Log:Between a Rockslide and a Hard Place, Scene 2

2009/03/20 	 Laser Ray Silver Spider 2

Silver Spider goes to check on the arrest of a villain named Laser Ray.

Spider is met at the jail by a police detective wearing a dark suit with his gold shield displayed on his lapel. He's Caucasian, with dark, wavy hair cut in a conservative fashion. He's in his forties, but seems to be keeping himself in relatively decent shape. When Spider appears, he introduces himself. "The name's Martelli. Meta Crimes."

Silver Spider smiles a little bit as she steps in, extending a hand. She's been unusually polite as she wanders through the police station, and gives all of the Police officers a cheery wave. "Hi." She says. "I'm Silver Spider. I'm here to see Laser Ray?"

"Yeah, I know who you are, Spider. I read Knox Pooley." Martelli looks down at Spider's hand, then back to Silver Spider, ostensibly declining to shake it. "Let me tell you how this is gonna go..."

Silver Spider shrugs. "Let me guess. No webbing to the ceiling. No calling him names. You observe the whole thing. I don't get to bring an IV to collect his blood. He's wearing pants when the interview is over, and absolutely no mountain goats under any circumstances?" She winks an eyeslit. "He's not the first criminal I've visited in jail."

"You get thirty minutes. He's got his public defender in there, and I'll be watching from behind the one-way glass." Martelli says. "If I see anything I don't like, then the interview is over. Capice?"

Silver Spider sighs. "He's not going to say anything in front of a lawyer." She says with a smile. "Can I have a glass of water? Just one glass of water." She says with a grin. "I'm sure you know this trick, if you didn't already use it on him. And if you could forget Daylight Savings Time retroactively, it might work a touch better." She makes her way down the hall towards the holding area.

"Yeah, there's the water cooler." Martelli points it out. "Remember. I got my eye on you. He's in Interview Room 2." He waits until Spider is ready. He'll step into the observation room when Spider heads into the interview room.

Silver Spider fills the largest glass with water that she can, and wanders down the hall into Room 2. "Hi." She says cheerily with her glass of water, and carries it over to the desk and puts it down. "This is for you." She gives the attorney a pleasant look before turning back to Laser Ray. "You must be Laser, and this must be..."

"Nelson Foxworth." His a chubby man in his 30s. "We were hoping that there was some kind of deal on the table...?"

Silver Spider turns to the chubby man. "I'm Silver Spider.' She says with a shrug. "I'm not an attorney, though I'm good at knowing that stuff. Now basically, Laser, I know what you want. You don't care about money. You don't even care about power. You don't care about revenge. Isn't that right, Ray?"

Silver Spider says, "You're Laser, and you want everyone to know it, and you want people to know how brilliant you are, and no one pays attention to you, do they? No one except people like Merlin. They know how smart you are, right?"

Silver Spider turns to Nelson. "You know how smart he is, right? Smart enough to build a suit of solar powered channelling armor and unleash it on the city, right?"

"Yep." Ray says, with a bit of a Texas twang to his voice. "Except the part about not wanting money. I mean, who doesn't?"

Nelson's brow crinkles a little as he frets. "If there's no deal, then what's the purpose of this conversation...?"

Ray shrugs, "Not smart enough to avoid getting caught with my pants down... Still tryin to figure out how that happened, exactly."

Silver Spider turns to Nelson for a moment. "I don't really care about what Laser here did." She says. "But I do care about Merlin. But then again, Laser, you don't need Merlin, do you? You weren't actually needing his help to build that armor, right?"

"Nope. The armor's mine." Ray says. "Well, actually I stole it, but I know enough about fixing things to keep it up. Whaddya want to know about Merlin?"

Silver Spider shrugs. "I want to know what he had you steal. I want to know where you were going to drop it. I want to know what the real relationship is between him and Rockslide. No one makes a giant bomb, attracts a giant angry monster, and then makes friends with it. Either he's controlling it, or inside Rockslide is a perfectly ordinary person with the mind of a child. I'm kinda counting on your knowledge of the villain grapevine. Merlin must be close to sixty. What does he get out of this?"

"I think he's got a bone to pick, actually." Ray says. "He told me about a safe deposit box owned by that crooked banker guy to hide money from the feds. He wanted a cut of the take, but I think more than that, he wanted to hurt the banker. I haven't worked with Rockslide before, so I can't rightly say what he's like..."

Nelson comments nervously, "This is all off the record, right...?"

Silver Spider turns to Nelson. "I don't know." She says. "I think that you need to let him keep talking." She says. "Why don't you have a drink of water, Laser. You must be thirsty, what with the heat at seventy nine in here and all, and no thermostats until tuesday."

"Sure. Thanks." Ray drinks up. "I was supposed to meet Merlin after the heist, down on the waterfront. He's probably long now."

Silver Spider turns back to Ray. "So, basically, he wanted Means because Means invested his money, which he had already laundered, and he was a victim just like everyone else. Only now, everyone's already looking for the safe, and it's going to be a colossal bloodbath unless someone finds the money?" She says. "Does Merlin need any special medications that you know about? Anything that might make him come out of retirement? Something weird or expensive that he'd have to synthesize?"

Ray shakes his head. "I think he's broke -- that's why a lot of us do it. I haven't worked with him much. He's an old-timer. From a different generation. I don't know much about him, other than he had a job, and I got in touch with him."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "But he wouldn't have been broke if Means hadn't defrauded him." She said quietly. "Listen, Ray. Have you heard about anyone in Merlin's life? Other than his fiance who he broke up with all the way back then?"

Laser Ray says, "This is the first job I've worked with the man. He didn't volunteer any information, I didn't ask for none. That's about all I know."

Silver Spider thinks. o O (His fiance. His...now broke fiance. Could she be Rockslide? It would fit. It would give Merlin an alibi. His wife would be Rockslide, and they would commit crimes and go home together, and "Meet" in jail, and it would all be preplanned. He's smart enough to think of it. Rockslide said "We're here for Means." But Rockslide doesn't want Means. He just wants to be left alone. Unless it's all a scam. And it makes his name fit, too. Merlin and Rockslide. The biggest illusion ever. A rockslide is a breakup gone bad, and Merlin was the greatest illusionist of all time. If this is true, I'm up against a real mastermind.)

Silver Spider says, "Did he say where Means kept his safe?"

"It was a safe deposit box, in the Chinatown branch of First Colonial." Ray says. "Merlin gave me the number. I got the impression that maybe he knew of other places where Means had cache stashed. he told me that if this job went well, he might have more work for me."

Silver Spider turns to Nelson. "Now, we can start talking about a deal. How did Merlin get the number? The police need that number now. And I'm sure this Means has others. The problem is, if this money isn't back, people will kill Means and each other to get to it."

Silver Spider says, "And Merlin already tried. The question was why he went away."

Nelson says, "We already told the cops all of this. They got the box and the contents are probably sitting in evidence right now."

Ray says, "I don't know how Merlin got the number."

Silver Spider says, "Ray, you're smart enough to maintain a suit of power armor and rob banks for a living. If you had to get a number like that, how would you get it?"

Ray shrugs, "Maybe he has some dirt on Means, he found out something about how he hides his money. Maybe he helped Means hide some of it in the first place."

Silver Spider nods. "Thanks, Ray. You've been a big help." She says gently. "So, Ray, still thirsty?" She says sweetly, checking the time. "I mean, after all, it's not as if you haven't been completely cooperative. So what aren't you telling me?"

"Lawyer says cooperation is my best shot." Ray says. He shrugs.

Silver Spider nods. "Listen, Ray. Is there anything else you can tell me that you think I need to know, like "Duck, because Merlin's coming to break me out?"

Silver Spider thinks. o O (This doesn't make sense. Why would Merlin hire this loser to go after the Safety Deposit Box while he confronted Means?)

Silver Spider thinks. o O (He had to consider that Laser here would keep the money.)

Ray says, "Not that I can think of. Like I said, this was my first job for him."

Silver Spider pauses. "Are you telling the truth here? I mean, really? Why would Merlin hire you to go after the Safety Deposit Box while he confronted Means. He had to realize there was a good fifty to sixty percent chance that you'd betray him and run off with the money, right?"

Ray says, "I could kept the money, and I'd still be hurting Means. I think the revenge was just as important as the cash to him. Plus, maybe he was banking on me showing up with his cut of the cash so I could get info on other jobs."

The door of the interview room opens up. It's Martelli. "Wrap it up, Spider..."

Silver Spider nods slowly. "I need to talk to Means. That'll be difficult, everyone wants an interview with him. Say, Laser. You didn't use your amazing laser skills on Means by creating a laser microphone and eavesdropping on him, did you?"

Ray says, "No, but now that you mention it, I'm wishin I did."

Silver Spider grins under the mask. "That's a shame." She says. "Thanks, Laser. I won't tell anyone you rolled. It might be hard for you to live if Merlin found out. Like you said, he's old school." o O (If I were old school...I'd go right back to the scene of my greatest crime, which in this case, is the Mine. But I have to talk to Means first.)

Silver Spider turns to Martelli. "Check the armor for a recording anyway, just in case he's lying. He might not have thought of it, but I'd bet money Merlin did." She says and shrugs to Nelson."

Martelli says, "And I wish I could win the lottery. I think I have a better shot at that then you talking to Means, Spider." He holds the door open for her.

Silver Spider turns to Martelli. "Well, I can check the armor for you. I've got the right sort of skills for that..." She winks. "Sorry for not trusting you, Ray, but this is already way out of hand."

Laser Ray says, "Sure. Just remember it was me who helped if you collar the guy."

Silver Spider turns to Laser Ray for a second and raises an eyebrow. "I will." She says as she walks out the door to check out Laser Ray's armor.

On the way to check out the suit, there's a woman by the water cooler. She's an attractive Asian woman in her late thirties, dressed in a business ensemble that would likely likely eat up a couple months of Martelli's salary. She look over at Silver Spider and Martelli. "Hullo, Lieutenant, Silver Spider," she says with a smile.

Silver Spider turns to the Asian woman for a second. "Hi." She says pleasantly. o O (I'm attached to Regan now. Really. I am. I am. Mmm-wah, I know that lady. She's...holy !@#$!. Lauren Vo. This is bad. Real Bad.) She smiles. "Miss Vo. Glad to see you're on the case as usual. May I know who your client is?"

Martelli shakes his head upon seeing the woman. He continues to walk past, muttering something about lawyers under his breath.

Lauren watches Martelli pass, but it doesn't seem to dampen her mood. She offers her hand to Silver Spider. "It's nice to get a chance to meet you in person. I'm here representing Blowhard. He's accused of robbing a jewelry store late last year. What brings you to this neck of the woods?"

Silver Spider shrugs. "Oh, I'm looking into Merlin." She says. "He attacked the courthouse today? In broad daylight. With his old enemy Rockslide. Did you ever represent those guys? If Rockslide's a guy. I mean, he could be a girl and the whole thing could be a Supervillains in Love scam. But only their attorney would know that for sure, right, Lauren?"

"Merlin and Rockslide," Lauren, repeats, thinking aloud. "Back when those two were active I was still playing with my Barbies. Interesting theory about them being lovers. But when I think about it -- that sounds like it would be just /painful/." She winces, to emphasize her point.

Silver Spider turns to Lauren with a chuckle. "Human to granite transformations are not unheard of. And if Granite was the natural state and Merlin was gone for such a long time, and suddenly lost all his money to this Means, suddenly he'd have a reason to be back in the business, right? Whatever he was using to synthesize a temporary antidote dried up because he couldn't afford it anymore." o O (Nanotech. Gold into Lead. But he can only reverse traditional...Stone into Flesh! Yeah, this is looking better and better.)

Silver Spider says, "And boom. Rockslide reappears."

"Hm. It's certainly possible." Lauren says. "In any case, as much as I'd love to gossip about the secret loves of masked adventurers, I do need to get going... Here's my card, in case you should ever need it."

Silver Spider turns to Lauren. "Gee. Thanks. I see Knox Pooley has been doing his job." Her eyeslits flick as if she's rolling her eyes. "You wouldn't happen to have Merlin's phone number in your client book, would you?"

"Knox Pooley is a hack and a liar." Lauren says. "His best writing is behind him, and he's desperately trying to cling to his relevance by slinging mud at you, and experienced and selfless crimefighter." She pauses a moment to let her words sink in. "...And that's why I can represent you, should you need my services." She smiles. "It's been fun, Spider. See you around..."

Silver Spider smiles a little bit to Lauren. "Sure." She says. "See you around." o O (Is Lauren Vo really gonna represent me? This is too cool. No...wait...there's a trick here. She's scary good. She wants the press. That has to be it.) She says. She turns to Martelli. "Can you get me Merlin's prison medical records?"

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