Owner	Pose
Michael Erickson	It's supposed to be a pool. Erickson has turned it into a gravity simulator.     Down in the shallow end - or shallow enough for him to jump out if need be - and in full fatigues, Michael is busy trying to get his way across the pool. /Walking/ across. But wearing, at least, a curious breathing device that looks like a flanged 'V' sticking out of his mouth. Bubbles stream away as he goes marching through the heavy weight of water, making rather excellent progress. Several others, pool-sitters or swimmers having clambered out to dry off, are now staring as he goes marching along.
Jessica Drew	Among the watchers, Agent Drew stands on the periphery of the pool. She wears a dark blue one-piece suit, cut high at the top of her long thighs, it accentuates her height and the lean curves of her torso. With a few deft movements she catches her shoulder length hair up and pulls it back into a pony tail with a cloth covered band then pulls a racer's snug white cap over it. A few steps take her to the edge of the pool where Erickson can see her.
Michael Erickson	Or perhaps 'gravity' is a misnomer - he simply marches through the water, dense as it is, his sheer strength carrying him forward. Driven, silent, until such time as Jessica arrives, and he catches a flash of familiar thigh up through the water. So he makes for the ladder, climbing out with enough force to make it groan as he emerges, and sits down hard upon the edge of the pool, breathing heavily now as he pulls the v-shaped rebreather unit out of his mouth. "Halan," he manages, giving her a thumbs-up. "H...ello."
Jessica Drew	"Hello," she returns with a brief bright smile as she seats herself next to the ladder, feet trailing in the water. "Do I need to get into fatigues, too?" Water from his arrival wets the cement and pools around her.
Michael Erickson	"Not today," he says with a breathless chuckle as he whips back his crest of black hair - slinging water in an arc behind up, up the side of the wall. "...just trying to get in shape. I can't just do five hundred pushups and crunches a day like I've been doing and we don't have a gravity field generator. So I need to just..." He gestures to the pool. "Resistance training."     A woman across the pool, hearing this, cannot help herself. Agent Strelok, she is. W.A.N.D. "Oh my God, is THAT what you've been doing?" She stares at Jess. "He's been marching under the water for like three hours straight!" Shaking her head, the woman marches off, muttering to herself as she goes.     Michael coughs, then looks from Strelok's receding back to Jess himselef. "I mean. Just the one lane."
Jessica Drew	Lowering her voice, "Halan, you're flipping people out." She frowns disapprovingly at Strelok's retreating back, "Besides how would she know? Did she clock you or something?" Fingers paddling in the growing puddle of water around her, she asks, "Is this for high-G? Should we all be working on core strength more? You know a program suited to human might be good. Maybe NASA has one for astronauts that we could use."
Michael Erickson	"High-G? No, no." He laughs, running a hand through his hair again. "Though water's a great simulator for microgravity when you have a harness system attached - NASA and the other space programs have been using that for years." That said, Michael nods toward the pool. "Standard Imperial infantry training. Sealed infantry suits let us go anywhere. Rivers, lakes, seas. Nothing stops the Legions. And there's a distinct psychological effect to have a group of defenders hanging out an island or some other fortress thinking that water or some other dense liquid will save them, only to see platoons of armed soldiers just...emerging while reading salvo fire. Plus..." He gestures again to the water. "It's amazing for resistance training. Put yourself in full gear with one of these liquid oxygen breathers and humans will turn into juggernauts with sufficient training." A beat. "Or die of a heart attack, but that's why my training program is toned down. You'd have no problem, of course. You're much stronger than I am."
Jessica Drew	Feet paddling, Jess stares out into the water thinking about underwater training. She nods agreement about her strength. "Not even Navy Seals do that training, I think. They do a lot of swimming in the dark underwater in difficult situations. I even think they are using rebreathers to avoid telltale bubbles when infiltrating a position." She nods to herself before adding, "Not everyone is as strong as I am, not Dottie, not May though they both are phenomenal fighters. Wills of steel."
Michael Erickson	"There's lots of technology that humans use," he agrees with a nod. "They're all fantastic fighters - a lot of the agents I've selected for the SCAR program have special forces or general military backgrounds." He grins faintly. "And yes, will over advancedcapabilities. Willpower, I find, is the most advanced capability of all."
Jessica Drew	Jess looks amused and puzzled, shrugging at him. "It thought the Shi'ar had us beaten by two centuries of technology. We just don't give up easily."
Michael Erickson	"Were it not for minds like Richards and Stark," Michael replies, leaning back on his sodden elbows not, "It would be millenia. But I'm pleased that they're looking to help us." He chuckles. "I met Stark last night, in fact. I was highly amused. I have quite a file on him, you know."
Jessica Drew	The habit of secrecy makes her go still, she almost looks over her shoulder, then leans back on her elbows to put herself on the same level so they can keep their voices down, "How did that go. Stark, huh." Though not easily impressed she is. "A file?" She turns slightly toward him, a smile curving her lips as though he had said something insanely sexy.
Michael Erickson	"A file." He smirks a tad. "I've got a lot of files on people over the last fifty years, you know. Probably nothing that SHIELD hasn't gotten, but I intend to give over all my records once I've joined the organization formally." Michael shrugs, then, kicking off wet boots with a faint groan. "It's only right."
Jessica Drew	"You would, wouldn't you?" She nods with a tightly reined in smile. "A one-man SHIELD. I wonder how much you knew that is not already known. It will be interesting to see the discrepancies if there are any." She paddles thoughtfully for a moment before leaning toward him, "So, what did you think of Stark? Did you go alone or with someone from SHIELD?"
Michael Erickson	"Coulson wanted me to go with him." Michael shrugs. "He was delivering a file to Stark about something - don't know the clearance level, so I don't want to speak to it. Offered to help, if they wanted, but we'll see. Was surprised he asked me to go with him."     That said, of course, he sits up, leaning now against the wall. "But maybe it's because of my experience, I don't know. My career in the Empire doesn't make me a senior agent overnight. I'm going to need to be very careful of myself, to make sure I don't assume too much. You know?"
Jessica Drew	"It comes with any type of job but especially ours." She is not lecturing, just describing the terrain as she knows it, her voice is low and matter-of-fact as she gazes out over the pool, watching a swimmer butterfly in the far lane."Respecting boundaries and not knowing more than your pay grade, so to speak. But, still in the field, a lot of that goes out the window when lives are at stake."
Michael Erickson	"Quite the case," Michael agrees with a nod. "I know I'm...sort of a pain in the ass, being wht I am, how long I've been arond, what I know. And a lot of the techniques I've learned wouldn't fly in SHIELD these days. Should've defected in the Eighties." A laugh, now, and he winks. "We shall see what we shall see. My shoulder pads were mighty in the day. I rather miss the Miami Vice look."
Jessica Drew	Jessica shudders dramatically at the idea of shoulder pads. "I bet the chief would have felt right at home but please shag haircuts and mullets should have been banned from existence! I'll give you brownie points for self-awareness, Michael." Straightening up slightly, "When will we begin training in earnest, Agent Erickson?"
Michael Erickson	"Oh, I always kept my hair short," he says, smirking. "But the jackets were nice. Militaristic, good for a lad of thirty-five not long gone from home." A wink is what she gets with that, and he slowly gets to his feet. "Well, I'm not an Agent yet, but I'm working to get some clearance to travel some. We're going to need to train in extreme locations and I'll need to get medical clearance, travel, etcetera. I need to talk to Doctor Simmons to see if we can't replicate conditions like extreme radiation poisoning or the like as well. And of course, we'll need to get you all fitted for your suits." He waggles his brows at Jess. "I've got /your/ dimensions memorized, of course."
Jessica Drew	"Oh, you!" She leans forward and flicks water at Michael, with a pleased smile. Sobering, she says, "I can facilitate things if you put me on your need-to-know list and give me some details. I would like that very much. What do you think?"
Michael Erickson	"Absolutely." He's wringing water out of his top, shaking it out of his pants. "So we can talk about that. We'll get things worked out - there's no immediate hurry, after all, considering everything. Hurrying will get us all killed."
Jessica Drew	"It goes without saying that good planning and good QA will save lives." She pulls her feet in from the pool, stands and puts her towel down then sits cross-legged facing him. "How long do you think we should field train before going into space, Michael? Our astronauts typically train several years before being considered mission ready. You mentioned needing environmental training. Will we have special suits or the same suits we will wear in space?"
Michael Erickson	"Oh we're absolutely going to," he says with a nod. "Here, let's go elsewhere, shall we? I need to get a shower and dry off while you get some swimming time in, and we can go get something to eat or something. Throne knows I'm starving."
Jessica Drew	"Alright, let me do ten laps. I'll be out in twenty and shower and then meet you." She stands, pulls at the bottom of her suit and readjusts the straps. "Where should we meet?"
Michael Erickson	A while later, the two are fresh and dry and cleaned up - and Michael is leading them into the line for the food court buffet. "So I have a list of areas we could train here on Earth," he says as the get into the queue, having traded his wet fatigues for a suit of crisp blue gabardine. "Extreme environments to test the suits, but to also better emulate the kind of hazards that go on out there. Can't do something like 'carnivorous megaflora' or 'acidic atmosphere', but I imagine training in Death Valley or Antarctica is a good start."
Jessica Drew	Jessica follows him, dressed in a dark blue tailored jacket with a velvet collar and matching pencil skirt. Her sensible heels, modish but comfortable, make her slightly taller than the other agent. She nods, tucking a piece of drying hair that escaped from her bun. "Good I'm looking forward to that. Especially Antartica. Never been. I've heard there are few places more extreme. Does SHIELD have ships or would we be going Navy, I wonder."
Michael Erickson	"Flying, I imagine." He shrugs as they draw nearer, and he squints at the buffet. "Looks like...what is that, meatloaf? Mmm. I haven't had the meatloaf here." Michael looks her over now. "You look nice, halan. I noticed that you don't wear the beads I gave you, though. Was it all right?"
Jessica Drew	The meatloaf is not the main attraction for Jessica. The kitchen staff are savvy and offer a Szechuan stir fry with a healthy assortment of vegetables and tofu. They even have short-grain brown rice for the health conscious agents like herself. She only eyes the meatloaf. "You know it will be good. They know how to cook here. Take it." One hand to her neck, she says self-consciously, "They are too dressy for work, halan. Perfect for an evening out."
Michael Erickson	"Mmm." He eyes her faintly, but nods. "All right, well. So these suits, I'm going to inspect them again next time I visit Doctor Richards. He's being very nice and giving them to us, I believe. Or I'll trade something for it if he needs it. He seemed to like my insights on potential defense of the star system." Now the line moves forward, and he is meatloaf bound. "It's very strange, you know. Meeting these people I've been observing all this time. As the Red Sentinel I'd fight alongside them, periodically..." He pauses to start ladling slabs of meatloaf onto his plate, then generous portions of gravy. "...but meeting them as people, off the field, is odd."
Jessica Drew	"Won't we need to be fitted. I can't imagine you know the length of my arms and legs by heart for all that you protest," she has left her tray at the stir-fry station as a marker but stands next to him to keep their conversation reasonably quiet. "Besides I want to meet him, even if I haven't been spying on him for years.
Michael Erickson	"Certainly," Michael says, pausing to get some green beans for good measure. Gravy there, too. He eats like a farmhand. "I'll reach out to him. We can examine my suit if it's ready." /His/ suit? Like he doesn't have his own already, armor and all?
Jessica Drew	About to return to her tray, she squints at him. "Bonus suits for you, huh? Well, I suppose you can't be galumping around in something as outrageous as /that/ suit, can you?" Jess goes back to pick up her tray, trading smiles with woman who had put the dish together for her. "Perfect, I can't wait to eat it." As she passes Michael she points at an open table and deposits her tray on it before going to the tea and coffee station to get some tea to drink with her lunch.
Michael Erickson	"I can't..." He's quiet a moment, walking over with her and sitting down at the table she points out, waiting for her to return. When he does, Michael continues. "...it's not appropriate for me to wear that armor in many places. Understand, the Raptors, they're not like the standard Imperial forces. On many worlds, they did horrible violence in order to further the interests of the Empire. They don't /care/ about anything else. It's what they were made for." He shakes his head. "It would be like rolling into Israel wearing a SS uniform. Utterly inappropriate unless it absolutely must be used."
Jessica Drew	Aware that she needs reminders of how he as a Shi'ar, and particularly how that suit might appear in the Galaxy, no, would appear, she corrects herself, she nods her understanding several times, "I meant here on Earth. But it might create problems, too, but for different reasons, of course. Smiling with a touch of mischief dancing in her eyes, she pauses with a piece of broccoli in her chopsticks, saying, "Well, I'm looking forward to visiting Stark Industries for the fitting. Is he as handsome as they say?"
Michael Erickson	"It's not Stark who's giving us the suits, sorry," he says, shaking his head. "It's Richards. Stark I was just there for while Coulson did his business. As for handsome...." Michael shrugs. "He's got charisma. I've personally never seen what the fuss was about but I can defintely see why people might find him attractive. Something of the naughty child about him."
Jessica Drew	"Awww," she says with exaggerated disappointment, shaking her head and smiling. "I've had my fill of bad boys. Who needs them when there are handsome aliens in town. Right?" She deliberately doesn't look at him while she picks up her rice bowl and deftly takes a mouthful of rice on her chopsticks.
Michael Erickson	"Alas," he says, "I don't know that I know any." Neither does he look at her, though he smirks as he cuts a piece of meatloaf from the stack. "Ugh. I miss having plumage."
Jessica Drew	Jess sneaks a glance before concentrating on her food again. Her eyebrows knit at his last words, "Did you think yourself more handsome when you had plumage?" She looks up now in concern. "I think you are very handsome now. Do you have pictures of yourself before coming on your mission to earth?"
Michael Erickson	He cracks a grin. "No, no," Michael says with a shake of his head. "I've never been one to think of my own looks, but I'm very pleased that you think so. But my hair is really just crystalline strands that grow like your hair, you know. I /used/ to have a full crest of black feathers, which I suppose must seem odd to you. I imagine I'd look very strange."
Jessica Drew	Jess bites her lips then asks, taking a chance on offending him, "Did you wear it fluffed high like the crest of a cockatoo or like a rooster tail?" She watches him expectantly over the top of her tea mug.
Michael Erickson	"No, no." He shakes his head. "Royals have the tall crests like that, styled into large, trianglar shapes. My family was aristocracy, but derived from long military service. We were common enough if you went back far enough." He gestures round his head, depicting a sweeping shape that radiated backwards, a bit wilder and not nearly quite so vertical. "Soldiers tended to wear it so as it was easier to wear helmets. Mind you, we didn't wear the same kind of hard-metal casements like infantry did. Officers and regulars alike could have more traditional crests." He makes a faint face. "And of course, the facial tattoos my people tend to wear had to go. Again, an aristocratic affectation."
Jessica Drew	Cup posed on the table, nodding, both amused and intrigued, Jess follows his hand movements, neglecting her food for the moment. "I still would like to see you in full regalia, tattoos and all if it doesn't bother you. I know you have put that all behind you now." She rocks her head slightly back and forth, trying to cajole him.
Michael Erickson	"Ah, well," Michael says, taing another bite. "I'm sure I have a holo somewhere. I didn't bring much from home, but I'm /something/ can be discovered. Now, then. Let's go out and have ourselves a proper dinner soon, all right? I was thinking we might try Thai..."
Jessica Drew	"Seriously, Michael?" Jess picks up her chopsticks and shakes them at him, observing the forms and not using them to point. "We are eating and you are talking about our next meal? Real burn your mouth out Thai /would/ be nice though, with pictures of you. Is it customary among Shi'ar to have family pictures? And portraits among the upper classes?"
Michael Erickson	"Next meal," he points out, smirking, as he goes to take another bite. "Operative word being 'next'. I don't know. I just..." He pauses to squint at Jessica. "Did I ever tell you why food is such a thing with me? Especially with people I like, or serve with?"
Jessica Drew	The woman agent stops eating with her loaded chopsticks halfway to her mouth. She shares his smirk with a brief laugh, "Well, yes, next. No you never have. We have food stories to trade. And thank you for the compliment, halan, I'm glad you like me and that we serve together."
Michael Erickson	"Well, it's a bit grim," he says, waving a hand. "And I won't get into details here, but there was a time when on mission my unit and I were caught out for an extended period of time. We all starved nearly to death - the only way we survived was by sharing what little we had. It didn't descend into cannibalism or anything, it isn't that sort of story, but the whole thing just left a mark on me. Now I share food. I spoil people with it when I like them. Because I know what it is not to eat, and how we all only lived, and were drawn together, by the sacrifices that we made for one another to ensure we all survived."
Jessica Drew	Jess looks down at her food when he finishes his recital, then back at him, nodding several times. "I thought it was something particular to Shi'ar. Sharing food is important among many people here, as you know. I'm glad you and your unit got out." She picks up a piece of food and looks at it. "HYDRA used food to control me. Reward and punishment for lessons learned. I sometimes thought they would let me die of starvation when I was young then I learned I was too valuable for that and I taught myself to go without. That was one of the things that...well, I knew they were wrong despite the indoctrination." She gives him a sudden smile with a tinge of fierceness in the set of her teeth, "Now, after years of their bland rations, I like Thai food."
Michael Erickson	"There's a certain wisdom to it," he says with a shrug. "Cruelty for the sake of raising resistance is what training is about. But without warning, or method..." Michael shakes his head. "Well, I intend to put us all through a lot of terrible things during training, I won't lie. But it will always be in monitored conditions, and for specific, important purpose."
Jessica Drew	Jess shrugs, pushing the memories back so she doesn't wallow in them. "I see that now. But to a child it was pure cruelty that made me lose my respect for them and their methods. Fury knew. He could see the cracks in my indoctrination that they couldn't. They can be particularly blind with their sense of rightness." She finishes her plate with a few more bites and pushes it back. "Troops will follow you anywhere, through any kind of tough training if they know why and that they will be better for it."
Michael Erickson	"You shouldn't have been exposed to it," he says with a frown. "Stupidity, cruelty for cruelty's sake. My people, at least, wait until we're fifteen before we go into military service." He shakes his head. "It's effective, obviously. And you can train when you're younger, as I did - but it's not like what you went through. And I'm sorry for it."
Jessica Drew	"Not just for cruelty's sake but to show me who had the power, the control. It didn't quite work. Dottie understands. The ones who survive are the ones who can control their hunger and their thinking." Jess makes a face. "I doubt you'd get her to talk about it. Lucky you, the things I share." She looks down at her hands clenched together till her knuckles showed white, sighs and opens them. "Halan, let's go and eat delicious Thai food and drink Singha Beer."
Michael Erickson	"Dottie's more...open than you might think," he says, pursing his lips. "I got her to talk about herself a bit the other night. He takes a sip of water, sitting back to regard Jessica, brows lifted. Accomplishment that this is. "The problem is that everyone expects her to feel guilty and ashamed of what she's done. And expect her to...do something else. Something tht isn't covert action and all that goes with it. And that's not her. It's stupid to keep trying."
Jessica Drew	"I certainly didn't become a girl scout. Again, Fury knew better but he suspected that I wasn't an assassin, at heart. To each his own, I expect nothing better from Dottie. Just as long as she doesn't get /you/ killed, halan, by some stupid reprisal for something she has done."
Michael Erickson	"There's not a government on this planet that holds a candle to the Empire," Michael points out. "If anyone gets me killed, halan, it will be offworld, not here. And I'll naturally make sure they have to send a fleet to do it." A smile, meant to be encouraging, crosses his lips. He reaches out to touch her hand.     Then, that said, he goes back to eating. "So I think that Doctor Richards might actually be able to provide us more or less everything that we'll need," Michael continues. "Matter of being able to pay for resources, of course, but I think that I've secured that, too."
Jessica Drew	Patting the hand he touched her with, Jess shakes her head ruefully. "No doubt." A thoughtful nod. "when did you speak to him last. Is that what he says? Do you think he can do it within the next six months?"
Michael Erickson	"Oh, much sooner than that. The man has his own ships already, you know. Could probably field his own navy." Michael snorts. "I might just commission /two/ ships from him, if things go right. Anyway what I'm going to do is, I'm going to go mine asteroids. See if I can't bring him thirty tons of palladium or something. There's trillions of dollars' worth of minerals in this system's asteroid belt alone, you know."
Jessica Drew	"Two ships as fast as the Shi'ar have?" Jess opens her mouth to deny it. "How is that possible and we aren't living and working on Mars, already?" When he adds the next absurdity to the conversation, she has nothing wittier to say than, "WHAT?" She lowers her voice, when she gets looks from a nearby table. "What?"
Michael Erickson	"I'm sure politics have everything to do with it," Michael says with a shrug. "He's a private citizen, I've no reason to pry. Given that Jane and the Chief directed me to talk with him I'm sure they know. At any rate..." He blinks at her outburst. "What, you didn't know that? Oh yes! The asteroid belts of many systems are full of mineral riches - civilizations like this one, once it starts spreading to local worlds for colonization and construction, often make use of resources in such belts to further fuel their economies. I'm sure it will be a while yet for humanity, but if I need a ship, and there's a man who can make it, I'll bring him a few hundred million dollars' worth of raw ore if it will trade."
Jessica Drew	Jess digests the implications in one go, both political and financial. She has no doubt that if Michael sets out on this mission, he will return with a treasure trove of palladium or something of equal value." Her fingers drum on the table in thought, they stop when she asks, "How will you get out to do the mining? How will you bring the ore back?"
Michael Erickson	"I have my fusion beam," he points out. "And as the Raptor I can carry twenty-five tons or so. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact I know that Richards can deal with all this directly, I wouldn't do it. I'm not interested in crashing the economy by flooding it with ultra-expensive, rare metals. But since Richards could use something like this directly, it just goes into his materials budget. Easy." He dips to take another sip of water.     "That said...tomorrow, I'm going to see a lawyer about the potential issues. Federal restrictions, that sort of thing. I'm not interested in avoiding the law."
Jessica Drew	"Oh behalf of SHIELD, I congratulate you on your acumen. Have you submitted a report concerning this already Michael? Why would you take a lawyer on your own when SHIELD or Richards have dozens at their beck and call?"