An Illuminating Rendezvous (Illuminati)

[bio858]

At an Undisclosed Location

The time had come for the 6 to meet once again, at a location set up by Richards this time around. The issue was urgent, one that needed to be spoken about sooner, rather than later. It concerned his dead "wife", or rather, the deceased Skrull that was posing as her for an unknown amount of time. He hadn't spoken of that particular lab accident to anyone, feeling it would lead to a spread of paranoia. Besides, he needed to find out as much as he could about this impostor. Anything he could find could prove vital to finding Susan. So, he'd take the first step, which involved biological testing.

Commencing with the genetic testing between the deceased impostor and his wife's older DNA samples, he'd that there would only be a near 50% match between the two. Richards already theorized this was due to both the impostor being deceased, as well as being forced to return back to its original alien state once its brain activity had ceased to function.

Hence, he made sure to check back with earlier DNA samples that he usually took from the team every week. He originally did this to find some sort of solution to Ben's everlasting predicament as the Thing. Comparing the samples of "Susan" from a few weeks ago with the samples he had of the real Susan post exposure to the cosmic radiation, he found the DNA to have a 99.987% match. Practically identical to her human counterpart, unless Susan was somehow replaced a day before the lab accident that lead to that impostor's demise. Reed heavily doubted that particular conclusion.

So, he'd wait within the dark room, sitting down on his metallic chair with his elbows upon the projector table. The table itself was long, encompassing a large amount of space to seat even more than just 6 people. There were several hidden USB ports that could be accessed, if any of the guests wished to showcase any of their own data with their specific devices. The table would be able to showcase this data via a holographic HUD, which will prove useful to provide a visual for whatever they needed to discuss.

Which connects to the various devices Reed had by him on standby. The first were pair of flat disks placed upon the table, not connected to the larger device they were laid upon. These smaller devices seemed capable of providing their own holograms whenever they were activated, but their true purpose would be revealed once the others had arrived. Another was a helmet, in similar appearance to that of Cerebro. It had wires connected to the top of the helmet, that stretched out towards the bottom of the table. Reed had set this up for the arrival of Charles Xavier, as he felt he was needed to help fully realize whether his current hypothesis was correct.

'I do hope I'm wrong, but if I'm not, the entire planet may be in grave danger.'

[Ysmir]

"I believe observation and knowledge must precede action."

---

So it had finally come to this.

Thankfully, in the years since its formation, the ostentatiously named Illuminati had found little reason to convene. As they had all agreed when first coming together, a melding of Earth's greatest minds, their presence would only be spurred by the greatest of necessities. That being the case, Strange knew that for Reed Richards to call them together, something dire had to be happening. Mr. Fantastic didn't make a habit out of wasting anybody's time.

As such, the Doctor dropped everything he had been doing in preparation for this meeting. Studies, battles, adventures, and all other business had to be put on hold for the time being. Ensuring that the Soul Gem was in its proper place near his person, but undetectable, Strange destroyed the correspondence sent to him by Richards and prepared a portal to the secret meeting place.

Within the dark room, a pale orange light emitted in a circular shape. It grew in intensity until a doorway formed, through which the Sorcerer Supreme stepped, clad in plain and unassuming clothing by his standards. Noticing he was the first arrival besides Richards himself, Strange walked to one of the six chairs. He stood, not yet talking a seat, and rested his hand atop it.

"Reed," Strange said in greeting to the man, giving him a brief nod, "I sincerely wish I could say it's good to see you. But I have a feeling it won't be soon enough."

[Jaymi]

What if I lose it all?
Oh cousin, I will help you out!
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,

---

Blackagar arrived as was typical for him. He was in a kneeling position, a hand pressed against the nape of a monstrously large dog. His other hand was stroking the beast's snout even as they appeared in a bright blue flash that seemed to originate from a fork on the animal's head. Sitting at rest for a moment, the Inhuman King placed his forehead on Lockjaw's for a moment before standing. Another flash from the dog's crown and it was gone, back to Attilan where it would wait.

Turning his attention to the two men that had arrived before him, the Inhuman gave a nod of recognition before moving over to a seat and taking it. His hands found their way to the table before him, fingers folding together as his eyes closed. Small talk was hardly what he was hear for, even if he could speak a word without tearing apart the building they were in, so he contented himself with waiting for the rest of the members to arrive.

All the while, his thoughts were back home with his family and people.

---

There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do!

[A Random Player]

On a field of grassy plains, a strange rumbling noise was suddenly heard and the grass stirred from powerful winds.

Biometric signature confirmed. Opening hangar. The plains split into two as the X-Men's invisible Blackbird touched down upon the secret hangar. Said hatch would close as soon as it opened and the doors would open out of the de-cloaked Blackbird.

Professor X had arrived.

To say that Charles Xavier was a busy man was an understatement. An activist, headmaster, as well as the most prominent mutant representative on Earth, to name a few of his roles; yet in spite of that, he could not afford to be absent from this meeting, for they would not have gathered under triviality.

The Illuminati, a group that existed on no records. Each member were prominent figures and leaders from different communities. Their gathering signified a grave and urgent matter, occurrences which would impact Earth in its entirety if not an even larger scope. Faced against such matters of existential issues, nothing else could be more important.

Xavier hovered through the hangar, passing through one of the Fantastic 4's iconic Fantasticars before going down the hallway which would lead him into the room where they were to have their meeting. Charles Xavier would be the 4th man to arrive.

"Greetings friends, I hope the day finds you all in good health."

--------------------

There is much that needs to be done.

[zania]

It had been some time since they had been summoned, called together for a clandestine meeting that would have great bearing on the world . . . or supposedly. Reed Richards, for all of his faults, was not typically a man that would call the group together for frivolous reasons. Most of these issues, in the past, did not pose a direct threat to Atlantis but as King of Atlantis Namor had a responsibility to attend in order to ensure the security of his kingdom and safety of his people.

Once the meeting had been called, he immediately cleared his entire schedule . . . both council meetings in Atlantis, as well as his board meeting at Oracle, in order to make sure that he would be able to attend without delay.

He made sure that he wasn't followed as he arrived at the location designated by the patriarch of the Fantastic Four. He wore a black outfit with gold trim and a gold belt that boasted a trident upon it since that helped to present an air of royalty even though he knew that he wasn't going to be the only one present with royal blood.

Striding into the assembly area, he took note of those who were already there and nodded in greeting. He then took a seat at the table, fully expecting that the meeting would begin promptly as soon as the last member arrived . . .

[Revan]

REVOLUTIONARIES WAIT
for my head on a silver plate
JUST A PUPPET ON A LONELY STRING
--------------------

Iron Man dropped from the sky and landed with a clunk next to the Blackbird. Charles was already here. Good. Stark stood and headed into the facility, his sensors constantly on the look out for any surveillance. He even had his satellites watching for anything trying to watch from orbit, he was so paranoid at the moment. Once he got to the assigned room the faceplate of his MK 25 armor gazed around the room expressionlessly. He was the last to arrive.

Stark knew why they were here. He had originally suggested this be done one on one because he wanted to make it seem like simple catch up meetings to any spies. Everyone gathering together in one spot could be risky. Reed had disagreed. Hopefully for good reason, but ultimately Stark had agreed to a single meeting with all of them. Regardless, the topic was one of the biggest threats they had likely ever faced. A Skrull invasion that was likely already close to finishing. Stark had received the first clue by pure happenstance. The return of Mockingbird had prompted him to check what they had buried when they thought she had died. It was a Skrull. Xavier found the second one, though he didn't know anything beyond that one yet. The imposter Squirrel Girl who had been killed fighting a Sentinel attacking the mansion. The third was found by Reed, the only other person who now knew about both of the other two. His own wife, replaced by a Skrull. Now was the time to let the rest of the group in on it. The question was, who could be trusted? The answer: No one, and so you had to take a shot in the dark and hope for the best. If the Illuminati were all who they were suppose to be, then they were the best chance of stopping the Skrulls.

Iron Man took his place at the table and nodded to Reed to start whenever he was ready. The devices on the table were fascinating. It seemed Reed had been busy, his mind likely already looking to solve the problems they faced. Stark looked forward to hearing about what he came up with.

--------------------

OH, WHO WOULD EVER WANT TO BE KING?

[bio858]

---

With everyone arriving in a promptly manner, it was time for Richards to commence the meeting. As the fingers of his hands folded together, Reed would take a deep breath before he finally decided to begin.

"I apologize for the short notice, but this meeting is of urgent importance. One that concerns the safety of both Human and possibly Atlantean races."

Reed wasn't sure how far this "Invasion" had commenced, but he imagined that it most likely spread to the other intelligent lifeforms that resided on Planet Earth. Chances are, Namor and even his people were possibly replaced by the hidden threat known as the Skrull Empire. It was why he felt it was best to settle this matter with everyone at once, rather than through separate meetings like Tony suggested. After all, Reed found it suspicious that Stark kept this secret for so long. He knew of a Skrull imitator that replaced the SHIELD agent known as Barbara Morse AKA Mockingbird for quite some time. And both he and Xavier kept the secret of the doppelganger that impersonated Doreen Green AKA Squirrel Girl a secret from the others in this group as well. Richards couldn't help but admit he had doubts in the current identity of the Armored Avenger sitting across from him in this very room.

"To cut to the chase, we have identified three Skrulls that have taken the place of certain Heroes within an unidentified time frame. Those that we have identified as replaced include Barbara Morse, Doreen Green, and..."

He took another long breath before he completed his sentence.

"...Susan Storm."

Saying it outloud made it a bit surreal that she was indeed missing, and he didn't even know for how long. It made him both angry and upset, though he dare not show such emotions while he was leading this meeting.

"The only current way we have identified the impersonators was after said subjects suffered an unfortunate death. The immediate ceasing of biological functions forces the Skrull to revert back to their original form."

There was a big "but" that was coming in to this whole conversation.

"Of course, we have dealt with Skrull invaders from the past, but these Skrulls seem different from the past "invasions" if we could even call them that. For starters, the Skrulls are a near, perfect genetic match with whoever they copy. In fact, even in death, I still detected somewhere close to 48.875% match to my...to the real Susan Storm. I hypothesize that the only reason the value isn't closer to that of 50.0% may be due to decomposition. Typically, Skrulls wouldn't retain such a genetic similarity when in their own, true form. Not the case here. Plus, I imagine the same would be true of both the Skrull imitators of Doreen Green and Barbara Morse, though I'd also require DNA samples from the kidnapped victims to compare."

He'd then go on to mention the psychic issue they were dealing with as well. One that did indeed bother Reed, as it would have been a surefire way to identify any remaining replicates.

"There is also the issue of reading their minds. Both Tony and Charles have learned through the scanning of Skrull imitating Ms. Green that they seem to possess the exact same thoughts and behaviors of the original individual. Though, in that particular case, it seemed the Skrull only had memories up to Ms. Green's adolescence. Otherwise, it seems psychically checking for possible invaders is out of the question."

All of what he just said may have been a lot to take in, but he believed that the men in the room were all capable of comprehending this startling revelation. Taking a quick pause, he'd decide to ask a quick question of his own, before demonstrating the two small devices he had on the table.

"Before I continue on with this meeting, there is something I have to ask. Tony, I believe you wished to maintain the confidentiality of this revelation, due to it possibly causing mass panic amongst the general public. While I can see the reasoning behind that, why did you keep it a secret for as long as you did from the rest of us? This question also pertains to you as well, Charles."

[Ysmir]

"I believe observation and knowledge must precede action."

---

Shortly after Strange's arrival, the rest followed suit.

Blackagar Boltagon, the most venerated of the Inhumans, with a voice so powerful he can shake cities to their very foundations simply by uttering a whisper.

Professor Charles Xavier, mutant telepath, teacher and mentor to dozens, and the Earth's single greatest purveyor of peace.

Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Lord of Atlantis, master of the seas and wielder of Neptune's Trident.

And last, but certainly not least, Anthony Stark. He was a man Strange respected, even if they had clashed heads over issues in the past. Iron Man was undeniably one of this planet's most gifted minds.

All five men were people Strange considered friends. They had, at varying points in their history, contributed to the fate of their world, and even the multiverse at large. But as the Sorcerer Supreme had suspected, things were about to take a turn for the worst. Strange remained standing behind his chair as Reed began his speech.

"To cut to the chase, we have identified three Skrulls that have taken the place of certain Heroes within an unidentified time frame."

Strange's gaze steeled. Of course, he thought to himself. When he had met with Wanda just the other day, he remembered feeling a sense of unease, but a subtle one. His cosmic senses were open to threats and invaders of a galactic scale, but the Skrulls fought a war of subterfuge that managed to evade his careful watch. The Sorcerer Supreme mentally cursed this turn of events.

"That is... certainly troubling," Strange said once Reed had taken a pause in his revelations. He lifted a hand to stroke at his bearded chin, taking a moment to reflect on the information. However, his head perked up once more when Reed posed his question. Holding his tongue for the moment, Strange waited to see what Stark and Xavier had to say in their defense.

[Jaymi]

What if I lose it all?
Oh cousin, I will help you out!
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,

---

At the sound of Tony's arrival, the King of the Inhumans opened his eyes, bringing them to bear upon the man before allowing his gaze to sweep over all in attendance. Black Bolt was less certain than most gathered for the necessity of their meetings yet it offered a unique chance to ally with the terran heroes. To have say in matters that affected the planet and so often affected his home on the blue area of the moon. If it was for his family, he could stand to be a part of the gatherings.

His body sat nearly still, a living statue carved from flesh as the scientist Richards spoke. Despite the ill tidings, nary a muscle moved from place as the news of the Skrulls walking among them was shared. Only when the names of those found dead were revealed did the stone facade fall and the monarch's lips curled into displeasure. Still, he waited until Reed had said his peace before moving.

Pushing his chair away from the table, he rose tall to stand among the powerful men. When one couldn't speak, they found other ways to gain the attention of those nearby. His hand lifted, three fingers held aloft before his face before another rose to make four. Slowly his head turned to Xavier, his gaze piercing the telepath's with intensity. His own psychic powers were restricted largely to his family but he had enough command of the mind to make sure his message to the Professor was received.

"Lyja, the skrull once betrothed to the terran Jonathan Storm, has revealed herself. She was impersonating my Queen's sister, Crystal Amaquelin."

Once he had made his statement, and with seemingly full confidence it would be passed along, he returned once more to his seat, hands moving back to their entwined position before him. Only then did his gaze turn back to Reed Richards, a glimmer of suspicion behind his calculating eyes.

---

There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do!

[A Random Player]

Xavier furrowed his brow. "I see." He replied to Reed's speech. The attention of the room turned unto him and Stark. The professor clasped his hands on the table. What he said next will determine how trustworthy he would be to the rest of the group.

"I was made aware of Ms Green's Skrull impersonation following her apparent death during a conflict against the Sentinels. At the time, I had considered it an isolated case which was a mistake in hindsight, yet my research at the time uncovered no evidence of Skrull presence anywhere else on Earth."

He might be deflecting the blame, but Stark and Richards were equally to blame for the rest of the group's ignorance.

"I never intended to conceal this information. I had simply seen no reason to bring it to attention especially following the original's return unharmed. I can confirm that the one present among us currently is not a Skrull impersonator. I would prefer to omit my methods, but her history left no gaps during which she could have been replaced by a Skrull copy."

As Xavier finished his explanation, Black Bolt abruptly stood up, drawing all's attention towards himself. The Inhuman King spoke not, but revealed a surprising revelation to Xavier telepathically. Xavier paused for a few seconds to process this information on his own. They have infiltrated even the Inhumans?

This presented an opportunity. With the closed off nature of Inhuman society, not even the well-informed members of the Illuminati would likely be aware of this information. By gauging the reactions and immediate thoughts of his compatriots, Xavier might find an infiltrator among them, if such existed.

"Black Bolt would like to inform us that Crystal Amequelin, the Inhuman queen's sister had also been impersonated by a Skrull called Lyja."

--------------------

There is much that needs to be done.

[zania]

Everyone had assembled so Dr Richards began the meeting with an apology for calling everyone together at short notice, but explained how this concerned the safety of even his race in addition to humans. That caused Namor to quirk an eyebrow upon hearing that, making him wonder what led him to that assertion. What could be so dire that they all had to meet like this?

He then revealed that three Skrulls had taken the place of individuals and identified them as Mockingbird, Squirrel Girl . . . and his own wife.

Hearing that Susan Storm may have been replaced by a Skrull infuriated the King of Atlantis who rose to his feet and slammed his fist on the table, keeping his strength in check as to not destroy it. "Have care with your words, Reed Richards. You dare call your own wife a Skrull?" he announced angrily.

He loved Susan Storm since the first time that his royal eyes had set their gaze upon her . . . when he had first used the Horn of Proteus and commanded the monstrous Giganto to attack from the oceans. He longed to make her his queen, but it was only out of loyalty to her husband and her family that she declined his advances even though she was clearly tempted.

By Neptune, Reed Richards had best be right about this or he would regret making that accusation about his own wife.

"You tread in dangerous waters with your decision to not share this until now. Show this proof you claim to have," he demanded, fully intending to have his own people verify all of the data if it was shared. But that was if Dr Richards wasn't a Skrull himself.

[Revan]

REVOLUTIONARIES WAIT
for my head on a silver plate
JUST A PUPPET ON A LONELY STRING
--------------------

Reed laid out the information and Stark, who knew what was coming, kept his eyes on the group. He had wanted to conduct this with everyone individually, hoping to gauge reactions and test them. That was harder to do in a group. Strange and Xavier were in thought. Namor reacted with anger - specifically regarding Sue, as expected from him. Stark would just let Reed handle that as he had the Sue data. Black Bolt however, stood. Black Bolt was a man of no wasted movement and he did so because he wanted to grab attention. He held up three fingers, then raised a forth. thankfully they had a telepath on hand that he could communicate with more effectively and Xavier filled them in on the details. The Inhumans had been infiltrated as well. Apparently no one was safe.

"Great. More bad news." Stark replied. More pressing in the moment however was Reed deciding to call Stark out like he did. He lifted his faceplate to show he was quirking an eyebrow at Reed. Xavier was called out as well, who Tony let speak his peace first. Charles really hadn't know anything more about it all then the rest of them, he only reported a dead skrull that had been impersonating Squirrel Girl.

"Or the new skrull is just a better copy." Stark offered. The new Squirrel Girl was not completely in the clear, just in a more trust worthy position, "As for me, I would think it was obvious why I didn't mention it before." he said. Iron Man reached up and removed his helm, closing it up and setting it on the table in front of him.

"I look around this room with my eyes, with my scanners, with whatever I like and I see Reed Richards, Steven Strange, Charles Xavier, and the kings Blackagar Boltagon and Namor McKenzie. Everything tells me you are who you are, and yet how am I suppose to trust that at this point? I haven't said anything before now because for all I know I'm sitting in a room with a bunch of skrulls. I was hoping I could get some better leads on what was going on, but our hands are now forced. They're going to know about Sue and they're going to move. So now all we can do is pick who to trust and push forward." he said. He turned to Reed.

"I've got the data I've collected from the two I have on me. The bodies are in stasis, hidden away at the moment. I can bring them to you later." he offered.

--------------------

OH, WHO WOULD EVER WANT TO BE KING?

[bio858]

---

Stark would quickly add in the suggestion that the Squirrel Girl walking on Earth now, may just be another Skrull impersonator that none of them were currently aware of. It seemed the Skrulls were capable of even replicating their memories, from what Tony had told Reed from Xavier's previous findings. He surmised that was the case with Susan as well, which is why he had the two small, black disks laid out on the table.

But first, he'll need to calm Namor down, somehow.

"You require proof? Here's surveillance footage of the accident that I've held hidden in my archives until now."

Richards would press upon the large table before them, showcasing a hologram with a 3-Dimensional view of the events at hand. This particular view was done by collating the various points of view from all the different camera angles, followed by some machine learning to "fill in the blanks" for the viewpoints not seen by the cameras. Essentially, a near-perfect 3-dimensional recreation of the events that had transpired.

The group would see a focused in view in on one particular room, mainly focused on a large scale device. The lights to the rest of the room were turned off, except for those focusing in on the four towers set up in a square like manner. These four towers would essentially be beacons that focused a particular degree of radiation at a center point between all four towers. This singular point of energy would start to showcase a small tear in reality so to speak, before new devices protruded from metal arms within the ceiling.

These four "arms" were connected to four different metallic, rectangular surfaces, and would be lifted between two of the towers, essentially providing "walls" for this rectangular layout that didn't connect to its corners. The walls would demonstrate a barely visible form of radiation, as if there were near invisible "waves" coming out of them.

These "waves" would all be directed to this "tear" in reality, which would then be closed back up. Once it closed, the devices all powered down, and the "walls" were returned back to the ceiling by these robotic arms. The rest of the lights in the room would turn back on, as the Reed within the 3-dimensional recording would temporarily exit the computer terminal that was operating the devices.

Some time would pass until Susan entered the room herself. The lights in the room would dim, until only the small "tear" chamber was the only thing properly seen on the 3D projection. She would be tampering with the computer herself, activating the device until the same four "towers" turned on once more to activate the tear. However, instead of bringing down the metal walls from the ceiling, like with Reed's earlier experiment, Susan would commence with opening up this "tear" in reality.

It seemed her goal was to fully open this tear for whatever reason, but the machinery within the four columns would start to malfunction. Sparks would start flying, leading to the tear to branch out a blast of energy that damages the computer. Soon, the tear would close up again, as the lights all turned back on once again. Reed would be shown returning to the test room, rushing over to where Susan happened to me. Fear and shock was evident upon Reed's face within his the projection, as the cameras now focused on the two. Reed would be caressing Susan's body with tears flowing down his face. Until the expression of sadness turned to shock as her corpse turned from her "human" form, to that of her "Skrull" form. Her skin turned green, her chin showcased the same three notable markings that all Skrulls shared. Her hair still remained blonde, but her body didn't move. It was proof that this was the accident that lead to Susan's death.

Reed within the room would then press upon the table once more, closing off the projection. He was evidently still disressed from what he saw on the screen, feeling quite uncomfortable from reliving that event once more. Still, he hoped it was good enough to satisfy Namor's need for proof.

"I hope that sufficed. Now, as for the more serious matter to contend with."

Richards would look back towards Tony, ready to address why he set up this meeting in the first place.

"I understand the reasoning for your one on one meetings Tony, but I felt a different approach was much more necessary. Given you and I have come to the conclusion that the Skrulls have found a way to fully copy our DNA, memories and personalities, it can only stand to reason that one of our impostors would be aware of where we each kept our respective infinity gem. If we took too long to inform everyone of this committee about this "invasion", then we give our impostors more time to take each of us out, and therefore, take more of these gems. If not that, they would at least have time to do untold damage with whatever resources they had on them at this time. At least now, we know the threat, and will be better prepared, regardless if any of us are Skrulls or not. We'd be able to keep our impostors in check, in case any of us decides to try to use the gems to speed up their planetary takeover."

Now to address the ugly predicament he theorized. One he imagined Tony had thought up himself. Though mentioning it to everyone else here could prove disastrous, and possibly even lessen their trust in him as well as with each other.

Not that that isn't an issue already. Richards thought to himself.

Taking a deep breath, he'd continue on with the Tony's assessment. He was right to be concerned that everyone in this room could be a Skrull, even himself.

"Besides, there is a chance that if one of us is an impostor, we may not be aware of it. Essentially, I believe the Skrulls implanted sleeper agents among us. Essentially invaders who are unaware of their true identities, in order to properly blend in with the rest of us. I don't know exactly how they'd be triggered. Possibly through a code word, perhaps a signal that can only be identified by their own ears. Maybe they're activated through magical means? Which reminds me, Stephen, perhaps you can examine it from that angle? That is one particular field that I'm sadly lacking experience in, but you might be able to help us on that front."

Reed was unaware that the Skrull imitators were also unable to be found out in this magical sense, but Strange would learn that on his own time. For now, he'd allow the others to respond, in case they had any suggestions on their end. Perhaps an opportunity to give out their own piece, or to air out any grievances. Best to try and get that out of the way as soon as possible.

[Ysmir]

"I believe observation and knowledge must precede action."

---

And the Inhumans make four.

Reed's accusation was understandable, especially after he showcased the footage that provided ineffable proof of Susan Storm's replacement. More troubling, however, was the fact that she was now missing, her fate left hanging in the balance. This had turned more and more serious with each passing second, and Strange was not surprised for even a moment that his assessment earlier was correct; their meetings were never joyous occasions.

However, Tony and Xavier's points of view were logical. The Skrulls were remarkable for their nearly perfect replication of an individuals DNA, something so meticulous and unique that none of Earth's greatest minds had managed to replicate it before. As had been stated by three other men in the room, this meant that any one of them could potentially be a Skrull in disguise, waiting and watching and absorbing any information they gave out. Despite the trust Stephen placed in the five men before him, he'd be careful with his words going forward. He had to be.

"Stark is right. We have enough on our hands without sitting here pointing fingers at one another. That being said," Strange said, looking between each other Illuminatus from behind his chair, "from now on, we keep no more secrets. We can't afford to."

Turning to Reed, Strange lifted a hand to rub at his chin. His eyes drifted to the frozen image of the Skrull Sue, eyes narrowing. "In the past, magic has been able to penetrate their disguises. I could attempt it when necessary, but the Skrull are no fools. They know their limitations and they know them well. If magic and its wielders were still a problem for them, then they wouldn't have undertaken this invasion without addressing that problem first. That leaves me with two logical conclusions."

He turned from the screen to his compatriots, a grim look on his face. "Either I'm one of Mr. Richards' aforementioned sleeper agents, and merely living the life of Stephen Strange as a facade. Or, magic poses no threat to their infiltration. Make of that what you will."

Strange felt it necessary not to pull any punches, especially in light of everything that had transpired. In his heart of hearts, he knew that he was Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts. But as of this moment, he had no reliable way to prove this, and so he had to assume every possibility -- no matter how dire they may be. Then, he lifted a finger.

"A proposal," he began, "something to mitigate possible issues down the road. We each pair with another and provide constant, hourly updates of our activities from this point forward through secure means. A 'buddy system', if you will. There's six of us. That makes three perfect pairs." Strange crossed his arms. "Either none of us are Skrulls, and this helps prevent anybody from being replaced as easily, or we're already infiltrated and none of it will matter anyway. Regardless, I see no harm in taking steps."

[Jaymi]

What if I lose it all?
Oh cousin, I will help you out!
Oh, if the sky comes falling down for you,

---

    The Inhuman gave Charles a nod when he sought to verify what he had been told. Beyond that, even through the video of the Skrull who would be Susan Storm's death, he stayed still like a statue. There was no need to add further. Already, there was infighting among the group, a problem that more often than not cropped up. Still, he couldn't argue with any of the points. He had his own suspicions, such as they were, but voicing them was inefficient. Better to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. As the King of Attilan, his people were the most out of danger. If Crystal had been an irresistible target, it was for her connection with Earth and it's heroes.

    With a frown upon his lips as Strange finished his talk, Black Bolt stood up once more. His eyes narrowed in at Xavier once more as he passed along his message. "Lyja did not possess Crystal's elemental abilities. It is possible that there are Skrulls among us that are not as... identical to their source material are others. It is a possible weak link."

    Moving to sit down, he stopped himself before shaking his head and glancing back around the table. "Also, no one, not even my queen, knows I possess the Gem. I suggest we all agree to not use them until this is over." With his final telepathic statement, hoping Charles would simply broadcast it this time rather than feel the need to act as an intermediary, he took his seat, hands returning to their position on the table before him.

---

There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do!