"Whoa, whoa, slow down, what's wrong?" Cassian asked panting as he caught up with a stressed Dacia.
"It's Jane, Cassian; BODHI was able to find me some reliable intel that Jane is in troubled or at least being actively targeted. Come on we need to go in and talk to Jyn." Dacia told the other man, hurrying to make her way into the central nodule.
Cassian shot the other woman a strange look and shook his head, once as if to clear his mind of the flies still buzzing angrily, he might not feel completely comfortable pretending that he completely understood the Jedi woman. In this, however, he felt that he could glean a few of the issues for himself, he might never be able to satisfactorily explain why he was willing to go out to the frozen back end of the Galaxy for those few he called his friends. Sure, it could be argued away that Jane had never been through a battle, at least not in New Mexico. He would call that little more than a tantrum thrown by an overgrown kid who was forced to question all the things he had once believed to be true.
London on the other hand, while Cassian knew that occasion had no doubt been terrifying to the small astrophysicist, to Dacia as well probably, but it would struggle to be classed as more than a skirmish. Having talked to the Jedi about the matter before, Cassian had been able to comfort himself that Dacia would be able to keep her head about her, she had at least recognised the situation for what it was. Namely a power-hungry group not being able to understand that they had been long since left behind and struggling to try and gain traction against a faction that had previously defeated them.
Dacia had confided that at the point she wasn't comfortable with outing herself, solely because she didn't particularly relish the prospect of answering uncomfortable questions about who she was and what she was capable of. Cassian sometimes wondered if there was any special brand of reasoning that went into that decision, was it possible that Dacia had a premonition of some sort about what was lurking behind S.H.I.E.L.D? Or at least as much as something could lurk behind an already shadowy governmental intelligence agency? Either way, it served the group well that Dacia frequently gave into her paranoia. Cassian imagined that it wouldn't be fun feeling as if he had to run from whole swathes of an agency that already was particularly fond of being told now.
In any case, the fact that Dacia had chosen now to step forward could be puzzling; it didn't seem to serve any greater purpose now that they would have to contend with shining a bloody big spotlight on their business. Jane had managed to inspire a tremendous of loyalty in the woman, something which he privately thought was odd considering some the most ahh questionable things he had heard the woman say. Dacia was fond of the woman, so for all of Cassian's bewilderment, it looked like they were going to have to help the woman out of whatever tight spot she had managed to find herself in, no matter the trouble they found for themselves.
WHOOSH
Following the woman worriedly, Cassian flicked an inquisitive gaze towards a startled looking Jyn, he found himself wondering in the woman had any idea what had troubled Dacia so much. Seeing the woman only shrug her shoulders at him, Cassian crossed the room to stand at one of the computers in the room and focused his attention back onto Dacia. It was unlikely that what the woman was about to tell them could be anything less than important, especially important as it pertained to their upcoming actions.
Glancing over at a panicked Jyn, Cassian raised an eyebrow as he wondered whether the woman knew more about what was going on. Jyn simply shrugged at the man, looking like she had just come out of a fugue type state. He knew that it was likely that the woman had been poring over some of the data in front of her. Idly wondering to himself if it was possible that the group would have an opportunity to look through some of the things she had found. Casting his eyes over at the woman across from him, Cassian realised that it now as if he wouldn't get any answers, not while Dacia was looking so agitated and stressed.
Deciding that he could hold in his wonderings any longer, he cleared his throat and asked the Artificial Intelligence what had been found; it didn't look as if the woman would be able to provide any. Not at the very moment in any case.
"BODHI what did you find out about Jane? Is she in any trouble that we need to be concerned about?" Cassian asked calmly, knowing that he should have to remain calm because it didn't seem as if Dacia would be able to keep her head.
"Cassian, I have been going through some of the data I can find about Dr Foster, and it seems as if she in some trouble. Or at least she has the potential to be in for some trouble." BODHI's voice calmly told Cassian.
"Alright, slow it down for those of us in the back BODHI, what do you mean?" Cassian asked, looking worried.
"Sir, he is correct, it seems that Ms Erso is correct, when we started on this process, when we took on the ex-Avengers from the R.A.F.T prison, we attracted the notice of one Natalia Alianovna Romanova AKA Designation: Black Widow. So far I may not be able to tell how we may have been able to trip her attention." K-2SO started.
"Right, but that tells us next to nothing about how we can scoop her up, is there anything here that we can use if we want to find her sometime this century?" Cassian told the pair.
"I have been working a bit further on that, and it seems as if we should begin thinking below the radar. I have been going through some of the footage we have so far been able to grab off the woman, and she seems to fall back on the same line of attack near constantly. Namely that she go-to move is to attack Dr Stark and his supposed ego, which is slightly erroneous for several reasons. Namely that while it can't be argued that the man does not possess a breath taking ego, but in any case, his ego is not as big as hers. From what I have been able to find about the man, he is remarkably good at what he does, so it is more likely to be something that she takes comfort in. If she can accuse someone else of having a big ego." K-2SO started.
"Have you got anything you want to bring up, or is this more of your farting around. That isn't particularly helpful to us." Cassian impatiently tried to move the pilot Ai further along.
Jyn looked worried and crossed over one the computers that BODHI was showing some of the information on. Her eyes started moving quickly from one side to the other as took in some of the information shown on the blinking in front of her. Glancing over at an agitated Dacia who was pacing back and forth and trying not to chew on her thumbnail. It was a losing battle for the woman, Jyn could see as the woman lifted her hand away from her mouth with a scowl.
It seemed as if the woman had realised she had gotten a hangnail, not something that was particularly painful but could be a pain in the ass to deal with.
"Okay guys, we need to get back to work here, BODHI were you able to find anything on how she expects to be able to attack Dr Foster?" Dacia tried to get the small meeting back on track.
"Is this intercepted communique accurate BODHI? If what I am reading here is true, it looks as if the woman is expecting to be able to point any enemies or those with a marked enmity towards Lord Thor at the small scientist lady. Reading between the lines, it doesn't seem as if she knows that the two have broken up. She could be simply clutching at straws while she tries to work out how to get back on her feet. It's also entirely likely that the woman is simply reaching the end of her rope and is acting in more and more erratic ways as she tries to make sense of her current situation. It's likely that she is acting like this precisely because she is having difficulty working out what her next move should be. It might be difficult for us to pin down her motives simply because she doesn't completely understand them for herself." Jyn mentioned to the other two as she read through the pertinent details on the monitor in front of her.
"That's all fascinating, but is there anything we can use to counter some of her moves? I won't let Jane be put into more trouble, simply because I don't understand my remit." Cassian drawled.
"Give me some time, and I can plot out what her moves are likely to be. We may be better served though, for the time being in any case simply taking Dr Foster into protective custody. Somewhere we can be sure that she won't fall into any danger." Jyn mused, pushing at a few of the buttons on the keyboard that was on the table in front of her.
"We don't have that kind of time. Now, it seems as we are just going to have to march in and take Jane, you know as well as anyone that if anything happens to her, I won't be able to forgive myself." Dacia muttered frantically.
"We understand that, but for now we have to be careful about how we begin to move into position. If anything should even run the risk of overplaying our hand, then we don't want to get caught between two bigger powers than us, especially if we don't understand all of the rules." Cassian cautioned, wanting to make sure that his friend knew that they would have to act calmly and rationally before they even ran the risk of running in half-cocked without a plan.
"He's right, as it stands we don't even completely understand what lies behind SI, why were we even called in? They shouldn't even know who we are, never mind know enough to get into contact with us. Do you want to work this problem from the top?" Jyn cautiously advocated.
"Right now, I don't imagine that is the biggest problem we have to face. Can we do it after we have gotten to Jane? I don't need to point out that the woman is my 'weak spot' right? It concerns me that someone could know enough about how we operate to know to go after the woman." Dacia sighed, her hand wandering into her pockets, pulling out a small bouncy ball.
As she stared at the other two, trying to impress on them their current situation she tossed the small ball between her hands. Attempting to hide an eye roll when she noted the two others, sharing a conspiratorial glance. Dacia idly thought to herself that some days it seemed as if running the spaceship with total control seemed like a good idea.
"What is it, we can't just let the woman hang out, not while we could be could something to protect the woman?" Dacia forced through gritted teeth.
"I assess that if we leave the woman where she is, then something bad could happen to her. But I do not understand why you feel so much blind loyalty to someone who likely does not share the same thing with you. It is also my assessment that humans are rather strange, why do you insist on continuing friendship with this woman who has been known to ignore you in the past? At home, anyone who was not immediately serviceable was ruthlessly exterminated" the cold logic of K-2SO shook the small group at some of the small efficacy the robot was capable of. At the same though it reminded them if they had forgotten the background and origin of the android.
"K-2SO you are no longer with the Empire please cease these thoughts immediately. It is my experience that humans can be the most frustratingly loyal people. It's likely that even if Dacia did not have a background as a Jedi Warrior, then she would have likely shared some co-dependent relationship with Dr Foster." BODHI reminded the other AI gently sounding like it was an argument the two had shared many times in the past.
Knowing the two as she did, Dacia realised that it probably wasn't the first time the two had had this discussion.
"Hmm" K-2SO hummed, sending a small thrill through Dacia as she once again realised how good at her work she was.
"Right now, that isn't important. We need to start getting to work on how we can move forward, have you put in the coordinates to Jane? We need to get to her before it is too late for us to anything." Dacia asked in an even tone.
"Yes, I have put the coordinates on the ship, we are about to enter into hyperdrive please brace yourselves. For now, though you need to be ready to enter into a potential battle situation." BODHI told them calmly.
Cassian glanced out of the window from the spaceship and noted with a kind of idle curiosity the blurred lights outside the window. He knew from being familiar with both this spaceship and travelling with the Resistance that it was simply time and space beginning to fold together. Jyn could probably tell him even more, that woman's curiosity knew no bounds, she would probably be able to provide a more scientific and factually accurate account of what he could see happening. For now, though, he was more comfortable indulging his desire for simple, easy to understand explanations. It was at times like this when he found it more comfortable for him to fall back on some of the old suspicions and stories he had learned at his parent's feet.
"We should be there in five minutes, brace for impact," K-2SO told the small group sounding distracted.
Jyn braced her knees, wanting to be ready to move. With a quiet shunk noise, the spaceship began to shake. Chancing a glance over at Dacia, Jyn could ee that the woman looked as if she was beginning to prepare herself. For what though, Jyn wasn't sure, she could easily see that the woman was grabbing the small metallic cylinder that she knew was concealing her lightsaber.
Cassian had moved towards the tin double doored locker tucked into the side of the room they were standing in and pulled the doors open. Humming a quiet tune under his breath, he pulled out two blasters and tucked them at his waist. Now wasn't a time for him to play cautious, he wasn't completely sure of what he would be likely to be stepping into. Taking a further two blasters, he passed them to Jyn who tucked them at the holsters that hung from her armpits.
Humming to himself, his rubbed his fingers together while he took out another blaster and tossed it to a frowning Dacia. He wasn't sure why Dacia didn't particularly like blasters, but he imagined that the woman didn't like the barbaric simplicity of the weapon. To Cassian, however, he felt that he couldn't take on a higher moral standpoint, simply because he knew that he had always had to survive.
The spaceship shuddered to a halt, and Dacia nodded at the other two, throwing a camouflaging robe around her as she left the room. Jyn shared a brief look of consternation with Cassian before copying Dacia's motions and leaving the room close behind the woman.
WHOOSH
As always moving from the muted, calming light in the corridors of the spaceship, to the bright and harsh lighting of mid-afternoon in the New Mexico desert. Taking a beat to allow her eyes to adjust to the new light she prepared to move. Sharing a brief look with Cassian, she nodded once to direct the man into motion, while glancing over at Jyn. As one the three moved into position, knowing that they would have to move as one.
Splitting up from the other two, Cassian made a quick decision and moving quietly through the surrounding area. Keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings as he carefully made his way, while he carefully checked that the area for any obvious adjustment. So far, it didn't look as if he was going to be able to spot anything that wasn't as it should be. He couldn't spot anything until he reached the furthermost spot from the small garage that Dr Foster still liked to do all of her work from.
He was aware that Dr Foster had been told to build up a better kind of security system, at the very least she had been told to take better precautions for her safety. He knew enough to know that Dacia at the very least had pressed the woman to adopt better principles for her security. She had at least been helped by a bemused Dr Stark, who had told Dr Foster to adopt some small measures. Dr Stark might not have completely known about the presence of Dacia, but he had known what kind of crazies were out there.
Jyn had spilt to head in the other direction; she was checking the most obvious signs that might indicate that the small woman was in some danger. She ran a cursory eye over some of the security apparatus and felt her blood run cold when she realised that it looked as if the standard equipment had been tampered with. Knowing the woman the way she did, Jyn wasn't comfortable stating for the record whether or not the woman had chaffed with some of the measures and started to alter things around to suit her. Goodness knows that the woman had a rather irritating habit of wandering off. Not being able to come up with some satisfactory answer for herself, Jyn hissed to herself and darted back towards the lab, wanting to make sure that her friends were safe.
Unbeknownst to her friends, Dacia was slowly approaching the lab where she was sure that she would find Jane puttering with a few of her machines. Listening carefully to the sound of silence around her, Dacia heard the soft sounds of clanking and whirring as the computers continued to work overtime. Not wanting to spare a glance at the computers, she knew enough from experience to guess that Jane had been running analysis at the night sky the previous night. She hid a smile as she thought to herself, that at least it seemed as if nothing had changed, Jane still found it to be incredibly interesting to have her head in the star and her feet on the ground.
A frown momentarily crossed her face, when she realised that she hadn't yet spotted the astrophysicist. Shouldn't the woman be in the lab? Unless things had dramatically changed in the time since Dacia had worked for the astrophysicist, she shouldn't be too far. Halting her movements briefly while she thought briefly of where her friend was likely to be. Listening to the sounds of the former garage turned lab closely, she frowned briefly, when she realised that she could hear sounds coming from the kitchen space.
Cocking her head to the side while she listened, trying to work out what the sounds meant, she shook her head and crossed the space. Swiftly crossing the small room to reach the small kitchenette just off the side. Swinging past the large lab tables, and trying to frown when she wondered exactly why the diminutive scientist had felt a pressing need to own lab tables. Dacia realised that the woman didn't seem to do a lot of experiments, but then when she was working with the woman, her mind was often aimed in another direction.
Most notably, on whether or not she should worry about whether or not the woman would somehow discover the truth about Darcy/Dacia.
It was a close thing, and Dacia could remember that there were some days where she didn't feel 100% sure on whether or not she could that the woman had no clue about Dacia. Goodness knows that there were days when she felt like she had tripped up and forgotten the answers to some long forgotten test, that she had given herself away somehow let some something slip when she wasn't paying attention.
For Dacia, she felt like things had become even dicier when Thor had arrived, she had to be careful that she didn't accidentally let something slip when she wasn't paying attention. At least with Jane, she would be able to brush it off as being part of her flight intern's quirkiness. Thor may have been able to pick up something that Dacia made a passing comment about. Cassian and Jyn had panicked when Dacia had reported that they had company suddenly in the shape of some random homeless dude claiming to be a Space Prince.
Dacia had only managed to keep her cool when she realised that it seemed as if the guy had been telling the truth. Suddenly, things had been rocketed into altogether trickier terrain. Dacia had never been so glad that the guy was as self-involved as he had been when he hadn't started nosing around Dacia. She would claim that the only reason she had opted to help the guy get out of S.H.I.E.L.D custody was that Erik was giving her the stressed father figure vibes.
It was a good thing, she reflected, that before anyone could begin to dig into her records that the giant space robot had hit earth. It was handy that the impending threat of fiery death had sufficiently wiped the memory of the odd intern from their minds. Afterwards, Jane was too thankful to be alive to go over some of the memories of her bizarrely agile and calm intern to begin asking questions. S.H.I.E.L.D. for their part hadn't spotted Dacia's actions during the battle and had simply focused on keeping the incident hushed. If they had, Dacia realised that she would probably be faced with an unfortunate choice of whether or not she wanted to be a lab experiment.
She had gotten the lecture of her life from a worried Jyn and Cassian for not informing them during the battle exactly what was going on. BODHI had been suspiciously quiet until he confided to Dacia later that he was glad the woman wasn't dead. That was something for her to consider, up until that point she hadn't been sure what the Artificial Intelligence thought of her.
K-2SO, on the other hand, had affirmed what Dacia had long suspected that the Artificial Intelligence thought of her, namely that he didn't think much of the Jedi. It was interesting to know that the Artificial Intelligence felt as if his loyalty was always to Cassian first and foremost. The Artificial Intelligence had balefully informed them of the low odds of success and continued health if they had marched in to support Dacia. Scowling a little at the memory of the Artificial Intelligence's words, Dacia remembered wondering exactly how far she would have to go to secure the Artificial Intelligence's loyalty.
She knew that it was going to had to be something big, Jyn still shared an antagonistic relationship with the Artificial Intelligence.
Shaking her head as she near-silently made her way into the kitchenette. Looking at the back of Dr Foster, she imperceptibly sighed, it didn't look as if the woman had come to a lot of harm. Wincing when she realised that she wouldn't be able to tell if the woman was okay until she turned to face Dacia.
Watching as the woman, made herself a pot of coffee, at least it didn't look as if the woman had been hurt. Coughing lightly to draw the woman's attention to her, Dacia watched with a light hint of amusement coating her emotions as the woman whirled to face her. Peering at the woman's face, Dacia could see pronounced evidence of large bags underneath Jane's eyes. Becoming concerned she began to cluck.
"Jane I got your message, I came as soon as I was able, what's wrong? When was the last night you got a good nights sleep? What was the last full meal you got?"
Dacia inspected the woman closely, not liking how the woman's already baggy clothes were hanging off her already rail thin body.
"You know, I didn't think it possible to miss your irritating fussing, but I'm fine. So, I've been missing a bit of sleep and maybe a few meals, but I've done the same thing before. What's the point in fussing about it?" Jane dryly remarked.
"At this point? It matters because you won't be at your full health and capacity if you haven't gotten a full eight hours sleep the night before and a proper meal! What was the last proper meal you ate? And no, before you say Pop Tarts, you know those things aren't a good nutritional meal." Dacia lectured the woman, having to fight the urge to pull her hair in frustration.
At this point, the two woman were interrupted when a harried Cassian marched in. Running his eyes over the scientist, Jane rolled her eyes when she saw that the man still opted to march around like he was still in a military. The trio may never have completely confided in her all the details about their previous lives, but Jane could see that something still taxed them a tremendous amount. Becoming more than a little irritated when the man was still ignoring Jane in favour of whispering harshly into Darcy's ears.
A second later, Jyn rushed and barely having time to talk to a confused Jane, she also started to whisper at Darcy. She might not know the other, as well as she, knew Darcy, but she did know enough to be able to guess that something must have happened to make them run about like headless chickens.
"Alright. Jane how you feel about come to live on our spaceship for a while?" Darcy gently asked, eying the scientist like she was facing off with an angry snake.
"What now? Why should I leave here?" Jane puffed up angrily.
"Look, Jane, we have gotten some credible intel of an imminent threat on your life. We can tell you the rest of the spaceship, but for now, we need to move." Jyn calmly told the woman.
Jyn had chosen to speak because it looked as if Dacia was ready for a fight, she felt that she needed to head off that possibility quick. Nodding at the two, she split away from them.
"Jane, Jyn is right, we need to take you onto our spaceship where we know that you will be safe. We don't have a lot of time to discuss, not here, not while anyone could hear us, but please come with us." Cassian told the woman, his eyes darting around the room as he spoke.
At that point, Jyn came out of the small bedroom with a small bag securely clutched in her hands. Jane looked helplessly at Jyn and hesitantly nodded her assent. She was aware that the trio wouldn't steer her wrong in a potential life or death situation, she would give them the benefit of the doubt. For now. She could always demand answers later.
The trio were able to work together, even if they after they were doing something that they hadn't previously worked together, they were able to work together. They knew each other's moves after a long time working together. Arranged into a small semi circle with Jane stood in the center of them.
Cassian made his way carefully across the room his eyes darting around the room as he moved carefully through the rest of the room. The small group moved cautiously from the room, wanting to make sure that nothing could happen to the small scientist in the middle.
When the three had entered the spaceship, Jyn peeled off from the small group and tapped through a few of the buttons and watched, as she had done a few hundred time before. When the door closed, Dacia nodded and briefly ran away from the group to perform a few tasks.
WHOOSH
"Whoa, do you guys know what that was about?" Scott wavered on his feet as the spaceship began to make clanking sounds around him.
"That weird noise earlier, I have no idea what it could be." Clint dismissively told the panicked man.
"I wonder if they're hurrying somewhere or if this weird place is simply settling round us," Sam remarked.
"Nah, it doesn't seem like that could be it, I hope they aren't going after anyone else. They've already got everyone on your side of this whole debacle, so who else would they have to go after?" Clint coldly growled.
"No, they haven't, I didn't tell you guys, but Natasha helped me at the airport?" Steve quietly told them.
"WHAT POSSIBLE REASON WOULD SHE HAVE HAD TO HELP US?! SHE FOUGHT US. SHE FOUGHT ME! Wanda told me –" Clint began to roar, once again losing his grip on his temper.
"No, she helped us escape from the Cat Man, she electrocuted him for us. What did Little Red tell you to do?" James asked, his voice sounding cracked, almost as if he had gone a long time without using it.
"She told me to hit harder. She told me that Nat wasn't holding anything back when she fought me, so I shouldn't hold back when it came to her. Why would she tell me to do that? Nat has always been my friend WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST PISS AWAY OUR FRIENDSHIP AND OVER WHAT?!" Clint began to roar, unable to keep his temper.
"And you thought that was a good idea? Weren't you guys friends? Or is that some bullshit spoon fed to Avengers fans by the propaganda machine?" Scott dryly remarked.
"No, that was real, I saved her life a few times, and she saved my life a few times, why the hell did I get involved in this? Was there ever a good reason for this?" Clint asked.
At this point, perhaps to stop them from beginning to lose their temper with one another, a change was made in the individual cells along with the outer portion of the cells. A large TV monitor dropped from the screen and began to flicker to life.
When the monitors flickered to life, they were met with the sight of one of the main people onboard. Clint momentarily frowned, as he began to think through who the woman could be. He thought that it might be Daria, or whatever you called the woman who had interviewed him. Again he felt like he had to wonder if he recognised the woman from before. Or did he simply recognise the woman because she had implied that she had previously known the man?
"Your questions are about to be answered Designation: Hawkeye, we have a little video to play you guys." The screen began to show them a screen of a dark road
"Guys, why are we looking at a road?" Scott asked confused.
Steve frowned when he realised that he recognised the road, wondering what those people were beginning to play at. Gulping, he wondered how bad it was about to get for him.