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xp_logs2008-10-26 12:44 pm
x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2008-10-26 12:44 pm
Entry tags:
Day Zero - Plan C
The government has a plan to stop Apocalypse, but it's at a terrible cost. Fury comes to Shiro with an alternate proposition that is no better.
The atmosphere in the mansion was tense, to say the least. Scott's emails had gone out to the team, and to no small amount of surprise, a majority of the mansion's inhabitants who weren't among the uniform-wearing contingent were coming out of the woodwork to volunteer their help.
One specific non-resident, however, was on his way out of the mansion when someone in particular caught his eye. If the mood of the day was volunteering, then the timing couldn't be any more perfect.
"Yoshida-san," Nick Fury called, walking up behind Shiro to match pace with the shorter man. "I wonder if I might steal a moment of your time."
Usually when someone addressed him with a Japanese honorific, Shiro was ready to disregard them out of hand as a weabo poseur. With tensions running high, he turned to face the other man and let him know just what he thought, until he realized just who was speaking to him. "General Fury," he said instead, politely, and offered him a slight nod. "How may I help you?"
The other reason to be addressed with an honorific was when someone wanted something out of him. He doubted that it could be good coming from SHIELD.
"Walk with me," Fury said cordially, heading for the sunroom. As the two men entered, Fury walked over to one of the windows, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out at the helicopter sitting on the lawn. "I'm not one for big flowery pleasantries. While back, you managed to piss off a good chunk of the Japanese government. General Jibue had a lot of friends. A lot less so once you pulled the covers on Unit 731."
Shiro hesitated before he replied. Fury undoubtedly knew most of the details of Krakoa, he reasoned, but what was he getting at? "In public, maybe. But I would wager that there are still many who would privately approve of Unit 731 and its 'goals.' Why is this relevant? Has Apocalypse recruited another survivor?"
"Nah, nothing like that," Fury replied. "This is about you. You impressed a lot of people with what you did. Some folks might say you got yourself a real samurai spirit, duty and honor above everything else. Me?" The SHIELD director shrugged noncommittally. "I see a man who knows what needs to be done and does it, damn the cost if he's gotta. Am I reading you right, Yoshida?"
"Some might say that," Shiro replied slowly. He crossed his arms over his chest and only later realized that he had taken a step back. "When one wields power like I do, one must know how to use it for good and for the betterment of mankind. Honor comes from protecting creation and purifying the profane." He grinned, though one could say he was just baring his teeth. "I do it through fire."
"Yeah, you do," Fury said as he turned around, his grin a mirror of Shiro's. "I'm gonna ask you to do something, and you're gonna say yes. Here's the situation - this Apocalypse motherfucker is less than three days from knocking on the door of absolute anarchy. We're talking the collapse of the free market economy as we know it. Now, the American President, he ain't about to let that happen. So in less than seventy-two hours, there's an airstrike planned, they're calling it ANVIL. Carpetbomb Manhattan into glass."
He paced slightly, then turned to Shiro, his one eye fixed on the young man's face, looking for any kind of reaction. "Fact is, I'm not sure it'll work. We're giving Apocalypse too much time to prepare himself. So what I'm going to ask you is this - when you're out there, you watch how things are going. If there's no way to win, and you know this - if you and yours go in there and you can't take this son of a bitch down... we need a backup plan. We need Sunfire."
"What can Sunf . . . Oh no." It was a transformation worthy of Mystique, from cool and curious to terrified and horrified. "You are psychotic. How dare you even ask this of me? I am not your Little Boy to drop into the middle of Manhattan to annihilate it!"
"You think this is some kind of game?" Fury barked back, advancing on Shiro. "You listen to me, Shiro Yoshida. You've got no idea what could happen if we fail here. You think Manhattan being under this Apocalypse's thumb is bad? Try the Eastern Seaboard. Because if he knocks the financial networks offline, it makes it that much easier for him to spread out while the world's in chaos. Then the rest of the country, the continent, the whole damn hemisphere. You can call me psychotic for asking you to sacrifice a couple thousand lives. You got that luxury, I don't. I gotta look at the bigger picture."
He turned again to look out at the green lawn, hands still clasped. "Six figure death toll in Manhattan. We blame it on Apocalypse going crazy. People react by blaming mutants, and life's shit for a while. But compared to looking at a second goddamn Holocaust, I will turn you into Fat Man, Little Boy, whatever bomb you wanna name. Because if it comes to that, it has got to be done. And you and I both know what you can do when you got to."
"Just because I can turn New York City into Hiroshima does not make it right or honorable." The sunroom suddenly grew stiflingly hot, and the air around Shiro rippled, blurring his edges. "You are asking me to erase Manhattan from the planet with no guarantee of success. Even if I could, Apocalypse could still survive. Or maybe I am not strong enough and it will be for naught. Or worse, I am too strong and destroy not only Manhattan, but the rest of the city or even the state. H-have you even considered the environmental impact?"
"And how honorable is it to let potentially millions die because you ain't got it in you to do what might have to be done?" Fury shot back. "You want an honorable victory, you go in there and you kick this motherfucker's ass and put him down. Because if you fail, we all lose, Yoshida. And it's my job to make sure that don't happen. By any means necessary."
"You are asking me to kill myself on the scant chance that I can save the world," Shiro scoffed, his voice quivering. "Is that honor or madness, Fury? You would have me unleash a power so destructive that your country has fought, killed, and died to keep it in check for sixty years."
"Ever hear the phrase 'lesser of two evils', Yoshida?" Fury asked, his voice suddenly quieter. "As badass as you can be, what'll happen if Apocalypse wins? You're like a match in front of an inferno. We all want to live. But not having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice," the taller man quoted. "That's the Hagakure. I'm sure you know it."
Hino Tomo had raised a young Shiro on the words of the eighteenth century samurai. "'I have found that the Way of the samurai is death,'" Shiro quoted grimly. "'This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.' You do know that should it come down to this, then your country will have been saved by a foreigner. Can your people tolerate that?"
"Welcome to America," Fury responded. "We're all a little bit foreign here."
"And if we fail, then you can be foreign somewhere else."
The atmosphere in the mansion was tense, to say the least. Scott's emails had gone out to the team, and to no small amount of surprise, a majority of the mansion's inhabitants who weren't among the uniform-wearing contingent were coming out of the woodwork to volunteer their help.
One specific non-resident, however, was on his way out of the mansion when someone in particular caught his eye. If the mood of the day was volunteering, then the timing couldn't be any more perfect.
"Yoshida-san," Nick Fury called, walking up behind Shiro to match pace with the shorter man. "I wonder if I might steal a moment of your time."
Usually when someone addressed him with a Japanese honorific, Shiro was ready to disregard them out of hand as a weabo poseur. With tensions running high, he turned to face the other man and let him know just what he thought, until he realized just who was speaking to him. "General Fury," he said instead, politely, and offered him a slight nod. "How may I help you?"
The other reason to be addressed with an honorific was when someone wanted something out of him. He doubted that it could be good coming from SHIELD.
"Walk with me," Fury said cordially, heading for the sunroom. As the two men entered, Fury walked over to one of the windows, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out at the helicopter sitting on the lawn. "I'm not one for big flowery pleasantries. While back, you managed to piss off a good chunk of the Japanese government. General Jibue had a lot of friends. A lot less so once you pulled the covers on Unit 731."
Shiro hesitated before he replied. Fury undoubtedly knew most of the details of Krakoa, he reasoned, but what was he getting at? "In public, maybe. But I would wager that there are still many who would privately approve of Unit 731 and its 'goals.' Why is this relevant? Has Apocalypse recruited another survivor?"
"Nah, nothing like that," Fury replied. "This is about you. You impressed a lot of people with what you did. Some folks might say you got yourself a real samurai spirit, duty and honor above everything else. Me?" The SHIELD director shrugged noncommittally. "I see a man who knows what needs to be done and does it, damn the cost if he's gotta. Am I reading you right, Yoshida?"
"Some might say that," Shiro replied slowly. He crossed his arms over his chest and only later realized that he had taken a step back. "When one wields power like I do, one must know how to use it for good and for the betterment of mankind. Honor comes from protecting creation and purifying the profane." He grinned, though one could say he was just baring his teeth. "I do it through fire."
"Yeah, you do," Fury said as he turned around, his grin a mirror of Shiro's. "I'm gonna ask you to do something, and you're gonna say yes. Here's the situation - this Apocalypse motherfucker is less than three days from knocking on the door of absolute anarchy. We're talking the collapse of the free market economy as we know it. Now, the American President, he ain't about to let that happen. So in less than seventy-two hours, there's an airstrike planned, they're calling it ANVIL. Carpetbomb Manhattan into glass."
He paced slightly, then turned to Shiro, his one eye fixed on the young man's face, looking for any kind of reaction. "Fact is, I'm not sure it'll work. We're giving Apocalypse too much time to prepare himself. So what I'm going to ask you is this - when you're out there, you watch how things are going. If there's no way to win, and you know this - if you and yours go in there and you can't take this son of a bitch down... we need a backup plan. We need Sunfire."
"What can Sunf . . . Oh no." It was a transformation worthy of Mystique, from cool and curious to terrified and horrified. "You are psychotic. How dare you even ask this of me? I am not your Little Boy to drop into the middle of Manhattan to annihilate it!"
"You think this is some kind of game?" Fury barked back, advancing on Shiro. "You listen to me, Shiro Yoshida. You've got no idea what could happen if we fail here. You think Manhattan being under this Apocalypse's thumb is bad? Try the Eastern Seaboard. Because if he knocks the financial networks offline, it makes it that much easier for him to spread out while the world's in chaos. Then the rest of the country, the continent, the whole damn hemisphere. You can call me psychotic for asking you to sacrifice a couple thousand lives. You got that luxury, I don't. I gotta look at the bigger picture."
He turned again to look out at the green lawn, hands still clasped. "Six figure death toll in Manhattan. We blame it on Apocalypse going crazy. People react by blaming mutants, and life's shit for a while. But compared to looking at a second goddamn Holocaust, I will turn you into Fat Man, Little Boy, whatever bomb you wanna name. Because if it comes to that, it has got to be done. And you and I both know what you can do when you got to."
"Just because I can turn New York City into Hiroshima does not make it right or honorable." The sunroom suddenly grew stiflingly hot, and the air around Shiro rippled, blurring his edges. "You are asking me to erase Manhattan from the planet with no guarantee of success. Even if I could, Apocalypse could still survive. Or maybe I am not strong enough and it will be for naught. Or worse, I am too strong and destroy not only Manhattan, but the rest of the city or even the state. H-have you even considered the environmental impact?"
"And how honorable is it to let potentially millions die because you ain't got it in you to do what might have to be done?" Fury shot back. "You want an honorable victory, you go in there and you kick this motherfucker's ass and put him down. Because if you fail, we all lose, Yoshida. And it's my job to make sure that don't happen. By any means necessary."
"You are asking me to kill myself on the scant chance that I can save the world," Shiro scoffed, his voice quivering. "Is that honor or madness, Fury? You would have me unleash a power so destructive that your country has fought, killed, and died to keep it in check for sixty years."
"Ever hear the phrase 'lesser of two evils', Yoshida?" Fury asked, his voice suddenly quieter. "As badass as you can be, what'll happen if Apocalypse wins? You're like a match in front of an inferno. We all want to live. But not having attained our aim and continuing to live is cowardice," the taller man quoted. "That's the Hagakure. I'm sure you know it."
Hino Tomo had raised a young Shiro on the words of the eighteenth century samurai. "'I have found that the Way of the samurai is death,'" Shiro quoted grimly. "'This means that when you are compelled to choose between life and death, you must quickly choose death.' You do know that should it come down to this, then your country will have been saved by a foreigner. Can your people tolerate that?"
"Welcome to America," Fury responded. "We're all a little bit foreign here."
"And if we fail, then you can be foreign somewhere else."