12114/War Room Meeting: A56234

War Room Meeting: A56234
Date of Scene:	02 September 2020
Location:	War Room - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	The X-Men get a very long briefing on various plot threads.
Cast of Characters:	Cyclops, Wolverine, Phoenix, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Sabretooth, Storm, Cannonball, Psylocke, Pixie

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Cyclops has posed:
Everyone on the X-Men got a message on their communicator devices to come to the War Room at this time. Uniforms were not required. When Scott sends out that type of message, it means they are not going on a mission at this moment. That should be fairly good news for most of them. Dressed in a pair of snug jeans and a simple polo shirt, he's currently tapping away at the table to load up the current details of this meeting.

"Seriously, Victor. Do not start a fight. Logan will be in this meeting, if he shows up. This is your one chance to prove yourself to not only Jean and myself, but to everyone."

He glances over to the red head at his side with a light clear of his throat, then taps a final button as he launches Megan's mission recap on the big screen above them that details the bulletpoints of this alien invasion compiling of talking vehicles the size of buildings.

Wolverine has posed:
One of the few times Logan isn't smokin' or drinkin', Logan finds himself in the "War Room" for a team meeting or something. Sneaking in, and leaning against the wall in the back, as out of the way as possible, he just frowns, his arms crossed across his chest, and waits for this whole thing to be over.

Logan is currently in a white t-shirt, blue jeans, brown "cowboy" leather boots, and a dark brown leather jacket. Scruffy, sober, and not in a good mood. So, pretty much normal. Nodding to Scott and the others present, he tries to ignore that one particular "person".

Phoenix has posed:
In her accustomed seat to the right hand of Scott is Jean, her tablet in front of her with some manner of secured-looking messaging program up. With this being a meeting as opposed to mission, she's got on normal jeans and an asymmetrical olive green shirt and is looking fairly relaxed with one leg crossed over the other. She does raise her eyes as Scott talks to Victor, looking first at the latter before looking over to the former.

"He did leave all of the kids intact." She points out before looking towards the door. A quiet sort of half smile is given towards Logan, perhaps in understanding of the perceived mood, before turning her eyes back to the recap.

"I'll just be glad when we can wash our hands of this one."

Nightcrawler has posed:
    Kurt arrives, wearing a black T-shirt and dark jeans, his tail curling beside him as he perches in one of the chairs in the War Room. His eyes look around the room, his lips pursing a moment before he leans back in his chair, giving a cheery, fangy smile to the room.

    "Hello! Am I late?"

Colossus has posed:
The big Russian's footfalls were no doubt heard by the sharper of hearing, but the big man has a light step for a man of his size. Piotr enters into the room and settles his eyes on Victor. His features go from the usual stoic Russian to a flash of something like he just stepped in something foul and needs to clean off his boot. Still, he straightens his features back up. His hypocrisy only extends so far, after all.

What is more obvious a 'subtle' message is him sitting down next to Logan, the chair gives a soft creak as over 100 kilograms of mutant settle there, but it holds. He doesn't cross his arms or grip anything. "That is a low bar." Piotr says to Jean in his usual, quiet, deep voice. As is usual, the comment is short. It is less an insult than it is a simple observation.

Piotr nods to Kurt flashing a quick smile to his friend.

Sabretooth has posed:
    "And that wasn't an easy thing either," Victor says with a slight chuckle. He is seated in a chair at the table, but has his feet up on the table crossed at the ankles. He is wearing engineer boots so be thankful for little favors. He is also wearing a black tshirt and black BDU style pants. He clicks his claws against the table not damaging the surface, but he seems to be playing like a cat with a bit of string. He looks over as Logan enters and huffs slightly. His amber eyes narrow, but his body remains still for the time being.

Cyclops has posed:
"Well, thank you for not killing our newest batch of New Mutants. Take your feet off my table." Scott's voice is rather flat, but firm as he glances over towards Victor with a furrow of his brow. As he taps another button on the table, he gives a circle of his finger to increase the magnification.

"I will get to the meat of the conversation first. I have uploaded Pixie's mission notes to your comms. It appears that herself, Siryn and Shannon received a distress signal from an alien creature that calls himself Blurr. He is a heavily advanced species of alien that can mimic our technology. From what I was told, he is a three story sized robot that can turn into a sports car. He was being tracked by another of his kind that goes by the name of Lockdown, a bounty hunter. Supposedly they are both looking for some type of transponder device that their homeplanet requires. These alien robots have been at war for a long time and have brought it to Earth."

Furrowing his brows, he says, "It appears that Shannon has known about this creature for some time and has 'befriended it'. As you can see by my side note I attached to this cable, we may need to sit Miss Lance down and have her document every single one of her 'super friends' she is acquainted with, as the list seems to continue to grow and nine out of ten times the trouble comes to our doorstep, whether it's in the form of gremlins, aliens, or even The Hulk."

"Speaking of, it apperas that the three of them got in touch with .. Morgana La Fey and have put Blurr in a magical pocket realm in Avalon while it awaits repairs. It sounds as stupid as it does saying it outloud. Pixie came to Jean and I to ask for a plan and thus, we have decided to reach out to the Avengers, specifically Captain America and The Black Widow. They have decided to take the alien robot off our hands. I feel that this is definitely not an X-Man issue, and with our history regarding large killer robots, I feel that for the student's sake we keep this out of their line of sight."

Wolverine has posed:
Logan takes a brief moment to almost smile and nod as Jean looks his way. Looking over at Kurt as he arrives, Logan says, "Naw Elf. Yer on time." Logan raises one foot to prop himself against the wall, his left one at this time. "Join the party."

When Piotr sits down, Logan finally smiles, but doesn't comment on the obvious chair issues, and just goes back to the "meeting". It was so hard to resist, but his mood changes when he sees Victor. A growl leaks out of his mouth, as his first instincts were to pop his claws, but somehow, he resists, as Scott takes charge of the meeting. Although he looks like he is bored, he actually absorbs all of the information.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    Piotr would get a bright smile from Kurt as the teleporter's tail shifts behind himKurt glances to Victor and gives him as withering look as a blue fuzzy elf can about those boots on the table.

    "Ach, mein friend, perhaps your feet should remain on the floor, ja? We would not want to block view of the screen for anyone down the table." he points out. "... aside from the fact Scott also asked him to take the boots off the table, giving a wry grin over to Logan, and purposefully wiggles the ears at the elf comment.

    He leans back a moment, getting a sort of sour look to his face, lips setting.

    "That is somewhat regular... Miss Lance tends to find herself in the strangest of companies." he murmurs quietly, rubbing his chin in thought.

    "Well, if the Avengers will house the new alien, I agree it is better for them than for us, and also to keep the younger members from knowing its movement. Just in case their information is..." he fidgits a moment. "They should not be getting involved with interstallar wars."

Sabretooth has posed:
    Big heavy clumps sound out as Victor brings his feet to the floor and sits up at the table. "So we have giant robots, magic, moron kids, and the Avengers?" He snorts and sits back in his chair, almost putting his feet back up, but keeps them on the floor instead. He runs his hand through his long hair, with a subtle middle finger rather obviously pointed at the smaller Canadian, and then shakes his head barley acknowledging the other sour expressions from the team. "I say just let me take it apart, bury the body in the lake, and none the wiser."

Phoenix has posed:
"Welcome to what our days tend to be like, Victor." Remarks Jean towards Creed with a wane smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "But without one of those 'moron kids', we wouldn't even know these things are out there. So in this case, at least we have the information, as much as I would rather it did not come from a student."

"Scott and I met with the Captain and Black Widow the other afternoon to fill them in on the information that we have." Jean says once Scott has given everyone the rundown. "They elected that this is a matter better handled by the Avengers as opposed to SHIELD. They didn't seem fond of the idea of SHIELD likely dismantling the being, and I somewhat agree with them given their already dangerous amount of technology that they've been shown to have."

"As for Ms. Lance and any of our students, I think a security reminder is overdue - even if it feels like I need to give one every other week. There's a lack of understanding of just what what security means, and that who we associate with can come back to haunt us. In any event, on the topic of the robot, we're waiting for confirmation back from the Avengers on where we need to see the robot delivered."

Colossus has posed:
Piotr opens his mouth, then closes it with a soft, but faintly audible click of teeth. He considers words and looks at first Jean and then Scott. This is not the oddest thing he has heard, but Scott's delivery and the sheer number of revelations and names involved makes him want to laugh. The look on Scott and Jean's face makes him not. His blue eyes flick back and forth from Scott to Jean, then back to Scott, and finally to Kurt as if Piotr is looking for what the appropriate reaction is.It takes him a moment to process the information. Finally he says, quietly. "I am more concerned that Shannon has become indoctrinated and maybe is following down our path. I had higher hopes for her than to become a recluse with us up here. She could have a very bright future. She seems intent on joining us when she turns 18." Not that he was 18 when he started, but that is maybe why he is so unenthused by the idea.
    He stares at the raised middle finger. Hopefully Jean's shields are up, or else she gets a vivid image of just where he is considering placing that hand. Piotr, as an artist, is very good at visualizing. "You should put that away before you hurt yourself with it." Piotr says quietly to Victor.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    Kurt looks insulted at the suggestion.

    "Please do not refer to the students in a derogatory manner. They are still learning, surely you have your share of mistakes when you were young." he states, stiffly. "I shall also reject the idea of any dismantling of the robot -- if he is sapient, then he feels pain and is aware of himself. There is no reason to take him apart, lake, SHIELD or otherwise." he replies, his tail curling as he crouches on the chair, perched rather than sitting.

    "And on that, my friend, I agree and disgree. Shannon is not ready to be an X-Man. She lacks the maturity for even me to be able to trust her on a mission if she continues to let her mis-speakings ruin her life for days at a time; what will she do if a teammate were to be hurt? She does not have the world on her shoulders -- and in other matters--"

    He frowns at Piotr. "You think me a recluse?!" he inqires with disbeleif, trying to bring a hint of levity.

Wolverine has posed:
With a grunt, Logan hears Kurt's words, but chooses to ignore them by switching feet. Now his right one was propped against the wall, holding him there, it's arrival trumpted with a soft, "thump". Looking back to the meeting, Logan notes that Victor actually listens to Scott, and almost raises an eyebrow like that nerd guy from the show in fake space.

Logan replies to Victor's morbid words with a grunt and ignores his "finger" insult by imagining his middle "claw" cutting the top of Victor's head off.

His eyes look over at Jean, and he listens with rapt attention to everything she says. No comments, just a nod now and then letting her know he agrees with her words, especially the stuff on security.

Without even knowing it, Logan looks over at Colossus, and appreciates the big Russian's presence. "Piotr is right." He didn't even recognize his own voice. "Shannon does feel like she is ready. I think she needs a lot more time in tha' minors. Like tha' Elf here says." He side-eyes Kurt.

Sabretooth has posed:
    "Any time you want to try, Ruskie," Victor says with a flash of his pointed teeth and a smile that would right at home on a shark. "And I refer to the lot of you as worse than morons. And to your face to boot," Victor chuckles and sits back in his chair picking at a claw with another one as he listens to the briefing.

Storm has posed:
    Storm had also entered the War Room for the meeting along with the others, and had chosen to remain silent and contemplative for a time while the others conversed on the subject matter.

    Avengers, alien machines, magical pocket dimensions, and the kids. Story of their lives, right? As crazy as it sounded, it doesn't surprise her one bit.

    She frowns pensively, with concern also written across her features. "Just how long has Shannon been...acquainted with this being? I am concerned that, should she disagree with our decision to turn him--her? It...? Over to another organization, that she may do something rash. That being said, I'm glad she didn't bring it here and attempt to hide it from everyone."

Cyclops has posed:
"This meeting is not about whether or not Miss Lance is ready to be an X-Man. She is a student and has two more years of coursework before we will even have that discussion with her. Let's drop that topic, please." Scott says with a frown upon his face.

"No, we are not dismantling this robot and I am fairly sure that even in it's injured state it'd be able to handle you easily, Creed. Also, please refrain from trying to antagnoize Logan. As much as I would enjoy purchasing tickets to round five hundred of the two of you slugging it out, our cleaning crew won't be back until Monday. Steralizing this room is an effort."

He pauses for a moment as he gives a glance to each of his fellow X-Men, then clears his throat again lightly before he reaches for a bottle of water next to him. He takes the cap off, sips it, then hands it off to Jean.

"But Pete does raise up a concern that I will speak to. As X-Men, we are obviously going to be regarded by the student body as superheroes and idols, even though that is not who we are. While at times we do put on a uniform and we fly out to handle an issue with our gifts, at the end of the day, we are not the Avengers, or the Justice League, or the Fantastic Four. It's fairly easy for students to get caught up in the perceived glamour that they think we live in. Let's just be careful about talking about our adventures with the kids. While it may be exciting to talk about the Savage Land, we should not put the idea in their heads that they should try and hitch a ride with us to it."

As Victor once more looks to provoke a fight, he turns his attention to him and says sternly, "/Enough/. We are adults here and thus will act like it. Otherwise, I will be more than happy to let Peter escort you back to your room if you can't act behave. While we may all have bad blood amongst us, you asked for this chance and opportunity. Do not squander it."

He lets out a heavy breath, then says, "As Jean said, once we talk to the Avengers, we will find a neutral spot to deliver the alien and thus wash our hands on it. So, on to the next topic, since Victor here is doing his best to draw attention to himself, we will speak of Sabretooth's membership. He has been with us for months now through psychic therapy and rehabilitation and has actually shown progress. Despite his candor and wit at the table, I feel that he has earned the chance to have a bit more freedom."

Phoenix has posed:
"You're not wrong in that assessment of Shannon, Kurt." Jean says grimly with her mouth pulled into a tight line. "She thinks first with her emotions. While they're usually in the right place, it also clouds her choices. In this case, she made friends with a being that is engaged in a galactic civil war, which would then mean that by her helping this Blurr, it means she has also declared our allegiance by association. We are not getting involved in their war."

Towards Storm, Jean then says, "I have no idea how long she's known this thing, or why she failed to let us know. I doubt this is her only secret friend. Megan was the one who chose the hiding place, specifically so it didn't end up here. So... there's going to need to be a talk."

She runs a hand along the back of her neck as her expressions remain somber. "I'd rather none of them follow us. I want them to know how to protect themselves and one another and be safe in this world, but too many of them are equating that with learning to be heroes. Which, any of us can confirm, is not what we always are. I suppose it's not that easy to separate the two when we're the ones teaching them and living among them. For their safety, and our own, I'm starting to wonder if we may need to consider relocating our main X-Men operations. Up there needs to be a true school, not a cover for us or some covert training program. The distance may do them good. It was different when there was just a handful of us to manage and keep secret. That's not that easy now. The less they see of us as 'X-Men' and more as teachers, the less chances they have to associate our lives with theirs."

As for the cat in the room, she just gestures a hand towards the others. "I've been involved in this from the beginning to try and help him. I know some of you didn't get much of a say in the matter, so if anyone has concerns then say them now. Politely." She says in affirmation of Scott's concerns over room decontaminations.

Colossus has posed:
Piotr glares at Victor. He starts to open his mouth, but says nothing as Scott puts his metaphorical foot down. Piotr is a good soldier and simply leans back into his chair. "I will obey." He tells Scott, his neck stiff and his jaw set. "You have earned that much." Piotr says it quietly. Scott's earned his respect, and that is that.

Jean opens up the discussion about Victor though, and Piotr says, simply, "You invited a murderer and a master manipulator into our home. One wants to be a better person. The other hides behind Scott's apron strings. You have ruined the tranquility of our home." Piotr shakes his head. "I am willing to help the one that wants help. I am unwilling to find one of our students dead because we have morals. Are we a halfway house or are we a school?" Piotr lets his displeasure be known in as pithy a way as he can.

"Tovarisch." Piotr finally replies to Kurt, swiveling his chair. "You never take me anywhere." The joke rings off in his ears.

Storm has posed:
    Storm nods at Jean's answer. "Hm, you are right. We need to speak with Shannon, and perhaps Megan, if she was also aware of the friendship. We need to know everything they know about every interaction our students and/or staff have had with these beings."

    She sighs. "When you are young, it is easy to idolize those in the spotlight. While you are right about this job not being as glamorous as they may think, it is a difficult thing for the students to fully grasp until they have been there."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and says "We have helped robotic life forms in the past, I have met Blurr in passing, but did not find out much information on him. The Avengers or the FF maybe the best bet though, as I do not think they are from anywhere close to the Shi'ar and lets be honest thats where most of our space experience lays.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    Kurt turns from where he was peering before, and he looks alarmed as he draws his gaze up to Sam.

    "You knew?" he asks, almost sounding incredulous over it all "That.. is problematic at best..." he rubs his chin a moment, " but as long as this Blurr is going to be with the Avengers, where shall we draw the line with any further involvement?"

Cyclops has posed:
As he listens to everyone, Scott gives a nod here and there as he taps in notes along the keyboard in front of him. He's adding more intelligence as he goes to Megan's notes. "You knew?" He echoes Kurt as he looks over towards Sam. "When you can, please update anything you have to this file." He says as he gives a motion to the large screen in front of them. "And this goes to everyone here. If we make contact with any type of alien species, we need to have it recorded and logged under our secure channels. We need to share information. Understood?"

As he moves on, he looks over to Pete and nods his head. "Some here would say that Charles was crazy to invite Logan to our team with the colorful history that he has. Same with Rogue. Or Laura. This is Victor's one and only chance to prove that he can be a man and not a monster. No one is going to excuse any of his past behavior, but the X-Men has always been about second chances. Especially when it comes to a world that hates us. We all have our scars, our triggers, and our reasons for acting the way that we do. Victor here has had the same horrors inflicted upon him that Logan did in those experimental programs. As Jean and Betsy works with him, we're hoping to find the real Victor beneath it all."

"Until then, he has expressed interest in helping us out. I'm willing to entertain this idea but under a controlled situation. There /are/ threats out there that can't be used with kid gloves. Charles has always been reluctant in that regards, but as the world's threats grow larger and seek to harm the innocent people of this world, there may be times where we may need to take the kid gloves off. The next time an alien invasion happens, we actually may need Victor to tear them into pieces if it means saving this planet. It may not be a popular decision, but I'm willing to own any and all mistakes that Victor makes while under our supervision."

"He knows that if he fucks up." Scott, dropping an F Bomb is a rarity. "That our kid gloves will come off as well in how we handle him. So, he has a motivation to improve."

Phoenix has posed:
"Megan was unaware, she just stepped up to help secure the robot." Jean elaborates to Ororo. "I don't know if Theresa knew anything going into this."

Towards Kurt and Sam, she says, "Even if this thing is friendly, the others may not be. We are not equipped to get involved in their war or even encourage it to be anywhere near this planet. That may sound harsh of me, but our concerns are for mutants. We already have a good portion of our own planet looking at us like monsters. We don't need more potential enemies - or the kind of allies likely to send humanity running for cover."

As talk returns to Victor, she doesn't look one bit upset by what Piotr says. All she says is, "I already let Victor know the consequences of aggressive actions towards us or the children while he's here." She says it plainly and calmly with not even a twitch of green eyes, which is perhaps even more terrifying than Scott feeling the need to swear. "And even if Madrox failed in keeping *multiple* eyes on him the other day, I didn't. I don't like the idea of us needing to resort to answer violence with violence, but it's clear the world is getting worse before it gets better. I would rather form an ally out of an enemy than have one of those kids put on a uniform to answer those calls and potentially not come home."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to them and says "Met him talked to him, seemed to be an ok guy, trying to keep his nose down mostly. I try to judge people I come in contact with more on their actions than what others think of them." He looks over and says "And even I was given a second chance by being here, was working with the wrong side at first.

Storm has posed:
    Storm nods. "I agree with Jean." A look toward Sam, and Victor, too. "And Scott. This is very critical information that needs to be shared. Unfortantely a knowledge of the galactic community or politics isn't something I have, and I can only hope the students have not essentially declared war on an alien civilization or entity by helping this individual..."

    "I understand that, Sam. But do you know how long Shannon has been acquainted with this being? Or if anyone else was familiar with it?"

Colossus has posed:
His response to Scott is practical and respectful in tone, but again clearly expresses Piotr's displeasure. "If the decision is made then do not ask for our input afterward." Piotr is showing his Russian side. He gives a nod to Scott and then Jean. "I disagree, but I will obey." His objection voiced, Piotr leans back into his seat. He clamps down on his thoughts to spare Jean from his displeasure and anger. To him, this is a betrayal of Logan, and it is that simple. There are reasons why Piotr is not trusted with command decisions. To Sam, he quietly corrects the other young man. "You were wrong, and once you understood it you have never wavered. You did not try to murder one of us multiple times, tovarisch." Piotr gives Sam a warm nod as if to reassure the other mutant of Piotr's trust

"We should be ready to defend ourselves if this robot civil war descends upon us and we may wish to limit the contact our students have with this alien." He slides a hand up into his hair. He has more to say, but is silencing himself because he has been negative enough.

Cyclops has posed:
"I am asking for your opinion because I value it, and, so that I can clear up any questions or concerns that you had. You're allowed to question me, Piotr. I am your field leader when we are in battle, but I am also your friend. This was not a decision that was made easily, nor was it one that I slept gently on. I have lost a lot of sleep over this. What would be the alternative? We kill him and be no better than who he used to be? We turn him over to Shield so they make him into a weapon? We drop him off somewhere else so he can be someone else's problem? Jean rips his mind apart and turns him into a turnip?"

Scott rubs his chin a bit in thought as he leans back into his chair. "Charles picked each of us to be X-Men to make good, sound decisions on behalf of mutants everywhere. All mutants. Even the misplaced ones. Magneto once served as an instructor here and he was once regarded as the /worst/ mutant in the world. Where do we draw the line and say stop? That we will no longer help someone? Creed came to us in his time of need. He put his pride away to ask for help from us. What kind of man would I be if I turned him away?"

There is a heavy sigh from him as he gives a look towards his teammates, his friends. "But at the end of the day, your safety is my priority. If any of you has other concerns, voice them. I need to hear it. If you have alternate ideas of how to deal with it, let me know. The X-Men are not a dictatorship."

Psylocke has posed:
The large circular door parts, opening to reveal a slim figure. She steps into the room enough to allow the door to close back behind her. Betsy is dressed casually, in a pair of jeans with a short heeled boot. Her blouse is a pale lilac color. Her hair is freshly washed and still damp.

"My apologies for my lateness. I had an unpleasant meeting with Toad which delayed my attendance." The rest can be inferred. After a fight with Toad, generally a shower is in order and that put her further behind.

She finds a seat and slips into it quickly, listening to try and piece together on what she may have missed. She also cheats, sending out telepathically to the other telepath in the room. <Jean, would you be so kind as to catch me up?>

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over and says "I would say near a year or so I think last I saw him was dix months ago or so." He answers about Blurr, to Piotr, and says "Thanks, folks here are family even if not blood, but yea, I even got to the point where I respect Magneto, and trust his word. Mind you that word at times will be I will stop you or fight you ect.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn is also a bit late, but for different reasons. Largely because college just started up this week and things have been hectic.

Shes still carrying her backpack, a cute fairy wing themed thing, wearing a green summer dress and sandals as she hurries in after Betsy, a bit breathless. "Hii! Sorry I'm late!" she says as she hurries to find a seat.

Phoenix has posed:
"It's fine, Betsy, Megan. Grab a seat." For sanity's sake, Jean loops both Betsy and Megan in on a psychic recap. Thankfully thoughts work a lot faster than the spoken word. The bullet points passed are: Blurr's in-progress transfer to the Avengers once a drop off spot is prepared, general concerns over students feeling like they must become X-Men and must be heroes, and now talk of Victor and allowing him more freedom and to assist on missions. It's a lot of information that passes in the span of moments. Sadly, no one suddenly learns kung fu from the machine overlords.

There's a vague side glance towards Scott at mention of turning people's minds into vegetables. Surely she's never done that, or Charles, or any of the telepaths. But then if they did, would witnesses even remember? "There's no clear line, there never has been. All we can do is what seems right after being as educated about a situation as we can. Thankfully we have time here, unlike in the middle of a battlefield. Which is also why we have the luxury of introducing this concept slowly. For now, anyway."

Colossus has posed:
"It was never a vendetta with Magneto." Piotr replies to Scott. "It was never personal. It was never a blood feud with one of our own." His discomfort is obvious. This is as close to insubordinate as Piotr has come. Understanding that he is almost certainly in the wrong here, Port's eyes flick to the door. Looking as if he is quite upset, Piotr uncharacteristically asks. "Is there anything else?" The man has tried to kill Logan more times than Piotr cares to count, and his loyalty to the other man after what they have been through is unwavering.

Still, he is asking permission to go in a roundabout manner rather than continue to argue. Piotr has to keep his hand from squeezing the arm rest.

Wolverine has posed:
Logan has remained relatively quiet throughout the conversation as he was wont to do. He exchanges his right foot with his left foot, against the wall, and shrugs without saying anything. Nodding towards Victor, Logan grunts. "Creed gets outta line...I'll put him down. Permanently. He stays true, I'll give him a chance. One." Which finger did he use........

Logan's foot then hits the floor with a "thump". "The rest, you all figure it out. I'm not one to dictate policy within these walls. Haven't since Chuck took me in when I needed it. Everyone gets a second chance. Until they don't."

Logan nods politely towards the new arrivals...Storm, Sam, Betsy, Megan, and then looks back at Jean and Cyke. "As it is, I need a beer. Or 10. Kurt, Piotr...welcome ta' join me. Might have some vodka and whiskey ta' go with the beers I brought from Calgary." Turning to leave, he pauses and looks over his shoulder. "That okay?" His eyes look directly at Scott, then Jean, waits for a count of three, then heads out the door.

Storm has posed:
    Storm glances at Psylocke and Pixie as they enter, nodding in quiet greeting toward them, then looks to Sam. "A year? That's quite some time."

    She sighs at Colossus. "Scott is right. There were not many good options available. If Creed is sincere, then his actions will show it. We have all made mistakes. Including you, Piotr." This is said in a matter-of-fact tone, but not accusingly.

Cyclops has posed:
"Good evening Betsy, Megan." Scott says patiently as he waits for Jean to fill them in. He shifts his jaw a bit in thought, then lightly clears his throat. He looks back over towards Peter, then Logan for a moment, then folds his hands in front of him. "This isn't the dinner table. No, you're not excused. We're in the middle of a team meeting."

There is a hint of frustration creeping into his voice for a moment. "There is something else that we need to discuss." He says, motioning to the seats once more. "Two, actually."

At least with Logan's input, he feels a bit more at ease. It was his opinion he was fearing the most. The last thing they needed was a brawl or a shouting match. "The first thing I'm going to bring up is that Josh Foley, while he is attending college, has accepted a position on the X-Men's Gold Team. He will report to me and will be our facilities full time healer. Our Auto-Doc does a decent job, but his skill-set has limitless potential. Josh was one of the more stand out members of the New Mutants class, along with Megan here."

"The second thing I want to bring up is Betsy's eyes. We found out by one of our students who is capable in speaking with technology that at some point in her life, her eyes were replaced with cybernetics and they were recording and transmitting data for quite awhile. How long? We do not know yet. Jean and I knew about this, but we did not alert the rest of the team until we were able to resolve it. We did not wish to cause panic, and it's also why Betsy was living off campus for the last few months. Our technopath was able to trace the signal to what appears to be .. some type of alien.. " He clicks a button and pulls the image up on the screen in front of them. It's really blurry, but it's Mojo and what appears to be a woman with multiple arms. "We have no clue who this is, where they are located at .. yet. Forge was able to remove her eyes and Josh was able to restore them by way of Jean boosting his powers. So, the eyes are now contained in a lead container. The signal is cut off. But, my worry is how much of our lives was on display for this .. thing .. and what they will do with it."

Wolverine has posed:
Logan stops before exiting and hears that last from Cyclops. Looking back over his shoulder, he frowns, and says, "Well, that is something. I guess you'll need us to clean up this mess. Point me in the right direction, and I'll take care of it." Logan doesn't quite leave, but remains in the back, ready to head out as soon as the important information is passed on.

Colossus has posed:
"It seems I am making one now, Windrider." Piotr replies to Ororo with some warmth in his voice. He is not humorless about it. He's frustrated, sure, but Piotr is a good soldier. He gives Logan a nod. "I will be finishing the team meeting, tovarisch. I will catch up later." Piotr's tone is quiet and calm. The news about Betsy's eyes is the news that that pushes him past frustration into anger. He stands up out of his chair in a single, spastic motion that contains every iota of pent up frustration the Russian has. His blue eyes swivel and fix on Betsy.

The big man moves over to Betsy. His hand reaches out to chastely touch her shoulder, then the back of one hand moves to touch her cheek. Piotr works his jaw.

"When we find who hurt you, I will help you feed them their own eyes, if you wish it." His voice is tight with anger mixed with genuine sorrow that someone hurt his friend. "I am sorry. What can we do for you?" Piotr actually has to look aside. He's ashamed she was hurt and he did not know. He quickly removes his hand from her.

Nightcrawler has posed:
    Kurt had been quiet, and though the meeting had gone on he appeared to be elsewhere -- though he gives Megan a warm smile as she enters, giving a nod and almost -- aaallmost -- taking the Canuk up on his offer -- but Scott retains his attention. His eyes narrow, and then he feels... a certain sense of violation. Someone watching the X-Men from afar? What of any of their students? His eyes narrow, and he gives a soft huff outwards, crossing his arms in dissatisfaction.

Psylocke has posed:
Once she is caught up, Betsy sends a thank you to Jean using telepathy, to keep from interrupting to the meeting. When the situation with her eyes is brought up, she gives a little apologetic smile to the group.

Then Piotr is moving, coming over and touching her shoulder. She looked up--and up--at him, placing her own hand atop his and giving it a squeeze. The eyes that are looking out at them look just as they had. Nothing strange there. A lovely violet color.

"It's alright, Piotr. I have no memory of it happening. I have no idea when it might have happened." She brushes her cheek on the back of his hand as he touches then forces her focus back on the group. "I know of a time a few months back where I lost a few hours after battling some Hand members. It is the only lost time in my memory. I don't know if anything was altered or not. I have been trying to stay off campus as much as possible. Thanks to the technopath on campus, I was able to have them 'turned off' from time to time. When there was something sensitive going on, but it would leave me blind during. That was not a good solution. Working with Jean and Scott, I was able to get them returned to normal."

Phoenix has posed:
"Magneto is absolutely an enemy." Says Jean in a low tone. "It's a war of philosophy and the extents someone will go to achieve them, and he has shown he will gladly sacrifice lives to make his point. Just because he's been quiet and probably finding the kingship he always wanted more trouble than its worth does not mean he's set aside his goals."

As Logan moves to leave, there's a fleeting glance from Jean that looks like she agrees with needing a case, but she remains seated and looks back towards Scott as he continues. "I think the only thing we can do is what we previously discussed, and that's follow the signal. Once we determine the source, we can hopefully determine what or who we're dealing with." She looks up to Piotr as he vacates his chair with earnest, and her look is entirely sympathetic, though her anger subdued. She had her outburts about it already. "We purposely kept that quiet, since we didn't know what all they had or could see. So we didn't want to add any additional risk by word getting out and potentially going back to the source."

Cyclops has posed:
"And that is what leads me to my final piece of business, and /then/ you can go get drunk and talk shit about me all you want." Scott says in a neutral tone as he taps a few more buttons on the console in front of him. "Going back to the last conversation in which we talked about needing to take the kid gloves off to deal with higher threats. I am considering this a higher threat."

"I am assembling a team amongst the group of you to deal with these types of situations. I thought about this long and hard and again, this was not an easy decision. The world needs the X-Men in front of cameras to show that not all mutants are evil and prone to blowing buildings up. But the world also needs an X-Force."

As he says the name, he presses his lips together tightly. "Betsy will be the leader of this temporary team. I have assigned Logan, Victor and James to it. This team will do what .. needs to be done. At all costs. These missions will not be made public, especially to the students. This threat .. whatever this is .. needs to be removed on a more permanent basis. This is not the type of job that the X-Men are made for, as a job like this obviously conflicts with our core values and ethics."

He give a subtle glance to Piotr for a moment, before he looks back to Betsy and Logan specifically. "We will get together this weekend to talk about the finer details of it, but I did not want to keep any of you in the dark for much longer. It also gives us a few days for you all to mull it over and speak with me later if necessary."

Wolverine has posed:
"Uh huh." Logan looks back at Scott, and says, "About time." With that Logan shakes his head, and walks out of the meeting with the final words, "Betsy. Good luck. I wonder who they picked to be tha' tip of that spear?" Sarcasm. His eyes find Cyke, and he nods acknowledging the comments about the weekend, as he moves out the door. Hearing his name, Logan snorts, and shrugs. The sounds of Logan could be heard in the room as he made no secret he was heading down the hall for some much needed drinking.

Colossus has posed:
Piotr regards Betsy for a long moment. He simply gives a terse nod of his head. "If you need a friend, you just ask, da?" She's allowed him to paint her. There is trust and friendship between them, and his distress is not because they were being watched. It is because someone removed Betsy's eyes. He turns towards Scott, his jaw set in a hard line. The telepaths can detect Piotr's angry words being worked over in his head. 'Are we going to invite the ones who did this to live in our home, tovarisch?'. Piotr opens his mouth but instead draws in a breath to instead calm himself. "What are we going to do to whomever did this, tovarisch?" He considers these words and this X-Force idea. Confusion mingles with his anger as he cannot reconcile 'whatever it takes' with letting Victor remain.

Piotr tilts his head and those who know him can see when he decides he must be wrong, and slow, and stupid. "If you think that wise, Scott." He says finally, conceding the points to Scott and Jean.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie leans back listening to the conversation, making notes in his head about what he might be able to do to help, and maybe going over the aliens he knows of.

Psylocke has posed:
Picking up the hints from Piotr, mainly because he was so close and she was touching his hand, Betsy glanced up at him. A soft smile then back to business.

"Since I tend to have a more...fluid notion of what is and is not okay, perhaps due to the melded being I have become, it seemed a good fit to be that spear tip."

A glance around again. "I haven't as much reason to be against him as Logan, but I do have my own axe to grind after what Victor did to me in the past. I have sparred with him and he maintained his control. As long as that continues, I'm willing to give that chance because he came to us asking for it."

She flicks her gaze to Piotr, as though that is her answer to something unspoken. Back to the assemblage. "Additionally, I'll be available for the turnip assignment with Victor, should it become necessary."

She considers. "As for this alien who was using me to spy, we will find out what we can, see if we can trace the signal and find a way there. If not, we wait. They likely will make their presence known once they realize they are no longer getting a signal from the cameras. If necessary, we will take them down. They may just go on their way and ignore it now that their toys are inoperative. Only time will tell in this situation."

Phoenix has posed:
Jean Grey turns back to her tablet as she taps out another message on one tab then some notes on another while she listens to what's being said. She shuts off the screen with a click and looks back up to the group. "Well, I think that's probably enough to keep everyone's minds occupied for the evening. Once I hear back from the Avengers on plans to transport Blurr to their custody, I'll let the team know. Megan, you'll be involved - of course - so try and keep plans as open as you can in case we need to do this fast."

"That's all I had on my list. Was there anything else you wanted to add, Scott?"

Cyclops has posed:
"That is all I had. You will all receive a copy of this meeting on your communicator." Scott says as he rises from the table. He gives a nod of his head to Logan first, then to the others as he clears his throat. "Dismissed."