2857/Mess With the Bull...

Mess With the Bull...
Date of Scene:	16 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Star-Lord, Lara Croft

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Star-Lord has posed:
Lara

     It had been a search of weeks for the Heart of the Minotaur, an ancient gem with a strange powers according to myth: Zeus lightning given form, men burned alive by touching it etc. Of course when the search changed from books and theories to actual field work, there was someone to swoop in and try to get there first. In this case, it was Sebastian Marks, scumbag treasure hunter and Jason Isaacs impersonator (not really, but the resemblance is definitely there) who ambushed Lara, leaving her for dead before he made off with her notes to Crete and the Heart.

    Fortunately, there were copies of the notes and Lara had already made her travel arrangements.

Quill

    For Peter it had been a search of hours. This morning, while he spooned Count Chocula cereal into his mouth the space hero ran a scan of Earth from his ship, searching for anything off. Figuring heck, maybe Darkseid and his goons left something worth a few units. It didnt take long before he got a ping. Strange energy readings from an island in the Mediterranean. Transferring the location to his wrist comp, he hopped a Legionaire shuttle to the island, Crate, Crete, whatever, and just followed the readings.

    The thing he was looking for, seemed to be at the center of a maze, one full of traps. Which was very cool, but most of them were sprung, with goons of varying stripes strewn about on their deadly, spikes and edges. It was a total cake walk until it wasnt. One of the still living goons got the drop on him, and frog marched him to the bad guy. There was the traditional back and forth before the bad guy shoved a gun in his ribs, and told Peter, he was going to be the one to go grab the power source, this big glowy white crystal from the bronze statue of the minotaur, sitting in the round large chamber that had seen better days. Sunlight filtered in through cracks in the domed ceiling and larger fissures made the floor uneven, around the ceiling the remains of statues look down from above.

    "Okay man, Im going," Peter says as he walks forward towards the crystal. Something on his wrist comp beeps, and beeps a lot. "Hey, Im getting a lot of radiation off this thing."

    Marks fires off a shot near Peters head. "Just get it, or radiation poisoning will be the least of your worries." His remaining five goons, raise their weapons, AK-47s.

     "Jeez, you guys are total dicks," Peter grouses moving up the steps of the altar towards the statue towering above him.

Lara Croft has posed:
It had been a long trek for Lara to get to this remote island, but she managed it by plane train and... boat... Lara hadn't come without the knowledge of what she'd be facing, a lot of well armed mercs with the desire to kill for this ancient 'Heart'. In the past handful of years, however, such things had become a strange normalcy for the young Miss Croft.

Lara made her way onto the island from a small cavern that fed fresh water out into the ocean from an underground spring, she'd used her equipment and land traversing skills to get inside the ruins that Peter (and friends) were occyping and she managed to make her way through another part of that make-shift maze of death, avoiding the traps that were still functional, while disarming others to make them no longer a threat should she need to come back this way.

Lara heard the voices in the chamber ahead, she wasn't on the same level as them, though, she'd climbed her way to a hole in the wall that was about a standard building story up off the ground.

Lara saw Peter being forced into going forward, she could hear the beeping on his odd device, saw the men strongarming him to do as they said... She just sighed. "Another archaeologist, wonderful." She muttered, her dry lips pursing for a moment as she readied a distraction...

A few moments pass and then the screech of an arrow whistling through the air is heard, and it descends and explodes at the feet of the men with the gun, sending dark black smoke everywhere!

Lara's peircing brown eyes are staring down the sight on her bow, waiting to see Peter's reaction to her providing him with an opportunity.

Star-Lord has posed:
Boom. The exploding arrow echoes through the chamber and has Peter hitting the deck wondering if he just got shot. It doesn't take long to realize for Peter to realize he's fine, he gets up to his feet and sprints full tilt towards the statue, his rad sensor beeping furiously as he does.

    As the arrow goes off, Marks ducks down, shielding his eyes. "Croft," he seeths, because who else could it be, the smoke is stinging his eyes as he shoots wildly. Hoping to hit her. He doesn't. He hits the Heart. There is a ping, then a click, and then a pair of brass doors seal shut over the heart and the statue's eyes begin to glow with the same white light as the Heart did.

     "Oh shit," Peter says as he changes course away from the statue and ducks for cover as a merc gets free of the smoke and joins his boss in firing blindly. The remaining four at Marks' command begin looking through smoke stung eyes for Croft.

Lara Croft has posed:
Well, the diversion seemed to work to free Peter... whoever he was... though for now she'd consider him to be a possibly ally or non-hostile competitor--at least until/if he tried to attack her.

When the gunfire started up at her, Lara ducked back behind the rock wall cover while the bullets pattered loudly against said rock, sending large chunks of debris blasting in all directions!

Lara pressed her back up against the wall, she was wearing a black tactical vest that gave her some body armor protection, but her arms were bare and her lowerbody was clad in simple slimfit cargo khakis... she surely didn't wish to get shot!

Lara put her bow away on her back, attaching it to the high-tech arrow quiver there and she went to reached for her climbing axes...

As she heard the chaos in the main chamber unfolding, her mind quickly worked to figure out her next play... and she saw an opportunity to further throw the men off base inside that room.

Lara rushed out of the rocky corridor and she leapt... axes out... right for the back of one of the statues that surrounded the central room, slamming her climbing axes into its stoney back so she could hang from it, and let it provide her with cover now!

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter takes cover behind a jutting piece of floor listening as the goon opens up with his AK-47. On Earth or in space, guns pretty much have one constant though. Ammo. When the guy clicks dry, Peter stands up, piece of temple floor in hand and chucks it hard. A moment later his boot jets are flaring to life and he's slamming into the goon with his shoulder, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him into two of the other goons. The jets cut out with a push of a button and Peter is scrambling across the floor to where the guys had tossed his gear, with two things in mind. His Walkman and his Element Guns.

    Between the statue with glowing eyes, the smoke still in the air and the guy flying across the room Marks' mooks have a lot going on and miss Lara's jump. Marks doesn't or at least he thinks he sees a shape moving near the dome. He fires again, "Croft! I know that's you!" he bellows over the sound of his shots.

Lara Croft has posed:
STAB! Lara plants a remote controlled explosive arrow into the back of one statue, right into a crevace in the stonework! She can hear the gunfire going off, though she certainly has no idea that Peter is a spaceman with spaceguns... or even if he's still alive, for that matter!

The shouting from Marks is heard also, and though she didn't want any of this to have ended up like this... he had forced her hand... he'd forced her to take these actions since he caught her and stole the information she'd had on all of this. But Lara didn't verbally reply to him, she'd let her actions do the talking for her!

A smokebomb was said off between each statue, so as to make it impossible for the AK-47 wielders down below to get a shot on her with any real accuracy and she'd start planting arrows in the back of the statues as she around the old stone ring base that they sat upon. One after another, smoke bombs going off between each one of them! POP - POP - POP - POP and HISSING as their dark clouds created a fog at the top of the chamber's dome!

At the final statue, Lara slid down into a crouch on her butt and planted her back aginst a column of stone.

"Leave now!" She shouted straight up into the air. "Take your men and leave!" She tried her best to ward them away from what she was about to do, pulling the detonator out of her messenger bag on her hip.

Star-Lord has posed:
    Peter makes the last couple feet to his gear in a roll. The mooks are either too busy picking themselves off the floor or shooting at Lara to notice him, he grabs his Walkman and sticks it on his belt, then grabs his two element guns, just as the goons he knocked over get to their feet. "Night a-holes," he says and pulls the triggers, two bolts of electricity shoot from the guns and drop both goons to the ground, writhing. A shame Rocket wasn't there to see it.

    When Lara makes her demands, Quill stops dead in his tracks not sure if she meant him or the other guys. "You mean me?" Quill asks pointing up at himself with one of his guns, finger off the trigger. "'Cause I'm a good guy-" he's about to say more before he's cut off by Marks.

    "You wouldn't dare, Croft," he says lowering his gun, but only to reload it. "Lose all your work, also, I don't think you have it in you." His guys though, they're less willing to wager their lives on it. They start backing away. A process that quickens, when the statue of the minotaur starts to move, slowly extricating itself from the wall, with slow, but powerful movements of its arms and legs. "Huh, so that's what the gem was for," Peter says, before kicking in his rockets, and blasting off ground level, time to take the fight to the air. Marks and his men stare at the statue as it finally breaks free of the stone and begins to move towards them. The men flee. Marks stubborn as ever, raises his gun and fires.

Lara Croft has posed:
"I'd rather destroy it than let it fall into your greasy mits... you sonova bitch." Lara muttered in her British voice while she looked back over her shoulder and saw Peter Quill up on 'rocket boots', did he know Tony Stark? Lara saw the minotaur statue starting to break free and move on its own accord, just as the book had said it had... remarkable...

'Focus, Lara.' She told herself, seeing the armed men starting to flee... all besides Marks...

Lara rushed behind a rock outcropping, lifted the detonator and pulled the mechanism's lever. A second of delay and then each arrow she placed all exploded in a simultaneous chaotic moment! The statues that lined the balcony around the dome's top, exploded outward and began to fall down to the floor below...

Lara clamped her eyes shut during the explosion, then she opened them after it rocked the chamber and she looked to see if the statues would crush down on the floor, or maybe even go through the floor itself... after thats how she'd entered this facility, through the water-ways that were beneath it.

The British explorerer (and SHIELD special agent) then looked up to where Peter had been when she'd last seen him, to check and see if he was okay...

Star-Lord has posed:
    The statue puts on some speed before the explosion rocks the chamber. It snatches up one of the men, crushing him in his metal grip before it makes a grab for Marks. The treasure hunter fires off a shot, leaping away, but the statue catches hold of his leg and lifts him off the floor just as the explosives go off and bring the statues raining down on the floor. A goon is crushed under a lump of granite and another is knocked off his feet as three of the statues break through the floor tumbling to the waterways below. The moving statue, stumbles, Marks still in his grip, and then falls sliding towards the edge of the gap where it stops, stuck in the hole ripped in the floor. At least for now. "Croft," Marks calls weakly. His bravado gone. "Help me," he moans as the floor shakes, and more of it begins to crumble into the pit below.

     As for Peter. One of the statues knocked him out of the air and onto his ass. He shakes it off though and begins to get to his feet when the floor falls away under him. Which would be less of a problem if the statue hadn't taken his jets offline. He grabs a bit of stonework in the second before he falls, his feat dangling above the abyss.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara stepped out from behind her cover after the damage had been done to the entire chamber, she watched the Minotaur drop Marks and se saw him struggling from his spot... She eyed him when he called out to her for help... She had no reason to help him, he'd been trying to kill her for the better part of the last week. However, Lara wasn't him, she wasn't a heartless killer.

A rope was tied off to a stone pillar and Lara attached it to an arrow head, it only took her a few more seconds before she fired it right into the dirt at Marks' side... He could use that to save himself, or not, it was enough to give Lara guilt-free conscious.

Lara then spied Peter struggling... she made her way to him, walking the balance-beam of a fallen stone pillar and then throwing herself across the chasm until she landed right where Peter was and she lunged at him, reaching out to take his hand. "Grab on." Lara said, anchoring them both down with her climbing axe thrusted into the destroyed stone floor's cracked surface!

Star-Lord has posed:
     The arrow hits and Marks struggles to reach the line, and that's the last Lara sees before she's diving after Peter. He grabs her hand and holds on for dear life as she grips the climbing axe. Peter looks up, with a smile for his rescuer, "Hi," he grunts out with the strain of holding on. He manages to stretch out a foot to brace it against an outcropping of stone, taking some of the weight off of Lara's arm. He glances around trying to find a handhold and comes up dry. "How long can you hold me? I think I can get my boots reset, in about five seconds," he says using his free hand to fiddle blindly with the controller.

    Across the chamber, limping but otherwise safe, Marks calls out. "Croft!" then pulling the pin on a grenade and chucks it towards where the statue lays dormant, stuck in the rock. The explosion is a flash of blue light then the floor all over starts giving way as the statue tumbles through the floor and the floor starts tumbling with it.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's hands were both encased in black leather half gloves, leaving her fingers exposed and she glunchedonto Peter's hand as he greeted her in a way that seemed a little too casually friendly, considering their situation, but Lara didn't react to that, she just grunted and looked back up at where her axe was holding them and then heard his question of how long...

"Six seconds, seven maybe!" She called back down to him.

When her name was called out, Lara looked up and to that of Marks. "Shit." She said, not realizing he had any weapons left on him... She should've let him die... having a heart and a conscious was the -worst- sometimes. "Hurry!" Lara said down to Peter again.

When the blast rocked that stuck metal construct machine thing, and started to crumble the remainder of the floor, Lara's eyes started to follow it as it drew ever closer and closer to where her axe was connected to the rock. She trained to hold onto Peter, could feel his hand getting harder to grasp as the pain of being stretched like this by his and her weight was quite a lot for the lithe (but fit) woman to bare.

Star-Lord has posed:
    "Got it!" Peter shouts as the boots come online with a flare of jets and the weight at the end of Lara's arm vanishes as he hovers just below her, his hand still gripping hers as the floor falls around them. He reaches up to touch something behind his ear and a mask forms over his face, deflecting falling rubble. He holds out his arms and shouts, "Jump on! I'm going to get us above this," as the floor around Lara's axe begins to give way.

Lara Croft has posed:
The raider of tombs didn't have to be asked twice, when he said she was actually alread in the process of lunging at him and latching onto him with her left arm that she had previously been holding his hand with while her feet move to stand toes on his toes for support of those rocket boots!

Lara's right arm took her axe and deposited it back to her belt beside her holstered sidearm, which she was quickly drawing and aiming in the direction that she'd seen Marks last... Lara aimed down her weapon's sights and started tu unload shots from it! Six shots in total, she peppered the area around where their maniac pursuer had tossed that tech bomb that was nearly complete in destroying the entire floor down into the rushing waters of the underground river.

Whoever Quill had run into here today, she seemed to be quite skillful, if not having the gadgets that were on the same level as his fancy space toys!

Star-Lord has posed:
     Oof. Peter takes the sudden weight well, despite the jet boots bobbing downwards at the thrust suddenly comes up short. Peter adjusts quickly though and they're coming up again rising above the floor as the last of it tumbles away after the minotaur and its heart. Marks though, he's still there, dumbfounded by what he's seeing come up from the floor. It makes him a pretty easy target. One of the first rounds hits him in the shoulder and he staggers backwards, falling by dumb luck into cover. The remaining shots keeping him there.

    "Man, remind me not to get on your shit list," he says flinching a little at the noise of Lara's gun. "Want me to set you down so you can deal with that guy?" he asks. "Or are we out of here?" Then his red eyed mask turns past Lara and looks at his hip. "No, no, no," he says. "Got to set you down any way, I'll be right back." He starts looking for a good spot.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara released only a short and subtle half exhale of a laugh at Peter's words about getting on her shit list. She was then in the process of looking around get her bearings on the chamber... or what remained of it. "I have a boat." She told him then. "Waiting to the east at the mouth of a cavern."

Her sidearm was slipped back into the holster that was strapped to her right thigh and when he went to set her down, she'd lean out toward the ledge and then leap from him to it before quickly spinning around and looking to him. "We can't let the Heart fall into their hands!" She said back to him, over the sound sof his rocket boots and the other chaos happening still within the ruins.

But she was off again, moving toward where she'd left Marks shot and likely dying... hopefully. Lara drew her gun again and she replaced the ammunition magazine with a fresh full load.

"I gave you a chance survive." Lara said to where she believed he was hiding behind cover. "Multiple times." Lara held her gun with both of her hands, squeezing the grip and keeping it lifted and aimed... ready for him.

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter grins when she laughs, not that she can see, mask and all. Though all of that fades when he realizing he's missing a treasure and it's not the heart. He drops her off. "We won't!" he promises about letting the heart fall into the wrong hands as he flies into the crevasse.

    Marks though, he's waiting for Lara. Bleeding and weak the man just won't give up and he hurls himself at Lara, gun gone, replaced with a knife held in a downwards grip. He doesn't have long and he's decided to go out fighting.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's boot steps crunched on the dirty ground of the precipice that overlooked the destruction below, she crept closer and closer to where she believed Marks was hiding, but in turth... he'd been one spot closer to her than she'd thought he was, which meant when he charged with a knife... he'd been a lot nearer than she'd anticipated!

The man collided with her and it made her drop her handgun while she went for his wrist to keep him from impaling her with the knife! And now the two were locked in a war of grappling and a test of strength! Normally, Marks would have her beat in sheer muscle mass, but to her advantage she'd shot him in the shoulder, so it meant she could fight back more evenly.

Marks pinned her back against the stone pillar she'd tied the arrow-rope to earlier and he pushed the knife toward her chin and throat while she pushed it away as best she could. "You've lost, Marks." Lara said back to him. "Let it go and save yourself!" She was straining to keep the knife away from her though, but in one last hope of hopes, Lara would send her right knee upward as hard as she could at the man's crotch and then she'd move to shove him toward the ledge with the perilous drop below!

Star-Lord has posed:
     Unbelievably, Peter finds what he's looking for hanging by its headphones, his Sony Walkman. He snatches it off the root and stuffs it in his pocket, and for a moment he hangs there looking at the minotaur, the casing is open, and the gem is gleaming up at him.

    He sighs, then blasts upwards with his rockets. Time to be a hero.

    Marks keeps struggling with the strength of a mad man. "I can't let you win, -they- need it," he says almost gibbering. He's giving her no choice. Then suddenly there's a blast of hot air and Marks is lifted up and thrown against a wall, and the red eyed gaze of Star-Lord is in his place. "You alright?" he asks landing beside her. He draws one of his pistols and aims it at Marks to make sure the guy's not going to pull any more surprises.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was suddenly relieved when Marks went flying away from her, with whatever power that Peter just used, she was still pressed back against the rock pillar, covered in dirt and sweat and she was still wet with sea water after having swam her way up into this ruined temple to begin all of this.

"Yes." Lara said in a breathy voice, worn from the fight, having to take a moment to gather herself. "Thank you." She'd soon add to the rocket booted man in the mysterious mask. A second later and she was looking over at Marks that Peter had his weapon trained on. "He won't stop." She said. "If we leave him alive, he'll only just keep going... I know it." She looked back at Peter's covered face then. "Because I'm the same way."

Lara walked over to where she'd dropped her semi-auto and she crouched to pick it up, and then held it at her side as she turned back to Peter. "Do you know of a way to deal with him? A place to take him perhaps?" Lara looked Peter over, up and down. "Are you an Avenger?" She asked him then, he shared some of their theatrics and he sounded American.

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter presses the button at the back of his ear and his helmet vanishes in a faint haze of blue light. He blinks as the light shifts for him and then looks back at Marks and at Lara's gun. He sighs. Youndu would be laughing so hard at him right now. "Not an Avenger, I'm a Guardian, but yeah, I think I can get him somewhere he won't cause any trouble." He pulls the trigger and hits Marks with a stun blast. Probably not the smartest thing to do to a guy that's near death but it ensures no more trouble out of him. He puts the gun away. "I'm Peter Quill, but people call me Star-Lord," he says offering his hand.

    He glances down the fissure, "The gem's okay, but if we're taking your friend here. We'll need to do two trips, unless you're okay coming down on your own."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara slipped her handgun back into her holster on her thigh while Quill's mask came off in an impressive display of high-technology... SHIELD had similar things, but she hadn't seen anything like that up close before. She didn't comment on it though.

"Its a pleasure to meet you, Mister Quill." She told him back, stepping toward him but more-so to look over the ledge and then back to Marks after Peter fired that stun blast at him that put him down. Lara sighed, feeling relief that the mad man was at least out cold for now. She looked back over at him on her left side.

"I'm Lara. Croft." She added. "I work with SHIELD out of Manhattan. I was sent here to retrieve that Heart so that it might be kept in a safe place, away from monsters such as him..." She motioned at Marks' body with her left hand. "My employers are insistant that I return with it." She said back to Peter then, not answering his question about how they'd get to her boat quite yet. (She of course, had no idea he had a space ship somewhere).

Star-Lord has posed:
    "Good meeting you too, Lara," Peter says, clearly not brought up on formalities. He steps back, letting the woman work, and because he's Peter, takes a moment to appreciate what he sees both professionally and well, physically. "This Marks guy, he's looking pretty rough," he says after a moment, turning his eyes to the guy. "You say these SHIELD guys are in Manhattan, like New York? If you're not too attached to your boat, I think I can help you there," he says. "After we get the stone of course."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was used the eyes of men looking her over, it didn't phase her so long as they kept focused and didn't try anything lecherous. She didn't even seem to notice Quill's looks, either, really.

"Right." Lara replied to him then, putting her eyes back onto him after she heard his words, but giving a small glance toward Marks. "He's got a gunshot wound to his right shoulder. He'll need pressure applied to it to stop the bleeding, otherwise he'll be gone within the day."

Lara looked back to him then. "Do you have a faster way out of here?" She asked him then. "A helicopter? Did they bring you here with one? If so... take him to it. I'm going to go get that stone... I'll meet you on the eastern beach. Okay?"

Lara would dip her chin in a nod toward Peter and then she'd turn to her left and approach the ledge, she'd swam up into this facility from down below, she knew how deep that river was down there. So without much more than a couple of seconds, Lara would suddenly leap off of the ledge and go into a free fall dive downward 100 feet into the river below to get into a better position to eventually climb back up to where the Heart was within that crippled minotaur's body!

Clearly she was either crazy, or fearless, or both!

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter nods when Lara talks medical stuff, man it was so much easier when you could lean on tech to just fix that sort of thing. "Right. Pressure. I can do that," he says moving over towards Marks, he stops though when she mentions going after the Heart. "Yeah, something like a helicopter," he answers, turning back and pulling a palm sized disk out of his pocket. "When you get to the thing, put this on it and push the button. It'll wrap it in a field, the thing was giving off some weird radiation." He turns back to deal with Marks. "Are you sure you want to climb down, I can fly you then get this guy-" he turns to see Lara dive down into the fissure and runs to the edge. "Holy shit," he says before looking over his shoulder to the unconscious Marks. "Yeah, buddy, you were totally out of your league." He walks over, slaps a med pack on Marks and heaves him over his shoulder. "Watch your head," he says as they fly up out of one of the much bigger holes in the roof.

    Down below, the minotaur is thoroughly smashed, its workings exposed, a curious mix of wires and gearworks, a blend of modern and ancient. Quite a find in itself. Though at it's center the heart still glows.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara would've accepted the item before having jumped of course!

Once through that gap in the rocks, she'd have splashed down into the river below and gone back to the point she'd originally started in, but due to the collapse she could bypass the maze all together and get straight back up into the chamber and to the side of it that the minotaur had been on... it only took a moderate amount of climbing time.

Lara would use the item as Peter had instructed her to, she'd retrieve the artifact with it and deposit it into the bag on her hip before descending back into the river below... Just another day on the job.

Lara pulled herself back out of the river down at the mouth of the cavern on the eastern side of the island, she was seated on the edge of the boat and was pulling the tactical vest off of her torso, unlatching the velcro straps that wrapped around her body, when she saw one of the dead members of Marks' group go floating by in the water, she just watched the man's body float past out toward sea on the current.

"This is why I have a therapist..." Lara muttered before standing up on her small boat's deck and tossing her vest into a bag of other gear she'd brought and then adjusting her black tanktop she'd had on beneath it.

Lara looked up and held a hand up to her brow to shield out the dying sunset, she looked around for Peter...

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter manages to get Marks to the Legion shuttle safely, and tosses him into a seat before doing up the restraints. He points a finger at the guy, "Try not to die, I'm playing hero here," and then he heads to the front of the ship to get her spun up. Like Lara, another day on a very similar job.

     The ship from the future had a few bells and whistles that the Milano lacked but it just wasn't the same. Still, it'd get them to New York with no problems. When the engines read ready, he gets her airborne and heads out towards the sunset, taking a moment to enjoy it before he starts down towards the beach.

    When she comes into view the smooth white hull of the shuttle reflects the light of the setting sun painting it a vibrant orange and red, save for the white glowing line of her noiseless engines. Under Peter's expert handling he manages to set it down in the sand a few dozen feet from Lara, the future-ship making barely a breeze as it does. The ramp lowers, and Peter is waiting at the door. "Well, it's something like a helicopter," he says with a grin.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was cleaning the boat out and pulling it further onto shore when the shuttle's engines could be heard and she stopped to turn and look at the vessel. "Huh..." She quietly uttered to herself. "Why am I not surprised?" She further mumbled before turning back to the boat to tie it off toa tree on the edge of the beach and then gather up her bags... she'd let the man know where the boat was that she'd rented it from, he was wealthy, he could get out here to get it.

When the ramp came down and Peter made his appearance she was holding a backpack and her duffle bag in either arms and walking toward him with a soft smile on her face. "Something like a helicopter." She re-affirmed his words. "Which is like saying the Star Trek Enterprise is something like a submarine." And yes, she said 'Trek' and not 'Ship' ... Lara wasn't great a pop culture.

The SHIELD Agent would make her way onto the shuttle and walk past him, giving him another faint smile. "Thank you for the help back there. Its not often I run into someone with jet boots, on my expeditions. Let alone... stun weaponry and sci fi transports." She'd move to board the shuttle and find a place for her gear and a place to seat herself. She'd hold up the device he'd given her, with the Heart.

"I guess now we decide if you're going to let me keep this, since I assume you came here to get it, much as I have." The British woman then said.

Star-Lord has posed:
Peter steps back and lets Lara on board, "Star -Ship- Enterprise," he corrects her. "And yeah, it's pretty cool. Mine's better though, this one I'm borrowing from a friend," he adds before hitting the hatch button and letting it cycle closed. "You're welcome," he says with a smile of his own. "And I don't run into many women, human or otherwise, that'd jump down that fissure. Got to say, that was kinda hot," he says shamelessly as he moves towards the controls. He stops though when the Heart comes out.

     "Guess it's that time," Quill confirms before turning the control chair to face Lara and sitting down in it. He kindly keeps his hands away from his weapons while he does. "So, you and SHIELD definitely want it?" he asks as an opening exploration of what he might be able to get out of this deal.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara would hold the object up in the air for a moment as he spoke on it and then she'd lower it down to just in front of her knees, her clothing was still sopping wet and his words about the jump being hot just made her smirk. "Yes well... I'd beg to differ. That water coming out of the mountain is coming from a snow peak, not a hot spring... so its anything, but, hot." She just released a light huff of a laugh before she heard the rest of his words and watched him sit.

"Yes." She replied to him in short.

"SHIELD has facilities... for items like this." Lara glanced around the shuttle's interiors, thinking that if this was a loaner from a friend... she needed better friends. "I'm tasked with locating and retrieving them, as have others for decades before me." Lara looked back to him then. "We are not looking to weaponize the Heart, we're just looking to store it in a safe place, so others cannot benefit from it for foul reasons."

Lara would then pause and tilt her head curiously while staring at the man's pretty face. "And why exactly were you on its doorstep, at gunpoint, from these soldiers?" She had to ask.

Star-Lord has posed:
     He does follow the gem's course, whether to keep an eye on it or to check out Lara's legs, hard to say. Though when she mentions the dive being cold, he turns and opens an emergency kit, and produces a white blanket with a hexagonal pattern in it. He hands it over. "On," he says to the device and it activates becoming warm.

    When it comes to the negotiation, Peter takes in her words and puts his hands behind his head leaning back in his chair. "Ah, so you want to turn it over to 'Top Men'" he says in a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark and the fate of said Ark, as the top men wheeled it away to be stored forever. He scratches his head and says. "I am not 100% sure, but that right there looks like a really, old model Anulax battery, no idea how it came to Earth. Now, if you're just going to give it to SHIELD and have them lock it away, why don't I just take it to space, and make sure it finds a good home up there, where it's not going to cause any trouble? I know a guy called the Broker, he could sell that thing in a second," he says snapping his fingers. "But I'm open to other options," he says sounding like he has other options in mind.

    As for how he got into that situation. "Wasn't my best day, got a read on that thing's signature from my ship then came down to check it out. When I found that guy's men," he jerks a thumb at Marks. "All over the traps, I got sloppy. Would have found a way to get out of there somehow." He sounds sure of that.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara accepted the blanket offered from him and she inspected it for a moment before she'd move to wrap it around her shoulders. "Comforts I'm certainly not used to." She quietly commented then after feeling the blanket doing its job to almost instantly maker her feel less jittery from the chills.

She looked back at him when he made the Indiana Jones joke, which was a reference she only got because her friend Jonah had insisted she watched the films with her earlier this year, he'd been so excited to get to introduce her to them since he'd called her 'The female Indiana' since about the day they'd met one another... Little did many know that Lara was actually friends with the real one, and that he was a live and not just a character from some 40 year old movies.

"Yes, essentially thats the case." She said about the 'Top Men' stuff though. A headshake later and she denied his suggestion. "It really isn't up to me. I have to file a report when I get home, and if I put in my report that I gave the artifact to an Unknown man who valiantly risked his neck to save me on the heels of his rocket boots... My employer will be quite cross with me, and crass... He has a foul mouth you see."

Lara would smirk at him. "If you'd like though, I can arrange a meeting with him, you can make a plea for the device with him... As resourceful as you appear to be, he might ask you for aide for something larger, in exchange for this... 'battery'." Lara would look down at the device in the container he'd given her then.

Star-Lord has posed:
"The advantages of being a space man," Peter says of the blanket. It would blow Peter's mind to know Indiana Jones was real and alive, but of course he doesn't know that. "Right, bosses, I got you, but then of course you could lie on your report. Couldn't find it boss, what? No there wasn't a handsome space man anywhere near the temple, honest. Works with some of my past employers, even the foul mouthed ones," he says with a smirk of his own.

    He considers her counter-offer for a moment. "Problem there is, your boss has the battery and all the power. How about you schedule the meeting, I keep the battery, and then we can meet with your boss to discuss terms of maybe handing it over or maybe me keeping it in exchange for doing your people a favor or two."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara would show a smile at his suave style, she admired his confidence and the way he carried himself... she could tell he was cocky and likely pretty into himself too. The kind of guy that was probably a star athelete in school, the kind that would've ignored her because she was a 'mousey bookworm' like so many of the popular kids had called her back in her public schooling years prior to college when things finally turned toward a more adult atmosphere.

"Right." Lara said to him. "Quite handsome." She added with a small smile. "Your counter offer to my offer is almost acceptable... however, in order for me to accept it... I'll have to have SOME kind of collatoral that I can return to you once you've held up your end of the bargain and finished with the meeting. Even if the meeting goes south, I will return whatever it is to you. I just need it to be something that I will have.. confidence in that you'll come back for."

Lara's eyes scanned around the interior of the cockpit, she saw Marks who was hopefully not dead (right?) and then she looked to Peter and... down at his lap (no, not like that! gosh!). Lara's right hand lifted up and she pointed right at it (not that 'it'!)), his Sony Walkman.

"You seem rather attached to that, tape player?" She then put her hand back down onto her knee. "I'll keep it safe for you until you come and get it. You can have the battery."

Star-Lord has posed:
     She's mostly right about Peter, though he was less football star, more space pirate cabinboy, but those are the same thing right? He definitely enjoys that smile, though and flashes one of his own when she mentions 'quite handsome', so that's a confirmation on him being into himself.

     When she mentions collateral, he watches her as she looks around the shop, when she gives Marks a glance he frowns and taps his mask in place. Phew, his body temp hadn't slid into cold yet. He clicks the mask back off and finds her looking at his lap.

    "Well, I like where your thinking is going, but I'm not quite ready to part with that," he glances down at where she's pointing. "Oh, the Walkman!" he frowns, if anything he looks more concerned about that than he did when he though she meant the other thing. He looked at the battery, then at Lara and finally his Walkman.


Peter pulls a face, as he slowly reaches down and pops out the tape; Awesome Mix Vol. 2 is what it says on the label. He puts the tape in his pocket and then unhooks the Walkman from his belt, handing it over.

     "Deal," he says with a sigh. "But it better be safe with you, or you and your boss will have one pissed off spaceman on your hands." But then, that's the point.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara would glance at him as he did that thing with his mask, it was like what Stark did with his own... but it looked more advanced even, though she'd never even spoken to Stark let alone seen his Iron Man suit function up close.

When he pulled the tape from the walkman and said his initial words, Lara's eyes went from the device and up to his face, she gave him another soft smile. "Charming too." She said. "I imagine you're quite the ladykiller." Lara would reach her hand out then and accept the device. "I'll be careful with it, I promise. I handle delicate artifacts from thousands of years ago on almost daily basis... I think I can handle a device from the..." Lara read the label. "Ninteen eighties? My god..." She'd look up at him then again, her face bathed in the sunset light from outside the front window of the shuttle.

"You know, they have things much more advanced than this right? LIttle 'tiny' devices." She held up her right hand to indicate just HOW small. "That can hold thousands of songs."

A second later and the British woman would just smile at him, she was really only just teasing him. It was clearly a nostalgia-driven keepsake. "I won't let any harm come to it. I promise you, Peter." Her voice was warm and reassuring in a way only a Brit could convey.

Star-Lord has posed:
     Peter notices the attention given to the mask and he turns his head so his right ear is facing Lara. "It's an implant, creates a the mask, gives me all sorts of cool scanners, oh and works as a universal translator," he says before he can't help but add. "Like on the Star Trek Enterprise."

     His head turns back to Lara then to catch the soft smile, "People have said that about me, yeah," he says to being a bit of ladykiller. He leans forward and presses the Walkman into her hands. "Well, alright, if you're a professional, I guess I can trust you," he says with a little smirk before his brows go up and he looks down at the Walkman. "Yeah, it's old," he says a touch defensively, as the sun sweeps across his face painting it shades of dusk and long shadows.

     "Yeah, I saw a few of them," he gives a shrug. "Not really my thing, I like my Walkman," he can't quite keep the emphasis off of my. It's not just a Walkman, this one is -his-. When she assures him, it'll be safe he nods. "Thanks," he says honestly, looking her in the eye. On a day when he didn't just hand over his Walkman, he might have gone for a kiss, but this time, he just lets out a breath. "So, we should probably get you back to New York," he says turning back towards the controls. Once he'd claimed the battery in its protective field.