7364/May's Salvation

May's Salvation
Date of Scene:	13 August 2021
Location:	Afterlife Settlement - Nepal
Synopsis:	Phil, Lance, and Daisy set off on a quinjet to find May and Bobbi who have failed three checkins. Luckily they have a flare which makes finding them a lot easier. May (accidentally) leaves her empathic life line, the magical dagger from Abcde, behind in the cave. The pair leave something else behind in that cave too.. a lot of guilt and self loathing.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Phil Coulson, Lance Hunter, Daisy Johnson, Bobbi Morse

---

Melinda May has posed:
It's been more than 24 hours -- closer to 36 -- since May and Bobbi took QJ-14 to Nepal. The fact they didn't check in upon landing was... unusual. But given where the pair were going and why, it wasn't deemed alarming enough to run up the flagpole. The fact they've not checked in at all since then, however, is more troubling. Especially when a young agent finds himself on the horn with SHIELD's Southeast Asian Operations Headquarters in New Delhi.

"Um," young Mr. Mills can be heard saying, abeit quietly, into his comset, "What do you mean their transponder just... disappeared?" He definitely looks consternated. "Over the Himalayas. Why are you just telling us this *now*?"

He stands there, listening for a long moment. "Uh-huh... Yeah... I see... Y'know, I really think you need to speak to my supervisor." Because he sure as hell doesn't want to be the one to tell Phil Coulson that Melinda May's plane disappeared in the Himalayas 24 hours ago and they're only just hearing about it *now*. No way, no how.

He turns around, looking through the Playground's small ops center. "Commander Coulson?" Poor kid.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil Coulson is one of those people that simply is 'there', even when he's not, or rather, when one doesn't expect him to be. He is the quintessential 'he's right behind me, isn't he?' guy, and now really is no different. In suit and tie, his sunglasses tucked away in an inside pocket, he's looking as put-together as always.

As the younger agent turns, he meets eye to eye with the Commander, the older man's expression set to a deliberately neutral guise. Brows rise slightly, his head ducks just a little,

"Something you want to tell me?"

He heard it all, of course. On this side of the conversation, anyway. Of course, when Phil nods and takes over the communication, the chances are really good that the Operations in Delhi really doesn't want to tell him the news either.

"Delhi, this is Coulson. What have you got?" He'll give the kid a break for the moment.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Lance had been loitering around the command center since Bobbi failed to check in from Katmandu. He had been waiting for word but now that it had been a full day, he was 'borrowing' a console to authorize a quinjet for flight, using a code of Bobbi's he read over her shoulder one time and hoped was still valid. Though when someone calls for Coulson his head pops up. "That about May and Bobs?" he asks.

Not waiting for an answer he picks up his cup of tea to hover behind Coulson's shoulder, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

Not at all annoying right?

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Alright, this was it. Daisy had promised she'd keep an eye out on Phil while May was out, and so that was she was doing but also .., there was something she had to do. So she had gathered up her courage to go and have a 'talk' with the Commander. Sure, all very casual. Maybe Tahiti would be mentioned. Magical place, ain't it?

"Come on, you know you need to talk to him.." she is making her way across the base grounds and .., lo and behold she is told he is at the command center! Easy...

Imagine her surprise when she gets in and there's a talk about a transponder disappearing. And a Lance looking over the commander's shoulder. Another head sprouts from behind Phil as if he had just grown another head, a curious Daisy looking over, "What's going on?" yes, she heard Lance talking.

"Shouldn't you be on your honeymoon?" She then asks Lance.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    The Agent from New Delhi has a small quiver in his voice. Talking to commanders from the USA? That's a big deal. "Commander Coulson. I regret to inform you that QF17's transponder went dark yesterday and we have received no checkins from either Commander May or Commander Morse. They have not responded to attempts to contact them on radio and satellite has been useless due to heavy snowfall in the area."

    There's an audible gulp, "Today Sir we have clear visibility and we think we found what looks like a crashed quinjet on the mountain side they were headed to.. Sir." New Delhi's 'near enough' to Nepal that they do a lot of tracking in the region but they are by no means a big base with lots of resources. They tend to help agents who are hitting the pavement, so to speak, in India.

    "I am just letting Agent Mills know now that they have missed their third checkin. Commander Morse that is Sir, Commander May was expected to be out of communications for the duration of her trip."

Phil Coulson has posed:
"Why don't you just keep ordering that quin, hmmmm?" Blue eyes turn towards Lance; there is not a lot that happens that Phil doesn't know about, and he's wearing his 'Level 8' badge now, that has his name emblazoned upon it. "And future reference, ask Morse to get your own code. When you finally get access." It's all delivered in a dead-pan, though his tones hover between 'is he kidding me and oh stuff, he's not kidding me'.

Daisy's appearance isn't so strange, then, on the assumption she'd somehow heard about the acquisition attempt, but nope... "Daisy." For her, she gets a less 'commanderish' tone in her single-worded greeting, though he's back to listening to the other side in New Delhi.

"Wait.. you missed THREE check-ins?" Three.

Phil exhales in a drawn out sigh and nods his head before, "I'll expect clearance through the airspace, and would love a tour of your offices.. later." He is, after all, a SHIELD geek, and their offices had been renovated!

Ahem.

"I'll have a team over there within 12 hours." Shhhh.

"Coulson out."

Finally, Phil looks to the others, his expression guarded. Finally, he presses his lips together and nods ever so slightly, "Looks like we're going to the mountains." He so much prefers beaches.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"For the record Coulson, I've no idea what you're talking about," Hunter says before looking down at the keyboard to type the rest of the code in. "But the quinjet will be ready in five."

Daisy's arrival is met with a nod. "Fancy a trip to Nepal?" he asks inviting her along on this little trip, authorized or not. "Gonna go get my kit, meet you in the hanger in three minutes?" he asks the others, remarking on the mountains comment. "I'll remember to pack my skis"

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Oooo, trying to get a quinjet under the Commander's nose? Cheeky! Daisy looks at Hunter mouthing a 'Busted' even if no words come out. Still, she sobers up quickly at the talk coming out from the other side. Lost communication with the quinjet? On Nepal?

She doesn't voice her worst fears, that this may have been an attack on them. Instead she stays quiet, lips pressed to a firm line, but she nods at Lance's question. "I am always being drawn back to that place. Feels like destiny sometimes." a beat, "Hopefully this time it will be something *good*." like finding them alive.

"I will start getting the engines hot. But remember, we are going to the COLD. We will need protection." oh yes, she had an intensive course with Lara Croft about survival when they went there. And so off she goes to go get her own pack ready as well, and get the quinjet ready for takeoff!

Melinda May has posed:
The quinjet is, indeed, airborn in five, loaded with cold weather gear and S&R equipment, in addition to the usual arsenal hidden under the floorboards. Despite how it may appear, May really was joking when she joked only she was allowed to blow up quinjets to Daisy.

The trip to the small, landlocked country between India and Tibet takes about 12 hours by QJ. Which means there's plenty of time to sit and stew. To check and recheck equipment. To speculate on what happened.

And to quiz New Delhi on just what happened.

They manage to send the American team the last known coordinates of the plane, where they found the wreckage. They haven't put boots on the grounds out there, however. So what the team can expect to find when they get there is still a mystery. At least they know where they're going.

And, indeed, of all of them, Daisy is the most familiar with the area. She'll know, better than the others, that, if the agents aren't with the plane -- and the only way to know that appears to be to land and find out -- they are about an hour's walk (in good weather... when there's not a snow storm) from the caves the community used to use. She'd be able to guess, too, how long it would take them to get to the ruins themsevles, should they have decided to go there.

Flying over the site, it becomes very obvious why they didn't check in. The nose is a crumpled mess, the cockpit probably slagged, and wings are shorn right off. If they survived, they either had to make an aerial evac or they'd have had to have been in the rear.

Bobbi and May are both pilots. It's anyone's guess where they'd be.

Phil Coulson has posed:
"In the field, Agent Hunter, you can call me 'Commander Coulson'." It's a little thing, but it's something Phil insists upon. After all, he gives the same courtesy, so.. given, extended, right? When he says it, he looks right at Lance before he nods his acknowledgment of the aircraft.

It's the invitation of Daisy that he opens his mouth, ready to give argument, beginning with, "I don't think that's necess-"

Still, unless he really had to, Phil can't //really// say no to Daisy. Not unless her life was on the line, and then he'd want to wrap her in bubble wrap and be done with it.

Once in the air, Phil has a parka, complete with fuzzy hood, off to the side as part of his gear. Snow boots, and his sunglasses to ward against snow blindness.

Courtesies and niceties are given to the Agents in New Delhi, the map looked over before he once departs with 'his' team.

In the air once more, and while Phil isn't a pilot, he's behind the pilots' chairs, looking for the crash. He probably sees it at the same time the others do, and at the sight of it, he frowns, searching for any hint they'd made it. A burned out flare, some sort of communication. Anything.

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Yes, sir, Commander Coulson," Hunter says with a salute, it's a touch snarky but the message is received. With Daisy warming up the jet he lets her do the honours of flying them to Nepal, with Lance sliding into the co-pilot seat for the long tense ride to Nepal.

Once on site, Hunter stands to get a better look at the jet. "Bloody hell," he says. "We need to get down there," he says leaving the co-pilot's seat and pulling on his parka.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"When we were joking about me flying the quinjet it wasn't supposed to be like this ..." Daisy is muttering to herself in complaint. Clearly some talk she had with May. She has dressed to the cold too. A nice parka, boots, the beanie is ready as well and the gloves. The works! Coming here one time and feeling the cold had been enough for her when she climbed a mountain. Yet after those twelve hours are done and they inspect the grounds she frowns a touch.

"They aren't far from the caves where the Inhumans used to train in." a pause, "Perhaps one hour, if they were in good weather." she tells the others. "But they will both know the place, seems like the most obvious location they would go to from here."

A glance to Coulson as if waiting for orders. But she also starts getting her gear on. "Though there's always the chance they stayed in the plane."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    The tea has cooled nicely and Bobbi is taking another sip. Her knees tucked up against her chest as she sits on the table talking with May. "The dress was -meant- to be blue," she says with a playful smile on her lips, "But Agent Earnest was colorblind. He hadn't told anyone.. I don't think it really occurred to him, that's just the way things looked right? Any way, the dress when it came out was..."

    Bobbi pauses mid-discussion about a past mission as she hears the sound of a quinjet. She puts down the tea and looks at May. "That sounded like a quinjet." She opens up the big bag she hauled down here and pulls out the flare gun. They have three shots in case they're wrong about this.

    Walking outside, the pain in her side is still there but not so bad she's walking funny any more. She lifts up the flare gun and fires it up in to the sky. The red flare shoots up brightly and can be seen easily from where their quinjet went down.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil is silent when his eyes are leveled at Lance's own, in the face of the obviously snarky salute before he nods his acknowledgment.

//Kids these days.//

At Daisy's pronouncement, Phil nods his head again, and starts getting his own jacket on, though he turns his back to the pair as he zips it up. There are things that are difficult with a temporary hand; there's no real movement, obviously no tactile feedback, and it's frustrating to not be able to do the 'normal' things as well as he could. Still, it's done, and once he's set, looks to the pair, "Right. Then the caves it is. Let's check the quin to make sure they actually did leave." If they had to punch out, the quin would indicate that too.. which would mean they're looking in the wrong place.

The red flare though?

Phil smiles against the cold that is beginning to invade; it's a cold he'll be dealing with, that they'll be dealing with..

"If I'm not mistaken..."

Melinda May has posed:
May has wrapped up the garbage from their latest MRE's and placed it into a small pocket in her pack. She is in the process of feeding the fire to keep the small flames going, when, like Bobbi, she hears the familiar whine of rotor engines. It completely distracts her from the story.

As Bobbi heads for the door, flaregun in hand, May roots around for the portable, short range communicator she pulled from the wreckage before they trekked over here.

With the radio in hand, she grabs her jacket and jogs out to join Bobbi at the mouth of the cave.

The flare glows a bright, brilliant red in the sky. May raises the shortwave to her mouth. "This is SHIELD 626," she says into it, using the protocol for compromised agent. "Is there anyone out there who copies? Over." She stands for a moment, listening, and then repeats the message once more. Glancing to her friend, she strides out a little farther into the open and shields her eyes with her hands, looking off in the direction of the wreck.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter has the grace to lower his eyes rather than keep that stare going, point taken, respect given.

Some 12hrs later he's doing up his parka and checking over his ICER. "Daisy, what'd you and Croft run into up here again?" he asks her considering what they might need to defend themselves.

"Roger that, I can inspect the jet, if you two want to head on to the caves if I find anything-"

He spots the flare and adjusts, "Or we can just follow that," he says with a glance to Coulson.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I am not sure you want to hear my story of the meet up with a horny leopard and a cheeky tomb raider. Besides Croft. A cheeky tomb raider besides Croft. But these caves here *should* be safer." Daisy zips her parka up, gets the beanie on and is just about to go out when..., look at that, a flare.

"Most likely them. Time to go..."

Daisy will fly the quinjet as close as she can to the location they saw the flare and brings it to a landing spot, the hangar door slowly starting to open up. It's when that static on the radio turns into something .., more solid.

"We hear you loud and clear. This is quinjet #51. It's a relief to hear your voice!" yes, it's Daisy on the radio. She sends a beamy smile over to the rest of the 'gang' before joining them to go out, handing the radio over to the others.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi glances a look to May. Now is when they find out if they have to fight for their lives one more time on this mountain top. That quinjet might not have been theirs after all. Odds are good it is but you never know. She nods her head to May and heads back inside.

    The quarter staff she picked up yesterday is grabbed again. She has a knife, she has a burn cord hidden in her belt, and she has a glorified stick. Combat in this snowy white landscape will be tricky and movement limited. If they can get the drop on anyone hunting them they have a good chance of making it through alive.

    Showing off just what she learnt that first time in the savage lands, she already has some twine out and is tying her knife on to the tip of the staff to turn it in to a spear. It's easy to imagine her in a two-piece running from tree top branch to tree top branch with a spear and swinging on vines. Not that she talks terribly much about the savage lands.

    When she hears a friendly voice over the radio she slumps with relief and disassembles her makeshift spear. "Well.. they have an hour hike, might as well finish our tea," she says and rests the staff over her shoulder as she wanders back inside to relax.

Melinda May has posed:
May actually cracks a smile as she hears Daisy's voice chirp back at them over the radio. Then again, since that first night in the cave, she's been a little more inclined to smile. Or at least, less inclined to scowl.

"Unless they drop in by jet," she tells Bobbi as they retreat back to the mouth of the cave. She can see the black speck of the plane moving away from where it had been hovering over the wreck.

Ultimately, however, she, too, moves back into the cave. Though, in this case, it's to start breaking down their makeshift camp.

The fire needs to be put out. Their garbage, scant as it is, needs to be cleaned up. And... Well, May did promise Phil a souvenir. So, those will need to be collected, too.

She can only hope whomever owned them before will forgive the appropriation.

Phil Coulson has posed:
The sound of May's voice brings a private exhale of relief from Phil as he watches Daisy take up the com. Once the first message is sent, he adds one of his own, "Do you need a medevac?" Mind, neither Bobbi nor May had mentioned the need of one, but he'd like to get as much information in the small burst as possible. "We'll be following your broadcast." After all, not only do aircraft have black boxes, but Agents do too, after a fashion. As long as they packed them in the kits. Nothing says 'extraction point' like, well, knowing where the extractees are!

Still, with the back of the quin open to the air now, Phil puts up his hood, sets his //aviator// sunglasses on, and looks to the others, "Let's go get 'em." He gives a single, quick nod towards Lance, adding, "We'll look at the quin later. If they're alive and unhurt, Commander May would have made sure nothing on that quin was salvageable."

Into the snow!

Lance Hunter has posed:
"A horny snow leopard? Yeah, I'm going to need a bigger gun," Hunter says holstering the ICER and grabbing a rifle from the Quinjet's armoury. He's just slinging it over his shoulder when they hear the radio call. "Daisy, ask her if Bobs is okay," he says.

There's no argument about the quinjet, now that they've seen signs of life and heard May is still alive the quinjet can go hang until they've got Bobs and May back. Though thinking of that he does help himself to a satchel of demolition charges to dispose of the jet once their friends have been rescued.

He hops into the snow after Coulson.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
The static on the radio is heard again and then Daisy's voice on comms once more. "Is Morse with you? Need a status on your condition. Over."

Soon after she steps out of the quinjet after Lance and Phil, trudging through the snow slowly while making way to where they last saw that flare.

Her relief is evident right now. They have found survivors. Her goggles are placed on her eyes. Certainly not as cool as aviator glasses! She sideeyes Phil who just makes it look cool all the time. A sigh.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi picks up the radio in one hand, her cup of tea in the other and takes a sip. "Affirmative, Morse is with us in spirit and body. Soooow.. how was the flight?" Bobbi asks chattily as she finishes the last of the green tea that May made for her. She hugs the mic to her chest a moment and says to May, "They're going to freak out when they see it."

    The it she is referring to is all the dried blood down her side and on her pants. The wound may be closed but the evidence of the damage is still there. "Lots of good tunes? campfire stories? who came with?"

    Bobbi sounds.. chipper. Like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. Even more so than the last time Daisy saw her out at the Addams Estate. "Oh hey here's one for you," she says since they need her to keep using the radio to track her. She doesn't need to be talking mind, but she's in the mood, "Not all construction work is equally enjoyable."

    She pauses for effect. "For example, enlarging a drilled hole is boring. While fasting piece of metal together is riveting." Somehow May managed to avoid corny jokes and one-liners all weekend and it is clear that Bobbi is only doing it now because the voice on the other end was Daisy's.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods her agreement to Bobbi. Lance, particularly, she's sure, will all but crap kittens. Still, letting the blonde chatter means she doesn't have to. Yes, May has been far more loquacious of late than usual. No, she doesn't intend to make that a habit.

She suppresses a groan at the corny jokes, just so she doesn't overly encourage more of the damned things. Instead, she folds up the blankets they used from the chest in the corner of the cave. All but the last two or three. She looks speculatively at them and over to Bobbi. In the end, she tosses one of the blankets at her and rolls up the others, stowing them in her pack. Call it a souvenir. That, the small box she took from the village, and the small lion figures she found discarded on a shelf near the back. One of them is for Coulson. His good luck piece.

She'll give it to him later.

"Better tell them we're largely uninjured," she suggests. "They'll freak less, that way." And really, she'd appreciate keeping the freaking to a minimum. She's almost got her head on straight again.

Phil Coulson has posed:
Phil rolls his eyes at the banter now, a tight-lipped smirk playing on his features. They //could// have used the SHIELD issue emergency beacons that comes in all sekrit agent boxes, but this works. As long as no unfriendlies are looking to play on secured lines, that is.

"Come on," he encourages as he takes the steps into the snow. Phil looks around, his now shielded eyes looking back to Lance. "Agent Hunter, you okay now?" And this is why it's not good to have married couples in this field. Not unless there's a tacit understanding that //bad things can happen//. (Could also be why Phil hasn't had a date in.. a little while. At least not that anyone knows about!)

After all, there was this cellist...

Into the snow, and way-finding. Occasionally he glances at Daisy to make sure she's okay, a rest here and there in order to catch his breath. After all, cold and altitude! "Sing out if you need a break." After all, May and Morse are okay, if the patter is any hint.

Lance Hunter has posed:
Smiling at Bobbi's jokes he remarks loud enough to be picked up the radio, "Better lay off the jokes Bobs, I'm out numbered if they decide that's reason enough to leave you here," then more seriously. "Good to hear your voice, sit tight we'll be right there, oh and be on the lookout for horny snow leopards apparently." He leaves that hanging with a smirk to Daisy.

"Now that I know Bob's alive I'm grand, Commander," he says. "Will be grander still when we get her back to base safe and sound," he says bounding quickly through the snow after Coulson.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Have you been sustaining yourself with booze and cookies..?" The inevitable question in return to Bobbi going on and on with those. It's a valid question! It could very well be. But hey, at least they are chipper. It's good. Bobbi's chipper, that is. Not May for sure! She imagines stoicism.

"And yes, horny leopards are out there. They are no joke." Indeed they are not! Specially getting those little claws very close to the throat.

"And I am good, Sir. If worst comes to bear I can just fly up." show off.

She points in the distance as they start reaching the cave system, "They are most likely over there." she calls out. A pair of binoculars out and she peering over with them before continuing on.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    "Hey honey," Bobbi replies as she hears Lance's voice. A very fond smile on her face and the intense and undeniable feeling of being loved and loving in return from her. "There's a request from the cave that no one freak out when you see the blood on my clothes. I'm perfectly fine, the wound is closed and I heal fast. By tomorrow it'll barely even be a memory."

    A nod to May because this was meant to be her vacation. so much for that though. Still, she has a new found respect for just what May's Inhuman ability can do for a person. "Sadly, no cookies. We've been drinking green tea and the last of the chocolate was required last night. As you can tell, with chocolate supplies having run out we're in dire circumstances indeed."

    She takes her finger off the broadcast button and smirks at May for a moment, then tucks her legs up underneath her. Finger on the trigger once more she continues, "But seriously, thanks for coming. So many of the usual things we should do we couldn't do. Not even the emergency beacons in that weather. It got coooold real fast." Especially with a wound. The hike may have saved them by keeping the blood pumping through their veins.

    Once upon a time it was Gonzales and Hartley she expected to see walking in through that cave door - with Lance of course, often running ahead without checking for danger. But times have changed and so has she. Phil, Daisy, Lance.. now there's a family she can understand. Well, Phil she's still trying to get a read on. While-ever she did her job they got on just fine but she's never had an 'in' with him like the others.

Melinda May has posed:
Yeah. May's given up on the idea of 'vacation'. Doesn't mean this wasn't a productive couple of days, though. She gives Bobbi a small smile and a light roll of her eyes at the smirk, but finishes packing up the gear. "You up for a hike?" she asks her presently. "If we make them come all the way down here and still have to drag our asses back an hour through that snow to where they've landed, we might as well meet them half-way and save them half the trip."

She'll understand if Bobbi says 'no'. Unlike May, she doesn't have thermal wear with her. She's been surviving with layers of regular clothes, a Nepalese jacket they found, and blanket wraps. "Ask them if they have an extra jacket."

Phil Coulson has posed:
Show off, indeed. Still, there's a smile offered to Daisy before, "You do that." As they continue on, the binoculars that Daisy pulls out gives a visual enough to see the individual caves. He doesn't take them them, however, but hits a setting on them to set them to IR. The throughput darkens, but it'll illuminate any warm blooded creatures, "Will that show you your snow leopards?" Horny or not.

Blood on clothing? Right.. didn't he ask if a medevac was necessary? "We've got a kit just in case, tell her," he passes on to she with the radio. Once again, he checks on Lance to be sure he's not going to hit the ceiling, metaphorically. "Hey, Agent Hunter. I'm going to need you to keep it in check." For May's sake. "If you're worried, we'll get her back to the medlab. Just, keep it calm."

Lance Hunter has posed:
"Hey Bobs, we'll be there in a- Blood? How much blood are we talking here?!" Hunter asks. Coulson's words do reach him and he takes a second to swallow down his emotions. "I'm calm, I'm calm, Commander," he says hands raised in surrender as he takes in breath and releases clouds of frosty air.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"I was looking for those two .." _Not leopards! Daisy giving Phil a look. Was he teasing her? He most likely was. Cheeky! She smiles faintly in the man's direction before casting a look at Lance and answering on the radio. "Well, we didn't bring chocolate ..." boo, "But we do have a kit for the cold. It has clothing appropriate for the environment." a glance to Hunter, "With those powers of hers it would take a -lot- to leave a dent on her." she reminds the man.

Yes, love is irrational.

"You were fighting off ninjas a few days ago. I am sure she will manage this place just as fine, mmm?" She says in a reassuring manner to Lance. But then she casts a look at Phil. Something wrong on comms? Too chipper of a Bobbi?! But they will know when they come across them.

"We are near the mountain range. You are on the old Inhuman caves, right?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi raises an eyebrow and puts down the phone. She puts the mug in to her backpack and then picks it up. It's a big heavy thing but she's not having much trouble with it today. She does up the straps and says, "A hike up the Himalayas? I could do this all day..."

    A cocky little grin as she quotes Steve Rogers. But it's rather apt given what happened last night. She grabs the quarter staff aka walking stick and heads out with May. "We're going to meet you half way. Please tell me you have a spare jacket with you...," because just because she can push on through this doesn't mean it isn't very cold without thermals. "Oh, plenty more blood on the inside than the outside. It's nothing serious now."

    The day out when they visited Afterlife had been beautiful blue skies and white snow blanketing the mountain side. Now far later in the day, Bobbi has a rough idea which way they need to go just based on the way they got here to begin with. Still, the air is cold and the wind is colder. And Bobbi isn't letting up with the bad jokes over the radio either, "Did you know the area between the front of a Nando's and the back is called the peri-perineum?"

    After a short while of hiking they finally spot the other agents in the distance. Bobbi gives a wave and then smiles to May, "Well.." There are no words to describe what she feels about this weekend - the odd cocktail of 'I could have done without a plane crash but really I needed this'. She raises her eyebrows and keeps on trudging forward through the thick layer of snow.

Melinda May has posed:
May slings her pack on her back and takes out the other shortwave, now that they're on the move and she's no longer concerned with 'leaving no trace', as it were. She walks alongside Bobbi, straining a little more than she simply because of deep snow and short legs. Doesn't slow her down any.

She can sense when they're close to the others. That mix of fluttery hope, fear, relief and faint exasperation is all to telling. She returns Bobbi's glance with a wry smile. "Just go kiss your boy so we can go home," she tells her, giving her shoulder a push.

Then, she's trudging across the distance, herself, to meet up with the others. "So," she says dryly, looking at both Phil and Daisy. "We really gotta review our maintenance checks when we get back home."

Phil Coulson has posed:
"Mmmhmm, Agent Johnson." He gestures along the path, the way they're following, and it really is slow going. Fire packs, spare clothing, and a small(ish) medkit in tow. A nod of support is given to Lance, and as the ladies hove into sight, Phil is essentially telling him the same thing.

"Go check on your wife."

He does look relieved to see May, and a smile creeps onto Phil's face; he'll allow the relief. Their meeting isn't anywhere near as showy; the rescue of a long-time partner. "I'm going to skin them." He says that with such a straight face, that maybe he means it? "We'll look at the logs when we get back."

Then, Phil is a little quieter, most of his words eaten by the cold as he asks, "You okay? Next time, my idea. Beach front."

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter groans as Bobbi comes out with more bad jokes. "Fine more blood in than out, but you clearly hit your head with all those jokes."

Though all of that is forgotten and Bobbi comes into view, he rushes forward, "Bobs!" he exclaimes giving her a once over as he closes the distance, noting the blood but that she seemed to be walking fine. When he reaches unless their's any objections he pulls her into a kiss, a much needed release for all the stress and worry he's been feeling these past twelve hours.

Sorry May.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
    Bobbi is delighted to see Lance and wraps her arms about him as she returns the kiss passionately. When it's done she grins, "Hey babe. May and I had a little disagreement with a malfunctioning quinjet D-T-somethingerother. Whatever it was, it was extremely important to all the bits that keep you flying."

    She places an arm about his waist and walks with him to the group. The pack on her back looks superduper extra full. Clearly she's the packmule for this trip. She lets him see the wound area. Some of the layers she's wearing are pierced but the site is bandaged up thanks to May. The blood is dry on her skin and clothes and she comments, "Still tender, but that'll pass. May be by tomorrow I'll be all good. Got a bit of windscreen in me when we crashed."

    She smiles and turns off the radar and offers a one arm hug to Daisy too. Then, Phil, when he's done checking on May. She says, "Thanks for coming to get us Sir." Old habits die hard. He'll always be a Sir to Bobbi. "I hope my husband hasn't killed too many of your brain cells getting here," she says and gives Lance a gentle squeeze with her arm.

    One thing for sure, despite having crashed a quinjet and survived in the freezing cold Bobbi seems significantly more chipper than she has ever since she got out of the framework. Heck ever since Whitehall kidnapped she and Jemma and they met up with Lance. "I'm really ready to go home," she says with a widening of her eyes. "And have a nice loooong warm bath."

Melinda May has posed:
"TC-17," May corrects Bobbi automatically. It's a little microprocessor that keeps the rotors turning properly and the power distribution balanced, apparently. She didn't know that before, particularly. She figured it out damned quick when they were spinning out of the sky.

Then, however, Phil is by her side and she's feeling his relief mingling with her own. A soft exhale breathes gently out of her. "Fiji," she tells him, looking up at him. Her expression is as serious as if she were choosing which weapon to take on a mission. "Or Oahu." She's officially tired of snow.

Truthfully, though? The surge of love (and, let's be honest, lust) from Hunter and Bobbi nearly catches May off-guard. *Nearly*. Fortunately, she did have some inkling it was coming. But it's only with that rush of emotions that she realizes... she left the knife Abcde made for her, the one that mutes her power, sitting back on the table in the cave. Leaning against Phil slightly -- mostly it's just her hand on his shoulder and her forearm against his bicep, weight shifted on one hip towards him -- she looks back over her shoulder toward the cave.

A moment later, however, she's turning back to him and giving him a fleeting smile. "You still owe me dinner," she tells him. "We might be late." There's a glint in her eye that's *almost* reminiscent of the woman she was before Bahrain. Almost. Shadows are still there. She's not nearly as perky as Bobbi. But, damn she's glad to see him. And to see Daisy. Hell, to see all of them.

"Yeah," she says finally, seconding Bobbi's motion. "Let's go home."

Phil Coulson has posed:
"Fiji, or Oahu. If you want mountains again, I know a little place in Puerto Rico where the temperature is 70 degrees all year round. Almost never rains." Of course, there is the occasional hurricane, but with a little preparation, easy enough to weather it. "How's your Spanish? Better than my Hawaiaan?" Phil is most definitely relieved, and as the two love birds pat each other done, after a fashion, he catches the slight weight shift on May and puts a hand lightly around her waist, at her lower back, ostensibly to keep her balanced. "What?" He caught the look, and brows rise in inquiry.

It's short lived, however, and the mention of dinner is made. "I told you," he begins as they make their way to the quin, their way home. "I pushed back our reservations. You're not like other women. Five, ten minutes, they're down for dinner. You're 24, 36 hours late when I come to pick you up." He smiles at their closeness, a touch of the genuine, "We can be as late as we want."

To add to the chorus, Phil announces, "Let's go home."

Lance Hunter has posed:
Hunter glances at the wound. "Good thing you've got super powers," he says. "And don't expect me to make a habit of saying that you're chuffed about them too much as it is," he teases as that arm around him gives him a squeeze.

Walking with the others towards the jet he says, "Really figured we'd stay a bit roast some marshmallows, sing some songs?" he begins before grinning. "Nah, you're all right lemme set the charge on the jet you two crashed and lets get the bloody hell out of here."

Hey, someone had to be different.