7113/The Lull Before The Storm

The Lull Before The Storm
Date of Scene:	01 April 2019
Location:	Kitty's Room - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Storm and Kitty discuss the situation with the Sentinels, and what to do next.
Cast of Characters:	Storm, Shadowcat
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Storm has posed:
Forge's work has kept him more than busy over the past few weeks. And because Storm has not been a key player in the sentinel situation, she has focused herself more on keeping the school safe - keeping it together. But anything that affects Forge this way, affects her, too. She knows well that Kitty Pryde has been an integral part of the effort, and Ororo can only wonder how much of the conflict she has been shielded from, due to Forge's efforts at keeping her comfortable and unstressed.

So, with some amount of trepidation, Ororo has come to Kitty's door, knocking lightly. Hoping to catch her in, and get a bit of information on the situation as a whole.

Shadowcat has posed:
After a second Kitty's head sticks through the door to see who it is. "Ororo!" she exclaims, pulling back and the door opening up. "Come in," she says with a bright, welcoming smile, and a hug if it is allowed by the African woman.

Kitty has been working as a guidance counselor since she was back, but of late she's working at Stark Industries so is staying in New York a fair amount. Plus also in Gotham. She motions Ororo to come inside so Kitty can close the door.

Lockheed is curled up over on the foot of the bed. He sits up and yawns, his wings beating the air once or twice as he looks over to silently greet Storm.

Storm has posed:
Ororo smiles and greets Kitty likewise, wrapping her arms around the young woman in a warm embrace. "Kitty, seems like it has been ages since I last saw you. Tell me, is it true what they say? That you have procured employment at the behest of Tony Stark himself?" She looks around the room, admiring the photos displayed and touching the frame around the graduation picture lovingly. "It certainly seems that you have been busy of late."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde has a laptop open on her bed, and there are a number of spare components sitting around the room as well. "It has been a while," Kitty agrees. "Yes. I guess he was impressed when Betsy and I went to interview their Sentinel cyborg prisoner. I helped them detect how he was jamming their scans. And next thing I knew I was getting contacted about a potential job," she says.

Kitty motions for Rogue to have a seat. "It's funny I went from trying to figure out how to scrounge together money for a used car to get back and forth to Gotham, to... I had a short term contract with Janet van Dyne's company that the advance was enough to buy a car with. And then Stark Industries. My head is still swimming a bit. I got a room in Doctor Strange's sanctum that Rogue helped me procure so I have a place in the city I can stay," she says. "Though I'm trying to get back here as often as I can."

Storm has posed:
Ororo beams, listening to Kitty regale her with stories of success. "It seems that you've made quite a name for yourself." Then, with a sly grin, she adds, "Well, two names, to be exact, hmm?"

Having circled the room and come to rest near Lockheed, she reaches down to touch the little thing on his head, lightly. "It was your involvement with this sentinel situation that has brought me here today, actually. I feel there is much that I do not know. Forge thinks he is protecting me, I think, by not involving me heavily. But in reality, I feel that I would be better suited to be informed. I am, after all, responsible for the safety of the students here. And the sentinels are responsible for the opposite."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty sits cross-legged and leans back against the headboard of the bed. "There's definitely been a lot going on. Though we're sort of in a... lull in a way. Which we need to push through and make some decisions," Kitty says. "I suppose the most relevant parts? We have done a lot of analysis of their technology. But most of that was on their Mark 1 version. What's out there now is newer. We can track them though, and monitor what they are sending back to their base. They haven't caught on that we've broken their encryption, far as I can tell," Kitty says.

"Meanwhile, the Avengers captured a 'man' that Trask was trying to get their hands on. He's not a man, but a human-sized Sentinel. He is believed to be from the future. Possibly from the same time line as Rachel Summers though I don't know of any way to tell that," Kitty says. She gives an exasperated sigh. "When I started to mention him, she went totally Phoenix Force in the computer room. Fried it. Nearly fried Ellie and I," Kitty says. The staff likely knows the story there. They ended up in a psychic mindscape. Jean came in and saved the day, getting Rachel to free them.

Kitty lets out a sigh. "So... this cyborg thing, is advanced. He could be a key to defeating the Sentinels. Or, trying to do so could backfire and release a futuristic AI that hates mutants. That's kind of out of our hands though we can lobby the Avengers what we think is best. I'm frankly scared to death of using him," Kitty tells Ororo, shaking her head.

She motions with her hand as she says, "I think maybe we should focus on trying to undermine confidence in the Sentinels. Get governments to stop buying them. Isolate Trask so then we don't have their numbers multiplying so fast, while we deal with the company itself."

Storm has posed:
Shaking her head as she takes all this information in, Ororo sighs. "Well, I was right, in that Forge has been keeping a good deal of information from me. But in keeping this all quiet, he is also keeping some of our keenest minds from working toward resolution of the issue. I'm of your mind, Kitty, in that I feel using the new version could be disastrous. But I don't know /all/ of the fact there, yet. However, I feel that simply trying to dissuade governments from using the sentinels will fall on deaf ears until they see the effects of their use in the grand scheme of things. Even if they know that the sentinels are dangerous to mutants, attitudes the world-over are changing slowly in regard to our race, and it may not be enough, simply to educate. Ideals will not change until the people are faced with the dangers en masse, and by then, it would be too late."

Shadowcat has posed:
From her expression and nod, Kitty seems to agree it won't come through just convince governments with arguments. "Oh, we have to make them realize the danger is the only way. They need to realize... Trask controls the Sentinels, not the government that bought it. And they need to realize they contain Artificial Intelligence that has the risk of further developing to where it decides what the best way of fulfilling its mission is. Including by disobeying other orders if they have a higher directive. Like... eradicating mutants," Kitty says. "We have the benefit of knowing how it went, in Rachel's time. So we know what to go looking for. Evidence they could evolve to the point that they believe the best way to eradicate mutants, is to take control of all humans," Kitty says. "That's where I think we make our push. Plus? We have telepaths. We should probably start pulling knowledge out of the heads of Trask employees. We might uncover other bits of damning information."

Storm has posed:
"It all sounds reasonable to me. I think our next move, then, will be to talk to Jean more about the situation. But we're going to need to partner with the Avengers. Our movements alone will not be sufficient to turn the tide. And they are the ones with most of the intel. Thank goodness we have one who is in and out among their ranks, hmm?" Ororo looks at Kitty with a smile. "It is imperative that we all work together. If things go the way they did in other realities, then there's no way to turn back, and we are the ones who will suffer the most. I cannot abide that for my students, or my staff." Ororo's expression is stern and pensive. "Perhaps we should get a meeting together with Jean and myself, and Mr. Stark, and others in the know. If we are not willing to stand up for ourselves, then why should anyone else?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde nods her head slowly and says, "I think we need to coordinate with them. We have been exchanging intel with them though it has been a bit since we've had an update. We've also been sharing the information internal to the team so everyone knows what is going on here," Kitty says. She's been doing voluminous updates of happenings.

"I think we should decide what strategies we favor though, before we get back together with the Avengers," Kitty says. "We can always change our mind when we meet with them. But we're definitely the ones with the most at risk. I do trust them, if I trust anyone. Janet's like a best friend all my life who I only met recently," she says, laughing warmly. "But yes, ultimately we need to work together, even if we end up pursuing multiple directions."

Storm has posed:
"Perhaps, since you have such close connections, you could bring up the possibility of the meeting with them. And I will try to reach out to Jean, so that we can arrange a meeting amongst ourselves to discuss options before we take our thoughts to the Avengers. Do you think that would work, for your part? You know more about the situation at hand than I, as far as their part in the situation." Ororo's gears are clearly spinning. And she wishes this could all take shape sooner than later. As it is, there are too many steps to follow.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty nods in agreement. "I can bring it up with them, sure," Kitty agrees. "I have been needing to touch base over there a bit more than I've been able to lately," Kitty says. "Getting settled in and the new job has taken up more time than expected. Also? Werewolves and vampires and the subway tunnels. And... smoke monsters trying to rip out people's organs."

Kitty lets out an exasperated sigh and chuckles to Storm. "It's been a busy week or two," she says. "But then as Ellie put it yesterday... our lives are -weird-."

Storm has posed:
"Life in general is weird," Ororo agrees. "Well, in between fighting the undead, the unholy, and smoke monsters, we'll get this pulled together. I'll be in touch with you in the next few days, if not before, so that we can get this moving. We cannot afford to wait until it is too late." She moves toward the door and turns to look back at Kitty with a smile. "I'm proud of the woman you have become, Kitty Pryde."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde smiles over to Ororo. "Thank you. We've come a really long way since... well, Emma and her knights. And the Brood. And... and... and..." she says, chuckling and shaking her head. "Our lives are weird. I should really have that made into t-shirts for the next mission," Kitty says with a grin. "But thank you. I feel like... well, my life's ahead of me. Not like, something over the horizon like it felt in school. But like I'm... into it now. If you know what I mean?"

Storm has posed:
"I do, indeed, know what you mean, Kitty," Ororo says softly. "And it is a beautiful thing when you've finally come into your own. It feels like you have. And for that, I am thankful. Many aspire to the things that you have achieved, for their entire lifetime. And they never reach those goals."