6568/The Framework: Chasing Orpheus

The Framework: Chasing Orpheus
Date of Scene:	14 June 2021
Location:	The Sphere (Framework)
Synopsis:	Bobbi checks out a lead she got out of Lance and it takes her to a secret facility that shouldn't exist where she comes to the horrifying conclusion that Lance wasn't lying, she is trapped in a simulation.
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Melinda May, Jemma Simmons

---

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Most of the time the Sky Commander takes her quinjet everywhere she's going. It's the most convenient. But this.. she considers off book for the moment. Either she's about to find a portal to another world or ... the alternative isn't really worth considering because the whole story Lance Hunter told her was ridiculous.

    Weaving between traffic got the attention of some police, but the moment their scanners read her number plate they backed right off. No one wants to mess with HYDRA top brass.

    Parked outside a rather simple looking storm water drain, she heads inside, a light on her shoulder activating and illuminating the graffiti filled walls. As usual, the trek to The Sphere is a length one. The directions Lance gave her were precise and correct though. She could tell he was falling for her seduction when he gave it to her.

Melinda May has posed:
The trek beneath Manhattan takes the Commander deep beneath the city. Drains and sewers breech and meet up with maintenance tunnels that lead into subway tunnels -- even an old subeterranean steam railway station that used to connect New York and Chicago. From there, broken infrastructure leads to half-dug tunnels that go nowhere and a sink hole that requires serious spelunking skills to navigate safely. The sink hole, however, reveals natural passages through the basalt bedrock that underpins the island and, ultimately, leads to a shallow cavern with what looks like an airlock embedded in the rock at the far end.

It's dark under the earth, of course. And making it through the maze requires not just good directions, but good equipment and no small amount of athleticism skill -- climbing, spelunking, navigating. It's a good hour, maybe more, to actually make the complete journey.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Morse does not have the heart condition in the framework that she has in the real world. But also she doesn't have the strength and endurance of a super soldier. By the time she makes it to the airlock, she can feel her tired bones aching.

    "Not as young as you used to be Morse," she says to herself and then just stares at the airlock. So it's true.. a hidden base she knew nothing about. Garrett will want to know about this place. It looks.. old. She approaches the airlock and turns the style, surprised that it's moving so freely.

    "Okay you invaders from another Earth, let's see what your operation really looks like," she murmurs to herself. It's now her expectation to find some old HYDRA or AIM project long forgotten to travel to different worlds down here.

Melinda May has posed:
The hatch hisses as the pressure is released and its bulk is pried open. The cavernous space within is... well, it's different than what any potential observers in the real world Sphere might expect. In the first place, its surfaces are clean and sleek. Yes, it has something of a retro vibe to its design -- more Star Trek: The Motion Picture, less Star Trek Beyond. But it's not the dark, aging, decrepit trap Bobbi once walked in when she was awake.

Circular decks run the circumference of the Sphere on each level, rising up some six levels above, and descending some six levels below. Quartered catwalks converge on a wide column that rises up in the center of the expanse. There's a lift in its center and a series of small access chambers embedded into it as well.

Light is provided by recessed running lights under railings and along the outside edge of the catwalks. So most of it shines up, rather than down. Where levels above provide a ceiling, recessed shines down from above, but even so the place has a muted almost cathedral like quality to it.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "What in the world...," she says to herself as the sphere reveals itself. "How could,..." she wonders how this kind of base could be so off books. It must cost a fortune. Her good eye travels around the sphere as she walks forward along the catwalk to the central lift.

    A button is pressed, the doors open. She steps in and presses the top level button. Up seems like the right choice here. The doors slide closed and she feels the lift moving. There's a knot growing in her stomach. Invaders from another Earth couldn't have built all of this. The war would already be upon them if that were the case.

    The concern is grave enough that in the real world, her vitals start to jump up and then fall back to norms, then up again and back to norm. She is experiencing abnormal levels of stress given she's simply in a lift.

Melinda May has posed:
The lift moves smoothly, like it's still well-maintained despite the fact the base appears empty and couldn't possibly be in use. And yet, it must be in use. Why have all the lights on, otherwise? The topmost level appears to be a lab of some sort. There are containment units and holotables with odd sequences of DNA floating over it. White monitors hang above most of those small stations, lifesign vitals tracking across the screens.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi is getting a really bad feeling about this. She walks from table to table, peering at the holographic readout of the DNA sequences. Is this base part of Leopold's research? is he keeping secrets from HYDRA.. from the Board? She passes the holotables, turning around twice.

    Everything is so alive and active here. The base is clearly in use but.. empty? When you stumble upon a conspiracy it takes a while for the thoughts to settle in your mind. How could Lance Hunter have known about this place?

    Bobbi opens a door at the end of the lab and enters.

Melinda May has posed:
The door leads to more monitors and more holostations. They, like the ones in the main lab, are all labeled with a string of subject identification numbers -- a different sequence to what Leopold typically uses. More reminiscent of Radcliffe's work. This smaller room contains five stations. One of them is dark, save for a floating, flashing red exclaimation mark in triangle that spins in a slow circle in the middle of the holodisplay. Beneath it scrolls the words: "SUBJECT OFFLINE..."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi pauses as she sees yet more monitoring holostations. Subject offline? Radcliffe.. "That old bastard," she says with a scowl and unclips the leather keeping her weapon secure in its holster. She turns and storms back to the elevator and looks at the options.

    Down.

    Bobbi grinds her teeth a touch as she considers the ramifications of this hidden base run by Radcliffe. Probably tended to by his pet robot AIDA. Does Leopold know? The elevator opens to the basement of the sphere.

Melinda May has posed:
The lowest level of the Sphere is more utilitarian than the upper levels, but there's a white walled corridor that leads back into the basalt. At the end of it is a small circular chamber. Its floor is black rock, polished to a shine. Its walls are white, almost like an Apple Store -- clean bright lines, black where panels and hexagons fit together. There is nothing in the room, save for a heavy trunk of cables that descends out of the ceiling to hook into cylinder of glass, ceramic, and metal that looks big enough to comfortably hold a single person.

The glass front of the pod is opaque, a milky white that glows with a soft light. Nothing can be seen through it.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    She has to be real with herself. It's not beyond Leopold or Radcliffe's ability to bring Lance Hunter back to life. If they knew.. somehow knew.. where she'd left his body. Or may be had some genetic material and cloned a new body. Pumped him full of weird memories, confused him.. all to mess with her. But he remembered this place, he remembered 'the others' - all those holotables.

    "That sick son of a bitch," she says.. and she gave him right back to Radcliffe and Leopold by sending him to the Triskelion. The evidence fits.. it makes more sense than the nonsense he was spouting about digital worlds. But if Radcliffe had him hooked up to VR to fill his mind with information, that'd also explain his delusions.

    Bobbi follows the white walls in to the small room. She almost draws her weapon.. but then sees the 'pod' and tilts her head. "What the hell...," she remarks and then walks up, placing a hand to the glass. Now she knows she's stumbled in to something truly bizarre. May be her theory about cloning Lance isn't too far off the mark.

Melinda May has posed:
The glass is cool to the touch, despite the soft glow. There is a subtle hum beneath her palm, of course, the shiver of energy that powers the pod. It is, perhaps, doing whatever it's supposed to do, even while Bobbi evaluates it. Aside from that pod, however, and its subtle indications of life, there is nothing else in the room -- no sound and no bank of controls. Nothing to indicate how the pod might operate or what might be inside.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Her hand itches and she almost draws her pistol again to smash this tube open. "Right. Biometrics upstairs, growing bodies downstairs," she says and turns back and heads to the elevator with determination. Now she has a good idea of just what is going on here, she needs to interrogate those holotables more.

    Up.

    Once more on the top floor, she wastes no time, heading to the one table that indicated the subject was offline. It's been a long while since she's used her biology doctorate - her day to day job doesn't have much call for it. She taps on the controls to flick to the next display of information.

Melinda May has posed:
The terminal with the error message responds easily enough to Bobbi's touch. Indeed, surprisingly perhaps, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of cybersecurity measures. That might be because, until Bobbi's arrival, no one knew this place was here. No one but the people who were working out of it, of course.

The screen that follows the error records just when the subject went offline -- and where. Coordinates, rather than an address. Time and date have also been recorded.

However, it's the subsequent screens that give more telling information. In the first place, the subject was female... not male.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    *click* Bobbi takes pictures of the holographics and draws up a seat. She sits down peering at this information. Why there? it's no where. She hmms and begins typing on the terminal to bring up the meta data about this subject. This Radcliffe identification number isn't going to help her.

Melinda May has posed:
The information that starts to scroll across the screen will no doubt take Morse by surprise. A holographic representation of Carol Danvers, Captain HYDRA, appears, turing in a slow circle much as the error symbol did. Beside her, floating in the air, is a listing of her vitals, the state of her health and bioreadings just prior to her 'disconnection'.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi looks up at the information presented and stares... "What?"

    This doesn't make sense. Disconnected? they were monitoring Captain HYDRA? Danvers is the very definition of straight and narrow, the always reliable HYDRA agent. With a push she rolls her chair over to the next holotable.. and the next.. and the next.. bringing up their meta data. Her theory is starting to lose traction. If Danvers was important enough to monitor but no longer is.. what changed?

Melinda May has posed:
Monitor after monitor shifts. The floating DNA strands resolve into familiar faces and forms. Peggy Carter. Melinda May. Maybe those aren't a surprise, given recent events. But, then an image resolves into Leopold Fitz. And the last...

Into Bobbi herself.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi can feel her right hand starting to shake. She is staring at these images and she can't help but feel this sinking feeling. The quiet of the room hits her ears and she can feel her heart racing in her chest. May, sure, she's been acting strangely lately ever since she took out Daniel Sousa. But herself? Danvers? they're solid. So solid.. and Peggy Carter? what has she got to do with them. But FITZ?!

    Either Radcliffe is playing some sick and twisted game that makes no sense.. or Lance Hunter was telling her the truth. She rests a hand to her heart and winces feeling a pain shoot up her left arm. Her vision is getting dark around the edges.

    Taking in deep breaths she tries to calm herself. Could she really be trapped inside a virtual reality. The walls feel like they're tightening in on her. Bobbi has never felt claustrophobia before but it's starting to get to her now. Deeper breaths. She can feel she's losing it.

    But what she doesn't know is in the real world, her heart starts to race and bounce all over the place wildly. Just like when she pushes herself with her super soldier abilities. It feels like her stomach is going to give out, she wants to puke.

    "I need air,... I need air,..." she says to herself again and again and rushes to the elevator, hitting the middle floor button and gripping the railing tight.

Melinda May has posed:
In the real world, the pod chamber in the Sphere is as busy as it ever is. McLaren is working on trying to synch feeds. Collingwood is monitoring biosigns. Her head snaps up as the biomonitor jury rigged into Morse's pod starts screaming a warning. "Jemma!" She calls out to the biologist, despite the fact it's completely unnecessary. There's no doubt at all that Jemma's on top of this. "It's Bobbi!"

Jemma Simmons has posed:
And Jemma is indeed on it. She was not that far away from the pod. With a tablet on top of the table, she was in the middle of mapping neurons for Daisy to use for what could very well be a method of hacking the Framework. But....the warning trumps mapping. And Jemma, despite her sore shoulder, is up and immediately to Bobbi's pod.

The brown eyes flicker up to regard the monitors. But, with the lag established, Jemma doesn't quite see what is getting Bobbi worked up. However, she sees the lab...through Bobbi's eyes. "She's investigating...in the Framework. She...She must have saw something." In that instant, the researcher switches, to that of the medical doctor. "Sarah, I need a sedative, immediately. And lidocaine. No adrenaline. We need to bring her heart to a regular rhythm without speeding her heartbeat." She doesn't even look up if Sarah is reacting. No, all of her attention is on Bobbi.

Hands reach out, the fingertips automatically reaching for Bobbi's wrist. Not so much for a pulse, although Jemma does note that...but to provide comfort. Before Sarah brings that which was requested.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Breathing hard and stumbling from the elevator she runs for the doorway that lead her in to this place. The tunnels are no kind comfort either. The trek back out will take her a while. She slumps against the rock wall and clutches her left arm to her body.

    Shivering from head to toe, one hand feels just a little warmer than the other for some reason. "Lance was telling the truth," she gushes to herself and she can feel the color draining from her face. Trying desperately to get her breathing and heart under control, she feels like she has no control over it like the source is coming from somewhere else.

    "And I sent him to the Triskelion to be tortured for information," she says doubling down on her despair. The cave seems to be shrinking around her and she pushes herself up, stumbling on as if death itself were chasing her. This puts more strain on her heart, her brain is in full panic mode.

Melinda May has posed:
Given the enclosed nature of the pods, getting additional drugs and such into the system is a bit of a challenge. But it's one the med techs have already been working on.

Sarah is there swiftly, passing Jemma a syringe with the requested concoctions and fishing for the input line they've attached to one of several tubes feeding into the system. The one they're pretty sure is responsible for cleaning and regulating the blood stream.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
A nod is given to Sarah with a thin smile. "Thank you." The voice is clipped...a sure sign that Jemma is worried. But, if there is anyone that knows Bobbi, at least medically speaking, that would be the doctor in the room. With her eyes on the monitor, the lag catches up...and Jemma sees. "Oh. She just figured out that she may be in a virtual construct. We...we need to calm her." The syringe is maneuvered to the input line. "We are going to do this slowly. She is experiencing panic, which is elevating her heart rate and potentially triggering micro-heart attacks. The objective is to slowly relax her. Without the ability to open the pod, this is our next best action."

Input line obtained. Syringe in place. And, slowly, the plunger is pressed. A rather slow feed...completely manual.

Because Jemma wouldn't ask for anyone else to do it.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Garrett's voice is in her head. She's being weak, she's being pathetic. She needs to be strong if she's going to survive, if she's going to be the best agent she can be. Shivering all over, breaking in to a cold sweat, she pushes herself back up and stumbles onwards.

    But Garrett wasn't real either then? nothing is real.. how much of her life is fake? she didn't really kill Lance - he's alive, he came back from the dead.. or.. entered the simulation to get her out.

    She rests a hand to the wall and tugs down the zipper of her jacket to get more air and loosen the hold around her neck. "That psychopath Radcliffe is behind all this...," she says recalling the very Radcliffe like serial numbers on the holotables.

    Wiping her brow she sees the light from her torch dancing over the walls and drops to her knees, puking. Slowly, she is starting to come out of the panic. It's cool down in these caves and the sweat on her skin is cooling her down rapidly. She hugs herself, shivering, as she pushes herself back up and marches on.

Melinda May has posed:
Sarah stays near at hand for Jemma. As the biologist depresses that plunger, the medic monitors her vitals. "Do you think her healing ability will stabilize her like May's empathy is still working for her?" She doesn't know how these things work. But, she's hopeful. Because... what else can they do?

"First Captain Marvel escapes and now Commander Morse has figured it out," Mark says, looking up from his monitors. "But if this is going to trigger heart attacks and stuff... how are we going to get the others out safely?"

---

The trip back from the Sphere will take as long, if not longer than the trip to it -- if only because climbing back up and out will be harder. Especially with the cardiac distress Bobbi is currently experiencing. And chances are the people outside the simulation will be watching the whole time... hoping the calming cocktail they just administered does what it should.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"I would like to hope so. There is more to it that." Oh, so much more. Jemma knows about the weaknesses inherit in Bobbi's abilities. "The key is her heart. If we can calm her, then the healing ability will do the rest. If I could get to her, then I could do this more directly." Jemma doesn't go more into it. Instead, her eyes remain locked on the biomonitor. She is no longer concerned with what Bobbi is seeing. She only cares with what Bobbi's vitals are doing.

And...it seems that the little tincture is working.

"Mark, keep an eye on Bobbi's visual. If something more becomes known as to what she is going through, inform us immediately." Spoken like a true medical professional.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    It is slow going for Bobbi. She climbs ropes, she scrambles over rubble, she hikes through tunnels and steep inclines. Eventually, by the time sun light hits her eyes again, her heart is back to near normal. Though, her pulse is still high. She is in mental distress, that much is certain.

    Squinting up at the sky, she looks around at the tall buildings nearby. It looks and feels and smells just like a real world, like a real New York City. But how could all these millions of people be fake?

    Slinking over to her motorbike she settles in to place and picks up her phone. She dials Captain HYDRA, "Come on Carol.. pick up." But she knows in her heart that's not going to happen. At least, Danvers won't be the one picking up if anybody. If only Carol were still there, may be she could convince herself that Lance was wrong, that she's wrong.

Melinda May has posed:
The phone rings and rings. After half a dozen or so, it goes straight to voicemail. "<<Danvers. You know what to do.>>" BEEEEP. A damned and damning beep.

Still, by the time Bobbi is making that call, the machines monitoring her in the real world have returned to their soft and steady rhythm. McLaren watches her emerge into the sunlight five minutes after she's done so. The day is half gone, now. Probably heading into night.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
There is a sigh of relief from Simmons. As the vitals show Bobbi is returning to normal, the visuals, on that infernal delay, starts to confirm that fact. Jemma sighs, sinking into her chair. "She is going to be okay."

There is a pause. Before Jemma looks up to watch the visuals. "We need to get them out. As soon as we can." With that, she turns back towards her tablet. Back to her mapping.

Back to work. They have friends to save.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi catches a reflection of herself in the fuel cap on her bike. She frowns. "Garrett might not have been real, but he was right.. I need to be strong," she says. She draws her pistol, releases the cartridge, checks the chamber, then puts it all back together and re-holsters her weapon, "... because I'm coming for you Lance."

    Bobbi kicks up the stand and starts the motor. With a half turn spin she takes off down the road toward the Triskelion.