Posse Comitatus

[Jack Brocius]

A dark-tinted sedan drove up to the gates of the Cullen Institute in upstate New York. The driver rolled down the window, and punched the intercomm.

"This is Jack Brocius. I'm here to speak with a school administrator."

Brocius, caged in the confines of civilian garments, tugged at the stiff collar of his company shirt. As he waited, he pulled his sunglasses off his tanned face, breathing curtly on each lens before wiping them down. He slipped the shades back on, and carefully returned his hands to the steering wheel, large forearms flexing and unflexing as he gripped at the wheel. He hated this sort of thing, and hated having to put up pretenses. Forget Tehran, forget Baghdad, forget Waziristan. This was ground zero for the greatest enemy of the free world. Brocius had to find the most efficient way to neutralize these mutants.

[Dragon]

"Sure, send him to the main entrance. I'll be there to meet him."

John set the phone receiver back in its cradle, folded up the documents he was working on, and headed out the door of his office toward the school's main foyer. Like any school, Cullen's Institute received its share of visitors and had its security measures in place to protect its students. But because of the unique nature of Cullen's, they had to maintain an extra degree of caution, especially as recent events had been increasing the atmosphere of genetic tension. More than once the school gates had been picketed with protesters. They very commonly received hate-mail. There had even been a handful of break-in attempts.

Because of that, John found himself regarding every newcomer with a certain level of suspicion. It was a frustrating situation - it seemed every day they were moving father away from Cullen's vision of coexistence rather than closer to it.

He stepped through the large front double doors and came down the steps to the roundabout as a dark sedan came gliding up the driveway. He was dressed fairly casually in slacks, a turtleneck, and a corduroy jacket, whose cuffs he adjusted as the car came to a halt and the door opened.

"Hello, Mr. Brocius," he said, extending one hand. "I'm Professor John Rhee. How can I help you?"

[Jack Brocius]

"Professor Rhee, a pleasure to meet you."

Jack extended a hand as he removed his sunglasses with the other. He gave the man a curt, firm handshake, eyes steady on his host's for a moment, and he glanced about as they released the embrace.

"Are you the headmaster here? I was wanting to talk about a project the government is working on, and I was hoping we could work together."

[Dragon]

"I'm afraid our headmaster is off-campus right now on business matters," John replied. "But I'd be happy to speak with you. May I ask who you're representing?"

[Jack Brocius]

"I'm with Praetorian Consulting Corp. We're working on some research with the Department of Homeland Security, and were hoping to find some volunteer participants."

Jack reached into his wallet, and extended Professor Rhee his card.

"Interviews mostly. Focus groups, that sort of thing."

[Dragon]

John's countenance hardened as he took the business card. He gave it little more than a perfunctory glance.

"Volunteer participants?" he asked. "Mr. Brocius, I think you may be confused. This is a school. I don't see what interest either your corporation or Homeland Security could have with us."

[Jack Brocius]

Jack looked modestly taken aback. It was a part of the act.

"I was told that the Institute has reported several threats. We've had several incidents of genetically-motivated hate crimes across the country in the past year.

Washington takes these threats very seriously, and they're committed to preventing this outbreak of intolerance. The Institute has been very cooperative with pro-mutant efforts in the community from what I've heard. I was hoping to continue that cooperation."

[Dragon]

This smelled of bureaucratic entanglement - something John would have liked very much to avoid, especially with the teachers at the institute taking so many matters into their own hands lately. But to turn the man away flatly without so much as listening to his proposal could raise some unwanted questions.

John considered letting Brocius speak his piece in the blustering March wind, but he decided he should at least be courteous.

"Well, I have a class starting next hour, but I would be happy to hear your proposal," he said. "Would you like to come inside?"

John led the man on a very direct route to a small conference room just off the front hallway. Call it paranoia, but there was enough boot polish in Brocius's presentation to suggest a military mind, even if the name of Praetorian wasn't enough of an indicator. All he saw on the way was the sweeping stair leading to the second floor sleeping quarters and a window-side lounge the students used for studying.

John moved around to the far side of the table and motioned for his guest to take a seat. "You'll have to pardon me, Mr. Brocius. With everything going on, I'm inclined to be very protective where our students are concerned."

[Jack Brocius]

"That's reassuring." Jack pandered to John's concerns, and used them to establish rapport.

"I think we can work together then. While it's ignorant to ignore the incidents of mutant violence in the world, it's equally so to take an assumptive stance with the vast majority of law abiding mutants, here in America and otherwise."

Jack laid a folder on the desk, and slid it across to his host.

"Here's a summary of our past work. I won't politicize the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, but we've built a name for not only providing direct security for clients, but also for providing consulting services. You know the proverb about teaching a man to fish, and such."

Jack steepled his fingers before resting his hands palms-down on the table, with a casual smile.

"The government is sometimes two steps behind in the dance, even in this post 9-11 world. Red tape slows down response and effectiveness. What we're here to do is to grease the wheels. We're talking to law enforcement to see what they can offer you, and wanted to work with your staff and students to get a ground floor perspective."

[Dragon]

The Korean mutant opened the folder and glanced over the first few pages - client lists, statistics, evaluations. It was nothing he wouldn't expect to see from a company like Brocius's.

"We already have a working relationship with both state and local law enforcement," John replied. "In fact, one of our former teachers is on-force with the NYPD and has been a valuable liaison for us. I guess I'd like to know what it is in particular you want to offer us beyond what we already have in place."

[Jack Brocius]

"It's good that you're on positive terms with local and state police, but I'm going to be realistic. The police can only do so much, and they can only do it with what they have in their toolbox. I want to give everybody the tools and training to use the tools. I want the police to be able to better protect your institute, and I want to get to the bottom of other security needs that might go unsaid otherwise."

Jack could see that John was suspicious, and he expected that sort of resistance.

"Look, it's a lot to think about, and I don't mean to unload anything too big on you. I know that the last things you want are to endanger your students or to disrupt their studies. I'm willing to work with you and be transparent. Maybe get me a demographic list of students to interview, and you sit in on the interviews?"

[Dragon]

John buried a few more seconds in the file folder. The way he saw it, any assistance the school could receive from Brocius's firm would only be for show; the X-Men satisfied its security needs, and it was wiser in his mind to keep those details in-house. He didn't want to put the students through Praetorian's screen and he certainly didn't want to put Brocius in a position where he might learn about the school's back-door business.

"Well, I certainly couldn't give you an answer today," he said. "We'd have to discuss it at the next directors' meeting. But I assure you we have been very proactive in considering such issues, and we've put a lot of work into making this one of the most secure facilities of its kind in the U.S. without negatively affecting our student body. It's a delicate balance, and while we're eager to cooperate with initiatives like this, I'm reluctant to introduce a factor that might destabilize that balance."

[Jack Brocius]

"I respect that."

Jack gave a measured nod, and gestured to the folder of information he'd given John.

"Keep the materials, and talk to the staff if you can. We've gotten a positive response from law enforcement over this brainstorming session, and we'd like to have you on board. My card is clipped on the inside, too. I'm available any time."

[Dragon]

The directors' meeting had gone much the way John had feared.

He broached the topic, passed around the packet Brocius had given him, and shared his own misgivings. They had bandied it around for a while, discussed the merits of networking with government agencies and trying to dispell any attitude of isolationism about the school.

And, finally, when Ethan had asked him, point-blank, whether he thought Brocius represented a security risk to the school, John could only say he didn't know, but he didn't like opening the grounds to hired guns. Even if they were only asking questions.

Three days later, John was watching the same sedan pull up the driveway to the main entrance. "Welcome back, Mr. Brocius," he said. "Do you need a hand with your materials?"

[Jack Brocius]

Jack emerged from his sedan, this time accompanied by two other Praetorian employees. One was a blonde woman in her late twenties, and another was a similarly aged man with red hair and a widow's peak. Both wore the same knit cotton collared shirts, and khakis.

Jack approached John and gave another firm handshake, as the other two grabbed a laptop, and a cardboard document box from the trunk.

"That's okay, Mr. Rhee. We won't crowd you out. Just lead us on to where you'd like us to get to work."

[Dragon]

John nodded civilly toward the other two - the two he hadn't known were coming - and led them into the same conference room where he'd interviewed Brocius before. One of Max's dupes came by to drop off a trio of visitor's passes for them.

"The first student should be arriving shortly," John said. "If there's anything else you need while you're here - coffee, water, I can have it sent in."

[Jack Brocius]

Jack looked to his assistants, and back to his host.

"That would be great, thanks."

He extended another folder to John.

"Here's a rough itinerary, sample questions, and everything else we'll be going over. I'll try to keep everybody no more than twenty minutes per session."

The questions involved were fairly benign and generic, asking about experiences interacting with humans, any negative encounters or any racist incidents that they might have suffered, and things such as what they would like to see changed to feel safer without feeling isolated.

[Dragon]

John buzzed in a request to the office and sat down to review the material. A minute or so later, one of the student teacher's aids walked in, smiled shyly at the visitors, and set down a tray with a coffee pot, several mugs, and a few bottles of water.

Shortly afterward, there was a knock at the door. "Come on in," John said.

[Jacinda Blake]

For a student, she was spending an awful lot of time in the faculty offices and conference rooms lately.. Jacinda stopped in front of a mirror in the mansions hall, licked at her teeth, tucked her hair behind her ears and deemed herself presentable for an interview. She saw one of Professor Flannery's dupes leaving the room and sent her a wave..

To be honest, she wasn't sure what exactly this was all about. Professor Rhee had given her a heads up last night during training in the sub-basement and he had done so with a look that clearly told her to be careful. After her introduction to the mansions sub-levels and the goings on of the X-men, Jacinda understood why..

A little nervous, but not enough that it showed, she knocked on the conference room door. When she heard Professor Rhee tell her to come in, she did. "Hello Professor.."

She looked at the others. "Good morning.."

[Jack Brocius]

"Good morning..."

Jack briefly diverted his eyes to a folder in front of him.

"...Jacinda. I'm Jack Brocius, and I won't take up too much time. I just want to get some input from you about your interaction with the human community."