Gwenyth watches Shiva's arms get up to mischief again. "Is that... something we need to be concerned about?" she asks. "Not the pizza, the other thing..."

Danny had pulled up a seat when they entered the meeting room, and sat casually waiting.
When the pizza arrived, he perked up .... then visibly deflated with their faceless boss made his thoughtless decision.

'Fuck this', he thought to himself;  which may have shown on his face.

Kate perked up in Ana's lap as the pizza arrived, and then settled back down when it was rudely denied, deciding that she didn't feel a particular need to shift up to speak, or even sit up high enough to be seen above the table top.  She wasn't planning to actually go to sleep but was sure going to fake it, letting out a soft purr at the continued gentle petting.  It was pretty clear that Kate at least didn't think what Ana was doing was inappropriate.

'ruining good pizza like that, I don't think I like this boss.'  She let everyone but the new boss know.

Johnson glared at John, his lips pressed tightly together with anger

"Agent Ohm; if you can't control yourself, you're welcome to leave.  Permanently.  And is that Agent Messer on your lap, Windtalker!??"

His eyebrow furrowed.  This was getting ridiculous.

"I need you to focus.  We had multiple casualties today on the Raft, yes?  Agent Guberman, Mendez, Mistress; I need to know exactly what happened"

In reply to Agent Johnson (msg # 17):

"Commander, I am very sorry. My file should explain my...ah...situation with the armature, sir. They are...90% under my control...maybe 75%?" He tries to say that last part under his breath.

When Johnson mentions the causalities on the raft, Shiva inhales sharply. "I would also point out Freedom Force was totally successful on the beach without a single civilian causality. Ultimately they did act to save lives....and succeeded."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:36, Fri 04 Feb 2022.

Frank didn't snicker at the new guy's actions, mostly because the new boss kind of intimidated him.

"Magneto was waiting for us, sir," Frank replied to Johnson's prompt when he thought the conversation could use some steering back to the important stuff. From there he went through the rest of the evening's events, albeit briefly. "He wrecked the transport we'd borrowed from the X-Men and left us stranded on a sinking pile of wreckage. Gambit, our X-Man pilot, swam to the Brotherhood submarine and destroyed it. Gambit has not been seen since.

"Magneto then proceeded to attack the Raft facility.

"As near as I can tell, the Raft responded by flooding the facility to prevent a mass escape. Magneto tried lifting the prison out of the water but wound up destroying it instead. It would seem the prison collapsed under its own weight, suggesting that there is an upper limit to Magneto's power... but it's enormous.

"One prisoner survived to swim to shore. With Iron Man's help, several of us made it to shore to engage the super-criminal known as Carnage. We won."

He looked to the others.

"Did I forget anything?"

At that Kate shifted her position to sit up and look at Johnson.  'Putting aside just why a prison was built underwater the mission was not well planned.  Either we would have gotten there before him, and been unable to do anything, as we were told there was no place to move the prisoners, or we would arrive after him and again be unable to do anything.  Given where it was we couldn't really fight him.

The only reason any of us lived is that Magneto wanted to talk first instead of crush us in the plane.  Something he probably won't do again given how every time he tries to be less than murderous his side loses people.

He also seems to think that we're the X-Men, not unreasonably given we arrived in an X-Man plane, and were X-Men before working for the government.

Finally one other prisoner survived, named Wax, and is currently trapped at the bottom of the ocean.  They won't die but cannot get free.  We need to retrieve them even if it is just to throw them in another prison, being trapped on the bottom of the ocean forever is wrong.'

She had more thoughts on building a prison where the guards would die if a prison break happened but kept them and the other more sarcastic thoughts to herself.  Johnson got one shot to be reasonable, well, two but the pizza was the first strike.

"Thank you, Agent Guberman. Considering the circumstances, the opposition, and the time you had to prepare for the mission, not to mention your lack of training.  And leadership" he eyed Mistress as he paused for emphasis

"- I would say you performed better than we had any right to hope for.  You stopped the Brotherhood.  None of the prisoners escaped.  We have the Legion in custody, and after we retrieve 'Wax', we can interrogate him about Magneto's whereabout.  Arresting Magneto is a priority - that man is responsible for the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9-11"

Johnson finally sat down as well.  It was a good summary of what happened, but he won't be satisfied until he had a full debriefing; what exactly did everyone do, at any moment of time, throughout the mission.   That sort of detailing could take a couple of hours, but its not like he had anything better to do.

"Now, lets start again, from the top…"

****unless anyone have something important to add, we will skip a couple of hours post the debriefing******

When it came Danny's turn to 'fully debrief', he did so.
But his mood and attitude could use some fixing ... and as he'd been struggling against the waves for the entirety of the conflict that pertained to the prison and the encounter with the symbiote on shore Danny had little to offer.

By 2 AM Johnson nearly concluded his debriefing.  They were now discussing the fight with Cletus, which meant the ordeal was nearly over.

Though eating during his meeting was out of the question, he did allow them to stay properly caffeinated – just so they could stay awake throughout his questioning:

- survived having his head torn off" Johnson scribbled something on his notebook and took a sip from his own mug.  He took his coffee black, and without any sugar.

Johnson raised his head as the door swung open, this time, without the courtesy knock

"You all are still doing this?" there were shadows underneath Valerie's eyes.  She too, haven't slept all night.  "Johnson, can we take a quick break?  They aren't machines, you know"

"We're nearly done"

Valerie was technically his boss, but he talked to her like she was his own subordinate.  She did interrupt his meeting, and if he was going to run this team, she had to let him do it his way

"Do you mind?" he gave a slight hint-of-a-nod toward the door

"I will only be a minute then; you need to hear this as well"

"I just got off the phone with Nielsen.  President Davis wants to meet with Freedom Force today, after the press conference"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:25, Sat 05 Feb 2022.

John had to restrain Six several times through the debrief. Fortunately none of those times had been noticable by the Commander. Mostly it involved Six getting 'distracted' by a noise, a smell, or something outside. Mostly that involved the other five arms moving in front of Six, or weaving around it. Then John would retract all the tendrils into his back once more. Only to have Six reform again when some new differance in the environment occurred.

When Director Cooper spoke, it was a welcome change of pace. "So...is this a PR thing? I mean, if the press is gonna be there, you can bet they will bring up Camp X."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Sat 05 Feb 2022.

Ana Sofía cannot pass up coffee when it's available. Those who have been around her for long know that, and they also know why she spends so much time going back through the limited extras. 'Where is the goat's milk?!?!?!' Oops, that thought was a little louder than intended.

She takes definite note of Valerie's comment about meeting the president, but she says nothing as she's already on the new boss's bad side for keeping Kate on her lap.

Meeting the President? That was big. That was huge. In that moment, Frank felt like some puffed up kid more than ever.

In his distraction, he handed Ana Sofia a container. It said "OAT MILK" on it.

"Oops." He realized his mistake pretty quickly, but the container was out there already, making him look like an idiot. "Sorry. Close enough?"

"Only reporters we can trust are going to be in that press conference, and all questions were submitted beforehand. All you have to do is memorize the lines we wrote for you.  If someone asks something unexpected, let me answer the question"

It was a press conference in the loosest sense possible

"Following that, you will meet with President Davis.  She wants to congratulate you, personally, for what you've done in New-York.  The meeting will also include a Photo op"

Gwenyth was used to directors being fussy with details; it was not unusual to spend a whole day or more on a thirty second action scene. Even so, as the hours started ticking into those of tomorrow, even she found her patience being tested. It was taking every ounce of her sparkly magic princess power to avoid yawning her way through the tail end of the debriefing.

When Valerie comes in Gwenyth looks over to her with dull eyes. "Help," she stage-whispers.

She gets some life back when she is promised a press conference and photo op. Those were always fun. Well, fun... if you have certain very specific ideas of what the word fun means. Gwenyth thought they were fun at least. "We are going to get some sleep before then, right?" she asks Valerie with muted hope.

In reply to Valerie Cooper (msg # 30):

Shiva wanted to respond to that, but with Johnson in the room that might not fly. He worked with Cooper since being brought in 8 months ago. It had been her who saw his potential and insisted to her superiors John was an asset.

He sent a email to her phone, making sure as usual it was fairly untraceable. He made his 'self destruct' messages that where diffcult, if not impossible, to trace after they where opened. Of course he would insure no one had hacked her account frist.

Need to talk to you, just you, and team about Camp X. Before prez meeting. The message said.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Sun 06 Feb 2022.

Kate took merciless advantage of her shape and position to cat nap throughout the debriefing.  It seemed to her that it just might not be worth trying to help if this man were waiting after every mission.  The teachers at the mansion had been bad, disappointed, but at least they didn't have some weird soul sucking power in their voice like this guy did.  She wondered idly if they were supposed to get a break every four hours and a lunch break every eight.  That was a thing wasn't it?

"Don't worry, I got you" Gwenyth couldn't exactly read Valerie's mind, but the subtle nod she gave in response to her silent call for help was as good as words spoken

"Yes, I need you all fresh and well rested.  Can't have you falling asleep in front of the cameras, or yawning when meeting the President.  I'm sure Agent Johnson is going to conclude the debriefing soon. " she gave the older agent a knowing look

"I'll have a taxi waiting for you outside the office in the meantime.  Goodnight everyone; will see you later today"


Valerie only got around to reading her emails once she was on her own uber back to her hotel.  By the time Shiva got the text message Johnson finally released them, and the security guards arrived to escort them back outside
'Sure.  Will talk before the press conference. Goodnight'
This message was last edited by the player at 07:55, Sun 06 Feb 2022.

Danny had contributed what, and when, he could.
And when they were permitted to leave, he chose instead of accepting the offered taxi, to walk back to where he/they* were staying.
Along the way, he purchased something yummy to eat ... so that, by the time he arrived at his room, he fell onto the bed, and slept.



* I forget if we are all being put up in some agency hotel?  or if we are still living our own lives

Realizing she had probably better say something just in case Kate sends Valerie a thought or two.  'I don't have anywhere to stay in DC, or cloths, or you know a phone or money or anything.  It's all in the Atlantic...'  Valerie at least seemed to have her act together so letting her know about her problems was probably for the best.  She might be able to reach Zoey, but for that she would need a phone first and Zoey was up in New York.

In reply to Tank (msg # 29):

Ana Sofía gives Frank a smile that is reminiscent of one given to one's child when they do something adorable but incorrect with good intentions.

Overhearing Kate's message to Valerie Ana Sofía replies, 'I've got plenty of space.'

After getting some much-needed sleep and a quick breakfast at the hotel, Freedom Force boarded the shuttle Valerie arranged for them, to be escorted straight to the airport by a convoy of police cars and armored black Cadillacs.    It was surreal driving through the usually busy streets of New York, at rush hour, without seeing a single car on the street other than patrol cars and the occasional armored personal carrier.  New York was under martial law; while the government assessed the terrorist threat, as well as to prevent riots from erupting on the streets.

The events at New York have become world news by the time they woke up, with every channel filling its airtime with videos sent by eyewitnesses; those of Magneto melting down the Statue of Liberty, Frank punching the monstrous Basilisk through a building, and the cat-girl freeing the hostages at the UN were repeating in an endless loop all throughout the day.  The talking heads were having a field day, spending hours upon hours analyzing the attacks, debating human-mutant relations, and trying to guess how it would impact President Davis’ chances for reelection.

The news anchors were relatively tame, however, compared to the vitriol on social media.  The ‘Friends of Humanity’ Facebook page was finally brought down after their leader, Graydon Creed, published a post calling for the forceful interment of Mutants and mandatory prenatal screening for the ‘X’ gene, with the not-so-subtle insinuation such pregnancies would have to be terminated.  The popular Reverend William Stryker outright called mutants the ‘spawn of the devil’, and the ‘harbingers of the Apocalypse’, while even the more mainstream Daily Bugle had ‘Mutant Menace’ all over their website’s frontpage.

Little wonder, then, that Valerie prioritized them getting some rest before the press conference and the meeting with the president that spending a few more hours at debriefing.   The real battle they needed to win now was waged in television studios and social media.  It won’t matter how good a job Freedom Force does, unless it was widely publicized and acknowledged to be so by everyday people.