5666/Anything we could do, Jacob could do better

Anything we could do, Jacob could do better
Date of Scene:	21 March 2021
Location:	Medical Ward: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Bobbi sits down with Dr. Simmons to discuss how her health has changed since Afterlife. During a discussion about solving genomic strangeness, Bobbi accidentally activates the latent quaking ability in a sample of Daisy's blood. General note: Examination room 5 is currently unavailable in the medical wing.
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Jemma Simmons

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Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi has noticed a very strange affect of her new situation. People don't just move out of her way because she's Bobbi Morse, they move out of a way in a hurry because she's Commander Morse. She hadn't expected this superpower to be so evident. The agents and field agents don't want to get in the way of one of the commanders. Before they got out of the way because she was the intimidating and scary Agent Morse. Now, .. she feels useless.

    Which is why she enters the medical wing to see her one and only true favourite Doctor ever, Jemma Simmons. The appointment had been set and shuffled around several times because it turns out when you're made commander suddenly everyone wants to talk to you at once. It's almost a relief to be in a quiet medical space with Jemma.

    "Sorry I'm late," she says taking off her business jacket, placing her ICER in a bin and rolling up her sleeves. "It's been a crazy day already. Meetings.. so many meetings." She smiles to Jemma and asks, "How have you been?" The heart rate monitor on her wrist is reading steady right now and she takes it off, offering it to Jemma to check its history. There's been blips. No heart attacks, but blips.

    "It seems like Afterlife, instead of things calming down.. everything is just getting crazier and crazier. I should have quit instead of accepting this promotion." Shiny lanyard hung from her belt says Commander Morse, Level 8. Fury and Hill took May's advise and their own desires and the fact that Gonzales left a huge Gonzales shaped hole and filled it with Bobbi.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
To be perfectly honest, Jemma Simmons may have been one of those agents that would have avoided Commander Morse in the past. Not so long ago, in fact. Jemma would have been content just holed up in her research lab and out of sight, doing science and remaining behind the scenes.

But, as Bobbi changes her responsibilities and titles, so has Jemma. Through no small amount of effort from the newly christened Commander Morse herself. Jemma herself has been rather busy as well, as of late. Mostly, with her own self-appointed mission to reunite a certain astrophysicist's soul to her body (as if Jemma could do that), but also with duties that have taken her out of one lab and into another. So, the sight of Jemma in the Medical wing is not a new thing. Nor is the fact that the usual medical staff seems to be giving Jemma just as wide a berth as Bobbi.

It seems that Jemma's reputation precedes her.

"Agent Morse, it is quite alright." Brown eyes catch the shimmer of laminated plastic and the address changes. "Sorry, Commander Morse. It is perfectly understandable. Isn't it what you have told me? Higher visibility equates to higher responsibility...and less control over demands for your time." The smile returned to Bobbi is warm and inviting, classic Simmons. The heart monitor is taken, then placed next to Jemma's tablet so the near field communications can take place, downloading the complete history.

"As for me...well, I have been busy. After our return, I have been following leads with Jane's....situation. You know of that, of course. Ghosts and vampires." Wait...did Jemma say 'vampires'? That might be a new one for Bobbi. "Oh, and I did examine May and her newfound developments. Intriguing..." A soft tone, and Jemma reaches back, picking up the tablet and the monitor both. The monitor is returned to Bobbi...while Jemma peruses the data on the table. And...there is some notation at those 'blips'.

Then, with the door closed to their room and no one else in sight, those brown eyes level over the tablet to Bobbi. "I promised to not say 'I told you so' during our examination here. But...just know I am thinking it." A joke? A small one, if that. "Okay...so, tell me, Doctor Morse, what developments have you noticed?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "Whatever happened to just Bobbi? How long have we been working together now? First Lance ruins our personal space and now this.. no, I really need to keep this friendship ..normal. With everything else changing so much," she says and her lips press in to a thin line. "There's a lot going on right now," she admits with a small sigh.

    "This," she says tapping her lanyard, "Was all Fury and Hill finally getting their way. Thanks to my current medical status and my inability to take lead in the field or be part of a strike team without putting everyone in danger..."

    "Vampires? Again? ..wait ghosts? that's new," she ponders and frowns a moment, "I do miss Jane. It feels like our trio of specialist geniuses is missing something without her insights. May is.. has been quieter than usual. I take it you know why?"

    Developments. She kicks off her shoes and pulls her feet up to sit comfortable cross legged in the chair and rests an elbow on the table top, her head to her hand. "Ugh. Well. I have determined that I have too strong an emotional connection with my colleagues. When I've been in the field fighting and pushing my body past normal human levels I am fine - unless there's someone I care about nearby, then my heart goes wild and I end up disabling myself briefly, or worse, passing out."

    Her other hand floats in the air and presents a single finger, "And then in Afterlife I got in to fight that I couldn't win without killing a man which I simply had no cause to do.. they dumped me in a room with one of Jacob's old patients." Jacob.. that young man all the way back on Whitehall's island. The key ingredient in Whitehall's super hydra agents formula.

    "It turns out Jacob had quite the role to play in Afterlife. It seems he read peoples genome by touch, deciphered it in his head, and could then aid in fixing problems and.. presumably.. taking powers away from someone who can't control or won't control them. Without him, they had likely been missing a very important policing and medical tool for their community."

    Her eyes soften and she says, "Her name was Nona and she was hiding in the dark of the cell they dumped me in. Light activated her abilities - she would freeze everything around her. She accidentally killed her brother. Poor thing. Jacob had a notebook on her, trying to dampen down the affects.. he was taken by HYDRA before he could finish."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
The use of all the titles, save the first name, ends as Jemma actually seems to relax physically. "Excellent. I really was having trouble keeping everything 'professional'" The fingers fly up to put air quotes around the word. "Oh, Bobbi, you said it yourself. There is a lot going on."

The mention of vampires earns Bobbi a nod. "Yes. Director Carter, err, I mean Peggy and I investigated a high society secretive dinner location that ended up being ran by vampires. I...was almost subjected were it not for certain events." Namely, Hellboy's actions and Jemma's own refined sense of compassion. "And the death of Agent Campbell. The possibly serial killer? It resembles greatly the methodology of the unseen assailant in relation to the Spear of Destiny and the return of the third reich." You know, that old chestnut. It seems that Jemma has been researching.

"May....is an unusual case. Though, are you asking me what I know as a friend, or as a superior? Because you know I couldn't share specifics without May's acknowledgement. But, yes...I do know why, or at least have a theory, based on our observations." A pause. "But we are not here for May. We are here for you. So let's work on that."

Jemma grows silent as Bobbi describes her experiences at Afterlife. Jemma was there, but she was certainly in the background and not specifically part of anything directly. "Jacob performed genetic manipulation via touch? Taking away powers? That....is a new wrinkle, isn't it?" The description of Nona does give Jemma a moment of inflection. "They wanted you to try to help her, I take it? And...could you?"

The strong emotional connection doesn't even cause Jemma to flinch. She knows Bobbi. She is perfectly aware of that connection, for Jemma has that same consideration for her friends as well. Comes with the job.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi grins, "Were you doing that just because of the promotion? or.. look I know I haven't been available enough to mentor you to senior agent. You're doing great by the way. I will find more time I promise you. I will in theory, once I have things under my belt a bit, have plenty of time to do just that. It's now officially part of my job description. Including onboarding new agents from the academy - which is super weird but okay..." She shakes her head a moment and then smiles.

    "Great, the reich and that damn spear," she says with a sigh and puts the heart rate monitor back on to her wrist. It's a constant friend for now. "Any way, yes.. May. As a friend. I haven't asked her point blank what's going on but may be I should. I know, from a commander point of view, you'd tell me if she weren't capable of being in the field so I'm not going to ask."

    She licks her lips and says, "Well. Things I have learned since being dumped in the room with Nona. First of all, I now know what it's like to have a patient. So.. I get 'this' whole thing happening right now. Second, it took Jacob weeks, sometimes months, to figure things out. Third, the whole thing is in a weird alien language that seems to be unique to every single person I come in contact with..."

    She pauses, "I'm getting ahead of myself. Nona. I tried to comfort her. I touched her and she burned my skin with the cold. But I stumbled away with nausea. I could see all these weird alien symbols and patterns in my head and it knocked my inner ear off course. I became fascinated with it, couldn't stop thinking about it. I got Jacob's notes and it helped me understand it."

    She is slightly more animated as she explains with, making weird gestures with her hands as if trying to describe the symbols.. then stops and takes out her tablet and opens it up. There are several tabs with different names on them -- May, Daisy, Nona, Elena.. each one is filled with alien script - some of it containing geometric patterns. All in Bobbi's hand.

    "After a day of thinking about the Nona puzzle in my head, with the help of Jacob's notes.. suddenly I was immune to her cold. I could teach her, just as Jacob had been able to. This gave Nona some great comfort. I can see where Jacob was going with things.. there were so many other puzzles yet to unlock. Nona died when HYDRA attacked." She motions to what's on the tablet, "And now none of that there makes any sense to me."

    Bobbi switches the tablet to Daisy and the patterns and symbology is more flowing. "This, on the other hand, won't get out of my head," she says motioning to the tablet again. From her pocket she takes out a small blood sample smear and places it on the table top.

    "It's Daisy's.. I've been carrying it around with me. It's been helping me not think about her patterns too much. Touch.. touching someone gives me a read on them. The more unusual their DNA? the more it floors me. Only once though, thankfully. Most people - Lance - I get a small pattern in my mind and then it's gone, no issues. May.. well, she got me good. Turns out I learnt she was Inhuman before any one else, I just hadn't realised it yet."

    "Okay, yes, back to the story. Genetic manipulation by touch. He was being mentored by a doctor in Afterlife called Mark. Though, as a doctor in biochemistry I have to say I am finding zero correlation between what my Inhuman ability is telling me and what I know of biochemistry. May be my power is off somehow? or may be this is just how it is."

    She smiles fondly, "But I now understand what Jacob did when under the power of Whitehall. He manipulated his own genome. Somehow. I have no idea how he did it - but he obviously transcended his own abilities just to stop that nazi bastard..."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
Jemma listens. It is simple. If Bobbi is willing to talk, then Jemma is willing to listen. And listening is usually the fastest way to understand a situation. To come into something, with no prior expectations, and just take the information presented and form correlations. Already, there is a theory brewing in Jemma's head that Bobbi's hand-drawn symbols is Jacob's, and now her, way of visualizing the inhuman genome. And...it seems to only work when the person still lives, if Bobbi's admission of Nona's tab is any indication. And...with the mention of Lance, it does seem that it works with humans...but it seems to be just basic for them. No great interest.

"Fascinating." It is the same word that she used with May's exam. It seems only fitting with Jemma. "You can tell with a touch the unique genetic makeup of a person. The more unique, the more captivating of the patterns. And Daisy. She is exceptional, yes?"

Then...there is another moment of silence. A idea that just hits Jemma and is out before she can control the impulse to hold her silence. "Can you see your own patterns?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi shrugs her shoulders and shakes her head at that question, "If I can.. I haven't. I wouldn't even know where to start. May be sleep on my arm to trick my brain in to thinking it's someone elses? I don't know." She smirks at that idea just being a bit playful.

    "I think my biggest two concerns are the nausea when I first read someone with interesting genetics, and the obsession my brain has with solving these puzzles. Every person is a new puzzle, a new language. I have to start from scratch. It's extremely distracting. Hence, carrying around some of Daisy's blood. Don't tell her."

    She motions to the blood and stares at it for a long moment. Even now her mind is thinking about the wibbling shapes she sees around Daisy. She shuts her eyes for just the smallest of moments as she sees the symbols forming concentric circles that are moving like a wave. She reaches out to pick up her blood smear slide again..."

    It is at this moment that the potential power inside that small sample of blood takes on a life of its own and ...quakes. The shockwave explodes outwards, almost as powerful as some of Quake's lesser eruptions, suggesting that Daisy as a whole might be far more powerful than any of them had yet seen.

    The shockwave knocks Bobbi back and breaks all the glass in the room, blowing open doors and making things fall off of tables. Bobbi sits up with a shocked look upon her face. "I don't think that was me, but that might have been my fault." Dusting bits of broken safety glass off of her top as she stands and looks around the messed up room. "Are you okay Jemma?"

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"I understand the obsession with solving puzzles. I mean, I have that constantly. It is what drew me to SHIELD in the first place. To solve riddles that seemingly had no answers." Jemma offer another smile...but no touch. Not yet. "Do you think the obsession is just your natural curiousity, or is it amplified by your genetic inheritance from Jacob?" And...speaking of that curiousity. "And why did you inherit his power? Is this a side effect of the serum you concocted?" Not even a twinge of anger this time. Looks like Jemma has come to terms with Bobbi's reckless genetic tampering so long ago.

There are more questions...oh so more. But...the questions die as a pulse wave of seismic energy just erupts, with the slide the focal point. If the shockwave was enough to knock Bobbi back, who is a super soldier, then Jemma doesn't stand a chance to keep her own footing. The blast knocks her back, as her arms immediately throw up to protect her face. She slams into the wall hard, sliding to the floor as glass bits fly about her.

Groaning softly, Jemma brushes off the glittery bits of glass. "And here I thought I was safe from sudden explosions outside R&D." At least Jemma seems alright. She pushes herself to her feet, as her attention immediately is captured by Bobbi. "What the bloody hell??" Oh, Jemma cursed. She is definitely caught off-guard. "That came just from that single blood sample?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi shakes her head in confusion, "I don't know?! I think I activated the latent capability in her Inhuman gift by accident?" It's like buying a fighter jet and never getting the manual. She rights the chair she was sitting on and brushes the broken glass off of it, then notices the broom in the corner of the room. She grabs that and start to sweep.

    An Agent suddenly pops his head in to the room and asks, "Is everything alright in here?" Bobbi gives him a look and says, "We will be okay thank you Agent." He nods his head, "Yes Ma'am," and shuts the door behind him.

    Bobbi sighs and says, "If that's indicative of how powerful Daisy could be then ... well ....." she furrows her eyebrows and says, "To answer your other question, yes, I seem to have absorbed his gift in to my body. No Terrigenesis for me. The people at Afterlife seemed to think it was fated to be this way, that the gift was always meant for me... but they were a bit of a cult with strange beliefs about every Inhuman having a purpose. People finding their own reality in patterns like usual."

    She sweeps the broken glass up in to a dust pan. It was not lost on her that Jemma just swore. This, she considers, to be progress. "Are you sure you're okay?" For the moment, the incessant thinking on Daisy's pattenrs seems to have abated. Sweet relief from the puzzle, kind of shows on Bobbi's face. She looks - relieved.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
A hand runs through Jemma's hair, shaking out sparkling bits. The other hand steadies herself as Jemma casts a sideward glance towards Bobbi. "That is some accident. At least, it means you are learning. Even accidents have something to teach us."

If Bobbi's look wasn't enough to ward off the agent, Jemma would have been primed and ready to disarm in her usual manner. But, with Bobbi's position comes that ability to send one away with just a single sentence. And so Jemma remains silent until the agent leaves.

Once the door is closed, though, the research scientist speaks out. "That is ridiculous." Meaning the concept that Bobbi was fated to have the gift. "There are so many incidentals that occurred to make it statistically impossible that it was destined for anything but complete happenstance." Another opinion, of course. There was just too much randomness to make sense of it. "It just does not make any sort of sense that it just happens to be you. Not when Jacob's DNA was part of each and every one of those damnable power enhancers. Any one of those users could have acquired this gift."

And....there is another thought that Jemma didn't specifically air, but it is in her mind. What if Bobbi was not the only person that inherited this ability? There might be another out there with the same gift, unwanted or unbidden. Is that even possible?

The answer to Jemma's well-being is given. "I should be alright. This isn't the first time I experienced a freak explosion within the Triskelion." Meaning...she might have some R&D stories later when she is more composed.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "I have.. theories. I haven't had time to sit down and think them through. But the research is currently forbidden by Fury and I can't write and of it down even if I do think about it. But I suspect the way I used Jacob's spinal fluids in my serum preserved the Inhuman gift.. in that it might theoretically be possible to transfer an Inhuman gift from person to person by .." she shudders, "No, this line of thought is horrendous and I'm just going to stop it right now."

    She grimaces a moment and then sighs as she looks at all the damaged equipment. "On the plus side, I'm finally not obsessively thinking about Daisy's weird patterns in my head." Even her tablet with her research in to this new ability has cracked when it fell off of the table.

    "I think... I had best make a second appointment with you. We can do blood tests and compare. See if something has changed in my genetics since the last sample was taken. I'm pretty curious - but wouldn't it be nice if I could change myself too? like Jacob? .. undo what he did and stop my heart attacks? - what if I could do what Jacob could do full stop? help Inhumans who don't want or can't control their powers?"

    She pauses and puts the broom back against the wall, "Though I'm trying to temper my consideration here. The insights we could get if I can really manipulate genomes en masse with just proximity could advance DNA research decades ahead." She picks up her broken tablet, folds it, puts it back in to her pocket and picks up her coat. "Again.. sorry. I had no idea something like that could even happen. And even if it had happened I thought may be it would be a tiny little pifff.. not a room sized explosion."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"Transfer gifts by introduction of..." No. Jemma will not voice it. Not here. And certainly not like this.

The idea of a second appointment is met with an affirmative nod. "I do think it would be a good idea for a secondary appointment. Considering that all the test syringes and containers are now silicon powder, not to mention all the machinery damaged, I would rather insist upon it." There is a light admonishment, but mostly playful. After all, Jemma is right. Can't very well test in a blast zone.

"The thought of your gift being useful is not lost upon me. Just identification alone...to identify genetic anomalies in moments..." The thought trails off. "Yes, well....next time. We might want to consider the R&D lab. A little more suited to withstand scientific mishaps."

A tip of a wink. "I'll take care of the paperwork for this one. But, soon. We will talk soon enough."