9263/Favors for Friends

Favors for Friends
Date of Scene:	20 September 2019
Location:	Roof Landing, The Triskelion
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Exile, War Machine

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Melinda May has posed:
Acting Deputy Director Melinda May had sent a message to Castiel requesting his assistance, but wasn't terribly surprised when he didn't reply. The angel does regularly leave to assist the brothers in their jobs, and that can lead to being out of communication. She's not worried. He'll turn up again when he's ready, as he usually does.

But, that leaves her wondering how to complete this quinjet trial run that she'd planned and scheduled. She sent a message in another direction, but also is unsure of whether or not that will receive a reply.

In the meantime, on the rooftop landing pad a quinjet sits while May finishes the pre-flight checks that include the new equipment to be tested.

Exile has posed:
A reply in person - there's the sweep of ashy gray pinions above. He doesn't come arrowing in like a falcon, but instead spirals down and down and down like a vulture on a thermal. All the better to let his presence be known and acnknowledged, to make sure of his welcome. Human weapons can give me a pretty bad day, after all.

His boots scrape softly as he lands, folding his wings behind him neatly, as he looks around inquiringly. There must be someone to report to, he has a fair idea of how human hierarchies work, by now.

Melinda May has posed:
The moment the flyer is picked up on the Triskelion flight control radars, May is notified. And seeing as the winged individual chooses to approach in a uniquely leisurely and avian manner, she has plenty of time to finish her pre-flight checks and wait at the edge of the vehicle's loading ramp when he lands.

"Hayal. It has been some time. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Exile has posed:
"Castiel is not about to help. But I thought I might, in turn. You have done me kindnesses, and I like to repay them when I can," he explains, as he comes walking up to her. His wings drift even with that motion, impossibly light. The pale eyes are bright, cheerful. "Is there something I might do in his stead, or does it require him?"

Melinda May has posed:
May considers the less familiar angel's offer, visibly looking him up and down in an almost evaluating manner. "Thank you. I think you can." She gestures for Hayal to step into the quinjet.

"Our research and development division have come up with a new device that can potentially prevent passengers from falling to their deaths in the event of sudden explosive decompression. I want to see that it works, but I would rather the 'catch' target be someone who can prevent a dangerous fall on their own in case the device does not perform as expected."

She hopes that her attempt to simplify the device's function from the technobabble R&D gave her makes sense.

Exile has posed:
The angel listens gravely, head canted. He's got his hair tied back, brows up. "I am heavy enough to adequately simulate a human falling, in such a case," he agrees, once he's sure he's understood. "I would be happy to. I don't imagine.....since it is intended to save human lives, I would think it in itself would not damage me in ways this form could not bear. I am at your disposal, Agent May." The wings lift a little, their primaries spreading like fingers.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods respectfully as the winged individual agrees to be a proverbial guinea pig. "Thank you, Hayal." She steps over to contraption incongruously bolted to the ceiling of the quinjet's passenger/cargo bay. "This is the device we'll be testing. It's designed to track transponders initiated inside this jet, and send out a line after any transponder that leaves the jet's direct location, typically rather abruptly."

She reaches over to get what looks like a modified chest harness that might have once been part of a parachute or similar. "For testing, the transponder has been attached to this harness for the device to track. I think R&D's eventual plan is to simply embed the transponder into every field agent's mission garments so there's no extra items for them to have to think about."
She offers the harness to Hayal. "We might have to modify this a bit for you to wear it without restricting any of your limbs."

Exile has posed:
The angel accepts it, turns it over, holds it up. Even sniffs it, curiously. Then, carefully, he's trying to shrug into it. It looks kind of ridiculous, like a dog trying to shrug into its own harness. The wings.....somehow go away during the process.

For a moment, he's merely some slightly ragged, long-haired man. Borderline homeless looking. "I think I can wear it without it constricting my wings," he says, in his light voice. "May I take it out of the jet, just a little ways? I can't expand them fully in here..."

Melinda May has posed:
Okay, the wings just disappearing like that is honestly fascinating. May can't help but wonder if Castiel is capable of similar, considering she's never seen him with his wings openly on display.

At Hayal's question she nods readily. "Of course. The device isn't initialized yet." She gestures for Hayal to move about as he pleases and follows him back out of the quinjet.

Exile has posed:
He adjusts buckles and harnesses, flexes absurdly. And then, when he's back out on the open space of the roof pad.....suddenly, there are the wings again. Now at their full, shimmering span, glowing in the sunlight with that strange, rosy iridescence. Like dawn light. He beats them a few times, experimentally. Takes them through range of motion....and then crouches and springs up with improbable lightness, letting the pinions row the air and take him a story or two in height, before he glides back down. "I am satisfied with the fit," he proclaims. Like May just got him a new coat.

Melinda May has posed:
"Good," May says, even though she steps forward once Hayal is settled back to the rooftop and checks the harness's fit for herself. She's making sure it fits per standard parachute specifications, and even gives the harness a tug or two to make sure none of the adjustment points slip. It ... might be a little disconcerting. But, soon enough she's satisfied as well.

"The system is designed to register when the transponder leaves the jet and send a retrieval line after the person wearing this harness, latch onto it, and pull them back close enough for anyone still aboard to pull them in to safety. That's the feature we'll be testing today."

Exile has posed:
He lets her check him over as needed, lifting his wings out of the way, placid as a horse being groomed. As she explains, Hayal gazes into her face, curious, inquiring still. And then he smiles. "It's like those little toys on strings children sometimes play with, isn't it. Yoyo? You want me to see if this thing can make me into a yoyo?"

Melinda May has posed:
May's eyes flick up to Hayal's face, and she almost -- ALMOST -- cracks the faintest hint of a smile. From anyone else that would have been a full-on laugh. "Something like that. But imagine the yoyo has fallen off of its string, and the string catches it. At least, that's the intended result. Shall we give it a try?" She gestures back to the quinjet waiting.

Exile has posed:
"If it will save lives, you can try to make me a yoyo," says the angel. Then he's turning to head into the quinjet, wings vanishing again. Grinning with anticipation. Humans are so clever, it's fun to encourage them.

Mostly.

War Machine has posed:
     Out from the sky comes a figure dressed in pitch black it moves quickly darting about without a single sound. It's hard to tell where it even came from let alone how long it had been monitoring.

     Almost skin tight this suit of armor is painted completely black from head to toe made from a radar blocking material that bends the signatures around it in flight. The only even vegue hint of color would be the dark red glow on the eyes and mouth of the suit. The arc reactor is hidden behind pitch black glass coated in that same material as the rest of the suit.

     The dim red glow of the thrusters glow slowly dimmer as touchdown occurs. The padded soles of the suit are dead silent on the rooftop of this tall building the slender armor showing off the musculature of the figure stood inside of it. The man looks over towards may for a moment before looking towards the assistant for this little test, Angel.

     It's almost magical how quiet this suit can be as it moves one step after another the only sign of its landing a place where a few pebbles have been kicked aside.

     "You know May, when I said I'd be a bit late." A deep and heavily modulated voice speaks out from within the suit of armor. "I didn't expect you to go recruiting from the local homeless shelter." The face of the suit folds out to either side revealing the concerned face of Colonel James Rhodes. "Hope you at least offered him a warm meal and a hotel room."

Melinda May has posed:
Despite the near perfect silence of Rhodes' stealth armor, May is completely unsurprised when he arrives and speaks up. Why? Because the Triskelion's air control tower informed her over her communication earpiece that he was on approach. And at his comment about offering Hayal a warm meal and a hotel room, she merely turns to look at him.

Unimpressed May is unimpressed.

"Would you care for a meal and a place to sleep for the night?" she asks the shaggy-haired man in the quinjet with her, not giving away that Hayal isn't just some run of the mill hobo. Mostly because it will amuse her highly to see Rhodes' reaction when he's corrected.

Exile has posed:
That there's a new voice is prompt enough for Hayal to come poking his head back out of the quinjet to blink at Rhodes. He smiles an oddly innocent smile, as if Rhodey were an old friend he'd missed for a long time.

Then, glancing between them, he says, simply, "Yes. I don't sleep, but I do like resting on beds." He's going to get angel dander all over the bedding, isn't he?

War Machine has posed:
     Hard for Rhodes not to call it in before he showed up. After all it would be silly to try and just sneak his way into the area when he was supposed to be here in the first place. Sneaking in was for when he WASN'T supposed to attend.

     The response causes him to pause for just a second. It's not shock after all working with supers so long as he had he's used to people not needing sleep. He's not even jealous of the fact honest. He likes being incredibly tired from only getting about four hours sleep most nights or having to sleep in the back of the cargo plane on deployments.

     He walks on over to the side of the Quinnjet. Of all the pilots currently employed with SHIELD he's easily in the top 20 for flight hours clocked in testing. It wasn't something he was necessarily bandying about but then again it did mean that he got really used to the basic designs and had a fair eye for spotting the differences in the various prototypes.

     The stealth armor peels its way off from Rhodes body revealing his SHIELD flight suit. The stealth armor peels down lowering into a small carrying case which is tucked right into one of his pockets.

     "So, what's the plan May?" Asked as the bearded man steps to the front of the jet his attention drifting back down onto the control pannel as he keeps his attention drifting from one end to the other.

Melinda May has posed:
"We're testing the emergency retrieval system that R&D has been working on. I'm flying. Take your pick, Rhodes. Be a guinea pig or monitor the system's readings during the tests." Or both, really. May won't mind. "The plan is to head out over water and test start with a hover and working up to standard prop engine speeds. R&D has cleared it for anything faster yet."

But she's flying. Don't even try to argue that.

War Machine has posed:
     "Trying to catch up with me on flight hours?" Rhodes comments even as he walks back away from the pilots area. His eyes fall back down on may with a bit of a smirk crossing his face. He moves over towards the edge of the rooftop. "Tell you what may I'll go ahead and monitor the flight, I could use more time this side of the tests anyway."

Melinda May has posed:
May doesn't dignify Rhodes' comment about flight hours with a reaction. Yes her flight hours have been greatly reduced of late, but she's been acting DIRECTOR. He'd not be able to do that job for a DAY, much less the several months she's been stuck with it. "Take a seat, Hayal, we're going to fly out to our testing area."

In a matter of minutes, the quinjet lifts off of the Triskelion roof and heads out to the R&D testing area to spend at least an hour or so throwing an oddly agreeable angel out of the back of the 'jet and seeing if he misses the ground.