04-08-2023, 04:24 PM
Jointly written with Xiomera.
The group were dressed like tourists, wearing backpacks and taking photos. The cameras were real – after all, they wanted to be able to send things to the media. One of them even had a fancy one that would auto-upload to a cloud in case nobody was around to send them manually. This was Tlālacuetztla after all. There were only four of them in the group; most members of WOE wouldn’t set foot in Xiomera.
These four would. One was overconfident, one was a fanatic, one was a masochist, and the fourth was the fanatic’s brother who refused to let her go alone. The brother was the photographer. He prayed to anyone who would listen that if he didn’t actually touch the paint they’d go easy on him. He had no illusions about what awaited them.
As they approached the Novella Islands embassy, the other three quickly slipped off their backpacks and opened them to pull out cans of spray paint and immediately began to spray the exterior of the embassy in a chaotic fashion. The brother took pictures of them, as his sister let out a whoop and attempted to climb up the side of the embassy for some reason. The masochist decided to stand in between her and the police so that they got him instead, while the overconfident one seemed surprised the police had already arrived.
The Tlālacuetztla Municipal Police and Imperial Police who closed in did so in a rapid and overwhelming fashion. The overconfident one was tackled to the ground by six officers before he could react. The masochist was likewise overwhelmed by the officers pouring out of the surrounding buildings, quickly being dragged to the ground. The climber soon found herself being chased by two other officers who came after her up the wall. More police came charging at the photographer, batons in hand.
The photographer yelped, let his camera fall to his chest to dangle on the strap that held it around his neck, and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. Hoping they'd slow down.
They did not slow down.
Three of the officers slammed into the photographer, knocking him to the ground. His camera was snatched from around his neck, and his arms roughly twisted behind his back for handcuffs to be applied. As he looked around, he could see the other two who had been tackled in a similar predicament. There was no sign of the climber.
"AMADA!" he yelled, twisting his head around to look for his sister.
The climber, meanwhile, managed to scale the wall around the embassy grounds and leap over. Realizing that they could not pursue, the two officers behind her climbed back down with several curses under their breath. The other three, however, were now in Xiomeran custody.
7am in Lauchenoiria, two hours after the embassy incident
Prime Minister Josephine Alvarez, Domestic Affairs Secretary Adelita Cabello, new Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Pablo Estevez, and Justice Minister Paquito Tosell were in an unwelcome emergency meeting with the heads of the Lauchenoirian Federal Policing and Investigation Service (FPIS), Lauchenoirian Domestic Security Service (LDSS), and Lauchenoirian External Intelligence Agency (LEIA). The subject of the meeting: what to do about the Lauchenoirians taken prisoner by Xiomera.
“The four behind the embassy incident travelled from Elopolis International Airport on a flight heading to Eiria. They then boarded a ferry to Huenya, and crossed the Canal Zone to Xiomera. At each point of crossing they listed their purpose of travel as leisure tourism,” said Sandalio Felix, director of LEIA.
“On the matter of prior convictions, the report I was given says we only have minor misdemeanours: in the case of Amada Toledano, a minor vandalism conviction relating to graffiti, and in the case of Demetrio Iglesias a drug possession charge that was later dropped. Damian Toledano and Toni Oquendo have no prior criminal records,” Tosell added, reading from a piece of paper.
“Regardless,” cut in the Prime Minister, “this is a bad look for us. We need to find some way of handling the WOE situation. We cannot keep allowing things like this to happen. But in the meantime, how are we doing finding the three arrested by the Xiomerans?”
“We have as yet been unable to ascertain their location,” the director of LEIA shook his head. “Which has worrying implications. If they were merely at the local police station, we would have found them by now.”
“Where do you think they are?” Alvarez demanded.
He swallowed. “The actions of the Xiomeran authorities in this matter indicate it is likely they have been taken for in-depth interrogation in the manner of their own citizens who display alleged disloyalty.”
Alvarez groaned, knowing exactly what that meant. If these really were members of the non-violent group, then this was going to constitute even more of a crisis. If they were Warriors, well. It would still be a crisis, she couldn’t exactly set a precedent of allowing foreign powers to torture her citizens.
Alvarez gestured for her three fellow politicians to leave with her into a side room to discuss their response away from the intelligence staff.
“What do we do? We closed our embassy there in the war, and every time we’ve been about to reopen it, some new crisis has caused a delay. We need to speak to the Xiomerans, but we absolutely cannot be seen to endorse or apologise for WOE in any way. Regardless of whether these are the violent or non-violent ones, most people can’t tell the difference in the media.”
“We have to do something,” Estevez argued. “We would be neglecting our duties if we allowed three of our citizens to remain in Xiomeran custody under the circumstances. Especially if the LEIA report is accurate.”
“We have issued a number of advisories against travel to Xiomera,” countered Cabello. “And we have made it very clear that we do not approve of WOE’s actions. I sympathise with what they’re probably going through, but we’ve done everything we can. Even if we were to contact Xiomera, I doubt they’d be receptive.”
“And yet, we have to try,” Alvarez sighed. “I will not allow Lauchenoirian citizens to be subject to the kind of interrogation techniques that Xiomera employs without at least trying to do something about it.”
“But how do we do that without seeming to support WOE’s actions?” Cabello said.
“I… don’t know,” groaned Alvarez.
“I would suggest we contact Sanctaria,” Estevez said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “They have maintained their embassy in Xiomera, and I expect they would be willing to provide our citizens with consular assistance.”
“Yes!” Alvarez replied. “That’s an excellent idea. Calhualyana considers us weak, that’s perfectly clear. I doubt she’d be so blasé dealing with Sanctaria. I’ll return to my office, and contact them. Return to the agency directors, tell them we’ll resume the WOE meeting later. I want suggestions for what we can do about Warriors. We absolutely need to do something, and soon. They continue to escalate, and the longer this goes on, the more I worry Calhualyana is right about our weakness. We’ll resume at 10:00. And I sincerely hope that whatever the next crisis is, it happens in a closer time zone.”
She swept out of the room, hurrying along the corridor back to her office, cursing every single person who thought forming WOE was a good idea.
The group were dressed like tourists, wearing backpacks and taking photos. The cameras were real – after all, they wanted to be able to send things to the media. One of them even had a fancy one that would auto-upload to a cloud in case nobody was around to send them manually. This was Tlālacuetztla after all. There were only four of them in the group; most members of WOE wouldn’t set foot in Xiomera.
These four would. One was overconfident, one was a fanatic, one was a masochist, and the fourth was the fanatic’s brother who refused to let her go alone. The brother was the photographer. He prayed to anyone who would listen that if he didn’t actually touch the paint they’d go easy on him. He had no illusions about what awaited them.
As they approached the Novella Islands embassy, the other three quickly slipped off their backpacks and opened them to pull out cans of spray paint and immediately began to spray the exterior of the embassy in a chaotic fashion. The brother took pictures of them, as his sister let out a whoop and attempted to climb up the side of the embassy for some reason. The masochist decided to stand in between her and the police so that they got him instead, while the overconfident one seemed surprised the police had already arrived.
The Tlālacuetztla Municipal Police and Imperial Police who closed in did so in a rapid and overwhelming fashion. The overconfident one was tackled to the ground by six officers before he could react. The masochist was likewise overwhelmed by the officers pouring out of the surrounding buildings, quickly being dragged to the ground. The climber soon found herself being chased by two other officers who came after her up the wall. More police came charging at the photographer, batons in hand.
The photographer yelped, let his camera fall to his chest to dangle on the strap that held it around his neck, and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. Hoping they'd slow down.
They did not slow down.
Three of the officers slammed into the photographer, knocking him to the ground. His camera was snatched from around his neck, and his arms roughly twisted behind his back for handcuffs to be applied. As he looked around, he could see the other two who had been tackled in a similar predicament. There was no sign of the climber.
"AMADA!" he yelled, twisting his head around to look for his sister.
The climber, meanwhile, managed to scale the wall around the embassy grounds and leap over. Realizing that they could not pursue, the two officers behind her climbed back down with several curses under their breath. The other three, however, were now in Xiomeran custody.
7am in Lauchenoiria, two hours after the embassy incident
Prime Minister Josephine Alvarez, Domestic Affairs Secretary Adelita Cabello, new Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Pablo Estevez, and Justice Minister Paquito Tosell were in an unwelcome emergency meeting with the heads of the Lauchenoirian Federal Policing and Investigation Service (FPIS), Lauchenoirian Domestic Security Service (LDSS), and Lauchenoirian External Intelligence Agency (LEIA). The subject of the meeting: what to do about the Lauchenoirians taken prisoner by Xiomera.
“The four behind the embassy incident travelled from Elopolis International Airport on a flight heading to Eiria. They then boarded a ferry to Huenya, and crossed the Canal Zone to Xiomera. At each point of crossing they listed their purpose of travel as leisure tourism,” said Sandalio Felix, director of LEIA.
“On the matter of prior convictions, the report I was given says we only have minor misdemeanours: in the case of Amada Toledano, a minor vandalism conviction relating to graffiti, and in the case of Demetrio Iglesias a drug possession charge that was later dropped. Damian Toledano and Toni Oquendo have no prior criminal records,” Tosell added, reading from a piece of paper.
“Regardless,” cut in the Prime Minister, “this is a bad look for us. We need to find some way of handling the WOE situation. We cannot keep allowing things like this to happen. But in the meantime, how are we doing finding the three arrested by the Xiomerans?”
“We have as yet been unable to ascertain their location,” the director of LEIA shook his head. “Which has worrying implications. If they were merely at the local police station, we would have found them by now.”
“Where do you think they are?” Alvarez demanded.
He swallowed. “The actions of the Xiomeran authorities in this matter indicate it is likely they have been taken for in-depth interrogation in the manner of their own citizens who display alleged disloyalty.”
Alvarez groaned, knowing exactly what that meant. If these really were members of the non-violent group, then this was going to constitute even more of a crisis. If they were Warriors, well. It would still be a crisis, she couldn’t exactly set a precedent of allowing foreign powers to torture her citizens.
Alvarez gestured for her three fellow politicians to leave with her into a side room to discuss their response away from the intelligence staff.
“What do we do? We closed our embassy there in the war, and every time we’ve been about to reopen it, some new crisis has caused a delay. We need to speak to the Xiomerans, but we absolutely cannot be seen to endorse or apologise for WOE in any way. Regardless of whether these are the violent or non-violent ones, most people can’t tell the difference in the media.”
“We have to do something,” Estevez argued. “We would be neglecting our duties if we allowed three of our citizens to remain in Xiomeran custody under the circumstances. Especially if the LEIA report is accurate.”
“We have issued a number of advisories against travel to Xiomera,” countered Cabello. “And we have made it very clear that we do not approve of WOE’s actions. I sympathise with what they’re probably going through, but we’ve done everything we can. Even if we were to contact Xiomera, I doubt they’d be receptive.”
“And yet, we have to try,” Alvarez sighed. “I will not allow Lauchenoirian citizens to be subject to the kind of interrogation techniques that Xiomera employs without at least trying to do something about it.”
“But how do we do that without seeming to support WOE’s actions?” Cabello said.
“I… don’t know,” groaned Alvarez.
“I would suggest we contact Sanctaria,” Estevez said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “They have maintained their embassy in Xiomera, and I expect they would be willing to provide our citizens with consular assistance.”
“Yes!” Alvarez replied. “That’s an excellent idea. Calhualyana considers us weak, that’s perfectly clear. I doubt she’d be so blasé dealing with Sanctaria. I’ll return to my office, and contact them. Return to the agency directors, tell them we’ll resume the WOE meeting later. I want suggestions for what we can do about Warriors. We absolutely need to do something, and soon. They continue to escalate, and the longer this goes on, the more I worry Calhualyana is right about our weakness. We’ll resume at 10:00. And I sincerely hope that whatever the next crisis is, it happens in a closer time zone.”
She swept out of the room, hurrying along the corridor back to her office, cursing every single person who thought forming WOE was a good idea.
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax