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I think that's an understatement, sir.

[Daisy cringed when she saw the dent she had put into the side of the plane.]

On a scale from 'oops' to 'May is going to kill me', how bad is it?

I'm pretty sure 'oops' isn't even on May's radar. My advice? Find Mac and get it worked on before she sees it.

Good job out there today Skye.

[Wince. Damnit.] Daisy.

Good idea.

[She's torn between being amused and being annoyed.]

I'm going to have to get you a shock collar, aren't I?

It wouldn't match a thing that I own. I hate clashing.

[To be fair he doesn't slip as often these days? It's just taking time.] So how did the rest of the mission go?

Hilarious.

[Walking towards the doors that led to the base, Daisy let out a sigh at his question.]

Would've gone a lot better if I had a team.

[Can't Coulson just speak to Andrew? He's the director here.]

But I got at least part of the information we needed. I say 'part of' because of the other hard drive was destroyed. Brought it back anyway, maybe Fitz can fix it.

[There's that hint of a smile, just barely crinkling the corners of his eyes before they step inside.] I'm still waiting on Dr. Garner's final evaluations before we even consider field testing.

Okay. Take it down to Fitz, see what he can pull and decrypt anything you can.

This takes priority over his monolith side project for Simmons. [His tone brooks no argument. He needs to know what Hydra and Ward are planning and right now, with Simmons safe, the monolith is not a priority.]

For the record, this one's not on me.

[ Skuld's looking at the mess that was made though. ] My poor computers though. [ leave it to Skuld to worry about hardware and software to organics.. ]

The wreckage of the SUV shifts and metal glints underneath the mess, before Kyle, his suit torn to ribbons and the seamless liquid chrome of his skin bright silver beneath, pushes his way out of the mess in a shower of broken glass and crushed plastic. He just stares at Phil with a wry look, tugging fruitlessly at what's left of his sleeves as he surfaces.

MacKenzie's got a hell of a lot of detailing going there- even his individual eyebrow hairs are chromed, and they rise in complete irritation.

"You don't say."

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that. [Give him a moment to take in the level of destruction.] Any idea what happened this time?

You'd make Stark look broke? [ She's trying to be helpful. ]

Not sure yet. Still going through everything. Though I'm glad that I was the only one in here when it happened. Barely threw my shield up in time. [ She walks over to poke at some of the wreckage. ]

This shouldn't be in here. [ She picks up a small device. ] This facility should be secure right? This tech... isn't yours.

Coulson knows his dossier, his skills both human and enhanced which is why he'd opted to be the one to make the first outreach. Yes, Daisy had talked to him but when it came to pitching SHIELD and the inhuman initiative? He wanted to be the one to make contact.

Which is about the time that Lash decided to make an appearance. Whether MacKenzie was an inhuman or some other form of enhanced human, it didn't matter. The point was the giant inhuman was hell bent on attacking and killing the man.

Naturally things had to go pear-shaped during a basic meet-and-greet job.

Phil had shoved him aside the moment Lash attacked and after that? Things went a little blurred in the chaos.

"Yes, well." He straightens his coat, checks his hand. "Not exactly what I had in mind when I suggested we meet for lunch."

[Daisy holds back from arguing with Coulson further on the topic of Inhumans. It was going nowhere anyway.]

Got it. But, sir, this isn't a side project. Not for him.

"I'm glad. If this is your standard sell, just the mechanic costs alone would kill you." He shakes his head, and the metal retreats from his face like a tide, disappearing back under his shredded clothes to sink into his skin as a large, perfectly polished dragon tattoo winding around his body.

He looks at his suit again, and sighs. Speaking of costs. Oh well. "And I appreciate trying to guard my precious hide, but...have you read any of my dossier?" The eyebrows raise again, as he looks back at the destroyed SUV he just crawled out of.

Very pointedly, since there's a Kyle-shaped imprint in the body where it landed on him. He gives a crooked smile, both curious and amused why Coulson decided it was a good idea to try and defend the guy who was functionally indestructable.

Edited 2016-07-29 05:44 (UTC)

"Well. I do happen to know a guy who's a pretty decent mechanic." Or better. Mac was a wizard when you put a set of tools into his hands. Give him a rubber band, match and a stick of gum and he'd build you a rocket.

The corners of his eyes crinkle with the faintest of smiles. "Of course I have. Wouldn't be here if I hadn't read up on you." The rest gets a vague shrug. "Part of the job. Someone comes after the person I'm talking to, I tend to react."

They got lucky. Very lucky. Daisy and Lincoln had managed to draw Lash away before the creature had done more damage. Downside? He got away again. This wasn't good and Phil was pretty good at hiding his displeasure at the thought of having to track him down all over again.

[Frown. That's not good.] Take it to Fitz and Simmons. Have them get an ID on what it is and where it came from. Then assess the damage. If something targeted your setups it had to be for a reason. We need to know why.

[Good. He gives her more leeway than most agents when it came to arguing, but this wasn't a topic he was going to budge on. Malik was a problem as was Ward and the remaining 'heads' of Hydra. And they had damned few answers or intel to go on.] I'm aware. But we need eyes on Malik and we need to know what his next move is going to be and how Grant Ward factors in to all of that.

[ She nodded. ] I'll continue to poke around here too to see what happened. Until then, try to keep your people out of here. I wildly threw up my magic, so i'd rather not risk others to any backlash from that.

[ She frowned a moment ] And those reserves are shot for a bit. Tech's not talking to me right now. I'll make do and get you a proper report as soon as I can.

I'll make sure they stay clear until you give the word.

[He doesn't always follow the line of her powers, but he doesn't have to. She does the job and right now that's what he needs.] Do what you can. I'll have Fitz and Simmons send down their findings as soon as they have them.

Thank you.

[ She looks at him. ] The explosion couldn't be the reason you here though. Did you need something else?

[Daisy's expression falters when he mentions Ward.]

Doesn't take a genius to know whatever it is, isn't good.

Not exactly a stretch. [The blame for Ward lies with him and his actions. But Phil should have seen it coming. He's a good agent, a good reader of people and never in a million years would he have suspected Grant as one of Hydra.

He should have known and that blood is on his hands.] We need to know what they're both up to, are they working together, what's the endgame, anything at all you can dig up.

Kyle considers the other man, and his decision to accept lunch. Professional was important. He's also just had an SUV fall on him.

But Mackenzie's reputation isn't a secret, not really. World Tree had used him as their prize asset for too long, and the leverage that kept him safe meant he had to be willing to put himself up on the block as well. He didn't bluff: he would hang his shiny steel ass out there with all of them and go down, too, if it came down to it.

It made him poison, but it also meant he wasn't overly concerned about hiding. And he was building his own career because, well, what else was he gonna do? He was the Steel Dragon, the guy that only showed up when shit got serious, and he might as well use that rep in his favor if he was going to make something that worked.

But Coulson had tried to defend him, and that little fact gets filed away. He plucks some seat stuffing from his blond hair, and tosses it aside with a wry smile.

"... This doesn't cancel our lunch plans, does it? Because now I'm really hungry, and I think I still have enough of my shirt and shoes left to qualify for service."

While his reputation isn't a secret, the extend of his abilities and how he came by them is. If he's a metahuman, he could wind up with undue attention focused on him as more and more of them began to appear and if he wasn't, then SHIELD at least needed to know the hows and whys for the sake of documentation.

"Not at all. There's a great food truck around the corner. They make the best tostones you'll get outside of Cuba proper." And he'd know, having made more than one discreet trip to Havana in the last few years.

Because you always follow through on your plans, even if things like thrown SUVs tend to try and derail them.

There's a good reason Kyle doesn't have much of a public record when it comes to his powers, and that has everything to do with World Tree's dirty secrets. It will take more than lunch to buy those from Kyle, even with the Corp in shambles.

It also has to do with a lot of very ugly memories

But playing nice and making friends? That could do, especially since it might be good for business. He gives his best 'yes, I am blond and charming' smile as he moves to follow.

"I don't know, Miami has some places..." He looks amused. Because if Phil knows to mention food trucks? He's definitely been doing his homework. "The 'Fit To Be Thai'd' truck is amazing, too, by the way, but they only do Wednesdays and Saturdays."

Right.

[Daisy hesitates to leave.]

After I drop this stuff off, maybe you and me could get lunch? I haven't really seen you outside of missions lately. Which I get are super important, but, I...

[Am worried about him? Yep.]

I mean, if you're free that is.