4490/Leviathan: Planning the Rescue

Leviathan: Planning the Rescue
Date of Scene:	22 May 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Skye, May and Clint plan a rescue for Lag, but as they talk things seem less and less like a straightforward rescue.
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Quake, Melinda May
Tinyplot:	Leviathan

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Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint and Skye's vacation was going about how you'd expect. They were just into enjoying Hong Kong when suddenly a contact from Skye's past reached out to her a call for help and the news that he had been captured by Hydra and held in a base in China. Shortly after a call went out for backup asking anyone who could assist to meet them at the Hong Kong SHIELD offices, a sizable field base in the city. When the time to plan the rescue arrived Clint had commandeered a conference room with all the usual fancy screens and such for laying out the relevant data to plan the rescue. They had nine hours left of the twelve they'd promised Lag.

Clint has changed out of his vacation gear for standard SHIELD tactical garb and is pulling up the latest images SHIELD had on the area.

Quake has posed:
Skye, tugging on her own standard gear, complained semi-bitterly the whole while. "You know, I bet Fury is just damned proud of himself, promoting me like that. Just what the hell is this outfit anyway? And don't tell me it's protocol. I'm not supposed to be getting into face to face range.. "

She pauses. "Uh, am I?"

Melinda May has posed:
It's not at all unusual for May to be a regular ficture in the Hong Kong SHIELD office, considering she's one of a small number of field agents who are fluent in at least two Asian languages. And an even smaller number who are field certified. And is a seasoned pilot, well... there's maybe one other agent that fits all those qualifications.

That being said, she's there on base actually waiting for her quinjet to be ready to fly back to US soil when the call for backup goes out. She tells the techs to finish the pre-flight checks but hold off on the final runway prep while she goes to find out what's going on.

Barton's code was on the call out, that's making her feel like this has particular urgency.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint grins at Skye's complaints. "You know he is," he says. "It's Fury's style, punish through reward." He gives his head a shake at that. He was pretty sure that's the only reason Fury had made him level Seven. "And yep, you're a field agent now, that means face to face from time to time," he says. "Normally we'd keep that to a minimum since you're in training, but with this one, it doesn't look like we have a choice. "Going to be okay with it?" he asks.

Quake has posed:
Skye peers at Clint's setup, and pokes at the computer end of things, bringing up specs more to her liking and doing some formatting to streamline a few things that should help overall - especially as she's got not only Lag's information, but things about Rising Tide and the Benefactor that just didn't translate well into AAR's. Really, if you had to plan a rescue mission of someone inside on a job like this, she was someone you'd want on the team. That she and Clint were here in Hong Kong seemed almost too good to be chance.

"Huh." The sound from Skye is almost amused. "Okay with it?" She looks up from her computer screen. "I shot two agents, didn't I? Including a level 7 hotshot while escaping a full security lockdown of the Trisk. What kind of stupid question is that?"

She might be joking about it, and that all might be true, but she was still nervous.

Melinda May has posed:
Having been directed to the correct room for the planning session, May enters in time to hear only Skye's last rhetorical question. "The kind Barton asks when his lips are moving."

She stops in front of the displays and crosses her arms, seemingly waiting for one or both of them to update her on the reason for the backup request while she watches the specs et al appearing as Skye wrangles them.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint happily surrenders control of the intel gathering and layout to Skye, sitting back and watching her work while he answers he question. "I certainly remember that one shooting," he remarks for first, grinning and rubbing his chest like he could still feel where it hit. "And figured you were good, but had to ask, unless we get more people joining it'll be you and me vs this base, so better to get out any doubts before the shit hits the fan."

May's arrival earns a smile from Barton even with the dig. "Aww, missed you too, May. Come join us, we're just about to begin," he says, raising his hand in a wave.

Quake has posed:
"Thought you'd forgotten about it," Skye says with a smirk, knowing her 'reminding' him was teasing. But they do have business at hand, and she busies with drawing up the relevant reports; the information that Lag has been able to provide - however little it is - and other tidbits. "Yeah, I know you had to ask. Not *happy* about it, but I'm okay with it. Think if I were going to have issues I probably should have had them during Tidepool. Maybe not given Fury so much fuel for promoting me and changing streams."

She looks up and nods at May with a smirk. "And I was just about to say it's not likely going to be just us. They'll send the calvary. Hey May. Some vacation we're having, huh? What's your excuse?"

Melinda May has posed:
"I'm here at least once every week or two. What's so urgent you aborted your vacation?" May's still standing there with her arms crossed, looking pretty much the same as ever. Her eyes skim the information already on display. "And punishment or not, Fury wouldn't have promoted you if he didn't think you could handle it. So suck it up. You'll get through the learning curve."

She finally backs off a bit. "This looks like intel for a retrieval mission."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Actually still hurts," Clint grins at Skye. Though that was likely because his tattoo he just got like the ICER round Skye had shot him with was over his heart. "I can't remember if I said it or not, but that was a helluva shot," he adds, before cocking his head with a "Good point," about any issues showing themselves on Tidepool.

"Every week or two, must be good for the frequent flier miles," Clint jokes knowing damn well May would be flying herself. Like she'd let anyone else fly. Or for that matter drive.

"And you're right, one of Skye, want to fill her in about Lag?"

Quake has posed:
"Damn straight it was a good shot. Had a good teacher. You don't piss around if you want to survive." She gives May another of those nods, this time a knowing one. "Wasn't sure until I pulled the trigger if I actually could. In some ways it was best that it was you. After you, everyone else was easy."

Which was nothing but the truth.

"Not so much aborted," she informs May, "As sidelined. Got a distress call from an old colleague. And yeah, it's a retrieval."

She points at a layout on one of the screens. "He's being held in this lab, by the Benefactor. Who, as it turns out, is working for Hydra, and had this friend of mine.. well, it's a bit tricky? He's under key and guard, which I'm not really sure why, yet, given circumstances. I mean, Karl was pretty paranoid, but the guards were to keep us in one spot for retrieval. Not sure what's up with Lag here. And he needs a regular antidote. Which is going to put a kink in our plans, but he's desperate. Didn't say what was up, just that he's been pushed past what he can stomach and he wants out."

Here Skye frowns. "It's a pretty neat little package. I'm still not one hundred percent convinced it's not a trap. Something is off, but I don't know what. Lag seems sincere enough. Just.."

She shrugs.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods when Skye acknowledges that the mission is a retrieval, letting the friendly banter drop and turning her full attention back to the intel. It IS too neat an arrangement.

"It looks like a trap, it feels like a trap, you treat it like a trap until proven otherwise." That's always been one of Coulson's rules: hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

"I'm not sure if a strike team has been green-lighted for this, but regardless I think there should be more than one infiltration team."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
On a less serious subject, Clint might have teased Skye some about it being best she shot him first, but in this case he got it. He gives her a nod, and gentle punch in the arm. "Glad I could help," he says, with a faint smile.

"And yeah, we're definitely going back on vacation as soon as this is done," Clint assures May. "This is just a little detour, like stopping to help a stranger with a flat tire in a Hydra base"

There is a grin at that, before listening to what Skye has to say. When she and May have had their say, Clint chimes in with his two cents. "Yeah, does seem a little too neat, but if Lag seemed sincere maybe they just let him make the call and for all he knows he's being super sneaky about it. Plausible?" that last is directed to Skye. "I don't know how good this guy is. If it were you, I'd assume you beat them at their game somehow. He at that level?"

"We might be able to get a strike team," Clint says. "If you've got pull with the office chief, then, by all means twist his arm," a beat. "Figuritvely speaking of course. We'll need them if this is a trap."

Clint points at one of the satellite images of the lab, it was fairly remote, there was a fair bit of activity around it though like it was still being worked on. "So how do we crack this thing, I mean you guys could probably infiltrate if they're staffing with locals, I might stand out a bit."

Quake has posed:
Skye pretends to rub the spot on her arm where Clint punched her. "Hey, watchit. That's my shooting arm." She nods, though, confirming both what May has said, and Clint.

"Yeah, we're not done with vacation yet. Just not sure how you don't answer the kind of call I got. As for the other, it's horribly neat. Walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.."

She frowns as she shrugs. "He's good, but not Momento good. Mmmm, maybe touch and go as to whether Genus is better or not. Hard to say. Neither were circle, but Karl fucked the numbers up and had to call from the ranks. He's good enough Karl pulled him, and if he'd not lying about needing that shot every day, then he's pretty damned good.. actually, that doesn't make sense at all, does it?"

Skye thinks back to what she knows of Hydra. "They whole do what we say or we kill you failsafe isn't new, but why a shot? Why not just a button they can trigger from a distance? A shot means he's got to be kept on a short, short leash. That doesn't add up. Either he's lying about that, or there's something else going on."

And on that tangent, she starts digging through some of her old backchannels, seeing if she can find or see any patterns that might make sense of that.

Melinda May has posed:
May studies the satellite image Clint points out. "Honestly, infiltrating as staff won't be easy. Unless..." She steps closer to the image and stares at it for a few long seconds. "Do you have any footage of the past twenty four to forty eight hours?"

She has a hunch, but she doesn't want to voice it too soon. If she's right, though, she has a perfect in. It'll mean tapping rather heavily on this office's field agent pool but the chances of getting in without raising alarms and maybe getting out again could make it worth the gamble.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint nods, "Yeah, a remote bomb lets him do a whole lot more," he says. "Also, that likely means we're either going to need to put him on ice right away, or, snatch some of his injection stuff on the way out. Which I am guess isn't going to be kept in his room." He frowns, adding to the list of things they'll need is a medical team. "Still a weird way to go, the drug."

Skye's assessment of Lag's skills have him nodding, "Sounds like it could go either way," he says. No silver bullet there.

Clint pulls up the images they have in hand. "Nothing that recent from our SHIELD sats, some thermal stuff if we need to find another way to sneak in," he glances to Skye again, "Any ideas?" he asks. "And, May?" he looks back to her. "What'd you have in mind?"

Quake has posed:
"We have access of a sort," Skye mutters, still poring over details she's been drawing up about Lag - anything she can find, and she's coming up short. "That whole stunt they pulled with the decommissioned satellites left us with a great window, but actively poking it is a risk. Still, might be able to get my friend to pull some logs subtley."

"Only, okay, here's the thing. I'm finding nothing on Lag that suggests he's worth that kind of attention. Fine, pull him from the ranks - he was close enough to that skill. But kinda riding the line, if you know what I mean? Like riding it hard and never going over it. No shots of brilliance in the dark. Strange. But he was good enough to be pulled."

Both Clint and may get a look. "The non-remote trigger, though. That doesn't fit. You give him the standard button, creep him out with just the thought that he could be taken out any time if he doens't behave.. this isnt' that. This is eyes on, and a full guard detail? It doesn't add up. We're missing something."

Melinda May has posed:
"You're saying he's not a big enough fish to warrant this much barrel." That is the primary reason May wants to treat this like it's a trap. "That pretty much convinces me that this is a trap, or at least there's something very wrong with this person Lag's story. And I don't like it one bit."

She's now THIS close to telling Skye that she can't be in on the retrieval team, because it could well be a set up to get her back into Hydra's clutches.

And that'll happen over her dead body.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Might be worth checking out, if your friend can get the locks without showing our hand," Clint opines, as he leans against the wall. Not like Skye didn't have enough on her plate. Still, fresh intel was fresh intel.

Her observations about Lag, have him turning his back to the wall and leaning his head against it too. "Hmm, yeah, why go to all this trouble, inefficient means of control and a ton of guards. I mean if he had some other value besides his skills, why not just put the guards on him, why bother with the other thing when the explosive is the better option. Yeah, something is definitely not right, he's like May said with the fish and the barrel."

"Yeah, definitely not right, maybe it's a trap, or maybe it's to sell this guy's cred with us, make us think we need him in SHIELD," he says. "Guy said he'd be out of communication, right?" he asks Skye. "So, we can't ask for more info."

"I hate to leave anyone with Hydra, but this seems more and more like a trap," Clint says, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning.

Quake has posed:
Skye's lips purse up in thought. "Why bother with both? Suggests you can't trust what you're seeing him do. At least on a digital level. Something like." She gives a slow, thoughtful nod. "Sounds a lot like a trap. But if it's legit and we ignore it, then what are we?"

Of course she knows they're not going to ignore it. That's not how SHIELD operates. Which means she sends out a ping to see if she can't get the intel they want back from her other source. All the locks might be a little much, but even a few would make their job easier. A few less than key points failing at a critical time would let them slip in and out - possibly before they were noticed.

The other, though, still worries her. "That's a lot of effort to get me, too. Though I suppose I see Karl's point - he wanted me as his right hand man. Still, a lot of elaborate smoke screen. Like why create the lie about the trigger? A mechanical one would have sufficed for the story. Flags were going to be raised regardless. No, it still reads like there's something about Lag that doesn't add up. Which means if it is a trap, Lag doesn't know it's one either."

Which was rather the more frightening proposition.