Getting Ready for Tomorrow (Monarch)

Danny polished the last bit of dust off of the Ring of Zeus, a mighty well made band of gold encrusted with seven gems from deep within the Earth, arranged in a geometric balance symbolizing power. Or, so some mathematicians said. Right now, it could not even keep dust from resting up it or the nice plaque next to it listing off the same list as what was just said. "That should do it for the exhibits. We open tomorrow and everything looks great. Thanks!"

The lights hit the plague a little more brightly. "Now, it's a little better. I've been checking the lights around." Walking out from behind a column, Ashley Ferrier, wearing a pair of black shorts and a white long sleeve shirt, looked to the plague, then to Danny. "People often forget about the lights."

"Well, I didn't think of that, but thanks." Danny turned to look before admitting it did look better. Danny was wearing a pair of jeans and a Stanford hoodie in the blasting air conditioned room.

"Don't mention it. Bliss hates it when I do something helpful too." Ashley went back to checking a few more lights on the side of the room.

Victoria arranged a few more placements of mannequin soldiers. "Danny also hates that, but hates being compared to Bliss even more, so double whammy." She stood up, zipped up her jacket, falling just over the seam of her jeans, and walked over to the other two.

"I said 'thanks'. And, I did it respectfully. Not like I was making fun of other people who happen to say it. And, no demons spawned out of my mouth when I said something-"

"Shh." Ashley placed a finger over her smiling mouth. "It's okay. No one mistakes you for Bliss."

The exhibit hall was broken up into three different rooms. The main hall held a number of displays from antiquities with pottery, jewelry, and technological artifacts. The second hall stretched out for about fifty meters with a fifteen foot width. Inside it stored a few pieces of clothing, but mainly addressed the literary exhibitions found in lower Greece. The third hall, the one where the trio currently stood, housed an assortment of dioramas with mannequins in some ancient armor, others enacting day to day routine in ancient clothing, and finally a display for a mannequin ruler with a band about his head.

The Ring of Zeus.

The Monarch's goal was to eventually become ruler of England, giving him a fortune as well as the title of King of England where he'd have access to so many perks! But he had always had the dream of being a traditional King. Monarch needs a few things, however. A king is the old times is usually depicted as having a crown, scepter, royal robes, and loyal knights. First things first, the crown.

In the criminal underworld, somewhere England's future King has no ties to as it would be white inappropriate, there are rumors of a band-like crown of pure gold, gems, the whole deal. Something for a true king. The best part was that it would be a low risk job. A decently sized exhibit hall with lots of open space for making a grand entrance. And it's right before opening day! All he needs to do is go in, get the crown, leave his calling card, and head out. Easy. In and out.

Monarch's glider rockets through the sky at high speeds as he circles over the exhibit hall. He sets it to sentry mode as he approaches the sun roof and hops onto the glass. With his favorite blade, he'd carve a near perfect circle in the glass and kick the 'plate' down into the Hall. He drops down, making very little noise himself. However, the glder's thrusters would sound off being do low to the building. Monarch carefully slinks through the main hall. He swipes a few jewels and pots as well as he moves through. On to the next section.

"You might hate it, but I didn't check the light on the jewels. Or, you might appreciate it, since you are definitely not Bliss." Ashley laughed as she headed off towards the hall with the gems. She looked back to see Danny give a toothless smirk and grab her jacket. "Wait for me though. I don't want to leave and have security think I'm still young enough to go here!"

Ashley stepped into the hall, turning the lights on- and taking in the fresh smell of the outdoors. "Those musty artifacts must have clogged up the air back there." Seeing a few of the pristine jewels, Ashley turned to find the lights, then began to press them in a more opportune. After she fixed the lights, she turned back around to see an empty display case. The boxes were removed and all of the cards were knocked over.

Ashley then looked up to the ceiling, taking greater note of the smell. "I think we may have a problem." She turned back to hear the noise of Danny and Tori talking in the next room. "Girls?" Her voice carried, but fell just short of hearing distance. She stepped closer to the door. "Danny! Tori!"

Monarch would be struck by the fact that there's just a woman in the gallery. He at least expected a burly security guard, but just a lone woman? A grave mistake on the exhibit's part. Monarch would step out from behind a column, blade drawn.

"Hello, fine woman. You should piss off out of here before things get messy."

Monarch points the blade at the lady's throat, inches away.

"You called for backup. I'll have to slay you and your 'gals' for that. Perhaps a thrust through your chest. Would you prefer a swift slice to the throat? Maybe slowly dicing you... No... I'll behead you and use your head as my temporary scepter."

Monarch pulls his blade back, ready to thrust it at Ashley.

The movement came with very little warning. The warning came from behind her through a raspy voice. Her call for help came out before she got the warning, but no direct response came. "I don't think they heard." Ashley kept a lid on her can of freaking out for the time being, but the can wanted to explode. "If you cut my head off, I will scream just out of instinct. And, my head is a lot better looking on my head."

The blade remained next to her throat, but she began to conjure up a measure of restraint. She needed to push the blade forward. No, not the blade. The hand. More importantly, the grip. She needed a focused blast to the four fingers gripping the blade, with those taken out, he would be left with only his thumb to control the blade. It might graze her neck, but not take her head. A good trade.


"Do you think she'll want to check the lights in the other hall?" Danny stretched her arms behind her back.

"I can go check to see if the lights in there are matching the ones in here." A quick picture of the room would help Tori with some frame of reference.

But, Danny did not think it prudent enough. "Panoramic." Danny stood in the center of the room and began to rotate to capture the entire room. "Different angles."

"Good idea." Tori turned back to the hall with Ashley and the gems. "Ash! Danny's going to check the lights in the other room. Do you need some help in there?"

"You better say no or I will actually behead you. Well, go on!"

He moves his hand to a rear mounted holster. His fingers wrap around the grip of a light Glock 30 chambered in .45 ACP. Monarch has a few other blades hidden around his body, but this woman and her friends couldn't do much harm, could they?

"Just know that if anyone comes through that door, they're dead. As in, closed casket 20 rounds emptied into their body, dead."

He raised the handgun up to the door. Monarch flicks the safety off.

"I may be a master swordsman, but I don't take chances."

Throughout her life, she had heard the sound of a gun and the rattling of a blade more times than she would have thought ten years ago. She still knew what to do when in this situation. "I'm good in here." Ashley took a breath, calming herself down. If he wanted to kill for sport, he would have. Now, she just needed to know what his plans entailed. A simple jewel robbery would not want to leave bodies behind, but at the same time, it would not require this many weapons.

"Cool. Danny's checking out the lights in the other hall." Tori moved over to a chair on the side of the room and pulled out her phone.

Inside the halls of the far room, Danny began to position lights about the room, unable to get the glow Ashley managed. She tried and tried, but the light never quite fell. Danny's temper began to emerge. "Maybe I can just get a little glimpse as to what Ash is up to?" Danny began to step towards a side entrance to the other hall, keeping a low profile as to not be seen by Ashley- an unexpected wise maneuver.

"Get moving, you twit. I need the crown of I'm to he the king. You're going to help me find it. If you don't, y'know. Gun and blade. All that good stuff."

He motions the gun toward a side exit in the hall.

"I need a passage into the area where your new crown is being held. The Ring of Zeus. Any trouble and I'll kill you and both of your friends. Shift your feet!"

Ashley shifted. The movement was awkward, but it allowed her to lead Monarch towards the room with the band. She thought about taking him to the other chamber, but if he knew the exact artifact he wanted, and the artifacts were all labeled, it would be a hard sell to convince him she did not know. "Do you have some kind of name you go by? And, what's the deal with this crown?"

Tori looked up as Ashley entered- a blade to her neck backed up by a man in a mask. Tori lowered her phone, she wanted to press the warning button on the side of her phone to warn Danny, but knew it would ring on Ashley's phone as well. Probably too risky. She would need to warn Danny in a different way.

Ashley nodded to Tori, letting her know she had something of a plan if things got too dire, but if Monarch gave a non-life threatening command, Ashley would nod for Tori to go along.

It did not give Tori much happiness, but it did give her some confidence.

Danny stepped into the now empty hallway. "Did Ashley take the jewels?" Odd, but taking expensive things out of the display for safe keeping made sense. It would make the job they were doing now a little more pointless, but whatever. "Oh, so that's how she did the lights."

"You led me to your friend. Hey, now, don't start nodding at each other. I give the commands, you do as I say. I hope to God you ninnies aren't trying to plan something."

He holds the blade closer to her throat, the edge against her skin. The handgun is aimed at Tori, finger on the trigger.

"Other girl, put the phone down. Any movement I see you do that isn't dropping the phone will get you shot. I'll reduce you to a pile of gore. Get me? If you have any other friends, I want to know about them. You don't tell me and they show up, I empty this gun out on you and slice your throat."

He turns his head slightly to each of them as he talks.

"Call me your knew king. Also, every King needs a crown. I swear, you better not try anything. I could end both of your lives before you could even react. I mean, it's a gun! You're not going to dodge the round or something. I mean, if you try, there are a few dozen more rounds where that came from."

Flustered, Danny went back to the other hall to try and redo the lighting. It almost touched upon the gems in a perfect way- but almost would not impress Ashley enough to not do it herself. No, Danny needed the perfect little touch from the light. "Wait!" The glow could change! If she could just change the light a little then... "Danny, you're a genius. And, so good at this job now! I won't need Ashley anymore- well, for this at least. She probably has great ideas for other things."

It almost physically hurt Ashley to say it. "Yes, your majesty." She looked over to the band on the mannequin. "There. There's your crown. I hope it's worth it." Ashley kept her hands up as she looked over to Tori.

Tori put her phone on a table and remained seated with her hands in the air. She looked over to the hall where Danny disappeared to and began to move water out of a cup, trying to spell out 'SOS' on the ground.

Monarch didn't actually expect to be called a king. He's more used to "Imbecilic purple demon" but this works too. He would kick Ashley in the back of the knees, forcing her to the floor. He looks around to find ropes for the banners and tape for signs scattered on the ground. He pistol whips Ashley to knock her out. Monarch approaches Tori and hits her with the hilt of his blade. He begins tying them together, setting them in the corner. He throws some banners over them to cover up their temporarily unconscious bodies.

"Finally. The crown."

Monarch saunters on up to the crown.

"The moment we've all been waiting for. A beautiful piece of art."

He has a gentle gaze toward the crown. Monarch gently places his gloves fingers on it and lifts it above his head.

Danny continued to do the newly minted work she discovered. Each light looked perfect. Everything managed to fall in to complete harmony- with the exception of water dipped on the ground. Weird, it almost looked like.. "SOS?"

The perfect sound of harmony shattered with the sound of a body hitting the ground. Followed by another. Danny turned her gaze towards the main exhibit hallway. She slid closer, not wanting to alert anyone to her whereabouts. One closer to motion and she came to the side of the room, letting her peak in to see a masked man throwing a banner over the unconscious bodies of Tori and Ashley. Or, at least she hoped they were unconscious. "He wouldn't tie them up if they were dead?"

Once he left enough distance between himself and the captives, Danny jumped into action. A turquoise barrier would appear to separate Monarch from Tori and Ashley. With him cutoff from the hostages, Danny would materialize a turquoise shield and a turquoise javelin. It stayed in her hand just long enough to fully materialize before it lunged toward the Monarch's legs with a blunt head to incapacitate his leg- not dismember it.

Monarch's hyper awareness kicks into action as he notices the barrier appear where he had tied up hostages.. He's almost out on the crown as he detects an incoming object coming straight for his leg. He leaps into the air, the object sailing under him. The crown falls to the ground, rolling toward the wall. Twisting in the air, Monarch aims his firearm at Danny, letting off two rounds before landing in a knelt position. He fires off another two rounds at Danny.

"I told your friends that if they didn't tell me there was another one of you, I'd kill all of you. I'm gonna keep that promise!"

He continues blasting the shield with the handgun and then toward her kneecap, not letting up.

As the javelin missed, it spread out to a large umbrella. The impromptu shield assisted in breaking the bullets path until it finally broke away. When the shield finally broke, no Danny could be seen. Instead, Danny ran along the walls on turquoise platforms to keep herself off the ground,to strike from above.

With each step, a crossbow formed around her arm. Danny sought to trap Monarch between a rock and a hardplace- or more precisely, a turquoise barrier and scattershot from a crossbow. The blunt shot from her crossbow would break in air and scatter in several positions hoping to get a grazing shot to slow down Monarch.