Kicking Back (Karima)

[Cheryl Harrison]

Cheryl lay sprawled on her back, upper half of her torso flopped bonelessly off the side of her bunk. Her head was just barely touching the floor, brown hair curled into a pile around it. An orange tabby sat squarely on her hips, purring loudly. Its tail swished slowly across the bare patch of abdomen where her shirt had pulled up. Off-duty and having no inclinations to leave her room, she was dressed simply in a tank top and pair of gym shorts. She held a book on the history of aeronautics above her head, reading intently. It didn't really have any material that was new to her, but it was well-written. More importantly, Cliff had given her the book, and she'd feel guilty if she didn't read it.

She was seriously glad to have her room back. Spending a few nights sleeping in the illicit media room hadn't been all that comfortable, especially when a few junior agents had decided to have a movie marathon while she was trying to sleep. Cheryl had spent the rest of that night in the gym. But thankfully, the cyborg girl was gone now supposedly being kept in a newly-outfitted cell somewhere among the labs. She'd heard Mr. Stark had flown in to take a look at it. Cheryl didn't care much, as long as Omega Sentinel was away. And that the new cell was secure. She didn't much like the thought of having that cyborg loose on the ship. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into here?

Cheryl was hoping they didn't just let the cyborg go, only partially so she could keep the cat a little longer. She'd only ended up watching it because Banner was busy with some important experiment, which had annoyed her to no end when she'd first found out. Now, she couldn't really say she minded having the animal around. As far as cats went, it was a nice one. She couldn't remember what the cyborg girl had called the cat, and couldn't much bring herself to care. The cat's original name and gender didn't matter. It was Nick Purry now. She'd need to find a way to make it a tiny eyepatch at some point. Presuming, of course, that she got to keep it. Even if the cyborg wasn't let free, Cheryl had a feeling that she wouldn't be allowed to keep the cat.

Nick Purry meowed at her, and she could feel it standing up. What did it want now? Cheryl looked upward at it, and the cat stared back. Maybe it had just wanted to stretch, or something. She'd never actually owned a cat before, and had absolutely no clue what to do with one. So far, she'd just been feeding it and changing its litter box. It hadn't died yet, so she was probably doing something right. Some of its odder habits, such as kneading, had taken her a little while to get used to. Cheryl had found, however, that she was a big fan of the cat's nearly-constant purring. It was very relaxing.

There was a meow from her lap. Dropping her book to the floor, Cheryl reached upward and scratched the cat's chin. It leaned into the contact, eyes half-closed, and began to knead her abs. Okay, that kind of hurt. Cheryl wasn't really a fan of the claws. Time to get Director Purry off. She held the cat up at arms' length over her head, staring at it. It stared back, hanging limply from her grip. An ear flicked. “You're right, Director Purry,” she told it gravely, “Dum-Dum Dogan probably is hungry. We should plan a raid of the commissary. If we strike late tonight, we might take it by surprise. I won't rest until every last can of tuna is freed.”

The cat meowed again, and began to wiggle. Cheryl lowered Nick Purry and it settled onto her lap once again. Now that she thought of it, she could totally go for tuna salad right now. Unfortunately, that would require getting up, and the cat seemed to be comfortable. Food would have to wait. Cheryl stretched an arm out awkwardly, feeling around until she hit her book, and began reading where she left off.

[Karima Shapandar]

Much to Cheryl's chagrin, Karima had in fact been given free reign of the ship after Mr Stark Confirmed she was who she said she was and would do what she said she would do. It had likely taken quite a feat and no small amount of privacy invasion, but Karima had very little concept of Privacy, modest, shame, these things just simply didn't occur to her. She was given temporary quarters while she figured out what she wanted to do, there were a number of offers on the table and multiple paths to take, you would think some one as smart as Karima could figure out an answer right away but she had simply told Mr. Stark she would like to think on it.

During the off time, she had done something many would likely consider morally offensive, but presumably, as Karima hoped, that the end result would justify the means. Karima had some vague indication that what she had done was socially offensive, but by the same token, the ultimate reason she had done it was also only vaguely acceptable. She had quite cleverly acquired Captain America's genetic sequence. It didn't take much, anything the captain had more than vague contact with would work, punching bag, weights, clothes ... silverware.

Afterwards, she had printed it out on several pieces of paper, and then taken it to the captain to ask him to sign it. She understood getting things signed improved their value, though Karima herself didn't understand it, there were many things about human behavior she didn't understand. When the captain asked what it even was, Karima was diliberately vague and rather cleverly dodged the topic entirely. She has been waiting for a short time for Cheryl to be in her room and not busy, so she can present the gift.

She approaches Cheryl's room and stands outside the door for several moments, she can see her cat is in safe hands. She can't see through the door of course, but she would recognize the biowavelength of that furry critter any where. Finally, she knocks on the door soundly, three times, in perfect rythm. When Cheryl answers, she will present the papers.

Karima is dressed in shield issue gym wear, a simple sports tank top and shorts, they're tight and only cover down to about four inches of her thigh, the rest of her was bare, and clean, so her hair was nice and everything was propperly groomed and cleaned, she looked likely much less like a dirty terrorist and much more like some kind of super model.

"I have a gift for you and would like to apologize. I may be joining the Avengers soon and I understand that Shield works closely with them, I would not want there to be any animosity between us."

[Cheryl Harrison]

A knock? Oh boy, she had company. Company was Cheryl's favorite. Maybe it was news about the cyborg. Or maybe Cliff wanted to go shooting, or Collie wanted to assault the lab techs with paintballs again. That was always fun; they had terrible aim. Maybe there was a mission! Whoever it was, though, Cheryl was excited. She was lonely enough to be talking to a cat; that was never a sign of mental health. Once again, her book ended up abandoned on the floor. “It's unlocked, come on in!” she called out, twisting her head towards the doorway.

Oh. She stood corrected. There was one person that she didn't want to see. How was she even here? Wasn't she supposed to be in a cell or something? Suddenly, Cheryl found herself really hoping that they'd found her innocent and let her go. The other option was that the cyborg had escaped, and decided that this was the first stop in her vengeful rampage. Cheryl pulled herself up into a sitting position, and carefully scooted the cat off her lap before twisting around and standing up fully. Almost as an afterthought, she tugged her tank top back into place. “Oh. Um, hey,” she greeted the cyborg, wondering if there was some way she could un-invite her in. Maybe she could just close the door in her face and pretend this entire thing never happened. Wait, now. If this wasn't part of some robot murder spree, she didn't want to turn it into one just by being rude.

Karima made it clear a second later that she was here to apologize. That was...better than Cheryl anticipated, but she still didn't want anything to do with the cyborg. She quickly decided that the best course of action would be to give the girl whatever she wanted, in hopes that she'd go away faster. Walking over to the doorway cautiously, Cheryl accepted the small stack of paper and looked down on it. A bunch of stuff she didn't understand, and a signature she recognized. Okay, as far as apology presents went, Cap's signature was a pretty good one. Didn't mean she was about to start liking the cyborg, though..The thought of her joining SHIELD was, in all honesty, absolutely terrible. They were going to trust this thing to...help people. Right. Everyone was doomed.

”Thanks for the present. And we're cool,” she replied, managing a small, forced smile. Hopefully it would get Karima to go away soon. They were pretty much the farthest thing from 'cool', but that didn't matter. If the cyborg had been offered to join the Avengers, then there wasn't much that Cheryl could do about it.

Glancing back down at the papers briefly, Cheryl couldn't help but feel that she was missing something. The autograph itself was obvious, but the printout was less so. If Karima had just grabbed the closest piece of scrap paper for it, then why were the rest of the pages with it? "What is this, anyway? The stuff on the papers, I mean. I know what the autograph is."

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima had opened the door and stepped inside. When the social interaction began, she started taking note of every little gesture, every single note towards body language and tonal inflection. She studied the situation in real time as it evolved, but was able to replay it back in her mind in a hundred different processes in order to closer analyze every single thing that happened and cross reference these things with what she knew about human social interaction.

"Your neural activity suggests aggression and your slightly elevated heart rate suggests anxiety. I am detecting a fallacy in your statement."

She could still tap into the Tank's chips and use them to have a clearer picture of the biofeedback that her already enhanced life-detection hardware and software was capable of. It wasn't a matter of 'hacking' either, it just happened, Cheryl's chip was constantly broadcasting information, to Karima, it was like looking at a bill board, the information was plain for her to see, there was nothing invasive about it. She stared intently at Cheryl for a few moments. Trying desperately to come up with something good to say, but in all her infinite ability to think with absolute clarity and speed, she could envision nothing that would, with high probability, change Cheryl's current opinion. Then Cheryl provided her with something top respond to.

"The packet is a read out of Steven Roger's DNA sequence. I thought it appropriate a gift given your collection. We could use it to clone him if you desired, I am quite certain I could do it."

Karima had read theory concerning cloning, and put the pieces together herself, being that her mind is capable of virtual reality simulation and complex information cross referencing and processes, 'figuring out' how to clone some one was a relatively easy task for her. Of course, like all science, there would be some trial and error as she worked out the bugs.

[Cheryl Harrison]

Great, it seemed like the cyborg had picked up on the fact that Cheryl wasn't a fan of her. Was Karima really reading her neural activity? That was kind of a terrifying habit. “We're fine. Really. Maybe your sensors are broken,” she replied, trying to keep herself from sounding annoyed. What was she supposed to say? That she sincerely disliked the cyborg and hated having her anywhere near the Tanks? That she was trying to not doubt everyone's judgment for allowing her out of a cell? The girl was creepy, and could still blow them all up at a moment's notice, and they were just trusting her. On what grounds? If there was any overwhelming evidence that the cyborg was on their side, Cheryl had yet to hear it.

Cloning Captain America. Like...making a new one of him, so they could...what, exactly? Cheryl stared at the cyborg for a long moment, trying to figure out if she was serious. As far as she could tell, the girl was. Unfortunately, everything she did was pretty robotic. It didn't exactly make judging sarcasm easy. If Karima was actually offering to clone him, Cheryl was pretty sure the most logical response was to run, screaming. That was just...messed up. Had they really offered a spot on the Avengers to her? Did they know what they were getting into? This cyborg was insane, and she was standing in her room, and offering creepy-ass suggestions, and Cher was starting to come to the conclusion that nuking the entire ship just to get rid of this thing was a viable option. Slowly, she took a step backwards, still staring at Karima.

“Ooookay then, let's take a trip back out of Creepytown. Di—did you even ask him about cloning him?” Cheryl wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know that answer, though. Either she hadn't asked, and Cap had no clue that she wanted to make a doppleganger of him, or she had asked, and...Cap was losing it.

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima's sensors were not broken, she knew that to be a fact, and given that she could detect the annoyance by way of biofeedback only further enforced that they weren't. What really confused her though was Cheryl's apparent lack of appreciation for the gift as well as her suggestion. By all evidence, Cheryl seemed to want Captain America, but for some reason hadn't managed to acquire him. So Karima was attempting to give her one. When Cheryl took a step back, Karima did not follow.

"No, I did not think it required permission. Though in retrospect, I suppose I might find it slightly troubling if some one were able to create a copy of me. But I would only be concerned for potential damage a person could do to a given environment with a copy of me under their control. If they were trust worthy, I would not mind. I understand there are some ethical stipulations, but I could not see the need for their application in this situation. The suggestion to clone him was merely a suggestion. I would not actually clone another human being with out adequate reason and supervision. Creating a life is not something I would want to do until I regain my own humanity. If you find the gift unsatisfactory, I can acquire a different gift for you. What would you like?"

Karima had read Cheryl's file, she hadn't done it on purpose, but when she downloads information, she reads it, it's not a process, it's just something that happens. It's how these things work for her internally. She knew Cheryl had no real family, Karima herself had none either, they were murdered, the situation had been different, but both teen girls were orphans. Karima herself didn't understand why she felt compelled towards the girl, but she did. For reasons beyond her explanation, tasks involving Cheryl Harrison were higher in the queue priority, and that's all there was to it.

[Cheryl Harrison]

Karima's answer to her question was unexpected, but also bordering on horrific. Once again, Cheryl was tempted to just close the door in her face. She didn't think that cloning someone required their permission? That the only issue here was that creating a clone of Captain America meant his abilities could be abused? Granted, it was the entirely logical conclusion. It was also a creepy, terrifying conclusion. Maybe there was a reason why most robots weren't capable of speech; they'd be smashed apart far more frequently. This cyborg was already pretty deep into Uncanny Valley, and this conversation was only making it worse.

“You want to join the Avengers? Maybe you should work on calibrating your moral compass first,” she retorted sharply. But that wasn't entirely fair. True, but harsh. Cherl let out a breath that was somewhere in between a sigh and a huff. It did seem that the cyborg was...trying, though. To be nice. Granted, she was also failing horribly at it, but Cheryl wasn't sure that she could hold that against her. It didn't mean that she liked Karima—still far from it—but maybe she wouldn't tell Fury and Cap that their new pet cyborg was planning on murdering them all in their sleep. Maybe she could just...explain why cloning someone was bad.

“Look, it's not a matter of...potential damage, or creating a life. Well, the life thing is part of it. But it's a violation of privacy. Us...fleshy types...put a lot of value on genetic relationships. Parents, kids. Siblings. Clones. Of course we're going to object to someone making a copy of us, with our without our knowledge.” Cheryl wasn't quite sure that explained it properly, but she couldn't think of a better way to put it. Discussing why she shouldn't clone superheroes wasn't exactly something she'd been trained for.

She lifted the hand holding the sheaf of papers slightly to gesture towards it. “The signature is nice. Thank you. But I don't want or need a copy of him, and I'm pretty sure it would creep Cap out even more than me. That is the last thing I want.”

[Karima Shapandar]

Literally a million things processing through her head as she listened to Cheryl's explanation. Karima had thought she had it all figured out. Preservation of life was all she needed, right? Nothing else mattered? She kept finding at every turn that was more and more wrong. It is a good thing she can handle things being complex, or else she might truly be a lost cause.

"I could not understand how creating a life could be bad, but now I do. It is my primary objective to preserve life, creating life by logic then, is inherently a good thing. A clone of captain America would simply share his genetic structure, but would be a child to be raised and cared for. When I originally conceived the idea, these things inherently seemed appropriate, though as I said, I would not clone another living being till I felt confident I could make a good mother for one, and being that my ... emotions... are some what malfunctioning, I do not believe I could currently fulfill the socioemotive requirements of motherhood. Point being, you could, again, it was only a suggestion. At its fundamental level, the gift is simply the papers which you hold, and the signature they bare."

She glances towards Cheryl's borderline obsessive shrine towards The cap, and then continues speaking, while looking at the shrine. She doesn't move or fidget, she simply looks at it. She almost doesn't even seem to be breathing.

"Given the nature of your affection, and the already rather complete stature of your collection, I lacked the creativity to imagine a more suitable gift, so I made due with what I had. As I said before, I am more than willing to acquire something else for you."

Karima still had much to ponder concerning the other parts of what Cheryl had said, thankfully what takes many humans days to consider, Karima can reason out and consider in mere moments. She looks back at Cheryl again before she continues.

"Classifying us as two separate forms of being is inaccurate. I am a mutant ... I am a fleshy type.... I had a mother, and a father, and a life, but those things ended and I was forced to become what I now am. I place ... value .. on relationships, I value that cat, for example. For me though, it is a matter of learning what that value is, it is not clear to me. My higher brain functions consider things mathematically first, and hypothetically second, and emotionally third. The tertiary argument is my most lacking quality, and since waking in the forest to a haze and the sound of a mewing dying kitten, it has been my goal to reinforce that quality. I ... I..."

Karima could almost hardly believe what she was about to say, and for the briefest of moments, Cheryl might even notice it with her own eyes. Emotion, like a blossoming flower, for those split seconds, her face became something more than that of a dolls, empty and void of life, she looked almost...anxious, and remorseful. But the moment was only that, and before Cheryl could blink her eyes, it was gone. When she next spoke, her tone was back to being dead pan, her expression, empty.

"Based on the current readings of various hormones and other chemical signals in my brain, I can conclude that I am sincerely sorry for what I have done to you, and I am sincerely sorry that my gift has not made up for the wrong. I would like to try again."

She really is incapable of feeling, though at the same time, she is perfectly aware of her feelings. She reads them like a person reads a word, or sees a color. She knows she is sad, upset, angry, but those feelings do not permeate her body, she can't feel it in her bones except briefly, only for fleeting seconds, it would seem. Cheryl may not be observant enough to pick up on the finer nuance and piece it together logically, but her inherent empathy might have noticed it, and on some fundamental, subconscious level, she might understand what Karima is going through, despite how unorthodox it truly is.

[Cheryl Harrison]

Cheryl stayed silent as Karima talked, trying to figure out the cyborg's point of view. She figured that it was probably a futile attempt at best, and risking her own sanity at worst, but she had to try. If nothing else, she trusted Fury and the Avengers. If they were recruiting Omega Sentinel, then they had to see something in her that she couldn't. She'd give the cyborg a chance. Maybe she'd be surprised. Probably not, though, given that it hadn't seen what was wrong with cloning someone without their knowledge or consent. Ugh. This was the worst.

Wait, a child? The cyborg had been going to clone her a baby? Cheryl had automatically assumed she had some way to...speed up his growth, or something. Pop him out of some growth tank already adult-sized. If the cyborg was, in fact, offering her a baby version of Cap...that was even grosser. What would she even do with a kid? She had no clue how to take care of them, and Fury would not appreciate her becoming a teen mom. Even if the kid was a gift. Ugh. Besides, she'd have to wait eighteen years before—wait, why was she even thinking about that? No. Bad Cher. No clones.

Hah, yes, she did have a rather complete collection, didn't she? The cyborg must have looked through everything while she locked in here. And couldn't come up with anything to add to the collection except...except the papers she was still holding. Had Rogers even known what he was autographing? Probably not, or he would have already told Omega what was wrong with her plan. To be fair, Cheryl hadn't recognized what the papers were until the cyborg pointed it out for her. It was an honest mistake.

As the cyborg elaborated a little more on what she was, Cheryl couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. She...hadn't really thought about Omega Sentinel as being anything more than just a machine. The fact that she had a family—had being the key word—changed things. Cheryl knew that feel. The cyborg knew her flaws, but she was obviously trying to do something about them. Once she'd pointed out how weird cloning would be, Karima had seemed to understand. Granted, she was socially awkward, but Cheryl wasn't really one to talk. Most of the time, she could barely form coherent sentences around her boyfriend.

For the first time that Cheryl could remember noticing, Karima's expression changed. Oh no, she was upset now, wasn't she? And the cause behind it was pretty obvious. Cheryl had upset her. That just wouldn't do. The papers fell to the floor, instantly forgotten, and she stepped forward to hug the cyborg. “I think I understand. And...I'm sorry too. I was kind of being a cow, wasn't I?”

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima had expected many things, a hug was among them, but so was sexual intercourse, each item had a chance of taking place according to what Karima understood of human behavior, she had calculated any response which might be seen as positive as extremely low. When Cheryl dropped the papers and cleared the distance between them quickly, Karima anticipated some form of assault was incoming, it took her the tiniest fractions of a second to prepare herself, to recoil away from the blow and take it in such a way that Cheryl might not wind up hurting herself in the process, and most importantly, to not react in return to the aggression.

But then Cheryl hugged her instead and Karima felt yet another surge of emotion which temporarily over whelmed her logical circuits. She audibly gulped and quivered into the hug. She made the sound a person makes when they gasp, but she didn't actually gasp, her lungs do not work that way any more. Before Karima could propperly react, her logic circuits 'corrected' the temporary anomaly in her systems by purging any effect that might've resulted. It was enough for Karima to let go of a tear though, just one, little unironic, nearly cliché tear. Of course Cheryl wont see the tear until she pulls away from the hug, and by then it'll simply be a narrow little line of dampness from her eye down her cheek.

Karima's physical reaction was a bit slower. The momentary glitch in her system resulting from the surge of emotion caused her to simply freeze up for a moment. She raised her hands an inch or two, but no more, and she was solid and unmoving for a split second. This might read like hesitance to Cheryl, the body language was similar.

"I ... No you ...were not ...being a cow. I do not understand. Wait. You're implying a euphemism for rude behavior. Yes possibly, but not unjustified. I reacted to you in New York with desperation. I do not wish to be returned to Sentinel's custody, I had no prior knowledge so I assumed you were acting on Sentinel's Behalf. I am ...a ...fleshy type ... but I think like a machine and logical efficiency is high in my priority queue. It was my intention to intimidate you and your partner into cooperating with my interrogation, brief as it was, in order to ascertain the truth from you. I am very unskilled at predicting human behavior, but I have read nearly a hundred books and journals on psychology and behaved accordingly. Returning to Sentinel would mean losing my freedom and identity. Before I escaped, they were attempting to decode my operating system in order to replace it with one they could reliably control. If that had happened, I would ... no longer be a fleshy type, as you say...and I would have become an extremely potent danger to any mutants any where. Still, in retrospect, I see my severely efficient reaction to your presence was not justified despite the potential dangers. I am still eager to make up for it, to you, personally."

As she explains, and speaks, she leans into Cheryl's hug, and wraps her arms around the other teen girl firmly and slowly, her arms were powerful, but she was not crushing, it was more of a comfy kind of strength, protective almost, tender but firm, a pillar of strength you could rely on, and cling to during rough weather. She leans her head in and against Cheryl's. One of Karima's hands slides down Cheryl's back and presses to the small of her back, the other across her shoulder blades, and finally, her shoulder. Being so close, so intimate, with Karima, Cheryl can almost hear the beating of her heart, but also the tiny whirring and whining of her hydraulics and servos as she moves about. Karima is also very warm and soft, her skin is like silk, it's much smoother and more supple than you might expect a girl like her to have, a girl with such ... potential violence in her.

Karima doesn't cling to the hug though, it might last a few moments longer than normal, but Karima has learned to automatically follow her peers in terms of social response. As soon as Cheryl releases the hug, Karima will as well. But not a moment sooner. Deep down in her sub conscious, she enjoys the physical contact quite a bit, and she isn't really aware of it in her higher brain functions, but it's something she desperately wants.

[Cheryl Harrison]

After a pause that Cheryl was half-sure she imagined, Omega Sentinel began to hug her back. That...that was a good sign, right? That maybe the cyborg wasn't some inhuman monster? The hug itself had been an impulsive gesture, brought on by a combination of stress and sympathy, but it seemed to have been the right one. The cyborg began speaking, trying to explain why she'd threatened them in New York. It was...helpful. Tied up some of the thoughts that had kept Cheryl awake the last few nights. Hmm, it really was impressive how much hugging had changed the situation. Now that she thought about it, the tactic had worked on Collie, too. Maybe she'd try hugging one of the larger, more robotic Sentinels at some point. See what happened. Cheryl kept the hug up until Omega Sentinel seemed to be done speaking, and then gently let go, taking a half-step back so she could make eye contact with the taller girl.

“It isn't entirely your fault. I—I really shouldn't have reacted that way. I panicked. Just the threat of causing that much destruction made me completely break down. I mean, yeah, it was a pretty low blow, but you could have been bluffing. I shouldn't have freaked out that much,” she replied, tone still apologetic. As much as Cheryl had blamed and mistrusted the cyborg, it wasn't entirely her fault. Omega Sentinel had just made the threat. Cheryl had been the one that almost hyperventilated herself into passing out. Poor, patient Cliff had to deal with her afterward, too. Maybe she should suggest that the girl apologize to him, too.

Cheryl smiled again, but this time it was far more relaxed. Maybe Omega Sentinel wasn't completely awful. Just...misguided. If Cheryl understood correctly, she'd been designed to be a mutant-hunting machine. But they could help her with that. Captain America was pretty much a pro at it, in fact. Maybe they should keep her away from Director Fury for a little while, though. And Mr. Stark. And Black Widow. And Collie. Maybe...just Rogers, actually.

“Besides,” she continued, “You pointed out a fatal flaw in the Tank chips. What if you were serious about that threat? All of the Tanks have the same chip. We'd all be useless against anyone who can turn them off. I hear they're having someone work on a new design that should be a lot harder to hack into. They're getting an actual technopath in on it and everything, to make sure they'll be secure.”

Granted, getting a new chip would mean having to go through surgery again—which Cheryl was not looking forward to—but it would mean that someone couldn't use her to blow up New York. That was reason enough to go along with it. And, well, orders. That was a reason to go along with pretty much anything.

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima was honestly not sure about the hug, she knew maintaining the hug was higher in her priority queue of tasks than she could understand, but when to break it, and what the reason for it was were lost on her. Still she liked it, deep down she really really liked it. As Cheryl spoke, Karima listened, she remained incredibly still and silent, she did not even seem to be breathing.

"Yes your reaction seemed ill suited to a shield agent, but I understand your tasks largely center around public relations. When I was searching for data in the shield mainframe about your assignment concerning me, I downloaded and read your entire file. I understand this is likely a violation of your privacy, but again, it was self defense and despite your continued insistence that we are good, I still would like to perform some task or acquire some object for you. Would you like to go some where with me? I have read about girls night out, or dates, which ever. Just as a Suggestion. Regardless, something is troubling. You say the are redesigning the chips. I was able to gain access to them fairly easily which I agree is a flaw, but after the software changes I made to your and Agent Hale's chips, they are significantly more resistant to hacking, I would say that only a mind similar to mine, or a technopath could likely access them. In either case, Did they tell you whether or not they were going to continue to include the ability to over load an agent's powers? The functionality of that feature was built into them when I first accessed them, which is the only reason I was able to do it in the first place. After my reprogramming, I have limited the software of the chip so that it no longer communicates with the hard ware responsible for the overload protocols. If you allow them to install the updated chip, it may once again open you to your quote un quote worst nightmare."

It wasn't specifically something Karima worried about at the surface level, but her concern for how Cheryl might feel about it made it a higher priority in her queue of tasks, how ever, Karima didn't really understand from a logical perspective why this was exactly. Still the more time she spends around this girl, the less she understands her own gestures and conclusions concerning her. Karima doesn't know why her emotions steer her how they do, she doesn't even feel them on the surface of her subconscious, but deep down, they toil endlessly to direct her towards end goals that she would have otherwise never attempted without their influence.

[Cheryl Harrison]

She shrugged as Omega Sentinel mentioned that she'd looked through Cheryl's records. There wasn't really anything in there that Cheryl wanted to hide. Her life was pretty publicly known, and it wasn't like there was anything in the file that was questionable. She'd seen her file too. As far as she knew, Cliff's was pretty ordinary, but she hadn't seen it. There were plenty of SHIELD agents with deep, dark secrets. Just because her partner acted like a normal human didn't necessarily mean he hadn't murdered an entire elementary school at some point. Although maybe that wasn't the best example. Still. Saying that she'd read people's files wouldn't fly well with everyone.

Omega Sentinel rambled onward, and Cheryl pulled herself out of her thoughts when she suggested something peculiar. Wait, was the cyborg asking her out on a date? Cheryl blinked, looking at the other girl speculatively. Did she know what dates were, or what they generally implied? Yeah, that would be a no. She had a boyfriend. A very male one. And as for a 'girl's night out'...well, she hadn't actually tried one before. She didn't really go out, and most of the girls on the Helicarrier weren't really the frivolous type. Reese was probably the closest she knew of, and he still had a penis. Well, she thought he did. Cheryl hadn't exactly seen it, after all. He'd probably be up for a girl's night, though, even if he hadn't met Omega Sentinel yet. He, at least, would have some clue about what one was supposed to do on a girl's night.

Before Cheryl had a chance to reply, though, the cyborg caught onto the topic of the Tank chips. She seemed rather paranoid about the chips, which Cheryl found somewhat silly. It was SHIELD. They were in the business of saving people and stopping crises, not blowing up cities. Omega had obviously spent too much time at Sentinel. “Well, even if you 'fixed' my chip, that still leaves a bunch of other Tanks that are vulnerable. None of them like the idea of being hack-able,” she pointed out. Several of them could be easily turned into weapons for the enemy if had someone else take control of their powers. At least Cliff and Seeker would be fine, either way. The worst that would happen was...well, nothing.

“And no, I haven't heard if they're going to keep the ability to overload our powers. Probably not, just in case someone manages to get through the new security. But you took away SHIELD's ability to access that function too, right? They can't like that. What if one of us was, say, knocked out on a mission? Being able to remotely activate our powers could save us.” Granted, Cheryl wasn't sure there was any way to 'gently' activate her powers, but that feature could be very useful for someone like Cliff or Reese. It could get them out of a dangerous situation.

[Karima Shapandar]

Karima couldn't argue with the logic behind the remote activation of powers being used for beneficial means, but the fact that they could also be used for negative means was enough that Karima did not approve. She has this really strong belief that any form of forced service was bad, you can only guess where she got that idea from.

"You may believe you are more familiar with shield than I, but I have read their intimate detailed classified files. Their no-win situation protocols. They would detonate your abilities, kill any agent in the field, and all of New York if they believed it were in the greater good. I could easily repair every other Tank agent's chip in the way I have done yours and Agent Hales."

Karima knelt down as her cat approached her, she began to rub her fingers over it's ears and the back of it's neck, the way she gave the cat attention was slightly odd, the gestures some how seemed less empathetic of the cat's response to them.

"Regardless, it is clearly a topic not worth discussing. I apologize for bringing it up and I can admit the fallacy in my argument, as well as the benefit you leverage from having such trust in your employer. It is possible my experiences with Sentinel have skewed my ability to objectively qualify this situation."

Still even in her attempts to entertain and please the cat, there was a certain persistence, and it was odd, the cat seemed used to Karima's unusual behavior, where other cat's might jerk away and sprint off, this one simply ruffled it's fur and then went back for more. Eventually, Karima picks the cat up into her arms, and leans her head down to it, then begins rubbing her cheek against it, the cat begins to purr loudly at this gesture. It's like some kind of strange kitty Stockholm syndrome.


"I have read quite a lot on Girls Night, or dates. I believe my preference for dates is with other women rather than men and I understand there is something of a taboo centered around this and also requires both parties be of a certain predisposition towards females, which you may or may not possess. Either option is something I am very much interested in experiencing and tasks centered around you have continued to become increasingly higher and higher, to the point I can not understand or explain, in my priority queue of actions. Which would you be more interested in pursuing. I read that most of your time spent off ship is on assignment and your actual off time is very low."

Still, as she continued to speak, her face remained dead pan, her voice empty and devoid of emotion, even as she snuggled the cat in her arms, which seemed to have a look on its face like it was queen of the world. Karima may not have literally spelled it out, but in her own logical technical way, she has just admitted to having a crush on Cheryl.

[Cheryl Harrison]

Cheryl frowned as Omega Sentinel began to reassert her position. What? She'd read classified files? And she was sure that SHIELD was willing to detonate Cheryl's powers? Yeah, that was bullshit. Even if the cyborg had gone poking into things she shouldn't have—which was a pretty big offense in itself—she had only been on the Helicarrier for about a week. She couldn't have any real clue how SHIELD functioned. Cheryl had been here for years. She'd seen the emergencies they dealt with, and the number of people they'd helped, and the vast amount of good that had been accomplished. Sure, there was a possibility that they might encounter some threat big enough to require a nuke, but they damn well wouldn't use Cheryl's powers without her consent. And they'd make sure there weren't casualties.

“You're wrong,” Cheryl replied shortly. Forget threatening her, or her partner; this was a far bigger insult. Unconsciously, one of her hands balled up into a fist. “Completely wrong, and it is something worth talking about. If they'd wanted to turn me into a weapon—into something like you—then they could have done it years ago. Instead, they saved my life. Yeah, your experiences have left you pretty damn skewed. SHIELD's done more good than you ever will. If you don't like them, then leave.”

Wait, what? Was Omega Sentinel still trying to get her to socialize, or something? As the cyborg continued, Cheryl slowly realized what she was saying. She was. And saying that she liked Cheryl. Oh no. Of course the robot was a lesbian. Of course she decided that she had a crush on the girl she'd threatened earlier. And Cheryl had hugged her already. Any friendly feelings that she had towards the girl were quickly disappearing, though. She'd broken into SHIELD's classified files and read them, and released classified information, and all but said that SHIELD was no better than she was. Cheryl's arms folded over her chest, and she gave Omega Sentinel a chilly look. “Neither. And I take it my files didn't say I had a boyfriend.”