7007/Waiting Game

Waiting Game
Date of Scene:	19 July 2021
Location:	Shooting Range/Armory - Playground
Synopsis:	May and Underwood spend time in the shooting range while Peggy is undergoing her lifesaving procedure. It's all a waiting game.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Dottie Underwood

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Melinda May has posed:
Given she's taken over a small storage room off the armory and turned it into a defacto office for the STRIKE teams, Melinda May has spent an unsurprising amount of time in and around the gun range. She's spent quite a bit of time in the gym and around the hangar, too. There's no question in anyone's mind, these days, that she's definitely burying herself in work. Perhaps, though, that's to be expected.

Along on the range for a brief span of time, she has been practicing with a high powered rifle, rather than a pistol. By rights, she should go out to the sniper range with it, but it doesn't hurt to use it on the longer of the ranges provided. And she can switch back to pistol soon enough. She has yellow ballistics glasses on her nose and a pair of noise suppression ear muffs on her ears. Unlike most agents, though, that doesn't prevent her from being aware of the presence of others approaching.

Not when she can feel them coming.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
And the emotional signature approaching is...unique -- a restless anticipation, like a tiger pacing its cage. Dottie Underwood comes to the gun range in the off hours. Most of SHIELD doesn't know her or her capabilities, and of those that do, few seek out her company. She makes them nervous. And they should be.

But she doesn't let her conditioning lag. Physical exercises every morning. Researching her latest targets. The gun range when it's gone quiet. They still let her sign out an ICER. Every time. She still can't fathom why.

Melinda May has posed:
Peggy's influence, no doubt. Both she and May have seen what 'could be' with the Russian. When she senses that restlessness approach, May straightens and sets aside her target practice -- at least with the rifle. She begins breaking down the weapon, placing it back in its case and collecting the ammo. Which isn't to say she's done at the range. Only that she doesn't care to be interrupted while she snipes.

As Dottie enters, May pulls her ear muffs down around her neck and gives the woman a cool nod that, unlike other agents, doesn't actually contain any hint of hostility.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Peggy had almost certainly made some people realize that Dottie's more deadly without an ICER in her hands. And that Dottie needs to keep herself occupied. Especially if they aren't keeping her confined.

She nods back to Agent May. It's a neutral greeting. Although there is a hint of study in it. As if she's comparing differences against an internal catalog. She's starting to be able to tell them apart. Now that she knows about both women.

Melinda May has posed:
May can sense that muted curiosity -- the kind that comes with cataloguing and attention to detail. Her head cants faintly, perhaps faintly curious herself, but she doesn't say anything immediately. Instead, she goes to put the rifle and its ammo away in lock up, before returning with ICER rounds and a 9-mil that can handle them.

Selecting a booth beside Dottie, she preps her weapon for the range with efficient, meticulous care. There's no question Melinda May knows her way around a weapon. She doesn't waste time, and she doesn't hurry. There's no reason to.

Even so, her attention does remain somewhat on her companion. She doesn't need a lot of focus for what she's doing with her hands. And, in her own way, she's just as curious to peg the differences between the real world version of Dottie Underwood and the construct she knew in the Framework.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Setting her own target at her usual maximum range, Dottie goes about her usual routine. Eye and ear protection seem an extravagance, but they are provided, so she uses them. She checks the clip of ICER rounds. And then, with perfect precision, she fires every round, each pull of the trigger in time with her heartbeat. She leaves only one hole in the target.

Melinda May has posed:
May's not surprised by the skill Underwood shows. Her own target cluster is close, but not a single hole. In a firefight, though, it actually wouldn't matter. They're close enough to be both accurate and fatal. She feels no sense of inadequacy at that fact. Good as she is with a gun, like Dottie, her real skill is in her body.

She slides bullets into another mag and watches Dottie line up another round of shots. The relaxing rhythm of it, in time with the heartbeats, is something she can respect. And she begins to suspect the woman's restlessness comes from more than just cooling here heels here.

When there's a lull, she turns, canting her head curiously. "Why do you stay?" she asks, not expecting a straight or useful answer. Her tone, however, is not the challenge Dottie might have gotten from her before the Framework. She's not telling the woman to go.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
"Where? Here?" Dottie considers for a moment. "Because Giyera must be angry at his failure. Malick too. And angry men are often violent. And they're still more useful alive."

She grins brightly, like a child who knows she has answered correctly. It's not a lie. She has her next mission, but it's not yet time to charm the many headed serpent.

Melinda May has posed:
"Here," May agrees. Dottie could go anywhere. Why stay with SHIELD? The answer is interesting from that perspective.

"They are." May cants her head, a brow arching slightly. She's sharper edged than Lily, to be sure. Hasn't had the same decades to blunt them... or at least cover them with better velvet. "Why help us?" she asks now. "HYDRA. The Framework." A beat. "Peggy." The last isn't part of the question. It's the answer.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
The grin doesn't fade completely, but her lips come together to cover her teeth. She nods, one sharp duck of her chin in acknowledgement. A very palpable hit, indeed. Peggy is the answer.

Melinda May has posed:
May can concede that point with some fair graciousness. It wasn't a hard leap. The real question behind that one is... why? But she knows that question won't be answered. So, instead, she returns to her target practice.

She doesn't believe Dottie wants to harm Peggy. She does suspect she wants to, if not control her directly, certainly capture a good amount of her attention. But figuring out that why probably requires someone like Andrew. Not Melinda May. For now, though, it means Dottie isn't an immediate threat.

"We were successful at the Triskelion," she says off-hand. Then, a little more seriously. "Morse and Simmons are working on Peggy right now." Either she'll live, or she'll die. Which means either May and Dottie will end this practice session peaceably, or they won't.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
"Oh," Dottie says, "Good."

She sets up for another target. Her voice might have wavered slightly, but her hand doesn't. She fires at a steady pace, if a little faster than before.

Melinda May has posed:
May raises her own gun and fires, again clustering her shots. There's no competition here. No need for it, at the moment. Really, they're both doing the same thing. Waiting. The only way either of them can without fretting -- albeit in very different ways.

May choses not to dwell on what passing similiarity there is between them.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Dottie learned long ago not to dwell. It's one of the reasons she survived. But they are both waiting for the same thing, even if for different reasons. News.

Melinda May has posed:
When news does come, they've both probably put a fairly sizable dint in the base's target ammo. May responds to a soft call on the comm in her ear. There's a subtle easing of her shoulders. "<<Copy that,>>" she says in response. A beat. "<<Thanks.>>"

She lays her weapon down and looks at Dottie. "She's out. She's resting. They'll know come morning, but... they're hopeful." And she knows Bobbi and Jemma well enough to know that's a very, very good sign.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Dottie nods. A micro-expression of thanks flashes at the corners of her features, small twitches at her lips, her eyes. But she does not put down her weapon.

Melinda May has posed:
As far as May is concerned, the waiting is over. She has no compunction, now that Peggy is simply resting, going to check in on them. So, yes. She puts her weapon down and proceeds to clean it efficiently before she puts it back away and secures the ammo. On her way out the door, she pauses long enough to glance back at the Russian. "Good shooting."

Then, she's gone, leaving Dottie to her own devices for better or worse.

Dottie Underwood has posed:
Dottie sets up for another round of target practice. She has more waiting ahead of her.