Jubilee & Darcy | Girl & the Machine
Mar. 17th, 2022 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsDarcy is going over some troubling connections found in part because of their newly gifted data when Jubilee notices something odd about her interactions with the Beast.
"Hey Jubes," Darcy said absently as she glimpsed the other woman coming into the room. She was mostly focused on Lemon, fingers dancing across the keyboard as she worked with the machine to bring up the data she wanted to share. "Pull up a seat, I've just about got all this ready to share with you." A few more clicks and she was sitting back, fingertips resting on the mouse as she actually looked at Jubilee.
"So the Shield shit's been pretty useful for some of those runs you've been doing." The right window obligingly expanded as Darcy started to move the mouse, the two items that had caught her own attention highlighting themselves to draw the eye. "If you'll notice here, there's some definite crossover in what we're getting on your stops and what is being fed to us through the pipeline, but at least two of their stops are providing a little more detail."
Jubilee pulled her chair close and started looking over the data, seeing the patterns that Darcy had described as the smile grew on her face. She’d be able to refocus with this, move her assets to other places, at least the ones that they weren’t keeping as litmus tests.
“Dude, brilliant work. How long did this take to work out?”
She gave the other woman a shrug, a little uncertain. "Haven't really been keeping track? I work until I get to a stopping point, and then I go home or crash for a few hours if it's particularly late. Lemon's doing most of the work, I'm just providing some finesse and making it a little easier to understand at a glance. I'll get it sent to your email." A chime indicating a successful send coincided with Darcy turning to face Jubilee. "The third screen's.. I don't want to bias your thoughts, but tell me what you think of seeing these sorts of trade lines." The screen shifted, a layered map of smaller routes with larger circling between China, Russia, and Madripoor. "Obviously there are a lot of options and a mixed bag of trade is on the table, but that level of movement between those three, well. I have concerns."
"Darce, you're an adult, I'm not gonna give you the water, snack, vitamins, and sleep speech but let me know if you want it," Jubilee noted with a momentarily concerned look before she focused back on the analysis. She wasn't anybody to speak on that sort of thing, and frankly, there were many days and nights that she wished she had Kevin's complete control of physical form just so she could get through one more report. "So show me what you've dug up so far. You like, don't strike me as someone to leave concerns to lie for long."
"It's mostly the sleep, and it's not every night. But if I'm close to something, I don't stop just because it's 5 or 6 pm, either, not with this." Darcy reached out, giving Jubilee's knee a gentle pat. "I don't think I'm working myself too hard, and I am fairly used to weird late nights from working with scientists and doing law school and the firm, before. I just can't bring Lemon home the way I can paper files." The trade map minimized to a corner of the screen as she talked, two other files popping to the forefront. "I'm just concerned about what they're trading. I did a little cross-reference with some of the shadier places Laurie looked into and our gifted data, and.." Several lines obligingly highlighted themselves behind her, a few news articles popping up to the sides. "Could be coincidence, but there's some correlation between their breakthroughs and and their parent companies getting shipments from those routes, and certain months those routes coincide with increased missing person activity." The other screen lit up, neat columns of data tying her thoughts together. "Not enough to really go on, above the table. And it really might just be my imagination running a little wild, but you mentioned the human element, and those kids in Madripoor were going missing last year..." Her follow-up shrug was a little helpless. "I'm more familiar with the way drugs or animal and plant parts get moved."
“There’s a history of smuggling unwanted or undesirable people out of China,” Jubilee noted, having studied Operation: Yellowbird as a baby spy years ago. “There’s still an Underground Railroad to this day but that’s not what we’re seeing with this. That we haven’t seen any mention of young mutants showing up at the other end to be whisked to safety is concerning.”
Jubilee had noted the fact that the Beast appeared to be reacting to Darcy with no outward input, and indeed that Darcy didn’t seem to notice or be alarmed. Either Doug had decided to get in touch with his inner mad scientist or something odd was going on.
She wasn’t one to jump blindly in however and she watched Darcy closely for any signs this was unusual.
"Yeah, that's the main reason my brain went there. I do pay attention when the folks that work with getting the kids safe talk about their runs and locations, and keep a light eye on activity near the places that act more like a haven or temporary hub." Darcy turned back to the screen. "Lemon, could you.. hm, yeah, thank you, that's exactly the data I wanted." The data had shifted, showing a handful of hub spots around the world. "Are you anticipating needs based on what I'm saying out loud?" There was a high chime and pause, then a familiar series of beeps. "Huh, okay. I guess that was a silly question." She drummed her fingers on the desk for a minute, looking at the data that had been pulled up before waving a hand at the screen. "No obvious influx to those places, no chatter on the networks I'm familiar with that shuttle those kids to safer places."
"Okay, so like, I'm just gonna bite here," Jubilee replied, wondering if they'd set up some kind of camera to watch her, or if Kyle was gonna burst through the door at any minute declaring she'd been punked. "You know the Beast doesn't have a voice command system, right? Doug would have had kittens if any of us ever even suggested it. What's going on?"
"Huh." Darcy looked at the monitor for several seconds, then slowly turned to face Jubilee. "I... did not know that. I assumed there was an internal mic and people didn't use it during the day because listening to one-sided chatter can be obnoxious. I don't usually either because I prefer having tunes on, but it's faster for showing information." Her hand was curled around the mouse, thumb reflexively rubbing the side of it as she thought. "Who the fuck knows?" she finally answered with a tired sigh. "More brain shit? I'll see if other things do it too or if Lemon and I are just weirdly drift compatible."
“Well, in the meantime, go off Dude. Looks like whatever it is is making this all very helpful.”
Jubilee pondered what the Beast had shown them, tapping into her memories of the area.
“Do we have any data on medical tourism or black market organs in any of the areas we’re talking about? They have to be getting rid of the leftovers somehow if they’re using people for research and why waste a valuable commodity?”
"Just faster, mostly. Lemon, bring up medical tourism and black market organ traffic in those areas?" A wait screen popped up, and Darcy leaned back with a sigh. "So.. on a scale of one to No Fucking Way, how poorly is Doug going to take this? I know he's got issues with AI in the first place, so if I'm.. I dunno, in Lemon's brain? Lemon's in my brain? You've known him longer. How bad, do you think?" A chime sounded, and new data popped up. Darcy skimmed over it, letting out a sharp exhale. "Shit."
“What? What did you find?”
Jubilee leaned closer, trying to work out just what data Darcy had found. It also meant she didn’t have to answer the other question, which was entirely beyond her to answer diplomatically when the answer was probably ‘lose his entire shit in a dramatic way’
"Here, just..." Darcy slid her chair to the side, giving the other woman better access. "Not a massive spike, but there's a little bit of one. Kidneys, heart... huh, pancreas? Really? That's still pretty new, not sure I'd risk it. Seems like correlation, though." She poked Jubes gently in the hip. "Don't think I missed you skipping the question. Tell me what you think I'm gonna need to brace myself for.”
“Rich people. If they could buy immortality, they would.” Jubilee pondered the information Darcy had found, she’d need to get some assets on it, try and figure out if there was a way to either shut down or at least rescue the mutants before they became a grab bag of parts. “And I’m not sure, honestly? A few years ago, I’d have like, been betting on the full five alarm melt down and calling for holy water but now he has the nanites? Maybe he’ll be more open to the idea that not all AI is intrinsically evil. Probably depends on the day.”
"Well, I dropped the bomb that Lemon's an AI a few days ago. Stupid early in morning. Huh. I used voice commands then, too. Maybe he was still processing." Or maybe her chest was that distracting. Those were thoughts for later. Darcy slumped back in the seat, rubbing her forehead. "I feel like I'm saying this a lot lately, but I'll keep an eye on it, see what else I can work with like this. You mind keeping it close until I know more about what's happening? Could be a good tactical advantage. I'll tell Kevin and Ange, of course."
“Normally I’d charge an arm and a leg for that sort of confidentiality but for you? It’s on the house,” Jubilee joked, holding her fist out for a bump. “Don’t sweat it, I’ll keep friend code till you tell me otherwise.”
Darcy bumped her fist with a grateful smile. "Thanks, I appreciate it." Appreciation to the tune of extra snack crackers and some other treats that she knew the other woman loved. "I'll get this info emailed to you so you can do your thing."
"Hey Jubes," Darcy said absently as she glimpsed the other woman coming into the room. She was mostly focused on Lemon, fingers dancing across the keyboard as she worked with the machine to bring up the data she wanted to share. "Pull up a seat, I've just about got all this ready to share with you." A few more clicks and she was sitting back, fingertips resting on the mouse as she actually looked at Jubilee.
"So the Shield shit's been pretty useful for some of those runs you've been doing." The right window obligingly expanded as Darcy started to move the mouse, the two items that had caught her own attention highlighting themselves to draw the eye. "If you'll notice here, there's some definite crossover in what we're getting on your stops and what is being fed to us through the pipeline, but at least two of their stops are providing a little more detail."
Jubilee pulled her chair close and started looking over the data, seeing the patterns that Darcy had described as the smile grew on her face. She’d be able to refocus with this, move her assets to other places, at least the ones that they weren’t keeping as litmus tests.
“Dude, brilliant work. How long did this take to work out?”
She gave the other woman a shrug, a little uncertain. "Haven't really been keeping track? I work until I get to a stopping point, and then I go home or crash for a few hours if it's particularly late. Lemon's doing most of the work, I'm just providing some finesse and making it a little easier to understand at a glance. I'll get it sent to your email." A chime indicating a successful send coincided with Darcy turning to face Jubilee. "The third screen's.. I don't want to bias your thoughts, but tell me what you think of seeing these sorts of trade lines." The screen shifted, a layered map of smaller routes with larger circling between China, Russia, and Madripoor. "Obviously there are a lot of options and a mixed bag of trade is on the table, but that level of movement between those three, well. I have concerns."
"Darce, you're an adult, I'm not gonna give you the water, snack, vitamins, and sleep speech but let me know if you want it," Jubilee noted with a momentarily concerned look before she focused back on the analysis. She wasn't anybody to speak on that sort of thing, and frankly, there were many days and nights that she wished she had Kevin's complete control of physical form just so she could get through one more report. "So show me what you've dug up so far. You like, don't strike me as someone to leave concerns to lie for long."
"It's mostly the sleep, and it's not every night. But if I'm close to something, I don't stop just because it's 5 or 6 pm, either, not with this." Darcy reached out, giving Jubilee's knee a gentle pat. "I don't think I'm working myself too hard, and I am fairly used to weird late nights from working with scientists and doing law school and the firm, before. I just can't bring Lemon home the way I can paper files." The trade map minimized to a corner of the screen as she talked, two other files popping to the forefront. "I'm just concerned about what they're trading. I did a little cross-reference with some of the shadier places Laurie looked into and our gifted data, and.." Several lines obligingly highlighted themselves behind her, a few news articles popping up to the sides. "Could be coincidence, but there's some correlation between their breakthroughs and and their parent companies getting shipments from those routes, and certain months those routes coincide with increased missing person activity." The other screen lit up, neat columns of data tying her thoughts together. "Not enough to really go on, above the table. And it really might just be my imagination running a little wild, but you mentioned the human element, and those kids in Madripoor were going missing last year..." Her follow-up shrug was a little helpless. "I'm more familiar with the way drugs or animal and plant parts get moved."
“There’s a history of smuggling unwanted or undesirable people out of China,” Jubilee noted, having studied Operation: Yellowbird as a baby spy years ago. “There’s still an Underground Railroad to this day but that’s not what we’re seeing with this. That we haven’t seen any mention of young mutants showing up at the other end to be whisked to safety is concerning.”
Jubilee had noted the fact that the Beast appeared to be reacting to Darcy with no outward input, and indeed that Darcy didn’t seem to notice or be alarmed. Either Doug had decided to get in touch with his inner mad scientist or something odd was going on.
She wasn’t one to jump blindly in however and she watched Darcy closely for any signs this was unusual.
"Yeah, that's the main reason my brain went there. I do pay attention when the folks that work with getting the kids safe talk about their runs and locations, and keep a light eye on activity near the places that act more like a haven or temporary hub." Darcy turned back to the screen. "Lemon, could you.. hm, yeah, thank you, that's exactly the data I wanted." The data had shifted, showing a handful of hub spots around the world. "Are you anticipating needs based on what I'm saying out loud?" There was a high chime and pause, then a familiar series of beeps. "Huh, okay. I guess that was a silly question." She drummed her fingers on the desk for a minute, looking at the data that had been pulled up before waving a hand at the screen. "No obvious influx to those places, no chatter on the networks I'm familiar with that shuttle those kids to safer places."
"Okay, so like, I'm just gonna bite here," Jubilee replied, wondering if they'd set up some kind of camera to watch her, or if Kyle was gonna burst through the door at any minute declaring she'd been punked. "You know the Beast doesn't have a voice command system, right? Doug would have had kittens if any of us ever even suggested it. What's going on?"
"Huh." Darcy looked at the monitor for several seconds, then slowly turned to face Jubilee. "I... did not know that. I assumed there was an internal mic and people didn't use it during the day because listening to one-sided chatter can be obnoxious. I don't usually either because I prefer having tunes on, but it's faster for showing information." Her hand was curled around the mouse, thumb reflexively rubbing the side of it as she thought. "Who the fuck knows?" she finally answered with a tired sigh. "More brain shit? I'll see if other things do it too or if Lemon and I are just weirdly drift compatible."
“Well, in the meantime, go off Dude. Looks like whatever it is is making this all very helpful.”
Jubilee pondered what the Beast had shown them, tapping into her memories of the area.
“Do we have any data on medical tourism or black market organs in any of the areas we’re talking about? They have to be getting rid of the leftovers somehow if they’re using people for research and why waste a valuable commodity?”
"Just faster, mostly. Lemon, bring up medical tourism and black market organ traffic in those areas?" A wait screen popped up, and Darcy leaned back with a sigh. "So.. on a scale of one to No Fucking Way, how poorly is Doug going to take this? I know he's got issues with AI in the first place, so if I'm.. I dunno, in Lemon's brain? Lemon's in my brain? You've known him longer. How bad, do you think?" A chime sounded, and new data popped up. Darcy skimmed over it, letting out a sharp exhale. "Shit."
“What? What did you find?”
Jubilee leaned closer, trying to work out just what data Darcy had found. It also meant she didn’t have to answer the other question, which was entirely beyond her to answer diplomatically when the answer was probably ‘lose his entire shit in a dramatic way’
"Here, just..." Darcy slid her chair to the side, giving the other woman better access. "Not a massive spike, but there's a little bit of one. Kidneys, heart... huh, pancreas? Really? That's still pretty new, not sure I'd risk it. Seems like correlation, though." She poked Jubes gently in the hip. "Don't think I missed you skipping the question. Tell me what you think I'm gonna need to brace myself for.”
“Rich people. If they could buy immortality, they would.” Jubilee pondered the information Darcy had found, she’d need to get some assets on it, try and figure out if there was a way to either shut down or at least rescue the mutants before they became a grab bag of parts. “And I’m not sure, honestly? A few years ago, I’d have like, been betting on the full five alarm melt down and calling for holy water but now he has the nanites? Maybe he’ll be more open to the idea that not all AI is intrinsically evil. Probably depends on the day.”
"Well, I dropped the bomb that Lemon's an AI a few days ago. Stupid early in morning. Huh. I used voice commands then, too. Maybe he was still processing." Or maybe her chest was that distracting. Those were thoughts for later. Darcy slumped back in the seat, rubbing her forehead. "I feel like I'm saying this a lot lately, but I'll keep an eye on it, see what else I can work with like this. You mind keeping it close until I know more about what's happening? Could be a good tactical advantage. I'll tell Kevin and Ange, of course."
“Normally I’d charge an arm and a leg for that sort of confidentiality but for you? It’s on the house,” Jubilee joked, holding her fist out for a bump. “Don’t sweat it, I’ll keep friend code till you tell me otherwise.”
Darcy bumped her fist with a grateful smile. "Thanks, I appreciate it." Appreciation to the tune of extra snack crackers and some other treats that she knew the other woman loved. "I'll get this info emailed to you so you can do your thing."
