Summary:Jeriah sets up a trap for Jemma's hacker. Things don't go quite as planned. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Jeriah has a hit some of the digital 'bait' he put out, but in order to see what has happened he needs to move quickly. That is why he has called Jemma Simmons to meet him at work at 10:30 PM. Some things require physical verification and this is one such thing.
Operating on the theory that Agent Marvin Flumm, a telepath, was indeed responsible for a number of the intrusions into Jemma and other SHIELD systems, he had 'leaked' that critical information was being stored inside the experimental framework systems in Jemma's lab. And then set a trap in the programming and set a silent alarm. Twenty minutes ago someone accessed the lab and activated the framework servers. Now it's just a matter of going to see who has done so. They SHOULD be stuck inside a simulation and if he's lucky, they won't realize that they are.
The Hacker is just approaching the lab door down the hallway.
Jemma is following behind Jeriah, not silly enough to barge ahead to accuse whoever is there. There's no guarantee that whoever, or whatever, this is is responsible for her hacking - a high probability but that's it.
Her right eye is currently glowing blue - looking for IR signatures as they approach the door. As she stops by the door, it flicks to red … and she nods. "At least one person in there - body temp is a little low, which I would expect if they're sleeping or similar."
Jeriah opens the door and… yes. There it is. Agent Marvin Flumm, laying on one of Jemma's bio-tables with framework headgear on him. He appears to be asleep.
Jeriah goes to a console to check the simulation and messages Melinda May that they've 'caught a big fish.' "Sim is intact. I rigged it so that he would get the information he's after and wake up, but that waking up would just put him in a sim of this lab having woken up." Which means he is still in the Sim but think's he's awake. Where could he be now? Good question. The further he gets from the lab the more the framework has to pull from his own expectations and the greater the chance he'll realize something is wrong. At the moment though, everything looks stable.
Jeriah breaks out some more headgear and starts plugging it in. "My suggestion is that we go in after him."
May arrives promptly enough after receiving the message from London. Good thing she wasn't on piloting rotation today, or his message might have caught her on a quinjet somewhere in a different time zone. She hears the suggestion and while she's not thrilled with the idea of getting dumped into a VR simulation, needs must.
"Tell me what to do."
"So you programmed inception?" Jemma asks quietly as she follows Jeriah in, hand resting on her ICER just in case. It's strange to not have Shep following her around, but Jeriah had thought it would be too noisy and obvious.
"Is the safety engaged?" the biochem has had enough scares with the system to know to ask that. "Hello Agent May, why don't you and Jeriah go in together?" Surely she can manage the system out here, right?
"More or less. Yes. Let's hope it worked as well in practice as it did in my head."
"Lay down on that table and I'm going to stick something on your head. No, you too Jemma." Jeriah points. "I should at this point be able to manage it from inside." He hopes. Either way he likes the odds better three to one than two to one. Flumm is a telepath after all and if he gets wind that something is wrong he might be able to directly affect someone's mind. The more people, the harder it will be to get everyone at once.
The hacker hits some buttons and sticks odd wiry headgear on people.
"Prepare to initialize in three… two… one…"
There's a blurring sensation and then the three of them are… in New York. Which might be a bit underwhelming. They're approaching one of the nicer Hotels near the airport. Very expensive. Five star, for sure. Marvin Flumm just got out of the car ahead of them and headed into the lobby.
"Alright… I don't think he knows we're here." Jeriah says. He's dressed for 'work' which means understated tactical gear and a sidearm. May and Jemma, well, who knows how their minds will have projected them.
"He's probably here to meet with someone and offload the data he thinks he's stolen. How do you want to handle it?"
The meeting might give them insight as to who his real world contacts are… unless he doesn't know. And then the program will just conjure something appropriate from his mind.
"More or less. Yes. Let's hope it worked as well in practice as it did in my head."
"Lay down on that table and I'm going to stick something on your head. No, you too Jemma." Jeriah points. "I should at this point be able to manage it from inside." He hopes. Either way he likes the odds better three to one than two to one. Flumm is a telepath after all and if he gets wind that something is wrong he might be able to directly affect someone's mind. The more people, the harder it will be to get everyone at once.
The hacker hits some buttons and sticks odd wiry headgear on people.
"Prepare to initialize in three… two… one…"
There's a blurring sensation and then the three of them are… in New York. Which might be a bit underwhelming. They're approaching one of the nicer Hotels near the airport. Very expensive. Five star, for sure. Marvin Flumm just got out of the car ahead of them and headed into the lobby.
"Alright… I don't think he knows we're here." Jeriah says. He's dressed for 'work' which means understated tactical gear and a sidearm. May and Jemma, well, who knows how their minds will have projected them.
"He's probably here to meet with someone and offload the data he thinks he's stolen. How do you want to handle it?"
The meeting might give them insight as to who his real world contacts are… unless he doesn't know. And then the program will just conjure something appropriate from his mind.
May is driving, of course, and dressed in a deep blue pants suit with a white buttonup shirt… very unlike her usual unless someone has known her for more than ten years. She pulls the car to a stop almost immediately after their target exits his car.
"We can either shadow and monitor or go in pretending to be the buyer." She's fully aware that that latter option has more risks involved than the former. "Shadowing might be better in this case, but it's your call." Covert recon has never really been her wheelhouse. There are younger and redder-haired people around SHIELD for that.
Jemma give Jeriah a look when he says she's to join them. That makes her nervous and he can damn well tell. Still, she lays on the biobed and hooks herself up.
When Jemma arrives in the simulation, she's wearing a rather nice skirt and jacket. It's a lot more dressy, and flattering, than she wears at work - rather '40s in look and feel. That's only aided by the way her hair is done - victory rolls. It's a very … classic look.
As the car pulls up, Jemma slides from the back seat, straightening her skirt and looking to where Plumm has gone. "I can't go in, he'll recognise me." She starts and them looks at the other two. She could. It would distract Flumm and make her a target - which would be a good a distraction. But they really want to see who he is meeting.
"I vote for Shadow. He must know who you are, Jeriah. He certainly knows who I am. Agent May … he may not know but I'm not sure we can risk it. If we need a distraction, I can do that. He'll want me, I … think."
She's not realised just how 'dressed up' she's made herself in this Sim.
"I can possibly switch things around so we are the person he meets." Jeriah says as he to exits the car. "But as Jemma says there's a good chance he'll recognize us, or if he doesn't that we'll miss some important cue and he'll realize he's still in the sim." He nods and gives Jemma a sidelong look. "Shadow it is then. We'll keep the distraction as a reserve."
And into the Hotel they go. Normally in a hotel this fancy they'd be stopped, but since it's a sim Jeriah makes sure that they aren't. Flumm gets into an elevator and heads up to the observation deck at the top. Jeriah ushers the others into an elevator and follows.
As they're headed up, out of the glass sides of the elevator they can see a helicopter pass over. Innnnteresting timing.
It's when they get up top that things get very, very interesting. The helicopter CyCor. A known HYDRA front.
And peeking around the corner, they can see that Flumm is talking to a tall, bald man with a very… skull like face. And deep red skin.
"Um. Oh."
Once they reach the observation deck (useful not getting stopped by hotel staff) and May gets even the briefest glimpse of Flumm's contact, she makes sure she's ducked back out of sight before looking at Jeriah VERY flatly. Well, guess it's time to get serious.
Serum-enhanced psychopath or not, the Red Skull will not survive a headshot from a serious enough weapon. Digging a tiny old-school paper notepad and pen from her blazer pocket, the jots down the name of a higher powered sniper rifle and shows it to Jeriah. No, she's not a trained sniper, but she IS certified in most common firearms, and at this short a range it should be like a Gallagher show. Just far more disgusting.
Maybe she's forgotten that this is a sim?
Jemma frowns as the helicopter flies over. She recognises the name and touches Jeriah on the shoulder as she points her chin at it. Interesing indeed.
Stepping from the elevator and peeking around the corner, Jemma's breath catches. "What's he doing here … there's been rumours from the desks that he's active again … but."
In Jeriah's mind, he can feel Jemma's panic. Flumm has been selling the secrets to her implants to HYDRA. And not *just* HYDRA, Red Skull. It feels like she might run.
Jeriah looks at the paper and then points down to the wall by May. There's the rifle. Loaded and ready to go. He motions to Jemma to draw her sidearm and heads around the side of the structure they're on. He HASN'T forgotten that this is a sim. Red Skull dying will be a hell of a shock to Flumm. Once it happens they need to rush in and subdue him. And THAT's when things get tricky.
"We need to trigger a nocebo effect when May makes her move. What do you have?" He whispers quietly to the biochem, trying to keep her focused and keep her from bolting. Hopefully she doesn't have to run today. And hopefully if she does she's put in Laura Holt levels of practice.
Well if nothing else this should be rather Cathartic for May. The question is, has Flumm really been dealing with Red Skull? Or has his mind conjured this because he thinks that's whose behind what he's interacting with?
May follows Jeriah's look and nods, taking up the rifle and settling in to a sniper position. She of course doesn't try to take down the Red Skull immediately, as the other two have to get in position to actually make the shot worth the effort.
"Let me know when you're in place," she murmurs faintly, presuming they have something akin to comm units.
"Uh. Nocebo?" Jemma stutters, drawing her weapon. Her mind has gone blank with the panic. It takes a moment for her brain to start working again - the focus is certainly the right call. "Uh. Pain or illness, is what we need. I need a beta-adrenoceptor agonist. It will cause muscle cramps and discomfit. Epinephrine has the highest affinity to that, but norepinephrine will work as well. Take the formula in my brain and put that in my ICER bullets…"
It might be a little scary that Jemma can create that on the fly. But there you have you it.
Trusting that Jeriah gets the formulation into her ICER, she takes up position, ready to run.
It's a pity Jeriah doesn't look like Remington Steele. He's got the cocky, cheeky, way of talking down pat.
Not enough movie quotes for him to be Remington. It's a good name though. Solid name. Steele.
"We're ready…" Jeriah murmurs.
They're just exchanging something when May's shot goes off. It goes right through Red Skull's digital and sadly imaginary head and the simulation drops to the ground.
Jeriah rushes, having already filled Jemma's ICER cartridges with what she requested. There are of course no actual drugs to administer. What is key is that Flumm's mind THINKS that he has been drugged and is in pain. His mind will - hopefully - do the rest.
Flumm is tackled and Jeriah holds him for Jemma to tag. Once May gets over here, they're going to have a long talk. Possibly interspersed with ICER interrogation.
The moment Red Skull's cranium is, well, redder than before, May rushes toward where Flumm is, rifle still in hand. While it looks like the other two have done a pretty good job of corralling the man she refuses to take any chances, and aims the rifle at the man's head. From this distance, it would be guaranteed very messy.
"I think you and I need to have a little talk, Mr. Flumm."
Jemma's shots are spot on as as Jeriah holds Flumm. Two darts hitting him hard. As the biochem walks over she smiles sweetly. By now he'll be cramping and anxious. Something he should associate with the death of Red Skull.
"What did Red Skull offer you for the information, Mr Flumm?" She starts straight away. Really - was he working for Red Skull directly or … someone else?
Flumm is a bit disoriented. He looks up and focuses on Jeriah. "Let me go." He's clearly concentrating when he says that, but Jeriah just smirks. Because they're in a sim, Flumm's mind is a bit confused. It thinks that it is dreaming and the way that the telepathy functions is a bit… wonky. Of course he MIGHT be able to get use out of it if and when he figures things out.
The hacker's response is to punch him. In the gut. Where he was shot and is cramping. "Ugh… the fuck…"
"Oh Agent Flumm. Probably not an agent for long. Answer their question."
"I'm pretty sure this violates SHIELD's policy on the treatment of detainees."
Oh so he's going to be like that and not answer questions, is he?
May very deliberately sets the rifle aside and reaches into her blazer to pull out a small but wickedly sharp knife. "Tell me, Flumm. You know who I am, right? And you know what I'm capable of? If I'm here and I tell you to answer our questions, are you really going to try to hide behind SHIELD policy?"
Kneeling down and setting the blade against the man's neck, she says in a calm and almost serene tone, "I really think you should answer Agent Simmons' questions."
Jemma steps back a little and lets Jeriah and May do the 'heavy work'. "SHIELD's policy on the treatment of detainees?" She says quietly. "I didn't see anything, did you Agent May? Or you Mister London? Poor Agent Flumm must have hit his head or be suffering a psychotic break. I supposed, having a leader of SHIELDS nemesis agency shot in front of you, whilst you're meeting with them to hand over SHIELD secrets could well do that, I suppose."
"Now, let's try this again, shall we?" The accent is clipped british now. "What did Red Skull offer you for the information, Agent Flumm?"
"Doughnuts. And as far as you can prove I didn't give him any information. Maybe I was working counter-intel trying to figure out who the leaks were. It's odd that you're all here. Maybe it was you."
The actual information, while juicy, is entirely fake because this is after all a simulation and Jeriah just made it up. It sounds too good to pass up but it is too good to be true.
Jeriah shoves Flumm up against the wall and takes out a KA-Bar, which he hands to Jemma. "Seems like he needs some convincing."
None of this is real. None of this is real.
May hastily pulls her knife out of the way when Jeriah reaches to manhandle Flumm, then steps back when he offers Jemma a KA-Bar, even if she thinks those blades are particularly inelegant. Instead, she reconceals her own knife as she glances to one side as if listening to something before she touches her ear with one hand.
"Ops, this is May. Go ahead." She's quiet for another moment as if listening to something, turning to focus a flat stare at Flumm partway through. Finally, while still staring at the man she says in the same Vulcanesque calmness as everything else, "Acknowledged, Director. We should have something to report soon." She touches her ear again, then finally turns her attention to Jemma. "We just got a full green light. Feel free to get creative."
"Alright then, if you were working counter-intel, how did you find out to meet him here? More importantly, what's the case number you're working on. You know, the one that I can give to the Director when I make my report about what I found here."
Jemma doesn't need access to the file, just the number will do.
Looking at the Ka-Bar, Jemma's brows rise. "Really Jeriah, what do you take me for?" It sounds affronted like she's going to refuse to 'convince' Flumm until … May gives the go ahead. "I'm practically a surgeon. I have much better ways of doing the convincing." She opens the bag on her shoulder and pulls out a scalpel instead. "Do you know how easy it is to neuter a man, Jeriah, Agent May? Just one or two slices and …. I'll have his testicles in my hand."
"You know I do," May replies to Jemma mildly.
"And then we can release him into the wild after chipping him?" Jeriah says, flipping the large knife in his hand so that he has it blade first. Flumm falls back and for a moment it looks like he's going to protest his innocence or try to say that they're bluffing but now each of them has displayed a blade and a willingness to use it.
Thunk.
Actually Jeriah does NOT have a blade now. It is currently in Flumm's right hand, which is now pinned to the wall.
"HOLY SHIT I WAS GOING TO TELL YOU DON'T CUT ANTHING ELSE OFF!!!!" That's to Jemma. He reaches over but doesn't have the leverage to get his hand unpinned. And moving it hurts like all get out.
"He was paying me in tech! This was my first actual meet with him though! Everything else has been through intermediaries NOW GET THIS KNIFE OUT OF MY HAND AND KEEP THAT PSYCHO AWAY FROM ME!!"
"No, Flumm, I don't think I will keep him away from you." May even goes so far as to offer her own knife to Jeriah for the man's other hand. Or maybe a knee.
"Was that answer to your satisfaction, Agent Simmons? I'm not really convinced that it is."
"Mmmm. I think there's a few more modifications we'll want to make before we do that." Jemma murmurs, watching Flumm as her right flicks to blue. The man will know that she's scanning him, watching his body heat - a fairly reliable way of telling if he's lying.
"It's getting there, Agent May, but I think he's omitted several things." The biochem takes a step forward, inspecting the scalpel blade "This isn't quite as sharp as I'd prefer. It will hurt a lot more than it should." She ways, before looking up at Flumm again.
"What were you giving him and why? Who were your intermediaries and what were they after?" beat "Jeriah, if you pierce the flesh of the calf, you can avoid most major blood vessels - but cutting the muscle hurts like nothing else." Of course Jemma would know - it's biology.
Jeriah takes the knife from May with a smile and approaches to follow Jemma's suggestion. That makes Flumm flinch… and then the sim glitches. His hand comes free of the knife inexplicably and he just stares at it. There's no cut or hole now.
"Wait a minute…"
"Shit." Jeriah mutters.
Flum makes a grab at Jemma but it's May that he focuses the mental attack on. He's trying to dredge up BAD memories. And sadly, he HAS located her actual mind as he tries to incapacitate her.
And take Jemma hostage. He may have forgotten the cyber arm. And he also may have badly underestimated how upset his efforts will make May.
She knew this was a risk, but the mental attack still knocks May literally off her feet. Clutching at her head for a second, she looks like she's about to start screaming but then what comes out of her sounds more like a low, feline growl.
This is a sim. Which means more freedom to do things that are normally impossible. Now snarling akin to a panther or jaguar, May lifts her head to look at the man, and her eyes have gone yellowish. And slitted like a cat.
Jemma jumps as the sim flickers, not moving quite quick enough to avoid being grabbed. "I guess we have some bugs to work out …" She asides to Jeriah, as Flumm holds her against him - hand at her throat.
It's quite possible, with what the telepath knows about Jemma, he could disable that arm. He hasn't thought about how hard Jemma has worked to get back into the field.
"Mister Flumm, I suggest you let me go immediately. You won't like what happens next if you don't."
Mays transformation has Jemma staring. Oh. Wow. Is that the sim doing that - a projection of how May see's herself? Or is it really May? Doesn't matter.
Jemma moves quickly - jabbing her cybernetic arm backwards into Flumms stomach, as her foot - in those 40's style heels - drags down the mans shin to stomp on the top of his foot and finish on his instep.
Flumm has to let Jemma go after that. He shoves her away as he doubles over. Once she's clear Jeriah starts moving, tossing May her knife. She's closer than he is and she'll get there first. Jeriah himself is actually trying to buy some distance and end the simulation. They can deal with Flumm in 'meatspace'. But it would be best if May put him down now. That'll seriously hamper the man's ability to resist when he wakes up. "Get 'im Agent May! Jemma! Help me disentangle us without frying all of our collective synapses." No time for a gentle exit and he is going to need the cyborg doctor's help.
May is already charging toward Flumm when Jeriah tosses her her knife, and she snatches it out of the air just as she reaches the man, barrelling straight into him and still snarling like a truly pissed off cat.
She aims that knife to make good on Jemma's threat and separate him from his gentleman's plums. And she's not going to be gentle about it because he DARED to screw with her mind. And dredging up THOSE memories is just plain bad, mmkay?
Jemma doesn't hesistate to put daylight between herself and Flumm. This might be only be a sim but it can be dangerous - she knows that from experience.
"Alright Jeriah. Sync up with me, so I can time our physical disconnect. You do what you have to, I'll see the marker and … "
The readouts on the bio beds are going mad - heart rate and blood pressure are way up. Respiration too. That's a direct result of the exertion in the sim coupled with fear and adrenaline.
"On your mark, Mister London, get us out of here."
Flumm starts screaming when May starts to cut and continues screaming seamlessly as they're brought awake. Normally the process is very gentle. This is not. Jeriah's eyes snap open along with the other three and he rips his headgear off and jumps off the bed. He's already going for some zip ties. Which are of questionable use with a telepath but Flumm is in a great deal of pain right now for some reason and so there is a very small effective window.
"Jemma! Make sure May hasn't gone all Cats on us!"
Metaphorically. May would not sing and dance and doesn't look like an unsettling mishmash of person and… well actually she just did, in a low key kind of way.
May snaps awake from the sim abruptly and almost immediately throws herself off of the bed she's on, knocking the headgear off carelessly as she makes a beeline for Flumm. An almost identical knife to the one in the sim appears in her hand as she reaches the man.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't keep right on cutting where I left off, you BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO."
She's cussing in Mandarin loudly enough to be heard by everyone in the room.
Jemma winces as she's thrown free of the sim. It hurts, but they won't take any permanent damage. "After I get a sedative into Flumm." She snaps at Jeriah, heading to the workbench and getting something together. With May snarling and spitting at Flumm, Jemma is careful in approaching.
"Agent May, let me give him this and he won't be able to hurt us." It should be strong enough to inhibit his telepathy but keep him awake to answer questions. Combined with Jeriah's cable ties, Flumm shouldn't be a problem for the short term.
It's May that Jemma watches though, once the sedative is administered. "You know, Flumm. I'm not sure we can get her to calm down. Maybe you should just answer the questions that we asked. What were you giving Red Skull and why? Who were your intermediaries and what were they after?" Sure, it was a sim but that's what he *thought* he was doing.
"Because he might bleed to death- you know I can't think of a good reason right now." Leave it to Jeriah to be flippant at a time like this but whatever happened to May it seems to be rather serious and the hacker-soldier has decided that it's not worth getting between her and Flumm.
Flumm for his part tries to hit May again mentally as he scrambles back on the table but then he gets sedated and mentally manipulating the angry agent becomes quite difficult.
"After… after… the Index. Wanted… data on the girl. The girl…"
Jeriah frowns. "What girl?"
"She knows. She found her. In Bahrain."
Flumm is out of it, slipping toward unconsciousness and babbling almost incoherently. If he were more with it he wouldn't have said that.
At that city name, May actually snarls though it's not cat-like this time thankfully. She stabs her knife into the bed next to the man's knee and turns to leave the room without offering any explanation to either Jemma or Jeriah.
If either of them try to follow her or track her movements, they'll learn that she went straight to her quarters in the Triskelion and is staying there.
Jemma actually swears as Flumm starts to slip towards unconciousness. "It won't harm him, but I was hoping to keep him awake long enough to question him more." She sighs as May stalks out.
"Well, that could have gone better. Can you … look after him? Given this wasn't something that was approved …" She's not quite sure what to do with the man. "… I'm going to check on May. I don't know anything about the girl, but we both saw her reaction to Bahrain before."
"Will you find me later? We can talk?" Jemma doesn't want to leave Jeriah to deal with Flumm, but she really has to check on May.
"Yeah I've got him. We'll call security and have him properly contained." Jeriah looks at the now dazed Flumm. "Go see to Agent May. If she'll let you." Jeriah won't be surprised to learn that she's locked herself in her quarters, not at all.
"We'll talk this evening. Or tomorrow. Whenever there's time."
5rThis could have gone better, yes. But it could have gone a lot worse and finally… they've got him.