"Have you seen this?" Ben crowed to Abigail, laughing over a crumbling cross-stitched banner. "I think Jane Jefferson stitched it!"
"Oh my God," Abigail said, scrambling across the vault, arms swung wide and outstretched. "Don't touch it, don't even breathe on it; we need to get a conservation team in here immediately--"
"Uhh Ben!" Riley barked, much louder and more desperate this time, and, while suddenly and swiftly backing up, he kicked over a eighteenth century tea table.
"Careful!" Ben and Abigail snapped in one anguished voice.
"I wouldn't worry about the antique furniture," Riley quavered, continuing to scramble backward as fast as humanly possible. "Guys, seriously--" Abigail stared at him; Ben frowned at Riley, then turned to look at the statue Riley had been studying.
It stepped out from behind the antique screen, and Ben realized that it wasn't a statue.
"Verdammte," Abigail whispered, her eyes huge.
"Guys!" Riley shouted, nearly back out the vault door by now, and Ben snapped out of it first.
"Come on, come on!" Ben ducked back around a sturdy armchair (mid-century Bergere, beautiful walnut detailing, most likely imported from France, he automatically catalogued), hauling Abigail with him.
The ... the thing, whatever it was, paused; he thought -- though he couldn't be sure, as it didn't have eyes, or a face -- it may have been looking between him and Abigail, and Riley in the vault doorway.
Abigail had stumbled at first, clearly still frozen in shock, but now it was her turn to come out of it; she swiftly took the lead, clambering over a steamer trunk in their scramble across the vault toward the door, trying to keep as many artifacts as possible between them and the -- whatever it was.
It turned toward them -- and something shattered across its gray-green-brown oozing surface, porcelain fragments flying. A strange, terrible sort of noise came from it, indecipherable and inhuman, and it turned back toward Riley, who promptly went, "WHATTHEFUCKISTHAT" and threw another vase (this one, Ben couldn't help but note with a distant cringe, of the Yi dynasty's distinct style).
The creature glided toward Riley, who swiftly backpedaled -- and then, with an "Urk--" and a violent jerk that more than suggested an outward source to the sudden motion, he disappeared from sight.
"Riley--" Ben started to shout.
A big red-skinned man in a long trench coat took two easy strides into the vault, walking through the space where Riley had been standing seconds earlier, and he delivered a crushing punch to where the face of the thing would have been, if it had a face. It went flying backward across the vault, and then the big guy turned his attention to Ben and Abigail.
He grinned broadly, showcasing rows of huge white teeth, all the pearlier and more shiny given their contrast with his bright red skin. "Hiya," he said, and then Ben found himself unceremoniously grabbed, his entire bicep engulfed by a hand that was bigger and more solid than any hand had a right to be, and hauled right out of the vault.
(1/2)
"Have you seen this?" Ben crowed to Abigail, laughing over a crumbling cross-stitched banner. "I think Jane Jefferson stitched it!"
"Oh my God," Abigail said, scrambling across the vault, arms swung wide and outstretched. "Don't touch it, don't even breathe on it; we need to get a conservation team in here immediately--"
"Uhh Ben!" Riley barked, much louder and more desperate this time, and, while suddenly and swiftly backing up, he kicked over a eighteenth century tea table.
"Careful!" Ben and Abigail snapped in one anguished voice.
"I wouldn't worry about the antique furniture," Riley quavered, continuing to scramble backward as fast as humanly possible. "Guys, seriously--" Abigail stared at him; Ben frowned at Riley, then turned to look at the statue Riley had been studying.
It stepped out from behind the antique screen, and Ben realized that it wasn't a statue.
"Verdammte," Abigail whispered, her eyes huge.
"Guys!" Riley shouted, nearly back out the vault door by now, and Ben snapped out of it first.
"Come on, come on!" Ben ducked back around a sturdy armchair (mid-century Bergere, beautiful walnut detailing, most likely imported from France, he automatically catalogued), hauling Abigail with him.
The ... the thing, whatever it was, paused; he thought -- though he couldn't be sure, as it didn't have eyes, or a face -- it may have been looking between him and Abigail, and Riley in the vault doorway.
Abigail had stumbled at first, clearly still frozen in shock, but now it was her turn to come out of it; she swiftly took the lead, clambering over a steamer trunk in their scramble across the vault toward the door, trying to keep as many artifacts as possible between them and the -- whatever it was.
It turned toward them -- and something shattered across its gray-green-brown oozing surface, porcelain fragments flying. A strange, terrible sort of noise came from it, indecipherable and inhuman, and it turned back toward Riley, who promptly went, "WHATTHEFUCKISTHAT" and threw another vase (this one, Ben couldn't help but note with a distant cringe, of the Yi dynasty's distinct style).
The creature glided toward Riley, who swiftly backpedaled -- and then, with an "Urk--" and a violent jerk that more than suggested an outward source to the sudden motion, he disappeared from sight.
"Riley--" Ben started to shout.
A big red-skinned man in a long trench coat took two easy strides into the vault, walking through the space where Riley had been standing seconds earlier, and he delivered a crushing punch to where the face of the thing would have been, if it had a face. It went flying backward across the vault, and then the big guy turned his attention to Ben and Abigail.
He grinned broadly, showcasing rows of huge white teeth, all the pearlier and more shiny given their contrast with his bright red skin. "Hiya," he said, and then Ben found himself unceremoniously grabbed, his entire bicep engulfed by a hand that was bigger and more solid than any hand had a right to be, and hauled right out of the vault.