Plato, as the Rodent Rangers discover after dropping Kip off, is not at the police station. There's lots of policemen there (not including Detective Drake), but a distinct lack of police dogs...

Avery's wide contacts come to the fore once again, as she manages to locate a family of mice under the floorboards of the station who are able to inform them that Plato and Drake are apparently busy with some sort of stakeout at the museum; something about a moon rock. They're unfamiliar with any details beyond that, though.

--------------

The museum's windows are dark. From the outside, there's no sign of police presence; the nearest police car is parked three blocks away. Evidently Drake doesn't want to scare the vacuum cleaner lady away any more than Hex does.

"Well, guys, let's head inside and see who's about," Hex says. "I think we need to do a quick scout through and check the moon rock, if it's not been disturbed yet, we set up a watch to keep an eye on it and have someone ready to trigger the museum security the moment the bad guys show up. Unless someone else has a better idea?"

"Well, more of an addition: we could hang the plane from some spare wire from the ceiling like one of the displays and use it as a slightly more comfortable hidey hole, as well as have it handy should we have to pursue what's-her-name."

"Sounds good to me," Hex agrees. "Assuming we can find a way to get it inside. For myself, once we're sure the place is empty, I'm gonna hole up next to one of the alarm sensors. Figure I'll trigger the device as soon as we see the bad guys to get the police in here. Then we can just work on delaying their escape."

Buck lets out a toothy grin.

"Heh, I packed my harpoon and towcable just in case."

The Rodent Rangers find four living creatures inside the museum; two security guards, Plato, and Detective Drake, all of them looking very alert, and patrolling through the museum. Their plane is soon hanging from a cord attached to the ceiling, over and a little bit to the right of the display of genuine moon rock. (They couldn't hang it directly over, because there's a skylight there).

Buck kicks back inside the plane, and busts out a thimble full of coffee and a dill pickle potato chip, and settles in for a stakeout. There's more if anyone wants it.

Hex is going to inspect the security systems in the room and around the moon rock itself.

The security system is a joke. If it weren't for the policeman (and policedog) patrolling along the corridor, or the two museum security guards patrolling the same corridor in the opposite direction, then anyone would be able to walk in here, smash the glass case and walk out with the moon rock.

There's an alarm that'll go off if the case is opened, but not if it's broken or cut through. There's an alarm sensor (heat and motion); like most such sensors, it's set to ignore small creatures like Buck or Hex. Or even Snake and Spider. Honestly, it's as if humans only ever expect other humans to resort to burglary. The average rodent might be able to get the alarm sensor to go off by jumping up and down directly in front of it, but what burglar would do that?

And, worse, there's a skylight right over the moon rock. Directly overhead, in fact. Given that the villain is known to be able to fly (on a vacuum cleaner, how does that work?), this looks like a fairly major security hole. Like the casing, the alarm on the skylight will go off if it is opened but not if it is smashed. Fortunately, the window panes are in any case far too small to let in a human; unfortunately, a snake or a spider can drop through easily. Worse, if someone does get inside, the skylight alarm is almost ridiculously easy to circumvent from the inside. Alright, it's also on the roof, out of reach of the average ladderless human, but that's not going to bother Spider should he get in.

Just about the only bright spot in the whole business is that Spider is probably not strong enough to smash the glass casing on his own (or to carry about a tool heavy enough to do the smashing for him). Snake, on the other hand, may very well be able to smash the casing himself, and is certainly capable of carrying a heavy enough hammer if not.

The only thing they can seriously hope for from the security system is that it'll alert the police and the museum's night watchmen. And even that's not certain.

Hex moves over to the motion detector sensor and rigs it so that he can trigger it manually. He'll remain near the alarm, but try to remain hidden in such a way that he has a clear view of the skylight and all the air conditioning vents but isn't easily spotted by anyone coming into the room.

Hex sets up the alarm and hides behind it. Buck waits in the plane, looking out for any sign of the villains.

So, of course, the first sign they find is a sign that they hear. There's a thump, and Plato starts barking at something. "Coward!" he barks. "Come down to ground level and face my Crime Bite!"

This is followed by a second thump, and silence.

That's good enough for Hex, he trips the alarm immediately and then scampers over to get a look at what's happening.
Given Plato's words, Hex will be watching for Spider on the ceiling, but keeping an eye out for any "snakes in the grass." (er, carpet?)

The alarm goes off like a pro. Hey hurries out to see what's going on, and sees Drake and Plato out cold on the ground, with a pair of reasonably large statues near their heads. One of the security guards is checking Drake's pulse, the other is looking around warily, everywhere except at the shelf overhead on which rest two more precariously balanced statues.

"Hey, Buck," Hex yells, "We got trouble, and I don't mean Kip."

Hex will hurl one of his rubber juggling balls up onto the overhead shelf, attempting to make some noise there to draw the guards attention. (He'll do his best not to hit the statues so as to not knock them over prematurely.)

Buck's eyes bug out as he powers down his coffee (it's still hot), and ditches the potato chip behind the pilot's seat. He stops long enough to buckle into his jetpack, and grab his bluray-gun out of the wall charger before leaping out of the back ramp of the plane, and blasts off to circle around the moon rock. Buck suspects a distraction, and he has confidence that Hex can deal with whatever it may be.