6518/The Framework: SHIELD strikes back

The Framework: SHIELD strikes back
Date of Scene:	10 June 2021
Location:	The Sphere, outside the Framework
Synopsis:	Collingwood, McLaren, Jemma and Daisy gather outside the Framework to investigate the pods and what they can do to bring their friends out. They end up concocting a plan involving May's powers, DNA trackers, Matrix references and maybe even fetching some Terrigen Crystals out!
Cast of Characters:	Daisy Johnson, Jemma Simmons, Melinda May
Tinyplot:	The Framework

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Daisy Johnson has posed:
If there's one thing Daisy is glad for is that Radcliffe isn't the grabby type. Really. For a sugar-daddy he is very hands-free. Which means Daisy is following the old adage from 80s cheesy movies 'I will kill you last' approach. Because she really knows AIDA is the threat. Not that she wants to test her luck so it's been working non-stop in the hours she has outside the Framework..

"What the hell is this lukewarm coffee, Jenkins?! I asked for hot, freshly made coffee..!" Yes, Daisy is in one of her grumpy fits that she often goes through when lacking sleep. But as of late she looks a lot more ..., diva. She lets out a sigh. "Sorry..., lack of sleep..." then a look to Jemma. "I swear, I am feeling more and more like a spoiled pop star sometimes..."

She is currently tinkering with the schematics Jessica and Angelo brought back for the pods, doing some programming and working on the interface, taptapping on the keyboard.

"How are things on your end, Jemms?" she asks.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"Well...."

It is a deep subject. And so is asking Jemma how she is. There are certain aspects of the Framework that she can certainly see being alluring. Her teaching cover, for instance. Despite knowing that her charges are just a series of digital 1's and 0's, there is emotion there. It can be treated like a video game, surely, but there is emotion invested there. And....it was that emotion that led Jemma to do more research.

"With the way I am viewing this, it would appear that the biological integration is really only impacting the hippocampus region of the brain. It has to run through there in order for the brain to naturally process the information to long term memory, which is generally believed to be stored in the neocortex. But....what that means for us is that we can stimulate the neocortex to unearth those memories. Another method is to use the same stimulation of the hippocampus for our own purposes. Perhaps a combination of the two. Think of it as defragmenting a person's harddrive. Just a little stimulation would be sufficient to potentially awaken long-term memories that the simulation couldn't possibly have overwritten."

A pause. "Also....I have noticed something. In particular with May. Have you noticed that she tends to mirror Peggy's emotions in the simulation when they are both together? I have been looking at the two's bio-feedback...and I have been finding similarities that I have seen before..."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
As Jemma goes deep into that explanation Daisy becomes contemplative, a fingertip tapping on her chin. She certainly is no brain doctor but she can understand this at least. "So if we can map that to the interface I am creating we can just open up those memories..., maybe even choose the ones we want to send. As our brains go though, do you think if we unlock it they will mostly remember their more .., impactful memories?" she questions, leaning back on her chair to take a look at Jemma, arms folding over her chest.

"And we also need to make sure it won't damage their minds if we suddenly just defrag their brains and let them start remembering." she knows brains are delicate things! Lots of zombie movies she has seen ...

The talk about May and the mirroring emotions makes her mmm in thought. "I had noticed something, yea. Do you think she's catching it up with her powers?" she looking over to the woman's pod and then back. "We could work with that, if we are able to make her start remembering her Inhuman transformation.."

She brings up the schematics again on the big screen, pointing over, "If you can map out the brain regions that we should stimulate I think I can sort it into the interface so we can begin working on it."

Melinda May has posed:
Despite Daisy's snappish attitude, young Agent Jenkins is quick to replace the old coffee with new. Hey, he's just jazzed to be involved in a Real SHIELD mission. Usually, he's flying a desk back at the Playground. Getting out in the field like this? It's so cool!

At least, it will be until he figures out that he actually is a Red Shirt and not Guy Fleegman. That's gonna suck.

Both Collingwood and McLaren have been pulling long double-shifts in the pod chamber, grabbing a few zzz's when they can, but relying on stand-up-and-walk-on-its-own black coffee and a case of Red Bull someone thought to bring in. (The stimulant crash so many of these agents are going to suffer after this is gonna be EPIC.) Nevertheless, it means, aside from Daisy and Jemma, they just may be the most experienced techs dealing with the crazy HYDRA matrix setup.

"Do you want me to run a comparison?" Collingwood asks Jemma. "Look for more instances of mirroring in May's biofeed?" She can do that while the real doctor deals with brainscans and other delicate neuropathy the S&R medic really shouldn't touch.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"It is possible. It isn't going to be exact. Unfortunately, we are not able to map to exactly where the memories are stored. But, if we can at least point them to the general directory and provide a little more incentive...it could help to make the connection. Perhaps if we associate an emotion to the..."

But, Jemma doesn't complete that verbal thought. Instead, her eyes grow wide as her own mind suddenly latches onto an idea...and a revelation that she might have missed before. "Oh! That's the key! Why didn't I see that before??" She pulls over her own work tool of choice, that souped up tablet of hers, and starts flickering through biofeedback reports.

That is...until Collingwood speaks up. "Yes! Please!" Jemma might have been just a little too excited. And, perhaps right at that moment in the Framework, should virtual May be awake, she might also be feeling rather thrilled for no apparently good reason. "I think that if we can identify if May really is mirroring everyone here, then we can isolate the emotional resonance that she is experiencing at that moment....then take that same emotional data and use it to manipulate not only May, but all of the others as well. If we can get them to remember events outside of the simulation, but also remember how they *felt* during those events, it would hold considerably more weight than just recounting events. It isn't enough to remind them what they know...but how they felt during it, too."

Is Jemma suggesting using May to unlock how to insert emotion into a simulation? It certainly seems that way...

Daisy Johnson has posed:
A grin crops up on Daisy's expression as Jemma gets into that mode she has seen quite a few times in the past. The eureka mode! That's how you get the disco death trucks of doom to happen. "Oh, I like that." she leans forward on her seat again, only sidetracking to fetch one of those nice red bulls nearby and popping it open. Seems like it'd be one of those long nights. "We already have that part of the interface mapped out so ..., it's a matter of connecting the feedback to the others. It will certainly give it a big oomph to what people are remembering."

A glance over to the others. "Now we just need to make sure AIDA doesn't interfere..." she cracks her knuckles. "I have been trying to track her movements. I just know she must have some way to .., connect to the rest of the framework locally through her avatar so she can control things more directly. If we can block it or actually destroy it then it'd make things a lot easier for us to extract people out." because after making those agents remember what happened they also had to actually rescue them from the place..

Melinda May has posed:
Collingwood looks genuinely surprised at Jemma's train of thought. "Mark," she calls. "Get your butt over here. I need your help."

McLaren blinks and then laughs, grabbing a fresh can of Red Bull and popping it open. "Yeah, okay. Let's do this."

Thus, together -- working as easily in tandem as Leo and Jemma ever have -- the two of them start pulling what data they can. Sarah sets up the biomonitor feeds while Mark starts pulling FW data off his matrix recordings. Before long, they're running an algorithm that should isolate all those times May has been in an emotionally heightened state that somehow matches other avatars within the matrix. Before long, a pattern starts to emerge.

"Look at this," Sarah says, grabbing her tablet and bringing it over to Jemma. "It's not just Peggy. She did it here with Bobbi and Fitz, too -- all at the same time. She must have felt like she was going nuts..."

"Yeah," Mark says, "but it's only happening with people who are actually in the matrix. Like, *real* people. She's not doing it with NPCs." He glances back to Daisy. "Think that has something to do with her not having her powers in the sim? Or something to do with the fact she *does* have them out here and everyone's packed into this small room with her?"

Jemma Simmons has posed:
Jemma doesn't just sit idly while the dynamic duo of Collingwood and McLaren work their magic. She also does her part, reviewing the interface and tracing what areas of the brain are stimulated by which specific sections of the bio-neural interface. She doesn't think out loud while she does so...a trait she certainly would have done had Fitz been here with her, but she does work through the schematics relatively quickly, deigning to speak only when she has something solid.

"We already identified how the bio-neural feed occurs and blocked that portion that controls what we perceive as being 'real'. It is how we are able to go in and out of the simulation without losing our self-identity. If we can embed our signal in that section, then it will reach those agents still trapped within the simulation without necessarily alerting the powers that be of what we are doing. In essence, we are just using the door they themselves established."

The explanation dies off as Sarah presents her tablet to Jemma. Simmons takes her own, comparing her work to the work of the pair....and nods. "Yes, perfect. It makes absolutely perfect sense. Her range is more than enough to incorporate everyone in this room." Jemma's tablet has something that Sarah's doesn't....the actual medical file for one Melinda May. It seems that Jemma knows quite well what May is potentially capable of. "See...it's a passive ability. It is always on and actually takes some control from May herself to work through it. But, that concentration has to come from the same hippocampus region that is being targeted by the simulation. If the simulation tells May that she is a regular human, then all that does is takes away her ability to filter through the emotional stimulation. She becomes, essentially, truly empathic, reflecting the emotions without any idea why."

Jemma then takes a figure and points to a section where the biomonitor feeds match. "So, if we use the other agent as the control, like Peggy worrying here because her child cannot be found, then we can look at May's feedback, isolate the same wavelength, and extrapolate that this is worry. Which, then, should be able to be replicated and inserted into a subject's biofeedback to garner a similar reaction." Jemma places her tablet down, turning her attention to all three. "If we can duplicate virtually how May experiences these conflicting emotions naturally, then we can more readily convince the others of our sincerity, simply by having them sense said sincerity in real time. It...it is a dangerous ability, to be able to influence others, but...if we are careful...we should be able to inject enough so that their minds break through the mental conditioning and fill in the blanks."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Yes." Daisy answers back to Mark with a nod, "As Jemma said, emotions aren't really part of the simulation, or rather they are not manipulated by AIDA. They are most likely too complex for her to manipulate at this stage. Not that with enough time she may not reach them..." a scary prospect. "But we all have witnessed so far is that she meddles with the brain, and that has an emotional feedback. Which *is* stored. But not used. In fact, she may very be using it to learn more about our Agents inside the framework. And that translates into her not being able to read them inside the framework, because her avatar doesn't have them. Which .., I am not even sure her power would work if it was active in there. Since what emotions would NPCs have? Most likely none."

To Jemma's work on the sim she grins, starting to insert the data they filter through into a workable thing for the interface to communicate with, the clacklack of her keyboard heard working nonstop. Because that's just how she rolls!

"Think you could take off that limitation, Jemms? About her not having powers? Because if we can what stops us from inserting what powers we want into the Framework and make them believe what we want?" Yes, Daisy wants God-Mode on. Or is it Neo-ModE?

Melinda May has posed:
"A lot of Peggy's emotional responses tend to really spike when May's around," Sarah notes. "I suspect simple 'worry' doesn't show clearly in amdist the fear and anger." She's spent a little time watching the visual feeds, trying to correlate bio patterns to events. Not to mention, get an idea of just what's happening in there."But, yeah. I think we can isolate the patterns, whatever emotion we want to see. Mimic it over."

"You never know," McLaren says to Daisy, with regard to NPCs. "We haven't really seen the matrix interpret metahuman abilities. It could very well be that, if May were to experience Terrigenesis in there, the program might emmulate emotional stimulation in her from the NPCs. I don't know whether that would 'feel' the same to her or not, but... it's theoretically possible." He glances to Jemma and Sarah. "Isn't it? I mean, if it's all just a case of stimulating the right spots of the brain?" He's an engineer. He can figure out systems at a high level, even if he can't do biology.

Sarah nods slowly, because it makes sense to her. Her head cants at Daisy's suggestion of releasing the powers. "What about finding a way to get some Terrigen crystals? It might be easier to trigger a natural biological response than it would be to figure out where to insert the code." But, hell. She's no hacker. She could be wrong.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"I would imagine that there are Terrigen crystals. However, I would also imagine that they would be under lock and key, if the simulation even bothered to produce them. All of the Inhuman presence within the simulation has been explicitly non-player characters." There is a tilt of her head, as Jemma contemplates. "I would imagine that the intelligence running this virtual reality does not know of May's abilities." Or of Bobbi's, for that matter. "If it was as simple as having May experience terrigenesis, then that may work. Though, honestly, I do believe it would be more impactful if virtual May realized she has these abilities without the crutch of a virtual terrigenesis to support it."

But then...a glance over towards Daisy. And a slow smile plays over that face of hers. "Hold up there, Chosen One. I am not sure mending spoons and dodging bullets may be the way to go with this. However, I understand what you mean." A tip of a wink there. Yes, shades of the Matrix are certainly enticing. "We can certainly try, though. Procure some crystals and attempt a Terrigenesis in a controlled environment, with one that knows of her unique biological gifts within the simulation."

Yes, indeed. Jemma is suggesting that, if they try the Terrigenesis route, that they test with Daisy, first.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
No bending spoons and dodging bullets? "I demand a consultation with the Oracle to dispute that affirmation!" But Daisy is smirking, simply injecting a little bit of a joke to clear the air from what is indeed a rather serious matter that they are doing here. Saving their friends and family.

Another look to Mark and then a tap on her chin. "So the simulation would have a predictive algorithm for what May was supposed to feel from others. It's.., very advanced, but yea, feasible. Yet if we are talking about stimulating certain parts of the brain to unlock 'cheats' within this terrigenesis might just be what we need to figure it out exactly." she says. "I can spend a few hours around the code, and I will, but so far most I believe I will be able to accomplish is sending info back and forth to our phones. And maybe." her eyes on Collingwood and Mark. "Which while we are inside it may be useful for you to communicate with us. Since you can work as our 'eyes' in there. But for the God-mode, mmmm. Terrigenesis might just give us the link we need to figure out the code we have to insert to trigger powers, or even do other stuff like manipulating the environment directly. Just like that game, Watchdogs... You know the one where the hacker walks around with a phone and hacks everything through it!" of course she has played a game where the player is the hacker!

As for the crystals themselves. "Well, I may know where they have them..." she says, "At Fitz's lab." and at this she looks at Jemma. "He is working on studying what's left of the Inhumans. They will have crystals in there to study for sure. And ..., I may be able to create a distraction for people to go in there and get a few of those. I was able to convince Radcliffe to host a concert by yours truly right at the entrance to the Triskelion. Prime time where everyone will be distracted."

Melinda May has posed:
McLaren grins as both Daisy and Simmons start tossing around Matrix references. "See?" he mouths to Sarah. "They get it." She just rolls her eyes in response. "It's just too bad," he says loud enough for everyone to hear, "there's no way to insert quick-travel points or something. Teleport booths."

Of course, given what happened to Gordon, introducing more teleportation probably isn't a good idea. That's how HYDRA found Afterlife -- in both worlds. "It'd be a helluva lot easier just to port everyone to the backdoor where you could just push 'em through."

Yeah, it sounds great in theory, but they'll find the actual implementation of such a thing a whole helluva lot harder to pull of. Probably better not to completely screw with the laws of physics in the pretend reality.

Sarah wanders over to pick up a can of Red Bull for herself, the top hissing open as she pulls the tab. "Yeah, I hear what you're saying about the lack of a biological baseline for Inhuman powers," she says to Jemma. "But... everything we've seen of the matrix so far suggests that AIDA is, in fact, pulling huge amounts of this from our agents' brains. So, it's entirely possible that, if one of them experiences terrigenesis -- wether it's Daisy, Bobbi, or May -- the sim will pull the expected results right from their brains." She gestures to the pods. "By now, the sim has got to have a full physical workup on all of them. Probably down to a genomic level. That HYDRA's working that hard on the Inhuman 'problem'--" complete with air quotes-- "suggests to me that it's a problem the real HYDRA's been researching since... well, whenever this thing came online. That means the sim can may already be able to discern the genetic markers in all of their bodies."

She takes a swallow of her drink, still working through what she's thinking as she speaks. "I'm not a geneticist," she says, "and my understanding of this stuff is loose at best. So, feel free to tell me I'm completely bonkers here, but since there doesn't seem to be any way to predict in the real world what sort of powers an Inhuman might develop before terrigenesis, it's likely the sim doesn't know either. Which means it's either going to assign something totally random to them... or it will have to pull from their memories and personal understanding of their existing gifts. If that's the case..." She grimaces. "Yeah, it'll give us a way to change the playing field, but it also means HYDRA is probably downloading HUGE amounts of intel from their heads even as we speak."

So, maybe they'd better hurry with their solution.

Mark looks at her. "We need to figure out how to completely destroy this thing once everyone's out..."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
There is almost too long of a pause in silence, before Jemma speaks. And it isn't precisely to Sarah that Jemma speaks to first, but to Mark, in regard to destroying the Framework. "Oh, don't let Fitz hear that. He would want to archive it and examine it fully. However, what I can tell you is that if we are able to inject our own contributions to the simulation, then that means that we would have enough of an understanding to infect the virtual simulation with a virus. Perhaps infect this AIDA construct with an incurable amount of compassion and guilt and step back while she implodes her own creation." That....is a little dark, for Jemma. But, it is a computer program, yes? And therefore not a real person. So clinical detachment can be expected!

Then, a shift to Sarah. "Fortunately for us, I am a geneticist. However, you are exactly correct. We can identify the presence of the particular sequencing that will allow for Inhuman terrigenesis, but it will not allow us to predict exactly what abilities, if any, will manifest. The only way that we have seen to predict what abilities will be available is if we introduce the specific DNA of a person with those said abilities already manifested. And that I will not condone, under any circumstances whatsoever. I have seen what the result of that is."

And Jemma does not want any part of that.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Yea, it should be destroyed. I think ..., that man in there, Radcliffe, he wants to get out of there and into the real world." A dangerous prospect. "And AIDA.., who knows what she may want. There's a reason I don't like AIs. That's how you get the Terminator movies brought to life." it's like that orphanage Daisy grew up in had this great showing of very violent, very 80s and 90s movies for her to watch. Either that or she got some through less than reputable ways! "And that can be a solution. If we can find a solution to inject emotions in through May's power we could always infect AIDA." then a look to Jemms. "But that's also sort of evil of you." yes, she said it!

As they speak about Terrigenesis she mmmms, "You should not forget that most of us that gain our powers usually can't control them well at the beginning." she notes, looking between them. "So if we do get new people getting set up in there, which theoretically we may be able to as we should be able to change the variable to have some be an Inhuman in there, or at least prone to receive the crystals, we also would need to safeguard for the side effects." something Daisy was quite intimate with considering how long she took until she could control her powers. "So it's a ..., use at our own risk. But I can change the flag of those who are going in so if we get the terrigenesis we can get those powers." and she starts working on doing that now.

"Teleportation though, lets not go there." This said to McLaren, "AIDA can already track teleports as I believe that's how they got the Inhumans on the Framework.

"And so, think we are set? Work on triggering those memories for them, use May's emotions to reinforce those memories and work on getting the terrigenesis to trigger powers and aid us in hacking this Framework? Oooo, AIDA will be so mad. I love it."

Melinda May has posed:
No. Sarah isn't keen on introducing active DNA into anyone, either. She'll follow Jemma's lead, regardless. The Brit knows what she's doing. Collingwood is just winging it. "Okay. Let me start isolating these emotional patterns," she suggests. "If nothing else, we should be able to feed them back into May, if not the others." She purses her lips. "Do you think we can inject visual information? I mean... you said there's no way to be sure what memories you're stimulating because we don't know how they're mapped on an individual's brain. What if we could lift footage we've already got from the matrix here and alter it to fit what happened in our world and feed it back in as an audio/visual stimulation, hooked to the emotions. Maybe like a dream. Or brief hallucination?" She's totally spitballing here. There could be any number of reasons why that's a Bad Idea.

Mark moves to a console as well. "Maybe I can run a search algorithm to identify AIDA when she's in an active state versus a passive state -- like when she's actually messing with the code instead of just monitoring it. I don't think I'm good enough to run a lot of interference, but I know how to data match."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"Visual information is possible, though we would need to extremely careful on that front. If we are striving for subtlety, then inducing hallucinations is not necessarily the best way to go about that." There Jemma goes again, stating the obvious is her polite and proper manner. "I do believe that providing an emotional gravitas to a particular thought will help to inspire that tenuous connection that we are looking for. The human mind is a marvelous thing, able to formulate cohesive ideas with just the barest minimum of foci. I feel inducing visions will cause the target to believe he or she is losing their sanity and, at minimum, will cause enough of a stir for our system administrator to catch on to our attempts."

Jemma allows herself to release a sigh. There is a lot within that expression...but...there is hope. Perhaps for the first time in a while. "Alright then. I will assist in developing the algorithm for long-term memory stimulation. If this AI is using our friends to gather their secrets, then we should also develop a methodology for blocking this theft of knowledge. If we can determine how to insert data into consciousness, then perhaps we can develop a process to protect the consciousness from data extraction."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Yea, the visual stimulation idea goes right into the no-no bucket." Just like the no-no drugs. Daisy is in agreement with Jemma about that indeed, her fingertips now flying as she gets on shifting everyone's Inhuman variable to 1. Look at that. But it will serve as a trump card if they need to get out by force. And that's her way of getting the damn Matrix going!

"Mark's idea receives a nod from Daisy. "Yea, lets do that. I need to figure out the times when she is hooked up so I can follow her and figure out where she hooks up to the place." she says. "It will *probably* be somewhere iconic for Hydra but ...." she trails off.

"Reverse engineer it I'd say, but we can only do that after refining the code I think." she says over to Jemma.

Melinda May has posed:
Collingwood nods briefly in response. Hey, she's just brainstorming. Not every idea is going to stick. But she can still pull those emotional scans and identify the patterns they need. By the time the algorithm Jemma is developing is ready, the medic has complied several high impact patterns, along with a best-guess at just what sort of feelings (or combination of feelings) they likely represent.

McLaren cracks his knuckles and starts pulling code apart on his laptop. He starts with the first simple files he used to initially identify AIDA. Then, he expands it and starts finding other representations. "Huhn. Hey, Daisy? What do you make of this." With a mouse click, he commandeers one of the larger screens to display a cascade of code. It's not any sort of classic language pattern. It seems more representational than that -- a combination of input types cross linked and topographically arrayed.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
As Sarah provides the pattern analysis, Jemma does a cursory check. It isn't that she doesn't trust the other agent...but more to see if she can help identify high impact patterns. Especially any where the scene involved Jemma actually being there, because she would know exactly what she was feeling at that moment. Too bad it was only one initial contact. "This is excellent. We can use this as a basis and see if our theories pan out. Maybe if we get May on her own and then insert these in as modules...or maybe a one-on-one situation. Though...that is more dangerous for whoever goes in to talk to May." Yes...Jemma is remembering just how scary Agent May is...and that she is scarier in the Framework.

But then, Mark's data model catches her eye. The head tilts sideways, as Jemma regards the image. "Well, I am certainly no expert with computer coding, though I do know my fair share. And...that does not seem like anything that would make sense procedurally." Those brown eyes squint at the screen. Then...Jemma stands up....but rather than get closer, she steps back...away from the jumble of code. "Maybe..."

Maybe what? Until Jemma finishes processing, she isn't talking.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
With most of the ideas they brainstormed now underway it's time to get those hands in the meat of the question. Which is to work. Fueled by red bull. And coffee. Too much theory and no work will get done! So programming is just about to start when .., Mark shows hat curious piece of code. Code? Not really...

She gets up to her feet, squinting her eyes at the image, "The code is ..., hold up." she moves to join Jemma. She indeed got a good idea. So they look a bit like two weirdos moving their heads back and forth trying to figure out something. And ASCII art? Close but...

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" She asks Jemma then bobs her head a few times and most likely reach at the conclusion at the same time as the good doctor.

"That's an actual layout of a place inside the Framework. For it to be represented like this... it most likely means it may be her little hideout!"

Melinda May has posed:
"This is why they get the big bucks," Mark whispers out of the side of his mouth to Sarah. She rolls her eyes. Again. Because... He's so full of it. And they both know it. Also, it's *possible* he's had waaaay too much caffiene.

Still, the pair comes to watch Daisy manipulate the data to reveal the topographic nature of the cascade. It is a chamber that could be described as a much cleaner version of the one they're all standing in. Circular, with a column in the middle. The column has a design reminiscent of the pods, which suggests the AIDA avatar may need to utilize it as an in-world connection. All around the perimeter of the chamber are monitors and other strange peices of technology not easily identifiable with the resolution available to them. Regardless, it has the clean lines and smooth surfaces of a technological clean room.

All they need to do now is figure out how to get into it.