xp_logs | Scott and Ororo | Monday evening

Scott and Ororo meet to discuss the trainees' progress, and how to prepare them further.

One minute before the exact time of the meeting Ororo stopped in front of the door to the Situation Room, looking down at the folder in her arms. It was full of neatly-organized papers and she surveyed them with a tense and wary expression. There was very little about this situation that inspired much relaxation, and she certainly hadn't slept much the night before.

Inside, Scott was rubbing at his eye, but looked up as Ororo came in. "We really need to move the coffeemaker down here, you know," he said as she moved towards the table where he was sitting.

"There is a pot brewing in the kitchen," she said as she took a seat. "It will be ready soon. Perhaps we can convince someone to bring us some, if we ask nicely enough."

"On the other hand, we've probably had enough caffeine." Scott's eyes strayed in the direction that corresponded roughly to Cerebro. "Charles is still searching. I say if he doesn't come out by midnight we go in and get him."

"Yes, we do not need anyone else running themselves ragged tonight," Ororo agreed, shaking her head. "I have sent several of the trainees to rest in their rooms. It has been a busy day."

"But productive." Scott leaned forward in his chair, his eyes narrowing a little as he studied the screen in front of him. "So Moira and Amelia are in agreement. We're restricted to people Bobby's age and under."

"Which means that he is the only member of the team able to take on the mission." Ororo frowned, tapping her fingers on the table. "Even with the trainees, there is not enough for a full team."

"We're not facing a high-level threat here," Scott pointed out. "Setting the gas aside, there was nothing Shiro and Clarice couldn't handle in the park." He was silent for a moment. "Bobby, the trainees... Clarice and Terry, too, even if they're not trainees officially just yet..."

"Yes, I know," Ororo replied. "They are all quite capable. It is just the idea of sending them out there alone..." She shook her head. "We must do all we can to make sure they are prepared."

Scott nodded, his expression oddly remote. He wasn't really thinking about what it meant that he was sending them off alone, with Bobby the most senior member of the group. He should be, but he wasn't. The part of his mind that usually reviewed the nastier possibilities was nicely shut down.

"Some extra training sessions." He sent the file he'd been working on to her screen. It was a training scenario. Hadn't taken him much time at all to write it up. "Just to make sure they're going to be able to handle it. If they're not... we back off and find a way to do this at a distance."

Glancing away from Scott to the screen in front of her, Ororo looked over the scenario, nodding to herself. "I do not think there will be any problems," she mused. "We will set up an evacuation plan, just in case, and we will monitor the situation closely. That is the best we can do, I think, on such short notice."

"They've all proven that they can keep their cool under pressure before. Even the ones we shouldn't really be sending." Well, that was a nice justification, wasn't it?

Ororo grimaced at the reminder, concentrating on the screen in front of her. "Indeed. I will take the first half of the trainees tomorrow morning to run through this scenario. Will that be enough time?"

"Depends on how soon Charles turns up a location. We can't justify holding off for too long - the pace of these kidnappings is increasing," Scott said, eyeing that file for a moment. "I'm also not prepared to rush into anything if they're not ready. We'll see."

"Yes, we shall." While neither of them was exactly comfortable with this, they knew it was necessary. And we always do what is necessary... even at the expense of our better judgment.