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Over and under, up and through; Tag: Serafina
Topic Started: Oct 11 2011, 08:42 PM (270 Views)
Mastermind
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Date: September 8
Time of Day: Early morning
Location: A Purifier communications hub near Montauk



In her time, Regan had infiltrated quite a number of high-security installations; it was a natural application of her power. And normally the high-tech scanning gear that such installations were festooned with was not a significant concern for her: however sophisticated the machinery, there was always a human somewhere to whom it reported its results. More than once, Regan had walked into supposedly secure installations with automatic alarms blaring all around her that nobody noticed, or manipulated people into shutting down their own security systems under the belief that they were fixing glitches.

But this facility, which the Searchers had identified as a central communications hub for the Purifier organization, transcended "secure" and moved into downright paranoid. Human observers and electronic surveilance were integrated at every step of the way, and every important decision made by one had to be confirmed by the other; any discrepancy caused the facility to be shut down immediately and Purifier communications routed through an alternate hub. By any normal standard, this was absurd: a recipe for complete stagnation. And, indeed, the system halted on a regular basis, as inevitable synchronization failures led to shutdowns and failover. But she had to admit, it resulted in the most secure system she'd ever seen. It wasn't hard to break into this facility, but doing so without shutting the place down in the process was almost impossible.

The key word being "almost." Callisto, the Morlock tactical wizard, had worked out a plan whereby a small team with the right skills could infiltrate one of those hubs for long enough to corrupt their communications, and get out again without leaving any trace of their presence. A small team, in this case, meaning Mastermind and Serafina.

These Purifiers are really beginning to annoy me, Mastermind thought as yet another group of armed-to-the-teeth security guards passed her and entered the necessary codes into the security checkpoint. The guards saw nothing, of course, any more than the last four checkpoints had; they would see nothing Mastermind did not choose for them to see. Whether the equipment they carried, or the sensors built into the complex itself, would detect anything was up to the Brotherhood technopath who had been assigned to the Searchers.

"Tag, Serafina... you're up," she whispered into the communicator they'd been issued for this mission -- the Purifiers weren't the only ones with secure communications protocols, after all. If all went according to plan, there would be a brief window while the security team passed through the checkpoint to move on to the next station, and the two of them could sneak through without creating any discrepancies while the Brotherhood agent sent fake signals to the sensors on the doorway. It had taken them over two hours to get this far, traveling from one secure ring to another only when the teams themselves did, but if their information was right behind that door was the communications hub itself, and Serafina could work her technopathic magic there. After that, they just had to tediously retrace their steps to get out without being noticed.

After which, Regan promised herself, she would go somewhere very crowded and make a great deal of noise.
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Serafina(old)
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Technopathy
Serafina stalked along to the left of her partner as they approached yet another Purifier hub on a little sub-mission authorized by Callisto. She moved elegantly as always but with the required urgency. All the same, she was distracted; Regan had made an off-hand remark earlier on about needing to hit the high street stores on Fifth Avenue the next time Serafina was visiting Earth. Despite her total lack of love for the surface-people and their herd-like natures, Serafina was prone - like many females (even the superior, enlightened kinds, it seemed) - to fashion envy, and had a strange urge to spend a thrifty afternoon along the shopping strip with this woman she barely knew.

The prospect was clearly playing on her mind, and their proximity to the compound they were infiltrating did not appear to bother her as she spoke quite openly to Mastermind: "No matter how much information I download from fashion websites and female bloggers, I am largely unfamiliar with the concept of 'shopping', so if we do join forces for this venture, you should perhaps brief me before the fact; some simple instructions will do."

Presently, however, Serafina had no need of directions. The Searchers, as Coleridge was dubbing them, had been pulled together to perform specific functions; to identify, map out, and identify any potential weak links in Purifier bases as covertly as possible. Serafina's power, of course, had the added incentive of providing a means to syphon information remotely. But some information, unfortunately, required close quarters, and lots of 'hacking' via telepathic probe - which obviously required them to penetrate this particular base's outer defenses and infiltrate the compound itself.

"You have a creative ability," Serafina noted conversationally - as best she could - while they hovered on the outskirts of the Purifiers' Montauk hub: "We could stay under the shroud of invisibility you've fashioned... or, when we get in, you could just give these men a taste of what they'd like to see... the result will be effectively the same, I presume." Anticipating her new acquaintance's surprise at her devilish suggestion, she concluded sagaciously: "I don't need to be telepathic to know what human males are like... much like males of any species, really." A faint smile crossed her lips.

They had spent the ensuing two hours tediously hopping from one concentric ring of security to the next, waiting for the unwitting guards to open the gates and allow them safe - and invisible - passage. They communicated sporadically through earpieces. Mastermind had a speaker device, but Serafina needed none, preferred to relay her information technopathically - without mediation - direct to Regan's earpiece. "I thought this mission would provide some means of distraction. Sanctuary is never this dull."
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Mastermind
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Regan sympathized with her partner's disdain for the tedium of this particular mission. "I was just thinking something similar myself, actually... not about Sanctuary, of course, but this is definitely one of the more tedious missions I've ever been on. Still, they can't all be fighting armies."

Not that Regan was a great fan of fighting armies, either, but the nice thing about armies was they could usually be convinced to fight themselves. The need to be completely covert made that sort of strategy impossible here, and in its own way, the tedium was as much of a threat as any other defense the facility offered; it was increasingly difficult for Regan to maintain her focus. Imperceptibility was one of the simplest illusions for her to maintain, but even so it was still a concern. Fortunately, her partner was a novel, albeit occassionally downright bizarre, conversationalist, and Regan had actually come to enjoy the ongoing chat they'd been having during the extended wait-states this particular assignment had imposed. It was, without question, the most unusual conversation of her life.

"So, what do Sanctuarians... Sanctuarites?... Sanctuaries? Sanctified? What do you people do for fun in Sanctuary, anyway? Nobody ever talks about that part; it's always tedious speeches about mutant superiority this and the next stage of human evolution that and blah blah blah. Not that I disagree, you understand, but after a while it starts to sound pretty dreary and utilitarian... I imagine grey unisex one-piece jumpsuits and mandatory calisthenics every morning, or something equally mind-numbing. Of course, then I remember that Mystique moved down there, which suggests an entirely different image." Not that Mastermind had ever met the Acolyte shapeshifter and former Black Queen, but she'd heard many many stories over the last few years in the New England Hellfire Club. "I suppose it's somewhere in between, eh?"

Certainly, whatever it was, it didn't seem to involve anything remotely resembling fashion sense... though Regan suspected that was more an idosyncracy of Serafina's than of her culture as a whole.
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Serafina(old)
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Serafina looked around her as if someone a phantom had tapped her on the shoulder. The air was growing colder, which seemed curious, as Sanctuary was still programmed to be perfectly warm at this time of year. She shrugged internally; weather never bothered her, or if it did, she never let on.

"Well, strictly speaking, Mastermind," she began, replying to her new acquaintance's inquiries, "Fun is yet another concept I am having difficulty with... you must understand that the word 'sheltered' doesn't quite come to grips with my upbringing. Forgive me for the unavoidable lacunae in my lived experience and my understanding of humanity as a result. Having said that, I do of course know what you're referring to. You mean, what do people do recreationally in Sanctuary. The answer is complex and depends on the person, their idiosyncracies, their hopes and dreams, and who they socialize with. But I have found that the tried and tested practice of consuming alcohol is a favorite amongst the denizens of our perfect little utopia."

She frowned at that, considering her words and the abomination that was killing one's brain cells for 'fun' and to the point of intoxication. "Perhaps perfect is the wrong word after all." She seemed to perk up then, upon remembering something particularly redeeming about her chosen homestead. "Entirely close to it, though."

"Mystique is indeed interesting, to employ a euphemism. Suffice it to say, I've been very much enjoying learning how to manipulate men everywhere to get what I want. But you're no stranger to that either, are you? If I were to turn these infra-red scanners to my advantage, I would no doubt see a very different form beneath those -- what did Wolverine call them? -- boobs." She attempted a smile then, to communicate that she was only teasing. What crossed her face was in fact something closer to a pained grimace.

And then it was through the next gate and on to the last one. They were close now to infiltrating the compound and finishing the job. Serafina leaned back behind a pylon, well hidden from view, just in case Wyngarde's abilities should randomly fail. One couldn't be too careful.

"Calisthenics as you call them - excellent word choice - do indeed occur, but due to the nature of my abilities are a pointless exercise. Unless I were to become Professor Serafina, of course. Which would patently be absurd. Most people on Sanctuary are oblivious to the fact that I know their every secret and could crush them in an instant. But then -- what is that French idiom? C'est la vie. People are imbeciles." She tugged at her baroque skirt, adjusting it upwards after it had shimmied down her hips just a tad during the last race between checkpoints.
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"Well, if I'm doing my job right the infrared scanners should show the same version of reality your eyes do. It's not your eyes I affect, after all, it's your mind. But, yes, the boobs are a tool... as they are for a lot of women, granted, but in my case I don't have to undergo surgery to get them," she added with an invisible smirk. "Not that manipulating women the same way is significantly more difficult, admittedly; it just requires a different appearance."

Their discussion was briefly interrupted by the guards passing through the security checkpoint, providing them an opening to pass imperceptibly through it alongside them. Only one more checkpoint to go, she thought with equal parts relief and impatience as they settled in for the next leg of this mission.

"Anyway, as far as Sanctuary goes, 'close to perfect' is quite a recommendation all on its own. I've been thinking I ought to visit Sanctuary when all of this is over, see your little utopia first hand. Perhaps you can show me around when I do?" She wasn't sure whether Serafina's boast about knowing Sanctuary's every secret was justified, or just a bluff, but the former was plausible enough to make the woman an asset worth pursuing.

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Serafina(old)
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Serafina's new acquaintance was cunning, that much was clear. She made a mental note to... take further notes. Which is to say that, given her observations of women like Mystique within the Brotherhood, she wished to continue her education on the feminine wiles and how she might employ them to her advantage. Her relations with Exodus had already presented several opportunities to test out the theory. She was finally beginning to acknowledge, however - in this if nowhere else - that she had much still to learn.

Since they were invisible to the guards, Serafina danced around one of them as they finally got through the final portal. She resisted the urge to whisper something in his ear... that would simply be irresponsible. "A visit to Sanctuary?" she said technopathically, direct to Regan's earpiece. "I'm not sure how you would get in, or whether the dear leader himself would suffer it. But should you make it in, absolutely. We could even do our 'shopping' there. They have nice boutiques. I have not been able to visit them yet."

Serafina realized she may have oversold Sanctuary's charms by dubbing it 'perfect'. To her overly mathematical mind, of course, the adjective meant something wholly different than to an aesthete such as Mastermind. Perfect - for Serafina - was something that was perfectly executed, in terms of its purpose or its function. Sanctuary represented such a paradigm... well, perfectly.

Serafina stopped by a wall just adjacent to the compound's entrance and watched the guards pass right by, oblivious. They keyed a code into the pad next to the door and it whirred open. Serafina could, of course, open it herself, but it was always a plus to retain energy when one's abilities weren't strictly required... or so she was learning from her superiors. She passed through the entrance alongside Mastermind. Once inside, she rapidly interfaced with the computer system and obtained a blueprint of the central communications hub.

"We have two options," Serafina said without speaking, her eyes rolled back in her head - an odd sight, no doubt. "Either I can send out a pulse that fries their communications, but might leave a trail that leads their bio-suits straight to us. Perhaps. Or we trust in your ability to uphold this illusion all the way to the communications center, and I do my thing right under everybody's noses."
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Mastermind
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Serafina's dancing around the guard amused Regan far more than she would have expected it to. There was a certain innocence to her that completely belied the ruthless efficiency Regan knew she was capable of; it was charming in its way.

"Well," Regan replied to her partner's skepticism about her getting into Santuary, "our two organizations are starting to work more closely together in the wake of this Purifier crisis. It would be a waste to let that fall apart once we no longer had a common enemy; there are certain... synergies... that are well worth exploiting to our mutual benefit." Which was no less than the truth: Regan had already decided to propose to Max that the Black Court establish an official liason to Sanctuary to facilitate communications and joint projects. She was confident she could convince him to appoint her to the job with just a little suggestion.

Of course, Regan wasn't entirely operating out of an altruistic desire to further the common interests of the Brotherhood and the Hellfire Club and mutantkind generally. Primarily, she'd calculated that the Black Rook mediating an alliance between the Brotherhood and the Hellfire Club, however precarious it might be, would be good for her as well as for the Club. If it worked out the way she hoped, it would become her path to the Black Court's throne alongside the Shroud -- or, well, one of her paths anyway. But she was getting far ahead of herself; she needed to concentrate her attention on this mission.

Their conversation paused as the technopath did her thing and laid out the options. Apparently, the designers of this communications hub were even more paranoid than Mastermind had given them credit for; the system they'd painstakingly made their way to was just a way-station to the real communications center. "Taking any overt action will warn them that they've been compromised, and they'll likely shut down the whole center and switch to an alternate hub. So I guess we're going to have to trust in my ability just a little while longer," she said wryly. "On the plus side, you get to do some more dancing."

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Serafina(old)
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Serafina frowned. This world of mutants and its various facets and variegated factions was new to her, and its idiosyncrasies all the more illogical for that. Take Sanctuary for instance: the mutants within had retreated from the world in order to be set apart from it, having recognized its irreparable, irredeemable faults, and having identified it the post-Apocalypse Earth as a planet on the brink of total, final destruction. So why Magneto and his acolytes should suddenly be mobilized by the suffering of an opposing faction like the X-Men was a mystery to Serafina: hence why she had sat back while other denizens of the Brotherhood had proceeded with their collaboration with those seeking to put an end to the Purifiers: it really, truly, was not her fight; nor did she feel it was theirs, but apparently logic was not their master as it was hers.

The assertion that the Brotherhood should strengthen its connections with earth-bound organizations such as the Hellfire Club in the light of a common (surface-dwelling) enemy was, then, all the more an affront to the very raison d'être of Sanctuary. "Synergies... yes," Serafina replied, merely smiling coldly in reply. However redundant such an alliance would be, Serafina's thoughts on the matter were all the more so. "Well I'm sure you have reasons for such enthusiasm. If it pleases you, I'm sure between your influence and mine - given the secrets I have access to - we can arrange a little vacation for you. A journey to the nether realms, as it were." She gave a lopsided smirk; playing with the vagaries of language was her new favorite thing to do.

She nodded in agreement with Mastermind's judgment: subtlety would be the best - or at least the most prudent - course of action. Unsure whether her acquaintance's final words were meant to be playful or secretly chiding - knowing women, Serafina suspected the latter - but she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt in any case: "I find dancing to be the most relaxing thing a person can do. Don't you? It makes all things... serene." She did a small pirouette past Regan, as if it proved her point, and began to make her way towards the communications hub. "Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road," she chanted in Mastermind's earpiece, until she could tell it was time to stop. "When this is over, we should watch the Wizard of Oz. It's my favourite." Her 'silent' chatter continued until they reached the threshold of the hub. Like most of the compound inside, it was was an open doorway... but there were three people sitting inside the small suite, while one suited man pointed at something on a screen and laughed.

"At least they appear to have absolutely no suspicions. Are you sure we can keep this up long enough for me to get the job done? Serafina asked technopathically, looking over her shoulder to Mastermind as she rested against the wall at the cusp of the entrance.
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"I can keep this up for as long as I have to," she replied calmly. It wasn't true of course, but she'd be able to get through this mission, and it would do no harm for her to build up her reputation for endurance. "But yes, a 'little vacation' in Sanctuary after these pesky Purifiers are dealt with sounds like a lovely idea. Which, now that we're actually joining forces against them, shouldn't take very long."

Which was perhaps over-optimistic, but Serafina had pegged her fairly well: she was enthusiastic about inter-faction cooperation. She was a lot of things, but high on the list was a businesswoman and a successful corporate executive, and in that role she'd learned many times over the importance of specialization and comparative advantage to long-term productivity. That was how any business succeeded, and that was ultimately how the mutant factions would triumph: not by killing the humans, not by enslaving them, but simply by outproducing them.

Of course, that was the long-term view. In the short term, they had to survive long enough to realize the benefits of that cooperation, which was of course the reason for this little expedition, among others. But Regan hadn't gotten to where she'd gotten by focusing exclusively on the short term, and in this Brotherhooder -- odd as she was -- she saw the opportunity for a longer-term partnership.

Perhaps even a friendship, if the term applied.

"The Wizard of Oz, eh? I haven't watched that since I was a little girl," she mused. "Once this is over, it's a date."
[end thread]

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