capeandcowllogs | Meeting at the D.O.I.

Who: Callie, Julian, Jack and all those that signed up here
What: A secured meeting at the D.O.I... Things get rolling towards Import action against Skrulls and Vulcanu
When: Thursday, 6pm
Warnings: None?
Notes: Assume your characters have been contacted by either Callie, Julian, and Jack prior to the meeting- pin pointing their interest in helping with Import support and taking down Vulcanus. Any questions just PM Brakish.

Callie waited as the Imports they had contacted filed in to the conference room. She glanced over the room, giving a nod to her assistant who closed the door. Clearing her throat, Callie stepped to the head of the conference table.

"Thank you for coming tonight. As you all should know by now... we have communicated with you due to our attempt to rallying an Import committee to finally take a stand against the organizations that threaten us and in effect, the natives that live here. The D.O.I. has been continuously running an investigation since the last major clusterfuck. We've run across a couple leads... but the trick here being most activity we are seeing is happening over seas."

Callie gave a nod, projecting a map onto the screen behind her.

"Here you see our biggest lead-- As you can see, there's some activity in England..Skrull related. Our guy in question is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs-- Craig Williamson." She clicked to a picture of the fellow in question.

"He's fairly public, incredibly vocal about immigration restrictions, and thought fairly highly of by his government. As the Import population rose in number, he called for stronger border control. It was to the surprise of no one that he became one of the earliest supporters of the ImBargo Act, and was one of its strongest champions in the British Cabinet. His role in securing the necessary support for the Act in the Cabinet as well as within Parliament itself cannot be overstated. A popular and trusted Foreign Secretary, he is viewed on the whole as having the country’s best interests at heart, even though the ImBargo Act itself has always been a subject of controversy."

She stepped ahead. "Support for Mr Williamson suffered a marked decline after ImPorts were attacked in Venezuela by Vulcanus. Mr Williamson has given fewer press interviews over recent months, though his stance on ImBargo remains as firm as ever, and he rarely comments on protests against the Act from other quarters except to restate his own position."

She shook her head. "As you can probably guess, we need to confirm him as a possible Skrull, which requires deeper investigation.... which means infiltrating the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as agency workers. If there is corruption, it'll be found in their filing systems-- particularly evidence that Williamson's policies represented a marked change from his predecessor's. Involvement with Vulcanus will be found by way of his private office, no doubt. Records, diaries, and expenses will be telling."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"But those who do go will need to do so delicately. This is, in essence, a spy mission, and the goal is infiltration and exposure. If all goes well, no one should even know we were there."

Because if they did, out in the middle of an Imbargo'd country, there would be hell to pay. Even if they were providing evidence that might result in that Imbargo being lifted.

Julian nodded his agreement. This was weird for him. He was used to approaching any mission he went on without any sort of secrecy. What did he ever care if people knew who he was? He had nothing to hide. He liked people to know exactly who and what he was.

But this was different. This was about getting results. Striking any kind of blow against Vulcanus, that was where the pride in this mission was. He'd be as quiet about it as they wanted, if it meant success.

"They can't know until we want them to know," he said. "If we screw this up it's only going to make ImBargo worse, we have to do it right."

Hank smiled confidently. This is precisely the kind of thing they'd discussed back in October, exactly the kind of work he could get behind. Even if it wasn't strictly legal, the law it would break was the one they were hoping to see annulled. They'd probably bent quite a few more with the Secret Avengers than that.

"Precisely! We'll have to appear to be entirely above reproach, perhaps even give the hosts a particular show of good behavior. The ones that aren't our indubitable enemies could be won over by such a display. Two birds, one stone."

Julian had taken Hank’s advice to heart back then. It had taken a while. But Hank had been there for a long time now, managing to somehow advise him and influence what he did without judging him. That was important. Julian was defensive, highly defensive, when he thought anyone was trying to change his mind or tell him what to do. But he trusted Hank. He’d learned to trust Hank.

And Hank had been right. This work had the potential to do far more than if Julian had rushed off half-cocked and tried to get Vulcanus back. He could see that now that his anger and frustration had been focused into something more. But he’d never have seen that if it hadn’t been for people like Hank, Callie and Jack. He was seeing things differently because of them.

“There’s opposition already. England’s seen protests from Scotland and Wales, there’ll already be people in London ready to listen to us. Politicians are always playing some kind of game. If we do this right, one of the ones who hates ImBargo already will use it. They’ll have to.”

It was an unfortunate fact of life that the solutions that would last also take the longest to implement. Politics is as much about patience as it is planning and positioning, throwing out the lure and waiting to have it taken. But if this was fishing, then the mission hey're putting forward now was the hook.

"Which raises an excellent point on its own. This is the first audience of imPorts being allowed in since the ban was set in place. All eyes will be on our people. That will make the necessary misdirection to complete the mission that much more interesting!"

Julian nodded agreement. That was the whole idea. Of course, just because it was a misdirection didn’t mean the diplomatic mission was a lie. If they played it right, it could do as much good as turning up evidence of corruption. It would send a message that ImPorts weren’t dangerous, that they were willing to talk.

Provided that the spies looking for more than that weren’t uncovered before the time was right. They were risking a lot, but it’d be worth it.

He hoped.

“It’s the same old story, right? Show them they don’t have to fear and hate us. Do things their way.” Julian paused. He hadn’t always believed in that philosophy. The truth was, he still didn’t really believe in that. He thought diplomacy would make a good cover for the work that actually needed to be done. He thought the only way to raise public opinion of ImPorts would be to prove that Vulcanus was worse. But he was willing to go along with diplomacy if it helped to do that job. “Maybe it’ll work better than it did at home. All I care about is that it might make things better for us. It’s worth trying.”

"It doesn't necessarily have to be their way. We make the right methods ours, and then we make them theirs while we're at it. It's all about getting the game to play the right way, the way we want it to turn out." Politics were always a game after all, but he couldn't consider it anyone else's if they should eventually win out in the end.

“So are you going with Callie’s team, Professor?” Julian lifted his eyebrows. If anyone could speak for them, it was Hank McCoy. He had a calm kind of logic that people listened to, and to Julian’s memory it had always been that way. He was the kind of person you’d want on a diplomatic mission. “You could tell them that. You could talk for them like you talked for mutants back home.”

He hadn't been planning on it, not before he knew the exact way the mission would be conducted. If they had to sneak into the country, he wouldn't be a good candidate for traveling incognito, but without that need it was another matter. It would be a rare opportunity. He'd toured the neighbors of Imbargo'd nations with Max over the summer, but had never thought audience behind the closed border would be possible. "I didn't expect to, not at first. But, you know, I think it would be worth considering."

Julian was thinking along the same lines. The people coming with him, the ones who’d need to avoid scanners, would have to be incognito. They couldn’t look obviously non-human, or it’d be a bust from the start. There wouldn’t be a need for detection by scanner if regular natives could tell them apart by sight. On Callie’s team, though, being recognizable could be a plus.

“They’d listen to you,” he said. “People always listen to you. If you could talk me into thinking we could really change things, you can make them believe it too.”

Hank frowned, his eyes going wide. He was flattered, really, even if not entirely confident in the truth of it. "Not always." Not on the personal issues, at least, this wasn't the time to think about that. This was about bigger things, the exact kind of dreams and ideals Hank excelled at, and a chance like this was better not passed up. He'd be a fool to let it go. "But if I'm given opportunity to speak, you can be sure I'll give them my best."

Julian nodded. He'd tell Callie.

"It doesn't need to be always so long as it's this time," he said, with a shrug. Stepping back, he glanced around, trying to catch sight of Callie. "I have to keep moving, Professor. I'm glad you came."

"Of course, Julian, I imagine you've got a lot of work ahead of you." He patted Julian on the shoulder before heading off himself. "Glad I made it, too."

Meeting at the D.O.I.

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