5598/Changeling: Shadows, chasing...

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Changeling: Shadows, chasing...
Date of Scene: 19 October 2018
Location: Clint and Skye's home, Greenwich Village
Synopsis: Skye manages to get a message out to the Birds. The Shadow contacts Clint to coordinate rescue efforts.
Cast of Characters: Shadow, Hawkeye (Barton)
Tinyplot: Changeling


Shadow has posed:
    One of the advantages of an efficiently run company is that it can keep going with relatively minimal adjustments from the top, and the remaining and replaced members of the executive board are very efficient at their jobs, which means Miss Cranston's habit of keeping odd hours and going on vacations doesn't impede its productivity much.

    On the downside, it does mean that when she does deign to show up in her office, her immediate subordinates try to make the most of it by having a large stack of paperwork for her to read, review and sign off on. After two or three hours she's starting to fondly ponder the solution of just shooting the entire pile -- but if she did, her subordinates would just supply her with fresh copies, more's the pity...

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Amidst scaling Mt. Paperwork, Natasha's phone bings with an encrypted message from Oracle. Once the right key is entered, the message reads:

O >> We have a situation, Skye sent out an SOS from this location...

She provides coordinates, somewhere off the coast of North America.

O>> ... I did some preliminary digging it's an undersea lab most recently bought by Argos Technologies, but I suspect she's not there for the sea life. Thinking a recue mission is in order, wanted you to head it up and contact SHIELD, May is out of pocket, but I think they'll want to be on board, especially Barton, who should be your point of contact.

She includes recent video of him at the now former site of the Avengers Mansion.

O >> Hope I can count on you.

Shadow has posed:
    ... And suddenly the paperwork stops being important. She quickly thumbs an acknowledgement code, then reaches for the intercom. "Susan, please hold all my calls and cancel any appointments I had for the rest of the day. I've just remembered an important engagement. Be a dear and have my car ready; I'll be down shortly."

    She switches the intercom off just as Susan's sputtering threatens to form into coherent protests, and sighs. Grandfather never told her that keeping your secretary happy was the trickiest part of the job.

    Natasha takes a breath and closes her eyes, thinking for a moment before sending a response.

S>> On my way. Is Barton aware of Skye's allegiances?

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The response is quick.

O >> Negative. I suspect he's aware she has 'friends' ones that helped her find Agent Lumley last month. But nothing I can find suggests she's told him more than that. I'd say stick with being 'Skye's friends', best to leave my name out of it, and keep Barton and SHIELD on a need to know.

Shadow has posed:
S >> Understood. This is Barton's most recent known location?

    Normally, texting secret messages while walking through an office building is the epitome of bad OpSec, but this is /her/ office building, and besides, when you're able to radiate a pay-no-attention field, the rules change somewhat.

    Her car is waiting by the time she exits the building, and Benny gives her a quick glance in the mirror. "Problems, boss?"

    "A rescue mission, probably," Natasha replies, nodding as she reaches for the somewhat non-standard compartment beside her seat and pulling out black cloth. "I'll need to talk to a certain gentleman first, though..."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
The response is quick.
<br>O >> Looks like he's leaving the former mansion site. Hmm, guessing by the route he's taking he's heading to Greenwich Village and not the Trisk, he and Skye are renting a place there semi-off the books, let me send you the address.

Shadow has posed:
    Natasha nods as she shrugs into her coat, then reaches for her hat and scarf. "Greenwich Village, if you would. I'll make my own way from there." she finishes as the voice mask slips into position with her scarf, her entire demeanor shifting subtly with the change...

    Benny, long used to this kind of thing, just nods and takes a right at the next intersection. "You got it, Boss..."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Oracle's guess turns out to be correct.

Clint parks Skye's van Gretel outside their old place. The van had been all he'd been able to find of her in Milwaukee, even her father had vanished, at first they thought he'd been taken too, but when reports came of a super-strong madman attacking Hydra facilities, they knew he was at large. They were watching him hoping he'd lead them to Skye. So far he hadn't and so the van was all he had of her.

Getting out, he makes his way inside, nodding to his two SHIELD shadows following him, blending into the crowds outside. They were his leash, his way to get out of protective custoday and May's way to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

For the moment though stupid wasn't on his mind, he just wanted to head inside for a bit, drink in the memory of this place before headinng back to the Trisk and the hunt for Skye.

Shadow has posed:
    Clint has had a long day. In fact, he's had a /number/ of long, bad days recently, and as a result he's tired and stressed out. Which explains why it takes him until after he's opened the refrigerator to pull out a beer to realize that the shadows in the living room were wrong. As if someone were standing in them.

    "Mr. Barton," a voice booms from nowhere -- and it takes the formerly deaf agent a moment longer to realize that no, he /can't/ pinpoint the origin for some reason; the echoes bouncing off the walls are somehow equally loud -- "Rest assured I mean neither you nor yours any harm, but we need to speak."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
It's a testiment to Clint's skill the beer bottle never leaves his hand when he realizes the voice he's heard has no source. Oh, he whirled and was ready to throw, but he didn't complete the action when he realized there was no target.

He has the bottle in one hand and rubs at an ear with the other.

"Either I'm going crazy, or someone hacked the security system," he says to the seemingly empty house, taking a slow turn around the kitchen setting down the beer and picking pulling a couple of knives from the block on the counter. "Hey Karl, is that you? If so, not really buying the mean you no harm bit."

He continues to search for the source of the voice in case he's wrong.

Shadow has posed:
    I can't attest to your sanity, but you won't be needing those knives," the voice responds. "Miss Johnson has befriended an... associate... of mine, who recently received an emergency message from her. I know her location, but her message also stated that... 'Hotshot' and SHIELD needed to be informed, at the very least."

    The voice pauses briefly to let Clint process this. "I believe our time is better spent considering our options than menacing each other with sharp objects. Would you agree?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
That name changes everything. Hotshot. As soon as it's spoken the tension in Clint's body evaporate and he shifts down from fight, to talk, the knives in his hands being stabbed into the cutting board.

With that action comes something he'd been keeping at bay: hope.

"You're one of her 'friends' right? The guys who brought back Lumley?" Clint says eyes still scanning around for the source of the voice. It only made sense it was them unless Skye had an entire other cadre of shadow operatives on her rolodex.

Hey, it was possible.

"And agreed,, where is she and what are we going to need to get her back?"

Shadow has posed:
    And now it's Clint's eyes' turn to suffer, as a silhouette on the living room wall suddenly ripples -- and then /extends/, like a cartoon peeling itself off the paper and becoming three-dimensional, filling out, solidifying until a tall, imposing-if-you've-never-been-glared-at-by-the-Hulk figure in a black greatcoat and slouch hat stands in the middle of his living room. "I am known as the Shadow," the figure replies. "According to my information, Miss Johnson is currently held in an undersea research facility off the West Coast, ostensibly owned by Argos Technologies. It is currently slated as 'under renovation', but there is a possibility one of my agents may be able to obtain legitimate permission to visit it and bring a 'plus-one'."

    A trio of coordinates are called out -- longitude, latitude and depth below sea level, then blazing blue eyes narrow forbiddingly. "That is only an option, however, if whoever you send to accompany her can absolutely guarantee her safety."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
There's something primal in the back of Clint's brain that makes him want to draw back from the figure that just seems to ooze from the shadows. Still with every bit of him telling him to run, he stands his ground, and hell even takes a step closer, just to tell the fear where to stick it. After all he'd not only faced the Hulk but took his dad's beatings, then had the gall to swing back at him.

Still a step is about what he can manage.

He listens to what the Shadow has to say, replying: "Well, given what I heard when she was taken, Argos has to be a front for Hydra, you sure you want your agent walking into that?" he asks. "But I can definitely find her someone to watch her back and get her out when the chips are down."

As for the rest he pulls out his phone, new, SHIELD issued, to replace his personal phone lost in his own kidnapping and punches in the coordinates. As they load he says. "Do you have other people we can use? If so, they're welcome to join the back up team I'll be putting together, either to bust in and get your agent and I out, or, to provide a distraction."

Shadow has posed:
    "Her role and that of her companion would be reconnaisance rather than the actual rescue," the Shadow points out. "As to backup -- yes. I have several others I may be able to contact depending on their availability." There is a sound that might have been a chuckle before the top-grade voice mask Clint suspects is in use mangled it. "I'm sure you aware that vigilantes tend toward irregular hours."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Fair enough," Clint says rotating the roster so he was off recon duty for something more hands on with the rescue.

"SHIELD has things going on too, so how about we speak to our people, get a team together then we can plan the attack. but I want to get going in less than 48hrs. Work for your people?" he asks.

Shadow has posed:
    The Shadow nods. "I will brief those that are available. If you need to contact me, send a message to this number," - and a phone number briefly flickers into view on the empty rim of the map. "and it will get to me or my associate within the hour."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint glances at and memorizes the number. "I'm guessing you already know how to reach me," he says since the Shadow was waiting inside his place. "Either way let's get back in touch by the end of the day."

Then glancing at the door, he adds. "Probably best to get going, I'll deal with my handlers."

Shadow has posed:
    "Indeed," the Shadow replies, inclining their head and touching two fingers to their hat in a brief salute. "Good hunting, Mr. Barton. We will speak again soon."

    With that, they turn and head out the door, bowing almost mockingly to the agent standing on the other side -- and fading from view in a manner quite familiar to anyone who's read Alice in Wonderland, with those uncanny blue eyes lingering a moment longer than the rest of their body...

     And then there's no one standing in the doorway at all, nor any sign there ever was save for the echoes of footsteps and a sinister chuckle...