14643/Heavy Metal Dinner, Part 2

Heavy Metal Dinner, Part 2
Date of Scene:	09 April 2023
Location:	Food Court: Triskelion
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Michael Erickson, Jessica Drew

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Michael Erickson has posed:
    Soon after his visitation by Agent Tan, Michael has settled back into his lunch - which has turned into paperwork. One of a small pile of burgers in one hand and a stylus in the other, he scratches away at the screen of a tablet in the glyphic text of his people, making his own notes for later translation, listening to something loud and screeching with guitars via an ancient first-generation Walkman fixed to his ears. Yellow foam earpads and all. It being pretty quiet on a weekend, the tinny sound reaches many corners of the common area, if not the food court booths themselves.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Night duty brings Jessica down for a salad and some coffee. As she pushes her tray down the rails toward the salad bar, she idly looks over the room to see who else has lucked out for weekend night duty. The agent wears a tweed jacket over a cashmere mock turtle neck and wide-legged pants, high heels are out of the question for night duty, and good brogans fill in for them. Finally, her eyes light on Michael, which takes her by surprise until she remembers that he would get the less preferred slots in shift rotations as a new agent.

The salad array is not at its best this evening; she finds some decent raw spinach to load up with boiled eggs and other assorted delights. Next stop, coffee before she heads into the wide-open cafeteria. Her tray swings like the widget on a Ouija board until she decides to pop his solitary music and paperwork bubble. A few more steps and she pulls out the seat across from him.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Of anyone in the building, of course, Jessica need not ask to join him. He snaps off the Walkman and shrugs the headphones off to hang around his neck, giving her a smile as he finishes chewing and swallowing a morsel. "Hello," he offers, English again clean of accent. "You're here late tonight. Draw the short straw?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jessica snorts at the question, her light British accent more apparent in certain words, "I drew the supervisor's straw. It was expected. A lot of people have families so they put the unmarried, unchildrened agents on for the holidays if nothing hot is going on."

She returns a fainter rendition of his smile, saying, "I'm glad to see you on regular rotation, Agent Erickson. It's been a long time coming. Things are heating up and you'll be a real positive."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "No less so than I was, /Senior Agent/." He smirks very slightly at her encouragement, but it's entirely good-natured. Putting the burger aside, he lifts the tablet slightly in indication. "Data collation and analysis. I've been putting together a package for a sortie into what I believe is a front for a HYDRA laboratory. Traced down electromagnetic emissions fitting my people's plasma-containment technology, the sort that would be required for fuel pods. Want to bet they're keeping ship parts from me?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
Spinach hangs off the tines of her fork suspended between the plate and her mouth. She puts down the fork and leans toward him, "Well, congratulations. -That- is excellent news."

Taking the forgotten bite, she chews, and nods at him, "I see you have been doing due diligence. That's going to be an interesting mission. I want in." Without any other questions, a demonstration of her enthusiasm for the long awaited project.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Another chuckle of amusement. "Like I'd go without you." More teasing scold. "There're a lot of things I've been sniffing around about. I look forward to being an enormous thorn in the side of SHIELD's enemies now that I'm, as they say, official."

    That said, he props his chin up with a fist, looking over the other woman with thoughtful eyes. "I hadn't forgotten about what I talked about, you know. With Jane."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Shaking her head, she takes another bite of salad, then chases it with some water. "Of course, you haven't," she chides. She lifts a shoulder a fraction, then returns to the previous mission. They know one another well enough to anticipate that they will come back to the subject of Jane.

"First, tell me where you traced the signal to?"

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "Eastern Europe," Michael says, putting the tablet onto the table. "Likely surprising nobody. Same black market channels I used to track down Tannhauser shipments gave up some curious information concerning a lot of reactor shielding being moved through the region. Exotic stuff, mind, not Soviet-era or even what passes for modern civilian- or military-grade. Tracked it down to an area in western Romania, near the Symkarian border."

    He reaches for a water bottle. "I'd thought for a moment the Latverians might have been up to no good, but this stuff normally goes right to them. Instead it got smuggled through Serbia by the Krisnova Syndicate, and they're a well-documented supplier of hardware for HYDRA."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Without a word, Jess rises and deposits her half-finished salad on a nearby table. She returns with a smile, quickly reseats herself and pulls the tablet to her in one graceful motion. Eyes on the screen, she remarks with a half smile, "Eastern Europe, cheeky bastards."

Looking up, "Now, that must have taken a lot of eyes and time to track down," adding under her breath, "Bra-vo."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    He ducks his head, just a bit, at the praise. "It's what I do," Michael says with a shrug. "What I've been doing for a long time. I'm keeping my sources to myself, though - honestly, I'm not sure how well SHIELD would treat them at the moment. Absolutely filthy criminals, you know."

    With a wink, then, he turns off the tablet and goes to destroy another quarter burger. "Mmmfh. Hromf." Such delicacy. But then he's swallowed the bite. "I met who I presume is a senior member of ARMOR, just a bit ago. Senior Agent Sybil Tan. Know her?"

Jessica Drew has posed:
The wink makes her snort. "I only know of her. Haven't had the opportunity to meet or work with her yet."

Head canted to one side, eyes narrowed in mock suspicion, she asks slowly, "Are you trying to change the subject?" She shakes her head scoffing at the notion, "I will say, I imagine you might have things in common. Tell me about the other thing - Jane."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "She seems very nice," says Michael. "Intelligent, too. Designed and built her own powered suit - for this planet that's certainly not nothing. She also has access to dimensional travel technology." Wheels. The wheels. They turn. "I plan on enlisting her should we discover where Jane's soul has gone. It may be that we can travel there with her technology. We will see." All them wheels. See? No subject changed. "I must get more details. I'll go and see Senior Agent Johnson about the affair."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Well, of course, she's intelligent. We don't hire dolts, you know," she gives him a wry shake of her head, becoming more serious. "The suit would put Stark to shame from what I hear. Dimensional travel technology, you say?"

Sitting back in astonishment, she nods assent to his checking in with Daisy Johnson. "I wonder what they'd say in Hel if you showed up unannounced?"

Michael Erickson has posed:
    He shrugs. "I could care less," Michael replies. "If it means fetching Jane. Understand, we wouldn't be kicking down the doors - it's a realm which has existed for Throne knows how long. We'd be sneaking in. It's a heist operation that would take place, you understand, not a siege. Entirely covert." 'Mission: What The Hell Are You Talking About' sort of thing. "I'm sure I'll be marked an insanity case."