Rough Morning (OPEN)

[Casey Eliot Parks]

It may have still been early in the morning, but for S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Casey Parks, he could already tell that the day wasn't going to go well at all.  

It started with a phone call.  It wasn't a devastating phone call.  There were no deaths in the family or horrific tragedies.  It was however, a small incident involving the agent's 5-year-old daughter and her new pony, a trip to the hospital, and a shiny new arm cast.  Agent Parks would have liked nothing more than to fly back home to Oklahoma and give her a hug- that, and give the child's caretakers, who happened to be his own father and brother, a piece of his mind about safety.

The gym that morning was also a mess.  Already fuming, the last thing Casey needed was to be followed around by a scrawny teenager who was practically begging the agent to be his personal assistant.  Casey simply did not have time in his morning workout to explain how every bit of machinery worked.  By the time he was done running five miles on the treadmill- scrawny kid trying to keep up on the treadmill next to him- he had to make his way to the punching bag.  It felt good to hit something, but he had the feeling that this inanimate object wouldn't be the only thing that was going to get pummeled by the agent today.

As Casey made his way down the brisk streets of New York City, a large man practically rammed into the agent as he passed.  'Watch where you're going, asshole!" the man called out to Casey, as if it were his fault.  Hot tea had spilled out of the cup Casey was holding and burned his hand and stained a spot of his nice shirt.  Casey furrowed his brows as much as he could and growled with frustration as he turned to make eye contact with the man.  The man looked like he was going to say something else, or maybe flip the agent off, but when he saw the look upon Casey's face, he closed his mouth, turned around, and continued on his way.

Still scowling, Casey moved on again, trying to rub off the drink from his shirt.  What's next? he thought sarcastically.

[Deleted]

New York City loomed around Cain with a mean attitude. All of the buildings seemed to be glaring down at the city as if the city had done something horribly wrong. 'Then again' Cain thought, 'this is New York. Always something bad about to happen somewhere.'

The "walk" light finally flashed and Cain disappeared into an un-caring sea of scowling faces, smart phones, and Iced-coffee. Shoulders checked Cain repeatedly, irking his temper until his nose caught the smell of cinnamon buns. He stopped and looked wildly about him. The smell was exactly the same as the smell of the kitchen when his younger sister would make cinnamon buns back home.

"Lor...." Cain said with a sigh. Even after many years of not knowing if she was alive or not, Cain still felt a rush of grief. Caught in the moment, Cain's grief was interrupted by a honking taxi whose driver was flipping him off and yelling in some language other than English.

Cain scowled murderously at the man, and the man quieted immediately. Cain kicked his heel against the pavement, releasing a small set of caltrops that were stored in the back of his shoe's sole onto the intersection. Cain walked across the rest of the road and smiled smugly to himself as the rude taxi driver's tires blew out from driving over the caltrops.

The city was in an unfriendly mood. That was for sure.

Cain scanned the crowds of people to see if anyone he knew was amongst them. In his career, he had made a number of enemies, and New York City was never a good place to be caught with someone who wanted to kill you.

It was then that Cain spotted the familiar long mane of Senior S.H.I.E.L.D Agent, Casey Parks... or at least the back of his head. 'What are the odds?' Cain thought, walking faster to catch up.

"Fancy seeing you around New York, Casey. Usually when I meet someone in this city, they either die or run away screaming." Cain noted his fellow Agent's dour expression. "Say, we are close to a decent coffee shop. Coffee's on me!"

[Casey Eliot Parks]

Casey was making some progress trying to wipe the tea off of his shirt. He rubbed it with his napkin furiously, suppressing a growl as he tossed the napkin into the nearest garbage can. He looked down at his shirt. It wasn't too bad, but it was still noticeable. He looked at his cup of tea, scowled at it, and tossed it into the trash bin as well.  It certainly wasn't the tea's fault, but it made him feel better being rid of it.  What he really wanted to do was snap the rude businessman's fingers in half, but Casey had to remind himself that that kind of behavior was not appropriate.  

Suddenly, Casey heard a familiar voice, and in a much too chipper tone.  The Senior Agent wasn't sure he could handle chipper at the moment.  He turned around to see the face that accompanied the voice, trying to not look too angry.  It was Agent Cain Edge.  Casey was familiar with this agent, and had no qualms with him. In fact, he was a very good agent, which Casey respected.  

"Oh, hey, Cain," Casey said, brows still slightly furrowed.  Cain offered to buy Casey coffee, to which Casey hesitated.  He wasn't particularly in the mood to socialize at the current moment.  That and he didn't like coffee, really.  Not at all.  However, the way that the day had already been going, he was probably going to need it.  And heck, if Cain was paying, why not?  

"Sure, I guess I could go get some coffee," said Casey finally.  "Lead the way."  Casey had no idea which coffee shops were decent and which weren't.  It was New York City, there were hundreds of coffee shops.  Hopefully this shop's wouldn't be too terrible, or at least edible.  

[Deleted]

Cain could tell that Agent Parks didn't particularly enjoy coffee, by his expression. Then again, the Senior Agent's expression was fairly dour. 'That man needs a bagel...' he thought to himself

"There is a little place up ahead. Called the 'Eagle's Landing Café'. Nice place... clean tables.. and perfect bagels" he added temptingly.

Cain led his Senior Agent a block north to the café. Once inside, he walked toward a table toward the back. He took his seat and moved the napkin dispenser to the opposite end of the table. Acting normally as if he were just checking his phone, Cain pulled out a smartphone and scanned the average-looking marble where the napkin dispenser used to sit.

"Hmmm..." he hummed curiously. Cain rambled for a moment, "That's interesting. Very well." and put his smartphone away, only to replace the napkin dispenser to its original position. By that time, a young man approached the table with three steaming cups of coffee and three toasted bagels.

Cain smiled pleasantly when he got his cup, slipped the young man a few bills, and dropped a caffeine tablet into the steaming drink. "This stuff might as well be de-caf. Would you like a little kick in your mug?" Cain produced another tablet from a bottle in his utility belt and held it up in offering.

"Either way... What's got you grumpy today?"

[Casey Eliot Parks]

Casey nodded as the man described the cafe he planned on going.  He followed behind Cain silently, glad the other agent didn't say much and still looking at the stain on his shirt.  Casey walked into the cafe and looked around. It looked decent enough, and it smelled okay, but he was still skeptical.  He sat down next to Cain and flipped his hair out of his face, leaning back and crossing his arms.  He narrowed his eyes as he peered around the cafe, watching people as they went about their day.  He noticed Cain move the napkin holder out of the corner of his eye, thinking it was a bit strange.  The senior agent watched the other agent curiously as he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

"What'd you just do?" he said, raising one of his eyebrows.  

When a young man came setting down some coffee and bagels, Casey waited until Cain took his and then grabbed his own.  He watched the agent put a caffeine tablet in his coffee and then offer him some.  "No thanks," he politely declined, taking a sip of his own coffee without any sugar or cream.  His face contorted ever slightly at its foul taste, but continued sipping.  "That'll give you a heart attack, man," he warned the agent.  

Casey took a bagel off of the plate and applied a generous helping of cream cheese and took a bite of it quickly to get the taste of coffee out of his mouth.  When Cain asked Casey why he was grumpy, he tried not to scowl too roughly at the man.  After collecting himself and swallowing his mouthful of bagel, he finally answered.  "Just didn't start off that great," he admitted.  "And what's got you in such a... good mood... today?"  

[Deleted]

"That, was to get the next part of my instructions." Cain replied.  Cain tried to explain it quickly. "QR code hidden in the marble weave. This table will be destroyed in roughly four hours, though apparently I won't be alone for this mission."

His senior Agent still looked a little grouchy.  Cain could tell that he did not like the coffee, though his Senior Agent's fussing about a stain on his shirt was becoming mildly entertaining.

When Casey declined the offered caffeine tablet, Cain slipped it back into its bottle and chuckled."Heart attack? Ha!" He paused to take a drink from his own coffee. "If you recall, I've had far worse put into me.... and I'm still alive!"

That comment too, did not seem to change his Superior's attitude. Why was this guy so grumpy?  Cain asked him.

'not great' was all he got in reply.  'He probably didn't sleep well and his pet knocked something over.... best to let it slide.' Can thought.

"Ah well... Its one of the few things that keeps my mood up on days like this." he said before pulling the sides of his jacket aside to reveal a pair of pistols in shoulder holsters.  "These are Cindy and Chloe... brand new and already about to see action!" He let his jacket fall back to where it had been before grabbing a bagel and looking toward the door expectantly.  Cain mumbled, his voice trailing off, "Speaking of which, where is that guy?  He's late."

  

 

[Deleted]

Simon looked about the busy street he was on, tucked his hand into his jacket, and crossed the street toward the café he was supposed to be at ten minutes ago.

Simon burst through the door and rapidly walked over to the table that Cain and another individual were sitting at. This other person, Simon did not recognize. "Hand me a napkin, would ya Cain?" He said pulling his hand out of his jacket. The two could see that his hand was partially covered in blood.

"Its not mine." Simon said, tersely. "I am sorry to be so late. I ran into some... aggressive negotiations on the way here. Ya know. Car jackers. Crazy at this time of day, right?"

Realizing that the other person might not even know who he was, Simon quickly added, "Oh! do forgive me. I am Simon. Who might you be?"

[Casey Eliot Parks]

Casey raised an eyebrow as he bit off another generous chunk of the bagel.  When Cain alluded to being pumped full of other stuff, Casey finally smirked and nodded.  He was still confused as to what Cain was talking about with the napkin holder and the table or something.  "What d'you mean the table will be destroyed?" he asked, concerned the table would blow up in the middle of a busy cafe.  

When Cain showed Casey his two pistols, he nodded again, looking at them only briefly.  Casey did not like guns.  He might have been one of the best shots in the country, but he preferred to not use them.  They were dangerous and too many stupid people who don't know how to use them do so all the time.  Casey would rather be in hand-to-hand combat, but firearms were a necessity. In fact, he had a handful of pistols of his own, but he didn't give them names or carry them on a holster unless he was on a mission.  "They're nice," Casey answered to be polite.  

Cain looked toward the door and muttered something, and not more than a minute later did another man, this time unfamiliar to Casey, waltzed through the door and sat down, taking a napkin to wipe blood from his hand.  Casey eyed him curiously.  He didn't trust new people, especially ones who would show up in public with their hand soaked in blood.  He sipped his coffee reluctantly and listened to the  new man talk.  He introduced himself as Simon and asked the agent who he was.  "I'm Senior Agent Casey Parks," he introduced himself.  "Are you with SHIELD?"

[Deleted]

"Ah well!" Simon remarked before saluting the Senior Agent. "I am, and its nice to meet you. Are you here giving Cain the mission briefing, or did that go through the table?" He raised his eyebrow inquisitively until he noticed the unclaimed cup of coffee and lonely bagel sitting on the tray. Naturally, Simon picked up the bagel and bit a hunk out of the side which he chewed hastily and swallowed almost as fast.

He took his cup of the three and noiselessly sucked down half of the cup. He cringed a little at the bitter taste. "Hmmm.. The coffee here used to be better..." he said mumbling

[Casey Eliot Parks]

Casey narrowed his eyes at the new agent that had joined them and bit off another piece of bagel. He was utterly lost.  Casey had been so busy with his own most recent mission lately that he hadn't had the time to keep up with the going ons of other agents.  Simon asked Casey if he was briefing Cain.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he admitted.  "Me n' Cain just ran into each other not too long ago."  He took the last bite of his bagel and pushed away his plate.  "You guys wanna fill me in?"

[Deleted]

"Forgive Simon," Cain said with a wave of his hand. "He can be impatient at times". Cain set down his coffee and bagel so that he could pull his phone out again.

Turning the device to face Casey, Cain tapped a few on-screen buttons to access the built-in SHIELD database access. Cain set the phone down onto the table and gestured once to the young man who had brought them the food, and once to Casey to stay where he was.

The server, who seemed to be the only employee present in the building shouted about a dangerous spill in the back and the need to leave, as no service could be conducted. The other patrons of the small coffee shop left in a disappointed hurry, making more noise than they probably had to.

When all had left, the server closed the blinds of the shop's street-facing windows and turned the open-sign off before locking the door. The server then saluted the three SHIELD Agents and went into the back.

Cain nodded and pressed a few other on-screen buttons before a holograph became projected from the phone. "This cafe is remotely owned and operated by SHIELD personnel. Every so often, SHIELD uses it and other cafe's in New York, D.C., and even Los Angeles to issue discreet, non-traceable orders through imprinted codes worked into the marble of the tables.... usually underneath the napkin dispenser." Cain touched the hologram and it turned into a map with dots on it showing the locations of these cafe's. He manipulated the map to zoom in on their location and the projection turned into a single icon of a file folder.

"This," Cain continued, "is the mission Simon and I are here to accept and execute. Thankfully for us, we don't have to go far, and you can help us." Cain selected the file and it opened to reveal a number of documents and scrolling texts.

"Apparently this is the last time this cafe will exist as a safe location for SHIELD. The kid serving us has been in contact with terrorists and has compromised a number of SHIELD files for a hefty fee. Our mission is to capture the greedy rogue and to kill the terrorist opperatives who will be landing on the roof top any minute now."

[Deleted]

Simon immediately drew a pistol from his belt and held it trained on the doorway that led into the back where the server had disappeared to minutes earlier. "Well then! Let's hunt the little prick down, shall we?! This is probably the best morning I've had all month! Hey wait... you got a gun, Casey?"

He looked at the Senior Agent and scrunched his eyebrows a little.  "I hope we aren't confusing you too much.  Cain can be a real chatter box when he talks shop." he said before looking back toward the door where his gun was still pointed.

[Casey Eliot Parks]

Casey watched curiously as everyone began to leave the coffee shop.  When the employee saluted Cain, Casey finally realized what was going on.   He looked from the employee and then back to Cain, where he had a hologram out on his phone.  He began to explain what the two agents were going on about.  Th.e cafe was one of SHIELD's cafes.  

"I should have known," Casey said with a smirk, leaning forward, pushing away his half-drank cup of coffee.  Now he was interested, glaring at the hologram curiously.  He was a senior agent, but he didn't use all the high-tech stuff.  He had a basic phone and nothing more.  Even then he didn't know how to use the extra features.  He might have been a bit of a technophobe.  Perhaps it was a good call by SHIELD to not give him such equipment.  His hands were enough.  "I went to these cafes every so often when I was an agent, never this one before.  Haven't been in a while.  I don't get my orders from tables and napkin holders any more."  He sat back in his chair again, folding his hands.  He didn't need these cafes, he got his orders directly.

Still looking at the hologram, Casey tried to keep up with looking at all the files and documents that whizzed by.  He nodded as he listened to Cain describe the details, and invited Casey to join them.  He hesitated for a moment.  He wasn't to leave on his own mission for another two days, and he hadn't been properly briefed on this particular mission.  That and he wasn't very prepared.  He thought for a moment and looked at the two agents.  Sure, they looked capable, but he would help.  

"I got one," Casey said to Simon, reluctantly pulling the pistol from the back of his jeans and setting it on the table.  It wasn't anything fancy, but it was a good weapon.  Normally on a mission he'd carry two- just in case, but he wasn't currently wearing his holsters.  

"Not confusing at all.  How about I follow you two this time around?" he said, preparing his gun and standing from the table, flipping his hair from his face.  

[Deleted]

Cain just shrugged and nodded his head. "Lets toast these suckers, then." he said, whipping out Cindy, one of his pistols, dramatically and sliding out of his chair.

He raised the weapon toward the door which he casually approached and opened making sure that it did not squeak. He peered downwards at the floor and ceiling as he slowly opened the doorway to look for trip-wires. Finding none he sighed. "What a boring guy.... No matter how dumb he is for pissing off SHIELD, he still could have made this more fun."

Cain peeked around the door to check for enemies and upon finding none, he kicked the door open the rest of the way and walked boldly through it. Two doors leading to a bathroom and the kitchen and a stairwell leading up to the second floor. Cain grabbed the door-handle of the bathroom and pulled, ripping out the rusted handle in the process. Cain rolled his eyes and swung the door open, pointing his gun about and looking for targets. Cain was quietly glad that no-one was in the bathroom at the time.

Turning around, Cain approached the double doors that led into the kitchen. Upon entering the room he saw nothing out of the ordinary, and disappointingly nothing to shoot. Suddenly two legs came down and wrapped themselves around his neck. Cain choked under the intensely strong pressure on his neck but raised his gun upwards with both hands and pressed it to his attacker's chest. Once he had the shot, Cain took it, using the body as a partial sound absorber. A grunting cry came from his attacker, but was silenced by the time he hit the floor.

Cain looked at the body and tilted his head. He kicked the man's helmet off and stretched his neck out, popping it multiple times in the process. "Not bad." he said studying the man's face and uniform. "No markings, but definitely Russian. Saw some goons in this kind of get up in Russia about a month ago... Otherwise, his nose gives it away. SHIELD will want to know that."

[Deleted]

- An hour ago, many blocks away -

New York city was in a bad mood. Cis could feel it everywhere she could sense. The sky was indifferent, no one was smiling, the air was full of car horns screaming in disagreement with each other, the Starbucks coffee that Cis had gotten tasted mean, the air reeked of exhaust fumes, sweat, and cigarette smoke.

"Love... choose... odd place." she said. "SHIELD..nearby..though."

Cis pulled her phone from her pocket and accessed the tracker. She hadn't seen it in a while, but was surprised to find that the tracking signal no-longer displayed the location of Cain Edge.

She smiled and chucked to herself. "Love.find.tracer. Love.smart, but not.know.who!"

A lone white helicopter flew overhead and toward a commercial district. It bore the markings of a news-channel helicopter. Cis looked at the helicopter but noticed that it did not bear any cameras as news copters always did. Suspicious of this, Cis decided to try to find where the coptor was going.

This did not prove to be very challenging at all, as she watched the helicopter fly low over a building and with cables let down a number of men in black tactical gear onto a rooftop before flying off again and disappearing.

Cis didn't know if the men were with the police or not. They resembled a swat team, but in darker uniforms. Cis decided to sit on a bench a block away from the building where the men landed. Just down the same block, from where the men had landed, was a café. Cis debated going in there, but decided against it, because there was little guarantee that she could get a nicer cup of coffee on a day like this.