4511/Leviathan: A Little Bit of Backup Music..

Leviathan: A Little Bit of Backup Music..
Date of Scene:	25 May 2018
Location:	Hong Kong
Synopsis:	Clint, Skye, and Nat plot how to get Lag out of Hydra's clutches.
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Quake, Black Widow (Romanoff)
Tinyplot:	Leviathan

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Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
T-Minus 7 hours until they said they'd come get Lag and about three since the call went out for agents to help with a very rapid op against Hydra, a rescue mission. Clint and Skye's names going out on the secure bulletin, the rendezvous set for the Hong Kong SHIELD station. They'd already gotten a small team of operatives on hand including May, but planning was still going on even as Quinjets and weapons were prepped.

"So, if May's infiltration idea is going to work, we're going to need to get some credentials for you guys," Clint says to Skye, he's dressed in his tactical get up, minus the bow for now, leaning over a digital map table with their target in the center of the screen. "Thoughts?" he asks.

Quake has posed:
"Thoughts on credentials?" Skye shrugs. "Would have been easier if we could have contacted Lag and got some digital scans." Hindsight and all that. And it was too dangerous at this point, likely, to ping him again.

She looks only slightly put out that she's not even going to get to wear tactical gear for this. "I mean, I like May's idea and all, but this whole janitorial getup?" She just shakes her head. "And are we all sure I actually look like I fit in here?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
The call had gone out. Natasha had been in the area. Not for SHIELD business. She'd been there on her own. Yet, she wasn't one to pass up an opportunity to get in some field work. So as the preparations were happening, a petite figure in black checked in with one of the agents and was directed toward Clint and Skye's location. She approached as they were discussing, not interrupting but simply stopping a few feet away to let them continue as they were doing. She was dressed for business in her black uniform, holstered Glocks strapped to her thighs, bands at her wrists.

At the question from Skye, she smirked slightly. "Do you ever fit in anywhere?" She folded her arms over her chest as she looked to them. "Add one more to your planning. I can join the backup squad on the ground." She wasn't looking to mess up things they already had in motion, simply to be available should she be needed.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The familiar voice brings a smile to Clint's face as he looks up from the screen. "Hey Nat," he says, before giving an aside to Skye. "She usually says that stuff to me."

He looks back to Nat and beckons her over. "Just in time, we could use some fresh eyes, and some help on the back up team. Mostly to keep me from going while we wait for the infiltration team to do their thing."

"And well, you fit in better than me, and if what May says is true, if you keep your head down and look like you're doing your job nobody is going to think twice," Clint says in response to Skye's question.

Quake has posed:
Skye doesn't startle at Nat's entry, but she is surprised by the other woman's showing up. "We didn't know you were in town." Leaning in to Clint to murmur, "So, is this a good sign that she's picking on me? Or should I be taking my headstart towards the door now?"

Straighting up, Skye nods to Clint's words. "Not sure what you heard before getting here." She's assuming Nat saw the mission call. "But the stats are already drawn up. May gave us an angle. It's a longshot, and pretty tight, but it might work. If not," Skye shrugs. "We coudl use all we can get."

She pauses, then adds, "We're not actually sure it's not a trap."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I just got the basics. I'll be glad to be on the ground, ready to play rescue if needed." Natasha never comments on her being around Hong Kong. She doesn't try to explain. She simply is. "I know it's a rescue and that's about it so if there's more I should know, let me in on it. Otherwise, just park me in a van somewhere so I can play Sudoku on my phone until things hit the fan."

She goes give a bit of a shrug as that smirk never fades. "Assume it's a trap. If it isn't, you'll be relieved. If it is, you'll already be ready for it. That's how you stay alive in this game."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Definitely a good thing," Clint says, knowing Nat can hear them as she comes over. "She hasn't shot me yet," he says. "Well, twice, but it wasn't because she was mad," he gives a look to Skye. "And that's not an invite to make your count match hers."

"The gist of it is one of Skye's old contacts from the Rising Tide pinged her, said he got scooped up by the Benefactor who apparently is working with Hydra now. He gave us the locale of a base they're turning into some data centre and was said he needs to get out."

He pauses, bringing up the scant details they have on the target, Lag.

"Anyhow, the guy's story's weird, he's apparently not all that big a deal with computers, but they've got him closely guarded and are keeping him loyal by dosing him with something, when the normal MO is just put a bomb in their patsy's heads. Doesn't add up. Hence the possibility of a trap."

Clint nods along with Nat's advice, "Worked so far," he says.

Quake has posed:
Skye mutters, "Hey, just because you married her doesn't mean she gets to hold the record on number of times shooting you, huh?"

Her words aren't particularly couched to be kept from Nat either, Skye seeming to go with the possibility that if Nat doesn't like her, she's at least tolerating her better recently. Or so the joke would seem to suggest.

As Clint speaks, she draws particulars up and points them out on the heads up display. "This is the layout we have from records, and some intel we were able to grab from.. well, sources." Skye can't really say *who* given that's a secret known to herself and Fury at this point. Oh, and Oracle herself. That bits of info seem to find their way into SHIELD hands is a good thing. Skye doesn't have to say how she got it.

"And, yeah. It's not adding up. He used a backdoor I'd almost forgotten I had. On that level it adds up, but the rest? Not so much. He's second or third tier tops - only brought in on the final assault because Momento went missing. And he scooted before the hammer came down. Not sure how he did that, either."

She knew how Genus had - they'd helped him - but there were very few else who had escaped that day. The operation had been tight. It was one of those niggles. "He's got a lot of resources invested in keepng him down if he's not lying. But the guards we can confirm."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"We were never married," Natasha corrects automatically, showing that she is paying attention to their aside conversation. Since they weren't trying to keep it quiet anyway. Her eyes are on the information though, not on the pair as she considers. "Sounds like he's higher level than he says. Or he wouldn't be so important. Throw in that he got away so he was one of the big dogs instead of a pup. I'm thinking this is a set up to try and get some payback against SHIELD for putting that big monkey wrench in their plans."

She gives another brief shrug. "If it turns out that he is setting you up, well, I'm just going to say I hope May is on the infiltration team." She knows May would do what was needed and eliminate this Lag if he's setting them up.

Quake has posed:
"Nope," Skye shakes her head. "I know the Tide. Inside and out. Their entire structure as it was. I was going to be Karl's right hand man. Lag wasn't in the crosshairs until that final mission. His code just isn't that good. There's something else going on."

Which is why she's concerned - they're all concerned - it's a trap. Karl *did* want Skye. But, as May had already pointed out, and now Nat, going in knowing it was a trap was half the battle.

She allows a faint grin at the correction of her statement that she and Clint were married. "Ah, see, you escaped a second shooting by a technicality, Hotshot."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint laughs, "Sure, sure," he says with a shake of his head. He gives Skye a hip check.

Nodding about the rest, "Whoever he is and however he got out, it'd be good to know how he did it, and even if he can't tell us or a it's a trap," he agrees. "We're not authorized to blow up a chunk of China from the sky anyways, so we're going to get our hands dirty going in, if he's playing us, we'll deal with it." There's an unspoken, I hope, in there.

"Yeah, May's on the infil team, you, me and the back up team will be here," he points to a place on the map outside the perimeter. "Thermals shows they've got a second access here, when we know what's what we can burn our way in, and get our infiltration team out."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"Sounds good," Natasha says as she looks over the layout with the various entrance and exits. She files it away for future reference. In truth, she'll likely look it all over later a few more times before things go down. "You say he wasn't even non the radar at all? Yet now they are holding him. Definitely a trap." She gives a shake of her head then glances over to the area where weapons are being prepped. She walks that direction. Once there, she starts looking over the toys because well, she just can't resist it.

Quake has posed:
"Holding him, yes," Skye nods. "But Karl was already doing that with the missions. We had lockdown states for all of them. Extra security for the last one." She can't argue about it not being a trap, though. Skye's fairly certain it is one. She's just not convinced that Lag is lying as well.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles as Nat goes off to peek at the toys as they talk. He'd raided a few choice items himself, small stuff, nothing that was a threat to his devotion to his bow and arrows.

"So, if it is a trap, other than not showing up, or blowing the place from the air, how do we cover our asses?" he asks.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
A few of the items look like they would be enjoyable. Nat picks up on of the icer weapons and examines it, considering if it's a good idea for her to add t oher normal arsenal. Not really necessary since her Bite's can be adjusted to a level that would work about the same. "Couple of options. Could have Skye booby trapped so that when they take her, it blows them up from inside. Not her, of course," she adds before Skye goes thinking she's trying to kill her. "Gas would work better. That way she can have something to protect her from it moreso than perhaps the bomb route." Not that she's dismissing the bomb route. Course, she's positive that Clint won't be agreeable to letting Skye get taken. "Or you have someone use one of our disguise skins and take Skye's place. Then when they take her, they are getting something else instead. Make sure that once you get this Lag guy out, May handles the interrogation. She'll know if he's lying."

Quake has posed:
Skye looks over at Clint. "Any of those options jump out at you as better than the others?" She can't help but add, "Nat's right, you know. It might be worth letting them get me to take some out, or find out what the hell is going on behind all this."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint frowns, finding himself running smack into why the regs frown on people being in charge of the person they're dating on an op. He scrubs his hand through his hair. He knew what his option of choice was, but was it the right call.

He sighs, "My choice would be the mask, but that puts someone else in a bad spot and we have to hope we can get them out of there.

Skye's words help, he considers them wanting for all the world to say, 'but I just got you back', he locks that way though, there were members of the strike team milling around. "Guys, give us the room," he says, and when they're gone, he says, "Okay, my judgement is compromised here, so, Nat, Skye, which way would you pick. What gets the job done?"

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
She waits for the others to leave the room, giving the privacy that Clint asked for. Then she looks between the pair of love birds. "Put me or May in the mask. I'd lean toward May since she's already on your inside team. Skye can be there, under a different face. That way if the trap is sprung and Skye is taken, it's someone who can likely get themselves out without the backup team. The backup team will be able to deal with the situation, make sure we get Lag out even if we lose 'Skye'," Natasha says simply. "Doesn't put her in harm's way, gives us a possible in to more information. If all goes well, it's totally unnecessary and everyone just comes back out that goes in but it's an insurance policy."

Quake has posed:
"Great, not even good enough to be my own extraction," Skye complains. Even if she knows it's true. She's not bad, and she's certainly gotten better, but May or Nat wouldn't need as much backup to get them back out again, and she really can't argue that. "You," she says quietly. "May doesn't have the coding chops. They'd see through it. And we can't discount they won't want some demonstration."

Not that showing off is necessarily part of the plan, but depending on what they want of this infiltration, it might be necessary. And Skye knew a lot more about Karl then the rest did. Karl would be expecting this kind of shit.

Karl made Skye's paranoia look like amateur hour.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint considers what both Nat and Skye have to say, it didn't make things much easier. Though Skye's part about the coding does give him a very bad idea. He gives both women a look, "Nat, you're only about an inch difference in height and can code," he observes. "If the Benefactor is going to check skills."

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
That gets a shake of the head from Natasha. "I can code but not well enough to ever pass for you," she admits. She knows she isn't on the same level as Skye. She's not ashamed to admit it either. They each have their niche, after all. "If they were to test, I wouldn't be able to pass myself off as you. Your signatures are too distinct. So maybe that option is out after all." She frowns, arms crossed again as she considers other possibilities.

Quake has posed:
Skye contemplates, then nods and shrugs. "Then it's me. May will be on the floor and you'll be outside pulling with Hotshot there, and if the three of you can't get me back, then it was a lost cause anyway."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint grimaces, turning his eyes down at the screen to pretend to be studying the data while he thought things over. The data didn't help. He lets out a sigh, "Yeah, it's you, that's the plan. But let's see if R&D has some sort of tracker we can use here, something they won't see coming. Want to cover our bases," he says trying to sound decisive even as he was hating this.

Black Widow (Romanoff) has posed:
"I don't think it'll come to that," Natasha says but she knows that the possibility is there. She's not going to be pretending otherwise. It just isn't her way. "Let me know what you find out. I have a few things I need to do before we go." She turns and heads for the door, not elaborating on what she's doing. After all, she has her secrets too.

Quake has posed:
Skye tries to make light of it all. "Hey, how bad can it be? I survived last time, and we had less prep or intel on it all. This should be a piece of cake." Mostly trying to reassure Clint. Not that she felt all that much better about it herself, but that had a lot to do with it being her in the hot seat, than anything else. "And it's what we do, right?"

Nat gets a nod. "It's Clint's mission for the most part. I'm tech up until we go in. In fact, up till May's idea.." She leaves it drift off, but the suggestion is there: if it weren't for May's idea, Skye wouldn't even be in on the ground floor on this one.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint doesn't look any more happy with the idea after Skye's words, but he does nod, echoing, "It's what we do," he says.

"Hope not," Clint says to Nat as she begins to take her leave. "Sounds good, we're wheels up in two hours, but if anything comes up before then, we'll let you know."

When Nat's gone and they've got the room to themselves, Clint looks to Skye, putting his hand on her arm, "Stay safe alright?"