Mokole
08-22-2006, 08:47 PM
Heather Hudson, in a dark business suit with skirt, heads down a wide hall. She adjusts her dark and thick glasses as she reaches the door at the end of the hall and opens it. Inside the office on floor 66 of Department H she finds Eugene Judd at the main desk, in a white shirt, tie and dark pants, sitting with a computer in his hands. Lieutenant Oculus sits beside him in a dark brown suit that looks impeccable. As she approaches they both stand up, with Oculus looking down at the floor.
Heather: Good morning, gentlemen. Looks like you've been here all night.
Judd: Well, it was worth doing. We've cracked all the codes, entered all the hidden rooms, broken into all the files from the sub-basement to the attic. Taking some down time to read what we found, is all.
Heather: All of it?
Oculus: No, ma'am. Only 72.5% of what we found is within my security clearance and 88.933% is within Commander Judd's clearance. The rest is for Your Eyes Only, ma'am.
Heather: It would help if you'd look at me when you're talking to me, Lieutenant. Go home and get some rest, the Commander and I have to talk.
Oculus: Yes, ma'am, thank you ma'am.
Oculus takes his leave. Heather sits in the big chair behind the desk while Judd moves to the smaller armchair Oculus was using.
Judd: That guy is amazing, Heather. For once we got lucky, eh?
Heather: I'm surprised you called on his help.
Judd: I got bogged down trying to find everything pretty fast, so I called him up and ordered him to help. He's got a real knack for espionage and security, his guesswork quadrupled our accuracy as we worked together.
Heather: OK, then. Start filling me in. Hit everything.
Judd: I'll skip the lunch menus and maintenance schedules. By the way, I'm not too keen on security clearances, never have been.
Heather: Understood. I guess that will make it easier for me anyway. It's hard enough for me to see in this much light.
Judd: Still hard to believe, Director Hudson, that you've been in power less than 36 hours. Anyway, here goes. Department H was started by an Order in Council to study the paranormal situation, five years before you and Mac 'created' it. A man called Henry MacDougal was placed in charge. They basically rounded up anyone with mutant powers or mutant looks and took them to two warehouses in north Toronto. A staff of 27 worked on testing the mutants and running experiments. Three months later a series of bombs were set off in the warehouses, killing almost everyone involved. Authorities were confident Victor Creed did the deed, at the behest of the Hellfire Club. The only employees of Department H who survived were Captain Chasen, Colonel Clarke, and Dr. Krypt. 12 children survived the blasts and were placed in...
Heather: Hull House
Judd: Bingo. To cover up the fact that these orphans were mutants the Clarke had a Gamma Ray Collector placed near Hull House and had it blow up, to make it look like an accident gave the children their powers.
Heather: Clarke was always a bastidge.
Judd: Nine of the children are still alive today with only Flinch still having his powers after M Day. When Mac came home he was offered the chance to take over Department H in return for his cyberhelmet. He refused, wanting to keep control of his invention but he offered Department H his services anyway.
Heather: I remember how he talked of founding a superhero group and running it. I thought he should've taken their offer and run Department H, but he was convinced that he had to be down in the trenches, hands on, to make sure things went right. He had no intention of becoming a hero or letting anyone take over his helmet. So William Reisner became Director.
Judd: A lot of what happened next you know. You guys found Weapon X, Logan, helping him regain his sanity. Mac recruits a group of heroes to form his team but it doesn't go well so he goes back to the drawing board with his cyberhelmet. Wolverine goes solo for Department H, Mac creates the Guardian suit and tunes the helmet to his brain waves, Wolverine quits, Mac is forced to become Weapon Alpha while some of your recruits get training, and pretty much everything up until you wearing Mac's suit contains no real surprises. But the psyche profiles...
Heather: What?
Judd: Reisner and General Clarke decided that we all needed serious evaluation, and brainwashing to forget the invasion. They hired a telepath to get it done, hence our first brainwashing.
Heather: Anything worth knowing?
Judd: They had you pegged as smart but timid, aggressive when pushed around. Walter was the one with the highest grades, most trustworthy and evreything. I was least trustworthy, no surprise eh. Mac was seen as very intelligent but single-minded, he could get stuck on a track and not see the big picture. Madison was weak-willed and easy to manipulate, Snowbird was docile... the rest you could guess at pretty easily.
Heather: I expect you're paraphasing a lot.
Judd: Each of us had at least 28 pages of profiling. They didn't want Mac to lead and they really didn't want you involved, but with the deal I made to get out of prison I couldn't lead so they figured they were stuck. That lead to the first time they cut Alpha Flight loose, they didn't trust you and Mac and washed their hands of you.
Heather: Was their 'Gamma Flight' already in the works?
Judd: Yes. Nemesis was already in touch, she brought in Witchfire. Clarke got Walter to 'fix' Wild Child and he was brought in. Auric and Silver escaped from China and that was enough for Clarke.
Heather: Why did they call that team Gamma Flight, anyway? Our kindergarten name?
Judd: Honestly, Clarke liked it, I guess he was stuck on gamma since the Collector deal. When Gamma Flight blew up in his face he was angry and replaced Reisner. He really wanted to see us fail and he wanted replacements ready. As Director he contacted Weapon Plus about rebooting the Weapon X Program; he created Department K just to make sure he had total control of the Project. Most of the people who are at the top of Department H right now were brought in then, Proctor, Suu, Haddock. Huxley was there too. Clarke also created the synthoid Beta program, the genetics labs, the arms project, started stockpiling weapons and such, and let Huxley create the late Weapon P.R.I.M.E. group, to replace us of course. He also experimented on my former Outcast mates and Woodgood. After he booted us out for the last time he was at the pinnacle of his power.
Heather: Then everything went wrong. The megalomaniac left himself a long way to fall.
Judd: Department K was destroyed, Weapon P.R.I.M.E. was killed, his Weapon X participants were mostly dead and the rest were renegades. So the government demoted him and put or favorite Director X in charge. Director X not only kept Clarke's programs going, he expanded on them. The Hull House kids were coming into their own so Clarke was put in charge of 'harvesting' them appropriately. That is, until he pushed Cleric too hard and Cleric's power went overboard, his cellular respiration pathways were burnt out. Cleric couldn't absorb as much energy as they gave him and he couldn't dissipate it fast enough. Clarke was taken off day to day work and restricted in his orders. The kids didn't do so hot so they downloaded Mac's barinwaves onto a synthoid and brainwashed us into joining. It was Clarke who hired the Zodiac, hell almost everything that happened back then was caused by Department H. The Director ordered Clarke into the reactor to shut it down, too. Good thing Gentry came along and put a stop to a lot of that nonsense.
Heather: Why did he have so much power when the Director was such a dictator?
Judd: He was a government appointee, his sister married the P.M., and he knew the Director's secrets. What choice did the Director have?
Heather: Anything else I don't know about?
Judd: Just that the Director's 'safety' program, in place to keep his and the Department's secrets safe, lead to the death of 28 Department H employees, including Gentry. No wonder you had such an easy takeover. Then the spit hit the fan. We go to re-seed Plodexia, Walter has his time-travelling gaffe's, M Day hits and the Department is left with only one paranormal in Flinch, we come back and get sent out at SHIELD's behest to find out what the "Collective" is, and you know what a great 5 minutes that was...
Heather: If it wasn't for that I wouldn't need these special shades, a mechanical spine, and a swiss cheese G.I.T. And Marie would have a Father.
Judd: If help would've arrived sooner Mac still would've died, same with Michael. You survived by the skin of your teeth.
Heather Holding her head in her handsI know, I know. Go on.
Judd: Director H was not a happy camper. No Alpha Flight at the moment, one Betan, no Gammas, his synthoids being destroyed by SHIELD, the government asking pointed questions about all his other experiments. Even when I recovered with Walter and formed our little Alpha Flight group he wasn't happy. He had every intention of using the Epsilons to kill us and take over the government. He wasn't going to give up without a fight. His plan was to kill all of us, then force a coup on Ottawa. Before anyone could say anything he'd be dictactor of over 30 million people. But then you went to the P.M. to have him removed and they took your advice, the Epsilons were ordered to stand down, Director X was arrested, and in you walked, Director Hudson.
Heather: That can't be all of it?
Judd. No, eh, there has to be more. Here's the rest of my summary, Huxley, Weapon X, dossiers on our enemies, contacts, whatever other minor shenanigans Department H ever got to. But I gave you the highlights. I need to leave anyway.
Heather: Sleep?
Judd: Nope. Alpha Flight is away on a mission and I need to check on their success, Guardian should be checking back about now anyway. When they get back I have a training session for them. I left evrtything else on the desktop. Read at your discretion.
Heather: That would be now. I need to know what was intended with our brain chips, plans for Bedlam, what dealings we had with SHIELD, AIM, the Zodiac, I need to be up to speed on everything. And thank you, Commander.
Judd: Huh?
Heather: For all the work, for getting Oculus on side, for putting the house in order at the same time. For pulling in favours to get me in this chair.
Judd: All in a day's work. Besides, a Hudson had to be Director sooner rather than later. And although Alpha Flight may need Commander Judd, they'll get Puck on occasion, too. I may be slowing down but I'm not dead, yet, and Guardian still needs lessons on tactics during battle. Winks.
Heather: As you were, Commander, and shall be. She smiles broadly and adjusts the computer screen. Judd strides out, head high, and closes the door. He goes past Oculus' center and lets him know that the Director thinks he's the bee's knees. Oculus smiles sheepishly. Judd soon finds that Alpha Flight has returned from their successful mission and is eager for Judd's next assignment.... but that story is for another day ;)
Heather: Good morning, gentlemen. Looks like you've been here all night.
Judd: Well, it was worth doing. We've cracked all the codes, entered all the hidden rooms, broken into all the files from the sub-basement to the attic. Taking some down time to read what we found, is all.
Heather: All of it?
Oculus: No, ma'am. Only 72.5% of what we found is within my security clearance and 88.933% is within Commander Judd's clearance. The rest is for Your Eyes Only, ma'am.
Heather: It would help if you'd look at me when you're talking to me, Lieutenant. Go home and get some rest, the Commander and I have to talk.
Oculus: Yes, ma'am, thank you ma'am.
Oculus takes his leave. Heather sits in the big chair behind the desk while Judd moves to the smaller armchair Oculus was using.
Judd: That guy is amazing, Heather. For once we got lucky, eh?
Heather: I'm surprised you called on his help.
Judd: I got bogged down trying to find everything pretty fast, so I called him up and ordered him to help. He's got a real knack for espionage and security, his guesswork quadrupled our accuracy as we worked together.
Heather: OK, then. Start filling me in. Hit everything.
Judd: I'll skip the lunch menus and maintenance schedules. By the way, I'm not too keen on security clearances, never have been.
Heather: Understood. I guess that will make it easier for me anyway. It's hard enough for me to see in this much light.
Judd: Still hard to believe, Director Hudson, that you've been in power less than 36 hours. Anyway, here goes. Department H was started by an Order in Council to study the paranormal situation, five years before you and Mac 'created' it. A man called Henry MacDougal was placed in charge. They basically rounded up anyone with mutant powers or mutant looks and took them to two warehouses in north Toronto. A staff of 27 worked on testing the mutants and running experiments. Three months later a series of bombs were set off in the warehouses, killing almost everyone involved. Authorities were confident Victor Creed did the deed, at the behest of the Hellfire Club. The only employees of Department H who survived were Captain Chasen, Colonel Clarke, and Dr. Krypt. 12 children survived the blasts and were placed in...
Heather: Hull House
Judd: Bingo. To cover up the fact that these orphans were mutants the Clarke had a Gamma Ray Collector placed near Hull House and had it blow up, to make it look like an accident gave the children their powers.
Heather: Clarke was always a bastidge.
Judd: Nine of the children are still alive today with only Flinch still having his powers after M Day. When Mac came home he was offered the chance to take over Department H in return for his cyberhelmet. He refused, wanting to keep control of his invention but he offered Department H his services anyway.
Heather: I remember how he talked of founding a superhero group and running it. I thought he should've taken their offer and run Department H, but he was convinced that he had to be down in the trenches, hands on, to make sure things went right. He had no intention of becoming a hero or letting anyone take over his helmet. So William Reisner became Director.
Judd: A lot of what happened next you know. You guys found Weapon X, Logan, helping him regain his sanity. Mac recruits a group of heroes to form his team but it doesn't go well so he goes back to the drawing board with his cyberhelmet. Wolverine goes solo for Department H, Mac creates the Guardian suit and tunes the helmet to his brain waves, Wolverine quits, Mac is forced to become Weapon Alpha while some of your recruits get training, and pretty much everything up until you wearing Mac's suit contains no real surprises. But the psyche profiles...
Heather: What?
Judd: Reisner and General Clarke decided that we all needed serious evaluation, and brainwashing to forget the invasion. They hired a telepath to get it done, hence our first brainwashing.
Heather: Anything worth knowing?
Judd: They had you pegged as smart but timid, aggressive when pushed around. Walter was the one with the highest grades, most trustworthy and evreything. I was least trustworthy, no surprise eh. Mac was seen as very intelligent but single-minded, he could get stuck on a track and not see the big picture. Madison was weak-willed and easy to manipulate, Snowbird was docile... the rest you could guess at pretty easily.
Heather: I expect you're paraphasing a lot.
Judd: Each of us had at least 28 pages of profiling. They didn't want Mac to lead and they really didn't want you involved, but with the deal I made to get out of prison I couldn't lead so they figured they were stuck. That lead to the first time they cut Alpha Flight loose, they didn't trust you and Mac and washed their hands of you.
Heather: Was their 'Gamma Flight' already in the works?
Judd: Yes. Nemesis was already in touch, she brought in Witchfire. Clarke got Walter to 'fix' Wild Child and he was brought in. Auric and Silver escaped from China and that was enough for Clarke.
Heather: Why did they call that team Gamma Flight, anyway? Our kindergarten name?
Judd: Honestly, Clarke liked it, I guess he was stuck on gamma since the Collector deal. When Gamma Flight blew up in his face he was angry and replaced Reisner. He really wanted to see us fail and he wanted replacements ready. As Director he contacted Weapon Plus about rebooting the Weapon X Program; he created Department K just to make sure he had total control of the Project. Most of the people who are at the top of Department H right now were brought in then, Proctor, Suu, Haddock. Huxley was there too. Clarke also created the synthoid Beta program, the genetics labs, the arms project, started stockpiling weapons and such, and let Huxley create the late Weapon P.R.I.M.E. group, to replace us of course. He also experimented on my former Outcast mates and Woodgood. After he booted us out for the last time he was at the pinnacle of his power.
Heather: Then everything went wrong. The megalomaniac left himself a long way to fall.
Judd: Department K was destroyed, Weapon P.R.I.M.E. was killed, his Weapon X participants were mostly dead and the rest were renegades. So the government demoted him and put or favorite Director X in charge. Director X not only kept Clarke's programs going, he expanded on them. The Hull House kids were coming into their own so Clarke was put in charge of 'harvesting' them appropriately. That is, until he pushed Cleric too hard and Cleric's power went overboard, his cellular respiration pathways were burnt out. Cleric couldn't absorb as much energy as they gave him and he couldn't dissipate it fast enough. Clarke was taken off day to day work and restricted in his orders. The kids didn't do so hot so they downloaded Mac's barinwaves onto a synthoid and brainwashed us into joining. It was Clarke who hired the Zodiac, hell almost everything that happened back then was caused by Department H. The Director ordered Clarke into the reactor to shut it down, too. Good thing Gentry came along and put a stop to a lot of that nonsense.
Heather: Why did he have so much power when the Director was such a dictator?
Judd: He was a government appointee, his sister married the P.M., and he knew the Director's secrets. What choice did the Director have?
Heather: Anything else I don't know about?
Judd: Just that the Director's 'safety' program, in place to keep his and the Department's secrets safe, lead to the death of 28 Department H employees, including Gentry. No wonder you had such an easy takeover. Then the spit hit the fan. We go to re-seed Plodexia, Walter has his time-travelling gaffe's, M Day hits and the Department is left with only one paranormal in Flinch, we come back and get sent out at SHIELD's behest to find out what the "Collective" is, and you know what a great 5 minutes that was...
Heather: If it wasn't for that I wouldn't need these special shades, a mechanical spine, and a swiss cheese G.I.T. And Marie would have a Father.
Judd: If help would've arrived sooner Mac still would've died, same with Michael. You survived by the skin of your teeth.
Heather Holding her head in her handsI know, I know. Go on.
Judd: Director H was not a happy camper. No Alpha Flight at the moment, one Betan, no Gammas, his synthoids being destroyed by SHIELD, the government asking pointed questions about all his other experiments. Even when I recovered with Walter and formed our little Alpha Flight group he wasn't happy. He had every intention of using the Epsilons to kill us and take over the government. He wasn't going to give up without a fight. His plan was to kill all of us, then force a coup on Ottawa. Before anyone could say anything he'd be dictactor of over 30 million people. But then you went to the P.M. to have him removed and they took your advice, the Epsilons were ordered to stand down, Director X was arrested, and in you walked, Director Hudson.
Heather: That can't be all of it?
Judd. No, eh, there has to be more. Here's the rest of my summary, Huxley, Weapon X, dossiers on our enemies, contacts, whatever other minor shenanigans Department H ever got to. But I gave you the highlights. I need to leave anyway.
Heather: Sleep?
Judd: Nope. Alpha Flight is away on a mission and I need to check on their success, Guardian should be checking back about now anyway. When they get back I have a training session for them. I left evrtything else on the desktop. Read at your discretion.
Heather: That would be now. I need to know what was intended with our brain chips, plans for Bedlam, what dealings we had with SHIELD, AIM, the Zodiac, I need to be up to speed on everything. And thank you, Commander.
Judd: Huh?
Heather: For all the work, for getting Oculus on side, for putting the house in order at the same time. For pulling in favours to get me in this chair.
Judd: All in a day's work. Besides, a Hudson had to be Director sooner rather than later. And although Alpha Flight may need Commander Judd, they'll get Puck on occasion, too. I may be slowing down but I'm not dead, yet, and Guardian still needs lessons on tactics during battle. Winks.
Heather: As you were, Commander, and shall be. She smiles broadly and adjusts the computer screen. Judd strides out, head high, and closes the door. He goes past Oculus' center and lets him know that the Director thinks he's the bee's knees. Oculus smiles sheepishly. Judd soon finds that Alpha Flight has returned from their successful mission and is eager for Judd's next assignment.... but that story is for another day ;)