2665/The Hangover

The Hangover
Date of Scene:	02 October 2017
Location:	L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland
Synopsis:	Three SHIELD agents--Melinda May, Skye Johnson, and Abe Sapien (BPRD)--head to an ancient viking settlement on the Canadian coast to investigate the possibility of Hydra activity. The reality is so much stranger.
Cast of Characters:	Abe Sapien, Quake, Melinda May

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Abe Sapien has posed:
The quinjet soars quietly through the late afternoon sky, the wind outside almost inaudible.

In one of the jump seats, a fish-man in a tactical vest sits, harnessed.

"I'm not entirely sure why I've been assigned to this mission, either," Abe Sapien says. "Sometimes they like to pair us ... 'freaks' ... with the rest of you to unsettle local law enforcement," he adds with a shake of his head.

"But I have the feeling this is ultimately going to be some sort of fracking-with-a-coverup situation. You know how it is: mask Hydra weapons tests with industrial operations that don't raise eyebrows." Abe closes his mouth for a moment. "Or do you disagree?"

He leans forward, looking to the cockpit. "Or you, Agent May? Have you seen much Hydra activity in Newfoundland? Medee Bay seems a bit remote for them..."

Quake has posed:
Strapped in beside the fish-man, Daisy Johnson, Agent-In-Training (or as she's heard often enough these past months: You'll be an agent when I say you're good and ready to be an agent) rolls her eyes. "Doesn't know why /he's/ here," she mutters under her breath, giving stink-eye to the cockpit. She otherwise doesn't comment. This was one of those 'shut up and learn' missions. She was supposed to be grateful she was here at all.

Melinda May has posed:
From the cockpit of the quinjet, May replies to Abe as curtly as usual. "No. I haven't." Mostly because she's been splitting her time between trying to keep a certain group of REALLY danger-prone quasi-civilians from kiling themselves and doing milk runs for the Triskelion in general.

"ETA five minutes." And yes, Johnson, she heard that.

Abe Sapien has posed:
Seemingly oblivious to the tension in the jet, Abe nods and checks the straps on his vest and the sidearm holstered at his hip. "You know, for once I'd really love to be assigned a mission that wasn't next to some body of water."

He offers an expression that roughly approximates a fish smiling. "It always seems like I'll have to swim, and it always goes poorly. Not the swimming, mind you. Just the reason for doing so."

The landing coordinates are up ahead--it's an open meadow, with some wooden structures, very rudimentary houses, half-built, half-destroyed. There's a large hole in the center of the area.

"That completely escaped my memory," Abe says as he looks out the window, touching his forehead lightly with one webbed hand. "L'anse aux Meadows. Of course. That would be more likely to hold Hydra--or perhaps Nazi--interest."

Quake has posed:
Daisy peers out the window, stretching her harness to its limits. "What would Hydra want with an old viking settlement anyway? Place is mostly a tourist attraction most of the year. There aren't even real roads there." Again, she's not sure why she's here, unless Agent May is babysitting. The place doesn't even remotely stretch to her talents.

Of course that could be the point as well.

Melinda May has posed:
May brings the quinjet in for a landing outside of the L'anse aux Meadows -- no reason to tear up the property after all -- and shuts the engines down. "The briefing said there were strange noises and lights here over the past few nights, and this area should be closed for the winter. We're here to find out what's going on. And Skye, if there are computer systems to examine, that's why you're here."

She leads the way down the ramp then starts off toward the settlement proper, and does not appear to be openly carrying any weaponry. Is that normal?

Abe Sapien has posed:
Not long after the trio exits the quinjet, there is a strange noise indeed--a low, throbbing rumble punctuated with a shifting of the ground like an earthquake.

Moments later, there are soft lights that can be seen from the direction of the hole in the midst of the settlement, while pieces of sod and dirt fall down into its depths. The lights seem to illuminate some sort of device in the center of the hole, just barely visible for a brief time; similarly, a pattern in the earth--on closer examination, a set of spiraling stairs along the sides of the hole--can be seen leading into the shadows below.

"Well," Abe says, clearing his throat, "at the very least, we can confirm the briefing's details. The cause, though, is not yet so clear..."

Quake has posed:
It's an easy escape from the plane's safety harness and disembarking. Daisy picking her way behind the other two agents. "Ancient viking settlement, and I'm here to check out the computer systems. Gotcha boss." She's not convinced there will be any given circumstances, but if it actually /is/ a hidden Hydra base, well..

There's that hole, though, and that most definitely shouldn't be here regardless of who is responsible for it. "It's never good news when you find a hole in the ground with a set of stairs leading into the murky depths. This is like some bad D&D game. I suppose I'm the rogue." Her tones are light, but do little to hide the faint notes of sarcasm beneath them. To her credit, she doesn't opine on what roles the others might play.

Abe Sapien has posed:
Retrieving a flashlight from his belt, Abe turns it on and prepares to begin down the staircase. He pauses, though, when Skye cracks her joke. "Where /are/ my manners?" he asks, gesturing to the hole. "Ladies first."

The agents make their way slowly down the hole. It takes some time--long enough that it seems to go on forever, and the afternoon sky far above darkens to an evening one.

At the bottom of the hole, there's a strange-looking machine that seems both high-tech and very ancient. A handful of short, squat, hairy creatures climb over it, adjusting levers, turning wheels, and cursing at it.

One of them spies the flashlight. "Now that's a curious torch," it says, its voice resembling the grinding sound of stones on one another. "We're catchin' up! We promise! It was just a short break!"

Quake has posed:
Ladies first? That earned Abe an arch of brow from the agent in training. Of course, she was here under May's supervision, so if the lady said jump, Daisy jumped. Others might ask how high, but that wasn't quite her style. She figured she'd make a best guess and make up the difference later. Of course, that attitude did lead to hot water a lot of the time, but the woman was still working on trust issues. They were working hard on breaking that down. It really might be the last straw holding her back from full status.

The creatures were interesting, but even more so was the thing they were crawling over and poking at. Then again, anything that might remotely fall under tech caught her interest. More if it could be called a computer. She wasn't one of the science geeks, after all. Just a computer nerd. But the machine ahead could be anything at this point.

"Hey, is it just me, or is it weird we can understand them?" Her whisper meant to carry just between the trio.

Melinda May has posed:
Reaching the the bottom of the hold first, May looks at the other two, then at the creatures and the contraption they're fussing with. She suddenly has an odd feeling of being smack in the middle of an H.G. Wells book. She gestures for Skye and Sapien to stay back and takes a step or two closer to the creatures.

"You there." She indicates one at random. "Come here and explain." Rule number one to making others think you belong someplace: behave like you belong.

Abe Sapien has posed:
"I've found it best to accept the seemingly strangest components of any situation as the most mundane," Abe replies to Skye. "It's possible they're not speaking English at all, and we're just able to understand them for some reason."

The spokesman for the creatures lumbers toward the agents. "Don't beat us again! We'll even work through next season as a demonstration of good faith! Keep the crops well fed, we will!" He covers his head, ducking, and the others cry out similar pleas from atop the machine.

After a moment, the spokesman pauses and stares up at May. "But what of Leif? Or Torvald? Are they so angered they send messengers?"

Quake has posed:
Daisy is quite fine with staying back, and not just because May has told her to. Abe gets an absent nod, "True. That would suggest the place is rigged with more than what we're seeing ahead, then. Makes sense, if this is some underground complex of sorts. Though I bet this isn't part of that whole tourist attraction." She grins at her own joke, but only briefly. There actually is a lot to pay attention to here. Like those creatures. Or the fact that they're using decidedly human names - old ones, but decidedly human. And that they're reporting to someone else, someone who isn't all that nice.

Melinda May has posed:
"Not angered," May says curtly to the spokescreature. "Busy elsewhere. I'm in charge for now. Tell me about this machine." She gestures for the spokescreature to return to the contraption ahead of her, then glances back at the other two gesturing for them to check out the rest of the cave or whatever this is while she keeps the creatures distracted.

Abe Sapien has posed:
"We didn't mean to--we didn't--but the ale was so delicious that evening we sealed the bargain! How were we to know the chieftain's cup was enchanted to slumber those uninvited to drink from it?" The spokesman tears at his hair and beard. "We slept only a short time, we promise! And now we catch up on the work!"

As proof, the other creatures frantically work the machine, causing the area to light up in brilliant reds and oranges. The earth rumbles.

"See!" the spokesman cries. "Even now, we work to feed the crop-fields above from the heat of the earth below!" He points upward and then sees the night sky. "Oh..."

Abe slowly walks around the machine, observing the activity. "So ... you were to help the settlers? In exchange for food and alcohol?"

The spokesman nods. "Yes, yes! We tired of chewing on rocks. The food of man is much preferred to that of dwarf. And now that we have woken from our nap, we grow hungry--so we work! We ... we /do/ work, yes?"

Quake has posed:
"Dwarf?" Skye mouths to herself, making a face. "This really is like some bad D&D game." She fully expects there to be a door with a glowing dragon, complete with hoarde, behind it. More to the point, she expects it to be a series of consoles and servers, but going with metaphor, it fit.

She circles about the room opposite direction to Abe, in order to cover more ground in shorter time.

Melinda May has posed:
Leif. Ale. She's getting a sinking feeling that these dwarves have just in a few sentences put Rogers' 70-year nap to shame. "I need to discuss something with my colleagues. Don't start the machine until I tell you." She looks to Skye and Abe and tilts her head for them to follow her back to the hole where they entered.

"I have a feeling these dwarves were asleep a lot longer than they realize. Something along the lines of a thousand years longer," she tells the other two quietly, her voice pitched to not carry.

Abe Sapien has posed:
Quiet for a long moment as May speaks, Abe puts his hands on his hips. "I see," he finally says. "That would explain much--especially the fervor with which they're apparently so eager to get back 'on schedule,' so to speak."

He cocks his head to one side. "So is this a resource that SHIELD can use? Or do we get them set up with Canadian citizenship?"

Quake has posed:
She's not quite reached midpoint of the room when May's gesture calling her back is given. Returning to the group, "So you're saying they're like the fairy tale. Went to sleep and woke up. And now they think we're here to punish them?" Not some hidden masters they'll have to deal with. "If they've actually got some underground system for irrigation and plant sustenance, it's probably useful. But it isn't my area of expertise." She'd have to see more to know better.

Melinda May has posed:
After a moment of consideration, May says to Abe, "Set them up for Canadian citizenship. It's only right. And then we'll need someone to transition them to new bosses, per se, so their abilities and equipment are not exploited. Skye, get up to the quinjet and get a call in to the closest SHIELD outpost. Abe, I want to you collect and record as much intel as you can about that machine. Geothermal energy is a sorely under-utilized resource. I'm going to talk with our new friends some more."

Abe Sapien has posed:
"Very well." With a curt nod, Abe pivots on a heel and walks back toward the machine. He retrieves a small camera and a hand-held scanning tool, which he uses to simultaneously take pictures and collect a variety of readings.

He seems to have some trouble finding moments to take pictures that aren't inadvertently (or maybe purposefully!) photo-bombed by the dwarfs. In response, Abe simply sighs softly and continues his efforts.

Quake has posed:
Any and all snarky comments are bit back by Daisy as she trundles back off to the quinjet to relay to nearest base what they'd found and await instructions. Not that she's pleased by the order by a long stretch, however, arguing wasn't going to get her anywhere, nor was snark. She was learning. Slowly but surely, she was learning. Message relayed, she stays back and awaits the return of the others. For an unexpected, 'boring' little mission to check out floating lights, it hadn't turned out half bad. Odd, but not half bad. Chalk one up in the plus column of her agent book. Nine more and she'd have earned herself a gold star.. or maybe a full badge.