10029/Sentinels Aftermath: The Beginning

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Sentinels Aftermath: The Beginning
Date of Scene: 13 November 2019
Location: Nelson and Murdock, Clinton
Synopsis: Alice comes to Nelson and Murdock looking for justice, plans are made to make sure Trask and the Friends of Humanity pay for their crimes.
Cast of Characters: Daredevil, Red
Tinyplot: Sentinels


Daredevil has posed:
Nelson and Murdock was not the sleepy little lawfirm like it was when it started out, through hard work and a little bit of finessing the press they'd gained some profile and netted themselves their first 'big client' the nacent X-Corporation. With actual money coming in the firm had expanded to the offices across the hall, and were running a law clinic in Mutant Town.

Things were good at Nelson and Murdock. Busy too. Matt shouldn't have felt the need for excitement beyond what his day job and night job provided but when Karen mentioned a potential client called with a 'dangerous' case to discuss, Matt had jumped at the chance. So, at the appointed time, the firm's small conference room had been set up to recieve their visitor, with coffee and danishes laid out in the middle of the second hand table inside, along with the the usual legal pads, pens, and Matt's dictaphone.

As for the lawyer himself, he stands by the window, letting some unseasonable sunlight fall on his face, drinking in the warmth while he waits for his (potential) new client to arrive.

Red has posed:
Mutanttown was a good address for Alice, living pretty much in that township, but going out to Hell's Kitchen wasn't a too bad thing for her. Na, she had gathered her folder of newspaper cutouts and web archive printouts and then went out to meet the attorney she had called some weeks ago for a meeting... and a bundle of cash in her back pocket made recently. Who knew that makign one item for this miss Frost was such lucative?

As they knock the door and then get lead to the meeting room, Alice is somewhat silent, noddign to the woman as she leaves. "Mister Murdock?" she asks finally, the voice gentle. "Alice Thompson. I was inquiring some weeks ago about filing suit for negligence of the state."

Daredevil has posed:
The offices of Nelson and Murdock aren't much to look at, all second hand furniture and office equipment, with a little folding table that still has a couple of peices of baked goods given by past clients. Though there's signs of success as well, a cover piece for the Columbia Daily Spectator, declaring Nelson and Murdock 'Top Underdogs' after their win against Ace Chemical along with a few other pieces from the Bugle and the Bulletin highlighting other victories.

A pretty blonde woman is there to greet Alice when she enters, introducing herself as Karen Page, before she leads the way to the conference room. her low heels clicking across the hardwood floor.

When Alice is presented, Matt turns from the window the sunlight illuminating the red of his shades as he offers a warm smile, and makes his way around the conference table with the help of his white cane, to extend a hand, "I'd use the old saw about Mr. Murdock being my father, but everyone called him Battling Jack, but please, call me Matt," he says. "And yes, I have to say, it's not everyday someone comes calling with a case like that. If you'd like to sit, Miss Page and I would like to hear what you've got to say."

Red has posed:
Alice nods as she steps to a chair, the binder flopping onto the desk. The ruffling of her jeans is somewhat muffled as they are tucked into high boots at the lower legs, the creaking of the synthetic leather missing out on the sound of any shoelace in eyes. And not the telltale sound of a zipper either. "Ah, well, let's start from the beginning then? I mean, you must be painfully aware of the Situation of the last year and maybe some more months. The Friends of Humanity and their rampant raids, their use of Sentinels to assault mutants and like. And... well, I might have been lucky to not gotten into such a raid myself, but I think there's more than enough evidence from only the news to prove that the inaction of the governement was not a mere inability to pin down the culprits. I mean, how can one possibly not see a 5 story tall deathmachine launch somewhere on the radar and then fail to shoot it down before it reached population centers? How could governement only shut down their sentinel program - which probably is illegal from the onset as discrimination - after months of FoH raids? And how could they allow Trask to continiue to produce such illegal weaponry?!" She taps onto the folder on the desk, inside pretty much news printouts of attacks, testimony of victims to the news. All in all... not a solid case, but at best a start for a group action. "I believe it is time to force the US to do something. Like... expatriate Trask and charge him with collusion to murder for each and every Victim of a sentinel."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt takes a seat while Alice launches into her speel, beckoning Karen to sit in on the meeting as well, from there his focus is entirely on Alice, the expressionless red panes of his shades turne her way, leaning in slightly as he listens.

When she's done, Matt nods slowly, providing a calm counterpoint to Alice's vigor. "Would you like a cup of coffee Miss Thompson, or some water?" he asks again a little move to bring some calm to the meeting.

Then he gets down to business, "I am definitely aware of the attacks, and I think they're an obscenity, and it's clear while the US Government definitely made an effort to curb the Sentinel problem, they didn't do a good job of it, like you said, there were opportunities to take action that were missed."

He folds his hands overtop of each other on the desk as he continues, "That said, I should make it clear from the outset, I'm not a prosecutor either in the State of New York or Federally, I have no say in what sort of charges those who /are/ prosecutors might levy against Mr. Trask if he is returned to custody, also, while there are certainly constitutional issues surrounding the depolyment of Sentinels in the United States, and the nature of their power inhibitors, they're not per se, illegal, at least, not yet."

He pauses as Karen leans forward to whisper to him, "She tapped a binder full of clippings and statements," she says filling in the details the supposedly blind lawyer would miss.

"If you don't mind, I'd like Miss Page to have a look at what you brought for us.," Matt says before he continues, "Anyhow, I don't want you to feel disheartened, I just want you to be aware of the facts of our situation, however, what we can do is sue the US Government for negligance, and go after Trask as well, it may not be as satisfying as seeing Trask rot in a cell for the next thousand years, but it'll go a lot further to making the victims of these attacks whole again."

Red has posed:
"Tea if you have. A cup of tea restores normality." Alice notes, almost quoting Douglas Adams.

"I am well aware that you are not a state attorney or a federal prosecutor, but isn't there a way to go after the state for... some declaration or something? Power inhibitors might violate due process, that's a constitutional right, or isn't it? And also be cruel and unusual punishment above that." She sighs as she passes her folder over to Karen, letting her look through the stuff if she wants.

"It's not much, stuff everybody could grab from the news... Statements, reports... It's just a start, but... I also did do my due dilligence. Those statements are just the tip of the iceberg that hit the news. It might be the start to hunt down more. And I am willing to start the funding for the whole thing. I mean... legal fees and such. At least to offset the whole procedure."

With the last statement she pulls out what looks like a black plastic brick from the pocket at first. The right square dimension to be a dollar bill, but some inch or two thick and probably some pound and maybe a half heavy. She lets it sit there for a little, then strokes a finger over it, the shiny acrylonitrile butadiene styrene case starts to mold away without the usually associated stench of melting ABS and reveals a pair of bundle of dollar bills with a neat wrap around it. A bank issued wrap. 20s in bundles of 100 each. 4000 dollars on the table, sitting on a plater of black plastic that had moments ago been an impenetrable, seamless shell to them.

Daredevil has posed:
"Sure thing," Karen says smiling as she recognizes the quote. She vanishes for a moment and returns with a mug with a teabag string hanging over the side. "It'll take a moment to steep, and we've got milk and sugar on the table," she says beore she picks up the folder and starts going through it.

Matt offers an consillatory smile, "You'd be surprised by how many people walk in here thinking I /am/ a prosecutor, expecting me to put people behind bars for them," he says. "So, my apologies if I was insulting in anyway, it's just past experience," he says.

"As for forcing the prosecution into doing something, legally? Not really, prosecutorial discretion is pretty much set in stone, however, with the DA being elected, and the US Attorneys being appointees, a good PR campaign might see their minds changing, after all 2028 is an election year, and I am sure everyone wants to put this whole business to bed with as little noise as possible."

As for the files, Karen looks up, "This stuff is pretty good," she says encouragingly. "Definitely a lot of threads to pull," she says. "If you're game to help hunt down more like you said, I think we can make some real headway here."

Matt nods and smiles, though both of them seem to pause when Alice does her trick with the money, Karen supplying carefully, "She just opened a solid looking plastic brick, and she's put..." she does a quick sizing up of those bank wrapped stacks, "four-thousand dollars?" Karen's eyes flick to Alice for confirmation.

Nodding again Matt says, "Thank you," to Alice his attention fixed in her direction again. "And I appreciate you wanting to pay, but suits this big tend to get expensive, deposition costs, expert witnesses, honestly I expect it to get to the million mark before we're done," he says. "I don't know anything about you, so I can't say for sure if that's something you're going to be able to cover or not. That said, there are options for raising the funds as we need them."

Red has posed:
"If I wanted to put people behind bars, I would only need to know where they are. I mean, how hard is it to get a cordless drill and mount a couple bars to their appartment window?" Alice remarks with a smirk, listening for the moment but then sighing at the quoted number.

"I don't have millions, that cash is pretty much what I had put aside..." She doesn't say that it's all from that commission for miss Frost. "It might not be a sizeable sum to start, but wasn't PG&E brought to their knees with no upfront money at all? And we are in the 2020s, we could do a crowdfunding. A Klickstarter or Indiegogo or Gofundme. Raising money to fight for the fact that carriers of the X-gene are just another type of human!"

Daredevil has posed:
Matt chuckles warmly at the joke, "DIY prisons, don't tell the government, they might actually go for it, anything to save a dime right?" he jokes.

There's a smile about the PG&E case, "True but Masry had a million bucks saved up that he was dipping into," Matt counters good-naturedly. "We're just barely past getting paid in pie, so our war chest is a little light right now, that said, there are ways to raise funds, crowdfunding is one, and it's a good one because it lets us guage public support for the case, and beyond that there's various charties and private donors to turn to."

He pauses, steepling his fingers as he considers the situation, "I'll tell you what, we'll take your four-thousand to start us off, on the condition that if we can get funding elsewhere for this it'll be returned to you. Does that work?" he asks.

Of course he had the Hugo Foundation in his back pocket, and he was willing to bet good money they'd shell over at least some of the money they'd need.

Red has posed:
"You mean like a loan? Sure, I can work with that. I just don't want some of the people I went to school to have died in vain and be forgotten over some white collars washing their hands and claiming they knew of nothing."

Alice nods slowly and looks over to Karen. "By the way, it wasn't a solid block. It is a hollow case of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, neatly molded around the bundles. Just to make sure it appears worthless in this part of town."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt nods, "A loan. Just until we get some momentum on the fundraising side of things," he confirms.

Karen grins as the trick is explained, "Good idea, I wouldn't want to be walking around the Kitchen with that kind of cash, even if Daredevil is around to protect us."

Matt chuckles, "It's not guys in funny costumes that'll make the difference, it's people like Alice here willing to put their money on the line to stand up for others that will," he says with a nod in Alice's general direction before he smiles and shakes his head at himself. "Forgive my speechifying, it's a condition," he jokes. "Anyhow, Alice, I think we're good to take your case once I speak to my partner about it, but I think you can count on his support, so if you're good with it, we'll get you a client agreement to sign and we can get underway."

Red has posed:
"In 1775, the people of the colonies took up arms and declared fundamental rights. In 1861, people all over America took up arms to fight for every man's right to be free. In 1869, Women started a decades-long struggle for equal rights to men in politics. In 1963, colored people all over the country marched upon Washington for every human's right to be equal. Now, this year could be the next milestone in this line." Alice recounted.

"It was the Matts and Alices of the farms, the Martins and Karens of the schools, the Georges and Marys of the armed forces and the Abrahams and Rebeccas in politics that forged this country."