318/Sssmall favorss

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Sssmall favorss
Date of Scene: 08 May 2017
Location: Gotham City
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: 257, Batman




Copperhead (257) has posed:
Many criminals in Gotham do unexpected and crazy things but this one must top the list.. for this week.. Stately Wayne manor, lush and grand gets a visitor driving a beat up old car, one of those 2017 models from before the smog regulator was required and people pushed for electric cars. An old clunker that belongs in a junkyard being recycled more than being on the road.

From inside the old 2-door sedan, which has no license plates or navi-tags, a man steps out in a business suit, well it looks like a man at first but it's actually a giant snake-man. Copperhead, all mutated up, walks up the stairs to the front door of the mannor and looks around for a doorbell. Surely a place this big has a doorbell.

He couldn't quite find shoes to match his suit so his clawed feet are bare and the suit is a little worse for wear. It's six years out of fashion and he's cut a big hole in the ass for his tail. It was once a nice blue casual suit with a white button up shirt under it. He's even put on a nice bright red tie. "Oh, there it iss." he says to himself as he pressed the button. Ding! Dong! What a strange way to start your day.

Batman has posed:
After about a minute's wait, a tall, slim man, impeccably dressed in a suit and white gloves, answers the door.

"Yes?" he asks, his face expressionless. "How may I help you today?"

At the other end of a long hall beyond the large foyer, a man in a bathrobe can be seen slumped in a large, high-backed and heavily cushioned chair. He may be snoring, but he's so far away that the sound's difficult to pick up.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
The snake man stops and waits for the very stiff butler to freak out but then when he doesn't Copperhead squints at him. "I need to sspeak to Mr. Wayne. It'ss important." the snake says leaning a little to the side and seeing the man sleeping in his bathrobe and thinking to himself that perhaps he over-dressed. Looking back into the eyes of the unphased butler, "I'm not here to ssstart trouble. I need his.." the snake stops and corrects himself, "Hiss company's help. " the man says then realizes he's slouching and stands up straighter. For some reason the butler makes him feel like he shouldn't be slouching. "Pleasse" he adds.

Batman has posed:
"Sir," the butler replies, his accent more and more clearly British and refined. "Mister Wayne is, ah, indisposed at the moment. Are you certain that it would not be more useful to set an appointment at his place of business?"

As the snake-man continues talking, the butler nods once, quickly and politely. "Of course. Please, come in." He steps to the side, gesturing with one hand to the foyer. "If you'll be so kind as to wait, I will see to Master Bruce's being attentive to your meeting."

He begins down the hall, calmly but briskly, and he leans over the snoozing man in the chair. A quiet conversation is had between the two, with the man looking toward Copperhead's direction. He pats the butler on the shoulder and woozily gets to his feet, disappearing into some other room.

The butler returns to the foyer. "It will be just a moment, sir. May I offer you some coffee or tea?"

Not tremendously long after, Bruce Wayne steps through a nearby doorway, dressed in a polo shirt, sweater vest, and slacks. He runs a hand through his hair and clears his throat. "Good morning, Mister...? I'm Bruce Wayne. I don't /think/ we've met, but maybe I'm wrong. Am I wrong? Alfred, have I met this man before?" he asks over his shoulder to the butler.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Copperhead stepped inside and waited where he was asked to. He stayed standing because normal chairs aren't really comfortable when you have a tail. Declining the offer for tea, oddly politely, he waits for Wayne to come out.

Copperhead has to stop and think, did he ever steal from Wayne? Rob him? Murder anyone he knew? He doesn't think they have met. "I'm.." he starts to say a name, his human name but he can't quite seem to make his mouth form the words, "who I wass doessn't matter, I'm Copperhead now." he says strange emotion playing across his snake features not overt but an observant man can see some kind of internal conflict. "Don't worry, I'm not here to murder you. No one'sss hired me for that." he says trying to be comforting in his own way, "I'm here becausse you own one of the mosst progresssive genetic engineering companiesss in the world. I need your help, their help to ssave ssomeone."

Batman has posed:
Stifling a yawn, Bruce blinks a few times while Copperhead speaks. "I see," he says. "Alfred, I'll have a coffee, if you don't mind."

Immediately, Alfred provides a cup-and-saucer. "At the ready for you, sir," he says quietly.

Bruce sips his coffee and inhales deeply. "Mister--Copperhead, was it?--Mister Copperhead. I do want to let you know ahead of time that I oversee the company, but I don't really do appointments. I'm guessing that you might have...some sort of insurance or credit issue that prevents you from seeing a medical specialist?"

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Sliding his scale covered hand into his suit-jacket pocket Copper the snake pulls out a cellphone. It's an adorable purple phone with a cute little winged unicorn on it. He looks down at it and starts to turn it on.. By holding down the volume controls. Of course that doesn't work so he moves on to the smaller button and holds that one down. Then the phone comes on. Both because he's keeping Wayne waiting while he figures it out and because it has sparkles on it Copperhead feels compelled to clarify, "It'ss not my phone. Jusst a ssecond."

After Mr. Wayne has some time to have a refreshing sip of coffee Copperhead finally pulls up a video stored on the phone, "This is Brandon Coh." he says starting the video and offering the phone to Wayne to watch. The video is of a child, 12 years old at most, half mutated into a snake with coral snake stripes, "The transsformation didn't finish. He'ss in agony. " the boy's snake like leg is longer than his human leg. His face is half snake, his head half bald, it's a real nightmare, "The exssperiment that turned usss into thiss was ssix monthss ago. I've been trying to find the sscientists that did it but they have gone into hiding. I can't trussst ssshield or the copss. Your people, you have a reputation. You won't treat him like a monsster." the snake man says, "Keep hiss ssecret, maybe find a cure."

Of course Batman has heard of this incident. The boy went missing after a small percentage of test subjects mutated into insane snake-monsters. Most of them died, GenTech covered it up with the help of their investors. The investigation showed it must have been corporate sabotage. The medication they were testing was an anti-psychotic derived from snake venom, it in no way could have caused this kind of mutation. Someone else snuck a mutagen into the experiment. No one has found out who, yet.

Batman has posed:
As Copperhead reaches into his jacket, Bruce looks warily. "Please, don't--" he begins, stopping when the phone becomes visible. He nods, swallowing a lump in his throat as Copperhead asks for time.

Once the video is over, Bruce speaks. "Wh-what if," he stammers, "my team is unable to help? You clearly know where I live, and--let's be honest--you look quite intimidating." He sets his coffee cup down nearby, and Alfred deftly takes it and sets it out of the way.

"I'm in an awkward situation now. If I say 'no', you might get angry and hurt me. I'm defenseless. If I say 'yes' but we can't produce results, you might get angry and hurt the scientists and engineers who tried their best. Then, you might hurt me." Bruce rubs his temples. "It's not a very conducive business relationship, you must understand. I mean, that child ... I /want/ to help. But I can't put my people in danger, either."

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Without hesitation, without any sense of regret or remorse the snake man threatens, "If you can't help him, you'll give him back to me and I'll find sssomeone who can. If you refuse to return him I will kill your butler, your friendss, their friendss, their familiess. I might even eat their dogss." the snake man says looking into Wayne's eyes with his freakish golden, snake-slit eyes, "You feel intimidated becausse this thing that happened to usss, it changed uss. The boy is dangerouss if you don't feed him, I'm just dangerouss because I like it now." he says closing his eyes and breathing in a deep breath like he's enjoying threatening the man a little too much. "I wasss a criminal before thiss happened to me. I wass trying to be better, but maybe it wass fate. Maybe thisss is what I was meant to be. I've never felt more alive. " he says as he steps closer to Wayne opening his eyes, "You sshould try it sssome time. You're rich, you could get away with it." he says conspiratorially, "It would do you good. You wouldn't have to hide out in your houssse afraid of the world any more." Copperhead did his research too. "You don't have to be a victim of life Mr. Wayne. I know I won't ever be again." he says not understanding that he is already in a downward spiral that will only end in his destruction.

Batman has posed:
As Copperhead threatens him, Bruce's eyes narrow just slightly in response, but he blinks quickly, his mouth gently trembling. "You--you think you can just enter someone's home and threaten them? This is /America/, after all. What I /should/ do is call the police. Saying you'll kill someone!"

He shakes his head slowly. "If your child is such a danger ... why should I believe that returning him to you--assuming Wayne engineers fail--would be in his best interests? You may not remember any more what it's like to be a scared little boy, but, Mister Copperhead ... it's something I recall clearly every single day. I'm not so frightened of you--not any more than I ever was."

Even as Bruce says this, his hands tremble like his mouth. "If we're going to enter a business relationship, you need to understand that some things are out of your hands. That may include seeing your child when you want. This isn't something I'm saying /will/ happen, but it /could/. I'm not sure you have the self-control for that."

Copperhead (257) has posed:
The Anti-psychotic part of the treatment clearly didn't work out for Copperhead and when Wayne stands up to him his hands curl into fists the humanity in his eyes drains away for a moment as they narrow but something happens, like a light switch being flipped and he pulls himself back from responding primally. Clearly the man inside is struggling to control what he's become. He takes a step back then turns away and walks to the wall of the hallway leaning one hand against it as he forces himself to calm down.

"You're right. I'm in no condition to care for a child." he says as he stuffs his primal killing instincts back down, "I just... " he hesitates, "It'sss my fault he's like thiss." the man says with his back to Wayne and Alfred. They could easily take advantage of the situation, "It can't be a coincssidencsse that a guy who use to dresss up in a cosstume and called himssself Copperhead got turned into a giant sssnake. Ssomeone did this to me, he wass just a bysstander who got caught in this sssick joke." the snake monster says with his face to the wall.

Batman has posed:
After a long moment, Bruce clears his throat, his voice growing more confident with a shift into 'businessman' mode. "Alright. Look ... it's clear that you recognize that you've got some limitations here. And that it's possible we may not be able to do anything. I hope it's not the case, but it's possible."

He rubs his chin in thought. "If you're willing /not/ to threaten my employees--or, honestly, me also--I'll see what I can set up. I can have a team of doctors and engineers see what they can do. We don't necessarily have to /begin/ with a hospital stay. Some blood tests and cell scrapings might be a decent start."

Bruce stifles another yawn, and Alfred magically produces another cup of coffee. "Again ... so long as there are no threats in play, I'll make sure the tests are run and paid for. No questions asked about your status or anything like that. But--let me make this clear--if my employees feel threatened, the plug will be pulled. I may not be petrified, but I'm not going to ask them to work in terror."

He extends a hand, waiting for Copperhead to turn back. "Is--is that fair enough for you?"

Copperhead (257) has posed:
The snake takes a few deep breaths and says, "A hospital may be better. I'm a criminal." he says as he turns back around and straightens his tattered suit looking more calm and focused, "If I get arrested or killed no one would be left to take care of him. Besides, he should get a chance to be with his parents. " the snake man says looking down at the hand. His face twists into a snake like grimace and he says something that seems difficult to say for him, "I'm going to have to trust you." as he reaches out to shake the man's hand with a very firm grip. Warm, hardened scales, natural armor, oily residue on the palm of the grease they use in the underworks of the old gotham sewers. "I'll tell him what's happening tonight and text that phone with a place to pick him up in the morning." the video of the boy was dimly lit, underground, they must be staying in one of Gotham's old tunnels. Not overly inventive. "Help him get home Mr. Wayne, please." the snake man asks.

Batman has posed:
"We'll try," Bruce says, a pained expression on his face as Copperhead's hand grips his. "I wish I could promise success. But please," he adds, "please don't try to kill me or anyone involved."

When the handshake ends, Alfred surreptitiously offers a handkerchief to Bruce, who wipes his hand. "Germ-o-phobe," he says with a thin smile. "Luckily alcohol tends to be sterile." Bruce hands the handkerchief back to his butlet and sighs in a satisfied manner.

"I do employ the best people, Mister Copperhead," he adds. "They're skilled and they're trustworthy. Many have children of their own. None of us wants to see a little boy or girl grow up fearful of who they are or how others might view them."

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Nodding his head the snake man shows himself out looking down at the ground, his odd snake features looking sad like he just had to give up his own kid to save him. Once outside he gets into his old clunker and just sits there for a few moments seeming to gather himself before he drives off.

10 minutes down the road, closer to the city proper the snake man picks up another cellphone and calls someone, "Hey, sssweetness. I got rid of the brat. I talked a sssucker into taking care of him." then he waits for the person on the other end of the call to speak, "No, forever. Gave him a whole sssob story about how it wasss all my fualt. Rich people are sssso ssstupid. " he says and chuckles, "Call Cssindy and Mandy, party at the Blue Moon, my treat. We need to cssellebrate! Everything isss going according to plan."