3267/If You Could See What I See

If You Could See What I See
Date of Scene:	29 November 2017
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Nat and Skye go head to head, testing out Skye's code for the Hammerfall Operation. It turns out Skye's niggling feeling was correct, something was wrong. Thankfully they found it now, and not later.
Cast of Characters:	Quake, Hawkeye (Barton), Black Widow (Romanoff)

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Quake has posed:
Skye had agonized over her code. The niggle wouldn't go away. She'd taken breaks and gone back, and looked it over with a find tooth comb to no avail. Whatever it was that was bothering her she was either too close ot see, or it didn't exist. And because the mission was this important (to her at least) it had to be perfect, or as perfect as she could make it.

It left her with no choice: she needed Nat.

And despite what Agent May might have thought, Skye hadn't been merely brushing things aside when she'd said that the job was the job and their personal business was something else altogether. It had meant some swallowing of pride, but Skye managed that with her usual graceless charm. Or something akin.

She'd arranged for a final test run of the head to head scenario. Only instead of Nat running Tony's program and Skye running her own they were going to switch places. It was a Hail Mary of a thing - if Nat couldn't see it.. then Skye didn't know what to do. But at least she'd have tried.

Arrangements had been made. The time had come.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint was totally a spectator in this, but seeing as Skye and Nat were involved, he was there. Okay, so maybe he was saw himself more as a potential ref than a spectator, but he was there, and curious to see first hand just what was about to happen. Finding a place by the wall, where he could look at the monitors he says, "Good luck, ladies."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
At two minutes to the appointed time, Natasha comes into the room. She is dressed in her SHIELD uniform, right down to the guns holstered at her sides. In her right hand is one of those cardboard drink carriers. In it is a large cup of coffee and a water bottle. There is a bag in her other hand that she sets down for a moment. She places the coffee down in front of Skye then moves to her side of the computers set up facing one antoher. Only, it wasn't her side. It was Skye's which was a little off putting.

The bag is opened and out come a variety of granola bars, chocolate and other snacks. The water bottle is claimed and the top twisted off then sets the bottle to her left side as she pulls over a Hershey's bar. It isn't opened. Yet.

"Good evening," she says to them both with a smile. "Shall we begin?"

Quake has posed:
Oh, that earns a startled blink from Skye.

Score one: Nat for the unexpected.

Skye might not know what Nat's hack routine was, but there on the table in front of Skye was her game plan for all her years prior to SHIELD, and, based on break room activity, ever since, too. The young woman's lips press into a thin line of consideration and she nods, "Uh, thanks." The coffee taken, and a couple of bars pulled absently from the pile and tossed near her setup.

Like Nat, Skye found it weird to be off her own terminal and working with a less familiar station and code setup. But that was the point. Much as the two women would be testing one another and getting a feel for strengths and weaknesses, they were testing the skeleton of their attack on Hydra.

Some might think it overkill. Skye considered it insurance. If she never did another thing in her life, this one mission was going to be as solid as she could make it.

You didn't go out in a blip of oblivion, you went out in a flash of glory, and by all the gods, if Skye was going down and being outed, she was going to go down in a blaze of unforgettable glory.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint grins when Nat arrives with the snacks, all the snacks. "Nat, Wade doesn't deserve you," he says with a laugh as he detaches from the wall and grabs a bag of chips. "So, do you guys need me to say, let's get rrrrready to ruuuumble or something like that?" he teases as he takes a much closer view of the action, pacing around the terminals.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"As long as you don't expect us to put on some outrageous wrestling costumes and put us in a ring, sure," Natasha mutters as she pushes a key to wake up her screen. Her eyes flicker over the bit of code there and she frowns as she finds herself in foreign territory.

Skye is definitely very good. Better than Nat. She's not sure if she will be able to do a good showing on this side but she's going to do her bast. It's her nature.

"Let's get this party started." And with that, her fingers begin to fly over the keys.

Quake has posed:
Ah. Tony Stark. Arrogant, OpinioNated, and Smug. Ever the asshole. And yet? Despite all that, Skye liked the man.

This was the first time she'd gotten up this close and personal with his code. It was interesting. Very intersting. - Not what she'd have done by any means, but like any hacker, she had her style. So did he.

Skye's code is set up and ready to run, Nat being given access to most anything Skye could think that the other woman might need.

Clint's 'ready to rumble' comment gets an arch of brow. "If you insist," she mutters, attention already back on her computer screen. It's unclear if it's a measure of her nerves, or a measure of her work ethic that her usual snark is lacking.

"Right. When we're all ready, it's systems go. There isn't a third system. We are Hydra to the other. Goal is to stop the other dead in their tracks. On my mark. Go."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"As if I could make you," Clint jokes to Nat about the costumes.

Oooh, serious Skye. Clint's let the joking be, sitting down at one of the stations and bringing up both womens' screens on his own. What he sees, makes almost no sense to him, but he keeps an eye on the code. The fight was on.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha settles in as she begins the battle. Only, she already knows how this one is going to go. The code that Syke has written has a lot of details that seem strange to her. She hasn't seen it quite in that order before. Tapping the keys, her eyes are locked on the screen as the code begins to roll by at speed. "I would've never thought do use that..." she murmurs low, almost under her breath as she shakes her head. Definitely out of her wheelhouse now, she will be lucky if she can keep up with the expert on the opposite side.

She's worked on Tony's code enough times that it isn't quite so foreign. Skye's is a new language and she is facing off against a master.

Quake has posed:
Skye, at least, is in a slightly better position than Nat. Tony's code is unfamiliar, but she's been up against enough foreign code before to not be phased by that, and, she knows what's on Nat's deck. Then again, when it came to Hydra, one should probably expect all the ditry tricks, so she's not feeling all that badly about it. Except for the part that Nat's sitting with code she's got less of a handle on..

Opening salvo is easy: slip in under the radar. If things go as planned within this scenario, Nat will get a trigger warning. Under the real attack, this shouldn't raise a red flag. The mods are meant to streamline some of the experience and allow the head to head to function.

Getting in was the easy part. The doing something about it is going to be trickier.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint sits back in his char watching the two monitors. He crunches a chip as things begin. Clint isn't an expert but Skye had given him a crash course on what was going to happen, so he knew the gist of what's happening, but the details, and perhaps some of the beauty of it was lost. Like how Clint took out his hearing aids while he worked out and just felt the base of the music he played through the floor, he could get the rhythm of the thing, if not the whole thing itself.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
As the warning goes off, Natasha ignores it. There is no blocking Skye from getting into the system so she doesn't even try. She simply lets her do her thing. Of course, she piggybacks on that and enters Skye's system at the same time. It isn't the getting in that they have to stop. It's what with happen inside once they are there.

Seeing the more familiar code of the other system, she mirrors it into another window on her screen. Three bits of information now there. Her system, Skye's and the code that is ready to run once she goes for the attack. She is still running through it, gaining more familiarity as she does so. "Remind me again why this is a good idea?" she asks, frowning deeply as she wades through Skye's programming.

Quake has posed:
Skye's lips round over a tight little smirk. Totally expected. And appreciated. She'd have had a lot less respect for Nat's skills if she'd tried to shut Skye down at this point in the game. And jumping in on her line in - totally acceptable return volley.

But now Skye had two fronts to fight on: Digging in on Nat's system, and protecting her own.

She's not expecting Nat to be blocked, but still, she throws up several lines that should slow her down. Or should only slow her down. Skye actually wants Nat to get in a lot further than this before she hits her. And for added distraction, she sends out some decoy probes into Nat's computer. "Come on, show me what you've got," she murmurs, gaze flicking up at Nat's complaint of a comment. "Because you want to kick my ass but good?" Total smirk going on there.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint was getting it now. This was sort of a knife fight, close in, dirty, both sides had openings to protect and both sides had a knife to stick in the other side's openings. He nods. This could get interesting. As to Nat's question, he answers as well, with "Sort of a dry run and weapons check, right? Hone skills, check for issues with the code." He glances at Skye for confirmation.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"If I want to kick your ass, I'd do it physically. Computers, I know when I'm outskilled," Natasha admits. A compliment and an admission of her lack of perfection all in one sentence. The decoy probes are shut down quickly even though Nat isn't really focused there. Again, expected. She knows that when the attack comes, it won't be that obvious. A few lines of code are added to her defensive position, looking for those ghost signals that might seem to be nothing. Those are the dangerous ones.

In return, she sends forward a small bit of code meant to scatter her system a bit. Not precisely a virus but the randomizer will spout out gibberish that looks like code into the lines once in a while. It is more a trojan horse of sorts since what it shows isn't want is going on.

"Everything I see, this code is rock solid." Meaning Skye's.

Quake has posed:
The trojan horse is looked at for a few moments, then Skye grins. "Nice. Like what you did there." Again, not so much unexpected as perhaps not the move Skye expected Nat to engage in then. As a response, it was fairly sophisticated, and similar to her own. Only Skye hadn't sent a scrambler. Skye wanted Nat's attention unfocused and looking for which of the 'attacks' she'd sent off was the real one.

In truth, all of them were. Each bit Skye had sent was an attack of its own. Each with a different agenda. All small. Not innocuous, but meant to downplay their tasks. Any individual shut-downs weren't a loss, but the more that got in place, the better they'd work later. However, as a main goal of distracting and splitting focus, all of them could be a net loss in the long run.

It wasn't an orthodox move by any means in that respect.

"Totally fine with you beating my ass into the mats. I could use the practice," Skye nods Nat's way. "And something is wrong in my code. I just can't see it." The words have a frustrated edge to them, the young woman having spent more days than she cared to admit trying to pin down the problem and failing.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint turns away from the screens to look back at the two ladies. He tries to catch Nat's eye and shoot her a questioning look. Is there anything wrong here or is Skye just getting pre-mission jitters? He's not in a place to judge it himself.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
There is a burst of data onto Skye's screen. Another foray, this one a bit more serious. Nat is digging around in the back code but the frontal attack is hopefully enough to draw the eye away from the area where she slips just two lines into the code then is out just as quickly. Seeing the movement from Clint, her gaze flicks his direction as she gives the tiniest shake of her head.

Verbally, she responds to Skye. She is not even aware those little probes are leaving bits of themselves behind as they are caught and eliminated. "If you missed something, I can't see it. I think you've just been staring at it too long."

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs. "Tunnel vision? Who knows. But it's keeping me up at nights." Even if she's got a whole line of personal distraction in Clint.

Another of those smug little smiles as Nat's attempt to distract is observed. "Cute, but no go."

The little bits, meanwhile, are waiting patiently to hook up to one another - whichever are left when it's all set in place. They won't be her only attack on the day, but as a secondary little bit of attention grabbing, they might buy her valued seconds when every second counted. In this type of information game, they wanted as much as they could get before things went tits up. When the real attack went down, they'd be the bits she didn't have to babysit.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint is quick to nod in return. "First, keeping you up is my job," Clint says with a smile. "Second, what part of the code is bothering you?" this one he says more seriously, trying to help Skye think it through.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha keeps her mouth shut as she waits for Clint to work on Skye now, hoping that he can find some way to reassure her about the code. She still hasn't spotted anything wrong with it. A few keystrokes have little feelers going out into the other system, her turn to do a few probes. Only nothing is being left behind. It is what it seems.

Quake has posed:
Skye barely looks Clint's way. "No clue. That's the thing. It's just a feeling. I've gone over it all with a fine tooth comb and nothing. It's driving me batshit."

She scowls at her screen, sending off the beginnings of the real attack, using, essentially, a second run of her initial distraction. Or what looks to be, with a few added surprises thrown in, and a lot more insidious bits of leave-behind code inserted. These, like the first, have their own tasks, and can link up. But more: they can link with the first set as well. It's like putting a neural net into place, with the end result aiming for an electroshock that will lobotomize Nat's system.

The question is: How many of these have to be active for Skye's attack to work?

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint walks back to his monitors to watch the bits flying. "So if this sim works, the code's good? There's no errors?" he asks Skye. He really didn't know enough to make a sound judgement so questions made sense and if it was in her head, maybe it'd get her to the point of realizing it.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
All seems to be the same. Nat manages to block some of them. Others get through but don't seem to be doing anything specific. It makes her suspicious that Skye used the same tactic twice. She begins to start isolating those areas but the damage is likely already done. She drops back into a defensive posture, cybernetically speaking, throwing a few block codes into place as she focuses entirely on the screens.

She's forgotten all about her coffee and snacks.

Quake has posed:
It's all give and take between them now, bits of code flying back and forth, working to put the final measures in place, while pecking at integral files of information (what the attack is about, after all! getting whatever they can from Hydra before shutting the systems down).

Skye's not devoting much to defense. Some. She's seen most of what Nat's throwing at her, and so far they've been easy enough to manage. Not easy - just easy enough that she's able to devote most of her attention to attack. That, and by letting some get in, there's a certain sort of illusion going on that Skys is missing some - something she may want to use to her advantage with Hydra. Especially with Nat as a resource..

Coffee? What coffee? Skye hasn't even touched a candy bar yet. The room is all bits and bytes at this point.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint sits back watching the code fly. He's lost but given how silent things have gotten between the two ladies the thing was coming down to the final moments. As for Skye and her code gremlins? That's going to be proven out as well.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Natasha is aware it's coming. She knows that something is going on but she isn't able to see it. So she opts for pulling out all the stops.

Taking Skye's code, she pulls it into place as she sends off a multi prong attack to the other computer. But at the same time, through that little backdoor she's been establishing, she fires the MOAB that is Skye's code.

If there is a flaw in it, they are about to find out.

Quake has posed:
Everything is falling into place nicely. Skye hasn't sent all the tricks in her bag at Nat, but she's used enough of them. All the code bits are lining up neatly. She's checked and double checked, ready to send the final keystrokes. She's even been watching what Nat has sent her way..

Then she sees it: Nat released the hounds.

And while Skye shouldn't be surprised, she is, she'd not expected Nat to see it so soon - the net closing in on her, and the toppling of the King coming.. There was such a simple elegance to what came at her, and even though it was her own code she was seeing, to watch it from this angle was something of the impressive.

Skye holds her breath, waiting for things to shut down as they're supposed to. If she did it right, her screens should go blank...

And then she sees it. The monkey wrench in the code. It had been staring at her all along. "Oh, for fuck's sake," she grinds out, shaking her head at herself, even as she smirks. "There you are. Oh, you little bastard you."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint saw the bits on the screen but not what they meant, but from Skye's reaction it sounded like Nat won. "So, what happened, was there a bug?" he asks looking at the both of them. Nat does get a little nod for her victory.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
It was a victory but it wasn't. The code didn't get through fully but Skye did manage to see the problem that they both had missed. Unfortunately, now Nat's system starts to fall even as she continues to try and counter. In a moment, it's over as her system gives up the ghost. "She was right. There was something wrong. But she has it now and we'll get in good shape when the real thing goes down."

Quake has posed:
Skye grins, "No, not a bug, a design feature. So stupid of me."

She knows what it is now, and has totally missed the fact that she's shut Nat's system down.

"Fuck," she intones, mostly pleased now. "I knew it. I knew something was wrong. And this I can fix."

Now she looks up and over at the two others, lips pursed over a pleased little smirk. "Time well wasted. Thank-you Nat. I couldn't have done it without you."

Yes, Skye did just call her Nat. Not Natasha. Not Agent Romanoff. None of her usual post-fight carefullness, but rather her casual and frank 'I'm talking with Clint' referring to the other by Nat. Not that Skye's noticed. She's too busy gleeing over the fact she found the problem before the big attack.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint gets up from his chair, "So, what was it?" he asks. "And how long will it be before you surface from code land again?" he asks as he moves over behind Skye, to look over his shoulder. On his way over her flashes a smile and mouths "Thanks" to her.

Skye's little slip is noticed, "Ahem, you mean Agent Romanoff?" he asks, with a smile.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
Now that it's over, Natasha picks up her candy bar and tears open the top. She takes a bite of the chocolate, plain-no almonds. It is followed with a sip of her coffee for a nice mocha effect. She just arches a brow at the correction from Clint, having not worried about such formalities and wondering why he is. Maybe something she isn't aware of playing between the lines.

Quake has posed:
Skye crinkles her nose at Clint, "Just what is that supposed to mean, until I surface again?" Oh, she knows she's a bit tunnel visioned when it comes to her work. To the point of being a fault, almost. Not that he's truly experienced that since taking up with her.

The other, though she blinks at, "Huh? Agent Romanoff what?" Giving a self-conscious little cough Nat's way. "Uh, not meaning to refer to you in the third person there. Sorry."

Now that her attention has been drawn away from the computer she's a little more self-concious about the fact that she and Nat haven't got the easiest of histories with one another. "It shouldn't take me more than a day. Not even. Put the fix in, and run some scenarios back to make sure I've caught it and we're good to go. It was just a stupid little loop I had meant to use and didn't. I don't know why I didn't see it. I ended up using it on the decoys. It was looking for a string to run and not finding it. I just have to clean a few bits up."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint catches that eyebrow and he shrugs in return. "Wasn't sure where you two were at. Didn't want to push buttons," he says by way of explanation to Nat. He did have something of a vested interest in the two of them getting along.

"You know what I mean, you've pretty much told me what May and Darcy had to do to keep you fed, while you worked all this up," he waves at the computer with a smile. "I've got no problem with it. Honestly. Just wanted an ETA on when I got my girlfriend back is all."

When her next comments give him that, he nods. "Doesn't sound too bad."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"No problem," Natasha says as she hears the apology. Then she pushes back her chair as she picks up her coffee cup. The candybar is in her opposite hand. She seems about to leave the she hesitates and gives Skye a look.

"Look, it's really none of my business and I know that but I'm going to say it anyway. A word of advice from the world's worst workaholic. Let it go for a day or two. Give yourself some time to recover. And make sure you give Clint the time he deserves."

And with that, she's heading for the door again.

Quake has posed:
"You say that like yo'uve got some secret video of me ignoring you in favour of my work,"Skye teases Clint, even as she nods at him. "And fine. I get a bit hyper-focused. But you tell me how many hours I've spent behind a screen since we've started seeing one another?"

She sticks her tongue out at him. "Your girlfriend isn't disappearing. But if you made her supper while she finished her job, she could spend the evening playing Rock Bandz with you later?"

Nat's getting up is caught with a questioning look. "You don't have to leave. I mean, we could go over what I'm doing if you wanted?" Though she nods at the recommendation to leave it a day or two. "Maybe? I've been avoiding it off and on for a couple of weeks now."

The last, though, the young woman has something of a soft smile for, "No worries. I'm treating him right. At least I'm trying." She half expects him to have some smartassed remark to that.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Who says I don't," Clint smiles before he is forced to surrender. "Okay fair point, most of my knowledge is based on hearsay."

He does nod though. "Deal."

"I can head out, if you guys want to talk shop," he offers to the ladies. "Seems I have a dinner to make."

"Succeeding," he chimes in. Hey, sometimes he changes things up. "We're good," he tells Nat, but he nods his thanks to her for looking out for him.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"No, you have the code well in hand and I am not one to be a third wheel. I just don't want to see you make the same mistakes others have." Natasha is referring to herself of course. Not that Skye will know. Clint, likely will.

With that she gives a little wave. "Have a good night." Then she's gone.