Kevin & Darcy: Interview
Aug. 4th, 2021 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsKevin interviews Darcy after she expresses an interest in joining X-Force.
The café was busy and yet, Kevin somehow had a relatively isolated table on the patio, separated from the rest of the seats by several potted plants. The occasional customer would try to shift them only to be shooed away by the wait staff. It was hot in Manhattan and yet he seemed cool and at ease in yet another impeccably tailored suit, sipping from a steaming coffee cup, as if the humidity and the heat reflecting off the asphalt were things that simply happened to other people. He looked up and waved her over with a crisp motion as soon as she appeared, despite the fact he hadn't even appeared to have been watching the street, instead engrossed in his paper.
Darcy laughed as she noticed the summons and made her way to the table. “I see someone is in fine-looking form today,” she said lightly as she took the seat across. “Impressive to look so collected in this heat.”
"Heat is one thing. Being poorly dressed is another entirely." He said simply, turning a page. As if summoned, a waitress was already at her elbow with a menu. "Just put her on my tab, Whitney."
"Of course, Mister Sydney."
Darcy looked over the menu briefly and ordered with a smile of thanks. Once Whitney was on her way inside, she raised an eyebrow at Kevin. “I feel like I should be getting this one, but paying for my drinks seems to be becoming a bit of a habit for you.”
"Consider it a recruitment bonus." He put his paper down and reached into his bag and pulled out a file. "So Colbert tells me you want a job with us. My job is to make you think otherwise. See, I've reviewed your record. Other than a couple of parking tickets and some salacious Snapchat photos, you're about as vanilla as we could imagine. So, Darcy, why do you want to join this world?"
“You’ve reviewed what’s on record or available in the cloud, but some trails aren’t that easy to uncover.” She took a sip of water, gathered her thoughts. “There’s a niche that the greyer activities fill. There’s a time to punch bad activity in the face or legislate against it, and there’s a point where you realize your adversary is richer, better connected, or otherwise not going to be held in jail… and is either too much of a risk with information, or can’t be contained by the programs some governments put in place for mutant problems. But to get there, you need data. You need people that can analyze it, make the leaps to find the layers in the movement so you’re sinking the ships, not just catching a few rats. And that’s what I’m interested in. Connecting the dots. Giving the data to teams where they’ll be most effective.”
She sat back for a minute, adjusting her sun hat. “I make those leaps at work and it’s ok, it pays the bills. It was probably starting to look weird that I hadn’t aggressively gone after open junior positions once I passed the bar, but then the nanites happened. I can do more with my law degree, and with the team I can actually help our people at least, even if I dirty my hands doing it.”
"Darling, didn't anyone ever tell you not to spend it all at once?" Kevin said, eyebrow raised as her drink was dropped off. "I wouldn't be doing this interview if we weren't interested."
“Sometimes it’s easier to have your cards on the table. And my cards don’t have me going back to DC—Doug did an excellent scrub but it could happen again. So I can’t help legislate against the bad activity outside of, you know, regular citizen shit. Call, email, protest, vote. Maybe write a clever blog post.” Darcy looked Kevin in the eye as she took a long sip of her drink.
“Tell me why I don’t want this, then.”
"I mean, other than the long hours, relatively low pay, lack of recognition if you do things right and almost certain quiet and painful execution if you don't? There's plenty of reasons to not want this. I'm more interested in why you do. Maybe you're a thrill junkie. Or maybe this is your own version of suicide by cop. Or maybe you get off on the idea of killing someone? I've recruited every possible kind of broken person you can imagine over the last sixty plus years. Or, maybe you're an idealist. Is that it?" He took another sip. "Ready to sacrifice it all to make the world safe for mutants. Maybe puppy dogs as well?"
“Other than the execution that sounds a lot like junior law life,” Darcy dismissed. “I don’t practice the sort of law that generally makes for a good thriller novel. But you’re right, I do like the thrill. Filling in the story despite missing parts of the outline. Figuring out work arounds for difficult to solve problems when the straightforward way can’t be used. And a bit of an idealist too. I’m jaded enough to know we’re probably not going to build a utopia, but better? That might be possible, and I’m willing to get my hands dirty for it. Not really here to go out in a blazing firefight or sink into serial killer status, just want to optimize use of my talents.”
"And how far are you willing to go? We have no need of you as an assassin, but you might have to kill someone. Someone who doesn't deserve to die for any better reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or use your body to make something work for our objectives. Is that something you're comfortable with?"
“I don’t know how I’d react if I had to kill someone for that reason, honestly. I’d like to say sure, I could do it no hesitation, but I’ve never been in that situation. And I’ve always reserved my taser for direct threats. So I couldn’t really tell you. Using my body though… that’s a little easier. So many people think your IQ goes down as your cup size goes up, and the dumber people think you are the more they’re willing to spill in front of you. Fuck dolls aren’t REAL humans, that sort of thing. I’m fine with that, it’s more rewarding when I prove them wrong.”
"Fair. We aren't hiring you as an assassin, but we need you to understand what you might be asked to do." Kevin said, taking another sip of his coffee. "I need a policy advisor. And someone who can put on an official face under whatever fiction we need at the time. You seem to fit the bill. Or, Colbert thinks you do."
He sighed and reached into his bag, tossing a card on the table. "It's Wednesday. Think about it. If you want to do this, be at this address at 9 on Monday morning and we'll start... 'onboarding', I think is the new term. If you change your mind, no judgement, no issues."
Darcy collected the card and gave it a glance before tucking it into her purse. “Sounds like a solid plan. Policy, face, side of sex with a chance of murder. I’m pretty convinced, but I’ll run the pros and cons again over the weekend.”
"You are an odd woman. I might like you." Kevin said over his cup.
Darcy laughed, the hand moving towards her glass retracting to cover her mouth. “Odd but potentially likeable? Me? Flatterer.”
"Just wait until I send you on your first mission." Kevin said wryly.
"I'm sure you'll make sure I'm to your standards before tossing me out there if possible," Darcy replied. "Not sure there's much of a proficiency plan for seduction."
"We never quite had the Sparrow school like the KGB, but back in the Agency, we absolutely had a curriculum. It's a lot more complicated when someone is trained to recognize an attempt."
"Is this actual human seduction technique learned from bad movies and erotica or carefully calculated seduction taught to government spooks?"
"I think it was developed at Stanford University initially." Kevin replied, utterly serious. "James Bond nonsense aside, the honey trap has been one of the best ways to turn an enemy agent into an asset. The Russian were especially good at it. Hell, they brought down Macmillan's government in '64 with one party girl."
"That checks. A coy smile, hint of cleavage, and politely ignoring the hand settled a little too low on my back has definitely gotten me into rooms I probably shouldn't have been in. And that's low effort compared to a calculated drink spill or similar."
"Consider that the early schooling. This stuff is the graduate degree." He said with a smile.
Tension Darcy didn't realize she'd been feeling released as she grinned back. "Hands-on lessons, or mostly book work?"
The café was busy and yet, Kevin somehow had a relatively isolated table on the patio, separated from the rest of the seats by several potted plants. The occasional customer would try to shift them only to be shooed away by the wait staff. It was hot in Manhattan and yet he seemed cool and at ease in yet another impeccably tailored suit, sipping from a steaming coffee cup, as if the humidity and the heat reflecting off the asphalt were things that simply happened to other people. He looked up and waved her over with a crisp motion as soon as she appeared, despite the fact he hadn't even appeared to have been watching the street, instead engrossed in his paper.
Darcy laughed as she noticed the summons and made her way to the table. “I see someone is in fine-looking form today,” she said lightly as she took the seat across. “Impressive to look so collected in this heat.”
"Heat is one thing. Being poorly dressed is another entirely." He said simply, turning a page. As if summoned, a waitress was already at her elbow with a menu. "Just put her on my tab, Whitney."
"Of course, Mister Sydney."
Darcy looked over the menu briefly and ordered with a smile of thanks. Once Whitney was on her way inside, she raised an eyebrow at Kevin. “I feel like I should be getting this one, but paying for my drinks seems to be becoming a bit of a habit for you.”
"Consider it a recruitment bonus." He put his paper down and reached into his bag and pulled out a file. "So Colbert tells me you want a job with us. My job is to make you think otherwise. See, I've reviewed your record. Other than a couple of parking tickets and some salacious Snapchat photos, you're about as vanilla as we could imagine. So, Darcy, why do you want to join this world?"
“You’ve reviewed what’s on record or available in the cloud, but some trails aren’t that easy to uncover.” She took a sip of water, gathered her thoughts. “There’s a niche that the greyer activities fill. There’s a time to punch bad activity in the face or legislate against it, and there’s a point where you realize your adversary is richer, better connected, or otherwise not going to be held in jail… and is either too much of a risk with information, or can’t be contained by the programs some governments put in place for mutant problems. But to get there, you need data. You need people that can analyze it, make the leaps to find the layers in the movement so you’re sinking the ships, not just catching a few rats. And that’s what I’m interested in. Connecting the dots. Giving the data to teams where they’ll be most effective.”
She sat back for a minute, adjusting her sun hat. “I make those leaps at work and it’s ok, it pays the bills. It was probably starting to look weird that I hadn’t aggressively gone after open junior positions once I passed the bar, but then the nanites happened. I can do more with my law degree, and with the team I can actually help our people at least, even if I dirty my hands doing it.”
"Darling, didn't anyone ever tell you not to spend it all at once?" Kevin said, eyebrow raised as her drink was dropped off. "I wouldn't be doing this interview if we weren't interested."
“Sometimes it’s easier to have your cards on the table. And my cards don’t have me going back to DC—Doug did an excellent scrub but it could happen again. So I can’t help legislate against the bad activity outside of, you know, regular citizen shit. Call, email, protest, vote. Maybe write a clever blog post.” Darcy looked Kevin in the eye as she took a long sip of her drink.
“Tell me why I don’t want this, then.”
"I mean, other than the long hours, relatively low pay, lack of recognition if you do things right and almost certain quiet and painful execution if you don't? There's plenty of reasons to not want this. I'm more interested in why you do. Maybe you're a thrill junkie. Or maybe this is your own version of suicide by cop. Or maybe you get off on the idea of killing someone? I've recruited every possible kind of broken person you can imagine over the last sixty plus years. Or, maybe you're an idealist. Is that it?" He took another sip. "Ready to sacrifice it all to make the world safe for mutants. Maybe puppy dogs as well?"
“Other than the execution that sounds a lot like junior law life,” Darcy dismissed. “I don’t practice the sort of law that generally makes for a good thriller novel. But you’re right, I do like the thrill. Filling in the story despite missing parts of the outline. Figuring out work arounds for difficult to solve problems when the straightforward way can’t be used. And a bit of an idealist too. I’m jaded enough to know we’re probably not going to build a utopia, but better? That might be possible, and I’m willing to get my hands dirty for it. Not really here to go out in a blazing firefight or sink into serial killer status, just want to optimize use of my talents.”
"And how far are you willing to go? We have no need of you as an assassin, but you might have to kill someone. Someone who doesn't deserve to die for any better reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or use your body to make something work for our objectives. Is that something you're comfortable with?"
“I don’t know how I’d react if I had to kill someone for that reason, honestly. I’d like to say sure, I could do it no hesitation, but I’ve never been in that situation. And I’ve always reserved my taser for direct threats. So I couldn’t really tell you. Using my body though… that’s a little easier. So many people think your IQ goes down as your cup size goes up, and the dumber people think you are the more they’re willing to spill in front of you. Fuck dolls aren’t REAL humans, that sort of thing. I’m fine with that, it’s more rewarding when I prove them wrong.”
"Fair. We aren't hiring you as an assassin, but we need you to understand what you might be asked to do." Kevin said, taking another sip of his coffee. "I need a policy advisor. And someone who can put on an official face under whatever fiction we need at the time. You seem to fit the bill. Or, Colbert thinks you do."
He sighed and reached into his bag, tossing a card on the table. "It's Wednesday. Think about it. If you want to do this, be at this address at 9 on Monday morning and we'll start... 'onboarding', I think is the new term. If you change your mind, no judgement, no issues."
Darcy collected the card and gave it a glance before tucking it into her purse. “Sounds like a solid plan. Policy, face, side of sex with a chance of murder. I’m pretty convinced, but I’ll run the pros and cons again over the weekend.”
"You are an odd woman. I might like you." Kevin said over his cup.
Darcy laughed, the hand moving towards her glass retracting to cover her mouth. “Odd but potentially likeable? Me? Flatterer.”
"Just wait until I send you on your first mission." Kevin said wryly.
"I'm sure you'll make sure I'm to your standards before tossing me out there if possible," Darcy replied. "Not sure there's much of a proficiency plan for seduction."
"We never quite had the Sparrow school like the KGB, but back in the Agency, we absolutely had a curriculum. It's a lot more complicated when someone is trained to recognize an attempt."
"Is this actual human seduction technique learned from bad movies and erotica or carefully calculated seduction taught to government spooks?"
"I think it was developed at Stanford University initially." Kevin replied, utterly serious. "James Bond nonsense aside, the honey trap has been one of the best ways to turn an enemy agent into an asset. The Russian were especially good at it. Hell, they brought down Macmillan's government in '64 with one party girl."
"That checks. A coy smile, hint of cleavage, and politely ignoring the hand settled a little too low on my back has definitely gotten me into rooms I probably shouldn't have been in. And that's low effort compared to a calculated drink spill or similar."
"Consider that the early schooling. This stuff is the graduate degree." He said with a smile.
Tension Darcy didn't realize she'd been feeling released as she grinned back. "Hands-on lessons, or mostly book work?"
