6946/Dollhouse: Interrogating House

Dollhouse: Interrogating House
Date of Scene:	15 July 2021
Location:	Vault A - Playground
Synopsis:	Phil and May take a crack at House while Daniel, Sara, Sharon and Daisy watch, checking information for the two interrogators. They discover House's memories of her time between the fall of the Triskelion and turning up at the playground are off by days. Triggering her, she remembers all the torture Sunil Bakshi put her through to break her and remake her in to a weapon to kill any SHIELD agent who learns about Nathaniel Mallick. But in doing so, she remembers Dr. List's conversation with Bakshi and Daisy's dedicated work traces him to a warehouse in Orlando near Disney World where he has been diligently making Inhuman weapons for HYDRA's big Incident.
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Sara Pezzini, Sharon Carter, Daniel Sousa, Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson, Melinda May

---

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    'Are you ready to comply?' -- the words of that man are echoing in her ear like a horror slowly creeping up on her. Agent House has been in custody since the incident. She knows what she did, she just doesn't remember doing it. Sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, Agent Donovan asks, "I'm going to hook you up to the polygraph now, is that okay?"

    House nods her head. She's compliant because she knows something serious just happened. Something ... different. Hell, she shot the Chief. The emotions are intense. She's terrified of what she did and extremely guilty about it.

    Tech Donovan places a band around her head and a monitor on her wrist, then gives a thumbs up to the barrier and takes a seat to watch the machine.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara Pezzini arrives merely to be another opinion, another set of ideas that might help find answers. An interrogation of a prisoner falls into her knowledge, but this was different. House didn't remember it. Sara saw it happen with her own eyes, but she also heard the words spoken and knows something isn't right.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Behind the Barrier, Sharon has an up-close spot to view the interrogation. This time, Sharon didn't have her phone. Her attention was there, watching as they begin to set Agent House up with the necessary equipment to get answers.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
While not officially reinstated as an agent Daniel Sousa has still made an appearance. After all it was his wife House shot and he'd been through HYDRA brainwashing multiple times in the Framework and shook the effects each time, so he had plenty of interest in what was happening and knowledge to share. Though as he was here in an unofficial capacity, he stands at the back of the room behind the barrier, dressed in his standard suit and tie, somehow making the modern clothes seem retro by his posture and attitude. His attention is on House herself rather than the readouts.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Arriving at the vault where the interrogation is to take place Daisy makes way over to that viewing room to the interrogation one. Standard procedure even if the attack had been anything but standard. Even so she couldn't help but feel for Agent House, if it was indeed true she had been coerced, or mind wiped to do this. She knew well how it was after having seen some of her closest friends do quite a few atrocious actions in the Framework.

Daisy lets out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She was relieved, they were finally out. And nothing like a few familiar faces inside to make her smile.

"Hey.." she greets the group, arms folding and she resting a shoulder against a wall to keep an eye out on the proceedings, her powers focused, feeling those vibrations, sensing for anything out of the ordinary.

Phil Coulson has posed:
While Phil wasn't present at the shooting, nor was he at the capture, he has read the reports. The reports were actually well written, offering up data with a decided lack of conjecture or opinion. He likes that in his reading. Joe Friday was a hero of his.

He's dressed in suit and tie; probably not as retro and cool as Daniel looks. Rather, Phil's outfit screams 'agent', and the intent certainly is there. That, and well, he lives in his suits. It's his uniform and his armor.

And now, armed with copies of reports in hand, he checks in with the gallery behind the one-way glass by poking his head in. "Hey.. anything you might notice, just let me know. While this isn't my first rodeo, a few of you have specialties." Phil sounds confident, very much like an actor that is about to go on stage the moment the stage manager counts him in. 'Places' is just about to be called.

"Especially if it's going to help her cause." Phil is more than aware that this may help determine the young Agent's fate, and it's a serious matter. "Open mind."

Pulling his head back out, he's making his way towards the door to enter the interrogation room proper.

Melinda May has posed:
May enters the observation room and arches a brow at the audience gathered there. Phil was right about what he said to her earlier. They've all got skin in this game. The crowd proves it. She glances briefly to her partner -- is anyone really surprised that the STRIKE commander would call on Coulson at a time like this? -- and gives a wordless tilt of her head that translates as a shrug in her physical vocabulary. They really should've expected this.

Still, just before they enter the interrogation room proper, she lays a hand on Phil's shoulder, speaking softly. "First read," she tells him. "She's terrified and guilty. Let's find out why." Because she knows from firsthand experience, these last few weeks, it could be because the agent got caught and knows justice will not be kind. Or it could be because she's genuinely confused and as much a victim in all this as Peggy. May's own anger may be sharp, but her empathy tempers the bullish tendencies so typical of her before.

Thus, as she enters that cell, her features are composed into that neutral, cool expression most agents have come to recognize as Melinda May, Ice Queen of SHIELD. The Cavalry, yes. But never someone to screw with. Unsurprisingly, she takes a moment within those confines to examine the younger woman in that chair closely. Yes, the readouts are telling. But, like Daniel, May isn't nearly as interested in those readings as she is other things.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Every agent knows this machine. Since the Triskelion fell and Peggy's big operation to take out HYDRA. Every agent has sat down at this machine and been asked the question 'Do you work for HYDRA'. Not a single agent that has failed that test works in SHIELD any more.

    And yet... House. House looks to Phil and May. One gives confidence of authority, the other confidence of strength. Her emotions calm just a little bit from the broil they're in. "Sir. Ma'am," she greets them as a level 4 agent tends to do. She takes in a deep breath.

    "Where do we begin? No one will show me the footage," she says and presses her lips together. Just as she always is, she wants to work the problem but she's emotionally shattered because the problem is herself.

    Faustian indoctrination leaves its mark on a person. Whether they start to sing the praises of HYDRA or drop a hobby they once had, or disavow beliefs they strongly believed.. something about them can always be picked up by the machine.

    When it was done to Bobbi in the framework, she was willing to shoot Lance in the head and did so. When it was done to Daniel in the framework, he was willing to disavow SHIELD and believe the HYDRA hype. You can always tell. It's a blunt instrument used to make loyalists, not sleeper agents.

    And yet... House.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara Pezzini keeps herself out of the way, watching through the blinded window. Her knowledge of Hydra in general was still lacking, she stuck primarily to the thinking 'Hydra bad' and left it there for the time being. Now that the agents were free from the Framework she might get a few more answers, but what it is that they could have done to House is beyond her.

From a magical stand point she could think if a few things, and perhaps that was in play, she had no idea if Hydra resorted to magic as well or not.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
As both Phil and May go past into the interrogation room Daisy offers a nod to each, one of greeting, but she says nothing. They'd need their concentration on this one, specially considering how sensitive it'd be. So instead? She focuses her attention back to the others on the room with her. First on Sara and smiling in her direction, "Hey, heard about your good work during the sphere fight, congrats on the promotion." she tells the other Agent. Faint smile.

But it's mostly an attempt to break from all the tense silence that has abated in the room. Yes, she knows Sharon and Daniel have a personal stake on this so when she looks at them next she seems to take their mood, watching each in turn before re-focusing on what's going on inside the interrogation room.

"She looks terrified."

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil speaks 'May', and he nods quickly but definitively, albeit a little late to the silent bit of communication. It's coupled by a fleeting, unhappy smile towards Daisy et al before he's in the corridor once more. He exhales in a sigh and glances towards the door and shakes his head. "I can't see her having done this willingly. I can't even see a hint of any payment in accounting." Numbers, Phil? Really?

He smiles self-deprecatingly, "Of course, I wouldn't be the one to spot that. The boys in accounting," read: the agent assigned to the books, "assured me there's no trail there." He underscores his words waving a manila folder marked with the hapless agent's name.

When May enters the room, Phil is right there with her, sliding in and closing the door behind him. He looks at their agent, his expression studying, like a father would look at a daughter before interrogating her on why she'd been late from her date. He almost pities her. Still, what had happened, what she'd done certainly cannot be discounted, or be treated lightly.

Phil takes a moment, holds up a hand, finger in the air with a 'one moment' gesture. He pulls out a pair of reading glasses from the inside of his suit jacket, unfolds them and sets them on his face, one-handed. Now, he clears his throat as he opens the folder in hand. "Tap lessons when you were 4. Horseback riding lessons when you were 8. Class officer in middle school, top ten in your class in high school." Phil recites this like 'This is your life', his tones neutral. "Hmmm.. Good grades, excelled in school, and commendations from teachers. Came to SHIELD and your fellow agents had nothing but good things to say about you." He looks as if he reads from the file, his head canting as he recites the accomplishments of the young Agent. He knows her. He doesn't need the file to know what her history is, what she'd accomplished, and where she could be going in her career. He'd helped train her when she'd first arrived, in that he'd assigned the levels as per her assessments.

Phil ignores the request for the footage, however. That's not important at the moment, and it brings the control of the interrogation back to the pair.

Looking away from the file, and lowering the paper slightly, he tilts his head to look over the glasses, "Is all this a lie?"

Melinda May has posed:
May tends to agree with Phil about Agent House. She doesn't really believe the young woman willingly pulled that trigger. But once they're in that interrogation room, she doesn't show it.

Fact is, though, May knows several things going into all this. She knows how HYDRA works. Intimately. She knows how the Faustian Protocol works. She's been there as it was administered. She knows the agent isn't displaying classic Faustian symptoms. And she knows, based on the reports she's read, what led up to the agent's betrayal.

She also knows that, somewhere out there, is a man from Rennaissance Italy with a penchant for magic and a hard-on for HYDRA. She doesn't really know how magic works. But she knows it can do some damned creepy stuff -- the little protective talisman blade hidden in her boot notwithstanding. Thus, she suspects that HYDRA has more options at its disposal than simple brainwashing.

Not to mention, if HYDRA can trigger the Winter Soldier with a recitation of words, why can't they trigger another agent with a different phrase? The real question here, as far as she's concerned, has more to do with whether or not Agent House is *still* under HYDRA's control, or if she's a single-use weapon.

She glances to Phil as he begins his approach. Her arms fold over her chest and she leans back on one hip, expression keeping that cool tone as she studies the young woman's response. For the moment, she remains silent. It's important Phil play out his role. When he's done, when the baton is passed to her... she has a few ideas of her own that she expects will reveal results.

This isn't her first rodeo, either.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Phil. He's the nice one. She liked learning from him and he has that quality about him where you just never want to let him down. She nods as he recites some of the things she's been involved with in her life so far. But when he asks if it's all a lie she looks down ride trod on, betrayed even. She shakes her head, "Of course not." The response is instant and vehement.

    Her look turns to May, usually she's the mean one, then back to Phil and says, "I'm not a traitor, that's what you're all thinking. It's what I'd be thinking." She looks at the barrier, unable to see who is behind it but she can guess.

    She glances down and knits her fingers together. "Please. This is scary enough..."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Keeping her voice low, as if just speaking might lead to some kind of problem with this interrogation, Sara offers Daisy a soft, "Thanks. Just been trying to do my part while things were pure chaos."

She falls silent again, watching as Phil and May start their work. She didn't envy them, after all House hadn't shown any signs of not being exactly who she had always been. Something had to have triggered her, but that raised the question of when... when did this programming take place? Her mind turns back to the idea of magic, which could be a ritual cast anywhere, at any time, all they needed was something that belonged to House, an old shirt, some hair, any small thing that was her's and the ritual would find her no matter where she was in the world.

A shudder ran down Sara's spine. "I hope it's not magic," she whispers, a slight shake of her head.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon was unusually quiet, and unusually still. She was lost in her thoughts for that bit of time when everyone spoke and made their hellos. She was barely even keeping her attention on the conversation on this side of the barrier.

Like the rest, Sharon was watching. Paying attention. Listening to tones, seeing movements, the whole shebang.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel's attention shifts from House to the agents in the room with her, a quiet nod of approval for their techniques. Of course when he got started his chief liked gimmicks like walking in the room with a literal carrot and a stick and if the suspect didn't take the offer that came with the carrot, the stick came with a serious beat down. This stuff was more his speed.

The recitation of the woman's past though makes him almost sick to his stomach, all that work only to have HYDRA hijack her life and turn it upside down. His attention shifts from the room to Sharon, trying not to think of the same happening to his granddaughter.

Sara's comments gets him to look up and nod "You and me both," he confirms.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
As the interrogation starts going on full mode Daisy's focus is on Phil and then May as the former speaks to Fiona. She watches the mannerisms, the interrogation methods. This is as much as a lesson as it is figuring out more on what is going on. She knew there was still a -lot- she could learn with the older Agents. Never stop learning and all that...

As Phil states about her life Daisy presses her lips to a thin line. A fine life. Why would anyone turn to the enemy? Magic would make sense. If magic could ever make sense...

"Could it be detected, you think?" She then asks to the ones in the room.

Phil Coulson has posed:
It's true. For some of his agents over the years, all Phil had to do was to express his disappointment, and there would be changes in the air. He's a comparitively easy-going supervisor, field leader, looking to strengths and developing them. He demands full participation, because anything less than that means failure. And failure could mean death.

Here and now is no different.

"'Of course not'", Phil repeats as if committing it to memory to write it down later in some report. His tones are still even. Easy. Conversational.

There's definitely fear behind those words, the speed in which they come, immediately without thought speaks to either their veracity, or the belief in their truth. But again? She's a trained SHIELD agent. There aren't many 'out there' that are as highly trained.

Phil never has May out of his line of sight; a glance here, a quick nod there.. and there is one more thing for him to ask.

"Why would you think that? Walk me through it.. starting from just before you were instructed to assassinate Chief Carter?" His tones take a slightly charged tenor, even if his manner and mien haven't changed drastically to match it. "Tell us why you're not."

Now, Phil is somewhat familiar with the fact that Barnes had a key phrase. A bit of programming with a side order of brainwashing. But this agent hadn't been away long enough..

Melinda May has posed:
May keeps Phil in her periphery, catching his glances, the shift in his body language and emotional tenor that speak volumes to her -- even without her recently developed gifts. To those watching, their communication is subtle but remarkable. Obvious only to those who know what to look for -- to those that know May and know Coulson. Together or apart.

They really are still one of the best teams SHIELD has to offer.

Thus, May holds her tongue just a little longer, fully willing to test Phil's silent theory about whether or not they had time to implant a trigger phrase into the young woman... But not until he's gotten his answers. She doubts they'll get more out of her once she's triggered again. But they should get some remarkable readings off the polygraph. And perhaps from May's own senses, as well.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Eyes flick back and forth like trying to recall a memory as Phil asks her something she thinks must be impossible. She furrows her brow and frowns. "I.." she shakes her head, "I don't remember." 'Are you ready to comply?' ... "I remember a man's voice."

    She shakes her head as the thought slips away. In that briefest of moments her emotional state went to panic and terror, and then right back to where she is now. Donovan shakes his head to May as there's no lie so far.

    She takes a breath and then says, "And a smell. Like. Cookies. Chocolate chip cookies." She stares off distantly and then looks back to Phil. "I've been with my team ever since I got to the Playground. On missions and off... there's no.. time.. ?" she shakes her head again.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
A slight nod is offered in Daisy's direction as Sara says quietly, "Magic leaves a mark that other users of magic can see, sometimes even trace. Those extremely practiced with magic might even be able to determine the ritual used and how to unweave it."

Her eyes remain on those in the room, reading body language on House, looking for any signs that might be detectable through visual means. Sometimes the slightest movement or gesture was like reading a novel of information. The way the eyes may dart, a catch in a word spoken, all were clues, but House didn't seem to have any of those. What she had was the truth as she believed it, before the magic or programming or whatever it was that happened to her.

"Anyone know where those missions have taken her?" she asks quietly, trying to gain as much information and detail as she can.

Sharon Carter has posed:
<See if she's deviated from her normal routine.>

Maybe that's the ticket? If there wasn't any time for them to do anything, perhaps a changing in a routine, even slight could have left an opening. After all, HYDRA caused SHIELD to be persona non grata.

At the mention of magic? Sharon has nothing. In fact, she's quite shocked that she's never really witnessed it up close or seen a spell being cast, even though others have made mention of seeing it.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
There's no hiding the shudder that goes throuigh Daniel as House mentions those phrases and the smell. He remembered both clearly, he had a different scent when he went through the process but it was still not his happiest memory.

"You do magic?" Daniel asks Sara, before nodding about House's past missions, "Well I know I don't have access to that info," he glances around the room. "Anyone else able to pull that for our people in the room?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Mmm, not sure if that's magic. Memories of a voice, and certain smells. This is starting to reek of mind conditioning." And Daisy's frown grows deeper at it. Taking out someone's free will? That was unforgivable in her book. Maybe that's why her hate to that rogue AI had been so great. No taking away people's freedom. She is the eternal rebel.

Sharon's suggestion does get a nod out of her. It was a good idea, look for deviations. Something had to be different, even if the girl wouldn't remember herself. "Or even a mission where she may have gone off-comms for long than would be normal." she suggests, "Something that wouldn't be noticeable to cursory, routine check." specially not now that SHIELD resources are as stretched as they are.

She walks over to the computer console and pulls it up, starting to type fast as she starts that search for the woman's missions, and standard deviations.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil glances at Donovan, getting the subtle high-sign that the girl has been truthful. There's no attempt to hide anything. With a look towards his interrogation partner now, he closes the file deliberately, exhaling softly but definitely audibly as he does so.

He reaches for those glasses again, and pulls them off with a single hand, pushing them closed against the side of his suit jacket. Once completed, Phil puts them back into the inside pocket of his jacket, his head down and slightly away from any direct line of sight, "Pull it," is whispered in response to the conversation on coms in the room.

Looking up again from replacing his glasses, he takes a couple of steps forward, his gaze on the young Agent once more, his head canting in curiousity. "A man's voice and chocolate chip cookies..." he repeats. He smiles tightly, "Not much there."

Turning around now, blue eyes glance towards that one way mirror before he nods at May. Tag in.. and he'll keep an ear out for results.

Melinda May has posed:
May's eyes narrow faintly as House describes the voice and the smell. She gives a glance to Phil that he'll no doubt know means she recognizes that somehow. And as the woman's emotions spike briefly, her chin comes up, telling him something changed, however briefly. The polygraph records it, too, as an electrical impusle spike. But May knows the flavour of it, the precise balance of panic and terror. And she doesn't think it's the terror of being discovered in a lie. It's too visceral for that. Too much like someone fending off a relentless attack.

She hears Sharon's comment in her ear, over the small, subcutaneous, bone induction comm implanted just behind it. She's tuned out a lot of the discussion about magic, but hasn't fully dismissed it. Thus, she glances briefly to the barrier, a hint of acknowledgement on her face, but it's not the first line she pursues.

"You know we'll be looking at your team," she tells House, beginning to walk towards her. "They're confined to quarters, currently. Cooling their heels until we can determine whether or not you acted alone." But those are easy things to check. The missions. The team. Her routine since she arrived at the Playground. What's harder to determine in what happened to her in the days between the fall of the Triskelion and the rise of the Playground. "We'll get the truth out of them soon enough."

She circles around behind the young woman and lays her hand on House's shoulder. It reinforces her empathic contact with the woman as she continues. "No, what I want to know about is where you went after the Triskelion fell. There was a long time between that day and the day we all rendevouzed here. How did you escape? Where did you go? Where were you hiding?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "Wait. He sounded. English? His voice was smooth, sort of arrogant." She frowns, her face scrunching up as if she's trying to scratch a mental itch she just can't reach. Suppressed memories are all too common with this kind of thing.

    "Is she okay? The chief?" The look of concern matches her emotional state. It's genuine. "No one has told me anything. Item 71b.. it's secure right?" The lightning gun that her team had just brought back in from the field. A weapon of convenience.

    She takes a long breath and her shoulders slump. "I'm failing right now aren't I. You need answers and I don't have them. It's HYDRA isn't it." She doesn't even remember saying 'Hail HYDRA' and no one has shown her the footage. "My team, they..." She can't rule out that they might have been affected too. She frowns. "What'd they do to me? how? when? where? why??" All the same questions Phil wants answered.

    She relaxes again as May's hand touches her shoulder. Combat training. May laying hands on her is not new, usually it involves being thrown though. "I got the alert on my phone to go Dark."

    She shuts her eyes a moment and says, "I was out shopping, civilian clothes. I left the shopping trolly and headed to my designated safe house in Queens." She pauses a moment and says, "I got there." .. and a pause. The machine blips strangely. "There was no one else there. I waited for the signal to return to base and did so." It's not the blips of a lie, but similar to the ones they find in indoctrinated agents. It's the blips of someone who thinks they're telling the truth but some part of their brain knows it's not true.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara shifts her attention to Daniel, not someone she knew bit it didn't matter. "I /can/ work magic, but I don't. Most of the other agents already know, but I wield the Witchblade, a magical artifact."

For the moment she leaves it at that, putting her attention back where it needed to be. "Someone will need to go over all of her teams files and reports, check for any discrepancies, time lapses in communication between them, to cover her team at east. The time in between, well that's the hardest time to figure out if it happened then."

Sharon Carter has posed:
Damn.. Sharon didn't think of that. Everyone went dark, and Sharon has always spent her entire career in that space. Its a wonder why May was Commander? But.. she does get a little curious now, listening to Sara, her lips bunching up in thought.

"Daisy can.." Because she's already at the console.

"Vovo.." She calls on Daniel, "How would -you- do it? How would you brainwash or sway a young mind?" Hell, the question was out there for anyone to answer. Perhaps their conversation could lead to an idea for Phil and May.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel's eyes round slightly at the mention of the magical artifact, "Huh," he exclaims with a mix of surprise and curiosity before something clicks. "Wait I'm guessing that thing you did at the party, that was Witchblade?" he asks, before adding. "I've got a friend you might want to meet," he adds.

Sharon's question draws Daniel's attention and the name a smile. "Well, neta, I'd hit them when it sounds like HYDRA got her, when were scattered and going dark, impossible to account for the time they're away. Then hit them with the faustus procedure, they make you think you want to go with what they're telling you, which is why they put in the smell, positive association, for me they used my mother's cooking, the smell of my kids, and other things," he says. "And they keep coming until you let go of just about everything you think of as yourself and then they rebuild you the way they want," he explains, before taking a moment to think.

"So we're looking for gaps of a minimum of three days but for someone like Agent House, probably closer to a week, unfortunately the set up for this stuff is pretty portable so it can be done almost anywhere they just need restraints, a screen, some drugs and something to keep your eyes open. But if she remembers more about going dark we might narrow down where it happened in case HYDRA left some clues behind."

He looks through the barrier to house. "And we need to be careful with her, there may be more trigger words in her head she doesn't know about."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Nothing out of the ordinary on the most recent missions.." Daisy says as she continues to look over the files on the console, looking up at the beep coming from the room. Yes, it seems she had been caught elsewhere. "Their last mission was when they recovered the lightning gun she used. A prototype lightning gun from World War 2. Created by Hydra." she frowns a touch.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"No."

It's a single word in response to the important question that gives nothing beyond it's meaning away. There's no elaboration, nothing. It's not even accusatory, not angry, not sad... it simply is.

Phil watches May, but more, he listens to her, the words formed, how she speaks them.. putting them out there for the universe.

As May keys in on that time between the Tris and here, Phil is back online, as it were, his orders coming in fast and furious, quietly stated.

"Pull phone tracking records, receipts for clothing. CCTV of her neighborhood; traffic lights, businesses in the area. Interview her local restaurant, everyone. Get someone in to dust for prints.. I want answers." He pauses, shifting his gaze towards the young Agent House. "That'll give us our timeline."

Melinda May has posed:
May cants her head slightly at the little 'blip'. It doesn't just occur on that machine. It occurs within the woman's emotional state, too. It's subtle, yes. But it's there. A little hiccup of emotion that betrays just a hint of uncertainty.

May glances to Phil over the young woman's head as he swings into action, but blocks him out. Her hand remains on the woman's shoulder. Without consciously thinking about it, or even really realizing she's doing it, she pushes a wave of calm into House to counteract what would likely be her inevitable reaction to the senior agent's scramble. It comes out of her own desire that the woman not panic, not anything more purposeful than that.

"Close your eyes, Agent House," she instructs, still partially behind the agent, still with her hand on her shoulder. "Tell me about the safehouse. Where was it? What was the address? What was the street like? What did it look like? What did it smell like?"

Her voice has taken on the same calm. As zen as May can often appear, it's a very different calm than her typical demeanor. Yes, she's shamelessly pulling on Phil's calm to help her and deflect her anger. But it's more than that. She remembers how Faustus was done -- something Daniel will no doubt recognize as she sets to work on the young woman. She remembers the cadence. The tone.

Really, she's using her voice and her words to walk House back through her own broken mind. She's sure, now, there's some programming there. She's sure it happened between the fall and the rendevouz. She just needs to access it. "Describe the man's voice," she continues. "You said he was English. Was he old? Young? Cultured? Crude? What did he look like, do you remember?"

If this doesn't work... her next step will be to actively trigger her. She *thinks* she knows how, now. Certainly, if this doesn't work, she'll find out soon enough.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    The Chief is not alright. How do you reconcile your unwilling actions with the outcome? Like any agent House is taken it personally and feels guilty about it even though she had no choice. Phil is jumping in to action, but oddly her anxiety doesn't rise. May somehow counteracting it but House has no idea that's the case.

    She shuts her eyes. "17 Gallows way, Queens. Nice suburban neighbourhood. White picket fences. Green grass. I'd never been to this safe house before. I knocked on the door, no one answered. I knocked again to be sure."

    Her eyelids move about as she searches her memories. "White house, orange tiled roof. Just plain looking, blends in well with the other houses around it. I thought I heard a noise inside. I drew my weapon as per protocol and entered the premises."

    "I can smell blood. I moved carefully checking room to room.." the blips .."No one was there. I waited a few hours and got the call to come to the Playground." ....except that order to go to Delaware took three days for everyone minimum.

    "British, received pronunciation, educated, Oxford." She has been trained well. "Thirties, cultured." She squints a moment, "You and I are going to get to know each other really well... that's what he said." She shakes her head, "I can't see him." She reaches up and rubs the back of her head as if some memory was suggesting pain there. But there's none, no wound now.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Well, that was mildly frightening. Perhaps Sharon shouldn't have asked Daniel that question. But then again, her idea was worse. "I'd get them as young as twelve." And.. Sharon leaves it at that. Now she's watching, one ear gone to Daisy, the other to Phil, May, and House. Hearing the latest description of where House went, Sharon immediately pulls out her phone and begins to fire off texts.

"Daisy, can you compile traffic cam footage of that area? Go back at least three months before SHIELD was ousted and give it to someone to scrub? I'm sure we want to get a team over there, I'm putting out the call for it now." Sharon glances towards the Detective, then considers. "If you can, you need to go with."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Definitely a day for mildly horrifying family. "They've done that too," he he tells Sharon "At least in the Framework," thinking of his simulated daughter Melinda, before he adds "The Russians as well."

As plans start moving forward he asks "Anything I can do to help?" glancing to Sharon as he does.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Going to take a while to get all that info." Daisy points out to Sharon. Traffic cam footage was always crap to filter through! And 50-50 on them not keeping backups or anything before a month or two!.. Really, the City should hire her to maintain those damn servers.

"But we will get it." She smiling faintly at Sharon before continuing to taptap on the console, beginning to get that footage so they can later go through it and look for their Hydra 'friends'.

Melinda May has posed:
May listens to House. She catches all the discrepancies. Hours, not days. The smell of blood, but no evidence. Noises, but no one there. It doesn't add up.

But, apparently, the voice is clear enough that House can recall him. Briefly, May wonders why so many of HYDRA's biggest pains in the ass turn out to be well-educated Englishmen? German or English. Yeah, that thought gets pushed away.

Instead, she inhales a slowly, silent breath and lets it out. She meets Phil's eyes across the room, telegraphing to him that she's about to push some buttons and he should probably get ready for the shitstorm about to follow.

Circling fully behind the chair now, she lays both hands on House's shoulders. "Tell me what you'd do, agent," she says, sliding her hands slowly down the woman's shoulders to grasp tightly onto her upper arms in preparation, "if I told you SHIELD has learned that Denver Maelstrom is actually Nathaniel Mallick."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    May wasn't there the first time, or she'd have felt the strange void of emotions that suddenly exists where House is in the chair. "I am ready to comply," she murmurs to herself. She's all business. She moves like she was trained. The chair she's sitting on kicks back in to May's gut and she yanks the cords connected to the machine free. Her eyes turn to Phil and she jumps at him, trying to wrap the cords about his neck and choke him.

    But even as she's attempting to do it, that moment of compulsion, it starts to fall away. In its place are rich and poignant emotions and feelings of her time with Sunil Bakshi.

    She doesn't _stop_ trying to kill Phil but she does start to sweat and says, "I can see him.. I can see that piece of shit." She fights through it even as she fights Phil. "I entered the safe house.. they were waiting for me. Other agents were dead. We're going to get to know each other real well.. and someone else hit me on the back of the head."

    It's starting to come back to her nose. She looks down at her hands and lets go of the wires before she really does any damage. She lifts her hands up and steps away. "I woke up strapped to a chair. Bright lights, a screen, smells, sounds.. water dripping on my head again and again. Needles. Music. Days of it. I think I broke."

    Panting hard, struggling to breath as it comes back and tears begin to flow from her eyes. "There was another man. German accent. Sunil told him.. he appreciates your faith in his work, this new approach guarantees a fast turn around on sleeper agents. Whitehall never believed, but List did.... it's Dr. List. He was there. He was _right_ _there_. List told him he's done good work.. and he can have the Orlando facility."

    She gulps, "Are you ready to comply? ... if anyone reveals the identity of Nathaniel Mallick, kill the highest ranking agent in the room." She blinks and starts to shake all over, sliding down the wall and hugging her knees to her chest. "Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara nods to Sharon, "Of course, ma'am. I'm available in whatever capacity it needed or required."

And then House is attempting to kill, chair into May and cords on Coulson. Sara has no idea where the door to that room is, but she's ready to go through that glass if she has to.

"I liked this suit," she mutters just about to call in the Witchblade's armor when House is done, no longer trying to kill. She heard every word the agent said, everything that had happened to her, and now they knew the trigger. "Fucking Hydra," she mutters like she has horrible taste in her mouth.

Phil Coulson has posed:
The pair of agents really do well together, Coulson and May. They're an unlikely duo, but their methods do get results. Those results can be from something so basic as cleaning up City Hall to deflecting an International Incident.

This is why they get the big bucks.

Phil can only imagine what is going on through the minds of those behind the glass... what emotions are roiling back there. This is a matter of life or death, for both the Agent and for Chief Carter. The least he can do is to maintain his calm demeanor, hold it like an anchor, a rock. He is normally unflappable, so it's simply a natural extension, made all the more important now for who Melinda is.

"Get a team out there -now-." As if he really has to say so? The words come pretty much at the same moment when Sharon is relaying his orders, with some of her own ideas mixed in. This is what a team does!

Once the team finally compiles enough information, he'll be paying a visit to Tony Stark to use that brain of his. No, not Stark's. His AI. IAFIS isn't going to be near enough, and their FERET (Facial imagery database) probably won't be sufficient either. What he wouldn't give to be back at the Triskelion...

May's back in the driver's seat again, however, and when she meets Phil's gaze, there it is. It's something of a telepathy between people who have spent the equivalent of a lifetime together. He knows she's up to //something//, and the file that he still holds is set into his left hand so his right can grasp, well.. air. Damn. His ICER is probably back at his desk. He'll do this the painful way, if //doing// is necessary.

Aaand, there is no choice in the matter now. Phil is all movement; the moment Agent House goes after May, he's on the defensive. A couple of steps are taken //towards// the danger, hands up; and when the cables are to be used as a garrotte, at least he's got some give before they're set around his throat. This girl has a basis of training, but there's more to her.

Phil spins around, still holding that shortening distance between cord and throat, flipping his body forward in that attempt to throw his assailant on the ground, flat on her back.

The recounting of her experiences, of course, almost makes up for the fact that he'd been attacked. If there's one thing that he'll take from it that gives him that touch of amusement? Phil rubs at his neck; there'll be bruising.

"Heh.. I'm higher ranking.."

Sharon Carter has posed:
"Deploy." Phil's call to action was all that was needed. If it calls for it, Sara could possibly patch in after and do some investigating, something she would be used to. But if she goes now?

Sharon doesn't budge from her seat as she watches what's happening in the room, however. Everyone knows The Calvary, but seeing Coulson in action was like a gift to someone who -didn't- touch Lola.

After all was said and done, Sharon leans back in her chair. "Fuckin' whoops."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel watches with a pained expression as Phil and Melinda pick away at House's programming. It's all familiar to him, and painful, but he keeps watching until she goes for Coulson, Daniel starts towards the door to the interrogation room he pulls open the door but by the time it swings open he closes it again, when Phil gets the upperhand. "Good moves," he comments to the room about Phil's handling of the agent before smirking to Sharon. "Language, neta" he chides but there's no real displeasure behind the words only teasing.

His eyes go to House, there's no mistaking the horror on her face he's seen it in the mirror before. He taps comms to Phil and May. << She's free. She'll need help for awhile and will need to be watched but she broke programming.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Mentioning List does have a way of pulling Daisy's attention. One-track mind where it comes to certain people. Like people who need to be erased from the face of the earth. She sharply looks up from the work she is doing on the console, watching Fiona's trigger, a mix of both pity and anger.

Yes, people would pay for this.

She cracks her knuckles and gets back to work with redoubled effort, frowning but staying silent. No quip out of her. List had sort of drained her humor glands.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil wasn't truly in any danger. After all, May was in the room, and while she may have been initially surprised, she wouldn't have let him get choked out. Right?

Winding the now broken cords around a hand (the file had gone flying), he has them in a little ball and sets it on the side of the 'lie detector' box before he moves to pick up the files.

"Roger," is stated in response to the affirmation that the geis was broken. Still, Phil's not completely willing to let the girl out. There's still a whole lot of follow-up work. She'll be off-roster for quite some time.

"Someone come get her, bring her back to her room. Get her a hot chocolate, or something."

Phil looks to May to check on her; emotions are brutal and he's not willing to let her alone quite yet.

"May?" It's a question filled with questions. "Let's clean up and get out of here."

Melinda May has posed:
May doesn't really need to have been there the first time to expect that void of emotion. She's seen the results of the Faustus Protocol far too many times. Thus, when she's pushed back by that chair as House springs into action, she's already moving to kick it out the way. It jams into her gut, eliciting a grunt. She catches it, and pushes it aside.

House goes for Phil, all the while spouting on about her experiences. But what stops May isn't the chair. It's the emotions that come flooding back into the younger agent. They're as sharp and agonized as any that assaulted her in the FW. It's all May is able to do to catch her breath in that moment. And by the time she *is* able to get to Phil, he's already managed to slip the noose.

House slides down the wall, in tears, and May can tell by the shattered emotions left in the wake of the attack that Daniel's words are true. House's programming has been broken. But her healing will take far, far longer than her breaking.

As for the revelation of List... it's not so great a surprise as it could be. May was there on that last mission to the Pasadena facility where they saw the remains of List's work. She feels the emotional spike from Daisy and finds herself reaching down to her boot to pull a knife from its holster and press it against the palm of her hand. She doesn't even care if she draws a hint of blood.

It's only when Phil starts to gloat in the aftermath that May's equilibrium recovers. She snirks audibly as he chortles like a wheezy old man telling his grandchild to pull his finger. "No," she snarks back. "You're just older."

Sure, okay, seniority is a thing. He can tease her about being higher ranking than she. That's fine. But that just means he gets to be the old man. And she'll be sure to bring that weapon back out to bear. Oh, yes, she will.

Finally, though, she nods to him. "Yeah. We got what we need..."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    As the trauma of House done by Sunil Bakshi at the request of Dr. List is revealed in greater detail, Daisy types. She's clicks. She scrolls. She codes like a woman possessed. Satellite footage over the safe house, fast-forwarding over several days. A truck arrives, three men take out equipment, the truck leaves. A car arrives, a man who might be Dr. List appears, enters, exits, drives away.

    She traces his car, it drives direct to the airport. Footage from airport security. 'Hans Anders' passport, he boards a flight and flies to Germany. He's picked up again at Munich International. Then in to a car. The car travels along highways until it's lost in a tunnel.

    Back to the truck. It returns, Sunil Bakshi and three men take equipment back in to the truck. The truck drives, heading south on the high ways. All the way to Florida. Truck stops, a flat tire, Sunil yelling at his men, one of his men taking a leak on the side of the highway. Patching together different reels of satellite footage and security footage, she creates a time line.

    The truck arrives at a destination. A factory in Orlando may be two clicks from Disney World. It's probably on Disney property, but the area looks otherwise abandoned. A quinjet lands and a stretcher carrying a person comes out and is taken in to the building. Three days later, people walk out and get on the quinjet. This happens again and again.. may be a half dozen times.

    Footage. Live. Sunil Bakshi is on the phone. Intercepting call...

    "I understand you're concerned about SHIELD. Don't worry, I'll have the package ready by next week. Mass casualties right? I have the perfect Inhuman for the task. Melts everything around him. 432 Park Ave. It's all residential. He'll be there." Two HYDRA agents in armor walk out with another guy in cuffs and board a quinjet. "And they're off right now.. on their way to your little coup d'etat," Sunil hangs up. The other end of the call? Scrambled phone number somewhere in Germany.

    Daisy smiles dangerously, "We've got him."