re: agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. 1x04

[busdriver]

No, I don't think we have anything to discuss.

You'd be wasting Coulson's time.

Comments

[chickfury]

[ That's right. You don't have anything to discuss. Nothing suspicious is going at all. Nope. Not a thing.]

That seems like the best approach.

[busdriver]

Nothing to discuss with him.

[Her heavy pause indicates that there might be something to discuss with you, Hill. There's an agent currently awaiting trial who piqued her curiosity.]

[chickfury]

[ That heavy pause is'nt exactly going to unnoticed but it's tajes impressive balls to point that out when the other neglected to follow the chain of command and inform HQ about a rogue agent.]

If you're going to say it. Say it.

[ Because hey, Maria would rather you be direct.]

You could have handled the situation with better support.

[busdriver]

Agent Ward has his record of successful field missions. I have mine. Coulson — is Coulson.

[Is she still being indirect?]

We did handle it. If we were unqualified, I would have requested support.

[She's covering, making it sound like her decision. She's not taking the bullet for no good reason: she could have gone behind Coulson's back and didn't. She was complicit in something she knew to be unwise. Not quietly complicit, but complicit all the same, and breached procedure in her own way later.]

HEY. I LIKE YOUR CRAZY MULAN POWERS. DO YOU WANT TO USE YOUR CRAZY MULAN POWERS FOR YOUR COUNTRY?

[chickfury]

Drawing outside the lines because another kid stole your pencil case is a terrible way to go about it.

[ Indirect is your middle name.]

Doesn't matter. The mission should have been lodged. It was'nt.

[ though, it's safe to say she knows where the blame on that lies. Still, she is'nt exactly thrilled with how everything turned out. Again.]

GHOSTS, YOU'RE OUT. TOYS, YOU'RE IN.

[busdriver]

Ma'am. [Hill should hear her conceding the point as tersely as possible.

May clasps her hands behind her, with a dour set to her jaw. While they're on the subject of things that should've been done:]

I'm less effective if I don't have all the available intel.

Yeah. There are definitely to many people on this team

[chickfury]

[ Oh Yeah. Because that's really the subject at hand here. Hill's just going to take a step forward at that. Her eyes focused on the agent in front of her.]

That can be said for the entire organizing body of SHIELD. Not limited to when headquarters should be informed of certain situations.

[ There's a beat here. Because she's just letting that sink in.]

Information is a puzzle, Agent May. Just because you can't see entire picture does'nt mean it's not there.

Some things are above your level for a reason.

[busdriver]

[She stands her ground and accepts the dressing down, with a constructed neutral expression. There's nothing else to do. She's not a green recruit. She shouldn't have to verbally confirm that she understands.

She waits and listens. Agent Hill wouldn't use the term puzzle if she didn't expect it to be solved. She can read between the lines. It's above her level, she's not meant to be told, but whatever's going on with Coulson:]

You want me to know.

[chickfury]

No.

[ True, she did dangle the situation above the others head but hey, if May knows. She might tell Coulson. It's the whole thing that SHIELD has secrets from SHIELD. ]

I'm saying that whatever you might hear, it's not something you should dig into, that includes what you're thinking about doing.

[ Talking to Coulson. Fury or her. About this subject. Or have Fitzsimmions do anything either. Just leave it the hell alone.]

[busdriver]

[That wasn't a question, Agent Hill, no matter what better judgment and authority dictates.

It would be better in the long run if she did know. May mightn't wear it on her sleeve, but it means something to her that she was recruited by Coulson; that he afforded her one of his generous second chances. The gesture's in doubt, if and when the man is.]

I won't jeopardize unity on The Bus.

[That's all the reassurance Hill's going to get.

In her mind, stirring suspicions and causing dissent is sabotage. There's no reason and no possible excuse for undermining the trust and respect the team feels toward Coulson. It would be too risky, too potentially damaging to enlist FitzSimmons in a search for answers.

It's bad enough that the kids saw Mom and Dad fight.]

[chickfury]

[ Those things fall the way the will. The team is'nt exactly unwatched as it was. An assert like...certain situations require a certain amount of attention. Even the juggling act that is being second in command. While it might be better in the long run, the risks tip the scale on this one. It's hard to...judge how exactly something like an LMD will react to the news. Any tip offs to particular scenario that is a bad idea.]

And I'll let your loose interpretation of SHIELD protocol slide and assume the next time the situation arises that you'll use your own judgement call be the right call.

[ Because you're Cavalry BITCH. If they need to bring her in. They will. For now, it's better let the chips fall where they were. The moment the situation becomes something they can't handle. Momma Hill and Daddy Fury will step in.]

[busdriver]

[In the interests of accuracy (following Skye's analogy) Hill and Fury are more like the grandparents.

Coulson seems to expect some operational autonomy, and he's the one putting in the hard yards with the Director, but that doesn't mean May is unaware of pressure from HQ. This would be a good time to do something by the book, to improve the reputation they're making with command.]

Fully appreciated, Agent Hill.

[Hill's right to think that she could order May to do her best, but her current level of performance should be enough. They've talked obliquely about boundaries and comfort and the past.]

[sonofcoul]

Wasting my time with what?

[busdriver]

Conversation.

[sonofcoul]

I don't know. Out of the two of us, I think I might be the one less likely to see conversation as a waste of time.

[busdriver]

She's expecting a debriefing scene. We have words about my conduct, I retaliate by questioning yours.

Try and tell me that doesn't feel unnecessary to you.

[sonofcoul]

A bit redundant at this point, more than anything.

What happened, happened. We've both been around long enough to know the song and dance about what that was.

[busdriver]

So you agree, we have nothing to talk about.

[sonofcoul]

I agree. Just assume it happened like we both know it would and move on.

Fortunately, things ended up on the brighter side of the possible endings.

[busdriver]

[Coulson could have stopped a sentence earlier and May feels that he admitted as much. She's still looking at him like he's an obstacle to be circumvented en route to normal business, but the usual pressure isn't behind it. She can give him this one.]

If we're calling it an ending, sure. I get the sense that everyone's relieved.

[No one more than Coulson, she can't help thinking. Drawing more attention to that would circle them back to a closed subject.

In hindsight, she's not sure the others were fully prepared for the alternate possibilities. For the summary termination of a rogue asset. It doesn't make for strong team-building and it could've spooked their consultant, as though Skye's not already plenty aware of what goes on in-house.

He knows May would have done it privately and quietly, but had she succeeded — for that value of success — there's a chance it wouldn't have stayed quiet for long.]

I am, you know. Relieved.

[sonofcoul]

It's about as much of an ending as we get most days.

[It never really ends, after all. Coulson knows, and May knows, of course, that in this job you rarely get everything tied up in a nice neat little bow. You do what you can, and you continue on.

And the alternate possibilities were ones he was extremely glad did not end up playing out, as much as there was a chance that they could have. But sometimes people lived up to the hope you had in them. And he'd never discount that opportunity.]

I'm glad.

[So was he, but that went without saying.]

[busdriver]

[That's a fact — but she's a strong closer, historically speaking.]

We're going to make at least as many new enemies as new friends.

[And that's to say nothing of old friends. She wouldn't state the obvious, but here the obvious goes a long way toward explaining why things never tie up neat.

She'll leave the other line alone.]

[sonofcoul]

We'll make enemies, of course, but I don't know about it actually skewing that way. As long as we avoid, as best we can, making an enemy from someone who should have and could have been a friend, I think that on balance we'll be all right.

[busdriver]

You're the friendliest operative I know.

[How the actual shit did she make that not sound like a compliment?]

[sonofcoul]

[He completely ignores the impressively used tone.]

Thank you. I do what I can.