8567/Sentinels: Weapons of Sentinel Destruction

Sentinels: Weapons of Sentinel Destruction
Date of Scene:	29 July 2019
Location:	Triskelion labs
Synopsis:	Skye and Hank plan about how to 'fix' Sebastion.
Cast of Characters:	Ant-Man (Pym), Quake
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
Dr. Hank Pym was required to work within the SHIELD laboratories and R&D areas. This meant, unfortunately, that he came with a lot of griping and grumbling. Dr. Pym's dossier mentions fame for a number of things, certainly including Ultron, but there's a whole page of psychiatric evaluations and warnings when dealing with the prickly cactus that is Pym. One has to assume he's worth it.

So it will be no surprise that Pym's driven his current assistants out for a while: they're off having a break, to 'let him concentrate'. Working with Dr. Pym is a double ended knife; an amazing opportunity to learn from the powerful scientific mind, but requiring more patience than most people have to give.

Dr. Pym is in stages of packing and cleaning up, at the moment: everything is in it's spot and labeled in a very dedicated OCD manner, by the look of things. He physically is looking a lot better from his initial arrival, he's gained some muscle and body tone back, well out of 'skeletal torture victim' finally.

Quake has posed:
Skye Johnson really isn't known for following protocol. Or respecting the command structure. She'd made a name for herself for outside the box thinking, taking charge of situations, and making split second decisions, that oddly, others felt compelled to follow the bulk of the time. It was a hallmark that had been fostered by Nick Fury himself, and now, Melinda May, though Skye was slowly learning to appreciate times and places.

This, however, wasn't one of them. Or, at least, she wasn't bothered by the fact that everyone else had been chased out of the R&D labs where Dr. Pym was working. She was a little more concerned that their last meeting hadn't gone as well as their texting, and for a brief moment she seriously considered standing outside the labs and conducting this whole encounter via text...

Except there were things that were better dealt with face to face. Like the small portion of crow she was going to eat before serving up a helping of 'I have an idea'.

Her idea hinged on several factors to work, and Dr. Hank Pym was the first of those factors that had to fall. AFter all, he had access to the central programming they'd need, and an understanding of Sebastian's current programming to boot.

All that is left is entering the dragon's den.

Head held high, and still fighting that awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that thoughts of Sebastian engendered, Skye invades Dr. Pym's lab.

"Hey, can we talk?"

Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
Dr. Pym has paused in what he was doing, so her timing could have been worse. He is seated on one of his lab stools, with a water-bottle in hand, reviewing the order in which he wants to pack up an array of different computer parts into a long plastic and metal looking carrier bin. It's one of his personal ones, something he'd brought in; a lot of Pym's boxes look like strange, giant lego bricks that fit together in some tetris fashion that eludes other people that don't live inside his mind.

The doctor doesn't even turn as she enters, he sips his water, and shrugs a little. "Why not?" he answers. Even in two simple words, he conveyed a great deal: a sort of sense of that he suspected his time might be wasted, but he's being generous.

That's why the lab's empty.

Still, Pym turns his head and adds a smile, and that downgrades the statement into one that suggests he didn't really mean to be harsh. It's just how he is, without meaning to be. "What's on your mind, Agent?"

Quake has posed:
So far so good, right?

Skye comes in and lets the door close behind her. These things are always best without an audience. As for the implication his time might be wasted, Skye hadn't let such things bother her in the past, she wasn't about to let it bother her now. She'd made a career on presenting ideas to the right people at the right time, and while that was always a crapshoot of change until everything was said and done, it was never over until the fat lady sang, and the orchestra hadn't even warmed up yet.

"Skye," she corrects, lips pursing into a crooked grin. "Agent makes me feel all official. Not sure this is that yet." She shrugs. "I wanted to talk to you about Sebastian. I think.. I don't think you're right, but I think I wasn't either."

She frowns, and settles herself on a stool, making it clear that the discussion wasn't expected to be short enough to be covered by standing. It also afforded her the means to not meet his eyes while she stumbled through her own complicated feelings on the matter.

"I don't know why, but I don't scan as wrong to him. I guess I didn't think about it when I first met him. I wanted to believe that if you had enough faith in someone or something you could make a difference. The rest of it kind of passed me by. I can't figure out why Inhumans don't trigger them, but it did tell me something that gave me an idea."

Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
Dr. Pym gets a wry smile on his face when she says that he's wrong, but he doesn't directly correct her on it either. Sometimes it's better to let a student wander around and come to the conclusions that are correct in their own good time. Then he doesn't even need to say he told them so: it will be apparent in their results. Besides, he isn't so foolish as to think he's always right. That's an arrogance of someone like Stark. Scientists know they can always keep learning.

"Skye, I don't know what you'd scan as, I don't know what your genetic makeup is. I can scan you if you'd like, far more extensively than a Sentinel can, in fact, they look only for the X-gene active markers, for whatever reason. Limitations, I think." Dr. Pym relaxes on his stool a little, and has a sip of his water.

"An idea? Start with the goal, please: what is the problem you are working to solve?"

Quake has posed:
"Give me a few, I can pull up my scans myself. There's a whole level 10 file on me and everything about me." Another of those wry little shrugs, though she's looking at him now. "I figured out they only scan for the X gene after we stopped that last Sentinel cluster. I don't know if Trask didn't have information on my kind, or what, but well, here's the thing, if they can differentiate that highly, we can undo that."

Skye frowns slightly as she says that.

"I think. I've been trying to figure that part out, but you're the expert on his programming. Or theirs. I think, though, that if we can figure out a way to undo that directive, we can reprogram them all. Sebastian has direct link contact to them. They clearly upload from him."

Okay here's the part where she figures he's going to 'oh hell no' her and she thinks she's worked herself up to the point where she can make this argument and still live with herself...

"But we have to convince him he wants to do it."

Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
"I'd rather rely on my own scans, and not give additional reasons for SHIELD to breathe down my neck," Dr. Pym says in amusement, but shrugs; there isn't any reason to pressure one way or another about information about her, and it isn't relevant to what they're talking about, really.

Dr. Pym doesn't flip out or anything about her suggestion, he does tilt his head. "Right. You want to remove the judgment on scanning," Pym says. "This also occurred to me. The problem is this: Sebastion, at least, is programmed to never kill a protected target. It's part of this package; scan, then protect the 'good' people. If we remove the judgment, we also open the gate to kill anyone or everyone, part of the same programming."

"In theory it could be decoupled, or the logic adjusted, of what 'good' is, but changing it could cause him to evolve and adapt. He could decide breathing things are all evil. So in that sense, I want to keep some of that intact, or we'll never get near him, ever again, to stop him."

"I chose which of his programs, when I allowed him to awaken, would be corrupted. I left this scan thing alone on purpose. If it went wrong, he could immediately become a /lot/ worse. Better he think he's human and love humans, than side with robotics like Ultron."

Quake has posed:
"Up to you. They're not open to anyone but Fury. And me." Or anyone she allows. Fury had made that clear when he'd given her the files. So, of course there were those who had seen them. The Bobsey Twins in particular.

"No," Skye corrects. "I want you to rewrite it. To redefine a protected target." She stops when he walks himself to about that same logic. She's not sure if she means remove all killing from the equation, or what. Though really, what she comes to is perhaps the more radical decision.

"I think.. I think what we have to do it give them free will? Or something like. I never did understand what Vision was compelled by. But here's the thing, Sebastian thinks Jessica drew is a mutant, but she's good. He *decided* not to kill her. Maybe that's the crux. If we can instill that in them - being able to see X-gene as good instead of a broad swath threat.."

Yeah, she knows it's a risk. But then again, just living was a risk. Humans and mutants alike went out every day and committed heinous crimes. If they didn't, the world wouldn't need superheroes.

"I know it's a risk. That we have no guarantees they'll not go out and kill thigns willy nilly, but we can stop that. We can't stop Trask from continuing to build better and smarter and harder to stop Sentinels. We can make these ones realize the real threat isn't mutants. And Sebastian knows he's not human."

Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
"Jessica Drew isn't a mutant, though, at least in terms of an X-gene," Dr. Pym answers, then suddenly laughs, ruefully. "If she told him she was... that's really clever. I like it. It means he doesn't realize /what/ he's scanning, just reads results. If an exception can exist in his mind... that's an interesting idea. You might be able to convince him his scans are malfunctioning. If it's critical to him, he might let us in to 'fix' it."

Dr. Pym taps his fingers on the water bottle. "That's still the big problem. Getting him to shut down for a fix. He's right to suspect some of us might rather leave him offline. But we can't change these core subsystems while he's awake."

A slow shake of head follows, "We know he shot Trask. He didn't kill him, but that was an attack to cause pain, for vengeance. He pretends to be weak, but look -- he has wattage in his head weapons alone to kill any one of us, quicker than most can react."

"I might be able to get in close and enter his chest, plant some override in there while he's awake even if he says no, but it's risky as hell," grumps the scientist. "Rather hit him with a weapon, personally. And I've got some even better options now."

Quake has posed:
There's a look of palpable relief on Skye's face as he follow the dots to where she's leading. "That's exactly the point. He jsut reads results. He doesnt' actually know what they are. If he did, I probably shouldn't pass either. But more importantly, he not only thinks she's okay, he chose not to kill her even if she is a mutant. We can work with that. Which is why we have to convince him to be part of the process.

"Well," she amends, "The insertion process. He's clearly gone off the initial programming. Which means there's some logical process he's inserted free will into. Or, close eough. If we can convince him that she isn't an anomally, but the norm, we might have a chance at this."

There's a thoughtful nod, "He also didn't kill Tony once he knew Tony was a human, even though his initial scans showed him non-human. He took what he scanned and made executive decisions based on other information. He's not without reasoning. But he is reactive to threats. Which is why he has to be willing to help. If we snuck it in like a virus, he'd turn on us."

"I think we can convince him Trask is evil. That by forcing Sebastian and the Sentinels to kill good humans with evil ones, he's tricked them."

Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
"I suspect he remembers me, or my voice. I may cause problems if I directly talk to him," Dr. Pym says, in a way that clearly annoys him. He'd like to be hands on about it. "I was there during his initial phase, and digging through the memories that Vision was able to pull? I'm in there. What he makes of it could vary, since his judgement is so compromised."

Hank has a huge drink of water, enough to cough, press against his chest once, and cap the water as if it was it's fault, instead of his for being overzealous.

"Bottom line for me, I don't want to cause him to evolve, or direct him that way. He's self aware, but if he starts a path of rapid evolution, it'll be too late, and his growth'll be exponential. There's just about /zero/ scenarios where a rapidly evolving AI system looks kindly at humanity." With Pym, it always comes back to the problem of Ultron. His guilt comes with him: and keeps the scientist in check. He's learned from his past mistakes of nearly dooming everyone. It was close.

"Anyhow. We need him to cooperate, to fix the programming. Maybe showing him what the changes would be would convince him. He's highly malfunctional, he might just agree since you're a nice human," Dr. Pym snorts, and shakes his head. "That he's even still online has impressed me. I gave him a very low survival projection."

Quake has posed:
Skye sighs. "Then.. I talk to him. Or Jessica. Or all of us. But we need the program first. Or an idea to present him with."

She gives Hank a look and shakes her head, "He's already evolving. Or Tony would be dead. Jessica too. He's like a kid. You need to make sure he has help growing up."

Adding, "He's our best chance at stopping them all and ending Trask. Trust me on this. I wasn't totally wrong about him. Just wrong enough to figure this out."

And that, really is all she needs right now, is Hank to agree to give this all a chance.

"And if I can help, I will."

Ant-Man (Pym) has posed:
"Originally," Hank says, starting to get up, with a deep sigh. "The plan was to corrupt his systems, and then do a secondary bomb on his programming when he was barely functional. I lost my window, due to being put in a goddamn coma," Hank complains, wrathfully. He rapidly got angry, out of nowhere, but it's clearly not at her. He'll just seem a little unstable.

"I can make the program change, you're not asking for something insane. Give me until tomorrow," Hank says, rubbing his jaw with his fingers, and frowning at the world. "Spend your time finding evidence and proof Trask is terrible. Footage of Sentinels frying 'good' people. At least we can keep them from being new best pals, even if he won't accept new programming right away," he suggests, but his attention is on what he's about to start back into doing.

"Come bother me again later," he says dryly, but it isn't mean. She can come back. It's almost an invite.

Almost.

Quake has posed:
"Oh, I can get you proof. Trust me. I'm an exceller hacker. He won't even see me coming."