Players:
Summary: Hooligan gets in touch with Rashmi, and reveals everything he's learned.
Date: October 16, 2012
Log Title: Plans Revealed
Rating: PG
NYC - Holy Ghost Church
The Holy Ghost Church is small chapel located on the West Side of New York City. It looks like the church was sort of squashed between the buildings. Lines of pews sit in front of a small alter, cardboard collection boxes for clothing and food sit at the back of the church. This church is obviously graced by the lower class of Manhattan, but the priest cares for those that step foot in here.
Around midnight on tuesday night Rashmi gets a call on her cell, the modulated voice of the Hooligan on the other end. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Come to the Holy ghost church is Hell's Kitchen, bring the coin, make sure you're not followed." If the call is traced it's origin is a pay phone is Hell's Kitchen.
With the amount of Friends of Humanity attention that Rashmi has garnered, and the occasional attack she's repelled by the more daring (and less wise) members of the movement, such a call would normally be ignored. Hooligan's personal motto, however, puts paid to any worry about an ambush, and after some arguing she secures a SHIELD overwatch team to guide her steps through the back streets and alleys, keeping her out of casual sight. For this excursion, she wears the lightly-armored black bodysuit and red-brown wrap that comprises her training uniform and nominal 'superhero clothes,' for all that she almost never considers the latter a priority. Creeping into the church, she pauses at the font to cross herself, then again towards the altar as she enters the chapel proper, before slipping into a pew and waiting.
The church is quiet, as Rashmi enters a small rather heaviset woman in a nun's habit steps from a side room and smiles seeing her. "Good evening child, what brings you to this house of god tonight?" She was obviously expecting Rashmi's arrival.
Rashmi folds her hands in her lap, bobbing her head and smiling. "Good evening, Sister… I, ah, got a message? Here…" And after some digging in her bookbag, the coin is produced, held up to the light and turned over so the nun can see its stampings. "I believe it was from a mutual friend."
The woman nods and smiles upon seeing the coin. "Ah yes, you're here for the study group." She turns and motions for Rashmi to follow as she heads into a hallway to one side of the chapel and motions down a narrow staircase. "First door on your left, the class will begin shortly."
Rashmi slips out of the pew, following behind with as much silence as occasionally creaking Nomex will allow for. "Thank you very much, Sister… Peace be with you." Dipping in a rough aproximation of a curtsy, she slips down the stairs, cracking the door and more by reflex than anything else, checking the sightlines before she slips in fully.
The room is a simple affair, a few chairs and a desk most likely used for an office or meeting room. The sound of music begins from upstairs as an organ is being played. It's nearly twenty minutes before a small rug in the corner is pushed up as a trapdoor is opened beneath it and the Hooligan emerges "The SHIELD shadow team was unexpected.. were this not important I'd have bolted as soon as I spotted them. So excuse the delay but I had to take the back way in."
"You told me to make sure I wasn't followed," Rashmi says with a wry smile. "I'm a *law student,* not a spy, and I've been jumped enough I *really* wanted to make sure. Sorry about surprising you, though…"
Maxwell nods and sits on the desk "It's fine, guess I should have expected some added security given what's going on. Not much time so I'll get to the point. The Church of Humanity is planning a Public Execution of the mutants in their custody Saturday in Giant's Stadium. This execution is schedualed to coincide with the signing of the registration and relocation act into law for New York State."
"WHAT?!" Rashmi's head snaps up, eyes wide. "They… *execution?!*" Sinking onto a nearby desk, she shakes her head. "Wh…. what is *wrong* with these people?! How could they--wait, Relocation Act. *What is the--* oh for God's sake they slipped in a rider, didn't they." Now, the Hindi girl seems to be oscillating between terror for her friends, righteous indignation, and pure irritated fury. "This is *insane!* *Godwin* would throw up his hands now!"
Maxwell nods "I'm not sure if these people are nuts or what.. but from what I've learned their leader seems to think that these particular four mutants are going to grow up to be some kind of Mutant leaders that will destroy the Purifiers. So he's taking them out now before it can happen. I've been running FoH goons out of Hell's Kitchen for weeks now and it's always the same speech.. their leader's a Prophet.. he gets messages from God, he sees the future. If I had to guess about the Relocation part from what I've learned they're going to seal off Mutant town into some kind of concentration camp."
"Their leader's a *lunatic,*" Rashmi snarls, running a hand through her hair, tugging her ankle-length braid over her shoulder to worry and twist. "I mean I'm all for second chances and choosing redemption, but *it's kind of hard to remember that when you're acting like Hitler.*" She starts to say more, then pauses, shakes her head and lets her breath out. "Cripes… Giants Stadium? Saturday? That's… better than good. That's wonderful. We can *definitely* make sure they come back alive then." Closing her eyes, she sags a bit. "The Relocation thing… I can work with that. I'm not sure if it'll be possible to leak it to the *media* before it goes down… But I can give people a heads-up. And I can get started on prepping for *my* best kind of fight."
Maxwell nods "Well the relocation details are sketchy and this is just my guess on what's going to happen based on the info I have at hand. But gather your friends and do your thing on saturday.. I'll give what help I can but you're not going to see me. If I learn anything else I'll try and get the info to you. Now before your SHIELD buddys raid this place I gotta run, but one last thing." He goes back to the trapdoor and pulls out a black backpack, tossing it over to her. "Fifty Thousand dollars.. don't ask where I got it. Get your folks out of here. Send them on vacation or somthing. If this relocation stuff goes down like I think it is then Hell's Kitchen is going to turn into the front lines for a damn race war, and the farther your parents are from the Purifiers the better off they're going to be."
Rashmi blinks sharply, catching the backpack after a near-miss. "Fifty… um… wow… You *sure* you don't need this more? I mean…" Shaking her head, she steps over to the trapdoor and throws her arms around Hooligan's waits, squeezing tightly. "*Thank you.* Seriously. You have no idea how much." Squeezing once more, she steps back, tilting her head. "What are you gonna be doing? I mean, after the dust settles and they close off Mutant Town? Because… It would *really* be great if you could find a couple other people and start a message chain, or something… They can't guard every last little alley, and there's *always* ways to get messages through, y'know?"
Maxwell returns the hug, you get the feeling he's smiling under the mask. "I've got plenty, you just look after your family." He nods "I'll do what I can once we see how this plays out. Right now I'm going to continue what I'm doing to gain info on the church. The less you know about that the better. Just be carefull, besides those power blocking darts they also claim to have machines that can detect mutants, so you're not likely going to be able to sneak into the stadium. It's gonna need to be more a snatch and grab or a frontal assault… which will get ugly. Also Mattew Rissman is a Preacher for the church, he's likely also one of them members that's putting the screws to the media and keeping all this quiet."
"Don't worry," Rashmi says, tusking back an errant lock of hair. "I don't intend to go sneaking in… But I *do* know people, and *they* don't have to worry about depowering darts or mutant-detectors. I'll see what I can have dug up about Rissman, though… If you're right, we'll need to get him out of the way before we can fix the damage the Church of Humanity's done to the country." Sighing, she shakes her head. "Bundling Mami and Papi off out of the country doesn't sit well with me… But you're right, it's better if they're on vacation while all this insanity goes down."
Maxwell nods "Well Rissman won't be hard to find, he's one of the "experts" they have on SMOX news all the time. The church have their fingers in everything from the looks of it, cops, politicians, media, the bankroll for this group has to be massive."
"Which means it's going to be a long, ugly fight," Rashmi murmurs, closing her eyes. "Okay… Okay. I can do this. Is there anything you need out of *me?* Or my contacts? Y'know if I knew about these infiltration things, I could probably arrange for support. Or extraction, at least, if it went wrong, y'know?"
Maxwell shakes his head "I just need you to get the word out and get those boys out alive. I can handle myself and if you knew who I was or what I was doing you might hold back and make them suspicious. If things go south I can handle myself.. you just stay safe and if things go to hell try to keep matters from getting out of hand on the mutant side of this situation."
"I was planning on staying back anyway," Rashmi says, shaking her head. "I don't know how much I can do on crowd control, but I *do* know about morale wars. I can have a few plans underway by the time it goes insane, so, don't be surprised if you hear from me, or someone in my place. D'you have any more of those coins? Because *those* I could make sure get into trustworthy hands."
Maxwell nods and pulls three more from one of his belt pouchs. "If you think you might be dealing with somone who might be me.. give them my motto. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The correct response is "I do, From Hell."
The callback earns a slight frown, which is quickly smoothed away as the coins are pocketed with a nod. "I'll remember that, and pass it along when I need to. You be careful, all right? I mean cripes you're *good* at what you do, but still… be careful. And be glad Magneto's too occupied with Genosha to really be able to do anything about this, because seriously if I can think of anything that would make this mess *more* ugly…"
Maxwell chuckles a bit "Yeah I can imagine.. I'm amazed Dingo hasn't been more active. But I need to run, I don't know how closely the church is watching my current alter-ego so my time in the suit is going to be limited for the time being. If you need to get in touch with me, call Sister rose here and give her the message. She'll pass it on to me. If I get anything that will be particularly usefull I'll be in touch."
Rashmi bobs her head. "Same here. I won't be at the Stadium myself, but I can tell you I already know at least part of who's going to go in and get them out. And again… thanks. I *really* appreciate you thinking of Mami and Papi like that."
Maxwell nods "You're a good person, there are lots of good people in mutant town and I'll fight to protect them just as hard as I will anyone else. I'd hate to see these bastards try and use your folks against you, besides I'd miss the occassional gift of their cooking." He chuckles again. "Take care Rashmi, keep alert and though I kno3w you hate violence do not hesitate to drop the hammer on anyone that comes after you.. these guys aren't going to hold back."
"They'll regret it," Rashmi says with a sigh. "They always do. *Nobody* seems to get that… Anyway," she says, looping the backpack strap over her shoulder, "you take care to. I have… a *lot* of work to do, it looks like…" Lifting a hand, she moves toward the door, and the staircase beyond.
Maxwell nods "We both do, this is a long way from over." As she leaves she can hear the trapdoor close. The organ music continues when she emerges into the main chapel and Sister rose gives her a warm smile and a simple "Go with God my child, his sword will protect you."
Rashmi dips her head to Sister Rose with a small, sad smile. "You too, Sister… It was very good to meet you, and I hope we'll get to talk again." With that, she slips out of the chapel, coordinating with her overwatch team to guide her back to the academy in silence and safety.
