Owner Pose
Mary Jane Watson The Swordfish was a bar that catered exclusively to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and doubled as a safehouse. As far as recreational watering holes went, it was one of the more secure ones. Something about going into a place that often had several dozen off duty military and intelligence special operations personnel hanging around with weapons.
    Which meant for the truly insane that they would never have their guard up or be paranoid if something didn't stick out.
    Sitting over at a table, one off duty agent, a redhead was sitting as she would look over the menu up on the wall. "Can't have that, can't have that, can't have that.." She wasn't 21 and while not everyone would be quite a stickler.. "Can't have that.." Then she would slowly snap her head.
    "Yes, Sonja, I know that it must kill you not being able to booze or wench."
Betty Ross TMeanwhile, a new face among the servers at the bar is moving between tables, dropping off food and drinks. Dressed in skirt and button up short sleeve shirt with a little apron at the front, "Liz" just started a week or so ago and has been complimented for what a hard worker she is. She even takes extra shifts to help out!

    And, well, so Betty can listen in on conversations as she tries to ponder out the best way to deal with her current problem...how to get at the Leader's encrypted drives currently held in SHIELD's base. She had enough connections and knowledge to know how to get hired here, at least, which is a start. But there's also a time limit...it's only going to take so long for a group like SHIELD to break the Leader's encryptions via brute force if nothing else.

    And she can't let that information fall into anyone's hands. There will BE no more Hulks from information stolen from her work.

    She moves over to the redhead in question, putting on a polite smile. "Hey! Still figuring out what you want, or are you ready to go?"
Mary Jane Watson Not having a lot of places to start, working in a bar was probably always a good place to be in. And the codes would no doubt eventually be decrypted. The animals tested. The mutations backtracked.
    It was a matter of time and priority. And figuring out how much of both one had to work with and plan for.
    Looking over her shoulder at the menu, at the approach of 'Liz' MJ would smile, "Uh.. Yeah. I'll have one of the strawberry daqiris. A virgin." Her face twisting as if suddenly contorting in a laugh. Then muttering.
    "Sorry, hiccup."
Betty Ross "No worries. Just the drink then?" Liz says, writing it down on her pad as she does. "There's a fresh chicken tender dish if you'd like, it's the special for today. Uses a little spice in the batter mix, if you're into that?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would smile, "That's great, thank you. Uh.. Don't think I've seen you here before. You new?" She would inquire over. Then twist and sneer. And relax. "Sorry, Sonja's being a bit of a.." Sonja?
Betty Ross     Liz raises a brow curiously. "Yeah, I just started last week, I'm Liz." she says, smiling and cocking her head. MJ is hardly the first SHIELD agent who's a bit peculiar, really though. "Sonja?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would err, "Uh.. Sorry, she's the ancient barbarian battle berserker in my head. We kind of share a brainspace. And I'm not drunk. I promise. I've not had anything and I'm underage!"
Betty Ross     Liz blinks slightly. "Uh, right. Well, not the weirdest thing I've heard here." she admits. "I'm kinda suprised though, SHIELD doesn't usually have underage agents? Or are you an intern?" she wonders.
Mary Jane Watson Then Mary Jane's face would shift over. Expression looking annoyed. Lines hardening. Scowling, "No matter what the whelp might say I have seen more winters and survived worse than any of you weaklings of this age have. Give me your -strongest- drink that this pathetic new world can.." Snapping 'back' as the features would suddenly soften and eyes would go wide, "Sorry! Sorry." And Mary Jane would be back to normal.
Betty Ross     Liz raise a brow. "She seems, uh, energetic, yeah." she notes, trying not to smile too much. "How long have you had your guest along?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would bury her face on the table. "About two years. They've been an.. Interesting one." She would take a breath and put up a smile. "Definitely taken life in a different direction than I'd ever thought."
Betty Ross     "Sounds like it's been interesting. How exactly do you hook up with an ancient warrior woman's spirit?" Liz wonders, smiling slightly. "And is that why you ended up at SHIELD? I thought that, uh, WAND was the magic place people went for, like, ghosts or supernatural stuff."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would groan, "Well, apparently she's a relative. A very, very, very, very distant relative. The normal way these things happen. I was in a museum, was drawn to an object up on display, touched it.. And life's been weird since then."
Betty Ross     "Huh. So great great a hundred times or two grandma or something." Liz says, nodding. "Funky. I can see how that'd end up weird quicky, yeah, but you seem to be adapting pretty well?"
Mary Jane Watson Sonja would take over, the body language shifting, "My time was a wretched era. That needed strength to survive. Where the strong survived by enslaving and slaughtering those who were not strong enough to live on their own. Civilization and cities empty promises of congregating the desperate and the starving together for the powerful to have the masses at their blades. Where monsters roamed free, whether htey be human or abomination."
Betty Ross     Liz purses her lips. "Not entirely different here in some places, but a bit more rules protecting people out there. And heroes. From the sound of it, you were a heroine yourself back then." She switches focus on who she's addressing pretty easily without being phased.
Mary Jane Watson Sonja would throw back her head and laugh, "Hardly!" Uproarious with laughter. "I was one of the strong." She admits it. And seems to have at least by the varied and total shift in body language, to have no issues wiht the way she lived her life.
Betty Ross     "Mmhmm. Well, anyway, the body you're in isn't of legal age, so you're getting the daquiri." Liz says with amusement. "Though if you want something eat I can arrange that at least."
Mary Jane Watson Sonja would ease up after a moment, "It was a bad time and made horrible people. This world should never have to suffer through such a thing again. It is.. Good to see that it has gotten better. And that people are able to go about the world with some honor."
    Mary Jane would take over, "She's a bit of a softie. And I'll take the drink and the chicken."
Betty Ross     Liz smiles. "You bet! Be right back." She sashays off to drop off the order with kitchen, pausing at the bar to chat with the bartender a bit, before bringing the drink back to set down at MJ's table. "There you go! Let me know how it tastes, the non-alcoholic version isn't one the bartender makes often." She idly rests the platter the drink was on on front of her stomach, her hands on the bottom.
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would take a sip, "Thanks. This is great. I think that she's sort of sad this place is so clean and people here are polite. She enjoys the rough part of roughhousing a bit. Even if she could drink I definitely can't, and I definitely couldn't remotely take as much as she likes."
Betty Ross "Hmmm, I heard Thor's much the same way? Should hang out with him maybe. Or Hercules? Those are Avengers now, right?" Liz says curiously. "I mean, not that there aren't other agents who are as excitable." She smirks a bit. "People like to cut loose here when they've had rough missions, after all."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watsonwould sigh, "Purportedly. I've never run into him. No reason you couldn't go ahead and drop by the Asgardian embassy sometime if you want to see things. I'm sure they'd welcome any Migdardians that want to booze and lose it."
Betty Ross "Mmm, not really my scene. I'm a military brat though so it's not like I'm not used to rough edges, you know?" Liz shrugs a bit. "But doesn't mean I'm really in to seeking it out either."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would huh, "Fair on that. It's a bit out of my league and.. We both are very wary of magic." Where Mary Jane said 'wary' Red Sonja had far firmer words.
Betty Ross "Mm, I can't say I know a lot about magic. Biology, yes, but not magic. But then, as far as I can tell magic is basically a way to break physical laws by applying new ones to something, right?" Liz shrugs her shoulders. "Now, that stuff they brought back from New Mexico is more my kinda thing, that stuff that guy the Leader was working on?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would groan, "I only read the AAR's of that. Lot of it's way above my classification level. Just uh.. I got to teh part about anvils and rocket powered roller skates and was wondering if someone in the field team had a sense of humor. And that stuff is scary. Whenever you reach that nexus of technology and magic where they might as well be the same thing for what they can do."
Betty Ross "Riiight, the whole ACME Looney Tunes thing, right? Supervillains are weird like that. Extreme personalities and all that, I guess? I'm not as much of a psychologist." She shrugs. "But yeah, it seems like he did some pretty unique stuff. Well, stole it from other people."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would frown, "Yeah, it sounded nasty. Hell, it looks nasty. Just the types of things that I could see and my clearance is pretty low. Makes you scared ot think of the things that are so much worse. And that lunatic's far from the scariest out there."
Betty Ross Liz says, frowning quietly. "That kind of information....it shouldn't be in anyone's hands. People shouldn't try to be making more monsters, but they keep trying anyway and more and more people suffer for it."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would sigh, "I don't think anyone wants to make more monsters. I think they want to figure out how it was done so they can stop anyone else from doing it. And figure out how to reverse it."
Betty Ross Liz shakes her head. "That's always what they claim...but someone always tries to misuse it, to make the next super soldier to put their nation on top. Or their own personal covert operations squad. Or just weapons to drop into other countries that can't be traced to them. It *always* happens." Her voice is a bit strained for a moment, sharper than usual, before she takes a deep breath. "Sorry, just...that sort of thing, making people into just...weapons is something I personally hate a lot."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would shake her head, "No, I can understand the mentality. I think that it's overstated a lot.. but I think it's definitely a very raw thing. especially when you've seen it happen before." She was young. She hadn't. Sonja had. "But you have to trust someone."
Betty Ross "Maybe. But even if you do...they can't guarantee it won't get into someone else's hands." Liz says quietly. "Even SHIELD is beholden to other authorities. Or it'll get stolen. Destroying something unique that people can't just rebuild is the best way."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would sigh, "I'm not the person to talk to. Really, best I can say is find someone up the chain of command you can talk to. Director Carter has a good reputation. Go to her and talk about your concerns. Or at leats send her a memo."
Betty Ross Liz smirks. "I don't know that a director of SHIELD is gonna give a damn what a waitress thinks." she reminds. "I probably shouldn't even know as much as I do about it as it is."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would twitch her lips, "I think you'd be surprised. I think she'll pay a lot more attention to what a waitress thinks than, say, what the guy with the eyepatch does."
Betty Ross "Heh. Maybe." Liz hesitates. "I'd just feel better knowing that it's being taken care of, I guess." She shrugs, and smiles, if a bit more forced. "I probably shouldn't worry, SHIELD has it under control, right?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would smile, "Yeah, pretyt sure we do. And you've seen the brainiacs. I'm pretty sure in like a couple of days when they start on it they'll make a spray that can reverse it."
Betty Ross     Liz hmms, saying casually. "They're only just starting on it, then? I guess they'd need time to figure out how to read the data and such first anyway."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would shrug, "I don't know. I'm almost never in the R&D labs unless I'm getting a briefing. If something's important they'll hand it off to a senior agent."
Betty Ross "Oh? Not the techie types? I haven't seen them here really as of yet though.' Liz admits.
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would laugh, "Hey, you ever met the department heads? They're geniuses. Not like.. Richard level ones but they're up there with it. They're the smartest people you can ever imagine existing and actually meeting in person. They can even explain things in ways that make sense."
Betty Ross "Makes sense they'd put the best and brightest on it. So experts on lots of fields, huh?" Liz says softly. "The sort who really like to unravel new discoveries, aren't they?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would smile, "Yeah. They handle everything. I don't really know them other by reputation but once they get on it, tehre's no problem they can't solve."
Betty Ross     "...yeah. I'm sure they'll break the encryption on that stuff in no time." Liz says distractedly. "At least no villains are likely to get ahold of it anytime soon."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would look over at Liz, coming to th wrong conclusion, "I'm sorry. Have you had a runin with the Hulk? I c an totally get if yous aw him on an.. Off sort of day that would have left a totally freaky impression and why you wan tot make sure that stuff is destroyed."
Betty Ross     Liz mms, her eyes far away before they refocus sharply on Mary Jane again. Another slightly forced smile. "Yeah, could say that. I don't...blame the Hulk though.. It's not his fault he was turned into what he became, right? He couldn't help it. I know that he's gotten a lot of bad press, but...I don't think he's bad by nature, just..." She sighs. "He couldn't control himself, you know? That...that anger. Rage. All the things we keep repressed inside us. It just....burst out of him." She meets MJ's eyes. "Any of us could be a Hulk. Everyone has that inner self they keep under control."
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would nod, "I've only seen what's about him on the news but.. It seems like the entire world is against him from what I've seen. When you get down to it.. I can't imagine someone that's ever so alone and has to cut themself away from things."
Betty Ross     "Yeah. I mean, he's an Avenger now, right? I thought that might make people see him differently, but...not so much, huh?" Liz shrugs and smiles a bit sadly. "I at least hope that he's found some friends where he is who understand, you know?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would sigh, "He has people who trust him and has his back.I can't imagine someone going up to him and even touching him wihtout him being all right wiht it with them around."
Betty Ross Liz nods a little at that, then puts on a bigger smile. 'Yeah, you're probably right. I suppose...he has to leave some things behind, but he'll be happier, right?"
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would sigh, "I hope that whatever he is is happier. I've never met him and.. I hope whatever he's gotten that it's given him peace."
Betty Ross Liz nods simply at that. "Yeah. Me too." she admits. Inside her head, Red tchs. <Yeah, sure. Fucking deserts you after everything you did for him. All the time you you spent trying to help him, to cure him, to help him stop others from being made into monsters like us. Yeah. Sure. Why not that he gets to be happy?> Her voice is more caustic about the idea inside of Betty's head.
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would look at Liz, "Hey you okaythere? Don't worry. I'm sure that anything they get from there they're just going to make sure they can neutralize whatever it is in the future so the.. Leader guy can't ever make more of them then get rid of it." Naive.
Betty Ross     "...yeah, I guess so. I'm probably worrying for nothing. If you do hear anything about it though, could you let me know? I'd feel a bit better to have it confirmed." Liz says.
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson would nod, "Will do, sure. I think that's harmless enough. I mean if you lived through something like that then it's totally reasonable to want to get reassurance."
Betty Ross     "Y-yeah, I guess it's worrying over nothing though." Liz says, trying to play it off. "Appreciated though. Oh!" She looks over to see the bartender waving her down. "Looks like your food is ready, let me go get that...."