Scott and Haroun, Sunday evening

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Scott and Haroun, over a little Danger Room scenario-design, discuss the team, the trainees, training ideas, and leadership philosophy.


"You need to get the hang of cannibalizing elements from old programs," Scott said, calling up a scenario that he had designed for Jean and Hank, years ago. "I know," he said wryly before Haroun could reply, "that's easy for me to say, given that I wrote most of them. But there's only so much we can do with the Danger Room, even now, and sometimes it's not a question of being original so much as applying familiar elements in original ways."

Haroun hrmmed as he looked at the scenario in question. "I wanted to do something a little more urban. Some crazy takes hostages, starts making demands. Urban terrorism, that sort of thing. Be good for the kids..." he said, and then shook his head. "The trainees, rather. Be a good experience for them."

"I'm not a big fan of detailed scenarios like that," Scott admitted thoughtfully, after a moment. "Leads to too much confidence that they could actually handle a similar situation in the real world. There's no way we can duplicate half the variables we'd be facing with something like that in a holographic environment."

"Shouldn't stop us from trying." he said stubbornly. "Get people thinking about all the different variables, how things could possibly go wrong. Not that there's anything with running the Rat Race for the five thousandth time, but I thought our trainees might like something specific, something relevant than just generalized physical conditioning. Make them think, make them plan the op from start to end."

"Better to do that in a different forum," Scott said, sticking to his guns. "Rather than give them the illusion of reality along with it. Cockiness is all well and good, but everything in moderation."

"I'm open to ideas. We can't exactly go out and buy a few square blocks of some town somewhere, set the scenario up, and then let the trainees rip through it." he pointed out. "Holographically, even with the 'bots, is pretty much the only possibility. Or we can have one of the teams play OPFOR, be the tangos in this scenario. Besides, Lorna would make an excellent disgruntled FOH terrorist determined to wipe the mutant plague from the Earth forever." he said with a grin.

Scott looked sideways at him, raising an eyebrow. "Oh?" he asked dryly. "And I have no problems having some of the team play OPFOR - in fact, I had plans in that direction." He grumbled. "Nathan just had to go break his back... he would have been ideal for some of the things I had in mind."

Haroun shrugged. "Some days it's like that." he admitted. "My elbow still isn't 100%, but it's good enough for just about anything save the really heavy stuff. Just like your knee. My idea's pretty simple. Ideaologically-inspired bank robbery. Cops have been called, but one of the tangos has a power of some kind. X-Men are on the scene working _with_ the police, who are doing crowd-control and all that stuff. All the trainees have to do is figure out how to get in, take the robbers down, and get out with a minimum to zero friendly casualties. Which stops the "Cain rips through the wall and turns everyone into Thin Red Paste" plan."

Scott's lips twitched. "Not bad," he said. "You know, Alison suggested that we set up something for Cain where he's attempting to achieve some objective or another in the middle of a china shop."

"He's a fantastic asset, but there will be times when brute force is absolutely the _wrong_ answer." he agreed. "I like the china shop idea. That's just funny."

"The tactical reviews I've been throwing him thus far suggest that he's more than open to looking for the more subtle solution," Scott said more seriously. "It'll be work for him, I think, but less than for some of the other trainees and their particular issues."

Haroun nodded. "Is it just me, or is Husk on the verge of a complete mental breakdown?" he commented as he thought things through. "And we need to do something to push some people out of their comfort zones. I almost want to see Cain, Shiro, and Doug do this Urban Terrorism / Bull In A China Shop app. Put Doug in charge, and make the other two take orders from him. Stress them hard, see where things break."

"Wouldn't be just you, no. Part of me is glad that the last few missions haven't been anything we'd take trainees along on - simplifies things, and gives her the time to see Samson without distraction." He gave Haroun a patient look. "And I agree, pushing people out of their comfort zones is important. But so is being less than blatant about it."

"Why?" he asked, puzzled. "I mean, we _want_ people out of their depths. And I would think that we'd want them to know that we're pushing them, for their own good."

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," Scott said cryptically. "You set it up so that they find their own answers, define their own zones of comfort and discomfort. Otherwise they start looking at you like the chess player moving them around on the board like pawns - which you are, but they're a lot more likely to forgive you for that after the fact."

Haroun shrugged. "I'm not real interested in being loved if I can keep my people alive and able to get out there and do some good in the world instead." he said. "But I don't run the whole show - you do. I am not a very subtle person in this type of area." he said in the Understatement Of The Year.

Scott smiled faintly. "What we do is important," he said, "but how we do it is as significant." He turned his attention back to the specifications for the old scenario, pondering what could be extracted and re-used. "Of course," he said casually, "if we were to talk about getting people out of their comfort zones, maybe we should apply that to the command teams, too? Rotate the XOs, see how the three of you do... you with Ororo, maybe..." Oh, he was a bad man.

Haroun tried and failed to conceal his wince. "Touche." he said with a grimace. "I'm sorry, but I just do _not_ get along with her. I'll work with her, trust my life to her and vice-versa, but that doesn't mean I have to _like_ that sanctomonious little faux-African git." he grumbled.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "And how would you feel about me if I put you in the position of having to serve as her XO for two weeks?"

"I'd think that you were pushing me, and I'd start giving some serious thought to as to best meet the challenge." he said with a grin. "I'll take her orders, give her my advice if she wants it, and generally do everything for her that I do for Alison as her XO." he said formally. "But don't ask me to go out afterwords with her, or invite her into my life. That's all."

"See, the difference between you, in that hypothetical situation, and the trainees, is that you've already developed the ability to separate Haroun and Jetstream. You already trust me, and Alison, and Ororo - if only in the professional sense." Scott sighed, shaking his head. "Maybe it's coddling them, but too many of them do have trust or authority-related issues. We don't dare be anything but very careful in introducing them to the nature of the discipline they're going to need to do this. They might decide they can't do it in the end no matter what we do, but pushing their buttons right off the bat isn't giving them sufficient time to adjust their thinking."

"Cain's already got the discipline. Isn't he ex-military? Sliding back into that sort of a life, even as softened and changed as we make it, has been pretty painless for him. Let him inspire the others." Haroun pointed out. "And it's not that I don't trust my COs - I trust all of you. I just don't _LIKE_ her." he clarified.

"I'm counting on him inspiring the others," Scott said, duplicating a few of the specifications from the old scenario into the new one. That should add a nice twist... "And you have the damnedest ability to come right back around to the same conversational point. I'm not expecting you to be buddies with Ororo, Haroun. Really."

"That's good." he said. "Just wanted to make sure my point was being made correctly." he added, then let the point go. "So, back to this scenario. We going with the urban thing, or do you have something else in mind?"

Scott shook his head. "We can plan the urban scenario, if you want, but for now I think we'll stick to something a little less complicated. Variant on the Rat Race," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh? What this time?" he said, leaning over to look at the half-born scenario. "Does it involve explosions? Explosions are a great tool for sharpening one's attentions."

"Maybe some small ones." Scott made another few quick additions, then called up a rendering of the simulation. "It might push Angie a little hard with her imaging power, but I want to see how well she can integrate with more physically-based powers."

"And if it changes enough, her precognition is not going to help her." he said admiringly. "Nice bit of work there. For a Rat Race, this one's pretty devious. Who all do you have in mind for this thing? Remember, three dimensions, if not four." he added.

"Paige, Angie once we get her properly introduced to team scenarios. Wanda and Kylun, I think, too..." Yeah... that was a good mix, he thought.

Haroun hrmmed. "Watch it with Wanda. I think we need to press her, and press her _hard_. She's coasting." he said as he mentally reviewed Wanda's file. "She's got a whole lot of power that she's just scratching the surface of. She's got the potential to be a real hitter, but not if she's holding back."

"Not going balls to the wall doesn't mean coasting," Scott said. "And her power is a lot more complicated in its application than most around here. She and I have been putting our heads together on the subject."

"Yes it does." he protested with a grin. "She doesn't know where her limits even _are_, and neither do we. I'd feel better if we at least made an attempt at determining it. And I think I'm going to come up with a three-dimensional Rat Race. Get Shiro up in the air, me, Samuel, Warren, and anyone else we can get airborne. Can the Room do platforms in midair? Columns or that sort of a thing? I just got an idea."

"Shiro won't be ready for the Danger Room for weeks," Scott reminded him, "and while Sam's healing up, if he starts training again before he's fit for it there will be ass-kicking." He smiled faintly. "That being said, it sounds like a decent idea, and columns, the Room can manage."

"That's OK, this idea will keep. I wanted to put some folks up on the platforms - our projectors. You, Lorna, Alison, that kind of thing. Then get Shiro and the rest of the fliers airborne, and put a limitation of them that they cannot stop moving in any dimension beyond a certain rate of speed. Folks on the platforms are trying to tag the flyers, and the flyers are trying to knock the folks on the platforms off. We pad the fuck out of the floor, to keep things safe for the columns folks. Could be good."

Oh, the potential for injury. "Could be," Scott said dryly. "I think we might hold off on that until we have a telekinetic who can play catch, though. Training injuries are best minimized."

Haroun nodded. "Like I said, this isn't something that needs to go up next week. We can wait until we have people healthier." he said. "But it sounds like a whole lot of fun. Put Angie up there, make her use her images creatively." he mused.

"I hereby dub you 'Idea Guy'," Scott murmured, making another couple of changes to the program. "Just keep in mind that different people have different paces, when it comes to training. One size does not fit all."

"Of course it doesn't." he said with a brief verbal raspberry. "But I think the Bull Sessions for post-op are a very, very good idea and I'd like to do more of them." he elaborated. "There's a whole lot of good stuff that comes out of those sessions, and hell, we can set agendas for the next _month_ just based on what gets said or not said."

"There's a certain resistance to cross-evaluation, still," Scott said with a snort, then couldn't help a wry smile. "By the way, when I gave Shiro his initial reading, I included the evaluations on his 'performance' on Muir. All of them. Yours, Alison's, and Nathan's... it was too good an opportunity to point out that his future teammates can have very different points of view on the same events."

"We're working on it. It's a constant topic in the XO meetings." he said. "Trying to break down that resistance, get more people contributing and evaluating. Cain and Nathan will be big helps in that regard, if we can get the smaller of those two big lugs to put his damned leathers back on and get back in the game."

Scott paused, then smiled a bit. "He will be," he said, obscurely tickled that he got to be the one to pass this bit of news along. "He told Alison earlier, then let me know a little while ago."

Haroun grinned from ear to ear. "Well, outstanding!" he said. "That is excellent news. Guess I need to go poke him about getting through rehab."

"Feel absolutely free to use the balls to the wall approach this time," Scott said, unable to help a laugh. "As it's already been well-established that you both work better that way."

Haroun grinned. "I hear and obey." he said with a laugh. "We'll get him squared away soon enough."

"Nathan's planning to come back, Sam's healing up, Lorna will be back in shape before too long... we'll come out of the last little while with the team intact yet."

"Bigger and badder than ever, no less." he said with a grin. "I think you have a point about there being something in the water. Months with nothing, and then all of a sudden, BLAM! Trainees everywhere!"

"Too bad they all have such different motivations," Scott snorted softly. "Can't come up with a better explanation than something in the water..."

"Mass hallucination? Telepathic influence? Empathic influence? Mass insanity?" Haroun suggested with a laugh. "Who knows why it is, but it is, and I can't wait to start taking advantage of it."

Scott cracked another smile. "That, at least, we can agree on one hundred percent. The applicability of some of our trainees' powers gives me happy feelings, to put it mildly."

"God Above, I'm surprised you don't grin like a maniac when you glance at the full roster!" he said. "Our depth chart just got, well, deeper. More hitters, more projectors, more flyers, more precognition. More, more, more. It's _all_ good!"

"So long as we use it well, it's good," Scott said. "And yes, I am a downer. No need to say that aloud."

"That sort of goes without saying." Haroun said skeptically. "I wasn't planning on seceeding New York from the Union and creating the banana republic of al-Rashid, you know." he laughed.

"Really? I always thought you had the makings of a good dictator..."

Haroun grinned. "You say the sweetest things." he lisped back.