9501/The Freighter

The Freighter
Date of Scene:	09 October 2019
Location:	New York waterfront along the harbor
Synopsis:	Steve and Janet stake out an arriving Hydra ship and spot Vi flying off the ship. They convince her to come with them.
Cast of Characters:	Vi, Captain America, Wasp (van Dyne)

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Vi has posed:
The information had come from Fitz and Jemma. Analytics looking at the last year or two of data had tied a freighter to two different sets of suspect Hydra radio transmissions. In each case, the freighter made a course change shortly after one of the transmissions. Most recently the ship, sailing from Eastern Europe, did an about face in the Atlantic after one transmission, then eight hours later, did another about 180 degree turn after a second.

While the radio signals are encrypted, Jemma Simmons surmised the boat must have a decryption capability if it is responding. Presenting an opportunity both to find out what Hydra is shipping, and also perhaps to break into their communications.

A trawler run by SHIELD has trailed the freighter through the Atlantic to the New York City area. It is scheduled to dock at a pier another dozen miles distant. The trawler sails off, leaving surveillance of the ship to those on shore. The ship is in the ship channel, several hundred yards off shore, and has the dozen miles to go to the docks. But it needs to be watched to make sure it doesn't smuggle anything off before it docks.

The ship, the Achilles Sparo, has its name clearly lettered on the bow. It's currently late afternoon, the sun is sliding towards the horizon, but there is still plenty of light. There is light traffic on the water, some ships going the same direction as the Sparo, others heading the opposite way.

Captain America has posed:
Binoculars with specialized glass do //not// wink from the window of a third floor. The building along the channel isn't derelict, but it hasn't been used in some time judging by the dust lying on surfaces left around. Steve squints as he brings down the pair and glances over his shoulder.

"You know what the worst part is?" He doesn't let the Wasp guess; rather, he continues, "Waiting. Waiting is the worst part. There's too much traffic in the channel to stage any sort of assault..."

Then comes the quiet huff of a laugh. "Any //visible// assault." In a deep blue windbreaker and jeans, work boots and a plain t-shirt, the Captain appears mundane. Even the easel-bag lying off to one side appears not incredibly out of place. Granted, the shield is within it.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"/I/ brought a book," Janet reminds Steve, and turns another page in her paperback. Her look is supposed to be incognito; jeans, high-heeled riding boots, leather jacket. But nothing on her person looks like it was bought off-the-rack, and the overall look makes her stand out as much as if she were in an evening gown. Little diamond studs glitter at her ears and she adjusts the yoke of the cream-colored infinity scarf wrapped around her neck.

A finger presses between two pages and she eases the book shut so she can look over at Steve. The chair she's sitting in had been uprighted and carefully dusted before she settled into it, one foot tucked underneath her thigh. "That said, if you're saying it's time to move closer, I'm not gonna sit here a minute longer than I have to. I /hate/ stakeouts," she says, and pulls a grimace. "It's a little too far to fly us both from here; maybe if you can get me within... oh, a hundred yards?" she hazards. "Then I can get us the rest of the way."

Vi has posed:
The setting sun is starting to color the sky, leaving a beautiful red hue to frame Lady Liberty where she can be seen in the background where Liberty Island lies further out into the harbor. The ships are making slow progress through the channel. The buildings along the water are a mix of warehouses, apartment buildings, and old factories, with a street running right along the cement wall that edges the ship channel.

There are no signs of any small boats to worry about. Unfortunately the boat is a bit further out than a hundred yards. It is at least that distance to a ship traveling the other direction, and the Sparo is even further on the other side. It seems like a moment that will indeed have little eventful happen for the moment. Nothing but waiting.

But then looks can be deceiving.

As the Achilles Sparo is passing that other ship, something lifts off the rear deck of the ship and arcs through the sky towards the other vessel. If Steve is able to focus the binoculars on it, he will see it is a person. Arcing through the sky like they'd been launched from a catapult on a ballistic arc towards the other ship.

But rather than reach the other ship, as the person is nearing it, falling towards it from above, they suddenly jet back up, higher into the sky and continuing on past the ship towards shore. Moving in another ballistic arc, but never having set foot on the ship.

The figure gets closer. It appears to be a small woman or perhaps a girl, wearing pants and a top that are both tan and dingy, and she is barefoot. A backpack is slung over a shoulder, while some kind of metal case is slung across her body.

The distance from the second ship to shore is even further than that between ships, and the figure falls towards the water. She seems to throw something beneath her but there's no sign of any effect but a few splashes in the water. The girl waves her arms in a decidedly ungraceful way before hitting the water hard. She quickly surfaces again, splashing about like someone unable to swim. Though after a few seconds she starts moving through the water almost like she were being towed, heading towards shore.

Captain America has posed:
"Mmm...dunno if it's time to move closer yet. Ship's trajectory is stable so far," he reports even as he turns back to the window. The binoculars come up to his eyes again and he trains them on the Achilles Sparo again.

"Think I can probably get us close enough if I can bypass the security measures down at the docks." Also known as: bust a lock and hotwire a boat, because Steve does know a good number of less virtuous skills despite his spangly reputation.

"Hup, wait." Like a dog going on point, the Captain lifts a hand off the binoculars as if he'd start to signal troopts. "Unidentified object traveling from the Sparo to another ship -- " He makes a sound of surprise. "Unidentified object is humanoid -- metahuman, it just tipped the water like it was solid. We gotta move."

Snatching up the easel pack, Steve then tears towards the nearest set of stairs. "They're in the water, might be a retrieve out of it! Go, Janet, go! I'm on your six!"

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"And do /what/ with her?" Janet shouts-- but she's doffing her jacket and her scarf, and flings herself skywards. The rest of her outfit shifts into a black bodysuit with familiar yellow scales on her chest and abdomen, a bit warmer for the turn in winter weather coming along the coast.

"I can't fly that close to the water, Steven! The spray will gum my wings up!" But she's airborne and making best speed she can towards the distant swimming figure.

An idea strikes her as she passes a fishing vessel; she grabs a line of rope and a flotation aid, and shrinks once more with the items in hand. A few seconds later she arrives at the woman's location, about twenty feet over the water, and flings both at her. Just in case-- though the woman looks like she can swim just fine!

"Follow me!" Janet yells, her piping voice carrying over the water, and buzzes around ahead of the woman before setting a fast pace towards the nearst place the stranger can clamber out of the grimy, dark waters.

Vi has posed:
The dark-haired girl isn't so much swimming as looking like she's being towed. There's no sign of a rope but she's struggling about like a water-skier would if they didn't have any skis but still had hold of the tow rope.

The flotation aid is grabbed quickly the moment is in reach. There is a sense of desperation from the girl in the way she clutches it so tightly. It doesn't seem to slow her progress through the water at all, if anything she moves a little faster now she's partially on top of the water.

Janet might notice she's not heading straight for shore, but is instead moving at an angle. In fact that sense that she's being towed is made all the stronger that she seems to be heading straight for a panel truck driving along the road atop the seawall, her course even seeming to curve to keep it heading towards the truck.

That is the case until she is about thirty yards from shore. At that point she suddenly flies up out of the water, through the air to land on the concrete road. She coughs and retches seawater up from when she was floundering. Her clothing looks all of one fabric. Something coarse like canvas, and dingy with ground in dirt. Her face looks like it was dirty but is streaked now from having been in the water.

The metal case that is strapped across her body is black, and a faint Hydra emblem is stamped in the metal, not bright, but just visible enough.

Captain America has posed:
The platform of a fire escape allows Steve a point of reference for the swimmer and for the Wasp now darting away towards the water. "At least let her know we're on our way!" His shout carries even before he tries to triangulate where the swimmer might make landfall by their current course of travel. Then (since Janet's not watching), he makes a series of jumps and push-offs from the neighboring panels of the fire escape stairwell opposite him. Controlled parkouring leaps leave him to land and roll on the ground before bursting into a blistering run down the alleyway.

The Captain is a blur between buildings and when finally reaching the service road paralleling the shore itself, he hops the chain link fence after scaling a dumpster.

The gleaming-wet figure horking up oily seawater is approached by the Captain more cautiously now. He's shed the easel pack to hook his forearm through his shield. He's certainly not undercover now at this point, not with that on his arm.

"Keep half an eye on 'em, <<seillean>>, that case's got a particular stamp on it..."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
"I'll watch the girl; you watch that truck. Two hundred meters, on your two o'clock, coming in fast," Janet snaps at Steve. It's not a voice of anger, but humming with the tension of the adrenaline rush. She lands with a skipstep near the girl's location, hands open and palms facing her. It's meant to look like a position of relaxation and indicating she's not armed; what Vi doesn't know, won't hurt her.

"I'm an Avenger, and I'm here to help. You speak English? Si hablan Ingles-- parlez-vous Engles?" she tries.

Vi has posed:
Vi gets up from all fours, the sodden backpack not only soaked, but actually containing water so it's heavy and falls off her shoulder. The girl is smallish, but her face looks like she's at the end of her teen years. She wipes the back of a hand across her mouth now she's expelled the nasty channel water.

As Captain America approaches her, Vi's hand quickly reaches down to feel at a pocket of her trousers as she stands there barefoot in the street. She seems to find whatever she was checking on, as she quickly pulls it out. A little vial which she pops the top on and drinks down the clear contents.

The truck has the logo of a small fish market on it, and is just continuing off down the service road away from them at the same pace it was driving before.

The girl's dark eyes look from Janet to Steve and back again. Janet's wings get a moment's stare, and then Steve's shield, before his words seem to register with her. She looks down at the black metal case, and then wraps her arms around it protectively as she backs away from them. "Stay away from me," she says in fairly accented English.

Captain America has posed:
"Confirmed," says Steve even as he adjusts his approach to swing wide around both the newcomer and Janet herself. The Wasp appears to have the soaked young woman corraled for now. It appears to him shortly that the truck isn't in cahoots with the stranger; it drives on. Turning in place slowly, led more by his shoulder, the Captain makes certain the vehicle is leaving the scene before he comes back.

His approach isn't treatening, but it isn't as if he's attempting to soothe a wild animal. If anything, his hand lifted firstly out and then turning to offer a palm, universal gesture of assistance, is poised.

"Not gonna hurt you," the blond man says quietly. "Just wanna help you. That was a splash out there 'nd the water's cold. Air's cold too. We've got blankets and medical aid."

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet rolls her eyes slightly and her fingers flick upwards in exasperation. "Work with me here, honey," she bids Vi; she speaks with an unimpeachable self-assertiveness, a contrast to Steve's calm demeanour. "They call me The Wasp. This is Captain America." She waves at Steve-- obvious hero is obvious, after all. "No one's gonna hurt you if you come with us," she promises the girl.

Her eyes flick to the container, to Steve, back to Vi. "I'm guessing you're not some newfangled HYDRA courier service. You're running from them. I'm guessing you stole something, too, because-- any idiot with half a brain going on the run is gonna take whatever won't weigh them down, right?" she quips, and ventures a half-grin at the woman. Her hands rest on the rise of her hips just below her waist, and she quirks an expectant brow at the girl.

Vi has posed:
The young woman's eyes go back to Steve, not just looking at the immense man, but at his shield. He's missing the billy club she's used to seeing on the guards. And the shield's style and coloring are different. But the sight of it gives her a chill. Or maybe that's the cool October air getting to her after the dunking in the even colder water.

Worse, she realizes she can't feel his shield, which causes her to stare at it for a moment.

There is fear writ clearly across the girl's face as she takes another step back. Their calming words are probably the only things keeping her in place this long. "You... I..." she stammers. There's a little pouch on the belt of her pants. It looks home sewn, and she reaches a hand towards, a pair of thick metal washers flying out of them into her hand seemingly of their own accord.

"How do I know I can trust you?" she asks them fearfully.

Captain America has posed:
This particular streak of behavior is likely making Barnes, somewhere, wonder why he suddenly has an acute tension headache because:

That's Steve slipping the shield off his forearm to lay it curve-down upon the road. Now it's entirely free hands inverted towards the young woman. He doesn't make to reach, but they do remain extended.

"You heard the lady." The super-soldier's tone remains even, calm, soothing without being melodic. "We can offer you safety. You're not acting like you want a part in whatever all that was." A subtle nod indicates the ships far off-shore yet.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Good cop, bad cop. Steve looking huge but symapthetic; Janet less physically impressive by an order of magnitude, but looking twice as imperious as him. A beat passes.

Janet seizes on the woman's doubt. "You don't exactly seem to be spoiling for options," she bids the girl. Arms fold loosely under her breasts, fingers laying on a bicep. "You're cold and wet, and in a strange city. You've stolen something valuable enough to risk hypothermia-- and it's gonna get *cold* in about ten minutes," she says.

Finally her rigid mien breaks and she hunkers down in a kneeling position, hands in her lap and looking at the girl. "Honest, we're not here to hurt you or anything," Janet assures the girl. "We saw you were in trouble and wanted to help. If you don't come with us though, I'm worried you're gonna get the flu or something and die out here of exposure. I mean--" she spreads her hands. "At this point, you've got nowhere to go but up, right? Might as well start by trusting someone."

She lets those words hang, then delivers a calculated final blow: "And if nothing else, we could get you a hot shower and a decent meal for the night."

Vi has posed:
Setting the shield down seems to be a wise move, for if it doesn't make the girl in her late teens relax exactly, it at least seems to remove a little of her apprehension. She looks from one to the other, and then glances out at the unfamiliar sights of the city's waterfront. Vi's eyes widen for a moment, and if they look, they might see that she's staring at the sight of the skyscrapers in the distance.

The girl with her face streaked and dirty looks back to Janet. After the talk of it being cold, she mutters something that might be hard to make out. Something pewter? Whatever she said she doesn't repeat, but then Janet says something that seems to make a difference. At the mention of a meal, they can almost see her mouth watering, and her tongue touches her lips.

"Ok," she says softly. "But, if you're lying and you try anything, I'm not as weak as I look," she warns. She looks like she barely reaches 95 lbs even soaked as she is, and weak for her size even. The girl clutches the metal case though, and then realizes the backpack is lying there leaking water. She takes a hurried step back to it, opening it up and draining some of the water from it and wincing. There's a glimpse of clothing and papers in there, the papers thoroughly soaked, possibly ruined.

Captain America has posed:
"We're not gonna try anything." Steve pulls his attention away from the Wasp; he'd subtly been watching her out of the corner of his eye and waiting to see which critical elements of comfort she was going to hit on in her own brand of reassurance. The super-soldier can't make himself smaller, but he can remain in his pose.

There's a sympathetic narrowing of his eyes to see the contents of the backpack destroyed. "Can get you new clothes too, or wash what you have."

And try to salvage those papers. Maybe one of SHIELD's machines can read the saltwater-washed inking.

Wasp (van Dyne) has posed:
Janet rises smoothly to her feet and smiles approvingly at the girl, beaming at her capitulation. "Hey, I'm the shortest member of the Avenger's by a good four inches," Janet points out. "You don't need to prompt me about looks being deceiving. I'm totally the most powerful Avenger," she boasts.

Janet glances into the bag and winces, then reaches out with her palm and briefly touches the back of the girl's knuckles. Just a gesture of reassurane, and her body language respects the distance between them that Vi's unconsciously created.

"C'mon. Let's get you some hot coffee and dry clothes, and we'll get those papers all drying out overnight. If we get to it fast, the ink won't run," she informs Vi. "I'm Janet. This is Steve," she adds. "What's your name, honey?"

Vi has posed:
The girl closes the backpack up, nothing more that can be done for now with the contents. Despite the cool air, her being barefoot on the pavement, and her dip in the water that would steal heat even faster, she isn't visibly shivering now. "Vi. My name is Vi," she says softly. She has a noticeable accent to her English, though it's somewhat mild. It probably bears a little bit of similarity to the accents of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff.

Vi reaches a hand to her little pouch and drops the two washers back into it, each of them about as big around as the top of a soda can. They clank softly in the pouch as if there are more in there. "Food, I haven't eaten much. If I could, please?" she asks them, looking from one to the other. She falls into step with them, glancing off towards the Achilles Sparo which has sailed on, not giving any sign they noticed the girl's departure. Vi pulls her eyes away from it as she walks with the pair.

"What's an Avenger?"