[ Is it strange that Markus' expression hardening, the slight reproach — that it's all a relief, even though nausea threatens to overwhelm him. Finally, someone to pull him out of the grey area. He was right, or he was wrong. Can't be both.
And particularly after speaking with Markus and Connor, it feels as though everything he did was misguided, even at the start. It's what tips his decision now, opting for the truth, at least as filtered through his perception. ]
They were both lying. [ said simply. ] Radcliffe didn't want a shield, he wanted to cheat death — a way to upload human minds into new bodies or a better, virtual world. Leave the androids behind to fight all our battles for us, yeah? [ his delivery turns cold. ] Without my knowledge, he started replacing our agents with android duplicates. As soon as I helped him fine-tune the AI to the point where people wouldn't be able to tell the bloody difference, he forced me into the Framework, [ he snaps his fingers. ] same as the others he was replacing. And in there, it's as real as anything out here. All the vibrancy of memories, the sensations of touch and pain. Even death. It's real. In there, you're still you. [ A frantic gesture between them. This matters. ] Every choice is your own, even if it's made under different circumstances.
[ Fitz ensures he catches Markus' eye when he says that. ]
He and AIDA changed everyone's circumstances, rectified things they thought we regretted and the effects rippled out, creating an entirely different, parallel life for everyone who was hardwired into it. But AIDA wanted — [ his hands flex and curl, making a fist and then flattening again. ] I guess I don't really know what AIDA wanted. [ he has theories, some more flattering than others. ] I only know what she did: Killed Radcliffe, put herself in the Framework, and out of the lot of us, all the agents in there — it's my life that she shows up in, walks right up to me on my first day at SHIELD Academy, introduces herself as Ophelia, and it doesn't take long at all for me to fall for her.
[ No judgment in his tone there, not against her. Whether or not she planned to recruit him to her cause, he still chose her. That's the terrible beauty of the Framework. He brings a hand down on the railing at the end of the bridge, enjoying the thwack of the hit and the slight pain shooting up his good arm. It's not unlike the suddenness with which he reacted during the outbreak, a foreign instinct, suddenly overtaking him.
He exhales, then, voice thick with emotion. ]
So when the love of my life says, “Leopold, this world isn't real. I need you and that brain of yours not just to make me human; I need you to make me better than human, so that we can get the hell out of here." [ he huffs a breath of air, unable to stop himself. a choked sort of laugh that only tumbles out of your throat when you face something unreal and horrible. ] It’s not a question of if I’ll do it, Markus, it’s how far I’ll go to get it done. That’s not on her. [ his bandaged hand settles over his chest. ] That’s on me. 'Cause that's when people were hurt and killed. Not by the androids, but by the shitty humans who engineered them.
[ not the android uprising as a collective, just Radcliffe sending robots after individuals — and then the singular interests of Ophelia and Fitz, tearing their way through the Framework to get back to the real. ]
no subject
And particularly after speaking with Markus and Connor, it feels as though everything he did was misguided, even at the start. It's what tips his decision now, opting for the truth, at least as filtered through his perception. ]
They were both lying. [ said simply. ] Radcliffe didn't want a shield, he wanted to cheat death — a way to upload human minds into new bodies or a better, virtual world. Leave the androids behind to fight all our battles for us, yeah? [ his delivery turns cold. ] Without my knowledge, he started replacing our agents with android duplicates. As soon as I helped him fine-tune the AI to the point where people wouldn't be able to tell the bloody difference, he forced me into the Framework, [ he snaps his fingers. ] same as the others he was replacing. And in there, it's as real as anything out here. All the vibrancy of memories, the sensations of touch and pain. Even death. It's real. In there, you're still you. [ A frantic gesture between them. This matters. ] Every choice is your own, even if it's made under different circumstances.
[ Fitz ensures he catches Markus' eye when he says that. ]
He and AIDA changed everyone's circumstances, rectified things they thought we regretted and the effects rippled out, creating an entirely different, parallel life for everyone who was hardwired into it. But AIDA wanted — [ his hands flex and curl, making a fist and then flattening again. ] I guess I don't really know what AIDA wanted. [ he has theories, some more flattering than others. ] I only know what she did: Killed Radcliffe, put herself in the Framework, and out of the lot of us, all the agents in there — it's my life that she shows up in, walks right up to me on my first day at SHIELD Academy, introduces herself as Ophelia, and it doesn't take long at all for me to fall for her.
[ No judgment in his tone there, not against her. Whether or not she planned to recruit him to her cause, he still chose her. That's the terrible beauty of the Framework. He brings a hand down on the railing at the end of the bridge, enjoying the thwack of the hit and the slight pain shooting up his good arm. It's not unlike the suddenness with which he reacted during the outbreak, a foreign instinct, suddenly overtaking him.
He exhales, then, voice thick with emotion. ]
So when the love of my life says, “Leopold, this world isn't real. I need you and that brain of yours not just to make me human; I need you to make me better than human, so that we can get the hell out of here." [ he huffs a breath of air, unable to stop himself. a choked sort of laugh that only tumbles out of your throat when you face something unreal and horrible. ] It’s not a question of if I’ll do it, Markus, it’s how far I’ll go to get it done. That’s not on her. [ his bandaged hand settles over his chest. ] That’s on me. 'Cause that's when people were hurt and killed. Not by the androids, but by the shitty humans who engineered them.
[ not the android uprising as a collective, just Radcliffe sending robots after individuals — and then the singular interests of Ophelia and Fitz, tearing their way through the Framework to get back to the real. ]