December 6th 2020, J. Edgar Hoover FBI office in Washington DC

The admission that it was Mutants who overturned the election threw the entire nation into a state of chaos.  No assurance from Davis that the situation was under control, or her promise to schedule a new election, did much to lower the flames.  The entire democratic process was now called into question.  Because if fixing the elections happened once, it could happen again.  And maybe next time the Mutants would be much more subtle about it.

Spontaneous demonstrations erupted all across the country, quickly turning violent.  Self-proclaimed vigilantes assaulted any identifiable Mutant on the streets. Mutant homes and businesses were burned to the ground.  Even known (non-Mutant) activists for Mutant rights were targeted.  Elijah Horowitz, the well-known author of 'We are One' was hospitalized after a woman threw acid in his face at his lecture at Howard.   Natalie Baker, a pro Mutant pundit from GNN, was murdered when her car went up in flames just after she dropped her kids at school.

The police, and the justice system, could barely contain riots of this magnitude.  There were simply not enough judges to sit at hearings of so many arrests, or enough room in the jails.

If things weren't bad enough, Graydon Creed from the Friends of Humanity called for ' a million people march to Washington'.   No one, from either side of the aisle, believed it would go down as peacefully as Martin Luther King's march half a century ago. The police, the army, and the FBI were all preparing for the event.  People trying to break into Congress or the White House was a very likely scenario.  As were deadly reprisals by Mutants, political assassination, or 'just' violent riots.

Not wanting to take any risks, Davis approved to deploy Freedom Force.  Johnson was now going over the potential scenarios and the plan of action for each.  Where everyone was supposed to be, and what support from the police and the FBI they can count on.  He's been hammering on for the last four hours, without pausing for a break, and by the looks of it, he was ready to keep on going nonstop until the time of the event, three days from now.

Gwenyth raises a hand in the middle of the briefing, eager to do anything to break up the monotony of Agent Johnson's unending droning voice. "I'm sorry, I know all of this is important, but..." She looks around at the other members of Freedom Force. It was all hands on deck for this one, and she was seeing some faces she didn't normally. She notices, again, Mistress isn't among them and her gut twists painfully. She refocuses on Agent Johnson. "How could President Davis and the federal government let this information out? Even I knew this was going to cause, like, omega panic."

"She was advised not to let the information out, almost the entirety of her cabinet" Johnson, who never tolerated interruptions in his briefings, made an exception for Gwenyth "Ultimately, it was already obvious some sort of fraud took place.  She couldn't keep this thing hidden for long.  What's more, president Davis is an honest woman. She refused to betray her ideals, and the oaths of her office, by lying to the American people"

Shiva had been busy. When the info was released, everything he had predicted had come true. After Johnson had concluded the hearing with Brian and his family, Jon had been in non-stop meetings with various people. Then he headed right for the lab, and was furiously working. However, his multi-tasking was a curse along with a blessing. Every death, every terrorist online meeting, every assault he was aware of.

Granted he did what he could. Using the Dark Web and his own abilities he could trace those users in a way that no normal computer could. Well, expect maybe Computron. The AI did things in a alternate way, but for the most part it was a distinction without a difference.

Shiva's online ID as the digital vigilante 'Oppenheimer' was working to give all manner of info on right wing terrorists and others like them to the various authorities. Similar to the way Jon assembled the dark web data for Freedom Force, he could do the same for others. However, there was no way to make those agencies act upon that data. No doubt their tip lines where as overloaded as their jail cells. Still, he could provide much better evidence against such criminals then most civilians could.

When he was not doing that, he was working on his new gear in the lab. He knew he would need it in 3 days time. As there was going to be utter hell to pay for Dick Johnson's devotion to his precious 'rules'. Already some innocents had died, and lot more where going to if Freedom Force and others did not act.

Even as he was doing all that, he also had to keep an eye on Brian and his family. Being in contact with Computron itself made that task much easier, but Shiva was also making a plan to evacuate the family if things got really bad. Granted the united states government should be able to handle that, but he no longer had any trust in them.

However, despite the 'friendly' relationship with the mutant AI, Jon was painfully aware he was one of the few people who could detect it when it was growing and spreading. He would constantly check the new lab and the school it was attached to for any traces of the being. Not to mention his normal level of understandable paranoia when it came to being followed and tracked by the federal government itself.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:29, Tue 23 Aug 2022.

"Sure you tell people.  But why not the truth.  A computer did it, not a mutant did it.  Hiding how it was done just means people don't know what really happened.  Can we tell people it was a computer or is that too secret?  Also why are we being called in to stop people who hate mutants?  Wont that just make things worse or are we going to be there to stop mutants who are trying to stop people who are trying to stop mutants."  Kate thinks she got that all out correctly but as she waits on an answer tries to go back over it in her head to make sure.

"It is the truth" Johnson objected "and Computron's existence was not yet revealed because it is a matter of national security.  Computron has taken over the national defense systems of several foreign nations.  We need to tread lightly.  If the A.I senses it is under attack by someone, there is no telling what it might do.  So please don't trigger 'judgment day', and keep your lips sealed for the time being"
He looked at all of them sternly

"Going back to our mission; our job is to stop Mutants who might interfere with the March.  And likely, someone will"

Gwenyth squirms a little bit. Agent Johnson barely gets two more sentences into the briefing before Gwenyth holds up her hand again. "How much longer is this briefing? I need the ladies' room." This briefing has been going on for four hours. Also, she was hoping to eat sometime today. They can't all be robots.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:15, Wed 24 Aug 2022.

"Maybe we can break for a bit; give everyone a chance to stretch their legs and grab some coffee?" Frank suggested. Despite appearances to the contrary, Johnson was a human being. He probably needed a break, too, and just wasn't realizing it.

"Fine" Johnson reluctantly said through clenched teeth.
"Take forty five minutes.  I'll see you back here at fourteen hundred hours"

As vigilant as he was(aka=paranoid), Jon yawned. He still needed sleep, and he had not gotten a lot of it in the last few days. Granted he had set up alarm systems to jerk him awake. Just in case any of the sensitive situations he was monitoring got worse.

Even as he yawned once more, Six shoved a beverage into his mouth, causing him to choke and spit it up. "SIX! I will ask for a coffee when I need it, thank you very much!" He shouted at the limb.

The arm 'stared' at him in its eyeless way, but then went back to helping his other arms. All of whom where building his new armored costume. It was a little bit more Stark tech-like and a little less utility belt. Unlike Iron Man, it would have lots of dark colors to help him fade into the background.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:34, Wed 24 Aug 2022.

Everyone exits the briefing room to stretch their legs, leaving Illya alone in the room.  After too many minutes he looks up, “Wha? Where did everyone go? Is the briefing over?”