He chuckles. "...I even have Adolf Hitler's autograph, before I ruined his attempts to rule the world. So if you THINK I am afraid of a bulletproof thug like YOU...you're even dumber than you look."
Almost to the door. "Stay right there, Tombstone. You do that, and you'll have a chance to get this back."
*About as much chance as I had walking out of here after you got what you wanted, but why pick nits?*
"Silk, get ready to move."

Silk has posed:
On the ceiling, Silk is crawling on all fours toward the door. As she moves, she's humming the theme song to an old movie franchise starring Harrison Ford, in case they need a soundtrack.

Tombstone has posed:
Tombstone did nothing but snarl as he watched Indiana and Silk head towards the exit. As they walked away, he said to them, " Your lucky you have that dammned piece of cloth with ya! If you didn't i would've broken everyone bone in yo body by now!"

Indiana Jones has posed:
Jones nods as he gets to the SUV. "Yeah, I kinda figured. You thugs are all the same. Take what you want, throw it away when you're done with it. You couldn't lick Belloq's French leather shoes."
The door is still open, and the keys are inside. After all, who would steal it?
"Give up on immortality, Tomby. It ain't all it's cracked up to be."
He flicks the wheel on the lighter, and hears the little "ching" sound. Almost immediately afterwards, he throws the tapestry to the left, as far away as possible, and then he is inside and starting the SUV. It starts immediately, and he reverses out of the warehouse.
It is only then that he realizes that there had been a spark...but the lighter hadn't actually lit.
He had thrown away an undamaged piece of cloth.
So much for good luck...

Silk has posed:
"And STAY OUT. In. Whatever." She watches as Indy pretends to light the cloth and throws it. She furrows her brow, but she assumes there is method to his madness, otherwise she'd have websnatched that bastage and taken off with it. She looks to Tombstone as the SUV rolls out, and she gives him an upside down shrug. "He's fantastic, isn't he?" She winks, then thwips a web out the door and uses it to slingshot herself outside, following the SUV from above as she webslings her way through the city.

Tombstone has posed:
"You motherfucker!" Tombstone is now livid as he watches Indy possibly light the scroll on fire and toss it away. Tombstone immiediatley runs after the scroll, ignoring Silk's comment. Upon reaching it, Tombstone picked it up and noticed, much to his relief, that it was not harmed at all. Indy's words about immortality echoing in his head, Tombstone chuckles a little as he pulls out his cell-phone and calls someone. Once someone answers, Tombstone grins and says,

"Wu, find someone that knows Middle Chinese. I want them to read something for me."

Indiana Jones has posed:
Jones wheeled the SUV around, then drove out of the lot and down the street. As he merged into traffic, he took out his phone and dialed Cindy. He didn't know if she'd pick up, but he needed to tell her to get her stuff ready for a sudden trip abroad, most likely to Hong Kong and then into mainland China.

As he waited for Cindy to pick up, he tapped another icon.
The picture he took of the tapestry, in full 14-megapixel glory, appeared on the screen.
As a rule, he had issues with modern technology...but this time, it certainly came in handy...