2013.07.26 - Update for the Boss

It's late morning, and Jocelyn had sent Scott a text seeing if he was around. She had 'business' she wanted to talk with him about. She figured he'd know that meant something X-related. And so a meeting time was arranged, and Jocelyn came over to Scott's office. She hadn't really been to his office before. She hadn't been a formal student long enough to really get in trouble and end up here for one reason or another.

The girl reaches out and knocks lightly on the man's door, waiting for permission to enter. She's brought her laptop with her, for demonstration purposes. Because it was a lot easier than dragging the actual device with her.

"Come in," Scott says as the knock comes upon his door. He makes a few more keystrokes upon his laptop and then closes out whatever it was he was looking at. He leans back in his chair and folds his hands in his lap.

"Jocelyn, wait!"

Catching up with the woman, Doug falls in line next to her, pausing to wave at Scott through the door. "You about to tell Scott about the nullifier?"

"Hey Doug. Yeah, come on in. I've managed to get my laptop to actually show some of the details I've found out about it," Jocelyn tells Doug. Doug was one of the two people who knew Jocelyn had obtained this device.

Jocelyn then goes to open the door. "Hi Mr. Summers," Jocelyn says as she enters. She still called him that. None of this first name business for the field leader. She closes the door behind her (and presumably Doug) and goes to sit down. "I wanted to talk to you about something I've aquired that might help us when dealing with this Inhibitor that Kwabena ran into. It's on a temporary loan basis, due to a favor someone owed me," Jocelyn explains. She sets her laptop down on her lap and pops it open while she speaks. "Only Doug and Kwabena know I have it in my posession. Just in case something happens". She figured Scott would understand secrecy.

"Hello, Jocelyn. Doug."

Scott gives a polite nod and seems eager to see the contents of what Jocelyn has. He leans forward a bit as she sets the laptop down, then moves the rollers on his chair over to get a better perspective. He brings a hand up over his mouth as he inspects what she has to show him.

"It's all right, Jocelyn. I ran into your nullifer group the other day," Doug responds, as he falls in next. "But go ahead and tell Scott everything, I'll fill you and him in after."

A nod is given to Doug, but she doesn't respond immediately. Jocelyn had to explain things to Scott.

Pushing a couple keys, a pink one piece suit pops up on the screen. It has some schematics and details about power flow and regulation. There is a pack on the back of the suit, and a pair of tubes that lead to some pink gloves. Around the gloves is a field of pink energy. It's really a horribly pink suit. "Some months ago, I ran into this villain, along with some others. The Young Allies were present, and we were able to drive them off. Some were captured, including the former owner of this suit. This suit has the capability of nullifying metahuman and mutant powers. I learned that firsthand. I've been able to acquire the suit".

Jocelyn pauses and flips to another screen. "The gauntlets let out a burst of energy not unlike my own mutant power, except they nullify powers. After doing some testing, I've determined that this is something I can make use of if we go up against the Inhibitor, based on the knowledge we have so far on him. Combine this with an image inducor, so I'm not openly wearing it, and we'll be on even footing, or possibly even have an advantage. It will also provide some measure of protection to mutants to whom losing their powers even temporarily is dangerous". Such as Wolverine or Laura.

Jocelyn pauses now, to wait for Scott's reaction.

"So, if I understand right, the idea is that the suit would nullify everyone's power. What additional powers does this Inhibitor have?" Scott asks as he leans back in his chair and crosses a leg over the other.

"He can apparently nullify a wide range of mutants in the vicinity," Doug interjects. "Ran into him the other day, along with Rachel. Shift's interrogating his compatriots that we caught."

"It's a directed attack. The suit will nullify whoever I shoot with it," Jocelyn explains. "As long as I keep it focused on the Inhibitor, it shouldn't impact anyone else aside from myself," Jocelyn explains. "If someone else runs through the blast, then they'll be temporarily nullified". Of course, if someone accidentally ran in front someone shooting a gun at somebody, they'd probably get shot too. So, no difference there.

"I suspected as much, given what I heard on the news about Mutant Town," Jocelyn comments, glancing at Doug. "Has anything been discovered yet?"

Scott seems indifferent. With their training, the X-men should be able to take out this villain, even without their powers. "What do we know about this person? What background information do we have?"

"Very little, so far. We'll learn more, I think, once we hear back from Shift about the interrogation," Doug adds. "I think our best bet to take him down isn't just the suit, but to get people who are used to fighting without powers to go after him."

"That's probably the best way to go about it. The suit is an option, if we can't deal with him otherwise," Jocelyn says. "So far, all we've seen is him taking out groups of mutants. What if he has the ability to specifically target mutants, though, and finds someone to work with? Or works with other metahumans who aren't impacted by his powers?" That's where the danger comes in, in Jocelyn's mind. "If he's alone, then I think he's capturable without out powers. If he has help, then we might need the ace in the hole".

Scott sits for a long moment before saying anything. "Here's what I want: As much information as you can get on the guy before we engage him in any capacity. It would appear that we should be able to handle him pretty easy if we have enough intelligence. We don't want to be wrong, however, because I don't think anyone in this room is prepared to pay the consequences that come along if we are. Obviously, if you're engaged at any point, you need to defend yourself, but we should certainly do our due diligence in getting as much information as possible."

"Not a problem, Scott," Doug says, nodding. "Rachel and Kwabena are working on that part." Not that he really wanted to know -how-, but that would be their issue. "And it seems like it took maybe... a few minutes when he was gone to recover powers, so I'd recommend finding ways to take him out from a distance as well. Although we have to be careful about doing both fighting up close and distance attacks."

"I'll see what I can dig up on him," Jocelyn responds. There's a beat. "Do you think that if we know mutants outside the manor it would be prudent to warn them about him?" Jocelyn questions. She knew a couple who might appreciate this guy was out there. And she might get some information on this guy that way. "Someone get a tranquilizor gun and hit him from a distance. That would do the trick quite nicely," Jocelyn points out.

"Well, there are a thousand ways to attack a guy like this, Jocelyn, and we need to be prepared to use any and all of them. But we can't do that without preparation." Scott nods, "I think it'd be a good idea to warn other mutants, for sure. You might want to astroturf up a low key spread the word campaign, but we don't want to overdo it."

"I agree, Scott... if we overdo it, we might end up accidentally profiling people who look like the Inhibitor," Doug notes. "And then we get a situation like what happened in Florida. I'm not sure it's a good idea in the first place, but..." He motions to Scott. "Your call."

"I'll put in a couple phone calls then," Jocelyn offers. She closes her laptop down and looks over at Doug with a nod. "Don't need to cause too much alarm, though what happened in Mutant Town might have done plenty of that as it is". A bunch of mutants being depowered, and then repowered again, was certainly disturbing.

Scott nods, "Use your discretion, Jocelyn." He looks between the two and sighs, "It looks as though you both know what needs to be done. Please keep me informed and..." He pauses. "Please be careful."

"No problem, sir." Doug salutes. "Come on, Jocelyn, let's leave Scott back to work."

"Yes sir," Jocelyn says with a nod. No salute from Jocelyn. She wasn't miltary. She looks over to Doug and nods. "Alright". And if she isn't held up, she'll exit Scott's office, along with Doug.