Sooraya and Garrison: Consequences (backdated)

[xp_dust]

Sooraya and Garrison talk about the Underground, his time with the Brotherhood and some consequences. 

"No beer, I'm afraid." Sooraya immediately held out the container of soup after the door had opened. "You'll have to manage with some split pea soup with lots of healthy veggies. Should be good for you." 

"I appreciate the sentiment, but someone needs to seriously have a talk with the residents of this place about their obsession with treating all trauma with food. The cafeteria at the field office handles over 200 agents, and I think it turns out less food per day than our kitchens here at the mansion." He waved her in. Marie-Ange and Amanda were at work in the city, so he had their place to himself for the day. 

"Maybe it gives people the feeling there is something they can do? Especially after their teammate, friend or whatever spent several months in the den of the lion without any support." Sooraya raised an eyebrow at him as she put the soup on the counter. "Angel says hi by the way. She was relieved and happy to hear you were not dead. You might want to call Marie yourself though."  

"I might do that one by text. I'm still confident she can punch me through the phone." He said. "Can I get you a drink?"  

"If you've some tea by any chance, that'd be fine." Sooraya took a seat on the couch. "I think she'd like to hear the news in a different way than a text though. She was pretty upset when Logan and I told her what we thought had happened."  

"This apartment houses a French and a British woman. I think at least two of the pieces of furniture are made entirely from tea."  

Sooraya's eyebrow rose again as she looked at him, but she let the matter rest for now. "Some mint tea would be really nice if you have some around. Have you had the chance to get at least a little settled again with all the reactions going around?"   

"Mint. Let me look." Kane said as he rummaged through the cupboard. " We have blueberry, raspberry, ginseng, sleepy time, green tea, green tea with lemon, green tea with lemon and honey, liver disaster, ginger with honey, ginger without honey, vanilla almond, white truffel, blueberry chamomile, vanilla walnut, constant comment and… Earl Grey. Any of those work?" 

"Liver disaster? I don't even wanna know." Sooraya shook her head with a smile. "Ginger with honey sounds good though... "   

"That's why I stick with beer. Healthier. Full of grains. Practically vegatarian."Kaane joked as he collected the tea bags and put on the kettle. "So, what do I owe the pleasure of your company too?" 

"Couple of things." Sooraya admitted. "I know we aren't that close or anything, but I wanted to check in on how you were doing. Some concerns about the Underground and some stuff I figured I better talk about then letting it roll around in my head."    

"I am nineteen ways of awful and fucked up. But only time is going to fix that." He sat down at the table while they waited for the water to boil. "As for the Underground, all I know is the Brotherhood has infiltrated. I don't have names or intel past that."  

"Yeah, I was kinda afraid of that. I mean, there have always been various degrees of sympathy for Magneto and other groups with idea's like his in the Underground and I wouldn't be surprised if small groups of sympathizers cluttered together. And it's not hard to imagine why they'd want that." Sooraya fidgeted with her scarf for a moment. "But any large-scale infiltration... that is of a totally different order."   

"I don't think it's large scale in the way you're thinking. I think it is more that people who are ready to hear Xavier's message are also a little ready to hear Magneto's. And he's fucking smart, Sooraya. He's making being a mutant a brand, and his face is all over it."  

"There is at least that silver lining they always keep talking of? It's something..." Sooraya tapped the table thoughtfully. "Still, while the professor's dream is a beautiful one, it's still a dream and that's far away. There is a limited amount of things we can put out to counter his 'mutant and proud' thing or whatever he is saying nowadays."    

"You are going to need to find a way. Because you're losing the messaging war." Kane shook his head. "Young people want change and he's promising them that."  

"I'll put out some feelers on what the general atmosphere is around here and I'll talk with some of the leaders as well. It's a place to start, but yeah... those are huge challenges..." Sooraya let out a sigh. "... and I don't have any immediate answers to how to counter their messages." 

"That should be your focus. Erik is good at making his insane idea sound plausible. When you consider where we started and where we are now, Xavier has all the wins."  

 "You got a point there." Sooraya nodded. "I'm gonna have to read Angelo and Terry in on some of your info though, since they aren't in the direct team structure. But they have their own links in the Underground... some I don't have... and while the other leaders don't need to know, it would be helpful for them to have at least some context and to know what they are looking for."  

"Don't be complacent with anyone outside of the mansion right now. There's both obvious sympathizers and people who have been duped. It won't be easy to identify which is which."  

Sooraya raised an eyebrow: "Warning taken. Even more reasons why Angelo and Terry need to know the basics. But this gives me at least a bit more of an idea of what's going on. Thanks."  

"I'd say my pleasure, but it completely wasn't. I hope it helps."  

"This wasn't the only thing I wanted to talk about though..." Sooraya continued after a long moment of hesitation. "Avalanche..."   

"Go ahead."  

 "I know you wrote that you tried to keep back as much as possible... information about our weaknesses and things, but it seemed like..." Sooraya fidgeted with her scarf for a moment. "What did you tell them?" 

"As little as I could. But also-" Kane paused. "Enough."  

Sooraya let out a sigh. "Probably I should just be frank... I can understand why you shared whatever information you gave them. And I respect the hard choice that you made there. I don't know if I could've done so... But with Avalanche... it was the closest I've come to death I think and emotionally I'm struggling with the fact that this is because a teammate and trainer I trusted shared my weaknesses. I spent a couple days stuck in sandform, unable to communicate in any way..."  

She shifted uneasily before continuing: "I need to deal with this myself mostly. But I also want to be honest and not let this fester."    

"That's fair. I wasn't the first to suggest Avalanche be directed at you with the Brotherhood. And he ignored Magneto's rules about how far the Brotherhood were allowed to go." Kane said. "But I was still in charge. All I can tell you is that the Brotherhood was coming for us at some point. I thought sooner and with a bit of my control was better than the alternative. But you had to pay the price for that, and I don't blame you for whatever resolution you feel you need."  

"I need to know exactly what you shared with them about me... Wait..." Sooraya frowned as something caught his attention. "What do you mean with 'Magneto's rules about how far the Brotherhood were allowed to go'? What happened there?"   

"No fatalities. No serious injuries. The point was to show they could humiliate the X-Men, not execute them." 

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Sooraya shook her head. "Magneto has something arrogant over him, but he can put his word where his mouth is. I think that is the scariest bit... But back to my original question... you mentioned my weakness against types like Avalanche... anything else? Other weaknesses? Tactics I usually use? Or things you specifically didn't mention?"   

"That you could be significantly more lethal with the right training, but being an X-Men had made you shy away from the most dangerous aspects of your powers."   

"Alright... so not something that is directly hugely damaging... possibly leading to underestimating me a tad, but best not to assume that." Sooraya mused softly, speaking mostly to herself.   

"Sooraya, I did my best to keep things to their own knowledge and prejudices. But I had to give up some info. I'm sorry about that, but it was the only way to make them believe I'd broken with the X-Men. I'm not sure what you want here. If you want to feel betrayed, you're right. I betrayed you. Bigger priorities aside, I still gave them a blueprint to hurt you. I take responsibility for that."  

She let out a slow sigh. "Like I said, I do understand why you had to make that choice, Garrison. And I do appreciate you taking responsibility.  It just scared me what happened... and knowing what they know seems to help a little." She hesitated a little. "Can I ask something else from you though?"  

"Go ahead." Kane had been straightforward the entire time. It was clear both that he felt he ultimately made the right choice, but he wasn't going to try and duck taking responsibility for the hurt it caused.  

"Train with me in the Danger Room. Not as a trainer, but just together." Sooraya met his eye grimly. "I imagine with you gone, Mags might be pissed, but he might also like to imagine he is sowing distrust among the X-men. So let's overcome any of that before he has a chance to launch some kind of plan on it. Second, with him out there along with Sentinels and whatever threat can think of... we're gonna be fighting side by side again no matter if you end up with the X-men again... so better to work through any stuff that might be there in the Danger Room."  

"You're going to have to give me some time, but I'll be back. If I have a place, but that seems likely. And believe me, I'm not giving Magneto any free passes." Kane nodded. "Next time he faces the X-Men, he faces all of us. Together."