6592/The Framework: Bucky Drags Steve to Hell.

The Framework: Bucky Drags Steve to Hell.
Date of Scene:	16 June 2021
Location:	The Sphere.
Synopsis:	The boys go to see their girl.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, James Barnes, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter

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Melinda May has posed:
The Sphere is an abandoned AIM base so deep beneath Manhattan that the lowest of the city's oldest infrastructure is *above* it. Beneath all of it, carved out of basalt rock, is a maze of passages that would be all too easy for the unprepared to get lost in. But SHIELD has been here for a while, now, protecting their agents. Working hard to get them out of the virtual reality they're trapped within.

The way into the Sphere is through a heavily reinforced door that sits at the end of a long rock passageway. The door is more of a hatch, a pressurized seal like one might find on a submarine and when opened allows entry into a cavernous chamber that is almost sphere-like, though cut off at both top and bottom leaving both bottom floor and high roof flat. The hatchway opens up close to the middle level of the sphere. The walls appear to be lined with a variety of dated computer equipment. At various points on the different levels, corridors are cut into the rock, passages disappearing into shadowed darkness leading away from this central hub. The levels run in concentric rings about the sphere -- six above the entry level and six below -- open at the center and blocked off only by railings. Walkways criss-cross that vast gulf. A thick spire rises up in the very center of the chamber, what looks to be an elevator perhaps. It is out of service, but that doesn't matter. SHIELD has built a gantry off one of the catwalks that has a Starktech repulsor skid attached to safety cables. It acts as a lift for personnel and materiel down into the lowermost levels of the base. There are also lift lines strung between catwalks to provide alternate means of egress.

Nevertheless, it's the lowermost level that is the focal point in this space. That's where the main SHIELD camp has been set up -- surounded by blue, disruptor energy fields that keep various automated robots run by the facility's central processing unit at bay. The camp stands outside of a long corridor that's carved into the basalt. That corridor leads to a secondary chamber. The pod chamber. Where the victims of this once-abandoned space lay captive to the great machine.

The pod chamber itself is sizeable, perhaps twenty or twenty-five feet in diameter. A mass of cables and wires, some of them as thick as tree trunks, snake up to a central column in the middle of the room. There is some sort of containment unit in the center of the column, but it is dim and murky, hard to see into. There might be a shape floating, fetus-like, within it. (If a fetus was the size of a grown man.) Then again, there might not. It's not like the lighting in this place is in any way illuminating.

Banks of consoles surround the column, the mass of cables flowing around and through them. Their technology seems based in the 80's, but made to look like some weird sci-fi show -- all curved lines and blinking lights. Altogether, it looks like the twisted roots and trunk of a mangrove tree, leaching into the basalt floor and up into the metal ceiling.

More disturbing still, however, are the heavy cables running from the central trunk, across the ceiling, towards the far wall. Energy clearly flows through those cables, a rippling blue glow transferring through translucent material to and from the main trunk to a cluster of strange pods set into the far wall.

The pods are six or seven feet long, and about four feet wide. They are cylindrical, a little tapered in a weird, coffin-like way. Mostly made of metal, there is smokey glass covering the top third of the front of each pod. An eerie blue glow shines behind the glass, the details too obscured to make out from so far away.

Evidence of SHIELD's occupation of the space is all over. There are VR rigs and gurneys rigged up in the open space courtesy of SHIELD sci-tech. These are the rigs used by the agents who have gone in to try to bring the others out. There are also monitors attached to the original pods, monitoring what's going on within.

Melinda May has posed:
Personnel are on duty here. Among them, Sarah Collingwood and Mark McLaren -- both L6 operatives. One bio. The other tech. They're monitoring the whole setup. Making sure that, if anything does go wrong, someone is here to step in and stop it. (Namely, them.)

James Barnes has posed:
    Yes, that's right Steve, Bucky dragged your ass all the way to Delaware just to get back up the very next morning and ... drag it all the way back to Manhattan. Was there a point? Of course there was, Bucky just needed his best friend. Could they have just stated in the city? Sure they could have. Was Bucky thinking straight enough to consider it? Probably not...
    And Steve is about to see why.
    Steven Rogers, welcome to Bucky's nightmare!
    He's been down here before and, for the most part, he tries to just ignore his surroundings when he comes back, don't look it and it doesn't exist right? So he might be taking the path down, down, down... a little too quickly for Steve keep up and gawk at the same time.

Steve Rogers has posed:
It's a long, long way down.

Even for Steve, for whom fear is not a common companion, there's a certain unease to being so far under the earth. The air is heavy. Dense. A little too cold and a little too damp. Noise echoes too sharply, only to be absorbed by the inky black. Caverns this large aren't easily navigable and remembering the route is an effort even for Steve's eidetic memory.

Down, down they go, the scrape of their boots on metal interrupted periodically by ancient old plints shifting their weight by millimeters with groaning cracks.

"I'm pretty sure I remember you telling me about a book with this exact situation," Steve tells Bucky about 2/3 of the way down. "Jules Verne, right?" The conversation doesn't get too far. It feels too much like talking in church.

Or in a mausoleum.

It's almost a reassurance to reach The Sphere. A swathe of human influence and lighting in the bowels of the Earth. Steve puts his flashlight back in his belt and loops his helmet over it to keep his hands free. The shield gleams in the low light, strapped to his brawny back. "At ease, people," Steve bids the technicians and guards with a reassuring smile. "I'm just here to get the lay of the land."

Melinda May has posed:
The technicians and sentries are glad to see the pair, really. Like Steve, they find the darkness and the weight of the earth above them oppresive. Thus, it's a relief to have Captain America there. Bucky, too, but... really... Yeah. Captain America.

No one inspires weary SHIELD agents better than him. Not even Superman.

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky doesn't pay much mind to the human element down here either, there wasn't even any friendly ribbing on the way down, not much chatter at all really. The nod he offers the technicians is barely there, distracted.
    This place wears on him for completely different reasons. All the Earth above his head doesn't even register.
    "No change?" he asks the techs. They likely know he's talking about Peggy. Same question, every time. In the beginning he sounded hopeful, now he just sounds resigned.
    He *barely* even waits for the answer anymore. This is absolutely the worst possible thing that could happen to him. One of the very very few people in the world that he trusts and loves like family is in trouble and he can't smash something to fix it.
    He's turning to head to the pods as the tech's answer leaves their lips. "C'mon, she's over here," to Steve.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve moves to follow Bucky, purposefully keeping his eyes forward so none of the agents think he's looking over their shoulder at their work. One manages to catch his gaze; Steve nods once with silent approval, and gives the agent a 'keep it up' pat on the shoulder as they pass. "Good work," he mutters.

Steve catches up with Bucky and stops near the pod, trying to keep his face impassive. Arms fold loosely over his chest in a posture that's intended to be relaxed.

Only Bucky would notice the tension in Steve's jaw or hear the creak of leather gloves closing into a fist under his arm.

Melinda May has posed:
"No change," Collingwood says. She tries not to sound as tired as she is. "But we're getting closer," she tells him. "We are. Daisy and Jemma. They've got a plan." It's the best she can offer.

It's possible to see into the pods, to see the agents laying there. Peggy's skin is ashen, so very pale. There are blue circuitry lines etched into her skin, like fine lined tattoos drawn all over her face and neck... and likely everywhere else. Wires can be seen piercing her temples and snaking over her body to pierce large muscle groups and the base of her skull. There are catheters and other similar devices in there as well, taking care of waste removal and nutrition, though most of that can't be seen. Metal casing covers her from just above her bustline down to her feet. Only the top third has clear enough glass to make her identifiable -- her head and shoulders all that's really visible.

It's enough.

At the base of her pod, external lines have been jury rigged by the SHIELD techs to show her vitals. And one monitor hangs over her head. It's dark, now, but on occasion they've managed to coax a visual feed out of the mass of data in those dark, alien cables above.

James Barnes has posed:
    Of course Bucky notices, he always notices. Even though he sometimes seems like he's just so wrapped up in his own damage, he always notices. He lifts a hand to Steve's shoulder and gives a squeeze, like he'd done many many times when they were kids and then when they were fighting side by side during the war.
    ...and maybe a time or two since he's been in from the cold.
    "Yeah," is all he says. It's all that needs to be said really. In this moment anyway. There's bound to be plenty of talking soon enough, but right now, in *this* moment. That one word is all that's needed to convey so much. '... sucks, right? I miss her, I know you do too. We gotta fix this... *we* can fix this... it won't be the end of her, of the *three* of us... ' Just so much, all the things in that the tension in the jaw of one and a single word from the other.
    He squeezes just a little tighter, a firm and solid presence for Steve's first look. He's seen it before and he knows it almost brought him to his knees the first time.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve looks up at Collingwood, nods at her in recognition. "Agent," he says with a professional respect. When she's near the pod he unfolds one arm and offers a handshake. "I appreciate you letting me come by," he tells her.

She's the agent-in-charge; rank or not, at the moment it's her house and her monkeys. And Steve's savvy enough to recognize this isn't a situation solved by saddling up and charging in.

"Dr. Simmons is a smart cookie. If I were a gambling man, I wouldn't put up money against her." He smiles at the agent. It's meant to be reassuring, because Captain America is always reassuring. Bucky doesn't get those slightly-wan 'It'll be OK' looks-- because he's one of the few people who can see right through them.

"Can you tell me about this..." His index finger indicates a circle near his shoulder, and his gaze tracks around the facility. "Place. Bu-- Sergeant Barnes said they're in a ... computer?" he hazards. "I'm not completely sure I understand what's going on. It looks like she's sleeping."

Peggy Carter has posed:
While Sarah's getting used to Bucky's visits, and has been quite understanding every time he's come by, she's a little more nervous for *Captain America* being here. Especially as he asks her questions. She clears her throat, looking back down at the monitors for a moment, double checking that nothing is going too off the rails, before she steps away. "Keep an eye on things. Vitals are starting to elevate but nothing out of standard range. If things spike, call me back." She comments to McLaren. Then she's coming around the console to stand near their guests.

"Sergeant Barnes is mostly correct. They are trapped in a digital landscape fueled by a computer. It's a virtual reality but more intense, because these machines have patched straight into their brains, muscles, vital systems -- so everything feels real as where you and I are standing now. Or, at least, that's the reports we've been getting from the SHIELD agents who have been able to patch in and return. It feels like reality, but it's made by this... " She motions around the room, "Computer."

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky's hand drops back to his side. He would definitely see right through one of those looks. If he didn't - but he did - but if he *didn't*, the near slip, Steve almost calling him Bucky in front of these people, that definitely told him his friend's state of mind.
    Since Steve rescued him the first time in the war, Bucky's become the one that's standing in his shadow, such a reversal from when they were kids. It'll never be something Bucky begrudges his friend over. In fact, now it's where he prefers to be.
    Because by standing in the shadow of Captain America, he's still there for his best friend to lean on, metaphorically, when the shit's rough.
    He sticks right to Steve's side, quiet, just a presence and, for now, a calm one. He can keep it together if Steve needs him to.
    ...and the tech of it STILL flies right over his head. Those expressive eyes of his under that equally expressive brow look just a perplexed today as the first day this was explained to him.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve glances back at Bucky, pivots slightly to study his body language, then directs his focus back to Collingwood.

"So... it's like a dream," he hedges. One hand unfolds from his arms, hovering in midair between him and the Agent as if trying to shape the words he's speaking. "Except they're all sharing it. And they're interacting with each other. And they don't entirely ..." he purses his lips, trying to phrase it.

"Peggy's not in there as Peggy, the way *we* see her. She's in there as she sees herself. So on some level, she's affecting the simulation, whether she means to or not. And there are other things being reported, personal memories and secrets."

"That's what it means, right? In the lab notes being sent up. Residual self-identity being integrated into the simulation?"

He glances back at Bucky, catches the Winter Soldier giving him a /very/ skeptical side-eye.

"What?" Steve says plaintively of his friend's expression. He flexes his hand open and shut before folding his arms again. "I didn't know what that meant until she explained it to me just now."

James Barnes has posed:
    "Yeah well, whatever..." Bucky grouses softly. "I still think they should just send us in there to get her."
    It's been a sore spot for him since the first time he found out that they were sending people in there and bringing them back out.
    "We could make her see, Steve." He's talking to his friend, not Captain America and well, he's just not as 'official' as Cap, never ever will be. "We could, I know we could."
    Little rant over, he falls back to being the quiet friend in the shadows. ... he's just glowering more now and poor Sarah is the misplaced target of that withering BuckyGlower(tm), more angry than just plain BuckyStare(tm).

Peggy Carter has posed:
Sarah looks suitably impressed as Steven lays out a large amount of the reality in front of them. She gives her head a gentle dip in affirmation, "Yes. That's... pretty much it. From the pieces we've gotten, they are all living... similiar lives to what they have here. Their personalities are in tact, their memories, to a certain point. But the world has changed and so their reactions to it have to adapt. Peggy, and the others, are in there as themselves as built by their current memories, feelings, and attitudes, but a different circumstance of life."

She steps around to another computer and starts putting in some commands, searching back through snips of visual files they have. She then brings one to life. A rather nice household is seen with a split level front entrance, and living room spilling into a kitchen. The front door opens and Daniel Sousa comes through, carrying bags of take out food. Coming through the door Daniel calls out, "Peg, Lils, I'm home!" he says kicking off his shoes and heading towards the kitchen with the heavy paper bag full of take out boxes. A dark haired toddler with Peggy's wide eyes immediately dashes little feet down the hall to greet him at the door.

A slightly too dramatic, and definitely loud, "Shhhhh!!" Is given by her, though she's horribly curious about the bags, little hands reaching for the paper already. "Mum's sleeping. I put the colors on again..." From her room, the sound of her favorite coloring video on the internet echos quietly, abandoned for the far more interesting presense of her father. As the scene pans further, a quite soft looking Peggy Carter is out cold on the couch, an infant on her shoulder.

Sarah looks up from the display, her expression quietly grim, "As I said, very...Different lives."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve's face is impassive. Too impassive. Agent Collingwood would read it as just professional detachment. Peggy, the two kids, Dan coming home from work-- 'Lils', toddling around with Peggy's hair and eyes--

In truth, it's a series of emotions so complicated and conflicted that even Steve can't process them fast enough. So they're tamped down. Bottled up.

"Very," he agrees, a little too late. He looks at Collingwood and nods once, brusquely. "So I'm assuming that if I tell you me and Barnes want to go in, you're going to tell us it's a really bad idea," Cap says to her. "And then when I argue, you're going to call Dr. Simmons, who is going to agree that it's a bad idea. And then I'm going to ask if there is any actual workable plan on the table to extract our people--" careful, neutral language, not 'Peg', 'our people'-- "from this ...."

He studiously avoids staring at the monitor. Dream? Nightmare?

"Situation."

"And the answer to that is going to be..." He trails off, pointedly, and prompts Collingwood with a gentle rise and fall of the hand folded over his tricep.

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky refuses to look at that damned screen. That's not Peggy's life, it's a fake bunch of bullshit that's keeping her from *real* people that love her. Every ounce of him just wants to go ... what? Bust that damned pod open? He knows he can't do that.
    He practically vibrates beside Steve with anger, frustration, fear... longing, loss.
    He can't help the slight snarl in his voice when he adds, "There's no one here that knows her better than us." Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but it feels true to the man who's known her for nearly a century?
    Pale blue eyes wander over to Peggy's face. "We have to try," no snarl this time, in fact the words are barely there.

Melinda May has posed:
Sarah gives Steve a wry, unhappy smile. Her awe of the man is quickly fading in the face of the... situation. "Sergeant Barnes' psych profile indicates he would fare poorly inside the matrix," she admits reluctantly. "We've already managed to extract Carol Danvers. She was led out by a fellow SWORD agent, Lars Anderson, whom we inserted using one of those VR rigs." The SHIELD setup on the other side of the room. "We've inserted Daniel Sousa into the framework to try to pull Chief Carter out because he's her husband." In real life as well as in the sim.

In other words, the powers that be figure he knows her easily as well as either Bucky or Steve. Maybe better, these days. He's been with her more. He was with her after both of them disappeared. They're not her only family.

The medic grimaces openly now. "He's not having a lot of luck, true, but we believe that's because Peggy has become fixated on her children. Both she and Agent May have, frankly. So, the working plan is to get them to the exit point by bringing the children with them."

She gestures again to the SHIELD VR rigs, where Daisy and Jemma lay, looking for all the world like they're dreaming, their eyes flickering beneath their eyelids. "Daisy and Jemma are in there right now. We've managed to hack some of the code, inject... fragments and tiny programs in there that will give them an edge." A beat. "Kinda like Neo in the Matrix movies." Another beat. She looks between them. "Have either of you seen those?" If not, it's a wasted metaphor.

She gestures to McLaren. "He can tell you more about the specifics, but we're actively monitoring their progress." She offers a bit of hope. "We've even got two-way communication between us and them, albeit on about a five minute delay. Adding more people into the mix only muddies the waters and makes extracting everyone that much more complicated." More bodies to wrangle.

She looks between them. "Please. Trust us. We know what we're doing."

"I know how they can help," McLaren quips, never looking away from his monitor. He's typing furiously. "Sousa brought in that intel. We know HYDRA's coming to attack this place. We could use you guys reinforcing security..."

Steve Rogers has posed:
"It's on my list," Steve says of the movie in a neutral tone of voice. It's a longass list. A film from nearly 20 years prior is going to take some time to work towards.

He looks to McLaren, listens impassively to the suggestions. A nod is given, not quite assent but at least acknowledging the situation. "We can draw HYDRA off," he promises the tech. "Delay them or drive them away." The Captain nods once at Collingworth and McLaren, then turns his shoulders slightly to indicate his next words are for Bucky. "No HEDP or depth charges," he murmurs, in an Obvious Tone. "But seismic sensors, claymores targeting junctions, and we could set up gas traps like we did with those bunkers in--"

Bucky's already nodding, and they finish the sentence together, "The Somme, yeah." Steve nods. "Right."

There's a pause as Steve looks at the pod again, arms folded. His head tilts minutely towards Bucky, not looking away from Peggy. "I mean, it'll work this time," he says, encouragingly. "We'll make sure the detonators are wired right. Right red, left black," nodding reassuringly. A ghost of a smile curls the corner of his mouth.

James Barnes has posed:
     Barnes' psych profile... For a long few seconds that's all Bucky hears, heard... Once again, it's his fucked up...
    But then Steve's talking. Did he know? Did he plan it that way? Telling stories to bring his friend out of that dark place he was going?
    "Yeah, it'll work this time," he agrees, with a pale imitation of Steve's smile, as 'ghosty' as it was. "...because I'll set the charges."
    He's still not happy, not one bit. But he'll have to take what he can get and take all of that pent up anger and frustration out on HYDRA... after all, they're tone ones deserving of it.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve nods. He understands Bucky's rage. Feeling helpless; unable to act decisively, to just charge in and fix it with some derring-do and a stiff upper lip.

This is not one of those times, and Steve doesn't have the werewithal or technical knowledge to help Peggy. And as much as it hurts, there is something he /can/ do-- he can keep the doctors and experts safe, he can keep Bucky aimed at the enemy, and he can put the hurt on HYDRA when they come.

A quiet moment passes, and Steve hesitates twice. "But... didn't you set the charges that time, too?"

Few people would dare to grin at the Winter Soldier's furious mien, but like any good soldier, Steve grabs at any opportunity to find something in the strange and sometimes twisted world to laugh at.

James Barnes has posed:
    "... And they say I have Swiss cheese for brains?" Bucky quips back. "You have more holes in your memory than spandex in your suit." Still not happy! But he does smile and he does seem calmer not that he's been properly loaded, aimed and cocked.