Work Text:
President Allen was scowling. She had been dealing with the headache of the GIW for some time now, but what she was reading was even more disturbing than the fact the agency was obsessed with a dead kid enough to go to court for the child. Just reading this... It was clear the GIW was too obsessed with Phantom, even going so far as to call the ghost child "government property".
Just the thought of calling someone, dead or alive, "government property" filled her with disgust of the highest level. She wasn't one to normally focus on one person, alive or dead, but it was clear Phantom was at the center of all of this controversy, and just how far the GIW was willing to go to get their hands on the ghostly teen was enough to bring out the Bull in her.
"Well... I think it's clear the GIW's plans for Phantom are going too far." President Allen growled. "But unless the Supreme Court rules non-humans that are sapient have rights, there's not much we can do to go after the GIW for... Well... what do you think of this?" She gestured to the files before her.
Department of Justice Secretary Janet Watson frowned. "This is clearly targeted at Phantom, and with the way the Anti-Ecto Acts are worded... It would seem our hands are tied under normal circumstances."
"Explain." President Allen said sharply.
"Some digging has been done by the DOJ." Vice-President Jason Young noted.
"We've found a bit of a legal loophole. Interviews with people in Amity Park have revealed the GIW were threatening them into non-interference. One person threatened into not interfering was Pedro Sanchez, affiliated with the Department of Agriculture. It's obvious his daughter is a huge supporter of Phantom. How did they get info on Phantom's patrol routes? They threatened her with her father being fired. That is overreaching their designated jurisdiction." DOJ Secretary Watson revealed.
"And who gave the direction for the Department of Justice to look into this?" President Allen asked.
"It was on my instruction." Vice-President Young admitted. "But only because of what you sent to me after the meeting with the FBI agent in charge of investigating Amity Park and the GIW's efforts there."
"I see." President Allen leaned back in her chair. "Well, that's all well and good, but I fail to see how the GIW can be stopped with just that information alone."
DOJ Watson looked at the president. "Only those in the Cabinet and presidency have authority to fire government employees. In a way, the Anti-Ecto Acts attempt to circumvent the Constitution and override presidential power."
President Allen felt a chill enter into her gut. "You mean... the Anti-Ecto Acts were supposed to put the GIW in charge of the government?!"
"To a limited degree." DOJ Watson revealed. "But because of how complex the government is, and because of checks and balances, the plans to get those who oppose them fired or arrested for just standing up to them would've been harder to pass scrutiny. NSA agents have been looking into their files and have found files on Pedro Sanchez, who is noted to be diligent in his work. He never misses a report due date, his files are detailed and scientifically accurate, not to mention he is a model government employee."
"But...?" President Allen pressed, knowing the DOJ secretary well enough to know that when she listed good qualities of a person, something to smear said person was coming.
"The files listed getting him fired for tampering with seeds to plant a poisonous, invasive species when farmers go to plant our fields." DOJ Watson revealed. "Pedro Sanchez never interacts with the seeds. He is employed by the Food and Safety Inspection Services, and has never been in the farm fields."
"Great... This is just getting even more convoluted..." President Allen groaned. "We have to untangle everything these idiots have put into place?!"
"If it helps, this is clearly libel and overreaching their boundaries." DOJ Watson said.
"By crossing duties of two divisions of the Department of Agriculture?! FSIS and the Farm Services are two completely different divisions!" President Allen retorted angrily. "Why the fuck would the GIW plan to make a FSIS employee appear to tamper with seeds approved by the Farm Services?! They work in two different areas of agriculture!"
"In a twisted way, it makes senses." DOJ Watson grumbled. "Certain divisions can cross work on occasion, which may be why the GIW chose to go that route."
"Agreed, especially some of the farms may focus on more than one area of food production." Vice-President Young agreed.
President Allen had to admit, that was a valid point. "Okay, so we have plans to frame someone innocent for something the GIW did, and to get the person fired, which only the federal government's current administration can do. That is overreaching to jurisdictions they don't have power in. That seems to work out so far for overcoming the Anti-Ecto Acts, but it doesn't seem to be enough."
She leaned back in her seat again. "What else do we have?"
"What else could we have?" DOJ Watson clarified. "Well... those files that have been found? We ran some of them by OSHA, and they found, disturbingly, that the files for what we can essentially call "Phantom's Room" are OSHA compliant. Which disturbs OSHA because they read the files on what the room would be used for."
"So, what does OSHA think of this?" President Allen asked, curious now.
"Despite "Phantom's Room" being OSHA compliant, they have decided that such a room is not usable or suitable for any use." DOJ Watson replied. "Meaning it was constructed to be torture chamber disguised as a compliant lab."
"You mean they..." President Allen hissed.
"Looking at the central table, we have clearly found something that shouldn't be there." DOJ Watson growled. "It looks like an attachment for something to hold what looks like a collar. We also did a substantial study of the table design and found what are wires running through it that are live, and connected to each of the cuffs."
"Live wires in the cuffs...?" Vice-President Young whispered. "Is it only for phase-proofing or...?"
DOJ Watson sighed before she looked up, her eyes hard. "The wires connect to one button on the side. Conductive metals, live wires, no electromagnetic controls... What does that point to?"
"Torture." The president hissed through gritted teeth.
"We got these files from the GIW's servers, in part because of the investigation into the abuses of human rights they have conducted." DOJ Watson admitted.
President Allen nodded in approval. "Good work then."
"So OSHA deemed "Phantom's Room" unusable because of the fact it is a torture chamber disguised as a OSHA compliant lab. What is OSHA going to do about it?" Vice-President Young asked.
"OSHA is going to issue an order to completely dismantle that room." DOJ Watson replied. "Of course, they are going with the fact there are live wires in the cuffs and the fact that there is no shielding of the wires as the cause, but... That may be flimsy at best since the torture chamber is technically in compliance with OSHA regulations."
"I see." President Allen growled. "Clearly that room must have seen some use, yes?"
"It was constructed for Phantom specifically." DOJ Watson admitted. "But as mentioned by Lt. Dupre of the Amity Park FBI Team, there is speculation the room could be used for other purposes, ones that would go against the Meta-Protection Acts, but as there is no evidence for it, we can’t do much about it."
"Great..." President Allen groaned.
"But we have clear evidence of what they intend to do to Phantom, and the blueprints for the room." Vice-President Young pointed out. "Even for that table. I think we could use this."
President Allen went silent as she thought over her VP's words. It was clear he was thinking of something, possibly weaponizing those files against the GIW. Then, a thought crossed her mind. "You're thinking we could leak said files?" She asked.
"That is a possibility." Vice-President Young admitted. "But it would have to be through an extremely encrypted method, and anonymously."
"And just who would we leak this to?" DOJ Watson asked, curious.
"Any news agency that has connections to the Justice League." President Allen replied, catching on. "Like the Daily Planet, News agencies in Gotham, Central City... Any place where a hero is based, or that often interviews heroes." Then she gained a predatory grin. "And possibly leak to Batman as well. He may know what the GIW has planned for Phantom, but I just want him to know we are also aware through this leak as well."
Vice-President Young gave a bit of a grin. "You want him to trace it back to us."
"Yes." President Allen replied.
"But isn't that risky?" DOJ Watson asked, uncertain it was a good idea.
"Maybe yes, but knowing Batman, he'd figure it out anyway. And he isn't the type to reveal secrets." President Allen replied. "He'd know to keep this on the downlow."
"Even so, we can't be too careful." DOJ Watson pointed out. "Knowing the GIW, they'd be watching for anything like this, and conspiracy theorists could use this against us, claiming we made it up, etc."
"So, we nip those theorists in the bud at the same time." President Allen mused.
Vice-President Young looked up. "Actually, I may be able to do something about that."
"How so?" President Allen asked.
The VP grinned. "Simple. Offer up a plea deal to one of the less fanatical GIW agents who worked on building said room. They claim they told us about the room and gave us the blueprints on it as a whistleblower for unethical reasons and take the blame for it, they get off scot-free."
"Or do they?" President Allen remarked with a grin of her own. "They get blamed by the GIW's more fanatical members, which is punishment enough."
"But they could be called 'a ghost' and open for experimentation under the AEA." DOJ Watson pointed out.
"Witness Protection." President Allen said simply. "They live out their life under a new name, protected by us, but unable to say anything related to Phantom. They will carry the guilt of bringing down the GIW for the rest of their life, and will be hunted like an animal unless they accept our help."
"Damn woman, that is smart, if not chaining them silent." Vice-President Young whistled.
"Exactly." President Allen grinned. "The one GIW agent we pick as the 'whistleblower' can either accept our help and give up doing everything related to Phantom, or they can live as being hunted as an animal for the rest of their life."
DOJ Watson spoke up. "So... with that in mind..."
"We leak the plans for Phantom as well as that room." President Allen replied. "As well as the possibility of that room having been used already, for a meta-human vivisection."
Lois Lane, top reporter for the Daily Planet, had not expected to receive an email from an anonymous source in her inbox that afternoon. She had had someone try to backtrack it, but the source happened to be encrypted to high enough levels that she had to assume it was government-related. That painted a possibility of it being a whistleblower in need of government protection. And whistleblower stories tended to get good attention if spun just right.
*TO: Lois Lane, Daily Planet (Fake email address here)
From: (EMAIL REDACTED)
Message: Ms. Lane,
I am aware of your stance supporting heroes, namely Superman and the Justice League. Your connections to the Justice League are what I need for this to make maximum impact on the people who read your articles.
Included in this email are files on the GIW's plans for Phantom, including what is being called "Phantom's Room", and trust me... that is not a good name. I only wish for you to put this out there for the nation to see, to show how cruel the GIW really is. There is also speculation that other uses for the room may be planned, but that lacks evidence as of right now.
DOWNLOAD ATTACHMENT
Please... spread this information in the most shocking, but ethical way possible. Pass this on to Superman with instructions to pass this information to Batman if at all possible.
Signed,
Opera Singer*
Lois Lane found it funny that the anonymous whistleblower took the name Opera Singer as their code name. Phantom and the Opera Singer. Phantom of the Opera.
'Well, may as well view these files.' She mused as she clicked the download link with a bit of a smirk.
Her smirk faded from her face as her jaw dropped at the information she was reading on her screen as it came up.
This wasn't just the biggest scoop of her career... it was the scoop in the Daily Planet's entire history...
Bruce Wayne remained impassive as he read the same email Clark Kent had sent him a few hours later. Lois Lane had passed on some vital information to Superman, who had then handed it off to Batman. Backtracking the email address had proven it was government encrypted. Oracle had broken the encryption, which showed it was indeed US government affiliated, which drew the Dark Knight's interest. He knew the government had top-tier encryption not even Oracle could crack, so this made him conclude the Feds had wanted him to trace it back to them.
This alone made him suspicious. But it... also showed that maybe the government wasn't on the side of the GIW. They weren't stupid; the fact the government had denounced the warrant for Batman's arrest said much about how sudden and without permission it had been. Based on what was happening at the highest levels, it was clear to Bruce that the Feds were just as against the GIW as the Justice League was. They were just going about it in a different manner.
Now, Bruce knew what the GIW planned for Phantom, there was no doubt about that. But to hear the government speculated other uses for that room were possibly planned? He scowled. It was clear the AEA did more than just go against Phantom. It was a pathway to override the Meta-Protection Acts.
He had to wonder how this would influence the court case coming up, and whether or not it would be good or bad...