Owner	Pose
Melinda May	The message that came across Daniel's phone -- waiting for him after his first foray into the strange misery of somehow being among the walking dead -- was fairly short. <<Peggy's in danger. Meet me @ Starling City Coffee. LC.>> It also gave a time. To be honest, Lily isn't 100% sure Daniel will show. She doesn't know where he is or what he's doing. She hasn't seen him since the last time he and Peg disappeared into the Playground. But, she's hoping he knows that she's in town and that she won't lead him astray. So, she waits at a table that allows her a good scope of the whole place, and watches for him. Hopeful.
Daniel Sousa	"What now," Daniel mutters as he looks at his phone. As if the simulation wasn't weird enough. But then how many people knew this number. He was curious, and so he slips away from the sphere to go make the meeting. Arriving early and staking out the location for an hour before the time in the message to check for an ambush before he makes his way inside ordering a coffee at the counter.
Dottie Underwood	Dottie waits at the counter for Lily's invitation. No need to scare Sousa off before he's actually seated at the table. She sips her coffee nonchalantly. Just another extra in the background.
Melinda May	Lily doesn't hide. So, when she sees Daniel at the counter, she slides behind him and taps him on the shoulder. Giving him a friendly smile -- her features softer than Melinda May's, recognizable even some 60 years later -- and crooks her finger at him in a follow-me gesture. To the table. "We need to chat," she says mildly.
Daniel Sousa	Daniel startles just a little as Lily taps his shoulder. For a brief second he thought he was back in the Framework somehow but then the pieces come together and he smiles, "Lily," he says. "Don't know who I was expecting but I wasn't expecting you, but it's good to see you," he says before his expression gets curious as he grabs his coffee and follows. "Yeah, you said Peg might be in danger."
Dottie Underwood	Dottie smiles to herself as they walk past her to the table. She hides it with another sip of coffee. It's been over half a decade. What's a few more minutes?
Melinda May	"Mm," Lily says, sitting down at a table and reaching for a cup of green tea. "You're not the only time traveller, my old friend," she says. She's lived through the last 60 years he missed. Maybe not here on Earth, for the most part, but she's lived every one of them. It wasn't months ago, for her, that she stood at his graveside with his wife. It was years. "I've managed to embed an informant in Gideon Mallick's organization. I know it's a tall ask, but I need you to trust me, even if you don't trust her." She glances over to Dottie and gives her head a small twist, beconing her over. It's really better just to rip the bandage off on this one.
Daniel Sousa	Daniel nods, "Seems like it," he says with wry good humour of not being the only time traveller then when she mentions an informan, his brows raise, "And not idle either, who-" he follows her gaze and when he sees who she looks at his eyes round and he reaches into his coat for his weapon. "What the hell is she doing here?"
Dottie Underwood	Dottie takes her coffee with her as she joins them at the tables. She's wearing her maniacal grin like armor. "Hi there, Danny. Miss me?"
Melinda May	Lily reaches out to still Daniel's hand. "Don't. We don't want the attention." She looks between the two old foes. "Trust me. I understand your reaction. Times have changed, Daniel. She's... well, she's not so much on our side as she's aligned with us for now. And she has good information. Listen to her."
Daniel Sousa	Danel doesn't draw his weapon, but the look on his face says he would really like to, still his hand moves from his pistol and comes to rest on the table. "Not at all," he answers flatly to Dottie's question, before he looks to Lily, "And I'll listen, but only because of your say so," he says before glaring over at Dottie. "Or she and I would be having a very different conversation right now."
Dottie Underwood	"We've done that before," Dottie says. "I won." She takes another sip of her coffee. "But that's not important. Peg's in trouble. HYDRA is going to scrub the Sphere." Another sip of coffee, an affectation-like punctuation.
Melinda May	"I don't know what's going on in the Sphere," Lily tells Daniel, "but Dottie says something happened to both Peggy and Melinda there. If you've got people in there, and HYDRA's coming in, you need to be prepared to repell them." She pulls in a slow breath. "I'd like to help... I don't know if it's smart that I do. I don't want to put Melinda in more danger. But Dottie..." She eyes the Russian briefly. "I think she can help, in this case."
Daniel Sousa	Daniel's expression goes flat at the 'I won' jab, a sure sign she stung him at least a little, but that's brushed aside as the news comes out. "When are they coming?" he asks. "And do we know how many?" he asks looking between the both of them. "And help how?" he asks. "Didn't think you were the stand up and fight type." That last directed towards Dottie.
Dottie Underwood	Dottie quirks an eyebrow. "Really? I was training to fight for my country while you were still playing baseball. We were both soldiers in the war. We've both killed people. We've both had our orders. Just because I'm better at it... She takes another sip of coffee. She remembers his body floating face downward in the hotel swimming pool. It calms her, the memory of her bullets in his back. He's not important, other than as a means to an end. His only value is his link to Peggy Carter. If they don't stop HYDRA, Peggy Carter will be violently pulled from the Framework or killed while her mind is trapped inside that virtual reality, only an electronic glimmer of her former self. Neither option suits Dottie's needs. So she looks over the rim of her cup and smiles. "Put me in coach," she says, "I'm ready to play."
Melinda May	Lily resists the urge to roll her eyes as Dottie can't help but bait Daniel. She expects no different, of course. "Give him the details, Dottie," she tells the Russian, her tone fairly neutral. She's not giving an order. She's encouraging her to share what she knows. To build trust. To get what she wants. She looks at Daniel. "I doubt Mallick or Giyera will shows their faces personally, but..." She gives a shrug. "I don't know enough about SHIELD's current ops to know what your risk level is."
Daniel Sousa	"And me without an electro net," Daniel says to Dottie remembering the last time he and Peg rounded her up. "Okay, you're a soldier, but that doesn't mean I trust you any, why do you want to help us?" he asks. As for Lily, he nods in her direction. "We're exposed right now the Sphere is in the middle of the city so we can't secure it with full force and most of our senior leadership is either on site or locked in those tubes. So I'd say our exposure is pretty high right now, HYDRA busts in there and we're done."
Dottie Underwood	Now it's Dottie who's resisting rolling her eyes. "I never said you should trust me. You should know better than that by now. But unless you have someone else waltzing in from Giyera's bed to tell you all of HYDRA's dirty little secrets, you might want to listen." She takes another sip of coffee. This is taking too long. She arches an eyebrow. "You know, for a love that stands the test of time, I don't know what she sees in you." She mimes a playful 'oops was that outloud?' expression. Then she's serious again. "Peg's in danger. Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?"
Melinda May	Lily nods to Daniel's admission, her expression tightening. "I'll do what I can to run interference," she tells him. "Just keep me in the loop." For her, of course, running interference means creating distractions for HYDRA elsewhere. Not hard to do, with a face that looks like Melinda May's. She saw the disastrous Blackbird Massacre video. Even she has had to take precautions because of that.
Daniel Sousa	Now it's Daniel's turn to roll his eyes at that little 'oops' expression, "Cute," he remarks before taking a sip of his coffee. He nods about Peg being in danger though letting out a breath and setting down his cup. "Alright, I'm listening." As for Lily he nods, "Appreciated, got a number I can reach you at? If there's anything SHIELD can do to help you with that, even if they don't know exactly who they're helping I'll see what I can do to make it happen."
Dottie Underwood	"In three or four days -- he's being cagey about the exact timing, and I can't press him for too many details; it isn't his decision, or Malick's, -- a small Hydra task force will attack the Sphere and shut down the Framework. With all your pretties still inside. Someone has decided that you're all more trouble than you're worth. Or that the Framework makes a better trap than a prison." Dottie's words are precise, exact. She has no doubts about her information. "They're sending inhumans, mutants, supersoldiers. There won't be survivors if you let them take the Sphere."
Melinda May	Lily gives Daniel a tight smile that's so very much like the one she'd give before missions decades ago. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a black card with the outline of a calla lily on it etched in gold. On the white back of the card, she's written her number. Wordlessly, she slides it over to him. Dottie's information, though, is enough to turn that smile into a tighter look. It's a serious threat, if HYDRA's pulling out the super powers.
Daniel Sousa	"Jesus," Daniel swears at the description of what's coming. "Only 3-4 days," he repeats. "We know where they're staging at? Might be better to face them away from the Sphere than in the middle of all those pods." He takes the card slid to him by Lily tucking it into his pocket, "Thanks," he says taking a pen from his jacket and writing his own number on two napkins and sliding it over to each of them. "Figure we should all stay in touch, given what we're up against."
Dottie Underwood	Dottie shakes her head, "With such small numbers, they might be coming from different locations. That's what I would do. No reason to cluster before the rendezvous. And like I said, it's not Giyera's op. He's a little bit upset about that actually." There's a strange almost grin in the corner of her mouth at the memory.
Melinda May	"Not to mention," Lily says with a mild tilt of her head that's nearly shrug, "There are only so many ways into the Sphere, I'd imagine. I didn't spend enough time around here in in the 80's to know what HYDRA or AIM was up to." No, she was halfway across the universe, becoming acquainted with a Durlan of unique ability. But that's a story for another time. "So, I'll leave the strategy to you and your team, Daniel." She nods to Dottie, however. "But she might be useful. And... let's face it: We all know damned well, as long as Peggy's life is on the line, she's actually in your corner." Weird. Obsessive. Creepy. True.
Daniel Sousa	There's a faint smile at Giyera's unhappiness, "Shame that," he says before nodding about the rest. "Can't be too easy," he says wryly of there being no set muster point to strike at before shit hits the fan. "We'll do our best with the choke points we've got," he says before having to nod in agreement about Dottie and Peg, both the spoken and unspoken parts. "Fair enough," he says and looks over to Dottie. "Works for me if it works for you." He extends his hand.
Dottie Underwood	"I'd rather not subdue this entire Hydra team by myself, so you've been invited to help me," Dottie says, finishing  her coffee. That's as close to a truce as he's likely to get.
Melinda May	Lily nods, again resisting that urge to snirk or roll her eyes. At least, to some degree, there actually *are* things about Dottie Underwood that are predictable. "I guess we have a plan." It's a plan full of holes, still, but... maybe Daniel can help fix that when he's back at SHIELD. Of course... bringing Dottie in will be an interesting experience, no doubt. Especially with both May and Peggy out for the count. She gives him a wry smile. "Good luck." He's gonna need it.
Daniel Sousa	Daniel does snerk at Dottie's remark, lowering his hand as he does so. "I'm overwhelmed by your generosity," he says before nodding to Lily. "The start of one at least, I'll bring Dottie on over to the Sphere and we'll prep with the STRIKE and whoever else we can get to help deal with the superhumans." A wry smile follows. "And thanks, you too," he says about good luck. Though he follows that up with, "And when this is done we need to talk about another thing," he says, though he suspects Lily can guess what the time displaced man might want to talk about.
Melinda May	"We do," Lily agrees, doubtlessly thinking about the same thing. It is, in the end, the real reason she's here now. This Sphere stuff is merely a distraction. She drains the last of her tea. "It's good to see you again, Daniel. I'd tell you to say hi to Peg for me, but..." Her shrug is rueful. "Bring her home. I'll bring Chinese food over, one night. We'll catch up." It's no secret; not like Dottie won't be watching anyway. She gives the Russian annother glance. "We should keep in touch, too. You're going to need to put in another appearance with Giyera to maintain your cover, so..." Good luck. They're all going to need.