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Lunch rush on a weekday makes for the perfect time to stage a meeting that will go unnoticed. Mario's Pizza is busy enough that people aren't likely to pay much attention to two people having pizza. This is where Phil Coulson instructed Jean Grey to meet him. A large pepperoni with mushrooms awaits, still steaming from the oven, and a large fountain coke rests in front of Coulson. He's still wearing sunglasses while inside, but that's because the table is right by the window, bathing his face in sunlight.
When Jean arrives, he rises and pulls the chair out for her, giving her a big warm smile. Just another happy couple here, sharing pizza.
"Jean Grey. So good to see you, especially in these troubled times," he tells her, all while maintaining that unnervingly pleasant smile on his face.
It was easy meeting in a public place. Distractions, more so on her part than others, for she provides it with a mental check for anyone who looks in their direction. Yes, they would outwardly see a happy couple, but they wouldn't remember faces. Though, that was only the exception for a waitress who would come to refill their sodas.
"Hi Phil!" Jean chirps, one eye a slight twitch as someone does look their way, reinforcing her efforts as she waits for him to release the chair for a moment so that she could sit. Once she was in place with a few scoots and a wiggle, her head bobs ever so slightly as she pulls a plate in front of her, and a pizza. May as well act the part.
"I've heard." She commiserates, picking apart her pizza without even eating it, though one would think she was ready to. "There's a lot going on, and I'm really glad that we're able to work in accordance with each other."
Phil slurps down some soda, leaving his silence of pizza momentarily unattended aside from giving it a dusting of parmesan and spicy pepper flecks. "You'll be happy to know I've been successful in keeping you and your friends off the books," he tells her. He's not sure how long that will last, but it's best not to trouble her with that. Behind the sunglasses, he casts a brief look to and fro. "I'm gonna speak frankly, if that's alright, but don't worry. I have promising news."
That was some bit of relief, granted she could have gleamed that from his mind but what fun would that be? Plus, she wasn't the intrusive sort. "That's only going to last for so long, which.. in the case of something dire, I do have at least a dossier to give you on our most dangerous mutant." She smirks at that, finally reaching for a fork to move the mess around upon her plate. But frankness, it was appreciated. One supposed leader (her) to the next. And all she does is nod her head, then puts on a smile because there was a feeling that this may sting.
"It's a dangerous road, dossiers," Coulson admits. "I appreciate the sentiment but," he holds out a staying hand. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that for a while." A pause. "I was wondering, what do you call yourselves anyway? You guys've got to have a groovy name."
His pizza will have to wait, at least for a while. That's why there are breadsticks, and he's happy to snap one off and take a bite before speaking again. "It took a while, but… General Nibiru finally spilled his guts."
"Not my kind of dossier." Jean grins, but.. still. "No chances, Agent. Trust me, it'll be quick and painless, lacking a paper trail." At the mention of their name, Jean's eye kind of wrinkles, a lip turns up in a slightly amused fashion, and her shoulders lift faintly. "We're call the X-Men." She says. "But we're all split into different teams, some intermingle, some don't. Some are like.." She bobs her head left and right, attempting a nice way to put it.. "..the ones who handle extreme threats and the others are like the CIA, or.. public assistance, or.. some lesser sorts. It's a lot."
Sort of.
Now onto the General. Jean doesn't speak. In fact, that face falls as she forces herself to at least eat -something-. (A pile of cheese, sauce, mushrooms and meat, to be exact.)
"That's quite a name," Coulson answers, clearly impressed and probably jealous. Granted it's a bit sexist, but 'X-People' doesn't really have the same ring to it.
Well, down to business.
"First, motive." Coulson sets the breadstick down and folds his hands. "Nibiru and his Guerilla soldiers hate whites, and they hate mutants. Their end game isn't very complex, really. They want people to hate mutants and they want to incite a race war. Nibiru believes that a race war could end the idea of white supremacy, which… is an admirable idea, but he's willing to take it a step further into genocide."
Phil pauses to have a drink of coke.
"He's controlling these mutants he's made in a fairly barbaric but effective manner; he's kidnapped their families. Threatening to kill them if they don't do his will. Orders are fairly simple." He reaches into his jacket pocket and produces a small notepad. "A list of cities and targets, mostly in America and Europe." He sets the notepad down and slides it across the table.
"I have a tactical team dusting off in ninety minutes. We're going to find out where these families are being kept and liberate them."
"That's a little contradictory isn't it though?" Jean asks, obviously shocked and.. quite offended by such a notion. "There's nothing admirable about genocide. So, the General would like to kill whites, and kill mutants, and incite them into killing each other by creating a vacuum effect with African based mutants attacking caucasians?" Was that a stretch.
As the notepad was slid over, Jean reaches out to take it, flipping it back and forth, then stuffs it within her top. Hey, one could consider her a hooker now, but he obviously wasn't getting that one back. "I'll look over the cities and see where we will be best placed ourselves. Then I have to dust off out of country to Africa and move the mutants that we've already hidden to a different location. Perhaps somewhere where we can safely reunite them and keep them hidden until everything is over with."
She frowns a little, her expression growing slightly grave. "If by chance you happen to catch this General, is it impolite of me to ask a favor of you?"
"Very," Coulson agrees. "He's got radical ideas, doesn't think things through. Just… angry. At everything." He shakes his head, and reaches up to remove the sunglasses from his nose. "From what I can tell, he thinks he can get people to hate mutants and empower negroes to fight against an oppressive system. He's failing to recognize that… Americans are moving in a new direction. New ideas are surfacing, laws are changing." He shakes his head again. "Guess that's what happens when you live in a bubble."
He takes the breadstick up again, and divulges more information still. "The cities that were hit are phase one. We believe the top European cities are part of a second phase, along with some other hot areas in the states. Vegas, LA, Nashville, maybe even DC. My team is heading to Rome. If we find what I hope we find, we might be able to stop the Europe attacks from happening at all."
He finally reaches for a slice of pizza, and lifts an eyebrow, allowing Jean to make her request.
"As slow as they are, Phil. I suppose everything is changing." She glances out the window, then sighs. "I really thought that we should be focusing on home. Watering our own grass so to speak before venturing out into the world to try to fix everything else. I guess that isn't the case so much anymore."
Jean leans back into her chair, her fork lightly tapping upon the plate as she speaks. The request, it could possibly be illegal, but then again, what they.. the X-Men were doing usually was. "I want a crack at the General if you get him. No witnesses."
While he can share the sentiment, Coulson doesn't have the luxury of staying in one place for far too long. He takes another bite of pizza, quietly considering it all, before setting it back down and wiping his hands.
"It was General Nibiru who gave me this information," he tells her. "I've got him. Locked down." He nods his head. "One of the ones you turned over to us. Claimed to be a Colonel at first, but we saw through that."
A hand lifts to smack herself upon the side of her head. Obviously it was something she had forgotten, hadn't thought about.. or some other issue that she's dealing with at the moment. "Gah.." She still wanted him though, perhaps what she was thinking of doing was horrible.. changing his mind..
"Alright. I still want. I need counsel first." With that said, she pushes the plate of uneaten, ruined, messed up pizza forward, gesturing to the lot of it with a question. "You going to take all of this? If not, I know a few people who'd appreciate Mario's." Happy staff, happy students!
Coulson shakes his head. "Oh no, the one slice is quite enough for me."He'll remain behind for another few minutes, if anything just to enjoy the smell of grease and the sounds of New York hustle.