15201/Stowaway Spider

Stowaway Spider
Date of Scene:	11 June 2023
Location:	Wyoming
Synopsis:	Jessica wants back on operational duty, so she surprise stowaways on Clint's mission.
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Woman (Drew), Hawkeye (Barton)

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Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
It's a simple mission. Go scout a specific piece of land somewhere in the middle of Wyoming where there's been some weird activity lately, and report back. No engagement expected; no contact to be made. It should be a milk run for one Agent Clint Barton.

The problem comes after the Quinjet takes off, settled into autopilot, when he will realize he's not alone.

The truth is, most people don't think to look up, which is one of the great advantages the Spiders have. The problem is when you try to pull that particular trick on a trained SHIELD agent and Avenger -- they kind of tend to notice. It's not like Spider-Woman's costume turns invisible or anything. It's literally a bright red-and-gold, kind of noticeable, only she was staying real still. Given Jessica's hands, pressed against the roof, are missing the glove part of her costume, she's missing one foot, and the actual mask, it seems like she was a hasty last minute, unexpected addition to the mission.

"....surprise?" Jess tries, doing her best at looking totally innocent.

Jessica Drew should /not/ be here. Given mostly what she's been doing of late since Clint pulled her out of Greenland is bumming around in the Avengers mansion in unicorn pants, ugg boots and rotation of emo t-shirts, Clint wouldn't need the /NOT CLEARED FOR MISSIONS/ report from the SHIELD psychologist to tell him she's better off not in the field right now.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
It's almost like the look on Clint's face is complete annoyance. Almost. Given his observational sight and the ability to not really miss details, he spotted Drew with amazing ease. He just didn't say anything because he was hoping she'd 'go away' and allow him to prep for his milk run alone.

That's not what happens.

What happens is that the moment Clint engages the autopilot (because there's no way he's going to waste time paying attention on this Mickey Mouse Mission) Drew's voice is aimed in his direction and Clint reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I was hoping you were a figment of my imagination." is uttered with a sigh attached. Clint leans back a bit. "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be in trouble by the time we get back?"

Clint just accepts the fate of what's about to transpire. He knows what it is like to be suffering the woes of forced downtime and needing to get back onto missions. He may even be secretly rooting for Jessica to be assigned again soon. But for this moment, there's nothing like having a little extra backup. Yes, even on a milk run.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
The pained, annoyed look is noted by the observant spy hanging above him. Does Jessica believe it genuine sentiment or playing the part? Hard to say, because she's busy un-sticking herself from the roof, which... proves to take her a second, most of her body swinging down as just a hand sticks, finally peeling away as she lands soundlessly on the floor of the quinjet.

She's smiling at Clint. So much smiling. It's almost creepy on the usually disgruntled woman.

"You're definitely not going to be in trouble," Jessica declares, "Because this is all going to be /fine/, and you can report that I'm /fine/ and everything's /fine/, and I'll get cleared for active duty." And unicorns will come prancing in to carry them away to cloud city.

Things are so /fine/ in fact that she's still talking. "Look, I know they say I'm in a bad mental place but I really need to get back out into the field." It's a speech Clint's probably heard a dozen times, maybe even given himself. The part that he probably hasn't heard before is, "...I really need to. There's stuff I should tell you guys but I can't until I'm cleared because otherwise you'll cut me out and I need to be... I need to do this, okay?"

It's a plea for help. Without actually using the word /help/.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Yup. Definitely gonna' be in trouble."

Clint's not even going to pretend like he's not going to be in trouble. He knows it. He's pretty sure Jess knows it. So he's just going to let that part slide and deal with it when they return. There will likely be yelling but it'll be fine. Especially if this milk run stays a milk run. Fingers crossed.

Clint's pretending to be manually flying this Quinjet while Jessica continues into her speech. The same speech that almost every agent has or gives whenever they are dealing with stuff and still trying to operate as an agent. It's just par for the course or something. If Clint's listening, it's hard to tell. He's focused on the windows and 'flying' of the vehicle they are in. Eventually, he looks over and offers a bit of a shrug.

"Hey, I'm flying this Quinjet to Wyoming to do that thing that I'm supposed to do. If Agent Drew, /somehow/ managed to quietly tag along without my permission and knowledge..." Clint offers a smirk as he lets that trail off and holds up his hands to prove that he's not involved in any of this stuff that Jessica's talking about. Officially, anyway.

"Shit happens, right?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Oh, Jess knows she's going to be in trouble, that both of them probably are in fact. She's pretty much of the school of /plead forgiveness rather than ask permission/ though, so this sort of thing is exactly her modus operandi.

Jessica's shifting her weight, busy gearing herself up for a second spiel of speechifying -- not what SHIELD called it when they trained her, but the name stuck sometime after she met Captain America -- when Clint totally derails her. She blinks, and her mouth parts, and then she laughs. Actually laughs!

"Shit happens," Jessica agrees, practically bouncing on her toes -- literally, in the case of her left foot, having forgotten, or apparently not had time to grab all of her costume. "Thanks, Clint. I knew you were a big softie." She leans forward to high-five him, even though that was clearly not his intent, looking far too pleased with herself.

"I should... go find shoes." Thankfully there's lockers with changes of clothing on the quinjet. Over her shoulder, "By the way, what's the mission again?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"I don't know what you're talking about." That's Clint's response to being called a big softie because he just refuses to acknowledge it. Everybody knows it's true so he just pretends to not see it. He's supposed to be a badass spy or something, right?! Spies are not softies!

The high five is met with a bit of a grin and then Clint's back to letting the Quinjet fly on its own while he looks up the rest of the mission details. "Nothing too crazy. Just some scouting and recon. Watch, record, report. Easy peasy." That's how it starts out anyway. Clint never expects things to go smoothly.

Which might explain why he's got so many arrows in the back. Jess'll get to see them while she's acquiring the rest of her costume stuffs. Clint Barton has to be prepared. He's only human.

"So uh, what's this stuff you want to tell everyone but can't?" Just going to casually ask and see if the answer comes out...

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
It seems the half-uniform style outfit doesn't really work too well for Jessica, so she just gives up and changes into what's available. Gray sweats, a little too big for her but easily rolled up at the ends, a SHIELD t-shirt (just perfect really for a stealth mission!) and a, thankfully, plain black hoodie to wear over it.

"I really need to get Tony to put some GPS trackers on my gloves. I swear they go walking off by themselves," the woman mutters to herself as she changes. Thankfully she's not going to rib Clint anymore about him totally being a softie.

She doesn't seem worried about the amount of arrows available. It's kind of like the way she takes one of the ICERs and tucks it into the waistband of the sweats. She doesn't /actually/ need it, not when she can shock people into unconsciousness with her blasts. But she does it anyway, because who knows what's going to happen.

"Oh, um," the sound kind of muffled as she pulls the hoodie down over her head. "Just some... files, that's all. On us." That could mean anything. Clint and Jess in specific? SHIELD? The Avengers? The US? Yeah, she's being deliberately kind of vague, but he's already agreed not to kick her out of the mission, so: "The Avengers, I mean. That's what I found when I was undercover. Not just like standard SHIELD files, but... a lot of stuff. Really personal stuff. Like... /weirdly/ personal. Childhood photos. Interviews with school teachers." Not the kind of thing Hydra would normally bother with.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Oh."

And that's it. That's all Clint has to say about it. His life has been pretty openly a mess since he even joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers so he's pretty much used to things like that. Pasts coming back to haunt him. People knowing things. He's not exactly the most secretive spy, he wears his own face wherever he goes. And then there's the whole galavanting around as an Avenger thing, there's just too much for Clint to try and hide anymore. So he doesn't.

"So I guess this mission'll be a cakewalk compared to whatever's coming." Clint isn't even sure if they are getting close to Wyoming air space yet or not. He just immediately switches to Stealth Mode. It may have something to do with what Jess just said or maybe it's just being prepared to be surveillancing. It's really all just kind of going hand-in-hand for Barton.

"I should've brought snacks. I always forget snacks."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica sighs. "I should've brought cheeseburgers. But it was so last minute, and I barely got my costume on in time." Though that's a debatable statement since she was missing a few pieces. The mask is actually kind of important for her anonymity. Unlike Barton, Spider-Woman's identity appears to be mostly secret.

Well, except parts of Hydra, who certainly know who she is.

"Um." There's the sound of squeaking hinges, as Jessica opens lockers. Some of them not her own. "Mints?" she sighs. "Oh, gumdrops! These are awesome. I like, lived on these when I was nineteen." The first attempted chew gets a real confused, betrayed kind of look. Yeah, they're old. "Want one?" she'll offer the packet. Totally fine, see?

The quinjet gets into stealth mode, none of its systems detecting anything amiss when they land. The space appears to have been some kind of horse ranch at one point, though the paddocks are partially overgrown, the main buildings -- comprising a large sprawling ranch house, a separate stable, and barn -- appear to be fairly well maintained. It's dark, just a couple of hours after sunset when they arrive, and light spills from the ranch house.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Gonna' pass. I don't know how long some of the stuff has been in this Quinjet." Clint looks almost like he's going to have a cow or something at the thought of trying to eat anything that's been left in this jet. Who knows how long or where it's been. Just thinking about the potential taste of it has him in a moment of shuddering. "Gross."

Clint starts swiping through the tablet that comes with the mission debriefing. "We'll just have to make a pit stop on the way out. I'd suggest somewhere delicious but... we're in Wyoming. So that kills that idea." That's right, Clint Barton is throwing shade at Wyoming. One of the most boring states in the history of Statesdom. Not even famous for anything!

"Look alive." Clint says as he bring the Quinjet out of autopilot and into manual mode. So he can make the approach towards the ranch house a bit more focused. "We can probably use drones to get closer. Keep the Quinjet back just in case." Clint holds out the tablet to Jessica. "I'd like to pull this one off without having to leave the comfort of my high-tech flying apparatus."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I'm not dying or anything if that helps persuade you," Jessica replies, before she pauses with a tilt of her head. "Then again I'm immune to toxins so... yeah, maybe you shouldn't." She gives a shrug. Even though it's awful it's still sugar and she takes another, crinkling the packet down into the pocket of her hoodie. She's committing to the bit, even if her tastebuds feel utterly betrayed.

She brightens instantly at the idea of a pitstop. "I mean... it's ranch country all around here. Surely they do good steaks? Lamb cutlets? Something?" And then she pauses. "Wait. This is a thing, isn't it. Our thing. Pitstopping for food after a mission. Aw. We have a thing, and it's my favorite thing!" Food, she means food. She reaches out to bump a fist into Barton's arm, though it's readily avoided.

When Clint hands her the tablet, she takes it with a visible kind of bemusement, then glances from it to him. "Wait. You can't be serious. We're just gonna sit here and watch?" After all that effort, the big pitch and... they're just going to sit here? Jessica sighs, slumping into the co-pilot's chair, bringing her feet up to sit on the edge so she can lean the tablet against her knees. "Fine, fine," she mumbles.

There's a lot of stuff she doesn't remember any more, about the Avengers. But it's mostly interpersonal stuff -- her training in SHIELD technology is stuck in her brain, for sure. It's effortless for her to engage the drones and send them out in default formation that covers the ranch from above and the single road approach. Almost immediately, she yawns.

Yup, it's going to be one of those missions. The drones approach the main ranch house, looking in windows. Looks like a group of four men and a woman, having dinner. The audio picks up their chatter; talk of the cattle and plans for their arrival, nothing at all weird about that, except for the overgrown state of the paddocks. Jessica manages to stay awake, by virtue of the occasional crinkle of that packet of too-old drops, chewing. And then she straightens. "Uh, incoming."

Looks like a pickup truck, speeding down the dirt road to the ranch house, followed by an unmarked white van. Two drones will have cross-side footage of the vehicles pulling up, the men from the house coming out to greet them... and then the chained figures, both men and women, that are being hauled out from the van, stumbling like they're kind of drunk.