2013.07.19 - Don't tell Congress

As the sun sets in the west, the skies are bright with reds and oranges. The helicarrier is above the stormclouds, sitting at a comfortable altitude so as not to disrupt the flight ops that seem to go on round the clock. 
There are some who say that the Director never sleeps. There are others who swear he actually doesn't have a place in New York, but rather sleeps on the carrier. And others? 
No way will they even think of it in case it comes out inadvertantly. At the wrong time.
Fury is at his desk, staring at his two screens, poking at one part only to have it 'explode' into an array of data. A tumbler is on his desk, as well as a smouldering cigar half perched in an ash tray. The room smells like stale smoke; seems that the federal guidelines about smoke in public places, and in government workplaces simply does not apply here.
And roughly about 5 minutes before he was due to show up, there was a knock. "Agent Harper, sir. I've brought Kwabena Odame, as you requested." 
Waiting for the go-ahead before opening the door, the redheaded archer approaches, standing at attention. "Colonel." Closing the door behind Kwa, Roy moves aside. He'd made sure to brief Kwa a bit about what was going on, so it wasn't as though the other man was going in cold. At least unarmed, however. 
It seems there will always be things in this world to surprise and amaze the young man from Ghana. When brought aboard the helicarrier, Kwabena Odame simply looked around with a quiet sense of awe, and while he conceals it from the professional way he walks, he can't help but shield it from his mis-matched eyes.
The mutant is dressed inconspicuously today. Blue jeans, grey shirt, black leather jacket, boots. Nothing about him might scream out warnings of 'meta-human' except, perhaps, his mismatched eyes of brown and silver.
Once inside Fury's office, his nose twitches. The scent is one he knows well, and eyes are almost immediately drawn to the smouldering cigar. He takes note of the way Roy adopts his stance, but as for Kwabena, he was not, and never was military. There is, however, a note of training in the way he comes to a stop, and while he doesn't adopt a parade rest, he does turn his eyes attentively upon the Colonel, with his hands simply hanging easily at either side.
The knock at the door brings Fury's attention around. Not that he hadn't had notice of the pair's arrival the moment Harper left the ground, but while he can keep his attention elsewhere for his own people, there's a mutant coming. And while it can't be said that he doesn't -trust- them, they do require some attention. 
Spinning the chair around that quarter turn, Fury nods his greeting, and the nod is something of a 'release'. "Agent Harper." Greet his own first. "This is Shift," is assumed, and now the single eye turns towards the mutant fully.
"Welcome aboard, Shift. Thank you for coming."
"Gentlemen, if you would take a seat?"
Granted permission to sit, Roy does so. Without much preamble, the SHIELD agent pulls out the folder tucked under his arm, and pushes it forward. "The report on the incident, sir," he comments, although he had a feeling that Fury'd already had the information just about as soon as Roy'd sent the electronic copy. Still, hardcopy and all... 
"Colonel." Shift's greeting is professional. Courteous. He wastes no time in taking the offered seat, letting his arms rest on his legs in a manner that is subtly at ease. "De pleasah is mine." His heavy accent signifies that English is his second language. Dangme, his first, if one's ear might be well tuned enough to determine dialect.
Nick reaches to take the file, pulling it towards him and sets it on the side. Absolutely he's picked through the electronic copy, but having the paper copy gives his eye something of a rest. His gaze lingers on his agent for a moment before he turns his attention to Shift.
The Director's read some of the files on the man. Ever since Harper filed the report, making first mention of the man. "I imagine Agent Harper's told you that I am somewhat concerned about the goings on in Genosha." That would have been fine. Give the mutant some time to remember things, perhaps, that may have been overlooked. "The EM field he's got set up makes things difficult, but not impossible, to see what's going on. That's not to mention the lack of communication to any real government agency outside of posturing."
Leaning forward, the Director's gotten down to business. "I want to know what the hell is going on there because the President is gonna ask me, as well as the UN General Secretary."
Roy's attention shifts towards Kwabena. He'd been reassured that it -was- giving humanitarian aid, but he -was- still wondering how Kwabena knew something was going down early enough that Roy could show up just in time to play clean-up, and trying to explain that in the report... well, he -knew- Fury would take that apart in an instant, and the best thing Roy could put down was, "I trusted what he said." So c'mon, Kwa, don't let him down here. 
Not completely sure whether Fury would start with Genosha or Honduras, Kwabena visibly seems to prepare himself the moment Genosha is spoken. His body leans backward just so, and his gaze visibly hardens. There were, after all, a great many things he had to prepare for in regard to Genosha, and those things were almost entirely of a cranial manner.
"Magneto refers to himself as de sovereign rulah of a militaristic nation. In civilized terms, we call dat a dictatah. He has essentially declared open war on de resistance movement called 'Humanity First', howevah, by proxy, he has declared war against any sovereignty or organization who might seek to move against him."
Kwabena's words are extremely clipped, delivered with a precision unlike how he normally speaks. The reason for this may not be clear, but there were plans in motion--plans that involved sending him to Genosha as a spy for the X-Men--and those plans involved the surgical alteration of his memories at the hands of a powerful mutant telepath.
Every word spoken puts that plan further at risk. More memories to alter means more work to be done, which means more stitching for the enemy's eye to see.
It's entirely possible that neither the Colonel nor Agent Harper have any real idea how far he is extending himself.
"He is committed. He is a despot. His classification is Omega. What he has shown us in de seismic event caused last week may only be a small pahcentage of what he can do. Most importantly, he does not fear war. He would considah it an act of ultimate survival for de mutant species."
Kwabena leans forward and seeks to meet Fury's eye with his own stalwart gaze. "I would advise de President and General Secretary to exercise caution. He could make 9/11 seem like de squashing of an insect."
The fact that Harper trusts the word of this guy enough that SHIELD assets were put into place upon request? Fury's gaze lingers back upon his agent, but his words are for the 'guest' of his 'carrier.
"And any non-mutant that is caught landing on the island?" Nick can answer his own question there. "How's he on mutants coming and going from the island? Is it the happy, cozy, kumbaya thing, or are his own people funny about it all?"
Now, the cigar is picked up, and the end is checked. It's truly out, which means Fury has to relight it. That he does deliberately, cupping the flame in hand as a couple long pulls are taken, and released.
"Caution." Once the end is relit, the Director smiles, and it's not one of pleasure, but it is one that could hold some meaning. "Caution is good."
It's sinking in that Fury just inquired about a -different- incident that Shift apparently was involved in, and the young agent's attention returns once more to Kwa, before he frowns, looking back towards Nick Fury. "Sir...? I thought..." His voice trails off, before he mentally admonishes himself. "Withdrawn, sir." Right. 
When this was over, Shift was getting all the questions. 
"Both," answers Kwabena, promptly. "All are welcome, none ahre trusted."
The moment Fury seeks to relight his cigar, however, Kwabena reaches into his jacket and produces a pack of smokes. "May I?" he asks, holding them indicatively. He won't light up unless granted permission.
Shift briefly passes a look Roy's way. There is a glare of warning concealed deep within a plaintive look. One of those, 'dude, you just interrupted your boss' sort of looks.
Looking back to Fury, he leans back into his seat again. "Caution," he agrees. Because really, there's no damned way he's going to stop SHIELD from gathering intelligence on Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Nick's got the file right beside him, as well as having read the incident report. And he's talked with the civil authorities. And the military. No fear, Harper.. he'll come to it.
"Smoke if you've got 'em," comes out rather naturally. The sound of a natural soldier. "Just don't tell Congress." Did the Director just make a joke?
There's nothing about the all-business mien that would even hint to the fact that he'd recognize the fact that there was a jest. The glances between the pair do not go unnoticed, and there is a mental tic in the mutant's favor.
"Both," is repeated. "Good to know." Caution, as the pair may be aware, does not mean absence of movement. There is no way the Director will let this slide without some sort of clandestine operation. Particularly if he has people to answer to.
"Now, about Honduras." Fury pauses and now Harper is included in everything once again. "She disappeared. I can't find her movements at all. The Honduran government has no record of her movements, and Border Customs don't either."
Thoughts race through his mind as he considers. Roy had a good idea where 'she' had disappeared to, and it'd had to do with the comrades Shift was with. And judging by the known associates' actions, they certainly weren't -hostile- forces, but... the pieces just didn't quite fit together, and Roy's eyes studies Fury. He had more pieces than Roy had, at the least. 
Wasting no time, Kwabena clicks open a zippo, lights the smoke, and promptly sets the materials back inside of his jacket. A good, long pull is taken, before he shifts the cigarette to sit lazily in one hand. The only sign of humor rests in the way his eyes form that 'smirking' look.
In an odd way, Kwabena is more prone to let his guard down when Honduras comes up. However, on the contrary, he had to be very careful with what he said. The X-Men were, after all, to remain a secret.
"Rosa Oseguera is a seventeen year old girl," he explains, and already, he has adopted a tone that sounds, of all things, like a defense. "She was both de cause of what happened, and a victim of what happened." However, rather than continuing his defense, the African adopts a suddenly different pace. He takes another drag, blows the smoke up toward the ceiling, then shares a look between both Fury and Harper. "Tell me, what do you both know about de X-Gene and it's effect on de human genome? Some few things, I would expect?"
"And she's gone," Fury says flatly. "And our resources were used for her extrication." Because of course that's what happened. SHIELD has satellites, and to put it mildly, SR-71s are old technology to his organization. "Mind, they don't know that, and I haven't been forthcoming with any information as to where she could possibly be."
Taking a pull on the cigar, Fury lets the ash fall where it may, though he does push his ashtray towards the mutant.
"We know enough about the X-Gene in order to code it into some of our hardware so it responds only to the user's specific print. And, we know enough that mutations can happen at any point, given a particular set of circumstance." There, the Director pauses. Anything else may tip the mutant to research that simply hasn't come out.
"Harper, your report to the Honduran authorities was commendable."
Caught offguard, Roy nods. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," as he considers. He'd had to -explain- that SHIELD were there for quick emergency response. And humanitarian aid. Other details, on the other hand, were more filed in a separate report to SHIELD for counterintelligence purposes... 
"Dat's right." Kwabena seems oddly unphased by the way in which Fury replies. "I'm afraid that right now--and with respect--I am not at liberty to disclose de girl's location."
He has a feeling Colonel Fury will not like hearing that.
"What I can provide you." He reaches into his jacket again, this time producing a thumb drive. In tandem, he slides the thumb drive across the table in tempo with Fury's delivery of the ash tray. Only then does he continue. "... contains a full psychological and medical report of de girl's condition. Within dat report, dere is conclusive evidence dat before this incident, her X-Gene mutation had not manifested into her genetic structure. Cellular analyses and chemical data patterns clearly suggest dat her biological structure was incapable of producing a thermal projection of such magnitude at any point before de date of de recorded incident. With dat, it is in ordah to assume dat she was unaware of her mutant ability until it happened. Beyond dis, de psychological evaluation suggests, based on personal trauma, traits aligned with post-traumatic stress disordah, and personal testimony, dat dis incident was caused during a violent altahcation between her friend, friend's family, and violent membah's of a San Pedro Sula gang."
What he isn't explaining is just how he came across this information. Either Shift is a man of many talents, or he has resources that he is not disclosing.
Breathing a deep and steadying breath, Kwabena offers one more thing, and it comes with a tone of respectful finality. "Disclosing her location, or releasing her to authorities, could threaten her emotional and psychological state to de point where de risk factah of suffering anodah incident is simply too great."
Beat.
"Don't tell Congress."
After ashing his cigarette in the ash tray, Kwabena leans back just a bit more, going silent.
And that is exactly what Fury expected of the Field Agent. That's exactly what the 'official line' is, regardless of what is done. Humanitarian aid. Toss a little money to the schools to help with rebuilding, making medical aid available, and all is good when they leave. For that, Fury offers Harper a nod of encouragement, a silent but tacit 'That's fine'.
The thumb drive is retrieved at the passing of the ashtray, and he looks at the bit in his hand. At the explanation of what lies upon the dongle, he palms the bit of technology. "And you're sure that she hasn't had something introduced." It's a statement rather than a question.
Shift's quip regarding Congress actually gains a smile. "They can't make me testify. They can try." But to no avail.
Now, the Director looks to both men, and exhales in a long, drawn out breath. Another late night. "Thank you, gentlemen. Unless there's something else you'd care to add?"
"Not at this moment, sir," Roy replies. "I do have other things to report, but not with Shift here, and for your ears only." 
"Quite sure," answers Shift. Points are silently collected, for he'd made the Colonel smile. There is a look of gratitude, paired with a nod of his head. If Fury did suspect Kwabena to be part of a clandestine operation, he certainly appreciated that his sacrifice of information seems to be respected in turn.
For a moment, he considers whether to tell Fury of the mutant inhibitor they had encountered in Honduras. He also considers whether to warn Fury of his impending infiltration into Genosha. However, that whole mess, if it goes down, will involve people believing that he has, in fact, become a member of the Brotherhood. As odd as it may sound, he may need to make enemies of them to maintain his cover.
With that in mind, he simply keeps his mouth shut, signifying that there is nothing further to add by squashing the lit cigarette into the ash tray, twisting until it has been fully snuffed out.
A glance is given toward Roy, paired with the brief turning of his lips into a partial smirk. Then, he makes to stand. "Don't let me keep you from furthah business," he offers. Back to Fury he looks, smirk fading. "Well met, Colonel."
Category:Log