SHIELD's AI Gremlin

She was already crouched when Ray made it outside. Looked like his guess was right about what was going on. Okay. He could help…hopefully.

“Uh… hey,” He spoke gently, taking a cautious step closer. Not everyone reacted positively to help, especially not contact. Ray was one of them. He’d have asked ‘are you okay’, but the answer was obvious and would likely get a negative reaction.

“I- I can help…”

Shan let out a ragged whine at the sound of his voice, and the feeling of his presence. It was too much, everything was too much...

Ray saw the flinch, the way she didn’t really seem to hear him, the eyes on the exit he had intentionally sat near in case he needed to bail at any point…

He didn’t need to use his powers to know when someone was on the edge of a breakdown, all-too-familiar with the signs from his own experiences.

Ray didn’t move at first, focusing on putting aside the anger he’d been trying to bury. Calm… he needed calm. He closed his eyes for a moment, opening them again to see a much more colourful world before him. It didn’t take him long to spot someone with a soft, watery blue he knew to be calm and focused on the aura. Even better, they happened to be crossing the path towards the door, so Ray got up and ‘accidentally’ bumped shoulders with them so that he would pick up the calm more effectively.

Feeling more able to do something besides make things worse then, Ray headed for the door Shannon had left through moments before to find her.

Breathe, breathe, it’s okay, it’s fine, you’re fine. It’s just loud, that’s all. Loud and bright and crowded and anxiety inducing and- and- and-

While Eira was curious about just who this person was that Nat and Bucky had dragged in, she wasn’t really in a state to find out. It probably would just end up giving the person some sort of twisted ammo to use; emotional manipulation could come from both sides of an interrogation, after all. A wounded ally was always an easy choice of target.

As Sam worked, she did her best to stay still. Eventually she moved to lay down again, not having wanted to do it at the outset. Not until she knew she was amongst friends… Not until she was sure she was safe to be vulnerable, injured though she was. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d fought for her life with a severe injury sapping her strength…

But as Sam worked to patch her up, as he spoke… she felt stupid for even having doubted the safety of the place he’d brought her to. She could almost see the black veil around her memories of Sam, but she knew she was in safe hands. She knew that voice…

“I bet I’m down at least a pint,” Eira sighed, staring up at the ceiling. She kept trying to fool herself into staying still… pretend this was like getting a tattoo and don’t move. 

“At least, by my calculations…” the familiar voice of AIDEN said, the voice centering around Beta as the bot continued to aide Sam. “It is good to see you again, Sam.”

Eira smiled just a little as her A.I greeted their old friend. “… I still can’t remember what happened…”

“You likely won’t,” AIDEN answered. “Remember, we’ve been slowly linking your amnesia to the emotional processors within your frontal lobe. Ever since Sterling gave you that file-”

“-Right, I had you start cross referencing everything while I worked on the android…”

“It is good to get some answers… You are due for a sleep in about an hour, normal time. Given the blood loss, and the fact that you are with company that I have explicit proof of being protective of you- perhaps sleep now. I can fill Sam in on everything.”

Eira sighed softly, dread washing over her expression for a moment. If she slept off schedule, there was a very real chance that she would wake up and… everything would be gone again. Everything. 

“Do you really think I need it?” Eira asked, ignoring the advice of her A.I, looking over at Sam the best she could. She was started by how concerned he looked, and that alone told her that it was probably wise. “We were friends anyway, right?” she added, a little, uncertain grin on her face. “But don’t do it if it’s gonna take you out of a fight. This android is… awful people made him, Sam. HYDRA did…”

She lowered her voice to a whisper, drawing in as deep a breath as she could. “Sam, Nat and I found evidence that he was made as a prototype to house Zola…” She knew the name would carry the proper, awful weight in Sam’s mind. Anyone who was an Avenger knew of the dark horror of that name. “For all I know, the guy Nat brought in to string up and make sing, is an upper level HYDRA agent.”

She felt herself getting worked up, unable to stay fully still as the urgency of what she said next just came out before she realized what she was saying.

“Sam, do not let anything happen to Bucky,” she sighed, eyes welling with tears for a moment… before the connection faded, retreating back into the missing void of time in her mind. She sighed again, and relaxed back on the table. She felt exhausted, and it probably showed on her face now more than ever.

“… If I’m just barely getting you all back,” she began, “Then you gotta watch over them for me, until I’m better? Okay?” 

It was then, that the voice of the new agent rang back in the room. Eira jumped just a little, but her reactions were getting slower and weaker as the exhaustion found a foothold. She barely at the mental fortitude to take in what was being asked, confusion etched over her features.

“… AIDEN, double check the files we have,” she said softly. “I’m… I’m out, I’m done. Follow Sam and Nat’s lead for information she can have.”

“Got it,” AIDEN’s disembodied voice answered, gentle as ever. But now, another bot rose from the collection at Eira’s hip. Beta remained, to aide Sam in whatever else was needed. The ‘leader’ of the bots, the one Eira called Alpha, glowed with soft blue ionic light, and floated in the direction of the new face.

“A pilot, you say?” AIDEN’s voice said from the bot, the little orb tilting as if to mimic a curious head tilt.

@the-blackest-spider @1armed-and-dangerous @shield-ai-tech @specialagentace @agentsterling @redwingandaprayer​

Shannon looked at the little bot, her eyes lighting up sleepily. “Wow, look at you. You’re incredible. When your mom’s awake again, I’d love to take a look at your code. If she’s cool with that. ...is she gonna be okay?” She asked, looking between AIDEN and Sam.

“Uh, yeah, a pilot. I- I thought you guys knew. It’s like- okay, uh, have you seen James Cameron's Avatar?”

It’s an AI. Almost certainly not. Okay, moving on.

“Okay, basically there's someone that has to remote-control Germaine. It works kind of like virtual reality. Without the person to press the buttons and such, it's basically just an empty shell. Or, uh, so that's how an LMD works. Germaine's way more complicated than that, but it looks like they used an LMD as the framework. Or like...they tried. He’s a hot mess, as I’m sure you know.” Shannon glanced over at the mash of parts on the table. He was an absolute trash bag of parts. Proof of concept, most likely. Thrown together with spit and hope. 

“He's also got a special kind of brain in there. It learns and remembers like you and I do.” Again, she stopped. AI. She sometimes forgot who was and wasn’t a human being. “Well, like I do. Like a person. But it has to have something to tie to - at least that's how the programming works. Half the calculations are offloaded--kinda like crowd-sourcing--onto the brain of the guy who's using the controller. Over time, it learns, stores, builds it's own roadmap and the way they programmed the adaptive learning - eventually, the android won't even need the pilot.”