It's not good news, I'm afraid. The serum that's been giving you your strength... it is potentially lethal.
So you're saying it's a little risky?
I'm saying it's Russian roulette. You've been fortunate so far, but the next injection might cause cardiac arrest. And if it doesn't, the one after is even more likely to kill you, and so on and so on until...
Jeez, don't sugarcoat it doc. [pause] And by that I mean: please, go ahead and sugarcoat it.
I'm sorry. I know General Talbot was hoping to replicate what was done to Steve Rogers, but you'll never be Captain America.
I want to be here for you Phil. Radcliffe has the Darkhold, May is missing, Nadeer and her Russians are gunning for the Inhumans. I need to do something more.
I know, I felt the same way when I started working with the Avengers. It's not easy to find your place when you're working with heroes and gods.
I did my best to protect the team. Turns out I had a role to play. You'll make the right decision at the right time, or you'll get an Asgardian staff through the chest. I'd try to avoid that part.
[Agnes opens the door to see Coulson]
Hi. I was planning on coming down here and try to throw my weight around, force you to comply. Came up with some pretty good material, but I think the best place to start might be an apology. I know you don't want to hear "I'm sorry" anymore, so I apologize. Really, I do.
Radcliffe took something from me too. Her name is Melinda May, and she means everything to me. [Agnes lets Coulson in] I wish there was another way. I'm trying not to make it personal because May would hate that, but I can't help it, it is.
[answers phone] Who is this?
SShockley
I have a confession to make. You won't want to hear it anymore than I want to say it, but I have to.
Mr. Shockley, and how did you escape S.H.I.E.L.D. custody?
SShockley
The Terrigen. It didn't turn Nadeer into one of those monsters, it made me one. I caused the explosion.
You're inhuman. There is no confession that can absolve you of this.
SShockley
I am a soldier. In a war to protect humanity I can still be that soldier.
You still have my attention.
SShockley
The plan hasn't changed. I will deliver S.H.I.E.L.D. to you.
[taking off the virtual reality head set] I like my video games as much as you, but this is too much.
Yeah well, it's not like the Oculus Rift is a training exercise.
Yeah well, I doubt it's helping May run a triathlon.
That's not how I meant it.
You built The Matrix prison and now May's stuck in it, like a brain scan.
The Framework is a tool! That's all that it is, a tool.
What are you trying to say? That all this is my fault?
What I'm saying is that if you didn't build a killer robot or a virtual world, this year would've been much easier for us. And whether you like it or not, that's the reality.
I'm trying to help people, Mack.
I know you're not a bad person Fitz, but this gear has been used for some really bad things. You've got to think about the implications of what you create.
Electricity is used to execute criminals. Does that mean we also shouldn't use it to power our hospitals?
That's not the same thing and you know it.
There's always risk involved in science! That doesn't mean we don't pursue it anyway.
We're going to save them.
What if we can't? What if May suffers from permanent cognitive dysfunction or cerebral atrophy? Or she dies?
We don't know the adverse effects this could have on her brain. I did it to her. AIDA, the Framework, my fingerprints are all over these murder weapons. Mack was right.
Mack was right, you do need to think about the implications of the things you create. But just because someone uses your ideas for evil does not make it your fault for creating it in the first place. You make things from the genius of your mind and the goodness of your heart, to help people! Don't let Radcliffe's actions corrupt that! You are not responsible for the twisted things he's done. Wrongs have been committed, now we make them right. Together.
You were one of the SVR agents at the mining facility. That was your unit.
Da. And they were killed for not retrieving the object, stolen from our soil. When I looked for who did, I found S.H.I.E.L.D. and after years of looking behind S.H.I.E.L.D. I found you. That face, the man there at the very beginning. What a coincidence.
I'm sorry, I don't really have time for all this conspiracy theorist crap. I'm done playing games. Where are May and Mace?
But play my games you will. Did you really think I would really let you have what it is you seek at the end?
They're not even here, are they?
Well, your pretend Inhuman director is in the compound, but he may be dead by the time you find him.
All of these things you've done, all of the energy spent, the hatred. And you know what the funny thing about it is? I have no idea who the hell you are. I've been on hundreds of missions in my time. This one you're so upset about? I was sent to retrieve an object. If I'm being honest, I don't even remember what it was. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another redshirt, like so many others who tried unsuccessfully to stop me from saving the world, because that's what I do. So, cool origin story, bro. But this means nothing to me.
The Watchdogs, the funding, the weapons, the EMP, Senator. It all leads back to you.
Always nice to meet an admirer.
This isn't about admiration, or forgiveness.
A butcher does not seek forgiveness from the animals he slaughters.
Have you ever read Animal Farm?
LMLMD May
[looking out the window at the snow falling] I have so many memories of snow. My first time ice-skating on my neighbor's pond. A month stationed near the French Alps. But the truth is, this is the first time I've seen it.
LCLMD Coulson
My phantom limb used to ache in cold weather. But now... I don't feel that pain. I haven't felt this good in years.
LMLMD May
What are you saying? [realizes Coulson's an LMD] No, oh God, no. What did Radcliffe do?
LCLMD Coulson
May, it's okay.
LMLMD May
This is why I'm locked up in here.
LMLMD May
You're not afraid of what I'll do.
LMLMD May
You're afraid that they'll discover you!
LCLMD Coulson
We can help them, too. May, this is a good thing. This is a very good thing.
LMLMD May
How can you possibly think that?!
LCLMD Coulson
I get it. My programming is different than yours. You had to discover that your body had been replaced. You must've felt blindsided.
LMLMD May
Like reality was crashing down.
LCLMD Coulson
Whereas I still have my mind but know exactly what I am. And more importantly, I understand a basic truth that you don't realize yet.
LMLMD May
And what's that?
LCLMD Coulson
That our bodies don't matter. Radcliffe built a world, a world exactly like this one. Every molecular detail the same, just... with a little less hurt for each of us.
LMLMD May
What do you mean, "hurt"?
LCLMD Coulson
Imagine if your greatest regret could be wiped away. Do you know what that would be?
LCLMD Coulson
I sometimes wonder what it would've been like [picks up his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge] if I'd never signed up. All the loss, the grief. All my regrets are piled up after that. Could've lived like a civilian, you know? The simple life. Now we can have that.
This body you're building ... the Russian won't approve.
He'll come around. I've observed his behavior. I've observed much human behavior. And the more I see, the harder it gets to find a logic to it.
Oh, you sweet girl. There is no logic to love, anger, wonder, joy.
I understand the concepts, but I don't feel them myself. And unfortunately, they've created a paradox in my programming.
What do you mean? Explain.
My two main parameters are in opposition due to human emotions. I was programmed to protect the Framework but also to preserve your life above all others.
Well, how is that a contradiction?
Because the greatest threat to the Framework, Doctor... is you.
That's simply not accurate.
A defining human trait seems to be regret, or so I've observed. You even asked me to repair one regret for each person entering the Framework.
Well you Doctor, exhibit poor self-control, and if you someday come to regret building the Framework, you could change my parameters and have me dismantle it.
[laughing] Why would you think I would ever do that? I am saving these people. I am giving them a replica of their life with less pain.
Yes, but their physical bodies will eventually give out because of it.
Oh, AIDA, that doesn't matter. Reality is just perception. They perceive it as real, which makes it real.
They might not believe that.
Yeah, but I do. I know it. I believe it to be true, wholeheartedly.
Thank you for clarifying. That statement fixes the paradox. I can now solve both problems at once. [slits Radcliffe's wrists and inserts him into the Framework] Shh. You'll live a long life, free of pain.
So, we fight our way through the trained military personnel, then the ultra-powerful android doubles of our friends, somehow make it to the Zephyr, which we can't fly, to escape the base and try to plug our minds into an alternate reality.
Okay, well, don't say it out loud, because that made it sound way worse. Let's just keep it one thing at a time, okay?
LCLMD Coulson
[enters room to see LMD May by herself] I thought you said you had them. May? What did you do?
LMLMD May
What I wanted to.
LCLMD Coulson
Okay. Everything's under control. Let's just–
LCLMD Coulson
Why don't you and I have a glass of Scotch, or many, and talk this out, like we always do?
LMLMD May
"We"? We've never done that before. [cutscene of Simmons helping Daisy to the Zephyr] You were right. Our programming is different. Are you afraid to die? 'Cause I am. I know I'm not real. I'm all phantom limbs. But that doesn't make the pain less real.
LCLMD Coulson
You don't have to feel pain.
LMLMD May
You say you don't anymore. But that pain, that regret: that's what made you a person... a person I love. [the Zephyr takes off] My programming was to get the Darkhold. That came from Radcliffe. But my impulse, to keep Coulson safe and close, that desire... that came from me.
LCLMD Coulson
That's good.
LMLMD May
And I'm sorry to say, you're not him. [triggers the explosives she's holding]
Meet at the rendezvous right away. That's where I programmed the backdoor to get out. And listen, living in there too long may kill you, but dying in there will definitely kill you, so, be careful.
And remember, even if our vitals are going haywire, do not–
Do not pull you out or wake you up, I know. It will cook your brains like huevos rotos.
Cause permanent damage to the cerebral cortex, yes.
Just promise me you'll get our guys back, okay?
[Writes on the blackboard "State" above "Individual"] This is a dangerous world. The Cambridge Incident proved that. To understand this you have to imagine individuals over the state. It was a mess, people were divided. They had their own truths, their own media, their own agendas. There were so many untruths about Inhumans out there that some people saw them as these magical, heroic creatures, like unicorns. [class chuckles] It was terrifying. Then you had a weak state that allowed a refugee from Bahrain, a girl, sympathetic. Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. knew she was Inhuman, they brought her back to the States and put her into a classroom. The rest is history. But what inspires me is the way our country reacted, the way we came together. When no one would tell us the truth, Hydra stepped forward. They brought us law and order, purpose. They galvanized us, for the good of the state over individual interests.
