391/Black Leather and Snake Skin

Black Leather and Snake Skin
Date of Scene:	13 May 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	257, Melinda May

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Copperhead (257) has posed:
Two hours ago a SHIELD team was sent in to investigate an anonymous tip on the location of a witness to an undercover FBI agent's murder. They found the witness then they called for backup. When they arrived, the witness turned out to be a certain snake themed super-villain relaxing in a highrise hotel registered under the name Dr. Iscream. Rather than have the single field agent sent to take the witnesses testimony get into a fight with a possibly homicidal maniac the agent backed out of the situation and called for a more senior agent. Super-villains are not really his department.

For safety, the floor has been evacuated and a briefing was given to may on the way in. Sameer Park AKA: Copperhead was a villain in rehabilitation, on medication for his psychotic tendencies when something went horribly wrong. The investigation shows someone, most likely hydra or possibly the snake worshiping cult Cobra slipped a mutagen into his treatment turning him into a real Copperhead rather than just a guy in a costume. He and several other people who were exposed to the mutagen have been missing since the transformation. Video shows the transformation made all of the victims homicidal, several of them had to be put down. Copperhead escaped with a small boy who was undergoing the transformation on the video. Saving him? Taking him as a hostage? It was never really clear but no one knows for sure what happened to Brandon Coh.

Now here the former/possibly current villain is, just relaxing in a hotel room waiting for shield to show up as if everything is perfectly normal and that is what is worrying a lot of people.

The room itself is unremarkable, a queen sized bed, balcony access. He has the windows open so snipers can clearly see him laying on the bed watching TV. They can take him out at any time if May gives the word. The problem is he isn't being very super-villainy, if anything he seems to be quite cooperative with the agent who got there first. He says he witnessed the Joker killing an undercover FBI agent and is willing to testify. He even says he has evidence and can ID other witnesses to the crime.

Melinda May has posed:
Having been called out and briefed on the way, Agent Melinda May knows pretty much what to expect from this meeting. She's not particularly thrilled about it, but useful intel can't be dismissed, especially not if it means possibly finding out what because of the boy, Brandon.

The snipers undoubtedly watching through the windows see her walk right up to the door of the target's hotel room and knock.

Yes, knock.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Climbing off the queen sized bed and turning the TV off with the remote, the mutant snake man walks towards the door. The snipers relay his actions into May's ear, "Target is on the move, no weapons or threats visible. Target is turning off the TV. Target is approaching the door. Target is taking off his shirt. Target is checking himself out in the mirror. Target is opening the door. Eagle 1, still good." then the backup sniper says, "Eagle 2 has target." then they go quiet to let May work knowing they have her back.

Opening the door to his hotel room the tall, snake scaled meta-human looks down into the eyes of agent May as he greets her, "Well, hello." he says then he takes a step back and motions to the room, "Please, come in Agent..??" he asks inviting her in and to give him her name. He's actually oiled himself up and polished his scales for the occasion so he looks extra glistening like he's trying to make a good impression in a weird super-villain kind of way. He steps aside and lets her in waiting for the agent to come in before he closes the door.

Melinda May has posed:
May steps past the scaled man and into the room, a quick glance giving her an idea of the layout and the lack of the little boy. She turns to look at Mr. Park and crosses her arms, either completely unimpressed by his trying emphasize his physical appearance, or sufficiently well-trained to not let it show. Or both.

"May. You implied that you have intel about a recent murder." Yup. Straight to business. Apparently, she doesn't consider the snake to be much of a charmer.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
"It'ss nicse to meet you, agent May. Pleasse have a sseat. Make yoursself comfortable. Asss you can ssee, I'm unarmed." he says as he rubs a scaled hand over his flat rock hard abs. What's up with snake villains and the lisp?

It's a decent hotel room so they have a nice comfy curved sofa and a chair for the two of them to choose from. The snake lets May choose which one she wants to sit on as a test of her intelligence. He has a tail so obviously he needs the couch, she should, if she's quick on the draw mentally, realize this and choose the chair which fits her anatomy best. "I'll be glad to ansswer any quesstions you have then I have an offer for you." he says smiling a serpentine smile that just makes you want to not trust the guy. There is a plastic baggie on the dresser of the hotel room under the flatscreen TV with a bloody object in it. She would notice the evidence right away. He's obviously going to drag this out so she might as well sit down.

Melinda May has posed:
Lisps are always cliche', but can sometimes help her glean intel. She really would rather not sit around this man, but it sounds like he's going to make this an ordeal, so she moves to sit in the armchair by the sofa. Because there is no way in hell she's sitting anywhere that might give him room to try and snuggle up to her. Also, the sofa should still have a decent line of sight for the snipers. Hopefully.

"All right, first question. Who did you see commit that murder?"

Copperhead (257) has posed:
"I sssaw the Joker perssonally kill the undercover agent. I'm not sure the agent's name. FBI, maybe one of yours, he was undercover in the Joker'ss gang. I sssaw him murdered by the Joker firssst hand. The Joker ussed a specialty gun that sshot tiny flagss on tiny flagpoless which had the word bang on it. The flag that killed the agent iss in that bag." he motions to the baggie, "You ssshould be able to identify him with DNA." the snake says. "It was alssso witnesssed by sseveral of the gang membersss. I've taken the liberty to hire a sssketch artisst to ssketch thier facesses. If you lean on them, they could put the Joker away for life. The ssstreetss would be better for everyone without that lunatic on the looose." See he's just a nice, civically minded citizen doing his duty to get crime off the streets while wearing entirely inappropriately form fitting jeans.

Copperhead contemplates that it's probably someone's job at shield to keep track of all the pants ordered with tail holes in them. Join the world's greatest spy organization and you end up being the guy in charge of watching the program tracking shopping carts with pants that are designed with tail holes in them. That guy must feel so unfulfilled in his job. Worst assignment ever.

Copperhead slips onto the sofa once she's in the chair approving of her choice. He keeps his tail to one side draped out along the back of the couch and leans back spreading his arms on the back of the couch keeping his posture in a powerful pose, like he's sitting on his own personal throne. "Of coursse I'm not going to give you the name of that artisst until I leave her sssafely. You undersstand."

Melinda May has posed:
The mention of the Joker elicits the most reaction out of May yet, though it's still incredibly subtle. Her jaw clenches ever so briefly, and she remains silent while he explains everything.

"I understand." She understands that this guy is getting off on having all the cards, or so he thinks. But, if letting him think he's being so magnanimous will help them toss the Joker into an oubliette, she is all for it.

Now for her next question. "What are you gaining from this?"

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Leaning forward, his snake like mouth's corners curl upward on one side in what must be a smirk, Copperhead says easily and as honestly as he can say anything, "Power. That'ss what I wanted to sspeak with you about. I have an offer for sshield." the snake man says clasping his clawed hands together as he rests his elbows on his knees. "Crime in thiss world iss out of control. There are too many playerss all fighting for control of the sstreets. I want to conssolodate them into one organization. A venuss flytrap. I want sshield to help me build my own ssuper-sssecret crime basse of operation with all the sspy equipment you can sssafely sstuff into it. Sshield can put agentss into the organization under-cover and gather intel on the worsst of the worsst from insside." he says "You get to take down the big, bad villainss and I get to play with my food while not sspending the rest of my life in prison." he says enjoying it way too much, "Alsso money. I need money donated to the Wayne Foundation. We can haggle over detailss later but Wayne iss doing me a very expenssive favor so I would like to give ssomething back." he explains.

Melinda May has posed:
May starts shaking her head no at the word 'consolidate'. When he's done explaining, she explains the reason for her refusal. "I don't have the authorization to make that decision." If he wants to be the boss of all crime bosses, he'll have to get there on his own. "The donation to the Wayne Foundation can likely be arranged, though." Because that will ultimately only help people. "It will be mentioned in my report, though. That's all I can promise you, that my superiors will know that's what you want." Of course, they likely already do, considering the full-on comm link she's wearing.

Next question: "Where is Brandon Coh?"

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Sliding his arms back onto the couch again the snake man says, "That iss the favor. I tried to help him mysself, tried to find a doctor who could cure him but it wass beyond the sskill of the mob docss and any sscientist I would trusst sso I had a talk with Wayne. He agreed to help Brandon. " then the snake's face grows a little less smug and more worried, it's subtle but there is a tiny, tiny spark of humanity left in him that he lets show through as he talks about the boy, "Who ever did thiss to uss, to me, they messsed up Brandon pretty bad. He didn't change all the way. It wass, I couldn't jusst let him ssuffer like that and the guardss sstarted sshooting us. " which may can confirm, the company's security team killed most of the subjects because they were acting insanely violent and suddenly had super-strength. "He doessn't.." the snake says then pauses and rephrases, "He'ss too young to know how to fight the hunger for violencsse. I've lived with anger isssuess my whole life." he explains then he leans forward and holds out his hand, "Let me ssee your phone for a ssecond I need to sshow you ssomething."

Melinda May has posed:
May is NOT about to hand this man her SHIELD-issued phone. This is why she routinely carries a burner phone. And that's what she pulls from an inside pocket of the jacket she's wearing and offers to him. And it should be blatantly obvious when he accepts it that it's a burner phone -- no contacts list, no apps beyond the default that come with the phone, it even still has the default wallpaper.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
Taking the phone not caring it's a burner, Copperhead pulls up a unsecured web page, a public file locker with a simple password on it. He logs in then pulls up a file and hands it back to her. There is an image on the screen of two men, dead, half eaten. Other images include the men's ID's. There are log files where Copperhead kept a journal. The files do not speak favorably of SHIELD but he is a criminal so that is expected. The jist of it is that he tried to find a cure for Brandon himself, failed at it and then Brandon killed two men. He had to give him to Wayne after that. He wasn't able to give Brandon the kind of support emotionally, medically or financially that he needed. (The files are described in +bbread 11/15) "It wasssn't his fault. It was mine." the snake man says "I can't believe it wass a coincidencsse that an exssperimental anti-pssychotic drug turned me from a criminal who wore a copperhead cosstume into ssomeone with copperhead sssnake DNA. Sssomeone did thiss to make me what I am. Sssomeone did this to him to get to me. He sshouldn't have to pay for my mental problemss." the snake man says then he puts that smug smile back on his face and says, "But he'ss not my problem any more." the mask of being a bad-ass back in place he says, "I undersstand you can't make thiss kind of decisssion on your own. If you would be sso kind as to ask your ssupiriorss I would apprecssiate it. I am what I am, can't change that but maybe I can usse it for ssomething decssent to make up for my misstakes."

Melinda May has posed:
Taking the phone back, May looks through the data revealed. This is ... important data. "I'll share this with my superiors." She pockets the phone, careful to not lose the webpage, and most definitely makes a mental note of the way that Park speaks about the child. It reveals a LOT about the scale-skinned man, more than the facade he insists upon otherwise maintaining.

It's Copperhead's last words that May latches onto, though. "That's a start. And probably a better sell than trying to place yourself as the kingpin of kingpins." Because she knows exactly how the top brass at SHIELD will respond to THAT ploy. And it won't be to agree.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
"Actually, I want to be the ssecond biggesst fissh in the pond. Then we can keep cssycling through the most powerful villainss and putting them in prisson. Who ever risses to the top getsss betrayed by their replacssment." he says as he rises off the couch and walks back towards the door, "I would be there to keep the organization from falling apart when you take down the bosses of bossses and make ssure ssomeone else risses to power quickly. We can make ruless like not killing civilianss unlesss it's abssolutly nesssisary under the assumption that if you don't go on killing sssprees the copss are less likely to make you a priority." he explains as he stretches his legs walking around the soft carpeted floors, "You will never ssstop crime as long ass there is inequality but we can control it. Curb it and have a little fun in the processs." that's his real sales pitch.

Melinda May has posed:
Clearly, May is NOT this man's target demographic, because she thinks he's more than a little cracked. But, she will dutifully report his words to the powers that be. It's up to them to decide how they want to handle Park.

When he starts toward the door, she stands and follows, only too ready to leave already. But she does snag the messy little plastic bag on her way out.

"As I said, I really can't promise anything at all, but my superiors will know what's been said here today." She's pretty sure the transcripts are being made as they're speaking.

Copperhead (257) has posed:
The snake man opens the door for her sensing her discomfort and getting far, far too much enjoyment out of it for it to be healthy for her to stay there much longer. There are things happening in his pants that she doesn't need to be around for. Her discomfort and dangerous nature are tantalizing for the predator in him. "Thank you for that. I know thiss is an unusual idea but I am trying to make ssomething good out of a bad sssituation. If they have any alternativesss I am open to ssugestions. " he says then smirks that serpentine smirk of his again, "I'm ssure you'll know where to find me when they come to a conclusssion."

Melinda May has posed:
May steps out of the hotel room and looks at Park one last time. "We know where to find you." She turns to leave, and hopes like hell that Fury or someone can figure out an arrangement for this guy that will be beneficial to everyone without creating a supermafia. Just the thought alone is unnerving. Ugh.