18003/RoT: Sword of Heaven Attack

RoT: Sword of Heaven Attack
Date of Scene:	01 June 2024
Location:	Upper West Side
Synopsis:	SHIELD agents attack the Sword of Dawn terrorists before they can blow up the building. They cover Captain America as he drives the truck with the detonators away, only to have the truck explode once it is away from the building.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Kate Bishop, James Barnes, Camille Russo, Morrigan MacIntyre
Tinyplot:	Reign of Terror

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Steve Rogers has posed:
The guard at the booth looks up and sees a couple of trucks in line to pull into the underground parking garage. The security booth is set to watch both the entrance and exit. He lets out a sigh and sets down his coffee, rising and stepping outside to talk to the driver of the truck that has pulled up to the entrance gate.

"What's that, delivery?" he asks?

"Yep, special order," the driver says. The guard hears a footstep behind him, but doesn't turn quick enough to even see the man who sticks the taser prongs into his side.

The guard is dragged back and left bound on the floor of the guard shack, while the gate is raised and the medium-sized trucks begin pulling in, one after another.

   *** Earlier That Day ***

The release of a video threatening an impending strike by a little known terrorist group calling themselves the Sword of Heaven had not gone without notice. The FBI and NSA investigated immediately, and quickly reported the threat was credible. An attack likely imminent.

Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, better known as War Machine, had gathered a group of heroes together to investigate a location that various bits of intelligence had begun to point to as being involved.

Those heroes were successful in raiding the base and recovering plans for the attack. An attack that was already underway!

The Sword of Heaven turned out to be eco-terrorists with their sights on Roxxon Corporation for a number of environmental atrocities. Their plan, to blow up a dozen-story commercial building much of which is taken up by Roxxon offices. A number of trucks had made their way into the underground parking garage, each filled with explosives made from fertilizer and other chemicals. Today the militant members of Sword of Heaven would be on hand in the area around the building, on guard against police and heroes, as the final truck arrived with the detonators.

The call went out, with the Avengers coordinating with the heroes who responded. Comms were supplied where possible, or patched into a network maintained by JARVIS from Avengers Mansion.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The day is an ugly one, overcast and with scattered thunderstorms that had been moving through the area since morning. The ground is wet and a light rain is currently falling as heroes gather nearby to the building being targeted. From the looks of it another storm is going to be passing overhead very soon.

Those heroes who have responded have gathered together in a staging area just out of sight of the target building. Recon has been done, a number of suspicious figures waiting in the rain in the area outside the building. According to the plan found in the raid, on hand to stop any police or heroes who show up to stop them.

The voice of Captain America comes over the comms and is relayed as needed. <"Alright team. We have an unknown number of hostiles outside the building, on the watch for police or any other authorities. We know they are armed. They likely have some advanced weaponry courtesy of arms dealers like AIM. There is also the possibility there may be enhanced amongst them.">

Captain America continues, <"There is an underground tunnel connecting to another building which I'm going to be using to get into the underground parking garage. Meanwhile we need everyone topside assaulting the terrorists. Draw as many out of the parking garage as possible. With luck I'll get to the detonators before they can all be hooked up, and disable them.">

Outside the building itself there are more people than you would expect on a day of rain and thunderstorms. Some are hurrying down sidewalks as if going somewhere, probably just regular civilians in small numbers. But others are sitting on benches despite the rain, or leaning against the corner of the office building. Many of those lounging about have on jackets or rain coats, some of them bulging a bit as if hiding something beneath.

While some are trying to be chill, others are nervous, with eyes that are darting about constantly. Phone calls can be observed now and then, sometimes being made between people outside judging by the timing of answering calls. In one case, someone tries to surreptitiously use a handheld radio though it can be spotted.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
They are hostiles. To be neutralized. There's no sense talking to them. Natasha goes to head along with her team covertly over, moving towards a position in a nearby window where she has a clear view and sets herself up wtih a sniper rifle. She goes to quickly mark targets and speaks into the encrypted commband

<<You heard the Captain. Secure the perimeter and breach>> She doesn't give instructions to Bucky beyond that. The team members know thier strengths and weaknesses and how to coordinate. <<Priority is quickly taking out thier field observers and communications. That means they have to come out to respond>>

It remains to be seen whether Kate will do her own thing or work with the team. She'll leave the girl to her own devices then and keep her in the loop. She has her sniper rifle out and is quickly marking obvious spotters. <<Russo, take targets and disorient them for takedown. Be ready to protect civilians if the terrorists go to attack them>> She goes to line up her sniper rifle with the man on the radio.. And goes to take the shot, aiming for the neck.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Dressed in a mix of black and purple armored leather. Kate Bishop, the newer Hawkeye tagged along for this gig. Armed to the teeth, fancy Themysciran bow on her back with quiver loaded with gimmicky arrows and the normal pointy kind. Maybe a couple batons as well for extra melee goodness. Black hair tied in a neat ponytail with a purple hairband keeping bangs from her eyes.

"The kicker about eco terrorism. Right reasons, wrong methods. Be nice if the right methods worked. Says the girl that got rich on dead trees." at least publishing going digital these days is an improvement.

<<I'll keep close with the ground team. Nice distance so I can make sure no one we want shot gets shot.>> Her aim may be fantastic, but people move in a fight. You can only lead shots so much.

James Barnes has posed:
As per the usual, someone was quiet and scowl-y while making the trip. As per the usual that same someone said very nothing during whatever little meeting or pep-talk that was to be had in the staging area.

Bucky may not be a team player most of the time, but that certainly does not mean that he doesn't understand the assignment. Steve knows him well enough to know that his silence over the comms is really - got your back.

Lead them away, draw them out - best way to do that is with becoming a threat to everything inside and out. He starts at a slow jog. By the time he reaches eye sight of anyone outside, he's at a dead run. Close quarters is no place for a rifle, but Bucky can be just as deadly with a pea shooter.

*Pewpewpew* Three shots fired, three down in a blink. Not a word is spoken but everything about him screams: Death is coming your way. It's also a definite distraction for the others - dude is drawing a lot of fire onto himself.

Camille Russo has posed:
<<10-4.>> Camille checks her gun, swapping live rounds for spelled blanks. They'll bruise like hell and hopefully at least cause dizziness and nausea, if not outright knock out a human, possibly even an enhance without healing powers. Healing powers are always a pain to counter. She's got zip ties in a pocket of her tac pants, next to spare bullets and her new souped up marker. Just in case. <<Bishop, if you're behind my line of sight you can tag anyone I shoot to keep them down.>>

With that comment, she comes around to a side, taking careful aim.

Two shots, two targets staggering around drunkenly. Good enough.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Clea had information for Captain America before the events and she made sure they were delivered in time. But she had disappeared to help with other things.

BBQ's are often interrupted by terrorist attacks. It's a shame! There is a portal that opens on the ground and out of it steps someone that is dressed in some pretty neat looking Anubis style armor. <<Here to assist.>> the gravely voice from the mask states before they start unloading magical blasts onto people.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The sound of gunfire alerts those outside the building that the authorities arrive. A few of the eco-terrorists go down from the opening shots of the SHIELD operatives and their allies. Rain coats and jackets are thrown off of a few people, revealing everything from submachine guns and assault rifles, to a weird handgun with a dish on the end.

The terrorists take cover, the easy shots disappearing as they get behind cars, planters and anything else that can stop a bullet. Meanwhile the people who aren't part of the attack stand stunned for a moment, before doing what civilians do. Panic. Some drop to the ground. Others run, a couple of them right into the line of fire!

Bullets rip through the air back towards the Winter Soldier as he jogs across the city block towards his opponents. Others are looking around for someone to shoot at.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
She goes to take quick, accurate shots. She adjusts the firepower of her rifle. It's a gauss cannon rather than a ballistic one. It gives her far more penetration if need be. For now she keeps it on low. She doesn't want to explode her targets, she just needs to take them out quickly. Plus, lower power means the rifle needs less time to recharge.

Her shots are aimed at torsos rather than heads. She oesn't need killshots, just cripples. They're here to breach and make noise.

For each dropped, she then sweeps her target to another in a different area. The point is to get all of the enemy perimeter spread out and chaotic.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Once goons start emrging from the building. Kate gets to work. She has plenty of non lethal options, and her aim means even the pointy arrows won't kill anyone. hands and feet are small targets but when she hits they aren't running or shooting.

And by staying on the ground she can keep moving, sprinting from cover to cover.

For the goons getting behind a car. It might be good for most small calibre rounds. But for a flashbang arrow, it's just a matter of aiming and drawing her bow just enough that she can slide and bounce under the vehicle and skid to a stop right at the bad guys feet.

It probably looked like she missed right up until then.

James Barnes has posed:
On hisd mad rush across the open space in front of the building, Bucky takes a sonic blast that blows him off his feet, sort of. If he knows anything, the man knows how to fall down and keep on going. He hits the ground in a roll and, momentum having been stopped by his metal fingertips digging into the pavement. He pops right back up at the other end of it to turn and face the /asshole/ that dared! A snarl curls one side of his mouth - a soundless snarl. The soundlessness of it all makes it somehow feel even more threatening.

The man that /dared/ is met with the deadly ferocity that can only come with the Winter Soldier. Feinting right - the move that would make sense given the sidearm in his right hand - he actually goes left. The blast fired hits empty air and before the weapon has the seconds it needs to recharge, Bucky's left hand is around the man's throat to lift him off the ground. A quick shake, like a dog shaking its prey between its teeth and the man stills to be tossed aside like rag doll.

"Getdown," Bucky growls as he passes by civilians in so much a blur of black clothing and glinting metal. "Get out of here!" He even shoves one man in his path aside, not with enough force to do harm, but definitely with enough to get the man's head back on his shoulders and his feet moving in the right direction.

One leap has him denting the top of a car with a loud *thud*. A booted foot lands with the same amount of force when reaches the other side of the vehicle and swings a foot in the direction of a hiding coward's face.

A beat later and he's just lifting a concrete planter from the ground to heave it at the man hiding behind it.

Any hits he takes are shrugged off by adrenaline pumping through him like waters from a broken damn - of course there are those few that just ping harmlessly off his arm and shoulder.

Camille Russo has posed:
Camille stays as she finds cover, not hesitating to snatch and yank civilians within arm's reach. Better scrapes and bruises than dead, she muses to herself with a grim frown. She's providing covering fire as well, but she's aiming for heads and necks, not areas likely to be covered in kevlar.

"MOVE, MOVE," she barks out at fleeing civilians, pointing them towards a currently stopped bus that actually has an enclosed stop. "Get behind the stop, keep finding cover until you're two blocks out or see a police perimeter. Stay low, don't look back." Her voice is authoritative but steady. Calm. She wants them gone, but she also wants to lessen the screaming and panic.

Kate's flashbang rocks her temporarily, but a quick shake of tight curls and her head's clear, back in the fight. Shoot, move, repeat. Duck, yank a civilian by their ankle to get them out of the line of fire, point them at the nearest, easiest series of cover. Keep shooting, press the advantage.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
One of the downsides of huge fights that are sponaneous is that Civies will always be in the way.

Always.

And the Anubis armored figure is not going after Civilians, they are here for the goons. Though the neon violet and black trendils of magic that whip around them flare and crackle there is an urgency to push the core of the fighting /away/ from the populace. "GET TO SAFETY!" the voice that comes from the mask is amplified. Trying to will people through magic and menace at the moment.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Overhead the storm is coming on. It is already getting on towards evening, the light growing dimmer even without the clouds darkening overhead. Lightning crackles between clouds and rain falls more heavily, making aiming difficult.

On a nearby rooftop, a man pulls out his binoculars, swinging them about the area below as he hears the sounds of gunfire. The leader of the Sword of Heaven picks up his radio and calls into it, "Who is it? It is the police?"

Someone radios back to him, "I don't think so, they aren't in uniform at least!"

There's a sound of a small explosion from down below as Kate Bishop's flashbang goes off, stunning one of the gunmen who drops to the ground behind the car, holding his ears.

Back on the radio, orders are going out. "Get more men outside! And hurry up with those detonators. Let me know the moment they are wired and you're clear," the rooftop observer says.

Camille starts to take fire. A spray of submachine gun fire is rather wild, the person just holding down the trigger and hosing that direction. Bullets thud into the bus and break out some of the windows, resulting in screaming, while other bullets hit all around her.

The civilians are scrambling most of them, though there are always a few who are unable to move quickly, or just too plain scared to do more than huddle somewhere hoping they don't get hit. A car driving down the road is hit by gunfire and goes off the road, running into the building that Natashas is firing from.

As Bucky lifts the planter to bash one of the gunmen with it, he catches movement out of his peripheral vision. Something big. Swiveling his head, he sees... a tree. One of the big trees lining the road along the street passing by the office building has come to life. It swings back a gigantic limb and sends it bashing down towards Bucky!

Other trees are starting to move as well. One is moving towards Kate Bishop, though it is having to plow across the street, breaking through the concrete as it goes, giving her a little more time.

Tree Huggers indeed!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Well, moving trees are interesting. Mechanically? Biomancers? Or whatever particular method it is they have. Natasha can't tell for the moment. What she can do however is switch her targets. She goes to tweak the settings on her gauss rifle. Charging up to a higher power level, and adjusting the size of the launched projectile by switching to a different clip. She goes to line up the gun with the furthest away of the trees.. There's too much shrapnel for her to take on one of the closer ones and risk catching others in the line of fire. She goes to line up her shot at the base of the tree..

And then goes to fire. There's a streak in front of the beam, accelerating ahead as if to mark the target as the ionic joltage of the projectile goes before the pulse does. Then there's a BLAST as the bottom of the tree would detonate in an eruption of shrapnel, the force of the impact turning it to crushed wood and then going at such a high temperature to turn it into glass.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky's killing spree continues - it's violent, it's loud without him speaking a word and it's messy. On and on he goes, ducking gunfire like a pro - taking a few when he can't get out of the way. He is carnage. Everything about him screams: Look at me, to take me down releases you from your impending certain death. It's the point right? Get all their attention focused anywhere but on that garage.

He doesn't see it coming in time to completely avoid the blow, but there's enough time to make sure he doesn't take /all/ of the brunt of that blow. Bucky winds up flat on his back when something just as ruthless - or at least just as strong - tries to smash him into nothing more than a stain on the streets. It's time to take this fight mano a mano. The sidearm in his right hand goes flying, skittering across the pavement. He back flips back to his feet and doesn't even take a beat. What he wouldn't give for an axe right about now. In the end, he doesn't need one. He has a Natasha.

Bucky is thrown back a bit by her blast, but like a weeble that wobbles, he never falls down for long. He does pause just long enough to give Natasha a nod of thanks, an acknowledgement at least and then he's off again.

LOOK AT ME! No one else here matters - if they're all looking at him, well, then they're not looking at the rest of this deadly team.

Kate Bishop has posed:
The flashbang goes off, loud and bright and very disorienting. One goon clutching his ears with possibly the mother of all headaches. It's one more down. And anyone looking in the wrong direction is probably wincing enough anyone else can swoop in and take them down as Kate moves to the next spot of her journey.

A couple more goons clearly heading for the same spot of cover as Hawkeye take a few shots and it forces her to dine and scramble, coming up with another trick arrow drawn.

This one when it hits one of the pair isn't much of a hit on it's own, but when it goes off, some rapidly expanding goopy purple foam surrounds the pair. Hardening to an almost solid mass a moment later.

Camille Russo has posed:
'What in the sycamore sap fuck,' Camille thinks to herself as the trees start to move. Her bullets won't do shit against a /walking tree/, but her knife might. She holsters her gun and grabs her marker and knife. Her knife's already spelled for accuracy, and to be sharper while causing the target to feel as if they're freezing, but... she notices the one stalking through the concrete towards Kate and starts to write furiously, innovating on the fly. Dangerous. She takes three steps forward and lets the knife fly, watching as it buries itself to the hilt inside the tree.

It doesn't seem to do anything.

She turns back to the fight, gun back in hand and aiming at anything humanoid. There's no lack of them, but she'd really like to find the person - or people - aiming the trees.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan did not see the tree coming...as she was focused on the sky above. There is a branch that swings down hard, connecting with her and lifting her off the ground as she goes flying. She lands with enough force, her head bounces off the concrete, cracking part of the mask that she wears.

There is a second of laying there before she starts to gather herself from the ground, gauntleted hands reaching to pull the broken helm from her head, "Ah fuck this..." the Irish woman states as the broken armor dissolves into shadow in her hands.

She stands as blood runs down her face, sending another bolt of magical energy towards the trees. <<The trees are not magically animated. We've got to find what is doing it.>> she calls over comms.

Welp. Cover blown!

Steve Rogers has posed:
Natasha detonates the tree that is going after Bucky, sending wood splinters flying all over. But it wasn't alone, and more of the hardwoods are moving to join in the fight.

Kate Bishop spots someone over on the corner of the building. He's looking back and forth and sometimes moving his arms like he were pantomiming swinging at someone. Each time he does, one of the trees takes a swipe at one of the heroes.

Meanwhile a crew of four people, two men and two women, run out of the parking garage entrance. They open fire, bullets whizzing through the air towards various of the heroes.

One of them pulls out a grenade, pulling the pin and heaving it towards Bucky. It's a tear gas grenade, the eye-irritating smoke coming out as it bounces past him.

Up on the roof, the one man calls into the radio again. "How much longer on the detonators?" There is a burst of static and then a reply, "I just need a couple more minutes, I'm getting the ones in the last truck instead of all of them. If it goes that should set everything off."

The man nods his agreement even if it can't be seen. "Good, hurry up, these are some skilled people attacking us. One has some kind of powers. Get it done so we can fall back!"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
All right, it means that she can focus on securing one flank as the others keep moving forwards. For now, that means the trees while she lets the others do their own job. The downside of this weapon being used in this style means that it takes longer to recharge and rearm. But she has to aim anyways. But larger 'calibers' are necessary to make sure that she cripples her targets with each hit.

She swivels her aim to the next tree in line once she confirms that none of the others - civilians or friendlies are in the blast radius. She dials up the charge then, lines it up in the same place.. And then fires once more, streak of energy flaring out. The downside of this style of weapon is that it makes her location obvious. But they've only been fighting for a few minutes and this location doesn't seem to have the turrets that the other group ran into.

One shot, then a second.

Kate Bishop has posed:
Kate's vision can pick up a lot of things. A guy seemingly puppeteering trees gets a huh.

Diving behind that cover she just gooped goons out of she speaks up on comms. <<Think we have like a plant controller Over in that corner.>> she points out while peeking out and pointing in that direction for anyone else with a line of sight.

By pointing she means with a finger and then following up with a net arrow aimed in arc so when it unfurls it can hold the guy down. <<If he doesn't need to move to do his thing, you wanna zap his butt Widow? Save having anyone explode trees because we probably don't want splinters getting in peoples eyes and butts and stuff.>>

James Barnes has posed:
If Steve could hear Bucky's thoughts through all of this, the swear jar would have to be as big as a bus to hold everything he'd be paying into it. Trees - fucking stupid mother fucking trees. Who the /hell/ brings trees to a fight? Oh, that's right - fucking Guardians. He's ducking and dodging over limbs aimed in his direction too often to be even as remotely deadly as he was before. Finally he's had enough. The next walking oversized weed he runs across takes the brunt of a hit from that left hand, enough force to break through a concrete wall. The middle of the tree becomes so much kindling and Bucky never misses a beat. He dives straight through the hole left by his fist, rolling to his feet on the other side.

Only to hear the tell tale sound of a grenade bouncing off the pavement. Yes, for someone like Bucky that /is/ a tell tale sound - one that's unmistakable. He's heard it more than a few times too many.

His first instinct is to dive for cover, so he's mostly out of range of the noxious gas - mostly. Does it sting? Like a bitch. Does it blur his vision? Like too many tankards of Thor's best. Does it slow him down? Yes, but not by much. His aim may be off, but he no longer even has the gun he had before. He may be seeing through squinted eyes that are burning like hellfire, but he's fought in complete darkness before and come out victorious.

Slipping a knife from his boot, he continues on - crushing damage done with his left hand - the more direct blood spilling damage done with his right.

That is until his blade bounces harmlessly off a target. Well, Hell.

He ducks out of the way of the first attempt to crush his skull by a man that's a foot taller than him and obviously at least 'cut proof'."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's not bothering to try to hide her face in the rest of this. She just doesn't have time with the attack. And folks would find out it was her eventually. So...here we are!

The woman rushes forward, her focus on downing the trees that are still up. Because magic will do a number on countering them...hopefully. She just hopes that the animator is going to be restrained for the time being. Because more of these guys would suck.

Camille Russo has posed:
A backlash of magic rocks the street as the green inside the tree causes the knife to overcharge. The runes break in disastrous ways, and the extra power builds up until the tree just... goes.

One minute it's there, sluggishly menacing across the concrete, and the next it collapses in on itself in a spectacular implosion, leaving an icy heap and crater in the street.

Camille takes the brunt of the backlash, thrown violently into a cop car and sits there, stunned. Her vision is blurry, and her ears are ringing. <<Oops.>> It goes across the comms with a wheeze. <<Ow. I'm fine.>>

Steve Rogers has posed:
Over across the street, a news crew from Channel Six has arrived on the scene. "This is Tyler Kincaid, reporting from the Berkham building where gunfire has been reported. There are trees moving and attacking people. I think one woman fighting is a hero from the looks of it, she just shot some kind of bolt towards one of the trees-"

The reporter ducks as the people run out of the garage and begin opening fire. "More gunshots, it's like a warzone down here!"

Meanwhile Kate Bishop's net arrow has entangled the mutant who was controlling the trees. While they continue to move about, they are far less effective. Mostly just moving about in straight lines or even circling. Without him being able to control their limbs they aren't really attacking.

The man fighting Bucky is bald and big. "Can't cut me!" he yells at the Winter Soldier as he takes a ham-fisted roundhouse swing at Bucky. While he's big, and tough, he's nowhere as skilled in hand to hand combat as the former Howling Commando.

Morrigan is taking trees down one after another. Now they are a bit more directionless it isn't too hard to dodge them and send one bolt after another into them, shattering their trunks.

And there's one lass that needs it as Camille's knife blows apart oneo f the larger trees, the road it was crossing torn up, but there's an archer who isn't going to be run over as a result.

Over the radio, one of the terrorists says, "I have the truck's explosives wired- Oh SHIT IT'S CAPTAIN AMERICA!" His words cut off quickly, and the man on top of the building calls back. "Get out of there? Can you get out? Rick? Get out!" He chews his lip nervously, and pulls out a detonator with a dead man's switch on it. "Rick, get out of the garage!"

Meanwhile, over the SHIELD and Avengers comms, Steve Rogers gives an update. <"I've taken down the men in here, but I don't think I can disable these detonators. I'm going to drive them out of here. Clear a path for me, I'll be coming out hot.">

Kate Bishop has posed:
It possible that a lack of consciousness might stop the trees from still moving. But blowing them up will work. It just means splinters as she hears the comms request for a path.

That gets some more explosive arrows under cars. Shaped charged enough to flip them over and out of the way. Goons trying to get away or even shoot the truck to stop it get more net arrows to knock them down and pin them where they can't be rolled over. <<What direction you want to head Cap?>> if the truck is going to explode it'll need a lot of space.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan's finishing whittling down some trees as she hears someone gloating about not being able to be cut. Her purple gaze scans the crowd and she sees Bucky fighting. There is a bit of a sigh and then there is a present bestowed onto the knife that the Winter Soldier is wielding.

<<Try to cut him now, James.>> Morrigan's voice states over comms. Because she would never try telepathy on that one without consent.

When she hears Cap there is a frown, "He's surely going to just get those to someone else..." she mutters as she starts to clear a path for him. "MOVE!" she barks out.

Camille Russo has posed:
Camille hears Steve's command staggers upright. She starts aiming at the goons left around the exit as they start to form human barriers. One. Two. Three. As they stagger she drags them away from the exit, only feeling a little bad about using the disoriented people as a shield between herself and their still-shooting buddies. Still. They won't get run over by the truck, and hopefully won't be exploded either, but this is ultimately a choice they made.

<<Left side of the exit clearing out, but they're trying to make a human barrier,>> she communicates.

James Barnes has posed:
Bucky offers a little 'bring it' gesture with his right hand, but doesn't grace the lumbering idiot with any sort of words. He reserves words for when something is important enough to him to actually waste his breath on them. This guy is not important enough. He might have even enjoyed a moment or two of toying with this fool, playing with his prey until it succumbed to death, much like a cat.

But Steve's words over the comm negate everything else. No time to play. It was just supposed to be a distraction when he swung his right hand - and the blade it was holding - up and toward the lumberjack asshole's neck. His lips curl into a smile that holds no humor, only deadly intent, when Morrigan tells him to give it another go. Rather than a distraction so he could hit the guy into next week with his left hand, he follows through with the right. Arterial blood spouts like a fountain from the man's throat. "Wrong," Bucky whispers. The last thing the man sees before his eyes gloss over into death, are the ice blues of Winter staring at him with no remorse.

But then? Bucky's heading the other way, back toward the garage, waiting for Steve's truck to make its appearance. For the first time through it all, Bucky doesn't know /what/ to do. The thought of Steve blowing up in some damned truck, the thought of it ending like /that/? Well, it has him as near frozen in battle as he ever has been. Seconds turn to hours as he waits.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The footage from Tyler Kincaid and the Channel Six news team has been going out live to the city, the reporter providing commentary on the fight. Even some of the networks have picked up the feed.

A medium-sized truck rushes towards the exit of the parking garage, travelling at above normal speeds. It smashes through the barrier, denting the truck's grill but not stopping it. The driver's side window is broken and there is some blood on the door. The driver's identity is easy enough to make out as the vehicle pulls out into the worsening rain.

"A truck has just busted out of the parking garage!" the reporter says into her microphone. "Wait, that's... that's Captain America driving it! He doesn't seem to be pursuing anyone so it's possible he might be removing something harmful from the area." she says, the cameraman following the truck rather than keeping Tyler Kincaid in the shot.

The remaining terrorists are fleeing as best they can, some of them with looks of fear as they look at the truck. Trying to get away not just from the area, but from the vehicle itself.

The truck hurries away, accelerating as best it can down the road that is lined with green lawns on either side, now with a few trees missing. But up ahead in the next block, other buildings are set close to the road. The truck instead makes a hard right turn which will keep it away from the buildings and in a more isolated space.

It barely makes the turn before there is a tremendous explosion. The blast wave powerful enough to knock people off their feet, and even at a distance leaves ears ringing. Windows in the office complex shatter and fall, littering the ground near the building with glass.

The cameraman was knocked off his feet and it takes a moment for him to focus the camera back onto the truck. Or what used to be the truck.

"The truck..." Tyler Kincaid says. "The truck it... it's exploded. A plume of smoke is rising into the air. The building windows are blown out. There's... there's almost nothing left of the truck. Some of the frame at the bottom is there but twisted or flattened. The cab and the back of the truck are just missing. Vaporized."

The camera zooms in for a moment before pulling back to give a wider shot. "Where, where is Captain America? Does anyone see him?" Tyler says. The camera pans about, the shot going out live to New York and having been picked up by some national networks.

"Look, over there," the cameraman can be heard to say as the camera zooms in on a spot of the pavement near the remains of the nearly vaporized truck. A round object has just clanged to the ground there. A shield, embossed with red and white bands about a blue center with a white star. The shield scorched with carbon, if otherwise undamaged. It spins a few times, like a child's toy top losing the last of its momentum, gradually settling to the ground and finally lying still.

"I think... he's gone. Oh my god. I think, Captain America. He's gone. Killed in the explosion. Nothing left but his shield," the stricken voice of the reporter adds to the images going out over the airwaves.

James Barnes has posed:
When the explosion happens, Bucky is running in that direction. He was running in that direction even before the truck exploded. He's throw back by the blast, hitting the ground hard. But not quite hard enough. He pushes himself to his feet and all he can do is just stand there. For the longest few moments in his life, all James Buchanan Barnes can do nothing but stand there, ice blues fixed on that shield cast aside so much like a child's forgotten plaything.

When he moves, forcing one foot in front of the other against their will, it's toward that shield.

He stops and stares down at it before bending to pick it. Once he has it in his hands, he drops to his knees. There's nothing else, not a word, not a sound, not a whimper.

It means one of two things - he's either too lost in his grief, too much in shock from the loss, to respond - or he's slowly letting the cold back in and turning to Winter to stop the pain.