3642/DarkSky Rising

DarkSky Rising
Date of Scene:	14 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	As part of Operation: Tidepool, Sye contacts Miles Lydon and hands over stolen SHIELD data.
Cast of Characters:	Quake, Arnim Zola

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Quake has posed:
It felt weird to be back in this world. Wrong, even. However, for the next however many weeks it took to deal with the matter, this was Skye's life.

She remembered her conversations with Clint, never realizing how things might go. And even with those talks, nothing had prepared her for that moment in the basement of the Triskelion, facing down Clint, and knowing she was going to have to shoot him. Replaying it in her mind as she ran, she knew it was still the right answer. Skye just couldn't forgive herself for it.

She couldn't dwell, though. She had a mission. And too many other people's lives depended upon her doing her job. She began to loathe Fury in a way she never thought she would before, even as a deepening understanding and respect opened up for the man. This is what he did every day. He made these decisions every day. Not jut for one or two people, but for them all.

Skye made a mental note that she'd apologize to the man when all this was over...

her first port of call, once she'd ditched Gretel and thrown herself onto a rushhour platform of the subway, was to find one of the 'safehouses' that she'd used while working with Rising Tide. It wasn't what others might think of as a safe house - in fact, most of these places were rife with criminal elements and dangerous to boot, but there was a certain understanding that everyone there was in the same position. Neutral territory was achieved. And there was always a dark corner where a secure internet connection could be made.

Skye had picked up a burner phone - she'd not taken anything from SHIELD but the flashdrive. She didn't want anything that might be used to track or trace her through backchannels. It's what she would have done.

A quick text was sent: Goal achieved. Schematics obtained. Reply? -DS.

Now all she had to do was wait.

Arnim Zola has posed:
Skye didn't have to wait long for a reply. The reply itself was short as well, but then that was to be expected when contacted out of the blue: Authenticate. - H.

Her contact would be waiting for one of their code phrases, ones only they'd know.

Quake has posed:
Skye's fingers hesitated over the keyboard. It had been a long time, but she hadn't forgotten the codes. One she sent it, though, she'd be.. well, not committed - she was that already... more, she'd be back there. Pretending to be something she wasn't anymore. And somehow her time with SHIELD, her time with Clint, had taught her she was better than that.

Ultimately, though, that was what had her typing the single word in and hitting reply. She was better than that. And Fury was counting on her. They all were, even if they didn't know it.

Shaky fingers tapped: Dorothy.

Skye hit enter, and waited.

Arnim Zola has posed:
The code word came back to Skye by a twisted path, Dorothy, Wizard of Oz, Somewhere over the Rainbow, and where did you find rainbows? It was impossible to guess and so Skye didn't have to wait long before a reply came back: Meet? Where?

Quake has posed:
Skye let go a held breath when the reply came. She knew it would be a gamble, and the response wasn't a guarantee that she was in. But it was believed she was herself, now. That much had been accepted. Where, though.. that she did not know. Places she would normally suggest were not viable. Too many were places she'd frequented while in SHIELD. And of the others, there was no actual edge she could gain by choosing. It made some sense to her to allow him to make the choice. Give him the upper hand she knew Miles needed to believe he was the one in control.

<<Postion uncertain. On the run. You chose. Safer. -DS>>

Arnim Zola has posed:
As before Miles doesn't take long to reply. It's an address in Hell's Kitchen, with instructions to find the side door in the alley way.

Assuming Skye goes, it's not the most inviting of alleys, and the locals, who don't shuffle on about their business don't hide the unsavory looks they shoot in her direction. Though nobody stops her should she go to the door punch in the code and step through to the other side.

There is a strange feeling as she goes through the door, like a changing of air pressure and a cold shiver that passes through her body. Then, she's standing in a bar, a corridor of doors and clocks behind her, each door having the name of a different city. Hers read New York. Though there was no sign to say where this place was, but by the number of dialects spoken in the bar room it could be almost anywhere.

It didn't take long to find Miles from there. He stood head and shoulders above the crowd of punters who gathered around shouting at the current cage match. He stood apart from them sipping on what would be a whisky and soda, it was always, whiskey and soda with him, and watching the fight while he waited for Skye to appear.

He hadn't seen her yet, so it wasn't too late to change her mind.

Quake has posed:
Skye goes. Whether or not it's inviting, it's the job, right? And the whole purpose of this mess. Besides, Skye truly on the run with what she stole from SHIELD would be welcoming the possibility of safety at the end of it. Would welcome the total negligence of the unwelcome along the way. It was, in short, how people disappeared.

If it's something magical, Skye doesn't notice. The oddness, however, causes prickles of awareness along her skin. Goosebumps that have her rubbing her arms and feeling just a little nervous as she looks about. Likely it's just some electronic feedback. Something akin to white noise, only jamming, perhaps. Which is fine. Provided Miles is here, Skye has nothing on her to jam but the burner phone, and that has already served its purpose.

The flashdrive is safely down her cleavage, tucked up against her left breast in her bra. She's comfortable with how things are. Other than nerves at making this whole thing work. Ironic considering she'd made her way into the organization before on sheer moxy. She wasn't so very different now than she was then, at least not on that front.

When she finds him in the crown, Skye has another moment of wondering just what the hell she thought she was doing. Only what was this all for, all of it -her setting up this elaborate charade, escaping from SHIELD, involving Oracle, lying to her lover, shooting him, even - what was any of it for if she wasn't going to go through with it? She might as well hand her SHIELD badge in now and walk away from there as well, resigning herself to being a nothing more than the IT girl she so despised being mistaken for.

Instead she wanders up behind him, and nudges her chin towards the cage. "Who's winning?"

Arnim Zola has posed:
Miles doesn't' see her come up behind her, and jumps a little when she asks her question and he turns to answer with a smile on his face. Miles didn't look like someone you'd peg as a computer genius. He was tall, tanned and athletic and looked like a guy who spent more time at a gym than behind a desk, but yet he did.. He must have had the mutant gene for good metabolism or something.

"Hey, DS," no names in public. "Honestly, no clue. Just thinking on old times and trying to blend in," he says. He doesn't do that well, blend in, with hackers or with this mostly Asian crowd. He gives a self-depricating snort about blending in, "So, want to grab a table? Sounded like you had some business to discuss."

Quake has posed:
Skye didn't trust it was that easy. Not after a year away. Still, Miles could be rather shortsighted. He certainly didn't have her paranoia. Though he was careful not to use names in public.

That brought a smile to her lips. Some things never changed.

"Table would be great. And yeah. It's.. a doozy." She let's herself smirk smugly, like she's just pulled the biggest hack of her life off, and in some ways she just had. On more levels than she could say. If she got back into Rising Tide, she'd have convinced them she'd never left or betrayed them. And she'd convinced people who should have known her better than that that she'd betrayed them. Some of them on personal and intimate levels.

The smirk doesn't touch her insides, though. In truth, she feels sick about it all. The people back at SHIELD who she'd had to perpetrate this lie to. Albeit, the same people she'd been lying to when she arrived there, even if over time she'd seen how they were the better way. A way that allowed her to do actual good in the world. It was hard to explain, but they were family there in ways that Rising Tide could never be. Miles would sell her out in a heartbeat, and Skye knew that. At least she knew that now. In the past she'd been naive enough to believe that wouldn't or couldn't be true.

She knew better now.

For all it's faults and ills, SHIELD was not that. Would never be that.

"Old times, huh? yeah. Shit, it's been forever, huh?"

Arnim Zola has posed:
Miles chuckles when he sees that smug grin. "Yeah, it's been a long time but I see that smirk never changes," he says before he makes his way to a corner table walking with his hand on Skye's back.

Once at the table, he drops into his chair, shifting it so he can look at Skye and the room at the same time. "See. Learning," he says, she'd always told him to be careful. "But yeah, it's been forever, just curious what brought you back. Or shit at this point, why you left. I knew we were fighting about something but it didn't seem that big of a deal."

Quake has posed:
Skye lets the grin linger. It's not only trademark, it hides a multitude of other sins and expressions. He'd never really learned to read her well. Not like Clint had. She was glad of that for more than the obvious reasons.

"Heh, back to the wall, huh? Who the hell taught you that? Thought I was the one SHIELD nabbed." She shrugs. "Yeah. The grins the same. As for why I left, the fuckers nabbed me. Told me it was them or a four by six. That wasn't a real choice. Just been biding my time until they got lazy and relaxed. They wanted to believe I'd bought in. That whole thing you pulled at New Years? Knew what I had to do."

She doesn't address what they'd been fighting about. In truth, she couldn't remember now. She didn't even know if it had been important or not. It might have been there, but in comparison to what she'd had since? No contest. If she didn't bring it up, though, she could use it later. Control it. And she'd need all the leverage she could before this was over.

Arnim Zola has posed:
Miles was all about the surface and so when he looks at her grinning like that, he didn't question it, just led the way to the table and sat.

"Some paranoid chick I used to have a thing with," he says by way of explaining his caution. "Took me awhile to get it, then she up and vanished and it suddenly seemed like a good idea." He'd been joking but when Skye mentions SHIELD and that'd she'd been taken, the humour drained from his expression. "So it's true then, you were working for the enemy. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't get up and walk away before some jackbooted asshole gives me the same choice they gave you."

He looks at her then, suspicious and a little hurt, "Unless you're that asshole."

Quake has posed:
"Turns out that paranoid chick was right," she snorts.

Skye shrugs, and digs into her bra, pulling out the flashdrive and sliding it across the table at him. "Why? Because you want what's on that. Go on. Check it out."

She chooses to ignore the asshole comment. Don't engage the enemy with anything more than you have to. Keep it simple, stupid. As much truth as you can and as few lies as possible.

Skye might not have been being groomed to be a field agent, but she'd gotten the same training. And even though she'd never thought she'd be using it like this, she'd paid attention and listened - even when she'd pretended she wasn't.

Arnim Zola has posed:
Miles doesn't turn away as Skye digs around in her bra and when the flashdrive is presented, he takes it hesitantly, and when he's told to check it, he says, "Looks like she was. Open your rig and show me there," he says. "No way I'm putting this in my system without checking it first." Sure she could slip something on from her system but if she'd been planning that she'd have just put it on the flashdrive in the first place.

Quake has posed:
"Oh for fuck's sakes. Now you listen to me?" Still, Skye shakes her head and laughs. It was too perfect. "I left all my gack back at SHIELD. Didn't want anything they could trace me by. Even my phone is a burner. Just that came out with me."

She nods with her chin. "It's codes. All the currents to the electronic surveilance system. I set up some blinds, so it should take them a bit to discover exactly what I stole. They don't have me back there looking for them." Skye avoids mentioning Nat. "If we use them quickly enough, we can set ourselves up some blind spots and pretty much take records of every code change they use. Though I wouldn't hit them all up. Best bet to stay hidden are some of the more innocuous systems. Things that let you take peeks without being obvious. You'd be surprised what areas have access. Like fire systems. They watch the whole place. Pretty passive little system, but it's got to be active everywhere, you know? Can't stop a fire if you don't have some sort of eyes."

She shares that little secret with a blandness she didn't know she could pull off. It's a biggie in the scope of things. A hole she'll have to figure a way to patch later, but right now, it's a hole she needs to colour in the lines of her story.

Arnim Zola has posed:
Miles scrubs a hand through his hair when Skye doesn't have her kit with her. It was like her saying she didn't have her right leg. He had his rig with him in his messenger bag, but like he said, the hell if he was going to stick that in his baby.

He slams down his drink in a single swallow. "C'mon," he says and heads towards the door. There's a reaction to what she tells him is on the drive though, a little widening of his eyes and a glance towards the drive in his hand. Like he wanted to believe, still, he'd learned some caution in the last year or so and so he wasn't biting. Not yet.

The door he picks, is not from the bank of them Skye came through but the other side of the bar, he pushes it open into daylight when Skye entered at night, and it's not New York waiting outside, its somewhere else, with the signs all done up in bad English and curly vaguely Asian seeming letters. The streets were paved but covered over with a thick coating of mud, and the buildings around them were ramshackle and roofed in tin.

Walking with the confidence of someone who was used to what was waiting for them outside, he makes his way down the street heading towards a shop who's sign proclaimed: INTERNET in big bold letters.

Quake has posed:
Skye knew that walking around without her kit stood out like a sore thumb, but she hoped it made sense. Hell, she'd have tracked herself back with her gear if she could. Even her secure phone had been left behind, she was that paranoid. May would be right proud. Or so Skye thought. May probably wanted to kick her ass right now, unless Fury had brought her into the fold of things. Though given how close they still were to her actual escape, Skye doubted it. At this point she was on her own and would remain so for some time.

"Yeah, I know. Me without, huh? Figured you'd lose it if I brought anything that SHIELD could follow me with. Feel kinda naked, but that paranoia thing? I wasn't kidding about it. They nabbed me once already for hacking into their systems. I wasn't taking any chances."

She follows him to the internet cafe. It's a lousy joint as far as those places go, but it suffices. It'll let them look at what she'd managed to download. And knowing Fury, she still had a window to use those codes to set up what she needed with Rising Tide. A small window. A very small window.

"Look, I'll be honest with you, they know I stole something big. I blew through access to get it. We're going to want to use those things sooner than later." She holds her hands up. "I'm not saying me. I get it. You don't trust me for shit right this second, but the longer you wait, the less useful those things get. So pull whoever you need to."

Arnim Zola has posed:
"Makes sense," Miles says about the lack of gear as they make their way to the crappy internet café. It was what'd you expect, a few chipped, cigarette burned desks with plastic chairs and computers still running Windows 8. Miles lays down some local money for the guy at the counter then heads back to the machine the guy points to and pulls the ethernet cable out of the back before he puts the flashdrive in. "Just in case," he says.

He pulls up the data. The codes by themselves don't look like much, they could just be random letters and numbers. He digs deeper, looking at the structure of the file itself, and for the little markers that'd suggest a SHIELD system. That he knew where to look was telling, he'd seen this sort of thing before. When he's had his look, he pops the drive out of the computer and turns to look at Skye. Considering. "C'mon," he says, getting up again and nodding to the washroom. He doesn't give further explanations.

Quake has posed:
Oh, Skye had done this before, only for real. You know, the whole bathroom assignation. Only she knew that wasn't what Miles was up to. However, everyone else in the room didn't need to know that.

A saucy little grin plays along her lips as she nods, and gets up from her seat. "Heh. At least this place doesn't smell like piss. Was getting tired of the back of gas stations."

And, because she can, she leads.

Once inside the tiny room, she starts to strip down to bra and panties. Doesn't even wait for him to ask. Nor does she lock the door. Hell, if someone stepped in on them it would only be to her favour. No, she knows what he wants, and it isn't sex - though there has been that in the past. In those piss smelling gas station bathrooms even. Though less of those than seedy motel rooms that were dank and dark and not really all that much better.

When she's stripped down she stands there, arms raised. "Sastisfied? Hell, pat me down if you want."

Arnim Zola has posed:
Miles had been along for a few of those in their past and he looked more confident then than he did now. Though when she makes her joke he quips. "Yeah, internet cafe, definitely a step up," then walks back with her and opens the door then steps in after her.

Miles leans against the door as Skye strips, "Hm, just like old times," he says, and any other time that would be a come on, but Skye's sense was right, all of this, this was about being the other type of screwed.

Stepping forward, he pats her down quickly, with a minimum of groping then steps away. Returns to leaning against the door and lets out a breath, "You're clean," he says. "Go ahead, and get dressed, I guess we might as well talk in here since people will expect us to be busy for a bit."

"Anyhow, what you brought, it looks pretty legit. I'd like to check it out some more though. Can I take it with?" he asks.

Quake has posed:
Skye looks bored while he pats her down. "Not exactly like old times. I'm not planning on jumping into bed with you. It's been a long time, H. But yeah. Definite step up."

She drags her clothes on after he's declared her clean. "Sure, take it if you want it. It's the only copy I have. Hell, don't even have a buck to my name, though. So, was kind of hoping I might be able to at least crash at one of the safehouses. I mean, mostly hoping you'll take me back, but whatever. Just it's fucking cold out and I did just risk my ass to get you that shit."

Arnim Zola has posed:
"Hey, wasn't asking," Miles says pausing in his search for a moment to raise his hands defensively only to continue the search. "And why not?" he asks whether out of curiosity, pride or interest it's hard to say.

Miles looks at the celing while she gets dressed, despite feeling her up just a second ago, some sort of misplaced sense of propiety. "Whether you're back or not, depends on what the others say, got to vote on it, but the drive is the real deal, it'll help."

The mention of safehouses gets a nod. "We can do that, probably get you some cash too, enough to start you out, let you get some gear, unless you're going to hustle another laptop like the last one? What did you end up calling the thing?" he asks.

Quake has posed:
"Toto," Skye supplies easily, and with a grin. She and Toto had been through a lot. "Would prefer not to have to hustle my ass to get another rig, but I'll live if I have to. Some cash would help."

The other she just shrugs at. "It's been forever, H. don't even want to pretend we're the same people we were. I'm sure you've fucked others since me. And I just don't want to go there. Don't push."

She nods to the rest, though. She'd just have to trust they'd take her in. The data was legit. And she'd done all she could otherwise. Now it was just a waiting game.