Owner	Pose
Clint Barton	True to May's word the quinjet was indeed ready fifteen minutes after she made the announcment in the break room. Arriving on the tarmac buffeted by cold December air, Clint makes his way up the ramp of the jet, gear (mostly bows) in tow. He secures it in the crew bay. After it's done he rubs his hands together. "Cannot wait to get to a place that doesn't have seasons. Eternal fall is way better than this crap," he says of the east coast chill that has NYC in it's grip. He grabs a seat just behind the cockpit. "I am guessing this is going to end up doubling as a training flight?" he asks as he straps in.
Melinda May	Seated in the cockpit, May has completed all of the pre-flight checks, but the 'jet itself is still completely powered down and idle. "It is, yes. I'm going to give Skye a chance to film everything so she has examples to go by." And, that's not an offer just anyone would get. Her own go bag is already stowed in the tiny space behind the pilot's seat, possibly because she's headed elsewhere on another task straight away. Difficult to tell. "Be thinking about what food you'll want at the party."
Skye Johnson	Skye? Skye is late. Certainly not by any grand measure in Skye standards, but she's still late, coming up the rear as the check of equipment is going down, and Clint's declaration of weather wishes is issued. "Uh, hate to break it to you, but the wilds of BC get winter." Likely worse than New York, given they weren't going to have a city to buffer the temperatures, and things like falling snow and winds. "I really hope you packed that cold weather gear they sent us from supply." Not that Skye was an all weather girl, having spent all her known life living in the city. She packed what they sent, pretty much by stuffing anything that wasn't already packed into a duffel, and called it a day. Her other equipment - her bows, and her electronics - now those things she took care with, each in their own protective cases, the electronics in particular shielded against stray emp bursts or the like, and all stashed in the back area of the quinjet, much like May's gear. She hovers in the cockpit with the pair. "What's this about training flight? You're going to let me fly this thing?" Hopeful in the way that only Skye can be.
Clint Barton	"Food? That's simple. All of it," Clint answers with a grin as he finishes strapping in just as Skye arrives. "Hey Keyboard," he says. "And you mean all those big puffy coats? Nah, left them in the room." He's joking, it wasn't his first rodeo as far as cold weather went, but he'd been hoping they'd be somewhere on the southern part of Vancouver Island or around the Vancouver-Starling corridor on the mainland. The rest of BC was positively Canadian when it came to winter. "But seriously though, I brought them, since," he gives the back of May's head a look. "Somone still hasn't told us where we're going yet," there's a smirk with those words taking the bite out of them. "And something like that," he says about the trip letting May fill in the details.
Melinda May	May asides to Clint as simply as his answer to the offer of the food choices at the party, "Let me clarify. Pick one thing you want me to cook." She simply turns and stares at Skye as she arrives late and then presumes she's going to get to fly. "No. What I am letting you do is film everything I do so you have a real world example to reference alongside the protocol manuals." What she doesn't say that if Skye learns well enough, then she WILL get to fly on the trip back. That little carrot won't be offered until later.
Skye Johnson	Skye doesn't even let Clint answer the 'what's for dinner' question, as she's already speaking up, "Potstickers." Because.. POTSTICKERS. She grins at Clint. "C'mon. We both know that was what you were going to say." (He'd already kind of hinted at that, prior) "And you know what I realized on the way up here? Technically, I could have looked to see where we were going. I think this is still my mission?" She looks to May to confirm, as she slides into the seat beside her former SO. "This is still all about what's in my file, right? Until we figure all this out?" Skye isnt' sure what denotes the end of this particular venture, or her handing thigns back to Fury as a completed mission, but she's fairly certain 'untested and unknown abilities' still falls into 'whatever you need to get answers'. That she's going to get to film the flight gets a grinning nod. "Nice. So I can see where I'm making mistakes when I run down the checklists, huh?" Or however you do it.
Clint Barton	There's a smile from Clint, "You're not wrong," he says about her choice of food. "We'll bring the pizza," because pizza goes with everything, right? As to who's mission it was, Clint draws a blank. "Am I going to sound like an idiot if I say I have no clue?" he asks. "Not mine anyhow, at least not that anyone told me. But I figure May at least knows where we're headed." He leaves May to lead Skye through her process.
Melinda May	May is SO not surprised that Skye immediately voted for potstickers. "You're right. You could have. Too late now. And yes, something like that." And then after waiting for Skye to get the recording device of her choice ready, she goes through startup, taxiing, take off, and setting the course and autopilot when they hit altitude. "Did you get all of that?" she asks Skye, almost sounding as if she plans to quiz the younger woman on the spot. One thing that's easy to tell even knowing nothing at all about flying, they're heading generally west.
Skye Johnson	Skye crinkles her nose at May. "Now you tell me." She gets a portable recorder from her gack - otherwise known as her tablet - and set it to go, giving May a nod. "I don't think I really wanted to know." At least when she asked. Then she was still petrified of what had happened to her, and what she'd become. She'd had some time to come to terms with things, and realied that all in all, other than a few problems that she was managing, she felt pretty much.. like her old self. Of course all of that was going to be blown out of the water (or the woods, as it happens) once they hit base up north. Which, ultimately had been reason enough to keep herself in the dark about things. Skye was dealing with these changes one baby step at a time. "Right. And.. we're recording."
Clint Barton	"Makes sense," Clint says of Skye not wanting to know. He flashes her a smile and a quick, ~I love you~. "And anyhow as long as the place is warm and has wifi I think we can make it work." As the video gets set up. Clint says, "Let me know if you want some other angles, got two free hands back here. And I can stand once we're airborne. Otherwise, I can just raid my snack supply for the three of us. I'm easy like that."
Melinda May	May makes sure to do each step of the process clearly and distinctly, including all communications with the control tower. Someone might even dare liken it to Data flying a shuttlecraft every thing she does is so precisely by the textbook. She has the comms set to the speakers in the pilot's compartment as well as her headset so the recording will pick up both sides of the interactions. When she finally sets the autopilot to let the quinjet cruise, she takes off the headset and looks at Skye.
Skye Johnson	Clint she grins at, handing him the tablet, and telling him what she wants recorded; showing him how to manipulate the software - it's a basic program. He shouldn't be able to accidentally tab out, or mess it up. At least she's taking that on faith. Clint recording, Skye is silent as things go down in the cockpit, and watching intently - not that she's trying to absorb everything May does per se, but because she knows how annoying and distracting questions could be at the moment. Especially as she knows she'll have time to be able to ask once they've lifted off and things become more automatic in the flight. May's removal of the headset signals question period has opened, and the young woman pauses the recording in order to ask May about the proceedures she's just witnessed.
Clint Barton	Flight is old hat for Clint. It was one of the first things Coulson had him taught when he joined SHIELD. Which had been okay by him, because, well, flying! He wasn't bad at it but May made it all look easy. Though as soon as the jet levels off, he's back to his bags for the promised snacks, ripping open a plastic bag and munching the contents, while Skye asks her questions.
Melinda May	May answers all of Skye's questions clearly, avoiding using too many of the technical terms that the hacker possibly has not encountered yet. She even repeats a few of the control panel processes, pointing at various controls but nto actually moving them as that would cause the 'jet to react. They have a few hours, she's okay with instructing that entire time. Clint and his noisy rustly snacks might prove to be a distraction, though.
Skye Johnson	Skye might not be a genius, but she's no dummy. Her questions are relevant, and indications of curiosity, and her having paid attention - which almost seems like it should fly in the face of what people might imagine, given her penchant for disregarding authority and the general concept of following rules. It is, ultimately, a secret weapon - the fact that she can both pay attention, and look like she could care less at the same time. More than one person has underestimated Skye with regards to that, and lived to regret doing so.
Clint Barton	Clint settles back in the seat for the lesson, pulling out his phone to watch clips of Dog Cops on his phone and snacking on his bag of Coke Bottle candy, which does get passed around on the trip. Though as the landscape beneath them begins to change where he can see it through the windows, he knows they have to be in the right spot. "Guessing we're almost there?" he asks May.
Melinda May	May glances at the controls. "Almost. We're leaving autopilot in about thirty minutes, then it'll be another thirty to landing." She checks the comms and the radar as she's done throughout the entire flight. "Maybe enough time to ask about your requests to go off-base, Skye." She says this in a way that implies she knows where the hacker went, but there's no accusation whatsoever. Merely the opportunity to offer to share information.
Skye Johnson	Skye tries not to smirk when May hits her with that. She's glad she's just been handed the bag of candy in order to give herself a legitimate moment or two to think about her answer. she offers the bag to May, but expects it to be turned down. "Ah. So you heard about that, huh?" Skye had gone by the books with her request to visit Matt. It was the visit with the Shadow that Skye had done an end run around protocol with. Skye was pretty sure that had been reported on by all agents present in her detail, bar one (read: Clint), but Skye was willing to go along and make May work for it. "I wanted to visit an old friend. He lost his girlfriend about the time I was kidnapped. I didn't get a chance to tell him I was sorry and to check in on him. I figured since we were leaving for this trip, I should try to catch him sooner rather than later."
Clint Barton	"An hour huh?" Clint says. "Guess I'll get to find out what happened to Sgt Wuffles after all," he adds happily cueing up the right video on his phone. Though when there's questions about the trip, he just turns the volume up. Who was the agent in charge of her detail? Oh he can't hear you guys right now, la, la, la. Or at least that's the plan.
Melinda May	May's eyes flick toward Clint and his now louder video-watching. She's clearly unimpressed. But, she turns her attention back to Skye. "And how is your friend doing? I'm guessing not so good, since you were gone from the building longer than your request had been alloted." And there's the implication, though again her tone does not hold any accusation. Maybe it should.
Skye Johnson	Skye gives a small shrug. "I needed some time after our visit. He's taking his friend's death hard. I gave him his gift to remember her by." her features take on a thoughtful cast as she recalls the visit. "I don't know. We had a good talk. A little bit about what happened to me." She carefully doesn't go into details - like how he understood rather uniquely some of her issues, particularly the sensory ones. "He was upset, but happy with his gift, and I needed some air. I kept my detail." Right there, right there is where it's clear she knows what May is driving at, but isn't relenting.
Clint Barton	Clint lowers the volume on his show, glancing over the top of his phone at the two ladies. "May, it's cool. The guy's alright, and I was leading the detail. What Sky says is pretty much what happened. She went to see her friend, then took a little bit of time afterwards." There is a glance towards Skye, seeing if she was going to supply any details of what else happened there.
Skye Johnson	It's the glance that does it. Skye shakes her head. "Don't," she tells Clint. "We both know that comes back to bite you in the ass." Because as much as he was falling on the well all go down together sword of partnership between agents on a job, he was also in the unenviable position of also being her partner in life, and something of her SO to boot. He wasn't lying to May, but his ommissions of the truth, so easily given, wouldn't help her (everyone in the cockpit knew Skye wasn't telling May something; Clint's pretending it was business as usual, and that look, were just going to tick May off more). In the end, Clint would bear a brunt of responsibility he needn't. "He didn't know, May. I knew I'd be out, so I arranged to meet a contact. Someone I can't bring to the Trisk." Pointedly said. "They.. How much do you want to know."
Melinda May	May mentally considers what she learned about Matt when she went to talk to him, and what Skye just shared. And then the pieces fit, and the hacker's slightly vague explanation makes more sense. She's still positive there was more to her outing than just talking with the lawyer and then wanting a little personal time. And then Skye proves her gut feeling right. "However much you feel might be useful," she tells Skye while her eyes flick toward Clint once again. Strike two.
Clint Barton	Clint was happy to relent at Skye's warning, though May's look tells him it might already be too late. "...And when I saw what was happening, I kept the team back to a safe distance to let Skye do her thing," Clint chimes in. "I figure its what Fury would have told me to do if he was there." The Director did give Skye a very long leesh. "And we'd made sure the area was safe." And it had been, besides calming the panic of his fellow agents, Clint had kept a tight lid on the permeter. Which took some doing in Hell's Kitchen.
Skye Johnson	Skye knew Clint had kept the others back, and convinced them to give her leeway. "I needed to talk to some mutal friends," Skye tells May. "About what's going on. If we'd set up some other meeting it would have been obvious. This gave me and them cover." Okay, it also was a rather large bending of the rules, and some of the goodwill Skye enjoyed as well, but Clint was right, Fury would probably have had everyone stand back, and he'd have enjoyed a cigar while waiting for her to finish what she was doing. "They.. heard what happened to me." And the base.
Melinda May	May's eyes flick from Skye to Clint and back, and after a moment she nods. Reasoning accepted. This time. "And what could they tell you about it from their side?" she asks Skye. After all, isn't the intel-gathering why the hacker took that particular risk in the first place? And considering she took the risk, May wants to know if it was worth it or not. And then while waiting for Skye's answer, she reaches into that bag of candies and snags a bit of its contents without looking to see what it actually is.
Clint Barton	Clint gives May a shrug when she looks to him, then when she's taken some candies he leans forward to reclaim the bag to munch some himself. "Do you guys need me to put my headphones in or?" he offers when the subject of their 'mutual friends' comes up. He didn't know much about them but he was learning bit by bit by being around conversations like this one. "That said, I am not going to spill anything I hear."
Skye Johnson	"Yes," Skye tells Clint without pause of the headphones. "No offense, Hotshot, but it's my rep." And it is. Skye has earned every inch of trust that has been placed in her and isn't about to blow it now, not even for Clint. Fury.. well, Skye and Fury had an understanding. And even he didn't know all of Skye's secrets. Not even close.
Melinda May	May is totally okay with letting Skye make that decision. It's her information to choose to share or not. But, once Clint is ensconced back in his seat with his headphones in, she looks back to Skye, anticipating this to be, well, not good. And then she puts one of the candies in her mouth and 3.. 2.. 1.. makes a face like she's bitten a lemon and spits the candy back out in to her hand. "What the hell are you two eating?"
Skye Johnson	Skye is about to say.. well, whatever it is, it's lost in May's outburst, and Skye's followup of, "Uh.. gummy worms? I think." She looks at what's in her hand and nods. "Yep. Gummy worms. Did you get a sour one? Sometimes the bins get mixed up." Sometimes Clint mixed them up on purpose. she waits until Clint has his earphones in and the music turned up. "It's not so much what information I got from them," Skye tells May, though she had gleaned an interesting tidbit, or so she thought. It was a guess, but if she was right, it was very interesting. "More what I needed them to know. They've got their ears open for us, looking for my father. I asked if they heard anything for Oracle to ping me. I'd rather he wasn't killed on sight, you know? We could use him." Because other than Karl, nobody else really knew anything about those crystals, and if Skye was right, and Karl was trying to spread the materials in those crystals to the general populace, they wanted a way to disarm the stuff. Or at least understand how it worked better. "I think..." She regards May. "This would be a whole lot easier if you were officially in, you know? I think my contact may have been at the base when things went down. They said something that struck a chord."
Clint Barton	Clint doesn't seem at all offended, and digs into his pockets for headphones. "Not a problem, Keyboard, I got it," he says of putting on his earphones and butting out of this conversation. As to the candies though. "Really?" he checks. "Damn thought I was getting only Coke Bottles, but yeah, a few gummie worms and other stuff snuck in there."
Melinda May	Reaching for a paper napkin, May wraps up the candies in her hands and sets them aside to throw out. Because ew. But, now it's back to business. "It would be easier, yes, but Fury has the whole thing set need to know for a reason. And that reason is no doubt a good one. So I'm not about to question it. But. If you hear back from Oracle, and it's anything at all actionable, you need to let me know right away. I want to make sure to be ready for whatever might come down the pike."
Skye Johnson	Skye clues in that May didn't follow her cryptic, and makes a face. "Yeah. That too, though if there's anything you want to know, I can answer. I meant the Birds, though. This dancing around your membership is difficult. I think they're impressed, though. Likely just waiting for a formal opportunity to extend the invitation. Complicated by the fact that my life had to go to hell in the middle of it all." She shrugs. "I do have to say, they're a pretty loyal little bunch." As though SHIELD weren't. But then again, Skye's life hadn't been populated by people who shared these same sorts of ethics. The idea that people went to the wall for one another was still fairly new to her. "I've got comms with them. Well, I would if I were local. We're doing this rather more remotely." May can guess it's about the same as how Skye will communicate with SHIELD while gone. "I think we need me there when we find him. If he can see me, and know I'm okay, I think he'll be alright." She hoped he'd be alright.
Clint Barton	Clint snorts when May sets the candies aside but dutfiully puts on his headphones to block out the chat. Even if he can pick up the odd word or two by lip reading it doesn't paint anything like a clear picture. He lets them talk.
Melinda May	May ohs. Yeah, she wasn't thinking in that direction at all. "I see. Well, go ahead and arrange a chance for me to meet up with them. If you wait for me to have free time, it likely won't happen until Hill is back and I'm not doing her job anymore." On top of her own goes unsaid,but it's definitely implied. She looks about to say something more when the jet's control panel chirps once. May turns back to look at it. "We're thirty minutes out. If you want to record this also, now's your chance."
Skye Johnson	"I'll let Oracle know." Actually, Skye would let the other know as well. She'd hoped to be part of the meeting, but given current circumstances, that might not happen in an expedient fashion. "You got it, boss." Clint is nudged. "Wanna help record this?"
Clint Barton	Clint looks up when nudged, yanking out an earbud, Blink 182's 'I Won't Be Home for Christmas' spilling out into the cockpit area. "Huh? Oh, record, sure," he turns off the music on his phone and unbuckles himself before standing. "Want me to record on my phone, and where do I stand?"
Melinda May	May lets the autopilot continue to control the 'jet for a little longer while the couple get set up to record, settling into the pilot's seat and only reaching to put her headset back on. For everything else, she waits for them to be ready. The Birds of Prey. Yes, SHIELD has some intel on the group, but not nearly as much as would make Fury comfortable with them. They've proven to be on the right side, at the very least. And that more than anything else is enough for May to give them a chance to talk to her more directly. She really should have reached out to them weeks ago. Hill is SO going to owe her when she gets back.
Skye Johnson	"No, silly," Skye says, handing Clint her tablet. "It's got better software," she explains. Showing him the controls again. And yes, May's introduction to the Birds was long, long overdue.
Clint Barton	Clint rolls his eyes. "Of course it does, and likely more mega pixels or whatever in there too," he says mashing up the tech terms just to needle Skye. For all his joking he effortlessly gets the camera set up and moves into position. "Just let me know when you're ready for your closeups, ladies."
Melinda May	May flatly refuses to answer Clint's quip about closeups, and instead just proceeds with turning off the autopilot and maneuvering them to their intended destination. Just as she did before, she names each of the controlsas she uses them, has the air traffic communications on speaker for the others and the recording tablet to hear, and so on. There's a clear pattern to the way she does everything, each step methodical and precise. Of course, that's the whole point of this. She does not ever plan to have Skye learn seat-of-your-pants flying. Not until it's absolutely necessary. And she hopes it's never necessary.
Skye Johnson	And as before, Skye pays close attention, noting each step and mentally repeating it and tacking it away for future reference. All things considered, she was actually glad of the distraction and something to focus on. The closer they got to their destination, the more nervous she was getting about what lay ahead. It was one thing to know she needed to figure out what it was she could do and get some sort of grip on it, and another thing altogether to be staring that very training down in the face. In many ways her SHIELD training - even the physcial stuff - had been much easier than this. And she hadn't even started training this yet. Skye's not thinking about fly by the seat of your pants flying now. She's going through the steps she was already shown and seeing if she can come up with the correct next step as May goes through prep for landing. All things considered, she doesn't fare badly in that regard. Even if nobody but her knows it.
Clint Barton	Clint keeps a steady hand on the tablet as May manages the quinjet's descent. Certified on the controls, he knows where to shoot and when moving smoothly from one action to the next capturing it all on film for later. "It's looking good here, Keyboard," he says to Skye. "You'll be doing the real thing in no time."
Melinda May	The thirty minutes go by seemingly in a flash, and then the quinjet is settling into a picture perfect landing. And then May goes through the shutdown process, the 'jet's engines whining down to rest. "And that's it. Any questions?"