10855/Command and Conquer: Saving the Chief

Command and Conquer: Saving the Chief
Date of Scene:	22 April 2022
Location:	Hydra Base
Synopsis:	A SHIELD Strike team hits a Hydra base to free the captured Peggy Carter. Fighting through the worst Hydra has to offer to give the infiltration team a chance to rescue her. The frontal attack works as a distraction. But Peggy's not there. She will be found. And Hydra's hurt badly.
Cast of Characters:	Natasha Romanoff, Achilles, Robbie Reyes, Steve Rogers, Quiet

---

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The Hydra base was a heavily fortified underground network in the mountains in upstate New York. Dug in a series of subterranean tunnels going down hundreds of meters. Satellite recon had gotten a rough map of it. Vehicle maintenance bays up by the surface with dozens of heavily armed HYDRA assault craft in it and jets, two large fusion generators deep underground which powered the complex, large R&D facilities no doubt used for some of the nastier experiments Hydra was infamous for performing.. And a large, well armed garrison consisting of hundreds of fanatical soldiers well equipped. Even more worrying were chatter of a number of Hydra elites and high ranking personnel at the base.
    The operation was to get in, find the Chief if present, do as much damage as possible, get out. A large numbers of entrances had been setup large enough for vehicles to come and go easily. The base seemed reliant on the fortifications and garrison to hold off an attack rather necessarily than simple hiding if it was concealed. The team was in the area and getting ready to launch, if not to immediately smash their way in!

Achilles has posed:
    Okay. So the vehicle is lacking in creature comforts, but Angelo is happy that the engine was well maintained. He trucks along at a good eighty miles per hour in an APC that was just 'liberated' from this Hydra cell. I mean when I say just, I mean like... it was on patrol, the patrol ambushed, and the APC taken about eight minutes ago.

    But now it is racing towards the front entrance of the facility. One comfort he is glad to have is the radio, which is tuned to a classic rock station. The music is blasting as he and whomever else is assaulting the front doors barrel along towards the entrance. Comm calls from the base are ignored... and it's not long before bullets begin to spang off of the heavy armor of the APC... the turret up top returning fire. All attention is currently on the stolen vehicle as it races towards its doom.

    The song on the radio? The one Angelo flips a switch and begins blasting out of the external speakers? TNT by AC-DC. And as the chorus rocks out, "Cuz I'm T N T... Dynomite!"... the APC rams into a concealed defensive installation, and a large explosion ensues. ATTENTION SUCCESSFULLY DIVERTED.

    As HYDRA soldiers converge on the burning APC... the back doors open to release the 'front door assault team'....

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The stolen APC is a perfect smokescreen, it turns out, for the *other* vehicle converging on the base's front door. Which appears to be a vintage muscle car. Black '69 Dodge Charger with a BDS supercharger mounted on the hood, going by that distinctive whine as it plows down the twisting maintenance road, kicking up dust into the fading sunlight.

Reyes squints slightly as he spots the vehicle up ahead ramming into a building; the HYDRA soldiers swarming it, bristling with weapons. Well, *that's* unexpected.

He hits the gas, flames peeling off the Charger's wheels as it lights up like an incoming meteorite headed right for the main pack of soldiers disgorging from the garrison.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    This idea of assaulting the front door while playing songs like 'TNT' is relatively new to Steve, largely because he was frozen for AC-DC's heyday. Duke Ellington or The Andrews Sisters just wouldn't have the same impact, though blaring 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' while crashing into a HYDRA base /might/ be kind of funny. He grins, though, when Angelo starts blasting the music out of the front speakers, because even if it's not what he's used to it's his kind of move.

    He jumps out the back door of the burning vehicle, hitting the ground running and firing his sidearm at HYDRA soldiers as he goes. No qualms about killing these guys; if anyone needs to die it's HYDRA. And besides, they've got Peggy somewhere. Hopefully it's here. Nothing fancy about his shooting, just aiming for center mass to bring them down fast before he hits the front rank of soldiers and starts bashing faces with his shield.

Quiet has posed:
Is she even there? Inside the vehicle? She's been a ball of black smoke in the corner the whole time, and after everyone breaks out of the vehicle to the tune of that popular song, Quiet finally materializes.

Crouched on the edge of the vehicle, she raises her 'Guilty Butterfly' sniper rifle up, and aims down its sight for one man high perched on a wall.

She fires! Aims to a second, fires again, aims to a third, and fires once more!

Her rifle is lowered then, as she 'poofs' back in to smoke, and trails after the others, a waving line of dark mist that follows Angelo, follows Cap and just maintains a close watch before reappearing again, and raising her giant sniper rifle to aim again at someone else!

BOOM! Another shot!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The Hydra personnel at the front gate are rushing towarsd the burning APC. There's loud calls of alarm going out and sirens wailing. Dozens of troopers are rushing towards defensive positions as large auto-turrets are starting to slide up and out of the ground. Wailing as they would activate and start to twist around towards the open front area of the base!
    And then there's the burning vehicle blasting towarsd them as the turrets suddenly swivel around to start to open fire over on the Ghost Rider! Streaks of plasma, gatling guns, rockets and missiles all go to blast over towards him as they attempt to unleash hell over on the Ghost Rider charging towards them!
    Quiet's stealth as she maneuvers lets her be in a perfect position to pick off advancing troopers, bullets piercing through their heads as they would drop!
    It is the Captain, however, that draws all eyes. "THE ENEMY! KILL HIM!" Dozens of troops go to start to unload on him with every sort of weapon in their arsenal as Steve Rogers charges forwards!

Achilles has posed:
    Speaking of plasma.... Angelo put in a requisition for this mission. He has a pair of SHIELD issue Plasma Pistols in his hands as he slides out of the driver's side door. With the Star Spangled Distraction over that-a-way, Angelo makes use of it, and suddenly the one two punch of right hand, then left hand superheated plasma blasts strike out at the now-revealed heavy turrets.

    While some people are doping acrobatics, or smoke-powered movement, Angelo is simply walking forward. He is dressed in a matte black outfit that is lightly armored, and he has half a dozen power packs for his pistols hanging from his belt. But those pistols might hold enough power for four shots each... yet each shot unleashes hell upon its target. Plasma striking and melting and spreading upon impact.

    Return fire does lance out. Bullets strike his armored form, and he just advances like some automato rather thanb a soldier at first.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The Hellcharger isn't bulletproof, per se. Hundreds of rounds of ammunition raining down on it will manage to leave some rather large holes in its body, and the gatling gun that pops up manages to even take out the passenger side window in a spectacular shower of glass.

Glass that reforms within seconds; bullet holes that repair themselves with a *ping, ping, ping* of rounds popping back out and hitting the dirt as the car hurtles toward the pack of attacking HYDRA. And Robbie himself, who took a few shots to the face, simply shakes it off as his ruined cheek heals itself over in a matter of seconds.

He hangs a sharp left at the last instant and pulls into a three-sixty degree drift as the vehicle's rear end fishtails into the soldiers, smearing hellfire across the road in its wake.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Steve /smirks/ as the HYDRA soldiers start to focus on him. "Hey, boys! Long time no see!" He holds the shield up so it can do its job, keeping him protected from the dozens of weapons trained on him. Even the super soldier can get flanked, though, and he has to stop his forward movement and crouch down as /all/ those weapons train on him.

    Then the Hellcharger crashes into their back ranks and Cap takes the chance to take the risk of getting hit. He explodes up from the crouch, using the shield like battering ram to shove the HYDRA soldiers out of his way, pushing them into each other and into the hellfire. He's sure to take at least a hit or two (or five or six), but he ignores it as ever. If nothing else, getting into the middle of the pack will make it difficult for them to aim at him without aiming at each other.

Quiet has posed:
The smoke glides quickly up the wall where it reforms behind two of the men firing weapons down upon her team. Quiet presses two ICERs in to their backs before discharging the pistols in to the men, and evaporating in to smoke once more.

Her smoke trail swoops low over the Hellfire from Robbie's vehicle as she moves toward the heavy guns firing upon the car. She comes to again near the HYDRA soldier manning the weapon. With a slip of a knife across the back of his boots, she severs his Achiles tendons to a chorus of shrieks before the woman in a black bodysuit vanishes once more!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Energy bursts blast out, hitting the armored figure of the advancing Angelo, blasts and bullets hitting him or glancing off. Him seemingly unstoppable to anyhting going his way. His return fire picking off attackers. This has some of the troopers going for heavier equipment as a few go to duck down behind one of the disabled heavy turrets. They're rapidly working at setting up a field mortar. Two of them going to brace the heavy weapon on the ground as they hurriedly assemble it, dragging towards munitions and starting to aim and ready to fire it within seconds if not stopped and blanket the battlefield in shrapnel! And probably not caring if they take their own out in the crossfire!
    The Ghost Rider goes to ram into a group of Hydra troopers, sending them flying in every direction as they would be crushed! The unfortunate ones that weren't killed outright would be set aflame by Hellfire to slowly burn an agonizing death.
    Captain America goes to charge in to dozens of troopers who are trying to dogpile him! Them not caring if they're hitting their brethren as they go to try and attack him from every angle. It goes the same way it always does. One Nazi goes down, then another, then another..
    Underneath the Ghost Rider, darkness goes to suddenly take over! The bottom of the car is lashed out by a number of Darkforce tendrils snapping up and seemingly out of nowhere as they would try and swallow the vehicle whole as snapping up from the smoke and fire left in the wake of the turn would be BLACK MAMBA of the SERPENT SOCIETY! "Aren't you supposed to be on a bike? Never mind, I can understand finding your own gimmick to stand out."
    Quiet's slow and stealthy approach is suddenly interrupted by an energy venom bolt snaking past her! "Sneaky. Smokey. I can appreciate that. But sorry, you're going to have to die now." Radiant glowing energy bursting out from her hands at the sneaky assassin!
    The advancing Angelo is then met by two.. Twins? Wearing purple uniforms, each carrying a swrod in their hands. Two blondes. One male, one female.
    "Come, sister." Said the male. "Let us show this soon to be dead thing what we can do." Said the female. The two going to take their hands towards one another, advancing towarsd Angelo. "Yes, let the inferior race see the true power of the ARYAN IDEAL!" Glowing swords in front, advancing towards him came FENRIS!

Achilles has posed:
    Well, energy blasts aren't going to be -ignored- by Angelo. He's tough, and can't die. But he is not completely impervious. Bits of his armored suit are blasted away, and he does eventually duck into cover to reload and to let his body heal a bit.

    Over comms, he announces his position, and the amount of attention he's gathered. It's when he comes out of cover to advance that he meets the twins. Swords? Twins? He actually hesitates for a long moment before he shrugs and says, "Okay. If that's how you want it." And he holsters his plasma pistols. I mean they are already nearly overheating. So he'd have needed to stop using them soon anyway....

    His hands come forward, a celestial bronze spear appearing in them. Seven feet long with a broad head. (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/assassinscreed/images/0/0e/ACOD_Achilles%27_Spear_Concept_Art.png/revision/latest?cb=20190311100139).

    He figures, against two sword wielders, his best defense is reach. "Bring it on." he says. "And inferior?" he asks as he reaches a hand up to rip off his balaclava. His blonde hair standing out. "You've got it entirely mixed up. Your Aryan ideal is at least two thousand years behind the curve." And then he settles in and waits for their advance.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Did some chick in a stripper getup just diss his ride?

Robbie, unfortunately, has bigger problems right now, and also doesn't have a comeback ready. He'll probably think of one in a few minutes, and then it'll be too late, and-- right. Time to get the fuck out of here.

He stomps the gas and pulls the clutch as he comes out of the spin, shifting to first gear as the Hellcharger fishtails in place wildly, fire and acid smoke billowing out from the burning rubber. Then the clutch is released, and he growls as he tries to burn through the grasping tentacles, "Next time, buy me dinner first, huh?"

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Cap plunges through the crowd until he can't move, then starts firing on HYDRA soldiers again. It's like shooting fish in a barrell, really--/dozens/ means plenty of easy targets. Easy... but too many. He fires and fires and fires and runs out of bullets. Well, damn.

    He holsters the gun and braces himself, wincing as a HYDRA bullet grazes his cheek, then starts fighting hand-to-hand. He grabs one soldier's gun and uses it as leverage to swing him into another, even as he breaks another's neck with an uppercut from his shield. A little space opens up around him, and for a moment it looks like maybe he'll be able to push through and connect with the Ghost Rider.

    Then the HYDRA soldiers swarm at him with a yell, and Cap disappears under a mass of screaming men, crouching down defensively and holding up his shield to try to keep from being crushed under their weight.

Quiet has posed:
The chaos of these situations is always fluid, always ever stacking higher and higher. With so many mutants, metas, and 'other' in the world these days, Quiet has had to adapt on her feet .. so to speak.

With the electricity arcing out toward her smoke-formed-self, the smokey Quiet darts this way and that, on her way over to a spot of cover!

She reforms behind it, her pony-tail whipping around behind her shoulders as she looks toward one of the walls... She spies something there as she tosses a smoke grenade toward the person shooting electrical power at her!

Her sniper rifle comes up then, and a round is fired at a water-valve aimed in the general direction of the person so liberally shooting off electricity

Would it even harm them? Or just cause more chaos for the HYDRA base!

Tune in NOW to find out!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Advancing towards Angelo, ANDREA and ANDREAS VON STRUCKER would go to raise their hands up and together, pointing thier swords at him, "Of course. We welcome you to DIE you genetic dead end!" As Angelo goes to draw his own weapon, they go to lift up their swords to point them at him and then as their hands would touch, they would unleash a mighty energy wave over at him that would be capable of casually blasting through a tank if it hit! THe wave was from each blade, multiple meters wide and powerful!
    As Ghost Rider goes to face the girl dissing him, the tendrils go to snap up and try to hold onto his car! But the magical muscle car is able to surge it's way through the grasping tentacles. BLACK MAMBA would smirk, "On your dime. Sorry, I don't do freebies." Then she would go to phase through the ground, seemingly vanishing into it! Underneath the twisting car she would try to blast up the undercarriage with a series of Darkforce spikes to try and flip and upend it! But Ghost Rider would probably havej ust a moment of warning of something twisted underneath coming!
    Captain America is seemingly buried underneath a sea of bodies, the Agents going to try and swarm atop him, intent on crushing him underfoot! They're moving with intent to bury him, even as he was pinned! When he was seemingly, they would be trying to striek over a thim in a sea of bodies! Attempting to hit him with bludgeons, blades, any sort of weapon they might have him! "Kill him! Crush him! HAIL HYDRA! HAIL GLORIOUS HYDRA! RIP OFF HIS HEAD! TEAR HIM APART! REND OUT AND DEVOUR HIS STILL BEATING HEART!" Them a brutal pile as they would try to beat him to death!
    ASP goes to duck the shot fired by Quiet, even as it would graze ehr shoulder! The bullet going behind her to hit the valve and water would spray everywhere! ASP woulds tagger, but goig to advance forwards. Apparently resistant over to her own energy to some degree. Then of all things she would start to.. Dance? Yes, dance. hips swaying, arms twisting, her body starting to glow with green energy.

Achilles has posed:
    Someone has read his reports. Angelo recognized the Strucker twins right off.. and he was baiting them. The blades pointed, and the blasts came his way. Only to strike the circular shield that materialized on his arm in the microseconds before the blast struck.

    Let's face it. Their energy blasts are mighty. But not mighty enough to pierce a shield forged by Hephaestus himself. Angelo, even braced as he is, is forced back a step by the sheer force of the energy. But what might truly surprise the twins is that when they think he should surely be disintegrated and gone from the world... he comes sailing up over the arc of the blast... aiming a spear thrust at the chest of Andreas. Of course, this is a feint... one designed to get him close enough to shield-bash Andrea. If he can at least stun one of them for a few moments, he would be able to focus his full attention on the other. But he doesn't just stop moving.

    The one thing that set him apart way back during the Trojan War, was his speed... his spear thrusts with snakelike speed, being pulled back and thrust again before most people could get a single sword swing in. He is doing his best to pressure both of his attackers, because when outnumbered, the only -real- way out is to put them on the defensive.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Robbie's dimly aware of a flash of colour in his left peripheral vision that could only belong to Captain America. Not that he has time at the moment to acknowledge his fellow Avenger; he's got his hands *slightly* full here.

One gloved hand on the steering wheel, the other slung around the back of the passenger seat as he checks out the rear view quickly, the Ghost Rider makes a quick decision. Who needs doors when you can phase out of a moving car, hit the ground at however many miles per hour, crack your ribs and shatter your right shoulder.. only to have most of the damage healed by the time you're on your feet again?

The Hellcharger screams off, guttering flame in its wake as it disappears through a portal to who-knows-where. And the kid unslings his chain from his shoulder, eyes igniting as he approaches the source of the tentacles. "Sorry," he explains, "got a girlfriend."

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Steve groans at all the shouts of 'HAIL HYDRA' above him. Don't these guys get any new lines? They've been working on the same hits parade for 80 years now. No, wait, if you count from the beginning of the Nazi Party... more than 100 years now. And they never, ever win for very long. So why do they keep /trying/?

    Ugh.

    He's going to be sore tomorrow. More than sore--he /might/ actually have a broken rib or two, by the time it's all over. But he ignores that, takes a few deep breaths even as the HYDRA soldiers are beating him, squeezes his eyes shut tight, focusing for a second.

    Then, with a yell of his own, he pushes up and out with both arms, managing to lift the weight of the HYDRA pile and send Nazis flying. He pushes the momentum into a leap, coming out of the pack of soldiers and throwing himself away--and hopefully into the range of someone else's fire. If nothing else, he'll have some room to find something bigger to fire at the goons. A mortar would be nice.

Quiet has posed:
Quiet peers out from behind her cover. She looks to the Ghost Rider's car as it roars through a portal.

Neat.

She then looks back to the woman that was dancing in the water, which makes a frown fall across Quiet's face. That's her shtick. Dancing in water.

At the sound of someone saying that they have a girlfriend off in the near-distance, Quiet taps something out on her red and orange Speak and Spell, then it speaks up.

"And I have a dog." It says in a robotic female voice.

She stands up from behind her cover, raises her sniper rifle, and a black mask forms across her eyes, as she aims down the rifle scope to first fire at a support beam holding back a series of gasoline barrels. As she releases them to roll, she waits a beat, and then fires another shot at one of the barrels to cause an explosion!

She likes explosions.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Fighting Angelo, the FENRIS twins prove surprisingly adept at swordfighting even as Angelo somehow takes their blast without seeming harm! Andrea goes to slash in at one side as Andreas goes to cover them, going in for a block and then a slash! The two rapidly switching it up as one would attack, then the other as they would try to close to close range to limit the ability of Angelo to utilize the full length of his spear effectively! The spear slash has Andreas ducking back, while the shield slam hits Andrea in the chin! Andrea would respond even as she would stagger with a few shots from a pistol aimed at Angelo's face at point blank range as Andreas would try to slash at Angelo from the side ith the blade whiel his shield was chin-cupied!
    The Hellcar moving to blast away,leaving the Ghost Rider free to face off with BLACK MAMBA. "You think I care about that sort of thing? Well I suppose in that case if loyalty matters so much we can dispense with the plesaantries and I can just deposit you back to whatever abyssal dimension you came from while noting the hilarity of SHIELD working with a full on demon and being of the damned." There's a standoff between the two, BLACK MAMBA seemingly not attacking, merely letting her opponent recover as she would go to a defensive stance.
    Captain America powers his way through the troopers! Sending them flying in every direction as they would be sent peeling away! Broken. Beaten. Unconscious. Scattered all over. Then there's the voice of someone familiar. Haughty. Twisted.. Approaching him. "Why Captain. I'm almost pleased that you've survived so far. A man such as yourself should not go down to a flock of sheep. It would be unbecoming." A man wearing a dark facemask of crimson violet. Wielding a long fencing sabre.
    BARON HELMUT ZERO.
    As Qiuet goes to blast her way through the support beams holding the cover of the gasoline tanks, they would fall over in almost slow motion! Hitting the gasoline as sparks would fly and detonate over in a cascading wave of erupting flames, sendings hockwaves and troopers flying! One of the heavy autoguns would be blown up by the force! Another would go to twist towards Quiet and go to fire twin barrels of heavy plasma over at her! Meanwhile in the water, ASP has vanished from immediate view..

Achilles has posed:
    You see, the trick to fighting multiple opponents has nothing to do with fighting gangs for local charities... though Fezzick did have a big heart. Either way Angelo has been doing this for a -long- time. He has seen moves that these twins have never even heard of. He has used moves they've never seen. And right now, that involves leaving himself intentionally open on a flank to make Andreas come in, hoping to score a blow from that side.

    The bait is taken, and as Angelo lifts his shield to catch the bullets from Andrea's shots, he takes a deep slash along his right flank. Perfect. It's not every day that someone the Fenris twins fight... -wants- to get slashed. Wants to have them make the mistake of coming in too close. But that is just what Angelo is doing.

    The spear vanishes, almost like the pain made him lose concentration on it. But that is not remotely the case. He lashes out with a foot as he turns, striking at the side of Andreas's knee even as his hand reaches for the man's wrist... to pull the arm up and around as he snakes about the body and performs what... in modern wrestling, would be an illegal move, but in ancient Greece, was simply called Pankration. It ends up with the right shoulder dislocated, and the right wrist broken for Andreas... and then Angelo dismisses his shield... picking up the fallen sword and manifesting his own Xiphos sword to face Andrea with even as Andreas finds himself screaming in agony on the ground.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
"Lady, you talk too fucking much," Reyes grumbles. There's a roar of pain from him as the transformation completes: hellfire pours out of fissures in his cheek, his forehead, and consumes the flesh on his face in a gout of acrid flame before pouring over the back of his head like a lit match thrown on gasoline.

He doesn't bother waiting for her to finish detailing her plans for him. Instead, he's attempting to fling his chain at her -- even as it's igniting with the same hellfire -- and catch her around the ankles so he can bring her to the ground.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    "Oh, c'mon, /seriously/? Damn it, I /told/ Bucky... you know what, whatever, I'll figure that out later." Steve shakes himself, winces a little, pressing at his side. Yep. Bruised rib. Well, that'll be fun to explain. He sighs as he regards Helmut. "I don't suppose I can convince you to just tell us where Peggy Carter is, huh?"

    He raises his shield, preparing himself for the man to come at him with the sabre. He doesn't have his own melee weapon--maybe he should?--but his first focus is going to be on disarming the guy anyway. "Come on, then," he says, "Let's see what you consider 'becoming.'"

Quiet has posed:
As the plasma starts to burst fire in her direction, Quiet bursts back in to smoke-form and starts to flee across the water toward the fire, then up to mix in with the smoke of the flames. She seems to vanish inside the smoke as she sweeps around behind it to find another vantage point to rematerialize, and use her sniper weapon to aim at, and pick off any further targets threatening her team members!

Where did the dancy lady go though? This is a concern...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Angelo knows how to fight. The Strucker twins, while skilled, rely upon brute force and terror. Against someone that can match them for skill and is not vulnerable to their powers they're quite outclassed against. Andrea's shots go against his shield, and she moves to go in for the kill, sword glowing with power as she goes to try and lash out at him to take advantage of his vulnerability.. And Andreas goes in for the exposed bit, going to slash overw ith his saber, intent on a move that would bisect a normal adversary, even as the spear is gone and as far as he concerned his opponent is going to litter the ground in two halves!
    Andreas is, however, predictable and falling for his opponent's trick. The kick snaps up, going to hit him in the knee, and he woulds hriek in pain. How unbecoming of a proper Aryan. Andrea would shriek, "how DARE you hurt my brother!" What does, however, happen is that Andreas' swrod would go tos pasm,s urging over with electricity as Andreas would clutch at his leg on the ground and howl in pain!
    BLACK MAMBA would face off over against Ghost Rider. "I'm told it's one of my better aspects. Well, that and my killer good looks." Apparently one that was quite happy to trade barbs. But the Serpent Society had always been almost purely mercenary at some points.. The sudden transformation to Hellfire would catch her by surprise, even as she geos to phase underneath it, shifting to darkness along the ground, popping up several meters away! "What can I say? You definitely look completely flaming."
    Does Zemo ever stay down? Or dead? Or anything at all? ZEMO would grin as Captain America would prepare his shield. "So Captain? One last time before you yield and die? I've been looking forwards to this a long time. Come. Face me.. For the last time!" Zemo would wait, still and with his fencing foil up and over in an 'en garde' position. Seemingly content to play to a role.
    As Quiet goes to poof, dancy lady is nowhere to be seen. She probably hasn't run away so that means she's probably gone to her own sort of stealth. The shots from Quiet pick off more targets simply. Then from behind her there's a small shift over of existence. The light sound of charging venom blasters.. And the acid shots from ASP would be fired at her from behind! After the shot had gone off,a qiup of, "Got you."

Achilles has posed:
    Looking past Andrea, Angelo hefts the sword of Andreas, tests the balance, and then says over comms, "Cap. Incoming." And then he twists and hurls the sword like it was some sharp pointy shotput. The weapons is on an arc aimed right towards Cap. Gods, Angelo hopes he doesn't suddenly like stab the Star Spangled Avenger through the eye here. But the man needs a blade.

    And then his shield is back on his arm even as he is stepping back to avoid the energized blade of Andrea. "You have two choices here Ms. Strucker. Choice number one... keep fighting me and lose... potentially losing your life. Choice two, drop your weapon, pick up your brother and leave with him. He is going to need reconstructive surgery on his knee -and- his shoulder. Likely his wrist too."

    He shrugs and adds, "It makes no difference to me." His wound is already mostly healed by now, not bleeding anymore. "But I have been fighting and killing for far longer than you can imagine..." And that is when his mostly destroyed light armor seems to vanish... more to the point, it becomes an undersuit to celestial bronze breastplate, skirt, greaves, and helmet... "Choose wisely." he suggests, pointing his remaining sword at Andrea...

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Ah, fuck this. Why do they always have to make things so fucking hard? Ghost Rider growls as his chain-whip slings through the spot Black Mamba was standing a moment ago. He yanks it back, allowing it to coil around his body, still aflame.

He considers her for a few beats, and it's truly hard to gauge an expression on the face of a flaming skull with hollowed out pits where the kid's eyes used to be. Then the demon tilts his head slightly, and his voice is like a roar of metal screaming against metal when he speaks, "No more games." He doesn't approach and doesn't retreat, but simply waits with his gloved hand grasping the coiled length of chain, fire streaming out from between the fanged teeth of his metal skull.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Steve hears Angelo's warning over comms and glances up in time to reach out and catch the sword out of the air like he's casually plucking an apple from a tree. He twirls the thing around to get the feel for it. He's trained with a sword, and a shield, and there's a certain kind of appropriateness to the First Avenger using a sword and shield as if he were a paladin. They didn't name the shield-throwing move in that one video game 'Avenger's Shield' for nothing.

    "If that's the way you want it," Cap replies. There's a kind of grim determination in him. Somewhere, these people have one of his oldest friends, and he doesn't care who he has to get through to find her.

    He leaps forward, shield first, prepared to bat away the fencing foil. As he reaches Helmut he thrusts forward with the sword, moving the shield aside. He's in no mood for a prolonged match, if he can help it. A single disabling blow would be ideal--though probably not achievable.

Quiet has posed:
Quiet turns just in time to get hit with the venom, which has her tumbling backwards off of the perch she was poised upon. She thrashes in mid air as it touches her bare skin on her arms where her bodysuit doesn't cover her. She cries out in a moment of weakness before she lands in the smoky area that she burst the water valve on.

Rolling over she ends up right in the spray of fresh water out of the pipe work...

A second later and she bursts in to smoke form again, rising up otu of the water, she reforms, dripping from head to toe, she glares from her smokey eyes, and raises her rifle up again to unleash an attack back at ASP!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
There'sa hateful look over on the face of Andrea over for Angelo. She's a psychotic lunatic. But she has a crazed love for her brother and almost enough rationality to realize that she has no chance here. And her brother screaming and crying in pain and agony does not lend itself to a strong backbone. "Very well, /inferior/. We'll get you and gut you and then crush your skull between our hands and eat your still beating heart." She's running over towards her brother to help him up, and then lifting him. Other hand holding her gun to keep it trained over on Angelo. Hate on her face. But enough fear to make her -not- rant at him or threaten him beyond what she'd already said. Progress?
    BLACK MAMBA goes to flicker up several meters away from Ghost Rider, even as she's likewise waiting. "Seems like we have a bit of a stalemate, boyo. You can't hit me, I can dance around you all day. Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, you can't hit what you can't see. But I'm not going to be doing enough stinging to take you down. So how about we call it even. I'll leave and go on my merry little way, and you can go back to doing whatever it is demons do. I don't know.. I'm sure it's something demon'y."
    Captain America goes to charge towards ZEMO, slashing at the swordsman. Baron HELMUT ZEMO would go to twist, snapping away the glowing fencing foil as the shield would lbock his strike. Ducking his body just out of reach over of the stabbing sword going at him, "useless little squealing pig." Apparently the level of regard he had for the Strucker twins. ZEMO goes to duck back, going to twist to throw a grenade of Adhesive-X over at Captain America, trying to catch him over with it and seal his arms together while snapping bout ot then fire with his disintegrator pistol!
    The hit of ASP seems to not effect that badly to Quiet, and any sort of quick awareness of that weakness is not present. There's another blast of ASP's venom towards her that misses, even as the rifle shot hits her in the back! It impacts an arm over with force that ordinarily would take off a limb and leav ea hole the size of a baseball! Instead it just shatters bone and leaves a bruise! ASP doesn't scream, just snaps around to try and fire another acidic venom blast at Quiet's rifle!

Achilles has posed:
    Nodding to the departing Andrea, Angelo just watches for a long moment. Then he turns and begins stalking towards the nearest group of enemies. "Tampambulos to infil team. How long do we need to hold their attention?" he asks even as he sidesteps a gunshot from one HYDRA goon, stabbing through the man's chest and moving on.

    He's heading in the general direction of Captain America, and making sure that his gleaming bronze armor catches the light. Again... attention is the goal. A shot strikes him in the back, piercing the armor... and he turns to face the shooter. The armor -and- flesh healing itself even as he shakes his head, dismisses his sword, draws the plasma pistol and melts the upper half of the man who just shot him.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
So it's 'boyo', now? The Ghost Rider does not look amused. But then, he doesn't look much of anything, except on fire.

He considers Mamba's words -- and the impasse -- for a moment more. Which is all he needs to make the decision to disengage. Turning away from her, streaming hellfire, the black leather jacketed demon prowls off without another word. Smoke and flaming ash carpet the ground in the wake of the Hellcharger's exeunt, and don't seem to deter him in the least. An advancing HYDRA soldier is punched in the gut hard enough to double him over, and then there's a quick motion to snap his neck, before the body's tossed to one side.. and the demon keeps going.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Cap steps aside as Helmut ducks, swinging the sword wide as he does so. Zemo twisting away makes the sword miss entirely, which is probably a good thing, because it gives Steve the chance to throw himself away from the grenade, avoiding the explosion of the permanent adhesive chemical and the disintegrating shot both. He rolls back to his feet and starts to circle the Baron, frowning.

    "Watch that spot," he notes over comms. "That stuff is almost impossible to get off." He keeps circling, sidestepping, looking for an opening. He's not a fencer, by any means; he's not looking to score points, but to take the guy down.

    The flash of Angelo's armor causes him to glance up and over and he adjusts his circling, trying to herd Zemo over toward the man in the bronze armor. Two on one is way better odds.

Quiet has posed:
The incoming attack toward her rifle is avoided narrowly as Quietly rolls across her shoulders, ending up back in a crouch before she vanishes again in a puff of black smoke.

This ASP enemy is vexxing to the sniper, but it's nothing she hasn't similarly dealt with before. Time, and patience, often yields a weakness to be exposed.

In the mean time, she's sweeping back toward her teammates on this mission to overview their individual statuses...

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The twins go to crawl away. Apparently all they care for as they grab a vehicle and race away from the fight. Black Mamba apparently cares for little as far as the stakes of the engagement. Her loyalties are not to Hydra. Or at least enough to care for this particular eventuality. There are no parting shots given to Ghost Rider. No taunts. No pleas. Just her vanishing over in darkness to foil herself away in shadow.
    Ghost Rider casually goes through the Hydra troops. Even as seemingly more of them are running out. With things outside an dinside..
    Angelo goes to advance on ZEMO, even as Zemo goes to maintain thea dvance on Captain America, foil and epee meeting the attack. Somehow the very light blade holding up with each strike. Zemi's speed and skill nearly on par with Captain America. But not there. Zemo is seemingly aware eh's being herded, however, as Angelo is advancing on the other side. So he's going on the defensive now. Disintegrator pistol in one hand, sword in the other as he tries a fighting retreat. A combatant can give ground to get a better defensive position. Disintegrator pistol trying to pepper Angelo with shots! But he's on the back foot now.
    Quiet and Asp seem like a deadlock, of sorts. Asp can't keep up with Quiet as Quiet relocates, but Quiet can't necessarily take her out. Asp would finally settle some distance away from Quiet. Looking over the battlefield. Black Mamba fading into shadow. Fenris fleeing. She would smirk at Quiet and her lips would twitch. Something along the lines of 'F$## this s$#8." Then give a salute to Quiet from her position, going to leap off the edge of the spot she had been on.
    Quiet has clear lines of fire to pick things off.
    Right NOW as she's the first to see a rather large pair of gunships popping out armed with rockets blasting up from the hangar!

Achilles has posed:
    And of course, Angelo dismisses his sword... it looks like it transforms into the spear once more. Hephaestus is truly an engineering genius to be able to have all of this crap shrink down to store in the bracers he wears. Okay, so maybe he was the ancient world's Hank Pym. What? Hephaestus Particles? Not likely. Anyway, he takes one step and hurls the spear at Zemo. Not expecting to hit really...

    So why did he throw it? To force the man to evade, and hopefully to put him into a position where Cap can take advantage. But then he is jogging forward... and then it's a run. Then it's a dead sprint... charging for the man with a sword once more in hand.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Not so much as a backwards glance is given the disappearing Mamba. She's probably got sins from here to kingdom come, but the Rider's not here for her. The hellfire goes out like a snuffed match, and the boy's melted skin starts to reform where the metal skull was a moment ago. His dark hair regrows; the livid patches of burned flesh quickly heal and smooth over.

And while hand to hand isn't something he has an awful lot (read: any) finesse with, he knows how to get the job done. His next punch goes right through the guy's face, and nobody needed to see his spine ripped out, but there it is. Two more have their knees broken before they're lit on fire, and one actually has the sense to back off when he sees the leather-clad Latino advancing on him.

His gaze swings toward Angelo and Steve, and then the girl with the sniper rifle. Perhaps to see if any of them need help.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    It's not so much direct communication that causes Cap to take advantage of Angelo's feint, as it is a general understanding of combat conditions. Angelo feints, Helmut evades, and Cap's there to swing to sword again, hoping to hit and potentially hurt the man.

    Even if he doesn't connect, he's grabbed Helmut's attention again and set him up for Angelo's sprinting charge. And if he does? All the better. He can hold Helmut in place for Angelo, make him a less mobile target.

Quiet has posed:
When Quiet rematerializes this time, she ejects her ammunition and slaps in another variety. She quickly adjusts the barrel of her rifle before she raises it up and fires at the first vehicle taking flight. She doesn't waste any time to adjust her aim to fire at the next too before she puffs out of existence once more.

Flying down now to where Cap and the others are, Quiet in smoke-form, is tracking the Venomous one.

She's still waiting for her moment to strike against that target!

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
That's the point of working together. ZEMO might be an excellent swordsman and tactician, but his skill is best served in manipulation and scheming. I n this sort of a fight, he's outmatched. Even as he goes to try and avoid one strike, he sets himself up for another. As Angelo goes to advance on him, Zemo sees the figure of the Ghost Rider casually strolling through the battlefield without a worry in the world. Zemo goes to duck underneath one slash from Captain America. Which has him low and to the ground. WHich sets him up for the smash by Angelo.
    "UGH." The purple-masked madman is sent flying, dropping his blade and gun. "To you, the victory, this day Captain. It will be your last." Zemo's hand going down to a button.. Then he would flash adn vanish in midair. Emergency teleporter. Gone.
    And Quiet is able to finally get sight of Asp. The woman is walking over towards an abandoned APC left at the gates. Going to start the engine to drive off.

Achilles has posed:
    "Funny how they always say that." remarks Angelo, not really all that winded. He steps closer to Cap to make sure that the Avenger is okay. As if shielding the man from view just in case he -is- injured... to defend his dignity, or leadership ability. Angelo doesn't want to be in charge of the lives of others anymore. I mean he runs a company of security professionals, but that is far different than ordering men and women to their deaths in war.

    But he looks over to see Ghost Rider, and then searches for the smoky one. But... it's nighttime, and it's smoke. There is a -lot- of smoke here, a lot of burning vehicles, turrets... and yes, with Ghost Rider's presence... people too. He says into his comms, "I think we've managed to wear down their main forces out front. Now we get to see what they have in reserve." he states as he turns towards the main entrance... shield lifted, and Plasma pistol in hand. What a weird look he has right now. Ancient armor... post-modern weapons. Hey, if it works, he'll use it. He even turns a bit to show his left hip to Cap. And the second plasma pistol holstered there. "Need a new weapon?" he asks the man.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Zemo goes and disappears before Robbie can ask him what's up with the gimp mask; and the mechanic's left surveying the smoking ruin of the HYDRA compound.. and those he nominally considers teammates.

"Hey, Cap," he greets the super soldier, trying to sound chill about it. But, you know, it's *Captain America*, and that novelty's never wearing off. "Fancy meeting you here." He lifts a gloved hand to wipe some blood off his cheek. "Who're you?" he demands of Angelo, looking him up and down.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    "You'd think they'd learn to stop jinxing themselves, right?" Steve comments to Angelo. He's definitely got a broken rib or two but he's managing. He can see medical later. He takes a moment to put a new clip in his sidearm, shaking his head. "I'm good, but thanks." He's still holding the sword after all.

    He nods to Robbie. "Hey. We all good?" He glances around for Quiet. "Did we ever get a reply from the other team?"

Quiet has posed:
A timed explosive is detached from Quiet's harness. She twists it to five minutes, then tosses it in to the back of the vehicle that ASP is driving off in!

PUFF! Smooooooke!

Puff!

Quiet is in the water spray now, her hands out to her sides as she spins around doing a full circle, then rubbing her face clean with her hands.

Venom is nasty, and she wants to be fully clean. Covered in her guns and gear still, the eccentric woman is just doing a bit of an impromptu shower amngst all the madness.

Because, why not.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
The fighting seems to be over now for the most part. The flung explosive from Quiet hits the APC and explodes. It erupts in more fire and death. Of Asp.. there is no sign over in it. Nor later on a body. Now.. Now the last Hydra troops are falling. Even as their leaders flee, the remnants still fight. Without hope of victory. Without a chance. Without hope. They go down. And the area seems to almost still.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
A com comes through from the ground team. The interior is mostly secure. Peggy's not there. But they've found monsters. And experiments. And things the likes of which Hydra specializes in.

Achilles has posed:
    All of this, and no Peggy. Angelo shakes his head. His bronze armor disappears, leaving him in tattered black SHIELD armor. His sword and shield also vanish, and he turns to face Robbie. "SHIELD agent Tampambulos, at your service." he offers before fearlessly offering a hand to the man. "I'm guessing that whom you are is relatively obvious at the moment."

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Well, it's not every day someone offers to shake his hand. Especially when they've just watch him go all carrot top and start incinerating things like it's half price night at the Texas BBQ.

"Reyes," he offers, along with a gloved hand, after a beat's hesitation. "Uh, or Robbie's fine." He turns to follow the direction of Steve's gaze, but Quiet's not one of his, either. "We headed inside, or what?" he asks his fellow Avenger, gripping the coiled chain slung across his shoulder.

Steve Rogers has posed:
    Steve grunts at hearing Peggy isn't there. Not what he wanted to hear, but that just means they try again. He glances to the bunker. "I think we let the others clear it out. Chief Carter isn't here." He flexes his hands, checking his equipment.

    "Good work," he adds, glancing up and around at each of them in turn. Even if Peggy wasn't here, that doesn't diminish what's been done.