3399/Breaking In Was the Easy Part

Breaking In Was the Easy Part
Date of Scene:	15 December 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Phil Coulson stumbles upon a working Skye. The matter of IcedLotus comes up. Plausible deniabilty for all is set in motion.
Cast of Characters:	Quake, Phil Coulson

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Quake has posed:
Post Operation Hammerfall.

Skye would have self-appointed herself to comb through the data they'd stolen from Hydra, except, in the end it wasn't necessary. The powers that be saw the wisdom in letting the young woman do her thing and make certain that what they'd gotten wasn't going to let loose a whole new array of problems into SHIELD's systems. Sure, by the time she'd gone through it all some of the data would be obsolete, but there would be other things they could glean from the stuff.. like how Hydra thought. How they organized their data, their files. How they compartmentalized or didn't. Plus, not all the data would be out of date..

She'd barely begun sifting, all her equipment totally isolated from SHIELD's systems, and used only for this purpose. She wasn't taking any chances. She knew what she could do. She expected something of the sort in return. Especially given it was IcedLotus she'd gone head to head with in the end. If it had been another, Skye might not have been so paranoid.. Okay, she'd have been just as paranoid, but not nearly so worried about missing anything; Lotus was a Skye class hacker and that meant needing a whole other level of concern and caution.

Skye'd actually parked her butt in security today. All she was doing was preliminary sorting. Still, whiel her usual wont was the break room, she'd changed it up some and come here. If only to not be predictable. Nose buried deep in files, the rest of the room might not exist.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil is back looking through the logs and decided to see what Skye has been up to. Upon finding her in security, he walks up and clears his throat, "Have any insights on Hammerfall? I certainly wasn't expecting those.. I think the current term is heckin' bad doggos?" He snorts, "Secondly, have any idea of what was going to go off with that timer?"

Quake has posed:
What Phil may or may not know is status quo for working Skye is most often tunnel vision for what she's doing. Pre-Hammerfall, there'd been concerted efforts to make sure the young woman unplugged and ate and did things like talk to other human beings. Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, she'd needed a lot less of that once she'd taken up with one Clint Barton. One might almost suspect, had SHIELD thought along those lines, that SHIELD had thrown him at her for that exact purpose.

However, that wasn't the case, and, as luck would have it, today she's got a brain cell or three to spare for her surroundings. "Huh? Uh.."

Somewhere in the back of her head, it filters through to Skye that this isn't just some wandering interruption, but someone over her head, and with actual authority to interrupt her work. Not that this was high on her radar of things to give a shit about, but she did pause and turn to figure out who. "Oh, hey. Uh. On the dogs? Not a clue. Wasn't there. But the timer was a countdown to overload on the reactor. You guys cut that close."

She'd been glad to have thought of drawing up the plans for the place, otherwise the conclusion to that operation could have gone very differently.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"I see, well, glad things worked out the way they did, then. Strange earned his keep, it seems." Phil smiles and crosses his arms, "So why are you holed up back here? Everything all right or got some secret project you are brewing up?" He walks over to see what she's working on, "But I am glad you gave the help you did, just surprised that it went the way that it did." He internally winces at repeating parts of that sentence too much.

Quake has posed:
Skye chuckles at Coulson. "I'm the whole reason you had Venzuala, and the strike teams. You know that, right?" And it was true. Fury had given her carte blanche on the matter. Sure, she hadn't ran the teams, but without her they wouldn't have needed them.

"And what I'm doing now is pretty much fine tooth combing everything I pulled from the mission. I know who I was up against, and there are landmines in this data." Landmines that will leave holes, and gaps, and backdoors open into SHIELD's system that Skye isn't about to let happen if she has any say in the matter. And it wasn't like she didn't know how such things could be left behind - she'd left some of her own in SHIELD's systems when she'd fine tooth combed those after the Hydra attack on the Triskelion.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"I know," Phil nods, "And we still live becaues of it." He grins, "Oh? Glad I'm not going through it, then. Knowing my luck I'd hit every one of them at least twice." His grin becomes a frown at the mention of another individual, "Are we at any risk, presently?" He rosses his arms and says, "I have faith that you will deal with it, and that I will help you however I can."

Quake has posed:
"Are we in danger? Not specifically? None of the data is on our systems here, and won't be until I've cleared it." Skye shrugs. "Just someone I've run into before. Decent hacker. Usually plays for pay. Makes her a bit trickier to pin down sometimes?"

She gives Phil another shrug. "Biggest risk really is she knows it was me behind our keyboards. Though that really doesn't affect anyone but me." Well, in the strictest sense, that's true. However, in the more global sense, IcedLotus can do a lot more damage than that... and likely will.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"If you are in danger, then we collectively are in danger. You are useful to us in many ways and I will not have this Icy Lotus get in your way or threaten you." Phil remarks, "But we can put out feelers for her, maybe even get some info that could be used to track her down. Worst-case scenario we ask Stark for help..."

Quake has posed:
"IcedLotus," Skye corrects. Not that she expects others to hang such importance on net names as she does. But she doesn't get all the other monikers others hold, so she figures it's a fair exchange in things. "Physical danger? Me?" The young woman considers. "Not sure. That's not really how hackers do things. We're a lot more about doxxing. Ruining reputations. That sort of shit."

Mind, there was a lot of shit that could be dragged out. And SHIELD really was square in the middle of things... Still, Skye was rather more convinced Lotus wouldn't attack her directly. She was more worried about what other damage she could do. Like the fact that most at SHIELD didn't know that she was DarkSky, or that she'd worked with Rising Tide - and that little tidbit could rankle with some. Or the fact that Rising Tide didn't know she was working for SHIELD. That there was a whole other can of worms that could be mildly uncomfortable to deal with.

Skye grins, though. "You realize I'm the one you'd get to track her down, right? she's not someone who is ever going to be out in the streets causing a fist fight. And Stark?" Skye's nose crinkles. "Sheesh. What am I? Chopped liver?" One of the top hackers in the world and Coulson suggests Stark. Even if Stark was terribly amusing to go bother about things. That made Skye grin, too. She liked bothering Stark.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"I see," Phil says pensively, "But she still can make your life miserable. That is unacceptable." He grins at her chopped liver comment, "As I said, worst-case scenario! Have him throw his money at finding her." The older agent lets his voice go back to serious, "But, in all seriousness, what can I do to help?"

Quake has posed:
Skye frowns a little as she thinks on things. "Not sure to be honest. Most of what I need is time to scour the data. And probably access to double-check anything I run across." And even that wasn't entirely necessary. She had ways and means of doing most of the things she'd need to if it came to that.

The rest she shrugs at, giving Coulson a bland look. "I knew what would happen if I did that mission. I knew from the day of the attack on the Trisk. There isn't anything you can really do to change it. And freaking out about it just confirms anything that might leak. So you let it lie. It'll die down or it won't. Might lose a few contacts over it." Yeah, she'd kept contacts. She'd never admitted it, but let's be honest, did anyone expect her to lose them all? No. Didn't think so.

Again, she smirks at the mention of Tony. He really was good at throwing money and his ego around. It could be a useful diversion. But not necessary yet. Not even close to necessary. Skye was fairly certain she'd find Lotus long before the other did - if only because Skye was certain Lotus would make a point of finding her.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil frowns and nods, "Very well. I will let it lie, but if you need my approval for anything, don't hesitate to ask and I will almost certainly grant it." He ponders for a moment, "But do what you gotta do, within reason and the law, of course. But I had best let you get back to your work. If you need me, you'll know where to find me." With that, Phil departs unless stopped.

Quake has posed:
Skye inclines her head, careful not to address the ambiguity of things she will or won't do. It's really simpler that way. "Shall do."