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The Jet Starscream Experience Museum
Midtown Goth Haven.

Tonight is the night: the night of the JSX Gala! It's the first one in a few years & everyone who is anyone that had gotten an invite is there.

Driving up the street on his trusty Ham-Scooter is Ham-Boy. He has his tux & Ham-Cowl on. He stopped about a block away & pauses. He can see all the commotion surrounding the entrance of the party. The Paparazzi was out in force. He also thinks he sees Flapjack in the crowd.

Ham-Boy was having second thoughts of going to party. But since he was there he might as well go to it, it might be fun. There was a voice in the back of his mind that was telling that the party might no be fun & he was trying to block that voice out.

He drove up the street a bit. Found a place to park the Ham-Scooter (a near by alleyway) & is about to walk up to the party but is stopped by two large men in business suits.

"Excuse me?" one asked.

"Yes?"

"Are you a Mister Boy?"

"Uh..." Ham-Boy said as he paused to think about how to answer the question. "I go by the name Ham-Boy if that's what your asking." He said a bit puzzled. He's not sure if these men are with the party or not. He's starting to regret leaving his Hamtility belt at home.

"Can you please come with us?"

"Why? What is this about?"

"Agent Johnson has arranged for you to enter the building via a side entrance."

"ok." Ham-Boy said hesitantly. He knew that his old friend Agent Johnson was doing some of the security for the Party. He was also thinking of all the different ways he could escape from these two large gentlemen if he had too.

One of the men spoke into shirt cuff which Ham-Boy guessed he had a microphone in there. The three of them then walked to the side of the Museum & down an alleyway. There was a side entrance & the door was being held open by another large man in a business suit. This one had a suit on that looked similar to the one he had in his closet & had thought about wearing but he got the tux from Samantha. Ham-Boy was escorted through a back hallway, in through the kitchen were he got a glimpse of the wait staff being talked to. He thought he recognized a few faces but didn't have time to confirm his guesses. He was then lead through two large door & into the party.

"Have a nice time, Mister Boy." one said as the other nodded in agreement.

"Don't you need to see this?" Ham-Boy said as he got out his invitation out of his jacket pocket & showed it them.

"No. Have a nice time."

"Thanks." Ham-Boy said as the two of the walked back into the kitchen.

The museum was packed with people all dressed in their finest evening wear. Ham-Boy was glad he had his Ham-Cowl on since it was helping muffle the noise around him. He could see at the far end there was a DJ. To the right a few feet away was a large stage set up. The stage backdrop was a large headshot of a smiling, winking Jet Starscream. One either side of the picture were red curtains.

Ham-Boy began to wonder around the party. He noticed that a few the wait staff had begun to make their rounds. Like every other time he had been in the JSX, there was a ton of neon lights. But for the party there was some strobe lights & fog machines added. There were also some laser beams moving about. The strobes & lasers seem to be synced up with music.

As he wondered around he was noticing it was hard to move in spots. Most the museum's exhibits weren't moved & people had started to congregate around them which was making walking around the party hard at times. There were also times when people would start dancing & It was hard to not get stuck in the middle.

Ham-Boy was trying to get by one group of dancers & accidently bumped into someone. That someone turned around & glared at Ham-Boy. It was a very angry looking bald man.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"What?" Ham-Boy asked. He couldn't hear him because of all the other noise.

"Do.. you.. know.. who... I.. am?" He asked louder then before & made sure to pause in between words.

"What?" Ham-Boy asked he still couldn't hear.

"DO.. YOU.. KNOW.. WHO.. I.. AM?" The man yelled.

"NO." Ham-Boy yelled back with a shook of his head no.

The man look a bit shocked. "I am Silas Hardigan!" The man yelled angrily at the meaty might.

Before he could react, someone came up to the both of them. She was dressed in retro futuristic dress. Her brown hair was pulled back & cascaded down his back.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hardigan." she said in a tone that was somewhere between a yell & a what HB thought might be her normal tone.

She then went onto tell him something was seemed to calm him down but HB couldn't hear what it was. Hardigan turned back around & she turned her attention to him.

"Ham-Boy?" she asked.

He nodded.

And she placed her hand on his arm & lead him over to a place that was quieter. There was a sofa & sat down. She was on one side & he sat down on the other.

"Sorry around that. Hardigan is a crusty old man & doesn't come off really well in social situations. Well, he doesn't come off well in most situations." She said with a laugh.

He gave a half laugh back. There was a few moment of silence between the two of them.

She noticed & said "You don't know who I am do you?"

"No. Not really."

"Janet Marrow." She said with her hand out & she could tell it still wasn't registering.

"Inter-Planet Janet." She said & Ham-Boy looked around the Museum at the various photos out of Jet. There was a person cropped out of most of them. They were of a woman with brown hair who was wearing a retro-futuristic outfit.

"Oh... Hi!" He said as he shook her hand.

"How are you liking the party?"

"I just got here but what I've seen seem to be good."

"Good. Jet will also like that your here."

"He will?"

"Since the invites went out you've been on one of the most frequent people he's talked about wanting to see here."

"Thanks." Ham-Boy said but wasn't exactly sure why. Jet & Him have only met once.

"Most of the people you see here were invited out of obligation." Janet said as she motioned with her hand to the party goers. "They got invites because they thought they should have gotten one. They did to keep them friendly with Jet & the Museum. There is a very small amount of people that got invites because Jet wanted them to be here."

Before Ham-Boy could ask her why the lights in the museum dimmed & the music was turned off. A few spotlight went on which were directed at the stage.

"You'll want to see this!" Janet said as got up & motioned for Ham-Boy to follow her.

He did & they snaked through the crowd to near the front of the stage.

The music came back on real low & from each side of the stage out came two lines of women. They were all dressed in modified versions of Jet's uniform. Their costumes definitely showed more skin then his. The two lines of the women both came to the center of the stage. Then music got real loud & some pyrotechnics went off as the ladies started to dance. They did so for a few moments, Ham-Boy looked over at Janet, her eyes was glued to the performance & was dancing along to what was happening on the stage.

He started to the scan the crowd, their eyes were glued to the performance also. Off to his side, he saw one of the wait staff. They looked familiar. He told Janet that he'd be back & made his way to the waiter.

"Excuse me?"He asked as he tapped the man on the shoulder.

He turned around & said "Yes?"

"So it is you!"

"Well... Uh... Um..." The Evil Captain Crunch said as he fumbled over his words.

Ham-Boy scanned the crowd for the other members of the his group. He saw Doctor Peacock & Kitty BoomBoom. He didn't see Grammar or Auntie Freeze.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ham-Boy asked forcefully. "You not going to try & rob the party are you?"

"no. We aren't planning on doing that." The leader of the super villain group known as The Disgruntles said.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Working."

Ham-Boy paused for a moment & then said. "What?"

"Yes. My group has fallen on some hard times recently. So, we have been taking odd jobs here & there to supplement out villainous deeds."

"So, your just waiters?"

"Yes. Would you like cream puff? They are quite good." Crunch said as he offered the tray to his foe.

"They are poisoned are they?"

Crunch rolled his eyes. "No! My teammates & I are just here as wait staff. I promise that we are not doing anything against the law tonight. At least not here at the party!"

Crunch smiled as Ham-Boy took a cream puff & popped it in his mouth. "That's actually pretty good."

"I told you." He said with another smile. "Now, I have heard that there are some other people planing on disrupt the party."

"What? Who?" Ham-Boy asked.

But before Crunch could reply he has disappeared back into the crowd & Ham-Boy didn't see where he had gone off to. So, Ham-Boy starts to make his way back over to Janet & to watch the rest of the show. As he did, he saw Hardigan leave the party. He thought about following him but was stopped by someone.

"Hi!" they said. It was a woman who he didn't recognize.

"Hi."

"Your Ham-Boy right?"

"Yes."

"I work with the Mayor's office."

"which office?"

"The Goth Haven Mayor's Office."

"Ok. What can I do for you?"

"Can we meet with you sometime?" She said & had a business card in her hand.

"Sure." Ham-Boy said as he took it & put into in a pocket.

"Thanks." She said & walked off.

Ham-Boy made the rest of the way back over to Janet without being stopped. She leaned over & said "You back just in time!"

"Hello JSX Gala!" said a voice.

Ham-Boy looked around for where it was coming from.Janet tapped Ham-Boy on the shoulder to get his attention. As she did that the crowd burst into screams, yelling & applause. Ham-Boy saw that Janet was pointing up & as he looked up he saw Jet Starscream descend from up above.

"How's it going everybody?" Jet asked. He was holding a wireless microphone in his right hand. "Because I'm great!"

"Oh yeah!" came another voice.

Everyone including Jet looked around for where it was come form. It also came from above but this time it was Silas Hardigan. He was wearing some type of high tech battle armor. There were rockets blasting out of the boots & Hardigan sped directly in Jet. The two of them punched through stage's backdrop into the wall behind it. This caused massive panic & party guests started to scatter.

Ham-Boy just stood there, not sure what to do. One thing went through his mind "Oh crap."

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TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3!

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FOOTNOTES:

- Agent Johnson: In Ham-Boy #10a It was made mention that Agent Johnson (presently an O.P.S. Agent) was working security for the Gala. He & Ham-Boy share a past, both were part of a super hero team based out of Iowa.

- Silas Hardigan: He was first seeing in Part 1 but has been a character I've had for years. He was planned to have been a story earlier then this but I hadn't gotten around to it. Hardigian is the Lex Luthor to Jet Starscream's Superman.

- Inter-Planet Janet: The on again & off again Sidekick/Girlfriend of Jet Starscream. Both were members of the Wonderful Seven, the team that Jet was the head off before it was disbanded due to their involvement in SR-1066.