Owner	Pose
Skye Johnson	Given the logistics of what Skye was about to do.. and the outside sources she'd already taken upon herself to invite into the fray, Skye decided to have a 'dinner party' rather than use the Trisk to plan this little foray into Hand territory. Except the guest list was terribly tailored and quite specific. And there was no party about it. Notably, when the guests arrive, despite it being their private home, Skye's lighter sits out on the kitchen table in plain view. It's probably overkill, but Skye is known for her paranoia at times, and given the number of times she and Clint have joked about Wade listening in, it occurred to Skye that any number of others might have actually taken advantage of the fact that Skye and Clint were gone. Or that Lara owned the house prior. Or.. Okay. Skye was paranoid. It had done her good in the past. It would again in the future. There's pizza on the table. And beer - both frou-frou and regular. Laptop. Some white boards. Etc. All the fixings for a mission plan. Yep. This isn't a dinner party.
Clint Barton	Yeah, the security was probably overkill but, Clint understood the caution. Hell, he even pitched in with a bug sweep and a walk around the neighbourhood to make sure no one was watching. Not only because of what they wanted to talk about tonight, but because the two of them had been getting into more than their usual share of trouble lately and the last thing Clint wanted was to have one trouble come charging in while they were trying to deal with another. Coming back from his walk, Clint snags a beer and takes a seat. "Unless there's ninjas hiding under our neighbours floofy dog, we're clear," he says before taking a sip. "You good, Keyboard?"
Melinda May	"The floofy dog has hip displaysia," May comments as she follows Barton into the house, having arrived just as he was returning from his walk around the block. To encourage the illusion of the dinner party, she's brought two containers with food in them. One is clearly a salad, the other looks like a pastry box of some sort. She sets them on the table alongside the pizza and gets herself a glass of water from the kitchen before settling at the table as well. "Who else are we waiting for?"
Natasha Romanoff	"And he's clear," comes a voice from another room. Their bedroom to be precise. If they had a fear of Wade showing up in there, perhaps they should've had that concern bleed over to Natasha. She comes to the bedroom door and leans her shoulder against the frame, a smirk on her face. "I double checked. Just to be sure." She didn't actually. She isn't aware she needs to be on the look out for ninjas. Any more so than usual. She also is a bad guest because she brought nothing with her for the party. Course, she didn't come in the front door either so maybe it would've been tricky to balance a casserole. Nah, she just didn't bother. She's dresssed casually in jeans and a t-shirt with her usual lightweight black leather jacket over the top. She pushes away from the door and walks to snag a beer before heading for an open seat and settling down comfortably. As she raises her bottle to sip, her wristbands are visible then they disappear back under her sleeve as she rests her hand on the arm of the chair.
Skye Johnson	Skye is just opening her mouth to bring May up to snuff on who else was invited, when Nat makes her grand entrance. "Who the hell.. no. HOW the hell? Oh my god, Wade did not drop you off, did he? That's not cool. We sleep in that room. We do *things* in that room." May gets a chin nod. "Her. We were waiting for her. And sorry about the setup, but this is a bit of a sticky situation. Which I'm going to bring you all up to speed on, so you may as well all grab some pizza while I do. Kettle was just boiled, May, if you'd prefer." Skye paces. "So. We all remember Tidepool, right? May, you remember Genus. You helped set up that first meeting with Fury. Turns out he's been one of us since then, only he's been deep and off the books. Up until recently." And here Skye makes a face. Even Clint doesn't know what she's about to say next. "So. Turns out the Hand got to him. Sometime between rounding up what remained of Tide and what got away, he was nabbed and forced to drop the Index Files. A friend of mine is actually inadvertantly responsible for that. Seems he's been being pumped for tidbits from SHIELD ever since, only they're getting a lot pushier." Skye waits to let that all settle before carrying on.
Clint Barton	"Yeah, poor thing," Clint says about the dog, before he smirks with Nat's sudden enterance from upstairs. A smirk that turns into a laugh at Skye's response. "Wow. Way to paint a picture with words there Keyboard," he says shaking his head. Nat is given an upnod of greeting and a lift of his beer as she enters. Clint knew about Genus' status as a SHIELD asset, he'd been security on the meeting that set that up, but he didn't know about the Hand. As a matter of fact, he raises one. "Wait, The Hand? Like the scary mythical ninja guys?" he asks. He'd heard stories but he'd never really bought them. I mean he'd seen weird stuff but ninjas?
Melinda May	At the mention of the Hand, May actually visibly grimaces. "That's a name I was hoping to stay in the history books. But I should have taken Hydra as a hint." She serves herself a portion of the salad and a single slice from the pizza. "I may get some tea with dessert. Speaking of, you might want to unbox it now, Skye." She nods hello to Natasha, either having expected the redhead to appear from a direction other than the front door, or good enough to hide any surprise she might have felt. "Romanoff. Salad?"
Natasha Romanoff	"Did you hear a Star Trek teleporter sound from in there? I mean just now, not during your private time when you "do things" in there," Natasha replies to the concern about Wade having been her taxi service. "No. He did not drop me off." Yet she is not forthcoming on how she got in either. At the mention of the Hand, all levity is gone. Natasha's face goes blank, completely neutral. She has had experience with the Hand. Bad experience. The worst, in truth. "No thanks, May. Suddenly not hungry."
Skye Johnson	Skye frowns, the top edges of her her cheekbones turning pink. "Can we all just forget I said that. And fine, Wade didn't drop you off, but somehow you came traipsing through our upper floor like it was the front door and we'd handed you the keys.." She doesn't look terribly pleased about that, even if Clint is laughing, but she manages to hide it under poking around in the dessert box that May has brought, coming up with pastries, and a folded piece of paper that she peeks at before folding back up and tucking into her shirt. "Fuck," she mutters before addressing the others. "Yes. That Hand. Friend of mine made some questionable life choices and as it happens, knows their leader. Or who he thinks is their leader." The frown remains. He might not be so sure about that when he hears what she just found out. "Nasty ninja dudes with the morals of a septic tank, and they've been pumping him. Sounds like there's a schism in the ranks and he's afraid for his life. Long story short? Friend's friend won't let him go, but they'll look the other way if we want to make him dead and disappear. So, we're going to make that happen." She grabs a frou-frou beer and cracks it open. "Oh, and I invited a secondary group to help make this happen. They're going to be our distraction and make it look like... well, not sure. We've failed? Like this wasn't planned, but happened by accident? Something. But Genus needs out. Sooner than later."
Clint Barton	"Sure," Clint readily agrees about letting the previous subject go. His eyebrows do rise at the piece of paper that's tucked away but he says nothing for now. "I'll take some salad," he says. Clint would be hungry at the end of the world. May and Nat's reactions don't go unnoticed, "So, then these guys are real and bad news, got it. So, we're yanking Genus out, making it look like he's dead, so we don't end up with the night of the million-zillion ninjas on our hands?" he asks for clarity. "And this other group, they got a name?"
Melinda May	May passes the salad container to Clint so he can claim as much as he wants, take a bite of her salad as Skye and Clint sum up the reason for this supposed dinner party. She also seems completely unfazed by the former plucking paper out from under the pastries. "How accidental do you want his supposed death to look? Or do you want it to look like SHIELD chose to retire him?" Her eyes land on Natasha again for a moment, knowing that the former assassin would know at least a handful of ways to make someone appear to be dead. After all, that's really just one step short of making someone actually dead.
Natasha Romanoff	"They are very real," Natasha responds to Clint's comment. "They have their fingers in a lot of different criminal things. They also managed to kill me once." Natasha gives a shrug as though that isn't a big thing. Easier to play nonchalance. "I got better." As May asks the question she was wondering, she meets her fellow agents eyes and gives a single nod. If they want either done, she did have the skill set for it.
Skye Johnson	Skye ignores Clint's question for the moment, but addresses May's. "Up to you guys how we work it out. He has to be dead. And the body has to be retrieved by someone other than the Hand." Her lips press together and she sighs heavily. "Okay, so the others I've contacted, totally a need to know basis, and frankly, the less you know, the better it is for us all right now. They can run interference, and look like they're stopping us - we can make this look like an unconnected to SHIELD strike team. Or anything we want. Just.. fine. I'm not the expert on this one. It's why I brought you two in. You tell me the best way to do this."
Clint Barton	There's concern about this other group writ on Clint's face but he says, "Got it, need to know." As for who the attack should look like, Clint says, "Any chance we can make it look like Hydra?" he asks as he forks some salad into his bowl. "I figure whoever it looks like crossed off Genus is going to get a visit from some ninjas, would be nice if it wasn't us." He looks around the table for what the others think.
Melinda May	May is clearly considering possiblities while slowly working her way through her salad and slice of pizza. She's not really had to contemplate missions like this in, oh, at least ten or fifteen years. And of course, technology has improved considerably since then. "Medical has some neural inhibitors synthesized to resemble tetradotoxin that can be mixed with harmless ingredients to make it resemble cyanide. That would be almost as good as leaving a Hydra symbol spraypainted on the wall. Can you think of anything more likely, Romanoff?"
Natasha Romanoff	"If we want it to look like a Hydra hit, that would be a good choice," Natasha agrees. "Could also do something a bit more...dramatic. There are toxins that will make him appear dead but they could be applied with a slug load. Shoot him, it looks real but it isn't fatal, the toxin makes it look like it did it's work. Could be dressed in Hydra uniforms." She sips her beer before she continues. "Just depends on how flashy you want it."
Skye Johnson	"Yeah. Hydra .. Well, Zola isn't happy. Actually, we pissed them off in Hong Kong. I don't think they followed us to Hunan Province, but Zola contacted me. He wanted to gloat a little and talk shop." She winces at Clint. "I didn't want to worry you. But yeah." There's a nod from the woman. "We can make it look like Hydra. I expect we'll see some Hand interference. And the folks I've asked to tag along specialize in poking at things we might not want to poke at. Or at least don't want to be seen poking at. I'm willing to put this in your hands and play relay on the matter. All things considered, I'm a bit obvious in this one. Sitting out might be the best bet."
Clint Barton	Clint frowns when he hears Zola has been in touch with Skye. "We'll talk about it later," he says putting on his game face. Relationship stuff could wait until there was a plan in place. "Shooting him might work, or blowing him up if we switch him with a cadaver before the big boom. Though the boss might get twitchy about the later if it's in the city." Clint looks thoughtful as he knocks back more of his beer.
Melinda May	May nods at Natasha's input. That would likely work better. Would you want to do it, or should I?" She knows that Natasha is a better shot with any projectile weapon and can likely make a mild shot look like a fatal one. She's not as sure about her own pinpoint accuracy. "You need to have a very solid alibi when this goes down, Skye," she comments with a pointed fork for puncuation. "Be somewhere public, where you'll get a lot of attention. Maybe go out somewhere with Stark. That always ends up smeared across social media."
Natasha Romanoff	"We may want to actually take in a team. Doesn't matter which of us takes the shot as long as we make it look good," Natasha says as she spins the beer bottle in her hand a moment before taking another sip. She nods at the suggestion for an alibi.
Skye Johnson	Skye nods. She'd already been thinking she shouldn't be anywhere near this. Not only because of Genus, but because of her association with Matt Murdock. Things got really complicated when you factored that into matters, and that the 'questionable life choice' in question was the leader of the Hand.. yeah. It all went downhill from there. "Tony works. Could make a big splash in public. Had a brief flirtation with you know, kissing him in public or something, but that's a little obvious. We can figure something out, but yeah. There are reasons I shouldn't be near this op. Which brings my friends into play. They can run interference. Make this look like whatever we need it to from an outside standpoint. Like it's all an accident. Or, if we go with the taking out a resource we can't control, not sure if they still come into play.." Skye ponders. "Not sure if the Hand gets our mode of operations or not, but we're pretty big on no one gets left behind. Not sure obvious is the way to go?" She looks to Nat.
Clint Barton	Clint sits up making a T with his beer and his hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's call a time out on the whole kissing Tony thing," he objects. "We just need you seen, not swapping spit with Stark" He shakes his head and takes a swig from his beer. "Anyhow, Pepper would murder you both," he says with a smirk. The plan of attack is considered. "Speaking of kissing," he says with a teasing look thrown Skye's way. "Let's a apply that to the plan and Keep it Simple Stupid," he says using the old maxim. "What's the easiest way to make sure he looks dead and we get the body?"
Melinda May	May looks at Natasha. "A team would be best, but I can't think of anyone in SHIELD that I'd trust to go along with us on this kind of op." Because, really, she'd rather as few people as possible actually know what they're planning here.
Natasha Romanoff	Glancing at Skye, Natasha shakes her head. "Not a SHIELD team. A Hydra team. That way it gets blamed on them but it would look like they mobilized a full hit squad." She glances back to May, pursing her lips slightly as she considers. "You, Clint, me. Probably not many others I'd trust for it. Once we shoot him, the Hydra team takes the body so it doesn't get found and tracked to them. Or..." She thinks a second. "We have SHIELD come in to try and take us down and they recover the body for us? Hydra agents escape. Course, we would want to have only Fury in the know so it would be a danger to us."
Clint Barton	Clint nods, with Nat's suggestion. "Sure, I can dress up in Hydra greens," he says about the plan. "Maybe tap one or two more on ourside to handle the pick up. Or we peel one of us off to handle that and the other two are the hittters, either way SHIELD shows up and nabs the body." He looks to Skye. "The other guys, what are they up for? We might need some back up, or some extra bodies for the hit team."
Skye Johnson	Skye nods. "Fury know." Of course he does. Skye reports directly to the man more often than not. Always has. "I think I know a couple of ways I can use my contacts. I just need to firm up some details with them.. I'm thinking a hit man, and interference to be honest. I might be able to deliver communications over Hydra channels. Or what will pass for it under all but the most direct scrutiny."
Melinda May	"Then I think we have enough to start working with. I have a few resources I might be able to tap as well. I'll check in with them and see what sticks." And with that seemingly settled, May stands to take her dishes to the kitchen and fix herself a cup of tea. She's thnking that if worse comes to worst, Natasha can actually kill this person and she can have Castiel on hand to bring him back as soon as they're out of sight.