9132/Debriefing The Black Knight

Debriefing The Black Knight
Date of Scene:	17 December 2021
Location:	Commander May's Office: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Dane reports to Commander May about his whereabouts for the last year, and gets a hint about his upcoming assignments.
Cast of Characters:	Dane Whitman, Melinda May

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Dane Whitman has posed:
The tall gentleman in typically somber clothing is in the Triskelion for the third time this week, but this time not entirely of his choosing. He knew this was coming, so was prepared. He had submitted a brief report, but there are things that just aren't easily conveyed by the pen. No matter what Jane thinks.

Dane Whitman's suit is freshly pressed for the occasion with creases that would slice bread. Shoes polished, cufflinks gleaming. He's ready to present.

When he is hailed, he steps promptly through the door with the grace and ease befitting his reputation.

Melinda May has posed:
When the report crossed May's desk, she quickly found herself wondering if it hit everyone L8+ or if it was just another thing redirected to her in lieu of WAND. When the man who wrote it arrives, however, she's schooled her features into something a little less put-upon about it, and considerably more professional. "Mr. Whitman," she says as he enters, rising from her desk. "Please, come in. Have a seat. Let's talk."

By which she means, he talks, she listens. And occasionally asks questions. She's not known as a chatterbox. "I read your report."

Dane Whitman has posed:
The normally formal if not necessarily 'disciplined' as such Dane Whitman crisply maneuvers to the presented seat. He's clean shaven and it shows in the light. His hair is a little on the long side, but it's neatly brushed. He's cleaned up.

Dane starts once he's seated,"Thank you. I confess to some confusion as to who my report needed to go to being that it concerned an agent missing for an extended duration. Namely, myself. I realize questions should have been asked prior, but it seemed a pressing issue so I went ahead."

Melinda May has posed:
"Yeah. SHIELD does like to know where it's agents are." May resumes her own seat, leaning back to watch him. "So, the question's being asked now. New Avalon? King Whitman? It was quite the story..."

She falls silent, to let him talk. She's not the same agent she once was, however. She's also opened that strange Inhuman sense she has to read his emotional reaction both to what he's saying and what is not being said.

Dane Whitman has posed:
Dane is as ever a man of mercurial emotion. He has always been prone to outbursts and severe fits of pique, mostly associated with the arcane burden he bears. At the moment, he is simply...frayed. He has been stretched to the max, but beyond that is either difficult to describe or simply...repressed for the moment.

The man begins,"Yes. New Avalon. There is a small society of humans that live in the realm, which Hydra in their typical flights of creative fancy have dubbed 'Weird World'. I wouldn't say tis quite as weird as, say, Otherworld."

That being the world of Faerie.

Dane continues after a brief pause,"It's a dark place, most of the time. The brightest it gets is probably the equivelant of our late evening. It's also a place of constant war. I became very intimate with the Ebon Blade while I was there. So far as I could tell, most of them seem to be descended from sailors as I heard many a story about so and so's grandfather or ancestor having found his way there while out at sea. Usually they woke up there no longer on their ship or boat. I organized them against the other aliens after their leader fell in battle."

Melinda May has posed:
Melinda May has quite literally been to Hell and the Underworld. She's also been through time and back... several times. Alternate realities? Check. Shit, the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes they may in fact be seriously considering her for the WAND job. God, she hopes not.

But she's attentive to his emotional state, though she doesn't particularly show it. It will, however, be something she mentions to the Chief. "HYDRA's never had much in the way of imagination -- unless it comes to ways to kill people." They're really good at that.

She listens to the rest of his story and nods faintly. "Is there a relative time difference?" she asks him, head canting. "What I mean is, does time run the same there as it does here, or did you experience more time than we think you would have?"

Dane Whitman has posed:
The part time Knight knits his brow in consideration, thinking hard on that question. It does concern him that it felt a good bit longer than a year, but he admits,"I honestly don't know. Between the fighting and the constant gloom, I can't be sure. It felt like more than a year, I will say that."

Dane is no stranger to such things himself, though he's never been to any place as extreme as Hell! He learned to fight the hard way: by spending ten years in the body of a knight in the Crusades. He also knows of Otherworld first hand, among other places. For a man with a flying pony, he does get around.

He steeples his fingers and says,"It does, upon reflection, seem interesting to me that the people there seem to largely be of actual iron age persuasion if time moves more slowly. I don't know if the constant warfare keeps them from progressing, or if it's something else. I saw a lot of the place, it isn't a particularly vast region, but other groups like the Amazons did have ways of coming and going."

Melinda May has posed:
"What's HYDRA's interest in the place?" May asks now. Given she's spent a lot of time (throughout Time) fighting a man who was trying to use magic to make HYDRA surpreme across the multiverse. That makes this a lot more important, she realizes, than he perhaps does. "If the Amazons are able to pass back and forth, that suggests others may as well. Especially if random sailors are washing up on those shore. If HYDRA is able to stabilze portals there?" She doesn't complete that thought. She lets him draw his own conclusions. Especially given what he knows of the situation there.

Dane Whitman has posed:
Dane is either ahead of her with that, having had time to consider possibilities, or is quick on the draw as he elaborates,"Stable portals would be challenging for anyone. There were elementals from both realms of ice like Nifelheim and of fire from the likes of Muspelheim. I think the planar situation is complicated. There are convergences at work, which is why people get stranded and have to literally fight their way out most of the time. That is simply what I think, though."

The man with the sword then leans back in the chair after this elaboration. After a moment to reorganize his thoughts somewhat pensively, he then offers,"If that theory is correct, then it represents a backdoor of sorts. Not just a nexus realm. The Amazons are a people well acquainted with the sea, so this is probably just a sort of...open secret with them. Again, speculation."

Melinda May has posed:
"The Amazons are... complicated," May says dryly. Ostensibly, Wonder Woman and the other Amazons in the Justice League and elsewhere outside of Themyscira are allies to SHIELD's purpose, if not the organization itself. But there's the reality that they're a race of powerful metahumans that can field an army capable of posing a credible threat against the most sophisticated military forces in the world -- and all without the advanced weaponry those forces possess. "But not remotely the threat HYDRA is." Not currently, anyway.

"I'll tell you, Whitman, I don't think it's impossible that HYDRA could find ways to stabilize portals they think are strategically useful. That's only one part of the possible threat, however. In the past year, I've seen a lot of 0-8-4 activity that by rights falls more under WAND purview than STRIKE." She is, after all, Commander of STRIKE, for now.

"What's your threat assessment of all this, Whitman? I know you're just back and you're adjusting. But you're the man with boots on the ground experience." And it's part of what this debrief is about, after all.

Dane Whitman has posed:
Dane purses his lips at the question. He knows better than to argue with facts, because HYDRA doesn't seem to regard money or time as objects. If they make up their mind to prioritize something, they make it happen with an absurd tenacity. And a back door into realms that Asgard regards as threats WOULD be a useful asset.

His concern isn't merely visible as he weighs these things over, and he replies,"I think that it's worth looking into, even if it amounts to securing a curiosity. I don't know what else they could want with the place, but that doesn't mean there isn't something else there. When I left, the situation was relatively stable. I gave the people a safe harbor with the fortified settlement of New Avalon, that's why they call me King Whitman. A stone fortress is a strong foothold when your enemies come at you with swords and arrows, or the occasional rock troll."

Melinda May has posed:
"As long as HYDRA doesn't end up creating an army of rock trolls, yeah," May replies. She's seen stranger. Especially with HYDRA's recent push to create super-soliders out of Inhuman and Mutant DNA. Mix in the genetic material of a few outworlders? It's not beyond May's imagination.

"How secure is that fortress, do you think, if people with our tech level come through?" A beat. "And please tell me there aren't any magical artifacts kicking around out there..."

Dane Whitman has posed:
Dane can't help but crack a smirk at her concern over such things that are normal in his life. Really, dragons and vampires make his day. Snake men and talking man sized frogs just mean that the day of the week begins with a T!

He shrugs broadly at the questions, for there have been a couple fielded with that, and replies,"I don't think the good Doctor would be impressed with the level of eldritch competency, if that's your worry. I did have occasion to kill a man who was raving about a certain claw and Baron Strucker, if that means anything to you. As for security, those people fight to live and have a home now. It's as secure as it can get without blasters and the like."

Melinda May has posed:
May hasn't had a lot to do with Dr. Strange. "Strucker?" Her brow arches and her tone sharpens some. "Please tell me he's not hiding out there somewhere."

She shakes hre head. She doesn't know much about about Whitman's history, the claw or how it relates to Strucker. But she knows it's one more pain in the ass that's likely waiting to bite them. HYDRA never stays dormant for long.

"You'll have to fill me in on all that sometime," she tells him. "But, give me your frank assessment." Her head cants. "How worried should we be about this?" A beat. Her expression softens in a way he may not have seen before, given she's still new to this whole Empath thing. "And how are you holding up since your return?"

Dane Whitman has posed:
Whitman knows Strucker by name only, and it's a name that means next to nothing to him except as some kind of HYDRA bogeyman. Much like that claw. As such, he can't find it in himself to be stressed over such now any more than he was when dealt with the source of that tid bit. He replies,"I don't know what the situation is like here to give a complete and honest reply to that. I would like for us to be the ones to secure, catalogue, and better fortify that location first, but that's my personal bias."

Then the pertinent point about his state comes around. He knits his brows tense, and rests his elbows on his knees and replies,"I know you've never had to deal with my sword. The Ebon Blade. It likes being out. That place...it was out a lot. Being back here it...It's like it's bored or frustrated. It's too quiet here. Keeping it put up has been hard."

Melinda May has posed:
May snirks softly. "Yeah, well, I've dealt with the Witchblade and my imagination isn't as stunted as some people think." Nor is her perceptiveness. "We can work on finding you ways to exercise it, trust me." She chuckles dryly. "I understand the value of aggression therapy."

She leans forward finally and looks at him. "Let's get you back in rotation. That will help. If you see him, introduce yourself to Jonathan Sims. Tell him I suggested you might be useful to him in the project he spoke to me about a couple of weeks back. It involves navigating the Underworld, which ought to provide the Blade with some exercise."

Dane Whitman has posed:
Dane slowly nods in understanding of her thinking. Mortal blood is the problem for it. The things of the Underworld are anything but! He offers at that,"Will do. Sounds up my alley."

A thought crosses his mind at that, his gaze flicking down for a moment. It's only a moment however, and he's sitting back up and breathing a sigh of relief.

Melinda May has posed:
May cants her head, brows drawing in slightly as his gaze flicks away. His relief is palpable, though. So she's hesitant to pry. "Anything else on your mind?" she asks, regardless. He's got the option to brush her off, after all.

Dane Whitman has posed:
The man shrugs a bit, a wry smirk over his lips as he replies,"I'm almost finished with an 0-8-4 file on something to help. An alternative to the sword. I don't know if it'll do any good, but my uncle's old Power Lance could be useful with a bit of dusting off. At least I'm sure he'd think so."

Dane chuckles ruefully at that and admits,"Ridiculous of me to ask what Nathan would do, I know..."

Melinda May has posed:
"Maybe," May says, softer than her reputation would suggest. "But we all do it to some degree." For her, it's usually 'what would Phil do?' "Well, if you think it will help, finish the report and file it. We can go from there."

She straightens, now. "Is there anything else we need to talk about?"

Dane Whitman has posed:
Shaking his head, Dane Whitman replies,"No, I have nothing else at this time." He then adds an emphatic,"Thank you."

With that, Dane adjusts his posture slightly in anticipation of rising. It's not always good to anticipate the boss, but it seems logical to him here.

Melinda May has posed:
May does rise, giving him a small smile. "Good. Go on then. You've been gone a long time, Whitman. Go make sure your certs are up to date, then we'll put you back on the regular duty roster."

She circles around the desk and extends her hand. "Welcome back, Agent."

Dane Whitman has posed:
Whitman does rise at this point, accepting May's hand in a brisk shake. He mirrors that smile as well, replying,"Thank you again, Commander. It's good to be back."

With that sincere admission, Dane takes his leave of May's office.