The Brotherhood of Mutants
Jan. 24th, 2022 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xp_dominion posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_teamsSo, I have bad news, more bad news and then really bad news for all of us.
So, as you all know by now, I spent over four months undercover with the Brotherhood, trying to convince them I'd defected from the X-Men. While they never entirely believed me and did a good job keeping they capabilities and assets secret from me, they simply couldn't hide everything, and I have a lot of intel that we didn't have before. The picture it paints is really fucking grim.
First of all, the elephant in the room, and I don't mean Blob. Yes, that is Magneto. The Magneto. No, I have exactly zero idea how he went from, what, his mid-nineties to looking like a well preserved and active 50s. Even worse is that his powers have gone up an order of magnitude. I saw him performing tricks that I've never seen him close to in any of our records and footage. He's always been exceptionally powerful and now he's gone up to the next level.
After Magneto, the power structure right now in the Brotherhood involves his Inner Circle: Mystique, Mastermind, Toad, Blob, and 'The Power'. I'm not kidding. The one advantage that we might have is that there is currently a power struggle in the organization. Magneto holds absolute control and authority, without questions. But below him, two factions are trying to win his favour to run the organization. It's sharp enough that despite the fact no one trusted me, each side still tried to recruit me to their faction.
We all know Mystique, Toad, and Blob. Magneto has strongly soured on Mystique capabilities as a combat leader and she's been refocused to running their intelligence resources. Unfortunately, she's extremely good at that part, it seems. Toad is their chief technologist, although with him in the Vault, they're going to suffer a setback there until they break him out. Blob has been doing more leading small units and as far as I can tell is surprisingly good at it. I consider those three the leaders of the 'Old Guard'.
Mastermind is Jason Wyngrade. We know his power set - expert illusions. He is the key in managing the Brotherhood's network of allies, sponsors and their Mutant Underground. Yes, they have one. I'll get to that later. The Brotherhood, as far as I could determine from clues, has a worldwide net of allies who help provide information, money, and other resources. It's not even just mutants but humans who have come to believe in Magneto's philosophy. Wyngarde himself seems entirely loyal to Magneto and not interested in any kind of power struggle.
The 'New Guard' is headed by The Power. Yeah, I know. The Power is Fabian Cortez, Eurotrash heir to a shipping fortune that after a decade of wandering around the Med and screwing everything with a pulse, he found religion in the form of mutant supremacy. Apparently, he contacted Magneto and then brought a half dozen powerful mutants with him into the fold. That immediately put him in the Inner Circle and he's been pushing for more power and authority under Magneto. He's a vicious amoral prick, and that is in contrast with the rest of the Brotherhood. If he ends up ascendant, we can expect some of the limitations they currently operate with disappearing.
Even with the losses, the main Brotherhood is still close to twenty mutants. They are still weak in psionics, which is a benefit to us, but otherwise, there's a lot of power there. I'm certain, based on what I heard from random conversations, that Magneto is shopping out squads of Brotherhood as mercenary options all over the world. One member accidentally mentioned working with Victor Creed on a job in Africa, so they are absolutely operating and networking in that world.
With this being the case, unlike before, the Brotherhood have significantly improved their operational and combat capabilities. Their training is focused, extensive, and indepth. The X-Men still have the advantage thanks to the Danger Room, but now, that advantage has shrunk to razor thin. We still have the advantage in psionics and mobility, but raw power, they might have the edge. When Magneto is in the field, we're absolutely behind their power levels.
This team is bolstered by their own Mutant Underground. Magneto has gotten smart with his message. He's going out of his way to 'brand' his beliefs and himself as a central focus for mutant identity. He has especially identified and targeted younger mutants, especially those in situations or areas where they are prosecuted or alienated, which makes them easier to recruit. I heard rumours of 'Acolytes', which my guess is their version of our GenX program. I know they have an enclave somewhere with a small number of the most powerful young mutants they've found through their underground contacts. I think it is designed to be a pipeline to continue to bolster their numbers.
Now, this is more bad news. They couldn't help themselves bragging about their Underground not only being as large or larger than ours, but also talking about it overlapping. Obviously, I couldn't get any names or specifics, but we absolutely have people in our system who are unwittingly aiding their networks and we have double agents as well, who are supposed to be supporting us, but are selectively peeling off mutants and shifting them to the Brotherhood's Underground. This could all be bullshit or misinformation, but it rang true.
The other issue is that they absolutely have eyes on the mansion and in New York on us. Again, I don't know how extensive or thorough it is, but they are getting regular intel on a number of elements of our operations. They don't get how all of it links together. For example, Snow Valley is considered a part of the Hellfire Club with which Xavier's has a partnership. As well, while I was there, I was asked to provide intel on each X-Man. They actually laid traps in their records to try and catch me out lying. I slow played it as much as I could, and fortunately, the biggest weakness they have is scope to the abilities of the X-Men. For example, they have no idea of the extent of Kyle's healing factor or Clarice's range. I was able to keep that nebulous and conservative. Nothing they shared with me represents a huge threat in terms of intel, but they are watching, assessing and looking to get more information. We can't write off the idea that they might be operationally proactive and go after us if they see something they think is a weakness or a vulnerability.
Magneto is being patient and methodical building up his capabilities. He's done a good job avoiding any major confrontations while he adds to his strength and expertise. He's absolutely angling towards getting to the point that he can publicly put a group like the Avengers down, and the first step in that will be doing that to the X-Men. If we're going to keep pace with them, the X-Men are going to need to up the overall individual and team training regimens in order to rebuild that advantage. I'm going to upload as much as I can provide about each of the Brotherhood members I met, so hopefully that will provide a baseline for use to develop additional strategies against them. Again, when Magneto in the field, we are desperately outclassed, so we need to get creative dealing with him.
I wish I had better news. The Brotherhood isn't what we're used to. In the last few years that they've been quiet, they've re-organized, re-vamped, upgraded and professionalized every aspect of their operations that I was able to witness. They are more dangerous than I've ever encountered them and we need to prepare with the understanding that we're likely going to be the weaker side in any conflict and how to adapt for that.
So, as you all know by now, I spent over four months undercover with the Brotherhood, trying to convince them I'd defected from the X-Men. While they never entirely believed me and did a good job keeping they capabilities and assets secret from me, they simply couldn't hide everything, and I have a lot of intel that we didn't have before. The picture it paints is really fucking grim.
First of all, the elephant in the room, and I don't mean Blob. Yes, that is Magneto. The Magneto. No, I have exactly zero idea how he went from, what, his mid-nineties to looking like a well preserved and active 50s. Even worse is that his powers have gone up an order of magnitude. I saw him performing tricks that I've never seen him close to in any of our records and footage. He's always been exceptionally powerful and now he's gone up to the next level.
After Magneto, the power structure right now in the Brotherhood involves his Inner Circle: Mystique, Mastermind, Toad, Blob, and 'The Power'. I'm not kidding. The one advantage that we might have is that there is currently a power struggle in the organization. Magneto holds absolute control and authority, without questions. But below him, two factions are trying to win his favour to run the organization. It's sharp enough that despite the fact no one trusted me, each side still tried to recruit me to their faction.
We all know Mystique, Toad, and Blob. Magneto has strongly soured on Mystique capabilities as a combat leader and she's been refocused to running their intelligence resources. Unfortunately, she's extremely good at that part, it seems. Toad is their chief technologist, although with him in the Vault, they're going to suffer a setback there until they break him out. Blob has been doing more leading small units and as far as I can tell is surprisingly good at it. I consider those three the leaders of the 'Old Guard'.
Mastermind is Jason Wyngrade. We know his power set - expert illusions. He is the key in managing the Brotherhood's network of allies, sponsors and their Mutant Underground. Yes, they have one. I'll get to that later. The Brotherhood, as far as I could determine from clues, has a worldwide net of allies who help provide information, money, and other resources. It's not even just mutants but humans who have come to believe in Magneto's philosophy. Wyngarde himself seems entirely loyal to Magneto and not interested in any kind of power struggle.
The 'New Guard' is headed by The Power. Yeah, I know. The Power is Fabian Cortez, Eurotrash heir to a shipping fortune that after a decade of wandering around the Med and screwing everything with a pulse, he found religion in the form of mutant supremacy. Apparently, he contacted Magneto and then brought a half dozen powerful mutants with him into the fold. That immediately put him in the Inner Circle and he's been pushing for more power and authority under Magneto. He's a vicious amoral prick, and that is in contrast with the rest of the Brotherhood. If he ends up ascendant, we can expect some of the limitations they currently operate with disappearing.
Even with the losses, the main Brotherhood is still close to twenty mutants. They are still weak in psionics, which is a benefit to us, but otherwise, there's a lot of power there. I'm certain, based on what I heard from random conversations, that Magneto is shopping out squads of Brotherhood as mercenary options all over the world. One member accidentally mentioned working with Victor Creed on a job in Africa, so they are absolutely operating and networking in that world.
With this being the case, unlike before, the Brotherhood have significantly improved their operational and combat capabilities. Their training is focused, extensive, and indepth. The X-Men still have the advantage thanks to the Danger Room, but now, that advantage has shrunk to razor thin. We still have the advantage in psionics and mobility, but raw power, they might have the edge. When Magneto is in the field, we're absolutely behind their power levels.
This team is bolstered by their own Mutant Underground. Magneto has gotten smart with his message. He's going out of his way to 'brand' his beliefs and himself as a central focus for mutant identity. He has especially identified and targeted younger mutants, especially those in situations or areas where they are prosecuted or alienated, which makes them easier to recruit. I heard rumours of 'Acolytes', which my guess is their version of our GenX program. I know they have an enclave somewhere with a small number of the most powerful young mutants they've found through their underground contacts. I think it is designed to be a pipeline to continue to bolster their numbers.
Now, this is more bad news. They couldn't help themselves bragging about their Underground not only being as large or larger than ours, but also talking about it overlapping. Obviously, I couldn't get any names or specifics, but we absolutely have people in our system who are unwittingly aiding their networks and we have double agents as well, who are supposed to be supporting us, but are selectively peeling off mutants and shifting them to the Brotherhood's Underground. This could all be bullshit or misinformation, but it rang true.
The other issue is that they absolutely have eyes on the mansion and in New York on us. Again, I don't know how extensive or thorough it is, but they are getting regular intel on a number of elements of our operations. They don't get how all of it links together. For example, Snow Valley is considered a part of the Hellfire Club with which Xavier's has a partnership. As well, while I was there, I was asked to provide intel on each X-Man. They actually laid traps in their records to try and catch me out lying. I slow played it as much as I could, and fortunately, the biggest weakness they have is scope to the abilities of the X-Men. For example, they have no idea of the extent of Kyle's healing factor or Clarice's range. I was able to keep that nebulous and conservative. Nothing they shared with me represents a huge threat in terms of intel, but they are watching, assessing and looking to get more information. We can't write off the idea that they might be operationally proactive and go after us if they see something they think is a weakness or a vulnerability.
Magneto is being patient and methodical building up his capabilities. He's done a good job avoiding any major confrontations while he adds to his strength and expertise. He's absolutely angling towards getting to the point that he can publicly put a group like the Avengers down, and the first step in that will be doing that to the X-Men. If we're going to keep pace with them, the X-Men are going to need to up the overall individual and team training regimens in order to rebuild that advantage. I'm going to upload as much as I can provide about each of the Brotherhood members I met, so hopefully that will provide a baseline for use to develop additional strategies against them. Again, when Magneto in the field, we are desperately outclassed, so we need to get creative dealing with him.
I wish I had better news. The Brotherhood isn't what we're used to. In the last few years that they've been quiet, they've re-organized, re-vamped, upgraded and professionalized every aspect of their operations that I was able to witness. They are more dangerous than I've ever encountered them and we need to prepare with the understanding that we're likely going to be the weaker side in any conflict and how to adapt for that.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 02:09 am (UTC)why can't we get people on good old fashion tax evasion anymore?
no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 07:04 pm (UTC)I don't want to rain on your support here, but this is an extremely challenging task even for the people who are the absolute best in the world focusing on it. We absolutely should be doing everything we can to try and stop them. But we also need to be clear eyed about the challenges and risks the Brotherhood represents.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 02:35 am (UTC)This is a very interesting piece of misinformation. When you are ready I might like to ask you 54 questions about this.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-30 01:01 am (UTC)Also, glad you to see you're alive.