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[bravejemma]

"This is Jemma Simmons. Leave a message! ♥"

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[mucked]

[ ...oh.

remarkable, really, how her expression doesn't shift an inch. but inside she's humming with a rare chorus of uncertainty. did she do wrong, then, to go dragging the fellow into a caper like monday's? but no, no, no, she still meant what she'd said: he had acquitted himself well. ]

But you've both had plenty of experience since then. [ the reports certainly implied as much. and simmons herself had discussed doing undercover work at...hydra, good lord, of all places. ] More than most, would it be fair to say?

[bravejemma]

[Somehow, her not saying anything says everything, but Jemma understands.]

It's been a few years, and experience has certainly been a grueling teacher. I don't know that we'd be effective specialists, but we can get the job done.

[mucked]

Specialists. There's that word again. [ a puff of breath; a shake of her head. ] We don't use it in the SSR. There are field agents and there are otherwise.

[ she pauses while she takes a drink. ]

Not that being designated as one guarentees you any time in the field.

[bravejemma]

Lots more probably changed between your hey day and mine. Specialists work alone in the field, when things might require... well, they're probably a lot closer to proper spies than anyone else.

[She considers that. The only specialist she's really known before things collapsed was Ward, and she had been forced to conclude that none of them really knew him.]

[mucked]

I suppose it's a gentler name. Specialists. [ a quirk of her smile. ] Spy is such an ugly one -- and a dangerous one, to boot. Espionage isn't something anyone wants to be caught doing.

[ the rules of war don't protect them, after all. ]

[bravejemma]

Gentler name for some not terribly gentle people.

[She supposes she shouldn't tar them all with the same brush that she would happily blacken Grant Ward with, not that he needed the help, and even more to the point she probably shouldn't have said anything, but it's done and she takes another swallow of the whiskey, grimacing at the burning in her throat and studies what's left in the glass.]

They have their place in the organization.

[mucked]

[ hmm. ]

Some rivalries never end, it seems.

[ the labcoats vs the field agents. ]

[bravejemma]

[Those had been the fun days -- gentle ribbing, showing their pride in their profession and their academy. She smiles a bit.]

Someone has to keep the field agents on the cutting edge.

[mucked]

And, for me, that someone was always Howard Stark. [ perhaps it's rude to suggest it, but: ] I tended to prefer his gadgetry over what the SSR labs produced.

[bravejemma]

[Jemma can't blame her. He was probably the best of the best.]

In my experience, scientists keep all the fun stuff in their private labs anyway.

[mucked]

Oh, Christ. [ a small laugh -- perhaps the first of the evening. and she drinks a little more and shakes her head and confirms exactly what jemma suspects. ]

Stark's private vaults got cracked, about a year ago, and some truly ghastly technology started hitting the black market. Things dangerous enough to convince just about every bureaucrat in Washington that Stark must have set the whole thing up so he could sell to America's enemies.

[ peggy can talk about it now with a touch of levity, even though at the time things had gotten...quite bad. ]

Hogwash, of course. But he had some truly terrifying stuff in those vaults. He called them his bad babies.

[bravejemma]

That must have been horrible.

[She sort of understands the instinct -- not really thinking how things could be turned against you and others, wanting to see only the good potential in your creation.]

Is... that all sorted?

[mucked]

As sorted as it will ever be. [ it's hard to say, these days, what parts of these tales ever managed to touch public record. she doesn't know how much she needs to tell, or how much she's safe to omit. ] Nearly all the items were recovered. Not without incident, unfortunately.

[ deaths. peggy tries not to linger too long on those. especially not the ones she can blame on herself. ]

And at least one of the culprits is still at large.

[ at large again more like. ]

[bravejemma]

Well that sounds exciting.

[She says it brightly, but her face indicates 'exciting' can easily be as bad as it is good. ]