Kevin & Namor | Sabotage
Jan. 24th, 2024 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsNamor asks Kevin for advice on waging war in the modern age.
"Kevin Sidney," was a greeting delivered with a formal tone and practiced courtesy.
It was a crisp greeting marked by a stiff, practiced formality that could only be pulled off by several mansion residents. Namor, former king of Atlantis, had once been extremely well practiced at this sort of thing, afterall, in another place and another time. The man out of time towered in the entryway to the lounge, all sharp angles and a recently reacquired resolve. He dipped his head only slightly. "We request your expertise."
"Do you?" Kevin said, putting down his cigar and getting up. He stopped at the bar and poured himself a refill from his pitcher of martini. "Can I pour you a drink?"
"If you'd please. Whatever is on hand." Namor paced toward the bar, trailing a finger on the bookshelves as he surveyed their contents.
"We hear that you have been fortunate to survive long enough to outgrow humanity's megalomaniacal stage. That makes you a resource in this place." The once-king paused to fully focus all of his attention on the spy. "You work at a think tank. I would value your thoughts."
Kevin was silent for a moment as he finished refilling his drink and building a second one. He slid it along the bar so it was next to him before leaning against the bar edge. "That remains to be seen. What can I help you with?"
"We have recently found our first major lead in finding Atlantis. I will either welcome or bury it, but I hope for the former. There is, however, some small surface-based housekeeping to manage beforehand." Namor picked up the drink, giving it a thoughtful look. "I desire to cripple mankind's reliance on oil."
"Could be an issue. There's a lot of economies still tied to oil extraction." Kevin said, taking a sip. "Destabilized states create chaos, create violence.So I have some issue seeing several billion people lost in an extraction war."
"War is what I know, but I have tried to make a study of the modern world since I woke. My typical methods," namely Imperius Rexing, "may not suffice. I wish to coexist with your people." Namor took a sip as well, and then a second to enjoy the taste of the drink. "Any fight over crude resources will ruin the ocean even more."
"So the question is what are your main objectives?" Kevin said, his eyes narrowing a bit. "What do you want to accomplish in the short term and the long term?"
This took a moment to consider.
"I was not raised to rule a world as complex as this one," Namor began, "and I can see that. My goal is to protect my people by any means necessary. I may not currently hold either a crown, kingdom, or have a people, but each day I wait is a day where humankind's war on a planet they see as disposable cannot be undone." His eyes darkened. "Attrition would be a first step, but I desire to ultimately decapitate greed that runs unchecked, like your people's Roxxon Oil. Today? I only seek advice."
"Hmm..." He picked up his drink and returned to his chair, pausing to bring the ember of his cigar back to a cherry red. "The core challenge you're facing is that your idea puts you against both incredible wealth and power as well as national interest for... well, a lot of countries. Any kind of open move would very quickly make you a target, and if they don't just tap SHIELD to stick a Hulk up your ass, they have the money and resources to come up with a hundred other options to track you down and put your head on a pike. Even an asymmetrical war strategy provides few advantages to you, since you don't have a populace to hide in or significant sympathetic support." He paused and rubbed his chin for a moment.
"So, you narrow your focus. Roxxon Oil? All oil companies are deeply corrupt, but Roxxon is the worst of the bunch. Makes a good starting place. They have power, political influence, and worldwide operations. So the way to fight them is to put them in the middle of a war they don't even know they're fighting. Sabotage that looks like anything but a superpowered mutant running around breaking their machines. Executives finding themselves the unlucky targets of random crime and violence. Projects that fall apart because every objective gets more and more costly to achieve. Scandals as secrets they thought buried end up in the right hands." Kevin paused, making almost an exclamation point in the air with his cigar. "These kinds of campaigns cost money... lots of it. They take time, patience and the willingness to chip away a piece at a time."
"I certainly have too much time." Namor remained standing, eyes unfocused as he considered all of the details. "Money can be acquired. My strongest tools of war are currently out of hand, but I will admit that I had hoped this would be as simple as drowning some executives. It sounds as though I will eventually require a spymaster." This was not an ask of Kevin, and not even directed at him with any expectation. His mind was a thousand miles away.
When he did look back up, however, the Atlantean was smiling. "You have given me much to think about. There is a debt between us."
"I'm sure I'll need a favour sometime in the future. Might as well wait until then." Kevin said, covering the twist of his mouth with another sip.
"I see." A shark's smile crossed over Namor's face as he reassessed his earlier opinion of Kevin's age, cold and sharp as the vapor that curls off ice. "All We can offer is like for like, unless you need a super powered mutant to break machines." He took a long drink of his own drink, but not enough to be rude.
"Rarely, but I'll keep it in mind." He said, raising his drink in a toast. "Here's to the future wars."
"Now I will drink to that," and Namor's smile sharpened to a grin as he raised his own glass. "To future victories."
"Kevin Sidney," was a greeting delivered with a formal tone and practiced courtesy.
It was a crisp greeting marked by a stiff, practiced formality that could only be pulled off by several mansion residents. Namor, former king of Atlantis, had once been extremely well practiced at this sort of thing, afterall, in another place and another time. The man out of time towered in the entryway to the lounge, all sharp angles and a recently reacquired resolve. He dipped his head only slightly. "We request your expertise."
"Do you?" Kevin said, putting down his cigar and getting up. He stopped at the bar and poured himself a refill from his pitcher of martini. "Can I pour you a drink?"
"If you'd please. Whatever is on hand." Namor paced toward the bar, trailing a finger on the bookshelves as he surveyed their contents.
"We hear that you have been fortunate to survive long enough to outgrow humanity's megalomaniacal stage. That makes you a resource in this place." The once-king paused to fully focus all of his attention on the spy. "You work at a think tank. I would value your thoughts."
Kevin was silent for a moment as he finished refilling his drink and building a second one. He slid it along the bar so it was next to him before leaning against the bar edge. "That remains to be seen. What can I help you with?"
"We have recently found our first major lead in finding Atlantis. I will either welcome or bury it, but I hope for the former. There is, however, some small surface-based housekeeping to manage beforehand." Namor picked up the drink, giving it a thoughtful look. "I desire to cripple mankind's reliance on oil."
"Could be an issue. There's a lot of economies still tied to oil extraction." Kevin said, taking a sip. "Destabilized states create chaos, create violence.So I have some issue seeing several billion people lost in an extraction war."
"War is what I know, but I have tried to make a study of the modern world since I woke. My typical methods," namely Imperius Rexing, "may not suffice. I wish to coexist with your people." Namor took a sip as well, and then a second to enjoy the taste of the drink. "Any fight over crude resources will ruin the ocean even more."
"So the question is what are your main objectives?" Kevin said, his eyes narrowing a bit. "What do you want to accomplish in the short term and the long term?"
This took a moment to consider.
"I was not raised to rule a world as complex as this one," Namor began, "and I can see that. My goal is to protect my people by any means necessary. I may not currently hold either a crown, kingdom, or have a people, but each day I wait is a day where humankind's war on a planet they see as disposable cannot be undone." His eyes darkened. "Attrition would be a first step, but I desire to ultimately decapitate greed that runs unchecked, like your people's Roxxon Oil. Today? I only seek advice."
"Hmm..." He picked up his drink and returned to his chair, pausing to bring the ember of his cigar back to a cherry red. "The core challenge you're facing is that your idea puts you against both incredible wealth and power as well as national interest for... well, a lot of countries. Any kind of open move would very quickly make you a target, and if they don't just tap SHIELD to stick a Hulk up your ass, they have the money and resources to come up with a hundred other options to track you down and put your head on a pike. Even an asymmetrical war strategy provides few advantages to you, since you don't have a populace to hide in or significant sympathetic support." He paused and rubbed his chin for a moment.
"So, you narrow your focus. Roxxon Oil? All oil companies are deeply corrupt, but Roxxon is the worst of the bunch. Makes a good starting place. They have power, political influence, and worldwide operations. So the way to fight them is to put them in the middle of a war they don't even know they're fighting. Sabotage that looks like anything but a superpowered mutant running around breaking their machines. Executives finding themselves the unlucky targets of random crime and violence. Projects that fall apart because every objective gets more and more costly to achieve. Scandals as secrets they thought buried end up in the right hands." Kevin paused, making almost an exclamation point in the air with his cigar. "These kinds of campaigns cost money... lots of it. They take time, patience and the willingness to chip away a piece at a time."
"I certainly have too much time." Namor remained standing, eyes unfocused as he considered all of the details. "Money can be acquired. My strongest tools of war are currently out of hand, but I will admit that I had hoped this would be as simple as drowning some executives. It sounds as though I will eventually require a spymaster." This was not an ask of Kevin, and not even directed at him with any expectation. His mind was a thousand miles away.
When he did look back up, however, the Atlantean was smiling. "You have given me much to think about. There is a debt between us."
"I'm sure I'll need a favour sometime in the future. Might as well wait until then." Kevin said, covering the twist of his mouth with another sip.
"I see." A shark's smile crossed over Namor's face as he reassessed his earlier opinion of Kevin's age, cold and sharp as the vapor that curls off ice. "All We can offer is like for like, unless you need a super powered mutant to break machines." He took a long drink of his own drink, but not enough to be rude.
"Rarely, but I'll keep it in mind." He said, raising his drink in a toast. "Here's to the future wars."
"Now I will drink to that," and Namor's smile sharpened to a grin as he raised his own glass. "To future victories."
no subject
Date: 2024-01-25 05:03 am (UTC)Namor, King of Atlantic and Understatement
no subject
Date: 2024-01-25 07:09 am (UTC)And to Namor, for making "Imperius Rexing" a verb.
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Date: 2024-01-25 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-25 08:25 pm (UTC)