Doug and Scott

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Backdated a couple days. A few days after the Shrove Tuesday pancakes, which were a bit of a peace offering, Doug comes by Scott's office to apologize and offer an idea that's been rattling around in his head. The idea is received better than he thought.



The pancakes had been a sort of peace offering, and Scott had taken those well enough. But Marie-Ange was right. You couldn't hide from people just because you were convinced they were angry at you. Letting things fester didn't solve anything. So here Doug was, standing at the doorway to Scott's office. Sighing softly, he tapped hesitantly at the door.

"Come in," Scott called, automatically closing the file he'd been reviewing - one of the reports from the rescue mission up north, thus not anything he wanted to leave around where someone might get a glance at the screen. The door opened, and Scott blinked at Doug. "Hey," he said lightly. "What's up?"

Light was good. Light meant Mr. Summers might not be as cranky at him as he thought, which in turn hopefully meant a lack of 5AM runs as punishment. Doug knew that Mr. Summers had said that he was done with him, but that didn't mean 5AM runs couldn't be handed out if he was cranky. Taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of Scott's desk, Doug paused for a moment to sort his thoughts out. "Mostly, I wanted to apologize for being an ass," he said quietly.

Scott gazed at him for a moment, a bit surprised. "Well. Apology accepted, although there's really no need. You've had a lot to sort out." He smiled a bit. "A little hissing and spitting was probably to be expected."

Doug shrugged. "Yeah, but I could have handled things a lot better than I did. I...I think I have a tendency to hide behind the computer sometimes Easier to have that barrier there. Except that I'm also kind of used to the whole body language thing now, so everything just gets all messed up and I wind up putting my foot in it." He was probably babbling, but at least Mr. Summers was smiling and looking supportive so far.

"I think the journals encourage the whole hiding-behind-your-computer approach," Scott said easily. "But you should probably make a concerted effort to stop doing that, especially when you do have the advantage of being able to read body language. It's like tying one hand behind your back, otherwise."

Doug nodded. "Except that my power also helps me a lot with computer stuff, like programming, and cracking codes and stuff..." He frowned for a moment. "I guess I kind of need to strike some sort of balance there." He paused for another, longer, moment, then straightened in his chair. "I...actually had kind of a thought about that, sir," he said, a bit more formally, subconsciously talking to Cyclops, leader of the X-Men, rather than Mr. Scott Summers, teacher.

"Oh? Share?" The shift in tone didn't go unnoticed.

"Well, I continue to believe that I wouldn't make a very good X-Man, sir. But I had an idea that's sort of been percolating in the back of my head for a while. Um...do you read DC comics much, sir?" The question was an apparent non sequitur, but the way he asked meant that it really was relevant to the discussion.

Scott gave him a blank look. "Can't say that I've ever picked one up, Doug, sorry..." Maybe way back, before the plane crash, but he didn't remember one way or the other. And certainly in the years after, before he came to the mansion, there hadn't been much in the way of time or opportunity for normal hobbies.

"Hm." It would have helped if Mr. Summers would recognize the reference, but it wasn't _that_ hard to explain. "Okay, so the Justice League - Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, they have their big watchtower that they operate out of. And they go do their superhero thing pretty regularly. But the thing that kind of keeps them together is Oracle. Oracle is a regular old human - a paraplegic, actually, but she's brilliant with computers. So she's the one who's responsible for finding all kinds of information and keeping the League in touch with each other."

"Mmm." Scott raised an eyebrow. "I don't doubt that you could offer us some exceptional support along those lines, Doug, but I thought you believed there were better ways to accomplish what needed doing than the X-Men?" He was giving away the fact that he'd talked to Nathan about his and Doug's conversation in the kitchen a while back, but if the kids thought that the staff didn't talk about them, maybe it was about time they found out that so wasn't the case.

"I don't know that 'better' is necessarily the word, sir," Doug replied. He figured that Nathan might have talked to Scott, so the confirmation wasn't all that surprising to him. "And I think it's a bit obvious, after the events of the other day, that there are still reasons for the X-Men to exist. Nonviolent protest is all well and good, but there are still baseline humans out there like Mistra, and mutants like Magneto who think that our mutancy somehow places us above baseline humans."

Doug paused for a moment and swallowed. In for a penny, in for a pound, he supposed. "And, while I don't think I'd make a very useful X-Man in combat, I had a thought that if I were to man the coms on a fairly regular basis, that frees up someone who might be more useful in the field. Also, if there is another invasion of the mansion, I can help evacuate the students, and again allow a more combat-trained X-Man to deal with whatever the crisis is. I guess the idea I had was that I'd be somewhere between regular student and full X-Man." Folding his hands in his lap, Doug waited somewhat nervously for Scott's response. Lord knew that the way he'd treated Mr. Summers recently wouldn't necessarily inspire cooperativeness, but he honestly believed that his suggestion was a good one.

"There are a large number of team members who would probably bless you if they were freed of coms duty here in the mansion," Scott said after a moment, thoughtfully. "You do realize there's a difference between communications as done in the Situation Room, and communications out in the field? The latter can't really be coordinated from here. What you do from here is keep track of teams or team members out in the field, monitor the newsfeed, stay alert for incoming calls..."

Doug nodded enthusiastically. "Sort of like the operators in the Matrix movies. I imagine the ability to hack and break codes might come in handy there, too," he continued, somewhat relieved that Mr. Summers hadn't shot his idea down out of hand. Not that he really suspected that would be the case, but putting yourself out there like that could be a bit nervewracking.

"The word you're looking for is auxiliary," Scott said after a moment. "A member of the team, but not an active field operative. That's what Madelyn's become, and that's what you'd be if you took on a role like this." Scott chewed on his lip thoughtfully. "You're not of age yet, though, and I'm not comfortable with the idea of you doing this until you are. Which actually works... you turn eighteen in what, May? It would probably take us that long to get you properly trained for the job. At least."

Doug snapped his fingers. "Auxiliary. That's the word I was trying to think of. I hate not being able to come up with the word I want." He was aware that he was babbling a bit, but he supposed it was forgiveable under the circumstances. "And training is fine. I just...figured I should come to you with the idea sooner than later, see what you thought."

"Let me give a training program some thought, talk to the other team leaders and the Professor," Scott said. "I don't have any objections to the idea, certainly. Time the team members aren't spending on coms duty can be spent on training, or out in the field."

"That's what I figured," Doug replied. "Do some of the mundane stuff that doesn't necessarily require powers, so that I can free up time for everyone else." The fact that Scott seemed to like the idea really took a weight off of his shoulders, and he relaxed a bit into the chair.

Scott chuckled softly. "Was it really that nervewracking, coming to me with this?" He shook his head a little when Doug didn't respond. "Don't worry about it. I like ideas, Doug. You never know when one is going to be an answer to more problems than the person who came up with the idea realizes at first."

"That was my hope, sir," Doug replied. He shook his head wryly. "And yes, it really was that nervewracking, especially given the way I've snapped at you over the journals the past week or so." He levered himself up from the chair and turned for the door. "Thanks for hearing me out, and let me know what the Professor and the other team leaders think."

"You're quite welcome. I'll talk to you about this again soon, Doug," Scott promised, already turning back to his computer even as the young man let himself out.

Comments

[x-polarisstar.livejournal.com]

No more comm duty? Dude, you are so getting eclairs!