by Newbiel
"And why did you stop?" Emma inquired.
"Getting older did not help for sure but I learn that this is a job best done by professionals, and that even the little things hurt when you screw up."
"At least, he has a net to catch him if he fall." Emma adds, to reassure herself.
Even if they had known each other juste recently, she could tell that Nathaniel was a good person and did not want him getting hurt. Even Martin and Denis had come for that despite what they were saying.
"A net is good only if you know how to fall on it. If you fall on your head, you are going to break your neck and if it legs first,well, let's just say that you will not have children any time soon." A voice chuckled darkly, enjoying the effect of her words on the two male actors. .
A serrated tongue like that could belong only to one person.
"Come on Maggie, you are his agent, shouldn't you support him?" Emma asked, looking at her sideways.
"Don't worry blondie, I did my homework. I was there at the rehearsal, he succeeded ten times out of ten. If he didn't, I would never have allowed him to do it."
"Oh. So you are just a big softy inside then.��� Dennis snicker.
"No, I just like money and he's the one who is paying me. No mentioning the fact that I hate looking for work." Maggie harrumph.
"Well, if you are looking for work, I would be happy to work with you Maggie." Martin offered.
"Ha ha ha! And to do what? Sending you to a retirement home in Florida? The only thing that I see in your future is you sexually disappointing twenty years old bimbo to prove to yourself that you still got it and wearing a diaper when you go to bed." Maggie sneer, Emma and Denis losing it when they saw the flummox expression on Martin's face.
"Ok shut up everyone! We are ready to roll!" One of Marc's assistants shouted to quiet everyone.
"Nathaniel, you have a go." Marc said in the radio once everyone had evacuated the camera line of sight.
Starting his slide around the pole, Nathaniel made a turnaround like it was planned before doing his backflip. Seeing him made a perfect landing, Maggie let a faint smile out while Marc let out the breath that he was holding.
That's when the guardrail broke.
Seeing it, Marc's face turns ghastly white. Luckily, Nathaniel reacted instantly, twisting his body to the right, he managed to angle his body away from the fall. His right feet touch the concrete and he made another flip forward to distance himself away from the edge. Stopping, he looks at the guardrail and smiles silly before running not far away and stopping again.
Only silence greeted Nathaniel once it was done, it seemed that seeing him almost fall had shocked them still. The one who finally broke it was Marc.
"Please, Please… tell me that we got that." He asked, seemingly still out of it.
"Yeah, we got it. Everything." His head cameraman answers.
"Oh my god, thanks. Now, can someone tell me WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" Marc yells the last part in his radio.
The question was exactly what Nathaniel was wondering. Walking back to where he almost fell, he knew that he did not make any sense, it should never have broken. The stunt crew was very professional and they had tested everything before allowing Nathaniel to do the stunt. Seeing the guardrail, Nathaniel was once again surprised. The steel was totally corroded where it was previously embedded in the concrete and there was a pungent smell in the air. There was only one thing that could cause something like that.
"Acid." He whispers to himself.
Turning around, he started locking eyes with the people that were running in his direction, trying to know what happened. They were after all the last who were here before he did the stunt and so the only people that could have done it without getting spotted. That's when he found something. Among those that were running, there was one who was slower than the rest, he was 5"8 with short black hair and of average build. When they locked eyes, Nathaniel could see malice, glee and a hint of craziness in it.
"Stop that man!" Nathaniel shouted, pointing at him.
Realizing that he was made, the man pushed the person that was in front of him and wiped a knife from beneath his shirt.
"DIE SPIDER MAN!" He yelled, launching himself in Nathaniel's direction.
He was ten feet away from Nathaniel when he was roughly tackled to the ground by Kyle Minoda, the head of the stunt crew. He was quickly followed by two of his people who helped him pin the man to the ground and disarm him.
"Can someone call Security for god sake!?" Kyle yells.
****
One hour later, the set was entirely closed by the Police. Officers were busy taking depositions and Nathaniel was interviewed by two detectives. Maggie was furious and after blowing off the officer in charge of taking her statement, she took upon herself to go to every executives of the studio that had come here after hearing what happened and yell at them. That was so entertaining that Nathaniel had to forcefully stop listening to her or he would be laughing his head off, which would not really square with the stern face present on the detectives faces. One was a grizzled man in his mid forties with short peper hair and black eyes while the other was a surprisingly muscular woman in her thirties with short brown hair.
"So you never met that person before?" The male detective named Morrison asked again.
"For the fourth time, no. I don't know and I never met that person before. I think I saw him one time two days ago on the set but we never interact."
"Pardon me to say this but you don't seem overly hit by the fact that someone just tried to kill you." The detective Ortiz remarked. The kid was too calm and that made her feel a little uneasy inside.
"You are talking to someone who passed a quarter of his life in a deep coma, then when I came out of it, a mob boss tried to kidnap me to force my mother to drop her case against him so yeah… I think I made my peace with the fact that the universe is having fun launching curve balls at me." Nathaniel shrugged.
"I see… So you think that it's plan was to sabote the guardrail to make you fall on the concrete and then kill you when you are injured?"
"No, I don't think that was it. Follow me."
Picking up a weight who serves to prop lighting, Nathaniel walks to the edge where he almost falls down. Looking downward to make sure that no one was there, he turned back to the detectives.
"Fire in the hole!" He said before dropping the weight.
"No! Stop!" They shout at the same time.
Nathaniel heard the sound of a tearing net and then the weight smash to the ground.
"And that was his plan." He said, looking at the two detectives who were looking down to the destroyed net with gaping expressions. "He poured acid on the guardrail for me to fall and then die."
He was going to say something else when he saw an old lady coming his way followed by two security agents.
"Grandma?" Nathaniel asked, surprised.
Chapter 196: :
"Grandma?" Nathaniel asked again when she was near him.
Hugging him, she then slapped him on the shoulder.
"Why did you not call? We had to hear about it on the news!" She shouted resentfully.
"There was no time, I was with the detectives for half an hour and my phone is still in my lodge."
"Half an hour!? Why are you keeping my grandson for so long? Is obviously the victim here!" Diane shouted angrily at the detectives.
"Calm down lady, we are only doing our job here and secondly, who let you pass? This is an active crime scene, I'm going to ask you to leave." Detective Morrison said.
"Yes, we are leaving! Let's go dear."
"Not so fast! We still have questions for you Mister Lyndon. In fact, it would be better if you came with us to the precinct to sort everything out."
"Okay that's it." Nathaniel had enough. "Since you came, you broke eight rules of the code of Police procedure. You didn't even let me be looked at by the paramedic who came which means that everything that you write down is now irrecevable in c
ourt."
"You are obviously fine." Detective Ortiz sneered.
"Excuse me, are you a certified medical professional to make that kind of judgement? No? That's what I thought. Now, I don't know if that was a power trip, trying to appear superior to me or just that you don't like my face but I'm warning you. The only way that I will come with you is if you arrest me and if you do, I will have your badges and I will make sure that you never become cops again. Not mentioning me using my 3.1 millions of followers on twitter to make sure that your department has a lot of scrutiny and of course a lawsuit that's going to cost millions to the city. So, what do you want to do?"
Nathaniel was done humoring them and was ready to do his worst. Hearing him, the detective Ortiz looks ready to draw her weapon on him while her colleague gulps visibly, looking everywhere but at him. They had pushed the line a little further than they should and they were out of luck to do it to a law student and a son of a prosecutor.
"I'm sorry if we inconvenience you in any way Mister Lyndon. You are of course free to go. Just make yourself available if we have new questions or information regarding the person who attacked you." Detective Morrison finally said after nudging his partner.
"Don't worry about it, detectives, our lawyer will be in touch, you can count on that." Diane said, gritting her teeth.
Even if Nathaniel was ready to let them off the hook for this time, Diane did not. She was extremely protective of her grandson and she will not tolerate anyone who uses their power to make things difficult for him, especially when he is the victim.
"Well, that was weird." Nathaniel passed a hand in his hair after the cops left.
"Not really, I was on the receiving ends of things like that more than that could count. Even if status and money can open a lot of doors for us, there will always be some who would resent us for having it. Cops especially since they think they can extorque us for money in exchange of silence or worse, thinking that if we succeed, it means we broke the law to do it and so can use us to advance their career."
"Hum, I don't know. It almost seemed like personnel for the detective Ortiz, I saw something in her eyes when I told her my last name. I will look into it. What do you say we get out of here grandma?"
"I would love to."
"Good. First, I need to… Maggie?" He shouted her name to get her attention which it worked. She then walked in his direction, an eyebrow raise.
"What do you want Spider kiddo?"
"I'm going back to my lodge to change and get my thing. Want to get out of here with us?"
"Alright but it's just because no executives want to talk with me anymore and you are marginally better than police officers. Oh hey Diane, I didn���t see you there."
"Maggie." His grandmother nodded in her direction.
Once they leave the studio, Nathaniel could breathe again not wearing makeup and a costume anymore. He was back in his comfortable clothes and shoes. He had used a side exit to leave the studio where his grandmother's limo was waiting. Since the press caught wind of what happened, they had camped in front of the studio demanding answers that Nathaniel did not want to give right now.
The car started to run the moment he was in it and he sat beside his grandmother where Maggie was sitting in front of him looking at her phone with interest. He was just inside when his own phone rang, looking at the caller ID, Nathaniel let out a smile.
"Hello Lina."
"Nathaniel! I know who he is! I know the name of the person who tried to kill you!" Lina shouted excitedly.
"Okay, calm down! And I'm fine, thank you for asking." Nathaniel added sarcastically.
"Oh come on, I know that! How do you think, I called you the moment you were in the limo? I was watching you on the Studio security camera. That's how I found the one who tried to kill you, I found him and used my recognition face software to learn who he was."
"Okay, give it to me."
"His name is Edward Holstorm. Forty two years old ingenior, he was born in the city of Eugene in Oregon. Two years ago, he and his family were coming back from a party when they had an accident. His wife and his two sons died in the car crash and he was found to be intoxicated. When he realized what happened, unable to cope with the guilt, his spirit broke. He was interned in a mental facility in Portland until two weeks ago when he escaped and no information was found about him until now." Lina explained.
"I see." Nathaniel said, deep in thought. "Did you have more information about what his mental status is?"
"Yes, I just hack into his health file. After what happened, he had a split in his personality. I don't understand half of the words in there but it says that he believes he is Harry Osborn, which you know better by the name…"
"Green Goblin." Nathaniel finished for her.
Hearing him say that, Maggie and Diane look at him which he responds by simply waving the remark aside.
"Exactly." Lina confirms.
"Alright, I'm glad to learn that it was not something more nefarious than that. Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." She answers quickly.
"Can you find me everything there is to know about Detective Ortiz from the LAPD?"
"Ortiz, get it and yeah no problem, this is going to be fast, I will send everything I find in the usual place."
"Good, thanks Lina." Nathaniel said before hanging up.
"So, grandma, why are you here in LA?"
"Why? I can't even come to see my lovely grandson?" Diane said with a fake pout.
"Of course and I'm happy to see you, really, but why did you not call to warn me that you were coming to town today?"
"In fact, I was here yesterday. Your grandfather and I talked about something, it's been a week since you were in LA and you stayed at a Hotel the whole time. It's simply not going to do it. We know that you don't care about money or standing but we do and other people do as well. Not mentioning the fact that someone could use your tendency to live sparingly as an admission that we have money problems, which would hurt us and our company stock." Diane explained.
"She's right you know, we talked about it before." Maggie added.
It was true, Nathaniel had chosen a good hotel for the period he was here previously but not a rich or prestigious one. For him, it sounds unnecessarily as while he was in LA, he was passing most of his time between the set, going out with his co-stars and Maggie to eat or drink something and the label studio to work on his music. For him, if his hotel room had a comfortable bed, he did not really care about the rest.
"I don't really see the point of spending money for appearance sake, I'm sorry. This is just not how I was raised." Nathaniel shook his head.
"We know dear, we know. That's why your grandfather and I took the matter into our own hands."
"What did you do?" Nathaniel was starting to have a bad feeling about this.
"We bought a house here, in Santa Monica."
Chapter 197: :
"You did what!?"
"We have arrived, you can look outside if you want to know more dear." His grandmother added to his protest.
Getting out of the car after Maggie, Nathaniel looked at the house in front of him. It was more appropriate to call it a Mansion than a house. It was two stories tall, approximately three hundred feet long and a hundred feet large. It had a large garden with a long pool in it and other small annexes near it to house guests. Nathaniel could also see a path going down in the beach direction which the house was facing.
Looking around, he watched the nearby house and was not surprised to see that they were even bigger than this one. He had come here for parties often and it seemed it was a place particularly appreciated by actors and movie executives to live. Nathaniel also knew that it was a place where money did not suffice to buy a house, you needed status, power and influence to get in.
"How did you manage to find that house for sale?" Maggie asked with awe creeping into her voice, clearly she was thinking the same thing as Nathaniel.
"Oh, that? The prev
ious owner's wife is in my book club, I just mentioned to her that I wanted to spend more time with my grandson in LA and that I was searching for a house to buy there. She offered to sell it to me since they didn't come much here these past two years."
"Well, clearly we don't have the same type of people in our book club." Maggie shook her head.
Nathaniel hides a smile hearing that. He knew and had witnessed for himself how his grandmother and her ladies friends 'book club was just a pretense to get together and trade stories about what was happening or what happened in their circle. These womens were all influential and in many cases, the heads of their different households and so they always had much information to share between themselves.
"Grandma…" Nathaniel started before he was stopped.
"Dear, listen, this is an investissement. We talked around us and everyone is saying that unless something untoward happens, you have the talent and the charisma to do a lot more film in the future. Secondly, a house like this in here will only gain values the more years that pass. If someday, you want to quit acting, we will sell it but I know how much you like the beach and I would like to spend more time with you in it. What's more, we barely saw you in the past couple of weeks."
"I'm sorry grandma but I had too much to do. I should have made more to find time for you." Nathaniel regrets.
"Yeah, I know. You are so much like your grandfather in this case that I almost find myself forty years into the past ah ah. But there are many things that your grandfather regrets about the past, he would have wanted to take more time with us and you should do the same. Take time for you and your loved one or you will regret it."
"You are right, I will try and okay, you win. I will live here with you." Nathaniel gave in.
"I'm so glad you said that." His grandmother flashes a relieved smile.
"Why?"
"Well, I already contacted the hotel you stay in and your room is now empty and your things are already in your room here." She laughed, Nathaniel just shook his head at his grandmother's antics. "Maggie, we can house you here if you want to but I have the feeling that you prefer to be on your own so the limo is ready to bring you back to your hotel."