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It's quiet at Harry's at this hour. A few stray senior citizens stroll into the Westchester restaurant, ready for dinner at a ridiculously early hour. There's no live music. No real rhythm to the place. Not this late in the afternoon. For most, lunch is long over and dinner is still hours away. As far as restaurants are concerned, this is well off the beaten path, and the time of day makes it ridiculously quiet.
Near the back of the restaurant, tucked away in a both that Fitz has deemed to be the least conspicuous in the joint, Leo Fitz sits with his collar up and his fingers curled around a coffee mug. He stares at the black fluid, and fidgets once when one of the elderly customers shoots him a three fingered wave. He returns the friendliness with a sheepish smile. If only Jemma was here.
He emits a soft sight and tugs his collar up higher around his face. He vaguely remembers something about that at the Academy, but can't for the life of him recall whether it was on the do or do-not list. Regardless, it feels more secure.
*
Unlike Fitz, Bobbi strolled into the resturant as if it was the usual event of her daily life. A smile was on her face as she greeted the staff that poked their heads up at her arrival, waving before she spotted Fitz and nodded his way. She made her excuses about meeting up with her friend before they returned the smile and nodded back to her politely.
There were no dark colors on her person, but neither were they bright. Muted greys and faded blues made up her clothing, perfectly bland and ordinary. A winter jacket, and matching gloves completed the outfit as she slid into the chair opposite of the scientist. "Hey you," She smiled again, easy going in her manner as she crossed her legs and shifte the angle of her body so she could view the resturant at large.
"Have you ordered anything yet? I'm starving.." The most typical conversation anyone could hope to over hear.
*
Westchester? Why in the world are they meeting in Westchester? Talk about paranoid. Then again, some out of the way tavern isn't like to have any aliens in it. Teddy flew over from the city and landed somewhere behind Harry's out of sight before wandering toward the front door and then heading inside. Looking around, his gaze almost instantly fastens on Fitz. Westchester. Black guy. Yeah. He stands out a bit. Walking over, he gives Bobbi a curious look but nods to Fitz and pulls a chair out to sit down. "Hey."
*
Fitz leans forward when Bobbi walks in. His eyebrows lift with an edge of bewilderment easily readable on his face. He is not cut out for this. It's ever more apparent that he is not cut out for this. But Bobbi's easiness and shuffle into the booth warrants a nearly easy smile. Nearly. "Just… coffee," he notes as his eyes flit towards the cup cradled in his grasp.
Teddy's appearance prompts him to sit straighter and he nods in greeting. "So." There's a long awkward pause as the word is expressed, but Fitz doesn't feel the need to follow it up to quickly; instead he leaves it, pregnant and waiting as he tries to collect all of his thoughts. "I should probably fill everyone in on what we actually aim to do…" but introductions are conveniently (or not?) forgotten. "Director Weaver, the one that probably wasn't actually the Director and tried to have Jemma dragged out of the lab by her hair," his tone flattens at the mention of what happened to Simmons, "continues to be in our custody. This gives us an opportunity." He inhales a sharp breath and his lips part to say something else when a waitress pads up to the table.
"What can I you lambs today? Something to drink? Something to eat," she eyes Bobbi with easy regard. She'd heard something about someone starving, and she is a good waitress.
*
Bobbi, still at ease, watched as Teddy entered, she nodded toward him, and offered a friendly wave. "Hey," She then glanced toward Fitz, noting his fidgeting and clutching of the coffee cup. Blue eyes flickered over the otherwise quiet resturant and back as Fitz mentioned 'Director' Weaver. "Have we made any progress on figuring out how to distinguish between them and everyone else?" She arched a brow, and as the waitress approached, leaned back in her chair with a grin.
"I'll have some french fries please, and a coke." She offered, without doing more than a cursory glance at the menu as she held it out toward the waitress. Normal, casual and perfectly at ease. As if they were just a bunch of friends meeting up to hang out.
"Do you guys want anything?" She glanced at Teddy and Fitz in turn before waiting until the waitress left again.
"Whatever we do, we have to move fast. We have a limited amount of time before that nine months clock runs out, and I dunno about you, but I have a feeling that they don't understand human biology in the least.."
*
"Umm. If you've got him, won't they be kind of surprised when he suddenly shows up again?" Teddy asks quietly, looking around to make sure no one is close enough to overhear. And making it very obviously he's looking around too. "And your guys too, won't they think he escaped?" Oh. Waitress. "Do you have pie? I'd like some pie. Apple. Hot. With vanilla ice cream. Please."
*
The waitress nods at Bobbi and then Teddy. Fitz squints for a beat and offers, "Just… the coffee thanks." Because he's content with what he as.
Once the waitress is gone, he explains. "Her, we've got her," Fitz corrects, "I'm doubtful they noticed she's gone. It's not been long, but it means we need to move very quickly on getting her replaced." His eyes flit towards Teddy, "And I don't expect it to be long. Just long enough to get into her office, see if they make contact, and move on, yeah? So far we've limited information as to where Weber is gone on purpose while we figure out what to do. But this will help us know the lay of the land more, I think."
*
A nod toward Fitz as he corrects the gender of the alien replacement and she shifted slightly in her seat, leaning forward ever so slightly. "What do you have in mind Fitz? I can likely get in and out of there easily enough. A forged note or two, a nice distraction.." She shrugged and then leaned back, folding her arms over her middle.
"Plus it'll be a good exercise on what the security we have looks like," She mused, gaze lifitng upwards in thought.
"Have we gotten and further on testing to figure out if the people are around us aren't who we think they are?"
*
"Her." Teddy corrects and then just stops moving as his brain catches up. *blink* Then his eyes open wide. "You want me to become a girl?" He actually sounds shocked as he stares at Fitz. "I…" Swallowing, he shakes his head then rubs his hand over his hair.
*
Uncertainly Fitz waffles his head, "She's the Director of Science and Technology at SHIELD." He squints, "If this isn't going to work, would be good to know now before we hatch too much of a plan." He motions towards Teddy, "He can change to look like someone else which maybe we can use to follow the train and get a lead on the real Director Carter."
*
A frown faintly as Bobbi side eyed Teddy, studying him as Fitz explained his plan. "I'm sure that's a useful talent, but can you carry it off? You're untrained, that much is obvious, in regards to Shield regulations and what exactly it is we're looking for. Fitz, I know what might be useful or not. If I can get into her office, we'll be set. If we can get in the front doors, there won't be a problem. We can march in and out if he pretends to be the Director. I'll do the talking and the legwork on it." She mused, and tapped her chin.
"It's better if we're doing a simple in and out. I don't expect that we can gain much more from this.."
*
"I… No, I…" Shaking his head, Teddy takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I've just never turned into a girl before." the college jock admits quietly. "I can. I guess. And we just need to fool some aliens, right? I need to know what she looks like. And I should see the alien too in case I need to do that."
*
Fritz nods slightly, "The point is we might get a lead or two. IF they don't think she's gone — " his head cants to the side, " — then we may be able to pull a fast one in order to gain something about where the Director is." He leans back on the bench. "And in and out may be all we can do, but if they don't expect her to be missing, and we haven't let the information go…" he narrows his eyes.
He turns towards Teddy, "Right. Well, I can definitely get you a photo. And I can get you to see the alien as well. Again." His lips twist to the side.
*
Bobbi refrained from sighing as she leaned back in her chair, arms folded as she eyed the resturant at large and then back again. "And who knows who else has been taken by these things.." She murmured, her gaze landing back on Fitz.
"Have we gotten any further in figuring out a way of testing for replacements yet, Fitz? I mean besides the obvious of killing everyone. Because that's really not useful.." She pursed her lips together briefly. "Anything in the blood, or does it appear human too?"
*
Teddy sits back and sips his water as he contemplates the horribleness of turning into a girl. He just listens to the two SHIELD agents though when Bobbi mentions blood, he looks over at Fitz. He could answer that but lets the scientist do so.
*
The question earns Bobbi a flicker of a smile, "Blood samples look different. Two nuclei rather than one as expected in all blood cells." Fitz inhales a deep breath, "The issue is that doesn't get us closer to finding the director." There's a long pause. "We need to move forward to find Director Carter. At least get some usable intel to find her."
He casts a look towards Teddy. "Ultimately, we need to advocate to get everyone tested. You're here because I trust you and can vouch for you."
*
Bobbi arched a brow, leaning forward as she propped her chin up with a hand. "Oh, that's good to know. Also, nice that you trust me." She paused, and pursed her lips, her gaze narrowing faintly.
"I think the only way we're going to be able to find them, where they keep everyone.. that is.. is if someone else gets captured. Because right now we're dealing with aliens that might even have their captives … beyond our means of travel." She whispered, and tapped a finger a top the table.
"Of course we also need a means of tracking said person and following, it would be all for nothing otherwise.."
*
Teddy isn't an actual agent and his knowledge of tactics is limited to football so he just listens. But then Bobbi says something. "You know…" he begins, working things out in his head. "She might be right. If I look like this Director and some aliens come by to say hello, what am I really supposed to do? Say hi, how are you, let's do lunch back at the secret alien hideout and you drive?" A shrug gives his opinion of that, though it was basically his original idea when he suggested replacing one. "But you said they tried to kidnap your friend right? What if they kidnapped me instead?"
*
Fitz lifts a finger, "I thought of that!" He manages a stiff smile. "There's two ways we can do this. I would suggest either a piece of jewelry, Simmons preferred that, or a watch." He leans forward. "There's two options. Well…" he clucks his tongue, "three, but the third is a bit trickier. We can use radio waves; super easy to detect. I'm not sure the aliens wouldn't notice off the bat." His eyebrows lift and he holds up a second finger, "The second is a sub-dermal way of doing the first. It has added benefit of not being able to eliminate it." His lips twist to the side, "The third is completely safe," he looks pointedly at Teddy, "but involves very low level ionizing radiation that we could inject into your body. You would light up on a radiation map for forty-eight hours at which time we would need to extract you. Otherwise undetectable, and no one could stop the signal."
*
Bobbi made a small 'hmm' sound. Then she nodded toward Teddy, "If you can change your shape, it might be worth it to have you appear as Simmons and then allow yourself to be captured after this. Though that is a risk, we don't know what they do to those they capture or how far they take them. As I said, we're dealing with aliens and they might very well take you beyond our current technological means." She dragged a hand through her hair as she thought over Fitz' options.
"I would recommend a mixture with both two and three as options incase things go wrong. Because, let's be honest, things go wrong pretty often. I would recommend using Wanda as well, she has some sort of… powers. I don't know the range or scope of everything she can do, but I believe she might be useful."
*
"Extract me?" Teddy asks, glancing from Fitz to Bobbi and back. "I figured I'd just break out. I mean, a cell made to hold your friend isn't going to hold me. The only problem is if their secret hideout is in some alien spaceship in orbit." he agrees, nodding to Bobbi. "I don't think I could live in space long. There's a lot of radiation, you know. The Earth's magnetic fields blocks most of it from hurting us." Science fiction nerd for the win.
*
Fitz arches his eyebrows. "Well, it would be easy to impersonate Simmons," he agrees quietly. "But it depends on goals. I think we only get one opportunity." He sucks on the inside of his cheek, "Breaking out is an option, but if we're aiming to find the Director too, finding even a location for the short-term would be useful." The last about living in space is met with a nod. "Right. But, I suspect they'd still have to get you from point A to point B," even if the destination is above ground. Course that's not the kind of thing a person wants to be wrong about. "We could send in Simmons with Weaver." Pause. "Or me." He frowns and then shrugs. "I'm a terrible spy. Simmons is better," but not much.
As far as Wanda is concerned, his head cants to the side. "I don't know her well enough to have verified she was trust worthy. Simmons and I made a pact," this is probably more honesty than he's supposed to share. "And Maximoff essentially called us Nazis." His hand waves. "But if you trust her, I can include her."
*
Bobbi leaned forward again, glancing between the two. "You and Simmons are /too/ important to send in. If we have our own ability to fake a duplicate then I suggest we do so. If they get you and Simmons and something goes wrong? The rest of us are screwed." She glanced at Teddy.
"If you think you can manage to escape on your own, then we will work with that. You're our best bet at getting someone on the inside and getting our way to finding the Director." She folded her hands together before her chin, closing her eyes briefly in thought.
"Agent Maximoff is powerful. She was able to heal my leg from it being utterly smashed to bits by the Winter Soldier. It's worth it to consider. And I have a theory that out of fear, these aliens aren't taking those who have powers. After all, if they could do so, wouldn't they do that rather than build a prison for them?" She arched a brow.
"I'm in favor of bringing those with powers as much as possible on this. If only for backup. We need to be able to defend this planet beyond what we have right now."
*
"Well, once I broke out, I could look for your Director." Teddy agrees. "I should still see your prisoner so I can look like the alien when I'm wandering around their hideout. I can just say I got orders to come back." Having no idea who a Maximoff is, he just ignores that part of the conversation. "Unless they don't speak English." Pause. "Why would they? They're not human. They'd speak alien. I can't." As if it wasn't obvious. "I'll have to try to stay out of sight then, maybe go through the air ducts." He nods, having decided on his course of action. "Yeah, we should do that."
*
"We aren't just concerned about people being replaced. We have other concerns at SHIELD right now," whatever they are, Fitz isn't offering them. "For… other reasons." His cheeks flush lightly. He's terrible at this spy stuff, and ever since his and Simmons' accord, he's been even more guarded. That said, "If you feel we should trust her, I can be persuaded." His eyebrows draw together. "I know that's cryptic, but," he shrugs.
He nods at Teddy. "And agreed, come see the prisoner. We can get you inside pretty easily."
*
Bobbi glanced at Teddy and arched a brow. "You don't have to go crawling through the air vents. Right? You're pretending to be the alien pretending to be the Director Science. So act like she would, and stroll through the front door like you own the place. Then we can get into her office and I can see what material might be useful to our investigation." She then gestured to Fitz.
"And then after that we can have you pretend to be Simmons, leave you exposed somewhere that they plan to find you.. and let them have you. Follow up on where they take you, and get you and the Director and everyone else out."
*
"Oh, we're doing both? Okay." Teddy agrees, with a nod. "Sure, we can do that. But I meant the air ducts of whatever super secret hideout they have after I escape and try to find your Director." he points out. "I'll also need to see your friend Simmons, of course. And hearing her will help. But we can do all that at once."
*
Ava has arrived.
*
"I can definitely get you to see Jemma," Fitz replies. "She's easy to access and all to you." His eyebrows lift and he emits a soft sigh. "So I can ensure we have a way to track you. I know you can break out of wherever you find yourself, but let's have an alternate way of tracking them. Albeit temporarily if you don't stay there."
*
A nod, "It's important that we get as much information as possible to back up current theories." She tapped her chin in thought, her eyes narrowed briefly again.
"And it will also be worth it to be able to track you in multiple ways in the event that their technology or something interferes. While you will be able to break out, and are quite confident on that angle, we also need to worry about the rescue of prisoners. We don't know what state they're being kept in or if they'll be able to be moved easily. We should get medical on standby too." She hmmed softly, and glanced at Fitz.
"Is that everything?"
*
Teddy nods to Fitz. "Sure, whatever. Make something for them to find and take away once they get me so they overlook the other one, whichever it is." They're all sitting in a booth near the back of the place. "If they think I'm her, it'll be easy." he assures Bobbi.
*
"The good news is they don't know Jemma. Blending as Jemma should be easy," Fitz nods slightly at that. He inhales a slow breath and presses his hands to his forehead. "I think that's everything imminently important. This really is a rescue mission, and one we're at a serious disadvantage in. But we don't have a lot of time either."
And just as he says as much, the waitress returns with everyone's orders, earning her a tight smile from the engineer. "Thank you," even though he's already got his order: coffee.
*
Bobbi makes the show of complimenting the waitress, and inhaling the scent of the french fries, globbing ketchup all over the salty snack and promptly munching away. Her gaze, however was focused on Fitz. "I want you to put a tracker on me. Just in the event something goes wrong. I doubt they'll target me, but as it is my job to be paranoid and think of all the angles, I want one." She popped a fry in her mouth.
"I'm not sure how they go about getting info on those they replace. It might be mind control, or some sort of telepathy. Coulson thought it possible at the very least. Or just advanced forms of surveillance that we don't have. So we need to keep an out on that too." She mused.
"Any news from Act-F yet?"
*
Ahhhh. Hot apple pie ala mode. Teddy instantly picks up a fork and digs in, slicing off the tip of the slice and spearing some ice cream as well. WHile the two talk, he eats.
*
Ava is late. Or rather, she probably got there early, cased the restaurant, watched people go in, and made sure nothing exploded before she actually went inside. That's probably the more likely chain of events. It would also explain why she doesn't look surprised to see Teddy when she walks up to the table, hands in the pockets of her oversized jacket.
*
"I went up the contacts, and encouraged the people I know to contact the Director." Fitz clears his throat, "Simmons heard from Doctor Storm and apparently are coordinating on that end." He takes another drink of his coffee. His gaze turns towards Ava and his posture stiffens. "Glad you made it," there's a strangeness in his manner; Ava puts him on edge.
He turns back to Bobbi, "Happy to provide you a tracker. Multiple if you like. We really ought to have all agents outfitted. The technology is possible. Expensive, but possible."
*
A nod, and Bobbi slides the plate of french fries over at the new arrival with an easy smile. She seemed to have one for everyone, though she pulled out several bills to cover the food she'd barely touched, plus a healthy tip as she rose to stand. "Good, I would vouch for putting trackers on anyone that we know and trust too, but I didn't want to be the one to voice that." She winked, and adjusted the collar of her jacket.
"If you need help in the lab, I'm always available. We also need a safe place to stash Simmons when we replace her with our duplicate. I'd suggest some where not on Shield payroll." She glanced around the table and nodded, with a slight two finger salute.
"I'm going to try to see what I can do to scramble up some muscle power. I've got an idea, but I dunno if it'll pan out. Take care of yourselves, yeah?" And then she was making to leave.
*
Teddy looks over at Ava as she seems to be expected and just gives her a nod. Mouth full of hot apple pie ala mode. Not polite. *mumble mumble* *swallow* "I am muscle." he says though Bobbi's already moving away from the table. "Say, you don't have any films of the aliens do you? It would coo… helpful to see." he asks Fitz.
*
Ava tilts her head as she hears Bobbi's suggestion, nodding slightly. "I know a few places." Of course she does. It's not like she really trusts SHIELD either. Once the other woman leaves, she moves to slide into her seat, a faint smile quirking with a sidelong glance to Teddy. "The muscle, yes," she agrees. "And your friends?" Apparently she's met him before. Enough to at least look comfortable.
*
"We can move Jemma to her parents, or maybe we can get her working with Doctor Storm wherever they plan to work." Fitz shoots her a tight-smile. "And yeah, I can work on tracking devices for everyone. Would be helpful to have any assistance in the lab on that," he offers back to Bobbi. "It's tough to do on my own." He issues a wave to Bobbi, "Thank you for coming. I know this isn't the best circumstances to be working together."
"I don't have films, but we could potentially get one? Maybe." He shoots Teddy a vague nod. "Maybe," he repeats.
He nods faintly at Ava, "If you have secure places for Simmons, please. I need… I mean, we should keep her safe." Jemma won't be happy about that. "Uh, hi. We're. Uh. You should call me Fitz, probably, yeah?" He invited her here thanks to her records. There's no question that one is human, even if she seems like a robot to Leo (Simmons told him that was a rude assessment).
*
"My friends?" Teddy looks completely blanks as he frowns at Ava. She does look vaguely familiar but… A sudden memory of Tommy trying to impress her in a bar. "Oh, you. I didn't know you were with…" He jerks his head toward Fitz. NOt that he knew who Fitz was at the time. "They're not involved in this."
*
"Secure is…a relative term," Ava admits with a rueful smile for Fitz. "They are not so much concrete bunkers as places that people would not think to look." She tucks one foot up beneath herself in the chair, the other leg swinging slightly as she tries to catch up to the conversation.
"People not knowing who you're with is sort of the point of the arrangement," she points out to Teddy, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes. "But that's a pity." It's back to Fitz then, curious once more. "Forgive me for being late, but…your message didn't say what this was all about. Is there a plan?"
*
"Good. Jemma wouldn't like…" Fitz's lips turn down into a sheepish frown. "I mean, as long as she's safe, yeah?" his lips tighten into a near smile. "There is a plan," he manages. "Our friend here is going to impersonate Director Weaver. She assaulted Simmons and I." He hisses out a quiet breath. "He's going to enter the building as Simmons, get whatever info we can from Weaver's office, and then follow the chain in an effort to find the Director. And any other missing prisoners."
*
Teddy frowns at Fitz. "That's the plan? I thought it was to impersonate Weaver and get her into the office so she could go through the place then I'd impersonate Simmons and get captured so they'd take me to wherever they're holding your Director and anyone else they have."
*
Ava looks between the pair, quirking a brow. "His plan is more complicated, but offers more potential for at least partial success," she notes, pointing a thumb at Teddy. "Even if we lose contact with him, if Simmons makes it out with papers, we may have something else to track with. But. It sounds like a good plan so far." She twists in her chair, looking toward the door. "So what do you need me and Morse for?"
*
Fitz points towards Teddy, "That is the plan. I just…" his eyes narrow. He forces a quirk of his lips and he tightens his grip on his coffee. "We need agents. Field agents. Backup. If things go south, yeah? We need means to…" he frowns. "Ways to get him out, yeah? He can break out of places, but we need hands on deck to make this work."
*
"Hopefully I'll have your Director with me." Teddy tells Ava. "And whoever else they took. We'll need a way to get them out. Though if their hideout is on a spaceship, I don't know what you can do about it. And I can't fly a spaceship."
*
"I do not have a spaceship. Or know how to fly one." Ava pauses, tilting her head. "I think." She thinks? That's reassuring. "But yes, if you find you need a distraction at some point, or someone to fight, then I can help with that. Not to say grim things, but…" She pauses, looking back to Fitz a little more cautiously. "Are we sure the Director will even be alive? They have to have realized by now that we know."
*
"No," Fitz replies to Ava, "we have no idea if the Director is alive, but I would suspect if she's remotely useful, they'd keep her alive." He manages a quirk of his lips. "Strategically, if Director Carter makes herself useful, or at least seems it, why would they off her? She knows too much to make that happen." His lips tighten into a thin line. "We… have to try to find her. We have to."
*
"Even if we don't, it's important we stop the aliens." Teddy points out. The Director is just a name to him. The planet is home. And no aliens are going to invade it. "So do what you need to do to track me once they take me. I'll try to get in contact with you too once I get out of wherever they put me."
*
"Which is hopefully not space. Because we don't really have a way to bring you back from space." Ava pauses, looking back to Fitz with a curious quirk of her brow. "Do we?" That one's a genuine question. You never know what's brewing in the SHIELD labs, after all.
*
Fitz rocks his head uncertainly. "No, but I have befriended Doctor Reed Richards. They do have a way. They have a ship. They've flown it before, yeah?" His lips twist to the side. "If we want to go there. If not," his head shakes. "I've got nothing cooking that can fly… not yet." But someday.
*
"Mister Fantastic?" Teddy asks, sitting up. "Of the Fantastic Four? You know him? Wow. Do you know the Human Torch too?" Cause the really good looking guy is much more interesting than the old scientist. "That would be really cool if they came to rescue everyone."
*
"It would be cooler not to need to be rescued," Ava points out, though one corner of her mouth twitches upwards at Teddy's excitement. "So we will need the Fantastic Four, who are part of this anti-alien task force, to finish things, possibly." A pause. "How do you know they aren't aliens?"
*
"Honestly?" Fitz returns to Ava, "They've been undergoing testing for weeks. Everyone on the taskforce. Evidently Doctor Storm insisted on it." And now that they've collected live transformed aliens, they know too well that the blood looks different, even when in an altered state.
Fitz shakes his head at the question about Johnny. "No, only ever met Doctor Richards. Wanted to talk about multiverse theory. e were experiencing these anomalies, and it led me to believe that time travel — " he lifts a hand. This isn't relevant to this case.
*
"Weall, yeah. It would be better to rescue ourselves." Teddy agrees. "So I hope it's not going to be a spaceship." Then again, he'd be in space and that would be oh so very cool. Almost no one's been in space! And now Fitz is talking time travel! "What about it?" he asks, leaning toward the scientist.
*
"The thing you were talking about, with the drone. Sleepy?" Ava pays attention when she's in the lab, apparently. It should be an attempt to connect, but chances are it just comes off as knowing just a little too much, like she usually does. "Yes. That makes some sense. Why all the security, though?" she asks, switching legs to let the other swing. "I understand wanting to clear that everyone isn't an infiltrator, but they're testing now, yes? You must have been able to test him," she points a thumb at Teddy.
*
Fitz leans forward towards Teddy. But then Ava mentions Sleepy. He nods. "Right. Simmons and I created these drones, the DWARFs. One of them keeps finding strange data before massive anomalies happen. These anomalies exhibit… strange things and carbon aging from the DWARFs suggest time travel." He shrugs. "We don't know why." Fitz squints at the assessment about testing Teddy. "…uhhhhh. Uh. Uhhhhh… Well this is awkward. Yeah, I tested him." That's at least the truth.
*
Teddy listens avidly to Fitz. Space travel. Time travel. It's like a science fiction movie and he's got a part in it. Who'd have ever thought? His mother is totally going to kill him when she finds out. He flicks a glance at Ava when Fitz stammers and shrugs. "It's okay. Obviously she knows I'm a mutant." And speaking of.. Hmm. "I might be able to get someone I know to help. Though he can't go into space either. He's really fast though."
*
Ava gives Fitz an extra long look for the stammering. Because that was not at all suspicious. "Uh huh." Sometimes it's just better not to argue. "So why all the effort to hide it from the agency?" she asks. "I'm sure they're testing everyone. The fewer people who know a secret the better, of course, but I imagine you would have very different resources if you were talking to someone other than just me and Morse." She pauses, circling back. "There's a woman, Carol, who's been working with NASA security, for example."
*
"We don't trust everyone," Fitz can be honest about that. "And it's not just this," his eyebrows lift expectantly, but he doesn't issue any further comment. "Some things are off-book because we need them to be." He emits a soft sigh. "We are careful because we have to be. We work in madness, and it's beyond just imposters. It's… where things are at."
*
Teddy looks curiously between the two agents but doesn't ask. Not like he works for SHIELD. "So when are we going to do this? I need to let my m… I need to make sure people know I'll be gone for a bit. Skiing in Colorado with friends, maybe."
*
Ava doesn't look entirely convinced, but neither does she have room to throw stones about trust. It's entirely possible Teddy is the only person outside of SHIELD who knows she works for the agency, in fact. "Well, I will help as I can."
*
"Couple days," Fitz states before reaching into his pocket, extracting his wallet, and leaving a few bills. "I need time to get trackers built, yeah? But. Time is of the essence." He nods towards Teddy, "We can do this. We can. Thanks for coming, I know things are tough right now." He issues both a wave before turning on his heel and slipping out to the door.
*
"Couple days." Well, that's not a lot of advance notice. "I better get moving too." Teddy says as Fritz scampers out. "I got plans to make and people to talk to." Standing, he nods to Ava. "Guess I'll see you soon."
*
Ava nods to the pair, unfolding from her chair without getting up. She came all the way out here, she's going to at least get some food before she goes back.