andres ♔ lining up for the grand illusion

[diplomatics]

♬ we are - ana johansson

WHO || Colin Banks, Emma Frost, Lissa Dragomir, Alex Karamazov, Cordelia Chase, Zoe Weiss, Adam Weiss, Leia Organa, Nessa Harvey, Alisha Daniels
WHAT || A team of Knights is tasked to rally the human populace of the Isle, gather them in a safe place, and keep Dimitris' supporters from causing trouble.
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || September 19th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam

[ Meanwhile, a group of ten lands on... the roof of a building in the upscale sector of town. The half-moon lights the sky around them enough for any of them to get a good glance at what surrounds them. In the distance, moonlight plays across the river dividing the city, and the roofs of the Shadow village homes can be barely made out. But here, there are opulent old-money homes scattered here and there, and a number of commercial buildings coursing up and down the main thoroughfare. Colin doublechecks the location on the phone, which lights up his face eerily as he checks the screen, and then he slides it into his pocket, turning to nod the others. ]

We find ourselves on scenic Andres Isle, atop the historic Grand Hotel.  The very heart of the Island, ladies and gentlemen.  Advising caution seems unnecessary.  

Comments

[telepathy]

[ sense motive 20 total. ]

All this over an animal? That seems almost cruel, don't you think?

[behindcloseddoors]

He's not an animal, not any more than a bugbear is. He's a conscious, thinking being, which makes him a dangerous enemy that we don't want to underestimate. If he weren't, this would be Animal Control's territory.

[telepathy]

I wonder who made him into such an enemy.

[ Emma ponders it aloud, nonchalant as can be while they walk. ]

It's a wonder he doesn't simply dispatch all the Shadowkind, send them away for other nations to deal with.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ his eyes flick towards her for a moment, as he frowns. ] Forced deportations aren't going to make any fewer enemies.

[telepathy]

Perhaps fewer on Andresian soil, at the very least.

[behindcloseddoors]

He wasn't from Andres. From what I've heard, he was a foreign contract killer, who failed to assassinate the Prime Minister. Who knows whose interests he was representing.

[telepathy]

Oh, my.

[ Her earnestness pushes just shy of seeming patronizing. Emma raises one hand to press to her chest as if her delicate sensibilities just can't handle it. And then she leans in, dropping her voice conspiratorially. ]

Do you think he'll try again.

[behindcloseddoors]

Depends on if he's more afraid of disappointing his superiors, or more interested in saving his own neck and getting off this island.

It's my job to make sure he winds up where he can't hurt anyone - especially the innocent civilians in the middle of all this.

[telepathy]

After, of course, we've recovered those dear people's children. I can't imagine them being out here alone. Where do you think they might have gone at a time like this?

[behindcloseddoors]

Considering the young folks in question? Who... are far from children, by the way, I think I might have an idea. [ he grimaces ] Although, I hope I'm wrong.

[telepathy]

[ A more genuine, if saddened, smile crosses Emma's features, and she drops her gaze. ]

You're not a parent, are you, Sergeant Stone? [ They'll always be their parents children. Even now, the loss of her creepy cuckoo clone children makes her feel like a mother. The grieving loss of her school in Genosha and in Massachusetts leave similar scars. Kid, teenager, adults—they're all children in the parental sense of the word. But she stops dead in her reflection to stare at him. ] Well, that's hardly heartening. What is it?

[behindcloseddoors]

[ he smiles a little at her question, almost sadly. ] Afraid the wife and I aren't so blessed yet, no.

They spend a lot of time... across the bridge. I know they think nobody sees them coming and going, but I like to patrol myself, instead of leaving it all to my men, and they're not as good at being stealthy about it as they think.

[telepathy]

You can't honestly mean ... [ Emma glances that way. ] Into the Shadowkind village?

[behindcloseddoors]

[ for a moment, he almost flinches. ] I never said anything to anyone. They're all bleeding hearts, Lara especially, and they mean well, trying to offer them what help they can. Those people... don't have it easy.

[telepathy]

I can only imagine.

[ Honestly, Emma means it. She's the kind of Shadowkind who could easily 'pass,' so to speak. The same was true back home. As mutations go, hers was fairly unobtrusive, physically speaking. Though it may have affected her considerably to read the dark and dirty thoughts of others, she'd never been forced to own it. Not in the way Hank had. Not in the way Rogue had.

Though this level of sympathy from a human seems suspect. Such sympathizers may be more common in the rest of the world, but here, all she sees is anti-mutant legislation and blind hatred. Those things don't typically beget soft hearts. So she tunes in and attempts to read his thoughts (DC 18 to resist). ]

Have you thought of helping them before?

[behindcloseddoors]

[ his mind's actually an open book to her, and she encounters no resistance. guilt floods his thoughts at the question, and she'd see him relieve moments, difficult, painful moments where he saw other men both above and below him in command executing orders that were not only suspicious, but immoral by his standards. he wants to be proud to hold the station he does, an officer like his father before him on the isle, but his father's stories about what the job was like are a far cry from the reality he's been faced with. he suspects the root of the cause was the regime change a decade past, has seen many of the changes firsthand, but bloody revolution seems a path to more dead shadowkind than anything else.

no, he hopes that he can affect the system from the inside, provide at least one person on their side by trying to fly under the radar. which means not doing anything too heroic, unfortunately, something that haunts him every day. ] It's my job to keep order on the Isle, Miss. I think that helps everyone.

[telepathy]

Then I have very terrible news, I'm afraid, Sergeant Stone.

[ She sighs, coming to a stop, Glancing around, she drops her voice, careful not to offer anyone else the opportunity to overhear. ]

Because there's going to be very little order on this Isle tonight. Please understand. You'll be better for it.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ it takes him a second, but then he slows to a stop, turning to face her in the low light provided by streetlamps. he looks wary, suddenly uncertain and on guard. ] What are you talking about?

[telepathy]

Oh, for Heaven's sake. A gas leak? If that bleeding raccoon were going to terrorize the privileged and entitled, do you honestly believe he'd go for something so simple?

[ She waves a hand, sighing it off. ]

Our interests lie in keeping your people safe—the same as you. However, we'd like to consider your people to include more than this side of the bridge. [ She points across the bridge to the Shadowkind village. ] Look at them. Look at the squalor that half this Isle has been forced to suffer for the decadence offered to the elite. A burden they've carried for no reason other than their birth. There are children across that bridge who've known nothing else, and you've allowed it to happen.

I'm telling you this because I believe, given an alternative, you'll make the right choice. And I do loathe to be wrong, Sergeant, so I suggest you think carefully on what you do next.

[ Lovingly puts chips on charm person being effective enough for this. TRUSTED ALLY, SERGEANT STONE. TRUSTED ALLY. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ he pales a bit, mouth hanging slightly open as he follows her gesture, and stares across the river. he looks lost for a moment, and it's difficult to tell which way he's going to go on this, so tense are his shoulders.

but finally, he looks back at her, with a newfound determination in the set of his lips. ] Who are you, really?

[telepathy]

Dimitris Sarandis' worst nightmare.

[ A wicked smirk, the sort that only a one-time-villain could perfect, twists on her lips. Reeking of smug, assured victory. ]

It's, well. [ She raises a hand, waving it dismissively. ] I'm sure you've seen Hamlet. [ She drops the hand. ] The rightful King of Andres has returned, and we're his liberation army. I wonder whose side you'd rather be on. [ She casts a look back out at the Shadowkind village. ] The man responsible for all that suffering ... or the one who plans to depose him.

[behindcloseddoors]

The rightful-- [ his jaw drops further, disbelief evident on his features ] Are you talking about the Prince?

[telepathy]

Quite.

[ Said in the uppity voice of you really do need everything spelled out for you. ]

Alive and well, I'm afraid. And quite dissatisfied with what Sarandis has done with the place.

[behindcloseddoors]

[ he doesn't look quick to believe it, and her grasp on his thoughts is enough to register that it's mostly the product of his optimism being battered away by what he's seen here. putting too much stock in this too soon seems like it might just lead to the biggest letdown of his life. ] Marcus Andres... And he's brought an army. [he shakes his head] Does he have any idea what he's up against? The Prime Minister is nothing if not... well prepared. If there was any chance he were still alive, he would have to have known. He was the one who spread the word that he'd been executed.

[telepathy]

[ Slow blink.

Oh heavens, no wonder his mind had been so easy to win. ]

Of course he's prepared. It's a probability that we took into thorough consideration. That's why the first thing we did was cut your communications.

Now, if you'd please, we'll need to insure that those who would support the King's return, well, rally to do so. Are you going to continue behaving as though I've grown a second-head, or might I get a few names of Shadowkind sympathizers and the disaffected nobles from you that I might pass on to my colleagues still in the country club?