2014-03-26 - Stark Expo: A Very Unmerry SHIELD Meeting

The red-headed woman worries the phone in her hand, turning it over and over again as if she cannot decide if she is going to use it-- and call or text-- or not. Worry lines etch across her forehead and around her eyes.

She's making her way out of the Expo itself, probably to one of the nearby hotels. The security is good, but there are several SHIELD teams within an easy backup range; just in case. She knows this. Just like she knows that right now she's not thinking exactly clearly.

She draws a ragged breath, and fires off the text she didn't want to send to someone she knew wasn't exactly pleased with her right now.

Text to Nick Fury: Luthor's announcement will cause problems. Didn't see you at the show. Can debrief. Bar at the place Stark and I are staying. I know you know where that is. Will be there in 10.

And she begins walking that way.

Grant Ward took a circuitous route to get here. Stopped by a couple exhibits, feigned interest. Asked a couple questions. Then he headed out.

It is, perhaps, a credit to Agent Ward's skill that he's actually waiting in the elevator when it opens to admit Natasha. Or just really lucky timing. "Miss Romanov." He nods towards her, adding, "Going up?"

As the pair head down the way towards Stark and Natasha's room, a door opens up and there stands Fury, "Come in." He says to the pair and turns retreating back into the room to chair in front of a desk.

"Yes, sir," Natasha replies to the offer, stepping neatly into the suite. She takes a seat herself, waiting for Ward to settle in, since he was following. She's not 100% on what he's authorized to know, but he was at Luthor's show, and since it's just filling Fury in? Should be fine.

Ward steps in behind Natasha and closes the door. "Sir." He inclines his head to Fury, and moves over to stand on an empty patch of wall, folding his arms over his chest, though he's silent for the time being, letting Natasha and Fury hash it out until he gets pulled into the conversation. He has at least an inkling of an idea, or two, but he'll wait for his moment.

Fury pours himself a scotch from a bottle into the Hotel tumbler. "So Natasha, Ward. What got both of your panties in a wad?"

"Capekillers." Natasha scowls. "Luthor's giving the regular PD in four cities capekiller suits and weapons." She gets right to the point.

"I doubt this is the endgame, but Luthor's definitely covering his bases." Ward opines, "Discredit the heroes, provide the alternative -and- the solution all in one. I don't know what he has in store for the higher-power heroes, but it may just be as simple as waiting for footage of some lower-power meta getting in a scrap with these "brave defenders of humanity"" They can practically hear the quote marks, "that he can spin and the local governments will do the work for him."

Nick Fury frowns, "Cute name. What the hell is a cape killer?" He considers for a moment, "Which Cities? And most of the major cities do have a super powered crime division. And what do you suggest we do about it?"

Natasha flinches. "He doesn't call them capekillers," she says. "But the last time I heard the theory batted around, that was the term that was used. New York, Gotham, Metropolis, and San Franscisco are getting them, sir."

She furrows her brow. "I don't know, Director. But I know I don't like the idea of a bunch or regular police officers having that sort of firepower, regardless of their intention." Frankly, that's what SHIELD was for.

"Luthor wants us out of the picture too." Ward notes, "We were prominently featured in the first "Victims of Heroes" PSAs. So once again...no heroes, no competition." Ward glances to Natasha, then adds, "I don't think we can do anything about the exosuit program itself, unless we can find some kind of fatal design flaw that will put the users at risk." Ward shrugs, "Not really my area of expertise. We have to find a way to undermine the Victims of Heroes campaign itself."

Nick Fury grins and it's not a nice thing, "Course he is trying to get rid of us. He's a maglomanical Jack ass. We need to figure what the hell this stuff does and how many and how much. I mean a 9mm could be called a Cape killer and just be a 9 mm. There are some heroes that would fuck up their day real good. Some it can't."

"Exosuits that seem, on initial specs, to be more powerful than our own Mandroids? Guns that shoot higher voltage than my stings, as well as cryorays and three sorts of gas?" Natasha gives him a bland look. "These were /designed/ to take down metas. Luthor even said as much, though he referred to criminals. But his capaign has made it clear he even considers groups like the AVengers and the Justice League ot be so."

"Assuming the demonstration was accurate, they have superior mobility and versatility to our Mandroid program, though the prototypes we have might be more on par." Ward notes, and yes, he's read up on the Mandroid program. Even qualified to pilot if need be. "Hard to judge durability, though one of them took a moderate level superhuman punch and wasn't any the worst for wear. Based on what they showed...I'd say just about any mid-range and lower metahumans could have a really bad day if they run across a squad of these things. Thor or Iron Man might not have anything to worry about, but most of the rest of the Avengers..."

"I don't know," Nat chimes in wryly. "Give me one of those suits and guns, and I could probably if not take Iron Man down, make him wish he /had/ gone down."

"Unless Luthor's got his own personal Red Room to churn out pilots, I don't think we have to worry about the pilots being quite that competent, especially since it sounded like they'll be regular police officers trained by Luthor's Contractors." Ward notes, then adds, "Though we should definitely keep our eyes and ears open for any of these "falling off the truck." I can't imagine meta-crime organizations aren't already salivating..

Nick Fury nods, "Well We know the Exo suit, expert and how touchy he feels about people playing with his expertise. Especially if it's to hurt his friends. Luthor isn't exactly known for being an original idea guy when he can borrow and improve. So we might need to have a look at to see if there's any Stark Tech." He nods, "We need to acquire a set of suits. Also do these things pass government regulations and laws? Just cause they're out there. Doesn't mean we give NYPD F-22."

Natasha frowns. "It's Luthor. He tends to either do things above board, or at least twisting the powers that be into making the laws comply."

"Right. The man used to be President of the United States on his world, and was smart -and- lucky enough that when it imploded in spectacular fashion, he still walked away scot-free." Ward frowns, "Don't underestimate Luthor, Sir. I know he looks like a typical megabillionaire industrialist with a grudge against the superheroes. But he's not. Not by a long shot. He's driven, he's brilliant, and he's resilient. Threat Analysis Branch all but laughed at me when I recommended we give him a threat level equal to Von Doom. I still stand by that recommendation." Ward doesn't sound -afraid- exactly. Simply quite matter-of-fact about it all, as he always is.

Nick Fury nods, "And I'll call Doom a Magolomantic jackass, any day of the week." He considers for a moment, "Yeah and he plays the game good. But last I checked so do we. We need to get this out there. We need the media reporting and giving Lex and his corp bad press for advocating the killing of heroes. We also need to lean on the U.S. Government. He's arming paramilitary unit with super-miliary grade equipment. There are laws against such things last chanced even if your slipperier than an eel. I say that would constitute shut down and seizure of operations for committing a crime. There is one differece between Lex and Doom. Lex doesn't write his own laws."

"He wasn't so stupid as to outright say such things, Director," Natasha replies with a grimace. "And he never mentioned killing heroes. Not explicitly. But you know as well as I do there's a better than average chance those weapons are going to fall into the wrong hands." She hrmms. "Can you requisition all of them? Some sort of UN order?"

"Going to be iffy. Kelly and his ilk are probably already salivating and they'll have the votes to push through any legislation needed to make it legal. Plenty of folks like old Thunderbolt Ross in the military too. We push too hard, and -we're- the ones that end up raked over the coals by the media, and we risk losing jurisdiction and enforcement capability in the U.S." Ward opines, "But if you want those suits, they're definitely at least a Class 4 weapon system. If you can keep the politicos off our backs we can make sure none of the above-table suits hit the streets for now. Just be ready for a whole bunch of Congressmen and Generals breathing fire."

Nick Fury shrugs, "And half the shit the heroes have 'done' in his PSA aren't what they actually said or did." He smiles to Grant Ward, "I never said anything about banning it for Military use. So the Generals can have their toys. Police Departments no so much. I'll see if I can pull some strings with the N.S.A. and the F.B.I. But I can't see them thrilled about something that would undermine their legal jursdiction and authority. If a God Damn M-16 can't be used by the Domestic Police forces and they have to use AR-15. Why would Capekiller exo suits be any different. As for those Senators and Congressmen we can just remind their rivals that across the isle, that this stuff is making a mockery of gun control."

Natasha nods. She's made her report, given the information she has. It's up to the Director as to how he wants to deal with it, if at all.