6861/Sentinels: Foresha-Doe

Sentinels: Foresha-Doe
Date of Scene:	11 March 2019
Location:	Avengers safe house
Synopsis:	The Xmen Psylocke and Kitty meet with Janet to inspect their 'Sentinel' man. Tony assists in making him explode.
Cast of Characters:	Bastion, Wasp (van Dyne), Psylocke, Shadowcat, Iron Man
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

---

Bastion has posed:
After a harrowing mission more than a week ago, the three men that were 'acquired' during the mission were delivered to a safer facility where they could be spoken to (interrogated?), in case they were followed, or exploded, or any number of problems. The Wasp can attest personally to the danger that occurred in that mission, to get the three men at all.

Since the arrival, there has been something of a holding pattern: feeding the men, helping with their wounds, and waiting for direction to come from those with the authority to make those decisions.

And scans. So many scans.

Two of the men were found to be mostly uninteresting: Russians intending to visit the united states for various reasons; they are about to be sent on their way. Wrong place, wrong time. And then there's John Doe, who is now the one all the attention is on. He gets his own room: cot, chair, meals, in his isolated, highly protected, area. He has been treated as a mixture of threat and victim: he has assassins after him, but what else is he?

The scans of Mr. Doe are a mess of discrepancies. The scans disagree with each other. Each scan seems to have a different maze of readouts. One of the scans believes John to be entirely human. Another suggests he has cybernetic limbs. Another seems to suggest just one of his limbs is that way. It is clear, from the various attempts, that the 'scan equipment is insufficient' to get a proper read on whatever John has/is. In notes, a technician has suspected that John something inside him that is directly causing the scans to get strange and inconclusive results.

For the past few days, John Doe has just read as human. Perhaps whatever was inside him went dormant. That is, until he started to talk to people through the 'mirror' wall. Otherwise, the man has been polite, and direct. He's a military looking fellow, very big and heavily built: not something someone would think was a scientist, but more of someone picked for an experiment. And he isn't happy about any of it.

The X-Men group have arranged through the Avengers to have access to the prisoner for a time, with a LOT of warnings to be careful: he seems to 'overreact' to mutant topics.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
The Avengers are on rotating guard duty, keeping an eye on the 'guest'. He's passive, but no less dangerous for it. Janet rubs a ribcage near the edge of her armored golden bodice, as if in recollection of some forgotten pain.

"He's a lot heavier than he looks," she advises the X-men. Her eyes stay focused on the fellow. "And stronger, too. I don't care what the machines say, he's definitely a meta. He might not even be human. Some weird.. cyborg thing." She finds somewhere to sit and produces a nail file from nowhere to start buffing the edges of her nails. "Just don't get within arm's reach if you can help it," she suggests. Despite her diffident demeanour she's clearly got a sharp eye levelled on the strange individual.

Psylocke has posed:
When Jean had passed along word that a telepath was needed to assist the Avengers, Betsy had volunteered for the job. After all, she had worked with the Avengers as an ally in the past while in Mexico. She'd also helped Thor personally with his people after the fall of Asgard, using her telepathy to help heal psychological scars his people had suffered at the hands of the Dark Elves.

They had been met at the entrance and escorted to this location in the building, looking in at the man in question as Janet filled them in. "I appreciate the warning," she says, British accent evident despite Japanese appearance. "Would it be possible to lower the lights in the room a bit? So there are some shadows cast in the room?" If she needs to exit quickly, that will be her best bet.

She glances to her companions. "Hopefully the two of you can develop your own impressions. Shadowcat, I know you can get through the walls if things go wrong. Jubilee, your choice on being inside or outside the room. I would like to get your impressions from him as well. Perhaps you can interview him verbally while I do the mental exploration?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat follows along, having glanced about to get a good feel for the location as they entered. She is in full costume currently, black and yellow X-man uniform and a mask. "I have no idea what phasing through him might do. If he's electronic to some degree, it could be fatal. Or if it's something that goes dormant but isn't affecting his biology, it might just kill that part. Which is my way of saying, if I have to get involved directly I'll try to keep it physical only once I'm through the wall, unless it's a case of last resort."

Shadowcat looks over to Janet and walks over to join her. "Thank you for working with us on this. I hope to return to do a technology exchange later. Working out the details with some of your team," she offers.

Shadowcat looks back to Psylocke, nodding them, letting her know that she's ready for the other to begin.

Bastion has posed:
There are some Stark hired technicians present to answer any questions, lower lighting or room temperature, or anything that the group may decide that they want. The shadows are no problem, but it does obviously alert John Doe that something is different. He was resting on his back on his cot, eyes closed, but when the lights change, he sits up slowly. He starts to look around him, upwards towards some of the monitoring equipment, slow cautious sweeps. It has a military intelligence feel to it, as if checking for other changes in his cell. Otherwise, he doesn't do much else. He's dressed in the clothes given to him: gray slacks, and comfortable gray shirt similar to scrubs over a long-sleeved white undershirt.

For no apparent reason, he starts to get up, and begins to make his bed neatly.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet nods at the technicians at Betsy's request and watches the results, eyes guarded and a little suspicious. There's nothing immediate for her to do aside from supervise and project an attitude of haughty indifference to the activity underway around her.

Kitty, though, gets a flash of a winning smile. "It's nothing at all, hon," she assures Shadowcat. "Mi casa es su casa. Just promise me you'll talk to Tony about it before you start hacking the, uh, mainframes, or whatever." Janet's clearly not a tech person. "That's not something I usually worry about handling. Computers give me a headache and they make him happy, so... match made in heaven, there," she mutters.

The Wasp flickers a glance at Betsy. "Picking anything up yet? Emotions or just, y'know." She makes a *beep*boop* noise and taps an imaginary keypad. "Ones and zeroes?"

Psylocke has posed:
As Jubilee moves to deal with the technicians, Psylocke can't help but smile at Wasp's version of what she might find in the head of the scientist. "I haven't gone in quite yet." She turns back to focus on the one-way glass they are hiding behind and watches as the man starts making his bed. His movements yell out that he isn't just a simple scientist. They are not generally that aware of their surroundings enough to be looking for tiny signs.

She slowly lowers her shields, allowing her powers to well forth. A lavender shape much like a butterfly appears around her eyes, glowing slightly with the use of her abilities. She reaches with her mind toward the prisoner, cautiously letting her mind brush his to see if he is aware of the intrusion. With his other abilities, she doesn't want to just barge into his brain and get herself psi blasted for her trouble.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat leans over to Janet to say softly, "I might stop to have a word before we leave, if you have time. More pleasant topics than these, hopefully." Shadowcat gives Janet a soft smile and then moves over nearer to Psylocke, between the other woman and Janet. So should something happen she has a better chance of reaching either if they are suddenly put in harms way.

Otherwise, the young woman just observes through the observation glass. Watching for any signs that the man in the other room is aware. If she can see the screens of the Stark technicians, they probably draw more than a few glances too as Kitty keeps an eye on any results coming up on their screens.

Bastion has posed:
Surely there was a person in the cell, there was some kind of mental ping. It was something, at least, weak but there. There's something going on in there. But when looking directly by Psylocke: there's just nothing. The signal just gives way as some strange shadow. It's like seeing an image on a shiny surface and assuming the item is there, but when turning, it was just some kind of passing reflection: a trick of light maybe. Betsy may as well be trying to examine an empty room.

Whether there's no mind in there or there's a nullify field isn't clear, either: a nullification field would explain problems with scans as well, if there's some blocker: either technological or magical. Something's in the way. Or isn't there.

The man finishes making the bed and then sits on the end of it, resting palms on his knees, and calmly waits, eyes turned loosely towards the door, patience evident. He doesn't look all that interesting as anything other than military guy #5: in his clean, well-trained manner and neatly cropped blonde hair.

"No change," the technicians say to Kitty. They are fine with working with her, it appears: they were told to help the X-men, and they will do that. "We're pretty sure he's looked in here before, but if he's doing it now? I don't know. It's creepy," mutters one tech.

Psylocke has posed:
"That's...different," Psylocke murmurs as she pushes her powers further, going deeper only to find what looks like it will be a pool of water is nothing but a tiny puddle that barely will get the bottom of a shoe wet. "He's not there. But that could be for any number of reasons. He could be blocking me but it doesn't feel like that." Feel is the only way to describe it. That's all telepathy is, a burst of sensations received directly from the mind of another. She frowns a bit.

"I don't know if I'm being blocked or if there is no mind present for me to find. I don't feel telepathic shields so I don't think that's it. It's like a will o'the wisp. I feel like there is something there but then it is just gone." She shakes her head and looks to the others as the butterfly aura fades.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet scowls. "That's not usually possible, is it?" she asks Betsy. She glances apologetically at Kitty for omitting an answer to her proposition; the girl is nodded at and a reassuring palm is laid on Kitty's upper arm. "I mean this guy is showing zeroes on everything. No psyche, nothing magical, and Tony can't get any of the scanners to work. I mean he's *there*, we can *see* him," she says, gesturing. "Who could come up with a jammer that stops *everything* and stick it in a ... I mean, he looks human. Vision's one of the most advanced robots on Earth and even he can't always pull off the meatsuit properly. This guy looks like he goes to my gym."

Shadowcat has posed:
Behind her mask, Shadowcat looks thoughtful. "Psylocke, keep it up, let's see if we can pick up any kind of nullification going on," she says. The young woman walks over, looking over the tech's screens carefully. After taking a few moments to absorb what she's seeing, she says, "Focus in on electromagnetic emissions in the 350 to 360 kilohertz range. Record everything and set up a filter to look for... pulses lets call them. Repeating signals of similar frequently and amplitude. We thought we might have seen occasional pulses in that range tied to some of their older nullifier technology."

Shadowcat looks over their shoulders, trusting them to get it right, but verifying they do, just the same. "Also, if you have any readings of any kind of power sources around him at any time, pull those up. I didn't bring copies of anything, but I'll see if anything triggers a memory," she suggests.

Bastion has posed:
There's a bit of reaction. Just after Janet makes a joke about him, the guy actually reacts, as if something was funny to him. He snorts some, smile pulling the side of his mouth, but he sobers quickly, resuming a serious, patient façade. He presses his palms together in front of him, leaning forward slowly as if relaxing, and still waits.

The technicians aren't looking or paying attention to the room, they're attempting to help Kitty do what she's looking for. "You think he's nullifying in some way?" one of the techs asks. "But we get human readings, so we are reading something, and our equipment isn't compromised."

They work on it, though. "Hey, some of those pulses, yes. That doesn't make sense?"

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"Woah, woah woah." Janet flits off the seat and moves forward to the control deck. She rests a hand on the tech's shoulder opposite Kitty and leans forward to stare at the monitor more closely. A hand is uplifted to the room to admonish everyone that there may be a party line open somewhere. She makes sure the circuits to the cell's sensors are closed. "My mistake, everyone just keep doing what you're doing." The gesture to her throat countermands her casual tone.

"I mean, look at him," she says. Eyes stay on the monitor. "He's got shoulders like a freight train and chicken legs. That's every gym bro I've ever met, bench press four hundred and can't do a squat without tearing his ACL."

She bites her lips, waiting for a response. "How'd that spider get on the wall?" she says, tossed out as a final gambit. There is no spider anyone in the control room can see, of course. Janet's fishing for a reaction.

Psylocke has posed:
"Like a potato standing on two toothpicks?" Psylocke picks up on the same thing. The man reacted to what is being said in the room. How is he hearing them?She reaches out telepathically to the technicians, Janet and Kitty. The butterfly glow returns. <<Do not react verbally. I am going to link our minds together to allow us to converse without him hearing. I am assuming the room he is in is soundproof?>>

She does reach out with her mind again to push that mental probe more deeply at the prisoner, as directed by Kitty to see what readings they might get. She also is trying to find if there is some sort of clever mental 'mirroring' going on, to try to hide what is there with fancy mental manipulation, like a fun house mirror.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat glances over to Janet as the woman picks up on what is going on inside the cell in relation to what is said on this end. She looks around the inside of the room here, making mental note of what electronics appear to be in it.

Once Psylocke has the mental connection established, she thinks, <<I'm curious if he could be using the equipment in here somehow. Bugging us with our own equipment. Just trying to come up with if there is a way to tell. And not having much luck at it so far. But it does look like there is some kind of nullifier technology in use in there, yes.>>

Bastion has posed:
Either he can't hear them, or figured out that Janet is trying to get a reaction, or he's simply steeled himself to do nothing other than wait even if he can hear them: there's just no reaction. A little after the spider comment he does look over the room again, but it could be unconnected. Or he doesn't like spiders after all. The patience is clear: he's still waiting.

Then, John Doe finally looks over at the mirror. His eyes aren't dead, there's a thoughtfulness there: something going on, on his end, at the very least. Some withheld emotions. Even if Psylocke can't see them.

Finally he looks downwards, and just talks aloud to nobody: "I'd like to be released, please."

The mental probes draw nothing. No mirrors. Just that little trace with nothing more. Perhaps 'more' is just hitting his nullification, whatever that is. It doesn't stop the telepathy between the people and techs, though. The techs are surprised and very distracted by it, though: their first mind-meld. One of them is trying not to picture Psylocke naked. He wasn't doing it before, but now that she can maybe read his mind, well, NOW he is.

The other tech answers mentally: <<Should be. Maybe he reads lips. I was here when he talked to Spider-Woman through the wall. Wait. Let me check something.>>

The tech tap-tap-taps on something, taking a cue from Kitty's thought. <<We /elect/ to jam the audio. What if that's not working, or nullified. Every scan we do with in here is getting bad results, it feels like!>> The tech chugs his coffee. He also starts a quick message to notify his supervisor.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet sits back with a frustrated sigh and wipes a palm across her face before resting her cheek in it. Her fist opposite rests under her elbow for support. "Well... there goes that notion," she says, sourly.

The fahionista looks over at Betsy and Kitty. With a twist she orients her shoulders to them. "It's your nickel," she advises the duo. "But legally speaking at this point I'm not sure how much longer we can hold him. From here he'd end up in ICE custody and then, who knows." Fingers flick her irritation skywards. "Or SHIELD. If you can convince him that this is the best place for him for the time being, that would be helpful. He's safer here than anywhere."

Psylocke has posed:
"He is safer here." Psylocke continues to push but is getting nothing that indicates she is being blocked. He just doesn't seem to have a mind behind the initial facade. "But I think it is time to have a more personal chat. I will keep my link open with those of you who can handle it." And with that, the technicians who seem to be having the most difficulty with the mind link are severed from the telepathic communication. Including the one that turned into a pubescent boy. She works at a school with enough of them that this was not her first time seeing that particular image in a mind, nor will it be her last.

She walks to the door of the cell and looks over. "I want to go in and speak to him." She also has something else planned but she doesn't share it for now.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat sends through the mental link, <<If need be I can kill the microphones in here, which if he's using those to hear what we're saying should take care of that part. Though we don't know if he has more control of it than that. But we should probably assume any of the electronics in the area could be vulnerable.>>

Shadowcat lets Psylocke and Janet decide if they want that step taken though. <<Alright, I'm staying near the wall so if something happens I can try to phase you if needed, Psylocke,>> Shadowcat sends to her. And she goes over near to the window then, watching close and ready to draft forward if needed.

Bastion has posed:
The technicians with the naked visions seems relieved to no longer be connected to the link. The other is still excitedly putting in information. Kitty or anyone at the consoles may notice that as message was sent back that JARVIS is taking a look into what is going on with the tech. "We've attracted Stark," one tech says to the other, worried. It's a sort of 'I hope we are not fired for not doing this right' sort of tone. The other is more relaxed, just gestures that it'll be okay. He also nods to Psylocke, and shows her the way into the cell.

The man himself seems to anticipate something happening, or he's just THAT ready to go from not getting an answer to his request, that he stands up. It's calm, like he heard a doorbell.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet picks up a notepad and paper and scribbles on it. She holds it out to the techs to read. Apparently she doesn't trust the mental link, or she is choosing not to use it. Janet's own thoughts are flickering and disordered, but clearly her personal focus on the task at hand isn't distracting her from working.

'Last resort: EMP shock?' Janet doesn't per se know how an EMP works, sure, but she knows the devices can work nicely against non-organic threats. Just a question of whether Tony had the foresight to prepare such a device to neutralize the cell and whomever occupies it...

Psylocke has posed:
As the door opens, Psylocke quickly steps inside but she keeps herself between the man within and the doorway, in case he has any ideas about trying to force his way out. She remains there until the door is closed behind her then she walks to stand about six feet away from John Doe.

"Hello," she says in greeting, with a slight nod of her head in his direction. "I wanted to come speak to you directly instead of through the P.A. system. I know you are wanting to leave here but there are a lof of reasons you are better off staying here. There are people after you and they can keep you safe here. But also, there are a lot of questions being generated by you. But let's start with introductions. I am Psylocke. And you are?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat mirrors Psylocke, moving along the wall and window to stay as close to her teammate as she can, should a fast extraction be necessary. She keeps her eyes on the man for the most part. Not having anything to say Shadowcat just stays silent, though in her head she's still thinking about the electronics and working out what, if anything, she could do to get a better read on this man's capabilities with them.

Iron Man has posed:
"Hey, Janet and X-people," Tony's voice comes out of an area left of the consoles, around the time that Psylocke leaves the room. Tony didn't opt to do video. They did, indeed, attract Stark. There are more ways than just pretty supermodels to get his attention, apparently.

"I went through the funky data; sorry, I hadn't been looking at that guy before. Other things to do, and he was just another weird cyborg, from what cursory look picked up. I'm up to my eyeballs lately in random cyborg people. This sneaky bastard has some type of scrambler, that's all. A really nice one, I'll grant; whoever picked up on that nullifier thing, good call. Who'd be looking there without reason? I'll decode it, and we'll get real data, just take a minute. Hold onto your butts." Tony's very casual about the whole thing. A little bit later, the techs leap into action, as their systems get updated. "I'll accept praise later," Tony says.

*

In the cell, John Doe's calm manner turns chilly when he spots Psylocke. He stares at her with a separated quality mutants are usually familiar with: judgement, distrust, but not outright hatred, in this case.

The console near Kitty's tech friend from before lights up with an array of new scans. Yep, cyborg, but in the opposite direction most people think of cyborgs in. But there's a lot of effort put into trying to fool the systems into saying human. "Sentinel? Seeing similar things, and - wow, more scramble. So. This might be really bad, you don't just hide for no reason," Tony says suddenly. "Prepping to shut him down if necessary. Stay safe in there, guys."

*

Inside the cell: "They tell me I'm John Doe. It's as good as any, until I know otherwise," says the man. "I need to get answers to those questions. Free me. I need to ask the people that KNOW what I am," John Doe insists.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet's eyes flicker over the display and she whistles soundlessly. She's not a technician, no, but she can read what Tony's suggesting.

"Tony, I'm assuming you got the dampeners in place again so he can't hear us," Janet says. She digs a cell phone out of her pocket (yes, she has those) and unfurls the flexible screen. It's held up to her ear and she gets a call going.

"Needermeyer & Associates? Yes, this is Janet van Dyne. Of the Avengers, yes. I need to speak to Need-- thank you, I'll hold." A beat.

"Doug! It's Janet. Uh, The Wasp," she amends. "We've got a priority situation in our containment situation here. Robot pretending to be a human. Pull a team together and start looking for precedents. Start with Vision's file. We're gonna need to tap dance fast to sell this to a judge."

"Tony, I know you're listening, so if you can round up some expert witnesses who'll attest that this, uh, thing is dangerous, get on it."

Not a technician or a psychic, but Janet *is* pretty savvy when it comes to issues of social justice. And as keenly as she's aware of the rights of metahuman citizens, she clearly recognizes the need to ensure that the bio-robot can't just invoke his Fifth Amendment rights and skate out of holding.

Psylocke has posed:
One of the many things a telepath has to learn is how to do more than three things at the same time. Psylocke has learned that skill. She is maintaining the mental link with those that are comfortable with it, including a couple of the techs although most preferred to be apart from the mind meld. It was understandable.

She is also listening to the information being relayed by Stark to the people in the control room. Cyborg. Hiding. Sentinel. That last word elicits a mental response from her but not a physical one.

Thirdly, she's paying attention to the man before her. She can read his reaction, see that he isn't happy to see her. Which makes her wonder why. She looks human, albeit she has the purple hair but many people have strange hair color these days. So it can't be that. His words though. "What? Not who?" she asks carefully. "You don't know what you are? You don't have a name that you remember? What do you remember?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat reacts a bit to hearing what Tony said. Or more accurately, what he is doing. "Wait, how are you- What did you- What about-" she stammers as she tries to stay by the wall yet see the screens at the same time. <<I'll see if we can get more details on what he did. Especially if it has any ties to the nullifier, being able to shut those down is kind of critical. Especially if they manage to create a version that works as a field instead of something they have to shoot. Though, both are bad,>> Shadowcat sends in her thoughts.

She can wait though, now is not the time to disrupt what Tony or Psylocke are doing to get those explanations she's so interested in. Shadowcat stays near the wall, being ready to extract Psylocke has to stay her focus.

Iron Man has posed:
"Yeah, I mean, I'm not busy with hacking through this mess of extremely wacked out tech," Tony comments back to Janet. But he is probably doing what she asked, even if he didn't say he was. Tony multitasks. "He's got human in him. Robocop or something. Maybe; he's a scrambled egg," Tony advises. Still, Janet is about to get some calls.

"Yes, 'what'," answers the man. "Am I a mutant? One of /you/?" There's the loathing, but it's self-directed. The man doesn't like mutants, and that might include himself. He's still calm, some military training keeping him in check and clear-headed, perhaps. Or being a robot? "How did I shoot the poor girl? The Trask people are going to tell me. They have to. I have had no answers here," John Doe says.

He's not aggressive, but he's taking a tone of attempting to take control. He's drowning, and it's his way to cope. Even if his mind can't be read, he's in distress. He lifts his hands to express he's unarmed, and then appears to realize that might not be read that way, and drops his palms. But then he steps towards Psylocke. And Kitty, though she's through the wall.

There's a creepy wave of nullification around him. It's dampening and heavy, like a wave of soggy blankets.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet hangs up the phone and folds her arms under her breasts, standing with her weight swung out over her right hip. Fingers drum on her biceps in studious irritation. Shoulders roll and shift and her wings unfold behind her. She can't do more than 'slowly fall' at her current size, but it clearly comfortsa her to be ready for action.

Though for the moment she clearly can't imagine what any reaction is going to entail beyond 'unexpected'.

Psylocke has posed:
As he approaches, Psylocke takes a step back and to the side. Those lights being down have allowed for there to be shadows in the room from the furniture. She is now standing on one of those shadows near the table. But she stops there. She isn't going to give him the satisfaction of backing away or down from him.

Even as he steps close enough that his nullification field takes affect and the psionic link she had with the others is cut off. No telepathy. No telekinesis. "If you give us time, we have people working on that very question. Once we have it, we will share with you. But until then, you need to stay here where we can keep others from trying to kill you." Or you killing others, she adds to herself.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat wants to swear. Not that she never swears. She just reserves it for moments that really call for it so that it sounds more impactful.

But she really wants to, as she realizes she cannot safely phase anyone through anything with the nullification field there. "Should have brought Lockheed," she murmurs to herself.

Shadowcat moves over to the door to the room instead. The best she'll be able to do is rush in if something goes wrong. She trusts Tony to be able to come up with a way to shut things down if it goes bad.

That trust? It really helps that she doesn't know Tony personally yet.

Iron Man has posed:
"I told your other person one more day, I'd sit, without information," urges John Doe. He's frustrated. He turns away, arms folding. His behavior isn't pushy: he might have no idea that he's threatened them. He keeps an eye on Psylocke. "I don't mean to be unreasonable here," he says, more calmly, after clearly needing to take a breath. "But come on. How would you react in my situation? I'm in a box, and I want to figure this out. Yes, the Trask people tried to take my arm off. I had another great nightmare about it. My memory is worthless and I stare at these walls and sometimes your comm system clearly malfunctions. What else can I possibly say to gain my freedom to learn my own answers? I'd almost rather just be shot by these assassins instead of be a test subject."

"Tell us how you really feel," Tony says to the group, as if he were talking to John Doe: not that John can hear. Probably. "At least he's chatty," Tony observes, deadpan. "I'm going to do something that might anger him. Standby."

That surely makes everyone feel great.

Psylocke has posed:
He did not just say that. Psylocke's expression remains concerned, empathetic to the situation John has found himself in. It does not give away her want for Tony to not piss off the strange cyborg man she is talking to.

Trask was after his arm. The man is a cyborg, a combination of human and machine. Sentinel is involved in some way but Trask makes the Sentinels so how is it that this guy has some of the same tech? If Trask was after him, he obviously doesn't have this tech. But then...God, too many questions and they flit through her mind one after the other.

"I would probably be as anxious and frustrated as you are," Psylocke admits. But we do not want Trask to get what he is trying to. Particularly since I think you like your arm connected to your body. They said that you were able to fire a beat from your hand before. Was that something you did consciously?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat stays by the door. This is one of those moments Logan always spoke of, where she needs to know what her duty is to the team, and stick with it. Even if she wants to be in here so Psylocke isn't at risk alone, she can't add much if the nullifier goes off.

Of course, Logan would probably disregard his own advice.

Shadowcat's hand goes to the door but she stops herself, teeth grinding. She waits to see what Stark is up to.

Bastion has posed:
The dampening field lifts. Mutant powers are restored. "Yay me," Tony says, upbeat, in the comms, non-sarcastic. Janet, at least, possibly can see Tony's little happy cheer and smile in her head! He loves opening secrets.

Does the guy react? He doesn't seem to at first. "I don't know. I can try," He then rubs his forearms and looks pensive, confused. His arms and hands start to glow; thick threads of red and yellow fluxing over the wrists.

THAT John Doe reacts to. He jerks backwards, as if trying to get away from himself; revulsion and fear apparent. He does have the pulses aimed at Betsy, but he isn't looking at her, he's looking at himself, as if everything in his world just betrayed him. All of this happens very fast, seconds.

"I'm shutting him off if I can---, get out of there!" Tony says sharply, urgent, into the communicator.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
<< Psylocke, MOVE! >> Janet throws the full weight of her brain into the communication, shrieking into the telepathic net like a scream right next to a person's ear. Her focus dissipates a second later and the scattered thoughts of The Wasp flicker into a kaleidoscope of intent. She vaults sideways and vanishes in thin air to something barely the size of a large insect. Her wings buzz furiously and she banks around the corner to get to the door as fast as she can. Fists glow with lambent viridian energy-- a lot of it. Locked and loaded and aimed at the door, ready to blast the first thing that tries to leave that doesn't look like Kitty or the lavender-haired ninja.

Psylocke has posed:
The telepathic link is there again, as though it never went away. Psylocke sends a reassurance to the others that she is fine and specifically to Kitty. <<Don't come in yet. He's trying to figure things out.>>

As his hands start to glow, she watches that battle within him as though he hates what he might be. Which is a lot like a mutant when they gain their powers, something she has seen in so many students and others through the years.

The call goes out, the mental scream is heard.

There is a flare of red around her eye, like a triangular tattoo. Then the shadow she is standing on draws her in as she falls into that world, becoming a living shadow as her form turns solid black then melts into the darkness beneath her. A moment later, one of the shadows in the control room begins to stretch upwards, a bulbous shape then taking on the form of a woman. With the red glow over her eye. A moment later, Psylocke is there and the shadows gone as is the Crimson Dawn tattoo.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat isn't sure that whatever his hands are doing isn't going to obliterate the wall, the door, herself and the Avenger that just came buzzing over to the door with her. "Hold your breath," she says just before she phases. Reaching over, Shadowcat's hand comes up beneath Janet to try to avoid her wings, phasing the Avenger as well just in case the wall explodes or anything else happens that might ruin the great fashion day that Janet seemed to be having going.

Bastion has posed:
The man lacks a target suddenly. Except for a mirror. He orients suddenly in that direction and blasts the reflection of himself and his glowing hands. The emotional impact of it all is thick on his features, a total lack of calm: no, a soldier with both guns blazing, yet not a target he perhaps intended to shoot at all. Too late? The impacts are heavy, melting, they tear into the surface, chewing it quickly.

"Noooooope," Tony says into the comms. Abruptly, some sort of electromagnetic response goes off within the confines of the cell, and the cyborg man drops to knees, and then sideways, in a mixture of heavy twitching and spasms.

"That was my favorite wall for fixing my hair; no respect," Tony says, but quickly snaps into: "Everyone okay? All eleven toes? He's going to take a little nap now."

The cyborg, John Doe, starts to get up, and the response is altered on the fly to push him back down again. He stays down, this time.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet tenses her legs at the feel of support under her. It's a surprise but not an unwelcome one. She keeps the green energy primed to full until the lights dim and fade when Tony fires the EMP.

And then suddenly there's no air. The tension in the room has her breathing fast and controlled, but now no air cycles those lungs. She flitters her wings-- no air for traction, which means no lift.

A panicked Janet reverts herself back to full size in a flash of motion and plummets towards the ground with a total lack of grace or balance.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat relaxes as she sees the blasts are directed another direction. She looks over and is about to unphase Janet when the woman grows back to normal size, and Shadowcat's hand briefly loses contact. Janet returns to normal phase and suddenly has weight again, falling to the floor.

"Oh no I'm so sorry. My teammates are used to it," she says to the Wasp. "Just was making sure if he shot this way it would pass through us without harming us," she explains, realizing Janet might not have any clue at all what she did.

There is more time for full explanations later though. Shadowcat looks into the room, seeing Tony has put the guy down. "Psylocke, you're ok?" she both calls and thinks to confirm her teammate's status. "Whew. Well, this wasn't what I expected at all. But, maybe something -really- useful came out of it either way."

Iron Man has posed:
"He's fighting me," Tony says, impressed. "In the sense that he doesn't want a nap. This is a 'maybe'," Tony comments, smoothly. "I mean, I'm not there physically, I can only do so much remotely." And there's a 'few' drinks in Tony. It's just as well they can't see him.

"In case he detonates this potential bomb I'm seeing in his torso, let's get you guys out of there while I work on this. At least behind the protection walls. I'll get back to you..."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet coughs and waves off Kitty's concerns. "I'm fine," she gasps, face bright pink. The momentary loss of air clearly knocked her off balance but she's not going to flop around whinging in front of the other heroines.

By the time Tony's done speaking, Janet's on her feet and trying to get her heart and breathing under control. "We, uh, let's put a pin in that for now," she says, touching Kitty's shoulder. "But I'm gonna wanna hear alllll about it when we have our little girl chat," she says, gesturing an index finger back and forth between them. A breathless grin flashes over her face and she steps aside so she can see into the control room.

"Psylocke? Are you okay?"

Psylocke has posed:
"I'm fine but we should do as Mr. Stark is requesting. Let's get clear in case this guy blows. I don't think he is pretending. He honestly doesn't know what he is or how he is activating the weaponry. He's horrified he's a mutant," she says, shaking her head negatively.

She turns and motions to the door that will get them past the heavy protection walls.

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat doesn't waste any time, nodding to Janet and saying, "I've been looking forward to talking with you for awhile," as the group hurries out towards the safe area. "Psylocke... the ability to stop their nullifier. That's potentially huge," she says. "I don't think fighting these things is the way to beat them, but dealing with their nullifier, if we have to fight, is a very big deal." Shadowcat hurries along then, the trio of women disappearing off into the heavily protected portion of the safe house.