7185/Of Sentinels And Silver Bullets

Of Sentinels And Silver Bullets
Date of Scene:	09 April 2019
Location:	Lab - Stark Tower
Synopsis:	Cap and Kitty discuss werewolves, and further cooperation on the Sentinels.
Cast of Characters:	Shadowcat, Captain America
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

---

Shadowcat has posed:
Certain things tend to send rumors around Stark Tower. The presence of Thor or Captain America are two of them. It is no coincidence surely, the number of ladies that wander the halls during such visits hoping for a glimpse of them when word goes round.

Which is what brings Kitty Pryde out into the hallways today when she hears Captain America was spotted getting off the elevator on this floor. Not that her motives are the same as the other hallway rubberneckers, but she did tell Storm she would speak to the Avengers about setting up some more meetings with them.

So Kitty waits in a hallway, wearing a white lab coat and working for the time being on a souped up Stark tablet with keyboard. Hoping she can catch Steve Rogers on his way out rather than having to make a trip over to the mansion.

Captain America has posed:
The elevator doors close with their refined hum and swish of hyper-regulated hydraulics. The echoing regularity of Steve's pace precedes his appearance around the corner. He's got his phone in one hand and frowns thoughtfully down at it; the other hand lingers in the pocket of his bomber jacket, fleece-lined lapels and all. His combat boots and jeans mark him as in casual-business mode.

The pale reflection of a lab coat on the flooring makes him glance up to see a familiar face. "Oh, Kitty." The man slides his phone away into his pants pocket as he approaches her. "Didn't expect to see you around these parts. You borrowing a lab?" His smile is friendly. The shiner at his left eye? Not so much. By its coloration, it was recent enough to have occured in the last 24 hours.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde looks up from her tablet, not even so much hearing Steve's footsteps as hearing a soft titter pass through a couple of other employees who were lingering in the hallway as well. The brunette's face lights up with a soft smile. "Captain Rogers," she replies. "Not so much borrowing. Got hired by Mr. Stark," she tells him. "Though I'm mostly doing computer work, have something else I'm working on today that needs a different sort of lab, yes," Kitty says.

She glances up and over at the other people in the hallway within earshot. "Speaking of, would you have a few minutes? The sort of thing you might find useful to be aware of," she tells him. Which is true, but also a chance to get out of the halls to discuss topics not meant for other ears.

"It's just down the hall here, if so," she comments, motioning towards a doorway a couple of doors down. "I need to get back over to see Janet. Have some results I think she'll be pleased about. Also, I'm so excited to see the dress she designed for me," Kitty says, breaking out in a warm grin at the last part.

Captain America has posed:
With a gesture before himself to imply Kitty lead the way, Steve then falls into step beside her. "I heard a little bit about the dress. Think you'll be pleased," he comments lightly as to the garment. "Janet does have a way about her work. Wouldn't be where she is without it."

The shift in conversation comes once they've entered the sacrosanct area of the laboratory itself and the door is shut behind them. The Captain pauses by aforementioned door to give Kitty a searching look, not unkindly.

"What do you have boiling away in here that I should be aware of?" Normally, when fellow heroes and metahumans approach him with this particular wording, it's something out of the norm -- bare minimum -- for whatever Steve construes as the 'norm' these days.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty walks alongside Steve, grinning and saying of Janet, "She is an absolute artist. And her use of technology in it is inspiring too. I don't know if you've ever witnessed her creative process before or not? If not you really should." Kitty motions to the door as they arrive at it, keying in a number and swiping a badge before it admits them.

Once inside, the smell of gunpowder might be noticeable to Steve. There's a test rig for firing a gun into ballistics gel for recovering bullets, which obviously has been in use. Also machinery which amongst other things can be used in weapons manufacture.

Kitty leads the way over to a work bench. "Wanted to set up another meeting to discuss the Sentinels," Kitty says. "Formulate some long term strategy, whether involving Mr. Doe or other means. Or both, if you'd be willing to work with us more on it," the young woman says. "I'll see if Jean or Scott can make this one as well."

She stops at the bench and motions to some bullets held in a case. She opens it up and pulls one out. "This is also worth seeing though. I ran into werewolves in a Gotham subway. And a vampire that was hunting them. The vampire used bullets like these to finish one off. Apparently they regenerate unless you use silver. The bullet contains liquid silver nitrate in the tip," she says, offering it to Steve.

Captain America has posed:
Despite the proposed privacy of the laboratory, Steve still rotates at the waist to make certain no one's lingering at the keyhole, as it were. There won't be any skirting the cameras no doubt embedded in the room or the inherent AI built into the building. At least it's Tony's tower and not some competing company.

"Happy to pass along word to Tony. He recently spoke with folks close to the manufacturing of the Sentinel." The broad shoulders lift and fall in a shrug. It communicates that the discussion went as well as could be expected, though he makes no effort to share what he knows of it just yet. That might be stealing Tony's thunder and the Captain's no fan of the spotlight as is. "I'll see what I can do."

At the revelation of the specialized hollow-point ammunition, however, his brows nearly disappear into his hairline. He walks over and lifts the bullet from Kitty to hold it up to the light between thumb and forefinger. The metallic inner liquid jostles in its clear cap. "Silver nitrate..." he echoes not dubiously, but thoughtfully and with some concern. "...and werewolves." Now the young woman gets a fully concerned look. "In the Gotham subway? Good god. I know you're not joking and I hate it, in a way. Why're you manufacturing them? For Stark?" Tony hasn't mentioned any werewolves or vampire lately, at least to Steve.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty goes over and retrieves a couple of samples that have been fired already, some of them broken open so Steve can see the effects. "I don't know of any plans to get involved by Mr. Stark, or intent for the Avengers to," Kitty says as she shows him the bullets with the heads broken open to leak out the silver chemical into the target.

"But I mentioned the technology and he was interested in having it available. I made some for my team as well. As far as the actual threat though?" Kitty says, pausing and leaning back against the counter, her arms crossing. "The vampire... ok I don't know how much she can be trusted. But she did NOT shoot back through the crowds. And she helped us and spoke to us. So, I'm giving her more benefit of the doubt, if not fully trusting. Anyway, she said these werewolves are a Hungarian strain of them. And they are recruiting numbers in Gotham. Some induction ceremony that is upcoming," Kitty says.

She frowns a bit at the thought before continuing. "I told her I'd get word to the Batman since that is his turf. Pretty sure a contact will have been able to get word to him. And sent a few copies of the bullet as well. If they need my help I'm willing to give it. But for now I am more likely to try to keep an eye on the situation, let Batman and the Justice League or whoever is on his side deal with it. But, I figured you would want to be forewarned, should things spill over."

Captain America has posed:
"Appreciate the warning," replies Steve under his breath. He tosses the intact bullet once into the air, a gleaming arc, and then it lands in his palm again. He holds it up against the other samples, including fired and failed, fired and successful. "Last thing we need around here is an influx of werewolves. I know of a few shifters, magical and mutant, but those things are..." He slowly shakes his head and holds out his palm to Kitty with the collection of bullets cupped in it.

"I've heard stories. Heard 'em as a child, heard 'em fairly recently. Never ends well. What's the vampire's name, in case the Justice League does decide to ask us about it?" 'Us' being himself and any of the Avengers as a whole.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty takes the bullets back, setting them back where they belong in the lab and then turning back to Steve. "I have a few friends that would be considered werewolves as well. But they are of the heroic variety. I am not even sure if these would affect them or not. Might just be that one strain. The vampire, her name is Selene. Gorgeous, dark hair, blue eyes, she finished off one with a pair of these bullets to the head. The other that was, we thought, very dead already she used a silverish-looking spike to the head."

Kitty leans back against the counter again. "She mentioned the werewolves had killed one of her people earlier. And also, that she's living in New York. I have a planned meeting with her about getting her in contact with the Batman. Other than that I don't have a direct way of reaching her. But I have a guy who can track her down pretty well, probably."

Kitty lets out a breath, using it to blow aside a few wisps of hair that snuck out of her pony tail and now want to hang down her cheek. "How are things going for you? Looks like you were in a tussle recently?" she says, motioning towards Steve's bruise.

Captain America has posed:
"Don't hesitate to reach out if this Selene gives you any trouble." His words have the ring of a quiet promise without any grudge. Given he hasn't personally met this vampire, Steve can't judge just yet, not with how the world he once knew has expanded so exponentially into the realm of the weird and wonderful -- and he's considered more normal than not.

At the question as to the bruise, the Captain seems taken aback. "Forgot about that," he mutters as he touches at it lightly. "Yearly field testing at SHIELD. The Director decided to make the Hand to Hand Combat test a bit more interesting than normal. She'd normally volunteer herself, but this time around, Consultant Barnes stood in for her. There were blows exchanged. I got reminded that I need to duck faster," he adds with a little grin.

He does not, however, mention the man-sized hole left in the training room wall where his own tackle took both him and Bucky through and into the men's locker room. That tale will escape of its own accord at some point...especially given there's footage of it.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde considers something she said, seemingly, as she adds a clarifying, "By the way, the fight with the werewolves was in the subway. I don't know that they are based out of there. Was just on the subway platform when they spotted the vampire and opened fire on her." Kitty tries to make a point of avoiding misinformation, and it's so easy for poorly chosen wording to create it.

She listens then to Steve's explanation of the bruises and gives a soft chuckle as Steve grins himself at the tale. "I've been upping my training by... well, a lot, since I got back," she says. "I can relate to the bruises, trust me. Though this Consultant Barnes sounds like someone I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley if he managed that with you, Captain," she tells him. Kitty no doubt having a healthy respect for his fighting ability even if she's never seen it first hand.

Captain America has posed:
"I think if you met him a dark alley, you might jump a few feet into the air," Steve allows with what could be a ruefully puckish little smile on his face. The ultimate boogieman, that 'retired' Winter Soldier, he of the tales worthy of scaring children in their beds in the darkest nights. "I don't think you'll ever get to sparring with him, but yes. He has a mean left hook." A mean //metallic// left hook. The darkening around the Captain's eye won't fade anytime soon.

"But like I said before, teaches me to duck. I expect Janet'll make a fuss over it." Again, he shrugs -- as the sun rises each day, Janet will no doubt make him put an iced baggie on it and then interrogate him as to who caused it. "Want me to let her to know expect you sometime soon? About the dress?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde's face lights up at the mention of Janet. "Yes, please do. Now I'm living in the city it's easier for me to get around here. Doctor Strange is letting me stay in one of his rooms at his place," she comments. "Really... interesting man. Intense. But nice." Kitty says with a warm laugh, and likely giving the impression she's just getting to know him.

"Glad I got to catch you. Also, hope I didn't cause any problems at the mansion for you with Deadpool. I know what he can be like," she says. Her computer chimes and she glances over at it. "And I'm due for a meeting. And there's probably a bunch of employees waiting for a chance to catch a glimpse of you on the way out," she says in a teasing voice. Kitty will walk Steve back out of the lab and bid him goodbye then. "Thank you, and yes, do tell Janet I'll be by," Kitty says, giving those lurking in the hallway a topic that she'd have talked to Captain America about. Gossip. Can't avoid it.