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[makethman]

"All of our employees are currently occupied. We hope we have not lost you as a valued customer."

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[permavoice]

[bindsthedead]

The soldiers there- they knew they were coming. They'd gotten intelligence that we were going to invade, so they built the very wall that we were sent to investigate.

I'm not sure if it's as simple as their superiors lying to them, or if they really received that intelligence.

[makethman]

[Even though Sabriel can't see him, Harry retains an admirable poker face when she mentions continued leaks. His hand grips his phone harder, but otherwise Harry bears himself with an uncanny stillness. Beneath that, his mind was on fire. Shit.

Was this what Leskoff meant when he implied the Soviets had something bigger than the domestic hack in the works? Or did the files the government kept go even deeper than Harry first thought?]

That would be a remarkable coincidence, I think. Not unheard of, but certainly out of the ordinary.

I take it you're looking for a basis of comparison?

[bindsthedead]

Particularly since they set off smoke to lure us in to investigate- and only focused their aggression on us, rather than any Finnish military in the area. I don't think they tried to use that yellow stuff on any of them.

They also thought that we were Americans native to our this world, with powers gained through experimentation. [So 'they were lied to' is most certainly an option.]

And yes, I am. Although- did you read up on the Death Island incident?

[makethman]

Another gas attack? Are you alright?

[Yellow smoke--Harry searches his memory of chemical weapons from home in vain. All that comes to mind is Crane's fear toxin. The bastard didn't seem to be the political type, so had another spy collected samples from the attack? Perhaps after Crane's apprehension? That's all wild theorizing, so he tables it until he can learn more.

The fact that the Russians were ignorant of the truth, however, shocked him far less.]

Soviet Russia back home thrived on making fact fiction and vice versa to keep the masses loyal to them. If the common man thinks imPorts are just more Americans, I'm sure that's intentional ignorance on their government's part.

[Of course the suffering of the average civilian remained one of the constants between universes. Harry sighs.]

I may have come across it when I was trying to read up on the history of imPorts here. I take it you can refresh my memory?

[bindsthedead]

I'm fine. The smoke was just smoke. The yellow- goop they flung at us, however, was neurotoxin, designed to work on contact to make us paranoid, get us to turn on each other. I wasn't hit with any of it, but I've collected samples. And I'm concerned about the source, since it apparently wasn't made in Russia.

[Sabriel sighs.]

Several heroes were sent to deal with a Soviet aligned supervillain- including seven young imPorts who went to scout out his base- Death Island- who died. The individual in question had created a death ray that disabled the resurrection process. Afterwards... there were rumors that the government had deliberately sent them on a suicide mission, to tighten their grip on heroes imPort and otherwise. The government accused native heroes of sending the imPorts into danger deliberately, assuming they'd just be brought back if they died. Nothing anyone could prove on either side, but rumors persisted, heroes kept retiring, and two years later, the previous group of imPorts were supposedly all sent back to their worlds.

I can't help but wonder if we're being set up too.

[makethman]

[Chemical warfare-- for the Soviets too stoop to that from their own army would have been unheard of at home. Harry quietly absorbs the information with a grim frown on his face. Maybe imPorts could recover from the effects of things like this, but when would it start leaking to civilians?

And not even Russian made--]

Someone's carrying a grudge for imPorts. Not just the Russians. Maybe not the US government, but the rest of the world isn't subject to them, despite how often they act like they are.

[It makes sense. There's a reason he can't even go back to a London different from his.]

That's a safe suspicion to have, Miss Sabriel.