Operation: Poisoned Honey - Madrid
Dec. 22nd, 2012 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsAfter their various investigations, X-Force come together to discuss their findings.
As the others started to filter into the room, Wanda cracked open one eye as she uncurled herself from the two chairs she'd been sprawled in. "I prepared the coffee and tea makers," she said, sounding tired, scrubbing at her face. "I managed to make it back about half an hour ago."
"Best boss ever." Amanda headed over to the counter where the kettle and coffee maker waited, automatically grabbing mugs for everyone and starting making their drinks. "Any hassles?"
“More the case of apparent dead ends,” North remarked drolly, flopping gracelessly into the seat nearest to the door and snagging his phone from a coat pocket. The rest of their number filed in behind him, and the door swung shut with a thud. “Everyone’s back.”
"Den let's not waste any more time. Lessing and DiCiccu were both Basque experts. What else do we have dat ties dem? Dey didn't work together, dey weren't in de same geographical vicinity, as and far as Remy can tell, dey never met. But, withen three days of each other, dey both poisoned wit' a powerful and rare neurotoxin. Throwing away coincidence, what else do we have?" He sat down and helped himself to a generous swig of his coffee, waiting for possibilities to sort through.
"Rumors." Which was what their job was - gathering rumors and bits of information, and sorting the important things from the unimportant. Doug's presentation as he showed his laptop to his teammates was concise and to the point, as usual - a rapid-fire walkthrough of the pattern he'd been able to discern. "New group making moves. Looks to be connected to the Basque separatist movement. Mostly gunrunning, but the thing that sets them apart is the use of mutant assassins."
Amanda came over and set the last mug in front of North. "Nothing obvious pinging at the airports or other points of entry," she reported. "If they're not local, they're also not obvious mutants."
“Poison or toxin mutations that don’t smell are unlikely to set off customs bells,” North agreed, nodding his thanks at Amanda for the mug of coal-black coffee. “But why would this movement be interested in our boys? Wetwork is done to hive off perceived threats. I have looked into their deaths – they were both taken out by the same person. Background checks show no similarities beyond their professional interests, golfing interests and prime positions for intel gathering. Running with that train of thought, either both assets were standing in the way of something, or both had information another party did not want them to have.”
"Or it could be that someone has discovered our connection to them," Wanda responded, picking up her nearly cool cup of tea so she could head over to refill it. "We have compiled an astonishing large number of enemies since we first started and that certainly lends itself to our contacts being targeted. Not for anything they might have done or might be working on but simply because we know them and we trust them."
"So, our options are dat we're compromised, or dat dere's something larger wit' de Basque connection, and someone is plugging potential leaks. Neither of which are good for us." Remy said, rubbing his chin. "We need to nail down where de source of de information is and who's behind it. Doug, get into de network and look for links between de two on a structural level - did dey use de same drops, same swtchboard, contact protocals - anything dat puts dere names on de same page structurally in our network. Let's make sure we're not de source of de leak first. If it's de Basque connection, who else do we have on de ground looking into roughly de same areas?"
Doug made several notes for himself to carry out the searches Remy wanted for after the meeting finished. In the meantime...he looked through several files he already had open on his laptop. "It looks like our last link in the chain is Maria Atorrasagasti." A picture of the woman came up on the display where everyone could see. "Widow of an ETA member, who turned on the group not long after her husband was killed. She's our last surviving asset who's reported these rumors, so it looks like we better move quickly."
"Deja vu all over again," Amanda muttered, reminded of Remy's desperate ploy to lead them to him when he was in the hands of Von Struker. "If someone is going after our people again, we're really going to need to improve the benefits package."
As the others started to filter into the room, Wanda cracked open one eye as she uncurled herself from the two chairs she'd been sprawled in. "I prepared the coffee and tea makers," she said, sounding tired, scrubbing at her face. "I managed to make it back about half an hour ago."
"Best boss ever." Amanda headed over to the counter where the kettle and coffee maker waited, automatically grabbing mugs for everyone and starting making their drinks. "Any hassles?"
“More the case of apparent dead ends,” North remarked drolly, flopping gracelessly into the seat nearest to the door and snagging his phone from a coat pocket. The rest of their number filed in behind him, and the door swung shut with a thud. “Everyone’s back.”
"Den let's not waste any more time. Lessing and DiCiccu were both Basque experts. What else do we have dat ties dem? Dey didn't work together, dey weren't in de same geographical vicinity, as and far as Remy can tell, dey never met. But, withen three days of each other, dey both poisoned wit' a powerful and rare neurotoxin. Throwing away coincidence, what else do we have?" He sat down and helped himself to a generous swig of his coffee, waiting for possibilities to sort through.
"Rumors." Which was what their job was - gathering rumors and bits of information, and sorting the important things from the unimportant. Doug's presentation as he showed his laptop to his teammates was concise and to the point, as usual - a rapid-fire walkthrough of the pattern he'd been able to discern. "New group making moves. Looks to be connected to the Basque separatist movement. Mostly gunrunning, but the thing that sets them apart is the use of mutant assassins."
Amanda came over and set the last mug in front of North. "Nothing obvious pinging at the airports or other points of entry," she reported. "If they're not local, they're also not obvious mutants."
“Poison or toxin mutations that don’t smell are unlikely to set off customs bells,” North agreed, nodding his thanks at Amanda for the mug of coal-black coffee. “But why would this movement be interested in our boys? Wetwork is done to hive off perceived threats. I have looked into their deaths – they were both taken out by the same person. Background checks show no similarities beyond their professional interests, golfing interests and prime positions for intel gathering. Running with that train of thought, either both assets were standing in the way of something, or both had information another party did not want them to have.”
"Or it could be that someone has discovered our connection to them," Wanda responded, picking up her nearly cool cup of tea so she could head over to refill it. "We have compiled an astonishing large number of enemies since we first started and that certainly lends itself to our contacts being targeted. Not for anything they might have done or might be working on but simply because we know them and we trust them."
"So, our options are dat we're compromised, or dat dere's something larger wit' de Basque connection, and someone is plugging potential leaks. Neither of which are good for us." Remy said, rubbing his chin. "We need to nail down where de source of de information is and who's behind it. Doug, get into de network and look for links between de two on a structural level - did dey use de same drops, same swtchboard, contact protocals - anything dat puts dere names on de same page structurally in our network. Let's make sure we're not de source of de leak first. If it's de Basque connection, who else do we have on de ground looking into roughly de same areas?"
Doug made several notes for himself to carry out the searches Remy wanted for after the meeting finished. In the meantime...he looked through several files he already had open on his laptop. "It looks like our last link in the chain is Maria Atorrasagasti." A picture of the woman came up on the display where everyone could see. "Widow of an ETA member, who turned on the group not long after her husband was killed. She's our last surviving asset who's reported these rumors, so it looks like we better move quickly."
"Deja vu all over again," Amanda muttered, reminded of Remy's desperate ploy to lead them to him when he was in the hands of Von Struker. "If someone is going after our people again, we're really going to need to improve the benefits package."
