━━ ??? ???? ?
? he's losing himself ...
and i'm scared I'm losing
him, too ...?
?? ????? agent roy
and agent fitz are
definitely now more
than friends.
??
??...
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chapter twenty-one
(May 10th, 2017 The Framework)
THE FRAMEWORK was chaos.
Clara watched it unfold from a television screen in the Playground, surrounded by people who, back home, were either dead, had betrayed her, or were relying on her to bring them back▬and most of them didn't even know it. It was a strange sensation she still hadn't gotten used to, and she didn't think she ever will. And others ... others were no longer in the room with her, or they were too far away▬and she was desperately trying to reach them before she'd lose him, too.
The Framework was under martial law. It was a situation that was hauntingly so very unlike Clara's home, and yet at the same time, was frightfully similar▬if things had gone differently, if different choices were made, they could have very much ended up here, too. Clara didn't know how she felt about that.
"... With forces still fighting for control of the broadcast centre, Madame HYDRA has dispatched all available units to clean up the streets," the woman was saying. Clara watched scenes of riots, slaughter and destruction.
Even though this world was nothing more than coding, there was something that not even A.I.D.A. could program out of the human conscience▬their fighting grasp for free will. When they are controlled and contained, and saw the world around them be forced into a dictatorship, the moment they knew the truth and they were aware of it, they fought back. They will always fight back, no matter what reality they were in.
It gave Clara a strange sense of hope.
Daisy crossed her arms, leaning against the brick column in the centre of the common room. The team were all hovering around the leather couches, watching the news broadcast with solemn faces. Quake scoffed softly under her breath, sharing a glance with Clara. "She's not subtle, that Madame HYDRA."
On her other side, matching her stance, Agent Burrows scoffed, too. "Yeah," he muttered, "just look at her uniform. It's so crazy hot."
Slowly, Clara and Daisy turned an incredulous stare onto Mace's old publicity agent▬who in this world, was instead a high-ranking operations agent and a part of Leith's inner circle (which was crazy to think about. Clara still hadn't comprehended it).
Recognising their judgemental looks▬and as if he only just realised what he said▬Burrows stammered and backtracked. "I▬uh▬" he flushed at the cheeks, "▬I mean, if you're into the whole 'bad girl' vibe, uh..." Daisy arched a brow. "Not▬Not me. I'm just ... making an observation..."
