5244/In the Depths

In the Depths
Date of Scene:	25 August 2018
Location:	Triskelion, New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Hellboy

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Lara Croft has posed:
In the depths of the SHIELD Triskelion there lies one of the largest collection of the world's oddities in rows after rows of boxes, both wooden, metal and plastic. Lights shine down upon the warehouse that seems to go on for miles beneath Manhattan...

Lara Croft has come here today to go and access a specific crate, and she's been told to take help with her because of the nature of what she's researching. So down one of the aisles a SHIELD-styled golf cart zips with Lara at the controls of it. She's headed toward the elevators where she's to pick up the other Agent who was assigned to help her today. What Hellboy would've been told is that Lara is an Acquisitions Agent who is working on a case that is related to potential aliens, or potential demons... or something else dangerous, they weren't sure. Either way he was ordered to meet her down here at the Elevators for her to explain it to him.

Hellboy has posed:
A short time later, Red was riding down that elevator as anticipated. Fashionably late, his yellow glowing eyes quickly scanned the room even as his left hand held the burning embers of a nearly finished cigarette. No trenchcoat today, he was dressed in just the black shorts and a matching stretchy black shirt, something that amazingly was able to fit over that massive right stone hand of his. In this age of super stretchy spandex and unstable molecules, that was still an impressive feat. He had his utility belt around his waist, oversized revolver on his hip just in case.

He dropped down to ground level before the elevator fully descended, the loud 'clack' of his cloven hooves audible and echoing in that massive, massive warehouse. Idly he walked forward, rolling his neck as he kept his eyes up.

"Ms. Croft, you in here? Olly olly oxenfree!"

Lara Croft has posed:
Not that Hellboy is easily frightened by anyone, but Lara's little go-kart pulls right up beside him almost out of no where since its engine was a unique form of electric powered internal core... SHIELD stuff (tm).

"Hello." The Britisha woman says then, she's dressed in a dark grey tanktop that looks brand new and its formfit to her much smaller (but still muscled!) body, as well as some dark cargo pants and black leather boots, she has a jacket and backpack in the back of the cart too.

Lara stands up from the cart and walks around it. She extends a hand to him and holds a smile on her unpainted and natural-hued lips. "I'm Lara, Croft." She says. "I guess you've been assigned to aide me with something. I do hope this isn't a terrible burden for you." She says in her thickly British-flavored English voice.

Hellboy has posed:
It was true, Hellboy wasn't easily spooked, which was good considering his job requirement was usually to go into the shadows to confront whatever horrible thing was hiding. Still, the kart causes the big red man to very quickly turn around in surprise, only for a split second. But it was enough for that massive right hand of his to light up in yellow glowing glyphs and runes, entire languages and passages briefly visible before fading away. Was that a tell? It was hard to tell.

The smoke was quickly snuffed out, mashed against that stone palm so that HB could take her hand in his left for a firm handshake. Although he was taking pains not to squeeze or do any kind of power play, it was still obvious that he was a being that was built for strength, and power. His left hand sometimes looked small and weak next to the oversized catcher's mitt, but now compared to Lara's it was easy to see that no, it was also rather big, just more 'reasonably' big. When he spoke, his voice was low, and so smooth it seemed every word just rolled out of bed.

"Hey, great to meet you. I'm Hell, Boy...but, y'know, call me anything." Was that a joke? It seemed to be, as the deep-set line of his mouth, almost always a permanent grimace, seemed to curl up at the very edges in the weakest smile in history. The lifespan was short, though, returning to his usual slack-jawed, open mouthed downturn as he went on.

"Nah, this ain't a burden at all, I'm happy to be here. So what are we lookin' at? I brought a few charms an' doodads with me just in case. So y'know, if we're lookin' at anything spooky I might be able to lend some assistance."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara doesn't know much about Hellboy beyond seeing him from afar here at the Trisk once or twice, she'd asked about him back then but she hadn't gotten much of a respone out of the people she asked. So she just plays up the pleasantries for now. Her hair is tied back into a ponytail but the bangs are a bit wild and loose about her face which gives her a bit of a mix of business and casual in nature. She motions him then toward the back of the cart. "If you'll hop on, I'll show you and explain a bit on along the way." She motions to the back of the cart because she knows its large enough to accomodate him, where the passenger front seat likely isn't.

Lara will then move back around to the driver's seat to slide into it and prep the cart to leave again. She looks back over to him then to start her explanation. "Have you ever heard of a Dropa Stone, Mr. Anything?" She asks... after all he'd said she could call him Anything--British humor, right?

"I've recently come across a large collection of these stones, small discs about the size of half a DVD or CD disc. Ancient, often made out of a Jade-like mineral. Typically found in Asia where they've become a bit of a tourist kitch purchase... though all of those are fake." She'll the start the car up and start down that seemingly endless central row of crates in the massive warehouse should he board the back of the cart.

"Most of them anyway... Some have turned out to be quite real, however."

Hellboy has posed:
"Dropa...dropa. Aliens that landed in China, right? Hell of a shellshock that would be."

He spoke as he climbed into the back of that kart, tail moving aside at the last minute even as he grunted in relaxation. Lara might notice the kart getting considerably heavier, but it could still maneuver...maybe it couldn't turn as sharply anymore, but it could function. For his part, Hellboy leaned backward, until his midback 'cracked' against the metal seat and he grunted again, at once more comfortable than he was moments ago.

Facing away from Lara, he smirked slightly at her new name for him, but didn't comment on the joke. For his part he'd heard rumors and read the news reports about some of her exploits as well as the horrific events on that island a while ago...he wouldn't want to be in her shoes, and that wasn't just because shoes didn't fit on his hooves. But HB was raised to only speak if you had something interesting to say, and he never found anything he said interesting, which meant he never approached her like he sometimes wanted to. Instead he listened to her explanation, nodding every so often.

"And lemme guess, we got some of the genuine articles down here?"

Lara Croft has posed:
"Ninety two of them, in fact." Lara replies. "And counting. I keep finding more authentic ones the digger I deep."

The cart is definitely not as nimble as it was, but SHIELD tech was strong tech so it at least it was still going, zipping down the aisle with row after row of crates moving past them on either sides and smaller aisles/alleyways formed between those going the other directions.

Finally they take a right hand turn and the cart zooms down a slightly thinner aisle, and up ahead there is a very large black tent setup that peaks at its mushroom-capped at around twelve feet off of the ground. They drive up to this tent and the cart is slowed to a stop.

"These were just trinkets to me, up until a year or so ago. I ran across a handful of them in a store here in Manhattan, in Chinatown." She explains as she reaches for her backpack and jacket that are situated beside Hellboy in the back of the cart. Lara starts to walk toward the tent then, assuming he'll follow. "The shop keeper gave me something for buying them, he'd said I'd find it most interesting... and he was right."

Croft pulls the flap on the black tent back so that the dark interior could be seen, "Come, I'll show you." And inside the tent is a thin metal pedestal about five feet hight and as thick as a broomstick. Ontop of it is a bronze sphere the size of a softball.

Hellboy has posed:
Of course Red follows when the ride stops, each clacking step across the ground bringing him right behind Lara. He ducks his head slightly to follow in the tent without knocking anything over, not yet needing the flashlight in his belt. At the sight of the center piece, however, he got closer and started examining the thing, walking around if it he could, if not he'd just turn to her and speak.

"Huh. And you think the wizard stick is related to Chinese aliens? I always figured they were more into rayguns, but I guess that's me stereotyping, huh? So, is this thing secure? If I touch it, am I gonna turn into a newt?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara shows a smile at the large one's words when he passes into the tent and she follows after him, the flap on the tent closes behind them and there's very little light left inside it, but she's quick to snap on a small flashlight and it adds some soft white illumination between them and the pole with the bronze sphere ontop of it. "The sphere is a map beacon." She tells him and step stoward him, holding a dropa disc out toward him, its covered in anicent engravings and is a mixture of obsidian and jade combined. "Place it here and then take a step back."

She attaches the flashlight to her belt and it hangs against her hip as she steps up to the sphere and after a second, pops it open, she indicates where the disc goes with a point of her right index finger. "Here." She says quietly. Its a small tray, almost like you might find on an old PC Desktop computer with a CDtray... though its in the center of the bronze sphere.

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy, clad in black, reached up to stroke the chinstrap of his goatee idly as he considered what he would do. "So it's technology, huh? Well what the hell, ya only live once. Unless yer Hawkman."

Taking the disc, he carefully placed it in the center of the sphere atop the staff, only to very quickly 'dance' and jog backwards, hand on the hilt of his revolver. He was ready to draw and fire should anything pop out and get him, but that was just years of instinct and reflex. Considering his usual experience with wizard-like devices, it actually wasn't a bad idea for him to be prepared like this.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara can't help but grin a bit at Hellboy's personality as she sees in him a good heart and that is somewhat shocking considering his appearance would suggest he'd be... different, but one can never judge based on a cover? Or something.

"Right." Lara says as she goes to set the disc in and then she reaches up to tap the lid on the bronze sphere shut as Hellboy dances back...

The sphere's grooved surface suddenly pops open, little tiny designs that create little holes along the bronze surface, and a second later a brilliant bright green light shoots out of the holes! The sphere starts to do two different things at this point, it starts to spin like some kind of a disco ball, eminating that bright light, while it also starts to play a calm and serene sounding music? If Hellboy was familiar with pop culture, he'd perhaps reference Gizmo's song from the Gremlins movies on what the music sounds like. A soft and soothing melody.

"There." Lara says then as she teps toward Hellboy and motions to the wall of the tent, while deactivating her flashlight on her hip. On the walls of the tent all around them is a map, of Earth. And across the landmasses of Earth are tiny spots. Lara reaches up and points at one that is large and flashing. "This is is this stone's home." Its somewhere in India, it would appear.

Hellboy has posed:
The lightshow wasn't dangerous, but Hellboy left his hand on his weapon all the same, even as he looked up and studied the patterns in some detail. He heard the music and his brow did raise, but the visual details he found more immediately interesting.

"India...have any Dropa stones ever been found in India?"

He looked at the ceiling a bit longer, before speaking again. His voice was a bit lower, and a bit slower. His right hand started glowing, ever so slightly.

"I don't think we should bring that stone to its home. Not until we check it out, and see what exactly is there. There's a lotta learnin' here that we ain't privy to."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara turns to face him then as he says this and she places her hands upon her hips while the bronze sphere continues to gently spin and display the map all over the tent, including over them as well as it turns.

"Well that is why I was told to bring you in on this." She tells him. "Its entirely optional, you're not required to participate in it at all." She then takes a step toward him and her right hand comes up. "But these... sites." She motions toward the one on the wall that was indicated to being the home of this stone. "I have to go and check them. All of them. I believe that the music associated with each individual stone is a key to opening their individual tombs." Lara turns back to the sphere then and she goes once more to it, she takes a second to swap out discs and she deposits a new one into the sphere like changing a CD in an old cd player from the 1990s. "Not all are maps, some are... explanatory in nature."

Now, a second later and the sphere is spinning again, but this time red light is shining out of the bronze device and suddenly there are creatures running past them along the walls of the tent, insectoid creatures, they're moving in thick herds and crawling over one another, Hellboy would see that they look horribly vicious and it might put him a bit more on edge.

"I don't know what this display means." Lara speaks up, exhaling softly. "If these are creatures that... are being warned about, or perhaps these are the makers of the stones themselves. And no, not many dropa have been found outside of Asia. Why they are centrally located there, I am not sure."

Hellboy has posed:
Hellboy took it all in. The insectoid creatures, what Lara said, everything. He didn't know why, but suddenly he was hungry with that ravenous sort of starvation that woke you up sometimes. He ignored it, though, finally looking down from the images to look at his right hand, bringing it up and rolling the wrist around, flexing the fingers this way and that. With every movement there was the subtle, almost silent and yet invading sound of stone scraping across stone, like a sarcophogus being pushed open after decades. Only then did he look up at Lara, speaking while nodding his head.

"Well then, if you're gonna be doing this, then I'm coming with ya. When are we leaving? ...And when's lunch?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara laughs softly at his response, its one of those controlled sort've laughs, the kind that a doctor or a scientist does... like laughing is a foreign sort've thing to them, because it sort've is for Croft. She's burried in her studies so much that she rarely ever experiences other ranges of human emotions. She teps back to the dropa stone map sphere and she clicks her flashlight back on and thne deactivates the sphere by removing its dropa disc.

"Soon as I can get clearance for a Quinjet." She tells him then. "If you're wanting to come, then I'm more than happy to have you along. You are clearly a bit of intomidation factor that I don't normally... have." She was a gun expert and a very scrappy fighter, by the time her foes realized this, they were usually too dead to be intimidated by her.

"So, soon... I appreciate you coming down here to listen to all of this and iif you'd like I'll take you back and up to the mess hall for a bite to eat, my treat." She flashes a quick smile then. "The least I can do for dragging you down to the bowels of the Triskelion."