4670/Propping up the SHIELD

Propping up the SHIELD
Date of Scene:	10 January 2021
Location:	SSR Office, NYC, 1949
Synopsis:	While Agent Carter is off dealing with the last of the clean-up from the Hydra raid, Agent May gets to know some of the local SSR agents. And maybe they get to know her.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Lance Hunter, Bobbi Morse, Phil Coulson
Tinyplot:	Times That Bind

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Melinda May has posed:
The raid at the Washington Heights HYDRA facility has been, as far as most of the agents at the SSR are concerned, a complete success. The prisoners collected are in the process of being de-cyanided (so to speak) and will be available for interrogation, later. Much of the tech has been moved to secure laboratory facilities -- except for that big machine that so attracted the attention of Agent May of the SOE and Canada's spy network, presumably. (Who knew Canadians had a spy network?) That machine was taken somewhere else.

Nevertheless, May accompanied Carter back to the SSR office to help return equipment and give herself something to do while she waits for Stark to start poking at that machine. Thus, while Peggy deals with clean up -- probably via the phone in her office -- the Asian agent finds herself adrift in the bullpen of the New York SSR office.

Lance Hunter has posed:
His own office all the way across the country and Peggy having absconded with Rose to help with clean up, it left Sousa at loose ends at his old office. He does a quick round of the office saying hi to old faces, enjoying that a few have to call him Chief now, but before long he's adrift like May, spotting that the coffee pot is full for once he limps over towards it "Agent May," he calls out as he passes the Asian woman. "Get you some coffee?" he asks as he pours himself a cup.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Young and energetic Agent Theresa Heat, aka Tessa, is excitedly chatting to anyone who will listen as she carries boxes on boxes of files up in to the SSR headquarters. "So I then did this sacrifice throw from Jiu Jitsu that Agent Carter taught us.. and get this, it worked! AND then Rose hit the next guy with her purse which had a _brick_ in it. Ooh he dropped like a light," she says hoping to get the ear of Sousa, but mostly getting the ear of other young agents who didn't make it to the raid.

    "But then, oh gosh, then our Canadian friend. She did this sort of Gymnastics routine and pow pow pow she was taking out guys left and right like a commando. I don't know what they teach 'em up north but I want to learn it. I want to learn it so bad. She wore pants. I'm going to start wearing pants, I don't even care what people think," she continues with the enthusiasm of a young new agent.

    It's not like this is a first for her, no, she's just this excited after every mission. Give her a few years, it'll wear off eventually. But for now, she sets the files down in the deputy directors office and then peers over at the big mysterious machine they recovered.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Another one of those younger agents is Agent Kyle Marsh. He's currently drinking some coffee as he listens to Tessa's excited tale, unable to hold back a chuckle as he does. "Sounds quite eventful," he offers as he listens, glancing around at the others present, then taking another sip from his coffee.

Melinda May has posed:
May glances over to Sousa, at his question. She gives a small shake of her head. "No. But that's for the offer. I prefer tea." Must be the Canadian thing, right? Or the Chinese thing. Take your pick. Still, she does give him a curious look. After all... he's a fallen hero, when she's from. "You're... Chief Sousa, right? It's nice to meet you, sir."

Her attention shifts to Tessa as the woman starts gushing about her stunt in the stairwell. A faint grimace touches her lips. "She's... enthusiastic." May says to Sousa. "It wasn't that exciting." Not for May, anyway.

Her eyes slide over the others in the office, pausing a moment on Marsh before moving to young Connor -- the probie she knocked out the first night she was here.

She still owes him an apology.

Lance Hunter has posed:
There's a nod about preferring Tea. "Knowing Peggy there's some around here somewhere if she surfaces from her office ask her to let you raid her stash," he says with a smile before his cup is set down and he extends a hand. "That's me, but please call me Daniel," he says before glancing towards Tessa. "I am afraid you're the minority opinion there, Rose can't stop talking about it either. You made quite the impression, I can see why you guys," meaning Canadians. "Hit all your objectives back on D-Day."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Her hands free now which become animated too as she says to Kyle whose attention she has grabbed. "Oh that's not even the best bit. So we were on the fourth floor see and I thought, I wonder where the boss of this place is. I found his office and he had a secret elevator!"

    She grins, "Like a regular villain story. His secretary and some other random scientist were making a flee. So I tossed in a knock out grenade just in time before the elevator doors shut. The guy goes full German on me and says Nine! .. or.. something like that. I'm not sure why nine, but, he kicks it yeah? but the doors shut and it bounces back and they all got knocked out."

    She looks very pleased with herself, as she should be. She pats her hands on one of the boxes for Peggy's eyes only, "And Rose found all these files. There was a safe that she didn't know how to pick. I don't know how to lock pick either - I should really learn yeah? - so she asks me if I can pick it and I said, sure I can! and I shot the lock off." She grins with the bright smile of youth.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Kyle offers a nod to May as he sees her looking in his direction, before he looks back to Tessa. "Nein? No in German," he offers, before he grins briefly as he listens to the rest of the tale. "Good job," he offers, taking one more sip of the coffee. "And learning to pick locks is useful," he offers, before he adds, "Files? I like files. Files are usually interesting."

Melinda May has posed:
"Daniel." May says. There's a beat. She gives a small smile. "Melinda," she offers. "And, uh, yeah. We're... pretty determined." she swallows the wry smile that wants to break out. "Take my advice, though," she says softly to him. "Don't send them north to train. They'll be disappointed."

Sad, but true.

She continues to watch Tessa gush, shaking her head faintly at the way the agent trips over herself. "Wow," she says dryly to Daniel. "I really don't remember being that young." Blame it on the War?

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Good to meet you Melinda," Daniel says, "Always good to meet an old friend of Peggy's," they're never boring that's for sure. "Noted," he says of sending his people north. "Though Rose would kill me if I didn't suggest you take a trip to LA sometime to give some pointers." There's a smile about Tessa. Me neither," definitely the war for his part. "But good to see people excited about the work."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    She smirks and says, "Best get in Carter's good books then if you want to peruse the HYDRA files." She wiggles her right eyebrow and then eyes the coffee, "I need some of that." She heads over to the machine to make herself a coffee, "I hadn't even heard of a Canadian version of the SSR. I figured they'd just be.. ya know.. more SSR?"

    She approaches May and Sousa and offers her hand to the Canadian agent, "Gosh it was so great to go on that mission with you today Ma'am. Thank you so much. Agent Carter has the most interesting friends. Are you going to be in the big apple long? We would surely like to learn that jumping around stuff you did. I've never seen anyone fight that way before, it was a spectacle."

    It's the little nose wrinkle she gives, it's genuine too. She's too young to be cynical enough to pull off proper undercover work yet. But yes, that little nose wrinkle that is always told with the stories about Agent 'Foxy' Heat from the 50s and 60s era of gadgets and spies and the Red Threat. But every agent has a starting point and this just happens to be Tessa's.

    There's a picture of her in the Triskelion, a smart suit - pants - and big hair, holding a pistol and looking like something Hollywood would try to creature in another twenty years based on stories about people like her. She's no founding mother of SHIELD, but she was certainly a woman to look up to for new agents in later decades.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Kyle nods as he hears that. "Right." He looks thoughtful for a few moments, before he offers a brief grin, "Maybe they're just really good at keeping it secret?" The Canadaians that is. He watches as Tessa heads over towards May and Souza, before he moves in that general direction himself, mostly because he needs a refill of his coffee. He drinks too much of that stuff.

Melinda May has posed:
"Mm," May nods noncommittally to the suggestion she fly to LA to give pointers. By now, he's probably heard about the anomaly site in the Mojave -- a site he'll remember as the place the Zero Matter rift appeared and was closed. Hell, it's the whole reason he's come to New York: To touch base with Peggy about just why the hell that site has become active again. "Maybe in between visits to the Mojave," she says -- the only indication she'll give him to expect their presence there soon enough.

Then, Tessa's coming over to shake her hand and the SHIELD agent finds herself reminded of an old media reel she watched during a history lecture at the Academy... oh, many decades from now. A brow rises in mild surprise that she doesn't quite manage to hide. "A pleasure, Agent Heat," she says genuninely enough. Boy, this'll be a story to tell Coulson.

Hell, Coulson's the one agent who'll hang on her every word about everything she's seen. Living history. He'd love to be in her place.

"My training is... a little unique," she tells the young agent. "But I have no doubt you're going to make quite a mark with your career. You did good work today."

Lance Hunter has posed:
Sousa's attention is caught by the mention of the Mojave site, he pitches his voice low, "You're involved with that?" he asks. He and Peggy had yet to sit down and discuss the situation what with the raid and all."Sounds like you, me and Peggy need to find some time to talk." As Tessa and Marsh approach Sousa shifts gears smoothly. "Agents," he greets with a nod. "Fresh pot for once, trust me as someone who used to work out of this office best take advantage of it while you can."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "Thank you Chief Sousa," she says - having only just met the man today but knowing him by reputation. She pours out a coffee for her and pours for Kyle too because that's what you do in 1949. She asks Chief Sousa, "Chief what's it like in the LA office? Oh don't get me wrong I love it here, I just want to know more about the organisation. First time my professor told me he got me a job interview with a super secret spy agency, I just laughed in his face."

    She smirks and then motions to the machine, "And now we're raiding nazi laboratories and taking whatever that thing is," she adds. It's a question, but she's not brave enough to pose it as a question. "I have been waiting to see the roster for this Mojave thing," she comments, again hoping Carter will pick her to go. Not all recruits have this level of energy and enthusiasm.

    The look that May gives her though causes a small look of worry on her face. It's hard to hide because the phrase 'If you can't handle the Heat, get out of the game' was a joke bandied about in her time, "Thank you Agent May, I'm going to aspire to be as awesome as Agent Carter and you."

Phil Coulson has posed:
"That's one of the things I've learned so far, Sir," Kyle replies to Sousa, with a bit of a smile. He pauses for a few moments as he hears the rest. "Mojave?" There's a brief moments of pause, before smiling to Tessa as she pours the coffee for him. "Thank you," he offers to her.

Melinda May has posed:
May gives a somewhat self-depricating roll of her head. "I'm probably not your best choice for a role model," she tells Tessa. "But follow Agent Carter's lead and you'll be just fine." Carter was always more of a role model to her, personally, than 'Foxy' Heat was. 'Foxy' was always too flamboyant for May to possibly immitate. A choice she certainly doesn't regret, now.

Despite that, she drops any mention of Mojave or the machine -- which is already enroute to Stark.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Good man," Sousa replies to Marsh leaning on his cane. As to Mojave Sousa looks at Marsh and Heat, "It's something being worked on," he says and leaves at that. "But if you can get on that roster, I'd do it, you both did good work out there,"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    A coy little smile is given to May, "Oh you kid." Tessa lifts up her coffee and takes a sip. "Did you hear she was with Agent Carter when she took down Dottie Underwood?," she says to Kyle continuing to gush over Carter and May in general as she moves away from the important people corner. After all, she does have paperwork to complete. This is the SSR and digital record tracking isn't a thing yet.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"Really?" Kylke replies, looking from Tessa to May and back again, before he nods a little as he hears Sousa's words. "Thank you, Sir," he replies, offering a smile.

Melinda May has posed:
"I see the gossip mill is as good here as it is at my home office," May says drily to Sousa. "Carter did all the hard work. I just happened to get the K.O." And she used an ICER to do it. So, it wasn't even a real hit, as far as she's concerned.

"I'll tell you, though," she says, "you guys really need to get past this whole overlooking the women thing. Every single woman we went into that lab with... they'll all make serious marks on this organization. Mark my words. They're going to change the world."

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Really? Wish I was there to see that," Sousa says about Underwood. She's been a pain in their behinds more than once. Sousa nods raising his coffee cup, "Hear, hear," he says. "The brass is waking up to it more now thanks to Peggy, but there are still more than a few that haven't come around." He sighs with evident frustration. "Hope our neighbours to the north are doing better with that."

Melinda May has posed:
May gives Sousa a non-committal shrug that includes a lift of her brows, all of which suggests she doubts the Canadians are really any more advanced than their southern neighbours. "I think it's a world wide challenge," she says mildly.

She straightens then. "Will you excues me, Daniel? I need to speak with Agent Connors. I'm sure we'll talk more later." With Peggy.

Then, she's weaving her way through the room to speak quietly to the young probie who suffered briefly at her hands. In addition to the brief apology, she offers him a few pointers about avoiding just such an attack in the future... And if the others happen to overhear that? Well... She does want the SSR strong enough to make a good foundation for her own organization, doesn't she?

Carter definitely has her work cut out for her. At least she's got good material to work with.