6123/Dollhouse: The Iliad

Dollhouse: The Iliad
Date of Scene:	04 May 2021
Location:	The Iliad, Somewhere in the Atlantic
Synopsis:	When SHIELD goes to The Iliad to retrieve the Time Brick, they have an unexpected encounter with a team of Inhumans seeking terrigen crystals. A spot of violence breaks out, but is quickly resolved as new bridges are built between the two groups.
Cast of Characters:	Bobbi Morse, Daisy Johnson, Clint Barton, Melinda May, Lester Colt, Lance Hunter

---

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "Clint, there's something I've been meaning to ask," broaches Bobbi. The quinjet is full of the chosen team for this transport. It's not that the object is dangerous, though it is, but that its use is very dangerous. Having it fall in to the wrong hands could be disastrous. Fury made this very clear to Bobbi when she was tasked with keeping it safe. The it, in this case, being the time brick. A strange object that seems to emanate tachyons and was essential in bringing May home from the past.

    Bobbi isn't too concerned with flying today. Besides, fighting May over who gets to fly is a battle Bobbi lost over a decade ago. So she's in the back with everyone else. "I need a number two for S.P.O.T. and I'd like you to be it. Can I put your name forward to the Chief? it'd come with a security clearance bump to level seven."

    On approach to The Iliad. The coordinates a secret. They remain radio silent until the right passcodes are sent and even then if the right people aren't approaching based on their itinerary they remain silent.. and cloaked. A field of drones maintains a good enough blue skies, clouds, and oceans view in 720 degrees around The Iliad at all times.

    "You'd be responsible for running missions with agents. Some of them long term. Some may including looking after younger agents who are undercover for such missions. It's a bit of a change from the solo work and Avengers work you're used to doing," she warns her friend.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Really. Fitz didn't come up with a better name? Something fancy?" Daisy is on the quinjet, by the cockpit, watching May pilot the thing and she taking a few pointers. Because lessons must be had even if SHIELD went dark! "Like .., the flux capacitor, or the 1.88 Gigawatz apparatus? I mean ..." she lets out a sigh. "Time brick?" she makes a bit of a face. And yes, that's what you get when the flight takes a few hours and Daisy has nothing better to do.

Maybe you should let her fly the quinjet sometime!

Still, all works in getting her mind out of what they were doing here. A device to get Daniel Sousa back to his time. And most likely to death. So some levity was needed.

"Oh hey, I think we are almost there." she peering out the front windows of the cockpit and stretching her limbs. About time!

Clint Barton has posed:
Raising an eyebrow, he replies, "Well, in the middle of a crisis is a little bit of a weird time to be discussing promotions, but yeah, if you think I'd be a good fit, I'm fairly sure I can do the job." A shrug, "Besides, can't be an Avenger forever, some of us are normal humans and will eventually slow down." he teases.

Clint considers for a minute, then nods, "All in all, yeah, talk to her. I can do that stuff, not like I haven't had every kind of training under the sun." He pokes her side, "I still want wings though, seems like everybody but me gets to fly around."

Melinda May has posed:
May sits comfortably in her cockpit (let no one ever mistake it for someone else's seat), half an ear on the conversation in the back. Most of her attention, however, is on the flight controls and the series of handshakes she sends at correct intervals to Iliad flight control.

Her thoughts are very much NOT on Daniel Sousa's eventual death, but, rather, on the tangled mystery of how the hell they're going to pull his ass out of the fire *this* time.

It occurs to her, she might get in touch with her contacts in WAND and see if there's a simulacrum spell or something that might solve the issue.

Then again... does she *want* to solve problems of that magnitude with magic? That sounds like a huge karmic ass kicking waiting to happen.

Lester Colt has posed:
     Lester sets back in his chair field stripping his laser pistol on his lap. He's been running through the stripping and assembly of the advanced weapon over and over again for the entire flight mostly in silence as he just looks off several miles into the distance. His hands flow through the motions like a surgeon working on his fifth surgery of the day gliding one step of the dance to the next.

     "Slow down." He repeats under his breath going still through those motions. His eyes move down towards the pistol on his lap as he assembles the focusing chamber of the pistol, a vital component. "Yeah." Lost in thought for a long moment as he puts each part back together muscles rippling through his costume.

     "You want to fly I could always take you to practice with the jetpack Senior Agent." He pauses a long moment. "Only took me about eight years to get the knack of flying it without breaking anything."

     He lets out a brief chuckle, as he reaches into his pocket grabbing out a length of elastic and a needle. Soon after he's ramming the needle into his arm and injecting himself with the stabilizing serum. The look on his face is one of euphoria for a brief moment as the formula enters his veins allowing him to focus his mind back on the situation and clear his head fully for what lies ahead.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter is kitted out for trouble but when wasn't he? Especially as his last couple of missions involved ghosts and angry Italian skeletons. So honestly, a Time Brick? Not that weird.

"I dunno Daisy, there's a certain elegance to the name, it's short and tells you exactly what you're getting," he remarks about he name of what they're after today.

He does catch the questions thrown Clint's way but he wisely decides not to chime in even jokingly on Bob's SPOT business.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    They are in range and the protocols have been followed. <This is the Iliad Tower, welcome QJ8. Commander Morse, Captain Boston is awaiting your arrival on the deck> Just as the quinjet flies past the field of drones revealing the former aircraft carrier set in the blue ocean. The field of drones looks like a fancy force field even though it's just to hide the vessel.

    On deck are three other quinjets, an QFJ - Quinfighterjet, and an F-22 Raptor. Aside from the aircraft there is a lot of activity. Large objects covered in tarps, cranes, and crew working and welding. The astute and those who have been on a helicarrier before can probably guess The Iliad is getting a makeover. <Tower to QJ8 you are clear to land, follow Vector 47 by 5, over>

    Bobbi smiles and nods her head to Clint, "Nothing can quite prepare an agent for level seven, but I'm sure you'll do fine. I'll talk to the Chief soon. And no you don't get wings, I lend them out on only very special circumstances. There you go, Colt can take you flying." She watches him shoot up - it's never an easy thing to watch. She wonders just what is in that concoction.

    -----In the lower decks, in a quiet room currently unoccupied, an energy sphere appears and within it a small group of Inhumans. Gordon has teleported them in and they are prepared. Each wearing a naval uniform to blend in with the ships crew. Jiaying looks around the room and adjusts the hem of her navy jacket, "Alisha, spread out and find the terrigen. The less attention we draw the better. We must be quick." despite the crisp uniforms, the Inhumans look .. worn out.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I thought the whole *idea* was those names wouldn't really tell what the device was.." Daisy notes back to Lance with a sigh, resting her hands on her hips as the protocol communications begin to get the quinjet to land on the Iliad. She walks out of the cockpit and over to check on her own gear. The ICER, the usual tactical armor she wears as the black and blue uniform. No tech gauntlets though, at last she was through using them. She still flexes her fingertips though, looking at them. It felt weird going on missions without those.. They were a good crutch before..

Daisy also wisely stays out of SPOT business, even if she does smile Clint's way. But then asks. "So, should we call you Admiral Bobbi? High Commander Bobbi? Something like that ..?" her smile sent Bobbi's way.

Colt getting those drugs in makes Daisy looks his way too, lips pressed to a thin line but she makes no comment, just a nod.

----

For Alisha spreading out is literal. Because the redhead Inhuman separates herself into four other equal Alisha's, the four speaking in unison, eerily. "On it." adjusting the cap the four start moving out to search for the terrigen lockout.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint Barton awwws, "I never get the fun toys", but it's said with a grin. "I suppose I'll have to make do." He checks his katana and throwing knives, then looks over to Colt.

"Thanks, but I'm good. I prefer flying things from the inside when at all possible." He chuckles and adds, "If I were really worried about it, I'd nag Tony until he made me something. He's probably got spare suit parts lying around."

Melinda May has posed:
"Eight years?" May says, a brow arching as she catches Colt's quip. "What type of jet pack were *you* using?" Maybe she's just a natural born flyer. Nevertheless, her attention swings back to flight control as they receive clearance to land. She descends through the drone field and settles down on the deck where directed. "We're down," she calls back to the rest of the crew, performing her shutdown procedure.

When it's finished, she turns and stands, coming into the rear to join the rest of them, suiting up. But, let's face it. They're on a SHIELD carrier hundreds of miles away from anyplace that *should* be a danger. It's not like she's going to walk off this jet loaded for bear. It doesn't make sense in friendly territory. Thus: ICER on her hip. And, again... no rage staff. (She still hasn't followed through on that threat.)

Lester Colt has posed:
     "Suit yourself." Colt lets out a low chuckle and gives a bright smile as he tosses away the needle and the rubber material into a pouch on his uniform for safe keeping. "More Jetpack for me I suppose." He flexes his fist a few times making sure the mixture is entering his bloodstream properly.

     That pistol goes right back into its holster locked into place as he relaxes somewhat, finally really able to relax, as he shakes out his face. "What can I say? I'm a slow learner, but at least when I learn it It's hard for me to forget."

Lance Hunter has posed:
Once the quinjet has landed Lance unbuckles and stands. "Details," he tells Daisy as he collects his M4 and gives it a quick once over before moving rear towards the ramp. "Not everything has to be codes."

As to the mission, he glances back to Bos. "So what's the plan exactly pick up the thing and back to quinjet? Like Doordash for 084s?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "If you want to get technical. The 0-8-4 we are retrieving is Item 7117," she says with a wry smile, then adjusts her jacket and rises to hit the hanger ramp of the quinjet. "That's not been my experience Agent Colt," she teases the man that he never learns.A quick nod to Hunter, "Yes. Though I'm sure the Captain will want to have words. And there are protocols. But we're in the middle of no where on a cloaked SHIELD ship. What could possibly go wrong? ...except the time brick suddenly transporting us 50 years in to the future."

    Waiting on deck are the loud sounds of construction, and a man in a Navy Captain's uniform flanked by another in a lieutenants uniform. The Captain is clean shaven with stern expression on his face. Captain Boston is not a man who has inclination to mess around.

    Bobbi steps out of the quinjet and approaches. The Captain salutes and Bobbi salutes back, "At ease Captain. Thank you for the greet but we won't be here for long."

    The Captain motions and with his lieutenant by his side they start walking toward the ready room down one deck. "Welcome Commander, I hope you are finding my reports satisfactory," the Captain says. The two of them are still trying to work out their future working relationship.
    Entering the ready room Bobbi nods her head, "Yes Captain exemplary." Now that the group is in a quieter place away from the loud sounds of construction he says, "The retrofit is on track Commander. There is also a rumour there will be a navy investigation starting soon to find the missing ship USS Calvin Cobb.." unspoken, that this is that ship.. "we're implementing Phase 2 once they make the investigation formal."

    Bobbi gets a slight look of discomfort, "Understood. Just be careful. If Hale gets wind of anything fishy she'll expand Talbots taskforce in to that investigation and we cannot have that. Captain I'm here to collect Item 7117."

    There is a tense moment before the Captain suddenly draws his side arm and points it at Bobbi. Glowering, the Captain isn't sure how this is meant to go do. Until Bobbi lifts up her hands to ensure everyone it's okay. "Hargraves Nineteen Tugboat Sneakers Black SHIELD." He holsters his weapon and says, "Thank you Commander." In a world with doppelgangers, they are being extra careful. "The ship is yours, if you or your team need anything just ask the crew."

    ----- Jia nods to Lash and Gordon, "Wait for Alisha's signal. She will find the storage room. Lash, you're our door opener. I'll be.. back." Jia exits the room and heads up the stairs toward the Captains quarters.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint follows Bobbi out of the quinjet, eyes going everywhere around the area as they approach the captain. Once in the ready room he assume a relaxed posture, not even tensing up when the Captain pulls his gun. Though anyone watching will see him replacing a small throwing knife in hidden sheath on his arm once Bobbi gives the clearance and the gun is reholstered.

At mention of Talbot's taskforce he snorts and murmers, "Like he accomplishes anything." Other than that, he stays out of the conversation, given that it's official business and he's just here, well... cause he's got nothing else to do at the moment, so why not?

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Sounds mostly like babysitting, but important nonetheless." Daisy walks along with them, keeping an eye out just in case this turns into something more than babysitting but so far she is in a rather calm mood. SHIELD grounds after all. She only tenses up when the Captain draws out a gun, immediately a faint shimmer of vibrations expanding out of her, as if ready to intervene if that finger even remotely gets close to pulling the trigger. When the weapon goes back in she relaxes.

---The Ginger Ninjas continue their search for their goal. Storage room. It means down in the bowels of the place most likely. And besides, they did have a schematic of sorts of the place. How accurate it was. Well, she could do the job of quite a few people all at the same time so they'd get to it soon.

One of them moves near those room decks where the group is gathered. A polite smile on her lips but she continues on. "Boss? Think we might have a few unexpected guests here." she says on comms after moving a bit further away.

Melinda May has posed:
May suppresses the urge to grimace as Bobbi speculates on just *some* of the various ways this mission could go wrong. That doesn't stop her, however, from saying dryly, "Great. Thanks, Morse. When this mission goes sideways, it's totally your fault." As if to emphasize her point, she stops to grab a few extra ICER mags... just in case.

Shortly, however, they're out the hatch and on the deck, following the Captain to his ready room. The updates, given what little she's already seen, don't particularly surprise her. The pulled pistol doesn't even make her flinch -- aside from the brief flash of concern she experiences on account of the Captain's own caution -- but that's mainly because, as a Commander, herself, she's been briefed on that particular protocol. Maybe not with this Captain, but... hey, she's got her own toys to protect.

She stays by the door, however, acting more or less as rear guard. Someone has to watch their six, even on this tub. And she's good at it. Almost without thinking about it, she lets her awareness drift out to the extents of her range, tasting the overall mood of the crew. That alone can be quite telling.

Lester Colt has posed:
     Colt makes his way with the rest of the group walking with a sense of purpose and a steady gait. "Alright, now that was uncalled for." He laughs with a bit of a smile. "Sometimes I manage to learn a new trick or two."

     He's not on edge, he doesn't have a reason to be, in fact the man seems more at ease than ever before now that he's back on a ship. He takes in a deep breath of that fresh air through his lungs lifting his chest as he breaks a smile across his face.

     "Feels good." He mentions under his breath. "Almost makes me miss the marines." A low chuckle.

     He trusts the situation enough that he doesn't draw his pistol when the captain draws his instead just flicking open his holster just long enough for the confirmation to be given out. He flicks back shut the holster lowering himself back to more of a comfortable parade rest stance.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter follows the others into the ready room, weapon raising as the Captain raises his for that tense moment before the code is delivered and tensions ease in the cramped room.

"Right?" Hunter says to Clint when Talbot's task force is brought up. "Plus the man really needs to shave his nose hairs," he says with a faint smile and little in the way of explanation of his comment.

He takes a position by the door weapon pointed down but staying ready.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Jia pauses as she hears the warning over comms. She frowns, "Search faster." She turns the corner toward the Captains quarters and catches sight of May standing at the door. A look of surprise on her face, followed by a darker look, she turns and heads down to the deck below.

    The feelings of the crew are.. settled. There's a stoic tension of knowing their mission is important, as well as the general pride people are taking in the work to upgrade their ship to a helicarrier. Who wouldn't want to work on a flying ship after all?

    Bobbi gives a nod to Clint and then looks to the rest of the team, "Secure the path way to the vault. Aft Deck C room 4. I'll be right behind you," she says and moves with the Captain to his office. In there Bobbi places her hand on a scanner on the wall. The doors to the room lock and a wall cabinet opens up. In it she takes out half key card, then combines it with the other half she brought with her. Closing the safe she says to the Captain, "Thank you Captain. I'll be out of your hair as quick as I can be." There's a quick nod to Bobbi and he says, "A please Commander. I know things are rough out there for us right now. We're just doing our duty."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
The ginger ninja clone frowns a little at the intercomm and lets out a bit of a frustrated sigh, "Jeeez, shoot the messenger, will you?" yes, the clone is cheeky when answering Jia. She knows she's a clone. So she just moves on, a bit of anxiety playing on her feelings as she continues on the search..

The other ones eventually come to a stop near one of the doors, "Well, this door looks to be it. Confirm it's D-5?" one of them confirms on comms. With an affirmative response she calls out. "Might want to send in Lash, the official door opener."

One of the other clones chimes in. "You know, with us actually being able to turn into four we *could* start learning some useful skills one day.", which receives a response from the others, in unison. "Shut up, Alisha."

Clint Barton has posed:
With a nod to Bobbi, he heads for the door. A glance at the nearest intersecton tells him where he is and where he needs to head, and he gestures to the others to follow as he heads aft towards the nearest stairs down to deck C. Crew members passed get quick once overs from the rather non-military looking man with the sword, but generally keep on their business with a minimum of peeking at the oddly assorted group moving through the corridors.

At this point, he's always expecting things to go wrong, so there's no real relaxing of guard or tension with him these days. He scans down each cross corridor as they pass it, always alert for an ambush, even on a cloaked SHIELD ship in the middle of the ocean.

Melinda May has posed:
May only notes those signatures at odds with the ones most of the crew displays -- the disgruntled ones, the angry ones, the ones that are afraid. That, particularly, catches her attention. She steps out of the room as Bobbi makes it clear they're moving on and moves ahead to take point. She doesn't pull her ICER, but the faint crease between her brows suggests a subtle unease that wasn't there before.

Then again, to be fair, May is VERY paranoid, these days. Having your face plastered all over social media in a deep fake will do that to a woman.

Her eyes scan access points, catwalks, and crossings as they move, and her senses range out to taste the emotional state of those closest to them as they pass... again, just in case.

Lester Colt has posed:
     Colt follows along for the most part silent as he watches his corners and keeps himself occupied. This was just a simple and straightforward pickup operation. Nothing too crazy, so why did he feel this little sense of unease at the back of his mind? Still there was a job to do. He unhooks his holster just for the time being and leaves it unhooked walking along with Clint and the crew.

     "Feels too good to be on ship again." He speaks up as he looks towards the nearby face of a crewman for a brief moment from behind those thick mirrored goggles. He's dressed in his standard SHIELD uniform along with a durag and his mirrored goggles to hide his bald head and eyes.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Yes, sir," Hunter begins to reply to Bobbi's command to secure the path to the vault but changes up to, "Aye aye," with a grin for Captain Boston and then he's turning and heading into the hall. He follows Clint ready to lay down fire to let the man get into melee range if they run into trouble though for the most part they find puzzled looking crew, who eye them as they pass. "What's the plan if we find trouble? Let Daisy do what she does, then the rest of us clean up what's left?" Hunter asks the senior agents as they make their way down the Illiad's cramped metal corridors.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Trouble with a capital Deck C comes in the form of Lash. A big hulking animalistic monster of a man who kicks at the vault door. It bends. He kicks it again. It creaks and bends. There is suddenly a ship wide alarm blaring out by the guards inside the vault room. The third kick sends the thick reinforced steel door crashing in.

    The guards open fire, the sound of gun fire ringing down the hallways. <Introducers Aft Deck C send backup!> Suddenly, the lights on Deck C flicker and go out entirely as Mark draws the electricity out of the grid and in to himself. Gordon cocks his head to the side and says on the comms <If things get too hot, I'm getting us out of here>

    Jia frowns and says over their comms <Not without the terrigen crystals. Alisha flank the guards, keep them off of Lash> Jia has yet to see Bobbi and Daisy, but she certainly saw May. As May starts to cross her way she stands in the door way to be seen. Taking off her hat, she walks around a corner inviting May to follow her. This was an unexpected opportunity and there are still many unresolved issues with May.

    Bobbi slips the card in to her pocket as the alarm starts to ring out, "Damn it." She looks to the Captain, "I just had to jinx it didn't I." She draws her ICER and starts to sprint after the team.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"With these close corridors hard to unleash properly without some serious damage." Daisy says over to Lance as they move on quietly. And when the alarms come up she frowns. "Well, there we go. Time to get to business." she furrows her brows, focusing and starting to let her powers expand, seeking as they move. For motion and danger.

---

"Great, I am babysitting the big cat..." A roll of eyes from one of the clones, which brings out a snarl out of Lash, and an angry slash at the door. "Relax, just getting you more angry.." the quadruplets move out, cracking knuckles and rolling their necks as they move on to prepare interception maneuvers to any oncomers. Which in this case is that nice little group of people one of them had seen before.

The main Alisha sets herself on an advantageous position by the end of the corridor, a rifle in her hands and a laser sight suddenly pointing out on the approaching group as she lets bullets fly. Covering fire mostly.

As for the other three, they await on side corridors for anyone playing hero and running in, ready to intercept with their martial skills!

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint nods as he draws the katana with one hand and a throwing knife in the other, "Of course." He starts to run in the direction they were headed anyway. Over comms he says <Keep up folks, let's get this handled. Daisy, just.. screw it - if it's unfriendly, smash it. Keep at least one for questioning. I don't feel like wasting much time on this.>

As he closes on the vault, his pace slows. He's annoyed, not suicidal. A small drone is pulled out of a utility pocket on his leg and tossed into the air to precede him around corners, feeding back to the HUD in his mask. Should he spot opposition, he'll report it over comms before the knives start flying.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Right, but it's not like /we/ have to fix the ship," Hunter argues to Daisy with his customarily agrieved tone. "And I really don't want to-" The alarms sound. "Bloody hell."

He falls in with Daisy and Clint swapping out the M4 for his ICER in close quarters like this. "Neat toy," he remarks to Clint as he sees the man's drone take flight. "Going to follow you then, just shout if trouble's heading our way."

Melinda May has posed:
"Totally. Your. Fault, Morse." May growls into comms as the klaxxon begins to sound. Then, however, her tone changes completely to something tight and steady, "Heads up. Inhumans are here. I have eyes on Jiaying."

She grimaces faintly. "I'm going to investigate. The rest of you, head for the vault. That artifact needs to be priority." Will Daisy listen to her, upon that pronouncement?

Likely not. But May says it anyway.

The empath moves swiftly along the corridor after the other asian woman. "Jiaying wait. Please!" Maybe she can talk her down. Notably, she doesn't have an ICER in her hands yet. Of course, it could be argued she doesn't need one, but still... "We need to talk."

Lester Colt has posed:
     Lester throws his hand down to his side bringing up his laser pistol to bear as the alarms start to blare in every direction. "She just had to jinx it." He says to himself as he looks to the rest of the group ready for a fight. "Been a few years since I had a good fight inside a ship." He adds as the pistol humms to life in spite of looking to all outward appearances to be a fairly standard beretta m9.

     He beats feet with the rest of the group echoing footsteps out against the cold hard steel. "So what's our ROI here?" He asks towards Clint as he checks around a corner keeping his laser pistol level. "Going non-lethal again?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    The bullets from Alisha's fancy gun rip down the corridor forcing the team to take cover in side rooms. Some of those side rooms contain more Alisha's... who are notably good at martial arts.

    Bobbi is half way to catching up with the team when she hears the call from May. <Affirmative. All agents, defend yourself but don't advance. May try and find out why they're here>

    Jia is standing in a workshop, arms folded in front of her simply waiting for May to enter. When she does, she notes the lack of weapon drawn. Her eyes drift to the holster. "May be there's hope for SHIELD yet," she says judgingly.

    "So much for being able to protect us. You couldn't even do that at Afterlife.. and now you're on the terrorist watch list," she says with a small 'i told you so' smirk that she's trying to save for her daughter. "And you.. Deathwing. Don't think I didn't recognise you when I saw the news."

    Her calm eyes rest upon May and the inner tormoil of emotions settles. A well practiced skill she says to May, "You are Inhuman. You're one of us.. I would very much like to know what your gift is. But, you need to understand that we're not here to hurt anybody - we will if we have to. SHIELD has something stolen from us and we need it back. Terrigen crystals are here on this ship."

    Lash pushes in to the vault room and the bullets hit but leave barely bruises as he grabs one guard and throws him in to the other. He approaches the cache and pulls back the blanket...

    ... <Jia> he growls <the terrigen is not here>.

    Jia's expression flattens and she says with narrowed eyes, "Where is the terrigen, Melinda May."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Daisy starts conjuring her powers, protective fields to keep the team safe from attacks when she hears that word. Jiaying. It brings the young agent pause, a blink. There's hesitation there when she perhaps considers what path she should take. Ignore the mission and go after her mother? But then her team will be in danger..

"Jiaying? Where?" She calls out, eyes widening. Though the choice on where to go with gets robbed of her as Alisha takes aim once the team takes another corner and start nearing the vault. A rather ominously empty corridor with side entrances. Perfect for a little ambush...

The bullet comes and hits Daisy squarely in the chest. Thankfully in the tact vest. It still hurts like heck, and she gets tossed back a couple of meters and hits a wall, breath escaping her and she crumples back, wincing.

Alisha singsongs into comms. "Got one~" she points again, the redhead barely visible at the end of the corridor.

As for the other Gingers they wait to intercept the trio of Lester, Clint and Lance. Redheads for everyone! They move in syncronized, fluid motions, approaching with a grin. "Hey boys..." "Wanna play?" Damn those cheeky clones.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint answers his redhead with a throwing knife to the face. It crackles with enough electricity to drop an ox, so hopefully clones have slightly less stamina than that. If not, worse for her, because if she's still up, the katana is swinging for her, and it doesn't have a non-lethal setting.

<At this point, I could really care less about anyone who chooses to stand against us, Agent Colt. As I said, keep one alive for questioning.>

He glances at the command interface for the drone and it zips towards the riflewoman, a small red light on it starting to blink faster and faster.

Melinda May has posed:
May's jaw tenses at the name 'Deathwing'. "That was *not* me," she says, fully aware the woman before her won't believe her. Daisy said the Inhumans would give her a blank slate. That's not what May's seeing. Not what she's feeling. "SHIELD has been framed. I've been framed." Not that Jiaying cares about either of those things. May doesn't need Empathy to know that. "Your *daughter* has been framed." She's not sure the woman really cares about that, either.

A wry, slightly bitter pull comes to the corner of her lips. "From what I can tell, you haven't had any better success against HYDRA than we have, lately. You're as rundown as we are, and if you're hitting this ship, it means your back is against the wall and you're desperate."

She holds her hands up and out from her sides. "You don't want to hurt anybody? Prove it. Call your people off. Let's talk it out. Gonzales was willing to discuss it. I'm betting Morse will be, too..."

Then, of course, the news the Terrigen isn't here comes over the radio. "I don't know," May says, allowing surprise to register on her features. "We're not here for Terrigen. We're here for something else entirely."

She meets the other woman's eyes. "Believe me when I tell you, I *know* how you feel."

Lester Colt has posed:
     Colt flicks a lever on the side of the pistol with a low nod of his head affirming the rules of engagement. He narrows his eyes as he takes a deep breath before swinging around that corner and firing into the open hall. A hail of blue lasers come from the end of his fully automatic 'beretta m9'.

     He falls down onto one knee bracing his pistol with both hands even though the weapon itself gives off no recoil at all. It's a difficult thing to master firing but he's doing his best to put rounds on target as he leans out of cover of the side of the ship.

Lance Hunter has posed:
A door swings open to Hunter's right and suddenly a foot is colliding with his hand and his ICER is flying. "What in the bloody-" a fist cuts off the rest of the words and Hutnter is bringing up his hands to face off against one of the GinJas emerging from the side door. There's more than one of them. "What they order you lot in bulk?" he asks before throwing a kick for the woman's gut then taking a hard swing for the jaw trying to knock her down quick so he can get to his bloody gun!

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Jia nods her head, "Framed. Yes. I did try to warn my daughter this would happen. It always happens. Again and again, over the ages." She points to May and then back to herself, "You and I have not had the opportunity to have this discussion... and unfortunately you're experience the negative aspects of trying to do the right thing for the wrong people."

    "We want nothing more than to be left alone.. and HYDRA.. have found a way to track Gordon," she says with an intense burst of pure hatred. "But you are right, we are being relentlessly hounded by those monsters. We need terrigen to make more Inhumans to survive. We are being picked off one by one."

    There is a small look of surprise on her face when she realises what May is talking about. That she is quite likely an empath. "That is a certain irony. I know I cannot draw you away from SHIELD, let alone my own daughter. But our kind will never be safe with their kind," she says of humanity.

    "They will always fear us, even if they cheer us for a while. Inevitably it always comes back to the same fear inside them. Afterlife was a chance for us to work away our old life, our old fears and regrets.. to start fresh. I'm sorry you're not getting that chance - to know yourself and your gifts. I want to help you - and you can help us." The genuine feelings to match the words are there.

    No doubt it's the idea of negotiating with two Inhumans, and probably three if her daughter is involved that eventually gets a nod out of her head. <Alisha, Lash, Mark, stand down.. I am going to talk with SHIELD>. She gives a fellow Inhuman the time of day and the benefit of the doubt. Even Reina got it.

    And then a big feeling of regret comes from Jia as she says, "We must not allow the mistakes of Eva and her daughter Katya to define _our_ future." Her hand extends to May.

    Bobbi rounds the corner to see Daisy drop, "Stay down Quake." She moves in to a side room and picks up a table, then exits and charges down the hall way with it against her body like a SHIELD to put a barrier between Daisy and Alisha. "How bad are you hit?"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Are you seriously...." The Ginger fighting Lance blocks the punch with a deft, smooth motion, " ... complaining about redheads, handsome?" a smirk on the woman's lips and she answering back with a couple of kicks of her own before sliding to kick that damn gun away! Time for some hand-to-hand! "It's okay, I will go gentle with you." she is lying.

The knife from Clint is blocked with a sleeve but she wasn't counting on the electricity, a shout of pain leaving the woman and she is tossed back against a wall, that one out cold.. As for the one against Lester, she moves in fast, but it's certainly not easy to dodge past a sharpshooter like that. Note for other incarnations, bring heavy weaponry. Lester's shots ring true, running through one of the clones who falls to the ground..

The sniper on the end of the corridor seems a bit oblivious about the explosive, but calls out on comms, "Boss Alisha, we need some reinforcements here..."

But with the call to stand down the woman lowers her sniper, "Roger that." and so does the one fighting Lance. "Well, maybe next time I will put you on your back." she stands back.

--

Daisy remains on the ground when Bobbi comes by, looking up at her. "Not much of a choice but staying down for now." she still wincing at the chest pain. "I think it mostly hit the vest, so I should be okay.. Just need to get my breathing going again.."

Melinda May has posed:
Like Daisy, perhaps, May fundamentally disagrees with Jia's assertion that separating from humanity is the only way to protect themselves. And the Inhuman leader is correct. May is a SHIELD lifer. It will take a lot for her to leave that behind. Especially if even this mess with HYDRA hasn't drummed her out.

Sensing the other woman's sincerity, though, and even her regret, May finds herself surprised by the offer of the hand. Slowly, she reaches out to reciprocate it, her grip firm in response. She taps the comm in her ear. "Morse, stand down. Repeat, get everyone to stand down. Jiaying is willing to talk. I want us to listen."

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint quickly reacts to May's call by cancelling the detonation of his drone and holding position where he is. Over the comms he replies <Holding, got at least one enemy incapped and Quake is hit>

Lester Colt has posed:
     Colt flicks his pistol round his finger for a moment before slotting it back into his holster. He comes back up to a stand as he looks at the carnage wrought all around. His eyes narrow for a moment as he goes somewhere else inside of his own mind looking at the cold lifeless eyes of the clone on the ground.

     Locking eyes with someone who'd tried to kill him he stays there for a long moment deadpan expression on his face <On your orders.> Before finally pulling his eyes away looking off down the hall.

Lance Hunter has posed:
The Alisha clone's hits send Hunter staggering back. "Only when they're kicking my ass," he says about problems with red head. He dives for the ICER when she kicks it away, hands clutching around nothing as he lets out a curse. Then the fight is over, and Hunter gets to his feet brushing himself off as he does. "Right," he says. "Next time I won't go easy on you," he says. He wasn't going easy, she was just that bloody good at fighting. <<Standing down here >> he reports over comms.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi is startled when she sees what has happened. The vault door kicked in, two agents in the vault down, Quake down. Two copies of Alisha down. She shakes her head and says, "Wow.. this could have got out of control real fast." She offers a hand to help Daisy up to her feet.

    <May, take Jia to the ready room on Deck A.. let's get to the bottom of this>

    Jia studiously looks May over and says, "You seem to be coping well.." <Regroup with Gordon> "..considering you've not had anyone to help you through this difficult transition." She lifts her chin a touch, "What now?"

    Bobbi starts walking back to the ready room and says over comms <Captain, situation is resolving. Clear the ready room and drop the klaxon> The ship wide alarm finally ends. As the agents are moving through the ship they can see all the sailors now have M4's in their arms, rifle pointed to the floor. They were all ready for a war.

Melinda May has posed:
"There's a ready room on Deck A," May tells Jiaying. "We'll go there. Morse will meet us."

She invites the woman to walk with her, keeping her ICER holstered and clearing their way with a look and a gesture on occasion when sailors cross their path. "I should tell you, so you're not surprised, Daisy's been hurt. I don't know how badly, only that they said she's down." She lets her concern about that show. May isn't big on emotional displays. With this woman, though, she's trying the honest approach... just to see if it will actually work.

Thus, she lets a small, wry smile touch her lips again as Jia asks her questions. "I've spent many, many years learning to channel emotions constructively," she admits as they walk toward the ready room. "But I wasn't alone. Daisy helped. So did others." She was lucky. She knows this. Empathy is, perhaps, a more benign power to have to come to terms with. "I suppose it helped that I spent nearly two weeks immediately thereafter with no emotions whatsoever. It was a slow reveal."

Finally, they enter the ready room and she looks around to see whom else Bobbi has brought. Or if Daisy is, perhaps, there.

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint Barton sheathed his katana and leaves the unconscious clone with a crew member as he heads for the ready room. Getting there, he takes up a position against the wall, waiting to see exactly what they are dealing with.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter is not far behind Barton in reaching the ready room, he holsters his weapon he recovered along the way, M4 left to hang on it's strap by his side. One in the room, like Barton he takes a up a position by the wall and waits for the others to arrive.

Lester Colt has posed:
     Colt tosses something out of his pocket onto the ground. He shrinks down to 6 inches tall vanishing from sight before zipping back up to full size now holding a full on rifle in his hands. Once he's got the rifle in his grasp he's heading right into the ready room with Clint and Hunter. He picks a spot on the wall to stand with his rifle in a stance of at ease waiting for whatever could have stopped their fight in the midst of it getting started. His eyes locking dead ahead from behind those goggles.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi has her arms folded as her team filters their way in.. sans Daisy who has gone to medical to get checked out. She tilts her head a bit as Jiaying walks in with May and says, "Here we are again." She has a bit of a power posture going, looking like she's in control.. which she is. The tables have turned for a change and this time she isn't at Jia's mercy.

    "I can guess why you're here. You want terrigen crystals. I had them moved," she says bluntly.

    Jia is still trying to figure out how to deal with Bobbi. She was getting somewhere back at Afterlife but now the board has been reset. "HYDRA has been tracking Gordon's teleportation. They've been picking us off one by one. We need terrigen to rebuild our numbers," she says figuring it's best to get this over with.

    Bobbi considers for a moment and nods her head, "Contrary to popular belief, SHIELD is not out of the game. We were framed by HYDRA and we've been trying to go after List for what he did at Afterlife too. You don't have a secure place to store terrigen right now but we do.. so why don't we circle back around to the discussion you were having with Gonzales. Let's work together to take down List and find ways to protect Inhumans."

    Jia looks a touch surprised and smirks. "You think you've got it all figured out. Now that we're desperate you can dictate the terms," she says, "this is only the beginning, you don't know what's coming your way. SHIELD might be your best ally right now.. but it will either go down in flames defending you, or it will turn on you. It's only a matter of time. As for us not having a place.. we have a place, we cannot go there with HYDRA tracking Gordon."

    Bobbi looks a little surprised. Not at the speech about 'you can't trust mans world' but by HYDRA tracking Gordon. <Captain, get the Iliad moving, our position has been compromised> There's a double whistle through the comms to let all crew know the ship is about to start moving and to stop work.

    "I know a guy who might be able to help with Gordon's problem," she says speaking of Fitz, "... but at least let us take you somewhere that HYDRA doesn't know about. We have safe houses.. we can figure out a way to work together when you've had a chance to breath."

    Jia glances from Bobbi to May and then around at the others in the room. The humans. She looks back to the Inhumans and nods her head, "Agreed." <Everyone head up to Deck A, we're leaving with Morse, May, and my daughter Daisy>.

    Bobbi's tense concern that this will all go to heck in a bread basket fades as Jia actually agreed to something for a change. She takes the key card out of her pocket and hands it to Clint, "Barton, Hunter, Colt.. go get item 7117." She then nods to May, "We will set them up at The Estate." Then she addresses everyone, "We will meet at the quinjet."

Clint Barton has posed:
Clint takes the keycard and nods, "No problem." He'll get the story on these guys later when they're not in the middle of a thing. "Hunter, Colt, let's go. We'll get this taken care of real quick and get back to the quinjet. Given a lack of further attackers, this should only take a couple minutes."

He heads back down the way they had come from, passing the vault Lash opened the hard way to use the keycard on the correct room. Stepping in, he collects the Time Brick (It really is a miserable name) and locks the door back behind him, "Ok guys, got it, let's hit the flight deck." Putting action to words, he starts back up, hopefully without a full scale HYDRA attack materializing.

Lester Colt has posed:
     Colt follows clint at a marching pace steady and collected as he goes. He's focused and alert now that there's been one attack. His eyes falling down from one corner to the next as he checks each way to make sure no one is going to get the jump on them in this ship. Especially when he hears that HYDRA could be tracking the people who just arrived on board.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter follows along rubbing his jaw from time to time as he does. Once the item is secured and they're moving upstairs he hits the comms. << Item is secure and on the way up.>>

"And we just had to say we might be attacked," Hunter grouses as he keeps his eyes open as they move through the ship.

Melinda May has posed:
Somehow, with this turn of events, May suddenly feels like a piece on a chessboard she didn't know existed. She knows where her loyalties lie, but at the same time... part of her needs this to work out somehow. She doesn't want to admit it, even to herself, but it's true enough. That Daisy just *might* be right about Jiaying willing to set aside past differences is... a bit of a seismic shift for the Cavalry.

But she's been around long enough to know the knot of aprehension in the pit of her stomach is well earned, and best heeded. Especially when she sees Bobbi's 'power posture'. That's like walking into a room and seeing someone in an aggressive ready stance. May's no diplomat, but even her fighting style is subtler than that. She keeps her expression neutral, now.

"The Estate should work," she agrees. She glances to Jiaying, telling her. "It's remote and hard to approach undetected." A beat. "And the Quin can cloak."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi heads up to the quinjet with May and Jia and they are soon met with the Inhumans and the SHIELD team. It's a bit cramped in the quinjet with this many people. They should have brought The Bus. But... the trip back to base is going via The Estate to drop them off. At least the second leg won't be as crowded.

    Bobbi takes a seat up with May so as not to have to think about the Inhumans.. and to let Daisy talk with Jia. It's crowded.. less so with Alisha reunites herself with all the clones. Gordon doesn't look thrilled to be traveling in a manner that isn't teleporting. Mark seemed to want to catch up with Bobbi but instead sits in the corner quietly.

    The relationship between SHIELD and the Inhumans of Afterlife is strained but for the first time since Gonzales' death, it is taking small steps in the right direction.

    ....and now the time brick is back in play. The weight of the thing bares the foreboding of what it represents - potentially a final good bye to Daniel Sousa that no one wants.