Rhox bows again, and then moves back over to supervise the assembly lines. Rita eyes Hanako curiously, apparently wanting to ask about the fox ears but deciding against it.
She sighs. "Vous plaisantez! You want me to spoil the surprise?" She takes out a small rectangular device that looks similar to your own, and presses the button in the center. An orange arcane shield bursts to life with a thwum of magic, glowing brightly. She holds it out in front of her. "All right, Monsieur. Press the button and throw it at me. Put your back into it."
The device zooms straight for Rita as if auto-aiming itself, and she jumps back as it impacts the shield with a burst of electricity, causing a bright flash of magic that makes multiple engineers whirl around in surprise. It then zooms merrily back to you and thwips itself back into your hand, buzzing with residual magic like a tiny Roomba.
"Magic-seeking shieldbreaker with a boomerang enchantment," she confirms, tucking the disabled rectangle back into her pocket. "Throw it at any kind of arcane shield and it should smash it and temporarily disable it. Certain types of magic will be immune, but it'll really mess with somebody's day if you pick the right enemy."
A few of the engineers are glancing in Hanako's direction, and two of them murmur earnestly between themselves: "Is that Kitsune?" "Must be. I kinda wanna ask for her autograph..."
The gossipy engineers look over, and the one that was asking for your autograph drops her wrench and looks like a deer in headlights. The other one elbows her in the ribs and hisses, "Go on, Judy, ask her!"
"Uh..." She sheepishly fumbles to rip a page out of her engineering manual and fetches a pen. "Would it be okay if you signed my book?"
"You guys are great too," says the other engineer, as Judy heads back to her station skipping with excitement. "We're just here to tune up your stuff. Thank you for all you do."
"Not sure how much we need to head to the museum considering JP told us quite a bit, but maybe a the museum will help us to know more about the specifics."
"Where to track these dreamwalkers."
"Oh, I should probably let the team know." Lewis pulls out his phone and messages the group about his meeting with JP and the dreamwalkers.
The group chat has been quiet the past few hours as your teammates take care of their own missions, but Agent Maude texts back after a moment: You met with the big kahuna, huh? Crazy stuff going on lately. Does Hanako like the mask I made her?
She sends a smile emoji. I'll look into these dream-walker people... sounds familiar. I'll keep you posted if I find anything. Hugh told me to let you know there's been some weird magical crimes downtown and he's been busy mopping up.
As you drive, you notice some various city activities going on outside - a couple is feeding ducks in Charity Plaza, two women eat ice cream and chat in the park, a businessman in a purple suit sprints through the crowd in a complete panic and is very obviously late to his job. You also notice a few pixies flitting around and some magical animals mixed in with the human crowds, invisible to those without the Sight.
The Natural History Museum comes up on your right as a huge, sweeping marble building held up by Greek-style pillars, with two copper lion statues out front.
"You have arrived at your destination," Australian Siri announces pleasantly.
Large red banners hung on the museum pillars announces the museum's current featured exhibit: MYSTERIES OF THE MAYAN TEMPLES. Your Sight, however, makes the wording shiver and shift into what it actually reads under the Upside-friendly glamour: MAGICAL MONSTROSITIES OF THE MULTIVERSE.
It is clearly some kind of family day or free entry day, as there is a line poking out of the front doors to get into the exhibits full of children and their exhausted-looking parents.
Lewis cuts to the front of the line to the register and flips open his badge. "FBI. Official SECO business. Matter of extreme urgency. Request to enter premise immediately."
The desk clerk, who is just handing a woman her museum pass, looks up sharply at the word “FBI” and blinks at you. “Uhhh,” he stutters. “I wasn’t trained for this. Hang on.” He scrambles hastily to grab his phone to text his manager about what to do.
“Hey,” the woman complains loudly. “I had to wait in line thirty minutes and these people get to cut?”
Hanako turns to the lady. "maam, respectfully, our job ensures that the world remains safe enough for children like yours to grow up in. you can wait the extra five minutes"
The lady glares in silence, but backs down. The clerk nods at you. “My manager says to let you in and that the curator will come to escort you shortly.”
Looking around and checking the map display, you see that the museum has four wings on the first floor: the Animal Wing, the Cultural and History Wing, the Geology Wing, and the Prehistoric Wing. Each of them has relatively normal-sounding exhibits, but when you squint, another, hidden layer of exhibits manifests with names like: Dragons of the World. The Secrets of Shian-Zhou Sorcery.
The general layout also seems to suggest that there are secret rooms, from your FBI expertise - you tend to know when building blueprints are designed to hide things, and this building definitely was.
"You two must be the, ah, urgent problem I heard about from the desk," says a voice from nearby. An older, grey-haired man with a blue security jacket and a flat cap jammed onto his head is approaching, smiling but with a slight edge in his voice. "Curator Beris Tenant, at your service. What brings you by the museum?"
"Ah." He gets a bit of a sly twinkle in his eye and seems to lower his guard a bit, adopting a friendlier tone. "Can't say I've heard of it. Surely. But if we mutually pretend that I have, that still doesn't answer my question, does it?"
He gestures. "As in, why you two have come to this museum, specifically. Instead of any other magical museum."
He squints between you. "I don't let just anyone see my dear Emily, though. If we do pretend that I know her. What say you tell me something to prove your good intentions, even if you can't strictly divulge anything."
"Apparently being dressed in a fancy suit doesn't work." He laughs. "I'm not sure what I can tell you aside from the fact that I'm sent by a superior who goes by the name of JP."
"Will this pink bouncy ball help?" Lewis jokingly takes out the bouncy ball.
"I actually don't know. The weaponsmaster said that JP said I'll need it." Lewis puts the ball away. "What I can tell you is that there are a bunch of lunatics going around with these books that supposedly connect them to the Old Ones or something."
"This is the primary reason why my partner and I are here - as one of SECO's primary investigators, it's my job to track organizations down like this and shut them down before their exposure threatens the balance of our world."
"Then you should have no problem answering my question. I just want some information to prove you're really SECO agents, and then I'll know you can be trusted. Since you deal with magical objects on a regular basis." He folds his arms, keeping a casual voice. "Have you ever encountered a magical object known as Kzadd'duun, the Dawning Star?"
"Magical mace from the Infernal Plane, about yay big." He waves his hands suggestively. "If you're truly SECO, you must have seen a file on it somewhere. Then I'll know you're not just some incredibly convincing doppelgangers trying to assassinate my wife."
"I deal with hundreds of files on a regular basis, can't recall all of them at once. I can show you my sword however, perhaps that's enough to convince you? I swear I won't attack."
He eyes you, resting a hand on a pocket at his waist. "You'll forgive me for being nervous about two strangers flashing FBI badges and demanding to see Emily immediately without explanation. How's it going to convince me?"
He takes a hasty step back, then stares at the katana admiringly and whistles. "Wow. Back in the old days I would have gotten a pretty price for that. Really belonged to that crazy terrorist, did it?"
He starts to interrogate you further, but a sharp, articulate voice rings out from behind him: "Beldaris! Will you very kindly cease to question these fine people just because you don't trust their lot, hm? I've seen quite enough to decide if they can be trusted for myself, thank you."
A small, grey-haired gnome dressed in an Indiana Jones-style brown leather jacket is striding towards you. Beris sighs and backs away to give her room. "You were supposed to be cleaning fossils, weren't you?"
"Hush it," she says, and does a very neat little curtsy towards both of you. "Conservator Emeline Findelfyre, at your noblest service. May I know your names?"
"Laurent, very nice to meet you. A Latin name, hm. Laurentum. Very fitting." She nods at Hanako. "And Hanako, that's a very lovely Japanese name, isn't it? I suppose the two of you must be from SECO, judging from the codenames."
She gestures dismissively at Beris. “Beldaris, dearest, why don’t you go arrange the transport of those historical Roman chimera engravings for me. We have much talking to do.”
“You’re lucky I’m fond of you,” he says, amusedly, and tromps off.
She rolls her eyes at you. “Tieflings, they never change even when you marry them. That forsaken hat doesn’t even cover his horns all the way, it’ll break his glamour and then how do I explain that one? Anyway.”
She looks between you expectantly. “What brings you by?”