Misleads, Plots, Lies And Dramatic Twists

[aquarius]

Doom stared across the table at his unlikely guest. He still hadn't figured out all their motives for their approaching him, but at least the parts he had all conformed with what he'd already learned about the hidden planetary crisis, and it wouldn't take many more revelations for him to learn even more about a few of the more competently secretive players in this grand game of chess.

A few moments passed before Doom reacted finally. "You are correct. I have developed means of detecting... them. You were tested upon entry naturally, and your continued existence may be interpreted as your nature being confirmed as what it is meant to be. You propose to act as a double agent in exchange for access to this technology? This will be permitted, within certain limits. It will not leave Latverian premises, nor will it be operated by any non-Latverian. No demands will be made of you that will compromise your existing loyalties, only that you share all intelligence your little cell gather with myself."

A goblet containing a fine Amarone was brought up to his imposing mask, the smallest portion of the red liquid flowed of its own accord into the gap that aligned with his mouth, whereupon the drinking vessel was lowered to the table once more. The actions of his guest had already been anticipated with reasonable confidence, but on the other hand this individual was known for his unpredictability, and was a competent planner at least in terms of someone who wasn't Doom.

A Doomguard security robot entered the room and placed an ordinary looking seeming cell phone on the table between him and his guest before leaving again wordlessly.

"This is untraceable by any means, Earthly or otherwise. It will serve as your identification to my other agents, and will not function as anything other than an ordinary phone for anyone other than yourself. Naturally it has other functions that I will not tell you about, but you need not worry that this will endanger you - quite the opposite in fact. Their function is to preserve your security whilst you work for me. Revealing the nature of the precautions I have taken on your behalf would render them less effective. And whilst I credit you with the intelligence to not tamper with it, I shall warn you against doing so anyway."

At that, he fell silent. No indication was given that their meeting was over, but the Enforced Monarch of Latveria found that his silence when it wasn't immediately following a question from himself was typically interpreted clearly enough, and revealed when someone was less insightful than had been expected. But as he watched them rise, collect their new device and after a moment's hesitation head for the door, pausing only to give a somewhat informal salute as they departed.

Doom watched him on the security monitors as he departed, various measurements being taken beyond mere visible light - far to each side of the electromagnetic spectrum, plus Kirlian-spirit cameras recording their aura, and a few gadgets that combined science and sorcery to do things that barely a handful of people in the known universe would be capable of understanding the function of, carrying out their inscrutable means. This had been an unusual morning, but it seemed the tide in this war was beginning to turn.

[aquarius]

As he walked out of the Latverian embassy, Gambit found himself once more wondering if he'd made the right decision. On one hand, Doom was an evil tyrant that frequently tangled with just about everyone in the superhero community. On the other hand, he was one of the most talented beings on the planet, with the resources of an entire nation behind him, and for now at least, their motivations were the same. Save the Earth from the invasion. Well, Doom only cared about Latveria, but since that was on Earth, it amounted to the same thing.

And so Gambit had been observing Doom, reading reports about his activities, and finally decided to take the risk in approaching him. He'd left a note behind warning the other Secret Avengers of what he'd been doing and why, so if he didn't return they would know the prime suspect. But now those precautions were unnecessary and he had the intel he needed from Doom, what next? He had a plethora of options, but had focused so much on what he considered the most dangerous single move he'd make in this operation that he'd not given any serious thought to what to do afterwards.

Looking down his list of names, he'd crossed a couple out, circled two, and one more had been added at the 'suggestion' of his new benefactor. Well, he'd been warned of their capabilities, and if he was being honest? It sounded like a fun challenge. A real test of his talents, depending on how he went about it. A few different ways were possible, but even in the face of planetary crisis he couldn't help but go for the one he felt had the most 'style'.

Naturally, that was a matter of perspective. He needed to make an acquisition, and rather than rely on infiltration and stealth, he wanted to actually test his skills properly. So that meant planning carefully. Bits of it were easy, others needed incredible precision and forethought to avoid setting off the metaphorical alarms. This needed to stay under the radar, so to speak. As long as his target didn't suspect they were being targeted because of who they were, as long as it seemed as if they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, this would surely not register as anything other than a random ordinary crime. There'd be no investigation beyond a cursory police one, which Gambit was simply in a different league to without even trying.

Planning done, he finally began putting things into operation. Tampering with the electricity supply to his target's building, he had in place a remote device so that he could shut it down briefly. Just long enough that his target would have to leave their building to go to their work. And that was when he'd be able to make his move. He just needed to time it for when the streets were right - busy in one area, quiet in another. That was the boring part of his work. The waiting. In New York, that could well be a few days...

[aquarius]

Verity found work fairly relaxing, for the most part. A lot more than most instances of dealing with peoples' lies anyway. At least it was just written multiple choice answers, and all she had to do was to make a note of what was truth and what was lies. Being able to work from home meant no actual human contact, no having to endure all those lies that normal people used to make life bearable for themselves - and each other. Instead she had some pleasant classical music playing (instrumental only of course - no lyrics as they were invariably more lies) and a glass of orange juice to one side as she tapped away on her work computer.

Right up until the screen went black, and her music fell silent.

A power cut. Great. This wasn't the first time ever, in New York it was known for super powered battles to sever power lines or whatever, even on top of the mundane reasons for a loss of electricity. But she could still hear someone vacuuming in the apartment above hers, so it wasn't the building, just her. This was frustrating, since she had a very strict schedule for her work, and extremely clear rules on what to do when working from home wasn't an option, which was to go into the office in person. Where people were, who would likely try to talk to her...

She briefly considered not going and just staying home, before grudgingly picking up her phone to send a text message to her manager to let him know what was going on and that she was on her way, before grabbing her coat and earbuds, and heading out.

The earbuds were noise cancelling ones to block out as much of the world as possible, and bright orange so that people would notice them more easily and hopefully realise she didn't want to be bothered. They usually did the trick at least. Reaching the street she checked her phone briefly to check the quickest route to get to work, turning left instead of her usual right and going to the much less busy subway station that was slightly further away, since that meant far less crowds bothering her on the way.

It also meant a cut through an alley, though. She'd never even heard of any trouble in that neighbourhood before, but it was only when she was half way down it and realised someone was following her - indeed someone with with a scarf pulled up over most of their face, sunglasses and a baseball hat - that she realised that someone always had to be the first in any statistic. The man sped up suddenly and quickly had her pinned against the wall, one hand over her mouth speaking in a hoarse voice, almost whispering in her ear "Ah don't want to hurt you. I just... I need... Ah'm sorry."

This much was true at least, but it made no difference to her as her phone was taken from her hands and as her earbuds were forcibly removed from her ears, his ornate watch caught her eye. She couldn't help but notice it proclaimed itself to be a 'ROLEX', which she knew was A LIE. That hurt more than the few of her hairs that it snagged, pulling them from her head in the process. And within a moment the man was gone, leaving Verity badly shaken up, stumbling towards the street proper again, looking around for the nearest policeman, pay phone... anything.

-------

A few streets away, Gambit began shedding his disguise. He'd already carefully removed the few hairs from his watch - the real goal of his heist - and was contemplating the best way of making sure the stolen phone could be recovered by the authorities as quickly as possible since he felt bad about having had to scare the woman so badly. But combined with a few of Fury's gadgets and so on? They could form the core of a short lived but theoretically unbeatable lie detector. This might well be the best weapon he had in his mission.

[aquarius]

Excalibur's duties with the Avengers were still fairly light in terms of most of their operatives, at least in terms of fighting villains. That was at least partly because she was still relatively inexperienced in combat and doing what she could to learn more ways to fight beyond parrying with her sword and hoping someone else arrived to bail her out. Pacifism was difficult at times...

Also though, her being a fully qualified doctor with healing powers was part of it. But also, those powers worked differently on shapeshifters. Ever since their mission to take down 'The Leader', this had been known to be useful indeed, though the need to keep it secret meant it was not being widely discussed even amongst the people who had been on the mission. Instead, she was just handling a lot of the regular medical checks in person, with various security precautions in place for if she ever found anything alarming.

Today was an entirely dull morning, with no training, no medicals, not even any meetings or briefings on the schedule, merely 'on stand-by' since her powers did offer excellent support to a team who could cover her in a battle situation. Until such an emergency happened though, she was just sitting around reading, answering the occasional phone call and passing time until her shift was done.

Until there was a cough from someone behind her, of course. That was worrying because she was meant to be alone. Whirling around in alarm with her hands glowing, the moment she saw someone other than a known Avenger her powers made sure they were frozen in place and wouldn't be making any hostile moves. This gave her a few moments to slow down and consider things. He'd basically announced his presence, despite having somehow broken in to the Avengers Mansion. He had snuck up on her, but then... stood there looking at his phone rather than doing anything untoward. That she knew of, anyway...

"I know you. Gambit of the X-Men, right? What are you doing here?"

The man grinned, perhaps because his face was all he was able to move whilst in the grip of her powers, as he replied with a question of his own. "Jus' checking on y'all. Are you or any Avengers Skrulls?"

Excalibur blinked in momentary confusion before answering in an indignant voice. "What? No! Of course not! Now what are you really doing?"

She had been about to go into more depth with her questioning, but his eyes had flickered down to his phone as she spoke, and then his phone began glowing in the way that his file had indicated meant his powers were being used, and she turned to dive behind some cover just in time for a bright flash, a loud bang, and... no real force from the otherwise impressive explosion. One of his flash-bangs then.

By the time she got to her feet, he was already gone.

----------

Gambit was already a long way from the Avengers mansion, his vital data having been remotely uploaded to an untraceable relay before he'd detonated his phone. By now it was in the databanks of both his fellow secret Avengers and unless someone had interfered beyond his expectations also forwarded to Doctor Doom, as agreed. Thanks to the strand of hair from Verity Willis acting as a bridge for the input to his lie detector program, he could be certain that Excalibur and all the Avengers on active duty were not Skrulls. Maybe it wasn't 100% certain, but it was a lot more reliable data on who could be trusted than most other options...

[aquarius]

It was a pleasant day, if a little busy. Nico had been looking to get some shopping done, but whilst it was relatively cold the weather was pleasant enough to take some time walking through Central Park, enjoying relative peace and quiet, plus being in natural surroundings rather than the rather stark walls of their current hideout. She'd done what she could to brighten them up of course, but it took a lot more than mere furniture and decoration to make it a home. Even then, there was no replacement for grass and trees every so often.

Grateful for the warmth of her coat, she paused for a few minutes at one of the larger ponds, watching the ducks swimming around and a few children playing before moving onwards. Eventually she settled on a bench to enjoy the sights of some flower beds, a deep breath and a relaxed sigh at the sheer pleasure of the peace and quiet.

Not even the arrival of another person sitting on the same bench disturbed her, she simply continued to absorb the positive effects of the scenery for a little longer, only noticing the man had gone again after watching some squirrels had resulted in turning her head to follow their movements. That was when she noticed he'd left his phone on the bench.

Doing the right thing was sometimes a little frustrating, but Nico knew she had to do something. Fortunately she wasn't all that far from the little police station that served the park, where she could hand it in as lost property. They'd be able to take it from there, and she could avoid any of the fuss or hard work, as well as the unwanted attention of taking the credit for the good deed.

A few minutes later and Nico had handed it over to the person behind the desk and gone on her way before too many questions were asked, such as 'what is your name'.

Not all that much longer after that the police had identified the phone as recently reported stolen, and after all the usual tests and checks had been done upon it, someone had been sent to return it to its owner, one 'Verity Willis', who lived nearby. Gambit had of course been watching Nico from the park bench to the police station, smiling to himself that even this one little loose end had been cleared up. He still wished he'd found a way to avoid putting her through what must have been an alarming incident like that, but with her powers there had been no other reliable way of getting what he needed. He still felt like he owed her something, but ultimately there was little he could do without completely ruining his secrecy. Until the Skrulls had been rooted out he would have to think of ways to make it up to her. For a start he was going to keep an eye on her, make sure her home was safe. If he needed to justify doing so, then the fact that others might have had the idea to use her powers might be useful intelligence. And by the time Gambit was back at their Secret Avengers hideout, he'd already convinced himself that that was his real reason and it was definitely not because his usual regret combined with his weakness for a pretty face had had their usual effect on him.

[aquarius]

Gambit had more scheming and more planning to do before his next move. This one had to be extremely carefully done though, since it involved people who knew him far better than almost anyone and would be able to predict him more than he liked when he was pulling a heist.

At least he hoped he was dealing with people who knew him. Finding out was the point of this mission, after all. There was one person he absolutely had to be able to trust if he was going to be able to carry on with this isolation much longer. One person who he simply needed to know was real, who was who they were meant to be.

He needed to see Rogue.

Maybe he couldn't speak to her just yet, nor even let her see him. Not until he had his answer and could think his next move through a bit more thoroughly. But he and Anne-Marie had had times when they'd been less close due to whatever reason (usually his own poor decisions) and he'd had to love her from a distance. He could tolerate a little longer.

He wasn't particularly technologically gifted, at least not by the standards of some of his colleagues like Beast and Forge, but by the standards of ordinary people he was more than capable. This meant that he was able to figure out combining and modifying some of Fury's gadgets without too much trouble. Using the second of the three strands of the hair he'd plucked from the head of the truth-teller a while back, he had another device that would be able to verify a single truth. But this one was built for one specific truth, a fixed question that he would be able to ask more than once. 'Is this person Anne-Marie?'

For the first time, he didn't want to risk a face to face with her, naturally. This would be too much of a risk if she wasn't really her. And if she wasn't, he wanted no risk of being exposed as knowing, and lets face it, he was possibly on the Skrulls' radar by now. Better to avoid them in general, which meant avoiding almost everyone in general. No, this was a case of infiltrating the X-mansion, get a strand of Rogue's hair from her room, and scan that to see if it passed the test.

For a master thief like Gambit, infiltrating a building that he'd played a big part in designing the security systems of was child's play. Even when it was a building populated by multiple powerful telepaths, this only slightly raised the difficulty. Admittedly his powers making it harder for telepaths to pick up his mind was a part of this, but he'd take any advantage he could.

A few days of watching the mansion from far enough away that there was little risk of being detected, and he had himself updated on everyone currently living at the mansion, their regular movements, and all the usual information that was less boring to acquire than usual as it was the people he thought of as a family.

Stealing first into the mansion grounds, then the mansion itself and finally Anne-Marie's room, he found her hairbrush, plucking a single strand of hair from it and feeding it into his device, whereupon a current was applied across it and through the other thread of hair which comprised a part of the mechanism. A pair of lights both lit up, indicating a confirmation of the DNA matching the records from Rogue's SRA file.

She wasn't an impostor!

That meant he needed to work out what to do next, not just for his mission, but for 'them'. For now he had to get out of there. Within moments then, he was gone. But not without a small trace of his presence being left behind.

On Rogue's pillow was a pair of playing cards. The Jack of Diamonds, and the Queen of Hearts.