10775/Lab in the Sky, if We could Fly

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Lab in the Sky, if We could Fly
Date of Scene: 15 April 2022
Location: Labs/Medical: Helicarrier
Synopsis: The Hellicarrier labs are the scene of some planning for pursuit of some leftover technology to see if it's not trash.
Cast of Characters: Natasha Romanoff, Leopold Fitz, Jessica Drew, Peggy Carter, Jane Foster




Natasha Romanoff has posed:
There have been a variety of things brought into SHIELD lately. As always. In this case, it's some salvage from a recent melee some weeks back with the self-called 'Leader' and Red She-Hulk. Which had left some busted up appropriated HULKBuster tech by said cranial mallaprope. which meant there was the possibility of getting something useful from the morass.. Or at least 'cheats' to use if they ever had to face off with said toys in the field.

Natasha and Jessica are there as they were present at the scene, some of the things are being broughto ut from storage and laid out in the various pieces left of them.

Leopold Fitz has posed:
His lab. Well, really, anywhere Dr Fitz goes, he claims the space, rightly or not, as 'his'. And all this.. junk.

Keen eyes watch as it's paraded out, set upon his tables. It's quick, really.. the way he catalogs it as he walks, moving things off, declaring them either of use to him, or not. "No.. no.. this.." and a look of disgust comes to his features before he shakes his head and approaches another table.

"Oooh, now this.." and he homes in on a small part in a burnt out part, his hands patting his pockets for a small toolkit.

"Where'd y'get this, then?" Fitz' Scottish accent, while never truly being called 'soft', is at the very least a little less harsh around the edges. "Le's have a look at you.."

Jessica Drew has posed:
It had been a devastating tour through the HULKbuster facilities. Jessica stands, a black silhouette in her tac suit, arms crossed, leaning against the wall inside the laboratory doors.

Exfil from the laboratories had been nerve-racking - they had barely squeaked through the explosive finale with their lives. The mutant woman had needed several days of rest while her eardrums healed and her balance restored.

Pushing off from the wall, she takes a few steps to stand behind the scientist's shoulder, "From some friends, Fitz, at the Hulkbuster Lab. Leader didn't like us taking it."

Peggy Carter has posed:
While there was nothing Peggy *really* needed to do here, it's true that the boss is going a little stir crazy strapped to a desk. Even if she did get out on field duty (much to a few people's chagrin) earlier in the week. So, curious about what is happening now, the Director's high heels quietly click onto the deck behind them. She's still insisting on being in her T-strap heels, despite certainly getting round in the waist, and she carries them off with elegance.

The rest of her outfit is a wrap dress made to accommodate her stomach, old fashioned stockings, and her classic red nailpolish. The Director is nothing if not ever stylish. She says nothing as she approaches, arms folding across her chest as she watches the little party. Just listening and learning. Maybe they won't even notice she's there, in the background.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would turn her attention to Fitz, "Seeing it in action and thankfully mostly failing against it's primary target and ending surplus to requirements." She would reply over, giving a nod over to Jessica. "I'm hopeful that you can get something useful from it. The Department of Defense hasn't always been good at sharing."

As far as the redhead was concerned, this was all 'salvage' when it came to repapropriateions and thus fair game for reverse engineering. Whehter or not that quite -matched- the bureaucratic turf..

"Do tell me wha tyou think of the quality of the things. It'd been modified some.. So I'm curious on your take."

Leopold Fitz has posed:
Fitz listens even as he's prying a small plate away from something a touch larger. "Uh huh.." is simply a noise; who knows if he's actually listening, or comprehending what is being said around him.

"I can see why it's mostly failing," he declares softly. "There's.. there's nothin' here. No shielding. They built this in a hurry, or they gave it to lowest bid, which I can assume probably happened."

Still, even in failure, there's a great deal to learn. He knows that. "I think I can get some useful things out of it, though." Fitz looks up, his brows rising before he gestures with the tiny screwdriver in hand towards the first item in question. "Like, how //not// to do things."

Jane Foster has posed:
The noise and sound bring Jane down from wherever WAND stows away, the smallest of the divisions. She truly does not need to puzzle over an 'Easter egg' the size of her palm, splendidly composed of little plates that might have mortaring. Nor why it set off an alarm somewhere in the office, or the fact it smells like a camellia bush. She truly needs something /else/ to do.

In smart flats and a high-waisted pair of pants, she looks less like escapee scientist and lady going somewhere sophisticated. A place without spiders and Hulkbuster parts. A white labcoat thrown on gives at least a partial air of something civilized. "Was this what the hubbub was about? The chatter over the coffee pot was nigh to deafening. Now I see why."

That's Jane for hello.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Eyebrows hiked high, Jessica turns to glance at the Chief and Romanoff then shrugs and lifts a finger in a wave at Jane. Not an American-born agent in the room, Jess notes.

"It was rather a smash and grab at the end. Did we send teams back in to clean up?" Coffee? The agent's eyes make a tour of the lab to see if Fitz has a kettle and tea station set up, wondering if he would share.

"There was some lovely stuff in there. What else did we bring out?" The last question directed at Natasha.

Peggy Carter has posed:
There is a certain joy that Peggy takes in just watching her people, sometimes. She doesn't lend herself to the shadows all that well, but when she can manage to blend in for a bit, she does. It gives her a chance to see them all in their native element, to see them mingling together in comfort and letting their brillance out little bits at a time. Little, snarky bits, in the case of Fitz. That makes her smile a bit wider.

She still doesn't intrude. In fact, she gets comfortable in the shadows, her shoulders sinking back to rest against the wall, so she can watch them comfortably without her back protesting the not moving while standing in heels. Then she's spotted, by Jessica, of course. She raises one finger to her lips in a silent 'shhh' motion, remaining back otherwise. She'd wait to see how long it took the others.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would glance at Peggy, "Chief." She would speak in her direction. Natasha would nod to Jessica, "I assume so. At least to collect followup material." It still had a gamma reactor that needed full deactivation. So she was presuming that some level had..

"And has Jemma had a look at some of the.. Genetically altered things from there or not yet?" Which might be down the priority ladder or have gotten stuck in the SHIELD 'wait wut' spectre of things.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica huffs at the mention of the mutated animals that had attacked them. "What a joy they were, too. Mad Coyotes bearing state of the art mini-cannons and jacked-up Roadrunners. Smart, fast and bearing a grudge, everyone of them. Jemma might enjoy those, I think. I don't believe we got one out alive."

Leopold Fitz has posed:
Off in a corner, absolutely there's a bunsen burner set up, complete with kettle, bottled water beside it, and a small tea station that has a most decided 'FitzSimmons' vibe to it. Tea that is obviously imported.

Fitz looks up from his work, and he twists around slowly, brows creasing expressively. "Define 'lovely stuff'." There's the rougher brogue coming through- interest is piqued. "Because this? Yah.. I feel the smash an' grab."

He does catch Natasha's greeting of 'Chief', and where he'd been a touch slower talking to the others in the lab, he's spinning around to find her. Friends or no-friends (there's a lot of give and take, given chosen careers AND the UK pecking orders.), he greets her quickly, "Ah.. Chief Carter.. didn't expect you, or I'd have put the kettle on m'self."

The question of Jemma, of course, always deserves an answer, and setting that little screwdriver back into his pocket toolkit, he shakes his head. "She's workin' on a project." That's all he'll say on it, at least for the moment. "What was it y'found for her? I hope it's a sight better than.. that.. though," Fitz begins slowly once more, "I wouldn't mind goin' back for the lovely stuff."

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane isn't particularly rushed upon her approach, easing her way nearer to the small group. "I ought to have brought coffee or tea, shouldn't I? Late nights have that quality. The energy in the air, the way everyone's bent together." A crooked grin brightens for Jess, catching the tail end of her search for refreshment. While she knows the ins and outs of Jemma's lab, she would never presume for the other of that duo.

Furiae respect boundaries and property. Except Daisy, but she's /Daisy/.

Slipping in closer, her gaze moves to Peggy and she nods in that direction, but may allow the woman the chance to be discreet and hidden. "Genetically altered materials from where, in fact? And yes, she's got a full basket."

Peggy Carter has posed:
There's a husky chuckle from the Director as Natasha just greets her. So much for staying in the shadows. Peggy then takes a few more steps forward, her arms uncrossing as she gives the group a little salute. "I don't suppose I can hide from any of you, can I? Especially not nowadays. But, please, carry on. I'll be curious to see what you find other than the manual of what *not* to do. And, if you want me to go... get out of your hair, I shan't make a fuss." She means that. She's just restless. Bored out of her mind. Not even in the third trimester and she's already resenting the desk.

Then Fitz is mentioning the kettle and, not being a scientist, that gives her something useful she can do. "Oh, I'm certain there is a tea stash somewhere around here. I can start the kettle, you all keep working. Let me take care of you lot, for once." And, sure enough, the Chieef steps aside to do just that. Tea was vital right now.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would shrug her shoulders, "I don't know what if anything was done after the area was secured. I suppose it depends on whose exactly jurisdiction it fell into and who called what favors in the military bureaucracy. Alternatively whom felt the most humiliated by it and wanted to bury it as fast as possible." Given the way the Hulkbuster project worked, Natasha was betting very much on the second.

As Jane would inquire, Natasha would add, "From a number of fauna from throughout the region, the southwest desert. They were uplifted, mentally augmented, and given varying degrees of metagenetic powers. And some -very- odd things." A quick look to Jessica. Please, explain this for her!

Leopold Fitz has posed:
"Well they should be embarrassed by this," Fitz gestures with his hand towards the equipment on his tables. "They'd be laughed out of conference, their papers flushed down the loo." Still, there's that piece that he keeps going back to. As Peggy makes her explanations and offers to be helpful, he's pulling that bit back and closer to him again, marking his possession of it. The other things? Nowhere near as interesting.

"I would like to go see, even from a distance." There's that hint of possible excitement that he might actually go out again, even if it's in a cloaked Quin hovering over a research site that is closed off by one government or another, hostile or no. Such is a lab scientist's life! "Perhaps it'd give me a clue on some of that." Stuff.

The uplifted animals description has the hard scientist nodding, "S'right up her alley, yes... I'll text her when you lot move on."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Pheromones and hormones," the spider agent states flatly to the Chief with a hint of an apology in the tilt of her head.

Still lingering on her face is a faint look of satisfaction that does not completely conceal that Jessica revels in the fact that none got out alive. After her experience with them, she doesn't have an iota of solidarity for the mutated animals which were pure rage equipped with claws and blades and unfortunately, intelligence. Unusual for her and even uncomfortable."

"Leader had a plan to Hulk-ize anything that moved. Erm, does that even work - Hulk-ize? If there are enough cups, tea would be wonderful." She steps to Peggy's side to hand out cups.

Jane Foster has posed:
A friendly wave acknowledges the variety of problems and intriguing situations facing them. "You may have just given an early present to the biologists who feel sorely overlooked in the field lately. Not everything can be the province of engineering and robotics, can it?" Jane laughs softly for a bit, absorbing Natasha's explanation. "I'll leave you to it, then. Best figuring out what they are and how they might be trusted."

She shrugs out of the coat, one sleeve at a time, then lofts the poor white garment over her shoulders. "That manner of augmentation won't happen without significant consequences, I'm sure. The ethical standards... ah, that's never easy." She has little else to add on that front, preferring instead to withdraw a few steps to the edge o fthe lab and continue upon her way.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A wry smile is given to Jessica, inclining her head in understanding of what the give away was. She tried, at least. Now she's making hersef useful in the background by putting on a kettle and trying to find where the tea stash, so she can select good but not precious ones. She really should build a tea cabinet into every corner of this ship, enough of them live on the stuff.

"There's always enough cups. If there aren't, we'll just find some beakers or test tubes or something, right? I'm sure that's safe." She teases lightly. But she has put on a full pot, clearly intending tea for everyone. She's visited the labs often enough she knows where everything is stashed.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would give a laugh, "Well, I have no qualms with it. If there's anything useful from there I feel like it's useful for us to at least have an idea on. At the very least so we know how to handle it when it's going to be used against us. Even broken thing slike this.. Well, they show us how to break them better."

And she was relatively sure that the technology was going to be used against them at some point. Given how -horrid- security had been at thsoe installations and how easily so much of it had been reappropriated so routinely..

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica's hand goes to the pocket at her waist to pull out the phone that vibrated against her hipbone. Excusing herself with an apologetic look and an uplifted finger, she heads for the door to answer the call.

Leopold Fitz has posed:
"Then we leave bright an' early. Just a fly-by is all." There, it's a date, as it were, and he looks to Natasha for acknowledgment before he's back to work on his tables, the one bit in particular that keeps pulling him back.

He waves at the others, finding him slowly left more alone to his devices, but for the remaining women. The lab really isn't the best place for gathering; Fitz is kind of funny about his space, and the inviolablity of said location. Who knows what could be going on here!?

"Now," his voice is low in the room, the burr softly rising, "Please tell me tha' y'didn't come in t'see how I was doin' with them all?" Fitz turns his head slightly, still facing forward at the table, though looking at the brew mistress. "I'm sorry I missed this raid. It'd have been a perfect run for me."

Peggy Carter has posed:
It's Peggy who is left with him. The tea finally made, she carries the cup in his direction, close to perfect on the brew strength and one of his preferred statshes. She knows where all the secret tea stashes are, after all. She stands near his head, not entirely invading his space, but close enough that her presence can be felt on the air. Peggy always has a larger than life sort of stance to her.

"No, I promise I didn't JUST come to see how you were doing with them all. Though, it's good to see you being a bit more social. I genuinely needed out of my office. I know you, healthy or not about it, would be content to be shut up in your lab never to see the light of day again. But some of us go stir crazy trapped in a place. So... I thought I'd visit." And she probably is checking up on him a little bit.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would nod at Leopold, "Of course. I'll makes ure there's a sweep crew ready. Chief, can you ensure that if there's any sort of bureaucratic.. Interference that needs to be run then it can be handled? And if anything else has been taken as full on salvage or put into storage that Fitz can take a look at it?" Because if there were any good things to find that could be repurposed the American military would of course have tried to do so - or whatever intelligence agency came into control of the site.

Likeliest, and most depressing was that whatever remnants of the Hulkbuster unit would be commandeering it all again. Tht was left unsaid.

Leopold Fitz has posed:
Fitz can't help it. There's a hint of a lift to the edges of his lips, "Just a bit, then." Cheeky.

Natasha's acceptance has the baby-faced scientist smiling a touch broader. "Perfect. I'll have my equipment put on board, an' it'll be easy." Since when is anything ever easy?

His voice lowers again for the fact that there are so few in his lab now. No need to fight to be heard, even if he doesn't have to. "Well, it's good t'see you out of the office, though, an' forgive me for sayin' such.. but in a delicate state, shouldn't y'be home, doin' some knittin'?" While that might sound sexist, and it most certainly does, there's that touch of 'hominess' to it. Tradition that is born of a couple of thousand years. Natasha would also understand something of it.. culture and traditions die hard in the face of the future. And, there are times when there's a comfort in the past.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"You know me, Fitz. I'm a spy. We can't do anything without at least two motives, our brains don't work that way." Peggy flashes him a bit more of a smile as she catches the upturned edges of his mouth. That was nice to see. She'll take it as a win. "Next time, I'll bring more curry as a bribe. I know it's the most effective one."

Then she's looking back to Natasha as the woman comes over, falling quiet because she knows the actual business at hand is a little more important than her teasing Fitz. She is curious about their plans as well, but trusts them to have it enough in hand that she doesn't intrude on the science part of things. She just takes a sip of her own tea, studying Nat and Fitz' body language as they speak.

Then Fitz asks about being at home and Natasha can practically see the electric shock going through her body. She straightens, staring down at the man, biting back her initial response which is ENTIRELTY unkind, instead settling on, "Leopold *Fitz* you had better be jesting or so help me god I will put you on twenty field missions in a row. YOu won't see this lab again until late summer. I haven't knitted a bloody day in my *life*, you sod."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff can see the sense of murder that is being done as far as Peggy would go, and Natasha would step in, "Remember, engineer, that she's older than I am and has seen more than the rest of us. She's been in this game we all play longer than I've been alive." Not just older, having been at this game of spy and saber for longer even than the woman that had lived through the second world war had survived.

"She knows many, manyways the likes of which to make you know regret. So don't tempt her to show you them."

Leopold Fitz has posed:
There's a moment when all is quiet in the lab after Natasha's words, and in those heartbeats where life and death appear to hang in the balance, Fitz draws a long, slow smile. He's been known to pull pranks in the past, but never, ever out of the lab. Ever. Never outside his direct circle of compatriots.

"So I'm cleared for missions, am I?" Cheecky little sod, absolutely. Fitz is also very, very lucky he's not scorched from the tea that's come from the kettle. "Good t'know."

Once again, Fitz pulls out his little pocket tool kit and sets it upon the table. "This," and he gestures towards the little bit of tech, "I'm goin' t'run it through radiological testing. I might have figured out why it's not shielded, an' if I'm right?" He glances at the rest of the equipment and exhales in a long, drawn out sigh. "I'll need the cot moved in."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"You're cleared for missions if you get a proper night's sleep in your *quarters*. Not the lab. No living her 24/7. That's an order, understood?" Peggy states flatly, still grumbling about it even though he's got that grin on his face. She shakes her head to them both.

Then dark eyes level in Natasha's direction, "You make certain he gets into a proper bed to sleep. No cots in the lab, understood? We have quarters for a reason. Now, I'm going to go track down some curry because I said the word and now I *need* it." Cravings wait for no one, including lab experiments. "Keep me updated with the reports on all of this. And both of you get some rest!" With those orders given, Peggy finishes off her tea and heads for the door. Curry awaits.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff would smiel over at Peggy, "Of course. I'll jus tsimply drug him and have him moved over and if necessary put in restraints to ensure it happens." She would go to consider. "I need to practice some of my pressure point techniques anyways." She's probably serious. That is an order she would -enjoy- obeying after all.

"I slept three days ago for nearly four hours. I'm fine."

Leopold Fitz has posed:
By the skin of his teeth.. and as Peggy offers up her commands, Fitz is actually a stepped back a pace. He doesn't want to say 'understood' because, well.. it means then he's responsible. But he can't be held responsible if his research grabs him by the shirt collar and keeps him in place. Each minute a new things is learned, and then another.. and another.

Natasha's smiled response at to what would await him should he not obey, however, gains a softly chuffed breath and a murmur to himself, "Good goin', Fitzy.." and he shakes his head, his muttering getting softer, and so much deeper in brogue than most can understand.

He will be in the lab, working for several more hours; at home in his element. Radiation levels, trickle discharges.. notes that only another high level physicist could begin to comprehend as he writes on that grease board in a language all his own.

Rest.. rest will come. Eventually.