8007/What's a random virus have to do with it

What's a random virus have to do with it
Date of Scene:	27 September 2021
Location:	R and D Labs: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Late night lab chat with Jane Foster and Jessica Drew
Cast of Characters:	Jessica Drew, Jane Foster

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Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica looks up and down the hall to see if she is observed which is patently nonsensical considering the sophistication of SHIELD's observation abilities. She is on the lookout for another of the agents that had been exposed to the Kree virus that had made them all angry. It has become something of an obsession since that day, having a blank in her memory leaves her sleepless at night wondering what she might have done if the symptoms had manifested in less controlled circumstances. So she lurks, hoping that its not apparent in hope of catching one of the people who might know.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica looks up and down the hall to see if she is observed, which is patently nonsensical considering the sophistication of SHIELD's observation abilities. She is on the lookout for another of the agents exposed to the Kree virus that had made them all angry. It has become something of an obsession since that day; having a blank in her memory leaves her sleepless at night, wondering what she might have done if the symptoms had manifested in less controlled circumstances. So she lurks, hoping that it's not apparent in the hope of catching one of the people who might know.

Jane Foster has posed:
This would happen to be the hour when Jane takes advantage of how quiet the Triskelion is. Log a few hours, then back out into the real world. She, like many agents, acts almost more like a consultant. The office she answers to isn't here, but elsewhere, hidden away in one of the city's great museums and beholden to taxpayers more than the actual auspices of SHIELD. But do as one must, right? Sleep helps no little amount for her.

She must have acquired a bit, enough for her to sit at a workstation and fiddle through the notes that Jemma Simmons has wisely put together. She's a fast-working young woman, all in all, able to neatly stitch together a good dozen ideas from the detritus left in the super-databases and Jemma's own clinical notes. Lurking might make Jessica obvious, but it's not immediate to the brunette as she examines the helixed DNA, the results thrown up.

"One percent failure, but that's one percent of going offline, Jems."

Jessica Drew has posed:
The after effects of the virus might be affecting her judgement. She badges into the lab, knowing it will be recorded, making her visit visible to anyone wanting to check on entrances into R&D. It's like returning to the scene of the crime. If she were planning to murder one of the researchers if would blow any alibi she might have.

Almost immediately on entering she catches sight of Jane, intent on a computer screen on one of the 'hot' desks used by people in and out of the Lab for their work. Perfect. Careful not to startle her Jess calls her name, "Jane! Hi!" Feeling slightly foolish, "Am I interrupting?"

Jane Foster has posed:
Not for the first time, someone might find their opinion compromised due to personal reasons instead of purely scientific ones. Welcome to a principle of NAP, the SHIELD division boasting the highest satisfaction rate this side of being Nick Fury doing Fury things. The R&D section where Jane's hard at somewhat work is safeguarded; after all, most of what HYDRA found was probably buried in here, a source of considerable interest.

The brunette has her hair back in a high ponytail, long bangs tucked behind pierced ears. No headphones are currently in place, though she works the graceful devices around in semicircular motions, perusing her way through the genetic code on display. Tags and notations from Jemma outstrip a good portion of what Jane knows -- she's bloody smart, but not a doctor on the same level. But with the help of Doctor Google, some of those features can be illuminated in fine detail. Life's secrets observed from Bobbi's sample bring her attention into sharp focus.

"Interrupting? Mm, not really, no." With a hint of a sigh, she looks back over her shoulder at the hot desk in question. "Hello, Agent Drew. Jess, that is. How is everything going?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica catches a glimpse of the enlarged helix spiraling with notations linked to its components parts, wondering if she should be seeing this at all. It wasn't until recently that in one part of Jessica's psyche she felt branded by a big red HYDRA sign, progenitors of her powers until the Kree mutagen added its polish to her suite of spider skills.

"Are you still working on the Kree virus? I should likely not be asking you that question." She keeps her distance from the work station trying not to loom over it and spy. "If you've got time, I've like to hear how the work on the virus is going."

Jane Foster has posed:
One must try to understand the wonders of history and modern medicine in equal stead. One informs the other. For how not to find the story of mankind, indeed all the races of the cosmos, without bending to the marvels of technology? New doors open. Possibilities erupt. There will always be, and cannot help but be, unabashed wonders that await those pioneers willing to delve in to the unknown. Great wonders, breathtaking mysteries.

Breathing out through her rounded lips, Jane fans herself, hand flicked back and forth. Too long without moving and checking on heat, she has to try to adjust to the temperature. A bottle of water will do, pulling one out from a drawer as she sits back from the desk so nothing gets soaked by accident should anything happen. Watching Jess with interest, she swallows discreetly and recaps the bottle. "Still working on it, yes. Sooner we understand how to eradicate it, the better you can go about your life without worrying about it. I have to think we have a surprising number of people here who would be affected, and that gives me reason for pause. We cannot have fellow agents suffering as a result of something mistakenly unleashed." She gestures at the screen. "I don't think you need to worry. If you can understand all this, then Jemma has further work for you." Any fight between them is utterly doomed from the start, anyway. Spider wins on that. "I have time, though. For the most part, I'm running through scenarios and variables. The virus creating a complete loss of inhibitions and control has significant consequences. A weakened version isn't bad, but we still need ways to mitigate the few variables that slip through. At this point, I cannot be entirely certain what establishes the 'rogue' elements, but with a few hundred more runthroughs, Jems and I should isolate it. Feel free to sit down, it's all fair."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"I didn't go past a bachelors in science. After I escaped HYDRA and SHIELD for a while, I tried to go "normal" and opened a PI office and went to night school. Science is attractive to me but I don't have the math grounding that would let me go anywhere with it. I don't dwell on what some people might call missed opportunities. Thank you for all the work you are putting into making us safe. If I could contribute I would. The idea of us running wild and swinging from the rafters with no inhibitions doens't sound enticing at this point. The hardest part of it was losing my recollection of what I did. You would think that I would remember zapping Bobbi." She rounds a desk and pulls one of the chairs from under it to sit not far from Jane.

Jane Foster has posed:
"You don't need to fear this. Much of the hard science is behind the screen, though at some point it becomes Jemmaese, and we're lucky to have language at all. Morse and Simmons understand the finer points well." Jane breaks into a smile. "You wanted to be a private investigator? Is there significant call for that still? I have not honestly needed to look into their services much, personally, so most of my knowledge comes from old spy procedurals and television shows." She has no issue with admitting that ignorance, or where her Hollywood lore vanishes from the legal profession's actual take on such things.

"The surest path to unhappiness in life is focusing on missed opportunities," she agrees, smiling wryly at Jess. "I wish I could let go of some things a little better. Wisdom can be hard won, though. Thank you for not being mad at me still -- I mean that. The last thing any of us want to do is hurt another agent, someone we consider a friend. Trust me, the fact you're here, rooting for a solution, absolutely helps. It gives much of this purpose. Does Bobbi remember, I wonder? Was the black out temporary or not? I don't want to sound clinical in this, but at least it helps me compare against others."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Lip pursed, Jess shakes her her head, "It's not that I wanted to be a PI, I was just using the skill set I was trained with from my teens on and make a living outside of the spook world." She flips her dark hair back behind her shoulder and smiles at Jane's surprise. "You'd be surprised at the number of people who want PI's and it's not just philandering husbands on the cards. Lost relations, lost children, cheating business partners." Her smile fades, "So much loss. It can be a sad world.

Her green eyes widen at Jane's apology, waving her hand in dismissal, "I've been hurt worse sparring and you can't hold grudges over training booboos. Really don't think of it. The blackout was temporary. It's my problem with losing control like that. I had too many years of being kept in a clinical coma to be comfortable with that. Somatic awareness stays with you apparently, but not in this case."

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane listens with interest; unlike some, she is very comfortable multitasking. A good portion of her mind turns over facts and details, while she sustains conversation with their dark-haired SHIELD spider. "Making a living is harder than you think, especially when espionage is your bread and butter. I can't imagine what it would be like going into the 'real' world after earning your credentials elsewhere. I've at least got the science to fall back on, supposing somehow HYDRA failed to disgrace me. Not easy when someone's skill set owes to talents they cannot admit to, or the resume has glaring holes." Her smile doesn't shift too widely but there it remains, giving her features a warmth they can truly glow with, considering her fair skin and sometimes focused, intellectual nature eradicate the softer side. "Lost relations, business cheats. All of life's difficult stuff. Better than doing discoveries, though, or something on that side. Forgive me, but that aspect of law would /never/ really interest me."

She nods to the mention of loss. "There is. But doesn't that count for something when you can put those pieces together and help someone? Never discount the human side." The soft tone of her voice matches the careful movements of the mouse and then operating the tablet, giving the screen finer detail as she surveys the strings of data turned into a general picture. "Maybe it hurt you less, Jess, but it still left me a few sleepless nights worrying about you. I always will. Blackout or not, the statement stands: attacking another agent for their own good is never going to sit well on my shoulders. How long were you in a clinical coma? I can't... I'm sorry. That sounds horrific."

It's a current reality she cannot speak to, a knowing deeper than the bone. She has /been/ that person.

She has been those people, and one of them herself.

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Jane, you are tender hearted. The inner beauty matches the outer beauty. But I know you are tough enough to do the necessary like taking that shot and living with the consequences. It was hard to dig into the underside of people's lives, people running from abandoned children or hiding theft." She adds more light heartedly, "It wasn't all bad, it was good to give people closure or good news on occasion. It's just that Nick Fury is hard to say no to."

A dark expression creases her brow and compresses her lips at Jane's last question, "Years apparently. I went to bed a child and woke up a teenaged girl. That screws with your coordination but HYDRA was ready for that. I was training from the first day I was wakened. They weren't sure what puberty would do to me after being exposed to spider venom."

Jane Foster has posed:
The doctor laughs. "Tender?" Not entirely surprised by Jessica's statement, Jane brushes back her bangs and manages not to snarl up her hair too much on her earrings. "I suppose you could call it that. Studying the stars can turn you into something of a humanist after a time, especially because seeing yourself in the enormous sweep of space has a way of settling how valuable life is -- how precious and rare each individual spark. The great joke: either astrophysics introduces faith or destroys it, so they say." She can't help but to laugh again, leaving perhaps some idea where her own preferences on the matter lie. "Digging into people's lives from top to bottom introduces an outside perspective onto the most intimate aspects, and that requires compassion and discretion. Maybe the ability to keep yourself at arm's reach. That part would be a struggle for me, since I would find it difficult to not be overly invested."

Her own failures, of course, nothing to much worry about there. Cue the faintest of smiles as she keeps moving through medical data, a light touch thoroughly racing through the details. "A decade of being sustained in a coma is terrifying to think of. I'm sorry. That someone thought they could do that to you without consequence strikes to the very essence of why HYDRA is wrong, and never a group I could hope to work with. Ever. The sooner we dismantle them, the better for everyone. If we can dismantle them somewhat, anyway." She curls her lip slightly, opinion of them dark indeed. "That leaves us in a position that underlines why we need an antidote to this Kree virus. It's too serious not to. I care about the people impacted by it too much, too. Tender, see? A liability in the field."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Nodding to encourage her talk of her work, "You see the love in the macrocosm and I had to learn love for humanity in the microcosm. And know I'm lucky for it. A word absolutely anathema to HYDRA, I might add, so I agree with you about needing to dismantle them. Is eradicate too strong a word? Or does that smack of HYDRA philosophy. I second guess myself constantly which could be a liablility in the field." She laughs without humor at Jane's horror at the coma, "Now you understand why I don't like losing consciousness when it's not sleep.

"Do you mind if I ask a personal question?" She waits a beat for Jane's assent. "Do you know the Asgardians?"

Jane Foster has posed:
"The microcosm and the macrocosm are, in the end, parts of the same loop. Pretty sure they close in a full circle. Jemma's love of life is no different from yours or mind, only where we started from, I bet." Without preamble, Jane pops open a drawer and fishes out a box that contains a chocolate granola bar or two instead of pens. She offers one, light snack that it is. "Lucky being anathema, or love? I would be happy to see HYDRA removed forever from the face of the Earth, though whether we can achieve that in our lifetimes, I don't know. Enemies all around, right? They don't pay me to decide where those enemies are or whom, however. That's a conversation for the higher-ups."

Her smile doesn't waver. "Second-guessing is how you know you're alive. Ask Captain Rogers. Fairly sure he can confirm no matter how much tactical training you have, you will still have doubts and worries. I've been on a mission where my expertise made no difference, I can still see fifty different ways to do something. Where, when all the chips were down, the most important thing to me could be lost. It's the price of living, and a high price at that. Sometimes we cannot make another person change their mind. Sometimes our best efforts fall short. Your words don't come out right or the decision's made whether you like it or not. The best we can do is to live with it -- but I want you to understand it's not a liability to be flawed, human, or prone to wondering what you might have done differently. That's what we are sometimes, and it's not a weakness or a failure."

She gestures, "And you didn't come for the lecture. I know the Asgardians, some better than others. Is there something specific you would like to know?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess accepts the bar and concentrates on opening it. "Since I've been able to make webs, I run on a calorie deficit all the time. I need to carry these." After chewing a moment, "These are not bad. You have to tell me where I can get my own." She thinks for a moment before picking up the thread of their conversation, "Love is the word that is anathema in HYDRA. Maybe living with second-guessing being uncomfortable is also anathema to them, with order and certainty being their by-words." A few bites finishes the bar off, "So you know Cap and Thor and Sif. Erickson has been hanging with them as if they were his next-door neighbors. Sheepishly, " I should likely talk to Carol Danvers; Michael won't let go of this idea of him taking me up to show me space but doesn't have the means to do it. I don't think SHIELD would let me go on a lark." She rolls her eyes at the thought.

Jane Foster has posed:
"Help yourself. We have more than we need. I can't even imagine what it takes you calorically to produce actual silk. Sticky silk." Jane really doesn't, but that brings up a hint of a grin. She peels back the silver foil wrapper from the bar and then takes a small bite, almost grateful in kind for the bittersweet hit of chocolate around the sticky syrup kiss of something more marshmallowy in there. Hard not to appreciate things. "Love would be anathema to HYDRA. Love doesn't care about their slavish devotions because it lies in an elevated plane."

The tea swirled around in the carafe, she takes a sip. "That man gets around more than anyone else I can imagine. I would be worried, but not quite so much. Thor's not an intellectual in the same way the other Asgardians are, but he is no one's fool. He enjoys good company. Lady Sif is far more the tactician in the Asgardian court, and unsurprisingly so, considering that she is the goddess of war to them. A rare position, as I understand. Typically Asgardian women have a more traditional role."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"He does rather, doesn't he." She wipes chocolate sticking to the edge of her lip. "Sif the tactician, is she? Thor does come across like a Golden Retriever with a hammer, doesn't he? I don't know Sif, I've never seen her in the field. Speculatively, "This business of going to space is likely just a temporary bee in his bonnet."