4589/Leviathan: Welcome to the Club

Leviathan: Welcome to the Club
Date of Scene:	06 June 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Skye introduces Lag to his SO (her), and she and Lag and Clint plot how to get Lag his antidote.
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Lag, Quake
Tinyplot:	Leviathan

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Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint had taken over the ready room to plot the mission, the windows were smoked out, there were the latest sat images of the base on the screen, and Clint had his gear laid out on one of the tables check it over as he glanced up at the images. It looked like the base was still in use, the reinforcements en-route when they fled having come and gone. Of course the sats only covered the surface, the inside of the base was something else entirely. Clint sets down the arrow he's fiddling with and runs a hand through his hair. "Hmm, not sure if the base looking like that is a good thing or a bad one, but if they're sticking around, odds are good they have someone high up in the Chinese government on the payroll." He sighs, "Fun times."

He grabs a vest off the table, one of those light weight Stark Tech ones, he holds it up. "Here's your vest, as promised," he says. "It's light, but it'll stop stuff even heavier vests wouldn't. I don't know what Stark makes them out of, probably has dwarves crapping out Mithril in his basement," he jokes with a smile.

Lag has posed:
Lag is reclining in one of the seats, drumming the fingers of one hand on the table in front of him, eyes focused on the satellite images. He stands and walks over when Clint holds up the vest and takes. "Hey, if ya told me he had dwarves down there, I'd probably believe ya right now," he says with a wry grin.

He pulls the vest over his head and adjusts the straps, stealing a glance at the man he had only seen in videos before today.

"They can't afford to just let it go," Lag says with a jut of the chin to the satellite displays. "They already pulled down a lot of data from their backups and got a lot of tech in there. Wouldn't be easy to move. And they can find more hackers if they really have to, but you can only buy and build server racks so fast, y'know?"

Quake has posed:
Skye is late to the meeting. Well, not so much late, as someone had to inform Fury of what was going on - even if he had their interim AARs to read - and it was thought it best it be her, especially given her impromtu invitation to Marty to join SHIELD.

She enters the ready room, and waits for the doors to close behind her before she even gives a greeting. Her hands holding several bits and pieces that Clint might recognize as standard Agent-in-Training gear.

"So.. what'd I miss?"

Eyes immediately drawn to the computer models.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Wouldn't surprise me either," Clint confides before giving a nod, "Makes sense," Clint says of making a quick move of all that computer hardware. "And good news really."

Them staying was likely about protecting their resources more than setting yet another trap. "Don't need another trap."

Clint grins when he sees Skye and the gear, it told him all he needed to know about how the meeting went but he asks for effect, "How as the meeting? Getting re-assigned to Ice Station Barton in Siberia?" he teases before adding an aside to Lag. "Yeah, the Director named the punishment station after me, I'm very proud."

Then he answers her question, "Not much, Lag was just telling me how the stuff they had set up there was going to be hard to move and so them sticking with this base was likely, legit."

Lag has posed:
Lag chuckles at the name of the punishment station. "It would take time to move out the people, data and gear. A lot longer than they had yet," Lag agrees.

Quake has posed:
There's a snort from Skye. "Nah, Fury didn't threaten to send me off there. Might have gotten off easy if he had, actually."

The stuff she's holding remains in her hands as she's checking out what the boys have drawn up. "Pretty impressive what they've got going on there. We have a solid plan for getting in and out yet? A good idea of where the antidote might be held?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Definitely something," Clint says to Lag, then still grinning turns back to Skye. "Oh, what's he set you up for? Three years of KP duty? Though really that's punishing everyone that eats a the cafeteria," he says cheekily.

"And no plan yet, but Lag says they won't have moved shop yet, and what was it you said in med bay? The stuff was in the kitchen?" he asks about the antidote.

Lag has posed:
Lad nods to Clint. "It was the only place with refrigeration in the HVAC plans, aside from the cooling for the servers. And I know they kept the stuff chilled," Lag said.

He walks toward the images and points to an area towards the northeast end of the compound. "It's in this area here."

Quake has posed:
There's a ghost of a smirk hovering over Skye's lips. "Three years of KP? No.." She pauses, looking curious, "We don't even have KP? I mean, that's an army thing, right?"

She shakes her head and laughs. "Worse, actually."

Lag is considered, "So, are you still on board with signing on to SHIELD?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint shrugs, "If the boss says we've got KP we've got KP," he says, putting one hand over his eye and saying in a fair impersonation of Fury's voice. "Agent Johnson, did you mistake this organization for a democracy?" he says before lowering his hand, chuckling.

When Skye turns to Lag, Clint shuts up, crossing his arms and leaning against one of the tables with a smirk on his lips.

Lag has posed:
Lag's fingers hover near the smartboard the images show on but stops short of touching it. When Skye asks her question, he turns to her, eyes unfocused. He shakes his head slightly. "Yeah, I mean, I don't know what it all means except savin' the world, right? But yeah, I'm in. If it means sticking it to the Benefactor, I'll do whatever."

Quake has posed:
There's a sudden burst of laughter at Clint's 'Fury' impression. "That's scary, Hotshot. A little more gravel in your voice and you've got him down pat."

her amusement remains, though. "Niice guess, but no." And Lag is given a long look. "Right. So.."

And here Skye takes a deep breath, and begins handing him things. "So. This here is your badge. It lets you into the Trisk, and all the areas you're covered to gain access to. Nowhere else. Got it? You swipe it at entrances and exits. No hanky panky with the electronics."

She holds out a red handled gun. "This is your training weapon. You keep it with you at all times, unless you're told otherwise. You don't touch other weapons unless your SO or mission lead hands you one. And even then you don't fire unless necessary. I see you have a vest.. You'll have jumpsuits and other SHIELD issued clothing when we get back and they can size you. Other than that, everything you do now you report to your SO, and you don't do squat other than pee unless your SO tells you to. And right now that means hands off all electronics unless you're told. Got it?"

She pauses to take a breather and let Lag catch up.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint gives Skye a little bow, "I'll work on it," he promises of his impression.

Lag's answer is met with an approving look, and a little smile plays on his lips when Skye mentions hanky panky with the electronics, "Yeah, at least buy it dinner first," he says dryly before shutting up and continuing to watch with amusement in his eyes.

Lag has posed:
Lag's eyes come into focus as Skye talks and he takes the red-handled gun carefully and seems ill at ease holding it. He snorts slightly at Clint's remark and shoots him an amused look.

Lag breathes out when Skye finishes. "Yo, it's like joining military or something. Uh, question though. The hell is an SO?"

Quake has posed:
Clint gets a look, that eloquently conveys the message 'hush you' though she's pretty sure he's guessed by now what Fury's solution to Skye's overstepping her bounds was.

Then back to Lag, "Uh, your SO is your Supervising Officer, and uh.. yeah, so yours is me."

If Clint was't sure, he can be now.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint was pretty sure when she walked in with the gear, but he was certain now and he grins ear to ear. "Congratulations, Keyboard," he says, the look he gives her encompassing both his amusement in pride in her new assignment. "Poetic justice, really."

Lag has posed:
Lag gives a low whistle when Skye explains. "Supervising officer? Wow."

"I dunno if it's justice, man, but it's somethin'. At least I'm used to takin' orders from DarkSky," he says with a smirk. "Seems like she's in charge wherever I go."

Quake has posed:
Skye crinkles her nose at both men. "Don't get too excited. Mostly it means I get to show you the ropes, and if you mess up, I get called up to the main office and get yelled at. So let's try not to do that too often."

She can't help a slightly amused chuckle.

"I think I'm going to learn how poor May felt." Clint gets a fond look. "Though I haven't been too bad for you, have I?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint shakes his head, "Nah, it's not been too bad," he agrees. "But May got all the hard stuff, you actually /want/ to be part of the team now."

He looks over at Lag and pushing off from the table he extends a hand, "Welcome to SHIELD, Agent Perkes," he says giving Lag a smile.

Lag has posed:
Lag shakes Clint's hand. "Thanks, man, and... Thanks, both of you."

"I didn't even really expect you'd come, but you brought it /hard/. I owe you both, for real. If you ever need anything, just hit me up."

Quake has posed:
Skye grins when Clint welcomes Lag. "Enh, it's what we do. Seriously. You're going to find that out. We don't pull that me, myself, and I shit Rising Tide goes under. And we don't pull that acceptable losses shit Hydra goes for either."

She gives Lag a small smile. "You're kinda my punishment and reward. So if you want to make it up to me, try not to fuck up so much that Fury regrets this. This is my family, Marty. It can be yours, too."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"No problem," Clint says as he shakes hands with Marty. "Just work hard, do what Skye tells you and you'll do fine here," he says. There is a faint smile at that though, as if he or Skye got to where they were by following blindly, but that was something each of the oddball recruits, ones not out of the academy, had to figure out on their own.

Lag has posed:
"Yo, I'll do my best, don't wanna mess with family" Lag assures Clint and Skye, spreading his hands.

"This is almost enough t' make me think we're really gonna get me cured. Y'know, or else I'm gonna be like the shortest lived Agent-in-Training."

"How long you been doing this?" he asks Clint and Skye.

Quake has posed:
Skye scoffs at Marty. "Pffft, there was a whole betting pool on how long I'd last. Still not sure who's left in it. You'll be fine."

He gets a grin, and then she looks to Clint. "Been here, what? A year and a half?" It doesn't seem possibly. Her first year was spent getting her onboard with the program enough that she could be trained, and past that, she'd been something of a spitfire going through the ranks. Skye wasn't even sure if Level 4's even were technically allowed to be SO's... and yet, here she was. One Agent-in-Training, Marty Perkes in her newly minted SO hands, hoping she didn't screw up.

What she hadn't told Clint was that her future at SHIELD rested in how she handled this assignement, and how Lag turned out as an Agent.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"You will," Clint assures Marty, though he has some doubts he keeps them locked away, deep where it's likely only Skye can spot them on his face. "And yeah, about a year and a half," he says. "She's a bit of a superstar, planned some big ops, then there was the op with Rising Tide, you're lucky to have her as your SO."

"And me? Eight years, they snatched me up when I got caught playing vigilante, long story, but despite the deal I couldn't refuse, this place has treated me alright."

Lag has posed:
"Crazy," Lag says with a shake of his head.

He reaches out and touches the smartboard and his eyes go unfocused. A few moments later details start filling on the screen, covering everything Lag knows about the interior layout of the compound. Once the display is fleshed out, he pulls his fingers back from the board and smiles broadly. "Oh man, there's some serious shit down the wire from this board, I can feel it. Who the hell pays for all this?"

Quake has posed:
Skye is immediately all eyes and ears for what Marty has to say and show them.. until she realizes he means SHIELD's systems, and gack. "Uh.. SHIELD does?" She looks over to Clint, and back to Marty. "There are a couple things I'll brief you on later. Uh.. a need to know basis, and Hotshot there isn't cleared."

It might be one of the few, if only, things Skye hasn't shared with Clint.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"That about sums it up," Clint agrees with a smile.

At the mention of classified material, he asks Skye, "Want me to take a stroll while you fill him in?" he asks. "Or is this one of those things for when we get back?"

Lag has posed:
Lag looks from Clint to Skye and back and shifts a bit. "Yo, I'm not like diggin' or anything," he promises. "Could just feel the servers down the line, that's all. I'll be cool about our stuff. Don't mess with family, and all that."

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs at Clint. "Give us five?" He gets a nod that says this is one of those things that she can't easily explain, but she'll cover as much as she can when they're done this op.

Lag gets told, "Relax. Nobody is jumping on you. This is shit you'll find out anyway, unless you suck, and if you suck, then ths might be a short trip down the Agent track to desk jockey." She shudders. "I'll bring you up to speed in a minute, soon as Hotshot there gives us air. Hey, Hotshot, coffee, maybe?" He's given an imploring look. "And dude," Lag is reassured, "You're family here, too. I don't want or need a yes boy. I wouldn't know what to do with one."

He's given what Skye hopes is a reassuring smile.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint nods, "Five it is, then we should get a move on with the planning, time is ticking," he says. "And sure thing about the coffee, how do you take yours Lag?" Clint asks, he doesn't need to ask Skye about how she drinks hers, usually five hours cold when she looks up from her code to realize she got coffee before she sat down at her computer.

Once he has the coffee order he strolls out of the ready room to grab it and let the techies talk.

Lag has posed:
"Just black, thanks," Lag says and takes a seat to hear out Skye. He absentmindedly rubs the spot on his arm the IVs had gone in.

Quake has posed:
When Clint leaves, Skye pulls a lighter out of a pocket, and turns it around in her hands, holding it. Outside the room, the result is a static that seems sudden, and random, and interferes with any ability to really track the conversation in the room. In the room, however, it merely looks like Skye is fidgetting.

"So, at some point you're going to go digging, or get past the basic SHIELD system guards. Yeah, whatever, that's the point of it all, and a good reason you're mine, and not someone else's. They're not going to get what you can do. Nat might, but she'll say she's not in our field. Not that it matters, you got me."

She perches on the edge of the table.

"Long story short, there are backdoors into the main systems. Most are monitored. Some aren't. A couple are mine. A couple are someone else's. Fury knows. I know. And now you know. We don't touch those. We don't mention them unless the room is secure. You'll know you're looking at the code because you'll find strings you don't follow. Don't try to parse it. It's alien tech. And it's a good thing. Saved my ass more than once. Follow? Think you can handle that?"

She waits for his answer.

Lag has posed:
Lag nods slowly, following what Skye is saying, taking mental note that it's assumed he will go digging. "If you say leave it alone, I'll leave it alone. But what keeps someone on the outside coming across one of 'em? Or keeps us from overlookin' a real threat backdoor thinkin' it's one that's supposed to be there?"

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs at Lag, "What's there is out of my league. Hand over fist. And it's as much a backdoor as a security measure protecting us. The person responsible has a vested interest in making sure we're safe. That's about all I can say. And you're going to have to get used to that."

He's given a weak smile, her gaze falling to the lighter for a moment.

"There are going to be a ton of things above your paygrade. And you're going to be asked to do things that don't always make sense. Half your job - half my job - if figuring out which ones you question. If I can teach you that, I did it right. If not, you'll end up a desk jockey, and I don't think either of us will be happy."

"Between myself and who put those others in, SHIELD is locked down pretty tight. Might be five people in the world can stomp on my code, Lag, and the person I let in" - SHE let in, not SHIELD let in, which, given how he got recruited might begin to give Lag a truer picture of Skye overall- "can stomp over all of them. Not sure where you fit into that, because you've been lying with your code the whole time, unless I missed my mark. I'm guessing without your abilities, you're a decent to top notch coder. With them, you probably could give me a run. I want to set you against Nat one day. that will tell me a lot."

"One of your tasks now is going to be watching those doors. I want to count what you catch against the reports I already get. Consider it your first assignment, and when you stop missing anything, and you can start telling me which ones to worry about and which we let through and why, you get a new assignment. And if I'm not mistaken, unless you have other questions, Clint is probably hovering wondering if we're done."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Skye was right, Clint is back from the cafeteria with three cups of coffee in a tray, he knocks twice, then pokes his head in. "Is it safe?" he asks ready to duck back out if needs be.

Lag has posed:
Lag grins lopsidedly at the challenge, overt and implied, and at a getting called out.

He spreads his hands. "I'll show you what I got and how I really work, and if this Nat can keep up, damn sure she's a technopath, too," Lag says confidently.

When Clint pokes his head through door, Lag looks to Skye to see if she has anything more.

Quake has posed:
"Nah, she's not a technopath," Skye reassures. "She's damned good though. Better than she thinks she is." It's clear the woman Skye speaks of has impressed Skye. "Tread lightly, though. You poke at that code at your own risk, and that's not the assignment."

It's as much warning as he'll get - though given who is giving the warning, and her usual mode of operation, Lag *might* want to consider how serious the warning is... it doesn't seem to be attached to being his SO.

She grins at the doorway and nods with her chin. "Yeah, we're done. Think we understand one another."

Her fingers fiddle with the lighter some more, though she waits until she's being handed her coffee to put the thing away, making the gesture look casually like she's only putting it away to be able to hold her coffee.

Skye, it seems, has learned a thing or two.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint pushes the rest of the way inside the room and heads down to the front and hands out the coffees. "Couldn't find any that'd been left out too long," Clint teases Skye and hands her a warm coffee before taking his and ditching the cardboard tray in the trash. "Good to hear, I am sure Fury's regretting this partnership already," he says and then turns to the big screen. The movements with the lighter are noted and he smiles Skye's way. "So, Lag, you said what we want is in the kitchen? How do we get in there and get it, ideally without it turning into a big running fight like last time,"

Lag has posed:
Lag takes the coffee from Clint and thanks him. He gets up from his chair and walks over to image of the compound with the overlay of the interior. He takes a sip of his coffee and gives a sigh of relief. It tastes damn good after what they were giving him in the base.

"Through the wall," he taps the board. "They gotta guess we might come back for it, so if they didn't move it, it's in there and the normal ways in are all traps."

Lag ponders for a moment. "Hell, the antidote could be a trap at this point, straight bleach for all I know, just to kill my ass if I did come back for it."

Quake has posed:
That was a possibility that they hadn't considered. And given that Karl knew that they had Lag, and that if they came back it would be for the antidote...

Skye gives Clint a worried look and shakes her head. Lag's words might be harbingers of the truth, which meant a rethink of this operation and a reward/risk assessment.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint had expected a trap, but he'd assumed the antidote would be the antidote when they arrived, but given what they knew of this bastard Karl and the people he worked for, it made a terrifying amount of sense.

He scrubs his hand through his hair, "So, we could be going in there, blowing down the walls, and getting our selves killed over what amounts to poison?" he says frowning.

Then he laughs. "We're going about this the wrong way," he says suddenly, looking at the two hackers. "We shouldn't be going after the finished product, we should be going after the formula. Think between the two of you, you could find it in their systems?"

Lag has posed:
Lag winces slightly at not seeing the obvious solution before and gives Clint an appreciative look.

"The man has like, cyborgs running around. For sure he transmitted and stored it somewhere. Air-gapped though, if he's real paranoid. Definitely encrypted. Doesn't have to be perfect, just needs to take longer than 24 hours to crack and then it's useless to whoever needs it."

Quake has posed:
Skye runs Clint's solution through her brain and mulls a few moments. "Someone has to create the stuff. Means the formula exists. We might be shit out of luck and it's only hard copy, but that's kinda a long shot, I'd think. Maybe a fifty-fifty he's done it that way. But Karl's also a smug little bastard."

She mulls some more. "Smug and paranoid. Behind an encryption wall is probably what he'd think were safer. Not sure. We could try pinging at it between the two of us, but if we fuck up, we lose that chance."

She frowns. "Mind you, we'd not get closer to it by doing a ground run, so there is that. Remotely works just the same pretty much, I'd think as if we were at ground zero." But she looks to Lag for confirmation of that. He's actually seen the inside of this base. She hasn't.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint hops up to sit on the table and strokes his chin, "Right, there's a lot they could do to delay us but at this point I don't think going in is going to get any closer. So, if you guys think going remote could work, it's got my vote," he says. "Either way I'll light a fire under Simmons' ass and reach out to my Avengers contacts, we've got some of the best brains in the business."

Lag has posed:
Lag sips from his coffee. There is a slight tremor in his hand as he does.

"You're right. Going in hard is for fools. Go in over the wire, get in and out before they can cut power. Boom," Lag says, sounding reasonably confident. "It's a better plan, and nobody gets hurt."

Quake has posed:
Skye nods her agreement. "At this point, he's right. They know that's what we're after. going in physically is just a waste of resources. If we can do it at all, it's going to be digitally. And if we can't do that?"

She shrugs.

"Then we put him on ice and rethink our plans."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint flinches at the idea of putting Lag on ice, "Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. What do you guys need?" he asks them dropping down from his perch on the table and looking to the two hackers.

Lag has posed:
Lag's grip tightens a bit on his coffee at the mention of putting him on ice. "I need a decent machine, I'm guessing you got one already," he smiles at Skye.

"And a tap on their lines as close to the compound as possible. The less... Lag, the better," he says with a wry smile.

Quake has posed:
Skye grins. "My rig is okay." In truth, it might not be state of the art or top of the line, but it's close, and it's been tricked out to match her code style, which is much more important. "You're looking at about as good as you're going to get or need."

Her chin nods at what they've already dragged into the room.

"As for a tap on them, we've a direct feed to some systems I think you'll appreciate." She's not saying it aloud, but SHIELD has backdoors into the Hydra systems that were put online during the Rising Tide outages of the net, and 'forgotten' about after thngs were set right. Skye had convinced Fury to let them remain up, and he'd agreed (hell, the man had likely already thought along these lines), and it seemed like today that foresight might just pay off.

"Need a secure room. Some coffee and energy bars. A standby medical team. Uh.. might want a couple ground crews on sight there for interference, but that's your call, Hotshot. Other than that, am I missing anything?"

She looks to Clint to confirm.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint nods, "Sure thing, if this room works, we'll take it, we're already here, as for the supplies, I'll get them sent up on my way to R&D for the tech side and STRIKE for a field team," he says sending a smile her way. "Give me a call if guys think of anything else," he says giving Skye a quick hip check on his way past to the door.

Part way there, he pauses, and turns, "And Lag, like I said, welcome to SHIELD."