Log:A Touch of VENOM, Scene 1

A Touch of VENOM 2013/07/23 	 American Dream Jack Knife Jack Lockwood Mascara Negra Victory 1

American Dream's riding along on her bike, with her cape fluttering out behind her whenever she manages to get up to even a little speed in the city traffic. It's a warm day, not HOT, but warm... and this prompts her to start looking for a deli or ice cream shop... someplace to stop, sit down, have a drink, and just plain relax for a while.

The Biltmore is a high class hotel that matches the feel of its Old Town surroundings. There's a cafe indoors with windows that allow a view of Main Street outside. Jack Lockwood is running late, he texted that he would be a little late about twenty minutes ago.

Wade is dressed 'business-casual', considering he's meeting his dad. He's waiting inside the cafe, looking out the window as passersby.

Oh, hey... the Biltmore! It's classy and it's got a decent cafe in it... and they serve a really GOOD banana split and an awesome root beer float. This suits American Dream's needs for refreshment and relaxation quite nicely, so she pulls her bike up in front of the hotel's valet parking area and shoves the kickstand down with one foot, leaving the engine running. Dismounting, she receives her valet parking ticket before heading on into the cafe.

Finally, Jack appears. He's walking briskly across the hotel lobby towards the coffee shop, looking to catch sight of Wade. He's dressed in a navy suit and tie. An Indian man hurries alongside him speaking to him as they move. However he seems to lose Jack's attention when he spots his son. He smiles as he approaches.

Wade smiles, and waves as his father gets closer to the table. "Hey there..glad you could make it. Traffic rough?"

Jack sighs and shakes his head, smiling ruefully: "Was up in the room, actually. Telephone interview ran long. Wade, I'd like you to me my campaign manager, Raj. Raj -- this is my son." He gestures with his free hand between the two of you, as the does the introduction

Walking into the cafe, American Dream doesn't notice the father/son moment in progress as the hostess leads her to a table... a table right next to that where the Lockwoods are meeting. She's not looking specifically for anyone, and has icecream on her mind... so she doesn't really realize next to whom she's been seated. She just sits herself right down, leans back in her chair, and crosses one leg over the other as she waits for a server to come around to get her order.

Wade smiles and shakes Raj's hand. "Nice to meet you, sir." He does notice American Dream though...glancing past the other two men to the neighboring table. But it's only a momentary glance. "Hope everything is going well?"

Raj nods and extends a hand to Wade. "Raj Chatterjee. It's great to finally meet you. It's been a great honor working with your father... I'll let you two catch up." He smiles, but promptly turns to say to Jack: "We have ten minutes until the car to the dinner arrives."

American Dream half-rises out of her chair for a moment, as she lifts her cape up and off over her head, sitting back down to lay the red cloth over the back of the next chair over. Sitting with her back to the men, she still doesn't realize who's back there -- she's not eavesdropping or anything, after all.

Wade smiles slightly, "Only ten minutes for lunch, then?"

Jack sighs and nods. "Ten minutes, right." Raj isn't quite out of earshot when Jack jokes, "Worse than your mom, this one," pointing a thumb at the departing aide. "Yeah, ten minutes for lunch, and then it's a dinner where I'll probably not have a chance to eat..."

The server comes by Dream's table and she happily orders a banana split with an extra scoop of icecream... and a root beer float. That done, she digs into one of the pockets on her pants for her cellphone. It seems she plans to pass the next few minutes playing a silly phone-app game.

Wade nods. "I understand. It's nice to get to spend some time, anyway. What's the dinner for? Fundraising, I assume?"

Jack spots Dream, remarking on her appearance with a curious 'hm'. But time is short, so he settles into a seat at Wade's table.

Jack nods. "Apparently I have some catching up to do. The other parties have a big head start on me, so I'm in town. Raj will trot me out like a prize pony and some local big wigs will tell me what I'm worth." He sighs. "When did ad buys become more important than taking a stand on important issues?"

Angstrom glances briefly over at Dream after he mentions ads.

Wade chuckles, "Well...I'm sure the name recognition helps, right? You're effectively already a celebrity, not just a 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' sort."

American Dream's order arrives -- such dessert-like things are quick to make, after all. All smiles, she puts her phone down on the table and lifts the spoon to dig into the banana split.

Jack says, "Well, if Raj had it his way, I'd be running as 'Patriot'... but enough about the campaign -- I'll be talking all evening about it, and I've been talking about it all day. How's my son doing?"

Okay, so she wasn't going out of her way to eavesdrop, but the name 'Patriot' just got dropped, and American Dream's sitting too close by to NOT catch it. Sitting up a bit straighter in her seat, she glances back over her shoulder at the three men. She recognizes Wade easily enough, then her eyes flick over to the other men... one of whom looks a LOT like Wade. Her eyes widen in realization and recognition, as she realizes that the older man is Patriot himself.

Wade nods, "I'm doing alright. The breakup with Casey kind of...well, got me to just focus on studying more. And working out. We're still friends, but...it sometimes feels awkward. And...it's really not a good idea for me to put her in danger." He pauses a moment, "How'd you and mom deal with it? Her being a target, I mean?"

"Well, it took some time," Jack says. "But eventually your mom and I, we both decided that being apart would have been worse..."

And that's when Raj reappears, saying, "It's time." He points out to the black town car that's waiting -- it's visible from the cafe and the hotel lobby.

American Dream turns back to her banana split, wondering if her having noticed who's behind her... was noticed. She's /listening/ now, though, as she spoons up some banana and icecream to put into her mouth.

Wade sighs quietly, but smiles, "Guess you better get going. I can give you a call later to talk longer, if you get a chance."

Of course, now American Dream pouts a little. Such a good chance for her to learn a little bit about this guy who wants to be a Senator... and she started listening in just as he's about to leave!

Jack glances at his watch. "Ten minutes? More like five," he grumbles. He rises and gives Wade a squeeze on the shoulder. "Yes, let's talk later."

Raj repeats, "Jack!" To which Jack responds, "Coming, dear." He winks back to Wade as he follows him out.

Wade smiles and waves to Jack, and then he drinks a little more of the water he had on the table. He says to himself, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

American Dream turns her head to watch Patriot leave as she 'stirs' her spoon about in her icecream before lifting some up into her mouth.

Five minutes after Jack and Raj head off a man comes into the cafe. He's dressed in a black, like a chauffeur. He stops a waiter and asks, "Excuse, me. Have you seen Jack Lockwood? I'm supposed to be driving him and I heard he was just in here..."

The waiter points over towards Wade, at his table.

Wade raises a brow, gets up from his table...and hurries toward the door. As he passes the guy, "What? He was just here. Supposedly just picked up by his driver." He pulls out his phone, and tries to call his dad just as he's stepping outside.

The phone rings and eventually goes to voicemail.

American Dream gets to her feet, too, grabbing her cape from where she threw it over the back of a chair. Hurrying over to where Wade now stands, she asks, "You got your shield thingie with you?", of him as she pulls her cape back on, over her head.

Wade grimaces, and leaves a quick voicemail, "Dad...the driver with you isn't your driver." He then hangs up, "Damn it...he didn't pick up." He nods to American Dream, "Yeah, I do. Think you might be able to spot the car from the air?"

"I don't have super vision or anything... but we'll have two pairs of eyes, at least", American Dream responds as she's surrounded by the almost-yellow glow, which then also envelops Wade a moment later. She flits through the air towards the door, with Wade being carried along in her wake. Out the door and then straight up into the air, to get a view from above the Biltmore hotel.

It's rush hour in Colonial Bay, and in Old Town that means it can take five minutes to go a couple blocks. You can spot the black town car mired in traffic 200m up the street. Also, you can spot two costumed adventurers on the rooftop, looking back at you. One looks like a musclebound Mexican wrestler. The other is a woman in a black costume with assorted blades all over it.

"We've got company!", says American Dream, pointing out the obvious even as she gestures with one hand to point out 'the bad guys' on the rooftop.

Wade nods to American Dream, "I think I recognize them. Mascara Negra is the wrestler...Jack Knife is the woman. I can keep them occupied, I think. But if they're after the car, it makes sense to put me down there."

Jack Knife, the woman, stands on top of a three-story building about level with Wade and Dream and about 10 meters. A blade appears in her hand, seemingly from nowhere. She whips it at Wade in a backhanded swipe.

Wade turns on his shield, and brings it around to intercept the oncoming knife. "Seriously? Is that the best you've got?"

Mascara Negra leaps effortlessly into the air above Dream. He drops out of the sun and tries to wrap Dream up in a bear hug.

Dream just barely manages to sidestep M.N. who drops the ground below with a slam.

Meanwhile, up the road, the towncars wheel tilt sideways, becoming exhaust ports for the hover system. It lifts up into the air above the traffic, and it begins to fly again.

American Dream flits to one side, her cape fluttering with the nearby passage of Mascara Negra, then flits down to the ground, in the direction of the car, and releases Wade from her telekinetic grasp to leave him standing there as she races after the car.

Jack Knife grins and responds to Wade. "Don't gotta take you out. Just gotta stall you. But we get paid more if we drop you." She readies another blade.

Jack Knife throws a set of three shuriken at Wade.

Jack is off the mark with her shuriken - she misses by a wide margin.

Wade shakes his head, and brings his arm around in a discus-like motion. The energy sheild flies off his wrist toward Jack Knife, leaving a golden trail behind it.

Wade's shield reforms on his wrist a moment later, after the fired energy dissipates.

The energy disc slams into Jack Knife and sends her tumbling backwards across the rooftop, skidding the last few meters on her back across the gravel. She's alert and active still.

American Dream finishes her aerial spin that moved her out of Mascara's reach a moment ago, and then darts off in pursuit of the car, telekinetically bringing Wade along with herself, putting him behind her... so that his shield is, hopefully, between her body and the bad guys who're trying to slow them down.

American Dream telekinetically pulls Wade up to herself and wraps her arms around him from behind as she darts through the air after the car. Along the way, she puts her feet down on a rooftop and /bounces/ forward in an arc, instead of simply flying, and lands on a rooftop farther along the way, closing as much distance as she can, as quickly as she can.

Mascara Negra leaps after Dream, closing the distance easily. He tries an aerial clothesline as he falls past her on the downward arc of his jump.

The wrestler misses with his attack.

The fleeing towncar zooms above the line of building here and starting fleeing flat out.

Wade takes another shot with his shield...firing at the fleeing car...which hopefully is moving in a straight enough line to hit.

Wade's shield clips into the side of the flying car, slicing open one of the four hover units. The hover unit explodes and the car begins to slow down and descend.

"Yes! Great shot!", calls out American Dream.

The driver of the limo manages to set down the limo in a controlled landing on a construction site. American Dream and Victory arrive on the site, followed shortly thereafter by Jack Knife and Mascara Negra.