SHIELD testing lab (tag Simmons/DG)

[fury]

Nick Fury was a busy man, but this was a good thing. He loved keeping his mind occupied with the task at hand, and lived fullest when dealing with an obstacle. He was a rare breed in that way, adaptable yet tough as all hell. He’d proven so in more combat incursions than were “officially recorded” in recent American history.

But now he had a new enemy… a class of person who had abilities that went far beyond what was once thought possible, and that ran the gamut from simple super strength to the ability to rip the water from your body, or teleport from location to location.

These new threats called for new weapons, and that’s what had brought him to the lab. He was overseeing the testing of the new Sonics technology, designed to take out ‘invulnerable’ mutants or mutants with special resistances to normal subdual technologies. These would emit a high frequency pulse that disrupted most equilibrium systems in people, heavily disoriented them, and made them sicker than hell.

The downside of the weapons was their limited testability. They had to rely on theoretical applications, since they couldn’t very well test on actual people. They tried them on rats, but they could only get so much. In the end, a computer was devised to measure their effectiveness.

Fury exited a shooting range that was sealed behind transparent armor. He handed a heavy weapon over to a scientist, and was discussing the finer points of it. He made an imposing figure, with his eyepatch and BDU outfit on… and when others responded to him, they did so promptly.

[Trask]

Simmons was busy.

This was a good thing. The SHIELD program was now fully underway and their budget had been approved for technology development that would aid the new soldiers in their duties. They would also be able to adapt them for use with the Sentinel frames since the suits had been designed with upgrading in mind as new mutations were encountered.

Eventually they hoped to have the perfect anti-mutant machine.

It would take time though.

Time, and a lot of tests.

Right now there were at least three projects on the go that demanded his attention on a regular basis along with the continued examination of the dead girl. Most of the staff still thought she was at best unsettling, at worst, down right creepy, but Simmons still found her fascinating.

He had just received the first preliminary test results from the psychic screamer, a defensive device of which he was very proud, and thought that Mr. Fury would be extremely interested in what the early trials revealed.

The door slid aside with a mechanical hiss and Simmons strode into the shooting range area where he had been told Fury was observing one of the new sonic weapons in action.

He stopped just inside the door, his eyes still scanning the pages of text before he realised he really should pay more attention to what was going on around him.

"Good afternoon sir," Simmons said to the one-eyed man with a nod, "how are the trials progressing?"

[fury]

Fury eyed Simmons, and smiled. Unlike a lot of the other soldiers, Nick had a special fondness for the scientists in the facility. He knew it wasn't possible to fight this fight without them, and their lateral thinking and quirky mannerisms always made him feel right with the world.

“Not bad, not bad. Sonic gun is lookin' good. Some of your other toys are impressive too. Can't wait to get em' in the field, test em' the old fashioned way. You boys are gonna have to let me sit in on some of the brainstorm sessions – I bet that shit is straight out of a comic book.”

He looked beyond Simmons, at the door he just left.

“So I hear we got a mutant here now? When do I get to meet her?”

[Trask]

Simmons smiled a little.

"She's not exactly a mutant, but the she's not exactly human either," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"She's ... something else, something in between."

He still hadn't discussed exactly what he'd had in mind for the Dead Girl when it came to assisting SHIELD, but her talents were fairly unique, creator not withstanding, and the ability to converse with the dead could well prove invaluable.

Her ability to animate corpses was something else entirely. Plenty of people donated their bodies to medical science every year and it would be a small thing to draw upon that resource.

They would make excellent shock soldiers.

All of this depended heavily on Beam's cooperation however and he would be very careful with the subject.

She had been through enough already.

"She should be along shortly," he said, "I've asked her to come down and meet you since you are SHIELD's commanding officer."

[deadgirl]

The dead girl walked down the hall, counting the doorways and ignoring the stairs of the team watching her as if she couldn't possibly be standing there. She was wearing her accustomed 'uniform'- military issue boots, loose fitting black bdu's and a plain gray tshirt with the department logo over the heart. It had been a matter of comfort and practicality until an hour ago- now it almost felt like work clothes.

She smiled faintly to herself, slipping into some purpose in this new life. Of course staying near Simmons had nothing to do with it. Of course.

Finding the door, the showed her badge to the slightly nauseated looking guard- she was getting so tired of that reaction that she just stared at him flatly- and he let her through the door, a second guard leading her down the hallway when she said she was to meet with Simmons regarding the SHIELD program.

Being led to him, she nodded with a hint of a smile to him, then to Fury as wel- remarking to herself that Trask seemed to have a habit of collecting people who looked like action figures.

[fury]

"She should be along shortly, I've asked her to come down and meet you since you are SHIELD's commanding officer."

No sooner than the words left Simmons’ mouth, did Fury catch the girl behind him. She was entering through the standard security door, but by all other accounts her presence could not be logical. He’d grown used to the idea that mutant’s possessed powers that went beyond human understanding, that they could control matter and energy in a fashion that was beyond reason… but the idea that they could control such an existential force as life itself was completely, and utterly, the most disturbing thing he’d ever conceived. It also lead to remarkable trains of thought… if they can bring back the dead, violating the most basic of all natural laws, then who was to say they couldn’t control luck? Or Time?

It made him want to shudder, though in all actuality the girl herself didn’t. She was every part a victim of mutant anti-human hate crimes as she was a mutant herself. Though the report said she was a mutant first, and a… well, zombie… second.

It was repelling, of course, the seeing a walking corpse. The violation of natural law was something that could shake any man in his boots… but Fury had been in unnatural, uncanny situations before. Maybe not supernatural, but uncanny still. He’d made choices no living man should ever have to make, and done things no person could ever forget. So when he saw her, his wooden face made no visible change.

When she gave Simmons a smile, and then him one as well, he returned it in kind, even showing teeth.

“Operative Beam, it’s good to finally meet you.” He said, offering her his hand.

It had taken him an internal moment to decide what to call her. Just Beam. Maybe Mz Beam? She wasn’t an agent, but she was working with Shield, as an operative, though a highly restricted, hyper specialized one with no current purpose other than as a visual front to the results of mutant terrorism.

[Trask]

Simmons returned her smile with one of his own and a brief nod of greeting.

"Beam, this is Nick Fury, the officer in command of SHIELD. While the organisation ultimately answers to Bolivar Trask and he is responsible for managing our funding, Mr Fury manages just about everything else around here."

Simmons had heard the Fury was a hard man, a man of experience but he still had to admire the soldiers stoic demeanor. Just about everybody else on the base had at least recoiled a little at the presence of the dead girl.

Most of them lacked Simmons' insatiable scientific curiosity and Fury's experience.

[deadgirl]

(sorry it's short, i'm stuck. not a lot to work from here)

The dead girl shook his hand, and nodded. "Again, thanks. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can um...do." It sounded weird, and more enthusiastic than she meant to be, but at least it was honest.

"So. When do we get started?" She looked to both of them.

[Trask]

Simmons gave her a small smile, "I was thinking, with Mr Fury's approval of course, we might try putting some of your powers to the test, practical applications, that sort of thing."

He had a specific goal in mind but did not want to come right out and confront her with it. He had a feeling she wouldn't like it.

"You have said you can hear the voices of the deceased, though mostly it is involuntary, how would you feel about making a deliberate attempt to speak with one of the recently dead?"

Start small, he thought to himself, the ability could well prove invaluable when investigating the scenes of mutant crimes. If the dead could identify their own killer anyway.

It was certainly a starting point.

[fury]

Fury watched the exchange, and raised his brow.He hadn't considered the possibility of working with mutants when he first signed up. Not that he was opposed to the idea, it just hadn't crossed his mind... and now not only would he be doing that, he'd be working with one who could actually "cross over."

The concept was chilling. For more than one reason.

"You definately have my okay." Fury said easily. "Speaking with the dead... even knowing about mutants I never thought I'd hear of such a thing. If you think of it from a philanthropic piont of view it's a great gift. There are always a few last thing people never got to say. Maybe important information they had to give. The possibilities are endless."

He looked her in the read eyes measuringly.

"Are you up for that? At least giving it a try?"

[deadgirl]

The thought of it read just as clear on her face as the disturb others expressed when they looked at her. Then it melted just as quickly into a thoughtful look.

"I spoke to that man, in the hospital." She looked at Simmons. "I think I could do that again. But the ones in the morgue..." Her face almost looked pained, the memories obviously still traumatizing. "They were um.. frightened. Beyond anything..." she was going to say 'that I've ever heard', but with her memory gone, that wasn't much. So she waved the sentence away with her hand. "Just beyond anything. It was unreal." She looked between them. "Inhuman."

"If I could help those people... sure. You bet I'd want to give it a shot. But. This isn't a mutation I've had for years and years, as far as I know. I don't know how it works and I don't... I'm not jaded to it, you know? So... if I have the right to say hey, I need a week of to think hard about things I've seen or heard... I'm cool."

[Trask]

Simmons nodded, not wanting to put undue pressure on her. There was no need right now and small beginnings often lead to the best results. Besides, SHIELD had several projects on the go, many of which were already yielding results.

"That would be fine," he said reassuringly, "many of the deceased we would be using have served their country with distinction at any rate and we would not want to disrespect their memory."

He had already taken the liberty of selecting some bodies from the cold storage, soldiers who had died in service with no friends or family to mourn their passing.

They also didn't possess any knowledge that could threaten any government secrets, Trask had been very clear on that. The last thing he wanted was the spirits of the dead compromising national security.

The concept was bizarre, but given recent events, entirely plausible.

"We can start today if you feel you are up to it, the testing here will continue without our supervision," he looked over at the sonic weapon range, "Mr. Fury?"

[fury]

Fury nodded at the two, glad to have the support of Simmons on this one. She seemed to trust the guy, and he seemed to like her. In it's own weird little way, Nick thought it was good for both of them. He liked the prospect of that.

He smiled, showing bright white teeth. "Hell yeah. Keep me up to date on the progress... and Agent Beam, don't push yourself any harder than you feel is necissary. You've had probably the most traumatic experience I've heard of. Pace yourself."

He nodded to each of them, and turned back to discuss the applications of the Sonics with the scientists in charge.

[deadgirl]

Beam nodded to them both, smiling. Then she turned to Simmons, stepping close enough that she could speak plainly.

"I'm actually kind of excited. Do you want to get started right away?"

[Trask]

Simmons gave her a small shrug, her keenness catching him momentarily by surprise.

"Sure, we already have a lab assigned for the experiments, so long as you are comfortable with the idea we can go ahead."

Once, if, she got used to the idea of using her powers to contact the deceased they could move on to more practical applications, perhaps a few tests in the field before Simmons summoned the courage to tell her what he really had in mind.

After the encounter in the hospital with her creator he was pretty sure she wasn't going to be anywhere near as keen.

He wasn't even sure if he liked the idea himself.

But it had merit, and that is what Bolivar Trask would see.

[deadgirl]

The dead girl nodded to Simmons, and followed him back into the hallway. Following shortly on his heels, she looked about her as they went.

This was where her heart should have been beating hard. Putting a hand to her chest, she remembered for a moment the sensation. Nervousness. She felt very far away from that sort of thing. Wondered now if, were her heart to suddenly start beating, she would become panicked. Were the dead as afraid of the living as the living were of the dead?



Then she blinked, realizing she just thought of herself as ‘the dead’. She was… dead. Undead. Not like a zombie, not like anything she’d seen as she’d scoured the internet. If anything she was far closer to the voudoun spirits of the Santeria. But to be one with them, have them as her… community. Could she do that?

There was only one way to find out.

Giving Simmons a brave smile, she rubbed her hands together as they reached a door and paused.