6901/Sentinels: I also have a problem with Sentinels

Sentinels: I also have a problem with Sentinels
Date of Scene:	15 March 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	The Xmen and Avengers meet about Sentinels.
Cast of Characters:	Forge, Spider-Woman (Drew), Shadowcat, Rogue, Captain America
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Forge has posed:
The Avenger's rented facility that they are using to contain the Sentinel-saught-after 'scientist' John Doe has had a number of visitors, of both Avenger and X-Men stripe. It houses more than the prisoner/victim, it also has other rooms and a large meeting room area.

It's midday, and an information-exchange meeting was called, for those available to attend. On the X-Men's side, Forge, Shadowcat, and Rogue are set to arrive. Forge has his usual large amount of equipment: a low metal cart with some racks of things on it: mostly some heavy computer workhorses, but other things as well. Forge isn't in costume, dressed casually: he doesn't bother with masks. His identity as a tech consultant is known to anyone that can work a search engine, really. Usually he's more affiliated with SHIELD or the government than specifically a team such as the X-Men, due to not tending to go on missions where he'd be spotted.

Forge is an early bird, and will already be in the meeting room, checking over his cart's contents and pulling a laptop out of the side of it.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica has been eager to meet Forge. She has long felt sure that he need only meet John Doe to confirm her suspicions. So perhaps she had done a little digging in the SHIELD database. Maybe even a little digging on Google. Enough to learn that he may or may not have had an affinity for jean short shorts, once upon a time.

She arrives just prior to the appointed time, hoping to catch him setting up. Little did she know that he had been set up for a good while, already.

"Forge...a pleasure to meet you. I recognize you from...pictures I have seen...I'm Jessica Drew."

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat comes in, carrying some computer equipment. Laptop and some portable drives. She arrives and makes her way over, setting the equipment on the table. "Glad you made it, haven't had a chance to catch up on the latest," she says to Forge. She is wearing her X-man uniform with mask at present. And there's a cat lying on her shoulders, wrapped partway around her neck and seeming to have no problem hanging on.

Shadowcat reaches up and fiddles with the cat's collar. The hologram giving Lockheed that feline appearance fades away. He seems content to look about the room in a curious way. "He's off behind some protective barriers. Possible bomb in his torso," Shadowcat tells the small purple dragon as if to appease him. "I don't know that we'll even see him today, but good to have you along just in case," she says to the dragon.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is just behind Kitty. She's wearing a new brown leather trench coat that she recently acquired, a dark green tanktop, a pair of dark red leather shorts, black fisnights and thigh high leather boots that match the hue of her coat. Her hands are stuffed into her long coat's pockets and her hair is smoothed straight on either sides of her face.

She trails after Kitty and lets her eyes roam around the room. She doesn't say anything as of yet as she's just here to observe in the moment, not knowing this location that well.

Captain America has posed:
Sporting a small black bag over his shoulder, Steve Rogers arrives in the large meeting room. He's dressed professionally if not in his heroic patriotic hues. Rather, a mint-green button-down and charcoal grey slacks. He's got his sleeves rolled to his elbows beneath the leather motorcycle jacket that he sheds off onto one of the chairs tucked into the long and wide table.

"Evening, everyone," he says, addressing the room as a whole. His attention lingers on each person present long enough to convey respectful greeting in accompaniment to his words and then he gets to unzipping the laptop-sized bag. "As you know, we're here to exchange information on the Sentinel robots. Anything can help, even weird little facts like..." He pauses to think. "They can't stand being within a fifty-yard range of a radio tower."

What appears from the bag looks something more like a laptop got a very serious upgrade a la Star Trek. Blame Tony. With a little frown, Steve presses his thumb to what appears to be a small scanner. A holographic interface blooms above the small black and rectangular device. "Let's see..." The Captain begins gesturing towards the display through files, murmuring to himself as he goes.

Forge has posed:
"Hello, Ms. Drew," Forge greets Jessica as she approaches him. He accepts her handshake without any real force to it, he's a serious, calm man, by all reads on him. He's only wearing one glove: covering his cybernetic hand, at least for the time being. He doesn't have shorts on (sorry, ladies), so the other cybernetic parts are covered: he doesn't expect to need to access them, though the cargo pockets do allow quick access if he wanted, to other tools he carries there.

When Captain America arrives, Forge gives him a nod, a curt one that echoes into Forge's military past. "Captain." He observes the hologram from Steve's device.

"I'm glad to lend what advice and help I can. Hopefully we can split up the work in a better way, instead of going over the same ground, and get some questions answered." Forge has a quiet manner, his suggestions aren't with force, but with a thoughtful, reflective quality, as he smiles to Kitty, setting up near her.

"I appreciate getting to see John Doe last week. I have... a lot from that about his nature." Understatement.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica is, as she often is in meetings, wearing her crimson gradient bodysuit beneath black slacks and boots, and a black leather blazer. The golden webs on her costume catch the light as she shakes hands and introduces herself to others. But when Forge speaks, she nearly splutters. "I...didn't know you had seen Mr. Doe. I had been looking for a way to get you to him...I expected you would be able to tell us just about everything about him. I have my own suspicions..." She seems hesitant to even mention them now, because they couldn't be as comprehensive as Forge's knowledge. And possibly not even correct.

"Well, I'm glad you've seen him, then...that should save us some time, at very least."

Shadowcat has posed:
Shadowcat asks Forge, "Ah, good you had a chance to check him out too then?" She appears heartened to have found that out. Shadowcat turns to give Rogue a big smile as she comes in. "No one tells me when it's casual Thursday," the only X-man to have wore her uniform jokes with Rogue.

Though as it turns out, she wore it for a reason. Well, two. First in case they do go back to talk to John Doe. But more importantly, for an introduction. Shadowcat turns to Jessica Drew and Steve Rogers as they come in. "Hello. I'm known as Shadowcat, though if you haven't heard yet," she says, before removing her mask, revealing her face to them. "I'm also Kitty Pryde," she offers along with her hand towards first Jessica, and then towards Steve. "Nice to meet you, Miss Drew. And Captain Rogers... really big fan," she tells him with a warm little laugh.

"Janet hired me for a couple of week stint to do an ethical hacking assessment of her company. And... well, I figure if my identity is safe with anyone, it's with the Avengers," Kitty tells them. A glance to Rogue seems to indicate Rogue's experiences with them help make that feeling possible for Kitty, too.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes go to that of Kitty and she glances her attire over and then looks up at her friend and just casts her a sly grin. "Don't fret on it, Sugah. Ya look like a million damn dollars t'me." She says back before her eyes drift over to Captain America as he steps into the room.

Rogue's right hand comes out of her pocket, gloved in dark green that matches the tanktop's hue beneath her leather coat, she raises the hand and offers the Captain a crisp and proper salute (thanks Carol memories). But she tarnishes that salute by then grinning at him and saying in an overly flirty way. "Heya, Cap'n. Long time no see." Since the evil Rogue attacked Midtown... but she'd been pretty mentally preoccupied that night.

Rogue then looks to Forge and Jessica. She grins lightly at Jessica and tips her chin at her. "You too, Missy." The technically stuff? Well, she's going to leave that to Forge and Shadowcat.

Captain America has posed:
The blurring of turqoise-haloed files slows as Steve looks through the display at the others. Forge in particular gets a small smile and firm, knowing nod. Like recognizes like, at the very least. "I'm in agreement with you. Knowing you've seen him will save us some time. Though Jessica does get the credit for wanting you present," the Captain notes as he shoots his fellow Avenger a small smile.

Once Kitty removes her mask, Steve straightens in place and stops gesturing at the holographic file archives entirely. A quiet laugh escapes him. "Right, Kitty. Janet's spoken highly of you. Thanks. I'll let her know you say hello, suit and all. You're safe with us," he confirms. Rogue gets a more wry smile, but it's no less friendly. "Miss Rogue."

"Okay, let's see..." Finally finding the file in question, Steve taps at it and it opens up into a spread of documents and reports, all pertaining to the Sentinel project and mister John Doe himself. "Happy to share what I've got from my end of things. Consider me your temporary Tony. He's in a meeting with Trask Industries as we speak." For all the Captain says this lightly, it's no light thing to share. "What do you folks want to know?"

Forge has posed:
Forge releases a breath slowly, and moves to seat himself at the meeting table. He doesn't favor a leg, but an experienced eye will see his movement is adjusted due to it. He settles in with his laptop. He also fishes out his goggles, but doesn't wear them: he sets them nearby to the computer, instead, the lenses flickering with technical looking little lights before gong dormant.

"Yes, I visited with Phoenix," Forge replies. "I tested a device to block mutant signatures, and it appeared to work: he was friendly with her," he says to Kitty. "Although she does have a way with people. We also did some telepathic tests, and checked on the nullification. He was not nullifying her, for some reason. I suspect it was reactive." He smiles as Kitty unveils herself to the Avengers, a quiet proud look from him, in seeing the team-building trust shown.

"He's what? At Trask Industries?" Forge asks Steve, orienting strongly onto that. "...All right." Maybe the man is buying them out. Interesting way to solve it.

"Would you like to start with your questions, Kitty?" Forge offers to her. "I'll add in as we go."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde pulls out a thumb drive that she passes over to Steve. "A summary of some findings, though it doesn't include Forge's latest work. Also includes a summary of our interview with the subject that Janet was there for," she says, so they have that to peruse to help whittle down any questions, or generate new ones, while Kitty is asking some of her own.

The comments from Forge draw a smile from Kitty. "Excellent news on the signatures," Kitty says, before turning back to Steve and Jessica. "A few questions of a technical nature first, that came out of the first interrogation session," she says. She goes through them one by one.

* How did Stark neutralize John Doe's jamming of the scans that were being done?
* How did Stark neutralize the power nullifier that was effective on Psylocke and Shadowcat?
* How did Stark disable John Doe at the end of the interrogation. EMP, or something else?
* Can we get a copy of his scans for analysis, unless Forge is already beyond that.
* John Doe talked as if he was into the facility's comms, and gave signs he could tell what was being said elsewhere.  Are there systems adequately gapped to make sure he can't use them to signal outside of the safehouse?

"Those are some technical questions. Good to have in our arsenal in a fight, but maybe fighting isn't the best to deal with them. Some of these we are investigating ourselves but not done yet. But a few more questions," Kitty says before going into them.

* Any investigation of command signals going out to Sentinels, or identifying their command structure?

* Any Operating system command structure analysis?
  - Such as who has the highest level of control of the Sentinels?  Can Trask countermand orders from 'owners'?
  - How much AI do the Sentinels have, and what are its primary objectives.

Rogue has posed:
It was going to be one of those meetings... Rogue's not known for her technical savvy input and nor is she known for being that helpful with... technology. She knows her way around a phone and somewhat around her laptop, but, thats about it.

The southern belle glances behind her and spies a desk a step or so back, so she steps back to it and lowers down to sit upon its corner, tossing her leather long coat out to the side so it doesn't impede her masterful ability to sit down and relax, then she raises her right leg up to press the heel of her long boat onto the edge of a chair beside her and she draws out her phone to look down it.

She is paying attention though, because information on how to kill the Sentinels is stuff she does want to know... how best to smash them? Thats information she's certainly wanting.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Well," Jessica begins, fretting at her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment. "I don't have all the technical questions lined up, as I was unaware of any of the information from the other visits, least of all Forge's visit. But all of this makes sense." She takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly. Decompressing.

"I don't feel like it is coincidence in the least that when the Sentinels fired on the mercs, or the Avengers, John Doe fired, too. He told me once that he can sense mutants, which was /my/ first and only real clue that he /might/ have some sentinel tech in him. But he also seemed to have little or no memory beyond the time he had spent on the plane, being 'rescued,' and then here. I felt it was entirely possible that he could be a Sentinel/human hybrid, his host mind having been erased to prevent conflicts of his own desires or morals with those of his tech. But as for being one of them? I um..." She scratches the back of her neck. "I sort of think he might be the one commanding them. He may not even know it."

For a moment, she seems done, but then looks back up at Steve and then Forge, again. "There was also a little comment that he made, indicating that he's from the future, and wholly unaware of it. He asked me, as a means of condescension, 'What is this, 2030?'"

Captain America has posed:
With a spread of two hands, Steve moves aside the main holographic interface of the tech's interface. After taking the thumb drive from Kitty, he connects it to the laptop-nee-Star-Trek-wonder. "Alpha override: Steven Grant Rogers," he murmurs to the thing. Only then does it begin to interface with the thumb drive. A separate display comes into view and the bulleted points appear for everyone's perusal. Kitty walks through them. Having taken a few steps back, Steve has his arms now crossed save for the idle drag of a knuckle along his jawline. He's delving into memory as they go.
The Captain glances over at Jessica and listens to her share of what she knows. He nods to confirm knowing all but the last bit. That has him turning his face entirely to her and flicking his brows high. "That...is new," he says contemplatively, " - and something to definitely postulate to Tony. Hold that thought, Jessica," the man advises her with a friendly nod. "We'll come back around to it as we can."

Another few flicks of his fingers at the main interface and he's pulled up a specific document. "Alright, so...results from Tony's own experiments and from the airfield incident..." He's not calling the mission by its name. Never. "Jessica hit a lot of pertinent points. Tony's own efforts on the airfield proved that the Sentinels are AI, but not hyper-intelligent AI. They can reset themselves, but it takes time, just as any other program would. John Doe's different and yet similar. Tony was able to change the scanners on the fly. In regards to the power nullifier, I'm not sure how he did it. I don't have those results yet." Steve shrugs.

"Disabling him was apparently a matter of overwhelming him with what he called 'extreme signal mass'. Once that worked to an extent, he bombarded John Doe with an EMP. If it's going to work again, we dunno. I'm not looking to trigger another reason for it." He moves to the next bullet point.

"You're welcome to scans. Take a copy home tonight. Know that we're going to be more cautious in dealing with John Doe next time. Somehow, he was able to override the controls in the room so that the comms became two-way. He could hear everything we were saying. However, it seems that the Sentinels aren't being summoned //to him//. They were following him. Once we lost them, they lost us. Only reason we've still got him, I'd bet. There's likely a database of people they listen to. So he's not sending command signals that we're aware of."

"As far as the command structure in the Sentinels go..." Another shrug from Steve. "Tony reports that they can be hacked just like any tech. If there's a back door, we can assume other people have access to it, including Trask himself."

Forge has posed:
"I'll focus on the John Doe, and the sentinel parts that I have taken apart, and the similarities. So first, let me go over my conclusions about John Doe," Forge says. He did give Jessica Drew a long, thoughtful look at her statement about his memory, or lack thereof. "Yes, I agree: he is some type of command unit; he is not just a military one, but contains a lot of systems that I would classify as model: if you were going to show someone a car, you'd include every bell and whistle. He's like that: a demo model. I'm certain he is an /emulation/ of a cyborg, but there is nothing biological there. Why build something that could be a cyborg, but isn't one?"

"He is, without any doubt, a Sentinel: much of his structure and weapons are the same, and source power in the same ways that the Sentinels we have seen do. He is just extremely advanced: either a prototype, or a slipped reality refugee. Based on what Ms. Drew has commented, I would say a reality shift, or a time gap. He fits with being an advanced version of what we've seen, if they needed infiltration."

"Whether others know this about him, I doubt. I am not going to assume he is necessarily on their side, or any side. Worst case, he upgrades them into our worst nightmares: there's that cyborg-like system in him that I haven't had time to delve into, which suggests some eerie potential. It bothers me a lot. It is like.... putting a feeding tube in a computer, and leaving space for where biological parts /could/ go."

"Best case, his motive is to take over and disarm all Sentinels worldwide. Or perhaps he could be changed to become that. I'm not an AI expert, and hacking into his system could cause some strong response."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty listens closely to everyone, nodding thoughtfully at points. Frowning slightly at others. "Thank you, very illuminating from everone," Kitty says as she makes some notes on her laptop.

"We have an ally who came from an alternate reality. One where the Sentinels were far advanced. Brainwashing others to serve them. I don't suppose there is any way to tell if our ally and John Doe came from the same reality?" Kitty asks, directing the question to Forge mostly. "We're well beyond my level of physics here. But I was just considering, it cannot be easy to move between realities. If two beings from advanced Sentinel realities show up in the past, both in our time frame... perhaps the events could be linked. But I don't know if there is any way to tell that. Just a thought," Kitty says.

She looks over to the Avengers and asks, "Did you have anything you wished to ask us that hasn't been covered already? There's also the question of where do we go next. How do we work together and in what direction. Though that needn't be addressed here today. We might wish to have Phoenix and Cyclops present for that."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I feel like we have a lot of information to process here, and it's going to take some time to do that. Perhaps it would be best if we do just that, and reconvene once the information has been sifted through, so we can form any new questions or proposals. I'm all for that." Jessica sits back, looking at the others, feeling pride and faith in those she calls teammates, on both sides of the mutant/human, and the X-Men/Avengers lines. She is proud to call them all /family/.

Captain America has posed:
Steve nods at Jessica's assessment. "We'll reconvene at another time and hopefully with new and pertinent discoveries to share. In the meanwhile, if it's pressing, don't hesitate to reach out to us with time-sensitive information or anything that seems especially important. Doesn't matter if it confirms something we already knew, the confirmation matters enough," he explains with a gesture that accidentally closes the file on the main interface. A long-suffering sigh and the Captain continues as he tries to bring the file folder back up again.

"If I had other requests, it would be any scans done by your technicians be shared with us. Comments as well regarding them. We can cross-compare results."

Forge has posed:
"I hope we will learn something from Trask as well, but I would not hold my breath," Forge smiles bleakly.

"I'll see if I can make sense of the cyborg machinery. I would not have picked up on it, had I not known what to look for; it is a version I did not use for my own body, due to extreme nerve damage from interfacing. It is not a comfortable style. If the man was a cyborg, and it has simply destroyed his humanity over time, I should be able to find trace of that. I'd like to look at him again, with permission," Forge asks Captain America. Forge's words are always thoughtful and measured: a clear firmness to how he speaks. Even if he's quiet, usually he pulls attention.

"I'd also like to suggest damaging him, and seeing how his body responds. With his agreement, if he's willing to help discover more about himself? The other Sentinels don't repair, they are very... disposable. Seeing that difference, if there is one, could tell us a lot about their evolution. So: I'll focus on delving into their motives, and the hardware we do have, including John Doe." Forge starts to withdraw a little, starting to use his equipment, the introvert's somewhat socially tired expression turning inward towards his focus.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde slides some components across the table to Steve. "Here is a copy of the data we've collated from what the Sentinels transmit back. Also my algorithms to break the encryption and read the contents, and the ones to assemble it into a map and track their movements. I have not had a chance to work on outgoing commands to them yet. Nor to dig as deep into their operating system as I'd like."

Kitty adds, "We could use components of the newer Sentinels, should any become available, as well as the work going on with Mr. Doe." She pauses in thought. "Perhaps he might be a means to deal with all of them. We also might just have to deal with this the way any supply and demand situation is dealt with, and evaporate the demand somehow. Or stop their ability to create them."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue slips her phone into her pocket on her left hip and she swipes her leather coat over her hip there-after.

She looks up at the others as they continue to rundown all of this information and she just grins.

"I'll happily pitch in in the destruction of their ability t'make these things. I just need t'be pointed in the right direction."