SHIELDSupportStaff

Doing the dirty work behind the scenes because someone has to.

[shieldsupportstaff]

DelMaro, Kezia M. IT Security/Tech Support.

Kezia Maarah DelMaro.  IT Security/Tech Support. Born 1993 in Gibsontown, FL.  Kezia, who prefers to go by her middle name, comes from a legacy circus family of acrobats and contortionists in the same circus Hawkeye was with before he became a hero. She may suffer from a little hero worship where he is concerned.  She has olive skin and medium brown, wavy hair that she dyes auburn, and large brown eyes.  She is very slender, with slim hips and a flat chest.  She wears flashy men's suits with silk shirts, her hair done up in a chignon most of the time and subdued make up.  For going out she has flashier, tighter suits, and bright silk shirts with good shoes, often pumps.   Maarah grew up in the circus, taking classes over the internet for the most part, except in deep winter when the circus returned to its winter home in Florida.  Soon they discovered that Maarah had a flair for technology and keeping the circus computers and networks working.  She began hacking stand alone ATMs in busy convenience stores as a teenager for walking around money, and to someday get out of the circus and go to college.  It wasn't that she didn't love the circus and her family, she just loved computers and technology more.   Her siblings and cousins teased her a lot for not developing, eventually Maarah decided to just go with it, and started dressing like a man, but continuing to wear make up and long hair to "fuck with people."  When she turned 18 she took her stash of cash, and enrolled in a community college IT security program in Ohio. One night, as the result of a drunken bar bet, she tried hacking into Stark Enterprises.  Jarvis detected the intrusion, but per Tony's policy regarding hackers not attached to known terrorist organizations, he watched to see how far she would get before he needed to shut her down.  Over the better course of the night, he watched until she got very near to crucial information, then deflected her without alerting her.   The next day, several very serious men in grey suits took her out of one of her classes and with them to New York to meet with Tony, who offered her a job.  Shortly thereafter she found herself drafted into SHIELD's Tech Security Department.   Maarah had started to sputter out an indignant "No," talking to Maria Hill about the potential of working for SHIELD, and about then Captain Rogers walked by.  She paused mid-rant jaw dropping, and glared at the smug look on Maria Hill's face when she looked back to her.   Maarah was in the Triskelion the day of the Fall.  She doesn't put much stock in that "Gypsy Magic" bullshit that her grandmother exploited in her fortune teller routine, but something told her to take cover, now.  She pulled a slow fade, and locked herself in a supply closet.  After a few minutes, she heard the broadcast by Maria, and the shooting started.  She stayed where she was, and by the light of her cell phone found a box knife and a box of razor blades to refill it.  Pocketing both, she waited until the shooting had died away, and slipped out, intent on making it to safety.   Ultimately she only had to cut one Hydra agent, stole his gun, shot two others, then wound up leaping out a window into the Potomac below.  She dragged herself up the bank, still clutching the gun.  After catching her breath, she shrugged out of her suitjacket, rolled up her sleeves, and started pulling others out of the river.  She may have shot one or two Hydra plants who made it out. Ethel and Tony both insisted she come back to New York.   She went, letting Tony set her up with an apartment in the Tower, with a bigger salary.  When she isn't consulting with Friday over network security, she sometimes does a turn at the help desk, to get a chance to interact with people around her and get to know them.   She frequently has nightmares about being stuck in that closet while the lower levels of the Triskelion flooded and the upper levels fell.  Because of this she's a frequent member of the Midnight Wanderers. She will frequently sit on the floor and hug Caesar, while sipping chamomile tea.  She does not drink coffee, or much caffeine at all.  On these nights she is uncharacteristially quiet, given that most of the time she will flirt boldly with any and everyone, including Steve, on one memorable, blush-filled (him), occasion. When the Sokovian Accords happened, she disappeared in the night.  Went off the grid, and vanished. As did her family from Florida.  Maarah's whereabouts are still unknown.  

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Beautiful

[shieldsupportstaff]

Going to Try to Come Back to This

Life kind of exploded last spring, so everything non-essential got jettisoned. I think things have settled down a bit.

I'll probably start with once a week posting for awhile.

[shieldsupportstaff]

Poltanova, Imbiana Nikolaevna. Dentist.

Poltanov, Imbiana Nikolaevna. Dentist. Born in Moscow, Russia in 1958. Imbiana's mother was a Nigerian citizen who came to Russia for school, and who married a Russian man and stayed.  Imbiana's father was a mid-level Communist party official.  She is tall, with a slender, wiry strength with strong, broad features and light brown skin.  She wears her greying hair in long braids.  A dentist in Moscow, she performed several insertions of suicide pills or microfiche into false crowns for the KGB.  When the Soviet Union fell, she immigrated to America, just in case there was some housecleaning back home.   She'd been working as a dental hygeinist while trying to get a New York State Dental License through Columbia University.  SHIELD tracked her down and offered to pay for the courses she had to take to get a dental license, if she would come in and help them remove suicide pills from the teeth of various spies, and quite possibly to install tracking devices.   She was stationed at Walter Reed, and was working on a patient when the helicarriers fell.  Someone she had never treated kicked the door in, shouting "Hail Hydra!" Imbiana drew her sidearm and shot him, dropping him.  Then went back to work on her patient, finishing up the cementing of the crown, before going out with her gun drawn.   In the immediate aftermath, she was kept busy pulling suicide pills from Hydra operatives as they were imprisoned.   Imbiana now lives in Stark Tower, and treats the inhabitants.  She is an excellent dentist, very gentle with a light touch. She is a favorite with the Tower's children.  She wears scrubs on days she is working in the clinic, and prefers dressy casual when she has days off.  She is very fond of twin sets, with a small string of pearls.   Imbiana is truly neutral on the subject of the Accords.  She likes Cap, and Tony.  She worries about Tony and gently scolds him about his drinking.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Why am I Making this thing? I don't even like media social stuff. No, seriously I don't even have a...

Seriously funny stuff you guys.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Alza, Felipe J. Counselor

Felipe Jose Alza. Counselor. Born 1952 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Drafted into the Army in 1970, sent into combat in Vietnam.  Felipe is the the 3rd of seven children.  Short, around 5'8", of average build, Felipe has dark brown eyes, long dark brown hair he wears in a ponytail, and several tattoos. When he came back from the war, he joined the Bandidos Motorcycle gang.  He has taken several trips to prisons in different states.  He has three children that he knows of and since his tenure in SHIELD, he has been sending them and their mothers money to try to make up for the years of his neglect, though he hasn't quite worked up the nerve to see them in person.  He wears jeans, t-shirts, motorcycle boots, and a plain leather jacket most of the time. After his fourth conviction, he was involved in a prison brawl with a rival gang, white supremacists, and stabbed.  He does not talk about it, save to say when he woke up in the infirmary, he decided to grab his second chance with both hands and make something of it.  When he got out, he left the gang, no easy feat, and moved east.  He started taking night classes in counseling and addiction treatment, as well as doing his own time in therapy.  He'd kicked drugs while in prison, including smoking. Once he finished his counseling training, he started doing outreach for a local clinic with other Vietnam era vets, in particular, spending his evenings and nights walking the streets looking for homeless vets, getting them healthcare and treatment, getting them into housing and education programs, helping them reconnect with their families.     Felipe has attempt to reconnect with his family, but his mother slammed the door in his face, saying he was dead to her because of all the things he had done.  This may be related to his reluctance to look up his ex-girlfriends and children. His brothers and sisters do talk to him and keep him appraised of his parents' health.  He has sent money to help them out through his siblings.   SHIELD discovered him after he was instrumental in returning an Agent to the fold.  He knew the kid was messed up and had done some pretty deep cover stuff, and after taking him in and getting him cleaned up and off the smack, when the kid had disappeared, he'd never expected to hear back from him.   Four months later one Nicholas J. Fury showed up on his doorstep, escorted by the Agent in question.  After several weeks of intense negotiations, Felipe agreed to work for SHIELD if he could also keep helping his vets.   Felipe was in his office when the Helicarriers fell, getting ready for a non-SHIELD appointment.  He finished his appointment, tasking his receptionist with keeping an eye on things.  And once that was done, drove out to the river to help pull out survivors and do emotional triage.   Felipe continues to live and work in Washington, D.C..  He still sees SHIELD Agents if they come to him, but does most of his work with the vets he finds on the streets.  Felipe served as Cap's unofficial counselor on Falcon's recommendation after the Fall.  He has kept his distance since the signing of the Accords, and Cap's leaving. When Ethel called to ask him again, to come to New York, he told her Cap would always be welcome, as would anyone who sided with him.  But Stark could keep his distance.   In his spare time, Felipe reads Westerns and Spy novels.  He's learned to cook, and works on his motorcycle on the patio of his apartment. Felipe speaks English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Laotian.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Jeffries, Linden D. MD, PhD. - Medical Examiner/Pathobiologist

Linden Devan Jeffries, MD, PhD. Medical Examiner/Pathobiologist.  Born 1979 in Sparks, NV.  Linden is tall and slender and wears slacks or jeans with loose flowy tops.  They have dark brown eyes, medium brown skin and short, rather masculinely styled dark brown hair with red highlights and a lot of curl. Linden was a straight A student, and a dancer throughout school.  They supported themself as a showgirl and stripper in Vegas while attending UNLV for Dance and Dance Performance Management, and waiting to see if they could audition for the Ailey School of Dance in NY.  

At 19, they tore their ligaments while running to save a child from a driver who wasn't paying attention or was drunk.  They dove forward, grabbing the child, and letting momentum carry them out of the way, twisting their knee.  The driver didn't even stop.  They called a room-mate to come get them and drive them to urgent care.  By the time they got medical attention, the knee was hugely swollen.  The doctor misdiagnosed, and botched the treatment.  

Dancing professionally was now out of the question.  After a long depression, where they barely squeaked by in school, and startlingly short court case that ended in a hefty settlement, they decided to become a doctor.

The settlement from the malpractice suit saw them through pre-med and a good chunk of medical school at Oregon Health and Sciences University.  

Another part of the settlement got them a significant breast reduction.  

During their student teaching they discovered that dealing with patients was daunting, and they decided to take a forensic pathology elective.  They found they had a flair for it, and enjoyed the relative quiet of the morgue.  They adjusted their focus to become a medical examiner, applying for an Anatomic Pathology Residency at UCSF, and doing a Fellowship in Forensic Pathology at the University of Michigan, and further PhD work in Pathobiology at UCSF to be closer to their parents.

They got a job as a Medical Examiner in Sacramento, and when they had free time would go over cold cases with indeterminate causes of death.  Going through files and working with 15 year old forensics, they discovered cause of death in the case of one particular John Doe.  In spite of the crushed skull, she discovered the bullet hole using a 3-D imaging software, linking it to several other kills domestic and international by someone using a the same gun and round, and going over photographs with a magnifying glass saw the conctact points from some sort of electrical weapon.  

This sent up a red flag, and SHIELD swooped in to recruit them, and seize the remains.  They'd had their suspicions, but had nothing concrete.  

Linden took them up on their offer of even better toys to play with, and all the cold cases they could ever hope to poke their nose into. Linden's testimony was essential in solving several cases of military malfeasance, so they were not much loved by the Pentagon, but everyone had to admit that they knew their stuff.  

Linden had been flown up to New York after the Ch'tauri invasion to examine the remains, dissecting them carefully, documenting and scanning absolutely everything.  They were allowed to photograph the remains of the ships that had crashed as well, and document as much as they could before the massive remains began to disintegrate too badly.  They discovered one of the massive ship/creatures was pregnant, and those embryos are on ice in a SHIELD facility.  

Linden primarily works on/with human remains, though.

When the Helicarriers fell, Linden was examining the wounds on several American GIs at Walter Reed, working with Hrishita in Radiology.  They had stepped out for a cup of coffee, and to stretch when they heard the gunshot in Radiology and sprinted back. Hrishita had already knocked the gunman out and was tying him up when Linden got back.  

Then as casualties hit, Linden was called in to help triage, as they are in fact, a medical doctor.  

Linden has been very busy since the Fall.  They still have a backlog of remains to be thoroughly processed and examined.  Right now half the day is given over to processing and tests, the rest is going over results, and trying to piece things and bodies together.  

Shortly after Caesar found Cassidy, Linden went out to look at the site, and another of the dogs adopted her on sight, one of the greyhound/doberman crossbreeds.  He walked up, and scratched his name in the dirt at their feet:  Valentino.  

Linden has not mentioned that Valentino is super smart.  Caesar and Hemingway have not mentioned that Cleo and her littermates have one more surviving littermate.  

Reading up on greyhounds, which Valentino appears to be primarily, Linden bought Valentino pajamas and coats as recommended on the greyhound sites, and also very plush dog beds.  He has a very handsome leather and tapestry collar, and accompanies Linden nearly everywhere.  At work, he lies in their office.  They both know he can work the doorknob if he needs to get to them.  He tries to stay out of the lab proper so as not to contaminate their work.  That and it makes him nervous.

Linden lives in a roomy studio in Georgetown.  They and Valentino enjoy it there. They have a favorite coffee shop and diner.  There is a fancy pet store where they order many of Valentino's outfits, and treats.  

Linden does not date and really has no drive to.  They find competence very attractive, and have slight crushes on Hrishita and Catchandra, but have made no moves, as they don't see them all that often, only when cases intersect, or they need opinions on how an injury happened.  

Linden watches a lot of movies curled up on the couch with Valentino, and reads a lot.  They do work out, keeping up with SHIELD fitness standards, jogging is so much easier with out large breasts.  They also do dance, just not with as much intensity as they once did.  Valentino likes watching them dance.  

Linden speaks English and Spanish.

[thegeekgirlwhatrules]

This past weekend, as I posted, on Thursday, was Norwescon 40 . My first Norwescon was Norwescon 13. Which suddenly seems so very long ago. About six months previous to that Norwescon, I had atte…

[shieldsupportstaff]

So this is what I was doing this past weekend.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Major, Michael BA. Medic

Michael Bing Aen Major. Medic. Born 1982,  in Stowe, VT. Michael is the youngest of three.  He is short, stocky, and has tanned olive skin, short black hair, and almond-shaped brown eyes.  He favors jeans and button up long-sleeved shirts (frequently plaid or chambray) with sleeves rolled up over t-shirts, and hiking boots.  He was a surprise baby. His parents had already retired to a cabin in the Vermont woods when his mother got pregnant again. He is named after his grandfathers. Michael joined the military fresh out of high school, and became a Medic surprising his parents not the least.  He had a history of bringing injured animals home to nurse back to health.  The only surprise was that he'd agreed to work on people.  He saw combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and served as a Medic in both places, where he was decorated for bravery.   Michael has a nearly perpetually cheery disposition and boundless energy.  He often served as an unofficial counselor for many of his squadmates and the men they rescued.  This doesn't mean he doesn't get down himself, just that he's good at dealing with others before his own needs come into play.   SHIELD recruited Michael after his tours were up.  He was home, and shopping in NY for a birthday gift for his mother, picking up Chinese imported foods they couldn't find in Vermont, when the Ch'tauri attack struck.  He ran to the fight, and started triaging victims immediately.  At one point he picked up the sidearm of the cop whose wound he was holding pressure on and shot at least one Ch'tauri while yelling, "Stay away from my patient, you bug-looking mother fuckers!"  Another victim caught it, filming on her phone.   After the dust cleared, Michael followed the worst of his patients to the hospital to report to doctors treating them.  Two weeks later, Ethel showed up on his doorstep.  He'd already gotten razzed by several of his army buddies online about the clip.  He accepted, packed up and headed to DC.   When the Helicarriers fell, Michael was heading back from a doctor's appt.  He stopped his car in the middle of the road with everyone else and watched them fall.  Then managed to work his car to the side of the road, grabbed the kit he kept in it, and ran for the river.  He’s another one who kept at it until he practically dropped from exhaustion, stopping only when someone made him get some food and take a nap.  

After the Fall, he moved up to Stark/Avengers Tower, and from there to the training base.  New recruits always find new and interesting ways to injure himself  Also, following Sokovia, it was strongly suggested he accompany Hawkeye on missions whenever possible, as he managed to talk him down after Pietro's death.  He has an excellent rapport with Hawkey and can get him to sit still and stay quiet long enough to heal, or at least be properly bandaged.  He enjoys reading Westerns, working out, hiking and mountain climbing. Michael's whereabouts are currently unknown. It is thought that he is accompanying Captain Rogers and/or Hawkeye where ever they may be. Michael speaks English, Mandarin Chinese, his mother's native dialect from the southern Zhuang people of China, Arabic, Pashto and Dari.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Begay, Thessaly Y. Communications Equipment Operator.

Thessaly Yuka Begay.  Communications Equipment Operator. Born 1988, on Little Diomede Island, Alaska. She is short, curvy with medium brown skin, straight black hair she wears in a buzz cut, dark brown eyes. When not in uniform, she favors jeans and t-shirts, men's flannel pajama pants and big sloppy sweaters for lounging, and bodycon dresses, towering heels and minimal jewelry on those rare occasions she makes it to the city and goes dancing.  

Thessaly's mother still lives on Little Diomede.  Her father passed due to untreated cancer when she was still in high school.  She was an excellent student, and joined the Navy the minute she graduated, barely squeaking in over the height limit.  She was courted briefly for officer's school, but she decided against it.  She is still angry she joined up too early to be allowed to train as a SEAL.  She did make a point of finding out where they were doing their cold water training and cavorting about in a bikini.  One of the training officers asked if she thought she would fare any better at assembling the weapons, and she did, with no trace of shivering or hesitations.  Then she blew him a kiss and sashayed down the beach.  For which she did get a write-up.  As she dealt with the aftermath she laughed and told her CO, "Worth it."

Thessaly decided to become a Communications Equipment Operator, and this led to some speech classes to lose her Inuit accent.  It still comes back when she calls her mom or goes home for a visit, but disappears the minute she lays hands on a radio.  She is also completely unflappable, she has broadcast under fire, while portions of the room she was in was on fire, and as the Helicarrier sank.  

Maria Hill may have cited the bikini incident as one of the reasons they wanted to recruit her.  Thessaly enthusiastically signed on with SHIELD.  She has not met Captain Rogers, and she doesn't know if she wants to.  She's half afraid there is no way he can be as nice as everyone says he is, and is scared he's a secret racist or something.  

Thessaly was in the com room of one of the Helicarriers, one of several operators and techs getting an orientation on the equipment, when the Hydra attack began.  When Maria Hill's broadcast started, one of the Agents in the room tried to shut it down.  Thessaly broke his wrist with a microphone, and the brawl started.  She was still on the Helicarrier when it landed in the Potomac, and wound up swimming for it.  She pulled everyone in the room off to the side, instructed them on how to over-oxygenate, and to not try to swim for the windows she was about to shoot out until the room was completely full, then fired, taking out three of five windows and letting in the Potomac.  

In spite of panicking by several other members of her group, she didn't lose anyone who was alive when she shot the windows.  She did have to go back down for one guy, because she couldn't pry his hands loose until he lost consciousness.  She got everyone else to the surface before swimming down for him.  

Thessaly is currently stationed at the upstate New York training facility.  She enjoys her job, though she finds it a bit staid after the activity of the last few years.  She trains almost daily, and stuns people with her endurance and strength.  She's gained the nickname Chill because of her completely unflappable nature.  During repairs on area of the training facility, she was standing on a sparking wire while chatting with one of the techs, on a catwalk several dozen feet in the air.  He tried to come up with a way to tell her without startling her, knowing her bootsoles protected her from the electricity, both of them really, when she looked down, shrugged, and stepped off of it, kicking it negligently to the side.  

Every two or three months, she takes R&R to head into the city and go dancing.  She loves dance clubs, gay, straight, hip hop, pop, whatever.  She loves dancing.  She dresses up, does her make up, puts on these heels that no one should be able to walk in, and spends the night dancing.  She's had a few casual hook-ups, but nothing serious.  Someone did attempt to mug her and one of her hook-ups as they left the club once.  She left the would-be mugger in a heap, and spent the night with the stockbroker she'd picked up.  She still sends Thessaly flowers periodically care of Stark Tower.  Thessaly does not date co-workers, although she and Gigi have gone dancing together several times.  She also enjoys Anton's company a great deal, and kind of regrets her no co-workers policy a little bit.  

Thessaly's allegiance is to whomever is speaking up for the little guy.  She stays out of the squabbles between Cap and Tony, but she finds it hard to stay completely neutral.  Her grandparents still talk about what happened to them under the white government when they were young.

Thessaly speaks English, Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, and Iŋaliq, French, Spanish, and Arabic.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Brief Hiatus, maybe

I will be doing panels, on comics no less, at Norwescon in Seattle, WA this coming weekend.  If I can’t get around to queueing a bunch, it may be quiet around here.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Regalado, Tomas B. Diagnostic Imaging Technician.

Tomas (Tom) Batista Regalado.  Diagnostic Imaging Technician.  Born 1990, Portimão, Portugal.  Tom is six foot, stocky, with dark brown skin, and grey eyes. He keeps his head shaved.  He is most frequently seen wearing scrubs and tennis shoes. He and his identical twin brother Silvio are the oldest of six.  His parents still live in Portimão, as do most of his siblings.  Silvio moved to Lisbon to be nearer to Tomas during his stint in the Navy, working as a graphic designer.  

Tom served in the Portuguese Navy as a Diagnostic Imaging Technician, working with X-rays, Ultrasound, MRIs and other scans, as well as having Paramedic training.  He was part of the detachment decorated for Exceptional Bravery by the International Maritime Organization for leading anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden.  SHIELD recruited him as his enlistment was coming to an end, and he was trying to decide if he wanted to re-up.  

Tom was initially stationed on the Helicarrier, but once Hrishita worked with him on an emergency case, she argued with Ethel until she got him assigned to her.  Six foot tall Tom looms over Hrishita, and is easily two and a half of her wide, though not an ounce of it is excess fat.  He enjoys working with her, and the other doctors in SHIELD, particularly all the weird injuries he sees.  He and Hawkeye are on a first name basis, and occasionally go for beers.  

He was in Portugal the day the Helicarriers fell, and as it was just missed being assassinated by a Hydra sleeper agent when he went to check in.  Another agent pulled him around a corner, and he helped retake that office.  His twin, Silvio, however... Someone must have seen him and mistaken him for Tom.  He was killed at a coffee kiosk less than a block from his office.

Tom thinks he felt a jolt when his brother died, but was busy fighting off Hydra and had not paid it much mind.  He did not know about his brother’s death until several hours later.  He had finally managed to get through to Hrishita to find out if she was all right.  While he talked to her, his mother called with the news.  Tom went to the hospital to identify the body, startling the attendant, and then straight into a bar, drinking himself insensate.  One of the other SHIELD Agents who'd fought alongside him kept an eye on him, taking him to his place so he wouldn't have to go back to his brother's apartment alone.  

Tom goes where Hrishita goes, and lives in an apartment in the Tower.  He has several of his brother's drawings and paintings on his walls.  He's stepped up his physical training since the Fall and spends a lot of time on the gun range.  He has nightmares and is part of the Midnight Wanderers club.  He and Cassidy talk a lot.  He likes Caesar and brings him dog treats from this chi-chi dog cafe near Central Park.  Caesar has told Cassidy that Tom should have a Dog. She's trying to figure out how to work that out.  

Tom is very professional, he would never purposely press harder for an ultrasound than necessary, even if the patient had sold out Captain America to salve his own guilty conscience.  Not consciously anyway.  As time goes on, he is less angry at Tony, and kind of gets it.  He's been nicer the last couple of appts.  

Tom speaks English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian and Telugu.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Whitlaw, Victoria (Tori) K. - Sr. Officer, Construction and Engineering.

Victoria (Tori) Katherine Whitlaw. Sr. Officer Construction & Engineering.  Born 1962, adopted in Hartford, CT. Victoria, Tori, Whitlaw is short and curvy with olive skin that bronzes easily in the sun, long black hair and dark brown eyes.  She favors jeans or BDUs, and t-shirts or sweaters, and boots.  She frequently has her hair twisted up in a bun held in place with a pencil.  

Adopted as an infant, Victoria is an only child.  Her parents never lied to her about being adopted. It would have been pointless as they were both blue eyed blondes.  They gave her every advantage, and were somewhat disheartened when instead of going into law like her father, she chose engineering and signed on with the Army Corps of Engineers.  She'd been with the ACoE for nearly a decade when SHIELD recruited her to head up an in house construction division.  Building secret installations requires trusting your construction people to keep their mouth shut.  And no matter how well you pay contractors, they eventually blab.  

Tori runs a tight ship, and subjects her people to very close screening protocols.  Next to HR, her group had the next lowest number of HYDRA infiltrators.  Possibly because they assumed that the plans in the system for every base would in fact be the complete plans.  Tori is very good at dividing her people into teams and letting each team know what they need to, to competently do their part of the job.  She is often the only person on a given job from start to finish, and as a result has had to pick up some basic architectural skills and knowledge as well.  She was a direct recruit of Ethel's.  

Tori's parents were killed in a plane crash several years ago leaving her independently wealthy.  She's pretty much unbribeable, even more so than she was before.  

Like a lot of non-white adoptees from her age cohort, Tori has no idea who her biological parents were, or even what ethnicity until fairly recently.  She still doesn't know who they were.  Her parents got her in a closed, private adoption arranged directly between her parents and her birth parents and not by her parents' usual lawyer.  

Genetic testing has revealed that she has Middle Eastern blood, probably Lebanese.  She doesn't know if she was born over there, or in the US.  She has no idea if she was a legal adoption, or black market.  She knows her parents loved her very much.  She doesn't fault them.  She just wishes she knew more.  

Ethel has offered to put some of SHIELD's resources toward finding out, but Tori has so far shied away from that.  She's not sure if she could cope with finding out she was stolen, or if she was orphaned in a particularly horrific way.  She tries not to dwell on it, losing herself in her work.  

When Project Pegasus imploded, literally, she spent hours, days, weeks going over readings and feeds to see if she could have built it better to withstand the forces unleashed by the Tesseract.  She did come to the conclusion that with the information she had at the time, she could not, in fact, have done any better.  However, with the new readings, she's pretty sure she can trap that fucker if she has to build something to contain it again.  She went to talk to Tony about it, and between the two of them they think they've worked it out.  

The day the helicarriers fell, she was out on a job site with her assistant, checking up on a crew out on a remote job. As they approached they heard gunshots.  She drew her sidearm, and they found most of the crew dead, a few wounded, and two Hydra agents, getting ready to execute the survivors.  Tori shot both of them without thinking.  She, her driver, and assistant spent the next several hours performing first aid and trying desperately to raise anyone for help.  They finally wound up contacting a local ranger station and getting airlifted to civilization.  

One of the wounded didn't make it.  

Ethel finally got hold of her three days later.  Tori and the survivors of that crew flew straight to Hartford and she put them up in her family's house while they looked for family and friends among the survivors of Hydra's attack.  She has told three of them who lost everyone in the attack that they can stay at her family's home as long as they need to, whether they opt to join her in whatever this new SHIELD is going to look like or not.  

Tori spends most of her free time reading hard SF and listening to classic jazz.  She collects vinyl, and has an impressive collection at her parents' house near Hartford.  She kept it.  She visits periodically from New York, although she spends most of her time in her two bedroom apartment in the Tower.  She has an excellent sound system, a great, comfy couch, and huge bed, and not much else.  She eats out a lot, and watches tv on her laptop.

When it comes to the Accords, she doesn't talk about it.  Although a muscle in her jaw twitches sometimes when Tony is talking to her.  

Tori speaks English, French, Spanish and a little German.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Nethala, Hrishita K, MD. Radiologist

Hrishita Kiara Nethala, MD. Radiologist.  Born 1981, Visakhapatnam, Andrha Pradesh, India.  Hrishita is petite, dark-skinned with long wavy black hair that reaches to her thighs when it is not braided or put up. She has a gold hoop in one nostril and wears gold earrings the majority of the time.  She wears scrubs 80% of the time she is awake.  The other 20% she is in workout clothes, grudgingly wearing a suit when forced to go to a meeting.  All of her clothing is tailored, except for her workout clothing which she buys in the children's or "misses" section of most department stores.

Her parents still live in Visakhapatnam, and work in traditional Dalit roles, her father a tanner of leather and her mother a street cleaner.  They sacrificed to keep her in school, and she won a scholarship to Andrha Medical School.  She got her MD there, and then went to the US for her Residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Stanford,  and Fellowship in Interventional Radiology at Johns Hopkins.  

SHIELD recruited her about a year out of her Fellowship, following her because of her ability to spot things others missed.  She could, for instance, pick out the compromised tooth in Hydra Agents from a full head x-ray, not specifically dental x-rays.  She has made many studies of Captain Rogers's X-rays, and the other set of x-rays that Ethel had delivered, that appear to chronicle the attachment of a metal arm to man.  Hrishita is relatively sure that working with a surgeon, they could make that arm more stable and probably less painful.  

"Who attached this thing? Dr. Mengele?" She stomped into Ethel's office. "Quite possibly." Ethel lit another cigarette.

There were concerns about Hrishita's ability to complete the physical training necessary, but she is tougher than she looks.  She has endurance to spare, and while she prefers to avoid combat when at all possible, she is competent at hand to hand and with many weapons.   The sharp eyes that make her able to see what's wrong on a scan at first glance, also make her an excellent shot.  The most limiting difficulty is the caliber of gun she can wield without substantial difficulties from kickback.

Hrishita is blunt almost to the point of rudeness, in part because of people discounting her because of her gender, ethnicity, caste and size.  And partially because that's just her personality, even as a small child.  She will also not take being pushed around at all.  

She was also at Walter Reed the day that Helicarriers fell, equally as busy, diagnosing fractures, triaging according to severity and location.  She was in the radiology suite, overseeing some tricky cases, when one of the turncoat agents walked in, gun out.  She dove straight at him, catching him at an angle at the knees, tearing ligaments and dropping him, then knocked him out with his own gun, before tying him up with her shoelaces, and going back to what she had been doing.  

Hrishita and Catchandra work well together, both of them rolling their eyes at people who can't pronounce their names. They do not socialize much outside of work.  Hrishita has become something of a fitness nut.  Spinning, Crossfit, Zumba, you name it, she's taken a class in it.  Except yoga. She can manage that on her own, thanks.  

Hrishita follows the same schedule of New York-DC as Catchandra.  It makes sense to keep the two of them together whenever possible especially concerning head and spinal trauma.  They chat amiably or read during their commute hours.  Hrishita has taken up crochet to keep her hands busy while they travel, as well.  

Hrishita was physically restrained from going after Tony the day after he signed the Accords by her assistant, Tom.  He carried her physically back to her apartment and practically sat on her until she calmed down.  She's still angry at Tony, but she won't desert her patients.  She does not have PTSD to speak of, but she is an insomniac, and often shows up in the coffeeshop for chai.  She has crocheted Caesar a sweater, which he deigns to wear when he knows she is likely to show up.

Hrishita speaks English, Telugu, and Odia.  

[shieldsupportstaff]

Lunde, Magnus O. Mechanic

Magnus Odd Lunde. Mechanic.  Born 1976, in Seattle, WA.  Tall, thin, light brown skin, with white bleached out white, kinky hair, and hazel eyes, Magnus dresses exceptionally well beneath his mechanic's coveralls.  He graduated from Ballard High School, then attended Cosmetology School and became a hairdresser. After a few years he hated it, and went to trade school for auto mechanics.  He never looked back.  

Magnus is flamboyantly gay, a walking stereotype on purpose, particularly since becoming a mechanic.  He spent years working at various garages in the Seattle area, before getting involved in the University of Washington's automobile engineering program.  He worked on several experimental upgrades conceived by students.  His work with the program brought him to the attention of SHIELD, and they recruited him.  

The physical training proved no challenge, as he kept himself fit, working out regularly, in addition to using old-fashioned block and tackle to lift engines in the garage he'd most recently worked at.  He's also a fairly good hand to hand fighter, with a tendency to sucker punch his opponents at the first opportunity. He's a fair shot.  

Magnus was taking a personal day to work on his hobby car, a '67 Karmann Ghia the day the Helicarriers fell.  He'd just received some specialized parts he'd had to track down, and was in a hurry to get her running again.  So, he missed the news until Ethel's phone call.  He left everything a mess, locked his garage, and jumped in his commuting car to race to the Potomac to see if he could help.  He spent several hours dragging survivors, and some of the deceased from the river.  

That day in particular led to a mild case of PTSD. Magnus has nightmares about reaching for survivors and having limbs come off in his hand, or not being able to find them once they went under.  He and Gregory Landros had been good friends, and he has more than a little survivor's guilt for having not been there that day.  

Ethel convinced him to move to New York. Tony sweetened the deal with the offer of garage space, and shipping his car for him.  Magnus lives near the Tower, but tends to gravitate there when he wakes up in the middle of the night, primarily because he knows he'll run into other people who understand what he's going through.  He has chided Charlie about not taking proper care of her hair, and frequently orders her to the salon for deep conditioning treatments.

Like everyone else with an interest in men, he has a raging crush on Captain America, and dials back the flamboyancy when Cap's around.  He's another one who cruises the clubs.  He and Trey do not get along at all.  Trey finds his over the top behavior offensive, and Magnus thinks Trey has a stick up his ass.

After the Accords, Magnus thought real hard about quitting and going home to Seattle.  His parents aren't getting any younger, and want him to come home and run their Scandinavian grocery in Ballard with his younger brother.  However, he really enjoys living in New York, even after Guiliani's purge of the club scene, and he does like the work he does for Stark Industries, retrofitting classic cars for more energy efficiency and safety.  

For now he's staying in New York.  There's no telling what the future will bring, but he's ready for it.  

Magnus speaks English, Norwegian, Spanish, and a little high school Japanese.

[shieldsupportstaff]

Lipenga, Violet W. Concierge

Violet Wema Lipenga. Concierge.  Born 1996, in Zomba, Malawi.  Violet is young, tall and broad shouldered.  She has medium, reddish brown skin, hair she wears natural and short, and dark brown eyes.  Her father is a physicist working for Stark Industries, her mother is a home-maker.  All three of them are naturalized citizens.  She grew up in New York City and on completion of it, her family moved into Stark Tower.  In high school she started working after school with the concierges and works during her breaks from college.  She is majoring in Chemistry at Harvard University.  

Violet has grown up with security measures and self-defense classes.  When SHIELD moved in, it didn't phase her at all.  She kind of idolizes Ioana, who got her into rugby in high school.  Violet plays rugby on Harvard's Women's Rugby team, but knows she'll have to stop after she graduates, which is why she did not finish early even though she could have.  Tony has told her if she tries out for the US Olympic Rugby team and makes it, he'll sponsor her.  She's not sure. She'd like to, but then again, her father would probably blow a gasket, as it would definitely cut into her studies.  

When she was a sophomore in high school, she talked Captain America into coming to her school for career day and talking to her home room.  Violet is a smooth talker, and she knows it.  Much of it she learned from growing up near Tony Stark and Pepper.  She's learned a few tricks from Natasha.  She generally keeps her distance from the Avengers themselves, but she could not resist taking Steve into school with her.  He did it gladly, and stayed for several hours, shadowing Violet during her day, answering questions, taking selfies with students and drawing quick sketches of the other Avengers. It seemed to perk him up a little bit.  He was so sad all the time.

She has completed most of the SHIELD training, including weapons training.  She spends a lot of time when she isn't at school or on duty in the coffeeshop now that Cassidy has taken it over.  She likes studying there.  And she thinks Caesar is adorable.  She and Isis have been known to enthuse over Rihanna for hours, or Beyonce.  Nerissa will sometimes join them and the talk turns to Nikki Minaj.  

She has already applied to UC Berkeley and MIT for grad school.

Violet speaks English, Chichewa, and Spanish.

[shieldsupportstaff]

Zickafoose, Royce C. Housekeeping

Royce Calhoun Zickafoose.  Housekeeping.  Born 1988, in Leesburg, WV.  Royce is tall, with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes.  He favors jeans and t-shirts with hiking or cowboy boots.  Middle child of 7, he lost one younger sibling to the flu. His older brothers joined the military and never looked back. He sends money home to his folks, and has gone back to visit a couple of times. He's set aside money to send his younger siblings to college.  He keeps trying to get his parents to put his MeeMaw into a care facility, but they won't and she refuses to leave the family land willingly.

He was a bit of a hellraiser back home in West Virginia, and went into the Army A. to get out of West (by God) Virginia, and B. to get his teeth fixed.  The Army also beat some prejudices out of him, not that they'd been that strong in the first place.  He always had trouble seeing why he should hate someone hadn't done anything directly to him. He went into the Rangers, and then found himself recruited by SHIELD.

At first they placed him in Stark Tower on maintenance while they were keeping an eye on Tony before Loki appeared on the scene to fast-track the Avengers Initiative, in maintenance.  And he did ok in maintenance, but eventually asked for a transfer to housekeeping, citing that it let him get more places to overhear more things. In actuality, he prefers it.    

Since the fall of the Helicarriers, he's moved up to Assistant to the Head of Housekeeping. He could refrain from housekeeping himself, but he likes it.  He enjoys making sure that all of the inhabitants of Stark Tower have clean and comfortable places to live, especially the ones who are terrible about taking care of their own spaces, like Sierra or Miguel, or Carolyn and Luci who have so much to cope with.  

He has added several extras to the housekeeping routine: fresh flowers on request, and on inhabitants' birthdays and other big days, like anniversaries or adoption anniversaries, dog and cat treats for each housekeeper to carry with them.  Every housekeeper gets at least one massage a month in the spa, mandatory.  

Raised Pentecostal, he's had a hard time finding a church he likes in New York.  Manhattan Pentecostal is pretty close though, so he goes periodically.  It's just been hard to reconcile his beliefs with seeing Loki and Thor in the flesh.  If they were supposed to be gods, but are just guys, super powered guys, but guys, then what about God?  It's shaken his faith a bit.  He does still like the singing and the feeling of community, though.  

Royce spends his free time reading comics and graphic novels.  He enjoys classic country music, and drinking, getting into the occasional fight.  He lives in a small apartment near the Tower and spends a fair amount of time doing errands and minor repairs for some of his neighbors, mostly the elderly ones.  One of the older ladies reminds him of a fancier version of his MeeMaw.  He works out in the Tower nearly every day, and enjoys the hand to hand training and practice sessions.  

Royce speaks English and Spanish.  He's picked up Spanish since coming to New York.