Summary:Scott, Jean, and Elmo reconvene to work on the community center generator and Zee joins discussion about Disaster Zone robots. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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The generator for the community center is an ancient beast. A mythical creature cobbled together from spare parts and makeshift repairs, some of which…may not even actually run on mechanics. After all, there's a whole array of mutant powers out there, and the community is usually willing to chip in to help out. Sometimes that means it runs on a surge of some mutant's electric bolts. Sometimes it's on the power grid. Just what keeps it running at any given time is up for grabs.
Today, it's Elmo's turn to take a swing at it. Jean isn't all that much help when it comes to mechanics, but she does have a handy knack for lifting parts, moving things that can't be reached with hands, and supplying tools. And, as it happens, sandwiches.
In a spare back supply closet, the generator chugs and wheezes along. Jean's claimed a perch on a stack of rubbermaid totes full of random supplies, with a cooler of sandwiches and sodas at her side, one of which she's already broken into. It's just being prepared to eat first!
The first thing Elmo did when he came to work on the generator was coo to the thing in Yiddish. While petting it. "Gut eyngl, ikh vet helfn ir, hm?" He may have hugged it. Okay he definitely hugged it. Then he took it apart with uncanny ease. He's not just an electrician, there's a mutation going on there too. But the taking-apart went slow because there were so many interesting things happening in the generator! Elmo does a lot of exclaiming in delight and holding parts up to get a better look at them and trying to explain why certain things were totally nonsensical yet working. He's having a fantastic time, honestly, kneeling on the floor with dozens and dozens of odd mechanical bits arranged according to some secret process.
Scott, of course, has tried numerous times to get this thing working again. Over and over. But, as pointed out before, not all of it is held together and running entirely on things that make logical sense. He could have sworn there was a piece of a Kirby engine manifold attached to the damned thing last time he had gotten up inside of it. But, after his introduction to Elmo, the two had come to a resolution to take another crack at the old beast.
And so here he is.
Scott is dressed for the occasion. Notably, he's just wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, left unbuttoned to show off a heathered grey t-shirt underneath that sports a blue X emblem across the chest, reading Xavier's Institute Est. 2008 underneath of it. A pair of old, threadbare jeans with the knees worn out, and faded oil stains dotting the thighs. Beat up old caterpillar work boots, similarly stained. A baseball cap in black, with a yellow front panel bearing a red X symbol, the bill folded into a sharp arch over his ruby glasses. And a toolbox held in one hand. As Jean snacks, and Elmo whispers sweet nothings to it, Scott is left there standing watching. He wears a bemused look on his face, lips quirked to one side in neither smile nor frown. His brows furrowed together. Hip cocked to one side slightly.
"Alright there, Don Juan, you're starting to make me feel like the generator needs an adult," Scott finally says, as he moves forward and kneels down to look at the various bits and pieces. "Are you able to make heads or tails of this stuff? I mean, like seriously, what even is this?"
Scott, to emphasize his point, lifts up what looks like some fleshy membrane that looks like a ribbed hose of some sort. He sort of waves it about, so that it waggles back and forth, dangling from his fingertips.
It's not every day that a celebrity magician just wanders into the back area of the Mutant Town Community Center as she pleases. (There are also not very many celebrity magicians that people would recognize as such anyway.) Zatanna Zatara bucks this trend. A black coat covers most of her body, with a black knit cap helping to keep long (black) hair out of her face. Black boots to mid-calf — black fishnet on the bits of leg visible between boots and coat.
But why is she here?
"Looks like the party started without me," Zatanna says toward Scott as he waves around his weird membrane hose thing. "Though I'm not sure what kind of party it is, with… whatever that is." Zatanna's hands are in her pockets. She looks from Scott to Elmo, then to Jean. "Guy at the front said the action was back here. Hope I'm not interrupting."
"Careful, Scott, I think you're playing with the lady's underthings," Jean smirks around a mouthful of sandwich, snickering just a little bit. Supervision is a valuable part of her contribution as well. Sandwiches, telekinesis, and supervision. "Now you know how I feel in the garage," she adds with a broader grin. "Speaking of, Rogue and I caught a…thing in the disaster zone yesterday. We broke it, because it definitely needed to be broken, but we brought it out for someone to dig through. I didn't want to take it back to the school though because it's some sort of surveillance thing, so right now it's in a storage unit in Brooklyn. Any suggestions on where to take it, or do you guys maybe want to poke at it there?"
But then there's someone else arriving, and it's someone who's here for…Scott? Jean quirks a brow, though there's something more than just curiosity in her features. Or maybe just an extra level of intensity. At least until she replaces it with a friendly smile. "Hey," she greets. "I'm not sure I can speak for the boys and how they're feeling about this machine, but I think it's safe enough. Sandwich?" she offers, digging one out of the cooler.
"Not that," Elmo says, eyeing the thing Scott is waving. "That's gonna have to go to biohazard. I don't do squishy." He's in the process of disassembling a weird object more like a 3-d puzzle than anything else. "Aw, man," he goes on, lighting up, "this is so great. The ingenuity! I was gonna rebuild the old girl, but hell, it feels like it'd be an insult at this point. Think we oughta just neaten her up, replace some of the, uh," he tips his head at the fleshy thing, eyebrows going wry, "exotic parts, hook 'er into the grid."
He sits crosslegged on the floor, surrounded by a Kuiper belt of curious junk. His toolbox is open nearby. Looking up at Jean, his eyes get big. "A thing? What kinda thing?" He glances over at Zatanna when she comes in, and lifts a spanner at her in greeting.
The moment Scott hears Zee's voice, his eyes become as wide as silver dollars underneath the reflective red lenses of his glasses. His mouth snaps shut, and he flings the membrane hose out of his hand off to one side as he shoots up to a standing position and pivots on his heels to face the magician. All in under a second. Folding his hands behind his back, Scott affects his most charming paper thin smile. "Zee! How good that you came in here just at that very precise moment! We were just… aahhh…"
The tension breaks, and he shrugs his shoulders, sliding his hands out from behind himself and into the pockets of his jeans in the process. "Well, it's… It's pretty much exactly what it looks like."
He clicks his tongue against the back of his teeth, his lips pulling tight to one side as he sort of head bobs and looks down and to the side. "…ayup."
Jean, though, is speaking of some weird robot things and so Scott turns to face her, taking comfort in ridding himself of one particular brand of weirdness for another altogether. His head cants to the side. "Surveillance thing? So it was… what? Like a drone? Hey, maybe Elmo and I could take a crack at it."
He stops, gesturing to Elmo, and adding, "If you're down for that, man. I'm not trying to voluntell you for anything or nothing, but it does kind of sound like it might be right up your alley. And with my buddy Hank being busy these days… I kinda could use a wingman on the more tech kinda stuff."
However, back to the elephant in the room. Scott suddenly seems to notice that introductions are in order. His upper body twists to face Jean, and then to Zatanna, and he says, "So… By the way, this is Zee… Zatanna. Zee, my friend on the floor there is Elmo. Not to be confused with the muppet with the annoying song. And uh… This is Jean. I think I might have mentioned her the other night at Mario's."
Zatanna is all smiles. She has the kind of easy graciousness that comes from extensive practice and honing. When Scott fails to really convey what's going on, Zee steps forward and looks at the generator. She's still smiling, but her brows knit, like in a 'what the hell is that?' kind of a way. "Wow," she says. "Did you three make this? Is everything in this thing even legal?"
When Scott introduces the group, Zee takes her hand out of her pocket to wave back to Elmo. Jean is introduced as 'might have mentioned her,' and there's a brief moment where the intensity of Zatanna surveying Jean matches the intensity of Jean surveying Zatanna. "You did, yeah," she says, but her voice doesn't betray anything but pure positivity. "Hey, Jean. Hey, Elmo. And, ah, I'm good on the sandwich, but thank you for offering—!"
"Nice to meet you, Zee," Jean nods to the other woman with that same smile, tossing the sandwich back into the cooler. "I don't know about legal," she muses. "Generator codes aren't really my wheelhouse. But yeah," she continues to Scott, smile slipping crooked at Elmo's excitement. "It was, uh…" There's a sidelong glance in Zee's direction, but apprently being with Scott is enough to vouch for her.
"It looked kind of like a centipede. Once we could see it, that is. There were a few of them. Retroreflective panels and cameras making them 'invisible,'" she adds air quotes. "The extra creepy part is that they were self-repairing. So that was kind of terrifying. And probably not good news. There was someone from SHIELD there and it sounded like it wasn't any of theirs or anything they were admitting to knowing about, which is worse news."
Elmo snickers at Scott and all his attempting smoothness and not at all like there was just a fleshy hose in his hands. He tries to repress it. Which, as Scott just keeps digging that hole, escalates further and further until Elmo's laughing with one hand over his eyes. "Oh, buddy," he mutters, tone all amused sympathy. Then he clears his throat and quirks half a smile at Zatanna. "Hi. Your name is real pretty." He gives no sign of recognizing her from the other night. "Uh, legal? Hah! I should hope not." Elmo tosses a chunk of twisted, melted metal into a bin. "Then again, ain't nothing in code that says a generator can't have Sentinel parts in it. They oughta update that."
Those big, clever hands of Elmo's (oversized for him, given how very small he is) keep working almost on their own while he listens with interest to Jean. He sucks in a breath of pure glee. "Oh, gevaldik!" He looks back at Scott, and questions of being voluntold to mess with the centipede robot thing are all answered by that eager, urgent look on his expressive face. "You gotta let me mess with it, you just gotta!"
"So, uh… Yeah!" Scott says, clapping his hands together and bringing them up as if in prayer to rest his fingertips against the underside of his chin. The moments between the two women aren't unnoticed by the occular-shrouded mutant. He is, after all, a man of singular vision. He draws in a deep breath, and releases it as a low, long sigh from pursed lips. "We… can't say that this is entirely legal. Like Elmo said, there may or may not be some Sentinel parts in there. Maybe some Kree tech. Obviously someone's…"
He looks at the fleshy hose thing again, and his upper lip curls into a sneer of disgust, akin to the look someone might have when examining a cockroach. Or that white film that gathers on the corners of someone's lips when they're really thirsty. Quietly, he just mutters, "… toy."
The hose, standing on one end, slowly curls to one side and flops over, rolling in a lazy, wide circle.
"But!"
Another deep breath.
"Self-repairing invisible robot centipedes. Because that's not creepy at all or anything. Yeah. I think I'll have to drag Elmo along for that. Sounds like I'll need some help getting legs on that one."
He looks between the three of them.
"Get it? Legs… because centipe-nevermind!"
Zatanna's smile stays frozen while Scott jokes, and then explains the joke, and then abandons explaining the joke. She very much looks like someone being polite while questioning if the person across from them is having a brain episode. The moment passes when Zatanna says, "Hey, everyone bombs at open mics, don't worry about it." She winks to drive home that it's intended as playful teasing.
The magician steps closer to the generator, positioning herself next to Elmo, and kneels down to have a look at it. She's really mostly just curious if any magic got jammed into the thing with all the other stuff smushed together inside it (and also on the outside of it). "So, wait, this is what you do for fun?" Zatanna pokes at a piece of the generator experimentally. "Mess around with machines that might actually constitute some form of mortal sin according to the Vatican, and chase invisible robot centipedes?" Zatanna pauses, then says, "I mean, I suppose better than invisible Human Centipedes, but still."
"Well, the invisible robot centipedes were sort of more of a, uh…side quest?" Jean's smile quirks again as she takes another bite of her sandwich, shrugging. "I try to go in there at least once a month or so. Mostly I'm looking for Sentinel parts to make sure they don't end up in the hands of purifiers or something like that. Sometimes I end up finding invisible robot centipedes instead, which is kind of worse." She chews in silence for a moment, mulling it over.
"I mean, they were definitely meant for surveillance, but they were designed to be self-repairing. What's in the disaster zone that someone would want that kind of tech digging around for it? I've been kicking around there for years and with the exception of the occasional Sentinel part, I've never come across anything that'd be worth all that."
Elmo winces on Scott's behalf, then he's desperately trying not to giggle as the flesh tube thing flops over. He bites his lip and makes a show of concentrating super hard on the weird gizziewichy he's working with. He might be nervous. "I'm dyin' to take a self-repairing retroflecting robot apart, you kiddin'? Don't start without me. …Well, this is one of the things I do for fun?" he answers Zatanna, tightening up with anxiety as she kneels next to him. "Uh, you were probably talking to Scott. Nevermind." He gets red across the nose. What is he supposed to do?? "It's, uh, I think this part was Sentinel metal, and I found a Kree power source one time, that was great." Elmo is about to go on about that but veers abruptly off that topic. "ANYway, yeah. Uh, yeah."
Scott starts to speak up when Zee teases, but just sort of juts his chin out and gives a half shrug, nodding it off. He's got nothing. It's obvious.
When Zee asks about their idea of "fun" Scott does frown, and shake his head. He moves, too, pulling up an old cooler chest that's been tucked away inside here, so that he can squat down and sit atop it next to Jean, as Zee checks out the generator. "Not exactly fun, I would say. I mean, this seems like this is all up in Elmo's tickleparts or something but for me, it's more just…"
He's not sure how to put that. But the spirit of Raul Julia comes upon him in his moment of need, and he finishes:
"Tuesday."
Jean's assessment of the situation is mulled over. For as awkward as Scott may be when it comes to social graces and pretty girls, he is a party sharp guy. What would someone want that they would have invisible centipede robots with self-repairing capabilities roaming around there for? Surveillance? "The question is if they were a search party or a security measure. Either way… There has to be something else there other than just scrap. I'd have to check out where it all went down to be able to get a better idea, though. Maybe Zee can help with that, though. Zee, you got any crystal balls or anything? I mean that seriously. I don't know how your magician stuff really works."
Suddenly, Scott snaps his fingers. "Oh man. Human Centipede. Ugh! Dammit. Now I'm gonna have that mental image in my head all day."
Zatanna nods to Jean, and grins big when Elmo starts going on about his apparent passion. "No, no, it's cool," she assures the mechanically-minded mutant. "I collect weird stuff myself. And I mean capital-W Weird stuff. Just, ah, not usually from the same place as this bunch." She winks, then looks over at Scott when he speaks.
"Do I have any crystal balls?" Zatanna repeats, pursing her lips. "I mean, yes? Like, unironically, yes. But they wouldn't be the most reliable or efficient thing for this, I don't think. And sorry, it was a bad joke, I know." Zee stands up, smoothing her coat. She looks to Jean: "I mean, if you want my help, that is, I can do my best. I'd just need to know a little more about what I'd be doing to find the right tool for the right job." A glance to Elmo. "Know what I mean?"
Jean doesn't seem to find Scott's awkwardness at all unusual. Benefits of long association, no doubt. She's gone immune to the stammer. "Hey, I just fetched and carried the thing," she grins to Elmo and Zee, lifting her hands to release any responsibility for it. "Scott's the tactical genius around here. Though Rogue's going to want a piece of it too," she adds with a glance to Scott before she's looking back to Zee, considering.
Scott may feel the telltale brush of Jean's mind, almost as if she's borrowing something there, nudging past the 'girls!' awkward to get to the planning parts. It's practiced - she's used to providing the bridge for the team in the field to share mental resources. "Do you think you could do some sort of tracking on it?" she asks Zee. "See where it came from?"
Elmo was totally unselfconscious about sitting in the middle of the floor working on this bizarre heap of junk. Now that innocent time has fled, and he's suddenly made of awkward angles. "Don't talk about my parts, Scott," he mutters. "Robot like that, could do anything you wanted it to. Anything at all. If I could figure out the components, I could tell more about what it's out there to do. …You guys probably know better people for that than some nugushtnik electrician." He looks between Jean and Scott, and drops his eyes. Yet he smiles a little at Zatanna, hesitantly. "Yeah. Weird stuff, it's the best stuff there is. You can get normal stuff anywhere."And looks up again when Zatanna asks him about tools. Then his smile is much more relaxed. "Exactly. The right tool don't have to be a tool, not a physical one anyway. Can be just about anything."
"Yeah. I wasn't being ironic," Scott says with a look of complete and grave seriousness. "Like I said, I don't really know how that all works. But in the movies and stuff, they can look into the crystal ball and see the past, right? So maybe if you can do what Jean says, or… or maybe even just show me what happened at the site, so that I might be able to determine what the thing's purpose was there. Security or Search. I might even be able to work out the most likely patrol it was taking."
Of course, Scott feels that brush of Jean's presence inside of his mind, but outwardly, he doesn't even so much as bat an eyelash. It's second nature. They've been doing this since they were children. It feels as natural as breathing, at this point. He might even find it comforting.
Glancing then, to Elmo, Scott's lips curl into a slow, lopsided grin, and he gives a nod of his head. "Right. And with the four of us, we may just have all the right tools to get to the bottom of this."
Scott looks forward, scowling in thought like he just realized something. Quietly, he mutters, "Jesus, I sound like we need a talking dog and I should be wearing an ascot…"
He shakes it off, literally, and breathes in deep.
"So it sounds like Elmo and I should examine the robot to see if we might be able to pinpoint any sort of indications as to its purpose and origin. Then, after that, if Zee can do some rewind theater or something suitably amazing, which in my experience has been sort of par for the course, then Jean and I can work together to put all the pieces into place and figure out just what the hell is going on down there in the disaster zone that no one knows about."
Zatanna listens to the plan, and seems on board with it. She slips her hands back into her pockets. "I can try psychometry, but it's a big gun with not the best sights on it, if you know what I mean." Zee thinks for a second. "That doesn't mean I'm not willing to try it, I just might need to keep some cards up my sleeve in case it doesn't work."
Zee looks at Jean and Elmo, then at Scott: "No pun intended."
"If I can't do that, the next best thing might be to just go back to wherever it came from and do something to show us the path it took. You know, like those comic strips, where the kid has the dotted line?" Zatanna certainly makes whatever magic she's talking about seem awfully normal and laid-back. And besides, doesn't she just do weird escape artist tricks? "It'd involve actually following the path, but it'd be the long way to the same result."
"That's definitely an adventure for a few more people and a little more planning," Jean nods to Zee's suggestion of going back to the scene. "But if you guys want to go check out the thing itself once we're done here, I'll send Rogue a text and we can meet up at the storage unit. At least maybe we can get an idea of what they can do." She wrinkles her nose, finishing off her sandwich and reaching into the cooler for a soda. "It's weird, that's for sure. And hey," she calls back to Elmo when he downplays his abilities. "You've got this thing figured out. I'm sure you can figure out something that was actually built on purpose."
Elmo starts tossing wires and funny-shaped bits of metal and glass into the bin, muttering to himself, "Not that, not that, not that, definitely not that, …okay maybe that," he takes one back out. Scott includes him in 'the four of us' and Elmo blinks over at him, alarmed. You'd think he'd never been included in anything before. He has to think about it, frozen in place, before he starts moving again. Fumbling for something to say, he comes up with, "…Well, you'd look great in an ascot, so there." So there, SCOTT.
Then Jean's including him too, oy vey, what is a small nerd to do! He can't help it, he smiles worriedly at her. "Well, uh, this old girl has a purpose, too. She knows what it is, even if maybe it ain't so obvious to most people." But obvious to him, apparently. He listens very closely to Zee talking about magic, although he doesn't ask anything, just soaks it in.
Scott actually chuckles at the cards comment from Zee, shaking his head. He does lift a hand, though, and says, "If you can't, then we'll take the long way. And if you're not comfortable with anything, either…"
He did just sort of recruit two people into what might just turn out to be an "official" X-Mission, after all. He'd hate for them to wind up feeling obligated just for his belief in them and their abilities. Even if he doesn't really know what those abilities fully entail. But that's how Scott works best. Off the cuff planning and split second decisions running by the feeling of his gut tends to take him further than those times when he has a real chance to think and plan. His gift is more intuition than it has ever been classical training.
Looking back to Jean, Scott offers up a small smile and nods his head. "I think that's a good idea. Though… I was kind of…"
He attention turns back to Zee for a moment, and then back to Jean. He shrugs helplessly, and then gives the redheaded telepath an upnod. "Go ahead and text Rogue."
Being told he'd look great in an ascot leaves Scott slowly turning his head to look at Elmo. He just stares, deadpan for a few lingering moments. Finally, he offers up a "Well thanks, buddy."
He waves a hand in the direction of the half gutted generator, and adds, "We really should get that back together, though. The folks here at the center are gonna need to have power again. You know anything about hot water heaters?"
"Jean calls it an adventure, and you ask if I'm not on board?" Zatanna teases Scott with a grin. She looked extremely amused at the exchange about ascots, but given what she dresses herself in for her stage shows, she's allowed to enjoy unconventional retro fashion.
"About hot water heaters… you know, I think my strength in that arena is in more of a supervisor role," Zatanna says. "But I don't want to be in the way. Text me when you're ready for me to bust out the crystal ball, okay?" Zee looks to Elmo and to Jean in turn. "You three have a good time trying to make… whatever that is… into whatever it's supposed to be. I'm going to go get my own gear ready." Another big Hollywood smile. "Loved meeting you. See you around."
Jean quirks a brow at Scott's aborted thought, dropping a bit of a question mark into his mind with a gentle nudge. She doesn't press the issue though - telepathic conversations are almost as rude as texting in the middle of a group dinner! Instead, she looks between him and Zee before carefully hopping down from the tote, avoiding the array of machine parts. "Cool," she smiles faintly, stepping around the mess. "I should go and check with Ethel in case the hot water heater's going to explode, too," she adds ruefully. "You guys try not to, uh…I don't even know. Don't let him get shocked, Elmo!" she calls over her shoulder as she follows Zee out.
.~{:-:[ end of log ]:---------——:}~.