Niah had drawn her ICER as a reaction when Tinley had announced that the two new agents, that Niah hadn't even seen before this very moment, were HYDRA agents. Her heart raced and she could hear it in her ears. But as she went to aim at Agent Wu the cat(?) sprouted tentacles and whipped the man around like a rag doll. She blinked, returned her ICER to its holster.

She stepped over to Maria who was starting to wake up. "You okay? Probably a good idea to have Bonnie take a close look at the pair of you and make sure you didn't sustain any serious damage. Can you hear me okay at least?" Sure, Niah wanted to question Maria's motivations for leaving the base like that, but she knew Tinely would take care of any of the yelling that needed to be done so Niah took a caring approach. Maria was technically a friend, though it was usually just from jogging that they hung out.

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Tinley let the blonde comment go, especially since she knew she was about to kick his ass. Before she could unleash said ass-kicking, Goose came around. It was bad enough he was running around here begging for food, but now was not the time! As Agent Wu came at her, she braced for a block before Goose, of all things, sprouted tentacles from his mouth and bashed Wu around the room. Tinley could only stare in shock and awe as the HYDRA agent was knocked out. Dixon had ran off, with Flynn on his tail.

As Cassandra and Harry left to go take Dixon and Wu to the holding cells, she received a message from Fury. He was, of course, privy to what had just occurred. Of course, he was. She sent a quick reply. "Purifiers outside of base attacking two agents. Tempest unleashed security measures and kill them. Dealing with more HYDRA agents in our midst." She rubbed her temples. "All right, while they handle those guys, I'm going to check on Smith and Novikova."

She entered where the girls were, seeing Smith awake. She walked over to them both before she stared at Novikova. She came up to her face before she spoke. "Agnet Novikova. You are going to wake up from unconsciousness and sit up straight and listen to what I am about to tell you. Afterward, you will be free of my control and able to speak your mind, but until I say so, you will sit and listen. Now, wake up." After the command, Novikova's eyes would open and she would sit up straight and look at Tinley. She assumed Maria would do the same given what she witnessed.

"Now, on to business. I've had a hell of a day, in case you two aren't aware. Not only did I have tow agents sneaking out with technology and gear from us, they had to go and alert nearby Purifiers. On top of that, I had to deal with two HYDRA agents continuing to infiltrate our ranks. And deal with a cat who apparently can now sprout tentacles from its mouth like that's a thing. And the cherry on top of this is the dead bodies outside of our door that the local police are now dealing with."

"Needless to say, girls. I'm rightly pissed. But I am pissed for more than you might think. Agent Novikova, I know what you were trying to do. I saw the file you looked into. Hank Pym. Ultron. I get it. You want to try to bring Sparks and Raynor from the Quantum Realm. And you thought the best possible way to go about that was to sneak around behind my back. And you got Agent Smith to help you, though I imagine that took little effort, am I right Agent Smith?" She stared at Smith, obviously knowing the two's relationship.

"No, what upsets me more than all of this is the knife in my back. Do you think I am sitting here in my office playing Sudoku all day? Drinking tea and watching Netflix? Do you not think I haven't been planning and thinking of a way to bring back the both of them from that blasted place? You don't think it is eating me up inside, knowing it was my fault they are there in the first place? You would have been there too had I not prevented you! I am trying! But I also have a team here and now to take care of too and I am trying my best to make sure this all goes well so having you two go around me like that hurts! I give respect and, yet, can never seem to get any in return."

"For now, the two of you are to go back to your rooms and rest up. When you are feeling up to it, I expect a formal apology from both of you. And any knowledge you have gained from your efforts. Anything that could be used to bring them back, I want on my desk. As soon as possible."

With that, Tinley exited the room, making a beeline for her own quarters.

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Tempest knew she was in for a chewing out. It really was the anticipation that killed you. Perhaps she could do something to butter up Tinley? She figured Flynn and Novi and Maria were more in trouble than her. She hadn't tried to kill them. It wasn't her fault they picked weak imbeciles to be Purifiers! Still, she needed to do something.

The security cams showed the local authorities roping the area off. So far, it seems they hadn't discovered them and were only tending to the bodies. "Cameras show the local authorities dealing with the bodies. I'll keep monitoring them, but I think we are in the clear as of now."

She also needed to inform Niah of what she found. Goose of all beings inside this building being the one to leave that post card. What did that mean?

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@FantasyChic: Tinley will get another message from Barton: Damn it, okay, I know you've got this handled - want me to head back there? We're almost done here.

@Nallore@BlueSky44: Holding is your standard set up for a team that routinely deals with HYDRA and evil agents. The cells had power dampeners built into the walls, designed to at least severely limit an individual's powers. They're based off of a design that was intended to be used on the Hulk, in case SHIELD ever had to bring him in again. In order to talk with the person inside of the holding cell, you need to press a little red button, opening up an intercom channel of sorts. And in order to release someone, you need to have two agents with authorization scan their fingerprints. Funny thing is, only one fingerprint is needed to bring them into a cell!

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Bonnie's jaw dropped and she almost dropped Goose out of surprise, as the tentacles sprouted from his mouth and threw the HYDRA agent around. "...What the hell," she mumbled, staring at Goose and closing her jaw as she realized it was still hanging open. "How... Why... Fury..." she shook her head slightly, though she definitely was NOT going to put the so called demon cat down now. She didn't want Goose to get mad and start throwing her around as well! She glanced at Cass, a bit surprised to see her friend so calm with the fact that Fury's cat had tentacles, but then again... It kind of made sense for Fury's cat to be a force to be reckoned with.

She had to wonder for a moment if Goose was really here so they could protect him - or if Goose was there to protect them. As Harry brought over food, Bonnie gingerly set Goose down and then went into Bio-Engineering to grab the inhibitors. She grimaced a bit, hearing Tinley tearing a new one into Maria and Novikova, so she grabbed the inhibitors as quietly as she could and then practically ran out of Bio-Engineering and down to the holding cells.

"Okay, so I think Tinley might kill Novikova and Smith..." she said quietly to Cass. "I haven't seen someone that mad since Coulson found out one of his Captain America cards was a fake..."

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Novikova felt herself suddenly compelled to awake, sitting up straight on one of the beds in Bio-Engineering. It was essentially the medical ward of the Playground, complete with even a quarantine area. She wasn't able to speak or move a muscle, with her commanding officer having a firm hold on her mind. However, despite going behind Tinley's back with all of this, she never once considered getting blockers to keep Agent Abercrombie out of her head. She couldn't speak or interject or interrupt Tinley as she spoke, tearing her and Maria a new one - a lecture that Maria didn't deserve. She had only done this to help Novikova.

There was so much that she wanted to scream and shout at Tinley. She knew that she wasn't in the right here, but Novikova didn't care. If it hadn't been for Tinley, she could have gotten Sparky away from that thing - she might have been able to save her! Nuclear physics, that's all it really was - Novikova's area of expertise, her power set was suited for it as well... and Tinley had had the nerve in her opinion to take her away from her best friend, the person she wanted to help so dearly. She didn't care that Tinley had most likely spared her from falling into the Quantum Realm. Novikova would have gladly traded places with Sparky. She would have gone with her too, in order to help her friend in that realm.

Once the mental grip was released on her mind, Novikova took a deep breath. She wasn't going to wait around any longer. No, this had to be done now. If Tinley had put together her plan, then others were soon - and it wouldn't be too long before it was shut down. Project Ultron had been discontinued for a reason. It was banned technology, deemed to be too dangerous. "Abercrombie!" Novikova called out, taking after Tinley at a run.

"Read my mind," she then told her. She didn't want any of this getting to Barton or Fury. She took a breath, trying to keep her thoughts as coherent as possible. There is one other case of someone trapped in the Quantum Realm - Janet van Dyne, codename the Wasp. I've been working with Pym on Project Ultron in a chance to save his wife and our agents. It's banned technology. If Director Fury found out... well, I'd be fired from SHIELD at best. It's my fault that Sparks is in there. And I'm sorry I went behind your back - but I will NOT stop trying to rescue my friend.

If you want to help me bring Sparky and Raynor and the Wasp back... then we need to go to San Fransisco and meet Pym. But we don't have a lot of time left. The probability fields are so complex and changing so we need to go now.

She took a breath. "I'm sorry I lied to you. Please help me save my friend." Her voice was quiet and it trembled slightly, as tears fell from her eyes. Novikova tended to bottle her emotions up, being a private person. Only Maria had ever really seen her cry before.

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Cassandra looked around at the holding cells that were there seeing the scanners there to put in the two HYDRA prisoners she smiled as soon as Bonnie came in she turned towards her friend for a moment. She did feel pretty bad for Tinley, Maria and Dominika as well Smith and Novikova went against their direct orders to not leave the base and sighed slightly. "Hopefully she wont tear them new assholes that bad. Do you think they will be okay, with the sound and all?" Cass asked Bonnie, as she took the inhibitor from Bonnie and gave it to Dixion, the way that the cells were designed to contain powered individuals Cass didn't want to take second chances. She walked over and used her thumb as it scanned it, and eventually the cell door opened and she shoved Dixon in, and then a few seconds later Wu went in as well.

Cass then shut down the cell door and made sure that it was locked now, luckily they wouldn't have to deal with the HYDRA agents for the time being. She then turned her attention again towards Flynn and smiled towards him, she was glad that he was able to help out with Dixon. "Thanks by the way." She said and went to her friend, she decided to see how she was doing and it felt like they hadn't really had time to talk yet today. "So whats new and did you know that Goose could do that at all?" Cassandra asked Bonnie, and Flynn as well, she couldn't help but be freaked out a little bit but she didn't want to react to that in front of the others at the time.

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It seemed that everyone was now done for the time being and he monitored the security cameras so far the police were taping off the area, it was the locals problem now to try and figure out what had happened. And Harry hoped that they wouldn't end up discovering the Playground in the process. Harry looked down at Goose the Demon cat for a moment he was really weary of the cat now, and with his food bowl there now he probably wouldn't bother him and focus on the food now. Harry started to make his way over towards Tinley in Bio-Engineering & Research and stopped when he heard Tinley chewing the two agents a new one.

Harry decided it wasn't really the best time to talk to her and decided to make his way over towards Tempest's room and leaned himself up against the entrance to her room. "Nice trick you did with the security measure." Harry said, although he meant to make it nonlethal it was probably a little bit to loud. "I should turn it down a bit though." Harry then entered her room and sat down on the bed seeing she was working on Niah's computer. "What are you working on?" Harry asked.

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Maria sighed as she couldn't get Novikova to wake up and turned attention towards Niah seeing her friend coming into the room, and looked down slightly. She did feel bad that she didn't talk to Niah and tricking her to leave Technology so that they could get the suits and leave the base safely. "I should be fine.." Maria said towards her, and then the moment she was dreading now as Tinley came into the room, and used her mind control to wake up Novi from her little beauty nap. She was glad that she was alright, Maria looked down at the ground when Tinley mentioned their relationship. All she did was try and help out, yes she had done it the wrong way and it could have gone better, and Tinley had every right to be as well.

Once Tinley was done she left and looked towards Novikova and watched as she quickly went after her, as she got up and looked towards Niah for a moment and bit her bottom lip for a second. "I'm sorry if I had hurt you in anyway at all." Maria said softly towards her she had a feeling she could have put Niah into an awkward position as well, and sighed slightly. "I should head to my room." Maria said, she didn't want to piss off Tinley again.

Niah nodded to Maria, and then Tinley woke up Novikova and reamed her a new one. Niah understood why but she was certainly feeling some second-hand embarrassment from it. She eyed Goose again, still getting her bearings on the fact that the cat was more than he seemed. "It is okay Maria. I understand. I was distracted anyway." She paused. "I wonder if Tempest had any luck with my laptop. I'm going to go check. Let me know if you need anything." She stepped out of the lab behind Maria and made her way to Tempest's room.

She made a mental note to brief Tinely on the postcard as soon as she found out what Tempest had figured out. This was not a good time for secrets. Her stomach twisted at the thought of yet more HYDRA agents being in their midst. A positive thought did pass through her mind though and that was if they were sending in new HYDRA agents it was likely no one had gotten through their screening and they were currently HYDRA free. She wouldn't rely on that possibility but it was comforting.

At Tempest's room, she knocked and waited for permission to enter. She nodded at McCormick as she passed him and then turned to Tempest, "Any luck?"

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"Well the guy was literally on fire, so who better to tackle him than the person who can also burst into flames... Though I will admit, did not exactly work out the way that I had been planning on it... Hadn't been too sure I'd be be able to take him down without getting burned ironically or something... But it worked out in the end since he got knocked out," Flynn responded to Cass with a shrug as he took the guy to the holding cells with her. He wondered when it would stop with all of the HYDRA moles in SHIELD.

Glancing up when Bonnie came in, he nodded his head. He was fairly certain that Tinley likely would yell at him next, but he honestly didn't care, he'd done what he thought was the right thing at the time, and really didn't care what she thought. If he was a rule follower he likely wouldn't be with SHIELD and probably would have ended up with a group of Purifiers when OMEN had been disbanded, and that was not a very pleasant thought to think about. "Don't know about Bonnie, but I had no idea that Goose apparently could knock people around like that, like seriously what the hell was with that?"

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So apparently there was one decent hooman who thought to get him food, but honestly if the hooman who had kept ignoring him had been out of the way he wouldn't need any cat food! He would have been perfectly fine with eating a tasty evil HYDRA hooman, actually he probably would have tasted better than the cat food. No matter, he was glad that he was fed, but on his list of good hoomans and bad hoomans Harry currently fell in the middle as just a decent hooman. Yes, he earned some points for feeding him, but he then called him a demon cat! How rude!

After he finished eating his food, he padded along after Bonnie, as to him she was a good hooman and he wanted to stick by her. Goose raced into the room, before he proceeded to flop over in the middle of the room and start licking his paws to clean his face after eating. He then looked up at Bonnie, "Mrow?" he said expectantly, like he wanted her and just about everyone else in the room to pet him. He'd taken down a bad man, shouldn't he be rewarded for it?

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Sunset will not happen for another two hours, given the time of year it is. The usual heat and mugginess of DC has started to cool down, and in a little under an hour, the roads will start to become jammed up as people head home from work for the day. So many people commute into the city and live outside of it, trying to leave DC by car won't be an option very much longer.

The police are still at the scene, with the CSI's finishing up their work. It won't be much longer until the bodies are removed by the medical examiners and taken away to be identified and examined more thoroughly. Police in this town tend to more or less support the Purifiers, but it seemed that the SHIELD agents have lucked out. The cops working the scene right now aren't crooked. And they don't seem to be coming anywhere near the entrance to the SHIELD base - it is incredibly well hidden, after all.

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Bonnie shook her head, brushing some hair out of her eyes. "Nope, I had no idea either," she couldn't help but say. She liked animals, dogs and cats alike, but she was still a little bit shaken by the fact that Goose, Director Fury's cat, was doubling as some sort of tentacle monster. It put a lot of things into a new sort of perspective - like the fact that if they didn't feed Goose when he meowed at them, he could easily bring out the tentacles and throw them around. That was a fun thought. "I guarantee you that Fury knew about it - his secrets have secrets," she chuckled slightly.

She then bit her lip slightly as she looked at Flynn, trying to keep the heat from rising in her cheeks as she blushed. He was hot - literally and figuratively. He still had the flame retardant lab coat on, giving him a sort of sexy scientist vibe that Bonnie was finding rather appealing at the moment. It helped that the coat was a touch too small for him as well, meaning that it showed off every inch of his muscles and then some. She was about to say something else when Goose came running into the room and flopped on the ground, looking up at her expectantly.

"...Okay, this is probably not the weirdest thing we'll see today," Bonnie said, shaking her head slightly as she bent down and picked Goose up, putting his front paws over her shoulder slightly. She was holding him a bit like a chubby baby. Sure, it was frightening what he had done with those tentacles but... He was cute and Bonnie decided she'd make the cute little demon cat happy, rather than annoyed with her. "At least the HYDRA agents are out cold," she commented, looking in on the pair in the holding cells.

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The events of the last several months all flew by in her mind. She had gone into Barton's office, looking through the filing cabinet for any hint of something that could save Sparky (and Raynor, but he wasn't Novikova's priority). There hadn't been any misconduct there. Novikova and the other agents at the Playground had the clearance to access those files. She had found only two files that had been promising.

And both of them had amounted to nothing but electrical burns on her hands and a crushed spirit.

The Ultron file had actually been empty when she found it. Like McCormick, Novikova had found it strange that the file was empty. She started doing research into it herself, making a trip to the nearby Triskelion in order to find the files there. It was the first time she had really broken protocol - she used her powers over earth to simulate an earthquake, causing enough commotion that she had been able to swipe their copy of the Ultron file.

It had been empty as well.

If it hadn't been for the records system that gave the date of project inception, she wouldn't have known who to turn to. She accessed some of the journals of Howard Stark, eventually finding an obscure reference to a Project Ultron that he had been collaborating with Hank Pym on (Hank's journal claimed that it was all his idea and Stark was just stealing it). Given that Hank Pym was also the creator of the infamous Pym Particle, Novikova followed her intuition further, getting in contact with the ex-SHIELD member.

They had met in a nearby town in Virginia at a coffee shop. It was there that Hank Pym told Novikova about his wife, Janet van Dyne, and how she had been trapped in the Quantum Realm decades ago. He still held out hope that she was still alive somewhere. He had attempted to modify the Ultron project into a device that could be used to retrieve her, but it never worked. It was missing one critical component: the ability to perceive dimensional energy.

With Novikova's powers and Hank Pym's Ultron, they'd be able to retrieve Sparky, Raynor, and the Wasp from the Quantum Realm. The probability fields were due to be in alignment soon - tomorrow, to be precise. If Novikova wasn't in San Fransisco to combine her powers with Pym's technology, then Sparky, Raynor, and the Wasp would have to wait potentially decades for the probability fields to align again.

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Tinley didn't want to be bothered then and there so Novikova chasing after her after she explicitly told her to wait would normally have pissed her off more. And she was still plenty mad. However, Novikova opened her mind and thoughts up, which Tinley knew was not something one does easily. She heard the thoughts, the plan, and the reasoning behind why the girl attempted what she did. It was foolish and stupid.

"Agent Novikova. As we have just discussed, you went behind my back to achieve your own selfish means. No, YOU will stop trying to rescue your friend." She glanced around her, wondering who else could hear them. But she also did not care. "But WE will not. Follow me, quickly. And lay out your plan." Tinley turned to head to her office. They didn't have much time if they had any hope of finding Pym. "Call whoever you think will help. We're about to break some rules and I'm going to need a team of trusted people behind me if we have any hope of not losing our jobs when all is said and done."

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Tempest watched the bodies being taken away, feeling a small amount of guilt. She had to remind herself they were bad people who would kill her and the others without hesitation. Or lock them up. Or experiment on them. Either way, not her problem anymore. Thankfully, Niah came in to break up the dullness. "Oh good, was just about to message you."

"So, I got into your computer. You left it open thankfully. Fun fact: your computer, even when off, still operates. The camera is still functional. So I managed to see into your room and found who left that note for you. It was...umm..Goose." She waited for a beat for obviously shocked reactions. "Yeah, the cat. Came in with it in its mouth. Knew there was something off about that cat. I mean, I don't know what to make with that information, but maybe you do? Hopefully?"

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"Well at least their out cold which is a good thing, though maybe using your fire abilities wouldn't have been the best if you missed and accidentally hitting a gas tank would have been pretty bad. But regardless they are detained so it's fine in my book." Cassandra said towards him, as Flynn mentioned that he didn't know either same as Bonnie as well. She looked over towards the cat as he came into the room and tensed slightly seeing her friend easily picking up the cat with no problem despite what had just happened to Agent Wu. "I'd bet Fury knows just about everyone's secrets if he has a cat like that and i'd be careful holding Goose just saying.." Cass said as she stared at him for a moment though Goose was cute, what she noticed did freak her out somewhat as well.

"Well the snake heads wont be getting out anytime soon should head back and meet up with Tinley see what else she wants us to do." Cass said as she started to leave the holding cells behind. As she came up the stairs she made her way down the hallway and noticed that Novikova was already up and awake now. "Agents Wu and Dixion are safely in the holding cells now." Cassandra said as soon as Tinley stopped speaking and raised an eyebrow a bit mentioning breaking some rules.

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As Harry stood outside of Tempest's room he stopped and watched as Niah came into the room as well mentioning the computer and then Tempest started to explain to her what she had seen on the computer's camera. He already did know that computers were always on pretty much despite the power being off. Kind of like a human brain as well it was always on no matter what even if you were asleep as well, then Tempest started to mention what she saw was Goose and then looked at the two of them. "Apparently the cat has tentacles or whatever in his mouth to and flung the new guy around, who turned out to be a HYDRA agent as well." Harry said.

[color=steelblue["Anyway i'll be at Technology if you guys need me."[/color] Harry said as he turned around and started to make his way back towards Technology and then sat down at his desk there. He leaned back on his chair as he watched the CSI teams on the camera starting to finish up bagging and tagging the bodies. Harry didn't really have any problems with a bunch of dead Purifiers they always did piss him off as well to seeing that they were a bunch of racists.

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Maria looked at Niah she was surprised that she had forgiven her so quickly, and nodded slightly and sighed. "Alright see you later.." Maria said as she stood up and then looked around the room. She then started to leave Bio-Engineering & Research, she didn't want to piss off Tinley anymore than she already did now as well. Maria then took a moment and stopped for a moment seeing Tinley down the hallway as well as Novikova. She decided to go and apologize to Tinley and then head towards her room, and started to make her way over towards them, and noticed Cass there as well.

"Agent Abercrombie I want to apologize for my actions, it wont happen again i'll be in my quarters if you need me." Maria said towards her and looked towards Novikova and gave her girlfriend a quick hug, before turning around and started to make her way back towards her room, and then went to close the door to her room and sat down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

Niah had taken the comment about Goose being the one to have brought the postcard into her room with surprising ease. She nodded at McCormick's comment about the tentacles. "So Goose is an intelligent creature, not just a normal cat. He dropped the postcard off in my room for a reason. I know I have to go to San Francisco since I'm the one who wrote the date." She paused, not adding that she had written it years before she had even been born, and frowned, "But why San Francisco? I'll go talk to Tinley see if I can get permission to investigate this further."

Since Niah didn't know what Novikova had been trying to accomplish there was no way for her to know the two now had parallel goals. "I'll try her office. She probably has to write a report on everything that just happened. Thank you for your help, Tempest." Niah excused herself, nodded to McCormick and made her way to Tinley's office to get permission to go to San Francisco. How she was supposed to end back on March 5th, 1984 was beyond her though. Time travel was possible, that had been proven, but she didn't have access to that information. It was outside her field that was for certain.

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"Oh it totally wouldn't be all that surprising if Fury knew about the cat being kind of a little more than a bit freaky like that," he said, nodding his head in agreement with Bonnie. He'd been more focused on stopping Dixon he hadn't really thought too much about the cat. It also brought up the major questions of what the cat even is, and how the hell he came to be some secret tentacled monster. Like there just had to be a story behind that!

Hearing the others talk about the two HYDRA agents being knocked out cold, he nodded his head along with that. It definitely was a good thing that they hadn't been there for very long, so they couldn't exactly do too much damage, despite their best efforts anyway. "So, what should we do now do you think?" he asked, turning to look at Bonnie as she was standing there petting the weird cat. It was a bit strange, to have her holding a cat that likely could kill them in an instant if it wasn't too happy.

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Goose instantly started purring the moment when Bonnie had picked him up, he was definitely a happy camper at the moment. He had finally gotten the food that he had been asking for forever, and now he was basically snuggling up to someone! It was the best thing ever! And he'd gotten to throw a few evil snakehead people around. Nothing could easily get better than this. Except for maybe a few kitty treats or something, but you couldn't ask for everything, he was just content being held and petted at the moment.

"Mrow?" Goose said, looking at Bonnie before he glanced into the cell at the two HYDRA agents, and let out a hiss at the pair of them, before he went back to purring in Bonnie's arms. He didn't like the evil bad hoomans, and he was happy that at least there was one good hooman around. Unlike a few of the other hoomans in the base. Next time he saw Fury he might have to complain about it, let him know that there aren't too many nice hoomans around right now.

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Barton was getting concerned - half an hour ago, Abercrombie had notified him of the personal hell she had found herself in and there hadn't been another response. That wasn't like her. Even though he had technically asked her if she wanted him to come back, he was already on a quinjet at that point, going as fast as he could for the Playground. He wasn't too far out and quinjets were fast, so half an hour was plenty of time for him. The hangar doors opened and the quinjet was camouflaged as it entered, without anyone up on the surface being aware of what had happened.

The police had mostly left the scene now by this point. The bodies were bagged and taken to the medical examiner and there wasn't really anyone left around to interview about all of this - they had done their job. And since the police in Washington D.C. turned a blind eye on Purifiers attacking mutants, they already had an internal bias as to what group was responsible for this. It had to have been the Mutant Underground in their mind.

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Her chest deflated slightly as Tinley gave her an order to stop trying to save Agent Sparks. She wasn't going to stop, however, and hearing Abercrombie say that only made her more defiant. She would do whatever it took to bring Sparky back, no matter the cost or the collateral damage. Novikova knew that she would set her world on fire and pull Sparky out of the ashes if she had to. But then as Tinley continued her thought, the aggression and rage filling Novikova faded down to a dull roar. They were going to do this - as a team then.

"Agent Flynn - he defected from O.M.E.N., so he won't mind breaking rules," Novikova said softly, though she wondered if he would help them, given their longstanding feud over cats. But Flynn was a good person - he'd know that saving lives was more important than some petty fight and squabble. She didn't know about Agent Chase or Agent Bautista - Agent Reed she figured might do it, she seemed the rebel type. "And..." however, she was cut off as Cass came on over - and a few seconds later, she spotted someone come down the hallway, a bow and quiver slung over his shoulder.

Hawkeye gave Tinley a half wave. "You wanna fill me in on what's going on?" he asked her. He had one hell of a poker face but the odds that Barton had heard her talking to Novikova were slim. He was partially deaf and he fiddled with his hearing aid slightly, adjusting the sensitivity on it. Barton usually turned it down whenever the quinjet was landing, since otherwise the roar of the engines gave him a headache. "Glad you're okay," he then added, crossing his arms slightly. He could tell from their body language that this wasn't just about HYDRA and Purifiers.

Barton had been the one to make the call to bring Black Widow into SHIELD rather than end her life, Novikova recalled. And she doubted they'd be able to do this without him. "...We have a way to bring them back - from the Quantum Realm," she told Barton and Cass - and Barton stared at her, before he nodded slightly. It was stupid and brave of her to tell them.

"Let's get started then," he said, before opening up an intercom channel and announcing to the entire Playground. "Common room, one minute. Everyone needs to be there for this. We've got a mission." He then looked at Abercrombie and gave her a nod. He was glad that she was the one running things while he had been gone earlier. He couldn't have picked a better second.

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Bonnie had to chuckle slightly, as horrifying as an explosion was, it reminded her a bit of Cass' first mission with the X-Men. "Maybe if we had Luminous here, that explosion could suddenly turn her good - like it did for Quicksilver at the power plant you guys blew up, Cass," she told her friend with a smirk. She had known Cass for what felt like an eternity, with the two of them being paired up and working together as Coulson's science team for a while. However, she was very much happy that Luminous was locked up at the Raft - and hopefully no one would try to break her out.

"I made out with a guy who bursts into flames earlier... Careful doesn't seem to be the theme of the day," Bonnie said softly, looking at the purring cat in her arms. She got a little nervous when Goose started hissing at the HYDRA agents, but clearly he had above normal intelligence - that or Fury had trained him to hate HYDRA with a passion. Could you even train a cat? She nodded slightly at Cass as she left the room, just petting Goose for a moment as she thought. Glancing up at Flynn for his question, she was about to give an answer when Barton's voice came on over the speakers.

"Guess we got a mission," she told Flynn, giving him a slight smile before she left the holding cells and headed to the coom room, still holding the scary chubby kitty. Once there, she took a seat and waited for them to be filled in on the details. Her gut told her that whatever this was, it was huge.

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Cassandra looked over towards Novikova when she said that she had a way to get their two agents out of the Quantum Realm which was a good enough reason for her. She hated that they were stuck there for who knows how long and she wanted to help bring them back from there as well. Cass looked over towards Clint seeing him coming back from what he had been doing for most of the day, he seemed to be on board with it as well looking over at Novikova and gently patted her on the shoulder. If she had said something instead of going behind everyone's backs she'd back her up if she could or at least take a blind eye to it.

"I'll meet you guys at the commons then." Cassandra said, as she started to turn around and made her way back over towards the common room where everyone was at and sat down. She looked over and seeing Bonnie coming over as well and smile towards her friend, having been on the same team several times in the past she trusted her. "I'd pay a lot of money to see Luminous actually turn good and not rip anyone's hearts out." Cass said with a slight laugh, though she was glad that the psychotic speedster was in the Raft now.

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Harry looked at the security screens as the last of the police left the area, then he stopped when he heard Clint's voice over the intercom, wondering when he had gotten back. They were finally getting to go on a mission now since Creed Financial which was good, he got up and started to make his way over towards the common room seeing that Agent Reed was there already and then moved over and found a seat and plopped himself down at the chair. Harry leaned back in the chair and then stared at Goose again seeing the demon cat in his arms and tensed up slightly.

He normally didn't mind cats, but seeing the cat again Harry did tense up after Goose had slammed Agent Wu around before letting him go and looked over at Bonnie. "Well at least he seems to really like you." Harry said seeing Goose was content in Bonnie's arms, as he listened to Cass for a moment mentioning Luminous which he was glad that he didn't have to fight against. Though he lost his hand during the last mission.

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Maria laid down on her bed looking up at the ceiling as she thought for a moment and then sat up looking over at a picture of her sister for a second. And then she heard Clint's voice over the intercom saying that they had a mission to get ready for and meet up in the common room now. As she stood up Maria started to make her way towards the door, she still did feel bad that she had gone behind Tinley's back but she'd do it again as well. She did hate it that Sparks and Raynor were both trapped down there without any sort of help, Maria opened the door and made her way over to the common room.

She made her way into the room, and saw Bonnie, Harry and Cass there already and made her way and sat down on the closest chair and leaned forward slightly. She was nervous about getting lectured again by Tinley as well, she rubbed the back of her neck slightly looking at the other three agents for a moment. Maria had a feeling that it was related to the mission that she and Novikova attempted to do on their own.

Niah stopped as Barton announced to join in the common room. She frowned, he must have just gotten back. She changed her path and went into the common room. She entered just behind Maria and took her seat. Bonnie was holding Goose who's presence took on a whole different meaning. Niah was tempted to question the "cat" about its motives for putting the postcard in her room. What did the cat know that they didn't? Could the cat even talk? Despite the urge, Niah kept quiet.

She would however when Barton and Tinley enter stand and inform them about said postcard. "Before we begin sir I need to tell you about something." She told Barton and Tinley as they entered. The postcard was in her pocket, so she pulled it out and held it out to them, ready to explain.

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Tempest grabbed her new phone before she followed out. She had intended to come along to help explain the situation, but Hawkeye had called everyone to the common room. "Looks like I am coming along too. Going to need help explaining that a cat is somehow linked to all of this. Wonder what Hawkeye wants." She swung into the room closely behind Niah.

She observed everyone there, noting that Novikova and Smith were all right. She imagined Tinley gave them chewing out, but Tinley stood beside Hawkeye and looked like she had a speech prepared. Was this a public lashing? She hoped not. She knew she made a mistake, but she did save their agents. And no one knew about the base. Plus, Purifiers were scum! She would take a verbal assault, but her motives would not be questioned. She did what she had to do.

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Tinley had forgotten to fill Barton in before she realized. She had a lot going on though, could he blame her. "Sorry for not filling you in faster, a lot has happened and I will be more than happy to outline it for you." And Novikova told him the end plan, it was best they get all of this out in the open with everyone there. She followed them into the common room.

Once she noticed everyone was present, Niah wanted to speak up about something. "With all due respect, Agent Bautista, I need to cover this first. Afterward, I will open the floor to questions and comments and you can share your news then. This is important, however." She kept her voice calm because she knew Niah was one of the few agents who had not pissed her off recently. She was sure whatever she needed to share was important, but she needed to get this out first.

"Recent intel gathered has shown us a highly possible way to bring back Agents Sparks and Raynor back from the Quantum Realm. The reason why we have not heard about this or have been working towards it is because it deals with Ultron. Banned technology. Pym has been working on it and has shown promise, but it is risky. That is why Agents Smith and Novikova snuck around."

"The fact they felt they had to do that is wrong in and of itself. So, we are going off book with this. We're on our way to go see Pym and help bring our agents back. I will not lie, this is risky. This technology is banned and we could get in serious trouble for doing so, so I will not blame anyone here for backing out and considering their career. I won't hold it against you. If, however, you decide to help, I will allow Novikova to share the finer points, after which, we can discuss whatever else needs to, such as what Agent Bautista needs to share."

"Before that, I need to state this. I am the Team Lead. I take my duties as such very seriously. I don't look at you all and see tools. I see people with vast skills and potential. So when I give you an order, even if it seems silly, stupid, or pointless, I expect you to follow it. Are we clear on that, Agent Flynn? I know you defected from O.M.E.N and aren't used to playing by the rules, but I expect you to follow an order next time. IF that is not how you like to work, you know where the door is since you used it to disobey me. Agent Renroir. You used your judgment to activate the security system. While you did save our agents, you also caused the unnecessary deaths of the Purifers. While I will not mourn the loss of their lives, it does make things sticky for the authorities and our hidden base. Next time, I expect you to use your logic first. You could have hurt Novikova and Smith."

"Like it or not we are a team here. We can't expect results with in-fighting, deflection, or blatant disregard for others. So, as I said, you know where the door is if this is not for you. If you do wish to stay, then welcome to the next mission."

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Flynn smiled at her slightly when she mentioned the part about kissing someone who could burst into flame. There wasn't much else he could really say about that, and just sort of went with it. Hearing Barton's voice, he let out a bit of a sigh, before he took one last look at the two HYDRA agents who were in the cells and followed along after her. Fairly certain that he was going to get chewed out by Tinley for deliberately ignoring what it was that she had said and ordered to do. Though he had to face that eventually.

Goose was just purring happily in Bonnie's arms, he approved of the hooman who was holding him at the moment, and he didn't seem to mind being carried around places. "Mrow?" he called out to her, as if questioning where it was that they were going. He wanted to know if they were going to go deal with any more bad hoomans or something, since it would help for him to be aware of the situation first if that was the case.

Walking into the common area, Flynn just listened and let out a bit of a sigh. Yup, here he was, getting chewed out by Tinley, and he rolled his eyes slightly. "Look, honestly I don't care too much to follow orders, you're right, but here's the thing, you literally had the one person who likely even knew how to deal with people like the Purifiers literally stay behind and do absolutely nothing so what did you think I was going to do? So don't you day try and get on my case about it. You knew that there were a lot of Purifiers in the area, and your plan was to literally have yourself and one other agent leave the base and odds are if things went south you'd have ended up dead, so how about you stop trying to pin that on me! Especially since the agent you asked to join you outside was HYDRA, so whose to say they wouldn't have ended up just pulling the trigger once you stepped outside, killing you, and then blamed it on a Purifier and we wouldn't have known the difference! Sorry if I'm being blunt, but the orders you gave didn't exactly make much sense to me, not sure about everyone else."

The cat was just watching the interaction take place, and was still purring somewhat in Bonnie's arms. However, the instant Niah pulled out the postcard, he stopped purring, looking over at the card. He moved slightly in Bonnie's arms, and his paw almost somewhat seemed to be pointing at the postcard. "MEOW!" he said loudly, looking at Niah and pointing at what was in her hands.

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Bonnie nodded a bit at Harry, not certain as to whether or not she should be nervous about the fact. On some levels, it was probably a good thing that the killer cat with tentacles seemed to have taken a shine to her - but on others, there was a horrifying amount of ways that it could go wrong. What if the cat started getting jealous when she gave other people attention? Or got mad if she didn't pet him often enough and decided to start flinging her around? "I'm just hoping Fury doesn't get jealous," Bonnie joked with Harry.

Novikova bit her lip slightly as Maria came into the room. She knew that this was her fault and Maria shouldn't take the blame for this. She had only told her girlfriend about it all today - she wasn't the one making the conscious and long term decision to betray the rest of the team. If there was any portion of her actions that Novikova regretted, it was what this might do to Maria. They had only been dating for a little over a month and a half now. She wouldn't have been surprised if Maria decided to end things with her over this. It probably would be good for optics if she did that anyways.

Barton's eyebrows shot up a bit as he saw the postcard that Niah had. Last he heard, Pym Technologies had its headquarters out in San Fransisco. He wasn't a science type - he wasn't Tony Stark or Bruce Banner - but his gut was telling him that whatever information Niah had, it was somehow connected to Novikova's quest to save Agent Sparks. "I understand, it's been a hell of a day for you," Barton told Abercrombie. "I'd like to hear what you've found after Abercrombie briefs everyone," he then told Bautista.

Bonnie hadn't heard of Ultron before, despite her seven years of working with SHIELD. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the prospect of banned technology. She loved working for SHIELD and she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. Biting her lip slightly, she couldn't help but think about everything this organization had done for her. SHIELD had been the ones to get her the help she needed after her husband's death. SHIELD had given her the tools to help to save the world and if Ultron was banned, then it had to have been for a reason.

She didn't know Agents Sparks and Blake. Her eyes darted towards Cass and she remembered a moment over four years ago, when they discovered her sister had abilities - and when Bonnie had lied to keep Carolina from being put on the Gifted Index. It was an old SHIELD registry of everyone with powers, destroyed in early 2019 by the Brotherhood of Mutants. "I don't know how I would be of use but... I'm in," Bonnie told Tinley. She winced slightly as Flynn snapped back at Tinley and Barton looked at his Field Commander, his expression a silent question as to whether or not Tinley wanted him to step in.

Novikova had shifted her weight slightly. While she didn't regret her actions, hearing the slight ridicule of herself and Maria wasn't easy by any means. She wanted to go over and take her girlfriend's gloved hand, but she knew that it wouldn't be a good idea. Instead, she took a breath and looked around the room. Once anyone who had decided to leave had gone, she began to explain the plan. "Project Ultron was billed as a means to prevent warfare with other nations in order to get the funding, but it was envisioned by Howard Stark and Hank Pym back in the late 70's as a means to probing the Quantum Realm. This is where you have become so small that the rules of classical mechanics and physics no longer apply... A place where things are not the way they are until you act upon them - where something can be dead and alive, and reality only becomes fixed once it is observed," she said.

She was pretty certain no one had understood a single thing she said so far. "Ultron was missing a key component - the ability to perceive the dimensional energy, allowing it to operate in the Quantum Realm. A device can be used to link my powers to Ultron, allowing the machine to operate properly. Pym and I also... acquired... an AI device from Stark Industries that should work for our purposes as a basis for Ultron's AI system. All we need to do is get to San Fransisco before the probability fields change, hook me up into the system, and Pym can send down Ultron to retrieve anyone currently trapped in the Quantum Realm."

Barton stared at her for a moment. "I speak nerd," he prefaced. "So you stole some tech from Stark Industries, and now is the moment when the stars have aligned for this quantum heist of sorts? And all you need to do is hook your brain up to help a robot?" he summarized.

"...More or less..." Novikova explained.

Barton nodded, before turning his attention to Niah. "Mind sharing how your postcard fits into all of this Back to the Future nonsense now? Goose seems interested in it and so am I."

Niah sat down when she was told to by Tinley, a little irritated but she knew how to take an order. She nodded slightly at Barton when he told her he would listen. It was reassuring, she certainly didn't want to get herself into trouble. Then the situation was explained. Trouble was exactly where they were headed. She frowned. Getting into banned technology wasn't something she was particularly excited about, but she needed to follow the postcard and help Sparky.

Standing at Barton's request for more information Niah held up the postcard, the image of San Francisco was aged but clear. "I found this in my room today. On the back, I wrote a date March 5th, 1984. I know I wrote it because of my ability Psychometry. It was written on that day I could tell in the vision I saw due to a nearby newspaper. Goose delivered it to my room, which if you had told me that twenty minutes ago would have sounded nuts to me, but I guess things are weirder than anticipated. I need to go on this mission because I already have. And I want to help Sparky." She smiled at Novikova as she said the last line. It was true even if she didn't know she had to be on the mission she would volunteer forbidden tech or no.

Then she looked down at the postcard. She was going into the past. She had to. Hopefully, they succeed in rescuing Sparky and Raynor as well. What made her nervous was there was no proof she would make it back from the past. This might be a one way trip for her.

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Cassandra leaned back in her seat as she looked between Tinley and Flynn, sensing that it may end up turning into some kind of argument as she listened to Tinley as she spoke. They were all a team, and they all needed to work together as she eyed Agents Smith and Novikova as they both disobeyed orders as well to. But they had a way to get their two agents out of the Quantum Realm so that was enough for her to as Niah stood up and mentioned the post card again. She had some knowledge on physics and molecular science but it wasn't as good as Novikova's knowledge on the subject she was willing to help out in someway.

"I know a little bit about time travel, with my last assignment with the X-Men when the whole thing with OMEN went down. Three people came from the future to prevent it from happening, one of them was my sister. So it's somehow possible, i'm willing to help out however I can." Cass said as she looked towards Goose for a moment as it meowed and pointed towards the post card. The cat seemed way smarter than it should actually be as she looked towards Novikova and gave the agent a slight nod, she was on board for the mission.

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"Oh i'm sure the demon cat would love having both of your guys' attention." Harry said towards Bonnie as Niah spoke up for a moment and stared at the post card and noticed Goose reaching out to her and meowed about it which was weird, as he leaned back in the chair and listened to Tinley and Flynn kind of getting pissed off mentioning what had happened. He turned towards Tempest when Tinley mentioned what she had done with the security system. "I kind of helped set up that security measure after the whole hail HYDRA uprising thing, and didn't really have time to properly test it so it may have had a few bugs. It was suppose to have the affect that Agents Smith and Novikova experienced, i'll make sure that it isn't as lethal, but the bunch of racists, and homophobes did deserve it." Harry said shrugging slightly looking over towards Tempest again for a moment.

As he started to listen to Novikova as she started to mention about the mission and how to possibly save their two agents, he wasn't to sure about the mission since it dealt with banned tech and it was off the books as well. But if Bonnie was going to help, he might as well to and help out however he can. "So hook up Agent Novikova to SkyNet and bring back our people sounds easy enough. Harry said, so far no one else seemed to want to leave yet by the looks of it.

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Maria watched as everyone started to gather up into the room, and looked over towards Novikova for a moment and smiled slightly, she would have done it again regardless as she listened to Tinley as she spoke. Yes she did go against her orders, but so far it had been several weeks and now they had a way to get them back and she did deserve the little bit of talking down to. As she listened to her girlfriend as she spoke, Maria didn't have the background like Novikova had and knew the whole quantum realm better but she was more than willing to do whatever it takes to bring them home.

Though she didn't like the idea of Novikova hooking herself up to some banned technology which started to make her worry a little bit as the briefing ended, and Niah started to mention the post card again and seeing Goose reacting to it. She turned her attention back towards Novikova and the others. "Like I told Novikova i'm more than willing to help. I can act like a backup as well if need be to with my abilities.." Maria said, if she could she'd stand in for Novi and use her powers to help.

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Tempest nodded her understanding, knowing full well she deserved to be chastised. However, she had not anticipated Harry sticking up for her. She mouthed a quick "thank you" to him once he was done. "I'll be careful in the future. As for Niah's thing, I'm the one who saw Goose do it through her computer. Not gonna lie, it's a bit weird knowing the cat can do more than meow and lick itself clean, but I've seen weirder things on Tumblr. Anywho, you're going to need a hacker with you, especially if you wanna hook her up to SkyNet. Nice reference, by the way."

Tinley knew she had to address Flynn's claims. She debated whether to continue to be a hardass or play it straight. The pressure was building up in her head so she rubbed her temples before she exploded. She wouldn't let it show that this was getting to her. She would be damned if they saw her weak. "Agent Flynn, you're right. I should have thought better about the situation. My plan was to get Agents Novikova and Smith while also seeing how the new agent handled himself in a tense situation. I didn't want more out there to break stealth, but it ended up not being needed anyway. So, while I am grateful you took initiative and got our agents out without being seen, you also disobeyed an order. Next time, I expect you to show me some respect, at least, when you do such. I know your abilities and I know you are skilled and competent. Allow me to show you where I need you."

"With that said, we have our next mission. San Fransisco is our next target. Seems everyone is in and we will need all hands on deck if we hope to get Sparks and Raynor out. Everyone here is going to be needed."

Tempest could almost cartwheel with the amount of respect she held for everyone there at that moment. Though she could tell Abercrombie was feeling the pressure. "Are we gearing up then? I want all the shiny things. Crack open that loot box, let's see what we get!"