14329/Just Another Walk In The Park

Just Another Walk In The Park
Date of Scene:	18 April 2022
Location:	Lower Manhattan, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Sarah ends up giving Clint and Nick more information than she was planning
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Phantasm (Drago), Sarah Connor

---

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Nestled between the road and the water, a few street vendors have found a nice profitable spot in the park where customers can eat their not-so healthy meals. Customers come mainly from the government officers around and from the Bellevue Hospital.

By this late sunny afternoon, those taking advantage of the park, its vendors and benches, can look at the river and the impressive Triskelion in the distance.

The Triskelion offers everything any SHIELD agent can need, and the food that can be found inside isn't bad. Though, more often, Hawkeye prefers to stay outside of SHIELD HQ, reminding himself of his relative independance from SHIELD. Sometimes, being in the spy/assassination gig can get to your nerves.

Today, Clint offered Nick Drago to accompany him to try the local culinary treats at the corner park. Nothing beats the greasy hotdogs and french fries.

"Howdy Sam," Clint salutes the vendor as he approaches the food cart, "Nice day, business must be good. I'll have two hotdogs, all dressed, and fries."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Also on the general bandwagon of not wanting to be inside the Trisk is one Nick Drago. So when Clint came by suggesting they set foot outside to get lunch instead of getting yet ANOTHER sandwich from the food court, Nick agreed.

The lengthy hair of the musician's pulled back and tucked into his shirt, making it seem shorter from a distance. The walk is reasonably quiet considering. The more interesting topic regarding Sarah's visit over at Fred's had already been addressed the first time Nick saw Clint.

He listens to Clint's order and in consideration gives a slight nod. That does sound tempting.

Sarah Connor has posed:
For the past couple of days, Sarah had been scoping the Triskelion. It was exactly what she'd thought: big, clinical, and full of agents. Not anywhere that she wanted to go voluntary. Except..

Except she had time to think about Nick's talk with her. Damn him, he had a point.

Today, she doesn't have her regular clothes for going out to work. Instead she felt more comfortable with tight pants, and a tank top, covered with a dark jean jacket. Of course she was carrying guns. Of course she was!

Sarah had already picked Clint out - there by the street vendor. What she was surprised to see was Nick. She still wasn't sure about him. Still.. maybe it was better that he was there. Last time she'd talked with Clint things had gone downhill fast. Really fast.

Maybe this time, closer to Clint home base would be better?

Walking up to the street vendor, she placed an order. "One veggie hotdog."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
After a moment, Sam the hotdog master hands Clint his order, with the side French fries and a small cup of ketchup. "There you go, buddy," Sam says with a smile. In return, Clint hands him two twenty dollar bills. 'Keep the change, nice day Sam."

Now, even in New York, two street vendor hotdogs and fries do not cost forty dollars. Before Nick questions this rather hefty tip, Clint turns on his heels and says in a low voice, "He has five kids and works three jobs."

And just as he was turning around and heading for a bench by the river, the archer caught sight of Sarah. A coincidence? Hawkeye does not believe in such things. Nonetheless, he walks away to the bench and not in her direction. If she's here, she has a reason and he'll discover it soon enough. In the meantime, he keeps an eye on her, just in case. Not that he's worried about himself, not one second. No. But if one of these Terms machine shows up, bullets will start flying around.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick's ears pick up Clint's lowly directed comment. Of course.

Tell him these things AFTER they've already left the room. As he is handed the same exact order as Clint due to the power of a nod, the musician gives a smile in response, fishing out what bills he had and passing them along. Not quite 40. But close.

As the vendor starts to fish out change, Nick shakes his head. "Nah that's alright." He declines as he starts turning to follow after Clint. The steps slow as a familiar sounding voice speaks up.

Oh you've got to be kidding him.

He moves towards the bench with a renewed purpose, glaring at Clint.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Clint has to have seen her. She made it simple to see her. Taking her time to buy her hotdog, Sarah slowly looked around, checking the park. So far, so good. So far nobody was paying attention to her. Even though she went another round just to be certain.

Clint isn't the only one who could see the potential attacks in waiting. Sarah could see that too. After all, she had lived with these threats for 17 years (and then some) - she's gotten really good at who doesn't belong here.

Unfortunately she didn't tip the guy. For her, a tip would mean she would stand out. Never a good thing for Sarah.

When her hotdog was done she sauntered to the bench and sat on the opposite side, and bit off a bit, chewing thoughtfully. "So, it's been brought to my attention that I owe you an explanation." Still looking around, not at him.

See Nick? She's making nice.. for now.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"What?" Clint asks his companion, who's glaring at him. "Oh? Lemme guess, you think my tip was ridiculous, is that it? Yeah, it /was/. Anything else, he'd consider charity. And struggling people don't like charity, trust me, they have pride. Been there, done that."

Oh yes, the archer has noticed Sarah getting her order and moving to sit on the opposite side. Figures, she wants to talk on his lunch break. Clint takes the time to take a bite of the hotdog, enjoying the crap-food. After a moment, he finally replies to her.

"You owe me nothing, you made it clear you didn't want to talk to me." Which is not exactly what he wanted to say, but this version is way more polite and more inviting. "Changed your mind?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
In the approach to the bench, Nick manages to wedge himself on the other side of the bench putting a Clint sized spacer between him and Sarah. Clint. That is YOUR contact. You talk.

Nick takes a bite of his hotdog to ensure that is the case.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Great. Nick is pushing Clint closer to her. WTF?

Sarah scowled at Nick. "Thanks alot." *Grumble.*

With Clint being so much closer, she turned. "What do you know about me? Really. You've got those people who look up anything about anyone. That's their job - isn't it? So what do you know about me?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
And then, the first hotdog is gone. Add to it a couple fries before the archer decides to reply. Being that close to Sarah doesn't seem to bother him one bit.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
And then, the first hotdog is gone. Add to it a couple fries before the archer decides to reply. Being that close to Sarah doesn't seem to bother him one bit.

"And it's obvious we aren't the only ones to do it," the archer replies, glancing at Sarah. "What I know? Hrm. Lemme check. First name, probably fake. Working at a diner, covered in guns that are obviously real. Chased by maniac machines from the future, also real." Clint pauses, eating a few fries. "Hrm, that's about it. Oh yeah, you are paranoia incarnated, don't like to talk and hate my guts for wanting to protect innocents. Is there something else I should know?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Hearing the comment, Nick tilts forward slightly. Chewing slowly and giving a shoulder raise. He leans back in his seat. Chewing contently. Whelp. Guess you two will just have to talk things out.

And while Nick may not be talking, he does take the time to listen to the conversation. As Clint lists the things he knows, Nick gives a slight nod with the points. But when he stops, Nick's eyes shift, looking towards Clint. And?

Brows lift. And?

Come on Clint. Nick talked you up. Don't let him down.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Strangely Sarah laughs. "False. Truth. Truth. And truth. Three out of four. Oh, truth, and a falsehood. Four out of six. Every time you add, your stats get lower." She bites her hotdog. "But you could have had me checked out. Why didn't you?"

She gave Nick a look that says, 'I'm not done with you yet.'

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Looking straight ahead, and taking a deep breath, Clint takes the time to formulate his answer. The archer is not known to be the more diplomatic guy around and it takes a lot for him to weight his words.

"Look, I don't have time to play Two Truths and a Lie," he says, trying to not sound too exasperated. "You wonder why I didn't sic agents on you, when I could have done it, knowing where to find you? These guys can get answers out of frozen rocks." He pauses, sighing. "For some stupid reason of mine, I thought I would try to help you. That maybe I could help fix the situation. You obviously wanted to remain incognito, so I /respected/ that. Yes, I did. I don't run a background check on everyone I meet and try to help. I didn't on Sam over there, selling his hotdogs. It's not my job to investigate people. But you know what? You don't give me much other option, cuz innocents will be killed. And /that/, I cannot allow. Like it or not."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick swallows the last of the first hotdog. While the hands rest upon the second hot dog, he doesn't lift it. Instead looking to the other two. Once Clint finished with his explanation, he gives a nod, looking over to Sarah, "In short he was trying not to be an asshole. But if you being an asshole is going to kill people then he might have to be."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"If I had told you the truth, and you believed me, you still would have had to report me. Think about what little I did tell you." And if she didn't tell the truth, if she was delusionally paranoid, she probably would find herself back at the looney bin.

Which she didn't want.. again.

"Nick here thinks I should come tell you everything." Right Nick? "So..You've got me for the time it will take me to finish off the hotdog." Minus two bites.

A guffaw breaks out of her. Sarah tells Nick, "They aren't humans. They are machines, get it? I'm trying to save humans. They couldn't give a shit who they hurt. We are only servants - at most. At least less than the crap on your shoe."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"We /deactivated/ one together," Clint reminds Sarah, and letting Nick know about it. "They aren't human for sure."

Time to eat a hotdog? What kind of length of time is this? Clint looks over at the Triskelion, very tempted to just drop it and go all-in SHIELD-like. His patience has a limit, and today, it was pushed even further than he knew it could go.

"Fine. Tell me how we can stop them from coming. If you can't do it in one hotdog's time, then screw it. I'll find it myself, and you might not like it."

There, the limit to his patience has reached galactic level, at least in his book. He too, can decide on his own terms.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick's foot shifts, giving the slightest glimpse to the sole, confirming them to be relatively clean. So. It sounds like it's a free Q&A session for a few seconds. Assuming she's not planning to choke to death in front of the two guys. "So...who is making them?" He adds in. Leaning over Clint to offer Sarah his fries.

The promise of robot apocalypses can be such an appetite killer.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"We don't stop them. It's not that easy. What we have to destroy is the company here so that they never begin to start the war." Oh yes, there would be a war.

For a moment, Sarah wanted to bitch right back to Clint. "Did you never try to make it so interesting that I don't eat the hotdog? I could shove it up in my mouth right now and be done with this."

But it was Nick who asked the most important question: Who was the company that was behind it.

"SkyNet ultimately."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Taking the time to finish his second hotdog and fries, Clint nods. "Skynet, yes," he finally states, "You mentioned it before. We'll investigate on them." Which, if he was half - heck, one tenth - as open as she is, he'd admit was currently being done by SHIELD.

Lifting the paper of the cardboard tray, the archer smiles as he finds an apple turnover. Gift from Sam.

"Well, why don't you do it," he replies to Sarah. He then glances over at Nick, "You're welcome to try talk to her. And here I thought Loki was annoying."

Short of grabbing her by the collar, or dragging her to the Triskelion, there's not more the archer can do for now. They will look at SkyNet and do what they can, and if Sarah gets in trouble with the authorities, Clint won't give a damn. He tried, it didn't work. Tough luck.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Skynet?" Nick looks over to Clint, while still awkwardly leaning over Clint to offer Sarah the fries.

See? Fries. Don't the smell good? You know you want some.

"There's a company called that? Sounds like a satellite internet company. Not a murderbot one."

Or it could be a nickname for Skye's personal internet setup at home. Nick parts his lips again to make that reference but pauses. closing his mouth. Maybe don't bring up that name in front of Sarah. Even in jest. Although with Clint having revealed he got a turnover, the expression could possibly be him just seeing the added item. He most definitely didn't get one of those. But then again, who knows how often Clint has been overtipping the guy?

Nick's eyes look to Sarah. Ok. Back on topic.

"So...Ok so that's the company name...I don't think they'd purposefully set out to start the end of humanity so...Why did they make it and HOW did it go wrong?"

Yes. The question every actor must ask when trying to get into the mindset of character-

WHAT is their motivation?!

Sarah Connor has posed:
Sarah looked at Clint. "Wow."

She shook her head, and leaned over to answer Nick. "They had a subsidiary called CyberDyne Systems. We thought we'd got them all. We were wrong. And now? Now they are trying to kill us. If they succeed, the Human Resistance never would have happened."

In other words they really are at war. Sorta a lukewarm war.

"Why now?" Sarah had to think about that. Does she tell the truth? No. But she can lie.. just a little bit. "They figured if I didn't live, the rest of it would unravel."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The turnover is split in two, one part is placed on Nick's cardboard tray.

The archer listens to what Sarah mentions, and takes mental notes. It's obvious the woman doesn't like him - and it's now reciprocal - so Clint remains silent. He knows what he has to do. His companion seems to be connecting - to a point - with her, so he lets him talk to her.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The fries lower. Yep. Sarah's not taking them. But when Nick feels an added weight to the tray, the musician does glance down to see the other half of the turnover. Glancing back to the archer, he gives a smile, eyes crinkling a little before he looks back to Sarah, expression resetting.

Nick moves the tray of fries and turnover away, eliminating ONE element that is blocking Clint in to the seat.

"Okay. So Skynet, part of CyberDyne, Which, kind of sounds like an online food service company honestly, is currently making murderbots? So, if one were to go to this location we'd find some type of assembly line?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Opposite direction. CyberDyne is a part of SkyNet."

Sigh. How could she make it clearer?

"It's not only Terminators. And they aren't making them yet, so you aren't going to find anything. Right now there making things that everybody thinks are wonderful. They are going to make us be on the advent of the next big thing. Like 5G phones were in the day."

Fuck. She knows how crazy she sounded.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Nick is better hold on his tray, because now Clint stands, brushing some crumbs off his jeans.

"Very well," he says, trying to sound as civil as possible. "Thank you for the information. If we can find a way to stop them, we'll do it." There is no definition for the /we/ here.

"You know how to find me," he adds, "I won't seek you. Enjoy your hotdog."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Oh." Nick frowns, sensing Clint needing to get up, he pauses to shift to a sitting position where he's no longer leaning over Clint, "So. When do they start making them? When does the doom and gloom st-" He pauses, seeing Clint looking like he's about to leave. Okay, well guess that means-

He starts shifting to his own feet as well, looking to Sarah.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Don't bother."

Sarah really did try. (She thought.) It didn't make a difference. In fact, she had probably made Clint more safe. Which in theory was what she wanted to do. Right?

Wrong.

She put her hotdog down.

"Pretend that I made it all up. It's easier that way. You stay here and be a SHIELD agent. Or whatever." She nods to Nick, "You make a better music star then a spy."

She needed to quit her job (damnit) and find another one. Fast.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick watches as Sarah makes her way off considering the last comment . "Well I could have told you that." He comments. He glances over to the unfinished hotdog left behind . No need to litter.

"Good luck Sarah." Was it loud enough to hear? Probably not.

Tray in one hand, Nick reaches down to clean up Sarah's hotdog.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Before Nick can clean the remnant of Sarah's hotdog, a large hand lands on the prize. With the speed with which Clint grabbed the hotdog, it sure looks like it's a prize for him.

If he didn't hear much anything new or overwhelmingly useful, the hotdog will reveal more about Sarah than she wanted to disclose.

The archer watches as Sarah walks away, shaking his head.