Corvinus: Online?

May 30, 2015:

Dr. Jemma Simmons wakes up the Corvinus. There are… complications…

Undisclosed Secure SHIELD Research Facility, Biological Studies Annex

This secret state - of - the - art lab is equipped with the best fancy diagnostic and research equipment that SHIELD can find. It bears absolutely no REDACTED that REDACTED at location REDACTED or REDACTED or REDACTED

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: [*\https://youtu.be/zGbNbn8tB5k "Monster" -- Imagine Dragons]


Fade In…

Simmons has been monitoring the Corvinus. He's not stirred much since she put his systems back into hibernation, yet still the biochemist checks in on him on a regular basis. With Jim Reha locked in there somewhere, Jemma's a little concerned.

Today, Agent May has transported her to the offsite location, and she's standing beside the bed where the Corvinus is laid out. "I know we have to wait for certain approvals, Agent May, but there's a man trapped in there somewhere…."

***

May looks at the 'sleeping' Corvinus and makes a decision. Fury can yell at her later. "What do you have in mind?"

***

"I'm not sure, Agent May." Simmons folds her arms and regards the sleeping avianoid "I haven't woken it since the last time. Let me try that now. Sometimes AI's are self-healing, and we know so little about this one."

"System awake" Simmons watches the monitors as she speaks "If he's still not right this time, I would like to get Stark Industries in. Miss Potts was aware of Mr Reha's differences."

***

The prognosis has been… uncertain. The readings that the biochemist has been getting have been all over the map. However, they do show a particular pattern of consistency, and that consistency gives some reasonable hope that perhaps some function could be restored to the entity to perhaps 'liberate' the Stark employee ensconced within.

What sort of functionality is an unknown.

It is actually a very good thing that Dr. Simmons has checked in today.

Approximately an hour ago one of the monitors on the entity burnt out under unknown strain, but failed to report that it had done so. The rudimentary electroencephalogram (EEG) had been rigged up to handle the extreme range of possible variables but it is not responding to any of the equipment designed to interface with it…

Once again a screen pops up and provides some disturbingly erratic information, once again accompanied by the strains of 'Still Alive'
System Status: User-Based Resources 100 percent maximum.
System Status: Internal Resources 100 percent.
System Memory Integrity: 100
Hardware Status: 100 percent optimal operational speed
Software Status: 100 percent
The Cake IS the Truth. Figure it out.
System Status: Database 1.4x10^256 sectors available
Unidentified Syntax Error: Double Vision Protocol: Engaged.

Unit: Corvinus capable of performing speech patterns.
DiagVoc: System resource CorOS: NOT FOUND
DiagVoc: TerJReOS: FOUND

This is followed by actual sound emanating from the avianoid entity, at first a high-pitched screech, then something that only some of the sensors can get in the low ranges, then finally…

"Hello? Hello? Is there anybody… out there? Is there anybody… out there?"

Well, aside from the fact that it seems to be a direct clip of a particular group's epic rock ballad, the audio does appear to be working.

Sound check Sat?

***

Melinda May reacts the instant the first high-pitched screech is heard, going into a defensive pose until she realizes that it's coming from Corvinus. She's still on the alert, but she straightens again. "Simmons. I think you won't have to figure something out." She watches the avianoid as it quotes Pink Floyd. Or is that another group? Not her music of choice, either way.

***

"Mmmm, so it seems" Simmons compares the status report to the last one she took "The system seems to be repairing itself. Look at the differences." The Cake IS the Truth line has her snorting softly "I wonder if the TerJReOS is an update or upgrade, or whether the CorOS is really required."

The music emanating from the entity causes Simmons to frown, she doesn't recognize it but then she's not a music aficionado, Fitz might have though.

"Hello, we can hear you. It's Dr Jemma Simmons with Agent May. Whom am I addressing?" Simmons looks at May with a small shrug.

***

"Um… Jim Reha, ma'am. Could you tell me why it's so dark in here? Am I blind? Why doesn't anything feel right? Hello? Hello? I'm not going crazy, am I? Is this a nightmare?"

The emotional context is weird on the words, like someone trying to emote fear but… really hamming it up like a comedic sketch or the sort.

Unfortunately, with the EEG down, it's hard to tell what sort of mental state the entity is in right now, or if it is practicing some form of deception.

"Am I tied down? Why? What is going on? I didn't kill someone, did I?"

***

May doesn't move, but she is very much on the alert now. "Mr. Reha. Please try to relax. You are in a SHIELD medical facility." Lie, but eh. Close enough. "Dr. Simmons has been overseeing your recovery, and has been in contact with Stark Industries. What do you remember last?"

***

"It's very hard to relax when you're bound and blind and nothing is feeling quite right. I'm pretty sure anybody in that kind of position is entitled to a bit of freakout?" He says it so matter - of - factly it's almost surreal. "SHIELD? Medical fac— The last thing I remember was talking to her on thirteen May, twenty-fifteen. What's today's date?"

Granted, last time when he was 'talking' it was appearing as text on a monitor, but if he felt it was 'talking', perhaps best to humor the strange entity… or Jim… it's really confusing right now.

***

Simmons actually places a hand on the avianoid and winces slightly at the date question. "May 29, 2015, Mr Reha. You've been asleep for a while." She's not really got any answers for him either "We bound your avianoid form, it was a little unsettled. The form is still present, if I unbind you, will it be safe?" Turning the lights in the room up a little, Simmons continues "Can you see now, Mr Reha?"

***

Jericho had been… well, he'd been delayed. Now he's here, pushing the door open and peeking inside. "Is the Bird okay or do I need to call the Colonel?" He's had a long week. Well that might be more apparent if the burns on his back and chest were visible. They hurt, but he's learning to cope. Mostly. Perhaps it makes him a tad snarky.

***

May looks at Jericho and proves that she's learned to read his posture well enough to tell when he's hiding injuries. She does this by going to the small break area at one end of the room and pulling a bottle of Gatorade from the cooler there to offer to him. Of course, she does all of this with a singularly unimpressed expression. But then her attention is squarely back on the avianoid, considering that Simmons is within arm's reach and she won't let anything happen to the biochemist.

***

There's a bit of a twitch as something touches the body. "I felt that. But… sixteen days? We just spoke like, five minutes ago. Maybe ten. It's not my avianoid form, that's the partner's. I'm just your average sort of guy, y'know, sure, maybe a little bit heavyset but… wait. Still present… why wouldn't…"

And then the lights come up, enough for him to see outlines and such.

"I can —"

"— …."

"This isn't funny."

"Wait…. what… why would you call the Colonel? I'm not a piece of fried chicken!" Or IS he?

"What the hell is going on?"

***

Jericho's comment has Simmons giving him a bit of a flat look, as she starts to undo the straps holding the Corvinus down. "Right now, Mr Reha, the Avianoid form is presenting." She pauses a moment to consider that "I had to put the Corvinus' systems into hibernate, it was overloading and I didn't want to cause you any more harm."

Undoing the last strap, Simmons steps back "Is that better, Mr Reha?"

***

Jericho is actually staring a little bit. "Wait a sec… Jim?" The Bird right now is a Bird. One might, if one were feeling impish, say that Bird was the word. Which at the moment it kind of is.

Fortunately for all concerned, the hacker doesn't go there. "Jim why are you wearing feathers? I thought that was the province of the fortune cookie machine."

***

After giving Trent a brief, scathing glance for not drinking that Gatorade immediately, May turns back and keeps watching silently as Simmons is still very much too close to CorJimus for her taste. And, she doesn't want to confuse the avianoid by tossing more questions his way. Not yet.

***

One finger slowly twitches on the left hand, then another, then each of the fingers in turn as the hand apparently goes through some sort of diagnostic maneuver before it becomes a fist, then flattens out. The lower arm flexes and turns in a machined sort of fashioned, then the elbow works, then the shoulder as the hand is brought back to be seen… and to poke at the protrusion from the front of its face.

"Th.. that's better thank you?"

That fearful tone is modulated a bit better this time as he turns his head sligthly to stare at Jericho.

"That's a very good question. I have no clue. Partner is not being responsive. Did we stop the breakdown of reality in Metropolis? HY.. HYDRA wanted to stop it, but… they were just playing a long game. Don't ride a rocket, it's not good for your health."

The other limb goes through a similar 'shakedown' procedure, before the birdly dude props himself up, wings flinging out after being restrained for so long…

***

Simmons listens as Jim speaks and frowns deeply before consulting her notes. "Here's what I gleaned from our last discussion, Mr Reha." Turning to include May and Jericho in this update "Your… partner was compromised with transuranic alloy of propriety note. You said he had been used as a 'dimmer switch' in the Abyss for portals" the notes are consulted again "You said something about Vorpal and him being outside the framework. I'm assuming there's magic involved as well." Yes, the scientist is agreeing that magic may exist.

***

Jericho gives May a sheepish grin. Sorry. Jim distracted him. He twists the cap off that Gatorade and takes a deep drink, glancing at May and Simmons. "How long has he been like this?" He murmurs quietly, to both the Agents. "Yes, Jim, we pushed HYDRA back and put everything back as it should be. Do you want me to take a look at your code?"

***

"Since he was retrieved," May answers Jericho shortly, though she herself isn't one hundred percent clear on how that was managed. She did hear about it after the fact, and all. Now that it seems like CorJimus isn't about to have a freakout with Simmons so close by, she relaxes from her alert stance. Without bothering to offer, she goes to fix some tea, knowing at the very least Simmons would appreciate a cup.

***

"That isn't quite correct. The partner… or is it me right now? Anyways, there's a proprietary material that it has in it's construction that doesn't react well with magic. In fact, it reacts rather violently to excess magic. That… was what HYDRA's goal was. They wanted to open a series of portals to the Abyss. That's not what they told me, not at first. They wanted to stop it. Given that I'd been running around trying to get folks on board about the ley line issue for months… for HYDRA to want to stop it meant something, right? It… was a set-up to give them what they wanted, which was control. It… probably would have worked too, except… for a brief moment… The bird-head stares off into space.

"Vorpal and us shared a spot. Physically impossible, logically impossible, but… he somehow found the Cheshire path. It… was how I/we? broke out?

"You can give it a go, but I don't think you're going to get much? I mean, there was another expert that looked at Corv over in Gotham but it took a LOT of resources to do that, and the results were… somewhat inconclusive."

For those keeping track of when the avianoid was retrieved? May Third.

The wings go through a series of motions sort of like a jet plane doing pre-flight checks, though the entity doesn't seem to be focused on that.

***

Consulting her notes, Simmons murmurs "Recovered May 3rd. My last interaction was May 13th." she feels dreadful that he's been here that long. As the story unfolds, Simmons eyebrows rise but she doesn't make comment. Seeing May preparing the tea, the bio-chem gives the woman a grateful look… tea is just what's needed now. The bit about magic, the Cheshire Path, makes no sense to Jemma. "Would it help if we asked Vorpal to come in?"

Jericho takes another swig of the Gatorade and puts it down. "May, Simmons, I'm going to take a look at Big Bird's code here." Still snarking. Which, May will know, is usually a sign of pain, worry or both. He doesn't mean it personally. Sorry Jim. "Make sure he doesn't shank me, please?"

To the others it looks like he's simply staring off into space though Jim might be able to feel him reaching out and making connections, probing the Bird-Being's code. Two things are immediately evident. One is the exact state of JimVinus programming. That's on Jericho's end. The other is the sudden presence of Manacode and Maxwell. Jericho's very code is written in an odd, twisty language that defies translation or execution and there's… something alive in it that isn't Jericho, poking at that code. Both feel wrong. Both feel like… demons.

"Holy hell. May I'm going to project this." His traces light up and rather than a power field, begin to project a digital representation of Jim's code. Even without understanding what everything means, it's immediately apparent from the simple shape that he's wreck held together by spit, glue and prayers. Or in this case, Jim, Jim and Jim. The Bird-Being literally used Jim as a… patch.

***

Melinda May looks at the projection for a few moments, her eyebrows drawn together. "If I'm seeing this right, I think it's time to take Mr. Reha home. Now." Because if anyone can repair the disintegrating spider's web that is Corvinus' code with a Jim patch, it would be Tony Stark. Likely with a LOT of help from Oracle. And probably Jericho as well. Finally, she addresses the avianoid directly again. "Do you feel ready to return to Stark Tower?"

***

At the suggestion that they bring Vorpal in, the feathers ruffle and the avianoid shakes its head vigorously. "You keep that psycho far away from as possible. That hurt like hell the last time and I don't want that to happen again." It shudders a bit. "Just… don't, okay? It's… better for both of us."

"I'm not going to shank you unless you do a Bad Touch, at which point you probably deserve worse." Where demons poke, they might feel a warning burn. There's something that does not like magic in this one, and it isn't very nice to those who live on or use it.

"Okay, I'm not an expert or anything, but that just looks like a gawdawful mess, worse than the ley line maps I was throwing together. That's… me? Where's Corv? He's still there, but I can't see him, and can barely feel him. Any ideas?"

"Just as long as you don't insist on me going back to sleep mode. I hate losing that much time! And… I… I'm not sure if it is good for him to see me like this? I mean, I might end up with repulsor hands or something. Which while it might be cool no, that would suck. A lot."

He rambles for a few more moments as he stares off into space. "I… think I have memory leakage, too?"

Not quite, it's more like someone trying to use a Commodore 64 to run a modern cloud. Some things just aren't supposed to mesh up like that.

***

Jemma's seen enough code, and listened to Fitz often enough, to know that what she's seeing is rather bad. "Alright Mr Reha, I won't bring Vorpal in and now that your AI seems to have repaired itself, I won't need to hibernate your system again." As to the other question about Corvinus, the biochem looks to the demon-tainted hacker and gives a slight shake of her head, she doesn't know.

"Not a memory leak, per se, Mr Reha. Your trying to process so much data that it's like an overflow, really." Not the most technical description "Do you want to go back to Stark Industries, Mr Reha?" Simmons agrees with May but Jim is a sentient being and ultimately, it should be his say.

***

"Well… if I had to guess, Jim, I'd suspect Corvinus is in the only place I'm not likely to be able to scan. Your, uh, meatware." In other words, um, the bird is in Jim's head. Jericho winces slightly. "Your coding really doesn't like me…" He murmurs. At least it's not enacting the recent software upgrade relating to demons. Not that Jericho knows about that. "I'm disengaging." The display shuts down and Jim feels the connections terminate, but not before he gets the rather distinct impression of a code imp staring at him.

"Simmons this one's a bit beyond me. Do you do cybernetics? How the hell could Fortune Cookie Bird and Jim have… switched places? And how the hell is he running that thing's programs?" His consciousness shouldn't be able to handle that. That's why, you know, cyborgs have computers.

"SHIELD's willing to let this one go?" Jericho trusts May. SHIELD not so much. He's a little surprised they haven't told May to be more insistent.

***

"Mr. Reha's situation allows his stay at this facility to fall under WAND jurisdiction. With that in mind, I make the decisions. Fury can yell at me later." May then pours the just-made tea into a travel thermos and offers it to Simmons. She's apparently ready to leave right now.

***

"Not quite sure how we're going to swing it without drawing a lot of attention, but.. we should probably get moving. And… no offense to folks who have been watching my six, but… I'd rather not get chopped up because some idiot gets it in their head that I'm some sort of security risk?"

As far as Patch 667.1? Wherever it is at is a mystery, along with the other mysteries present.

"I'm pretty sure there's a good reason for that. I…"

It attempts to stand up and wobbles a bit, because sitting in one spot for almost a month no matter how robust the physiology is going to cause some issues. Yep, clinging to the table that it was on for support even as those wings flare wide once more. Very much an undignified mess.

"So, yes, how are we doing this?"

***

"I actually think Mr Reha explained what happened. The how… " Jemma accepts the thermos from May "is a little beyond me. It's a combination of Vorpals magic and the extreme stress the Corvinus was placed under… " Simmons actually moves to take some of Corvinus' weight.

"Agent May, my contact for Stark Industries is on my tablet. I believe that Stark will have a way to get Corvinus in?" Getting him out of the facility they're in, won't be too difficult, it's got minimal staff anyway. "Agent May, I would like to work with Mr Reha on this… " If that means Simmons has to take a leave of absence, then she will. "No one will be chopping you up… "

***

"Taking you through Limbo probably not such a good idea. I may actually have to call the Colonel if we do that." Jericho smirks, moving to support Jim on the other side. May can lead. Maybe they'll be taking the Bus? If nothing else it'd be private. And there's a… okay the helipad on Stark tower won't support the bus. Maybe a Quinjet then? "Where to?"

***

Melinda May considers logistics. The Pendulum is in no way able to transport more than just her, and she really doesn't want to have JimVinus try to Limbo-travel, much less Simmons. That leaves only one option. "I can have a quinjet on the roof in five minutes. Simmons, talk to your contact, tell them we're en route. And Trent, finish that drink." Unless there are any objections she's going to go do just that.

***

"Pepper. Go through Pepper. But be quiet about it. Corv only met Mister Stark once and I don't remember working directly with him? When we were running around with the generators in Metropolis, I usually ended up working with Howard."

"'d rather not go through Limbo, thanks. I've read that place is a cesspit, to put it nicely." The avianoid adjusts its limbs to draw upon Jemma and Jericho for support, trying to walk as best it can.

"Then we're on a timetable…"

Provided that the improvised 'crutches' don't balk, that's the direction he'll be headed… the roof, that is.

Next stop: Stark Industries.

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