2014.04.15 - The Dreamer And The Dream

Making final adjustments to the Danger Room, Doug flashes Kitty a thumbs up as he finishes typing in the last line of codes. "Okay, compiling, and... ready for first test. So which scenario do you want to run first, the Cat That Walks Through Wall, or the Brain Eaters?"

They'd been tinkering with various different scenarios, you see, for potential test runs, not necessarily 'what if the X-Men went bad' as much as 'What if evil alt-selves show up?'. Blame Doug; just a chance remark on a bearded Spock led from one thing to another, and thusly: the Breaking Bad scenarios.

A decent test idea, at the least... although some of the scenario names Doug came up with... probably should have been at the least left in the bins of history.

Logan walked into the command center giving a nod to Doug. He smiled at Kitty, "Been a while." His eyes darted between the pair, "What are you two doin' down in these parts?" he asked leaning against a wall. He was wearing his blue and yellow uniform, the newer one, with the mask pulled down draped over his shoulder blades. It was nice to be in the walls of the school despite some personal heartache.

From beneath the Danger Room control panel, there comes a muffled sound that might be considered 'Brain Eaters'. Or maybe it was, 'Flrghftz Mrghsnz', given the slurred together sound that Pryde makes. Just her feet can be seen sticking out, (or boots at least), and they idly wiggle back and forth as she works with the equipment beneath the control panel. Another mumbled out, "Just a sec, almost got it.." Can be heard... before Kitty scoots herself out from under the panel, her face streaked with bits of dust and grime - made worse by her idly moving the back of her hand across her cheek and nose as an idle itch occurs, creating even more of a smeared mess.

"Okay, that one panel that was giving out is finally fixed, I had to completely replace the circui.. how long has Lockheed been spinning himself?"

Kitty's words are halted, as her eyes take in the slightly sickly looking dragon that is spinning himself on the chair behind Doug. True to Kitty's words, Lockheed lets out a slight snort from his snout, as the chair ceases spinning when Logan enters - and the purple dragon lets out a loud. "WOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.." Sound.

At Logan's entrance, Kitty's bright hazel eyes light upwards, as she darts forward and regardless of -anything- else, flings her arms around Logan's neck. "Logan!"

"Brain Eaters it is," Doug notes, already setting the scenario up. Oh, Rachel would hate him for this if she ever found out. Which just meant Doug would be, well, very careful for a while.

Pausing to steady Lockheed, the young blonde mutant looks up at the person who'd entered. "Logan! Pretty well, actually... things lookin' good. Just setting up some scenarios for future reference. Mostly to do with Mirror Universe selves." Reaching a fist up to do a fistbump, the young blond tilts his head. "You okay?" So he's gotten at least a read of... something off Logan's body language.

"Hey Kid!" Logan hugged and spun Kitty around for a moment. He smiled at her. "Ain't seen ya around in these parts lately." Granted he wasn't around these parts too much until recently. His blue eyes went to Doug, "I don't wanna talk about it. This Stryker crap is a good distraction," he admitted giving a nod. "Not sure how the team should proceed. Some wanna go in all violent, but that ain't the X-men." Letting Kitty down he looked at the pair, "So it's tryin' to figure out how to handle a hate filled mongrel that might deserve to be put down, but shouldn't cause what'd make us different from the monsters?" This question kept him up at night. At times it was so much easier to give into his training, to give into those dark instincts. Deep down, underneath it all, it wasn't him. Unfortunately not everyone saw it that way.

Laughter bubbles forth from Kitty by the spin, it's been awhile - too long. After her impulsive hug, and being set back down, Kitty steps back to run a hand through her wildly curly locks of chestnut, the impish grin still on her face. "Mom moved into a new place, been helping her out when I can." Is her response, hazel eyes still twinkling with delight at seeing an old friend. About to say more - when Doug inquires and Logan responds. (As and aside and note, Yes. Rachel _WOULD_ (and will) hate Doug for the danger room scenario, but it's a great scenario /and/ it's good practice for emergency incursions from a different world.)

Lockheed, for his part, thanks Doug for the steadying with an *urk* sound from within his throat. The purple dragon tries to take a step, and finds his head swimming as he stumbles about as though he's drunk.

Taking in a deep breath, her upper teeth mauling away at her bottom lip, Kitty's voice is quiet, "Logan, he's scared, he fully believes he's doing God's work, and has convinced himself of that. Maybe.. Maybe someone needs to explain things to him, let him see the truth." Letting out a deep breath, Kitty continues to maul away on her bottom lip, casting a gaze between Doug and Logan.

"Oh yeah. The Stryker stuff." Running a hand through his hair, Doug sighs. "There's not much you can do. People get the right to say stupid things. What they don't have a right to do is to trample over other people's rights when they do that."

Eyeing Kitty, Doug shakes his head. "No, he's a -true- believer... I'm not sure there's little you can do short of shaking his whole worldview. And if you do that, who knows what he'll do..."

Sitting back, Doug frowns. "Too bad you can't show him what the future would be like if he had his way."

"The man lost his wife in the Zod Invasion. He's been screwed by the world. Now he's seeing the same thing that happened to him happen to others with like the Heralds, Darkseid, and all that crap. In History dictators and rules believed in their causes. Even Hitler believe in his own crap. Stryker ain't too different. Thing is...his words are gonna become action," he looked between the duo and breathed out. "What do we do when this happens?" His blue eyes looked down as he pondered Cable's proposition. It started to make sense. At least the mindset. However, it wasnt part of Chuck's dream.

"Do you really believe that, Doug? That he is so far gone, that he can't be reasoned with?" The question is honest and heart-felt, for Kitty, the dreamer - she fully believes that (almost) everyone can be reasoned with, that words are greater than actions. Still. She does realize the necessity of actions and the realization that there are those that refuse to see anything but their own twisted version of reality.

Crossing her arms over her chest, almost in a defensive action as Logan brings up Hitler, Kitty's left quiet for a bit, before responding to a question that was probably rhetorical to begin with, but one that she feels the need to express with her own words. "Then we respond how we always do. We help those that need to be helped, and stop those that need to be stopped. We show the world, and people like Stryker, that they can't win, but that we aren't monsters either. As you said, Logan. We're the X-Men. We fight for the good of not just mutantkind, but everyone, all mankind. Not everyone shares his views, and the more that we show a different viewpoint, the more that we take away from his wild, crazy, and insane ideas." In those words, Kitty believes fully.

Lockheed, at this time, has recovered enough to rise upwards, his wings beating on his back as he lifts himself up to circle Kitty's neck, nuzzling her chin with his nose, receiving a scritch under his chin for his efforts.

Doug is about to open his mouth and detail exactly how Stryker's body language was at the moment when he made the speech, before he takes one good look at Kitty's eyes. Hope and eternal optimism in her eyes. Damned if he'd take that away from her. Which is why he leaves it to -Logan- to deal with those Kitty-Kat Eyes.

Instead, Doug shakes his head. "Well, we can try, at the least."

Scratching his chin, Doug allows, "Besides, if we did it that way, what would make us any better than Magneto?"

Smiling at Kitty's words Logan looked toward her, "Chuck would be proud if he heard that. If it comes down to that we'll hit him hard with colors and uniform blazing. Give the world something to believe in again," he nodded with approval. Stryke was going to be reasoned with and if reason failed, if his words lead to actions, then they'd hit back. Help out who needed help if Stryker caused any chaos. "After that we're gonna have to deal with Mags sometime soon too. He's makin' the world twitchy."

"It's not a horrible idea, I guess. Velvet glove over iron fist, is that it?" Doug comments. Kitty'd always been the trusting type; Doug was more of a 'trust, but verify' sort, although sometimes he'd just been drawn into agreeing with Kitty's things just because her appeal made him feel like he'd be kicking a puppy if he disagreed. A good thing that Illyana was, at the least, the devil-voice sitting on his shoulder to balance that out.

Rubbing his chin, Doug looks up towards Logan. "Who do you want to send to talk to him?"

Turning to cast a quizzical glance to Doug, Kitty knows her friend far too well. He was going to say something - but didn't. And in that silence, even as brief as it was, Kitty knows the answer to her question. Even so, Kitty's still the dreamer, and even if the man can not be reasoned with, or rationally spoken to - even through all of that - Kitty still fully believes in her words and her vision, and due to that, when Logan offers his words, Kitty's initial feeling of disquiet is changed into a soft smile. "Thank you, Logan. That means a lot."

About to say more, when Doug offers his voice, and Kitty pauses, waiting to hear.

Thinking on it Logan said softtly, "The person I'd send has been gone. Kitty would make a good choice," he looked to Kitty. "You've got the attitude that'd make Chuck proud. Yer the one that brought up talkin' to him. You're religious, knowledeable, personable, y'know how to bring up an opinion without shovin' it down someone's throat," the reasons were lited off. He shrugged, "Yer a good choice, like it or not," the number one choice was Jean. However that was only because she had Kitty' qualities with a little more experience. That was just his perogative though.

Kitty would not have brought it up if she wasn't willing to do just exactly that. A bob of her head is given to Logan, as the small dragon about her neck gives a slightly worried 'cooo' sound by all of this talk. Lockheed receives a reassuring scritch upon his chin, as Kitty offers a quiet, but very firm and confident. "I'll do what I can. Hopefully Doug won't mind coming with me. He can read the situation and body language, in case things do go bad. I'm not going to go into this with rose colored glasses, by any means, but I wouldn't be true to my religion, or being an X-Man if I didn't try." Kitty's gaze flickers to Doug then, making sure he's okay with this.

Even as Kitty's eyes draw towards Doug for confirmation, she's still talking - a breath taken in, and let out slowly. "And thanks for trusting me in this, Logan. I think we need to try this approach first, it doesn't feel right going in guns blazing, not when we can offer a different point of view, even if it isn't even registered."

"I... well I won't mind at all," Doug grins. At the least, he could support Kitty, and it'd give him a chance to get a better look at the compound, see if there were anything he could hack into, play around with...

And knowing Logan, he wasn't going to send them in without backup.

"How do you wanna do this kid, it's yer operation," Logan asked looking at Kitty unsure how she wanted to approach this. He didn't want to send too many in case something would set talks off kilter. However, he wanted Kitty to feel secure going into the Lion's Den too. So, he was open to ideas or suggestions.

Plucking Lockheed up and off of her shoulders, Kitty's setting him on the chair again, taking the few steps necessary over there as she does so. The dragon is placed gently onto the padded cushion, as Kitty ponders. If Doug's watching..? Yeah, Kitty's showing some manner of discomfort at being placed in the lead in this. But is going through like the trooper she is. One hand nervously and idly runs splayed through her wildly curly hair, as Kitty continues to take her time in answering, using Lockheed as a distraction. Finally turning about, Kitty's brows are netted together, mouth twisted to one side in an expression of consternation. "Operation Pryde Attempt, huh?" She offers with a grin suddenly, her hand falling down to rest on the back of Doug's chair.

"Well." Kitty begins, "Getting close to Stryker without raising alarms is going to be the difficult part. I mean, Doug and I can easily enter into one of the protests, and work our way to Stryker's inner core through stealth and subterfuge. But, is that only raising Stryker's ire to begin with. I doubt he's going to just accept an emailed invitation. Hello sir, I'd like to talk about your hate-mongering." All of this is just stream-of-Kitty thought, as she leans against the back of Doug's chair. "Still, he seems egotistical enough, that in a protest, Doug and I might be able to - at the very least in front of his entire congregation, speak our mind. If I can get up there, talk to him, even if it's in front of everyone. I might be able to discredit him a little, show his weaknesses, his flaws. A different voice to his hate. It may also completely back fire." Her gaze moves from Logan to Doug and back again. "What do you both think? Subterfuge, get to Stryker alone, or semi-alone, talk with him, or do it out in the open, right at one of his protests?"

Considering the situation, Doug shakes his head slightly. "Doing it in the open at his protests is too volatile... you'd be dealing with a mob mentality and we'd run the risk of putting innocents in harm's way. Isolation, separate him from his strength, which are the people behind him, and then... I guess, see what he does when he's not being a ... messiah?"

He looks back up towards Logan. "There's always just finding a neutral place to get him to, get Chuck to put an invitation and sort it out from there, maybe?"

Nodding at Doug's comment Logan looked at her, "He's a preacher. Man's gotta have a church or something you can hit up. May have to deal with some followers, but less likely to explode than a protest. Even if he's quotin' the bibble n' crap," thinking on it Logan stroked his chin. Pacing a little Logan tried to get his brain going. "Neutral ground will always work but what if he brings backup? If ya give him too much of a head's up it might be up in yer face...He might have some of his protesters there too n' that could be bad fer the two of ya. There's gotta be a happy medium," trying to hink of what Chuck would do Logan wanted to figure out the right way to approach this. So far every solution had the same amount of merits and flaws. It felt like picking the best of many evils.

Still leaning against Doug's chair, Kitty's thoughts run the gambit - alone, give too much time, the dangers of a crowded scenario. Finally, her hand rubs the bridge of her nose, an idle expression. As her hand drops again to rest upon the back of Doug's chair, Kitty lets out a rush of air. "So we do this just Doug and I. We find his church, and we make our way through the Shadowcat way, with subterfuge, stealth and ninja-style." A wry grin, before it fades again. "If things go bad, we have a backup. Piotr ready to make an entrance, or... Well I'd suggest Room... Illyana, but my guess is she'd want a more direct approach than what I'm offering, to begin with at least." The first name is one that just sticks with Kitty. Illyana will always be her /Roomie/, regardless of how much time they two have spent away, or distance that comes between them.

"So.. Maybe we have Piotr ready to get us out, if Doug and I aren't able to do it ourselves." Kitty is quite confident she can get out of almost any situation, but there are always situations that arise. "And if this fails..." Kitty's voice pauses a moment, before catching herself. "I don't know if he'll even listen to anything I say to begin with. But if I don't try, if I don't at least show him another view point, another path, one that doesn't have to be filled with hate, I wouldn't be true to The Professor's dream, or my own interpretation of it." Of that, Kitty's very sure, as she bobs her head. "And we do what we need to do at that time, and at that point."

"It's not a bad idea. A telepath to keep track of us or a very good stealth communication system, a backup team in case things go pear-shaped, and Kitty can yank us out quickly. If they have scramblers or something, well, Illyana can get us, maybe..."

It actually seemed like it could be a ninja's job, but Doug was -so- not really up to talking to Betsy after recent troubles, and so... he just looks at Logan expectantly. "Think we can do that?"

"I have faith in ya. Just gotta find a telepath or even a small mic. I can listen in if we do the mic," finding Jean, Rachel or Betsty may have been a problem so a backup plan was needed as a just in case. "Team can be standing by not too far away. Things go bad, Kitty pulls you and her out. The team can come in and clean house. Show em' we ain't backin' down, but we aint doin' violence first. Chuck would want it," he gave a nod as if convincing himself violence wasn't the answer even if Stryker deserved getting his teeth kicked in. "If things go well the team quietly pulls back. Everyone's safe in either case."