6356/The Framework: Digital Nightmare

The Framework: Digital Nightmare
Date of Scene:	27 May 2021
Location:	The Sphere (Bunker BT-0), Deep Beneath Manhattan
Synopsis:	Daisy pops out of the Framework long enough to brief Sharon on what she's discovered. Collingwood and McLaren channel their inner FitzSimmons and find a way to see what's really going on in there. Too bad it's not real time. Nevertheless, by the time show and tell is done... both Sharon and Daisy are more determined than ever to get their friends and family out of HYDRA's virtual hellscape.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Daisy Johnson, Sharon Carter
Tinyplot:	The Framework

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Melinda May has posed:
The thing about the Sphere, really, is that it's damned near impossible to tell what time of day it is. If the computers didn't have clocks -- and if Collingwood hadn't come up with the idea of putting some of the lights on timers to emulate something of a day/night cycle -- there'd be no way to know whether it was high noon or deep midnight.

Currently, it's the wee hours of the morning: 2am, maybe. Maybe a little later. But the skeleton crew is on duty, monitoring vitals of the trapped agents and the ones still currently active in their rescue attempts. Of course, since the Framework *does* have a clear day/night cycle, *most* of the rescuers have actually managed to logout so they can grab a few real world zzz's and prep to go back in.

Which really means: They're awake and trying to figure out just what the holy bloody hell happened in that world to turn it into such a nightmare. Ain't nobody sleeping after their first jaunt, for sure.

Collingwood has pulled the overnight shift on the bio monitors. She's sat on a rolly chair leftover from the 80's, fiddling with the video feeds to see if *maaaaybe* she can get a less sporadic visual. But Collingwood's not a hacker. McLaren is.

"Try again," McLaren says to her, head rising from behind a code terminal.

She runs through the power sequence again. There's a ripple of whitenoise across the screen... before it blacks out again. "No joy," she sighs, pushing away from the piece of equipment, now. "Coffee. You want some, Mark?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy could roll with the fact that her persona inside the Framework was a pop star. Really, it had been a rush singing for all that people! But then .., having a sugar daddy? Where did it all go wrong?! It's just a sim, right? Right?! And whatever was happening in there was wrong, very wrong. Hydra ruling? But it had mostly proven this was most likely some kind of Hydra weapon...

Those kind of thoughts were in her mind as she was trying to fall asleep. An hard thing to accomplish when her mind was racing but eventually she *does* nod off which makes her gasps in the real and open her eyes suddenly, a flare on her vitals as she wakes up fully. It's followed by a groan, she reaching up to take out the VR goggles and grimacing at the on-coming headache.

"Eurgh..." She says, very eloquently. Legs slide over and she is up to her feet. "Please tell me you guys are real and that my name is not Skye." a look around the skeleton crew gathered here.

"And did I hear coffee?"

Sharon Carter has posed:
Coffee seems to be the gathering cry for those who were on the late, late shift. There were times that Sharon has been in and out; returning to the Playground to go over a few things with those who were there, arranging schedules, returning to Manhattan and back again. It was tireless. But there were solid months where Sharon barely gotten any sleep and only did so when she pulled upon the side of the road and took power naps that would even cause cats to be impressed..

The entrance to the sphere was breached by her and a few others. A few that were dragging in equipment along with a few tools of the nail and hammer trade. It may seem primitive, but a sledgehammer, a buzzsaw, and a few blocks of wood would keep Sharon busy. Especially when that equipment was set down by the debris they've accumilated by busting up the consoles and making way for electronics.

"Coffee sounds good." Sharon says, putting down the bag she carried in. It looked heavy, certainly not a change of clothes, for there were blunt edges peeking out the side of the thick cloth that made it look rather stuffed. "Was it brewed black? I haven't slept since three yesterdays." Exageration.

It was four.

Melinda May has posed:
Bio monitors beep when Daisy comes close to regaining consciousness. Collingwood turns away from the coffee machine to cross to her rig. "Hey," she says, as Daisy sits up and tries to shake off the other world. "How are you feeling?" If she doesn't do a thorough check *before* giving Daisy coffee, *Jemma* will have her hide when she wakes up.

Fortunately, that doesn't take long. A quick penlight to the eyes and a gentle prodding of pulse and breathing, and she's done.

She smiles. "Yeah. We got coffee. It's strong enough to walk away on its own, but I consider that a virtue, in this place." She flashes Sharon a grin when she enters. "Seriously. Is there any other kind worth the name?" How people function without the Colombian elixir of life, she'll never know.

"Hey, Daisy," McLaren greets, as Collingwood moves to pour four generous mugs of the current brew and set a second pot on for a chaser. "We've been trying to keep the sleepers stable and maybe decrypt some of the video feeds. I got a recording box going. I *think* I've managed to scrape back to that first scene we saw with Morse and May. So, even if we can't get a live feed... maybe we can get one with a bit of delay off our own box." He's pretty pleased about coming up with that idea.

Collingwood brings the coffees over, two at a time -- first to Sharon and Daisy, and then one for McLaren. "So?" she asks Daisy, finding it difficult to suppress her anxious curiosity. "What did you find?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
The checkup is done mostly in a brainless manner, Daisy just going through the motions of it without much fuss. It's the coffee she wants as her reward! In a way it almost makes her feel guilty for sometimes getting decaf for some agents as a prank.. But that was back then when they were still at the Triskelion. She lets out a sigh and reaches out to take a cup of that coffee before it runs off. "You know you are going to have to sleep sometime, Sharon.." she mutters, holding her mug with both hands and bringing it up to her lips.

Blessed be this drink of the Gods!

A moment later and those eyes sharpen up as she gathers her thoughts on what she just lived, "Okay ..., seems like this simulation. It's a lot more detailed than we expected. And most likely Hydra-crafted.." a frown. "In that simulation apparently Hydra rules the world, or at least part of it. They are using the Triskelion as their base of operations." she informs the others. "I have discovered that my alter-ego in there is some kind of pop star sensation too, and living with one of the big agents there. Which reminds me, does the name Holden Radcliffe ring a bell to any of you?" her eyes going between the other three agents about as she gets up to her feet. "He seemed a big shot. Important. But I have never heard the name, maybe we should investigate that name and see what we can find."

A nod to McLaren. "That's a good idea though, seeing that recording, maybe we will be able to find some more info about them. It's curious that the only scenes we got before when we were hacking were very ..., innocuous. Almost as if we were being allowed to watch that harmless footage." a frown. "Also, AIDA. Does that name ring a bell to anyone?"

Sharon Carter has posed:
Yes. It was brewed black, black meaning like death in this regard. As she takes the coffee from Collingwood, Sharon's shoulders slump which nearly ages her on the spot. That was until she takes a sip of that death raising coffee, and she perks up again just from the heat alone. "Thanks." A smile was given, but drops once her eyes shift towards the current sleepers. Sharon approaches Peggy's pod, but she doesn't breach the invisible bubble that would be her personal space. She just stands there, both hands upon the cup, and sipping.

"Aahh.. eventually." Sharon responds to Daisy. "Once this is over, I'm going home for a day or two." Which was true. Relationships need nuturing. But once Collingwood asks the fated question, Sharon was all ears.

At the mention of Hydra ruling the world, Sharon does an about face. She wasn't going to drop the coffee, her treasure.. but she did clutch it hard and screwed her face up into something unrecognizable. Think as if she smelled something -bad-..

"Whaaaat?" And then, pop star. "Whaaat?" And then, Holden Radcliffe.. "Whhooo?" And then.. AIDA? "Noope.." Yeah, this was a lot to take in. But then, she was curious. "You didn't see me there, did you?" Eesh..

Sharon now moves towards one of the empty consoles, taking the chair from that area to drag it to the foot of Peggy's pod. Plopping herself down, with one leg crossing over the other, she continues to drink her coffee, deep in thought. "If we're only able to watch harmless footage, I wonder what it is we're not being shown..."

Melinda May has posed:
"Nothing's ringing any bells for me," Collilngwood says, taking a moment to sip deeply of her coffee. She lingers over its scent for just a moment. Yeah, okay, it's shitty SHIELD base coffee. It's also the middle of the night in a deep dark hole in the ground. Therefore, it is the BEST coffee.

McLaren swallows, setting his coffee aside and turning back to the terminal in front of him with a beetled brow. "Radcliffe, no. But... AIDA..." He starts typing, sorting through files he's extracted. He hits 'enter' on a search and sits back for a moment, letting it run. Presently, a scroll of files begins sliding across his screen.

"Yeah..." he says tapping a finger against the monitor. "See here? A-I-D-A. It's a header. An acronymn or somehthing... Uh..." He starts flipping back through notes on a tablet he's had beside him. "Here. Here it is. 'Artificially Intelligent Digital Assistant'. I figured it was some sort of HYDRA version of Siri..."

He passes his tablet, with the notes on it, over to Daisy, and pulls back from the console so she can see what's on the terminal, too.

"It's HYRDA," Collingwood -- Sarah -- says dryly to Sharon. "I imagine they're editing out the part where they torture and kill everybody." The worst part of that statement is that it's not just sardonic commentary. It's probably the truth.

Still, she eyes Daisy a moment. "Hey, Mark," she says to her partner. "Wanna see if there's any concert footage on that box of yours?" 'Cause, seriously... Quake was a popstar?

There will doubtlessly end up being viral black market videos passed around the Playground later.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy's expression is one that seems as if she smelled something bad too. Hydra. It seemed to be ever-present. And this, this was quite the challenge for them. Her eyes rest on the various pods where their friends continue lingering. Captive. Eyes up on Sharon. "We'll get them out.." just before she casts a look at McLaren when he speaks about Aida. She makes her way over, craning her neck forward, eyes narrowed and looking at the screen. "Well, well, well.... I knew something was wrong with her when I was talking to her .., seems this is it. She didn't feel human.., because she isn't." her frown only deepening. "She is Radcliffe's assistant. And if she is also here it means it may just be the AI pulling the strings inside the simulation. Or at least very closely related to it."

She taptaps on the tablet as she investigates a bit further on what McLaren has been working on, peeking into AIDA's info as well. "And they may very well be..." this to Collingwood. "I heard about Fitz too, he is working with Hydra, along with Radcliffe. I tried to convince him to bring me to him but .., no luck just yet." not that she'd stop trying!

The talk about the concert makes her furrow her brows. "Ah, do we really need to? I am not sure that's too important is it?" no problem about singing to who knows how many thousand people. But having her fellow agents actually seeing her sing?! No bueno! Not that she can stop them. Blasted free will!

"Have you gone inside the simulation already, Sharon?" She then asks the other Agent.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon leans over to place her coffee upon the floor, retrieving her phone from her pocket to do a basic search of the name. Holden Radcliffe. If there were any social media profiles, news articles, any hints at a picture or otherwise, it'll be found there. She'll move to the console to do a deep dive in a moment if she has to.

"You know, you have to give it up for Hydra.." Sharon mutters idly, fingers still working at her phone. "..if they want to be all inclusive they -will- be all inclusive. Got their own damn digi assitant and everything.." She was still muttering, overall complaining. "I'd like one of those. Stark has one."

One finger points in Collingwood's direction, she had a damn point. "They're also likely exposing their trade secrets in the simulation too. Or pending plans. Can't really build off of nothing, after all."

Sharon keeps all grins to a minimum, as she herself would pay top dollar to see Daisy sing. But as Daisy asks, Sharon's eyes lift towards Daisy, McLaren, and Sarah. "..no." She pauses a little. "I've been on my paranoia kick lately. Stocking up arms and.." She gestures towards one of the agents that she came with, who is quietly rifling through the debris. "..I'm making one of our agents, DeGaro, fashion me a samurai sword out of steel." Because why not?

Melinda May has posed:
There is little to nothing on the internet about Holden Radcliffe. Given the age of the Sphere, however, it's entirely possible he pre-dates social media -- despite the fact a network map of the matrix suggests the framework has quite definitely stretched its tendrils out into the internet and possibly beyond. They may have more success seeing if there was some sort of HR department in this place. Or a mainframe that's *not* been taken over by AIDA. (Good luck with that.)

Collingwood's brows rise. "Fitz is working for HYDRA?" she asks. Those brows fall. "Does that mean May and Morse are, too?" She then looks toward Peggy's pod. Surely there's no way the Chief would give in to HYDRA like that... "Wait. Does HYDRA have *Captain Marvel* working for them? Jesus, it's no wonder they took over the world. Think they got all the Avengers? JLA and the others, too?" It's worth knowing. If HYDRA has a way to take out Earth's Mightiest Heroes, having SHIELD in the dark is the least of their worries.

McLaren pushes out of his seat and cedes it to Daisy, letting her start poking at the files. "Lemme see if I can rig up playback," he says, moving over to his box and attaching a SHIELD laptop to the small, powerful mini-server. He spends several minutes tinkering. Finally, the laptop screen flickers several times and he pulls up a grainy image.

"Gimme a sec," he mutters. He moves to connect the video port to the big screen Lars rigged up. Then, he fiddles with more settings. Finally, he looks up at the big screen.

On it, Daniel Sousa can be seen. He's bleeding from his shoulder and he has a gun in his hand. He's in a warehouse. There is dust and rubble falling around and it's clear a firefight is underway. His gun is aimed at whomever it is whose eyes are providing the visual.

"Probably right," Daniel says, his voice a little tinny through the laptop speakers. McLaren looks down and starts hunting for an audio pick up. Daniel's gun doesn't waver. "Peggy usually is. She doesn't know anything about any of this you know that right?"

"I'm glad." May's voice. Tight. Soft. Strained. Then, there's a flurry of movement. A woman's hands in a black tacsuit whip out at a speed that can only be Melinda May. She disarms the man, his gun skittering, and they fall together into a tumble across the floor. It's hard to follow the full action but, eventually, May ends up back on her feet, watching Daniel climb slowly to his. "You know what they're going to do to you, if I bring you in, right?"

Daniel nods slowly. "I know," he says. He lifts his eyes to meet hers, sad but resolute. "Look after them for me, Melinda, alright? And yourself, you're better than this, hope you realize that before it's too late."

May seems to nod, albeit only slightly. Her eyes don't look away. "I will," she tells him. "I promise."

Then, she moves like lightning. All the agents watching know Melinda May is an expert with a weapon. But she's even deadlier without one. It takes less than a heartbeat. She steps in, steps around, and snaps Daniel's neck.

He dies instantly. And she cradles his body all the way to the ground.

McLaren stares, his jaw slack. "Oh, fuck..." His eyes drift to Daniel Sousa's VR rig, where the man rests comfortably. "What the hell did we send him into?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I am not sure Peggy is ..." Daisy murmurs. Even if the rest she sort of confirms without actually affirming so. Silence is confirming! "When we saw Peggy she was living a sort of quiet life with .., kids? And Daniel?" but then a frown. "Though again, how much of it do we really know?" not enough. "I also noted that I am without my powers in there too. I wonder if the same is true for Captain Marvel.." a look to the screens. "If she has them .., and is with Hydra..., I am getting a real Darth Vader vibe going here."

About the rest of the heroes she nods, "It'd be good knowing about that too." one more thing to investigate. "But we only got footage out of the ones that go in through the pods right?" this she asking McLaren. "Not of the other .., NPCs.."

As those minutes go by and they ready a playback to go through she looks up at Sharon, "I am not sure you'd like to have a AIDA. She looked creepy as all heck. The kind of creepy that would be standing in the corner while watching Radcliffe do the sex thing. But if we assume Radcliffe is behind this somehow, or at least involved it'd match the megalomaniac vibe I got going from him. Big ego, responds well to praise. I could see it. And he doesn't really like Fitz." the part about the katana makes Daisy cant her head to the side, "A samurai sword?"

The panel comes up right then, Daisy looking at the screen. There's Daniel. And May?

"Why are they fighting?" Brows furrow and she gets back up to her feet.

The neck snap comes as a shock. She looks immediately towards the pod. He's still fine but. "How the hell will we bring him back now?" thoughts about witnessing someone die under May's hands are pushed aside and instead she goes with the practical. She moves to sit on her bench and starts working on the keyboard, looking for a way to unhook Daniel.

Shock could come ..., a bit later.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Nothing. Nothing substantial. Sharon puts her phone away then picks up her coffee, downing it quickly. She keeps the cup in hand as she stands, dragging the chair back to one of the consoles, hopefully Daisy can make some headway with he rprogramming, but until then.. she says nothing. All of the information she was hearing from the three was taken in however as she tries to relax, her gaze lifting to the big screen as she sees Daniel. It was clear there was a fight..

She looks back towards his pod, then to the screen again, her bottom lip bitten with a little bit of worry.

"In a way, I want to see what you were doing, at least to get a look at AIDA. I'm pretty sure if we had one, we could make her look at least a bit normal.." It was a joke, somewhat. But.. she does nod. "Yes, I want to do more training once all of this is over.. you know? Expand my horizons. You really never know when you're going to need a sticker." Sharon makes jabby motions, then smiles.

Back to the screen again, Daisy's question goes unanswered.. but once the neck snap happens.. the cup that was held in Sharon's hand shatters.

Shock? Anger? There was a myriad of emotions she's feeling. Even sickness. And regret. But.. how was he still alive? She didn't ask that outloud, for now she was focusing on swiping away the glass from her lap, and shaking her hand free of particles.

"Mutherfucker.."

Melinda May has posed:
As shock registers in the room, Collingwood is at Daniel's rig, checking his vitals. They're stable. "What's the timestamp on that?" she asks McLaren, pulling up more readouts from her own scanners. Her eyes narrow and her lips purse. "I've got elevated stress hormones here," she admits. "Cortisol. Adrenaline."

She glances to the screen in time to see May run fingers over Daniels eyes to close then and start calling for a new earcom before she rallies the HYDRA troops to pull out before a massive air strike.

"These readings aren't high enough to reflect a situation like that," Collingwood says, gesturing to the battle on screen. "I... I think *our* Sousa may be okay."

McLaren is reviewing his footage. "This stuff was recorded hours ago," he reports. He looks between the women. "Back before we had any of these rigs setup. We're looking at archive footage." His eyes stray to Sousa in his rig. "You think we sent him in as some sort of zombie or revenant?"

"Oh, geez, Mark..." Collingwood wipes a hand down her face. "Tell me you've got more footage there, so we can find out."

"Yeah," he says, turning back to his console. "Lemme fast forward a bit..."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"It's not real, Sharon. Those are not the people we know." At least that was the theory Daisy was going with. Whatever was going on in there was wrong. *Very* wrong. That they sent him in *after* the kill is both a revelation but also makes Daisy's eyes go wide. "Yes, bring in the footage. Lets see what we got and where he may be." hopefully not underground inside a coffin and barely able to breathe. "If he is .., restrained somewhere we can send someone to his location.., hopefully."

"When we sleeps we will be able to find out more too." She leans back from her keyboard, folding her arms, "We need readouts on all the agents we sent out. "Jemma, Daniel, Lance. Figure out where they are, what they are doing. We will need to plan this when we go back in."

Because yes, not even witnessing what she just did would stop Daisy from hooking back in. In fact it only made her want to go back right now.

Sharon Carter has posed:
Sharon's hand was bleeding just a little, but nothing that would cause for concern. She does close it into a fist, her lips pressed tightly, still looking back towards her grandparents with a shake of her head. She was waiting on more footage, on edge, but somewhat calm once Daisy points out something that she needed to remember.

"I.. I know." She says, giving a pained smile towards Daisy. "It's really not every day you get to watch your grandfather die though.." She had to shake that one off. "But hearing what I've just heard? I don't know if it would be feasible to go in there. They had children. Children. So I'm guessing small. I don't even exist... but.." She would probably be slotted into some other NPC suit if she goes. Maybe.. this was all just.. "This is frustrating."

Melinda May has posed:
"It'll take time to isolate their signals," McLaren tells Daisy. "But I'm on it." He bends over his laptop. "There's going to be a real-time delay," he says, glancing to her. "Remember, I'm pulling from recorded data. It's not live, it's already happened. If we can't isolate live feeds from the matrix itself, the best I can do is limit the delay to hardware readwrite times."

He probably doen't need to tell her that, but the others need to hear it, too. This isn't live. Which means they have no way to get ahead of the curve, if someone gets themselves in trouble.

Collingwood moves to the bio monitors and starts correllating data. "I bet we can figure out the timestamps to the key incidents based on physical stress triggers. Get me the exact timestamp on that incident. I'll compare it to May's data."

The two of them work like a well-oiled machine, trading information back and forth. They're no FitzSimmons, but they're still competent SHIELD agents and trained engineers -- albeit with their own specialities. Before long, McLaren is tossing more footage up on the screen from May's point of view.

"Here. Check this time," Sarah tells Mark, passing him her tablet. "I've never seen stress readings like that. May was completely off the chart. I'm surprised she didn't have a cardiac incident."

"Checking..." Mark replies. He looks up as more footage boots up. This time, it's a whirlwind fight that's hard to track. But keen eyes will see the Asgardian ragestaff in May's hands as she battles fiercely with Jiaying in Afterlife. They may not be able to see May's expression, but they can hear her cries as she presses her attack. And the anger on Jiaying's face is unmistakable.

The Inhuman leader has a sword. It has strange markings on it. The haft suggests it could have been a Chinese sword, but the blade looks alien... And it shatters beneath the strength of May's blows.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Good idea." Daisy says about correlating data with their stress signatures, Daisy giving some help here and there as they work to provide. She does keep an eye on Sharon though, lips pressed to a line, "We are dealing with a lot of .., new things here. This is unprecedented tech. But .., it is not real.." she gets up to her feet to go take a look at the footage, "Still, easier said than done..." though as for going in Daisy gives it a thought, "Well, you should be able to hook in. Your .., 'story' will be different but there should be a 1 to 1 relation in the framework and out. Even Daniel was able to go in and he was ...." dead.

Eyes then turn to focus on the footage on the screen. She squints, taking a bit of a time to figure out exactly what's going on..

A blink when she realizes who it is. Both the woman and the sword. The hilt at least is .... But she puts that aside, focusing on the combat going on. "Why is Jiaying here, and fighting?" she looks confused at this.

Sharon Carter has posed:
McLaren and Sarah were getting to work. Sharon kept a decent squeeze of a fist upon her injured hand, then opens it to pick out the tiny shards. Even though she creates a mess in that moment, it was ignored for what was happening around them. It was time to keep a cool head, what they were seeing, it already happened.

Sharon nods at Daisy's explanation, perhaps it would work that way. Would feelings transfer there? Right now? She was slightly angry at Hydra May. But there really was nothing she could do about it. It. Was not. Real.

As the sequence plays upon the screen, Sharon frowns.

"Who is this now?"

She sees the woman, she doesn't recognize her, even the name seems to elude her. But if May's readings were off the charts.. would she be the one to die next? Sharon stands now, pressing one hand into the other as she moves closer to the screen. "What the hell is going on in there?"

Melinda May has posed:
On the screen, Jiaying's advance pushes May back against a solid wall. The Inhuman's arm wraps around the staff, rage rising through her body -- without the control May commands. Nevertheless, her power rips another bellow of rage and pain from May's throat. May grabs her Inhuman foe by the hair at the nape of her neck and locks her body against her. Thrusting off the wall, letting both the rage staff and the sword haft fall from their hands, she tumbles with the other woman across red carpet now stained with blood from both of them as they exchange a flurry of unagumented, desperate blows.

Flowing from fighting style to fighting style, they are so evenly matched, it's very nearly poetry in motion. Aggressive, ruthless, vicious poetry. In the end, Jiaying slams a hand against May's chest, pulling life from her. May reaches up and uses her remaining strength, fist tangled through the other woman's hair, to slam throw both of them to the side -- toward a long, ornate dragon sculpture. Jiaying's head hits the carved wood with hundreds of pounds of force behind it. It bounces off, but her eyes glaze and that last thing she sees as she loses consciousness is May rising above her, bloody and triumphant.

"Nooooo! Jiaying!" If Gordon hadn't shouted, had simply launched himself at May, he might have stood a chance, given her failing condition from Jiaying's power. But the shout is enough to alert her. She spins, her kick high and forceful, legs stronger than her arms at this moment. Her foot catches him in the side of the head. Blood and spittle spray across her as his head is wrenched to the side. He slams into a wall. She steps towards him and kicks him again, stomping hard on his torso. Ribs break. Her knee lands in the midde of his sternum and she grabs his hair. She pulls his head up and then slams it into the floor. His eyes roll back in his head.

Neither he nor Jiaying are dead. But neither of them are getting up again, either. May staggers back, wiping the blood off her face onto her forearm as she taps her comms. "<<Jiaying and the teleporter are down,>>" she tells Morse and Fitz. Her voice is ragged, she's breathing heavily, but she keeps the pain out of it. "<<I repeat. The Inhuman leadership has fallen and are ready to be collected. Tell the Doctor: They are alive. But they're not getting up.>>"

---

Mark looks up at the screen. "Is that the rage staff?" he asks, glancing to Sarah. The fight is viscious enough, he actually flinches when Jiaying goes down. "Jesus Christ... When the Cavalry goes bad..."

Sarah winces in response. "Yeah. That explains the bio readings. I don't know how she handles it..." Especially give May's a good 20 or so years older than either of them.

She starts looking for another time tag.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy had just went through a pep talk to Sharon about how this is all a simulation. Don't think too much on it ... All that crumbles when Daisy watches the fight unfold, how it ends. Her jaw tightens to hold in her anger, eyes sharp and unblinking as she takes it all without pause. Sharon's question about who Jiaying is goes unanswered, but whoever it is seems like it's someone important to Daisy. And are they alike? Their features do seem similar..

One hand rests on the table, it shuddering as she releases some of her emotional 'steam', taking in a breath. It's all a simulation ... Isn't it?

She eventually tears her eyes away from the screen and looks at the others. "Fitz was mentioned, they are all working together apparently."

Though she also had something to go on too. "I need to go back in." she looking at the VR rigs.

Sharon Carter has posed:
This was rough. In all of her time here, she's yet to see May fight as she does on the screen. Different missions, different times, not to mention, Sharon was always just.. gone. But seeing this now? It draws out a chill. Watching the screen, and watching Daisy's reaction right after does give her a tiny bit of a clue. The shuddering table, the tenseness in her face. Sharon shakes her head and leaves whatever thought she was having -right- alone.

"Meditation." Sharon pipes up to Sarah, changing the subject, half joking half not. "Knowing a good psychiatrist would help too." Sharon sniffs a little, this time moving towards Daniel's pod to watch his vitals. It was almost like he was sleeping.. There was nothing she could do for him out here.. and in there? Nothing. He was already.

Sharon turns to Daisy now, not stopping her, not even suggesting that she should wait. "I'm coming with you." Though, how in the world would that work? Would she be of sound mind when looking for Daisy?

Melinda May has posed:
McLaren looks around sharply when the miniquake vibrates the room. His eyes dart between Daisy and the screen, where Jiaying and Gordon are being hauled into the main square at Afterlife. "I can fastforward..." he offers.

---

Still, on the screen, May's attention is now on Bobbi, a cruel scar cutting down the blonde woman's face. She looks like something out of a Nazi propaganda film. "Pay attention Inhuman Terrorists." Bobbi's voice is strident. She looks ot over an ensemble of defeated Inhumans as May looks on. "This is your leader, your rock, your stone. The one who knows your history and has lived for a very long time. She is the foundation of your society."

"That society is now dead," she says loudly to her captive audience. She draws her weapon in her right hand she points the gun to Jiaying's head. Her hand begins to shake and she cannot pull the trigger. Scowling, she swaps hands and fires instantly. "Afterlife has fallen. You will serve HYDRA now, you will help make the world a better place. This is not a negotiation," she says and then looks down at the lifeless body of Jiaying. <<Doctor, it is done. I will bring the fleet and your samples back post haste>>"

---

"Here," Sarah says quickly, giving McLaren another timestamp. "Go here." She glances back at the other two women in the pod chamber. Oh... this is so very not good. Neither of them are happy at what they're seeing. Not, mind, that Sarah is really happy either.

"Got it," Mark says, pressing buttons so that the ruined body of Jiaying disappears in whitenoise. "Hey. I think this time is after Sousa went into the matrix..."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Some pieces are coming together. The way they were acting, their expressions when they met to share a drink. It has Daisy squinting, looking from one face to the other. "Clearly this will be making our work a lot harder." she is trying to keep a practical mind to this but it's clear her voice is laced with emotion. To Sharon she says, "We can meet there." she looks for a piece of paper, writing down a number, "I checked on Skye's phone number, you can reach me through it. Of course that I expect it to be monitored so we will need to go with some kind of code." yes, she expected Radcliffe to be the type to have his girlfriend's cellphone being monitored! Maybe for other beauxs.

"If it fails there is always Joe's bar in Westchester, near the Trisk. We can try meet there." it's a classic! She expects it to be up and running still!

Though as they are getting to planning she takes in another deep breath. She has calmed down. And rushing into this won't do any good.

"Show us." She says about the Sousa footage, eyes going back up to the screen.

Sharon Carter has posed:
They were going. She was going. The visuals keep playing and Sharon has to turn away. She could -hear- it, but she turned away to look towards Daniel and Peggy. Her grandparents. She inhales, exhales, lowering her shoulders to force herself to relax. Then nods to herself, mentally settling on a job and fixating on it.

She turns and approaches Daisy, reaching out to take the number which was stared out for ten seconds to committ to memory. The paper was soon put into her pocket, and soon her brain immediately snaps where? Right back to the movies. "Beetlejuice."

Shake shake shake senora..

Though, now it was time to see something else. Sharon's eyes are on the screen now, both arms folded about her chest. It was a tense feeling in the sphere..

Melinda May has posed:
McLaren nods to Daisy. He throws the footage up on the screen again and, from May's point of view, they see pushing open a door to a townhouse with signs of children throughout the house. Her steps are quick on the stairs that lead into the main living space. And as she rounds the corner...

Her eyes fall on the face of Daniel Sousa. He is sat on a couch in a room that looks well lived in and homey. There are even photos on the wall that show scenes of Peggy and Daniel with a pair of young girls. May's focus, though, remains on Daniel, and her voice is sharp, demanding. "Who the hell are you?"

Daniel is holding an infant in his arms when he looks up at May, Peggy leaned against him, clearly asleep. His grip tightens on the child in surprise for a heartbeat before he eases it and looks up. "May, it's me, Daniel. The rest? Is complicated. I know you told Peg I was dead, but let me wake her up and we can all talk about this." He makes no sudden moves just now, except to gently nudge Peggy in an attempt to wake her if the voices already haven't.

Peggy stirs. She turns bloodshot eyes up to May and gives the woman a faint smile. "Melinda. He... he's alive. Whatever HYDRA told you, it was a lie. I think they've scrambled his mind somehow, but we've worked through worse. Now just... everyone calm down. See? We can get through this." Peggy seems absolutely convinced this is her husband, no doubt in her voice or eyes.

"You don't understand," May says to Peggy, her focus still clearly on Daniel. "I *know* Daniel died. I... checked his pulse, myself. I needed to be sure, so... So the Doctor wouldn't claim your -- *Daniel's* body. Who are you? *What* are you?"

Daniel sighs, eyes cutting over to Michael a moment before he comes back to May. "I'm what I said: Daniel Sousa, the real Daniel Sousa." He grimaces and looks over at Peggy. "This world isn't real, May, it's a computer generated illusion created at a place called the Sphere in the real world. You, Peggy, Bobbi Morse and some others were sent to check it out and the Sphere's defenses caught you and locked you into these pods, keeping you alive and plugged into this illusion, Myself and a few others have come in after you to bring you back."

Collingwood looks over to Sharon and Daisy. "So... Daniel's got an avatar," she concludes.

"Yeah, and May and Carter aren't buying a word of it," McLaren says, gesturing to the screen. Peggy is clearly distressed and May has launched into a full on interrogation. McLaren turns the volume down and looks back to Sharon and Daisy. "Go," he tells them. "Jack in. Sarah and I will keep digging." He frowns slightly, thoughtful, and then gives a small smile. "Give me that number?" he asks, wanting Daisy's in-world cell number. "I'll try and hack the system. If we get any more info before you come back out... I'll text you."

Collingwood moves to ready two SHIELD rigs for the pair. "I'll make sure we pull you out if things start going sideways. Go fix this... If you can."