Statement of Intent

[x-pete.livejournal.com]

Alright then, it looks like we've got the e-comms set up.

And the building is looking quite a lot nicer, although frankly, I couldn't care less about it, and before anyone says it: it's very simple: So long as rain is not falling on my head, and I have space to work, sleep and eat, I really don't care what the fucking wallpaper looks like. I'll re-decorate my rooms when I have the spare time, and at the moment I have none.

So: we have a place to live. We have a information network more or less operational, notwithstanding the few people I still need to put the fear of me back into. We have offices, and yes, I have made arrangements regarding the furniture and carpets for those. It's time to go to work.

So here's the score, just so we all know what page we're on, and so I have something to point anyone else we might recruit back at.

The X-men cannot do serious work. They're a PR exercise. An important one, maybe, but the nature of their operation precludes the kind of anonymity that is required if one is to engage acts of espionage, or generally commit any of the really good crimes. They cannot risk the repuation of Xavier's school, or more importantly, the safety of it's students. There are limits on what they can risk, and on who they can piss off, and how much.

That's where we come in.

I've talked you all into this, and for that, I apologise in advance. This is almost certainly the last time I will, so make the most of it.

So here are some uncomfortable truths:

I will be asking you to risk your lives. I will be asking you to commit crimes, quite possibly some very repugnant ones. If you are caught in the process, I will do what I can, but honestly, the probability is that you will be left hung out to dry.

And with almost everything you do, if everything goes well, no-one will know you've done it. You will receive nothing for it except the glow of a job well done and my thanks. And possibly a drink.

And in exchange, I make you these promises:

I asked you all to help me because I trust your judgement. This means that I don't care how you do the job, as long as the job gets done. You're on the ground, you make the call. Which is not to say this is a free ride - if you blow the job, and make it back, you're going to hear about it. Corollary to this: if you turn up a job you think needs doing, then bring it up. The job is making a better planet, not just catering to any one person's agenda, so I want to hear from all of you on that score.

To the world outside this building, I will back you to the hilt. In private, I may come down on you like a ton of bricks, if you have fucked up in some way, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned, if someone has a problem with you or any action you take because of where work takes you, then they come through me.

I will not lie to you. This is not to say that I will tell you everything at all times, so do not expect that. We live in a world where there are telepaths that are not on our side. What you do not know cannot be taken from your head by force, or tortured from you. But I will never tell you anything I know to be untrue, and I will never allow your operational safety to be compromised through lack of knowledge.

You have complete freedom to tell me to fuck off. You don't want to do a job, you fucking say so. I will in all likelihood be deeply pissed off and shout at you at some length, but when I have calmed down, I'll find someone else, or do it myself. You don't want to work here any more - tell me. You are not trapped by this job, and I will do everything I can to set you up elsewhere in a more normal line of work, if that's what you want.

I am saying this all up front so you understand: there is a line to be walked here. I cannot and will not have this turn into the like of the of operations that Remy and I worked for. But at the same time, if we are to take on bastards like that, then we must use some of their tactics, or they will simply stomp us flat. So this is the compromise: For as long as you work here, I will ask you to behave like bastards, and I will ask the impossible from you. And in exchange, you get to exercise your own judgement, and with any luck, somewhere between the two, we might manage to make a better planet.

Sounds awful when it's written down, doesn't it?