12849/Training goes ever on and on.

Training goes ever on and on.
Date of Scene:	21 September 2022
Location:	Gun Range: Triskelion
Synopsis:	One of the recruits blows Alexander's training run in a big way, lowering their overall scores. Agent Drew witnessed the debacle in her role as observer.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Jessica Drew

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The squaddies of Tactical Response Team 7 were in their combat gear outside the wooden door, lined up like good hunched over ducklings as their weapons were held at the ready. The lights were down, the urban assault range was barely illuminated, but the AR goggles the team wore showed that tableau with that eerie green haze of night vision. Occasionally there were flashes distantly from the ceiling that served no other purpose save to foul those optics for a few seconds. At other moments there was the sharp report of weapons fire nearby that sent bullets whipping through the air above the cadets.
    All told it was a remarkable simulation, especially when one included the added elements those goggles provided. To a casual observer it'd seem like five people playing a form of make believe. But to those squaddies? It was all too real.
    "On my mark," Mumford's voice came across the comms as he held out a hand with three fingers extended. He waited for the latest flash of light that fouled their vision, gave it a few moments for it to clear, then he ticked those fingers down. 3-2-1 and a fist to signal then /BOOM!/
    The door was busted open and the team quickly spread out to secure the doorways, checking corners and making sure there were no combat elements in the side rooms. Then smoothly they advanced down the hall to the next engagement area. Gunfire was heard which earned that next door a flashbang, once the grenade went off he fired several round through the door and then kicked it open which led to a rapid engagement as two targets were shot.
    "Tango down." O'Hara's voice hit the comms.
    "Tango down." As Aaron advised.
    The team moved smoothly through that room. It was going well, faster, more like a team as they methodically cleared room after room. But on their last as they surged through it there was a short /snap-snap/ of two rounds being fired without the announcement of target down.
    Which was when the lights came on, flaring bright and brilliant.
    "Exercise over, kids!" Martin's voice was heard in the real world as those modular walls of the urban assault range /shwoompf/ and slide back into the ground, leaving the room bare save for those five recruits. Helmets and goggles came off quickly as each of the trainees were looking at each other, confusion in their eyes about what had happened.
    "I didn't do anything, what happened?" Mumford looked around at his team.
    "I dunno, man." Recruit Aaron shook his head.
    O'Hara, however, scowled as she looked over at Dickerson.
    Because Dickerson frowned and perhaps realized what happened.
    "Your buddy here decided to do a kill check on that last tango. Popped two rounds into him while he was on the ground." Martin said as he walked out onto that grid, smug and amused as he said it.
    "What, seriously?" Tucker's eyes flashed.
    "Hey man, SOP where I come from."
    "We're sorta cops now, man!"
    "Yeah, Dickerson. Cops don't execute people. Jeezus!" O'Hara grimaced as she pushed a hand through her red hair and then threw her helmet onto the ground a little roughly.
    "That's a big fat zero for this exercise team, for all of you. May I recommend?" Martin's voice was actually warm and amused, as if this misfortune just tickled him. "That you get together as a team and work your failings out? Preferably not by tying Dickerson to a matress and beating him with soap. Alright? Alright."
    That said the instructor turns and shouts over his shoulder, "Class dismissed for the day, chuckleheads!"

Jessica Drew has posed:
A lone observer watches in the observation booth. Martin's second pair of eyes. Super eyes in Jess's case, super acute hearing and a sense for when a mission will go sideways and get people killed.

In Martin's case, she is unnecessary, redundant security because he sees all, hears all and anticipates all. Or so he wants the trainees to believe.

All the senior agents collude with his image of being omniscient, many of them having trained with him. And many believing he had eyes in the back of his head.

He is a trainer that crosses all his t's and dots his i's. His rep for being tough disguises his fervent desire for each recruit to be the best, stay alive and exemplify SHIELD's mission.

Jess concentrates like her life depends on it, watching the room from multi-cameras, commenting sparingly to Martin on coms. Letting him keep his attention on the unfolding action.

The first room was textbook - the recruits spreading out and not dallying in a doorway where light might give their position away.

"Grouping is good," she comments as they go down the hallway.

Each successive room is handled superlatively. Until, the final two shots. Jess groans aloud, "Oooooh, did you see that?" Again, unnecessary as Martin was on it in a flash.

The agent opens the door of the observation booth in time to hear Martin's comments. She adds nothing to them, only shaking her head.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Screw this, I don't need this. Lot of places pay better." Dickerson's response is sharp as he turns and starts to stomp toward the door that leads out of the gun range, though tempers his departure when he spots Agent Drew by murmuring a quick embarrassed, "Ma'am..." Then he hurries on.
    "Yeah good idea!" O'Hara shouts after him and seems in part ready to stomp after."
    But it's Agent Aaron that shakes his head as he sits down on his helmet, resting his arms on his knees as he looks across the way, "Stop. He's mostly pissed at himself. He'll come around."
    Which has O'Hara turning back and snapping toward Alex, "Yeah? Maybe he shouldn't? Ya know. Fucking psycho."
    But Mumford was drinking from his canteen and shaking his head. "He'll be alright. Just man, our scores are gonna..." Shaking his head he starts to walk to the door after Dickerson, "This is affecting our careers, right? Not good."
    Which was the silent signal for the team to start to break up and go their own ways for the day. Though that left Alexander sitting there on the helmet looking a bit... thoughtful. His eyes lift toward the ceiling, eyes distancing as he considers something akin to introspection.
    Until eventually the others head on out, leaving Alexander sitting there, then giving a small shrug to Agent Drew.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Arms crossed, Jess looms silently, her eyes following Dickerson out the door before fixing the group with a dispassionate regard, watching their responses to a problematic team member. Martin will likely ask her how they sorted themselves out later.

She nods minutely at Aaron's words but stays silent. The watcher. Let the trainees know they are being observed, their responses noted. Were she on the team, she'd be pissed, too and worried about Dickerson's attitude. Cavalier? Sociopathic? Or was the shooting born out of hard situations requiring hard answers.

Only Aaron seems to stop long enough to digest what happened.

A shoulder lifts in response to Alex's shrug and a wry twist of her lips.

"What is Dickerson's background?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Pale hazel eyes slip back toward Jess and Alexander gives a slow nod as he murmurs, "Military, US Army intel. Went through officer training. Did a few tours."
    As he finishes rattling off what he knows he looks toward the door as if the man might reemerge, then he looks back toward Jess and lifts a hand. "He's right that it was SOP. But O'Hara's right that... we aren't doing that at SHIELD." A tilt of his head is given. "Still. He's got the highest scores of all of us otherwise. But yah, that's a hard thing."
    The young Olympian doesn't seem upset, more at ease though he does seem unflappable in the worst of times. He does quirk his eyebrows as he murmurs, "I can understand why they're mad though. This means no matter how good some of them do, they're never gonna hit that 96th percentile now."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"I'd be fricking pissed, myself," Jess unfolds her arms and sighs. "I haven't read this group's backgrounds, better sometimes not to know when you observe." Turning to look back at the door like she hears something in the hallway, she stops speaking, head cocked to one side, listening.

Her green eyes return to the Olympian, "Yes. I never served but one hears and learns how the other services handle themselves." With an emphatic nod, "And, you're right. It is -not- SHIELD and he should know that, high marks or not."

She looks down, recrossing her arms as she considers saying more. Then, counting on his phlegmatic attitude and ability to keep things to himself," I don't think this will wash him out but it will put him under observation. He'll be debriefed and talked through the situation."

An amused smile lifts a corner of her mouth, "Speaking of high marks: What are you going to do about yours?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yah," Alexander says at first, and perhaps lets that single word hang there for a time as he mulls over his thoughts. After a little bit he says, "He's good, just as the chief says so often, he's a bit of a chucklehead."
    A deep breath is taken, "Though some guys are also like that. Rough in training but strong in the field. Still if something like that happens in the field..." He shakes his head, "Then again this might serve to scare him. So maybe it's what he needs?"
    Then he finally gets around to answering that last question. "I'm doin' it, just takes time. Can't just suddenly be all..." He uncurls a hand and presents it to her as if saying she should take it from him. "Wha-bam. Suddenly awesome. Right?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Yah," she snorts a laugh. "Don't want to go all awesome on us in a day. People would suspect you had been holding back all a long or something." Balancing an elbow on her crossed arm, she squeezes her bottom lip between thumb and index finger a moment, pinching back another laugh, "Talk about pissed teammates."

"Well, Silver has a good head on her. So do I, for that matter. What you do in training will stay on your record. I haven't said a word, in case you're wondering. I figure you'll handle it the way you see best and listen to good advice." The smile widens now.

"And frankly, I don't know if Dickerson is apt for SHIELD'S way of doing things."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Mmm," Alexander says in that way he has of buying time as he gathers his words. Or when he doesn't entirely agree. "I guess it would depend, for me if I was making the decisions, on how much of a pool of recruits you have to draw from."
    He straightens up a little then /puuuushes/ himself to his feet, snapping up his helmet with one hand. "Like I know for some people that it's more important to them to fill the ranks, make sure they take even flawed candidates. Some people feel that if a person is obviously flawed they have no place in the ranks. What's better numbers or veterancy?"
    He makes a face, "The arrogant part of me is like, drum him out, we need perfection. But then if we look for perfection will we have enough people? Meh."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"The ones who make decisions don't look for perfection," she replies with quiet conviction. "The day they do, is the day we have a serious flaw in our recruiting process. Even the Gods are not perfect," she adds, remaining ambiguous with the reference, watching for his response.

"He'll be counseled. It's the impulse, his split-second decision about the value of life that will worry, Martin. Numbers don't count. Having agents that make a positive difference in the world does."

She frowns and looks away, "It's always a hard call. You know that. Do you shoot the cute kid that might be a suicide bomber or the woman who might have explosives strapped to her under the hijab? ICERS help. Get them down then sort them out." She looks up, head tilted to one side, curious to hear his response.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Well... we're perfectish." Alexander's smile is a little wry as he offers that, likely not one to say such things when others are around considering his attempt to lay low. But it's when he's amongst friends that that hint of feigned arrogance comes through.
    Though he ndos at the idea that the man'll get counseling. "Might be needed, but more... I'm just glad these aren't decisions I have to make." He chews on the inside of his cheek as he looks past Jessica before he tucks his helmet under his arm and starts to walk toward the door. But in that slooow manner people have when they're walking and talking somewhere, with no real urge to get there anytime soon.
    "ICERs seem goodish. Especially for normal law enforcement type missions. But going into combat with one as a primary weapon? I'd still lean toward conventional arms." Which might not be entirely true, as he's more thinking about himself as... this recruit Alexander Aaron. Not so much as Phobos since that would likely be something else entirely different.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Alex gets the laugh he was seeking, a chuckle low in the woman's throat, and an ironic twist to her mouth as she waggles her hand. "Good you know that you are only approaching perfection."

Jess considers him a moment, eyebrows edging toward a frown, "You will have to make decisions like that. We all do at some time or another." She joins him walking toward the door in no hurry either.

"They don't have range but are good for close work, most of the time. A lot of teams are mixed now, bringing extra talents to combat. Yours will be interesting to deploy."

The agent glances up at the cameras trained on the area and says no more beyond, "You will have to guide your handlers."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Eventually," Alexander offers in reply to the fact he'll have to do it some day. "Perhaps." He adds as he walks with one hand in his pocket, the other holding the helmet. Over his shoulder is the H&K he'd been using during the exercises.
    "For now though I have the luxury to look on at whatever decision they make and shake my head with a tsk-tsk as if I somehow knew different or would do it differently." That smile remains as he walks along, though shaking his head a little as his gaze drifts.
    "Range is often king though, by the bye." Alexander says sidelong, "I just hate it when someone shoots at me and I can't shoot back." Which is a perfectly reasonable thing to say as he strolls. Then they reach the door and he pulls it open, holding it for her to precede him.
    "So is this an official thing you watching my squad or are you doing this just for a chance to lord over me with your hoity toity offical agent status?" His smirk is crooked as he says that, and technically she'd be in her rights to check that impertinence. Though for now it's just them after all.

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Oh, the pleasures of not having the responsibility," she exclaims through a laugh, looking upward toward the heavens.

"Nothing like a sniper to make your day, I say. Reason they have people like ourselves. They send me around the back to get 'em."

She looks at him from under her eyebrows, "Wonder what they will do with you?"

She takes the slight insubordination in stride with a mild look at him. "I'm not doing it because I think you're cute. It's something that all recruits get. Some agents hate it, think of it as punishment. It doesn't hurt to have another pair of eyes on recruits even with someone who doesn't miss a thing like Martin."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    The young man's head bobs a bit as he accepts her answers then steps out intot he hall amongst the hustle and bustle of other agents moving along their way. Not too hugely crowded but definitely more than a few. He looks sidelong, "I don't know, I spoke to Agent Johnson and will see how that goes. Beyond that?"
    A hand lifts to gesture to the side as if to display how ephemeral life is with just that twist of fingers, unable to be quantified. He then starts to walk down the hall and says, "I figure I should go wrangle up the rest of the squad and see if I can get a dialogue going. I'll try and sit Dickerson down first and see how he's handling it, if I can salvage any sort of introspection from the guy."
    A shrug is given, "In any case, by your leave?" He asks that with a crooked smile as if she were indeed a royal who controlled his comings and goings.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess acknowledges the gesture with the faintest twist of her lips, nearly a smile. "Good, don't keep this to yourself. It's the next step."

"You have my leave. Go forth," she gestures him down the hall with a wave of her fingers. "Have a good day."