13820/The Incident Review

The Incident Review
Date of Scene:	17 September 2021
Location:	The Triskelion, New York City
Synopsis:	When Ops go wrong, the questions begin being asked about the nature of Agent Aaron.
Cast of Characters:	Phobos, Black Widow (Romanoff)

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Phobos has posed:
    The image flickers to life on the monitor at first as a burst of a few colors in sequence then green text that flits past with alphanumerics to identify security details for the recording. Two seconds later there are a series of beeps in different pitches followed with white text with black borders on the screen declaring simply, 'Saturday, September 15th, 2029. 12:29 PM.'
    A gravelly voice is heard, with the words captured by the same captioning, "Agent Hammond. Security number Papa Lima Tango 947097. Conducting serial interviews regarding the events transpiring on the date of September 9th, 2029 in the Petrov province of Greater Sokovia. Presiding authorities are the United Nations Security Council and the United States Joint Chiefs Review Board."
    There's a hiss and a break in the image, then the camera readjusts to shift focus on a young man with brown hair sitting alone in a room on a wooden chair, hands in his lap, wearing the combat uniform of a SHIELD Tactical Response Team member.
    "Agent Nelson." Nelson's information flashes onto the screen depicting his short history with SHIELD. "Are you comfortable? Can I get you something to drink?"
    "Sir?"
    "Can I get you something to drink?"
    "No." There's a pause then he adds, "No, sir."
    "Are you ready to talk about what happened during field operation 8797?"
    Nelson says something, the captioning declares, /unintelligible/.
    Silence hangs there for a time. Neither the interviewer nor interviewee seem inclined to break it.

    The screen shifts, a tall red-headed woman sits in the chair with her arms folded. She wears the same uniform as Nelson but her expression is more stern, more angry. Then there's the click of a door and her attention snaps up toward it most likely. There's the scrape of a chair and then Agent Hammond's voice.
    "Sorry to have kept you waiting."
    No answer comes from the woman though she maintains that air of restrained anger.
    There's a creak from the chair even as the woman with 'O'Hara' on her fatigues watches her interrogator steadily. Eventually Hammond speaks again.
    "I'm just trying to get to the bottom of matters and I need to piece things together. I appreciate your cooperation in this."
    O'Hara says with a snarl, "Not like I have a choice."
    "You do. But trust me it's in your best interest that you're here. I'm sure your lawyer made you aware of that."
    She doesn't answer.
    "I'll try not to keep you too long." Then there's a pause. The sound of papers shuffling. A period of thirty seconds of silence. Then Hammond's voice. "Did you know that Agent Aaron was a supernatural being?"

    The camera cuts away again. Only now it's a different red-headed woman seated in a similar chair... not the same one. But a very very similar room.
    "Agent Romanoff. Thank you for coming in. I've read your report. I think you know what I'm going to ask you."
    A pause.
    "What's not in the reports about Agent Aaron?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
They had kept her waiting for a bit. It was a normal tactic. They likely would be in and out of the room a few times as well, consulting with others who were watching behind mirrors as the interviews progressed. She'd done the same sort of work in the past herself. She knew how the game was played. Hell, she'd probably helped invent it back in the day before it became commonplace in tv and movies.

"I don't understand the question," she said simply as she maintained her calm. She was the person they used as their mark for lying. They had yet to be able to created any form of tech that she couldn't beat. Yet here they had sent in a single person to interview her in the hopes he could do just that thing.

"Everything that is pertinent to the investigation is in the report."

Phobos has posed:
    Hammond's voice isn't heard for a stretch of ten seconds as the sound of paper pages slowly turning can be heard in the backgroud. There's the click-ca-click of a pen as its button is pressed and released several times in what is likely idle contemplation. Then there's the sound of a man exhaling slowly before speaking.
    "The timelines are a point of concern."
    Silence between them likely as he hasn't asked a question yet and Natasha isn't one to volunteer information out of hand.
    "Do you know if Director Fury was aware of Agent Aaron's nature before the incident?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"You would have to ask Director Fury that question. Or perhaps one of the telepaths in WAND might be able to assist you in learning the information directly." Natasha's voice was conversational. But it was a valid point. Even as it sidestepped actually answering the question.

A shift of the screen brought a new person sitting in a chair in a room, like all the others. Only this one was Director Fury himself, settled into the small wooden chair and looking at ease. The eyepatch was in place, as always, and he wore his usual SHIELD uniform though no trenchcoat at this point. Since he had just come down from his office at the time for the interview.

He had not been kept waiting as long as others. Though he might be under the same requirements to appear for an interview, he was still the Director.

"How is that important?" he asked flatly. "If I did or did not, it doesn't change what happened. It doesn't mean I could predict what he would do."

Phobos has posed:
    "It would mean, sir." Hammond's voice has a measure of respect to it, but also a bit of combativeness as he speaks.
    "That you knowingly placed an entity of unknown power and ability in a combat unit. An unknown quantity. A timebomb, if you will, for his comrades to discover one way or another. As a what, an experiment?"
    There's a measure of conflicting strain to the investigating agent's voice. But then the screen shifts and Natasha Romanoff is once again center stage.
    There's a pause then as the spymistress seems so entirely at ease with the proceedings. Then Hammond's voice. "Perhaps if I rephrase the question."
    "Did you have any reason to suspect Director Fury knew of Agent Aaron's nature before he was assigned into the Tactical Response Team? You, yourself knew, did you not?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I knew." That's not really going to be a surprise to anyone. It's known they are in a relationship. It would be rather unusual for someone with her skills to be lied to and have something that major hidden while being in contact with the person on a daily basis.

"But it made no difference if I knew. Or Director Fury knew. Or if you had known. What happened would have still happened in the circumstances. His reactions were understandable and, honestly, to be expected in that situation. There are numerous accounts from military, law enforcement. Do we really need to try to point blame here?"

Phobos has posed:
    "Some people really want to, Agent Romanoff." Hammond's voice sounds tired, a little put upon. But then he takes another deep breath before speaking again.
    "It matters, because if his team knew who he was, what he could do..." There's the creak of the chair again and Hammond's voice sounds somehow closer to whatever microphone is recording him. "Then the situation could have been handled differently. If you have a super powered individual available in a firefight, you don't have him shooting the same pea-shooter as the other grunts. You have him in front doing his thing. It's as much a failing of any of the senior staff as it is Fury's. To let this... alien, play soldier while he could have wrapped up the entire insurgency in what... days? Hours? By himself."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Alien." Natasha repeats the word and there is something that changes in her. A slight shift. It's not really visible to the outside but to Hammond, he could almost feel the shift in energy in the room most likely. A feeling that might make him uncomfortable. That might become visible on camera should he shift or lick his lips nervously.

The other video contiued with Fury shaking his head. Apparently answering the same sort of question or comment as had been posed to Agent Romanoff in her portion.

"Being aware that someone is something other than human doesn't mean you know what they can do." Carefully phrased by the Director as he fixed Hammond with that single-eyed glare. "Yes, you can send in the Avengers. Or the Justice League. Hell, the Fantastic Four have stopped world invasions before. When it is appropriate. You don't throw a nuke at what is a normal operation. Those are saved for extenuating circumstances. Extreme."

Phobos has posed:
    "So you are saying you were ignorant of his abilities, but knew that he perhaps possessed them." Which might be somewhat helpful of Hammond, or at the least seem that way somehow.
    Which is left there to hang as the camera focuses in on Fury's face, narrowing in on his features as if looking for some hint of a twitch or a twinge.
    Then the face is replaced by a new one. A blond man in his forties with a burn mark on his cheek and a sour expression there as well.
    "Agent Riley, you were the pilot of the lead quinjet during incident 8797. Correct."
    Riley responds after clearing his throat and says precisely. "That is, indeed, correct. Sir."
    "It was from your flight vehicle that we recovered the feed of what happened. But you claim you did not witness the events directly."
    "Claim, nothing. I didn't see shit." Riley scowls as he shifts in his seat. Then remembers as an afterthought. "Sir. I was too busy dodging AA fire, didn't have time to keep an eyeball on the grunts on the ground more than to make sure they got clear of the ramp."
    Hammond says nothing more, though there's a bit of time and the sound of pages turning again. Then he asks, "So you did not witness Agent Kelso and Agent Aaron coming under fire as you lifted off?"
    "No, sir. I did not."
    "You've seen the tape, however. Correct?"
    Agent Riley scowls, looks away. Then shakes his head, "Yes, I've seen it."
    "So if you would please, tell me what you were doing during the time of Agent Kelso's death. For the record."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
The petite redhead looked directly at Hammond for a moment then opted to answer. All of this was in the report. They both knew it. But again, they wanted to try to keep the person being interrogated on their toes, look for any holes in the information provided.

"I was at the opposite end of the facility. I was on foot trying to infiltrate while they were drawing attention to the opposite direction. I had gained entry through an air conditioning duct. As I found myself seeing power armor, that appeared to be of a Latverian design, being prepped to send in against our agents. I was not aware of what was happening outside my area, at that time. I learned about it after...everything went sideways." That was about the best way to put it.

"I attempted to notify the team about the power armor so they could change tactics or retreat."

Phobos has posed:
    There was that scrape of metal on the floor as whatever chair Hammond was in shifted a little. Then a small tap-tap-tap was heard and only Natasha Romanoff would know it was the sound of the man tapping his pen against the side of the manila folder he held in his hands.
    "So you were out of position to shepherd the TRT. Was that a role you had in the past when Agent Aaron was in the field? Kept an eye on him in case matters went sideways? How quickly did you try to rejoin the team?" The last question is murmured quickly on the tail of the others.
    But then the screen changes and it's Agent Riley that answers.
    "I tried to come in again, low and across the tree-line, keeping my silhouette small as I could but they had some hefty tech. Tried to signal I was coming in for pick up when the comms lit up."
    There's hesitation then as Riley lowers his eyes, frowns, then looks back up. "You can always tell when someone's been hit. The comms just... go haywire for a bit. Sometimes longer if it's a green crew on the ground."
    "A sign of panic?" Hammond asks.
    "Sometimes," Riley answers. "I heard people calling out for emergency evac. Heard them calling for a medic."
    "And Agent Aaron?"
    Riley frowns and shakes his head, looks to the side with his teeth working against the inside of his cheek as if chewing something over. He grimaces then looks back. "I just heard him say Agent Kelso was hit. Then... think that was the moment he cut comms."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Such phrasing. Trying to spin the narrative to something having been done wrong. Sadly, from what she had seen, everything had been done right. It just had gone terribly wrong. Not from the fault of anyone. It was just how things happened sometimes. Anyone in their field knew that.

Even Agent Hammond knew it. But he was doing his job. Devil's advocate. Because others would try to do this same thing. Try to find someone to blame. Everyone tried someone to blame when lives were lost and sometimes there was no one to blame. It was just the bad guys being what they were.

"That question has several parts so going to address each."

So that he couldn't take a no as covering all of it or a yes in the same way. "I was not out of position. I was where I was supposed to be in the situation. That position was not one that put me close to the TRT, as that was the point. I have been on many assignments with this response team. It was not because I was supposed to monitor Agent Aaron. When you are part of the team, you are monitoring each other. Helping each other. You have the back of your teammate. It's that simple. Agent Aaron was not someone being kept under survillance any more so than any other teammate. He is part of the team." Not was. She wasn't going to use that word, as true as it might be.

"As I heard the comms go crazy, I worked on finishing my assignment. I managed to get the data from the computer and then headed for the opposite side of the facility as quickly as I could."

Phobos has posed:
    "I didn't know he cut comms." Agent Nelson's young face flickered back into place. "I knew... I knew Kelso got hit." He says that simply. Curtly. "I saw him kick up like... I don't know. Like when a horse loses its patience with someone and just... yeah."
    Nelson shakes his head and says, "I was trying to make it over there, but we were taking so much fire..."
    Agent O'Hara's voice comes in, answering the same question most likely. "We could barely see across to them. Part of the tower wreckage had fallen and..." She bites her lower lip, takes a breath, and says. "We lost visual." As she settles back into routine and the parlance.
    Then Agent Romanoff's features returned, though now the image was zoomed in, as if looking for the tiniest most miniscule tell that might be there in her eyes as Hammond asked, "Were you able to see what happened next? On your way back toward the response team?"
    A beat, and then he adds as a tail to his first question, "And when were you aware that Agent Aaron was going AWOL."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
There is no twitch. No change. Her expression remains neutral. Natasha answers the question with the same tone she has all the others. Not giving away anything to those who would be analyzing for micro expressions and speech patterns.

It probably would be frustrating for them. Since she was the one closest to Agent Aaron of all those that were being interviewed.

"On my way to them, I circled through the area with the Power Armor, dropping charges as I went, in the hopes of keeping them from getting added to the situation. Once I was out of range, I blew that holding area. I believe it worked. Never went back to check but didn't see them later.

"As such, I was not able to see what happened next. I was not present when Agent Aaron began to engage with the enemy. By the time I arrived, he had already moved well inside and all I could see were the bodies that had been left behind."

Phobos has posed:
    There's that tap-tap-tap sound again as the camera just focuses on Natasha's features as she holds that implacable look. The camera zooms in further. Then stops for a period of ten seconds.
    And suddenly Fury's once again in center screen. Hammond's voice is heard again, "The issues at hand, Director Fury, is the UN does not understand how an alien was allowed to slip into the ranks of SHIELD. How it could cause an international incident. Also the security council wants to know what is going to be done about it to make sure such a situation... does not repeat."
    There's some time as Hammond's voice falls silent, and Fury doesn't answer right away. The camera flits briefly through thermographic vision, to an infrared setting, then back to normal display as it holds on Fury.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"First, I'm going to say this. Just because someone is an alien, a superhuman, or anything else that is different, doesn't automatically make them someone to suspect of wrong doing. That's like assuming everyone that is differnt from you in some way must be evil. It's wrong. We evaluate people based on their character and actions, not their genetics."

Fury didn't bother trying to keep a straight face. He was frowning as he continued. "Any agent may have snapped in the same type of scenario. To see their best friend killed in front of their eyes? There have been human agents who have reacted the same way as Agent Aaron. Yet I don't see this level of inquiry being leveled in their direction."

Then he expression shifted to the normal business face, as his voice took the tone of someone repeating something that was memorized. "Agent Aaron has been suspended without pay until the inquiry is completed. Any disciplinary action will be decided upon the board's findings."