13955/Fortunate Son: Prologue

Fortunate Son: Prologue
Date of Scene:	21 November 2021
Location:	Ready Room, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	The time has come to take the fight back to HYDRA and finish the evil that Stuck and Clayton have started once and for all. But first, planning! Who let Bucky name an operation anyway?!
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Quake, Phantasm (Drago), Liansong "Song" Qing, Yaozu Lin
Tinyplot:	Fortunate Son

---

Winter Soldier has posed:
    The messages started arriving a few days ago, a summons to a mission briefing to be held in the usual place, at the mostly usual time, by Agent Barnes... which is, most assuredly, not usual. There may have been one or two nervous glances from some people as they receive this invitation, and quite possibly a very quick trawl through recent operations to see if any kind of egregious error was committed. When you are summoned to be in the same room as the Winter Soldier, there is cause for concern...

    On the afternoon of the briefing, various agents, operatives and technicians gather in the Ready Room of the operations wing, many of them punctiliously on time. And yet it's the man himself that's nearly twenty seconds late. James Buchanan Barnes enters escorting a man wearing a very conspicuous 'Visitor' tag, who he invites to sit on a chair on the edge of the briefing area where everyone can see him, and he can get a look at everyone else.

    Surprisingly, or perhaps suspiciously, the room lights do not dim when Bucky makes his way to the lectern/desk, where he fiddles around with the controls for a moment until the very familiar spinning 'SHIELD' logo appears on the briefing screen behind him. He looks up, holding the gaze of various people for an uncomfortable moment, and then looks out into the room at large. "Thank you all for being well on time."

    Starting as he means to go on, then.

Quake has posed:
Skye wasn't surprised by Bucky. Not at all. But then again she wasn't the most usual Shield Agent either.

She quickly came in just after him, and took a seat by the back. Ever since she was rescued, she wasn't herself. At all. Sure she showed up to work, and puttered on her laptop, but something was bothering her. She just did not say what.

She looks to the guest, and back to Bucky as if to say: Who is it?

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Of those at the meeting Nick has probably got the most advanced notice to show up here. Until now though he wasn't sure where here was. And to be honest, he probably still does not know. People can really get turned around during these things.

Nick is the one wearing a visitor tag but as to the purpose of his being there it's not readily apparent to the way he looks. He's just wearing basic street clothes. No lab coat, no high end suit to indicate status. He's indoors so the knit cap got shoved into a pocket and the bit of case of knit cap head and hastily made ponytail he's sporting kind of eliminates any lingering 'rockstar' like qualities to his appearance. Despite being led in by the Winter Soldier, he's...not all that nervous looking towards him. The awkward part of the visit was done with. Or so he thinks, and he takes the seat that Bucky directs him to. He glances towards the people filtering in, looking back over to Bucky as he starts.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
This is a room Liansong has been into a fair few times since he's arrival in this country. His feathers today are entirely white. He hasn't dyed them in some time. Really, the feaathers match the pink beak and talons far better than the black had. Liansong isn't really aware of much surrounding the Winter Soldier, other than general things that he sees in the news. On the rare occasions he bothers to watch it. So being summoned isn't really all that worrisome for him.

At least, not to appearances. His feathers are slightly fluffed out above and under the lab coat he wears. Pant legs peek beneath the bottom of the lab coat, but there are no shoes or socks to hide the four toed, feathered and taloned feet he has. Those talons click softly on the white tile of the floor as he walks through the door and then over to a chair. He turns it backward and sits down on it. His tail is spread out behind, its tip brushing the floor.

His ear tufts perk up at the visitor who's escorted in, and his crystal blue eyes focus on him. There's nothing quite like having something that looks like an owl's full attention. Liansong's entire attention is focused on the visitor for a few seconds. And then is transferred to the Winter Soldier, where it all focuses on him instead. He bobs a nod, acknowledging the thanks, but doesn't speak.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
Sometimes, things do happen at the usual place and the usual time. Lin Yaozu had been one of those who had received the messages in regards to the briefing, and it had perked his curiosity. Not that it took overly much to do that, mind. The name of the one doing the briefing doesn't seem to give him a great amount of concern, although that could be on account of the fact that he's only been in the United States for a little over six months.

For himself, he's arrived a bit on the slightly early side of things, a step or two behind Liansong. Before the man who would be doing the briefing. There's a glance towards the visitor, a moment taken to look him over briefly, his ear tufts lifting out of curiosity. But Yaozu remains quiet for the moment. In contrast to Liansong, his feathers are black as night. He follows Liansong and claims a chair near to him, following suit by turning it backwards to sit on it that way. He wears a set of traditional Chinese robes, a leaf green shade with pale green to trim them. He folds his forearms across the top of the back of the chair and simply... waits. His right hand slips into the sleeve of his left arm, and the left slips into that of the right, his hands thus vanishing from sight. All in its own time.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Every one of you has been personally selected, with one exception." Bucky continues, noting that some agents are trying to hide a sigh of relief, or are desperately trying to mop sweat from their brow without making it obvious that's what they're doing. There are a few who look stoic and unconcerned, those are the ones who have cultivated the art of screaming on the inside. And then James motions towards Nick.

    "This is Nick Drago, and a few hours ago he came in voluntarily." For the spy community 'coming in' has a very specific meaning. It means someone who was either working for or was approached by a rival organisation has instead opted to work with them. "Some of you may know that I have been working covertly on an investigation, and that I haven't been very talkative about it. Some already know..." and here he glances briefly at Skye "... but for the sake of others, the brief summary of this investigation is that we have uncovered several HYDRA led operations."

    A click of an old fashioned thumb clicker, and the screen begins to display five names.

    Groundbreaker

    Wayward Son

    Nightingale

    Legacy

    Prodigy

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The flash of white and black feathers in Nick's side vision does cause for him to glance back towards the two feathered persons.Seeing two feathery persons side by side, he headtilts for a moment before looking back over to Bucky.

...Just in time to see him being gestured towards. The musician looks back towards the others as he's being introduced. As Nick sees some sets of eyes directed towards him, he gives a small nod in acknowledgement before looking back towards the presentation. He's heard this part before but, perhaps hearing it again would make it seem a bit more real.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
Liansong remains a silent as only an owl tends to be. At least, only when hunting. He doesn't even turn his head to look back to the introduced guest. The name is filed away in that brain of his, of course. His head only turns when the screen changes, turning to regard it. The names listed are also filed away.

After he reads the names, Liansong's crystal blue eyes close. He listens, and sorts through what he knows. Whatever that might be, in the moment, Liansong isn't sharing. His eyes open again and he focuses back on both the words being spoke, and the room in general.

Quake has posed:
Hydra.

That wasn't a name she remembered fondly. Not at all. With a single word, Bucky had brought her up to spec, without anything at all. Her laptop was suddenly in play, using the dark web, she was already on it.

Skye was quiet as she trolled the webs, putting the interesting ones in the corner, just in case.

"You realize, they hate me." The Red Tide fiasco was still in some people's brains. And not in a good way.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
Personally selected? That's a curious sort of thing, in and of itself. His hands move faintly where they are hidden within the sleeves of his robes, a minute adjustment of position. His gaze turns towards the visitor when the fellow is gestured towards, and he tilts his head a touch to one side, a flicker of curiosity showing in his eyes. The name of the visitor doesn't draw any manner of reaction from him. It's not a name he knows or a name he has a reason to know. Yaozu stays quiet, and he keeps listening.

The avian turns his attention towards the screen when the names come up on it, and he tilts his head to one side. The names have no particular meaning to him. Hydra, though, is a name that has some familiarity even if more by reputation tha other reasons. There's a brief glance cast towards Liansong, but then his attention turns to the front of the room once more.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "I'm aware of a bit of enmity they may have towards you, Agent Johnson, yes." Bucky responds in a deadpan, quirking a brow for a moment. "It could even be said that they have some slight feelings of displeasure towards myself."

    Pause.

    The name 'Groundbreaker' is highlighted and it enlarges, showing the pictures of several people. One is clearly Nick, the others are a woman (deceased), and several men, all but two of which are listed as deceased. "Operation Groundbreaker started out as an operation by the DEA to infiltrate the criminal underworld by planting an undercover agent in the New York area. Classic strategy, and they chose the right agent for the job. It could be said that without Savio Drago..." And one of the men not listed as currently dead is highlighted. "... operation Groundbreaker would never have succeeded. Unfortunately, after 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security wanted in on the action, convinced that some of these major drug dealers were funding terrorist cells, or could be used to trace terrorist cells. They kept most of the DEA agents in place, and started adding their own. This initial expansion was overseen by two rapidly rising agents within DHS, Stuck and Clayton." Two more pictures highlighted, one dead, one missing.

    "Unfortunately, these two DHS agents have recently been discovered to be HYDRA operatives. They seeded their own agents within Groundbreaker, and subverted it for their own uses, which we will come to soon. Suffice to say that this all required the cooperation of the DEA agents in place. Which became problematic when, after a decade undercover, Agent Drago wanted out."

    Another portrait swims to the fore, linked to Stuck and Clayton. "Meet Malcolm Morretti. He was despatched to eliminate the reason Agent Drago wanted out, thereby keeping him loyal. Agent Drago was involved with one Eileen Hannigan, who was murdered in cold blood by Morretti and his associate, Green." Oddly, no portrait comes up for that name. "The only survivor of that attack was one Michael Drago, then ten years old."

    A brief glance towards Nick. Bucky's expression is neutral, as if he can't be seen to be sympathetic in front of the assembled agents, but his gaze lingers before he goes back to facing the rest of the room. "Morretti was betrayed by his friend Green when he tried to kill Michael Drago at the same time. Green gave Morretti up to the police, Morretti was picked up and interrogated by Stuck. Stuck claimed to have gotten information about a bomb threat from Morretti during the interrogation, a plea deal was made, Morretti disappeared into witsec." Another picture now, of an older Morretti on a slab in a morgue "Didn't disappear nearly far enough."

    "About a year ago, Mister Drago reached out to me to ask for assistance, to uncover the truth about the odd circumstances of his mother's murder. I agreed, and stumbled on Groundbreaker. But this is only the tip of a very, very rancid iceberg."

Quake has posed:
Now she had reason to look up Mr. Nick Drago.

Well, well, well. It seems that Nick was a busy bee, and how.

Skye quickly covered those windows with other windows. "Which is.. where do I sign up. It's been awhile since I met up with those guys. Can't imagine letting them think I'd forgotten about them." It's true, she'd been 'off the job' while she learned to practice and refine her powers.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick watches as the faces appear on the screen. Pale eyes focus upon the picture of the woman labeled deceased. Whie he hadn't been smiling before, there is the slight down turn to the line of his mouth.

When Savio's picture highlights and is identified, Nick's glance shifts over to that picture. His attention doesn't shift as Bucky continues on highlighting Stuck and Clayton. But upon the mentioning of Moretti, his attention shifts over. Confirming with his own eyes the identity of the man who shot his mom. He glances away at the morgue photo that pops up afterwards. Although not mentioned in the presentation, it is apparent from the photo that it was NOT a peaceful death. Damn Punisher. Just

Damn.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
The personally selected bit had gotten no reaction from Liansong. He doesn't care either way, honestly. And it shows. Far more interesting is the details being spoken of. His head turns to look at Nick Drago for a moment, then back to the screen.

Whatever he might be thinking doesn't show as anything except for feathers slicked back a little bit. Maybe it was the state of Moretti's 'not so peaceful' death. Then again, he can't possibly be a vegetarian owl, can he?

Quake has posed:
Skye scowls at the pictures Bucky was portraying. She knew how some had shuffled off this mortal coil, and it wasn't pretty to say the least. She was in the next room on one occasion, in fact. (She was still filling out the records in duplicate.)

"So.. What do you want from us, basically?"

Short and to the point.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
Briefly, Yaozu's ear tufts lay flat as he looks to the name that enlarges on the screen, and he tilts his head a touch to one side as those feathery tufts lift again. There's a glance that he casts towards the visitor as the fellow's picture comes up on the screen. He remains quiet, listening attentively to what's being said. Much like Liansong who sits near to him. If he has any questions about the information that has been shared, he doesn't ask. The picture of the deceased is... disturbing, but better to see a picture than to see it in person. It's a degree of separation, at least.

His gaze turns to Skye for a moment as she speaks, a touch of curiosity reflecting in his eyes. His attention shifts to their visitor, studying the fellow for a lingering moment. He is still and quiet, listening, and he glances to Liansong for a moment before his attention turns back to the front.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "An excellent question."

    Another presentation, this time shortly after highlighting 'Wayward Son'. "This is where things get interesting. While investigating Groundbreaker, I became aware that the interest Stuck and Clayton had in Mister Drago was more than circumstantial. For one, Agent Stuck remained as a handler in the New York area when his long time partner Clayton was moved up. Groundbreaker went from strength to strength, but Stuck hung around..." those who were waiting for Bucky to say 'stuck around' groan for a moment in disappointment "... until Michael Drago was old enough to move out of his aunt's place in Hell's Kitchen."

    This presentation has the pictures of Nick, Stuck and Clayton at the top, the latter two connected in a dizzying pattern with dozens of other pictures, some even looping back. It's clear that there was a lot of investigation on this part. "From information lately received, we surmise that Stuck and Clayton were attempted to recruit Mister Drago into HYDRA. And for that reason, they made sure his childhood and teenage years were a living hell. Several police officers, some fairly high ranking, were bought off or corrupted, and any complaint made of harassment by Mister Drago's aunt to protect him, disappeared. This was done by direct order of Stuck and Clayton, of which we have nearly ten years of encoded message logs." VERY thorough.

    "Something about the refusal of Agent Drago to play ball must have triggered a realisation within this particular HYDRA cell that recruitment was lacking, and greater efforts should be put into finding recruits that are loyal, obedient, and intelligent. Mister Drago was their guinea pig, to the best of our knowledge. This became known as Operation Wayward Son."

    A brief pause to look at Nick.

    "Suffice to say, they failed. Operation Wayward Son can be said to be dead."

    Again, he faces the room. "This leaves us with three more recruitment projects that we have uncovered, either recently or in the relatively recent past. Nightingale, Legacy, and Prodigy."

Quake has posed:
Skye looks over to Nick, and while she addresses Bucky, her gaze never wavers from Nick.

"Which can only mean, WHY did so much investment on one little boy. Hydra doesn't do things haphazardly." She had been the victim of several of Hydra 'plots' from her birth. And she knew how come they were interested in her.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Hearing Skye's question, Nick glances up, looking to Bucky for a moment. Nothing's said between the two but some agreement is made before he looks over to Skye, "We think it started out because of who my father is." He pauses, "Savio Drago." He adds in, clarifying for those who may have been checking their phones or laptops when Bucky was going over that part.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
For Liansong, the picture is more than enough to know what it would be like in person. A little shudder passes through him, making his feathers quiver before they all slick back, lying tight to his skin. Even his ear tufts have flattened themselves. He takes a visible breath, wings shifting against his back as he resettles them.

He turns his attention forcibly from his thoughts, and to Skye as she talks. His feathers fluff up again, ear tufts rising as his head turns to Bucky to watch him. He looks like an owl hunting a mouse, with the concentration he now gives to the Winter Soldier.

The words have his feathers slicking back, and those crystal blue eyes look to Nick again. There might be sympathy there. But the raptor features make it difficult to tell. The revelation of who the man's father is doesn't seem to surprise Liansong.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
As the next presentation is begun, Yaozu tilts his head a touch to one side. Listening, and watching. The reaches of Hydra seem to be ever more vast than he might imagine, which makes it a good thing that there are others who sift through the data to determine such things. He can see Liansong in his peripheral vision, to see his reaction to the picture, yet he remains mostly still and holds his attention to the presentation. He slips his hands free from his sleeves, rests his elbows on the back of the chair, then interlaces his talon-tipped fingers together a bit beyond the back of the chair. A mark, a tattoo, on the back of his left hand may or may not be glimpsed, should any happen to look in his direction.

His gaze turns towards their visitor, studying him for a moment before his gaze slips over to Skye. His beak makes a soft snicking sound, and he gives a small nod to agree with what she's said. Indeed. Why devote so much attention and effort to one boy, to one person? Wouldn't their purpose be better served to spread out the effort more? It's a curious thing, to his way of thinking, at least.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    There is a moment of tension when Skye asks the question, and Bucky glances over to Nick. There's nothing said, there's no nod or anything clearly visible, and Bucky lets Nick answer the question before he jumps in. "Without Savio, the operation would fall apart, as they already knew. Keeping Nick under their control would give them leverage over Savio. That was, to the best of what we could discover, their original intent. But the operation itself may have been intended to be broader, and Nick was simply the first victim, the one they would use to perfect their techniques."

    Another click, and this time 'Nightingale' is higlighted. "Wayward Son was not alone in going that route, Nightingale also started with a single subject. The lead on this project was Doctor Eissen, a brilliant geneticist, who tried to work around the problem of there being no available recruits by simply making some."

    This time a man is highlighted, wearing round glasses, with a short grey beard. He looks amiable, like someone's kind grand uncle. But this portrait too declares that this man is deceased. "Doctor Eissen became disillusioned with several setbacks in the project, and from what we can tell had become emotionally attached to the first subject, a genetically engineered clone grown from disparate samples of persons HYDRA believed to have the correct genetic traits. This was a project we believe was fiercely opposed by Clayton, who favored another program. When Doctor Eissen approached us to defect, on the condition we also liberated the subject, this information leaked to DHS, where it came to the attention of Agent Clayton, who was then Deputy Director of Operations. Doctor Eissen was betrayed, and murdered on the night of the extraction. We believe the subject then went rogue, and terminated the rest of the base. Our field team extracted the subject."

    While talking about 'the subject', it's clear Bucky is avoiding any identifying details. There's no picture, and the presentation at this point simply shows 'CLASSIFIED -- Clearance lvl. Dir. Fury --'.

    "The subject has fully integrated in society, and is occasionally approached as a consultant, code name 'Bean'. You will forget you heard that name when you leave this room."

    "It can be concluded that Nightingale is also dead, which leaves us with the meat of the matter... Legacy, and Prodigy."

Quake has posed:
"I was under their watch from the moment I was born. My mother was the reason. They took her away, but not before SHIELD had interrupted them. They.." Skye looked around the room before continuing. "They put me in foster care, and made it impossible to adopt me. And quietly forgot about me."

There were air quotes around 'forget'. In theory. In actuality, no. Fury had a special level ten file just for her. She was the first 084 to be human, or in her case, partly human. He only misplaced her when she escaped foster care at 14. And there her story really begins.

"So I know what it is like."

Now Bucky, as well as Liansong and Yaozu, heard a little bit more of Skye's past too.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick's eyes shift over to Bucky to the mention of Nightingale and the story of the extraction. The mention of the code name does get a bit of a short lived half smile. Seemed an appropriate title for one so short. He takes the fully integrated comment for what its worth and considers it welcome news.

And they're only halfway through on these projects.

As Skye adds in a bit of a personal touch to what she experienced, Nick's head turns to look back towards her. Considering things, it seems like maybe SHIELD learned a little bit from Skye's situation and improved on it with Bean's. From what he saw of that school, it seemed like a nice place.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
By contrast with the other avian, Liansong makes not a sound. Brilliant geneticist. Liansong sits up straighter, though his arms still rest in front of him over the back of the chair he sits backward in. His blue eyes narrow. There might be a hint of curiousity about him when the 'subject' is mentioned, but there's far more for this deceased geneticist.

His head swivels to focus on Skye as she speaks on her past. That focused attention fixes on her for the duration of her speaking. After, he actually takes a moment to focus on the room at large, taking in everyone's expression without turning his head overly much. Bonus of an owl's eyesight. Great peripheral vision.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
Children make their parents vulnerable. Loved ones can make anyone vulnerable. Yaozu's feathers slick down a bit as he gives that particular notion a bit more thought than he perhaps ought to do in this moment. He has made some choices of his own for the sake of keeping family safe. His feathers fluff up a bit, and he still watches the presentation. Given the avian nature of his features, he's not the easiest person to read. He is, no doubt, aware of Liansong's reaction without even looking towards him. The benefit of an owl's sight, indeed.

The code name is one that he hasn't heard before, and he gives a small and single nod to the statement of forgetting the name upon exitting the room. His gaze flicks between the two remaiing names, and then his attention turns to Skye, watching her as he listens to what she says. He gives a small nod to her, but he remains, otherwise, relatively still and quiet, continuing to pay attention.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Bucky gives the room a minute or so to digest everything, and allow them to talk among themselves. Some agents are still suspicious as to why they're there, some are making notes. One is playing Galaga on his phone. That particular agent is the last one to realise the room is coming back to order, and is therefore the one that gets the full benefit of the Bucky Stare. "In your own time, Agent Patel?"

    To say the rest of the agents begin paying attention again is an understatement. They're focusing as if their life depends on it ... because it just might.

    "This is where you all come in. Starting with Operation Legacy." Again, the name is highlighted, and a few more portraits appear. Shocker, at the top are Stuck and Clayton. "There has been a noted uptick in promising Army non-coms leaving at the end of their first tour, and then joining DHS. This wouldn't be such a strange coincidence, if it wasn't for Agent Schmirler." A new portrait highlighted. This one, mercifully, still alive, though listed as 'AWOL'. "Agent Schmirler was an exemplary Corporal and was certain to make Sergeant when he renewed. Instead he left the Army, joined DHS, was posted undercover to Groundbreaker by Clayton and Stuck, and finally came unto my radar when he took a potshot at Mister Drago during an unrelated DHS operation. This, it turns out, was on the orders of Clayton and Stuck, who knew the family of Agent Colby Schmirler personally. Agent Schmirler was suspended from duty, again through Clayton and Stuck, as punishment for failing to assassinate Mister Drago on command."

    Brief pause, while the relationship spaghetti in the background starts up again. There are many other portraits, all of them bearing the DHS watermark, all of them listing 'deceased'. "Agent Schmirler, upon investigation, was quartered with other DHS agents already loyal to HYDRA, to further his indoctrination, and to keep an eye on him in case of sudden attacks of disloyalty. Agent Schmirler went missing from Bellevue psychiatric hospital after a psychological evaluation, we suspect he has broken with Stuck and Clayton, and has gone into hiding. He is, at this time, not wanted. I stress, Agent Schmirler is not wanted at this time."

    "All the agents on his team were found to be corrupt, all of them had cyanide pills hidden in their second molars, which is a clear indication of full HYDRA membership. From this we can surmise that the Operations department of DHS has been infiltrated and compromised. And part one of this operation will be to clean it up. With prejudice."

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs. Yes, SHIELD learned a lot by her mistakes.

As for this operation there were two reasons, immediately, to put her in it. The hatred of Hydra, and that her past seemed very close to Nick, were the two most prominent. And surely there were more.

"In other words we can expect fuck all from any goverment agency. So what else is new."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick brings a hand up to rub at the back of his neck as the kill order is brought up. You'd think after all the time he's been on stage, he'd be used to being in a room full of people where the main topic keeps bringing his name up.

But then again, normally they're talking about music he did, or an acting role. This time around, the material's not as pleasant.

Skye's comment gets Nick looking back over towards Skye. There's a small rush of air from a short lived chuckle that doesn't even merit an open mouth. He's not about to contest that. After all, take a look at the DEA, NYPD, WITSEC, and DHS in just this presentation alone.

But then again, Nick recently found out a majority of his life was built on lies, so maybe he'll just keep the commentary to himself.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
One of those that's still wondering why he's here is Liansong. Though the bit about the geneticist has him wondering if it's not something to do with that, given his background in that very thing. His crytal blue eyes move back to the Winter Soldier, and then to the screen. Operation Legacy. Interesting. Liansong finally makes a sound. A quiet snort of a snicker on the heels of Skye's words. Government agencies are, in a nutshell, all untrustworthy. Including the one they work for, ostensibly.

"No shit," he says, accent proclaiming that he's probably from Down Under. Though whether he's being sarcastic, or agreeing, or both, is unclear. Then his beak gapes open a little, in what might be a smile. "Just means we have ta relie on each other instead." His blue eyes return to the Winter Soldier. His feathers fluff out round his face and the back of his neck, but he says nothing further. Maybe he's holding back his inner sarcasm?

Yaozu Lin has posed:
It's a fair-sized chunk of everything to take in. Yaozu remains as he often is -- quiet and still. Yet his gaze turns towards the one agent who plays a game on his phone, simply staring in that steadfast way that owls have. His hands move slightly, the fingers of his right hand lightly brushing across the back of his left hand, and then he slips his hands back into his sleeves.

As so many photos come up with the 'deceased' notification on them, Yaozu simply glances over each of them in turn. He gives a small nod at the well emphasized point that Schmirler is not wanted, for that is something to keep in mind. He looks in Skye's direction at her words, but as he doesn't know enough of the government here, he remains as quiet as he's been all along. He glances towards Song when the other avian speaks, and he makes a soft 'mm' sound before giving a small nod after the words about relying on each other.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "You are correct in thinking that DHS will not be happy with our interference. Which is why I don't propose to tell them until we're raiding their offices and rounding up suspects." Bucky mentions, with just a ghost of a smile. "Their Deputy Director of Operations, Alonso Stuck, was a HYDRA plant. Their Director of Operations, Agent Clayton, was a HYDRA plant. At this point, we must assume all high level operatives in that agency are suspect. That means building profiles, checking routines, checking backgrounds, contacts, the works." And this is the first real order he's given this entire briefing, the first concrete marching orders. "You know your own teams best. Patel, Dixon and Mayfield will have a list of high value targets. They're your coordinators for the shadow and scout."

    Attention then focuses on Liansong. "There will be samples taken from the targets before and after the snatch. I want to be sure these people are who they say they are, and not a deep cover infiltration agent that's had plastic surgery. It happens. That's your domain. Anything new we discover about Nightingale, especially genetic samples or cloning processes, will go into your custody as well."

    Next, Skye has his attention. "There's going to be a trove of documents, data and databases. You've done wonders on this case already, I'll need another two miracles at least."

    Then, finally, to the room at large. "Keep in mind that this operation was kickstarted by us discovering a plot to indoctrinate and recruit Mister Drago. He's very high up on their shit list right now, and everyone in this room, I do mean everyone, is responsible for his safety while we execute on DHS. And when this is done, when we have Legacy wrapped up, we'll go after Prodigy."

    A final look around. "Code name for this op, because they let me name it, will be Operation Fortunate Son. Questions?"

Quake has posed:
"Two? Only two?" But beside that dry voice her eyes are sparkling. Then she is all kinds of serious. "I'll start immediately." Which in Skye terms means she has already begun sweeping the web for any bit and pieces that pertain to this.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick looks over to Bucky to the mention of the safety comment. He doesn't say anything but the look on his face is pretty clear.

For the love of all that is holy.

Not THAT apartment again.

Liansong "Song" Qing has posed:
Liansong is silent up until the focus turns to him. He sits up straighter again and his ear tufts perk to full attention. "Yeah, Sir," he says immediately. Then pauses, head tilting at an angle to the right. "How soon can I get the before lists?" The rest he pays little mind to. Though, he considers. "If Mister Drago's safety is a priority, I might suggest he stay in this facility." Afterall, they can be reasonably sure that they're not HYDRA agents.

Yaozu Lin has posed:
The best type of raid is the one that the target doesn't see coming. It generally yields the most useful information and the most suspects into custody as well. Yaozu gives a faint nod at that piece of information. The string of logic that's lead to this particular conclusion where DHS is concerned is one that makes sense. His gaze turns towards Nick when his protection is mentioned, studying the fellow for a brief moment before his attention shifts back to the Winter Soldier.

Keeping someone safe sometimes isn't very cut and dried work. Sometimes, it involves a lot of cutting. He takes a couple of moments to consider the array of information that's been shared, and then he gives a small shake of his head. He has no questions, or perhaps it could be said that he has no questions that he chooses to ask. Either way, he remains as he's been -- quiet.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "An excellent suggestion." Bucky replies to Liansong, with that ghost of a smile again. "I had something of the sort in mind. As for the samples..." he looks over to Mayfield, who shrugs and then nods. "... a day, maybe two. Agent Mayfield will coordinate with you. And expect an outside consultant to join you for the duration, he should arrive soon."

    To skye "Two for now, many more later. In your own time." Which, in Bucky speak, basically means 'I won't have to check up on you'.

    His gaze then rests on Yaozu. "You've shown that you are quite adept at close protection and... thinking outside of the box. I may need you to join several teams at short notice, so be sure to acquaint yourself with both the shadowing and snatch teams, the lab, and Mister Drago."

    "If there's no further questions... dismissed!"

Yaozu Lin has posed:
Lin Yaozu is more than well aware of the gaze of the Winter Soldier resting upon him. Though his gaze turns to the man, he doesn't make direct eye contact -- some things take longer to change than others. China is different than here, and in some ways, he's still adjusting to those differences. "Mm," he affirms, giving a small nod. He could be considered versed in martial arts.

"Yes, sir. I will make the necessary preparations," he says, the words touched with a bit of his native Chinese accent. Which means that he'll make a point of touching base with those particular team members at the earliest opportunity for doing so. He has some familiarity with the lab already, given the assorted tests that he's been through himself. There's a glance given towards Nick, studying the fellow for a quiet and unblinking moment. And then they're dismissed, and he gets to his feet before neatly turning the chair about to tuck it in where he'd pulled it from. He turns then to make his way towards the exit, and perhaps some might catch a glimpse of the long braid as it slithers to settle between his wings.