3899/Tidepool: With Two You Get Eggroll

Tidepool: With Two You Get Eggroll
Date of Scene:	17 February 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Skye meets with Oracle as the Tidepool mission heads towards Endgame; brings her up to date; and asks a favour before making a sudden realization about Karl. Takeout was had.
Cast of Characters:	Quake, Oracle
Tinyplot:	Rising Tide

---

Quake has posed:
Things were falling into place rapidly. Skye had done almost all she could now, other than tap Fury about time, date, and place of the operation where they hoped to nab Karl, and the rest of the Inner Circle of Rising Tide and put this baby to rest.

So far, though, details were lacking, and things were stretching out interminably. Karl was unhappy about the net being restored, even if it was a poor semblance of what it once had been. Functional, the new net had reduced a lot of the fear that had been running rampant, and with renewed vigor, folks were banding together and getting shit done. While it was great to see, it was a lot of hurry up and wait for Skye.

She'd left a message specifically for Oracle. A time. A date. A place. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Tonight wouldn't be ramen in one of her lonely coffeemugs. Tonight, there would be eggroll!

Oracle has posed:
The woman known digitally as only 'Oracle' is unhappy as hell about having to come down in person -- it makes her very very nervous, what with all that Skye has been involved in. But she makes the meeting because it's important. Stepping into the restaurant, she bows a little to the host and just makes her way toward the table where she sees Skye's hair.

"Please tell me we're about ready to pull you out of there," she murmurs as she slides in across from the other woman. "Letting this plot play out has //seriously// put some people's nose out of joint with me."

Quake has posed:
Skye politely waits until their server has gone before speaking to Oracle. "Hey, it's not been a walk in the park for me, either. But I get your point. Trouble's been Karl's pretty twitchy and doens't come out to play in public. He ranks right up there on your level of paranoid. And Miles thought I was wound tightly that way."

Skye just shakes her head.

"Sorry about it all, though. Think it's coming to a head in the next couple of days. We've been given a location and a rundown on what we're not to bring. I swear to god it sounds like we're going to be frisked at the fucking door. Speaking of, I might need a favour." And even Skye has to roll her eyes at herself. "I know, like this whole damned thing hasn't been one continual favour. I'm hoping you at least got some info out of it, and some links you didn't have before. Going in we had no idea."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara smirks faintly. "No one is my level of paranoid, lady, I promise you that. I learned paranoia literally at the feet of the master." Pulling in a breath, she eyes Skye warily. What new level of favor is the other woman going to ask?

"Yeah, I gathered that," Barbara agrees. "As soon as the shit hit the fan, I had to lock down the Watchtower connections so those assholes couldn't infect anything." She's //mad// about that. "The Justice League and the systems that I personally maintain are actually all still up and running -- they're closed systems." Her smile is tight. "But believe me... I have back doors in my back doors in THEIR back doors now." If Skye thinks that //anyone// is coming out of this without Oracle's sticky little fingers all over //everything//? She's sorely mistaken.

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs. "Look, I know it was a lot, and quite the bitch too, but fuck, you have shit in places you couldn't have withouth a lot more effort than it took you legitimately here. Not saying the why was okay, but the rest? So I get the pissy, but if you didn't take advantage of what I threw at you, you aren't what I thought."

Yeah, Skye knows. In fact, she was counting on that being the credstick to this whole thing.

"Isn't a huge one, really. Just need you to give someone a heads up when shit goes down so that they can deke out if at all possible. If not, no loss. This one's a personal. The rest of the motherfuckers can rot, and I'm supposed to go down with them, but if he can fly the coopy, I'd appreciate it. And maybe, and this one is your choice, help him get his feet back where they need to be. He's going to reinvision the whole shitbag. Our fingers are in that pie, but there's legit, and there's legit, and frankly, if my boss didn't see this coming, he's not paid attention to me enough."

Oracle has posed:
Shaking her head, Barbara says, "I can't believe they've got anyone good enough to do what they pulled off. That's the thing that sticks in my craw." She grimaces. "You were mildly annoyed that you didn't know about me ahead of time? But I was reasonably sure there //weren't// people that I didn't know about, between my contacts and their contacts." With a tilt of her head, Barbara adds, "I'll see this all the way to the end; and yes, I'll help you get your friend the heads-up. Do you have a plan in place to shore up the backbone once all this comes down? Because this has left it wide open for someone to salt the earth in all of this. And when it comes back up, every two-bit asshole out there is going to be looking to break into banks. And I'm good... I'm //very/ good. But I can't manage that level of chaos on my own."

Quake has posed:
Skye rubs her temples. "Jesus. That's a good question. I'm going to be under lock and key for the first while, so.."

She stops herself there and thinks.

"Right. So. The cobbled together bit will still be up and running. Karl isn't announcing this fit of pique. At least not till it goes down. But that, maybe you can reroute that - the announcement, I mean. Create a feedback loop that makes it seem like it's hit a glitch or some shit. He's not going to pull the op because of it, and people finding out after the fact is almost as good as at the fact."

"Folks won't know the other has been hit - and if we time it right, the main network won't actually be fried. Might lose a few components, but those we can chalk up to the previous operation. Couple of the folks already involved are likely able to be tagged to help shore up any damage to the existing network and put it back on line without any chaos. The chos is just if it all goes down, and Karl's not touching the cobble."

And that thought makes her frown, too.

"Fuck me. He wants something out of that cobbled together network. Son of a bitch. Why didn't we see that already."

Oracle has posed:
Quirking a brow, Barbara considers. "All right... " she says slowly, frowning. "Well, what's been MacGyver'd is pretty basic, really. So .... what does it have that the primary hubs of the Internet don't?" she asks. "I mean, we're not using completely obsolete technology to jury-rig what we have, but we're definitely not using top of the line tech either." At least... not for the publicly used stuff. We'll leave off the fact that Barbara's stuff and the Watchtower are beyond top-of-the-line. "So really, it comes down to the idea... if this was a distraction to keep our eyes off the real target, what's the //real// target?"

Quake has posed:
"Good question," Skye mutters, looking displeased. "Clearly not the jury-rig itself. So either a component." And she's beyond sure that Oracle's place in all this isn't known. Between the paranoia of the pair, including the fact that Skye had 'lost' every bit of tech handed to her since defecting that she hadn't herself purchased and had on her person without losing sight of it...

"All I can think is one of the corporations who got involved. Something they threw into it..." And then it hits her. "Oh god. He wanted those satellites. And those damned computers. Thought he was mining response times and reactions. Checking shit ground level with regards to the chaos and how things functioned. I mean, that's a goldmine of info, but the fucker wanted those computers. And we put it all back on line for him."

Which suggests to her a whole other line of thought.

"Fuck. I need to talk to Fury about something. I think I know what Karl is up to past this point. And it's not pretty."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara frowns. "The satellites?" she asks, puzzled. "Why? The ones we're using for the jury-rig aren't exactly wonderful specimens -- there's nothing newer than like four years ago." And at the speed at which tech develops, it might as well have been 10 years. She hasn't tweaked onto whatever it is that Skye's brain has put together, but then again, she doesn't have all the insider knowledge that Skye does either. "Here," she tells the other woman, handing her a phone. "It's encrypted to hell and gone, plus it's a burner." She grins slightly. "Call him whenever you need to."

Quake has posed:
Skye blinks at the phone, then just grins. "Damn I'm glad I tried to hack you. Shit, woman, why weren't we friends before?"

Of course she knows all the answers to that, including the fact that hackers didn't really have friends. They had people they knew; people they worked with; people they respected; and mostly people they'd burn to save their own asses if it came down to it.

Oracle has posed:
The grin quirks in her direction is more than a little amused. "Because //friends// cover one another's asses -- and until this little game, I wasn't sure you'd do that," Barbara tells her candidly. "Look.... whatever the Rising Tide is actually up to here, it's definitely going to be over in short order. I sincerely doubt they're good enough to plan something this large for a long-haul kind of operation. They're just not ... loyal enough to one another. The score is going to be big, but it's also not something that's going to require their long-term cooperation with anyone but themselves. The highest bidder is sure to turn anyone who decides they're unhappy with their cut. So... maybe Fury can get a bidding war going that will knock your friend Karl off his game."

Quake has posed:
And Oracle has her there. In fact, until quite recently, Skye was the living embodiement of not a friend. To anyone. It had been a hard lesson for her to accept and learn. It had been one of the first things Skye had realized undercover in Rising Tide, how she'd changed, and how they had not. How every one of them would have sold her out for their own skins.

Except for Genus.

And that was why Skye was getting him out.

"Yeah. I can't argue with you on that one. I didn't get it. Even if you account for my history and cut me slack, I still wasn't that person. I mean, I get why you and a lot of people don't like SHIELD, because we're not perfect. Maybe none of us get to be. But we cover each other's backs."

"The Tide is going to fall. Karl can't stop that. Don't think that's what he wants, either. Think he's going to make a push for defection. He let major swaths of their members fall to the first operation. And he didn't even twinge when Momento and Saffron got killed." Skye shakes her head. "No, he's not worried about Rising Tide. That's the thing Miles isn't seeing. None of them are. Karl has been eroding the organization from within, with their blessing, since he started. He wants them to fall apart."

Which was another reason she didn't want them to. Why she'd made her push with Fury to get Genus under SHIELD's wing, however covertly.

"I'll tell Fury what you said, about getting operatives to push a bidding war. It should work as a distraction."

Oracle has posed:
"I hope so, Skye," Barbara tells her quietly. There is genuine worry in the eyes that study the undercover agent. "Be safe. The phone's encryption isn't as solid as the 'net -- three calls, max. Then trash it. You know how to get to me if you need me." She smiles a little bit. "SHIELD's not perfect, but then again, neither is the Justice League." She shrugs. "But the fact that you recognize it... and that you recognize the //difference// .... it's why I said yes."

Quake has posed:
Skye nods, and throws a weak smile Oracle's way. "Same. You know how to contact me. Anytime." She watches the other stand and make ready to leave. "Thanks, by the way. I mean, you've saved my ass more than once."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara grins. "It's what I do.... for the right people." She shrugs. Her tone is warm, as if Skye is no longer simply an asset or a contact but someone to whom trust is being given. She //cares// about whether this comes out -- she's not just doing a job anymore. "And when all of this is over? Give me a call. We'll definitely talk." She heads out of the restaurant, her hands tucked into her pockets.