/qa/ - Question & Answer

In late 1980 MI6 uncovered covert IRA plans to distribute cigarettes loaded with gunpowder instead of tobacco to British children. These operations were to be carried out by Neil O’Tiann (operating as “Nick O’Teen”), an Irish national who had been known to MI6 due to a serious of inflammatory anti-British and anti-Protestant essays published in the Irish language from 1966 to 1974, although this was the first time a concrete connection to national security thread had been established. To prevent panic among the British public they manufactured a fake public health campaign centered on the dangers of smoking cigarettes, and sought to enlist a “super hero.” Because all “super heroes” who were British nationals were consider Class C or below (immune to most calibers of firearm discharge but risking serious injury or death from explosives) they enlisted the aid of Class A American “super hero” Super-Man. Despite his reservations about the organization and the conflict, he agreed to the operation due to the severity of the targets being children. Super-Man was instructed to dispatch O’Tiann via atmospheric ejection at the moment of apprehension to minimize risk to the present children. The intention was threefold—to kill Tiann via oxygen deprivation and hypothermia, to burn up his body on reentry to prevent on-the-ground collateral, and to conceal his death from the public. Super-Man initially objected to these instructions, but accepted them after a long briefing explaining that it was necessary to prevent O’Tiann from acting upon a narrow window of opportunity to use his explosives against the present children. Reports of the incident authorized for release to civilians reported Nick O’Teen as a class A “super villain”(In actuality he was class null or “non super”) and two subsequent incidents featuring impersonators were staged to conceal Tiann’s death. Although the operation was a success, Super-Man’s handling of O’Tiann caused a considerable logistical challenge for British intelligence in safely and inconspicuously removing the explosives shaken loose from the scene, and this irresponsible action caused Super-Man to be blacklisted from working for MI6 again.