Scott, Shinobi and Haroun (Thursday evening)

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

After Nathan is brought back to the mansion, Scott sets about taking further precautions.



Scott took a deep breath, his eyes flickering to the closed - and locked - door of the room where Nathan was. He really didn't like the idea of Betsy being in there with him, but he couldn't deny the necessity of having a telepath right there to keep an eye. I hope to hell we don't regret bringing him back here, Scott thought, part of him horrified at himself for thinking it, but the risks were all too obvious. Sedatives and restraints and Charles and Betsy's close attention aside, Nathan was still lethally dangerous.

"They'll be fine in there," a voice from behind Scott observed, sounding more tired than anything else. Shinobi offered the older man a faintly sheepish smile, not having wanted to startle him, as he wandered closer to join Scott in eyeing the closed door. "And we'll all be fine out here."

"I'm not sure that we should have brought him back here," Scott said quietly, his jaw clenching a little at the tiny stab of self-loathing he felt for speaking the thought aloud. But it was his place to think tactically, wasn't it? "Not that there were any other immediate options, I suppose."

"He's safest here, and so are we," Shinobi countered gently. "I can understand and empathise with the worry, Scott, but this really was the safest of all options, for all involved."

"You did hear what happened?" Scott took another deep breath, forcing himself to look away from the door. "I can only imagine what sort of stories are making the rounds among the kids." He shook his head. "A damned good thing Pete was there. Though I'm awfully surprised neither of them wound up dead."

Shinobi nodded, running a hand over his face with a tired, wry smile. "Rumors, but nothing concrete," he nodded, casting a quick look around before locating an empty chair, and very carefully settled down to sit. Ow, ribs. "I'm sure Pete and Nate are just as surprised as you are, somehow."

"Charles is fine. I'm not sure how Nathan missed him, but he did." Scott came over and sat down beside Shinobi. "None of the kids were hurt. None of the bystanders, even, for all that Nathan and Pete were apparently cutting loose with their powers, too."

"Could have been much worse, then," Shinobi nodded, raking a hand back through his hair as he cast another look towards the door. "All that's left now is cleaning up."

"Something that we have no idea how to do," Scott said, a hint of despair creeping into the words. Shinobi just looked at him. "I doubt Nathan told anyone else about this, but he and Charles kept me updated. Charles wasn't having any luck removing his conditioning, and that was when it was only partially functioning, Shinobi. I don't know what they've done to him this week..." He stopped, grimacing again. "Well. I guess we can make an educated guess, can't we?"

Shinobi nodded thoughtfully, watching Scott for a moment before reaching over to lay a hand on his shoulder. "He's going to be fine, Scott," he said firmly, tilting his chin towards the door. "We've got several of the world's finest telepaths in this house, several of the world's finest doctors, not to mention the innumerable people we could call in from elsewhere for help.. he'll be fine."

He envied Shinobi's confidence. Was it the optimism of youth, Scott wondered a bit wearily, or just denial? "We're going to need to station people down here," he said after a moment, not meeting the younger man's eyes. "Just in case the precautions we've taken turn out not to be enough."

Shinobi eyed him a moment longer before he nodded, giving his shoulder a quick squeeze before he took his hand back. "My ribs are still a little tender, but not so much that it would be problematic to move if I had to."

Scott nodded. "In a couple of hours, then," he told Shinobi. "He's not even conscious again yet - apparently Amanda hit him with a sleep spell." He smiled humorlessly. "Poor kid. I can't imagine seeing the two of them trying to kill each other sat very well with her."

"Probably not," Shinobi agreed quietly. "I'll go check on her, sit with her 'til it's time for me to come back down here."

"I'm going to keep everyone on alert, I think," Scott said, rising and moving over to the computer terminal on one of the tables. "Above and beyond the fact that we have a very compromised telekinetic in restraints behind that door, we don't know if Mistra's going to leave him here with us without a fight.

"Depends on if they know he's here or not, but I suppose it wouldn't be a very lengthy leap of logic," Shinobi mused thoughtfully, remaining in his seat for the moment. It's a comfortable seat. And his ribs are enjoying the lounge. "They'd regret coming here very much, though, methinks."

"Here's hoping we don't have to find out," Scott muttered, calling up the team journal. He glanced sideways at Shinobi. "Go check on Amanda," he said very quietly. "And try and get a little rest. It might be a very long night."

Reluctantly, Shinobi nodded and carefully rose from his chair, with a quiet sigh of relief as his ribs didn't protest the motion too loudly. "So long as you get a little rest, too," he agreed. "Crisis or no, I'm not above having someone cart you off to bed if you need it."

"Mmm," Scott said as he typed, his lack of interest in his own sleep deprivation perfectly obvious. "And Shinobi," he said more seriously as the younger man headed towards the door. "When you come back down here to go in there, be careful. Just because he doesn't have his powers doesn't mean he's not dangerous."

---

Scott looked up to see Haroun standing in the doorway of the War Room and nodded. Two minutes, from being summoned to arriving; not bad. "I'm going to need to put you to work tonight," he said, gesturing for the other man to come in.

Haroun nodded. "Sure." he said. "What do you have for me? Need the Blackbird prepped?"

"No," Scott said. "We're battening down the hatches for now. I don't know what we can expect from Mistra with Nathan back here, but I'm not willing to take the chance." He glanced at the clock. "You're more useful in the air, so I want you on watch outside for a shift. Then you can take a watch in the medlab." He grimaced slightly. "I know Charles is confident that Nathan's safely restrained, but I think having backups upon backups is probably a very good idea."

Haroun nodded. "Only makes sense." he said with a nod. "Any idea what I should be looking for when I'm airborne?" he asked with a curious tilt of his head. "Might help get a jump on things. And I presume you've got somebody coordinating comms?"

"I'll be doing it, for the next few hours. Have to reassess where I need to be at that point." Scott paused. "As for what you're looking for... anything. Approaching aircraft, other fliers, people appearing on the ground where they shouldn't be - according to the files Pete and Nathan drew up before all this happened, Mistra has had teleporters among their field operatives. Not capable for range, or teleporting more than themselves, but still. I know the security system will warn us if someone shows up unexpectedly, but I want as much warning as possible."

Haroun nodded, taking mental notes to himself. "Got it. So basically, anything that shoudn't be there gets called in. You going to lock the kids down, to minimize false positives?" he asked. "Last thing we need to do is send the horde because one of the kids wanted to smoke on the Flyer's Platform, or went on a horseback ride, or something."

Scott nodded. "I'll have Paul or Sam relieve you in three hours. Then I do want you back here." He gritted his teeth. "I need people I can trust to do what's necessary watching the medlab." Between Betsy and Shinobi with their guilt issues, and Alison, who was entirely too close to Nathan to be objective...

Haroun nodded. "It sounds to me, O Fearless Leader, that when this is all said and done that we're going to need to review some of our internal staff and policy decisions. X-Men aren't any good to you if they can't be relied on to perform in a crunch. Well, anyway, let me go get airborne. Give me that earbud, and I'm in the air in fifteen."

Scott handed over the earbud. "Regular check-ins on the quarter-hour," he said. "Watch yourself out there."

"Always do." Haroun smirked. "I'm the dependable one, remember?"