8476/Undercurrents: Talking Past Each Other

Undercurrents: Talking Past Each Other
Date of Scene:	24 July 2019
Location:	Security Center, X-Men Base
Synopsis:	Cannonball and Cyclops talk about the attack on the gang that shot Cypher.
Thanks to:	Cannonball
Cast of Characters:	Cyclops, Cannonball
Tinyplot:	Undercurrents

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Cyclops has posed:
Scott is sitting in the Security Center of the X-Men base. Live feeds of the evening news are being projected on one wall. A map of Bushwick is on another with various annotated markers. The layout of Evolution is in a small window along with detailed information about the New Hope Project in Bushwick. The beginnings of an operational planning document are up in another projected window. He has a salad in front of him that he is eating from. A half-filled cup of coffee sits nearby. Right now he is reading from a tablet.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie comes walking into the room looking for Scott. The young man seems tense but he does not seem fuming as he was earlier. He will look to Scott, and says "Ah do hope, Ah am the first to talk to you in person.

Cyclops has posed:
"Yes, you are," Scott says. His face is impassive and he gestures to the chair across from him. "Have a seat."

Scott takes a moment to close down his tablet, turn off the news feed and silence his phone.

"So, I read your report."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the man and says "First and foremost Ah lead the team, you want to bring the boom down on someone Ah am the one who gets it. No ah did not plan it as possibly should have and if anyone is to be blamed for Claude it is me. Not them. " He stands and looks at the man and says "And while I will take that blame, Ah chose to handle this not as the X-men no costumes but I do believe protecting the community where many mutants and humans are living together fits in the x-men's mission. Ah thought we could go in and put enough fear into them, they would be afraid to strike back Ah was wrong. But Ah will say, Ah believe you suspending any X-men who are willing to help with this in future is wrong as well.

Cyclops has posed:
"That is big of you to take responsibility," Scott replies and leans back in his chair. "And I do hold you responsible for participating in what was, as far as I can tell, a poorly thought out revenge attack. But you were not responsible overall. The senior X-Men member there gets that honour."

Scott considers Samuel.

"Why did I threaten to suspend anyone who took part in further action?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie says, "Why? Well that depends on if you want the answer I would have given you a couple hours ago or the one that I will give you after talking to Doug for a bit "Logical unangered answer is your wanting to make sure any more actions taken in this event are thought out and planned more than seat of the pants. Mind you your words in the reply did come across a bit cross purpose with the come to me for any future plans but the if your involved your suspended from the team." He moves to a bit closer position still standing and says "And while there was some revenge retaliation to the situation, that was not all of it. There were other things that led me to this course of action."

Cyclops has posed:
"Doug is awake? That's a relief. How is he?" Scott asks, putting the rest aside for the moment. "Will he be alright?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie says, "He is sorta awake, and he will be eventually. Currently the Techno virus inside him has developed a semi consciousness. It is sorta like a young warlock mixed with Doug. Sorta a super antibody. It is trying to protect him, and right now it wants to convert him to a full techno being. Doug is telling it no, and trying to find a happy medium. He has been able to talk via the monitors around him. I hooked him up to the internet today."

Cyclops has posed:
"I'll go visit him, thank you for letting me know he's coming around. I don't know much about that stuff, but if anyone is going to come through that, it's Doug," he says.

"Doug's answer is the right one. That whole unit lost perspective. I put a stop to it until you can all get yourselves together and /think/. Then act," Scott says firmly. There is a hint of a frown.

"You're a good guy, I'm sure you thought you were doing the right thing. But you were compromised and it showed. Even in your AAR."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to him, and says "Ah aint going to deny Ah was personally involved, but that gang, and the mutant one encountered both need to be take out of Bushwick to make the place a safer place for all. Ah stayed up high to watch the situation. It is why when Ah saw danger to the civilians, I flew in to protect them. We have more information on the leadership of the orange gang now, nothing new on the mutant one to my knowledge. I want to see who we have that can find more about them, and then take them out. We need to find out who is brinigng the drug into the community as well

Cyclops has posed:
"You could have found all of that out in five minutes by taking Rachel within a half mile of New Hope Project," Scott says impassively. "You could have stopped their leader with one intervention by Jean. You could have set them up for arrest and had them locked away for life. You could have negotiated. You could have waited five minutes for any civilians to leave. You could have ambushed them away from their base of operations in a civilian area. You could have black flagged them and had their retaliation fall on any of our other enemies. You could have set the Family on them."

"The point, Sam, is that you considered /none/ of these things," Scott says evenly. "You planned nothing. The fact you engaged with civilians near enough to /be/ in danger just makes it even more obvious that your judgement was compromised. The fact you do not seem to understand this concerns me."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks tot he man and says "Ah did think of some of that. Setting their enemies on them could have worked, but it would have resulted in deaths for sure, as well, as more potential civilian casualties. Putting the police on them, aint going to do a lot of good as if the police could have taken them out and held them, they would have already. Taking a telepath, no Ah did not think upon that one, Ah am still not used to having access to one for missions, The Professor is the only one we had around semi regularly mission wise, and that was just monitoring. Negotiations Ah don't think would work, they were willing to kill to sell their drug, Ah don't see a way of talking them out of it. Then as ah said there were other reasons. Rahne needed to go in there and have a chance at them. She needed to learn some things about herself and Ah needed to see her actions.

Cyclops has posed:
"Rahne needed to go in there and learn things by doing what?!l Scott says incredulously. "Sam, I'm deeply concerned about your judgement and ability to /actually/ take responsibility for your actions. Team members nearly resigned over the Sentinel factory, now this. And what I'm hearing from you are a lot of excuses that frankly make no sense. There was no reason you needed to go out last night the way you did. And your attempts to justify it on the grounds you're choosing are only making me more concerned."

"I don't want you leading any missions until further notice," Scott says. "I expect your cooperation and assistance in sorting this mess out. We will review your status as a trainee on the team in three months based on your performance in the interim. Is there anything you would like to add?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to him, and says "Rahne has blamed herself for Doug's death, even with him coming back, she needed to go out and see if she was going to go to far or not. Ah was there to make sure she didn't. Ah am taking responsibility for this if you don't think Ah am, then you and Ah am not seeing things the same way at all. Ah should have done better Ah do not deny that, but while some of your complaints are justified not all are. Ah am not making an excuse for my decisions. I am explaining to you part of what went into them. And yes when we make mistakes it is not always us who pay for them, but Ah know for a fact, Ah feel every one of them, and strive to make better each time. You look me in the eye and tell me you made no mistakes in your past, you don't feel each and every one of them on your soul? You see it as justification, Ah see it as Ah am trying to let you know what was in my head. You can kick me off the team, hell you can kick me out of the school if that's what you feel you need to do, but do not tell me, I am not taking responsibility for my or my teams actions.

Cyclops has posed:
"We are not talking about me, Sam. I think you misunderstand our relationship here. I am not your friend. I am not your peer. I am the commander of this team and responsible for everything you and the others do while you are associated with us," Scott says sternly.

"Since we do not seem to be communicating well right now, we will leave this for another time. It will help me see that you understand what you are taking responsibility for if you submit a report to me outlining your mistakes and what led to them. Do you have your tactical analysis of the current situation with you?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will bit back any reply he wants to give the man. It can be seen that it is taking some willpower. He was taught to respect his elders, but he was also taught to stand up for himself and what he believes. He will hand the other man, the report he needs "Am I dismissed... Sir."

Cyclops has posed:
"Yes. Get some rest. We have our work cut out for us," Scott says. "Fact is it's started now, so you're right. We have to finish it."