7380/Sentinels: Opening Doors

From United Heroes MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Sentinels: Opening Doors
Date of Scene: 01 May 2019
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Flash and Jessica Drew speak about Sentinels to John Doe.
Cast of Characters: Bastion, Spider-Woman (Drew), Flash
Tinyplot: Sentinels


Bastion has posed:
The dawn showed the large mobilization of Sentinel robots in northern New York to resolve: the masses of robots returned to their previous locations, many of them headed back to their military storage bunkers, others resuming patrols high over cities and towns. Six, though, remain in a line in the street outside of the Avengers' facility on the edge of Watertown, NY. Police have stayed out of it for the most part, but there are various people from the town who drive by and attempt to get a look at the huge, three story robots gleaming in the chilly morning.

John Doe looks much the same as he did before, though he had breakfast and shaved, and found some shoes. He's not well dressed for the chill, but hasn't complained. He exits the facility, headed outside towards his six Sentinels.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Things had gotten to the point that Jessica knew she couldn't keep Flash out of it anymore. He wanted to help. She wanted to protect him from getting too involved. But she hadn't counted on last night. And she certainly hadn't counted on the attack by Janet's twin that left her in the medbay for weeks. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and do what's right. And so it is that Jessica had texted Barry, letting him know that she had some stuff she was ready to share. In fact, she said, they could meet after she grabbed breakfast for the group. She asked him to meet her at the compound where the sentinels were gathered the night before, somewhere around 9:00 AM. That should buy her enough time to get a basket of pastries and sausages, and be waiting for him when he arrives around 10:30.

Now she waits. And snacks on a pastry. And watches the sentinels with a cold misgiving in her heart.

When John Doe comes out to look at the sentinels, Jessica retrieves a bag from the trunk of her car, and approaches him. "Hey...I hope you're doin' okay after last night," she offers. "I brought you some stuff. Clean socks. A few tracksuits, something nicer than those sweats. And I've got a few pairs of new shoes, depending on what size you need. I think it's about time you started looking and feeling more human, don't you?"

Flash has posed:
Things were never boring for Barry Allen. The Flash did his daily routine in Central City, pressed the flash with the press, did an interview with Iris West about the sudden surge of Gotham vigilantes in their sleepy little midwest city and all before breakfast. All before most people were even considering breakfast, of which, Barry has already had three. Running around like that burns through carbs like a high preformance car.

"Now if I have to come here again, I'm not going to be nearly as forgiving." The Scarlet Speedster says to a mugger he's shoving towards a group of CCPD officers with a gentle nudge, "Hey guys, brought you some donuts." Holding out the bag to the officers. Just another day in the life of The Fastest Man Alive.

The text bell rings on his phone and he slips it out of his pocket to give it a oncing over, "You guys got it from here? Excellent." Thumbing a response to Jess, I still have to shave might wanna make it eleven. lol, jk jk

It's still around 10:24 before he slides to a hault crackling with orange and yellow lightning infront of the compound... the compound and the towering Sentinels. "Whoa.." Television coverage does not do these things any justice, they are truly massive. "Are these real? These are real.. can I touch one?"

Bastion has posed:
John Doe didn't make a beeline for the Sentinels, he stops when Jessica approaches him, looking at the bag with curiosity. The Sentinels, though, react to John being present, just a little bit. They orient in his, and Jessica's, direction. They don't stomp around, but they do appear to wake up, from a state of simply being dead looking and idle.

One of them appears to stare towards the arriving Flash, and very obviously attempts to scan him and his immediate area. It ends up looking like a reddish light emitted from the hand.

"I don't know what size shoe I am," John answers Jessica honestly, but accepts the bag. He's a big guy, built on the bulky side, and his manner of movement has an edge of crisp military to it. "Thank you. My first clothes that I own. Unless they're a loaner," the man smiles. He hefts the bag a little.

"I'll be right back." His light eyes pan to the Sentinels - and the new arrival of Flash - with a quality of tension in them, before he carries the bag back inside, fully intending to change clothes right now, not stand around in his inmate sweats.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica smiles as John takes the clothing. "Definitely not loaners," she replies as he hefts the bag. "Pretty sure they'll fit you fine." She's used to seeing men the size of John around. She eyes his shoes as he goes in, but she doesn't know whether they even fit him. She'll deal with those when he returns, and she joins Flash, who is being scanned by a sentinel. "There were thirty or more here last night," she tells Flash, as she watches the sentinel do what a sentinel does.

"John sent the others away and kept these here. They came to rescue him, but I guess he assured them that he wasn't in need of rescue. She looks over the stalwart grouping and sighs. "They make me uncomfortable, but it's an uneasy peace, at least. He wants to understand them. And the link between them and himself."

Flash has posed:
Flash fidgets at the sudden red light passing over him and stands stark still like he's worried moving might somehow make the beam cut him or something. Once the scan is completely he dramatically draws his palm across his forehead and looks to Jess, nodding agreement. "They're kind of omenous this close." The only one he's ever seen in person was flying over Central City and it was far enough that he didnt get a good idea of exactly how big they are.

Now he's staring up at the six towering murder bots and rubbing at his jaw expressively. Flicking eyes in her direction when she tells him about John Doe telling the others to leave, "Just like that? He said go and they did? Interesting." Back up to the machines, "So... are they guarding the compound or just sitting around like a group of Nurses playing cards?"

Bastion has posed:
The Sentinels appear to be doing nothing. Once the scan is complete, the sentinel merely drops the arm again, seeming to find Flash of no consequence. At least, not one that requires death beams from an orifice.

John isn't swift, he's still inside, giving the others a chance to talk about him without him present, perhaps. Or just preferring to not wear those sweats.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"They're guarding /him/ I think. I'm not sure exactly what the agreement is. No one is. I think at this point it's just...if we don't bother them, they don't bother us. If we were mutants, I think this would be a whole new game of cards, though." Jess crinkles her nose, looking up at them. "I brought some food." She nods toward the hood of her car, where an enormous basket of pastries and sausages sits. "I thought you two might be hungry. He probably hasn't had anything decent since he's been here, if I'm guessing. And the main refrigerator here was destroyed in the fray the other night..."

Flash has posed:
Barry still doesn't know about Jess' medbay visitation, but does glance her way at the mention of the destroyed fridge, "The one that was trying to kill you?" His chin juts out a little, nodding, "I guess sentinels have their uses." Looking back up to one of the towering robots, taking a long step back towards the hood of her car and the promise of patries there. Food wins out against curiosity one hundred precent of the time. "What happened the other night and why was the fridge targetted? If you're keeping mutants in there, I think we need to have a conversation about humane treatment of individuals. That's where food goes." There and in his mouth.

Barry can pack away the calories.

"Everyone okay?" Between entire pastries.

Bastion has posed:
John Doe is returning now, coming back out. The clothes seem to fit fine enough, and he was able to use some of the shoes: he has them on, at any rate. He chose the black athletic track suit, which makes him look more like a jogger than a potential machine of death. The visual difference between him and the towering Sentinels is extreme; he looks entirely human. He comes back out to offer the bag back to Jessica at the hood of her car.

"Do I look human now?" John asks ruefully. It's funny and it isn't. "Hello," John extends towards Flash. "I'm sorry, but I don't know superheroes on sight. Are you another Avenger?" he asks.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Oh no, the refrigerator took a hit before the sentinels showed up. It's not the same one..." she trails off, looking toward the compound. "But it had enough in common, anyway." She leaves off at that.

Jess looks a little stricken at John's question. "Well I didn't mean it /that/ way," she replies to John. "I just wanted you to feel more...better. More /you/..." She smiles warmly. "You look like you're a lot more comfortable, anyway." She takes a step back and looks between the men. "This is Flash...he's not an Avenger," she answers for Flash. "But he's a friend of mine, and he's been wanting to help however he can. And this," she gestures to John, "is the man known as John Doe. But only until he chooses his own name," she adds. She places the bag next to the basket on the hood. "The rest of the clothes are yours, too. You'll probably want them. I brought breakfast, too, if you're hungry. Have all you want. Anything changed since last night?"

Flash has posed:
"Can't trust a fridge, they're all the same." Appliancist here, unbashful. Flash up nods to John as he rejoins them wearing track suits, "You look like an Eastern European mafia boss." Double thumbs up, big silly grin, "I'm The F-" He points to Jess who has it covered on the introduction front, "Don't worry about it. I'm not Superman or anything, I just run really fast." Grossly under selling himself, but he's still grinning. "Seriously, you've got to try one of these.." Motioning at the muffins, likely something with berries in it, "They're to die for. I've three and they don't stop being delicious." The towering murder machines behind them aren't forgotten, but he's surprisingly okay being hawked over by huge robots what could step on him. Uncomfortably comfortable with it. Once you've met Batman, amirite?

"I'm part of the Justice League." That part seems important.

"I'm completely unsure why we're not taking a bigger interest in these guys." Thumbing back a the Sentinels, "So here I am."

Bastion has posed:
John considers Jessica's question about change. "I'm having them run diagnostics, and I'm trying to remove some dangerous programming I found: back doors and security holes; they feel-- incomplete," John gives, with a pause or hesitancy in the description. Either it's not entirely true, or he's unsure how to describe what they are doing. "I just know what they are, what they do. It's hard to describe. Perhaps it's like telepathy. But I would not know." John accepts breakfast in a human manner, pleased to take a few things and begin to eat them. He takes a muffin, with Flash's advice.

All the Sentinels watch them eat. It's like a line of dead-eyed dolls. Staring.

"I do have a name in mind. It was given to me in my first set of memories, by the woman that found me," John describes. "That seems as human as it gets. Things with meaning from the past that makes up what you are now, and are becoming." The cyborg's smile is sad, emotions mixed. Mourning for his humanity lost, perhaps. "Sebastion." He nods once, as if confirming it.

The sentinels don't care or react, they just watch.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Sebastion," Jessica repeats softly. "I like it. Very dignified." And not at all the name of a sentinel overlord. She smiles warmly and takes a pastry. "To new beginnings," she says, lifting her croissant in a dorky toasting manner and taking a bite. "And I'm glad you're able to at least figure out some of it...Nobody expects you to know everything about the sentinels, Sebastion."

Flash has posed:
Flash refrains from eating the rest of the basket and suffices to lean against the hood of the car upon his elbows with a single muffin dancing between his palms while watching the machines being described. "Like they were intentionally left with security holes?" Furrowing his brow behind the mask, curiosity inherent in what is visible of his expression. "Speaking completely hypothetical, if I were an evil monster hell bent on using these things to destroy a particular group of people, but wanted to subtly integrate them into every major government on the planet... I'd probably leave wide open gaps in their security that let me easily manipulate their core functionality and completely subvert their incoded primary function for my own nefarious scheme of mass genocide."

Pointing with his muffin.

"That or someone is a reeeally sloppy coder. Which seems unlikely given how efficient these things seem to be and just how many systems have to be at play simultaniously to make them effective for their designed purpose."

Sebastion. "Man, you sound even more like a Eastern European mafia boss now. Dope name. Dope name. Respect." Fist held up, holding a muffin.

Bastion has posed:
"Yes, I think their creator, Trask, can access them, or others. Whether that is due to a nefarious scheme of mass genocide, I can't say," John/Sebastion chuckles at Flash. "They don't have basic problems in their main directives that I see, at least. They protect humanity; they'll give their lives for it readily. I share that with them. I can't deny that I'm like them." The robotic man shakes his head just a little bit, but smiles.

"How much it is, remains to be seen. And what their creator wants from me? What guess would you make for that, if you believe he is an evil monster as you described?" Sebastion turns that question mostly at Flash, while finishing his muffin.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I think you are who you want to be, Sebastion," Jess replies sincerely. "You have your own mind. As for your being willing to give your life for humanity? You - and they - aren't alone in that. Every one of us as Avengers - and as members of the Justice League - " she nods to Flash at this, "are willing to do the same. I've been utterly impressed by how far you've come. I don't believe that you're coded, as they are. There's humanity there. There's a soul there. These guys?" She looks up at the sentinels, standing and staring dead-eyed. "These guys are just cogs and springs." Nevermind the fact that there is not likely a cog in them anywhere.

Flash has posed:
"I don't know that he's an evil monster, if I'm being honest." Flash raises both hands in surrender, "I do know that building those-" Pointing both hands, still up in surrender position, in the direction of the sentinels, one hand still holding a muffin, "-is the definition of escalation. Already seen these things get loose with groups that use them for objectives quite contrary to what we're being told. Whether intentional or otherwise."

His hands fall back down to the yellow belt around his very red suit, "I was speaking hypothetically. Either those gaps in the security are intentional, in which case I'm real curious why someone would intentionally leave that kind of security risk in a weapon platform-" He holds up a finger, "-Have a lot of questions about why he hasn't used those backdoors to shut down rogue sentinels being used by groups who are being very nefarious-" Second finger held up, "-Or he needs to fire his coders because floor model units shouldn't come standard with giant backdoors directly to the rewrite section of the code.

"J. Robert Oppenheimer once said of himself: I am become death, the destroyer of worlds... I feel like theres a corrilation here. Hydrogen bomb, sentinels.. Like step sisters in the things we didn't know we needed until someone made them and told us we needed them family."

As for Sebastion, "You look pretty spiffy in a track suit, man. Not a lot of people can pull it off, but you make it work." That's his professional critique of the man formally known as John Doe.

Bastion has posed:
"Thank you," Sebastion answers Flash's compliment, one brow lifted, but smiling. Sebastion turns his head to look at the sentinels that Jessica speaks of so negatively. "They can be much more," he says, thoughtfully, not disagreeing. "They /can/ have greater purpose. They can be used in a much better capacity than they are now, and restricted from these examples that you gave: sales to groups that are using them against what they should be for," decides the man.

"My head is full of ideas for improving them," Sebastion laughs, shaking his head. "As soon as they came close. It's amazing, their potential. And what I can see them being, someday. Maybe sooner, than later. But yes, step one is to remove the security problems. I've already taken steps with these. They're mine, now. I would wager even their Mold wouldn't control them now." Bold statements, but confident.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica shivers and steps toward Sebastion, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Hey..." she interjects softly. "You're learning about them. I get that. And the relationship between them and yourself is complicated and powerful. Just don't forget what you told me, sitting in that awful mirrored room. You aren't like them. You aren't a monster." She squeezes his arm gently and blinks once, slowly. "There is always the possibility that those holes exist solely for you, Sebastion. To lure you in. To corrupt you. To intoxicate you with some sort of perceived power. And this...this Mold. What is that? You haven't mentioned that word before."

Flash has posed:
Mention of molds and the possibility of improving the formidably powerful weapon platforms is intriguing in and of itself, but there's something inherently omenous in the way Sebastion describes it. It could be mistaken for just listening, but Flash is watching the android for a second, even if it is with that goofy grin still on the visible portion of his face.

Jess lures him out of the inspection and he looks her way with a nod, "Could be. Kind of around the butt to get to the elbow, but I literally ran so fast once that I split into three different mes... so curious methodology for unforseen ends is sort of my wheelhouse and is not nearly as outrageous as it would have been ten years ago."

Suffice to say, "This your first time getting this close to them?" This question is to Sebastion. Motioning between the six sentinels and their normaler sized brethren.

Bastion has posed:
Sebastion was staring at the Sentinels in a heavy, pointed way, but the touch on his broad shoulder pulls his attention, at least from all appearances. "They're not monsters. It's what directs them that can be a monster or not. They can amplify a monster's potential, like a gun." Sebastion rotates his hand to return the pat to her arm in answer. If he's physically strong, he doesn't show it: nothing he's done has been anything but human.

"Close to them? To a degree. I was close to the clone of the Avenger Janet, yesterday, but I didn't connect to her, as she was malfunctioning. But this is the closest I've ever been. I was going to open one up. It has systems like mine. I can learn about what's inside me. For example, I've seen them emit prehensile tentacles. I may have those. Or a version of them." Sebastion doesn't seem resistant to answering any of Flash's questions, there's a sort of military, immediate dutiful honesty to his clipped replies when asked things.

"Corrupt me? I doubt it. Taking an opportunity to properly guide these machines into what they should be seems important. It could save so many lives. Imagine if these went berserk?" Sebastion shakes his head in horror.

"A Mold is a creator. Their source. These robots self-replicate: think of it like a queen of a hive. It is what makes them, prints them. They're connected back to the mold, like drones. I sent an ultimatum to Trask through the mold's network, this morning. That pushing at me wasn't something I'd allow anymore."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica nods, taking mental notes to share later about the sentinel hivemind. "Well, I trust you. I just don't want to see you fall into pits that Trask left for you, Sebastion." Jess sighs and breathes for a moment. "I'm glad you took a stand against Trask. That needed to happen. But it needed to happen when you were ready."

Flash has posed:
"Self replicating machines." Flash whistles quietly and looks up at the sentinels, "Never thought I'd hear anyone say that out loud." Said while scratching at the side of his face with the muffin in his palm. Something about the other parts of the conversation feels kind of personal and so he refrains from interjecting, "What they really need is better PR. You doll these jokers up in matching basketball jerseys and send them in to read stories to kids on the playground and you're going to win over a lot of ney sayers."

Bastion has posed:
"Maybe," Sebastion says diplomatically to Flash's weird suggestion.

"Well. I'm going to examine one of them now, see if I can integrate. Give me a few hours, if you would," Sebastion asks, balling up the wrapper from his muffin and cleaning up, brushing his hands together to remove crumbs. "If something goes awry or it's longer than that, use that device I took out of the robotic clone's chest on them," he advises. "They're not resistant to it, I don't believe."

Sebastion looks at the robotic row, finally, and then starts to walk over towards their feet. It's ridiculous to look at: the tiny man, compared to the foot of one of the towering Sentinels.

The one nearest orients towards Sebastion, lowering a hand. Eerie coils of curling metallic tendrils emerge from around the wrist and hand, a mess of metal cordlike extensions, and they reach out and down to Sebastion. Two suddenly stab into his upper chest, just under the armpits on either side, making a mess of the shirt underneath. At least the track suit top was unzipped. The sentinel, with his new speared Sebastion, picks up the impaled man-sized robot, and then proceeds to simply stand there.

The other sentinels approach and crowd around, in a clear defensive formation, to allow whatever is going on to occur.