13394/Passing the info

Passing the info
Date of Scene:	19 November 2022
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Assembly Room
Synopsis:	Superman and Captain America talk about a less than pleasant topic. Information is passed to those who can work with it.
Cast of Characters:	Clark Kent, Steve Rogers

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Clark Kent has posed:
    After thinking things over, Kal decides that the best person to talk to about the info that was passed to him would be Captain America. His ties to both the Avengers and SHIELD would give him a lot of paths to follow while trying to figure out the puzzle Superman had been handed.

    It doesn't happen a lot, but every once in a while a hero at the mansion is one nobody expects. This is true of today when Superman descends from a clouded sky to land on the path leading to the front door. In an utterly mundane act, he walks over and rings the doorbell, then waits for a response.

Steve Rogers has posed:
JARVIS had alerted the on duty member of the Avengers as soon as the Mansion's systems detected the descending Kryptonian. That member happens to be the person that Superman came to see. Steve Rogers opens up the door in the time it takes to ride the elevator up from the Assembly Room below.

"Superman," he says, reaching out to offer his hand in greeting. "What do we owe the honor to?" he asks. Steve moves aside, gesturing for Superman to come inside as he likes, closing the door behind him.

Clark Kent has posed:
    Superman shakes hands with Cap, then nods and walks into the building. "I've got some information that I'm pretty sure you'll be much more successful at following up than I would. You know people and who to trust with this, while I'm a little more distant from things like the government."

    He looks around as they walk further into the house, saying "If at all possible, can we discuss this somewhere private? That is, where there's not even internal surveillance." He glances upwards as if speaking to someone on high, then says, "Not that I don't trust you JARVIS, but I don't know who all have access to your security recordings."

Steve Rogers has posed:
JARVIS replies, "No offense taken, Superman. Most places within the mansion are with my sensor purview. I might suggest going outside of the mansion somewhere."

Steve looks to Superman and gives a nod and shrug. "Building top nearby?" he suggests. If that sounds fine to Superman, then Steve will step back outside with him. No need to scoop him up or something, just a hand offered by Steve to grasp and carry him aloft with.

Clark Kent has posed:
    With a nod, "Thanks JARVIS, that sounds like a plan." He walks back outside, takes the offered hand and rises gently skyward. A quick scan of nearby roofs finds one high enough to make listening in via devices problematic and heads over to it. Depositing Cap on the roof first, he lands lightly as well.

    "Ok, I'll tell you at the start... you're not going to like hearing what I have to say." He leans against the support of a water tank casually, then continues. "Because it's you I'm going to be totally open, none of the usual 'I heard from am anonymous source' type of thing." He pauses for a moment, then dives in.

    "The Deputy Secretary of Defense contacted me last night asking to meet with me. Of course I agreed, not just because of his position, but he's a longtime friend as well. He's been seeing some worrisome things happening with the government - Soviet era projects being secretly pulled out of mothballs, money going to space contractors, money being moved around in secret. Basically, someone is using the same techniques HYDRA did before the government purge after the troubles SHIELD had recently."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Though the matter sounds like it is going to be serious, Steve at least enjoys the flight up to the skyscraper rooftop. Not like he does that often enough without an airplane that it gets old, exactly.

The land, the wind a bit strong up this high. Superman's cape flapping about, Steve's hair about the only thing that is stirring. He's in his uniform as he was on monitoring duty so might have had to respond to something on short notice. JARVIS taking over the monitoring in the meantime and able to alert him if something needs a human eye.

What Superman explain then does indeed draw a tired and frustrated sigh from Steve. "Well, it sounds like we'd better look into this then. Whether it's Hydra or someone else, they did enough damage the last time around. The last thing we need is crisis of faith in the government. Which at the best of times... well," Steve says, leaving it there. "Do we have any specifics? People or projects? I'm guessing that near disaster on the last SpaceLex launch was part of it?"

Clark Kent has posed:
    Shaking his head, Kal says "Actually no, we didn't go into the launch at all. The real problem we have is that he did give me names. There are six people high enough to do what is being done. He's one of them, Deputy Secretary of Defense Ross. The other five are his boss Secretary of Defense Pierce, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Polster, Vice Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Banker, Under Secretary of Defence for Intelligence and Security Wayne-Brooks, Vice President Weathers and President Luthor."

    He sighs, looking a bit pensive, then looks back to Cap. "Now if someone attacked the White House with a giant robot, I'd be in my wheelhouse. But investigating the most powerful men in the government? I just don't even know where to start. I figure you know who in SHIELD can be trusted with this. I didn't want to take it straight to SHIELD because I don't know if the person I hand it to is trustworthy or not. We can hope they all are, but that's a bit of a rosy look at reality."

    He pulls a small thumb drive from a hidden compartment on his belt. "He also gave me this, all the info and projects, the funding, all of it. I've made a copy for the League, but I think you're going to need it." He offers the drive to Steve, continuing "If you could keep me in the loop on this, I'd appreciate it. I'd like to know how things work out."

    With a slight chuckle, he adds "Besides, you never know when HYDRA might pull out that giant robot and give me a target I can work with."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers lets out a breath as he hears just how high up the list of names are. "And of course they are the going to have others beneath them," Steve says with a frown. "Yes, probably best not to go directly to SHIELD officially. Though Nick would be one person I would probably trust with this. He reports up to some of them, but I have a difficult time believing he'd be involved in it. Natasha is another. And both of them would have ideas on how to investigate it," he says.

"So your friend that brought you this. How much risk does he think that he's in that they might realize he's on to something going wrong?" Steve asks Superman. He walks over to the rooftop's edge, which is surrounded by a railing. He leans on it, looking out at the city, but mostly buried in his thoughts about this matter.

Clark Kent has posed:
    "He knows just how much trouble he can be in. I made him put my number on speed dial, and we're going to be in contact daily just so I know he's still ok. Even set up code words in case he can't speak freely on the call. I'd be happier if we could get him somewhere safe, but that could tip off the people involved. And if that happens, the investigation becomes a hundred times harder."

    Raising his gaze to look directly at Cap he adds, "If you have people you can set to protecting him without tipping anyone off, I'd take it as a personal favor if you could do so. As I said, he's been a friend for a very long time, and I don't want anything to happen to him for doing the right thing."

    The wind is wrapping his cape around him, which is an improvement to it flapping all over the place, so he pins it where it is. "That's what I've got so far, do you have any questions I can answer?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve turns back and shakes his head. "Not unless there are any more specifics on the events that might help in pointing back to someone. I'll start with Natasha and see what her thoughts are, and when it would be worth talking to Nick," Steve replies.

He thinks for a moment. "Probably not a bad idea not bringing Tony in yet. Sometimes when we're best served thinking up a plan of attack, his plan is just, attack," Steve says. "I would imagine that Batman, from what I hear of him, would probably be another person you might consider talking to? Or, already have?"

Clark Kent has posed:
    He smiles and nods his head. "Batman is the reason I made a copy of it. I haven't able to catch him yet, but I'm going to give him all the info I gave you, since he is our investigator. He doesn't have the government contacts you and SHIELD do, but he has a rather wide variety of contacts. You never know who it turns out he's got an in with."

    He laughs quietly, telling Steve "Why do you think I wanted privacy from JARVIS? I know Tony has the best interest of the country, heck, the planet at heart, but he is not what anyone would call subtle. I didn't want him seeing this until you decided he needs to."

    He offers Steve his hand for the return to the mansion, settling him lightly in front of the door. "Oh, yes, you'd probably need this." He pulls a card out of that belt compartment and hands it to Cap. It's a plain white card with the same symbol he wears on his chest, bearing a phone number and email address. "Probably easier to call direct than go through the League phone system." With that, he rises into the air, waves and shoots off in a generally New Jersey-ish direction.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve stays on the rooftop for awhile longer. He's not immune to freezing cold air, especially as windy as it is up here. But there's a lot on his mind that he wants to think through before he returns to the mansion.

Finally taking a sigh, he turns and heads for the stairs down into the building to find an elevator down.