#ethel biltewski

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.  

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.  

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.

Salman Mohammed Farswal.  Internal Affairs.  Born 1976, Vancouver, BC.  Salman's parents emigrated to Canada while his mother was pregnant with him.  They still live in Surrey, BC.  He has 2 younger siblings.  He has dark umber skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes. Salman attended the University of British Columbia and earned degrees in Psychology and Law and Justice, as well as a Certificate in Human Resources, and a further Masters in Psychology. He began his career as an HR Manager for the West Vancouver Police Department, assessing incoming recruits for suitability, and coming under scrutiny for turning away too many.  As a member of the police force, he had undergone all of their physical training.

Shortly after this, SHIELD recruited him.  At first everything seemed fine.  He enjoyed working with and for Ethel.  But gradually he became aware of small problems with the system. From agents responsible for acts their psychological tests indicate they should have been unlikely if not unable to commit, to a feeling of unease around certain agents, he could not put his finger on.  And it seemed to get worse after they found Captain America.  

Captain Rogers was not Salman's patient, treatment being far outside his bailiwick. Salman did hear stories from the counselors tasked with helping Captain Rogers adapt to the modern day. From an era where therapy was viewed with suspicion among the lower classes, Captain Rogers proved to be a difficult patient at best.  

Salman was in the Triskelion, in his office, reviewing Brock Rumlow's file regarding his behavior on a recent op, when the alarms sounded, and the new Helicarriers lifted off.  He got up from behind his desk, sidearm out, and opened his door to see several of the agents he'd had doubts about coming toward him, grim looks on their faces.  He had a bad feeling about it, and stepped out lifting his gun.  The first had just finished saying, "Hail, Hydra," when Salman's shot took him in the chest.  In the ensuring gun fight, Salman caught a shot in one thigh, and at least one of his attackers got away.  He just managed to drag himself out before the Helicarrier crashed into the building, leaping out a window and swimming for the shore.  

He spent more than a week in the hospital with nasty infections due to the dunking in river water.  And spent even more time incredibly depressed, feeling responsible for not ferreting out the Hydra influence, for not acting on his suspicions.  Ethel spent a lot of time with Salman, reassuring him, and brought him up to New York with her.  

Salman is still a bit gunshy, but Ethel convinced him to go back to work with her.  With the new leadership in place, he, Ethel and her minions have weeded out a few more Hydra operatives who did not reveal themselves during the Fall.  He is starting to feel more like himself, and angry at the people who short circuited his process before.  This pleases, Ethel.  She can work with anger.

Salman walks with a limp and a cane, still.  The infection in his wound was nasty and pernicious, the doctors had to cut out a fairly sizeable chunk of the muscle.  He favors comfortable slacks in black or charcoal, and button down shirts and sweaters for work.  He wears sweatpants in his apartment in the Tower, but not if he is going to leave his apartment.  He reads a lot, listens to classic jazz, and cooks delicious Pakistani food.  He and Jesus have spent many nights comparing recipes in the coffee shop.  

Oscar "Leo" Hiram Leopold, PhD. Epidemiologist. Born 1974 in Chicago, IL.  Oscar is the oldest of five (2 boys, 3 girls), and the one his politically-minded parents set their sights on becoming a Senator.  Oscar had other ideas.  His college-professor parents tried to steer him to law, but he veered into STEM and, ultimately, became an epidemiologist with degrees from the University of Chicago (where his parents taught), University of Michigan, and the University of Washington.  SHIELD recruited Leo after he wrote a particularly scathing letter of resignation upon being informed that he had not gotten a promised promotion from adjunct to full time because of 'budget reasons.'  He had resigned himself to finding another job in some other industry, when SHIELD came calling.

He is tall with light brown skin, freckles, hazel eyes and kinky hair he keeps cut short.  He predominantly wears black jeans with black or jewel tone button ups, black cowboy boots, and a black leather jacket.  On occasions he will wear t-shirts, often concert tees from bands he's seen in local clubs, including a battered and faded Cruxshadows t-shirt.  

Leo signed on with SHIELD more than a decade before the fall of the Helicarriers.  They paid well, they listened to him, they respected his work, and they didn't expect him to "clean up" after his older, whiter co-workers for the most part.  He also enjoyed the physical training.  He'd played football and basketball through school though he was never in any danger of going pro, and enjoys the physicality of the hand to hand training.  

Leo worked from home the day the Helicarriers fell.  Since the bulk of his work involved harvesting data from the CDC, and other locations (both with and without their knowledge) and SHIELD had installed his data network, he frequently did work from home, Skyping into meetings, as things had become more tense in the Triskelion after Captain America came back.  Leo watched on the television screen as the Helicarriers fell, and then responded to an alarm from his computer.  The files that Black Widow dumped were pinging his aggregate feed like mad.  Helicarriers forgotten, he read the files, sitting down hard in his chair, mouth open.  The majority of the epidemics and outbreaks he'd been tracking or had predicted had been created or fostered by HYDRA, acting as SHIELD.  Instead of doing what he had advised to head off these outbreaks, they had done the opposite to foster them, claiming they'd been out of control before they could act.  Leo sat at his computer, motionless, reading, until he got a call from Ethel.  They needed every able body at the river to help pull out survivors.  He'd burst into tears on the phone with Ethel, telling her what they'd done with his research. She told him, "They fucked a lot of us. Just come down to the river and do some good."  

Leo agreed to come to New York with the lure of access to Friday for faster computing and scenario simulations so he could try to predict ways to put right what HYDRA had done with his research.  He and Gigi work on the same floor, and he periodically goes dancing with her, but his heart's not really in it.  He uses the climbing wall in the gym, and works out daily, while Friday plays results on a screen for him.  

Leo wakes up with nightmares, and is part of the Midnight Wanderers, which is how he found out Gigi liked to dance.   Caesar will often wander over so Leo can pet him, while he sits and goes over more research.    Leo had known Scott, Cassidy's brother, and they had gone out for drinks once or twice a month.

Overall, health in many areas of the globe is improving, as Leo's predictions are methods are being applied properly, and he is starting to be able to breathe and sleep a little easier.  

It is entirely possible that Leo missed the entirety of the fuss over the Accords, buried as he was in his work.  He has only recently remarked on Captain Rogers's absence.  

Robin Fiore De Luca. Pediatrician.  Born 1979 in Asbury Park, NJ.  Robin is medium height with olive skin, black hair and blue eyes.  He is very well built and works out regularly.  He dresses very stylishly in designer trousers and silk shirts under his white coats.  The youngest of 8 children, Robin put himself through college and medical school with a combination of scholarships and part time jobs including window-washer, bouncer, and lifeguard.  

Robin decided to become a pediatrician after a summer spent lifeguarding the kiddie pool and figuring out that he has a real rapport with children.  SHIELD recruited him out of his Pediatrics Fellowship (University of Pennsylvania).  He found himself initially stationed at Project Pegasus to take care of researchers' families, and after that evacuation, DC.  Because of the nature of his practice, his offices were located offsite from the Triskelion, and apart from a tour of the Helicarriers by one of the parents of a patient, he has never set foot on one.  

After the Helicarriers fell, Robin was called in to provide basic first aid, and then to the hospital to help calm the children as they waited for word of their parents.  Within a week of the fall Ethel informed him of the move to Stark Tower in New York.  Robin spent the better part of a week trying to talk his fiancee into moving up with him, but as someone who worked for a lobbyist, she declined.  They attempted a long distance relationship.  But after a few months, a box with all of the things Robin had left at her place, including the ring, arrived at the Tower.  

Robin loves his job, he truly does.  He knows that these kids need stability in their lives, especially the ones who have lost family members.  He has also taken on the treatment of Carolyn and Lucy's children.  He's currently sworn off relationships until he can get his head together.  Besides, he'd had a hard enough time explaining to his fiancee when she saw the scars from his top surgery.  He's not sure if he's ready to face that again just yet.  

Robin is an early to bed, early to rise type who gets up early enough that he can work out in the gym before he starts seeing patients.  Because he has comparatively few patients, he also does some GP work with some of the younger adult inhabitants of the Tower.  He has been working with  Catchandra on proposed treatments for Cassidy's younger sister.  

Robin enjoys working out, takes part in the melee nights with the security staff, Cassidy and Josephine.  He appreciated the physical training aspect of joining SHIELD as someone who fought a lot growing up in NJ.  He particularly enjoys sparring with the Agents when they drop in, even if it does usually mean getting his ass handed to him.