1436/Too Many Secrets

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Too Many Secrets
Date of Scene: 29 April 2020
Location: SHIELD: New Jersey Depot
Synopsis: Mockingbird and Quake break in to SHIELD New Jersey to hunt down a conspiracy
Cast of Characters: Bobbi Morse, Daisy Johnson




Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi swipes her card and nods to the security guard. The gate opens and she enters the underground parking garage. She finds a parking spots and pauses, taking in a deep breath and letting it out again. "Okay. We're about to reach that.. no turning back moment," she says looking over to Quake. "We're about to hack SHIELD." She glances at her hands on the steering wheel still, a slight shake to them. She has been here before and the memories and anxiety of it are returning. "If you want to turn around, this is our last chance. We make sure we have everything we need, we get out of this car.. and we do the mission."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy is no stranger to getting into tight spots and then freeing herself from them. Heck, it was how she was first found out by SHIELD, hacking into them..., twice no less!..., with a lot less hardware than she currently possesses nowadays. And she has learned a thing or two about infiltration as well.

So she readied herself with a rather non-descript clothing, a cap on her head for those pesky cameras (which she most likely would need to run an erasure procedure on the tapes). "Been there, done that..." she says at Bobbi with a waggle of her eyebrows when she mentions hacking SHIELD. Not that she doesn't look nervous. She always gets a little bit nervous, but that's good to keep it sharp.

"I am not the type to turn tail and run. Nor are you."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi pats herself down. She has what she needs in the right pockets. She's dressed to impress - her business suit look, not her infiltration mission look, nor her Mockingbird look. The right tool for the job is manipulation today. She looks down at the clock on the dashboard of the clock, 10:11am... it ticks over 10:12am.. she looks back to Quake and says, "Alright Shadow, we're a go." She opens the door and steps out of the car. She walks with purpose and poise - we're meant to be here, this is completely normal. Her ID swipes the elevator and she waits for it to ascend from the underground facility. Her hands are wet and she wipes them down her pants legs.

The SHIELD New Jersey Depot: A place where junk is sent to be sorted, recycled, classified, declassified. It's a filter. It's storage and sometimes the wrong things end up here. Somehow an LMD ended up here and then it was rerouted in trucks that were later ambushed by four low rent villains in crazy costumes. There was no record of the trucks and all its cargo was still meant to be here in New Jersey. Now Daisy and Bobbi are here to find out why, only they're not meant to be on the case. The building has two dozen floors, only two above ground where cargo is buffered for input or output. The remaining floors are used for ever increases levels of security. Their target: the physical security room at the bottom floor. The mole had successfully deleted the digital copies off of SHIELD mainframes, but to break in to the physical security and cover their tracks completely would be beyond them. But not beyond Quake and Mockingbird.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"And you didn't even leet it. Good." Daisy replies when Bobbi calls her by her 'new' callsign. The elusive Shadow! She has a large enough jacket to have a small laptop under, some other tools of the trade just in case they need to go hard on the hacking. And of course, those gloves, tucked under the sleeves so they aren't visible without some intense scrutiny.. On the last minute though she discards the cap... Too suspicious. We are talking about SHIELD... And Bobbi is going all dressed-up. She doesn't want to look too contrasting to her.

So she finishes running her hands through her hair, loosening it and pretty much brushing her hands over her jeans to clean up the sweat accumulating there.

While they are getting into the elevator she whispers. "We will need to go down to the bottom floor. Incidentally, it's also where I expect security to be tighter. But we got this." she says. "If not.., see you in brig.." which she most likely is used to!

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The elevator dings as it arrives, "We stick to the plan, we've got this," she says repeating part of what Daisy said. The doors open and they step inside. Inside, two other agents are in there - both wearing SHIELD caps. "Bobbi," says Agent Hellesy. She turns on the charm instantly, offering her now dry hand to him, "Hellesy, it's been ages, since the Detroit thing right?" Feeling chuffed that he was remembered by Bobbi he gushes and starts to explain the 'Detroit thing' to his fellow Agent. They get off at the -5th floor, but Daisy and Bobbi continue down.

The physical security storage is on level -24. At level -20 the elevator stops and Bobbi steps up to the extra security for an iris scan. "Identity confirmed: Agent Bobbi Morse," says the computer voice. She presses the button for level -24 again and the elevator continues on its way. "This is just like any other mission, just forget these are our friends for the moment," she says.. perhaps more to herself than to Quake.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy has picked up on a small tablet, tapping on it quietly while they go down. Looking busy? But also trying to tap into comms down here, nothing that will call on the attention of security, just keeping tabs out on what is going on, and if anyone gets alerted to their arrival. So far so good. But she does glance up when Bobbi starts talking with the two agents. And of course she knows Hellesy... Which brings a murmur out of Daisy. "Knows both bad guys and the good guys too..." perhaps just loud enough that Bobbi can hear to what she said. Amusement is there though.

"You are such a superstar." She says with a smirk, and then they are down to the -24. At the identity confirmed she returns to tapping on her tablet, casually inserting herself on the mainframe to delete traces of their passage here. A lot easier when they are connected to the actual site.

"The problem is when they are more than friends, but instead family." though all in the name of justice. They would understand.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi isn't quite sure how to respond to Quake's amusement at her ability to manipulate people. "Just part of the job," she says and smiles a touch, "that I'm good at." The online security they knew wouldn't be a problem. They could have handled that from the lobby if needs be. "Yeah, well, let's hope plan A works and we don't make it to plan B."

The doors to the elevator open and they enter the bottom floor of the facility. There's a lush blue and silver carpet with the SHIELD logo on it. Ahead of that, scanners and security standing at attention with wands. There's a swipe for identification cards, cameras watching too. They prepared for this, their pockets are lined to stop the scanners from picking up their extra gear.

She approaches the security guard and smiles to him placing her hands on his shoulders. She checked the roster before they came down here. "Finnigan right? christmas party last year? you were telling me about the swimming pre-season of your sons yeah?," she says pouring on the charm. She didn't actually know Finnigan but a quick search through SHIELD files gave her enough to fake it. The secret is not to fake it. She's quick about it, carefully swiping his security card. She palms it to Daisy as she steps through the scanner. On the other side the next security guard holds out a hand for her to stop. The machine blinks green and he steps out of the way saluting her, "Agent Morse it's a pleasure, please sign in at the window." Bobbi's Shadow is next, Quake.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
More than good at. But no point in brushing up Bobbi's ego more than it is already! Just before they land she slides the tablet back into an inner-pocket, ready to follow Bobbi's lead. And while a couple of years back she might not exactly be the best at this kind of thing she has now trained with the best, one of those people being Bobbi, so she looks as if she truly belongs, an easy smile to her lips.

And while she knows she does not have the security clearance to be down here.. (Only Agent level 4!!!), there is also a plan. Finnigan was part of that plan.

She had a card reader ready, one made with careful patience by Quake with the help of SHIELD tech. And she only needed a few moments. Read the card, the inprints, most security cards follow the same protocols so to devise a new one for her with the right clearance is easy. And while Morse is going on and putting on the charm it's easy enough for her to stick the card back on Finnigan's jacket. Maybe not on the same spot it was originally, but good enough.

So she steps in, swipes her own card. Agent Terrence. Normally an off-seas Agent, same clearance as Bobbi, but not someone who is here often so ..., an unknown face mostly.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi steps over to the window. On the other side is another guard. He hands her the sign in sheet through the slot. She writes down her name and slides it back in, then takes out her pistol and slides it under the window too. "Thank you Agent Morse," replies the security guard looking at the sign in sheet. Meanwhile, Quake gets a security upgrade, at least to get through the checkpoint - Agent Level 7, it's a HUGE promotion! As they walk past the six guards sitting at tables, three attentive to monitors, the other three chatting, they get a good idea of just how hard it will be to get out of here if they get caught.

//Three hours earlier//
Standing in front of a hologram of the -24th floor of the New Jersey depot. "So here's the problem. The archives are tape backup in a secure room controlled by a robot. One person goes in to the secure area to access the terminal, while two techs sit in this office here controlling the robot. The terminal for reading the files is level 8, you're going to have to hack it manually. I'll handle the two techs in the room.. make me a usb to plug in that'll give you remote access to their computers so you can control the robot. I'll keep them busy so they don't notice what's on their computer screens. How does that sound?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
It's like ..., skipping an whole bunch of levels..!!! But good thing there's no Coulson around to tell her she should become the new Director. That would be the hugest of promotions! Daisy steps in, also producing her own weapon to deliver to the guard. "Thank you, Agent Terrence." it's like they are there to say this all day, every day... It sucks being a guard actually. The name checks, so does the picture. And the card checked out. She had done her homework. At least for now. Though she did hope they wouldn't have to get out of here fighting..., it wouldn't be a good thing.

//Three hours earlier//Daisy is looking over the hologram, thoughtful, going over each angle. "Mechanical controls. Means no hacking from the outside.." she says with a nod at Bobbi. And then she got on working on a USB that would give her access. That would work just fine. And it wasn't too hard to program. At least if it went by normal ShIELD protocol security. Those she had ample access to. Heck, she had even helped design some of the new security steps in it.

And then it's mostly a question of figuring out what tapes exactly they will need. Date stamps, files. Yes. She got this.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The agent behind the glass takes back the sign in sheet and picks up the phone. He makes the call. They planned for this. "This is 24th calling to confirm visitation from Agents Morse and Terrance." The call is rerouted through to the program they set up earlier. The prerecorded voice responds, "Schedule confirmed." The guard hangs up the phone, puts two little ticks next to their names and relaxes - a job well done.

At the end of the hall way, the entrance to the terminal room. A door to the left enters the robot control room, a door to the right, heavily armoured, controls access to the tape backup room where the robot itself is.

Bobbi turns left and waves, "Hey guys! How are you doing?" There's a big heavy glass window which overlooks the terminal room like a control room. There's the computer terminal with security cameras to monitor the inside of the terminal room but not look at the screen (for security clearance reasons) and the computer which controls the robot tape retrieval system.

"Oh my," says the first tech, a young man in a lab coat. The second is nudged and turns to look to Bobbi, "Agent Mockingbird." Bobbi laughs, "I see my reputation proceeds me. Who wants to see the kick?"
The distraction is in motion. The two techs stand up to greet her and shake hands. They really want to see the kick. She takes the apple out of her pocket she packed and asks, "Okay, who is going to be my helper?" They both put up their hands. She chooses tech 1 and gives him the apple. "Balance this on your head." He does so and she moves around the room shuffling tech 2 out of the way of seeing what's going on on the monitors. She artfully slips the usb thumb drive out of her pocket and plugs it in to the robot controlling computer. "Ready?," she says and does a spinning flying kick, knocking the apple off the tech's head. "Hoooly shit!," they both exclaim and pick up the apple, "Do it again?." She was counting on that.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy decides not to get in sight. Choosing just that spot where she isn't seen by the cameras, that edge between hallways they detected earlier which could be used for it. There are a few, counted to the milimeter, where they can stand without being seen. And so she does just that. Pausing, reaching over for her laptop. She is hearing through the comms. "The kick routine? Seriously..?" have they done this in the past? Most likely.

The second tech looks overly excited. "Now kick my head..! I mean the apple off my head!" yes, he knows the reputation. For techies that spend their lives down here underground to be able to talk and be in the presence of those agents that go out in the field is a blessing. Those heroes that do what must be done.

But Daisy seems to be having problems of her own. "Crap." she whispers into the comms. "They must have installed this security measure recently. There's a signal blocker on the computer. I can't see the screen, but I can send commands to it.." she states.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Mockingbird lifts an eyebrow, in response to the chatter from Daisy in her ear. She laughs, "Okay okay, one more time." The second tech puts the apple on his head and she does a reverse spinning kick.. right in to his face. It's time for plan B. "Ooh! SHIT Oh my god!" She kneels down to the dropped tech and unclips the keys to the robot room from his belt. Tech 1 kneels down too, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry!," Bobbi exclaims artfully and helps tech 1 carry tech 2 out of the room. He locks the door behind him. Bobbi helps get the downed tech out to the security, then slips back down the hallway amongst the commotion of his bloodied nose and cries of pain. She unlocks the robot room door and slips inside.

From her jacket pocket she rips the hidden seams and takes out a piece of paper explaining the manual robot controls. The heavy glass window looks in to the robot room too. They don't have much time, but she gives her Shadow the thumbs up. "I'm ready." She pauses and turns the instructions up the right way, "Give me the numbers." Behind her the robotic arm is wizzing about super fast storing and retrieving tapes.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Sometimes people get just what they wished for. And that second tech is one of those people. Kick to the face! Instant knockout. Down for the count. It brings out a grimace from Daisy, because she felt it all the way over here too. Poor guy. Hopefully he has a good dental plan.

Daisy shifts position just so she isn't seen when the techs come out to get the man some well-needed help on the infirmary. And it's a good enough distraction. And sure enough they had planned for this contigency. She taptaps on her laptop to bring up the 'coordinates', or in this case the sequence that needs to be followed. "Ok, go to row 18..." a beat. "Column 2." then she frowns.

"Now check on the dates, we need the ones matching the time stamps.., which are.." and she goes on describing the ones they need.

An occasional glance over her shoulder to check if any guards come their way.. So far so good. They are all busy getting the poor techie to be looked up.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi has never used this weird keypad control system before. Thankfully Daisy wrote down easy to follow instructions. She starts to type in the numbers and codes and presses the Enter key. The robot arm instantly changes direction and fetches several tapes, queueing them up in to the reader.

The terminal springs to life:

5 Tapes Queued. Enter Pass Phrase to Unlock

It's up to Daisy's hacking skills now.

Bobbi slips back out of the robot room and rushes back to join in with the guards consoling the poor tech who got kicked in the face by her. She is engaged in a conversation with seven people at once about the kick and.. remarkably, suddenly the kick is being demonstrated again this time with the guards. This wasn't exactly part of the plan but hey if it works it works. And hopefully they won't need to go to Plan C - which they nicknamed Plan Calamity.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
No, no need to go Plan Calamity. Which involves staves, heads bashed, a minor earthquake or two... Noone wants Plan Calamity. So Plan B suits just fine! Hopefully...

And now it's up to Daisy indeed. She cracks her knuckles and begins typing. Pffttt, did they really use this two-bit encryption to-- Oh wait! It disguises a security worm ready to fry my computer..., nothing is ever too easy..., maybe she should commend the techie that got this security up.

But eventually she breaches through. 'Eureka!' she whispers onto the comms. And then it's a matter of downloading the contents on the tapes to her hard drive. Shouldn't take too long but she speaks up to Bobbi. "You may have to do the backflip kick.." she warns. But she is just about getting ready to finish when Bobbi is showing off her moves to the seven people. A click, she closes her laptop.

"It's done."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi discretely drops the keys to the robot room near where the tech is laying and getting first aid to his bleeding nose. She is demonstrating the proper rotation of the hips to do these kicks when Daisy rejoins her. She shakes hands, gives pleasantries and the pair begins to exfiltrate themselves. Signing out.. gun returned. Shit, the USB thumb drive.. she left it in the tech room. Too late now. She walks through the x-ray scanner and presses the button for the elevator. Her heart is racing, she kicked a tech.. well, he kinda asked for it. May be it'll be a great story for him to tell his friends later.

In the elevator with Daisy, the look at the footage. There's a 3D recording of the room that coordinates shipping. Tech Hong is sitting at the console. She gets a phone call and picks it up. There's a transcript in the logs 'Another special class shipment. You know what to do. Authorised' - the ID of the caller comes up as Captain McMannis. Captain McMannis's profile states that he is part of the Sustainable Options group. As they dig deeper they find that the Sustainable Options group has very little on the books information but has operations called 'KT-Vacuum-2' and 'VFG-Reformation-3'.. "Oh.. they do joint government operations. That's how they usually label them. Hmm." As they dig further they manage to find one name attached to the Sustainable Options group: Dr. David Jenkins, a specialist in cybernetics and robotics, transferred from the Life Model Division in SHIELD R&D to a project with the ID code LW-X-Dark. There is nothing in the SHIELD database about this project, other than this one reference.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
There is no stopping to an hacker's work.. Just pauses between work.. And that pause is while Daisy does all the pleasantries with the techs, than the guards. And there's also space for an endearing look to the tech that was kicked. "Poor guy.." then her gun is given back. Back in the elevator the laptop comes back out and she is typing in a frenzy. Quick, quick, quick. Time to delete traces of their passage and just one last send to the USB pen to self-erase. It's SHIELD issue, so it may just be mixed as if it was from one of the techies and they forgot it there ..., hopefully!

And then she is finally able to calm down and they can look at the footage. A frown is on her expression. "Sustainable Options group? Know what these are..?"

Then a nod when Bobbi goes about explaining. "Dr. Jenkins, is it?" she starts on a search for this Doctor, looking for what works he is known for.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
"These guys sound very dodgy and even if they are a black ops team, they don't get to schedule trucks without destinations or inventories. Then there's the question of who tipped off the four criminals who attacked the convoy.. or why a LMD scientist working for this group and they just happen to ship an LMD in those trucks.. it's all super fishy to me." She frowns. The elevator opens in to the carpark. "No alarms..," she says and walks with purpose back to the car. Once in with you she drives them to the gate, flashes her ID card again. The gate opens and they are driving out. "I think we got away with it... and they don't know we're on to them. This doctor sounds dodgy.. but this Captain McMannis, he must be the one deleting records and adjusting security clearances on operations related to his group. May be I should have a word with him and you can track down this doctor?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Right." Daisy nods her agreement to Bobbi, "Those four guys didn't just appear out of nowhere. Maybe we should trace their communications to who reached for them, or maybe interrogate them." But that seems like a story for another time. And indeed no alarms go out. Just fine with her. They get back in the car and she tosses both laptop and tablet over to the backseat, letting out a deep breath. "Uffff, we are outta there."

"And sounds good, let's see what we can come up with." But then she can't help and deliver a little quip. "So, did you bring a spare apple for me..?" a grin up on her expression.