2020-07-05 - Give It Back

Summary:

Keiko has to give back Steves jacket and there's a briefing about HYDRA's latest activities

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Sun Jul 5 08:34:08 2020
Location: Triskelion

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

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melinda-maykeikosteve-rogerskoa-turner

"Keiko. Take the jacket off. Captain Rogers is going to be here any moment and it belongs to him so you're going to give it back."

Koa is in one of the conference rooms on the 32nd floor of the Tri's number two tower. The space around here is largely offices and WAND likes to use this particular conference room because it is close to where the entrance to their part of the building tends to be. Also people who are not in WAND don't like using WAND conference rooms because disturbing and slightly unnatural things tend to happen there, as is generally the case with large organizations that deal with strange things.

Part of this brief is actually related to Captain Rogers recent overseas trip. His report got red flagged as relating to something that Koa might be dealing with and so he's asked to debrief the captain.

It's also a good chance to MAKE Keiko give the jacket back. Which she is going to do. Glare.

Koa hasn't seriously interacted with Steve since Steve carried one of Keiko's tattoos. And before that the interaction between the two had been, er, interesting. Largely things to Steve coming down with a bad case of lycanthropy and Koa being something of a predator himself by nature. So this should be… interesting.


Keiko gives Koa a flat, lizard eyed, look at those instructions. "I like it." Is all she says. The small peruvian, who is about the size of a 12 year old child, is wearing Steves leather jacket - the thing dwarfs her as it hangs from her frame. In fact, it's difficult to see Keiko for the jacket.

"I think it looks good." This has been a discussion with the smaller Agent since the debarcle the other day when she 'saved' the jacket.

She doesn't say it, but Koa can see the look in her face - is he going to make her to do it? Koa might be beginning to suspect that Keiko enjoys these interactions.


It should be interesting. Very little of Steve's psyche has appeared interested in acting in any manner canid, but even as he approaches the conference room in a dusk-blue button-down and plain khaki slacks, boots on his feet for proper fashionable disruption, he's wondering — definitely wondering. A rap twice on the door to announce himself before he opens it and admits himself into the room proper. He's missed the immediate interaction, but comes in on the word 'good' from Keiko.

"Agent Turner, Kurita," he greets in the perfectly even manner he tends to use while on the grounds of the Triskelion. If he has immediate opinions about the jacket's presence, they don't appear on his face. Barnes has always been nervous of the Captain's poker face, even since the downtime before Operation Dragoon and the very card game inspiring the monicker for the expression. "Heard there was something connecting my recent trip to something being worked on here?"

Of course the man meanders over to the small coffee corner to stir himself up a paper cup of it rather than immediately sit.


Agent May enters the conference room in her usual quiet manner about when Steve is fixing himself a cup of coffee, and if her look from Keiko to the Captain and back is any indication, she's also silently expecting the woman to return said jacket to its owner.

Claiming a seat at the table, her only greeting to Koa is a nod hello. She's waiting for Steve to not have his back mostly turned toward her before offering him a greeting of some sort or other. Strangely, she doesn't seem that perturbed about being in on a WAND meeting.


"Hello Agent Rogers." Koa says nodding to the man as he comes in. "And yes there was. Your report mentioned some things that are of interest to a current investigation and given that you were the one with eyes on the matter as it were I wanted to get your first hand report. Hello Agent May."

That last one is to May as she comes in. Koa pours himself a drink of water and then looks to Keiko.

"But before we begin, Agent Kurita here has something she'd like to return to Agent Rogers…"


"Hello Agent Rogers." A glowing draconic head peaks out from under the jackets collar and looks at Steve, causing Keiko to give it a flat look as well. "Agent May." She stops short of asking if the other agent would like some kitty treats - she's not in the mood for a sparring lesson today.

"Do I, Koa?" Keiko says, actually managing a look of supreme of confusion in all of this.

She goes to get a can of root beer from the fridge though, ignoring Koa - or so it seems, Glydrils head craning around to watch Steve.

The head actually slides the jacket from Keiko's shoulders and takes the collar gingerly in its mouth, holding the garmet out to Steve. Keiko doesn't argue and doesn't look at anyone.

"Now what's all this about, Koa?"

Ahem.


No need for a cardboard stir-stick or sugar packets or anything of the like. Steve takes his coffee hot and black and sips it as he turns, glancing towards the conference room's door.

A nod towards Melinda. "Agent May," says the Captain by way of unfailingly polite greeting. His true-blues then shift to Keiko, given not only the sudden spotlight upon the agent, but also the faintest tingling of Gyldril's appearance calling out to some subconscious part of his attention. His blond brows lift. There's a bizarre moment where he almost wants to wave ruefully at the living dragon tattoo, but then, this very tattoo is offering out his motorcycle jacket he's been missing for some days now.

"Thank you." A curt bit of gratitude as the man takes back the jacket and folds it over his arm before seating himself at the table. "Appreciate that, truly. What is this all about?" His attention returns to Koa now as he sips again at his coffee.


Koa sits down and passes both Steve and May a copy of a casefile which is a little on the thin side. That's always a bit worrying because it means that the available data is a bit sparse.

"Well as it transpires your trip to Genosha has been reading like a familiar book. I understand you ran into some things while investigating HYDRA that were shall we say unnatural and disturbing." Sort of like what WAND deals with all the time.

"Keiko and I have been investigating something involving HYDRA that is, well… unnatural and disturbing. Specifically they or some portion of them seem to have developed an interest in ancient deities, rituals and relics. We theorize, though we cannot prove yet, that they have developed some means to extract power from ancient relics and turn it into some kind of serum that they can provide to their operatives to make them, essentially, powered."

And there is one such case in that file. One that Steve knows about involving a woman who seemed to be able to make people want and fight over things. May will probably not like the idea of HYDRA having that capability. No one else does, certainly.


Glydril's returning Steve's jacket to him earns the dragon tattoo a raised eyebrow, but no other reaction. She focuses on Koa again as Steve settles at the table, and it's clear in the way she's looking at Turner that she's waiting for his answer to the Captain's question.

When he passes her a case file, she looks through the data that's available — not much — but what she does see is honestly disturbing. It doesn't really explain her presence here, but she's willing to wait and see where the WAND agents are going with it.


"I know it was your favourite, Agent Rogers." Keiko answers quietly. It will shock the crap out Koa that the small agent actually looks repentant. When Keiko sits at the table, Glydril slides from her shoulder and slinks to lay her head on the heroes lap.

Keiko doesn't correct her, either.

"Agent Turners office was destroyed by a bomb a few weeks ago. During our investigation of the situation, we found a package had been hidden in his office. Koa thinks the package was *there* and they used the bomb to evacuate the office so they could find it. I haven't given up the idea that they planted the box for us to find. Inside the box was a relic that would sow discord between people."

And it had indeed almost made the two agents beat the heck out of each other again.


Thin case files are the worst. Steve's flat look down at the offending file silently shares this opinion on matters. He opens it and begins flipping through the pages, glancing up at Koa as the man talks.

Glydril's further appearance has the Captain pausing entirely in turning the few pages and even moving his forearms up from where they'd rested on the table. The dragon tattoo settles her head and after a moment of silent surprise, he reaches to see about possibly very gently running fingertips along the crest of her skull. A glance at Keiko first to see if this is permitted, though he suspects Glydril does what she wants when she wants — suspects as is 'learned firsthand'.

"So we've got HYDRA now handing out gag gifts that're about as fun as a rusty thumbtack in your heel. Dunno if that's better'n what I saw in Genosha. They're still not below using human blood to get what they want. WAND have the relic left behind at your office, Turner?" he asks of Koa.


"Yes. Hawaiian in origin. Koa wood knife studded with tiger shark teeth. Rather typical of the weapons that would have been used in the islands pre-European contact." Were Steve not married and otherwise inclined Koa would certainly be rather subtly attempting to set Keiko up with the man. Why? Because he said thank you. Seriously. The man is a picture of how to be a human being and Keiko needs some serious reminding. Sadly it will have to come from elsewhere. Or well, it will have to come in other circumstances, Steve is still a perfectly good example.

"I read about that part too. But I wondered if you might share with us any impressions you didn't put on paper. Sort of bring us up to speed."

Koa pauses and looks at Keiko. Yes. His office had been blown up. He notes that she didn't mention that he was IN his outside office when it was blown up. It had been a very near thing.

"As to the million dollar question - why you're all here - Assistant Director Peters, and Director Fury agrees, that since you two are the agents with some of the most extensive experience dealing with HYDRA, you two should be on this team. Keiko and I are used to dealing with weird things but HYDRA is almost entirely out of our area of expertise." Sure they deal with criminals, but organizations like HYDRA in the mystic world are just rare. HYDRA has numbers, organization, funding and reach far beyond what most others can manage. And WAND just… doesn't deal with them.

"Agent May if you have initial gut instincts on what HYDRA might be doing making this kind of power play, I'd be curious to hear them."


May takes a few moments to consider what's she's learned so far. "It feels like a distraction. They're giving us wilder and wilder geese to chase to keep us from noticing something else they're doing." But if that's the case, what that might be could prove extremely difficult to determine.

"Do we have a recognizable pattern of the mystical sources they're employing?" Maybe that will point them in some direction.


Keiko sees the look from Steve and nods subtly. Glydril can do that, sure. It's an interesting change in the woman who would have tried to control her spirit animal on a tight leash before. She's being … indulgent. Well, as indulgent as Keiko gets. Steve, and maybe May, will note that the woman is much changed from when they first met her - more guarded, no smiles … so serious.

It's like there's no joy in her life. And if she knew Koa was entertaining those sorts of thoughts she might punch him and storm out. So … best no one mention it.

"Koa had been in his office that day." She adds helpfully. "And we disagree on whether the knife was left there or to be collected." Koa's reasons are sound but Keiko … is working off a hunch. An ill informed and uneducated guess.

The smaller agent answers May though, in her usual direct fashion. "When we were told look at this, it was just HYDRA using local practioners. We're piecing it together and we could make assumptions."


May brings up an excellent point and it allows Steve to muse even as he does further extrapolate on thoughts not put to triplicate post-mission report.

"So far, it seems they're looking into Polynesian gods 'nd all through rituals. Report mentioned the artifacts we saw down in HYDRA's underwater labs, the knife 'nd the masks on the walls — the bloody altar. If they're fishing for something more powerful, dunno what it is. They already managed to hook a King-Shark, a deity of Hilo." His fingers continue to gently scritch at the crest of Glydril's skull while the other hand is absorbed with keeping papers in place. "If it's a shell game 'nd they're fishing for something else, might want to see about things like the local museums. Anybody missing something they're not supposed to in the major cities along the coastlines. Unnatural sightings of wildlife."


Koa nods in Steve's direction while he answers May's question. "Polynesian and Greek sources mostly but we're not entirely sure why yet." He starts writing. Looking into Museums had been an idea but it just became a much higher priority one. "I agree, Agent May, that there is something off about this. Maybe an element of deception. We do have some prisoners from the last attack to interrogate if either of you want to take a hand in that."

May's skill with interrogation is slightly legendary.

Koa watches Steve scratch the Dragon's head and nods at the man in approval. It's good that he can get close to the dragon spirit. It makes sense but it is still in his book a positive thing. In part it means that Keiko herself still has elements in her capable of recognizing things like friendship. Though… the dragon DOES do what she wants. A lot.

"Er. Yes. I was in the office when it was exploded." Koa IS on the 'Fire Eater' list, which is a list of SHIELD agents capable of filling in when powered operatives are needed and the Avengers aren't available. Though he isn't particularly noted to have THAT level of toughness.

"Shark deities." Koa makes a face. "The Hawiians had several and some of them could be really, really nasty. We'll also want to keep an eye on shipping. There is one other piece of news I have though I am not yet sure how it is related…"

Koa slides forward a grainy picture of a clearly inhuman being. "This is one of the HYDRA council. The most elusive I am told though again, I'm no expert. We know it only as 'Hive'. It's name has come up in several communications that we think might be relevant but neither Keiko nor myself have any idea where to start on it." Beat. "Well, Keiko had one idea."

It involved beating people up unsurprisingly. She can explain it if she likes.

"Perhaps one of you two might be able to do something with it?" If not Koa is sure that it will be come clear how it is relevant but he's also sure that they won't like how it happens.


Glydril trills happily as Steve scritches her head, not moving but snaked out across the room. Does it mean that Keiko still has some human emotion about her? Or is it just a facade now and there's really nothing left?

"We can check the reports from the coastal villages." Keiko says thoughfully, looking at Koa. "Though that will rely on people making reports. Maybe … social media? Someone else can check that."

The last time Keiko checked out the feeds for a case Koa found her looking in puzzlement at kitten videos. She couldn't understand why anyone would record it and think it … cute.

When Koa mentions her idea, she nods again. "We know that HYDRA is working with local practioners. I say we find their families and threaten them, get the information we need. But Koa says WAND and SHIELD doesn't do that…" Another person might be expected to poke their tongue out, but Keiko doesn't. "We could grab the practioner or one of their suppliers though …."


Hearing that Koa was dangerously close to the explosion when it happened has May giving the mana a serious look. Clearly, he's better now, but still. Could he have been part of the target the bomb was set to destroy? The information collected on that incident will need to be scrutinized more closely. Also, "I can have a chat with those prisoners if you like." It has been a while since her interrogation skills have been plied on someone. It'd be good to dust them off.

She's not paying Steve pet dragon over there any attention, they're in a briefing after all. "If HYDRA is tracking down artifacts, don't limit the search to museums. Private collections can have a fair share as well. Data Analysis can track and flag all unusual sales to see if anything noteworthy has changed hands via auctions or antiquities dealers." Unless, of course, the antiquities dealer is the old school sort that doesn't use computerized transaction information. She can think of three or four of those in NYC's Chinatown alone.

Hive. That is not a name May has heard before. But the image shared is quite disturbing, far more so than Keiko's unconventional suggestion. Honestly, not THAT unconventional. That's exactly the type of work that May's known for, or was before she took an administrative position for a handful of years. "Let's focus on the practitioners and suppliers." Going after their families is fighting dirty, but May will do it if need be.


Again, those golden brows furrow in deep concern. The grainy picture is taken up in his free hand not dedicated to now impressing light circles at the back-base of one of Glydril's horns as one might a dog's ear.

"Dunno who this 'Hive' is either," reports the Captain with a grave note of dissatisfaction at this. "But I like the idea of taking advantage of Data Analysis — see if anything's changed hands lately in certain sectors." The picture is set down on the table again, pushed out by fingertips in case anyone else wants a looksee. "If folks are going to focus on the practitioners, I'll make a point of looking into this 'Hive'. Don't mind looking through the older files in case SHIELD's got some mention of it back in the War." Oh man, manila folders upon folders. A few late nights are sure to be had from it.


Koa is frankly relieved when May makes the sensible suggestion. While he knows SHIELD can and will play dirty Keiko in particular doesn't need to know that right now. She's already walking a knife's edge as it is with regards to her worse instincts.

"Sounds good then. I'll tell Assistant Director Peters that you two are fully briefed and will keep you in the loop if the WAND end discovers anything. I suspect, however that you folks might make a breakthrough first." Koa stands up. "Keiko wait here, I'm going to grab another file and then we'll go over it." He expects that Steve and May will be gone by the time he's back and honestly, he could go over the other file with Keiko in his office. But he wants to give Steve a chance to pet the dragon.

If nothing else Keiko owes Steve that for stealing his coat.

With a nod to the others the large man heads out of the conference room. He'll be back. In a bit. Probably.

Maybe he'll get lunch first…


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