115/Agents Then and Now

Agents Then and Now
Date of Scene:	23 April 2017
Location:	Triskelion, New York City
Synopsis:	Adventurer and agent Lara Croft meets WAND's newest (and possibly oldest) Asset, Mister Bigby Wolf. Good times ahead -- if the typical agents of the Triskelion don't drive them mad first.
Cast of Characters:	Bigby Wolf, Lara Croft

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Bigby Wolf has posed:
Night has already fallen upon New York, bringing in all the city-lights in their nocturnal glory. The Triskelion, HQ for S.H.I.E.L.D., is no exception. The sky-scraper is no less busy now than it usually is, putting people to work like...

"Bees," mutters a man standing in the foyer. He is tall, burly, clad in a long trenchcoat and with a mane of umber hair that gets in his face. He tends to smell of cigarettes... and 'dog'. His nostrils flare, and he grunts. "So... Smith is gone. Jones... gone. Warwick's...alive but not here now... Can't smell a familiar biped nearby..."

His voice trails off as he stares about the building, sulking a little. There's a folder of files -- really old-fashioned files -- in his left hand. "Goddamnit, I feel old..."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara was returning to the Trisk after spending the day out at the American Museum of Natural History... it was sort of her side-base of operations when she wasn't hold-up in the WAND offices here in the Trisk itself.

She strides into the main foyer from the bridge, wearing a black canvas jacket with SHIELD logs on the shoulders, it was unzipped and showed a black tanktop on beneath it. She had some slim-fit steel-grey pants on and black leather boots.

As she walked, the young Agent Croft was placing some items away in the duty-belt that was around her waist. She almost bumped right into Bigby infact, and in-doing so she had to stutter-step back and look up at him. "My apologies." She said to him, her voice was soft and laced with the unmistakable accent of a London-local.

Lara did a once-over, visual patdown on Bigby then as he appeared a bit out of his element here in this modern world and the fast paced Triskelion Bee-hive.

Bigby Wolf has posed:
The man's nostrils flare again, and he narrows his amber eyes at the woman who had almost knocked into him. A hint of a smile twitches at the corner of his lips and he raises his chin at a slight angle.

"You'll do," says he, bringing his chin down in a nod. "Someone who don' smell of 'desk'. I'm lookin' fer... hmm. Is Agent Tate here? No? How 'bout..." and he trails off a little bit there, frowning grumpily. "Maybe one o' the new ones... Hale? Croft? Name's Wolf, Bigby Wolf -- used ta an agent, 'n now they want me on the bench fer... whatsit, oh -- WAND. Guess it can't hurt ta lend a hand now 'n then."

He fishes an old ID out of a coat pocket -- out of date by years, but it's a SHIELD ID nonetheless, contrasting vividly with the much newer 'visitor's pass' he has on his coat.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara took in what the man said and it was somewhat... just... surprising. He seemed to be stepping out of another era, like an era that her father would've really appreciated. But when he said her name, her eyelashes fluttered and her head shook side to side.

Her right hand was offered to him. "I'm Croft." She told him. "With WAND. Under Melinda May, my supervisor." Lara's youthful brown eyes looked down at the ID that he showed, it was unlike any she'd seen... but she'd only been with SHIELD a short while now.

"Mister... Wolf?" She asked him. Her eyes going back up to his. "I'm not terribly connected with Agent transfers or, new hirings. I'm somewhat of a... specialized case." She paused, smiled faintly. "Which I think is May's polite way of saying I'm the team weirdo."

She glanced at the ID again, but didn't reach to take it or anything. "Where have you been?" She asked him then, as though he'd been on vacation or some such.

Bigby Wolf has posed:
Wolf's lips part in a rakish grin and he puts the old ID away. More agents entering the building have to walk around the burly fellow (and his newfound friend, Croft) to get into the foyer, although they seem to pass unnoticed to Wolf. "May's still around?" he remarks with an admiring mouthshrug. "Jus' swell. That's someone. Hell of a cat... do they even say that anymore? Ah, whatever. So yer a 'weirdo' too? You'n me'd fit right in..." and he reaches into another pocket to withdraw a cigarette from a crumpled box.

"Please, not inside the building, Agent Wolf," says a passing male agent -- picture-perfect in the suit -- with a longsuffering tone of voice.

"It's 'Mister' ta you, Suit," Wolf retorts with an impudent motion of his chin. Turning back to Croft he mentions, "Thought you were a bit o' the 'get out there/hands on' type. You sized me up just after ya apologised. Nicely done."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watched Wolf and the exchange with the Non-Smoker Agent and then she heard his later words about her sizing him up. She glanced away and showed a faint smile. "Yes, well... I'm barely the same kind of person you'll find here. I sort've... tested through my training to become an Agent here. I was already out performing all the current crop of classmates in the SHIELD academy."

Lara's head shook lightly then, her voice was soft and quiet. "I don't like to sound like I'm a braggart, however... I just have lead a life that was all the training I needed, so to speak." She looked back at him. "Except on how to properly fit in around places such as this."

After a short exhale, she stopped herself from rambling as she knew she often did... she was a 'nerd' all through schooling and still fought to try not to be a social strangey-pants. "I'm with the Acquisitions group in WAND. If Agent May needs something, anywhere in the world... I'm sent to go get it. No matter if she knows where it is, or not. I'll find it. And bring it back."

Bigby Wolf has posed:
"'Acquisitions'," the bearded man repeats, still smirking at the corner of his mouth. "Heh, that's kinda what they had me doin' -- back in the day. Well, that an' a few other things... some of it's declassified now, surely."

Bigby releases a breath and shrugs his shoulders. "An' you can call me Bigby if ya like. These days I'm a P.I. -- somethin' a bit more 'low key' than most o' the crap goin' on here... own hours, own boss. Shit pay though..."

Another pair of agents approach (again, the very much 'at home' faceless, suit-wearing types who never seem to ever leave the Triskelion), a pair of women. "Agent Croft," says the first. "Your schedule for tomorrow briefing is in your inbox." It's not something that they needed to convey in person. Bigby frowns at that. The second one addresses him, holding out a hand for his folder. "Thank you for your contribution, Mister Wolf," says she in a bland tone of voice.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara would give Wolf her full attention as she was a hell of a good listener when she wasn't preoccupied in thought about whatever expedition she was planning next... because in those scenarios it was hard to even get her attention at all.

She was about to respond to him when the other two approached, the one addressing her got her eyes placed upon them. Lara would then nod at them. "Thank you... I will go there now and look it all over." She'd add a smile, for normalcy's sake right? Normal people smile this much, right? Was it too much smiling?

Lara glanced back at the other speaking to Bigby and then to Bigby himself.

"Mister Wol--" She cut herself off. "Bigbir, sir." She said, a bit uncomfortably, eyes glancing down and then back up at him. "Do you need my assistance with anything while you're here?" She asked, not wanting this man to get the run around by these young and careless Agents of the modern day. She may be one too, but she was raised by a father from a different era... unlike most today.

Bigby Wolf has posed:
The second agent glances at Croft, and then back at Wolf. "Most of your assignments will come from WAND, Mister Wolf," says she as if Croft hadn't spoken. That makes Bigby glare back at the agent, who then holds out a small, rectangular device.

Bigby stares at it.

"What'n hell is that?"

"It is a cellphone," replies the agent, giving it to him. "When it rings, answer. Get acquainted with the other WAND agents -- you'll be working together often enough. Good day."

Bigby glances back at Lara and lets out a breath. "You mentioned assistance..." he ventures to say. "Yeah. Might take ya up on that, Croft. Wanna show me where WAND's offices are? Gotta feelin' I'll need ta know. After that, if yer up fer a drink, yer welcome ta join me. We should swap stories -- or just bitch about the drones here... Don' it drive ya nuts?"

And he gives a slight, muted rueful grin.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara glanced down when the other agent ignored her, she was used to that. She wasn't exactly a highly respected member of the 'team' since she was really even apart of the team and generally worked alone or with her own friends that she brought in on trips about the globe.

Lara would then look back up at them, Bigby in particular when she heard his words. She summoned a smile again. "Yes--yes of course." She said then, stepping out of the way to allow the agent who'd spoken to Wolf move past. She let her gaze follow after them for a moment, but then resolved herself to forget about them until the next chance-meeting they may or may not ever have again.

Lara's full attention returned to Bigby and she summoned a smile for the man. "I'm not the most... versed at drinks." She tells him as she started to walk toward a Lift and motioned for him to follow her. "I'm the one who grew up with her nose planted firmly between the pages of an old book. An entirely library of them to be precise."

Lara would press the call button beside the lift then and wait for it to arrive. Once it did, she'd step on and hold it for him.

Bigby Wolf has posed:
"Stories, huh?" replies Bigby, his eyes lighting up. "Ain' nothin' wrong with a good read." Grateful for the assist, he follows her to the lift, often glancing at passing agents, particularly whenever his nostrils flare. It's a microexpression that always seems to precede any shift in attention -- for someone who would notice.

Bigby steps inside the lift and rolls his shoulders, stretching his neck from side to side. "History, mythology... you wouldn't be workin' fer WAND without some inkling as ta how blurry the lines are between those two," he remarks. The man doesn't look at Croft, but he might give off the sense of 'reading' her -- a vibe, if nothing else.

"Yup. You'n me gonna fit right in, Croft." Then as the doors to the lift close, he laments: "Goddamnit, I need a smoke."