Getting the Facts Straight [Open]

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

The last several hours have been busy ones for Heather. Once she and her friends where finished talking to the police and quickly reassuring each other that they were all perfectly fine and telling each other how awesome they were under pressure, she'd practically dived into looking into the Ventriloquist's escape. Some parts of it were pretty easy to find out - that he'd escaped from the F.B.I.'s prison, that they were looking for him. That's what all the other news sources are reporting though, and she needs a bit more than a few bare facts if she's going to ramble on it for an hour.

Especially since she's not planning on sharing her personal experience at the park with her audience - it's best to keep the public life away from the private life. Sure she'll mention him having been seen at the park, but they don't need to know that she was one of the people doing the seeing. It was scary and she doesn't really want to talk about that much, though a part of her is glad that she was there for the simple fact that she could recognize the man on sight and thus help keep her friends safe.

Therefore, she kept her personal memory of what happened there on the sidelines while she called up a few of her contacts and asked them what they know about the Ventriloquist's escape. A part of the reason why she's gaining rapidly in popularity is her own particular 'take' on the news stories, and that requires her to know more and different things than your average news report would be able to tell you. She doesn't really investigate these things herself per say, but she knows several people who do and can often get them to give her the details she needs in situations like this where facts are too sparse.

But now that the seconds are ticking down for her turn on the air, she thinks she's satisfied with what she's been able to find in spite of the slightly rushed nature of it. So long as she gets a few interesting callers she should be able to fill her hour slot with it.

"Hellooo Gotham! It's nine o'clock and you're listening to WGGZ, which means that it's time for News and Views. I'm VerMillion, and thank you for tuning in.

"There were a lot of good headlines today, but my story of the day is the escape of the Ventriloquist from the F.B.I.'s holding facility overnight. Apparently someone broke into their facility and released him along with one of the other prisoners. The F.B.I. are identifying the man who did this as Nightwing, who recently made headlines by kidnapping Pamela Isley from a charity auction being held at the natural history museum. However, the interesting part of that story is that the woman who he released was, believe it or not, Pamela Isley. The F.B.I. are saying that she killed several of their agents and is highly dangerous. Do I sense that we have a con artist couple caught in the act?" she asks speculatively, her voice suggesting that it's cute/romantic if that's true. And that's the only explanation that makes any sense to her given that this hardly known masked man first very publicly kidnapped a woman who turned out to be a criminal and then went through the trouble and danger of breaking her out of prison when the F.B.I. found her out. "Apparently there was some sort of altercation last night at Miss Isley's estate in north Gotham shortly after they left the prison, but both of them escaped and haven't been seen since.

"The Ventriloquist, on the other hand, was spotted in Robinson Park this afternoon but managed to give the police the slip after a brief chase. So all three of these people are now on the run and of course the F.B.I. are asking anyone with any information to please contact them. But if you merely want to give your View on this News, the number to dial is 958-867-5309."

"My View is that, as good as the F.B.I. have been at cleaning up the regular street crime, they're obviously having trouble hanging onto some of Gotham's more dangerous criminals. But that's not too surprising since we've always had that problem in Gotham. To their credit, they are managing to hang onto more of them for longer than the local authorities, as well as keeping the others so pinned down that they can't do much, but even so it's looking like their whole operation here will take longer than they hoped," she comments, not bothering to add that they've already been here a lot longer than anyone hoped and there doesn't appear to be any end in sight.

It's then that she notices that the light indicating that she has a caller is already flashing so she adds, "But let's move on to our first caller. Who are you and was is your View?"

(OOC: Once again, this thread is open but only for one other person at a time, so if she's already talking to someone please wait until she's finished with them if you want to call into the show. Also, Ivy's called dibs on being the first caller, but that should go very quickly since I play her.)

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

It's been less than a day since her escape from the F.B.I., but already Poison Ivy has been gathering more resources. She has a lot of work ahead of her before she'll be able to repay the F.B.I. properly for causing her so many problems, but in her extreme eagerness to do so she's been working quickly. Which is why she spending time tonight at Mike's place - he said that some of his 'friends' might have some of the basic chemicals that she needs for the makeshift lab that she's building for herself since the loss of her old one.

But right now they're waiting around at his apartment since they agreed to a meeting at 9:30 and it's too early to leave yet even allowing some extra time in case they need to dodge the F.B.I.'s curfew patrol. Just before 9 the man started fumbling with the radio and explained about a new radio show a friend had got him hooked on. Apparently the host of the show is entertaining and not a fan of Batman - easily something she'd like to hear too.

At least, the idea of the show is interesting, but she can't say that she's a fan of this particular broadcast. She scowls as she listens to the host warps last night's adventure so grotesquely. Fortunately, the girl on the radio supplies a phone number. "I'm borrowing your cell - I want to call in," she tells Mike, picking it up before he can voice either his consent or refusal of her 'request'.

"Um, okay," he responds with an amused smile, apparently more curious about what she's going to say than he is offended by her snatching his cell phone. Of course he doesn't realize that with how paranoid Ivy is about the F.B.I. tracking her down, her using his cell phone is a hint that she doesn't care at all about his well-being and doesn't intend to interact with him after tonight. Otherwise she'd find a more benign phone line to use for this.

When she's put on the air, she smiles at the question that greets her. "This is Pamela Isley," she answers, the smirk on her face strongly flavoring her voice, "And yes, the same one you were just talking about. I'm calling to complain because while I'm sure that you did the best you could, you got so much of it wrong that I don't know quite where to begin correcting you." Mike gives her a strange look since she didn't tell him who she really is, but she can see him settling in to quietly listen rather than interfering with it. But she'll worry about him when she's done - she's had several hours of working with him and suspects that she can get away with a lot now. And if not it wouldn't be a real tragedy if she has to kill him and find someone else. It's more important to her to nip the problem of misinformation about her in the bud before it gets worse.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

To say that VerMillion is skeptical that it is, in fact, Pamela Isley on the other end of the line would be putting it a bit mildly. While it's definitely possible, it's vastly more possible that someone is trying to play a prank on her. Then again, she suspects that her audience knows that too and she might as well go along with it as long as what the caller says remains entertaining. The point of her show is about giving people something they want to listen to, after all - it only needs to remain grounded enough in reality that people don't get fed up with it.

"I guess I shouldn't bother asking where you're calling from then, Miss Isley," she remarks smoothly, though there's a precisely measured amount of polite skepticism in her voice, "I have to admit that this story is so new that not all the facts are out and it's left to guessing. Of course, you'd know the truth, so if you'd like to set the record straight, why don't you start from the top?" She finds her hand lingering near the button that will hang up the call, just in case. It isn't often that someone calls up and needs to be hung up on, but it happens. Really she hopes that whatever this woman says is entertaining in itself or easy to make fun of - either way, her audience would love it.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Poison Ivy smiles at the reply - she doesn't really blame the skepticism she hears in the girl's tone, though she hopes that some of what she says will provide enough proof about who she is. "Well, first of all, call me Poison Ivy. I'm not the mild mannered socialite I've been pretending to be for the past three years or so, and it is after all the style around here to take on a different name when you're worth paying attention to. And if I haven't earned those stripes yet, it won't take me very long.

"Secondly, Nightwing is one of comparatively few men I've met who does not care for me at all. I stopped him from turning me in to the police when he discovered my crimes, you see, and I wasn't very nice about it. He's a vigilante and would love nothing more than to see me in prison," she explains smugly, the amusement all too easy to hear in her voice. In spite of the bumps in the road, she's still excessively pleased with how that aspect of things turned out.

"And I wouldn't say that the F.B.I. will be around for very much longer. During my very brief stay I saw that they were nothing more than group of mindless men. If I hadn't been caught fully unprepared for them, things would have turned out very differently. But they'll see me again as soon as I've solved that problem. I'd rather ignore them, but I'm also not in the habit of allowing anyone to get in my way," she adds idly, her voice full of nothing but confidence.

And not without reason - it's not quite a day yet and she's already found a secure place to hide and gather her strength. All she needs is time and supplies, and she has all of the former she could wish for and she's not having too much trouble with the latter. She got most of the chemicals she needed by going down the aisle with the cleaning supplies in the store; cutting off the supply of more questionable chemicals and the like may stop some rogues, but her methods are a blend of science and nature - she can find ways of making the supplies that she needs out of the supplies that she has.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

What the woman who called in says is somewhat surprising to VerMillion. If this is a prank, she fails to get the joke. No, most of it seems to be stuff that there would be no point for someone who is not Pamela Isley to say. That doesn't prove anything, but it does make the woman's claim seem to be that much more likely to be true.

In fact, she finds herself instead considering the idea, and that's what prompts her to ask, "But if Nightwing is a vigilante, then why would he kidnap you? He killed people at that museum, and though not all vigilantes don't kill, those weren't criminals he shot. And why would he help you and the Ventriloquist escape from prison if he wanted you to be there?" Yeah, those are the parts that make her story continue to be unbelievable. Though if she can answer those questions adequately, perhaps this really is the real Pamela Isley.

As the woman was talking, her hand shifted back away from the button that would kill the call. Now she's curious enough about this caller to want to hear more and she can only assume that her listeners are feeling the same way.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Once again, what the girl on the radio says does nothing but make Poison Ivy smile. Though as she replies she makes a mental note not to say much about her methods. Even though she's actually been a criminal for a couple of years now, she's been so quiet and kept her operation so small that she's a completely new face among the criminal underground of Gotham. And the less these people she's being forced to deal with now know about her, the better. Many of them have publicly known records that span years and can tell a keen observer just how to deal with them. She's has no history other than what the F.B.I. are managing to find out about her now and a few public records that explain her education and such. And she plans on taking full advantage of the fact that nobody knows who they're really messing with yet.

"Because the man who kidnapped me wasn't Nightwing," she explains boredly. Even though there hasn't been much time since she herself found out about this, so much has changed in the past day or so that the man who kidnapped her is already old news. Doesn't mean that she won't investigate the warehouse she'd been held in to look into the possibility of some sort of revenge for what happened, but right now she's too busy preparing to tackle a much larger target. "That was a fake - I think he was trying to discredit the real one, but he wasn't half as competent. It was the real Nightwing who busted me out of the F.B.I.'s prison - I'm sure that they've noticed that he accomplished that without killing anyone. He knows what he's doing - aside from biting off more than he could chew with me," she adds even more smugly.

"And why he freed me is a long story. But the short version is that he didn't have much of a choice - I have a way of getting what I want," she adds, deciding that's just enough detail. The important thing for anyone else to know is not how she did it, but that she did it. "He freed the Ventriloquist because when the man saw us leaving he begged to be let out. Mr. Wesker apparently doesn't take to being in prison very well - I think it was pity on Nightwing's part," she explains further, once again sounding disinterested. Right now the Ventriloquist is another thing that doesn't matter much to her at the moment. Sure the man owes her two favors now, but the better time to collect on them will be after he's managed to rebuild his strength - it's the same principle as letting a pig you intend to eat gorge itself first.

Moving on from that subject she adds, "But I didn't know that Nightwing managed to escape until you said so - I've had a busy day and didn't catch the news. Though I can't say that I'm completely surprised either; I didn't exactly make it easy for the F.B.I. to get to him." Again her voice fills with amusement and self-satisfaction. She really wishes that she could have stayed and watched what happened, but she probably would have gotten caught again at some point if she'd tried. If she's learned anything from this experience it's that she's just not strong enough. Yet, anyway.

"But I think that covers where you went wrong, and I need to run off to a meeting. It's been a pleasure, though," she says before hanging up. It's only then that she pays attention to Mike, who continues to watch her strangely. "What?" she asks, walking over to him and trying to encourage the man to say what's on his mind so that it isn't a surprise later.

"Er, I just didn't know you were that far into this," he says lamely with a smile spreading across his face, "It's kind of hot." Poison Ivy has to smile at that - even as weak her her pheromones are, they're strong enough to make a man with the slightest inclination to interpret things that way to definitely do so. But she knows that she's going to kill him later now; this is not a good time for her to deal with someone who is lovestruck and useless, and he'll outlive his usefulness very shortly.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

As VerMillion listens in silence to the woman's answers to her questions, her eyebrow raises more than once. While investigating this story, she managed to dig up a number of details that the rest of the media aren't reporting on. Much of it for good reason since as she admitted a lot of the facts are unclear at this point. But whoever this woman is seems to be doing a good job of explaining things in a way that accounts for even what isn't being reported on.

Especially with that comment about not knowing what happened with Nightwing - what exactly happened at Miss Isley's estate isn't something even she could say much about even for her show, because she was only able to find someone who said they heard someone talking about it and vague third hand information that sounds like science fiction isn't a good enough source even for her. Something about plants attacking people...

However, before she can ask more detail the woman who she now suspects really is Pamela Isley is saying goodbye. Figures. "Well, thank you for calling in Miss Is- I mean, Miss Ivy," she says just before the line goes dead. "And you heard it here first, everyone," she says, suppressing the urge to be a bit stunned by her own speculations and forcing herself to do her job. So what if she just had an entire conversation with what seems to be a very dangerous woman the very same day that she ran into the Ventriloquist? She has a show to run! "If that really was Pamela Isley, did we just hear the debut of a new Gotham rogue? And is Nightwing really a vigilante or was she trying to cover for her partner? And what will the Ventriloquist do now that he's free?" she asks, getting fully back into VerMillion mode - she can be Heather Glass when her show is over.

A glance shows that the light indicating that she has a caller waiting is flashing again so she adds, "Maybe our next caller can answer those questions or add more to the list? Who are you and what is your View?"