The Nora Project - Marie-Ange
Nov. 15th, 2021 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs Kevin, or rather 'Nora' finally makes it into the office.
Kevin had always been punctual, which is why it was odd that his office was still empty by noon. He'd been in rough shape the day before, almost molten after the run in with the EM field. But he'd been insistent he just needed some rest and he'd been in the next day. They were about to put in a call when the elevator doors opened. The redhead that walked out certainly commanded attention. She was tall and striking, dressed well and moved with a sense of complete self possession. She didn't even pause at the reception desk, walking straight past it and into Kevin's office where she hung up her long coat, sat down at the desk and opened the computer.
Marie-Ange had been pulling the day's papers, mostly tabloids, when the elevator opened, and dropped the entire stack on the front desk instead of taking a select pile back to her office. She waited a beat, and then followed the other red-head - a novelty for her, even with Natasha in the office some days, to Kevin's office. "I have no idea what the polite way to ask this is. Are you... this is not a choice, is it? Because you have never come in the office like this." She paused. "Ever. Also at the risk of stereotyping myself, I want that scarf and those shoes. Not your personal ones, just a link to the store where you purchased them."
"EM field yesterday. Tried to sleep off the effects and woke up as Nora and no access to my powers. Doc Grey says it's pretty normal for temporary burnout after encountering one - a few days, maybe a week? Thinks maybe it went for Nora because I spent more time as her than any other specific alt." She leaned back, crossing her legs. "The scarf is from a place in Paris. I can send you a link. The shoes are from a Milanese designer that you'd need considerably more experience in torture to get the name out from me."
She sighed. "So I'm going to need to be out of the field until my powers are back. I think North can take my run through South Africa later this week."
"Probably best, yes. Do you need anything besides that?" Marie-Ange asked, leaning against the doorway. "I do not expect anything exceptionally active the rest of the week, but I can double check." She patted her pocket where the cards always lived and then gave Kevin - no - Nora an amused nose-wrinkled look she hadn't likely seen before, even as Kevin. "Do you want me to not tell anyone else, and see who notices and who just stumbles in needing coffee? Besides North, of course. I should text him right away, he probably has to rearrange plane trips."
"It's a good start. Actually, I have to be honest-" Nora spread her hands. "I normally use Nora in Europe. My American semi-casual is out of date. Can you tell me where you're shopping these days? Or plan a trip?"
The look of absolute delight on Marie-Ange's face was genuine, rare and not even a little surprising. "I have. So. many shops." She pulled her phone out of the same pocket as her cards, and started tapping away. "Let me see. Too casual. Not right for your shape. Too European." She flicked the screen with each rejection, and then finally swiped up several times in a row, sending a series of map markers to the phone next to Nora on the desk. "You do not use a fingerprint password on your phone, yes? Otherwise what I did is just useless. Wait, do you have your current fingerprint saved on your phone and your Kevin body's fingerprint? Do you even have consistent fingerprints? Probably does not matter, no? I am calling a rare sick of the office day, we can shop."
"Relax Colbert. I have a couple of backups for my phone. But I wouldn't say no to an escourt. And since Lewis walked herself into a wall when I showed up, I think I might need to look elsewhere for some independent opinion."
"I had two cups of coffee on the train and you need a wardrobe update. It has been an absolutely shatteringly horrible few months, I am taking my good moments where I can." Marie-Ange pointed out. "Wait, did Darcy actually walk into a wall? Not that you are not magnificent but you would think she would be used to that sort of thing just looking in the mirror..."
"Lewis has a whole raft of her issues. I'll talk to her later, make sure she's not distracted to the point she can't work. After all, Barton's utter goldmine of intel needs to be gone through. Wouldn't have expected him as the asset." Nora said, leaning back in her chair.
"Who in this office does not have a flotilla of issues? We used to have an in-house psychologist, and we still all have issues." Marie-Ange sat down in the chair across from the desk. "Barton used to work for SWORD. Or does still, I suppose. I am pleasantly surprised our asset is someone we know, at least he should be willing to give us information for cheap vodka and pizza."
"He gave us the file. That's the important part." Nora said. "It's more that it is unfiltered. You never get that."
"Does SWORD have the file? At all?" Marie-Ange shook her head in surprise. "If we have a monopoly on Barton's information I should like to go through it as quickly as possible. Brand had him undercover there, it sounds like they do not have the left and right hands speaking to each other. Government funded robots, but also government undercover work." She made a twisted grimace at the mention of Abigail Brand. "Plus we have intel on the Brotherhood to report on, and probably share with the X-Men."
"Colbert, do you understand how the Pentagon works? Imagine if you took a thousand straws and glued them together side by side into a pentagon shape. Each of those straws represents some personal silo or fiefdom of a command officer. Some are bigger or smaller, so have more people in charge of the silo, but ultimately, each one is treated like its own little shop inside the larger entity." Nora shook her head. "Even the Joint Chiefs don't know everything going on in their command, especially when it comes to R and D. Some one star is horny for the idea of cruise missiles fired out of the back of a HUMVEE, it's not hard for him to bury the funding in the ass end of a billion dollar munitions budget. And the only thing the brass hates more than the idea of sharing information about their projects with each other is sharing them with outside agencies, especially the spooks."
Nore was uncharacteristically intense about the intel. This had been her world for fifty years and she knew it well enough to know the kind of bomb they were sitting on. "Just from a basic first look, this is an illegal black book project. It's just the scope... hundreds of names. The people behind this sold it as an anti-mutant solution. Only way to get both the buy-in and the secrecy for this. No, there's no way this came from the White House, the DoD or SHIELD."
"Yes, no I know, that is what I am saying, the government does not know itself." Marie-Ange said, with a little shake of her head. "I do not think the President is ...." She tilted her head, considering this. "I am nearly certain the President is not approving murder robots, but I also wonder how this is being sold. As you said, hundreds of names. Enough people that SWORD got wind of it. This is very big, no one signed away on the idea of giant murder robots, but someone signed away on the idea of something to stop us, funded by the United States Government and not something defensive. This is aggressive, yes? Even hidden in the rear end of a budget. Someone with enough, ah, clout, to spend the money, has their fingers in this and they have power. We need to get ahead of this."
"Overall, the scope of the funding and development is something a one or two star could swing and keep it quiet. The reason the scope concerns me is that it's not just one silo. There's bleed over of personnel assigned on other DoD projects. Even a few outside of the Pentagon. This doesn't feel like just one misguided piece of a wider government mandate on anti-mutant tech." Nora tapped her finger idly on her desk. "This looks like someone's personal crusade, and they've been recruiting like-minded people to work with them."
"All of the bigots in their own club." Marie-Ange said. "With however much money it costs to engineer this kind of thing." She glanced at her phone again, checking the time. "I know your answer, but not too early for drinks, yes? Because this requires drinks. This is very big, bigger than us. We could take out one or two key people and all the bigots in the club will just fill back into the empty space. This is... I think to stop this, it will have to be burned out in public. Drag it into the sun." She rubbed at her face, thinking. "I do not think we can just dump this onto a reporter's desk."
Nora pointed over to the sideboard. "Help yourself." She was now thumbing through some of the names. "Going public without warning is a bad idea. It will not only isolate some of the allies you currently have, but it could topple the Administration, and the other guys aren't big fans of mutants. The best way is to cauterize it. With the names and positions we have, SHIELD or the FBI would be in a position to make dozens, maybe even a hundred simultaneous arrests. Either the rest we don't know about will go on the run or eventually some of the ones they have charged will roll over and give up the rest. The Joint Chiefs will be furious over this happening under the noses, which will make any research and development even within spitting distance of anti-mutant tech radioactive. Gives the President some cover and options in announcing some of the details, and the rest they can bury behind classified restrictions."
Marie-Ange swiftly made drinks, one for herself and another she slid across the desk. You did not just borrow someone's alcohol and not make them a drink too, that was rude. "I agree, not without warning. I think it has to be SHIELD. They have a good public face with the Avengers." Her mouth twisted up in a grimace. "Imagine the absolute outrage if no one did anything and then Captain America found out that the United States was making murder robots to kill a visible minority group." She held up a hand. "I do not want to drop this on Steve Rogers' desk. I think Colonel Fury? Or one of the highly placed SHIELD agents that Barton knows."
"We need someone significantly above Barton's paygrade for this intel. I can push it though Chris though." She took a drink from the glass. "He can push it through the British Ambassador and make sure it end up with the chief of staff, the President, SecDef, with all the serial numbers filed off."
"He knows that bland one, but I think I like the poetic nature of having Christian Kane hand it off." Marie-Ange agreed, with a nod. "No one will even blink, we barely even have to change anything about how we acquired it."
"Also no blame comes back to us." Nora's smile was wide. "This is good stuff, Colbert. This is the kind of intel we live for.".
"Oh yes. I intend to enjoy the fallout, just a little, and then we mine all of this to keep it from going underground. Some of the roaches will try to hide, but in, do you think, six months? We chase them back out of the shadows."
"No, we let them feel safe in the shadows and see where they lead us. Purifiers, Sapien League, that AIM group Xavier's ran into... it will be the equivalent of a job fair for those who got away. And that will lead us to the next target. And the next. And the next."
"Yes, that entirely." Marie-Ange agreed. "We give them time to feel safe, and see where they scuttle off to. We are going to be very busy in the next year."
Kevin had always been punctual, which is why it was odd that his office was still empty by noon. He'd been in rough shape the day before, almost molten after the run in with the EM field. But he'd been insistent he just needed some rest and he'd been in the next day. They were about to put in a call when the elevator doors opened. The redhead that walked out certainly commanded attention. She was tall and striking, dressed well and moved with a sense of complete self possession. She didn't even pause at the reception desk, walking straight past it and into Kevin's office where she hung up her long coat, sat down at the desk and opened the computer.
Marie-Ange had been pulling the day's papers, mostly tabloids, when the elevator opened, and dropped the entire stack on the front desk instead of taking a select pile back to her office. She waited a beat, and then followed the other red-head - a novelty for her, even with Natasha in the office some days, to Kevin's office. "I have no idea what the polite way to ask this is. Are you... this is not a choice, is it? Because you have never come in the office like this." She paused. "Ever. Also at the risk of stereotyping myself, I want that scarf and those shoes. Not your personal ones, just a link to the store where you purchased them."
"EM field yesterday. Tried to sleep off the effects and woke up as Nora and no access to my powers. Doc Grey says it's pretty normal for temporary burnout after encountering one - a few days, maybe a week? Thinks maybe it went for Nora because I spent more time as her than any other specific alt." She leaned back, crossing her legs. "The scarf is from a place in Paris. I can send you a link. The shoes are from a Milanese designer that you'd need considerably more experience in torture to get the name out from me."
She sighed. "So I'm going to need to be out of the field until my powers are back. I think North can take my run through South Africa later this week."
"Probably best, yes. Do you need anything besides that?" Marie-Ange asked, leaning against the doorway. "I do not expect anything exceptionally active the rest of the week, but I can double check." She patted her pocket where the cards always lived and then gave Kevin - no - Nora an amused nose-wrinkled look she hadn't likely seen before, even as Kevin. "Do you want me to not tell anyone else, and see who notices and who just stumbles in needing coffee? Besides North, of course. I should text him right away, he probably has to rearrange plane trips."
"It's a good start. Actually, I have to be honest-" Nora spread her hands. "I normally use Nora in Europe. My American semi-casual is out of date. Can you tell me where you're shopping these days? Or plan a trip?"
The look of absolute delight on Marie-Ange's face was genuine, rare and not even a little surprising. "I have. So. many shops." She pulled her phone out of the same pocket as her cards, and started tapping away. "Let me see. Too casual. Not right for your shape. Too European." She flicked the screen with each rejection, and then finally swiped up several times in a row, sending a series of map markers to the phone next to Nora on the desk. "You do not use a fingerprint password on your phone, yes? Otherwise what I did is just useless. Wait, do you have your current fingerprint saved on your phone and your Kevin body's fingerprint? Do you even have consistent fingerprints? Probably does not matter, no? I am calling a rare sick of the office day, we can shop."
"Relax Colbert. I have a couple of backups for my phone. But I wouldn't say no to an escourt. And since Lewis walked herself into a wall when I showed up, I think I might need to look elsewhere for some independent opinion."
"I had two cups of coffee on the train and you need a wardrobe update. It has been an absolutely shatteringly horrible few months, I am taking my good moments where I can." Marie-Ange pointed out. "Wait, did Darcy actually walk into a wall? Not that you are not magnificent but you would think she would be used to that sort of thing just looking in the mirror..."
"Lewis has a whole raft of her issues. I'll talk to her later, make sure she's not distracted to the point she can't work. After all, Barton's utter goldmine of intel needs to be gone through. Wouldn't have expected him as the asset." Nora said, leaning back in her chair.
"Who in this office does not have a flotilla of issues? We used to have an in-house psychologist, and we still all have issues." Marie-Ange sat down in the chair across from the desk. "Barton used to work for SWORD. Or does still, I suppose. I am pleasantly surprised our asset is someone we know, at least he should be willing to give us information for cheap vodka and pizza."
"He gave us the file. That's the important part." Nora said. "It's more that it is unfiltered. You never get that."
"Does SWORD have the file? At all?" Marie-Ange shook her head in surprise. "If we have a monopoly on Barton's information I should like to go through it as quickly as possible. Brand had him undercover there, it sounds like they do not have the left and right hands speaking to each other. Government funded robots, but also government undercover work." She made a twisted grimace at the mention of Abigail Brand. "Plus we have intel on the Brotherhood to report on, and probably share with the X-Men."
"Colbert, do you understand how the Pentagon works? Imagine if you took a thousand straws and glued them together side by side into a pentagon shape. Each of those straws represents some personal silo or fiefdom of a command officer. Some are bigger or smaller, so have more people in charge of the silo, but ultimately, each one is treated like its own little shop inside the larger entity." Nora shook her head. "Even the Joint Chiefs don't know everything going on in their command, especially when it comes to R and D. Some one star is horny for the idea of cruise missiles fired out of the back of a HUMVEE, it's not hard for him to bury the funding in the ass end of a billion dollar munitions budget. And the only thing the brass hates more than the idea of sharing information about their projects with each other is sharing them with outside agencies, especially the spooks."
Nore was uncharacteristically intense about the intel. This had been her world for fifty years and she knew it well enough to know the kind of bomb they were sitting on. "Just from a basic first look, this is an illegal black book project. It's just the scope... hundreds of names. The people behind this sold it as an anti-mutant solution. Only way to get both the buy-in and the secrecy for this. No, there's no way this came from the White House, the DoD or SHIELD."
"Yes, no I know, that is what I am saying, the government does not know itself." Marie-Ange said, with a little shake of her head. "I do not think the President is ...." She tilted her head, considering this. "I am nearly certain the President is not approving murder robots, but I also wonder how this is being sold. As you said, hundreds of names. Enough people that SWORD got wind of it. This is very big, no one signed away on the idea of giant murder robots, but someone signed away on the idea of something to stop us, funded by the United States Government and not something defensive. This is aggressive, yes? Even hidden in the rear end of a budget. Someone with enough, ah, clout, to spend the money, has their fingers in this and they have power. We need to get ahead of this."
"Overall, the scope of the funding and development is something a one or two star could swing and keep it quiet. The reason the scope concerns me is that it's not just one silo. There's bleed over of personnel assigned on other DoD projects. Even a few outside of the Pentagon. This doesn't feel like just one misguided piece of a wider government mandate on anti-mutant tech." Nora tapped her finger idly on her desk. "This looks like someone's personal crusade, and they've been recruiting like-minded people to work with them."
"All of the bigots in their own club." Marie-Ange said. "With however much money it costs to engineer this kind of thing." She glanced at her phone again, checking the time. "I know your answer, but not too early for drinks, yes? Because this requires drinks. This is very big, bigger than us. We could take out one or two key people and all the bigots in the club will just fill back into the empty space. This is... I think to stop this, it will have to be burned out in public. Drag it into the sun." She rubbed at her face, thinking. "I do not think we can just dump this onto a reporter's desk."
Nora pointed over to the sideboard. "Help yourself." She was now thumbing through some of the names. "Going public without warning is a bad idea. It will not only isolate some of the allies you currently have, but it could topple the Administration, and the other guys aren't big fans of mutants. The best way is to cauterize it. With the names and positions we have, SHIELD or the FBI would be in a position to make dozens, maybe even a hundred simultaneous arrests. Either the rest we don't know about will go on the run or eventually some of the ones they have charged will roll over and give up the rest. The Joint Chiefs will be furious over this happening under the noses, which will make any research and development even within spitting distance of anti-mutant tech radioactive. Gives the President some cover and options in announcing some of the details, and the rest they can bury behind classified restrictions."
Marie-Ange swiftly made drinks, one for herself and another she slid across the desk. You did not just borrow someone's alcohol and not make them a drink too, that was rude. "I agree, not without warning. I think it has to be SHIELD. They have a good public face with the Avengers." Her mouth twisted up in a grimace. "Imagine the absolute outrage if no one did anything and then Captain America found out that the United States was making murder robots to kill a visible minority group." She held up a hand. "I do not want to drop this on Steve Rogers' desk. I think Colonel Fury? Or one of the highly placed SHIELD agents that Barton knows."
"We need someone significantly above Barton's paygrade for this intel. I can push it though Chris though." She took a drink from the glass. "He can push it through the British Ambassador and make sure it end up with the chief of staff, the President, SecDef, with all the serial numbers filed off."
"He knows that bland one, but I think I like the poetic nature of having Christian Kane hand it off." Marie-Ange agreed, with a nod. "No one will even blink, we barely even have to change anything about how we acquired it."
"Also no blame comes back to us." Nora's smile was wide. "This is good stuff, Colbert. This is the kind of intel we live for.".
"Oh yes. I intend to enjoy the fallout, just a little, and then we mine all of this to keep it from going underground. Some of the roaches will try to hide, but in, do you think, six months? We chase them back out of the shadows."
"No, we let them feel safe in the shadows and see where they lead us. Purifiers, Sapien League, that AIM group Xavier's ran into... it will be the equivalent of a job fair for those who got away. And that will lead us to the next target. And the next. And the next."
"Yes, that entirely." Marie-Ange agreed. "We give them time to feel safe, and see where they scuttle off to. We are going to be very busy in the next year."
