16715/How HAL Got His Name

How HAL Got His Name
Date of Scene:	30 December 2023
Location:	R and D Labs: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Monica gives HAL a voice! And the truth of his name comes out.
Cast of Characters:	Monica Chang, Daisy Johnson

---

Monica Chang has posed:
Monica was busy in work at the R&D lab. Nevermind it was her day off. Nevermind that the place was pretty barren as most R&D nerds worked during normal weekdays. But there were a few of them that liked to keep odd hours and could show up at 3am as well, if an idea struck them.

The number of empty soda cans and candy wrappers filling the wastebasket at her desk attested to how long Monica had been here. She wasn't alone either. She had her trusty sidekick HAL there, hovering with a few lights on the oblong silver surface and an access panel open as she had him plugged in for the time being.

"Alright. Fifteenth time is the charm!" she said to the drone that was almost silent despite hovering in place about five feet above the floor. "Let's see if we like this one better. Give me a countdown, HAL."

A blue light blinked twice then a voice came from a speaker somewhere within the machine. "One...two...three..."

"Stop. Oh hell no. That will never do." For the voice had sounded entirely too much like Alvin the Chipmunk. "Maybe we'll try someone British. Those are great accents." And Monica was back to typing quickly, scanning her screen as info flashed past.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"What's wrong with Alvin?" That's Daisy, making her way into the Lab. Clearly Monica isn't the only one here at a late hour! As for Daisy? She's still dressed up in her uniform, ICER at her hip. Most likely a late night mission that just finished. Or maybe it's just starting. Hard to tell with these SHIELD that keep no cushy 9 to 5 jobs.

"I mean, he looks like an Alvin." She suggests, making her way past to open a small panel on the side, suspiciously close to Fitz's workbench. It's a secret stash?! Whatever is hidden there soon comes to light as Daisy brings out a kitkat chocolate bar, followed by another, tossing one to Monica, "I know all his stashes." she explains, finally approaching the work being done.

"What are you up to with Hal so late tonight?" she then finally asks.

Monica Chang has posed:
"I've been here how many months and I didn't know that was there!" Monica protested as she caught the delicious perfection that was a KitKat bar. She already was opening it and made sure to break each piece off as was proper. Because people who just kept the pieces together and took a bite? They were monsters.

"He does sort of look like an Alvin but I couldn't take that voice all the time. Just limited to Christmas," Monica replied after she finished her bite of candy. She motioned toward him with the other piece still in hand. "I went through every line of code. He's as good as I can make him now. All the hardware and software. And he keeps asking questions so I figured I'd simplify my life instead of having to read all the time. Thus, time for HAL to have a voice."

She glanced at her screen where there was a list of British actors. All males. "No, Patrick Stewart is off the list. I'd be thinking of Jean-Luc Picard every single time he spoke. Hugh Grant? Nope. Too many romcoms and that's just not the voice I need telling me stuff about targets in the field."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy is no monster either, breaking each bar off before starting to consume it. She makes a sheepish look when Monica reveals not knowing of the stash. "Well, it's called a secret stash for a reason. He sometimes changes it around but there's always signs.." she says in that way of someone that has known FitzSimmons for what feels like a lifetime.

She rests her hip against the side of the counter next to Hal, a curious glance over the screen just before she takes a bite on the chocolate, listening to the various choices at hand, "Nothing wrong with some Hugh Grant voice. It makes us warm all over inside.." she says with a wistful sigh.

"So I am guessing Rowan Atkinson is out of the equation too." But who doesn't love some Mr. Bean? "Well, how about Michael Caine?"

Monica Chang has posed:
"Rowan Atkinson, I'd always think of Mr. Bean, Black Adder, or that guy from Love Actually that kept wrapping the presents," Monica protested. "Michael Keene is a possibility. He's been in tons of stuff. Hugh Grant...might make me go getting stupid ideas about romance or something so he's definitely out." Because that is what thinking about romcoms did and Monica was a realist in most things. Sure, she enjoyed her escapism through her video games and movies but in the end, she was also not one to hope for things. That way one was never disappointed.

"Carey Elwes. Wow, that's a blast from the past. Ohhh now there's a voice," Monica murmured as she scanned the list. She did a few quick keystrokes and mouse clicks then looked at HAL. "Countdown, please."

"Five...four...three..." The strong voice of Jason Statham came through the speaker. She glanced over to Daisy to see what she might think of that one.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Hey, romance isn't stupid." Daisy protests, clearly the idealist romantic of the bunch! "I mean, he's all suave and...." but that's a forgotten name when Monica speaks of Cary Elwes. Eyes go wide, "Ooooh! Men in Tights!" because of course that's the movie she goes to when she thinks of Cary Elwes, "I mean, very fitting..." she is clearly in agreement on that.

Gaze still goes to the screen, curious as apparently ANOTHER voice is chosen for Hal.

"Wait, I know this one..." she squints her eyes, "Oooh, Transporter. I mean, I'd trust him to drive me -anywhere-.." and yes, she eyebrow waggles at Hal.

"But does that mean you are going to call him Jason now?"

Monica Chang has posed:
"Strong. Reliable. Sense of humor. Super sexy. Yeah, I think this is his new voice," Monica decides as she finishes up the code lines. But when asked that final question, she has to laugh and shake her head.

"While it does make more sense, I can't ever think of him as anything other than HAL. Which is actually an acronym. Which sort of sums up how he and I started out together."

She glanced to the drone. "HAL, what does your name stand for?"

A moment later, Jason Statham's voice announced. "Hydra Are Losers."

Which had Monica grinning from ear to ear. "Oh yeah, that voice is perfect. Never knew I needed to hear Statham say that but now I do." Then she elaborated. "Since I got HAL during a mission when Hydra had sent him out to kill me--and the other agents involved, I took all the good stuff they had creared in the hardware and completely rewrote his code. But I wasn't sure what to call him so I sort of muttered that as I was working one day, realized it spelled HAL and the rest is history."