text to skye

[hyperverbose]

alright, Vanilla Sky. i've got an info exchange you might be interested in.

you want to know what happened in my new york? i only need one thing from you.

Comments

[refurbished]

[ the door opens up, and coulson looks between her and the phone she's no doubt glancing back down at as tony's next sassy text rolls in ]

I'm not sure I like the face you're making.

[hacker]

That's because I'm gonna ask for something.

[ Skye says this while punching out another text to Tony. ]

I know there's something actionable in Foster's research. How do I know there's anything actionable in your intel...?

Stark wants to make a deal for Foster getting her research back. Something about Einstein bridges? He said she was building a Shadow Gate.

1/2

[hyperverbose]

a moment ago, you were asking me what her research even WAS.

nice try.

not buying it.

[refurbished]

[ coulson's face reads 'this guy' pretty loud and clear ] Jane Foster?

[ ]

She was involved in the first incident with the Asgardians, in New Mexico. Her research on wormholes was our best chance to understand where these people were coming from. Or how to stop them from coming, if that became a priority.

[ he heads further into his office, walking behind the desk and pulling up some things on a screen. they're scans, clearly of the research in question. ] ... A Shadow Gate itself is one extremely large can of worms. Miss Foster was unaffiliated, and there was a good chance that sort of technology could wind up in hands we wouldn't be very happy to see it in.

[hacker]

[ Skye does her best to parse the research in question. She's not Fitzsimmons, but she was apparently listening to them sometimes (knowledge physics 23). Some of it seems to make sense to her, on a basic level anyway. ]

Already covered that with Stark. [ She says this while she reads through the scans that are pulled up presently. ] But he's got his eyes set on it. I think they knew each other. Foster was on the mission where they found Loki, and Stark said he has some kind of history with Loki of his own.

Plus, you know, he's willing to cough up everything about his previous encounters with SHIELD in his Shadow World for it. [ Her gaze slides to Coulson. ] He knew Fury.

[refurbished]

[ wellllll

that's

something.

he moves to a window and looks out, arms folded behind his back ] Has he mentioned something to you called the Avengers?

[hacker]

Fury's idea, he says.

[ So he'd passed it on to Coulson, too. ]

This is big, right? Parallel universes. Not just other dimensions.

[refurbished]

[ he nods ] Alternate timelines. Ones that are spilling into our own at a more frequent rate.

It doesn't seem to speak to a very healthy space-time continuum. Unless there's something to it that we don't understand yet. [ he turns to look at her, considering ] I've heard of the Avengers because we've encountered some things that have fallen through the Veil that make reference to them. Captain Rogers, for example.

Apparently, Thor worked with them, too. Side by side. On Earth.

Or an Earth.

[hacker]

So we don't need Stark's information?

[ It sounds like Coulson has been building a file all his own. Skye doesn't love the sound of that--as far as she's concerned, Foster should be working for SHIELD on this Shadow Gate project. Foster, and anyone else involved in that research. ]

[refurbished]

I wouldn't go that far. We only have pieces of the puzzle, and given that the Asgardians seem to have some control over interdimensional travel themselves, I'm not sure I like what Stark was saying about his involvement with his world.

How much do you think you can get from him?

[hacker]

He made the offer.

[ She shrugs. It's the kind of shrug that says she knows there's more than he's willing to give up, but that it gives them a headstart, and she does have some training in interrogation. ]

Give me permission to release Foster's research to him, and I'll get everything he knows.

[refurbished]

If we release her research, they're probably within five years of building the Gate.

They might be anyway, with the brains they've got together on the project. What do you think they'll do with it? You know the Knights best.

[hacker]

I think they'll send people who want to go home, home.

[ Honestly. Said with the usual painstaking compassion that Skye approaches all things with. ]

... And send research teams through. Maybe scouting missions, to help other Shadow Worlds. How certain are we that the Veil is one-directional?

[refurbished]

There only seems to be one reported case of it potentially firing in the other direction: what the Knights discovered in Romania.

[hacker]

They'd look at that too.

[ Firmly. ]

That's what they do, Coulson. They help people. Just like SHIELD.

[ Actually, a little less selfishly, if she's being honest. SHIELD always wants to be able to assert its own defense. The Knights don't seem interested in accumulating that kind of preventative power. ]

[refurbished]

How much of a chance do you think there is that they'll be willing to work with this alongside our own scientists?

[hacker]

Do we need them to? We can just copy the files.

[refurbished]

We've had the files. We don't have Jane Foster. [ he doesn't like to spell it out in flashing neon letters, but it's pretty clear what he means.

shield couldn't replicate what she was going for, couldn't live up to her genius where the project was concerned ]

[hacker]

Hasmed and Solace aren't going to take kindly to SHIELD poaching their knights.

[ Just pointing it out. He'd better be the one to run damage control on that if she tries this. ]

[refurbished]

Working alongside isn't the same thing as trying to recruit.

[ a beat ] Not always.

[hacker]

Not sure they'll make that distinction.

[refurbished]

We can ask. Different than insisting.

[hacker]

And the "we" here is ...?

[ she has a feeling she's on knight recruitment duty ]

[refurbished]

I was hoping it'd apply to those present. [ he spreads both hands, like, well, there's two of us here ] I'm willing to take it to them myself, but it might be better to have someone there who knows them better.

[hacker]

You're not worried showing off your token knight might instead come across as reminding them that I'm actually the token traitor?

[ Not a real popular person around these parts right now. ]

[refurbished]

Do you think it's a better idea to try to shoo you under the rug? [ he clearly does not ]

[hacker]

I think there's a middle ground between that and shoving me in their faces. But ... [ she hunches her shoulders, and nods. ] Alright. [ she trusts Coulson's judgment implicitly. ] Let's ask.

[refurbished]

I'll set something up.