15489/Peter's Birthday Part 2

Peter's Birthday Part 2
Date of Scene:	16 August 2023
Location:	American Museum Nat. His.
Synopsis:	Peter Parker's birthday party at the Museum of Natural History gets out of control when the dinosaur skeletons all start coming to life and terrorizing the party guests! Luckily some superheroes are on-site to help contain them and rescue the innocent bystanders once a few inevitably escape!
Cast of Characters:	Ghost Spider, Spider-Man, Firestar, Iron Man, Kid Arachnid, Sinister

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Ghost Spider has posed:
...LAST TIME, ON SPIDER-MAN...

The Natural History Museum after hours..

A good portion of the front of the museum has been opened for a private party, complete with DJ and laser lights tucked behind displays. It's not exactly open-invitation, but it's not a small crowd, either. The guest list consists mostly Peter Parker's friends except for a few of Gwen's friends from her modeling agency that she invited. Along them, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, Glory Grant, and Betty Brant are all in attendance.. even Aunt May, who seems to mostly be lingering around a table of home-made baked goods that she's set out as finger foods.

There's some private security on hand to keep the displays safe (rather than the guests), but everyone seems to be having a wonderful time mingling and trying to squeeze in a few minutes with the birthday boy. There's even a sign hanging up -- HAPPY 30TH PETER!!

Gwen is mid-laughter with one of the guests when a subtle, almost imperceptible vibration travels through the museum floor. No one notices it at first; the DJ's beats are still filling the room, and the conversations are animated, a delightful hum of celebration.

Harry Osborn, sipping a cocktail, approaches Peter to share a story about their college days. Flash Thompson and Betty Brant have started an impromptu dance-off, while Glory Grant tries to capture the antics on her phone.

The crystal chandeliers above start swaying gently. Still, the movement is dismissed as vibrations from the music. That is until a rhythmic, deep thud interrupts the party. The DJ's turntable skips. The music stops. The atmosphere shifts from jovial to tense in an instant.

What was happening? Were they explosions? It some some sort of heavy percussion... an explosion?

One thing was for certain -- Spider-senses were going CRAZY.

Spider-Man has posed:
For all his insistence that he didn't want any sort of fuss made, that just a small, intimate celebration amongst friends was more then enough for him despite the significance of the milestone, Peter's birthday has been pretty terrific thus far.

HAving Gwen and Aunt May and most of his nearest and dearest friends make it -- some of whom he has seen far too little of as of late -- has been a surprisingly welcome change of pace, even with everything that's going on right now. It's definitely not something he's used to and it is a pleasant reminder of times gone by.

Standing in a small circle with Harry and some more casual acquaintances, Peter laughs quietly as Harry goes over one of those same parties thrown at their shared apartment and the entirely improbably misadventures that subsequently occured drawing a quiet laugh from his old friend. At least until that nagging little tingle starts up in the back of his head.

On the whole, Peter has learned over the years that it is never the best of ideas to ignore that spider sense. A few of the Spiders might have a sense that is just a little too honed, but his is just right and usually when it gives him a warning, there's a reason for it. Glancing around, Pete tries to pick up just what's wrong though nothing immediately catches his attentiion.

Not until those chandeliers start to sway noticable at least. That's a pretty good clue.

Still laughing quietly with Harry, Peter's gaze almost immediately starts to seek out some of the others present who might be a little more prepared to deal with whatever unexpected issue is about to come smack down in the middle of the festivities...

Firestar has posed:
Angelica is getting ready to partake in another sweet that Aunt May is putting before her. She glances at Peter with that "save me" look as she loves the sweets, just not what they do to her. A pause as she notices the look on his face. She's seen that face before.

Looking around the room, she starts looking for the exit. That's her first instinct, know how to get out when the fight starts. Her eyes sweep the room, still not sure what is happening per say. Whatever it is, Aunt May becomes her priority. She looks to the exits and tells Aunt May,"I am feeling a little light headed Aunt May, can you walk with me outside to get some air. Too many people in a tight space you know?"

A weak smile to Aunt May seels the situation for her. It's not that she's terribly good at acting, but Aunt May is a caregiver at her center and that's what Angelica is counting on.

Iron Man has posed:
Admittedly, Tony's not around for long - in fact he'd just made his excuses not but that long ago after getting a quick round of introductions in, doing the usual 'Tony' meet and greet thing - except with some obvious investment and presence in the party and those attending. For those that have seen him at other parties, this Tony is a bit more.. well noticably more _here_ and not quite such the distracted playboy wastrel he's been know to be all too often.

So, when the ground starts to tremble.. well he doesn't even have to ask.

<<Mr. Stark, I'm trying to localize the vibrations now, but we didn't deploy a full suite of sensors to the area and without the suit activated there's limited input. >>

"Well I'm not just gonna suit up cause someone's gone crazy with set of sub-woofers on steroids. Tell Happy to pull the car around the side, we'll want to make sure we can evac May and any of the other civilians as quickly as we can and that'll be the best direction. But.. _quietly_ - this still could be a DJ thing.. maybe." He says in tones that are all too likely to get lost in the crowd and the noise from it, especially as they start to react to whatever it is that's going on - or the music really starts to pound - whatever it might be.

Kid Arachnid has posed:
Of course Miles Morales is not one of those people who happens to be at the party, ready and waiting to spring into trouble. He's not even there to be snacking away.

No, like many great Spiders before him, Miles is late. Like, really late. It is almost embarassing just how late he is. But things happen and a pair of would-be muggers are currently dangling from a tree in Central Park, waiting to be picked up by the local authorities. As far as reasons go it's a pretty decent one. But it doesn't change the fact that Miles feels a little bad about the whole thing.

That sense of guilt is another thing that he shares with the rest of his Spider clique.

Landing on the rooftop of the museum, he lets out a big sigh and slides his backpack down off of one shoulder, opening it up and beginning to root through it, looking for his change of clothes. That are just looking a little bit rumpled.

Late and decidedly not fashionable. A Spider's lot is definitely a hard one.

Just about to start changing, Kid Arachnid's Spider Sense starts going crazy, just like those down in the building below. "Woah..." he says, just as he is about to whip off his mask, instead tucking the shirt back into the pack and glancing around, looking for the source of just what is driving that extra-perceptory sense so bonkers.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen feels it, too. At the same time Peter starts looking around, so does she, catching his eye with a little panicked widening of her own.

What WAS it?

There's another heavy vibration. And then another. Getting closer. And closer.

Gwen's eyes immediately shift to Aunt May, but finding her with Angelica, she returns her gaze to shifting around the party and trying to find the source of the vibrations.

There's the sound of a window crashing... and then another.

Suddenly, there's a deep, bellowing ROAR, and the massive, skeletal head of the Titanosaur skeleton appears in one of the archways, moving as if it were alive... but it's just the skeleton!

It swings left and right, crashing heavily into the door and sending pieces of the wall crumbling, its looooong neck allowing it lean down into the room and let out another bellow at the occupants. Another step forward shakes the ground again and starts to push it through that wall.

Meanwhile, outside, some of the other dinosaur skeletons have already started to escape from the museum, some lumbering and some streaking through the grounds, out onto the sidewalk.

People begin screaming everywhere, both inside the museum and out.

Gwen is at Peter's side in a flash, grabbing his arm. "Go," she insists. He always had that suit on under his clothes, and in her dress, changing into her costume was a bigger ordeal. "I'll help get the guests out."


For anyone else in the world with a police scanner....

Dispatch: "All units, all units, we have a 10-71 at the Museum of Natural History. Reports coming in of... Wait, can someone verify this?"

Officer Davis: "Dispatch, this is Davis. I'm nearby. What's the situation?"

Dispatch: "Davis, witnesses are reporting dinosaur skeletons... and I'm reading this right... they are reporting them moving and exiting the museum. This is not a joke or a test, multiple calls are confirming."

Officer Rodriguez: "Dispatch, it's Rodriguez. I'm on Central Park West now. I can confirm visual. One Triceratops skeleton, seems like it's... moving on its own. This is... I've never seen anything like this... it's ramming a car!"

Dispatch: "All available units, proceed to the Museum of Natural History with extreme caution. Evacuate surrounding areas. SWAT and specialized teams have been notified. Remember, civilians are priority. And someone, for the love of everything, get me someone from the science division on this!"

Sinister has posed:
What brought Essex out into the museum tonight? Well, the archives of course. There's little that he cares about in parties or private exhibits, but on occasion, it's nice to have some private time looking over the collection annotations and research files.

He was happily minding his own business whilst the DJ's spun tunes and the spider crowd enjoyed the evening and birthday event. They never would have known he was there, except that he feels that tremor too, in the sublevels where such things are stored. He looks up at a light fixture, sees a little dust beginning to aggregate and fall with flakes of plaster, sets the document he was looking at down with care and starts to make his way to the source.

He might not have spider senses or a very smart set of sensor arrays in a partnered AI, but he /can/ heighten his senses in the extreme. With one hand on a wall, he speeds up a little. "If anyone damages anything important, I /swear/ I'm going to get exceptionally cross at them..." is muttered as he trusts his sense of touch to tell him a story. He speeds up, with eyes widening at the sound of that bellow, then stops in his tracks as the long-dead and not even REAL skeleton lumbers past. "Well, that was unexpected..."

An assessment swiftly occurs of just who is here, too. "And so is that." With a sweeping arc gesture of one hand, some civilians in danger of being covered in sharp falling glass find themselves endomed in a reddish forcefield as he flattens against a archway.

Spider-Man has posed:
Just when you think that you've probably seen it all.

New Yorkers can be a little jaded. And why not. There is probably no other city that has seen more costumed individuals -- of both the good and bad varieties. Not to mention the seemingly regular alien incursions, attacks from giant monsters and just about any other disaster under the sun imaginable.

The costumed heroes of the city might even be worse, given their particular up close and personal view of all of that.

Try as he might though, Peter doesn't recall seeing skeletal museum exhibits come to life and start to menace a whole building full of people. That's a new one, even for him.

The creatures also look considerably more threatening now that they are actually moving around, that they are somehow bellowing despite the lack of flesh. And that they aren't highlighted in pulsing neon colors either.

It's definitely an eye-opener, and Pete's are open wide as he takes in the scene before giving his head a little shake. When Gwen runs up to him, he gives a small nod. "Be right back," he agrees quietly, flashing a brief, tight smile her way. He does pause for just a moment, shooting a look towards his Aunt May, but seeing Angelica already hustling her towards the nearest exit he stifles that immediate instinct to go to her.

She's in good hands. And he will be a whole lot more effective when he is out of this jacket and into his mask.

It isn't exactly easy to find a private corner, but when the heavy vibrations knock over a light stand, sending it crashing to the ground with a loud clatter and multiple sparks flying everywhere he has his distraction. Half clamboring up the wall, he clings there, slipping out of his clothes to reveal the Spider-Suit beneath, tugging on his mask almost immediately.

"I know I'm getting older, but I'm hardly ready for the Mesozoic Era quite yet!"

Firestar has posed:
The situation is spinning out of control and Angelica gets Aunt May through the door before the dinosaurs arrive, but she knows this is going bad fast. Getting Aunt May outside, Angelica wanders towards a beat cop that is coming their way.

"Please...help this lady." she tells the officer. Of course this gets them both out of the line of fire. Aunt May starts to object, but Angelica tells her,"I am going to be sick. You don't want to watch that." she tells the elder Parker.

The officer starts to protest, but Angelica fixes him with a glare,"Serve and protect officer. Not just protect." she growls and he shakes that off. She covers her mouth and runs for the alley making rather disgusting sounds for effect. Again, not an actress, but who hasn't had one too many and had to redeposit?

Once she is out of sight, there is a flash of light and Firestar streaks out the far end of the alley and then up and out towards the museum again. It's hard to miss moving dinosaur skeletons after all, particularly huge ones.

Iron Man has posed:
"Haven't I seen this movie before?" Tony asks of no one in particular even as he shakes his hands a bit in his suit, a pair of metallic wristbands glimmering a bit in the light before his suit coat settles back into place. Then but moments later there's the sound of breaking glass as pieces of a rather iconic set of armor start flying their way inside through any and every path they can find - even as they swoop and avoid people/dinosaurs/even spiders-folk should they be swinging about.

"Jarvis - get suits two through four booted up and on the way over, pull a pair of drones off of city watch and get them down here and see if we can find out just what's going on."

The first piece to reach Tony is his left gauntlet - which of course fits like a glove.

<<Working on it Mr. Stark. Pepper wanted me to ask ...>>

f"Not just now, Jarvis. Tell Happy to turn the limo's SHIELD lights on, have him make sure to meet May at the exit and get her out and anyone else he can." - Of course he can't see the situation outside, but he trusts that Happy'll deal with it.

He looks over to Peter and Gwen, seeing Peter slip off he decides apparently to help with the distraction making and his voice booms through the room almost as loudly as the Dino's - "Alright folks. Party's moving outside, no dino rides for anyone this evening. Please follow the exit signs, or any of the bright flashing arrows - they'll point you to an exit."

His _other_ gauntlet has stopped mid air, about the center of the room, and starts emitting low intensity but quite bright lasers that draw arrows in glowing neon orange and red on the floor - point to all the various exits that are _not_ towards the dinos."

Quietly, more locally he says, "Perfect, Jarvis, thanks."

Kid Arachnid has posed:
The muffled sound of screams coming from within the museum below is a pretty good indicator that something has gone wrong with Peter's party.

Because of course it has. Really, any event like this should just be assumed to come right along with its very own disaster. Just part of the set. Take it out of the box and set off at the appropriate time.

Still, at least Miles hasn't had the chance to chance into his civvies so for once at least, the fact that he is waaaay late actually works to his advantage. Any pretense of getting changed is abandonned and that backpack is casually tossed against one of the ventilation shafts that pokes out onto the rooftop, casually webbed into place.

He's getting kinda good with those. He'll have to show off to Peter and Gwen later. Or heck, maybe right now.

Racing towards the roof's edge, he peers over the side and prepares to leap down when he first sees it. A skeletal dinosaur slamming it's way out of those front doors, bellowing as it emerges out onto the steps of the Natural History Museum, taking a well deserved moment to just gape at the sight below.

You've got to be kidding me," Kid Arachnid mutters. "I mean, I always wanted to go to Jurassic Park. I'm a little less keen on Jurassic Park coming to me!"

Like it or not though, he is in a much better position to do something about this then most so he takes a big breath. "Oh boy..."

And with that he hurls himself over the side of the roof.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Outside the museum, car alarms blare as the reanimated fossils cause chaos. Pedestrians and motorists alike panic, trying to navigate the surreal scene. Some try to take videos, others run for their lives. Children cry out, looking for their parents amidst the mayhem.

Liz Allan and Flash, momentarily setting aside their dance-off rivalry, team up, using makeshift weapons from nearby museum displays to create barriers and block off the advancing skeletal army.

Gwen, spotting them, rushes over and shakes her head, waving her hands to keep them away from the ever encroaching Titanosaur that seems to be making quick work of the wall, that long neck poking farther and farther in.

"No no no no! We have to go!" she shouts at them, waving them towards the exits.

Harry Osborn, still holding his drink, follows Tony's impromtu suit-illumination towards the closest of the exits. "You know," he mutters to himself, "only at a Parker party."

Glory Grant, while filming, ducks behind a pillar as a raptor darts past her. Shaking off her fear, she continues to record, knowing the footage might be useful later.

The DJ, although initially stunned, starts playing music again, this time shifting to something more action-packed. Perhaps it's an attempt to inspire courage, or maybe he just thinks it's fitting background music for the chaos.

Thankfully, SOME people have their heads on, so Gwen doesn't have to go to ALL of the people. Angelica has thankfully and helpfully evacuated Aunt May. Tony and his teach are on crowd control in and out of the building. And so Gwen runs around doing individual clean-up, pulling Glory out from behind her pillar and dragging her towards the door.

"OUT! NOW!"

And then there's a red... force-field?!.. protecting some of them from falling glass, her hand coming up reflexively to protect herself and finding it unnecessary.

Gwen's eyes glance around, trying to find the source of it. Was that some of Stark's tech?!

"Thanks!.. Whoever did that!"

Sinister has posed:
To a nearby ankylodon as it crashes on past, "...you know, you're worse with flesh. But this is just a little bizarre." -- Sin reaches out with his mind toward the construct, probing to see if there's any actual mind in there and blinks a few times as he doubletakes at the dino lumbering off. Another situation requires another of those negligent arm-flicks that creates another force bubble, this time to make sure that the lumbering armoured beasty doesn't crash its tail into flesh and bone. It bouncess off and ends up careening onto its side, with a good deal of thrashing. "Right..." a glance left and right and Essex is hustling forward, ignoring most everything else to whip out his cellphone and start it up with barely a glance. The flash does something odd and starts oscillating through the light spectrum, all whilst his thumb is firmly in the middle of the screen.

The ankylosaurus seems about to right itself, when he puts his other hand down on the nearest flank plate and firmly holds. "Nope. You're not going to get up just yet, my dear."

And over toward Gwen, with a cheerful chipper tone "You're welcome!" -- the flash keeps oscillating over the skeleton, now going into something that looks ultraviolet.

He glances around, notices the gauntlet arrive, nods to himself and carries on. It'd be comical, as the skeleton's legs keep waggling around in an attempt to right itself and the tail is flailing that massive club angrily.

Spider-Man has posed:
How exactly do you stop an animated pile of bones?

It's a pretty good question, one that Peter does not necessarily have a good answer for. But he'll have to try and figure out one pretty darn quickly.

He also rather hopes that if Gwen and Aunt May had to put a security deposit down to secure this particular venue, that this does not count as their fault.

See? This is the reason that he doesn't tend to celebrate big milestones or even go to that many events that are not directly related to his continued employement. Well... not exactly this specifically. Who on Earth could possibly predict this specific kind of trouble. But it's a good guideline in general.

While Angel might have hustled his aunt to safety, she is hardly the only one in danger and while some of his friends are keeping their heads and trying to help out as best as they can, there's a lot of people present. And not all of them are used to this sort of thing. So that makes it Peter's priority.

Swinging out from his place of concealment and likewise leaving his clothes webbed to the wall, Spider-Man starts to let those web-lines fly, starting to blanket the great hall in that webbing. At first it might seem random, even deterimental with so many people needing to get out but it quickly becomes apparent that he is essentially forming improvised corrals, encouraging some of the dinosaur bones down side corridors and away from the crowd until they can be dealt with.

Of course, a couple of the beasties are far, far too large for that to be a particularly effective tactic and as the Titanosaur starts to stop it's way towards Liz, Flash and those they are protecting, Pete hurls himself through the air, the arc of that flight angled perfectly to land himself on the creature's bony back, firing off a pair of weblines towards the creature's head to create and improvised bridle. "Woah there Nelly! No eating the ranch hands."

Even with his ability to cling to almost anything, when that skeletal monster bucks suddenly beneath him, it is pretty much everything Pete can do to just hold on, seeking to keep it distracted while the others keep at that evacuation.

Firestar has posed:
Normally, an intelligent person would be moving away from the mess. There really isn't a lot normal about Firestar it seems as she gets just four or five feet from the ground and flies through the doors that are open.

Not really thrilled about the situation, she knows things have to be dealt with. The raptor walking the hall becomes her first target and she focuses a tight beam at its leg to separate at the would be knee area,"This is going to get expensive." she mutters and streaks past the bone creature.

Iron Man has posed:
As Tony's boots arrive he steps 'up' into them, one after the other, his balance a touch precarious until the rest of his suit forms on and around him, the gauntlet providing the directional 'lighting' being the last.. surrounding his left hand just a moment after his helmet lands in place.

Iron Man immediately shoulder rushes the nearest of the beasts, his feet and hands and back flaring with Arc powered repulsors for a moment to accelerate him from zero to .. fast enough to knock the undead...re-animated..whatever it is dino into the wall and away from closing off one of the exits.

"Nope, bad .. dino. Sit."

"Jarvis, full environmental scan. Are those drones here yet? The suits? Give me an idea what's going on out side - and see if you can figure out what's crawled up their .. hrm.. what's gotten them all antsy. "

The crimson shield is noted, a glance is flicked around the room, he spins and fires off more repulsor blasts in very highly targeted shots - aiming to enhance Peter..Spidey's webbing 'corrals' and direct the remaining dinos outside and away from the guests and the museum itself.

<< Mr. Stark - scans are in progress. Drones and suits inbound - I'll have them support efforts outside, as the police are still getting .. situated. >>

Kid Arachnid has posed:
It is a touch situation.

While Miles might not have the slightest clue of just how the dinosaur skeletons are being animated, the fact of the matter is that in addtion to being a deadly threat right at the moment, they are historical artifacts of immense importance. He can't exactly go about smashing them to pieces, not except as a last resort.

While he might not exactly be a science type on the same level as Peter and Gwen, he still has a certain aptitude and reverence for the field. While he might physically be able to snap those fossils easily enough, bringing himself to do something like that is a completely seperate matter.

So it probably would have been a good idea to figure out /how/ he might want to deal with the skeleton down below before he leapt from his perch. Less look before you leap and more think before you do so. One of these days he is going to get that part down. No, really.

It's too late for second thoughts or regrets now though and as Kid Arachnid drops towards those animated bones below he begins to blanket them with his webbing, trying to pin it in place. The web formula is pretty strong, and if he can take away enough of the leverage that the creature might have, he could possibly take it out of the fight.

Hey, he's making this up on the fly. From that perspective it's practically a master class in tactics.

"Stay down or else I'm finding a dog whistle and then you'll be sorry!" he threatens the, well, museum display, firing out a webline at the last minute to snare the roof and slow his descent, landing just a short distance way from the struggling dino.

Ghost Spider has posed:
<< Mr. Stark, it appears the skeletons are being animated by some sort of nano-technology spread across the bones. Each hive appears to be autonomous. It would be impossible to discern more without a sample, but I do detect low-energy transmissions between the nanites. >>

JARVIS is so helpful.

In fairness, both Firestar's beams and the webbing /do/ help, too. The nanites seem to be strong, but they're not all that strong, and as they appear to be acting as the only kind of 'muscle' these things have, it's not overly hard to control them once they've been webbed up... or down... or severed from the whole. Still, they do tend to act like any other random farm animal that's been tied up. They thrash around and generally don't like it.

And the Titanosaur presents its own set of problems -- namely how to even get a thing that big under control at all, though Peter seems to be pretty handily steering it past the guests and... well... outside (partially through another wall).

With every passing minute, it's harder and harder to do crowd control on the escaping beasts, but the crowd does seem largely to be out of harms away except for the stray raptor or other predator.

...Like the T-Rex that was ambling threateningly around outside, charging a group of spectators on the sidewalk just as a couple of Tony's suits showed up. Then it suddenly turned its attention on them, snapping at them in the air.

Sinister has posed:
"Aha, there we go... now then," Sinister might as well NOT be in the middle of all this chaos as he crouches down beside the downed dino as its feet wriggle and wave. One clonks him on the shoulder, much to his irritation as his phone does a 'nidit' and the flash flashes twice. He looks at the screen, hand on the flank of the dinosaur crushing into the plaster and molding a little as he keeps his grip steady. "Gotcha," he aims the phone at a particular spot, then simply... seems to zone out.

Murmured: "EM pulse might work, just as a casual observation, but I think there might be a potential... oh, but you're squirrelly! Come back here you tiny microprocessor!"

Talking to a skeleton. This is normal. This is TOTALLY normal.

He finally looks up at the absolute havoc that's going on around, at the webbing, the highly focused fire that removes legs, the bloody great hole in the wall.

And thusly, he looks rather nonplussed. "I wonder how this is going to get explained... ALRIGHT! Keep them distracted a little longer, I've almost got it." Now with the phone right up under the Ankylosaur's shoulder plating, essentially the toughest portion to access normally.

Spider-Man has posed:
Watching more and more people beat their hasty escape out of harms way is greatly reassuring to Spider-Man.

A lot of that reassurance has to come from that particular fact of course, in large part because there is nothing reassuring about trying to wrangle even this collection of dinosaur bones in anything approaching an orderly fashion. Still, Pete clings to the back of the Titanosaur doggedly, refusing to surrender his hold.

In the end, the twisting and turning of the animated skeleton does jerk first one, and then the other improvised rein lines from his hands, the webbing dangling down and out of his easy reach. But just like Miles he is hardly willing to start simply smashing through delicate artifacts in the name of convenience. So he goes for a different approach.

There are relatively few examples of full, complete sets of dinosaur bones. In some cases fossils from multiple different cretures need to be utilized to form one, more or less complete example. And in some cases even that is not possible, or at least practical, and artifical molded creations are used instead. At a distance they are usually carefully crafted to be all but indiscernable from the real thing.

But Spidey isn't exactly operating at a distance.

And while he might not be willing to risk actual, scientific finds, he is a little less picky about taking out crafted bones. Still clinging with one hand to the dino's back, Pete levels his webline at one of those same molded replicas and jerks it free. Then another, and another until the skeleton is no longer quite so complete. While there may be nano-technology controlling the entire thing, Pete rather doubts that it can continue to operate without some sort of practical skeleton binding the entire thing together.

That's his gamble at least and sure enough with each 'bone' he removes, the display beneat him gets a little less vigorous, a little easier to control. Only then does he begin webbing the actual fossils into place.

"One down, who knows how many more to go," he mutters. Catching sight of Firestar working over her own beasties nearby, he flicks her a salute and makes sure she has things in hand before he goes hunting more trouble.

Firestar has posed:
Usually the more passive sort of person, this brings out the aggressive side of Firestar and she swoops down over another animated skeleton and picks up one of the smaller one and soars towards the ceiling. She hasn't caught on to the fake bones idea yet and she sighs.

The thing struggles in her grasp and actually breaks free from her grasp before she can drop it. Shaking her head she mutters,"Well at least I didn't break that one directly." she mutters and looks for something else to break.

"There has got to be a better way of doing things." she mutters to herself. A nod back to the saluting Spider-Man and then she is diving into the fray again, looking for another chance to cost the city, county, and state money.

Kid Arachnid has posed:
Well, that was interesting.

With his first target webbed down and not showing any signs of being able to escape, Miles grows a little more confident.

At least until the roar of that nearby T-Rex skeleton nearly deafens him. "Pretty big windbag for not having any lungs," Kid Arachnid mutters, rather glad not to have the thing's attention focused on him. And even more relieved when those Stark suits show up to provide a timely distraction, keeping the skeleton away from the pedestrians.

He really didn't want to have to throw himself bodily in front of a T-Rex. Even just the skeleton of one, but he couldn't exactly let anyone be meneaced by them either.

"I think it's way too late for you to be looking to put any meat on those bones," he chides, starting to follow the same sort of tactics once more -- this time without the added pressure of plummetting towards the skeletal beast at the same time. His webbing lashes out, sticky strands starting to blanket that bony tail and pin it to the gorund before moving upwards, trying to restrict it's movements. To keep it in its place.

Ghost Spider has posed:
With precision that only Stark technology can achieve, one of the Iron Man suits fires a repulsor beam at the T-Rex's feet. The ground beneath it melts and reforms, encasing the ancient behemoth's skeletal feet in solid rock. The other suit circles it, constantly scanning and recalibrating, keeping it boxed in.

Nearby, in a surreal twist, a few children chase smaller Compsognathus skeletons with sticks. The Compys, possibly feeling outnumbered by the sheer energy of the children, scatter in all directions, their screeches echoing across the night. Every now and then, a child successfully tags one, sending it skidding across the museum's courtyard, and the other kids cheer in triumph.

Officer Martinez, a veteran on the force and one not easily phased, finds himself in a standoff with a Triceratops. With his police car's siren wailing and lights flashing, he tries to herd the immense creature back towards the museum's entrance. "C'mon big guy, let's go home," he murmurs, using his vehicle as a makeshift shield, nudging the skeleton cautiously.

While chaos reigns outside, inside the museum, the situation is rapidly being contained. For now, the immediate threat was averted. Sure, one or two (or a dozen) skeletons might still be loose in the city, but the denizens of New York would sleep soundly, albeit with strange stories to tell in the morning.

Gwen, meanwhile, has managed to find herself outside with the rest of the guests, making her apologizes for an evening she hadn't expected and offering to help hail rides to get people home of they needed it. She wouldn't leave, herself, of course.. not until all of her friends were safely out. She did still have her web-shooters in her purse in a pinch, though it didn't look like she was going to need them.

Spider-Man has posed:
With most of the big boys handled, it is more an issue of hunting down all the other exhibits and making sure that they neither harm anyone nor are harmed themselves. Archaeology might not be his field, but that doesn't mean that Peter's curiousity is lacking in that department.

Or any other really.

In the end it does not seem as if anyone was hurt -- which is certainly a relief -- and Pete does his best to round up what skeletons he can, gathering them together and leaving them undisturbed. At least until the authorities start flooding into the museum at any rate.

It's probably not the best of ideas to remain on the scene at that point, not considering he's wanted. And considering how his luck has already reared it's ugly head tonight. Of all the times for something like *that* to hit the museum. Eeeesh.

It had been such a *nice* birthday too. A reminder that even with all his troubles, there are a whole lot of people in his life who still care. And who he, in turn, should probably work a little harder to make time for.

But in short order he is swinging through the park, his evening going like so many others. Plans in shambles and him in his Spidey costume.

Still, it's a little easier to smile about it this time.

Firestar has posed:
And then there was one. Angelica is used to team work and not used to solo adventures. She makes her way out as well, flying off towards the ocean and the promise of a peaceful flight before head to bed.

Flying off she mutters to herself,"That's two outfits I have burned off for you in the last week Parker. If I didn't know you are as broke as I am, I would be coming after you for some money." She laughs softly, clearly not being serious.

Once she reaches the ocean she descends to a level lower than Marine radar can locate and then blasts off into the horizon away from the land.