Daycycle 2 [ November 4-6 ]

[computerized]

DAYCYCLE 2

[ November 4-6 ]

Morning

Breakfast goes mostly without incident this morning, though some might find some unpleasant pieces of hardware in their soylent red this morning.  It appears a drone, blinded by an inappropriate use of upholstery, crashed and landed in a vat of the mixing stuff yesterday.  On the plus side, there might be some useful tech salvageable for those willing to break it out and piece it together.

As a special, you are still being singled out by the majority of the other Troubleshooters, though two or three offer congratulations to Parker and Bucky Barnes on their mission yesterday. It’s rare that one contestant makes it through an entire run of Trouble Survivor, let alone two.  If their behavior hadn’t been quite so eccentric, MC might have thought of offering them a permanent spot on the entertainment network.  As it is, they are back in the Troubleshooting pool with everyone with the added benefit of being minor celebrities.

Your Briefing Officer is brief, as always, in assigning missions.  Today’s fare is much less interesting.

Troubleshooter Team: Alec Hardison & Maria Hill

Mission:  Shortly before her fatal accident, Janice Remes performed a complete inventory of Warehouse 93, but they still haven’t forwarded her written reports to Production Control.  We’ve made numerous electronic requests for information, but they keep telling us the report isn’t there.  Go to the warehouse and find her report so we can bring Warehouse’s 93’s incompetence to Internal Security’s attention.

Troubleshooter Team: Natasha Romanoff & Matt Ferrall

Mission:There was a mutant attack on a guard outside of the Armed Forces Sector last night.  The mutant scum was injured in the scuffle, but managed to escape with valuable intel.  Your mission is to track down the injured mutant and retrieve the intel.  

All other Troubleshooters:  You are to report to your Service Firm positions for the day, until called on for Troubleshooter duty.

Intel

• Corpore Metal is recruiting again.  Members are most recognizable by their metal upgrades.  Metal upgrades are not traitorous, unless they are beyond current allowed specifications.  

• The vending machine on the 24th floor was distributing exploding bottles of Bouncy Bottle Beverage.  This is dangerous when opened near a flame.  Inspect all bouncy bottle beverages you see and request information on it’s origin.

Afternoon:

The afternoon is blessedly free of explosions or mishaps.  At 1600 Corridor Running takes place in the RED sleeping corridors, as races are held to see who can beat each other’s best times.  This results in some infighting among the RED Troubleshooters, but is casualty free.

Evening:

At approximately 1800 the Armed Forces Entertainers put on a show in the Commissary for citizens of all clearance levels.  A banner is hung across the front of a stage that reads “Winning the War on Treason for over 100 yearcycles!”  The show consists of dancers, singers and a celebrity visit from everyone’s favorite talk show host, Teela O’Malley.  Sleep aid gas is expelled into the sleeping quarters at 2100.

Comments

[geekage]

"That explains it." As far as he could tell military guys were born with their hands in fists. Or at least in his experience with Eliot and his army pals. It was also why he'd never had any interest in joining up himself.

Hardison nodded at the advice. He may not be the kind of guy that went looking for a fight, but he knew how to throw a punch if he had to. Problem was he didn't really have much of an idea of what to do after that. Unless he had some time to rig up some explosives, but even then he wasn't really for blowing people up. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

He took Barnes' hand and shook it with a grin. "Hardison."

He glanced down at the PDC in the other man's hands. "You need a hand with that?"

Aww, man. He probably shouldn't have said hand.

[offtherail]

Bucky picked the PDC up again from his lap after the handshake and gave another sort of smile before glancing down at the device. His roommate had given him a run down at breakfast but not all of it had stuck. He understood that he could type, and he remembered how to find a name but beyond that it was still a mystery to him.

"They seem to be pretty important around here and I have only really had the boot camp for kids version of how to use it. I got as far as can type and started to go blank." The HappiTime interference likely was not helping. "And when I tried to call 0 there was no operator." Showing his displacement again, but when it came to technology, Bucky almost preferred people to know he had no idea what to do with it. As much as he liked to think about the possibilities of the future, catching up to all the strides in technology in the complex was not easy.

At least he did not seem to have registered the 'hand' comment. If he had, he said nothing.

[geekage]

Hardison lets out a little huff, not picking up entirely on Bucky's displacement. The uniforms don't really help distinguish the difference between time periods. "Yeah, it's a shame they haven't made a rotary model," he jokes, half shuddering at the thought of a rotary phone.

"You don't need an operator, all you have to do is go to the main screen and search for whatever you're looking for. You know, as long as you don't mind Big Brother watching." Hardison pulls out his own device and demonstrates how to get to the main screen and the search function. Though, he guesses it's probably not that easy with just one hand.

"Were you looking for something or someone in particular?"

[offtherail]

"Not yet." Keeping it out of the computer's watchful - eyes - that he knew Steve meant no contact. Radio silence after his near death experience was an intense strain on the soldier. Every now and then he had to try to spy on Steve in the commissary as discreetly as possible just to reassure himself the other man was still around. Things were fucked up enough without loosing track of the other soldier entirely and he wanted to be sure he could get a hold of him if necessary. But he couldn't exactly advertise that.

"Just making sure I can find a way to get in touch with Parer if the CO says I need to run another mission with her." That was a reasonable cover, he felt.

[geekage]

Hardison's eyes lit up with recognition. Why hadn't he realized this was the guy that Parker had been on that first mission with sooner? He was even better looking in person. For a moment Hardison found himself sitting up a little straighter, all too willing to share his knowledge. "Just type Parker in the main screen there and it'll bring her up. Though, she's not going to answer unless she wants to. So be prepared to leave a message or just text her."

He cleared his throat. "So when you two worked together, did she mention me?"

[offtherail]

He and Parker had not been the most talkative mission pair. What she had said to him had either been antagonistic, cryptic or minimal, and while it had worked out okay and their mission had been a success the woman was more confusing to him than any he had met in his lifetime before her.

He raises his brows at the question but follows along Hardison's instructions just to show that he was listening.

"We didn't do a lot of talking. Not much came up aside from threats, orders and the massacre of furniture." It had been an interesting experience, at least.

[geekage]

Hardison lets out a little chuckle, an unmistakable expression of fondness crossing his face. "That's my girl."

It's not little encouragement that she didn't really seem that interested in Sergeant Barnes, despite the fact that he was what some people might consider attractive. Not that Hardison had noticed or was comparing.

"You need any more help with this thing?"

[offtherail]

"I'm good for now, but can I call you if I run into trouble?" Even if Hardison was friends with Parker and it put him on the potentially insane list with her, he could turn into a strong ally if he understood how things worked. Bucky couldn't rely on his roommate forever for tech help when it seemed people were coming and going left and right.

"I hate to say it but when it comes to working things around here the pistols are about the only thing I understand."

[geekage]

"Yeah, just type in Hardison and I should come up." Just in case the good sergeant had forgotten his name. Now that he wasn't a threat, Hardison was all for helping the guy. Plus, anyone who could fight like that might come in handy someday. Hardison had been alright so far, but there was no denying this place got violent.

Hardison grinned. "Don't feel bad. You'll catch on soon enough."