12764/Rangers Lead the Way

Rangers Lead the Way
Date of Scene:	27 February 2021
Location:	Athletics Area, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	Alexander gives a small class on how to deal with the wounded in a combat situation.
Cast of Characters:	Phobos, Quake

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Phobos has posed:
    SHIELD is a large agency, with many operatives across the world leading to a curious melange of training. There are experts from Mossad, across to the Spetsnaz, and even some soldiers who trained with the Gurkhas for mountain missions. It's a bevy of information, and though there are formal classes taken and given, set curriculum and scheduled training, sometimes the informal rears its head.
    Such as today when in the Athletic area of the Triskelion, just within the gymnasium area where the fencing run has been converted with a handful of blue mats pulled out onto the hard wood floor. Distantly other agents are training but the recently graduated class 45 have gathered to pick the brains of their agents and to see what there is to be seen by one operative to another.
    And at this point it is Alexander's turn.
    Not the lead agent of the class, not the one with the highest marks, he did decently well and never flinched during the training save for one moment. He excelled and succeeded... but did not draw too much attention. Though in this small moment that was changed.
    "So, you're in a hot zone." The blond twenty something stands in the semi-circle of his peers, hands on his hips and his pale hazel eyes flitting from one to another. "Things go bad. You're under fire, one of your team goes down. Normal procedure you get someone to cover you, run over, drag your teammate to cover, right?"
    The youth rests his hands on his hips, the black fabric of the SHIELD combat suit and harness giving a place for his hands to rest upon the gear packs around his waist. "Well what if you're alone? How do you get your friend clear of danger?"

Quake has posed:
Skye was an unusual Agent. She didn't go through the Academy. And she pretty much went through Fury himself. Most of the time she could be found in the break room (what? She had a desk? Where?!?)

But she especially was curious when the younger agents did their training.. It's not that she didn't have any training, just most of it was one on one, and recently out of the prying eyes of others. Fury was careful. Some friends knew the secret, but most people were still working on "What? You mean she's not the IT girl?"

Today she was watching Alexander's class from the sidelines.

Phobos has posed:
    It was just the handful of graduates, perhaps twenty operatives all told. Most of them were in off duty gear or the kevlar suits, but there was something informal to it all as there were smiles to the people, an easy-going vibe to the class.
    "You ditch him and run like hell?" Kelso answers Alex's question which draws a few smirks and a chortle from some of the other operatives. Though one pipes up, "If it's Nelson, you're damn right."
    Which gets the rejoinder from the tall dark-haired agent with the snide smirk, "Hey, fuck you, man." Definitely informal.
    "Alright, so... c'mere Kel." Alexander gestures for Kelso to come out onto the mats and gestures for him, "Do me a favor and lie down, just go limp. Dead weight."
    Which causes another of the agents to comment, "You should be used to that by now, Kelso." Which causes a rude gesture to come from the agent who now drops onto his back on the mats, flumpfing with the best of them.
    "So, alright, best of times with him helping you, it'll still be damn hard to get Kelso up. He weighs what, 220? 230?"
    "Around that," Says the agent on the ground.
    "So yah, basically picking up a human body is like picking up a bag full of pudding with a bunch of sticks in it, hard to manipulate. So ok."
    That said Alexander steps forward, "Easiest way to do it, is..." He turns to face the prone Kelso, and then drops forward into a roll, digging a hand into the mats and catching the fallen agent's leg with the movement so his back /thumps/ heavily onto Kelso's abdomen. All one movement, slamming into his chest, catching a leg, and then slipping the other arm under Kelso's...
    It lets him continue the smooth flow of the roll, one leg swinging wide in an arc to keep the momentum and twist him around back up onto one knee and suddenly...
    Poor Kelso is held on Alexander's back and then lifted upward into the air, Alex's hand holding his leg and the other his arm, taking the weight of the cadet over his shoulders. "So here, I got him, he's heavy sure. But at least I can..." He starts to walk forward, a few steps quickly, the heavy body of his partner jostling. "You get about a hundred yards with this, then you start to burn your muscles out and your friends will have to carry both of you. But still. Gets them clear ideally."
    That said he /fwumpfs/ Kelso back to the mats in a casual half toss letting him sit up. The young Olympian looks up, "You get the gist? Ok split up into pairs and let's see how it goes."

Quake has posed:
Oh.. burn. The jokes were flying hard and fast. It made her hide her smirk behind a cough. But she was curious enough to see what they had learned. Really? More time than not being able to get your partner out when he was incapacitated was needed.

Mind you, she tended to go out on dangerous missions, then the usual Agent. Otherwise, it was the break room for her!

Ocassionally she found herself in an easy place, like the one she'd just finished with Natasha.. Which was the real reason Skye was here today: To check up on one or two of the recent graduates. She was curious.

Phobos has posed:
    The students break into those small groups, they start to put what they saw to use, and their 'instructor' of the hour starts to wend his way around them. A few times he pauses to adjust a technique, to give a few pointers. He stops near Kelso and O'Hara as they work on the tuck and roll which has him pause when O'Hara pipes up.
    "Hey, Aaron." She looks up, pushing a lock of red hair out of her eyes. "What if I crunch him too much or he can't breathe?" As she says this she casually elbows Kelso in the side while she's sprawled across his chest, her back against his frame.
    The blond youth tilts his head as he looks back, "What do you care? You gotta get him outta there quick as you can. Breathing is secondary until you get him out of the line of fire."
    Which has the others shrugging even as they continue.
    A few more techniques are shown, ways to get the wounded evacced and clear. Three more routines until at the end Alexander is standing over a fallen comrade who is holding onto his belt from underneath. "If they're conscious, and maintain their grip you can keep your weapon up and maintain fire as you move to cover. But takes teamwork." That said he lifts his hands, "Alright, that's enough for today, you guys are exhausting. Get lost or keep practicing. I."
    He pauses for dramatic effect.
    "Am going to get something to drink." And as he says that he turns stepping away from the group heading back to the side of the gymnasium to where he left his ubiquitous backpack, and likely the bottle therein. Which also happens to lead him in Skye's direction.

Quake has posed:
Now Skye has a choice: to back her way out of she quietly, or to let it be known she was watching.

She decided and stood out from the wall, and waited for him to acknowledge her. "You've been paying attention in your classes. That was a nifty move that you pulled off. Usually the instructor has the classes try tons of things before she tells them." She grins.

Phobos has posed:
    "What that?" Alexander is wiping at his brow with the collar of his t-shirt for a moment, then lowers it back into place as he smiles a little. His eyes drift back over toward the crowd of agents who some are still sticking around trying to get some of the movements right.
    Then he looks back to her and gives a small nod, "Honestly it was more my dad's whole..." He waves a hand slightly in a circular motion, "Thing. He's something of a prepper so I learned a lot of things through osmosis."
    The canvas backpack is picked up off the bench and he digs into it a little, pulling out the water bottle and twisting off the cap as the pack is dropped back to the floor with a rustle of cloth and material. "That was mainly Airborne Rangers pararescue stuff."

Quake has posed:
"I don't think I learned until.. gosh.." Skye thinks about it. "Long after May almost gave up on me. *Almost*." She grins. "I think I was the student she was most proud of. Not because I was brilliant, but she could let me go on any mission, finally, and be fairly certain that I would be coming back in one piece. It's been a long journey."

And now? With her added abilities she's had to work harder. Now? She was proud of herself.

Phobos has posed:
    Tilting his head slightly, Alexander seems to take a second glance at her, pale eyes offering little in return. Like an opague window obscuring the soul, the young Olympian looks to her and listens with a small nod, then a slight curve of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
    "You're Agent Johnson, aren't you?" He asks as he tilts his head back the other way. "I remember speaking with you briefly during the... Springfield operation?" Not that he's been on a lot of them. Perhaps more he doesn't know what the big brains were calling the attack on the large AIM facility.
    "I'm Agent Aaron." A hand touches the center of his chest, "It's good to meet you."

Quake has posed:
Skye notes he doesn't seem to react to her 'joke'. Then again, she was a bit different than most people working up the ladder here.

"Yes. Agent Johnson. Skye. Mostly I answer to Skye. I don't work well in the institutions. I was on my way to the archery practice, actually. But I stopped to watch your classes. You're almost done with the Academy?"

Phobos has posed:
    There is definitely something a touch off about the young Agent Aaron, something vaguely distant. Though it could simply be the way such pale eyes often make one who has them seem apart or otherworldly. Yet his smile comes easily as he lifts his chin a little.
    "Finished the training a bit ago." He gestures with a nod, "Agent Nelson took the laurels for top of class, followed by O'Hara. They're good people." He says. Then he gives a nod, "Skye." As if accepting that as the way she'd care to be addressed.
    "No permanent assignments yet, right now they mainly have us doing a lot of fetching. And carrying." Since that ever is the way.

Quake has posed:
She laughed then. "Get used to it. Most of this work is, frankly, for most people boring." According to her. "The ones that show promise begin to weed out in the first couple months."

She looked at him with a solemn frown, and offered quietly. "Don't hold back too much." She didn't know *what* was his 'difference', but Fury often asked her to look at people and give her opinions. Usually she was right. Some said he had been grooming her for his job.

Phobos has posed:
    Nodding slowly she might have a chance to see his face twist up a little, as if some small sourness entered his thoughts, it's seen there in the way his nose crinkles before he looks back to her. "I'm..." A slow blink is given and then his lip twists up a little as if the answer presented itself easily.
    "Not what one would call a competitive person." Which. In some ways. Was true. Yet the mental shrug can almost be perceived in the way his eyebrows lift just so.
    "Though, to be fair," He slips his hands into the pockets of his fatigues, rocking back on his heels a little. "Really, O'Hara and Nelson are good. Just. One of them is kind of a jerk." There, he confesses that little glimmer of humanity by criticizing his teammates.

Quake has posed:
"Which one, though!"

She gets quiet again. "It's not because of competitiveness. By the time you are finally settling down as an Agent, you be grunt work, or something else. I don't know you very well, but in the time that I have watched you, you're not grunt work. Only, not everybody will look over this.. facade..?" Not really the word she meant. "Anyway, you wouldn't like it. Trust me." And then she laughs. "I'm not really competitive either. But I found my place."

Phobos has posed:
    "See now you can decide for yourself, but at least you are warned of one's potential jerkiness." Alexander seems amused by this, his smile curving a little wry. But then he tilts his head and looks askance at her, nodding again as some thought flits through his mind but goes unuttered.
    Then he shifts topics and murmurs, "I've been told scary stories of this Agent May." He gives a slow nod as if lending credence to such tales or at least murmuring it with some gravity. "I'll have to be careful if we ever cross paths." Since really she does carry a reputation around these parts. In the meantime he takes another swallow of water from the bottle.

Quake has posed:
"Agent May? Don't be stupid around her. She doesn't mind mistakes, but stupidity.." Skye shakes her head. "Trust me, I made tons of mistakes." And how! Skye was reminded of them with hand to hand combat most of all. "If you don't know it, ask. She has an appreciation of limits."

Phobos has posed:
    "Ahh, don't be stupid. That's harder than it may seem." For some reason that makes him smile a little more, as if he's heard that particular turn of phrase somewhere else. That having been said he shakes his head again and then leeeeans down to scoop up his discarded backpack.
    "It was nice having a chat with you, Skye. I should go get cleaned up though." That having been said he offers a hand for a small handshake, and should she indulge it'll be a polite thing given before he steps to the side.
    "Catch up with you later around the Skelion." Since that's what all the cool kids are calling it these days. And with that he moves toward the door.