| Good, Old-Fashioned Analysis | |||||
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| What: Peggy helps Ben go through some old files on a 30+ year mystery. She shows him while old fashion analysis is still sometimes the best way to crack a case. | |||||
The Cafeteria on the Hellicarrier doesn't really see regular rushes, as agents come and go from odd shifts. However it has made it one of the few places on the Hellicarrier you can grab a moment to collect your thoughts. That seems to be what Ben has decided to use it for today. He's taken over a large round table that is tucked into a back corner, his massive frame precariously balanced on a sitting stool that is reinforced, and though capable of supporting his size, looks to small to be truly comfortable. Spread out before him are stacks of of files, fare from the pristine, chrisp white and manilla of official shield documents, these are obviously aged, yellowed and little dusty. Ben sighs and palms his face and slowly drags it down his feature before saying, "This is why I always like just drivin' the bus."
The out of time Brit hasn't been seen much around the helicarrier as of late. Apparently, she took the medical orders to heart to take more than a few days off. Some rumors went about that she'd actually found some sort of old apartment in NYC that was her's and she was staying there. But, duty does call. Looking entirely healed and put together, the agent steps into the room with a quiet click of her smart high heels. She's in a pair of wide legged, high wasted navy wool slacks and a matching plaid jacket -- the style is painfully old fashioned, but it suits her well. She silently heads for the drink station, grabbing herself some tea before flickering a look around the room. Ben is always noticable, but the yellowed papers in front of him are even more intriguing. She steps up to his side, brow lofted, steeping tea cup still in her hand. "Going over history lessons, Agent?"
Ben Grimm shakes his head, "Not exactly." Ben says, "though History was my favorite subject in college. It was one of the only classes I payed more attention than Reed." not did better than mind you, but he payed more mind. "Just due dilligence, or so I'm told. There used to be a SHIELD monitoring base in the Falkland Islands to monitor that part of the sounthern hemisphere and Antartica. I guess it got mothballed over 15 years ago, because in the prior 35 years it had been staffed, it never picked up anything out of the ordinary. Never picked up anything crazy like the Savaage Lands in Antartica happening, never got wind of any alien activity, and never got any wind of Hydra activity. All within spitting distance of Argentina. Deputy Director Hill is pretty dubious, so once all the red tape got cleared up and we could get the records out of storage, s he asked me to look over their recon flight records." Ben shrugs, "Audit them for anything missing, omitted, maybe c hanged, or maybe even just things that were out of the ordinary that they should have followed up on but didn't."
"That's...strange. Who was heading up that base at the time?" Peggy's brows furrow and, uninvited, she steps around to the same side of the table as Ben. She pulls a hair over so she's sitting close enough she can easily study the files next to him. Her tea is set aside and above the folders now, left to brew while she works. Chances are, she's going to forget about it. She scoops up a few of the files, giving a quick look for names of anyone she might recognize. "I don't blame her for being dubious. That's a lot of things to go blind to when SHIELD is generally better at seeing through the bullshit." She sighs as she pages through a few files, realizing there are just as many names she doesn't recognize as people she knows. She'd been out of touch so long, even at that point. "I wonder why they established the base in the first place. 1965... What prompted an interest in that area."
"I'm told it was because of the fear that Hydra might have infiltrated the government of Argentina on several levels." Ben says as he looks through files, "So far from 65 to 70 I have found 12 incidents that if I were flying a recon mission would think was odd and either take another pass, or put in a request for eyes on the ground to give it a look." Ben shakes his head, "I mean to be fair all of these could legitimately have been nothing, but there's just so much water under th' bridge now."
"Odd..." Peggy murmurs, as she pulls one of the files out the pile. A personnel file for a certain Karl Fisher. "This man applied to be in SHIELD back in 195... 4, I think. At least a year before I... Left." She's still figuring out how to discuss her absense and it's still not comfortable. "I initially denied his entrance because he, practically, walked up to our front doorstep and asked to be let in. There was no reason he should have been aware of us and it smelled awfully funny to me. Howard liked the man because he had a few political connections and a lot of money, but I never thought about it again. It looks like he was recruited, finally, in '58 and went on to be the second in command of that base in '65." She begins flipping more so through the record, looking at the man's history. All of it seems incredibly banal and bland.
Ben Grimm looks at the picture and hrms, "Yeah, he looks like the kinda guy that'd like hanging out with chumps like Gyrich an' chomping on cigars and spendin' other people's money." Ben says with a hrmph. "Just a moment...." He starts digging around for some files on the fare side of the table, "This is my pile for what I've already looked at it....." He looks at Peggy and says, "There was a time when I consider just.. becoming a spy instead of staying the course to be an astronaut, but going through all this paper work like this is what changed my mind."
Where as he is already a touch bored, Peggy looks energized by the pile of papers in front of them both, some sort of intrigued electricity running through her and a taunt line of hyper aware tension across her shoulders. "... Really? You dislike it? It's not that bad. It's like a good mystery novel, just without all that awful purple prose. This paperwork is the sort of thing that birthed the SSR. You couldn't even be an agent if you didn't cut your teeth on it." She accepts a few other of the files, beginning to lay them out on the table so she can see as many of the overview pages as possible, like it was a large puzzle piece. "...not that knocking someone's head in during a good row isn't exciting either." She murmurs as a footnote.
Cannot help but smile. Brittish people call stuff the by the cutest of names, "Well I do enjoy me a good row or three." Ben says with a chuckle. "Ah here it is." Ben says as he finds the file he is looking for, "Here it looks like Agent Fisher signed off on every occurrence I found that shoulda been investigated better." He nods, "Thank you Agent."
"Like I said, just a mystery. A puzzle, sometimes you need to see the whole picture." There is also a touch of pride on her face as he catches the cross references that quickly, like she very much enjoyed teaching the basics of being an analyst. Even if it was far different these days, with computer programs and mention checking software. "But, look at this... Agent Fisher's certifications were all signed off on by Agent Donegal, who was also involved in recruiting most of Fisher's training class in '57. Donegal transferred to the Argentina base -- taking a *demotion* -- exactly two weeks after Fisher got the position."
Ben Grimm shakes his head, "Well look it that..." Ben says, "See this is why I ain't really cut out for to be a full on spy. I don't always see those connections between people. It's this big murky web an' I just can't follow it. Heck I haf ta have Johnny explain to me who's who on Game of Thrones each week." Ben says as he starts digging into some more files, "Well let's see who took over fer old Karl eh? Maybe he had a hand picked successor."
"It's alright. I suspect thos sort of analysis isn't even done any longer these days. Computers can probably do it far quicker than the human mind..." Peggy also sounds a touch disappointed about that. For all his dislike, she loves it. She flips open Karl's file, brows lofting. "Donagel took over for him in 72. Promoted to CO of the base in 73. Ran it until it was closed. Karl went missing in... 72. And then it was Donagel who signed off on everything. So..." She sighs and sinks back, considering the ramifications. "Either Karl and Donagel were in on it together. Or they had a falling out and Donagel had him killed. Or they're the same damn person and half these files are an elaborate cover up for that. But I would put every last cent I have on the fact that our base in Argentina was compromised."
"Well no matter how smart computers get, I ain't met one yet that understands using their discretion. Everythings binary. There's only yes and there's only no. When it's 'maybe' they get confused. I think that's why Assistant Director Hill wanted me to take a look at them. Some Pilots might not have taken a closer look at t hese. Someone... that flew into space, got blasted with cosmic radiation, turned into a big rock-man, and who has fought molemen from the center of the earth might take a closer look at things some people wouldn't." Ben shakes his head, "Jarvis and HERBIE are both really smart, but I'd like to see 'em handle all those variables." He nods, "Just like you had an idea of what to look for based on your experience. Computers don't do that. At least not yet."
Peggy Carter chuckles slightly, "Jarvis hated analysis. He said it wasn't much better than trying to rig the horse races..." Not seein ganything else in the summary of the files, Peggy takes a deep breath and looks up to him again, scooping up her totally forgotten tea. At least it'd be nice and strong now. "Thank you for letting me assist, Ben. If Hill gives you any more mystery books, you just give me a wave, yes? And let me know how it falls out, if you need any more assistance..."
Ben Grimm nods to Peggy, "Thank you Agent Carter. I'll give my report to Assitant Director Hill. With the Red Tape she had to go to to get these files realized, I imagine it's gonna be awhile before she officially assigns someone to look into it deeper. How about if we ever get a rainy day when we're not burried under immediate threats how about we do some extra credit and run down some leads on our own? Maybe see if Donagel is still around."
Those dark eyes flash happily at the thought, "I think that'd be just lovely. I'll see what other files I can pull now that I have at least *some* clearance. Do you know why Director Hill asked you to look into this now? Even if it was bloody rotten we missed it at the time, there has got to be a reason it's come up in her mind nowadays." Peggy reaches into the pocket inside her jacket, pulling out a little reporter's note pad and a pen. She begins to take a few notes off of the files in front of them so she knows where to start.
"I hope this won't make me sound all cocky, but I'm a pretty good pilot, with alot of unique experienced and I just recently formally joined SHIELD recently." Ben says looking down as if he's a little embarrassed to be tooting his own horn. Something he normally doesn't have a problem with if he's punching something, "I think not only did she just recently get the damn files released from storage, but also her first chance to let someone that's seem some of the wierd crap I have to give it a look." He shrugs, "Or she just didn't wanna bother with it and was happy to hav eme to dump it on. I'm sure the truth is in there somewhere. Thanks again fer helpin' Agent Carter. I'm always happy when I've got a big brain like yours around to help me out."
"Well...there is a price for this help." Peggy's express turns a bit serious, her red velvet lips resting in a more professional line. Only her eyes slightly hint at a touch of teasing beneath the surface of her sudden turn in expression. "I know you are one of the best pilot's in SHIELD. I used to be able to pilot every craft we flew and a few ahead of their time. But that was 60 years ago and I cannot imagine how things have trained. You can borrow my brain any time you like, if you get me back behind a stick and certified again?" Her business like attitude softens the moment she actually gets around to asking -- this actually does mean quite a lot to her.
"I'd be happy to." Ben says, "If I can teach Irish how to handle a Quinjet, I don't see why I can't do the same for you. It's a deal."
With that, Peggy extends her hand to his large, rocked fist to finalize the deal with a shake. If she sees him as different, she's never shown it. Since the day they men, she's simply quite accepted that he's physically quite changed from most of the people around. But maybe she's used to knowing what it is to be the one out of place and she's all too happy to accept someone for their mind and skills, not their looks. She's never shyed away in fear or hesitation, so offering her hand is no different now. "It's a deal. I'm still spending a bit more time in the city, whenever I can get away from here, but let me know good times this week to start and whichever airfield you like?"
Ben Grimm takes Peggy's hand and, as he has before, though he is careful with her hand, the shake is still firm enough to be respectful. "let me see what my flight schedule is this week and I'll set something up." Ben says as he stands and gathers up the files, "But speaking of flights. I got a milk run here in a bit and I need to get my preflight check going. Take care Peggy."