The Dulcet Sound of My Voice: To the rescue

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The mansion scientists come to the rescue when it comes to restraining Scanner.

Strictly speaking Hank wasn't thrilled about the idea of 'containing' mutants - the word had too many nasty connotations and it seemed like a slippery slope to step onto, especially for someone who had vowed to help his fellow mutants whenever possible. But Hope had sounded worried when she called, and besides, it was only a _temporary_ containment...

The real dilemma was which solution would be most elegant, and easiest to fabricate.

Hank was deep in thought as he shuffled into the labs, navigating around the benches without really looking where he was going. In fact, he barely noticed Reed's presence until he all but tripped over a stool, his large hands shooting out to grab the countertop and steady himself. "Oh, I'm sorry!" he offered, giving the other young man an apologetic shake of his head. "I'm afraid I'm grappling with a problem and my mind is completely elsewhere." A beat, and then a lightbulb seemed to go off over his head. "Perhaps you might be able to help me, actually. If you have the time."

Reed looked up from his phone, brow furrowed. He hadn't realized Hank had come in.  "Of course," Reed replied, sending a quick message to Sue before putting his phone aside.‎ He'd been trying to be more accesible lately. "I would be pleased to help you. I"m curious to know what kind of problem you are unable to solve. Admitting one's shortfalls can be both liberating and enlightening."

"It's not exactly in my field of expertise," Hank admitted, pulling up a stool and taking a seat next to Reed. "It seems Hope and some of the others have encountered a mutant who is a threat to himself and others, and they're hoping we might be able to facilitate his safe containment." Briefly he relayed the description of the mutant's powers that Hope had given him, oversized fingers tapping thoughtfully on the bench all the while.

"As you can see, a biological agent may prove next to useless to someone with abilities such as his. But I can't think what other avenues might be more fruitful."

Reed nodded thoughtfully to Hank, all the while pondering a solution. "You're right -- a biological solution would be impossible when dealing with a purely energy being. I would assume that this mutant wouldn't be easily taken down either."  Muttering to himself, he reached for a pad of paper and started sketching out equations. "If we presume an electromagnetic rate at higher than the average and account for the differences in chemical activity...." He paused. "I wonder....do you mind if we bring Sue in for this? She's more keen with robotics and electromagnetism than I am. I mean, I think I know what we can use and create easily enough, but more minds are always helpful."

"Of course," Hank said eagerly; he had no compunction about collaboration. Discoveries were so rarely a 'Eureka' moment, instead the product of hours of hard graft and shared information. "The more the merrier."

Grabbing his phone again, Reed sent a quick text to Sue before standing up abruptly. "Right, so let's start putting things on the board, s hall we?". He was a very visual learner -- if it wasn't written down, he'd forget.   Scribbling out a few quick equations, he started to talk. "So going back to what was said, we want to contain, not destroy, correct? But at the same time, we need to neutralize. A forcefield would work best, but we can't assume Sue would be able to create one for the entirety of our capture."

"Well I could, but I'd have to be in the room, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to be recognized as a kidnapper," Sue noted as she backed through the door, coffee cups precariously balanced on a forcefield in her hands, keeping out of trouble as a thief was hard enough and no-one was even supposed to see her then. "But I think you might be on the right line there, we need something like a forcefield, a way to contain the energy. Preferably one that doesn't get distracted or run out of energy."

"Yes, a mechanical solution would certainly be optimal," Hank agreed, giving Sue a welcoming nod and then looking back at the board. Only belatedly did he realise that Sue and Reed had their ongoing... issues between them. He hoped it wouldn't interrupt the working environment. "Some sort of dampening field, perhaps? If there was a way to route mobile charge characters in a contained pattern so as to induce screening... but of course, that's still entirely theoretical..."

Reed gratefully took a coffee from Sue, giving her what he hope was a warm smile. He was all too aware that he tended to look serious as a default. "Do we know if our subject will be awake or not? That's an important factor. I still believe our best bet is to perhaps use the subject's‎ own power against them."

"Do we know how long we need to keep the subject in custody?" The blonde questioned passing Hank his coffee and cupping her hands around her's to take a sip, ""If it's a short term hold then it shouldn't be too hard, we just need to prevent her from using her powers successfully. If it's a long term then it would need to be less intrusive or prone to failure."

"I believe it's a short-term solution they're after," Hank replied shortly before taking a swig of his drink. "At least, that's the impression I received from Hope, though I will of course be happy to confirm with her, and will do before any fabrication begins." He paused then, pressing his lips into a thoughtful line. "I assume the subject will be awake as well, as the risk of escape becomes drastically lower with the introduction of unconsciousness."

Reed half-nodded, an idea forming in his head. Putting his fingers to his lips, he tapped his mouth. He stood up abruptly and headed to one of the many dry erase boards. In no time, he had a diagram started, of a containment field. Better to put something down so they could tweak it rather than hypothesize all day.  "By the way Susan," he said off-handedly, "you smell wonderful today. Is that a new perfume?"

"Umm, yeah, thanks for noticing, something my gran sent me. She's in town and taking me out to dinner later so thought I should break it out. You know how it is, her equivalent of the knitted jumper," she noted off offhandedly scrutinizing Reed's plans. "I think you might be over building the plans," Sue pointed out indicating the board, "It only needs to last a few days at the most so we can remove these struts and put in a transformer to reduce the power requirements. It'll burn out in a few days but should be easier to put together."

Luckily the other two scientists were too deep in thought that they didn't notice Hank's incredulous look at their exchange. After a moment he dragged his attention back to the matter at hand. "If we ground the conductive elements here," he said, gesturing to the diagram, "we can ensure dissipation of any electrical charges from inside - or outside, for that matter. Particularly advantageous in reducing the chances of powers interaction and unpredictability."

Reed stared at Hank, processing what he'd said and then nodded. "Excellent, Hank. We also need to consider how to discharge any static electricity that's in the room without shutting down any electrical impulses necessary for the equipment. Maybe a controlled electromagnetic pulse as a onetime reset" He paused. "And Susan, I didn't know she was coming to town. I don't know if I should offer my condolences." He hoped she realized it was a joke. A smile might help that statement. So he did.

"We could always ground each strut of the field generator individually," Sue pointed out, "It's not as neat a solution as being able to eliminate the static from the room, however It means you don't need trained engineers to take apart whatever room they're in to eliminate the environmental charge. It'd make each unit more bulky, since it's going to carry it's own protections and that might make it easier for someone to break out of the field but it should do the job. Especially if they can stop whoever they're holding from getting to the struts." The blonde stretched backwards and pushed away from the table hopping up onto a nearby bench, "It looks like it should work, at least in theory. The blonde glanced at her phone and groaned, "All the condolences," she decided, "she's here to show off which means we'll be somewhere all the socialites are so we can be seen." The blonde suddenly looked up and grinned, "Say, you two don't have any plans for tonight do you?"

"I think I have a Faraday cage to build," Hank rushed to say, and then after a moment's thought, added almost slyly, "but the prototype is probably a one-person job. So that means Reed is free..."

Completely oblivious to Hank's gesture, Reed shook his head. "This is important. If we all work together, then we can all go out together. Celebrate if you will. Susan, what do you think?"

The blonde gave Reed a long look before exchanging a glance with Hank, "Well if you put it that way, we have a few hours to pull it together before we have to head out. Although maybe we'd need to give a little time to get ready before that." If she was honest, Sue was pretty interested to see how both of them would clean up.

Well, his gambit hadn't entirely succeeded... but on the other hand, he was sure he'd be glad of the help and guidance Reed and Sue could provide. Hank gave a pragmatic shrug and a smile. "I'm sure between the three of us we can accomplish it with time to spare," he told them. "So let's not waste any more time - we don't want to keep your grandmother waiting."