5434/Changeling: Sharing Intel

Changeling: Sharing Intel
Date of Scene:	25 September 2018
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Clint, May and Skye all recount their part in the mission to rescue Clint. Clint and Skye are put in protective custody and plans are made to cross off Skye's father.
Cast of Characters:	Hawkeye (Barton), Melinda May, Quake
Tinyplot:	Changeling

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Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
It was the morning after... well everything. Earlier, Clint and Skye had packed bags, then Skye went off on her little errand, and Clint took the bags to Skye's old suite in the Trisk.

It was strange. It felt familiar and at the same time it felt like his time there with Skye had been ages ago.

Though there wasn't time to dwell on that. He put their bags in their old bedroom and the sixer of frou-frou beer he'd brought from the townhouse in the fridge before heading down to one of the little out of the way rooms in R&D to wait for Skye to get back.

It was time to properly debrief and figure out what was what. And well, R&D was secure and had holotables.

Clint leans against a wall, as usual, while he waits, but this time there's none of the usual smirking to go with it. His face is a worried line, and he even gnaws on a thumbnail from time to time, between glances thrown towards the door.

Melinda May has posed:
Having returned to the Triskelion with Skye and Clint, May was promptly accosted by various agents needing the Deputy Director's attention. Annoying but ultimately necessary. It takes her far longer than she'd planned to get caught up with everything and to arrange for the debriefing, but she finally manages it and then heads into R&D where Clint is already waiting.

"I know I released you from Medical last night, Barton, but I want you to stop back by when we're done here." Because she knows as well as the archer does that concussions are not something to just shrug off. Especially considering how many times Barton's had his bell rung while working for SHIELD.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Hm?" Clint asks looking up when May speaks. "Oh right, medical. Yeah, I'll stop by," he says and nods gingerly.

It's true he'd had more than his share of concussions from working with SHIELD and more from the Avengers. On the other hand...

"Good news is I think this is technically my first now. I mean since Cass did his holy mojo thing and healed me."

Which was good news, with that kind of frequency there had bound to be long term issues.

Melinda May has posed:
May pauses at Clint's mention of Castiel. She'd forgotten about that. "All the more reason, then." Yes, she noticed that he's still moving a bit gingerly.

She sets up the usual debrief recording accoutrement, doing so in an unhurried manner to give Skye as much time as possible to get back from the errand she'd asked to run beforehand. And, while May did ask what it was about, if the younger woman had hesitated to explain she didn't press. She'll find out sooner or later anyway.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Hmm? How do you figure?" Clint asks lowering his thumb away from his mouth. "Don't you get like nine freebies before it becomes an issue?" he asks, you most definitely do NOT, but Clint excels at pushing buttons. Especially when he's nervous.

He checks his watch one of those Fitbit type things.

Time was getting short. Clint pushes off the wall to pace.

He looks over at the recording stuff, "Doesn't that wire go there?" he points to another port. It doesn't, again more nerves and button pushing. Barton's got to be murder to do a stakeout with. It's a wonder Nat didn't kill him.

Melinda May has posed:
"You know as well as I do that that's not how concussions work." She doesn't fuss at him for pacing about, knowing that he's just worrying over Skye being out and about unsupervised. She's not about to let on that she slipped a tracker on the younger agent, and has every intention of using it if she does not walk in that door before her alloted two hours are up.

And those two hours are already almost up.

When Clint starts 'helping' with the equipment set up, she just stops and stares at him. And she does actually wonder how Natasha didn't carve his tongue out. He's too skilled a sniper to just kill. But he doesn't need a tongue to shoot things.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Oh if looks could kill... or carve out tongues...Clint holds up a hand. "Nevermind I'm sure you've got it."

He wanders over to the holotable, pushing buttons literally instead of figuratively now. Bringing up various designs and such.

"Anyhow, sorry, just nervous, this whole thing is insane. I get jumped in my own home, my /own home/ and who's behind it, not Karl, the Brooklyn Russians, or Crossfire or that guy from Budapest Nat and I took down... but Skye's Dad. Her /dad/. That's insane. And what it's some sort of bonding thing? Like somehow grabbing me will make her love him?"

He lets out a breath. "I don't know May, when I heard Skye's dad was back I was almost happy, figured no way he killed off Lumley's team like that, but god was I wrong. The guy's a monster and now he's run me and Skye out of our house. So, yeah, he's on the list now, him, Karl, the Neon Dragons, all of them, I'm going to take them out and get Skye and I our house back."

His watch beeps.

Time's up.

Melinda May has posed:
"Get in line, Barton." She got to experience Cal Johnson's crazy up close and personal, and she is STILL sure that he needs to be put down like a rabid dog. Wait, no, rabid dogs deserve FAR more empathy and consideration.

And then Clint's watch beeps. She looks up from the recording equipment and pulls her phone. She's starting to patch in to Ops to get the trace started on Skye, and depending on what they find, she and Clint will be on a quinjet in three minutes flat.

Quake has posed:
Skye's errand took a turn she hadn't expected; seeing Matt Murdock's state of being at near breakdown, she'd taken those extra minutes to comfort him. He'd been there for her, and it was the least she could do for him. And she'd have been fine if it weren't for a traffic accident on the way back...

Five minutes go past her allotted time. Then ten. Then fifteen.

And, as luck would have it, she couldn't get reception for any of her devices.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Her cab driver might be used to all sorts, but he might not appreciate a full on SHIELD extraction team coming looking for his passenger.

Skye shoves all the money she's got on her (no worries, it's only about fifty bucks), "Look, you can have that plus your fare if you get us out of this mess and me to the Triskelion, pronto."

Hey, it's New York. He's a taxi driver.. about the time May is ready to call in backup, her call to Ops gets a return. "She's clearing through security at the gates now, Ma'am. Want we should escort her to see you?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"You'll have to race me," Clint says with a glance over at May. There's a smile with the words though, a tight, wolfish one, but a smile.

As May's making the call, Clint's making a call of his own for someone to grab him his kit out of the armoury and get it up to the rooftop landing pad pronto.

He wasn't going to let some team handle this, concussion or no.

When May gets a call though, he freezes in the doorway, turning back to look and listen.

Melinda May has posed:
At the wolfish smile, May simply tilts her head. "Compromise. I'll hold him still while you turn him into a pincushion. Or a Cenobite." Oh, and there's the influence of a slightly nerdy fellow senior agent showing again, damnit.

Then her call to Ops gets a reply. "No need for an escort," she replies while looking straight at Clint. "She knows where to find me." And she'd better come straight here.

Putting her phone away again, she gestures for Barton to stand down while she finishes the set up on the recording equipment.

Quake has posed:
Skye most certainly knows where to find May, and Clint, and she's a rather harried looking mess as she pushes her way into the debriefing. "Look, before you read me the riot act, don't. You can thank the idiot who took out cell service in a five blookc radius about ten blocks from here. I'm not in the mood."

She plunks her satchel down on the table and scowls, though it's clear her scowl isn't for either, truly, but a byproduct of all the things going on. And, all things considered, she'd left the house this morning in a slightly more chipper mood than she's showing now, so either the traffic accident was affecting her (not so likely), or something else had happened while out.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Deal," Clint says, before adding. "And you've seen Hellraiser?"

Of course Clint would know the movie Coulson was his SO back in the day.

When signalled to stand down, Clint heaves a sigh and calls back the agent he'd sent scurrying for his things. "False alarm, stand down."

He turns off the phone and moves to lean against the wall. "Thank god," he sighs.

When Skye appears, the tension Clint was carrying lessens considerably, "Glad you made it back okay though, dumbass drivers or not."

Melinda May has posed:
"What do you think?" May replies to Clint's question about the movie Hellraiser. If Clint is familiar with his former SO, then he'd also know that she was said agent's partner for a number of years back in the day.

She looks at Skye when she rushes in in a much less chipper mood than earlier, and figures it's better to not ask. If the younger agent wants to explain why she's grumpy, she will.

"Sit. Please." She claims a seat at one side of the table where the recording equipment waits, and is clearly expecting them both to sit as well. Barton.

Quake has posed:
"Dumbass driver was following his GPS instead of using his stupid eyes. Ran right through a bodega and clipped a tower. Like who does that?"

She shakes her head in disgust.

"Anyway, I have some things to bring up. Not for outside this room." She gives May a knowing nod. The sort of nod that usually brings out a fidget toy, or something or other, or, in Skye's case, a lighter that Fury gave her. That kind of nod. "But yeah. I'm here. Sorry I'm late. Where are we starting?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Of course he made you watch it," Clint says, his smile takes on a touch of fondness, at the memory of Coulson crashing into his apartment after a tough mission with movies and popcorn. "Hope Coulson's mission with Hill is going okay."

Clint moves off the wall and claims as seat when he's told, turning it around and straddling it so he can cross his arms over the back.

"And crap, hope the guy who owns the place is getting some insurance money behind that.," he says of the crash. He was sure the cellphone company would do fine despite the damages.

When Skye mentions stuff that can't leave the room, Clint nods, "Guess I get to do that thing, huh?" he gets up from his chair and presses a button on the wall. "Initiate shadow protocol," he says, though with less enthusaism as Fitz and Simmons had done when they got to do it.

The room doors seal, and the glass walls fogs into opacity.

"There we go," Clint says moving back to his seat.

Melinda May has posed:
"Of course he did." Because Coulson.

May nods to Skye as she says she's got particularly delicate intel to share, and she seems entirely okay with Clint doing that shadow protocol thing. She even taes a moment to pull power off of the recording equipment.

"Let's start with that then, Skye." Maybe it'll give her time to settle after whatever's got her dander up. Of course, it could be that this intel IS what's getting her dander up.

Quake has posed:
Skye sighs, and takes a calming breath. Two even. Fine. She takes a number of them. Hopefully Clint's nerves have settled enough to keep him from fidgetting or blurting out something that knocks the young woman off track because it'll only prolong the experience.

Finally...

"Actually, it's a couple of things. But I'll start with what kept me this morning. I know you overheard." This to May. "But I've known who the Leader of the Hand is for some time. I swear, I don't go asking for this shit to happen. People's secrets keep dropping into my lap. I feel like I should go join a cloistered order or something and live a vow of silence."

She almost smirks. "Yeah, I know damn well what a cloistered order is. Might not have been at St. Agnes long, but you pick up things."

She continues.

"I went to tell the person I found out that tidbit from that I'd blurted out her secret. And why. He's.. asked that we don't act on that information yet. That it would put her in danger, and she's in some sort of trouble. I believe him. He looked like shit warmed over and served on dry rations. Kinda like the crap they fed me when I was in lockup. That kinda bad. I don't know. I think we give it to him. We don't have the intel from the data stick until we find Genus anyway, and we're better off waiting till we can use all the weapons in our arsenal."

The she adds, "She's going to die. I don't know why, but he asked we don't stick our nose into that, either. So, there's that, too. Leadership of the Hand is about to hit the big whirly thing and leave some brown stains in its wake."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint does raise a hand when Skye mentions a cloistered order only to lower it again when she says, yes, she knows what one is.

The smirk is mostly internal but it shows in his eyes.

He listens to the rest in silence, the smirk vanishing from his eyes by the end.

"So, we do nothing and your friend is happy and the Hand lady is dead?" Clint says with a glance to May. It seemed like a no brainer to him.

"And sorry about your friend, if it's who I think it is, then, then they seemed nice when we talked." He'd called Matt to talk about Skye's birthday.

As to the Hand. "Can we get ahead of that at least? The leadership issues, strike when they're busy killing each other over who the next boss is?"

Melinda May has posed:
May watches Skye as she relates this information, and then looks at Clint flatly for his take on Skye's words. "I get the impression that this is a no-win scenario for your friend. I'll do my best to keep SHIELD clear of any Hand goings-on, but if they stomp too much around our turf, we'll have to respond." In other words, if that brown splatter hits the Triskelion, there will have to be a response.

"I'm trusting you on this, Skye."

If that's it for that topic, she'll plug the recorder back in to get to the actual reason why they're here.

Quake has posed:
"No, my friend is not happy. Frankly, I'm not happy, but it's not my call." Not really. And while SHIELD /could/ swoop in and save her.. "It's like my dad. We all know he's not going to stop. As long as he thinks there's a chance he can get to me, he'd going to keep coming after me and trying. We either bury him, with a frontal lobotomy, or we end it."

No, Skye doens't sound happy about that, even if she fully believes it's the solution.

"We can't get ahead of it without putting her at risk. From what he says, she's ending something by doing this. And without the data on that stick she sent, we're just making the problem bigger."

Skye nods to May.

"We can step in once.. well, we'll know. Based on how he talked, it's not too far off, and we'll know. Which means we have to find Genus, and fast."

She takes another steadying breath.

"That's not all." She stays May's plugging of things back into official. It's still off the record for the girl. "If you want this on record after I tell you, fine, but I think you should hear it first off the record."

Truth, this one is Skye's call, but she's realizing she's way too close to this, and too many other people are starting to be affected by her secret.

"I know what the crystals do. I know why my dad wants them and me. He'll use them to turn me into him. Or he would if they worked. That's what they do. They fill this hole in my DNA and I'll be a killing rage monster like he is."

Now she exhales and nods. It's in May's hands now.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"If we think they might be stomping around our turf, we may want to tighten security until this is over, the way I hear it, the black suits and swords are for when ninjas are going in like one of our strike teams, the real danger is when they walk in the front door looking like they belong," Clint says.

Now it's his time to add, "Watched a documentary." A beat. "Yes, I watche documentaries."

Clint's back to business though at the mention of Genus. "Right, without Genus to decode the stick, we're walking into this big ninja party blind." Clint makes a face at that thought. "So, guessing that's going to be priority number one?"

The Skye drops the bomb about the crystals.

"Shit, Skye..." he begins. What do you even say to that. "Those things? They're supposed to change you into something like your dad?" That was a chilling thought. Jesus, they had them in their bedroom stashed in a wall safe. Talk about disasters averted.

He gets to his feet and moves to Skye, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Melinda May has posed:
It's a good thing that May hadn't started recording yet. She mentally works out the implications of these crystals and can't help but think that SHIELD has unwittingly managed to dodge a major bullet there. Not that's about to share THAT tidbit with anyone. Not even Skye whom it affects directly.

"We'll need to put that on record to explain why Cal Johnson is after you. And those crystals will go into secure lockdown." Even if they ARE the fakes. Heck, if things get really bad, she might arrange to have fakes made of the fakes to give to Johnson. It'd serve him right.

"Let's get everything on record now. Are you ready for me to turn this on?"

Quake has posed:
Skye leans into the hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she tells Clint quietly. "I waited till you were gone, and then I tried to figure them out. It wasn't until they started reacting to.. fine. I bled on them. Just a bit. That man back in the village, he said my mom was a healer, and that they were hers. I thought maybe if they reacted to blood, I could figure them out. I thought she used them for healing."

She gives them both a weak smile, and sighs. "Simmons put the pieces I didn't have together. The bit about my DNA, and them being coded to me. I figured the rest of it out when all the rest of this went down. They don't work, though. Too degraded Simmons said. I don't know that Cal will believe it, but yeah. Things can go back on record now."

She nods to May to proceed to record.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
There's a moment where Clint doesn't reply. Where he wrestles with the little flutter of panic in his chest about what might have happened. When he's past it, he squeezes Skye's shoulder and smiles. "Not like I haven't done dumber things, right? And it makes sense, with your mom being a healer. Just glad you're okay." And he was, it shows on his face.

In another place he might have kissed Skye on the head, but, Clint did manage to hold to some standards of behavior. He squeezes her shoulder again.

"Glad they don't work though. I mean, that's good right? Even if I doubt, Cal's going to believe it."

Melinda May has posed:
May waits for Clint to speak his part, then says, "Starting the recording now." And she starts up the equipment.

The next few moments are spent with May listing all of the boring information required at the beginning of every verbal debriefing, and then she nods to Skye and Clint.

"Barton, please describe what you remember of the incident in your residence earlier this afternoon."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint looks up when he's asked to tell his story.

He gives Skye's shoulder a squeeze and jumps right into it.

"Got back from the Avengers mansion, played some video games then went to have a shower. That's when they got me. I think there were six or seven of them, blindsided me in the bathroom and then piled on with Tasers. Blacked out, woke up wrapped in a rug. They were all talking in Chinese so I have no clue what they were saying. Got to their hideout, about ten minutes after I woke up, and they hauled me out in the carpet and threw me on the floor inside. That's when they unrolled me, then they had some guys pick me up and carry me upstairs. When they did that, I stole one of their phones, and when they locked me in a room I made a call to Skye, er, Agent Johnson, to try to be found."

Clint takes a moment's pause before continuing.

"Anyhow, guess they were going to tie me up because they came back into the room, and that's when I slid the phone under the bed and jumped them. There were four guys, and this short dude, I had the four guys backed up when another guy, tall, thin, bald headed, grabbed a woman out of one of the other rooms on that floor and put a gun to her head. That's when I gave up and the short guy hit me with a punch that felt like it came from the Hulk. Knocked me right out."

He rubs at the bruises left behind by the punch.

"Woke up again, this time I was bound in a van with four guys and the short guy who seems like some sort of meta. We parked, they dragged me out, that's when Skye and Nat, er, Agents Johnson and Romanov made their moves. I stole a knife off the meta and cut my bonds, and then I helped Agents Johnson and Romanov, rescue the female hostage and capture the leader of the crew that had me kidnapped before we withdrew in the Quinjet."

Clint gives his chin a scratch. "Anyhow, only thing I can really note is that the meta didn't seem to be part of the gang, he didn't dress like them and he didn't speak Chinese, they always spoke to him in English. He spoke it too, but in an American accent, and by the sound of him he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed."

Melinda May has posed:
May lets Clint explain everything he can without interrupting, nodding as he finishes up. "I'm going to arrange for you to work with the facial composition specialists, Barton. For the person with powers you encountered at the least."

She then looks at Skye. "Agent Johnson, please describe what you found when you arrived home before you contacted me."

Quake has posed:
Skye's lips purse, hiding a frown, and she nods.

"I arrived home to find the lights on, and this stupid pro-fishing game stuck in pause. I figured Agent Barton had gotten excited about something and gone off to check some trick shot in the basement, or you know, gotten distracted and forgotten he'd left it on.

After I'd checked the basement, I discovered that our security system had been set askew. So I went back and cleared the house, room by room, until I got to our bedroom, where the shower was running. The water was cold. Clint - Agent Barton - always runs the water as hot as he can. I tell him he's going to have to chip in more for the electric bills if he keeps it up. But he wasn't there.

There was blood on the shower stall and tiles, and blood and vomit on the floor.

That's when the doorbell rang, and our neighbor, Mrs. Crichton was there, complaining about the rudeness of our carpet cleaners, describing how they'd carried out one of our upstairs carpets, rolled up. How they'd trampled her lawn, and cursed at her in what she describes as inappropriately foul language.

Skye almost smiles at remembering the whisper of the woman telling her they'd told her to 'eff off' only, you know, not like that.

"She handed me a face mask, said one of them had dropped it. I recognized the mask from an altercation he had had in Hong Kong."

"That's when I contacted Agent May, telling her it was an emergency. That there was an agent missing."

Melinda May has posed:
May nods to Skye, then starts in on her part of the debrief. She gives a dry but entirely accurate and factual recounting of the everything from when she received Skye's phone call until the phone call from the kidnappers came in on the younger agent's phone while they were in the car on the way to the Triskelion, including the instructions she'd given to Ops during that time and who she spoke with in HQ.

At that point, she nods to Skye to continue again and glances at Clint to make sure he's not about to start fidgeting with something. It he looks antsy, she might even offer him a smallish Leatherman-style multitool from her jacket to toy with.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
May apparently knows Clint too well. After he's offered the Leatherman tool to keep him from pacing, he takes a seat, flipping the little blades and tools in and out.

He looks up and gives a smile to Skye, encouragement and a 'what can you do?' sort of thing about his fidgiting.

Quake has posed:
Skye takes a long inhale, and goes back over the events that transpired.

"We picked up Agent Romanova along the way, but given the timeline with Agent May posing as myself, and the nearest tactical fifteen minutes out, we opted to head to the hold site without."

"Only we heard over the open channel that Agent Barton had created, that not only was there a hostage, but they were burning the place where he was currently being held. But using outside contacts and our NSA Satellites, we tracked the kidnappers to the Gotham docks, while a tactical team was dispatched to the first holding site."

The next bits were the tricky ones.

"It was through the course of apprehending the meta who was taking Agent Barton onto the docked ship that was waiting, that we learned that the person behind this kidnapping was one Cal Johnson - believed to be an enhanced human, perhaps a meta or inhuman. He's been seen to walk through walks, and has shown more than superhuman strength. I was able to stop the meta from taking Agent Barton, but another kidnapper, one of the Neon Dragons, used the female hostage as a shield."

Agent Romanova was unable to intervene. Agent Barton had suffered a concussion. I took my Glock and placed a single round between the eyes of the man, leaving him dead on scene. Agent Barton retrieved the female hostage, and our retreat was made, while tactical cleaned up."

She heaves a sigh. "That's pretty much it."

Melinda May has posed:
May gives Skye a long look, but then finishes relating her portion, continuing with her orders to SHIELD while driving the rest of the way to the Triskelion, sending Skye and Natasha to retrieve Clint while she disguised herself as Skye and went to meet with the apparent leader of the men who abducted the archer.

She explains how the men were waiting in the alley with the doorway that lead to Madripoor, meeting Cal Johnson there, and his erratic and clearly dangerous behavior. "The man brought flowers for Skye. Daisies. Also, cookies in a tin though I did not even attempt to ascertain what variety. He also was very insistent that he would have his people release Agent Barton if Skye retrieved something from SHIELD and brought it to him. He was vague about what exactly he was referring to."

"Then, when the other bar-goers distracted him by complaining again about his outbursts, I took the opportunity to extract and used the doorway leading to Gotham." She goes on to quickly go over how she contacted SHIELD for a pickup, ending with meeting the quinjet piloted by Agent Khanata to collect her.

"Do either of you have anything else to add?"

Quake has posed:
Skye wants to say she has nothing to add, but it would be a lie, and frankly, she believes it would put her fellow agents in danger not to speak up.

"I feel I should add for the record, that Cal Johnson is believed to be the father of one Daisy 'Skye' Johnson, Agent of Shield. And that he poses a significant threat to Agent Johnson and those affiliated with her."

Skye looks to May and Clint. And given May's disclosure of Cal wanting something SHIELD has, she frowns deeply, lips pressing into a tight, thin line, before she continues. She hadn't known that bit till now, but it was the missing piece. And she knew what Cal wanted.

"The object that he's looking for is a crystal." She describes it. She should know. She has five of them. All identical. "It is my belief that he will not stop until he has both the crystal and myself.. Agent Johnson.. in his possession. As such..."

She shakes her head and shrugs. "I can't. I can't go on. We all know I need to be on house arrest. I just can't say it."

Except she has.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Son of a bitch," Clint mutters when he realizes what Cal was after.

"We had one-" he cuts himself off, finally remembering the recording.

"Agent Barton has nothing to add at this time except that we make finding Cal Johnson a priority and should consider some sort of punative action against the Neon Dragons here or in Hong Kong."

He has nothing to add about the business of house arrest.

Melinda May has posed:
May looks from Skye to Clint and back. "Under the orders of Acting Deputy Director Melinda May, agents Johnson and Barton are to stay on SHIELD premises in protective custody" -- NOT house arrest -- "until the threats from Cal Johnson and the Neon Dragons are at least thoroughly assessed. This has already been given top priority."

She is fully aware that the best way to 'deal' with Cal is to put a hole through his cranium, and the best-qualified person SHIELD has to do that is Barton. But it does make complete sense that the crystals Skye has been investigating with the help of Simmons and Fitz are what Johnson is after. Complete and horrific sense.

"Ending recording."

Quake has posed:
Realizing her mispoken words, and May's correction, Skye gives the senior Agent a smile of thanks. One that also encompasses not divulging what would happen if Cal got those crystals.

And since they're off record now, "Thanks. This is hard, you know? All of it."

She looks away, binking furiously, refusing to cry, and not precisely succeeding if the glitter in her eyes says anything.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint manages to keep quiet until the end of the recording, but when it's off, he asks, "Both of us?"

It made sense, but still, there was nothing Clint wanted more than to go hunt down the people who did this.

Though he's not long in his inquiry, seeing Skye look away, he sets down the Leatherman and crosses the room to be by her side, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I know," he says softly, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

Melinda May has posed:
May doesn't acknowledge Skye's struggle against her own emotions, knowing that pointing them out often only makes things worse. But, she completely understands as she's been there herself more than a few times.

"Yes, both of you. Until I can get approval to have you retire him, Barton, you're in as much risk as Skye. If not more." Because the only thing worse than being the focus of a psychopath's attention is being the leverage the psychopath is likely to employ.

Standing, May starts to break down the recording equipment. "Barton, don't forget to stop by Medical to get rechecked. If not tonight, then tomorrow first thing."