2014.02.13 - Evaluation Session

As the buzz from Emma's visit is dying down, Charles still has things to do that are important to this team and the school. He has summoned Jocelyn to his office. He has an urn of coffee and some muffins on a table to the side for her if she wishes. He is sitting in the middle of his office with his fingers folded into his lap.

Jocelyn had opted against meeting with Emma Frost. She didn't know...no, scratch that. She knew that Emma would remember her. You didn't obtain the power Emma Frost had without a sharp memory. And that could have been awkward at best for all parties involved, given they hadn't gotten off on the best of feet several months ago. The teen got the summons and had promptly made her way over to the Professor's office. She walks into the office, closing the door behind her. "Hello Professor," the woman greets. She takes a seat, as is custom, but doesn't take any of the offered food or drink. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"I did Jocelyn. Thank you for coming." Charles cocks his head to the side a moment to watch the girl intently before he asks, "How are you feeling? How are you adjusting to the changes your body has been under going with your powers?" He rests his elbows on his armrest and steeples his fingers in front of him.

"I'm doing alright," Jocelyn responds. "I'm pretty sure the changes are finished, at least for the time being. Rachel and I have been working together a fair bit lately, so I've got a fair idea on where things stand with them now". She and Rachel had been spending a lot of training time together, which let them cut loose a little more than they could otherwise, which lets a person adjust faster. Or at least it does for Jocelyn. It was the way she was wired mentally, at the very least. "How are you?" the woman asks the Professor.

Charles Xavier nods slowly, "I am well thank you." A beat. "The reason I asked you here is I wanted to discuss Dimino's assessment of your skills and tactics. However, before we begin. How do you think you did?" He asked with a raised eyebrow ever so slightly.

It's a simple fact of life. Nobody likes performance reviews except for soulless Human Resources workers who can deny employees raises for the tiniest of reasons. While Jocelyn hasn't had a whole lot of work experience of that nature, the slight stiffening would be a sign to, well, just about anyone that she's aware she has to defend herself or make her case, even if politely, at the moment.

"Well, on one hand, a number of people were saved that would have likely died of suffocation. The individual was ultimately caught and, as far as I'm aware, taken to the Justice League to determine the proper course of action, given Metropolis is their home territory, so to speak. On the other hand, I wasn't quick enough to deal with the individual causing the problem to prevent him from killing two police officers with a power similar to the one he used to freeze the civilians in place, but not quite the same. There was the extremely strange factor of an entire squadron of skittish officers in Metropolis who acted as though they'd never seen a metahuman before and were ready to shoot first and ask no questions. Given the presence of the Justice League and the number of times that place has been attacked by everything from demons to aliens, that was a variable I'd never imagine being possible there, and it certainly escalated the situation far more quickly than I'd have expected".

The teen pauses. "I'd say I did alright, given the nature of the situation. I don't know that preventing the death of the officers would have been possible without letting the group of civilians die. It might have been if I had foreknowledge, but it was a developing situation, and I left it all on the field, to borrow a sports metaphor".

Charles Xavier nods slowly as he listens to the report and says, "I appericate your honesty Jocelyn. I am curious, how did you fair with the other police officers on the scene? Did any of your actions or responses cause them to react in an offensive manner? Were you asked to stand down at any time?" Charles rolls himself over to the coffee and begins to make himself a cup.

"There was only one group on the scene," Jocelyn explains. "I do not know what prompted them to react to me," is Jocelyn's honest response. "The...I don't want to call him Iceman, because that's Bobby. The metahuman was attacking with ice against them. I was attempting to keep him from attacking the police and took no visible action except to be hovering," Jocelyn explains. "When the officers asked us both to stand down, he continued his offensive actions, be they controlled or not. The metahuman was freezing everything around him, so I knocked him backwards with an invisible burst of energy. Prior to that, I did tell the officers I was trying to keep him from hurting everyone".

"Once the direct threat to the officers was over, one of them opened fire on me, as did the others. At that point I made sure the metahuman was unconscious but otherwise unhurt and left the scene. As an unregistered mutant, I wasn't eager to have a drawn out conversation with them, not to mention they took offensive action at me while I took none towards them".

Of course, Jocelyn also really doesn't trust police to begin with, given her prior life growing up on the streets of Detroit, but when she's shot at, she tends not to want to have a chat either.

Charles Xavier nods slowly as he turns his wheelchair to face her, holding his cup and saucer. "I do not deny your efforts were heroic Jocelyn. You did wonderful work. However..." He takes a sip of his coffee and continues, "First, the humans are and will always be scared of what they do not understand. A number of them do not have the training to handle mutants and metahumans like we do. They will always on some level consider us a threat." He moves to set his cup down, "Second, We are the X-men yet we are not above the law. We must do everything we can to respect the officers and any in a uniform. They are heroes in their own right. If they ask us to stand down, we should make an attempt to become defensive and protect the officers instead of the threat at hand. It will show them we are trying to follow their lead. And finally, I would not ask you to stay and put yourself in danger. I think after Domino's report I am concerned about putting you back on the roster...full time. However, I am open to an idea of you reporting to an XO. If you had to report to someone and they would mentor you. How would you feel about that? Perhaps Rachel since you have been working with her so much lately?"

"Will all due respect, I don't believe standing down was viable," Jocelyn says. "He was freezing everything around him. If I landed, it is probable I would have become frozen like those officers and died. Landing was not a reasonable option, and moving elsewhere could have been seen as a threat or attempt to get into a better position to attack the officers while leaving them defenseless," the woman says. "I also believe that I was defending the officers. They could not defend against the threat, and my defensive options were actually limited. I cannot absorb cold, as it lacks energy, so I couldn't prevent his attacks. The only way to protect them was to disable the threat. While yes, from a PR standpoint it would have helped, it would not have helped the situation in any capacity. Either more officers would have died, or they would have shot him and killed the metahuman. Either way would have resulted in more death".

"As to that. We all report to Scott and, to some extent, Jean". The two are effectively the field commanders. They were the leaders. "I expect that we all learn from each other. Rachel and I have been teaching each other a number of things, so it's a two-way street there. I would find it a bit insulting if I was formally placed 'beneath' the rest of the team in some sort of weird limbo. Above the Young X-Men in rank, but below the X-Men. As the newest member, I'm already at the bottom of the hierarchy in a number of ways. Everyone, in effect, is my XO in that regard". Jocelyn tended to be direct. "As it stands, until I work with the team more, I don't know that it matters if I report to an XO or not, given that. Also, I think one test with a person who doesn't work with the team regularly isn't necessarily representative. I have, for example, worked extenstively with Kwabena both before, during, and after Genosha, and he could probably give the most balanced assessment of me as a team member".

There is a pause, as though there is something else Jocelyn is considering bringing up, but cannot decide if she wishes to or not. It's the look a teacher would recognize as the one a student gets when they've got information that is relevant but could also be seen as tattling or ratting out.

Charles Xavier hmmms as he takes all of that information in and remains silent for a few moments. He turns and wheels his chair behind his desk and says, "Then I will speak with Kwabena as well. I can see you are passionate about this and I can sense your dedication to the cause." He presses his lips in a fine line and says, "I think the thing that surfaces again and again for me is the fact you are young. It is that passion that clouds our judgements at time. I would like some more time to gain a better perspective, and if you feel your work with Kwabena will give me that perspective. It is only fair that I do my due diligence and see what he has to say. Yes?" Charles asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Seems logical to me". Jocelyn chews her lip a little bit. "There is one other thing. When the entire thing started, Domino chose to not participate, waiting at her car and watching everything happen. Afterwards, when I talked to her, she pointed out I could have asked for help. As this was a real situation, I find that behavior...". She pauses. "Troubling. If I am out and that situation happens with anyone else on the team, or on the Young X-Men, I don't think I would ever need to invite them to assist. She also openly stated in our initial discussion that she was against me on the team. This is why I don't think her evaulation is entirely unbiased".

Yeah. That wasn't an easy thing for Jocelyn to say. But she was perfectly aware Domino could have disabled the metahuman before the cops ever got involved and didn't, and that if it was part to determine her suitability for a team, Jocelyn felt that spoke more about Domino than it did about herself.

As he nods curtly, "Domino's ways are...untraditional. However she is a skilled tactian. I know her skill in that better then most. She had a reason for not getting involved I am sure. However, it is not her call if you are to remain on the team. It is mine, and the senior memebers. I want you here but I need to cover all bases. Let's say Domino's perspective is the cold, hard, and to the point view. I know there is bad blood. I was able to sense that instantly. However, if I know you can work with someone who you feel is against you. I can only imagine the possibilities for those who you feel are with you. Does this make sense Jocelyn?"

"Makes sense. As she chose not to get involved, I assumed I was to interpret that as if she was not there," Jocelyn explains. "Which made that comment to me seem off. I have worked with her before, in fact. We don't get along great, but we can work together when we both know we are on the same side. We did last year, actually". There was a file about that somewhere when there was an alien attack in the Northeast about that. "I simply wanted to clarify my position and assumptions on that, as I assumed if she said that to me, that it was in her report".

Jocelyn stretches her arms up. "On a different topic. One of the members of the Justice League I know, Hawkeye, has asked if I can provide any evidence regarding my experiences in Genosha". Nate had already mentioned Hawkeye in that briefing, so she's not worried about bringing the woman up. "The population data I had access to and brought back. If we scrub the names from it, would you be alright with us providing that to her?" This was Xavier's call, and Jocelyn hadn't promised anything until she checked with her superiors. "I didn't promise any data as of yet".

Charles Xavier nods and says, "As long as the data does not put this school or any of the teammates in peril. I am open to you helping provide that date to the Justice League in their assessment of Erik. However, I will require a copy of your report on my desk so I know what you have provided them. I do not want to be out of loop and then asked a question by them. I do not like to seem unprepared." He takes up his coffee and has another sip, "I will speak with Kwabena and we will speak again. Unless you have anything else you would like to add." A soft smile escapes his lips.

"It won't. I'll provide the data, and if agreeable, I'll provide the list of mutants, names scrubbed, who were examined by Sinister for his experiments," Jocelyn says. Which wouldn't put anyone in peril, but would provide evidence to some of the practices that were being undertaken in Genosha. "I've nothing else then". Once she has permission or denial of the latter, she will exit the office.

Charles Xavier smiles and adds as she leaves, "Keep training Jocelyn. I am impressed at your progress. We will speak again soon."