2010 11 19 Mom Comes For A Visit

Log Title:
Mom Comes For a Visit

Characters:
Madame Hydra Baron Von Strucker, The Eel, HYDRA Agents, and Spider-Woman

IC Date:
11/19/10

Location:
Seaport, Manhattan

Brief log summary::
Viper has a proposition for Spider-Woman, but is interrupted by Baron Von Strucker

Rating:
r

There is no TS in this log::
Yes

Post your log::
Viper is currently not in charge of HYDRA, the Imperial Hydra is, however, rumors have noted a threat to the leadership is from Baron Von Strucker who just resurfaced after many years of being 'dead'. Strucker is one of the original leader from 1945 who took it from the Supreme Hydra. So, as it stands, Viper and Strucker are both bidding for command (to usurp the current leadership).

During the course of the day, Jessica discovered a small green envelope tucked into her 'purse/desk/pantie dresser/somewhere' that possessed a small white card embossed with the symbol of HYDRA and written with green ink, "Meet me at Warehouse 8, Pier 123, at midnight." It was sealed with a kiss of green lipstick. Madame Hydra's calling card.

The time will pass, Jess is free to notify SHIELD, likely she wouldn't, and midnight will fall upon the city.

THe warehouse is a standard every day NYC seaport warehouse made of brick with an updated metal roofing. It's dark on the inside but decently lit on the out. Windows allow view into the structure from high above the ground (30' up) and will reveal that the warehouse is filled with wooden crates. There's a small elevated office in the rear of the structure, lights are on and a female figure can be seen moving on the other side of frosted glass.

Some time is spent over the course of that same day with Jess looking at the letter, throwing it into the rubbish bin, retrieving it, swearing at it, and otherwise visiting upon it every ounce of her indecisiveness. To go. To stay. To tell Madame Hydra to stuff it … though that's a thing of pure fantasy, at this point. Much as she might hate things, she'd rather be alive *to* hate them. SHIELD is not notified, as might have been expected.

"Fuck it."

There's no point in dressing for the occasion, so she doesn't. Dressed down in civvies — t-shirt, jeans, boots, with a trench coat and gloves to fend off the chill — she just waits on an adjacent roof until the time comes. And in the course of that stakeout, such as it is, she spots the figure in the office and makes just a bit of a face. It's a literal hop, skip, and glide away from landing on the wall with that window … and another moment later for her to rap her knuckles, just once, on the glass. She's here.

/Madame Hydra is found within casually interested in a map spread out upon the table in the middle of the room. Initial glance will identify the map being of Northern Brazil, South America.

The tapping on the glass draws Viper's attention with a smile, "Delicious…" she says as she turns fully to address Jessica and start moving in the heroine's direction her arms open as she continues talking in a pleasured harmonic European tone, "…that's just how you look in that outfit. I half expected you to show up in your skinny tights, but it's so good to see your face." she will draw close intending to double cheek kiss making the actual verbalization of, 'kiss kiss' when she does.

That glance is taken, if ill-afforded; taking one's eyes off of any snake is a bad idea, doubly so for Viper. Mental notes are taken within the moment or two that it takes for her to enter — none of the notes are /good/, but there they are.

Jessica grits her teeth. The approach is tolerated, right down to the dreaded double cheek kiss; it's not like the woman can poison her or anything, after all. "It's all part of being 'covert'," is her terse explanation, lips pressed into a flat line. With the pleasantries — such as they are — endured, she pulls back as quickly as possible. "What's this about?" Polite? Hardly. Her tone practically screams 'let's get this over with so I can get back to bed'.

Viper smiles as she breaks and circles to the 'refreshment table' where there is wine, glasses, crumpets, and other finger foods. She points down to a delectable, "Bon Bon?" she queries before continuing on her random thread, "About? Can't a mother want to see her loving daughter? It's been sooo long. We've not had time to catch-up in forever and a dreary day." after a dramatic pause, "I've been a busy girl, flitting here and there - oh wait, that's you. Spending time gliding around New York… seriously, this place does not reflect your inner beauty. Los Angeles better suited you. Though, I can totally understand the draw. People here are nuts and it's a huge repository for super heroes and villains."

The myriad treats are considered, but she's having none of them; rather, Jess just folds her arms over her chest, chin tucked down slightly and one brow creeping ever-upward. In contrast, her mouth just sets in a hard line, a combination of frustration and tiredness blending with something else entirely to make it unreadable. "No," bon bon for her. And, no, she's not even going to touch that other odd bit about catching up.

There's a snorted exhalation and she can't quite fight the urge to roll her eyes. "This is where they want me, so this is where I am. Besides, I preferred San Francisco." If only because it wasn't mentioned, but, hey. "Nothing much /to/ catch up on that hasn't been shoved in a report."

Feigning disappointment, Viper sighs to Jessica's repose but in the next heartbeat she changes her expression and says, "Oh, did you hear? I'm going on holiday." she notes as she takes a glass of wine and saunters over to the map table and her index finger of the opposite hand she points and touches the map, "I hear the Amazon is quite steamy this time of year."

"That's news to me," is worth some measured attempt at interest. Jessica chances a step closer to the table with the map and all, though her body language remains 'closed'. Even so, there's a sidelong look spared for the wine before her gaze snaps back to the map and Viper. There's a slight lean to look at the point indicated. "Why? You could go practically anywhere down in that whole area and it'd be more of the same dank jungle and big cats and crap like that."

Where her finger touched there is a X. "Because there's an X there. More importantly, gold…. Nazi Gold. Which brings me to the reason I invited you here. I need you darling. Need. Your skills are magnificant. You've the ability to get us into the trap riddled temple of ultimate doom so that we may extract the GOLD.'

"Christ." Jess blows out a breath and finally breaks her stance, though only to pull her gloved fingers through her hair irritably. "Is there any /not/ Nazi gold in the world?" The quip might fall a bit flat, but it doesn't really matter in the end. The map is studied, the mark in particular, and then she's going to retrieve a glass of wine after all. Off-hand: "You know, anything I can do, some schmuck with suction cups and a taser could probably do, too." But to deny there's /some/ interest would be a lie. It's there, just not in the gold nor in helping Viper so much. It's something to do, dammit.

"We tried the guy with the suction cups… three times. All failures. Hence the reason I've come to you. Sorry - you weren't my first choice, but will not be my last." (which isn't comforting). "But you are the most delicious. Mother and daughter, working together again. It couldn't be better even if we went to the Grand Canyon."

The map is too broad to get an actual lat/long designation of the location. She probably knows the actual location by heart.

"Glad to know where I rank in the grand scheme of things," is muttered, chased with a swig of wine. Then another, to choke back her next would-be reply in order to reformulate it into, "Never really liked the Grand Canyon, anyway."

The map is enough to let her figure out what ballpark it's in, if not the exact locale. Something to idly putz around with for the next night or so, provided she has that kind of time — random Google searches /can/ yield gold from time to time. Which brings Jessica to, "So, when are you going on 'holiday'?"

"Oh, I don't know darling. What are you doing right now?", Viper asks implying that they can leave right now if Jessica is forthcoming. It's also a possible leading question that may result in other answers of motivation if Jessica isn't agreeable.

Figures. "Right now? Talking to you. After that, probably making good on a long overdue date with my bed. I have a few other things to sort out, too. SHIELD doesn't like its agents up and vanishing like a fart on the bloody wind." Jessica rolls a shoulder in a lopsided shrug, the map being given a long, long looking over — but rest assured that Viper remains securely in her peripheral vision.

"Oh, well that's a shame." Viper says in a slightly leading and sarcastic tone. "I suppose that the FBI won't miss Agent McDowell too much. I mean they've got a dozen more freaks waiting to fill his shoes." - Scott McDowell, a FBI Specialist that Jessica worked closely with a few years back. He became the Hornet because of experiments by Karl Malus and nearly a criminal who battled Spider-Woman. The situation fixed, he finally admitted he was in love with Jessica, but Jessica couldn't get close to him and broke it off. Now Viper implies that she's got him hostage somewhere.

"I call bullshit." And to anyone else, it'd just be a flat accusation of the same — the line of someone who knows when someone's pulling their chain. To Viper, though … there's definitely that /twinge/ of concern, of doubt, of uncertainty; something that betrays her far more than her expression might. Jessica turns to fully face the other woman, fists at her sides and clenching just enough to get the leather in her gloves to creak. "Bullshit, Viper." Such a quaint attempt to reassure herself.

"Oh he's quite well, and taken care of. When he was told that you had been captured by the nefarious Karl Malus he was worried, revealed his true feelings for you and wanted to do anything he could to help you. But alas, he's trapped in that wheel chair. Poor crippled weakling. Unable to walk to save the woman he loves." Viper assures that she knows the individual and lays out the ordeal. "Come now, surely you didn't expect me to just show up and not have some assurance that you would work with your dear estranged mother. I know how you must loathe me even in the light of my love."

"Oh, I think 'loathe' might be a bit too generous." Just a little. Jessica tightens her fists, sickly green luminescence crackling into life around them. But, her natural stun guns aren't put to use — just a reminder that, yes, even spiders can bite and this one has fangs. "Fine. If that's the game you /want/ to play, then we'll play. But-" and there's always a 'but' "-not unless you prove that he's okay and that he'll /be/ okay when this thing is done. Alive, well, and left alone."

Viper smiles - the smile of 'she's in control'. She pulls a PSP sized/shaped device off her utility belt and after pushing a button or two she slides it across the table. On the screen Jessica can see four camera images with date stamps (PST) showing the interior of a house like structure where Scotty is located. He's seated on a couch, surrounding him are two males and a female (HYDRA agents in normal clothing). They're watching some sporting event.

"That's one," Jessica replies after a good, long couple of moments studying the images, "but not both. /Promise/ me. If I pull off this Indy stunt, then he's left alone, unharmed, alive and well." The light dulls slightly, though it's not yet dispersed; her guard's still up in a very visible way. It's the only bit of control she has, so of course she's clinging to it, tooth and nail.

The frosted glass is shattered inward as someone (Eel) pierces through wearing a purple and deep red costume.

A split second before the impact, Spider-Woman knew something was amiss and because of this she's able to react (dodge/something) to avoid the shards of glass and/or blast the intruder.

However, at the same time, four HYDRA agents burst through the door.

The Eel seems to be more focused on Viper as he enters. She regards him with disdain and draws her blaster with a scream, "Not today, Eel!"

She /knew/ something was going to go down. Just knew it. But this? Probably not something she'd have ever guessed would happen. Jessica's able to drop and roll out of the way, only to pop up again in a partially kneeling posture. One leg kicked out for balance, the other knee on the ground, and her fist up and /alive/ with energy. The only thing that stays her hand is Viper's scream and the sound of other agents bursting in. Without those agents, maybe- just maybe …

But it's not to be. One more shot to be chalked up to 'if only'. "What the hell is this, Viper?" she snaps, jaw clenching.

Viper and Eel start going at one another. The Eel has some electrical shocking fist strikes and Viper is trying to blast and cut him in her attacks. The regular hand to hand o'rama.

Two other HYDRA agents stream into the room followed by Baron VonStrucker himself. It's immediately identified that the HYDRA agents in question are the elite guard. They spread through the room. Two have weapons focused on Spider-Woman, two stand flanking VonStrucker and the other two will focus on the conflict between Viper and the Eel.

Strucker regards Spider-Woman and in his German accent, "Drew, I trust you have been well and not agreeing to anything this insane woman desires?"

A low, almost constant stream of swearing might be heard from Jessica. Telepaths would definitely be getting a headful of what she's thinking right now. She doesn't intervene at all while Viper and Eel have their little spat, though her attention remains firmly there with only a peripheral sense of VonStrucker's arrival and his guards. Her voice lifts to be properly heard, her tone sardonic as she replies, "Been better, definitely been /better/." There's a snort for the rest of his question, implication enough of what's been going down with a bitterly added, "Only to save someone else's ass."

The Eel manages to subdue Viper, only because she's surrendering more than losing. It was the arrival of VonStrucker that motivated her actions. Viper asks in a very annoyed tone, "What do you want, Baron?"

VonStrucker answers addressing both ladies within the room, "Your plans are being interrupted, Viper. And you will not be requiring Drew's assistance." which he gives a nod to Jessica as he states, "You're friend will be released and you're free to go. I've got business with Madame Hydra."

"He'd better be," is definitely aimed more toward Viper than Baron, with Jessica shooting a dark look in the other woman's direction. "And if anything has happened to him-" she'll leave the rest of the threat hanging. She rises, her blast allowed to dissipate without discharging violently and she starts to move to the busted window. She'll be out and gone in seconds unless something calls her back — and 'gone' will likely mean just outside the window, stuck to the wall, and listening in.

Jessica will notice that the warehouse has a few other HYDRA agents spread out working the perimeter. What she does hear is VonStrucker asking, "Madame Hydra, you discovered lost Nazi Gold? Please, share what you know and maybe then I will see your usefulness to my organization and allow you to live."

Reluctantly, after some foul words spoken in a foreign tongue, "Very well, Baron."

That is when Jessica will notice a HYDRA Agent noticing her and start his approach.

A glance is given to the conversing duo, but the approaching agent elicits a flat, "What?" Jessica's mood — which wasn't great to begin with — has dwindled to little more than raw nerves and a level of irritation that even gorging on ice cream won't soothe. If the tone's not enough, the posture is; hands on her hips, jaw tight, chin lifted just a little in mute challenge. Just give her a reason to punch someone's clock.

More words are exchanged, but they are departing words - something along the line of "There's a transport on the roof." and they will make their way out of the office with Viper 'guided' by the Eel.

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