3732/Epicenter: Evaluation

Epicenter: Evaluation
Date of Scene:	07 October 2020
Location:	Athletics: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Jemma figures out the emotional root of Bobbi's heart attacks, prescribes zen mastery, and clears her for field work.
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Jemma Simmons

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Bobbi Morse has posed:
Hair tied back in a bun, Bobbi is wearing her gym clothes for todays exercises. She has done physicals plenty of time. Her capabilities rarely change from year to year. This time she is a touch nervous, she doesn't know what to expect from herself and she is not looking forward to triggering another heart attack.

"Sooo.. where are we beginning then?," she asks Jemma with a raised eyebrow. She picks up the sensor kit and attaches it to the front of her uniform. Standard affair but this time far more important. There's still a lingering question in her mind as to whether Jemma has forgiven her or not yet.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    Oh, Jemma is not one to hold grudges. However, she is also not one to inject a mixture of chemicals into her veins without knowing good and well what is going in is actually going to not kill her. But, she has already came to terms with that a while ago. This....this is just business.

    With that, the medical doctor picks up her tablet and links up with the sensor on the uniform wirelessly. A quick diagnostic proves that everything is coming in as expected. "Right. Well, we need to determine what adverse effects, if any, are lingering from your hybrid formula. So, we can start off with some regular physical activity...and then see what the sensors tell us. How does that sound for a start?"

    The British voice seems perfectly pleasant and easygoing. No anger, it seems, for the reason why the tests are necessary. "All set, then?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi nods her head and then looks around the gym. It's quiet at the moment. Somehow they'd picked the perfect time to do this without a large gathering of onlookers. There's a rub at the back of her neck with a free hand and then she steps on to the treadmill and starts it off slow.

The slow jog is a good warm up and her baselines start coming through. Low heart rate, high metabolic response, no obvious signs of strains. This is far better than her medical from just three months prior for agent evaluations.

"So, Fitz is going a bit nuts with me hanging around in the labs. I think he thinks he owns the place. Can you believe he set up a cot in the corner? Come on Director Levin, there are standards and lines that shouldn't be crossed.. may be that's what he thinks I'll do for him while there, poke people in the ribs to not let their standards drop."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    Jemma rolls her eyes as she takes note of the readings coming in. "Really....that again? He did that at the Academy because he wanted a certain section of the laboratory there, so thought to sleep in the lab to guarantee getting it." There is a shake of a head with a laugh. "I suppose it is better than camping in front of the door."

    The vitals are coming through...and things seems spectacular across the board. "Well, I don't see any issues presently. I believe we can increase speed and continue monitoring."

    With a pause, Jemma takes the opportunity to ask some questions of her own. "Have you noticed any ill effects? Any heart palpitations or anything similar? We know that was an issue Whitehall's formula, using Inhuman genetics. I can only imagine that there would be something similar..."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
She can't help but laugh a little that this was something Fitz had done before. "Ridiculous. Why hasn't any one complained? or.. have they and Levin just files it away, collecting data, instead of doing something about it." She rolls her eyes. He is the kind of guy who likes to hit you with a proof of your issues rather than course correcting before it becomes a bigger issue.

She taps on the controls and moves up to a run. "No, I've actually been feeling better than ever. Some of my aches and pains have faded away which is really strange. The two incidences of cardiac infraction at the HYDRA base haven't repeated themselves - though I've been deliberately not pushing myself. They hurt _a lot_."

Oddly her baseline is once again far too good for Bobbi as she's jogging along. The metabolic response is kind of what you'd expect from a Steve Rogers physical. "I got good news from Director Levin though, they've classified my DNA and blood work level 10. Actually that's just amusing news, the good news is that like Whitehall's formulas, without Jacob's compounds we cannot reverse engineer it."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    "So, all the information we are currently gathering is classified well beyond my level. That's wonderful." The baseline is noted...with minor surprise. But, only minor. After all, Jemma knew that Bobbi was working on Rogers-esque abilities with the serum in the first place. "And we are sure that there is no more samples of Jacob's DNA prior to his death? I know that whatever he did at the end took care of his gift so that it cannot be extrapolated from his corpse."

    As Bobbi speaks about the HYDRA escape, Jemma's mind starts contemplating. "When you experienced the cardiac infractions, was there anything particularly unique that was occurring? I know it is rather silly to ask, considering we were all fighting to escape, but if we can isolate a particular variable, we might be able to understand what exactly causes the infractions."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
"I don't think we can be entirely sure of that. But Hartley tells me we have accounted for the main assets Whitehall had in play. The base in Vermont, the base on the island, the mini sub. Those were his three big pieces he had on the board. From the looks of it, he was planning on breeding up his super army on that island and then unleashing them across the globe in a world wide coup. Typical HYDRA."

She sighs and shrugs her shoulders. "He was using a lot of it, given how much a body can produce, I'd say he wa tapping Jacob out pretty hard day in and day out just to make those watches and his own healing cure. I am sleeping soundly in the thought that we've put an end to his operation for good."

She stares off at the wall for a moment, "Different. Well, like you said we were fighting to escape. Perhaps it was the exertion of combat that did it? It's a little different to jogging. May be it was just a temporary affect, that was mere minutes after having taken the formula.."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    "No emotional stressors, then? Because, judging from what I am seeing on the sensors, I don't think just the physical exertion is the issue." Because the baselines barely shifted with the increased exercise. There is a moment longer of silence as Jemma ponders the information....then shifts into a different direction.

    "So, Hunter. Do you still love him?" It is an awfully unusual path for Jemma to be talking in terms of questioning. "I suspect it was really hard watching him take all that abuse. Why, I am not sure how calm I would be seeing that." And...it becomes clear as to why Jemma went the route she did. She is looking for an emotional trigger.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi is starting to get in to this evaluation now. Just how long can she keep this up for? she's not feeling tired at all. "The emotional stressors? Well.. let's see, I was pretty sure I was going to die and I wanted to get you and Lance to safety. I was willing to sacrifice myself for that, as your senior agent and the one who got you in to that mess."

There is a short spike in her heart rate as Jemma asks her if she still loves him. She looks down at her feet and clears her throat, "Is that. Uh. Yes, I never stopped loving him Jemma. He's just infuriatingly needy and sometimes I need space. If I'm being perfectly honest, I use that sometimes to push him away just so I can get some air."

There's a degree of honesty that she can share with Jemma that she isn't ready to share with Lance. The thoughts of the abuse he has taken in the past and the abuse he was taking at Whitehall's hands.. and worse, the potential tortures that could have awaited him. It's not her heart that races like one might expect, but there is an unexpected dip in oxygen getting to her heart.

"There was also a certain degree of wanting to end those HYDRA jerks and get Whitehall for all the things he'd done. And I was still really really mad with Toshiro," she says, twisting her lips. The data seems to be indicating a correlation between emotional state _and_ physical exertion.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    "Ah....there we are. Elusive little devil, but I believe I found you." As Bobbi opens up and dwells on how she emotionally felt during the escape, coupled by that brief spike with the Lance question, Jemma jots down some notes. She caught that sudden drop in oxygen levels. "Oh, I could imagine that having Hunter and Toshiro both there was a definite cause for concern. And I certainly was not helping matters at all with my presence more of a hinderance than a help. With Whitehall waving a gun in my face and all." Jemma's musings are all geared towards Bobbi remembering her state of mind, her emotional composition.

    Though, she doesn't leave Bobbi hanging for long. "Combining strenuous activity with an emotionally, err, active state seems to trigger a decline in the oxygen levels reaching your heart. It seems that the circulatory system is not capable of maintaining proper levels when both factors are in play. Fascinating..." The brown eyes lift up to regard Bobbi. "Essentially, stress plus extreme physical exertion equates to cardiac infractions. That is, if I am interpreting the information correctly."

    Which...Jemma believes she is. After all, this is her area of expertise.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi's lips tighten a touch and she runs faster on the treadmill, not taking well to these particular memories. The gun in Jemma's face in particular causes a sharp decline in the oxygen distribution. And despite the measurable physiological response she says, "You did admirably Jemma. I was especially impressed with your improvised dendrotoxin grenade. In Japan, you moved in to position - if they hadn't been super powered HYDRA agents, we would have taken them and rescued Lance. I said as much to Director Fury."

Bobbi lifts up her left hand and says, "Minor tingling in my finger tips of my left hand only. No pangs or pains. I was exerting myself a great deal more on the island though." She listens to Jemma's assessment and almost stumbles in response, "What are you saying, I have to be a zen master of my emotions while in combat or I get a heart attack? what kind of sappy story book nonsense is that??!"

The outburst is more a matter of 'life is unfair' than any particular complaint. "But.. I suppose that'd only be when I'm pushing myself past normal human limits too." Then again, she does let her emotions get the better of her on mission more than she'd care to admit.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    A shrug tugs Jemma's shoulders up as a small smile curls the corners of her lips up in tandem. "Well...yes? I mean, at least you will still be able to...well.....you know..." Jemma's hands float in the air for a moment, before awkwardly coming together in a somewhat clinical and not at all suggestive manner. "...have relations." Well....they were talking about Hunter just a bit ago. "But yes, I suppose you cannot go into a mission with too much emotional attachment, or you will experience lost of feeling in various extremities...and cardiac infractions. You are essentially starving your body of oxygen by putting too much emotional and physical strain."

    The praise does bring a blush to Jemma's cheeks, but only slight. She is concentrating on the test. Or at least trying to.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi hits the off button on the treadmill and it coasts to a stop. She stares at Simmons for a few moments. "I.. uh. Wow," she says and then rubs the back of her neck again. "That's going to take a lot of practice," she comments and thinks hard on it. She spent years learning how to hide her emotions from her face and her body so that she could control the narrative, but that didn't mean she wasn't still feeling things inside.

"I guess that's a huge no for undercover work for a good while then," she says and twists her lips. Even if she was stone faced, the moment the emotions hit her inside she'd have a tell - a heart attack tell. "Still," she says considering the upsides, "Extremis may have been a massive failure by AIM, but the concept of careful DNA reprogramming is a thing. May be one day we can fix this fault. Find a way to keep the oxygen going to my extremities, to my heart."

She rests a hand over her chest for a brief moment and then picks up her tablet to look at the data. She narrows her eyes at it a moment and sighs. "There are always risks in the actions we take, the choices we make. This is still better than death and we stopped Whitehall. You and Lance got out of there. May be I should remove my name from the SpecUnd list. Level seven doesn't give me much time to consider that any way...."

She pauses, "...and Lance wants to spend more time together outside of SHIELD. So, I guess I could do that." Even this simple talk, the oxygen is wibbly wobbling all over the place, but the standard deviation is much lower now that she's stopped running.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    "Regrettably, I would have to agree about the undercover work. At least, not without a partner to back you up. If you were to need to scrabble under a high stress situation, you would almost certainly experience a heart attack. Though....I would imagine it will heal almost immediately, but it will most certainly incapacitate you enough to be a liability." Jemma doesn't do lying, so the look that she gives of sympathy is completely honest. "I do know how well you excel at undercover work. But...perhaps this can be an opportunity to teach others what you know. There can be some good from this!"

    As Bobbi speaks of Lance, Jemma notes the oxygen levels....and how they fluctuate. A knowing grin slowly spreads, as Jemma puts her tablet away. "Well, yes. You could do that, too. I am sure he would appreciate it. Who knows, perhaps he will help you to find that happy medium to keep your stress nice and low."

    A beat. "Did you want to report this to the higher ups, or did you want me to?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi shrugs her shoulders, "Well there is that. Besides, I'm still trying to teach you." Bobbi cough laughs as Jemma suggests 'happy medium' when it comes to Lance, "Riiight. You've met the guy haven't you? he's a hellbeast. Always pushing the buttons." She smirks though and says, "You're the doctor in this case, you'd best do it. Though I do have to ask you - am I cleared for field work? either way there are a few things Levin wants me to do so I'll be sticking around in R&D for a bit longer. Much to Fitz' chagrin no doubt."

"Also, if you've the time, I'd like to try and limit test my abilities. I simply don't know how far I can take things.. and now we know I'm not going to have a heart attack and seizure just from pushing myself, I feel more confident in trying to find that stuff out."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
    Jemma offers a nod to the question of field work. "Field work. Yes, I would imagine that field work is allowed. If anything, so I don't have to listen to Fitz complain anymore." A wink and a chuckle before Jemma slides the tablet away. "I just won't tell him you are going to be hanging around longer. It will be more amusing that way."