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xp_logs2007-05-04 06:28 pm
x-dominion.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2007-05-04 06:28 pm
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Log: Garrison's Review
Garrison has his review with the Director, Minister MacDonald, and Heather Hudson up in Ottawa.
"It's an interrogation."
"Stop being so dramatic, you big girl." Heather Hudson said, slapping the side of his arm with her folder. Kane ignored her, having gone through more than a few years experience with Heather's remonstrations. He was back in his normal uniform, the sideboards and tie seeming unfamiliar after the last few months in a normal suit or the X-Men leathers.
Hudson led him down the hall, and into one of large boardrooms near the top of the building. Sitting at the far end were the Director of Department H, Malcolm Colcord, and Minister MacDonald. Heather took a seat at the Minister's right, while Garrison slid into a chair across from them.
"Minister, Director." He said, folding his hands over top of his folder. MacDonald gave him an encouraging smile, the table in front of him piled with notes from the monthly reports Garrison had sent. Director Colcord, on the other hand, had the area in front of him completely bare. Kane had worked with him for long enough to know that every word he'd sent back rested inside Colcord's memory.
"Inspector Kane. Welcome back home."
"Thank you, sir."
"We've been watching your progress closely. President McKenna was most effusive in his praise of the X-Men during the hostage situation." For once, MacDonald had dropped his usual stumbling Anglo poise, moving straight to the point. "Thanks to your reports, we believe we have a clear idea of what you've observed so far in the mansion, and I spoke with the Professor yesterday to clarify most of our questions. It was a particularly effective coup to bring Mister Forge with you to Canada. His involvement with both the mansion, HeliX, and his particular power makes him a powerful agent for future change."
"If somewhat paranoid." Colcord commented dryly. He had mixed feelings about the liaison with Xavier's, which he had voiced enough times in the past. The collection of intelligence that came from an association with the school was invaluable, but it also revealed more about the capabilities of Department H than he was ever going to be comfortable with.
"Oui, quite." The minister said, turning back to Kane. "What we'd like our your impressions over a number of topics for now, to round out the specifics you've provided. Heather?"
Hudson opened up the folder and took out a file. "Inspector Kane, please describe your impressions of the Professor."
"Xavier? The real thing. A completely non-cynical idealist with the mental tenacity to take advantage of all opportunities towards his goals, regardless of personal risk. Highly empathic and charismatic." Garrison said, with only the briefest pause.
"Sounds somewhat idealized."
"I know. It's also the truth." Kane shrugged. "I don't have any contemporary experience, but working with the Professor is what working for someone like King or Kennedy must have been like. Immense personal magnetism, to the point that it's difficult to be able to refute him easily, because of the sense of right he possesses."
"Are there other potential motivations for Xavier?" Colcord leaned forward. "His close past association with people like Lensherr suggests the X-Men could be simply a cover for a less savoury purpose. Using the Brotherhood as a strawman and with each rescue, funneling more power to the X-Men."
"Extremely doubtful, and if it was true, it would be solely the Professor's knowledge." He took a sip of water before spreading his hands. "If there's any quality that I'd call worrisome in Charles Xavier is his willingness to disregard the law in favour of what he feels is right. The team has worked hard to build relationships with federal law enforcement and relief agencies. Elpis is building a strong reputation amoungst the UN NGOs, and Xavier's school itself has some pretty high profile students in training. The potential repercussions of, say, Xavier welcoming in a mutant with former ties to terrorism, and that mutant not reforming and causing wide spread destruction would be crippling to his goals."
"And yet he still risks this." MacDonald said quietly, putting two fingers to his lower lip. "Why?"
"His nature appears to be putting people ahead of his goals, sir. That's why I find the likelihood of possible collusion between Xavier and Lensherr extremely unlikely. Xavier's willingness to risk what all he has built to rehabilitate a single mutant is wholly inconstant with building an orchestrated powerbase." Kane said simply. Colcord still looked dubious, but MacDonald was nodding. The Minister had spoken with Xavier on numerous occasions, and certainly would not have sent Kane down if he didn't trust the Professor.
Heather made a couple of quick notes before turning the page. "Inspector Kane, tell us about your impression of the student body."
"Beyond 'a bunch of brain damaged horny teenagers'?" MacDonald hid a smirk with his hand, while the looks for both the Director and Hudson chilled perceptively.
"Yes, some additional information that we couldn't learn out of a National Lampoon film would be nice."
"Well, the dynamics in a general sense are much different than a normal private school. The diversity of economic, social, and ethical backgrounds have rendered the idea of cliques pretty much worthless in that environment, and the small number of students mean they tend to band together pretty tightly. There's a lot of… I guess fostering is the right term, between some of the older students and the younger ones." Kane's psychology background wasn't education, which made him want to fit the kids into either a tribal or gang dynamic, but he resisted the urge.
"Protective, independent… a trifle paranoid, but that's expected considering their teachers show up with broken bones and bandages to class every other week."
"Any disassociative traits?"
"Not institutionally based ones. If there's a failing at the school, it's really out of two categories. One, that the vast majority of the staff are less than ten years older than the students. Because of that, there's difficulties in establishing a lot of the traditional discipline and staff/students relationships you'd get in a normal school. The mentoring idea goes very deeply, which pretty much all of the students having at least one staff member as a kind of older sibling to talk to." Kane pointed to the folder. "The other, which I mentioned, is the isolation factor. The school is extremely insular. Most of the relationships are between staff, there's a limited connection with other schools, and since almost all the students with major powers live on-site, their social group doesn't expand much outside of the grounds."
"Is this isolation intentional?"
"I don't think so. It's a combination of factors. Security, obviously, but also the fact that many of the students and staff experienced persecution of one extreme or another prior to coming to the school, which reinforces the idea of the safe haven." Kane had mentioned this to some of the staff in passing, but there really wasn't a solution for it. "So they form tightly knit groups, which expand somewhat once reaching college age, but still tend to dovetail back to the school."
"You're thinking recruitment, aren't you?"
Kane nodded his head. "Coming into that environment at sixteen or seventeen, it would be very difficult not to find yourself looking at going into the X-Men or Elpis as the natural next step. Xavier's personal charisma instills a deep sense of duty, and of his own ethos into the staff and students. But that also includes the disregard for the law when judged to be biased, and a willingness to actively break it for the greater good."
"Do you disagree with their position?"
"None of the actions they've taken have been capricious. There has been solid reasoning, and to the best of my knowledge, sober judgment taken each time they've decided to take matters into their own hands. My worry is more institutional. What happens in ten years, with this behaviour established, and someone who isn't the exceptionally ethical man that Xavier is runs the school?" Kane said. "Yeah, I'm worried they are going to risk everything trying to save the wrong person, take the wrong thing into their own hands as opposed to the proper agencies, and as a result, all the good they've done will disappear in a heartbeat. I know how often the RCMP and the FBI screws something up. Our protection is that as long as we operate within the rules, the fallout can't be used against us in any real way. The X-Men don't have that protection."
"Are you sure you haven't signed on to Xavier's beliefs?"
"No, Director Colcord. I was sent down to evaluate the X-Men; to openly present my views and experiences to the Canadian government. In my opinion, they are a dedicated group who honestly believe their methods are the only ones that can provide the assistance they can in the environment that they currently exist in. In numerous cases, they have developed strong relationships with government agencies, and I see that increasing. Eventually the X-Men will not be allowed to operate independently. As I noted in my report, with just Juggernaut, Cable, Storm, Polaris, Phoenix, and Rogue, the X-Men could reduce the island of Manhattan to ruins in less than six hours. That much power eventually is going to have to either be answerable to the people and the government of the United States , or they will not be allowed to continue unmolested. I think that what you'll see is those relationships growing in that direction, eventually making the X-Men and the school part of law enforcement or an agency of the US government or the UN at some stage in the future." Kane's voice was open and plain. "For the most part, they're good people, and they believe this is the best way to make a difference. Our approach with them is the right one. Establish a relationship, communicate the lines unofficially until they finally become official, and stay out of the way."
"So you'd be comfortable with them operating on Canadian soil?"
"Yes."
"Recruiting Canadians?"
"No, but I wouldn't advocate specific barriers to it. I believe our system works better, and provides better acclimatization for young mutants, by not segregating them into a single institution or area. However, the social pressures are different in the US, and they don't have a program that can take the place of Xavier's. One thing is obvious, though. The mansion's training and power testing facilities are far better equipped for high level mutant abilities, and the Professor has more experience in this field than we do." Kane pointed out. "Any Canadian mutant topping out the power scale, at least in the next couple of years, should be visiting the school."
"Finally, Inspector, how comfortable are you with the school, the X-Men and your position there?"
Kane was silent for a moment, marshalling his thoughts. "Over the last six months, I've put a great deal of time into that question. The X-Men system is flawed, but that's true of the RCMP too. There's a vast amount of power there, and a strong perception that they are the only ones that are fit to judge how it should be used. I worry about the isolation, and I think they are losing the sense of how normal people live. It's a mansion on the hill, there's no worries about rent or food. They have a stealth jet to take them places and powerful technology behind them. If one gets into trouble, there's special relationships and deals to get them out again. All of that can create dangerous disassociations; feelings of a superiour or privileged status, a disconnect with the average person. That worries me."
"On the other hand, they take exceptional personal risks without any specific obligation to. The training regimens are long, and arduous, and responsibilities on top of that are those that few people ever have to deal with, and they take that on voluntarily. They put themselves in danger without looking for a reward, and without receiving much personal recognition. They believe in the Professor, and he believes in something worthy. That's the biggest failing Alpha Flight's initial run had. It wasn't operational; it was belief. As a soldier, you believe in your country. As a cop, you believe in your badge. Alpha Flight needs to believe in something. It's the only way we're going to duplicate the effort, dedication, and the success that the X-Men have had."
"Well, I think that covers all of my questions. I have a meeting with the Minister Baird in an hour." MacDonald got up from his seat. "I see no reason why Inspector Kane shouldn't continue his relationship with Xavier's until the next review period."
Colcord looked less sure, but simply nodded as he got up to shake MacDonald's hand. "Thank you for coming, Minister."
"Of course, Malcolm. Inspector Kane, tell Professor Xavier I look forward to meeting him again soon." He said, before being ushered out with Colcord. Garrison let out a deep breath and slumped back in his chair. Heather tossed his file back into his lap as she came around the table to sit on the edge in front of him.
"You did good, Gar. The Director is annoyed that you haven't shipped up plans to the Cerebro and DNA samples of every mutant in the place by now, but both the Minister and Professor Xavier seem comfortable with the lines that you've drawn about what to say and what not to say." She said, trying to settle him a bit.
"Yeah, and that will help when Colcord drops into bastard ironic tone."
"Relax. He just wants to know everything about everything all the time. Nothing you can do about that." Heather grinned. "So what's the school really like?"
"Insane. Complete madhouse, Heather, I swear." Kane grinned back at her. "It's a trip, I'll give it that. And the plane is pretty fucking cool, eh."
"I'm sure. Don't expect Alpha Flight to get another more than WestJet tickets."
"Perish the thought."
"How's Logan?"
"He's... well, it's been a rough couple of months for him. He's a little shaky, in terms of his control. I don't know." Kane scrubbed his hands through his hair. "He's coming to grips with something, and he doesn't want to tell me what it is yet."
"I'll give him a call this week. It's been too long since Mac and I have seen him. So," She poked him with the toe of her shoe. "You and Marie, huh?"
"Yes, me and Marie. Stop looking so smug."
"Called it two years ago."
"You were crazy."
"Two years ago." She said in a singsong voice. "That's twenty you owe me."
"This was not my fault."
"Whatever. You were eyeing her long before now." Heather dropped over the edge of the table. "Alright Romeo, we've got things to do. You can buy me lunch later and tell me what it's like to be in love."
"Why did Mac marry you again?"
"I can do that reverse rotation thing left-handed."
"I fucking hate you."
"It's an interrogation."
"Stop being so dramatic, you big girl." Heather Hudson said, slapping the side of his arm with her folder. Kane ignored her, having gone through more than a few years experience with Heather's remonstrations. He was back in his normal uniform, the sideboards and tie seeming unfamiliar after the last few months in a normal suit or the X-Men leathers.
Hudson led him down the hall, and into one of large boardrooms near the top of the building. Sitting at the far end were the Director of Department H, Malcolm Colcord, and Minister MacDonald. Heather took a seat at the Minister's right, while Garrison slid into a chair across from them.
"Minister, Director." He said, folding his hands over top of his folder. MacDonald gave him an encouraging smile, the table in front of him piled with notes from the monthly reports Garrison had sent. Director Colcord, on the other hand, had the area in front of him completely bare. Kane had worked with him for long enough to know that every word he'd sent back rested inside Colcord's memory.
"Inspector Kane. Welcome back home."
"Thank you, sir."
"We've been watching your progress closely. President McKenna was most effusive in his praise of the X-Men during the hostage situation." For once, MacDonald had dropped his usual stumbling Anglo poise, moving straight to the point. "Thanks to your reports, we believe we have a clear idea of what you've observed so far in the mansion, and I spoke with the Professor yesterday to clarify most of our questions. It was a particularly effective coup to bring Mister Forge with you to Canada. His involvement with both the mansion, HeliX, and his particular power makes him a powerful agent for future change."
"If somewhat paranoid." Colcord commented dryly. He had mixed feelings about the liaison with Xavier's, which he had voiced enough times in the past. The collection of intelligence that came from an association with the school was invaluable, but it also revealed more about the capabilities of Department H than he was ever going to be comfortable with.
"Oui, quite." The minister said, turning back to Kane. "What we'd like our your impressions over a number of topics for now, to round out the specifics you've provided. Heather?"
Hudson opened up the folder and took out a file. "Inspector Kane, please describe your impressions of the Professor."
"Xavier? The real thing. A completely non-cynical idealist with the mental tenacity to take advantage of all opportunities towards his goals, regardless of personal risk. Highly empathic and charismatic." Garrison said, with only the briefest pause.
"Sounds somewhat idealized."
"I know. It's also the truth." Kane shrugged. "I don't have any contemporary experience, but working with the Professor is what working for someone like King or Kennedy must have been like. Immense personal magnetism, to the point that it's difficult to be able to refute him easily, because of the sense of right he possesses."
"Are there other potential motivations for Xavier?" Colcord leaned forward. "His close past association with people like Lensherr suggests the X-Men could be simply a cover for a less savoury purpose. Using the Brotherhood as a strawman and with each rescue, funneling more power to the X-Men."
"Extremely doubtful, and if it was true, it would be solely the Professor's knowledge." He took a sip of water before spreading his hands. "If there's any quality that I'd call worrisome in Charles Xavier is his willingness to disregard the law in favour of what he feels is right. The team has worked hard to build relationships with federal law enforcement and relief agencies. Elpis is building a strong reputation amoungst the UN NGOs, and Xavier's school itself has some pretty high profile students in training. The potential repercussions of, say, Xavier welcoming in a mutant with former ties to terrorism, and that mutant not reforming and causing wide spread destruction would be crippling to his goals."
"And yet he still risks this." MacDonald said quietly, putting two fingers to his lower lip. "Why?"
"His nature appears to be putting people ahead of his goals, sir. That's why I find the likelihood of possible collusion between Xavier and Lensherr extremely unlikely. Xavier's willingness to risk what all he has built to rehabilitate a single mutant is wholly inconstant with building an orchestrated powerbase." Kane said simply. Colcord still looked dubious, but MacDonald was nodding. The Minister had spoken with Xavier on numerous occasions, and certainly would not have sent Kane down if he didn't trust the Professor.
Heather made a couple of quick notes before turning the page. "Inspector Kane, tell us about your impression of the student body."
"Beyond 'a bunch of brain damaged horny teenagers'?" MacDonald hid a smirk with his hand, while the looks for both the Director and Hudson chilled perceptively.
"Yes, some additional information that we couldn't learn out of a National Lampoon film would be nice."
"Well, the dynamics in a general sense are much different than a normal private school. The diversity of economic, social, and ethical backgrounds have rendered the idea of cliques pretty much worthless in that environment, and the small number of students mean they tend to band together pretty tightly. There's a lot of… I guess fostering is the right term, between some of the older students and the younger ones." Kane's psychology background wasn't education, which made him want to fit the kids into either a tribal or gang dynamic, but he resisted the urge.
"Protective, independent… a trifle paranoid, but that's expected considering their teachers show up with broken bones and bandages to class every other week."
"Any disassociative traits?"
"Not institutionally based ones. If there's a failing at the school, it's really out of two categories. One, that the vast majority of the staff are less than ten years older than the students. Because of that, there's difficulties in establishing a lot of the traditional discipline and staff/students relationships you'd get in a normal school. The mentoring idea goes very deeply, which pretty much all of the students having at least one staff member as a kind of older sibling to talk to." Kane pointed to the folder. "The other, which I mentioned, is the isolation factor. The school is extremely insular. Most of the relationships are between staff, there's a limited connection with other schools, and since almost all the students with major powers live on-site, their social group doesn't expand much outside of the grounds."
"Is this isolation intentional?"
"I don't think so. It's a combination of factors. Security, obviously, but also the fact that many of the students and staff experienced persecution of one extreme or another prior to coming to the school, which reinforces the idea of the safe haven." Kane had mentioned this to some of the staff in passing, but there really wasn't a solution for it. "So they form tightly knit groups, which expand somewhat once reaching college age, but still tend to dovetail back to the school."
"You're thinking recruitment, aren't you?"
Kane nodded his head. "Coming into that environment at sixteen or seventeen, it would be very difficult not to find yourself looking at going into the X-Men or Elpis as the natural next step. Xavier's personal charisma instills a deep sense of duty, and of his own ethos into the staff and students. But that also includes the disregard for the law when judged to be biased, and a willingness to actively break it for the greater good."
"Do you disagree with their position?"
"None of the actions they've taken have been capricious. There has been solid reasoning, and to the best of my knowledge, sober judgment taken each time they've decided to take matters into their own hands. My worry is more institutional. What happens in ten years, with this behaviour established, and someone who isn't the exceptionally ethical man that Xavier is runs the school?" Kane said. "Yeah, I'm worried they are going to risk everything trying to save the wrong person, take the wrong thing into their own hands as opposed to the proper agencies, and as a result, all the good they've done will disappear in a heartbeat. I know how often the RCMP and the FBI screws something up. Our protection is that as long as we operate within the rules, the fallout can't be used against us in any real way. The X-Men don't have that protection."
"Are you sure you haven't signed on to Xavier's beliefs?"
"No, Director Colcord. I was sent down to evaluate the X-Men; to openly present my views and experiences to the Canadian government. In my opinion, they are a dedicated group who honestly believe their methods are the only ones that can provide the assistance they can in the environment that they currently exist in. In numerous cases, they have developed strong relationships with government agencies, and I see that increasing. Eventually the X-Men will not be allowed to operate independently. As I noted in my report, with just Juggernaut, Cable, Storm, Polaris, Phoenix, and Rogue, the X-Men could reduce the island of Manhattan to ruins in less than six hours. That much power eventually is going to have to either be answerable to the people and the government of the United States , or they will not be allowed to continue unmolested. I think that what you'll see is those relationships growing in that direction, eventually making the X-Men and the school part of law enforcement or an agency of the US government or the UN at some stage in the future." Kane's voice was open and plain. "For the most part, they're good people, and they believe this is the best way to make a difference. Our approach with them is the right one. Establish a relationship, communicate the lines unofficially until they finally become official, and stay out of the way."
"So you'd be comfortable with them operating on Canadian soil?"
"Yes."
"Recruiting Canadians?"
"No, but I wouldn't advocate specific barriers to it. I believe our system works better, and provides better acclimatization for young mutants, by not segregating them into a single institution or area. However, the social pressures are different in the US, and they don't have a program that can take the place of Xavier's. One thing is obvious, though. The mansion's training and power testing facilities are far better equipped for high level mutant abilities, and the Professor has more experience in this field than we do." Kane pointed out. "Any Canadian mutant topping out the power scale, at least in the next couple of years, should be visiting the school."
"Finally, Inspector, how comfortable are you with the school, the X-Men and your position there?"
Kane was silent for a moment, marshalling his thoughts. "Over the last six months, I've put a great deal of time into that question. The X-Men system is flawed, but that's true of the RCMP too. There's a vast amount of power there, and a strong perception that they are the only ones that are fit to judge how it should be used. I worry about the isolation, and I think they are losing the sense of how normal people live. It's a mansion on the hill, there's no worries about rent or food. They have a stealth jet to take them places and powerful technology behind them. If one gets into trouble, there's special relationships and deals to get them out again. All of that can create dangerous disassociations; feelings of a superiour or privileged status, a disconnect with the average person. That worries me."
"On the other hand, they take exceptional personal risks without any specific obligation to. The training regimens are long, and arduous, and responsibilities on top of that are those that few people ever have to deal with, and they take that on voluntarily. They put themselves in danger without looking for a reward, and without receiving much personal recognition. They believe in the Professor, and he believes in something worthy. That's the biggest failing Alpha Flight's initial run had. It wasn't operational; it was belief. As a soldier, you believe in your country. As a cop, you believe in your badge. Alpha Flight needs to believe in something. It's the only way we're going to duplicate the effort, dedication, and the success that the X-Men have had."
"Well, I think that covers all of my questions. I have a meeting with the Minister Baird in an hour." MacDonald got up from his seat. "I see no reason why Inspector Kane shouldn't continue his relationship with Xavier's until the next review period."
Colcord looked less sure, but simply nodded as he got up to shake MacDonald's hand. "Thank you for coming, Minister."
"Of course, Malcolm. Inspector Kane, tell Professor Xavier I look forward to meeting him again soon." He said, before being ushered out with Colcord. Garrison let out a deep breath and slumped back in his chair. Heather tossed his file back into his lap as she came around the table to sit on the edge in front of him.
"You did good, Gar. The Director is annoyed that you haven't shipped up plans to the Cerebro and DNA samples of every mutant in the place by now, but both the Minister and Professor Xavier seem comfortable with the lines that you've drawn about what to say and what not to say." She said, trying to settle him a bit.
"Yeah, and that will help when Colcord drops into bastard ironic tone."
"Relax. He just wants to know everything about everything all the time. Nothing you can do about that." Heather grinned. "So what's the school really like?"
"Insane. Complete madhouse, Heather, I swear." Kane grinned back at her. "It's a trip, I'll give it that. And the plane is pretty fucking cool, eh."
"I'm sure. Don't expect Alpha Flight to get another more than WestJet tickets."
"Perish the thought."
"How's Logan?"
"He's... well, it's been a rough couple of months for him. He's a little shaky, in terms of his control. I don't know." Kane scrubbed his hands through his hair. "He's coming to grips with something, and he doesn't want to tell me what it is yet."
"I'll give him a call this week. It's been too long since Mac and I have seen him. So," She poked him with the toe of her shoe. "You and Marie, huh?"
"Yes, me and Marie. Stop looking so smug."
"Called it two years ago."
"You were crazy."
"Two years ago." She said in a singsong voice. "That's twenty you owe me."
"This was not my fault."
"Whatever. You were eyeing her long before now." Heather dropped over the edge of the table. "Alright Romeo, we've got things to do. You can buy me lunch later and tell me what it's like to be in love."
"Why did Mac marry you again?"
"I can do that reverse rotation thing left-handed."
"I fucking hate you."
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