Alison & Haroun ~ Sunday Evening...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Sunday evening, a short while after these emails. Alison decides to get a second opinion from Haroun about what she's been reading up on in Scott's files - and doesn't exactly get comforting answers.

Is this some sort of hobby of his, or does he really expect us to be able to stem the end of the world?

Reading Scott's carefully compiled stock of doomsday scenarios did not do one's mental state much good. Of course, once you started, it was surprisingly hard to stop - Alison had not been kidding when she'd told Madelyn there was a train wreck fascination to going through the things. Of course, now she was at the point where she was wondering if lack of sleep was influencing how she was viewing them. And if the better part of some of the Danger Room scenarios Scott put the team through regularly were actually linked to the damn files.

She was fairly sure she was right on that last part, actually. The walk down the hallway was spent mostly spent trying not to think of them for once, her laptop tucked under her arm. She'd removed the files from the server where Betsy had placed them for her, just in case someone decide to have a go at them - heaven forbid the kids get their hands on these, for one thing.

Nearly walking into the door was probably a bad sign. With a wince she knocked instead and then leaned on the doorframe. Thinking again, unfortunately.

"It's open!" called Haroun's voice from inside of his room, then he opened the door for her. "Hey." he said with a warm smile. "C'mon in." he said, stepping back to allow her room. His room was - austere, in many ways. A desk, his PC, stacks of Arabic homework, a television with a DVD player, and a few chairs. Not much else. "Take a seat. What's on your mind?"

Still cradling the laptop close, Alison walked to the nearest chair, sitting down slowly. "What's your opinion on the scenarios we've been going through ever since you got here?" She rose to her feet as soon as she finished her first question, setting the laptop down absently on the chair instead and started to pace, unable to sit down and not move. "Combat dynamics, possible opponents the scenarios are geared for, that sort of stuff."

"Kind of weak, actually. We don't do much as a team - so far, it's been small-unit tactics. Either solo or with a partner. Not much full-team integration that I can recall - you may have done some while I was home." he said after a moment's thought. "I've been reviewing the data you sent me. We've been misusing the Danger Room. It's got the capacity to track a whole lot of variables, and data review should be enough to sculpt entire workout plans. This is amazing stuff." he said with the technolust thick in his voice.

"Yeah, the Room is out there." From the tone of her voice, the Danger Room's capabilities were the least of her concerns. "And we used to do more team related sessions," she replied, shaking her head and pausing in the middle of the room. "But we still are." She shook her head, resuming her pacing across the room. "I think the scenarios we've had lately? They are team based. Think about it. How many of them seem to have similar angles? Or purposes, differing angles with similar results at the end?"

Haroun stopped to give it some real thought. "Scott, you crafty motherfucker." he said with great relish. "I didn't put it together until you mentioned it. But yeah, he is rerunning scenarios with some of the initial parameters skewed for various folks. See this one here? I ran this one with Paul. And this one here? Same scenario, same parameters - but this one is you and Nathan, here. See the similarities. And there's entire database tables devoted to compare-and-contrast. Amazing. Simply amazing."

"Uh huh. Yeah. Amazing." She leaned on the desk, looking at the screen. "Yeah. That'd be the one where Magneto tries to reverse the polarity of the planet's poles. Each various scenario assumes the rest of the team is dead. He doesn't run us through to the end though. Not with any of them." She took a deep breath, pointing at two more scenarios. "These are linked too. And the master file that directed those scenarios? End of the world anyway. He's been letting us think we actually get through the sessions but they're all only partials. No win scenario."

Haroun nodded. "Grim, but I can see why he's doing it. We're in a dangerous business, and we could quite possibly be called on to die at any time. So what he's doing here is seeing how we'd all deal with it. As best he can, anyway, without actually putting people under that kind of extreme stress."

"Except he's keeping it all to himself. It's not like we know the ultimate purpose of the scenarios, right? How can he tell how we'd really perform without knowing? Flawed date, from the start." She turned away from the screen, still leaning on the desk and looked at her laptop again. "In your estimate, how many of these scenarios might he reasonably have to work from?"

"Well, yeah. Not sharing was fairly dumb - even if it was just to team leads. No cookie for him. Hrm - I'd say that some of these are pretty far-fetched, but this set, here, strikes me as fairly plausible. Luckily for us Scott is anal, so he documented his logic all over the place. See?" He scrolled to a different section of the document and highlighted a few paragraphs of text. "He lists his assumptions and his reasons for making them."

"Yeah, he does, doesn't he?" She hadn't meant to sound quite that wry, but she was tired after all. "At least when you know what to look for. Here, have a look at these instead," she muttered, fetching her portable and setting it on his desk, flipping the lid open. It blipped out of dormant state, the screen soon coming to life with a file already open on screen.

Haroun scrolled through the documentation, his dark complexion going ever-so-slightly pale. "Well, that's some interesting reading. Is this some sort of hobby of his, or does he really expect us to be able to stem the end of the world?" Haroun asked. "Because, while I'm not sure about you, there's not a whole lot I can do in a case like that. I can fly. I don't manipulate fundamental laws of physics, I don't break Newton over my knee, none of that."

She laughed shortly, an entirely humorless sound. "Some of the stuff he's theorizing about is going to give me nightmares, thank you very much. And I've got what, one gig of those here? There's at least another five on the server, I think. I just grabbed files at random when I started going through those." She made sure to keep both hands on the desk, remembering some of the other scenarios she'd read. "I've been reading them since last night and I haven't even started to dent what he's got researched and written up."

"The man's thorough, I'll give him that. I can't imagine that this was easy for him. And he couldn't have done it on his own - even as field command, Charles would have surely knew. Chew on that before you go and get all indignant at the Chief." Haroun mused. "I have my own set of personal worst-case files." he admitted. "Personal only, but just trying to work out what I would do in the absolute worst-case scenarios that I can think of."

"I don't think Charles knows," she murmured. It wasn't indignation about the not sharing, it was latent terror at the thought of having to face any of it, really. "Not about the scale of all this, I mean, or how Scott's been obsessing over the possibilities. I'll bet you anything it started to get this bad when-" she stopped, not wanting to bring Jean up. "Besides. How can you really know how you'll react to something on this scale until you're actually confronted to it?" 

"Well, for a guy like Scott, he has to do something in order to live with himself." Haroun said. "Bet you a buck that's what it is. One part tragedy, two parts responsibility, add in a dash of good old-fashioned guilt."

"Yeah." She sighed, looking down before reaching over to slowly close the lid of her portable. "You could bet that." Thinking was just getting to be a very circular affair at the moment. "Gah. I need to send these to Ororo when I'm done. Might as well do it while Madelyn's keeping him under and what's being dead more at this point anyway?" She winced a bit at that, hoping she'd get advance warning when he would be released from the medlab.

"He might surprise you. Have you talked to Charles about this?" Haroun asked. "If you present a logical well-reasoned case, answer his objections calmly and rationally, he'll respond to it much better than he will to the Devil Woman who stepped in, kidnapped him, drugged him, and then ripped out years of work while he was out." he said blandly.

She stiffened a bit at that, taking the hit without a word of protest. "Thing is, we've been trying calm and rational for months now, Haroun. Hasn't really worked all that well." Taking a small breath and telling herself to stay calm and not react badly, that he had a point after all, she went on. "Still. Always worth a shot. Not like I don't have the files anyway." Another small breath, doing fine. "I've only seen Madelyn. Last night when Scott went down to check on 'yana and this morning when I took breakfast down to her. I've been sorting through these otherwise." She gestured towards the portable vaguely.

Haroun nodded. "For your own safety, and for my piece of mind, go talk to Charles. Lay it all out for him - hold nothing back. He might have some insights into things. As for me, I agree that the patient-and-understanding approach wasn't working. I even think that bringing these files up into the light was a good idea. However - the execution really, really stinks. How would you like it if, say, Scott came in, kidnapped you, drugged you, and then viciously rearranged your career and your life while you slumbered?"

Ow. Career? What career? Although she'd had the 'threatened to be killed and watched someone take a hit for meant for her' variation of things in that particular approach on lives being re-organized by others. "I'd hate it," she replied, voice shaking slightly. "I really did," she continued, unable to help the bitter undertone. "...would." Bad slip. Very bad. She needed to get some sleep and soon, somehow. "I'll talk to Charles soon as I can."

"Smart girl. You'll be fine as long as you get everything squared away before Scott comes to. And whatever comes, take it like a woman, OK? Don't hide behind the Devil Woman." Haroun suggested. "I'll back you." he said quietly.

"I-" she paused, staring at him for a moment. He was, now that she thought of it, the first to realize that - or at least the first to say something that indicated that. "Thank you. And, well, I don't think he'd actually kill me," she finally said, trying for a small smile. "Just come up with a lot of scenarios for it."

Haroun laughed. "Well, at least you'll know how he thinks, and it's not like we can't all use the extra work."

She couldn't help it - despite her state of mind, she started to laugh at that, shoulders shaking slightly. "Oh man, did you have to put it that way? Now I'm thinking in scenarios!" She didn't quite have a handle on the laughter, which was thankfully of the low muffled kind and not too out of control.

Haroun decided, right then and there, that he liked the sound of her laugh. He'd like to hear it again. "I live to serve." he said, bowing in-place to her. "I think we need to get everyone together, run through something that isn't the end of the world. Maybe rerun the tunnels, or the Mistra bust."

"Different opponent match-up on the tunnel run, Storm to send the one that was crystal into dissonance shock, Cyclops with-" She paused and gave him a sidelong look, then shrugged ruefully. "Being stuck in the infirmary with a hole in your leg gives you time to think things over?" She'd had thoughts about the Mistra op but wasn't on automatic anymore, so she kept those to herself for now.

Haroun grinned. "And you castigate Scott for doing it." he said sotto voce. "I've had a few thoughts about that op myself - I wasn't there, obviously, but I've watched the tape."

"I castigate Scott for over-doing it," she corrected without rancor. And decided that sitting down would be good now that she wasn't inclined to pace all over the room anymore. She retrieved the chair, bringing it closer to the desk and sat down with a sigh, stretching out her legs. "Share?" The mission was distant enough that most of the sting had ebbed with time - she was curious as to what he might have to say.

Haroun nodded. "Sure. Do me a favor, grab me a bottle of water from the fridge?" he asked Alison, then paused to think for a second. "Biggest problem was the time pressure and no intel. I would have sent Ororo up ahead, under cover of fog or something like that. As soon as she made contact, fall back into the abandoned train station, and either pick them off as they advanced or use Scott and you and Ororo to play fire-in-the-hole. I would have written Marrow off as dead." he admitted.

She went to get the bottle while he thought, placing it on the desk beside him before reclaiming the chair. The room was, now that she was paying more attention to other things, awfully bare. She concentrated on what his was saying though, not letting her thoughts wander too much. "Ah. Basic mission focus difference there though. We went in to get her back alive." That she'd revived mainly thanks to Ororo's lighting accidentally striking her was another story entirely. "So we weren't giving ground until we had her."

"And that's all well and good, but I could build a case that it was the wrong assumption to be operating under. But then again, when it comes to Sarah I'm hardly unbiased. I actually understand why she went, which is the scariest thing. Which reminds me - can I ask you for a serious favor?" he asked.

If nothing else, Alison would have to concede that she was hardly unbiased as well. And there was a difference between understanding and actually doing something - but she kept her peace on the matter, instead nodding simply. "What do you need?"

"You know how berserk Sarah gets when it comes to the killers who wiped out the Morlocks? There's a man out there by the name of Donald Pierce. Some day, I will kill him for what he did. But if there ever comes a time when I can take my shot and not endanger anyone else - will you tell the others? About why I did it?" he asked. "I can't explain, not today, but I will. Promise."

Donald Pierce. Emma had mentioned the name on more than once occasion, never in a good way. In fact, it had usually been with a surprising amount of emotion, considering how tightly controlled the woman always was. Emotions that had not once seemed positive in the least. It took her a moment to answer as she considered this, unwilling to go into the matter lightly and feeling unsettled by the mention of Sarah in comparison to whatever he might be talking about. "Yes," she finally said anyway, binding herself to the task before the explanation. "I will."

Haroun nodded. "Good. Anyway, back to this - the real problem was lack of intel. We still don't know crap about these people. Who they are, what they can do, their limits, their personalities. Hell, we don't even have names!"

"And we had no time to get the intel, since we knew Sarah was about to get killed." Alison shrugged a bit. "The priority was to get there fast and get Sarah out. We had nothing to go on in the least really - and when you're likely to face who knows what in terms of mutations, there's not really much you can anticipate successfully." Like someone using your own power against you for one. "We know a bit more now, actually."

"I would hope so. But that's part of the problem. They seem to know us, but we don't know them. And I don't know about you, but that bothers me. We had, what, three fatalities in return for one down and one wounded for us? Those aren't great numbers." he seethed.

"No. I mean we know more," she repeated, reaching over to tap a few keys on the keyboard to his computer. She moved the chair closer, accessing a few files with her own passwords, clearing all the secondary securities. "There." The news file started running, a report on a group of mutants robbing a bank in Ohio.

Haroun watched the report impassively. "Looks like the same people, all right. This is a good start. You get Pete or the new guy, what's his name, Sean? - to follow up on this stuff?"

She blinked a bit at his question - she wasn't even a second in command, really, why would she tell Pete or Sean - oh. Right. "We got this in yesterday from Pete. He's been scanning the news feed regularly already. Some of the intel we received from outside sources at the same time from his sources actually identifies the woman who the same power as the one they called Riptide in the tunnels." She paused a moment, hoping she wasn't repeating herself too much. "He's looking into things to get more information already."

Haroun hrmmed. "That's good. You can never have too much information. Do we know if these clowns are mutants, can we track them via Cerebro?" he asked, not realizing that there was likely No Way that Alison would know the answer to that question.

There was a small but still evident pause as Alison tried to process the question. "Ah. I don't know - I really don't know," she added, trying to get another answer for that one that had more information and failing immensely. "Scott or 'ro would. And Charles of course." She didn't think it was quite that simple, but anything more just wouldn't compute at the moment.

Haroun nodded. "I'll follow up with them." he said, then looked at Alison again. "When was the last time you slept?" he asked her. "The data will keep. You should get some sack time, come at this with a fresh mind."

"I catnapped," she replied, staring at the screen for a moment longer, hoping she'd managed to hide her reluctance at the notion well enough. She was supposed to sleep after reading those files - right. Oh good lord, she was starting to sound like Scott and Nathan. "What time is it anyway? I didn't check before wandering over." He'd looked up and about when she'd arrived so it wasn't as though it was too late. She hoped.

Haroun glanced at the screen of the PC he was currently using. "Ten forty-five. PM." he said. "You look wiped, and tired minds make mistakes. Go get some sleep." he urged her. "Come at this tomorrow, rested and fresh. Give you a whole new viewpoint, I promise."

Huh. Wasn't that late. A look at Haroun and the sneaking suspicion that he would not let go of this was pretty much confirmed. And he did have a very solid point - he just didn't know how badly she was reacting to the files. "Okay. I'll give it a shot," she murmured, though it took a moment longer before she associated that with actually getting up from the chair.

Haroun nodded. "Good. Want me to escort you back to your room, or would you prefer to just crash out here? Your pick." he said with a firm voice. "No matter what, you're going to get some downtime."

She had to decide on something? The nagging voice in the back of her mind reminded she had to go see Charles and she winced. Maybe making a decision on that offer wouldn't be a bad idea.  Especially since she didn't really think she wanted anyone to see her try to sleep just now. "Ok. Maybe an escort is good. I'll go see Charles in the morning before checking in on Scott," she muttered the last, more to herself than anything else as she reached for her portable.

Haroun nodded, and handed her back her laptop. "Good plan. Let me know  if you want some company on that score, OK?" he asked her before standing up to open up the door for her.