15582/Triggers at the Triskelion

Triggers at the Triskelion
Date of Scene:	09 August 2023
Location:	Survival Training - Triskelion
Synopsis:	Melinda May returns to SHIELD and spars with Natasha over coffee provided by Detective Chimp.
Cast of Characters:	Natasha Romanoff, Detective Chimp, Melinda May

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Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Over at the Survival Course of the Triskelion, Natasha Romanova is going through a series of practice maneuvers. Not quite a kata - it's something that's clearly very improvised. She's got a large staff which she's twirling which is designed to on cue split down the middle so it could be used as batons. She's going at a rather sedate speeds for a her warmup.
    Sedate, at least by her own standards. For many, too fast to keep up with. For those that were in the upper echelons of skill?
    Very, very sedate.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp has come back to the area to check into some things. He does have a duffle bag over one shoulder so it might be he is here to check out some more supplies. He does not wear his uniform, nope he is still in his sports coat and hat as he is walking along, stopping to watch Natasha's practice routine a moment.

Melinda May has posed:
She had been gone for a lilttle while. A mission somewhere in Eastern Europe that took longer than expected. Such thingsoften happened, what you think would be rather simple always ends up being much more difficult. Yet, the mission was accomplished and she had gotten back to the Triskelion late the night before. She needed some time to settle back in, but in the life of Melinda May that time was never very long. A cup of coffee and some breakfast and she was back at it.

She decided to simply walk about the Trisk, a casual pace stopping to speak eith people as she saw fit and walking right past those she did not. Yet, it was when she passed the Survival Training area that she decided to peek her head in to see who was in there training.

She paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame and folded her arms, watching Natasha train, murmuring a word to the chimp detective in a flat tone. "How does she look to you?"

Her eyes slide from the chimp to Natasha, still leaning n the door frame. "Well done Nat. Yet the air does not strike back." She takes a few small steps furuther into the training area. "I do."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Missions always took longer than they should. No matter where they were. There were always complications. Always something that came up that was unexpected. No plan survived contact with anything in it's execution. Natasha goes to pause over through her routine, and then glances over at Detective Chimp, "Detective." Then she turns over to face May.

"Very well." Then a hand is snapping up and going over to whirl a knife through the air over at May. It's a combat knife that was otherwise sheathed over at her hip, in a blur of a motion flung hard at the higher ranking officer.

"You did ask." Then Natasha is going to charge in at May, intent on following up the throw with a charge from her quarterstaff!

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over and steps to the side a bit as the knife is thrown "Well she might be favoring her left side a bit, but I personally think it is just a lure to get her opponent to come from that side, so she can control the fight a bit more." He offers once out of the way of the ladies.

Melinda May has posed:
"I agree. There ia a favoring from her left side. An invitation for sure. Not one I am going to answer. I do not wish to go to that party. No, I prefer the front door." She gives a half smile to the detective and then the knife is thrown, followed by a side-step, a lean and a roll of her eyes as the knife bounces off the wall and clatters to the floor.

Her eyes go from the blade to the now approaching Nat with the quarterstaff, rolling her neck a few times and stretching her arms out quickly. Stretching is important afterall.

She walks towards the charging woman, a soft smirk on her face as she ducks and weaves under the first few swings, avoiding the stikes, but unable to find an opening herself just yet to land a strike. "Left side is strong detective." A word shouted out as she parries away an incoming strike. "Come on Nat. You can do better than that."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The quick strikes are more there for evaluation. She's testing May's reach, her response, and her reflexes. Is May still sore from her mission and return? Is she going post debriefing and just looking to relax a bit before heading out? The fast probes are designed for that. Evaluate response. Look for weaknesses in her form. Things that could be taken advantage of and hammered again and again. Something that could be exploited.

"Care to point out some observations as we go along?" She would muse towards Chimp.. While going on the offensive over against May. "You're going to just let me beat you down? You'll tire before I will." Quick strikes, twirling the staff, buliding up momentum.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks to them and says "Well, I can see both of you are holding back a bit to see where the other one is, and planning a bit, You have been trained a bit by the same person.

Melinda May has posed:
She was a bit tired. And this was certainly not something she was expecting to engage in, given the fact she is in jeans and a t-shirt. However, she was not going to pass up an a chance to spar a bit with Natasha. They had a mutual respect for one another and it was no secret that Natasha was someone Melinda enjoyed sparring with. "Let you beat me down Nat? No how would that help you."

She stands and watches as the staff is swirling more, faster and faster. But her gaze moves from the staff to the feet of the woman. The strike can be predicted by the foot movement first. "Clearly you are aware that without a weapon I am on the counter-strike. You expect me to step in on the offensive. You have been sparring to many rookie agents."

She bounces on the balls of her feet and holds a hand out, beckoning for the strike to come. "You eyes show hesitation." Was she trying to taunt the other woman into making a mistake, or was that just May?

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
May's very big no doubt on being ready for anything no matter what. So having Natasha going at her from almost out of nowhere when she was going casual was probably along that list of contingencies that the veteran agent had long prepared for. Natasha sees Melinda as a peer. Less a peer..

And more of a threat. The highest sort of praise she could give to anyone - ally or enemy. So when Natasha fights her, she does so with the knowledge that May can and will take her out on any point where she is not giving it her best.

"Then you had better find a way to extend your reach." She gives a moment for Melinda to get ready, then muses. "Since you asked.." Then she's going to slash in hard and fast! Using the greater reach of the staff to try and force May to be fully defensive and have no room to counterattack or do more than have to retreat!

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp hmmms quietly from his spot, and pulls out his flask and takes a sip from it. He looks over to some of the rookies who may have started to gather to watch "If your watching you better be ready to tell them what you learned from watching them." He offers a bit of advice.

Melinda May has posed:
And on the defensive she goes. Backing up as the strikes com in and looking for an opening that normally would come, but the veteran agent is having trouble finding an opening against someone as well-versed as Natasha. "Well I see how this is going." She continues to back away, side-stepping from time to time as she tres to buy time to find an opening. "There you go Nat. That is what I wanted to see."

She decides to try and take a stab at some offensive after evading a twili of the staff, swinging low to try and do a leg sweep of her opponent. If anything to get her to back up some herself as the way was growing closer.

She is quickly back to her feet not waiting to see if the strike was landed or avoided. "Oooh." A muttered word of some pain from her act she could not hide. Perhaps something lingering from her mission that her jeans did not like.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha isn't quite as good as she needs to be to be able to play the full momentum she has to her advantage. When she's committed to one attack, May isa ble to slip under her guard and go in for a quick leg sweep. Even as she's going down, she's immediately kicking her legs underneaht her once more to get back up to her feet, just as smooth as if she hadn't been hit at all.

But when May is wincing lightly, Natasha does pause. There's nothing in her maneuvers that suggests a predator stalking towards the prey. Even as she goes to evaluate her opponent, taking a few steps back just in case it was a real injury that was forming. Or if it was a trick to have some quick space for whatever May threw her way.

She does, however, call out casually, "Guess you're getting old."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp watches the two and will take a moment to inhale a nose full of air. He knows the scents or Gyms and soldiers, but he is now looking for odd scents or extra strong ones like recently applies icy hot or some herbal version of it.

Melinda May has posed:
Her hand does go to her right side rib a moment. It as not something she planned on showing her oppoenent, but it simply happened with the little wince. What exactly happened on that mission? Clearly something.

She gives a half smile as her strike landed, but perhaps ore so at the quckess that Nat found her way to her feet and was ready to strike so quickly. It was expected of the Agent, May knew what Nat was capable of and knew her strike was only going to send a subtle message that she needed to watch her feet. "You are one to talk of age? This "old" one landed a strike." Is that a bit of humor in her tone? Was Melinda May showing a bit of humor?"

Her eyes fell to her opponent, narrowing as she studied. "Retreating Nat?" SHe has spent enough time back-stepping and she steps forward to the woman who seems to be re-considering her attack. There is always a split moment to act and she does, coming in with a flurry of fist strikes straight at her, right down the middle, avoiding the outside where the ends of the staff are."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Good, May wasn't injured. This was to test the woman. Not to put her in the medbay for a week having clumps of tissue regenerated. Natasha smirks over. "Just making sure you weren't pushing yourself too far." But, the counterstrike had been made, and so had May's point.

Now, Natasha goes to break the staff over to two batons, each with rubber edges used for training. Then she's going on the attack once more. Trading the range and power of the staff for quickness. Being able to hit at May far, far faster. Going to close the range between the two to try an dinterrupt May's rhtyhm before she could shift to going on the offensive!

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp takes another sip of his flask, and then will move to the coffee pot where he pours three cups of coffee, his own gets a bit of additive to it, as he makes them each one knowing how they like them, from seeing them in the past. He patiently waits.

Melinda May has posed:
She should have known that the staff could break into two batons. Why she did not think that, disappoints her within her head. It is something she did notp lan for and it certainly catches her off guard as the strikes come faster and from the sides now, not from where she thought when the staff was full. "Clever." A single word uttered as she scrambles to try and avoid the counter-strikes that are coming, clearly protecting her right side.

A strike does land on her left side near her ribs, causing the slightest of winces, but before the baton can be pulled away it is grabbed and with a flick of her wrist, it is clear that May is tryin to disarm it from Nat's hand, retreating back if she can, with the baton or not. "Well done Nat. Shall I start trying now?"

Clearly she had been trying, but it was a mind game, a subtle jab to the seasoned combantant.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
It's very hard to lie to a spy. "I expected better." she would tsk over at May. "You're getting both sloppy and bad at covering it up. Your mission can't have gone that badly if you're here warming up rather than drinking your sorrows away." She goes to adjust the pace of her strikes, however. She moves to swtich it up to angles that would lessen some of their power, slowing her own force.

Knowing that her opponent could take it and that May would be pissed at her for holding back, but she still didn't want to put the other woman in the medbay. She's disarmed of one of the batons as it would flip - to May to grab it out of midair, no doubt.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over at the two and says "You know your coffee is getting cold right?" He asks, giving the ladies an excuse to stop where neither is surrendering to the other.

Melinda May has posed:
Baton achieved as it is caught out of the air and placed in front of her in a defensive position. "Sloppy? I took a strike so I could get a baton. I call that an acceptable loss." She gives a half smile and steps forward, twirling the baton. "My mission went just fine. And I am only here because you need it." Another little jab at the other woman she had som uch respect for.

As she steps in the strikes are met with parries and baton srriking baton in a clash of offensive and defensive maneuvers. It is only after a flurry that may steps back and taes a deep breath, showinf a little sign of catching her breath as her words are the sightest bit breathy. "He made coffee for us..." Did she need a break?" She lowers the baton in front of her and nods her head. "Well done Nat."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha's just getting started, but it's rude ot ignore Chimp after he's made them coffee and it's getting cold. "Yes, and I would outlast you anyways. All that giving you a weapon does is make you tire that much faster and exert yourself as you're having to do more than just defend. You'd overextend soon enough." SHe does cheat thanks to the Russian variant of the super soldier serum in her veins.

"Thank you." That's said over to Chimp as she goes to disengage, moving to stow the batons over in a training rack and quickly reassembling them.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp nods to the two and says "No problem ladies, I figured you might want to drink and chat about how your mission went, if it is not top secret."

Melinda May has posed:
There was a small smirk given to Nat as she walked over to where Chimp had prepared the coffee. "You assume the fight would last that long Nat. I like to end them before I tire. You know, being so old as I am." She pats the woman on the shoulder and continues to Chimp to accept the coffee, taking the cup that was straight up black. You know like her soul. A sip is taken and she sighs contentedly. "Thank you Chimp, just what I needed right now."

She looks back over to Nat a moment before addressing thr mention of the misson she had just returned from. "Top secret? Not exactly. Extraction. Or should I say a liberation of an asset that negotiations failed to achieve." She shrugs and takes another sip. "We offered the easy way. They took the hard way." She pauses a moment and murmurs from behind the rim of her cup. "I was the hard way."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would glance at May and smirk back, "And yet we like things we cannot have. Keep on living with those dreams, Commander. Keep on living with them." She goes to accept her own coffee, then takes a sip of it. "Doesn't quite have the taste of something used as jet fuel. It's almost like someone took the time to make it properly." As opposed to the coffee on the Hellicarrier that according to the rumor mill they used the turbofans to grind.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp about then Chimp's phone beeps and he looks down at it and says "Seems I am needed to pick up some stuff I ordered, if you ladies will excuse me." He bows his head to each in turn before heading out.

Melinda May has posed:
SHe sips her coffe once more as Chimp departs, raising the mug to him in a departure goodbye. "I couldd have used you Nat, but I know your obligations lay elsewhere. Things almost went south and quite quickly." She pauses once more and runs a hand over the back of her neck. "It was a prominent scientists daughter. She was being used as blackmail for him to complete a chemical weapon for them. He was refusing. SO rather than take him...they took her. They knew he would not speak even if tortured I presume, but taking her..."

She sips the black coffee once more. "They set a deadline. And negotiations were going nowhere. So I took matters into my own hands. I expect perhaps some sort of reprimand. What are they going to do?" She smirks from behind the rim and then adds. "Can't wait to write this report."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would nod over and would tap at her cheek. "Effective. Efficient." That was how Natasha would put it. Because of course she would. "The threat was neutralized and the situation resolved. Fury won't reprimand you, you're too useful in the field." She would consider.

"However, he might decide that you have to file a full regimen of reports over the circumstance, take in a full debrief, and after action report on the matter." Did anyone in SHIELD want to handle the sheer level of paperwork that being a high level bureaucrat involved if they could get away wiht it? Not all revenge schemes had to come on the edge of a case file.

Melinda May has posed:
Melinda shrugs, taking another sip. "I am not worried. I did what needed to be done given the timeline.I was not about to sit there in reserve while they dallied back and forth with hollow words." She runs her hand over her neck once more. "Whatever he decides I will do. Because at the end of the day I got the job done. That is all that matters."

She gives Nat another half smile. "Behind closed doors I think he will shakes his head and say (She does her best Nick Fury Voice). "Damn in Melinda. You put me in a tough situation here. Do you know the humliation you caused with Agent Caulder. He claims his talks had it settled." And then he would pat me on the shoulder and say. "I'll handle it. Good job." She shrugs and takes another sip. "Agent Caulder would be washing blood off his hands if I had not stepped in."

Melinda May has posed:
She then adds. "Between you and Me...Fury sent me as the unkwnown faildafe."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would not laugh. Natasha did not laugh. Her station and reputation did not admit it. But there was a ghost of a smile on her face for just a few moments that those few that could read her cues and her body language could pick up on. "I'm not sure he would use that tone of voice exactly, but close enough. You should hold your hand over your eye when you say it. Helps make it more emphatic."

She would shake her head, "Coulson knows far too many products for getting blood out of any material. I think he probably is more skilled at it than we both are combined." The man had talents. Quite possibly disturbing ones from his own lifetime of service.

Quirking a brow at May, "Then that's not something we should talk about here. I'm sure ther'es a reason." Contingencies.

Melinda May has posed:
"And no further words on the matter. It is done." She raises the mug of coffee into the air and takes another sip after a little mock toast. "Coulson is a man of many talents. Many of which he keeps quite hidden unless needed. I do not envy the position he is in at all either. There are very few people I trust, but he is one of them. He has earned it. I do not give it out lightly."

She looks over to Nat as she leans up against the wall, the cup of coffee held in front of her. "So what did I miss? Anything big going on?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would cock her head to the side then and listen, taking a sip of her own coffee to finish it. "The usual. Alien invasions, alternate realities. Symbiote infected swamrs of dinosaurs from the Savage Land. So just the usual blend of chaos and anarchy that is the modern world. You can scan the briefings on current events when you get to them. Nothing particularly catastrophic."

Melinda May has posed:
Melinda is seemingly unphased by the list of abnormal things that are deemed so usual. "Aliens. Dinosaurs. Alternate realities? Completely normal. I will certainly have to catch up on all of these briefings as soon as I can. No doubt they are going to go way on their own." She takea another longer sip of the coffee and lowers the mug in front of her once more. "And you Nat? How have you been? Contrary to what you might think, I do actually care." She holds up two fingers in a pinching gesture. "Ths much." She gives her a smile. "It never ends does it Nat. Always something."