2015-08-27 Interrogation is such a harsh word
This scene is rated Everybody
Warning: N/A
2015-08-27
Players: Agent Carter, Black Widow, Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Bridget (NPC)
GMed by Phantasm
Title: Interrogation is such a harsh word


The Conference Room is large. The long table that dominates its middle holds a total of 20 seats to accomodate a decent sized public forum. There are additional seats off to the side of the room at smaller tables meant for overflow.
Dominating the wall at one end is a large screen built into the wall, though the other walls are mostly unadorned save a single window to the outside. Screens are inset at each seat under the glass on the table with holographic controls for interaction that will appear at touch.
The room can be shut down with heavy steel reinforcements in place within the walls that can slide over the exits and window. This will cut off the room from all communication, providing a completely secure environment. This feature is only used as absolutely necessary.

A few days after her 'recovery' from Hell's Kitchen by the workings of Black Cat and Tony Stark - Stark Mode. Bridget Marinos has had a couple days to be checked out. The device that was removed from her helmet and smashed turned out to be a lot like the device that had to be surgically removed from Leo (The other Phantasm) DiBartenda. As for the suit that gave her the incredible jumping capabilities and helped give her a bit of an impressive display of how to go down fire escapes, that seems to have the earmarks of the handicapped mechanical assistance research she and her mom had been developing at the time of their disappearance. A health check indicates that Bridget, is NOT handicapped physically. And despite a healthy dose of paranoia about Demon Infest, she seems rather well taken care of.
It is with these few days of information gathering that it has been deemed safe to talk with the researcher and her connection with the DemonInfest she's been spotted with. Right now she is heading to the Conference room. Escorted by one Romanoff in a rather prompt manner.

Romanoff, dressed in her SHIELD jumpsuit and a rather severe expression, has escorted Ms. Marinos into the conference room. She ushers the young woman to a seat but doesn't seem inclined to settle herself, instead standing behind her and slightly to one side. Her arms are folded and she looks… not best pleased.

"The others will be here soon," she says. "Make yourself comfortable. We may have a lot to talk about."

Escorting in Agent Carter, Captain America has his shield on his back. "Agent Romanoff." he offers polietly. "I thought Agent Carter would be helpful for your interrogation?" he suggests as he goes to make himself a coffee. He's not planning on asking any questions, he's just the muscular eye-candy in the corner here to make sure there's no trouble.

Agent Carter has been a member of SHIELD, well, since it started. There was a long period of time when she incognito, but now that she's returned she's attempted to pick up basically where she left off. While she's no longer the head of the organization, she certainly knows its twists and turns better than most. Seeing that there was to be a questioning with members of both SHIELD and the Avengers, she wished to help out.

Entering with the click of heels, she's dressed in what could only be described as a vintage look, something harkening back to World War II and the SSR days in neutral colors. However, a very bright red stratoliner sits on her head as she enters with Captain America. To Natasha she gives a professional nod of the head before turning her attention to the woman in question.

The blonde, short haired female gives a small nod as Natasha instructs her to make herself comfortable. Moving over to a seat, she settles in, back and posture straight and rigid as she folds her hands on the table. "Do we have to call it an interrogation?" She asks, looking over to Captain America, "There are a more pleasant ways to say 'asking a lot of questions'." She pauses, eyes closing. "Query, pick one's brain, inquire, interview, talk over, discuss…" Bridget's voice dies away on the last suggestion. A frown forms on her face as she continues keeping her eyes closed. She sniffs. "…We have coffee here?"

Romanoff raises an eyebrow, but she doesn't argue. Most of her interrog — her /interviews/ are given by her alone, but she doesn't seem to have any issue with Carter taking part. "We can call it an interview," she says. "I just usually don't go in for euphemisms. Captain, would you be so good as to ring for some coffee?" She steps around the table then, settling in on the opposite side. Settling her hands on the back of the opposite chair, she begins: "I'm impressed with the tech you were wearing when we brought you in," she begins. "It's a few years beyond most mechanical assistance I've seen in the public sector. Let's start there."

Bridget opens her eyes to look over towards Romanoff as he indirectly gives a promise of COFFEE. With the addition of Nat's first choice in question, she leans forward a bit, with the eagerness of someone who was just asked to show someone pictures of their dog. "You'd like to know about the MAvPE?" She looks over to Peggy, Cap and then Natasha, "DO any of you guys have some paper and pencil? I can explain it better with drawings."

As he hears the request for coffee, Cap glances over towards Natasha and Agent Carter as if to seek permission, before he makes a second cup. He's learning not to step on toes when it comes to these things!

The conference room is really quite large for such a small group of people. She takes a seat almost haphazardly, but is mostly out of the way. She won't interfere in Natasha's interview. She's merely here to watch and to observe. And help if she can. At the question of having paper and pencil, she is easily able to procure it from the bag that she brought with her. Never come to an interrogation - or questioning/discussion/etc - without the means to record. And as she's from the age before digital recordings, she's used to recording being paper and pen.

Easily, she slides an extra pad of paper and pen toward Bridget without a word. She'll speak when it seems necessary.

Agent Romanoff nods with approval as Steve goes for coffee and Peggy pulls out the paper and pen. "I'd like that, yes. I'm especially interested in how you came up with the idea in the first place. There must have been years of research, development, experimentation, trial and error. Can you tell me about the process as well?" One of the few times she actually would like to have Tony in on an interrogation. They could nerd out and he could probably find out double what she would.

Giving a nod of thanks, Bridget reaches over to pull the pad and pen towards herself. Uncapping the pen, she starts to sketch out a miminal outline of the human body. "I have a knack for learning things easily and don't seem to forget things easily. So, I probably had an easier time at it than most." She pauses, "My father is a doctor and mom was a researcher. I kind of picked things up quickly so I ended up working with her on this." She shakes her head. "But anyways. The idea to the MA project, That's Mechanical Assistance, is giving those who lack the use of their limbs the ability to use them again with a lowered amount of rehabilitation time by developing a reciever that allowed for subconcious control She points to an arm. "The first thing we did was MAR. Which is Mechanically Assisted Reaching. Then, we followed it up with MAW. Which is Walking. And then, there's MAV which is Voice enhancement… And lastly MASE. Sight. The basic rules was in order for it to work, you had to have been able to use that limb or sense at some point prior to losing it. " The smile starts to die away, "I'm not going to go into the technical that much because a lot of the initial notes that explain it are already published. Except for MASE. We had just finished up on it when they came."

Bringing over a second cup of coffee - this one in paper, Captain America, servant boy to the Romanoff and Carter clans, sets down the steaming cup of Joe and returns to his spot at the back of the room, trying to follow everything - and he thought the Army was annoying with anagrams.

While Peggy is certainly no Tony, she's worked with Howard for long enough that she knows quite a lot of technical and science know-how. While it may all be very specific to an older time, Howard's scientific knowledge was far enough advanced that she can at least understand some of what Bridget is saying.

"But, due to the fact that it is using certain pathways to help those who would not be able to use those limbs, it is possible that the MA project could use their research to also override the usual body signals. Even for people who were not physically disabled." Peggy's watches Bridget draw attentively and then looks to Natasha. She's not attempting to take anything over, but she had questions. Now it's her floor.

Natasha actually looks rather impressed — maybe even surprised — at Peggy's addition. She turns her head slightly to observe her, nodding her understanding and approval. "By rerouting your neural pathways… it's even possible the wearer themselves could be 'hacked', effectively. Isn't it?"

Bridget pauses, looking over to Peggy, frown deepening and then looking to Natasha. She looks back down to the paper, starting to draw the outline of a head and neck. with a line indicating the spine and rudamentary brain shape. "It was designed to be non-surgical." She points to the base of the skull, "You'd press it at the base of the skull and we made it weak enough that interference from outside sources would be minimal if any." She pauses, "Before MASE, all the device did was pick up signals. Not send them." She pauses, looking to the drawing. "It's sad. MASE was the most difficult. And should have been the most rewarding. Instead, I got to find out what it's like when used as a-" She squints, trying to think of the right word. She shakes her head. "It was meant to be for helping people."

Glancing down at his coffee, Cap considers for a moment, before he rises to his feet. He's not really needed here, and as his radio chirps in his ear, the Captain reaches up to tap his comm. There's a short conversation before he lets out a breath. "I need to go take care of a couple of things. If there's anything I need to be debriefed on, I'm sure Agent Carter can provide me the specifics." With that, he prepares to step out of the conference room.

If Peggy notices Natasha's surprise or impressed look, she doesn't show it. Instead, she has her own notepad out and is making a few notes here and there as to what Bridget is saying. As she continues with her explanation, the agent frowns a bit in sympathy. This is back to Natasha's interview. As Captain America moves toward the doorway she nods at his need to leave. "Of course. Good luck," she tells him - very professionally.

Natasha gives Cap a brief nod of approval, folding her hands as Bridget continues on. He could quite possibly help as far as being a comforting presence, but sometimes Natasha's vaguely capable of it herself. It looks like honest sympathy on her face as she listens, nodding. "This wasn't your intention. But we need to understand how it works. How someone could tap into it, and who that someone could be."

She shakes her head. "It's… not remote control." She straightens up. "The receiver's too weak for that. It's replaced programming. Instead of getting a virtual represenation of what is around you, it's more… an idea, a repetitive idea." Her eyes close. "To comply. To protect the new family."

"You're speaking of brainwashing," Peggy says. While she may not know all the more modern uses of things, straightforward brainwashing is something she certainly knows. "They were attempting to evoke an automatic response from you." She knows something of the process, the repetitive nature of it to break a person's mind. In fact, she read multiple reports on that very topic during the war.

Natasha frowns, leaning forward at the woman's last words. 'To protect the new family'. "Family," she repeats. "How much of this is conscious? I mean, how much of it do you actually remember? And how do you think this programming got there?"

Stephen has made his way into the interrogation room and wearing a formal suit, but not quite a tux. The warlock steps into the room and looks down at Bridget and then towards the others in the room, Peggy, a woman he hasn't quite had the pleasure of meeting yet, and Natasha, woman who seems to think he's not telling her everything he knows, because he couldn't. But he's here now and should shed some light on some things. "Ah, you've rescued poor Bridget I see." Explains Stephen.

Bridget's jaw clenches. She picks up her coffee and starts to sip it slowly. Gaze lowering, she looks to the drawing in front of her. She lowers the cup, taking a deep breath, not looking to the other women. "That's one of my gifts…" Her lips tighten as she starts focusing on a spot on the paper, "My mem-" She stops at the entrance of the newcomer, glance moving up, she starts to move away from Strange before catching herself. "-You're here too?"

"Gifts?" Natasha begins. But when the door opens to reveal the formal-wear-wearing sorceror, she pauses and rises, brows knitting, eyes narrowing. Her hands land on her hips as she looks him up and down: "Strange. It's /amazing/ where you turn up. It's such a delight to see you, only not just now. How about you make an appointment at the front desk instead of barging in?"

"There's no time for appointments, Natasha." Stephen says flatly, this is an important, timely matter. This woman is privy to information about the demons that continue to plague this dimension." Stephen says, his attention shifting from Natasha over towards Bridget. "Of course I'm here. I'll die if I have to stop this invasion force."

Bridget looks between the two with their two separate topics. "The demonInfest…" Considering the look upon her face, this is definitely not one of her preferred topics as she turns back to the paper. But the interruption does have some benefits as she is sufficiently distracted from the reason why she was about to cry earlier. For now.

Natasha smirks faintly at the 'I'll die' bit, as if to say 'you just might'. "Evidently you do know something about this. If something's happening right now, by all means we can assemble a strike force. Now, how about you try being clear, concise, and informative this time?"

"I intend to do just that." Stephen says as he pulls a chair over to him with a simple gesture of his hand and sits while giving Bridget a look. "Where are the locations of the remaining demons?" His first question is direct and aimed at the blond, his grey eyes piercing and strong.

Green eyes take in the look for a moment before looking aside to Natasha, and then Peggy. Bridget remains quiet, eyes closing in thought. She stays still for a few moments, frowning. A hand blindly flips to a blank sheet of paper.

Peggy has remained at the table, taking things in. This is technically not her investigation, nor her interrogation, so she merely watches both Natasha and the newcomer that is Stephen Strange interact while Bridget sits opposite them. After a moment, she puts her pen down and stands. She's not the tallest woman, but she commands a certain amount of attention in her carriage. Looking between Natasha and Stephen, she clears her throat.

"If I'm correct, you were among those who brought our attention to Ms. Marinos. Therefore you are welcome here for the moment." That is pointed at Natasha. Then, she narrows her eyes at Stephen Strange. "However, this woman is under the protection of SHIELD and therefore is not under any compulsion to answer your questions unless she wishes to do so, Mr. Strange. If you would like to take part in this discussion, then you will have to abide by SHIELD policy and do so under the direction of Agent Romanoff. Otherwise you may leave and figure out your demons on your own dime and time." Her voice brokers little argument.

To Bridget, her gaze softens. "Ms. Marinos. As you were saying."

It might rankle Natasha JUST a bit to have Peggy suddenly taking an active role and semi-welcoming Strange in, but the woman does have a point. Then again, there might just be a degree of good cop/bad cop here. Or possibly good spy/bad spy. Or good agent/bad assassin. Or something. Her lips thin to a fine line, but the smirk remains.

There's a little bird-tweet that comes from her pocket. And another. And another. And another. Natasha pulls out her phone, swipes, rolls her eyes, snorts, and clicks it closed.

Tweet. Tweet. Tweet.

"Agent Barton wants to know what you want on your pizza." This sotto voce to Carter. Raising her voice, she adds: "Thank you for your patience, Ms. Marinos."

Bridget opens her eyes, looking back to the people in the room. "Continue with about how much I remember, how the bad programming got into the MASE sending function, the bases with demonInfest or pizza toppings?" She, may not have caught on that the question was meant for Peggy. There are a lot of questions in this room. A. Lot. Of. Questions.

Strange isn't concerned with SHIELD or their demands, He's here for greater purposes and for more important goals. "Bridget." He recalls her name, or just read her mind, "I would like to know everything you do about the demon infest. It's more important than any other questions." Strange's eyes seem to look around his ear towards Natasha and Peggy. He's not going to be upset if they are upset and dislike him, Stephen understands his job isn't about the gratitude.

There are certainly quite a few questions bouncing around the room. Peggy gives Natasha quite a frown at her question. "I believe Agent Barton should be able to use his abilities to deduce what toppings I would prefer," she tells Natasha, almost with a smirk. "I would say the first two, unless you would like to add a topping preference to the apparent pizza order Agent Barton is bringing us. You were speaking of how they were attempting to reprogram you a new family." That is something she is certainly interested in. "And if there are demons, well, that would certainly be information I am sure we are all willing to hear."

As Strange ignores both her and Natasha, she raises an eyebrow, lips pressing together in obvious displeasure. Whatever Strange's play is here, she isn't here to accommodate those who are unwilling to give and take. "Ms. Marinos, you do not have to answer if you do not wish. Also, Agent Romanoff, as Mr. Strange is unwilling to abide by our very standard and polite agreement, you may show him out. If he's not here to play as a team player, then he's quite simply off the team. He's also not allowed any say in the pizza toppings."

"Not your circus, Strange. Not your monkeys." Natasha steps around to the back of Strange's chair, gripping it firmly. "Two options. You work /with/ us, or you get out. I don't want to have to give Option Three a try."

And unless he's /very/ convincing in five seconds, he's getting wheeled out the door.

With the specification to what they want her to continue on but with the addition of the bickering, Bridget looks to the three and shakes her head. "Fine… all of them it is then." She murmurs, sitting back in her chair, closing her eyes. A hand rests on the table as she starts. "I have an abnormally good memory and have a hard time forgetting things." A finger extends, "Which might be one reason why they had me wear the device in that damn helmet instead of implanting it like they did the others. Reprogramming a device is just programming once you have an understanding of the language that was derived for it and know how to use the translators. Mom knows enough on the language aspect and we had documentation on the previous projects." Another finger extends, "I'd have to write out the locations, there's no way you'd be able to remember those locations just from hearing them." Another finger extends, "And… Bacon and Beef?" The last response is said in a hopeful tone. "I haven't had anything other than peperoni since they burned down our home."

Stephen rises from his seat, seemingly unfazed by Natasha's threat and giving Peggy a nod for politeness sake. "It is your circus Natasha, I'm not a ring master or even a laughing clown on the side." Stephen surrenders and moves out from in front of Bridget. "She's your guest. Do continue with your interview." Though he crosses his arms and waits to see what the locations are, he holds his further questions until the SHIELD questions are answered.

Clint was sent away for pizza. However, in the time that he's away, he spends it bringing someone else up to speed on the situation. After listening patiently and gathering intelligence, the person that is recieveing the information takes his own sweet time as he brings up the security footage of the room and listens in on the current conversation. That is until the doorbell rings. Gathering up his gear, he wanders upstairs, tips the pizza person, collects the goods and heads down the hallway.

The Conference door opens, and Captain America comes in.. carrying pizza boxes. You send out a Hawkeye, you get back a Cap. Lateral move, perhaps. "I have a pie with everything on it, and a deep dish with just cheese." he says as he drops the boxes onto the table. "Also, sodas, and water for whoever wants them." he comments as he glances around at the surroundings and offers a slight nod towards Agent Carter.

"I wouldn't call it a circus, Stephen." the Captain offers calmly. "And as far as I can tell, short of going into the young lady's head and ripping out the information, these two women " a gesture towards Natasha and Peggy is given with an open palm, " are the best at gathering intelligence on two continents, and young Miss Bridget has been nothing but cooperative since this has begun. So thank you for allowing us to perform for you." A warm smile is offered with an underlying current of 'Don't frig with my team when they are doing their duties'.

As soon as Natasha is starting to deal with Strange, Peggy has put him toward the back of what she cares about. Her turn of phrase draws a smirk. However, The reason they are here is Bridget and as she strangely - for once - trusts the Black Widow to take care of what is happening, her focus is solely on the woman at the table.

She's listening to all the information given and then gestures to the pen and paper given to the girl to draw on to now be used her to write down the locations. "Of course. Anything you can remember would be helpful," she tells Bridget reassuringly. "And we'll be sure to let Agent Barton know that you'd like beef and bacon on your pizza."

Strange is given something of a wary raised eyebrow as he steps back. "But, perhaps the man on the flying trapeze?" she attempts a bit of light heartedness as he allows their discussion to continue without ignoring their contribution. It's a bit of a peace offering. "Would you care for Bacon and Beef, Mr. Strange?" she asks.

Then, the door opens and Captain America is standing there with pizza boxes. She blinks a few times in surprise and then she smiles. "I didn't know Captain America delivered," she tells the man with a pleasantly warm smile. It's clearly teasing. Then, she turns back to Bridget, adding, "Perhaps no bacon and beef right now, but I'm sure we can send out for some," she hedges.

It's like Strange knew Cap was coming in and didn't want to disappoint him. The man positively has a Be Good field radiating several feet away from him. Natasha snags some water, observing Strange through narrowed eyes as she takes a sip. But when Bridget speaks, all her attention moves to her.

Sliding a piece of paper over along with a pencil — the first page is pretty much full — she continues: "I can provide a map if that's easier." Her own feathers are getting at least /mildly/ less ruffled.

Stephen mentally sighs and yet his demeanor is silent, stoic and focused. He's got such a different presence from everyone else in the room. "Always pictured myself as the bear tamer." Stephen's lips curl with a hint of emotions. Then turning his attention to Steve, "I'm not hungry, thank you though." And Natasha looks at him again which once more draws, no reaction. He continues to wait for Bridget, he's got a mission and a planet to save, but he hides that from his body language.

The slightly forming hopeful look on Bridget's face falters but upon the mention of possibly getting some later, that seems to be enough. Taking the pencil, she stares at it for a moment before closing her eyes. Pencil set on the paper, she starts to write. There are addresses. Some might need a spellcheck, quite possibly from someone recalling another person's sloppy handwriting, but still valid addresses in various countries. They are situated in the countries Mike mentioned to Strange. With the addition of the recently Nick Drago music toured cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the mix. Actually, they all involved cities that have been toured at some point the past few months.

Peggy's focus is on Bridget moving forward, though her eyes drift every once in awhile toward Captain America and his pizzas. Either she is hungry or something else is drawing her attention. She can't help a bit of a smirk, though, at Stephen as she replies to his own dry remark with one of her own: "I have yet to see you with a bear." Perhaps once she does his circus standings will be re-evaluated.

As Bridget draws, she commits what she can to memory. Despite spell check or anything else, there is quite a bit to go through here. The cities may not mean much to her, but there is quite a bit to reference. "Do you know why these cities were chosen?" she asks gently.

Tapping his communicator to send out a message for an amended order, Steve takes a slice of the fully loaded pizza and a bottle of water. "Coffee, pizza, you know, whatever the situation my dictate, Agent Carter." he offered with a slight chuckle as he glances over towards Doctor Strange. "I know that this isn't your usual method of interrogation, Doctor." Cap offers quietly as he takes his seat. "But sometimes things are done better with the finese of a scapel instead of the bluntness of a sledgehammer." Surely the Doctor will understand the reference. After all, the Avengers are around for the planet saving business on the daily - heck, it's practically their secondary slogan.

Right after: No, we're not Stark's Angels.

And: Avengers, because the X-Men weren't available.

Or: Avengers, not just for Americans.

Folding his hands in front of him on the table, Steve listens in on the conversation, before taking a bite of the cheesy pie and toppings, and chases it with some water. As he glances at the list, his eyes cut towards Strange and then back to Natasha. he pulls up a computer file and works on bringing up a file. He's not as quick as Tony Stark may be, but soon he has the sites marked on the map well enough. "Widow? Carter?" he asks as he gestures towards the map. "I don't know about you, but these would seem to be popular stops for most anyone where a tourist could just disappear." he admits with a frown. "Large population centers, for the most part." He doesn't know about the Nick Drago tour, unfortunately, it's not his style of music. Now if it had been a Glenn Miller tribute orchestra, that'd be a totally different story.

"I assume that you can fill in the missing answer to that question, Strange." Cap offers polietly, a suggestion to both of the ladies to defer to the Sorcerer Supreme for the moment so that they can get a grasp on the larger picture of the full situation. Already, the Captain's mind is reeling through possibilities, filing away ideas that don't make sense, and searching for other possibilities. Molemen are right out immediately. Too widespread. Not mutant testing, unless Bridget is a mutant.. Steve actually glances up at the young woman for a moment, unsure of that, he'll figure that out later.

"How many of these locations did you happen to travel to?" he asks finally, his eyes continuing to roam the map to try to figure out the possible connections in the lay lines of the flight plans and major intersections. It's obvious, and he knows it is, but he can't quite touch on it yet.

"It's not something discussed around me. But with the excpetion of the special cases, I think most of the low-level demonInfest are made from homeless people." Bridget replies, sort of confirming Steve's hunch. "I think they already had the buildings as well." She frowns. "I was kept in the US. Right now I'm just speculating based from what ended up at the remaining New York location."

"They're more than that."

Natasha bends over the page, her eyes widening. "I know this pattern. I can even tell you the order. I have a T-shirt with them all printed on it somewhere."

She straightens: "Strange, you can confirm. This is Mike's itinerary. He's played in every single one of these towns on his band's most recent tour."

Stephen looks over to Peggy, "I keep the bear at home." Whispers the former sorcerer supreme, before he nods to Steve and points at Natasha as she just answered Steve's question for him. Stephen then nods to Natasha, "Mike didn't know the addresses So he did the best thing he could. Set up defenses in the city to keep the demonInfest at bay should they move and so they can strike at the same time once he has all the addresses." The wizard says, "He's built an invisible army of unknowing mystics to help the planet with the remain demons."

"Nice of him to inform the rest of us." Steve mutters under his breath before rising to his feet. "Well, in light of this, I suppose we have a direction to move into now - do we know where Draco's heading next? We intercept this there."

As things start to come to light, Peggy's eyes widen as Natasha figures out the pattern. She looks to Strange and Natsha. "So, it's not that the demons are following Mike, but that Mike is following the demons?" She's attempting to wrap her head around this. "So, is there anywhere that Mike hasn't been yet?" She's practically speaking at the same time as Steve and she blinks and look upward, then smirks. "Is there anyway to figure out where they will be next?"

~fadey mc fade fade~

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