Shades of Grayson

Summary:
July 15 2014: Having checked his story out, Melinda May goes to free Grayson Scott from SHIELD detention and brings Jericho along to help with the tech.

SHIELD Holding Facility

Comfortable, civil, humane and astoundingly boring accommodations in government approved black and white.


Characters

NPCs

  • None

Mood Music:
[* None]


Melinda May leads Jericho to Scott's guest quarters, the data-wranglers having finally returned the final verdict that the teleporter was indeed framed for that heist. And, since she was the one that brought the man in (well, only technically, but you know), she takes it upon herself to tell him he's absolved of that particular bit of wrong-doing. And Trent is along to shut down the dampener device once they're there.

*

Trent's trust of May might be unshaken, but his trust of SHIELD is at an all time low. Shutting down the power dampener to let the guy go is all well and good. Getting even the briefest look at it that might tell him how the damn thing works is even better. He keeps that to himself, though May's pretty perceptive and he deliberately does not lie to her. It's one of those respect things. Also one of those self-preservation things.

*

When they come upon him, Grayson is seated on one of those white sofa seats that look like they could come from Ikea, if Ikea specialized only in monochromatic colours. He's got a small hand tablet that he's perusing a terribly terribly neutered version of the internets that mainly just lets him go look at hulu and netflix. So on the one thing Netflix. On the other, ugh… Hulu.

He looks up when he espies a person entering, cocking an eyebrow and volunteering nothing until he's addressed.

*

Melinda May walks right up to Scott and looks at him. "Intel's back. You're cleared. Doesn't mean we've found who framed you, yet, so that's still a question mark." She doesn't explain why Trent is still trailing after her like some strange kind of 'take your quasi-criminal hacker buddy to work day' person, but if Grayson wants to know, he can always ask. No promises that an answer would be forthcoming, of course.

*

The quasi-criminal hacker gives Grayson a tight smile and goes over to the panel that he'd been told Not To Touch. Fortunately he can get in wirelessly to this thing and that's what he does. May gave him the correct procedure for shutting down the power dampening device from this interface and he wants to take a look at the source code as he does it.

"One sec and we'll have you… wait. That's not right. May there's a problem here." Before he gets any further into elaborating though the device fitz and starts to spark. "Overload!" Trent calls out. "It's melting the circuits. I'm cutting power."

Too late. Well, soon enough to prevent an electrocution hazard but… oh yeah. That's melted.

*

At first Grayson is all ears, listening to Melinda as he tilts his head to the side and considers what this evil woman has to say. He then sits up a bit and holds up a hand as if he's about to say something… and that's when the sparks begin to fly.

Eyes snapping over, Grayson shields himself a bit, not that the sparks get near him at all. But he sits up and rises out of that sofa seat, grimacing at the display. It's only after that the thing is well and suitably melted, he turns his attention back to May. "So wait, you're umm, saying that whomever did this sort of thing. They're still out there and you have no idea who they are, and like… yeah? Do you have any leads yet?"

*

May nods to Trent as he moves to disable the dampener thing, then simply crosses her arms as the thing sparks and melts down and starts letting all of the magic smoke out. "I'm not saying that," May says after finishing levelling an unimpressed look at Trent. "I'm saying we have too many leads. Though it seems like the Kravinoffs are the top runners with the intel group. You're free to go."

*

Jericho is frowning at the panel and mentally poking at it's internal systems. He doesn't know a whole lot about SHIELD hardware but he knows that it really should be better than that. Which makes the paranoid SOB wonder… Diagnostic time. May might know what he's doing but all it looks like is that he's glaring at the panel for some really odd reason.

*

"The dog guy?" Grayson Scott looks over at Jericho, but then shifts his attention back to Melinda May and grimaces. He folds his arms and shifts his weight to his back foot, looking for all intents and purposes like some irritated customer at the complaint desk.

"Well what are you all doing? I mean I kinda have a horse in this race, ya know? I should have some of that whole intel thing. Otherwise they're still going to do stuff and I'll have to deal with it. And really, you guys totally owe me. I mean three days here and all the umm… mental anguish and trauma."

*

Melinda May now levels that unimpressed look on Grayson. Really. "I'll share as much as we can with you, and unless you'd rather I let Hill's recommendation of keeping you locked up take precedence, check your attitude." She then pulls something out of her pocket. A … business card. "If you think someone is tracking you or you get into a tight spot, call this number."

*

Jericho just turns to look at Scott with a vaguely amused expression on his face at 'mental trauma.' There's a burn that runs from just under his jaw on the left side of his neck down to his collar, and a second one round about his right temple. He gives Gray a look. An almost… May-like look. Possible he's learned a thing or two.

Turning his attention back to the damn panel, he frowns. These returns don't look quite right. And the machine code seems wonky… though that could just be because it's special snowflake SHIELD gear. "Hrmmmmm." That voice is, by the way, the voice that Grayson heard talking to him over the PA system during the interrogation a few days ago.

The hacker turns and walks back toward May, still poking at the system as she talks to the thief.

*

"Oh hey, you were the good cop… or rather the kinda good cop. Maybe the amused cop." Grayson looks at Jericho and hnhs to himself as he takes up a spot beside Melinda May. Resting his hands on his hips he eyeballs Melinda's card then looks back up at the woman's face.

"Is this the typical cop 'eff off' card? I mean last time there was something real that went down and my… and the folks that had to deal with it, the cops were all, 'Yeah yeah sure sure, will take care of it, now eff off' and handed them a card as if it was supposed to be some sort of magical cornucopia of fascist gestapo placeboness."

Clearly, he has no idea who he is talking to.

*

Melinda May pulls the card back and prepares to return it to her pocket. "If you don't want SHIELD backup, that's up to you." She looks at Trent again and sees he's pretty well engrossed in poking at what's left of the dampening device, or at least the control panel for it. "If you'd prefer the 'typical cop eff off', I can easily accommodate and show you to the building's exit."

*

"He thinks I'm a cop. That's… cute." Jericho says to May as he walks back over, clearly somewhat put off by the device's melt down. "I hope it actually turned off and didn't just freeze in the 'on' state. I can't actually tell by what's left from that mess."

Jeri puts his hands in his pockets and follows May's lead.

*

A grimace touches Grayson's features and he quickly snatches the card back from Melinda, since you know, he might need it. Maybe. He looks at them both, then affixes Jericho with his terribly put upon glare, "Then what are you? Lackey? Contractor? IT guy?" That last is offered with a half-smirk, but he takes a deep breath and sighs. "Look, maybe, you know. I can help somehow. I mean, I'm not completely helpless. I could do the whole bait thing. Make myself vulnerable, see who jumps. I can handle myself."

And to be fair, he kinda can, just not on the levels of say SHIELD agents. He opens his hand towards Melinda as if offering some form of a truce. "Maybe you can show me what you have and I can brainstorm and give what I've seen and known. I know I'm kinda hard to work with, but still."

*

Melinda May would normally break the fingers on anyone that snatched an item out of her hands like that. But she manages to refrain from doing so. This time. "He," she indicates Trent with a slight head tilt, "was my last collar before you." And that's all the explanation she offers for now. "Let's walk." She turns to lead the way out of the lounge-ish area, presumably to where the intel is kept all nice and neat and ready to share.

*

Narrowly avoiding much pain and hardship, Grayson looks at the card and reads it to himself for a moment before sliding it into his front jeans pocket. He gives a small nod as May starts to lead them out and he falls into step beside her. "So you have a habit of picking up strays, good ta know."

And as they move out of his former cell he looks around with widened eyes, clearly taking it all in… and committing it to memory. He rubs the back of his neck thoughtfully as he moves and then he asks her, "So umm, that device thing. That was what was, you know. Keeping me there?"

*

Melinda May just looks at Grayson and doesn't answer his question about the device thing. Because that would be giving away that it's now a puddle of goo and there's nothing left keeping him here. "How much do you know about the Kravinoffs?"

*

Walking with her casually enough, Grayson does his best to project the image of a fellow who does this sort of thing all the time. Dealing with super spy secret agents for the government who are after criminals out to assassinate or frame him… suuure. No problem.

Looking sidelong at her though when she asks him a question, he at first seems inclined to tell her, 'Not much'. But he is here and trying to be helpful. So he actually looks down and tries to think.

"They had a compound outside of Novosibirsk. There were a lot of strange animals, endangered species, big cats, large dogs. Some fighting, there were also some weird ritualistic things going on. Or maybe they were just into sort of weird decor. But, hard to tell. Bloody knives, altars. Some craziness like that. They also had some other cages that didn't have anything in them but I got the impression it was for people. Since there were magazines and things."

He pauses, "Maybe smart monkeys." He shakes his head then goes on. "They seemed to have a lot of guns, and no problem with public officials knowing about it since they had one night this big dealio with a lot of people and bonfires and the like."

*

Melinda May nods slowly to Grayson's quick rundown of the Kravinoffs. That's pretty much what SHIELD intel has on the surface for that family as well. Of course, they have a WHOLE lot more (the whole Russian connection and all) but that is NOT something she's sharing with anyone less than a Level 4 security clearance. She leads both 'strays' to a smallish conference room that manages to still have coffee, pastries, and chilled water on hand. "Why is this specific group holding a grudge against you, Mr. Scott?"

*

Jericho doesn't say much, mostly because this is May's show but partly because he's running research on the Kravinoff's and Grayson Scott. He may not be willing to risk hacking SHIELD, but he's more than willing to pull from police and federal databases regarding both subjects.

"She did," He points out. "Have me in almost that exact interrogation room. I may have been one over." He smirks over to the thief. "They didn't shock cuff me though."

That's a rather sensible question and as Jericho gets a water and a small cheese Danish, he listens intently for the answer… even as he attempts to locate his own on the 'net.

*

Moving into the room and eyeballing the free pastries, he considers having one… but then refrains for some reason. He looks towards Melinda as he circles the table, finally choosing a chair and then pulling it out to settle into it. He looks back over at Jericho and suddenly his consideration of the man shifts a few degrees. "Oh I recommend the shock cuffs, thrilling experience."

Grayson looks back to Melinda and says levelly. "Well, see. I umm, sorta stole a lot of their dogs. They had these really great mastiffs and doing a lot of weird eugenics things it seemed. The dogs were really loving and adorable it seemed, but then they'd torment them to make them fighting dogs. So… yeah. That might be why."

He scritches a fingertip over his chin and then hms, "Also I did kinda hit on one of them. One of the daughters I think. I didn't know she was like royalty or whatever."

*

Melinda May raises her eyebrows at Grayson, not claiming any of the refreshments for herself either. Not because she distrusts them, but because she's not hungry or thirsty right this moment. "So you think they're out to ruin you because you made off with their /dogs/."

*

"Is it possible that there was something unusual about those dogs? Or that you were present for something they think you saw?" Jericho says leaning back. Army lesson number one, never miss a chance to eat. Food is fuel and you may not get another chance to fuel up.

*

Looking between both of them, Grayson quirks an eyebrow. "Look, do you know these people?" He rests his hands upon the tabletop and looks thoughtful. "They're like, the closest things the Russians have to royalty. You should have seen how people were bending over backwards for them. It was kinda gross. Almost made me want to dump a bunch of tea into their nearest warm water port. The whole thing with the daughter was because I dared to speak to her. Though, to be fair, she was totally into me."

He taps his fingertips light upon the tabletop. "Anyways. I think it was the whole insult of the thing. And the dogs are doing pretty well, have been for the last year or so. I set them up at this no kill shelter in Utah, this ranch sorta place."

*

Melinda May nods at that. Personally, those sound like LAME reasons to be after someone, but, well, she's heard of far flimsier reasons in her time. "We'll keep pulling intel. Is there a particular way you'd like for SHIELD to reach you if we find anything specific?"

*

Jericho's eyebrows raise up a bit. Shelter. With genetically engineered dogs. "May, you want me to check the place out? Make sure it didn't get, you know, burned to the ground?" If these people tracked their dogs there… well, Russian mob is not known for saying 'please' about a lot of things.

*

"What, didn't you guys take my cellphone? Oh right, you believe so richly in civil liberties you wouldn't have done anything to it without my permission. So good of you." At that Grayson sits up and looks between them. "What… you think they might've?"

He looks to Melinda, then back to Jericho. "They might've done something to the shelter?"

And then suddenly, /POP!/ Grayson's gone.


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