March 05, 2015:
A group of people descend on Aspect looking for answers….
New York
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
A Dark Hold
Apocalypse: Only the Strong
Blood versus Family
Bones Of The City
Breaking the Universe
Cyberdata War: First Strike
Dangerous Esterikos Wonderous Mystikos
Dark Gods & Times
De Oppresso Liber
Demon Lord of New York
Diaz de Muertos
Don't Tell Thanos The Babysitter's Dead
Empire of Tears
Escape from Sakaar
From the Ashes
Gateway to the Stars
Genosha: Rebirth
God Of The Dead
Hacker, Sass-Mastah, Engineer, Spy
Himmel und Hölle in Bewegung Setzen
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Jericho is… not expecting to be dropped in on. And working. Working for a hacker, though means an awful lot of typing and peering at screens displaying odd numbers and symbols. Luckily, Jericho doesn't actually need a computer for this, or rather, he has one built in. So he's 'working' whilst sipping a latte outdoors at one of his favorite cafes and going over a map of Gotham which he is steadily lighting up with a highlighter. Yes… no… no… no… yes… He's got a couple different colors going. Sometimes just one building gets marked. Sometimes a whole block. He's clearly mapping out something though. There's also a couple of file folders off to his side containing small but not insignificant stacks of paper. Being him is not all swording and hell-gardening and shooting HYDRA agents. There are very long periods of trying to figure out what the hell is going on. He's in one of those at the moment. Of note, aside from the map, on the table is a set of pictures. One of Dinah Drake, one of Melinda May in a green and gold uniform and three more of… and one of a defunct ironworks in Gotham.
Dinah had been keeping her own tabs on Jericho since their meeting, it wasn't everyday someone randomly approached you and warned you that you were now the target of an international terrorist organization. She wanted to trust him, she really did.
Unfortunately, trust was something she had in short supply at the moment and it was for that reason she had followed him to New York.
Dressed in casual attire she steps up near the table Jericho is seated at, gesturing to one of the empty chairs, "Mind if I join you?"
If anyone can usually find Jericho's haunts, it's SHIELD Agent Melinda May. Maybe it's the coffee. Maybe it's the frequent latte steamer noises. Maybe it's just that coffee shops are places people come and go and don't really pay much attention to others around them, but that's where she usually finds the hacker. Today is no exception.
May enters the current hangout of choice, spots Trent almost immediately (because that's habit by now), but upon seeing an unfamiliar woman approach him, she moves to place a beverage order and maybe blend in with the rest of the shop's patronage. At least until this person proves to be a friend or a foe. If she's the latter, they might have to have words. Outside.
Jes needs to speak to Jericho and Zee has agreed to get the young woman to him. Teleporting the two of them to an out of the way area just near Jericho's coffee shop, the two women arrive with a soft 'pop' sound. Zee's dressed casually, well casually for Zee, and is wearing the diamond encrusted collar from Illyana.
Turning to her companion "He'll be in the coffee shop, we've been there before." Zee leads the way in… "Want a drink, Jes? My shout." taking up position just behind May. "Hello, Agent May."
Jes is dressed causually as well. Grey jean shorts, sandals, leather jacket and black halter top. Her long black hair is braided and trailing down her right shoulder, stopping just past her hips. She scans the coffee shop, her eyes pass Agent May for a moment before quickly flicking back. "Oh!." "I mean, Hi." Jes tries to cover her surprise. "Whatever you think is good here Zee." Jes takes a deep breath, she so loves the smells in a coffee house. And its a good way to sniff out danger without being obvious. Lots of people like the smell in a coffee house.
The soldier turned hacker looks up at Dinah and his eyes quite literally glimmer for just a moment. "Why not. Have a seat, Miss Drake. Odd that you should turn up I was just thinking about you actually." He taps the photo of her on the table. It looks like it was taken at some diststance with a telephoto lense. Recently too, judging by the surroundings. "I wasn't expecting to see you after our meeting the other day…" The voices of the others makes hims twist to see who - Ah. May, Zee and Jesana. The latter he's only met once, during an interrupted Hydra snatch and grab. They've been running a lot of those lately. "Mmm…" He tilts his head from May to an open seat. She's welcome to come if she'd like. Should be safe.
"Looks like we're about to have company. So what brought you by?"
Dinah raises her eyebrows as she looks at the photo taking a few seconds to appraise it, "Not a bad picture but they could have chosen a better angle." She peeks over the table just a little to see the rest of the photos if she can.
She's never met any of the others that Jericho seems to be looking at but she can only assume they're all friendly, "I was in the area and may have heard you were." Jericho was smart, she was obviously keeping an eye on him, "That and I'm supposed to be meeting someone."
Melinda May turns to glance at Zee and her tagalong, then accepts her order of tea before turning carefully to nod a hello the two dark-haired women before stepping out of their way to head for Jericho's table. She figures they'll talk more there.
Of course, then May has her next gauntlet to run: This woman standing here peering at the photos on the table. She neatly sidesteps around Dinah and claims that seat that Jericho offered. Oh, look. She's the one in that picture wearing the green and gold outfit. That's not suspicious at all.
Once upon a time, Oliver Queen couldn't walk down a street without having the paparazzi maul him. Then he died, disappeared, and it made them want him even more when he finally did return. He's been away on 'business' for a while, and the paparazzi are again hounding him.
Sneaking into a little out of the way cafe, he hopes to have lost them. That and he had to meet some girl. There was always a girl. He wouldn't have been Ollie if there weren't. After abruptly opening the door, closing it, and ducking down behind a table for a moment, he'll rise to his feet, straighten his tie, and try to calmly walk towards the counter, so he can place his order.
Zee orders two coffees and smiles a little as May nods and walks off "She's so talkative…" Looking at Jes, Zee raises an eyebrow "Do you want to join them and I'll bring the drinks over?"
"Okay." Jes is a little hesitant but she smiles at Zee and heads toward the table. Since her near fatal mistake with Zee's paramedic friend Jes hasn't done anything other than what Zee directs her to. The young native american woman takes a seat next to Jericho. "Hi." She glances around at the others curiously and gives May a small nod of recognition. She's met her before.
"May, Zee, Jesana." The hacker turns to see the new arrival… facial recognition search running… It's a good thing most people can't see the world through Jericho's rather luminescent eyes. Layers of threat detection, augmentic algorhythms and other fun computer things transpose over his vision most of the time. Especially when he's out in public. This one looks like…
Oh my.
Dinah gets a curious look. "Meeting someone, are you now?" Apparently so is he. Several someones. He slides the picture in question over to May. "Not really your color." He murmurs.
"Well, let me start with an icebreaker then. What do an indian reservation Montanna, a blonde ex-soldier, a woman who doesn't look good in green and an abandoned Ironworks in Gotham all have in common?" He looks around expectantly.
Dinah was paying enough attention to the photos that she is completely oblivious to Melinda May stealing her seat, it doesn't bother her though. A brief nod of acknowledgement is offered to the other woman, respect from what was likely one operator to another given how slyly May had sneaked that seat.
"I don't know, are you the Riddler now?" She didn't seem too keen on guessing as her gaze drifted to the man approaching the counter.
Melinda May returns Dinah's nod then levels a narrow-eyed look at Jericho for just a moment, because that man that just entered acting rather suspiciously now has about ninety percent of her attention. People don't behave like that without a reason, and he bring his reasons in here, she will see him and his reasons back out the door. She takes a sip of her tea seemingly idly, then sets the cup on the table carefully and removes the metallicky silver knitted scarf from around her neck.
When he gets to the front of the queue, Oliver will order a small coffee, black, with nothing in or on it. While a simple request, this ends up taking a few minutes as his server doesn't seem to comprehend the words 'small black coffee'. The young man is positively flummeled by it. Who comes into a cafe like this and orders something so mundane? A multi billionaire, that's who.
A stunning Asian woman seems to have her eye on him. He's used to it, and pays it no mind as he finally gets his order. He walks over to an area where they seem to have some complimentary newspapers, slipping one under his arm and take a seat adjacent to the Asian woman, and her party. He'll unroll the newspaper, and begin flipping through it as he sips his plain black coffee… except it's not plain black coffee. There's cinnamon in this, and is that nutmeg? He sighs and shakes his head, but does not complain.
Zee slips into a seat next to Jes, placing their coffees on the table… "Jes, it's alright, relax." Zee murmurs. She's going to have to help Jes on this. Catching Jericho's question, Zee looks at the photos and frowns slightly…. "Well I know why Jes and I are here."
Jes might normally be eyeing May's movements with a bit of wariness, recognizing someone possibly preparing for a fight. Jericho's words however have totally distracted her. She's staring into the distance with an expression of dismay. She almost doesn't want to know if her suspicions are right. When Zee sits and whispers to her, she takes a calming breath and reaches for the other woman's hand. "Tell us?" She asks Jericho, staring at him from brown and blue eyes.
"I was hoping some of you could tell me." Jericho looks up at the man with the news paper, his eyes glimmering in faint amusement. "Other than the fact that two of them have been joined by one Oliver Queen." Facial recognition has saved Jericho so many times. The way he profiles people when he first meets or sees them is actually kind of creepy and vaguely intrusive but he doesn't even really think about it anymore.
"FerCo Ltd was an industrial scale ironworks until the mid 1980's when a localized economic downturn drove it out of business. The foundry shuttered and has sat derelict ever since. Changed hands a few times but no one has actually managed to do anything with the properity." The hacker taps the map on the table. The site of the ironworks is highlighted in green. Then he taps an arial picture of the place. Probably from google maps. Looks abandoned.
"Two months ago the place was purchased by Consolidated Construction, which is connected - May - to the Polyglobal Corporation. You might remember them from the Virus fiasco." May is probably the only person present who would, though. "They have ties to you know who. CC is unusual in that it's owned by a Blackfoot Indian who funnels a portion of the profits back to the reservation in Montana, allegedly for development and education. Not sure on that one but we can get to it later. Anyway, the place had some work done on it last month but since then, nothing. And whatever was done bypassed the city planning and construction approval process. So my question is, why would an international terrorist organization buy a defunct ironworks to let it sit? And why, when I ripped one of their servers up a few days ago, did I find that information next to these pictures?" He gestures to the images of May and Dinah.
Zee gets a curious glance and then Jes. Oh right. "Why are you two here, anyway? I take it this doesn't have to do with Limbo?"
Dinah listens to the mini-briefing on the situation given by Jericho, but none of it really means anything to her; maybe she should have paid more attention to the names of these companies in the past.
"I'm not sure, honestly. Maybe the same thing you contacted me about before, mistaken identity?" Dinah is honestly unsure of the whole situation, of course she had no problem cutting off a few heads from Hydra.
Looking towards May and her ready for action look, she explains, "Mr. Queen is supposed to be meeting me. He owes me a lot of money."
Melinda May looks from Mr. Queen to Dinah and back, then with a somewhat pointed glance aimed at Jericho, she lets the scarf settle in her lap and reaches for her cup of tea again. "From what you just said, Trent, they're here because of the connection to that ironworks."
Mr. Queen has very good hearing. There are a lot of conversations going on in the cafe. There's background chatter. But he can still pick out some pertinent details, like how Jericho mentioned his name. Jericho's not the only one. Oliver is a celebrity. But when he hears Dinah say that he owes her money, that catches his attention.
He was supposed to be meeting her, though he didn't know what she looked like, which is why he expected her to come up to him. Everyone knows what Oliver Queen looks like. Fame isn't all its cracked up to be. Leaning over to regard the young blonde at the table beside him, "just how much does this Queen guy owe you anyway, and do you offer some kind of installment plan?" For the moment, he doesn't seem too concerned about May's ogling.
"No Jericho, not Limbo… I'll let Jes explain though." She's distracted by May looking between Oliver and Dinah as she sits back and sips her coffee. The man leaning over and asking the question, gets a quirked eyebrow from the Mistress of Magic. Turning to Jes, Zee smiles gently "Go ahead, Jes… he might be able to help you."
Jes gives the whispering man a distracted glance before looking back to Jericho. She can hear every single conversation in the cafe but is only focusing on the one at this table. She also has no idea who Oliver Queen is and is probably one of the only people in the city who doesn't. "That company..Consolidated Construction. I've never heard of it but my father is an adopted member of the blackfoot tribe. His partner runs his finances. He could have something to do with this. We're here because I need to find out if he's the one who told HYDRA about me." Jes sighs and fiddles with her coffee drink.
"What's his name?" Jes has Jericho's attention in an instant. Give him a name and he'll find out right quick. May gets a nod. The ironworks is puzzle. One he means to check out. But the rest of it… "You know Dinah, I would have thought that too… but this was on the back of the picture." He flips Dinah's picture over. There's writing on the back. Typewriter, from the looks of it. It reads: Put the Canary in her cage and she'll sing for us. Yeah. That's not creepy at all.
"Zee… I'm a bit concerned that the signs point to this being connected to our recent troubles. I think you, May and I should pay a visit at some point."
Queen and Drake get… watched. Whatever business the two have here might be interesting. Or at least, a bit entertaining.
Dinah winced just a little as she silently read the writing, these people obviously knew who she was; her full family history if they had referred to her as the Canary since it was an oft used moniker by her. The thought of who these people might be connected to gave her the chills, enough to give her a momentary pause.
"I can fill you in on something, a little later. It's definitely not a discussion for a public place like this." She's stopped from explaining why she can't explain now by the intrusion of the nosey Oliver Queen. A quick nod is given to Jericho, "We'll chat in a bit?" Better to distract Ollie from the sensitive conversation and be filled in later.
A winning smile is flashed to Oliver, all pearly whites as she moves away from the group and over to his table, snatching his coffee for herself, "Thanks, exactly how I like it."
She takes a seat at the table, crossing one leg over the other before responding to his question, "Well, the exact sum Mr. Queen owes would have to be discussed after I've seen the appropriate figures of earnings from Sherwood Florist over the years, I understand it's a large chain now. Instalment plans would be fine, provided they are large."
Okay. One tick mark on the respect side of the chart for Dinah. May doesn't do 'bland expressions' well at all, but she can at least feign losing interest in Dinah and Mr. Queen. She takes another tiny sip of her tea, then nudges that honestly unsettling picture of her in the green and gold outfit back toward Trent. Make it go away, please.
She's awfully forward to snatch his coffee from the table, but Oliver Queen isn't about to argue with a girl who looks like Dinah Drake, at least not on that point. "Are you sure I can't interest you in the latest mocha frapa something or other?"
He closes the newspaper, which seems to have a reference to Queen Consolidated on the front page. Not the main story, but one of the secondary articles. Something about a break in at one of their labs, some research being destroyed, though the specifics are hazy. "Glad I could oblige, Miss Lance." He figured that was her last name, but didn't actually know for certain.
"Now I'm no lawyer, but I was under the impression that once a company buys another company, they don't owe the former owners much, though in your case, I think it might be worth making an exception." And yes, he did check her out, though he hasn't taken his attention entirely away from the group at the next table, or what they're discussing.
The interaction between Drake and Queen get little of Zee's attention, although she does watch the woman as she tries to distract Queen. "With Jes, that was Miss Potts' and my concern and why I've bought her to see you…" the raven haired woman speaks quietly. "If you think paying a visit is in order, I'm in…" Glancing at Jes, Zee gives a reassuring smile.
It takes that smile from Zee to get Jes to answer. Now that they are here, she's having doubts about this plan. Were it not for the fact that whatever is going on seems to affect more people than herself, and the fact that Zee will know if she gives the wrong name, (she so doesn't want to disappoint her new friend) she would probably lie and disappear to try to handle this on her own.
She closes her eyes to hide the doubt and pain she's sure is visible in them and says softly.."Jon Falnor. He's my dad's partner, and a mercenary."
"And a Snake." Jericho sighs. He doesn't even have to look. The name came up in his initial searches because… "Who is making a trip out here in the next few days. And by 'here' I mean 'Gotham'." So that'll be lovely. He feels bad for Jes. He really does. It's starting to look like she was sold out by her own family…
Though maybe not. HYDRA is far from unified. So that's not a certain thing.
May gets an apologetic glance and Jericho takes the picture of her turned HYDRA and puts it in one of the folders. The one of Dinah. He lets the blonde keep that one. "Yeah, we can talk later if you like. Seems like you have a more pressing conversation. Sorry to interrupt Mister Queen." Well, more immediate anyway. The hacker smiles a bit and turns back to May, Zee and Jes. "Jes, you might want to… get to know May here. If you're having Snake problems she's a good one to go to. Zee can vouch for that." He hopes.
Dinah sips at the black coffee before setting it down on the table in front of her, the first of what she hoped to be many victories in this relationship, "No, this coffee is fine, thank you." She takes another sip of the coffee to emphasize her point, smiling at Oliver.
She gets right back to business, "I'm glad you're willing to make an exception since I never received a penny from what I understand has become a successful chain of floral shops. I have all of the paperwork of course."
She notices that Oliver is still being nosey towards the other group and she shifts her position in her chair, re-crossing her legs. In the process she kicks Oliver sharply in the knee, total accident, "Oh, I'm so sorry! Did I kick you?"
Melinda May TOTALLY just saw Dinah kick Mr. Queen sharply on the knee. And not at all accidentally. You go, girl. Her expression doesn't reveal any of that, though. She simply nods to Trent. "You know the drill. Tell me when and where, and I can get some resources together." Which is May-speak for informing Fury and getting his approval to allocate SHIELD resources. She does seem honestly a bit remorseful at hearing that Jes's family is tangled up in all of this Hydra business. But then her expression returns to its usual 'we'll handle this' and she gives the young woman a nod. If Jes decides to confront this turncoat of a parent, May will back her play.
Zee has her back to the table Dinah and Oliver are at, so doesn't see the manoeuvre. If she had, she might high five the other woman. Instead, she blances as Jericho confirms Jes' parental involvement with HYDRA and puts a hand on the young womans shoulder. "We'll get him, Jes. And yes, May is good people." Zee's face hardens, resolute. There's no sign of the smiling performer at all.
Blinking at Jericho, Zee frowns "Did you say Gotham? I might know someone who can help there, Jericho… " a certain druid that has Zee's attention, in fact.
"And a snake." Jes's head had flown up at those words from Jericho, a flare of recognition in her eyes. Her expression goes blank though and she listens to the others talk without really hearing the rest. It takes Zee's hand on her shoulder to jar her from her the thoughts racing through her mind. Slowly she turns and looks at her friend, managing a very small smile as she covers Zee's hand with her own. "Thank you."
Drinking from his coffee might not have been the best idea, since Ollie thought he was coming down with a bit of a cold, though he hid it well, and if Dinah wasn't worried, he wasn't either. When a waitress walks by, he'll flag her down, and say, "I'll have what she's having," and points to the supposedly black coffee in front of Ms. Drake.
Later, he'll receive something that is decidedly not plain black coffee. There's even whipped cream on top? This place must not like coffee or maybe it's just him. "And you decided to come to me rather than going through my lawyers because…" he's not upset, just curious why she's ignoring the middle men.
And then, damn, why did she have to uncross and recross those legs? Did she catch him staring or something? Probably. And he gets a sharp kick to the knee. But he doesn't yelp out, biting his tongue instead, "Yeah, but I have another perfectly good knee. Say, would you like to discuss this further… over diner?"Might as well try and be direct. At least he seems to have forgotten whatever she was trying to cover at the next table.
Jericho chuckles at the move. Nice. He'd say 'ballsy' but frankly that's just the military in him coming out. Certainly well played (Clerks. Well Played). The hacker leaves her be for the moment. She can rejoin their conversation or make her exit gracefully. He'll be talking to her again soon himself. So long as folks don't hide too deep they're not usually too hard to find. And honestly, information is what Jericho does.
"I am… really sorry Jes. But Zee's right. We'll get him. If you need a place to hide out, May might be able to help. Or, I know you were staying with Zee for a while too, weren't you?" Either way, he's going to leave Oracle a message, and then he's going after this snake nest in Gotham. They've been trying to dig in there and he thinks it's high time to burn them out.
"I'll send you the details May." So she can talk to her boss. Who, so far, hasn't really gotten in the way of anything. "Do you need any time, Zee?"
Dinah leaves the other questions hanging but considers the offer of dinner, it was Oliver Queen and he did owe her money, "Sure, it's a date then." With their business sorted she picks up her coffee and joins the others again, "Sorry about that."
She pulls up a chair this time and takes a seat, just in case May decided to play musical chairs, "I'm Dinah Drake, sorry if I missed introductions."
"No Jericho, I don't need to make time with you… I came because Jes had questions." Zee smirks a little as Dinah rejoins the table. "Pleased to meet you, Ms Drake, I'm Zatanna Zatara, or Zee to my friends. Nodding to May, Zee murmurs to her friend "It's what friends do for each other… I'm… so sorry, Jes. I wish it was better news."
Melinda May considers claiming the seat Dinah just vacated, to give Mr. Tabloid-bait over there a polite warning to STOP eavesdropping. But, if he's like most people who are too dumb for their own good, he'll take that as an invitation to get even MORE nosy. And the last thing they need is a high profile tagalong. Though there's something about the way Queen carries himself that she suspects he's had at least some training. Likely the typical rich boy kickboxing thing, but still. Enough to make him even more of a danger to himself. She offers Jes a nod. "I'd offer a safehouse, but I suspect Zatara's place is better." Security-wise.
Jes isn't really paying any attention at all to what the others are doing now. She gives Zee a quick but very tight hug and then returns to staring at her coffee. She still hasn't drank any of it yet. It takes her a moment to realize to she was spoken to but once she does she nods at May and Jericho. "Thanks but yeah, I've been staying with Zee. Or visiting with someone else. I think i'm pretty safe for now." Her fingers tap idly on the table. It might be taken as a nervous gesture but its not, exactly. It's what she does when she wants to shift and can't.
Jericho notices the nervous tic but doesn't know what it means. He also knew Dinah's name before, from searching on her. And from the fact that Hydra may or may not think she's the Partisan. "This is May, Zatanna and Jesana. Two of them are friends and the last one… has been targetted by HYDRA. I was just suggesting that it might be about time to go pay a visit to this ironworks." For all their sakes. May and Dinah seem to be tangled up in this as well. That picture of May in the HYDRA uniform makes him nervous as hell and the cage bit about Dinah is far too familiar for comfort.
Dinah smiled to the other women, "Wish we all could have met under better circumstances." If the circumstances were better, she might have been asking about the most expensive restaurant around so she could get the rich playboy to take her there.
"Jericho, if you want something to do later, look into Team 7." She sips her coffee, "Count me in for whatever comes next though."
"I might need to take Jes out of here, Jericho… She's staying with me, in Shadowcrest. We're safer than can " Zee watches her friend with concern. "The circumstances are, what they are, Ms Drake." Zee produces a card from thin air and hands it to Dinah. "Jes, do you want to go?"
"Jes nods at her friend and then looks at the others. "I'm sorry, I need to..to go. Thank you." She's obviously distracted but manages that much at least. She stands but then turns back and says softly. "If you happen to see him before I do..he won't let himself be taken alive. And he'll take as many out with him as he can."
Jericho nods and starts to fold up the map. "We'll be careful. And I'll contact you soon Dinah. Soon as May and Zee and I are ready to move on this. Be careful in the mean time though. I'm not sure you're not being targetted for other reasons. Clearly someone thinks they know something about you." He'll dig on her more, and this team Seven as well.
The hacker moves outside and rounds a structural support. There's a glow of light and he doesn't emerge from the other side.