On Strategy

[subtle_guns]

WAR JOURNAL ENTRY
July 15th, 2005

I'm going to be having a talk with Captain Steve Rogers.

Before I do, I suggest people report below what they've experienced.

Just facts. No hyperbole.

Then a strategy will be formed.

End entry.

Comments

[shield_topdog]

Just make sure ya get the right one. There are a few around here now.

[subtle_guns]

Furys, or Rogers?

What's SHIELD's position? I don't think this Rogers has an actual mandate. I'm trying to ascertain if he's rogue or not.

[shield_topdog]

Either.

I can't speak for SHIELD right now. Ya have t' ask Bridge for that.

[subtle_guns]

Bullshit.

[blindinjustice]

"Oppression..."

[subtle_guns]

I need specifics. Oppression should be fought, but take it from the abstract to the actual for me.

[blindinjustice]

"Shot at while protecting the youth. Harassed for being preternatural. And threatened to be put in a camp... Again."

[subtle_guns]

You, or someone else?

[hawk_shay]

Spent some time gathering - or trying to gather - facts, myself. Here's what I've got so far.

Rogers claims to have found a 'cure' for vampirism. He went to Transgressions with a group of his men - who were armed - and during negotiations about eight of his men were killed (impaled, courtesy of Alucard, I think) causing him to declare war on Transgressions. The people of Transgressions, not realizing that war is not something to be taken lightly, provoked Rogers and his men, making the whole situation worse.

Rogers now considers Trangressions a den of terrorists, and the people of Transgressions now consider Rogers a right-wing psychopath.

[osborn_journals]

Clarification: from what I gather, the men in question were impaled, yes, but did not die until removed from Transgression. The place has a sort of... death-free effect. Injury, yes, pain, yes. But no one dies, unless taken out.

[subtle_guns]

What else?

I've seen multiple allegations of unprovoked violence on all sides.

[osborn_journals]

I've not been paying attention for the most of it, honestly -- the whole matter only came to my attention once Hermes came and informed Sages of Rogers' plan to enact a voluntary munant registration program. (Which quickly became mandatory, it must be noted.)

One noteable event is the attempt by Rogers and men to poison the food and alcohol supply of the hotel -- the only items left untouched were bread and water. As there are multiple individuals on the premises who are unable to leave, either because of the multiversal nature of the place, or because they are sustained only by the 'death free' effect (fatally injured, seriously ill), this is... unfortunate. An antidote has been developed and distributed, but it took several days, and multiple persons had already been affected

[mercurialnature]

A transcript of my dealings with the Cap'n'Co. Following this I was informed that I am not a god, instead I am a clinically insane mutant who needs registration, treatment, and/or sterilization.

[subtle_guns]

Was any violence committed against you? Anything else that you witnessed?

Can you tell me how many officers there were? How many soldiers, stationed where? In what formation? What was their demeanor?

[mercurialnature]

There was no direct violence committed against myself.

I don't know officer numbers or formations...they've moved from inside Trans to outside. Their demeanor was almost fanatically loyal to their cause. This notwithstanding, they are not too intelligent. When I went to talk to their PR officer they didn't ask my name or my affiliation. Moreover, even after I had admitted to being non-human they still didn't ask my for my name or abilities.

One of the main things I was concerned about was that Cap's soldiers had poisoned all the food and drink (except bread and water) and there are some people in Trans who can't return to a homeworld, like Harry Potter.

[subtle_guns]

Poisoned with what?

Define "not too intelligent." Do you mean unresponsiveness? Often military personnel will not respond to direct queries by whom they perceive to be the enemy for security reasons. That's not lack of intelligence, it's training.

[cold_hope]

He's the epitome of what the rest of the world thinks--wrongly, I hope--of Americans: he is absolutely convinced that a) he is right, b) he is Doing the Right Thing for Freedom and Justice, and c) anyone who disagrees is obviously Anti-Freedom. He has roughly the same objective viewpoint as, say, Goebbels.

This wouldn't bother me, only he's now asking...did I say asking? I meant "ordering at gunpoint"...anyone who remotely resembles anything faintly supernatural to "register" with his little brownshirts. I'm staying the hell away from it, because I have no desire to be 'registered' under his system.

The puzzling thing is not so much that he has been given power despite his lamentably juvenile mental state, but that he is able to get other people to obey him despite the fact that he would clearly lose a debate with an iguana.

I digress, Castle. He champions Justice and Freedom by shooting unarmed women. Just for that, I think you ought to have a talk with him.

[subtle_guns]

You'd be surprised what people will do under threat of organized and purposeful violence, when their lives previously have been minimally touched by it. The majority of modern Americans and Europeans in particular, if they didn't go through the Second World War, aren't used to having the military point guns at them at home. It is a visceral and life-altering experience when it happens to someone for the first time.

Has he ordered people at gunpoint to register, or is it that he's intimidated people to the point that they will register, regardless of whether they are staring down the barrel of a sixty or not?

I am trying to compile data in the form of firsthand accounts.

Who has been shot? Where are they, what condition are they in? Did you see this firsthand, or was it reported to you?

Rumor flies during armed conflict. I've been in enough firefights to see disasterous results from that. What is crucial is accurate information, conveyed quickly. Have you treated anyone that is injured? Any photos or video?

[cold_hope]

Unfortunately I haven't seen the damage firsthand, only learned of it from eyewitnesses. Yes, I did treat a couple of the victims, and it looked to me like a 5.56 cal that I pulled out of someone's shoulder, but I didn't have a ballistics lab to check it. From what I've heard from Mr. Osborn up there, the registration desk was placed squarely in front of the entrance and exit to the hotel lobby, and was guarded by heavily armed soldiers.

I wish I had more useful information for you. All I can say from firsthand experience is that this man jumps right straight to conclusions more even than I do, which is fairly impressive, and once he's got a thought in his blue-cowled head it's going to take Apocalypse to get it out again.

[subtle_guns]

*lip twitch*

Apocalypse is not someone I'd thought you'd ever invoke, Nadezhda. Is it possible to speak to anyone that's been wounded?

All information is useful in this context. You have a clear head and an excellent eye for detail, when it's not obscured by tobacco smoke.

The next time I hear of you doing narcotics, rest assured that I will be your personal DEA agent.

Rogers is acting without mandate at this point. I'm sure of it.