7146/Changeling: Housekeeping 101

Changeling: Housekeeping 101
Date of Scene:	06 April 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	May and Steve drop in on Clint and Skye. As always seems to happen, a casual meal drifts to mission talk. Plans start to come together to stop Zola's plans to Unhumanize the world.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Quake, Captain America, Hawkeye (Barton)
Tinyplot:	Changeling

---

Melinda May has posed:
"Yes, the food is a requirement. No, you may not sample the food before we arrive." These are the extent of the instructions given to Steve when May had him accompany her on an errand. It involved one of the more generic cars from the motorpool and a stop at a tiny hole in the wall restaurant with exactly zero signs in English.

Now, having forced Steve to hold the food for the remainder of the drive, she's deftly parallel parking the car on a rather pleasant, tree-lined residential street in Greenwich Village.

"We're here." She leads Steve to one house on the street and just lets herself in. She has a key, apparently?

Quake has posed:
Skye and Clint haven't been home for so very long at Chez Miscreant, but oh have they been enjoying being allowed back home again. Their neighbours? Not so much. There had been some hope that the odd couple with the unusual friends and the black cars with security details might not return.

Alas, vain hopes for the neighbours. Clint and Skye had been returned home, and their Wade gifted doormat had been put back out on the porch.

What Skye and Clint aren't expecting are guests. Which is why Skye is in what suffices as pjs, lying on the floor, with her legs up on the purple couch while Clint plays video games. Her laptop propped on her chest as she taps out things and keeps him company while 'doing work'.

And yes, May has a key. It saves on the neighbours calling the cops every time she picks the lock. Besides, Skye and Clint pretty much have an open door 'haven' policy for their friends. And friends is loosely defined.

Captain America has posed:
It's no difficulty on his part to handle the various packagings of food he's been tasked with. Steve exits the vehicle after looking around the neighborhood. Seems like a quaint place. People probably know the name of everyone's dog, but not their respective owners.

"Appreciate the invite," he says as he steps into the abode. "They're expecting us?" He gives May a side-glance and wry little smile in readiness for potential awkwardness.

"If I'd known it was Casual Friday, I'd've worn sweats," comments the Captain nice and loudly to announce himself -- and May, by proxy. He's in jeans and a t-shirt beneath his bomber jacket with fleeced lapels.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"I think this game is broken," Clint says frowning up at the TV above the mantle place. "I've been playing this game for an hour and a half and all I've been doing is catching bass," he says of Bass Pro 29. (reference: )

Like Skye, Clint's dressed down for a lazy day at home, sweats and a t-shirt, oh and no socks.

When the door opens, Clint looks up, pausing the game for a moment, his hand creeping towards the bottom of the couch where he might have hid a weapon, or it is until he sees who it is, "Hey Cap, it's always casual Friday here, come one in guys," he greets with a wave.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods her approval to Steve when he calls out a greeting to the others, then takes the bag of food from him to carry through to the kitchen. This of course wafts the aroma of potstickers as she goes.

"I'm guessing neither of you have thought about dinner yet," she calls back toward the living room while shedding her jacket and starting to clean up what might be sitting around the kitchen waiting to be cleaned. Anyone even thinking about telling her not to? Didn't think so.

Quake has posed:
"It's pro-bass fishing, Hotshot. You're not going to hook a wild salmon. Besides, have you checked the settings? I mean, they have modes other than newbie garden. You know that, right?" Teasing him, her lips pursed in mirth. Steve's greeting having Skye lifting her head and shooting a look Clint's way. "Were we expecting guests? I didn't even know he knew about our place?"

Then the wafting smell of food drifts in and it all makes sense, the young woman nodding to herself and grinning. "Ah. May." Calling out, "Nope. No dinner on the horizon, unless you count midnight Gino's run."

Was she suggesting she and Clint wander out in their casuals - pretty much what they planned on going to bed in - and grabbing pizza later? Knowing them, likely. Then again, that's what delivery is for.

Does she know May is cleaning up? Nope. Can she guess she is? Oh, likely.

"Hey, we were going to do those tomorrow..."

Shooting another look Clint's way, whispering, "we were going to do those tomorrow, right? Alice doesn't come till Wednesday, right?"

Alice, one might hazard, is their once weekly housekeeper.

Captain America has posed:
Relieved of his burden, Steve then meanders into the living room. He eyes the TV and its current display. A flick of his brows is thoughtful.

"I'll wear my sweats next time then," he replies to Clint in his t-shirt and bare feet. "Skye's right though, there should be some difficulty setting on there to adjust. Will it let you use your bare hands? That's a challenge," the Captain quips with a grin. He glances back in the direction of the kitchen, wondering if he ought to lend a hand.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Heh, but the weird stuff generally just happens! I never have to mess with settings," Clint shoots back with a snort. He turns off the game and gets to his feet. "Knowing you you've actually caught fish with your barehands, likely after walking up hill to school both ways in ten feet of snow, right gramps?" he teases Steve, as he starts padding towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, Alice is Wednesday and we were totally going to clean those tomorrow or sometime after that..." he assures May with a nod. "But anyhow, lets get on to the question we all want the answer to, what'd you bring us?"

Melinda May has posed:
By the time the others make it to the kitchen, whatever dishes were around are all in the sink or already loaded into the dishwasher. The decent-sized stack of takeout containers are now covering most of the counterspace.

"Steve, that top styrofoam container is yours." To the others, she adds, "I brought the usual from Cong Tiantang Jiaozi." Skye or Clint might recognize that name as the restaurant she usually prefers. The logos on the containers are too generic to really offer any more clues.

Quake has posed:
It's with reluctance that Skye saves her work, and puts programs to run in the background, knowing full well that May will make her stop whether she wants to or not and saving them all that interim step where Skye protests and May insists.

"Bet I could find out if there's a bare handed mode on the game tucked away in the code. That's exactly the kind of shit that we coders love to do. And what we hackers are best at finding."

She's grinning. And notably, she's got her laptop with her as she wanders into the kitchen. She might have shut most things down, but she's not closed the thing, or turned it off. Ostensibly becuase of background programs. That, and now she's thinking about seeing if she can find that mode for the game. And thanks to built in bluetooth, Pro-Bass fishing is an open book after a few minutes...

However, all of that pales in light of what May has brought. "Oh. Em. Gee. Either you're about to break the worst news ever to us - wait! Are you firing one of us? Making us split up as partners?" Skye's eyes narrow down on May. "Are you promoting one of us? Me past Hotshot there? Is this the apology dinner?"

Because it might be the usual, but it's been a long time. Nosily asking, "What did you get, Ste--Ca-- Uh, so. What do you want us to call you when we're all casual like?"

Captain America has posed:
The Captain glances up from picking through his personal styrofoam containing his selection from the restaurant in question. He gives Skye a warm, little smile. "Steve's fine. Been one since birth." He shifts his weight in his lean against the spare space of kitchen counter and adds, specifically in the direction of the two young gamers,

"I'll have you know that if you want to really try fishing with bare hands, try pulling a Wels out of the rivers in France. Things get to be two-hundred pounds of sheer cussedness. I was dared to do it one time. Also, yes, Barton, both ways up and down in the snow. Effort kept us warm in the winter." He smiles before taking his first bite of the still-steaming potsticker. A contented little sound leaves him. Mmm, food.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Shhh, Keyboard don't tempt fate," Clint says while Skye spools out a ton of theories on why they were being graced with so much good food so suddenly. "Maybe we only need to go speak to that psycho the Punisher again, that's definitely worth Chinese food," he opines, even if technically /they/ didn't speak to Frank, May did.

"And also, hey, my game is just fine, no tinkering," he warns Skye with a grin and a pointed finger.

Cap's reply earns a wry grin from Clint, "So, did you get 'em?" he asks about the fish before he adds with a raised brow, "Cussedness?" the reply to his jab though, that gets a smile, "Of course, I'd bitch, oops, sorry Steve, complain, about there being no hills worth the name in Brooklyn, but I'm from Iowa, where it's so flat, you can see your dog run away for a week."

Melinda May has posed:
May finishes loading the dishwasher while Skye speculates wildly, Steve gets a taste of potstickers, and Clint cusses mildly in front of Steve. And she is inwardly amused at how quickly people forget that Rogers was in the Army. In the Forties.

"None of the above. I know your eating habits." She claims a container for herself as well as a pair of chopsticks. "But, if you want me to find an official reason or two for being here..."

Quake has posed:
"Yes, but.." Skye peers in her container, and it's heaven in a takeout container. "Damn I've missed this." (She says this like she didn't eat there last week, but she might be referring to eating it in her own home and not in her quarters in the Trisk).

Chopsticks snap up a mouthful of food that she speaks around, "Too late Hotshot. And hey, there's a whole mode in here where you play the fish. Someone with a real sense of humour. Angler-fish. You get points for catching the fishermen. And gulls."

By the twinkle in her eyes, Clint might be bare-handed fishing next game whether he wants to be or not.

"Right. Steve is it. And uh.. yeah, hey, this is our house. It's where we kick our shoes off and not talk business. Or.. guessing by May's statement there, we're going to talk business."

Giving May much more attention than moments ago. "What's up, boss? You got the report on Galina? And oh, the stuff my dad has been helping us out with?"

Given May brought Steve here, she's assuming he's okay to hear. Besides, all the matter surrounding her father, and what they were looking for there was technically in that limbo area of Fury handing Skye her past and saying it was her mission to deal with as she chose. Skye just chose to open the whole thing up a lot more at this point given it no longer merely affected just her.

Captain America has posed:
"Of course I got 'em, had to win the bet. Cussedness. Tenacity." Steve lets the curseword slide...for now. They're hardly in proper business professional status as is, even if the conversation wants to shift to such a thing. His attention flicks to May and he goes back to eating his potstickers with a silent, steady pacing. The food's going to vanish long before conversation ends, but how the super-serum does burn through calories optimally.

The mention of Frank, however, definitely piqued his interest. Patiently, the Captain listens to see where the trend of spoken thought might lead. He read the official report. Perhaps other little tidbits might drop.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint grabs a container, "Ah, so nothing to do with cussing then," he asks Steve before opening the lid and digging in with his chopsticks. He may be a transplated New Yorker, but he can eat with chopsticks like nobody's business. "You better be joking," he says to Skye around a mouthfuil of potsticker.

See, they really do kick back here.

"Yeah, so what's the deal, boss?" he asks May before catching Steve's look of interest about Frank. "Maybe we could run down the Frank meet real quick before we dive into the other stuff," he suggests with an upnod to Cap. Clint can't balme him if it was his besty on the line, well, he'd want to know what the psycho hunting wanted too.

Melinda May has posed:
Seeing Steve's piqued interest at the mention of Castiglione, she opts to go with that. "Let's go over that meet again. There were a few things that did not add up to me at the time, and I think you might have a different viewpoint." She picks up the unclaimed containers, stacking them in one hand, then gestures for everyone to head for the table instead of standing around in the kitchen eating.

Heathens.

"You heard about the arranged meeting with the Punisher, I take it?" she asks of Steve before setting all of the containers (yes, at least three more than usual) down and reclaiming her own. "The takeaway was that I managed to get him to agree to stop targeting Barnes."

Quake has posed:
"Good thing, too. Oh, I've got the package to shoot to my contact. Anything you want I should add?"

Her chopsticks are dug into the noodles in her container, and another mouthful taken, the sticks poked into the air at Clint, "Only one way to find out, huh? Guess you'll have to play a game and see."

Not to sway topics, but there is another matter that needs dealing with. "So, we got a fix on that location my father tweaked us to. Well, okay, a lead on how to get information on the location. The info is at some base in Cuba. Long ago abandoned. Some Cold War fallout shelter or something. Had to poke a lot of back doors to find it."

Captain America has posed:
"Really, that's all that I needed to hear," the Captain replies in particular to May. "Dunno what the hell game he was playing at, but it wasn't going to end well for him." The man says this with an eerie calmness of poise and with as much certainty as one of the laws of physics. Gravity sucks. Steve would have gotten angry.

"Lemme mull over what I read," he adds as he pauses by the table, his styrofoam container resting on the spread of his fingers. He's eating with his hands, the heathen. "I'll get back to you if something pertinent pops up." With a soft buzz of sound, his phone goes off in his back pocket. Swapping hands, he pulls out the device. Eyebrows sloooowly rise.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint chews thoughtfully as the Punisher is discussed.

"Oh, and re the Cuba thing, everyone should probably keep that on the QT. Zola may be listening," he says, by which he means he may well be in the computers and reading their texts and emails. "So, keep that in mind."

Hey, Clint can be cautious sometimes.

Moving along, he looks up when Steve checks his phone and looks... concerned. "Trouble?" he asks.

Melinda May has posed:
Eating something that seems more vegetables than noodles or meat, May pauses when Steve pulls his phone. Then without asking what's made his eyebrows climb as they did, she goes to her jacket and pulls the keys of the car they arrived in. "Here. I'll get another ride back."

Quake has posed:
There's a look of concern that flashes over Skye's features as Steve pulls out his phone, but then again, they are who they are, and this is situation normal for the crowd. "Hey, don't be a stranger, huh?" Expecting, and likely rightly so, that he's about to be pulled away; May tossing him the car keys confirms it. "Door is always open to our friends."

Which is also true. In the halls of the Triskelion, a small crowd of folks knows that when the going gets tough, or you just need a break, Skye and Clint's is a place where no judgement is passed and you can just be yourself. The offer is open for Steve should he care to take it.

"Yeah, Clint's right about that." She already knows the house has been locked down - she'd gone over what May had done while they were living at the Trisk, and added a few things of her own to keep the place, and her network, secure. "This is strictly a need to know. Under.. well, my purview mostly." A nod to May, given the whole thing had gotten bigger. This was one of those really sticky areas, but ultimately, it dealt with Inhumans, which meant regardless, the pool of those involved was smaller than usual.

Captain America has posed:
Looking up from his screen with a startled expression, the Captain then catches the keys thrown in his direction with an uncanny hook of a spare finger through the keyring itself. They jingle and shine beneath the flat of his phone as he blows a sigh. He seems to be wondering precisely how to explain the reason to leave. As he slips the phone away into his back pocket, he decides upon,

"If you can call 5'5" of nothing but firecrackers and cussedness 'trouble', then yes. There's trouble. Thanks for dinner, May, I plan to buy next time," he informs the Director as he walks towards the kitchen to dispose of his empty container. "Barton, Skye, thanks for letting us barge in. I'll see you around the office." With a final short wave, Steve then lets himself out of the abode and shuts the door quietly behind him.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
A slow and very amused smile creeps across Clint's face replacing the look of concern that had occupied the same space moments before. "Wait, did Jan just sext you?" he asks but Steve is already on his way out.

As the door closes, he looks to the others, "Betting five bucks Jan sexted him," he says nodding before taking another bite of his food.

"Anyhow, Cuba, right?" he asks getting back on track.

Melinda May has posed:
"Yes, Cuba. We need to assemble a mission ready team." May's already thinking Barnes would be a good choice, maybe even to lead said team. "If the target location is a hold over from around the Bay of Pigs era, there will be special considerations to take into account."

She reaches to the containers still waiting and opens one to reveal more potstickers, and promptly snags one for herself. "Skye, I want you to work with Systems Analysis and find out how much power that location is using, and whether or not there's a communications uplink. I think it might be worth it to cut them off when our teams go in physically."

Quake has posed:
Skye gives one of her trademark grins, crooked and all. "Already on it. And thinking about a proposal of my own for someone. I won't say much in case it's a bust, but if what I'm thinking works, we might have an edge here."

Because now that she's found out the project Zola was working on, and has more specifics to look for, including things like Zola's own brainwave scans and the like - she has an idea to float past a certain Oracle about a possible way to remove the man from SHIELD's systems. However, she wants to wait until she's had a chance to talk to her contact first.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Well count me in on the Cuba thing, as overwatch if nothing else," Clint says, "And I'm in for what comes after too. Also, we should probably put a couple of training ops on the schedule to cover our movements, maybe flight training for the Cuba mission, then some war games off-site for when we track down where Zola's grabbing the terrigen," he looks to May then. "We may need the Bus for that last part hop."

Hey if you're going to go storm the castle might as well go in style? Right?

Melinda May has posed:
May nods as Skye reveals that she's already working on the computer side of things. She'd expected no less. And when Clint offers to be in on that, she nods again. "That works, Barton. And I'll see about getting the Bus for the last hop. I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Now, what was this about a fishing game?"