It's in a museum! [Open/Eve Of Steve]

Hans had for the most part been out and about, trying to track down the source of the various supernatural goings on that had been going around even before the ill-fated Masters Report. He actually came back shortly beforehand, and found himself the counsel for one of the detectives down at the police department. Everything that Masters had said Hans already knew of and through Barlowe was he able to investigate personally. He was not thrilled to be dealing with whatever entity was behind this, not an expert on psionics. But through his investigations, Hans discovered that the people being affected had nothing to do with the "Eternal Mother." The ones he was around while being interviewed spoke a very old sounding language he hadn't heard of, and not even Anselm remembered ever hearing it before but thought it reminded him of latin for some reason. What Masters DIDN'T or rather more likely didn't know, that not all of the people reported to be having terrible nightmares and "waking up" in different places were so peaceful. Based on what Barlowe told him. a few of them on the contrary were quite gruesome and disturbing- he compared it to the brutal savagery of the counter-hit from Three Oni against The mafia via The Biker. Barlowe said that when officers found these cases, that the crime scenes looked more like some kind of devil worship gone wild. The Mayor after catching wind of it understandably wanted to keep as much details about the incidents quiet to prevent causing any panic.

Hans didn't personally see or hear of the Masters Report personally, and learned about it indirectly during his investigations- he wasn't really interested in hearing the barely veilged propaganda against metahumans. When it rains, it pours, and this was going to be quite a downpour it seemed. After the crazed masked magic man took over Masters' report, and proclaimed that he was going to do something for Halloween, they had to use the time they had to prepare. It was obvious that this guy WANTED the titans to know, lending some credibility to Masters' rantings that they indirectly kept the cycle going. The madman's motives aside, they did have something of a break by something he had said in other local news. The muesum had recently obtained an ancient looking relic that based on their translations, was called "The Dawn." Which based on the pictures posted, it looked like some kind of... neolithic looking dark stone brazier.

So, Hans decided to go visit the museum to learn more about it. There was something to be said about how something called "the dawn" had been found before a crazed madman quoted some kind of poem with those specific words. He didn't think it was purely coincidental. It was probably just more of a coincidence that something they found was called "The Dawn" and whatever the masked magic man quoted just happened to have those words in it. He didn't really stress those words any more than the others. He'd only know more once he was here to see more for himself. If this was indeed what was needed, he had to be sure before trying to convince Barlowe. He had only so much clout, and the same could be said of Barlowe.

There was at least one other supernaturally inclined guest visiting the museum. Unlike Hans, though, this particular guest was visiting not for any investigative reasons, but out of simple curiosity. Taz hadn't really been up too much today, and had been itching to get out and wander around. Having not visited the museum much, if at all, the young halfling decided to do something at least a little new. Perhaps willingly visiting a museum wasn't exactly a typical kid thing to do, but Taz did have a healthy amount of curiosity, and there were few places better to satisfy said curiosity than a place actually dedicated to doing so.

With that in mind, Taz entered the museum and started looking around at the various relics. As he wandered, the boy saw a poster for a new display of something called 'The Dawn.' His head tilted, and Taz gave a curious hum. That sounded kind of interesting...Maybe he should go check it out! His eyes traced along the poster again, making sure he knew where it was. Giving a nod as he got said location, Taz started walking towards said location, humming happily under his breath.

Hans wold probably arrive at the exhibit before Taz, not finding it hard to get there- didn't seem like there were many people interested in brushing up on old history. To be fair, Hans didn't freely do so either but only because his "job" didn't give him much time. But these were unique circumstances, and he got to do both! He was already looking over a handout that basically documented what this old relic was, or theorized to be, where it was found and things which could easily be explained by means of The Discovery channel. Out of all the exhibits, this one... actually was getting some attention, probably due to the same reason that Hans was here. Those who knew of the thing's existence, and heard that madman say specific words, decided to check this thing out.

"Hmmm I do not recognize any of the etchings, but it appears to be some kind of dark stone- maybe metal," Anselm silently intoned, ghost stretching upwards to peer over the people also looking at it. Being a ghost and normally undetected by people was very handy sometimes.

"It apparently was found in a recently uncovered chamber from an Egyptian excavation site, and it's become accepted that out of all other artifacts found prior, it being there is strange. Carbondating also places it being... somehow even older than the ruins they were found in," Hans mentally intoned back, arching an eyebrow. Okay, so strange mysterious artifact found in an Egyptian excavation that experts were saying didn't look like it belonged there... and a madman's announcement. Hans looked up at the tall, spirally colum that ended in a series of thin, scraggly spikes that roughly resembled the leaves of a flower in bloom; atleast to him it did.

Hans would catch another odd sight out of the corner of his eye in the form of someone with unusually colored hair. He double checked just to make sure but saw literally no one else around that had hair that color, but this wasn't strange enough to warrant anything further.

"Hey!

"Watch it!"

"Whose bag is this?" A series of voices spoke up, grabbing Hans and Anselm's attention as a burlap sack zigzagged between people's legs and onto the display. The sack seemed to then float upwards briefly, and defy the laws of physics by quickly expanding as it was tossed over the tall lantern. "Someone's trying to swipe the exhibit!" And suddenly, the bag (or whatever was holding the bag) seemed to fall over with a series of squeaks and honks, revealing... Sneaky Steves, and Steif (who needs no additional introduction).


Steif made angry Steif noises, smacking a Steve on the head before getting back to his feet. Because Steves were small and... Steves, a few people took it upon themselves to try and stop the would-be thieves, only to find themselves... brutally smacked with newspapers! Another Steve made a loud, wailing airhorn sound and seemingly out of nowhere, more Steves seemed to poof into being. Now people started to panic and flee, some still being assalted by newspaers as Anselm casually plucked the Newspaperers off and held them afloat.

"Right, put that thing back and we don't have to make this any harder..." Hans said not sure how to feel about this. He'd only met Steves by proxy while at Sol's, and that one happened to be some kind of Dwarf. Unfortunately he didn't have a handy-dandy translator this time, and they were attacking people... with newspapers but nontheless.

The Sneaky Steve Troupers that appeared pulled their heads back, and opened fire with little Shadow Pellets![/b]

Noticing a white-haired man looking at him, Taz tilted his head and gave a curious hum. He looked kinda young to be a elder...Dismissing it as just hair dye, the young halfling gave the man a nod and a friendly, if somewhat shy/hesitant, smile before turning his attention back to the artifact they'd all come to see. From his own, admittedly much shorter, prospective, the spikes kinda seemed like a particularly flat crown...As the man turned his attention to The Dawn, Taz examined one of the plaques. Reading the information on it, the boy gave a curious hum. It didn't seem like it had belonged where it was found? Huh...Mysterious! And kinda cool! Maybe it was some sort of ancient, mystical secret or something? He gave a small grin and light laugh at that thought, and turned his attention back up at The Dawn.

Well, it definitely looked ancient and mysterious. The boy tilted his head and wondered what it's story was, but his thought was soon interrupted. Hearing the ruckus going on behind him, Taz gave a surprised hrm and turned to look at what was going on. Seeing what looked like a floating bag, the boy blinked and tilted his head. However, as said bag quickly swallowed the artifact and showed who was, quite literally, behind it, Taz's eyes widened before he crossed his arms and gave the little trouble-makers a unamused pout. Ah, it was them Well, at least it wasn't someone more menacing. That said, them getting up to this particular brand of mischief wasn't good.

Though he felt uncertain about actually hurting them, having gotten used to hanging around the little ones whenever Ally and him visited Diana, he did have to stop them from stealing such an important artifact. He took a step forward, getting ready to scold them, but gave a surprised yelp as he was suddenly smacked with a newspaper, and then another.  Blinking and rubbing at the spots as he stepped back, the boy gave a glowering pout to said smack-ees.

Nodding in agreement with the white-haired man, Taz crouched down slightly and got ready to dash forward. However, he was forced to dodge to the side with a yelp as the Steve Troopers opened fire. Considering the ones that were firing the Shadow Pellets, he didn't think they would actually do any harm, but there was no point in finding out if he could help it. With that in mind, he lashed his hand forward and flung out lightning bolts, trying to blast the pellets out of the air.