2019-07-02 - Welcome To SHIELD Agent Baxter

Summary:

Consultant Baxter gets an orientation tour of SHIELD and gets information on a lead he's already following.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Tue Jul 2 06:34:16 2019
Location: Triskelion

Related Logs

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Theme Song

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sarah-blackjimmy-baxterjemma-simmons

The Triskelion is a rather large building in New York. It's the headquarters for SHIELD and a jewel in its crown. If new recruits are given a tour, it's generally perfunctory - something like Here's the cafeteria, this is your unit, here's your paperwork. Now get to work.

A more indepth tour requires a friend.

One of the places that might be on an impromptu tour is the Science labs - and one lab in particular is a favourite stopping place. Jemma Simmons is in her lab today. The Death Lok'd woman has returned to duty. Above her workbench a 3D model floats, one that's she gesturing at to rotate and zoom in on.


In Jimmy's case, the friend bringing him around to some of the less-frequented places would be one Sarah Black. As typical for her, the young British WAND agent is dressed casually, jeans and a burgundy polo today, her ID clipped to the top's collar. "This is the Sciences section," she's saying, as she escorts Jimmy along the corridor. "Some of them tend to get a bit cross with us magical types, but I suppose that's to be expected." Seeing Jemma's door open as they come closer, she smiles a bit. Though there's also a bit of worry, given recent history.

"There's one in particular I'd like to introduce you to, though," Sarah says, as she heads toward that doorway. Rapping politely on the frame with her knuckles, she says, "Gemma luv, you in? I've got someone I'd like you to meet, if we're not interrupting." It's not anything she's conscious of, but Sarah's accent becomes ever-so-slightly more pronounced, and the number of Britishisms that flow into her speech tend to rise a bit when she's around Jemma or others from home. Subconscious code-switching is a thing.


Jimmy got changed after work, so he's dressed a bit light and casual, too: a white t-shirt and a set of plain, blue jeans. He's already handed in most of the paperwork, but there's one bit which he's still carrying with him. Just can't decide on a requested codename, especially when he found out that 'Angel' is reserved.

The sciences section? In SHIELD headquarters? Oh, Jimmy can see where that's going. As they step inside, he bashfully drops his chin and lifts a hand. "…hi, Jemma." Part of why he'd taken the offer was because he suspected he was going to keep on bumping into people either way. He feels pretty good about the universe helping to prove his point right away. "What's that you're working on there?"


Jemma has never really lost that Devon accent she grew up with. Not even after all these years in the US. It's been commented on.

When Sarah, the cyborg'd woman turns to look at her. "Sarah…" The 3D model hangs over the table and whilst Sarah might have trouble determining what it is, Jimmy might recognise it as a molecular structure. "… Jimmy?" She recognises him.

"What are you doing here? Did we need a consult on someone?" And knows a bit about him. Here attention returns to the WAND agent "Picked up any good curses lately, Sarah?"

"Uh, this is… the bio-virus that … infected me."


Given what she's seen in her young life — growing up as part of the British magical community tends to do that — Sarah has long since learned the ability not to stare at people in ways that could make them uncomfortable. But her eyes do widen perceptably as she gets her first plain look at her friend since… what she just said. "I saw the report that you were cleared to return to duty," she begins. "But how are you doing? And… you two know each other?" That last bit comes with some clear and obvious surprise.


"We've met," Jimmy confirms for Sarah. He shakes his head. "Here as, ah, the other kind of consultant, actually." *Euphemism ahoy*. He steps inside and takes a short circuit around the model. "Bio-virus… and that's why you needed…?" He leaves the word hanging in the air, the sentence unfinished, but a quick glance hand-ward suggests just what he's asking about. But he's not one to let an important question be forgotten among others. "And how *are* you doing? Are the headaches still bothering you?"


Jemma finally notices Jimmy's ID badge and she smiles a little. "Welcome to the Dark Side, we have cookies." she teases. "Speaking of which. Tea? Coffee?" There's a small kitchenette style facility on the edge of the lab that she moves to. "I'm making tea for myself."

"I am, with lots of training, Sarah. I have to learn to use the cybernetics and it's like learning to do things all over again. Lots of time in the gym with the others." Bucky, Steve and Roy to name a few. "You can look, Sarah. Everyone does. Death Lok implants for someone that didn't die. I am for once, my own medical oddity."

Her next question gets a nod. "Yes. Over tea in a coffee shop the other day. It was busy and we shared a table." Jimmy also hadn't made Jemma feel like a freak.

"This is the reason that I nearly died and they did this. This was a prototype though. The notes we've recovered indicate they were going to evolve this to include DNA and genetic marker triggers."

A DNA triggered bio-weapon. As Jimmy looks at the model, he'll make out the regular features but there's one component that looks different. It's organic but not vegetable. It's mineral. And the signature isn't anything he's seen in any books.


"A bit outside my expertise," Sarah says, nodding. "But I understand enough to get the gist of it. And I knew from what gets passed around our little house of secrets here that we're lucky to still have you with us. So do we know where this wee beastie came from that almost did you in? Or who 'they' are, or were?" She takes a breath, before adding, "And some tea would be lovely, thanks."


Jimmy shivers when Jemma explains the engineered virus, his eyes wide with horror as he looks it over. "What kind of trigger are we talking about, here? Down to a specific individual, or down to a specific…" He grimaces just at the thought that someone would think to do this. "…race? Subspecies?" He looks at the model as he says it, and frowns on noticing a certain shape, a compound attached on the molecule. "What's th—" He points to it, but accidentally sends the model spinning. After a little experimenting, he figures it out and turns it back around, and even zooms in. "What's this, here? Reminds me more of keratin than anything else, but even that's a stretch." He belatedly nods along with Sarah. "Yes. Please, if you're making some anyway."


"Unfortunately, yes, Sarah." Jemma starts saying and Jimmy picks things up. The teas are made soon enough and left to steep as they talk. "A virus that is triggered to a group of people. Imagine if you wanted to wipe out people with the X-Gene but leave us poor mortal Homo Sapiens untouched. You could use something like this. Or as Jimmy conjectures - what about a family? Someone bearing the genetic markers that the Simmons family does?"

Jemma nods in Sarah's direction "Doctor Nicholls made the recommendation to the Director. I wasn't in any state to refuse by that time." Is she lucky to still be alive? Or is this worse? That's a question that's going to get asked, a lot.

"Teas ready." The biochem passes the mugs out and turns back to the model, giving Jimmy a wry smile when he makes the find.

"Good eyes. It's a metal. In this case, a synthetic one, we believe. What do you two know of Vibranium?" Jimmy might not know much, but Sarah … she's met Captain America and has seen his SHIELD.


Nodding soberly to the explanation about the virus, Sarah says quietly, "Nasty bit of work. A lot of potential for precisely-targeted horror there, by the sound of it. Lovely." She shakes her head in mild disbelief. When the woman whose job entails not-infrquently facing down demons and other such darkness finds something that disturbs her to this degree, well.

To the question about Vibranium, she perks up from that a bit, and says, "Only a tiny bit. I've observed Captain Rogers doing target practice."


Jimmy takes the tea, holding it in both hands, but doesn't drink just yet. He manages a smile for Jemma. "Well, I'm certainly pleased you're still around." But the main topic, the virus, still gets a grimace back on his face. "Precisely, or not so precisely. This thing's basically genocide in a molecule. For whatever value of 'geno' they want to give it." He blinks at the question, shaking his head. "Can't say I've heard of it… although, wait." He frowns, connecting with something else he's seen. "It /sounds/ like it has something to do with vibrations, so… how does it deal with sound waves? I've recently run into a metal which massively amplifies them, to the point that a loud bark pushed over a few cars."


"It is Sarah and the effects are quick" Jemma adds. Sarah faces demons that are horrifying in their own right, but at least you know that they're bad generally. Human kind … are sometimes worse than the worst of the demons - because humans have a different moral code.

"Right." That's about the Vibranium. "It's a very precious metal that is incredibly resilient and as you say Jimmy, resonates. Supplies of it are rare." Jemma blinks as Jimmy mentions the bark amplifier.

"You have? Because that, what you're seeing in the biovirus, is a synthentic version of Vibranium. We've been calling it Reverbium, for want of a better name … and apart from the material qualities, it's got mutagenic qualitites too. Which means, Sarah, the compounds its used in are so much more effective."

And this virus is laced with the stuff.


That question Jemma asked earlier? It may have just gotten answered by the string of cuss words in long-dead languages that Sarah just murmured. "Someone out there needs to meet with a very unhappy future — or a very short one — very quickly," she says, quietly and flatly. Jemma's seen this mood before. Not so long ago, really, when Nightfall's proxies were stealing children. "And this abomination needs to be out of circulation, permanently. It's terrifying to think what any number of groups or individuals out there might do with it if they could."


Jimmy shivers at the thought of those 'quick effects', though he keeps his eyes off Jemma's new implants. Just before Sarah starts to let out her growling expletives, Jimmy reaches out to her, hand gripping and squeezing around her shoulder. "Yes, they need to. And they will. We're on the case. What leads do you have on its origin, Jemma? The amplifier I saw, it didn't have anything to do with viruses. First there was some box sending out ultrasonic signals to attract birds and drive them crazy; then there was this collar around the neck of a giant wolfman, trying to cover up the tracks by attacking a woman who'd helped stop the first box. But if it's Reverbium either way, could there be a connection?"


"I'm not sure I could have said it better." Jemma could smile at the inventiveness of Sarahs invective. "Precious little, I'm afraid. My focus is to get a team together to develop an … antidote or inoculation for the virus and take out the creation of the weapon to begin with." beat "The metal itself? I'll help with the SCIENCE! of course, but there others working on that. Agent Rogers and Agent Turner are the ones who bought that to me."

"A.I.M, Advanced Ideas Mechanics, are the ones who are working on the weapon. They've clearly got access to the metal, the Reverbium, but I'm not sure if they're making it or getting their supply from others."

There are others who might be following that up. Jemma's focus is the bio-weapon itself.

"That's a novel idea, though. A voice enhancer and a way to stir up wildlife." she shakes her head. "It's not unusual that sometimes I'll be working on one thing to find it's intersects with another case. Keeps us on our toes."

"I've been remiss though, talking about my work here, where are you going to be working, Jimmy?"


Sarah gives Jimmy a grateful look for that gesture of reassurrance, then nods to what further Jemma has to say about the weapon and its origin. She chooses to remain quiet, though, especially when that last question is asked, so as to let Jimmy answer it without interruption.


Jimmy mouths the words after. Advanced Idea Mechanics; worth remembering, if they have to do with Reverbium. "Either way, they could link up with the sound amplifiers. Either they're making them, or they provided the Reverbium, or if they're not the ones making it, their supplier could have provided it."

At the question, he takes a breath and straightens up. May as well just get it out of the way. He /changes/, lifting the veil and letting the light shine from his skin, from his eyes. The shift brings with it a greater sense of weight to his presence. Like Sarah's seen, this mode reveals his true self in the same way the Sight does, except it's for all to see.

He holds it for a moment, long enough for Jemma to see, and then he goes back to his ordinary self. "In the field. She, er, said the term is 'consultant'."


Definitely words worth remembering. AIM. There's information in SHIELDs databases about them but Jimmy can ask as well. Though, he might want to follow the lead from the other Wolf who seems to involved as well.

"Very true, Jimmy, at the very least there's likely a common supplier. I know the team in Engineering would love to see this - even if its just so they play with it and see what it does."

Jemma casts a glance at Sarah, making sure the woman is ok given she's silent. "Sarah, could you deliver this to Agent Turner? Tell him it's for Bezas and may help retrieve the teleport device he's swallowed." It's a bag of kitty treats. Curious?

Jimmys change comes as wholly unexpected and Jemmas one good eye opens wide as the cybernetic one glows red. "Ah, powered individual. Certainly useful in this line of work and in the field. If they could spare you some time, I could do with an extra set of eyes." No pun intended.

"Did you know you get hotter when you're like that?" That has to be phrasing doesn't it?


It's difficult, but Sarah does manage to suppress the snerk she feels inclined to at Jemma's last question. Phrasing, indeed. "Jimmy and I met a few nights ago when we were both rescuing people from that building that went up on the edge of the Disaster Zone, a few blocks from my flat," she explains instead. That would be the old residential buiding in Brooklyn that suddenly suffered structural damage and caught fire from what some reported as a flying figure bursting out of it and fleeing skyward. The reports would be circulating. "Given the sorts of things we deal with, particularly WAND, I thought his… unique talents could be helpful, especially in the right circumstances."

"The cat… swallowed…?" Sarah's eyes go wide as she tries not to break into laughter. Taking the bag, she says, "I'll drop this off, but I'm not waiting for the… end result. I should probably get this over to Turner sooner rather than later, by the sound of it."

"Jemma, the next stop on Jimmy's tour was going to be the Infirmary. Standard induction routine, so they know what he's about in case he gets hurt in the line of duty. Could I impose on you to point him in the right direction once the two of you are done here?"


Jimmy ducks his chin. It's always at least a touch awkward, /showing/ this side of himself. "Yes, powered individual. You could put it that way. For codename, I'm currently torn between 'Heavensent' and 'Seraph'. Angel would've been a bit too, ah, on-the-nose, anyway."

He blinks at her comment, but takes it at face value. Until Sarah's… response. Yes, she suppresses the snerk, but her amusement still pings. He hurries onwards to the /correct/ interpretation. "A-Ah, you mean with the glow? H-Heat and light, right? I hadn't noticed that before, actually, but. Well, it makes sense, in a sunshiney kind of way." He gives Sarah a wave of farewell. "Hope the cat turns out okay. Thanks for the tour so far."


Jemma blushes as Sarah picks up on her words. She hadn't meant them that way, of course. The WAND Agent gets a nod to her question as she leaves.

Jemma nods at Jimmy's question. "One of my … enhancements …" She taps the eye "Scans in infrared and X-Ray vision. It can be quite disconcerting at times."

"That's something you'll want to remember in the field. If you 'Angel' out, even if another agent is shielding you, your heat signature will be distinctive." Always practical is Jemma.

"I rather like Heavensent, if you're looking for votes." she lets out a breath. "I have to head to medical for another check in, how about we head that way now?"


Jimmy gives her a flat, hard look. "X-ray vision, huh." No he doesn't /actually/ say any insinuations about how she's looking at him. But he is thinking them loudly. "And I'd become a higher priority for anything which relies on thermal targeting. That could be useful, actually — I could lure something away from others." Because of course that's his perspective on becoming a target. He nods to her and steps back from the doorway, arm held out to offer her a way through. "Heavensent it is. I just thought it could work well with an introduction in the field, you know? Especially with how my voice gets." Not that he's shown her that yet.


Jemma rolls her eyes at the not insinuations. "Yes. It's so handy when looking at people. I can see their bone structures." Cause it doesn't work like it does on Smallville. Seriously, don't let Jemma watch those psuedo-science tv shows, she spends more time with them paused espousing on their errors.

Taking a moment to lock all her equipment down, Jemma also puts the mugs back on the sink before following Jimmy out and locking the lab behind her. "How your voice gets? Are you telling me, Consultant Baxter, we're going to have to spend some time in the Gym so I can see your skill set?"


Jimmy gives her a goodnatured, teasing grin. "Hey, for all I know, bone structure is /exactly/ what interests you. Why ruin a pretty face with all this skin over it, just go straight to the bones." He slips his hands into his pockets while they walk, and chews his lip while he thinks on the idea of THE GYM. "That might be a good idea. Sarah did say the Infirmary would need to know what I'm about."


"Bone structure is certainly interesting, Jimmy." Jemma does smile, it relieves a little of the stress that she's been carrying. "But so are people. If I want to see your bones, I've got better machines for that." She looks sideways catching his thinking as they walk.

"Infirmary first and you can complete your orientation. Later, we can get together in the gym. They've put me back in basic training until I can control these better, so I'm there most every day."

"Welcome to SHIELD, Jimmy. It's good to have you here."


Jimmy's smile reflects hers, in more ways than one. He's happy /because/ she's happy, because he was able to take a little of that weight off. "True. Though here's hoping you won't need to see my bones any time soon, since that would probably mean there's something wrong with them. I'd rather not break any of them. I'm rather using them all." He smiles at her. "That's a good idea. Finish the orientation — especially since I can actually finish this paperwork now — and then we'll meet up again sometime soon."


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