595/Into the Snake Pit

Into the Snake Pit
Date of Scene:	24 May 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Nick Fury, Sibilance

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Nick Fury has posed:
In the alley behind a dirty soul food diner tucked away on a side street near the edge of New Lots, Nick Fury stands in wait.

Instead of his SHIELD uniform, he's dressed in all-yellow suit. He checks his wristwatch and waits patiently, idly adjusting his cufflinks.

A secure and encrypted message had been provided to Sibilance. It included only today's date, time, these coordinates, and was signed 'Polyphemus'.

Sibilance has posed:
Sibilance arrives, wearing the all-black outfit she's taken to wearing since her alarmingly recent recruitment into SHIELD. When she shows up, she has the psionic dampener stuck to her head, because receiving an encrypted message through the SHIELD channels meant she had to be on her best behavior.

She shows up in the alley and walks up to where the only man here happens to be standing. She isn't terribly familiar with all of the faces of SHIELD just yet, but she may have been told about Nick Fury. She doesn't have anything snappy to say, she doesn't do much, she just stares. It's all kinda grave.

The snake woman's nervousness is palpable, for someone as experienced as Director Fury.

Nick Fury has posed:
"Agent," the director of SHIELD states in a flat tone. "Thank you for coming."

He looks up into the sky for a moment. "We are currently off-the-record. Entirely. Your actions and statements are being spoofed for the next..." he looks at his watch. "Seven and a half minutes."

Fury exhales through his nose. "I have an operation, completely off the books, that requires a dedicated agent. One who is willing to serve SHIELD faithfully. But to do so, it will involve breaking any number of confidences and SHIELD regulations."

He folds his arms across his chest. "Do you think you could be that agent?"

Sibilance has posed:
The snake woman frowned subtly, and moreso as Nick elaborated on her purpose here. Her head lifted just for a moment, but only to follow the turn of his head. After her experience in that training hall, it was really not that hard to imagine some kind of tech to fool cameras or otherwise.

His statement seems contradictory. Her brow knits, the confusion passing after a moment. This was clearly the offer for a job that would mean she's a spy, right off the bat, and that her public image would contradict her true motives.

"Yes," she tells him, with confidence, but only after thinking on it for a moment. She waits, with a little tongue flicker and not a lot of blinking, for the description of the operation itself.

Nick Fury has posed:
"I'll confess," Nick Fury says with a slight smirk, "that was a faster sale than I expected. Do you know what I'm asking?"

He leans his head forward just a bit, brow furrowing. "I'm asking you to be willing to become labeled a rogue agent. An enemy. This operation is going to be entirely unknown to SHIELD proper. You'll answer directly to me. No one--no one else at all, ever--can know about this. If this happens, you'll be killed."

He purses his lips quickly and nods. "I don't say that as a threat. It's probable that if this gets discovered, I'll be killed, too."

Fury shifts his weight just slightly. "Still so eager?" he asks, glancing to his watch. "Five minutes, by the way."

Sibilance has posed:
"It's not about being eager," Sibilance tells Nick, frankly, "I'm a mutant, respectfully. Being labeled as bad and different isn't foreign to me. It is simply how my life works." She has a Spanish accent, and her file would be known. She's a Mexican native and all the way from her birth to now she has largely been an alien to society, in all the ways except being from space.

"If you're asking for my loyalty, you have it. In my heart I will know who I am working for and what it means to me. I will ... struggle with the reactions others will have to me, I can't lie about that, but when your own mother calls you a demon, you learn to live with that kind of isolation. I will know they simply don't know all the facts, and that will make it easier."

"So yes. I know what you're asking."

Sibil blinks slowly after she says that.

Nick Fury has posed:
Fury nods slowly in return. "It's important to hear that you understand that," he says.

"I'm not particularly fond of placing my agents--whether they're my most skilled veterans or newer operatives--in situations that are so dangerous. But we do what we need to for the greater good," he continues, sighing.

Fury looks down at the ground for a moment. "It's entirely possible that I may direct other agents to seek out the rogue in our midst. To hunt 'you' down. No matter what, the objectives I'm about to tell you cannot be compromised."

He checks his watch again. "Three and a half minutes. Alright."

"In the near future...not immediately..you're going to seek out an up-and-coming criminal. Copperhead. He should feel familiar, kind of. He's got a whole snake thing going on." Fury clears his throat. "I'm expecting him to feel some sense of unity with you. This is your in."

Fury points a finger at Sibilance's chest. "You're going to infiltrate this operation, gain Copperhead's trust, and report to me on any and all important information. This will have to occur in unofficial channels. SHIELD cannot be involved...although they'll reap the benefits of the intelligence."

Sibilance has posed:
Sibilance watches his face, keeping a close eye on everything he has to say. She doesn't seem surprised at the notion that he'll have to send people to hunt her down. She flickers out her tongue again as he explains what she'll be doing and what. Her eyes half-lid when he mentions the snake thing, so she seems to understand why it'd be her. She puffs a little noise that sounds like a breathy chuckle.

"I'll keep a very close eye on him," she tells Fury. "If he has a human mind in that snake head of his, he won't be able to slip anything past me." She reaches up to tap the dampener she brought. Nick might appreciate that she didn't try to pry into his thoughts. She's ordered to wear it around SHIELD-controlled spaces.

"Anything else I need to know?" Before time is up.

Nick Fury has posed:
"You'll almost certainly have to sell out some of your colleagues to maintain cover," Fury says. "Become comfortable doing what seems necessary to preserve the mission."

He checks his watch again. "One minute," he says, shrugging.

"He'll make himself known soon. It will be up to you to sell yourself as a turncoat. It's worth noting, as a final point," Fury adds, shaking his head, "there's no guarantee that Copperhead will ever trust you. Expect him to try and kill you, too, if he thinks anything is up."

Fury pivots on a heel and begins walking toward the diner's back door. "We have about forty-five seconds before your true position is identified. I would make my way toward the nearest location you might have a legitimate reason for being in."

"And agent," he says, hand on the door, "good luck."

Sibilance has posed:
Sibilance looks only momentarily perturbed at the idea of trying to sell herself as a traitor to SHIELD, and about how Copperhead might just kill her if he found out the truth. She doesn't protest, though, after that point. Instead, she nods once to him as he offers her a wish of good luck, and she turns to leave, heading toward a little convenience store down the street where she might find some supplies for her personal greenhouse.

The snake lady flickers her tongue as she walks, and thinks about how insane her life is going to get very soon, while stepping into the store to have a defensive argument with someone about her appearance the moment the cashier sees her and tries to tell her she can't be served. Fairly normal activity for her day to day life.